====== Prison Strike ====== **[[xover:ghostfleet:storiesandinterviews|Main Story Page]]**\\ {{INLINETOC}} {{:colonial_pact:sarp_spacer.png?5|}} ===== General Information ===== ----- *Takes place in the Su'eska Star System. *The System's fourth planet is somewhat arid but still plays host to an Imperial colony. *A decent sized sector marine garrison is present. *The 'prison' complex itself is technically an annex of the half base half spaceport, built from the remains of an abandoned resort complex, it lays forty kilometers to the south and was built on a modestly sized atoll known as Delhool Island. *There are three islands to the Atoll, the largest is where most of the prisoners are housed, the second one linked by a causeway is where the guards are along with the medical station. The third and smallest is a landing field and is linked via causeway to the guard controlled island. ===== Beginning and Setting Up the Situation ===== ----- ===== The Powers at Be On the Planet and Their Views ===== ----- ===== The Prison Colony Headman, His Past, and Recent Conversations ===== ----- *The opening covers a US Army special forces Major that survived the bombardment of Fort Bragg. He and surviving elements as well as others that went into the hills ran a guerilla operation and general insurgency that engulfed most of Appalachia in low grade fighting for the first year of the occupation. A plant gave him and several of his upper leadership away and they were cornered and captured in Tennessee. Deemed too dangerous to ever set foot on earth again he and several others were earmarked for a special confinement project led by an Interior officer.\\ \\ *He notes his arrival to the island with the first two hundred and fifty souls, mostly American but with some from NATO countries as they appear to try and keep those that speak similar languages together. He appears the be the senior ranking officer and even those of civilian origins cast their lot in with the new authority structure. As a whole they all begin referring to their place of confinement as a ‘Stalag’, when the Shil’vati Interior agent that had become their warden looks up its meaning she is less than enthused. \\ \\ *They spend the next year crawling over their new bounds and cataloging anything they can use that got left behind when the former resort was stripped of anything dangerous and refashioned into something to hold them. Though the carcasses of the former resort still laid strewn throughout the island, though through their salvage they didn’t manage to yield anything that would do much to a Shil wearing a flex armor suit. In any event even if they did manage to kill their current minders…. the island was a fairly short flight away from one of the largest centers of military power on the surface of the planet.\\ \\ *While they are allowed fishing gear, open top boats, and some limited farming where applicable, most of the camp is fed via a delivery of perishable and non-perishable food every two weeks. It is often prepared by the prisoners themselves. \\ \\ *While some earth media is imported for ‘morale’ there is a large push by those in charge for the learning of their language and the acceptance of their media. Most do the first simply due to the advantages it may give them down the road. \\ \\ *There are some permanent staff but most rotate from posts on the mainland and it is a most desired one for those that get the chance. Most will simply be disappointed, left to walk around in hot armor as they’re treated little better than lepers by the ‘sexy space babes’. Some who served on earth know better and simply keep their distance. Others, especially new ones may find themselves getting ‘lucky’ but are unaware that its an act sanctioned by the Major for the simple purpose of extracting whatever information they can about whats happening off world and maybe even on earth. Promised various things in their own language and even an encounter or two before being ignored, their usefulness expended. Some left, some stayed for the full term trying, others got violent and were dealt with. \\ \\ *The head count of the 'camp' gradually grew as more and more stubborn souls found themselves condemned to it. As the years ticked by with a final population of a little over a thousand, one third of it being female. An eventuality of this ratio happened in the third year with six births.\\ \\ *There are several paths out of the camp, all involve an oath of loyalty to the Imperium. Some lead into military service with the Imperium, others to being settled among its various species far from earth, all more or less have the same language of not being able to return to the home world for a period of decades. Some newer arrivals, insurgents of the younger sort, take the offer, but most opt to stay among their own kind even if in captivity. In the very least they have some form of support structure that won’t involve the whims of grape apes.\\ \\ ===== Outlaw, Outlaw, Outlaw ===== ----- *Two stealth ships have moved into orbit and a third has dropped down into atmosphere. They lack the carriage capacity to evacuate the entire complex thus they must secure a combat transport freighter while also killing anything that could intercept it. *Eight craft drop free from the stealth ship, two head for the prison complex itself, six head for the joint base on the mainland. *Two days ago a Combat Frame element was inserted, using drones they've scouted the mainland target and upon receiving the signal they move in from the sea to attack the base's air defense assets. Once done they proceed to attack anything that could threaten the incoming transports and gunships. *They destroy anything out in the open and fire into the opening mechanisms for the various armored hangers. *The combat frame outfit kept mostly to the tarmac and the area around the target freighter, alert units in other areas of the large complex where assembling and preparing to push when Crook 1 and Crook 2 rolled into the area. Both are AV-656 ‘Reaper’ Heavy Gunships and in less than sixty seconds they expend half their combat load inside the base perimeter before rising to a higher altitude to orbit. ===== Raising Hell on the Mainland ===== ----- *Mugger flight, consisting of four UDT-720 ‘Super Star Stallion’ Heavy Dropships, loiter in and disgorge a company's worth of United American Marines and a few elements of additional forces for this mission. Mostly Nighkru who know the systems of the freighter inside and out. *Surviving Shil regroup and begin to push the attackers from all directions in drips and drabs with a platoon sized element rallying around a few Exos that have come out to play. Crook flight has been drawn off to the north to deal with a group of militia pushing in from the settlement. *Two company strength units from two different settlements have assembled and pushed toward the base in two large convoys of APCs and militia Exos. Both Crook elements rise and begin to engage with long range ATGMs and rocket fire. *The Nighkru rush to prepare the freighter for lift off, laser pulses ping off the hull around them as they check systems. In the bay of the freighter cargo and related things are rammed out the back to make room for the coming human cargo by the marines. *Shil forces continue to press on all sides but in general are kept down by accurate and lethal fire from the marines. The heavy dropships have moved off after taking MANPAD fire from surviving security forces but are holding close, their extra air to ground fire not needed. *The marines begin fixing an object to the surface of the tarmac. ===== Hitting the Prison Guard Garrison ===== ----- *Bandit element, a two ship formation of UDT-609 ‘Goshawk’ Tactical Dropships and sixteen Marine shooters (the ground force is designated as 'Ripsaw Element'), rush toward Delhool island at less than twenty feet above the waves. Their first act is to put a pair of ATGMs into the communications dome on top of the guard complex and then another set into the fusion power plant. With the power out they turn around and logger into a landing zone thats already been marked with lights by the residents. *Some of the guards have been disabled, but some are held up in overlooking towers and have been taking shots, the sixteen man team fans out and begins servicing targets. They are sweeping toward the causeway when the first ranks, a platoon sized force, of guards find themselves face to face with more armored figures who promptly open fire. Shil guards in flexfiber with laser rifles last moments against human Marines in Exo-Frame armor with heavy weapons as they push through and quickly force the survivors into their complex. There are six 'hard cases' inside and the woman in charge opts to use them as hostages to delay the attack and perhaps get reinforcements from the mainland. They are unaware of the situation of the Joint Base. *UAS Marines distract the hold up Shil as a two man team slips around the back of the complex and scale up to the roof. They attack at the same time, one hostage is shot by the warden but the rest survive as the Marines come away with a handful of Shil survivors. *Overhead the night sky 'twinkles' with another wave of antimatter detonations.