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Length : 5 years
Background:
For three centuries the Prime Union has existed and always in peace. No wars have been fought, no threatening races found. The scars of the Servile Rebellion have been eradicated completely. Humans have returned to populate their former worlds, Earth is again treated as their home. The Expansionist policies of the Council tripled the number of planets inside the Prime Union and increased its physical size ten fold. The Crok remained in their Cordon and all was well.
Until the Sidrihan VIII uprising began.
Sidrihan VIII was an industrial world. It was founded during the Expansion because of its wealth of metals and became home to vast production facilities and mines. It was like many other worlds founded during Expansion. Even after two hundred years, the Expansion worlds were behind the Core Worlds, the original Servile worlds, the remnants of the vast Crok Empire. To Core citizens they were 'country neighbours', 'suburban' planets. Planets which served a purpose - as they did - as industrial bases, food producers and so on. Corporations owned the worlds, the corporations which had funded the colonists or helped them, corporations who had funded the explorations which found the worlds. The Expansion worlds were not liked the rest, the originals. They were Real Estate, owned, rented by the inhabitants. The corporations paid taxes to the Union for running the planets and could do as they wished within Union Law. That does not mean the Union Laws were unjust or the Corporations abusing their power. But it provided the background for grievances which lead to five years of terrorism and then civil war.
Sidrihan VIII was run by a conglomerate of corporations. Each ran its operations on a different continent and separately from the other. Inhabitants traveled between continents for travel but there wasn't much difference between any of them. The corporations ran the planet and its operations like a corporation, for profit. Housing estates were drab economical buildings. Cities laid out with dull efficiency. Everyone had a job to do, and that's why they were here. People came to Sidrihan VIII because an Expansion world was the only place they could get work or to escape from their past. There wasn't much opportunity. You did the job assigned to you. Retired with a modest pension when you reached age. Tried to raise a family. Children went to corporation run schools. Groceries were bought from corporate run shopping centers. It was a dull, drab, urban life. No one felt like they were their own masters.
It was the perfect place for an individual to plant the seeds of discontent that would bring about the revenge that had been waiting for almost two hundred fifty years.
As with labour related industries there is a gap between worker and management. Not just in wages or job role. But attitude. Of White Collar and Blue Collar. Of Superiority. There was always tension. Slowly, over the period of a year that tension rose until it reached boiling point, and then exploded.
Nothing increased the tensions more when the workers perceived that they were getting the short end of the stick. When accidents occurred and management didn't do anything about it. The workers grumbled. When someone got injured, they got mad.
Some workers decided to do something about it. They didn't like the situation one bit. Not just how they were treated by the corporation but also by the Union. They saw how the Core Worlds lived. They weren't ruled or owned by a corporation. They were free, they could do what they wanted to. The workers recruited around the planet, building up a network where they could find out what was happening anywhere in the planet without the reliance on corporate owned media outlets. One of their most promising recruits was a young singer called Liberty. Her father had been injured during a working accident and the corporation was using his daughters popularity against him.
The movement sponsored Liberty's concerts and helped her tour around the planet, using her to spread their own message and get more recruits.
While the self called Sidrihan Equality Movement had been in existence for some time, the 'troubles' were not officially recognised until the death of a dozen workers started a major strike. As the strike wore on the Police were called in to break up it. The concentration between workers and police escalated from verbal exchanges into a short street battle. The impact was felt around the planet. Word quickly spread via the Equality Movements network and a planetary strike was called. Workers simply left their positions and headed to their cities and towns squares. The police didn't want to have a repeat of the previous strike and tried to find a peaceful resolution. They were not successful.
The Expansion worlds were important to the stability and growth of the Prime Union. As major suppliers of goods or processed raw materials any long term disruption to their output would have a significant impact on the economy and public utilities. The police and corporate security force on the planet was too small to get the workers to return to work so replying to the corporations request a regular military unit from the Interior Ministry was sent.
Spaceport workers refused to dock the military transports who took control of the ports and set up their headquarters there. They were still unloading and preparing when the first terrorist strike occurred. A refinery plant was rocked with an explosion. The facility was unmanned but the strike was a clear message from the Movement. The army quickly moved out from its bouviac to hunt down the terrorists and break up the workers rallies.
No one knows how it began. An APC patrolling the streets became separated from its company and wandered infront of a large rally. The crowd hurled bricks and debris against the APC without any effect. The APC could, should have retired and called its superiors but it did not. The Lieutenant commanding the APC went out with two men of his squad to confront the crowd and order them to disperse. One of the soldiers was hit by a missile and they fled back to the APC and the crowd, becoming a mob surged forward. The Lieutenant pulled out his pistol and shot the nearest worker. There was a momentary pause and with a yell the mod charged engulfing the Lieutenant. The soldiers in the APC fired into the mob while it drove through them to escape. Thirty people died and the Uprising began.
Again the news spread around the planet like wildfire. Rallies turned into riots targeting corporate offices and buildings setting them ablaze and killing any they could find. A Police building was assaulted, the officers hung and the weapons doled out. Terrorist strikes against the spaceports and facilities began.
Word of the 'massacre' and uprising was spread to other Expansion worlds. The Independence Movement, as it had changed its name to, had also been recruiting on other worlds. The military action taken against them on Sidrihan VIII was their evidence that they were being used by the Union and Corporations. At first these worlds refused to work on military vessels. This only alarmed the corporations and Union even more and more soldiers were sent in to get the spaceports open again and help the local police in controlling the workers.
It was counter productive. The arrival of armed Interior Ministry soldiers sparked off riots and then terrorist strikes on a dozen worlds.
The military got the upper hand quickly however. They had weapons, training and organisation. The site of heavily armed men and combat vehicles put the fight out of most of the workers. Terrorist strikes continued. The workers supported them but returned to their homes and obeyed the Martial Law decree. It would only be a matter of time before the IM's leaders were caught and arrested.
That changed when the police on Sidrihan VIII changed sides. Most of the police were local to the planet. They had lived and grown up there. They didn't like the presence of the military either and didn't like their heavy handed tactics. They also too began to believe that they were second class citizens that could be pushed around and were expected to behave. Police assistance, or resistance as it were, was low key. Letting terrorists or prisoners escape, supplying information to the terrorists about military posts.
The military got wind of the duplicity and arrested the Police Chief. Before he could be taken to a secure location he had been rescued by his men and taking them retired into a near by steel works and dug in. The IM quickly supported the Chief and the steel works were barricaded and armed men waiting when the first attack came.
With orders not to damage the works heavily the attack was limited in scope. There was little covering fire and the soldiers were only equipped with small arms. In the tight confines of the works the workers and police were able to fight on equal terms with the soldiers and inflicted heavy casualties. The soldiers withdrew leaving behind many dead and prisoners. The intensity of the uprising around the planet grew.
The commander of the military unit took off the gloves and bombarded the steel works with artillery and sent in a fresh assault with full covering fire. Within hours the works were ablaze and the fire spread to neighbouring facilities. The fighting raged throughout the night and again the soldiers were pushed back. Bloodied but not beaten the workers hurled insults and gathered up all the dropped weapons they could find.
The heroic resistance at the steel works as it was portrayed by the IM did its work amongst the other Expansion worlds supporting the uprising. They overthrew the corporate management and declared themselves independent. With its supply lines in jeopardy and finding itself in a city combat that would cause a lot of casualties and destruction the military retired from Sidrihan VIII. The commander of the unit was promptly replaced and discharged for his handling of the crisis and assault on the steel works.
Celebrations exploded in the shattered streets. While the people cheered themselves the leaders of the IM knew the struggle would follow. The Union would not give up these worlds and would return with more strength and determination. To buy themselves time they extended their terrorist strikes into the Core worlds and to raise awareness of their cause.
It is the start of a new year, 2474AD or 300PC. Fifteen worlds and a number more colonies and outposts have declared for the Independence Movement. On six of those worlds there is fighting against the Interior Ministry. Terrorists have struck deep into the Core worlds, hitting administration buildings, corporate headquarters and places of the rich. Liberty, a leading figure of the Uprising is one of the most wanted terrorists in the Union. The Council is in gridlock, never before have they had to deal with a situation like this. There is no precedent. They debate courses of action, solutions, remedies while the Interior Ministry tries to restore order, hunt the terrorists down and not cause any collateral damage.
All in all, a successful start to the individuals plan for revenge. More so as the individual was the leader of the Uprising and would make sure it did exactly what was required of it, so destiny could be fulfilled.
