NationStates Jolt Archive

In the Mountain Colonies, those remotely space mining colonies located on the New American Continent, the workers were growing angry.

Many of them had been sentenced to the mines for no more than a few years, but most had been kept there for longer. Their families were not able to visit them, and there where few females in the prisons, and most them wanted nothing to do with the men who had been sentenced there alongside them.

On top of that, the conditions were unsafe. The workers in the Mountain Colonies where nothing more than Convicts in the eyes of most of the government, who controlled the mines in theory. However, in practice, it was the Mine Warden who controlled the mines, and gained the most from them. Most of the prisoners were given candle-flame lanterns, and th dust clogging continuous mining drills were put in use instead of the new, cleaner methods that where in use on the American Continent.

Though accidents were uncommon, they had occurred in the past, and would continue to do so.

Deep in the mines, a young man by the name of Jason Christenson sat, reading a manifesto that had been smuggled in. The book was talking about the proletariat and the bourgeoisies, and went on and on about how capitalists were evil and how the people needed to remove the bonds and throw off the chains of the opressors.

A guard came down, looking around at the people eating down in the break-shaft. As he did so, he pulled out his night-stick, and whacked Jason across the back of his head.

"That is contraband, Christenson, and you know what happens when you bring conraband into the mines!"

The guard swung away with his nightstick a couple more times, before picking the young man up and taking him to the cool down cell.

In the cool down cell, Christenson sat and fumed. The guards here had free reign, and would often put on a good show for the inspectors. But when the government wasn't nosing in, torture reigned here. Though five months had passed, he had no more than three hours of uninterrupted cell time.

Now, the guards came, shaclked blinders to his face, and led him to the outside. he knew what was coming, it wasn't his first time in the cool down cell.

As he was forced into a chair, he had the blinders ripped off his face, and winced as the bright sunlight hit his eyes. That wince earned him a slap upside his head from a truncheon, as the guards disappeared.

He stood in the square that had been drawn in the dust, and was forced to stand there for an hour before the doors out into the rest of the colony opened.

The core of his group was no where to be found. he didn't know anyone outside of the core, as he had set up himself. Each member of his group led a cell, but none of them knew who the other members of the core group were.

Now, he had only to start whistling a song, filled with lyrics that where non-sense to those who didn't know the code, that would start the uprising.

As he made his way into the cave, he began to whistle it. Soon, people all around him began to whistle the same song. He was surprised at how far it had spread.

Soon, the song filled the caves, and people stopped working. The convicts hefted the pickaxes and shovels, and made their way to the surface of the colony. As they did so, guards approached, most of them where in their basic armor and carrying simple truncheons. a few of the riot guards had been out there already, and those that where hefted their shields and approached.

The inmates broke into a run, charging the guards. As Christenson and his group approached, they broke into a trot, and then into a run. The two groups collided, and the blood flew.

Jaime Lindsey had smuggled herself into the prison colonies with a film crew, dedicated to getting the story of the torture that went on in the colonies on those who had broken the laws of the government.

The officials in charge had sworn on a stack of bibles taller than themselves that nothing un-kosher was occuring. The Attorney General had even gone on the record of stating that should it be discovered that something in violation of DRUSA'n laws was being done to the prisoners, that he would personally prosecute every one of them, before laughing it off to say that he figured that nothing would come of it.

Now, Jaime Lindsey was making her way to Chevara Colony, the home of a young man named Christenson. as she did so, she noted to her surprise the flag fluttering above the base was not the seven starred, seven barred flag of the republic, but a home made banner of red and black, with a cog and a machete crossed upon it.

http://www.appliedlanguage.com/flags_of_the_world/small_flag_of_angola.gif

As she approached, she could see men in bits and pieces of guard uniforms in the guard houses. They all wore red and black armbands, with the guard armor being placed over their red prison jumpsuits.

Most of them carried pick-axes and hammers, though some bore rifles or shotguns, and all had a handgun.

Looking down, she thought for sure that this was no ordinary prison riot.

Hefting the camera, she zoomed in, and relayed the images to her editor. Soon, news of the prison takeover had spread through out the Republic and out into the rest of the world.

The Grand Master of The Holy Order of Saint Longinus sat and watched as the reports of what had been occuring in the DRUSA'n Mountain Colonies came pouring in. He was disgusted at the treatment, but was equally reviled by the prisoners choice of politics.

"Send in a negotiator, see if you can't get them to abandon their chosen source of politics."

The negotiator, an Arch-Bishop by the name of Jackson boarded a small helicopter and flew it down to the Mountain Colonies.

he set down outside the colony, and approached, his sword and pistols still on his waist.

He approached the colony with out caution, and with his arms at his side. he looked for all the world as a man who was sure that none could harm him.

Christenson was startled to see the young man in black clothing and armor walking up to his camp. As he looked through the Electro-Optical Binoculars, he was shocked to see who it was. Jackson was notorious among the prisoners for his brutal negotiating tactics from previous Prison Riots.

Watching the man walk up to the gates, weapons on his belt, Christenson motioned with his arm, and his guards opened fire upon the young man.


Meanwhile, in The Pillar, the feed from Lindsey was being shown.

The Secretary of War and the Secretary of Homeland Defense were grappling over who was in charge here.

The Secretary of War, Alaster Brown, wanted to use his new Floating Fortress to level the camp. The Secretary of Homeland Defense, Sam Carsten on the other hand wanted to send in a pair of Martial Arts teams to try and "Dis-arm the situation."

As they sat arguing, a radio signal broke over the comm system.

"This is Warden Brown, Governor of the Mountain Colonies. We are receiving reports of uprisings all across the colonies, and we need backup!"

At that point, gunfire broke out, as the sounds of struggle could be heard.

Secretary Carsten looked over at his opposite number, and nodded. As soon as the concession was made, Secretary Brown began to shout for Floating Fortresses to mobilize for the decimation of the colonies.