Red Rock Crew
History
Red Rock Company Appears
May 10, 409 PTAs settlements and mining colonies formed and grew in the Sol Asteroid Belt, piracy and criminal activity was able to set root and operate with little to no resistance from the government. The distance between the core colonies of these outer colonies from the Interplanetary Federation of Sol's core cities on Mars and Luna resulted in lengthy response times for military fleets. For the first few years of expansion into the asteroid belt, hired IFS military escorts and the rare patrol were the only means of protection against pirate attacks - Until a group of corvettes and fighters appeared and saved Aurora, a small asteroid mining colony, from a pirate raid. Calling themselves the Red Rock Company, this group quickly established themselves as a faster and more affordable protection service than the IFS military and became a force to be reckoned with in the Asteroid Belt after only two years of providing escort services.
Revelation of Red Rock's Affiliation
In 411 PT photographs, video footage, and documents from an unknown source found themselves in the hands of the Sol Federal News Network. These documents provided incriminating evidence of Red Rock Company working directly with pirates, staging attacks the escort services fought off, and splitting their income from those escort services. There was even evidence provided that Red Rock controlled nearly all pirate and criminal activity within the Asteroid Belt and had staged the original attack on the Aurora mining colony. By March 4th, the entirety of the Federation was aware of the truth behind the Red Rock Company.
Red Rock Crew Seizes Control
Barely a week after the initial broadcast, Red Rock addressed the outer colonies and confirmed the news reports: Red Rock Company was actually a growing pirate band named the Red Rock Crew. The group's leader, Antoon Schreck, declared he had full control over all the pirates in the sector and over the sector itself and gave the citizens a new ultimatum: They would pay Red Rock Crew a 'fee' for safe passage, or their ships and colonies would be attacked and raided. To emphasize their point, Red Rock positioned their ships nearby every colony, stopping every ship that tried to enter or leave and demanding this fee be paid. Those who complied were let by without further incident, while those who resisted were attacked, boarded, their stock stolen, and then the ships destroyed with the crew still on board.
The pirate's reign on the asteroid belt went on for a full two weeks before the Federation response fleet was able to arrive. This fleet, led by Admiral Arnold Meier, was able to retake the Atlas Station colony from the pirates with minimal loss. This colony became the forward base of operations for the Federation military in their campaign to release Red Rock's hold on the asteroid belt.
Red Rock Crew's Defeat
Despite the pirate's numbers, and Schreck's confidence, the battle over the asteroid belt only lasted a few months. Admiral Meier's fleet, moving systematically from colony to colony, was able to consistantly drive back the pirates at every engagement with only the loss of one of his own ships. Nearly every colony was eventually liberated from pirate control, with Red Rock and Schreck's final stand being at Aurora. The final battle was short, and Red Rock's existance officially ended when Antoon Schreck took his own life instead of surrendering to the fleet.
Though your article is fairly short, I do like how the Red Rocket Crew were kind of like a firecracker, bright and flashy but not very long lasting. However, I would like to know if they inspired any emulators and if there were any long-reaching effects of them taking over the asteroid belt.
*Rock stupid autocorrect