Seventh Volunteer Corps

In the virtual drama; SEVEN, Maria Alonzo (played admirably by Luna Delgado in her first ever major role) rides her burro from the burn wreckage of Junction. Her aims to is make it to Red Castle, the sprawling city which had founded Junction and several other towns. She hopes to recruit mercenaries to fight against the rapacious bandits the destroyed her town and attacked countless farmsteads.

Such high drama made for fantastic cinematography, but the reality behind it all was somewhat different. In the later years of the Settlement Era (circa 2205 to 2211 CE) several corporate concerns had realised that their outlying farms and the communities that supported them were being attacked. Live stock, produce and other items were being stolen.

Rather than engage a private military contractor firm or petition the Party these corporate interests raised their own militia. In this there were significantly aided by Krasnygorod Machine Works (KMW), a major manufacturing corp the provided arms, munition and other equipment to the nascent militia. KMW got involved because its source of raw materials was also being impacted by these mysterious raiders.

Over six years the collective forged a reasonably armed and trained militia that was dubbed the Seventh Volunteer Corps. All of its members were volunteers, no conscripts. Some had been part of the Militsiya, some had been private military contractors and others were just eager farmboys or factory workers looking to do good against voracious bandits.

The bulk of the recruits came from Krasnygorod and its satellite communities, specifically those that had been bearing the brunt of the raids. Though there were some from the south who hearing of the raids elected to join up. They would comprise the elite Dragon Cadre, a covert ops/recon unit that would scout out ahead of the main formations. Most of the Cadre were cybernetically enhanced and some even had their own military grade drones.

In October of 2211 CE the Corps was actively deployed after a major ceremony in Krasnygorod and a presentation of a unit flag by the Mayor. In the next month or so the Corps would engage in several skirmishes while getting itself stationed in key areas.

In the new year, circa Feb 2212, things changed. The Seventh VC found itself engaged in what would become a brutal war that would last for seven years, a war without quarter. By the time the conflict ended in Dec 2219 over seventy per cent of the Corps members would lie dead on various battlefields, twenty per cent would have significant injuries and only ten per cent would emerge from it all 'unscathed'.

When the hostilites died down all record of the conflict was appropriated by the Party via the Department of Internal Security (OVB). These records were then sealed in party archives, though the Mayor, members of the Polituro and Central Committee can access them.

As for the members of the Seventh? Well to some degree they became immortalised in SEVEN, but the Party ordered the construction of a monument to their deeds built on the northern outskirts of the city. Dubbed the Field of Valor it is a cemetery with a monument at the center that is comrpised of a soldier aiding a fallen comrade while a third aims their gun at the enemy. Every year on Dec 13 those who have family members buried here gather to honour the fallen.