Harpe Station

"Contrary to rumors and conspiracy theories, we do not castrate inmates here on Harpe Station."

— Warden Grover Aulnarbre

Overview

Harpe Station is Saturn’s notorious orbital prison, a grim symbol of justice and deterrence hanging over the gas giant. Operated under the authority of House Campe and its corporate arm, Scorpio Corp, the station has earned a reputation as the most secure prison in the Solar System. Its inmates include terrorists, serial killers, cult leaders, fugitives, and enemies of the state—those too dangerous for reeducation or reintegration.

The station’s distinctive silhouette resembles a dumbbell, with two large prison decks—high-security above, low-security below—connected by a narrow, easily defensible central chokepoint where the guards and facilities are located.

Prison Strata

Harpe Station is divided into three distinct sectors:

• Upper Decks (Maximum Security): Reserved for the most dangerous criminals in Human Space. Cells are brightly lit by panels on every surface, eliminating shadows and removing even the illusion of privacy. Guards here are never flesh and blood—synths controlled by the station’s AI perform all direct supervision. Inmates exist under a rigid schedule, and deviation from obedience is crushed instantly.
• Middle Decks (Guards and Staff): The station’s vital chokepoint. Housing the guards, support staff, checkpoints, and the only docking bay, this section is oriented with gravity pressing “outward,” creating a battlefield where defenders have every advantage in the event of riot or breach. The dock only permits one ship—the Stephanos-Harpe Express, ensuring all prisoner transfers remain tightly controlled.
• Lower Decks (Transit and Trustees): These hold transitory prisoners awaiting transfer to Wolfguard custody or extradition, as well as Saturnites convicted of lesser crimes who volunteer for work-detail programs to reduce their sentences. Trustees perform maintenance, repairs, and menial work. Their presence doubles as a psychological tool for maximum-security inmates, providing the illusion of contact with the outside world.

Defensive Design

Harpe Station is engineered to be impregnable:

• Artificial Gravity: Both upper and lower decks pull “away” from the center, ensuring any breach into the middle decks forces attackers uphill against defenders.
• Failsafe Protocol: Should the station ever fall to inmates, the central AI is programmed to boost the entire structure into Saturn’s rings, annihilating all aboard. This grim deterrent ensures even the most hardened criminals hesitate to rebel.
• Limited Armament: The station is armed only with pressors—enough to keep escapees contained and use the environment as a weapon, but not enough to tempt a hostile takeover for heavy armaments.
• Quick Reaction Force: A contingent of Campe Men-at-Arms is stationed on Daphnis. Kept deliberately separate from the station, this heavily armed force can arrive within five hours. They have been deployed only twice in centuries, each time resulting in the complete depopulation of maximum security.

Administration and History

Originally run by Ringside Army Command (RAC), Saturn’s Planetary Defense Force, Harpe Station was transferred to House Campe during the Iapetian War of ’49, when RAC’s resources were stretched thin. House Campe established Scorpio Corp to administer the prison both as a noble duty and as a corporate enterprise. Under their management, Harpe became more than a Saturnian prison—it grew into the supermax of the entire Solar System, notorious for its unbroken record of security.

Warden Grover Aulnarbre

For nearly three decades, Harpe Station has been run by Warden Grover Aulnarbre, who inherited the position from his father. Unlike many prison administrators, Grover is not aloof—he walks the decks daily, unescorted, chatting with inmates and staff alike. He never shows fear, cultivating an aura of mystique and psychological dominance.

Rumors, often encouraged by the warden himself, whisper of ghoulish creatures in the walls, of inmates vanishing in the morgue, of monsters that would avenge his death. Whether true or not, these tales serve as another layer of control. The inmates—cunning or otherwise—have yet to test them.

Despite the fearsome reputation, Grover is not cruel. He is laconic, calm, and consistently smiling, a man who views his role not as punisher but as watchman and keeper, ensuring society is spared from its worst predators.

His most famous moment came not from an escape or riot, but during a documentary interview about the Sinope Strangler, Henry Goddard. Grover opened with a line that became infamous, delivered without irony or explanation:

“Contrary to rumors and conspiracy theories, we do not castrate inmates here on Harpe Station.”

Legacy

Harpe Station stands as both a fortress and a tomb. In its history, there has never been a successful breakout, and under Aulnarbre’s watch, not a single major riot has succeeded. Saturnites derisively call Scorpio Corp the “Scorporation,” but none deny Harpe’s record.

It is at once a prison, a deterrent, and a reminder: some crimes are so monstrous, their perpetrators can never walk free again.