Mellac

"The land of milk and honey... war and famine too, suppose they left that bit out on the brochure did they?" -Anonymous Sargent to a new unit of reinforcements during the Battle of MellacMellac was an inner colony established in 2372 as a recent addition to the growing number of core worlds bannered by the UNSC. Without the need for terraforming, Mellac was already home to an impressive degree of biodiversity and hospitable conditions. Early colonization allowed Mellac to feature sweeping city-scapes, industrial sectors, and a large native population. 
== Background ==
From 2372 through the mid 2480's, the world of Mellac grew from an agricultural and scientific colony, to a thriving world with distinct and renowned cityscapes, industries, and tech buisness. Hundreds of square kilometers of agriculture land dedicated to autonomous farming gave the small population more than decent salaries. When the children of the early settlers reached adulthood, the entrepreneurial spirit ripped through the colony as untapped paradise was renovated into prestigious tourist hot-spots. To feed the growing part-time residents, large fishing industries began growing along the coasts which gave rise for the demand for more industry. By 2495 Mellac was home to prestigious academic institutions probing the unknown reaches of space and propelling the colony and humanity forward with new technological research. 
With a population of 550 million by 2525 the outer colony was a noteworthy leader in heavy manufacturing and growth, just as the Covenant were rearing their ugly head into Human Space. After several incidents of violence during the Insurrection, Mellac was not without protection. The wealthy colony was defended not only by a small battlegroup from the UNSC, but also a sizable colonial police force. Neither colonial police or the small detachment of UNSC vessels were adequate for the assault by the Covenant in 2537. 
=== Insurrection ===
The colonial government of Mellac was regarded as fairly liberal and oftentimes seen as an incrementalist state in terms of progressive policies. Colonial Populations were privy to the Mellac Fund, where the native population received a Universal Basic Income from a portion of the profits garnered by the expansive automated industries of agriculture, aquaculture, and manufacturing. Mellac's thriving tourism and non-native population ensured that this Mellac Fund never defaulted into welfare wages. This kept prices low for natives and profitable for the planet in regards to tourists and non-residents who were largely externally funded or wealthy tourists and researchers. 
The social-capitalism of Mellac lent itself to a precarious position in regards to the Insurrection. While outwardly against the insurrection and the violence it brought to the UEG, Mellac was seen as a supporter of fundamental changes to the UEG economy. Insurrectionists oftentimes held demonstrations and sought to infiltrate the Mellac government to push the colony towards more progressive ideals that attacked the Earth-Centric and oppressive conditions under the UEG. The more liberal Mellac Government failed to recognize, and share the perspective, of just how bad things under the UEG were compared to the perspective of the insurrectionist parties who brought with them, seemingly, only violence and depravity. 
As the Insurrection intensified, Mellac became the target of great ridicule from insurrectionist parties and the UEG alike. Insurrectionist groups labeled the Mellac Colonial Government as fence-sitters and Minimizers of the true extent of oppression under the UEG, whilst the UEG was growing increasingly paranoid of any sympathies towards the insurrectionist movement. Increased UNSC Security and growing tensions with more violent Insurrectionist groups on the planet lead to notable conflict and polarization of the population. 
==== Mellac People's Party ====
The Establishment of the Mellac People's Party was, for the majority of its history, a peaceful political activist group composed of Mellac Natives and non-residents alike seeking to validate, and bring to light, the concerns of the insurrectionist entities. This most sympathetic political group was quickly targeted by members of the Mellac Colonial Government and UNSC Security in system as the preamble to a terrorist group. This lead to increased tension and violence between the two, with Mellac's government caught squared in the middle. 
In an attempt to pressure Mellac natives to push the insurrectionist forces off-world, a decisive policy was put into place following a large scale stand-off between MPP and UNSC forces, following the detonation of a military grade excavation explosive at one of Mellac's spaceports. The policy included that damages would be extracted from the Mellac Fund to not disrupt the Mellac Economy. This drastically shifted the quality of life for many Mellac natives and while some, as hoped, blamed the MPP and the Insurrection at large, the overall effect was one of increased polarization and militarization of the MPP who still denied involvement with the incident. 
Mellac as party was divided and fragmented with various violent and peaceful groups claiming legitimacy of the party moving forward. From the fragmentation of the MPP multiple smaller guerilla groups emerged across the planet as the movement spread. By 2525 Mellac had been militarized by the UNSC with security checkpoints and pervasive surveillance systems across the urban environments. Terror cells and activist groups had been criminalized without distinction and forcibly held or fled the cities largely to the Desert of Amer and the mountains nearby. The Mellac Colonial Government, in a bid to restore normalcy, had capitulated to UNSC authority and pervasion to eliminate the activists and insurrectionists alike. 
=== Human - Covenant War ===
The onset of the Human - Covenant War saw an informal ceasefire between the UNSC and Insurrectionist forces on the planet. As insurrectionist forces awaited confirmation of this newfound existential threat they remained in hiding, seemingly disappearing as the UEG realigned to face its new foe. Mellac's economy, wounded badly by the insurrection, fell into a depression as the war quickly escalated to limit tourism, industry jobs held by natives were now in higher demand, decreasing the Mellac fund and shattering the economy model of the colony from the ground. 
As the colony attempted to stabilize its newfound wartime economy, the not-so-distant memories of civil unrest lead to mass-strikes and walk-outs. While automated, without a workforce to regulate and repair machinery, in addition to damages done during the insurrection, food scarcity become commonplace. Mellac was being pummeled without a single covenant cruiser entering the system. By 2530 Mellac had declared martial law and had become fully militarized under the UNSC, famines were widespread and labor strikes were met with severe consequence by UNSC peacekeeping forces. Corporations on the planet aligned themselves with the new military regime of the planet and perpetuated oppressive conditions for the inhabitants of Mellac. 
==== Battle of Mellac ====
In 2537 a Covenant formation entered the system, system defenses were ordered back to the planet from patrol routes to defend the colony while as many people were funneled off-world. The half dozen orbital defense platforms were quickly overwhelmed as the orbital defensive battlegroup fell into disarray. Landing parties penetrated the atmosphere and began laying siege to various population centers across the planet. Notably, a landing group departed the larger formation and followed course to the Desert of Amer. 
UNSC forces scrambled to secure population centers and evacuation shuttles off world for civilian personnel, while only a small detachment of marines and ODST units were deployed to investigate the Covenant presence in the Desert of Amer. Upon arrival, large scale excavation operations were already being deployed through the use of scarabs. Defensive positions had been taken and nearly half of the UNSC reinforcements to the area never made land fall. Anti Air defenses assured that those with boots on the ground would need to eliminate the covenant in the area or be indefinitely cut off from exfiltration. 
Several records from survivors of the battle, as well as recovered drone footage, shows the MPP, rebranded into the Mellac Liberation Army (MLA), emerge from the mountain sides aiding UNSC forces and leading independent operations against the covenant forces in their desert. It is speculated that the arrival of the MLA drastically caught the Covenant off guard and aided in the successful denial of Covenant forces in excavation operations. MLP forces vastly outnumbered the UNSC forces and threw themselves upon the alien threat with a tenacity that many UNSC veterans credit as, "the greatest fighting spirit they had ever seen." It was the MLA forces which were able to orchestrate a controlled denial of Covenant forces that afforded UNSC personnel the access and opportunity to exfiltrate from the area and aid in the urban warfare which had only escalated. 
Satellite imaging and surveillance does not indicate the condition of the MLA forces, but prior to the complete loss of the planet, the overseeing Covenant Battlecruiser over the Desert of Amer is captured as a hulking mass of smoke and rubble. Little activity follows thereafter, and the overall loss of the planet and abandonment by the UEG leaves much to speculation. 
=== Post War ===
Following the loss of Mellac by the UNSC to the Covenant the planet's major population centers were eventually glassed, evidently the point of interest in the Amer Desert had been lost and the Covenant similarly abandoned the planet. Left to burn the world's survivors wrestled against famine and the rising of survivor factions lead to more violence. In 2540 the MLA achieved a notable victory against the rising fascist survivor groups, taking a major industrial sector to the east of the Amer Desert along the Capricious Sea. The MLA, sizable and now with logistical access from their stronghold in the Amer Desert to the Capricious sea, reorganized themselves into the nation of The People's Democracy of Mellac, with the Mellac Liberation Front formally becoming its military body. 
Over the course of several years the PDM was able to expand eastward across the sea and up and over, liberating city states suffocating under authoritative regimes and uniting the seas demolished coastal capital cities under the PDM banner. While meeting continuous resistance, the PDM was gradually winning and creating stable supply, agriculture, and other services for the people of Mellac. 
In 2556 the PDM, whom had secured most of the planet, were contacted by the Barrow Defense Authority and were offered aid and other resources necessary to solidify their governance and implement the services they sought for the people of the planet. Barrow supplied medicine, food-goods, military equipment and hardware, as well as governmental and economic development services and in doing so built a strong alliance with the PDM. 
Category:UEG Outer Colonies