Thule Command

Insignia of the 47th Infantry Division of the United States Army

The **Thule Command** is a United States Military remnant based in the Thule Airforce Base in Northwestern Greenland.

## **Background**

### **Operation HYPERBOREA**

In the mid-late 2060s, the United States Government drafted and then subsequently approved the plans for Operation: HYPERBOREA. It was a plan that involved the construction of a ring of arctic bases to cover an increasingly large gap in the United States' geographical northern flank. Thule Airforce Base was designated as the 'headquarters' for Operation HYPERBOREA as it was an already existing and rather extensive facility already operated by the US Military. It underwent a series of construction projects that saw the development of a revolutionary subterranean base and the refurbishing and expansion of it's surface facilities. Several new hangars were built, specially-made robots were shipped in to work constantly at keeping the runways clear and a highly advanced nuclear reactor was developed in the facility beneath the surface. This reactor was replaced in early 2077 when more advanced nuclear fusion technology became available.

By 2077, Thule Airforce Base was one of the most advanced military complexes under the United States' jurisdiction. It was the springboard for their occupation of Greenland in April of that year, a betrayal of their former agreements with Denmark. The wider Operation HYPERBOREA had faltered, however. Costs had been seriously underestimated especially with the US Military's campaign in Asia becoming bogged down. Thule Airforce Base was the only finished and fully-operational Operation HYPERBOREA facility by October of 2077.

On October 23rd, 2077, many military assets were present at Thule Airforce Base. This included elements of several air divisions including the 64th Air Division which was wholly assigned to the base. Five thousand personnel from the 47th Infantry Division were present on-base, and a further six hundred from various other commands were also present. Seventeen men of the International Ice Patrol and their aircraft were stationed at the base's tertiary airfield. A contingent of United States Navy forces were stationed at the base's extensive port facilities, including several destroyers. Two platoons of US Marines were undergoing Arctic weather & terrain training.

Also present on the base were all of the logistical staff, over four hundred robots, a team of fully qualified military nuclear engineers, the families of some of the long-term stationed forces at the base and various contracted personnel.

In the early hours of the morning of October 23rd, 2077, the Great War began. Thule Airforce Base was not a major target; it was a military installation far from any populated centers. Only the Chinese Government had reliable information regarding the nature of Operation HYPERBOREA and Thule Airforce Base, making it a non-target to all other nuclear capable governments. Contact with the outside world was immediately lost, and despite the remnants of the US Government's best attempts, namely the Enclave, contact would never be restored.

### **Rise of the Thule Command**

Immediately a hierarchy was formed and the base established a quasi-republican system. The 47th Infantry Division became the base's de facto security force, suppressing dissent and mutinous thought which had cropped up in the initial weeks following the Great War. The base was in a state of panic; due to Operation HYPERBOREA it was theoretically self-sufficient for an indefinite period, but without a government to report to the military forces at the base would be stranded within the Arctic Circle. They had an endless supply of nuclear energy from a reactor that could realistically last ten thousand years with proper maintenance, and were fed by a hydroponics system and from fishing, but their material needs could not sate their inherent political needs.

By January of 2078, the base had calmed down, and business resumed 'as normal'. Most had accepted the fact they would likely be living there for the rest of their lives. Over the coming two centuries, the bases' personnel trained their descendants in their advanced pre-war techniques, and an abundance of pre-war knowledge located in the bases' systems, it's library and the on-site schoolhouse allowed for a proper education system to be established. Even as late as 2287 there were still highly qualified nuclear engineers present at Thule Airforce Base, owing to an extensive education by their ancestors.

The Enclave tried several times between 2100 and 2277 to contact Thule Airforce Base, however no attempts proved fruitful. The Airbase had established it's own government, the Thule Command, which recognised no foreign entity as the sole remnant of the United States Government and the lack of communication with the outside world made it difficult for the residents of the base to ascertain what the Enclave actually was, let alone what it's intentions with them were.

### **Continued Isolation**

By 2287, the base continued to be isolated. The strict majority of it's primary systems were still online, and the base was generally well-maintained. Both the large maintenance force and the large robotic corps meant that the base hadn't had a chance over the last two hundred years to proper degrade. Despite this, most of the aircraft were mothballed, though a large number of working aircraft are still stored in the base's various hangars and facilities. Two destroyers out of the original Thule flotilla remain functional, the rest were either beached and torn apart for parts, their reactors used for other projects or they generally became too costly to maintain.

The Thule Command adopted the iconography of both the 47th Infantry Division and the 64th Air Division, while still using the United States Flag for official ceremonies.

## **Organisation**

### Army

#### **47th Infantry Division**

The 47th Infantry Division remained the primary military force of the Thule Command well into the 23rd century. Before the Great War, roughly 5,000 members of the 47th were present at Thule Airbase, and a further 3,000 were spread out across Greenland as part of the US Military's occupation of the island. The latter force was spread too thinly and relied too heavily on now-erased supply lines to continue to existing in the same way the former did.

The Thule Command adopted iconography of the 47th and it's insignia became one of the recognised symbols of the Command, and of Thule Airforce Base.

### **Marine Force Ultima**

Marine Force Ultima was the reformed continuation of the Second Arctic Expeditionary Brigade of the United States Marine Corps. Two platoons of the brigade were stationed at Thule Airforce Base on the eve of the Great War and were undergoing conditioning and training for Arctic weather and terrain. Following the Great War, it was reformed into Marine Force Ultima, lead by Lieutenant Colonel Adrianne Kennedy.

Marine Force Ultima ceased to exist following the death or retirement of the majority of it's members.