Penal Trooper

**Key Features** | »Black shirt prison uniform w/ flak jacket»KM-21 semi-auto shotgun»Model 1948 utility hatchet»“Petard” demolition charge (extremely unreliable fuse)»C4 explosives (inserted in chest cavity)

*"Still beats solitary confinement."*

- A Penal Trooper under fire
## Tactical Analysis

* **Suicide squad**: For prisoners who had done truly heinous crimes (like murder) or particularly troublesome Flak Troopers. They are given the choice to join the penal battalion for two years, after which they’ll be pardoned, or live out their sentence in the gulag as the hated “blackshirts”, infamous for their “cells” being a tiny box and eating on the scraps left by the other inmates. Those who join are given a shotgun, hatchet, armour, and a bomb implanted in their chest to storm the enemy defenses as assault infantry, clearing out garrisons and blasting apart infantry, and in the event they die their bomb would detonate.

* **Bomb has been planted**: Once the Penal Trooper reaches their objective, most often a turret or bunker, they are to plant and set up their demo charge. Though the explosive has a delay before detonation the blast is enough to level most structures and destroy anything in its small blast radius. Theoretically the countdown is long enough for the Penal Trooper to get out of the blast range, if they immediately run away once the fuse is lit. In practice it’s often a close shave, since even a single second of delay will see the soldier be wounded by their own bomb.

* **Hoist by their own petard**: Armed with only short ranged weapons the Penal Troopers can be taken down with enough gunfire before they reach their target, especially against grenades and similar explosives that can go through their armour. And buckshot will do nothing against anything tougher than a bike and aircraft.

* **Second Chances**: Penal Trooper who has survived beyond their first two months and have shown to be reforming are given a small exoskeleton, used by the workers for hard labour, to increase their chance of survival. The increased in strength letting the Trooper move faster, equip heavier armour to defend themself, and can throw their charges at a short range, giving them more time to get out of the blast zone.

## Operational History

Though the Union provide for their people with the very best (though not as much as they would like) there are simply people who will not be satisfied with what they have and would take extreme measures to get it, from murder to arson. And are considered the most hated inmates in the gulag, known for the black shirt, with Soviet command absolutely refusing them the chance to be Flak Troopers unless the situation is extremely dire (like the Axis invading the Motherland), and thus are punished to do hard labour until they die or, somehow, their sentence is over. WW3 would change that however.

When the Empire and Guards suddenly struck their coasts they wasted no time in rapidly moving and taking over the various lightly defended cities before the Soviet realised what happened. And by the time the red army pulled its forces out of the European theatre to push them back out they had already set up the defenses and turned the cities into fortress.

The liberation of their cities would be one of the Soviets bloodiest battles as their forces spent thousands of lives trying to breach the defenses but was repulsed every time. Besieging was not an option as it’ll take too long and the Empires and Guard logistics would let them hold out indefinitely.

Due to their cities small streets, their attempt to minimise property damage, and their airforce spread thin fighting the Guards armada the Red army was forced to use their infantry with light vehicle support. But within their defenses the Empire garrisons would shred their conscript before they could get in range in killzones, vehicles would get blown up by hidden Tank Busters and traps, and even if their forces had taken territory the Empire would circle around and overwhelm them, with almost every victory having the Soviets losing ten men for every Empire soldier killed. The only forces having succeeded with little losses were their elite battlesuit, but their small numbers and slowness meant that it would take too long, and as the battle wore on the Empire would develop countermeasures. What the Union needed was a heavily armoured soldier who is brave enough to charge through enemy fire to demolish key defence or open a way for the army to go through, unfortunately not even the most patriotic Conscripts would sign up for a suicide mission.

Eventually the loss of soldiers reached to a point where the Soviets would open up all of their gulags and told the prisoners that if they fight to save the Motherland their crimes will be pardoned, all but the blackshirts whom they see underserving of pardon, but needing every hand to help they would serve in logistics.

But even with the influx of manpower the sieges would prove too long or too costly, with many convicts choosing to go back to the gulag rather than go on a suicide mission. When one of the blackshirt heard about the situation and went to the warden and general (and taking a beating from the guards trying to stop him) and told them he and the other blackshirt would gladly take that suicide mission for a pardon, as they would rather die trying to save the Motherland then die by the Empires hands. And with how dire the situation was, and their battlesuit division spread too thin, they reluctantly accepted.

Giving every blackshirts a shotgun, pistol, hatchet, demolition charges, and a locking on a vest fitted with explosives they were given a simply order.

*”Charge through the Empire defenses, blow up their bunkers, and create a breach for our forces, anyone who survives will be given full pardon. And if any of you tries to run that bomb vest will blow you to pieces. Now, GIVE YOUR LIFE TO MOTHER RUSSIA!”*

And with that order the first penal assault legion “Last Chancers” would charge in the city of Stalingrad, which had already repulsed five attempts and two battlesuit assaults, to push the Empire out. And it succeeded at the cost of all but thirteen men, as the soldiers charged without fear, and once in range their guns would tear through the Empire soldiers light armour while their demo charges demolished the flimsy nanobot constructs.

Soon other gulags would release their blackshirt when news spread of the Last Chancers success and give them the same ultimatum. And in a few months the Soviets would push the Empire and Guards off their homes, and the gulags became much emptier.

Once reports of the success reached Cherdenko he was impressed and signed a new law that those who had done horrible crimes would be given a chance of pardon as **Penal Troopers**.

Now the Penal Troopers, or “suicide squads” as they’re nicknamed by the regular army, serves alongside the red army in the same goal of spreading communism, showing the world that even the worst of the worst has a chance of redemption in communism.

secretly though is the fact that the Union lies, in a sense. While on paper the Penal Trooper is pardoned after two years of service, the dangerous situations they are sent into meant that most would live up to two weeks tops, giving the Soviet a division of zealots who will do what is asked and help clean out the gulag overpopulation issue. And even if a Penal Trooper lives beyond two weeks the Soviets monitor them like hawks, where only Penal Troopers who are shown to be genuinely reforming are given the chance with safer mission, but those who still prove themselves as criminals will simply be sent into even more dangerous missions in the hopes of dying (and failing that the KGB would take them for god knows what and report them deceased).

Even within the military their life is restricted. Penal Troopers live in camp separate from the main army (for comparison the Flak Trooper has their own barrack within the main camp) and surrounded by the elite and armoured forces, constantly watching them for possible betrayal. Their schedule and diets, consisting of cold stew and water, are completely different, their equipment are stored in a separate building and only given before battle. And finally they sleep in separate, small, rooms more akin to a prison cell than a barrack. But when compared to their conditions in the gulag, where their is the size of a broom closet with only a window and fed on the scraps left by the others, many would choose to be a Penal Trooper.