But first: No it is not Prison Planet (1989) A novel by William C Dietz
I am looking for someone to help me ID an old book I read a very long time ago.
The copyright date I believe is before 1980.
Takes place during a galactic war period.
Basic weapons allowed were - air based; things that require constant maintenance and wear out.
Planet's orbit around the sun is not standard orbit. This makes it hard for 'outsiders' to figure out where the prison planet is located.
Prisoner discover that the the planetary star-base was abandon. A question comes up, why are the children of the prisoners are also prisoners.
It looks like both sides in the galactic war got pounded into rubble and were no longer in space.
One of the group figures away to break into the abandon base and build a space ship for local in system use. The prison guards new that things were going real bad in the war, and left supplies necessary to help the inmates get back to the stars.
I am just wondering how many of the details I got wrong, but dang it has been a real long time.