From the personal journal of Irisz Magyari

Dirty tricks are a part of the mercenary trade. No unit can stay ‘clean’ forever, and sooner or later you’re going to have to do something a little dubious to get your way. And sometimes, it actually ends up that you’re doing the right thing, even if you’re going about it in the least ethical ways possible.

Case in point, what we did to Devon Wainwright. We’d had concerns about him ever since we landed on Ashburton, based on the information we’d been provided on his family’s involvement with the pirates. He had a clear motivation too; overthrow the government and restore the planetary monarchy with his family at the top, and go back to how things had been for the last few hundred years before the Jihad.

Ashburton National News, 12th December, 3145 (Extract)

Hambone: We begin tonight with startling developments coming out of parliament in Batman. The government was shocked today when opposition leader, Devon Wainwright, revealed that he and his Re-Monarchist party had been actively aiding the various pirate groups that have been responsible for numerous attacks across the planet. For more information, we cross to our political correspondent, Rachel Drew.

Drew: Thank you for that, Brian. This move on Devon Wainwright’s part was not only completely shocking but also unexpected. Wainwright had called a press conference for this afternoon when it was expected that he would make a major announcement with regards to the pirate issue. Instead, he delivered a prepared statement that nobody expected.

Operation LONELY ISLAND

From Mercenary Campaigns of the 32^nd Century, Galatea Free Press

After their ambush and defeat of a pirate attack on the Batman docks, Magyari’s Irregulars chose to capitalise on their momentum and strike a blow against the Ashburton pirates. While the main goal was it simply eliminate one pirate band, the hope was that they would send a message to their opponents that they were not safe, they were not beyond the mercenaries reach and that there was nowhere that they could hide. By taking out one band in their supposedly secret hideout, the Irregulars were hoping to demoralise others.

Of course, the problem was going to be finding one of those secure hideouts. Interrogation of the captives from the Batman attack had revealed that the pirates had a base on Phillip Island, but the exact location was unclear. The pirates were known to be well-informed, to the point that it was known that they had people watching the Irregulars’ dropships. As such, they would likely be tipped off about any potential move against them, and could clear out before an attack was mounted.

Project HOUSEBOAT

I found a file that matches up to our mysterious Yeoman. It also gives me an idea as to where the pirates are getting their supplies – Nikola

Field Testing Summation: YMN-10-OR Refit

Producer/Site: Curtiss MilTech, Paradise

Supervising Technician: Doctor Gary Pappas

Project Start Date: 3072

Non-Production Equipment Analysis:

                Mechwarrior Aquatic Survival System

                Underwater Manoeuvring Units

                Multiple Torpedo Tubes

The Jihad was a boom time for military technologies, with many different developments going from prototypes to common mass production items during its course. However, the level of destruction unleashed during the Jihad meant that many other projects fell by the wayside or were simply destroyed, with their details often lost. Added to this, not every new technology was a success, and many were dead ends or catastrophic failures.

From the personal journal of Sargent David Correra

Working with the assault lance is never dull, and I’m not just saying that because of all the time I spend riding on Lee’s Vulture. Those guys have an amazing ability to come up with insane plans and get themselves into trouble. And because my squad is effectively attached to their lance, I’m usually along for the ride.

Take this latest one as an example. We were trying to look for a way to lure out the Ashburton pirates. They’d managed to find out the target of the next pirate attack, being a warehouse district on the Batman waterfront (Yeah, the pirates were going straight after the capital even knowing that there was a mercenary company present. Talk about ballsy!), so they had decided to plan a surprise party. They had their ‘Mechs shipped in (Along with my squad, of course) and hidden in the target warehouses in ambush.

SAFE Intelligence Briefing ASHB-3145-129A

The pirate situation in Ashburton has been ongoing since the end of the Jihad, but in the last three years it has escalated considerably. The pirates have been better armed, better coordinated and definitely becoming more bold in their attacks. Unfortunately, due to their lack of mobility and years of operating on a shoestring budget under the auspices of ineffective governments, the Ashburton Defence Force has been unable to effectively deal with the situation.

While the various pirate groups do not act as a single organisation, it is clear that they share intelligence and coordinate operations. They have divided the planet up into a number of different territories based on each band’s capabilities. While usually their targets are confined to ocean-going vessels and costal ports, there have been attacks on overland shipping and other inland targets. In recent years, the pirates have become so bold as to attack such high profile targets as the Batman ports themselves.

The pirate bands are armed with a mixture of equipment, bur primarily are focused on hovercraft, VTOLs and surface naval vessels, supplemented by small infantry forces. They are known to use battle armour, and some unconfirmed reports suggest that they may have BattleMechs. However, these are more likely modified Industrial designs. Much of this equipment has only begun appearing in the last three years, suggesting an external backer. The most likely candidate is the Regulan Fiefs, given Ashburton’s precarious position in the narrow ‘neck’ of the League between them and the Wolf Empire.

While the pirates do not enjoy any popular support, it is clear that they are well supplied with local, on the ground intelligence. Their attacks are often very precisely targeted, going after specific cargoes or shipments that they have been presumably directed to by insider intelligence. Given that the planet has only begun to emerge from years of economic chaos, it is likely that they run off a network of paid-off informants. Given some of the issues that the ADF has had in past with dealing with the pirates, it is possible that there are informants within their ranks as well.

It is possible that there is one other area providing support for the pirates. The ReMonarchist party had advocated a return to the rule of the Wainright family, and have bene headed up by a scion of the family for decades. The party was marginalised by Prime Minister McNally’s Progress Party, and left holding only two federal seats and having no real power in the house of representatives. A member of the Wainright family were among a group of pirates captured by the ADF, only to be subsequently released during a targeted breakout.

From the personal journal of Irisz Magyari

With Stanley and her crew safely back in our hands, it was time to move on the Sanguine Reapers. They had to know that we were coming by now; after all, we’d just broken into their headquarters, rescued their hostages, attacked their men and crippled one of their ‘Mechs. Either the Reapers would be digging in and preparing for the worst, or they would be trying to make a quick escape. The former would mean that we’d have the chance to fulfill our contract, even if it would also mean a bloody fight in the process. And the latter would mean it was a huge waste of time on our part.

A quick sub-orbital hop put our ships down as close as we dare get without risking coming under fire or being swarmed straight out the door. The area around the spaceport presented its own hazards beyond just enemy fire, however; the air was still tainted with the fallout from the spaceport’s destruction. Added to that, there was every chance that the Reapers could have sown the area with mines or have spotters and remote sensors watching our advance.

From Matthias Kaine's Personal Corrispondance

Sharkey,

I know that our alliance wasn’t exactly founded on mutual respect, and that we have never liked each other. Hell, we only really tolerate each other’s existence because we both need things that the other can get. But I’m sending you this letter for a reason.

See, just under an hour ago, a bunch of mercs broke into the spaceport. They managed to sneak their way in somehow, getting past all my guards, all my perimeter patrols, all the roadblocks I set up in the crawlspace and everything else. They gassed my men with some sort of anaesthetic; had the Starport’s filters not caught it and tried to shut the system down, they would have flooded the place and knocked out me and all my men. As it happened, they still managed to knock out everyone inside the underground for a few minutes.

New Hades investigation, days 1-3

(Given how busy you are right now, here's my quick breakdown of our findings over the last few days. – NK)

Sanguine Reapers

The Reapers seem to rather jealously guard their location, which might be a part of how they’ve managed to live so long and avoid both Pirate hunters and being raided by the other gangs. The Reapers have very little (Official) contact with New Hades City and its people. Rather, they deal directly with Sharkey, the 'boss' of the city. He provides them with food, water and other essential supplies, and in return he gets a cut of their take (And, reportedly, he even puts in special requests for loot).

Despite how it might sound, this relationship seems to have been a mutual agreement between Matthias Kaine and Sharkey. Apparently Kaine walked his 'Mech up to Sharkey's house with the dead body of the Reaper's former leader chained (or nailed) to the front of his 'Mech. That put Sharkey in a mood to talk. It means the Reapers don’t have to worry about getting fed, and can focus on the piracy.

Audio Log File #75887-Rho

Major Irisz Magyari: So tell me exactly what happened. Don't leave anything out.

Corporal Martin Levesque: I... I'm not in any trouble, am I?

Magyari: I just need to know what happened, that's all. These are my - our people we're talking about  here. I need to know as much as I can.

Levesque: Okay. [Deep breath] M... I was escorting Chief Technician Stanley and her crew back from the Union she was stripping down. My Centurion was leading the column, with her Savior right behind me and a couple more trucks behind that. They were all loaded down with parts taken from the ship.

Magyari: As was your assigned duty, yes.

The Lords of Pain

The Lords of Pain are a typical example of the sort of small, fringe groups that exist on lawless Periphery worlds such as Andiron. The group has its origins in a chance meeting between two pirates, Wilhelm Paine and Jarred Payne. Wilhelm was a member of a small fringe band that controlled an oasis and the ruined town around it, while Jarred was a member of a failed mercenary unit (Moore's Monsters) that had washed up in the world. Neither of them were strangers to banditry; Wilhelm having grown up in the lifestyle and Jarred having fallen back on it in order to survive. Finally,  both were MechWarriors with access to their own BattleMechs. Finally, the pair if them both fund the coincidences of their names somewhat amusing.

Forging an alliance, Wilhelm and Jarred made their move and deposed the prior leader of Wilhelm's band. His seizure of command was backed up by Jarred, who bought several members of the Monsters with him. The pair of them renamed the band the Lords of Pain after themselves, becoming effective co-leaders of the group.

Maintaining control of a source of clean water, the Lords of Pain raid nearby communities, trade caravans and other desert fringe groups for parts, food and other supplies. However, they are not above also trading when desperate. The band boasts a lance of BattleMechs, most of which are in poor repair and often short of ammunition. These are backed up by a lance of medium vehicles and several platoons of foot infantry, mostly recruited form other desert fringers. A squad of Battle Armour, still a rarity in the periphery, gives them an unexpected sting.

-From The Modern Periphery at a Glance, Galatea Free Press, 3142

Sanguine Reapers

RAF Update 01-01-3145

Background

Once a part of the now-defunct Circrinus Federation, Andiron was apparently attacked by the Word of Blake, supposedly their allies, at the end of the Jihad. The attacks shattered the world's infrastructure, leading to a collapse of its central government. Combined with the destruction of the Federation, Andiron collapsed into a near-lawless state, becoming a haven for pirates and other outlaws.

The Sanguine Reapers are one such group, albeit one of the larger and better-armed ones. Born out of a mixture of natives, failed mercenaries, renegades and other such groups, the Reapers have been a constant threat to nearby worlds for over fifteen years now. Equipped with a mixture of BattleMechs and conventional vehicles, many of which are salvaged from the ruined Federation or possibly even Blakeist stockpiles, the Reapers are a constant threat.