Solarian Organized Crime

## Overview

A tale as old as time, wherever there's prosperity and wealth, there are those that will try and take it by force. No nation is without crime, and that's doubly true for a nation with the size and economy of the Solarian Empire. Though piracy has always been a thorn in the side of the Empire, there are four major organizations, the Big Four, that are top of the Navy's list of domestic problems, as well as smaller, less powerful groups.

## The Big Four

### The Corsairs

The Shell region was established by the Alliance Council in 3178, due to the distinct gap in the economic and technological base of colonies, as the ones closer to Earth were a lot more developed and better off. Almost immediately, within a year or so, rumors began of powerful human pirates, attacking without warning, taking ships, crews, and anything they wanted, calling themselves the Corsairs. At first, the Council was unconcerned, figuring that the pirates would succumb to infighting, allowing Shield Fleet to mop up the remnants. This proved to be the wrong course of action as the Corsairs actually started fighting Shield Fleet ships. One engagement, though the Corsairs retreated without their prize, an entire Shield Fleet Battlecruiser lay in pieces, with no survivors.

That small victory emboldened them and they grew too large for Shield Fleet to ignore. In 3380, reports were coming in of an organized slavery ring, after slaves were freed from a transport, some of them merchants taken in Corsair attacks. The corsairs had become slavers as well as bloodthirsty pirates. Merchants knew that, while most pirates wouldn't harm you if you cooperated, the corsairs were a wild card, attracting the most brutal of humanity. Today, the Corsairs are the sole provider of slaves in the Empire, as well as controlling the majority stake of the entire black market, having the most firepower available to any criminal group, as even the Solarian Navy refuses to take them on without sufficient overwhelming firepower. The Corsairs operate out of a hollowed out dead world known as Tripoli, located in the Sigma Theta system.

### The Rogues

Founded sometime in the late 3600's, the Rogues started as pure pirates, focusing in hit and run attacks on merchant ships. However, unlike the Corsairs, the Rogues, a meritocratic group, realized that if they didn't pop on the radar in the same fashion, they'd be less likely to get the focus. Though it was risky, the Rogues operated in the Core, using every trick they could to avoid the now bloodied Shield Fleet. They developed a code that all members had to agree to, including behavior toward targets. It worked wonders, with Shield Fleet still patrolling to keep the Rogues at bay, but attempting arrests instead of firing immediately. some Merchants would actually start paying off Rogues ships, to prevent attacks. As the organization grew more successful, they soon became the predominant criminal enterprise ion the Core, expanding to smuggling contraband for the Shell and Verge groups, as well as buying and selling information. In fact, it wasn't unheard of for ONI to buy information from the Rogues to catch a bigger fish. Though the Rogues didn't have the firepower to stand up to any large, incredibly powerful criminal group, their operating location and methods kept them relatively safe from Shield Fleet and they ended up controlling more wealth than anyone else, with a treasury equal to that of a small nation. They may lack the firepower, but the Rogues essentially control the Criminal Underworld through money. The Rogues operate out of a massive asteroid base called Port Royal, located in the Wessels System

### The Outcasts

While on the run, a family involved in the criminal sale of stolen goods found a planet, hidden in a nebula, not on any starcharts, so they decided to settle there. Unfortunately, the atmosphere contained a powerful stimulant that affected all of them. It was a week before they finally grew acclimated and were able to investigate. It turned out that this planet, now named Malta, contained a strange orange plant that had a blue gel inside. When the gel was consumed, or the vapors from evaporating the gel were inhaled, the same effect was achieved. The plant's chemosynthetic method of sustenance was creating low doses of the vapor, meaning the entire planet's atmosphere was a drug. Calling it Cardamine, they decided to start producing and selling the drug. It was incredibly addicting and by 3680, the Alliance Council had noticed it and immediately declared it illegal and anyone caught making it was to be punished severely. however, due to the nature of Cardamine addiction, it was impossible to track down the suppliers, as you couldn't interrogate an addict very easily. Overnight, the Outcasts became the most wanted group in the Free Human Alliance, even more so than the Corsairs, causing a bit of a professional rivalry. Relying on secrecy and stealth, even finding an Outcasts ship was hard to do and most of them were caught by a fluke. The Outcasts operate out of the planet Malta, in the Omicron Minor system, part of the mostly uninhabited and uncharted Omicron Cluster.

### The Red Hessians

In 3967, the Verge was established, as the gap between colonies was even greater out in the Verge than in the Core, which resulted in a lot of piracy and criminal activity, though most Verge worlders were stubbornly independent and preferred the rather lack of government oversight they had. However, when the Verge was officially established as a new region, the Council ordered Shield Fleets to step up their presence to provide them with extra security, though most of it was due to the fact that the Verge was the source of mos mining operations and a lot of Verge colonies were started purely to have a base to have people for mining operations. In response, a group of rash, fiercely anti-government types, raided a Council approved mining operation, stealing the mined metals and minerals swiftly, taking no losses, as they managed to leave before Shield Fleet showed up. Their success and zero losses sparked copycats, though most of them showed up and delivered their stolen goods to the original group, who were now calling themselves the Red Hessians. In an effort to drive out the government, the Hessians had to build their own ships and firepower, selling their stolen goods on the black market, becoming allies of convenience with the Corsairs, as well as using the Rogues to transport their goods into the Core, giving them a foothold into the smuggling business. Eventually, the Hessians leadership realized that, while the people would always enjoy the idea of sticking it to the government, it was more lucrative to extort mining companies for 'protection money,' allowing private ventures to stay free of attacks, while watching their larger and/or government funded competition get hit. to date, the Red Hessians, though they don't have the best fire power, are among the wealthiest organizations in the criminal Underworld. They operate out of the asteroid base Dresden, located in the ice cloud in the RD-282 system.

## Minor Criminal Organizations

### Echelon Executive Corporation

Unofficially, Echelon Executive Corporation is an elaborate front for a vast series of criminal activity, to the extent that the the company itself is almost as lucrative as the crimes it covers-up, until tax and other legal financial restraints get in the way. The Elite of Echelon are the orchestrators of a wide range of white-collar crime. Embezzlement among other companies is one of the favorite illegitimate activities of Echelon although not the most frequent. Setting-up false personnel inside companies in order to siphon funds into standalone accounts that then “purchase” services from Echelon. Blackmail is one of the more frequent activities with thousands of wealthy and important people travelling privately with Echelon, their private conversations can be covertly recorded and be used at a later date to extort funds when enough time has passed to remove any suspicion of foul-play by Echelon. Fraud is Echelon’s crowning crime partnered with smuggling. Echelon has perfected the art of document falsifying and can provide the service to anyone able to afford it, then can offer to provide transport for those who wish to escape their old life or someone/something pursuing them. With so many rich and powerful people in such close proximity to Echelon, they are in the prime location to obtain details required to fraudulently gain access to assets and funds. The criminal aspect of Echelon operates out of Omega Station, an illegal shipyard approximately one light-year outside of the Solarian Empire

### Blackflag

Blackflag is an anomaly in the criminal world. Led by former Solarian Navy Commander Jade von Williams, Blackflag is a pirate group that prefers to hit mostly non-Solarian targets, currently found in UFN space after lurking around in the Nestubius Nebula. Blackflag is a mixture of criminal mercenaries, criminals broken out of prisons, Corsairs, and run of the mill pirates, all following the flagship, the Stolen Dame, a stolen Diablo-class Light Battleship, making it the only stolen Solarian Warship in history. The SPIRIT AI aboard is presumed destroyed and the ship and her bridge officers are wanted alive, the fate of the rest of Blackflag is up to the whims of the capturing party.

## See Also

* Zairon
* Ships of Zairon