Gearheads
"Freelancers have to strike a difficult balance between their personnel and their materiel. Too many men and you're forced to take risky jobs to pay them; too much equipment and the upkeep will run you into the ground. Some freelancers, like the Gearheads, try to find balance by sharply cutting the former in favor of the latter. While they're certainly doing alright on the space lanes you really have to wonder how long their tactics will remain viable. Bankruptcy is always one bad day away." ~Doctor Beryl Benjamin
Structure
Three-way partnership.
Public Agenda
A small cadre of Shung Empire nobles with a drone army.
Assets
Each of the three Gearheads have highly advanced cranial implants that let them each control a dozen combat drones at one time. Their vast array of combat drones range from pest control bots to highly advanced war droids.
The Gearheads have a small jump-capable Q-ship, the Ptolemy.
History
The Gearheads were three minor scions of the Shung ruling family. At first resigned to a meaningless career as minor flag officers in the navy, the three rapidly grew bored with their comfortable lives in the Shung Fleet and left looking for money and adventure. They cashed out of their considerable inheritances, got a ton of the best cybernetics money could offer, and pooled together their resources for their own heavily-armed pleasure yacht.
The Gearheads collect drones and ACEs the way other people collect guns and STDs. Their specialized enhancements let them control drone armies from the comfort of the Ptolemy. This style of warfare is very, very expensive and the Gearheads have only lasted this long due to their own prodigious personal wealth. Most of their missions barely turn a profit once they account for repairs, replacements, and the occasional tech upgrade. In essence the Gearheads aren't just pleasure-seekers, they're hobbyists, and mercenary work simply pays for newer and more exciting toys.
The most recent Gearhead operation of note was on an unaffiliated world in the Hundred Polities. The Gearheads were hired to eliminate a local dictator and install a Shung Empire puppet. Their drone army swept through the dictator's palace until one of the opposing guardsmen set off an e-bomb in the courtyard... only to find the Gearheads had thought their work through and hardened the drone parts against electromagnetic pulses. This was caught on the local news broadcast, thoroughly annoying the Gearheads as their opponents now knew these measures would be useless against them. The Geareheads tried suing the planet's news service for a year and a half before they were finally bribed off with state-of-the-art camera equipment.
Mind Works With Matter
Type
Military, Mercenary Group
Training Level
Trained
Veterancy Level
Trained
Parent Organization
