2950-05-24 – Tales from the Service: A Sovereign’s Offer
While most of the mercenary companies supporting the Navy’s defense of the Coreward Frontier are quite happy to send reports to this publication, the one from which nothing has ever been sent is Sovereign Security Solutions.
Indeed, many mercenary companies seem to view Cosmic Background as a dumping ground for press releases thinly disguised as direct accounts of their victories and activities. We do, I hope, a good job of filtering this out of both the vidcast and text feed programming, and these companies are perfectly welcome to submit sponsored items following our usual sponsorship process if they wish to use our platform to advertise their interests.
The total silence from within such a massive organization as Sovereign extends to our competitor outlets as well. This can only be the result of a deliberate policy of retaliation against anyone who leaks the company’s doings, and it strikes me as highly suspicious. We’ve seen several accounts on this feed of Sovereign acting suspiciously (most recently A Sovereign Entrance), but the Navy seems to trust the company’s leadership, and so far the company has not done anything to change this.
Several mercenary outfits we are in contact with have gotten strangely generous buyout offers from Sovereign in recent weeks. Most have stalled or rejected these offers, but a few have taken them up. The companies receiving these offers have been ones with fielding armor-suit infantry units, but we can only guess why Sovereign needs ground troops in the Coreward Frontier, while most of its best assets are tied up in fighting and raiding around Sagittarius Gate. Nevertheless, I’ve selected the account of Captain Xasan Maas as representative of the sorts of encounters multiple people have reported to me; whatever Sovereign is planning, it’s here, and it involves putting boots in dirt.
[N.T.B. - Sovereign’s top leadership includes people alleged to be former pirates, and its overall top officer is rogue Navy officer best known before his mercenary career for almost single-handedly starting war between the Confederated Worlds and Rahl Hegemony in the 2920s. Its biggest contracts before the War were all for the Hegemony, and its forces have put down at least one anti-Hegemony rebellion. While I’d love to have a few drinks with the self-styled "Commodore" Madoc and talk about his various adventures and close scrapes, I’m not sure I’d let him watch my back.]
“Let me make this as clear as I can.” The woman in the black and gold Sovereign uniform grinned and leaned in, dropping her voice to a conspiratorial tone. “You run a good outfit, Captain Maas, good enough for Sovereign. What do you say to a buyout at twenty-five?”
“Twenty-five million.” Xasan Maas tried to sip his drink nonchalantly, pretending to mull over her offer without letting his eyes pop out of his head. The whole sum of his little mercenary company’s assets came to less than sixteen million credits, of which their lovingly-restored troopship represented the lion’s share. Twenty-five million would pay off all his creditors with millions to spare, and as the sole owner of the company, Xasan had no obligation to share those millions with anyone. “I’d ask what the catch was.”
“Only the standard points. You can’t retire for eighteen months but we’ll pay you a salary as a Sovereign skipper. We’ll give everyone else on your payroll a ten percent raise, and even throw around a few one-time bonuses to head off any grumbling about your take.” The woman grinned, her eyes darting across the room to where Xasan’s senior officers were chatting with a group of mercenaries from other outfits, including Sovereign. “The offer is for all of the assets and employees of Maas Holdings, not for the company or its branding. We’re not interested in all the corporate paperwork, and we find our branding quite... sufficient.”
Xasan nodded, feeling uneasy even as his brain worked through the millions of credits he would gain from the transaction. Ever since he had brought his mercenaries to the Frontier, he’d resented Sovereign Security Solutions for its smug, elitist way of doing nearly everything. The company seemed to have infinite funding, perhaps the result of obscenely profitable Navy contracts that no other company could even bid for. The Sovereign representative was offering him a Faustian bargain, and the sly cant to her easy smile suggested she knew it.
Bonuses or no, most of his people would resent him for letting Sovereign buy him out. Some of his people hated Sovereign even more than the Incarnaton – after all, the Incarnation showing up anywhere was good for business, whereas Sovereign showing up there was bad for it. Sure, most would stay on through the grumbling, but the most principled mercenaries – a contradiction in terms, perhaps, but a real enough phenomenon – would quit on the spot to avoid taking Sovereign’s blood money.
Sensing his hesitation, the woman tsked and sipped at her drink. “We can help you message it to your people. We have done this before.”
To Xasan, this was a step too far. Having consultants help him figure out how to message something to his crew and troopers was a step too far. Squaring his shoulders, he held out his hand as if warding away the temptation of all those millions. “It’s a fine offer, and I’m flattered, but I’m not selling the company.”
“Of course you’re not.” The woman shrugged and tossed her head, clearly not used to taking no for an answer. “But if you change your mind...” A holo-card appeared between her fingers, and she stepped forward to slip it into the pocket of Xasan’s grey tunic. “My door is open for the next few days.”
After hovering at an intimate distance for a few perplexing seconds, the woman from Sovereign slipped away and vanished off toward the bar. Xasan watched her go, more to appreciate the way her black uniform accented her build and proportions than out of any regret for refusing her offer. Sovereign, in his experience, was always trouble, and working for them had to mean the most trouble of all.
