Private Military Contractors

A private military contractor, or private military company (PMC) is a mercenary company that provides combat support or security. By the mid 21st century PMCs had become extremely commonplace in the growing space exploration industry and back on Earth.

Origin
By 2044 space exploration had largely become a private affair orchestrated by companies rather than government agencies (such as the now mostly-defunct NASA), and while companies were blazing new trails trying to carve out a chunk of the Earth system for themselves, conflicts would occasionally arise. It became evident that some form of security was needed in this new frontier, spurring the creation of several Private Military Companies (PMC). These PMCs are usually payed large sums by extraterrestrial mining and shipping companies to protect their goods and mining sites from rival companies, or occasionally launch attacks to seize other companies’ assets.

The first PMC operation in space can be traced back to mid-2043 when Longsword Security was employed by Rockford Mortell Inc. to covertly infiltrate Fletcher AstroTech's mining base on [PLACEHOLDER ASTEROID 1] and eliminate the technicians and miners, but to make it look like an accident had occurred. Prior to the incident Longsword Security had been a small scale PMC consisting of ex-soldiers, mainly employed to protect various installations throughout the globe or to fight in small conflicts in the third world. Rockford Mortell Inc. had been launching several probes to Placeholder Asteroid 1 over the past few years, and had found a suitable place to construct their mining base. However, through an act of corporate espionage Fletcher AstroTech used the data that Rockford had collected to construct their own base on the same spot, setting Rockford back significantly. Rockford Mortell Inc. responded in a way that Fletcher AstroTech certainly would not be expecting. They contracted Longsword Security and made a deal with them to take four contractors, train them how to operate in microgravity, equip them with spacesuits (they would have to provide their own weapons) and transport, and in return the contractors would clean the mining base out of personnel and make it look like an accident. Longsword Security had already been facing financial troubles, so Rockford Mortell Inc. made them an offer that they couldn't refuse that every other PMC would turn down due to it being too risky.

On July 24th, 2043 the four Longsword mercenaries landed on Placholder Asteroid 1 armed with recoilless weapons and bulky spacesuits. Fletcher Astrotech paid no attention to their arrival, assuming them to be there to set up another base. Twenty minutes later the squad had planted breaching charges on the airlock of Fletcher's base, and twenty-four minutes later the 5 miners and technicians of the base had been killed from gunfire or from the rapid de pressurization of the base. The base's security recordings were then destroyed, and the breach in the airlock made to look as if it had happened through faulty design. The bodies of the deceased were taken back with the mercenaries, and jettisoned out of the airlock on the return trip.

As one would expect it is quite expensive to equip, feed, and house an army so far from Earth, so extraterrestrial PMCs assignments tend to be made up of small but well trained and equipped soldiers. With the small scale of operations present off world and the distance put between mining operations and civilization, PMC operations tend to go unnoticed by the general public.