Mercenary

Universal mercenary aircraft roundel

Mercenaries are fighters that nations would hire commonly to protect themselves and their facilities. They are commonly hired by Periphery nations as a stand-in for their own militaries, taking up operations such as bounties and raiding territory. Their specialties range from common soldiers to EW specialists, though they all share one thing in common: The bottom line. Mercenaries can either form organized groups or act independently, and because of this, their line of work is described as "cutthroat," with some resorting to blatantly criminal methods such as becoming pirates or taking less scrupulous methods including theft and kidnapping.

However, the use of mercenaries was on the decline due to political pressure from superpowers, particularly following the Oceanian War and the (supposed) destruction of the Mercenary Cabal, which once maintained mercenary-related activities and affairs but was suspected of trying to create a mercenary state. In particular, mercenaries are presumably usually not well-trained and some consider having principles such as refusing to betray one's own contractor or other fellow mercenaries while others see the highest bidder as the golden rule. Regardless, it is apparent that mercenaries have big options as it is said making it through one battle alone will set them for life.

The war above led to steep public disapproval of mercenaries in general and the supposed disappearance of high-caliber mercenaries. However, during the Cascadian Conflict, they resurged through Sicario's participation and performance. In fact, in spite of their anti-mercenary prejudice, some detractors have begrudgingly admitted that mercenary pilots are in general much more fortunate and experienced than average regular military. Related to the conflict, they used imported fuel for the sake of cost-effective deployment.

Following the end of the war, Cascadia, despite massive damage, restructured itself under mercenary influence, absorbing mercenaries into its armed forces in the form of the Cascadian Foreign Legions, perhaps leading to its transformation into the Cabal's envisioned mercenary state ironically.