Children of Conviction - Printable Version

300-400 A.S
The Children of Conviction, also known as the CoC, were a originally a group of Freelancers whom ran missions for factions around Sirius in the time period of around 300 A.S.. After several years, however, the group formed into a more military style faction who ran missions, and bounties, for pirate factions stationed around Sirius. As time wore on, the faction became more and more well known by those who had been kicked out of different militaries for insubordination, possession of drugs, or other serious crimes. These ex-military men and women sought out the group in the dire hopes they could regain their lost honor as pilots and fighters.

The overthrow of the Kusari government in 321 A.S. gave the CoC their first real mission. After the overthrow, and the Hideyoshi's Guard ran into the distant system of Chugoku to hide from the traitors, the CoC offered aid to the Hideyoshi's Guard including supplies and building materials they might need. The CoC aided the Blood Dragons in setting up their home in Chugoku, right under the nose of the Kusari forces. This is when the CoC began their affiliation with the unlawful side of the politics in Sirius.

As time drug on, the faction gained more and more power from disgruntled men and women of the house militaries. They joined the CoC hoping to get back at their previous supervisors and leaders whom had lied to them about their true goals. Many came to the CoC after being removed from the military for heinous crimes such as murder and rape. These were not the goals of the CoC, and many of these men and women were turned away, eventually to be caught and captured by the Bounty Hunters of the time period.

400-500 A.S.
The records for the time period of 400-500 A.S. for the CoC was lost in a raid on Manhattan by Liberty Police. This forced the CoC to flee the planet, crossing into the Badlands and staying out of sight of the police with the help of the Liberty Rogues. After several years staying hidden in Liberty, the CoC decided to leave the house all together, and base themselves out of the newly built Junker station, Yanagi Station, in Sigma-13. Far from the prying eyes of the house governments.

Recent discoveries of the documents that were missing have unveiled early research into nanotechnology and other sciences that would enable its members to have quicker reaction times than that of the average human. The research was destroyed by Liberty forces shortly after discovery. No copies have been discovered.

500-600 A.S
The CoC were slowly gaining back their strength as the war between the GMG and Rheinland broke out in the system of Sigma-13 and Rheinland. Sensing the possible market from this war, the CoC moved quickly within Yanagi and offered the GMG their services in thwarting the Rheinland forces inside Sigma-13 as they came through. The GMG were unresponsive and continued to do battle without the CoC's assistance, much to the dismay of their leadership.

As the war raged on between the GMG and Rheinland, the CoC made profit margins while sneaking in whatever they could into the system under the noses of the Rheinland government. After all, they were more concerned with fighting the GMG than stopping a few smugglers sneaking in cargo under their noses. The CoC escorted hundreds if not thousands of smugglers into the New Berlin system and back to Yanagi over the course of the next 50 years, making nearly 15 billion credits profit from the smuggling profits.

This, coupled with the fact that the CoC were becoming famous, lured the attention of the Outcasts. Several successful business contracts followed shortly after, hiring the CoC for patrol around Alpha, and for escorting certain secret shipments of cargo the Outcasts funded. This gave the CoC even more credits to pocket, bringing the total profit of the CoC in the years between 500 and 600 A.S. to a whopping 26 billion credits, nearly as much or more than a typical corporation in Sirius.

600-700 A.S
The years during the GMG-Rheinland war is fruitful for the CoC as a new group, the Golden Chrysanthemums terrorist group is formed in Kusari. Using their ties with the Blood Dragons from their assistance in helping them setup Kyoto Base, the leadership of the two factions met. The CoC later runs several successful missions against Kusari with the GC, forming a bond between the two factions. Six years later, Yuyu Matsuda, the leader of the GC, commits suicide after a failed assassination attempt of the governor of Kyushu. No missions have been run with the GC since.

Twenty years later, the GMG-Rheinland war comes to an abrupt end after the battle of the Yanagi cloud. The Junkers relocate their station to the junk cloud left over from the battle and begin scrapping, giving the CoC work to do along with the Junkers collecting scrap and smuggling many contraband items into Rheinland shortly after the fall of the military, earning the Junkers and CoC both a large sum of credits. This is known as one of the largest profits by the CoC in their history.

At the end of the century, IC and Ageira create a revolutionary scanning system that scans all cargo going in and out of Jumpgates, seriously hindering smuggling and scouting through Jumpgates for some time. However, since the Rheinland navy was having a hard time keeping smuggling out of Rheinland via the Sigma-13 jumphole because of their defeat in Sigma-13 several years before, the CoC didn't lose much profit.

However, the unnerving amount of money that the CoC had earned within the past 150 years (at this rate in upwards of 32 billion credits) worried house governments. While the Outcasts earned much higher profits within 10 years, the CoC were a mercenary group that could stealth their way into a system virtually undetected and kill government officials hired by groups such as the Rogues, Hackers, or even the Outcasts themselves.

It was during 681 A.S. that the first attempt to stop the CoC was brought to light in a botched assassination attempt. False information was fed to a spy in the Outcasts who "leaked" the data to the others. The CoC were hired to assassinate a Liberty official and were captured. All three men killed themselves with cyanide tablets before any information could be beaten out of them. Several more false leads were provided to the Outcasts with similar results. This led the CoC to cut ties in the assassination department with the Outcasts. Not because the Outcasts were lying about hits, but that information was being leaked where it shouldn't. No assassination missions have been run for the Outcasts since then.

700-800 A.S
The next hundred years were a trying time for the CoC. After the Rheinland government was able to get somewhat back on it's feet, they stepped up security. The time period between 710 and 714 A.S., the CoC and Junker smugglers lost a combined profit of nearly 8.3 billion credits. This indicated that the time of smuggling into New Berlin with such convoys was at an end, and the two parties looked elsewhere to smuggle, aiming for the Texas system, to the Junker Base, Beaumont. Instead of taking the path through New Berlin, the convoy's would fly through Frankfurt and leap over to the Hamburg Jumphole. From there the parties would head north and into the borderworlds.

However, an incident that occurred in late 782 A.S. stopped this route from ever being used again by the CoC. On August 14, 782 A.S., a small smuggling party was flying through a cloud in Frankfurt, when they encountered a large minefield surrounding a clearing in the field to their right. The CoC and Junkers assumed it was a new station built by the Rheinland military and not wanting them to be allowed through for any reason. They were correct, however, a Rheinland patrol stopped the pilots in their tracks with weapons fire, no warning what so ever. The ships were destroyed, and the pilots were tractored in, all for one sole survivor, his name was Joseph Keller. He took his ship and fled the system, heading for Kusari where he disappeared, believed dead by the hands of the Kusari Naval Forces, or worse.

Several years later, during 786 A.S., information was leaked to the Rheinland government of the CoC's existence on Yanagi only one or two jumps away from Rheinland, depending on where you were. A strike force was mounted, and the forces attacked Yanagi quick and fast, disabling many CoC ships and destroying others carrying weapons for ships. The total loss of value was estimated by CoC officials at nearly 9 billion credits. This was when the CoC decided, a move from Sigma-13 was imminent, they would look for a new home.

800 A.S. - Present
When the Barrier Gate Station opened near Liberty, it quickly became primary hub the CoC ran out of, being a middle ground between the central area of Sirius and the central of the crime empire: The Omicrons. This was a key location for the group to work out of. The CoC spent the next year moving out of their 300+ year stay as a group within the halls of Yanagi, and moving to their new home of the Barrier Gate Station in Coronado.

Just as the group finished with their move, war broke out between Kusari and Bretonia, offering their services to the pirate factions in Tau-31, the main site of most of the battles. Many transports moving through the system were quickly pirated by the unlawful factions of Bretonia with the help of the CoC muscle. However, this strategy was short lived, as both Bretonia and Kusari forces realized what was happening to innocent traders right under their noses, and was put to a swift end.

Present day, the CoC are not as large as they used to be during their initial formation. The Nomad war and other events have hurt their profit margins and they have been forced to cut back on spending. This includes supplying their new recruits with top of the line ships and being forced to purchase second hand ships from traders coming through Coronado. However, hopes are looking up as several contracts have been made between themselves and other pirate factions among Sirius. Prehaps they will be able to recover from their slump and once again take to the skies of Sirius in force.

Recently, there have been rumors of the CoC beginning to research into certain forms of nanotechnology and enhancements for the body that do not involve evasive surgery. Many of these rumors have been dismissed as it is commonly known that the CoC do not have the income to be able to provide the credits for such a research project. However, there are people who argue the fact that billions of the CoC credits earned over the past 500 plus years has mysteriously gone missing, accounting for the recent lack of funds. Any further questions about the research is met with brick wall answers. Any further attempts to find the information pertaining to the research usually ends with person in question winding up dead.

Summary

The Children of Conviction are a group of freelancing mercenaries that joined together in the early days of Sirius. Their goal, get money anyway possible. Smuggling, bounties, and aiding pirates in their duties of stealing cargo and credits from convoys. Their pleasure in being hired for attacks on lawful factions is second to none. However, what makes them unique is they will not attack another pirate faction. For example, they will not be hired by Outcasts to attack Corsairs, or be hired by Corsairs to attack Red Hessians. They will only be hired by pirate factions to assault house corporations and militaries to include the Bounty Hunters Guild whom the CoC consider, "Lapdogs".