The company that would later become known as Aquila Defense Systems was formed in the early stages of the Liberty Rogue/Molly partnership. Both were looking for more money; the Mollys to fund their movement and the Rogues just because the Rogues are always looking for more money. Neither wanted to tie themselves to yet another criminal faction, so they looked at what resources they had... all they really had that they weren't profitting off of were their ships. And surely, there would be a market for ships with thick armor, lots of cargo, and reinforced gunmounts.
Initially set up as little more than a barely-concealed front, Aquila Defense Systems' sole purpose as far as the Rogues and Mollys were concerned was to manufacture and sell Z-series vessels and funnel the profits back to the pirates. Over the years, it's grown beyond that, into a shipwright and weapon producer that caters specifically to freelancers and mercenaries, though a sizable chunk of their profits still goes to the two pirate factions. Few outside the company's uppermost management know this, however; as far as they know, the Rogues and Mollys are just being paid protection money.
Though they're based in Bretonia due to legal matters surrounding the Z-series, many Aquila employees are from Liberty (due in part to initial Rogue ties) and Rheinland.
Aquila currently has three branches:
Aquila Shipyards - The core of Aquila's business, of course. Aquila's primary presence, though this is officially denied, is on Belfast Production Facility, where they build the components of their ships and then ship them out to other facilities like the one on New London for final assembly. In addition, they make a variety of ship parts that are compatible with most Sirius-made ships, whether to replace broken ones or enhance the performance of what you already have. They have plans to expand to a Liberty branch, though this has been stymied by Liberty's ban on the Z series...
Sanford & Wahlberg - The first phase of Aquila's expansion into a specialized freelancer and mercenary market, Sanford & Wahlberg is primarily a gun manufacturer, specializing in high-power handguns and automatic rifles. They also produce knives, some tools, and grenades - including the notorious S&W 1024G "Howler" EMP grenade, a favorite among more ruthless mercs.
Golden Eagle Outfitters - The second phase of the expansion, Golden Eagle is a store selling just about anything a mercenary could possibly need - long-lasting food rations, weapons (mostly those produced by Sanford & Wahlberg), light personal armor, and other similar items.
(Note that all of the above use the same tag and everything, that's simply for RP.)
[color=#FFCC00]Basic Information:
ID: Freelancer
- Used because Independent Trader and Smuggler are Red to Rogue and Molly ships, and the idea basically requires them. For the most part, we'll be acting as traders.
IFF: Freelancer
Naming: ADS-Name (First.Last or Shipname)
Aquila Products:
Aquila is sure to have a ship to suit your needs, whether you need the armor and firepower of the Z series or the speed and agility of our new N line. We've also bought a copy of the plans for the Waran, since it fits with the Z series design philosophy so well. Discount variants of some ships are also available. A full catalog of all Aquila products (not just our ships) will soon be available, but has been delayed for technical reasons.
Z-5500 "Hyena" Light Fighter
Z-4800 "Greyhound" Heavy Fighter
Z-5900 "Werewolf" Very Heavy Fighter
N-390 "Crow" Heavy Fighter
N-1530 "Firefly" Transport
WAR-4b "Waran" Bomber
Allowed Equipment:
Ships: We use what we build, except for the Bison. We also use the Clydesdale and Percheron freighters, primarily for work in and around Liberty, and standard utility ships - the CSV and Repair Ship. A limited number of Pelicans and Democrituses (Democritii?) are available in special cases.
All civilian and open market weapons are available to ADS vessels.
Ranks:
(note: Some forum-specific positions will also exist)
Director of Operations: Samuel Whittington
The Director runs Aquila, and is too valuable to the company to have flying around in space. Usually. If he is flying, something serious probably has come up.
Supervisor:
Supervisors are experienced employees, trusted to run operations in space while the men in suits stay in their comfortable offices.
Employee:
The rank and file, the people who do the work the Director profits off.
Trainee:
Newbies. Limited to Light Fighters and Freighters.
Diplomacy:
Special Arrangements:
Liberty Rogues
Mollys
They don't touch us, we don't touch them. Any incidents involving these ships should be immediately reported to upper management. Fight only if you must.
Friendly:
Bretonia Police, Bretonian Armed Forces
(Local law enforcement. Let's keep them on our good side, yes?) Bretonian Privateers
(Our ships are perfect for them. Work on convincing them of that.) Rheinland Police, Rheinland Military
(They seem a little more tolerant of our particular ships than Liberty.) Junkers
(Possible market. Though they seem to have the plans for the Bullmastiff and Bison already...)
Neutral:
All Non-Kusari Corporations
(We'll be a bit friendlier if they start buying our ships.) Liberty Police, Inc., Liberty Navy
(Would be nice if they'd stop destroying our entirely legitimate Z-series fighters. But that's a matter for our legal team. Not the mercs, our real legal team.) Zoners
(Possible, but unlikely market. They don't fight much.) Council
(We really don't know what's going on up there, and we'd like to stay out of it.)
Unfriendly:
Liberty Security Force
(Just make any encounter with them as fast as possible.) Kusari Naval Forces, Kusari Police, Kusari Corporations
(Out. Go back home. Then everything'll be fine.) Pirates, except Rogues and Mollys
(Remember, we at Aquila advocate perforating all your problems with chainguns. Pirates are problems.)
Hostile:
Xenos
(For some reason, the homicidal isolationists that don't like foreigners want to shoot us for working mostly in Bretonia. Can't figure out why...) Nomads, Wilde, Iseijin
(I'm sorry, I haven't a clue what you're talking about.) Phantoms
(As good as our ships are... run.) Gallic Royals
(We do know enough to know these guys want to kill us. So, let's not have that happen.)
---
Alright. Other important things:
1. Yes, I did discuss this with Del, Sprolf, and more recently ryeguy, so I'm not just throwing the idea out there and expecting you not to rob me because I said so. I'm expecting you not to rob me because they said so.:P
2. I'd like to work toward Pirate ships (standard disclaimer: not the barghest or gunship) being considered Civilian here, crazy as that may seem to some of you. The Rogues and Mollys have very good reason to want that since they're profitting off every ADS sale, and we intend to work toward making the ships look more legitimate. Do I expect to succeed? Hell no. But I'm going to try. If nothing else, it gives us a series of RP goals to aim for.
EDIT1: Minor revisions incoming.
Edit2: Added ranks and roster.
Roster:
Thexare:
Director of Operations Samuel Whittington
None
Supervisor Johnathan Jones
ADS-Tortuga - Bullmastiff
ryeguy146:
Employee Audrey Rhimes
ADS-Montserrat - Repair Ship
Dream Theater:
Head of Sanford & Wahlberg Thomas Wahlberg
