The Golden Rule
18 Feb 2022Iridium Nova
And here we are, instruments of the Emperor's wrath, doling out Imperial Justice to the honorless swine who were bold enough to take a job they really shouldn't have. I have no love for mercenaries, even though I am one. Truth is, we're selfish people. You have to be if you want to be successful. That said, I feel kinda sorry for Darkwater. They took a job and it went south. It happens. They probably should have done a bit more research though.There's an old saying in the mercenary business. I like to call it the Golden Rule. It goes "They ain't paying me enough to die.". That's it. Pretty simple, but it works. And this is why you don't get involved in politics. It's too risky. If it goes south, and it often does, you get to be the scapegoat. That usually ends with a country declaring you public enemy #1. Now, that's okay if you have another country backing you up (preferably one who considers you the hero of the people/state), but these guys don't and now they're getting their collective asses handed to them by one pissed off Emperor and her entire superpower. Oops.
That said, a group like Darkwater is big and rich enough that they should have known better. When big rich entities do stupid things like this, it usually means there's more going on than what we're seeing. A whole lot of people are getting thrown under the scapegoat bus here and I'm willing to bet not a single one of them is actually responsible for the atrocity they're being blamed for. This is going to wrap up real nice. Darkwater will get annihilated and the Emperor will declare justice served and we'll all go back to worrying about the Thargoids. But the real perpetrators will get away, change their names and go right back to being rich assholes, recruiting another army of witless meatheads to act as casualty armor for the next time they decide to kick over a hornet's nest.
It may be years before we hear from them again, but we will. Darkwater, NMLA, whatever they decide to call themselves next, it doesn't matter. They're not done, and a few million deaths won't stop the political monstrosities the Empire routinely gives birth to. But don't worry, I'm sure this story still has plenty of twists in store. I'm betting Aisling is just having a wonderful time right now.