Mercenary Outfits Within Our Hostile & Cosmos 68 Campaigns

 "Been enjoying this book. Are Rockwell Harbingers in the HOSTILE setting akin to the Beowulf Free Traders of the 3rd Imperium OTU setting? Ubiquitous and what everyone thinks of when they think of smaller traders?"
These are the words of Paul Elliot about Crew Expendable to a person that left a comment about his Hostile supplement . And let me just say that I hope that Paul and his lovely family had a great time in Japan. No I'm not stalking the poor man but he posted photos on social media. Instead I've been talking with one of my fellow DM's about Independence Games GEAR: General Equipment Adventurers Require.

The idea occurred to me about a 'rapid' deployment group of mercenaries out on the edges of frontier space. And Independence Games GEAR: General Equipment Adventurers Require has some excellent options for such a group of mercenaries. And in point of fact these options would work very well for Zozer Games Modern Warfare's weaponry. 

And all of this has me thinking about the  Kosmos68's blog. How could a Soviet Union that never was still come to be a devestatingly dangerous interstellar power. 
If we look into the background of the Hostile Setting book's history on the world of Hostile the answer becomes pretty damn clear. And that answer is Hostile's China. The Soviet Union shares a corporate & technological  powerblock with China. Such a powerblock allows the 'retro technologies' of the Soviets to take far more risks then the American dominated power block of interstellar space. And this is born out on the Kosmos68.wood press entry 'Sleep Your Way Between The Stars'. This entry reveals one of the major points of interest with the Soviets interstellar & colony trade; "Non-military ships are divided into two classes: liners and tramps. Liners, passenger or cargo carrying, have a defined route that they follow between worlds on a published timetable. Tramps carry cargo and passengers on an as-needs basis.

In K68 there are two main circuits serviced by liners: The Stanovoy-Archangel-Karpovo-Vanavara-Jutka line, also known as the Capitol Circuit. Then there is the Bukan-Barkava-Novyy Kiev-Magadan-Zarubino line, also known as the Wilderness Circuit. A major trade artery runs from Archangel to Bukan to connect the two circuits. Stanovoy is the gateway to K63.?" 

At first it might seem like the Soviets are far more in advance thier American sector rivals. Guess again. The Soviets have a very close dependence on thier tramps & liners do then thier American counterparts. And it's these dependences where mercenaries could come in to exploit the loop that has been left open. A mercenary outfit using a   Rockwell Harbinger's ship could help plug the holes left in the Soviet's interstellar nets. And within our own Cepheus Engine rpg campaigns this is the case. 

Using a combination of propaganda & controlled governement fluff about giving the 'poor American's' some business opportunities. The Soviets are actually helping to secure thier own lines from pirates and raiders. 

So here the overlap between Hostile & Kosmos68 tighens a bit more. This leaves the edges of the map clear for the explorers within our games to have far more leaway.