[BLOOD PACK] The Juggernaut That Stopped
via Kaplin Jossin, Illium News Network Seven years ago, the first shots were fired in an altercation that would escalate to a full-blown civil war within the notorious Blood Pack mercenary group. News items from that first year chronicle mutinies against individual warbands’ officers, eventually developing to feature fighting between Blood Pack formations and ships stationed in the Nemean Abyss and outside it. This was the point where the civil war slipped away from the public’s eyes. Battles moved away from populous ports of call such as Omega and Cartagena. The mercenary group, known for their cavalier attitude to tactical finesse and operational security, learned discretion and concealed their hands. Reports of the combatant factions’ clashes were reported only after the fact, as bystanders found the wreckage and bodies. How did we arrive here? Through meticulous investigative journalism, conducted over many months, from the deepest reaches of the Terminus systems to the Skyllian Verge, Illium News Network is ready to publish its discoveries. The origin of the Blood Pack civil war was a situation not unique in the mercenary group’s history: Khel Raut, an ambitious warchief with popular backing, rose to challenge the chief executive, Ganar Yulaz. Witness statements from former Blood Pack members say that Khel Raut was a key player in Tugorc Brokk’s assassination in 2189. This assassination removed a nearly thousand-year-old veteran, contemporary of Blood Pack founder Ganar Wrang, and warchief to a third of the entire Blood Pack’s manpower. More importantly, Tugorc Brokk was responsible for operations within the Nemean Abyss. In the immediate confusion and chaos of Brokk’s passing, Raut was able to strong-arm Nemean units under his control, setting the stage for the next phase in the war. Reports retrieved from archived MercNet discussions corroborate what local news agencies knew in early 2190: rebellious Blood Pack forces had seized two important staging areas in the Nemean Abyss without any outside help. The outposts at Balorn IV and Rogharth VII became footholds for Khel Raut’s faction, from where his forces harassed other Blood Pack units still loyal to Ganar Yulaz. However, what the public did not know was that Khel Raut disappeared from the awareness of even his closest associates, shortly before the Blood Pack proper made their announcement of abandoning the Nemean Abyss to the breakaway faction. Back in the greater Terminus Systems, the civil war continued against Khel Raut’s stragglers and new breakaways. One of these splinters that have survived to the present day are the Gore Fangs, an all-vorcha outfit. Lorded over by the self-declared ‘warchief’ Tish, they continue to attract more recruits and have seen modest success as guns-for-hire within the Shrike Abyssal and Hourglass Nebula clusters. Yulaz’s Blood Pack has thus far failed to re-incorporate them into his outfit, nor has he succeeded in destroying them. The true mastermind behind the civil war would not announce themself until the dust, and their influence, had settled in the Nemean Abyss. Former Blood Pack troops and ships were now adorned by the enigmatic triangular red maw lined with teeth, the fist removed entirely from their symbol. Krogan and vorcha who had rallied to Khel Raut’s banner now marched to new orders, marshalling strict discipline rivaling the other big two mercenary outfits’ and Terminus states’ militaries’. They taxed and recruited new soldiers from settlements they had seized, and waged war on pirates who trod on their turf. It was from here that the leader of the Maw’s Dominated finally revealed themselves; a yahg from Parnack. To those living under his command, he is simply ‘the Master’ or ‘the Red Maw’, the sovereign of first of its kind polity in the Milky Way galaxy. “When I think back to those days when the Master arrived, it was like seeing a huge storm appear in the horizon and begin blowing your way,” said Tylis Toukoi, an asari shopkeeper who has since escaped the Dominated’s holdings and was subsequently interviewed by INN for the purposes of this article. “We knew a new pirate band had begun to hit settlements systematically. Then our neighbours fell silent, until one night, the red maw-painted shuttles struck our settlement. The fight was brief: we had barely woken up when the loudspeakers ordered everyone out and to the commons. Our administrator and the town’s guards stood there in line, held at gunpoint. The troops were krogan, some other people and the most obedient lines of vorcha I’d ever seen. They announced that their Master had come to claim our homes and lives, and we had the choice to bow to his will or die. “They started with the guards’ lieutenant. Told her to pledge allegiance, but she spat back in their faces. The Master’s troops then shot her and the rest of the guards there. When the administrator’s turn to pledge came, we had figured out that if our leader said no, all of us were going to fall. We pledged ourselves into the red maw’s possession. “A token garrison was flown in the morning to replace the shock troops that had seized us. We buried our dead, cleaned and repaired what we could. In the following days our radio and extranet were restored, and we learned that our town was just one of many recently annexed into the Maw’s Dominated holdings. After that came the taxes. Credits, supplies, people. The Master was waging a war and had to pay for it. Though I loathe to say it, his soldiers were far more disciplined than what we had expected from pirates. Looters were quickly punished once a settlement had surrendered.” It was the heavy tax burden and disruption of markets that eventually drove Toukoi into unemployment and to escape, as the Master’s policies on welfare threatened to deport her to parts unknown. At present, the Maw’s Dominated holds sway on several planets and space stations. Other powers of the region, the Ad’Thoro Pact, High Republic of Orozvhad and New Vonskar Coalition are aware of the development, but have not yet intervened. “We did not expect statesmen to come from the Blood Pack, but the Red Maw has potential to prove us wrong.” Admiral G. E’W. Aen of the Orozvhad navy stated in an interview in 2194 on the matter. Ganar Yulaz continues to command the vastly weakened mercenary outfit. While his reputation has been tarnished, his position at Blood Pack’s head is once again secure. After years of silence, the Blood Pack CEO agreed to comment to Illium News Network on the turmoil he went through. “Khel Raut didn’t see the knife coming for his back. He trusted the yahg too much. Now his head is displayed as a trophy in Red Maw’s court and I’m still in charge. He suffered a fool’s death.”