What would a small nation surrounded by enemies do to protect its most valuable assets, those that can provide the edge it needs to defeat its adversaries? Indeed anything. And that’s precisely why the Vipera Pursuit Force exists: to do whatever it takes to protect or retrieve that asset, that vital advantage.
The main competitive advantage of the Nomad Nation is its Black Labs, where they develop cutting-edge technology that, like the wunderwaffen, the wonder-weapons, can turn the tide of any conflict, be it military or commercial. While the Black Labs based in Bakunin are comparatively easy to protect, since they are located inside the mothership itself and thus make enemy raids very difficult (though not impossible), there are more such facilities outside the mothership, far more than the average person might suspect.
Laboratories are hidden in orbitals large and small, always on the route of the Bakunin mothership, spread virtually all over the Human Sphere, but also concealed aboard light, medium, and heavy ships and freighters.
Evidently, this poses a clear security problem. Having Black Labs scattered throughout the Sphere makes it difficult to provide an adequate level of protection for all of them. To solve this problem and to keep all these facilities safe, or at least to be able to retrieve whatever was stolen in a successful hit, Dragnet created the Vipera Pursuit Force. This force comprises a mix of troops hailing from both Tunguska, the ones who pay the bills, and Bakunin, the ones who do the heavy lifting.
They are veterans from all kinds of special units of the Nomad Military Force (NMF), the Moderator Corps, Dragnet, and the Black Hand. The skill and reputation of these agents is so impressive that the NMF has requested their services as support to the main force. Hence, there are always a few Vipera teams ready to respond to any emergency situation at the request of the High Command.
ROUNDERS CASINO SECURITY
The consequences of being robbed are so dangerous that each and every casino is impregnably guarded in the strictest Tunguskan style. This mothership is a security powerhouse: in an age when all money is quantronic, Tunguska has the best cybersecurity experts and those who aren’t working for the banks or the military work for the Struktura.
As a result, Nomad casinos are impregnable fortresses; they have no other choice, they simply can’t afford not to be. But their security can’t be limited to just quantronics to protect the money, because frequently these casinos hold treasures such as antiques, works of art, and all kinds of precious items that are part of their private collections or are stored for any of the auctions that usually take place in these temples of luxury.
Not to mention that sometimes it’s necessary to physically stop the robbers, because in many cases the theft is not white-collar, but an armed and violent heist. Which isn’t really a problem, because violence is another major specialty of the Tunguskan Struktura. And when it comes to casinos, the guys who are in charge of managing violence preventing it, delivering it, enforcing it—are the Rounders security teams.
Staffed by former agents from tactical and investigative units of Dragnet and the Moderator Corps, their mission is to detect and apprehend any criminals seeking to break into the premises with malicious intent. It goes without saying that “apprehend” implies “by any means necessary,” and Rounders are extremely forceful in the use of these “necessary means,” because they know that every heist they foil, as well as what they do to the robbers, must serve as a cautionary tale for any other criminals out there who might be planning their own robbery.
KULAK RETRIBUTION UNIT
Everyone makes mistakes, after all, to err is human. But some mistakes should never be made, the kind of mistakes you pay for dearly— too dearly. These are the mistakes that carry the highest price of all, those that no one can afford to pay. Raiding an Offsite Black Lab is one such mistake, because i tmeans that sooner rather than later the Retribution Unit will show up to promptly and prematurely cut short the lives of the perpetrators of such folly.
This unit was created by Dragnet to become the fist that would strike down anyone who dared to lay their hands on the technological treasures of the Black Labs. Hence its name: on the one hand, Kulak (Кулак), which means “fist” in both Russian and Ukrainian (the native language of some of the larger families that finance this unit), and on the other hand, “Retribution,” which is synonymous with a compensation or reward. Its name aptly describes this unit’s operational role: to forcefully and repeatedly hammer those fools who merit a fitting reward for the crass mistake of robbing an Offsite Black Lab.
REDSKY CREW MARSPIDERS
There have always been spiders on Mars. Be it because of geological landforms, creatures from pulp fiction, UFO sightings, or glam rockers, arachnids have been associated with the Red Planet since the dawn of the 20th century. However, none are more iconic and unique than the crew of the Nomad orbital Redsky, Bakunin’s Martians. In a universe full of mystery and wonder, being born under one sun but growing up under many others isn’t the hallmark of Nomad citizens. This wandering nation is always welcoming of people who are eager to challenge the establishment and the status quo. This is what happened with the crew of the Redsky orbital.
This is how the Marspiders were born, yet another tribe of Bakunin, even if it’s not based on the mothership, one that keeps on growing thanks to wayward, nonconformist Martians who are eager to slog and sacrifice everything for the sake of the Revolution. This tribe still protects the Redsky station, but also engages in that endless Nomad voyage throughout the Sphere, to defend the Nomad Nation when the need arises, pouncing on their enemies without hesitation.
