The Organisation Space Pirates 01

My The Ace of Spades Campaign has a very rich and highly detailed background. I have taken elements from three sci-fi role-playing games - GURPS Space, Space Opera and N.E.W. to create the setting for my campaign. In past posts I have detailed the main forces and races that are taking part but there is one organisation that I have not yet covered and it could potentially be the greatest threat to the galaxy ever encountered.
The shadowy syndicate known as "The Organisation" is the largest criminal empire ever to exist. Its influence stretches through nearly all interstellar nations. The Interstellar Police Agency (IPA) is only beginning to realise that a single organisation is behind centuries of crime. The "Big O" dominates interstellar drug trafficking, gunrunning, prostitution, the black market and murder for hire.
On many worlds, criminal activities require the approval of the Organisation - with a piece of the action going to the syndicate. And on any world with a population of more than a few hundred, there's an Organisation contact. Organisation VIPs live like royalty, often on syndicate-controlled worlds where crime bosses are feudal lords. The Organisation also sponsors sanctuary worlds. A sanctuary world does not extradite "criminals" who may be hunted elsewhere, whether they be true criminals, or religious or political refugees. There may be a Sanctuary Tribunal to decide each petitioner's fate. Lawmen or bounty hunters from other worlds are outlaws here. A sanctuary world risks takeover by the criminal element, which is usually the Organisation.
The Organisation is run by the Council of Seven. These are extremely powerful individuals of various races. Their main headquarters is located on Starhaven, a huge asteroid that has FTL capability, thus making it exceedingly difficult to track down. I will detail the Council of Seven in a later post. I have names and stats of them all.
For this post I want to showcase three high ranking Organisation space pirates who will most likely be making an appearance in my The Ace of Spades Campaign.

At the far left is Mal DuCham, a persuasive human politician who likes to watch violent blood sports. He is 50 years old and is a rank grade 10. DuCham is a repulsive man, both morally and physically. He is grossly overweight, oily-looking and he always wears odious-smelling colognes. His voice is nasal and his manners boorish but he wields immense power and influence. An only child, he was born on Dalos 7 (Idyllis), the most beautiful and highly advanced planet in the Mercura star sector. His parents were rich directors of the Dalos Trade Council (DTC). He studied law at university but decided this was not the career he wanted to pursue. Instead, he joined his parents on the board of the DTC and made many useful contacts, most of whom ran illegal operations. He was 23 years old when he branched out into a full time criminal career, as he began to participate in blackmail, drug-running, racketeering, slave-trading and smuggling. He was very careful about setting up middle-men to take the fall should the authorities get too close. His forte was working behind the scenes, planning and scheming. He very rarely got his hands dirty. That is what minions were for and he could afford to hire lots of them. By the time he was 34, his holdings had grown immeasurably. He owns luxurious mansions and dwellings on Idyllis, Vesta and Alhambra.
It was at this point in his life that he decided to move into politics. It was a shrewd move. Almost as soon as he made his announcement, he was contacted by the Organisation and offered a high-ranking post in the empire spanning criminal outfit. He had no hesitation in accepting the posting and he was soon made Organisation Commander of the whole Mercura star system. So far, good fortune has smiled down upon him. In addition to his political and criminal careers, he also partly owns the Sabroth/Girrell Transports Corporation (he works under the assumed name of Radionn Girrell), and he fully owns Kapital Weaponry Systems and Midsummer Media-discs - both successful big businesses. This is in addition to his other less savoury professional interests - black market manipulation, protection rackets and good old fashioned blackmail and murder. He is armed with a high quality Overwatch P12 Electron Auto-pistol and a high quality miniaturised laser pistol.

Next in line is Rufus Scurvy, a rugged smuggler who enjoys fine dining and wines. This 44 year old human is rank grade 7. He grew up on the agricultural world of Menkaar 5 in the Terran starsector, a planet noted for its vintage wines. At school he developed a reputation as a bully and his gradual slide into criminality was obvious to all who knew him. Suffice to say, upon leaving school, aged 15, he joined a local street gang and a few years later he took over its leadership when the gang suffered heavy losses in a police clampdown on violent street crime. Rufus narrowly avoided arrest and soon the gang was even stronger than before. At the age of 20, he was offered membership in the Organisation, who had recognised his strong leadership qualities. With the clout and respect membership brought, Rufus readily agreed to join them. He raised hell on Menkaar 5 for the next three years but eventually the authorities caught up with him. He was arrested and sent to jail, where he served a seven year sentence. As soon as he was released, he was deported off planet.
However, the Organisation looks after its own, and he was recruited to join a small fleet of space pirates. He quickly rose through the ranks and four years later he was captain of his own pirate ship, a small Greywolf Cutter. On one mission, he was part of a fleet of three Greywolf Cutters who had been ordered to raid a Cygnet class merchant liner. Rufus had suspected it might be an IPA trap and he was right. He only just managed to escape the ambush, which destroyed the other two ships. Upon his return to base he confronted his superior and shot him dead, causing a bloody mutiny, which ended with Rufus in sole command. This earned him the nickname "the Scarlet Scourge," which was also taken up by his own crew as their group name. His pirate fleet has grown and he now pilots a much larger and better equipped starship. Rufus treats his crew harshly but fairly and in his 14 years as a space pirate, he has never been caught. When in his more mellow mood, he has two passions in life - fine dining and vintage wines. He is particularly fond of the wines produced on his home planet of Menkaar 5. Rufus's personality can be described as blustering, deceitful, suspicious and vicious. He is armed with a high quality blaster pistol.

At the far right is Lynda Van Brack, a nimble human smuggler who is a strict disciplinarian. She is only 34 years old and like Rufus, she is also rank grade 7. Lynda was the only child of plantation owner and slave trader, Arnie Van Brack, on the jungle planet of Canopus 5 in the Terran star sector. Her mother died whilst giving birth to Lynda. She was brought up to look after herself and by the time she was 16, she was developing into a rough and ready woman. She left home to join a crew of mercenaries on board their ship as a general dogsbody. This earned her valuable starship experience and helped toughen her up even further. After a three year tour of duty, she returned home to help her father run his business. Knowing he could rely on her to maintain harsh discipline, Arnie put her in charge of his slave trading business. Slavery was legal on Canopus 5, much to the annoyance of the UFP. They knew that there was slave trading going on between Canopus 5 and other planets and an active IPA investigation is still ongoing. For the present, the UFP is severely hampered because it has no authority on Canopus 5, which is an independent planet. However, two years into running her new venture, Lynda was caught and arrested off world in a sting operation set up by the IPA. She was sentenced to eight years imprisonment but was released early after serving five years. She immediately returned home and with the aid of her father and a number of his close associates, she was able to discover the location of the IPA agent, Derek McKellan, who had arrested her. He was stationed on a neighbouring planet called Capella 5. Being an independent planet with a similar policy regarding slaves, Capella 5 was one of the Canopan slave traders' main business partners. Lynda was able to infiltrate McKellan's apartment whilst he slept. She drugged him and then tortured him for many hours before killing him.
Unbeknownst to her, the Organisation had been monitoring her career for many years and they stepped in to offer her a job as a space pirate on one of their starships. She joined Rufus Scurvy's crew of the Scarlet Scourge pirates and stayed with them for four years. She proved her worth as a formidable fighter, who frequently led her men into battle from the front. After her first tour of duty was over, she was promoted and given command of her own ship, which she named, The Silver Stiletto. She had no difficulty in finding recruits as she had developed quite a reputation as a devious, sadistic and vicious bitch with a nasty, cruel streak. She is armed with a high quality Silver Sun BRA7 Antimatter Assault Rifle with scope-sight and a high quality silver stiletto dagger.

These three 28mm scale figures were all sculpted by me many years ago and thus, are unique. I am very happy with how they turned out. They were sculpted at a time when I was working on making lots of figures for my Space Opera campaign. The stats for these three were then converted into NPCs for GURPS Space and then much more recently, for N.E.W.