Delta Dust: Axis Report 2225
Welcome to the Constance, an Axis Q-ship operating as a tramp freighter in the Verge. Her crew is a motley collection of ex-Union filibusters out to forment uprisings, harass enemies of the state, acquire good for Axis and make a profit doing so.
Don't fuck up, because nobody's coming to save you.
The Constance
Built two decades ago as a Handymax mixed-cargo freighter and originally named the GRV (Gravity-Resist Vessel) Starwise Prince.
The Great Mutiny
It is seven years since the end of the Verge War, seven years since the death of General Granville and seven years since the establishment of Axis on the world of Zagros.
The Verge War laid bare faultlines in the Hampshire warfighting effort and military establishment; the privately-operated and Senate-backed Star Guard and the 'regular' Hampshire Aerospace Force were often working at cross-purposes. Strategies were often discordant and rife with political infighting, a situation that only got worse as the war put more of a strain on Hampshire. This came to a climax when the well-respected General Granville publically came out against the conduct of the war. Coming as it did on the heels of several embarassing retreats and the revelation that secret diplomacy had been ongoing in an attempt to exit the war, this rocked the capital and the President of Hampshire immediately ordered Granville court-martialled. Before this could happen he was dead by his own service sidearm, taking his own life rather than be pulled through the mud.
This shocking turn of events galvanized action among the regular forces, most notably Lt General Zeremeyer - Granville's protege since the Shore War - who took immediate action. Rejecting orders he called for a retreat out of Hampshire space to leave those who had allegedly betrayed the soldiery. In the end, half of the Hampshire home fleet ended up following Zeremeyer out of Union space and to the peripheral world of Zagros.
Zagros
A dusty 'Super-Mars' world in the outer Verge, Zagros was settled in the early to mid 22nd century by Iranian nationals, one of many such marginal or remote worlds