The Compact

Also known as the Pirate Coalition, The Compact was once the largest pirate group in the Galaxy. A merger of several smaller pirate groups, headed by the Luos Syndicate and featuring names as prominent as the Talons and Red Dagger, it grew over the course of a decade to become the largest sovereign entity in the galaxy aside from the Federation.

Of course, as befitting pirates, they would often run raids on the edges of Federation space, looting ships, supplies, and credits. However, like Icarus of old Terran mythology, they grew too proud. The Compact began pulling larger raids further into Federation territory, culminating in the raid of a high profile Federation official's ship near a system only three jumps from Earth herself. Although the Federation had considered the Compact a recurring problem since the pirate union's founding in 2324, this blatant disregard of Federation sovereignty and regulations had finally motivated them into doing something about it. The Federation Navy succinctly responded by sending a massive war fleet to the territorial equivalent of the Compact's front door and politely asked for their unconditional surrender. When the Compact refused, The Federation destroyed the entire border protection fleet.

The Compact then retaliated by stepping up the frequency of their raiding operations, which led to the Federation striking more systems around the Compact border, and so on. This process escalated back and forth, culminating in the Compact's declaration of war on the Federation on January 3rd, 2335. This conflict, later known as the Libertas War, lasted seven years. Though the Federation lost three outer systems on the border to Compact orbital bombardment, the defense-focused ships of the Federation proved to be too difficult for the Compact's comparatively poor fleet synergy and upper management squabbling to break through.

The Federation was likewise unable to gain much ground, but was eventually able to advance into Compact territory with the help of the newly formed Blackhawk Elite Mercenery Group taking the entire contract pro bono to gain notoriety. Indeed, by the year 2343, the Federation with Blackhawk's assistance had managed to completely rout the Compact's forces, causing the union to fracture back into smaller gangs and marking the end of the war.

The Talons and Red Daggers managed to get out mostly intact, but several dozen other groups were utterly decimated. Many of the other surviving groups would join the Luos Syndicate during the 26 year recovery period, but even they would never hold the force projection, territory, and fearful respect that the Compact did.