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Description

The Guild

The Guild, more properly known as the ‘Women's Cooperative Pilot and Crew Guild', came into existence in the year 2206. It was and still is the only professional association of its type in the system. It was created largely due to the charismatic and enigmatic leadership of Maryetta Akira. The title of the ‘Guild’ was her attempt at capturing the spirit she wanted in the organization.

In the years after the Disaster of 2200 most of space commerce was controlled by a small number of corporations and the shipping companies, It was Maryetta Akira who vocally noted a prejudice on the part of these corporations and companies to employ women as pilots and crew. Most of the women who worked in space commerce were essentially forced to work in the lower compensation but higher risk ‘rock hopper’ market.

The pilots and crew that worked for the corporations were not only provided better pay and benefits but also the protection of corporate commerce security. It was a common opinion before the Guild that these independent pilots were vulnerable to piracy and coercion. It was also believed that these crews were less financially able to maintain the safety of their ships. Often the commerce insurers would not extend coverage to these ships. This made many of the most lucrative commercial concerns reluctant to hire these women.

Then came what would come to be known as the ‘Magpie Incident’. To the women of the Guild, we know it as the ‘Magpie Tragedy’. In October 2204, the small cargo shuttle ‘Magpie’, piloted by Lachelle Strickland, was attacked by two corsair class raiding vessels.

The ‘Magpie’ was traveling along a common shipping route. As soon as Lachelle Strickland was aware they were at risk of being boarded, she sent out distress messages for two hours. Later investigation by the commerce authorities found that at least three corporate security vessels received these distress messages. All three were within range and of capability to have rescued the ‘Magpie’. All three ignored the messages. The investigation would also later show telemetry data from the long-range scanners of one of the security vessels showing the ‘Magpie’ apparently disabled and with the two corsairs in a breaching position around her.

Roughly one day later, a corporate sweeper ship would discover the ‘Magpie’ dead in space. Her crew of six women, all able spacefarers, dead. There was unquestionable evidence that the crew had been tortured, raped, and then murdered. The investigation further concluded that they had deliberately left their bodies aboard the ‘Magpie’ as a brutal and pointless lesson for other independent operators. The cargo had been untouched. All three security vessels involved didn’t receive as much as a reprimand.

This was the incident that committed Maryetta Akira to forming the Guild. She believed that if all the independent women operators would work together, they could make constructive change. It took her two years, a time in which she faced both resistance from other shipping companies and at least two physical attacks by one pirate syndicate. She would both build an organization with both a reputation for shipping excellence and its own security apparatus for the protection of Guild members and ships. Becoming a member of the Guild would be a point of honor for all who wore the Guild Crimson. The Guild would also be the terror of any who threatened their members.

Description

The Guild

The Guild, more properly known as the ‘Women's Cooperative Pilot and Crew Guild', came into existence in the year 2206. It was and still is the only professional association of its type in the system. It was created largely due to the charismatic and enigmatic leadership of Maryetta Akira. The title of the ‘Guild’ was her attempt at capturing the spirit she wanted in the organization.

In the years after the Disaster of 2200 most of space commerce was controlled by a small number of corporations and the shipping companies, It was Maryetta Akira who vocally noted a prejudice on the part of these corporations and companies to employ women as pilots and crew. Most of the women who worked in space commerce were essentially forced to work in the lower compensation but higher risk ‘rock hopper’ market.

The pilots and crew that worked for the corporations were not only provided better pay and benefits but also the protection of corporate commerce security. It was a common opinion before the Guild that these independent pilots were vulnerable to piracy and coercion. It was also believed that these crews were less financially able to maintain the safety of their ships. Often the commerce insurers would not extend coverage to these ships. This made many of the most lucrative commercial concerns reluctant to hire these women.

Then came what would come to be known as the ‘Magpie Incident’. To the women of the Guild, we know it as the ‘Magpie Tragedy’. In October 2204, the small cargo shuttle ‘Magpie’, piloted by Lachelle Strickland, was attacked by two corsair class raiding vessels.

The ‘Magpie’ was traveling along a common shipping route. As soon as Lachelle Strickland was aware they were at risk of being boarded, she sent out distress messages for two hours. Later investigation by the commerce authorities found that at least three corporate security vessels received these distress messages. All three were within range and of capability to have rescued the ‘Magpie’. All three ignored the messages. The investigation would also later show telemetry data from the long-range scanners of one of the security vessels showing the ‘Magpie’ apparently disabled and with the two corsairs in a breaching position around her.

Roughly one day later, a corporate sweeper ship would discover the ‘Magpie’ dead in space. Her crew of six women, all able spacefarers, dead. There was unquestionable evidence that the crew had been tortured, raped, and then murdered. The investigation further concluded that they had deliberately left their bodies aboard the ‘Magpie’ as a brutal and pointless lesson for other independent operators. The cargo had been untouched. All three security vessels involved didn’t receive as much as a reprimand.

This was the incident that committed Maryetta Akira to forming the Guild. She believed that if all the independent women operators would work together, they could make constructive change. It took her two years, a time in which she faced both resistance from other shipping companies and at least two physical attacks by one pirate syndicate. She would both build an organization with both a reputation for shipping excellence and its own security apparatus for the protection of Guild members and ships. Becoming a member of the Guild would be a point of honor for all who wore the Guild Crimson. The Guild would also be the terror of any who threatened their members.