Burning Earth Arms Traders / BEAT

Burning Earth Arms Traders is an underground organization that specializes in arms dealing and bounty hunting.

BEAT was formed by 2 brothers from GrimHex. Both of them are former UEE Navy pilots. After their time served, they were employed by the Crusader Security Force. While one was a pilot and the other was a intelligence office, their frustration with the UEE’s inability to protect the people from local threats grew. Hope was all the people had, They started taking confiscated weapons from pirates and murders and selling them to local colonies that had no means of protecting themselves for a cheap price. The 2 were caught and fired immediatly. With a loan from their grandfather, retired smuggler Booster Terrik, they purchased their own cargo ship. The increased frustration with UEE not doing enough mounted with new threats from unknown systems and local pirates created higher demand for personal protection that many in the UEE government felt those outside the Civil Defense Force shouldn’t own. And the brothers went to work procuring weapons from those not needing them anymore and unsecured ammo dumps, delivery across the Staunton System. With the increasing threats from pirates and the Vanduul encroaching presence, they needed more pilots and ship. Members of their old unit started retiring and looking for work. Seeing the corruption in corporate security forces and not wanting to be just freighter pilots, they started hearing whispers about BEAT. One by one, those battle-hardened men and women started joining the organization and a larger brotherhood was formed. Knowing from history how Earth was burned from greed, corruption, war and thievery, they set out to protect each other while serving a market that few had the courage to fill. From here, they all agreed: This is the way.

From there, the organization founded its roots: Profit and Protection for its members.Employment contracts allowed the organization to obtain larger ships and better weapons. By 2941, greed and corruption from both pirates and corporations mounted so high that they knew they had to do something. They started taking on bounty contracts for those that did the people wrong. Bunker raids and bounty hunting started developing a larger cache of weapons. This, coupled with their growing fleet created an opportunity that wasn’t yet exploited: privatized arms delivery to remote and active war grounds. Deciding not to take any sides in faction wars, they supplied to anyone that could pay. Prices were set lower than market values and all deals are final. Other delivery opportunities have arose in the past that BEAT has been able to provide a discreet service to. Secure cargo runs, package deliveries, and personal transportation are all covered under BEAT’s policy of don’t ask.

Some have sworn that BEAT has become the same pirates that they fought and stole from in the past. This can also be said about the fabled Robin Hood from the last millennium. Some have said that this rebellious scum have pushed aside values for the sake of profit. Make no mistake, profit has driven the organization foward but providing means for those to protect themselves have always been at the heart of BEAT.