The Reporter walked into the bar in one of the seedier districts ofMedupe City, his contact said this would be the meeting place. An old grizzled man sipping some brown liquid waved The Reporter over. "Heard you were looking for information on Captain Nemo" The old man said in a gravely voice as The Reporter took the stool next to him. "Whatchu want it for?"

The Reporter was a bit uneasy, normally he never went to these types of places. "I'm doing an editorial on war heroes, something to bring pride to the people." The Reporter's contact just scoffed at his words before taking another long sip of his drink. After a long silence in which the old man just stared off into space, his mind clearly staring through time and space towards events long past.

After another sip of his drink the contact finally spoke. "We started calling him 'Mad' towards the end." The contact trailed off as he became lost in the past once more. Halting he began to tell his tale once more "We were born slaves. Me and him, most of us in his outfit were. Grew up working hard and not treated well. Made our bodies strong and our minds sharp. He bought his way out eventually in the fighting pits of some drug fiend noble. Made his way into the military, won a few medals in border conflicts, eventually started Nautilus."

"Nautilus?" The Reporter asked cautiously. The contact just chuckled softly "That's what he called us anyway. We were a ragtag group of former slaves, out of work pilots, and addict soldiers. He made us into something scary. You might have called us a private security company. We'd contract to different nobles and houses for everything from protection for cargo haulers to bodyguards at parties."

The Reporter was listing to the story curiously, he had never heard of Nautilus but if they were just another small time security firm that could be explained. He had only heard of Nemo a few weeks ago after all, the name being in a dossier filled with similar names for an upcoming editorial.

"Anyway time went on" The contact continued "We got bigger and bigger contracts, started moving up the noble ladder. We were doing great right up until Nemo's kid got killed on some Federation border planet on a sight seeing vacation. That's when we started calling him 'Mad'. Almost overnight Nautilus went from a security firm to a flat out paramilitary organization. We started contracting with the warhawks in the senate, raiding Federation colonies, sabotaging diplomatic vessels, the kind of stuff not even Aisling Duvol would report on. Man turned into a demon, would barely eat or sleep. Just wanted to hurt the Federation any way he could."

The Reporter knew these claims could never be corroborated, assuming they were true and this "Captain Nemo" had been involved in black operations The Empire would never let it be publicized. "What changed after the Thargoids showed themself?" The Reporter asked during a pause in the story.

The contact barked a laugh at the question. "Two thirds of our forces got killed is what happened. We had contracted with some noble or another to join up with Aegis discreetly. See what we could do to get access to Federation information streams and block anything useful from The Empire from going there way. During one of the Thargoid incursions we just got decimated. Kicked the fight out of most of us to see that many brothers and sisters die at once. Those of us left just when our separate ways. Most of us came out this way. Figured Aisling is better than her aunt. Might as well join up with her for a bit. See what comes out of it."

"I've heard that Nemo has been an ardent supporter of her over the years." The Reporter said after a moment "Any idea why?"

The contact barked another long and loud laugh before finishing off his drink. "Asked him that once myself. You know what he said? 'Mad' himself said, and I quote, 'Blue hair is hot man'"