For information on setting up and accepting contracts, see OSC Contract Guide

The Free State has long perused anarchist ideologies, which is actually one of their reasons for their advocacy of pacifism. A professional standing military gives a power monopoly to its generals, and the concentration of such vast power is absolutely unacceptable by Freespacer doctrine. However, in light of the recent Nepleslian contact they were convinced some means of self-defense was needed, so a compromise was reached: rather than a single large unified defense force, a large number of small divisions equipped to operate and think independently, along with the OSC to monitor their activities and ensure they did not exploit this newfound power and autonomy.

With no internal conflicts at home, these units were seen by many SI of Polysentience as nothing more than a drain on resources. However, Polysentience's collective projections indicated that with the abundance of conflict in the galaxy, both armaments and fighting forces could be exported for a healthy profit. In fact, despite the overwhelming abundance of wars there was seemingly very little in the way of private militaries other than disorganized raiders and petty pirates. Thus it was concluded this considerably underdeveloped market was ripe for exploitation, and the OSC was opened to foreign interests.

The purpose of the OSC was three-fold: to collect veteran fighting forces from across the known galaxy as advisers in designing State's own autonomous war machines, to gain profit through arms trading with these mercenary companies, and gain the allegiance of foreign forces in order to protect the State (by providing the large-scale logistics and heavy industry that no other nation was willing provide). The idea was that these armed forces would be garrisoned nearby for hire if an emergency arose; without a standing army to support, the Free State could ideally pay mercenaries much larger sums than their rivals, ensuring the loyalty of these forces.

The OSC provides three key services. The first is access to a “black” market; the Free State has no problem reverse-engineering and manufacturing the heavy armaments that are prohibited in most civilian sectors. The second is acting as a liaison between employer and employee; this shields the employer from political repercussions and makes them much more likely to hire armed forces, and this protects the identities of mercenaries from vengeful former opponents. Finally, the third is protection; due to the literally thousands of nomadic starships wandering throughout Freespacer territory, finding an SMC outpost is like finding a needle in a haystack.

Arguably there is also a fourth service: capital. Since no known banks, corporations, or nations are willing to grant the loans or equipment needed to found a mercenary company, many of those that could be born never are. With its national wealth the Free State can purchase the armaments needed to equip entire battalions at a time, as well as the starships needed to transport them.

These would include things such as keeping firefights off OSC stations, settling disputes privately, allowing OSC teams to inspect equipment and test personnel for purposes of determining ability, paying a commission fee for using stations and facilities, and so on.

Mercenaries companies will be ranked on performance, success, and customer satisfaction. Additionally, companies will be rated based on their available assets; the number of infantry, the quality and quantity of vehicle assets, and unit veterancy. A mercenary force that's based on heavy tank battalion with little infantry or air support, for example, will likely excellent scores for conventional (head-on) warfare, but low scores for guerrilla warfare and aerospace combat.

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Missions will be divided by type. For example, conventional assault, search and destroy, hold the line, defend or destroy a mission-critical object/person, and so on. Each mission type will be given a score based on its difficulty for that category.

Employers are required to make both a hazardous oversight deposit, as well as freeze their payment in a State-run escrow account. The former will be paid out to a mercenary unit on both a per-casualty basis, in addition to a significant lump sum if they end up fighting a much more powerful enemy force than originally anticipated. This helps disencourage employers from sending mercenary companies on highly dangerous missions without warning prior knowledge, or using mercenary forces as disposable fodder.

The main payment is always a predetermined lump sum. However, employers may offer bonuses for special objectives; avoiding collateral damage, taking an enemy leader alive rather than dead, offering extra pay-per-kill against certain types of enemy units, and so on. An employer may modify a contract in mid-mission to add a bonus objective, which will usually carry an even larger than normal payout; for example, rescuing a nearby force from a failed assault, or reinforcing the defense of an outpost that is about to be attacked.

While called bounty hunting, in reality this category encompasses any mission that is best left to very small groups (usually, 1-3 individuals), as opposed to the heavy-handed tactics that mercenary companies usually employ.

Since outfitting bounty hunter-sized outfits is much cheaper than changing the load out of entire companies, bounty hunters are usually much more versatile in what they can do. Rather than being based on equipment, scores are based on training simulation scores, actual mission success rate, and the total number of completed missions.

Like mercenary missions, these are divided by both types and difficulty score. The former includes spying, sabotage, the assassination/capture of VIPs in populated areas, and so on.

The method in which bounty hunters are paid is similar to that of mercenary companies but without hazardous oversight pay; deaths are most often due to an individual's skills or mistakes rather than anything else. Still, if an employer provides grossly inaccurate data, a large hazardous oversight pay bonus will be paid out to whoever the bounty hunter(s) have placed in their wills.