Editing Unlimit3d 8 fluff (section)

===StarBoard Pirates===
Flank Starboard is an alias used by the leader of a group of pirates in the Kuiper Belt. They began as a revolt against the Foundation implemented a warp beacon on Pluto / Charon, the "Acheron", in order to facilitate the exploration of the Oort Cloud. The colonists had become fed up with their harsh living conditions and attempted to bargain with the Foundation by going on strike. The Foundation decided it would be less costly to just cut off the oxygen supply to the habitation domes and bring in a new batch of colonists a month later, claiming a disease wiped out the previous inhabitants. With Pluto being a remote location with little outside communication, this would have gone unnoticed by the rest of the Solar System if it weren't for the actions of a handful of miners who took up arms and wrestled control of the colony from the foundation.

The man leading these miners was John Dakka. He was an engineer who worked for the colony maintaining and upgrading its mechs. Being exceptional at his task, he was used by the local Foundation Security Taskforce to maintain and upgrade their vehicles. This gave him access to various weapons technologies he had begun recreating in his sparse spare time (The average workday was 20 hours with only 6 hours of the 26 hour day allotted for sleep). Unbeknownst to the FST, Dakka had been preparing for a coup for years. He had arranged for "accidents" to occur within the construction site where a vehicle was reported lost in a cave-in or sinkhole, or even made some spare parts disappear on the stock registers. In actuality he would have these vehicles hidden in the vast warehouse. He was able to slowly retrofit these vehicles for combat usage. It was in this task that John Dakka had become a legend. He could turn even the most harmless automated rock cart into a horrific weapon of destruction. The weaponry he was able to develop from the discarded scraps of the FST and junked mining equipment is still being used years later by pirate forces. People would joke that he "Put guns on his guns, so even his bullets would shoot more bullets".

When the labor strike occurred, Dakka gathered the people he knew he could trust and formed a militia to prevent the Foundation from retaliating. One of his closest allies was the man who would later become known as Flank Starboard. Starboard was a troublemaker in the colony from his first days arriving on Abyssus IV. Dakka took note of Starboard's anti-authoritative behavior and took him under his wing, looking out for him like an older brother, so the Foundation let his antics slide since Dakka was pivotal to the operation of the mining facility as well as their security forces. Flank was also an exceptional, if not sometimes headstrong mech pilot. He operated a Gespia Arbeiter 515C that was used for digging new tunnels. Two months before the revolt, his Arbeiter had conveniently been lost in a supposed accident involving the unintentional detonation of explosive materials. When the uprising began in full, Starboard emerged from the mines piloting his converted mech, now dubbed "Face Wrecker".

The rebelling forces had taken over the oxygen production plant early on before the inhabitants occupying the living areas succumbed to asphyxiation. After their air supply was turned back on, the colonists were furious, knowing that the Foundation has tried to kill them all. With the number of people in his rebellion growing, Dakka grew bolder and began attacking the Security forces and attempting to take control of the starport.  With Pluto being a highly valued asset by the foundation, they were not going to give up easily.

Over the next several months the Foundation tried to reinforce the embattled FST forces with hired mercenaries, but to no avail. Eventually, they decided to risk drawing the attention of the rest of the galaxy by mobilizing the Outer Settlement Defense Corps, sending the warship Saturnus to deal with the rebellion.

Dakka and Starboard fought at the forefront of most of the battles, and both had sustained their fair share of injuries. Dakka would often boast, after the mech he was piloting was shot that "They haven't made a gun big enough to kill me yet". However, in a pivotal battle with the newly arrived Corps, Dakka's mech suffered a direct hit by one of the massive turbolasers from the Saturnus. It is claimed that his last words were "Well, I guess that'll have to do".

Infuriated by the death of his mentor, Flank Starboard rushed on into the front lines of the Corps battle suits and mechs. Although these were highly trained soldiers and pilots, the constant struggle to survive had hardened the colonists of Abyssus into a lethal fighting force. Over the course of the battle many of the miners were killed, but they would always take out a greater portion of the attackers. Eventually, Starboard and his Face Wrecker managed to breach the hull of the Saturnus and destroy the command center, killing the officers orchestrating the battle. With no central command structure, the broken Defense Corps forces were easily defeated.

The battle had destroyed so much of the settlement that rebuilding was not an option. The habitation dome had been cracked and it was only a matter of time before the pressure caused the crack to shatter, leaving only the Beacon in the middle of the ruins. The surviving colonists instead repaired the Saturnus and left the Acheron station behind, following Starboard, Dakka's second in command, as leader.  Flank jokingly redubbed the ship "Satan's Asshole" after hearing that most of his people were calling the ship satur-anus.

It is not known for certain why Starboard chooses not to reveal his real name. His alias comes from an argument he and a crew member were having over an incident involving a docking mishap when the ship veered in the wrong direction since the crew were inexperienced and were not familiar with ship terminology.

Though the Foundation for Outer Settlement has tried to dub the Acheron incident as a terrorist attack, it has still become public knowledge that they are at least in some part responsible for the formation of this group of pirates. Occasionally, the Foundation will send out bounty hunters, assassins, and covert mercenaries to try and destroy the pirates, but so far, nothing has been able to erase this stain on their public appearance.

While S.A. pirates have access to the equipment that was recovered from the Saturnus or acquired through raids or bounty from captured vessels, they seem to prefer vehicles, mechs, and weaponry that was converted from civilian vehicles. Weaponry made by John Dakka is one of the few things these outlaws consider sacred. Over the years, Flank Starboard's personal mech has been almost completely destroyed numerous times, but he still keeps having it repaired, claiming it was Dakka's finest creation. The Face Wrecker, while having undergone much reconstruction, now looks like a walking junkyard covered in guns. 

While they are able to sustain themselves by capturing cargo freighters and supply ships, the pirates still favor ground combat, and will conduct raids into colonies ran by the major corporations. They incite rebellion wherever they go, and are considered by some to be heroes, while others claim they are petty criminals and space thugs.