ON:

It had been several decades and this Scorpion had rapidly made his mark, killing the Orion Syndicate hierarchy had been relatively easy but as is the case with organizations, especially those of the criminal element several more members had risen almost immediately to take their places.

Scorpion had taken other contracts, most were targets deemed impossible and surely even he had experienced some moments where his very existence had been debatable even to him. However he’d managed to complete each of the contracts but it had gotten him to thinking, what if he didn’t come back from one. After all no matter how good you were, no matter how well you planned, researched and made arrangements for every conceivable and inconceivable scenario there was always some guard or someone that wasn’t where they were suppose to be, equipment malfunctioned, technology failed, even ones own body could turn against oneself in the wrong moment, besides someone always got lucky, a lucky shot, being in the wrong place at the right time, spotting something that should normally be spotted by some sort of fluke.

The more he thought about it the more he realized he needed a backup, a guarantee that no matter what happened there would always be someone to take his place, a pool of individuals, soldiers, well trained, disciplined. A group that could be trained slowly, to perfection until they’d mastered every aspect of the trade, it was then he came up with the Wraiths, but where to find such individuals?

Scorpion looked through seedy bars, clubs, pirate bases, and other such places, though most of the prospects had the necessary criminal spirit very few had what he was looking for and none stuck around long enough for him to even spit out his proposal, as at the very sight of him those that didn’t just simply pass out (thus eliminating them as candidates for training) made for the nearest exit, some created their own in their haste to get away from him. What he needed was a face, someone who could do the recruiting, someone unknown but approachable, but who?

It was then he remembered one of his contacts, the man usually had the most contracts available, a man by the name of Jones, though if that were his real name Scorpion would have been surprised. Soon he arranged a meeting; Jones would be rewarded handsomely for his efforts and Jones eagerly accepted. At first Jones arranged the meetings with recruits while Scorpion remained in the shadows unseen as Jones protection against those who came hoping to beat or otherwise gain information from Jones as to Scorpions whereabouts, or identity.

Soon Scorpion had his first Wraiths who where transported to a secret base in one of the few uncharted areas in the Galaxy due to the violent and often unpredictable natural phenomenon and asteroids that flew about in no discernable or predictable path. However there was one way in, a narrow corridor found mostly by trail and error involving several ships that came to explore the region, one of Scorpions predecessors had analyzed the flight paths and wreckage and discovered the corridor ages ago which over time had numerous defenses built by other predecessors and today was virtually impenetrable and remained undetectable through various technological means.

Over time protection for Jones was taken over by two Wraiths who remained with him constantly, though always out of site. Soon Scorpion had his own mercenary army which he then rented out so to speak as guards or for those tougher assignments that would require a team instead of a mere individual. Occasionally the clients tried to bribe the Wraiths, and a few succeeded at first, however after Scorpion made several examples out of them, none had dared cross the line so to speak since.

His Wraiths (yes there were a surprisingly large group of women among them) soon became fanatical, loyal to none but him, those who weren’t paid a heavy gruesome and deadly price for all to see. The only glimpses any of them got of one another was during transport, after they arrived they each received a red uniform complete with hood (red marking them as first quarter recruits) Training from recruit to Wraith took 5 years, each year was referred to as a quarter. First quarter recruits wore red, second quarter wore blue, third quarter wore green, fourth quarter wore yellow, and fith quarter wore brown, upon graduation each recruit received the grey Wraith uniform. Recruits ate alone, slept alone until they were assigned to a training group, this group would be their team for the rest of their careers, each team member at this point learned the physical identity of each other (as from here on in they slept, ate and did everything else together) though nothing personnal about them, Recruits are forbidden to ever reveal their names or other information about themselves prior to joining the organization, upon joining each recruit is given a one word code name. Each team consisted of 6 individuals, a team leader, sub leader and 4 wraiths.

Over the years the strength of the Wraiths increased to the point that governments and other factions were sending in spies posing as recruits in order to infiltrate the organization, many simply disappeared others managed to find their way back to their employers, or rather pieces of them did. As for the boy who’d become Scorpion? Over the years he continued his personnal vendetta against the Orions though always in secret, after all business was business and the Orions paid well, yet there were still an occasion where some boss was found impaled on the gates of his estate or his head found sitting in the middle of the conference table at the annual meeting. The Orions chalked it up to the cost of doing business, after all they were criminals and these things were expected, however what bothered them most was who was doing it. The killer always left a calling card, though no one seemed to understand it, sand, always just a handful, what did it mean, there were rumors of course but they couldn’t be true, I mean he was dead, wasn’t he?