Role: Head of the Tempest Mercenaries
Cutter was, earlier on, just a rank-and-file Tempest security guard the crew managed to distract during their younger days on the station — stationed at the entrance to an abandoned train track leading into the Choke, he was pulled away when the kids hacked the local PA system and paged him to the medbay by name. He’s since risen to lead the Tempest Mercenaries outright — and by reputation, was not a popular figure with Dax during Dax’s own time in the mercs. When the crew’s warp core needed repairs and grounded them at dock, Cutter reached out to Derrick directly, poured him real whiskey, and offered a deniable, off-the-books job: track down James Ramirez, a Tempest merc who deserted after repeatedly refusing to fire on civilians and use explosives on rioters — 5,000 credits up front, 5,000 more on delivery, dead or alive. Cutter also brought the crew a separate rumor: investigate the fledgling terraforming project and research station at Samsa VI, which has gone dark, and render aid — 100,000 Cr plus hazard pay for rescued personnel and research, with orders to secure research and any surviving staff of management grade 2 or higher (remaining staff considered expendable).