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There are two sides to law enforcement in Liberty. Officially, there are the Liberty Police, theoretically a private company paid to stop piracy, smuggling and criminal activity in the Republic. Actually, corrupted mouthbreathers spending their corporate salaries on donuts and coffee, sitting in Illinois counting bribe money. Then, unofficially, there are Vigilantes.

Rich kids with guns, that's what they really are. Kids, who instead of taking the usual path, of going through college and then having guarantee of a job behind a desk in their parents' company decided to pick up swords and go slay dragons. Armed to teeth, without any kind of moral compass, they accidentally point in the right direction.

They do what they do for one reason, one reason only: because they like it.

For most kids the path of easily gained wealth and fake respect is the dream. When whatever they want can just materialise before them. But once they realise that it's a boring life, of zero enjoyment, when all you have to do is play along of what your parents destined you to do, they start rebelling, doing drugs, going into the so-called 'bad company'.

Or alternatively, what a lot fewer people do, you can go the other way. In a world where there's nothing to aspire to, no maidens to rescue, no vampires to stake, you can leave that world and go back to reality. Do exactly the same, but from the other side of the barricade.

That's the path Cathy chose to follow. 'Cathy', or Seraph, the nickname her friends gave her in the college and it stuck. IT college in Varience City of Manhattan, one of the most prestigious but also one of the most hard-hitting in Liberty, with most of the money coming from Ageira Technologies. She passed, obviously, as one of the best-ranking graduates. Even the rector told her she would achieve great things, working for Ageira, as though he had no doubt she would go there right away and apply for a job.

Yeah, right.

She made great friends in the college. Seth, got kicked out after the first year. When he left the campus, he told her he didn't fit there. He went to West Point after that. His father was a Navy officer, he had aspirations for a career in the military. Tori, a freshman who was admitted into the college when she was in senior year. Smart, romantic, wealthy, absolutely generic upper-class guy. She would be ashamed if he went down.

Fast forwarding a few years later, the college friends reunited at Manhattan. Seraph, after a short and turbulent adventure within Lane Hackers was a freelance bounty hunter, working for whoever got to her first. Lionel, as he was usually known now when someone gave him a cheesy nickname on West Point, piloting a battlecruiser by day, shooting pirates in New York and Texas by night. And Zettsu, travelling musician and rescuer of damsels in distress across the Sirius.

They met in some expensive club in Varience, talking and drinking, not paying attention to anyone else around. Then the idea sprung up. They didn't care to conceal it at all, so began loudly talking about how Police do nothing to protect their citizens. They wanted to change it. They didn't notice one old man sitting at the table next to them. He listened carefully.

The old guy was someone later known as Bolshack. A renegade officer from the Navy. This career military man spent most of his years watching his government try - and generally fail - in its self-appointed role of Sirius cop while its own territory burned and its own citizens died getting shot by Rogues, Hackers, Outcast and Xenos, all alike. Better to first start setting your own house in order, he figured. During one of the missions in Hudson his squad, consisting of a few fighters, a siege cruiser 'Independence' and his own dreadnought 'Victory Rush', was ambushed by three Rheinland battleships.

If Victory Rush didn't have cloaking device, the outcome would probably be very predictable. Yet, he somehow managed to get the cloaking rig working under the constant fire of Rheinland battleships and escaped to Texas. He figured this was a perfect occasion to break out from the Navy and start setting things in order within Liberty. There was a problem though - the ship was significantly damaged and a big chunk of the crew were killed during the fight. He himself took a blast of fire to one half of his face when a fuel tank breached. The remainder of the crew managed to anchor the ship near South Dallas debris field, where they managed to repair most of the damage caused by Rheinlanders. It took quite a long while, during which Bolshack was informed that he is being pursued for treason and theft of a Liberty Navy battleship, so was his crew. He passed the sad news to his men.

He issued a long speech to the crew of Victory Rush, talking about how Liberty is being destroyed from the inside by all manner of criminal element and they need to take care of them. Most of it he didn't believe in himself, but he couldn't afford a riot on board.

Bolshack rose from his seat in the club, dragging attention of the three friends sitting near. He walked up to them and said quietly 'You're doing something that I've been doing for over five years now. I can help you. But you shouldn't stupidly talk about that in public. Here.' He gave a small piece of paper to Seraph and left the room.

Lionel and Zettsu sat quietly while Seraph was trying to make sense of the writing on the paper. She figured it out in a moment, these were coordinates. Pointing to... somewhere. She'd guess this is the place where he wanted to meet them. 'Well, nothing to lose, I suppose. Let's go there tomorrow.' she said. She and Zettsu left the club while Lionel stayed to pay the bill.

The next day Seraph, Lionel and Zettsu flew towards the coordinates they were given. Seraph in her Sunrider fighter with blinding purple lights, Zettsu and Lionel each in his own Waran bomber. The location where the coordinates pointed was between California and Pennsylvania jump gates in New York, just at the edge of the Badlands. They found it, but it seemed nobody was there. Suddenly, just when they started to think the old man made fun of them, they saw a ship uncloaking. A big ship. A Liberty battleship. Victory Rush.

'Hello fellas, I hope you're not too intimidated, but I had to make sure you weren't followed. Docking bays are open, I will see you on board.'

'So, here's the deal.' Bolshack continued after everyone introduced themselves. 'You're rich kids with no experience. I'm a poor man with a lot of experience. And I've got a battleship. So you stay absolutely quiet and discreet about the existence of this ship and in exchange you have an ultimately safe haven and a base of operations to stay anytime you need to. Deal?'

Seraph, Zettsu and Lionel looked at one another, then they looked at Bolshack.

'Deal.' said Seraph and brightened up. In a few short days Vigilantes were formed. A group that would bring peace to Liberty once and for all. Having a lot fun in the process.

Vigilantes use callsigns for comfort and better communications, and generally don't mind revealing their real names, most of the time it's not even necessary. They don't accept titles, "sirs", "misters" and so on among themselves. Everybody is equal and has their right to decide on the matters within the group. Captains only focus on organisation, such as calling targets during the fight, and settling disputes.