Zeroth Directive

Archive II

As a small PMC that was able to gain a foothold in Rim Billiton, there's no question Firewhistle and her team are a capable bunch. Nonetheless, she entered into a cooperative agreement with Rhodes Island because her business is struggling and on the verge of bankruptcy. The fact is that her partnership with Rhodes Island is her last ditch attempt at keeping her business afloat. If Rhodes Island had been any less receptive to a partnership, or a smaller, less stable client, Firewhistle's PMC would likely have been unable to avoid bankruptcy. Firewhistle was very forthcoming with this point when she consulted us on the partnership. The reason that her business is struggling actually can't get any simpler: over 60% of her employees are Infected. In reality, the partnership was not her main objective. Her first and foremost priority was to seek medical services for her employees and to make sure they would continue to receive health care after her company's bankruptcy. Considering that she is not an Infected herself, the operator in charge of business liaisons courteously asked her for the reason behind her unique employment policy, to which she provided a satisfactory answer. Later, after the agreement was signed, she provided an ambiguous response when the Doctor asked her a similar question. Then, when the Doctor asked her the same question again after the two companies had built a close rapport, she provided yet another answer. 'No one out there's hiring Infected, and only I am willing to treat them like any other. Doesn't that mean I get first pick on all the Infected keen to be mercs in Rim Billiton, no matter their skill?' 'You just gotta take the right precautions and keep tabs on everyone's health, and there is nothing left to worry about. Isn't that how things work here, too?' 'I can't well sit by and watch my brothers and sisters in arms die because of some stupid bias.' All three answers could not be more different, but they are all equally genuine and true.

Archive III

Firewhistle once worked at a large Rim Billiton PMC and led a security team. That was when she developed that tactful yet not unlikable disposition. As the captain, she had to both contend with higher-ups who only want to jack up their missions' profits as well as clean up any messes her subordinates make. Sometimes, she even had to take the blame for them. It was a consensus within the company that combat squad leaders cannot be changed without a good reason. Plus, she did stand out from the crowd with her remarkable abilities. As such, she was reasonably satisfied during that time. There was a time when, right before a dangerous mission began, her superior asked her to use someone as pawn—a teammate skilled in escape and disguise. Firewhistle refused because the teammate had come down with pulmonary tuberculosis during the last operation, which had since worsened. Yet her superior could not be more adamant on this matter. Realizing how unusual the situation was, she chose to spend all the time and energy she had left before the mission on planning instead of arguing with her superior. In the end, the team's exceptional performance, combined with a little luck, helped bring the mission to a successful conclusion without any casualties or injuries. The team was overjoyed, yet Firewhistle felt a hint of uneasiness about the whole thing. Then, when they made it back to the headquarters for recuperation, Firewhistle found herself aggressively reprimanded by her superiors, while her teammate with pulmonary tuberculosis was forcibly reassigned and was never heard from again. His position was filled by someone reassigned from another team. After several appeals, Firewhistle finally pieced together the truth from her impatient superior's answers: when the company was hiring, they advertised that workers who had to retire because of work-related injuries or disabilities would receive a significant lifetime benefits package, and that is what it says on the contract as well. Compared to these costs, the lump sum death benefits are not worth mentioning. Disgusted by this, Firewhistle swore to herself that she would never allow this to happen again. Not long after that, her superior once again came to her before a mission and laid it out bluntly: as long as she took out the man who was reassigned to her team not too long ago—someone who was infected during a mission and had onset Oripathy—she would be promoted to company management. This time, Firewhistle didn't spend any time working on her strategies. Instead, she formed her own company and took her entire team with her. As for the Infected with onset Oripathy, he too became one of Firewhistle's PMC's first members.

Archive IV

Firewhistle could have hid the fact that there are Infected within her company, but she didn't. From the day she went independent, she made it a point to operate her company against the mainstream ideas in Rim Billiton, and recruited workers without consideration to their infection status. It's true that she managed to hire a great number of capable workers, but this also directly led to a dearth of prospective customers in Rim Billiton. Anyone could have seen it coming, but Firewhistle still did it without hesitation. We were left wondering where her rebellious attitude came from until one day when she got drunk at a Rhodes Island cocktail party and went into her childhood: her father's outdoors iron mine, the workers who toiled away there for hours on end, the ceaseless procession of trucks, and her childhood playmates, the workers' children. Her parents weren't your stereotypical black-hearted mine owners. Out of a basic sense of morality, they equipped the mine with safety equipment, did not shy away from raises, asked middle management to not be stingy with approving the workers' time off, and even invited the workers to dine with them on holidays. That said, they and the mine workers were from different walks of life. When the young Firewhistle played with the mine workers' children, her mother was afraid she would pick up the workers' profanities and embarrass the family during 'more refined situations.' When she wanted to ride on her father's car into the city with her best friend, her father would tell her that the interior of the luxury car would be very hard to clean once stained by metal shavings. Before she could even argue, her friend had already taken a few steps back, knowing their place. By the time she started high school, most of her friends had already started working in the mines as her family's employees... Reality was getting harsher and harsher by the day, and there was not even a villain she could blame. In an environment like that, Firewhistle's rebellious inclinations grew by the day. In the end, not only did she refuse to go home to work in the family business after she graduated from college, she even refused any financial assistance from her parents. The two unsuccessful murders added fuel to the fire that had been burning in her heart. Still, her kind nature managed to keep her from going down an even more extreme path. She merely started to openly fight against the things she saw as wrong—the prejudice against Oripathy, large corporations that put profits above conscience, or crossbow bolts being fired at her teammates—no matter how enormous and unshakeable they seemed.

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