Note: If I get enough good feedback, I'll start making longer episodes of my story and make it into a weekly series. And possibly give time to add visuals. Upvote if you like it. Comment if you would like to give useful input.
Times have changed since international relations deteriorated and the whole world literally went to war. Borders have become so tight that it's always been near impossible to go in or out without a proper permit. Rightfully so, after the first few shots were fired, every nation went to fend for themselves and alliances dropped in the hopes of avoiding conflict. In the aftermath he UN has severely restricted the use of militaries to avoid another conflict of a global scale. Now, countries are only allowed to have Self Defense Forces or face harsh economic sanctions as dictated by the Berlin Treaty. Shortly after the declaration of a global cease-fire, a new boom for an old business has taken rise from the ashes of conflict. The advent of the private defense corporations has come. Massive international companies have taken advantage of a little loophole in the treaty that allows the use of private companies now take the place of the military forces of old. Executive Solutions, the biggest corporation to date has the largest share and owns nearly half the market. Other companies that haven't been bought out still compete and offer services and some freelancers also dot the board in hopes of making a name for themselves in the hopes of being picked up by one of the corporations. Everyone has their own agenda. Sabotage, betrayals and firefights have become commonplace.
In this world, any fighting force can go to the highest bidder. Morals are optional, money is everything.
Teaser:
There's a knock on the door. Rune checks the time. It's 3 o'clock in the afternoon. It was most likely the mail. It was always either junk or bills, two things never welcome in the house. He gets up from the couch to check what came in. "My mail slot's just like an anus because all I ever get from it is pure shit.
I've hit a new low in my life. Jobless, literally a nobody and working for scrap to barely keep my walls up. Television was useless to me nowadays. All I ever see now is just recruiting ads for all these companies. I can't afford premium cable either." After the war, Rune has become one of the 'stranded' in the country. The borders have been locked up and can't go in or out after all his forms of identification expired while all his valid ones were in his home country. There were no real opportunities for him unless everything was done off the record. "Junk, junk, junk, bills..." It's always been the same.
"What's this?" The sender was from Apex industries, a barely known company. On the back, it said 'job offer inside' in large print. "Sounds like another Nigerian prince letter" Rune thinks to himself at how absurd those scam letters would be with the broken language used in them. He opens the letter and to his surprise, it was a legitimate job offer:
"R. Eisenhart,
We have an offer for you:
-Valid Registration
-Lifetime Benefits
-Competitive pay
-Paid training"
The offer was too good to pass up. Being "Registered" sealed the deal. Freedom to exist in his new home country, the chance to have an identity and have new opportunities open up. Rune needn't think twice and folded the form into his pocket and got himself ready to visit one of their recruiting centers and finally make a life for himself.