EVE Evolved: Mercenaries, the hired goons of EVE, part 2

Famous mercenaries: Mercenary Coalition
Mercenary Coalition (MC) began life in 2004 as a few mercenary corps that started working together for mutual benefit. The two original corporations involved were Body Count Incorportated and Sharks With Frickin' Laser Beams, both of whom had gained notoriety from previous successful contracts. MC expanded its ranks in the years following those initial big contracts and they remained the game's largest and most organised mercenary force until they disbanded in 2008. Their name alone was often enough to deter attackers and their military force turned the tides of wars. It's no wonder they were the most well-paid mercenaries in EVE history.

Possibly MC's most famous contract was their unrelenting war on the entire north of EVE, codenamed "The North Reloaded". Under contract from the Band of Brothers alliance, MC proceeded to systematically dismantle the major infrastructure of every alliance in the northern part of 0.0 space. In three short months, they achieved their terrible goal. The previously solid northern alliances fractured and in their place new names that were less of a threat to BoB made grabs for the northern space. MC summarised this war in a great multi-page battle report that reads almost like a sci-fi novel.

Famous mercenaries: The Guiding Hand Social Club
If you haven't heard of the Guiding Hand Social Club (GHSC), you've probably been living under a rock. Their record-breaking heist in 2005 has been one of the most talked about events in EVE history, even making it into a four page spread in PC Gamer magazine and news posts around the world. The GHSC started as a mercenary outfit that specialised in assassinations. Their famous heist began as a well-paid assassination contract against Ubiqua Seraph CEO Miral in retribution for alleged thefts and scams. Criminal mastermind Istvaan Shogaatsu decided that the best way to do this would be to infiltrate the target corp. Wishing to maximise the damage dealt and the haul from the operation, Istvaan placed agents at all levels of the corp's ranks.

When the time came to carry out the assassination, the Guiding Hand operatives convinced Miral to fly alongside them in her extremely valuable Navy Issue Apocalypse as a sort of inspirational show of force. Since members of a player corporation can attack each other, they led Miral into a trap and killed her, destroying both the expensive ship and Miral's escape pod. The assassination contract was complete but the damage didn't end there. Immediately upon the codeword "Nicole" being uttered in the corporation's chat channel, Guiding Hand agents placed strategically at each of the corp's offices stole everything of value from the office hangers in a move that has never since been paralleled in sheer class.

The GHSC have continued their contracts over the years, infiltrating corps and alliances to dispense their own special brand of mischief. Most recently, Tyrrax Thorrk claimed credit for the theft of an entire Pandemic Legion capital ship fleet, claiming that he had infiltrated the alliance under the name of WarGod. The Guiding Hand Social Club are currently accepting new contracts and having had their fill of pulling the strings in the background of EVE, they're interested in shooting spaceships with other spaceships. How quaint!

Summary:
Mercenaries are one of the oldest professions in EVE. For as long as there have been reasons to attack someone else, there has been a market for doing someone else's dirty work. It can be a difficult business but good mercenaries with a history of successfully completed contracts can be paid extremely well for their services. Do you have what it takes to make it as one of EVE's guns for hire?