AD 22XX, in the time of planet-colonising, humans were actively Terraforming worlds other than Earth to make them habitable. In the course of doing so, humanity encountered Extra-Terrestrial Intelligence (ETI) and hostilities commenced, with United Galaxy Space Force (UGSF) taking them on head-on.
Not long after that, corporations with designs on the expanding space frontier and unknown technologies possessed by the ETI joined in the fray, escalating the conflict.
“Dirty work” that the regular forces could not bear to do like initial patrol of a planet to be explored, engaging in battles at the very front of the war, and the cleaning up work after battles is left to paid mercenaries. Their members consisted of problematic soldiers who were court-martialed, prisoners looking for chances to lighten their sentences, people who were hiding from and running away from the mafia and others, all of them with strong reasons to be there.
The prideful UGSF gave these mercenaries a derogatory term “Bounty Hounds” (dogs with only bounties in mind).
