The origins of Project Echo
Before the discovery of the jump gates, the precursor to Project Echo enjoyed a period of unfettered expansion, growing their ranks and influence across inhabited space. While their methods were considered draconian, every direct action they took was weighed against the greater good, and accepted as necessary. Many called for their agents to take formal control of UEE security contracts, as their ability to remove threats without government oversight was considered effective, if a bit aggressive.
As time went on, governments began to place tougher sanctions on private corporations, restricting their movements. Covert ECTF agents were discovered holding positions of military and corporate power, and a task force was formed to capture their leadership, and absorb their assets into the UEE.
While many within their ranks chose to simply disappear, returning to the lives they had left behind before enlisting, a small cadre of their most combat-tested veterans chose another route. Leaving their infrastructure, fleets, and fortunes behind, they took what they could carry and travelled through the gate to Stanton.
While still driven by the same moral code that guided their actions in the settled systems, these former agents realized that to survive on the frontier, their methods and operations would need to evolve. Thus, they retreated into the shadows, obscuring their identities and becoming something new.
Today, little is known about Project Echo outside of their own ranks. Keeping to themselves, they travel in small groups. While no longer strictly structured, this crew of specialized veterans go where they are needed, moving from job to job, helping where they can. Rumors surface from time-to-time of battle-scarred vessels bearing the faded ECTF insignia descending upon pirates to protect the weak. Others tell stories of masked smugglers running UEE blockades, taking what they can back from the military forces that once sought to capture them, and where their operatives may still have eyes.