Not particularly surprised or bothered that a faction ends up fighting as... A faction. It just makes sense from a mechanics perspective. You don't see Caledonia fighting for one faction, Kazaks fighting for another. As for justification on financing all these Mercs... Careful guys, your salt is showing. Anything can be justified with some creativity. In this case, not a lot of creativity is required: JSA is sitting on one of the biggest raw Teseum deposits ever, and they're being financed by the ultra-rich Hyperpower. Purchasing some small merc companies for a month of combat is a drop in the bucket compared to PanO's basic expenditure, and JSA is certainly willing to go all-in since hiring all these Merc companies for a few weeks is probably less than one month of yield if they manage to hold on to these Teseum mining operations. Hell, even the remote promise of future defense or arms contracts is probably enough to get these merc companies active and in the field. Being owed a favor by, you know, the most powerful financial and military entity ever sounds like a pretty good return for a month of operations. Money wouldn't even be required. For example, PanO going to bat for Ikari/Druze if 0-12 seeks to prosecute for atrocities. PanO bureaucracy intervening on behalf of the merc companies, and burying that process in 5 years of litigation would probably be reason enough for these guys to go to work on behalf of a PanO ally.
I view it as the NA2 companies taking advantage of the opportunity to make money while also solidifying the base of one of their most dependent customers - keeping JSA in the game is keeping a steady income source on the table. Sometimes you take the slightly lower pay because you know it'll be in your income tab for years to come.
Well if I am remembering right, I thought they said the to has is helping the JSA. I also remember something being said that Pano was supplying weapons to the JSA. Now I know I'm going with the Druze for this year's online event. We do need to figure out how we are going to attack.
Guys please keep in mind, we are talking about the Infinity Universe here. Money means almost NOTHING anymore in these times. What matters is contacts, influence, connections, POWER. And there is plenty to be gained for Mercenaries by allying with JSA at this point in time from that point.
