Skilled, remorseless, tactical, and full of greed. That is the best way to describe the Mercenaries. Loosely affiliated with the Decepticons, only cause they pay well. In all honesty, they will work for anyone who can pay the right price, except the Autobots. Several members of the Mercenaries have specific reasons to hate the Autobots with a deep rooted passion, and refuse to even listen to their pleas for assistance. The Mercenaries have all vowed that they'd rather see the Autobots dead, then take any form of payment from them, no matter how profitable.
A team of professionals, each with a specific skill set they excel at, but all of them are talented at eliminating targets. Incredibly skilled professionals who would rather be out there using, and improving their abilities, while making a profit doing so. As a result, Nautilus has assembled a team of the best and most talented, under the common goal of more profit so they can even further their impressive skills.
Whether it's Energon, materials, knowledge for research, or even the odd 'guinea pig' for an experiment, nothing is free, and the Mercenaries know it. So these 12 experts have united under the common goal of profit, and increasing and improving their expansive skills. They are exceptionally skilled at what they do, and are professional killers all, so they have what it takes to turn a tidy profit, and have the determination to get the job done. After all, nothing is free, and if the cost is an Autobot life, even better. They have no remorse as they pick their missions carefully, because it just helps them stay ahead of the game, while making a great profit at the same time. Most other Decepticons know that they're reliable, but don't trust them, because because they know that hiring the Mercenaries will come at an outstanding price. Since each of the Mercenaries are so skilled, someone will have to hire them at one point, and who hires them knows they're hiring a professional at a steep price, or the entire team. The Mercenaries always research their temporary employers past and present to make sure they're not getting back-stabbed. In the case of the Decepticons, it hasn't happened yet, nor ever will, as the Mercenaries were once Decepticons, and since the Decepticons know the Mercenaries will never aid an Autobot, they would rather have them on their side of during the war, than lose the Mercenaries assistance during, as they have been invaluable as allies.
The Autobots won't attack the Mercenaries, but will defend themselves if attacked, as they know that these devastating professionals only show up if someone has the payment, and they don't need the Mercenaries as full-time enemies. In the case of employers who aren't Decepticons, usually it's an individual, or a unified group like a government, or it's resistance, hiring them, but the Mercenaries have reaped multiple payoffs from unstable groups hiring them in the past. The Mercenaries successful completion of objectives has lead to the teams of individuals who hired them fighting over their share of the profit. While not encroaching on the Mercenaries side of the profit, as the Mercenaries always accept payment (and make sure it clears) before any even accepting a mission, each group had no other option of seeing whatever objective they wanted completed, and they want to get as much out of their side of the situation as they can. This has led to groups that hired them splintering, offering the Mercenaries a repeat hire from the same customers, who while once had allies, now have enemies who've already shown the Mercenaries where to strike, when the Mercenaries were studying everything they could while they were peaceful, not assuming that information is now a strategy to be used against them.
The Mercenaries are known for always completing their missions with a calm confidence, as they are strategic, and incredibly skilled, and since they were once Decepticons, people know not to try to betray them, as they don't want to interfere in a war that has leveled planets in it's wake. Even though the Mercenaries have no direct reason for involvement with that war, the Autobot / Decepticon conflict is known across the universe for it's destruction, and collateral damage, and many races avoid the risk brought by the herald of any Transformer. Entire planets have been destroyed during the Transformers war, and though the Mercenaries are legendary across the universe for getting the job done, no one wants to bring that war to their doorstep by willfully attacking, or betraying them. Hope you have deep pockets.
[ Incoming message. Source unknown. ]
[ Click to attempt signal recovery... ]
> COMM LINK: ONLINE
> SIGNAL SOURCE: MOON BASE ONE (DARK SIDE)
> ENCRYPTION: AUTOBOT CYBER-LEVEL 4
> TRANSMISSION TYPE: AUDIO-VISUAL
> STATUS: STABLE ☑
> PLAYBACK BEGINNING...
> DECRYPTION KEY: 5 ROBOT POINTS
> MESSAGE: "IT'S THE END OF THE WORLD AS WE KNOW IT..."
> RESPONSE: "...AND I FEEL FINE."
[ Click to attempt signal recovery... ]
