Crescent Hawks

Frequently referred to as "Katrina Steiner's personal lance", the initial Crescent Hawks were a small unit loyal to the Lyran Commonwealth, created by Katrina Steiner as an elite group for covert operations and therefore presumably part of the Commonwealth military.

In 3028 they re-formed as a guerrilla force, working for Steiner, on Chara III (Pacifica) following a Kurita invasion, and went on to become an independent unit aligned with House Steiner, working with the famous Kell Hounds.

Based on the permission from the Archon to act independently, and on their cooperation (and eventual merger) with the Kell Hounds, the Crescent Hawks have been argued to be classed as a mercenary unit. However, seeing as how the Crescent Hawks did not fight for money at any point, this is a seen as a stretch by some. More accurate is to call them a independant covert ops squad, under jurisdiction of House Steiner, while not actually being part of the commonwealth military organisational charts.

Sarna Wiki - Crescent Hawks[www.sarna.net]