The Mercantile Types - revisited

Why are the Traders and Privateers organising into small militia bands? What do they consider their allegience and what means are they willing to take?

My entire logic behind a "Privateer Fleet" is pretty much wrapped up in the TerCon system of military (which will be revisited soon). The gist is this: TerCon is not a government as much as it is a loose collection of culture. It has very little military power, outside a small member driven force which tries to cope with pirates, slavers, etc but tends to fail half the time. They are just not suited to it, as "war" does not fall into the TerCon stable. While their Reintegration Agency has amazing return numbers, the Military it is a part of does not.

Trade is a hugely necessary thing in this particular future. Worlds just reintegrating need equipment, Mature worlds need resources they cannot otherwise harvest. Some worlds - or moons, asteroids, etc - require extensive equipment just to live on, from environmental "Bubbles" to atmo generators, power plants, and hydroponics. Suffice it to say, trade keeps Terran space alive.
Like any other major industry, competition, not to mention parasites, abound. Numerous firms have created names for themselves across the starlanes (I've still failed to think up names that don't sound cheesy), some travel between planets, others between stars, but all transfer cargo.

Some of my readers might say "Well can't the ships haul cargo, and have guns to defend themselves?" Yes, and no. Resources are not infinite, and ship size isn't either. The larger the ship gets, the larger still the engines must be, in a sort of 2:1 geometrical ratio. Mass must be moved, and you need big engines to move big mass. So simply stacking cargo capacity with weaponry, not to mention engines, crew quarters, facilities - both hygenical and recreational, medical, communications, et cetera, well, you make a might big ship. Smaller cargo vessels can use some weaponry simply by sacrificing cargo capacity for weapons. These would be considered tramp freighters, not warships.

Its tramp freighters that generally make the backbone of most Privateer fleets. Some worlds and systems fund their Privateers, providing them military grade hulls and components with reasonable cargo capacity. These ships are the militia.
These ships actively escort less armed cargo freighters, taking a percentage of cargo payout, plus selling their own cargo. Highly profitable.

With the sudden effects of the OC (Ordo Castimon), and the starlanes being overwhelmed by enemy forces, militia are organising as best they can to halt such forces. Some Privateers have gone even further, attacking TerCon flotillas. Some systems have gone so far as to annex themselves, while others are rescinding their privateers legal rights.
Basically, its fubar. One will never be sure, in the presence of a Privateer what their intentions might be. The growing trend, however, is not only an opposition to the OC, but an opposition to the Terran Confederacy; perhaps not to its essence, that being a hegemony of human worlds, but certainly to the reality of its existence.

I'd love to hear ideas about shipping firm names, even ship names. And the usual acceptable commentary. Still on track for 20 in 20, although I've run out of my three pages of questions. I'm going to sit down later and ask myself more questions, which we will surely answer here.