Minions

Once you have a Barracks (see Lair Upgrades), you can start hiring minions to serve you.

Soldiers: (60 Rep per soldier) In combat, your soldiers attack your opponent's soldiers until there are none left, and then start attacking your opponent. They do very little damage generally, but every little bit helps. You can only have a maximum of 20 soldiers.
Lab Techs: (100 Rep per Tech) Each lab tech you own decreases the cost of buying parts and modifying your weapon by about 2% per tech. You can only have a maximun of 5 Lab Techs.
Spy: (150 Rep) If you have a spy, you can see another player's weapon and defense power sources from the last time they were scanned (see Scanner weapon enhancement). You can only have one spy.
Saboteurs: (75 Rep per Saboteur) In combat, your saboteurs have a chance of disabling your opponent's Lair Upgrades or Gear. (But they don't always tell you what they sabotaged!) You may have up to 5 Saboteurs.