The Southern Reaches

The Southern Reaches of Estra

The southern regions of the galaxy were filled with exciting places and persons, such as the annual Illumina Festus Duran SpaceExpo at Fesduran-5, in the Distan Colonies, the massive Stelltron trade hub at Bucklan Fells, the Mutos of Rhatsibahn Malstus hunting preserve, and Shawil, the Rutak pirate. It was the hunting ground of rogue empires such as the aggressive Kopitak, the Torrent smugglers, Shadow Corporation, the Dustovi Pirates, the mechanicals of RX-43, and Stelltrons ubiquitous minions, the Silent company (the Silents).  Other, more 'legitimate' scallywags like the Rubidius, H'fatta, and Jinn Khan pirates. The fabled Albion and their spacegoing city, Dawn of Albion, came from this region. It was also the home turf of Stelltron, the most powerful of the Great Trade Houses and the habitation of seven of the Lesser Trade Houses; the largest grouping in the galaxy. 

Two of the Lesser Trade Houses

Fastil Mining

   This mining corporation covers an area of seventy-five million starsystems. It was a mix of humanoid aliens, humans, arthropods and Arthropod cyborgs. I mention the arthropod cyborgs remained loyal to biologicals during the cyber rebellions, which was something of a rarity. Their customers were mainly the eastern coreward empires such a Ronnel, Anozie Republic, and House Mako. 

Maga Corporation (aka 'Mega' Corp.)

   Maga was a human corporation that comprised approximately 1.61 million systems that were formerly part of the Ronnel Empire. An overarching authority that represented a consortium of companies, Maga approached the empire intending to purchasing territory that, it knew, Ronnel considered sub-optimal for human settlement. After two years of negotiation, Ronnel agreed. In 2802, the independent Maga Corporation was born.

Maga Corporation considered itself akin to an “autonomous multi-cellular organism.” Modeling itself on the daisy flower, its philosophy was to foster alliances with separate corporations that could then be melded into a greater whole, while still being able to exist independently. Maga encouraged this philosophy by only accepting larger corporations into its conglomerate that were doing things that other members weren't. Among its more prominent members were:

• Repur Cybernetics: Repur specialized in quad- and “extreme environment” cybers, as well as AI-driven assistive technologies for human settlers within the Ronnel Empire.

• Szakinity Systems: An offshoot of Szakal Systems, a manufacturer of offensive, planet-based heavy equipment.

• Widdins: A company specializing in high-speed transport vehicles, from troop carriers to cargo freighters.

• Gene-A Tech: Company specializing in medical technologies, including bio-augmentation, fertility, longevity and mutative enhancements.

• Sturm Kinetics: A small, but highly regarded, armaments manufacturer. Did limited business with the Hagadorn Empire.

• Furahi Terraforming: An established name in the areas of terraforming and deep-crust drilling for the construction of subterranean enclaves.

Widdins Corporation Sparrow class stealthship

Length 421 meters

x5 Mk17 torpedo batteries

278 officers and crew

Shawil

   Shawil was a 25th-century Rutak pirate who, along with friends, dressed up as sailors and commandeered a Boe Republic cargo ship, the Insurado, at the Tredalka Trade Hub in 2451. They refitted the stolen ship, turning it into an armed raider. With it, they attacked shipping all along the Tredalka – Um ship lanes for more than a decade. The Insurado was run to ground by the Rutak cruisers Betamar and Juminco under the command of Commodore Gwenatta in 2463. The pirates scuttled the Insurado in low orbit above Thwayo-3 and abandoned ship in smaller craft and life pods. Most of the pods were intercepted by the Rutak, but Shawil and a third of his crew reached the planet’s surface and disappeared into dense forests. The Rutak gave up the search after a few days but destroyed the pirates’ ships, marooning them on the remote world. 

   Betamar and Juminco: were Brumata Class heavy cruisers of the Rutak Navy.

   Insurado: was a Farwin Class cargo vessel registered with the Boe Republic. She was a container ship and was hauling mainly foodstuffs, furniture and hardware when she was taken over by Shawil and his pirates. The cargo was sold to smugglers – Mutos Rhats most likely – and the proceeds used to refit the ship for raiding.

   Thwayo-3 was a temperate world in the remote Thwayo starsystem of 6 planets, including one gas giant. The starsystem was part of the Rutak empire but, except indigenous wildlife, was uninhabited.

Next time...Stelltron Corporation

END TRANSMISSION

Maga Corporation by author KS Augustin

Copyright 2018 Kgruppe LLC