A String for Every Puppet

[Lister]

The light's in Docking Bay E aboard Furyoku Station flickered on, circuits warming and filaments heating in response to the docking call from a lone armored transport.
The ship slowly glided in, settling down as the great steel doors of the Execuitive docking bay slid shut and the chamber repressurized.
The rear hatch slid open on it's hydraulic pistons, light pouring out as it clanged to the deck.
Markus Lehmann, CFO Interspace Commerce, stepped out, his briefcase banging against the side of the hull.
He sighed.
Best get on with it.
His shoes clacked on the deck as he left, the lights automatically dimming behind him.
He slipped into the crowd outside in the general recieving bay, standing his place and pushing forward into the first available elevator.
As the doors slid shut, a beam of light shot out from the small optical unit and traced everyone's eyes, reading retinal patterns.
An electronic voice began to speak, and Markus groaned with his own stupidity. The core was programmed to give a full history whenever a new resident was sighted, and the public elevators were simply full of stopovers and transport captains. Worse still, the bloody thing wouldn't shut off until it finished, and it was one hell of a long ride up to Mr. Sherman's office.
He began counting furiously as the gratingly cheerful voice droned on.
"Hello! And welcome to Furyoku Station, a wholly owned and operated station of Interspace Commerce Transnational! As a public service to our clients, all new arrivals to any Interspace base are treated to a full length history of both the original Interspace Commerce and Interspace Commerce Transnational!
The history of Interspace is tightly tied to the history of the very system that runs modern Sirius, the Trade Lane and Jump Gate system, developed by Ageira Corporation in partnership with Deep Space Engineering. This marvelous technological development allowed mind-warping speed and connected all of Sirius, but unfortunately for the governments involved, the technology and parts were fantastically expensive, so expensive that no government could purchase them or any bank underwrite the construction.
To solve this perplexing problem, Ageira and DSE partnered up and in 218 A.S invested their capital in a new corporation, Interspace Commerce! The sole purpose of this corporation would be to finance Lane construction in the four houses, allowing the cost of the Lanes to be spread out over hundreds of years despite immediate construction. Their financial campaigns were wildly successful and by 350 A.S Interspace Commerce was the primary financier for all new Lane and Gate construction. For the next two hundred years all was well with Interspace Commerce. However, in 523 A.S., due to the economic war between Kusari and Rheinland, the respective governments nationalized their trade lanes, effectively wiping out their debt. However, in a bit of diplomatic brilliance on their part to counteract this horrifically unjust and staggering loss, Interspace Commerce managed to negotiate a toll system with the Emperor of Kusari and the Chancellor of Rheinland. For the next two hundred years, tolls on all traffic within the Lane-Gate systems of Kusari and Rheinland would be taken by Interspace. However, the sum total of these tolls was still far exceeded by the losses suffered unjustly by Interspace Commerce. With half of it's profit source gone, Interspace was forced to turn to other ventures in order to maintain it's margins. Thankfully, the vast amount of wealth posssessed by Interspace enabled it to quickly enter the cargo insurance market, the market it now dominates today as the largest, indeed, one of the few large-scale usurers in Sirius.
As one of the few truly international corporations, Interspace Commerce also has a long history of arbitration among nations, including it's own diplomatic successes with Kusari and Rheinland, and the crowning achievement of diplomacy, the GMG-Rheinland Accord that formally ended the Eighty Years War and preserved the balance of free trade within the Sigmas. Of course, even to this day Interspace continues to heavily invest in Lane Gate technology, the most recent advances being the development of the Universal Ship Identification system by an Ageira-Interspace partnership in 700 A.S, allowing the real-time scanning of cargo passing through trade lanes and jump gates, giving Ageira yet another product to sell and allowing Interspace to keep a close eye and tighter records on it's insured shipments. Yet even in the modern age of Sirius, Interspace is still the primary financier of Gate construction, it's most recent investments in the Chugoku Gate in 794 A.S and the system of Okinawa in 816 A.S greatly benefiting the corporation.
No discussion of Interspace history is complete without mentioning the Interspace Nueralnet Division, the team of engineers and programmers originally responsible for developing the Nueralnet, and who, in 815 A.S, achieved total control of Interspace through a series of ingenious financial manouveres, and led Interspace for three years before their departure from Interspace last year.
It is here the roots of Interspace Commerce Transnational begin. After the unforeseen departure of the IND, several division heads, including the head of the Secure Transport Division, the Programming Division, the Security Division, and the great Thomas Mahone himself realized the great benefits accorded to Interspace by such a tight centralized control. They founded a seperate company, Interspace Commerce Transnational, incorporating within the space of Okinawa, and began to use their earnings to slowly buy their way into power. At exactly 09:49 PM Mar 20 819 A.S, the final transfers were conducted and Interspace Commerce Transnational was the majority owner of all four incorporated branches of Interspace Commerce, and a new era had begun. This concludes the history lesson. Please stay tuned for a series of advertisments from our corporate sponsors!"
The elevator arrived at the top and Markus hurried off, glad to finally be rid of the ridiculously annoying voice.
He nodded to Mr. Sherman's secretary and knocked on the door, entering soon after.
The two figures at the table locked in a quiet discussion both rose and turned towards him.
"Markus! I was wondering when you would make it out here!"
"Good to see you, Felix, Tammo. It took a bit to get the secure files you requested."Markus set the briefcase on the table before dropping into a chair.
"So, how have you all been? New headquarters working out so far?"
"Aye, mate. Tax an' fancy free, lots o room, Kusari girls, horrorifically luxurious offices. Nae a thing ou' o place. Perfect."
"Glad to hear it Tamm. Well, let's get down to business shall we? I have to catch a shuttle back to Newark to pick up some tech designs tommorow."And with that the three figures sat at the round table and began pouring over documents in the manner of all businessmen.