Ventrax Dynamics

Corporate HQ : Zemjelos Major

Operational HQ : W15.I

Found on : System Wide

 

Ventrax Dynamics is one of the dominant corporations involved in helium-3 extraction from W15.I. Founded during the early expansion into the C.271 XIV system, Ventrax quickly became a keystone of the fusion economy. Its siphoning operations involve vast atmospheric skimmers that hover just within the upper atmosphere of W15.I, drawing in gases and processing them through orbital refineries.

Company headquarters is on Zemjelos Major, but the major operations hub is its 60-strong skimmer fleet "Nexus Alpha", located at W15.I Lagrange Point 3.

Ventrax mostly depends on a private paramilitary force known as Black Aurora to protect skimmers from sabotage, piracy, and rival corporate interference, and to provide a cadre for its fleet of warships which can be deployed if necessary.

Corporate Culture is : High pay, high risk, high turnover. Skimmer crews are notorious for being thrill-seeking engineers and ex-military types. The company’s motto is: “Breathe Fire From The Stars.”  Helium-3 extraction is one of the most dangerous occupations in the system—storms of ammonium lightning, gravitational micro-shear zones, and unpredictable atmospheric tides make even automated systems risky to operate.

In many ways, Ventrax is the pride of The Threads, since it is rare that a "homegrown" corporation can rival with those mastodonts whose HQs are in Unity space. Obviously, Ventrax could not hold its own militarily against such an entity, but Unity doctrine prevents domination from being based on naked force.

There have nonetheless been explosions of violence, the most recent two decades ago.  Unity reports called the Glast Conflict "not a war, just a hostile adjustment", but they doubtless underestimated the consequences had Ventrax lost.

Glast Interstellar was a young, well-financed and brash corporation that had decided to enter the C.271 XIV system without even concerning itself with the prior manoeuvres that generally lead this sort of operation.  Armed with cutting-edge siphoning tech, AI-piloted atmospheric craft, and an aggressive acquisition strategy, Glast Interstellar established Operation Vortex Bloom, a cluster of skimming platforms within W15.I’s northern hemisphere—an area historically monitored but undeveloped due to volatile ammonium jetstreams.

Glast’s incursion was a direct challenge to Ventrax Dynamics’ de facto monopoly. At first, there was diplomacy, which didn't last long but at least allowed contracts to be established. Then there were contract violations. Then there were “accidents.”

Ventrax seemed to have been caught with their spacesuits around their ankles, using outdated siphoning tech, and having a rather aging fleet of combat cruisers manned by rather unenthusiastic career military.  At the time, Black Aurora was employed as a limited strike team mostly used for station security and sabotage response.  Its Managing Director, Vera Cale - callsign "Null Void" - saw the opportunity.  She convinced Ventrax to stall for time, whilst redeploying her entire company to its service and working on an integrated strategy for bringing down haughty Glast.

 

After nearly two years, under the transparent cover of contracts and mediatised handshakes, of tactical back-and-forth (platform hacking, ion jamming, pressure collapse ambushes), Glast deployed its flagship Krypt Hydra to disable Ventrax’s central refinery node at Lagrange Nine, aiming to force a complete system withdrawal. It was meant to be a quick, decisive strike so as not to awaken Unity—until Black Aurora intervened.

Unbeknown to Glast, it was Black Aurora that was setting the pace of operations, and Vera Cale was certain that the time had come.  Black Aurora had secretly embedded sensor drones inside the ammonium clouds weeks before, tracking Glast’s movements. As Krypt Hydra descended, Aurora's Ghost Lance unit boarded from a stealth carrier, jamming the ship’s lensing field and disabling its shielding from within using viral nanites.

Then came Operation Cloudburn—a full offensive from Ventrax’s skimmer fleet, patiently converted into Q-ships, coordinated in real-time by an integrated AI system. Black Aurora led boarding operations against two of Glast’s platforms while cyberwarfare units crashed three more using deep-implant sabotage. The skies turned to fire above W15.I. In under nine hours, Glast’s entire Vortex Bloom operation was dismantled.

Glast’s surviving units fled the system under emergency acceleration. Within a week, they had declared bankruptcy.

The success of the Lagrange Nine battle elevated Black Aurora from a minor external group to a core player of Ventrax Dynamics. It possesses full police powers on the skimming platforms, and command authority in all security matters, including war.  Vera Cale has a seat on Ventrax' board, and is widely expected to become the next Managing Director.

To this day, the Glast Conflict is studied in corporate war academies as a recent example of precision retaliation, asymmetric disruption, and the supremacy of prepared intelligence over brute force.  It is also a source of considerable pan-world patriotic fervour for the inhabitants of The Threads.