| Type | Interstellar Megacorporation |
| Location | Ivo 4, Milky Way Galaxy |
| Owner(s) | President Speck |
| Featured in | The Black Sable |
The Alpha Corporation or the Corporation is quasi-government galactic megacorporation that is the dominant power in the Milky Way Galaxy. It was featured as the main antagonist in the 2018 comic series The Black Sable.
Overview[]
A hundred years into the distant future, mankind upon reaching the stars embraced a new "age of pirates". The Alpha Corporation, originally a human organization, it began its space expansion program in order to set up mining colonies on planets and moons all across the galaxy. With no regulations and no one to stop them, the Alpha Corporation acted with impunity, raping, pillaging any planet and civilization.
Eventually the Corporation grew so powerful that it became the dominant power, deposing the Mar, a shark-like alien race and previous rulers of the Milky Way Galaxy. The Corporation now holds a monopoly over all shipping trade and commerce throughout the galaxy with a few scant bands of pirates the only true opposition to the corrupt entity.
The Corporation is led by a President, but overall operations is run like a military venture with military protocols and ranks. The business practices of the Corporation is highly unscrupulous willing to use any means to make a profit. Slavery of humans and even aliens are a common practice for cheap labor having over 200,000 slaves. Most frontier worlds that the Corporation establish lure colonists with promises of a better life as Corporate worker, though were actually forced labor camps to turn free men and women into slaves. Female slaves under the Corporation's owners ship on such colonies are relegated as sex slaves, providing entertainment for the masters.
The officers within the Corporation were utterly without mercy or pity, willing to use pain, fear and the threat of death to maintain their power.
While majority of the organization is human, a few aliens are high ranking members.
History[]
Piracy for the Corporation has been an ongoing thorn in the side of the Corporation. However starting at Sector 6, the Corporation have begun to see an increase in raids from the Mar. It was evident that the Mar no longer respected the Corporation power, hence their bold moves to encroach on their human organization's territory. Though the Corporation official Major Karr downplayed the attacked to have her subordinates concentrate on routing out the pirates such as Captain Sable, her lover Blake and Captain Blood who were threatening their operations with pirates raids.
The Corporation was seeking a lost shipment of Kovarian Fuel Cells, which the pirates were also seeking to retrieve. Captain Reaver led the retrieval to a planet in the Graveyard, and found a pirate base in ruins. He was able to deduce that the Mar were responsible, not only that he learned that the fuel cells did not end up on the planet through a malfunction of a ship, but was intentional.
Officer Stanas a high ranking member of the Corporation answering to the Board of Directors came to investigate the lost shipment, and personally held Major Karr responsible, threatening to end her unless she could make up for the failure either by retrieving the lost shipment or presenting him the heads of Sable and Blood.
On the planet in the Graveyard, Captain Reaver managed to ambush Sable and Blake. However he was forced to retreat after Captain Blood and his crew arrived intending to capture Sable and Blake for personal reasons and to acquire the fuel cells. Reaver though managed to take Sable's crew and ship, The Fury and began to transport them back to Ivo 4 to be imprisoned.
The Corporation later laid waste to the Oasis, a den for free ships and pirates.
The Corporation under the command of Major Karr had her flagship and fleet tracked the pirate captains to a nearby planet where the fuel cells were allegedly being kept by a pirate who wanted to sell them to Black. However the associate had already sold them to another. The Corporation then began laying an attack on Blood's vessel The Fiend, forcing Blood to flee to escape the planet. Officer Stanas onboard the mothership was unhappy with Karr's lack of progress in capture the pirates or retrieving the Corporation's stolen property. He suspected that Karr was plotting something, and warned her that she would answer to him if she failed.
Sable and Blake managed to steal a vessel of the Corporation, that belonged to a strike team sent down to the planet, and infiltrated the mothership. They broke their friends out of their cells and headed to their own vessel. Stanas having enough decided to deal with the pirates himself. He witnessed Sable kill Captain Reaver, and just before they were about to engage in battle, the mothership began to experience a series of explosions, leaving Stanas caught in the inferno, but allowing Sable to escape.
Meanwhile Major Karr had survived the explosion, revealing herself to be the saboteur and also the person who acquired the fuel cells which she presented to Mar King, informing her that along with items, her actions destroyed the flagship and left the Corporation fleet in disarray. The Mar were thus able to overtake the Corporation in their weaken state. The Mar then began to launch a fierce attack on the human worlds, slaughter all humans in the galaxy. Karr willingly sold out her race in order to be rule alongside the Mar, promising to keep mankind in place under her command.
Sable and the crew of The Fury soon began targets of the Mar fleet. However they were saved by Stanas, who miraculous survived the explosion. He was allowed onboard by Sable, and the officer informed her of Karr's treachery. Seeing that the Corporation and pirates faced a common enemy, Stanas and Sable agreed to a truce to work together to defeat the Mar. President Speck of the Corporation soon contacted Sable in order to plead for her help in stopping the Mar in her Quadrant of the galaxy as The Fury was one of the few free ships. Stanas warned the president that the Mar were attacking all the assets of Corporation, which Speck was aware as he was receiving calls for assistance from all Quadrants. Everything was mobilized but the Corporation still did not have enough manpower, however Sable told him that the Corporation did and suggested that he arm the slaves by promising their freedom.
Having no choice, Speck consented and gave the order for his men to start arming the slaves and freeing them. The combined armies of slaves and Corporate soldiers managed to hold the battle lines against the Mar, long enough for The Fury to reach the Mar Homeworld to lead an attack to kill the Mar King. Captain Blood joined the fray to fight alongside Sable, killing the king and forcing the queen and prince to call their armies off.
Major Karr seeing that the winds of fate were changing opted to escape with the fuel cells before the Corporation got her. Unfortunately Karr was corned by Stanas in her ship, and abruptly killed her for her treason. After the Mar retreated, President Speck attempted to reign in on his promise to free the slaves, but none of his forces had the numbers to overcome the former slaves, causing them to retreat themselves. Sable and Blood parted on amicable terms, with Blood keeping the real reason of why he bore a grudge against Sable to himself.
Sable and Blake as it so happened stumbled upon Major Karr's wrecked escape vessel with the fuel cells intact. They counted their good fortunes and took the cells back to The Fury unaware that Stanas was watching and allowed the pirates to take the loot as payment for their services.
Staff[]
- President Speck
- Officer Stanas
- Captain Craft
- Major Karr
- Captain Reaver
Holdings[]
- Ivo 4 - A planet that serves as Alpha Corporation Command.
- 1491 - A mining colony base under the command of Major Karr.