The Helghan Corporation was a massive energy, industry and mining conglomerate that originated on Earth after the formation of the UCN. Once it was established in Alpha Centauri, it reorganized itself into the Helghan Protectorate and then the civil Helghan Administration. The Helghan Administration led their efforts in the First Extrasolar War and later ruled over Helghan until Scolar Visari's rise to power.
History[]
Alpha Centauri Contract and colonization[]
After 'The Omen' incident in 2116, when six colonial ships launched by the UCN were lost due to a massive solar flare, the UCN opened up bidding on the colonization rights of the Alpha Centauri System. The Helghan Corporation, knowing the economic importance of the hub system, managed to win the contract due to the impressive credit it secured from the Interplanetary Banking Guild. In return, the UCN was to receive 10% of the settlement's profits. However, this was not without accusations of fraud and bribery due to the Helghan Corporation's speed of securing the contract and conveniently having a colonization fleet nearing completion.[1]
When the Helghan Corporation's colonial fleet entered Alpha Centauri in 2127-2128, the first planet encountered was rich with resources, but uninhabitable. This planet was named Helghan and a prefabricated space station was set up to manage mining operations on the surface. The rest of the Helghan Corporation's colonists reached the more verdant planet in 2129, which they named after the corporation's CEO Philip Vekta, Vekta. The resource-rich planet of Helghan was managed by an orbital space station to manage the facilities which extracted resources.[1]
When the Interplanetary Strategic Alliance was formed in 2133, the Helghan Corporation agreed to help fund ISA Alpha Centauri's forces.
By 2135, Vekta's settlements were firmly established. Mining operations on Helghan were well underway, and ships en route to new systems docked in Helghan's orbital station for refueling and trade. The Helghan Corporation gained lucrative profits from the fees charged to refill the ships, which it spent on building up Vekta and operations on Helghan.[1]
As a Protectorate and Administration[]
The Helghan Protectorate was established in 2138, which helped to better coordinate activities on Vekta and Helghan. A symbol was chosen consisting of three interlocking arms, representing Peace, Justice, and Freedom to represent the unity between Vekta and Helghan. The Helghan Protectorate however was under the authority of the ISA, as was the Helghan militia which was filled with officers from the ISA Alpha Centauri.[1]
Infrastructure on Helghan was completely finished in 2149. This increased the already substantial profit the Helghan Corporation made from mining and processing on the planet. By this year, most of the Helghan Corporation had relocated to Vekta to be closer to their operations, including the company's higher ups and their families.[1]
In 2152, with the Helghan Corporation headquartered in Vekta, the Helghan Corporation reorganized itself into a civil administration, the Helghan Administration. The Helghan Administration took over the governing and police security duties of the Helghan Protectorate from the ISA, putting the activities of Vekta and Helghan firmly in their control.[1] The Helghan Corporation exists within the administration and maintains a monopoly over mining operations on Helghan.
The Helghan Administration's taxes on commercial activities and profit from mining operations are poured more and more into the lives of their people, but a large portion of their money is stockpiled for emergency purposes. In 2155, this stockpile reached a level to where the Helghan Administration made a bold offer to the UCN to buy Alpha Centauri and the rights to levy taxes and construct a fleet. Due to the UCN's financial situation, this offer was accepted and Alpha Centauri was completely under the control of the Helghan Administration.[1]
The Platinum Age[]
Until 2190, Alpha Centauri went through an economic boom under the control of the Helghan Administration. Alpha Centauri's importance as a hub-system gave the Helghan Administration the opportunity to tax all ships going through the system, on top of the considerable income from trade and re-fueling. A clause allowing Alpha Centauri based companies to be exempt from this tax ends up causing many Sol-based corporations to move to Alpha Centauri, increasing the Helghan Administration's prestige. The shipyards orbiting Helghan also became the largest of its kind outside of Sol.[1]
First Extrasolar War[]
The UCN took notice of the Helghan Administration's stranglehold on the economy and became frustrated that the Helghan Administration is profiting off colonial endeavors that the UCN itself had underwritten. In response, the UCN ordered a massive increase of the UCA's capabilities and creating new taxes and regulations on space travel and shipping, which ends up revoking the Helghan Administration's right to a fleet and right to levy their own taxes.[1]
The Helghan Administration refused to follow the UCN's regulations, but agreed to enter into talks with the UCN to resolve the issue. However, on the urging of powerful individuals and corporations, they decided not to budge on the critical issues of tariffs and self-defense, and the negotiations soon fail.[1]
In 2199, the Helghan Administration declared Alpha Centauri an independent entity, beginning the First Extrasolar War. The UCN acted swiftly, knowing the economic chaos it could cause to Earth and the ideas it would give to other colonies. A UCA fleet was launched the same year to Alpha Centauri.[1] Meanwhile, the Helghan Administration's numerically superior fleet and armies attacked local ISA forces in an attempt to expel them from Vekta and Helghan, though the better trained and equipped ISA forces manage to withdraw in good order, falling back to hidden bases to conduct hit-and-run operations.[1]
The UCA fleet finally arrived in 2201 and engaged the Helghan Administration's forces over Helghan. Most of the Helghan fleet were easily destroyed by the UCA Navy with no losses of their own, and the main orbital facilities around Helghan were destroyed under mysterious circumstances, leaving the Helghan Administration and UCA to blame each other for its destruction.[1]
The UCA fleet linked up with ISA holdouts and moved on to Vekta. Initially the Helghan forces stationed on Vekta threatened to fight to the last man, but a UCA orbital bombardment convinced them otherwise, leaving them little choice but to surrender. By 2202 the war was over, Vekta was subjugated, the Helghan Administration forcibly dissolved, and the leaders of the Helghan Administration and Corporation are arrested, though some managed to elude capture.[1]
The Exodus[]
In order to prevent future unrest in Alpha Centauri, the UCN passed authority of Vekta to the ISA. Another organization, the Helghan Authority, is set-up to manage the industries on Helghan. As Earth-loyal citizens began arriving from Earth to settle on Vekta, a resistance flares up by diehard Helghan loyalists, and terrorist attacks were carried out by the resistance in an attempt to persecute and intimidate the Earth-loyal minority.[1] However, all action is put down by the ISA, which is forced to enact more brutal and draconian punishments on the Helghan population. Eventually in 2204, the Helghan extremists ceased their attacks and, along with other Helghan loyalists, began an exodus to Helghan.[1]
By 2209 a fleet of old colonization ships were refitted to carry the original residents of Vekta to a harsh existence on Helghan.[1] By 2220, settlements were established around the mining activities of Helghan. The heads of the individual settlements come together that year and reformed the Helghan Administration.[1] The Helghan Administration managed the industries of the settlements, which were pooled for the society. Additionally, various medical problems arose from the harsh environment, and the lack of medical supplies led to the Helghan Administration issuing respirators for all workers and soon the majority of the population.[1]
The Helghan Administration isolated itself from all outside contact, becoming increasingly paranoid of all outside influences and motivations. Because of this, they notably denied an offer made by the Independent Colonial Strategic Alliance for them to join in 2223, despite the favorable conditions offered to them.[1]
Embargoes on the system and the corrupt Helghan Authority's control of profits caused the Helghan Administration's job of managing their new existence even harder.[1] The third generation of Helghan Administration subjects began to be born on 2305, and thanks to genetic conditioning, they possessed traits making them more resistant to Helghan's environment, which helps to ease the demand for medical supplies.[1] Regardless, the Helghan Administration ran the settlements well enough, and finally headquartered itself in the planet's main city, Pyrrhus.
The Helghan Administration began to run into issues in 2330, from a combination of the continued trade restrictions, their industries going through degradation, and a growing population. A bad economic depression hits the planet and causing a lack of vital supplies to develop, leading to Helghan citizens dying from starvation.[1] These conditions caused the people to grow more resentful of the ISA and their collaborators, as well as losing faith in the Helghan Administration's handling of the situation.
End of the Administration[]
In 2347, Scolar Visari, a politically ambitious man born to wealth and privilege, led a military coup after he staged an attempt on his own life. The people, deceived into thinking that the Helghan Administration wanted a man who gave them hope dead, supported the move. Visari ordered the Helghan Administration to declare him the "Autarch" and the authority to have unrestrained power for the next ten years to resolve the economic crisis. Not in a position to refuse, the Helghan Administration conceded to Visari, who then gradually dismantled the original structure of the Helghan Administration, replacing the governing body with a militaristic totalitarian regime, the Helghan Empire. The original building which housed the Helghan Administration in Pyrrhus was converted to Visari's Palace. The old symbol for the administration, the three interlocking arms, was adapted into the Helghast Triad.[1]