It was always how the company dictated, they decided the culture, they decided the vision yet they also relied on the billions of employees to get the job done. Whilst automated production lines were a common sight, there was always the need for organic, sentient input into the facets of the corporation. One could wonder why there’d been no independent AI development but the matter should be clear to any with foresight. Building an independent AI would risk a revolt, with a robot population the size of the Varnian Corporations would ponder the downfall of a civilisation. Yet now what existed was some sort of quasi status-quo where both sentients and robots existed in all the company divisions, albeit with a strong favouring to the machinery who were far more reliable. As unorthodox as this establishment may be, it had allowed a race which has not been seen in an inter-species situation in over a millennia. The root cause of this situation lay in a solid, undisputable fact; the anonymity of the Varns led to an aura of invincibility, omniscience even as they existed in a capacity of never been seen but always seeing what occurred.

To say that the employees lived a harsh life would be, well a tad harsh, but it wasn’t a life of opulence either. There were distinct gulfs in the lifestyles of various classes and most notably species, yet all generally prospered. There would always be the poor, the homeless and the forgotten but for the better part, they were generally well off. Perhaps that contributed to the continued existence of the hierarchy, or perhaps not as it did provide the means for a well-supported rebellion amongst the lower class citizens. The one undisputable fact is that the elusive, otherworldly Varnians had managed to compile and operate an almost unsurpassable economic powerhouse for a number of millennium.

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The raiders had little warning nor chance of survival the Corporation fleet dropped out of hyperspace and announced themselves to the fleet in the most violent way possible. A full-sized VAF fleet appeared in the midst of the pirate fleet who were sitting back enjoying the ill-gotten prizes. They were outlaws and criminals about to be crushed under the boot of Varnian authority. Synergy 3 dropped out of orbit with the escort of 3 Akure Class and 8 Mikun Class ships which unleashed hell on the ramshackle. It was more summary execution than fight; all except the flagship were blown out of existence by a hailstorm of laser and missiles. 

The flagship was saved; disabled and left crippled, it floated lazily across the space with pieces of debris trailing away to the edges of space. The pirates attempted a desperate defence of their ship against the inevitable boarding assault but it was too strong, too fierce. A wave of assault droids smashed through the sealed hull, sucking large number of the pirates away as the robots clung to the ship with magnetic clamps. An unbelievable spew of lasers shot out of the multi-barrelled laser repeaters that hit back with such a violence that it would rip any organic in two. The remaining were shredded to pieces if they resisted, the only that survived threw down their arms in surrender. Their leader was captured before he could kill himself, his desperate attempt to escape punishment was in vain and as such he’d be trialled and condemned; his guilt was not in question.

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It was a glorious day in Turoq, there was the launching of five freshly built Farsearchers, fully automated discovery vessels with unguided wormhole launchers. They were to be launched to random destinations, no set destination but merely to see what new discoveries they could make. They had a small rate of success, a mere 20% made it back on average with new data, losses which were unacceptable to the board. However a new development in technology had led to the Director of Technology to call a new discovery venture in order to expand the Varn trading empire. There was little ceremony but much joy as the future of the Varn Corporation winked out of existence.