Name: ULink Systémique

Focus: Manufacturing and Legal

Board Representative: A heavily-obfuscated series of shell organizations and figureheads

CEO: Léon Guy

Livery: Dark grey and orange

Motto: On ne change pas une équipe qui gagne.

ULink Systémique holds a unique position amongst the supercorps; they are ubiquitous but go almost unnoticed by the average citizen. They own and license all autofactories in the system, which means that they touch the lives of millions across the system every day. But the average person no more thinks about who owns the autofactory they use than they do who built their habitat. At any given moment, someone, somewhere, is doing something that makes profit for ULS, yet most citizens never stop to think that the corporation exists at all. And no one is going to challenge that ubiquity, at least not successfully. In the past, several corps have attempted to lock horns with ULS to break their monopoly on autofactories, or to sidestep the supercorporation to produce something similar without paying ULS’s licensing fees. Each and every time, the legal department of ULS descended in waves and eradicates them like a swarm of locusts stripping a field. Some of these companies still exist, but not many, and none unchanged.

The viciousness of ULS is not in question, regardless of the fact that their battles are mostly fought with lawyers and money rather than guns. Some disdain the aggression of ULS because they use bureaucracy and legal means to wear down their enemies. However, those who have experienced these battles firsthand know better. One of these, Hornet’s Nest Operator S03 Tac is quoted as saying, "If I had drones as many and mean as ULS lawyers, I could pwn the whole system in a week."

However, it is important to note that ULS has only ever been known to throw around its terrible weight reactively as opposed to preemptively. They have almost never acted as aggressors unless threatened. Despite the dire warnings of many from across the system, autofactories have never spontaneously shut down due to political reasons, nor introduced backdoors into systems used by other corps insofar as has ever been proven. As a provider of goods, ULS is generally trusted and generally have never done anything to bring that trust in question. At least nothing that there is still an un-purged historical record of.

The only thing ULS, as an entity, seems to want is to continue their hegemony. They are like a silent leviathan, which when sleeping seems to merely be part of the landscape but if awakened is fearsome beyond belief.

This approach has led to a sort of simmering caution from most of the other corps. The ubiquity of ULS products puts them in a unique position with regard to POWER! Corps. These two giants both manufacture and control technology that is used constantly across civilized space, to a degree that their presence is taken for granted. This has prompted a quiet rivalry between the two of them that is fought less often in open warfare and more frequently in boardrooms, legal filings, and the media. Rod Lightning, in his usual flashy style, has made certain public statements that some have interpreted to signal coming moves against ULS. By comparison, ULS as an entity very rarely makes public statements about anything whatsoever, and in fact ULS CEO Léon Guy could probably walk down most streets in the system and not be recognized. If there is a corporate war brewing between these two giants, ULS is, as usual, quietly biding their time.

Next: Helix Pharmaceuticals