Drake Interplanetary

History
Drake Interplanetary incorporated soon after the Cutlass was re-appropriated as a civilian craft after having lost a UEE "contest" in 2922. The purpose of the contest was to create a ship that could be constructed rapidly, to outfit distant home defense squadrons in times of need.

Jan Dredge became CEO, along with a seven member board which consisted mainly of designers that had worked on the Cutlass. Drake was not the surname of anyone involved in the project; it was selected as an acceptably “smooth-sounding” name, chosen specifically in the hopes that it would make their spacecraft more appealing. This was the first of a series of money-over-all decisions that would quickly come to define the company.

The second decision was also telling: rather than incorporate on one of the UEE’s traditional “homeworlds” like Earth or Terra, Drake based itself in the economically embattled system of Magnus. Basing both corporate governance and key factories on Borea (Magnus II), Drake’s outlaw image became well established before the first production model Cutlass left the factory floor.

The initial pitch was to private militia groups. The plan was that private squadrons in more distant areas of the galaxy would welcome a low-cost spacecraft solution. Regions specifically classified high insurance risks, the Drake board reasoned, would especially welcome an easier way to replenish lost spacecraft.

Sales were phenomenal: within nine months, Drake had opened six offworld factories and had licensed dealerships in nine systems. In another year, the company had quadrupled again. Within five years they were the fifth largest spacecraft manufacturing concern and couldn’t license subsystems manufacturers quickly enough. The successful company was credited in financial magazines as the little engine that could — finally a competitor that would change how companies like Roberts Space Industries and Musashi Industrial ran their businesses. From the numbers alone, it looked like everyone would be flying a Cutlass in ten years.