Vey-Med
The Great Vikaran Experiment
During the latter half of the 23rd century. Humanity centered on the Orion Confederation began an expansion, unlike anything the galaxy had seen before. Indeed, expansion was so fast it rapidly grew beyond the Confederation’s ability to deal with it. The Vikara Combine predicted disaster, their top sociologists proudly proclaimed the frontier would shatter into hundred petty states which would turn on their homeland as they tear apart planets in competition with each other. Though pirate activity devastated countless planets this doomsday prophecy never came to pass. Instead in the vacuum of left by the absence of Orion on the frontier megacorporations rose in their place. Nanotrasen, Aether, Hephaestus, and countless others. Still, this did not deter Vikara’s predictions of doom, surely the greedy corporations would turn on each other or Orion in time bringing about their prophecy of destruction.
During the great Bluespace Flicker of 2354, Vikara expected the frontier and its corporations to have completely collapsed in the meantime, surely the disaster that was a galaxy-wide disruption on FTL travel would see the overextended humanity brought low. Yet the megacorps emerged from Flicker intact. The rapid expansion of humanity continued, and to Vikara this presented a new problem. Calculating the rapid rate of expansion and claiming of resources by humanity they predicted that over the next two centuries that Orion and the megacorps would surpass them as the Galaxy’s premiere power before Orion would begin directly competing with Vikara for resources. However, in megacorporations, Vikara saw an opportunity. If guided by an ethical hand the expansive power of the megacorporation can be used to create a better and more Vikara-friendly frontier. In 2376 the Skrellian medical provider Vey’quex Quoshi, or ‘Medicine for All’ was by the act of the Vikara combine given special legal powers to exploit resources and trade with the wider galaxy nearly unopposed. Rechristened as ‘Vey’qouis-Medical’ roughly or “Medical-Medical”, and armed with the best medical technology the Vikara combine had to offer Vey-Med set off on a ‘humanitarian mission’ across the frontier for the good of all sapient life.
The Great Rise
Vey’quex Quoshi was already a large corporation internal to Vikara when it was given special powers by the Combine. With those powers and unmatched medical technology, it quickly rose to the top of the post-Flicker frontier. Vey-Med could simply provide medical care that was beyond even the greatest labs in the core of Orion. Lifelike prosthetics, perfectly cloned biological limbs, rapid regeneration salve, and most importantly novel chemical medicines including ones marketed to the human population to the Frontier as Bicaridine, Dermaline, and Alkysine among many others. The medicines that are stocked in hospitals and clinics across the Frontier today have their origins in Vey-Med with megacorporations having paid steep prices to get access to their synthesis formulas. Zheng Hu partnered with Vey-Med shortly after to create the ChemMaster 1000 the ancestor to the chemical packing unit that is considered standard kit for medical facilities today.
The discovery of Element P branded by Nanotrasen as phoron did nothing to slow Vey-Meds' growth indeed the phoron wars only increased demand for their services. However, as demand increased the logistics constraints of running a company both for citizens of Vikara and for humans of the Frontier became difficult to bear. As such Vey-Med formally created the ‘Vey-Med Orion’ as its own autonomous division within the company. The move was highly successful, the extreme violence of the phoron wars saw Vey Med Orion expand rapidly. Major megacorps on both sides of the conflict along with contracts from the Orion Confederation itself to give humanitarian aid to the worst affected planets. New products continued to flow from the brightest minds of the Vikara combine to the frontier and Orion beyond. Nanite Implant Frameworks, EMT RiGsuits, mediguns, hyposprays, medical synths, the galaxy could simply not get enough of what Vikara had to offer.
However, from this success Vey-Med found itself facing an internal crisis. Vey-Med Orion’s rapid growth was tied to the human market rather than the Vikaran one. At its inception, Vey-Med Orion represented 15% of Vey-Med as a corporation. As of 2550 Vey Med Orion represented 40% of the corporation’s value. The board of directors of Vey-Med now stands at five Humans, a Martian Tajara expatriate, three Skrell two Teshari, an Akula, and a Vulpkanin with the Skrell Xe’qerreux Tel’barak CEO of the company maintaining the balance in the favor of its Vikara aligned members with his 15% ownership of the corporation. With the Orion side of the corporation growing every day. Lacking the same ethics the rest of the corporation keeps Vey-Med Orion Branch increasingly mercenary in its practices. Prices for medical care have been on the rise even with the end of the phoron wars but no one can argue with the numbers that show positively that the growth of Vey-Med’s Orion half outpaces that of the Vikara half. Within the halls of the Vikara Combine the thought of losing control of the only Vikaran megacorporation to humans is seen as a danger to the security of the Vikara Combine, and too countless lives are being squeezed under the prices of Vey-Med Orion. As the phoron war ended, Vikara remains one of the largest megacorps in the galaxy up in influence with Hephaestus and Nanotrasen itself and if things keep going as they do then it will only continue to grow even if its past as a galaxy-wide ‘humanitarian mission’ is but a memory.
Troubles in Modern Medicine
Today Vey-Med remains stronger than it ever has even as division within it threatens to tear apart the corporation. Its CEO Xe’qerreux Tel’barak has kept the company together, but he is 180 years old. The rumors surrounding his long life are not the topic of polite society. Some say he was replaced by a lifelike synth decades ago. Others say he is no more than a brain in a jar piloting a mechanical body around. Still, others claim Vey-Med found the secret to biological immortality that it is keeping from the wider world, or he is simply a perfect clone remade whenever the old body tires out. Others, however, claim it is simply a matter of time before he finally passes, a thought that terrifies the Skrellian part of the company. Tel’barak rose to CEO with a simply uncharacteristic ruthlessness among the Skrell. Having been the one that made the decision to create Vey-Med Orion in the first place, he went from board member to CEO by its success alone. It was he who appointed many of the human board members as Vey-Med Orion grew larger and larger within the company. Now within the company vultures are circling around Tel’barak. He is known to have filed a secret will and testament and somewhere on it is listed who will inherit 15% of Vey-Med. If the Orion or Vikaran factions within the company inherit those shares then that faction will inherit majority rule of the company itself, something that could last maybe a century or more.
Still, if you went to a Vey-Med facility today nothing may appear the matter. The security is strangely tight their orderlies strangely well-armed, but Vey-Med assures the galaxy that its armed personnel is due to the dangers that the company faced operating in the phoron wars and the pirate-infested frontier. Increasingly, Vey-Med facilities are secured by Akula mercenary outfits especially close to Vikara space. The Akula, taking orders from headquarters on Qerr’balak itself rudely remove the human security that was originally hired by that facility. Across the company tensions are rising, most have confidence that cooler heads will prevail, after all, they are doctors, healers. It is against their oath to bring harm and even in the darkest hours, Vey-Med keeps its oaths.
Ethos
The internal split between Vey-Med and its Orion branch is seen in the company itself but both agree on messaging. Vey-Med is here to help and heal. Its original name - prior to megacorporation status - “Vey’quex Quoshi” or ‘Medicine for All’ remains their tagline, especially in the Vikaran parts of the frontier. Vey-Med spends more resources on humanitarian missions than any other megacorporation and its doctors are considered the most ethical in the galaxy. Patient/Doctor NDAs are so strict that it is only through Vey-Med that most can consider their private medical data truly safe. A decentralized system of encryption means every patient’s data is protected in a different way and accessible only to Vey-Med doctors, the patient’s authorized representatives, or the patient’s next of kin should they be deceased which is very rare among the vast majority of Vey-Med’s patients. The strict enforcement of NDAs along with an even stricter ethical code means Vey-Med staff are the most elite and trusted in the galaxy. Breaches of those codes often result in the violating doctors being pushed out of the company entirely.
However, the corporate half of the company increasingly dominated by humans is less and less ethical each day. Rates for Vey-Med services have been rising since the phoron wars a policy many doctors in the company are critical of. Vey-Med chemical and medical patents are also increasingly pricy and true unfunded humanitarian missions are increasingly rare. Even as the face of ethical medical care in the galaxy they increasingly appear driven to ring every drop of money they can out of the galaxy’s sick and injured. Still, countless people today owe their lives to the charity of Vey-Med and their doctors, and that reputation and ethos of care hasn’t yet been shaken from the company, even if it seems weaker every year.
Quirks/Questionable Activities
Vey-Med tries to keep its controversies out of the public eye nonetheless they have been accused of several shady activities. Their neutral stance in the phoron wars meant that humanitarian missions were often launched as Syndicate worlds which lead to NanoTrasen accusing the company of prolonging the war and directly aiding the Syndicate. The syndicate was even known to use modified Vey-Med Odysseus mechs known as the “Murderdysseus” as combat mechs. Vey-Med admitted that the Syndicate did in fact receive more aid than NanoTrasen they countered that that was simply because they were more in need of it. Vey-Med also countered that they never refused NanoTrasen medical distress signals and even aided the company in the development of the cure to the Syndicate bioweapon colloquially known as “Fungal Tuberculosis”.
As soon as Vey-Med’s NIFs hit the market security forces across the galaxy began finding strange homemade uploaders for the implants. These uploaders dubbed “Compliance Modules” could insert mental suggestions into the minds of those who uploaded it to their NIFs. Though not a mind control device by any means the effect was utterly hypnotic and soon there was evidence that sapient traffickers were using such modules to promote compliance in their victims. Because of the prominence of the Compliance Module and the seeming ease of its construction some claim that the effects that the NIF can have on the mind are an intended feature designed for any number of unethical functions. With the effects the Compliance uploader has seen to have on the mind of the applications for social engineering, the NIF seems to be unethically limitless.
Influence
With such expertise in the matters of medicine, Vey-Med has the ears of health professionals even as far away as Moghes. Public health services look to Vey-Med to help guide their efforts. Countless individuals and even entire governments are indebted to Vey-Med both personally and sometimes financially. If their assets were to come under threat they can count on the help of innumerable System Defense Forces, governments, and even individuals to come to their aid all out of the kindness of their own hearts and because no one wants to die of an infection because pirates blew up the hospital. Vey-Med’s own medical technology and patents also put a lot of the galaxy under their thumb. The end of Vey-Med services could see the end of vital medical aid to countless worlds and the backlash from the public to such cuts is often severe and career-ending for many politicians.
Having been originally chartered by the Vikara Combine, Vey-Med also holds more influence over the Combine than any other entity in the galaxy. Vey-Med humanitarian mission has captured the minds of the Vikaran public and politicians alike many seeing it as the only thing that stands between Vikara and a human-dominated galaxy. Though corruption in the Vikara Combine is far less severe than in human governments, Vey-Med influence is seen often in the Combine’s government. Their endorsement alone is known to move mountains and terraform planets. Still with its internal divides growing every day, it remains to see how Vikara may react to disruptions within the company. What is known though is that if something seriously threatens Vey-Med then the Vikara Combine will not stand idle for it.