ODECO Drilling

An ODECO Production and Processing Unit.  

The 3 ships pictured are

1. "Mr. Charlie" extraction ship in the foreground

2. "Deep Space Viking" (the largest one pictured), is a refining and transfer ship. It also serves as the flagship of the unit

3. "Nostromo", a commercial towing vessel, in the background

_________________________________________________________________

ODECO (Ocean Drilling & Exploration Company) was founded in 1954 on the American Gulf Coast.  During its time as a terrestrial entity, it had a reputation for advanced design and leading edge concepts.  (ODECO Wikipedia Link) Because of its reputation, ODECO was invited to Venture Island (the earthbound home and capital of the Kingdom of Colores) and an offer was made from the Kingdom of Colores to license the company to operate beyond the wormhole.  Once the ODECO Executives moved past their original disbelief and incredulity, they eagerly sent teams across to Sector Six. The hope was to leverage scientific knowledge obtained from the inhabitants of Sector Six into huge technological leaps (and profits) on Earth.  That was great in concept, but as with the Colores government itself, knowledge transfer in execution was disappointing.  (That is a long story requiring more space than is available here) However, for ODECO, the profitability of operations in Sector Six exceeded those on earth by an order of magnitude. As ODECO’s interests in Sector Six grew and grew, ODECO finally sold all of its earthbound assets in 1992. Among the 14 registered deep space Drilling, Mining and Extraction companies, ODECO  is the largest Colores company in Sector Six.

Drilling and Mining in Sector Six is a very lucrative business for Colores companies.  It is considered low-tech, pedestrian, and dangerous by most of the native inhabitants. So earthlings, (who obviously do not share the same scruples about any exo-atmospheric ventures)  have flowed into and established themselves as specialists in the industry.

__________________________________________________________________

A distress courier boat has arrived in orbit around New Cypress. The ODECO commercial unit has lost a picket escort in an attack, but the main ships have gone dark and are hiding in the Molling system. It is only a matter a time before the ODECO ships are found. the Governor-General calls on the Passereaux and 8 Ball Command once again to investigate and rescue the civilians.