Even though a portal opening was circular and only four feet in diameter, it required enormous amounts of energy to operate, and corporations from both Koranth and Zoranth staked out claims on Exorthium. Massive resources poured into transporting portals, power stations, and mining equipment to the new planet. As is human nature, conflicts eventually arose, and wars began. This period of colonization had been devastating to both Koranth and Zoranth.
After nearly a hundred years, Exorthium was divided, and a peace treaty was signed. As part of the accord, the Ministry of Interplanetary Corporate Relations, known by most as “The Ministry,” was formed to create a framework for space exploration and development. The solution ultimately resulted in Eleven Corporations that held exclusive rights to “develop” any planet that they discovered, without interference from any other corporations or governments. Fifty-two planets, beyond the solar system of Koranth and Zoranth, were identified as containing life, and, amazingly, each of the worlds supported human beings at some stage of evolution and development.
Over the next few centuries, technology continued to progress, and the twin planets reveled in the ongoing affirmation that they were the most advanced civilizations in the galaxy. Each of the Eleven Corporations managed to get one portal in place on another planet.
In those early days, many lessons were learned and became standard practice. Space travel remained astronomically expensive. While Exorthium had been exploited with power stations and equipment shipped by spaceship, it was practically impossible to transport a portal, all of its equipment, and sufficient power stations outside the solar system of Koranth and Zoranth. While perhaps that model might have eventually generated a profit, there were far, far more profitable models.
By far, the best way to ensure the grandest profits from a planet was to wait for the indigenous populations to advance to a point of having a significant global infrastructure in place on their own. If a planet were allowed to develop its own global trade, then everything – power, logistics, transportation, mining, agriculture, and qualified, low-cost labor would be in place for planetary “development” to begin. The more advanced a planet, the quicker the profits would start to flow. All that was needed was to wait for the right timing to install a portal and connect it to a reliable power source.
Once a portal was in place and operational, the first wave to pass through would be Corporate military. These military organizations were magnificently efficient at moving troops and gear through the small openings. Offensive and defensive weapons systems had been specially designed to be transported through the small portal openings. Within a day of a portal’s activation, the military could establish a sizable contingent on the targeted planet, with a nearly unassailable capability to defending the portal from any army or weapons that had been developed on that distant planet by its own people. Within two weeks, a force would be assembled planet-side that would be ready to invade and dominate any location on the planet.
