Reyes-McLees Corporation

The Reyes-McLees Corporation, abbreviated to RMC and previously known as the Reyes-McLees Shipyards Inc., was an interstellar manufacturing and construction company that rose to prominence during the Insurrection and later the Human-Covenant War. Based in the city of Ansikte on Mars, the company was founded in 2473 to take advantage of the obsolete construction platforms resting above the planet. Reyes-McLees was best known for the production of militarised spacecraft, for a time holding a monopoly on larger warships while their competitors SinoViet Heavy Machinery did the same for the smaller tonnages. In actuality, the corporation mainly profited on the sale and establishment of orbital facilities, although the manufacture of industrial equipment and the construction of maritime vessels were also two core businesses of the company.

After the successful merger of Saratoga Construction Services and Phoenix Industrial Technologies, the Reyes-McLees Corporation grew rapidly, buying up many of the derelict factories on Mars to prepare them for their interstellar expansion. They started as a manufacturing and infrastructure development company, which would lay the foundations for their entrance into the military shipbuilding industry. They released their first major product in 2483, although they only hit their first stride a decade later in 2494, with the launch of the incredibly-successful. Earning a reputation for quality vessels, RMC would embark on a corporate golden age of unprecedented growth. So quick was it that by 2525, the company became one of the "Four Kings" of military suppliers thanks to its near-monopoly on the heavy-tonnage starship market.

Unfortunately, RMC's ever-increasing revenue would be bullzoned upon the discovery of the Covenant, who in their genocidal fervor laid devastated the company. Despite accelerating the fabrication of new experimental starship classes aimed at turning the war, the company would take the heaviest losses and highest amount of debt sustained out of any of the Four Kings. By 2552 was on the verge of disappearing due to it filing for bankruptcy. It survived thanks to a massive government bailout that would result from the Shipbuilding Crisis of 2553.

History
The Reyes-McLees Corporation proudly traces its lineage to two companies: the venerable Saratoga Construction Services (SCS) and Phoenix Industrial Technologies (PIT). The former was a building company certified to establish planetside and orbital structures, while the latter is a manufacturing corporation which earns its living through hiring out its facilities. Spanning a combined age of 237 years, the two organisations had long had invested in their local industry, neither turning a sizable profit but at the same time failing to succumb to bankruptcy. However, as the colonies matured and began supplementing and eventually replacing the manufacturing giants headquartered in Sol. With so much money heading out to the colonies, Mars began to lose its place as the head of humanity's industrial power, inspiring its largest companies to leave the planet for the stars. Entering a period of economic downturn, both SCS and Phoenix joined the Martian Prosperity Coalition; a united front of corporations who seek to maintain Mars' production identity. Encouraging its members to pool their savings, employees within both companies saw the benefit in unifying their assets to create an adaptable conglomerate. This view was shared by Robert McLees, a young upstart fresh out of university with nothing but ambitions to his name.

To most, McLees' dreams of ruling a corporate empire seemed like a fantasy. Travelling around for work, he would slowly build up a reputation as a prodigy in his field, with his charisma winning him over supporters. His biggest step forward was in 2463, when he met his future wife Lorraine Reyes. The daughter of one of PIT's previous CEOs, Reyes' connections in this fledgling company complemented those that McLees independently made, with her business mindset and knowledge on inter-company politics giving them the foundations to build upon further. She marketed McLees' talents to a broader audience, allowing him to quickly climb the ranks in SCS. Once they felt they secured the support of the major executives and shareholders, the two launch a coup on their respective companies, with both managing to oust the original CEOs and taking their place. Their sudden marriage would secure the merger between the companies, and coupled with the purchase of one of Mars' oldest drydocks, would bring about the birth of the Reyes-McLees Corporation in its earnest.

The Rising Star
For its first decade of existence, the Reyes-McLees Corporation thrived only by offering its outdated factories towards smaller companies who did not have the significant industrial base to guarantee success. Most of its profits went into automating its factories, creating many of their construction tools in-house to minimise cost.

Post-Covenant War troubles
When the ceasefire between humanity and the remnants of the Covenant was announced in March 2553, the corporation found itself in a bad shape. The Human-Covenant War had cost the company dearly, with 1,139 sites consisting of both executive planetside buildings and various types of industrial space stations being utterly annihilated by the alien onslaught. Those that remained, such as their namesake shipyards above Mars, were horrendously disfigured from Covenant attacks, and required extensive rebuilding to even service existing UNSC vessels. Only twenty-nine facilities remained intact, most of which consisted of reserve drydocks and factories located above bypassed colonies such as Minister. By the same token, more than 92% of their pre-War workforce had been killed, which includes several executive staff that were killed in their headquarters on Mars. Some of those that did remain, particularly leading designers and chief corporate officers, sought retirement now that they felt that with humanity no longer at risk of extinction, they could finally retire on a world of their choosing. Such individuals were given substantial incentives up to the tens of millions to stay on with the company, although most of the most experienced personnel were content to part the company with leaving bonuses.

Organisation
With a highly diverse profile, Reyes-McLees fills many orders and has many commitments to a number of high-profile customers and economic partners, both public and private ventures. This is reflected in the many branches and key departments - of which, there are five core focuses for the RMC: the Maritime Development Branch headquartered on Earth, the Spaceborne Development Branch based on Mars at Reyes-McLees Towers, the Orbital Construction Wing also based on Mars; the other two branches, the Industrial Technology Branch and Mobile Services Branch are spread out across Human Space based on need and expense.

Maritime division
The least-funded and ill-recognised, the Maritime Development Branch of the Reyes-McLees Corporation is based primarily on Earth and had several offices and construction sites on other colonies before the Human-Covenant War, primarily Reach, however, with the mass-evaporation of Reach's waterways after being glassed from orbit, those facilities have suffered total losses. What is left of the Maritime Development Branch has been reconsolidated on Earth and the Branch's headquarters is based out of Sydney, Australia, strategically placed in the same place as the headquarters for the UNSC Navy.

Reyes-McLees is one of the few large corporate organisations still involved in the market for maritime exploitation involving the development of seafaring and seaborne craft - both for civilian and military purposes. As one of the last large companies working in the seaborne market, not including the many mom-and-pop shops that operate out of coastal cities on major colonies, RMC provides for all forms of maritime needs. While Reyes-McLees are better known for their massive cargo starships and multiple cruiser-sized warships in service with the UNSC Navy and several private security fleets, it isn't unusual to see large seafaring cargo ships and tankers slapped with the Reyes-McLees corporate logo on its aft and sides. The Reyes-McLees brand is so prolific that the UEG's Ministry of Commerce and Inner Territories Transportation Administration both employ craft constructed by the Reyes-McLees Maritime Development Branch brand. Multiple regional police departments also employ craft developed by the RMC. Most notably of all the organisations to employ seaborne products by Reyes-McLees is the UNSC Navy's UNSC Maritime Operations department, also known as the "UNSC Wet Fleet," the majority of the seaborne vessels employed by the Wet Fleet were built or contain key components developed by Reyes-McLees.

Board organisation
While already well-organised with two major branches and numerous subsidiary companies, as an interstellar entity Reyes-McLees must split itself even further apart to cope with the unique challenges it faces. Without a means for remotely transmitting messages in an acceptable time frame from planet-to-planet, let alone to the various star systems that they operate in, the corporation found it necessary to place large numbers of employees into positions of authority. Not only this, but the sheer quantity of incoming queries, reports, and simple information made it impossible for the upper executives to properly sort through to determine what may be detrimental to the future of the company itself, let alone respond to them in time. Multiple bodies of authority would solve these issues, although the rising risk of corruption remained a constant issue. There are four levels of their hierarchy of authority, with the area of operation and number of employees growing further down you go. These are the Executive Board, Sectorial Board, Interplanetary Board and finally the Planetary Administrations. Each group meet every ten months and work within a set budget to ensure they do not dramatically affect the corporation's economic stability.

The Executive Board is the highest office in the corporation and is typically represents the height of an employee's trust, influence and to a lesser extent their ability. Because of the incredible power at its disposal, each member of this rate has been with the company for years if not decades, and have undisputed command over entire branches and regions of space where they operate. This experience is necessary, as the Board of Directors weld the power to direct the entire organisation's efforts towards a common goal. This ranges from setting up new contracts with powerful clients, managing the growth and decline of the corporation, and working on strategies to ensure their prosperity in hard times. The central board is headed by the CEO, who is capable of implementing new regulations and projects for the company to pursue and managing high-level employees without influence from the Board of Directors. This huge grasp of power makes the CEO the public face of the RMC, with their actions casting a huge effect on the public's opinion. They are advised by an odd mix of major shareholders, subsidiary chairmen and directors who manage various aspects of the corporation. Together, they hold the power to oppose the CEO's actions and oust them if necessary. The only other notable part of this rate is that this is where RMC's internal corruption commission is based. Indoctrinated to be loyal only to the organisation itself, these investigators scour the inner levels of the company for any evidence of corruption and work outside of the normal chain-of-command to accomplish their tasks. They are capable of detaining nearly anyone they suspect of sabotage, and their word is law unless the Board of Directors disagrees with their decisions. There are limits on who they can touch, yet this does little to erode the fear they generate among the other employees.

Design doctrine
Despite sharing some surface detailing with other military vessels employed by the UNSC, many of Reyes-McLees' products have unique characteristics which instantly separate them from the other manufacturers. The most prominent is their immense, monolithic hull design divided into terraced sections. Long and tall, RMC ships have a comparatively thin width, in contrast to older cruisers and carriers, which are often a lot wider than their height. In addition, the top and bottom are usually slightly angled inwards towards the ship's beam. This is done to reduce the frontal profile without sacrificing space and durability, as well as making them thin enough for nearly every shipyard to be able to service them. This, unfortunately, exposes more of their superstructure to the enemy when being broadsided. As their normal box-like superstructure restricts the firing arcs from its turrets, either through the hull itself or other weapons blocking their shot, holes, and platforms had to be added on to reduce the severity of this effect. Finally, all but their largest ships are organised into sections which can be built at different facilities before being welded together at a final site, reducing the cost and time to construct their ships. An unintended side-effect of this method has, with some improvised modifications to make it suitable for translight travel, given the UNSC the ability to flee with intact parts, making it viable for refit stations to finish their construction in the middle of battle. All this has their warships being cheap and quick to build for their size, and have a reputation for durability and versatility.

Security
Given their vital role in the continuation of the UNSC's supremacy, Reyes-McLees has become an attractive target to rivals, corporate saboteurs, and Insurrectionists attempting to cripple the UEG's manufacturing power. To protect themselves, RMC has access to a number of parties it can call upon to prevent serious damage from being dealt with their assets. These range from lightly-armed guards to entire battlegroups charged with their safety.

Their first line of defense lies in a well-equipped force of mercenaries contracted from Private military corporations (PMC). As no PMC can provide the sheer manpower needs required by RMC, each facility is typically protected by a different party, each of which has been thoroughly screened by company employees to ensure they have are sufficient for their purposes. The contractors usually have training and experience comparable to what would be found in the UNSC; in fact, many mercenaries tend to be former marines. To help ensure a constant level of reliability and training, the PMCs are required to use weapons, armour and vehicles supplied by RMC while on patrol. Coupled with scheduled drills and continued observation for any traces of Insurrectionist sympathies, it is more than enough to protect their manufacturing sites from even the most well-equipped Insurrectionist force.

Unofficially, as part of an exclusive contract, they have been allowed to request the services of a number of elite commandos. Paid per job in absolute secrecy, these elusive soldiers are usually used to sabotage Reyes-McLees' competitors such as SinoViet Heavy Machinery. To help deter suspicion, these targets are carefully-planned to occur only on worlds where they have no significant investments, with some competitors deliberately left alone to make it easier to frame them. Even low-priority RMC factories are attacked, although these are set to coincide when there are minimal workers on shift.

During the Human-Covenant War and to a lesser extent the Insurrection, Reyes-McLees were often patrolled and protected by the local UNSC garrisons and later battlegroups. With the rise in suicide bombings and the increasing need there became to prevent more production centres from falling to the Covenant, the UNSC found it necessary to establish a number of precautions to better protect them. All of RMC's shipyards were secured by a standard battlegroup, composed of at least one destroyer and three frigates. Larger facilities or those resting near the frontlines could be expected support in the form of multiple cruisers, carriers, and even supercarriers. On the ground, most of their factories and ship assembly yards are capable of receiving armies from orbiting transports and frigates, essentially becoming staging areas for the defenders. These were both a boon and a curse, as while they made them tough for the Covenant to take with conventional forces, it made them a priority target to orbital bombardment and long-ranged weapons. As a result, little of the company's property survived the initial skirmish with the alien's powerful fleets.