Mass Driver Conglomerate

The Mass Driver Conglomerate (マスドライバー財閥) was an organization within the Capitalist Corporations, specializing in technology.

Principles
As its name suggests, the Mass Driver Conglomerate is a group with the world's greatest mass driver construction technology, having a monopoly in the area, and the only one said to be capable of building a functional mass driver.

The conglomerate's headquarters was located in Los Angeles, in the Capitalist Corporations' Central Valley area of western America.

Mass Driver
A Mass Driver (マスドライバー) is a giant electromagnetic catapult, which works in a similar manner to a railgun, firing a shuttle or container into orbit. At the time of Heavy Object, no group has succeeded in building a working mass driver, although the Mass Driver Conglomerate was said to be the only group capable of doing so.

Background
About 20 years ago, with rocket engine shuttles being too expensive for large-scale space development, new methods were considered in order to enable it. The conglomerate was originally a group which mainly worked in the rate business, dealing with commodities with changing values much like stocks or foreign exchange, making profits from the changes in price. Sending the profits made in this manner to companies considered to have potential, it began researching and developing technologies required to construct a mass driver, aiming to have it adopted as the officially used method for space launches and monopolize the space traffic network, controlling a permanent source of profits instead of the unstable rate business.

At the end of the adoption war, the two methods remaining were the mass drivers using railgun technology and laser space elevators using laser technology. The Capitalist Corporations eventually decided to go with laser space elevators, with Major General Buffer Planters being the driving force behind this decision. As a result of having lost to the competition and not having the mass driver become the official format, the conglomerate was in danger of going bankrupt, having poured their funds into mass driver research. The conglomerate wanted the mass driver to be adopted by another world power but the Capitalist Corporations stopped them, not wanting the technology developed in the Capitalist Corporations to be used for the benefit of their enemies.

Having been blocked at every turn, the Mass Driver conglomerate subsequently seceded from the Capitalist Corporations, taking their territory and residents with them, and began a large migration to prevent the Capitalist Corporations government from seizing their assets. They had also hired a large number of the mercenary units making up the Capitalist Corporations military. Shortly before they began their migration, the Capitalist Corporation military intelligence secured nearly all of their Elites to prevent a war between Objects, though the conglomerate retained one in secret together with an Object, the Lisolette.

An Audition War
As they were migrating away from the Capitalist Corporations, a group from the conglomerate operating in Antarctica attempting to seize control of a satellite laser in order to attack the lunar villa where Buffer Planters resided, likely out of revenge. Due to having fired on a Legitimacy Kingdom aircraft, they ended up facing forces from the 37th Mobile Maintenance Battalion sent to investigate, using both armed men and railguns, but were defeated.

As they were moving south of the Sierra Madre area in Central America to the Iguazu district in South America, near to the Amazon district, where a Legitimacy Kingdom space development base using a laser space elevator was being built, the 37th Mobile Maintenance Battalion was deployed to intercept them and prevent them from attacking it.

After landing and destroying railguns the conglomerate had installed on the mountains, the 37th made contact with the 52nd in order to cooperate on attacking the conglomerate. However, the Lisolette easily destroyed the 52nd's Bright Hopper with its first shot from afar and caused heavy damage to the Baby Magnum. It also bombarded the 37th's maintenance base, leading them to consider calling off the mission, though they continued in order to stop members of the 52nd planning to blow up the Iguazu Dam in their plan to avenge their commander. Due to Quenser managing to locate the Lisolette and managing to pass information to Milinda, the Baby Magnum was able to shoot the Lisolette through the mountain tunnels and succeeded in destroying it.

Following the loss of the Lisolette and their commander, the remnants of the conglomerate, around 500 people under the command of Sladder Honeysuckle, retreated to the Amazon district and made contact with the Information Alliance. Holding up inside the Amazon city, they hoped to hold out long enough for the Information Alliance's forces to arrive and join forces with them. After the Baby Magnum was incapacitated by the conglomerate's trap, consisting of a prototype reactor buried underground and sent critical, Quenser faced Sladder Honeysuckle and managed to capture him, allowing the 37th to finish off the conglomerate.

Afterward, the captured members of the conglomerate were to be judged under Legitimacy Kingdom law, though the Capitalist Corporations and Information Alliance had requested that Sladder and the others be handed over to them, and were denied. The Information Alliance was able to avoid any responsibility as they hadn't acted on their intentions, but the Capitalist Corporations wasn't able to avoid all responsibility, though they insisted the conglomerate's rampage was one on its own that they were unable to stop.

Members

 * Sladder Honeysuckle (Object Designer/Advisor)