Del Monte Galactics

Founded on Terra in 1886, Del Monte Galactics is one of the, if not the, largest food and beverages company in the Inner Sphere and the Periphery. Del Monte is one of those corporations that is so integrated in the life of most people that you would not recognize them and just associate their products with “everyday life”. Specializing in grains, fruits and vegetables, Del Monte Galactics tries to build “local” plantations and processing plants in most regions of the Inner Sphere and near Periphery to limit transportation costs. Major local offices are located on most regional capitals as well.

History

Del Monte Galactics during the Star League

Del Monte Galactics fared well during the Star League era, where they expanded to all the member states and into the “pacified” periphery, where they were viewed with suspicion until most realized that they were a net positive on the local life, with massive plantations, canning plants and processing centers generating employment and reducing the cost of living by a fair margin. Profit margins for Del Monte were also rather massive at that time as well, with peace not requiring them to invest heavily into defense of their locations.

Civil and Succession Wars

The Amaris Coup did damage Del Monte as the dictator wanted control over a lot of corporate establishments, which De Monte Galactics was not ready to provide him with. Passive resistance to the Amaris regime led Del Monte to give massive discounts on supplies to Kerensky’s SLDF forces from their “satellite offices”, which the leadership of Del Monte claimed was outside their control.

As the Succession Wars started, various local lords began trying to inch their way on Del Monte locations to take them over, but Del Monte’s lawyers prevailed in most cases, with Del Monte Security Forces having to elbow their weigh in at time and remind some Capellan and Combine warlords why some intersidereal corporations are more dangerous and powerful than they are. After striking an agreement with ComStar, Del Monte kept their headquarters on Earth and tied their business dealing and independence to the newly established communication and banking corporation.

The things which affected Del Monte the most during the Succession Wars was the slow technological regression even in fields like agriculture, water purification and genetic engineering. Many “outlying” plantation worlds and industries slowly becoming less and less profitable outside using “extensively cheap labor”, which was against many of their Gouvernance Guidelines at the time. Drops in soil quality and productivity concentrated the wealth of Del Monte on more specific worlds, which became more and more defended.

The whole logistical chain for Del Monte was also quite affected by the loss of technology, but especially with the Great House requisitioning a lot of their jumpships and dropships for their own military. Thanks to two things, Del Monte remained competitive. The first one came from the many agreements they had with ComStar, which allowed them to hide a number of ships and equipment, with registration numbers being “duplicated” to trick the house militaries (NOTA: ComStar used this extensively as well to hide their own equipment and secreting away personnel and weapons throughout the Inner Sphere using “corporate jumpships”). The second one was Del Monte, like many other “civilian corporations”, also striking agreements with the “travelers”, the roaming population of “gypsies” throughout the Inner Sphere and Periphery.

Throughout the Succession Wars era, Del Monte Galactics was one of the most fervent advocates for civilian rights and forced prosecution of a multitude of war crimes and atrocities as all damage to their installation and plantations was viewed as “endangering mankind”. Reparations surprisingly actually went to local populace in larger amounts than anyone would have expected, with Del Monte actually being seen as an advocate against the Great Houses by most civilians.

As the Helm Memory Core was recovered and many Star League era technology becoming more available, Del Monte dropped massive amounts of money to recover things like water reclamation systems and advanced crop treatment systems.

Clan Invasion

The Clan Invasion was a difficult time for Del Monte as a lot of their facilities were “absorbed” by the Clan war machine as planets fell to the invaders. Del Monte quickly established a “response team” where they entered contact with Clan Wolf and Ghost Bear’s merchant caste (any approach towards Clan Jade Falcon and Clan Smoke Jaguar were rebuffed). “Trials of Possession” were setup for a lot of Del Monte plants between the Del Monte Security Forces and whatever the merchant caste could scrounge up from the warriors, which led to Del Monte actually “owning” most of their plants and facilities in these two Clan Occupation Zones, with local Del Monte leadership being incorporated into the Clan merchant caste. After the Battle of Tukkayid, Clan Jade Falcon merchants approached Del Monte for similar agreements, letting Del Monte “list” their corporation on the Falcon’s stock exchange. As further Clan moved in and out of the Inner Sphere, Del Monte kept striking quick agreements with merchant caste and labor caste of anyone coming in to make sure their facilities and investments would be protected, with the labor caste members working for Del Monte generally exhibiting higher standards of living than many others.

Trade between Del Monte and the clan Merchant caste was concentrated in “non-military technology”, especially specialized “Clan-spec” fruits and vegetables which required less fertilizer and less pesticides thanks to genetic improvements. Del Monte, in return, provided massive amounts of foodstuff to feed the Clan war machine… and their laborers, which led to improvement in standard of living of the labor caste in “friendly Clans”. Clan greenhouse technology and factory farming technology was wanted to be adapted by Del Monte, but the fact that the corporation normally having enough personnel to operate their plantations meant it would have been too big of an investment for the returns, according to their leadership.

In the rest of the Inner Sphere, Del Monte beefed up the security of their locations and started putting more money into building up additional security forces, leading to some planets having a stronger “corporate security force” than any local military or militias. As production of warships restarted throughout the Inner Sphere, Del Monte invested a massive amount to procure a single cruise-class ship which would serve as their corporate security mobile headquarters.

FedCom Civil War

During the Federated Commonwealth Civil War and surrounding problems, Del Monte tried their best to stay as neutral as they could on all aspect within the Inner Sphere, but negotiated with both major parties of the Civil War to make sure free trade and movement of goods from their installations (along with some other corporate partners) would be guaranteed. Del Monte Security was involved in a significant number of “raid prevention” actions against rogue mercenary units and “foreign elements” as well.

Jihad

Like for most organizations, the Jihad damaged Del Monte Galactics significantly as entire worlds were destroyed. Unlike many other eras, there was no mechanism for Del Monte to “sue” the Word of Blake for the damage they were doing, while the other powers were also too invested in a war of survival to be able to assist corporate citizens. Del Monte was one of the leading corporation trying to protect their investment throughout the Inner Sphere, forming a corporate alliance with other massive pan-galactic organizations. Nonetheless, both ComStar and Word of Blake caused significant damage to the scientists and skilled technicians of Del Monte, with death squads killing them or ROM agents kidnapping them “for their own good”. Del Monte Security took this very personally, and new scientific centers of Del Monte are now hidden on remote worlds, outside of the “regular sphere of influence” of organizations like ComStar, the Great Houses or the Clans.

Dark Age and ilClan era

With the HPG network going down, Del Monte started serving as a communications company as well, their ships traveling from system to system bringing news and messages locally on top of food and beverages. With standing agreements with Clan Wolf, Del Monte is not affected much by the fall of Terra and the establishment of the ilClan, but new agreements are required with a lot of the “new nations” popping out throughout the Inner Sphere.

Del Monte Security

• CEO Jaime Estevez-Sheen (3152)

Del Monte Security is Del Monte’s private security force, a military force comparable to some House militaries. Mainly composed of conventional forces (infantry and armored vehicles), Del Monte has privately signed license agreements to produce a variety of Battlemechs and “combat” IndustrialMechs to defend their installations. Del Monte doesn’t hire mercenaries for defense jobs, with all their troops being trained “in house” in various training centers throughout the Inner Sphere, with the largest location being on New Samarkand, where the pilots and infantry can easily be trained in fighting pirates, terrorists and “rogue elements” in deserted cities and desolate landscapes.

The division also has a variety of production facility for their own equipment (mostly under license), ranging from simple support vehicles, firearms but all the way to fully operation Battlemechs. The red and yellow painted “Blackjack Del Monte Guards” are not rare sights on many worlds, same with their accompanying Urbanmechs. Sales of these mechs is limited to Del Monte and other corporate security forces throughout the Inner Sphere, with the occasional machine falling in the hands of pirates and mercenaries after being captured. Del Monte Security is highly protective of their trade secrets and will often send squads to recover lost equipment, so it doesn’t end up being used against them.

The Agamemnon-class cruiser Walnut Creek is the “mobile headquarters” of Del Monte Security and survived the Jihad after taking severe damage but being repaired in an undisclosed location. With a ship that is more than a match for most Inner Sphere and Periphery powers, Del Monte Security has the hard stick it requires to enforce their corporate will against recalcitrant local governments and even House powers.

Del Monte Security production plants

Terra

All models are built under license and sales are restricted to Del Monte and other corporate entities.

New Samarkand

The New Samarkand weapons plant was established in the late 2910s to directly feed the training location.

Del Monte Security order of battle

While the regular corporate security force Del Monte uses are small conventional arms units, once a location becomes large enough to warrant full time protection, the minimum you will see is a full combined arms company of mixed infantry, armor and battlemechs. Corporate regional offices generally have close to a battalion worth of troops at the ready, with transport ready to deploy them in any location where they would be required, using corporately owned resources to do so most of the time. In Clan Occupation Zones, Del Monte Security forces are generally composed of “merchants” who failed their positioning within the Clan Warrior caste, dezgra Solahma units and other malcontents which are approved for service.

Del Monte’s “head offices” generally always keep up to a regiment worth of troops under arm, with a specialization in counterinsurgency, pirate-hunting and long-range patrols. House militaries know better than to challenge Del Monte’s troops, which are very well equipped, motivated, and paid. The AFFS (and AFFC when it existed) loved paying local Del Monte Security units to act as aggressors or defenders in training exercises, allowing their pilots to train against another professional outfit.

Check out Del Monte’s own Blackjack!