On Fire Department / OFDP

On Fire Department has been around for nearly a thousand years. It has been through many iterations, many failures and successes, and at this point, the name “On Fire Department” is closer to a moniker than anything else. It is a business that would frequently only last a while, then get rebooted by the owner’s grandchildren or great grandchildren.

First Founding (1968-1975)

Initially created by a small group of friends, this group was created to satisfy a need in the badlands of New Mexico, USA, Earth. It was the height of the Gravel Wars and mercenaries weren’t getting their jobs done to a satisfactory level. Enter The On Fire Department! The business whose primary (only) purpose was arsonists for hire. This business however, was rather niche, and it quickly went out of business when the gravel wars ended.

Second Session (2004-2044)

After a significant business failure in the 70s, On Fire Department resurfaced. Revised and revamped, this lasted more than five times as long as the original business model. This new business looked like a hardware store from the outside, but they sold mostly (only) everything you would need to burn something to the ground. Need something illegal? They still sold it under the counter to people who could fork over the cash. In an age of corruption, this enterprise lasted until retirement.

Third Time Through (2107-2132)

Great grandchildren hear about the deeds of their great grandparents and want to be like them! Naturally, the stories were romanticized versions of reality. This led to these new entrepreneurs to be much more active in their sales. Smuggling quickly became part of the job description when the latest and greatest of flame based weapons and tools were mostly (only) illegal items. This version of The On Fire Department abruptly came to an end when an experimental fuel proved to be far too unstable to transport by any means available. The result was similar to that of nitroglycerin, except with a much larger fireball after detonation.

History Repeats Itself (2173-2487)

The business styles of the “First Founding”, “Second Session”, and “Third Time Through” repeated themselves in varying forms for the next four hundred years. The pattern remained the same. Three or Four generations after the start of a business, stories would be told about how awesome their relatives were, they would follow their footsteps, have practices that are borderline illegal, and the business either failed, was destroyed, or lasted forty to fifty years before closing down. As time went on, the businesses became more and more broad instead of selling or trading largely (only) fire starting products. As human reach expanded, The On Fire Department expanded with them. OFDP had consumers across all the inhabited worlds around the sun and a few of the outposts nearby at the end of this period. The “Masses Leaving Earth” event changed everything after this point.

Same Business, New Vision (2490-2686)

After a three year hiatus to equip themselves for the drastic change in economic climate, The On Fire Department set out to the stars to give their services to those who were out of the reach of traditional trade routes. This business was the first one to extend past a single generation and became a proper family business. Being one of the first interstellar small businesses was hugely helpful in making them a large and successful corporation. Once the business took off and became a well known corporation, the only thing that could bring it down was a disaster strike. But of course, disaster struck. Once the Vanduul began raiding, business became tough because fewer could pay for the shipments. They began making ends meet by selling mostly (only) to PMCs and the UPE navy. Once the Vanduul started raiding their shipments, the company fell into bankruptcy.

New Business, Same Vision (2712-2794)

After trade issues collapsed The On Fire Department nearly thirty years prior, it was found that there was a market for private security when traveling through space. The United Earth Empire was in a time of relative unease, and people were more than happy to buy protection so long as they could afford it and they didn’t have their own. The new market did not however change the inspiration behind the business. “Explore the stars, help people who need it, and make a few credits along the way.” The business was very successful until changes in climate and political power started making this endeavor less and less viable. As fewer and fewer people could afford or needed external security, business quickly started getting slow. The business didn’t die like its predecessors though, instead it made a huge change in its focuses.

Smuggler’s Hold (2794-2834)

When business was getting slow, there was some question about how the corporation was going to stay afloat. The answer came when a high profile individual offered large amounts of money to discreetly transport goods to a buyer of theirs. This sparked an idea that the company make the bulk of its credits from smuggling. There was money to be found here, and with the UEE spread so thin, it was unlikely that you would ever get caught. Smuggling kept the lights on for a few decades, then The On Fire Department started to realize that there are other smugglers who are much more poorly equipped. Thus ushering in additional profits, and privateering illegal trade.

Privateer’s Life (2835-2870)

By taking things that weren’t trusted to them, The On Fire Department was able to drastically increase their market, and only slightly increase their expenses. This new corporate business model led to huge increases in profits for many years. This method of credit flow only ended when piracy became a big enough deal for the UEE to dedicate forces to preventing it. Not to suggest that the UEE wasn’t preventing piracy, but they cared a bit less when it was smugglers or other pirates who got robbed. The crack down was enough to keep The On Fire Department from doing anything illegal for fear of being shut down.

Re-branding and Rebooting (2898-Present)

Conveniently around the same time and the founding of Voyager Direct, this new corporate angle renamed the organization simply On Fire Department and dedicated their enterprise to legal and fair trades. The reason for the re-brand was to avoid some level of confusion about the previous name’s reputation for illegal activities. Using the assets of our company’s previous endeavors, we are able to defend ourselves from pirates, Vanduul, and others who would mistake us for prey. Our new business model is that of complete letter of the law legitimate trades. With a fleet consisting of our transport ships, and escorts to go along with them, we can still turn a tidy profit.

Looking to the Future (Present-N/A)

It is our desire to prepare ourselves, as a company, for the inevitable economic downturn that is sure to come in the unknown future. The way we wish to do this in the long term is by building a very large fleet, and establishing many good trade relations. Ideally, if the United Earth Credit becomes worth its weight in space dust, On Fire Department will have established trade routes that can simply operate based on raw materials. In the short term, we plan to recruit as many pilots as we can get to build the trade relations and maintain our trade routes. We also desire to build up the funds to acquire at least one capital ship such that we can defend ourselves while having a mobile base of operations. By accomplishing these things, we may be able to outrun the economic fire burning through the empire right now.