First Corporate War

The First Corporate War was a conflict that took place between August 2004 and February 2006, fought between the corporations Euro Business Machines (EBM) and Orbital Air.

Beginnings
The first corporate war began when Electronic Business Machines attempted a leveraged buyout of Transworld Airlines (TWA), a failing business. EBM attempted to make a deal with the CEO of TWA, but the CEO of TWA let the deal fall through. Orbital Air, another corporation interested in buying TWA (and desperate to claim TWA's air traffic facilities) blocked EBM's buyout attempt.

After realizing what had happened, EBM sought to eliminate Orbital Air's chances of purchasing TWA. EBM hired terrorists to kidnap Orbital Air's business negotiation team, en-route meet TWA. However, the terrorists failed in their mission, and later it became known that EBM was responsible for hiring them.

Orbital Air, after discovering the identity of their attacker, recruited the Zetatech technology corporation as their ally in the conflict. Zetatech's hackers began a large-scale net attack against EBM, but EBM was able to repel the attack and force Zetatech out of the war.

After defeating Zetatech in cyber warfare, EBM began their own attacks - physical and technological - against TWA and the Orbital Air facilities. Both sides fought each other viciously using terrorism, net attacks, piracy, corporate solos and proxy soldiers from the Third World. During this period, both companies lost hundreds of millions of Eurodollars.

Major Battles
There were two major battles during the first corporate war.

The first major battle occurred when Orbital Air commandos successfully raided and captured an EBM space station. The operation to capture EBM's space station was a response to EBM having hijacked an Orbital Air station in the past. Both parties in the conflict were denounced by the European Space Agency, who demanded that the two business not fight each other in low-earth orbit (LEO).

The second major battle, which ended the first corporate war, took place a year later. Commandos employed by Orbital Air were able to attack, breach, and capture the compound of EBM CEO Ulf Grunwalder, which forced him to surrender to Orbital Air.

Legacy
The first corporate war was an example to other corporations, that using wholesale military-style warfare against one-another was a viable business practice. The first corporate war was the first conflict of its kind, and it lead to other corporations following suit in fighting massive conflicts with each over resources and business prospects.