All Roads Lead to Sheridan Station...

Sheridan with 60 Billion people at TL 12 outnumbers the star-faring population (over TL 9) of the Even sub-sector by 60:1.  The three major conglomerates that run Sheridan are in constant competition, and are fighting proxy wars throughout in the Even subsector and beyond.  

The Federation of Heron is pit vipers and small time criminal interests who all owe some form of allegiance to the conglomerates of Sheridan.  

The Conglomerate primary business is moving shit tons of weapons to buyers across the entire Sector.  Safely tucked away in a far corner of Glimmerdrift Reaches, they are immune from the interstellar rivalries in the center of the Sector.  They have never faced any foes, as each conglomerate has information networks that cover almost every world in Glimmerdrift and beyond.

Each conglomerate, The Graboshki Trade Consortium, Yanadana Interstellar and Chellobhago Development Corp. are sector spanning corporations with numerous divisions and assets that sometimes compete with their own subsidiaries. Often times this is due to ignorance that they are part of the same balance sheet, or less frequently because they are making a power play to impress the bosses above them.

Each of the "Big Three" have substantial naval yards and production capacity exceeding 10 million dTons per year within the Sheridan system.

Because of the distance between Sheridan and it's customers, each of the conglomerates operates several "mobile production shipyards" which all fly under the banner of Sheridan, and are know collectively as "Sheridan Stations."  Each station is usually beholden to one of the conglomerates, but has "representative members" from the other conglomerates on board.

Larger stations are kept at a fixed location, to facilitate the transit of ships that are "Sheridan Built" to their far flung customers.  Smaller stations can move around to perform routine maintenance within J2/3 of customers, or to provide repairs to battle-damaged ships near the hostilities.

Sheridan Stations will set up operations in space without a world (unoccupied hex), or preferably in a world system with a gas giant where they can increase revenue by skimming, refining and selling fuel.  Sheridan Stations are non combatants, backed by the guarantee of Sheridan's Wrath.  On many occasions, both sides will send their Sheridan built ships to a Sheridan Station during hostilities, with the knowledge that anyone opening fire will be terminated immediately by the station, and have all service contracts nullified and voided.  

Don't Frack a Sheridan

During the Solomani Rim War, a brash captain of the Federate Republic erroneously believed his battle damaged ships were still in condition to defeat a like number of Glimmerdrift Trade Consortium ships that were docked at a Sheridan Station.  Rather than rely on the protection of Sheridan, commanding officer Crayzhee Tuh of the Trade Consortium Forces engaged Captain Watafuk's Federate Forces.  Sheridan Station withdrew, destroyed numerous ships from both sides, and then jumped out of system.   

Within two years both governments fell, when the existing governments were unable to procure all of the resources needed to protect their worlds and internal foes received additional resources to change the regime.