In 2189, a young Terran electromachinist named Walter Scott Hughes founded a company dedicated to the daring proposition that a German firm could create the finest computers in the galaxy. He relentlessly applied his insatiable zeal for perfection to the pursuit of his stated goal, and in 2194 the Hughes Star II became the first Terran computer ever exhibited in Sevres, Racheau at the Galactic Museum of Technology. In 2196, Hughes embraced and soon became the leader in the development and construction of breeders. Two years later, Hughes purchased a majority interest in Marietta Optics and absorbed it. The new firm, Hughes-Marietta, organized as a UCOR under a charter granted in Heimdall. In 2203, Hughes-Marietta received the singular honor of being the company to create the official IT network for the AEC. The AEC has exclusively used Hughes-Marietta computers ever since, and has rarely if ever had any complaints. The only ones who seem to have a problem with the arrangement are the competing UCOR's, any of which would like to have a shot at the lucrative AEC contract. Along with Borsig-Spline, Hughes-Marietta is one of the two largest manufacturers of jump stations. This is one product in which only perfection is acceptable, and the engineers of Hughes-Marietta have risen to the challenge. There has literally never been a case of a Hughes-Marietta jump station malfunctioning. Hughes-Marietta takes pride in offering products of uncompromisingly high standards of quality, crafted with care and dedication by skilled artisans. Its goal in every case is to meet the most stringent expectations of design and fine workmanship: its own. If a customer is ever less than completely satisfied with a Hughes-Marietta product, the company either replaces the item or refunds the full purchase price, no questions asked. Today, Hughes-Marietta products are still handcrafted to the same high standard of perfection set by the company's founder nearly 100 years ago. Hughes-Marietta also conducts an ongoing search for great designers and has extended its patronage to gifted engineers on many different planets, eventually taking the most promising minds under its corporate wing.