Rod Portlyn

Rod Portlyn was a male business entrepreneur. He was of an undetermined humanoid species, with pale green skin and scarlet eyes. He was an aficionado of Yridian cigars.

Portlyn known for buying up the majority of the real estate on various worlds, so that he essentially owned the planets themselves, and using them as the basis for his economic empire. In 2366, he purchased the planet Phantas 61, a successful mining world in the Norvel system, and hired a Phantasian citizen, Elless, as his right-hand man overseeing operations there. Over the following decade, Portlyn pressed the Phantasians to meet ever-increasing business goals in order to finance his growing empire, and quickly drained the world of its resources.

Portlyn bought several other worlds in the Norvel system, including Kalibiss, Creccus, and Jemada. In the mid 2370s, Portlyn launched a scheme by which he would use a bioengineered viral agent, Bio-Agent "V", to render non-arable the farmland of another Norvel system planet, Vemlar, and then buy that planet as well. Once this was accomplished, Portlyn entered into a partnership with the Federation in 2376, to transform Vemlar into an industrial and scientific research and development center. This deal was aided by a personal friend of Portlyn's, Starfleet Admiral Ian Adair. the Starfleet Corps of Engineers vessel USS da Vinci was assigned to help oversee the construction of the new facilities on that planet.

By this time Elless, distressed by Portlyn's practices on Phantas 61 and having learned about his sabotage of Vemlar, left Portlyn's employ, and joined a group called Taru Bolivar, dedicated to stopping Portlyn from further exploitation of other worlds. This group was able to share its information with the crew of the da Vinci, who opted to investigate further. In reaction to this, Portlyn's new assistant and security chief, brought in Orion mercenaries to attack the da Vinci and Phantas 61.

Disaster was averted, though, and Portlyn's actions were exposed. As a non-Federation citizen, Starfleet was unable to take further action against him. However, da Vinci Captain David Gold shared the information he had gathered with Patrice Bennett, an old friend and a rival of Portlyn's. She was able to buy out a majority of Portlyn's properties and business ventures, forcing him to abandon the "Corporate Corridor".