MTI is owned by the Church of Voltec, which is in turn a front for the Vanguard; therefore Jacob McAllen is its CEO. MTI is immensely powerful, and absolutely ruthless; at the age of eighteen Burns Flipper had his legs removed by MTI goons in retaliation for cracking into their computer system. Cortez says that they "own planets. They own armies." Therefore, like Bokamba/Mercer, MTI might also sponsor survey ships looking for inhabitable worlds: they already own the Morning Star space station, which explains Adrian's presence in its secret prison. MTI appears also to focus on genetic engineering, as can be seen in McAllen's development of the Warrior Shifters.