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UN]- The Unioners · 12-10-2022, 01:46 PM,

>> Talks of Business<<

-[Border Worlds, Zurich System, New Horizon Commercia | 18:03, 10-12-829A.S.

An arbiter-class fighter landed in the hangar aboard New Horizon Commercia. Shortly after, a man walked out of the ship, he was rather young despite his long beard already turning gray. One could say that time wasn't gentle with him. His footsteps were heavy and his left leg moved in an unnatural way. The stomping of his black boots echoed throughout the hangar, although it was barely noticeable due to ships constantly landing and launching from the hangar. He walked towards the main hallway, his posture clearly symbolized importance and the bright green eagle mark on his leather jacket was only a confirmation of that. As soon as he reached the main hallway he paused trying to orientate.

Creutzfeuer · 12-12-2022, 06:06 PM,

With some haste a figuratively red carpet had been rolled out for the expected guest.
A handful of men and women in NHI-livery were standing to attention at the hangar doors - indicating
the direction for the unusual guest. A small womandressed in livery stepped forward, half into the path, bowing slightly before proclaiming accent-less:

"Guten Abend, Herr Hollywood. Ihre Anwesenheit hier in der New Horizon Commercia ist uns eine willkommen Freude. Bitte folgen Sie mir hier entlang.
Herr Pyke erwartet Sie schon in Besprechungsraum Nummer Eins. Ich hoffe, Ihr Flug war angenehm."

With these words she turned on her heels and gestured slightly to follow her.

UN]- The Unioners · (This post was last modified: 12-12-2022, 06:48 PM by UN]- The Unioners.)

Hollywood was more then pleased with the welcome; nowadays such welcomes are a rare sight. He tried to bow back to the woman but she was already speaking at the time he started so he corrected his posture, appearing slightly awkward. "Gutten Abend to you too." As soon as he worded those words he was already behind the heels of the young lady, following her down the red carpet, leaving behind a slight footprint with his left leg.

Creutzfeuer · 12-12-2022, 08:18 PM,

"Besprechungsraum Nummer Eins" was as cleanly scrubbed as the hallway leading to it. A rectangular room with only a few adornments over the metal walls, the black carpet being the most exotic decoration.
The room was dominated by a likewise rectangular wooden table with five padded wooden chairs on either side of it.
Two station clerks were standing near the far wall, commanding a sizeable assortment of beverages.
The chairs opposite the entry door were occupied with five people in dark suits, Ebenezer Pyke sitting in their midst, rising when the Direktor entered.
The old man could once have been called a giant, broad and towering. Yet age had diminished this appearance somewhat.
His attempt of straightening up was only partially successful as it was brought to a stop with a twitch that went through the entire body of his.

"Salutations, Mister Hollywood", he intoned, "I am glad to be able to speak with you in person. I am Ebenezer Pyke, manager of this humble business venture. Do please take a seat and feel free to pick any kind of refreshment you fancy.
We have Wine from Gallia as well as Rheinbier. Splendid quality, all of it. Shall Anke", he gestured at the small woman that had led Hollywood through the station, "remain to translate? To bring more fluency to the talks?"

He then sunk back into his chair, grunting quietly from the discomfort of this movement.

UN]- The Unioners · (This post was last modified: 12-12-2022, 10:22 PM by UN]- The Unioners.)

The host clearly showed respect to Hollywood and so a slight smile could be noticed on his face. "Mister Pyke, thank you for the warm welcome." As soon as he uttered those words he sat down with a smooth move. He then turned towards the woman in the corner and again faced the manager.

"There is no need for translation I believe. I was born in Liberty and have been serving the Unioners for years so I think we should have no trouble communicating." He then looked around the room, running his hand across the wooden table realizing what a rarity such furniture is on a space station.
"I have a similar table aboard the Pacifica base." As the direktor glanced towards the bar he said to Ebenezer "Thank you however I prefer drinking after I'm done with the formalities."

"Anyhow; I'm happy we have managed to work something out regarding your station here in Zurich, however, I come with a few recommendations and... ideas if you will." He raised his eyebrow towards the opposite side of the table

Creutzfeuer · 12-13-2022, 08:37 PM,

Pyke's hand came down flat on the table, sending a creaking through it. His face a mixture of mirth and interest.

"Shall the void come and take me!", he bellowed.

"A Libertonian leading a Rheinland insurgency, owning expensive furniture, coming all the way here to negotiate with a Rheinland expatriate. You find me surprised, Mister Hollywood, as information about your person is hard to come by.
Yes, about the Unioners there is plenty of information - yet you are more ...cautious... than your predecessors, if memory serves.
Be that as it may, you will know best what is good for you. As do I."

Straightening up in his seat and folding his arms in front of his barrel-like chest, he continued slowly:

"And so far, we have not yet managed to work anything out, good sir. I do intend to keep peace with everybody who comes with open mind and wallet. Take it as a token of my genuine interest
that I will listen to your ...ideas... as open-minded as is possible for someone in my position. I will deliberate on everything you say with utmost economic solemness."

UN]- The Unioners · 12-13-2022, 09:58 PM,

The direktor laughs tho his face quickly turning emotionless again "It really does sound like a bad joke doesn't it? My life is a mystery to the public for a reason and we've learned that the hard way." he takes a deep breath "You must know that I have the most dangerous job in Rheinland. There is only a handful of people that wouldn't brake my neck if they could. "

As soon as he finished the sentence he pulled out a small tablet from the inner pocket of his jacket and put it on the table. Then he started talking with a hoarse voice, somewhat like a salesman.

"My mind is open yes, and so is my wallet... Well... Our wallet. The Unioners would be very glad to do business with you. Your station sits in the middle of Zurich, which we consider our space. Usually, we wouldn't go out of our way to make an offer to an administration of a base, however, you made a good first impression when you delivered those supplies to Pacifica. So the usual taxation would include a total of two hundred million Sirius credits per month but since our economy department came up with a way better plan I wonder if you are interested?"

Creutzfeuer · 12-13-2022, 10:13 PM,

After he had leaned forward to listen intently, Pyke sat back up and straightened himself to the best of his ability. While trying to gain as much positional height as he could, letting the question hang some seconds in the air unanswered.

"You are not the first to tell me that this here star-system belongs to their space. This is the nature of man, no - of people who have to remind others of their imaginary strength.
Ownership of open space is an illusion, a self-serving lie to justify war, if intended.
Zurich is as much your space, Herr Hollywood, as it is the space of Rheinland or Gallia. You all derive the notion of power from claiming ownership to the void. Bah!"

Underlining his exclamation with a dismissive hand gesture and with his eyes fixed on the ceiling Ebenezer Pyke continued:

"Let me in on some mercantile wisdom I learned over the decades. First you offer something, then you apply pressure if needed. Not the other way around.
It makes your opponent much more amenable to compromise, the Gallic Government made the same mistake as you did. Hence they lost out on some potentially good business for now."

He leaned forward again, letting his arms rest heavy on the wood, before making a fluid motion with his left as if he would want to caress the table revealing a Sirius Credit Card now laying in the open.
Ebenezer smirked then went on with a voice as stern as the face he made:

"Let me demonstrate you, how to do this, Unioner. You are interested in getting a foothold not only on my station, but the system, right?"
Pyke quickly raised his hand.
"No, please let me finish first. - Thank you, Direktor. Well, either way you want more than just Credits, hence your so called better plan.
The station itself interests you in some way, else you would have stopped talking after naming your extortion sum.
So it is safe to assume that your insurgent army can not build or maintain an additional space station from your own supply and resources, am I correct?
I probably am.", he said without waiting for an answer.
"Now, after market analysis you create the offer - first! Here is such an offer, Herr Direktor:
You receive docking rights and services of refuelling for the Unioners equal to all other visitors, guests and business partners.
Additionally I will waive all fees for Unioner vessels for these services for one year.
Furthermore you are eligible to rent a section of the station coming with a percentage of available storage capacity of... let's say 25-thousand metric tons.
All proceedings of yours there are permissible under the prime condition of not infringing on the business or reputation of New Horizon Industries. And the rent is regularly due on the month's first. 5 Million Credits."

Pykes eyes suddenly widened and he stared down on the table, picking up the Credit Card while grinning from ear to ear. Ebenezer Pyke knew full well, this made him look like hungry predator.

"What a lucky coincidence for you, Herr Direktor! Just the amount of value as is on this Card! This could be seen as a stroke of luck for you. First rent is already paid. Splendid!"

With a sleight of hand the Credit Card disappeared again and the features on Pyke's face went dark. His voice not much more than a deep growl.

"This is what you do, before you convey any intention of violence! Business unimpeded, do you remember, Direktor Hollywood?"

UN]- The Unioners · 12-14-2022, 09:43 PM,

The direktor smirked slightly while still appearing respectful. "Mister Pyke, I should set one thing straight. I don't think I can get this across without making a few statements first. We are no barbaric insurgency. You can dub bundies, and those animals you call Hessian, insurgents. But we're a well-organized union of workers, with an organized economy and a proper hierarchy."¸
Then he took a deep breath still with his head slightly bowed to show respect to his host.

" Tho I appreciate the business lesson since I'm no economical specialist. However, I am a leader and I know I don't need to go into a dick-measuring contest with Gallia since they've already displayed their incapability by failing to put an end to our operations here in Zurich. I have no intentions to appear like them since I decided to come here personally so that we can truly work something out."As he finished his sentence he pulled out a golden chip from his pocket and placed it in front of himself. "See Herr Pyke, you seem like a man who isn't satisfied with just five million credits a month." Hollywood pointed to the chip on the table and slowly worded the following sentence.

"One-billion-Sirius-credits." Then, with a smooth move of his right hand, he slid the chip halfway across the table. "You see, I have a counteroffer.”

" We have a well-positioned base in Zurich so we require no storage space, however. There is one thing we do require. It is a middle ground and a way to reach into the legal, white, and grey markets of Sirius. You see Zurich is an independent system and it attracts all sorts of businessmen. We propose that you sell us the storage space positioned next to your station's bar so that we can extend the place into a casino of sorts. It would attract hundreds if not thousands of visitors to your station and would make for a great place to meet some new business partners.”
The direktor paused a bit and then continued as he took a few deep breaths again.

“This would mean, the Unioners pay NHI to supply us with everything we require to build and sustain the casino, and we pay for all deliveries handsomely, we purchase the space that would otherwise serve as storage, for one billion credits, we give you ten percent on all of our income made from the casino and half of the staff employed in the casino can be provided by the NHI. Who will, of course, receive extraordinary employment contracts.” Then the direktor stopped speaking, glancing at the one billion credits sitting in the middle of the table and then again looking up at Pyke.

Creutzfeuer · 12-16-2022, 12:06 AM,

Who looked like he had bitten into a bitter lemon. Reaching towards the Credit chip, he flicked it back towards Hollywood without hesitation.

"Your counter-offer is neither tempting nor sensible, good sir. It is a poisoned apple of sorts. The reasons might not seem obvious to you, yet I doubt it.
The gentlemen attracted to a casino run by Unioners are mostly unsavoury, pardon me - but your workers union's reputation is ... questionable at best in the general population. I hope you will excuse this apt description." Pyke shrugged.
"And a casino run under the guise of New Horizon Industries would make our company potentially complicit.
If however you might want to utilise your money differently, I would suggest to invest it directly into the company, just a thought, Direktor."

He then turned sharply to the man sitting to his left.

"You got that on protocol?"

With a nod the suited man made an ever so slight movement under the edge of the table, eliciting a quiet clicking sound.

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