Evan walked around the private hangar on Cambridge that had been purchased by Azure Line Shipping and smiled. One Firefly-class transport, the Jet, was receiving armor enhancements while the company's three Percherons replaced their older weapon systems with the newest CT-400 line. His own personal transport, the heavily (and likely illegally) modified Series ST Transport Cerulean, was being maintained by his personally-chosen crew of misfits. They had held off on upgrades, however, as the ship was getting difficult to maintain in its current state. Any further modifications would make it impossible for anyone but Evan, Aina, and Kim to repair.
Their fighter hangar was considerably quieter. All that remained was Blake Sullivan's Hussar, Nathan's decades-old pirate fighter Black Wind, and his new Raven's Talon Second Wind. All were current on maintenance and were simply being cleaned by their respective owners. Their escort pilots mostly switched to freighters to earn more money, and all of those were out at the time.
Business was slowing because of all the wars and fighting, however. The Civilian Shipping division was especially hampered, only able to deliver to Liberty or Rheinland from Bretonia. They were still profitting, but there had to be something they could do to earn more.
War was spreading, piracy was rampant...
"Maybe Lloyd was right," Evan said to himself. The smile had faded from his face, and when he saw his father Nathan he knew that the original founder of ALS had been thinking about the financial situation too.
"Any ideas, Evan?" his father asked abruptly when the two reached the hangar's lounge.
"No," Evan replied, sighing. "I can't think of anything. I've tried the LD-14 run, but the Hackers are getting too vicious. The Navy's got the trade lanes covered in Texas, and dropping out of a lane would be a little too suspicious given my normal routes. Food's always in demand, but half of it ends up going to those damned Rogues!"
"Kid, I taught you everything I knew about piracy... because I knew you wouldn't do that. Maybe you could re-enter the other family business?" Smuggling. Evan simply glared at his father in response. Nathan shrugged and left the room.
Evan returned to his office and pulled up the monthly financial statement for a closer analysis, and realized the situation was worse than he'd thought. In the past month, more money had gone to pirates than to ALS employees, and he took pride in paying his employees quite well. Last time this had happened, Nathan and the security division went out to hunt down every pirate that had robbed an Azure Line Shipping transport. In the subsequent months, piracy plummeted; there were months where pirates didn't get a single credit out of ALS transports. But nothing remained of the security division; that was no longer an option.
Kim Cross, the youngest of the ex-pirate Cross sisters and the one in charge of repairing the Cerulean, found Evan sitting in the lounge again late at night, long after when he normally went to sleep.
"Oh, hi, Kim. Raiding the wine closet again?"
"I didn't know you knew about that... but why are you still up? Can't sleep?" she asked, sitting on the couch next to him. Evan leaned back and told her everything he saw going wrong; the rising piracy, war hindering all ALS's normal trade efforts, and the lack of new opportunities. The rant took a good five minutes, and Evan repeated himself quite a few times.
"Evan, I overheard your conversation with your dad earlier. I think he has the right idea. Just... try it. Smuggling and legal trade. You've got enough people that know how to do it. Evan?" Kim expected some sort of objection, but Evan had apparently fallen asleep at the end of his rant. She got up, moved him so he was laying down, and slept in the Cerulean like she usually did.
Though he had fallen asleep before Kim responded, Evan seemed to have heard her suggestion. In the morning, he called his father into his office. Five minutes later, Nathan showed up with two donuts and two cups of coffee.
"Iced, two sugars, one vanilla, two creams, right?" Evan asked, as one of the cups of coffee was put on his desk.
"Kid, you didn't ask me to bring you this, don't be picky. I used a caramel instead this time, try it. But I'm guessing you didn't call me for breakfast."
"No, I didn't," he replied, taking a sip of his coffee. "Hey, this is pretty good. I think maybe you're right. Maybe we need to look into alternate markets."
"What? 'Alternate markets'? Evan, you've been in business too long. But... I see. You want-"
"I want you to make a few calls. You have some contacts on Trafalgar, don't you?"
"I'll call them after I eat."
"Thanks. And thanks for the coffee."
Nathan returned to his office and opened a comm link with the Junkers' Congress.
Quote:Secure communication link received...
Sender: Nathan Black
Location: Planet Cambridge, Cambridge System, Bretonia Core Space
To: Junker Congress
Subject: Business
Opening link...
Evenin', guys. Been a long time since we last did business; honestly, I doubt whoever gets this will even know me. My kid Evan's looking to expand our company, Azure Line Shipping, to slightly more grey enterprises if you catch my meaning.
We request the following:
1. Use of Collector fighters and CSV and Turanic Raiders freighters. You make great ships, even if they are ugly as sin.
2. Permission to bring Zoner Gunboats to your depots for business purposes. Weapons will be powered down within 5K of your base.
Not free, of course.
1. All sales of contraband, such as alien artifacts and synthetic marijuana, will go through a Junker station. We're less likely to be caught, and you get some of the profits.
2. If requested, we will help to enforce the no-fire zone and other rules around your bases.
Course, there's still room for discussion here. You don't get anywhere in business without bein' willing to change. Not really sure what you all would want short of extra money, though...
The request had been accepted, with only one additional minor condition. Any Collectors had to be registered with the Junker Congress, no big deal. Not as much paperwork as if it would've been an Executioner... the LSF doesn't even use the damn things anymore and there's still a stack of paper big enough to fill a Clydesdale to get one of those released. All the forms for that attempted purchase gave Evan a headache before he even started. Needless to say, that project was cancelled.
With news of Nathan's arrangement with the Junkers, the hangar was quickly refilling. Intrigued by the new turn in Azure Line Shipping, a Junker named Drake had applied for a job and brought his old Collector, Harmless Freighter, with him. And Aina Kouryo, once the Cerulean's navigator, had purchased an Anki freighter, the Crooked Smile. She seemed to have had her eye on an experimental recon shuttle, but at least for now, she'd have to settle for toying with Renzu electronics.
But Evan had to sell the Jet, Obsidian, and Onyx to raise money for the necessary refitting and new ships. They still had the Firefly-class Silverwind and Series ST Cerulean for large-scale shipping, though that was no longer their focus. While Evan waited on a delivery from his brother, Aina and Drake would spearhead their new venture.
Evan hated to admit it, but the new business was profiting greatly. Brian Miller, the owner of the Silverwind, found a trade run that ran two blockades and smuggled Cardamine straight into California... and would be swimming in credit chits if they didn't have such sharp corners.
His ship, the Cerulean, was dedicated to running legal trade routes still, and was getting reinforced to run food out to Omicron Gamma without getting blown to bits by Nomads when Drake walked up to him.
"Hey. Come with me, we need to talk about something." His tone was serious, and a worrying one; Evan knew about his close ties to the Junkers, and wondered if maybe ALS had done something wrong with the Junker tech. But Drake didn't lead him to a hidden, out-of-the-way area; quite the opposite, he brought him to the end of the hangar reserved for fighters and freighters, and climbed into a CSV parked there. "Get in that one over there, and come with me. We're going to Trafalgar."
So much for not being a quiet, out-of-the-way location. But Evan's CSV was not defenseless; like Drake's, it was armed with Mark 4 Barragers and military-grade reinforced fighter armor. The trip into the debris field was an uneventful one, the local constables knew Evan quite well and let him pass undisturbed and the pirates had heard of ALS's Junker work and decided to pretend they never saw the CSVs.
"We're here," Drake announced as they reached a spot in the field.
"I don't see Trafalgar."
"We're not going to Trafalgar. Look up, Evan." Evan did as he was told, and he saw the skeleton of a Bretonian destroyer. Junkers were picking at it with their grabbing arms as a squad of Collectors flew as guards. To the untrained eye, it appeared that nothing of value remained, but a Junker would know better.
"Evan, the Junkers salvage more than just junk metal. Once in a while, military hardware drifts out of sight, written off as 'lost in battle' or 'missing in action'. We return most of the equipment, this is part of why the Houses tolerate us. Ah, they cleared the area around the fighter bay... perfect. Give me a hand here, Evan." Evan was a bit clumsy with the grabbing arm on his CSV, but he picked up a few Sunrail particle blasters and storage crates full of ammunition. "No, I mean the docking bay doors. I need them for a project. There we go, thanks. We buy and sell illegal goods, you know about that, that's why ALS has this agreement with us. But our dealing with criminals are also why the cops put up with us - whenever they come after us, we point them to some petty thief or terrorist. We come across this information, and it keeps us safe."
"Why are you telling me this?" Evan asked, watching as Drake dextrously placed the doors in the cargo hold of a nearby Salvage Frigate.
"You and the rest of ALS are a lot like us Junkers. We salvage as a cover operation, your legal trade keeps you clear. We tell the police about pirates, you tell them about other smugglers to shield your own."
"... "us" Junkers? You-"
"I'm still a Junker, of course!" Drake finished. "Never left. You needed escort pilots, and we wanted to make sure our ships weren't abused. Anyway, we'll talk more another time, that Salvager's gonna be disassembling those doors and bringing 'em to Liberty for me, and I have to make sure they get there in four pieces."
"Drake, wait a second. Drake! Damn it, he cut his comms..." Evan flew back to Cambridge alone, and landed at the Azure Line Shipping hangar. As he had the lifter robots empty out his hold, he smiled a little. The trip had freaked him out a little, and he had no idea what the hell Drake was rambling about, but he'd always liked some good, honest work.
