I'm glad to be 'earing that I may have some occasion to be doing business with you 'ere shortly. I hope to be clarifying that I consider myself a man of a generally honest reputation, and that whatever business we be conducting should, more or less, be falling under same said categorization. I am open to be discussing with you whatever you desire 'owever, and we can be setting terms from there.
Mr Rayburn, you're certainly not joking when you say these places aren't Freeports.
I hope whatever strings you pulled got the right people, but I'm certainly not averse to risky flights!
Due to the nature of these locations, I cannot give a final price but for this number of passengers and these locations, I should think it won't be under one hundred million.
But this will be money well spent for an unforgettable trip in utmost comfort!
I have received your coordinates and will prep the liner for take off post haste.
It's a pleasure doing business Mr Rayburn, and I very much look forward to seeing your station!
Encryption: High
Sender: Sean Stone, executive director of Stone Bros Ltd/GmbH
Sent from: Narita Outpost, New Tokyo system, Kusari
To: Mr. Ronnie Rayburn
Subject: Some details of the deal and Barge issue
Nice to see and hear you again, Mr. Rayburn. I think that things must be sorted in right order. First we have to arrange prices of ordered commodities. When this will be done, the key question will be how much of them do you need and if the order is only one time or to continuous supplying. When we will know this, we choose the best option for shipping. It seems you would let us into your plans a little, sooner or later, so maybe you can do it now, it will help us with planning. I can assure you that everything will stay between you, me and director of our transportation department. For higher encryption, you can send message to my personal message box.
Anyway, we understand that you consider Barge as best option, but this issue is not so simple. Relocation of Barge is not easy and takes lot of time in relation of days. Especially when the route is going through systems with large asteroid fields like this route would be, because our Barge is now located near border of Rheinland house space. And another issue is - Barge can be easily followed. I don´t know how much are you hidding you base, but if it´s not fully public, this could be serious problem.
We suppose that you will need a huge amount of materials. Thats why you want to hire transport company of course. We count for this shipment with two our large trains, Colossus and Shetland, and our contractor from Kusari which will join us in this contract is flying Ryuujin train. All these ships are, as you maybe know, the biggest ones in known space after Barge class vessels. And you can trust me that we have experience with fact that two large trains can sometimes make big shipment easier and faster than one Barge. But I want to add that question about use of Barge in this contract is not finally decided.
To your question about amount of 100 000 cargo units. It of course depends on distance from buying place to it´s destination and possible problems on route. But for example yesterday all went very well. In result, our ships delivered to our customer´s base in Kusari 150 000 cargo units (including 5 000 units of ship hull panels which needs double cargo space) during 7 hours, and same total amount of cargo was in last week delivered to same station during twelve hours.
I understand you want to be sure that we can handle your order. I would say yes, but this will not be responsible from me until you tell us details and commodities amounts of your order. I hope you understand our attitude.
We will be waiting for your next message. Have a nice day!
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That's the ballpark-figure I set aside for that part of the enterprise. Get the show on the road, sir! The eggh... Dammit! *laughs and shakes his head slowly in a resigned gesture* I gotta stop calling them that. Sooner or later they'll hear me. Anyway... the eggheads are ready to ship out.
...from the head of the boardroom table, Ronnie accesses the comms channel, while the members of the board leaves the room...
[color=#FFCC00]Mr. Stone!
We've just discussed this matter, and as far as the prices go, they're acceptable with a couple of exceptions. The commodities I'm refering to are Basic alloy, Industrial materials and Robotics. I also think you're steep on Polymers and Super alloy, but what the hell... I can live with that. The prices you've offered me are basically retail prices that I could get from any dealer in Leeds at any time. To that, you've added a little something for the delivery. Basic alloy and Industrial materials can be purchased in New London and Newcastle at a price considerably lower than what you've offered. Robotics needs a little longer journey, but are still fairly close.
Since I was sure you would be using a Barge for at least Basic alloy and Industrial materials, I was also expecting a good discount. We are after all talking about 100k basic alloy, 30k industrial materials and 30k robotics on a more or less daily basis, for the next 3-4 weeks. Add to that, the need for when we upgrade our structure, and you'll find that there are few customers of that dignity around these parts.
With this in mind, I't would be a better deal for me to hire more personnel, and haul it myself. That way, I would also get the profits from the return cargo. I will leave it up to you to decide if it's still interesting to haul these materials. When it comes to the rest of the commodities, there's no problem. They involve higher risk, and should therefore be priced accordingly. Let me know how you wanna do! I see three possibilities. 1) We agree on a new price for the three materials in question, and include them in the paccage. 2) We exclude those three materials completely, and focus on the rest. 3) We shake hands, and part ways, and look for better deals.
Greetings again, Mr. Rayburn. It's my pleasure to inform you that after initial difficulties (which you know about, of course), all flights have been completed successfully. Aside from those issues, everything went smoothly and discreetly, and I trust everyone involved enjoyed the flights.
Due to the nature of the locations visited, I won't disclose them in the public bill, but I did manage to sneak some pictures of all the places except Schatten, which had insane security that made me delete everything.
Of course, these are for you to view only and must never be made public.
Encryption: High
Sender: Sean Stone, executive director of Stone Bros Ltd/GmbH
Sent from: Planet Kyushu, Kyushu system, Kusari
To: Mr. Ronnie Rayburn
Subject: Numbers and data needed
Greetings, Mr. Rayburn! I´m glad that we settled prices of majority of commodities. Be sure that we are interested in this order, so option three that you mentioned is out of discussion. Now we just decide between options one and two.
We will review prices of three commodities that you disagree and decide. But to make right decision, we really need exact numbers and data. Numbers of commodities that you need, and data if the their order is one time or continuous. And last important thing we really need to know is location of your base, which mean which sector in Leeds system. You have my word that until we make final agreement, it will stay known only to me.
I´m sending you form that we use for commodities order. Can you please fill it and send back to me? If you want to keep maximum security, you can do it via personal message to our message box.
Quote:Stone Bros Ltd/GmbH commodity order form
Name of commodity - ordered amount (cargo units) - one time/continuous - if continouous, how often (period in days)
Example:
Basic alloy - 30 000 - continuous - every two days
Cryocubes - 50 000 - one time
Order of Mr. Ronnie Rayburn
Basic alloy - ? - one time/continuous
Bio-neural processors - ? - one time/continuous
Cryocubes - ? - one time/continuous
High temperature alloy - ? - one time/continuous
Industrial materials - ? - one time/continuous
Munitions - ? - one time/continuous
Optronics - ? - one time/continuous
Polymers - ? - one time/continuous
Quantum multiplexors - ? - one time/continuous
Robotics - ? - one time/continuous
Silver - ? - one time/continuous
Super Alloy - ? - one time/continuous
Superconductors - ? - one time/continuous
Xenobiotic Filters - ? - one time/continuous
Location of the base: Leeds system, sector ???
Once we get needed numbers and data, we make final decision and inform you about it as soon as possible. Have a nice day!
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...finishing the last commands on the cash transaction, Ronnie starts speaking...
[color=#FFCC00]Well done, Edwin!
You certainly came through on this one. Most people would have chickened out about going to those places. And once again... I'm sorry for the delay when the first group was to disembark. Form what I could tell, though... you certainly kept 'em happy! *laughs* Most of them were pretty loaded when they finally got off the ship. If ya wanna laugh a bit, you should swing by and take a look at 'em today. Many of them complain about nausia and headache, and are blaming it on the new location. *chuckles* I just nod, and play along! I've made sure you got the cash. I sent it from one of my off-shore accounts, in case you wonder. I'll give you a call when we're getting ready to bring in more of these eggheads. Cheers, mate!
...Ronnie appears on the screen, and smiles that mischievous smile...
[color=#FFCC00]Alright, Sean!
Let's get down to the facts. You'll see the need for the next two weeks here. Those commodities that are one or two times only will be excluded from the delivery list once we have them. Unless a new situation rises, of course.
Quote:Stone Bros Ltd/GmbH commodity order form
Name of commodity - ordered amount (cargo units) - one time/continuous - if continouous, how often (period in days)
Example:
Basic alloy - 30 000 - continuous - every two days
Cryocubes - 50 000 - one time
Basic alloy - 120.000 daily
Bio-neural processors - 40.000 one time
Cryocubes - 35.000 + 50.000 two occasions
High temperature alloy - 40.000 + 40.000 on two occasions
Industrial materials - 30.000 - daily - 100.000 + 100.000 on two occasions
<strike>Munitions - </strike> Removed
Optronics - 5 000 daily and 50.000 + 50.000 on two occasions
Polymers - 25.000 + 25.000 on two occasions
Quantum multiplexors - 40.000 + 40.000 on two occasions
Robotics - 10.000 daily and 60.000 on one occasions
Silver - 50.000 one time
Super Alloy - 50.000 + 50.000 on two occasions
Superconductors - 60.000 one time
Xenobiotic Filters - 25.000 + 25.000 on two occasions
There you have the estimated needs for the time being. There may be minor changes to it, but it's more or less correct. Location of the base: Sent via top secret protocol!
Encryption: High
Sender: Sean Stone, executive director of Stone Bros Ltd/GmbH
Sent from: Malioboro Station, New Tokyo system, Kusari
To: Mr. Ronnie Rayburn
Subject: Proposal of final deal
I have to say I´m astonished by amount of cargo that you need, Ronnie...if I can use this familiar form same as you. *smile* I know in which numbers usually base owners order need commodities when they are upgrading them and this is at least two times more and moreover with huge continuous supplying too. If I counted it well, you need 165 thousand cargo units per day and moreover another supplies, which in total means more than 3,2 million cargo units in two weeks! You must have really big plans for your base, because from numbers it seems you are building whole new Freeport here!
*Stone face change to worried and little sad*
On the other hand, this amount of resources is a really huge challenge and unfortunately I doubt that we can take whole your order and finish it in proposed time. This amount is work for whole fleet of transport trains, which we unfortunately don´t have, our capacities can´t handle transport of 165 thousand cargo units and more per day. So we have to choose only part of order and maybe, when it will be done, we can make another deal for others if they will be available.
This mean that we withdraw from deliveries of basic alloy, industrial materials and robotics. But, our Kusari contractor is willing to transport robotics and for lower price as you demanded, because has good profit from delivery on the way back. So this commodity stay on the list.
I have some minority technical question refered to daily shipments. Based on your order and our choice, there is 5 thousand cargo units of optronics and 10 thousand cargo units of robotics per day. But due to some technical limitations, we can´t deliver to the station these exact amounts. Is it enough for you 4925 cargo units of optronics (one full load) and 9850 cargo units of robotics (two full loads) per day?
There are also another two price changes. Major and very noticeable one is the price of cryocubes. Our contractor want higher price, because there is a huge demand for this cargo in whole Sirius. This demand makes the buying price higher, and more important there is rising piracy in Gallia and Tau systems which is focused on robbing traders of this commodity, so hauling it is very risky now with high danger of whole cargo loss. I advise you to think wisely about potential decline, trust me that is very difficulty to find contractor for cryocubes in these days, because it´s restricted cargo in Gallia and demand on the markets is really high. And especially in your situation when you need them to haul to Leeds in Bretonia...very delicate situation if you understand me.
We also have to ask you for raising price of high-temperature alloy. We are buying it at ALG´s Wuppertal Refinery in Rheinland because is very cheap here, unfortunately the way to Leeds leads through Omegas 7 and 3 which are full of pirates, Red Hessians and Corsairs. But this is not the reason. As you maybe know, nearly two weeks ago so called "Interspace crisis" started. Because some IC contractors were caught supplying Red Hessian´s base, all IC ship were grounded and for some days also ALG´s Dortmund Smelter was closed to all trader ships. Situation is going worse because IC didn´t met demands of Rheinland government and completely stepped out of Rheinland, but run of Rheinland government and military is reliant on money from IC, so nobody knows what now will happen. There are for example rumours that Rheinland Military is preparing occupy of Bonn Station in New Berlin system. Anyway, this uncertainty affect situation on markets and prices are going up include Wuppertal Refinery, which is now not running at it´s full capacity. But even with higher price, this place is still the cheapest available one around.
Here is the summary:
---SHOWING DATA SHEET---
Quote:Deliveries for Mr. Ronnie Rayburn
Name of commodity - ordered amount (cargo units) - one time/continuous - if continouous, how often (period in days)
Bio-neural processors - 40.000 one time
Cryocubes - 35.000 + 50.000 two occasions
High temperature alloy - 40.000 + 40.000 on two occasions
Optronics - 5 000 daily and 50.000 + 50.000 on two occasions
Polymers - 25.000 + 25.000 on two occasions
Quantum multiplexors - 40.000 + 40.000 on two occasions
Robotics - 10.000 daily and 60.000 on one occasion
Silver - 50.000 one time
Super Alloy - 50.000 + 50.000 on two occasions
Superconductors - 60.000 one time
Xenobiotic Filters - 25.000 + 25.000 on two occasions
Total: 15 000 daily and 475 000 + 280 000 on two occassions (in sum 755 000)
Location of the base: Leeds system, sector *CLASSIFIED*
---DATA SHEET CLOSED---
Summary with prices (and three mentioned proposals of changes) was sent to you via secured channel. I hope that our deal is close. Let us know if the conditions and changed prices (two higher, one lower) are acceptable for you. We are looking forward to your reply.
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