A Critical Meeting

[Thexare]

Paracusia glanced over at Kane, expecting the former Minister of Relations to chime in first. Instead, he seemed to be content with his beer. The Commission agent was never entirely sure how much of Kane's casual demeanor was an act, especially with the aftermath of the Redshift incident leaving certain parties with concern for his judgment. So far, there haven't been any issues, especially with the reduced duties the former Minister had taken on.

Weighing their options regarding Xae's conditions, Paracusia chose honesty. "We've never had any issues with the Junkers on an organizational level. On your way in, you might have seen a number of ships we bought from them. Of course you get the occasional fool that gets out over his skis, but nothing that would require the assistance of a warship. So if your only condition is that you not take Nightmare into combat against Junkers, I think we'll have an agreement."

Paracusia glanced over at Kane again before continuing, not liking the idea of directly contradicting one of the founders of Natio Octavarium, even moreso having to return to an earlier topic to do so. "But I think I have to disagree with Harry about financial compensation. I'm not worried about making money off this exchange, but we count among our population many refugees of the Gallic invasion. The presence of an additional Octavarian warship would be comforting, regardless of its origins, and if it comes to light that we let it go free of charge... there will be discontent." They paused, and took another sip from their glass. "Nightmare was in pretty sorry shape when you found her though, wasn't she? We can use that to your advantage - we're not selling you a ship. We're selling you a salvaging claim. Far cheaper, and comes with a baked-in explanation for why we didn't claim the ship - we don't have the facilities for that, especially considering the origin."

Kane was accustomed to leading a band of pirates that valued the ability to disappear into the Barrier, but civilians aboard a city-station have different concerns - concerns that were often very profitable in the agent's previous line of work.