The expansive function room was furnished in a lavish, traditional Kusari style with predominantly earthen colours resembling bamboo and golden hued, archaic looking lamps.
Along the walls were murals representing various moments in Samura's past.
A large hardwood table sat in the center of the room, dominating the environment.
Surrounding the table, thirty chairs all seemed to be made of wood and leather.
Sitting together at one end sat Kazuya who was chatting with his legal officer Benton Price.
On the other side of Kazuya sat Aya, she handled most financial matters relating to Samura.
The door opened and a young lady entered carrying a small data pad.
She sat this on the table and announced that their visitor Thaddeus Gideon had arrived and was being escorted to them momentarily.
Kazuya stood up upon hearing this, thanked the assistant and began straitening his suit.
He pressed a button and staff immediately started bringing in food, beverages and firing up the holographic interface.
When Mr. Gideon finally entered the room Kazuya stepped forward, shook his hand and greeted him with a smile. Mr. Gideon-san, so nice of you to come.
May I introduce you to my associates, this is Benton Price, he represents our legal department and Oonishi Aya is one of our great financial assets, I believe you have already had the pleasure of communicating with her before.
I trust you had a safe arrival into Kusari?
"Mr Kazuya, it's a pleasure to meet with you in person. You too, Mr Price, and of course I remember Miss Aya."
Thaddeus' retainers entered the chamber behind him. A pair of unassuming bodyguards with dark visors kept a respectful distance from the President of Ageira Technologies. An older gentleman with balding, grey hair and aquiline features stood on his left; to his right, a younger woman with her blonde hair tied back.
"May I introduce Wynstan Bellard, Director of Operations..."
Bellard inclined his head respectfully towards Mr Kazuya but kept his distance and did not offer a hand-shake.
"... and my personal secretary, Miss Candice. But of course, my arrival in Kusari was smooth sailing and uneventful."
Kazuya shook each ones hand and gave a small bow as they were introduced, having dealt with Gaijin for so long had almost gotten him used to the uncomfortable tradition of personal contact at first meeting, almost.
I am glad your journey was without incident, times have changed my homeland recently, and I must admit a small amount of embarrassment that others may ever have to suffer from that.
I am sure it will work itself out fine, these things always do in the end, but change brings uncertainty and is an unavoidable part of this.
I understand you are a busy man Mr Giddeon-san, so please allow me not to waste any more of your valuable time.
With this a small staff entered the room and humble offered each person to an awaiting chair.
Once they were all seated a holodisplay bearing the Samura logo sprung into life as Kazuya began speaking.
Gideon-san, Samura Omotai Zaibatsu has always been a company at the service of the Kusari people.
By always keeping the well being of the citizens of Kusari first in our mind, we have been blessed enough to hold the position of the largest corporation in the colonies.
This has benefits and hindrances of it's own, but this we take in our stride as we work towards the vision we were given by our founder Samura Masamune eight hundred and fifteen years ago.
Now I am sure you have heard much of the bad press that circulates about our organisation from time to time.
While we do have our flaws, I am sure you can understand as a businessman of no small standing that jealousy and greed are the primary fuel for these various acts of slander.
Alas the more one stands up the larger target he makes of himself, and this is something we have gotten quite used to.
Ageira Technologies also holds a special place within the colonies, one of respect as a premier company of innovation and high end technology.
Your Jumpgate and Tradelane network as well as the orbital control ring system are marvels that make life easier for everyone and something we respect greatly.
With that in mind, we feel there is much we can benefit from with a closer relationship between our corporations.
How do you feel about everything I have said so far?
"Why, of course Mr Kazuya, I understand Samura's position in Kusari and the greater Sirius quite well. I would say that I am quite familiar with the... issues... that supermassive corporations face in this day and age. We few honourable businessmen are beset on all sides by those who would wish to ruin healthy enterprise."
"Naturally, I would not be here if I did not believe that there was value in a relationship between our corporations. Particularly given the current astropolitical climate, I firmly believe that economic stability will lead to greater prosperity across the Sector."
Exactly, economic stability, I couldn't of said it better.
The only question is, how do we achieve this for the benefit of both of our corporations as well as the people we are tasked to provide for.
I believe some of that question can be answered with fuel security.
It is no secret that fuel plays a large part in keeping our houses in working order, and we have seen a few occasions where that security has been jeopardized in recent times due to one reason or another.
I understand the motives behind these actions.
In one instance it was an embargo placed upon the Republic of Liberty by the Empire of Kusari in response to what they perceived to be assistance towards the Empire of Bretonia against the Empire of Kusari.
The other was an embargo against the Gas Miners Guild by the Empire of Kusari in response to terrorist action taken by the guild in an effort to raise the price of their H-Fuel.
While during both of these incidents it make sense to impose an embargo to protect the issuing nation, the fact remains that these issues do neither of our great nations any favors towards our security.
"Oh, you wound me by making me merely recall such travesties. The commodities exchange is the lifeblood of Sirius; our transport ships the mechanism to keep that potential flowing. Without fuel to power our vessels, the life of Sirius' economy would grind to a sudden halt."
"Traditionally, Liberty's fuel supply has not been in particular jeapordy, as the Gas Miners Guild ships bring forth their bounties to our home with comfortable regularity, and excess demand is usually procured on a case-by-case basis using our own transports."
"With this in mind, keeping our ships moving is of critical importance to maintaining competitive in Sirius' dynamic markets. Additionally, Ageira is always on the watch for highest quality products at the most reasonable prices. I'm sure that Samura would have many things in common with our mentality..."
Hai, the free flow of commerce is something that must be protected.
With this in mind I have invited you to Kusari to discuss several matters that should see both of our corporations benefit immensely while at the same time improve the stability of our respective nations.
I believe there can be no better motive to work towards than that in this time of strife and uncertainty.
You may be aware that Samura has several projects running currently that are set to revolutionise the fuel economy in Sirius, we are working on producing infrastructure in Kusari that will be able to supply Sirius with a second large scale H-Fuel distribution network that will help keep prices down for all through the much proven model of competitive marketing.
While we are working on this goal, Samura is also being more ambitious and proactive with alternative fuel sources.
We believe that there is room here for us to come together and share our strengths while helping to alleviate each others weaknesses.
Now I am sure you can agree that if we were to form any agreements in these areas, that it would be a great boon to our respective portfolios and may just be a helpful push in greater cooperation between our nations.
"Absolutely, Mr Kazuya. Complimentary development would clearly serve to enhance our economic performances, both as individual coporations, and as... prospective partners."
Ahh the question burning on both of our lips, what can we do for one another.
Well let us look at just what we have here.
First of all there is our holdings in Hokkaido.
A beautiful amount of Helium three and an industry that will make the most of it's ability to feed fuel to as many as possible.
For starters I would like your corporation to send some of it's best and brightest to Hokkaido, where they will have complete access to study our methods and technology in use there.
What we are after is your technological expertise to show us any increase in efficiency you feel we can make, and more importantly, any technological advancements you could suggest or provide to increase production in this field.
The idea of bringing in outside advisors to increase efficiency is an old idea, and one we think appropriate here.
Now of course I would like to see Ageira make a decent profit of any efforts that they make in this field, and so we would be happy to offer in exchange an opportunity for a preferred customer status in regards to our product from this site.
I am sure you understand that we would never decline sales to Ageira, this would just entail better prices.
This sounds fair no?
But I guess the real icing on the cake as it were is still to come.
If this arrangement proves fruitful, then we would like to move into a second proposition of alternative fuels.
There is some areas where Samura is the leader by far, and I believe your company would be excited to share a partner along this road of discovery.
I am sure you are aware of Antimatter and it's properties.
"That's a rather unique arrangement, Kazuya-san. If we assist your productivity, you can offer us a sympathetic pricing arrangement. I daresay that this may pose an intellectual challenge for some of our scientists; after all, it is DSE who are the largest manufacturers of H-Fuel in Liberty, though both their commercial success and production quantities are completely dwarfed even by Samura at this stage. However, not to diminish our own strengths, Ageira actually manufacturers certain gas processing equipment, usually for the specialised extraction and refinement of Helium and Neon in the Pennsylvania system."
"The nature of operations in Pennsylvania is such that, due to stringent consumer requirements, a high quality product is necessary to remain competitive. I would speculate that our technicians may be able to assist you in your refining process. A high-quality H-Fuel blend, made from Hokkaido's Helium-3, could be a means to expanding your consumer base; particularly for smaller consumers looking for quality over quantity."
"Now, antimatter... a fickle daemon in elemental form, once. Now possibly one of the most efficient energy possibilities in the sector - and the most dangerous. It is no surprise that current antimatter research has been focussed on dreadful weapons of war, when there are numerous other possibilities open to the ambitious entrepeneur."