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Doc rose to his feet after giving a nod and smile of approval to Jill.
"Mr. Felcher, do understand something. We do not have the funding of a house government like Cryer does," he explained. "The donations we get which are substantial but not to your levels go a long way but we have do things very differently and very creatively and we have had much success with it. If anything, house governments have done much to inhibit our abilities through not granting us licensing and such so we do what we must so when Ms. Xi reaches out to share something with you I can understand her impatience on it."
He sat back down. "You are correct, Mr. Bucksworth, we could make quite a team and revolutionize medicine. Let us build up to it. Having representatives at each other's stations is a great start. We would establish a presence on Cryer bases as much as Cryer would establish one on Med Force bases. I promise you this much, you will get to see just how innovative we have to be with such things as elixers."
Bucksworth was surprised to hear that MFE got no response for their offer to cooperate with Cryer three years ago. He had only served the company for two and a half years. But then he thought of all the management and ownership changes the company has underwent in recent years, so it all made sense.
"Dr. Xi, first and foremost allow me to apologize in the name of Cryer's board of executives for not responding to your request three years ago. I'm sure you heard the recent news about Cryer's new ownership. That's not the first major change in Cryer that happened during those three years. I assume back then, management was far less open about cooperation with third parties. But here we are now, discussing how we can cooperate on research. I believe, in contrary to what the previous management believed, that this is the way to go."
He then wanted to make things clear before closing the deal on the mobile labs. Holliday seemed very eager to deploy his men onto Cryer stations, and it didn't seem like he understood the implications it'd have on Cryer. Bucksworth wanted to make things as clear as possible, in a way that wouldn't offend MFE.
"Dr. Holliday, when I was talking about the deployment of mobile labs, I was talking about a one-sided deployment of Cryer labs onto MFE stations. The reason I meant that is due to the complications that arise from having third party employees aboard corporate-owned stations. There are several regulations that make it difficult, as well as levels of clearance required to enter certain parts of our facilities. Your employees may be exposed to sights we'd rather keep for ourselves. Don't forget that we're a profit-oriented corporation after all, and while we both work for the greater good, there are corporate secrets we'd rather not reveal.
For the presence of MFE aboard Cryer stations, we can arrange an 'ambassadorial lab' on Syracuse and Cambridge Research. This will allow our scientists to cooperate, while granting MFE employees limited access to most facilities of the stations. Aside from that, each and every employee you deploy aboard a Cryer station would have to go through the process filling out health insurance and disclaimer forms.
I hope you can understand the complexity of the matter on our side, being a lawful inter-house corporation making commercial products. And if you do, then it's a done deal!"
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"A one sided deployment of Cryer labs into MFE stations," he thought out loud. "There is something about.." He made quotations with his fingers. ".....one sided that does not sound totally right. We are trying to learn from each other and FOR each other. What Cryer does not have to be known to government regulators especially when the Liberty government has come down hard on Zoners recently for no real good reason."
He sipped his water. "Like you, we too have secrets that we would rather not reveal. Health insurance? We have our own for our people so that is a non issue. Disclaimers? I can see where that might come into play. So when you speak of labs on our stations, how many of your people are you speaking of per crew?"
Bucksworth felt a bit of salt in Holliday's words and immediately tried to correct the situation. He wanted the deal to be as good as it can be. His goal was for both sides to benefit, while reducing the required bureaucratic hustle as much as possible. He tried his best to make it clear.
"I may have not phrased it correctly, and I apologize for making it sound like a one-sided deal. As I said, we can still host labs for MFE aboard our stations. The definition of 'ambassadorial labs' is purely arbitrary and only exists to enable a channel through which we can conduct joint research aboard Cryer stations as well as MFE, with as little limitations as possible. I'm just trying to find ways to overcome legal complications that may arise from the matter. I'm sure you can understand.
The recent bloodshed between Liberty and Pennsylvania's Zoners is indeed unfortunate, and would definitely complicate matters in regard of Syracuse. I would've recommended opening a lab on Atka as well, but there's not much real estate left on the station. Any attempt to expand it was immediately halted by GMG, and I wouldn't risk it again. As an alternative, if you don't feel safe in Liberty space, I could offer lab space on an island we rent on the surface of Planet Curacao in Cortez. It's an independent world, so you wouldn't have to fear Liberty officials sniffing around."
Bucksworth finished his coffee and tried to calculate the expanses of sending an "offshore" team in a mobile lab, counting in the insurance, logistics, and deployment costs. Considering the recent funding Cryer has received, and the small amount of stations owned by MFE, he decided to give Felcher a free hand as the head of R&D.
"Dr. Felcher, how many scientists do you reckon we'll need aboard each mobile lab for the joint research?"
"Well, that's a tricky question. It really depends on the nature of research conducted. If we're talking about a general-purpose team, as a rule of thumb I'd place three scientist in each joint lab. One senior to lead the team, and two lab-assistants to help operate the machinery and peer-review any decisions. Then, based on findings, we could reinforce individual teams with additional scientists on-demand."
"Makes perfect sense to me. What do you say, Dr. Holliday? Dr. Xi?"
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It was obvious Doc was unsure. Perhaps he got ahead of himself. With the way things were going with the government of Liberty, he saw Cryer as a way to possibly help work through that but it was way to soon for that. He didn't trust the house governments and wanted to tread lightly where their corporations were concerned so he back peddled a bit.
"Dr. Bucksworth, Dr. Felcher, perhaps I got ahead of myself. We do want to work with Cryer." He hesitated in thought. "Might I suggest we start a bit simpler. An ambassadorial exchange I think would be a better start, someone appointed who is medically qualified." He pointed back and forth between himself and Bucksworth. "Our people need to earn each others trust and these are trying times for Zoners so I just think smaller numbers of people would be more beneficial. Those ambassadors will get to see how the other operates, learn the others Standard Operating Procedures and get some hands on with their work. Neither of us has a lot of facilities so an ambassador to each I think may be a good start."
He sipped his water. "Also, a channel between our people as you proposed. Things are quiet for us right now but that can change rather quickly. Perhaps in the interim we can plan some joint projects to break the ice."
He paused again in thought. "Does this make sense?"
As he wanted to continue in thought, his com chimed. He looked at it real quick. A light smile cracked on his face as he looked over at Doctor Xi. For the moment, he said nothing. It was obvious that the timing of the com was off. She didn't want him to find out while they were in meeting. For the moment, he said nothing keeping his focus on the subject at hand. He made a brief text message to her. "Congratulations. We will talk about it later."
Bucksworth was relieved at the new direction the conversation was headed. He originally planned to offer the joint labs further on in the partnership, but felt pressure to move forward quickly. But most important of all, he was relieved that he wouldn't have to do so much bureaucratic work to kickstart this strategically beneficial partnership.
"A single ambassador makes things so much easier on all terms. It surely makes more sense than deploying general-purpose labs out of the blue. I would suggest that we deploy proprietary communication relays on each station to ensure our communications are secure. You know, just in case we make a discovery that could pose danger to the general public."
"Absolutely. Would be much less of a toll on our workforce. The communication relays would also be a great idea so that we can avoid potential competitors, although we're already pretty much a mon-"
Bucksworth cut through Felcher's sentence abruptly. He had to stop him before saying something he shouldn't, as he very often tends to.
"Persi, we talked about this! Don't use the 'M' word in Liberty! You can't know who's listening and it might end up devaluing our stocks!"
"Sorry boss, I'll keep it to myself."
"Alrighty, I think we can close the deal then!"
He leaned towards Dr. Holliday with excitement, stretching out his hand for a proper handshake to close this exhaustively-discussed collaboration agreement. "Phewh!" He thought, "what a relief! We're finally about to be done here."
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"Yes, I think we have pretty well wrapped things up here," Doc replied. "Let us start easy and build from there."
He raised a finger.
"I do have a request...away from our initial deal of course. Perhaps Cryer can help us with the Liberty Government. Things are tense between the Zoners and them. While I cannot speak for all, I can speak for my own Enterprise so that we can have good relations with them as well, especially when we purchase a lot of pharmaceuticals at Syracuse Station. Any possibility that you can help us with this? If you cannot, do not worry. I just figured working with a Liberty based company that you would be in a good position to help us."
He took his hand and shook, hoping he would answer in the affirmative.
Hearing what Holliday said, Bucksworth was not surprised. It makes sense to ask a Liberty-based company for some help with reputation. Although, it put Bucksworth in a tricky position, as he really wanted to offer help but Cryer aren't as rooted in Liberty politics as it may seem on the surface.
"I understand your concern. Unfortunately, Cryer is in no political position to do much help. While we're definitely hailing from our HQ in Liberty, our sector-wide operations make us less dependent on local politics, and less influential respectively."
He took a deep breath and thought how he could make it up to MFE, considering that their relationship with Liberty might be a concern in the future when working together. Bucksworth then realized that it might be a good time to strengthen Cryer's own relationship with Liberty, which has gone pretty dormant in recent time. He started planning it out already in his mind, and shined an optimistic smile.
"I do, however, think that the stronger our relationship grows, the more Liberty would understand that you are not just any ol' Zoners. The moment a Liberty official gets their illness treated with a medicine developed in cooperation with MFE, they'd have no choice but let you guys in with open arms. Regardless, we'll be working on a plan to strengthen our relationship with Liberty. It should benefit the both of us."
Bucksworth rose from his seat, and Felcher rose along with him as the meeting was coming to an end.
"So, I guess we're pretty much done here. Let me know how you'd like to arrange the communication channel we talked about and I'll make sure our comm engineers would be on it ASAP. I'll also ping our station COs to expect the arrival of the ambassadors, and you should do the same. Once the channel is established, I find it appropriate that we'll report the arrival of the ambassadors through it.
Hope to see the two of you again soon, launching our first joint product to the market!"
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Doc nodded, especially where mutual strength would work better mutually with Liberty.
"As we have already trained a lot of members of the 46th and treated the injuries of the late James Horatio Creed, we have somewhat of a good rep with at least them so we have a place to start," he replied.
Doc then rose and took Buckworth's hand and secured the deal. "Yes, I believe we are finished here. I will forward you the names of bases for your ambassadors and the names of those we will send. You will get that information in the new channel as suggested."
He smiled. "I look forward to improving this partnership."
He then turned to Jill, offering her a gentleman's arm. "Dr. Xi, shall we?"