Sebastian Riordan sat at his temporary desk in an office, looking over papers with varying degrees of understanding. Lists of companies within the Crayter Republic, and their operations. Charts of export capabilities, and value. Bets looking to score big. Products looking to be peddled to a galaxy sized market. As Minister of Trade it is Sebastian's job to get it out to that galaxy. He looked over papers of a mining company native to the Republic. Conveyor Minerals Inc. Looking over the predictions of the copper prospects in the system of Coronado. Only recently discovered but have already caught the eye of another nation. Riordan looked over the dates, “The operation itself is still in development. Not many hard numbers yet we can give them, but it’s what they seem interested in.” Sebastian set the mining operations aside in a pile to take with him later. Moving to the next assortment of papers. Titled Crayter Defense Industries. Flipping through them to see the structure of the data first before first reading it. “Just a small arms bet, doesn’t seem like they are willing to give much. Which is good, don’t think we should be handing such things out anyway. They sent it anyway so might as well show it.” He throws it with the mining papers. Sebastian picks up the next paper and reads something about crop exportation from planet Harris when he hears a knock at his door. It opens with a kusarian looking man coming in. “I am Ryo Kase, from the ministry of defense. The Corsair delegation is on approach to Minato Harbor. I am here to take you to meet them.” Sebastian Riordan excuses the mess as he shifts the papers together and joins Ryo. They step out into a corridor of the Governmental section of Minato Harbor.
As they walk towards the private docks reserved for the government of the Crayter Republic, Ryo Kase gives Sebastian a briefing on just who they are meeting. “We’ll be meeting with the Deterrence, they are a group of corsairs from the Omicrons. We don’t exactly know why they've come here, the CIS says they had a few operations with mixed results concerning the them. Security is going to be tight, it was recorded that the previous leader of the Deterrence had threatened crayterian lives before.” Sebastian stopped and gave a concerned look, “Then why in bloody hells did the Quorum decide to invite them here?” Kase retorted, “Beats me, just treat this as any other trade deal and it’ll be fine. Corsairs can be rash but they are in our home now. They won’t want to make any threats.” They continued their way to the docks when the duo was met by the Minister of Science, Melanie Kudlow. They all greeted each other. “Did they rope you into this too?” Sebastian teased. “No, I’m here for what they might have brought. I've heard the ‘Xeno Relics' they might be bringing could lead to leaps and bounds above sirian technology. Who knows what we’ll be able to do with them? Surely we can do better.” Kudlow shone with a smile of pride as she joined their group and they continued their way.
The three government officials of the Crayter Republic arrived at the dock as the Deterrence Liner carrying the delegation was coming into the Harbor. It was being guided by a Hydra-class gunboat into the dock. Sebastian noted the large number of soldiers standing in formation off the side of the pathways. “Quite the welcoming party they planned.” Kase turned back to him as they continued, “Like I said, security was going to be tight.” The Ministers reached the boarding gateway as the boarding bridge was attached to the Liner. “You’re in front, Minister Riordan, they’re here for you” Kase said as he patted Riordan on the back. “Great, thanks for reminding me.” He adjusted his suit, “not like I’ve been stressing about it all morning.” Sebastian rocked his footing getting comfortable as he waited for the guests to arrive.
-At the Andorra liner, Claudia is taking watching all the notes from the Crayter history and commercial ties around, meanwhile the ship approaches Minato Harbor. The ship, newly acquired and retrofitted with high tech systems, and all the luxury possible for high-rank commanding officers, and also a gigantic bay with some transports, cargo, and goods, approaches to the docking port-
-Claudia, speaking to the assistant- Are we already there? I heard good things from the Crayterians, they came here to Sirius before all the sleeper ships, carajo, can you belive that? its impressive. -Drinks some water- They have some problems also with Outcasts, and they are rapidly developing. Im sure we could do good trade routes with this people.
-The ship, docks, and all the conducts safely connects to the vessel, boarding doors opens and Claudia with her assitent step to the docking, looking to the sides, full of ornamented soldiers from the republic, and there, mister Sebastian Riordan, her contact. Then proceeds to walk to step down to meet him-
Señor Sebastian-makes a small reverence-It is a pleasure to meet you finally. Our flight trough your magnificent home worlds has been calm, with some turbulence only.-shrugs, and proceeds to smile-I am here, in honor of the executor Francisco Javier de Creta, to speak about business and some mutual collaboration.
Sebastian couldn't help but to notice the hair above Claudia's lip as she spoke, as well as her chin. He quietly thanked the gods that the Colonial Remnant didn't stay in the Omicrons all those years ago. His eyes snapping back up when she smiled. After her introduction she lifted an arm of greeting. Sebastian met it with both hands. Welcome to the Crayter Republic. I will be serving in the Quorums interest during your stay here as Sebastian Riordan, Minister of Trade... As you already know... He gives her a firm handshake but found himself the lesser against the Corsair woman. Joining me is Ryo Kase ministry of defense, and Minister of Science, Melanie Kudlow. It seems your visit has peaked the interest of many within the Quorum. If you would be so kind as to join me, we can go to someplace more suited for talking. Your crew can offload everything while we really introduce each other, there will be plenty of time to go into full detail. As we get to understand the nature for your visit. He gestured down the walkway and guided the party to a meeting pavilion within Minato Harbor.
The pavilion was wide marble floor with a tall ceiling. With different furniture strewn about the room. Orchestrated to meet a wide variety of meeting environments with flora that could be found on Borneo in the center. While guards are placed at pillars on the outskirts of the room. Symbolizing that no man may be the center, but the congregation looks towards it. Sebastian Riordan lead his party of guests to a pair of lounge couches with drinks set on a center table. Go ahead and take a seat and help yourself to any drink on the table. All of it comes from Yuma, and we have some Crayterian exquisite wine if that fits your fancy. Sebastian poured himself some of his favorite whiskey on rocks that he made sure would be put out for today. He knew he'd need it to calm his nerve. Sebastian took his seat first and swirled his drink as his colleges joined him. Well Ms, Claudia. What brings the "Deterence" here to our lovely Crayter Republic?
Claudia, followed Sebastian across the station, observing the white decorations and the corridors, all clear and in order, with a touch of what she could not tell, if good taste or eccentric taste. After the walk and Sebastian's speech and welcome message, she sit in front of Riordan and his team.
- charismatic-ally smiling - Thanks for the tour señor Riordan, the station is impressive. The decoration, the pureness of the white walls and columns, it remembers me from the imperial palace in Crete. -Claudia, grabs with style a decorated glass of wine- This wine looks pretty good, in Crete my uncle have a plantation of grapes, he made some good wine.Not like this... Gal beverage, just to call it something.
- She starts her tablet and sits, with the legs crossed, noticing Riordan's nervousness- Señor Riordan, I do not bite, do not worry. - smiles - You don't look like an steak, right? I am here for business. Representing the Deterrence interests, as well as the corsairs. As you may know, we live in a pretty dangerous place, I am sure you'r friends would tell you how harsh is the live there. And some... scum make it even harder.
- Claudia, projects two destroyed outcast fighters inside the Barrier cloud - I see you also have some... pests around, they seem to be everywhere, good thing you also like to wage war against those junkies. You'r defense ministry surely need a hand regarding the outcasts, they are a common menace we do have, right? I am sure we could speak too about that matter after.
- She, drinks a sip of wine after spinning it inside the glass, and smiles gladly - Ah, I like it, you'r wine is really good señor Riordan. But I am not here to talk about the Outcasts or wine, I am here to present you a commercial treaty between our nations and factions. Crete is hungry of raw materials, find ourselves in need of some materials like Copper, Aluminium, Iridium, and Uranium. As you know, the corsairs have several open fronts and repairing and building ships is everything but cheap. Our shipyards work non stop and we devour materials like there is no tomorrow.
-sighs and drink another sip of wine- What I propose in the treaty is an indefinite contract between us, we are open to buy Copper from your installations. We will ship it home using our own imperial frigate convoys, you'r scouts saw some in the Tau's I am sure, since our pilots noticed some Crayter pilots just watching in the distance with communications offline. So tell señor Riordan, what do you think?
Sebastian listened patiently to Claudia's story, peering at the displayed picture of destroyed Maltese fighters. He could most certain it was taken in the Barrier Pass, peering through the rubble of rocks that were spread into the cockpits glass by the time the wreck was found. Only started to focus when she mentioned the words that actually concerned his position. This half way smudged trade treaty just to buy raw materials? Riordan could feel there was something more to what she desired to ask for. Something she doesn't want to ask to raise suspicion from Kase. Though Riordan hasn't worked with him before, he knows the name Ryo Kase as a strong arm within the defense ministry. Second to Minister Trevor Westbrook himself. Sebastian knew he'd have to push another time with Ryo gone. It sounds like you are in need of raw materials, and you'd like to source your supply of copper through us with nothing more? Surely you hadn't come all this way just for copper! We have some prospects that may interest you outside the mineral industry. As you've said you have many open fronts.
Sebastian Riordan reached forward for his drink, accidently pushing it away before actually grabbing it. Gave it a swirl and finished it off. But that can come all later. I'm sure your travels have left you wanting some fresh air. There is a very pleasant villa offered to diplomats who've traveled a very long way to Borneo down on the surface. There we will be able to discuss fully about this "copper supply treaty" you propose. I believe Mr. Kase here has arranged for an escort to direct you there. Sebastian motioned for Ryo as the Kusarian looking Crayterian got up and lead the corsairs to the escort. He returned to the now lounging ministers. What are you doing ending that so quickly? She hardly starting saying what she was here for! Riordan waved his hand for Kase to calm down as he poured himself another drink. And she won't say what she really wants with you around. No one comes all this way for a trade deal that isn't stone solid. There is something else she wants and we haven't even discussed what we can get from them. Something doesn't seem right about it at all. Kase threw his hands up in protest. We could have found out now if she just kept talking! Riordan shakes a pointing finger at him. Not with you around mister ministry of defense! Kase points a finger back. That's my job you frakjob, and I'm not going anywhere. Sebastian gets up and starts walking away yelling over his shoulder. Well you can stay here! I'm going to a villa on the surface!
It has been a day after the Corsair diplomat had arrived in the Crayter Republic. After Sebastian bought time in order to look further into the interest the Corsairs had in copper being mined in Coronado. Conveyor Minerals Inc. had sent further information about the progress on the operations start on Sabah Research Section. He prepared a presentation on his data pad knowing he was short on the time of the patience of the corsair representative Claudia de Falcó y Lara. Sebastian rushed to finish by mid-day in order to meet with Claudia by afternoon. He set a meeting in congregation hall at the villa Claudia was staying.
I hope you've enjoyed your stay but let's get straight into business As he notices the corsairs woman who had been waiting on him to arrive. I was able to look into your interest in our copper manufacturing further in the mean time and the numbers look promising. Our facilities is starting their test runs, but I'll need some hard numbers from you to see where we can go from there. You said you'll be shipping these minerals in your own transports with an undenounced number of tonnage. That leads us to the problem balancing supply and demand. Sebastian uses his data pad to connect with the center console in the room and projects graphs and statistics. The Republic has its own shipping fleet and contracts to fill. Signing a contract with the Deterrence is possible, but the company conducting operations, Conveyor Minerals, will need defined numbers in order to sign off.
Sebastian return the projection to his data pad and sits with Claudia showing it with her. Lets go over what we can supply, and gauge how much your demand is.
Claudia, at Borneo prepared for the meeting with Sebastian, it was a pretty place, but she really preferred the Crete's weather.
She entered the meeting room and sad at the table together with Sebastian, a pretty room, with a nice decoration, "those guys know how to live large" she tought. After hearing all what Sebastian had to say, she crossed her legs and replied.
Well, señor Sebastian. -smiles- As you may know, I'am a woman of business, I do like to go straight to the point, time is a valuable thing. As you may know, our fronts are vast, and they need to be feed. There is no war, if there are no resources, and our shipyards and dry-docks will sure need some Copper, our mining operations at Crete can sustain the imperial fleet, but if we do want to expand, we need more and cheaper copper.
-she proceeds to drink some water from the table, in a stylish glass- I can't give you an exact amount, since it all depends on the projects our shipyards start with, as you may understand, building a dreadnought does not require the same components, and resources as, let's say, a transport. But most probably we could run every 7 to 10 days with a convoy, and need around... uhm... -she, with a fast move grabs her tablet, and makes some numbers with a statistic- Around 30.000 metric tonnes of Copper in a single convoy, I do think we could carry with that.
She, looks at Sebastian and winks her right eye. We can supply you with some invaluable things, as you may know, and I'am sure [b]some[/] in your government know, we are the only miners, and providers of alien artifacts and even more, exotic stuff. And I am pretty sure you would be interested in that. Our powerhouse faces also the same enemies, and you may only have some, maybe, Bretonian ships looking for us. I'am not sure what is your actual relation with the Crown, or the Libertonians.
Also, I'am sure, we could make some agreements on our relations, as sovereign nations. We had some Crayterians fighting along side us in some brawls against the outcasts, they fought with honor and courage, what is really interesting to see.
Sebastian Riordan gleamed over his data pad while comparing numbers. Once he was finished gauging the assets, he started writing a trade offer to purpose to Claudia. Once finished he slid it across the table. Letting her read it over Sebastian took a drink from his glass. Boasting I know I can get you in good word with the ministry of defense , and neither the houses of Liberty or Bretonia are really my concern.
Claudia looking back at Sebastian with a smile then returned to the trade offer in her hands.
The Crayter Republic will be able to supply a convoy 30,000 units in size of Copper to the Deterrence given 7-10 days warning before convoy arrival date.
The Deterrence will be able to supply a convoy 30,000 units in size of alien artifacts to the the Crayter Republic given 7-10 days warning before convoy arrival date.
Each party will able to supply 90,000 units of their designated commodity within a 1 month time period.
The Crayter Republic's merchant fleet will be able to conduct free trade with, within, and through out the Corsair Empire uninhibited.
The Corsair Empire's merchant fleet will be able to conduct free trade with, within, and through out the Crayter Republic uninhibited.
Trade is though, and trade is what I'm good at. I believe this will be suitable to your interest but I'd like to know if you'd be able to provide a sum of a convoy of 30,000 units of these relics you speak of? This is just my initial offer and we'll have to add your terms as well, but it's a foundation to build on.
Sebastian Riordan returned to his drink and let her think it all over. Thoroughly letting himself enjoy it, but keeping his motto in his mind. If you don't have the bottle. Sip slowly, it's a long way to the kitchen.
Claudia, after hearing Riordan terms, tough for a brief time: SebastianShe smiles If you drink that much, we might even ship some Rum crates to you. I think your terms are pretty logical, and I can't really say much. Our miners and scientific teams never stop surprising the Imperio and his hunger for artifacts, we have a virtually infinite supply of them.
She, takes a small paper and draw a number, giving it to Sebastian, 200 credits the unit. Sebastian, this is the price we are willingly to accept, those artifacts come from far, trough enemy territories, and they are wanted everywhere else. I am sure you will find that price more than profitable if you ask me, even you may make some, revenue.
She winks her left eye to Sebastian, in a charismatic ally way. I am sure you like to commerce, and you're good and logical with it.
If we do agree with that terms, I am sure we can start our commercial partnership sooner than later, our imperial convoys could start shipping in less than 24 hours after this meeting.
She then, crosses her legs, leaning on the backrest, and gives Sebastian a contact ID. This is a contact ID to Francisco Javier de Creta, he's our executor, and I am sure your defense minister would love to talk with him. He may give you more information about the military cooperation, if you wish for. Proceeds to take a large sip from the glass, and wait for an answer.
Stuffing the contact card into the inside of his suit jacket the minister silently thought to himself huh, an executioners phone number for the ministry of defense. Didn't think I'd ever see the day. Giving a nod to Claudia assuring her I'll make sure it gets to the minister of defense, I'm sure he would have something to discuss. He takes back the data pad over looking the changes. Do forgive me, perhaps I got too far ahead of myself. Quantities should be talked about with the company you will be purchasing from, Conveyor Minerals Inc. Let me match like terms. The going rate of finished Copper is 80 credits that I'll add. Alright, this should be complete terms. With your approval that will complete the deal. Taking a moment to make the changes plus a few flicks of the fingers. Sebastian gives his signature, and slides the pad back to Claudia. Maybe in the future we may meet again, perhaps on Crete? One day I could visit those vineyards you told me about. Always open to opening my pallet.
The Artificer Deal The Crayter Republic & The Deterrence
The Crayter Republic and the Deterrence Corsairs hereby agree to the following terms as mutual and fair, and agree to maintain these terms. Either party may be able to propose adjustments to the following terms with the approval of both parties.
Conveyor Minerals Inc. will be able to sell Copper at 80 credits per unit to the Deterrence
The Deterrence will be able to sell alien artifacts at 200 credits per unit to the the Crayter Republic
The Crayter Republic's merchant fleet will be able to conduct free trade with, within, and through out the Corsair Empire uninhibited.
The Corsair Empire's merchant fleet will be able to conduct free trade with, within, and through out the Crayter Republic uninhibited.
Signatures:
Sebastian Riordan
Minister of Trade, Crayter Republic Sebastian Riordan
Claudia de Falcó y Lara
The Deterrence ________________
Sebastian relaxes in his chair and reaches for his glass. Having done his to his part to the fullest. He sips and waits for the corsair delegate.