To: Ionic Inc.

[Petitioner]

-- SENDER INFORMATION --

Encryption type: STND-SRS-ENCR-V399E

Transmission delay: 2730111ms

Employee ID: TERBLANCHE, ELIZE - #1310L

Subject: Business Proposal

-- BROADCASTING MESSAGE -- To our friends at Ionic, I hope this message finds you well! I'm Elize Terblanche, on behalf of Caledonia Distributions Limited. As you surely know, our business with[1] your very own Ionic University of Shikoku and its associated laboratories and industrial centres has been regular, smooth, and highly profitable for all involved parties. I myself recently utilised some of Caledonia's discretional funding to procure new equipment for the GSV Drakensberg fresh off your production line, and thus far have been extremely impressed with the products. In light of the above as well as the increasing economic ties between Bretonia and Kusari, which hopefully herald a new era of peace and fruitful collaboration between our nations, our directors are of the firm opinion that Gateway and Kishiro are ideally poised to take the leading role in cementing this newfound friendship. Speaking plainly, Caledonia Distributions wishes to enter a strategic partnership with Ionic Incorporated in Honshu in the form of a new modular station, near the Chuyu Cloud, to serve as a shipping platform connecting Kusari and the Sigmas with Rheinland and our business partners even farther afield, particularly the various Zoner communities of the Omicrons. As I understand it, Ionic is very to-the-point, which I appreciate. So, down to brass tacks! What we're asking of you: Officially endorse the project, to the Kusari Government, as a critical step in the development of Honshu and Shikoku's economies. Design and construct this station according to our own specifications. Train and certify our dockworkers and loading staff to safely handle the exotic materials needed by your labs, university personnel, and production lines, with an aim to see the shipping platform as the first and only licenced commercial importer of active artifacts and anomalous materials in the Houses (or provide your own suitably-trained staff). What we're offering in return: The opportunity to be at the forefront of the economic integration of and cultural rapprochement between Bretonia and Kusari. Vastly increased throughput for your production lines, and thus a swift return on investment. A decrease in the number of supply routes your own personnel will have to run, enabling you to devote more resources to the production side of your business. Many valuable materials for high-end manufacturing come from Rheinland, but their export is tightly controlled. We'll ensure that these materials are in extremely high supply, saving Ionic the headache of dealing with Rheinland's byzantine legal system. Cash payment of 115% of the costs of station design and construction (but we're willing to negotiate). The opportunity to completely undercut Samura's nearby Osaka Storage Facility (we don't much care for them either). Of course, we realize that this is a highly ambitious proposal, and represents a massive scaling-up of our business relationship! However, things are moving quickly in this world, and if we are to avoid being left behind, we must outrun everybody else. The Board is convinced that Ionic sees things the same way. Do let us know if they're right. From all of us at Caledonia, thank you for your time, and have a wonderful day!

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[Ionic Inc.]

Target: Elize Terblanche
Sender: Emily Furukawa
Subject: RE: Business Proposal

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Ms Terblanche,

Good to hear from you. This sounds like an ambitious but well-thought out proposal you are submitting to us.
You're right about my preference for to-the-point discourse, so I will get right to it.

We have a great demand for goods from the Sigmas and Rheinland, and would welcome the establishment of a shipping platform that can act as such an exchange point. Since our company focuses on education and high technology manufacturing, we don't operate a particularly large shipping fleet, and sending them all the way to the sources of those goods is expensive and impractical, and it goes without saying that we would prefer not to do our business at Osaka.
The highest goods demand from this direction is for high temperature alloys which we use mostly in engine manufacturing. As I understand, you are in close partnership with their manufacturer, ALG. We also require less frequent shipments of minerals from the Omegas such as silver, cobalt, and diamonds, which another of your partners, the IMG, can provide. That looks to me like a solid basis for commerce. For our part, we can exchange these for the platinum we smelt at our industrial annex.

Let me go through your requests point by point.

1 - We can certainly issue a formal endorsement of the project, and official partnership for it.
2 - Station architecture is, simply put, not an area of specialization Ionic Incorporated engages in. We recommend that you contact our parent company, Kishiro Technologies, or a third party if necessary.
3 - I see you have saved the most salient point for last. Yes, Ionic works with "exotic materials" that are subject to tight restrictions, for study and experimentation. We would be willing to provide specially trained personnel if the Empire of Kusari shows itself to be amenable but even if you get the relevant departments at their most gracious, expect a very heavy enforced security presence if they were ever to agree to such an arrangement. My advice would be not to push for this immediately; the operation should be well-established and have proven itself an economic boon before you even mention something in this direction.

I don't truthfully have much to say to your offerings list, that's largely been covered already. Needless to say we won't need any construction payments, since this isn't work we can do ourselves.
I would edit the list slightly to present an overall Kusari perspective, rather than our own. I imagine the differences are obvious - leave out the part about undercutting Osaka - and present this to the license directory office.
Which is the last major point that needs addressing. You are an established company with good legal standing, and we can vouch for your good business practices. But Samura will not be pleased by this project, and will almost certainly make efforts to block it.
There are still large elements within the government that are wary of foreign companies taking root that may be inclined to listen to Samura's likely complaints.
But the authorities are also practical. They're perfectly aware of the large volume of shipping between Kusari, Rheinland, and the Sigmas, and may be convinced that a station besides Osaka would be economically beneficial. Make sure you're prepared to argue your case sensibly and respectfully, and I'm certain they will be open to it. There isn't a lot we can do directly to counter the Samura lobbying other than to provide the guarantees we have discussed.

I think that covers the initial outline, we'll be ready to move forward with the project when you, and the Empire, are.

Emily Furukawa
Chief Executive Officer
Ionic Incorporated

[Petitioner]

-- SENDER INFORMATION --

Encryption type: STND-SRS-ENCR-V399E

Transmission delay: 2730111ms

Employee ID: TERBLANCHE, ELIZE - #1310L

Subject: RE: RE: Business Proposal

-- BROADCASTING MESSAGE -- Ms Furukawa, thank you very much for the prompt response! I've shared your message with the Board as well as my own colleagues in management and at the helms of our transports, and we've collated our thoughts. Ultimately, we are not surprised to hear that Ionic itself doesn't directly engage with construction endeavours of this calibre, but unless you have a specific contact within your parent corporation you could refer us to, we're likely going to approach our close partners in ALG with the contract for the project, especially after the wonderful work they did helping us with Kensington and Lewes. Naturally, we would not even broach the issue of what would essentially be a uniquely permissive licensing measure until we had established ourselves as a reputable and productive economic actor in the area. As for potential Samura obstructionism, I wouldn't worry too much about it. I've submitted a plan to the Board which will hopefully illegitimise some of the complaints we figured they might raise, and I'm glad to say it's met with approval. I or one of my colleagues will contact you on this channel once the time comes for your official endorsement of the project to the Kusari authorities, and again once construction has started. From all of us at Caledonia, thank you, Ms Furukawa, and thank you to your team, for your critical support! We're all quite excited to see where this project takes us.

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DISCLAIMER:
This communication and all associated metadata belongs to Caledonia Distributions Ltd, a subsidiary of Gateway Shipping Inc (all rights reserved). If you have received this message erroneously, you are requested to please contact the sender and delete the communication.

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