Novel Full 267 267 Negotiations
From the inventory that the crews had produced, they had more than enough of the materials that they intended to trade already processed, so Max simply ordered the crews to prepare the required amounts for shipment, in preparation for their arrival at the space station.
That left him with only one more essential detail to plan. If the station didn’t allow them to dock, they would need to use one of the Pirate vessels as a shuttle to bring the materials to the station, so they could have the barge bring their payment back to them.
But the ships were currently designated as Pirate Vessels, with communications systems that any respectable station would realize weren’t legitimate even if they didn’t recognize them as wanted Pirates right away.
That meant he would need to get all of the essential details changed within the next day so that they could safely venture out to meet with others and not risk being immediately arrested.
They had a couple of crew members on board who could accomplish the task, so Max decided to split the details between them. Most of the technicians would take one ship, pick a new name for it and change all the communications data, while Nico took the other.
She would likely be faster, so Max intended to tell her first so that the other team could follow her lead in doing the second ship and not have her spend all her time on one project while she was organizing the work schedules.
“What are we going to name the Colony Ship? The Pirate vessels that we confiscated should be marked as shuttles or defensive vessels for the mothership, but we haven’t named the Colony ship yet.
“Do we have names in for the New Mecha yet? Maybe we could pick something from there and run it by the General?” Max asked, then shook his head.
“On second thought, simple is best. Is there another Colony ship named Terminus? We are the Terminus Trading Company, so it only makes sense that our mothership would be named Terminus.” Max continued.
“Most of the Colony Ship names are not in Kepler Standard, so even if one means the same thing, it shouldn’t actually be called Terminus. Do you want me to use it as the basis for our communications? I have gotten far enough into the Colony Ship’s systems now that I can set the identifiers for our new home. Then I will make the Cutters secondary to it, and we should be good before we are in communications range of the Station.” Nico agreed.
“Please do. And then tell the other techs how to update the second Cutter so you don’t have to do it yourself.” Max suggested.
“I will get it. The Colony ship will take a few hours to update, but I can reprogram the Cutters in under a minute a piece since they don’t need to be military-verified security codes and I can just make one up. Civilian and Reaver radio codes are much easier than Military.” Nico informed him, then turned back to her work.
“Fine. Wake me up when you are done and I will get the cargo moved to one of the Cutters so that we are ready the moment that we make contact. Being in an alien Colony Ship they might not want us too close to their station for safety protocol. I remember that Comor did the same thing, and had certain vessels dock at secondary stations and take local shuttles to the main station.” Max told her, receiving a thumbs up in reply.
It was just before lunch the next day, ship time when they finally made contact with the station.
[Gado Station, Gado Station. This is the Terminus, looking to trade.] Max announced over the radio as Nico and General Yaakov listened in.
Nico followed that up with a confirmation code for the Reavers, letting the Station know who and what they were so that they would respond to begin negotiations.
[Terminus, this Gado Station. I’m sorry to inform you, that due to oversupply, we are somewhat limited in the supplies that we can accept today, but if you have something worth trading we are open to negotiating.] The Station replied.
Max sent them an elemental analysis and a photo of one of the baskets of Reactor Material that they had set aside for trade.
[Now, why didn’t you open with that? How might we help you, my new friend?] The Station representative asked.
[I will send over a list of the supplies that we need, and the trade goods that our customers have requested.] Max confirmed, letting Nico send the listing.
There was a few minutes’ long pause before the Station replied again. [We have all of these materials in the quantity requested. It won’t be cheap though, I will need at least 9 tonnes of processed metals for that much.]
Max looked over at General Yaakov in shock. That was much less than they had expected to pay, so even if the goods weren’t perfect quality, they were still coming out ahead.
[9 tonnes including the containment cage and you have yourself a deal.] Max replied. The cage weighed a few hundred kilos, but it would allow the shipment to be immediately weighed if the cage was included in the trade weight.
[I am a reasonable man. Pending quality verification, I agree to your terms. Please proceed to docking spur number three.]
Being on the end of the station’s dock would let them transfer their goods directly, and save the hassle of a shuttle, a perfect scenario for them.
“Bring the goods to the empty bay on the Port side and dock it to the station. We are on security rotation right now, so I will assign a Mecha detail outside the bay in case things go south.” Max directed Nico, who started tapping orders into the computer before a pair of work drones picked up the shipment and weighed precisely nine tonnes, plus twenty kilos, in case the Station’s scale was out of calibration.
[Charlie Company, send a team to Port Storage Bay 6. Remain outside as guards. Myself plus Nico will be going in to make the trade.] Max ordered his troops.
They wouldn’t slack on the detail with their Commanders on the other side of the doors, which was a relief to Max, who was a bit nervous about making such a large and sensitive trade with people he had never met before in a nation he had never dealt with.
“Grab your Mobile Suit. I had it repainted in red and bone Reaver camouflage patterns, so they won’t realize that it is anything but stolen or obsolete military tech.” Nico told Max as he was about to leave the room.
That was better than the armored work suits that were hung by the storage bay doors by the teams that were working in them, and it gave him a bit more presence, due to the size of the suit.
“Good luck you two. Feel free to use my name if they give you too many problems, and I will deal with the fallout.” General Yaakov instructed them before they left for the meeting.