Fwurg

[Praetorian Empire]

A human male traveled to Mirda by public transport and entered one of the holdings of Arapadh Malikar on Mirda.

"I have a message for Arapadh Malikar! Please help me, the evil Praetorian has my family, he told me that I had to personally deliver this holo projector to Arapadh Malikar."

[Veolian Commonwealth]

One of the veolians hanging around near the entrance to the large industrial storage hangar walked over to the human. Two of the thugs nearby quickly joined him.

"You seem lost, little man. The boss doesn't have time for your little problems...", he looked the human over.

"Tell you what. You give me that projector, and we'll forget about you being here."

The two thugs casually walked a bit so the human was completely surrounded.

[Luciano Giordanith]

"I can not activate this thing, only veolians can... Promise me that you will get me back with my family."

The human hesitated and eventually gave the holo projector to the leader of the group. The holo projector immediately activated once it touched the Hemet veolian.

Luciano Giordanith wishes to trade with Arapadh Malikar. We have intercepted a large shipment of weapons and would like to sell them. Take this human as a gift. Would you be interested I will be waiting outside the city at the given coordinates. I will have the wife and daughter of the human with me as a signing bonus.

A set of coordinates of a abandoned location was provided outside the city.

The human looked really scared now but had nowhere to go.

[Veolian Commonwealth]

After hearing the message and hearing the name 'Luciano Giordanith', the lieutenant quickly pulled out a communicator while he ordered his thugs to knock out the human.

"Sir. I have a message you will want to hear." ... "Luciano Giordanith. Its about a shipment of weapons, and two girls." ... "I don't know." ... "Got it. I'll send them ahead." ... "Of course" ... "I'll contact you once I know more." ... "I don't think they would sir, the braintails wouldn't think of offering slaves as a bonus." ... "Thank you sir."

After that call, he placed a few other calls, none of them in the friendly tone of the first.

When he was done, he turned to one of the thugs. "I'll be out for a while. Put that guy in the basement, and get this holoprojector to Ar'gizna. We're closing down for actual business."



A quarter of an hour later, anyone near the coordinates would spot four black military-grade fighters approaching from the north, from the looks of it, these ships were armed and ready to unload their missiles on anything. Five minutes after that, three hovercars, one armed with a plasma repeater on the roof, approached from the city.

[Praetorian Empire]

At the location of the coordinates three retrofitted cargo freighters had landed. Outside the vessels a squad of heavily armed Praetorians was stationed that protected the freighters. When the fighters and hovercars approached the Praetorians became nervous but did not fire.

[Veolian Commonwealth]

Upon seeing that the freighters were guarded by Praetorians, the fighters backed off and hovered at a distance of a kilometer or so.

"Greetings, delegation of Luciano Giordanith. I am Accha Nahim, I represent Arapadh Malikar. We are interested in what you propose.

If you wish to speak, tell your men to stand down, and I'll have the Orcas retreat till you're out of missile range."

[Luciano Giordanith]

The Veolians noticed that their communication was redirected.

Greetings, I am Luciano Giordanith. If your fighters retreat I will land in 2 minutes. I have acquired 60 and want to sell them to your syndicate for 2 each. Please take a look at the sample we brought.

A few seconds later the Praetorians on the ground holstered there weapons and opened the cargo freighters. They were filled with exotic weapons.

Two minutes later a small Praetorian cruiser landed behind the cargo freighters.

Another squad of armed Praetorians came out of the cruiser, they still had their weapons holstered. They were followed by Luciano Giordanith himself and his aid who brought the mother and daughter of the human they promised.

"We come to trade." Luciano Giordanith said calmly.

[Veolian Commonwealth]

"Greetings Luciano Giordanith. We did not expect someone of your stature to arrive here personally. The fighters will stand down immediately."

True to his word, the fighters did move away immediately.

The hovercars moved closer, and Accha Nahim calmly walked over to the cargo freighter. "Luciano Giordanith, it is an honour to meet you in person. I shall inform my boss that you have arrived personally."

He looked over the sample, and inspected a few of the larger pieces. Then he took out his communicator again "Boss. I've checked the sample. They offer high-quality exotic weaponry." ... "No it wasn't. Luciano Giordanith is here himself." ... "No, only a few." ... "2 per shipment" ... "Of couse, I will extend the offer."


"Mister Giordanith, Arapadh Malikar offers his apologies for not being here in person. He is currently unavailable to be here in person, but we can set up a holoconference on a secure line."

Two of the veolians quickly carried out a portable holoprojector and started setting it up.

"He has authorized me to negotiate. We propose a price of 1 per unit of weapons, as the risk involved is significant, even with the current appeal of weapons on the market."

[Luciano Giordanith]

"Acquiring the goods and shipping it here without the authorities noticing is a very risky business as well. With these amounts of weapons we will not go lower than 1.5 / . I hope you understand the situation that we are in."

[Veolian Commonwealth]

"Very well. We will agree to 1.5 per unit of weapons. I'll discuss the details of shipping and dispatching with your delivery manager."

While the negotiations were wrapped up, the holoprojector was started.

[Arapadh Malikar]

With a bit of flicker, the holoprojector started to show a life-sized image of a veolian male.

"Greetings Luciano Giordanith", Malikar started. "Had I known that you would personally travel to Mirda, I would be there to greet you in the flesh. But alas, other business forces me to remain where I am right now.

I take it that by now, we have reached an agreement on the shipping of restricted weapons?"

[Luciano Giordanith]

Luciano signed his aid to discuss the details with Accha Nahim. The aid handed the humans to them and started discussing the planning.

"I completely understand that you have other business at the moment. Due to the importance of this deal I traveled here myself.

You must understand that we Praetorians have a hard time not being noticed on Mirda, this is why we used the human to make first contact. In the future we should meet in the flesh under more comfortable circumstances.

We agree on a price of 1.5 per unit of weapons. Our employees are currently working out the details.

I am afraid that I have to leave again soon before the Imperial Navy starts asking questions about our presence here. I will leave encryption keys for secure communication to setup our next meeting."

[Arapadh Malikar]

"I appreciate your gift, and look forward to our further communication.

I will inform my off-world partners of your interest in further cooperation. I think you can look forward to an invitation to meet them in person.

Have a good flight home."

The holo image flickered a moment before fading.

[Luciano Giordanith]

A message arrived at a secure channel, encrypted with the provided encryption keys.
From: Luciano Giordanith
To: Arapadh Malikar

Dear Partner Arapadh Malikar,

The situation in the of the Hiocan Society is getting worse by the day. We can slip another shipment of 60 away from them and the Praetorian Empire in 120. It is rumoured that they will shut down their trade in 121. We can no longer guarantee any shipment of after 120. I hope to meet you in person when the next opportunity arises. It was a pleasure doing business with you.

Greetings,
Luciano Giordanith

[Arapadh Malikar]

An encrypted reply was sent.

To: Luciano Giordanith
From: Arapadh Malikar

Dear Luciano Giordanoth,

I understand the situation. The war has had its impact on Mirda as well.

We should indeed set up a meeting in person next time.

With regards,
Arapadh Malikar