Of Commerce and Profit

The more I learn about this man, the more I find myself liking him. Hikaru thought while Pyros explained his employment method.

"Actually I find that refreshing, you secure the loyalty by showing them their own worth, giving them a chance to make something of themselves. You can't buy that kind of loyalty. "

He looked at the table arrangement and pondered where best to sit. He considered sitting opposite Pyros, but dismissed it and moved to sit at the chair closest to Pyros on his right.

"Since you have been going out of your way to keep this meeting casual, I believe I prefer to sit here on the side rather than at the opposite end of the table. " Before sitting himself he pulled out the chair to his right for Otome.

"Thank you Hikaru-Chan," she said taking her seat.

Once his wife was seated he took his seat. He looked around and then cleared his throat.

"Premier, since our arrival, your people have made a great show of our arrival at the Spaceport, including arranging for photo opportunities for your media. Since our meeting, you have been a good host, and make it clear to us that you do things your way, and without undo pomp and ceremony.

So, perhaps it is time we just get to the heart of the matter. I am the leader of a single clan, and the CEO of a new corporation. I can not help but feel there is something you want from us. So shall we be direct.

In orbit above us we have several freighters filled with Cellular spray units we promised. We also have 10,000 of our new EM-G7 Environ suits, and our EM-G8 Gravity boots. They are available for your military to try at no cost. Most of the other supply ships are bringing resources for our operation here.

So, what can we do for you Premier?"

Pyros took a seat at the head of the small table, resting his cane up against the table. The old soldier sat back, and listened to the businessman as the Head Maid began serving glasses of water to the three patrons as the scents of food began to flood the air. Hikaru would recognize the smells of cooked meats and vegetable with seasoning drumming more than one watering taste bud. Even as they had just arrived, and got down to business, dinner was not that far around the corner. Though, Pyros knew had time to chat before his steak would come along, but before the older man had a chance to speak.

"Pyros." stated Gwendolyn sharply, holding up a medicine bottle, giving it a little shake to rasp the pills inside. To this, the Premier immediately ignored.

"I'd say let's get down to business! Our freighters can offload your trial wares from your vessel and get them into distribution amongst our organization. Most of it will be going to Nepleslia to help the war relief effort, but we'll definitely be needing more as the time goes by. We've got a lot of garbage floating their orbit, some of which needs to be removed, along with the maintenance of the orbital defense platforms." the Premier leaned back in his chair, "Though I believe you wanted to discuss the building of a factory here on Prime City."

Shake shake shake went the medicine bottle.

"Get those things away from me, Gwen." grumbled Pyros.

"You have to take your medicine." Gwendolyn returned with a sharp stare. Another maid came in, with a chilled, unopened can of beer on a silver platter. Just as Pryos was about to reach for it, the Head Maid, switched the beer for the pill bottle.

"Hey, what!? Give that back!" said Pyros in aggravation. The Maid who was simply bringing in a beer got extremely nervous, being caught between the Premier and Head Maid.

"Me-di-cine." reiterated Mrs. Evergreen, tapping the bottle against the plate. "Or do I have to fetch my husband and make him play male nurse?"

"Damn it..." grumbled Pyros again, his red, glowing eyes intensifying in their luminescence as he snatched the pill bottle, opened it, and let out two pills in his rough looking hand. Meanwhile, Gwendolyn's warm and happy smile returned to her face as she regarded the Tamahaganes.

"The steaks have just been put on the grill, Mister and Missus Tamahagane, how would you like yours done?" she asked.

Hikaru waited for the exchange between Pyros and his staff before speaking, first he addressed Gwen, "My wife and I prefer our steak done medium thank you.

Yes, when I first contacted you, I did mention that we wanted to establish a manufacturing facility here to make it easier for our business and to reduce shipping etc.

However... things have changed, and what we have to offer you I think will be even better.

We are building a new series of space structure, an orbital spaceport, over 4 kilometers in diameter. A small city floating above a world. We would like to place one here, and employ local personnel to work in it. It would allow a wider range of citizens to work, since the Amatsu have apartments, hotels, and other businesses including ship construction and repair. The Amatsu would have a population of around 40-50,000 people, with a percentage of that being visitors while the majority would be residents, families and people who work there.

And when our Suribashi project is complete, we will install that onto the Amatsu and build a companion site on the surface. With your permission of course."

"Care--..." Pyros popped the two pills in his mouth, and washed them down with the water, "-- to explain what exactly changed your mind, or what exactly has changed? An orbital super-structure is a shy bit different from setting a factory down in one of our industrial zones."

Gwendolyn bowed her head graciously to the Tamahaganes and turned to go inform the cooks, placing the beer back on the other maid's silver platter as she went. The very rigid girl, loosened up a bit, but still stiffly held her plate in place as she waited for Pyros to take it.

"The only thing that has changed is we have something better to offer. A complete package so to speak, one that still provides factories, but adds shipyards for manufacturing, and a complete infrastructure, not to mention additional jobs to support the employees.

However, there is no reason why we could not just build the factories on the surface if that is all you want.

Ultimately the decision is yours, we are willing to make the investment. We just presumed that you would want an option that would offer more jobs, and more tax revenue for your government."

"The plan I had originally run along with the Senator here was that we'd have a factory. He gave approval for that. If we go with this plan, I'm going to have to go through Orbital Administration along with the Senator again. It's going to take a few days to set this up, and approval won't be immediate, but I'll go for it." said Pyros, snatching the beer off the tray, giving an adequate amount of relief to the maid as she turned on one heel and walked off.

"I'm sure they'll be interested in the opportunities provided, it just that setting up orbital stations takes a lot more paperwork, and thus will take longer."

"Well the Amatsu is still in development, and then once we have the design complete we will have to construct it. Perhaps there is a compromise. For the present we will start work on factories on the planet. Later when we have the approval we will bring an Amatsu to increase our production capacity here. That way there are jobs for your people now, and more jobs and opportunities down the road. I am sure your Senate won't be able to complain about that prospect. Especially if we have the Space Bridge design complete as well." Hikaru replied.

Otome had been watching the exchange between Pyros and his head maid. I wonder what that medicine was he had to take? What was the condition? she wondered, and tried to figure out how she could discretely inquire and eventually gave up with it.

"I think we can work with that, get the initial factories set up on world, and expand into orbit with your Amatsu." nodded Pyros in agreement, before taking another sip of his beer. His hand rose to his chin as he stroked his chin-spike gently. "A bridge would require the attention of the Aerospace commission, but otherwise, you're approved for construction." With that, he pressed down what seemed to be an ornate, circular decoration on the table's surface. In front of them spawned a volumetric projection of Nepleslia Prime.

Pyros tapped one part of the globe which led him to a wide area around the continent they were in. Another tap sent them to the province, another to relative area, with Prime city at it's center. Pyros pointed to a highlighted area on the more industrialized west side.

"Here is where the City's Commission zoned out for industrial use. As you can see, it's currently a pretty wide area, your factories can be place anywhere here. Since the war hit home in Nepleslia, businesses have been hesitant to expand not only in different sectors, but their own sectors as well. You're going to have plenty of room."

"That should be more than sufficient, I will contact my people and have them draw up the plans and submit them to the City Commission for approval. Will there be any problem with our having own Security personnel for the grounds?

As for the Space Elevator, that could be problematic. There are certain physical requirements. I think if we are going to invest on the ground, we'll just settle for an Amatsu in orbit.

Perhaps you would like to see the specs for the Ookami-Class that I arrived on. Its a Light Cruiser design based on one we made for the Star Army, but with different weaponry, and it is customizable. We are actually constructing a number of them four our Security force to escort our ships during these troubling times." Hikaru said as he pulled out an Emrys Datapad.