RP Session 2: Trade

"This is embarrassing," Wazu said. "The mere concept of using 'space lanes' is comically antiquated and the idea of using fleets of starships to hunt down non-existant pirates is just another outlet for juvenile games."

Wazu then checked the time on his datapad,

"Hopefully this will not go on for too much longer. I have got some real politics to do."

"Do we all get to speak out of turn now?" Aegis asked rhetorically, as she crossed her arms and scowled bitterly. She was displeased with how the conference was becoming something kin to a hen house.

"Apparently," Morioka mused, curling a finger against her cheek and crossing her legs, the very picture of redolance in a chair that was clearly not meant for it. She was, however, making due.

"While we're being informal, this does remind me of something else that I had nearly forgotten. I don't believe any of us could have counted on the presence of such an illustrious criminal as Heram Wazu in our midst, and I for one, am quite honored to be in his presence."

Glancing to Pyros, Morioka winked. "Want him?"

The guards came in at Yuumi's silent beckon. Morioka knew who they came for, but there were four, not two.

Two came for her.

The other two came for Wazu.

"Please, sir, this way," one of the suited, relatively strapped guards said to Wazu. One of the two guards for Morioka simply bowed and gestured toward the door with a hand.

Having remained silent as the next session of this Conference begun, Ahrim had kept his arms folded underneath the ornate cloak draped over his shoulders. Trade discussions were not his area of expertise after all but he listened on; only taking 'true' notice of the situation as seemingly negative tone seeped into the proceedings.

This man, this 'High Priest' rose to the bait every time the Premier's new aide let it dangle on the line in front of him. To put a Nepleslian spin on things, to Ahrim, Velor's 'Poker Face' had been easily read in both visual and verbal mediums.

A hand came up to the clasp of Ahrim's cloak setting himself free from its confines. Still seated, the Temple Guardsman folded it neatly before placing it on the conference table in front of himself. Gray eyes fully open, Ahrim's gaze lingered upon the holographic projection of the High Priest the look impassive even as it fell upon Morioka and then Yuumi even as the guards came.

Then... nothing. He simply stared at the map.

While his arms were folded, it was as if he had been patting the cloak with nothing more than intent and purpose. Not a single word uttered yet he spoke his mind just the same. All before his attention seemingly focused upon the major shipping lanes of the sector.

Morioka glanced to Yuumi, not in question, but with a mildly hurt expression.

Then she stood up and inclined her head, politely, to the guard. With a considerably more expansive bow, she addressed the table.

"My apologies for my rude behavior."

And when she straightened, she nodded to the Lorath, and smiled. It didn't look very apologetic. Then, "Come on, Wazu. Let's go into the hallway and talk."

Without a second glance at the rest of the conference, Morioka was out the door and gone.

This was why the Free State didn't involve themselves in politics. The conference was on the verge of breaking down between two of the parties just because of some posturing that, though some might see it necessary and might even be correct in that view, was ultimately a game of who was going to break first. No wonder these people warred so much. They were all looking to dominate each other instead of cooperate.

The Freespacer representative sat silent while Lorath and Yamataian poked at each other, angling for weaknesses. Yuumi was doing an admirable job of trying to keep from agitating the situation while making proposals that were intended to mend what her new 'assistant' was doing. Unfortunately, Velan was right: Despite Yuumi's good intentions, her offers relied on people who, in the spirit of safety over sorrow, would pose too much risk to trust.

The Polysentience continued to buzz. The Envoy sifted through comments, essays, emotional appeals and analytical breakdowns...all manner of expressions over the situation. In a rather odd move for the Free State, the proceedings were, for once, not being broadcast real-time outside of the Polysentience. A proposal had been drafted and approved for keeping the information within the State, mainly because it was backed by a well-respected set of syntelligences who had calculated and modeled behavior for all parties involved. The results were...enlightening to most, as it was shown that even if most of each faction were alright with how the talks went, just a small group of dissatisfieds would be potent enough to cause more trouble than this area of space could really handle. The talks themselves were hanging by a hair anyway.

The Envoy caught a suggestion thread and pulled it aside, considering it. The current topic had sort of gone on a tangent, moving from what everyone had to how to transport it from place to place. The Free State had nothing that anyone else wouldn't already have, except for a spare piece of information here and there, so the representative remained silent. However, as the Envoy read the reasoning behind the Polysentience thread's suggestion, it appeared that there might be something they could handle...

"The Free State has nothing to export as far as materials and organic 'manpower' go..." the representative began, waiting until everyone redirected their attention from the four guards entering before continuing, "...but, if it could be arranged and demonstrated before any commitment is made, would your nations permit the Freespacers to take a crack at your shipping security issue?"

With the removal of Morioka and Wazu, there was a pleased smile on Velor's lips. It was not smug, it was not cocky, it was just a smile of being pleased with an outcome. Though, inwardly, Velor felt embarrassed, he truly did, he let the barbaric synthetic woman get under his skin, and he knew why she had such an impact. What he saw in Morioka was an exact model of what had made the Matriarchy and the Empire such bitter neighbors. What he saw, was another Rufus Sydney, another Princess Hanako, another Taisho Yui, people that were just like the monsters which they all fought so hard against.

Velor knew he let his emotions get the best of him, and it likely left him vulnerable to the others gathered, and he knew the source of that weakness, that weakness originated from not having the other half to his life, he lacked balance, and the moments of stress caused that lack of balance to become apparent. What he wished, was that he had a voice to guide him in such moments, but, that voice was a part of his past, and so, his thoughts began to travel in the direction of what caused that voice to be taken, about what kind of monsters were responsible, until the voice of a civilization spoke.

Velor's thoughts though, were quickly interrupted by the voice of the Envoy, which he looked to and gave a nod; "I would have no objections to such a notion, Envoy, what is it that you propose?" he asked, curious about what the Free State would have to offer.

Wazu would turn to the gart with him, and say quietly.

“Excuse me princess,”

Before letting himself be led outside by the guards.

DocTomoe said:

Velor's thoughts though, were quickly interrupted by the voice of the Envoy, which he looked to and gave a nod; "I would have no objections to such a notion, Envoy, what is it that you propose?" he asked, curious about what the Free State would have to offer.

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The Freespacer waited a moment, glancing around at the others before addressing Velor. "Detailed proposals are still being prepared and tested...I was merely curious if there were any objections to the Free State contributing to spacelane security."

One of Ahrim's eyes drifted toward the door, a slit of grey against the olive complexion. While he had appeared interested in the map for but a moment, he'd returned to sitting quietly with eyes closed, arms folded listening to the talks. Now however his interest in the door to the Conference room seemed somewhat evident even as his tones remained hushed while Saal'sari flowed from his lips.

"The Colonial that was escorted from this Conference appears to be stirring up trouble by his mere presence. The Synthoid had already accomplished her task in making this... 'High Priest' appear foolish. Try and take the reins on this Tafari, before anything else occurs to further derail these talks. Use this to your advantage."

"The Freespacers' technology might be aptly suited for such a task," Yuumi said with a smile. "Yamatai would employ starfighters as patrol craft, and we rather would have those on our front lines, doing our part to eradicate the NMX threat. Using Freespacer technology also might work to the advantage of us against the NMX's raiders, as they would not expect to run into such tech."

"Honestly, I would trust the Free Spacers to handle the task as well." Velor spoke, voicing his approval of the proposed notion. "A combination of Free State coverage and fighter escorts for convoys would come together nicely as a sane and reasonable approach to shipping security." It seemed that things were perhaps going back on track for the conference at that point. At least, that was what Velor hoped, as he felt his mood improve within those passing moments.

"This is indeed an interesting idea," Iris spoke up as she glanced at the Free State Envoy. "We not only get protection for our civilian merchantmen, but we also avoid having multiple nations guarding their own interests that could lead to some chaffing," she stated before smiling. "And with the Free State being mostly nomadic, it works very well."

"There can be nothing wrong with a little participation in international security." mentioned Pyros, having neglected to put too much attention into the Wazu debacle. The Premier kept to himself mostly, seeming rather small now that Flint was absent, and only Sheva was their to assist him. The PR woman herself was furiously tapping away at a datapad, her cute hat falling off her head and nearly revealing the icepack tucked underneath it. Luckily, it stayed inside the hat as it fell.

"Though I can't help but feel there should still be a larger, neutral power at work when it comes to managing security between nations. We all want safer space lanes, but we apparently don't trust each other enough to simply offer our ships to protect someone else's fortune." Pyros said aloud, pulling out a silver flask and sipping from it. He sat there for a moment, before looking at the Envoy, his eyebrows jumping at a realization, "Save for the Freespacers, of course."

"It seems that we've all found ourselves agreeing on something." Velor spoke, sounding enthused with the matter. "I think we should allow our respective military branches to resume investigating this very promising option in regard to implementation and how to execute cooperation with the Free State in the most productive way possible." Velor suggested, as his volumetric self leaned back into his seat and gave a soft nod.

"At this point, from what I understand, we've come to agree that we need a multinational market, manufacturing cooperation, streamlined shipping, and transparency regarding our escort operations... I think we've made considerable progress so far. What is next on the agenda for trade discussion?" Velor asked, curious about where the others gathered would take the discussion.

Abwehran Commander said:

"This is indeed an interesting idea," Iris spoke up as she glanced at the Free State Envoy. "We not only get protection for our civilian merchantmen, but we also avoid having multiple nations guarding their own interests that could lead to some chaffing," she stated before smiling. "And with the Free State being mostly nomadic, it works very well."

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The last sentence set off another chain of ideas in the Polysentience. The Freespacer smiled. "I will organize and deliver a plan by the end of this session, then. We thank you for your votes of support," the 'Spacer said with a graceful nod. The representative's organic eye seemed to momentarily gloss over, but then refocused, sitting back again as Velor again took charge of the conversation.

"I think now we must come to the most important topic of the trade session," Yuumi said, refocusing the main projector to highlight the space lanes.

"As it stands, we have few truly international space stations where commerce can happen. Though nations have them between each other, such as Nepleslia has with Yamatai and as Yamatai has with the Freespacers, we don't have any that act as truly galactic hubs, ones where we agree to work in council, instead of authority based on whoever owns the station.

"Having such stations will allow commerce to be more centralized, efficient and better protected. As it stands, convoys have to receive protection along entire routes. International stations would interrupt flight paths and force pirates to use narrower windows of space to attack civilian traffic."

Vishta had been silent for much of the proceedings, but the latest point of discussion had gained her ire because she was in disagreement. She looked down at her data pad and found her self in total agreement.

"Pirates?" Vishta said. "I have to disagree. While it may seem to be a good idea, this would only serve to increase the time span of traveling merchant and cargo ships as well as increase the over all cost of shipping on all levels. You will literally be throwing billions, if not trillions of currency away."

Vishta's eyes narrowed as she paused. "Pirates are a minor threat at best. You have mighty fleets of war ships at the ready for any sign of danger. Our long range scanners have seen no major moves from the pirate systems in the north. This idea will hamper our efforts to trade, not make them better, or even safer. All it would do is show weakness, and the pirates would probably become emboldened by such a move."

Velor listened to the words of Yuumi, which roughly echoed the conversation between himself and the Sky Marshall, then, came the objection from the Gartagen representative, which he had to keep a neutral face about, even though he wanted to outright dismiss their objection as foolish.

"International trade and shipping hubs would work well for actually increasing profits. More so if these hubs would provide retail space for manufacturing firms. Though, the greatest benefit would come in the form of providing a viable distribution hub for manufacturers to route their goods through." That addressed the finance issues, then, came the matter of security.

"International stations would also serve to reduce travel distances for slow ships to get goods from a manufacturer to a retail market, that means they would be less prone to interception. Also, an international station provides a neutral eye to events within sensor range, thus, providing a means of being certain that no questionable actions are taken along the shipping lanes." Velor explained, as he gestured dismissively with his hand; "Of course, if you find such a notion unfavorable, your people would undoubtedly have the option of abstaining, and I am sure that the Yamataian Star Army would be willing to pull ships off the front lines for the purpose of securing your trade routes."