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Trade Windows : Chapter 3
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Smee



Joined: 16 Oct 2004
Posts: 5215
Location: UK

Posted: Tue Feb 24, 2009 3:40 am    Post subject: Trade Windows : Chapter 3  

Chapter 3

Targh's mind went round in circles as he tried to root out the cause of his agitation. His ship moved in similar circles around the Bestower, buzzing like an angry wasp around the cargo ship. What was it that had wound him up so much! He felt like he'd asked himself the same thing a thousand times.

He should just ignore the feeling, and enjoy this deal that'd finally see his investment in training pay off. But he couldn't. Too often, especially in cold space, if something seemed too good to be true, it usually was.

Casting his mind back to the beginning, he laid it all out again in his mind. Three weeks ago, his client had contacted him, an impersonal evemail, probably copied out to an entire database of suppliers asking for 2000 Gentalion Modal Mark II Mining Lasers, willing to pay equivalent 200'000 isk [interstellar kredit] each, but full quota required. Immediately he had known he could find them for no more than 125k each, bringing in an easy profit of 150 million. Too easy? But to get them for that price he would have had to buy them out right, which meant laying his hands on 250 million. Not the kind of money he had lying around.

A few days later he was tipped off about the new 'boss', apparently looking to unload 2000 Gentalion Modal Mark II Mining Lasers for 140k each. It would be a drop in profit, but Targh negotiated a deal to act as broker for his client, and therefore able to take the lasers and pay for them once he'd sold them on. Collateral was the final negotiating hurdle, and the deeds to Mart's Bestower and his hangar were finally accepted, to be held in trust by a third party.

Eagerly Targh had contacted his client, checking no one else had already sourced the order and finding they hadn't, reserved it for himself. His clients asked a few pertinent questions, the location of the source, transportation and security arrangements for delivery, and quickly seemed only too happy to oblige. The deal was set.

Delivery was to a quiet solar system, a half dozen jumps away. It had a security rating of 0.6, a relatively secure score with regular CONCORD patrols, along with sentry guns at all jump gates. About as easy as it got whilst still being profitable.

And that was it, the root cause of his feeling. It was all too easy! A supplier offering the exact product required within days of an unannounced buy order landing in his inbox. High profit margin, easy delivery route.

Without warning the Punisher engines cut off, reverse thrusters bringing him to a halt with barely a thought. He connected to Mart's ship.

"Mart, you there?"

"I ain't gone nowhere in the last 30 seconds, no! What's up?"

"I want you to get down to those boxes, open one up, check them out."

"After your last message I already opened a box up and done a scan, it all checks out. You sure you want to risk damage to one, I hate to take my toolbox to a 140k piece of tech?"

"Yes, I'm sure my friend. Something ain't right, and you told me to trust it. Take care, don't rush it. You'll be fine. Keep me posted."

Mart sighed. "Ok, and what will you be doin'?"

"I'm going to have another word with our supplier."

~

Having made the decision, Targh felt a little better, but already a knot was forming in his stomach at the thought of being scammed. It was time for him to play his part, he had to get this 'boss' to crack, give something away that gave the game up. But how?

He had no time to think though. An electric impulse alerted him to the incoming comm request from the docking station. Seemed the 'boss' wanted to talk to him. Taking a deep breath from his respirator, Targh tried to relax, floating in the warm amber fluid of his pod. Feeling a little calmer he connected the comm.

"Hello?"

"Aah, Mr D'yer. You'll no doubt be please to hear that we are nearing completion of the cargo transfer." The 'boss' sounded content, and in control. Whilst polite there was a hint of smugness too. It grated on Targh as he tried to buy time to think.

"Excellent news indeed. Most efficient."

"My aide has received word from one Mr Ytiri that he is in possession of the appropriate deeds and documents required for our collateral agreement. I'm glad to see you hold up your side of the bargain equally efficiently."

A small seed of an idea appeared in Targh's mind. He jumped on it.

"Tell me, I was wondering. It is easily understood that the Gentalion curve of cyclic diminishment affects the mean temperature of application, such that a lower temperature is required for activation. But how does that interact with the modal magnification to increase mining yields in these lasers?"

Targh listened carefully, wishing he could risk hacking into the station camera's to be able to watch the man's face.

"Ah, er, uuhh..."

He jumped back in, not wanting to give the man time to think.

"I suspect the magnitude of the feedback is responsible, creating a cascade resonance throughout the outer chambers, thus lowering cycle times and therefore yields appropriately. Is that correct?"

"Yes, yes, precisely. I had, er, no idea you were so familiar with the technology. I was, umm, told you specialised in, erm, reprocessing equipment."

Even with stuttering aside, the man sounded nervous, although he was working hard to hide it. The knot in Targh's stomach squirmed. Who had told him that? Well actually most people could have. It was no secret. Man, he was getting jumpy! Where was Mart with results from the testing!

"Just a hobby. My brother is a miner. I was thinking of perhaps gifting him with one of these as celebration of the success of this trade. I'm sure he'd love such an advance laser, he talks of little else except relative yields."

It was the truth. His brother was a miner. And it was from the endless talks with him about mining that allowed Targh to know that the Gentalion technology had no effect on cycle times. Surely as a supplier of such items, this 'boss' should have known that too? Targh was aware he was starting to sound strained himself. The 'boss' must have noticed, once again sounding collected and in control.

"Well I wouldn't want to waste any more of your time, Mr D'yer. You have quite a distance to travel, and I don't wish to delay your departure any further. Unless there was anything else?"

He left the question open enough, but it was clear he wanted the conversation to be over. Targh could think of no other way to stall, and didn't think confronting him on his surprising lack of knowledge on the lasers would achieve much. A flash of awareness showed Mart contacting him. With only perfunctory goodbyes, Targh cut off comms with the 'boss' and connected with Mart.

"Mart, my friend. Tell me some good news!"

The older man sighed.

"Boosters" was all he said, his voice sounding unusually quiet.

Targh swore, harshly. Boosters! Narcotics in other words, or close enough to offer little distinction to CONCORD Customs. Combat boosters affected the brain, becoming popular in recent years amongst pod pilots in particular. They offered temporary boosts to perception, memory, speed, all the things that helped in the heat of battle. But they came with drawbacks. Addictive, debilitating withdrawal effects, expensive and ludicrously difficult to produce.

After a few seconds, Mart continued.

"We've opened up four so far. The first two were hollowed and packed with the boosters, every available nook and cranny. The third was full of Crash. The fourth is genuine"

It just got worse. Few things were more illegal in the Empire. Even getting caught with a shipment of unofficial Gallente slaves would see you with little more than a fine if you knew the system. But Crash! Targh wasn't sure even the Empress could get away with being found in possession of the foul substance. Well maybe the Empress could, he amended, but no one lower, and certainly not him. Targh swore again.

He needed to think. Methodically he laid out the situation to himself, using his connection to the computer to compare routes and directions, as well as work out calculations.

They were in Empire space, high security 0.8 level, but one jump away was a 0.4 system. CONCORD had no jurisdiction below 0.5 space, they would be safe from being arrested atleast. But to get there they'd have to run the gate from here. Custom agents were always at high sec gates, the slow Bestower would be warp-locked and webified in seconds, unless there was some kind of diversion perhaps! He'd need to refit his ship with some warp field stablisiers to help delay his own ship being warp-locked, maybe an afterburner for a quick boost of speed.

But where would that leave them. 0.4 sec space was lawless and dangerous. They were as vulnerable to pirates, as they were to CONCORD agents. Should he just dump the cargo and be done with it? But what about his hangar, his office. The third party held the deeds in collateral. He had no doubts the boss would take them if he didn't get payment. If he dumped the cargo they'd be left with nothing. Back to scratching out a living.

Maybe there was another plan escaping him right now.

Only seconds had passed, with the speed Targh's computer augmented thoughts were processed. But he had to make a decision quickly.

Hmmm.. sounds like a tricky situation. Even with all his Pod technology to help, I suspect Targh could do with your help to come up with a plan. There's lots of possibilities, I've only mentioned a few.

Some things to consider and add to your knowledge of the EvE galaxy:

- Until they undock, they are relatively safe. Targh can dock and make any changes to his ship he wants, including buying new equipment (called 'Modules' in this world) for his ship like an afterburner.

- It is quite possible for Targh to switch to a different ship if you wish, they are still in the Bestower's cargohold from before. Bigger ships have more space / power / computer cpu capacity for more / more powerful modules.

- Targh does have a few contacts, he could potentially try to sell his cargo to someone else, possibly even for considerably more ISK, but there's the same difficulty of getting to them.

- To clarify, if it wasn't coming through from the story... space security works on a sliding scale from 1.0 down to 0.0. From 1.0 to 0.5 is considered high security, and is protected by the equivalent of police, known as CONCORD. CONCORD isn't your typically justice though. They aren't there to protect, so much as to punish, often arriving too late to save the victim.

0.4 - 0.1 is considered Low security (Lowsec) where the only enforcement is sentry guns protecting jump gates and some space stations.

0.0 Is completely lawless, space is controlled by groups/alliances/confederations of pilots. Some are friendlier than others.

Typically, the further you get from the middle of the galaxy, the lower the security.

- Pod Pilots can negotiate space in just their pod, it is a fairly resilient structure that survives more often than not, when a ship is destroyed. It has no weapons or shields though. The only protection it has is being very small and hard to target, especially for larger ships. About the only thing it allows is a few seconds window to escape to a space station.

Discuss amongst yourselves - come up with a plan. Voting will be done based on which plan to follow.

Happy Playing :)
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Crunchyfrog



Joined: 12 Dec 2006
Posts: 3998

Posted: Tue Feb 24, 2009 9:58 am    Post subject:  

Well it looks like Targh and Mart are truly stuffed, at the moment. The boss has his hangar as collateral, and there's a fair chance they'll get caught, no matter what they do. So, the Boosters have already been loaded, eh? Say their ship's broken down, or better still, sabotage it so it can't move until it is fixed.

The delay tactic could help get the warp upgrades they need, plus give them time to do some snooping with the hope of getting out of this with their livelihood in tact.

The Boss would have to grant them time to fix it I think. He wouldn't want to move the contreband to another ship and risk it being discovered, especially as he may have an inkling Targh is suspicious.


You need to go through your chapter again, you got a few mords wuddled resulting in some interesting spellings. :)

Good chapter, although I'm having a hard time getting to know the laws of this universe. :D
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DeadManWalking



Joined: 24 May 2006
Posts: 1005

Posted: Tue Feb 24, 2009 4:55 pm    Post subject:  

I F5 Crunchy's suggestions. They seem sensible.

Alternatively, if you could find some replacement crates whilst all this was going down and "accidentally" switch them, you could send an anonymous tip to CONCORDE (or maybe one with your name, if they give rewards) telling them where to pick these guys up.

I mean, Targh and Mart haven't really done anything illegal yet. I don't know exactly the attitude of law enforcement officials in this universe, but they might be amenable to a small reward in the catching of these Booster Smugglers.
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Smee



Joined: 16 Oct 2004
Posts: 5215
Location: UK

Posted: Mon Mar 02, 2009 2:51 am    Post subject:  

Thanks for your comments, you two.

Yes, Crunchy - it is a complicated universe. It's no secret that most people who begin playing the game give it up within a few days because of information overload, including myself 12 months ago when I first dabbled with it. It took a year before I decided to look in on it again.

Which is likely why it potters along with about 250'000 live accounts (although probably only 100'000 or so actual players (with multiple accounts)) compared with WarCracks recently announced 11'500'000 ;).

I'll continue doing what I can to simplify it, and add explanation where necessary. Hopefully it remains followable. :)

As for the wuddled mords *giggles* - I had several re-reads and put it through a spell check, and whilst I discovered a few things to change, didn't see anything as you described. If you could point it out, that'd be great.

So - sabotage Mart's ship is your idea to buy some time. Excellent. But in general your plan is to go ahead with equipping the ships to try and increase the odds of making it through custom patrols, but are you intending to run to low security space, or to the original drop off point from the contract?

~

CONCORD (no e ;) ) would be most ammenable to a tip so long as we're docked and not in space carrying illegal goods, but making it (anonymously or otherwise) without the Boss noticing could be tricky.

Once we're out in space, they'd likely be less impressed with tips. They're more the 'ask questions later' kind - their jurisdiction is vast, their numbers (relatively) few. They simply don't have time for lengthy investigations.

But there's nothing illegal on Targh's ship, just Marts. :P

Report everything to CONCORD is also going on the poll. If this is something you support, you thoughts on how it might be done would be appreciated.

~

A few more days to pad out this poll, and then we'll get moving.
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Crunchyfrog



Joined: 12 Dec 2006
Posts: 3998

Posted: Mon Mar 02, 2009 5:24 am    Post subject:  

Smee wrote:

As for the wuddled mords *giggles* - I had several re-reads and put it through a spell check, and whilst I discovered a few things to change, didn't see anything as you described. If you could point it out, that'd be great.

Sure thing. :)

Quote: A drop in profit, but a week of talks concluded with accepting Targh as broker for his client, and therefore able to take the lasers and pay later. - This sentence is a bit long and clunky. Gramatically it is not clear who or what is 'able to take the lasers'.

Quote: Eagerly Targh had contacted his client, checking no one else had already sourced the order and finding they hadn't, reservered it for himself. - reserved

Quote: It is easily understood that the Gentalion curve of cyclic deminishment effects the mean temperature of application diminishment affects

Quote: Collateral was the final negotiating hurdle, and the deeds to Mart and his hanger Quote: But what about his hanger, his office. - you mean hangar in these examples? Also perhaps a question mark would look better after office.

Hope this helps! :)

Quote: So - sabotage Mart's ship is your idea to buy some time. Excellent. But in general your plan is to go ahead with equipping the ships to try and increase the odds of making it through custom patrols, but are you intending to run to low security space, or to the original drop off point from the contract?

Targh has already run through his options in his head, and can see some serious downfalls whichever sector of space he decides to run to. So perhaps leaving the station is not such a good idea at the moment.

The primary reason for sabotaging the ship is to buy time to snoop around. The amount of delay he manages would depend upon the extent of the sabotage. :grin: Using the sabotage as an excuse to beef up the warp drive (and maybe even weapons) as well would simply be an opportunistic bonus for this suggestion.

Once he has learned more from his snooping, perhaps then he can decide which sector of space is best for him to run to - (assuming running is a viable option later on!)

So to sum up, the suggestion is to sabotage Marts ship with the intention of sticking around for as long as he can, to find out more. :)
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Reiso



Joined: 27 Oct 2004
Posts: 917
Location: Western North America

Posted: Wed Mar 04, 2009 2:35 pm    Post subject:  

I like this! It is good to see you can write sci-fi as well as you write fantasy. Not sure I'm sold on the EvE universe thing, I need time to get used to it, but the characters and the story more than make up for it. :D

I want to say I'm leaning towards him reporting them to the port authority. There will definitely be a log on the cargo ship of legitimate cargo (since it showed up that way when it was scanned), as well as possible video footage of them checking the crates to make sure. But the sort of quick-fire nature of local law enforcement makes me doubtful this will get the desired results.

Another option I can think of is confronting the 'Boss' with this and any other evidence and merely threatening to turn him into the authorities, possibly getting a better deal out of it. Maybe he could even dig up some better dirt on the guy, some leverage to hold over his head and get his damn drills!

Alternatively, I have always been a fan of direct confrontation and hostile negotiations at gun-point as a response to being screwed. But that is a very high stakes mercenary kind of response, and may not be their forte.

Yet another idea--seek out someone even more disreputable than the 'Boss' who could either get them out clean, or make a move against him. This could possibly be combined with getting mods on the ship, since they could hit the seedier places during the down time. But depending on how that plays out, it may get them out of their current fix, but not necessarily help with the very big problem of his hangar and office being forfeit.

Can't wait to see the poll on this one.
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Smee



Joined: 16 Oct 2004
Posts: 5215
Location: UK

Posted: Wed Mar 04, 2009 11:51 pm    Post subject:  

Thanks for those corrections, Crunchy. Much appreciated.

Ok - lets get moving on the poll with this. Although that's possibly easier said than done.

I'm going to take the idea of some kind of sabotage (more fake than real) as a given, to buy us all some time on the station. I will also take upgrading the ships as decided too.

So the vote will be what to ultimately do with the extra time, should we manage to gain it.

The options seem to be :

- Report the whole matter to CONCORD immediately.
- Confront the 'Boss'
- Seek someone even 'seedier' to intervene with the 'Boss' on our behalf.
- Snoop around, hoping to gain knowledge to make the decision more obvious.

Because we've not heard from quite a few usual readers, I'm also going to add on

- Make a run for it

Just in case ;)

Poll going up shortly,

Happy Playing :)
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Reiso



Joined: 27 Oct 2004
Posts: 917
Location: Western North America

Posted: Thu Mar 05, 2009 12:15 pm    Post subject:  

Okay, I've been undecided over this all morning. Even though reporting him or confronting him seem like sensible things to do in a normal world, without knowing how involved CONCORD is with this, or how much the 'Boss' can throw at us, they are both fairly risky.

Targh doesn't seem like the sort to take risks if he doesn't have to. He seems more like a planner. He researches all his choices, and likes to be well informed. So even though the other options would be more interesting I think, I am gonna go with what seems in character (from my perspective anyway), and say that he should snoop around for that overlooked alternative.

Also... hey Smee, what's up with the Author's option? I mean, why is it there if no one can click it? How does that work? Seems interesting...
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Smee



Joined: 16 Oct 2004
Posts: 5215
Location: UK

Posted: Thu Mar 05, 2009 11:44 pm    Post subject:  

It's just a blank option for me to vote for, so I can see the poll results easily, without having to load 'view results' every time I visit.

:)
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Reiso



Joined: 27 Oct 2004
Posts: 917
Location: Western North America

Posted: Fri Mar 06, 2009 12:06 am    Post subject:  

Ahh, clever man.
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Smee



Joined: 16 Oct 2004
Posts: 5215
Location: UK

Posted: Mon Mar 09, 2009 3:08 am    Post subject:  

One more day for voting, and then the story continues.

:)
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Smee



Joined: 16 Oct 2004
Posts: 5215
Location: UK

Posted: Tue Mar 10, 2009 1:57 am    Post subject:  

We're going snooping apparently ...

*Wanders off and starts mining desperately for idearium* ;)
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Smee



Joined: 16 Oct 2004
Posts: 5215
Location: UK

Posted: Thu Mar 26, 2009 6:28 am    Post subject:  

Hmmm... I'm about 250 words in, this is like trying to get ... orange juice* from a stone.

But I'm getting there... !

*Thwacks muse with a mallet*

* I'm not the bloodthirsty type, like some of you!
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