Time is Money, and Money is Mine!

[Melvand Zrimmir]

Ashhearth Industries, not a name he was particularly familiar with, not before this deal anyways. Being base thousands of light years away from his home planet and base of operations for Zrimmir Universal Banking Union, it wasn't one he had come in any contact naturally. However when Zrimmir needed vehicles for non-digital funds transfer, AI was one of the first results.

After a few weeks of negotiations, and a few months of waiting, the first off the production line were ready. Now all Zrimmir had to do was wait for [member="John Ash"] to arrive with them, then the fun of inspecting them could begin.

 

[John Ash]

Usually when Ashhearth Industries had a request for a new product then John would meet them first, decide if he was fine with the contract, and then make it if it was a deal. This time around the client asked for the product first then was going to sign the contract. Normally they would have been told where they could put their contract, but the product this time around could be useful to the company even if the deal was unacceptable. So with that in mind, John took the prototypes with him to meet with the new client.

A new bank, or maybe an old one that was staying small until now, was the client John had arrived to meet with. ZUBU it was walled. All he knew was it was Neimoidian, which meant their philosophy was the same as his own: credit is king. He could respect that and get behind it. The only problem was they tended to be uppity and in need of a few good smacks. High society tended to do that to people though. A bit of time on the streets of Nar Shaddaa would fix that behavior pretty fast. But he was getting ahead of himself here. Neimoidians reminded him too much of Coruscant and Naboo. It was that same mentality. Either way he was here now for a contract.

Walking into the main office, John was wearing his business suit. He had one of his pistols hidden away as always, but that was more out of habit and security than any plans on needing it. Coming up to the receptionist, he looked around. Yup a bank and Neimoidian. He said as he approached, " John Ash to see [member="Melvand Zrimmir"] about that business with Ashhearth Industries." He was told to wait while she informed her boss. He did just that. As he did, he studied the place around him. Another old habit.

 

[Melvand Zrimmir]

The Zeltros receptionist, obviously chosen for her looks, nodded and pressed a button on her console, hidden by a counter. She gestured to a hallway to [member="John Ash"]'s right and said, "Down that hallway is a turbolift, it will take you to your meeting place."

Once Ash had followed her directions, the turbolift, especially designed to be programmed which floor it would need to stop at without manual input, would open to an average sized meeting room in which every wall but the one from which the turbolift opens was a window, looking upon the site that was Cato Neimoidia.

Sitting at the far end of the meeting table, was Zrimmir himself, reviewing high end loan requests on a datapad. When Ash would enter, Zrimmir would look up,

"Ah, Mr. Ash, a pleasure to meet you. I'm grateful you made the journey to my homeworld of Cato Neimoidia to conduct this business."

 

[John Ash]

There really wasn't much of a wait. A bit surprising honestly. Usually business types, and in all honesty crime lords too, loved to make little power plays to let you know just who was in charge. One of the domination moves or some other nonsense that those with tiny man bits liked to make themselves feel better. John was definitely pleased to see that wasn't the case here and could quickly conduct this business. Waiting was always a pain in the rump and he could be spending that time on other ventures.

As the doors opened up, before John was an office with a view. Not a surprise really. Even he enjoyed having a view from his office back on Ashhearth. The first thing that [member="Melvand Zrimmir"] did was greet him. John gave the Neimoidian a nod back and said, " Like wise." He studied the place over real quick. Datapads were laid out on a desk. Most executives tended to not have that sort of thing out. Usually it was nick nacks. Pointless things, but he did enjoy some of his own. Still it was another good sign. Hopefully this trip was going to be worth it financially after all.

John said after the brief pause to study things, " I'm John Ash; owner, founder, and ceo of Ashhearth Industries. You are Melvand Zrimmir I assume. I'd like to get to the point of this meeting. I brought the prototypes of the custom products you requested. If they are to your liking then we can sign a contract and I'll have your first order to you in a month. If you don't then I'll just take them back home with no contract for either of us to worry about. If that sounds good to you, then we will need to head to the spaceport. The ship is in orbit with the vehicle inside." Now he just had to wait on a response. Regardless of what happened here, this trip was going to at least be a little profitable. He had used the large hangar space to transport the latest shipment of fighters to the Commenor Systems Alliance along the way.

OOC: Sorry for the delay! Your stuff is all approved and ready for use once we are done.

 

[Melvand Zrimmir]

Zrimmir stood up immediately, he was not a man to waste time,

"Then we shall go inspect them immediately. If they are up to my requirements, we'll have the deal signed."

Zrimmir picked up a datapad to reassure the latter bit of Zrimmir's statement. As Zrimmir walked out of the office, leading [member="John Ash"], he made an apology, "I'm sorry if I seem a bit rushed today, Mr. Ash. This is meant as no insincerity to our deal, but I have a fairly busy schedule today, and I wish to get this deal over with as quickly as possible."

Zrimmir would lead Ash out of the building, and into the courier vessel that had brought Ash to the surface. From there it would take the two back to the prototype vessel, which Zrimmir greatly anticipated inspecting it for himself.

 

[John Ash]

Seemed that the client appreciated being direct and getting the business over with quickly. John was glad for it. Too many business types saw themselves as mini royalty or nobles or some other pompous claim of inherit superiority. He had seen more than enough folk like that die as easily and with less grace than a beat down old urchin living in the street. But he was getting himself too flustered up right now. This was a business meeting not a "let's complain about politicians and political figures" meeting.

When [member="Melvand Zrimmir"] finished speaking, John just replied with, " No offense taken. Time means credits." With that he followed the Neimoidian back to the shuttle. As they went along, John got a look at the city in question. This was going deep into the core after all where his turf lay more on the edge of the mid and outer rims. The Imperials might want to claim they owned the area, but it wasn't true. They just were the ones making his illegal sales profitable and driving more people to him to become employees or citizens. Strange how his world was similar in that way to the way these Neimoidians did things.

As they went up towards the prototype ship, John looked to his client. He said, " If you look out the window in front of us, you will see the ship. It is the Banker Class Cruiser." Before them was a larger cruiser that looked more like a military support ship than a banking ship. If he was being honest though, it really was more of a military support vessel but that distinction wasn't going to matter much to his client. They wanted a high quality transport vessel for transferring assets so that is what he gave them.

" Heavy defenses that focus on being anti-missile as much as possible with some point defense turrets for smaller ships and a pair of turbolasers to take shots at bigger ones. Hangar is larger than normal also. She can carry two more squadron counts of fighters than another ship her size. Even military vessels would want her hangar space, and that is ignoring the large cargo space. She is slow though in both speed and turning so don't be expecting to outrun or out fly any pirate vessels. The defenses make up for it and the larger escort fleet she can field for herself."

That was a lot of info on the ship already and John hadn't even gotten to everything she could do yet. This was about informing the client on what he was getting regardless of if he fully understood the tactics and strategy of it or not. Most merchants and business types couldn't tell you much about their products. John wasn't most people though. This was the same kind of info he provided for every client he saw about contracts and he wasn't about to change his ways now.

 

[Melvand Zrimmir]

Zrimmir took in the beauty of the Banker Class Cruiser. It was far more beautiful than he could have imagined. Zrimmir was no fleet man, nor was he a shipwright, but he certainly liked the Banker's design. It not only looked good, but it sounded good as well. If the ship really lived up to [member="John Ash"]'s explanation, then Zrimmir would have no trouble ordering a few more of these vessels. He was surprised by the comment of the hangar, when Zrimmir had put in the order for this, he had not included anything about an extended hangar, but it seemed Ash had found the room for it, without compromising its large cargo capacity.

Zrimmir let a thin grin spread across his face, he couldn't wait to see the inside, "Perhaps you could lead me on a tour, Mr. Ash?" Zrimmir remembered the other thing, "And the armored vehicle, I would like to look at that too. Then we can talk business."

(Apologies about the short post, I had a longer one, but I deleted it before I could finish it and I just couldn't find the time to write another long one.)

 

[John Ash]

Seemed that John's client enjoyed what he was told. The Neimoidian had a pleased look on his face the whole time. The explanation for the ship wasn't even done yet and they were already drooling over it. Seemed a contract was possible after all for the ship. He nodded to [member="Melvand Zrimmir"] and said, " When we arrive I can. The vehicle is in the hangar. There is some more details you should know about the Banker Class first. It comes with advanced sensors, com scanners, and a HIMS. You can't be pulled out of hyperspace by an interdictor, but you can still be grabbed if multiple ones are lined up back to back or is a massive one covering a system. The ship has a limited crew size, which is partly why there is so much extra space for a hangar and cargo hold. I suggest using droids if at all possible. Part of the anti-boarding security is coma gas canisters, and they are unaffected by it. Still need to be careful of boarding actions though. The ship doesn't have the crew or space for extra defenses to handle it as well as I would like."

With that wrapped up, their shuttle found itself landing inside of the hangar. John stepped off and pointed towards a large vehicle locked into position not far away. He said, " That is the ASAT, or Asset Security Armored Transport. It is heavily defensive, comes with both means to track hostiles while avoiding being tracked electronically, and can carry a large number of assets at once. It suffers from the same problems though as the Bank Class with little space left for crew and don't want people in your face. The turret can be switched between laser, ion, or a grenade launcher. There is a 1m dead zone however for the laser and ion turrets and a 2m one for the launcher. There is coma gas canisters along the side in case they get in close, but if they can block the gas or use droids then your crew has to exit the vehicle to defend it. It is also heavy and slow."

John turned to his client after as he paused. Better to give some time for the information to sink in. Once enough had past, he continued, " If your enemy is that dedicated to take your stuff then there is no real way to stop them. The only way to take the vehicle is to get in its blind spot, somehow, or out muscle it. EMP won't work either. It is protected and the sensors are so strong that ambushing it by most means is difficult. Hope that meets your expectations. As for the tour. There is not much to show. This is the hangar, the cargo hold isn't much different being a big open space, and then there is just the crew quarters left outside of the bridge. If you want to see the bridge though we can."

 

[Melvand Zrimmir]

Zrimmir's grin evolved into a full blown smile. This exceeded Zrimmir's expectations by far. He had expected a vessel to avoid two bit criminals, the occassional pirate, maybe even a small planetary defense fleet. This, this could outlast an entire First Order battle fleet, at least until it jumped away. This would be perfect for the Zrimmir Universal Banking Union. No doubt he'd have some of his security personnel inspect this, but he trusted [member="John Ash"], Zrimmir would sign.

Zrimmir turned to his host, since they were aboard the Banker class cruiser, and said, "I believe the bridge will be just fine. This has by far, exceeded my expectations, Mr. Ash. I'll have my assistant acquire the contract, so we may sign on the bridge. I would like to see Cato Neimoidia as we sign."

As they walked to the bridge, Zrimmir would lean over and whisper, despite having no one to hide his comments from, "Perhaps we could engage in further business, as well, Mr. Ash."