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Corpo Age - Chapter 220: Importance of Allies
🕑 Added 2024-10-14 11:55:28 +0000 UTC“About this fixed-price contract with economic price adjustments your company is proposing, will you consider doing something simpler, with just a fixed-price contract instead?” one of the Astro Forge employees inquired.
He was currently in the midst of negotiating with my team regarding the details of our trade agreement. The raw material market was always a supplier’s market due to the high investment needed to get a mining operation set up. It was simply much cheaper and less risky when you bought the ores you needed from a supplier. That was until a wide-scale war broke out, like that one between Europa Station and Enceladus Station over a year ago.
The current material prices were still high due to that event, and the prices were predicted to continue falling as the corporations involved finished licking their wounds.
This meant just by agreeing to a fixed-price contract with us, where the prices were set for the next five years, was a huge win for Astro Forge.
“Hmm, we’re willing to allow the rate to fluctuate to only half of the amount the market does based on the current price,” Claire responded after a momentary pause.
“That…”
The Astro Forge employee lost control and almost spoke before the team behind him had instructed him what to say. I couldn’t blame him. We were plainly asking them to give up some profits.
The negotiations went back and forth until we finally settled on a fixed-price contract that was only three-quarters of what it was right now. The deal wasn’t all losses for Astro Forge; it was for three years. The prices were projected to fall below that amount within a year and a half. They also promised us technical assistance with their mining technology as a tradeoff.
They believed we had the backing of a large corp, so they readily agreed, seeing their technology wasn’t that big of a deal to someone so powerful. They thought they were just fulfilling the whims of some wealthy offspring. They knew their role was to be our material supplier for the short term for all operations up here in Aegis.
With the new agreement, not only I was going to examine Ferrumus Corporation’s mining vessels, but I got myself some additional assistance when the time came for me to design our own ships.
Besides that, the fixed price agreement for materials was actually a huge win for me, too. While the trend was that material prices were going down, I knew from the concern my guardian angel had displayed that there was another fight that could break out in the near future. It may have even already begun without me knowing yet. Securing this allowed me to prepare for when fighting really broke out.
Once the deal was signed, I sent out messages to thank the various departments for their hard work. After that, I ordered some food and finally got some rest.
The last few days had been hectic, with all the traveling and negotiations in the way. The progress in my workshop had stalled too, as I had to make a decision in our long-term direction.
Thankfully, after messaging one of my old friends, he surprisingly agreed to meet the next day in Aegis.
I slept until the late morning, where I then departed from the base to my lunch meeting.
I got out of the taxi and stared up at the SocialCorp building for some time. It wasn’t the tallest structure around, but the building screamed class. It was evident they called in a team of famous architects to design it.
A large team of fine-dressed staff welcomed me as I walked into the lobby. I headed straight for the top floor, where several restaurants could be found. I could immediately spot the one called The High Rest, with a small logo belonging to Authentic Corporation displayed in the corner.
The greeter smiled upon seeing me and welcomed me warmly.
“Mr. Halls! We’ve been expecting you. Our CEO is already here. Please follow me.”
I was quickly led across the open dining area and spotted it full of corpos enjoying their lunch. We arrived at the opposite end of the restaurant where the private rooms were and entered the one at the very back.
Inside, I found Joey sitting there alone, sipping on some wine. Before him, a dozen different dishes were already laid out for us.
The restaurant employee quickly closed the door behind me, leaving us alone.
“Thanks for inviting me after such short notice. I didn’t think you’d be able to make it up here so quickly,” I said.
“Well, you caught me at a good time. My business in several space stations has been going well due to my partners treating me well. As a result, I come up here quite often to thank them, and it just so happens I was scheduled to come up here already.”
“I see. Good news is always welcomed.”
“Yes. I believe you have good news to share, as well?”
I ruefully shook my head.
“I’ve yet to settle in up here. It’s like starting from scratch with how things work.”
“Yes, the environment and source of resources are all different. It just isn’t worth taking up the space elevator’s throughput for common materials. Though I’m sure you have already made a good connection on that end.”
I nodded and quickly changed the topic, as my agreement with Astro Forge was still too new to comment on. Things could still change, depending on how the refitting of a shipyard went. We didn’t even know the amount of resources we’ll need yet as we don’t have a design complete.
“Anyway, I wanted to consult you about some matters, seeing you’re much more experienced operating in this market.”
Joey nodded, “that’s correct, but I wouldn’t say I’m a veteran. I’m still relatively new myself.”
“And still better than me.”
He smiled and urged me to continue speaking with his eyes.
“I wanted to ask you about your experiences with the spaceships of all the corporations you’ve dealt with. Do you they normally make everything in-house like the vehicles down on Earth?”
“Ha,” he chucked and shook his head before turning to face me. “Rollo, human beings aren’t meant to live alone. No one or company survives in isolation. I thought you knew that after joining my alliance. It’s why I introduced you to all those people when your company got promoted.”
“It’s always a balancing act, though. You have to be self-sufficient, so you’re not dependent on third parties.”
“Right, which is why connections and alliances are so important. Just look at the food laid out here,” he pointed. “The West Coast Agroindustry Alliance was founded by me and the Arcom Corporation. I am in the restaurant business and he is in the hotel business. By founding this alliance, we are able to pull various suppliers into our sphere of influence. The dishes here are made from hundreds of ingredients sourced from dozens of these companies.”
I nodded my head to show I understood his point.
“I understand that. It makes perfect sense for your commercial products, but for matters relating to security…”
“Unfortunately, we don’t live in an ideal world,” Joey interjected. “You’ll have to comprise one way or another if you want to get things done. Weighing the risks with benefits is exactly what we need to do as decision-makers, isn’t that right?”
Joey then proceeded to go over some examples of how other companies up here did things. Alliances weren’t the only way, as a mix of nonaggression and nondisclosure agreements signed with the consortium allowed for similar results.
It put me at ease about my dilemma of whether I should dedicate upgrade points to research nuclear reactors or their alternatives. There was a reason companies like A-Flux Incorporated existed, selling their nuclear reactors to hundreds of companies. They were trusted and reliable. Plus, we could almost modify their products to suit our needs.
There wasn’t a pressing need to make power reactors in-house.
As we ate and conversed, the back of my mind was already spinning in overtime to put together a roadmap. The world could be summed down to supply and demand, which was true even in finding potential partners.
Our company had to start looking out for corporations that were in need of what we could provide, while they also offered what we lacked.
During my ride back to our base, I began noting down the areas needing improvement. We had half a dozen things going for us, as I had six skills that were at plus ten or above. What we mainly lacked were defensive technologies, like energy shields and mobility technologies.
There were also a plethora of other technologies, but those weren’t as important to us for now. My guardian angel, the NPC, had told me to prepare for what was to come, and that I needed to be able to defend myself. Based on our proficiency so far, if we could shore up our defenses and mobility, we would be in a much better position security-wise.
While contemplating all these complex considerations that affected us both economically and politically, I arrived back in our office.
“Rollo, we’ve just about signed everything we needed with Astro Forge and all the other companies we met with over this past week,” Claire informed me. “Ferrumus has just sent over a message asking us about how many mining vessels we would like and whether we plan to buy or rent them.”
“Well, with our new deal with Astro Forge, we obviously only need to rent them for now. What did our analyst say about how many ships we should rent?”
“You said you want to prioritize training a large crew. Their number is on the high end, but since we’re renting, we can slowly increase the number of ships. Based on the number of people coming up here within the next week, they propose we start with two ships.”
“Go ahead and do that, then.”
“Umm, but the folks there want you to speak with you. I think you should respond to them yourself.”
I only hesitated for a moment before nodding.
I was only reminded of the importance of forming mutually beneficial relationships just earlier, so I had to give an A-Class corporation like Ferrumus the proper respect they deserve. They were already being so accommodating, openly showing such eagerness to work with me. I had to respond in kind.
Now that I think about it, Ferrumus Corporation should be a good direction to start this network of allies I’ll need to build up. We already have agreements signed with each other and a working relationship. As an A-Class corporation, they must have some goodies that can shore up our weaknesses.
Their Katanas are an attractive specimen. Even with our particle beam swords, it takes several seconds to melt through an opponent’s armor, while theirs could slice through it in an instant.
And if they rely on melee combat so much, their mobility and defenses should be up to par to allow them to close the range.
“I will speak with them while we go pick up the rentals. Tell them I would like to meet in person.”
“Sure thing.”
“Oh, what about the crew for the ship and docks? Our pilots can’t do much alone. Also, the technicians who will be working in our shipyard.”
“We’ve been recruiting, but it’s been somewhat slow. We should have enough to man the two ships by next week, though. After that, it’ll slow down a lot once we have hired everyone willing to work with us already.”
“Hmm, it seems like we need to step up our propaganda campaign to give people more confidence in working with us. We’ve already taken action against their supposed oppressors. It’s time to inform them of our actions.”
Instead of agreeing with me, Claire sighed. “I’ll tell Lucy to call you when she can. She’s been working hard to bring more of her personnel up here, so they should be able to do that soon.”
“Perfect. Even if they’re still short on people, I can join in as well.”
I could feel two pairs of eyes trying to bore a hole through me, but I ignored it as I prepared myself for an outing.
