The following is a transcription of a private meeting that occurred between a representative of GL&M and a representative of UNFT. Parts of it may be altered or redacted for the purpose of protecting the trade secrets of GL&M and the UNFT.
The airlock doors open, and a man walks through into the ship. His hair is a dark crew cut, and he wears a simple grey military uniform.
On the other side of the airlock there is what appears to be a monolithic smooth black wall, outlines designated by intercuttings of orange and blue metallic strips. The seamless construct slides inwards into the ship, and then opens sideways inserting itself into the facet of the ship and opening way into the interior.The interior is spatious, a modernistic take on a barroque design, grebling presented itself by precise geometry that cuts the gleaming pure white of a marble-like material with a golden material accumulated at certain points, giving it a pronounced feel of a contemporary cubism intermeshed with barroque architecture.
Nevertheless, two guards stand by the door, each of them clad with full armor of some kind of crystal to be detailed later, fully helmeted, and with a large machinegun-like weapon in hands. One of them takes a thorough look at the man, and talks:
"The representative is awaiting for you inside, you can move along."
The UNFT representative looks at the guards with an expression neither of them can quite place the emotion behind. Whether it's disdain, shock, disgust, or even jealousy, is unclear.He nods to acknowledge the guards, and pushes the door open without a word.
Entering, he comes face-to-face with the pompous interior. Though slightly small, there are several sitting places with large and expensive chairs, the walls are decorated with different accessories, such as monitor screens that show the outside or whatever broadcast one wants to tune into, cabinets or fridges that store different types of foods, and more predominantly, one that seems to be filled with various types of drinks.Besides this cabinet is a table where two of these large chairs face, upon one of the chairs sits the MISE representative. a relatively small and quaint lizardwoman dressed in opulence, a robe that drops down with the same crystals that composed the surface of the armor of the guards, which is a deep blue to purple crystal that pronounces its vibrant color by reflecting a bit of the light that hits.
The Lizardwoman notices that the man has entered the vessel, and looks at him for a bit, before calling him over. Her voice seem natural to the language of G-S16 galactic standard, and unbeknownst to the man, the lizardwoman was relatively of young age, meaning that she has adapted to the largely "globalized" galaxy, in contrary of older peers that still remember the days of Musavian isolation.
The man's eyes dart around the room with the same expression with which they observed the guards. After taking in every detail of the extravagant decorations, his eyes settle on the lizardwoman.
"Ah, you must be the representative. Greetings."
The man crosses the room and sits down in the unoccupied chair.
"So, how should I refer to you? What's your... your..."
The man pauses for a moment
"Name, that's the word. What's your name?"
The lizardwoman smiles kindly to the man, as she scoops up a few documents on the table and sets them in front of her. She responds:
D:"I am Delnivmina, if you find that hard to pronounce, just call me GL&M representative."
She readies a pen by clicking on its butt, and gestures towards the drink cabinet besides her.
D:"May I interest you in some drinks whilst we converse? First, I reckon it is prudent to entertain a round of questioning about the UNFT and GL&M, then, business de facto."
The man makes a hand gesture that universally signifies "None for me, thanks".
M: "I shouldn't, intoxication tends to cause problems with... "
The man trails off mid-sentence as if distracted by something.
M:"I agree on the matter of questioning, Delnivmina. While we're at it, you could bring me up to speed on the current state of this galaxy's politics. Our patrols have encountered some of the entities in the galaxy, but the UNFT as a whole doesn't yet exactly understand the political situation. Information as simple as whether you're at war could help tremendously."
D:"GL&M pledges not to involve itself at war, to us it is a trivial pursuit. We sell weaponry for primarely to defend against extraneous threats such as pirates or what some'd call great forces of evil, esoteric beings that appear from time to time to cause chaos. However, people use our weapons to the ends that they see fit."
She fetches something from the robe she dawns, it seems some kind of tablet. She lays it down and it projects a faint holographic display of the galaxy, like a presentation that she can easily manipulate. She types things along whilst conversing.
D:"I cannot explain the totality of the galaxy's politics but I can give you an overview. Mainly and more recently, there is a war between two large Empires, which'd be the Crimson Empirium and the Great British Empire, rather generic names, the folly of these humans. Nevertheless, the GBE has dragged the Jinaris Empire and the VWP, which is the Vaeialon War Pact, into the conflict as well, they seem to be part of an alliance.Apart from that, there have been various sightings of... bizarre events lets say, you know these "Extraneous threats" I talked about? They seem to be doing the rounds in some nations, luckly, GL&M and the MISE haven't been attacked, and much to our advantage, The Embassy still stands tall.The Embassy is what some'd call the geopolitical and economical center of the galaxy, it is a fortress system with a highly advanced trading planet that harbors representatives from almost all nations of the galaxy, as well as HQs of the largest corporations, GL&M included. It was originally created by the MISE with assistance of GL&M, the IMG, which is the Independent Merchant's Guild, and the VWP. It's protected by a being known as "The Ambassador". Not much information is available on him, but it is said that he has powers untold, enough to defend the place by himself."
She catches a breather after the large monologue.
D:"Anything else?"
The man listens intently through the monologue, clearly taking in every word but not seeming to write anything down. When she finishes, he nods.
M:"That's plenty of information to go off of for the time being. I believe I've already encountered one of these bizarre threats you mentioned. Gigantic sentient pieces of an unknown crystal, does that sound familiar? In fact—"
The man reaches into his pocket and pulls out a small sphere with a flattened base, which he places on the table besides the tablet. It projects a holographic display above itself, much like the tablet and yet clearly distinct. It shows a view of a large with rows of tables and dozens of workers at each in identical grey uniforms operating large machines in perfect disciplined synchronisation. It looks more like an assembly line than a laboratory.
M:"This is one of the labs in which UNFT researchers are analysing samples of that unknown crystal. There's a lab like this in each freighter. About 800 cubic meters of the stuff was retrieved, and we're hoping to harness its unique properties to advance our own technologies. If we ally, it can be used to advance your technologies, too."
The lizardwoman smiles kindly and responds quickly.
D:"That is not what I was referring to, but it would be a pleasure to endeavor in this research together. Galactic Lihr and Mhertz is the largest Megacorporation of the galaxy, with our help you'll be able to acquire a strong foothold on the galaxy and stay competitive.Of course, this relationship is mutual. We have no need for economical help, however, we are very interested in technological endeavours."
She sets aside some of the papers of the table, and fiddles with the projection device again. It projects again a thorough line of weaponry and defensive technologies.
D:"We specialize in weaponry, as I have already said. However, we also innovate on the field, any new perspective on the warfare problems are a sight for sore eyes."
M:"The problem with war, as the UNFT views it, is that it's almost always an overall negative for both sides. For the most part, even if you win, you'll have used more resources fighting the war than you gained from winning. That's where these come in."
The man flicks his finger through the projection of the laboratory, and it changes to a model of a strange missile with a claw on the front.
M:"This is what we at the UNFT are tentatively calling Hyperspace Missiles. They attempt to solve the destructivity of war, by simply not destroying. They latch onto the enemy, wind up their Hyperspace Field Generators (He waves his hand through the projection and it changes to an exploded diagram of the internals of the missile), and take whatever they're attached to with them through Hyperspace, neutralising the threat you're facing while leaving you to claim the resources used by your enemy as spoils of war when you win. Now, you may be asking "How does this help GL&M? We don't use weapons, we just sell them.", and you'd be right, but think about this: If your clients don't have any money by the time they're done fighting their war, they can't pay you, can they?"
The man clearly has more to say, but he pauses for a response from the GL&M representative.
D:"We would not resort to simply stealing things from our customers. What'd that do to our image in the galaxy? We are not pirates after all. I see the appeal in such a technology, and it would not be hard to fit one of our own missiles with a warhead similar, but any fleet battle worthwhile has interdiction generators, which immediately make this weapon useless. And for what? We'd only be able to pick up scraps from ships or waste plasma used in the combat, I do not see the appeal other than what can perhaps be an initial surprise attack."
She takes a pause.
D:"However, as I said beforehand, we do not go to war or combat, we simply sell our products. If our clients don't have money to pay for our services, then we will acquire the debts by ways that will grant a greater foothold of GL&M within them, which maximizes future profits."
The man pauses, recalculating his approach.
M:"Of course. My apologies for misjudging you and GL&M. Would you perhaps be more interested in this?"
He swipes through the exploded view projection once again, and some parts of the missile internals change.
M:"This is an Electro Magnetic Pulse device, one powered by what UNFT intelligence reports is called Crymnant. It's that crystal I mentioned earlier. While we were talking, our scientists finished analysing it, figured out its properties and uses, and drew up this schematic. In theory, it'll be able to absorb from an enemy Petajoules of energy, enough to entirely disable almost anything in a single blast. Is this more to your liking?"
D:"Do detail more of this "Crymnant". If it is sentient as you said, wouldn't there be the danger of this crystal turning against us? It'd make volatile weaponry for sure."
M:"Whether it can turn against us is... Currently unclear, we'd need some more research before we can determine that. But it probably won't. Maybe tell your customers to fire it off quickly at the start of the battle just in case."
D:“Very well then. How about we get down to brass tacks? A research agreement would be very wise, but so would a weapons deal on your side. After all you are new to this galaxy, being under the protectorate of a large name can be advantageous."
M:"I'd be inclined to agree on both counts. For the research and weapons agreements, should the UNFT legal team draw up a draft of that contract or would you prefer GL&M's team do it?"
D:"We preemptively generate contracts based on what we predict you may want or what we wish to offer you. Hence, this stack of papers."
She lays her hand atop the stack of papers in front of her, the one that was separated from the larger mass.
D:"Of course, this is a mere cordiality, as this whole meeting serves as proof of validity."
She still offers the pen nonetheless.
D:"Just write the faction’s name, and your name."
The man takes the pen and writes "Nacrine, UNFT" on the dotted line in an elegant handwriting.
N:"Pleasure making your acquaintance, Delnivmina. If you'd like, I can put in a good word about you with your higher-ups."
Nacrine is about to hand the contract back but pauses
N:"Not to say I don't trust you, but I should probably actually read this.I was so impressed I'd forgotten."
Delnivmina chuckles lightly and fumbles her large ears characteristic of the Musavian lizards.
D:"This very meeting is already the best word for my higher ups."
She nods then, to the commentary of the man
D:"Of course of course, take your time."
The research contract postulates that the majority of the funding was to be granted by GL&M and the workforce offered by the UNFT. The weapons agreement allowed GL&M to build a relatively small port for intake of official GL&M weaponry that the UNFT was to order. The research contract, of course, stated that the technologies researched would be owned by both GL&M and the UNFT, and the weapons agreement stated what every other does, which is that reverse-engineering the weapons from GL&M constitutes a contract breach, and could possibly be a causus belli for the MISE.
Nacrine finishes reading, nods, and hands the contract back.
N:"Again, pleasure making your acquaintance and pleasure doing business with you.I suppose I'll be going now."
Delnivmina acquires some of the papers and signs some, and stamps some more. She hands over some of them to the man.Quickly, a guard comes over and hands to her a small metallic box, which she presents together with the papers.
D:"The papers are validity, but the box is a recording of the meeting, which is what really counts."
After the man acquires them, she gets up and bows down with her torso, the various crystals of her body create playful noises as she does so.
D:"Indeed, it was a pleasure. We wish you good luck. A team will come over soon to start the work stated in the contract."
And with that, the man is free to go.
Nacrine gets up, dusts himself off, and leaves.