Dead Star Dockyards

"So, Rize, what have you been up to since I was last here?" Morizo had taken a few drags from his cigar before engaging in conversation once more. "Have you been cultivating yourself? Did you keep up with Karitimu's lessons?"

"I was told I had learned what I needed from her about a year ago now. I was still helping and, um, observing, up until the incident, but I wasn't really doing much."

"Oh? Well, I suppose there isn't much bartering going on around these parts. It would be hard to negotiate when we've already fixed our prices." Morizo sunk into thought, cigar in mouth. "Do you think you'd like to come with me? I had been thinking that your mother would be livid with me if I took away what little time you have left with Kilm, but I heard he is returning to service early . . . what say you?"

"While I might have taken you up on the offer a while ago, I feel that an opportunity has presented itself that I cannot refuse."

"Hm?"

"Mother might have told you this already, but I am currently staying with Donovan and Diana at their Barracks." Rize gestured towards the two of them. "I find they have much to teach me about stuff even you don't know. Let's see . . . I can make calculations far faster now, and I can make predictions about future trends based on current and past rates."

Morizo puffed some smoke into the air, raising a brow as he did so.

"You are given a request of 57 bottles of a certain wine for an upcoming party. The supplier has offered rate of 6 Zaze and 2 Zaza per bottle. How much money do you need in order to cover the costs?"

"57 and 602 so . . . 30100 plus 4200 plus 14 . . . I will need to offer 3 Zazi, 43 Zaze, and 14 Zaza at minimum to purchase the wine at that price." Rize said the answer confidently, but he still wasn't completely certain of his answer. He didn't look to his grandfather though.

- - - - -

Donovan nodded to Rize, he had done the multiplication properly. He had followed Donovan's advice of doing the 'easy' multiplication first, any digit of a number that was 1, 2, or 5, followed by multiplying out the rest of the components in a normal manner and adding them up. Quite a few of the examples Donovan had prepared for them to demonstrate the use of multiplication and division involved money, so he had grown somewhat familiar with Rize's home currency, Zaza.

It was a currency centered on a Base-100 numbering system, which was rather large, but it meshed decently well with the Terran Base-10 numerical system. For example, he had found that the currency of the Nekh was Base-5, meaning that one coin of a higher tier represented five coins of a lower one. Apparently it could be problematic to make larger purchases, the relative unavailability of higher denominations meaning that many coins had the be passed between hands, but they didn't have much money or trading to do in the first place. 

The same was true for Zaza, however the empires and kingdoms that used it as their standard were fairly wealthy. It wasn't uncommon to round up or down to the next denomination as a courtesy. Transactions made exclusively in the lowest denomination, Zaza, were either minor transactions or trades between children.

Diana and Arc seemed to suspect that this currency was experiencing issues with inflation, but for now their assumption was that Zaza was simply a denomination meant to make transactions a bit more precise. 

"Alright, how about this one. Two merchants are offering the same good but in different quantities. The first offers batches of 7 for 15 Bacar each, while the second offers to fill your order of 93 for 200 Bacar. Which one will net you a larger profit?"

Donovan tilted his head. Those were irregular fractions, and as far as Donovan knew fractions and decimals were not used in a mathematical context here. Of course, Donovan immediately saw another trick to this problem, namely that the first vendor could not perfectly fill the order of 93 by selling in batches of seven. Assuming Bacar was not a currency that had subdivisions, you would have to purchase more than your order, meaning you would waste that money.

Running the calculations in his head, Donovan came to the conclusion that-

"The second vendor charges more per item, but the first will sell me more than I need. I would have to pay him 210 Bacar to get what I need, leaving five without a guaranteed buyer in the process. If my goal is only to fulfill my order, then I should buy from the second vendor in spite of the marginally higher unit price."

Morizo scratched his chin, probably doing the calculations himself. Donovan had an inkling that these problems were spur of the moment, something to test Rize's claim of superior calculative skill. Morizo was racing his own grandson, and it looked like he was losing.

"Well I'll be damned. I guess you have learned a little something." Morizo looked to Donovan, and back to Rize. "I . . . While I feel curious enough to ask about how you are doing it, I recognize that I am getting too old to start doing things differently. I would instead recommend that you keep that technique a secret. It will be a powerful tool in maximizing your profits, Rize."

"I understand."

"Bah, enough with the business talk. I want to hear about what you've been doing recreationally. Have you found a girl yet?"

"No."

"Damn. Well, you'll find one eventually. Outside of that?"

"Um." Rize looked to Donovan and Diana, contemplating how much he should tell his grandfather. "I have been dedicating myself to the study of 'English', their language, and a variety of other subjects they have been gracious enough to educate me on. G-given what I have seen thus far, I believe they have the potential to be lucrative business partners in the future, and I am considering the potential of a trade agreement with them."

"Hm . . . Are you sure? Not to offend, but from what little I have heard, they are not in the best spot regarding finances. I think a trade deal would seem a little, ah, exploitative?"

"Quite the opposite, actually." Diana pounced on the opportunity that had presented itself. "Our poor financial position is exactly why we want someone familiar with the markets to help us conduct trade. We have a few unique exports slotted for production, but we don't have the connections or knowledge to capitalize on their exotic nature. I think it will take some time to come to a concrete commitment on our end, but I think a several decade long export monopoly for a few products are in the cards."

Diana didn't actually know if a monopoly was something she wanted to offer. If she built up her own trade company, then she would be obliged to not sell what would likely be the most profitable goods their economy produced. Of course, the end goal was to have a multitude of trade companies competing internally to keep prices down but cooperating outside of the borders to rake in the money. 

"Enticing. What would you expect out of the deal?"

"Given our current situation and the operation that is currently underway, I would request that you teach some of our citizens the tricks of the trade, so to speak."

"That's asking a bit much, wouldn't you say? Ten or twenty years of profit versus my trade routes? Even if it's unconstrained and lucrative profit, my business is hereditary. I am not so short sighted as to forfeit the future for a meal in the present."

"I understand as much, however I am still making that request." Donovan noticed Diana glance at him for a moment. "We are willing to finance and supply a fleet of high capacity trade vessels for the duration of your monopoly, with the option for you to purchase a few of them afterwards. I can assure you that these vessels have a much larger capacity than any of those currently in your possession, and are capable of landing on land instead of needing to land on water."

A part of Donovan cringed. 

He had faith that nobody except maybe the Holifanians would be capable of reverse engineering anything on a ship of his design given the overall tech level of the galaxy, but there was always the chance. Even if those ships couldn't be turned directly against him thanks to Arc, lessons could definitely be learned.

". . . you're joking, right?"

"Not at all." This was Donovan's field. "While I personally have a few gripes with the sale of ships at the moment, I am certain that I will mellowed to the idea by that time. If you want to verify what I have said, you may ask Kilm. He should be aware of what we are capable of."

"I'll take your word for it then."

- - - - -

The general consensus among the patrons of the tavern was that Manama had the best food around. They weren't sure if it was due to the quality of her ingredients or her own personal skill, but it easily beat out anything besides genuine high dining. That wasn't to say her establishment wasn't high class, during the day it was a hotspot for more refined individuals wanting a pleasant place to spend their money and time, it just wasn't better than a shop designed around a specific food. Manama's specialty menu covered a wide variety of foods depending on the shipments she received from her father, but she never had much time to bring her skill with that recipe to a masterful level. That was the part of her deal with her father, he assisted in the financing of the shop, she would cook interesting dishes with the ingredients he supplied.

Petunia did know about any of that though. Try as she might to suppress her delight, it wasn't difficult for those around her to recognize this meal as being the single most delicious in the entirety of her life. For once there was an overabundance of meat, all cooked to perfection, and seasoned in a way she could never imagine back home. 'Meatroll', as Morizo called it, had instantly become her favorite. 

Diana, who had finished her meal a tad earlier than usual, watched Petunia's ears twitch in mild amusement. It was funny to watch a woman who very clearly prided herself on her calm demeanor break in the face of tavern food of all things. Titanyana had a bit of the ear flicking going on as well, but Diana thought it was cute more than anything. 

"Mm!" Morizo had placed his cigar on something like a rack which he had carried in his vest. While he would occasionally partake in it between bites, for the most part he left it to leave a stream of white smoke wandering towards the ceiling. "Amazing as always Nama! You really know how to work the meatroll."

"Thank you for the compliment, daddy." Manama glanced down towards the cigar for a moment. "Don't you remember my policy on cigars in my tavern?"

"Oh please, look past it this once will ya? They don't let me smoke while on the ship."

"Fine, one time. If I see you with another cigar in the tavern, I'm gettin my spatula."

Morizo chuckled before clearing the last bits of food off of his plate, relaxing a little bit. Finished with his meal, he went on to sip the wine he had been brought, enjoying the ambience of a lively tavern. Diana, looking to Titanyana, saw a chance.

"So, what exactly do you do, Morizo?" She couldn't ask him to aid the Nekh right off the bat, Diana didn't even think she should be the one to ask. It was well within her rights to give her Titanyana the opportunity though. "I understand that you run a trade company, but I'm not sure what that entails. Do you go out to make deals yourself?"

"Ah, once upon a time. I'm a bit too old to be running around my segment of the galaxy, micromanaging and bargaining with my suppliers and customers as I did when Nama here was still just a baby. For the most part I set target rates for certain important deals and have my merchants figure it out for themselves. Each fleet earns an amount proportional to the income they generate in a year, and spread according to rank and duty. I might handle an special contract from time to time. I've arranged and supplied food and drink for a few royal weddings, overseen the transport of rare beasts for special events, and I've even had the pleasure of fulfilling part of a request from the Sanctum on behalf of a good friend."

"Oh, so you focus primarily on inventory, stocking, and price rates?"

"Hm, I suppose I try to control spending in certain areas, but we don't really keep inventory though, nor do we have many storefronts. Most of our merchandise tends to be perishable, that perishable quality of theirs being the reason they are profitable. The rest tends to be either exotic goods that aren't worth storing in any quantity for an appreciable amount of time or something common and in great supply a few planets over. It doesn't help that my clientele are spread over a wide area and have . . . unusual tastes."

"Mhm, yes. I hosted a sponsored party, and I must say that they are an odd bunch."

"You speak as if you aren't part of the nobility."

"I do not consider myself among their number, no." Diana took a sip of her juice. "I will concede that by status I am technically one of them, specifically royalty, however I cannot bring myself to identify with the social group known as 'nobility', Donovan even less so. I have my eccentric spots, don't get me wrong, I'm just not nearly as willing to waste my money as the rest."

"Waste?" Morizo raised an eyebrow, ever so slightly taken aback. "You consider parties to be a waste?"

"Not in and of themselves. I recognize their utility and plan to use them to my advantage, I am simply of the mind that they do not need to be as lavish as what appears to be the norm. Manama would know, I hired her to cater the event I was sponsored to hold." Diana gave him a moment to confirm with his daughter. "Donovan and I are much more inclined to spend that money on the basics, reinvesting it into assets that will be of greater benefit to me in the long run. For example, we are currently investing quite a hefty sum money and materiel on the evacuation of Princess Titanyana's people."