The Data Traders

Guild Membership: Individual

Any qualified spacer may apply for an individual guild membership. Membership in the guild can only be granted upon joining a Guild ship as a member of ship’s company. For apprentices with no space experience, a standard training and certification program is available as a free download from any Guild vessel. Validated completion of one of the validated specialties is required prior to application to any Guild vessel. Qualified Guild members are eligible for life unless they are banned from the Guild with cause. Membership can be suspended or revoked based on a finding from any sanctioned Guild security court. Banned individuals may not take place in any trading activity for any reason on any Guild vessel.

Excerpted With Permission

Data Trader’s Handbook

Copyright 3250, Interstellar Data Trader Guild

Leo, Ramona and Ollu were crammed into her small cabin in the Apprentice spaces.

Leo was surprised at how small her cabin was, smaller than a Journeyman’s cabin and made the mistake of saying so. Ollu was not amused. “How can you live on a trader ship your entire life and not know that crew gets the short end? We’re just the hired help around here, you know.”

Leo stammered out an apology when Ramona surprisingly came to his rescue. “You can’t blame him for being a trader. It’s all he’s ever known.” Leo wasn’t sure if that was a defense or a condemnation for lack of imagination. Ramona continued. “Look Ollu, what’s your plan? You can’t just run that ship by yourself.”

Ollu grinned. “Do you think I just did this without thinking it through? The moment I saw that ship I was trying to figure out how to claim salvage. There at least two dozen crew members who will come with me for a share of the new company.”

“New company?”

“Yeah, to operate the ship.”

“You mean to operate a Data Ark?”

“Yes, of course. Why else would I claim salvage?”

Leo was speechless once again. This was becoming a habit for him. “But you’re not a trader. How can you….” Leo trailed off.

“I’ve passed all the quals. I just need to sign on as a member of ship’s company. Says so right in the Data Trader’s Handbook.”

“You’d be an apprentice?”

“No, I would sign on as Master trader. I own the ship after all.”

“Wait, you can’t do that.”

Ollu laughed again. “Sure I can. Where does it say you must be an apprentice before you become a master? It doesn’t say that. It only says that the Master Trader must approve you to become a master.”

“But.. But.. That ship has no master trader!”

“Yes, exactly.”

Leo looked to Ramona for help but only got a blank stare. “I don’t understand.”

“Jesus Leo. Don’t you read your own regulations? What is the procedure for operating a Guild ship in case of a emergency and all Masters are unable to perform their duties? You know this, it’s in the Journeyman’s exam.”

“Wait, how do you know what’s in the Journeyman’s exam?”

“I’ve taken it of course. Passed it first time.”

“What? How did you?”

“Leo, the IP is not secret. Anyone can take the exam at any time. It’s on the ship’s data net.”

“But, you’re not a trader.”

“Leo, you’re not answering the question. What happens if no master can fulfil their duties?”

“Then the duty falls to the senior Journeyman.”

Ollu grinned again. “Right.”

“But that ship has no Journeymen!”

Ramona reached over and smacked Leo on the back of the head. “She’s offering you a job, dingus!”

Leo thought furiously. Ollu was right, he had never spent much time on the letter of the law. As a trader born, he just knew the way things worked. He had never actually studied the guides or the exact rules that he supposedly was following. He just did what everyone else did. He did remember one lesson from school though. “The ship.”

If possible, Ollu’s grin got even bigger. “Now you are thinking my boy.”

Ramona turned to Leo again. “The ship?”

“The ship. Under Guild law it’s actually the ship that is a member of the guild. Each ship is like a mini polity under it’s self.” Leo slapped his hands together in delight. “The idea is that the ship carries on forever even though people come and go. So technically the ship is a member of the guild and we join the guild by joining the ship’s company. It’s called an “individual membership” under guild law but the trigger is when you sign on as member of ship’s company. That is a guild ship so it is qualified to join the guild. You and I are already qualified members of the guild. Thus, when we join the ship’s company we become members of the guild again by default.”

Ramona was looking at Ollu and Leo in turn. She wasn’t sure if they were crazy or completely genius. “And who decides who can join the ship’s company?”

Now it was Leo’s turn to laugh. “The senior trader on the ship.”

“Isn’t that a problem? How do you join a ship that doesn’t exist?”

Ollu picked up the thread at that point. “Actually, that part of the Guild charter is explicit. Any Guild qualified member can form a new ship’s company at any time. You must be qualified and you must have a Data Ark that meets guild standards.” She looked at Leo again. “And we have both of those things. I cannot form a new ship’s company because I’m not qualified yet. But Timur here can.”

Ramona looked more confused now. “Then why doesn’t anyone just go do that?”

Leo looked at her, shocked. “Do you have any idea how much the IP for a Guild ship costs? At least a billion guilders.” He shook his head. “Who has that kind of money? It usually takes at least five or six masters working together to form a new ship’s company. I assume that’s why they didn’t bother to specify that you must be a master to start a ship. Who else could afford it?”

“Wait, five masters could come up with a billion guilders?”

“Yes, of course. How do you think new ships are formed?”

“At home, we form a common stock corporation.”

Ollu cut off the discussion. “Focus people.” She pointed at Leo. “Leo will you join my new ship’s company as the first trader of the ship?”

Leo thought about it. He had quit the Reggie partly as an act of defiance. He knew he had no future here but had planned to join another ship’s company, away from Gunny and the other masters. On the other hand, the derelict ship was worth over a billion guilders on it’s own but could not function without IP to sell or data to move. Even a couple Petabytes of data delivery would allow them to buy raw materials and keep the ship running. “You need cash to bootstrap the ship.”

“Yes. I am willing to sell you half the ship for one million guilders.”

“That’s well under market price.”

“Call it recognition for services rendered.”

Ramona laughed. “Why not ask for a billion? Where is Leo going to get one million guilders? You could buy a whole station for that back home.”

Ollu’s eyes had never left Leo. “Leo?”

Ramona stopped laughing. “What? Are you really that rich?”

Leo thought hard. He had planned to become a master this year and save up for his own ship by teaming up with a couple of other masters. He had been working as a trader for ten years and literally had nothing to spend his money on. He currently owned enough stock in the Reggie that he could meet Ollu’s offer. “You didn’t come up with that figure at random, did you?”

“Of course not.”

“How?”

“Traders talk, Leo. Many of you seem to think of us ship handlers as furniture. All we have to do is listen.”

In the end, it was a good trade. He was buying something worth half a billion for only a million. His answer was pre-determined. As a trader, how could he pass up a buying opportunity like that? The detailed dickering over the contract took longer, but was not really difficult. Ollu didn’t want anything unreasonable and she was willing to part with half of a very valuable asset. She got what she wanted which was operating capital and a member of the guild to bootstrap her ship.

While Leo and Ollu were discussing legal details, Ramona was thinking about practicality. “So, how do we get back over to your new ship?”

Leo looked at her with a small smile. “We? You coming along also?”

“Turns out I need a new gig and unlike some, I’m not made of money.”

“Fair enough. Happy to have you along.”

“Don’t change the subject. I am sure that Thorston has issued orders that we are not allowed to check out a cutter or a shuttle.”

Ollu pointed at Leo. “Just buy one.”

Leo looked back, confused. “What?”

“Buy one. Do you think that they turned off the automatic sell side system?”

“No, why would they? But can you buy a ship? I’ve never sold a real thing before.”

“Jesus Leo. Do you ever take your nose out of your trader console? It’s a trader ship. Everything is for sale. We’ve sold a few things over the years to colonies who had limited replication capacity. My deck crew has to shift anything physical that gets sold. Mostly replicators, but other things also including raw materials. It’s all in the sell side system.”

Leo quickly opened his tablet. He wasn’t a member of ship’s company anymore which legally made him a passenger. Reggie and the other Data Arks did have the capacity to carry passengers although the practice was rare. All the passenger side systems were up and running. “Son of a bitch. Look at that. Almost everything on the ship is for sale!” He clicked through some screens. “Should we get a cutter? Look at this one!”

“Leo, just get us a shuttle. We may need the extra cash later.”

“Right. OK. Here’s one. Looks like an older model, the IP is pretty cheap. I’m gonna get the ship and all her IP. Watch, if you bounce your offers like this you can force the sell side system to re-bid. I told Larry to fix that glitch. OK, price just dropped. Buying. OK, we own a shuttle and the IP for it now.”

Ollu picked up a communicator. “Deck department? Can you please get passenger Timur’s shuttle ready? He is departing shortly.” She listened. “I don’t know anything about that. This is a private shuttle that passenger Timur owns. Yes.” Ollu grinned at Leo. “He has the right to leave at any time as he is no longer a member of the crew.” A pause. “Look him up then.” Another pause. “Right. See you in five.” She looked at Leo and Ramona. “I suggest you gather up your things and haul ass down to the boat deck. Who knows what the masters will cook up if we give them time to think.”

While Ramona had been on the ship for a fairly small amount of time, Leo had been there for almost ten years. As he walked into his cabin, the enormity of the chance he was taking hit him. What the hell was he doing? I’m making a trade. I’m just trading security for advancement. This was his only path to master and he knew it. Get it done, Leo my boy. Get it done. Looking around the room, he selected a few mementos from the Connie and a couple changes of clothes. Anything else he could print out on the new ship once they had her up and running again. Within five minutes he as striding down the corridor towards the boat deck.

Upon entering the huge compartment, he saw Ollu pre-flighting an unremarkable looking shuttle. Smaller than the cutters he normally flew, it was not FTL capable but it could easily take them to the nearby ship.

“Hold it right there Timur! You are not going anywhere!” Gunny had entered the compartment with a squad from the master at arms. “You have no right to use Guild property on this ship, you’re just a passenger now.”

“Thank you Gunny, I am aware of that. This is my ship and we are leaving now.”

“What?”

“It’s my ship. I’m not a member of ship’s company as you just pointed out. I have the right to leave at any time. I’m leaving. Now.”

Gunny reached out to take Leo’s arm.

“I wouldn’t do that Gunny. I would hate to put a hole in you, but I will.” Ramona was standing ten feet away with a gun pointed right at Gunny’s head. “You know I won’t miss.”

“Leo!” Ollu’s voice was urgent. “The ship is accelerating. We need to go, NOW!”

Leo hadn’t noticed the subtle difference in the sounds of the ship but Ollu had. The Reggie was firing up her engines. If she could re-enter FTL they would not be able to get back to the derelict ship. Leo turned and sprinted to the shuttle.

Ollu was already inside, spinning up the engines.

As Ramona retreated slowly back to the shuttle, Gunny started shouting at the deck crew. “Get that hard lock CLOSED DAMMIT! They don’t leave!”

The deck crew milled around for a moment, seemingly unsure what to do. “Get to it!”

The senior crewman finally spoke. “I’m sorry Gunny but we need a master ship handler to approve the override. I don’t have sufficient systems access to close the hard lock, only the master ship handler on duty can do that.”

“Well, who the hell is the master ship handler on duty?!?”

The crewmember just pointed to the shuttle and Ollu’s smiling face at the controls. Ramona smiled also and with a wave entered the shuttle, closing the hatch behind her. “Get us out of here!”

“GOING!”