Economies of Scale, and diplomacy of Worth

[The Elsani City States]

In leisurely orbit of a world long since made red only by the blood shed on it's soil drifts the Elsani Habitat, a patchwork collection of ships and industrial machinery that serves as home to the teeming masses. Masses that identify as 'Elsani' and many other things besides, millions of ethnic, religious and racial groups forced together by their shared history. And the many clamps, walkways and more that tie their ancestor's ships together in a literal sense. This tinderbox of drastically opposed ideologies and peoples has for many years even prior to their arrival in Mars orbit been smoothed over-even governed-by one person, Laaran.
His ancestors had been among the original Elsani, refugees fleeing their homeworld for a long forgotten reason. The other constituent species and groups that made up the Elsani had joined them in their own time and for their own reasons, criminals, exiles and simple outcasts banding together to ensure a common future.

It had been quite some time since this roving band of space rock miners and hagglers had arrived and still years since the Habitat had been built, or rather lashed together. In that time the Elsani had established for themselves a peaceful, industrious life. Peaceful almost to the point of pacifism, whatever a population's martial ancestry they would refuse to take up arms in anything but self defense, this principle having long been used to avoid internecine conflict now held up as an example of the Elsani's peaceful commercial interests in regards to those nearby and those who counted a far away star as home.
And yet official international contact had been limited. Muddled, unsure. The diplomatic missions sent out under the auspices of a wider alliance they no longer counted themselves as belonging to aside real, meaningful dialogue with outsiders was limited to an individual scale.

They aimed to change this. And what better way than showcasing the needs of the peoples aboard the Habitat? Consuming far more than they exported this was a society that cried out for trade, and now foreign corporations and industry figures were being invited to ply their wares, skills and more in an environment of lower taxes and concessions. Friendly trade begets friendly dialogue, and the Elsani leadership did all it could to make these new arrivals feel welcome. In the cavernous cargo holds of what was once a colony ship intended to house an entire species markets were built, dull metal giving way to bright, gaudy banners and flickering displays. Landing bays were adorned with subtler advertisements and the diplomatic functionaries assigned to welcome those who would be hopefully ushering in a new era of peaceful contact, and more importantly, immensely profitable trade.

Soon this former ship looked oddly similar to an eastern bazaar, thousands upon thousands of people doing everything from hawking wares to hawking themselves, for just as much as one would find a shiny silver trinket one could find (regulated and protected) prostitutes of every type and species imaginable. The whores along with everyone else that could be considered a 'local' express little other than glee at the presence of foreigners and their money, and so attempt to avoid offending the very people that it is hoped bring kind words as well as promises of future prosperity.
For all the preparations for this grand event the leadership, Laaran included, wish to make a point as to the diversity of the Elsani. A former diplomat, one Ms Katt^Ori is recalled from retirement to greet particularly important outsiders and provide their first point of contact. At five foot three and possessed of an earthy green skin she is superficially similar enough to human and human derived species to not startle, yet is just as clearly non-human in appearance, her short brown hair quite literally alive as it waves in the clean, entirely comfortable atmosphere. Wearing a bare diplomatic corp uniform as are all the others assigned to similar duties this day it is apparent that effort has gone into every step, every tiny part of this. The Elsani respect other cultures, and today is no different. Those they hoped to attract here and those this woman would greet as well would find food, drink, and more to delight the senses, from every culture and period of history possible. Taverns on one end of the scale and intensive negotiations as to taxes on imports on the other are just one aspect of this.



OOC: 'Mostly' open. So long as you come with peaceful intent feel free to follow the letter and spirit of the thread, or just arrive and have any manner of things happen to your characters. This is a place you could find space-imam's arguing with robot christians, so the only real restraint is the over-militarisation of Mars orbit itself. Random angry fleets showing up no, other dimensional entities peddling souls maybe, gal in a suit negotiating prices on alloy imports certainly. Or just a drunken out of work telemarketer looking to gamble away his ex-wife's life savings, as an example. Have at it, people.

[The Garbage Men]

To say that there was a lot in common between the Elsani City States and The Garbage Men would be wrong, yet at the same time they were not far enough removed from each other that they did not have anything in common either. For instance, in terms of governments They were both headed by a single figurehead that didn't have any direct effect on their underlings life but were rather important to their respective people yet Elsani City States were run by a public government where as The Garbage Men was run as a private corporation. In terms of the spread of their societies both have multiple races and species within their jurisdiction yet the Elsani is restricted to the small space of their habitat but The Garbage Men have enclaves throughout the galaxy and beyond.

Perhaps the most difference however is their economies, The Elsani are import-based, yet The Garbage Men are export-based exporting services and goods to their external clients. This combined with the fact that expansion into new markets is a good thing for any export-based company and the Elsani 'bazaar' or whatever you would want to call it was a perfect opportunity, one that could not be passed up.

As with any initial foray into a market, the marketing people arrived to promote and basically market not only the goods and services that The Garbage Men as a corporation provide but also for the corporation itself.

The TGMS Marketing 16341 arrived in orbit around Mars following the correct procedures and matched its orbit with that of the habitat. Once it had achieved it's desired orbit, it contacted the Habitat to arrange for a shuttle containing the primary marketing crew to be accepted on board for business discussions.

[Morningstar Coalition]

Rumors. Most of the time they were little more than footnotes in reports submitted to Fleet Intelligence. More often than not, they turned out to be misleading, overblown, or flat out fabrication. Every now and again though, a rumor turned out to be valuable...

For weeks now there had been rumors of a new political entity setting up shop in the Sol system; one which was, according to rumor, composed totally of refugee populace. Inhabiting a massive construct itself composed out of derelict transports and passenger vessels, welded together in haphazard fashion into a semblance of a habitat. Supposedly these "Elsani" were nomads, traders living off the scraps and detritus of other civilizations; only now they had finally collected in one place and through sheer force of will, forged themselves a more or less permanent home.

Many empires and nations would take these rumors and ignore them. As a nomadic culture themselves, the people of the Morningstar Coalition could not afford to. They themselves knew that often what was discarded by settled nations, could be quite valuable to those who chose to live amongst the stars. Under orders from High Admiral Turehk, Fleet Intelligence assembled a mission roster to go and investigate the Elsani.


****************************************************************************************************
Sol System - Mars Local Space
****************************************************************************************************

Two ships, the scout-frigate MCDF "Unseen Shores", and the light freighter MCIF "All That Glitters" pulled into Mars-controlled space and took up orbit not far from the Elsani Habitat. The former ship was sent simply as escort for the freighter, the real purpose of this mission. Captain Poema, the Shanii in command of the All That Glitters, was nominally in command. Shi had been sent by Fleet Intelligence to survey the Elsani markets, to find if there was anything of worth to the Fleet. In hir ship's holds they carried processed industrial metals and ores, exotic foods and drink either harvested from distant worlds or else acquired through trade, and a multitude of gemstones that one assault frigate had chanced across in the holds of a captured pirate vessel.

As the destroyer-sized freighter settled in to dock with the Habitat, Captain Poema made hir way down to the cargo locks, so that shi could be the first to cross over to the Elsani construct and be the first to see her markets...

Short, but sets the stage for further scenes.

[The Elsani City States]

The Elsani Habitat was a hive of activity on any given day, yet on this one it resembled a literal hive, the porous surface of this particular ship dotted with hundreds of landing bays serving all manner of shuttles and larger ships of all shapes and purpose. Buzzing in from parts unknown and systems more familiar these craft desposit their cargo of more than people, they bring ideas and more importantly credit to the Elsani. To the negotiating table, and to the bazaar now laden so heavily with people the area resembles a mercantile Hajj.

The vast number of snaking hallways running as if hardened escape tunnels(which they were, after a fashion) throughout the ship soon took up their temporary residents as well, impromptu taverns and more springing up to serve the needs many and varied of the people here. What were once intended to act as stasis pods turned into drinks coolers, walls constructed of a sleek alloy plastered with everything from paper advertisments to the flickering lights of evangelists in a far away television studio attempting to convince people that yes, their behaviour is sinful.
High above this chaotic mass of sentience the atmosphere both literal and figurative was calmer, purer. Security, command and control offices several hundred metres above turned into diplomatic and corporate meeting rooms, patrolled by guards literally and uniformally robotic. Here the possibility of conversations being listened in to was vigorously guarded against and the only backroom dealing being done involved heads of state and wealthy business figures.

The Garbage Men

Whatever their importance to their home nation, corporation and people all guests were treated with respect, with gentle hospitality. Or failing that, a welcoming duel, were one to come from a state that made mandatory duels to the death as greeting.
For those of the 'primary marketing team' of TGM they are met by a young human man, clad in a so sharp as to be lethal business suit, his mannerisms just as clear and precise. Though it is made clear by the mechanical voice of the docking stations' automated systems that they are being scanned, it is no more intrusive than walking through a modern day airport scanner, and certainly less, as there are no armed security personnel and only one local in sight.

"Logan Gran", He introduces himself as, "And pleased to meet you. Now, formalities, or do you wish the bullet point presentation? There is no need to hold you up here or anywhere else, for that matter."
Short and to the point, as the man himself is. Those of worth are treated with some leniency as to their motives and indeed permissions, foreigners are allowed their security detail and their men in leatherclad jumpsuits with firearms, all with the very obvious unspoken threat of the even more heavily armed robotic guards, sentient and otherwise present. The new arrivals would be escorted by Logan upon their acceptance, and at no point is there any manner of sycophantic trickery employed.

Morningstar Coalition

Fleets of warships are a common sight in Mars orbit, indeed so regular as to be mere background noise to most. Thus these two ships are afforded notice only by the internal automated defenses of their cavernous docking bay, a space meant to hold and secure a capital ship now clamping onto two much smaller craft with all the gentleness and grace of a drunken ballerina with a head wound. Unlike the lesser bays, these largers ones were relatively little used, as is obvious by the faded lettering on the walls and duller lights of tracking systems.
As with those Logan met, Captain Poema would be greeted by another of the staff assigned to guide these new foreigners. But the good captain was military. From a well armed background. Deemed likely to be far angrier at misspeaking and failed deals than relatively impotent men in suits, armed only with stylus and wit. And so a more important functionary was present, one possessed of intelligence enough to at least avoid provoking large scale firefights in docking bays.

Ms Katt^Ori it is, stark and clear uniform the only mundane thing about her, all earthy green skin and pleasant smiles, worldly wise speech. Or so she and her superiors hoped. The Elsani were and remain peaceful, and little could be done to avoid greater tragedy if a guest were to become hostile.
On eye contact being made with Poema, a bow is absent for a particularly awkward moment as a startled look crosses Katt's face, then subsides as professionalism returns to this woman long used to acting the part of the diplomat with alien species. A more concerted effort is made at a proper bow, and to it is added a flourishing wave of a hand.

"Please excuse the unpleasantness of the scans..Captain, is it? Katt is the name and her people welcome you, and hope you enjoy your stay here, whatever your aims. If you bring goods, you will find a society hungering for them, if negotiation, there are certainly secure rooms here you could conduct them in." And as if to add a touch of the retail saleswoman here, this former dipomat finishes with "And Katt hopes your business is conducted smoothly, and that any return visits are just as efficient and pleasant."
The rooms the Captain would be lead to are however altogether different from the stiff corporate boardrooms the employees of TGM would find themselves in. With the appearance of earth's nineteeth century noble estates these were clearly originally designed to be the quarters and working room of the ship's high ranking crewmembers. Even the softly humming auto-turrets flanking each door are adorned in etched, swirling and gaudy patterns of purple and gold.

Perhaps even Katt would borrow a saying here, from a time and place in the distant past, 'The red carpet has been rolled out' and indeed it has, as should the Captain accept the Elsani's offers of hospitality and more shi would soon find out...As would any other figure of importance, from national to trade union leader...

[The Garbage Men]

The four members of the Primary Marketing team had nothing of alarm detected upon their bodies, all they had on them apart from their clothes, were wallets with identification and electronic devices that could likened to 'datapads' in use by many civilisations though of course modified for specific use in a marketing context with the opportunity for contracts to be created and signed electronically.

The team members were themselves fairly diverse in line with the Elsani diversity, there were of course a human a female in her 30's, but also a small purple humanoid creature with the occasional sharp protusions coming from out all over their body, a larger more bulky creature that apart from his rather excessive sized torso would almost unmistakably be human, and some sort of green slimy alien with lots of eye stalks with a mouth of a kind hidden amungst them.

The female spoke, "My name is Aria and this is the rest of my team. If we could get started right away, that would be best." She bowed in greeting as she said her name and then directed with her hand back towards them. The rest of the team bowed as well as they waited to be shown where to go.