ILLUMINARRPG: Repost (-94- 0900, 0930, 0940) - Loron and Lar, Ferengi Entrepreneurs

[Charles Gatling]

NRPG: A bit of a hiccup in the jp.
RPG:


Mission:  Death in the Shadows
Day: -94
Stardate: 2445.10.30

(Deneb V - The Stardust/Office - Loron (owner) and Nixac (tech) - 0900)

Loron rubbed his lobes, rule #7 was one of the most critical of the rules
of acquisition.  ‘Always keep your ears open.’  Since coming to Deneb V
over 10 years ago, that had proved useful time and time again.  Many of the
other rules derived from this one.  This one had profit, lots and lots of
profit.

“Do you hear it, cousin?   Listen carefully,” Loron said.  “That’s profit,
blowing in the wind.”

“Rule #22.  Yes cousin. It may be whispering to us  in the wind, but there
is much work to do,” Nixac said.  “I have to finish decoding the recording
from the pleasure room.  Why would a Cardassian employ a dampening field to
have sexual relations with an Orion girl?”

“Confidentiality equals profit.  That and your genius,” Loron replied.
“The reputation of the Stardust is legendary, where people can have
clandestine meetings.  Of course some are more clandestine than others, and
all of them lead to profit for us.”

“On the other front, one of the security team on the payroll says a street
urchin was found dead over by the shuttle port.  I’m trying to get more
information now,” Nixac reported.

“Any guesses?”

“There are dozens who hang around the bar, looking to pick up the odd job
here and there.  Most are discrete and reasonably priced.  They make good
go betweens and such,” Nixac reported, “I’ve used them before to help
spread misinformation.  Remember the deal between Alchemilla and Solidago?”
Nixac said.

“How could I forget, we are still making profit from that information,”
Loron said.  “Another 10% this month, the 6th consecutive month.  Steady
growth is good.”

“And our other arrangement?”

“He is still paying. Very odd individual, but the latinum is good.”

“Very well Nixac, go see what you can find out.  I have to make a call.”
Loron said.

(Deneb V - The Stardust/ Nixac’s workspace - Nixac (tech) - 0930)

Nixac nodded, and headed off to his workspace in the basement of The
Stardust. One trick to defeat portable field dampeners was to have multiple
sensors working at different frequencies.  Especially in ranges where
vibrations were made, outside the ranges of the field damper.  Since most
were designed to emit random sound frequencies at high amplitude to drown
out.  With multiple monitors in the room, it was possible to capture what
was being said, as well as the frequencies being blocked.  Taken together,
along with some special equipment of his own design and programming
acquired from several sources, he was able to monitor all the conversations
in the private suites.  There were some limitations on the tech, and these
rooms were designed to address that.  Too bad he had never been able to get
it to work in the main bar.  Someday he thought has be began to review the
material from the Cardassian’s room.  There were others of interest as
well, but this felt the most promising.

(Deneb V - The Stardust/Office - Loron (owner) - 0930)

Loron retrieved a glass of hot millipede juice, without the shells and sat
at his terminal.  Pulling up his list of contacts, he thought who would be
most interested in the information he had.  And who would pay for exclusive
rights.  He decided on a Vickrey sealed bid auction with a standard reserve
price. While most people felt the first priced sealed bid generated the
highest profits, his data showed he made 15% more profit using the Vickery
model.  The winner of the auction paid the price of the second bidder,
which drove bids up.  As a wrinkle, he would give the top three bidders a
chance to increase their bids.

Sipping the cooling juice, he smiled as he selected 10 contacts and sent
them the same message about the auction and a teaser video.  These contacts
were closely held and knew the quality of information he provided was
always top rate.

(Mars- Utopia Planitia Surface- Martian Sunset- Fight Promoter/Entrepreneur
Lar- 0940)

Counting profits was a joy that took the sting out of failure and the
failure to acquire a backer recently for a special acquisition was a sore
point. Since returning to Mars he had been diversifying his portfolio
carefully. One of the investments was in this niche bar on the outskirts
staffed primarily by human women though there were other species. The two
Orion females were the star attractions though one of the human females
approached them in popularity. Federation restrictions insured they enjoyed
a baseline of decent treatment. "Cuts into my profits it does. Abominable."
At least they normally remained in a state of clothing befitting a female
whether Ferengi or any other.

 It was a profitable venture certainly and Lar had made the office his own
along with upgrading it. The bar itself had enough territory on the outside
for expansion and he would add to it over time thus increasing its draw and
maximize its utility by squeezing every drop of gold pressed latinum out of
it possible. There was also another consideration, establishments such as
this often went through spells of closure. Diversifying its utility would
ensure it would never suffer closure. Adding gambling and holosuites were
classic entrepreneurship as well since there was a great deal of profit to
be made on the fringe of any society.

Lar was alerted to an incoming message. It was from Loron, on Deneb V.
Another bar owner in the great Ferengi spy consortium who always had top
notch information for auction.  The kid had a good sense for business, and
information was his business. Lar was in the information business as well
and being near the base tasked with being the hub of StarFleet fabrication
and research which was tasked with defending the Sol system otherwise known
as Sector 001 put him in a veritable crossroads of potentially valuable
information. He was in the process of tapping into some of that. It was
lower tier product by and large but over time he expected his tendrils to
penetrate deeper and be saturated with more juicy secrets. It would take
time though, Starfleet personnel were zealous in guarding classified
information like that ship he had an interest in peering into the guts of.
His initial overture had failed and no backer was willing to take the risk
of wayfaring it. As time went on however Lar expected interest to grow,
there was also the possibility his expansion might net him the necessary
assets but it was unlikely. He would need a tremendous score to begin that
process.

An auction for a full recording of a meeting between an Orion ‘slave’ and a
Cardassian Legate.  Lar watched the teaser and had to give Loron credit. It
was indeed intriguing. What work were the two doing in Denebian space? What
plots were being hatched? It might be worth his while to look into it so he
responded with a bid that would get him into the process. It was a
calculated bid he planned on adding to in order to jump into the upper
echelon where he could maneuver in order to push himself into a winning
position.

He then sat back with a pleased smile. Business was indeed good and he
could afford to manage his portfolio to add such ventures while being
prepared to absorb a loss if necessary. That adventure was the cost of
doing business after all.

(Reply None)

(Posted by Tim - Loron and Nixac
and Charles - Lar)


Charles Gatling
Commanding Officer
USS Illuminar
NCC 61240


"The light shines brightest amidst the deepest darkness."
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