A Business Deal

[Beware Ye Who Enter Here]

"Business before pleasure, my good sir, business before pleasure." He snapped his fingers and the waiter bowed and walked away. Mr Nowyre straightened up and looked each of them in the eye, nodding his hellos. "So where to begin?"

[UnStellar]

"We don't want to draw this out any more then it has to be, Mr. Nowyre. We would like to close the deal today and keep the contract simple. Mr. Salve?" Salve cleared his throat and opened up notes on his touch screen tablet. "Yes, Mr. Nowyre I am the contracts expert for this account, so you will be dealing directly with me. Now, to get down to business, we would to know the specific number of Space craft and human assets required for the mission. That means everybody required for a full years worth of protection, down to service and food care. Mr. Zevini will provide the hanger space, barrack space, and other such facilities free of charge in exchange for your services, but you will have to hire help and maintain the ships and docks yourself. You will basically be renting the space from us, though we will subtract the fee from your annual salary as opposed to charging monthly. I believe we forwarded you the specifics on the space you would be allowed on the ship, as well as detailed specs on Pleasure Planet itself. I hope you have an accurate estimation of the manpower needed, as well as the exact amount of spacecraft at your disposal?" Salve asked. He glanced nervously for the hundredth time at the rough outline he had prepared of the contract. If all went well, he'd just have to fill in a few blank spaces, print off the page, and have Nowyre sign, binding the contract. After that, Mr. Zalto would sign off on a blank check signed and authorized by Zevini himself. Salve was already thinking of the after party, wondering if Fiona from Estimates would be there.

His eyes would show his distraction, but he snapped out of his thoughts and focused on Nowyre's response.

[Beware Ye Who Enter Here]

"In the order Mr. Frost relayed to me, he said we would need somewhere around a dozen corvettes and half as many frigates. CastleMarks has set aside two dozen ships, eleven corvettes, twelve frigates and the capitol ship as a bonus. The total crew would be somewhere around twenty five hundred men. If the ships cannot fit on Pleasure Planet itself, the capitol ship will be able to hold the remainder and deploy them routinely. As I discussed with Mr. Frost, our asking price is an annual five hundred thousand credits." Mr. Nowyre said smoothly, staring above his champagne glass at Mr. Salve.

[UnStellar]

"I see. You seemed to have missed that Pleasure planet has advanced refueling and external docking harnesses for ships Frigate sized and higher, which we predict would cut back on expenses for your ships and ease maintenance.  Though we will honor the bonus capitol ship, we request twelve corvettes and eight frigates. Will any of these considerations effect your overall price?"

[Beware Ye Who Enter Here]

"No, its a bulk price." Mr. Nowyre said, nodding and peering at them calculatingly. "The ships will be ready to move to protect the ship in two or three days time."

[UnStellar]

"Very well Mr. Nowyre. Mr. Frost, anything you'd like to add?" Frost shook his head. "Excellent. Mr Zalto, do these terms seem to match your clients desires?" Zalto, a very reserved man, nodded carefully.
"I would like to review the contract before we come to the agreement, but this sounds exactly like my client's demands."
"Perfect. Is there anything else you would like to discuss Mr. Nowyre, or can we begin finalizing the contract?"

[Beware Ye Who Enter Here]

Mr. Nowyre smiled. "No, I believe that was all that was on my list." He said. "I welcome your patronage, good sirs."

[UnStellar]

"It's a pleasure, Mr. Nowyre. Clark and Salve, get started on the contract. If you'll excuse me, I'm going to use the restroom." He left promptly and headed directly for them, having noted their location on his way in. He flipped out his phone and made a call.
  Salve and Clark had a full contract typed up, based on Salve's own outline. It's three pages can be paraphrased as:

Castle Mark Incorporated is authorized to carry on security detail around the space of Pleasure Planet. The forces authorized include two dozen (24) fighters, twelve (12) corvettes, eight ( frigates, and (1) Capitol ship. If any of these space craft is damaged or destroyed, Castle Mark Incorporated can replenish their lost numbers by bringing in a precise (but not excess) amount of replacements, and are required to do so within seven (7) twenty-four hour cycles (one Tefillin week). If full strength of force is not maintained for a consecutive fourteen twenty four hours cycles, (two Tefillin weeks), this contract is void. Full strength of force is considered the above listed spacecraft and approximately 2500 employed  workers (alternatively, full force of strength can be considered the minimum amount of workers  to keep all spacecraft operational simultaneously.) Castle Marks Incorporated is to defend Pleasure Planet from space- and planetary- born threats by any means necessary, and are authorized to use any level of force up to and including lethal actions to defend the health, vitality, and well being of the structure and residents of Pleasure Planet. Castle Marks Incorporated is also authorized the lease of Hanger Bays 1-25 (and all it's various associated functions) and the staff Barracks and facilities in the Aft section of Pleasure Planet's Ship Superstructure.


The last page was dedicated to establishing the boundaries of Castle Mark's authority on Pleasure Planet. Their jurisdiction lay in a certain radius of space around Pleasure Planet and strictly outside of it. They had no authority in hanger bays (except for the ones they were leased) and certainly not in the Biosphere, bridge, or any such area of the Superstructure. They were to take orders from anyone bearing a Pleasure Planet Law Enforcement Officer(PPLEO) ID, no matter the rank. PPLEO's held authority over Castle Mark, even in space which was specifically there jurisdiction. Their orders over took any orders a Castle Mark entity had.


Mr. Zalto took a long time to read the finalized contract, and signed off on it. It was then passed to Mr. Nowyre. Mr. Frost had returned at this point.

[Beware Ye Who Enter Here]

Mr. Nowyre read the contract twice and signed it on the dotted line. "In my position as CEO of CastleMarks Inc. I accept the terms of the contract." He said, pushing the paper back over to them.

[UnStellar]

Mr. Zalto nodded, signing the check and filling in 500 thousand credits on the appropriate lines. He handed it to Nowyre without flourish, leaving the table with a quiet, and polite, "Have a nice day."

Frost offered Nowyre a handshake, barely able to conceal the grin. Clark and Salve looked shell shocked.

[Beware Ye Who Enter Here]

Mr. Nowyre shook Frost's hand. "I look forward to guarding your 'planet'." He said, smiling openly.  They got a bargain and so did he. He had enough connections to supply CastleMarks Inc.

[UnStellar]

"I hope so. This concludes our negotiations, from now on you'll be dealing with Mr. Zelini himself." Finishing the hand shake, Frost stood, his associates doing the same, and they left with excited auras.

There was going to be one hell of a party.

[Beware Ye Who Enter Here]

Mr. Nowyre nodded, smiling and snapped his fingers as they left. It was time for his lunch.