To Maehl Enterprises

A young man with messy blonde hair and a scar bisecting his lower lip.

"Good day, I am Damon Roth I am the regional sales director of Larken's Military Emporium within the Free Systems. I have been instructed to contact you about expansion of buisness. I have been led to believe that your corperation promotes growth in smaller businesses. Our company primarily deals with hunting equipment and police armaments however we would like to expand and begin constucting and selling combat space craft of various sizes and strength.

We feel that with additional investment we could achieve our ultamite goal of a galaxy that is 100% armed to allow every man, woman, and child to protect themselves. Self reliance, for all.

The holocomm image projected a young Tziran, slightly smaller than average.

"Mr Roth, thank you for your holographic message. My name is Sotora Jitin, and I am a Sales and Development Officer for Maehl Holdings, IRLC. I am going to review your claim, gather the pertinent information, and see to what extent we can work together. It will be my function to serve as a corporate liaison and manage our relationship. When we're ready to do business, I will, of course, bring in either the CEO or the Executive Chairman to finalize our relationship, but in the interim let's get to know each other, shall we?

I have reviewed your initial request. Your goal is ambitious and lofty. We, at Maehl Holdings, support lofty and ambitious goals. So, as a point of reference, approximately how many units do you currently sell? Approximately how much can you produce, and approximately how much growth can you support without further capital development? What are your best sellers? What products have disappointing sales and why? What are your current road blocks to the success your company wishes to attain?"

S&D Officer Jitin good day to you.
My people are gathering the information that you have requested and it will be forwarded as soon as it is available (i.e. as a player I have no idea, I have asked the Admin and I am waiting for a response)
Our goals are indeed lofty, we know that it will take time to achieve it but it is what we truly believe, total arming of all populations will bring the ultimate self reliant age to all.

Good afternoon, I have been forwarded some of the information to pass along to you, currently our best selling item is the Model 77 Magnum Autobolt Rifle, it is very popular with civilians in the Iron Republic and has been our top seller ever since our first store opened up and has become the best seller as well at our second location.

As for our worst selling item, The Tactical Combat Armor was once a very lucrative item however ever since Blackheart's Tacticool Armor flooded the market our armor has dropped in demand. It still sells a little bit thanks to a few loyal customers but as a whole it's popularity has diminished.

As for the details as to what we sell, well we have a very diverse selection of items, basic firearms, various types of pistols, rifles, knives, daggers, body armor, camping equipment, bug spray, fishing equipment, first aid and some other minor items of convenience.

We currently have three locations which we sell at and one production location, our flagship location at Lost Hope Space Station, and another location at Casablanca station, we also have an small outpost on a planet called Abaddon (80% industry) where we produce additional military equipment to sell there and ship to the stores.

As for growth without any further investment, well that depends on opportunity. I have the funds to open up another location however i wish to maximize what I have currently as well.

Damon Roth
Regional sales director of Larken's Military Emporium

Jitin reviewed the information, and threw several of his arms up in frustration, not knowing what to do with the incomplete information he was provided. As he waited, he received the second piece of information from Damon, which was infinitely more helpful. It was not, however, the full picture he anticipated. However, at least it was a starting point.

Jitin then turned on his holocomm,
"Mr Roth, thank you for this information. A few more questions:
1) What is your competative edge? For example, Blackheart sells a few items at about 100 ghaz per item, most of which are considered antiques. How do your prices compare to his and others?
2) What's the difference between your armor and the tacticool armor? What about in price?
3) What items, if any, do you sell that are more or less unique, particularly in your markets?

We're building a robust folio for you. We have several possibilities in mind, which include rapid growth and expansion, possible manufacturing investment and development, and a wider berth of sales. However, we need to figure out what items best to focus on and how to maximize your profits.

Our initial review has a more intense focus on improving your regional sales, as well as making large scale orders for a few select clients, mostly within the Free Systems. Depending on your relative price points, we'll review what products you should focus on, and which ones you should drop (for the short term). For example, if you produce Autobolt Pistols and Magnum 77 Rifles, if the Autobolts don't sell, don't make them anymore. We'd then review the market and advise a better pistol to produce and sell.

I, therefore, apologize for the questions, but these are just the basic things that we need in order to do business. Once we have a plan in mind, we'll discuss particulars and the nitty gritty and write up contracts.

Thank you, again, for bringing your business to Maehl Holdings. We look forward to helping your business grow."

Jitin signed off, and then chirped in relief. It wasn't going to be easy to juggle Terrovea, Blackheart, and Larken. Somehow, he just ended up with what may well be the hardest job in the company! What fun, Jitin thought sarcastically.

Mr. Wroth smiled as the Tziran seemed to grow in frustration, a simple pleasure but these days they were few and thus had to be savored.

" Our competitive edge? Well we normally don't give out such information however (Mr. Wroth adds in several more layers of encryption to this part of the message) well we do have certain let's say small mining organizations based in the IR who owe us.....favors, we have several of their children.....interning at our company and as their way of showing thanks is quite profitable. We use this .....internship to maintain a reliable consumer base.

As for Blackhearts advantages with their tacticool armor, well it is of higher quality while being competitively priced of course, then again some of our annalists believe he might experience a shortage in the future allowing customers to shop elsewhere.

The rest of your questions I will answer later.

Damon Wroth's image appeared once again

Alright I am back, sorry for the wait we are doing some restructuring as of late so things are rather hectic.

You asked about unique items that we produce. Well we do have a particular item that people have been unoffically been asking about. It is a small explosive that is special because when it explodes the chemical reaction amplifies when in contact with stomach acid. This allows the small amout of explosives to create a much bigger explosion if it is within a person's stomach. This device was created by a now deceased pirate lord and we managed to salavage the process when we hired some of the then out of work research teams. I am sure this item could be of value to the right consumers

Business was good. Jitin's workload was up, and his customer base was solid, until he remembered Larkin's Emporium.

He looked at the information Damon sent him, and sighed heavily. Granted, Tzira don't have a biological need to sigh like humans do, but the affectation was inherited from all his time spent around them. It was his only response to such useless information in the scheme of what he needed for his prospective clients. He reviewed all the information he had in an attempt to create a proper prospectus.

1) He sells small arms, just like Blackheart does, just not as cost-effective, per the data he received.
2) His competitive advantage is gained through blackmail or by selling Captain Ironsbane's worst products.

It didn't help that Terrovea was doing phenominally using just Blackheart as a supplier. How was he going to fit in Larkin??

"Dear Mr. Wroth:

There are several possibilities for expansion of your business in which we can assist and ensure proper growth:

1) Antique weaponry: There is a significant demand for pistols and rifles that are considered "classics" which are reliable and do not require battery packs. Long range and ultra-long range of the same are in specifically high demand.
2) Ultra sophisticated weaponry: The other side of the spectrum. Weapons that aren't readily available, aren't very cheap to produce, and can't be found readily outside of the Iron Republic. The black market value of these weapons are very high, and if you can produce them more cheaply it will be very profitable.
3) Weapons of what would be considered dubious distinction. These are weapons that will be used by those with less than scrupulous ideals for reasons that may be benevolent to dastardly.

I will be honest, however, and add that if you really were of the capacity to create more than small arms, such as vehicle mounted weaponry, it would behoove you to do so, as these are much more lucrative.

Your inventory is vast, and we are not sure of what your capabilities are to produce any specific weapon, but I advise you to compile a list of 3-5 pieces of each type that we have listed above that we can mass market across the universe. From there we can focus the sales against the need, assist in production, and ensure safe transport of these items from one location to another, while navigating the abyss that is intergalactic logistics and regulations.

Once you do, we can hammer out specifics and be on our way to help your business grow.

Yours sincerely,
Jitin, Sales and Development - Maehl Holdings

Mr. Jitin we would love to create larger weaponry, that is indeed one of our desires. I have been in communication with our factory and they would be happy to begin to produce not only vehicle mounted weaponry but we would like to also produce the vehicles as well. Patrol units and light assault units would be engage infantry.

We do want to expand into starship manufacturing as well. This sector is currently within the lull between wars and we believe that it is only a matter of time before fighting begins anew. We believe that the market will soon reawaken. We saw an enemy that used vast amounts of smaller assault ships, our R&D group believed that people would turn to ships with fast tracking turrets and rapid fire weaponry to counter this but the rage was simply to try to match the enemy ship for ship. We believe that the tactic of vast numbers won't always be applicable and being able to efficiently take out a large amount of fast moving targets using fewer ships would be more useful. We are attempting to master this now but our research teams are limited and it will take more time unless we can expand our facilities. We have many many ideas for new products of war but like we have said earlier, we lack funds to expand in order to research them and produce them. The market is there waiting, with the Iron Republic being so powerful and the Unity rising so fast, there will be much need of weapons for the smaller organizations to counter them.

Greetings Mr. Jitin, I have something new to discuss.

We recently had an idea on a new market in which to tap into. We are planning on reaching out to the major players in the sector and attempt to get permission to make freighters that are inspired by the most iconic and famous vessels of each faction. Imagine, the Fort Lendil Supernova, Axis' Needle, EEF Vajra, IR Mothership, Free Systems Sword of Galahad, Trilat Despoiler, and more. Now these won't be replicas of the larger vessels, after all, we don't want our buyers to be shot down in confusion. We will take a large freighter as a base and make cosmetic changes to it inspired by such famous vessels. Imagine the pride people would feel when they can show off how honored they are to show off their love of their nation among the stars.

We are trying to get more people out in space, more people out striking out for their fortune out there. This will benefit not only me but everyone, more people trading among the stars, more people moving through checkpoints, paying taxes, etc. In a time of such chaos people want to go out and make their fortunes but are scared. They need a little push to get out there, being able to go out and being able to fly their themed ship and proudly proclaim to the universe that "I am a proud member of the Free Systems, Iron Republic, Earth Expeditionary Force, Trilateral Commission, Fort Lendil, etc"

We believe that this has real potential to expand so many markets, I believe with additional funding and manufacturing capability we can make a good case to the different organizations and get this ambitious project off the ground.

Damon Roth
Regional sales director of Larken's Military Emporium