<h4>Chapter 3516: Commercializing Ketis</h4>
The Larkinson n had made clear progress in expanding its fleet. The addition of the new fleet carrier along with all of the newbat carriers made Ves feel a lot more confident about heading deeper into the Red Ocean.
Though he didn''t intend to travel to any hotspots, he did not want to spend all of his time holing up in a boring area. There were so many curiosities and wonders in the new frontier that any of them could give him the inspiration he needed to boost his progression towards Senior!
The n was already doing well enough in prepping the new carriers. Ves did not need to supervise this process.
The same could not be said for another priority of the Larkinson n.
Over the course of the Larkinson n''s stay in Vulit, Ves and several other nsmen seeded in building up their reputation in the regionalmunity.
Many people learned of the existence of the Larkinson n. Even more were able to recognize individual stars such as Ketis Larkinson and Commander Case Ingvar!
The sesses they achieved attracted a lot of attention to the n. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs had to work overtime in order to follow up on all of the parties that had approached the Larkinson n in recent weeks.
Ves managed to meet with his busy foreign minister in order to discuss the most promising entreaties.
"You look better than I thought."
"Heh. Don''t be fooled." The old diplomat responded. "I have been running on stimnts on a regr basis. Ordinarily, I try to avoid this measure as I do not wish to impair my judgment with artificial chemicals, but the current situation leaves me with no choice."
"How so?"
"You should realize that all of the interest in our n is not permanent. People''s memories are fickle. Once we depart Chance Bay, the public will soon shift their short attention span away from us and direct it towards the next big idol or sess story. In a single month, ny percent of the people who are fans of us will have forgotten our existence."
That was a harsh and cynical description of human behavior. Though Ves wanted to believe that people were better than that, he agreed with Shederin''s assessment.
Chance Bay would continue to hold a lot of tournaments after the Larkinsons left the central star node. New heroes and winners would emerge soon after and the press would doubtlessly focus intensely on theirtest toys!
"What does this mean for us, exactly?"
"It means we need to take advantage of the heat of the moment." The minister answered. "Our apparent value in other people''s eyes has currently reached a peak. This is the time when our leverage is the highest and when our negotiating power is strong enough to extract favorable concessions from potential business partners."
"I see. I take it that you have already worked on a number of deals for our n."
Shederin nodded. "My staff and I have already facilitated dozens of minor deals. None of them are too significant. They amount to giving us ess to material suppliers to giving us ess to exclusive marketces."
"Are there any deals that give us an opportunity to acquire more starships?"
"I''m sorry to disappoint you, but starships and especially carrier vessels are still out of our reach. Don''t let the current situation warp your expectations. The organizations that hold tournaments are much more powerful than you can imagine. They often own and operate their own shipyards. While there are various reasons why they are willing to give them away as tournament prizes, they are much more reticent about selling them to third parties."
"They also need the ships." Ves guessed.
n/?/vel/b//in dot c//om
"Correct. Not only that, they also wish to avoid strengthening too many strangers. It''s an open conspiracy if you can call it that. Those with the capability to build starships seek to widen the gap between themselves and others. Currently, our n firmly falls in the category of ''other'', so don''t expect anyone to build up a future rival."
This was not good news to Ves. It appeared that it was a lot more difficult to convince a shipbuildingpany to produce additionalbat carriers for the Larkinson n.
"Okay, let''s put this topic aside. Can you present anything promising to me? Surely we must have seeded on other fronts."
Shederin smiled. "We do. Let''s start with the biggest potential trade deal. Do you recall the Wild Fighter Association?"
"I do. It''s not easy for me to forget the only mech design tournament where I managed to reach first ce. Admittedly, Ketis contributed the most back then, but it is still a highlight of my stay in Chance Bay."
"Well, Director Kadar and his negotiators have been in touch with us. The Wild Fighter Association and more specifically the regional director is highly interested in obtaining our mechs."
"I know. The director mentioned that to me at the end of the Wild Brawl Bowl. He talked about the possibility of selling or using our mechs."
"We have learned much about each other during our talks over thest weeks. It has be clear that our n is mainly interested in generating revenue while the Wild Fighter Association wishes to acquire one of Ketis Larkinson''s swordsman mech designs. We have regrly consulted with the young woman in order to see what kind of arrangement that we can make."
The Wild Fighters were much more enamored with Ketis than Ves! Living mechs alone didn''t hold their interest. They wanted to get their hands on a mech that could visibly improve their swordsmanship like the Heart of Victor!
"What are the results of all of these talks?"
Minister Shederin projected the outline of a contract in front of Ves. "We have developed a basic framework for a lucrative business deal. For now, the scope of this agreement is limited, but as long as both sides are happy with it, there is always a possibility for follow-up deals."
Ves quickly skimmed through the document. He quickly understood that it centered aroundmercializing one of Ketis'' mech designs.
"She''s found a market for her Monster yer design!"
He knew how much she cared about this uing design project. Ketis became inspired to design andbound swordsman mech that excelled at dueling after surviving a battle in the Nyxian Gap.
Back then, she didn''t have the confidence to design the mech of her dreams, but it was different now that she had be a Journeyman!
There was no reason for her to dy this project any further. The only major uncertainty was how she could put her work in the hands of mech pilots. That had always been a question mark to her. Ves was happy now that she found a readily avable market for her first solomercial mech design.
As Ves continued to study the document, Shederin began to exin the highlights.
"We have formted a number of different proposals. Each of them differ by how extensively you are willing to cooperate with the Wild Fighter Association and how much control you wish to retain over Ketis'' work."
"Tell me about the most lucrative n in mary terms."
"The n that can potentially maximize our earnings is also the most difficult to realize." Shederin warned. "In summary, it entails retaining the rights to the Monster yer design and mass producing its copies through our own efforts."
"Do we even need the Wild Fighters for that?"
"We do. If we wish to mass produce the Monster yer and distribute it to customers across the Red Ocean, we will have to cooperate with partners such as the Wild Fighters. They can help us purchasend and set up arge manufacturingplex on a friendly industrial. They can also assume responsibility for selling and distributing the Monster yers. Currently weck the capability of doing this ourselves, so this is a good solution."
Ves frowned. "I thought I already told you guys that I don''t want our n to set up any facilities at fixed locations. A manufacturingplex on a that we don''t own is bound to anchor our fleet!"
"It doesn''t have to go that far, sir. If you do not agree with this measure, then we can change to a variation of this business n. We can either set up a subsidiarypany that will mass produce ourmercial mech models on our behalf or we can outsource production to one of the affiliatedpanies of the Wild Fighter Association. The downside of these options is that we will have to reduce our share of the profits of this venture."
That was logical. The less the Larkinsons did themselves, the more they had to pay others to do the work.
Though Ves wanted to control everything, he knew quite well that it conflicted with his desire to keep his entire n mobile. With all of the bad experiences of the past, he strenuously objected to any n that entailed leaving behind Larkinsons on vulnerables!
"It sounds like you have formted additional options." He said. "What is the least troublesome n?"
"Well, if you truly wish to minimize as much risk and entanglement as possible, then we can simply treat this trade agreement as amission. In short, the Wild Fighter Association willmission a second-ssndbound swordsman mech from Miss Ketis. Once she haspleted the design, we will transfer all of the rights pertaining to its production, distribution, sale and use to the Wild Fighter Association. It is up to our business partner to decide what they wish to do with the Monster yer design. The Wild Fighters can choose tomercialize it themselves or retain it as one of their exclusive member-only perks. Regardless, we will receive a generous lump sum in addition to royalties each time they produce a copy of the Monster yer."
This was theziest and least profitable option. It essentially reduced the Larkinson n''s role to a design studio. Once Ketis handed over thepleted design, the Larkinsons did not have to do anything else except sit back and collect the royalties!
That didn''t mean it was a bad n, though. The Larkinson n already had a lot of issues on its te. The LMC might be a ubiquitous presence in the Yeina Star Cluster, but it was aplete neer in the Red Ocean!
The mechpany had no permanent offices, no manufacturingplexes, no distributionworks, no sales channels and no brand presence in thispletely new area!
It would take an inordinate amount of time and effort to build all of this up, especially if Ves wanted to outsource almost every responsibility to third parties.
Rather than go through all of that effort, Ves vastly preferred to shove all of this trouble to a willing partner such as the Wild Fighter Association.
Ves rubbed his smooth-shaven chin. "I think… it''s best to start with a more modest n. This is our first major business deal in the Red Ocean. We need to build up our reputation and make sure that we can deliver on our promises. I don''t think it is wise to make too manymitments. What if we cannot uphold our end of the deal due to unexpected problems and incidents? Let''s not forget that the situation in this dwarf gxy is a lot more vtile than in the Milky Way. In my opinion, we should follow up on thetest n you''ve mentioned. I prefer to expand it a bit and add additional uses to the contract, but in general, I''m in favor of just letting Ketis treat this job as a one-timemission. The burden on her will also be much less as a result."
All of this was quite new to Ketis. He did not wish to overwhelm her with too many distractions.
"I will pass your decision on to the relevant parties." Minister Shederin promised. "Do keep in mind that we will forgo the opportunity to earn up to ten times more profit if we treat this deal as amission. The royalties that the Wild Fighter Association are obligated to pay to us will only amount to a couple of million hex credits per copy."
That was quite a meager sum. If the LMC chose to produce and sell the Monster yer themselves, then thepany could easily earn a profit of 50 million per copy!