“Greetings ladies and gentlemen, and welcome to Terminus. I am Commander Keres and it is a pleasure to meet you this morning. I have brought my advisor and a pair of technicians with me today in case you had some technical questions but in our culture, I am the only one you need to complete any sort of simple business dealings.” Max greeted the assembled aliens.

Their bark rough skin showed very little emotion, but Max could tell in their thoughts that they hadn’t realized that their minds could be read, which meant that they didn’t know the advisor was an Illithid.

[Would you suspect me if you saw me standing next to the others?] The advisor asked, referring to the Reaver outfit he was in and the cosmetic changes he had made to his environmental suit’s appearance.

[Good point. You’re much better styled now than you were before.]

Their guests put on the best fake smiles that Max had seen in a while, cheesy enough that even the Innu technician realized staight away that they were faking it.

They clearly didn’t know much about the Terminus Trading Company, or they would have known that the ship employed a variety of species these days, each with their own specialty, but they didn’t even try to encrypt their devices well enough to keep a curious Innu out.

[Nico, make the first play for me. Come up with the most lopsided deal that you possibly can, I want to force them into 50 percent discounts and zero markup from the price of royalties. Not even for materials. Then add something just plain ridiculous. I want to see if they’re dumb enough to turn that over to be signed without reading it over.]

[I am all over it. Oh, my partner has a great idea as well.]

Max watched as Nico and the technician butchered the lopsided trade agreement into something unrecognizable. The visiting party had originally wanted an eighty percent cut of all royalties that Terminus made in the Alliance, preferred access to all patents, free of charge, and full distribution rights.

After the edits, they would be paying eighty percent of gross revenues to Terminus, putting ads for the Terminus Trading Company in all of their social media releases, and providing all products that they are licensed to sell within the Alliance to the Reavers at cost.

The first few are just embarrassing, but the last one would get them in real trouble with the Alliance, since the humans aren’t cleared to have most of that technology yet. That was the true test of how well they were reading their own proposal, and their response would tell Max a lot about the level of professionalism that he was working with among the potential rivals that he would have to face in the future.

The ones that attacked directly weren’t the only ones upset about the rise of humanity as an interstellar player, just the ones whose corruption had already been called out in front of their customer base because of the actions of the Terminus Trading Company. In a way, it was like starting with the little league games, the way they got to deal with the least competent first.

“It is a pleasure to have met you Commander Keres, we have come a long ways to offer you the chance of a lifetime. Dillon Industries is a respected and well established player in international distribution, with factories in over a thousand different galaxies, able to transport goods to customers all over the Alliance in a single day, often without incurring the exorbitant costs of portal transportation.

We have been informed that humanity has developed their own rudimentary portal techniology, but it is still hugely inefficient, and requires your Colony Ship to remain at a preset point for as long as you want to make the link.

Our services can remove that hassle from you, and have your unique human goods made in our factories for distribution.

I have here in front of me a benefits proposal, if you are familiar with Alliance credits, outlining the amounts you stand to make and save over the course of the first decade of our partnership. Tell me, are humans a long lived species?” The leader of the group asked, standing tall and proud in an attempt to give off the appearance of power and control.

“By Alliance standards, we are moderately long lived. With the aid of rejuvenation technology, we have managed to extend our lifespans well over two hundred years, barring incurable disease or accidental causes.” Max agreed, taking the data tablet with the cost outlines and setting it between them on the table so that they both could read it.

“Marvelous, then you will have a long time to enjoy the benefits that a partner in the Alliance can bring you. As a young businessman, in a far flung galaxy only starting its journey to civilization, it can be hard to get ahead, but we here at Dillon industries can make life much easier on you.

As you see here, the number of items that you can purchase from the Alliance are somwhat limited by your species classification, but we can provide you with many luxury goods, even up to industrial transports that use cutting edge gravity control technologies. The benefits of that level of innovation cannot be underestimated, and the vehicles can be purchased through us at a very reasonable price, out of the royalties that you will be earning from our partnership.”

[I believe that I have had an epiphany, Commander. This is what it truly feels like to be Nico. The desperate yearning to stab someone and see their viscera spread on the floor in front of me like the most gruesome of paintings.] The Illithid informed Max as the man was speaking.

[He honestly thinks we don’t have gravity drives, when we used a gravity beam to bring him into the ship? Are these people only semi sentient?] Max replied.

[No, but they think you are.]

[Then let’s get the fun started.]