Since he had delegated out as much as possible already, Max decided to take a stroll through the area and find out why nobody was in the streets, even during what should be the busiest shopping hours, right after the day shift ended and the workers were on their way home. The population details showed a wide mix of species, with roughly half of the residents being humans, so it shouldn’t be a quirk of the species in the area, but he wouldn’t know for sure until he got there.

The transit pod took him to the stop exactly as expected, and Max stepped out into the street.

His ears were immediately blasted by the incredibly loud music playing from the storefronts nearby, and he understood why nobody walked this area if they could avoid it.

Max accessed the mainframe for this area of the ship and put a public nuisance restriction on the outside speakers, cutting them down to twenty decibels until the restriction was lifted, and then sighed in relief as the assault to his ears was silenced.

Within seconds, the confused shopkeepers were outside, wondering what was going on with their speakers, so Max patched into the public announcement system to send out a message.

[This is Commander Keres Max, head of the Terminus Trading Company. Will all shopkeepers please meet me at the corner of seventy-third and Koala for an impromptu town hall to discuss Absolution City bylaws.]

Max looked over the shopkeepers and found that they weren’t one cohesive group, so it didn’t make sense that they would be behaving this way in one area but not the others.

When they gathered in the street, Max noticed that they formed two distinct groups, one on each side of the road, and the two groups were very antagonistic to each other, with thoughts of slights and insults from the past flowing back and forth.

They had started the sound wars to drive customers away from the other side of the street and ended up creating an obnoxiously loud soundscape that no sane person would want to visit at all.

Both sides were certain that their pockets were deeper and that they would outlast their competition, as the two groups were from conglomerates of loosely affiliated businesses and would support their neighbours against the group across the street.

“Good afternoon, everyone. I have come here to discuss your flagrant disregard for the public nuisance bylaws. I have some idea of what is going on, but would anyone like to explain it from their point of view or offer a suggestion to ensure that I do not have to come back here again?

Keep in mind that I am not averse to revoking the business licenses of any company, which is detrimental to the quality of life of those around them.”

Max’s words put all of the store owners into a panic, just as he had intended. This was a new area, and they had only been open for a few days, so losing their rights to do business on the ship so quickly would look terrible to their head offices and, in some cases, would end with a much worse outcome than a simple termination of employment.

Major Miller had not allowed the opening of chain stores on Terminus. Each business was unique. So the internal fight to get a space had been intense, and the companies had put a lot of stock in the managers that they had sent.

Being mostly mafia-affiliated businesses who had tagged along when they heard that the black market was moving in, quitting wasn’t an option. The closest option that they had to a change of employers was to voluntarily walk out of an airlock in disgrace and hope that the bosses didn’t hold their failure against their family members.

“Sir, I believe that the rivalry between our two factions has gotten a bit out of hand. It started with the usual jingles played out front of the stores to attract customers, then the volume increased to drown out the others, and it just snowballed from there.” One of the businessmen, from a large orange-skinned subspecies of Giants, explained politely.

“Alright, that is what I understood as well. Now, the question is, can you all get along in the future, or should I move all of your shops to different locations around the ship and move new ones here? It looks like your affiliated companies tried to take over a block but ended up across from each other, and that’s not the sort of rivalry we’re after here.” Max offered.

He waited as they all held a quick conference between their groups and then began to glare at the ones across the street again.

Max sighed. “Look, I know that your rivalry spans the Alliance, and you’ve been at it for centuries. I won’t allow it to turn your bosses into a running joke about being a public nuisance. Now, do you want to be spread out all over the city, never within four blocks of each other, or can you behave?”

The consensus in their minds was that spreading out so much would leave them vulnerable to being crushed by the more powerful black market businesses that even their main offices had to bow down to.

“Can you set up a meeting? We would like to discuss a truce between the businesses on the station.” One of the men from across the street offered.

“I will. Would you like it to be with the Black Market and me as observers, with the Envoys to oversee the negotiation, or would you like to do it privately with myself or my Subcommander as a mediator?”

Max was a bit intimidating as a mediator, as he was the boss of this ship, but the black market was scarier, as the consequences of them getting annoyed with the two groups would be far more wide-reaching than just a few city blocks here on Absolution.

“If you have time, we would be honoured to have you meditate.” The large orange giant agreed.

“Perfect. I see that there is a restaurant on this corner. Does it have a private room?” Max asked.

“It does. I will have the staff get it set up right away.” The chubby-faced chef agreed with a smile.

The chances of him getting paid for this meeting were small, but he could brag to his bosses and anyone else who would listen that the Commander had personally chosen his restaurant for important business meetings in the past.

It was a strong claim and would bring in business, but it had to be true because too many species could detect lies without using any equipment.