More hypermatter than sense?

[Dunames Lopez]

Even though Dunames originally visited Bothawui because of the Bothawui Speeder Show, in order to look for ground vehicles that could be used on JanFathal, Eriadu or Ringo Vinda, like this new stair truck (although, admittedly, a stair truck would be better suited to Tomorrowland Starport than the other two) or the baggage truck, Star Tours heard about that new hypermatter producer that has had seemingly no luck in delivering hypermatter outside Bothawui, or just getting started selling hypermatter outside of Bothawui. Seraph Industries.

------------------------------------

ATTN: Xil Nevin

It has come to my attention that most companies operating hypermatter tankers are seemingly too tied to one faction. Yet the entire galaxy runs on hypermatter and hypermatter consumption is faction-independent, hence you would want to deal with a hypermatter tanking company that can go to both light-sided and dark-sided worlds. Also I might inquire about the volume or the mass of the current hypermatter tanking production of Seraph Industries before drafting a contract on Star Tours' behalf to deliver hypermatter across the galaxy.

Dunames Lopez

-----------------------------------

[member="Xil Nevin"]

 

[Kairus]

Xil Nevin swiveled on his chair, peering at Dunames Lopez. His hands are folded together, propped atop his lap. Although Seraph Industries is a relatively new company, there is currently a pending contract between them and Blith Tech. "Ah.. It appears you do not take much interest to the art of conversation. No matter, getting straight to business will do just fine."

The Muun clears his throat. "Here at Seraph Industries, we are capable of producing hundreds of thousands of tons of hypermatter daily. Our hypermatter extractor is a groundbreaking invention with impeccable efficiency. It would indeed behoove me to partner with someone such as yourself. For the right price, of course.."

[member="Dunames Lopez"]

 

[Dunames Lopez]

"With Star Tours, we can offer to deliver 300,000 tons of hypermatter in one run. For delivering hypermatter, the main advantage we offer is that we can actually land the ship on planetary surfaces. The main competitors that actually deliver hypermatter in such bulk amounts, including Hedeek Shipping in First Order space, Bluth Company in Silver Sanctum space, can't land such massive loads of hypermatter on planets. Since you mentioned Blith Tech, do they supply parts for building hypermatter refineries? Or is it another matter altogether?"

Plus Bluth Company is a major operator of TL-6000s, which are notorious for shipping hypermatter in exposed cargo pods. And they can only ship 40,000 tons of hypermatter in a flight. Sure, they can operate Tofolks and load 7,500 tons of hypermatter at a time for planetary use, but 7,500 tons of hypermatter will be gone in just a few days. Star Tours could load 40 times as much with less than 40 times the cost. Sure there are times where it just isn't practical to deliver more than a certain amount of hypermatter to a planet, but many of the destinations Star Tours already flies to would be planets where 7,500 tons of hypermatter won't last very long, and certainly not Eriadu. On JanFathal or Ringo Vinda that quantity may last a while longer, but it will not last until a Tofolk travelled from and to Bothawui round-trip.

"I may also be wondering about the status of Bothawui for refugee harboring. It is highly possible that the ship comes back to Bothawui laden with refugees; new technology enable us to convert a ship from refugee ferry to hypermatter tanker, and back, in a matter of hours"

The latest issue of Taking Off on a Star Tour rumored that they would send relief supplies to war-torn Malastare, Dulvoyinn and pick up some refugees from the southwest arm of One Sith space and then back to Alliance or Republic space, or Bothawui. The whole operation is funded by Star Tours' cut in delivering hypermatter to the target worlds, buying rations so that they can last a few days onboard until they arrive on Bothawui or whatever world would be more willing to harbor their share of the 25,000 refugees. Usually hypermatter costs 10-20 credits per ton to ship in bulk, on distances that range between a Bothawui-Malastare and a Bothawui-Dulvoyinn flight.

[member="Xil Nevin"]

 

[Kairus]

The Muun shakes his head. "Blith Tech does not provide such services. Regardless, We have our own refineries here in Bothawui." Xil Nevin cocks his head to the side, intrigued by her company's distinct advantage over other hypermatter tankers.

"Impressive. I have been looking for someone who would be able to keep up with my high rates of production. How much are you selling this hypermatter for? If I may inquire. As for the refugees, I do not think the planet is in the disposition to harbor refugees. We would prefer to avoid ties to any faction at the moment.. After all, isn't that one of your selling points?"

[member="Dunames Lopez"]

 

[Dunames Lopez]

"Hauling costs usually runs for about 5-10 credits per ton and about 10 credits per ton for refining it - I'm being generous here, the cost of refining - and hauling - is probably less than that. Hypermatter would then be sold to planetside retailers for about 20 credits per ton at most"

The Maersk-class tanker costs about twice as much to operate in absolute terms as the TL-6000 but was able to carry seven times as much in one go. Although Marcia Halpern helped make Star Tours gain fame for their ability to mystify the Factory Judges, hypermatter was one of those materials that Star Tours knew couldn't safely circumvent the Factory-rated specifications, if loaded to capacity. Meaning that Star Tours could haul hypermatter for about 1/3 the cost Bluth Company does it. The ArcShel has the main disadvantage of not being modular: once a configuration is factory-fitted, changing it requires extensive time in a shipyard, even though it once touted similar gains in economics to the Maersk, but only found favor among space shipping companies that could mostly do without landing on planets. And also, the AA-9-class suffers from the same flaw as the ArcShel: a lengthy conversion time, and does not even have weapons, despite it being able to land on planets. Meaning that choosing between an AA-9, an ArcShel or a Maersk depends on how much an operator expects the cargo to change from a flight to another, more than even how dangerous these routes are.

"I can tell you this much: no two tanking voyages are the same. Bluth Company, Maersk Star Freight, Hedeek Shipping, ask all of them and they will tell you that. But that ship will get back to Bothawui for reloading, either with passengers or with cargo. It may be easier to maintain neutrality if cargo arrives to Bothawui rather than passengers"

If that hypermatter deal is signed, Star Tours would be entering a new segment of the shipping market: rather than only being "commuter-style" spaceline, they can engage in cruising, that is, flying a certain set of destinations, where each stop will see only part of its contents loaded and unloaded, rather than the entire content, which is the case for commuter spacelines, like Bespin Direct.

[member="Xil Nevin"]

 

[Kairus]

Xil Nevin leans back on his chair. He stares at Dunames with a stern expression on his face. "I can sell you the hypermatter for 17 credits per ton. Since I am refining the hypermatter myself, you have no need to refine it. All you need to worry about is being able to transport the hypermatter to your retailers. It seems like a marginal profit, but you are hauling hundreds of thousands of tons per trip. You would be making a hefty profit, Ms. Lopez."

[member="Dunames Lopez"]

 

[Dunames Lopez]

That number of 5-10 credits per ton assumed that they were using TL-6000s; with the Maersk-class, they would be able to carry the hypermatter and sell it at 20 credits/ton (or 21 credits/ton) and still make a sizeable profit margin. In a matter of months they will have paid for themselves. The matter of the cargo making it back to Bothawui shouldn't be that much of a problem: speeder components, durasteel, materite, other luxury goods, also hauled at similar rates, or perhaps a little higher if there are multiple cargo owners needing to hire that ship at once.

"With one ship meaning that, while I can take 300,000 tons of hypermatter off your hands per flight, which takes about a week to go from Bothawui and back for loading, the question remains whether you would want us to have us be granted exclusivity over distribution of your hypermatter or not, knowing that doing so would require us to procure as many ships as there are weekly frequencies"

Seraph Industries awarding Star Tours exclusive rights to distributing Seraph Industries hypermatter would mean that... they are going to need a lot more ships. If Star Tours ran one Maersk they could semi-reliably count on 300,000 tons of hypermatter being delivered through Star Tours a week. Every day one Maersk would depart, and return, too, under that arrangement.

[member="Xil Nevin"]

 

[Kairus]

Xil Nevin shakes his head. "I cannot guarantee exclusivity to my hypermatter. Do not worry about the quantities Ms. Lopez. I can produce roughly 300,000 tons daily. I will sell you 50 percent of my current weekly production which turns out to be.." The Muun pauses for a moment. "one million and fifty thousand tons. How does that sound?"

[member="Dunames Lopez"]

 

[Dunames Lopez]

Accepting these terms would mean one Maersk would arrive on Bothawui every two days, more or less. But Star Tours would not be running only hypermatter routes. Something gotta return to Bothawui (although what is for certain is that it isn't going to be hypermatter) one way or another. With Coruscant poised for attack at any moment, on the other hand, it might be best to avoid Coruscant altogether until the battle ended. She knew that the battle of Coruscant was going to be one for the ages, and it will be many months until it can be fully rebuilt, regardless of how accurate Taking Off on a Star Tour was, and not simply because Coruscant was the One Sith capital. It may have been dealt a disastrous defeat at Dulvoyinn, but the outcome of what's happening on Coruscant will have grave implications on the passenger aspect of the business. Their main passenger cash cow, refugees outbound from One Sith space, will not be as fertile as it used to be, so Dunames is seeing in hypermatter tanking a way to mitigate a loss in cashflow post-Coruscant.

"This is still a rather sweet deal, so I suppose I will consider it at this point"

[member="Xil Nevin"]

 

[Kairus]

Xil Nevin smirks. "Splendid. Please return with a formal contract so we can immediately begin our business venture. When should I expect the first ship in Bothawui?"

[member="Dunames Lopez"]

 

[Dunames Lopez]

"I use a template for shipping contracts, where the terms and parties can be more or less like a fill-in-the-blanks. From the looks of it, you should expect the first ship in about two or three weeks"

Two or three weeks? That ship is the very first ship built in Soceras' facilities for Ringovinda StarYards; they said it would take a month to build a Maersk using one Egroeg full of R9 droids. But that load of hypermatter will arrive soon enough on Dulvoyinn in time for the assault on Coruscant. Ringovinda StarYards had given the go-ahead for production of the Maersk not long ago... and then Dunames actually fills in the blanks according to the terms agreed upon during their meeting. Usually shipping contracts are fairly standard and they lend themselves well to that sort of approach. There wasn't a whole lot of blanks to begin with.

"Here, Mr. Nevin"

[member="Xil Nevin"]

 

[Kairus]

Xil Nevin reaches over to his pen on the side of his desk. He inspects the contract carefully before nodding and signing off on the contract. "We will both become very wealthy from this contract, Ms. Lopez." He smirks as he extends his hand with the papers towards Dunames. "I will make the proper arrangements and have your shipment ready by then."

[member="Dunames Lopez"]