Konania Establishes Business Deal with Vortex Corp
Federal Republic of Konania Establishes Business Deal with Vortex Corporation
"In a recent summit between the Konanian Federal Republic and the Vortex Corporation both nations agreed on a trade package that would allow oil drilling and mining in the southern territory of Konania, with adequate commisions paid to the government.
This drilling would take place alongside the Konanian Geological Resources Guild (KGRG), based in the city of Aken in the region of Canterras Mountian Range. Government officials have said 'We are thrilled to be able to begin such trade with this nation.'
The Vortex Coporation is expected to move their equipment in within the next few weeks...."
--Excerpt, Newsday news magazine
[ooc:
Vortex: If you want to start an RP around this, post your people arriving n the south and tg me; otherwise just acknowledge and I'll give a description of what you would see there.]
"Konanian Air Control, please come in. This is the Pyros task force, requesting coördinates for nearest landing zone."
"This is KAC, roger that. Transmitting coördinates now"
Fifteen minutes later, a group of dropships touched down on Konanian soil. As the roaring sounds of their engines stopped, the cargo doors opened and several large transport hoverdynes, loaded with prefabricated barracks slided out. Soon after, construction crews started assembling the various prefab parts, until hours later a medium-sized village was created. Then, a second wave of dropships with permission to enter Konanian space touched down. These carried the large drills and the mining equipment that would be needed.
In the meanwhile, the leading engineers of the project had contacted the representatives of the Konanian government they would be dealing with. Now, all they had to do for now was await their arrival, so they could receive their final instructions, as well as the needed documents to make the mission official.
The necessary graphs and geological charts had been transmitted weeks ago, and every task group within the Pyro group had a detailed schedule of activity, allowing for a very tight and smooth process of mining and oil drilling.
At about this time, the Konanian convoy appears over the barren terrain. The group is made up of a variety of small vehicles, marked with the insignia of either the governing authority or the KNDF. They bring their own small task force of government officials and enginneers. The Vortex officials might note a heavy military prescense to the northwest.
While most of the vehicles stop outside the set perimeter of the complex, a select few come inside to meet the Vortex delegation. Their doors open simultaniously, and the representatives from the city of Akhen step out.
"Good afternoon," a man says, walking toward his Vortex counterpart. "Name's Levitt. I assume you enjoyed your trip, yes? Good, good."
He takes out a datapad--something now so common students are given them from their first days in school--and taps a bit. Setting it down, an outline of the area is displayed holographically midair.
"Alright then. There are six different sites here, a mix between oil, iron ore, etc, etc. We're building a pipeline to the port at Akhen, for shipping, selling; I believe you have some people working there now. Out to your east is the sea, of course. We're asking that you not fly over the west, it's a restricted No-Fly zone." He grins kindly, finally handing over the arrival contract. "You'll get a hard copy, and a digital of this, as will we, of course. So, any questions, comments?"
"Good to meet you. I'm Darrel Somtaaw, head engineer for the project. We've been briefed extensively and we have gone through all the material you have sent us in advance. So concerning the actual operation, I have no questions. Just one thing though, we would like to keep a flight vector from our own nation to this location open. That way, we can get additional material and equipment without having to ask for permission every time.
Also, I'd like to know if it will be necessary for me to ask for additional security with my superiors."
As he speaks, large digging tools, mounted on hoverdyne platforms, hover past the two of them, on route to their target sites. The whole area is an organized chaos of construction crews, vehicles and materials that are all starting up their operations. As the activities go on, three guard towers are erected in a triangular shape around the gathered dropships. On top of each, dual Shogata rifles are mounted, to discourage anybody that might have the intention to steal some of the very expensive equipment stored in the ships.
Levitt nods quietly. He had expected the first question. "Granted. We haven't found all the resources in this area, so we believe it would be nesscessary to import from time to time." He glances around him, noting the various weaponry around. Avoiding corporate warfare, it seemed.
"As for security, you may have all you want, but I doubt you'll need it. Konania's rather safe, and there's a military base in the area. In the event of an emergency they'll be the first to respond, even before the Akhen civil authority."
"Well, that's a big relief. Those turrets are placed primarily because last time, a competitor tried to steal materials and designs in order to copy our technology. We prefer to avoid that this time, of course.
Now, if you'll excuse me, gentlemen, I have a whole lot of work to do. The sooner I do it, the sooner you'll be coutning your profits."
With a smirk on his face, Somtaaw tapped his hand against his helmet and walked off towards a group of engineers standing nearby.
Levitt smiled. Yes, profits. "Ok, Akhen group, let's roll out!"
The Amvee column inside the complex departed to the north, toward Akhen. The others that were outside moved to the east, hinting that this had been a sort of pit stop in their journey to another city.
Within a few minutes, all Konanian officials were out of sight. Levitt's group began the construction of the pipeline hours after they returned.
Five weeks later
Everything had been going smoothly. The equipment was all brand new, and the crews handling it were among the most experienced the Corporation had to offer. At all six sites, large machines had been put in place. While the oil drilling had started with the use of magnificent drills, contigents of Spider Drones has started their pre-programmed mining activities, supported by human engineers and controllers.
The mining activities were the easy part. Only a thin layer of rock had to be cleared before the drones could start harvesting iron and the occasional other minerals. Every night, the drones were subjected to thorough inspections, to ensure that they would be fully operational the next day.
One problem arose with the oil drilling, though. After two weeks, a steady flow of oil was being stored every day, until a junior engineer assistant decided to take a look at the drills while smoking his morning cigarette. Fortunately, the drills were not powered and at work at the time, but there were still oil vapors haning around the site.
The result was a huge flame, that could be seen all over the construction site, all the way up to the spaces where the dropships had touched down. Fortunately, emergency teams were able to control the fire very swiftly, and after several pieces of equipment were replaced and the scorched body had been recovered, work continued with only a 23 hour delay.
Now, Somtaaw ws going through the periodical reports, which stated the results and progress of the project. What he saw satisfied him, as the reports stated they were 5% ahead of schedule. Soon, he'd fax these documents to the Konanian supervisors. But first, coffee...
Levitt peruses the report gladl. More iron ore, more oil, more cash. The current surplus was being sent to both the port in Akhen and the Vortex Corporation.
The accidental explosion worried some legislators, but not the wisest of them, who expected that such accidents would occur. Smoking was looked down upon traditionally as the cause of Konania's problems in history, such as the fool who chose to light up on the deck of a warship while it was supposed to be running dark.
I could even retire early, Levitt thought, closing the report and returning to other duties of the day.
A man exited one of the mining shafts. As he ran out, the artificial brains of the Drones working there tried their best to avoid him, yet only barely succeeded. As he continued his way to the communications office, Somtaaw bursted into the door and immediately shoved the personnel in there aside.
"Get out people! Out, out, out....Yes, that includes you! Go!"
He took a seat behind one of the computers, and started typing hastily. Shortly after, the following message was dispatched to the Konanians.
[#Extreme Urgency#]
From: D. Somtaaw
To: Mr. Levitt
A group of drones struck a batch of diamonds in one of the shafts. There seem to be more. Scans did not record its presence earlier, due to heavy mineral layers just above the site. Please come down to verify and advice on future action.
Levitt accepted the prinotout from the secretary and set it on his desk, face up, ambly finishing his coffee while looking down at it. In his initaial shock, he picked it up again and held it close to his face, reading each letter to be sure he hadn't made a mistake. The paper fluttered from his hands, and he was gone before it hit the floor.
Needless to say, Levitt's full daily schedule formed an immidieate opening. Rather than take the roads that led to this remote area of Konania, he chose to take an AMV--only wheeled vehicles were allowed in the city of Akhen--and make his way off road to the site by following the soon-to-be-covered pipeline.
The car came suddenly to a stop outside the complex's main structure, and Levitt tore open the door, pushing his way in, leaving the car on.
"Mr. Somtaaw! David Somtaaw!" he yells, looking around, finally finding the man. "Where are they?"
"Follow me", Somtaaw replied, without wasting any time on formal greetings. He lead Levitt to a light hoverdyne near the barrack in which he had been analyzing results. As they got in the vehicle, he pushed a few buttons, put his feet on the pedal, and accelerated.
A few minutes later, the hoverdyne slided up to the entrance of a mining shaft. Both men got out of it, and while walking towards the mine entrance, Somtaaw gave the foreman a signal to put all drones in the vicinity on standby. Shortly after, each drone stood its ground without moving a single one of its artificial limbs, allowing the two men easy access into the shaft.
While Somtaaw explained in detail what they had found, they descended deep into the earth, after taking place on a small hoverdyne platform, operated by one of Somtaaw's people.
"Every now and then, the preprogrammed drones make a mistake. This is because the programs that control them, all have a very small random error possibility. I do not know if you are familiar with Six Sigma systems, but it means each drone has an error margin of only 0.0003 percent. When one of the drones entered this margin yesterday morning, it rigged a small set of explosives a few meters outside the intended target zone. When it detonated, some of my people wanted to analyze the damage and see if the structural integrity of the shaft was compromised.
The shaft was fine, but we did find diamond traces in the debris. After a few more small detonations, we extracted several high-quality diamonds out of the rocks. Further analysis showed that a large diamond deposit is located directly beneath the dense mineral layer here."
As they spoke, the hoverdyne platform lessened speed until it came to a full stop. As both men got out, Somtaaw led Levitt into a cave that had been blasted into the walls of this corridor of the mines. Inside, Levitt saw it with his own eyes.
The entire cave shimmered in reflections of light, caused by dozens and dozens of diamonds...
Levitt utters a quiet curse--or prayer--or word of thanks--upon seeing the glimmering walls. Thousands of them, no, millions upon millions upon millions of them.
Walking over to the wall, he pulls a very small crystal. It, and the small bunch it was with, come away into his palm.
Who would care about the oil anymore....
"Somtaaw," he says, quietly, and then louder. "Somtaaw, I think were going to be rich." He glances around, finally coming to his senses. "Did you bring a diamond expert?"
"No, unfortunately not. We did not expect this to happen, after all. But we do have excellent analyzing equipment, which has been scanning the diamonds for almost 24 hours now. The result are, I might add, very positive. 60% of these diamonds qualifies as high quality gems. 10% of the stones is top quality, the best of the best. The remaining 30% is not all that special, but can still be sold with a nice profit."
Picking up a small diamond from the floor, Somtaaw smiles. Indeed, this would make some people in Konania and the Corporation very, very rich. And he and Levitt would be amongst those people.
Levitt stares at the walls for a moment, and finally says one word.
"Security." Yes, this place needed security, and even more than the Vortex Corporation had sent to begin with.
He stands facing the wall, thoughtfully for a moment, and then turns toward Somtaaw.
"This is going to become some high valued real estate. I can call Avalon and get a group from Akhen to guard this place, if you're willing."
"Good plan. I'll send a request for some Black Wolf squads immediately."
Levitt slips back to the Amvee, popping open the onboard comp. A few words later, he's closed it up, and sits to wait.
Within minutes, the Konanian National Defense Force appears in force from the nearby base, encircling the complex.
In the middle of the prefabricated village, a large barrack stands. Nobody was allowed to enter, and eight guards with the company of two WarDogs were constantly guarding it. Some of the more observing workers had also noted that this barrack was well inside the range of fire for the three guardtowers, erected near the dropships.
As Levitt and Somtaaw watched the Konanian security detail move in, Somtaaw decided it was now his turn. He began giving orders, which were received by communications officers through his earpiece and microphone. Soon after, he told Levitt to turn around and watch what would happen. Now looking at the large barrack, Levitt witnessed how a dropship came hovering above it, while three men attached heavy cables to the roof. When they finished, the dropship gianed some altitude and lifted the entire structure off the ground, putting it down again half a mile up north.Instead of the large barrack, the center of the village was now occupied by a large, circle-shaped portal: a corporate StarGate.
As both men watched what would happen, a low soaring sound could be heared. Seconds after, the Gate opened, giving way to a huge wave of blue and white plasma, which withdrew into the portal soon, leaving behind a smooth, vertical surface of plasma, shimmering in white and blue.
Levitt and Somtaaw observed how eight Rhinox APC Hoverdynes came through the Gate, each carrying a team of eight Black Wolf Special Forces. Behind them, two Volans heavy hoverdynes came through. Each of them reflected the light of the setting sun with their blue platings. Their massive dual Shogata cannons slowly rotated on top of them, ever ready to unleash their deadly payloads on any possible enemy.
Last, but not least was a squad of Lacerta Beam platforms. A very new Corporate weapon, these hovering hulks mounted large Prisms, capable of creating beams of extremely concentrated energy, able to fire over a large distance.
As the six vehicles and sixty-four men and women assumed their positions, Somtaaw grinned at Levitt:
"We were not prepared for diamonds, true. But we are ALWAYS prepared for trouble."
A Konanian ranger's pulse-rifle, which had been pointing skyward, slacks to one side. The company of troopers exchange looks.
A breif silence goes by.
"Dang," someone mutters.
"Impressive," Levitt says, nodding. "Glad to see that you guys.... know what you're doing."
[ooc: dang. I thought the post went through.]
"Well, your soldiers also look very professional, I must say. Maybe we should submit a proposal to hold shared exercises when this is over."
Levitt nodded. "Aye," he says. "Now there's the matter of what to do with it all."
[ooc Sorry for delay of game, so to speak.]
"Well, to be honest with you, I don't know much about diamonds. That is, I do know how to extract them from the mines, but what to do from then on, I don't know. I suggest we get a mixed team of experts here, let them value the diamonds we extract and then we divide them amongst our nations. I've contacted by superiours this morning. They will agree on a 15% cut in the diamonds, leaving you with 80%. After all, we've found them on your soil."
Levitt agrees, "15, 80, sounds good." That was a lot of money, either way, but he notices that 15 and 80 do not add up to one hundred. Ah, well; probably some internal VC thing, if they wanted it, they could have it.
"Alright then. As for experts, any suggestions? Favorites? Museum curators?"
[ooc: the other 5% is used to cover the extra costs of setting up additional mining activities for the diamonds]
Somtaaw thinks for a minute, and then makes his reply.
"We have a rich jewelry branch in the Corporation. I could arrange for several experts in diamond quality to be transported here, so that they might appraise what we mine, and point out in which areas we will find the highest quality of diamonds. As for any other experts you might wish to get involved, I hope your own nation also has specialists that could be of use"