NationStates Jolt Archive

The ship bobbed offshore. Onboard, the captain was waiting. Waiting. The signal for the trade to be carried out. Onboard, 1000 pills of ZEN, and over 50 kg of Hyperspeed. They would make a killing. First though...the money. All
Æ1.9 million of it.

=====

The director of the AUM was happy: the last vestule of competition in the twin city had been killed, filled with sprays from drive-by shootings.

And, he had just harvested the latest crop of Fri'nulio'pilsan, a plant in which the root contained TYRIA, that was the constiuent of Hyperspeed.

In total, they would make a few billion in profit, in addition to the arms dealing.

=====

The farmers in the forest clearing were watched by 15 men, invisible in the trees. They were their to stop anyone getting the crop, and would shoot to kill if anyone threatened the valuable plant.

A small boat approached, using a small light to broadcast a message in code to the mysterious vessel. Two men were aboard, as was a plastic case, full of 95000 florins. A massive amount of money, as the exchange rate with Universal standard Dollars hovered around 20 dollars to the florin. It was not the main currency, but it was often used in large transfers like these...

The boat rocked as it gently knocked against the Alfegian boat.

"It's in Florins..." The man paused as he threw over the case "..but its what you asked for. Now, be quick, police are 'round here."

The goods had been transferred. The boxes loaded. The fee paid. And now, the goods were on their way as the Weccanfelt boat pushed off into the darkness of the night.

Danika Priest, known to the public at large as Controller 5, gazed out the window of the government skyscraper. Before her laid Techno Trade City, the setting of all international trade with the otherwise closed state. Miles of Neon billboards and lit skyscrapers clashed with the darkness of the sky, and it hurt her eyes.

She knew why she had been called to the city. Recent research had identified the creation of a new drug, one that would be most beneficial to her government, ZEN. With promises of nonaddictive euphoria, this was exactly what the government needed. If regulated and properly dispensed by the government, this could keep the populace relaxed and content, too happy to challenge authority at least.

Danika had to find the creators of this drug, and request production rights. If they wouldn’t sell, her orders were to take the formula by force. Her aide called to her, “Lady Controller, the boat is ready.”

Danika walked out to the dock, and saw her ship. What from the outside appeared a luxury yacht was actually staffed by 20 marines, and battle ready, at least ready for an encounter with some drug runners. The boat set off and Danica relaxed with a glass of Chardonnay. The creators of ZEN were about to meet their biggest client.

OOC: sorry this isn’t that good i’m a bit short for time. I’ll improve it later If you need to me change it that's fine

OOC: Tis OK.

IC:
The boat moved off. First, they would launder the money, before exchanging it in Alfegos for the correct amount.

=====

The ZEN drug was made from natural ingredients. In the rainforest, clearings filled with red plants were common, but the purple stemmed ones...
ZEN was rare, but the drug was potent.One leaf from the plant could make around 100 doses.

The harvest had finished for ZEN, and it was being processed in the many illegal factories: crushed, boiled, distilled, purified, reacted then crystallised and ground. After that, it was combined with paste to create the strange purple tablets.

These went on to the buyers, who now were all the AUM.

=====

The Fego'fai, as he was known, was a very powerful man. And rcently, he had heard of foreign interests.

"The person from Mephras is coming to see you"
"Well, I'll be OK with that. I just hope I can persuade to supply the drugs, not the formula. Nevertheless..."

=====

Several hours later, the yacht arrived at a small, isolated cove. A few lights could be seen poking through the heavy jungle cover. "Why do I always get these night missions." Danika checked herself quickly in the bathroom mirror, and stepped out onto the dock. 5'10", Black hair, and a slim build, Danika had been known as a woman whose beauty was only rivaled by her brains. Danika had no qualms about using both of these to get her way, to which her high position attested. In her immaculately manicured hands she held a briefcase which held various papers, all for this meeting. She reached into her purse, and pulled out her cell phone. She punched in a number, and after a few seconds, she delivered the short message. "We're here."

Waiting for her was her personal bodyguard. 6'5" and well muscled, Franz seemed to be the typical tough guy, which was in many ways true. However he had served Danika for over 10 years, ever since she got into the government, and had developed some amount of affection for her, something rare among the people of Mephras these days. Expertly trained as a bodyguard, he nonetheless felt worried. After all, these were people who spent their whole lives hiding from legitimacy, enslaving people to addiction for a quick dollar. Could they really be trusted?

Both knew the possible danger, but they also knew of the government backing them, and were somewhat assured. Franz reached for Danika's hand, and she looked at him and smiled. "Shall we?"

The Fego'fai came up to meet the representitive of the Mephras governmnet.

" I see you have taken care of your security. That is good. Though we are operateing against my government, I'm still sure that we can make this deal work. So, you wanted Zen?"

Behind him, one of his Fai'Gur opened a small ring case. Inside was a pair of purple-blue pills.

"For you to sample ma'am."

Danika greeted the Fego'fai. He seemed rather sophisticated for one who made his life off drugs. It seemed everything had been taken care of, and the surroundings seemed secure.

An underling presented her with two small pills. She took the case and picked up a pill for further inspection. The small purplish blue pill shone in the dim light of the room. She thought to herself "Perfect. Easy, ready for the market, we can have these in every vending machine in Mephras in a month." However, the pill had to live up its claims as well. She was a bit nervous about testing, but it didn't show in her face. She snickered. "You know, if anything goes wrong, Mephrasian navy ships will descend on this location within the hour, and exterminate you and all of your business." She winked as she popped the pill into her mouth.

She took a seat as Franz watched intently. After about a minute, she fell into a deep trance.......she seemed to open her eyes, all around her was emptiness......a blinding white surrounded her.....after a few seconds the white flashed and changed to a swirl of thousands of colors....the world was spinning, slipping, fading away, yet everything seemed perfect. Her body seemed to disappear, her mind melt, yet all was serene, all in its place....

...Yet suddenly she jumped in the seat as though she had fallen from the heavens and slammed back into an unforgiving earth. All had returned to normal. She shot a glance at Franz, who had a somewhat worried look on his face, and then at the Fego'fai who wore a smile of self satisfaction on his face.

"It does work," she thought. But she still had to negotiate. "Well, the product seems to be in order." she spoke in a cold tone. "Our government is interested in an order of 500,000,000 tablets, and after that, production rights to produce Zen in our country. Our current offer is 300,000,000,000 dollars." She smiled, folded her hands and waited for the response. She had been through enough negotiations to realize that this was only the beginning.

"That deal, we can accept, for now." said the Fego'fai
"However, we have to tell you that the plant from which we derive ZEN is indigenous to Alfegos. It has never been able to grow elsewhere as well as it does here.

We are willing to let you produce the drug, at the cost of 5% of your profits from it every year. We will provide you with seeds, seedlings and fully grown plants, but are not sure whether they will take to your nation that well.

If that is the case, we can continue to ship the refined product to you"

He motioned, and another two underlings walked over, carrying between them a deep metal crate. The lid was opened, revealing over a million tablets in bags of 100.

"Our first delivery."

Danika had some of the marines take the crates back to the ship, but alas, this would never be enough, for the state had 1.7 billion citizens who needed release from the stresses of the world, release from responsibility. The production system needed to be more efficient.

"hmmm....that is quite troubling" Danika's faced changed. Mephrasian involvement with these goons wasn't over yet. "Well, our nation doesn't generally work on a profit basis and we rarely use money. I don't know how much you would make off that percentage. But, we have a counteroffer you might find interesting."

Danika stood up and started to pace back and forth, her eyes never breaking contact with the Fego'fai. "Ever grow tired of being hunted like dogs? Running from authorities, not being able to sleep at night for fear of a raid? How would you like a place where you could process your drug without fear of law? We could allow a small "autonomous settlement" within our borders. Production facilities, research centers, all safe under a web of bureaucracy. You could produce for us, and sell the rest, under the protection of the Mephrasian military. Of course your official existence would be denied, but all ships would be safe within our territorial waters. Once you leave our territory though, you would be on your own."

This wasn't the ideal arrangement, but most likely the most affective, at least until the drug could be synthesized. But she thought to herself, when dealing with drugs, one must defer to the drug lords.

The Fego'fai considered it.

"I would accept such a deal. I guess you wouldn't mind our other activites. We are, after all, what Alfegos calls a Mafia."

"All activity within the "autonomous community" would be allowed. However Mephras is a tightly controlled state, and if actions would spill into the nation proper, you would be expelled without question. All other activity, as long as it doesn't involve Mephrasian nationals, shall be allowed. Although, I suggest you keep a somewhat low profile, as Mephras would not risk an invasion to protect you. We would however give you as much safety as possible while relocation would be needed."

"Good then. I think we accept. We will continue our operations here, but will move our headquarters to your nation.

By the way, about Zen...Remember not to take more than two tablets. That will shut you out of reality for about a week. Three...you may have heard what happens."

The drugs were finished loading on, and soon he could expect his payment.

Meanwhile. another shipment of Hyperspeed was setting out from Alfegos, onboard an old trawler. This time it was carrying 2 million worth. Expensive.