Mark That Ship Sold!
Posted on Thu 18th Mar, 2021 @ 9:51am by Sipov Boros
1,046 words; about a 5 minute read
Mission:
Business Not At All As Usual
Location: A Vahklas Class Vulcan Ship
Timeline: MD 4: 1055 hours
Previously, Boros investigated many parts of an old Vahklas Class ship, trying to find something for starting his new cargo business.
"So far everything checks out, unless I missed something up here we can make our way down to engineering." For the most part the Vulcan was sold but wanted to at least look at deck four.
Now, will the engineering department match the other impressive make-overs?
"Well, young fella, let's get on over there. I think you'll really like Engineering the best of all you've seen. We've not only refurbished, we've updated a lot there. This ship was built in 2069, almost the last Vahklas to be produced. Those Vulcans, though, they don't change a lot over time, and they'd already been at the ship building business for a while back in those days. The major refit was 100 years, but don't let the 300 plus years it has on it deter you. The ship is solid as a rock," the owner said, knocking on the bulkhead. "I'd expect another 100 years out of this hull now, and all the systems, too."
The older man led the way to deck four and the engineering marvels and updates about which he was bragging. Stepping off the ladder, he made a hand motion indicating that Boros should feel free to check out everything on the deck.
Taking a look it was apparent the entire deck was open and one could see all the way down to the other end. The warp core, computer core, auxiliary weapons controls ... everything someone might need to get into was all right there. He could see what appeared to be the phase cannons on either side fore of the deck. He also took note of the torpedo launcher and what he believed to be the life support systems ....
"Everything is easy to get to, I like that. I think an open deck plan would help folks get larger parts through here quicker, and everyone can see what is going on at any given time. Maybe a bit unusual, but if something overloads and there's an explosion, it's not like the majority of the ship would be less affected if things were more sectioned in here...."
Sipov began making his way around, noting the different displays and system status for what he could find. One of the biggest questions was between the age of the ship and the refit, what was the purchase price?
Moving back to the older gentleman he finally asked "So for all this, what are we looking at price wise?"
The man rubbed his hands together, happy to get to the meat of things. "Well, now, it depends on how you want to pay for it. I could sell it to you outright for about six hundred thousand Federation Credits, or six bars of GPL. But I know not too many of us have that much lying around to spend on a ship of our own. I'm guessing you're no different."
He gave a nod, Sipov definitely didn't have six bars in his pocket, but the Federation credit conversion was something that caught his ear. He could pay that off in a couple of months with what Ignatias had offered to pay him. The question was if what he had in mind for a payment plan the other man would agree to.
"You're correct I don't have that at the moment, but what would you say to me giving you one bar now as down payment and interest, and then next month three hundred thousand credits, and the month after that another three hundred thousand, and we can call it square. Until it's paid off, you'll hold a standard lien against the craft as well." An extra bar in the end he figured would be more than fair for the short term float.
The older man rubbed his chin, considering the pilot in front of him. It wasn't a bad deal, and it would net him a little more than he'd expected. But what if something happened to the ship on the first run?
Finally, he agreed, but with a stipulation. "Alright, I'll go for that deal, but for the first three months, or until you've paid off the loan, my name is beneficiary on the insurance, and it has to be insured for the value of the loan. If you'll do that, we have a deal. Final delivery in three days."
Sipov nodded in agreement, "We have a deal then." It was a risk he'd be willing to take, the insurance was something he understood and wanted to make sure any debt left was paid off.
"If you have a contract we can modify to these parameters and review quickly, I'll provide my thumb print. But I also would like an independent contractor to go through the ship as a contingency to make sure everything is good. I'll pay for it of course. Once a clean report is provided, the deal will be final." He offered his hand to shake, an custom he'd picked up from others in his past business dealings.
"No objections to having an independent confirm the fine work my men did here," the owner said, reaching for the extended hand. "Let's say on the third day from today, about 1400 hours I'll meet here with your contractor and go through things. You can show up a couple of hours later, and I'll have that contract ready for you. Do you have a barrister you'd like to review that ahead of time?"
Shaking his head, Boros said, "No, I'll look it over and, if there's something I have a concern with, I'll raise it, but it should be fairly straightforward. Just send me a copy, and we'll make it official after the inspection."
Sipov figured he had right about one bar of latinum between all of his accounts left that he could scrape up but he'd likely be without a place to live until he started his first job. Maybe he could live on the ship once he took receipt of it. But until then ....
"Is there anything else you wanted to show me or discuss? Otherwise, I think we have a plan to move forward with all of this."
"I think we do," agreed the businessman.
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