“What the hell do you mean?”

I instantly had my hackles up. Taking our money was one thing. Even if it was a lot of money, we kept our independence and decided our own fate. But founding a corporation? And with someone in leadership that I knew nothing about? I had already seen someone betray me due to their own secret agenda. And Ralgau’s story was another example of the shit show this could quickly become. So why the hell would I want Nirazera in a position of authority?

“I mean that I want you guys to form a corporation. Set it up all proper, register it, make things legal and binding. I am all for handshakes in a dark alley but some things have to be done right. And I want to buy into the company. I assume that you will be one of the leaders. And I guess Ralgau has a deciding vote as well.”

“Me? Nah, I don’t know. Sharing an opinion is enough for me. I don’t want to run a corp.” the big guy chimed in. “Although I think overall it seems like a good idea to go the corp route down the line. It will add a layer of protection.”

“Are you certain?”

Nirazera looked in his direction. When Ralgau nod-grunted she shrugged.

“Makes it easier then.”

“Wait, I have not made a decision if I even want to create a corp, much less if I want to have you on board with it. Plus I am sure there are other demands. First I want everything out on the table. Then we will see. Plus I need to talk to some people before I can even make a decision. So, let’s hear everything.”

She sighed.

“Fine. I want to buy into your corporation. You have already shaken up this system. Both in terms of conflict but also in terms of business. You have completed an indenture contract in record time, started a successful, if we move past the conflict parts, mining claim that makes good money and wasn’t even your main goal. You found a relic, which hasn’t happened in the Free Worlds Territory for the last few hundred years.

“I said I will buy into the company. That means I will invest money and get a mercenary company to protect your claim and the ship until it is ready to go.

“In return I am expecting a few things. One: I will go with you on your new ship. I have spent too much time out here in the sticks. Two: We will deliver the data I told you about. Don’t worry, you will not be responsible for the memory requirements. In fact you will not even hold the data. Three: I am expecting to receive an equal share of the profits.”

“Like I said, I can’t make a decision on this now without contacting someone else first. That being said… nothing you brought up sounds unreasonable. There is one point I need to make clear right from the start though: I will be in charge. If we set up a corp, I will make the final decisions after conferring with leadership.”

“And why would I agree to that?” Nirazera raised her eyebrows.

“Mostly because it seems like you are very interested in being a part of whatever happens when we get our hands finally on the relic. My gut tells me that you might be bored here and this is a way for more excitement. Or it might be that you have another agenda I don’t know. But you pushing so hard for the corp to happen and to be a part of it tells me something.”

Nirazera nodded. “You are not wrong. On both accounts. But we shall table the continuation of this for the moment. I agree. I believe you are smart and capable and think you would do the right thing after information has been presented to you. Reach out to the people you need to talk to and then we will make it happen. I will contact Stardust.”

“Stardust MGCD?” Ralgau asked.

When Nirazera nodded he whistled.

“Consider me floating that bill as my buyin. I am sure the big guy will tell you what that means. Contact me when you are ready to proceed. I will take care of the rest of… this.”

She made a gesture across the room. I guess that meant the bodies plus the RD dude that survived. Not sure what she had planned but I also wasn’t sure I wanted to know.

On the way back to the hotel Ralgau filled me in on the mercenaries. Apparently they were a big deal and expensive. The fact that Nirazera could contact and hire them like that meant that they had to have history. As Ralgau told me, not even system governments were able to hire them just like that. Additionally, these guys were expensive. I wasn’t sure what deal Nirazera would strike with them but since it was in her interest to see us claiming the ship, I wasn’t going to argue. Although it did make me feel out of control.

You know when you had to rely on someone else to do something and you are not sure they were doing it right or for the right reason. In this case I was still unclear about the true motivation behind her desire to be part of the corp I wasn’t even sure I wanted to form. And that meant that a force of mercenaries that was not beholden to me was a danger I didn’t want in the mix. But then again, even if I hired them, mercenaries didn’t seem like a good option in general. I mean I understand that I have a bias. You say to anybody mercenaries and usually you are met with this understanding that you are talking about a bunch of people who are good at violence and loyal to the highest bidder. And that struck me as dangerous. I didn’t know how much money Nirazera had squirreled away but I was quite certain that an organisation like Black Dragon would easily have more.

When I sounding boarded these thoughts off Ralgau, his answer was quite different to my image of mercenaries.

“You have the wrong idea Malcolm. First and foremost, all mercenary groups are corporations set up to make money. So of course they would go after the lucrative contracts. However, contracts come with expiration dates that can be extended or renegotiated. So switching sides happens but normally only when a contract is at the end. Additionally, mercenary corps, while interested in and good at fighting also have a responsibility towards their employees. That means that they pick and choose which conflicts they engage in quite carefully. Yes, some extra danger can be made up with extra payment. But there is a point where no corp will risk their future by losing too many of their top employees. And if a mercenary corp would take any assignment for money, that is what would happen. And finally there is corp culture. Or you might call it corp values. Whatever name you give it, it is very important to keep this in mind. If the corp values and the employee values don’t align, you will lose the good employees and keep the bad ones. That is a cycle and while it might be less impactful in the short run, it will ruin a corp in the long run. And that also means that merc corps usually only take contracts that align with their company values.

As for Stardust MGCD, their reputation is stellar. When they take a contract, they see it through. And not just time wise. Stardust contracts normally specify a goal to accomplish and from what I hear, they make sure to always hit that goal. I have never heard of them switching sides when the contract is up. And finally, if your goals and values are not aligned with theirs, they normally walk away.”

“Normally?” I asked.

“Yes. I heard of a story where they were contacted to prevent a bunch of corporate miners in an out of the way system from forming a union. The company was of the opinion that they rather deal with the ‘turnover’ than with a union. Stardust came in, took a look, declined the contract of the corp and instead offered one to the miners. Nothing major, just guarding the gate and making sure no other interference was happening while the miners got their union going.

“Of course the company that had tried to hire them initially made a huge fuss, tried to kill their reputation, drag them to court, what have you. In the end, all legal proceedings were stopped when Stardust won one after the other and after nearly a year of turmoil, they came out on the other side with a better reputation and stronger standings.”

I pondered his response for a moment. Sounded a little too good for my taste, you know? Some weird Robin Hood corp or something. Supporting the underdog. I wonder what kind of corp could live off of that. But then again, I knew of some companies who would take on the underdog cases and fight for justice IRL. So maybe there was something to them.

“So you are saying they won’t stab us in the back?”

“There are other corps out there with similar mindsets. Some of them try to copy Stardust, others doing their thing according to their own code. I would be okay with any of them watching our backs. Stardust is another level though. If they sign on for this, I will sleep soundly.”

“You sound like a fanboy.”

“What is a fanboy?” he asked with his eyebrow raised.

Damn, that threw me. Why could my comments not simply be understood?

“Nevermind. I tried to poke fun of you but it didn't work out. So, have you ever run into them?”

“No, I haven’t. But I follow any news article that is there about Stardust. When I was younger I dreamt of hiring on with them. Since that never happened, I just followed the official news and whatever I could get my hand on.”

“Hahaha, you really are a fanboy.” I laughed.

He responded with the Ralgau snort that meant something along the lines of ‘Fuck you’.

After this enlightening conversation I made my way back to my hotel room. I needed to figure out how Brelic was involved in all of this, if not for the damages caused then at least so I didn’t feel as behind on things as I seemed to be.

Thinking of this, I wanted to bang my head against the table. How had I not seen this. I mean he seemed to have played everybody on the claim but I should have been better at spotting that. Considering I declared myself the leader and decision maker any chance I got, I should at least live up to my own expectations.

In the end I decided to send Nic a message and then have a nap. It had only been a few hours since I woke up but the high intensity situations, getting zapped and then negotiating with Nirazera had sapped my energy.

I updated Nic on everything that had happened and asked her when she would arrive. I also asked her opinion on the whole corp foundation thing and told her that I hoped she would come on board with that, if only to balance Nirazera andher agenda. Plus Nic was smart and like I said before she always saw an angle to play.

Me and her had never really been playing the same kinds of games, so it was hard for me to truly evaluate her ability. But when we had dated, we had of course engaged in friendly competition for sweet rewards. And even in the games that she was less familiar with, she gave me a run for the money. I guess it didn’t help that I hadn't really minded losing to her. Either way I had felt rewarded by whatever she came up with. And with those sweet memories I drifted off to sleep.