Elias had been woken twice through the night by rifle-fire. The first time he left his tent to find two recruits had emptied the battery of their energy weapon on a couple of larvae that had been drawn to the lights. The second time he noticed a blinking notification on his display before he swung himself out of his campbed. He discovered the benefits of command as he watched his map update with three more larvae that the squad on watch cleared without issue. He watched the dots representing the recruits and focused on one in particular. At the side of his vision a small person shaped display appeared showing the recruits condition, armour and weapon power levels. Elias smiled as he fell back to sleep, he was looking forward to practicing more with his new command features.

The next morning the broke camp with Slim showing her personnel skills as she organised the recruits on a rota to clear camp, eat and shower. The good news continued as she renegotiated with the farmer who agreed not to charge for the night in exchange for the work they had done clearing land and the meat from the two 'grubs' that had not been torn to shreds by over-eager recruits. By the time the sun had risen, they were ready to set off from Southwatch and start their journey. Wanting to get some distance covered before training for the day Elias had the recruits load up into the troop carrier.

Though it would have been possible to head out across the Crust directly from the farmer's land it would be poor etiquette so he turned the vehicle to aim for the nearest gate out of Soutwatch. Like with all settlements he could see through the smaller buildings in this outer area towards the dome that reached up overhead. Building work was going on throughout the dome, a common sight after the central tower with the protective Crystal had been raised. A wave of construction and development then spread out from the centre with cheaper, more defensive structures now falling within the protection of the dome being replaced. Without realising they had probably saved the farmer quite a bit of work. The wave of development would spread to the edge of the settlement and Crust would need to be cleared to make way for the fields and farmers once more as they were shoved further out.

They wanted to spend the first leg of the journey following the trade route between Southwatch and Highpeak, it's neighbour to the East. Elias turned onto the road and towards the checkpoint marking the edge of the settlement.

"What's the hold up?" Asked Mouse as they sat waiting for the guard at the security point to open the gate.

"You did register our trip? Didn't you?" Slim asked him. For safety and practical purposes like knowing the settlement population numbers any groups had to register a journey out of the settlement with the company that was in control.

"Of course I registered it." Came the snarky reply from Mouse. He double checked something via his neural link before nodding. "Yes. Definitely."

Something was amiss though as rather than wave them through the gate the guard was coming up to the cab instead. At the same time another troop carrier was pulling up behind theirs and two men jumped out and headed forward to join him.

"Is one of you a," he looked down to check his console, "Mr Thompson?"

The three sat in the cab of the troop carrier shared a look. None of them had a clue what was happening. They glanced over at the three men waiting. One in military dress had an arrogant look of superiority that Elias associated with an academy commander. The second man that had approached from the troop carrier was wearing a smarter outfit, obviously not suited to travelling out of the settlement. He had been the one to direct the guard forward and the tall figure of one born and raised in a low gravity environment was bent over in a hunched position making Elias think it was unlikely he lived planetside most of the time.

"Yes, that's me." Elias said, getting out of the cab to move in front of them. "Can I help you?"

Without prompting, Mouse and Slim had slipped out of the cab as well to stand over one of Elias's shoulders.

"Yes, I hope so." Said the slim, tall man. His voice was soft and deep, feeling a mismatch to his figure. He pulled out a console from his pocket to hold in front of them but did not look away from Elias as he said.

"It seems from your manifest and registered journey that you might be planning on creating a settlement." He paused to see if the group would react.

"How did you get the details of our supplies?" Mouse asked.

"As the owner of a settlement we have to keep abreast of the supplies coming and going from our port." The man waved away the question, his eyes still fixed on Elias.

"Apologies, but I thought you would recognise or know of me." He elaborated as if this information would explain his interest in their affairs. The blank look from the trio prompted him to continue. "I am Vito Cady, head manager of Prevail on Carus." He held out his hand towards Elias.

"Elias Thompson." He wasn't sure what to add on the end. Stating he was the head of Nidus seemed superfluous as the man obviously knew who he was. "Alistair Sinclaid; Jenny Hui." He introduced Mouse and Slim also.

"Delighted." Said Mr Cady without feeling, he did not extend his hand to either of the others.

"So, sorry to be blunt Mr Cady, but we want to make the most of the day. Is there a problem with our expedition?" Elias cut to the chase, still curious why they had been stopped and sure it wasn't to exchange pleasantries.

"Problem?" Repeated Mr Cady. "No, not a problem Mr Thompson, an opportunity." He beamed a smile across at the group. "You see, we were made aware of the possible lack of," he waved his hand as if searching for the right word, "resources that your company holds." He turned to the man stood behind him. "While Prevail happens to have certain resources on hand, in Southwatch and ready to deploy. May I introduce Commander Daggart."

"Delighted." Elias parroted back the earlier phrase from Mr Cady, earning a stare from the commander in return.

"You see. We are always looking for appropriate endeavours to invest in." Mr Cady carried on, unphased by the interaction. "Commander Daggart has the Command skill at level C and can manage up to four hundred troops. In our troop carrier are an additional fifty recruits alongside two experienced five man squads. In addition we can secure a dropship with building resources and construction crew on establishment of a settlement. Much safer than needing this." He pointed at the trailer attached to the troop carrier. "Of course we can arrange for your resources to be shipped over as well. We wouldn't want to see a fledgling company struggle due to lack of resources. Perhaps it would be better to work together in this?" He stopped to let what he had been saying sink in.

"That's a very kind offer Mr Cady. I presume Commander Daggart and his men would be to follow our instruction?" Elias replied.

"Of course, subject to the normal limitations on the field." Said Mr Cady. Elias considered, normal limitations would mean that while he could instruct the commander to complete a task he could not dictate the fashion in which this would be done, that would be up to the commander.

"And I presume your offer comes at a price?" Elias asked.

"I am proposing a partnership Mr Thompson, fifty-fifty. You have something that is hard, but not impossible, to find. We have the resources to make the most of the possibilities a Crystal awards. Look at Southwatch, the speed of the expansion here shows you what we are capable of." Mr Cady had an eager rising cadence to his tone.

Like a true businessman he was trying to reel Elias in with the promise of what would come in the future as well as being offered now. Elias thought to what they hoped to achieve. A company that broke from the norm of placing profits above individuals. A settlement for those new to the planet to grow and strike out on their own if they wanted. A way for those who had worked hard to rest and retire without concern that what was theirs would be taken away. It was a grand vision and not one they would reach soon but key to the destination would be how they got there. He thought about stringing Mr Cady along, the strongest negotiation was one where you could walk away.

Instead he turned to Mouse and Slim and thought of what they were aiming for. They could complete their goal with the resources they had which was why they had not sought out investors before leaving Porta. There was something else there in the look of his companions; a deeper reason they would resent working with Prevail. Having made up his mind, there was no need to discuss the details.

"With regret I will have to decline your offer Mr Cady." Elias watched as the only sign of surprise was a slight twitch to Mr Cady's left eye. "We feel confident we will succeed in our task with our current resources." He offered his hand once more to signal that he was not open to discussing further.

"Very well Mr Thompson." The warmth had left Mr Cady's voice. "I wish you all the best."

With that he headed back to the troop carrier along with Commander Daggart. Once he had turned away Elias, Mouse and Slim all got back in to their vehicle and were finally waved through the gate to start their journey.

"What a dick." Said Mouse.

"What the fuck was that all about?" Said Elias.

"Good job Elias. I assume you haven't been part of many negotiations before?" Said Slim.

Elias picked up on her words. "No, why? Did I do something wrong?" He asked her.

"Nothing wrong, but normally there is a bit more back and forth. You know, let him down gently. That was a bit more like punching him in the face. Not the way a smaller company tends to act." Slim replied.

Elias thought about this for a moment. "I might have pissed him off, huh?" He said, to no-one in particular.

"Yup." Said Mouse.

"I think you did." Replied Slim.

Vito Cady returned to his office within the central tower of Southwatch. It was only his in the sense that it was reserved for any higher ranking members of Prevail to use when planetside. The luxury faux-leather chairs and faux-wood table giving more character than the standard formed plastics and metal that made up most of the rest of the building. He mused over the interaction with the young Mr Thompson earlier that morning. If he had not taken the dropship down to review and oversee some of the settlement expansion directly he would not have been in a position to approach the group. However, he was disappointed that there was not a deal to be made. Being so thoroughly dismissed after taking the time to relay the offer personally was particularly insulting.

He chuckled as he recalled Commander Duggart seething on the journey back over the lack of respect the 'young whelp' had given him. All the lesser managers were constantly fixated about their reputations and would have been the same, it was fortunate for Elias Thompson that Vito did not concern himself with such niceties. He was more concerned about the potential profit that the new settlement could bring in. The expedition was a risk and it had taken little of his resources to try and pressure a small company to give up huge potential profit to reduce that risk. He respected that they preferred to try it alone. Rather than waste any energy worrying about the rude behaviour he would focus on ensuring any profit to be made would, at least in part, end up in his hands.

"Cora." Vito messaged his personal secretary. "I anticipate a potential new dropship route somewhere to the East of Southwatch appearing in the next five to ten days. When it does I want at least twenty." He thought for a second and changed his mind, perhaps the insulting manner had annoyed him a little. "No, thirty percent of the colonists going down on that dropship to be our people. Make sure they appear unaffiliated."

"Yes Sir." Cora replied.

He had missed out on securing a percentage that he could easily leverage into a majority position but he knew to expand the new settlement would need people. The only thing they would have to sell to raise capital would be their land, and if he could own a quarter of that then it was as good as getting a quarter of the profit. Pleased he would still get something out of his morning excursion he turned back to the main matter at hand and reviewed the new applications for land and buildings in Southwatch.