Business Proposition

"I'm not understanding this." Osiph muttered. Maya slurped loudly on her coffee as she stared out the large floor to ceiling windows that exposed the high end restaurant to a magnificent view of Dousivette VIII below.

"What's up?" she asked, returning to her steak and eggs.

"My wallet. I seem to be losing ISK instead of making it." She said, "I'm sure the things I produce are profitable."

"Are you sure?" Amalea asked. Osiph reluctantly handed her terminal to Amalea who scanned it quickly while tapping, "Oh no. You're making money. You just don't have it as liquid ISK."

"What?" Osiph asked, taking the terminal back. Amalea leaned over to point.

"You started with what, a little over two billion when you sold Sain's Charon, right?"

"Yeah, roughly." Osiph nodded.

"Now you have about four hundred million in ISK left, several lines running T2 modules worth maybe another hundred million, plus look here." Amalea pointed at Osiph's assets, "You're materials station container has about nine hundred million worth of stuff in it."

"That's still four or five million short, Amalea." Maya advised.

"Yeah, but she bought a Plex a while ago to try and trade, am I right?" she asked. Osiph just nodded, "That puts her at a net profit after this month."

"But I need to buy more materials to keep producing." Osiph said, "I keep running out of one particular item I need to keep going. I have loads of most of what I need, it's just one particular item that keeps running out."

"You probably kept buying materials in bulk, didn't you." Amalea said, "You have too much wealth in assets and none to spend on things you need."

"Yes. Exactly." Osiph said, "I should have been buying just the right amount of materials I needed for the jobs I wanted to put through."

"Exactly." Amalea said, taking a bite of her toast. The table went silent as Osiph and Maya just stared at Amalea with their mouths open for a long time until Amalea noticed and became uncomfortable.

"What?" She asked, "Do I have jam on my face?"

"How the hell do you know so much about this stuff?" Maya asked.

"And why aren't you doing it yourself?" Osiph asked.

"Oh, I, um, read books I suppose. I study." she muttered, "And I don't have the money to invest in that stuff. It costs a lot to start up something like that."

"You need to work for me then." Osiph said with a smile, "We go into it partners."

"What about me?" Maya asked, feeling left out.

"We're all in this together then!" Osiph said, "You can be logistics!"

"Because I can fly an Orca?" she asked, "I need a pilot's license renewal first. This was the issue that Sain runs into all the time. Getting a Plex for all of us."

"Exactly." Osiph said, leaning back in her chair, "I'm planning to run a business that would profit those Plexes each month. But it will take some time.

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Not sure if it's the best thing I could have done, but I've made a change in my current ratting ship. See, I've been eying the Rattlesnake for a while now and can fly one, just not with T2 launchers or sentries. Then, a corpmate posted a contract for one, fully T2 fitted for cheaper than buying it off the market and now my wallet is dwindling under a hundred mill again.

Was it an impulse buy? Perhaps. But I think it's going to pay off once I get the skills for those launchers and drones.

The main reason I wanted to upgrade, was because my Ishtar was just taking too long to clear sites of enemy pirates. Sites ran from 30-45 minutes each and started getting boring after a while as my tank barely budged and my recovery rate on my shields were high. So I bought this Rattlesnake as an upgrade, but with my skills only allowing T1 ammo, drones and Meta 4 launchers, It's breaking about even with the Ishtar.

Plus, I'm enjoying the sniper fit. I can sit away from the blob and shoot from a distance, instead of being right in the thick of it. Also, outside of scram and web range. This was also the first time using Sentry Drones and I'm still learning how they work. I learned that Wardens have a longer range than the Guards I had in stock, and was, for some reason, fielding one of each because one does thermal and the other does kinetic damage. I started watching the damage notifications and realized at range, one was hitting, the other missing entirely, which led me into the investigation of why. I realized that with the Ishtar, though still showing potential, was nearly capped at the DPS I could put out without a very lengthy skill train to T2 Blasters or Rails. I know I need to train them eventually, but I kind of like missiles over guns.

Plus the Rattlesnake looks great. It seems to already have some fangs with just the hull alone. I've decided to start training into flying it a lot better.

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I tap the stop button as I finished recording my log. I keep forgetting to do these things for longer and longer periods of time. Seems like once a month. It's shameful is what it is.

I glance at my wallet and sighed heavily. My ISK was getting low and I needed to sell some PI and whatnot, but that meant actually going to the station where it is to contract it to the corp. Ratting is getting me money, but now I had to make up the four hundred and fifty ISK I spent of that Rattlesnake.

I stared at the unmoving numbers of my wallet's balance, then I began to read my email as an idea formed in my head. A bulletin from the CEO asking for industrialists to buy SRP fits in Jita and ship them up to the area for Alliance use and standard operations. Bulletin is asking for a tidy profit to be made on each ship brought up.

Buying is great and all, but it's cheaper to manufacture. Plus the profits would be better. I opened a new message and set the recipient to Osiph Darkwing.

To: Osiph Darkwing
CC: Amalea Nao; Maya Nao
Subject: Business Proposition

I have an idea that would interest you. Can we set a time to talk?