“… I try to hard, huh?”
- Suha Raibuya
“I… I just want to be told I did good for once!”
May 1st YC 124
6NJ8-V VII - Moon 2 - Guristas Logistic Support Station - Utatis Parinen’s auxiliary office space
< Suha walking towards Utatis’ desk >
“Suha… I wasn’t expect-”
< Suha placing a data pad in front of Utatis >
“… What is this?”
“Just look.”
“…”
< Utatis picking the datapad up from the desk >
“…”
“…”
“…”
“…”
“… What did you do?”
“I acted within my expertise.”
“Talk. Straight. What did you do?”
“Isn’t it obvious from the logs? I sold as many Caldari databanks as I could get my hands on to the Guristas, Utatis.”
“How did you get this many? Did you have Avio hunt down agents and kill them for you? Maybe have him start a drive in BOSS to massacre agents and interfere with Guristas asset recovery?!”
"As much as I have confidence in Avio’s capabilities… There’s no realistic way he alone could have acquired this many though hunting agents down…And then I find the idea of actively encouraging the hunting of agents to be counterproductive. No Utatis, while all of these databanks were looted from Guristas agents, I, nor Avio had any direct hand in the slaying l of any agents awaiting recovery.’
“Then where did all these come from?! How did you have this many to sell?”
< Suha sitting down in a chair. >
“As I said, we acted within our expertise and acquired them through the markets.”
“You found this many people willing to sell you databanks instead of going to more reliable and convenient buyers like the Caldari or any other empire?”
“More like they found us, Utatis…”
“Explain…”
“It’s the next file…”
“…”
“Avio’s transaction wallet history.”
“… You were just buying them off the market? At standard one million ISK rate no less? How did you get this many sellers at this price? They would’ve just sold to the State or other faction at that rate”
“Uh…Look closer…”
“…No.”
“I-it’s simple, really! I’m not claiming to have made some deeply innovative and elaborate market play. All we did was just… Set up a buy order with 1,000 ISK more than the going rate of a flat million!~ We that we became the dominant buy order Capsuleers would first sell to.”
“So they would just blindly sell to you thinking they were selling to the navy…”
“Yep! T-There’s probably a more prominent name for this, but I’ve gone with calling it a ‘Skim Order’. A buy order disguised as another with a digit higher payout to take priority and ‘Skim’ any incoming goods that were going to go to the legitimate transaction!”
“In Jita no less…Of course.”
“It was only the most optimal choice. Initially me and Avio had planned to stick similar buy orders in other trade hubs in the different empires to cover more ground. Yet found very limited activity, maybe a handful were skimmed from Rens. Dodixie was a bore, and Amarr we didn’t bother with. We then decided to just let the other Empires have their cut of the information leak and consolidate on Jita to save time in having to centralize our stockpile and deny the source of this data any returns.”
< Utatis leaning back >
“So you’re telling me you made Jita a compromised drop-off point essentially?”
“And compromised any station within five jumps! Including the Navy HQ and New Caldari… S-So long as our ISK wasn’t in Databanks still.”
“All your money was in Databanks?”
“Yeeeeaaaahhh… We invested all the ISK we had saved up from trading in Venal into this. Avio went as far as to liquidate some rare assets to muster more capital to purchase more databanks with like… Body parts of some Jovian that got ripped apart by teleportation? I don’t know why in the Maker’s name he would have such things but he managed to find a buyer to sell to at a profit. T-Then he paid mention to some Kybernaut who made a ‘donation’ to this little scheme. It all came in handy regardless of how it was obtained, as we could only hold a buy order up for so long until our capital was drained and we had to then concern ourselves with transporting them.”
“How you’d do that?”
“Honestly? Avio’s alliance had access to jump freighters to ship it directly to 6NJ for all the major shipments… It was the smartest move, if also the slowest and most boring one. There were still large gaps in coverage where we didn’t have a buy order up while we waited for the next shipment out. Avio would still manually transport low-value shipments to free up money, but leave the massive hauls to something more secure… He camped out in Jita while I handled the transaction and… My own local buy order.”
“… You did this in Venal too?”
“I did it out of frustration really… Utatis, the Navies of the other empires have such a variety in drop-off locations that make my temporary compromise of Jita as drop off location meaningless… Comical! But meaningless when there are far more legitimate sites that can ensure safe transfers… The Guristas? One station. The Guristas Production shipyard. I… Cannot understand why they didn’t open up any station to receive them, what’s the difference? It’s already a pain in the ass to reach this region without some braindead egger tearing your ship asunder, and you’re not gonna give the option to just drop the damn thing off at the nearest station for the same measly single million ISK payment the Navy is also giving?! I made an order here, for multiple reasons… Firstly, to provide regional wide coverage to ensure Capsuleers who happen to stumble an agent on the final stretch and kill them for their databanks, they can at least hand them off to me. I made selling it in Venal far more convenient so we can get as many as we could locally too.”
“Given that they’ve currently been stealing databanks themselves this whole time I’d wager they’re not dependent on whether or not Capsuleers can provide them…”
“It’s a missed opportunity Utatis! You see the numbers! Why settle for enough when there could have been even MORE!? If I just had more money… I-If i had Guristas capital specifically! We could had turned Capsuleer efforts all over into the Guristas’ boon and be left with an even larger cut of the data! And… By doing this I essentially have my own numbers on just how popular the Guristas were even as a choice to sell the data too.”
“… How?”
“If you go back to my wallet transaction I have my purchase logs from Capsuleers. I had a billion ISK set aside for me to put this buy order up relatively early… Employing the same tactic In Jita I more or less dominated the Guristas’ ability to buy these from Capsuleers directly…”
“… Is that so?”
“Yes… So unless a Capsuleer slipped in when we had the order down so I could fulfill the Guristas’ order, I have every Capsuleer on logs on who was going to sell their data off to the Guristas. As well as those that benefited from the wider buy order range I provided.”
“But you couldn’t hold this order up forever, you had limited funds.”
“That’s the thing Utatis… In theory? I didn’t have limited funds. When it came to buying databanks, I had infinite money to purchase them.”
“What are you on about?”
“I’m saying that because I managed to skim this databanks for just a 1,000 ISK more, I more or less was given back my money When we finally sold it to the Guristas. We pay a million to get a million. As much as we moved in value, it’s not like we had that much ISK to buy directly with, no… This was us cramming our ISK into databanks, selling them and repeating the process. I had infinite money to do this in Venal as all I had to do was just sell the data banks to purchased and I’ll be right back to where I was to do it all over again.”
“You’re telling me there was no money lost in this?”
“Absolutely not! There was an immense amount of bleeding going on from sales tax, broker fees and just having ISK set aside from databank purchases to chip into when expenses came about… Everytime we did this, we would only be able to purchase fewer. We absolutely lost money doing this… In fact, while it looks like we only moved twenty billion worth… It’s more than thirty billion. See, the same exact tactic was used against us in Venal, A Caldari Capsuleer no less who tried to Skim databanks back. If we tried to sell in Venal we’d sell back to the State essentially and… That be no fun. Kinda defeats the whole purpose of doing all this.”
“So how’d you get around that?”
“Well… Being a businessman and self proclaimed diplomat of the wild, Avio approached the Capsuleer and tried to work out a compromise maybe… At first there didn’t seem like any alternative. So, the two had a talk and initially had an understanding.”
“… On what?”
“Avio was to spy on the Guristas spymaster involved in the Jita raid, Esri Hakuzosu. Try and find whatever lead possible and feed it to them for a chance at them removing the skim order so we can just turn the databanks in.”
“Are you trying to get killed?”
“We didn’t go through with it! We didn’t give them anything… Honestly, what could we have even gave them? The Guristas arent gonna… Leave crumbs for someone like us to find. The whole thing was fedoshit and Egger in question was apparently more shady than the Guristas that live here so…We found a way around so we didn’t need to commit anything.”
“How did you get around it?”
“Well… Got asked to spy on Esri for a hope we can sell the databanks back to the Guristas. Why not… Handed them over to Esri directly?”
“You… Dealt directly with Esri?”
“Me? No. Not even Avio really… We just contracted them off to them, sent a mail explaining the situation and lo’ and behold they took it. A-At no cost of course. No words were exchanged back.”
“You hande in ten billion in databanks for free?”
“What was our options? Go along with this arrangement that was suspect from the start and be forced to sing to the tune of some Caldari Egger or just… Walk up to the Guristas and deal with them directly for a change? The cost is what it costs.”
“And you and Avio are okay with this…?”
“This was never about the money, Utatis. This was about prosperity and helping see demands met with a supply. The real value earned was getting these databanks to the Guristas, we merely paid the cost to do such a transaction. The Guristas had a demand, we tried to meet it the best we could. We acted within our expertise!”
“… Why didn’t you come to me first about doing this?”
< Suha slamming her fists down on her armrests >
“Because I knew what the ■■■■ I was doing Utatis!”
“Calm. Down.”
< Suha getting up from chair >
“No! ■■■■ that! I knew what I was doing! I knew this idea was good and I didn’t need to involve you! A-Am I not the one in charge, Utatis? Why is it that I need to run everything past you first?! I know I’ve made some really bad calls, but I knew in my very spirit that this would work and despite the annoyances we had to work around. it did Utatis! It did work! You have the numbers right there! And I made these numbers without ever needing you to do it! I didn’t need you trying to talk me out of it! To prevent me from answering my calling to finally be of real use!”
“… Then why are you here now?”
“W-Why am I here now?”
“That’s right… If you didn’t care for me to know about it first hand, then why now?”
“Oh, well that’s because…”
“…?”
“Because…”
“…”
< Suha sniffling >
“I… I just want to be told I did good for once!”
“…”
< Suha crying >
“A-All I wanted was to be told I did something right for once! That I was useful!”
"… < Sigh >
< Utatis getting up from his chair and walking around the desk >
< Suha sobbing >
“Suha…”
“…?”
< Utatis backhanding Suha across the face >
“…!”
“Spare me the waterworks…”
“U-Utatis?!”
“Shut up!”
“…!”
“Crying has gotten you where you are now! From this point forward, it stops here…”
“…”
“This is all about earning approval? You want me to tell you how you did? Fine!”
< Utatis walking back around his desk >
“As I understand it, these ‘huntmaster’ sites scattered across space were rendezvous locations for escaping agents to meet and drop off their stolen data.”
< Utatis sitting back down >
"These sites were expendable, as well as any agent and whatever they had on them. This was a high-profile heist. A massive leak of Caldari secrets. The heat coming down on this makes it impossible to cry over spilt milk… Or, cracked eggs in this case. Any agent that got popped had their contents written off and focus was immediately redirected to securing agents still on the run. Same goes for any site, as soon as a Capsuleer burns one down, a new one is installed in its place. This was all about securing information. A more grandiose Smash 'n Grab
< Suha lowering back down into her chair >
“What you’ve done is essentially ran your own way of securing this sensitive information that didn’t resort to intercepting agents yourself and actively getting in the way of Guristas recovery operations. More so, you covered new ground and created an opportunity to retrieve lost databanks after they’ve been looted by a Capsuleer hunting down agents. Where typical to the Guristas it was a game of who can get to the agent first… You created one last chance to get those databanks right back after they enter a Capsuleer’s hold. Which might as well be considered having been tossed into a void never to return…You pulled some out of there.”
“…”
"While ultimately meaningless given the Caldari still had a variety of different locations to drop off databanks. There is a bit of comical irony in that these databanks were stolen from Jita, returned to Jita only to be stolen again by your buy order. Capsuleers unknowingly selling to the Guristas. "
“A-Also the Navy’s HQ in Perimeter and the State capital of New Caldari! W-We actually got a few trying to sell in the Navy’s own HQ!”
“I’m sure someone will get a laugh out of that… Regardless, it is a form of asset denial you’ve committed in interjecting yourself between the Capsuleer’s and the Navy. All of these databanks you’ve recovered are all databanks that were going back to the navy. Only for you to snatch them and turn their efforts into the Guristas’ boon.”
“Do you think it’s a lot?”
“Couldn’t tell you… Maybe this is a hefty chunk, maybe it’s a drop in the bucket. All depends on what the Guristas managed to nab in their own operations. Either way, you gave them more data to work with thanks to some shrewd business sense in creating this cycle of buying and selling. You moved more value than you started with.”
“So… I did g-”
“-There is a problem… A glaring one.”
“W-What would that be?”
“You getting involved…”
“… I don’t understand, of course I got involved! Isn’t that the point?”
“Regardless of it being the point or not, the biggest issue I take with this entire stunt is simply that you getting involved in what’s going on here to begin with. That is your biggest crime here… Positive impact or not, your involvement was not needed!”
“But I-”
“Shut up! I’ve informed you of this constantly that you’re not to carelessly get involved in Guristas matters! And yet here you, barging right in like you belong. Speaking of which, we also have the Venal buy order to talk about … Providing a wider selling range for the entire region to assist in databanks collection on a local level is fine in itself. Your use of “Skim” orders to surpass the Guristas’ own buy order to have first hand knowledge on who was going to do business with them however is you sticking your nose where it doesn’t belong.”
“I need my own kind of Data! To see how much more efficient it would’ve been if they bothered with a region wide order compared to just doing one. I could present a case-”
“-This isn’t your ■■■■■■■ place, Suha! You have no business trying to present any kind of ‘case’ on how the Guristas should be operating. Regardless if you find it inefficient or not. This kind of stepping out of line self initiative taking fedoshit might’ve flown if Fatal was still in charge… But the Rabbit has been at the helm for the past decade now and the Guristas operate far differently than they did before…”
“S-So I… I just ■■■■■■ it all again? Is that it?”
"You delivered results on a plan that didn’t make use of any of the Guristas resources. That much may count for something, you inserting yourself as this “Middleman” between the Guristas and Capsuleers for ‘data gathering’ however is a note for concern. This right here is why I tell you to bring your ideas to me first so as to avoid boundary stepping like this! And then, we got this whole arrangement of you CONSIDERING being rat for the Caldari. "
“I…”
So the way I’m seeing it? Is that one of these three things that can happen. Either you’ll get a pat on the head as you so desire. Or maybe The Guristas will take your efforts and forgive you stepping out of line this one time and carry on like business as usual… Or maybe, this might just be the final straw for them. And a more permanent solution for you is taken…"
“…”
“Maybe It’s not even a big deal as I make it out to be. Regardless, you should tread very carefully from here on out… Lay low. Keep your mouth shut… Understand?”
“…”
“Good…”
< Suha getting up from her seat >
“This is why you run things through me first…”
“I… I understand.”
“Then head home… Take the day off.”
“O-Okay. I’ll just take that-”
< Utatis sliding the data pad closer to him. >
“I’ll keep this.”
“O-Oh… Okay.”
< Suha sulking away >
“… Chin up Suha, at least now you have some points on the board. Just be cautious of that offending anyone…”
“…”