Pylo was feeling pretty smug.
“So let us reiterate the findings of your investigations ▙◀? Members of the tribunal feel free to correct any mistakes in my understanding as I go”
Tea-of-Galena seemed to be fidgeting with a hint of nervousness and frustration. It had been an honestly distressing series of illuminations and reveals for the position of Redweed.
“My dealings were concluded with the local port authority, as part of such dealings I contracted the local services to guide and protect my passenger cargo in their excursion within the port’s territories.”
The pile of canner tech that consisted of the Investigator ▙◀ made gestures of agreement and brought up displays she surmised were relevant to the contract made with the Redweed port authority.
This did not improve Tea-of-Galena’s mood.
Pylo could relate.
Honestly if she was vindictive Pylo suspected she could easily sway a majority of the trader representatives to side with her in claiming a substantial compensation out of the port’s hide. To be honest the main reason she didn't is there was not actually anything of substantial value that Pylo could think of taking that they were not already giving her.
“This responsibility was bequeathed by the port authority to an individual expert guide and liaison.”
The lutish representative leaned in hungrily, limbs poised in swooping arcs all around as if it expected to snatch some small prey item or engulf a tasty morsel.
Pylo could tell which way that particular trade ship wanted her to go. Honestly that was enough reason to deny them. And besides Redweed were surprisingly nice! There had not been any armed weapons trained on her or tunie!
That was polite considering the magnitude of her passenger’s little premature bar romp.
And they were still filling the near bottomless hunger of her colossal friend!
Satiating Tunie to the utmost of her capacity was an obscenity of overpaying for what pylo had given in turn. When taken with how hungry the traders were sounding at this openin it actually did make her feel just the tiniest bit bad about the whole affair.
“This guide proceeded to both insult myself and attempt to poach my passengers and cargo repeatedly. Then upon failing to do this conspired a ‘mutual’ separation from my passengers which records shows was hardly anything but them attempting to drop their responsibilities as quickly as possible.”
The ohma’s sympathies had been exhausted when this detail was revealed. Truly it seemed to the most concerned with the actual state of Redweed and its port affairs. Sure individual crew members could go rogue from a trade vessel and enact disaster with their station. But the act of a single crew was an act of all of them and shared responsibility.
So was the same courtesy and honor extended to ports, especially port authorities and their designated agents!
Which is what was so disastrous about the revelations of investigator ▙◀.
Redweed had attempted to steal by arbitrary local customs and trickery the cargo of a trade ship. Had intimated by its agents it would continue to try again and had possibly even done so previously?
That was a very poisonous mark against the port.
And so since that revelation, the proceedings were more about settling a far more fragile and dangerous account into balance then the overpopulation of some minor fragment of the port’s primary structure.
“Afterwards my charges were left to their own devices in the care of an expert who performed their duty adequately to create a nutritional and toxicity profile.”
The assemblage of disparate thought centers was chiming with a cruel calculous, anticipating possibly nulling and voiding all of its outstanding contracts with Redweed.
[https://i.imgur.com/LcbTeAx.png]
The port’s reputation was at stake. If this went especially bad in how the greater gossip of the trade fleets interpreted this Tribunal? It could mean that interstellar bulk commerce ceased across the majority of the Trade community in the vicinity.
Such a economic shunning could spell disaster, stagnation or even total collapse for a port Redweed’s size. And that was just if they were viewed as unprofitable or overly risky.
There was a much more terrible ruling that this tribunal could come too as well.
“But then when the services were transitioned to a sensory artist for the commission. There was apparently a failure of translation and the commission was carried out under incomplete premises and nuance? To quote the log provided by our investigator ▙◀”
Pylo formed the pure meaning of Aleph as she must have spoken the words for the gathered, nuancing the specifics for each of the present representatives.
“Yeah, good food makes you happy and feel good and healthier? Like the flavor should be pleasant and you are happy while eating it?”
She gives a shake her head in another terranism.
“The sensory artist apparently took the statement with much less subtlety than intended, a situation which a sentient and experienced guide well versed in the language and cultural primers provided by my contact with the Port Authority would have been able to smooth over instantly.”
This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road. If you spot it on Amazon, please report it.
Pylo did not want to ruin this place, it was actually so lucrative to be able to fill Tunie’s stores to capacity!
She could completely re-plan the course for even more lucrative and strange ventures given this windfall!
If anything she wanted to be able to count on coming back here for another round, but that would require leaving a good impression here!
Also of concern was how much damage to the ability of the port to conduct itself as a hub for fuel and goods exchanges as fall out from these events. Sure it was dangerous to let inefficiencies like this fester in a port economy, but at the same time making the lesson so ruinous for one that they changed their policies over much would be a terrible loss.
“So in closing as far as I can see all of the presumed damages to Redweed are self inflicted economic injuries. If questions of liability and debts owed are to be entertained it is I and my passengers who have been wronged by Redweed’s incompetence in managing its proxies.”
Tea-of-Galena was pulling all of her fronds in close and clenching til she exuded almost no waste heat. A fear clutch response to ward off predators or parasites.
Pylo understood just how catastrophic this turn seemed, she could already taste the greed bubbling in her fellow traders at the possibility of tearing into the port, informing the entire assembled trade fleet to declare the exchanges with Redweed wholesale null and void and its governing authority unfit for acknowledgement as a legal entity for contracts.
If Pylo wanted she had a basis with this evidence for going so far as a commercial excommunication and outlaw--hood for the port.
Pylo had never seen such a thing declared on a still active port. Her own contractual nullification were considered annulled by a retroactive excommunication of the port she and tunie had destroyed.
But she heard stories and found the ruins and wreckage of such.
Traders went vicious on ports declared unlawful. As much as retributive punitive actions as out of self interest.
Holds of heavy cargo would be jettisoned.
Others would ransom to be stuffed full ruinous of value-to-mass trade goods and materials under threat of the apocalyptic energy of their drive systems being turned upon the population centers of the port.
Locals declared outside of trade law were prone to disappearing as the trade fleets descended to pick them clean for slave labor or to strip their bodies for useful anatomical trade materials.
Pylo heard of fleets turning entire population centers into ‘unclaimed goods’ ripe for harvest.
There was a lot of short term profit to be had if a Trader wanted it in liquefying an entire port.
And she could see hunger for that profit ramping up in her fellow traders.
Okay it was NOT likely going to escalate to full excommunication. Redweed was a bit too cushy a stop for that, but the threat could be used to extort a terrible loss upon the port anyway.
If she let it.
More Tea-Of-Galena looked like it was going to strain or crack something with how tightly it was clenching in on itself.
Pylo looked over at the strange semi-sphere representative who had not done much of anything since the investigator started playing back the log except tumble in circles.
She took in a breath of the rarified helium around them and circulated it through her to vent some heat.
Then she reached out into the tribunal to nip all their predatory schemes in the ovum.
“However as the injured party I, Pylo Courtesan of the Lesser Void Courier Tunie would like to weigh in on these proceedings. Given the exemplary services rendered prior by the Port of Redweed and in exchange for favorable vouchers of future trade with the port authority of Redweed and/or all of her descendant institutions and/or later conquerors or owners I am willing to forgive any and all debts related to the matter and move the proceedings of this Tribunal closed and regular trade operations open once again.”
Tea-Of-Galena popped out of her fear clutching so rapidly Pylo could feel the wet pop in the helium.
“Y-you do?! You oh! Yes As the r-representative of the Redweed Ministry of External affairs I ratify th-this ruling and find i-its terms amiable! Completely s-Satisfactory! Let us-”
Pylo was delighted with the almost seizure like levels of tension relief hormones being released into the port authority’s representative. That usually made for good impressions and Pylo did like to leave a good impression for ports she planned to revisit.
Even if half the time it was legend and myth by the time she did.
To no one present’s real surprise one representative chimed in.
“Yay!”
And again even though they all expected it the lull of silence that followed seemed to grow utterly turgid with awkwardness, begging and daring someone to try to interject before the appointed time.
Tea-Of-Galena apparently was a bit too anxious to realize the trap that had been laid and began to speak.
“W-well then s-”
“Let’s All Be Friends!”
And so was the Trade Tribunal called to cast their vote.