Chapter 9 The Trading Floor

It took less than ten minutes for the tribunal to return a verdict of not guilty due to self-defense. While Leo didn't expect any other verdict, it was still a relief to have the formalities over with.

The entire episode had thrown the Reggie into turmoil. The port-of-call schedule had been thrown into chaos when Reggie had to divert and drop her in-system speed down to basically zero—which had not pleased anyone. If everything went well, ships like the Reggie rarely slowed down when traveling through remote systems like U-I. The goal was to slice across the ecliptic at relatively high speed (relative to the local star) and exit to the e-limit as quickly as possible.

Total in-system time was usually only a few days. The actual course was a shallow ellipse that cut across the latency envelope established as one light hour (approximately 20 GigM) from one of the Guild buoys in the system.

In this case, the Reggie had slowed to a stop relative to the buoy to conduct the inquiry, meaning she had to dump immense amounts of velocity—which then had to be built back up again to exit the system. In addition, the delay meant that the local planets and other objects had moved, which also changed the shape of the gravity well. Not a huge difference, but enough to alter the "optimal" course out-system.

With something as big as the Reggie, changing her course through the system was a non-trivial task. Her huge mass was not designed for high-G maneuvers like a warship. Although she was capable of high burn rates in an emergency, such burns placed stress on the engines and the ship's framing. Inspections were required after every emergency burn.

The ripple effects of this course change would affect all departments onboard. For the trading floor, it meant much more time in-system than originally planned. What was meant to be a quick fly-by, mostly focused on sell-side transactions, now became an extended loiter within the gravity well—with all the logistical complications that entailed.

As Leo made his way to the trading floor, he could hear the commotion.

Chaos might have been too strong a word, but it was certainly much busier than expected.

The Weps Pit

As usual, Gunny was holding court in the weps pit.

Although Gunny was not considered the ideal role model for a master trader, the weps pit on Reggie had the highest overall score of any pit. Gunny was extremely proud of this and wasn't afraid to bring it up in casual conversation—just in case you forgot.

Fresh from the tribunal, Ramona was at one of the junior trader consoles, her head together with Christine. Gunny walked over to watch over their shoulders.

They were discussing buy-side activity and simulating trades on the system. The large status board above the console was glowing orange and repeatedly flashed the message:

SIMULATION

SIMULATION

SIMULATION

Christine was talking Ramona through an IP buy.

"Let's finish the analysis of the gun you liked last time. So, you can see that the seller's bid is about 200 Guilders above the buyer's final offer. You can set it up with a min/max range here, but most traders prefer a spot price. Automated pricing is easy to detect on the seller side and can be countered with smart seller algorithms. That last offer was more than six months ago, so you can assume there is some panic settling in."

She tapped a few keys.

"Here is a link that lets you research the seller and find out their current financial status. You can see here that they haven't sold a design in the last year, so they may have a higher willingness to sell than six months ago."

Ramona nodded, taking it all in. She understood how to make a deal. She understood how to strong-arm someone.

The Guild was all about negotiating from a position of strength.

"Yes, I see that. However, this is a family firm. See how the seller agent has the same name as the patent holder? Oh, look at the registered CFO—that must be his mom. They only have two employees, and their place of business looks like a residence. Their expenses are super low."

She pulled up another screen.

*"Check this out—they already have two handgun patents filed and a third around miniaturized compensators. Their income from those three trades is more than ten times the median income here. The last two have ten more years to run on their patent expiration.

They don't need the money—this is about pride in workmanship."*

Gunny interrupted the lesson.

"So, Eddington—what is your call? What would you offer?"

Despite the hum of activity, the weps pit suddenly fell silent.

This was a major test for the new trader—not simply an idle question from Gunny.

If Ramona was aware of the silent attention from the rest of the pit, she didn't show it.

"I would meet their ask, Gunny. This handgun will sell like wildfire. Their ask is fair, and we will make a strong profit."

One of the mid-level traders down the row let out a loud guffaw.

How would she know the value of this patent?

She'd only been onboard a few weeks.

She had failed the test.

More than one trader was gleefully waiting for the rookie to get her comeuppance. Breaking records brought both good and bad attention to yourself.

Gunny silenced the laughter with a glare.

"Apprentice Eddington, please explain to me your reasoning. On what basis did you come to this conclusion?"

Finally feeling the weight of the conversation, Ramona slipped back into military training mode.

Leo wasn't sure if her speech patterns were unconscious when talking to Gunny, or if she was intentionally playing up their mutual background in the military.

*"Sir, as part of my training exercise, I was able to procure a limited license. I used this license to print a copy of the weapon. I then test-fired this weapon over 100 times.

Based on my experience in the militia, I found this weapon to be vastly superior to other, similar designs.

Sir."*

If possible, the pit got even quieter.

Even the adjoining pits had gone silent.

Gunny's expression shifted.

"Apprentice Eddington, is this the weapon you used to air out those dusters yesterday?"

"Sir, yes sir."

With a feral look in his eye, Gunny reached over Ramona's shoulder and toggled the console from SIMULATION to LIVE.

"You may execute the trade, Apprentice Eddington."

With a few keystrokes, Ramona Eddington was on the board.