Ivan sat at the back of the stall with the twenty guards who were stationed to remain behind while watching the saleswomen standing at the front of the stall and see the initial take of the customers toward his product.
The two saleswomen, Celene and Catherine had originally worked in sales back on the Vulpes home world and had excellent skills in customer relations and selling a product according to Ivan's evaluation.
"Miss, what do you mean private network?" One pirate with gray stained teeth leaned forward against the stall counter and asked gruffly.
Celene smiled back, unfazed by the pirated intimidating posture and voice. "Sir, it is a private network spanning the galaxy which is unhackable, untraceable, and outside of all laws and regulations."
"What's on this network?" Another pirate, significantly better dressed than the last one, asked.
"There is a global open forum, however every registered individual or organization may open up private forums and personal stores to sell goods or information. All transactions and digital media are guaranteed through us to be safe and secure. We also only charge a transaction fee of 0.5%. All other services are currently free of charge."
Several of the smarter individuals, probably pirate captains or those in charge of a groups finances, continued to ask several questions. The device and services were more than reasonably priced and of great benefit to pirates and other organizations once they spread around. Security during transactions was one of the greatest concerns for criminals. The syndicates which acted as middlemen for such transactions often charged large transaction fees of 10% and up as well.
Celene and Catherin began selling the SubNet Tablets one after another. Ivan only had 20,000 SubNet Tablets altogether, and they had to be split into a hundred different locations, so each stall would only have 200 SubNet Tablets to sell before the next shipment installed.
Just when the sales were going well, a short and fat man in an expensive suit walked up with a battalion of goons behind him. The short man eyed the stall insidiously before stating.
"I don't recall giving permission for you to open up a stall in my marketplace. Leave your goods here and get lost, or you'll be in the next batch of waste ejected into space."
Ivan smiled in amusement at this and walked out from the stall to stand in front of the short and fat man.
"I don't know what you're talking about. We received permission to open a stall here just this morning. Are you going back on your word?"
Ivan's words were a complete lie, which infuriated the mob boss to no end. As someone who was used to solving problems with violence, he immediately barked for his goons to break Ivan's limbs.
Before they could touch Ivan though, ten guards immediately stood before Ivan and grabbed the goons. They didn't bother with unnecessary violence, simply choosing to throw them into hyperspace with a flick of the arm. The goons couldn't even let out a sound as they vanished from the world and their soft flesh disintegrated into pure energy in hyperspace within seconds.
The mob boss was dumbstruck, staring at Ivan without knowing what to do. He wanted to order more people to take them out, but despite his usual tendencies, he wasn't dumb.
"What is going on here?" A man with long golden hair and a scar across one eye appeared from the crowd with four heavily armed guards by his side.
This man was naturally Adam. As soon as the short and fat man saw him, his expression immediately darkened.
"Adam Nostradamus, this is not your area, what the fuck are you doing here?"
"Don't be so rude, I was just stretching my legs when I happened to be witness to this here. How can I not step in and mediate?"
The short mob boss' face grimaced in anger. He wanted to call more people to crush this stall, but Adam had arrived at just this moment and he know that Adam would definitely interfere just to piss him off.
"This sir here," Adam turned to Ivan and said politely, but Ivan could see the callous animalistic stare in his one remaining eye. "Why would you set up a stall in some decrepit corner of Annexus like this? As a local, I happen to know many better places."
Ivan was quick to catch on and with an equally cold stare a returned his question. "Oh, and would Mr. Nostradamus happen to have a better location?"
"Please, just call me Adam. Indeed, I have a vacant permanent storefront in a higher district that I just can't seem to fill up. I wonder if you would be interested in it."
"The fuck do you thi-" The short and fat mob boss began to shout but shut up with a glare from Ivan and his guards, instead rapidly pressing the remote in his button to call for more backup.
"And what is the fee for this permanent store?"
"For such a fine businessman as yourself, 10% tax on all your transactions, the store is but a position I have been trying to fill, so it is free of charge."
Ivan bargained on the price and managed to drop the tax down to 7% before they came to an agreement. At that point a large amount of the mob boss' goons came running over with weapons armed but Adam also hinted toward a number of his own goons lurking nearby, causing the mob boss to grit his teeth and endure the current stalemate.
"Sorry for causing you so much trouble," Ivan chuckled insincerely.
Adam laughed in response and commented, "It's nothing, just some small-time syndicate leader. He inherited the position from his father after he died but could never live up to requirements of a leader, he will be eliminated sooner or later. Why don't you tell me more about these tablets of yours, they seem quite interesting."
Ivan had the guards pack up the stall and move it toward a new area where an empty storefront stood in the middle of a busy inner district. There weren't particularly more items to be traded or more stores than the previous marketplace, but the amount of traffic passing through was several fold the previous one.
Adam lead the group to a store which was completely empty. Ivan could tell instantly that this store had just been cleaned out, the previous shopkeeper possibly erased as well, but neither of these bothered Ivan. He maintained the façade and had the Celestials re-establish the shop here.
Adam had taken a great interest in the uses for the device and even put forward several constructive ideas as well. Ivan had an interest in working with Adam, as he was the kind of person who had a lot of connections, something which was highly beneficial to Ivan.
The Celestials rapidly rearranged the stall in the shop, but aside from the counter, everything else seemed to vanish as the guards built it as a rest and storage area attached to the shop in subspace. Adam took a great interest in this and asked where it went, but ended up giving up after realizing he wasn't going to be getting an answer.
"I will be off," Ivan finally said upon checking the time and realizing he was risking running behind schedule. "Adam, I look forward to hearing from you about future ideas. You can always contact me through these two beautiful representatives of mine should you need. If we have better relations in the future, I may even send someone to be a personal delegation for you."
"I will also look forward to it," Adam smiled back, but the glare in his eye still couldn't be hidden.
*****
"Beautiful ladies, how do you like the new shop?" Adam asked, changing his target to the two Celestial saleswomen once Ivan had left. He eyed their long fox ears and fluffy tails before nodding in appreciation.
"Mr. Adam, it is adequate for what we need, don't mind us if we redecorate a little," Celene responded politely.
"Think nothing of it. Tell me, where can I get clothes like you and your boss? I quite like the style of them, I've never seen anything like them before."
Catherine giggled before saying, "They are specialties from our home, but the President may be able to arrange a set or two for you."
"I will mention it to him when we talk next. Would you ladies like something to drink or eat?"
Adam had shuffled himself over closer to them flirtatiously and found they smelled truly intoxicating, He backpedalled and made some distance however when Catherin pulled out a small metal flask.
"Unfortunately you don't have what we drink and eat."
Adam recognized the flask as the deadly substance used to kill the person in Lorres III as revealed by the security camera, but he had no idea what was in it.
"How interesting, do you mind if I ask what's inside it?"
Celene and Catherine had been told by Ivan that he held an interest in a collaboration with Adam, so no violent actions were to be taken against him. At most giving him a few bruises would be acceptable, but anything more would lead to severe punishments.
Catherine opened the flask and squeezed out a small ball of blue energy water. The energy water just floated in the air while turning and bubbling as any oxygen or other gasses came in contact with it were broken down into energy. Adam could feel a strange breeze of wind as all the air in the shop began flowing toward the bubble and instantly knew that the floating water in front of him was extremely dangerous.
Catherine however just stuck out a slender finger into the water ball and pulled it into her mouth, blushing slightly as she swallowed it.