EP 13 – Deal or No Deal

The crew find Oliver Krans in the University and speak with him about his requirements to schedule a recurring nomad resupply deal. Oliver informs them he used to be part of a nomad group currently based outside the L.A. District, but enquires from Fennec about his nomad family. Fennec mentions he has close ties with his Aegis nomad clan, who could assist with resupplying Bakersfield, and agrees to speak with his family to get some idea on pricing to resupply the town. Later, Fennec hears back from his clan who are sending over Mickey and Boxer. Oliver contacts his nomad colleagues and they agree to meet at the University to discuss a deal.

Rez visits Daniel Simmons in the Medical Training Lab at the University, and offers to help him set up the equipment they delivered earlier. As they finish up, Rez also uses her MEDTECH ability to produce speedheals, which she saves for future use. Later on, a man with a missing hand walks in to the medical lab. He introduces himself as Gavin McGuire and explains he lost his hand in a recent fight, but has heard over the local CitiNET that the University was hosting a med bay and wanted to see if he could get a new hand. Rez checks with Daniel, who hands over a vacuum-sealed cyberhand that she can use for the installation. To help establish some goodwill with the community, Rez offers to install the hand for free. Rez and Daniel take Gavin to a spare medical room, and she attempts a SURGERY skill check (and uses some of her LUCK stat, too). After a few hours, Rez finishes her work and installs the cyber-hand into Gavin’s meat arm. She works with him to calibrate it, and she sends a photo of her work to her brother Ricky. Gavin eventually departs, thanking Rez and the crew for their assistance.

Meanwhile, Rama uses some spare tools from the mechatronic lab to repair his and Rez’s armorjack body armour, which had been damaged in an earlier firefight. Fennec searches through the University’s old inventory and finds a lot of older sheet metal, which he fashions into an armour chassis for Rama’s motorcycle (he also paints some nice flames on the side).

The next day, both Fennec’s nomad clan The Aegis, and Oliver Krans’ former nomad clan family, El Coyote Viajero, agree to meet at a designated meeting place, an old lecture hall on the corner of the University grounds. At midday, they all meet in the car park. Fennec’s nomad clan family, Mickey and Boxer meet him. Mickey surprises Fennec with his original nomad car, freshly refurbished. Oliver introduces the crew to Silivio and Isabel Mendez, of the El Coyote Viajero nomad clan, originating from Mexico. As they walk to the lecture hall, Rama briefly speaks with Fennec about his nomadic origins with The Orcas.

The Aegis and El Coyote Viajero clans meeting in a car park at the University

As everyone enters the lecture hall, Oliver walks to the podium and welcomes everyone for coming. He explains their motivation is to organise a suitable trade deal, with recurring shipments of food, medical supplies, and weaponry and ammunition to restore Bakersfield to a functional city again. Mickey asks Fennec to negotiate on the Aegis behalf, as he is more familiar with the city’s future needs. While Oliver prepares some details, Rama goes into further details about The Orcas. During the 4th Corporate War, large areas around Singapore were destroyed or rendered inhospitable. The Orcas used their naval fleet to ferry across refugees to cities along the west coast of the United States, including Night City. Nowadays, the clan operates out of an abandoned oil refinery just off the shore line.

Everyone in the Lecture Hall

After a few minutes, Oliver speaks again and breaks down the estimated needs for the city, such as food for a few thousand people, medical supplies, technical components and weaponry and ammunition. He says based on his estimate this should cost approximately 29,000 eurobucks, per month, but understands every nomad clan has to factor in a variety of factors. He opens the floor and Silvio starts off the discussion and indicates they could provide the delivery costs for 40,000 EB/month. Fennec leads a rebuttal, stating the work the crew have performed to clean up the town will reduce the overheads a nomad clan might need to put in place. Silivio discusses with his nomad counterparts and comes back to the discussion saying they could go down to 35,000 EB/month. Fennec asks Mickey if there is anything more they can do to try and secure the deal, and Mickey says he has a promising lead for discounted weaponry, which would help their margins, but the deal isn’t firmly locked in yet, and he would need the crew’s help. He agrees, and they quote Oliver a lower price, which Silivio is unable to beat. Oliver awards the trade contract to the Aegis nomad clan for 33,500 EB/month, and sends details to Mickey and Boxer to organise the first shipment into town. They finish up the meeting, and Silvio and Isabel leave, heading back to the L.A. district. Fennec asks Mickey to send him more details on this favour he now owes him…