The director of the capital branch of the Federal Military Bank was also unable to make a decision on his own. He contacted us and said that he had given our documents to the board of directors for consideration. They held us for three days, after which we received a categorical rejection from the bank. Not only were we not given the requested amount, we were denied service at all. The head of the branch who told us the news sounded confused and surprised. Either he was a great actor, or he didn’t truly understand what had happened. And a new anxious bell rang in my head, and an evil little worm pounded his hammers with a double force.

* * *

Five other big banks have failed us, too. Two of them categorically refused to deal with us. The others were ready to open accounts for us, and one of them even promised to consider a loan application for 10 million, and the manager assured us that we had every chance of getting approval from the bank management. But it certainly couldn’t solve our problem.

Everything became clear on the third day. I was contacted by a confused and clearly upset Rabinovich.

“Igor, I have some bad news for you,” he stated directly, “I was approached by people from Global Weapon Industries. They made it clear to me that they wanted to negotiate with the owners of the Lavroff Weapons Company about selling the firm. I’m very interested in working with you, but I want to warn you right now, if you decide not to sell, I will be forced to terminate our business relationship. My business is going to be ruined by such ill-wishers. These are very serious people, and I wouldn’t want them to be my opponents.”

“Thank you for your candor, Leo,” I responded thoughtfully, trying to shape my behavior in new circumstances, “I will not refuse to negotiate. Let’s see what these gentlemen have to offer me. Are you still ready to participate at this stage?”

“Until a decision is made to refuse, yes.”

“Then arrange a meeting for us, please.”

Representatives of one of the world’s largest arms manufacturers refused to come to our office. They chose not to invite us to their office either. We met in a neutral area, in the negotiating room of one of the most expensive business centers in the capital.

“So, gentlemen,” I took the initiative after our mutual introduction, “You have a proposition for me. I’m listening to you very carefully.”

“Igor Yakovlevich,” started quietly the Hispanic Enrique Cruz, the first negotiator of the arms corporation,“we are pleased to meet you. Such a young officer, and already a knight of the Gold Star and the Iron Cross. You’re a great military man, and obviously that’s where you come in.”

“Thank you, Mister Cruz,” I nodded my head, “but that’s clearly not the reason of our meeting.”

“Take your time, Mister Lavroff, I was just beginning my thought. So, you’re an exemplary officer with incredible combat experience for your age and rank. A brilliant military career awaits you, as you are now a student at the General Staff Academy, and graduation opens many doors to any officer. My colleague Martinez and I would like to understand why do you suddenly need to change your lifestyle abruptly and start a business that you don’t know too much about?”

“Gentlemen,” I answered with an accentuated surprise in my voice, “but it is more than logical. I was on two combat missions, and in both cases, I was able to achieve high combat effectiveness by improving standard weapons in the service of the Federation Army. Is this not a cause for optimism when we set up our arms business?”

“For optimism? Not at all. You don’t seem to know what you’re getting yourself into and what you have big ideas about. The development of weapons and military equipment requires enormous resources, both material and human. In addition, this field of activity had long been divided among the major players. We, Global Weapon Industries, have about 40 percent of the arms market. There are three other large corporations, but their shares are lower. And that’s it, Mr. Lavroff. There’s nobody else around. Of course, small companies do their own developments, but they’re not working directly with the Ministry of Defense, they are contractors of a large firm and perform some of their orders. And I can tell you honestly, most of these are either subsidiaries or dependent companies of the same major players in the arms market. But you, bypassing the usual procedures with the full licence to develop and manufacture weapons, have fallen out of this long-established pattern. Nobody needs a new market contestant with direct access to the Ministry of Defense competitions.

“Thanks for the informative tour of the arms business, Mr Cruz,” I said with a smile, “So what does the GWI management want from me?”

“We’d like to buy your company. Along with the license, of course, because it’s what’s most valuable. Our management is ready to offer you 100,000,000 rubles. It’s a very good price, Mr. Lavroff. Think of it. In addition, we are prepared to purchase separately all your work already done on the modernization of standard weapons and buy from now on all the promising improvements and new samples that you can create.”

Cruz stopped talking, and all three, including Rabinovich, looked at me waiting for an answer. Judging by the look on my consultant’s face, he found the GWI’s offer more than generous.

“This is a good offer, gentlemen. And if I were an ordinary businessman, I would take it without hesitation.”

“What’s stopping you, Mr Lavroff?”

“Only one thing. I didn’t start this business for profit. I already have enough money to live comfortably. But, alas, not for long. It will be hard for you to understand, gentlemen, I can already see, but still, try, at least to get my motives right to the people you’re here for. I just got back from the battle, and I know the reality on the fronts, as I’ve been moving in the highest military circles, I’ve been among real high-ranking military commanders. With the available weapons and resources, we will not be able to defeat the quargs, we will lose the war. It’s a matter of several years. Who would want the money you promise me for my company? Who would spend it and where?”

“It seems to me, Mr Lavroff, that you are painting the devil blacker than he really is,” said Martinez, but it seemed like I was making him uncomfortable, “That’s defeatism over the situation…”

“Do I look defeatist to you?” I mildly interrupted the GWI negotiator, “I’m sure you’ve studied my biography.”

“My colleague was wrong to say,” Enrique Cruz rushed to smooth things over, “What he really meant was that he himself was more optimistic about the issue. Please continue with your thought.”

“Well, gentlemen. I created the Lavroff Weapons Company because I feel I have the power to change the situation. I’ve picked an excellent team of like-minded people with the necessary expertise. I already have a few promising ideas, which, by my own experience, I believe are the most important for rapid deployment in the Federation Armed Forces. That’s what I want to present to the New Equipment and Weapons Commission of the Ministry of Defense. Again. I don’t want any profit. Everything I’ll earn I plan to put into research and development, and in order for them to be implemented as quickly as possible, I need a direct communication with the Ministry of Defense. I’m gonna do exactly what I think is most relevant to the army right now, and I don’t want anyone interfering in this process and dictating to me what is more promising and less so in terms of commercial benefits.”

Martinez’s face was full of deep-seated disappointment and frustration. He clearly didn’t like the negotiations. And Enrique Cruz was thinking about something intensely. Finally, he sighed and looked at me.

“I respect your position, Igor,” his voice seemed to express regret, but maybe I just imagined it, “But the reality is, you can’t run this business on your own. You’ve already been turned down for loans and leases? You’re a smart man, and I think you’ve figured out by now that it’s not an accident. Trust me, it’s only gonna get worse. With all due respect, all sincere respect to your accomplishments, the arms market is not your level. I’m sorry we’re on opposite sides of the table, but that’s how life turned out, and there’s nothing we can do about it. I do recommend that you reconsider our offer. I could double it, but I know it’s not about the money. Give up this business and join your team in the GWI. I think I can persuade the management to create a separate unit from your team. You will have virtually unlimited resources and the opportunity to work safely in a large corporation.”

“Thank you, Enrique,” I thought I’d call him by his first name, “I understand that you’re just doing your job, and your employer has given you the task of buying my company. But I can’t help you. I need autonomy in decision-making. Complete autonomy, which is absolutely impossible in a vertically integrated corporation like the GWI. So I have to decline. ”

“Is that your final decision, Mr Lavroff?” In Martinez’s voice, there was an irritation he could barely contain.

“It’s final, Mr Martinez.”

“Well, I’m afraid you’ll soon have to regret that, Second Lieutenant,” hissed the negotiator, “’Cause when the Commission of the Ministry of Defense comes to you in three months and sees that there’s no real activity going on, it’s gonna revoke the license, and all your good intentions will be lost. And without money, you’ll have no activity. You may visit all the banks in the Federation, no one will work with you. At most, they’ll promise something small and delay for months to make a decision. And if you try to find an outside investor, you know who’s going to be behind his back.”

“Unfortunately, my colleague is right, Mr Lavroff,” – Cruz said mildly, “You have my contact. I’ll wait for the call. Our offer still stands. Well, as long as you have a license, of course. Only every day of your delay will reduce the amount offered by us by 2 million rubles. It’s been a pleasure meeting you. Now, if you gentlemen will excuse us, we have business to attend to.”

* * *

Not all partners are equally useful. I lost Rabinovich, and I had plans for him.

“I’m sorry, Igor, but if I were you, I’d accept the offer. It’s been a pleasure working with you, but I’m afraid you’ll have to find another consultant,” Rabinovich told me right after the GWI negotiators left.

I didn’t feel sorry. It’s best to part with an unreliable partner early in a relationship, than to get stabbed in the back later in a more serious situation. Right now, I didn’t have time to think of Rabinovich. I had enough problems without him.

I went back to the office, locked myself there, picked up my tablet and started analyzing the situation. Initially, I was going to push into developing new Electronic Warfare stations. Using the knowledge of my civilization, I could quite significantly improve not only the circuits used in the production of electronic warfare equipment, but also the discrete components with which they were assembled. That’s what I needed the expensive equipment for. Now I could forget about it, but I can’t say that my plans were completely thwarted because of that. After all, there was much that could be done with the Federation’s technology, using the software algorithms I knew. Well, we’ll improve communications and electronic counteraction systems using what we have.

I looked into the catalogs of the manufacturers and started to figure out exactly what we might need and what amount of money it would cost us. In three months, I have to report to the Commission of the Ministry of Defense and it would be best if I presented a ready-to-act sample. About 40 minutes later, I realized I was stuck and called Jeff in. After spending another hour with him, I realized that it was bad and invited Professor Stein. As a result, our torment resulted in a full meeting of the entire team.

“All right, gentlemen,” I’ve summed it up, “We have found ourselves severely constrained by newly discovered circumstances. It is not possible to purchase expensive research and production equipment at this time, but we have another way. We’ll stop the prospective research on new processors for EW stations for now. We’re not giving up on them definitively, but since from now on we can only count on ourselves for money, the projects that can prove to the Ministry of Defense our viability and get us a government order become our priority. With money from the realization of the state order we can continue our research.”