"The tibanna gas produced by our mine must first satisfy the needs of the Corellian Defense Force. Only the remainder can be exported."
"Hmph—this is trade protectionism!" Nute Gunray flailed his arms, spraying spit as he ranted. "This approach is unfavorable to the optimal allocation of resources across the galaxy, unfavorable to improving the operating efficiency of the Galactic Republic's economy, and will greatly reduce the welfare of the entire universe! This is wrong!"
"Yes, yes, what you say makes sense. But the Fieg Consortium is, after all, a Corellian enterprise. And as you know—when you're under someone's roof," Max dipped his head slightly, "you can't always keep your spine straight."
Earlier, Gunray had dangled a sweet promise in front of Lord Fieg: complete a certain task for him, and afterward he would buy all of the Fieg Consortium's tibanna gas—however much they produced—every last drop.
Max didn't bite. Instead, he turned around and started selling the Trade Federation governor a story on the spot.
From Max's mouth, the Galactic Republic was rotten and collapsing, chaos was approaching, and everyone could feel it—so the galaxy's major and minor powers, such as Your Excellency's Trade Federation; such as the Corporate Alliance, the Techno Union, the InterGalactic Banking Clan, and the Commerce Guild; such as the defense forces of member worlds and planetary defense forces—were all aggressively stockpiling tibanna gas and expanding their military power.
Gunray's "buy-it-all" bait, he hadn't taken all that seriously himself. But when he heard Max's pitch, he couldn't help taking it seriously.
With chaos approaching, Gunray's own mind started turning. Projecting his own thinking onto others, he believed every regional strongman would inevitably start making their own little moves. So at that moment, Gunray didn't doubt Max's claims—he began seriously thinking through countermeasures.
After three days of repeated back-and-forth bargaining, Gunray, on behalf of the Trade Federation, and Max, on behalf of the Fieg Consortium, formally signed a "Cooperation Agreement" that neither side found truly satisfying: the "Strategic Cooperation Agreement on the Fieg Consortium's Priority Supply of Tibanna Gas to the Trade Federation."2
The agreement stipulated that starting in Galactic Standard Year 4, January (inclusive), the Fieg Consortium must guarantee a monthly supply of at least 100,000 tons of liquefied tibanna gas to the Trade Federation. The price would be settled at the landed price, calculated at the market price on the day of arrival. The agreement would be signed annually; if neither party objected, it would automatically renew upon expiry.1
After subtracting Lord Fieg's profit share, at current market rates, for every 100,000 tons of liquefied tibanna gas sold, Max could earn roughly 100 million Galactic Republic credits. If the several hundred thousand people of Cloud City didn't eat or drink anything, then every three months they could scrape together the cost of two Imperial I-class Star Destroyers.18
Unfortunately, earning a lot also meant there were plenty of places to spend it.
One project urgently needing funding—yet difficult to execute—was bringing in a MandalMotors starfighter production line, or at the very least getting a major overhaul and repair facility running. Otherwise, the heavily worn starfighters in Shriek Hawk Squadron and War Falcon Squadron would, within the year, most likely begin dropping out of service one after another.
Fortunately, Lord Fieg was a reasonable man—though Max didn't particularly want him to be this "reasonable."1
After returning to Corellia from Cato Neimoidia, Lord Fieg quickly transferred 137 million Galactic Republic credits into Max's account—exactly half of what Max had spent on the large procurement run on Cato Neimoidia.
"Manager Cloud, there's no logic in letting you pay alone." Killian Fieg gave Max a meaningful look. "After all, Cloud City belongs to me."
"Oh—small money. I forgot to coordinate with you. That's entirely my fault." Max's face didn't change and his heartbeat didn't spike. "Of course, Cloud City is certainly your property."
However, Lord Fieg's "cooperation" made Max think of another path to solve the looming starfighter-grounding problem.
"The New Cloud City Plan?" Killian Fieg looked uncertain. "Isn't that… too big a project?"
"It's big, but it's necessary."
Max wasn't improvising on a whim. He'd seriously considered this plan before. Now, he carefully laid out the logic to Killian Fieg.
As the galaxy's major factions accelerated their preparations for war—and once war broke out someday—Bespin, as an important source of wartime resources, would be very easy for every heavyweight to target.
At the current stage, Cloud City had a massive defensive vulnerability. Namely: if a hostile force infiltrated from the far side of Bespin—the hemisphere "behind" Cloud City—then Cloud City, sitting in a blind spot, would struggle to detect them in time.
Killian Fieg was unimpressed. "Can't we just run patrols on the planet's far side with starfighters or fleets? The cost of that has to be far lower than building a second Cloud City on the far side."
"Have you considered the possibility that the enemy simply jumps straight into the atmosphere? In that case, patrol squadrons or fleets stationed in space would also have trouble defending against it."
"That's impossible, isn't it? Within a gravity well, you can't do hyperspace jumps."
"There's nothing impossible about it. Manually disable the hyperdrive safety interlocks, and you can initiate hyperspace from anywhere. It's just that the closer you are to a celestial body, the stronger the gravitational interference—and the higher the risk of a hyperspace accident."4
"T-that works?" What Max said clearly exceeded Killian Fieg's existing understanding of the topic.
"Baktoid Combat Automata's B-1 battle droids cost under 1,000 credits apiece—cheaper than a good blaster. Buy a bunch of junk secondhand ships, load them with B-1s, and gamble on atmospheric jumps into the far-side hemisphere behind Cloud City on Bespin. Yes, losses will be huge—but compared to the potential payoff, it's still a massively profitable trade."7
When he saw Lord Fieg sink into thought, Max pressed while the iron was hot:
"Organizing far-side patrols with starfighters or fleets—no matter how small the expense—remains pure expense. Building a new Cloud City costs a lot, but the returns will be even bigger."
"If we do that, won't we be over-extracting and stripping Bespin's tibanna gas dry under my watch?" By now, Killian Fieg's hesitation was growing weaker and weaker. "Wouldn't the Fieg family's descendants inherit a drained-out Bespin from me? What are they supposed to live on?"
"My lord, that's not how you should run the numbers. After the Ruusan Reformation, the galaxy enjoyed nearly a thousand years of relative peace. After this war, who's to say we won't get another thousand years of peace? The period when tibanna gas yields the most profit is right now—this chance won't come twice."
"Sell more while the window is open—earn more while you can. Once you've made the money, you can invest elsewhere. Why chain yourself to a little place like Bespin? Besides, even if Bespin's gas is depleted, that doesn't mean Cloud City has no future—we can pivot to tourism. A sky city this beautiful exists nowhere else in the galaxy!"5
"How the family chronicles remember you depends on your decision!" Max extended his hand, eyes burning with urgency. "Let's do it together, my lord!"
"Done." One hand, then two—clasped together tightly.
............
PS: The price setting in Star Wars doesn't stand up well to scrutiny. Jedi Masters and Sith Lords, please be lenient and don't dig too deep.
For example, an Imperial I-class Star Destroyer costs 150 million Imperial credits, while a brand-new TIE Defender costs 300,000 Imperial credits—so the cost of one Imperial I only builds 500 TIE Defenders. Does that make sense?11
Another example: a Venator-class Star Destroyer costs 59 million Republic credits, while a brand-new ARC-170 starfighter costs 155,000 Republic credits—so the cost of one Venator only builds 380 ARC-170s. Does that make sense?