"If we use the FF drive and slip into
Redspace for 3.4 seconds, and then a full burn in
Grayspace for an hour, we can shave four lightyears off of our journey and make it to Paradisio in ten percent less time. That will save our client fifty million
Chits, which we can recoup fairly easily with a service fee. If the bean counters in Accounting are good enough, we might even come on with a tidy profit. And with less than four second trip, we might not even have to fight off the demons."
~Captain Jeanne Macron
Syndicate, Guild, Union, or Mafia?
The Galactic Trade Syndicate is made up of a loosely affiliated fleet of starship captains, most of them in trade vessels, passenger liners, and cargo haulers. They employ some corvettes and gunships but these are mostly
Vanguard Dynamics mercenaries rather than full memebers of the GTS. The actual hierarchy of the GTS is fairly sparse, mostly negotiators and coordinators that ensure that no single trade route becomes too crowded and to make sure that individual captains don't get exploited, or used by freelancers.
No Scabs. Ever.
Freelance traders tend to be heavily armed, partially due to pirates. The other part is because of the GTS, which ruthlessly hunts unaffiliated captains that intrude on their claimed routes. This means that freelancers have to settle for longer routes, or have enough muscle backing them up.
Logistics and Shipping
Aside from their affiliated captains, they also build
Starships, starship equipment, logistics haulers, cargo containers, and many other accoutrements of the trading (and smuggling) business.
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