A friend of a friend [Ashinara - Lusatia]

[aimway921]

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ashinara would send a letter to Lusatia, requesting to establish long overdue, in Ashinara's opinion, diplomatic relations with the trade partner of Ashinara's closest ally, which, on top of that, was also the closest ally of Ashinara's own trade partner, UKUG. 

The topic of discussion requested in the first meeting between an Ashinaran ambassador and the Lusatian officials would be the purchase of small quantities of all models of small arms Lusatia has to offer, with the perspective of purchasing production licenses following said small arms' evaluation by the Ashinaran Royal Army.

[alxeu]

The Lusatian Foreign Ministry would respond positively to the initial letter, agreeing to reserve the equipment requested for testing purposes, and inviting the Ashinaran ambassador to discuss the particulars of the arms Lusatia had for sale.

[aimway921]

Ashinara would have already appointed an ambassador to Lusatia, one Tamara de Vojchuk, a half-Ashinari half-human, and she and her staff would depart for Lusatia the moment a response containing an invitation has arrived. Since the initial topic of discussion that the Ashinarans wished to discuss were purchase of weapons, Colonel Gavrylo Pastushenko of the Royal Army would accompany her.

[alxeu]

The Lusatians would patiently wait for the Ashinarans to arrive and set up their initial embassy in Kazimierzgrad before inviting them to an initial meeting at the Foreign Ministry with Luka Potocki, the Deputy Foreign Minister and some representatives from different Lusatian weapons manufacturers.

[aimway921]

The Ashinaran delegation would arrive to the Foreign Ministry as soon as they were finished setting up the basics of the office at the embassy. The ambassador, de Vojchuk, along with Colonel Pastushenko would meet Luka Potocki, ready to discuss trade.

[alxeu]

Ambassador de Vojchuk and Colonel Pastushenko would be welcomed to the conference room and provided with their beverages of choice by the Foreign Ministry's staff. In the room, three different businessmen representing the largest arms companies in Lusatia were sat flanking Luka Potocki.

Once settled, Luka would welcome them, "Greetings, friends. Was the embassy building to your expectations?"

[aimway921]

"It's more than great, and we thank you for your hospitality," de Voychuk said, bowing slightly. "But let's get to the most important item on the agenda. As we pointed out in the letter, we're interested in purchasing Lusatian smallarms for testing, and potential licensing. We're particularly interested in machine guns - both heavy and light - and pistols."

[alxeu]

Luka began, "Well, the Lusatian military currently uses the Model '15 service pistol from Standard Rifles and Arms. 12 rounds, semi-automatic, 9mm rounds. Not flashy, but reliable, and the individual parts are cheap enough to manufacture that you could buy replacement parts in bulk for not too much extra."

One of the businessmen in the room pulled out an informational document regarding the Model '15, in acceptable Ashinaran and Common. It repeated much of what Luka had mentioned, as well as listing a price for about 100 Zloty - 20 Koian Jewels - per gun.

The Deputy Foreign Minister continued, "We have older guns if you wish to look over them, but they are all revolvers. The Model '15 is the first approved service pistol."

"As for machine guns, we use the JA-16. Up to 450 round per minute, with about 120 rounds per minute being a sustainable rate. It requires a team of three to operate."

Again, another businessman pulled out an informational document: the JA-16 was gas-actuated and air-cooled, using 8mm rounds. Standard ammo strips were 24 rounds in size. A singular JA-16 went for 1000 Zloty, or 200 Jewels.

"If you wish to see older models, we can again offer them for perusal. We don't have any designs for LMGs that are approved for export to non-allies, though."

[aimway921]

De Voychuk let Colonel Pastushenko take the lead in reviewing the arms, as he was the one who was here to determine which ones the R&D back home would be most interested in. After looking over the papers, he finally replied.

"I believe we'd be most interested to take a look at the semi-auto handgun and the machine gun. We aren't interested in the revolver, as we're seeking to replace our own revolver with a handgun right now."

[alxeu]

Deputy Foreign Minister Potocki nodded, "That's good to hear. You mentioned wanting to evaluate the weapons before making any large purchase. How many did you wish to purchase in order to evaluate the weaponry?"

[aimway921]

"20 of each, as well as 10,000 rounds of ammunition for each of the guns purchased," the Colonel replied.

[alxeu]

Luka nodded, "So be it, we can see that the next shipment headed to Ashinara has what you requested on-board, though the shipment will likely take quite a long time to arrive. How does Ashinara intend to pay for this purchase and any future purchases it wishes to make? The government accepts payment in the form of Koian Jewels, Lusatian Zloty, and Gaelian Pounds, and we are also willing to extend your government credit in exchange for annual interest payments, at about 2% interest on the principal, though this is more an offer for any future larger purchases that might necessitate such a thing."

[aimway921]

"Gaelian Pounds is the only non-Touli currency Ashinara currently has on hand, so we shall pay with those. However, we've been hoping to also discuss exports of Ashinaran resources to also purchase Lusatian Zloty. Our main export is rubber and food, although I believe grains are the only type of food that would survive long enough to make the journey all the way from Ashinara to Lusatia."

[alxeu]

"Lusatia can feed itself well enough, but the offer is appreciated. While we would prefer cash for this smaller transaction today, an extensive rubber trade deal is something we would be willing to sign as part of any weapons deal."

[aimway921]

"Maybe when in the future refrigeration technology improves, we'd be able to ship our tropical fruits to you," de Vojchuk concluded of the food trade offer. "In that case, we shall buy them with Gaelian Pounds."