The Conflagration by Rob Bartlett

Author:Rob Bartlett [Bartlett, Rob]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2024-05-02T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter 46

NewHome2 - Hedonism space station

It took a few minutes to get Jesse Livermore on the screen. Busy, busy, busy, that’s our Jesse.

I use ‘our’ in the royal sense because Jesse had become a vampire before I was even born. Back in the early days of the American republic, he’d become the most successful, famous and, eventually, infamous commodities trader in the world.

Jesse was known for, um, innovative strategies to influence advantageous price movements for commodities which he was trading. As an aside, commodities trading generally involves trading contracts for delivery, not the actual commodity itself. A commodities trader makes money arbitraging the difference between offer prices and sell prices. A good trader can make money whether they’re buying or selling. A good, experienced trader can become highly successful because they develop an intuition for predicting market behavior and reacting accordingly. Jesse became legendary for going a step further and not just predicting but dictating market behavior.

Gets kinda easy to make money when you know what the market price is gonna be because you’re the one setting it, even as you’re buying and selling contracts based on everyone else’s guess work. Heh.

Also gets easy to make enemies of pretty much everyone in the commodities business once they’re suspicious of your methods.

By the time of the 1929 stock market crash, his enemies were numerous enough that a previous First reached out to him and made an offer he couldn’t refuse. Jesse, always pragmatic, proceeded to make the biggest ‘mistake’ of his career, losing his entire considerable fortune betting on the direction of the stock market. He was so distraught at his failure, that he ‘committed suicide’ <wink, wink>, thus denying the legions of his enemies their revenge, beyond destroying his fortune.

(It’s interesting that Jesse lost his fortune betting on the Crash of ‘29. And for some reason, the market rose just enough to wipe out his fortune. Right before it crashed. Strange coincidence.)

Afterward, Jesse started a new career, ensuring financial stability for the Families with his commodity trading prowess. The newly available resources also enhanced his capabilities on the market influencing side of the business.

Now, he worked for me, gaming the various commodities markets across the Mercantile Empire, on both the Imperial and local level.

Yeah, cornering the market for rare earth metals in the Empire was something Jessie was uniquely qualified to do.

“This is Jesse Livermore,” his raspy voice sounded over the speakers. “To whom am I speaking?”

“Hi, Jesse,” I said.

“Ah, my lord First, nice to speak with you again. How may I assist you today?” Abrupt and to the point. Jesse had lost any fucks to give a long time ago.

My kind of vampire.

“What do you know about the rare earth metals market?”

“Rare earth metals comprise 17 elements on the periodic table. Used as raw materials in the manufacture of components for Sentient Ships, primarily wormhole drives. Some secondary uses in the medical fields,” Jesse answered crisply.

“What are the markets like?” I asked him.

“Given the criticality for Sentient Ship components, the Empire has ensured a steady supply with predictable markets and stable pricing.

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