The large choice of ships in IPS fleet allows the company to ply every corner of the galaxy

"... and that, the galaxy will watch further developments of that mystery with eagerness, I'm sure," said the anchor. He turned toward the studio camera. "And now, Business Profiles."

The screen cuts to floating letters, spinning and converging to form the phrase "Business Profiles". In the background, the generic stock videos of various galactic sentients pretending to hold discussions with each other were somewhat awkward and rather laughable, but then again, this was precisely why these stock media were created.

"Our senior correspondent Ka'sudra is on location at the offices the Interstellar Parcel Service. Ka'sudra, can you hear me?"

"Good morning, Dair," said the correspondent in a rather heavily accented basic, though he enunciated clearly enough for the viewers to understand him. "Interstellar Parcel Service is a young transport company that had grown tremendously in the past few months. Today I am with Vesh Oleander of IPS as the company prepares to celebrate its first anniversary."

: "It is great that you can join us today, Ka'sudra,"

: "I believe, your colleague Ashura Harma was supposed to join us as well, Mr. Oleander..."

: "Just Vesh, please."

: "Of course. Vesh."

Suddenly the large decorative plant an arm's length away from Oleander moved.

"I'm here as well."

Visibly taken aback, the correspondent paused, but recovered quickly.

: "I'm sorry, I had expected a Kushiban."

: "Well, that's no longer the case, is it?" The plant shook a bit in what could only be its way of laughing. "It seems that drinking too much green milk reactivated the Derra virus in me."

: "Oh, that must have been quite a shock!"

: "No, Ka'sudra, it's not that bad. The problem, however, is that I have no more test..."

Oleander jumped in and interrupted his colleague before he elaborates on his new anatomy.

: "Tests! All the tests are completed." He took a deep breath before he continued. "Now, we are proud to announce that we can release the EasyShare galaxy-wide, a new feature available on our holosite."

: "Ah yes, I have indeed read IPS's press release announcing EasyShare. Can you tell us more about this exciting new business venture, Vesh or Ashura?"

: "EasyShare, which we will refer to as ES, is a peer to peer service that allows to post and take delivery orders. You see, the galaxy is always in shortage of pilot to transport goods, and those who do are pricey, reserving the service only for high value items and ships. With ES, anyone can be a delivery person, and the price can be adapted to the value of the good to be transported."

: "How does it work?"

The correspondent asked, head slightly tilted and with seeming interest.

: "There are two facets," continued Oleander. "First, those with transportation needs are given an easy tool to post the goods that need to be delivered, the origin, and the destination. The ES holosite, with a database of recent known transport transactions, will suggest a competitive price. The requester can suggest a lower fee, too, of course."

Harma interrupted.

: "If the price is too low, nobody will want to carry your junk!"

Oleander glanced at his colleague, and then continued with the next facet.

Searching an EasyShare parcel near your route : can you do the maths ?

: "Then, there's the delivery. Let's say you work for a long distance hauling company, reading to haul a load of raw materials to the Outer Rim and there is still available cargo capacity on your transport. You can check on our holosite to see if any requests exist that just happened to be along your delivery route. That way, you can make some extra money on top of your salary."

: "Free of taxes of course", Harma added.

: "ES is projected to be very popular for bounty hunters," said Oleander. "They naturally travel regularly across the galaxy in capable ships. They will find ES to be an excellent way for them to make a little extra off the top as they travel. Do you see?"

: "That does sound like a great opportunity, Vesh. Now, perhaps some critics will ask why you are establishing a new marketplace for transports. Why not make use of the Centerpoint Marketplace that is always extremely popular and ubiqutous?"

: "I will tell you why, Ka'sudra. The process on our holosite is automated at its utmost. Another great point is that you can see on one page all orders available. The transporters can now see all the stuff that needs to be transported, galaxy wide, at a since glance. It allows you to regroup orders for more efficiency and greater profits. And the customer is now freed from the labor of searching and choosing a transport. He just has to post his request and he is done, just have to wait for the delivery."

: "Doesn't that exclude the other transport companies or the freelancers?"

Harma answered the correspondent's question.

: "Yeah, we will oversee all the competitors..."

Oleander shot Harma a glance and finished what Harma began.

: "What Ashura means is that we, at IPS, love transport and we would like to contribute to to the development of the transport market. That is why everyone is welcome to use our holosite and that the other transporters will find great benefits in accessing a wider range of order. I'd also like to point that we have a variety of tools already available for free, to help calculate cargo, or an advanced NavComp for exemple."

: "What are the other benefits of ES, Vesh?"

The Revwien fervently jumped in with another answer.

: "Well, for one, it will allows cleaning of the pile of trash that is this galaxy. All the fault of the Jawas I tell you. Those little critters are everywhere now, and everywhere we got litter and rubish. If it would be me, I swear I'll ..."

Oleander raised his voice and drowned out his colleague.

: "AND UNDER CURRENT PRICES, PEOPLE... uh... people don't bother to gather their stuff, that stands randomly abandoned on any planet." Oleander glared at Harma helplessly before he continued. "Most of the time buying a new ship is cheaper than transport the old one because traditional transport implies a lot of time and logistic. With ES, it is now possible to have it gathered for you. It is a new paradigm for transport. Also, with people from any group being able to use ES, you can expect to gain an easier acces to shielded planets."

: "Do you see any potential shortcomings with this new system?"

: "The galaxy has its ample share of thieves and scammers. Morons. Half-wits..."

Oleander chose to finish Harma's thoughts once again.

: "What Ashura meant, of course, is that there is always a risk by trusting your goods to a stranger. But our notation system is there to diminish the risk. And for the really valuable good, you can still use the premium service with our trusted employees."

For a premium service, you can still rely on IPS pilots

The correspondent looked down at his notes, and asked another question.

: "I assume IPS stands to increase its revenue with this new service?"

: "That question! Of course! We will be swimming in..."

Again repeating what had taken place throughout the session, Oleander interrupted Harma yet another time.

: "What Ashura meant is that there is indeed a modest fee on each order."

: "Do you have anything else to add?"

: "Yes, people who want to support us can adhere to our loyalty program, IPSValue," Oleander offered. "IPSValue members enjoy a wide range of exclusive benefits, and are regularly consulted to help us develop new services for the general market."

: "I understand that there will be a lot of festivities to celebrate IPS's anniversary?"

: "Yes indeed!" Oleander's eyes opened wide with excitement as he explained. "To celebrate IPS's first anniversary, we will be hosting a raffle, with free tickets to our supporters."

: "And don't forget to drink you milk daily, for your dose of calcium," Harma said, confusing the correspondent for a split second.

The correspondent turned toward the camera.

: "And there we have it. IPS, continuing to grow at an astonishing pace, celebrates its first anniversary with the exciting announcement of EasyShare. Back to you, Dair."

No rest for the braves, the party is already over and the IPS staff is back on duty