Bothered by a particular detail in Holliday's response, Felcher felt the need to speak up and point out facts from his research.
"I couldn't help but notice that you mentioned the usage of 'Elixirs' in your medical practices. Quite a funny story, actually. One of our field operatives has stumbled upon said 'Elixirs' sold in Bretonia and brought an assortment over to our labs for analysis. What a complete waste of time it was! Each and every one of them proved to have absolutely no medical use whatsoever. Most of them were water with food coloring and flavor additives. I even heard one of the scientists on my team call them 'funny juice'. I understand that, as a non-profit, it's hard to come by medicine to give to patients in dire need, but mixing real medicine with said 'Elixirs' really points out how dire your need for effective medicine is."
He turned towards Bucksworth with a very serious expression, his eyes shining bright with the flame of his passion towards medical research.
"Donnie, is there any way you reckon we can help them out with that? Maybe somehow subsidize the medical supplies to their bases? We can't have people out there, real sick people, taking colorful fruit-water for medicine."
"You are absolutely right. We can't let that happen. I'll have to consult with the board of executives, but I'm pretty sure that given the situation they'd agree to send a few care packages free of charge."
Bucksworth smiled towards all the attendants in the room, then turned his look back towards Holliday.
"Regarding the other matters at hand: I feel like you're jumping the gun with this offer, it's way too soon. There's a lot of things to consider, especially the fact that Cryer is a for-profit company and our employees get paid a salary to work under certain conditions. Those conditions are rather specific, and they're determined and agreed upon using a collection of preset employment contracts offered to new employees. Sending people to work aboard MFE installations would require making a dedicated contract listing all the specifics of working exclusively with a third party, which is not something we usually do. And don't even get me started with health and safety insurance, that'd be one deep bureaucratic nightmare!
Furthermore, I'm afraid it'll introduce social problems between our employees and your volunteers. Knowing that someone on your team gets paid for their work while you're not is... Not great for the morale..."
He looked up at the ceiling and stroked his beard intensely, trying to think what he could offer as an alternative. Then, he remembered the conversation he had with Cryer's board and how other joint projects were dealt with. He took a good sip of his coffee and turned towards Holliday again with fresh thoughts.
"There's one thing I think I already offered previously, which for us would be a safer way to implement your idea. We have mobile lab modules which we can easily deploy on any spatial installation. They're fully functional and come equipped with state-of-the-art Cryer equipment. The best part about them is that our field medics already have 'working in a mobile lab' listed in their contract terms, so we won't have to deal with any legal issues, and your volunteers will know it's an external team they work with. I believe it solves most of the problems I mentioned earlier. We can take care of the deployment and operation costs, even help you pay the bills or have our commercial fleet supply your bases in turn."
He looked at Holliday with the same excited grin he had at the start of this meeting, hoping for the best possible outcome that'll leave both parties satisfied.
