Ves was not willing to budge from his initial demand.
20 percent ownership was his bottom line. If not for the fact that he feared he might scare off the Rubarthans entirely if he demanded a higher figure, he would have asked for 40 percent instead!
The downside of setting such a high demand in the beginning was that the pressure to relent and settle for a lower figure was too great.
It was customary for both sides to make painful concessions in order to meet each other halfway.
Ves did not want to do that. He had no intention of weakening his position until he only gained a fraction of what he sought.
How could he do that?
He could pull out the Novastella statue or present the Supremo Project again, but he had the feeling that it probably wouldn't work.
His previous call with Micky Tarukan could easily be recorded and played back to every relevant party. Ves would not introduce anything new if he simply repeated his earlier actions.