![[Image: QOxXx2l.png]](http://i.imgur.com/QOxXx2l.png)
Top Floor
Canterbury Station
New London System
A steely middle aged woman stood looking out of the huge windows of the conference room at the highest level of Planetforms Canterbury headquarters. The woman adjusted her spectacles in order to better focus on the gas giant Dover, loving its swirling teal waves and tides, a furious but beautiful combination of force and nature, much like herself she thought. This woman was Clarissa Carrington, the new CEO of Planetform Incorporated, having seized power when her predecessor -in a delerious bout of estranged glee- had begun an expedition to Terraform the sun, resulting in his untimely demise.
Clarissa having come from a wealthy background of patriotic heritage, had been one of the top students at some of the most prestidgious learning institutions in Bretonia. Coming from the R&D department, her claim to the top dogs chain had been down to her skill as a risk taker, always able to get the results she needed to succeed. Clarissa now had her eyes fixed on the horizon as she hopes to force planetform into a golden age, to transform them from slaves to the stars, planet moulding gods.
As she stared ambiently into the giant teal hurricanes on Dover's surface, behind her were at least three dozen of her now subordinates, arguing around a huge oval conference table, with lower level employees PA's and secretary stood waiting silently around the edges of the room for their respective boss to finish.
The subject of debate? How to recover and increase the profit margins in response from rapidly dwindling spirals of disinterest apparent in the Bretonian cabinet. Many making the claim that with the Gauls knocking down the queens’ door, that they have no money left to fund such a nebulous grey area of Bretonian power, Planetform.
Others making the claim that the money is present but politicians aren’t willing to invest in Planetform because it is more than likely they will not be around to see the result of their investment, or they fear that should the tide of the war turn forcing the Gauls to make a grab for Harris, it would cause the Bretonian economy irreparable damage and asset loss.
The arguments bounced back and forth, it really was a desperate time for Bretonia, but most of all for Planetform. The company had been ruled by dead mans boots for almost its entire existence, with fat businessmen using it to further their own personal gains and wealth. Whereas the company as a whole had drifted so far from its roots as a bretonian corporation, some people were in doubt that they were even Bretonian.
"It is folly to believe that the Bretonian economy can and will continue to support Planetforms goals in times of such utter desperation when we do so little to put anything back into the economy" One department head bellowed slamming his fist onto the table. "No no, they must continue to support our efforts, not doing so at such a late stage would be an incalcuable loss to the nation, both in time and resources" another claimed, "The resource pool gets thinner every day, word is that all the other corporations are spread thinner than the amount of breathable air on Sprague"
the men continued to argue amongst themselves for some time, Clarissa still stood looking out of the window until her PA approached and whispered into her ear, Clarissa nodded and remained silent, her PA then stood back against the wall holding her data pad against her lap with both hands. still the arguements raged on.
"With the terraforming process being in constant need of replenishment due to solar radiation stripping away any atmosphere we set up how can we hope to sustain all the projects we have running without support from the government??" another head of department questioned, shouting amongst his peers.
The CEO turned around and approached the table, her PA staying back against the wall like the others. The men quieted down immediately, Clarissa grinned ear to ear.
"Funny you should mention that Mr Mann" Clarissa hummed, standing upright proudly "A project to tackle that very issue has been underway in secret for a long time now" she commented waving her hand dismissively, "The ancient methods of the past will soon be just that, a thing of the past." she gloated, the men wondering from where she had gotten such confidence as none of them felt the situation was anywhere near to being back in the black.
Clarissa continued, taking their silence as a request to hear more. "The methods laid down by the planetform founders have been in circulation for? .. hundreds of years?" she asked rhetorically, "these methods have required us to wait hundreds of years for planets to respond to the efforts of our employees, costing the economy billions for just playing the waiting game, rubbish I say" Clarissa stated getting a little worked up but soon calming down again, continueing, "Its time we throw away these ancient practices and force the planets to do our bidding on command, because I dont have three hundred years to wait and see if everything went to plan!" she said with a sadistic grin, "which is why gentlemen, I present to you one of tools that will put all of our names into the history books and bestow upon our nation the pride and prestige it has lost through years of savage warfare, I give you Project Artemis!" she nodded to her PA whom pressed a button which deployed a large projected hologram of a giant ship concept.
there was a rumble of voices as the department heads began speaking quietly amongst themselves in light of the unveiling of this monsterous machine roughly the size of a Dunkirk class Battleship.
"And how do you intend to fund this project Miss Carrington?" A Libertonian voice rose above the rabble. All heads turned toward the figure purposely standing close to the middle of the room. A man in his mid thirties was standing with a confident air about him. His arms crossed across his freshly pressed high class suit, a steely determined look upon his face with his hair impeccably slicked into place. His eyes staring right at Clarrisa with no wavering in his stance "I'm sure you are aware the Bretonian Government is in debt to levels unknown since Rheinland's Eighty Year War..." he smugly waited a second but she didn't bite having seen him like this a bit over the last few months "...rumors have been floating around recently that you were appointed due to your pro-Bretonian stance; but a project of such magnitude...such brilliance....such ambition..." Lincoln, looking around the room of people, knew his charisma was something that he was proud of. He also knew that Planetform was in need of a shake up financially yet also technologically; and it was this that led him to stay with the company after Clarrisa was appointed to the CEO position over him.
"...it needs a great deal of cash and technology I fear we don't currently have. So I say again; how do you intend to fund this project Miss Car..."
""Mr. Caldwell!..." Clarrisa interrupted abruptly. She knew he was a passionate man but she was in control now.
“Tsk tsk tsk” Clarissa sounded with a grin, waving her finger at him disapprovingly, “Do you think so little of me? Of course, I have a plan..” she continued re-affirming the position of her spectacles up the bridge of her nose. “Project Artemis is a final goal for us to work towards. In theory it will allow us to directly influence the geothermal activity in a planets core by direct contact” Clarissa stated shortly, “you mean…” a voice from earlier cropped up, “Yes” the CEO confirmed, continuing to speak in grandiose “This machine will make all of our work 100% self sustaining, by interfacing with planets cores directly we can generate the final elusive piece of stable planetary conditions..” she finalised before ending that sentence. “A stable magntic field..” one department head stated in awe, Clarissa hit the desk twice with the flat of her hand and then gestured towards the hologram, “This is literally the pen god uses to write the universe”, “are you implying that we are to become akin to Gods.. Ms Carrington?” A man asked to the right of her, causing a evil grin to form momentarily “perhaps, but there are still a few issues with the project right now, the most glaring of which…” she nodded to her PA who pressed a button a second hologram of a Dunkirk Battleship appeared next to the Artemis project, this caused quite a stir in the room as the machine was larger than bretonia’s largest combat vessel, “..is its size..” she finished briefly before continuing so nobody could interrupt, “it still needs a lot of work even now, and wont be ready for trial any time soon” Clarissa grinned evily, turning she gave her PA a nod and the hologram vanished from the center of the table.
“to answer your question Mr Caldwell, we currently can not fund this project any more than it is currently, which is bare bones at best, our corporation is too far from the hearts of the people, sure we did a dirty terraform of Sprague, but its just a mud ball out in the middle of a pirate infested wasteland” she paused taking a sip of water, “simply put we have no identity, our fleet is a rag tag amalgamation of any ship we could find still kicking to haul things from one place to another. And 90% of them aren’t bretonian in origin” Clarissa paused momentarily to let that sink in, pushing up her glasses, “So we will start climbing back into the public eye and into the hearts of the Cabinate Ministers by buying into bretonian produced hardware, we have the funds to do so” the CEO finished sitting back confidently. “and after their hearts we will climb into their wallets.”
“But bretonian hardware in such times is getting increasingly expensive, the CTE line works just as well if not better, there is n-“ a department head stated factually before he was interupted by the CEO, Clarissa looked at her nails for a moment before looking into his eyes, “the point of buying bretonian hardware is to support the bretonian economy in this time of need, as somebody already stated, we cant expect to get anything out of the economy in these times without putting anything into it to start with.” She sighed. “a full fleet of bretonian ships will be a good show of faith that we may be on the fringes of Bretonia, but we are now a proud and patriotic corporation, do you know how much the royalists and ministers eat that up? It’s a veritable geyser of money just waiting for us to tap it. Bowex have been riding that train for hundreds of years, the old CEO was too stubborn to follow suit… I have no such ideals. I want that money, and I will get it. Clarissa said bluntly waiting for any further comments.
A bespectacled man in his mid forties spoke up over the newly stunned silence. A coffee mug now nearly empty in one hand, the index finger of his other slightly twitching as he raised his hand upwards reminiscent of a child at school raising a hand to answer a question. "Dr. Elias Mann, experimental devel..." He started to re-introduce himself to the group before he tailed off as Lincoln had spoken up too taking up the attention of the crowd.
"Bravo Miss Carrington..." Lincoln started with a definitive wave of smugness about it, his arms finally releasing from their crossed position and moving as if they were to start a slow clap "...standardising equipment is great for controlling costs and buying local is important for efficiency in repairs..." He was almost sounding as if he was cheerleading the recent information shared by Clarissa. But his smug focused look returned and he straightened the edge of his shirt sleeve before crossing his arms again "...but while that will save some money where will we get the money to buy those ships..." He took a glance as his watch before he carried on "...particular in an economy so trashed as Bretonia. Bowex haven't exactly been riding a wealthy train this past year or so; so why this economy...why not Liberty...why not go for the money available in the Liberty economy..." He paused again a smirk growing and an eyebrow cocked in a questioning manner. Running his fingers through the hair above his right ear he knew was setting Clarissa up. He knew this was make or break for her. She'll either gain the acceptance of the group or lose it entirely with what she said next and he was eagerly awaiting her move. With his arms back across his chest he continued "...Well Miss Carrington. What is the reason?" The room quietened as they awaited Clarissa's reply.
Clarissa smiled belittlingly "Well because unlike Libertonians, im not afraid of a challenge, I wont cower in a that hole you call home nice and safe in the middle of the galaxy. I'll be here to my dying breath, because I am Bretonian, not to mention gods dont need to hide." she commented, finishing with a frown before continuing "As for how we will afford the necessary equipment, its quite simple... Mavis" Clarissa said wagling her finger which summoned her PA to her side, the woman handed Clarissa the data pad, and the CEO stood up, regarding it and walking around the table slowly
"we could, give everyone in this room a pay cut.. which would raise current profit margines by, hmm, nine percent..." she read seeming impressed, "which alone could easily raise us the money to generate a baby fleet of shiny new Percherons" Clarissa stated with a grin, watching the room stir not liking the sound of that one bit, "we could, double employee shift hours and squeeze them for all they are worth, taking into account loss of efficiency by fatigue this would increase profit margines by.. hm.. twenty three percent." The CEO continued, "we could add a ten percent grievance tax to the export of our most notably controlled exports; Gaian wildlife specimines, Xenbiotic Filters, Flourine and Flora-Gro™, to give us an overall estimated profit increase of around eight percent."
'Hmmm fiesty...' Lincoln thought to himself as Clarissa started up, his smirk not dwindling nor his cocked eyebrow '...fiesty yet sexy...' his thoughts carried on as he quickly took a second to admire her physique while she wailed on with her patriotic speech '...I might enjoy working with her yet'. He dropped his eyebrow but soon raised it again as she called for her datapad from her PA.
Unfolding his arms he placed his hands into pockets in his pants he then respectfully let he say her speech on ideas to save money but he maintained his focus directly upon her. He did however prelude his upcoming rebuttal with a small furrowing of his brow and an arching of his nostrils. A she neared the end he again slicked the hair above his right ear ready for his moment before returning the hand to sit upon the outside of his pocket.
"You done?..." He called out remorselessly almost appearing to cut her off as the syllable rolled from her lips "...and where would you continue to find buyers for the inflated goods, orrr the employees to continue to work for us, orrr...." He then waved his arm in a half circle pointing to most of the department heads in front of him still murmuring between them about what she said "...the fellow leaders here to help make your dreams a reality." He pointed to her to emphasise the snarky end to the sentence before he brought both hands together in front of him in a fingers extended power pose.
"The workers will leave and some may even sue our backsides for brutally unfair conditions. Especially those in Liberty....'cause that's what I'd do if I was them...." He paused for a second and listened to the murmurs "....and they'd probably win given the current precedents of court cases over there...." His self indulgent confidence started to rise again within him "....so your savings there are at best.....marginal." He looked around the room at the department heads before stopping on Clarissa. "...but I'd give you one thing...." He started to pace a little in the room, his ego needing room to breathe "...your savings from paycuts at this level would be close. A number of these guys are getting on a bit...." his blatant comment drawing a silence "...and they wouldn't have many other options here in Bretonia nor would they be wanting an early retirement...." He dragged out the last two words as he scanned the room with his egotistical smirk growing. Stopping on Clarissa he carried on "...so dock their pay. They'll still carry on their work as it really is a decent wage...but Ruth..." He stuck his hand out to his PA receiving quickly a larger data pad than Clarissa's; just another symbol in their ego war. "...thanks Toots..." He commented looking into her eyes and nodding a small thanks, the truthfulness of his comment remained unknown. He clicked a few things before looking back up "....we currently do not hold the technological absolute advantage on a number of our products such that we can monopolise the industry and eradicate small players due to exceedingly superior quality. Nor is there the galactic demand for other products to sustain a price rise of that much...." An ill concealed whisper to his left drew him to carry on "....Stuttgart's bubbling obsession with Gaian wildlife will blow over sooner than it started Rob! We can not count on that for long and..." He looked back to his data pad to reconfirm internally the numbers he was looking for "...so your price hike of ten percent from my projections wouldn't raise the profit line more than three quarters of a percent!" Clicking a few buttons on his datapad his projections joined the image of the Artemis and a Dunkirk upon the display. The murmurs continued as did a couple of dirty looks his way. But Lincoln's smirk grew again. His egotistical pose solidified and he looked to Clarissa. Her lips already parting with her defence on the way.
There was a so far silent, somewhat large and shady man sitting near the table. Unlike the rest of executives around, he was dressed in a fancier version of PFI's security uniform. He didn't really gave a single... - ...payment cut... - Yeah, not that their last CEO was sane, but this woman just asks to be thrown out of an airlock. It didn't bothered him much, however some people in here would do anything to keep their paycheck as high as possible.
Marcus shook his head, hearing the corporate bullcrap thrown back and forth between Clarissa and Lincoln. Precents, payment cuts, some giggly patriotic stances. He frowned with disgust. This falling corporation didn't need debates. It needs decisions. And this stupid ego-war isn't going to bring them any. He sighed and pulled out a cigar. He shook his head again, looking at Lincoln's datapad and lit his cigar. Increasing production, increasing shifts... And who was supposed to keep al this safe? Marcus and his bunch of almost pirates. And now she even want to phase out Falcons and Marauders. Who the hell would fly a Templar these days anyway? Everyone saw how much they got kicked up in north... Something told him there are hard times ahead of him and his men.
Clarissa stopped as Mr Caldwell interrupted, she regarded him over the top of her glasses with some concern as she didnt like to be interupted though could accept that she was -by now- waffling. As Lincoln paced around she looked him up and down 'look at him, looks like his first day at school, just needs the backpack' she thought to herself half listening to what he was saying, this caused a rather amused grin to cross her face, 'if he didn't interrupt me and have that silly accent he might actually be cute'. Clarissas thoughts began to circle themselves when suddenly there was the utmost foul odor present.
her nostrils flared and twitched in disgust, in the middle of the left table side, Mister Davies decided to light a cigar of all things. "Put that out damn it, this isnt a jazz club..." the CEO scalded holding her nose, "jesus wept.." she cursed moving away from the table a fair bit.
Marcus looked straight at his new CEO and let out a large cloud of grey smoke.
- It isn't? Excuse moi, I've mistook all this rambling crap with some high dudes from a jazz club. - he put the cigar down by simply sticking it into the table and leaving it like that, still smoking a little. - Feel free to go on.
He leaned back on his chair with a slight smirk and a sign of amusement on his face. Such an amusing job it was.
Hearing the man before her speak Gallic to her and then burn a perfectly good table, made something inside Clarissa grind to a halt, her fingers twitched and she laughed a little looking down to her feet whilst holding onto her glasses so they didnt fall, looking back up at the man again with cold eyes and a quiet tone. "Alright, let me explain something to you, okay? You might not like me and personally doesn't bother me in the least, but if you ever speak Gallic to me again I will have you ripped to pieces. you might have been a pet of the crazy old fool here before me, but i dont need pets, I need people to do a job and get it done. Now wipe that smirk off your face and be the part, not just look the part, or get out of my sight" she said commenting on his better than usual security clothing, at times the anger clearly seething in her tone.
Lincoln was stood a little taken off track at being so blatantly ignored, Clarissa looked back over to him after she was done talking, "I am certainly well aware of all the points you raise, Mr Cadwell" she said getting his name wrong accidentally on purpose, they were merely hypothetical, the fact is we already have the funds to start a new small sized trade fleet." the CEO said calming down, however the room was much quieter now, "Each of these new vessels will have Class 5 heavy armour plating installed as a matter of principle from this day forward, eventually I want all ships that operation to have the same treatment." Clarissa stated, turning back to Marcus.
"Mister Davies, you will see to it this is done starting with any new vessels that are commisioned after todays date, and eventually for your own and any other existing fleet ships, is this understood?" She asked without any malice in her voice.