MANEUVERS IN THE DARK
A series of failures in his attempts to establish the Barony had taken its toll on the health of Fabian Montluc. No longer able to manage the responsibility, the Baron transitioned control of MAE to his ambitious but ill-equipped son, Quentin Montluc. The new Director dreamed of riches and power, and in pursuit of these goals had only managed to drive MAE to be more dependent on the Enclave.
While there were value and influence to be had in remaining among the few corporations still supplying the Enclave, there was very little sense in limiting profit just to play politics. The Board of Directors, displeased with Quentin Montluc’s misguided, by their opinion, direction, sought to take matters into their own hands. It had become very clear that MAE was being used simply as a tool for the younger Montluc to further his political standing within the Enclave at the expense of its stakeholders.
With this in mind, the Board now aims to use all that they could from the Enclave to expand the company’s reach outside of the Enclave itself and into the Taus. The goal is two-fold: to ensure the continued stability and growth of the company, and to take advantage of the Enclave's position of need as MAE moves toward a stronger role on an interstellar stage. With this, the company will be able to turn a subordinate relationship into a symbiotic one and will reap the financial rewards in the process.
Charles Moreau, a middle-aged blonde man with light blue, almost grey eyes and short tidy bristle stood up from his chair. He was dressed in a white shirt, dark-blue pants and gleaming shoes of the same colour. He shortly glanced over the other members of the meeting: director of research, Vardan Raza was looking at him with a slight interest while the others were looking mostly bored.
Five people in general, except for Baron. Quentin himself, meanwhile, was occupied by the meeting between Daumann's general director and one of the Enclave representatives aboard of his liner Madame de Pompadour.
"Mesdames..." Charles charmful smiled to two women sitting one near another and then glanced over the male part of the meeting, "...et messieurs."
"I am glad we all could make this meeting happen so soon and Baron's meeting gave us an opportunity losing of which would be a greater sin for us." Moreaus' voice was deep and pleasant enough as for baritone. He could be a good singer but never had any talent or neither wish to become a person of art. "We all invested cash in the corporation believed to Baron Fabian and his plans for making Languedoc ours. An absolute monopoly in one of the reachest regions of Gallia, an important point in transit between the Taus and Gallic core worlds. If we would succeed - we would be multibillionaires."
"However, we failed." Charles was not looking mad but the disappointment was obvious and spread from every word he told.
"A newly founded Parisian Assambley disliked our attempt to establish the so-called Barony of Languedoc. Monarchy at words but corporatocracy by methods of administration. We were threatened with a huge fine and further nationalization and so the only what we could to do was left of our motherland to the Taus, full of hostile peasants and their supporters. However, the remains of the Royal Armada found shelter in the so-called Gallic Hebrides and so we dragged remains of our corporation to the planet Bordeaux and established a new headquarters there..."
"Charles, we all remember this. What this history lesson goes for?" interrupted him an old man with glasses at his nose. Doctor Raza kept smiling and looked at Charles graciously like a father could look at his child playing a governor in a sandbox.
"Doctor Raza I prefer to explain the situation in full, unlike some." with an irritation answered Moreau without even a look at his interlocutor. "Nevertheless, if you prefer to cut right to the chase I will do so."
"You all have to admit that Fabian was a politician. A skilled one, indeed, but sadly, just a politician." Moreau glanced at attendees. "Our corporation under his leadership and ownership was doomed to be a tool in Baron's attempts to reach power and his personal goals. We embraced such a sacrifice to achieve the richness and failed..."
He pressed a few buttons on a table and huge holographic appeared over it.
"As you can see our income in the last few months since we abandoned Kerguelen, Uxeau and Gallia itself went down. We are still capable to pay our workers and maintain all the ships we have but being limited in working only for Enclave we reach nothing but bankrupting in the nearest year."
"Do you come to us with the proposal to overthrow young Montluc and take the corporation within our grasp, while he is sheltered by the Enclave?" de Villiers asked with a curious tone. Despite joining the corporation only a few months ago, Antonie climbed within the hierarchy quite fast with his cunning and experience, reaching the position of Chief of Security in no time. Dressed with a sharp-looking suit, this man looked at others. He did not like this instability, nor the proposal. Antonie was a man to take risks, however this was a risk too much to take. "One wrong move and we will have Enclave pursuing us to the other end of Sirius. They are relentless to those who wrong them despite opening arms to us, remember. We have to be certain that they will be out of this equation."
He then looked at others again one by one."What can be offer them, that Montluc himself can not do so?"
Adelaide Bessette shared the concern of her peers on the board. This was a turning point in the trajectory of MAE, and not something to be discussed lightly. To this point, however, it had seem to become necessary.
“There can be many answers to your question, Antonie,” she said. “A brighter future. Influence. Prosperity. Take your pick, or maybe even all of the above, if fortune favors us.” Adelaide paused, pursing her lips and shifting in her seat before continuing. “This notion of challenging Quentin will be poor optics, to be entirely realistic. He’s done everything he can to ingratiate himself with the Enclave, and this kind of push makes us look unstable. If we frame this right, though, and do this carefully, we can provide the roadmap to a position that exceeds even his ambition.”
“Who else associated with the Enclave is in our position to be able to reach outside our own borders? Call me optimistic, but I’ll say that’s a significant benefit that we all know Quentin isn’t equipped to execute on.”
"Bessette is indeed right. Quentin is trying to monopolize the Enclave market but we can't limit ourselves in this one market." Charles looked at her with a serious expression. "However, the Enclave supervision over our corporation limits us: Natio Octavarium, for example, would be a good customer for our small craft and armoured transports, but we can't deal with them often because they are enemies of our common friends. Quentin will do nothing to give us more freedom but only make us closer to Enclave and as a result - even more limited."
"We still can offer to them everything the same as before, but how about removing off the limits of trade?" Charles fixed his tie before continuing. "Montlucs are nobles and have some kind of moral codex which limits them. You remember well how Fabian refused of dealing with Outcasts or taking part in the slave trade."
"We are not nobles but we were rich enough to participate in the foundation of this corporation and thus we can decide how to change and make it better, profitable, prosperous." he took his seat back. "I do not offer to go and deal with the Outcasts, they are too dangerous... however, that's not to say we couldn't have a place in Gallic black and grey markets, filling them with our goods... and Bretonian serfs from Bordeaux. The Enclave as it stand is not well enough developed to provide employment to all who need it. Even with the help of us and other outsiders, Enclave will need years to grow enough to maintain the population currently allocated on the surface."
"The moral code... Pffft," Raza chuckled. "The Montlucs are driven by ambition alone. The Baron cares little for riches and influence by themselves! It's being in the shadow that eats at the aristocracy. They want to reign openly, rejoicing at respect and being recognized. The Montlucs want a Barony of their own - nothing more, nothing less."
"The Montlucs can have their illusions power and influence," Adelaide said, "that's all well and good. I think we're in alignment on what the end goal is here. I'll ask the question we're all thinking, though - what's our next step?"
"My proposal is to offer Quentin to step down from the position of CEO and give us ownership over the MAE. In return, we will provide him with regular percent from the corporation's income, shall we call it a compensation, I guess." said Charles and looked at Adelaide. The entire slow process of their meeting begun to annoy this usually patient man. "However, if he refuse then we will take power with force. All agree? Or maybe somebody has a better offer?"