Tova tells me it’ll be around two weeks to a month for the modules for NHC building one to be made and another day to teleport it all in place. I consult Paolo and he seems to think that there needs to be an office and a place to stay overnight at the factory site. With a quick search, I find the equivalent of an office trailer and a single wide residence stacked on top of each other. He seemed quite happy with it. I also dropped in a locker room pod so that our future workers could wash off the sweat and chemicals off before heading home.
That done, I tell Paolo that I’m going to put two more process lines in and that I’m going to hire more people. He thanks me profusely, as though he expected me to tell him to do twice as much work by himself.
“Don’t be ridiculous, Paolo. I want you off the lines and want you on as plant manager. Can you do the logistics and scheduling?”
“Scheduling definitely, Quimica, pero, I need you to do the banking for purchases?” I sigh, I know he’s speaking English to learn it better, but my Spanish is much better than his English.
“Amigo, does that mean you want me to set up accounts for you to do the job I am asking you to do?”
He nods, “Also for the Exchange.” Ahh, he was looking for a combination word that didn’t exist. Or perhaps just administrative access.
I set up a plant account that can only be used inside the building for the Exchange, and a general payroll account that he can add names and employment level to new personnel but I still have to authorize paying them. It’s a round-about way of doing things, but I really haven’t known Paolo that long, and he low key has the power to ruin me.
Time to return a message I’ve been sitting on.
/Hi Hailey. Sorry for the delay, I had to situate things with my drug factory and the weapons dealer I make explosives for. What day we looking at for the interviews./
\Those sound like things that could get you dead. I accept your excuse. We need a week, Kimber. There are too many names on these lists to make it through in just a day.\
/Well, then I have a question germane to me being gone from my factory for a week. Do you have people that might be interested in being a day or night foreman for my factory? They would work with the Plant Manager to keep people moving, make sure security is doing their jobs, etcetera./
\Most of our people still work part time for Warram, Kimber, but I can certainly ask around.\
/If you want to tell your bosses that I’ve been authorized a personnel dispensation by Medvedev for this, maybe that would help./
\Yes, if it checks out, it will definitely help. Back to the interviews, though. The department head’s haven’t agreed to a schedule yet, but it’ll be in the next few weeks so that they can train someone up if they have to sack someone important.\
/I can make it work. The more notice the better of course./
\You know I don’t work for you, right?\
/Yes, and the boss would rather I make drugs than do this. I’m trying to fit everything in. Sorry if I sound like an ass./
Not sure I know why she snapped like that, but I want to think it’s just stress talking. If she actually thinks I’m trying to boss her around, I’d rather distance myself from the whole thing. It’s hard to imagine what the other department heads will think when I start employing their kids. At least Lamar was there to suggest it as an opportunity for their trouble kids to prove themselves. Of course there’s an even chance they cause trouble or try to steal something. Gods, now I can feel it happening in the future. Damn me for opening my mouth.
Hailey texts me a few more things but I ignore them. I’ll skim them later, but we said all we needed to. Maybe I’m ruffled from my meeting with Penny, or perhaps I haven’t been working out enough. That’s probably it. I’ve been letting myself be distracted by business and not focusing enough on my advancement.
I get my compression gear on and run around the perimeter streets of my ‘Settlement’s’ utility limits. I immediately want to build shit under the freeway as I run beneath it. The barrier road extends a kilometer past the multilane, noise-barriered road, but I’m considering making that my boundary instead. I find a couple of cleared spaces that might have been sports fields or cleared land that never got developed, but it’s flat and open and I flag it for a park or an agricultural complex. I would like to have a place where I can grow components, but many of the ones I’ve used require aether to achieve full potency.
“When did my life get suddenly consumed by my trade skills? Holy shit this is nuts how everything right now is how do I produce. When I should be asking how do I advance? I think Hailey’s truth-seeking job is going to play a huge role in that, so I need to stop pushing her work and start asking if she needs anything. Look helpful, get work with skills that are hard to train.”
I mumble the rest of my run, commenting on the buildings that I see, especially the small brewery. I stop at it and decide that I want to claim it.
//Query: Does the Empire buy back Earth currency?
//Answer: Only the Astorian Empire buys Earth currency. With your localization, currency is assumed to be US dollars. The last recorded exchange for US dollars was $300 per credit, two years ago.
I select that I would like to buy it. And pay 334 current market credits.
Several minutes later I get an update that a Nevarado Deputy Sherif reviewed the file and approved of the current market payout and sent the money to living next of kin. That’s great for me, but now I feel like I cheated a kid. Nothing for it I guess, it was all done through third parties.
Let’s see what I bought.
The microbrewery’s sitting area was trashed, register emptied and taps torn apart long ago. The walk in fridge for the kegs is wedged open and the lines were obviously cut and kegs stolen. The lines are so fouled they look plugged. Gross.
This content has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.
The industrial part of the building fared much better. The drains stink with a sweet, musky funk, but I bet that goes away when I connect utilities. Before I get too far ahead of myself, what do I want this space for? Brewing my own solvents is a waste of time. Ethanol is cheap and infusing it isn’t hard. I don’t really have a mind to make booze, I could, but why? Okay, money, dingus. Earthen booze is a small market. Does it interest me? Not currently. I make a note about herbal infusions and other fermented products as components, when I start walking around with no particular aim.
I find all of the requisites for a quality lab space. An experimental space that I could explode without killing dozens of people. That and these tanks have twice the volume of the tanks I was using for gunpowder, but in four tanks. I could do small batch products!!
We are looking up C4 formula tomorrow.
Tova, are you finished with your calculation fest?
It is safe to interrupt me, yes. I recommend you dump or distill the tanks and keep the barrels for private use.
“Tova! Will the system do something nasty to me if I drink? Warram’s age is 18.”
You are a settlement owner, chief, or whatever you decided the title is. Whenever your age is queried, your age is listed as five years older than the age required or your actual age, whichever is higher. It is a System safeguard to protect against wandering into a different area of influence and losing all of your rights.
“So I could run for Sheriff, or Sector Senate?”
Technically yes. And your Track is well suited for a Sheriff Position.
“That sounds like two parts hate, one part glory, and one part fun. Put that on the short list Tova.”
Next to Solo and Penny’s Consort then?
“Tova! Rude.” But not untrue. I was so flustered around her. Until she started asking me questions I could barely function. She’s likely a hundred years old and made of aged tea leaves. If it’s hot tea, does it even matter? Kimber Novarro, stop being a horny teen. Please and thanks. Pfft, I literally went through hormone therapy to make this my new normal. Adjust up, buttercup.
\Quimica, there are two . . . fuerte mamacitas aqui.\
Oh gods, Paolo is flustered. I run the kilometer back to the warehouse as fast as I can and see the sturdy and honestly sexy Hailey Martinez. Her accompaniment might as well be a HGH talent show. Girl is two meters and 95 kilos, minimum. She could possibly upend Paolo’s trailer.
“Hailey?!” I gasp, out of breath from sprinting here. “What brings you here?”
“Honestly? I thought back on our exchange and wondered what that would mean if Marcella said it. They were not good thoughts. So I want to apologize and make sure we’re good.”
I fall over, tired from sprinting and laugh as I gasp for air. “I’m much softer and far less experienced than Marcella, Hailey. Plus, I’m not sure whether your muscle there is intimidation or motivation.” She flexes her butt and turns for a grin.
“I can be both, hermanita.” She flexes her arms some more, and the giggles just burst out of me because Paolo might as well be visiting a hypnotist.
“Shit, okay. I was going to talk to you tomorrow, after I cooled off, but this is too funny. I think Paolo wants to climb her like a gym route.”
I get a smile out of that and I’ll take it. “Bev’s game. She likes to be appreciated. She also needs the creds if you’re serious about the foreman gig. She was supposed to get a flight out to Elko this week, but Warram’s shuttles are all down. Do you have lodging yet?”
I make a sucking sound through my teeth in response. “Two weeks is the estimate. Got a remodel of a hospital coming, and they had to make the modules to fit my building.”
Her eyes widen, “Are you serious? You have housing and medical lined up?”
“Not medical, per se, but the facility for sure. I’m about to be running 100k creds worth of drugs through my settlement, Hailey. I need people and I need a place for them to crash. Medvedev’s not giving any leeway for not being 18 yet, so I’ve kept running.”
“No wonder you’ve been so hormonal.”
“Seriously? You were doing so well too.” She slaps her hands across her mouth and her eyes show that the shock is real. “What’s with the cattiness toward me? I thought I understood it, but if you came here to apologize and accept the job, what the hell?"
She scratches the back of her neck and looks at the ceiling with a sigh. “Marcella getting involved with you, and the Boss separating the two of you has derailed our plans. I was looking forward to helping her setup the work sanctuary, but instead of being with her for that, I’m here looking after you.”
“So now you’re taking your anger out on me because the Boss is untouchable.” I start laughing at her. She’s acting like what she accused me of and it’s hilariously stupid. “The only thing I’m guilty of is working my ass off for my sister, and doing the best I can with the pile of shit that’s been dropped in my lap.”
“How about you, Bev? You hear to tear on me too?”
“Nah, kid, I don’t hero worship Marcella. She’s a great woman, and I respect her, but Hailey is in love with her and she’s been a salty twat since her hero left.” Bev said over her shoulder then went back to talking with Paolo. I start laughing again.
“What the fuck Beverly? You’re supposed to have my back!”
“I do! What do you think the most accomplished infiltrator in the country is going to do when she finds out that you haven’t been helping her protegee because you think she’s to blame for your situation? Best case, she drops you in some settlement in Wymonto. So this is me having your back. Settle things with the baby judge, and do your fucking job.”
“Ooh, I like you Bev. Need a job?”
“As a matter of fact, I do. Can I pick day foreman?” She looks over to Paolo with a predatory grin, “I have other plans for the night shift.”
Holy shit, okay. Paolo’s going to be buying a new bed every week. “Works for me, but maybe limit the ‘rough’ part of roughhousing until I get sturdier rooms built.” I waggle my eyebrows at the pair. “You want to start today or tomorrow?”
“Today’s good. Will this be learning heavy or just walking around and seeing stuff?”
“Note taking on a few setpoints and knowing what I want the shift workers to be doing.”
She nods, grabs the whole side of Paolo’s face as she whispers something to him and then follows me.
I tell her about the various pieces of equipment, vats, drier, nugget maker, and other drier. I go over the various lights and alarms, and what the readings on the dial readouts should be. I then go into detail about the logs the workers are supposed to take, when they should stir tanks, move product to the driers and the minutiae of their jobs. I don’t teach her how to use everything, but I do teach her the two different fire suppression systems and how to operate them.
“Are we also responsible for physical security?”
“In charge of the security personnel, yes, but security is not part of the job. Did Hailey tell you my offer is two credits a day plus a hotel room in a complex I’m refurbishing?”
“She did. And I’m game. How much are the workers making?”
“Half that.”
Bev whistles. “That’s a lot of money for unskilled workers. Five credits a week is pretty standard for a security gig, more if the risk is known to be high. Two credits a day and housing is ridiculous too.”
“I thought that might be, since I have no idea what things cost. I do know that the Boss wants me producing 100k credits worth of cocaine a month, so I thought overpaying employees a bit would help keep people from trying to steal from me. Granted, we sell to the distributor for half that, and the brokerage fee has to go back into Warram as the price for not having traditional oversight from an officer, but some of that will go into paying the people I hire from Warram.”
“That sounds convoluted as hell. You know someone’s going to double cross you right?”
I chuckle at that and pull out the yellow contract I have with Beverly’s agreement on it. I wave it a second and hand it to her. I watch her read it as her eyebrows climb higher. “How did this happen without me getting an alert?”
“You called me little judge. This is part of that. My Track talent makes it so anyone that makes an agreement with me, or in my presence, gets a shiny system enforceable contract reflecting the agreement. In this case, it includes the inherent honor contract that your group adheres to. The system collects the consequences automatically, so refusing to pay in coin or penance is nearly impossible.”
Bev whistles again and thinks for a minute before handing the contract back to me. “If I had torn it up just then?”
“Willful dissolution. You hadn’t started your duties, so no harm no contest. If you’d done it after I paid you? Problems for everyone.”