40 - Chapter 38
The debate went on for a while. The general consensus was that while it would be a good idea to buy one, no one was selling. Facebook and related groups would not be possible as the only shares on the open market had no voting rights. The same was true for Alphabet companies. That only left X, but as that had just been purchased by another billionaire, it was unlikely to be up for sale. None of the smaller ones would be worth the spend, as they just didn’t have the reach to make it worthwhile.
There was the option of trying to buy up several of the smaller social sites and then try to create a new channel by merging them, but that was not going to be an easy path.
In the end they decided that it would be better to wait. When their group reached the public consciousness, they would be able to leverage that to launch their own or buy into one then. There was no short term benefit, and it was probably better for them to fly under the radar for the time being.
After that Tasha asked Ingrid to use the charitable arm to fund wikipedia and also look at what other options there were for getting aid out to the needy. She wanted Ingrid working on creating microloans to help the poorest start businesses and to support charities providing training and upskilling. They were not the sexiest of charities but along with those funding infrastructure projects, were the ones which had the most outsized impacts.
Ingrid promised to start getting her new team to look at those sectors and present options back to the team.
Lastly, since the team had grown again, and it had been some time, Tasha asked them to organise a whole team meet and greet event. With that last item out of the way, Tasha closed out the meeting and left everyone to their tasks.
Since she was waiting for meetings and people to come back to her, she spent the time training with her Sensei improving her sword skills as well as acclimating to her new body.
She also started to introduce other styles of swords to her training regime, as well as adding parkour and gymnastics. Tasha had realised that the real issue with enhanced stats would not just be the issue of getting used to controlling her power, rather it would be to change her mindset to fully utilise her new strengths. One of those was her new durability. Most attacks would not even break her skin. Even her katanas struggled to cut her. What was a block or evade, could simply be tanked or ignored. The issue with that approach was that it would train bad habits, and against the Syndicate could lead to her getting killed.
She needed to find a way to be able to assess the level of threat an attack posed and respond appropriately. Though she struggled to think of a way to achieve that without real life and death experiences. What she needed was the equivalent of a wave dungeon, where she could push herself and learn against successively stronger opponents while not ending up at risk of getting killed outright, but that was just a fantasy.
Tasha immersed herself in her routine of training, eating and resting. Her daily calories consumption had reached insane levels and the training exacerbated that issue. She was not sated unless she was consuming over 30 thousand calories a day. Even with that she was still losing weight and putting on muscle.
Tasha had always been fit, but her stats and training were pushing her figure to the peak of perfection.
James had been in touch following the meeting with the cabinet office, and the PM had agreed to sit down with Tasha in another week. He had also provided feedback that the company was still expanding and their operations were progressing well. Tasha was confident in James and the team so left them to manage the day to day operations.
Time flew by and it was time for her meeting with the PM and his team. This was the next step that she needed to take to further her agenda.
They had been called to attend 10 Downing Street for the meeting. James had made arrangements for Tasha, Hanna, Sunny and himself to attend the meeting. From the government side there would be the PM and civil servants, including the Cabinet Secretary and several other senior officials. Tasha had been given a list, but had mostly ignored the names. She only needed to convince two people. Everyone else would fall inline. There would probably be a political advisor in the room too.
The meeting was less than a mile from the hotel, but they still decided to take a black cab. The taxi dropped them off by the security gate. After going through security they were directed to the front door.
They were led into a plush office, not the cabinet room, and asked to wait. The PM and his entourage entered not long after.
James introduced everyone from their side, and one of the senior civil servants made the introductions from their side.
“So how can we help you Ms Andersen?” asked the prime minister.
“I am sure you have been well briefed by your officials, prime minister,” laughed Tasha. “And please do feel free to call me Tasha.”
“I am told that you are in control of significant funds Tasha,” said the prime minister. “I am told you would be interested in investing it here, in return for certain concessions.”
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“I am not going to beat around the bush,” said Tasha. “We are interested in securing the permission for a Special Economic Zone, with all the advantages that brings. You already have eighty one planned, making it eighty two should not be too difficult.”
“So you want to create your own town or city,” said the cabinet secretary. “That is ambitious. What do you intend to do with the area?”
“We are looking to build out a rocket launch pad, probably in the Shetland Isles,” said Tasha. “Though that would be the secondary site. The SEZ would be for the control centre and associated businesses. As you can see, it will grow into a whole new town.”
“What infrastructure are you willing to provide,” asked the Cabinet Secretary. “And what are you asking for from the government?”
“What we need from you is the licence to operate,” said Tasha. “If you throw in the land, that would be great. Apart from that I expect us to be able to operate autonomously and have independence from the local authority. The same terms that you have offered for the other eighty one sites.”
“You are asking for a lot,” said the cabinet secretary. “What are you offering?”
“Actually we are not asking for very much at all,” said Tasha. She was starting to get a little annoyed at the attitude she felt from the man. “I will not accept terms less than what you have already offered to others. I know you have given them long term tax breaks and public financing on top of the ability to run their own private fiefdom.”
“We will be building all the local amenities,” interjected Sunny. He could see Tasha was getting irritated. “Frankly you need us more than we need you. The jobs, industry and investment we will provide can’t be matched by anyone else.”
“If you think we are asking for too much,” said Tasha. “I am happy to talk to the europeans. I am sure they would be more than willing to give me whatever I want. Ireland and Monaco are both known to do these kinds of deals. Even France would be champing at the bit if we called them.”
“What are the numbers for jobs and investment?” ask the prime minister. He could see how good it would look for his government if he managed to secure this kind of deal. He could also see what would happen if he failed to close the deal and then it was leaked, which it invariably would be. “We are willing to work with you.”
“We are willing to invest whatever it takes,” said Tasha. “We are starting out with an intial budget of £10Bn for the SEZ. I plan to build the most modern town in the world. Everyone living there will work for me after all.”
“So you plan to treat the whole town as your company campus?” asked the prime minister. He was stopping the cabinet secretary from pushing and losing him this deal.
“Yes,” said Tasha. “We are planning to build a fully self-sufficient town, with all the amenities. It will be for our employees and their families.”
“Will that include any subcontractors and suppliers?” asked the cabinet secretary.
“No,” said Tasha. “We will buy any business that wants to work with us. We want full vertical integration for this project.”
“£10Bn won’t even start to touch the sides of this plan,” said the cabinet secretary. “If you are serious you are talking about hundreds of billions.”
“We are serious,” said Sunny. He handed over a file with preliminary designs for the town. “As you can see our plans include our own power plant, water purification plant, as well as schools, police offices, fire stations, and hospitals. We will also create a leisure area that will cater to our residents.”
“This is a comprehensive plan,” said the cabinet secretary. “Have you made provisions for homelessness, social care, the elderly and the poor?” He was trying to push to see what he could get them to accept.
“No,” said Tasha. “We have our own charity programmes to support those kinds of causes. However, this will not be part of the SEZ. The whole campus will only be for our businesses, employees and direct families. Let me be clear, we will not allow outsiders into our campus without security checks. We are intending to build the next generation of technology. I do not plan to allow commercial espionage or sabotage to placate whatever agenda you are trying to push. I was clear that I already know the terms you have already signed with the other SEZs. Is there any reason you are trying to stop this deal, cabinet secretary? I would suggest you appoint a civil servant that is actually loyal, Prime Minister.”
“Please excuse him Tasha,” said the prime minister. “I am happy to look at the deal. How quickly are you looking to move on this?”
“Frankly, we are waiting to break ground,” said Tasha. “This is now holding us up. I need the sites arranged and paperwork approved asap.”
“You know it will need parliamentary approval?” asked the prime minister. “That will take some time.”
“What I know is that I am not happy to wait around,” said Tasha. “If you want my investment, then use your massive majority and get this pushed through. You already have the paperwork from the other SEZs. We can amend it to our mutual satisfaction.”
“No need,” said Sunny, producing another folder. “I have already drafted something. This should be a good starting point for us to move forward.”
“I think we are done,” said Tasha. “If you want the deal, review the documents and make parliamentary time to push it through. If not, let me know and we can approach other countries with the same deal. If we have not heard back from you in the next week with a provisional timetable then I will take that as a refusal of our proposals.”
“I am sure we can come back to you on this,” said the prime minister.
The PM watched the team from TA Consulting leave then turned to his officials. “So what do you think, she was very aggressive in her approach.”
“Our intelligence reports indicate she had purchased all the small mining operations in Malaysia,” said the cabinet secretary. “We also have indications that they are looking to make a move on one of the major banks. They are certainly not short of cash, and their plans are ambitious. The only problem is that we have not been able to ascertain where their funding is coming from.”
“Are they a threat?” asked the PM. “Should we refuse the deal?”
“No,” said the cabinet secretary. “The deal is too good to pass up. Apart from the political mess it would cause, it would make the government look weak and lose us too much capital.”
“Let us see how quickly we can move on this then,” said the PM.