Vera walked into the conference room armed with a thick leather portfolio filled with revolutionary business plans. She had spent all of last night working on them, as had three of Precision Shipping’s lawyers. They were under secrecy contracts, and had been working for Vera for over 20 years. She also had made sure they knew what would happen to them if they crossed her.
The conference room was full, and the board of directors watched patiently as Vera took her seat at the head of the giant table. Taking her time, she set up her papers, arranged her mug of coffee, then set out several pens in a line. No one interrupted her preparations, or even spoke a word.
Every single person in this room knew who really ran their company, and they rightly feared her wrath. The stories of what she did to people who had defied her were legendary. There were stories of noble houses ruined, people transferred and seemingly disappearing, and financial penalties so severe that generations were affected. Employees of Precision Shipping whispered these tales to each other during holiday events, or while chatting at the water cooler, or sometimes when trying to warn new hires what to avoid.
Finally ready, Vera looked up with hard eyes at the men and women who were responsible for the day-to-day affairs of Precision Shipping. “I’ve called you all here for several reasons. First and foremost, I’d like to thank you all for your hard work in absorbing Dorchen shipping over the last week. Although we had to cut their workforce by 30%, most of those employees were fired for cause and thus we didn’t incur any penalties.” Looking at a woman near the end of the table, Vera said, “Well done Mrs. Upton, your team performed exceptionally. You can expect your quarterly bonus’ to reflect that.”
Tapping her finger on the table, she continued, “We have succeeded in keeping hold of 87% of the shipping contracts which were previously handled by Dorchen Shipping. Although I asked for 90% retention, I will let this slide. There were unforeseen factors which affected our initial projections. Always remember, failure to meet projections is not truly failure if you did all that you could. However, an explanation is always required. Mr. Hornton, your team’s performance was adequate.”
Her gaze rested on a man shivering midway down the conference table. He sighed in relief when she said the word ‘adequate’.
“Moving on to human resources. I looked at your proposal for the new hires. I’d like you to move up your timelines. We’ll purchase another warehouse and double our training schedule. I want our wagoners and haulers trained and out working sooner rather than later. The city is going to be swelling, and our business will grow with the population. We need to be prepared. Ms. Grady, check your pings for the updated proposals. I want them done by the end of the week,” said Vera.
“Now, before we move on to new business, is there anything that needs to be addressed?” she said.
A tentative hand raised from midway down the left side of the table.
Vera said, “Yes Ms. Casten. The floor is yours.”
Ms. Casten stood and addressed Vera. “I was wondering if you could tell us how we should address the Lord Walker situation. Technically, he now owns 40% of the company. As you have never offered shares, I’m not sure what to think.”
The room filled with tension. Everyone was on pins and needles, as they didn’t know what to think about the situation. They were both thankful and nervous that someone had the guts to raise the question of Lord Walker’s relevance to the company.
Vera offered a rare smile and said, “I am now the proxy for House Walker. For the time being, I am House Walker. There will be no creative accounting, or plots to regain full control. In fact, I’d say that Lord Walker and I are partners. He and I are opening several businesses and expanding the reach of Precision Shipping across all of Dorchester. I spoke with him last night, and he had several very impressive ideas on how we can increase profits and shrink our overhead. As for his presence, you don’t have to worry. This company is still under my control, and always will be. Lord Walker will be a silent partner. Merely an advisor to me. Does that answer your question?”
Nodding quickly, Ms. Casten returned to her seat. The tension bled from the room, and everyone seemed happy that nothing had changed. If there was one thing they believed in, it was Vera’s leadership. Under her, they would grow and prosper.
Tapping her hand on the leather folder in front of her, Vera said, “I mentioned that I spoke with Lord Walker last night. Here in this folder are some updated business practices that will be implemented immediately. We are doing some shuffling of our resources on paper. Based on a few words from Lord Walker, we’re going to be reducing our operating costs by 13% and increasing our profits by 9%.” Seeing the shocked looks of the board members, she smiled and said, “Yes, you heard correctly. With a little clever reorganization of our books, we’ll make more and spend less. Everyone bring up the file I just sent you labeled ‘The Walker Plan’, and we’ll get started.”
One of the members of the board muttered a little too loudly, “An advisor indeed.”
Vera just smiled and started walking them through their updated business model. They would be using their new company, Precision Trading, as their clearing house for storage and sales. Blacksmiths and crafters would comprise another new company, Precision Manufacturing. And finally, the company would now be paying profits directly to the company Director, Vera Salvatore-Verena, and the company President, Lord Nero Walker. The profit distribution would be the same, but now the income will be taxed under the noble rules, rather than as a noble business.
Vera was a rich woman, but Nero had just increased her projected income for the year by nearly 30%, and their new companies hadn't even opened yet. Even better, when she officially reported this exploit under House Walker’s name, she would be on the paperwork. Therefore, any future regulations and laws addressing this type of business practice would have an exemption for her.
She couldn’t help but smile at the faces her rivals would make when they heard what she’d done. This was a master-stroke.
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While the board of directors went through the paperwork, Vera tried to think of a suitable marriage candidate for her favorite little lord.
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Nero focused his attention on maintaining the essence induction into his training blades. The idea was that by filling them with his center, they would more easily pass through an opponent’s essence field. If he let it drop, his blades would be rendered useless. It hardly took any essence, but the concentration was stressful.
Dodging a spear thrust, he batted the haft toward the sky. Taking advantage of the open space he had just made, he crouched and quick-stepped forward, thrusting the knife in his left hand toward Cathleen’s calf. Nero focused on making sure the blade was thoroughly coated in his center. His heart leapt in joy as he felt the blade graze the backside of her knee.
But before he could take advantage of his strike, he was struck in the face as she pushed the haft of the spear into his nose. His vision went white with pain, and he felt his facial bones shatter. Even though he couldn’t see, he stubbornly tried to swing the sword in his right hand. Had his thrust gone as planned, he would have planted it directly in her gut. Alas, it was not meant to be, as he struck only air.
He felt the spear hook his right leg, and his feet were pulled off the ground. Unable to see, he tried to keep hold of his weapons as his entire body was now horizontal to the ground, and about three feet in the air. Plummeting to the ground, he landed flat on his back. The air was forcefully expelled from his lungs, and he felt Cathleen’s spear rip into his chest and pin him to the training field. Thankfully, the pain went away along with the lights, and Nero was returned to the black.
Realizing that she must have speared him in the heart, Nero floated in the blackness and cursed her training methods. As he waited for his body to be repaired by the medics, Nero tried to feel around the black. Regardless of what Nick had said, it didn’t make any sense that his soul was unable to do anything without a body. After all, he still had a mind. A mind was in the soul, it was just copied into the body. Who he was, all that made him ‘him’, was in the soul.
Nero was surprised to feel the tether to his body. It was so fragile. He felt like he could just tug on it a little, and release his soul from his mortal coil. It was like standing at the edge of a cliff and realizing that you could end it all with just one step. Carefully, he mentally took a step back. He didn’t want to mess up and actually kill himself.
Before he could look around any more, he was thrust back into his body. It felt like the tether grew in thickness and ‘pulled’ him down into the body.
He awoke to a coughing fit, like always. Hacking up gobs of blood, Nero threw up onto the training field. This was a bad one. As he came back to his senses, he heard the medic screaming at Cathleen. She actually looked a little sheepish. She wasn’t embarrassed, or sorry, but it looked like she realized she might have gone a little too far.
Looking around, he saw that Nick and Rose were standing next to an irate Sergeant Wesker. Nobody appeared happy with Cathleen at the moment. Nero tried to stand up and calm things down, but all he managed to do was have another coughing fit and face-plant back into the training field dirt. Feeling the restorative essence wash over his body, Nero laid there and just enjoyed the sensation of having his body fixed.
His hearing seemed to come back and he heard Nick shouting, “… you do it in your clan territory! This isn’t the North. Here we have some gods be damned sense! I’ve stood by and let you break this poor man over and over again. But no more! This is not gonna happen again, you hear me!?!”
As he lay on his back with his eyes closed, Nero shouted to the sky, “Nick! Shut up for a second.”
Everyone seemed to pause, and Nero could feel their psychic fields freeze in anticipation of what he would say. Nero didn’t move, other than to slowly grin, and said, “I finally got you. I know you felt it. If these blades were sharp, you’d have been hamstrung. I told you I’d get you. Don’t feel bad for over-reacting. If I were bested by someone who had only been training for 4 days, I’d feel pretty pissed too.” Then Nero burst into a joyful laughter.
He had done it. Maybe he hadn’t even come close to winning a single round. And he hadn’t actually caused her any real pain. But that was a SOLID hit. He had fought with a sword and knife, in combat with a warrior-woman holding a spear. They were surrounded by magic force fields, on a field hundreds of years old which was dedicated to training warriors. And he had struck a solid blow. Nero laughed as he imagined how he’d fight in a hundred years. He would be unstoppable.
As his laughter died down, Nero could hear Nick arguing with the medic. “Are you sure he’s alright? He’s not having an issue with his brain?”
Sitting up, Nero gave Nick a harsh look and said, “I thought I told you to shut up.”
Nick snorted and offered Nero a grin. Cathleen stepped forward and offered Nero a hand to help him up. Taking it Nero let her pull him to his feet and offered her a wide smile of victory. She just grinned at him and said, “Fine. You hit me… once. It wasn’t even life threatening, so it doesn’t count.”
Nero chuckled and dusted himself off. Looking around at all the concerned faces he said, “I’m fine. The green shirts are good at what they do.” Realizing that he didn’t know the medics name, he was about to ask what it was when Sergeant Wesker interrupted his train of thought.
“Don’t worry, you won’t be training with Ms. Averett any longer. We’ll put you with someone a little more your speed,” he said with an apologetic tone.
Shaking his head quickly, Nero said, “Absolutely not! She’s my training partner. I get to fight her to the death until I win. How can any training compare to that. I’ve got the trusty green shirts right here to fix what she broke, and I can learn from the pain.”
Shocked faces surrounded him, aside from Cathleen who just looked proud. Nero shrugged and said, “Pain don’t hurt. Failure does.”
Cathleen rushed forward and hugged him. It was so unexpected that he tried to stab her with his training sword. However, as usual, she was just too fast and he missed. She picked him up and gave him a crushing hug.
“You are a treasure! You’re going to be the finest warrior in Oglivarch. Armies will tremble when they hear of your coming. You will be a mage unlike any that has come before. With fire and steel you will decimate your enemies and stand victorious among their broken bodies,” she said while spinning him around and proclaiming her goals for Nero in the happiest voice he had ever heard from her.
“Put me down you old bat!” he shouted.
She dropped him like sack, and he landed lightly on his feet. He offered her a grin and held out his fist. She was smiling from ear to ear as she gave him a fist bump.
Turning to face the group of still shocked people, he said with pride, “I taught her that.”
Eyes still wide in shock, Rose said, “What? The speech thing or the fist thing?”
Nero tossed her a grin and said, “Both. Awesome, right?”