Post-mortem

Posted on Mon Mar 30, 2015 @ 1:56am by Civilian Wayne Bradshaw III & Civilian 'Key Holder' Yolanthe Ibalin

2,052 words; about a 10 minute read

Mission: Eye of the Beholder
Location: Waynes private office
Timeline: MD 2 9AM

::ON::

Wayne had just sat down at his desk when chime rang from his secretary. "Mister Bradshaw there is a call on subspace for you from a Mister Bill Kelly." said the receptionist softly knowing that her boss had just had one hell of a bad meeting.

"Thanks Sam. maybe he has some good news for me; I know I could use some right about now." said Wayne he opened the comm link and watched as the picture established in front of him.

Bill Kelly, former Federation News journalist, and now Wayne's Director of Customer Communications, appeared on screen. Of a similar age to Wayne, he was looking relaxed and jovial. Through the window behind him, Wayne could see Bill's back yard, and the people gathered there for brunch of the veranda. Wherever he was it was a glorious day. "Hey, Wayne. I've been told to tell you that Julie says Hi and you need to come for brunch soon. You and the kids."

"I will have to take you up that next time I get back to earth. Maybe we could all use a vacation though I am not sure your backyard is big enough when the Bradshaw clan comes to call." said wayne lightly

Pleasentries completed, Bill became all business. "So, how did the pitch to the ambassadors go?"

"A total unmitigated royal cluster fuck." Said Wayne bluntly the man on the other end might not be military but he understood Wayne and how he did business which was one of the main things he liked about the other man. "I need damage control and need it fast. About the only one that was reasonably agreeable to the idea were the Klingons which I half way expected. The rest well let's just say it was Chin'toka all over again and we lost." Said Wayne bluntly.

"So we have an opportunity to re-strategise." Bill always opened with a not entirely sincere positive spin on things. He pulled a padd towards him and picked up a stylus. "okay. How bad is it? What actually happened? Have we got an inter-steller incident?"

wayne lightly chucked. "The ferengi and the tholians think we want a trade war with them the cardassians basically called us totally worthless and the Klingons when they were not throwing insults around at the cardassians and ferengi, seemed like they were interested in our proposal. I would say it is not a full blown interstellar incident yet but definitely walking on eggshells as it were." Said Wayne flatly.

Bill's eyebrows rose half way to his retreating hairline. "Wayne, what exactly was said? You said it was going to be the standard credentials presentation: BII shipping, wherever you want, whatever it takes?" Bill put a question into the company strapline. He and Wayne went back forty years now. He knew Bradshaw had a tendency to revert to his military bearing and expectations of obedience. And if two parties were expecting a trade war, then his boss had obviously let the General run amok when it should have been the CEO running the show.

"Tell you what Bill I will send you the entire taped conference. You know me and how I like a record of everything that is said and done for later study. This time I will be the one being judged." Said wayne he accessed the files sent it to his friend, knowing that Bill would be brutally honest about what he saw and what needed work.

Billy glanced to a terminal, out of shot to one side, as the transfer of data started. "Okay, So you think the Klingons are going to bite. What do you think they will want to start with? I've got a couple of account managers lined up already, I can have them on the next ship out, but what else?"

"I am going to see if they would be interested in leasing or buying our new type of ship. You know the mobile shipyard. I am also going to hope that they would be willing to use us to get their goods deeper into the federation. I know that they have no problem with federation space close to their boarders but I also know that the farther in you get the fewer Klingon freighters are seen. I want to see if we can change that." Said Wayne calmly he had another idea in his mind but to do it he needed to get ahold of a couple Klingon freighers to see if it was even possible.

"The shipyards is a positive. If we can get the High OCuncil interested, that will be a massive plus." Bill tapped the terminal, and the playback from the meeting began: "Well, Dad, most of the empires that are coming here would be a fool not to take this offer-" Bill kept the smile off his face. Wayne Bradshaw mark 4 was not, in his opinion, the sharpest tool in the box; too much in awe of his father to be anything more than an airheaded Yes-man. Bill secretly hoped that when Wayne retired he'd give the CEO's office to Daniel, or even shift sideways to Harry or Colin. He fast forwarded to the main discussions.

"Okay Wayne, I've said it before, I'm gonna say it again. You aren't in the military anymore, your aren't gathering intelligence. If you're going to make a recording you have to tell people. Its good manners."

"I know that bill but 40 years of doing something is not easy to just turn off. Hell half of the time I do not even realize I am doing it anymore. It is just one of those things I do automaticly just like you and asking probing questions." Said Wayne calmly

Bill started the recording again watching the open introductions. "well, its not how I do it, but so far so - " he stopped as the recorded image of wayne turned to the Ferengi "the ferengi while driven by profit, you must admit that they would be just as likely to shave some product off the top and sell for their own profit. hence why I would recommend my company do the shipping."

He said nothing, but scribbled furiously with the stylus.

"I can see the smoke from here Bill those gears in your head are going to overheat soon." said wayne with a chuckle.

Bill watched the rest of the tape without comment, but the ascent of his eyebrows up his forehead said everything. When the whole thing was done, Bill dropped the stylus, and ran both hands through his hair. "Wayne." He began. The he shook his head in disbelief. "Wayne that wasn't Chin'toka. That was the Charge of the bleeding Light Brigade. What on earth were you thinking saying those things?"

Wayne chuckled in spite of himself. "I am honestly not sure why I said those things or for that matter why my son did not stop me from making a total fool of myself. Looking back on it I have to say I made so damn many mistakes in that meeting I am amazed I walked out of there alive." Said wayne flatly. He knew when he made a mistake and it was readily apparent that he had made a potentially HUGE mistake in the meeting. Not for the first time he wandered why he ever left the corps, but the truth was he did and now he had to adjust to a different set of rules.

Bill had worked for Wayne's Dad a few years before his untimely death, and again wondered why he hadn't insisted Wayne come into the company sooner, rather than follow his military career much further than any of his forebears had done. You could take the man out of the marine corps, but.... "Well, whats done is done, and we can't go back in time to fix it." He checked himself. "The margin won't be worth it even if R&D has something and temporal affairs didn't crawl up our butts and stick their after."

"Please tell me there is a way to fix this mess though." said Wayne calmly

"Nothing's unrecoverable Wayne, you taught me that." Bill reassured him and picked up the stylus again. "Well, you've got the Klingon in the bag. Go see him, and get the details ironed out and I'll get Laura to start on the contract and get a draft over." He was glad Wayne had shown this to him and not the head of legal. She would have had kittens. "As for the Ferengi. its profit before feelings. Go grovel some apologies and remind them that Rule 34* becomes less true the closer to enemy lines you get. Show what BII was founded on - Getting the cargo through no matter the risk, no matter the danger. Find out if they have any shipping that goes somewhere nasty and offer to subcontract their more dangerous, low margin deliveries demonstrate we aren't in competition, but there to make the pie bigger. You know the stuff. We might have to take a hit to the ledger for a few runs, but if we can demonstrate that we can help their people make more money, we should be able to swing them round. Money talks louder than diplomats for Ferengi.

"Alright that should take care of the Ferengi. It might cost me a little more then I would have wanted but I will make sure that the Ferengi know what we are about and maybe open a few doors that way." Said Wayne calmly

"I'd say leave the Tholians alone for now, they're very prickly people, and I don't want one deciding to give you a hug and melt your face off. As for the Cardassians.... Well, they're an arrogant bunch and that Turvan seems pretty much a paragon of the type. I'll draft you a communique to sign, inviting him to call upon you at his leisure, and discuss his needs to see if there is anything BII could do to help Cardassia. I also suggest you scour that station for the best bottle of Kanar you can find. A little gift never did any harm."

"I already have some of the best Kanar made on the station. I also have a side deal going on with the cardassians which honestly was why I thought they would go along with my idea. It would be a huge money maker for them." Said Wayne flatly he was not sure exactly how he could spin things now but he did not want to give up on the station he was considering

"Its all about face Wayne. You behaved pretty badly in there. He won't want to agree or say anything in public. It would make him look weak. So go kiss his butt in private and see what you can salvage. If we grovel enough then I think we can still get your trade triangle off the ground. We live in suspicious times - having different ships to get round some of the more entranched prejudice is going to help everyone in the long run."

"I can not agree more that was one of the reasons I was hoping that this would all work out though if I have to take a couple steps back then I guess that has to be. just so long as the company can move forward." Said Wayne calmly he knew the man on the screen was just doing his job and right now he
could not be happier with him. "Tell you what let me see if I can get done what we have talked about then maybe I think you and I need to have a face to face conversation. There are things I want you to know that are best left unsaid over subspace." Said Wayne calmly.

"Alright. Let me know when you're ready and I'll be on the next ship out."

"Bill I think this time I will be coming to you. But that is for later right now we both have work to do so we had best be about it." said Wayne calmly "See you soon old friend." He added as the connection was closed

Posted By
Bill Kelly (NPC Notty)
Director of Customer Communications

Wayne Bradshaw
CEO BII
DS9

 

RSS Feed