[Cotco, Avisron]
Christy Robinson sat in a large, empty conference room. The lights were off, the doors closed, the computers all in standby. She liked this room. It was like her home. From here she had negotiated hundreds of various types of arms deals. This room was a source of revenue for the LFA like no other.
Being a project manager for AVS Systems, Inc. meant that she had a variety of tasks. She had to ensure the product stayed within budget, met its requirements, and occasionally, she had to drum up more budget and find new buyers.
Her current project was the most lucrative of her career. On it hinged the success or... more success, or the LFA. It was an opportunity to exploit a massive untapped resource. It was an opportunity to give the LFA a stream of income and material that couldn't be met any other way.
The plan was beginning to fall into place. She just needed to talk to a few more people...
[Encrypted Message]
To: The Halberdgardian Government]
From: AVS Systems, Inc.
We have a massive opportunity on our hands. We need foreign investment. You may wish to send a representative of both your government and your defense industry to Cotco, Avisron for discussions.
[END]
Halberdgardia
31-07-2007, 04:22
The National Defense Command Center ("The Pentagon"), Washington, D.C., 1159 Local Time
Keith Bolanos sat in his respectably-sized, if still somewhat confined, office. Though he appreciated that it was quite a bit larger than all his previous workspaces, he still hadn't found much to like about it. Despite his promotion to Undersecretary of Defense for Acquisition, Technology and Logistics -- a mouthful of a title if there ever was one, he had always thought -- he was still trapped in a fairly bland, windowless deep in the bowels of the most secure office building in the country. The idiots he had talked to at Human Resources had assured him it was a temporary location until they finished "renovation and repairs" on his predecessor's former workspace. That was a lie if Bolanos had ever heard one; the bastard had hardly ever been in the fucking office. His predecessor was a prick in every sense of the word, a big, fat, loud-mouthed son of a bitch who had a dangerous habit of thinking he was the Secretary of Defense himself -- and acting accordingly. Unfortunately for those who worked under him, despite the fact that he was widely despised, he had more than enough power to make their lives miserable and just enough clout to hold onto his job despite all the evidence that screamed for his firing. For all his arrogance and incompetence, however, he was excellent at delegating even the most menial tasks to anyone and everyone below him, and, as such, he was essentially on the federal payroll to alternately loiter around and harass employees or be out of the office as much as possible. After allegations of adultery with his multiple secretaries plagued him just six months ago, however, he had quietly resigned. There were now rumors going around that he was being investigated for his highly questionable management practices, and that he could possibly be charged for defrauding the government. The bastard deserved it, Bolanos knew. He'd worked hard over the months since his appointment to restore some integrity to the ATL division.
At least I can get some fresh air on my lunch break, he thought to himself, looking forward to a welcome respite from the "canned air" he breathed for most of the day. He tapped the "Get Mail" button in his mail client, then proceeded to grab his suit jacket and a copy of today's Washington Post to read over lunch. He leaned back over to the screen to check for any e-mails that urgently needed answering. There were generally none, and he occasionally skipped answering such e-mails until after lunch on the rare occasion they came, but today was different. In between various intra- and inter-departmental memos and technical proposals was an e-mail from an Avisronian address. After the inexplicable collapse of Halberdgardia's closest ally, McKagan, some of the people from that nation had made their way to Avisron, which had led to the establishing and subsequent strengthening of the two nations' ties. While the Avisronians hadn't quite filled the vacuum of the "special relationship" left by the demise of McKagan, the amount of cooperation between the two nations was steadily increasing. Bolanos knew this e-mail merited a look.
[Encrypted Message]
To: The Halberdgardian Government
From: AVS Systems, Inc.
We have a massive opportunity on our hands. We need foreign investment. You may wish to send a representative of both your government and your defense industry to Cotco, Avisron for discussions.
[END]
He began to type up a reply.
Encrypted Communique
To: AVS Systems, Inc.
From: Keith Bolanos, Undersecretary of Defense for Acquisition, Defense, and Logistics, the Democratic Imperium of Halberdgardia
Re: Opportunity
Talk to me more about this opportunity of yours; I'd like to know the basics of what I'm getting myself into before I commit myself to a long plane ride. We'll have to send out an encrypted message to all the arms manufacturers in Halberdgardia about this proposal of yours so they can bid for it, but I think you and I both know who'll likely end up winning it. I look forward to your response.
Respectfully,
Keith Bolanos
Undersecretary of Defense for Acquisition, Defense, and Logistics
The Democratic Imperium of Halberdgardia
End Encrypted Communique
Christy Robinson had been in the middle of her early afternoon yoga session for roughly thirty minutes. For whatever reason, AVS Systems liked to give certain people evening breaks so that they could enjoy themselves. Robinson had always suspected that those people who were given these extended daily breaks were the ones that the company really had minimal use for, but at the same time couldn't afford to fire.
So this was the reality of her daily routine. She came in of the morning, checked and responded to the few emails she ever got, had a brief instant messaging conversation with her superior on the progress of her current project, then looked busy until lunch. At that point she had the standard lunch hour, and then another hour to do whatever she wanted. Rather than spend this time wandering the halls of the facility to emerge herself in gossip, she invested her time into something more rewarding. Yoga.
However, today was one of the ultra-rare occasions where she was interrupted. Usually, she simply opened her music folder on her office computer. If she got an email the computer would always make a sound. Because today she was listening to Critical Disillusion, a band best enjoyed loudly, the sound of the incoming email startled her.
After reading over the email from the Halberdgardian representative, she typed up a response.
[Secret Message]
To: Keith Bolanos, Undersecretary of Defense for Acquisition, Defense, and Logistics, the Democratic Imperium of Halberdgardia
From: AVS Systems, Inc.
AVS Systems, in conjunction with the Avisronian government, is preparing to launch a system that will allow us to recover and recycle space borne debris from decommissioned satellites, weapons, space stations, and the general massive amounts of hardware that orbits the planet. We need an outside investor, as well as some design proofreading, and the government doesn't want us to go into business with 'just anyone.'
[END]