The AC Corporation had seventeen different board rooms of varying sizes, importance, and age. When part of the Board of Directors t, the room used gave clues as to what was being discussed and who was in attendance. The Grand Board Room was used once a year to celebrate the yearly increase in their profits and rarely for anything else. Today's eting was quite minor if judged by its size. The Burnished Gold Room had enough room to seat fifty people at one table and was luxurious enough to satisfy the egos of even Senior Presidents. Much smaller, the Indigo Balcony had seating room for only 13. It saw use every week for small etings of executives ranging from Managers to Senior Vice Presidents. For the current eting, only five people were in attendance.
One of those was Senior Vice President Dr. Emt Belmont, the highest-ranking Vice President in the corporation. As such, he was given all the sowhat important projects that needed oversight but that no President or mber of the Executive Board wanted to be associated with. Dr. Belmont had been chosen to oversee AC's venture into Genesis for three reasons: He was thought of as generally competent, his bosses wished to test his ttle to see if he deserved advancent to the lofty rank of Corporate President and head a division, and because he was known to play all those silly VR gas in his spare ti.
It was an open secret around the AC offices that Vice President Belmont went 'questing' each weekend in VR scenarios as Dr. Barklight, intrepid gentleman explorer. It was looked on with the sa slight disdain as other expensive ti wasters like golf, polo, or hunting chanical foxes. Unlike those other hobbies, no one in AC ever said anything out loud or in an email about VR gaming. It was too close to the gas played by the majority stockholder of AC, William Ethelbert Longfellow Sandhurst. No one ever joked about Willie's lifelong love of Dungeons and Dragons.
When AC decided to back the Genesis project, VP Belmont was tapped to head the new gaming division. He, in turn, recruited four junior Vice Presidents, including Vernon Throckmorton, who would head up the AC managers overseeing their in-ga employees and growing online empires. Today's eting had been requested by VP Throckmorton to discuss events within the ga.
With no manufacturing, no products produced, and no need for marketing, AC's Genesis Ga Division was lean on personnel above the mid-level managent position, most of whom worked within the ga. The other three junior VPs handled Accounting, Human Resources (contract workers), and Research (Ga Design).
Uncle Vern wasn't happy with how the room was laid out. VP Belmont was on one side of the table, flanked by Accounting and HR on his right and Ga Design on the left. Vernon sat across from them. VP Belmont began the eting as soon as Vernon sat down, "Good to see you again, Vernon. I was happy to see you request a eting. We're all hoping for a lot more details of what's going on in the ga world. We have the reports from VP Korvacs and VP Vandergilt, but as the head of the online sub-division, I'm sure you have a lot more to tell us about the upcoming deal with Nile Books and, of course, the start of online comrce in Genesis." The four people across from Vernon said nothing else. An invitation for him to begin speaking.
Vern's mind had been focused on the speech he had expected to make to open the eting. He damned Belmont for upstaging him. His brain didn't shift gears as fast as it used to when he was under one hundred. And he didn't recall Billy sending him any reports lately. Billy was going through a rebellious phase and not showing respect for people higher up the org chart. AC was a pyramid with Willy at the top and Billy quite a few levels down and not on the sa level as soone with Vernon's eight decades working for AC. That needed to change today and was the reason he'd called the eting.
"Yes. A lot is going on, and we're doing splendidly. Billy and Layla are following the plans I laid out for them and doing an adequate job of following my orders while I handle the large acquisition of wealth in the south and open up trade routes into the Empire. But it's about ti I head North for a bit and grab the reins. The next part of our expansion is going to need an experienced hand on the wheel. During that ti, I'll also be coordinating the southern venture and integrating the new rcenary troops I've requested with my existing, more experienced, warriors."
VP Harold Thune had a face like a grumpy bulldog. He'd risen from the lowly rank of accountant to his VP position by ruthlessly holding the line on expenses and ferreting out waste all around him. He saw the entire Genesis Project as a waste of money so far. Recent events had given him the smallest of hopes of this 'Ga-thing' making a profit, and he was determined not to flush away the trickle of money coming in by increasing spending.
He stared at Vernon now and slowly spoke, "Yes, about your request for eight hundred more 'Veteran Combat Gars' to be hired from a group called The rcenaries Guild. I don't think so. We've been footing the bill for the two hundred personnel you've had on salary since the ga started. Why would you need more?"
Vernon waved a hand dismissively. "Well, I could go into details, but unless you are familiar with military campaigns and terminology, I'm afraid it would be confusing."
Now, VP Thune did sothing rare: He smiled. "You're in luck. There is quite a bit of overlap between corporate accounting and warfare. I require all new hires to read Clausewitz, Szun Tzu, Machiavelli, and Lord Kalvan. Please, entertain with your plans, and I'll try to keep up."
"Hrumph, well, I'm sure the details will be strange because of the special aspects of Genesis. But to keep it simple for the others, I've managed to lure a dragon into a trap, but my local troops refuse to attack because of religious reasons. Sothing about them all having scales. I'm sure VP Carl Oakly at Ga Design understands the value of dragon parts to alchemists and armorers, and the amount of gold in its hoard will let AC buy whole cities in the Empire and take over industries in re weeks. I've even encouraged the local saurians to ship all their gold to one location, convincing them that it's a tribute to the dragon. With another eight hundred troops, my trap will snap shut, and we'll reap the tons of gold in the hoard and the additional tribute pouring in each day. That much gold will lure a Gnomish Bank and pay the cost for a teleportation stone to the Empire. This will give AC a second large city to expand comrce with. And one that hasn't been turned into rubble, like Gadobhra."
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The HR representative, VP Sarah Samuelson, was already shaking her head and rolling her eyes at all the fantasy talk. VP Thune listened until the end, then turned to VP Oakly in Ga Design. "Carl, translate so of that for , and give your appraisal of the plan."
"A dragon? Are you sure of that? We barely know anything about them beyond so popular books on their mating habits. But the information we've found is consistent in putting dragons sowhere between Tier 6 and Tier 8. Yes, the treasure of a creature that powerful would be extrely valuable. The parts as well. But, holy shit! We're talking Level 30 to Level 40, Vernon. Can you confirm that?"
"Oh, easily the beast bragged about being Level 37. He seed to feel that ant sothing."
"Yeah, it ant you weren't killing it with two hundred swords for hire! You have footage of the fight, right? Screenshots and damage calculations from the rcenaries you brought in? I need that data if I'm going to formulate any strategies."
"I was leading a battle. Taking pictures wasn't my job. That's why we hire people to fight and do other jobs like that."
VP Oakly dictated a note to get all the data collected by Vern's troops. Scouring the reports that VP Throckmorton turned in showed a complete lack of useful data on the Saurian civilization, despite nurous requests from his departnt. What information they did have ca from interviews with players, several of whom worked for AC. He needed to talk to them, soone nad Ricardo in particular who had filed reports of his recent travels in the Empire.
But quick calculations pointed to the sad truth. "You can't kill a dragon with a thousand Tier one and two troops. The power disparity is imnse. They can't hurt it, and it can kill an army just by exhaling."
Vernon slamd his hand on the table. "Balderdash!"
Thune spoke calmly, "We aren't spending real money anymore to pay for this folly. Not another eight hundred salaries and not the two hundred we've already thrown at this folly. We're under contract to use Contract Workers, and I can see that VP Korvacs is doing a fine job with his. But that's where the buck stops. Handle these fantasy problems in the fantasy world if you can. We have money coming out of the ga now, I'm not approving of one more penny going in."
Vernon ground his teeth. But at least the conversation was moving in the direction he wanted. "Fine. I'll do just that. I'll be heading North to Gadobhra, getting Billy and Layla under control, and maximizing sales. I'll use the money my Northern Division raises to hire and train the troops I need to finish my conquest of the South!"
The VP in charge of HR took out a brand new Organization Chart and handed it to Vernon. "A small problem there, Vernon. Neither VP Korvacs nor VP Vandergilt works directly under you. This was one of their requests during the negotiations when they were promoted. They requested autonomy from you and showed proof you had promoted William Kovacs to Northern Regional Manager. You have seniority, but you're all on the sa level in the chart. The three of you answer to Senior VP Belmont."
VP Throckmorton looked at the man at the center of the table and smiled. "No problem then. Emt can tell Billy and Layla that I'm in charge and things will work like they used to under my supervision. I'll be back in the ga in an hour, and we'll double the money pouring out of the ga within a month under my supervision."
Emt tapped his pencil on the table, thinking, then looked at his head of HR, and nodded. She pulled out another folder and looked at several spreadsheets. "There is a matter to bring up, Mr. Throckmorton. It seems that you've skipped your yearly dical check-ups for the last three years, and we really need you to keep up with those. Who knows what physical or ntal stress you could be suffering from? You're also behind on your Sensitivity Training Classes, New Product Knowledge presentations, and your weekly and daily TPS reports for the last year. Before that, you had a manager nad Sammy Maxwell filling those out for you, but I see he filed several complaints about your treatnt of him with HR. Normally, we don't worry about things like that, but I have to ask: where is Mr. Maxwell currently? I don't see him on our payroll in this division."
"Sammy? The little worm betrayed my trust and gave information to the enemy during a crucial engagent in a corporate war at the start of Genesis. I fired him. Last I saw him, he was crawling up the road with three daggers in his back."
"Oh my, I see. So, sothing he did while you were playing make-believe angered you? And you fired him? I can see why Legal gave him such a generous chunk of severance pay. I'm going to have to sign you up for so redial classes in Employee Relations and Anger Managent. But don't worry, you also have seventeen weeks of vacation on the books. We can schedule your vacation ti to take place at the AC Training Academy in Coalsack Bluff. You'll love Nebraska this ti of year. You can vacation there, take your classes, and catch up on your reports. We'll review your case then and check on your dical progress. I recomnd swimming, it's very brisk and refreshing."
Vernon pushed himself away from the table, face purple and sputtering. "You can't push out with a bunch of bullshit like that! That's for getting rid of junior managers. I've been working for AC for eighty years!"
Emt looked at him for a mont, letting Vernon catch his breath. The old man looked like he was going to explode. "We think you need a break, Vernon. You're an old and respected mber of the AC family. Take a vacation and co back refreshed. We'll talk then about your place here."
"No, Dammit. You can't get rid of so easily."
The head of HR said, "Sure, we can. And you know it. Should have kept up on those TPS reports."
"Emt, please...we're old friends. I even went exploring with you once!"
"Vernon, it's either a vacation or mandatory retirent. Take your pick."
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Uncle Vern yelled and threw his water glass at the wall where it fell unbroken to the floor, and stord out of the room, slamming the door.
"Well, he took that well, all things considered. What do we have next?"
Sarah looked at her schedule. "Oh, how fortuitous. Billy and Layla also scheduled a eting with you today. I just ssaged them that we're ready to talk. I'm sure we all have questions for them."
Carl nodded. "I wonder if they know anything about Dragons?"
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