//You have sold 20 lots of 5x
//You have 3146 messages linked to these auctions.
/Penny, you were right. I done fucked./
\Snnkt. How bad?\
/23 mil and 3k messages./
\Honestly, 200k a bottle is a little low, but if you do it again it will probably garner triple the price as more people know about it.\
/Didn’t you just tell me not sell them?/
\I said don’t auto-fill an auction and you won’t have all 3k of those messages trying to find you. Now use that money to make me potions\
/Sure, sure. I have one bottle of your ink left. It feels like a shame to be using this stuff as low as I am./
\Kimber, how long does the ink-based section of this brew take?\
/Iono, six to eight hours for a whole vial-worth of catalyst?/
\Are you taking the potions for this process? Four potions should be worth the improvement of having almost a whole skill tier higher.\
Omfg, I am such a damned idiot.
/Well, I’m going to go scream at the sky for a few minutes./
I hear her chuckle through our link. \You likely only wasted 10M Cr worth of potion, no big deal\
My guilt rises with my embarrassment and my gorge, so I rush over to a trash can and vomit violently.
/I’m going to make a batch in preparation to making your next batch. Can I buy another vial?/
\Do I need to hire a minder for you? Andromeda save me, if you weren’t basically my kid already, it would sure feel like it now.\
/Whatever, you love me. Or are you buttering me up with the mother stuff to babysit Phea?/
\If you’re offering, I’ll take it. I need to flight test an experiment and I’m the only one I trust to live through an accident.\
/I mean, fuck. I’m not ready to be a mom if you die./
\Frannie and Jenna will take her if I do. So is that a yes?\
/I got some days next month that I can come over, but it’s for founder’s week. Shouldn’t you be there?/
\Let me worry about the details. Can I get that in writing? Oh hey! I can. Your Talent is so convenient.\
When I get another scroll in my hand I curse the fucking Empress about the damned Empress.
/Love you too, asshole. Tell the munchkin I love her too./
\Oh, wait! Before you go. The Voles got a snout on your coke and they want, like, a shipment. A regular one.\
/Lady, I have space in that factory for one extra run. If you want more than that, I’m either going to need to invade South America or get the V’tek and Francesca to help me get the coca trees up on Astoria./
\But if I can get the adult trees, you’re good though?\
I sigh through our mental link, somewhat regretting installing this particular magitech device in my skull, /Yeah, Penny. If you can source the trees, I’ll pay for them and the equatorial plot—with room to expand—and guarantee your shipment by the following Founders day, not the coming one./
\I’ll grant you a Duchy if you can do it in 6 months or less.\
/That’s still a thing?! No, explain later. I’ll try, but it depends on how the trees take to the land./
\Kimber, you have no idea the kind and quality of friends that I have.\ She snickers into the connection and cuts it afterward. I get another scroll in my lap and I curse up a storm, knowing I’ve just committed to a ton of shit by accident.
***
“Nice of you to join us,” an older woman that I don’t recognize addresses me as though I work for her. Curious choice. Despite my physique, I still look young and I’ll be damned if it isn’t a constant plague. I would ask how Penny feels about it but everyone outside of Earth knows what she looks like, so I bet it’s not often a problem.
I look around the rest of the room, seeing Jaime, Belle, Marcus, Kenneck and a few others that I might have seen at Warram, but I can’t be sure. “It’s not often I get ambushed with a last-minute meeting, so I’m fashionably on time.” I look at my non-existent watch to prove a point—exact minute of requested arrival.
“Yes, well, as you suggested, we created a government construct that . . .”
“Yeah, no need for that. I sent out an open call. The closing time for it was . . . this morning! But I bet you knew that.” I’d skimmed the candidates, and some had stood out, but I’d made no decisions.
“Yes, well, we’ve talked and decided to present you with the best prospects for your future staff.”
“There are more people here than jobs I have available. To be quite honest, the only position I actually decided on, was Marcus heading N2, with someone from Jamie’s shop heading N6 while working with Marcus for Intel and cyber security. Everyone else I don’t have that level of confidence in.”
I look at the woman that was the only one to talk, “What position were you hoping for?”
“Why the Assistant Director of course.” She says while straightening her shoulders and tilting her nose up.
I snort, treating the statement as a joke. “That position requires respect for me and my vision. Which a last-minute invite to an ambush clearly doesn’t show.”
“I’ll have you know that I have quite a lot of backers.”
I huff, sit, and order myself some food and drink. Not because I’m hungry, I order to disrespect them all. “Alright, I’ll bite.” I jam some steak in my mouth and tear it off with my teeth. “What do your backers do for me, a.k.a. why should I care?”
“Trainers, hospitality workers, even security personnel.” I see two people behind her, including Kenneck look alarmed at her reference. I look over at Marcus and he shakes his head. Good to know.
This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.
I look over at my former girlfriends. They seem non-plussed and ready to speak on their own. “Alright, Jaime, let’s hear it.” She nods and reaches up to hold the man behind her by the hand.
It’s the man that speaks. “I wish to keep my department, and as the most talented in my department I should lead it. Your split of communication and intel is not our favorite, but working with physical assets is not alien to us, so we would like the N6 status and are not affiliated with that woman.” Jaime and the man both look at the haughty woman in question.
“You came here under promise! You swore to me!”
The man looks over to me. “We swore to support her legitimacy. You sent an open call. It was an easy promise to make.”
Yeah, that sounds like Jaime. I have questions though. “Mouthpiece for Jaime. Are you a prisoner? Do you have independent thought?”
Jaime looks up and nods. The man breaks contact, shivers and blinks a lot. “Yes, Director, to independent thought. It was common in Warram’s care to apprentice to a stat-seer in this manner. She is attempting to lead me into a seer role after hearing about your aether successes. I am six weeks from initialization.”
My ex sure knows how to manipulate. “Competence and training. Hard to pass up. Promise me this non-mutilation movement is an effort for your whole department and I’ll slot you in as the favorite candidate with gold stars.”
Jaime opens her hand again and the man puts his back inside, an obvious show that it’s voluntary. Clever and effective.
“If Trevor’s initialization is promising, I can make this promise. If it is within 3% of previous methods, I cannot.”
Within moderate error? I can accept that and tell them so. The woman at the other end of my table starts protesting again. I keep eating and staring at her, hoping that she is just an energetic leader instead of a stuffed shirt old Warram crony. I appropriately address her tantrum by ignoring her.
“Alright Belle, what have you got?”
“Kimber, You know me.” I feel a wave of comfort roll against me and for half a second I miss her, then I sneer at the supposed manipulation.
“Do that to me again and I shoot you. I don’t care what history we have: don’t use mind-altering skills for official business. Old-boss Medvedev tried that—didn’t take.” The room got silent. Everyone in my camp knows what happened in that meeting by now.
The old woman snickers. “Everyone knows that your mentor took care of that for you. Your intimidation won’t work on us,” She pauses to look me in the eye instead of the crowd she gathered. “little girl.”
My nostrils flare, rage flows though me asking to [Triggered Action] a bullet in her brain. Instead, I pull up my menus. “Listen, lady,” she tries to tell me her name and I raise a hand to interrupt, “I’m the settlement owner, I know your name and playing games really isn’t the way.”
“Kimber,” Kenneck decides to risk his fool neck. Out of respect I let him. “No one is going to buy into an all or nothing dictatorship. You have to let people decide for themselves.”
“Show me the people’s votes Kenneck.” He starts stuttering. “So, you’re saying you had the chance to fight for a republic, but didn’t do the leg work? How do you expect me to respect you?”
“We didn’t have the time!” the woman and Kenneck object.
“Yet my two exes, people whom I swore off, found the time for respect and you couldn’t get votes? It’s been a month and there are only a few thousand people here. If you wanted legitimacy, you missed it.”
The sadness in my voice lends to the people adhering to the status quo. Poor bastards. Not too poor, they made a choice based on their wishes, not reality. I hit the last few buttons and then let them stew in their decisions. I want to ask Penny if she’s ever exiled people for these reasons, but I can’t query her for every problem I have.
“Constance Rose, you have thirty minutes to leave my settlement for multiple crimes including fomenting rebellion. After that time, if you are still present, I will post a bounty for your skull.”
“You can’t do this! I’m a Citizen!” Wait, what?!
Yeah, the notices makes sense, being in an Empire aligned Settlement. “I don’t see any slavery marks on your record, so you can flee to Astoria if you wish. I don’t think Reno would check your record to closely either.” I watch her entire panic and rebellion modes and almost pity the woman.
“While this occurs, perhaps we cement the government?” Belle asks.
“Sure, give me a few minutes.” The woman starts speaking again, but I ignore her and focus on the task of finishing my dinner. I want to leave them like this, in a state of flummoxed chaos, but that would be reckless and would not accomplish the task of finding the right people to run my settlement. Fortunately for Miss Rose, Kenneck has her back and leads her out of the room after only wasting a few minutes.
I stand up to set my plates on the side table and grab myself a cup of coffee. Still warm, nice.
“Would you really have killed her?” Belle asks.
“Not personally, no, but I’m sure someone would have tried to cash in on a 500 credit bounty.” I pause to look at the people from Constance’s corner and then switch topics. “I still need a Leading Councilor for Personnel, Operations, and Logistics.”
The man minding Jaime coughs for attention with a few fingers raised for the same. I acknowledge him. “If I may nominate someone, Franklin Russel was a diligent numbers man for Warram’s food and sundries.”
Normally I wouldn’t take too much stock in a Warram performer, but the nutty food arrangement Warram had must have been a nightmare. I nod at the thought, even though we won’t collect and redistribute rations like they did. “Mister Russel, would you be interested in running the Logistics department for Camp Elsewhere?”
He clears his throat, “That depends, Director. Will I be exiled for upsetting you?” He says, more nervous that threatening. I’ll allow it.
“That also depends. If you make a decision I don’t follow or don’t agree with, we’ll talk about your reasoning and move forward. If you make a decision that negatively impacts my citizens, we’ll see how bad it is, and I would likely just fire you. A deliberate action that leads to someone’s death? That’s when we get into crime and punishment territory. That goes for everyone really.”
I look around and see that Marcus has his hand raised. “Yes, Marcus, I understand that security has a more inherent lethal risk than the other departments.” He puts his hand down.
“And we will be paid, yes?” He again looks nervous. What were these people told about me.
“Yes, of course. I intend for Leading Councilor to be a salary position. Roughly 900 Cr yearly, upgraded housing. Negotiable. I intend to have our settlement HQ based out of the new Civics building just inside the Northeast Gate by Port of Entry.”
“That seems . . . reasonable.” He visibly pauses mid-sentence to run a tally? Alright. I boop both him and Marcus into my menu for the settlement.
“Great! Now, Jamie, you said you wanted to be communications, but I was thought your folks would be good at plans and ops as well?”
“While I do have people that enjoy statistical prognostication, I do not. Subterfuge and Secrets are more to my interest, which N6 is the closest you have. I think it would also be good to get my people out of the coven mentality that Warram built us around. I would also think that some of Marcus’ people would be interested in plans and or communications as well.”
I nod at that, very sensible reasoning. “Everyone eventually coordinates with Operations and Plans. While this isn’t a military operation, urban planning and development in this climate takes security forces, drones, etc. If no one sure about that role, my AI enjoys the planning part if you know someone that is willing to take the development part.”
“Would that be sharing a department with your AI?” I snort at the comment from a man beside mister Russel.
“No, as the majority of the legwork and personnel management will be done by the Lead Councilor. It would mean a reduced salary, but still livable.” I look up the man’s resume. Clive Baker. Forward assault coordinator for Warram.
“Mr. Baker, were you the one that organized the Adelanto raids?”
He nods. “I never really controlled anything, I just had the authority to borrow units to scout and infiltrate, requisition materials, that sort of thing.”
“That sounds like the part of the equation we’re missing. Interested Mr. Baker?”
He nods, “Let me talk with your AI for a few minutes and we’ll see.” Entirely reasonable since they’ll be working together. Go get ‘em Tova.
“Her name’s Tova, and . . .” he gives a thumbs up and a glazed stare comes over his eyes.
I look over at Bell and see pursed lips and scrunched eyebrows. Does she have to poop?
“I want the N1 position, Kimber.” Consternation, I suppose, could be confused with the need for pooping.
“I can tell, but looking at your resume and what I have seen, you’re not really a good fit. You’ve never really managed people and the position you were in at Warram made it hard for you to separate Work life and Home life. Unless you can scrounge up some people to vouch for you, I don’t think this is going to happen. You’d be a great asset for whomever takes the role, though. Or talk with Dr. Kennck at the hospital if you’re interested in social work.”
“Is this because I dumped you? Scorned ex isn’t a good look.”
I get a good belly laugh at that statement. “You’re right, it’s not.” I grin at her and look at the others gathered. “Jamie and I dated at our Orphanage for a few years. Belle and I dated at Warram for about a year. Jaime left me with scars that will never heal, Belle just hurt me. If anyone has issues with apparent favoritism feel free to message or talk to me with your concerns. Other than that? Take two weeks, give me a department structure, list of employees you want, etc. and we’ll meet at the conference room in the Civics building to cement everything.”
Marcus comes over and sits next to me. “Can you hit me with a ration?”
“I mean, I can, but it would be a waste of food.” I smirk and he shakes his head at me. “But I want to see what the cafeteria’s put together. If anyone has follow-up questions, or just wants to chat, I’ll be stuffing my face for another forty five minutes.”
“Damnit, Kimber, I just sat down.” Marcus complains before following me out.