Free Ephialtes (Ephialtes Trilogy Book 1) by Gavin E Parker

manila
folder.
    “Show me,”
said Andrews.
    Acevedo made
her way around the unnecessarily large desk and opened the folder, searching
through it and pulling out sheets that were variously stapled or paper clipped
together.  She laid them out in front of Andrews, explaining as she went.
    “These are
the feasibility plans, called Feasibility B and Feasibility F - don’t
ask what happened to A and C through E, we don’t know - and
these are four message conversations between Summers and Venkdt over a period of two weeks.  They get interesting here.” 
Acevedo pointed at one of pages.  Andrews read it, turning over to the
next page with deepening lines of concentration appearing on her
forehead.  Acevedo pointed to another sheet.  “This is where Summers starts to lose his rag,” she said.
    Andrews read
aloud:
     
    “Summers:
 The shareholders own Venkdt, and we both work for them.  I’ll be
bringing this up at the AGM and we’ll have your ass out of there before you
even know it.
    Venkdt:
 I feel my position here is secure.
    Summers:
 You cannot break up Venkdt without a two-thirds majority of the
board.
    Venkdt:
 Well, that might be true, strictly, but these are exceptional
circumstances.  We might have to bend the rules, just this one time.
    Summers:
 We do things legally here at Venkdt.
    Venkdt:
 I respect the law.  But sometimes what’s right and what’s legal
stray from each other, just a little.
    Summers:
 Don’t do it Charles.  I’ve got an army of lawyers here, just waiting
to go.
    Venkdt:
 And where is ‘here’ exactly?  You’re a long way from where I am, and
you can’t see what I can.  This has to happen.  It’s our destiny.
    Summers: 
It might be your destiny but it’s sure as shit not your goddamned
company.  You have no right to go through with this.  I’ll see you
rot in jail for this if you try it, you son of a bitch.”
     
    Andrews
looked at Acevedo.  “He’s going to break up Venkdt?”
    “He proposes
Venkdt Mars breaks away from the rest of Venkdt Corp.  Given that Mars
virtually is Venkdt Mars -”
    Andrews cut
in, “And Hjälp Teknik .”
    “The Hjälp Teknik operation on Mars is
less than a tenth of the size of Venkdt’s .  Mars
belongs to Venkdt, and Charles Venkdt wants out from the rest of the
company.  He has the means to do it, too.”
    “What about
the garrison?”
    “Less than
two hundred of them.  And they’re more of a police force than an army.”
    Andrews
thought.  “So what are the security implications for us?”
    “Practically
none, as you pointed out before.  They’re a hundred and forty million
miles away and they don’t have a military.  But they do supply the bulk of
our deuterium, and they’re a reasonably big player economically.  The
biggest threat to us is political.  To lose our first - the
world’s first - off-world colony would make us look weak,
particularly in light of some of the compromises we had to make to get the
peace accords to work.  We’re already widely perceived as having caved
into our enemies’ demands at the negotiation table.  If we then sit by and
let our colonists secede from the union against our wishes we will look
weak.  And that can only be destabilising.”
    Andrews stood
up and held out a hand to Acevedo.  “Thank you for bringing this to my
attention.  This is good work, exactly the sort of thing we need to be
looking at.”
    “Thank you, Ms
Andrews,” said Acevedo.
    “Can you type
all this up into a full report and get it to me by the end of the day?”
    “Yes, Ms
Andrews.”
    “Good. 
That’s all”
    “Thank you,
Ms Andrews.”
    Acevedo made
toward the door as Andrews returned to her seat.  Just as she got there
Andrews called out, “Ms Acevedo?”
    Acevedo
stopped and turned back toward her.  “Yes, Ms Andrews?”
    “Your
report - let’s just keep it between us at the moment.”
    “Yes, Ms
Andrews.”

 
 
 
 
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