First Day of Work [Lorelei]

[Aleksandyr Gaillard]

It's been some time since KDY acquired Gaillard and the man behind it. Certainly his pedigree didn't hold up against that which [member="Lorelei Darke"] held firmly within her grip. The fact that KDY was interested at all could be counted amongst his last victory as a free man, now he was a lackey with a fancy title; someone to design what she wanted when she asked for it.

That wasn't to say there weren't any perks to go with it, though. He gained the necessary resources to work on what he wanted to without risking his financial stability in the process... Now that was a plus. Yet somehow he felt like a glorified trophy, just another collectible added to the shelf but when his use ran dry he too would be tossed aside like the many companies that KDY had swallowed up in its centuries of existence.

But perhaps Gaillard will live on within this empire of engineering.

Alek was summoned to the Queen's office where he hoped to pitch a new idea to help further her company and his future.

 

[Quietus]

"Mr. Gaillard," Lorelei stood before a massive holoprojected screen, several large projects on display before her in brilliant, gleaming blue. The woman gave a brief glance to the Director of the Luxury department before turning back to the screen, upon which he would notice one of his latest ships.

"I wondered when you might grace me with your presence again..."

"Tea Mr. Gaillard?" Lacey Hardt asked from the CEO's desk where she currently stood preparing the Queen's afternoon luncheon, "Have you eaten? I've brought extra place settings for the meeting."

There were certain things a well-respected employee of the KDY could claim - being mistreated was not one of them. Earning the approval of the CEO was one thing, remaining in her good graces quite another, but few who were there could seldom complain. Excellent pay, plenty of paid time off, the absolute best health care, and the freedom to work within the bounds of one's title. So long as production stayed true to the KDY standard their lives were quite plush.

Aleksander's life, currently, was quite plush.

"You seem to be settling in to your new station well enough," acidic green eyes watched the man closely over half-moon spectacles, "straight to work. That's what I like to see. Your latest project - impressive. I understand you come today with a ... proposal of sorts."

[member="Aleksandyr Gaillard"]

 

[Aleksandyr Gaillard]

"Tea, yes. Food, no." Alek responded bluntly to the assistant's question, but not rudely so. He was here for business. Quickly he returned his attention to Lorelei, "Kuat is a wonderful world, I see no reason not to enjoy my stay," he spoke kindly of the location only because it was true. The housing provided by KDY was without a doubt more than most companies would of their executives.

the former CEO cracked a smile at her last comment, "I live to design, my Queen," the man maneuvered himself around teh table before resting his elbow on one of the chairs. "There's nothing I'd rather do," his synthetic, orange eyes locked with her green gaze. "I'd like to design something that's a bit unorthodox, but nonetheless well within the agenda of what we're doing here." His hand reached out for a small control panel, pressing one of the buttons which brought up the concept artwork of what he had in mind.

Spoiler: image

"Essentially, mobile apartments that orbit worlds... With hyperspace capabilities so that the residence may change location for various reasons. A taste of the galaxy, a city that moves throughout the stars!" The flamboyance in his words were not subtle, he was clearly proud of his own design despite the engineering challenges that must be overcome in order to achieve such a feat. Albeit one would not fear such a task when the shipyards were that of Kuat's.

[member="Lorelei Darke"]

 

[Quietus]

Green eyes peered with great intensity at the fielded display, left hand lifting to tick her pointer finger in thought at the side of her chin.

"Hm," the sound was non-committal and gave nothing away. It was an interesting project to say the least but it would require millions, if not billions of credits to fulfill and take up quite a large chunk of her production facilities to make it happen. Then there was the fact that he spoke of this in plurals. He wanted to make more than one? Unthinkable.

In a time and place where money was of no issue and war was not forever spilling over the horizon, this sort of thing would be commonplace. But they were not in a setting befitting of such expense. A stoney expression met the man, "And what sort of agenda is it that you think we are doing here?"

[member="Aleksandyr Gaillard"]

 

[Aleksandyr Gaillard]

"Doing the impossible," Alek replied quite simply.

Money? Efficiency? Perhaps foregoing these thoughts is why Gaillard went bankrupt in the first place, and certainly Lorelei had every right to fear that possibility with such an immense project. The Balmorran boy slid around the table, pacing almost impatiently, "people waste time investing in thousands of warships, why the hell would anyone want to die over a world when instead they could live above it?" He crinkled his brow, it wasn't like him to make a political statement; and honestly it wasn't intended to be.

By all accounts, he didn't give a kark about whatever the Republic and Sith did. Whatever those backwater zealots and outcast Jedi fought over, or whatever the Mandalorians played with these days. None of that mattered. None of that was interested, and it certainly didn't shake the foundation of his personal world... A world in which the only thing that mattered was showing to the galaxy what it was like to push forward, to walk on water.

[member="Lorelei Darke"]

 

[Quietus]

"Mr. Gaillard do not forget that the Kuat Drive yards was founded on those very same people who wasted their time investing in thousands of warships," Lorelei had at this point turned away from the display in what might've been construed as a show of failing interest. It wasn't too far from the truth.

"I can assure you that the vast majority of people who die over a world did not wish to be in that position, but that is the unfortunate truth and reality of the galaxy we live in. Our profits come from major governments who wish to wage war against other major governments and until such a time that they would rather live in peace and luxury, their investments will go towards thousands and thousands more warships. I brought you here to be a part of the KDY team because you are a man with great vision that turns out quality product, there's no doubt in my mind about that," movements that were not made in a hurry took Lorlelei steadily, perhaps even wearily, to her desk where she sat down and slowly leaned back in her chair. Those green eyes did not look any more convinced now than they had before, "but you lack a certain business etiquette that would drive the Luxury department into decline if I allowed it. Luckily for you ...I do not intend to do that, and you will still have your job tomorrow."

A sigh. It had been a long day and she'd had formed small hopes for this meeting that were very quickly deflating, "We create for that which there is a demand. Without demand we create without purpose and we do not sell."

The Queen turned to assess the latest demands sitting on her desk in a stack of datapads, "Find me a demand for this project, Mr. Gaillard, and I will reconsider."

[member="Aleksandyr Gaillard"]

 

[Aleksandyr Gaillard]

Aleksandyr stood there as she spoke, clearly the two didn't see eye-to-eye on evetything. Afterall, Alek had always been more avant garde in his approach to business, but certainly that wasn't something to overshadow the pedigree of an ageless corporation. At the end of the day? He was going to be unhappy with her decisions... Yet he wouldn't go so far as to oppose her openly, certainly he wouldn't do anything to lose his job over such a trivial matter. Trivial in his eyes, at least.

"Statistics are--" he paused, trying to avoid sounding as if he were insubordinate. "I believe the wisest course of action would be to at least devise some sort of prototype, I'd rather prove that there is interest in my project by offering an opportunity to live in a... Scaled down version. That way we're certain and can understand the costs, how many to build..." Okay, he wasn't great at business talk, but hopefully she understood what he was getting at.

[member="Lorelei Darke"]

 

[Quietus]

Lorelei glanced up. Was he still here? Hm, most people knew better than to remain when they had been rather clearly dismissed. Perhaps she had not been clear enough.

The Queen removed her half-moon spectacles slowly and placed them on her desk, lips drawing thin and green eyes watching the man with equal parts growing agitation and tethered murderous desire. By the time he finished he could be considered one of the luckiest men alive. Five hundred years ago she would have dropped him where he stood with her thoughts alone. Maybe.

Maybe she was being too rash and he had a point.

Maybe she could pretend he had a point by allowing him to conduct a project she'd been meaning to initiate for some time.

Lorelei finally broke her hard-line stare before she began burning a literal hole through his forehead and looked off ponderously through the ceiling-to-floor wall of glasteel, "Cruiseliners," the word came finally, "I will fund a prototype via luxury cruiseliners designed for extended stays using apartment-styled living quarters. If nothing else there is a demand for this through the upper echelons of society wanting to ...get away."

[member="Aleksandyr Gaillard"]

 

[Aleksandyr Gaillard]

"Fair enough," he had gotten what he wanted... And then some, the extra dose of intimidation certainly wasn't on his list of desires.

Aleksandyr bowed his head before turning to leave the woman's office. As far as new bosses went, she was something; then again it wasn't like Alek worked under someone ever before. The 'former' playboy was used to being pampered and having his way, even winning arguments with his board of directors narrowly many times.

Under Lorelei, it would be a hard gamble to tell if he would change or if he'd remain the same as always. Of course, that would be a battle of wills, too. Someone like the Queen of Kuat wasn't going to be easily convinced without results, so at the very least he'd be sure to show her results. Luxury cruiseliners? That was something Alek could do. Something he too was interested in, honestly. It was all a matter of muse, really. One moment he might wish to do one thing, then the next he'd change his mind and do another.

[member="Lorelei Darke"]

 

[Quietus]

A week later at the break of dawn and the first chime of the work day ringing through the orbital shipyards Aleks would arrive to his office to find his door ... unlocked. Whether or not he usually locked it wasn't really a concern - this is the future and ideally his door would lock anytime his ID chip did not register as being within the office.

There were very few people who could gain access to a Department Head's Office and the last maintenance to be done within it had been logged two days ago. Too soon for them to be back.

Upon entering he would find none other than the Director of Operations standing inside making notes on a datapad. Dressed to the nines as she always was - perfectly fitted and tailored suit, golden hair shined and pulled into a low bun, makeup impeccable and professional, stern no-nonsense expression rivaled only by the CEO herself - DiVanca Leonardi was an uncommon guest around the campus.

"Mr. Gaillard," she began, cutting him off before any sort of introduction could be made, "you are 43 minutes late. Our work days here start at 7am. Do you require a new watch or have you simply forgotten?"

[member="Aleksandyr Gaillard"]

 

[Aleksandyr Gaillard]

"I go by Balmorran time... We round," he was jesting but the way he said it didn't seem anything less than serious.

Having someone enter his office unannounced, however? He liked his privacy, and was looking forward to doing a whole lot of nothing before cramming his entire workload into the last two hours. Unfortunately she decided to throw a plasma wrench into his plans. "Is there anything I can help you with?" He wasn't going to be entirely snarky, even though he wanted to.

Whatever she was interested in, he'd at least try to cooperate. His orange eyes couldn't help but examine how neatly dressed she was, clearly not as much of a slacker as he. Although Alek liked to think he dressed nicely himself, being the metrosexual he was. Yet couldn't she have just called? Or maybe shot a holomail? Without realizing it, the Balmorran let out a light sigh at his own thoughts before settling into a chair that had somehow found its way in the center of the room, the smell of perfume faintly lingered.

[member="Lorelei Darke"]

 

[Quietus]

DiVanca made an obvious glance to both his wrists. No watch. She made a note. Sloppy attire. She made another note. This would never do - not at KDY.

"I've seen mechanics show up--on time--better dressed than you for work. Do you take no pride at all in the company you represent, Mr. Gaillard, or do you simply enjoy making a mockery of the rare opportunity you've been handed here?" a rhetorical question, or something close to it, she didn't give him time to reply, "A new watch and three new suites will be sent to your living quarters by this evening. A tailor will be in to take your measurements at 6pm. I expect you to arrive on time tomorrow dressed appropriately. Now, so far as what you can help me with, I am here to assess your design plans and project write-ups for the proposed luxury cruiseliner."

 

[Aleksandyr Gaillard]

Alek was bombarded by questions and comments, at the end of it he didn't even say a word. Not one. Instead he rolled himself, in the chair, towards his desk and stopped himself with his feet. Planted firmly in front of a mess of plans, datapads, and a few wrappers he went through the clutter before determining which datapad was the right one. Surfing through the various bits of data, he pulled up concepts and blueprints for the new luxury cruiseliner.

Certainly it wasn't the mobile apartments he hoped for, but nonetheless he put the same level of pride into his work.

Spoiler: image

Spoiler: image

Alek believed fully that his designs were superior, and met the needs of KDY.

[member="Lorelei Darke"]