Chapter Sixty-Three: The Wings of Progress
Kentares IV, June 7th 3013
"Watson!" I greeted the man. "How are the factory relocations going?"
"Well sir," He replied, taking strength from the cup of coffee I had Mary bring him. "The Highlander, Crockett, and Crab Factories are relocated to their respective planets, and they've begun manufacturing." He paused. "The Champion lines are still giving us a bit of trouble but we aren't responsible for the Exterminator lines and that's a big help."
"Thank you for all of the hard work you and your team have been doing." I told him. "I'm authorizing a massive bonus regardless of whether the Champion factory is finished on time or not." I took a sip of coffee and smiled at him. "And make sure y'all get some leave, we're moving into aerospace next."
"Yes sir." Watson stood up and shook my hand. "The wife will be grateful for the extra funds that's for sure."
Watson left my office and the person scheduled to meet me next walked into my office.
"Sir, I've got a list of companies that Acquisitions would like to start buying some stock of or trying to license some designs out of to begin production locally." Gabriella just dropped a file onto my desk and started talking. "While we have expanded and are continuing to do so, we caution against trying to acquire more assets in the Federated Suns until we've finished getting everything set up here."
"And expanding into the Lyran Commonwealth?" I asked. "What are the ideas on that?"
"We believe that an expansion into the Commonwealth should be underneath a separate corporate entity." She started. "Look into hiring some good executive officers over in Lyran space, give them some cash flow to work with and tell them your goals, they'll be able to work through and with the Commonwealth regs better than we can."
"So, consolidate what we have here, and devote some excess funding into establishing a Lyran branch of Sharpshooter." I summarized. "Thank you for your time Gabriella, have a good rest of your day." She got up from her chair and left.
"Mary." I called my secretary. "Was that everyone scheduled for before lunch?"
"Yes sir." She responded. "Your next meeting isn't until two in the afternoon local time."
"Thanks Mary, take a good lunch break and I'll see you back around two alright?"
"Of course." She packed up and went to go get lunch.
June 15th, 3013
"So, now that I know everything, what is your plan?" Natasha asked me while we were enjoying the evening. "You told me about the future that will likely never happen now, but what is your overall plan?" She took a bite of the pizza I had made for dinner.
"I'm trying to swing things into a direction that should be for the better." I told her. "By getting manufacturing and research and development back up and running I'm not only getting the Inner Sphere ready for when the Clans potentially invade, but also for if the Jihad ever happens." I took a bite of my own, chewed it and swallowed before continuing. "Also, I like being able to help people, and by having Sharpshooter industries setting up centers of learning and advanced hospitals all over, we're not only helping the big guys like Hanse, Ian or Katrina, but we're able to assist in the development of some of the backwaters into potential powerhouses of their own."
"Okay," She said. "What is your plan for the three Warships that you told me you have access to?"
"I'm going to be bringing the Manassas over here to Kentares at some point." I told her. "I've got enough favors built up with both the FedSuns and the people that rule it that we can swing having at the very least the Manassas covering the manufacturing centers here." I took a sip of water. "The Potemkin and Texas I'm going to be sending one of our Snowdens over to get the raw materials needed put into repairing them." I shrugged. "I'm leaning towards gifting the Potemkin and the rest of the Unions attached to the Federated Suns until they can get Warship manufacture back up and running, and one of the things that I wrote Katrina in that sealed letter I handed her was a mothballed yard closer to her borders that she could snag to get her own production up and running."
"And the Taurians?" She leaned forward, interested in hearing out and offering some advice if she thought it was a bad idea. "What is the plan for uplifting them to the level of the rest of the Sphere?"
"Well, Peterson is fairly certain that Menke is going to be captured relatively intact, and I know they've been boosting manufacturing to entirely new levels. With the TCS Vandenberg making a reappearance I suspect they've some sort of Warship repairing or manufacture facilities hidden away. And if they don't have them, I'm sure that they'll be pushing to build some."
"Plan for when the Clans invade?" She asked, curious to see how I would handle it if the Clans invaded.
"Depends on when they invade." I told her. "If they were to invade in the next couple of years or so, I would have no choice but to take advantage of the Batchall system in order to hold them off until we could get things set up with the Suns and Taurians manning frontlines while the Steiners focus on getting their manufacturing capacity to peak efficiency in order to get logistics chains up and running." I took a drink. "If we managed to hold them off for long enough, I would take the Manassas and the Texas class and move to stop the advance in space, taking advantage of the Sting refits and turning them into escorts for the two Warships."
"And if the Invasion is in twenty to thirty years?" She asked.
"By that point, we should have enough years of the Concordat, Commonwealth, and Suns being at the very least nominal allies that they should be able to join forces and probably push back the Clans in sheer numbers alone. Not to mention the fact that there will be independent research done by then that could make massived differences."
"I'm not seeing anything wrong with any of the plans yet." Nat told me after finishing her pizza. "But I will take some time to go over them." She shrugged. "It is strange, I was never a long term thinker before Sheppard and your drill instructors hammered it into my head."
"Long term and short term." I told her. "If you focus too much on one, then the other sneaks up behind you with a shovel and clobbers you."
"That is a unique way of putting that." She laughed a bit. "Come up with that one on your own?" She teased.
"Why yes, I did in fact come up with that analogy." I responded, fake puffing myself up. "I spent all of fifteen seconds coming up with it." I kept playing it up for the laughs for a bit and then finished my dinner.
"What do you want to do next?" I asked her. "It's Tuesday, and I already told them I'm taking the day off tomorrow."
"Well, I did some time in the sims with you." She responded with a smirk. "I still need to get you back for crushing the skull of my Atlas with an Urbanmech that time."
"Look Nat," I raised my hand with my palms open and slowly backed away. "You gave me enough time to set up on top of that skyscraper, you and everyone else should know by now that giving me prep time is akin to handing the fight over for me to win."
"I just suppose we will have to find out." She had a mischievous grin on her face and a twinkle in her eye. "So come face me Mark." She stood up and walked to the front door. "If you dare."
"Oh, you are so on." I said as I hurried out the door behind her. "Loser has to make dinner next week."
Author's note: The Slice of Life chapters are going to be a touch shorter in overall length. I've found it to be easier to write them as smaller snippets than the fully dedicated to one thing chapters. We'll be moving onto a time skip here in the next couple of chapters unless I cover the elopement of Mark/Nat and the breaking of a hand in childbirth…