That Evening, Kell Estate, Old Connaught, Arc Royal...
Liz accepting the invitation ended up costing money. She, Sharon, and Gina wasted a few hours in town at a Clothier's boutique, the tall blonde Cylon having found the best, though not most expensive, place on the planet. as a result, Elizabeth exited the company van flanked by two women dressed to the nines.
For her own part, Liz had settled on her 'signature' after Penny's funeral. the cut of the blazer was less business, and the skirt was asymmetrical, showing a bit of leg, and her blouse was silk instead of linen, but it it was her trademark black-over-white, devoid of decorations, and almost the inverse of the typical upper class fashions.
aside from a sash displaying her family's livery, she looked like the secretary, while her staffers looked like the nobles.
Elizabeth made up for it, by being flanked by the Centurions. a visit to the paint-shop on-site and a few minutes of polishing and metal treatment, and both Nick and Jack gleamed like three meter lethal diamonds, their insignia had been 'enhanced' and the clear-coat was as perfect as the service department could make it.
"I know this is boring, guys." Liz said, as Jack extended his hand and helped her out of the vehicle. "It's business."
"I'm fine with it." Jack said, adding "you look good."
she smirked a little. "Thanks."
the Centurions flanked her, a miniature army, with Gina and Sharon forming her vanguard, and they walked up the carpet to the manor-house.
"The equipment needs to stay outside." the guard said.
"that's good, I didn't bring any." Elizabeth said, "This is Jack, and this is Nick, they're my chaperones. Gina and Sharon are dear friends and faithful employees, and perhaps you should ask your boss if he wants to piss me off by mistreating my employees, neh?"
as if by a magic trick, Morgan Kell appeared at the man's elbow, "Harvey, they're fine."
"As you say sir." the man looked down at Elizabeth, "Please enjoy your evening, Your Grace."
"I'm sure I will." Elizabeth said, and led her team through the doors in the company of the Duke of Arc Royal.
"I heard the cockamamie story about the allergies." he said, "What's the real deal here, Elizabeth?"
"Complex." she said, "Or simple, but complex ramifications. It's enough that Nick and Jack really are citizens, and employees of mine. I expect them to be treated with the same respect as anyone else, and I won't settle for less."
"Fascinating." He said, while acknowledging other guests. "The armor, it doesn't come off, does it?"
"It would be exceptionally unhealthy to either of them to have the armor taken off." she answered.
"Part of your investment in medical prosthetics?" He inquired.
"Derived technology from that, yeah." she stated. "We're still working on it."
"With your mysterious partner."
"Yes, actually."
He scooped a pair of long-stemmed glasses, "don't worry, it's non-alcoholic..." he passed her one of the glasses.
she accepted, while she noted that Gina and Sharon were doing the job here-mingling, chatting up various guests.
"Will you be entering a battle-suit into the trials next year based on some of that?" he asked.
"and compete with my best potential customers?" she shook her head. "No, I'll be bidding to get the tooling contracts for the winners, and maybe the runners-up."
"It can't hurt that you've got your boys on display." he acknowledged, "Proves you can handle the manufacturing."
"that's the idea." she said, "I can produce the necessary tooling, so it will make lots of sense for whoever submits the winning designs to go with my firm for their tooling up."
"How did you get here so fast?" Morgan asked, "I have...sources that had you ON Kowloon, meeting with Daphne Rowe last night."
Elizabeth drew in a breath, "I have a staff." she said, "who can read schedules, and have contacts with half a dozen shippers who owe me money and are on contract to support various parts of the war effort. it's nothing magical, I just knew where to catch a ride, and had enough leverage to demand one. by using a small shuttle instead of a full dropship, I was able to hitch rides faster than a command circuit would have allowed. Li knew the routes and had a list of ships, we timed it for when and where there were convoys."
"So just good planning and decent luck...I'll have to try that sometime."
"It's really very handy to have shippers that owe you money before you do. Otherwise the ticket costs are astronomical." she advised, "as it was, it cost me ten thousand kroner per hour to pull that stunt, about 120,000 Kroner all told."
he whistled low, "That's the lift cost for a single 'mech company doing a single jump."
"Isn't it." she sipped her glass. Lemonade.
She could see Lady Salome speaking with Gina, across the room. Nearby, Sharon was speaking with a Kell Hound wearing pilot's wings on her dress uniform, they were clearly talking about flying, with emphatic hand-gestures.
"I think you might want to save your wife from my distribution manager, sir." Elizabeth suggested, "Gina can sell vacuum to rockjacks and leave them smiling and broke."
he chuckled, "stay out of trouble, Elizabeth."
once his back was to her and he was heading across the ballroom, Liz pulled a prescription bottle from her pocket, rolled three tabs out onto her palm, and swallowed them, then turned to prowl the edges of the party until she spotted Edward Hanlin sitting across from Max Haranshire of Lockheed CBM.
she decided to keep this a business event, and approached them.
"...unreasonable production request. I swear they're trying to break me." Haranshire was saying.
"gentlemen." she sat down, Nick and Jack flanking her seat like guards.
"Elizabeth Ngo! we start talking problems and here you are." Hanlin said.
"I was in the neighborhood." she said, "What's the trouble? maybe I can help solve it?"
"I heard the Bradfords went with Krupp for the plant expansion on Hesperus." Hanlin noted.
"Krupp's an okay firm, I'm not sure they're a good fit." Elizabeth said, "but they're cheap. Expensive, but cheap...or maybe better to say, I think they're probably going to cost the Bradfords more than the bid we submitted once the delays and maintenance gets counted in."
"you'd say that anyway." Haranshire noted, "You're competing with them."
"Ain't I just?" she leaned forward, "Seriously, what's the problem, Max? do I need to go to our offices and break some manager's legs?"
"We're getting orders for increased production on the new Furillo line, the problem is, capacity."
"That's a new specialty for us." she said, "send the specs and a suggested bidding range in the morning. I might not have Comstar money subsidizing me to undercut my competitors like Krupp does, but my family's firm and Lockheed have a long running, excellent relationship and you know we're reliable."
she turned her gaze to Hanlin, "How are the new nanomesh weavers working out?"
"I have no complaints." He said.
"That's good to hear." she smiled.
"You killed two men in public, Elizabeth, that may cause some problems with my board, if we favor your company over your competitors on Earth. I know that had a negative impact in your Bradford negotiation for the Hesperus II expansion."
"Would they be influenced if I showed that one of the men I killed was responsible for the three month delay on one of your programs?" she asked.
"It might...what happened?"
"He sold out of both sides of his face-Boeing at Galax and your contract, then diverted product meant for delivery to Lockheed to Boeing." she told him, "this in addition to outright stealing, and skimming. You may have noticed the reduced invoices on the large fusion casting apparatuses?"
"You inserted a discount."
"For both the delay, and the insult that caused it. I'm charging Boeing roughly twice the amount deducted from your bill as punitives, and to preserve profits for properly Lyran customers."
Hanlin laughed. "I knew it! you're your Grandfather's child!!"
"I do what I can." she said. "Contact our contracts department with your needs, Max, we'll fix you up well."
"is your firm ever going to get into weapons, Elizabeth?" Max asked.
"No." Liz said, "we've got Groves, but they're actually more of a 'we helped you start' situation, once they pay their note off, they're going to be fully independent. I can't afford to be in competition with my customers, and I prefer to invest in my core business."
"See? I told you!" Hanlin said with another jovial laugh, swirling his amber cognac, "The girl sounds more like her grandfather every minute!"
"I am investing more capital into venture start-ups though." she said. "It's a fascinating game, find someone with ambitious ideas but no money, give them the money to put those dreams into action, and reap rewards..or lose the money while collecting the assets for reallocation."
"Predatory." Max said, "I can respect that."
"I have long term plans." Liz said, "but going into the armaments business directly isn't among them."
