Chapter 7

The drone was entering the system’s asteroid belt. There were extremely high concentrations of various ores, and there were many types of precious metals and rare varieties of silicones. These would make a great addition to the empire. There were also a few good sources of Inothorzium, but it was not programmed to inform anyone so it didn’t. It simply categorized and filed it under power source. The High Command would be pleased. The mission could be considered a success.

The emperor was receiving his briefing update on the mission as well. He was not nearly as pleased as the High Command. He needed to know the advances that this system had made. Had they colonized any other areas close to them? And of course the biggest question, had they developed an FTL Drive? If they had there would be trouble, they would be another independent system outside of his domain. And they could be admitted to the League of Free Systems, if they hadn’t they were technically off-limits, and under protection from invasion and announcement. They could only be surveyed and studied, and then only under the closest scrutiny of an interplanetary team of anthropologists. Of course there ways around that, but even he, as ruler of the largest single system, didn’t defy the League very often, and then only when he knew he would be able to win the votes needed to succeed in his plan. He would be very hard pressed to get any votes especially since the Ulster Wars. His great grandfather had convinced many that he could succeed and gain the valuable access to The Gateways. They were an ancient and to this time mysterious way of traveling at such incredible speeds, that it made travel between galaxies nearly instantaneous. But his grandfather was not anticipating a full rebellion within three small systems he controlled; they had joined forces with the Ulstersian’s and had thrown up a very effective blockade. Then there were the mercenaries that were paid to sabotage and create chaos within the Obsidian Throne Empire. Then the League of Free Systems became fractured and split, they were deadlocked, that led to many other systems choosing sides, and war became inevitable. It dragged on for more then 100 years; no he would not risk angering them so soon after assuming the throne. He simply needed to handle the situation delicately and hope for the best, if he had to pay through the nose for mining permits, and mineral rights it would have to be.

June 1, 2024

Al Holbrook walked into Mr. Kirkwood’s office, he felt like he was stepping into the coliseum and the lions were loose. He had finally found the answer to a long-standing question of Chester’s. He doubted however, if the answer would please him. “Sir, as I stated over the phone, we have uncovered the person who now owns that ten percent block of stock you have been obsessing about for all this time. The person who we believe owns it, just recently filed with the SEC. As you know this procedure is mandatory for people who receive or transfer large blocks of class a stock in corporations that the federal government deems critical to the national defense, or information sensitive. We have fit that description ever since the moon colony was declared a success. The reason we could not find out who owned this block before was because we believe the purchaser obtained it before the colony was operational.”

“Get on with it just tell me who owns the stock and I’ll buy it back or the company will offer to buy it back. Don’t you realize that any one person with a block that large could demand a seat on the Board of Directors? The sad part is we would probably be forced to accommodate them. Please don’t tell me it all belongs to just one individual.”

“Sir, not only does it indeed belong to one individual, but the individual it belongs to is an employee of this company.”

“Great then he will more then likely ask us to buy it from his so he can receive the cash value of the stock.” Kirkwood said interrupting.

“Sir if I may continue, the person is Sean Mallory, the grandson of the late J. Edwin Whitten. You can best believe he won’t be so eager to sell. In fact I have dug a bit deeper. It appears that he also is listed as a majority stockholder of Whitten Avionics, and he is rumored to become the new CEO of Whitten Enterprises inc. All this and the fact, he appears to be dating your daughter. With all of this information one tends to believe he may be plotting some kind of action in the upcoming stockholders meeting on the 15th.”

“How reliable is your information Al. Because if all this is true, when does he have the time to run a company, work here and date my daughter all at the same time. I don’t doubt that he could be dating my girl, although she hasn’t said anything about a new man in her life. However, that is not what we were discussing was it? So, back to the topic at hand, what do you suggest we do about this little problem? I mean do we offer him a seat on the board? Can we fire him? If so, what would be the ramifications of such a move?”

Mr. Holbrook looked around the office for a few seconds, and then carefully framed his answer. “I propose we let him make the first move, but be prepared for the absolute worst possible scenario. I think we should be willing to make it appear we are willing to negotiate with him on any and all points that he may bring up. We have to remember he does own a very large stake in the company. In fact it is the second largest stake right after yours. You of course own a thirty- percent stake and have the confidence of the entire board, I think they’ll do whatever you suggest, and they will follow along like puppies. This kid will end up in the minority, even though he has such a big block, and in the end he’ll be forced to either vote with you or stand alone.”

“What’s to stop him from just voting against me at every turn?” Kirkwood asked.

“Well I suppose he could, but like I said he’ll end up looking foolish, because if the majority of the board votes with you, then he’ll be left out in the cold.”

Mr. Kirkwood did not like this suggestion very much it would be to easy to end up looking like the fool himself, if he appeared to be adversarial towards a mere boy then it might blow up in his face. The board may decide that they need a new CEO, not that he wouldn’t go down without a fight, but he only owned 30 percent and the stockholders meeting was too close at hand, there were too many outstanding shares floating around to do something stupid.

After a long time of deliberating he decided the best thing to do was offer Mr. Mallory a choice (He had to start thinking of him in terms of an adult, not just some college kid who worked in accounting.) Either he could sell his stock, or quit working as a junior executive and take on the responsibilities of what his stake in the company represented. In short he would offer him a seat on the board of directors, subject to the approval of the board and the stockholders at the annual stockholder’s meeting. He was going to need help and with Sean’s extra 10 percent that he could count on. This would give him 40 percent to wield against the other shareholders, virtually guaranteeing that he would weather the upcoming storm. A storm that when the shareholders found out about they would undoubtedly hold him accountable.

He had been holding monthly staff meetings for six months and he was not any closer to obtaining a solution to the enormous problem that faced the moon colony, and indirectly the Earth. He had also not given the full story to the government either, he was bound by an agreement made many years ago to share any critical information with it as soon as possible.

According to the government critical meant anything they might think important to the safety of its citizenry, of which they insisted the colonists were.

This was something that Kirkwood had fought against in vain for twenty plus years, he felt they were just like the early American colonists. They should be free of the jurisdiction of the US federal government and its laws, taxes etc.

The government didn’t agree with Him. They felt that since they were technically employees of the company, that they were not true colonists. They never gave up their citizenship. Instead they were simply employed out side of the country, this in itself should have given them a tax-exempt status, but the government cited an exception to that law. It stated that since they were technically not employed in another sovereign providence or foreign country, they still had to pay federal income tax and in effect by that ruling made the moon ipso facto US territory.

Mr. Kirkwood and LDC were appealing to the US Supreme Court. However they didn’t delude themselves, their chances of winning a decision against the government was exceedingly low, a person had better odds in winning the National Lottery.

However the fact remained the meteor was going to destroy the moon colony and possibly the entire moon itself. When the shareholders found out, he would need to be able to offer them a fast, sure-fire solution. There was only one problem there wasn’t one readily available, Oh sure they tossed around the option of using a nuclear missile, but they determined that in order to do any good they would need a minimum of one hundred warheads. Great for the disarmament talks but not very good for them. They rejected because when they studied the information further they determined in order to be effective they would need to get within 1,000 miles of the meteor. If they waited until it was that close to the moon then the colony would still not survive because there would be millions of smaller meteorites headed for it and the damage would be even more widespread. If only there was some way to keep it from hitting the moon or the Earth.

When Sean arrived at work that afternoon he was informed that he was to report to the fiftieth floor ASAP. He thanked the supervisor and started to leave his small office. Brooke overheard the conversation, and her curiosity started to go to overdrive. She started to wonder why Sean would be summoned to her father’s office. Since that was the only real office on the fiftieth floor, except for his personal assistant an executive conference room and a visitor reception area there was no one else on the floor. She started thinking that maybe her father had found out about her and Sean.

Although nothing sexual had occurred between them, it might have if it weren’t for Sean’s determination. Sean stated to her that he did not want to have her become alienated from her father like his mother had.

Sean was thinking similar thoughts; he was preparing to defend his relationship with Brooke. The express elevator seemed to creep up to the fiftieth floor. And even though he knew it couldn’t stop before reaching its destination, he silently hoped that somehow it would. About halfway to the end of it’s two-minute journey. He continued to try to remember anything that might have tipped off his boss to the fact he was dating his daughter, although they did not go to extremes to hide from him they decided the best thing for the present was to keep their relationship off his radar screen. Which was why this quick ride to the top of the corporate ladder was not the one he was hoping for.

The elevator reached the top floor, the doors opened and the lone passenger disembarked. Under normal conditions Sean would have relished this trip, but as he stepped out of the elevator into the lobby area of the fiftieth floor it seemed as if the entire world was in slow motion. Sean noticed the glass and brass, the dark rich hardwood paneling and marble floor along with the exquisite art and decor only in passing. He was focused on the large double oak doors, which were clearly the domain of Mr. Kirkwood, who he was sure at this very moment ready to throw him to the lions, or worse the street.

It wasn’t that Sean needed this job, he had plenty of money. He wanted the experience that working in one of the largest, richest companies in the world gave him. Of course there was the added plus that he worked side by side with his girlfriend.

The receptionist asked for his name then when he answered informed him that he was expected and she lead him the office door. The door seemed to open as if magic, Sean hesitantly walked through them, and into the office.