E4 – Storms on the Horizon – The Calm Before

Marty walked into the executive conference room and felt he had passed through a portal of luxury.  No battered pizza boxes in the trash cans.  No empty soda cans littering the table.  No crazy mess of networking cables running across the floor.  He was used to that type of working environment.  Instead, he saw an opulent mahogany conference table polished to a mirror like surface dominating a room dripping with managerial authority.  A stainless steel cappuccino machine in the corner of the room gleamed.  The chairs were upholstered in leather.  Marty surveyed the room trying to decide where to sit.  After a minute of contemplation, he plopped himself into a seat on the outskirts of the room in a chair against the wall.

In a rush of activity, a parade of executives marched in the room, gabbing and squawking like a row of ducks.  That’s not nice, Marty thought to himself.  He actually liked the executive suite at MagnaCorp.  Sure, a few were pretty hardnosed but they made MagnaCorp hum like a recently defragged hard drive.  He mused to himself as he took inventory of the newly arrived trio.

There was Vincent Chang, executive in charge of the massive partner ecosystem, in his dapper three piece suit.  Dave Reinhart, Marty’s boss, gave him a quick nod and sipped from his coffee engrossed in a discussion with Robert Griswald, the company’s Chief Financial Officer.  The CFO controlled the purse strings of MagnaCorp and was a stickler for numbers.  His favorite catch phrase “Show me the money” made an appearance at almost every meeting.  His meticulous watch over the bottom line and finances of MagnaCorp was one of the main reasons the stock price had continued to rise.  Robert’s attire, a snappy blue blazer/khaki slacks combo, was adorned with the head accountant’s favorite flair – wild and crazy socks.  Today’s choice: bright pink and neon blue striped socks.

The execs settled into the cushy chairs around the table without a moment of consideration and the chatter stopped immediately.  Down to business.  Vincent kicked off the meeting with a quick recap:

“The legal negotiations with our new alliance partner vNextGen are wrapping up.  We have gotten through all of the detailed talks with their legal team and our general counsel is pleased with the discussions.  I believe we should reach an accord shortly.  We have also captured an inventory of vNextGen’s contractors – our 4th parties as it is.  We are still vetting a few of them but they generally check out.  Robert, can you give us a rundown of the financial assessments?”

“Sure.”  The CFO swiped his iPad. A colorful dashboard with pie charts and trend reports flashed on the screen.  “We ran through their numbers as part of our Financial Viability assessment.  They have been tracking well and I was pleased they were as transparent as they were.  We have also been running numbers on the potential new revenue streams from the alliance.  Very promising…  Very.”  The last phrase was emphasized with a large smile and a raised eyebrow.

Vincent interjected. “That’s what we were hoping.”

“You know what I always say..” Robert said, pausing and spreading his arms out in front of him.

Marty grimaced and waited.  He knew what was coming.

“Show me the money.”  The CFO beamed.

The other two executives chuckled.

Vincent reined the topic back in.  “Dave, how’s the security review going?”

Dave cleared his throat.  “The security reviews are underway.  Marty has been digging in with their team…”

*****

The Hunter stood on a hill hidden in the shade of a massive oak tree overlooking a wide road.  His keen eyes followed a convoy of wagons slowly approaching the Frontier station, a stocky stone building set a few paces off the road.  As the wagons drew nearer, a group of the King’s Guards emerged and formed a ragged line across the well-worn, rutted lane.   The Hunter grunted.  The guards had a lackadaisical manner that belied their awareness of the situation.  Each guard knew that a convoy of this size and importance was ripe pickings for a bandit raid.  In addition, the possibility of a stowaway or illegal goods buried in the parcels, barrels, chests and strongboxes in the cargo was always high.

A rotund man stood up on the lead wagon and raised his arm.  His voice blasted a single command and the convoy stopped.  The convoy’s protectors, armed with variety of swords, bows and pikes, jumped off the wagons and took positions relative to the King’s Guards.   From his vantage point, the Hunter could see most of the security force from the trading party.  He began to make mental notes on armaments, attitude, placement, awareness – all indicators of the training and competence of the caravan’s security.

The convoy’s trade boss struggled down from the lead wagon and strode towards the sergeant of the King’s Guards with a packet of papers.  The two met, shook hands and engaged in what the Hunter expected as small talk about the weather, the road conditions or some other meaningless topic. The trade boss handed the sergeant of the guard the packet of papers.  The sergeant paged through the parchments slowly while the trade boss struck a match and lit a large wooden pipe.  A cloud of smoke escaped from the thicket of the man’s burly beard.  The sergeant waved at the encroaching veil of tobacco fog and marched towards the string of wagons for the inspection.  The trade boss, smoke trailing him like a shroud, followed.

The Hunter silently stepped through the foliage to join them.

After the Hunter’s examination of the trade party’s entrance into the Kingdom, he quickly made his way back to the castle.  He had a few hours before he was to report back to the Wizard, the Trade Master and the Jewel Keeper and wanted to gather his thoughts.  The Jewel Keeper was a close advisor of the King and occupied the enviable position of managing the large cache of gold and jewels gathered from across the Kingdom.  He was a very influential person in the inner circle of the King and an audience with him warranted preparation.

The Hunter now stood before the three high ranking members of the King’s Council. After the Trade Master and Jewel Keeper articulated their assessment of the progress of the alliance agreement, they directed the floor to the Wizard.  The Wizard quickly turned over the conversation to the Hunter who offered a detailed description of the exchange he observed at the Frontier station.  He itemized the convoy’s security team, their preparation and capabilities.

The Jewel Keeper paused from taking notes on a scroll.  He raised his quill, a great diamond ring glittering on his finger, and interjected, “What do you think of their overall capabilities?  We are relying on this new alliance to yield us some significant new revenue sources.”

The Hunter nodded.  “I was impressed with their professionalism.  I realize they come from a Realm that is considerably less wealthy and extensive than our own Kingdom.  Their armaments were solid.  The team was small – I probably would like a few more resources on these larger convoys.  But they have sound training.”

Satisfied, the Jewel Keeper nodded, straightened his rich royal blue cloak with his hand and turned to the Trade Master to close out the discussion.

Come back on Tuesday for the next episode! 

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