Ah To Be That Young Again

Posted on Sat Dec 5th, 2020 @ 12:31am by MegaCorp Owner Ashlyn of Koryndell
Edited on on Sat Dec 5th, 2020 @ 4:28am

Mission: New Starts
Location: Ashlyn's Office, Tassryth Station
Timeline: 247912.26 08:55

After sending her message to Savannah, Ashlyn was about to take a break. Her terminal, however, seemed disinclined to permit that. Frowning at it, she opened the waiting message indicated by the tiny light. This one was from a young lady, stress on the word young, who wished to discuss opening a bar on her FarVoyager. She wasn't distressed by the fact that the girl was only eighteen since on many worlds, fifteen was the age of adulthood. No, that only intrigued her and made her wonder why the girl wanted this. Curiosity overrode paranoia, and Ashlyn sent her a message stating that she would indeed grant her a meeting and to be in her office the following day. She sent that and waited to see if any other messages would pop up.

A reply came almost immediately,

{Thank you for the granting of the meeting. I will be there at the appointed time} A polite and prompt reply.

TIME: 247912.27, 0855 Hours
LOCATION: Ashlyn's Office

Chrys had dressed carefully for the meeting. Sedate, professional suit, in a pale gray with sedate make up and her hair braided into a bun at the nape of her neck. She carried a sleek portfolio in her hand, and she arrived 5 minutes early for the meeting.

The secretary looked up as someone entered the office and smiled. "Good morning. May I help you?" she offered, her voice as warm as the smile that reached her sea green eyes.

"Good Morning, I am Chrysanthe Bennett, I have an appointment." She said holding out a slim ID Chip.

The secretary took the chip and set it into a receiving slot in her terminal;. Immediately, Miss Bennett's dossier came up, and she glanced at it, comparing it to the appointment list for today. Removing the chip, she handed it back and nodded. "Thank you, Miss Bennett. I will inform Ashlyn that you are here." She then immediately turned to her intercom and did as she had said she would. There was a pause as, presumably, Ashlyn responded; then the secretary looked back to Chrysanthe. "She says you may go right in."

Chrys nodded "Thank you" And taking a breath she moved to the door which slid open at her approach. Chrysanthe entered the office, her eyes calm, as she buried nerves deep down.

Inside, the office was all darker colors, black and deep reds. The slick, black desk looked as though it could be either metal or polished stone. Which was not immediately discernible from the door. To the right of the door, a couch hugged the wall between that wall and a Synthesizer Unit. Between the door and the desk were two mid-backed chairs that appeared to be upholstered in leather, but the substance might have also been a synthetic of some breed. They did look comfortable, though. And beyond the desk sat a tall lady with black hair and sapphire blue eyes. Those eyes took in Chrisanthe as she entered.

"Good morning, Miss Bennett." she said, her voice soft but strong, authoritative, the voice of someone in charge but having no need to beat the other party with that knowledge. "Please come in and have a seat. Can I offer you anything before we begin?" she asked, indicating the Synthesizer to her left.

"No thank you." Chrys said as she stepped up to the chair and held out her hand to the woman behind the desk. "Thank you again for taking the time to meet with me Ms Ashlyn."

Ashlyn smiled and took the hand, giving it a firm shake before releasing it. "Ashlyn is fine. And your request said you had an idea for my FarVoyager Project. I am always interested in new ideas, especially for projects of this magnitude."

Chrys took the offered chair. "Well, I" she spoke and pulled out of the portfolio a number of artist sketches. "Was hoping you would be interested in my proposal of opening a Bar on the FarVoyager. To begin with." She placed the sketches on the desk between them.

Ashlyn didn't say anything at first, merely took the sketches and looked at them with a critical eye. While she looked, she spoke. "You are very young to be undertaking something so... large, aren't you?" The tone indicated mere curiosity rather than a judgment one way or another. She was gathering data just now. Judgments would come later, once she had gathered as much information as she could.

"Yes, I suppose I am. But it has been a dream of mine to run my own business for years and I hope to expand into restaurants and dance clubs eventually. FarVoyager would give me a chance to do that. And to learn more about what people want."

Ashlyn nodded. As answers went, that was a well-thought-out one. She was pleased so far. "May I ask why you want to own your own business?" she asked. People did this for many different reasons, and Ashlyn was curious as to Chrysanthe's. Besides, the answers to these questions told her things about the one answering. And with the FarVoyager being what it was, she needed to know certain things before she agreed to let anyone rent space on it.

Chrysanthe smiled faintly. "Because it would be something I built and did with my own two hands. Not something I inherited or was given. This would be all me. My hard work. My sweat and tears so to speak."

This answer also pleased Ashlyn. She, herself, had inherited the original company, but she had made it her own. She had changed its name and pushed its boundaries. She had expanded it and made it what it was today. So this company was not the company she had inherited. This was something new, something entirely hers. She could definitely appreciate that desire.

Finally, she put the sketches down and stared into the young woman's eyes, searching her. "Good answers." she finally said, smiling a bit. "Because FarVoyager is multi-generational in the sense that the ship will not be returning to these spaces for many decades at least, I need to know the quality of people before I send them out there. Now... do you have questions that I can answer about either the ship or the company?" She would also answer questions about herself, but that part was a test. Would the other take the risk or assume that was off the table since she didn't mention it?

Chrys considered the woman before her, and then after a moment of careful thought, she said "I would like to know why you commenced this project. It is such a vast project that will be such a massive undertaking...what started it?"

A personal question. Good. She isn't afraid to dance on the borders. Ashlyn thought privately. She sat back in her chair, folding her hands over her stomach as she considered both the young lady and the answer to her question. "Ultimately, I realized that if I wanted to reach new markets and new resources, I had to go farther than anyone ever has... even my own company. And to do that, I needed a ship that could be as much station as ship. And so, the FarVoyager was born, in concept at least. Granted, over time, the concept has changed, but that was the seed. I have explored and acquired all that I can in these spaces and those in nearby Sectors, so I need to reach much farther out."

She paused for a moment. "Why did you want to open your business on such a ship?" she asked in return. "You will be far from everything you know, possibly to the end of your life."

"While that is true, I want to see more than Earth and the current expanses we can travel to. I believe that being on Far Voyager will give me the chance to explore and meet new people. And if I stayed on Earth.. well life would go on but nothing more exciting would happen."

Ashlyn studied the girl for a moment then smiled. "You seek excitement, hm?" she commented. "Well, now you sound like I used to when I was younger." She liked this one already. "Well, you may get more excitement than you want too." she said mostly in jest. Picking up the sketches, she passed them back to the girl. She then brushed a hand over her desk, and the surface came to life with a floor plan. She made page flipping gestures, and the display changed, showing different floor plans. Eventually, she stopped at one and studied it. She then tapped on one part of it, and that section enlarged. "This space should suit your needs nicely. You can subdivide it as your sketches indicated. What do you think?"

Chrys studied the image for a moment as she replaced the sketches in her portfolio. "Perfect." She said with a smile. "How much will you charge for Rent on that space?"

Ashlyn smiled an odd little smile. "Being a mercenary outfit, I don't work on solid numbers. Meaning I won't quote you a flat fee. We will negotiate a percentage of profits made. I generally ask for five percent." She reached into a drawer of the desk that seemed to suddenly appear. Removing a sheaf of papers, she handed it across to Chrysanthe. "This is the standard shop owner's contract. Read it over, and we can negotiate any bits you wish. Everything is negotiable." she said with a smile.

Chrys took the contact and began to read before looking up. "It looks all in order." And what she had expected from her conversation with her lawyer. "When do you need it signed by?"

Ashlyn smiled slightly, pleased by the girl's response. "I take it," she said, "that you want to have it looked over by a professional?" Her tone was purely a question.

"Yes." Chrys replied honestly.

Ashlyn smiled at the lady, pleased by the caution. The young lady may have requested this, but she was not fool enough to simply take the contract at face value. There was, of course, no catch to it. In as much as legal language could be straightforward, this contract was. It was clear and uncluttered with catch clauses. "Good. Then can you have it reviewed by tomorrow or the next day?" she asked. "Signing will be done here as I have a special method I prefer. You may, of course, bring your lawyer with you at that time if you would feel more comfortable."

"I can have it done by this time tomorrow" Chrys replied calmly.

Ash nodded. "Then I await your response and your return." She keyed information into her desk terminal. "I have given you this same time slot tomorrow." she told the younger woman. "I look forward to a long and profitable relationship." she added with a more genuine smile.

"Agreed" Chrys stood and held out her hand to Ash. "It is going to be an adventure as well."

Ash smiled just a bit. "Of that, I am sure." she said, standing and taking the hand, giving it a firm shake before releasing it. "Have a good day then, and I will see you tomorrow."

Chrys nodded and left the office, the papers clutched in her folio.

TIME: 247912.28, 0855 Hours
LOCATION: Ashlyn's Office

Ashlyn finished reading the report she had been reading and sent a new set of orders to that particular employee. Her desk terminal chimed then, alerting her to the impending meeting with Miss Bennett that she had scheduled for the same time today as their meeting yesterday. Yesterday, the girl had been early, and Ashlyn found herself wondering if that was the pattern. She stood and stretched then straightened her desk, putting any files away where they would not be even accidentally seen. Her desk terminal screen was blanked, open documents closed and running programs minimized.

It was the pattern indeed. Chrys showed up, this time dressed in a black suit, 5 minutes early for her appointment. She had reviewed the documents and was now ready to sign and hand them over.

Ashlyn smiled at the young woman. She liked when people were early. Prompt was fine, but early was better. Efficiency pleased her. "Welcome back, Miss Bennett. I take it your lawyer has advised you regarding these contracts. Is there anything you wish to negotiate before we sign them?"

"No. I am fine with the contracts as they are." Chrys replied with a smile.

Ashlyn smiled in return. "Excellent. Then all that remains is the signing." She touched a spot on her desk that, to the untrained eye, had not looked any different than the rest of the desk when she'd touched it. But now, it slid out, revealing that it was a small drawer. From this, Ashlyn took a small package approximately seven inches in length and slender, a mere inch in diameter. When she had removed this, the drawer slid back in and seemed to vanish again.

Ashlyn looked at her soon-to-be new employee. "This pen is special." she stated. "It is wrapped because it will take a sample of DNA from the first person to hold it and apply this DNA marker to the ink. All ShadowDragon documents, reports, etc. are to be signed with this pen. This limits the possibility of forgery greatly. And as you can see, we still use paper here for some things, also limiting the possibility of file corruption or tampering." She handed the wrapped pen to Chrysanthe. "Don't worry; I have to follow the same rule." she added as she removed her own pen from her pocket.

Chrys slowly unwrapped the pen from its container and held it. "Ok." She didn't ask useless questions.

Ashlyn put the contracts before the other woman and showed her where to sign. "Just sign as you normally would. Here, here, and here." she indicated the places to sign. "Then I sign here, here and here." she finished just so there was complete clarity and transparency.

Doing as she was instructed, Chrysanthe signed on the contract. She showed no hesitation in doing so. She stepped back so Ashlyn could sign as well.

With her own identical pen, Ashlyn signed her name in all of the appropriate places. She then put away the pen and took up the sheaf of papers, separating the two copies. One she put into her desk, and the other she haded to Crysanthe. "This is your copy." When she had taken it, Ashlyn gave her a smile that was warm and welcoming. "Welcome to ShadowDragon, Ms. Bennett. The FarVoyager will be ready, and boarding will be on the 30th. Final preparations for departure will be on the 31st. And the ship leaves dock on the 1st. So any final details you need to get in order will need to be finished by then. Any further questions or concerns?"

Chrysanthe noted the dates in her portable computer and shook her head. "No Ma'am. That is plenty of time to get the bar set up." She beamed a bright smile.

"Excellent." Ashlyn smiled at the woman. "I will let you get to it then. And welcome to ShadowDragon."

Chrys held out her hand to shake Ashlyn's "Thank you." She said again.

Ashlyn took the hand and gave it a firm shake, then released it. "You are most welcome." She then keyed the doors to allow the young woman to leave, watching her exit with a smile. So young and so full of both optimism and promise. She remembered... vaguely... being that young. "Ah, to be that young..." she murmured to herself as the outer door closed behind her newest contractor.