Event coordinating is a skill that is trained and honed for years, never fully perfected, yet always demanding perfection. Entire deals, bloodlines, even stock options depend on both how much you understand your clients, as well as how deep your preparations for any complications go.
Seating arrangements, food prep, allergy awareness, alliances and mortal enemies, even how petty the client's third aunt’s second son is can make or break your career, or leave you dead in an alleyway if you make one mistake.
Make no mistake, rookies, this is just as much a battlefield as an incursion, yet infinitely more complex and with far worse consequences.
-Transcript from The Planners: Event Coordinators training camp, 2049
The remainder of the patrol was uneventful, yet very enjoyable. Jim was an excellent teacher, showing me how to use the Void Watcher Systems to their fullest to target things up to twelve miles out, as well as how to utilize my hive-mind augs to control multiple systems at once. By the end of the second day, as we floated past Kingsman, I was able to control the entirety of the Pandora's combat systems while piloting her very carefully on my own. My aim was not nearly as good as Jim's, or Opal's for that matter, but that was fine. It didn't help that Opal had, at some point, put me in her lap on the captain's chair. While I was focusing heavily on Pandora, I could still feel her messing with my body somewhat. Yeah, that's why I missed that Fifteen with the laser cannon. Definitely her teasing me, and not me trying to show off.
Outsider had also filled me in on the cult situation in full, telling me that there was more than likely a huge network of cultists in Arizona connected through a variant Seventeen system. The Aug data Roger and Leman had ripped out of the two they had found pointed to an outside connection, but the model was too generic, yet also custom, to pinpoint a source.
It was noon on the last day of our patrol when we arrived back at New Phoenix. I had agreed to station the MAF Pandora above my Tower, about three miles up, much to my annoyance. This was a compromise with the Corporate Council, unfortunately. At this height and location, it was near impossible to fire the rail guns into the city, which was their most pressing concern, but it was at an appropriate height and angle to hit everything beyond the Walls of New Phoenix, or to easily get into position to do so. I tried to argue that she would be more effective if she patrolled the perimeter of the Wall, but they would not budge, threatening economic sanctions if I persisted.
Much as I would have loved to ignore them, Roger made a compelling argument that they could turn this into negative press against the Monster Box as a whole, not to mention we would have a small fleet soon. They would see reason if we were reasonable first.
Loading up in my car highlighted a new problem that I would have to have Morrigan fix soon, and that was the fact that it was a two-seater. And, because I was the smallest of the three of us, being Opal, Cari, and myself, I found myself once more in Opal's lap in the passenger seat while Cari drove us home. Cari chuckled at my plight as I melted into Opal's very different embrace, having lost the right to argue about seating when she picked me up with no resistance. I was seated on her very toned, dark thighs and pressed into her soft, yet firm core, as my head was secured between her breasts. The only complaint I had was Opal's roaming hands and my knowledge that I would be blue balled for hours because I had a dinner to host.
To distract myself, I glanced at my new point total to try and plan for the future.
Points- 142,340
Tokens-3
Not enough for Class IV Nanites, but that should be fine for now. I had no intentions of leaving the city before Japan, anyways, which would give Morrigan plenty of time to upgrade our current forces to peak Tier Three. Class IV nanites might have some fun stuff, but that seemed overkill considering the odds of finding another hive like the ones in Tonto or south of New Phoenix was basically nil. And considering nanites would be highly ineffective over the ocean, I had her prioritize weapons and armor for the Pandora over the swarms.
As far as what to unlock now, I had no clue. I'm sure I could bother Morrigan about it, or even Synaptic, but I figured it might be a good idea to hold onto them until a problem arose. After all, I had a cult in my city…
Before I could ponder the fact that I considered New Phoenix mine, we landed in the Tower garage. Opal picked me up and placed me outside the car before stepping out and stretching, letting out so many joint pops. It was impossible to not ogle her in her new nanite clothes, a set of tight-fitting black leather pants, a black tank top that clung to her six pack and double D cups, highlighting her bra, and a loose black leather jacket that completed biker babe the look. Cari hooked herself around my right arm, smirking. “Careful, love. You'll burn a hole through Smokey at this rate.”
I shook my head as she led me inside. “Right. Thanks, love.” I said, giving her a kiss on the cheek. Opal chuckled as she followed us inside.
Outsider met us at the dining area with a tablet, smiling that soft smile of hers. She nodded her head towards us as she passed the tablet to me. “I have taken the liberty to collate some basic information about our guests for tonight, and would like to request my paramour, Gimbal, to join us as well.”
Unlocking the tablet, I glance up at Outsider. “If she's family, she's invited, Outsider.” Was all I said as I started looking through the profiles. Cari and Opal decided to make their way to the kitchen to help Baba Yaga, or to sneak snacks.
Starting with the PMC, we had six arriving, which was one more than I was expecting until I saw the last one was Cody’s adjutant, a guy named Tungsten. Five foot eleven, black, and built like a fridge, his profile picture made him look intimidating, and his CV was very impressive. He was working as the head of the Support staff, which meant he worked closely with Bahamut and Morrigan. Performance review over the last week showed that he was very competent in his job, with Bahamut mentioning his empathic approach to dealing with the troops showed a massive increase in morale and loyalty, yet he was also very firm in sticking to the spirit of the rules, rather than the letter. He would arrive with his pregnant wife, Sally.
I looked over the other company commanders and was very impressed with what I saw. Horatio remained a role model for his men, taking part in each training session with them, making sure to use more weights or push himself harder than them, causing a feedback loop of his men pushing themselves to keep up, which pushed him further. He had gotten a split mind aug from Morrigan so that he could take care of paperwork and planning at the same time he trained. Morrigan did note that, while she is proud of her work with neural chips, that I should buy something from Synaptic for the time being to reward him. That said, his group had the lowest loyalty score amongst the five, but that was because they were loyal to him, not the Monster Box, while his loyalty was very high. They were training to work with a variety of different weapons, tactics, and formations, all to better integrate and work with the other, more heavily armored members of the Box, or to move in areas they couldn't go.
Wanda had a major glow up since she started eating well, as she looked less like a corpse and more like a tiny farm girl. She had cropped her hair down and was building some muscle, and had turned her company into what I could only describe as disciplined goblins. Their combat sims showed a complete disregard for “conventional operations”, focusing on a very streamlined approach.
What was the goal, what was standing in the way of that goal, and did that thing need to be there later? If the answer was no to that last question, they tended to blow it up. If they needed to be quiet, they would complete the mission, then blow everything up as they left. If they needed to defend a spot, they were trained to make sure the heavy armors could keep blowing things up in their place. And if they didn't have explosives? They would fight like demons until they could make more explosives. Wanda would come alone to the dinner.
Ulrich was much the same as Horatio, working with his troops, but strangely a culture of cybernetics had taken hold, with each member volunteering to replace limbs, bones, and nerves, even if they didn't need to. I checked Bahamut's notes and saw that Ulrich had tried to prevent this from happening, but after a particularly intense training sim, they all saw how strong Ulrich's augments made him, seeing how heavy his gear was, and felt inspired to follow in his footsteps. Morrigan, apparently, relieved a lot of surgical experience over the last few days as a result, with a large backlog of future requests still pending. He would not be bringing a guest, as his daughter was too young to attend.
Julius was a good man who took extreme pleasure in designing toys with his troops. Those toys being various heavily armored tanks and mechs, with the goal of using them both in urban and rural environments. That and composing different “tanker music” they called it. While nothing crazy was noted, Bahamut did request to purchase a few warehouses around the city to store these new armors, as well as to let them dispatch themselves quickly in case of an incursion. He would be arriving alone.
Finally, Mindy looked the worst out of the five, with huge bags under her eyes and a mess of tangled blonde hair, the opposite of Wendy's glow up. Morrigan had tried to force her to take breaks, but she constantly worked, designing aircraft, tactics, and weapons basically all the time. Her troops loved to fly her designs in the sims, but also tried to get her to sleep. She was existing basically on stims and caffeine alone.
<The forced break, is that a thing I could buy, but with a lesser effect?>
Of course, Victor. Will you be administering it intravenously, or orally?
<Probably orally. We do a toast at the end while her drink is spiked, she passes out, and Bahamut explains that she has to stick to the rest work schedule, or we would make her.>
Easily done. Eight points for a tailored Forced Break, one that is disguised as the champagne Baba Yaga will be serving.
<Please and thank you, but give it to Baba Yaga, that way she can introduce it naturally.>
Purchased Tailored Force Break: Wendy
Points reduced by 8
Feeling satisfied that I was doing the right thing, I moved onto the profiles of those coming over from the Niltmore.
Harmony was a no-nonsense woman who had the respect of everyone who worked there and had done a very good job with the rebranding. While we received different, more agreeable clientele, the reviews she received were more positive in nature than before, and revenue was slightly higher than before Cody took over.
Her secretary, Desiree, took great pleasure in dealing with disruptive forces that appeared. From rule breakers to journalists who pushed too much, she was seen all over the hotel relishing the frustration she caused them.
Then there was Penny, the complete opposite of Desiree. Very shy in person, but a shark over email, she had done a lot to quell rumors the press was spreading while also setting up deals with other corps to obtain materials and other services the hotel needed. Advertising, merchandising, and priority scheduling in exchange for discounts and limited protections from their Customer Service Department. I snorted, still the best gang name they could have come up with.
Bubie was an odd duck, as her file showed she had ample military experience, nearly ten year's worth, yet her attitude was lax, noted as “like a lazy tiger strolling through a meadow of wolves”. The gang had a wrestling competition the other day, where she came out on top in an almost nonchalant manner. Fifteen opponents, and fifteen pins in under ten seconds each. Her accuracy with every firearm was the highest amongst those in the gang, a fucking ninety nine, which was only matched by Jill and her broken bullshit skills. Yet she had her people's trust and respect, and they all ran a tight shop despite her “devil may care” attitude.
Finally, there was Daliah, the Madame of the Lower Six. Also an undisputed master of her domain, but using a very different method, one that brokered no rebuke from unruly clients. Apparently, she was a designer baby from some rich assholes in New New York, but one spliced with cat DNA. The medical notes indicate it wasn't enough to alter her physical appearance, but to influence how she walked and moved, as well as her observation skills. Unfortunately, more was affected than what her family liked, so they shipped her to Bestlé, who put her in the Niltmore, where she did everything she could to claw her way to some semblance of power. And now? Now, she was basically the brains behind the Customer Service Department as well as the Lower Six. Baba Yaga made a note to sit her next to Roger, which I just smirked and hit approve.
Aunt Cass sent a message indicating she would be unable to join us, as she was doing a lot of hunting near the border with The Mad Pack and a few other Samurai. They were doing rotations to grow stronger, something spurred on by Pandora's patrol, and that she would be free for a week starting next Saturday.
I went to adjust the living room to its banquet hall setting, as we would have thirty people in attendance and I had to make sure everyone could talk to everyone or ignore those they didn't want to talk about. My first thought was a horseshoe table, or a single large round table, but with thirty people, such a table would be ridiculously huge, so people would have to shout at each other.
So, I shifted tracks from a single, or even a couple tables, to a buffet style room with ten round tables that could seat six people each. Baba Yaga said some things in Russian over my network, but I chose not to translate it, as her tone said enough. I didn't set assigned seats, as that would defeat the purpose, but I did send a message to Daliah, one with a picture of Roger attached.
[LilSam: He's single and not possessive.]
[QueenBee: … I have to ask, as you are basically the boss's boss, is this an order, a prank, or an invitation?]
[LilSam: I refuse to give orders like that on principle, setting up my brother as a prank leaves a bad taste in my mouth, and Baba Yaga seems to think you two would work together. Do what you will with this information.]
[QueenBee: :CatsEyesWide: :Cheshiresmile:]
I chuckled to myself, thinking I have done a good deed for the day. Now, let's go see what Baba Yaga is cooking, and maybe get myself a snack.
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