The Acquisition

[Barrier]

Rolf took them all in. He was struck by the man's apparent youth, though with certain available treatments from Cryer, one couldn't take age for granted. Still, his lack of experience showed by the lack of staff - no security, and only a pair of assistants, who looked vaguely similar. He stepped forward.

"Well, howdy there folks. My name's George Rolf, and I'm the CEO of this fine company. You can call me George - only people close to me callin' me Mr. Rolf know they've messed up somehow, heheh." He offered his hand to shake.

James promptly stood forward and gave a firm handshake.

"This is my niece Lola, my cousin Paul. A pleasure to meet you.” Both sheepishly also shook hands with George in turn as their names were announced.

James nervously but boldly said,
“An amazing facility you have here, so clean. Shall we get down to business?”

Rolf smiled at the compliment, though it hardly reached his eyes.

"And here I was thinking of showin' you around this here display." He guided the younger man towards it by putting a fatherly hand on his shoulder. Cole already had the cousins well in hand, pouring out his charm as he displayed the company's latest acquisition in Cortez.

"I find it helps folks to know what they're getting into." He said, glancing at the long row of named plaques, and then back at the man beside him.

James looked on in awe of the almost endless podiums, stands and displays of awards and assets the DSE had acquired under the leadership of Rolf. Almost lost for words, he looked back at the man with his eyes glistening.

“Truly, remarkable. You seem to have every part of the industry covered tenfold, although I have done my homework. From my perspective, you were exactly the right man to reach out to. All we’ve managed to achieve is a single installation with a few niche but very much functional factories to list our assets. By far our largest being a Barge class vessel, fitted out to refine various minerals. I must ask, what is it you saw in us to being worth entertaining your time?”

As James spoke he felt that the question could backfire horribly, his nerves were certainly showing to his family if they weren’t to Rolf himself.

Rolf considered the question carefully. He gestured to one of the nearby windows, containing a stylized jump gate of a much older design.

"Son, have you ever considered why Liberty has only four major publicly-traded companies? Matter of fact, I'd say most Houses are the same in that regard, eh?" He pointed to the display.

"This here celebrates the achievement of an Allison C. Renner and her team in expandin' our reach beyond The Barrier, into Bretonia. But do you think Renner was DSE?" He smiled at Preston, and this time his eyes crinkled at the sides.
"We like to remember her that way, so that we can lay claim to that achievement. But she and her people were freelancers, just like you." He spread his arm to include the man's family in the gesture.

"Are you beginnin' to understand what I'm drivin' at?"

Until now James had always believed it’s a dog eat dog world. That no corporation would look at anyone or anything unless it’s pure cash driven. He also had a huge sense of personal failure on his shoulders. How the Ozymandias’s operations hadn’t been as successful as he’d hoped- just scraping by, in fact.

Rolf clearly saw something in what James and his team had achieved, the first point of ‘dog eat dog’ will always be true, but Rolf helped him realise in that instant that what he had achieved thus far was far from a failure.

Still, with much to learn he addressed Rolf again.
“I see exactly what you’re saying and I thank you again for this opportunity, for both my team and yourselves.”

He walked over to the display of the Cortez acquisition, his eyes glistening as he looked at it.

“Are there any other displays here you’re particularly fond of? Don’t get me wrong, every single one individually is outstanding, just curious if any of the others top your favourites?”

His warm smile was hopefully taking the tension out of the air.

"There are many. But I find that them historical highlights ain't nothing compared with what we are able to achieve, here and now." He walked over to the display nearer to the other end of the room, with Preston craning his neck to notice the ones passing by. He stopped by a display containing three gates, with a stylized Kusari torch in the background.

"Take this here display. You'll be thinkin' that it's just another few gates, completed mostly by local labour, and you'd be mostly correct." Rolf briefly gazed inwards and wryly shook his head.
"But the legal groundwork needed to even begin construction... The Keiretsu don't like outsiders pokin' around in their business."

He turned to Preston, giving him a nod and indicating that the formalities were now satisfied.

"And neither do we, son. But we both know an asset when we see it."

Rolf extended his arm in the direction of doors on the inner end of the room.

James, Paul & Lola were clearly buzzing with excitement, none of them had any idea what was in store, only that the bit they feared most was now over.

James, with a beaming smile, responded,
“Well, you certainly know how to make people feel good about themselves! If you can’t tell already, we’re very excited to be working with you!”

James took almost bouncing steps through to the next room to which he’d been ushered. Paul and Lola eagerly followed suit. As James approached the door it opened automatically where he returned to normal pace, awaiting Rolf.

Rolf nodded to his team, and everyone but Larissa and Cole stayed put as they followed the Prestons into the tastefully-appointed conference room.