Corporate Lobby

[Vogel]

"It's kind of simple, really," Hayes replied, slowly, "You see, I caught wind of that construction project you've got going on. Not the sort of thing that somebody considers a 'routine' operation, is it?"

This next part would be dicey; he stopped for a minute to sum up the necessary charisma before continuing.

"I'm sure you've got plenty covered, but I can't help but wonder about how many holes you'll end up by the time you're done."

His tone became a bit darker. A finely crafted tone, in fact, which he'd used dozens of times before.

"Unless you can come up with materials out of thin air, you'll have to ship stuff there eventually. Probably using corporate transports in order to keep it confidential, or at worst opt for lower costs through unreliable rivals like Universal or Interspace, who'd love to get their mitts on anything of yours they can, I'm sure."

He raised an eyebrow.

"Even if the group you outsourced to doesn't have a leak, it wouldn't be hard to find one somewhere else..."

Now to make an impression.

"... And if I were going to hit you, I'd probably pick your supply chain. Now if what you're doing out there is as big an investment as it seems, getting it compromised is the last thing on your agenda."

He leaned back a bit and straightened his tie. Who knows, maybe it made the transition from "schemer" to "honest schemer" more believable.

"That's where I come in. I run what's left of a shipping company, a good forty or so bulk container transports sitting in a dispersal area on Colorado. Needless to say the monopolies aren't getting any smaller, and it hasn't been doing that well. Only so much you can do when the competition is in a better position to buy off pirates, and friends, at the tip of a hat."

He grinned a bit.

"Now if you're the kind of guy who recognizes when puzzle pieces fit, then I won't have to say much more, but I will anyway. I've got no intention of settling for some hostile takeover by the likes of Universal. Wouldn't get a good deal out of it. Then again I have a bunch of ships, and a storage area, collecting dust. I figure I might as well put them to use somehow. So why not nail two hawkbats with the same stone, right?"

He glanced around quickly one more time; appearances of confidentiality and solidarity meant everything here.

"Call it a passive merger, under the radar. You can take my ships, and the warehouses, and get a nice, obscure, and unofficial puppet company to take whatever you need to that location. Crewing is up to you, and I'd say slave as many together as possible, but besides that nobody would expect it. Nobody would bother tracing those ships, and in the meantime you'll have a nice thumb on everything that goes to and from that place, without groups like Universal trying to pull the same tricks as they did on me."

His features hardened up again. The last part would be a stretch, but there were always contingencies...

"All I want is a cut of whatever you're doing over there. I need to move on to bigger and better things than a bunch of bulk carriers, and whatever you're doing with that site is a lot bigger and probably a lot better."