Sholan Alliance - AU Bk. 03 Ch. 07

She leaned more into him and relaxed slightly as he stroked her back. "I can do that Yilly. Any particular order you want?" She really didn't want to leave his arms but knew that he was going to need all the help possible.

"Thank you and what I would like is..." He gave her instructions on how he wanted the room and viewers set up. Once she left he rubbed his face and growled in frustration. He wanted to go back and tear what was left of that ship apart but he was needed here. He finally stood up and poured a small shot of a single malt scotch before going back to his desk.

He activated the video chat on his terminal and looked into the camera. "Sue Anne I am going to be sending you some new schematics and designs that should give a decent boost to both N-Space engines and the H-Space engines. I am having the former pirate ship sent to me so I can test some of my other designs. If you need to take a portion of my income and plow it back into the company and start an expansion. I am going to contact Ike and have him work his contacts to see what sort of incentives we might get from the Space Corps. I will have some more documents to you soon. Also I have another set of drawings and diagrams for the patent office. I will try and contact you every couple of days to keep in contact with you." He saved the file and added several more before encrypting them and marking them urgent and to be sent as soon as possible.

He had been working a while longer when Vangie came in and frowned at Billy. "You didn't get lunch did you? If you don't eat something I am sure your Leska will have words for me. Even worse I know Sally will. I live with her and don't want to end up on the couch." As Vangie was grumbling at Billy he walked in and pulled a bag out from behind him. "Here are some snack type materials that can be considered a decent meal."

Billy rubbed his hair and after closing his eyes he stretched. "I know but I am still so angry that if I eat much I will be regretting it. Now something to nibble on would work and thanks. I need you and Sally to take a trip for me." He leaned forward and grabbed one of the large drink cups and smiled since it was their version of a shake. "I want you and Sally to take the Sandi back to earth and pick up the survivors of the pirates and bring them back. The Ambassador has approved their request to come back. As you know with the attack on earth most of the spare transports will be in use."

Vangie nodded. "Satasha already contacted me about this and I talked to Sally and she doesn't have a problem. The first wave of ships is going to be leaving the day after tomorrow. We will be ready to go with. Between the two of us we can run the ship and since the High Command is detailing combat ships as escorts. You should contact High Command and let them know what you are doing. I am assigned to you but to have me leaving the system is something they need to know about."

"I will have Sandi take care of that for me. Now why don't you go and see if they want us to take a cargo back." He sighed as Vangie left the room since now it was time for the NDB. He stood up and left his office and let Sandi know where he was going.

~~~

Back on Earth Sue Anne was taking a stroll around the current location of Billy's new company. It was small but they were doing a good solid amount of business. At first it was word of mouth and what she had started doing was purchasing existing surplus tubes that were worn. Following Billy's instructions before she would purchase any of the tubes she first did a detailed scan. Once she had that she would run it through a test program. The program would give a potential result for the re-crystallization process. If the results were at least seventy percent successful she would purchase the tubes and process them.

After the first two weeks of processing the tubes through her small induction furnace was enough to show she needed a larger location. Once she had paid the electric bill and other incidental fee's she had a pretty nice stash even though she was only getting about fifteen percent of the take. She looked around and found a goodly sized shed she could use. Getting a larger furnace took more time as well as the needed wiring infrastructure. Since she was going to be working for both herself and Billy she had her entire shop moved there as well.

By the time the sixth week after Billy had first left she had a barebones office and manufactory setup. She had been forced to hire several workers since they were starting to get some serious attention. It helped that one of her boys was a graphics artist and website designer. He had tossed a number of ideas at her for a website and she had finally broken down and told him to come up with several suggestions. Once he had done that she had forwarded the design's to Billy for review and approval.

By the time he had gotten back to her he had finally made it back to Earth. For a moment her face tightened since they had barely had a chance to talk before he had been critically injured. When that had happened she had almost lost it. They had been friends since school and the entire town had been in utter shock. Billy was almost a home town hero. The story of both he and his wife was one of those sweetheart stories with the hometown high school couple. Danielle's death was also a hometown tragedy with the benefit of having to raise two small babies.

When he had been shot the whole town had mourned and then when they had received the news he had survived they celebrated. With a sigh she dragged her mind back to her thoughts. At the moment she was sitting in her office contemplating the books as she was sipping on some coffee. At the moment she was contemplating what was going to be needed to actually create from the ground up a new factory. Since Billy had signed the incorporation documents she had found a damn good lawyer for them. The government had been sending feelers out to her about getting a contract setup. That she had forwarded to Billy as well but hadn't heard back yet. To keep them somewhat pacified she was doing tubes on a per unit basis with a slight discount.

Across from her was her husband who was contemplating options on where they should build the plant. Both were definitely leaning towards somewhere near town since it would provide a number of jobs. On the flip side it could also bring in any number of undesirables who were just trying to make a quick buck. They had requested bids from several companies on building the plants. The bids were to include environmental impact statements, locations, costs, and additional costs. For the moment the building they had was sufficient though very busy.

With a sigh she put her cup down. "Well as of now we don't have the capitol to build the size of factory that I would really like. Even with the bids not being delivered for another couple of weeks we still won't have the money to do more than purchase the property."

Bo scratched his head. "I know hunny kins but we don't have access to more cash. Even if we talk to family and friends we don't have the right to sell stock or shares in the company. That is something Billy needs to do or give authorization to do." He rubbed his short hair in frustration. "You need to contact Billy and have him find someone other than you or I as his CEO Neither one of us have the training or experience for dealing with a large company."

She sighed in frustration. "I know Bo but I have been doing my best to keep such matters from him. He has enough on his shoulders between being the Ambassador, healing, and all the other stuff." Sue Anne rolled her head on her shoulders. "I guess we really do need to since we can't keep doing it piecemeal. I will take care of the message now." She turned to her interface and started recording a message for Billy. Once she was done she forwarded it to the Embassy to be sent to him.

"I am hungry now and feel the urge to have some serious down home BBQ. Let's go and scandalize our kids." She stood and pulled him to his feet and gave him a good kiss.

~~~

It was several weeks later when she had finally gotten a reply from Billy. He was going to talk to his contacts and see what he could do. For the time being he had released some additional funds to her so she could expand the shop she was currently in. That was helpful since even if she did get a new place built she was keeping this for job lot work.

Before the CEO had been hired they had several offers for funding which they were looking at. They were going to have to discuss this with the lawyer. As it was she had an appointment with one of the potential investors here shortly. She had made a point of dressing up for the meeting as well. This was going to be interesting since all they had was a request for an appointment. Frankly she didn't like that since the others had sent brochures and offers beforehand.

Eventually the time arrived and she was in her office waiting. The individual in question arrived just before the time and was escorted in. Sue Anne stood and held her hand out across the desk. "Good afternoon and please call me Sue Anne. I am pleased to meet ya'll." She had decided to go with the southern twang to make the other feel like he was dealing with a hick.

"Good afternoon to you as well Sue Anne. Thank you for seeing me. Please call me Mark." He handed a business card over to her after shaking her hand. "I know we didn't give you much information but the individuals I represent don't wish to be named. It is simply a case of they don't wish privacy. All are in business and many are related to ship building, ship maintenance, and repair. Based on the information on your website this would be an excellent investment opportunity for them."

She returned his handshake and took the card before sitting down. When he started speaking she listened to him and it did sound moderately reasonable. She could understand their wanting some privacy if for no other reason if the business went under they wouldn't be connected with it. "Do you have a brochure or report on what sort of investments they might want to make? As far as purchasing controlling stock in the company that I don't have any control over. That is in the Ambassador's control till he has a CEO and even then he has already stated he isn't selling any of the main stock."

Mark, or as he was called at the moment, didn't change expression since he had been told to expect that. "I do have some information on what the investors would be willing to bring to the table. As far as the stock I understand you don't have control over that. I would ask that you contact the Ambassador when you have a chance and ask him to consider it. We aren't talking large blocks of stock. Simply a small portion." If they could get a toe in the door they would be able to take it from there. Part of it was they wanted to get as much information on the process as well.

Sue Anne tilted her head at his request. "I will do that and I am sure that he is already contemplating it. I would give you a look around the shop but currently we are running full time and I would have to shut down parts of the process due to proprietary reasons. I will take a look at the information you have provided and forward it to our lawyer. He will discuss it with the CEO." She stood and held her hand out again.

Mark stood as well and returned the shake. "Thank you for your time and I, and the investors, will be looking forward to hearing from you." He gave her a polite smile and then left the office.

Sue Anne contemplated the closed door and something bothered her. Everything he had said was reasonable but there was just something off. When her husband came in she held a finger to her lips. Why she did she wasn't sure but she was feeling suspicious. "Well Bo that was a good meeting. I need to get something to eat. How about we go and catch a late noon meal?"

He blinked and then nodded. "Works for me and I was just getting ready to ask you the same. We have got to start working on eating better." He held a hand out and walked out of the office with her.

*****

A/N: The section with Sue Anne takes place over time. I debated on taking it to the attack but decided not to. Read, enjoy, vote, comment.