Mergers and Acquisitions

[Malachite]

Monday, October 7th, 2019

 

Deezy landed in Seattle with a list in her hand. The helicopter wasn't hers, of course, it was Davian's. Having a loaded friend was handy, even if Deezy was well aware she was racking up a 'bill' to be assessed not in cash but in favorable terms later. That was fine. There would be pleeeeeeenty of money to go around. That was of secondary importance to her though. Useful as a means to an end, and also a good way to fill otherwise boring moments, but not the objective by itself.

 

The first item on her list, a trip to the world-famous Starbucks HQ for a fresh cuppa joe. It was delicious. She treated Davian to one too, seeing his free chopper ride and raising him one. Checkmate.

 

The second item...required Davian to get a company car. She was going to just rent one, but he insisted, and for this it actually did make a difference to roll up in a sleek, blingy roadster instead of a Honda Civic. Deezy had even gotten kinda dressed up, though her navy blue suit had already gotten rumpled. She seemed to have that effect on pretty much anything she put on. Instant rumple. It was fine though, she still looked about 1000% more professional than usual.

 

The third item on her list: the horizon.

 

Specifically, Horizon Delivery and Transportation. Davian had thought the move was rather odd until Deezy had let him in on something...at which point he was all in.

 

And so it was that a black and silver Lexus prowled into the Horizon D&T parking lot and pulled into the Visitor Parking place nearest the main entrance. From within emerged two figures. A tallish man in a pressed black suit, and a young woman in a navy blue blazer and skirt, with red hair in a tight ponytail and librarian glasses propped on her nose.

 

For Ryan, it might have taken a moment to recognize her as Deezy, from Quarantine.

 

They headed into the lobby and went to the receptionist's desk.

 

"Hi," Deezy said cheerfully. "Is Ryan busy?"

[Malachite]

The receptionist, Jan Rockwell, was abit taken aback by the woman who'd come in, looking like a slightly rumpled CEO, and another  prospective clinet who was a well dressed man.  When the woman asked for Ryan, her eyes narrowed.  There were alot of people seeking Ryan out after what happened, and he'd said no to all of them so far.   "He's finishing up a delivery, and should be done shortly.   I can send him a message to come by when he's done, or you can take a seat and wait, Miss..."

Clearly she was fishing for a name, which Deezy provided.  "Klatta."  Jan sent the message on, and it took less than thirty seconds before space ripped open and Ryan stepped through, wearing a blue suit with the company logo on the left breast.  He smiled broadly at Deezy and took note of her partner, and nodded his head respectfully.  "Deezy, it's so good to see you.  If I'd known you were coming I'd have taken the whole day off."   

He looked to Davian and smiled.  "I don't believe we've had the pleasure of meeting before.   I'm Ryan Hawke, It's nice to meet you sir."

Unlike many Stormers, Ryan didn't see the need to hide his identity, especially since so many already knew it, so instead, he'd somewhat embraced it, and as he saw it, return the favor his old teacher had done him before.   The plane and cargo were insured, but Ryan had been working hard to keep the company well in the black after such a loss, and the general disruption caused by the Storm.  Through that, he'd maintained contact with many from the Quarantine, chief among them was probably Deezy.

[Malachite]

Davian returned the smile, and Deezy quickly waved a hand at him and said, "This is Davian Layton. And this is Ryan Hawke. Hi Davian, hi Ryan."

 

She hadn't remained secret either, though she had vanished from public view for a week or so following their release from quarantine. This was in no small part due to Davian's influence, which hadn't gone entirely unnoticed by those who pay attention to the eccentricities of billionaires. A little digging revealed that at least some of that time had been passed with her dealing with the authorities in Cleveland over the relics of her plan to stop the Storm over the city. The rest was harder to discern.

 

And now she was here.

 

"So," the redhead said, clapping her hands together eagerly, "I want my company and your company to smack together and make little company-babies. Also, I have a company now. I make things." With a little twist of her hand, she held out a business card. Possibly out from her sleeve, possibly that she'd just whiffed into existence from air. It read

 

KLATTATECH HEAVY INDUSTRIES

 

It was adorned by a stylized image of her head with goggles over her eyes, a big grin, and giving a thumb's up.

 

"But here's the thing about making things. The things you make are then there with you, in the room you made them in. NOT where they need to be." Deezy tapped the side of her nose. "Now, I COULD develop my own infrastructure to transport things. I sketched up like a dozen designs. I'm really partial to the drone lifters, BUT! That takes time, and more resources, and TIME...and lets face it time is the only REALLY scarce resource right now so it made more sense to me to kill two birds at the same TIME and see if you wanted to expand globally with me. Here's how it works!"

 

"We get orders for stuff from people around the world. What stuff? Just about anything! Really exotic stuff we can require a sample of, just to make sure I get it right. For raw materials I can just...y'know, create it...otherwise Klattatech will have manufacturing capability and we can mass produce to order in just about any quantity. Then you fulfill the order by taking the stuff and getting it where it needs to go. HOW depends on the option the buyer has selected! You got your overland, oversea, overair rates...and of course the premium 'Zero-time turnaround' rate for your thingy there. Your company and mine are 'merged' through a third holding company, but with a clause stating we can decouple if either of us sees fit to, with a negotiated timeframe and notification window, of course. Being merged lets us use the same admin staff and coordinate freely...and we can still take gigs of our own, like if someone has their own cargo and just needs transport...all you. Uh, that's it, I think..."

 

Deezy actually paused long enough for the first time in...a minute or so of solid talking, long enough to take a breath. Then she blurted, "I wrote a little song about..."

 

Now Davian had to step in, putting a hand on her shoulder. "No song."

 

"...right, no song, I know, I was just saying..."

 

"Mr Hawke, I've had a chance to go over what Miss Klatta is proposing in a great deal of detail," he said. "I'm prepared to invest in this venture on very favorable terms. I know it's a lot to take in at once, and there's still plenty of things to discuss of course, but in general terms is this something that you and your executive staff be interested in pursuing?"

 

"Californium sells for like twenty-seven million dollars per gram!" Deezy suddenly said. "It's radioactive so it's hard to transport, but I can give you containers specially built to handle it. And you'd get a cut of that! Per GRAM!"

 

Davian gave Deezy a quick little shake of his head and looked back at Ryan, as unflappable as ever. "We're not negotiating just yet, but she has a point, Mr. Hawke. Don't you agree?"

[Malachite]

Ryan was not that surprised that Deezy was already off to the races like this, though the backing of a Billionaire looking to get in on the ground floor gave him a little pause.   "Well I need to be upfront with you.  This isn't my company.  My Boss here is James Jamison, the man who founded this company, and is the CEO and owner.  I'm just an employee."  

Satisfied with that short rundown, which he was fairly certain they knew already, Ryan nodded once.  "I do agree though, and this is a good idea.  To be honest, I'd hoped to get to collaborate with some of the others there with us in the camp, and Deezy here was at the top of the list because I knew she had "Ideas."

"If you don't mind, I'd like to call James Jamison, the Owner of Horizon Delivery and Transportation, and bring him here.   I think that he'll be fairly amenable to something like this, as it may stymie the near incessant offers for my services. And it stands to help not just him but all the employees here as well.  As the sole owner, he also has the ability to make this sort of call for the company."

With their assent, he called JJ, gave him a very brief run-down, and one Warpgate later, the older Former Air Force Pilot and Instructor walked through.  "I still feel sorta like a spaceman every time I come through one of those gates of yours, Ryan."   He looked to the two newcomers and nodded respectfully, Miss Klatta, Mr. Layton, welcome to Horizon Delivery and Transportation  I'm James Jamison, and I'll answer to either.   Ryan mentioned you two had a proposition for us.   I must say I'm surprised, but pleasantly so.  Dozens of offers have come for Ryan, the sort that just wanted to take only him, and leave us in a lurch.  He's turned those down, but this is the first time HE called me to hear one.  Now, I'm sure you flew, if you'd like we can go somewhere nice to eat, or we can adjourn to our Meeting room and continue this discussion there." 

The older man smiled, knowing this to be an opportunity not just for him, but everyone there, if they played their cards right.