Aberrant: In the Beginning - A Decent Proposal

[Jedi]

Colin was pleased. All his life he'd lived in his father's shadow and he was already filthy rich thanks to his father, but that wasn't enough. He wanted to make something of his own, make a name for himself and this idea of a clearing house for nova talent was going to be it. All he needed was a few to sign up and he'd make money hand over fist. Not that he needed money, but that wasn't the point, he wanted it to be his money, and his success that people talked about. If this took off he could end up putting his father's company to shame in terms of profit and that was the real motivator.

He looked around at the garden. Everything was perfectly manicured and symmetrical like a good English garden should be. It was a good place to meet. No one likely to over hear the discussion and planning here. He needed to make a phone call to get the ball rolling but he would have to trust in his anonymity to protect his privacy there. If Aeon listened in there just wasn't anything he could do about it anyway, so might as well not worry. It would be a few minutes before Jay and Michael joined him and that would have to be enough time to do what he needed to do. He hoped Michael would join, it would make the difference between success and failure.

Flipping open his phone he hit a single button and was connect to his most trusted financial advisor. Jules was technically one of his fathers employees, but he and Colin had had an arrangement for a while now and he trusted the man completely. "Jules? Yeah, this is Colin. Listen, I've had a stroke of genius and I need your help to make it happen. I'm going to start a new company and I need you to do the leg work for me. Before tomorrow morning I need several contracts drawn up. One to allow a person to work their normal job whatever that may be, but be committed to us for contract work. Another one for a sole employee who will work exclusively for us. Also need one where they will work for the company on a trial basis. Make sure that all of the the contracts include non-competition clauses. I don't want them going to work for the competition. Yeah. If you can think of any other types of business arrangements make up a contract for it. Meanwhile we should be sitting pretty since there is no other competition yet. Yeah, that's right you guessed it. I'm going to make a clearing house for nova talent. If even a few of them join me we will be a major player because everyone will start coming to me since there isn't anyone else representing the Novas. It'll grow from there. Yeah, my personal funds will get this started."

Colin looked up and saw that Jay was walking up the path. "Right, look I've got to meet with one of the novas that will be signing up right now. I'll call you again when I'm done with this meeting. Get those contracts started." He listened to the other man for a moment and finished, "You're the best."

Standing he put his phone away and shook Jay's hand. "Now, let's discuss this business idea. I think it's got some serious potential. First though, do you think Michael will join us? The success of this is really going to hinge on having one of the charismatic ones join us and be our spokesman. We need someone that can sell the plan to the others."

[Katalyst]

Jay spot's Colin on the phone and gives him a few moments to finish his phone call before walking up.

Quote:

Standing he put his phone away and shook Jay's hand. "Now, let's discuss this business idea. I think it's got some serious potential. First though, do you think Michael will join us? The success of this is really going to hinge on having one of the charismatic ones join us and be our spokesman. We need someone that can sell the plan to the others."

"Yeah he's a good guy to get for that. I'd like to think that he'd at least hear you out. Let's give him a few minutes then you can go over your plans."

[Michael Peters]

A few minutes pass and then Michael sticks his head into the garden. Seeing Colin and Jay there, he enters.

"Hey you two. Sorry that took so long."

He takes a seat on a wooden bench next to a vibrant flower bed.

"So, Colin, lets hear what you have to say."

He smiles at the young tycoon encouragingly.

[Jedi]

Colin smiled at the new arrival greatly relieved that he had decided to show up. "Welcome Michael. Jay and I were waiting for you before getting into the discussion.'

He gestured at a bench he'd pulled over to face the one he was sitting on. When Michael had taken a seat he faced the two men. "The idea earlier of contracting novas for PR stuff got me to thinking, and I think we can go considerably beyond just PR stuff. I don't know if you are aware but my father is the founder of Chatham Created Gems, a fortune 500 company, and I've sat on the board of the company since I turned 18. Point is, I have a fair bit of business savvy." Looking at him it was easy to believe, he looked even more comfortable in the high-end business suit as he had in the Jedi robes yesterday.

"It occurs to me that people are going to be willing to pay big money for the talents we have as novas. Not just the simple easy things like your super-model good looks Michael, but Jay's fighting skills too, or my ability to survive in hostile environments. Nasa and the ESA spend billions on sending probes to the Moon and Mars to deliver their scientific instruments. What if Fang or Mtuba could deliver them there in less than 2 minutes. How much would they be willing to spend to save billions? Yes, that's Billions with a big capital "B". Surely they'd be willing to drop a few million to save hundreds of millions."

He sits back and lets that sink in for a moment. "My point is that in a very short time people all over the world will be clambering to hire our services, any services we are willing to provide, and they are going to pay millions, tens of millions for the things we can do. What I'm proposing is to give them a place to go for contracting our services, one name they can think of when they want to throw their money at us. Novus Inc." He grins at the name then continues, "Doesn't have to be that name, but it is as good as any. Thing is, it's going to happen, it's only a matter of time. What I'm proposing is to have a single point of contact for the masses of businessmen and world leaders to come to. Pax has the right idea, we can do tremendous things as a group, but separately we lose our bargaining power and we run the risk of being exploited, and while his Project Utopia is a great idea, I'd like to get paid for what we do and have people understand that we aren't simply to be used 'for the greater good'. The Nazi's used that phrase you know, bad things can be done for the greater good and people don't care about the ones that get stepped on in the process. We need to make sure that we have the collective bargaining power to prevent that kind of abuse." Colin knew that last part was not his strongest argument even if it was a valid concern so he ended on his best.

"There is something else that occurred to me while watching Jay and Juno's little sparing match. People are going to pay novas to fight. It's only a matter of time before it turns into one nova fighting another for pay. What's to stop that from becoming deadly? We are! If everyone comes to us to hire those novas we can ensure that the conflicts are not allowed to include deadly force in Nova vs Nova conflict. Sure there will be other companies that form, but we have the opportunity to be the big dog, since we are there first and we're going to establish ourselves before anyone else even has the idea. By being the first and the largest we can establish the precedent and become the industry standard. Not to sound too altruistic or anything, but I think we can save lives by doing this as well as making indecent amounts of money." Colin sat back and got comfortable and waited for their questions and reactions. It had been a pretty good sales pitch.

[Katalyst]

Jay listened intently as Colin laid out his idea. He had to admit that it sound really good. He just didn't know if he could commit to it right now. Between wanting to be with Fang, Richard's proposal for the Secret Service, Pax group thing, and striking off on his own, it was all confusing.

"Colin everything you say sounds like a great idea. It seems like this would be a way to get out there and show off our stuff to the world as well. I would love nothing better than to help out and make some money, though that really isn't that big an issue for me. I just want to go where the action is!"

"What do you need from me to make this go?"

[Jedi]

Colin smiled, "I just need a few to sign up with the company now so that we can start advertising." He could sense that Jay seemed to be just a little hesitant so he added, "Keep in mind that what we are talking about here is contract work. There can be several levels of involvement, you don't have to make some kind of binding decision now to work for Novus exclusively. Just agree to take the occasional contract for when you are available from your other duties whatever they might be. And I understand that for either of you, or for me, money isn't really what it is all about, it's just a nice perk. I've got a lot of ideas about the things I want this company to stand for and accomplish and I want it to be someplace that we Novas can feel proud to work. Of course, the more work you do for the company or the more exclusively you work with it the more you will make and the more you will further those goals." Looking directly at Jay, "You I would like to train new recruits in basic combat and survival techniques. I'm a pretty decent fighter myself, but I'm sure with your military training you could teach me a thing or two."

Looking at Michael, "What about you Michael, what do you think of the proposal?"

[Michael Peters]

Michael nodded through Colin's presentation. The young man made some excellent points.

"I think you make some excellent points and have a sound buisiness model... but I have some questions about 'contract work'. Just to make sure I understand: if I work for Novus inc, can I still work with another organisation? Like if I want to work for Pax's Team Tomorrow? Is that possible? I'm sorry if that question seems simple... but the buisiness world is not my forte."

[Katalyst]

"Yeah I meant to ask about that as well." Jay seconds. "The training part sounds about right. I could get into that."

Jay pauses before going on. "I'll need a day or two to think it over, I want to hear what Pax has to say, before I really commit to this."

[Jedi]

"Yes Michael, absolutely. You can be on his Team Tomorrow by day and work for Novus Inc by night so to speak. You can also refuse any contract that doesn't suit you. Of course this being the business world, those who are the most reliable will be offered the most contracts."

Colin frowned at Jay's question, "Well, I was really hoping to spring this on folks tomorrow morning at Pax's meeting and offer them an option. Without anyone signed on it will fall flat no matter how impressive of an idea it is. You don't have to sign a contract this minute, I don't have any ready anyway yet. But if you will stand with me and let everyone know you are behind me on this I think we will have a shot at making it work." He really hoped these two would say yes.

"I think three people is the minimum for getting this off the ground. I know this is very short notice but business is all about timing and right here and right now is the time to be on the ground floor of this thing. There will be enough people gathered tomorrow morning that if we make our pitch to the group and I've already got you two behind me, others will jump on board and give it serious consideration. Without you two I sound good and I make sense, but I look weak and no one joins a weak team."

[Jedi]

"Oh, I should also add that I plan for Novus Inc to work hand in hand with his Team Tomorrow if he will allow us to. I don't see any reason at all why the two groups should be mutually exclusive."

[Katalyst]

"As it stands now I got no problems with working with you. I'll talk with Fang to, she what she thinks."

[Jedi]

Colin thinks for a minute, "Yeah, she would make a very nice addition to the team too if you can convince her. People knowing we have one of the mega brains on our side would go a long ways."

[Michael Peters]

Michael considers the offer, leaning back against the bench.

I dont see any downsides to this... more money, more exposure and a chance to use my abilities openly if Pax's Superfriends idea doesn't pan out for me.

After a moment, he nods and smiles at Colin.

"I think im in. I'll have to figure some things out, but I like what you're pitching, salesman. I know that probably isn't the solid 'yes' you were hoping for, but I hope you can understand my..." He gestures towards Jay "...our caution."

[Jedi]

Not all that he'd hoped for but a solid foundation none the less. "Thank you both. I understand your caution. This is a brand new world spreading out before us with almost unlimited possibilities. Even for the best of offers it is hard to commit to something right now. I get that. That's the beauty of Novus Inc, even committing to do contract work through us doesn't mean that you can't also pursue the other interesting opportunities." He grins, "Of course I suspect once we become really established and have made a name for ourselves many of the novas will want to commit to Novus full time because of the things we will be able to offer."

Looking seriously at Michael again. "There is one more piece to my sales pitch for the two of you. Jay knows I want him to be our combat trainer for the company. Michael, I'd like something from you as well. I would really like you to be the one to deliver the sales pitch to the others tomorrow. I've done a darned decent job making the pitch to the two of you if I do say so myself, but you both were already leaning my way. Despite my business experience, my youth works against me. You have the Gravitas, and the sheer likability that I lack. If you make the pitch to the others we will have more of a success than if I do it."

"To compensate the two of you for what I'm asking I have something to offer in turn. I would like to appoint both of you to the board of directors of the company. That will give you both a say in the direction of the company and input on the decisions it makes. Michael, the sales pitch also comes with $100,000 dollars for making the pitch, and a $10,000 dollar signing bonus for each nova that joins us as a result. Just as a little extra incentive." He grinned at the revelation. "I know it isn't about the money for you, but it certainly doesn't hurt to add a little extra to sweeten the pot eh?"

[Michael Peters]

Michael scratches his chin thoughtfully.

Board of directors he says... sounds prestigious.

Michael suddenly imagines himself in a thousand dollar suit, hundred dollar sunglasses, and a cellphone in his hand telling young novus: "Your own suite and a private jet? I can make it happen, babe."

He grins and shakes off the thought.

Yeah, right. Michael Peters, buisiness mogul.

"I'll do what I can Colin. I think a few of the others are a little disillusioned with teh way Aeon has been handling things anyway."

[Mr Fox]

Colin beamed at the two men. "Excellent, we'll make this happen. The fourth member of our board will be a very good friend of mine, right now he's the CFIO of Chatham Created Gems. I intend to steal him away from my father." He grinned and continued, "I'm good when it comes to business, he's as good as it gets."

"Now Michael, all you need to do is present the things that I've shared with the two of you and I think we'll have a number of folks sign up. Coming from you a lot more people will listen than if I said the same words. I'll be there of course should you need me to answer any questions people might have. Oh, and we're offering $100K signing bonus to anyone that joins up, and another $10K for anyone they bring to us. Plus, we'll guarantee them at least one contract every six months totaling a minimum of $100K. I think we can easily swing that. With my savings I should be able to float the company for at least a year before I start running dry, but I think within weeks we're going to have people beating down our doors trying to hire our people."