Chapter One Hundred and Forty-Eight: Rewards
Kentares IV, February 15th, 3033
"Home sweet home." I said to myself as I carried Natasha into the Ducal Estate on my back. "You ready to get off now?"
"I am ready to get you off now." Natasha grinned at the innuendo. "Now go forth my steed, I desire to sleep in my own bed."
"Yes your majesty." I rolled my eyes as I walked up the stairs to the master suite. Pausing, I grabbed my slate from my cargo pants pocket and used a feature to start filling up the jacuzzi with ice cold water.
"Stop, put me down." Natasha laughed as I continued to walk with her past the bed that she wanted to rest on. "What are you doing?"
I laughed as I continued walking, knowing that if Natasha really wanted to make me let go that she could easily manage it. Walking into the bathroom, I twisted and tossed her into the ice cold water of the jacuzzi, laughing the entire time, even as she grabbed me and pulled me into the water as well.
"Now I am cold and wet." Natasha gave me a small glare. "What are you intending to do to fix it?" her shirt pulled in tight over certain parts of her anatomy.
"I have some ideas." I said as I pulled her in for a kiss and began to change the water from cold to hot. "But you'll just have to wait and see what I come up with."
February 16th, 3033
"Why is there so much damned paperwork?" David muttered to himself as he began to work on the paperwork for the company that he was responsible for. "I don't remember dad having to do this much paperwork."
"He does way more paperwork than that." Major Kent spoke up from his own desk. "He just bares it down to the essentials and then delegates what he can to people he trusts." Kent shrugged. "It's something you learn over time as an officer and even as an NCO, delegation is the one true superpower."
"Can I delegate someone to do this yet?" David asked as he flipped through moreafter action reviews of the battle of Al Na'ir.
"Nope, rite of passage, everyone has to do their own paperwork first, think of it as a learning experience, you don't know what can be delegated properly until you've already done that sort of paperwork before." Kent said with a chuckle. "Now knuckle down and get the paperwork done, we're going to be here until all of it is done after all."
February 20th, 3033
"Watson!" I stood up and greeted the man. "It's good to see you again." I stood up and shook his hand before gesturing for him to take a seat. "How is everything going? Your family doing well?"
"Everything is good for now boss." Watson smiled. "I'm just getting a little too old for this. I forwarded you the current reports, but I felt that I should do this in person." The older man handed me a letter. "I'm retiring, I've worked at doing this kind of work all my life, and I think it's time to settle down and enjoy my grandchildren for a while. My daughter is my recommendation for taking over my role, she's got a good head on her shoulders and has learned everything that I had to teach her."
I sat there for a second mulling over this as I read the letter that he had given me.
"I'm sorry to see you go Watson, but it has been an absolute pleasure working with you, and if you or your family ever need anything you let me know." I met his eyes, letting him know how serious I was. "You've gone above and beyond in making sure that we were able to get things done, and I thank you for that." I looked over his employment records. "Do you mind if we keep you on the payroll as an advisor for the next two years?" I asked. "I'm not looking to keep you in charge of anything, I just want you on hand if we have any questions while we're getting things set up with the factories that we pulled from Luthien."
"I can do that." Watson agreed. "I'll remain on the payroll for a little while as an advisor."
"And I'm signing over a five percent stake in Sharpshooter over to you as well." I told him bluntly. "You're a large part of the reason why we have been able to expand as large as we are, and I think that deserves to be rewarded." I handed him a brand new slate with the information on the shares that I had given him. "You're a good man Watson, and I know that you and your family will go on to do great things."
The other man just teared up for a moment and I remained silent while he regained his composure.
"I don't know what to say." He struggled for a moment. "Thank you." He just sat there for a minute, still stunned.
"Thank you is all you need to say." I told the other man. "I just want you to go and enjoy spending time with your grandchildren." I laughed. "I expect pictures of the beautiful beaches that we have here on Kentares, and reports on the daily spoiling of said grandchildren."
"I think I can manage that." The other man responded with a small smile.
"Now go on and enjoy your vacation." I smiled as the man responsible for training and supervising most of our factory's engineers walked away with a dramatic change in his step.
"A good man is hard to find, and when you find one, you ensure that he is used to produce more like him." I thought to myself. "And when it comes time for them to retire, you reward him richly, thus demonstrating that it is better to be honest and wise, than a lier and a fool." I then wrote it down and left it in the notebook I kept in my desk. Said notebook was full of things that were silly, true, and helpful to whoever would end up replacing me as Duke of Kentares. I planned on starting a legacy that would be passed down through the ages, and maybe one day, my notebook would be immortalized in a museum somewhere for others to read and laugh at.
"Duke Hull, Dunham is here to see you, he has a priority message from the First Prince." Mary said as she linked to my intercom.
"Go ahead and send him in." I replied. "Thanks for all of your hard work Mary."
"Dunham, what've you got for me?" I asked the intelligence officer.
"A summons sir." He handed me the sealed letter. "We ran all of the authenticity checks just in case."
"Whelp." I said as I broke the seal and read the letter. "Have Mathis prep a small bodyguard detail, and have Nat get her group together. It looks like we're going to New Avalon."
Author's note: Originally, this was supposed to transition to New Avalon, but Hull decided to spend five hundred words on rewarding Watson instead. At this point, the Characters have a say in what happens just as much as I do, so if they decide to derail a planned chapter I kinda just shrug and go along with it and try to enjoy the ride.