Chapter 8
Date: February 9, 3026
Apparently, no one had predicted this, but we got our contract right in time for the local militia to start rotating their old stock of Quikscell vehicles in for maintenance and repairs. Given our warranty on any and all Quikscell products we worked on, that meant we were the prime choice for said repairs.
Even better, we got paid up front, and the sheer amount of work that needed to be done. (Two companies of mixed QS products). Meant we had to hire on more people, a lot of youngsters were attracted to the pay and promise of overtime plus the benefits package we offered. Beyond that, training was almost made simple by the fact that the old Quikscell employees and I had spent the last month pouring over the manual to make sure that every product we worked on had detailed instructions for troubleshooting and repairing everything.
Eletrical issues, engine issues, you name it, and every problem was listed out in detail, how to find the problems if it wasn't obvious, and how to fix and check everything after it was all said and done. We couldn't have a warranty if what we gave back had problems with it out of the gate. A quality brand started with the quality control, and we were going to have the very best quality control.
Still, the sheer amount of work we had fall into our laps meant I couldn't work on the other project while at the shop at work. Instead, I'd dragged it back to the property I'd bought and set it up in the polebarn that was present along with the tools I'd bought for personal use.
I didn't want to get anyone's hopes up, so I simply worked on it in the few hours between ending the work day and sleeping for the night. Anyway, we didn't have the funds to commit to my eventual plan as of yet, and I wasn't willing to take out loans to accelerate that process. I wanted to instead build a reputation for reliability and quality first.
By the time my project was ready, we'd have that kind of reputation, and should be able to move forward without getting other investors involved. I might have Sylvie as a partner, but I'd be damned before I allowed a board to have control over one of my companies again. I'd learned my lesson the hard way the first time around. Going public had generated a lot of short-term wealth for my initial company back home. In the end, though, it had only enabled the board to drive the culture of the company away from the values I'd worked hard to instill. They'd brought on managers that didn't know the first thing about it, and then when our bet on AI came to a close, they forced me out of my own company.
That would not be happening again this time around- "Hey!" Sylvie rapped her knuckles on the door to the office. "Stop being all dark and broody in here. You finish the schedule yet?"
"I did," I nodded. "If we can finish the Scorpions in the next two weeks, we'll have plenty of time to pull that Panther in and get it working. Then we can start on the rest of the 'mechs on your wishlist and get them on the market for sale."
"Great," The blond took a seat across the desk from me. "The steady work from the tanks is great, but 'mechs are where the real money is."
"Unless you're a manufacturer," I replied. "If we were in Quikscell's shoes, we'd be raking money in hand over fist. They make so many of these cheap pieces of shit that even with other nations billing them for the work they do to make them battle ready, they're coming out on top. Otherwise they wouldn't keep doing it. Then there's the licensing deals they've got, and those are what, fifteen thousand a tank?"
"Something like that," Sylvie shrugged. "Not that we're going to be able to grab that."
"Maybe in the future," I replied. "But for now, we're trying to distance ourselves from that name and brand. Brand recognition is supposed to be a good thing. To the point where people see your logo or a product you make and immediately associate it good things. Quikscell's the opposite. But they compensate by making things cheap enough with justenough quality that people trust them over nobodies who do even worse work."
"So, why start production with industrialmechs instead of jumping straight to battlemechs?" Sylvie asked, we'd discussed all of this in a big meeting with the other core staff, but hadn't sat down and hashed it out.
"Well, obviously as you're the other equal partner in this, I need your permission to go through with things," I smiled. "But I think we need something similar to battlemechs to train our people on. Then, once we're experienced there, we can step up to something else."
"I take it that 'something else' is the project you're working on at home?" Sylvie asked.
"It is," I nodded. "I don't want to spoil it yet. But I think it'll get our foot in the door for some really lucrative contracts if we can pull it off. We just need to get started with the other things, first."
"I don't like how much you keep me in the dark," Sylvie frowned.
"That's fair," I sighed. I'd anticipated this coming up and had already prepped for it. So, I reached into my desk drawer for another notebook, this one filled with tons of business ideas and plans for expansions. "Here," I tossed it to her and she caught it effortlessly. "This is all of the tentative plans and ideas I have for the future of the business. Some of them are theoretical, others are practical, and some are unlikely to ever happen unless we get a miracle. That said, I'd rather you not share these with anyone."
"You secret project in here too?" Sylvie raised a fine blond eyebrow at me.
"That's the one thing that isn't," I replied., "Because I don't want to get anyone's hopes up in case it doesn't work."
"I suppose I can live with that," she muttered, waving the notebook at me. "I'm keeping this for a little while, and I want to actually talk to you about stuff before we make any more decisions."
"You got it," I nodded. "We're in this together."
Date: February 23, 3026
"You guys work fast," Major Angela Lawrie gave a small glare at me. "Almost too quickly. How can I be sure that these are up to snuff?"
"You're welcome to bring some tank crews and maintenance techs in to take a look at things," I replied calmly despite Sylvie bristling beside me. "We've built a small course that we use to check performance further into the yard if you'd like to see it firsthand."
"Look," Lawrie sighed. "It's not that I don't trust you, but no one I've ever worked with promised quality work and speed before."
"I completely understand," I put a hand on Sylvie's shoulder to somewhat calm her down. "Major, there are generally three options when a product or service is offered to someone; cost, quality, and speed. Quikscell opts for the first and third of that trio. Defiance, to name a big name. Focuses on Quality above everything else, and speed is variable but present in the Lyran Commonwealth. I've never liked settling for less, though. So, I intend to provide all three. Right now, you're getting quality and speed, but the cost seems a bit high."
"That certainly sums up part of my feelings on the matter," the Major replied. "Continue."
"We are more expensive in the short term than our competitors in this market," I grinned. "But we're going to produce better quality, and better speed. I take great care to ensure my employees are well taken care of, so I'm not going to drop the price of our refits or maintenance cycles. However, because our quality is higher, you're going to pay less in fees over the life of the product. Unfortunately, that's not something I can prove without statistics over time, so you'll just have to take my word on it. Now, if you want to call a tank crew over, we can have them all lined up for your inspection by the testing grounds."
"I'll do that," Major Lawrie nodded. "If you pass this one, I won't do it again."
"Conduct as many tests as you like," I replied, feeling Sylvie's glare on the back of my head. "We have faith in our product."
"The fuck are you doing," Sylvie whispered harshly once Lawrie was out of earshot. "Why are you pandering to people who aren't going to believe us?"
"Reputation is built up over time, but can be destroyed in an instant," I replied. "Like I've said before, we're starting out with negative reputation. We have to show why we're better than all of our competitors. If we don't, then we get eaten alive by someone who prices us out because they can afford to handle the loss better than us. Right now, we're scraping by until we can get more irons in the fire. If you lash out, it's going to cost us, and that's something we can't afford right now."
"I still don't like you kissing their asses like that," she murmured.
"I'm not kissing their asses," I chuckled, ruffling her hair a bit. "I've not brownnosed a single one of the important people we've met so far. What I have been, is consistent. I stand by our product and the quality of it. We're going to be in this for the long haul. I promise you that. I just need you to let me handle the big names for now until you've got a better handle on your emotions. I get it, this is personal for both of us. But you can't let that interfere with the deals we're making. This contract is our base, our bedrock until we manage to build something better," I locked eyes with her. "People's lives and families are depending on us to do this right so we don't cost them their jobs. Let's not fuck this up because we got angry."
–
–
A few hours later, the Major returned with a handful of tankers and their maintenance crews. The tech guys were going over everything we'd done, while the crew themselves climbed into the scorpion and started the engine, the gentle pur of the internal combustion engine telling everyone that it was idling perfectly. Then they shifted off towards the testing grounds, they were going to put it through its paces.
"She rides better than any ScorpionI've ever driven," The driver said when they returned about half an hour later. "Normally, there's this catch in the throttle, whatever they did smoothed that out and made driving her a dream."
"Autoloader and targeting computers are in better shape than they were when we handed 'em over," the gunner shrugged, a cigarette in his mouth. "As long as she shoots straight, she gets the thumbs up from me."
"All of them check out on our end," The techs reported as well.
I kept the shit-eating grin off my face as I got closer. "I take it everything lines up to your expectations, Major?"
"Well?" She raised an eyebrow at the militia members.
"Better than what we expected," the main noncom shrugged. "No complaints out of me."
"I think if you ever get some of those 'mechs up and running, that we'll be paying you a visit," Lawrie's stony demeanor cracked a bit as she winked. "Keep the shop warm, Edmund Blaze. Because we'll have a lot more business for you."