The Martial Unity

Time passed as Ria rapidly made progress with realizing her ambitions. Every day, she would receive updates from the Kandrian manifold from the Esoterist, briefing her on the progress that they had made on the design of the stealth surveyor ship, asking for her input on several choices that they made, ensuring that she was kept in the loop.

The technicals of the blueprints were far beyond her fathoming, but she was able to convey her will well enough for the team to convert her and her party’s preferences into design choices.

On the business side of affairs, almost all the paperwork was ready. From the moment the five of them had decided to establish an LLC, setting the business up would be the first step that preceded all else.

”I have prepared all of the necessary filings, and I will endeavor to have the Trade Registrar hand us a business license as soon as possible,” a woman in her thirties seated opposite Ria remarked.

The woman wore crisp business attire, while her hair was neatly combed and tied in a bun. Everything about her screamed business executive, because that was exactly what she was.

She had been recommended by Secretary Claris to serve as the general manager of the company that Ria and her friends sought to set up. Shortly before, she used to work for a famous pathwalker party that had undertaken a mission and had perished in combat, leaving her bereft, only for the timely opportunity of an offer from Ria and her company.

”Now the only thing left is the actual name of the company,” she told Ria with a pertinent tone. ”We can’t register a new company without filling out the name of the company. It’s actually the very first entry that needs filling.”

”I’m aware, Neera. The name we ultimately decided on is… ’EsoQuest Explorations,’” Ria remarked with an excited tone of voice. ”What do you think? Do you like it?”

It was a name that the five of them had come up with together, although Ria had certainly contributed to it among others.

Neera considered the name, nodding. ”I think it works, but if your goal is to misdirect people into focusing on the technology that your company has researched and developed, then Explorations isn’t doing a good job.”

”Oh, true,” Ria muttered. ”I don’t want people to think about the actual exploration missions we conduct and instead get obsessed with the technology.”

Everything about the company that they had planned was designed to make it look like they had some major development breakthrough on technologies that could detect infected worlds. The name of the company also needed to be symmetric with this vision.

”If I may,” Neera remarked. ”I would recommend replacing ’Explorations’ with ’Solutions,’ making it EsoQuest Solutions. This kind of name is very often used by companies that focus on developing, well, technological solutions in specific fields and industries.”

”That!” Ria’s eyes lit up. ”That sounds perfect. I’ll run it by the others and get their thoughts on it by today. After that, we head straight on. I don’t want to waste any time since we only have a little over two months left before we get the ship. How’re the other aspects of the company going? Do you think you’ll be able to set everything up in time?”

”It is a very difficult thing to fully establish a new company complete with a full-fledged hierarchy, departments, and other necessary aspects, Miss Ria,” she spoke with a slightly exasperated tone. ”Especially when you have so many demands and requirements, nonetheless, I am confident that it can be done in time. I have already scouted very experienced cyber and business security experts and have managed to allure them with the very generous starting salaries that you are willing to offer up-front. They are a little skeptical of a company that hasn’t even been formally established yet, but the financial incentive is powerful.”

”Additionally,” she continued. ”I have also managed to scout highly suited managers and executives for the various departments of the company. There are younger and less-experienced researchers and scientists that I have managed to tap with similar financial incentives to establish your misdirecting research and development department. I have also hired the necessary ship crew members who will be able to operate your soon-to-arrive stealth surveyor. And also, I have tapped the best human resources to establish a highly robust and capable client relations department. The key to being able to get all of these in time, however, is extremely hefty financial incentives. Since none of you are highly prominent individuals or represent powerful interests, there is a lot of skepticism on the seriousness, the viability, and the prospects of this company. That makes the financial incentives needed to attract all of these high-value employees quite high.”

Ria waved her hand. ”Don’t worry about that; I have a solid and never-ending line of credit from a deep-pocketed partner who has a lot of interest in seeing this company succeed. Just pay them how much is needed to get them on board, and we’re set.”

Ria hadn’t yet shared her true identity with the woman, and with Sayfeel hiding her true identity in the shadows, there was no way for the woman to find out. She had just met the person and didn’t trust her with that information yet.

”Will do, Miss Ria,” Neera replied. ”Once the company is created, it will be much easier to get all of them fully on board. We will also be able to file the patents for your proprietary technologies. I will also need to vet and hire a lot of assistant managers as the size of the company grows.”

”Of course, do whatever needs to be done. All I want is to have an established company by the time our ship shows up.” Ria nodded with a serious expression.

”Very well, Miss Ria. Then I shall strive to endeavor that we accomplish within the timeframe that you have set for me.”