Read Online Rich Man's War by Elliott Kay - Free Book Online Page B

but the government said no, we’re not mercenaries,” said Ordoñez.
    “Wait, what?” Tanner blinked. “Where did you guys hear that stuff?”
    “I read it someplace,” shrugged Ordoñez.
    “Look, all that money is going to educational debt,” Tanner repeated. He couldn’t blame anyone for making a big deal out of the money. Anyone could use that sort of bonus.
    “Hey, we’ve got educational debt, too,” said Sanjay. “Wanna help me with mine? I’ll let you have my desserts at chow.”
    Rolling his eyes, Tanner reached up to jerk his privacy curtain shut.
    A hand from above peeled the curtain back. Ordoñez’s grinning face still hung over the side of her rack. “Okay, we’ll leave you alone, but you’re taking us all out drinking next time we’re in port at least, right?”
     
    * * *
     
    Sarah Kessler seldom attended meetings of NorthStar’s executive committee in person. She often viewed the video or read the transcripts of them afterward, or at least portions that related to her department. She’d been to enough such meetings, though, that she hardly found them exciting or intimidating when she did attend. Her position required intelligence, a sharp memory, excellent social skills, mental stamina and unflappable nerves.
    None of that put her in a seat at the table with some of the most powerful human beings in the known galaxy—not that she wanted such a seat. It had, however, gotten her into the seats that formed a ring around that table. Sarah Kessler, executive assistant to NorthStar’s Director of Education, sat behind her boss with her holocom screens open and her eyes and ears attuned to any chance that he might need anything.
    It was all routine enough that being present didn’t make her nervous. Behind her masterful poker face, though, Sarah had good reason to feel rattled to the core by this particular meeting.
    “With Union certification all wrapped up, we are ready to implement the Test this year for all graduating secondary students as planned,” explained her boss, Edwin Garber. He stood at his seat at the conference table, gesturing to a large holographic display floating above the table’s center. Lights in the wide room remained dim to allow for clear visuals. “We expect our profit margins in many systems might increase. Simply put, kids across the Union may figure that if Archangel is ditching the current educational regime, the educational system’s days are numbered and they have less reason to take the Test seriously. That misperception will lead to better returns for us. That point also brings us to the elephant in the room.”
    Garber gestured through his holographic control display to shift the larger image that served the whole audience. NorthStar’s Director of Education looked sharp as always in his finely-tailored suit and tight, well-groomed beard. It seemed a far cry from how he’d looked just a few months ago, when he’d been forced to backpedal on one unfulfilled projection after another regarding Archangel’s unexpected “reforms”—which, to NorthStar’s view, involved state theft of company property and massive poaching of employees.
    Sarah knew neither she nor her boss had quite gotten over the stress of those days. They’d been forced to make projections based on a situation with no modern precedent. The executive committee demanded to know what to expect even if it was based on wild conjecture. Garber noted the impossibility of that task, directed his people to comply with those impossible demands, and then naturally had to make one retraction after another. Before long, Sarah wondered if he’d be asked for his resignation.
    Fortunately , the situation steadied out into something predictable as time went on. Garber and his department did their research and gathered their data. Sarah played a major role in crafting the report.
    Or, as the private message that came across her holocom asked, “You put together all these graphs and charts yourself,