The Board Meeting
By Jay Young
Posted 3/8/2007
Now the moment of truth. “All in favor?” Merrick asked from the head of the giant oval-shaped polished oak table, simultaneously raising his hand. To his left, Carter Douglas repeatedly tapped his pen lightly on the table. To his right, Burgiss Brandei raised his hand. This was at least one vote Merrick knew he would get because Burgiss was by far his most loyal supporter. In fact, it was Burgiss who was largely responsible for the resolution even making it to the table. Burgiss spent hours consulting, persuading, and intimidating other members of the board on Merrick’s behalf. A board member himself for eight years, Burgiss knew how to flex his political strong-arm when he needed to. With four directors sympathetic to the Empire, four sympathetic to the New Republic, and two more who were indifferent, this board meeting would determine whether his fledgling mining company would buy back all of its stock and go private, or whether it would leave all of its shares on the market, many of which were owned by members of the board, and remain public. This would determine the company’s expansion possibilities.
But it was more than that and everyone knew it. When Merrick and his wife took over the company several months ago under the direction of the New Republic, they faced staunch opposition from the board, partially because of the forceful New Republic takeover of the Imperial-controlled Ferimar system and partially because Merrick himself played a major part in it. Some members of the board were friends with the previous CEO that Merrick had helped to kill. When he thought about it, these people had good reason to hate him. And hate him they did. Just two days before the vote, an attempt had been made on his life. Luckily, his wife was with him at the time and detected the assassin reaching for his weapon; he was dead before Merrick could even put down his coffee. Merrick now faced his enemies eye to eye who sat calmly across the table awaiting their turn to judge him. If this vote didn’t go as planned things could get messy. First of all, Merrick did not yet own a majority of the stock. This was a problem because without a majority stake in the company, Merrick couldn’t legally assert his authority over the rest of the board. True he was still chairman and CEO, but under galactic corporate law, without shareholder approval, there was no way he would be able to truly turn this company around to support the New Republic. Secondly, if the vote failed, the board would know that Merrick would never be able to garner the support he needed in the future. The board would view him as too weak to run the company and a power struggle would quickly ensue, taking the shape of a military coup. Instead of exchanging words, they’d be exchanging blaster bolts.
Going in order around the table, the member sitting beside Burgiss put his hand into the air. Next, two more heads shook no. Merrick’s eyes darted across the table. One of those lost votes was from a New Republic sympathizer, but it was still three to two in favor. Carter's tapping seemed to grow louder. Partially burned cigarettes sent smoke rising out of ash trays around the table creating a haze in the dim light from the low-hanging lamp in the center of the table illuminating an otherwise dark room. Litho Draemus, Merrick’s last New Republic sympathizer leaned forward into the light and raised his hand while sending a reassuring nod to Merrick from across the table. Merrick’s eyes shifted from Litho to Siverez Thaon who sat back in his chair, folded his arms, and stared Merrick directly in his eyes. Siverez hated Merrick above all the others, and it was probably him, Merrick thought, that hired the assassin. After Siverez, his two lackeys followed suit, each shaking their head in turn, making it five to four opposed.
The tapping grew louder.
The vote swung back towards him. Merrick looked to his left at Kamul Adrothae and Carter Douglas, the two independent board members. Technically, neither of them had an opinion on the galactic conflict, but Kamul owned 12 percent of the stock, making him the largest single shareholder in the company. This meant he had the most to lose if the company went private. Burgiss told Merrick from the beginning that if and when the day came to bring the company private, the offer had better be good in order to get Kamul’s vote. Kamul was no fool and he knew what his shares were worth. Unfortunately, the company did not have enough liquid assets on hand to reach the share price that Kamul wanted and further indebtedness was out of the question. The smoke in the room seemed to turn it into a nauseating gas chamber. Sweat dripped noticeably from Carter’s brow, and a single bead rolled onto the table in front of him. Merrick mused to himself; he’d stared down the business end of a blaster barrel the size of his head many times, but never down the business end of a business. He maintained his well-trained sabaac face and suppressed the smile. Frankly, right now, he would have traded this for the blaster, but it appeared that he may only be seconds away from getting his wish. Then, Carter voted out of turn, raising his right hand almost excitedly in the air to tie the vote, his left hand scarcely skipping a beat as it nervously tapped the pen on the table. All heads turned expectantly to Kamul. Everyone knew how Kamul was going to vote.
Suddenly Merrick’s comlink sent a piercing ring throughout the room.
Annoyed, Merrick glanced down at the incoming frequency to see the identity of the caller. “Gentlemen, if you’ll excuse me,” he said immediately.
Rising from his seat at the head of the table, Merrick walked quickly into the adjoining room to answer the call. In the center of the next room was a fireplace with a set of leather chairs facing the cold, empty hearth. Merrick leaned against one of the chairs. “So you think you finally discovered who he was working for?” Merrick asked the voice on the other end of the line. He listened for a moment. "Really? Well are they in any danger right now?" Merrick nodded his head thoughtfully. “Hey, don’t worry at all. You know I’m always available.” He nodded again, “Okay, I’ll see you soon, Luke.”
Merrick closed his comlink just as his wife, Elsa, entered the room dressed in a long silk gown cradling their one-month-old son in her arms. “Honey, pack our bags and tell Jaina to get the ship ready. We’re going to Coruscant.”
“Is everything okay?” she asked nodding toward the doors leading into the board of directors chamber.
“Everything’s fine. What day is today?”
“It’s stardate 6987.138,” she responded promptly. “Why?”
“Because that’s the day we got our own company,” Merrick said walking back towards the chamber door. He reached inside his suit jacket and switched his blaster to kill.
