Earth Awakens (The First Formic War 3)

"And what about the pilots and crew?" asked Ramdakan. "How do you know they'll agree to something like this? Right now they're getting paid for doing nothing."

"The ship I captained to the Kuiper Belt is docked at Kotka. It's called the Makarhu. The current captain, Chubs, is a friend of mine. He would jump at the chance. The rest of the crew would as well. I know them. They want this. And Chubs is a respected captain among the other crews. He can sway them. And if that doesn't work, we'll dangle the money carrot. Everyone will get double time plus hazard pay."

Ramdakan scoffed. "How could we afford that?"

"We won't have to," said Lem. "Earth will foot the bill a hundred times over. Best of all, the company looks like the savior and shield of the world."

Ramdakan was quiet a moment, his fusilli long forgotten. Finally he said, "Why are you coming to me with this? Why not go to your father?"

Because I need the Board to see I have value, Lem might have said. Because I'm not about to throw Father a lifeline and pull him out of the grave he's dug himself. Because I need to bring the company success while it still feels the sting of Father's failure.

But aloud Lem said what Ramdakan needed to hear. "Because I trust you, Norja. Because you understand finances and profit potential better than anyone. Even better than Father. You can build the model for this in your sleep. You could sell it to the Board today if you wanted to."

Ramdakan nodded. He liked the sound of that. He pushed his plate away. "Have you written this up, given it a framework?"

Lem tapped his wrist pad. "I just put it in your in-box."

Ramdakan nodded again. "I'll talk to some people and get back to you. We'd need to move on this quickly."

"I agree."

Ramdakan made a move to leave but then hesitated and looked back. "Your father won't run this company forever, Lem. There are some who say he shouldn't be running it now, particularly after this business with the drones. But I'm not one of them. Ornery and headstrong as he is, I'm with him to the bitter end. You can count on me for that."

"I'm glad to hear it," said Lem.

"But when the day of his departure does come, I hope you'll stay with us, Lem. Even if the company goes in a different direction. We can always use someone with your skills."

Lem kept his face unreadable but inside alarms were going off. "What do you mean a different direction?"

"I know you, Lem. I've known you since you were a bump in your mother's belly. You're ambitious, just like your father. You're so much like him when he was your age, it's frightening. But there are those on the Board who want nothing to do with you. They know you want to run this company, and they'll fight you tooth and nail for it."

It took a moment for Lem to find words and when he did he tried making a joke of it. "I'm not sure which is more surprising, that there are people who think I'm gunning for the company or that I have enemies on the Board."

"Don't play innocent, Lem. I know you want your father's position. Everyone knows it. Hell you probably deserve it. But it's not going to happen. Ever. It's not good for business."

Lem blinked. And then quickly recovered, smiling again, appearing blase. "And pray tell, Norja, why am I bad for business?"

"Because you're a shadow of your father, Lem. You're brilliant, don't get me wrong. You're savvy, educated, innovative, a real entrepreneur. You'd be a better CEO than most. But you're not your father."

"Of course I'm not my father," Lem said. "No one is my father but him. Are you suggesting only a clone of him can run this company once he's gone?"

"If you were CEO, Lem, the world wouldn't give you a fair shake. They wouldn't see you for the great man that you are. They would see you as a lesser version of your father. That's all. Why did Lem get that position, they'll say? Because he earned it? Because he deserved it? No, because of nepotism. Because Daddy dearest is tossing junior a bone. He's no Ukko Jukes, they'll say. He's a child of privilege who only earned his success because his father helped him every step of the way, clearing the path before him."

It was such an unfair thing to say, such an infuriating notion, such a flat-out lie, that Lem had to grip the table to control himself. If anything, Father had hedged up his way, dropped obstacles in his path, made him scrabble and fight and claw his way to every success. He was a child of privilege, yes, but that didn't mean he had any privileges. In Father's school of parenting it meant the opposite.

> "I know that's a hard thing to hear, Lem. I know that sounds cruel. But that's the heart of it. And it would be unwise for the company to appoint a CEO who creates that kind of impression. It makes the company look weak. Like we've taken a step backward. It would be an invitation to our competitors to come at us claws out, fangs bared. You know why we squash MineTek and WU-HU and the others right now? You know why we have the market share we do? Because your father haunts their dreams, that's why. Because he's Ukko 'Iron Balls' Jukes. Because whatever they're cooking, they know Ukko is cooking something better. You're a pretty boy, Lem. It's not your fault. Your father married well, and you got your mother's genes. Your face is on the nets. Women swoon over you. Juke Limited can't have a CEO that makes women weak in the knees. We need a CEO that makes competitors wet their pants."

"So you want a tyrant?" Lem asked. "A Genghis Khan? That management approach died a long time ago."

"You're not hearing what I'm saying," said Ramdakan. "If you weren't your father's son, this wouldn't be an issue. If your last name wasn't Jukes, you would probably be on the shortlist. You've accomplished great things, Lem. But since you are the son, the world would put you up to greater scrutiny and find you wanting."

He made a sympathetic face and reached across the table and patted Lem's hand like a parent comforting a grieving child. Lem almost recoiled at the touch. It was such a condescending thing to do.

"I tell you this because I care about you and your father," said Ramdakan. "The Board is already doing everything it can to keep you out, Lem, despite your father's protestations, and they're not going to stop. In the end they will win."

"What do you mean, despite my father's protestations?"

Ramdakan seemed surprised by the question. "Do you think your father wanted to send you to the Kuiper Belt? No. He wanted you here on Luna with the company, close to him, shadowing him. But there were those on the Board who saw you as a threat. They knew Ukko would give you more attention than he would give to them, and they feared they'd eventually lose their seat on the Board to you. So they lobbied that your father send you to the Kuiper Belt for two years. It will give him leadership experience, they said. It will give him a chance at command. They hoped you'd fail, of course. They hoped you'd get whacked with a giant asteroid. And now that you're back, they lobbied to have you sent to Earth as a partner in one of our failing subsidiaries. A death sentence. They wanted to exile you, Lem. Send you into obscurity. So your father gave you the nothing job you have to simply keep you in the company. He wasn't going to overrule them and force them to hire you. That would be hell for you. So he protected you by creating an assignment away from them with your own people who knew your value and who would follow your leadership. Whether he did you a favor is still to be seen."