Corpo Age

Chapter 234: Corporate Tour

After our meeting with Strand, Thorne and I resumed our tour around the various cities scattered around space as mercenaries. We left Aegis and headed for Mars.

We had informed our company to look into the matter with Aurora Corporation, so we weren’t in a hurry. Instead, we stopped by Phobos Station, on one of the moons of Mars.

The landing procedure was the same as any space station, and we smoothly arrived. Phobos Station was a lot more similar to Ceres Station than a large city like Aegis.

Instead of a large open area almost indistinguishable from Earth, the place was a complex series of metal corridors and elevators.

Here, we repeated our routine of seeking out a local QG, building relationships with the lower-rung employees around and then advocating for my Halls Corporation.

It was also here that we got a chance to take a break and process our next steps.

We found ourselves at one of the many cafes, where we sat in silence for some time, watching as people went about their day. To be precise, we only appeared to be silently sitting around. Our conversation was taking place over our SAIDs.

“Hmm, it seems drink shops are pretty popular here. We should open up a few stores here soon,” I muttered.

“Rollo, we haven’t even opened any Milkshake Halls in Aegis, and we’re already expanding as fast as we can. I doubt it’ll be soon.”

“Hey, you never know. While what we’ve been doing has only gotten us minimal short-term results, our goal here is for the long term. Once we get rolling, we should be receiving a lot more recruits. Right now, the people we’ve been preaching to are still too far away from our influence. They’ll come around once they actually see us around.”

“That—I’m sorry,” Thorne said while shaking his head.

“About what? I should be thanking you for tagging along with this little field trip.”

“You know. Because I want to find the company responsible for my mom, it’ll likely disrupt with your plans.”

“Come on, now. We’ve discussed this before. No need to keep feeling bad. This wasn’t a decision you made alone.”

“But back when we made that decision, we didn’t know that the Ferrumus Corporation may be involved. That changes everything.”

I took a deep breath and tapped my finger on the table as I went through the scenarios in my head.

Ideally, Ferrumus wasn’t involved, but if they were, things would get complicated, to say the least. We already signed a deal with them. We are partners. Our business with the particle beams had just begun. We would need to rely on their cooperation for mass production.

The losses involved, if we were to antagonize them, wouldn’t be something that could just be expressed monetarily. It would set us back a year at the very least, and that’s not accounting for if we could come up on top against an A-Class corporation. It would depend on how seriously they took us.

“As much as it pains me to say, I don’t think human experimentation is that rare among the corporations. It wouldn’t be surprising if the case involving you and your mom wasn’t related to them. That could just be me, not wanting to have any conflicts with them, speaking though.”

“Hmm, maybe you’re right. I can’t stop every corporation from human experimentation. I won’t like the fact we’re working so closely with a company that engages in such activities, though.”

“You don’t have to like who you work with. That’s why it’s called a business relationship. Nothing personnel, just a transaction of sorts. Anyway, let’s head back to the ship to see if we received any messages from Claire. She should be finishing negotiations with Strand and her people by now.”

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Strand - Former Corpo

“I understand what you’re saying, but our offers remain the same,” Claire sternly declared. “We’re not mercenaries that can be hired at a price. We’re only willing to help our own.”

The woman on the other end of the call remained expressionless, but her eyes betrayed how displeased she was.

“We’re not relinquishing our freedom to you people. What’s the point in standing up against a corporation by joining another one?”

“Hmm, it seems like our difference of opinions can’t be resolved with words. Why don’t your people come visit and see for yourselves how it is at our company? Maybe that will change your mind.”

The woman stayed silent for some time before slowly nodding. She was desperate to make any progress in her goals, so she agreed despite not liking the idea.

The meeting was swiftly arranged. The Halls Corporation who Strand had been negotiating with graciously sent her three tickets for the next morning, so she could go down to Elevate City.

To the opposition of her comrades, she insisted she went in person.

“I didn’t think I’d come back down to the planet until we accomplished our goals,” a young man muttered as he looked out the window of the shuttle. A large metropolis could be seen growing larger out the window.

“Eddie, mind your manners. We’re not here for sightseeing,” an older man reprimanded.

“It’s fine,” Strand interjected. “We can’t be so tense all the time. I don’t foresee much changing after this visit, so we can at least treat it as a stress reliever.”

Stolen from its original source, this story is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

The shuttle soon landed, and the trio found someone waiting for them at the spaceport. They were quickly guided to a vehicle that brought them into the city. Their guides didn’t say much until they arrived at the Halls Corporation compound. It made them somewhat nervous until they got out of the car, where Strand saw a familiar face.

“Welcome! I trust you had a pleasant journey. Please let me know if there is anything you need.”

“Ms. Claire, there’s no need to spew your hollow words. We aren’t corpos. Get to the point.”

Claire smiled without letting Strand’s blunt words bother her.

“Our agenda is flexible today. We’re here to help you get to know about our company. Is there anything particular you would like to see first?”

“No. We are here to just see what really happens around here. Mind if we walk around ourselves?”

“No problem. I’ll explain every section you come across.”

The three visitors began walking around the compound. Before their eyes, they could see a splendid main building and didn’t hesitate to walk into it. If they were to see what the average employee’s life was like, there was no place better than the office space in the central building.

After all, they believed the other building could be a staged area that only depicted what they wanted to see. Strand was determined to discover every piece of dirt she could about this company, which dared to tout their working conditions.

The first floor only consisted of security and reception, so they immediately headed for the elevator. Strand had been a corporate employee herself, so she knew what to look for.

She started from the bottom, scouring the various departments. It just so happens the second floor was entirely taken by the security department. She had thought she would be warned against snooping around in such a sensitive place, but to her surprise, she was allowed to roam around.

There was a well-equipped armoury sandwiched between the elevators and one of the staircases. Curiosity took over, and she strode right into the room, finding hundreds of different firearms around the room.

What was most surprising of all was a fenced-off area where a dozen power armor lay dormant. It was the same model she had seen off in the corner of her eye when she arrived, but getting a better look up close was a different matter.

“You know, if we had a few of these, it would make our lives a lot easier,” Eddie muttered.

“As if any corporation would sell their power armor. There’s a reason why every single one we’ve come across was equipped with a self-destruct function.”

“But Mas, we could at least try to put together our own with the broken wrecks. The armor plating should be more than worth the trouble.”

Seeing how open this Halls Corporation had been with them, Strand walked up to the locked gate and tried her luck.

“Ms. Claire, do you think we can get a closer look at these power armors?”

“While I’d love to accommodate. This is as close as we’re able to allow you to get. If you do join us, we’re more than happy to supply your fleet with a dozen units, though.”

Her words made Eddie’s eyes sparkle with excitement, while Mas looked astonished at the generous offer. Only Strand was completely unaffected.

“That is too bad.”

The tour continued, with the visitors at the lead. They methodically went floor to floor, scouring every inch of the offices. As time passed by, the more taken aback Strand became. It wasn’t due to any impressive amenities or high-tech equipment. It was simply due to the atmosphere around the workplace.

Her companions may not have noticed, but a former corpo like her certainly did. The typical gloom and doom laced with a certain edge didn’t exist here. The eyes the employees had when they conversed with each other weren’t filled with murderous intent, neither were their words full of sarcastic remarks. It almost seemed they got along too well with each other.

“Do you mean if I speak with some of your employees?” Strand asked.

“Go ahead. We’ll be waiting at the elevators,” Claire replied.

Strand waited until the entourage around her guide retreated before she approached a random worker from the sales department. She hovered beside the man’s desk, waiting for him to be finished with his call.

“Yes? Can I help you?” the employee looked up a little apprehensive at the stern woman. “Are you new here? Who’s your supervisor?”

“No, I don’t work here. I just wanted to ask a few questions.”

“Umm, okay?”

“How is your performance measured here? Is it collectively evaluated?”

“Nope. Everything is individual. It’d be hard to evaluate us as a team since the hours are so flexible. It wouldn’t be fair to compare the performance of the morning people's group versus the night owls.”

Strand tilted her head with her stoic expression unchanged. It unsettled the worker a little, but he didn’t dare say anything because of the intimidating aura she exuded. She stood there like that for a few moments before speaking up again.

“Then—why is everyone here getting along so well? Aren’t you all competitors?”

It would be fair to say Strand was now perplexed. This place just felt off compared to what she knew from experience.

Thankfully, the man she was speaking to could understand where her confusion came from, as he had previously worked for several other companies as well.

“This place isn’t like the typical corporation. We don’t get our pay docked just because someone else is performing better. The pay is good and we get a day off every week, paid. There’s no need to be hostile with our coworkers here.”

“Really? You want me to believe everything is all sunshine and rainbows here?”

“Well, if there is one bad thing, it’s that we’re not allowed to leave this place without good reason. That’s why everyone prefers to make friends here. Getting along means there’s someone to hang out with during the off days.”

The man’s words dwelled in Strand’s mind for the remainder of the tour. She had talked with several other people from different floors, but they all said similar things. She knew it could be due to the company forcing them to put on a good front, but she could tell they were genuine. The harmonious atmosphere of all those offices she visited couldn’t be faked that easily.

Like that, she went through every floor and the group moved on to the other buildings in the compound.

“I’ve got to say, the CEO room wasn’t as grand as I had thought for a D-Class Corporation,” Eddie commented as they stepped out into the sun once more.

“Ha, our CEO doesn’t spend much time there, so there was never a reason to expand the place as we expanded so rapidly. He spends most of his time inside the lab you weren’t allowed to enter just earlier.” Claire explained with a smirk.

Next came the training and medical facilities before they finally took a break by going to the culinary hub of the compound. It was essentially a mall filled with restaurants and cafes. Immediately upon entering, plentiful lights and signage bedazzled them. The plethora of choices made them stunned.

“This—this is a mall? And it’s open to all your employees?” Eddie quickly turned to ask his guide.

“Yep. It’s basically our food court. Feel free to pick what you want.”

Eddie then dashed ahead of the ground, eagerly exploring all the different cuisines available. Watching this scene, his two superiors could only facepalm and sigh at how childish he was acting.

Did I choose the wrong person to bring along?