Chapter Text
Miorine Rembran was incredibly successful.
This wasn't as much of a given as many may have thought. Whilst the Rembran family name was enormous - they controlled the Benerit Group, a huge business conglomerate with a controlling stake in a majority of the aeronautical and spacecraft companies across the world, especially in Asia, as well many technological companies - Miorine's own name itself wasn't. The Rembran name was known for it's success, but Miorine's hadn't been.
It wasn't until she'd founded her own company, GUND-ARM, INC., which specialised in medical technology, especially advanced prosthetics, that Miorine as a person became famous in her own right. Her being the daughter of the President certainly helped her get her foot in the door of the industry, but it wasn't long before people were singing her praises and regarding her as being successful as an individual. This was especially so when it came down to her impeccable management skills.
She was now known as one of the best CEOs out there at just 25 years old, thanks to her own hard work rather than her family name. GUND-ARM was a widely acclaimed success, and it was able to help a great many people as it used some of the finest minds for good.
There was a small part of Miorine that always felt a little conflicted though, because when her Father quickly realised she had carefully maneuvered to both establish and maintain complete control of the company personally, with only a minority stake held by Benerit that was too small to have much of an influence, he just smirked and congratulated her for her 'cunning and ruthless move'. There was no specific retaliation, attempted or successful, so she took him at his word.
She didn't know how to feel about the fact she felt like that was the first time he had honestly praised her.
Miorine Rembran was certainly rich.
It was an unintended but not honestly unwelcome side effect. Miorine was financially well off just by virtue of who's daughter she was obviously, but she had also distanced herself financially from the Benerit Group when she founded GUND-ARM. But even with the company offering low prices on most of it's products, paying it's employees such high wages competition for positions was fierce, and just generally prioritising making a positive difference in the world in a world where that was rare, the company was still incredibly profitable.
Miorine's high share of personal control in the company thus enriched her immensely, and there was the added positive that it did keep the few shareholders happy. They didn't seem to care that profit wasn't the number one priority when it made a lot of profit nonetheless, or perhaps they realised how many tax breaks GUND-ARM got and didn't want to risk jeopardising that. She knew what the cynic in her thought was the answer.
But all the money in the world was useless when there wasn't much to use it for. She invested in high heels, just to be taller, fancy custom suits for work and luxurious dresses for the parties she was forced to go to. Sometimes it made her feel better.
Sometimes.
Miorine Rembran was definitely beautiful.
This was immediately obvious, and it did seem to slightly increase her popularity and in turn GUND-ARM's. Many requests for interview also requested photoshoots; she declined nearly all of them. Couldn't reject all of them, of course, not the ones that would prove very useful to her company, but if they didn't fall into that category the offers weren't taken up.
She was confident, not vain. She didn't need extra validation for her good looks, and she always wanted to be valued for her brains, not her beauty. So outside of those few photoshoots, and the way she could use her make up and dresses like weapons and suits of armour at events, she had little use for her looks.
It went without saying that such a busy woman didn't have much of a love life; no one to try and woo with her appearance and any flirty words. And this part of a third element concerning Miorine Rembran lead to a rather uncomfortable truth.
Miorine Rembran was also not especially happy.
All of the success came with very long hours, especially with the extra burden financial independence had brought her. It brought her pride in her accomplishments, but that could only take her so far.
The saying 'money can't buy you happiness' may have been somewhat untrue, the nuances of the notion not lending themselves to a definitive conclusion, but it was true that money didn't seem to be able to provide Miorine with what she wanted or needed to be truly happy. Or even any hints of what could make her happy.
And as for beauty... she had no lover to wow, and no energy for any flings.
Behind the curtain, when one scratched beneath the surface of one of the rising stars of the business world, Miorine Rembran... They found little beneath her dedication to her company. Or, on some tough days of ever increasing quantity... Nothing at all.
Until, eventually and slowly... They found something.
They found her.
Miorine sighed deeply, placing her head down in her hands tiredly and not a little heavily.
"I am sorry Miss Rembran, but I have not been able to find any viable reason for you not to attend" Sabina spoke firmly and confidentially, and Miorine knew that there could be no negotiation nor squeezing out of it. Her COO (Chief Operating Officer) Sabina Fardin was very thorough and serious, and she trusted her judgement - if it really was an important event, she would know.
And considering how she had actually given her COO the job of checking if she could avoid a social event of all things, yet again, she didn't want to push her luck by pressing her, outranking her in the department or not. She was convinced that at least some of the praise that had been thrown upon her should've gone to Sabina instead, she was vital to the company in Miorine's eyes and indeed to anyone who observed the company.
"Of course, I understand. Will you also be in attendance?" Miorine asked as she raised her head up once more, looking across her office at Sabina. Sometimes Sabina ended up attending some of the events, especially as she was quite familiar with the business plans and day to day operations.
She may have been a workaholic, but even Miorine had known that she couldn't manage the company on her own and without a proper board; she needed assistance. Quite how she'd managed to attract Sabina from her position at Grassley Defence Systems was a question that had been debated for a little while within their industry at the time, and Miorine sometimes wasn't sure herself even now. A promotion in position and a future pay rise yes, but at the time GUND-ARM was absolutely nothing compared to Grassley, and even now they were still a small company comparatively. It was like switching from a major top three company to a start up.
Although the Grassleys had been having a little trouble lately with cash flow, she knew, and GUND-ARM in spite of being smaller was probably just as healthy financially... But she managed to keep the slightly sadistic smirk from appearing on her face at that thought. Out of respect for Sabina if nothing else.
"I will be" Sabina's cool tone interrupted her musings, nodding at her boss. There was an uncharacteristic pause and hesitation, as if she was weighing up things in her mind, before she continued. "Our Chief Engineer will also be attending the soiree".
This time Miorine couldn't stop the smile that appeared on her face, a much warmer one this time around. It was the first reason she'd had to smile all day, that reminder. Of course, Nika is the reason why.
Not that she would ever tell Sabina that, even if the intelligent woman had already figured out that she knew. It was best to keep that unspoken, at least for now. Sabina didn't react to her smile either, she noted. She was ever the composed one.
"I trust that you'll be able to take care of her whilst I'm no doubt accosted at nearly every opportunity?" Miorine enquired, and she swore she saw Sabina stand a little straighter. Which was impressive given her impeccable posture...
"Of course I will" Sabina simply affirmed, and Miorine nodded again.
"I suppose I will have to prepare for this, then. I'd say I'm surprised we constantly get invited to the Benerit Group soirees, but anything to make us seem closer than we really are, right?" Miorine vented a little, and Sabina remained tactfully silent. "Did you manage to get hold of the attendance list?" Miorine continued.
"Of course, I will have it emailed to you within the hour".
Miorine had no idea how Sabina managed to get the private lists of attendees every time without fail and with perfect accuracy, minus any absentees through illness, but she also wasn't sure if she wanted to know. Plausible deniability and all.
"Thank you" she replied, and Sabina nodded and performed a short bow before walking out of her office.
...
Predictably, within less than 10 minutes the list appeared on her inbox. After finishing a reply to a supplier Miorine opened it up and scrolled through.
It was almost painfully predictable and Miorine wanted to bury her head in the sand.
The top 25 biggest companies in the group, most annoyingly all of the big three, even Grassley with it's slightly embarrassing cashflow issues, had invitations. Her father must not be intending to make an issue of it yet... Then a few cherry picked companies from outside of their top 25 list that had made big gains in the last financial quarter, or had recent very positive PR.
And then GUND-ARM, of course. Every single damn time. She couldn't deny that they probably deserved an invite too this time, with their recent successful mech suits designed to help people with disabilities that also seemed to help with work in the atmosphere and the ISS going down very well with everyone, including the markets, but...
She didn't want to go. She never did. With every person she scrolled past she wanted to wince. At least half of these people consistently tried to talk her into selling shares or investing money into products out of her chosen purviews.
She was fairly sure she recognized every single face.
Until, suddenly, she didn't.
"Who is this" Miorine wondered out loud, zooming in a little. In the Jeturk Heavy Machinery invite list - markedly longer than anyone's outside the top 3, obviously - there was someone new: a young redheaded girl. She glanced from her picture to the right hand side of the list.
"Suletta Mercury" she rolled the name out of her mouth, testing to see if she had any recognition. She didn't.
A new experimental pilot? I wonder why she was invited...
It definitely wasn't unheard of to invite pilots, but normally it was very well known pilots or ones with big connections. She didn't wish to brag, but if this Suletta Mercury had big connections Miorine herself would likely have known her, and she didn't know the name nor the appearance at all. A rookie, perhaps?
"... Experimental, hmmm?" she murmured out loud again, flicking down the rest of the attendees list but with her mind still focused on Suletta.
Jeturk made big, big profits lately, they're number one thanks to some of their military production... Hmmmm.... I wonder.
Sending off a quick enquiry to Sabina to do a check on this pilot, and telling herself that she only occasionally used her COO as some kind of spy, she finished looking down the list and flicked it to the side. She sighed as she looked at the hundreds of emails, and then at her clock.
It was only 9.45am on a Tuesday. Goddess help her...
It was just after 4pm on Wednesday afternoon when an email flowed into her inbox from Sabina. Re: Suletta Mercury Investigation.
Ignoring how Sabina really wasn't helping with the whole 'not a spymaster' thing, she ignored the other important emails she had to read it first... And promptly had to do a double take. No wonder Sabina took my curiosity so incredibly seriously, even for her...
Sabina's reply was typically thorough, but what she was reading was astonishing. She didn't know how her COO had gotten this information, but...
It looked like Suletta was a pilot prodigy. Her academic stats were nothing special - the theoretical ones were actually slightly concerningly poor, but her practical ones made up for it. And, more importantly, her pilot skills seemed off the charts. Reports from Jeturk suggested that Mercury had incredible spatial awareness, quick reaction time, and an understanding of the mechanics involved that frankly made no sense whatsoever when compared to her academic reports.
Miorine didn't believe in fate, but it was like this woman was born to be a pilot. Her sister was apparently a pilot for a civilian flyer, British Airways. In all likelihood Suletta had found herself struggling to enter the civilian fields like her sister because of her lower grades, and found an opportunity eventually after University with Jeturk.
So Jeturk managed to discover her, one way or another and gave her a spot on their test pilot program... And her excellent work is helping to perfect their experimental new military suits at a rapid pace... Miorine found herself leaning back in her chair considering this new information. She hadn't suspected that this young woman was the source behind their record quarterly profits, although perhaps she should've done. No wonder she was invited to the soiree.
Firing off a quick reply to Sabina thanking her for her diligent work once again, and remarking that Jeturk's scouting had found an impressive diamond in the rough, she closed off the email and returned to her work.
Normally that should've been the end of her curiosity. A little bit of an oddity on the guests list yes, but that oddity was solved now, or at least worked out to a satisfactory level for her. Other than maybe making a point of saying hello to a fellow woman in the wider industry come saturday night she wouldn't have thought anything more of it really.
But when her chief engineer requested a meeting on Friday morning and Miorine accepted, her interest in Suletta would suddenly become far stronger. And she'd never look back.
...
"We need another pilot?" Miorine asked Nika at said meeting, leaning forward and looking closely at her blue haired employee. She nodded.
"If we're going to go through with our medical transports plan we need another ace test pilot. Chuchu can't do it all on her own. And a medical transport test would need a, well... a very delicate pair of hands".
Miorine understood what Nika was referring to. Chuatury Panlunch, referred to by anyone who wasn't herself or Sabina as Chuchu, was a fantastic pilot, but her one weakness was being a little heavy handed. It honestly worked out well with their medical equipment and prosthetics normally as an almost built in stress tester, but for Operation: Woven Path they probably needed a more fine hand.
"This project was initially Miss Fardin's idea" Miorine began, ignoring how Nika nodded quickly because of course she knew that, it was Sabina's project, "To save me needing to reach out now and ask her, do you know if she had any ideas in mind to solve that particular issue?"
"She planned to scope out the pilots once the project was further in production, but I've managed to make quicker progressed than she thought. All the plans are ready for final inspection before we can beginning preparation and procedures for production".
Nika looked very smug at this, and Miorine felt herself produce a rare smile at their dynamic. Nika always loved to impress Sabina.
"So we do have a shortlist of candidates for the position?" Miorine asked, assuming that this was the reason why Nika had requested the meeting. Nika could have easily been coordinating with Sabina, they had come up with some ideas to fill the role and were now coming to her.
Nika's nod confirmed her suspicions, but the hesitance and slight wince from her chief engineer caused her a little concern. Before she could speak and bring this up though Nika answered her. "We do, but there's one candidate in particular that would be really good. Sabina agrees. But... it won't be easy to get her".
Her.
You could level a few different things at Miorine, but a lack of intelligence was never normally one of them; She connected the dots quickly. "Suletta Mercury" she spoke out loud, not even posing it as a question.
"Sabina was rather impressed when she saw those scores. Whatever difficulties she's had elsewhere she's a fantastic pilot. And she's very good when it comes to control and maneuverability. That'll be good if we have to test with expensive equipment on board" Nika explained. "It was good that you spotted her in the invites list".
"She's also an employee of Jeturk, who are producing record profits this quarter at least partly due to her assistance this past year. I don't know how we could get her over to us" Miorine sighed, leaning back her chair.
"Her year long contract runs out in three months. She hasn't signed a new one".
Nika's words froze her in place. A fixed year long contract wasn't that rare in the industry these days in the context of rookie pilots, but given Suletta's known skill she didn't think that Jeturk would've allowed her to run down her contract like this. Or they... hadn't offered her a good enough contract for some reason? That would be odd.
She didn't need much convincing to try now. She'd read Sabina's report on Suletta herself, after all... Although, come to think of it, Sabina definitely hadn't mentioned her contract situation then, or even hinted to it, hence why Nika had to tell her. Which meant her COO had kept looking into Suletta Mercury, and Nika had found out the information first. Interesting.
"I should talk to her on Saturday, sound her out" Miorine said to herself, but it was loud enough in her quiet office that Nika heard.
"That's what Sabina suggested" Nika affirmed, and Miorine hummed.
"I suppose I have a good reason to go to this soiree after all..."
Miorine had managed to pull Sabina in to work for her company and no one would've suspected that was possible beforehand. That was due to what she suspected and affectionally referred to internally as the 'Nika factor' though. So she just needed to discover what specific thing, for want of a better term considering Nika was no thing, would have a similar impact on Suletta and persuade her to join. With hindsight this would prove to be such an ironic question to ask.
She pushed her chair back and stood up from it. "I suppose I better prepare my finest dress then, shouldn't I? First though, why don't you show me some more of the plans for the medical transports? I believe that you were intending to make a slight alteration last time we spoke?"
Miorine trusted her engineers to make changes without her hovering over their shoulders constantly, but she still liked to see changes that were made periodically. And make final inspections alongside Sabina, of course.
As Nika smiled and lead her CEO to her own office, which was really just a mini workshop with a desk tucked into the corner, Miorine suddenly found herself with a slight spring in her step. She didn't quite know why, but she suddenly felt excited for something for the first time in a long while. She was actually going to try and steal away, metaphorically speaking, a prodigy from one of those annoying big three companies. What a coup that would be.
She had an actual reason this year to go to one of those dumb parties. A scheme of her own. Something to actually look forward to beneath the avalanche of emails that threatened to bury her every week, Sabina's invaluable assistance or not.
Operation: Persuade Suletta was in it's opening stages. Albeit it needed a catchier name.
And a little bit of red light began to enter her life.