Cowboys and Aliens Ch. 12

1

Beth and Zack were both downstairs sitting at their desks already and were creating some forms for reviewing the cloud-based CRM systems they had identified the day before.

Breakfast was delivered and they moved to the lunch room to eat. Annabelle and Cass came down together, both with big smiles on their faces. Cass went directly to Beth and then gave her a full-on French kiss, after which Beth whispered, "Mmmm she tastes good!"

The group ate their breakfast, while going over the forms that Zack and Beth had made.

Today the plan was for everyone to try out each of the cloud-based CRM systems through various scenarios and make notes. Then they were going to discuss the pros and cons of each as a group, until they had narrowed it down to the one they felt would work the best.

They didn't need anything custom or fancy as it was just basic sales, support, communication and billing. Everything technical was stored on Atlantean technology safe from anyone on Earth.

All of the CRM programs they were looking at supported QuickBooks Online, so Mark had informed Charles and since it was cloud-based, all Mark had to do was setup the account and send him some login info for it and he could do all the setup of the accounts remotely.

Mark also tasked Charles with hiring someone to do the day to day accounting, which he would then oversee and preferably someone who could also handle the reception job. Charles indicated he had some candidates in mind and would get back to him.

The business plan was to partner with existing security companies who would function as their salespeople and that would reduce the number of customers the staff would need to take care of.

The unknown in this, was they could get a few or all security companies that were willing to partner, or all the security companies could band together and boycott or outright refuse his services and then they would have to resort to Plan B, which he really didn't want to do.

Because of this uncertainty, they decided to hold a sneak peek, a job fair and an open house, in that order. They were already in the headlines and would likely get a lot of resumes quick through the job fair, so they would have people on-hand that they could call up if needed.

The open house was to let companies know that better security was out there and that they just needed to ask their current security provider about it and, if their current provider didn't offer it, they could refer them to one's that did.

Finally to generate business, they were also going to send out sneak peek invites to all the security companies to come and see how their businesses could be improved. The invites said that they would not be selling direct to customers, but it was in their own best interests to at least know the options, in case their existing customers asked for the improved security. As an added bonus, any companies that did want to partner during the sneak peek were welcome to setup a booth to showcase their services during the open house.

The security company sneak peek invites were set to happen on Tuesday, the job fair would be on Wednesday and open house was scheduled for Thursday afternoon and Friday.

Through the sneak peek and then the open house they hoped they'd be able to gauge interest and figure out how many people they would need to hire, but at least they had three staff to start, which was perfect as there really was only three jobs available for locals.

Sales and support would work the computers and man the phones. Estimators would be the people to visit a site, survey the area to be secured while wearing a device so Cricket could scan the site and collect all the specifications of the building. The estimators would also ask and record any other information that was required to protect the site. Installers would be the people to actually deliver the drones to the site and activate them. Basically it was a delivery job, but unless business was crazy busy from the start, the estimator could also be the installer.

By mid afternoon, everyone had gone through each CRM system and when they sat down, everyone had unanimously agreed on the same system, so that made debating the pros and cons unnecessary, so the kids began customizing some of the forms and writing procedures.

Since they were already familiar with the backend system already, Mark trained all of them on the estimating and installation processes... What to watch for and ask in the site surveys. He wanted to make sure everyone could do everyone else's job, in case they wanted to mix it up a bit.

Mark still wanted to hire a manager as that would be the person to go through all the resumes and do the hiring. Mark had considered doing it himself since he had hired the breakfast club, but then thought better of it as he wasn't sure of his time availability once he became king.

Cricket had built a fork of herself that would take the data from the CRM system and pre-program the drones that got fabricated on the embassy, then she created a small, automated drop ship that would carry the drones from the embassy down to the surface.

Since Solara's original drones, Cricket had done some modifications for the security business. She had managed to boost the scanning range, so depending on the size of the area they needed to protect, they wouldn't need as many drones per site. They weren't going to have a standing perimetre like they originally had at the ranch. More or less one roaming drone per access point with a 50% variance, so the drone could move quite a distance yet still not leave the access point unprotected.

Another upgrade she had done was what she called glow bubble. In the event that something was detected, the violator would have a force field bubble placed around them that would glow different colours depending on the situation. So in the case of a suicide bomber, the only person that would get killed would be the bomber themselves, no one around them.

All of the drones would be linked into the security guard's earpiece and given common names, and they would check in every hour or immediately if there was any issues. Just so they knew the system was working, since they wouldn't be able to see it.

Upon any identified issues, the drones would bubble the violator and notify security, and if the situation turned dangerous, the violator would be paralyzed and the security guard could take it from there.

As if fate had heard Mark's thoughts, Charles called him Sunday afternoon and said he had candidates for the manager, accounting and reception positions and said that they would be there within the hour.

Charles showed up at the building and was followed by two other vehicles. A woman got out of one vehicle and a man and woman got out of the other vehicle. As they walked into the building Mark greeted them and suggested they use the boardroom, so everyone went in and sat at one end of the big oval table.

Mark didn't think the staff or girls needed to be in this meeting, so he left them to continue to work on customizing some of the backend forms and writing up procedures. Having procedures and detailed instructions written down, in-place and being practiced would make getting new staff up to speed a lot easier.

Henry was a stocky man, Mark guessed him to be in his mid to upper 60s, he used to be a manager for a corporate auditing company. His wife Amelia appeared to be in her mid to upper 50s and used to be an admin assistant for a service company.

Barbara was a professional CEO who liked challenges. She was in her mid 60s and was very business savvy. She had been the CEO for numerous companies in the past, she would build them up from nothing or restructure them to become profitable companies and, once they got established, she would move on to the next challenge. Mark figured she wouldn't be cheap.

Charles had Mark explain his business plans and his vision for the companies and the roles he was looking to fill. He explained the roles he was looking to fill, and then that his primary goal was to demonstrate that their technology was to be used for the good of all mankind, but that he wasn't sure if the public would accept the new technology. Since there was a lot of unknowns, he wanted to pay basic salaries and then bonuses, if the business was successful.

Immediately Barbara stated that she didn't think this would be a fit for her, since Mark's focus was not on profits and she did not want to be in charge of hiring staff, so she excused herself and left. Charles apologized that he had obviously misread what Barbara had been looking for.

Henry and Amelia liked the bonus idea so they said they would both work for a base salary of $150K per year total plus the performance bonuses. Henry also said that Amelia could help with the day to day accounting stuff and that he could fill the role of manager, if Mark wanted.

So $100K for Henry and $50K for Amelia and they would cover what he thought he'd need three people was incredible, so Mark said they were both hired and they indicated they could start immediately.

Henry had recently retired from the government auditors, but since he had known Charles for so long, he was coming out of retirement to get the company going. He later acknowledged that part of the reason for coming out of retirement, was because he was bored and wanted to work with his wife.

Mark went out and invited the breakfast club in to the boardroom. They all came in with scared looks on their faces seeing all the dressed up business people around the table.

Mark introduced everyone and then had the breakfast club to go over what they had done so far. They seemed impressed with what the club had accomplished and then the conversation turned to the sneak peek, job fair and open house.

Henry wasn't totally convinced of getting quality candidates from the job fair, but he did like the fact that, in a crunch, they would have a pool of people to pick from, but one thing he stipulated was that he didn't just want resumes. He wanted people to fill out a form, with a section to collect contact, age and level of education, then a section to write why they want to work there, and finally to know their availability. If they had to wait two weeks for people to give notice at an existing job, that obviously wouldn't work, if they needed lots of people immediately.

He also asked if they had made any placards or graphics to be displayed at the sites they protect?

Mark explained that they hadn't made any graphics or placards and for good reason, "By not advertising, it increases everyone's security as criminals will get caught and punished, getting the criminals off the street. By advertising, all you're doing is pushing them to easier targets."

Afterwards everyone seemed to think it was a pretty good team to start with.

After Charles left, the crew emailed sneak peek invites to every security company in the city, that they could find, including the Calgary Police and the school boards.

Amelia was a whiz at PowerPoint, so she was creating a presentation that they could have playing on a loop in the reception area.

To step things up to the next level, Mark had Cricket compile some scenarios that she could animate with holograms, to show what the system could do. He also had Cricket setup the drones at the office, to mimic what they would install at other sites. So they were given common names and were set to check in via a speaker at the reception desk, and another speaker they would setup in the demonstration area on the upper level.

For the sneak peek, the drones inside the office were not going to be cloaked, so they could see them in action.

She also tied the visible drones into her hologram scenarios, so the companies would actually see and hear what real scenarios would be like. Scenarios were setup for someone trying to break in after hours, another with a guy pulling a gun, one with a kid pulling a fake gun, one for a guy pulling a knife, one for a guy with drugs, one for a guy with a deadly toxin and finally one for a suicide bomber.

Some of the scenarios were so realistic, that he had her announce out loud 15 seconds before the scenario began, and then right as it was beginning.

They got back replies from many of the security companies that same night, which was something Mark wasn't expecting. One of the invitees called to ask, if they could bring some of their gear to test his system. Mark agreed, but said they weren't allowed to complain if they hurt themselves. They laughed and said they looked forward to meeting him Tuesday morning.

Maren gave Annabelle a ride back to the ranch Sunday evening, leaving his truck in Calgary for Mark to use, if he needed it. Maren then returned to the Embassy and picked up Liyana and when they got back to the office, the breakfast club and Mark were still at work.

Mark and Rayven were trying to follow their instruction manual, on how to do things, while the breakfast club were making notes on things to adjust or correct. When he finished, they made several changes to their documentation and then as a true test, they had Maren and Liyana try and follow the manual.

A little over an hour later they had completed all of the basic tasks. One thing Mark noted, was that they had to have two monitors on all computers, that way they could have the program open on one monitor and have the manual and policies open on the other. The email was actually internal to the CRM system they were using, so no need for extra software, all they needed to run the business was an Internet browser, which is what made it easy for Cricket to interface with the system, she was simply another user.

While the girls were working through the manual, Mark had ordered pizza. It arrived right after they finished going through the procedures manual.

Everyone got to know each other a bit better over the meal. The breakfast club again asking all kinds of questions about life on other planets, since they now had more aliens to ask. Then they turned the topic on Mark asking him where he was going to live when he became King?

He hadn't really thought about it up until now, which prompted him to ask Liyana, "What's the deal when I'm King? Do I have to live in a palace or some designated royal abode?"

"I'm not exactly sure. Yes, there is a palace and the Prince currently lives there, but I don't think the last King lived there," she answered as she pulled up her holographic console.

After a minute she added, "According to the laws, you can live wherever you want, as long as it is part of the Federation."

Mark asked, "Sounds reasonable. So what are my duties as the King? Don't you have elections and government officials that pretty much run the Federation?"

Liyana explained, "Yes, we have community officials, like mayors, which handle community organizing and politics, then we have elected officials that represent the population and speak to their senators who are also elected and meet 2 times per year on each of their planets. Elections are typically every 5 years and there are no political parties, you represent the people of your region. As King, you are a figurehead, you make appearances at important events, etc. You are also in charge of Federation security, interplanetary affairs and any issues that cannot be resolved by the senate."

Mark smiled, "So more or less I can continue doing what I'm doing, but adding a few off-world meetings and events to my schedule? Would working with Earth classify as interplanetary affairs, since it isn't in the Federation?"

Liyana smiled in return, "Yes it is, you are the figurehead of the Federation. It is your job to do the politicking and negotiations with governments and planets."

Monday morning, Mark was up early and got out from between Rayven, Maren and Liyana, got dressed went to the washroom and then went downstairs to make breakfast.

The girls followed soon after and the group was just finishing eating when Henry and Amelia came in, followed within minutes by the breakfast club.

Mark informed them that the demonstration scenarios had been completed in the night and they were going to go through them once breakfast was done. Today was going to be a last run through for everything, before the sneak peek tomorrow.

They went through the demonstration scenarios and suggested a few tweaks, then they went through the manuals and made a couple of tweaks. They had some discussions about the embassy and getting visitors up there and updated the website to tell people that they needed to get to any of the airports on the list or, if they were in Canada, they needed to get to the office in Calgary to catch a shuttle.

Which prompted them to setup a second CRM system for the shuttle service. They used the same system for familiarity, but changed the colour scheme to indicate the difference. This made having the two screens even more important and they also used two different web browsers to help keep things differentiated as well.

Liyana got a message, from a friend of hers on Atlanterra, and apparently the Prince was starting a smear campaign trying to discredit Mark. His claim was that Mark was violating their laws about technology, impersonating a king, and that he wasn't familiar with their way of life and he would return them to a primitive state like Earth, etc.

Liyana confessed that she thought the he might do something like that, and that she'd been relaying the TV interviews and news articles to her friend, who was a reporter for the Atlantean Federation News Network or AFNN. They couldn't actually broadcast anything, as it would upset the Prince and they would get fired, arrested, banished or various other punishments or penalties.

Mark then got a reply back from the Jacob, the inventor of the recycler, and he had some ideas for a few different methods of self-destructs so it could be given to non-Federated planets. He was just updating his schematics and designs to incorporate them and would send them later.

Jacob also confirmed that the Prince was trying to discredit him, but said not to read too much into it. The public knows exactly what the he is trying to do, and everybody he knew was looking forward to having a new king, just from the little they had seen or read about his accomplishments in the short time since he'd been discovered.

Liyana then smiled as she said, "Recently several of the videos have somehow, miraculously, made it onto the network for all to see and the source of the leaked videos couldn't be traced!" She then added, "If he was a true royal, with access to an AI, he would be able to easily trace the source of the videos."

Mark smiled with the knowledge, that even though he was flying by the seat of his pants, people were liking and supporting him.

During the day, Maren had returned to the Embassy, leaving Mark, Rayven and Liyana at the office that night. They were in the middle of watching a movie when Rayven got up to go to the washroom and when she came back was just wearing a bath robe. Liyana then did the same thing.

Rayven's cock was soon poking out of her robe and Liyana took it upon herself to take care of it, but after a minute or so of fellatio, they decided Mark needed to be naked too, so they both stripped him.

Soon Liyana was alternating between sucking Mark and Rayven, until she decided to progress things a bit further and climbed on top of Mark and impaled herself on his hard wet cock. After a minute or two she got off, mounted Rayven and began to ride her.

Mark got on his knees and watched Liyana fucking herself up and down on Rayven's cock. He could see Rayven's pussy dripping juice, so he positioned his cock between Liyana and Rayven's legs and slid into Rayven's pussy. He began to fuck her slowly as Liyana was rubbing her ass up and down Mark's stomach as she rode Rayven.