[center][h2]The Week After the Monaco GP[/h2] [h3]Team Valkyrie Headquarters[/h3][/center] [h2][center] [color=00aeef]Alexander Knight[/color] [/center] [/h2] [hr] Alexander was so relieved that the team had done well at Monaco. The Team had needed that win to calm sponsor and government oversight fears after the indictment of the former CEO Peter Brendel and former head of human resources Bernard Maier. Team Valkyrie had been lambasted in the press for the charges of embezzlement and fraud that had been brought against the two men. Alexander had advocated for complete transparency with the public and cooperation with government and FIAR officials. It had not been a popular decision as the Board of Directors would rather have hidden the extent of Brendel’s crimes. Alexander felt that if they didn’t clear the air now with the public they would pay a bigger price later when the full truth came out. Alexander had taken Lipusv’s warning seriously. She had told him that the team was under scrutiny and that they needed a win. Alexander wanted to capitalize on the wins at Monaco to help alleviate sponsors and investors worries over the pending court case against Brendel. Alexander was looking forward to his meeting with Katherine Dubois, the head of Team Valkyrie’s marketing department. Katherine was led into his office by Mabel. The ladies took seats in chairs across from his desk. They both came with their datapads ready to work. Mabel gave Alexander a smile. [color=f49ac2]Mabel: “I saw you made the news while in Monaco. I didn’t expect to see pictures of you tossing drunken assholes off a fancy yacht though. The press’ pictures of you and Lena together made me smile though.” [/color] Katherine chuckled as she saw Alexander fidget uncomfortably in his seat. [color=bc8dbf]Katherine smiled as she asked in a casual tone. “I have been asked by various press agencies to confirm your relationship with Lena. How would you like me to answer those inquiries?” [/color] Alexander squirmed in his seat uncomfortable with how the two women had brought his personal life into a meeting about marketing for the team. [color=00aeef]Alexander looked at Katherine with a frown. “What do you mean the press wants to know about my relationship with Lena. I introduced her as my date.” [/color] Katherine couldn’t help a smirk at how adorable and protective Alexander sounded. Mabel just chuckled and looked between Katherine and Alexander. [color=bc8dbf]Katherine: “Alexander by taking Lena and introducing her as your date, it sends a different message about you. It humanizes you in a good way. It also projects that you are secure enough to date and that all the legal issues regarding the former CEO are not hampering you from doing your job. It sends a different kind of message about you to potential sponsors and fans. This is good for the team’s image and gives me another avenue of positive press to push out. I will coordinate with Lena of course. I will arrange for her to accompany you to any company events. So I can push out an official statement from the team?” [/color] Alexander looked like a deer caught in headlights as he looked completely blindsided. He sat there with his mouth opening and closing like a fish out of water. He felt as if his mind had short circuited and it was buffering. Mabel cackled with glee. [color=f49ac2]Mabel: “I think you broke him Katherine. I don’t think I have ever seen him this stumped for words before. He must really like Lena.” [/color] Katherine smiled at Mabel’s rough but loving humor. She asked Alexander in a gentler tone. [color=bc8dbf]Katherine: “Well Alexander, what are your feelings about Lena? Are you thinking about marriage?” [/color] [color=00aeef]Alexander’s face was flaming red by now which suddenly paled. “God no! We just started dating! It’s too soon to talk marriage.” [/color] Alexander was almost hyperventilating by this point. Mabel took pity on him and leaned over and patted him on the hand. [color=f49ac2]Mabel’s voice was caring but firm. “Alex! Take a deep breath. Come on, you can do it. In and out, nice and slow.” [/color] Alexander automatically followed Mabel’s advice and words. The panic was finally leaving his face. [color=f49ac2]Mabel patted Alexander’s hand as she confided in Katherine. “I don’t think he is ready to discuss his relationship with Lena yet. He has some issues about marriage thanks to his ex-wife. He had a panic attack just thinking about marriage.” [/color] [color=00aeef]Alexander glared at Mabel with a frown. “I didn’t have a panic attack thinking about marriage. We just started dating. If you must release anything, we are dating. We are NOT engaged. We have not discussed marriage. We are two grown adults enjoying each other’s company.” [/color] Mabel winked at Katherine and continued to pat his hand comfortingly. Katherine did her best to keep a straight face and dutifully jotted down a few notes repeating what Alexander had told her. [color=bc8dbf]“Two adults enjoying each other’s company. Dating, no talk of marriage. It is early in the relationship but it is exclusive.” [/color] Alexander snatched his hand back from Mabel and waved a finger at her. [color=00aeef]“You… You… stay out of my dating life!” [/color] Mabel’s eyes twinkled mischievously. [color=f49ac2]“Alexander, I did nothing. Katherine was the one to inform you that the press had questions.” [/color] Alexander sighed in frustration as both hands rubbed across his face. He knew she was right but he couldn’t help feeling like she knew something more. He sighed and got down to the reason he had asked for a meeting with Katherine. [color=00aeef]Alexander: “The reason I wanted to see you was to discuss a marketing campaign idea that I had. I want to capitalize on the excitement and positive press from Dorian’s win at Monaco and Paul’s third place podium. I would like to set up a traveling Team Valkyrie fan meet across Europe. I want to highlight and honor Dorian’s career. It would drum up some new endorsement deals for him and remind people that while he is retiring this year, he is still winning. He has won in the past. I want to remind people of that. I would also like to add in some messaging about honoring our roots. We have this tribute happening at Silverstone with historic Formula One race cars. I want to see us honoring Team Valkyrie’s past by including a tribute to our racing roots. We have remnants of what was once Team Ferrari, Renault, and Red Bull as members of our Board of Directors. Let’s highlight those connections. I want Dorian’s career to be the primary highlight and that we expect him to go out a winner. But let’s remind the fans that racing is in our DNA here at Team Valkyrie.” [/color] Katherine blinks at the sudden change of topic but is not surprised. Alexander rarely liked to talk about himself. He took privacy to new heights for such a public figure. Katherine had come to know him since he had come to the team. She liked and respected him. She took a deep breath and focused on what he was saying. Her face lit up with enthusiasm at the idea as she was processing what he was saying. [color=bc8dbf]Katherine: “I Love this idea! This is a great way to reconnect with fans. We can highlight older ships and video clips. We could have our training simulation guys build a mock up ship that fans could fly in over virtual reality. We can reduce the feedback so that fans could experience what it is like to fly in our ships but not hurt anyone.”[/color] Katherine was typing like crazy as the ideas were firing. [color=bc8dbf]Katherine: “What is my budget? I need to get my team together. Anything else?” [/color] Mabel looked thoughtful and looked over at Alexander. [color=f49ac2]“I saw that Paul did an interview with one of the junior AG pilots. Maybe have some of Team Valkyrie’s Junior AG pilots help out with the tour to help promote the next generation of Team Valkyrie pilots.”[/color] Katherine looked over at Mabel with a glowing smile. [color=bc8dbf]“That is a great idea. Tying into the team’s past and the future. Showing we have a bright year ahead of us.” [/color] Alexander looked thoughtful. [color=00aeef]“I like the idea. Tap Scarlett Collins for this project. I am considering her for Dorian’s seat. I need to know how well she handles the press and the public. As for a budget, I expect this to be a short campaign across Europe and using virtual technology to make the event accessible to more people around the world. I am going to okay $500,000.00 for this. Can you work up a plan with this budget and get it back to me by the end of tomorrow? I will need to run this past Leopold for approval due to the amount.” [/color] Katherine nodded after she finished jotting down a few more items on her notepad. Mabel looked at Katherine with a smile. [color=f49ac2]“Email me what you need me to take care of or what information you need.” [/color] Katherine gave Mabel and nod before excusing herself and taking off. Alexander looked at Mabel with an affectionate smile. Alexander: [color=00aeef]“Are you satisfied with your meddling now?” [/color] Mabel just smiled at Alexander as she rose from her seat. [color=f49ac2]“Yes. You confirmed you are dating again.”[/color] She left without another word to get started on this latest project. [hr] Alexander spent the rest of his morning checking in with Wulfric on how the revised security protocols were coming along. He checked in with Leopold on the Board’s progress with the new transparent Team Policy for sponsorships and endorsements. They were already looking to hire a new CEO and were headhunting. The new policy was coming along but was not ready for revealing to the public. It was very different from their previous policies which were to hide all that information citing corporate privacy and team secrets. The board was not sold on Alexander’s idea of transparency about the team’s finances to the public. They were putting in place a system of checks and balances and third party auditors to keep the CEO, HR, and the Board of Directors accountable. Alexander once more reached out to QCS Computer Systems. The warning that Kais had given him was still in the back of his mind. He still wanted to push forward with hiring new engineers and begin to build a whole new ship design. He had to scrap those plans for this season but he could plan for next year. He wanted new computer systems for the Team. He was not comfortable with having the same distributor as other teams. It made him worry about the security of their software and data. He was hoping to get a computer company as a sponsor to upgrade all their computer systems but especially the ones the racing team used. He certainly didn’t trust the current system that Brendel had backdoors into. He just had to get the Team past the bad press from the CEO. Then he could start moving forward with plans for new ships again and hiring more engineers to make that happen. The court case was taking longer than he thought it would but then Brendel and Maier had the money to hire top notch criminal attorneys as they fought for their freedom. Alexander had a hard time watching any of the news around the trial as he saw Brendel’s fake smug face as he declared his innocence. That he was being framed and slandered by Alexander. Brendel tried to make it sound like he was the victim. Alexander had almost put his fist through the television screen a few times when Brendel smirked into the camera. He felt taunted and worried that Brendel would find a way to weasel out of the charges. [hider= Team Valkyrie Characters] https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1zrLx5XUgYiVm6KjTpFTWZtJvXc0MX77enkLzINHujKw/edit?gid=0#gid=0 [/hider]