[center][h1] Monday 5th September, 2094 Team Valkyrie Headquarters Aachen Germany Late Morning[/h1][/center] [b]Soundtrack: [url=https://pie.yt/?v=https://youtu.be/HyTpu6BmE88?si=JDMF2EUKed2QZSCq&pieshare=1] That’s What Friends Are For - Dionne Warwick, Elton John, Stevie Wonder, and Gladys Knight [/url][/b] Alexander had a pile of messages to go through after being out of the office for the race. He had updates from Wulfric Gunderson, the head of security, that the new security upgrades had been installed throughout the headquarters. Banshee Microsystems had installed and updated all of Team Valkyrie’s computers except the ones in the current ships. That will be happening over the next week. The Team from Radian Security Systems would be working with the team from Banshee Microsystems on overhauling the cybersecurity on all the new computers and ship systems. Alexander was relieved. He was glad he could be sure that any security leaks or breaks due to Brendel had been dealt with. Wulfric had sent out team wide memos requiring everyone to come in for new encrypted staff badges that would make it harder to forge. All employees had to turn in their old badges while processing the new ones. Any missing badges would require paperwork on when it was lost and how and would require a follow up security check from Wulfric’s staff. They were not taking any chances with their security. It was finally feeling like a fresh start after all the chaos. There was a report from Cavan Mitchell the head of the engineering department on the new staff and progress on the new designs. Cavan was requesting another engineer specializing in Neural Circuitry. Alexander was a little surprised that he had not spotted that lack in the team sooner. They had a neural engineering specialist but he wanted a specialist in the tech systems side of the engineering equation. Alexander would add that to Mabel’s to do list. Mabel was worth her weight in gold as an assistant. It was like he had summoned her as his office door opened after a brief knock and his elderly assistant breezed into his office. He knew he was being buttered up for something because she brought him a cup of coffee. He sighed and set his tablet down. She set the cup in front of Alexander before taking a seat. She gave him a pleasant smile. Her hair was up in a complicated braid updo that looked very elegant. She was wearing elegant white pants in some kind of silk and wool blend with gold jewelry. Mabel always managed to look timelessly classy and warm at the same time. He sipped his coffee and his eyebrows rose as she brought him his coffee exactly how he liked it and she didn’t trade it for decaf. Mabel sat down in the chair across from his desk. She smiled at him warmly. [color=f6989d]“Good morning Alex.” [/color] Alexander: [color=00aeef]“Good Morning Mabel, How are you? And what do you want? You brought me real coffee.” [/color] Mabel’s eyes sparkled in delight as she responded in a throaty contralto. [color=f6989d]“I am doing well Alex, thank you for asking. You know me so well.” [/color] Alexander smiled at Mabel. At least she got to the point and didn’t deny that she wanted something. He gave her smile and took another sip of the excellent coffee and nodded and waved his hand. [color=00aeef]“Okay let me have it. Tell me what’s on your mind.” [/color] Mabel’s smile brightened. [color=f6989d]“Alex, I know you have been extremely busy with all the work you have been putting into recruitment and hiring the right people to get the new ship designs off the ground and making the changes you wanted to see. But have you really looked at the staff lately?” [/color] Alexander frowned and wondered where Mabel was going with this. Headquarters had been in upheaval for a while now. There was the government investigation, then all the construction to accommodate updating the labs and making room for new research partners. There had been almost constant noise and upheaval in the headquarters campus for a while now. The construction on the labs had just finished. The security updates were in the final stages as well as updating the computer systems. He had Paul’s mental health crisis he had been dealing with. There had been materials shortages for the engineering department. That reminded him he needed to follow up with Lipusv on those. The Junior Team had their own garage now on campus with an administration office and classrooms for them. It gave Sami Lipponen and his staff a place to reside while they did the work for the junior team. Just reflecting over that it was a lot of upheaval and change in a short amount of time. They had done their best to minimize the disturbances to the workflow and staff but some of it was inevitable. Alexander set his coffee down and leaned forwards as he steepled his hands in thought. He watched Mabel as he put his thoughts into words. [color=00aeef]“I know there has been a lot of upheaval recently with the government investigation and all the construction. I have noticed some tension. I assumed it had to do with those situations. What have I missed?” [/color] Mabel gave Alexander a nod and a proud smile as if she was a parent coaching a child on good behavior. Alexander raised an eyebrow because he knew she was going somewhere with this. Mabel: [color=f6989d]“Alex, your staff have been through a lot of turmoil and some of them have been traumatized over the events under Brendel. We have added a lot of new staff to the payroll. They don’t know where they fit yet. There is a lot of anxiety and tension. There is still a lot of uncertainty. They have been under a lot of stress for a while now. You need to do something to lower the tension and help them to get to know each other.” [/color] Alexander nodded as he picked his coffee cup up and began to sip once more. He absentmindedly looked out his office window over the lush campus grounds. His brain whirls with what he can do to help. He turned back to Mabel with a decisive look. Alexander noted Mabel had her tablet ready to take notes. He smiled at her and nodded. [color=00aeef]“First I want to install nap pods throughout the campus. Make sure at least two get installed in Engineering. I want you to send out a survey asking the staff what they would like to see done to help them relieve stress. We already have an on campus gym that everyone can access. Let’s hear what their ideas are. Lastly, I want you to plan a company picnic. Reach out to the zoo and see if they can accommodate a group big enough for everyone to attend with their family members. See if they have some kind of package plan. I want something where they can spend part of the day with their families but everyone is eating together and they have time to get to know one another. Maybe a team scavenger hunt where everyone has to pair up with someone they don’t know at the company. The families can join in. I will put up a cash prize for the top three teams out of my own pocket. Maybe poll the staff for some funny awards to give out at lunch. Things like the grumpiest employee before coffee.”[/color] He saluted her with his coffee cup. Mabel gave him a big smile. [color=f6989d]“So my reward for bringing this to your attention is more work?” [/color] Alexander gave her a smile full of teeth. [color=00aeef]“You know what they say about good intentions. You know, will this work with this group? Is this too a Federated States business model?” [/color] Mabel shrugged at him. [color=f6989d]“I have no idea. I can put this in the survey and do the fact finding and cost finding part in case they say they like it.” [/color] Alexander nodded. [color=00aeef]“That is a good idea. We will review once we get the survey results back. Maybe others will have a better suggestion. I don't know enough about German work culture. It would be silly to just take everyone out for a drink. ” [/color] Mabel jotted down some notes and looked up at him. [color=f6989d]“What inspired the Nap Pods?” [/color] Alexander grinned. [color=00aeef]“The Engineering Team getting alcoholic drinks named after them and my executive assistant waking them up for work with hang over cures. They have been caught sleeping in the lab more than once. We might as well try to take care of the workaholics.” [/color] Mabel laughed as she gathered up her tablet and left. Alexander just smiled and went back to work. He reviewed a report submitted by Sami Liponnen on the Junior Team. Scarlett was doing well. She was consistently placing now at the top of the midfield. Anna was still struggling and not really showing much improvement. She was younger than Scarlett. Sami was looking at her growth and suggested she be given till the end of the season to improve. He suggested that the team invest in the young talent they discovered during the bootcamp. He recommended they sponsor the Danish, Luka Ravn who just celebrated his 15th birthday. It would be a long term investment in Luka but if he continued to improve and perform like he did at bootcamp, he had the potential to be a champion one day. In three years, he would make a killer rookie driver for Valkyrie. Most of the sponsors were happy with the Team. The engineers were finally able to keep up with ship maintenance and have some time to devote to new ship designs. Cavan seemed to be taking a different approach to Felix. Cavan has them working on improving individual systems and then they will try to fit the new systems on a new chassis after the get the new regulations from FIAR. Alexander let him run the Engineering Department as he saw fit. The engineers seemed to like the new everyone contributes ideas to the design that Cavan was leading. The new research and design partners had their own private labs but were also consulting and adding to Cavan's efforts. Alexander had been busy and had been traveling a lot to get all the new sponsorships and research and development contracts sorted. He wondered if he could sneak a weekend in to see Lena. He missed her. [hider= Team Valkyrie Characters] https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1zrLx5XUgYiVm6KjTpFTWZtJvXc0MX77enkLzINHujKw/edit?gid=0#gid=0 [/hider]