The intern stared at the door.
He had been sent by Mr. Zashchitnik, a Russian immigrant & the CSO of Alaska, Inc., to deliver the files to LaMarcus. The intern didn’t know what was in the files; he didn’t have to. The only thing he needed to do was give the files to Aidyn LaMarcus, Jr, and report back to Mr. Zashchitnik for his next assignment. And yet, though he had been standing right outside LaMarcus’ door for five minutes, he couldn’t seem to work up the courage to enter.
About a second later, however, whether or not he was brave enough to enter of his own volition no longer mattered, as the door was opened from the other side and the intern found himself face-to-face with the hefty bulk of Mr. Rikas, CFO of Alaska, Inc. The man, famous in Alaska, Inc. for his tremendous weight, had been wearing his trademarked boyish, greedy smile; he stopped smiling & looked inquisitively at the intern.
“What are you doing here?” asked Mr. Rikas, not exactly politely, but not impolitely, either.
“I-I-I was s-sent by Mr. Z-zashchit-chit-chitnik,” the intern stammered.
“Well then come right in; no need to be standing around of you have business here,” said Mr. Rikas. “Unprofitable, to be standing around when there’s business to be done.”
Mr. Rikas laughed heartily as he left. The intern entered the room, but stopped, stunned by what he saw.
The interior of the room was a testament to the legendary greed of Aidyn LaMarcus, Jr- and to his legendary intellect. Degrees from Stony Brook, Harvard, & Oxford lined the walls; the natural sciences were disproportionately represented, with degrees from fields as diverse as Genetics, Mycology, Cosmology, & Nuclear Physics. He could also see a few degrees in the social sciences- mostly Economics. An imported Persian carpet covered the floor, while the desk & chairs were made of Marblewood.
“Well?” said LaMarcus, raising an eyebrow inquisitively. “You said that you were sent by Mr. Zashchitnik?”
“Yes,” said the intern, recovering from his initial shock at the room’s opulence. “He instructed me to give you these files.”
As LaMarcus took the files, he flipped through them intently. His looked up to face the intern, and said, “You didn’t look at these, did you?”
“No sir,” the intern replied.
“Well then, be on your way,” LaMarcus said with a smile. “Oh, and send Mr. Zashchitnik my thanks.”
The intern, relieved to be given a chance to leave, thanked Aidyn LaMarcus and left the room. Once he was alone, Aidyn sighed, and looked out his office window at the city of Anchorage.
Another day, he thought. Another day for Alaska, Inc. to bring order & prosperity to the people of the icy north. For contained in the files were the details of the company’s most recent incursions into the inhospitable lands of the Alaska interior; an interior that was mostly undeveloped wilderness. And while the interior did contain the second largest city in pre-rebellion Alaska, a large city in Alaskan terms was very different from a large city on the mainland; Fairbanks had only been home to about 100,000 residents. No, the real reason for expansion into the Alaska interior was to serve as base from which a military presence could be established on the Alaska North Slope- home to the Prudhoe Bay Oil Field, the largest Oil Field in North America, with more than twice as much extractable oil as the famed East Texas Oil Field. Aidyn LaMarcus smiled greedily; with 2 Billion barrels worth of Oil estimated to be in the fields & extractable with current technology, the Prudhoe Bay Oil Field alone could bring in millions of dollars in revenue every day- not to mention the other Oil Fields contained in the Alaska North Slope. But now Aidyn was getting ahead of himself. For now, at least, Prudhoe Bay was out of Alaska, Inc’s reach.
Turning back to his desk, Aidyn LaMarcus began going through the diplomatic reports; it appeared that Jean-luc Petard, the commanding officer of the 113th Canadian Peacekeeping Division, had sent Alaska, Inc. an offer of trade. Aidyn LaMarcus carefully considered whether or not the offer was worth accepting; while the occupying Canadian force was not hated per say, they were certainly not liked by the big three powers occupying North America. Deciding that the risk was worth taking, LaMarcus signed the trading agreement personally, and ordered it sent out to company affiliates in North Dakota, where it would be delivered to Jean-luc Petard. As he continued going through the diplomatic reports, he noticed that the leader of the United Socialist States of America, a certain Jack O'Neil, had recently made a startling foreign policy decision; he would be outright rejecting any diplomatic offers made by non-communist states.
What an idiot, thought LaMarcus, doesn’t he realize that he leads the only communist nation in the former United States- not counting the Pan-Asian Union, of course. First they adopt an inefficient, oppressive economic system, then they cut themselves off from international trade AND insult the merchants who would bring wealth to their country? Well, if they want to drive themselves into third-world status, I’m certainly not going to do anything about it.
With the company diplomatic reports over for now, LaMarcus sent out free trade proposals to the Texas Free State & the New Nebraskan Republic; his reasoning for each nation differed. His interest in Texas was purely economic; the Texans controlled the second-largest Oil Field in the entire country. Once Alaska gained Prudhoe Bay, Alaska & Texas would make up the bulk of North America’s Oil production- an agreement to cooperate on prices & outputs could give the two states quite a bit of influence in the world Oil Market. His interest in the Nebraskans was more of a diplomatic nature- the nation was unique in its near-universal approval from the big three, and it was always beneficial to be on amicable terms with nations who held large amounts of Diplomatic influence. Besides, they were the poorest nation, with a Real GDP less than half that of Alaska’s; they needed Alaska just as much as, if not more than, Alaska needed them.
With his diplomatic business over, Aidyn stretched out & yawned; it had been a long day, and now what he desired most of all, what he wanted even more than inordinate amounts of wealth & influence, was to sleep.
