Needle Snippet 4

 So, I'm a bit tired from the shot (flu symptoms) so I will be passing on releasing Needle until tomorrow.

On to the snippet:

Chapter 4

 

New Tau Metropolis

 

“All set? Everyone here? Okay, let's do this,” a familiar voice said over the PA as the ansible came to life. After a moment, the computer loaded the avatar of the speaker for the two people in the conference room to see.

“We've been through this before,” Shelby said, peeved that Fred had called in Sebastian Whitman, Secretary of State Sema's policy adviser in the State Department, to sit in via ansible. The Neochimp knew that going over her head wasn't going to work.

“With respect, Admiral, not every situation is like the last,” Mister Whitman stated. “I really don't want to get the secretary involved in this if we can avoid it.”

Her eyes narrowed at the implied threat. State was still having problems with the chain of command it seemed. “True. But some do follow a formula. And I agree, let's keep the secretary out of this if possible. She has enough on her plate. Besides, she isn't in my chain of command, and we don't need that sort of fight.”

Fred winced. He could tell from her biting tone that she wasn't at all happy about being called out on the carpet. He had done it in order to shortcut any crap that the governor could cause with the capital—not that the admiral was seeing it that way it seemed.

The good news was that her tone was being leached out from the ansible connection and there was no video, just their avatar busts. He was pretty sure that Sebastian could tell she wasn't happy though.

“All right, so, what is going on?”

Shelby let out a sigh. “From the top,” she stated, glancing at Fred. He nodded. “Bright Metalworks in Icaria sent their initial test shipment three months ago. It passed all tests so we cleared them for production and increased the size of the order to a level they stated they could handle in the allotted time between shipping deadlines. This, however, is their second shipment. Random test samples failed on several quality control levels, in some cases rather spectacularly.”

The Neochimp wrinkled his nose. He hadn't caught on to that part or that it had been that bad. Since their arrival and the start of the yard and other projects, the navy had opened up their production to subcontractors. He had lost count of how many there were in the sector, a statement about how much they were growing.

“What does that mean?” Sebastian asked.

“It means that if we used the crap they sent us, it would blow up in our face potentially killing people if not destroying a station or ship.”

“Melodramatic?” Sebastian asked through the ansible.

Fred cocked his head to the admiral.

Shelby shook her head. “Not really. There is a reason we have specs and that they are tough. We have to keep things within those specific settings to make sure they don't fail. This … it is almost like they deliberately tried to fail. And that is after we went out of our way to give them low interest loans, start-up equipment, and guides on how to start up their manufacturing. We literally showed them how to do every step of the process from raw material to finished product and helped them with the costs and equipment and yet they failed.”

Fred realized that the navy was still in the hole for their initial investment. She didn't appear happy, more or less resigned.

“I see. So, how bad is it?”

She blew out a breath. Okay, so, he wanted details. Fine. She went on to explain the situation again, this time in a bit more detail. When Sebastian asked if she could salvage a part of the shipment, she flat out refused and politely pointed out the regs on how the navy handled such situations. While she did that, Boni talked to Enki on a side channel and got Buships involved.

The thing that bugs me is that the previous batch was good. We used it!”

“So, it boils down to that they went cheap to cut costs in order to maximize profits,” Sebastian said.

“Exactly. Our contract states that they sell us the products at cost in order to retire our initial investment in their startup. Now they don't have to do that.”

“Can you eat it? Take the shipment, melt it down and reuse it? Or resell it on the civilian market?”

“Why would we accept waste? If we did that, we would open the door to anyone to abuse the system. Quality control and schematics are there for a reason,” Shelby replied with a shake of her head. “No. And no, I'm not going to be responsible for dumping trash onto the civilian market. That's criminal. No thank you.”

The Neochimp winced.

“It was just a spitball. You are correct; I spoke without thinking. I'll need to see those records.”

“We can of course give you ours. The problem is they are balking at giving us their records and emails,” Shelby stated.

“Oh?”

“Yes, and that is another breach of contract. We have a right to those records, especially given that we need to find out the root of the problem. If it is an accident, that is one thing. If this is malice, we need to get to the bottom of it and stop it. If it is greed, again, same thing,” Shelby stated flatly.

The Neochimp felt himself bristle. That was never a good sign. He hadn't known about the demand for the records.

“How are they refusing?”

“They are politely telling us to talk to their lawyers who are putting us off. Pretty much telling us to pound sand. I'm almost to the point of canceling the contract and blackballing them and anyone involved.”

“Now wait, let's not get hasty.”

“I have to set an example, and I have to follow through. That is my hardball line. That or sending the FBI there to get the records with a court order. I may have JAG and the local DOJ do that too. I'm still considering how much I want to get invested into this.”

“Ah.”

“Well, we have what we need to know on this end. We have seen this before; the secretary has set up a system to deal with it. I'll go through it with the staff. From your verbal report, it shows that they are at fault. But we will still need those records to back up any findings.”

“Sending them now,” Boni stated. “Enki is taking the packets in.”

“You should receive it all by morning,” Enki interjected.

“Ah. My thanks, Enki. And …?”

“Boni. My A.I.,” Shelby stated.

“Ah, Boni. My thanks. Ever efficient as always.”

“Thank you, sir.”

Once the call concluded, the Neochimp looked at Shelby. “So, that's it?”

“For the moment, no further shipments will be accepted. No payments sent and we are going to hit them with a bill since they are breaching the contract. We'll let the lawyers take it from here.”

The Neochimp nodded, but he didn't look thrilled. It probably meant testimony somewhere at some time.

~~~-^-~~~