BXBX NOVEL Chapter 127 Oil Politics
August 22, 2013.
It was a sunny afternoon at the Future Tech Headquarters, where Vince and Hailee spent time together during his work break at the penthouse.
Hailee scrolled through the available channels and landed on the ABC News broadcast about the Ghouta Chemical Attack and the Syrian military\'s direct involvement, showing video evidence posted by the UN from an anonymous source.
The news correspondent in Damascus stated, "The United Nations have been continuously inquiring about President Bashar al-Assad\'s role in the recent atrocity committed against civilians, but the Syrian government has made no official statements. However, an hour earlier, a press announcement from Afghanistan President Hamid Karzai condemned al-Assad for allowing the tragedy to occur under his supervision before Chinese President Xi Jinping followed up by publicly supporting Karzai\'s statement. ABC News is uncertain why the usually silent Eastern superpower is suddenly so friendly with Afghanistan, but the situation isn\'t looking too good for the Assad regime."
Hailee was distraught watching human suffering due to the banned substance and rhetorically asked, "Could a President really do such a thing against their own people? Can we do anything to help?"
She was young and innocent, unaware of the drastic lengths people would go to protect their interests, and Vince thought, [I can\'t say it out loud, but yes. Future Security already intercepted warheads meant for al-Assad. So it\'s an entirely reasonable assumption he orchestrated this mess. The advanced warheads would have killed ten times more people.]
Vince held Hailee\'s hands and reassuringly said, "Those people didn\'t deserve to die painful deaths, but Leah immediately reassigned a few Future Med units in Kandahar to Damascus with Sarin antidotes and saved more than a thousand people with lesser symptoms as soon as the news reached us about the chemical attack. So don\'t worry too much, Haiz."
Hailee felt a bit more at ease as she cuddled closer to Vince and replied, "Alright, I hope they fully recover. The news anchor mentioned Afghanistan. Isn\'t that the country where your friends like Price and Felix work?"
Vince initiated some banter to lighten the mood and jokingly said, "Why so interested in Future Security all of a sudden? Are you spying, Haiz?"
Hailee chuckled a bit before jovially replying, "No, dummy! I\'m asking because we freely discuss the record label, the Infinity Channel, and game updates, but you barely talk about Future Security with me or your friends."Â
Vince paused for a moment to formulate a response and honestly said, "Future Tech transformed when it began taking military contracts from the US government. I can\'t deny the fact that our recent financial success is the direct result of conflict and bloodshed. Even the high-speed Transatlantic and Transpacific Fiber connections were only possible because of our partnership with the DOD. The FS operators protecting us and my interests are all career warriors, and their number one talent is killing. The subject is too stressful to discuss with Kyle and the others casually."
Vince\'s maturity level was much higher due to his past life experience, and he could cope with the armed conflict, but his friends were regular teenagers. Moreover, the extra stress of being aware of professional assassins and tyrannical dictators would affect their lifestyles negatively and distract them from working on projects they love.
Hailee appreciated her boyfriend\'s honesty and softly said, "I recall when I first met you at E3 and saw your security escort; it surprised me. The local government in California isn\'t big fans of guns like they are here in Texas, so all the rifles I\'ve seen before meeting you were movie props. I really believed Marco used a fake airsoft gun at first."
Vince laughed in amusement and replied, "I can\'t blame you for thinking that way; considering how modded and tricked out their battle rifles are configured, it looks like they\'re LARPing Call of Duty or somethin\'."
Hailee quickly forgot about the distressing news as she cracked up at Vince\'s joke.
She\'d been enjoying the moderately active lifestyle Vince shared with her recently, like grappling, kickboxing, exploring the Austin sights, and interacting with Texans like Post Malone and Kacey Musgraves, aside from her new friends.
Texas culture was quite different from other states she\'d visited, not in a good or bad way, but a unique character the locals embodied, a sense of proud liberty.
Another notable aspect of the culture was guns. Almost everybody owned some type of gun for hunting or self-defense, so Hailee curiously asked, "Have you ever gone to target practice at a shooting range?"
Future Tech technically owned the largest private shooting range, located in the FS Barracks, but Vince never visited as most meetings were held on NetServ conference calls. However, he did shoot AR-15s during his off time from university studies like most people who lived in the South.
Texas shared a gun ownership culture with Middle Eastern countries in a general sense as most men in the Persian Gulf treated their rifles with respect.
He honestly replied, "Not really. You know I prefer hand-to-hand combat, and besides, my FS escort will be much more effective in keeping me alive in a firefight."
Hailee excitedly asked, "Can we go sometime? I want to learn how to shoot a pistol while I\'m in town. The last time I shot one, it was a fake revolver on True Grit."
Vince sarcastically replied, "You really want to learn how to shoot guns? Not ride horses or go hiking like most other people?"Â
Hailee was adamant and said, "Come on, babe! You gave me a leading role in the Everlife action movie, and I\'m pretty sure all the characters shoot guns, so I\'ll need to practice sooner or later."
She\'d been taking her combat training sessions seriously as preparation for her role and eagerly learned new techniques from Mr. Fury.
Vince gave in to her request and said, "Alright, alright. I\'ll set up a practice session with Marco for us and whoever is interested this weekend. How was your initial table reads with the Russo brothers go?"
Hailee was content to hear about the target practice class and answered, "The Future Studios program director, Oliver, had been phenomenal getting the project off the ground. Anthony and Joseph Russo are already writing storyboards and pre-visualization on the Infinity Unreal Engine. The video conference table reads were great, and I loved the movie concept the Russos pitched."
Vince wasn\'t surprised to hear of Oliver\'s effectiveness and said, "I\'m glad you\'re stoked for the film, or else you wouldn\'t want to be in it. Our Taiwanese-American media producer had contributed significantly to the APL\'s success online, so he\'s my number one candidate to lead the Infinity Channel as its executive director. The new platform should be released soon based on the latest reports from Jessica and the software engineering division."
The young couple spent a few more minutes together before both had to return to work—Hailee with her music and acting and Vince with his daily meetings.
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An African-American man in his mid-30s, Diontray Ellison, the materials science subdivision director, was speaking with Mark DeYoung, the Future Arms director, via NetServ video conference.
Mark was frustrated with the Pentagon denying Future Arm\'s bid for the new frontline armor upgrades because it was too expensive at $1 million per infantry variant.
The US military employed approximately 250,000 frontline operators across all its divisions, which would require $250 billion before considering maintenance costs.
Future Arms proactive armors like the Commando and the Hammer were designed to give veteran warriors an edge on outnumbered battlefields. Still, regular foot soldiers only needed to protect their heads and vital organs within the thorax, as combat medical aid was enough to treat limb injuries.
An FS operator wearing the infantry variant could survive a direct hit from a mortar shell, but this level of protection was too excessive for inexperienced soldiers.
Mark said in annoyance, "We\'ve developed the best armor system in the world, but the old fogies in the Pentagon can\'t even appreciate it. I\'ve reviewed the other bids from Spartan Armor and Safe Life Defense, but none of their plates could stop NATO-standard rifle ammunition."
Dion took a moment of thought and said, "The competing bids are much cheaper and don\'t stray away too much from the armor solutions US soldiers are already using. In addition, my subdivision can assist in designing the standard-design armor plates using only a few exotic materials like a thin layer of graphene metal-matrix while reducing costs."
Mark agreed with Dion\'s suggestion and replied, "General Douglas requested a budget armor solution that featured a mil-spec Hypervisor Helmet with an integrated adaptive temperature suit worn under the soldier\'s uniform and plate carrier. We should aim to keep the price per unit to $5,000. The primary metrics to achieve are weight, comfort, and functionality. Future Arms has a month to submit a new bid, but I think that should be enough time."
The two corporate directors bade each other farewell before returning to work with their teams to design the updated budget bid for DOD\'s Future Soldier 2030 initiative.
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