How Long Can GML Last?
With a curse, Foster threw off his XR goggles, and they went clattering away across the Skunk Works boardroom table. The meeting had lasted just over an hour, and it hadn’t gone well.
“That guy is going to ruin this project!” He made a show of ripping a USB cable from its adaptor port and casting it away too. “He’s saying that our airships aren’t performing up to specifications without acknowledging that the government didn’t purchase half of the equipment he says he needs. Did they expect us to give it away?”
“I need you to relax, Vern.” All pretense of serene corporate acumen was now absent from Vaughn’s features. She scolded her teammate. “We can still fix this.”
“How can we, Cora?” Foster threw his hands in the air and rocked back in his seat. “We’re on the verge of a major war, and they’re talking about cutting the PDI budget!”
“They’re not cutting the PDI,” Vaughn waved a finger menacingly to indicate Foster should shut up. The Pacific Deterrence Initiative (PDI) was a major component of the annual National Defense Authorization Act. “They are actually increasing it… just not as much as we expected.”
“Please,” Ranell interjected. Not for the first time Ranell thought, I wish I had a better financial background. But since the tragic death of GML’s Chief Financial Officer, these duties had fallen on him. “Can you just help me understand the bottom line here? What’s going to happen to this project? They’ve only retrofitted three of my airships so far. Are they still planning to retrofit the other three? GML’s got a lot riding on this.”
An irritated Foster disdainfully began to go over the basic financial details again in a way that sounded like he was explaining to a child. Vaughn cut him off. “The bottom line, Josef, is that this project is going to take a lot longer than we originally estimated.”
“Thanks, Cora.” Ranell appreciated her civility, but the news she gave him was still bad. He gripped the desk to keep from reeling. He was intimately familiar with the GML financial situation. I don’t know if we can last that long.
Choose Option 1: Contracts Delayed
Choose Option 2: Bought Enough Time?