Chapter 96 : Hostile Takeover

“It has been a pleasure doing business with you, Mr. Alexander Doesson.” Senate Head Hoggin said, a big smile on her face as she faced the patriarch of the Doesson Family, Alexander Doesson.

Her smiles seemed to show how pleased she was to meet the Doessons, yet Alexander knew this was all but an act. He had met the woman and other senators more than enough to know that. He did not know what she thought, and he knew trying was a loss of time too.

“Likewise, Madam Hoggin.” Alexander answered, smiling back as if to show how happy he was to meet her. That was simple business etiquette.  “When can we expect the good news from your side?”

He asked a very direct question, to which the Senate head chuckled. Perhaps that was a bit too hasty coming from his part.

“Very soon. We’ll make it happen. You are one of us from here on after all.” Madam Hoggin replied, still smiling. Her answer brought both ease to the tension Alexander built up, as well as a heartache. His son and grandson, who were right next to him, were not better. Worse, their emotions showed pretty easily. 

Alexander cursed inside. Had he known, he would not have taken them with him. They had already foiled his plans with his granddaughter, and now this. He would heavily scold them later on. He was ashamed to have them as his successors. Perhaps threatening them to remove their successor right and pass it on to another member of the family would be enough of a threat…

Still, for now things were going the right way. Alexander would finally achieve his childhood dream of entering the Senate.

The price to become part of the Senate was not free however…

He had to ‘sell’ more than a few shares of his businesses to the Senate.

Thirty Percent of his main business, rare mineral extraction, would be given, not even sold. Some parts would be nationalized under the pretext of this business being critical to the nation, but some other parts would be given to some powerful people in the Senate.

But that was not all.

His other business also took a slight hit. Fifty percent of his extraction of other minerals, twenty percent of his weapon manufacture business, ninety percent of his tank manufacture and sixty percent of his plasma weapon experimental plant.

Needless to say, this was all a heavy blow. Other ventures had also been touched, but still, his position as the chairman of all these businesses remained untouched.

Alexander was not happy about the deal. It was a huge blow to his personal ego and the hardships he had all throughout the years. Still, he had managed to save most of the parts in his jewel. The highest price on his list : The extraction of rare minerals.

This was the industry he had fought so hard to obtain. He knew from a young age how precious rare mineral excavation was and how much it would bring him in terms of money and influence. Rare earth was used everywhere after all.

Which is why it was kind of surprising to him back in the days when he learned such a crucial sector was entirely privatized, with no regulation or government parts in the sector. Needless to say that, for a young and ambitious young business man at the time, this was an opportunity he could not miss.

There was a lot of competition, but one enterprise was ahead of the others : Eiko Excavation.

This is where Alexander had a genius, and devious idea. He, who had now made a name for himself through his business of mineral extraction as well as his tank manufacturing, decided to take over Eiko Excavations.

How?

Through marriage. 

Eiko extraction was entirely owned by the Eiko family.  It was a family who had recently migrated from the Nichibotsu state and had been making ripples in the industry thanks to their groundbreaking and patented raw mineral excavation techniques as well as their weapon manufacturing.

Such things coming from migrants of another state would usually be seen with a bad eye, but the Borkian confederation did not care about such things. Business was first and foremost there and as much as Borkian Officials were concerned, migrants coming from the Nichibotsu state were pretty common.

Alexander did not care much either. He only saw opportunities. The Eikos was, but a small family of three. The head of business, his wife, and their young daughter.

Alexander used his political connections, as well as his business screwedness to approach the Eikos. He just so happened to also father a son, Davie, and he nearly had the same age as the Eiko daughter, so his plan was pretty easy to guess.

The Eikos were obviously aware of his plans, but they still let the kids get close. As fate would have it, Meiko Eiko, the Eiko’s daughter, fell hard for Davie. It was a happy coincidence for Alexander, he had not planned for his son to immediately catch the attention of Meiko Eiko. Davia also seemed to like her, so things could be said to go as intended.

The Eiko couple, who were very fond of their daughter, relented when they saw their daughter’s happy face. Still business was another matter, and it took a long time to soften their stance toward Alexander Doesson. The marriage between the two kids was agreed for a distant future, with the tacit agreement that Doesson Industries and Eiko Excavation would merge once Meiko Eiko inherited the business.

No sooner had this decision been written and officialized in front of officials did Alexander plan an ‘incident’ for the Eiko couple.

He was used to such things. This was not the first time he created ‘accidents’ that happened to be beneficial for him. So much so that he earned a reputation as a lucky bastard.

How much people thought this was just luck and how much it was a deliberate move from Alexander, people did not know, but that was fine to Alexander. For all he knew, as long as you smiled and had the money to back it up, you could get anything.

The Eikos were not oblivious to the schemes against them, but for some reason they let it slide. After a few foiled attempts, Alexander finally managed to get rid of them.

Now all he had to do was play the role of a grieving person who would take care of a business friend’s child.

He took Meiko in, and made sure she was educated in a way that was favorable for him. Thankfully, Meiko was quite the gullible girl, enamoured with Davie. Thanks to that Alexander’s plan progressed well.

Meiko did seem to feel aversion towards him though. That was fine for now. He would get rid of her once she gave birth to a male heir.

He was a bit disappointed when Meiko’s first child was revealed to be a girl, but that was fine. Still, just in case, he told his son to take in mistresses in secret.

Davie, as it happened, had gotten tired already of Meiko, so he easily agreed. Just like Alexander did in the past, he entered relationships with other women. Should the children born from these unions be a boy, then he would have ‘backups’, should they be girls, then he would have useful ‘tools’. Alexander had a traditional, patriarchal view of things, so he only cared about men for the succession.

He let Meiko spoil the girl rotten. After all, he only saw his new granddaughter, Rika Doesson, as a useful tool.

Davie and Meiko soon had a son too, so he could now rest easy. He planned to get rid of Meiko soon, but the happy couple trope surrounding his son and daughter-in-law actually had a positive effect on both his reputation and business ventures, so he decided to postpone any decision on the matter.

Years passed, and it was soon time to ‘make use of’ Rika. Alexander had some ideas for her. 

His weapon business had been lagging behind and he needed to reinforce it. The best way to do so was to create his own network within the military.

As such, he decided to enroll Rika as an officer in the Borkian Armed forces. Doing so would allow him to boast about it, making him look like a patriot, as well as creating connections through the military.

His plan was for his granddaughter to sell his weapons to other officers, particularly his experimental venture on plasma riffles.

Perhaps he could even marry Rika to an officer from a family with a prestigious military background.

Rika threw a tantrum as he expected, but Alexander did not care. His decisions reigned supreme in the family. Meiko only weakly pleaded in her daughter’s favor, but that was quickly dealt with.

Rika ended up being a better military leader than Alexander expected. When he learned she earned herself enough merrit to form her own unit, he more than happily sponsored her.

Still, when he met her, Rika had changed. Her face had become scarred and her look told him she was not the spoiled rotten granddaughter he knew anymore… What he had in front of him was a tiger. Aggressive to her enemies, but useful if well tamed.

As such, he adopted a laissez faire attitude towards her, only leaving enough resources in her hand while keeping a close grip  on her unit’s finances.

Rika’s reputation had also achieved his goals, and his weapon business boomed. 

He even managed to meet and discuss business with Field Marshall Barry Twill, who had an interest in Rika’s talent and wanted to bring her in his faction.

Rika remained neutral, but that actually was the best move for Alexander.

Now he could focus on his final objective : entering the Senate.

It was a dream to young Alexander. It would mark his extreme success down in history books. 

Entering the Senate was no easy task however…

The Senate represented the top class of the Borkian Confederation and was reserved for the elite. Alexander Doesson achieved a lot, but as much as he tried, he could not get inside their clique.

The reason? Elitism. The senators tended to look down on others, and they defended their places fiercely. 

The Senate was not limited in the number of Senators that could be ‘elected’. In fact, it could have as many senators as it wanted thanks to some loops in the constitution. The problem was that the senators liked their elitist status and all the privileges it gave, but the more of them there were, the less ‘elitist’ their title became…

So they limited entry as much as possible.

Alexander had been in long talks with the Senators in order to enter the Senate. Senators refused however, partly because he was too power-hungry, even for them.

They offered concessions if he accepted to limit his power. That is giving them part of his business.

Alexander fiercely opposed that. He understood what the Senators’ goals were. They planned to ‘eat him up’ and divide the spoils between themselves. He was not ignorant and fiercely opposed such deals.

He would show them through force that he could enter the Senate.

But as it so happened, things went Southward from there on…

It all began when Rika’s most trusted soldier was suddenly muted on one of Alexander’s goons on a whim. This caused a chain of events even Alexander could not predict.

First, he learned that Rika had fallen from grace in the eyes of Field Marshall Barry Twill, and that the promising general, David Fika, had also isolated her from the chain of command.

Alexander reacted swiftly. Since his granddaughter was already ‘at war’ with him, and that she lost all the good points she could give him, he decided to swiftly get rid of her by framing her as revolting against the Borkian government. His goon would personally crush her and gain a reputation like this.

Unfortunately, he had not expected his goon to be so useless, nor General Berdo Polk to help Rika, nor the clones…

The clones were definitely the most surprising part, but now that he knew about it, Alexander immediately wanted to take advantage of this and take the clones for himself.

Unfortunately, his new plans were swiftly broken when Rika made a scene by announcing she left the Doesson family… And her clones suddenly blew up the main ammunition factory for his tanks on Borkian Prime as a sort of warning…

Knowing that all negotiation channels were not going to work, Alexander decided to collude with those who conspired to steal the clones. But then the Academy decided to protect the clones and Rika out of the blue!

The situation seemed out of control, but that was when the Senate reached out to him…

If he managed to get rid of Rika for them, then they would give him the Senator title he wanted so much.

For that, Alexander had a plan.

Ever since Rika abandoned the name Doesson, her mother, Meiko, had grown restless. Alexander decided to use that to his advantage, so he let her sneak out… and promptly paid a bunch of pirates to capture her. The goal was to create another incident where both Rika and Meiko would meet their demise.

Fate was yet again against him however…

The pirates were eliminated by a passing-by destroyer from the Borkian Navy, and he lost all traces of Meiko.

Worst of all, an investigation revealed that he had paid the pirates, and these pirates were actually rebels from the Phillian Techno-Empire!

Alexander did not know about the last part, but no one cared. For all they knew, he had colluded with another allied nation’s rebels. As such, he lost his positive outlook in the Borkian Army, and the Senate swiftly cut all ties they had with the Doesson family…

Alexander managed to keep it all under wraps from the public, but his influence had been severely diminished.

Instead of ruminating over his losses, Alexander swiftly jumped back on his feet. Since Meiko was ‘lost’, he decided to officially declare her dead and organise funerals, hoping to make Rika come out and meet him.

Unfortunately his granddaughter never took the bait. Despite what he hoped for, her popularity among the public also did not diminish.

Worst of all, as he was preparing new plans to deal with Rika, a bombshell dropped.

The news came out of nowhere. Would have expected Rika’s most trusted clone, the Clone Mother, to go on a joint ruin expedition with the Phillian Empire and come back with an entire army of clones, who seemed to be loyal only to Rika?

The words were enough to make even the Senate afraid, and something very unusual happened. For the first time in all Borkian history, the Senators put aside their squabbles and all united. Alexander, who knew this was weird, watched from a distance, but for all he knew, this could also be an opportunity…

But first he had to deal with his businesses.

Something concerning has been happening lately. A few former employees, as well as minor shareholders suddenly formed a rival company in the excavation business.

At first it was nothing serious, but this new company gained in size at an alarming rate and some of his longtime business partners suddenly betrayed him and joined this enemy company!

This company was called “Reisei Ryōri”. It came from a cultural language of the Nichibotsu state, which Alexander did not know.

One thing was for sure though. This new company was a menace to what he had built all these years! 

He needed to deal with it, but for some reason, none of his plans worked.  He tried playing the game of influence, but for some reason no one listened to him!

Needless to say that he was restless about that situation…

He came over to Borkian Prime personally in order to see if he could get some leverage from some old friends, and as it just so happened, the whole Malaise Tower incident happened.

Alexander was more than surprised the Borkian President was now backing Rika, but he was even more surprised to learn through the mouth of some connections that even Field Marshall Barry Twill was now supporting her!

So Alexander tried once again to make a deal with his granddaughter. Surprisingly she agreed to meet, but that meeting went absolutely nowhere. The Clone Mother seemed extremely hostile to the Doessons. Alexander tried to play the higher hand, but it seemed to anger Rika even more. Worse, when his grandson, Dannie, let out a word about wanting a clone for his personal use, Rika was outraged.

Alexander cursed at the time. He should not have let his grandson in that meeting. He was honestly worried about letting him inherit the wealth of the family in the future and he had discussed with Davie about quietly disinheriting this useless troublemaker…

Still, just as he was thinking of new plans to deal with Rika, an unexpected contact reached out to them personally.

The person was none other than General David Fika. He came out of the blue, all smiling, and said he would happily give them a direct contact with the Senate, should he be granted the right to marry Rika and get ownership of the clones.

Alexander promptly accepted. From a business perspective, this was a golden opportunity as well as a gamble, but Alexander was of the kind who took such gambles.

He promptly signed any papers David Fika showed him about the marriage agreement after reading them. There was no trap and it was all beneficial to Alexander and the Doessons. Alexander smiled, luck had not left his side entirely. Of course, Rika herself was not consulted, and she technically was not part of the Doesson family anymore, but such things could be easily overruled by the Senate, which to his surprise, seemed to be backing David Fika.

The only condition left was to negotiate his seat in the Senate.

He met with Senator representative Hoggin. The woman was a tough one and did not sign the papers willy-nilly. Tough yet quick negotiations were made. 

Basically, Alexander had to agree to all the terms the Senate dictated. He knew this was his last chance. But once he obtained a seat in the Senate, he would be able to deal with this new competitor on the mineral excavation market and establish an official, true monopoly within the Borkian Confederation.

It would also give him access to the Senate’s private resources, connections, contracted private military groups, and most of all, the Commerce Guards. It was unfortunate the Guards units had been disbanded by the Academy, but he had heard the Senate was reinforcing the Commerce Guard and poaching more former Guards soldiers.

All in all, it looked like the Senate was preparing for a drastic change in politics, and Alexander wanted to be part of it.

The losses he agreed to were a minor setback, but he would find a way to obtain more wealth and influence…

Alexander smiled as he thought of the promising future. He looked at the signed papers on the table. The deal was done and he would finally achieve his longtime dream. He lightly bowed his head toward Madam Hoggin.

“I cannot thank you enou-”

*BEEP BEEP BEEP*

Just as he was expressing his thanks in a business style, his watch terminal, as well as his son’s and grandson’s terminals, all let out a beeping alarm…

Alexander silently and calmly looked at his watch terminal. What he saw nearly made his eyes pop out, but his business man side restrained him from showing any shift in emotion. This was not good news.

How could this happen?

This was the first time Alexander was confronted with such a problem on such a large scale…

“...Apologies, but I must excuse myself. It looks like something important is happening.” He calmly said to Senator Hoggin.

“My, is it about the strikes?” Madam Hoggin said calmly, smiling back. This made Alexander's eyebrow twitch. The Senate woman was one step ahead of him…

From her unbothered look, it seemed the Senate had no part in these strikes, but it appeared she already knew of the situation when they signed the papers…

It could only mean one thing… They were taking advantage of the Doesson’s family weaknesses to take more out of him…

Alexander could not allow that. He would deal with the problem himself.

A strike was nothing unusual. Usually he dealt with such things by either raising the pay of the strikers a bit, bribing some in the group of strikers to cause mayhem in the group, or simply fire them. In some cases he could even shoot them down.

But none of these would work here… the strike was on a scale he could not contain.

More than seventy five percent of the employees of Eiko went on a strike, the situation was alarming.

Worse, the group was not asking for a raise, better work conditions or anything like that, what they were asking was something Alexander had never expected.

A change in direction meant that he would need to resign from his post as chairman, and his son as president. 

This obviously could not happen, but the strikers had already put their demands : resign or we shall join Reisei Ryōri. Alexander obviously could not let that happen…

He needed to get a grip on how serious the situation was, and he could only negotiate face to face with the strikers…

If he were to describe what was happening however, he would qualify it as a hostile takeover by Reisei Ryōri of his own company…

Meanwhile, Senator Hoggin’s smile deepened.

“It is indeed a serious situation. If you were to lose your grip on your holdings, then I am afraid…”

“Please do not worry. This will not happen.” Alexander did not let the woman finish her words. He would not let such a thing happen. Not when he was so close to achieving his goal. 

“Davie, Dannie, let’s go.”

“Yes Father.”

“Yes Grandp- grandfather.”