Part 1 - Pre 2/28, Chapter 3a
Flicking off the digivision in disgust, Rhonda Ehrle threw the remote across the sofa until it clattered onto the floor. Angrily, she punched the number for her secretary. "Get me Tsunglei!" she barked into the digicom. Within a few seconds, Tsunglei's disembodied voice floated through the device.
"Rhondi dear."
"Don't Rhondi dear me!"
"Oh?" A slight hesitation followed. "From the tone of your voice, I surmise that you are... shall we say pissed off?"
Rhonda scowled at the way his voice trailed off in a higher pitch, to illustrate his amusement at the situation.
Tsunglei continued. "And to what do I owe this displeasure?"
No matter what she did, no matter how many honors she won, whenever Rhonda talked with Tsunglei, she felt like he was mocking her. Here she is, League Liaison, basically the face of the Raydars when it comes to inter- and intra-league transactions and contracts. And she needed Khaladiff not to be pissed off enough to meddle in some of her inter-League dealings with Elum's neighbors.
She needed the Raydars organization to stay off Elum's and thus Khaladiff's radar. Doing a full 10 minute in-depth (well, as in-depth as 10 minutes could be) segment was sure to raise Khaladiff's ire, especially since he had been anxious to keep a low profile ever since there was a report that he had wiped out an entire settlement near the Stinging Scorpions just because they supported the Faithful Monoliths.
This move of Khaladiff had angered not only the Monoliths, but also enemies of the Monoliths, for the Monoliths tended to lump most of the Khundinists city-states together and therefore would step up the fan harassment typical of Pro-Am Zingball League fans. If only members of the Pro-Am League weren't so barbaric... hmm maybe, she should start a program to introduce them to academic music! As someone once said, music does soothe the savage beast.
Rhonda snatched up a memo pad from her desk and wrote a note to herself about funding for the academic music outreach program for Pro-Am Zingball League members. Put on a charity ball to sponsor said program. Rhonda smiled as she lowered the pad; gods, she could be such a genius.
A clearing of the throat barked out of the digicom, startling Rhonda. OH! Tsunglei! She deliberately lowered her voice to give an impression of power, sex and a touch of anger. "Who gave Tessa Bloom permission to do an in-depth look at Moraffa Khaladiff?"
"Oh? was the bored reply.
Her heart beating faster as she got angrier, she repeated, "OH?"
"Tessa Bloom was supposed to have given a report about our new brewery deal. I suppose your Corey West fucked up again."
Rhonda's eyes darted about as she searched for a response. If she responded that West wasn't hers, Tsunglei would ask why did she ask him to hire West then. This was what she hated about Tsunglei Tong, that no conversation with him could ever be a simple thing. It had to be layered with meanings upon meanings, partially to muddle up the issues sufficiently that a non-answer would be answer enough. This was Tong's specialty and Rhonda's weakness. Part of Tong's disdain for Rhonda was that he claimed her approach was as subtle as an elephant's. She gave up trying to second- or triple-guess Tong, "If any outside media approaches with questions, try to distract them with something else please? There's some delicate negotiations that are going on, that we need Khaladiff to stay out of."
"Oh really?"
Rhonda could hear Tong drumming his fingers.
"Well? Are you going to inform me about the negotiations?" Tong seemed impatient.
Startled, Rhonda sputtered, "umm Tsunglei, I can't talk about them. Maybe if you go to Dirk, he'll let you know."
"Fine, I'll meet you in 10 minutes in your office. We will go see Haverhill together." *CLICK*
"Wait!" How in Shon's name did she just get hustled into taking Tong to Dirk? Damnit, damnit, damnit. Why does Braun keep Tong around? Oh she knew all the myriad of reasons but in the end, there was one reason that really mattered to Braun; Tong got him elected to be president of the Raydars and now that Braun was poised to win re-election, Tong was guaranteed not just employment, but highly-placed employment.
Rhonda pondered about the matter a little longer and decided that she'd better nip this idea of Tong's in the bud before he started saying stuff about West in front of Braun. She had to keep reinforcing the idea to Braun that she's available... Rhonda let the thought trail off before she got into trouble. She called Haverhill to let him know about their impending visit.
Sure enough, right at 10 minutes, a knock rapped on her door followed by Tong's nasally drawl. "Ready?"
She nodded as she picked up her shawl and wrapped it around her shoulders. Her office was just three doors down from Haverhill's whereas Tong's office was one floor below. Because it bothered Tong so much that his office was located down there as opposed to Braun's, Haverhill's and Rhonda's that Braun deliberately kept Tong's office down there, despite numerous promotions and raises.
"Rhondi dear."
"Don't Rhondi dear me!"
"Oh?" A slight hesitation followed. "From the tone of your voice, I surmise that you are... shall we say pissed off?"
Rhonda scowled at the way his voice trailed off in a higher pitch, to illustrate his amusement at the situation.
Tsunglei continued. "And to what do I owe this displeasure?"
No matter what she did, no matter how many honors she won, whenever Rhonda talked with Tsunglei, she felt like he was mocking her. Here she is, League Liaison, basically the face of the Raydars when it comes to inter- and intra-league transactions and contracts. And she needed Khaladiff not to be pissed off enough to meddle in some of her inter-League dealings with Elum's neighbors.
She needed the Raydars organization to stay off Elum's and thus Khaladiff's radar. Doing a full 10 minute in-depth (well, as in-depth as 10 minutes could be) segment was sure to raise Khaladiff's ire, especially since he had been anxious to keep a low profile ever since there was a report that he had wiped out an entire settlement near the Stinging Scorpions just because they supported the Faithful Monoliths.
This move of Khaladiff had angered not only the Monoliths, but also enemies of the Monoliths, for the Monoliths tended to lump most of the Khundinists city-states together and therefore would step up the fan harassment typical of Pro-Am Zingball League fans. If only members of the Pro-Am League weren't so barbaric... hmm maybe, she should start a program to introduce them to academic music! As someone once said, music does soothe the savage beast.
Rhonda snatched up a memo pad from her desk and wrote a note to herself about funding for the academic music outreach program for Pro-Am Zingball League members. Put on a charity ball to sponsor said program. Rhonda smiled as she lowered the pad; gods, she could be such a genius.
A clearing of the throat barked out of the digicom, startling Rhonda. OH! Tsunglei! She deliberately lowered her voice to give an impression of power, sex and a touch of anger. "Who gave Tessa Bloom permission to do an in-depth look at Moraffa Khaladiff?"
"Oh? was the bored reply.
Her heart beating faster as she got angrier, she repeated, "OH?"
"Tessa Bloom was supposed to have given a report about our new brewery deal. I suppose your Corey West fucked up again."
Rhonda's eyes darted about as she searched for a response. If she responded that West wasn't hers, Tsunglei would ask why did she ask him to hire West then. This was what she hated about Tsunglei Tong, that no conversation with him could ever be a simple thing. It had to be layered with meanings upon meanings, partially to muddle up the issues sufficiently that a non-answer would be answer enough. This was Tong's specialty and Rhonda's weakness. Part of Tong's disdain for Rhonda was that he claimed her approach was as subtle as an elephant's. She gave up trying to second- or triple-guess Tong, "If any outside media approaches with questions, try to distract them with something else please? There's some delicate negotiations that are going on, that we need Khaladiff to stay out of."
"Oh really?"
Rhonda could hear Tong drumming his fingers.
"Well? Are you going to inform me about the negotiations?" Tong seemed impatient.
Startled, Rhonda sputtered, "umm Tsunglei, I can't talk about them. Maybe if you go to Dirk, he'll let you know."
"Fine, I'll meet you in 10 minutes in your office. We will go see Haverhill together." *CLICK*
"Wait!" How in Shon's name did she just get hustled into taking Tong to Dirk? Damnit, damnit, damnit. Why does Braun keep Tong around? Oh she knew all the myriad of reasons but in the end, there was one reason that really mattered to Braun; Tong got him elected to be president of the Raydars and now that Braun was poised to win re-election, Tong was guaranteed not just employment, but highly-placed employment.
Rhonda pondered about the matter a little longer and decided that she'd better nip this idea of Tong's in the bud before he started saying stuff about West in front of Braun. She had to keep reinforcing the idea to Braun that she's available... Rhonda let the thought trail off before she got into trouble. She called Haverhill to let him know about their impending visit.
Sure enough, right at 10 minutes, a knock rapped on her door followed by Tong's nasally drawl. "Ready?"
She nodded as she picked up her shawl and wrapped it around her shoulders. Her office was just three doors down from Haverhill's whereas Tong's office was one floor below. Because it bothered Tong so much that his office was located down there as opposed to Braun's, Haverhill's and Rhonda's that Braun deliberately kept Tong's office down there, despite numerous promotions and raises.
posted by resigned idealist at 8:06 AM
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