[color=gold][center][h1][i][b]Valkyrie AGR Team Headquarters[/b][/i][/h1][/center][/color] [color=gold][center][h2][i][b]Thursday March 9th, 2094[/b][/i][/h2][/center][/color] [b]Soundtrack: [url= https://youtu.be/7wtfhZwyrcc?feature=shared] Believer - Imagine Dragons[/url][/b] [hr] Alexander had worked late into the evening on Wednesday pouring over the reports from the various teams. The reports allowed him to see where Valkyrie was currently focused, see what ideas the staff had, and what resources they had to work with. The reports were key in his decision making. He couldn’t make informed decisions without as much data as possible. He would not box himself into a corner by relying on limited data. It was not that he didn’t trust the team lead's opinions but the more ideas he had to work with the better. Alexander believed that more hands make light work and more brains working on a problem the better. He needed the team to start acting like… well a team. The racing team had been so siloed into different departments that they didn’t know what each other were doing. He had to open up better lines of communication and trust between the different departments. There was currently an us versus them mentality between the departments. When in reality, they were all on the same team and it should be all of us against the other teams. He had finally gone to bed in the wee hours of the morning exhausted but confident he had put together a solid plan. [hr] [color=gold][center][h1][i][b]Alexander’s Office[/b][/i][/h1][/center][/color] [hr] Alexander had indulged and slept in till 8am. After a fast breakfast and a shower, he headed into the office. Today he was wearing jeans and a green button down shirt and his favorite work boots. Mabel had already greeted him and teased him for sleeping in. She had his day organized and had already taken care of all the arrangements for the Board Meeting happening at 10am this morning. Alexander knew he needed to address the morale and uncertainty in the air with the other employees. He needed to bring them together and he needed to address them all. The best way to do that was to record a video message that went out to them all. Alexander pondered what he wanted to say and then set up the tech to record the holographic message and began. Alexander knew his talking head would be what the others saw. [color=00aeef]“Good morning. For those who have not met me yet or don’t know who I am, my name is Alexander Knight. I suspect all of you know who I am by now. I am the new Crew Chief for Valkyrie AGR Sport. I want to apologize that my first day in the office was so difficult for so many of you. I don’t regret the choices I made on Tuesday. My job is to lead this team. To lead you to victory. We can’t achieve that goal if our team is divided by interoffice politics and pettiness between departments. You are all working for one team, Valkyrie AGR Sport. One team. Not many. You all have different roles and what you do is important to helping this team. Every single one of you is important. From the pilots who fly the ships, to the engineers designing new technology, to the mechanics who keep it maintained, to the marketing team who gets us sponsors which gets us funding, to the janitor who cleans the bathroom. Every single person here is on one team. It means that I value and need every single one of you, working together to make this happen. I am a pretty simple man. I will give you my respect until you prove you don’t deserve it. I will protect, encourage, and support you to be the best you can be. Because I want the best out of you. Valkyrie cannot be the best without your best. It is my job to remove obstacles preventing you from being your best. That is what happened Tuesday. I want to be honest and upfront with you all about what is happening because you deserve to know. I will be meeting with the Board of Directors at 10am to share the proposal for changes and what we are going to be doing to move Valkyrie forward hopefully to a winning season. There are going to be some major changes around here. I do want to squash the rumor that I am planning to fire everyone. The only ones being fired are those who were not doing their jobs or were in violation of company policies.There is not going to be mass layoffs. There will be some restructuring. I will explain what those changes are going to be and why after I have met with the Board of Directors. I don’t need their approval to make these changes. But they are a part of the team just like all of you. I want to have their support and approval on these changes. I want to end the division that has been internally hampering this team. I hope all of you are excited about the changes coming. I want you to be excited to come to work. I am sending this message because I am sure many of you are feeling uneasy and uncertain where I am taking the team after Tuesday. I want you to know that I see it. I understand your uncertainty. Hang in there with me. I promise it will be worth it.” [/color] Alexander sent the message to Mabel and asked her to send it out to all employees. [hr] [color=gold][center][h1][i][b]Board Room 10am[/b][/i][/h1][/center][/color] [hr] The conference room the Board of Directors favored using was well appointed with a dark mahogany conference table and plush leather swivel chairs. The walls were a neutral white with large screens on them. Along the wall by the door was a long buffet counter that served as the place for snacks and drinks with a built-in one cup coffee maker. The room was at full capacity today as it was a mandatory Board Meeting. Alexander was meeting alone with the board but wished he could have brought Mabel with him. She always made presentations easier. Well let’s face it, Mabel made everything easier for him.Alexander was secretly grateful to her family for annoying her so he should be willing to come and help him. She had already been a tremendous help to him. She had helped him sift through all the reports and helped put forward the best options based on resources and the most promising for development. The Board of Directors was headed by Leopold Koch who had the position of President and represented Red Bull Racing interests. The Vice President of the board was Astrid Jorgensen who represented the European Union Space Agency. The Board Secretary was Kirsi Virtanen representing the interests of Kivelo Kinetics. The remaining Board Members were Allessandra Ferrari representing Ferrari racing interests, Lucas Dupont representing Renault Racing interests, Lars Olsson represented Sauber Racing interests, Carmen Alvarez and Matteo Aldenburg representing the European Union Space Agency, Oliver Saar was the new board member from Brimex Corporation, Dietrich Steindl represented Biomatter International, and Isak Nielsen representing Hansen Genetics. Alexander came into the conference room and sat down at one end of the table. He placed his tablet on the table in front of him before getting up to make himself a cup of coffee. It was only his third so far. He had just settled into his seat and taken his first sip when the door opened and Leopold came in followed by others. Alexander gave everyone a cordial nod. [color=00aeef]Alexander: “Morning.” [/color] [color=fff200]Leopold: “Good Morning Alexander.” [/color] Alexander got some muttered greetings from around the table. Finally everyone was in and settled. Leopold started the meeting. [color=fff200]Leopold: “Good Morning everyone. I want to make a few points clear about this meeting. Alexander’s contract allows him to make whatever changes he wants to make without your approval. He is meeting with you at his request because he wants your support. The events from Tuesday are still being investigated. This meeting was called so that Alexander can share his proposed changes with the Board.” [/color] There were some angry and mutinous looks from Leopold’s declaration. Others looked more thoughtful and introspective. Several merely nodded in a neutral fashion. Leopold nodded to Alexander as he spoke: [color=fff200]“Then let this meeting begin. This Board of Directors meeting will be recorded for the records. Alexander you have the meeting is yours.” [/color] Alexander opened his tablet and swiped his hand which then flicked the information on it to the screen on the wall behind him. He wanted to be sure everyone had a view of the information. [color=00aeef]Alexander: “Thank you for all coming on short notice. There is a lot of work to do and not a lot of time. I want your support therefore I took the time to put together this presentation for you. I want to share my reasoning with you. I want you to understand why I think these are the best directions for Valkyrie to explore at this time. Another reason I am bringing this to you is that you all represent a cross sector of industry that may be beneficial to the team. You may have access to resources or research that I am not familiar with. I want to invite you to put forward your ideas as well. You eleven people are supposed to be guiding leaders of the Valkyrie Anti Gravity Racing Team. I want you all to step up and lead from the front. The shitshow I walked into on Tuesday should never have been allowed to fester inside this team. You are supposed to be the team guardians, not a pack of jackals. Lead from the front and be open to sharing your ideas and what ways your interests can support the team. There is no need to work from the shadows when we can all work together in the light.” [/color] Alexander took a moment as the silence in the room was telling. His words had an impact. Whether his words would make a difference remained to be seen. He could only hope. [color=00aeef]Alexander: “The first change that needs to happen is that the team needs to be restructured to facilitate better communication and understanding from the different areas of expertise that have to come together to make this work. The communication barriers between departments have created an us versus them competition between departments and mistrust. Removing those barriers will foster communication and collaboration across disciplines. This is how we keep the ship balanced and achieve the best results for everyone.” [/color] [color=00aeef]Alexander: “I want to do this by integrating the training and medical departments into one unit. I also want to merge engineering and mechanics into one team. The other departments will be merged into one department called the support division. The support division will include marketing, human resources, and other support personnel.There will be a mandatory weekly team meeting which will be attended by the heads of each department and any critical personnel needed for the topics being discussed that week. For example if the team is discussing an engineering change then the head will attend and the engineer who developed it and the mechanic who made it work.” [/color] Alexander looked around the table and saw interested faces as they reviewed the more detailed information on their tablets. [color=00aeef]Alexander: “The second change I want to implement is renovations to the engineering and mechanics section. I am hoping it won’t take long as most of the renovation will be interior construction. I want to break down a few walls and create a central inventory hub for machinery, tools, and parts. The engineers will work alongside the mechanics in the same space and share the same system and tools ensuring that everyone has what they need. This will eliminate inventory discrepancies and reduce costs for maintaining these two departments.” [/color] Alexander’s words created some buzz among the directors as all of them began to apply themselves more reading the plan. [color=00aeef]Alexander: “The next set of changes I want to discuss involve both medical and training. One of the reasons that I want to merge these two teams is that I think we are missing a huge opportunity for cross team pollination of ideas and how to implement them. I asked for proposals from both teams. I can see some interesting possibilities by having them work together on some ideas to help our pilots with natural gains without augmentations.”[/color] Alexander grinned at the shocked face and a few surprised looks as heads popped up to look at him with open mouths. [color=00aeef]Alexander: “For example, Dr. Ainsworth our Cognition Neural Specialist proposed that there were methods to help pilots adjust to their neural chips and improve their reaction time through training regimes. This will take time but her proposal is backed with science that pilots should see an increase in response time and reflex speed. Sasha Volkova, our team physical therapist, suggested there were physical therapy exercises that could help pilots train twitch muscles to increase reflex times. She also recommended looking at practices used in the past to increase lung capacity and oxygen available to pilots using freediving training techniques. She also noted that antigravity generators generate sounds that might affect neural chip activation. She suggested that we try to tune the pilot’s neural chips to match the antigravity generator of the ship to see if it improves neural chip speed.Dr. Ishikawa believes there might be some benefit to using a similar method to ensure augments are better accepted by the pilot’s body and not affected by the ship. Dr. Montgomery suggested that we review and look at the use of Hyperbaric oxygen therapy to help pilots increase the number of red blood cells which increases the amount of oxygen they can carry in their blood which has been proven to increase performance. Blood doping was made illegal in the past with many sports when using blood transfusion and chemicals to artificially enhance an athlete’s performance. Some of the methods used were harmful. He suggested this method was highly beneficial and with proper monitoring would be beneficial. It is an area of research left behind when these other methods were declared illegal in many sports.” [/color] Alexander smiled as looked around the room. The board members from the European Union Space Agency and the members from medical interests looked excited about the possibilities. [color=00aeef]Alexander continued: “Dr. Thorkelson, the team nutritionist, would like to work with the team chef to ensure pilot meals with a focus on what they call micronutrients. The focus would be to increase the vitamins and minerals in their diet that would support things like eyesight, cognition, and faster reflexes. They eat incredibly healthy but they believe they could see some targeted long term gains with diet. Dr. Ainsworth, Dr. Ishikawa, and Miss Kolkova would like to work with the pilots’ physical trainer Agnes Poulsen and the two simulation techs to develop a new simulator and research the effects of g forces during a race on augmentation and neural chip performance. They believe they can develop a new simulator by combining existing simulator technology with technology to train astronauts and those working in space. The new simulator would allow a pilot to practice on a simulation of the track while experiencing the g-forces they would as if they were at the track. This would allow the team to monitor and test changes to the ship and its impact on the pilot prior to implementation in the ship as well.”[/color] Alexander paused for a moment and took a drink of his coffee before continuing. [color=00aeef]Alexander: “Before Africa, the engineers and mechanics are putting their heads together to see how we could increase speed for the ships while maintaining our edge in handling and stability. Currently they are exploring how to increase the engine speed by modifying the vector nozzles. They are also looking at tweaking the energy systems. They employed a connection fix to avoid the issue Paul experienced during qualifying rounds. They are looking at ways to decrease the energy loss by upgrading the wiring in the ships. They also have identified a coating that should reduce the amount of energy that other racers can leach from the ship. They also showed me a design for a capacitor system that could be charged and then released for a single burst of speed. More power should allow the craft to go faster for longer.” [/color] Alexander knew he was giving them a great deal of information to process. He took another drink of his coffee before continuing. [color=00aeef]Alexander: “I propose we try all the long term ideas that training and medical personnel have proposed. They are fairly low cost and easy to implement. As for long term plans, I would like to redesign the ship and focus on customizing our ships to support our pilots instead of trying to alter our pilots with augmentations to fit the ships. There are some promising design ideas for redesigning the ship to make it lighter, faster, and safer. A new cockpit design using gimbals and gyroscopes to reduce the strain on the pilot’s body and improve inertial dampening systems. This will take some time but will give us greater gains over time but will require significant investment.” [/color] Alexander learned back in his seat and looked around at the board members. All of them seemed overwhelmed with information. Alexander just sat quietly and waited. Leopold was reading on his tablet looking pleased. Leopold looked around at his fellow board members. He was unsure how to read the room. A few of the board members looked excited by the proposals. A few of them looked concerned about the proposal. The rest looked overwhelmed or had carefully neutral expressions on their face. [color=fff200]Leopold smiled at Alexander. “This is an impressive amount of work in such a short amount of time, Alexander. Thank you.” [/color] Alexander nodded his head and looked around at the board members before speaking. [color=00aeef]Alexander: “I hope all of you will review the proposal and decide to support this new direction. It will be the changes that will be implemented for this racing season. This is happening with or without you. I hope you chose to support me.” [/color] Alexander grabbed his tablet and left the room after a courtesy wave to them all. [hr] [color=gold][center][h1][i][b]Social Media[/b][/i][/h1][/center][/color] [hr] [color=fff200][b]EUGossip: The hot gossip today comes from the Valkyrie AGR Sport Team. Reputable sources disclosed that while official investigations cleared Alexander Knight of any wrongdoing in Audrick Mulder’s death, there has been new evidence uncovered that the team he raced for had the investigation shut down. Are there skeletons in Knight’s closet?[/b][/color] [color=fff200]OfficeDrone#12:[/color] I don’t trust Knight. [color=fff200]SuperfanAGR54:[/color] Sounds like trolls to me. [color=fff200]DantheMan:[/color]And the truth will set you free! [color=fff200]Superfan2075:[/color] I don’t believe this one. Sounds made up to get clicks. [color=fff200]DadBod89:[/color] I am on the fence about this one. Probably fake news. [color=fff200]Hater101:[/color] Knight had to be involved. [color=fff200]Papabear34:[/color] #knightfail #bringbackdominic [color=fff200]Nana2050:[/color] Knight was cleared by investigators. [color=fff200]GeorgeFly:[/color] Don’t feed the trolls people! [color=fff200]ValkyrieFan56:[/color] I don’t believe it. Watched the press conference. Knight looked surprised by that question. [color=fff200]Weedhead81:[/color] Man! Knight needs something stronger than some great weed! Someone please hook that man up! I could never do his job. Too stressful! [color=fff200]SexyM@m@5: [/color]Sources inside Valkyrie say big changes are coming. [color=fff200]Paulmulder4eva:[/color] Paul message if you ever need a date! [color=fff200]Britball12:[/color] Shit got interesting! [color=fff200]BatDave:[/color] I am still Batman. [color=fff200]!YouSlow!:[/color] I remember that investigation. Knight was crucified by the media. [color=fff200]xImFasterthanUx:[/color] He left his racing team high dry over this incident. That’s why he needed the money for his daughter. He lost all his money he earned from racing, fighting them in the court over the non-disclosure agreements and breaking his contract. [color=fff200]AGInthusiast:[/color] That was some ugly racing history being revisited. [color=gold][center][h1][i][b]To Be Continued... Wrapping up with Friday![/b][/i][/h1][/center][/color]