Save the Day Program, once again. (Gundam IBO/Satisfactory SI): Chapter 15

FICSIT Factory #4, Mars, P.D. 317.

Merribit Stapleton sat nervously as the woman in front of her went through her documents one final time before signing off on them.

“Everything is in order, welcome to FICSIT Inc., Ms. Stapleton.”

Merribit nodded at those words and shook the hand of woman firmly before walking out with her.

Outwardly, the young woman looked completely professional and serious as the woman who had conducted her interview walked in front of her, showing her all the facilities of the factory where she would be working from now on.

On the inside, however, the woman could not help but feel extremely giddy as she saw everything around her with great curiosity.

Ever since this company sprang up on the red planet over two years ago, it had become the best place to work at for any field that anyone could think of.

Spanning across Mars with more than a few dozen Factories, Mining Facilities, and various social institutes under its name, FICSIT Inc. had the best pay, the best benefits, the freedom, the rewarding work, and the best work-life balance that anyone could ask for. A package that attracted everyone to its doors.

Just like Merribit had been drawn to it after arriving on this planet from the Jupiter Sphere after completing her University education in accounting.

Originally, she had been planning to apply for a local company in the Jupiter Sphere called JPT Trust but before she could, she had received an offer from FICSIT Inc. who had somehow obtained her University records.

Naturally, she left the Jupiter Sphere promptly and arrived on Mars in record time.

As the woman in front of them finished the tour and brought her to the hanger, Merribit saw a man with prosthetic legs working with various children and adults who were all wearing the clothing of the FICSTI Maintenance staff.

Her confusion did not last for long before the woman walked towards the railing and called out in a rather unladylike way, a clear contrast to how professional she had been till now.

“Oi! Nadi! We got a new recruit for your branch!”

The man called Nadi looked up from the group that he was clearly teaching and looked towards the women.

“I swear, Dalia! If it's another snob from a pampered family that only knows theory-Huh!? That’s no engineer, what is a suit doing in my hanger, Dalia?”

The woman who had taken her interview, Dalia Jackson, the head of HR, scowled at the man and shouted out again.

“If you let me speak, you will know!! This is Merribit Stapleton. She will be the accountant for the Maintenance and R&D department, officially. Unofficially, she will be babysitting you lot and make sure you don’t blow yourselves and the factory up.”

“Hey!”

“Need I remind you about the Mobile Worker incident last week? Besides, if you got any complaints, take them up with Ms. Ada. She was the one who asked for this.”

That shut up the man as he grumbled, but still walked over from his group towards Dalia and Merribit.

It was only when he arrived in front of her did Merribit realized how much larger the man was compared to the woman.

It was honestly intimidating for the woman to be in the presence of such a huge man.

Dalia turned from Nadi to Merribit and spoke with a smile.

“Relax, Ms. Stapleton. While he might look intimidating, he is basically a softy on the inside. That being said, you now have the misfortune of looking after this guy and his gang and making sure they don’t blow something up with their experiments. If he gives you any trouble, I’ve included the contact information of Ms. Ada Monica, the vice-president of the company, in your communicator. Just give her a call.”

“Ruin my reputation more, why don’t you?”

The man grumbled, but Merribit did not feel like there was any real offence in his voice, just warmth and familiarity which was returned by Dalia who shook her head and patter the man on his back.

“Look at it this way, Nadi. You now have free rein to do whatever experiment you want as long as she approves of it.”

“Knowing you, you probably recruited her because she would shut down any idea that my boys and I can come up with.”

“Then, would you rather prefer Ms. Ada oversee you all personally?”

The man’s face twisted with terror before he put on a smile and suddenly pulled Merribit with him, making the girl panic a little bit at the sudden forcefulness.

“Come, Maribet-“

“It’s Merribit.”

“Same thing! Let’s meet the boys, and I’ll show you around!”

Watching the panicking girl be dragged around by the man, Dalia shook her head in amusement before she walked back to the HR department.

Despite his attitude, she knew that Ms. Stapleton would be treated well here, just like any other employee in the company.

The young woman will soon learn that this company was more like a big family than a corporation, where everyone looked out for each other.

A truth that applied even to those in power, such as Ms. Ada Monica and Mr. David Thornton.

Once she arrived at her room, Dalia picked up her phone and called her superior to give her the good news.

“Ada speaking.”

“Ms. Ada. I have handed over Ms. Merribit to Nadi for orientation. I think she will fit in quite well here.”

“By that, I hope you don’t mean she will be like adding biofuel to a fire?”

Dalia chuckled at those words, having gotten used to the weird sense of humor that her boss had in the past two years.

“No. In fact, I think she will be perfect for curbing the more dangerous ideas of the Maintenance and R&D department, keeping those boys in check. That being said, her psyche eval from her University days says that she is also a very kind, hardworking, and diligent individual. I think she will put just as much effort into her official job as she will into her unofficial one.”

“A potent mix of traits. If she really does as you believe, then she will find her career prospects in this company to be much broader than her education might suggest.”

“I hope so. She is a rather nice girl, if a bit green behind the ears.”

“Acknowledged. I’ll flag her work to be reviewed regularly. Based on her performance, we will decide her future. Meanwhile, I have noticed that you have been working overtime in the past two weeks, I require an explanation for it.”

Dalia’s good mood went away instantly at those words, as she could not help but straighten up, and a sad frown marred her face.

“Well, I am using the overtime to compensate for the loss of income that my husband has suffered from for the past two weeks after his shop was closed down.”

“Confirmed. But you know the rules, Dalia. No overtimes are allowed in FICSIT unless the company needs it. Even for you, head of HR.”

“….Alright. Ill-“

“That being said, I do believe you have failed to read your contract properly. Page 40, Section 85. Read it, and apply for it as needed. Ada out.”

Dalia dismissed the weird way her boss always spoke and stared at the phone in confusion, not knowing what the woman on the other side was talking about.

However, she still followed the instructions and opened the contract email that she had not looked at for the past two years, going straight to where Ada had asked her to.

There, highlighted in bold, was a section of her contract that entitled her to claim extra pay from the Company in the form of a long term loan with ridiculously low interest rate in case of personal or familial emergencies.

This was something that Dalia was already aware of.

However, there was one specific clause under this section that she knew did not exist until now, since she had read the contract front to back many times before and after she had joined FICSIT.

A clause that modified the parameters of what can be considered an ‘emergency’, now adding the parameter where the spouse of the employee loses their income.

Dalia felt tears form in her eyes as she read the details, knowing that Ada had most probably changed the contract while she was still on the call with her and tried to pass off her kindness as some kind of oversight on Dalia’s part.

‘Truly, this place feels more like a family than a job.’

Wiping her tears, Dalia walked to her terminal and started the application for the loan, feeling relaxed for the first time in weeks since her husband lost his shop.

On the other side, within FICSIT's administration building in the city, inside the office of the CEO, David Thornton grinned at his AI’s clone body as the AI in question refused to meet his eyes, knowing that he would not stop teasing her for quite some time after she made the mistake of changing Dalia’s contract in front of his eyes.

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Nadi Yukinojo Kassapa:

Merribit Stapleton: