A/N: Before you read this, I’d like to remind you of BLT’s goals in this psyop: ‘Being the CO of RangeMan while we bring up the San Antonio office would (a) guarantee that she stayed firmly under RangeMan protection, (b) force her to get the training she’s needed for years without anyone demanding she do it, (c) give her a taste of being Ranger for a while, (d) allow her to oversee some of the projects we have going on in house (or will soon), (e) keep her out of the ‘Burg gossip for a few months, and (f) ease the rest of RangeMan LLC into accepting Beautiful as a permanent eventual part of the Leadership Core Team’.
Tank’s POV
“Sir?”
I wave Candace into the room. “I have a management problem.”
“One moment, sir.” She leaves and returns with a legal pad. “OK, shoot.”
I give her the brief outline of the discussion with Steph, taking care to represent what happened on both sides. I also give her the recording of the meeting from my phone. She sits back to listen. By the end, she’s pale and shaking her head.
“Wow . . .”
“Yes. Opinion?”
“Verbal reprimand.”
I raise an eyebrow. “Why not written?” I slide the one I wrote over to her and she reads it, nodding, before sliding it back.
“Because this is a first offense, sir. Yes, she was insubordinate, but gloves off?” She shrugs her shoulders. “OK, maybe I wouldn’t have told my bosses to go fuck themselves, but she felt comfortable enough to.”
“And that makes it OK?” I ask coldly.
“No, sir,” she replies, arching an eyebrow. “It makes this entire situation a pain in the ass. You’re all friends but you also have a line. She’s a subordinate doing the job of a board member. Lines are blurry. I have to ask, sir, if you intend to keep her.”
“We do. We want to, but my partners will vote to fire without some sort of corrective action.” Continue reading →