Posted by Civilian Ragna Idun McKenzie (Future Citizen) in Laying Cornerstones

Posted by Civilian Seamus McKenzie (Future Citizen) in Laying Cornerstones

Posted by Civilian Ragna Idun McKenzie (Future Citizen) in Laying Cornerstones
Posted by… suppressed (9) by the Post Ghost! 👻

(snip)
Seamus looked at her the entire time. Gods above she was beautiful… and gods below she was stubborn! As she spoke, he leveled a look at her and said “Kom tilbake til meg som kvinnen jeg giftet meg med… ikke skyggen av at hun står her akkurat nå.” (Come back to me as the woman I married… not the shadow of her standing here right now.) He paused and held her gaze for a silent eternity. “I love you, Ragna.” and he gestured to the door.

Seamus

Her eyes flashed like he’d slapped her. Who did he think he married? She had always been this way… there was a screaming silent pause in the pounding of her head. Her faze dropped sharply. “Aye, Seamus,” she nodded for lack of anything else to do. “I love you too.” She disappeared out the door and took the lift to the lobby.

Standing outside, Ragna looked up and down the street. Go learn the stories he says, but where to start. Well he also told her to be the Herald, and Ragna knew that stories came from all people. She had duties to fulfill as well. Might as well start there. She had all the paperwork ready, she’d just not taken care of it. She turned toward the city center heading for the building and construction office. They couldn’t build till the infrastructure was in place, and that couldn’t happen without permits. It wasn’t a difficult process, she’d already taken care of it for the meadery, she should have done this a long time ago.

She entered the building and followed the signs for the permit office. Lines, of course there were lines.

Ragna

Lines yes, but to the credit of the Oed V bureaucracy, they moved quickly. She waited less than ten minutes before a voice said “Ragna McKenzie-Edman?” and a tall Andorian male looked around.

Permitting and Planning

In that time, Ragna heard several people talking. She wasn’t eavesdropping, but it happened in crowds. Most were there for the same reason she was. People moving, businesses starting, expansions being made. It was busy, but efficient. There was the typical attempts of bribery and traded favors. From what she could tell though, the people today at least, were immune to such machinations.

Stepping forward to the counter, Ragna pulled the data chip out of her PaDD where she’d been reviewing the forms one more time while she waited. “Yes Sir. I’m Ragna McKenzie-Edman.” To her credit she didn’t flinch at the Andorian. Oh yes a pair of Andorians had attacked her husband, but Ragna held grudges against individuals, not a community. Well, not usually she didn’t. She’d been doing a lot of that lately for the masses of people on Oed. “I’m applying for permits to run base infrastructure out to the land bought by Clan McKenzie-Edman. The Stoneshaw Aswar properties.” She handed over the data chip.

Ragna

The Andorian smiled and nodded. “Oh yes! That purchase agreement made quite the splash around the office, I can tell you. And might I say that is a pleasure to meet the new caretakers of the sections.” He took the chip and inserted it, reviewed a few rings and then said “Well, it seems everything is in order. The only hiccup I see is your submission of the total area seems to be a typo. But I can fix that, no problem.” His fingers moved across the interface and then he flipped the display so she could see the corrections. Everything was the same except for the map of Clan land boundaries and total area. Instead of the original document she had reviewed, it now read ‘one-million-three-hundred-and- forty-eight-thousand-nine-hundred-and-sixty-four acres’. The change was signed as approved by Michael McKenzie.

Permitting and Planning

Ragna was meticulous, she most certainly did NOT make a mistake. She’d just checked everything while she was waiting. However, before her mouth could get her into trouble and she insult the very nice man, he turned the screen around. Her jaw hit the floor and then snapped closed. One-million-three-hundred-and- forty-eight-thousand-nine-hundred-and-sixty-four acres???!!! It looked like Mike’s signature. “May I, umm…may I see the signatory code for that? We only purchased just short of 500,000 acres.”

Ragna

“Of course, Mrs. McKenzie. Or is it Edman? Or hyphenated? Forgive me, but human naming customs can sometimes be a bit convoluted to an outsider. Not like Betazoid, though! Oh my, even they have difficulty with the proper naming conventions in situations.”

Ragna smirked slightly. “Hyphenated, but that’s alright, either will do.” She actually found naming customs fascinating and how they followed lineages and such. She had no idea about Betazoid customs at all. “There are places on Earth that have very convoluted customs as well.”

He pulled up the signatory code and showed it to her. “Additionally, Chief McKenzie authorized the agreement with a digital signet.” and he pulled up the holo representation of the McKenzie signet ring.

Permitting and Planning

Ragna looked at it and pulled up her verification copy on her PaDD. It matched, but she really had no idea how easy it would be to forge such a thing. Mike or Capall would know. Seamus might. How did Mike get the money to buy over a million acres?! The clans had money, but not enough to cover that and keep the clans in all three places afloat. She was going to have to check with Revna. Gods she hoped no one had forged this and done something with the clans’ money. “Thank you,” but she was baffled by it. And if Mike and Revna had, in fact, bought all that extra land, why hadn’t they told her? She could get things set up if she wasn’t told. She would have remembered being told they had over a MILLION acres.

“I’ve already arranged for workers to start laying the lines down, but I don’t suppose you know someone reputable that would take on a job quite suddenly? I don’t think I hired enough people.”

Ragna

The Andorian smiled and said “I’m terribly sorry, but we are prohibited from making recommendations of that nature. But what I can say is that if you were to file a petition to have the infrastructure laid by the government, as the scale will bring a significant uptick to the main power grid…” and he looked at the submission plans again and said “And yes, see here. Your initial plans have a designation for an onsite fusion reactor and supplemental solar and wind energy. That will ensure that your lands will not be a drain on the Colonial infrastructure… indeed it will even ease some of the draw as your plans would supply more than you use. The government provides for projects such as this, in the labor and personnel.” He tapped a few commands and then slid a PaDD to her. “Here. Petition for Governmental Assistance in Critical Infrastructure Expansion. You will pay half of the raw material cost and provide on-site housing for the crews who are building the lines to your land. Everything else will be, if you are approved, be covered by a government grant. The Governor established the program to make building large projects on Oed V more appealing to off-world investors.”

Permitting and Planning

Well that was frustrating. Who better to know who would follow the laws and do the work as it was supposed to be done. She sighed, it stopped favoritism she supposed. Perhaps they had an equivalent of the better business bureau. She looked at the plans he was showing her and nodded. They had discussed power options and sustainability at great length when they were deciding on which parcels to purchase. She skimmed the PaDD as he spoke. It was a good option. “Thank you. I’ll get this filled out and return it. Is there anything else I need to do?”

Ragna

“Oh, just do it here. The fields are mostly mirrored with your initial submission; and I can approve the submission and send it right in. That way you don’t have to wait to come back and then wait for a submission packet to be built. It will save you a few weeks. And I can mark it Priority, so you should have an answer in a few hours. A day or two at most.”

Permitting and Planning

“Oh, thank you, Mr. Th’athaalrik,” she said reading off of the name plate. She glanced around, spotted a chair across the room, “I’ll bring this right back.” She even said it with a genuine smile. She was representing the clans after all. He was going out of his way to help her, and it would be beyond disgraceful to represent everyone else in anything less than outstanding comportment. However, she was going to have words with Revna and Mike for not telling her about this. Oh yes, she was furious with them. Her headache decided to return with a vengeance at that point. Well…if they knew about this anyway.

It only took a few short minutes to fill everything out. Ragna had all the necessary documents on hand, that was one benefit of the highly computerized age they lived in. Thankfully though, she was listed as an owner/purchaser for the property so she was able to sign for everything without trying to reach Mike and Revna. She waited in line again, only a few short minutes, before returning to the man’s window and passing back the PaDD.

Ragna

The clerk reviewed the document and nodded, tapped a few times on the PaDD and then said “There. Done and submitted. Marked for urgent review. Now then, what else can I do to be of help to you?” he asked with a small flutter of antennae and a smile.

Permitting and Planning

Ragna thought for a moment, “I already know some of the structures we will be building, when may we submit those plans? I know we can’t start building until the other is finished.”

He nodded and said “True, but you can submit plans for architectural and engineering review at any time. If any of the responsible parties to the project are affiliated with Star Fleet, you can request Fleet Engineering to do that side of the review. It saves some time as they are not as busy as our Building and Construction Department.”

“Oh, and the housing for the workers? Is that up to us, or are there specifics that should be used?”

Ragna

He smiled conspiratorially and said “It is wholly up to you, but I can say that the better the crews are treated, the better the projects seem to turn out. I’m not saying that they would intentionally do anything to make the project unsafe if they were unhappy… but it does seem that the more they enjoy the environment and the people they are working for, the better the results tend to be.”

Permitting and Planning