Chapter-44 : Alliance

January 3, 1992, Silicon Valley

Ric is sitting with a group of gentlemen in his villa's lounge, socializing.

They are no ordinary gentleman man. They are the top tiers of the technology industry.

Ceo of Cisco John P. Morgridge,

Ceo of Qualcomm Irwin M. Jacobs,

Michael S. Dell Ceo of Dell,

Ceo of TechMart Mark Edwin and other heads or CEO of large or small companies' that Ric has major shares of.

"Alright gentlemen, thank you for coming today," Ric said, grabbing the attention of everyone.

After seeing everyone's attention on him, Ric continued,

"Today, you are all present here because I have a proposal. A proposal that will benefit all of us.

Even if I am no tech expert, I know how fast-paced and competitive the technology industry is. We have to be innovative, fast, look for a better system, better quality, better performance, etc.

Losing one side or a little delay might throw us out of this competition and might not give us any chance to recover.

In fact, all of us here are also competing with each other even if our product doesn't align with each other.

Besides, we never know when others started making your products as technology is so correlated, easily if it involves computers, networks, and the internet.

Surviving in this competitive market is hard, especially if the person is alone and has to compete with giants.

A good thing about competition is that it brings innovative and higher quality products to the market.

So, I thought, how to maximize the benefit from this competition while making sure we don't get pushed out of the competition.

Then suddenly it hit me. Why stand alone if we can cooperate while maintaining a competitive nature.

So, why don't we form an alliance, where we can compete with each other. But corporate with one other from getting left behind in the competition.

What do you say, folks," said Ric looking at the people present.

After hearing Ric's proposal, all of them became silent and thought about the pros and cons.

After a while, Dell asked, " Well, everything is well and good. But what's the specific nature or conditions for the alliance?"

"Excellent question, Mike. For the answer, I will give the cue to Mark. He will cover the details." replied Ric while signaling Mark.

Mark getting the signal, started explaining the proposal in detail.

The condition for the alliance is simple,

One. The members have to help other members lagging in the market by sharing patent rights, ideas, or resources with them. Or by sending monetary funds.

Two. The members will have the first right to bid on the assets if the other member is filing for bankruptcy. Or going to sell some of its assets.

Three. All the member's flagship shop be <TechMart>.

And finally, they or any new company have to hand over some of its share on the alliance board to join the alliance.

These conditions were the fruits of the arguments and the counter-arguments in the meeting discussing the alliance.

By the end of the meeting, everyone agreed to the formation of the alliance.

After all pros of such an alliance outweighed the cons, and the person behind this plan is also their major shareholder. That also played a major role for them to accept it.

So, after this meeting, the <TechWings Allaince> have been formed.

Although everyone will benefit from this alliance, the most benefit will be bagged by TechMart and Ric.

It took about a week to finalize the alliance as well as the head of the alliance board.

After everything is complete, all their left is to announce it to the public.

January 10, 1992, LA, Beverly Hills

In the living room of Ric's villa, two figures can be seen watching the television.

On TV, the press conference of <TechWings alliance> announced by Mark is shown live. He is elected to be the head of the alliance's board.

Among the two figures, one of them is sitting with giving the latter a shoulder hug. Later one is leaning on the first one's shoulder. And they are sitting quite cozily as the conference going on.

"You know it won't be a while before others found out you are the one behind it," said Drew after watching the conference for a while.

"Let them find out about it," said Ric while he took the remote of the television and turned it off.

"Hey!! I was watching it," said Drew frowning while taking her head out of Ric's shoulder and looking at him.

"Come on it's boring. Get up. I know your hungry after sleeping all morning," said Ric while getting up from the seat and putting his hand in front of Drew.

"And whose fault is that" quipped Drew before getting pulled up.

Ric moving the hair Strands from her face to behind her ear. He then hold his hand their and looked deep in her eyes and bringing his face close whispered with a cheeky smile,

"I remember some one enjoying it a lot."

"Your really cheeky sometimes you know that." she replied with a mock aggrieved tone while slightly pushing him.

He laughed out load and seeing her puffed up face he hold her hand and said,

"How about I make it up to you by cooking something for you myself."

"You can cook?" she asked with her eyes raised.

Ric just smiled instead of saying anything and took her to the kitchen by gently pulling her hand.

At the kitchen, he helped her to sit on the chair and then went in front of the stove.

"why don't you let me help you?" Drew proposed becoming a bit worried that Ric might hurt himself.

"Oh... Don't worry babe, it will be fine. Besides, I learned to make a few dishes from Mom," said Ric while moving around the kitchen.

"Really... tell me!!!! tell me!!!" Said Drew getting excited.

"Sorry, that's secret. Besides, where is the fun if I tell you everything all together," replied Ric with a mischievous smile.

"Hey...not fair," nagged Drew.

"Never fear girl, your gonna feel my love and taste it slowly until your addicted to it," replied Ric.

"Seriously, Ric... Seriously... That's the most cringe worthy line I ever heard. I am sure if any girl heard it, she would stay a mile away from you." Drew deadpanned.

"Hey, at least your here," replied Ric while taking the finished product to the table.

"Who made me love you," she answered back coyly.

Ric smiled and put the dish in front of her,

"Here you go, Mademoiselle, a fine scrambled egg."

"Well, thank you," she replied while smirking at Ric's antics.

Ric took a seat beside her and watched as she eats the dish.

"Mmm... It's delicious Ric. I am impressed that you can cook," she replied after taking a bite.

"Why you thought that I can't," he replied.

"Well, you proved me wrong. Here, a reward for it," said Drew as she leaned closed to Ric's face and kissed him.

"Damm, if I knew I would have got rewards for this, I would have done it sooner," Ric replied cheekily.

"Aww... it's so sad," Drew mocked.

After that, they both burst out laughing.