Fic: QAF "Blade and Scabbard" (1/4)
Title: Blade and Scabbard (part 1 of 4)
Rating: G for now, NC-17 by the end
Summary: A medical breakthrough changes Brian's life in more ways than one.
Disclaimer: It all belongs to CowLip and Showtime. They have all the luck.
Feedback: Yes, please.
Author’s Note: seanmegansean, this one's for you.
Title: Blade and Scabbard (part 1 of 4)
Rating: G for now, NC-17 by the end
Summary: A medical breakthrough changes Brian's life in more ways than one.
Disclaimer: It all belongs to CowLip and Showtime. They have all the luck.
Feedback: Yes, please.
Author’s Note: seanmegansean, this one's for you.
November 10, 2014
When Remson tells me they’ve cracked it, that the verification from the FDA isn’t smoke and mirrors but the real thing, I nearly call him. Right there in the middle of the most important business meeting of my life, and I’m ready to pick up a phone, ignore my client.
But I get my focus back, with a jab under the table from Cynthia’s stiletto heel. Good to know Manolo Blahnik can take on Gucci and win in a fair fight. I manage not to wince.
“So you’re ready to start production. What’s left to be done?” The words sound like me, but they’re coming from a long way away. In my mind I’m already calling Justin.
“There are some final regulatory hoops to jump through about sterile workplaces, compliance with safety issues, but we’re used to those. They shouldn’t be a problem.”
“Yeah, well, you’ll be running the factory 24/7 for the next couple of decades, guess they want to be sure things are okay before you start pumping out the vaccine nonstop.” I flick my eyes over to Cynthia’s, then back to who has become not just Kinnetik’s biggest client, but the man with what is now undoubtedly the biggest pharmaceuticals account on the planet. Lawrence Remson looks suitably smug.
Why not? The guy has a right to be. He and the biochemists in his labs have been working on this night and day for at least 25 years, and they beat everybody else to the punch. Human trials completed, no disastrous side effects discovered, federal licensing all approved.
They’ll be putting his name up there next to Salk, when it’s all over. Nobel Prize stuff. History book stuff.
A vaccine against HIV, proven against all known strains of the fucking disease. Christ, nothing is ever gonna be the same after this.
Better sell that condom stock today. Like, right after this meeting’s over.
I pull myself back to the present. “You need an ad campaign for this wonder drug?” I’m a little confused about why. Every doctor in his right mind will happily inject this into any patient who hits puberty. Plus everybody else who’s already been there and done that. Pretty much the whole human race.
“We still need to let people know. Get the word out to teens, get the shot before your first time, then there’s health care professionals, parents. We may have to undo some of the work the abstinence groups have been pushing. Lots of different markets to convince, and keep convinced. Your specialty.” Remson’s smile sparkles. Guess if you’ve invented a key that will legally open every bank vault in the world, you’ve got a right to smile.
“How soon?”
“The first batch for public sale will be ready in early February.”
Been playing this one close to the vest, haven’t you? Remson nods, able to read my mind. They’ve told no one who didn’t need to know. I run through the staff we have available, the lead time we’ll need to get everything ready.
“Your campaign will be ready for approval in two weeks, maximum, and we’ll book the ads now for a January 2015 kickoff in all the usual publications. Plus a lot more. The profits will more than repay the added expense.”
Remson stands up and shakes my hand before he makes his way to the door. “I knew I could count on you, Brian. Your campaigns for all the cocktail drugs we invented over the last 12 years helped make the research possible-they paid for a lot of this discovery.” He turns at the doorway, saying, “Call me as soon as the designs for the new campaign are ready to go.”
“Will do.”
Remson and his entourage are barely gone when Cynthia rounds on me, her eyes lit up. “This is it, Brian. You can take Kinnetik public, with the kind of revenue and publicity this will generate.” Visions of stock options are already dancing in her head.
“Settle down, Ms. Rockefeller. Before you spend the money, we’ve got to earn it.” She gives me a puzzled look, picks up her notes and scuttles away to her office, avoiding the boss who isn’t in the best mood. Who ought to be ecstatic right now.
She was right. This would be the biggest campaign of my career. The profits from this alone would justify tripling our staff. Fuck, quadrupling.
All I can think about is a phone call I ought to make, to a man I’ve been avoiding for over a year. He asked for something, long ago. He can have it now.
I’ve got 12 weeks to convince him that he should take it.
Fuck. Remson’s wonder drug just became the second biggest campaign of my career.
Part Two
Rating: G for now, NC-17 by the end
Summary: A medical breakthrough changes Brian's life in more ways than one.
Disclaimer: It all belongs to CowLip and Showtime. They have all the luck.
Feedback: Yes, please.
Author’s Note: seanmegansean, this one's for you.
Title: Blade and Scabbard (part 1 of 4)
Rating: G for now, NC-17 by the end
Summary: A medical breakthrough changes Brian's life in more ways than one.
Disclaimer: It all belongs to CowLip and Showtime. They have all the luck.
Feedback: Yes, please.
Author’s Note: seanmegansean, this one's for you.
November 10, 2014
When Remson tells me they’ve cracked it, that the verification from the FDA isn’t smoke and mirrors but the real thing, I nearly call him. Right there in the middle of the most important business meeting of my life, and I’m ready to pick up a phone, ignore my client.
But I get my focus back, with a jab under the table from Cynthia’s stiletto heel. Good to know Manolo Blahnik can take on Gucci and win in a fair fight. I manage not to wince.
“So you’re ready to start production. What’s left to be done?” The words sound like me, but they’re coming from a long way away. In my mind I’m already calling Justin.
“There are some final regulatory hoops to jump through about sterile workplaces, compliance with safety issues, but we’re used to those. They shouldn’t be a problem.”
“Yeah, well, you’ll be running the factory 24/7 for the next couple of decades, guess they want to be sure things are okay before you start pumping out the vaccine nonstop.” I flick my eyes over to Cynthia’s, then back to who has become not just Kinnetik’s biggest client, but the man with what is now undoubtedly the biggest pharmaceuticals account on the planet. Lawrence Remson looks suitably smug.
Why not? The guy has a right to be. He and the biochemists in his labs have been working on this night and day for at least 25 years, and they beat everybody else to the punch. Human trials completed, no disastrous side effects discovered, federal licensing all approved.
They’ll be putting his name up there next to Salk, when it’s all over. Nobel Prize stuff. History book stuff.
A vaccine against HIV, proven against all known strains of the fucking disease. Christ, nothing is ever gonna be the same after this.
Better sell that condom stock today. Like, right after this meeting’s over.
I pull myself back to the present. “You need an ad campaign for this wonder drug?” I’m a little confused about why. Every doctor in his right mind will happily inject this into any patient who hits puberty. Plus everybody else who’s already been there and done that. Pretty much the whole human race.
“We still need to let people know. Get the word out to teens, get the shot before your first time, then there’s health care professionals, parents. We may have to undo some of the work the abstinence groups have been pushing. Lots of different markets to convince, and keep convinced. Your specialty.” Remson’s smile sparkles. Guess if you’ve invented a key that will legally open every bank vault in the world, you’ve got a right to smile.
“How soon?”
“The first batch for public sale will be ready in early February.”
Been playing this one close to the vest, haven’t you? Remson nods, able to read my mind. They’ve told no one who didn’t need to know. I run through the staff we have available, the lead time we’ll need to get everything ready.
“Your campaign will be ready for approval in two weeks, maximum, and we’ll book the ads now for a January 2015 kickoff in all the usual publications. Plus a lot more. The profits will more than repay the added expense.”
Remson stands up and shakes my hand before he makes his way to the door. “I knew I could count on you, Brian. Your campaigns for all the cocktail drugs we invented over the last 12 years helped make the research possible-they paid for a lot of this discovery.” He turns at the doorway, saying, “Call me as soon as the designs for the new campaign are ready to go.”
“Will do.”
Remson and his entourage are barely gone when Cynthia rounds on me, her eyes lit up. “This is it, Brian. You can take Kinnetik public, with the kind of revenue and publicity this will generate.” Visions of stock options are already dancing in her head.
“Settle down, Ms. Rockefeller. Before you spend the money, we’ve got to earn it.” She gives me a puzzled look, picks up her notes and scuttles away to her office, avoiding the boss who isn’t in the best mood. Who ought to be ecstatic right now.
She was right. This would be the biggest campaign of my career. The profits from this alone would justify tripling our staff. Fuck, quadrupling.
All I can think about is a phone call I ought to make, to a man I’ve been avoiding for over a year. He asked for something, long ago. He can have it now.
I’ve got 12 weeks to convince him that he should take it.
Fuck. Remson’s wonder drug just became the second biggest campaign of my career.
Part Two