Loving Kale

The Meeting

I walked into the conference room and looked around quickly. I spotted an empty seat next to Shaye and headed over, exchanging smiles with my fellow department heads. For all that it was a surprise to find out that our boss was an alien, this has been the best company I've ever worked for. The benefits and pay were awesome and the company seemed to genuinely keep their employees in mind when making decisions that affected them. Sure you have your personality clashes and differences in opinion, but for the most part everyone got along.

“Hey” I said sitting down “ anything good happen yet?”

“Not really” Shaye said rolling her eyes “everyone seems to be taking bets on whether or not this meeting is going to be about layoffs to have us replaced by Selkrians”

I shook my head “Wow it's like they immediately jump to worse case scenario. They haven't given us any reason to believe there will be a mass layoff. Next thing you know it'll be bets on when the anal probing will start!”

Shaye laughed “ I can see it now it'll be right up there with random drug testing”

We giggled together but stopped as Tyler from accounting leaned over and said “Yeah laugh it up but you have no idea what these… aliens...are really up to. I mean why would they stay here and not just go back to their own planet? And what's up with this meeting? we've never had a meeting with the CEO before.”

I just barely resisted the urge to roll my eyes, nevermind that in my 6 years working here there had never been any type of layoff and the department heads frequently interacted with Mr. Kapena’s admin “Calm down Tyler, let's not start manning the lifeboats before we hit the iceberg alright?” I replied calmly “let's see what's going on first and then we can go from there”.

“Exactly” Shaye said “Hey you never know maybe we're all getting raises!” I stifled a laugh at that. Tyler narrowed his eyes and opened his mouth to reply when the door to the conference room opened and the CEO stepped in.

I could feel my eyes widen as I took in Kale Kapena, as good as he looked on tv it was nothing compared to him in person. An air of total command and dominance surrounded him, my instincts shouted do not engage! while my ovaries waved hello. Pitch black hair fell in a straight line to muscular shoulders and he had to be at least 6’5. Clad in what was obviously a tailor made suit, he paused at the head of the conference table and gazed around the room.

I held my breath as his violet colored eyes came to rest on me. Was it just my imagination or did his eyes seem to linger before moving on? “Good afternoon everyone” he said voice deep and slightly accented. “I want to thank you all for showing up on such short notice. I felt it was best to provide some information about myself and the role I play in the Selkrian hierarchy and get everyone up to speed on a new venture that I have planned”

His full lips quirked up into a smile before continuing “As I'm sure you're all aware my name is Kale Kapena. I am the original founder of this company and I am also the Lakai of the largest Hale in the United States.” Wow I thought to myself no wonder he has such a strong presence. From what I understood the Lakai is the strongest, most cunning member of the hale. It wasn't an inherited position, it was awarded through a series of trials that the stronger members of the hale competed in. “This company was originally founded as a way to help humans advance technologically and to use the profits to assist my people in living amongst you.” His smile widened before he said “ I doubt that the selk currency would be accepted at the local stores”

Everyone chuckled at that and the tension in the room eased. “I would also like to advise you all that I believe it is time to begin a new facet of Totality. In the past we have taken some of the technology we Selkrians have and introduced it to you. We have also blended Human ideas with Selkrian tech to enhance and build upon human technology. I would like to propose that we gather the brightest of Human and Selkrian minds together to work towards something new.”