UnAlaska

42. Ladya I Peshka (Epilogue)

December 2024, Athens Greece

Yiorgos Aetos massaged his temples and breathed out slowly. He stared at the blonde wood of the conference table at the Blue Peter Cruise Line global headquarters, outside of Athens. He raised his head, and looked out through the conference room's glass walls. Half of the surrounding desks sat empty with their overhead lights turned off. At one desk, a family picture lay face down on the floor, knocked over as Dimitrios the Comptroller left last week in a hurry. On the wall across, a large white board read 'Οι καλύτεροι διορθωτές δημοσίων σχέσεων?' ('best public relations fixers?'), followed by a list of phone numbers crossed off in frustration.

Eleni, his chief counsel, cleared her throat softly. She smiled politely. "Yiorgos, I know you hate this."

"Of course I do. What kind of twisted person would want to sell their family's company in this kind of a situation?"

She nodded slowly. "I know."

"It's pennies on the dollar. It's insulting. We tried to keep the news in, but..." He sighed heavily. "Who wants to go on the cruise ship that was boarded by the Russian mafia? Where those kids were taken? Who would trust us again?"

Eleni nodded again.

He continued. "I mean, if you're Jane Doe in America, are you going to want our ship or someone like Monarch or Superstar?"

"It's true."

He sighed heavily. "Okay." He loosened the knot of his tie, and unbuttoned his top shirt button for relief. "Okay, okay. We can do this. You said we had one more buyer coming in?"

Eleni opened her laptop and scrolled through her calendar. "Yes. One last buyer."

"What do we know about him?"

She pulled up his email thread and scanned it again. Then opened her notes on buyers. "Not much. His company is called... 'Ladya I Peshka.' I can't find anything about them online."

Yiorgos' eyes went wide. "They're Russian?"

"Yes. I know! I know."

He shook his head and waved his hands. "No. No way, Eleni. I don't want them anywhere near this." He stood up and started to walk out of the conference room to the empty offices beyond.

"Hear me out, Yiorgos."

He stopped. "I trust you, Eleni. But this might be too much."

"I know."

"Then why did you bring them here?"

"You know the answer to that."

He turned to face her. "The offer is that good?"

She spun her laptop around and pointed. "This was the last email, this morning."

He walked closer and leaned his elbows on the conference table. His eyes darted left to right as he read quickly, then stopped cold. "That's... a lot higher than the offer from Monarch."

"Yes. Monarch said they would need to sell the Cecaelia for scrap, or pay to convert it to diesel. They wouldn't run it with a nuclear generator. They said the entire value in their offer was for our pleasure cruise business around the Mediterranean."

Yiorgos put his face in his palm. "That was the entire company five years ago. Maybe we should have stayed that way."

Eleni shook her head. "No use in dwelling on it. Not with this offer instead. Ladya I Peshka is probably a holding company. The name just translates to 'Rook and Pawn.' They're not a cruise ship company. They want to run the Cecaelia just as she is. They weren't concerned at all."

"Hm."

"I was skeptical too. But their offer is high. They want the company as it is. I had the same concerns, but Russia is a big country. There are plenty of oligarchs there, plenty with enough to buy us. A lot of money changes hands. No reason to think there's any relation."

"Fine. Let's talk to them. I trust you, Eleni." He circled around the conference table and sat back down. He tightened his tie back into place and waited.

Ten minutes later, Oleg Ivanov strode into the office. He smiled at the receptionist, his cold blue eyes staring through steel rimmed glasses. Two men in boxy suits shuffled in behind him. "I'm here to speak with Mr. Aetos, from Ladya I Peshka."

The receptionist scanned her log book and smiled back. "Yes, I have you here." She gestured past her desk to the glass walled room. "Just this way. Mr. Aetos is waiting for you."

Oleg and his two associates walked over and opened the door to the conference room. Yiorgos and Eleni stood up. Yiorgos smoothed his tie and adjusted his jacket.

Oleg extended a hand. "Mr. Aetos! Pleasure to meet you." They shook hands. "My name is Sergey Popov." He nodded at the two men at his sides. "This is Mikhael, my counsel, and Ivan, my financial officer." The two men nodded silently.

Yiorgos looked to Eleni. "And this is Eleni, my general counsel."

They sat down. Oleg cleared his throat. "May I be direct?"

Yiorgos nodded. "Please."

"You've seen my offer, and you chose to meet with me. I can assume my offer is the highest you received, otherwise you wouldn't be meeting with me."

Eleni nodded.

"Good. Now, I also assume that Monarch or Superstar want nothing to do with the Cecaelia. It's tainted to them. So, they want to buy your booze cruise business."

Yiorgos narrowed his eyes.

"No, no. Don't mistake me. I'm not disparaging it. It's a perfectly fine business. But it's peanuts. And you don't want the Cecaelia to be scrapped or dry docked forever, do you?"

Yiorgos folded his arms and shook his head. "No. We planned it as the first of its class. A breakthrough. The regulatory approvals alone were outrageous." He sighed. "And I'm only human. I'm proud of that ship. It's beautiful."

Oleg nodded. "I agree. I want to keep it sailing." Oleg pushed his chair back and started to pace. "I represent some wealthy interests in Russia that prefer anonymity."

Eleni looked across the three men. "We couldn't find anything about you online."

Oleg smiled. "Good. That's the idea. My partners are heavily diversified. Any business you can imagine. Many of them have very favorable synergies with the cruise business."

"Oligarchs?"

"You could say that. A lot of wealth was created in Russia after the fall of the Union. Billionaires created overnight. So, it's natural that we look to diversify." He spread his hands. "Global businesses with your kind of reach are natural for us."

There was a pause. Yiorgos furrowed his eyebrows. "If we don't know anything about your 'partners,' how can we trust you?"

Oleg sucked his teeth. "Yiorgos, Yiorgos. You and I can trust each other. We are two honest men. My partners are just silent money."

"I'll be honest, Sergei, I don't love it."

"I understand. But my offer is the only one you'll really even consider, isn't it?"

Another pause. Eleni looked at Yiorgos, willing him to be silent. "Yes, it is." She hung her head.

"I thought so. Do you think we can make a deal?"

"I... I think we can. As long as it keeps the Cecaelia sailing. I poured ten years of my life into that ship."

"Marvelous." Oleg smiled and fixed Yiorgos in his cold blue eyes. He nodded to the man at his side, who unsnapped his briefcase, pulled out a manila folder of papers, and slid them across the table. "This is my terms sheet. Let's sign it and then celebrate, shall we?"