TS6 - Chapter 6

“How have you not discovered where Millennium is hiding out?”

Kat kept her face even, suppressing the urge to roll her eyes as Richard Ricket blustered wildly.  The older shareholder had been a thorn in her side since she assumed her position.  At the end of the day, she wasn’t sure if it was her age or the circumstances of her birth, but there wasn’t anything she could do that was good enough for the man.

“It’s been over a year since their connection to these aliens was discovered and they’ve been driven underground.  Since then you catch their scent every couple months or so, but by the time we find one of their safehouses, it’s empty.  Somehow, they’re always one step ahead.  It’s like they’re taunting us.”

This time, it took a bit more for Kat to keep calm.  Ricket had connections to Millennium.  Specifically, he’d conspired with them to kill her through one of the members of his clique, Blake Daniels.  Belle and Kat had been able to use that information to blackmail Daniels, and through him his successor, but that just meant that they couldn’t bring that information up without losing their hold on a vital ‘ally’ in their board meetings.

They might have been more willing to take action if there was evidence that he was actively working with Millennium around the time that the disgraced samurai organization made an attempt on their lives during the failed arbitration with VodCom, but it seemed like Ricket was smart enough to cut ties with the organization once it became clear that they weren’t in a position to regain their former dominance.

Instead, here she was, forced to listen to the man blather on, trekking ever upward as he reached the summit of Mount Hypocrisy.  It was galling, but at the end of the day, it was theater.  None of the other shareholders were really paying attention to Richard.  Even his own supporters were only chiming in every once in a while to voice support, but Kat could see that their hearts really weren’t into it.

“Now we have reports that his alien backers are coming to Earth and that they’re likely going to want to speak to us about our integration into the greater galaxy?  Do we even want to integrate into the greater galaxy?  I would think that keeping Earth isolated so that GroCorp maintains its monopoly on extraterrestrial technology would be the best option for us.”

Ricket’s face was starting to turn a little red as he ranted onward.  For all of his faults, and there sure were a lot of them, Kat couldn’t help but respect the man’s acting skills.  He sure knew how to put on a show when he wanted.

“Yes,” Belle finally replied, her voice glacial.  She sat at a table on her own with an assistant that was having an obvious panic. “That is accurate.  Do you have any further questions?”

“Miss Kat,” Dorrik’s voice appeared inside her head.  The lokkel sat in the corner of the room, his mouth not moving as he watched the board meeting with concern.

“Yes?” She answered, keeping any reaction from her face as she pretended to watch the proceedings.

“Are these people really upset with Belle because the Stallesp and Clan Ahn delegations are coming to Earth?  It seems that they are blaming her for the Consensus’ decision, yet she has had nothing to do with it.  I am having trouble understanding their motives.”

“The motive is to make Belle look bad,” Kat replied.  “Nothing more or less.  There is something to their complaints that opening Earth up to trade would mean giving up our monopoly, but that’s something that was going to happen eventually regardless.  Really, Ricket is just trying to flex and score points with some of the undecided shareholders by making our security arrangements look bad.  He doesn’t care about any of this.”

In the corner, Dorrik frowned, his crest stiffening slightly in confusion.

“I do not understand why they would not care about the incoming starships, but ignoring Millennium seems beyond foolish.  There are rules on what parties from the Consensus can negotiate with your people, but there are no such restrictions on Millennium.  Given that they have already demonstrated a willingness to kill and kidnap your company’s shareholders, I would presume that they would be your top target.”

“Tell us Shareholder Donnst, what steps have you taken in the last quarter to hunt down the last of the Millennium safehouses?”  Ricket was leaning forward in his chair, one hand clenched tight in a fist and pressed into the boardroom table as he continued his rant.  “Do you have new spies on the case?  Maybe another set of analysts to tear apart the electronic chatter from the various mercenary groups they used to work with?”

Kat tuned the blustering shareholder out, focusing once again on Dorrik as she willed her mental reply to him.

“Millennium is our top concern.  Right now, I think the rest of the shareholders believe that Millennium is beaten and a shell of its former self.  Of course, that’s what they believed after the original purge, and that was clearly false.  Unfortunately, even our allies on the board of directors are a bit shortsighted.  Outside of Jasper, Belle and my voting bloc, no one else really seems to approach what’s happening with any sense of urgency.  I think part of the issue is that they’ve been in charge of GroCorp their entire lives and GroCorp has been a major player for their entire lives.  All of their struggles have been against each other.  None of the other shareholders actually seem to care about outside threats because by and large the big companies leave each other alone.”

Mentally, she shrugged. Belle was replying to Ricket, but only one or two shareholders were actually paying attention.  Most had the glazed eyes of someone checking a smartpanel and a couple actually had handheld electronics out.

“Belle is actually putting everything she has into tracking Millennium down,” Kat continued, “both from a safety perspective and because I’ve explained to her what’s at stake if Mr. Jackson makes it to level twenty four before I do.  Of course, I’d be surprised if she’s revealing even eighty percent of the information she has right now.  Belle, Jasper, and I all have various clandestine forces that aren’t officially connected with our public roles as shareholders.  It's a common practice, but since taking this position one of my harshest lessons was to not trust my fellow shareholders to take anything important seriously.  Worse, there’s a chance that some of the shareholders are still working with Millennium.  We might have allies on the board, but outside of our little clique, we aren’t going to share critical resources. We’ll find and end Millennium on our own.  The rest of the board can just watch.”

“I really do not understand,” Dorrik replied.  “I am familiar with self interest and delaying tactics, I follow the proceedings of the Galactic Consensus after all, but it seems strange to me for a body under threat to simply treat the threat against them as either a joke or a tool for their negotiations.”

Kat shrugged, wincing internally when she realized that she’d actually physically moved rather than maintaining her expression of stoic, motionless attention.

“I doubt we’re that different from the Consensus,” She said mentally.  “You remember the efforts they went through to explain away and cover up the original wave of stallesp intervention?  Didn’t your clan more or less go to war with the Stallesp for a couple of months only for the entire thing to just devolve into a steep fine?”

“Yes,” Dorrik replied grudgingly, “but that was a fight between two constituent members.  It wasn’t like the entire Consensus was at risk.”

“Wasn’t it?”  Kat asked.  “If the war between you and the stallesp had escalated, what would’ve happened?  Already both sides were starting to drag in allies.  Likely you would’ve won, but a lot of the newer races would’ve felt like they were second class members.  I wouldn’t be surprised if the Consensus found a sizable minority of its members trying to secede. God knows how many years it would’ve taken to fix that, if it was even something that could be fixed.”

For a couple seconds, the two of them just sat in relative silence, Ricket angrily asking yet another question of Belle only to earn a terse answer that provided no information in the background.

“That’s true,” Dorrik said thoughtfully.  “They did seem to find every excuse they could to ignore the problems that were staring them in their collective optic organs.  Maybe the Consensus is a bit more like humans than they’d like to admit.”

“Don’t get me wrong,” Kat replied, watching the question and answer begin to finish up, “We have plenty to fix.  Even at GroCorp, things are beyond broken.  After living my life here, I can understand why the Galactic Consensus was reluctant to let humans in.  Still, I’m not sure how much worse we are than the stallesp.  Their desire to subjugate others in exchange for a little bit of profit seems like it would be completely in character for this boardroom.”

Around the table, clothes rustled as everyone stood up.  A couple of the shareholders stayed to talk with each other, but most exited the room in ones and twos.  It wasn’t terribly common for the entire board to meet at the same time, so most of the other members were using this as an opportunity to network in person. 

Ricardo Waggoner, the head of the interventionist coalition that Belle, Jasper, and Kat were loosely affiliated with, walked up with a number of his allies in tow.  Other than one or two members that Kat or Belle were blackmailing, they had cooler relations with the rest of the group, but there were around ten or so men and women in suits with Waggoner, and they largely followed his lead when it came to voting.  Kat wasn’t going to sit down with them for coffee anytime soon, but they were enough to keep Ricket from doing anything drastic.  At least for now.

“Shareholder Donnst, Shareholder Debs,” Ricardo said pleasantly, nodding to each of them.  “Our group has reserved the private room at The Prime Cut.  I don’t know if the two of you are fans of steak, but I’m sure we could talk the chef into making room for a couple more if you’d like to join us.”

Ricardo was polite, but the expressions of his followers were tense and a bit chilly.  Likely their group wanted to talk about the changes Kat’s news about the visiting aliens would bring, and that was a discussion for their inner circle.  The invitation wasn’t serious, merely a social nicety.  He was supposed to offer and she was supposed to decline.

A year ago, Kat probably would’ve stuck her foot in her mouth by joining them for dinner if only because dinner at a restaurant like The Prime cut probably would’ve cost her annual salary.  Now, after months and months of painstaking and annoying experience, Kat finally knew most of the unspoken rules that governed her as a shareholder.  They didn’t actually make sense to her, it still seemed easier for people to just come out and say what they meant or wanted, but at least she wasn’t constantly annoying those around her with minor faux pas.

“I apologize,” Belle said smoothly before Kat had a chance to speak up.  “Shareholder Haupt was going to join us for a discussion with Ambassador Ahn.  Perhaps next time we will be able to catch up with you.”

“Next time,” Ricardo replied, turning and leading his group out of the boardroom before he even finished the final word.  His followers nodded politely at them and muttered some platitudes.

Another two or three groups filtered out of the room as Jasper walked over.  Kat eyed the rest of the room up.  At least one of the three person clusters of shareholders tended to vote with Ricket’s conservatives, a group that had opposed their investiture from the beginning.  Talking here didn’t carry the risk of being overheard.  Rather, it was almost a certainty

Jasper approached, reaching up to run his hands through his hair and the metal plate that had been inserted into the back of his head.

“Well,” He said with a shrug.  “That was boring.  Everyone here really seems to enjoy the sound of their own voices.  I can’t say that I understand the appeal.”

“I can’t say that I disagree,” Kat replied.  “Do you want to grab a private room?  We can have a light lunch.  I suspect that Dorrik and Belle might have some updates that didn’t make it into the formal report.”

“After all,” she continued, cocking her head toward Belle, “we wouldn’t want to worry the rest of the shareholders with unfounded speculation, would we?  No reason to start a panic over a couple rumors and guesses.”

Belle smiled back, a tight and predatory expression without a single hint of warmth or mirth.

“But of course Shareholder Debs,” she replied.  “There are a great many things that would worry and concern the board of directors unnecessarily.  Specifically some rumors about activity in accounts associated with Millennium that are based out of corporations in the Caribbean.”

“Come on Dorrik,” Kat called out, “now that we’re done with all the playacting, let’s find a cafe or something so that we can actually talk business.”

The lokkel nodded, severing their mental link now that it was no longer needed.  The four of them left the room and almost immediately they were met by Davis Stoller, Jasper’s head of security, and Heather along with six security guards.

Belle didn’t have any security with her.  By unspoken agreement, each shareholder was only supposed to bring three or less guards, but no one raised too much of a fuss about Kat and Jasper bringing extra officers when Belle didn’t have any.  It made sense for most of the guards to come from Jasper and Kat.  After all, Kat had access to some of the best high tech equipment and magical trainers on Earth and Davis Stoller was notorious for his skill and diligence.  Any security officer that could pass through his training regimen was an elite.  Between the two of them, it would likely take a half dozen teams of samurai to pose a credible risk to any of the shareholders.

The arrangement was rather new.  The Belle of six months ago never would’ve trusted another shareholder to handle her security.  Even now, she would look jumpy from time to time, but the show of trust on Belle’s part was more than a little welcome.  Bit by bit her cold demeanor was starting to fade a little, at least as far as Kat was concerned.  To everyone else, she was still the same predator wearing a wintry smile, but to Kat’s little group, Belle was trying her hardest to open up.

Stoller led the way, taking a step in front of Jasper and scanning the hallway in front of them while Heather took the same position at the rear of their group.  It was unlikely that someone would be foolish enough to try and ambush them inside GroCorp’s intercontinental headquarters, but it was also unlikely that someone would try and launch a terroristic attack in the middle of arbitration with VodCom.  At this point, Millennium could be anywhere and they were capable of anything.  The security teams weren’t going to take any chances, and frankly it made Kat feel a little more comfortable to have more eyes on the problem.  Her expertise was in infiltrating and destroying things.  Keeping people alive?  That was a different speciality.

After about five minutes of walking and a pair of secure elevators, their team found itself in a coffee shop.  There was only one worker on duty, a twenty year old barista with vibrant green hair that was shaking like a leaf as their team did a sweep of the room.

Kat took a seat while they did their work, ordering an iced coffee from the barista.  The guards wouldn’t let her touch her equipment while they inspected it so it would take a little bit before Kat could actually touch her coffee, but that wasn’t all that big of a deal.  She would need a little bit of caffeine to stave off the stupor induced by the boring meeting at some point, but it wasn’t exactly essential.

Jasper sat down across from her with Belle and Dorrik joining the two of them a couple seconds later.  Kat frowned slightly as she noticed Jasper fidgeting, his finger tapping the table quietly at an incredibly insistent rate 

“All clear,” Davis called out, stepping away from the shivering barista and her assortment of coffee and espresso machines.

“Calm down,” he continued, a hint of kindness lacing his voice as he addressed the shaking employee.  “We’re going to have to ask that you wear a pair of ear plugs during the meeting today so that you don’t overhear anything you shouldn’t, but no one is planning on hurting you.”

Kat smiled at the woman, drawing a weak smile in return.  The woman hastily took the earplugs offered by Davis and put them in before turning to machinery lining the back wall of the cafe.  It wasn’t like she didn’t understand where the barista was coming from.  Being present during a secret meeting like this had the potential to draw unwanted attention and some executives and shareholders weren’t above eliminating witnesses.  Kat wasn’t the sort to go out of her way to kill someone that was just doing their job.

-unless the job was serving as a security guard at a facility she was raiding, she amended mentally.

“Now,” Belle began.  “To discuss the uptick in Millennium activity in the Caribbean.  My agents have noticed-”

“I have something to say,” Jasper blurted out, cutting her off and drawing a hiss of displeasure from the older shareholder.

“Belle,” he continued hurriedly.  “I know that you killed my Dad.”

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -  
<-Previous<-

Index

->Next->