TS6 - Chapter 37

“H-how many more d-dungeons do you need?”  Jasper was simple and to the point.  The second he sat down with Davis towering behind him, the other shareholder dove into the crux of the matter.

“Eleven for a full clear,” Kat replied.  She was a little more centered now.  Emma had already sent out the order for the attack, a public announcement for a new product line in a trade magazine that the 3445 was monitoring.  By 6 am the next morning the attack would be under way, for better or worse.

“T-hat is almost three weeks,” Jasper said, worry creasing his brow.  “W-e don’t have t-hat much time.”

“I know,” Kat responded, glancing up as Belle stormed into the room, a borderline faceless assistant scrambling to keep up with her.

“How bad is it?” Belle asked.  “Do your people have a location on Mr. Jackson?  Mine had him IDed in Rio de Janeiro catching a consumer flight under a fake name about four days ago.  We’ve lost track of him since then.”

“Well,” she finished with a shrug.  “I’ve lost track of him.  For all I know one of my people is tailing him right now, but without the ability to report on his whereabouts electronically, the man may as well be on the far side of the moon.  Every check in takes days to get to me.”

“Crap,” Kat said with a scowl.  “We located the Millennium base deep in the Amazon.  A good portion of our army and mercenary forces have been clandestinely shifting south to prepare for a strike on it.  Right now, there’s only really a skeleton force up here.  I’ve already given the order for our operations team to go into action based off of the assumption that Mr. Jackson would either be there, or we would be able to find intelligence giving us a hint as to his location.”

Belle pursed her lips, pupils flicking back and forth as she read through some reports on her smartglass.

“Lets hope you can find some information on his location,” the older woman replied.  “Mr. Jackson’s flight was to St. Kitts.  It sounds like he flew to a couple other Caribbean islands after that before we lost track of him.  I don’t know where he is, but I doubt he’s back at his home base.  Those aren’t the actions of someone that is settling down in a bunker trying to wait out the clock.”

“Well there isn’t any turning back,” Kat said grimly.  “There is a code phrase to launch the attack and that makes all of the in position groups go completely dark.  Emma wanted to make sure they weren’t being tracked by their electronics so everything has already been turned off.  Unless you can get a courier deep into the Amazon in the next couple of hours, they’re launching their assault tomorrow morning and there isn’t anything we can do to stop them.”

The room lapsed into silence.  There wasn’t even the sound of shuffling papers.  Instead each person was individually going through all of the information available to them through their smartglass.

Finally, Belle’s assistant spoke up, his voice hesitant as he trembled like a rabbit struggling under the gaze of a hungry owl.

“Shareholder Donnst, we could activate the cells monitoring airports in North America?  They will probably blow their cover, but they could keep an eye out for any suspicious samurai for the next couple of days.”

“Jackson,” Belle snapped.  “What have I told you about speaking out of turn?”

The man flinched visibly, casting his gaze downward and mumbling an apology that was inaudible to everyone but Kat and Belle herself.

“But,” Belle continued, softening slightly.  “That is not a bad suggestion.  You can activate the cells Jackson.  Also, issue an order to start training their replacements.  Once the observers are spotted they’ll need to be recycled into another arm of the intelligence wing and I’d like to have another set of deep cover informants ready to go sooner rather than later.”

“Do you think that will work?” Kat asked doubtfully.  “It still seems like we’re spinning our tires here and guessing where Mr. Jackson will be.  Right now I feel like I’m fighting blind, and as bad as that is, this time limit is going to be the end of us.  There needs to be something we can do to track this guy down.”

“W-we don’t have a-any leads,” Jasper responded, shaking his head.  “T-the other shareholders a-are not t-trying anything t-to the best of my knowledge.”

Davis leaned forward, putting a hand on Jasper’s shoulder and squeezing once before he took over from his struggling charge.

“Most of Haupt resources have been focused on keeping the other shareholders in check.  Right now, none of them are making a move.  I think that they’ve realized how important Miss Debs’ success will be to corporate growth after looking over the plans for the starport.  Even the people that don’t particularly like her aren’t going to throw in with an outsider.  Miss Debs’ threats are external.  She doesn’t have to worry about a palace coup.”

Kat leaned back in her chair, sensitive ears picking up the faint creak as her body stretched the metal and plastic of the furniture.   Across the table, Belle adopted a similarly pensive expression.

“So we’re left with a red herring and a handful of leads that will probably go nowhere,” she responded.  “Certainly not how I’d like to start an emergency operation.”

“I could try to level up early,” Kat said slowly.  “That would at least let me have a puncher’s chance against Mr. Jackson, even if I’d be missing a bunch of the attribute points and skill development that I would need for a head to head clash.”

“Actually,” she continued, frowning slightly.  “Do we know that the ascension ritual will be a head to head clash?  It's very possible that it could be something like a race or a puzzle.  I’m pretty sure there will be a test of character as well, after all what would be the point of embargoing Earth only to let us loose after a generation or two without testing to make sure that we are ready to enter the Galactic Consensus?  That said, there’s no idea what ‘good character’ would look like.  After all, the stallesp managed to pass it and they’re somewhere between corporatist goons and outright organized crime, but on an interstellar scale.”

“That shouldn’t be your only concern,” Bell replied softly, her perfectly smooth brow furrowing.  “If Mr. Jackson is about to ascend, I worry about all of our tentative deals with the stallesp.  Yes, we bought their non interference with promises and contracts, but those were all contingent on you ascending before Mr. Jackson.  Technically, those agreements aren’t voided yet, but I would be surprised if the stallesp are going to go out of their way to enforce them.”

“And we have already seen their willingness to work outside of the rules,” Davis said with a grunt.  “If the stallesp think that they can pass some aid on to Mr. Jackson without getting caught, they’re going to do it.  Even if Kat tries to level up early, I wouldn’t be surprised if outsiders try to intervene.  They already have the plausible deniability of Mr. Jackson having his own ‘splinter group.’  It wouldn’t be hard for some forces ‘outside of their control’ to make a move on Erinyes.”

Immediately the table broke into a half dozen conversations at once.  There weren’t all that many people there, just Kat’s closest allies and their assistants, but everyone seemed to want to voice an opinion about what was happening.  Despite that, the chatter didn’t reach her.

The use of Kat’s street name seemed to clear up some of the confusion and self doubt that had been filling her mind.  She was so used to operating as a shareholder, bearing the weight and responsibility of an entire corporation on her shoulders, that Kat kept forgetting that sometimes the simplest ways were the best.

Her mercenaries might kill Mr. Jackson in the Amazon.  Belle’s agents might spot him at an airport.  He might make contact with a shareholder in Grocorp and trigger one of the Haupt observers.  All of that was possible, but not guaranteed.  At the end of the day there was only one thing that Kat could truly count on.  Her knife, her mana, and the strength of her arm.

If they could find Mr. Jackson, she would kill him like a shareholder, with mercenaries and cannons from afar.  If they couldn’t find Mr. Jackson, she would ascend early and leave concerns about missing a couple of dungeons for later.  It made her unreasonably angry that she might need to miss out on some power in order to challenge the man, but if that was the case, she would just need to make up for it by evolving more of her skills into their silver variants and hitting the dungeons of the twenty fourth floor extra hard.

She took a deep breath, holding the air in her lungs for a second before letting her anxiety and self doubt flow back out with it.

“Okay,” Kat said, taking charge of the worried bickering that had erupted in the wake of Davis’ statement.  “We can only control what we can control.  If anyone has an idea to track Millennium down, don’t bother with consulting with the committee.  Just do it and report back if you get results.  We don’t have the time to form a blue ribbon commission on tailing international terrorists.  If you can find him, let us know.  If your agents have a shot at him, take the shot.  I don’t really care who pulls the trigger so long as he is a footnote in the history books they write about Earth joining the Galactic Consensus and putting an end to all of this pointless misery with advanced technology.”

“In the meantime,” she continued, locking eyes with first Jasper and then Belle, “I think we should talk over the assets the two of you have on hand.  I’m basically down to a skeleton crew because all of my security teams are either in the Amazon or on their way there.  If we find Mr. Jackson, we will need to know what we have on hand with the capability to deploy quickly.  Remember, even if we find him he’s just as likely to be in Neo Tokyo or Quebec City Version 2.11 so we need to know what sort of flight and rail rapid transportation capabilities you have as well.”

Jasper opened his mouth to reply, but Davis put a hand on his shoulder.  The older samurai nodded toward Belle.  Kat felt her mouth go dry.

They needed to cooperate, but at the same time she couldn’t blame any reluctance on Jasper’s part.  Belle literally used her clandestine forces to kill his father.  She might be an ally now and she might be working to shift her mindset, but that wasn't an ordinary hurdle for Jasper to jump over.  It was a mountain, almost insurmountable as it jutted up into the heavens and blotted out the sun.

“I-i-t’s all right,” Jasper stammered.  “I-I know what she did.  At some p-point one of us will have to m-move past it.  I-I will never be f-friends with her but-”

He was shaking.  Kat could see both of his hands clenched tight into fists as Jasper forced himself to keep speaking.

“B-but I can trust her as an ally.  I-I have s-seen her grow.  I-I have seen her t-try to be better.  Belle is a different person now.  I don’t need to b-be her friend to work with her for a better world.  T-tell her.”

Davis stiffened, his face completely wooden as he processed Jasper’s words.  After a couple seconds, the old warrior sighed, reaching up to cover his eyes with his left hand.  He practically spat out his answer.

“Fine.  Only because Jasper told me to.  I still think it is a good idea for all of us to have a couple secrets from each other.  Even if we are allies, we should follow the same rules as any healthy relationship.  Familiarity builds disdain and all that.”

Kat glanced at Whippoorwill only for her girlfriend to shrug in confusion.  Neither of them had any real idea what Davis was talking about.

“House Haupt’s official security forces are not designed to be deployed outside of Chiwaukee.  The House Guard consists of about eight hundred security officers armed with light arms.  They have about five light vehicles and two heavier vehicles.  Nothing as heavily armored as a tank, but the new mag autocannons we imported from you are scarily effective.  They can knock down a helicopter or tear apart an actual tank if it holds still long enough.  After them, there are two rapid reaction companies each with about fifty people.  They generally use armored personal carriers with one heavier fire support vehicle per company.  We can deploy them within a hundred leagues or so of Chiwaukee pretty easily, but anything further than that usually requires heavy lifters or cargo mag levs.”

“What I did not want to mention were our five black ops teams,” Davis growled.  “Each one consists of a ten samurai team.  All of them have access to the best weapons and cyberwear that money can buy and over half of each team consists of players.  Most are only level one or two, but each of the squad leaders is at least level four.  Three of the five groups have stealth hover crafts while the remaining two use advanced helicopters.  They aren’t really designed for trench warfare, but they’re enough to infiltrate and sabotage an enemy factory or barracks.  If we can find Mr. Jackson, those are the groups I would suggest sending after him.”

Kat bit her lower lip.  Level four?  Even if the black ops teams were one hundred percent chrome, that was barely going to slow a level twenty four player down.  Theoretically a lucky shot could kill Mr. Jackson, but she couldn’t help but think of how many well trained and skilled corporate security guards she’d managed to kill with her magic and enhanced reflexes.  Maybe all fifty of them at the same time would have a chance, but Kat wasn’t going to bet her shares on it.

“My house guard also consists of a thousand security officers,” Belle said.  “All of them have rifles but only about half of them are carrying anything more than a side arm at any given point in time.  They are not armed with any heavy equipment, but they are using state of the art rifles with some of the enhanced recoilless rifles designed from reverse engineered stallesp technology meaning they can handle most armored vehicles or airplanes, at least in theory.  I only have one rapid reaction force, but its focus is search and rescue rather than eliminating targets.  For that I rely on triads, groups of three that function as combination spies and assassins.  Right now there are almost fifty triads on payroll with forty of them currently deployed.  I also have standing contracts with a couple samurai groups, but I am not sure we could trust them with an operation of this scope and importance.  A fifteen to twenty person team that does not know how to play well with others won’t get us that far when targeting someone like Mr. Jackson.”

“So between seventy five and a hundred people that we can deploy on short notice?”  Kat asked, gritting her teeth.  If Mr. Jackson was on his own or in a small group that might do the trick, but if he was a larger team, all bets were off.

“Seventy five to a hundred elites,” Davis replied without any warmth or confidence.  It seemed that he could perform the same grim calculations as Kat.  Mr. Jackson and a stallesp hybrid partner, both level twenty four could each be considered as strong as at least ten to fifteen elites at a minimum.  Unless one of Belle’s teams could take him down with a sniper’s bullet, a lot of people were going to die and there was a very good chance that Mr. Jackson would be able to escape if not win the contest outright.

Kat closed her eyes.  Dorrik and Jaalin wouldn’t be able to help as they were firmly bound by the rules of the Galactic Consensus, but Kaleek might be an option.  He seemed to find the sacrosanct prohibitions to be more in the range of loose guidelines.

Still, if someone from the Consensus caught wind of his involvement, it could be the end of everything.  She would need to conceal his intervention for the rest of her life for fear that an outside observer would find out and reverse any changes she made.  

Truly, that would be one of the most ironic and upsetting fates.  After going through everything and stomaching constant stallesp cheating, it would be beyond an injustice for the bureaucrats of the Galactic Consensus to just take everything away if she stepped out of line once, but given how permissive they’d been of stallesp antics to date, Kat had no faith that the system would treat each party fairly.

She only felt confident going after Mr. Jackson because they could frame the strike as an anti-terrorist action.  Millennium had committed enough crimes after going underground that it wouldn’t be a stretch to call them one of the greatest threats to corporate power currently on Earth.  Technically, every megcacorp had a bouncy tout on their executives, providing Kat with all the plausible deniability she needed to send her forces after him.

Under the table Whip squeezed her hand, stilling Kat’s racing thoughts.  She opened her eyes once again.

Regardless of the consequences, they should call Kaleek in.  They didn’t necessarily need to use his assistance, but at a minimum they should have him nearby for whatever was to come.  He could finish off his aqua culture projects a little later.

Her eyes twitched slightly, activating a communication channel through her smart glass.  Kat opened her mouth to say the code phrase that would tell her workers to let Kaleek know that she wanted to see him in person, and the words were on the tip of her tongue when-

The building shook, lights flickering.

Kat frowned.  That wasn’t supposed to happen.  The complex they were in was huge, a small fortified city in and of itself, and her stateroom was buried deep in its heart.  Anything large enough to be felt here had to be apocalyptic.

A hologram popped into existence on the table in front of her, revealing Heather.  It flickered, the area behind her cloaked in smoke and static.

“----rm yourself.”  She was shouting, voice garbled.  “We are under attack.  Millennium isn’t in Amazon, they’re-”

Another explosion echoed through the room, this one fully audible through the hologram before the floating image suddenly cut out.

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