Somnus V - Chapter 34

Walter Ashforth scurried up to Kat as soon as she entered the courtroom. He was a short, skittish looking man that was just beginning to lose his hair. The attorney’s eyes darted back and forth at the tight cordon of Kat’s security as he leaned in close to her and began whispering urgently.

 “I have a settlement offer from VodCom, they’re willing to drop everything if you just repay the credits you got from them in the isotope sa-”

 “Absolutely not,” Kat cut him off.

 “But they have a possible claim under the Market Manipulation Accord of 2077,” Walter said hurriedly. “We have a good case but I can’t promise you that the arbitration panel won’t decide against us on that point, Shareholder Donnst and you clearly-”

 “Clearly what?” Belle asked as she swept into the room, high heels clicking on the marble floor as a train of attorneys followed in her wake. “Clearly work for the same corporation? Conspiracy only applies to non-affiliated entities my dear, and the 2077 accord doesn’t apply unless there is conspiracy.”

 “Miss Debs,” she continued with a joyless smile. “I apologize that Walter seems to have forgotten his place. He never would have suggested such an absurd settlement offer to me. I suspect you haven’t been disciplining him enough. I’ve found that physical violence usually suffices.”

 The lawyer winced, flinching away from Belle. Nevertheless he kept whispering urgently at the two of them, unable to meet Belle’s eyes.

 “Legal ethics require me to bring any offer to you even if I know that you’re going to reject it. Plus, the Market Manipulation Accord would apply to the actions of two members of the same corporation acting in concert unless it can be shown that their actions were in furtherance of a corporate purpose. I can pass on a rejection or a counter offer, but I really think we should-”

 “Absolutely not,” Kat repeated, more firmly. “Their case is frivolous and they know it. VodCom coordinated with another corporation to violate the 2077 Accord and everyone knows it. Shareholder Donnst and I were securing a supply chain for our factories and clearing up market irregularities. There was no reason for VodCom to make those purchases unless they were specifically trying to harm GroCorp’s tech line as a whole.”

 “I know, but-” Walter paused for a second, eyes flickering over to where Belle was glaring at him like a worm wriggling on the end of a hook. “It’s very possible that the panel might not find that you were responding to a prohibited market action. If that’s the case they could-”

 He trailed off, glancing back and forth between Belle and Kat. A half second after lapsing into silence, he just sighed.

 “None of this is softening your position at all isn’t it?” He asked, sounding defeated. “The two of you want me to hit me with both barrels don’t you? Is there any warning I could give you that would change your minds on this?”

 “No,” Belle said cheerfully. “They attacked us and we responded, taking a step back at this time would be nothing less but admitting weakness on our part. It is better to lose and pay a fine than to give up without a fight at this point.”

 “Of course,” she continued, her eyes twinkling with the closest Kat had seen to genuine happiness in a while, “you could offer to settle if they pay a quarter billion credits, just a little over fifty percent more than they extracted from us through their market manipulation. You should let slip that the full arbitration trial may reveal their… interference with some of our internal communications. No matter how much they win from us, they will lose a hundred times as much from that revelation.”

 Walter’s eyes widened and his throat bobbed. He started to say something only to break down into a coughing fit.

“Excuse me?” He stammered out. “Do you mean to say that VodCom is tapping communications? If that’s the case why hasn’t anyone told me about it?”

“Because all sensitive information has been transmitted via private networks since we found out,” Kat replied. “Don’t worry about the details too much. Shareholder Donnst has everything we need to enter proof of their interference as rebuttal evidence. VodCom would be foolish not to take our offer.”

The attorney closed his eyes, sighing deeply.

“Thank God,” he replied. “I hate cases like this. By all rights we should win, but if something happens, I’m pretty sure that the two of you would eat me alive.”

“No offense,” Walter said hurriedly, suddenly seeming to realize that he was talking to his clients.

“None taken,” Belle replied. “I would absolutely eat you alive if you managed to lose.”

He laughed nervously before bolting for the other side of the courtroom where the VodCom legal team was gathering. Kat shook her head as she watched him go, anxiety twisting inside her stomach.

“Despite that he’s a quality attorney,” Belle said with a chuckle, stepping aside so that the five lawyers following her could begin setting up at the counsel table. “He’s a big flighty and weak-willed at times, but as long as you crack his chest open and insert some steel into his spine, he’s one of the best lawyers in the world.”

“Thanks,” Kat responded, flashing a quick smile at the other shareholder. “I still can’t shake the feeling that VodCom knows something that we don’t. They should’ve realized that they’re in a tough spot by now, yet they’re still trying to intimidate us. It doesn’t add up.”

“They’re bluffing,” Belle replied with a shrug, motioning for one of her lawyers to pull out a chair for her. “Either that or they are so deluded that they genuinely think that they can win this case. Regardless, our only option is to proceed. Worrying about their erratic behaviors will only serve to give the two of us gray hair years earlier than we deserve.”

The two of them sat at their table, doing their best to ignore the bustle as Belle’s lawyers began to set up the projector they would be using for their rebuttal evidence. There wasn’t any clean way for the two of them to send the data file to the arbitration panel without VodCom discovering it, so instead they were forced to prepare their response manually.

“Now stop worrying,” Belle said, nodding to her. “Everything is in good hands.”

Kat shot her a half smile before taking a deep breath and trying to steady her racing nerves.

“You know,” she remarked. “I think that’s the first time you’ve tried to reassure me. It’s a bit strange. I expected you to be a little colder about this. More analytical.”

Belle shot Kat a glance, eyes narrowing slightly.

“I told you to stop worrying because it makes you appear guilty. If you walk into arbitration confident and with your back held straight while your opponent sweats through their suit, the panel will assume that you’re telling the truth and that they’re lying. That’s practically litigation one oh one.”

Kat’s brow furrowed as she processed Belle’s response but before she could speak up Walter hurried back over toward them, shaking his head as he approached.their table.

“No deal,” he said unhappily, flopping down into the chair next to them. With sure, well practiced movements he fished a bottle of antacids out of his pocket and cracked it open, popping two into his mouth and crunching away as he spoke. “They seem pretty sure of themselves.”

He stopped, turning to squint at the two shareholders while his jaw worked at the calcium carbonate tablets in his mouth.

“Are you sure there isn’t something the two of you aren’t telling me?” He asked suspiciously. “I can only prepare for arguments that I know are coming. If there’s a bunch of hidden evidence or something, I might as well just throw my entire outline out. There’s not much I can do to save you if you won’t give me the tools I need to do my job.”

“There is plenty we aren’t telling you,” Belle said with a frosty smile. “But don’t worry, I have everything set up to pull us out of the fire the minute VodCom springs their little trap.”

“Sounds good,” Walter replied, slumping into his chair as he crunched away aggressively at the antacid. “My clients have everything in hand. Nothing to worry about. I should just skip along picking flowers and singing a song to myself until I fall into the inevitable trap that they won’t share any details on. Wonderful and delightful. Thank God this job has good enough insurance to cover vag grown hearts. I’m going to need one when this case gives me a coronary.”

“Precisely,” Belle responded, unphased by the lawyer's increasingly dark rambling. “I knew that you would see this for what it is. We will need the element of surprise after all. The minute VodCom learns of our plans, they will alter and fabricate the evidence they need to defeat them. Right now, subterfuge is our only path to victory.”

“That’s grim,” Walter said glumly, barely even looking at Belle. “I don’t see how you can be so sure of victory right now. If our opponents really can freely alter the evidence, we can’t trust any of our strategies. At any moment, they could simply pull the rug out from under us and bop us over the head and there wouldn’t be anything that we could do about it. If I were in your position, I’d be shaking in my shoes. I AM shaking in my shoes right now.”

“I do not need any evidence to be convinced of my victory,” Bell replied. “You are right that we can't have any confidence in it. Already the exhibits we’ve submitted to the arbitration panel might have been adulterated and changed. What I am sure of is myself. I will notice any changes, and use the physical backups to unveil their tactics in real time. When VodCom begins to use fabricated evidence and all of our plans lay broken at our feet, there will be nothing to rely upon except my absolute certainty that I will react to evolving circumstances quickly and efficiently in order to obtain victory.”

“So,” she continued, fingers drumming steadily against the table, “to answer your unspoken question. I am not frightened. I am ecstatic. Colors are brighter. My breakfast this morning tasted better. This is the best day I’ve had in years.”

Kat opened her mouth to remind Belle that they’d both just attended the other woman’s wedding only a couple of months ago only to catch herself. Belle knew. Of course she knew. She also was telling the truth. For her, this probably was like Christmas morning.

A chime filled the room, marking the entrance of the arbitration panel. All around the room, lawyers, assistants, and reporters stood up. Kat, Belle, and the VodCom shareholder there to testify about his company’s interests remained seated, a perk of their positions. As important as the arbitrators were, none of them stood above a company’s shareholder.

The arbitrators took their seats at the front of the room and another chime rang out, signaling that the rest of the chamber could join them. Shuffling filled the room as the spectators’ gallery began to move again. Many took their chairs, but still more talked quietly with each other as they began to set up their filming equipment so that they could record the upcoming arbitration trial.

Kat shifted slightly as she tuned in to a hundred conversations at once. She couldn’t hear Ice Cobra’s voice anywhere, but that didn’t mean she wasn’t here. The women could be hiding.

A glance backward didn’t clear anything up. There were at least three hundred people packed into the building with her. She saw brown hair, blonde hair, green hair, Whippoorwill, Dorrik, and even a heavyset bald man with a strangely lumpy face, but there was none of Cobra’s blue hair.

Again, that only meant that she had dyed it. Kat closed her eyes for a second, trying to exhale her stress as she sought to steady herself. No matter what she saw or didn’t see, it wouldn’t change anything. VodCom had agents out there, and they were gunning for her. For whatever reason, the corporation wanted her dead before. Now? Kat would be surprised if VodCom ever relented. A lot of shareholders had open contracts in the hundreds of thousands if not millions of credits range. It was just rare to find a samurai foolish enough to try and collect.

“This arbitration panel is now called to order..” The booming PA system pulled Kat’s attention away from the crowd. “Proceedings will now begin In the matter of Marcus Wright, shareholder of VodCom on behalf of VodCom versus Katherine Debs, shareholder of GroCorp, and Belle Donnst, shareholder of GroCorp, on behalf of themselves and Grocorp with arbitrators David Jennson, Elise Hanson, and William Tenney presiding.”

The gentle chatter of the room ended abruptly as one of the arbitrators, a man in his late fifties with close cropped blonde hair leaned forward and tapped his microphone. Kat’s memory identified him as William Tenney, the chief and only neutral arbitrator for the case. Grocorp had selected Elise Hanson as their representative and VodCom had picked David Jennson. Supposedly, one representative from both parties with the deciding vote being cast by an independent party was supposed to keep the proceedings as fair as possible, but it all seemed like a silly waste to Kat. Of course Elise was going to vote in their favor and of course David Jennson was going to vote against them. They were literally employees.

“Are there any preliminary matters we need to address before we begin taking testimony?” William asked, cutting off Kat’s internal rambling. “There was a scheduling order in this case that looks like it was followed, but I want to give both sides a chance to be heard before we dive into the case in chief.”

“Nothing from the plaintiff,” an attorney at VodCom’s table called out.

“Same from the respondent,” Walter replied. “We’re ready to begin.”

“Then let’s get started,” the arbitrator said, nodding toward VodCom’s table. “All pre-approved exhibits have been marked and entered into the record. The plaintiff may begin by calling its first witness.”

The lawyer at the other table stood up, eyes locked on the arbitration panel as he responded.

“The plaintiff calls shareholder Katherine Debs to the stand.” The room around them erupted into whispers as the viewing gallery immediately began to speculate about the coming questions.

Kat stood up, pulling out her chair to walk toward the witness stand. She got two steps before stopping and looking back at Belle and her attorney.

“That reminds me,” she whispered. “Whippoorwill sent something back to headquarters. It should be there by lunch. Make sure to draw my testimony out that long so that we can use whatever rebuttal evidence she’s trying to collect.”

“But,” Walter sputtered, his eyes widening. “How am I supposed to do that? The arbitrators aren’t going to let me call three recesses in a row or blatantly stall for time. I have to actually ask questions! I don’t have that many planned out in my outline.”

“Then make a new outline,” Kat replied with a wink before turning toward the witness stand. “You’re a smart guy. I believe in you.”

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