Geneenh T'Loris: Simple Rules Part 2
Jul 17, 2017 20:17:34 GMT -6
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Post by Geneenh T'Loris on Jul 17, 2017 20:17:34 GMT -6
Her attorney advised her to leave Illium and she said she would, though both of them knew her departure would be delayed somewhat.
It took her several days to refine her plan and get what she needed, and one week after she was out on bail she struck.
*****
While she did not consider herself an infiltrator, she had learned enough about it in her time to enable her to penetrate her former client’s premises.
She first hacked her way into the house and disabled all of the communication systems, followed by the primary power. Disabling the backup power would come later—there were still some things she needed to do.
Then came taking out his guards.
Her research showed he normally had a team of five, but ever since her release it had been quadrupled. That made things a little more difficult, but not impossible.
Dealing with them was, as the humans liked to say, child’s play. Once she disabled their shields and sabotaged their guns, they were left with their bare hands, which meant they were completely defenseless against someone with her level of experience.
A majority of them fled after their guns were blown, leaving the house cradling their injured hands, but a few of them stayed, determined to protect their client.
Several of them had stun rods, so she made sure to take them out first, making sure they were at their highest settings when she turned them on their owners.
The rest had their kneecaps broken.
*****
With the guards now dealt with, she made her way to her target. Once the trouble had started, he had sealed himself in a secure room—or at least what he thought was a secure room.
The system that controlled it was definitely top of the line, but its own security was a month out of date—and with the rate of daily improvement in cybersecurity, it may as well have been a millennium.
She opened the door and stepped through to find him in a small but lavishly furnished room calmly sitting behind a desk.
Calmly.
Not cowering.
He’s up to something.
Her senses went on high alert.
“About time you got here,” he said. “Took you a little longer than I anticipated, though. I was expecting you two days ago.”
“You know us girls,” she said, playing along as she brought up her omnitool. “We like to keep boys waiting.”
No comms running out of the room.
“It was all a test,” he said. “Your reputation has preceded you, and we’re looking for someone of your considerable talent to join us.”
She said nothing. She knew he wanted her to ask him, but she wouldn’t give him the satisfaction.
A small victory, but a victory nonetheless.
“Sure, you looked good on paper, but we had to see how you handle adversity,” he said. “As well as your loyalty. If you had spoken during your interrogation, we would have made it a lot worse for you.”
She maintained her silence.
“Your fee has already been deposited into your account,” he said. “The money you used to post bail has also been returned to you.”
He slid a datapad across his desk.
“A contract to work for us for five years,” he said. “Compensation is well above what any of our competitors would pay for such a position, as well as stock options and a number of other benefits. It’s all in the contract, all you have to do is sign.”
She activated her omnitool and scanned the densely typed contract. The key to survival on Ilium was knowing contract law or knowing someone who did. Signing one without reviewing it would set one up for all sorts of surprises, none of them good.
“Any patents I come up automatically are the property of the company?” she said and shook her head. “I retain them or I walk.”
“Any patents would be the result of your working directly for the company,” he said. “Not to mention you would be using company assets to develop them. They need to be compensated for their expenditures.”
“I can take this contract to any number of your competitors,” she said. “I’m sure they would find a way to match this offer and then exceed it.”
“Fine, 75% for the company,” he said.
“Good bye,” she said, and walked out.
“Okay, two-thirds for the company,” he said.
She kept walking.
“All right, half!” he yelled.
She stopped and turned to face him.
“You’re right,” she said. “The company should get some recompense.”
“Anything else?” he asked.
Her omnitool finished examining the contract and highlighted several other problem areas.
“Get rid of these portions of the contract,” she said.
“Fine, they’re out,” he said as he went through the contract and crossed out the areas. “Anything else?”
“No, that’s it,” she said. “I’ll sign.”
He slid the altered contract back to her and she signed slowly, ensuring the signature was legible, then slid it back to him.
He looked over the signature and anger flashed across his eyes.
“What the hell is this?” he asked.
“And I thought you were smart,” she said. “After careful consideration, I’ve decided to decline your offer.”
She leaned in.
“I could’ve accepted your offer…if only you hadn’t tried to kill me,” she said. “We girls tend to take that sort of thing personally, you know.”
“You just made the biggest mistake of your life,” he sneered. “The police are already on their way here, and they’ll be eager to take in a revenge-driven asari who broke into my property and assaulted my security personnel. You’re going away for a long time, and I’ll make sure you stay alive to carry out your sentence, which will be quite lengthy.”
“Yes, but the ‘revenge-driven asari’ will turn over evidence she uncovered, evidence of your…perversions,” she said, and tapped a command on her omnitool.
A vidscreen on the wall flared to life and the sounds of sexual activity filled the room—along with high-pitched screams of protest and pain.
“No one will believe that,” he said. “My company makes sizable donations to many children’s charities.”
“Which is exactly why they’ll dismiss you without a second thought,” she said. “Can’t have someone like you tarnishing their reputation. I hope you’ve made some friends outside the office, because otherwise your life is about to get a lot more lonely—at least until you’re in jail.”
“Fine, I’ll double everything in the offer,” he said, almost managing to keep the fear out his voice.
“But how could I possibly turn my back on all of those children you’ve hurt?” she said, and a montage of different scenes filled the vidscreen.
“Fine, I’ll triple it—no, quadruple it!” he cried, his voice now trembling.
“No,” she said. “You broke the rules, and there have to be consequences for that. And in case you’re wondering what rules I’m talking about, I’ll tell you. They’re quite simple, actually: I do the job and then I get paid.”
She turned and began walking towards the sound of sirens.
It took her several days to refine her plan and get what she needed, and one week after she was out on bail she struck.
*****
While she did not consider herself an infiltrator, she had learned enough about it in her time to enable her to penetrate her former client’s premises.
She first hacked her way into the house and disabled all of the communication systems, followed by the primary power. Disabling the backup power would come later—there were still some things she needed to do.
Then came taking out his guards.
Her research showed he normally had a team of five, but ever since her release it had been quadrupled. That made things a little more difficult, but not impossible.
Dealing with them was, as the humans liked to say, child’s play. Once she disabled their shields and sabotaged their guns, they were left with their bare hands, which meant they were completely defenseless against someone with her level of experience.
A majority of them fled after their guns were blown, leaving the house cradling their injured hands, but a few of them stayed, determined to protect their client.
Several of them had stun rods, so she made sure to take them out first, making sure they were at their highest settings when she turned them on their owners.
The rest had their kneecaps broken.
*****
With the guards now dealt with, she made her way to her target. Once the trouble had started, he had sealed himself in a secure room—or at least what he thought was a secure room.
The system that controlled it was definitely top of the line, but its own security was a month out of date—and with the rate of daily improvement in cybersecurity, it may as well have been a millennium.
She opened the door and stepped through to find him in a small but lavishly furnished room calmly sitting behind a desk.
Calmly.
Not cowering.
He’s up to something.
Her senses went on high alert.
“About time you got here,” he said. “Took you a little longer than I anticipated, though. I was expecting you two days ago.”
“You know us girls,” she said, playing along as she brought up her omnitool. “We like to keep boys waiting.”
No comms running out of the room.
“It was all a test,” he said. “Your reputation has preceded you, and we’re looking for someone of your considerable talent to join us.”
She said nothing. She knew he wanted her to ask him, but she wouldn’t give him the satisfaction.
A small victory, but a victory nonetheless.
“Sure, you looked good on paper, but we had to see how you handle adversity,” he said. “As well as your loyalty. If you had spoken during your interrogation, we would have made it a lot worse for you.”
She maintained her silence.
“Your fee has already been deposited into your account,” he said. “The money you used to post bail has also been returned to you.”
He slid a datapad across his desk.
“A contract to work for us for five years,” he said. “Compensation is well above what any of our competitors would pay for such a position, as well as stock options and a number of other benefits. It’s all in the contract, all you have to do is sign.”
She activated her omnitool and scanned the densely typed contract. The key to survival on Ilium was knowing contract law or knowing someone who did. Signing one without reviewing it would set one up for all sorts of surprises, none of them good.
“Any patents I come up automatically are the property of the company?” she said and shook her head. “I retain them or I walk.”
“Any patents would be the result of your working directly for the company,” he said. “Not to mention you would be using company assets to develop them. They need to be compensated for their expenditures.”
“I can take this contract to any number of your competitors,” she said. “I’m sure they would find a way to match this offer and then exceed it.”
“Fine, 75% for the company,” he said.
“Good bye,” she said, and walked out.
“Okay, two-thirds for the company,” he said.
She kept walking.
“All right, half!” he yelled.
She stopped and turned to face him.
“You’re right,” she said. “The company should get some recompense.”
“Anything else?” he asked.
Her omnitool finished examining the contract and highlighted several other problem areas.
“Get rid of these portions of the contract,” she said.
“Fine, they’re out,” he said as he went through the contract and crossed out the areas. “Anything else?”
“No, that’s it,” she said. “I’ll sign.”
He slid the altered contract back to her and she signed slowly, ensuring the signature was legible, then slid it back to him.
He looked over the signature and anger flashed across his eyes.
“What the hell is this?” he asked.
“And I thought you were smart,” she said. “After careful consideration, I’ve decided to decline your offer.”
She leaned in.
“I could’ve accepted your offer…if only you hadn’t tried to kill me,” she said. “We girls tend to take that sort of thing personally, you know.”
“You just made the biggest mistake of your life,” he sneered. “The police are already on their way here, and they’ll be eager to take in a revenge-driven asari who broke into my property and assaulted my security personnel. You’re going away for a long time, and I’ll make sure you stay alive to carry out your sentence, which will be quite lengthy.”
“Yes, but the ‘revenge-driven asari’ will turn over evidence she uncovered, evidence of your…perversions,” she said, and tapped a command on her omnitool.
A vidscreen on the wall flared to life and the sounds of sexual activity filled the room—along with high-pitched screams of protest and pain.
“No one will believe that,” he said. “My company makes sizable donations to many children’s charities.”
“Which is exactly why they’ll dismiss you without a second thought,” she said. “Can’t have someone like you tarnishing their reputation. I hope you’ve made some friends outside the office, because otherwise your life is about to get a lot more lonely—at least until you’re in jail.”
“Fine, I’ll double everything in the offer,” he said, almost managing to keep the fear out his voice.
“But how could I possibly turn my back on all of those children you’ve hurt?” she said, and a montage of different scenes filled the vidscreen.
“Fine, I’ll triple it—no, quadruple it!” he cried, his voice now trembling.
“No,” she said. “You broke the rules, and there have to be consequences for that. And in case you’re wondering what rules I’m talking about, I’ll tell you. They’re quite simple, actually: I do the job and then I get paid.”
She turned and began walking towards the sound of sirens.