| From: | Brian Angliss <angliss@*****.COLORADO.EDU> |
|---|---|
| Subject: | Meeting at home |
| Date: | Wed, 10 Jun 1998 00:25:14 -0600 |
>>>>>["Diana, did you have to wake me up this afternoon? You know
I've
been busy."
"Sorry, Dad," she says. "But I felt the news was important enough to let
you know about it."
"Fine. Everyone, grab what you want out of the fridge, and we'll get down
to work."
Cap'n Silver, standing up from his oversized armchair, says, "Yer rum in
the usual place, admiral?"
"Sure is, Cap'n. Same with the wine, Roxey."
"Great," she says.
With a raised arm, Diana comments, "I'll have some of that rum, Silver."
"Righto. Two glasses then."
"Slash?"
"Nothin, thanks. I'm still working on gettin myself back up to speed.
I lost a lot of muscle tone and mass to hospital beds and surgery. I'd
like to keep the alcohol intake to a minimum for a while."
"Fair enough," AJ says, as he relaxes back into his chair. The rest of
the group gradually sit down around the large glass coffee table and,
after sipping thier drinks, pull out various documents from folders,
cases, etc. "Ok, Slash, you've had the most time to spend researching our
situation. How are we doing?"
"Better than we were, but as Diana told you, we've got a few problems with
southeast Asia. A couple of the old groups have decided not to become
part of our new organi..., sorry, boss; part of our new group. They just
don't want any part of it, and without them, we're starin down some
serious immediate competition, and we have some serious holes in our
coverage. We used to be able to make all sorts of nuyen dealin to the
resistance in the Phillipines. We still can, but not without one of the
outlets, and they're the ones that are most resistant out of the two.
It's not pretty. In Japan, we've cut a couple of competitors out already,
makin inroads in Kobe, Tokyo, and Hiroshima, but that's all. But the
southeast is harsh. Silver can tell you about the Indonesian smuggling
angle of it better than I can, though."
AJ turns to Cap'n Silver and asks, "Ok, Cap'n, what's up with that part of
the world?"
"Well, admiral, it's sorta like this. The other unit we be havin trouble
with is based outta Java an' Bali, an' they run a healthy bit o'smugglin
in and around Indonesia, India, Vietnam, an' all the others. We know
that, if we move in without them, we be lookin at some serious losses from
them takin our loads, piratin us rather than piratin for us. And without
thier smugglin, we're buryin our keel in a reef. We can get ourselves a
new smugglin group, but it'll take time to buy or to build."
"And so our entire plan for that part of the world is compromised or
delayed without them, right?"
"Yes," Slash says, in stereo with Cap'n Silver's "Aye."
"Can we do it if they're out of the way? In other words, can we purge
them and go it without them?"
"Sorry, boss, but no way," states Slash. "Without them, we can't
transport anythin from our Australian stockpiles to our Asian customers,
at least not for another 6 to 8 months. We either need to take them over
or convince them to join us peacefully. Appeal to thier mercenary zeal,
or some such."
"Fair enough. Roxey, what's going on with Europe and the Middle East?"
"Well, AJ, we're well entrenched in Russia and Latvia. We've already
started sales out of the Sweedish stockpile, and we've got real income.
Britain may be seeing some serious income, with all the potential sales to
the Prods in Belfast and the rest of northern Tir nan Og. And it looks
like our old, abandoned outlet in the Scottish toxic zone will be
habitable, once we clean it out, shore up the bulwarks against the toxins,
and kill all the critters that have moved in. Not a job for the faint of
heart, but it's secure and not anywhere people think to look." Foxey
Roxey takes a moment to collect herself, shuffles her papers, looks at her
notes, and then looks seriously at AJ. "AJ, we have to do more with
Berlin. I'm sorry, I know you don't want to, but the market is just too
large, and the opportunities for sales, shipping, recieving, and storage
are just too great. The utter lawlessness of the city is perfect in more
ways than one, or even more ways than a dozen. We have to reassert our
presence in Berlin - half of Europe requires it."
"No," AJ says flatly. "We're not going to do that. Not yet. There is
too much history in Berlin. We have to find somewhere else, perhaps
Moscow, or Warsaw, or...."
"They're just not good enough, AJ. I'm sorry, but they're not. I
understand that your history with the BIS and the German government, and
Nightmare in particular makes you really cautious, but you're being
overcautious, and limiting our Eurpoean potentials greatly in the process.
Without Berlin we have minimal access to Saeder-Krupp gear, which half of
Europe uses. We have to do it."
"Listen, Roxey" starts AJ. "We will move into Berlin after we've already
established ourselves elsewhere. But the move into Berlin will alert our
enemies more quickly than any other market, and I can't afford to allow
that to happen yet. We're just not large enough, or well entrenched
enough, or strong enough, to handle what would be gunning for us if that
happened. Sorry, but no. Now, the middle east?"
Roxey sighs, but continues. "The middle east is awash these days with
money. Jewish militants are buying weapons to attack thier neighbors and
to defend themselves against both thier own government and groups like
Hamas. The various anti-Israel groups are buying everything from
howitzers to LAW rockets to rifles and ammo to wipe the Israelis from the
face of the planet, same as always. The flare-ups between the Shiites and
the Sunis are happening pretty regularly, Egypt is having problems with
Ethiopia, Turkey and Greece are still going at it over Cypress. It's a
smugglers and dealers paradise, as always. As to how we're doing, we're
doing well. Of our old outlets that were still around, a good 85% have
seen the light and are back in the fold, or working toward that goal. And
money has started to flow from there again. It's very nice to see income,
even if the outlets aren't seeing immediate profit gains. We might want
to tweak a conflict or two to step up sales."
"No, not yet. Let's see how the region handles itself without
interference from us or our agents. It's been quiet enough recently, it's
only a matter of time before it blows up again, with or without help." AJ
turns to Diana and asks, "So, where are we with Africa and the new spell?"
"Well, Dad, we're going strong with Africa and South America. Obviously,
we lost our outlets near Maxim and other corporate strongholds, as we
already knew. The others are about at 40% return rate, and at least three
key ones will need to be shown the error of thier ways. Michael and I
have already come up with some good demonstrations. We've got a better
return rate from Africa, and with Silver's help, we've made some inroads
to the Gold Coast pirate and smuggling rings. They've changed almost
completely since we went out of buisness, and only a few have thus far
been interested. They'll become more interested, as will the Carrib
pirates. We need thier connections to provide us good and cheap gear.
We've been able to restock some of the outlets already, though at the cost
of exposing our operation a little to some more discriminating eyes."
"Whose eyes would those be," AJ inquires.
"Mostly the corps we've been hitting on. They're connected to Panglobal
Arms, even if they can't figure out who Panglobal is connected to. I
wouldn't be surprised if they felt it was a competitor. As for the
conditioning spell, it's being a little difficult this time. I've got the
health spell traces removed from the formula, and I've taken some time to
rework some of the other parts too, like the short-out elements, triggers,
etc. but it's taking time. Any ideas on what we can make this trace look
like? I could hide it altogether, but that's tougher and would take a lot
longer to do, and it makes the tie to us, and me in particular, a lot more
obvious."
FM, who comes in from the kitchen carrying a big burger, so raw it's still
steaming rather than smoking, pipes in. "How about one of those spells
that lets you change your appearance, your clothing, and such."
"Maybe," says Roxey. "But there are a good number of people who wouldn't
believe it. The healing spell was great because at least the ones we used
it on could see having even the magiphobes having been healed magically at
some point. This is tougher, since that trace is known and can be
connected to us. What's Maxim using these days?"
"I don't know," says AJ. "Traceless would be my bet. Regardless, we need
to figure out a new formula for the conditioning, and we need a new drug
lord for that side of it. Any ideas? Nope? Oh well. I'll ask around.
FM, what's up with North America, then?"
"Um, exxuse we whyl <gulp> Sorry, you had to ask while I was chewing.
North America, if you recall, is just about a lost cause. With our recent
"purchase" of one of the CoT docks, and a couple of old enemies purged,
we're doing ok, considering. But we've got at least one other group,
identity as yet unknown, trying very hard to take our UCAS markets before
even we can move in. Whoever they are, they're quick and merciless, and
well equipped. Not a good combination to face off against. And before
you ask, boss, no, it's not Mut. I've checked to be sure of that. CAS
we're doing fine, and we've started getting access to our old NAN outlets.
With all the old rivalries still burning out there, we're doing a decent
buisness when you consider that we're essentially starting from scratch."
"Find out whose taking over our market shares before we can. I want to
know what, and/or who, we're up against in the UCAS. If they can be
purged, or taken down a notch or four, then we need to give it a shot."
"I'll see what I can find out, then. Oh, and the Macross Rangers merc
unit has approached out of our outlets about contracting with us for a
healthy proportion of thier gear. They're thinking of Europe and SE Asia.
See the concern? Sure, they're CAS based, but they're dispatched all over
the world, and they're currently in SE Asia the most. We have to have
thier buisness, and for that, we have to get our two rebelling outlets
back in line."
"Fuck...." says AJ. "Ok, in that case, send them a copy of the Moscow
video."
"Boss, are you sure about that?" asks Slash. "That'll tell them who you
are and how serious you are. Eventually that video will become
semi-public knowledge, and that'll be worse than movin into Berlin. At
least then, you've only got Nightmare on your ass, not SIGA, not
most-wanted status at Special Branch, etc. Not a good move, boss."
"Goddamn it, what the fuck do you think I had that tape extracted for?
For my own personal pleasure?!? Do you think I enjoyed killing everyone
who didn't run fast enough? Do you? I did it because I felt it might
save lives in the long run. I did it so that I could use it to put the
fear of god into people who aren't willing to see that I will delete them
from existance if they stand in my way."
"Dad, Slash is right. If you're not willing to let Nightmare know you're
back in buisness, then you can't let that video out and about. Let us
deliver an ultimatum, and then, if we have to, we'll eradicate them. Or,
at least the inner management. We still need the rest of the group. And
then everyone else who doesn't want to work for Panglobal Arms will know
that we're not to be messed with. The difference is that Moscow says that
Action Jackson won't be messed with, the other would say that Panglobal
won't be messed with."]<<<<<
-- AJ's Log <00:27:32/06-10-59>
