| From: | "Brian E. Angliss" <ANGLISS@******.BITNET> |
|---|---|
| Subject: | Internal Audio Log, Maxim Arms |
| Date: | Mon, 7 Nov 1994 14:50:19 -0500 |
>>>>>[ +++++Internal Security log, audio only, Cell #1+++++
Velli: Good morning, Pete. I hope you are feeling well. I do
apologize for the housing arrangements, but they were the best
that I could come up with on such short notice.
Moriarity: What do you want, Nicole....
V: Such manners. Politeness is an art, Pete, something everyone
should practice, regardless thier current station or turn of
fortune.
M: Give me a break, Nicole. I am being polite. Would you
prefer that I put every ounce of sarcasm I can muster into my
politeness, or would you prefer blunt honesty? I can do either,
but I have no energy for politeness. What do you want, Nicole?
V: Merely to tell you the good news, and to ask a question.
Which would you prefer? How about the news.
M: Fine. I take it you're dying of a terminal disease?
V: Excellent! I'm glad to see you still have some fire left in
you. Alas, no, I'm quite healthy. The news I have will,
however, return some of your spirits. Maxim is saved, and at
minimal cost.
M: What? Crystal Night isn't going into affect?
V: Hardly! The Big 8 saw the error of thier ways after our long
talk, and are even now standing down the forces that they brought
into play after the meeting. And we are also standing down our
forces, returning to buisness as usual. The Omega Order request
has been withdrawn, just before, our agent has informed us, it
was about to be granted. We seem to have come to the brink of
Corp War and then withdrawn just in time.
M: I'm very glad to hear that, Nicole. But what did you have to
offer them in return?
V: Nothing. I merely pointed out that, at our advanced state of
readiness, they couldn't possibly destroy us before we had done
enough damage to them to make it no longer worth thier effort.
And when I added the logical extension that none of them would be
able to resist taking shots at each other in the process, and the
final conclusion that this would lead to Corp War, they all but
rushed to their commlinks to order the mandate withdrawn.
M: Give me a little credit, Nicole. I ran this company for a
long time, and I know it's ins and outs better than you do. I
also know the way the Big 8 work, and what you described wouldn't
work. They don't like to be coerced, and none of them are stupid
enough to be caught without at least 5 aces. I'll ask it again--
what did you have to offer them?
V: I.....well, The Org, of course.
M: I thought as much. So you gave them the only thing that
equalized the odds, that kept them from destroying us in the
first place. You know that, since we are now effectively
defenseless against them, they will again request an Omega Order,
and we will be destroyed without so much as a whimper.
V: If I remember correctly, you would have allowed that anyway.
M: YES! It would have saved the world from Corp War!
V: Do you hear shells impacting the building? Are there jets
screaming overhead, dropping bombs on us? The world IS safe from
Corp War! And Maxim didn't become a sacraficial lamb to the
collective peace. We're still here, Pete. My option worked.
M: It's only a matter of time, Nicole, before you do hear those
shells falling on us.
V: Wrong. You see, some other good news is that Maxim Arms now
has a new subsidiary, Maxim Security, Incorporated. It's taking
over the security contracts that MAS used to hold. Just inter-
division transfers, really, but there are other signifigant
changes as well. Specifically, MSI has already fully
consolidated The Org under its control.
M: Consolidated it? So The Org, or what's left of it, is now
part of this Maxim Security Inc?
V: That's right. And the total number of Maxim employees just
jumped by 20%. And our total extraterritorial facilities has
gone from 23 to 56. 43% of The Org's Outlets have been
consolidated under Maxim control, making them invulnerable to the
agreement I hacked out with the Big 8. And short of armed
assault, there is nothing they can do about it.
M: But what about the Agents? What happens to them? We have
over 10000 Agents in the Big 8 alone. Without them we have no
advantage to stop the Big 8 from conducting a shadow-war against
us.
V: About half have been turned over to thier employer's sense of
justice.
M: (pauses) That's really sick. Those are men and women with
families, futures.
V: They should have thought of that before they accepted The
Org.
M: Most of them only accepted us because we gave them personal
guarantees that they'd never be sold out. You just broke those
guarantees.
V: If it makes you feel any better, The Org didn't sell them
out. Maxim did. By my orders, of course, but by the time their
names were given to thier employers The Org had officially ceased
to exist. But I'm no fool, Pete. Maxim kept on the best and the
brightest. We still have control of some 3000 agents in the Big
8, with another 2000 in process. But since the official reason
for the Omega Order request was the intelligence assets we had
brought to bear on the Big 8, we had to cut our Agents far enough
to make them think we had actually destroyed them all.
M: The Big 8 will know that isn't true, of course.
V: Of course. But they have no current means to root out the
rest of our agents, and regardless of the nature of the delusion,
they must continue to publically believe that they caught all the
Agents or we may return to the brink again, something no-one
wants. It would be so bad for buisness. And to forgo your next
question, the remainder of the Outlets are being abandoned and
purged so that, when they actually do get raided, the raiders
find nothing of real usefulness.
M: I'm growing tired of this all. What was your question?
V: Will you please sign over all your shares to me personally?
M: (laughs long and hard) I see you still have a sense of
humor, Nicole. Why the hell would I do such a thing?
V: To save your life.
M: Killing me will serve no purpose. My shares all return to
Alex in the event of my murder.
V: True, but murder is such a harsh word. After bribing your
lawyer and gaining access to your will, in the event of a natural
death, all your shares are passed down to the chosen heir. This
was Collussus, before he had an unfortunate accident with an
Anti-Vehicle missile. As next in line, your death would mean
that I get the shares.
M: Damn you, Nicole. So, why not just make it appear to be a
natural death and get it over with? I'm sure you could do that.
V: Believe me, the thought had occured. But Maxim can show no
weaknesses now. Your death, however timely to my purposes, would
generate problems that the Big 8 could use to thier advantage and
that would put us in a situation that would put us behind
schedule for years to come. This cannot happen. Therefore, I
want you to sign over all your shares to me, signed and witnessed
before the entire Board. And I'll get what I want, and you'll
stay alive to live out a full life.
M: Why should I do this? If I can't be at the helm, why should
I let you be? You were willing to cause Corp War, something that
would destroy the planet. What insane notion makes you think I'd
allow that?
V: Simple. I know how your mind works. I know you've put too
much of yourself into Maxim to let it die with you. You might
have started out as a simple Electronics Engineer and security
tech, but you became a buisnessman, addicted to the hustle and
bustle of the corporate world where double and triple-crosses are
everyday occurances and the only thing that matters is profit,
although in your particular case, human life takes a place as
well. You could not stand to let Maxim die, Pete, and I know it.
M: Go to hell, Nicole....
V: If I believed in it, I probably would. But you'll do what I
ask.
M: Yes.... I will. Assemble the Board.
V: Excellent! They are already assembled. Come, and we'll get
you on with the rest of your life.
M: I am not a fool, Nicole. I know that as soon as I sign the
papers, I am a dead man. You cannot leave me alive any more than
you can Alex or his daughter. The three of us command more
respect through friendship and contacts than you could through
all your forces of profit and arms.
V: I'm sorry to say it, but you're wrong. You really are a
fool. If you weren't, you would have been able to stop me. Poor
Pete. Come, let us finish buisness.
M: At least let me die honorably, Nicole....
+++++End Security Log, Cell #1+++++ ]<<<<<
-- Velli <14:38:16/11-07-55>
