Deniev Webb was trying to decide if
he wanted another cawfee. It was always a hard decision around 12 o’clock , should he eat or should he have
another cawfee? Usually he ended up taking a doughnut with his hot drink, so it
wasn’t much of a choice.
His pondering was interrupted by a
knock on his door. He was annoyed he hadn’t gone to get his beverage before
someone bothered him, but after seeing his newest analyst hanging on the frame,
he forgot his doughnut. She was 20 cycles younger than him and though he knew
better than to fraternise with underlings, he certainly didn’t mind it when she
had a question.
“Come in, Clarice. How are things
going? I know you must be settled in by now. What’s it been, a season?” He said
waving her in and pointing to the seat in front of him.
“Two, Deniev, nearly three, and
yes, I feel right at home, but I have a question. Have a look at this.” She
said, putting a data pod on his desk and letting his trideo display bring up a
virtual folder. She activated a document and then another. Webb recognised
operation costs sheets, the sort of thing his department filed by the hundreds
daily.
“Here,” she said, pointing with a
delicate finger at a figure, when she saw her supervisor had seen nothing out
of the ordinary.
“Yes, I see the loss of three
Jaguars.” Nothing too unusual there, Webb thought to himself. They were
valuable pieces of NorthCo equipment, but they were already in the hands of
Northern Guard. “We already received payment on those, Clarice. The Guardsmen
lost that merchandise, not us. This fellow Captain Sikes will have to answer
for it.”
“I know, but look here.” She
pulled up another operation costs report. “This happened a week later. We had
considerable damage to a facility we share costs on with the Yele
Medical Center
based in the Marathon basin. I looked into the reason
for the damage costs, and according to the security report indexed here, there
was a break-in by three thieves. Security personnel were hurt and there were a
few fatalities, as well as a breach of intellectual property.”
Webb looked at his young employee
and smiled. She was intelligent and beautiful and full of enthusiasm. “Look,
Clarice, I see what you’re trying to do, but three missing gears and three
intruders in a facility hundreds of kilometers away doesn’t mean there’s a
connection. There were other Gears taken off the same train but later recovered
in the desert, so that number isn’t as significant as you think. It’s just a
coincidence. I appreciate your gusto, but if there were link, it would be up to
security to make it, not accounting.”
Clarice was shaking her head.
“There’s more.” She pulled up another folder on the trideo display. “Look here,
on this expenses report. We have miscellaneous costs running in the tens of
thousands relating to an unspecified expense code. I looked it up, it’s coded Detail.”
Webb swallowed. His new employee
was bright and spirited, but she shouldn’t have found out about Detail expenses;
those were above her pay grade. But she had uncovered something that he felt
warranted escalating to upper management. He hesitated for a second before
deciding to bring Clarice with him. In the end he decided she knew the data
better than he did. If she were commended for uncovering these facts, it would
reflect well on him as her supervisor, and if this brewed a shit storm, he had
someone to blame.
They sat outside Director
Schroeder's office for 10 minutes before the receptionist showed them in. Webb
hadn’t been here very often. Until a cycle before he reported to an assistant
director, not Ms. Schroeder, but after restructuring they had taken out a layer
of management. He used to think of it as a sort of promotion by default, but now
he wasn’t so sure he was pleased with the new hierarchy.
Webb cleared his throat, not to
announce his presence as the director was looking right at him and Clarice when
they came in, but because he couldn’t talk. “Director, I believe we’ve found
something requiring your attention.”
Clarice ran over her preliminary
data again; the director was attentive but unfazed. She raised an eyebrow when
Clarice mentioned the Detail costs, and Webb lowered his eyes self-consciously.
Clarice continued unaware.
“The Detail costs here are for
the same day as the theft of the Jaguars; the after-action summaries say both
expenses occurred at the same place, on some train to Mainz .
Now look at the project the Detail expense is flagged under: ’Helix +’. The
project in the Yele center was flagged under ’Helix’. I tried to compare both
projects, but I don’t have clearance. I don’t think this was picked up by
security because Helix and Helix + are classified as two different projects
with different expenses and security levels. But these three people, the ones
who entered the Yele center and probably took the three Jaguars, are also
probably connected to the unidentified Detail costs on the train. I just… we
thought someone should be alerted to this possibility.”
Clarice stood away from the
trideo display and waited for a reaction. Director Schroeder folded her arms
together and looked at the files before addressing her underling. “Webb, please
ask my assistant to fetch Rozam and Gustafson.” Webb step into the entrance and
conveyed the message. When he stepped back into the director’s office, she was
asking Clarice to wait for the new guests and to tell them what she had found.
The director asked Clarice about her background, how long she had been at
NorthCo and where she saw herself in 5 cycles. Webb stood aside and waited.
“Thank you, Deniev, you may
return to your accounts. If I need you, I’ll let you know.” Director Schroeder
said, all the while still concentrating on Clarice.
Webb nodded and let himself out.
In the hall he crossed Chief Rozam of internal security and a severe looking
man he took to be Gustafson. He watched them go in, and the door shut behind
them. Webb stood there dejected a moment before smiling to himself and setting
out in search of a cawfee and doughnut.
Heavy Gear Roleplaying Game
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