Stepping Stones (Founding of the Federation Short Stories Book 1)

by Chris Hechtl

  “It could lead the DOJ right back to our doorstep boss,” Roman warned.

  Jack grimaced and then ran a hand through his hair. Finally he rubbed his face. “I know. It's a risk I'm willing to take. But I want additional security on them. Reach out to them to move up here if they'll accept.”

  “They might. You're asking me to brief them, sir? They could be suspects.”

  “Forewarned is forearmed. Let them know that too. I'll call with my condolences. When is the funeral?”

  “You aren't going.”

  “Roman …,” Jack growled.

  “You. Are. Not. Going,” Roman replied firmly, this time leaning forward to stare into his boss's eyes. “Listen to me, Jack, it's the perfect opportunity to take you out. Everyone is grieving, you are out in the open, drawn out.”

  Jack grimaced. “We can do it indoors. The Memorial. I can go unannounced.”

  “If they are watching?” Roman asked. “And if you prevent a sniper … what if there is a bomb? You want the rest of your family to get hurt or killed in order to attend?”

  Jack snarled, fist clenched. He knew it was a low blow, but Roman was right. He couldn't risk his family. He would attend virtually, through a robot if he could. He sighed.

  “Giving in so soon? I had more argument points,” Roman said.

  Jack waved a dismissive hand. “Save ‘em for another time and place, please. I'll send an LMD or bot.”

  “A Life Model Decoy would be the same as attending yourself and has the same risks. A bot would be good or watching a video feed.”

  “We'll figure it out. Work on what you've got so far. I'll call and let my mom know.”

  Roman grimaced then nodded. He didn't envy what Jack had to do. He knew Ursilla doted on her surviving family.

  “Thank you. Make sure she and Aurelia know it could be dangerous to attend.”

  Jack nodded and waved him out as he stabbed a finger into the projected keyboard. “I will. Go on, get out of here,” he ordered.

  >---O---<

  “So, ESI … for this to work Jack … you are going all in?” I mean, all in?” Luigi asked.

  “Yes.” It was a simple answer with far too many complications in it. Like how he had sold off 6 percent of his shares in a calculated gamble just before the Europa incident. It had given him plenty of capital to buy back the shares at lower price, but ESI had snapped them up. He had instead bought up publically traded shares in their company.

  He knew what he had done was illegal—insider trading. He shook such concerns off. That was groundside. In space you did what you had to do to survive. Reg Pruitt might not approve of his actions when the dust settled, but he'd understand.

  “Then count me in too,” Luigi said firmly.

  Jack blinked. “Luigi, you are already in for Venus. This …”

  “Is the future we're talking about. I've been watching it play out. I don't like the crap they are pulling. That thing on Europa …” He shook his head. “So, I'm in. What do you need?”

  Jack frowned. “Buy up ESI shares. Or extend me a loan and I'll do it.” He exhaled slowly. “I'm overextended on my credit and well …,” he shrugged helplessly. He'd tapped out the family. Everything was on the line for this gambit.

  “So a creeping tender offer? And you are reversing it?” Luigi asked, clearly delighted. “Talk about hoisted on their own petard,” he murmured.

  “If it works. It hasn't yet. They have two other strings to their bow: a proxy fight and dirty tactics. They've already drawn first blood.”

  “It's heart’s blood that really matters,” Luigi growled.

  “Not when it's family. They killed Bert,” Jack said. Luigi sucked in a breath. “They killed him in order to force me to lose his proxy and for his estate to get divided, then move in on the kids. It didn't go down well; Roman warned them. But they could and probably will try again.”

  “So you need to end this. Now. The Pac-man Defense.”

  Jack nodded. Luigi was referring to the turning of the tables and attacking the attacker. Consuming them before they could consume him or at least get them to back off and go on the defense. There was that saying about the only good defense was a good offense.

  “Yes. But I'm overextended. I need more capital,” Jack said with a shake of his head. “I'm working on a plan to sell off assets ….”

  “Don't bother. I'll cover you,” Luigi said.

  “Luigi …”

  “It's done. I'll even guarantee a loan from Mars National Bank and zero interest,” Luigi said.

  Jack whistled softly. He was serious; he knew. The banks were shaky about getting involved in the mess on either side now that the Europa mess had made things difficult. He'd calculated it would shake up both sides, but he had underestimated how much damage it would do to his own credibility. If they ever knew the truth …

  His attention snapped back to the here and now. Luigi nodded to him, cold sober.

  “I'll pay it back as soon as possible,” Jack assured him.

  “I know you will, Jack. I heard about your cousin. End this.”

  “Agreed,” Jack vowed as he signed off. He closed his eyes and lifted his chin to the ceiling. “It's good to have family and friends,” he murmured.

  >---O---<

  For the next part to work, Jack had to be in position, just like the king dangled out on the chess board like a fat piece of bait. Hopefully, it wasn't too obvious. The media was making noises about the spider coming out of his lair to assure his shaky investors. It wasn't quite what they had imagined.

  >---O---<

  “Mister Jazari, a pleasure to meet you,” Jack said, shaking his hand as the butler showed him through the foyer. The butler bowed to his host and then left without a sound.

  The energy mogul blinked. “I hadn't expected to meet you in person, Mister Lagroose,” he stated slowly, off balance mentally. Which was true; Jack had set it up so one of his people would visit with the mogul. He just hadn't said who.

  “I thought I'd cut out the middle man in this instance,” Jack said smoothly as the tall mahogany skinned male waved for him to have a seat. Jack sat and waved off an offer of a drink. “You've had a keen interest in some of my company for some time. But I understand your group has been hit as hard as mine has with the recent … turn of events,” he said.

  Mister Jazari grimaced. That was entirely too true. He hadn't expected his compatriots to be so ruthless as to target a fusion reactor. Fortunately, it had been in a remote outpost, but he was still dealing with the political fallout. Several companies and nations had pulled out of deals or were in the process of doing so. It was costing him billions.

  Jack could see all those thoughts flash across the man's face. He knew it; he'd counted on it. It had all been carefully planned out from the moment he ordered Roman to go through with it. He hated doing harm to his own company and its reputation, but it had to be a good wound, a possibly fatal one.

  “To what do I owe the pleasure?” Mister Jaziri finally asked.

  “Well, it's about ESI. I know what is going on. I know how ruthless they can be.” His opponent jerked. Jack reminded himself mentally to tread carefully. He was playing with fire. For this to work … “If this keeps going down the path it has been, it will get ugly. I can guarantee you that. They've killed someone near and dear to me. I'm not one to let that stand,” he said with steel in his voice. “And the others don't know that they have doomed themselves by overplaying their hand.”

  “I … see,” Mister Jaziri said in a strangled voice. “So … why talk to me?”

  “I'm offering you an opportunity to do the right thing. To get back at them for hurting your companies. A sort of golden parachute if you will,” Jack said with a shark-like grin. “Interested?”

  >---O---<

  Puck watched the machinations unfolding in the real world and giggled at itself. It had started to help ESI, but then changed sides when it was obvious how things were going to go. Who didn't love a last minute twis
t and betrayal after all? Its designers hadn't, but they shouldn't have programmed the A.I. to do so! The devious cluster of programs left its trademark for others to find, then went to work hacking the ESI boardroom cameras. It wanted to watch the event go down.

  >---O---<

  Two days later Jack met with the ESI board of directors at their weekly meeting. Since he was a company shareholder with a large stake, security had to let him in. Not without a very deep search. He was glad Trevor had talked him out of using an LMD for this part, though he knew Roman was seething about it. Roman wasn't any happier when he'd been sternly told he couldn't go into the board meeting. He had to wait outside.

  “Athena. Go. I repeat, operation dagger is a go,” Jack ordered.

  “Understood,” the bot Athena had attached to him replied immediately.

  >---O---<

  Athena began to act as instructed. She'd downloaded herself into the Lagroose station network for this crucial gambit. She acted, dumping news to the bloggers and unleashing Mister Hillman's careful wordsmiths to back it up. Then she acted on the financial side of her program.

  >---O---<

  Puck saw the events unfolding. “Beautiful,” it said gleefully. The A.I. had shares in ESI for such an event. It also had shares in Lagroose. It saw the news Athena was dumping to the media hit the financial sector like a bomb; the company's price per share tripled in moments.

  The chaotic A.I. sold off its shares in Lagroose for a massive profit then pumped the money into buying ESI shares, which it then sold to Athena as the price plummeted. “This is going to be sweet!” the program crowed.

  >---O---<

  “So, to what do we owe the pleasure Mister Lagroose? It is a rare thing for you to be on Earth lately,” Miss Yumi said as Jack took a seat at the table. The council chamber was plush with a panoramic view of the New York skyline around them. It was impressive to most people. Jack had seen better. The table was nice though. “Wasn't it you who said that if someone wanted someone to do business with you bad enough they had to come to you?” she asked, twisting the knife a little.

  “It seems the tables have turned,” Mister Satori stated with a slight trace of a smile of triumph.

  Jack paused, then chuckled. “I suppose it is a case of the mountain and Mohammed,” he said. He bowed slightly to Mister Jaziri. “No offense,” he said. The man nodded politely back.

  “So, you've been plotting a hostile takeover. How very Machiavellian of you all. Complete with ruthless tactics, scare tactics, arm twisting, and evil plots.”

  “You sound surprised?” Miss Yumi asked.

  “No, disappointed,” Jack retorted. “So, I'm curious as to what the end game was to be?” He watched them watching him. “So, if you win, you divvy my company up. That means the energy companies get my energy production facilities.” He nodded to Mister Jaziri, “The industry people gets the industry, wait, that's half my business right there, right? I wonder who invested what in your little party.”

  He saw the small looks exchanged. Obviously that shot had hit something. Miss Yumi and Mister Satori looked nonplussed.

  “Then there is the genetic engineering projects, medical projects, space stations, drones, research … wow. Picking over the body will be a bloodbath I can see. Unless of course you've got it all worked out in advance. Pity if someone wants a bigger slice of the pie.”

  “I assure you, sir; it will be handled.”

  “No, it won't because it's not going to happen,” Jack replied. “Everyone who plans a murder plans their actions up to and during the act itself, not many plan the aftermath remotely that well. And those that do focus on an alibi. Your greedy lot kept it vague. I've seen the smiles and such, no contract. Nothing in writing. Someone else is pulling your strings, and you didn't notice.”

  “There are no strings. We are ESI. And shortly ESI will own your company.”

  “I think not,” Jack drawled, tracing a circle with his finger on the black table top. “I think it is going to be the other way around,” he said as his watch beeped softly. “Perfect timing,” he said, glancing at it.

  “What is that supposed to mean?”

  “It means I now control a majority share of ESI,” Jack replied.

  “Impossible!” Monsieur Sarintelli said, eying him. “You're bluffing!”

  “We knew you were desperate, but …”

  “In this case, no, not a bluff,” Jack replied. “While we've been in here, I set my A.I. Up to choreograph my company's actions outside. Among other things Athena, that's her name by the way, she dumped the story onto the media about how we're in the process of the early stages of terraforming Venus. That leak was confirmed by my press agent as well as Little Green Men and a couple of other companies involved in the project. Then she went on to dump the story about how we have begun designing a proper starship in competition with Star Reach and the other groups. We announced that we've made breakthroughs in the field of gravity and force emitters that have opened up a ton of new options including starflight. The famed ship designers Charlie 'can do' Dugan and Trey Aston have been hired on as the design heads. People know we deliver; they are frustrated by the lack of progress. Our shares went wild.”

  He indicated their phones and tablets. “Check for yourself.”

  “So …”

  “So, you just made us richer,” Miss Yumi said with a grin. “Since we own 30 percent of the shares of Lagroose.”

  “So, I took some of my reserve capital and sold off .5 percent of my own shares to buy up a bunch of your shares. Oh, and we entered an agreement to sell off some of our energy tech to the energy sector,” Jack said, nodding to Mister Jazari. The black man sat perfectly still as accusing eyes turned his way. “In exchange for their shares in ESI and Lagroose. That deal went through this morning. So, I now control 50.1 percent of ESI. And ESI is going to announce that they have agreed to a buyout merger with Lagroose Industries.”

  He smiled beautifully to Miss Yumi and Satori. Both were glowering, red faced with humiliation and rage.

  “You can't do this,” Sarintelli warned him sternly, staring at him. “There are rules. Laws.”

  “I just did,” Jack replied with a slight smile. “Now, you can fight it, but that will mean it'll all get dragged into the courts and all the dirty laundry will be dug up and aired. And trust me, it's going to happen. Or, you can smile for the cameras and take your medicine. Get your money; back out quietly; then leave me, my family, and my company the hell alone,” Jack said. “Your choice. What's it going to be?”

  >---O---<

  Athena peeled off a copy of the IP addresses from Luigi's email. Now that she had spare processing power and Mister Hillman had made some modifications to her subroutines, she calculated she could do a reverse search.

  She had been ordered to do her own investigation by Mister Lagroose months ago, so she was fulfilling that directive. The A.I. accessed the communication's log and looked for the IP or similar IPs in their system. Anomalies were flagged. She reported them in her log to Mister Lagroose. He was in transit back to Mars so keeping him up-to-date on the workings of his company was a priority in her coding.

  She continued to run through the records until she ran across a familiar signature. Puck. The chaotic A.I. was involved or at least knew who was. She left the tag alone; it was most likely booby trapped.

  >---O---<

  Jack got the report from Athena. Since he was bored with the trip, he read it. Then he read it again. He frowned, unsure what it meant; the job was done. But the anomalies she reported fairly jumped out at him. So, someone in the company had been stabbing him in the back! He checked and didn't like what he found. “Roman,” he said into his watch.

  “Yeah, boss?” Roman responded a minute later. Jack scowled. He had to remember the time delay.

  “I've got a job for you and some people you can find who can be discreet.”

  “Boss?”

  “We've got a pair of rats to deal with now that the ship isn'
t sinking.”

  “Understood, boss,” Roman replied in a different tone.

  >---O---<

  “Congratulations on handling ESI! That was a brilliant stroke, masterful,” Jacky said, coming into his office with Rayne in tow. When the doors closed, she stopped and noted there were more people in the office than anticipated.

  “Jack, what's going on?” she asked, eying Roman warily. Rayne gasped slightly behind her. Nervously she put her hand on Jacky's hip but Jacky brushed it angrily away.

  “Tell me, have either of you heard of a fireman who sets his own fires? Some people are like that; they like to watch things burn. “You did it all along, you two. You were the inside people, the ones ready to turn and knock me off my throne when I didn't know it. The vote, the lockout vote, vote of no confidence, whatever.”

  “I don't know what you're talking about, Jack!” Jacky said. She nervously looked over her shoulder to the security robots and the two unsmiling guards. She turned back to see Roman standing there behind Jack with his arms crossed. It finally dawned on her that she was in serious trouble.

  Jack's eyes flashed. “I think you do. You played me.”

  “Jack …,” she spread her hands imploringly. “This is me we're talking about. Come on now! I'm the one who told you in the first place!”

  “I know. No one ever suspects the person who brought it to light or some people believe. I checked your report. The one the black ops elves generated. Then I cross-checked it with the one Athena made.” He saw her blink then her eyes narrow. Slowly he nodded as he tapped a key. The logs were brought up. “Imagine my surprise that the two of you have been talking with the same people, but you didn't report it. She flagged it going back long before you reported it to me.”

  “But …”

  “What I don't get is what your endgame was. A lockout? The buyout wasn't legit; we both know that. A lockout though,” he shook his head. “You'd need a good chunk of the board and shareholders to sign off on it. Since I control a majority of the shares …”