“-and our scientists have managed to decrease the size of our capacitors by eight percent while increasing their energy density by twelve percent, all while holding production costs steady. In ordinary times, this would be enough for us to corner the market, but as you all know we more or less already have the market cornered. Instead, these advances when coupled with the previously mentioned increases in muzzle velocity and heat dispersion for our magnetic accelerators, open the door for GroCorp to begin construction on yet another generation of weapons for our own security teams that are more compact and fire more rapidly than their predecessors.”

Kat finished her report, finally letting herself breathe. The board meeting was full of stony faces staring back at her over steepled hands. Only Belle Donnst and Ricardo Waggoner had anything approaching a friendly expression, but they were rather lonely amidst the sea of grim countenances.

Belle smiled at her. That almost made it worse. There was nothing reassuring about Belle Donnst trying to express empathy. It came as naturally to her as childcare to a feral dog.

One of the board members reached forward, pressing a button on the table in front of him so that he could be formally recognized. His hologram flickered slightly as the audio and recording software on his end switched itself on.

“Shareholder Hernandez,” Kat said with a nod, passing the floor to the older hispanic man.

“Those are adequate numbers, Shareholder Debs,” he began, puffing up his chest and preening slightly as the rest of the boardroom turned their attention to him. “I am particularly interested in the developments with regard to imaging and data encryption. They certainly have the potential to revitalize the entire market. That said, I am concerned about the costs associated with those developments. Your research is significantly outpacing expenditures associated with more traditional media enterprises such as smartpanels and cybereyes. I worry that even a superior product might price out employees, cutting into profits.”

She relaxed slightly. William Hernandez wasn’t the man she expected her rivals to use as the spearhead of their attack, but there was no such thing as too careful. Hernandez loved hearing himself speak, but he was more senile than a threat. If it wasn’t for the fact that he was more or less content to run a significant portion of GroCorp’s media empire, and more importantly that his family was so enmeshed in said media empire that extracting them would be ruinously difficult and expensive, another shareholder likely would have made a run at his holdings by now.

“As I’m sure you know,” Hernandez droned on, “profits from media consumption have advanced by almost seven percent a year for almost a decade. Most of those earnings can be directly traced to expanding the scope and accessibility of the general entertainment channels frequented by employees as well as aggressively adding product tie-ins to our various productions.”

Kat had seen the numbers. While the earnings from Shareholder Hernandez’s holdings had hit seven percent growth once in the past decade, they mostly hovered between four and five percent. Impressive, but not nearly as expansive as the rambling old man made them out to be.

“I don’t wish us to abandon what has worked simply because a shiny new thing has come along. Technology is changing, but that means little to the fundamental nature of the working class. They are just as susceptible to bright lights and loud noises as ever.”

“No offense,” Hernandez concluded, nodding in Kat’s direction as he settled back into his seat.

She flashed the old man a wintry smile. There were even odds that he meant something by it. Like many executives, shareholders more or less didn’t respect employees. That was hardly surprising. The real question was whether he was a garden variety bigot or if he was trying to take a jab at Kat over her origins. In the end it didn’t matter.

“You bring up a good point,” Kat replied, keeping her voice as smooth and diplomatic as possible. “My teams are adept at security, weapons manufacturing, and theoretical research. They don’t have nearly as much experience with applying their knowledge to more commercial pursuits. After this meeting is over, you and I should talk about some joint ventures so that we can both profit from mixing my researchers’ advancements with your institutional and technical knowledge.”

Shareholder Hernandez beamed back, and to his side Belle gave a curt but approving nod. A ripple of discontent fluttered around the table, but Kat had expected that. Belle, Jasper and her were fairly isolated. If they were going to survive the feeding frenzy of the corporate boardroom they would need allies, and there was no better way to make allies than to flatter a narcissist and tie them to yourself with economic bonds. Kat would have preferred friendship, but to be perfectly honest, she wasn’t sure that friendship was a coin that went far amongst shareholders. Jasper and her understood each other, but most people were like less competent versions of Belle Donnst. Alliances could form based upon mutual political and financial interest, but it was folly to trust anyone above and beyond their immediate interests.

Another light flashed on the console in front of Kat, and she tapped the button that recognized Ricardo Waggoner, the most senior member of GroCorp’s interventionist faction on the subcommittee.

“Shareholder Debs,” he began, nodding pleasantly at her. “Earlier in this meeting, Shareholder Donnst brought up reports that NeoSyne has been mobilizing against the lokkel, trying to pass them off as invaders that seek to enslave humanity under the guise of pleasant smiles and deceptive treaties. As GroCorp’s… liaison… to these aliens, can you tell us how they are responding? I would hate to see the accusations angering them to the point it turns into a disagreement. After all, friction or a punitive invasion could cut into our profits. If the aliens are going to start blowing up major pieces of infrastructure we need to know as soon as possible so that we can initiate a short sale.”

“The lokkel haven’t taken a strong position yet,” Kat replied. “They are more concerned with defeating the stallesp than they are in interfering with Earth’s politics. I suspect they have correctly diagnosed that the NeoSyne propaganda is little more than a symptom of the clones and infiltrators that have managed to cling to power. I doubt they’re going to start blowing up corporate buildings from either side, but if they see any signs of the stallesp moving openly, that might change.”

Ricardo nodded, leaning back into his chair as he digested that information. No one else seemed particularly interested, but that was hardly new. Most of the shareholders didn’t understand the lokkel so they simply ignored them. Unless the lizards began to interfere in day to day life, GroCorp’s upper levels were more or less content to pretend that there weren’t aliens walking amongst them.

Then, with the inevitability of the angry sun rising in the morning above a parched desert, Blake Daniels leaned forward, a storm on his face as he pressed the button on his console that would enter him onto the speaker’s list. A light blinked on the table in front of Kat indicated that there was one person waiting to speak. She paused for a second, silently wishing that a second light would join it, giving her a moment of respite.

Nothing. Kat took a deep breath, preparing herself for the inevitable as she reached down to press her own button, acknowledging Blake and letting the pompous man have the floor.If you spot this story on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.

“Shareholder Debs,” he blustered, face reddening slightly as he leaned forward in his chair so that his visage filled almost the entirety of the holographic. “Your report is all well and good, but I have concerning information that I think I need to report to this body as well. Recently, your penthouse was attacked and bombed.”

The picture of his face disappeared, instead replaced by a recording of the tower where Kat lived when she was in Chiwaukee. A hole was blown in the side of the upper floors, revealing roaring flames that belched thick plumes of black smoke that rose up into the sky, obstructing the view of the top of the tower.

“I do not know what your security was up to,” Daniels rumbled, “but their work is clearly pitiful. There is a certain standard that shareholders are supposed to hold themselves to. Our personal safety is supposed to be inviolable. The minute one of us shows weakness, the sharks will taste blood in the water. Right now, no one sane tries to assassinate us because they know that it is suicide to attempt it. Now, every two bit samurai is going to wonder if they can make a quick credit for killing a shareholder because of your lapse.”

“That,” he continued, snapping back into existence with his index finger jabbed forward and pointing directly at Kat through the hologram, “is why we must take action. If you can’t keep your person and your associates safe, what does that say of the measures you are taking to secure your research institute? What is to stop a samurai from slipping through your defenses and stealing some sort of alien super weapon to auction off to the highest bidder before GroCorp can auction that same super weapon off to the highest bidder? Think of the potential lost profits!”

Around the table, shareholders nodded and murmured. Their discontent was palpable, and already a couple of the usual subjects were queuing up to follow Blake’s lead. Kat couldn’t help but wonder how many of them knew that this little stunt was coming. The speech was clearly rehearsed, and their reactions were quick enough that it wouldn’t surprise her at all if Blake had planned everything out with a handful of the more anti-employee members of the security commission.

Even Ricard Waggoner, Belle and her only real ally on the subcommittee was frowning slightly. The only person that was as calm as ever was Donnst herself. There was even a slight twinkle in the older woman’s eyes that made Kat’s blood run cold. They both knew what was to come next, but Belle seemed to truly thrive on the coming chaos.

“Are you done, Shareholder Daniels?” Kat asked calmly. Her hands were calmly clasped in front of her. It took every iota of her willpower to avoid clenching them into fists and putting one through the delicate machinery used to project his image.

“What else needs to be said?” Blake answered smugly.

“My security is just fine now,” Kat replied smoothly. She wanted to think that her expression was as blank as Belle’s, but that was borderline impossible. Still, no one seemed to react to any of the anxiety that Kat was trying her hardest to keep pushed down.

“After all,” she continued, “I personally stopped the attack before it got too far and with a little help managed to track down the people responsible. Of course it was hardly surprising that the samurai managed to breach my security given that they were helped from the inside.”

Blake froze. The rest of the shareholders didn’t seem to notice anything, but the triumphant smile on his face was melting like ice in the sun.

“There is no need to worry about the research facility,” Kat said, locking eyes with the wilting man. “I am largely using my personal security rather than those corporate officers that are on loan from my fellow shareholders. After all, it’s rather silly to put your trust in folk that have recently been on an enemy’s payroll. Doubly so when they are still on their payroll.”

There was no doubt about it. Blake didn’t look like he was enjoying the experience, but Kat was beginning to understand why Belle enjoyed boardroom politics so much.

“Shareholder Donnst,” Kat remarked, inclining her head toward Belle. “If you would be so kind as to share our findings with the subcommittee.”

“With pleasure Shareholder Debs,” Belle purred back. The blood drained from Blake’s face as the other committee members began to audibly chat and gossip around the table.

The console in front of Kat beeped an alert, indicating that she had received a file sent from Belle’s computer. She didn’t bother to check it. Belle and her had spent almost a day going over its contents until each of them knew everything inside the data dump inside and out.

“How did you get this?” Blake bellowed, finally breaking his increasingly anxious silence. “There’s no way you should have been able to find these files without breaking into my personal databases. That is a breach of my confidentiality and subject to mandatory arbitration.”

“Oh?” Kat asked, raising an eyebrow. “The data seems to pretty clearly show that you had an agent forward my itinerary and security system specs to a team of samurai that you hired in order to bomb my home. Hypothetically, how would that be handled in arbitration? I believe you just said something about an attack on one shareholder making things worse for everyone? Maybe the arbiter would care about that?”

“That’s different,” Blake spat. “No one can verify the evidence you’ve sent to all of us, and even if they could, I was simply testing your security. You are a new and unknown factor. Given your age and background it would be foolish of me to expect you to be able to handle the rigors and responsibilities of being a shareholder. In a sense, I was helping you.”

Kat smiled back at him, displaying her teeth but not a degree of warmth. Out of the corner of her eye she saw Belle mouthing the word ‘good’ over and over again.

“Oh?” She questioned. “Then if I were to ‘test’ your security by sneaking into your home and bombing it, that would be an act helping the company, correct? After all, it would be a very important lesson for your heir. I’m sure they will appreciate my thoughtfulness.”

“I will not stand for veiled threats,” he sputtered back. “It is beneath my dignity as a shareholder, especially in front of so many august witnesses.”

“That’s the thing,” Kat replied easily. “The threat isn’t veiled. Really, that’s the problem with so many executives and shareholders. You are so far above the fray that it all becomes a game to you. Just a spreadsheet full of gains and losses without any understanding of the actual risks and rewards those numbers represent. You sit in your towers, so sure that no one will reach out and touch you, that you issue petty and meaningless orders that end up costing GroCorp dearly.”

She leaned forward, planting her left arm on the table and resting her weight on it as she reached out toward the holographic camera with her right, a single finger extended.

“Well, I’ve only got one thing to say to that,” she remarked. “Touch.”.

On the other end of the room, out of sight of the camera, Whippoorwill gave Kat a thumbs up as she reached to unplug her datajack.

Blake’s holographic image froze and stuttered for a second. When his picture returned, the sound was off and he was screaming at someone out of view as overhead sprinklers dumped enough water to put out a five alarm blaze atop his head.

Immediately the rest of the table erupted into a furor as the various shareholders dropped all decorum and began talking to each other. Kat just stood above it, a smile on her face as she watched Blake scream wordlessly at a pair of employees that ran into the background of his feed. His hologram flickered a second time before going out as more water continued to pour down on the sensitive equipment. She let the disorganized chaos drag on for the better part of a minute.

Only Belle and Ricardo were anything approaching calm. Belle with her usual predatory smile, while Ricardo stared off into the empty air, a contemplative look on his face. As for everyone else, they were babbling and shouting back and forth to the point that it was hard to hear anything else.

Finally, Kat pressed another button on her console, silencing everyone’s projector but her own. She coughed once.

“Now that we’ve cleared up that unpleasantness, are there any other questions about the output of our research and weapon manufacturing divisions? If not, I am ready to rest and pass the floor.”