The night hours pass and Vixen disappears tired but satisfied at first dawn, blowing a kiss at Maxwell as she descends to the sewers. As the morning hours pass it is evident that nobody is coming. You can see the Mafia guards, lawyers and their ilk with vision magnification but the drones would not let any of them approach the building.

Casa texts you >> there has been some complication with the agricultural alliance but we are trying to negotiate a deal.

Well, with your building at lock-down it is unlikely that you will be attacked but what else?
Simone’s shop is sufficient to repair Wheely’s drone but there is little other repair facility in your specific building.

The farmhouse has 3 levels, first level for marketing/sales and light tourism, basement level is for the chickens themselves as well as command operations and security. -2 level is the one dedicated to the pixies with some fancy high tech gear and half empty cages. It is clear that whatever building you took - is not a separate business one need a big cooperation for the kind of deployment you have seen, though with their matrix server completely demolished it is unlikely to recover exactly who is behind this deployment.

At any case, the building is yours for a bit longer than you anticipate. At high noon you receive a message.

>> Mercenaries, this is Ben Hunter from the alliance. It may come as a shock for you but nobody is taking over anything without the consent of the alliance. You were able to acquire a building by force, but you cannot run a business by force. Me and Mr. Ken Whitman the ahm ‘former’ owner of Eggs would like to negotiate with you.

Simone finally has a good idea of what it will take to repair the drone and gives Wheely the bad news. "I think this is going to take at least a couple of days, guy. I think I have all the tools and the AR diagrams for the specs, but I have to see that this poor thing was pretty fragged and will need to be completely torn down before I can put it back together. Is that OK with you? Now, saying that, is there anything you might want me to do to improve on it?

Kynos took a seat in the command central and replied over the open frequency:
<<Hello Mr. Hunter. We appreciate your formal introduction and your outspokenness.
Let me return the favor: My colleagues and I where hired to shut down an - according to the current legal situation - illegal slave-trading organisation. We are not the ones leading the negotiations.

You have a lot of drones out there, but we are more than capable of dealing with those - likewise we can just deal with you - in a permanent fashion.
I can't imagine that your other compounds would be significantly better protected than this one and despite your personals best efforts and even forewarning we managed to take it within minutes.
I suggest you receive the lawyers waiting outside and hammer out a deal, before those guys realize they can just hire us again to make you go away too.

Whatever it is you want, tell it to the lawyers. The only thing that we have to offer is steel and attitude.>>

Ben Hunter texts back >> Confrontation is not necessary as my lawyers informed me that the issues with illegality are temporary at best. All we need to do to reclaim the building is keep your bloodsuckers lawyers outside. Waiting is also problematic for you as the police will arrest you all for numerous breaches of the law.

What I mean is, as much as I believe that you can kill me. I am not your enemy, the Alliance protects its members and if you are really determined to own a business here you want to meet the terms of membership. Alternatively, since you are the ones holding the building perhaps we can come to a mutually beneficial agreement that keeps the building with the original management.

Alliance is not concerned on who gets the building as long as the owners respect their obligations. Let me know if you want to negotiate, and try not to kill the mediator that road goes badly for me - but also for you.

With dried blood on the side of her head - as well as on her right hand - Noëmie emerged from behind a building. From the look of things, it seemed that she had taken refuge on the ground at some point, only to have something fall on her. Whatever it was though, she didn't seem too pleased as she entered the main building, to find out what the current situation was.

Kynos replied: <<I'm not much of a farmer and neither are my colleagues as far as I know.
But whatever, send your mediator - but he better be neither a mage nor a cybered up infiltrator. I'd see that as a breach of good faith and react accordingly. Likewise, you better let one of the lawyers in as well - I don't intend to cut my employers out of the proceedings.>>

Kynos relayed to Finestra: <<The Alliance or whatever they call themselves want to negotiate us continuing to be part of their racket. A representative of their side is on its way. Maybe you or one of your lawyers want to join him.>>

Being chastised by Simone for helping himself out of bed was adorable. Not his fault that her medical instruments were tattletales and spammed nonstop warning signals in case someone tampered with them. Or in Maxwell's case when he unplugged himself and tried to leave. Something else that dangled in the corner of his mind was Nyx's whereabouts. He had sent a spirit to fetch her back after him and his team had laid siege to the facility. Pausing in place, he does a once over the medical ward and doesn't see the elf anywhere. Maybe she had already been here and he hadn't noticed it yet? Perhaps while he and Vixen were off screwing like rabbits in the other room? Maxwell frowns as he finishes dressing himself in his street leathers and sends a telepathic message to his spirit before it departs.

"Any luck on finding that girl I asked you to escort a while back? I can see dawn's light outside and that usually means you'll end up hitting the road long before then."

Kynos drummed his fingers on the board. He didn't like the tone of the Alliance. It sounded a lot like a stalling tactic.
He made his decision:
<<Sovereign, I got the feed that you are up again. I hope you are back in shape and got to scratch all your itches, because there is still work to do.
Those arrogant pricks from the other farms - the Alliance - won't let the mafia lawyers in, keeping them at bay with their army of flying drones.
That's not a good position for negotiations.

I know you love your fire spirits, but I think we need the opposite now. We need one of those spirits that can change the weather - a little localized thunderstorm should be enough to force the drones out of the air. That should shut their arrogant faces up a bit.

@all: Has anyone found out what happened to Nyx? If those assholes continue to insist on negotiating directly with us, it wouldn't hurt to get her pair of arguments into the ring, so to speak.>>

@ team: I've got eyes on her, she seems a little banged up but mostly fine. I'll help her inside. I do a quick scan of the astral while I'm out and then help her inside the the rest of the group.

Simone is pretty much on listen only as she works on the drone, but her ears perk up when she hears that Nyx has been found. >>Hey, please take her to the infirmary if she is banged uip. I will be there momentarily.<<

She carefully places the right front leg of the drone onto the work bench and secures her tools and the parts before heading off to the infirmary to see to Nyx.

@All Ben texts >> Negative, you send your own unarmed mediator. Your position is weak as the clock is ticking and with it a criminal responsibility to this shenanigan.

@Kynos Finestra texted >> Our car was seized as we approached - there was not much point in fighting. We were out gunned and had lawyers in the car. We are unharmed but prisoners nevertheless. Lawyers are terrified and are being interrogated right now. Casa said he'll negotiate some deal so keep the fort a while longer.

@Maxwell - Your spirit discovered Nyx but did not bother to bring her as she was only a few meters away. It was offended for being offered such a menial task and used its superior intellect to avoid your task and break free. Basically, since Nyx collapsed very close to your location he concluded that she was already 'there'.

Replying to Finestra he said: <<Alright, I'll see what we can do about that - but the more I talk to those guys the more I itch to reconfigure their faces. I'll try to keep you alive though.>>

Kynos waited a minute, but since no-one seemed to bring Nyx in, he left the command central and went up to bring her personally to the infirmary. On the way down he said: "Get yourself patched up, you need to be in top condition for the negotiation, or this whole thing might go seriously sideways."
Reaching Simone he said: "Ey doctor after the good job you did on me, be a dear and fix her up as well. Because if I do the negotiating alone I'm pretty sure there will be a few more corpses around this time."

Fuming a little that his spirit had given up so easily, Maxwell had been staring off into the distance outside as he waited for a telepathic response. He confirms with his own eyes that his spirit wasn't lying and Nyx is indeed safe and sound. Well... relatively speaking that is. His comm started ringing with another voice message as he indolently stared off at the horizon. Maxwell's lip curls downward in vexation from the keeb's jive. Evidently, the mage's romanticism and pyromania remained a half joke to the elf. Still, his disdain at jokes being made at his expense pales in comparison to being gypped out from his promised pay. "One more obstinate bunch of fools after the next. Let me see what I can do about that." Maxwell sits cross-legged on the ground and projects out of the building. Flying way past the swarm of grey shadows that comprised the drones above. Unhindered he continues as Kynos suggested.


The water elemental pulls against it's magical leashing. Causing a psychic backlash to ripple through the astral and tear into the mage. A line of blood slowly pours from his nose onto his shirt as his limp body remains motionless. Tired, yet determined, Maxwell addresses the spirit with his first and only command. "Outside of this facility is a massive horde of flying drones. I need you materialize out front and conjure a thunderstorm big enough to strike them all down. I'll be waiting nearby to see what kind of wrath that Nature herself can unleash. Don't disappoint me."

Noëmie followed silently, scowling. She looked at Simone suspiciously "It's fine, I'll be alright." turning to Kynos, she asked "What negotiation? We took the farm. Or you took the farm anyway. What is there to negotiate?"

"Yeah, but now the mafia lawyers fucked up - they can't get here and the guys controlling the drones are keeping them locked up. The Alliance - as those fuckers call themselves - wants to negotiate with us about what becomes of this farm.
They think they can wait us out until what we did is illegal again. They'd like that the farm operates as before and pays it's share to them.
I don't care either way as long as we get payed what is owned to us.

That's where you come into play. Those fuckers need to learn that we are calling the shots here - I told Sovereign to take care of the drones, but it will take a little while.
So in the mean time it's up to you to set up favorable conditions with them - otherwise we have to kill those guys too, just to get payed for this job.
Tell them to stand down their drones, or they'll lose that investment. Tell them we'll straight up murder them if they keep on playing for time. Tell them we are only interested in getting payed, not in running a farm and paying rent.
Wrap it up nicely in diplomacy and smiles like you did in the casino and we should be all good."

Kynos smiled at the last bit although it didn't reach is eyes. There was a cold fury behind his eyes, that spoke of frustration and barely restrained violence.

"I don't think you need me to tell them you want to kill them." she waved back to the way they came "I'm pretty sure everyone knows by now that you walk hand in hand with destruction and murder." She shrugged "I'll see what I can do, but I'm no lawyer. And odds are they have a lot more hidden aces than we do."

>>Finestra [Nyx]: I just heard about the...situation... I understand what the others in the team want, but what's the best outcome for you, and your bottom line?<<

Finestra answers >> Well... not being murdered is going to be nice and getting paid would also be great. Overall I wonder why they are so loyal to these slavers.

Maxwell, the spirit does its thing but it is going to take a while, in the meanwhile there is no noticeable change to the weather. At any case it makes it clear that its strom will not be large enough for all the drones to be effected.

Nyx grumbled, but didn't reply to Finestra. She turned to kynos to ask "Do they have mages or any Awakened in general? For that matter, what do we know about them, outside of the fact that they're called 'The Alliance'? Could one of our hackers do their thing to find out more while I go to them?"

Simone is taken aback by the apparent hostility of the person she is supposed to be helping. After following the conversation for a bit, she looks at Kynos and shrugs, trying one last time to do her duty for her companion. "Pardon me, Nyx, but are you sure that you do not wish any medical care?"

Noëmie squinted "I'm not sure we have the time." She rubbed her shoulder with a painful grimace "Even if it could be a good excuse to keep that Alliance waiting for a bit while we gather information." She seemed doubtful, not really convinced, though in the end she seemed to agree. Before she did though, she said "But you'll promise me you'll destroy any kind of sample, blood or otherwise, that you get." Now that she's talking about that, it was possible to see that while Noëmie had obviously bled, with blood flowing from her shoulder to her hand, she had made sure that there was no blood dripping on the ground, and instead everything was absorbed by her clothes.

Simone shakes her head. "Why is it the runners make the worst kind of patients?" She raises a hand and points to one of the beds. "Don't bother answering because there is no correct answer to that question. But yeah, I have no reason to keep anything I take from your body. Now get on the bed there and let's get your clothes off." She turns to grab the privacy curtain and pulls it around the bed so Nyx can get undressed without others watching then steps forward to help the woman undress and expose the wound.

Simone clucks. "Another useless question' why is it that runners are always the ones to say the wounds are light or don't hurt or some other drek like that? Again, don't bother trying to answer that."

Once the shirt is off, she finishes hooking up a series of leads and checking the biomonitor. "Hmmm. Some blood loss for sure. Let me get some replacement in you, if you do not object?"

Before leaving Kynos replied to Nyx:
"I'm not a lawyer either, but I think abduction is still a crime today. Those fuckers are no AA corp. They don't have exterritoriality. The Alliance is on very shaky ground and they must know it. Alone that fleet of drones must be an enormous investment. No business can take a massive hit into their inventory and take it in stride. In short, don't let them intimidate you and remember they lost their mage - and the security firm they hired is currently out of action. All they have is their fleet and that will be severely decimated come the next hour if they don't pull back. I myself might start taking pot shots at them.

But as far as hackers go - Irris and Wheely is the closest thing we have to a hacker. Ask them if they can do something for you. Alternatively you can ask Nagisa - provided we can pay her fee."

Noëmie didn't quite sigh, and instead asked politely to Kynos "Then can you ask them? I'm not exactly able to use my 'link at the moment as you can see."

Since she wasn't asked to answer - and in fact, asked to not answer - Noëmie kept silent when Simone talked to her and removed her top without any fuss, not really caring if anyone saw or not. The blood came from her shoulder, where a bullet tore her flesh but didn't do too much damage. It's only when asked if she didn't object that she frowned "It's just a scratch, not much more, do we really have to go through a transfusion, especially when you don't know anything about my own blood?"

Simone chuckles. "You really have not had much experience with modern medicine have you? I already know more about you than you probably want me to know. I hope that does not convince you to kill me to keep me quiet." She feels around the wound with her fingers. "You are pretty close to being right about the wound, but there has still been some blood loss. I should stitch it up an if you do not want a transfusion, would you at least agree to remain on this comfortable bed and rest for a bit?"

She reaches for the thread and suture needle and moves closer to be able to patch the recalcitrant woman up.

Kynos sighed and relayed it to his colleagues:
<<Nyx has lost her link for good it seems. Can you collect a dossier for her about the Alliance + all you can find out about their defenses? Much appreciated.>>

Wheely is unfocused, too many data to process at once. He is checking online to see how far their little firework is known but there are only wild theories at the moment: Gas explosions, new super-secret anti-undead weapon (this one isn't so far from the truth I guess), aliens… no doubt that some corp is also working to cover the data. He is also following what's happening outside, tapping into the building video feed and he tries to follow Simone job, what a woman able to heal bodies be they of flesh or chrome.

Maybe she can heal broken hearts as well? Oh of course his drone will be repaired but still, he has been careless thinking that the dog-brain of the drone could stay hidden. What if it had been a teammate? Ugh it's not like himself to be so unfocused, how long as it been since he took some Novacoke, days, months? Now that the adrenaline is gone he can feel the craving coming back. Reaching into one of his pocket he pop a dose of the drug. He starts feeling better even before it starts taking effect, thank you placebo.

With a delay he finally reply to Simone: "Two days? Well could have been worst that was to be expected. Let's just put the component back in place and I will finish at my shop if we can get out of there before two days. Thank you I think it's just fine as it is and I doubt we have enough spare parts to improve it much anyway."

Wheely has just finished his speech that a new emergency is taking the surgeon away. "Go for it, I will take it from there."

With the Novacoke taking effect Wheely feels some of his tiredness disappear and his working hard when his comm buzz.
<<I'm on it Kynos>>

Wheely start whistling while his hands work almost automatically on the drone and his brain start looking online for whatever he can finds on those guys.

Wheely forward the data he has gathered to his team.

<<So they are a bunch of small farmers that got together to survive corps. Use magic and drones and pretend to be green. The two weird things are how did their leader get out of the street to such a position and how did they survive corps so long but when you add their side business with vamps it's easy enough to figure it out. I will check if I can find something more on that Rebeca, she might be leverage.

Two things usable I can see : Beware of their magic if you fight them, and maybe we can use the green lobbyist things, some juicy pictures release online could hurt their reputation a lot. Blackmail.>>

@Wheely you find no digital evidence that link the alliance to vampires. There are some conspiracy theories that link them to some recent eco-terrorist attacks, others that indicate warm relationship with the salish shidhe council, but nothing about vampires.

Simone finishes patching Nyx up and proceeds to clean up the medical bay and puts her instruments in the sanitizing bath for the next time. When finished disposing of any blood she might have collected, she checks again on Nyx and nods at her. "You will be alright, but I would advise some rest for a bit. You will be alright here on your own so I will return to an equally recalcitrant patient upstairs. Thank you for not being the worst of my patients today."

She removes her smock and returns to the van outside and the drone. She nods at Wheely, who has managed to gather quite a few parts from somewhere and returns to her bench. She slips her goggles back over her eyes and gets to work.

Noëmie snorted "Yeah well, I won't have the time to stay here. Apparently there are people calling, and it seems to be up to me to talk them out of making anything rash." She grimaced, clearly displeased "I'm told that if I don't succeed, some around here will leave more bodies to be buried."

She got up and put her clothes back on, then went to find those Alliance people she was supposed to talk to.

Kynos watched with satisfaction as the storm above the facility got stronger. He made sure his rifle was loaded up again and made his way outside. The wind was pretty strong by now and lightning flashed inside the darkening clouds. When Nyx came out he said: "I'll follow you in the distance - try not to block line of sight or get into a car with those guys. And take this micro transceiver so you can contact us."

@Nyx/all Ben instructs you to go through the farms to a small neighboring building about 500 meters away from the compound. There waits a black SUV with a single man leaning on it and smoking a cigarette. He seems to be enjoying himself by blowing all sort of rings to the air.

The man which you assume is Ben, is wearing black armor which appear to be elastic and fits exactly to his (well shaped) body. It covers everything, including his palms. The facemask or helmet, is set aside on the hood of the car. Which exposes a face with lush brown hair an unshaven face and a smile filled with white teeth. He does not appear to be armed, and when Nyx approaches, Ben extends his hand with the pack of cigarettes in a gesture of invitation. He otherwise remains silent.

Maxwell returns to his body after the summoning. He envisions the spirit will need an hour or so before the storm would be whole. In the meantime the mage would rest up for a spell. Even the greatest of magicians would have need of a break in between every artful act. He was no exception, just exceptionally talented. Maxwell gets off the floor and finds a cozy room hidden off in a adjacent hallway or corridor. Content to sit back and enjoy a nice little snooze.

Simone is busy at work when her 'link pings to give her a weather warning. Puzzled, she looks outside and sees the sky darkening a b nit and shakes her head. Ducking back inside, she deploys the lightning rod that will help protect the van in case of a lightning strike. She has way too many expensive gadgets in here to see them fried form some random weather phenomenon. She puts the music back on and gets back to work on the drone. >Wheely [Simone]: Hey, man, you want any upgrades to your baby while we have her in pieces here? It would be easier to add them in now then later. I am thinking stuff like extra armor or sensor upgrades, that sort of thing.<<

"I would love to add some armor on it to prevent a reoccurrence of… that but I'm afraid he has already as much as his size can handle. Thanks all the same. I should probably consider something bigger for next time, maybe a Lynx if we can manage to get enough pay in the middle of this chaos."

Shaking her head, Nyx declines the offered cigarette. She strays silent though, perfectly happy to wait for any movement: the longer it takes, the better it is for her. Or so she was led to believe anyway.

Ben finishes the cigarette in silence glancing a bit at Nyx and sizing her up "Do I know you from someplace?" He asks and then as if he understood what he asked he said "Well nevermind that, hop in - there are too many drones in here to talk privately." He said and without waiting for a reply opened the driver seat door and started the car.

Simone nods. "Lynx is nice. If you get one, let me know if you want some help modding it up." Beyond that sort of conversation, Simone is pretty much just working for a bit.

Nyx frowned, then shrugged "Considering that I don't know which places you frequent, I have no way to know." She hesitated for a bit then sighed and got in the car: it wasn't in the interest of anyone to have things go out of hands right now after all, so she should be relatively safe for the time being. And if things got hairy...well, she always had options.

Kynos sighed.
'I only told her to do two things - not stand in my line of sight and not to go into a car with them.'

<<Sovereign, Nyx just got into a car with those guys, no line of sight anymore. You could send a spirit to keep watch on her - or not, I don't care anymore.>>

As he laid back trying to get comfortable, his comm started ringing again. A minute's worth of shuteye was afforded to him before he'd have to get up and see who it was. Maxwell grimaced once he saw the contents of the text. I may not have finished high school but I feel like a mental giant most of the time nowadays. Can't summon another spirit till the one outside gets done. Leaving me the joyous opportunity of playing Nyx's astral nanny. What next I wonder? Am I going to be powdering her ass in between her every tryst? If I had it my way the farmers would all be dangling from a tree in park somewhere. Hanged by their own intestines until their painful, bloody death." His macabre musings end soon after. Leaving him staring at his comm. Alone in silence. Maxwell grumbles internally before sending back a reply.

@Kynos - <<Won't be able to send a spirit to do anything about that. But I can trail her from the astral. Keep watch on her and whatnot. If things get hairy i'll just do my usual biz of saving the day. Don't reply to this message by the way. I won't be able to respond.>>

Lying himself down again the mage projects outward into Nyx's direction. With practiced alacrity Maxwell glides the astral in leisure. Might as well and have fun with the task ahead. Because who knows how long he would have to keep this up.

The car speeds outside of the farms, and through Fort Louis, Ben instructs Nyx to open the glove compartment and pull out a small device. A white noise generator, having it on he says "We only have some brief moments of privacy, so first, I do not appreciate your friends pointing guns at me. I am not your enemy, just a negotiator and I came unarmed and am mundane. Which is less than I can say about you, or about that image that hovers the astral and tail us. We have watchers, don't look so surprised.

This is not why, we are talking privately - real reason is that *You* have some alpha problems. These soldiers you torched they were after you of all people. Almost abandoned their posts in the sight of you. It is none of my buissness why, just thought you would like to know... You know to establish trust.

He turns off the white noise generator before Nyx could respond and then says: "Look, Nyx?" Looking puzzled for a bit and then continued "Situation is simple, Finnegans pulled off some truly amazing legal stunt and our lawyers think that their move would work. The thing is, these Pixie farms are part of federal programs to map, control and eventually eliminate Vampire population in the UCAS. Not that the Alliance cares much for the Feds but the point is that this program pays for much of the security we need to keep growing food in a city with so many hungry and desperate people.

There is a way out, *you* have the building - not the Finnegans. This means that you have all the power and without you the Finnegans have nothing. Our offer is simple, allow yourself to be captured and be quietly released with a nice compenstation after a week or two. That way the government program stays intact, food production remains stable and secure and you get paid which was your goal all along.

How about that?"

Kynos packed up and returned to the base. He was frustrated and longed for something he could kick until it stopped moving. Thankfully, he had stopped following such impulses a long time ago. Time to get a bit more pro-active:
<<Wheely, Irris. Can you try and find the commlink of Rebeca Winter and get a trace on her? Maybe if I invite her here forcibly for a cup of tea those Alliance assholes will stop playing games.>>

Nyx's only reaction at the news was a cocked eyebrow, showing mild interest. She didn't answer straight away though, and instead took some time to think about what was just said. No matter what happened in the coming hours, she would have to leave soon if those looking for her knew she was here. But... That was probably a problem for another time. Right now...

"Your offer is interesting and duly noted." She rubbed her chin, appearing to think about it, but then shrugged "But..." she smiled slightly when she said that expected word, before schooling her expression back to neutral "It wouldn't work. First, because betraying a client and a contract is simply not something done lightly, especially when said client knows perfectly well the farm is in our hands. Second, because my current...Associates... Won't care - at all - about some possible federal operation. Especially now. Third, and more importantly, they will never agree to be captured by anyone, no matter the 'compensation'." She shook her head "That would never fly."

She looked by the window for a second or two, then added "Furthermore, they know you're on shaky ground at the moment. You captured and kidnapped lawyers, who themselves didn't do anything wrong and you can't do anything more to them since...well... That would just be a disaster for you in itself. You're pressed by time, as every hour that goes by makes things even more difficult for you. Finally, my...associates...would be perfectly happy to kill anyone that could be a threat to them and every resource you lose now jeopardises all your operation."

She let a few seconds go by to let all that sink, then added "Now, I'm far less bloodthirsty, and I can empathise on a goal aimed at feeding people. Or even eliminating vampires. Even if the means of such an operation is despicable." she grimaced in distaste but didn't pause "So I'm not saying we can't work anything to satisfy all parties, but..." She shrugged "As I see it, our position is far stronger than yours at the moment: we have more cards in hands, more options in front of us, and for some of us at least, moral considerations are simply nothing to worry about. You will have to do much better than that if you want me to even bother with bringing your offer to the others."

Ben laughs " I can respect that, we will not coerce you into choosing the easy and profitable way out." He sighed
"First rest assured that all our actions are done with legal consultant, specifically what you call a hostage situation is actually some form of citizen arrest. The Finnigan lawyers were about to enter a combat zone where the terrorists were not yet vanquished. There is a fire hazard and chemical spill from nearby facilities which may be toxic. Should the lawyers enters the Alliance will be liable to their safety which it cannot guarantee providing we have a manifesting terrorist attack.

What I am trying to say is that we play by the book, no cooperation is going to bluntly break the law and our commitment to a single buissness owner that lost his buissness is not without limits. You can check with the Finnegan lawyers that if they acquire the buissness one way or the other - they must also respect its commitments. Namely Alliance taxes for the next two years, the same taxes that got the original owner to join the federal program in the first place. What I am trying to say is, while our reputation will be hurt if organized crime associates itself with one our businesses. Said organization still need to pay us exactly what the original owners paid us for the next two years. Which means that even if you do deliver the building to the Mafia - you are unlikely to see profit from it.

In fact, I am authorized to allow the takeover to happen once someone reimburses us for the collateral damage your attack caused. Which include life insurance for six guards, a lost patrol vehicle, three completely destroyed greenhouse, six more damaged ones, two destroyed tractors and five drones."

Wheely let out a loud sigh after reading Kynos message <<It might actually be possible to find a single commlink in the middle of a city like Seattle since she is a public figure. But do you think you could find a way to get her in, past the Alliance? Odds are she is already aware of the situation and won't step close to here. I can still give it a try, your call.>>

Kynos replied: <<I'll find a way to get to her. A month ago I traveled around half the globe to catch a Yak asshole. If she is in Seattle I don't expect too much trouble to get to her.>>

<<Well then I'll see what I can do.>> Wheely stops his texting to Simone.

"Can I leave you with my drone for a bit? I have to find a needle in a haystack"

With that said Wheely start to search the latest known location of the woman and the place where she lives.

Wheely can find plenty of biographic data about mis. Winter, he can uncover that she is related the deposed KE that shares her family name. He lost his job after the nanites scandal and further investigation uncovered massive corruption and many breaches of protocol. Such as subjecting inmates to nanites experiments. Horrific stuff really...

However, Wheely does not get not any closer of directly tracking her own whereabouts. He only finds the office location and personal secretary's link number.

<<@Kynos : For a public figure she keeps a low profile, best I could get is her secretary number and some scandal about a relative, I'm sending you both, just in case.>>