Anti-antithesis

Bureaucrats are easy to handle. They bluster and shout and write scathing reports to try and shut you down, to discredit you, all because you bruised their already fragile ego. What you need to do is simple. Document everything, know what forms to fill out to respond properly, and know the weakness of the Bureaucrat who decided to make themselves your problem. They all have at least one, and most of the time it is illegal. Once you have those things, the problem tends to go away on its own.

But sometimes, they are backed by someone with more ego than sense, which may necessitate a more… direct solution.

-Conversation between Vanguard Doma and Vanguard Bub the Worker about how to cut through arbitrary red tape, 2048.

“Morrigan, you do not need to raise cows.” I said as calmly as I could.

“But did you see the pictures Vulkan sent us? They are so cute! And the pigs. And the Chickens!” Morrigan whined through my Network.

I was waiting in The Screen with Cari and Bahamut while going over after action reports from Jim and Outsider. The raids went well, despite the few hiccups of xeno-experiments, of which I was interested to read the internal reports on. While the giant crab was impractical, the crab drones were a possible asset for city defense.

Then, Vulkan uploaded a massive catalog of photos and videos of the various livestock Yun Min and Jim were liberating from Bestle. Morrigan had spent the last ten minutes trying her hardest to convince me that she needed them for research purposes, for more human enrichment, for etcetera etcetera.

While I was not really opposed to it, we would need to purchase a new building to keep them in, as there was no space to build a ranch in The Tower. And while I am sure Roger wouldn't mind the expansion direction we could take selling fully organically grown meat and animal products, I knew that way too many people would have problems with it in this day and age, and those that didn't were more than likely people we shouldn't do business with.

Unless… “You know what, sure. But only if you can convince Roger that this would be a viable business opportunity. But no livestock in The Tower. I don't want to deal with animal shit.”

I heard her celebrate quietly as she pulled out of the Network call, chuckling to myself. Roger would know my intentions, and knew how to actually capitalize on them. Knowing him, the only reason he set up a corporation at all was to fulfill his own ambitions that had been stifled for years in our previous line of work.

I sighed and closed the reports, leaning back in my very comfortable office chair in my own private office I never knew I had. It was a simple thing, with a sleek dark wood desk and a few chairs. Not to mention perfectly soundproof, even blocking my Scout Swarms from “seeing” inside or out once the door was closed.

It was a room I needed, as apparently the Gremlins were starting to train in The Screen, working and training alongside the various Owl minions. Would this be less efficient than if we simply let the Owls run Logistics? Of course, but that was kind of the point. Humans would prefer humans working with them rather than more bots, no matter how human the AI was.

Did I also recognise the irony in that statement considering my main, personal force was AI? I wouldn't be thinking about this question if I didn't, now would I.

I had been in this room for a few hours, doing actual research into both my PMC and The Tower as a whole, getting more familiar with the things that I was backing and the plans Morrigan was trying to enact.

I had also been looking over the recommended applications to crew The Pandora, which was harder than I thought. My requirements for people had fluctuated heavily over the last few hours, and I had to go over the list of people repeatedly.

I saw a young woman who applied through the recommendation of Buddy for the kitchen staff, whom I approved on the spot. If Buddy, the man who had cooked delicious meals for my family for years, recommended her, that was good enough for me. I did hold back and not appoint her head chef for her shift, however. Can't go full nepotism yet, especially as she had more experience in bio-engineering than cooking.

Much to my annoyance, I received a call from Black Log, breaking my chain of thought. Maybe I should simply go into hyper thought mode whenever I want to do some thinking.

I answered the call in my Network meeting room, adjusting it to look like my office.

“Afternoon, Black Log.” I said to the green jellyfish. “To what do I owe the pleasure of this sudden and totally unexpected call?”

He chuckled at my dry sarcasm. “Umexpected, huh? Yeah, sure, we can say that my call is totally not prompted by your sudden and unannounced actions against Bestlé. I could even talk about your company's sudden and unrelated permit requests to purchase a lot in North New Phoenix and zone it as farm land. Or.” The jellyfish leaned forward and placed some tentacles on the desk. “We can cut the bullshit. As much as I love the banter, I'm here as a messenger this time.”

I raised an eyebrow in concern. As far as I knew, there were very few people who could use any of the more information based Samurai of The Family as messengers, and most of them were on Mars right now.

He chuckled at me as he sat back into his chair. “Before I begin, I will say I fully approve of your actions over the last twenty four hours. And I'm sure Doma would as well if I could reach her to tell her about them. That said, the “leadership”,” he used four tentacles to make the quotation motion, “of The Family left some paper pushers in charge, and they are not happy with you.”

He cleared his throat as a pair of glasses appeared on the jellyfish cap, and a scroll appeared in front of him. He unrolled it dramatically. “It was one thing to hire out PsyCo, a black listed company, to deal with Bestlé, as we had put a travel embargo in place to prevent the loss of any local Samurai power while the majority of it is tied up on Mars. It was another, slightly more divisive matter to send a majority of your own forces to assault a satellite over Sweden, bypassing said restriction. Both of these things can be overlooked, as you yourself never left the Continental North American Territory, and are even bringing to bear a powerful defensive tool that is the orbital satellite. What cannot be overlooked, however, is the fact that you gave away more than ninety-five percent of Bestlé's assets to PsyCo as their fee. As a contracted member of The Family, it is expected of you to put The Family before any international interests-”

I scoffed hard, rolling my eyes at that. Black Log paused, and I could feel him looking at me, even though he didn't have eyes on this green jellyfish model. “Sorry, but is whoever wrote this serious?”

He placed the scroll on the desk and sighed heavily. “Unfortunately, yes. The paper pusher is a piece of work named Paladin, and he is a die hard follower of Zealot, who wields some of the highest and widespread authority in The Family. And, seeing as his idol was once knocked the fuck out by Maniac, he holds quite the grudge.”

Ah, fuck, that didn't sound great. Black Log motioned to ask if he could continue, and I nodded. “As I was saying. Contracted member, international interests, it is highly disappointing that you would give away so much international territory to a black listed Samurai and her ilk. If you were concerned that you and yours would be unable to handle that much territory, considering how new you are to both life as a Samurai as well as freedom in general, it would have served you better to reach out to The Family instead of untrustworthy outside forces. Instead, you have brokered a deal that sees the weakening of The Family and its influence in international matters. As such, we have no choice but to sanction you and the Corporation under you, Real Dreams Limited.”

“Oh, you have got to be kidding me.” I mumbled.

Black Log scoffed lightly. “Yeah, this guy is seriously up his own ass. Unfortunately, he has the authority currently to do something like this. Or, at least to log this sanction for review by Starfall and the other higher ups once they return.”

I leaned forward, placing a hand on my forehead as I processed the jellyfish words. “So, in other words, I have received a strongly worded email, saying I have made The Family look bad and not made them enough money, and that I will be blocked from, what, doing business with The Family? Or at least that I will be told to not do business with The Family, because he will tell on me?”

Black Log stifled a laugh, which failed to do its job as he vibrated heavily. “I mean, there is some more to it, like revoking access to the store, inability to dock at Family Controlled ports, as well as a Mark on your businesses that signal that you should be avoided professionally.”

“Does he know that I am the one both remodeling the current surveillance system for New Phoenix, as well as the one who now controls more than sixty percent of the city's antithesis defenses?” I asked, a small kernel of anger building.

After a brief pause, Black Log answered. “Well, to be fair, the second of those things only happened today.” I glared at him, causing him to chuckle. “Both of those things have been reported, yes, but they are at a higher authority level than what he has access to.”

I felt my jaw drop. “Are you fucking- what does that mean? Isn't he the one in charge right now?”

“Heh, yeah no. He is closer to a shift manager being told to hold the fort and make sure nothing exploded while the CEOs are playing golf.” Black Log explained. “I have mentioned that Doma, in her infinite wisdom, foresaw the betrayal of the employees in some way, right? Well, she also saw you butting heads with the PMCs, and that you would probably take them over, something she has been wanting to do herself for some time now, but didn’t have the justification for. She set up a few policies and bylaws to make sure you would be protected by The Family, as well as make sure you would face no internal backlash for these two acts. That said, the authority she signed these under was at the Head Level, a level of authority that is reserved for Tier IV and V Samurai, as well as the leaders of the various Branches. Paladin is barely a Tier III, and is basically Zealot's water boy. He has less authorization than I do, and barely more authority right now.”

The smugness in Black Log’s voice was unmistakable, which caused me to smirk. “So, he has demanded I be evicted immediately, not knowing that I am basically the hard wired security system?”

“Basically, yeah.”

“Can I ignore him until Doma returns?”

“I mean, technically.” He placed the scroll on the desk and took off his glasses. “Like I said, he can make a recommendation for punishment, but has no authority to do anything about it. Would I recommend you do so? Not entirely, no. I would recommend submitting something as well, stating your case while referencing the two policies Doma signed.”

I will handle it. Synaptic chimed in, her tone cold, dangerous. Who does this peon think he is, threatening my Vanguard?

The green jellyfish chuckled nervously. “Hey, just don't kill him, Miss.”

She didn't respond, and I almost felt sorry for Paladin. Almost.

“Are there any repercussions that could land on you if I ignore him?”

The jellyfish shook its cap. “Nah, not in the slightest. I am following the protocols Zealot set up and documenting everything as well. No, the biggest issue will be Zealot's reaction to you working with PsyCo once she gets back. She may kick up a fuss, but considering that you would have both a stronger Local presence to back you up, as well as Foxfire herself more than likely to back you up, you should be fine.”

I sighed and leaned back into the virtual chair. “Is there anything else you need from me, Black Log? Any problems that need solving?”

“Nah, you've done enough for the week. Rest up, cause next week I plan to put you to work.”

We ended the call after that, leaving me to my thoughts once more. Thoughts I accelerated so that I could make sure I could get through them uninterrupted. I saw Tungsten walking over to my office through the cameras, after all.

I was being threatened by a bureaucrat who didn't know his place, and my AI was on a warpath that would probably end with him in a severely uncomfortable situation. All because I didn't want to take on more power and authority.

Would I be fine in the long run? Probably, considering that Black Log was right. Doma and the others who went to Mars would receive a massive power boost, the likes that would make me seem reasonable. And if I received retaliation because I enlisted help from PsyCo in doing an objectively good deed, then I imagined not only Foxfire, but any number of Family Samurai would stand up to protest.

Yeah, this was no more than a dull headache that could be ignored, even mitigated with the right medicine that Doc Synaptic had already prescribed. As long as my conscience was clear, I would be fine.

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