Chapter 1: Acquisition

He tapped his fingers on the arm of his chair impatiently as his best recruiter, a one Mr. Ueno, set six file folders in front of him in a neat pile. He took note of the meticulously organized pile and knew this man was either compulsively structured, or extremely nervous to be in a meeting with him. It was very rare he met directly with one of his recruiters, but this was no ordinary matter. He had been waiting for nearly three months for worthy candidates for this position to hit his desk. That was much longer than he generally waited for anything, but with so much money on the line he had forced himself to be patient, which was no easy feat for him. After the last legal fiasco that had cost him five million he lost his temper. The translation on the merger had been the biggest, but not the first, major mistake by his translator. Needless to say, he had now been without a reliable translator for the last two months and twenty-nine days. His company had been relying on computer software, which was really unable to do more than a direct translation. It was unable to pick up on nuances or hidden meanings inside wordplay, which was what legal documents made money on. This position needed to be filled before he lost any more money.

The man before him, who was skirting sixty, bowed low before sitting down on the other side of his desk. It was clear he wanted to please with what he had brought. "After extensive hunting these are the best candidates available, Mr. Kaiba. All of them are competent."

"I require more than competence." He reminded him, unimpressed until he saw real results. "What about Mori?" He asked, referencing a young man that had been pinged on his database as his college entrance exams and achievements were in top percentile in the country.

The man indicated the file on the far left at once. "His translation is excellent and he's fluent in five languages. I would caution you about his personal habits however."

"Explain." He said, opening the file and thumbing through it.

"The young man is clearly gifted." Ueno replied. "But is chronically late, and I strongly suspect dabbling in drugs. He has loose, but followable ties with local branches of 'violent groups'."

He handed the man the folder at once. Business didn't run on tardiness and he refused to have any dealings with crime lords, or anyone associating with them. "No."

The man nodded sharply, and set the folder to the side. "The next three folders contain translators that are well established. Two from Japan and one from Korea. All of them speak three languages including English and Japanese. One speaks Chinese, one Korean, and the last German." Chinese was arguably the more helpful, and English less so, only because he could already speak that fluently himself, as could most of his employees. He didn't need a translator for that. However, he nodded and indicated the other two. "The next is a French national. He recently retired from the military after two decades of honorable service. He's well traveled and speaks four languages. He's respectful and follows instructions exactly. He would be my first choice, although I believe the last candidate would be yours."

"Why?"

"She's a savant." Ueno stated. "She speaks eight languages, five of which you asked me to look for." His eyebrow popped up. He had been impressed with four and honestly hadn't expected anyone he hired to speak more than three of the ten languages he had requested. "The others could be helpful at some point."

"She's fluent in all of them?" He asked to be sure.

"Indeed." The man agreed. "I had her tested extensively."

"You don't like her." He stated, noting the man's short answers and low praise on what should be a golden find for him.

"I do like her." He disagreed respectfully. "But she did not follow the instructions she was given when taking the practical portion of the interview. She's free thinking, which was not on your list of attributes."

"So she failed?" He asked to be sure.

There was a brief hesitation. "She did exceed the time limit that was given to her." He indicated the last folder, which he picked up. "However, she translated the same text as the others, in all eight languages, and then did so again."

He frowned, not understanding, until he pulled out a stack of neatly written pages. Pushing the other folders aside he laid them out, quickly putting the same languages next to one another. As soon as they were laid out he understood. This woman had first translated the fake contract exactly. He expected this had been what she had been instructed to do. Then she had gone back through and highlighted every section that didn't properly translate between languages, and reworded it to make it say what the contract was intended to say. "How long did this take her?"

"An hour and fifteen minutes. She was given an hour just like the other candidates."

"She did each one in that amount of time?" He asked, trying to hide that he was impressed.

"No, all of them."

Now… that was impressive. She must have been writing furiously fast to accomplish that. It was clear the wording was still slightly off on one section, but he hadn't expected a translator to know that. Any translator he hired would be placed with his law team during contracts and mergers to be sure legal jargon wasn't misunderstood. That she had done what he wanted without being told was more than he had expected. That she did it eight languages, one of which he couldn't identify for the life of him, was impressive. He didn't need a mindless idiot, he needed someone who could think for themselves when he was busy.

"This one." He said, handing her folder back. "I want her here no later than the start of next week."

The recruiter nodded, clearly ready to have that done at once. "With your permission I'd like to hire the Frenchman for our European branch."

"Fine." He agreed, knowing that would be helpful and hating to squander a resource. He began to go back to a computer program he was running when Ueno continued.

"And to offer her a standard moving package."

He glanced back over, shocked, which didn't happen often. "She's not Japanese?" He asked, genuinely surprised. Her document in that language had been perfect.

"American I'm afraid, Mr. Kaiba."

He sighed under his breath. Often American's were hard to deal with. They were too free thinking, stubborn, and hard headed. Many of them also got lost in the culture of Japan, which was too rigid for them after being raised in a country that seemingly to him, let them run wild. This woman might not last more than a month, but was so clearly the best of the candidates that he was willing, reluctantly, to roll the dice with her. Still, there was no reason not to have a feasible back up plan. "Yes, the standard package. Keep the other ready for transfer in case this one doesn't work out."

"Of course, Mr. Kaiba." He said, standing up and gathering the documents. "I'll have her here no later than next Tuesday."

"Fine." He agreed, dismissing him with a gesture. "Let HR know so they can take care of the details. I want to meet her first so she's clear about what I expect."

The recruiter bowed again, as low as the first time, and left. As his office door clicked shut he went back to his laptop, satisfied this was resolved at last. With this taken care of he could go back to some other pressing business that needed his attention. If he could get this done he might actually get to go home in time to have dinner with Mokuba. He'd missed having an evening meal with him the last three days, and as his brother was the only person he enjoyed spending time with he had regretted those evenings bitterly. There was nothing to do about those missed nights now, but he could see him tonight if he focused. That, he thought, was a very motivational thought and got him to the end of his work day.