sometimes Jade just has a big mouth.

Thirteen

Tori greeted the perkily emerging sun bathing the balcony with a yawn. The warmth felt good right now, after the chill of the hotel room, but she knew it wouldn't be long before it went from soothing to annoying and decided to enjoy it while she could.

So much had happened the day before, she spent a few minutes just reviewing it all. Then she looked up as the sliding door opened and Jade emerged onto the balcony.

She took the seat next to Tori and cradled her coffee cup in her hands, sleepy eyes regarding the view amiably. "Victoria?"

"Yes?"

"I have chocolate in many places God did not intend." Jade announced. "And you, my salacious little mudpuppy, are going to scrub it off me this morning in that there shower." She toasted Tori with the coffee. "In fact, I think I still have your name scrawled across my leg."

"No, you don't." Tori licked her lips. "Trust me."

Jade chuckled, stretching her legs out into the sunshine and tensing her thigh muscles. "Tell you what. How about we get out there before all the munchkins and go in the pool for a while, before we get into our monkey suits? Show doesn't start till ten."

Tori sucked in a lungful of pine scented, though warm air. "Yeah. I like that idea." She decided. "Let's do it. Then we can grab a fast breakfast down at that little snack bar thing."

They got up, passing together through the glass door and bumping each other playfully as they maneuvered to the bathroom to grab their swimsuits.

Several minutes later, they had towels in hand and were headed out the door. This early, the hotel was quiet, and they could hear worTors beginning to set up in the restaurants as they slipped out the back door and headed for the pool.

It was huge. But they had it pretty much to themselves, save a few tentative sunbathers collecting down on one end and timidly spreading towels out on the comfortable looking lounge chairs. Jade tossed her towel on a vacant one on the far side of the pool and dove in without a second's hesitation.

Tori took a moment to fold her towel and put it down next to Jade 's. She straightened and went to the side of the pool, stepping up onto the edge of it and diving in.

The water was warmer than she expected, but still refreshing. She surfaced and swam over to where Jade was somersaulting lazily in place, enjoying the clear liquid for a change after swimming mostly in seawater for the last few months.

Jade had on her silver gray suit, which had a functional tank neckline, but high cut sides that showed off her long legs. She flipped over onto her stomach and started to swim down the length of the pool, her powerful arms pulling her through the water with apparently effortless ease.

Tori took off after her, working a little harder to keep up as they swam side by side all the way to the other end of the irregularly shaped pool. Arriving at the wall, they both turned, then leaned back and gazed across the water, blinking chlorine out of their eyes.

"Race you?" Tori grinned.

Jade looked at her knowingly. "How many minutes head start do I have to give you?"

Sticking out her tongue, Tori kicked off and started swimming as hard and as fast as she could, knowing perfectly well it was a lost cause. She liked swimming, but she'd come late to the sport, since they hadn't had a pool in Connecticut and the idea of her going to a public pool would never have been countenanced.

After moving to San Francisco, and certainly after moving in with Jade , she'd gotten a lot more experience at it, but she still was working to acquire the skills, whereas her partner… "Jade !" Tori felt hands pluck impudently at her suit. She stuck her face in the water and opened her eyes, spotting Jade almost right under her, swimming under the surface as fast as she could swim on top of it.

As she watched, slowing her strokes, Jade flipped over and coasted beneath her, releasing a lungful of bubbles that rumbled against Tori's skin and surfaced around her. Then Jade stroked upward and emerged just in front of her, treading water around Tori in a circle.

"Show off." Tori splashed her.

Jade stuck her tongue out. "Yeah, sometimes." She agreed, relaxing onto her back and heading off with neat strokes and powerful flutter kicks.

Tori eased into a breaststroke and followed, starting to grin as she saw Jade angle towards the tall slide. She surged after her, catching up as Jade pushed herself up out of the water and onto the concrete, then turned to offer her a hand up.

"Thank you, ma'am." Tori latched onto the back of Jade 's suit and followed her up the steps to the top of the slide. "I think this is supposed to be for the kids."

"And?" Jade launched herself down the slippery surface. "C'mon, you punk!"

Tori settled on the slide and shoved herself forward, enjoying the spray of water as she whirled downwards towards the pool. "Better get out of my way, slowpoke!" She yelled in warning, tucking her arms against her sides as she sped up. "Yahhhhhhh!"

She dropped out of the slide and plunged into the pool, relaxing her legs as she anticipated hitting the bottom.

Halfway there, she was abruptly intercepted as strong arms wrapped around her and yanked her to a halt. Jade had pushed off the bottom already and they surged back towards the surface, breaking through it into the warm air with a twin yell.

"Me a punk?" Tori swept an armful of water towards her partner, dousing her thoroughly. "You're a punk, you little..."

"Little?" Jade picked her up and leaned sideways, taking them both underwater. They wrestled around until Tori managed to wriggle free, then broke out into the open air again. "Rat!" She dove at Jade and grappled with her again, but made the mistake of getting too close and growled as she felt Jade 's arms tighten around her with irresistible force.

"Rat, huh?" Jade 's low voice tickled her ear.

Tori tried a wriggle, and then relaxed, realizing she was good and caught. She turned her head to regard her companion, giving her a kiss on her wet nose. "Okay. You're not a rat." She said. "You're a HAMSTER!" She twisted suddenly and got a leg wrapped around Jade 's, pulling them both off balance and back under the water.

They finally came back up near the edge of the pool, laughing like kids. Jade ducked backwards and straightened, slicking her hair back as she leaned against the concrete. "Whoo."

Tori rapidly shook her head, scattering water everywhere before she joined her partner. "That was fun." She glanced around, noting that the pool deck was becoming a little more populated, and several solitary bodies had joined them in the water.

"Yeah, it was." Jade agreed, her eyes drifting across the deck. "Ah. Look who's headed this way."

Tori actually growled. "If their names start with M or S, this pool's gonna run red I swear it."

Jade snorted, but shook her head. "No. It's our friend Peter, Peter, Cruise Ship eater." She assumed a cool expression as Quest arrived at poolside, hunToring down next to her in his crisp, gray suit. "Morning."

"Good morning, ladies." Quest answered. "Ms. Vega, did you think about what we discussed yesterday? I have to leave right after the conferences today so I don't think we'll get a chance to meet again."

"Gosh, that's a pity." Tori replied mildly. "Mr. Quest, can I ask you something?"

"Sure." Peter rested his arms on his knees.

"How did you know where to find us?" Tori reached casually out and took hold of the hem of his pants. "I'm pretty sure we didn't leave a note at the desk."

He hesitated. "Um..."

Jade leaned closer, giving him an icy look. "Answer the lady."

"Or?" Quest rallied, with commendable bravado.

"Or we're going to pull you in the pool and possibly drown you." Tori smiled kindly at him. "Neither Jade nor I like snoops or weasels."

Quest glanced down to the strong fingers clamped around his sartorial splendor. "No big mystery." He replied. "I paid the bellboys to keep an eye on you." A smirk appeared. "They didn't seem to think it was a tough task."

"Ah, I see." Tori murmured. "Well, Mr. Quest, aside from the fact that I don't like sneaks, and you have really bad taste in tailors, I really don't think you need a company of our caliber in your little contest."

Quest blinked, obviously not hearing what he'd fully expected to. "But…"

"But?" Tori replied, releasing his pants.

"You said you could make decisions."

"Um... I just did." The brown eyes twinkled a little. "I could repeat it if you want me to. I said..."

"I heard you." Quest frowned. "But damn it, I thought…"

Jade put her hands on the concrete and pressed herself up out of the water. She stood up and glared down at Quest. "You thought Tori would go against me."

He looked up. "She's ambitious." He shrugged. "Moving up that ladder ain't a piece of cake, even in your company." He stood up and brushed his hands off. "My sources told me it was something she was interested in." His eyes dropped to a slightly boggled Tori. "My sources said you better watch your back, West."

Tori put a hand over her mouth, muffling a laugh.

Jade rubbed the bridge of her nose. "Did your sources bother to mention to you that Tori and I are married?" She paused, watching his face go slack. "To each other?"

His nostrils flared. "Ah… " An eyebrow twitched. "No, no they didn't."

Jade almost felt sorry for him. "How does it feel to be used?" She reached down and offered Tori her hand. "Tell you what, Quest. We'll enter your bid. Send me the papers first thing tomorrow morning."

"Y… you will?"

"Yeah." Jade pulled her partner up out of the pool. "And you can tell your source they better duck."

Quest stood and watched them walk away, his jaw hanging slightly.

"What the hell was that?" Tori threw her towel around her shoulders, lengthening her strides to keep up with Jade 's rapid walk. "Hello? Jade ?" She snagged her partner by the back of the suit. "Jade !"

Jade slowed, but didn't stop. "Yeah?"

"If I have to put up with you making me look like an idiot, I'd at least like to know why."

Now Jade stopped. She sidestepped into a smaller alcove off the path, which had a sturdy bench in it. "Sit." She took a seat herself, and waited for Tori to follow suit. "I wasn't trying to make you look like an idiot."

Tori leaned on her knees. "Honey, I know that. I didn't think you did it on purpose, you just reacted to something and I can't figure out what it was."

Jade looked at her. "Didn't you hear him? Didn't you hear him say he'd been told you were looking to stab me in the back?"

"Jade , we've heard that before. Don't you remember?" Tori put a hand on Jade 's knee, seeing the upset in her posture. "I didn't pay any attention… I'm used to people thinking all sorts of things about our relationship."

"I know." Her partner sighed, leaning back and stretching her arms out over the back of the bench. "But didn't you find it really coincidental that this guy comes here…to this show… and gets that kind of stuff? You think it came from our people?"

"No."

"Neither do I." Jade bit the words off precisely. "But I'd be willing to bet I know where he got it from."

Tori slowly let out a breath. "Okay." She also leaned back, feeling first the chill of the water droplets, then the warmth of Jade 's skin touch her shoulders. "So... you're thinking it was deliberate? Or... what are you thinking, Jade ?"

Jade remained silent, gazing morosely at the green hedge separating them from the path.

Tori waited patiently, wiping her arms off with her towel. The crickets sounded loud around her, and she jerked her foot as an ant tried to use her as a highway.

"It's something Shari would have said to him."

"Ah."

"That's exactly how she thinks." Jade went on. "That everyone has an angle. Wants something."

"I don't get it." Tori shook her head slightly. "Yeah, she seems like the kind of person who would say that, but damn it, Jade … what's the point? What's she trying to do?"

"Break us up."

Tori sneezed.

"My mother always said you sneeze on the truth." Jade remarked wryly.

Tori turned and faced her, leaning her elbow over Jade 's arm. "Are you really serious? You think that's what she was trying to do? Or... I mean, if they're bidding, it makes no sense at all to provoke you... us... into participating."

"No."

Tori sneezed again. "Pooters." She wiped her face with the towel. "All that chlorine got up my nose." She sighed. "Jade , what the heck's going on then? Let's say you're right. Let's say her motive was trying to break us up. What does that get her?"

Jade studied Tori's face, watching the sunlight pick up amber glints in the depths of her eyes. "The satisfaction of hurting me?"

Brown brows lifted. "You really think that's what she's after? It's been a long time, Jade ."

"I really think so." Her partner replied. "That's why I told him we'd do the bid. It's not that I want it... hell, it's not really even big enough for us to bother with. I just don't want her to get it, and I'm willing to make sure that's not going to happen personally."

Tori nibbled the inside of her lip.

"So. I'm sorry I overrode you." Jade went on. "It was a snap decision. Probably not a good one. Definitely based on something other than business."

"Heh." Her companion chuckled softly. "Well, shit, Jade ... I was just saying no because I didn't think you wanted anything to do with going up against them. I thought we were going to just leave them alone. But if you want to go up in their faces, I'm there with you." She rubbed Jade 's shoulder. "My ego will live."

Jade 's eyes dropped.

"Of course, we could actually send a bid analysis team, like we would for any other prospective client." Tori reminded her. "I have people that do that sort of thing, you know."

"I know."

Tori reached up with a corner of her towel and wiped away the sweat forming on Jade 's temple. "That's probably what they're going to do. I don't think Michelle's a qualified engineer, and you said yourself Shari was in marketing."

"True." Jade admitted. "But it's not that way for us." She tilted her head, one brow arching. "We can do this."

"Sure."

"I want to do it." A shrug. "It's new, it's different… I've never been inside that industry before." Jade considered thoughtfully. "I like ships." She pushed a bit of sodden brown hair back off Tori's forehead. "Maybe you were right. I'm restless. But you don't have to get involved – you've got a lot on your plate back here."

Tori caught her hand and kissed her fingers. "Where you go, I go." She replied simply.

"Poetic, but you know what I mean." Jade smiled anyway.

"It's development of new business, and implementation of new technologies." Tori answered blithely. "Both are my job. In fact, it's actually my prerogative to assign an engineer to the project, you know."

"That's true, it is." Jade hauled herself to her feet. "How about we negotiate my services over a corn muffin? I'm hungry."

Tori got up and followed as Jade started out back onto the path. She caught up and bumped her partner's shoulder as they strolled along together. "Hm... Can I afford you?" She wondered facetiously. "Maybe I should assign a junior engineer."

"And why would you want anything but the best?" Jade inquired. "I work for Oreos and milk. Can't get much cheaper than that."

"Heh. True." Tori studied the smooth rock surface they were walking on. "Can I tell you a secret?"

Jade headed for the small café. "Sure."

"Sometimes I'm a little restless too." Tori nudged Jade to a plastic covered seat, heading herself towards the counter. "My treat, cookie monster. You stay here."

Jade settled into the chair and looped her damp towel around her neck, content to merely watch Tori as she stepped up to the counter and placed their order. After a moment, she smiled, propping her head up on one fist. "Where I go you go, huh?" She uttered softly. "You know, I like the sound of that."

Tori turned, leaning on the counter as she waited. Her eyes met Jade 's, and she grinned.

Jade grinned back.

Today, she decided, she wouldn't wait to see what fate had in store for them. They wanted a show?

She'd give 'em one.

Tori hopped up onto the platform of their booth, waving a greeting to the techs working busily at the consoles. "Morning, guys."

"Hey, Tori." Sinjin looked up, then got up and walked over. "Listen, I think the marketing geeks screwed up again. I saw her name listed on another one of those presentations."

"I know." Tori nodded. "It's okay. I put her on it. Matter of fact, I'm on one too. Anything going on?"

The sandy haired MIS manager shook his head. "Nope... well, you guys were starring big time on Tech TV, that's all. That's who the cameras were yesterday. I think they're back." He pointed over her shoulder. "They kept looping that whole thing with Big D holding off the masses at the booth entrance."

"Ah." Tori put her hands on her hips and regarded the oncoming news crew. "Well, let's see how much good press we can get today." A wry look crossed her face. "Jesus, I never in my life thought I'd hear myself say that."

Tori started forward, making eye contact with the reporter in the lead. The man grinned, appreciating the attention, and made a beeline for her. "Here we go." She muttered under her breath. "You are the Yankee Republican WASP face of WesTrek, Victoria... now let's let them get a look at the radical gay biTor chick considering a tattoo under all of it."

"Hey!" The reporter hailed her. "Can we get a quick interview with you, Ms. Vega?"

"Absolutely." Brown eyes twinkled. "Long as you don't ask me for my hacTor card. I left it in my gym bag."

The reporter laughed. So did the crew. Out of the corner of her eye, Tori spotted Michelle strolling in her direction, and she perched on the edge of the booth, the WesTrek logo right behind her shoulder giving a great shot to the cameramen.

"Got anything new for us?" The reporter asked first. "WesTrek doesn't usually come across as razor's edge, but I thought we got a different view yesterday. Want to follow up on that?"

Tori smiled, crossing her arms. "Yes, I do." She replied. "Let me tell you what we've got planned… but you better duct tape your socks."

A crowd had gathered to listen in, and she saw Michelle on the edge of it, pretending to study a brochure from a nearby booth. "We've gotten a lot of press lately for what everyone thinks is a negative reason." Tori said. "Let me tell you what the real story is."

Michelle turned and stared, looking her right in the eye.

Tori's smile broadened, and her gaze turned sea ice cold. You want a fight?

You got one.

Jade prowled through the exhibits, aware of and enjoying the attention being directed at her. After the aborted session the previous night, and her grandstanding at their booth there weren't many in the room who didn't know who she was.

She intended on making sure that number was zero before she left. As she peered critically at a new firewall product, however, her cell phone went off. She pulled it out and glanced at it, recognizing the number immediately. "Sheesh. About time."

Walking over to a small alcove, she answered it. "Morning, Alastair."

"Holy crap, Jade !"

Jade smiled. "I love starting the day out having made you say that." She announced cheerfully. "Better than a cup of café con leche."

Her Chairman sighed audibly. "I didn't expect to start my morning by seeing you on MSNBC, as the technology headline."

"Was I?" Jade mused. "Didn't even see them there. I thought AP and UPI were giving us a skip this year because technology is 'out'." She glanced casually around, spotting one of their biggest competitors cornering two WesTrek clients.

"Well, Jade , when you go and announce we hire hacTors, and dare anyone to try and hack our network to prove we only hire the best ones…" Alastair replied, in a dry tone. "It's a sound bite they just can't resist."

"Got us attention."

The WesTrek Chairman sighed again. "The only thing that offset the 'attention' was the way you handled it. The camera is fascinated by you." He cleared his throat. "With good reason. Nice suit, too."

"Uh huh." Jade leaned against the woven weave wall, feeling it's faint prickliness through the cloth of her jacket. "So let me guess. The board is freaking."

"Surprisingly, no." Alastair answered. "Actually, they asked me to give you a call and say how pleased they were."

Jade pulled the phone away from her ear and studied with a deeply quizzical expression. Then she knocked it against the wall, making a sharp rapping sound.

"Jade ?" Her Chairman's voice came to her tinnily. "Jade ? What's going on?"

"Sorry. I think we've got a crossed line." She replied. "I know I didn't just hear that."

Alastair chuckled. "Well, you know, it surprised me too." He admitted. "But John said he'd gotten a lot of flak lately about how stodgy we are… well, most of us, anyway. He thought this was a damn good boot in the short pants for all those pundits who thought we were mummies in three piece suits."

"Eh." Jade grunted. "Glad they liked it, but it wasn't planned. Damn guy just got my goat."

"Whatever the reason." Her Chairman shrugged it off. "Something good'll come of it."

Jade watched Peter Quest enter, and cross over to their booth, where Tori was currently holding court. Michelle was there also, she noted, by her posture not entirely happy. "Tori's giving an interview right now to TechTV." She commented. "So listen, let me go see if she needs backup. We got invited into a little bid for some new cruise ship it business."

"What?"

"Yeah. " Jade craned her neck to watch the crowd. "Could end up being a decent sized contract."

"Jade ! Why didn't you tell me!"

"Because I just decided to do it. Listen, Alastair… let me get back to you. I've got people looking for me here." Jade studied Tori's body language anxiously.

"Jade , damn it, just talk to me for a minute." Her Chairman shot back. "Tori's perfectly capable of doing an interview, isn't she?"

The rough bark drew Jade 's attention from her lover. She collected herself and focused back on the phone. "Yes, she is." She replied. "I don't have that many details, Alastair. I got approached by some guy over at American Cruise Lines, who wants to put new tech in all their ships, especially the ones they're bringing over to the states."

"Fabulous!"

Jade sighed. "Yeah, well, we're up against two other companies, including Telegenics."

There was a small silence on the other end of the phone. "Really?"

"Yeah."

Another silence. "Well, we're gonna have to make sure we win this one!" Alastair stated positively. "No taking chances, Jade . I want you to handle this personally."

Jade examined her cell phone again, this time with a bemused look. She poked a button experimentally, then a second, making a small musical interlude.

"Jade ?"

"Sorry." Jade put the phone back to her ear reluctantly. "I was just checking something. You know, I do have qualified people working for me."

"Jade , this is no time for that. These bastards have been running roughshod all over us. Here's one major chance to stop their momentum.. this is too important to let someone else do it." Her Chairman argued. "I want you to handle it. In fact, take Tori if it'll make you feel better. She's your protégé."

"Alastair?"

"What?"

"Could you arrange for an ice cream machine to be installed in my office?"

"WHAT?"

"Never mind." Jade almost laughed. "I'll take care of it. I've got a vested interest… did you know who the movers and shaTors were in Telegenics? I bumped into them here."

"Ahem." Alastair cleared his throat. "I know they've got deep pockets. Japanese, I believe."

"Michelle Graver, and someone from my past I hate with a passion." Jade informed him. "So yeah, I'll take this one, Alastair. I'll take it and beat them so badly they'll go running back to San Francisco to sell tie dye shirts and tickets to Alcataz."

It was, apparently, her Chairman's turn to be nonplussed. He made a sound something like a cluck, then cleared his throat.

"Now, can I talk to you later? The person I hate with a passion is about to start bugging my wife."

Another cluck.

"Bye, Alastair."

"Uh.. bye, Jade . Talk to you later, huh?"

"Sure." Jade closed the phone and slipped it in her pocket. Then she straightened her jacket and headed for the booth, wrapping her attitude around her like a dark, weighted cloak.

"We know where we hold the market lead." Tori leaned back and crossed her ankles. "Right now, our priority isn't spending time fending off lowball services contract hackers. We're interested in taking another step forward in providing our backbone customers with the best infrastructure in the world."

"That's bold." The Tech TV reporter remarked. "You guys put a really solid network in place, everyone knows that. But where do you go from there? Only so many bells and whistles you can add before it just becomes more frills customers have to pay for."

"Exactly." Michelle piped up, her lip twitching at the lowball comment.

Tori met her gaze evenly. "We don't bother with frills." She turned back to the reporter. "What's the next step? The next step is making the network intelligent. Giving it the sentience to be able to react to changing conditions, and flexible enough to respond to the challenge of new bandwidth requirements dynamically."

The man stared at her, then cocked his head. "You can't do that. The AI doesn't do that."

"Not yet." Tori agreed quietly. "But it will."

"if it's not just empty promises." Shari called out. "Sounds like vaporware to me."

Tori could have reacted, but she chose not to. She merely gave Shari a brief, dismissive look, and then turned back to one of the men in the front. "Eddie, you know what I'm talking about. You're a pilot location."

Thrust suddenly in the spotlight, her client almost melted into a pocket protected puddle. Tori gave him a smile though, and he blinked at the round, staring eye of the camera and managed a nod. "Uh… yeah." He stammered. "It was cool. It was like the pipes knew when the program needed more space, and like… um… " He shrugged. "Gave it to em. Real cool."

"Wait.. I thought you said it didn't exist yet." The reporter eased closer to her. "Didn't you just say that? She just said that, right?" He asked the audience.

"Right." Michelle drawled. "That's what she said."

Tori slipped into a nearby console chair and turned the monitor on the desk around so the audience could see it. "It's not production." She conceded. "But we've prototyped it. Wanna see?"

They were lucky the booth was well built. Tori suddenly found herself surrounded by curious nerds and a cameraman who seemed more interested in checking out her earlobes than seeing what she was doing on the monitor.

She flexed her fingers, and spared a glance at the part of the crowd unable to fit, giving their rivals a brief, very pleasant, wordlessly wicked smile. "Okay, here's how it works." She tapped out a quick command, fishing in her memory for the codes she'd learned from Jade .

Cryptic codes. Jade never made anything obvious or easy, at least on the back end. She permitted the applications people to put snazzy looking front ends on her stuff, but where it counted, it was all grease on the hands and you better know what you're doing time.

Basic and functional, straightforward yet elegant.

Just like Jade . "Let's say you have this allocated bandwidth…"

"So what, it bursts. Big deal." Shari commented.

"Hey, shut up." One of the men in front turned around. "You don't want to hear this? Take a hike." He glanced at Shari's badge. "Take your petty rivalry and ditch it, sister."

Ah, chivalry. "Thanks." Tori put a hand on her unlikely champion's arm.

"Don't thank me yet, lady." The man warned her. "If this is all bs, I'll chew you next."

Bet you won't. Tori just… she felt Jade 's presence and knew, if she turned her head, she'd find her partner nearby. "I'm not worried." She told the man. "Now, where was I? Ah. Yes. Bandwidth. Let's use a T1 for example."

Shari started to push forward, but suddenly found herself held back firmly. She turned in annoyance, only to find herself the focus of two chips of icy fury only slightly tinted with blue. "All right, now.."

"If you know what's good for you." Jade spoke in an absolute flat voice. "You'll take the gentlemen's advice."

"Okay, you two. Break it up." Michelle gently eased between them, giving Jade a determined smile. "Time out. We'll continue the discussion later." She took hold of Shari's arm and despite their size difference, maneuvered the larger woman away from their bristling adversary.

"Like she said, it bursts." The loud man shook his head, oblivious to the drama going on behind him. "What's the big deal?"

"The big deal is how it bursts." Tori released a breath, watching Michelle and Shari leave from her peripheral vision. "It analyzes the traffic flow, and makes decisions on how to route, what to route, and what to prioritize based on the application layer."

"What?" The man snorted. "At a network level? That's impossible to deploy large scale. Sure you can do it for one router…"

"It's not impossible." Tori shook her head. "Jade 's working with the hardware manufacturers to burn the essential code into firmware."

"No way." The man shook his head.

"Guess you'll just have to wait and see." Tori smiled. "But don't wait too long. Your competitors won't."

"Oooh. Nice sound bite." The reporter complimented her. "But.. does this really work?"

"It really works." Jade judged that her body had stopped shaking enough for her to move up onto the platform and join Tori. Her knees were still quivering a little as the adrenaline slowly drained from her bloodstream, and as she came up in back of her partner, she felt a sudden warmth as Tori's hand patted her calf. "Not bad for an old hacker, huh?"

A chuckle went around the crowd. "Can we ask you a few questions about it?" The aggressive man countered, with a visibly higher degree of respect.

"Maybe." Jade let her hands drop on Tori's shoulder. "But if I answer, I might have to kill ya."

Another chuckle.

So far, Jade decided, so good. West and Vega several, Michelle and Shari, none.

Let's just make sure it stays that way.