We're getting to fun pars.

Fifty

Tori stood inside the small office, surrounded by busy people. She had taken a cup of cold water, and she was slowly sipping it as she listened to the many conversational threads around her.

But her mind wasn't really on the business in the room. She rolled the cold, almost tasteless water around in her mouth and swallowed it, feeling the chill slide down her throat and into her stomach.

"Tori?" Elaine walked over, holding some papers. "Can you just look at this? I think it's all right, but.."

Tori took the pages and held them in front of her, eyes scanning the typed print without comprehension for at least a minute. Then she sighed and handed them back. "Hold on to this, would you? I need to go take care of something, and I'll check it when I get back."

"Uh.. sure." Elaine watched her leave, a puzzled look on her face.

Tori exited the building on the side near the ship, showing her identification badge to the guard who waved her past wearily without really looking. Given the number of people there must have been traipsing in and out, she could hardly really blame him, but the lack of security bothered her anyway.

Ah well. She'd take care of that when she got back. Orienting herself, Tori headed down the pier, walking past the tall cranes, the small groups of arguing men and the everpresent forklifts zipping everywhere.

It seemed like the pier went on forever, giving her far too much time to think about what she was doing. Doubts pecked at her like hungry pigeons, but she kept herself moving across the pavement resisting the urge to stop and go back and…

What was Jade going to say if she asked her? Would she say not to look a gift horse in the mouth? After all, they hadn't arranged for Michelle and Shari's gear to be delivered to their dock, now had they? For sure, for absolute sure, if the positions had been reversed, Tori knew the most she'd ever see of her stuff was a box floating past heading out to sea.

But she wasn't Michelle, and she wasn't Shari. Tori crossed the line between the two piers. She wasn't Jade. What had she just been saying? What comes around goes around?

Well. She squared her shoulders and edged between two tall stacks of steel, walking into the floodlights around the other ship and spotting two familiar figures standing near the gangway.

Two cameramen bracketed them, and it was obvious that Shari was busy holding court for them. She was making grand gestures, and as Tori came closer, her words started to become comprehensible.

Well, she could hear them anyway.

"So, gentlemen, you see the obstacles we must surmount." Shari said. "We've faced sabotage, dirty business tactics, and espionage. Didn't think you'd be in for that in a simple story about cruise ships, now did you?"

Tori slowed as she approached, coming up behind the cameramen.

"But we'll prevail." Shari spoke confidently. "No matter what WesTrek throws in our path, we'll get over it. Their dirty dealing will bury them, mark my words."

Tori paused, half in and half out of the shadows.

"We're the ones putting in the time, we're the ones here making sure the job gets done." Shari pointed towards the other ship. "Not them. You won't catch them here, getting their hands dirty, that's for sure. Go on, go ask! See where they are right now!"

"No need." Tori stepped forward into the light, laying her hands on the gangway railing. The cameras swiveled to focus on her, and she let the silence extend a moment before she spoke again.

She'd caught them all by surprise, no doubt. Even Shari seemed to be tongue tied for the time being. She let her eyes wander over all of them, hesitating again, even now.

"Come to ask for help, or forgiveness?" Shari found her tongue, and a smirk.

Tori was very aware of the round, blank eyes turned on her. A faint smile appeared on her face, and she exhaled, surrendering to her own nature with only the faintest of sighs. "Neither." She said quietly. "Some of your equipment was delivered over by us by mistake. If you send a forklift, I'll have it loaded."

Caught flatfooted, Shari could only stare at her. Michelle, however, circled the gangway and approached Tori. "My mistake?" She questioned suspiciously.

"Apparently." Tori agreed. "The four orders you placed for network gear to try and dry up the channel arrived with ours. Good luck trying to return it." And with that, she turned and simply walked off, not looking behind her to see if anyone was following.

"Where did she go?" Jade asked, resisting the urge to pace around the inside of the building.

"That way, ma'am." The guard pointed down the pier. "Just a few minutes ago, in fact. "

Jade went to the door and peered out, shading her eyes from the glaring spotlights. She could see several figures moving between the two ships, but none of them resolved into her partner's familiar form. Why would Tori go there?

What was she up to?

"Hey, Jade?" Sinjin walked over, wiping his brow. "I think we got everything unpacked… you think we can hijack a piece of the line in here so I can download configs?"

Jade blinked, spotting Tori's distinctive outline appear from between two stacks, heading back towards the terminal with a determined stride. Her body language was a mixture of anger and ferocity, her head held high, but hands balled into fists at her side.

"Jade?"

Jade pushed the door open and limped back outside, heading across the concrete on a path calculated to intercept her partner. She watched Tori's eyes suddenly track to her, and the alternation in her body's posture that now added a touch of apprehension to her attitude.

"Hey." Jade slowed to a halt as they met. "Where'd you go?"

Tori looked up at her. "To do something you're probably going to think I'm an idiot for."

Jade felt her heart speed up a bit. "Last time you said that, you got a tattoo and it wasn't so bad." She ventured. "You want to go inside and talk about it?" She hesitantly put a hand on Tori's shoulder. "I didn't know where you went.. I just came back and you were gone. The guard said…"

Tori stared past her for a second. "Did Sinjin show you the boxes?"

Jade fell silent for a second. "Uh.. "

"Okay. C'mon."

They walked inside the building, and Jade silently allowed Tori to lead her into the back section of the terminal, in the shadows, where she could now see several pallets of boxes under tarps. "What…"

Tori walked over and lifted the tarp, pointing at the label. She waited for Jade to lean close to read it, aware of not a few set of eyes watching them.

Jade straightened up, and put her hand on the boxes. "Well. Son of a bitch."

"Mm."

"So.. " Jade looked around, then back at Tori. "You went to tell them it was here, right?"

Tori's shoulders relaxed suddenly, and she leaned against the stack. "Yeah."

Puzzled, Jade shifted her hand from the box to Tori's shoulder, giving her a comforting little pat. "So, what's the problem, sweetheart?"

Tori scrubbed her face with one hand. "Your father said… I mean, it's a big competitive advantage, you know, Jade? I mean, we keep this, and they're dead in the water."

"Tori!"

They both turned around and looked, to find several people including one with a still camera in the front doorway. Sinjin was nearby, waving at them with a dour expression.

"Tor, we keep this, and it's grand theft." Jade captured Tori's attention, gently turning her head so their eyes met again. "I may be one to take any advantage, but I draw the line in some places, y'know? That includes putting either of us or the company in danger of criminal action."

Tori looked at her for a long moment, then abruptly sagged against Jade, laying her head to rest on her partner's shoulder. Then she straightened and touched Jade's side with one hand. "I need to go sit down. Can you go see what that's all about?"

"Sure." Jade murmured. "There's a chair over there. Let me get rid of whatever this is, and I'll be right back, okay?"

Tori gave her a brief, but genuine smile, and then she turned and walked over to where a chair was half hidden behind the boxes. She sat down in it and rested her elbows on her knees, gazing at the dirty carpet with pensive eyes.

Jade paused indecisively, considering ignoring the crowd at the door.

Tori apparently sensed that, because she looked up, and managed a wry grin, raising one hand and flicking her fingers at Jade in the direction of the door.

Reassured, Jade turned and started a somewhat dignified marching limp towards the entrance, gathering an annoyed attitude around her until by the time she got there, people were taking tiny steps backwards and gaining looks of alarm.

"Something I can do for you folks?" Jade asked, stopping in front of them and adopting as aggressive a posture as she was currently capable of.

"Hi." The woman nearest her took the lead. "My name is Elecia Rodriguez, and I'm a reporter for the San Francisco Chronicle."

"Good for you." Jade gave her no quarter.

"I'd like to speak with Tori Vega, please." The woman apparently had faced down unwilling participants before, and her tone didn't alter a whit.

"She's busy."

"She's sitting over there, not looking busy at all. Can I speak with her please?" The reporter replied calmly. "It's really in her best interests."

"No." Jade answered back, just as calmly. "It's in her best interests to just be left alone right now."

The reporter locked eyes with Jade. They stared each other down for a few minutes. The woman was about Jade's height, and roughly her size, and Jade wondered for a minute if she was going to make a rush past her towards her quarry.

Several WesTrek security guards edged up around them, apparently having the same thoughts. Jade relaxed a bit, reassured that the reporter would surely not be stupid enough to risk that major of a scene no matter how juicy the story she was following was.

"Ms. West, you really do want your side of the story presented here." Rodriguez finally said. "I appreciate that there's a lot going on, and you've got no reason to either want or trust the press at this point but we're not part of Mr. Quest's circus. We're local, and you're the local team. Get my drift?"

Jade paused, hearing a thread of sincerity in the statement. The woman was also being neither overbearing, nor craven, instead she was just being very straightforward and suddenly Jade remembered where she knew the reporter's name from. "That was a nice story you did on the behind the scenes of the sports industry down here." She said. "I liked it."

Caught a little offguard, the woman produced a slight smile, and her body posture altered a bit. "Thanks. You have no idea how much my company hated me for it though. We lost comp tickets to almost every game in town."

Hm. "All right." Jade paused to think. "If you can rest your laurels a few minutes, I'll see if Tori's willing to chat with you." She pointed towards the catering table. "Help yourselves."

The reporter didn't really react, but the three men she had with her, including the camera man, lit up like Christmas trees at the sight of free food. Rodriguez regarded them with a tolerant look, then nodded at Jade. "Fair enough, and at least it's air conditioned in here. Take your time while I feed my starving wolves."

Jade gave them all a last, brief regard, then she turned and retreated back towards the shadows.

"Nice.' The cameraman complimented his collegue. "Didn't think we were going to get anything there for a minute."

"Me either." Rodriguez sighed, as she lead the way past the watchful guards. "But I've done this long enough to know when you're dealing with someone that smart, just drop all the bullshit and let them make the choice."

"Way different than those other guys." The man agreed.

"Way different." Rodriguez agreed. "This is going to be a good one."

Jade crouched next to Tori's chair, positioning her body so she was blocking the view of anyone watching them. She put a hand on Tori's knee and squeezed it gently. "Hey."

"Hey." Tori responded readily.

"You doing okay?"

"My brain hurts."

Jade chuckled wanly. "My foot hurts. We're even."

Tori reached up to ruffle her partner's hair. "So."

"So."

"You let the vandals in at the gates, I see."

Jade nodded. "It's a reporter from the Chronicle." She confirmed. "She wants to talk to you."

"Ah." Tori sniffed reflectively. "Interview with a rebel biker chick on tap, I guess?"

Was it? Jade suddenly gave in to the discomfort of leaning on her injured foot and sat down instead, pulling her legs up crosswise under her. "I'm not sure." She countered. "Sounded like it was a tie in with this whole deal, but I've seen some of the stuff this one's written and it's pretty even handed."

"Hm."

"Yeah, I thought the other reporter was all right too, I know." Jade admitted. "But I've actually read her articles. She does business angles, and she managed to take the liberal view on things and hasn't been ridden out on rails yet."

"Ah. Jade, this is California." Tori leaned on her elbows again, her head resting against Jade's, not caring who was looking or not. "I feel really unbalanced right now. I'm not sure talking to a reporter is a good idea."

"Okay." Jade accepted that readily. "I just told her I would ask you." She wrapped her hand around Tori's leg, stroking her calf gently. She could feel tension there, a rapid flexing and releasing that paid testament to her partner's rattled state. "Want something to drink?"

Tori twirled a bit of Jade's hair around one finger, remaining silent. She tuned out the rest of the room, and just concentrated on the touch of Jade's hand around her leg, and the scent of hickory smoke that lightly clung to her from where they'd had dinner.

It was hard for her to say, really, why she was so shook up. After all, she'd acted on her conscience, and she'd turned out to be dead on right, even in Jade's eyes. So, what was her problem? "Jade?"

"Hm?" Jade seemed quite willing to sit there as long as she was required, completely ignoring the room at her back.

""Why am I so freaked out?"

"I don't know, Tor." Jade replied honestly. "You did the right thing."

"I know I did." The brunette whispered.

Jade leaned her chin against Tori's knee. "Were you freaked out by my father wanting to ditch the stuff?"

Tori was thoughtfully silent.

"He's not much into playing by the rules." Jade said, after a slight hesitation. "I mean – I guess I mean he's willing to go to any length for what he thinks is the greater good."

"Yeah." Tori nodded. "Maybe that's it." She admitted. "I knew he wanted to do that for us. But it was just…it was…"

"Wrong." Jade supplied.

"Yeah."

The dark haired woman shrugged a little. "Shari and Michelle would have agreed with him in a heartbeat."

Tori lifted her head and gazed into Jade's eyes, visibly more collected. "Oh, I know." She said. "Hey, listen." She hesitated.

"Want me to arrange to give them this stuff while you go talk to the reporter?" Jade suggested.

"You're reading my mind again." Tori lifted her hand and rubbed a smudge of dust from the bridge of Jade's nose. "Do you know half the room is watching us?"

"And?"

"I don't care either." Tori relaxed at last, leaning back in the chair and extending her legs out past Jade's knee. "Okay. I'll go wrangle with the Herald, and you can smirk and make Michelle feel like an idiot while you turn over these boxes. Here she comes."

Jade patted her leg, and got to her feet, catching her balance against the boxes and straightening up as she spotted Michelle's short figure headed in her direction. "Didn't bring her entourage."

Tori also got up and headed off, giving Jade a gentle slap on the butt as she went by. "Of course not. No fun in being filmed eating crow."

No, of course not. Jade squared her shoulders and waited as Michelle approached, wrestling a deadpan look on her face. "Evening."

Michelle stopped, glancing past her at Tori's retreating back. "She drops the bombshell, you get to bask in the stink?"

Jade leaned against the boxes. "The only stink around here is coming from you." She replied bluntly. "Where's your box mover? Or are you planning on dragging them back yourself?"

"Don't hold back, Jade. Tell me how you really feel." Michelle countered. "Don't for a minute think I don't know the timing on that little reveal was exquisitely planned."

Jade merely rolled her eyes, and stepped back, pulling the tarp off the first set of boxes. "You're wasting my time. Here."

Michelle stepped forward and examined the shipping label. She pulled a set of papers out from under her arm and carefully cross checked them, ignoring Jade's lounging presence. Finally, she turned her head and looked up. "Trust me when I tell you there'll be an inquiry on how this shipment ended up in your hands. You better hope your lawyers are up to it."

"Sure." Jade smiled at her. "They'll be glad to stand up and explain why three false and one true order of yours got dropped off by a trucker here who didn't want to take it down to you because he got called an asshole one too many times. No problem."

Michelle turned around fully. "You know something?"

"Pretty much everything, thanks."

"You're a real asshole."

Jade watched Michelle retreat back towards the door, her entire body seeming to shoot off disgusted anger. "Takes one to know one." She called after the shorter woman. "Better hurry up and get this out of here before I charge you rent!"

At the door, Michelle turned and glared murderously at her.

Jade released a wicked laugh. "You want me to be an asshole? You don't know what you're asking for. Now get those men in here or I'll have the stevedores pack it up and send it back."

Michelle exited and slammed the door behind her. Unfortunately, it was held open by an air compressed automatic closer, and it ended up bouncing back open and smacking her in the rear. She lunged forward, going headlong into two men with a hand cart who had been approaching outside.

The men leaped back, startled, and made a grab for her, but missed and Michelle fell to her knees between them. They helped her up hurriedly, backing off as soon as she was on her feet and dusting their hands off.

Jade chuckled happily, then sighed. "Damn, where's a camera when you need one?"

Tori took a moment to compose herself before she entered the lighted area around the food table, and approached the reporters. She ran her fingers through her hair and settled it a bit, and then she walked over to the small group and made eye contact with the woman reporter. "Hi."

The woman got caught in mid swallow. Her eyes widened a little, then she finished her mouthful and set her cup down. "Hi." She extended her hand. "Elecia Rodriguez."

"Tori Vega." Tori grasped her hand and shook it. "You wanted to speak to me?" Her tone was soft, and slightly husky and she resisted the urge to clear her throat.

"Ah, yes, I did. Thanks." The reporter collected herself. "Is there someplace we can sit down? Not that I mind the ambiance out here, it sure beats standing outside, but.."

"There some chairs over there." Tori pointed to an unused corner of the terminal, then paused as she heard Jade's voice raise up and send echos to the rafters. Conversation abruptly cut off in the room.

The reporters turned and stared, then Elecia looked back at Tori. "You sure have one heck of a situation here, don't you?" They all stood listening, but the yell wasn't repeated, and voices started up again around them.

Tori led them over to the seats and took one, sitting down and crossing her ankles demurely as she tucked her feet under her chair. It was a ridiculous bit of modesty given that she was in faded jeans and scuffed sneakers, but old habits really did die hard sometimes after all. "What can I do for you, Ms. Rodriguez?"

The reporter sat down and composed herself, removing a pad from her back pocket and a pen from behind her ear. "Okay." She eyed Tori thoughtfully. "Where do I start with you, Ms. Vega?"

One of Tori's dark brows rose. "Excuse me?"

The reporter studied her pad. "There are about ten thousand questions I'd like to ask you, starting with what was it like growing up in Holly Vega's house, to what is it like getting a tattoo, but I guess I'd have to settle with starting somewhere, and where I'll start is, what exactly are you trying to accomplish with this business here?"

Of all the questions she could have been faced with, at least this one was relatively easy to answer. "We're trying to install and configure a computer network for this ship outside of here, to demonstrate our ability to provide those services across Mr. Quest's fleet and give him the most competitive bid so he'll choose us to do that."

Rodriguez nodded. "Okay." She scribbled a note. "So let me ask you this. Do you do this sort of thing a lot?"

Puzzled, Tori frowned a little. "Sure." She said. "It's what we do. It's what I do, for WesTrek. Integrate and assist in acquiring new business, among other things."

The reporter scribbled another note. "Fair enough." She said. "So, Ms. Vega, is this process always like a three ring circus? You must have a very entertaining job."

Tori sighed. "No, it's not." She said. "Most of the time it's a pretty dry, refined process. Someone contacts me, or our sales department gets a lead, and we do an analysis, then present possible solutions and a price tag. There's some bargaining, then either we get a contract, or we don't."

"Uh huh." The woman mused. "That's pretty much what I thought." She said. "So, tell me about this feud, between yourselves, and the folks at Telegenics. Where did that come from? I understand business rivalries, but this seems to go beyond that. True?"

"Well…"

"Here." The reporter removed a folder, and opened it. "I've had my ear chewed off by the people on the other side of that pier all afternoon. They're wanting to bury you in the worst way." She showed Tori not one, but three pictures.

One was the biker chick, which she expected. The other two were of her and Jade, one at a restaurant down by the beach, the other… in the pool at Disney, kissing

Tori inspected the photos. "And?" She gave the reporter an inquiring look. "You want me to rate them, or pick the one for you to use in your story?" She asked. "What exactly does any of this have to do with the business we're doing here?"

"Now, that's exactly what I wanted to know, Ms. Vega. " The reporter said. "It doesn't have anything to do with anything here, and that's why I wanted to talk to you. See, your company has been a part of our community for a long time now, and it's done it's share of good works, some crappy works too, but it's done it's part in employing a lot of folks in these parts."

"That's true." Tori agreed quietly. "We try to be good corporate citizens."

"So, then what's behind it all?" Rodriguez asked, shifting a little closer. "You're not unknown to us, Ms. Vega. My paper's been aware of who you are since you came into WesTrek."

Tori merely watched her face, aware at the periphery of her senses that Jade was nearby, and also watching.

"We've chosen, or should I say, my managers have chosen not to focus on you, because your company is pretty darn low key. You just do what you do, and pay your taxes, and frankly, bring the city a lot more than you take from it." The woman flipped a page. "So, in sum, when some outside folks start gunning for one of our own, we take exception to it, and we want to know why."

"Why." Tori mused. "You sure you really want to know why?"

Rodriguez's face suddenly shifted into a faint, mischevious grin. "No. I bet I don't." She said. "But we got sent this picture, of you on the bike." She held up the picture. "Now that struck everyone as something that was very, very interesting, because not many vice presidents of international corporations get their picture taken like that."

"I bet."

"Are you a hell raiser, Ms. Vega?"

Now it was Tori's turn to grin, and she did, a smile of genuine amusement that lit up her eyes. "Sometimes."

"Tell me a story, then. What's going on here?" The reporter said, poising her pen over the page. "Tell me Goliath's side of the story."

Tori was aware of Jade's watchful eyes, and she knew if she turned her head to the left, she'd see her partner in the shadows standing by, there if she needed her. "Okay." She agreed. "I'm a little short for Goliath, but I'll do the best I can."

"I'm sure you've got help if you need it." The reporter didn't look at Jade. "I'm not looking to get my butt kicked. Will that happen?"

Tori smiled. "Depends."

"Thought you'd say that." Rodriguez chuckled. "I'll take my chances."

They ended up in the small office, since everyone had migrated outside to have some dinner and relax. Tori was seated in one of the comfortably innocuous office chairs they'd supplied, leaned all the way back with one sneaker resting on her opposite knee.

The reporter had taken a seat across from her, using one of the desks to lean on in her writing, and they both had cups of coffee courtesy of Jade, who had briefly disappeared after deciding Tori wasn't in any imminent danger.

"All right, Ms. Vega."

"Tori." Tori interrupted. "I hate being called Ms. Vega."

The reporter scribbled a note. "Okay, Tori." She continued agreeably. "So, you were approached in Orlando by Mr. Quest, right?"

"Actually, Jade was stalked by Mr. Quest." Tori clarified. "He hunted her down in the lobby of the hotel and approached her with the idea."

"Stalked is a pretty strong term."

"Well." Tori took a sip of her coffee. "What would you call it if someone had pictures made of you and then went searching through a hotel to find you?"

"Hm."

"At any rate, he pitched his idea to Jade, and she turned him down."

"Why?" Rodriguez asked.

Good question, Tori reflected. "I think, because she was wary of how he approached her. It seemed to be something that was outside the normal way businesses approach each other." She explained. "It almost seemed underhanded."

"Hm." The reporter tapped her pen against her jaw. "So what made her reconsider?"

Another very good question, and one Tori was fairly sure she couldn't answer honestly. "She thought about it, and we talked, and it seemed like it might be a good opportunity to at least get a foothold into an industry we weren't a part of."

Rodriguez nodded, and scribbled a note. "That makes sense." She said. "So it had nothing to do with the fact that Telegenics was also one of the bidders?"

Truth? Tori acted on impulse. "Sure it had something to do with it." She answered back. "We wanted an opportunity to go head to head with them, after some of the claims they'd been making, and also, after they approached our staff at the trade show to try and offer them jobs."

"Uh huh." The woman grunted. "Telegenics claims that never happened."

Tori chuckled. "Sure it did." She replied. "The problem is, they forgot to brief their technical manager and he had no idea who he was recruiting." She went on. "When we got to the trade show late the night of the setup day, we found out there was no setup crew on duty. So Jade and I helped our staff to set up our booth, and we were two of the potential recruits."

The reporter looked at her, a half grin on her face. "You're kidding."

Solemnly, Tori shook her head. "They were telling us how we should join their company instead of working for a faceless corporation where their bosses were sitting somewhere sipping caviar and lounging in limos. My guys thought it was pretty darn funny."

"I bet they did." Rodriguez got up and walked around the small office, stretching her arms over her head. "Did that really tick you off?"

"Getting recruited? We laughed." Tori replied. "But to us, it was one more indication of the fact that Telegenics was coming after us in a very personal way, and neither of us really caught on to why until we left that night and saw Michelle and Shari coming into the building."

The reporter turned. "You didn't know before then they were part of it?" She sounded incredulous.

"No, we didn't." Tori answered honestly. "Ms. Rodriguez.."

"Elecia."

Tori smiled. "Elecia, we have a lot of competitors. We do business analysis on them, sure, but we don't go hunting for people who might be holding a grudge in their offices." She glanced past the woman towards the door, where Jade's head was now peering around the corner. "Hey." She bit her tongue on the 'sweetie'.

"John needs to meet with you." Jade said. "Sorry to interrupt."

"Any way I can chat with you for a few minutes while that's going on, Ms. West?" The reporter interrupted smoothly. "I think we're at a logical holding point here."

Tori got up, relinquishing her chair to her partner with a flourish. "Be my guest. Let me go see what John's… well, I won't say problem because I know what his problem is, but what he wants." She eased past Jade's body, stuck in the doorway, and gave her a pat on the side as she squeezed by.

Jade hesitated briefly, then she limped into the room and took Tori's chair, rubbing her thumbs on the arms still warm with her body heat. "Well?"

Elecia sat back down at the desk and studied her for a moment. "Thanks for taking the time to talk, Ms. West."

Jade nodded briefly at her and waited.

"Anyone ever tell you that you two are real opposites?"

A brow quirked. "It's been mentioned once or twice." Jade allowed.

"Okay." The reporter gathered her notes. "Tori was just telling me that after first declining to participate in Mr. Quest's bid, you changed your mind."

"Right."

The reporter waited, but nothing more was apparently forthcoming. "You have a history with the two gals from Telegenics, don't you?"

Jade half shrugged. "Yes." She agreed. "Michelle was the IT director of a company I worked a contract negotiation for a year or so back, and I've known Shari for many years."

'That sounds so civilized." Rodriguez said. "And yet, from what those gals say, this bid had been anything but. What's your take on that?"

Jade steepled her fingers and rested the edges of them against her lips. She was very aware that this article would end up being a high profile one in the Chronicle. Granted, the San Francisco Chronicle was not the Washington Post, nor was it the New York Times, but in it's own way it was a respected dispenser of local news and she knew whatever the article ended up being, it would be seen by the board of directors who paid their salaries.

So. How to present utter chaos? "It's been a difficult bid so far." Jade answered slowly. "There were a number of things that contributed to that, most of which did not involve any of us or our respective past histories. For instance." She ticked off a finger. "The movement of the project unexpected from New Zealand to San Francisco, and the speeding up of the timeline. That put a focus on us that would not have existed there."

"Because you're local."

"Exactly." Jade agreed. "Second, the putting of the project into the spotlight by the involvement of the Travel Channel and their filming crew. That added a lot of the circus."

"True."

"Third, the confusion over the intervention of the EPA, which further truncated the timeline, and turned the bid into something of a frantic horse race."

"Also true." The reporter nodded. "But that's not what I meant, and I think you know that."

Ah. "Is this article having to do with business or gossip?" Jade countered, looking directly at her. "To be honest, sure. We've all been behaving like contestants for a trip to Jerry Springer, but the bottom line is, we need to get this job done and whoever does it right wins the prize."

The reporter's eyes glinted a trifle. "So, you're not saying the controversy between the four of you is the real story? It's their opinion that the discord is what is preventing both of you from being able to effectively compete."

Jade remained silent for a moment, then she shook her head. "Far as I'm concerned, we're effectively competing. If they let this distract them to the point they aren't, that's not my problem."

Rodriguez scribbled a few notes, and then she looked up again. "Tell me about your father working on the docks. Deliberate?"

Jade allowed a few seconds to pass before she answered. "Sure." She said. "I asked him to get a job down here to keep an eye on things."

"Ah. Did he?"

"He did. He's the one who discovered that Telegenics had placed four copies of their networking gear order, to keep anyone else from getting equipment on time unless they wanted to pay through the nose."

The reporter's eyebrows rose. "Did they?"

"Mm." Jade nodded. "Fortunately for us, we had more clout than most, and we forced an order through."

"For that matter, according to them, you all bought up all the circuits to force them to do the same." Rodriguez countered. "Sounds like a tit for tat."

"Except we didn't." Jade half smiled. "Tori was just hedging her bets, since they wouldn't assign a pier to any of the ships."

"So you say."

"So it is."

The reporter scribbled some more notes. "Did your father sabotage them?"

Jade chuckled. "My father's a retired underwater demo man. He's not subtle. If he'd really sabotaged them the damn boat'd be on the bottom of Government Cut." She scoffed. "If anything, he probably did them good by organizing that chaos."

"Mm." Rodriguez nodded. "The pier supervisor said the same thing. He doesn't have a high opinion of Telegenics, matter of fact." She swiveled to face Jade. "So, I'd have to say most of the points on this are on your side, Ms. West."

Jade held both hands out in a plaintive gesture.

Tori re-entered the office and ambled over to Jade's side, sitting down on the desktop and exhaling heavily. "He's finished pulling cable, Jade."

"That's bad?" Her partner queried.

"They closed the walls up after they pulled all the wires, and he's not sure if anything got clipped or nicked. He suspects some of it might have been, so we need to test before he can go any further."

"Ah." Jade nodded. "Sinjin's got some network guys here. Send em in."

"I did." Tori acknowledged. "But here's the issue – the electricians need to turn the power off, and it'll be off all night and part of tomorrow. We're dead in the water while that's going on."

"Shit." Jade rubbed her temple. "Can we install the switches?"

"In the dark?"

"We have flashlights."

Tori leaned closer to her. "Jade, that's a construction zone, there's no air conditioning, and they're going to be using welding torches in the same spaces we're putting switches into. Do you want to risk it?"

The reporter was sitting in silence, watching them in fascination.

Jade considered. "Yes, I want to risk it." She replied. "If we have the switches in place, already configured, and the lines are tested then when the power goes back on we can bring up the core. Otherwise, we're two days behind and if something's screwed, we've got no time to fix it."

Tori took her turn at consideration. "Okay, but we need to find out where the electrical crews are, and put our people in after they're finished in each closet."

"Good plan." Jade agreed.

"Right." Tori got up and left, scrubbing her hair with the fingers of one hand as she disappeared.

Jade returned her attention to the reporter. "Where were we?"

"My question to you now is – why are you here?" Rodriguez asked. "Why aren't you in an ivory tower somewhere, eating quiche and wearing a silk suit? CIO's and vice presidents are not supposed to do the work they pay other people to do."

Jade was momentarily silent, having no real answer ready to hand. In general terms, the reporter was right, and she knew it. "I have good people, and they do a good job."

"But?"

A shrug.

"Or does it really all come down to a very personal conflict after all?"

And of course, the reporter was damn right about that too. "It's just how we do things." Jade demurred. "Stick around, and I'll prove it."

Elecia smiled, biting the end of her pen.

"Okay, we got the pipe up." Sinjin had his head bent over his laptop, fingers pecking away industriously. "Let me bring these puppies online."

Jade was leaning against one wall, watching the activity. "We're going to need to put full security on this room tonight." She remarked. "I wouldn't put it past our friends down the pier to try and break in her to make some trouble."

"Psht." Sinjin made a disparaging noise. "Hey boss…" He half turned and looked at Jade. "Did you do a special config for this, or should I just use the standard?"

"Standard." Jade answered briefly. "We can customize it when it's on the ship." She looked around for Tori, but the brunette was no where to be seen, and the reporter had disappeared as well. "How much more do we have to do?"

Sinjin turned all the way around to face her. "Jade, like, seriously, you don't have to hang out here. We're fine." He said. "We've just got the setup to finish, and some cleaning."

Jade had the grace to look slightly abashed. "I know." She admitted. "I just felt a little bad about wrangling everyone over here last minute."

The MIS manager relaxed. "No prob." He said. "To tell you the truth, all the guy's have been pretty curious about what's going on over here, and they think the ship's way cool."

"It's a wreck."

"Yeah, but it's something new and different, y'know?"

Jade did, indeed, know. "Yeah." She removed her phone from her pocket and flipped it open, tapping out a message as Sinjin went back to work.

Hey. Where are you?

The machine remained silent. Jade scowled. Then she gave up and limped back to the office, feeling more than just a touch useless out in the busy hall. She took a seat at the desk and slapped the keyboard of one of the office computers, logging in with her login and drumming her fingers while she waited for the system to authenticate her.

It presented her with her standard desktop and she opened up a programming session, starting up her network monitor as she waited for the first program to finish booting. Once she'd gotten things set up to her satisfaction, she put the keyboard on her lap and leaned back in the office chair, getting comfortable as she moved the windows around a little to better see them.

For a moment, she let her eyes linger over the network monitor, studying the readouts intently. Everything appeared relatively normal, the one alert showing indicating to her that eight new devices had been added to the network in the last hour.

"Knew that, thanks." Jade dismissed the alert. She logged into the routers and studied her program's results, calling up the program itself on the second screen and preparing to work on it.

What did she want it to do next? Jade hesitated, her fingertips resting on the keys. Something Tori had said to her before she'd started on the project came to mind, and she thought about how she'd have the program extend itself outside their network and chase down hackers.

That brought her breakfast to mind, and Jade set aside the program briefly as she went to a third screen and checked for activity at their gateway. All was quiet, apparently her hacker friend had either given up or just gotten bored and found something else to occupy his or her time.

His or her. Jade suspected it was his, since most hackers she'd ever known had been guys. She'd never been really sure if it was just a social thing, or a hormonal one, and she never really thought too hard about what that had said about her.

With a sigh, she typed a few lines into her program, then stopped and closed it. She switched to the network monitors instead, and started browsing them, drilling down a few levels to examine the traffic flows in and out of their core network.

Given the hour, it looked pretty normal. Jade clicked and pointed, shifting the monitor from their outer boundary to the inner workings of the main office, drilling down to a department level. "Let's see. Rob must be working his guys overtime tonight."

She clicked on a message icon, and typed in a note.

Hey, and you call me a slave driver.

Jade chuckled slightly and went back to her browsing, checking the density of the traffic going to and from the accounting mini-computers and the saturation of the pipe into Houston where the reporting all flowed. It seemed busy, and she racked her brains trying to think if there was a deadline she'd forgotten about.

Budgets? No, not for another month, and the quarter didn't close for nearly two.

Her screen blinked, and she looked at it, seeing the message that had come back from Rob.

I? Here I sit alone in my office with just a dust bunny under my desk. Where are you? I was by your office this evening but you were not there.

Jade blinked at the message. Then she removed her cell from it's clip at her belt and opened it, dialing Rob phone number rapidly. Her thighs jerked under the keyboard as she waited for him to answer, sending it bouncing slightly as her nerves jangled a howling warning. "Rob?"

"Ah, Jade." Rob sounded completely calm. "How are you?"

"Just listen to me." Jade said . "I'm in the network, and I see a ton of traffic on your servers. Are you running something?"

Dead silence. Then – "I am not."

"Can you check your running jobs?"

A rattle of keys sounded clearly through the phone. Jade waited, knowing if she had to she could have logged into a session herself and checked them but also knowing Rob would know most intimately what belonged in the system and what did not.

"Jaejae, we have a problem."

Jade licked her lips. "Okay." She responded. "What do you want me to do? I can isolate that box, Rob."

"Please do so."

Jade's hands moved in a blur, cutting off the multiple network accesses to the minis. It also cut off her access, of course, but in her mind, that wasn't important. "Okay, done."

"I am going to the computer room now. I will call you from there." Rob voice was quiet, and very very serious. "Please do not as of yet contact anyone."

"Okay." Jade agreed softly. She closed the cell, and left it folded on her leg, while she opened up the monitor screen to it's fullest size and stared at it, focusing on small surges here, and there, flickers of pale green against the normal green, completely ordinary to any eyes including hers.

A flashing alert caught her eye, and she clicked over to her router program, blinking at the screen as she red the cryptic results emerging from her own coding. Another warning about being accessed, and Jade almost clicked it closed, before she caught a second line behind it, a routine access listing for a remote router, that bore an IP not her own.

She dove after it, going to the router in question and scoping it out immediately, finding the session and capturing the address before it could disappear. Then she deleted the session and locked the router down, allowing only her own login to access it.

Breathing a little faster, she ducked out of that router and into the core, searching for the offending ip. Her heart started to speed up as she located it, racing to trace it before it disappeared. She grabbed the mac address and pasted it into a note pad, then searched it out.

"Ah." She captured the port and pasted that also, then redid the trace. As she'd expected, the address was now gone, but she had the port.

If she had the port, she knew what was on the other end of it. Grimly, Jade opened up her network documentation and repasted the port number into the search field, then hit enter.

Her cell phone rang. She answered it one handed, while she stared at the screen. "Yes?"

"This is Robbie."

Jade inhaled, making her nostrils flare in reaction. "Yes."

"Some person has been attempting to remove the records in this system that pertain to our customer accounting." Rob stated flatly. "The login who has run these reports belongs to my department, from the senior auditing unit."

Jade waited, but the line was silent. "And you did not ask them to do this?"

"I did not." Rob confirmed. "I am contacting security, and I would appreciate that you send to me what data you saw that spurred you to contact me."

"I will." Jade replied quietly. "I may have another problem."

Rob sighed. "Jaejae, please. One disaster at a time is all my heart can handle." He exhaled. "I will call you back after I speak with Able Jacobs."

"Okay." Jade let him hang up, satisfied at least that Rob had the situation under control. It would do no one any good for her to get involved in it – Rob was harsher on his own staff and security than she could ever be and she knew finding a data thief inside his department would send her old friend into a overdrive rage.

Now. To her other problem. Jade studied the screen again. The request for her program files had come from a pc on the fourteenth floor, just down the hall from her own office. It was, she recalled, a spare work room that also held two manual fax machines and a copier, and was occasionally used for visitors who needed access to a PC for various reasons.

Jade quickly dialed the phone again. She listened to the ring, then exhaled when it was answered.

"Operations, Rosie speaking."

"Hi Rosie." Jade said. "It's Jade West."

The woman's voice definitely perked up. "Oh, hi, Ms. West! What can I do for you?"

Tori had her admirers in the office, and so, Jade acknowledged, did she. Rosie was one of them. "I have something I need you to do." She said. "You know the computer in the printer room, on 14 near my office?"

"Oh! Yes, ma'am, I sure do." Rosie assured her.

"Okay." Jade said. "I want you to go upstairs, and listen closely, okay?"

"Yes!"

Jade would have rolled her eyes if it had been a less serious occasion. "Rosie, this is very serious." She told the woman. "Someone just tried to access something from that PC that they shouldn't have." She heard the intake of breath on the other end. "So what I want you to do is to take a couple of plastic bags, and go down there. Put the keyboard and mouse in a bag, and take that, the PC and monitor, and take it back to ops with you, okay?"

"Right away, ma'am." Rosie acknowledged. "Do you want me to call security?"

Jade sighed. "They're busy with something else right now, and I'm not sure exactly what was going on with this pc. So just secure it, and I'll pick it up from you later."

"I'm on it." Rosie said.

Jade hung up, tapping the cell phone against her chin. Her Phone went off at that moment, almost scaring her out of her wits, and she just barely kept from it across the room. She pulled the Phone out and examined it.

Sorry, sweetie.. I was downstairs on the ship. What's up?

Jade wondered where to start. Is the reporter still with you? She asked. A couple things just went down I'd rather not expose to the Herald in this lifetime.

The Phone was briefly silent, then it stutter flashed. Be right there.

Jade nodded a little, and then she opened her cell phone again, and dialed. She waited. "Hi. This is Jade West. I need a list of everyone who is logged into the building right now, and everyone who entered and exited within the last twenty five minutes."