"Mr. Zakhrov, I have made my decision. Permission to report for
duty." came Natasha's voice over the intercom.
Aaron felt a thrill
of excitement at those words. He carefully schooled his expression
back to its Stoic mask, and activated the door lock.
The door opened, and
Natasha stepped inside, her eyes still a little red from crying.
"A wise
decision Ms. Parker. Welcome once again to Sirius Software." he
said, as he stood up and walked around the desk.
He walked up to her,
and extended his hand.
Natasha took his
hand, and shook it firmly, her eyes steady and unwavering.
"Come with me.
It's time for your tour." said Aaron, leading her out of the
office.
Walking next to
Aaron in his black leather suit, Natasha didn't feel out of place in
her own leather uniform.
"This is of
course, the temporary office. This is the main server and render farm
which we use to develop our games." said Aaron, as they walked
through the main foyer. He led her to a small open-top logistics
truck, started it up, and drove it out of the parking lot.
"Out here we
have the main parking lot, down there is the security checkpoint, and
over here is the mining robot factory." Aaron pointed out, as
they drove around the complex.
Natasha marvelled at
the sight of the long factory building, which was steadily pumping
out boxes that were being loaded into shipping containers on the
backs of semi-trucks. "I thought Sirius Software was a game
development company?" she asked.
"That's our
core business, but these projects cropped up in pursuit of vertical
integration when it came to building our headquarters. That is under
construction over there by the way." said Aaron, pointing to a
construction site where the metal scaffolding for a massive
skyscraper was being erected.
Natasha's jaw
dropped at the sight of large drones with thick heavy-duty cables
attached to them like tentacles, hovering around the building's
skeleton, welding the metal beams together with bright arcs of
plasma. She tore her eyes away from the drones, and brought them to
focus on the building crew, who were controlling the drones with
large terminal monitors, joysticks and pedals.
"Surreal!"
she muttered to herself.
"That will be
one of your main responsibilities as my new head of security.
Ensuring that those idiots in the unions don't come anywhere near my
precious construction engineers and drones. You can use the
contracted guards until you can vet and hire our own." said
Aaron seriously, as they drove past the construction site.
"U-understood
sir." replied Natasha, still marveling at the sight of the
drones.
"Over here is
our mining operations. We mostly mine just small quantities of lead
ore as part of our mining robot testing, so it is not a money
printer." said Aaron, as they drove past small dark entrance
through which a pair small automated carts loaded with ore were
coming out.
"Just how much
of your operations are automated sir?" asked Natasha, still
trying to wrap her head around the scale of the operation. Her awe
and respect for Aaron had grown significantly as the tour had
progressed.
"Almost
everything. Right now, security and engineering are the main manpower
intensive departments, with security being the only one that is
currently outsourced." replied Aaron, as they arrived at what
looked like a water treatment plant.
"That is our
water treatment plant, where we purify the lead contaminated
groundwater, and finally. This is our main conference room."
said Aaron, as they arrived at a small concrete building.
"Come on in,
I'll introduce you to the rest of my core team." said Aaron, as
he parked the truck and got out.
----
Natasha followed
Aaron into the conference room, where a group of people were already
sitting around a long rectangular table.
Aaron took a seat at
the head of the table, and gestured for Natasha to sit down next to
him.
"This is Harry
Smith, my chief civil engineer, who is in charge of the construction
and maintenance of our facilities," said Aaron, gesturing to a
tall young man with short brown hair and hazel eyes. Harry inclined
his head in greeting.
"Next to him is
his wife, Margaret Smith, who is technically not an employee, but she
was gracious enough to design your uniform," said Aaron,
gesturing to a petite and buxom young woman with soft auburn hair and
gentle green eyes. Margaret smiled warmly at Natasha, and waved.
"Next to her is
James McMillan, our electrical engineer, who is in charge of our
power grid and electrical systems," said Aaron, gesturing to a
tall young man with short black hair and blue eyes. James nodded in
greeting.
"And finally,
the old guy staring daggers at you is Andre Esposito our chief legal
counsel," said Aaron, gesturing to a middle-aged man with
salt-and-pepper hair, who was staring at Natasha with open hostility.
"Mr. Zakhrov,
may I speak with you in private?" asked Andre, his voice shaking
with barely contained anger.
"If you're
about to warn me that Ms. Parker here is a spy sent by Monica
Goldberg, then save your breath. I already know, and it won't be a
problem." replied Aaron, his eyes narrowing.
Support creative writers by reading their stories on Royal Road, not stolen versions.
"You knew? And
you still hired her?" asked Andre incredulously, as color
drained from Natasha's face.
"Let's just say
that I made Natasha a counter-offer that she graciously accepted.
Whatever Monica is up to is irrelevant," said Aaron icily. He
rose and stood behind Natasha, she tried to rise, but he placed a
hand on her head, forcing her back into her chair.
"I'm going to
break it down easy for you and everyone else, Andre.
I know you whisper
behind my back that my obsession with control and automation borders
on, if not is misanthropy.
However, I ask you
to take a moment and consider which is more misanthropic.
Monica and others of
her ilk who treat people like machines, replaceable, disposable, with
a clear preference for quantity over quality?
Or me who invests in
a few but highly skilled and capable individuals, while relegating
the grunt work to infinitely more efficient machines?
Take this particular
case as a perfect example.
Monica hired Natasha
as a disposable pawn.
On the other hand, I
offered her a position far better suited to her talents, a dormitory
room, and a seat at the table of my inner circle.
And guess what? It
worked. Natasha's mine now. So back off," he said, stroking
Natasha's head in a blatant display of ownership.
Natasha struggled to
maintain her composure.
Aaron's heady scent,
and his gentle stroking of her head were making her heart race, and
stirring feelings that she had long forgotten.
Andre pinched the
bridge of his nose. "Every damn time. I have to keep reminding
myself to put you in the crazy but not the stupid section of my
mental filing cabinet," he said, his voice weary.
He turned to
Natasha. "Welcome aboard, Lt. Parker. Try to reign in your
boss's more... eccentric tendencies. He can be a handful at times."
he said.
"I-I'll try,
Mr. Esposito," stammered Natasha, as she squirmed slightly in
her chair.
"That's not
going to happen Andre. Just look at her, the poor girl's already head
over heels for Master Zakhrov," said Margaret with a teasing
chuckle.
"Hey! No hazing
the newbie!" snapped Harry, giving Margaret a playful flick on
her forehead.
"Sorry, sorry
Master Harry," said Margaret, rubbing her forehead and pouting.
"Alright, now
that all that is out of the way, let's get down to business. Harry,
status report on the HQ construction," said Aaron, returning to
his seat, while Natasha still burned with embarrassment, and arousal.
"The main
foundations are complete, and the main superstructure is about 70%
complete. We should be able to start the concrete pouring by the end
of the week," reported Harry.
"Excellent.
James, what's the status of the power grid?" asked Aaron.
"The main
transformers are in place, along with the high-voltage cabling. We
are still upgrading the step-down transformers, but that should be
done by the end of the week as well," replied James.
"Alright.
Andre, get that layabout out of the mine and over here. I've indulged
him long enough." said Aaron, his voice cold and commanding.
Andre nodded curtly,
and left the conference room. Harry, James and Margaret shifted
uncomfortably in their seats. Natasha, having regained her composure,
straightened in her chair, sensing the new tension in the room. She
opened her mouth to ask what was going on, but Aaron silenced her
with a raised hand.
"Natasha, stay.
Everyone else, clear out. You've got stuff to do," said Aaron,
his voice brooking no argument.
Harry, James and
Margaret stood up and left the conference room, leaving Natasha alone
with Aaron.
A thrill of
foreboding ran through Natasha as she quietly waited for whatever
Aaron was about to do.
----
The conference room
door opened, and Andre walked in, half dragging a short and stocky
young man with curly black hair and brown eyes, who was wearing a
food-stained white lab coat. He was clearly not happy to be there,
and was trying to pull away from Andre's grip.
"Status on the
reactor Mario," demanded Aaron, as Andre shoved Mario into a
chair.
"We've been
over this already Aaron! We need to fully stress test the reactor
core and water loops before we can do anything else!" snarled
Mario.
Natasha immediately
picked up on Mario's body language. Behind his blustering
indignation, he was terrified and trying to hide it.
"Andre, leave
the room," said Aaron, getting up from his chair.
Andre swallowed and
moved to the door. Mario tried to jump up and run, but Aaron grabbed
him by the collar and shoved him back into the chair, he tried to
struggle against Aaron's grip, but Aaron gave him a vicious backhand
across his face.
"Andre, get
out. Natasha, zip-tie this filth," said Aaron, his fist closing
around Mario's throat, sapping the strength out of him.
Natasha quickly
pulled out the zip-tie dispenser and grabbed a zip-tie.
She quickly secured
Mario's hands behind his back, and then pulled out a second zip-tie
and secured his feet to the chair.
"Aaron, wait!"
began Mario, but Aaron's fist smashed into his the side of face,
almost knocking him to the floor.
"You know, I
had observed that you were not in the same league as Harry and
James," said Aaron conversationally, as he turned off the
conference room lights, and activated the large monitor on the wall,
which showed a paused security camera feed from the mine entrance.
"At first, I
chalked it up to the belief that nuclear engineering poses a larger
challenge than civil or electrical engineering.
But then I went over
your assignments and textbooks, and realized that a lot of the
challenges are not down to engineering complexity, but rather to
politics, which meant that you really were not as competent.
Then came the
incident in your final year, where you asked me to help you come up
with a project idea since you had helped me with my game's
soundtrack.
I practically
designed the modular pressurized heavy water reactor that you
submitted, which was rejected by the professors, but they still gave
you a passing grade.
Now why would they
do that? Because they knew that it was not a flawed design, but
rather it was too disruptive to the status quo.
I had hoped that me
asking you to actually build it would have given you the motivation
to improve yourself," lectured Aaron, before he resumed the
security camera recording.
The recording showed
a small pickup truck arrive at the mine entrance.
A few seconds later,
it showed Mario coming out of the mine, with 2 small mining carts,
one loaded with lead ore, and the other with a large heavy water
canister.
He and two other men
quickly loaded the canister into the back of the truck, covered it
with the lead ore, and the truck drove off, with Mario scurrying back
into the mine, clutching a large duffle bag.
Aaron paused the
recording, and turned to a pale-faced Mario.
"When you took
credit for my reactor design, I thought that I could keep you around
as a useful idiot, who could at least oversee the construction. But
then, you decided to prove that you were an imbecile beyond
redemption by trying to smuggle heavy water," said Aaron, his
voice shaking.
Mario was shaking
uncontrollably, his eyes wide with fear.
Aaron switched to
another security camera feed which showed the truck from the earlier
feed plowing into and getting caught by the retractable spike strips
at the security checkpoint, before exploding in a fireball.
"Natasha, I
believe that your first assignment as head of security is to extract
whatever information you can from this worthless lump of flesh,"
commanded Aaron.
"Wait wait
wait! There's no need for that! I'll tell you everything!"
babbled Mario, his voice high-pitched and panicked, before Aaron
socked him again.
"I was willing
to overlook your plagiarism in college. I was even willing to just
keep you around as a poster-boy for Sirius Nuclear.
But when you do
something as moronic as invite high treason, then you are past all
redemption!" shouted Aaron, his fists clenched tightly.
Natasha could see
that Aaron was barely holding himself back from killing Mario with
his bare hands.
She also realized
why Aaron didn't consider Monica as a threat.
Because she wasn't.
Sirius Software was
not just a two-bit game development company, it was Aaron's
fully-integrated multi-industry personal fiefdom where his word was
law, and he was judge and jury, and Natasha was not about to let a
kid become executioner on her watch.
She pulled out her
baton, and flicked it open, the metal rod extending with a satisfying
click.
She stepped forward,
coming between Aaron and Mario.
"Master
Zakhrov, I believe that this ignoramus would not have any useful
information for me to extract. I suggest we just dispose of him,"
she said, her voice steady and firm.
"No! Wait!"
screamed Mario, his eyes wide with terror.
"Silence boy!
Adults are talking!" snapped Natasha, bashing his face with the
baton. Mario sputtered blood, and hung his head.
"Do you still
have the wreckage of the truck Master Zakhrov? I believe forensic
evidence would be more forthcoming," she asked, turning to
Aaron.
Aaron had taken a
few deep breaths, and was visibly calming down.
"Yes, the
wreckage is in the back of the warehouse," he replied, his voice
back to its usual cold and Stoic tone.
"Very well. Now
how would you like me dispose of this refuse?
Shall I make it look
like an accident, or would you prefer a more... public execution?"
asked Natasha.
Her voice was steady
and calm, but her heart was racing with excitement. "What's
happening to me? I'm liking this!" she thought, her hand
gripping the baton tightly.
"Albrecht
Nuclear Systems." coughed Mario, his voice trembling.
"I told you to
shut up!" snapped Natasha, slamming the baton into his face
again, breaking his nose.
"Have...
proof... sale... legit," coughed Mario, blood dripping from his
nose and mouth, and piss flowing down his leg.
"Legit? If
Friedrich wanted heavy water, he would have approached me and the
government, he's not stupid enough to try and get you to smuggle it.
I've had enough!
Natasha, slice this filth's head off." commanded Aaron.
Natasha drew one of
her sleek 30 cm knives, and swept it through the side of Mario's neck
in one fluid motion.
The titanium alloy
blade sliced through flesh and bone as if it were butter, and Mario's
head dropped to the floor with a sickening thud.
Blood spurted in a
crimson fountain from his open neck, splashing across her uniform and
the conference room table.
Aaron handed Natasha
a box of tissues, took a final look at Mario's body, and walked out
of the conference room.
Natasha quickly
wiped the flecks of blood from her knife and uniform, and followed
him.
