He quickly looked over to watch the progress of the bartender droid. It was just about finishing his order, provided it understood the order accurately.
"Anyway," he continued, looking back at the rep, "I'm sure the liquor's fine, but that's not what I had in mind."
He looked side to side, as if to make sure there were no eavesdroppers; a farce of course, since the entire building was probably a microphone in of itself.
"I run an independent firm," Hayes said, in a voice just loud enough for the rep to hear, "and might have something worth offering, provided you can offer something in return. If you know what I mean."
He leaned back, sizing up the man once more.
"That is, if you're the one I ought to be speaking to. If not," he continued with a smile, "I'm sure I can find the right person."
"It's kind of simple, really," Hayes replied, slowly, "You see, I caught wind of that construction project you've got going on. Not the sort of thing that somebody considers a 'routine' operation, is it?"
This next part would be dicey; he stopped for a minute to sum up the necessary charisma before continuing.
"I'm sure you've got plenty covered, but I can't help but wonder about how many holes you'll end up by the time you're done."
His tone became a bit darker. A finely crafted tone, in fact, which he'd used dozens of times before.
"Unless you can come up with materials out of thin air, you'll have to ship stuff there eventually. Probably using corporate transports in order to keep it confidential, or at worst opt for lower costs through unreliable rivals like Universal or Interspace, who'd love to get their mitts on anything of yours they can, I'm sure."
He raised an eyebrow.
"Even if the group you outsourced to doesn't have a leak, it wouldn't be hard to find one somewhere else..."
Now to make an impression.
"... And if I were going to hit you, I'd probably pick your supply chain. Now if what you're doing out there is as big an investment as it seems, getting it compromised is the last thing on your agenda."
He leaned back a bit and straightened his tie. Who knows, maybe it made the transition from "schemer" to "honest schemer" more believable.
"That's where I come in. I run what's left of a shipping company, a good forty or so bulk container transports sitting in a dispersal area on Colorado. Needless to say the monopolies aren't getting any smaller, and it hasn't been doing that well. Only so much you can do when the competition is in a better position to buy off pirates, and friends, at the tip of a hat."
He grinned a bit.
"Now if you're the kind of guy who recognizes when puzzle pieces fit, then I won't have to say much more, but I will anyway. I've got no intention of settling for some hostile takeover by the likes of Universal. Wouldn't get a good deal out of it. Then again I have a bunch of ships, and a storage area, collecting dust. I figure I might as well put them to use somehow. So why not nail two hawkbats with the same stone, right?"
He glanced around quickly one more time; appearances of confidentiality and solidarity meant everything here.
"Call it a passive merger, under the radar. You can take my ships, and the warehouses, and get a nice, obscure, and unofficial puppet company to take whatever you need to that location. Crewing is up to you, and I'd say slave as many together as possible, but besides that nobody would expect it. Nobody would bother tracing those ships, and in the meantime you'll have a nice thumb on everything that goes to and from that place, without groups like Universal trying to pull the same tricks as they did on me."
His features hardened up again. The last part would be a stretch, but there were always contingencies...
"All I want is a cut of whatever you're doing over there. I need to move on to bigger and better things than a bunch of bulk carriers, and whatever you're doing with that site is a lot bigger and probably a lot better."
Well that was unexpected. At least a swift boot out the front door, but this was getting somewhere.
The bartender droid had of course dropped his Martini on the counter while he was busy speaking, so there remained his own glass to chug. He picked up the fragile piece and motioned a little toast at the man he'd been speaking to.
Evidently it didn't sit well with him, since he got up and left in apparent disgust.
All the better. Hayes slipped a little container out of his coat pocket and dropped it in the glass. He waited for a few moments and quickly dumped the drink into one of the built-in drains on the counter, the kind meant to make cleanup that much easier. Who'd have thought it made this easier too?
He grabbed the little capsule off of the drain grate and pocketed it while mimicking a chug of the empty glass for the camera.
But the stuff would be tested at another time.
Hayes got off of his stool and sauntered over to the lift, guided by the lit arrows on the floor once again. Having stood in the center of the elevator, he turned around to face the doorway as the hatch closed. He reached over and straightened the watch on his wrist, hitting a button on it three times in succession, before punching in Floor 156 on the console.
The lift shot up, speeding past the floors. The numbers on the lift pannel blurred into strobe lights. The lift slowed down, untill it reached level 156 where is stopped. The lift sat there for several minutes not budging. A camera in the top cornor of the lift turned on with a bright red light. The lift then picked up speed again, and started flying past floors. It seemed that level 156 was some secruity measure. The floor sped past 500. The lift pannel was flickered as it reached 1900 and began to slow down.
Level 1998
[color=#FFFFFF]The doors slide up, followed by another set of doors beyond that, and a gold set beyond that. A hallway lied just beyond that, with several company pictures along the long hall. The floor was very polished, and had lights along it, just like the lobby. At the end of the hall way stood a single door, with a little blue camera at the top.
Hayes smirked a bit and began walking down the hallway. No doubt there were scanners checking for weapons and the like on his person, not that there were any.
Etiquette was an interesting question; no doubt that fancy light was some sort of camera. Either that or there was a camera somewhere else. The door looked very... archaic; it had a knob.
He walked down the length of the hallway, occasionally glancing at posters on the sides. Propaganda. Some show of force, perhaps, to be in a place like this.
Then again it was everywhere. Why not?
He straightened his tie one last time and knocked on the door. He let his hand fall to his side, then gripped it behind his back, waiting for the response.
The door slowly creaked open, it was of a very old design. A breeze of old air streamed out of the door, as if it hadn't been opened in a long time. There was a thin layer of dust around the door seams, it was apparent that no one had been there in a very long time.
Inside, the lights were off and it was pitch black. In the distance a faint light could be seen positioned on a screen and a desk. The desk was wood, extremely old. The monitor on the other hand looked like a new design. It flickered under the spot light. Faint red lights could be seen in the distance of the pitch black room. What they were was a mystery, they were spaced out through the entire room, yet remained out of the spot and the walkway to the desk.
The screen flashed on with a OCULUS symbol, beckoning you in.
The screen flickered, a sudden video feed initiated.
Good afternoon Mr. Hayes.
[color=#FFFFFF]A man's face appeared faintly on the screen.
I... am Roy Heliox, CEO of OCULUS co. Not many people come up to this level, or speak to me for that matter. For most it is a honor. furthermore, as you have no doubt noticed, I am not within the facility, or the planet for that matter.
[color=#FFFFFF]The man smiled
[color=#33CCFF] I heard your interesting conversation you had downstairs with one of my Reps. As you may know, nothing in this building goes unheard. So, Mr. Hayes, shall we talk business?
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