process using conventional technological means will require several days of painstaking work at the very least, perhaps as long as a week." Saigo was about to interrupt when Dr. Westcott cut him off. "However," he said, "using magic I may be able to break through the conditioning and access the subject's memories immediately. There is, of course, some additional risk in using such powerful mind probing spells…" Westcott let the rest of the comment dangle. "Do it," Saigo said in a low voice. "We need the information as soon as possible, whatever the risk."

And there was war in heaven; Michael and his angels fought against the dragon; and the dragon fought Michael and his angels. -Revelation 12:7 Lynn Osborne stared with complete dismay at the image of the man on the flat-screen display in front of her. She gripped the padded handle she was tethered to along the bulkhead of the orbital station as her world seemed to fall out from under her and she felt the effects of the zero-gravity beginning to disorient her for the first time since she'd become used to space travel. "What did you say?" she repeated. Had she been anyone else, her tone would have earned a rebuke. Considering the situation, Richard Villiers chose to ignore it. "You heard me," he said. "We've lost him. As near as we can tell, a team hit the facility less than an hour ago. We're checking through the facility's data systems for any information, but it looks like they've been trashed by some kind of progressive virus the ComSci division can't identify. Whoever they were, they were thorough." "It could have only been one faction," she said. The man on the screen nodded grimly. "Renraku. They've taken our ace in the hole." "But how…?" "You let me worry about that, Lynn. You handle the Court." Osborne considered for a moment. It was only a couple of hours before the court was due to reconvene.

"I could get a continuance," she mused out loud. "Maybe buy us some time." "Try and do that," Villiers said. "We might be able to mount a recovery operation in time to make a difference. If not, we're well and truly fragged. We have no case against Renraku without proof they were trying to make use of the otaku in some way, and they'll use this to their advantage when the next court election comes up." "Do you think we have a chance of recovering him?" Villiers stared at her for a moment, then shook his head. He looked tired. "I really don't know, Lynn. We've got people working on it now. There's one possibility that's promising, but I can't get into it now. Not over the comm-link. Just stall the court for now and hope for the best." "What about Hague?" she asked. Villiers shook his head again. "He hasn't been updated yet. I want you to take care of that. Hague is still in too tight with the Yamanas for my taste. He'll go running to them at the first sign of any trouble and I don't want them getting wind of this yet. Since the operation involved one of my companies, it'll be a little while before the Japanese find out anything about the raid or the loss of the… evidence. I'd prefer to keep them off my back until we've got a handle on things. Keep Hague under control up there, understand?" Osborne nodded. It wouldn't be difficult to get David Hague to follow her lead in this matter, considering what was at stake. Hague was loyal enough to the Yamanas, the Japanese clan who got him his position on the Corporate Court, but he was far more loyal to maintaining the high lifestyle he had become accustomed to. Any threat to his prosperity would be enough to keep him in line. "I'll keep you updated," Villiers said just as a chime sounded at the door. "I have to go," Osborne said. Villiers nodded and broke the connection, the vidscreen going blank. Osborne smoothed her hands over her formal court robe and made sure her voice was steady as she called out the door. "Enter."

The door hissed open to reveal Francesco Napoli lurking on the other side, like a cat waiting to pounce. He was certainly grinning like the cat who'd eaten the proverbial canary. Oh frag, Osborne thought. I should have expected this. He must have known about the snatching of the otaku even before I was notified. She did her best to keep her thoughts from her face, remaining composed and businesslike, with just a touch of surprise at seeing Napoli, even though she had been dreading this meeting. "Hello, Paco," she said cordially. "It isn't time to reconvene yet, is it?" Napoli shook he had, clinging to the support outside of the door like a spider, just waiting for a little vibration of his web to act. "No, not yet, but I thought I might take a little of your time to talk about this case. We might be able to resolve things more easily between us. May I come in?" Without waiting for a reply, Napoli flipped himself through the doorway and grabbed onto another handhold just inside. The door automatically hissed closed behind him. "This kind of expartate communication is really inappropriate, Mister Napoli." Osborne put some emphasis on her formal mode of address. "Anything you have to say to me can be said when the court reconvenes." "Come now, Lynn. I really don't think you're that much of a glutton for punishment. We both know your so-called case is nothing but smoke and mirrors. You have nothing on us and the court will have to dismiss your charges. Spare yourself the embarrassment of having to beg the court's forgiveness for having wasted their time. Let's tell them we chose to settle this matter between us quietly." "Why would I want to do that?" Osborne asked cautiously. Napoli gave his crafty smile. "Because you're a smart lady. You know you don't have anything substantial and you know you can't win. Why not cut your losses and have a shot at getting something out of this deal rather than losing face in front of the whole court and getting nothing but grief? Don't you think you'd be serving Fuchi better to put the company's best interests above any desire you might have of humbling Renraku?"

Osborne wanted more than anything at that moment to simply bash in Napoli's face and wipe that oily smile off of it. The fragger knows he has us right where he wants us. He extended a datapad to Osborne with a bit of a theatrical flourish and let it float from his hand. It tumbled across the short span separating the two justices and Osborne caught it easily. "That has the agreement for the out of court settlement on all of this," Napoli said. "All you have to do is read and sign it. It drops all of the charges you've raised against us in exchange for Fuchi getting certain distribution and licensing rights for some of our more profitable developments. Fuchi can still get on the bandwagon by distributing some of that leading-edge Matrix technology." Sure, as long as the technology is owned by Renraku, who will get a big cut of the profits while Fuchi does all of the work. Renraku gets fatter and Fuchi falls behind in developing and marketing their own products because they don't want to compete with their own licenses. Nice try, Paco. Osborne glanced at the text displayed on the screen of the datapad for a moment before flipping the pad back to Napoli with a flick of her wrist and a bit more force than was necessary. The startled Napoli almost missed catching the pad as it sailed back toward him. "Forget it, Paco, no deal." Napoli recovered from his surprise quickly and clutched the datapad as he glared across at Osborne. "Don't be stupid," he said in a low tone. "If you continue to press this case, I will personally bury you. You have no evidence, you have no witness, you have nothing. Nada. Zero. If you try this and fail, I'll see to it you go up on charges of wasting the court's precious time with this nonsense. And when the time comes, Renraku will make certain that… certain interests at Fuchi are encouraged over others, if you understand my meaning. We'll see just how long your boss, Richard Villiers, lasts when the most powerful corporation in the world decides to come down on top of him like a ton of bricks."