Submitted for your consideration...
The red phone rang. Noah hated when the red phone rang - four times out of five, someone he didn't want to talk to was on the other end. "Scott here."
"Noah, it's Mikuru."
It was Noah's lucky day - this was the other one time out of five - although he suspected his luck wouldn't last. "Hello, Mikuru. I assume this isn't a social call?"
"You assume correctly, unfortunately. Three days ago, a convoy that was being escorted by the Panzer Kunst Gruppe was robbed."
"I already know about that," interrupted Noah.
"You do??"
"Takami brought it to my attention, along with some emails she received because she's on the Cybernet.tech mailing list."
"This is that big?" Both of them knew just how good Takami was at spotting patterns, and at ignoring false matches. They also knew that she didn't like bothering her employer with matters that didn't directly affect his business... unless the matters were very important. "That helps explain why the Panzer Kunst Gruppe wanted a top troubleshooter. They didn't want to provide their reasons over an unsecured channel." Mikuru sighed - everyone knew that anything that made its way to Haruhi counted as "unsecured".
Noah echoed the sigh. "If Takami is right, then this is very big, and not something to discuss over a secure channel, either. Whichever troubleshooters get assigned to this will have to see them face-to-face. And before you ask, Katz and I aren't the right troubleshooters to solve it. A.C., maybe, if she's not busy ..."
"She is."
"... but none of the other OF-8s have the necessary skills. You want to put an OF-6 or OF-7 cyberneticist on this one. Have whoever you pick contact Takami; I'll have her send the files she thinks are relevant."
"Thanks, Noah. When are you going to stop by Arisia Station and say hello to everyone?"
Noah grimaced. He didn't want to tell Mikuru "when Hell freezes over", but he didn't want to lie to her, either... "I'm very busy here, sorry. In fact, I'm going to have to let you go now; my assistant just came in with more paperwork."
"All right. I'll talk to you later." And the connection went silent.
Great, he thought. I've pissed her off. And she's the only one in that group that I can tolerate enough to work with. It's never a good day when that damned phone rings.
--
Rob Kelk
"Governments have no right to question the loyalty of those who oppose
them. Adversaries remain citizens of the same state, common subjects of
the same sovereign, servants of the same law."
- Michael Ignatieff, addressing Stanford University in 2012
The red phone rang. Noah hated when the red phone rang - four times out of five, someone he didn't want to talk to was on the other end. "Scott here."
"Noah, it's Mikuru."
It was Noah's lucky day - this was the other one time out of five - although he suspected his luck wouldn't last. "Hello, Mikuru. I assume this isn't a social call?"
"You assume correctly, unfortunately. Three days ago, a convoy that was being escorted by the Panzer Kunst Gruppe was robbed."
"I already know about that," interrupted Noah.
"You do??"
"Takami brought it to my attention, along with some emails she received because she's on the Cybernet.tech mailing list."
"This is that big?" Both of them knew just how good Takami was at spotting patterns, and at ignoring false matches. They also knew that she didn't like bothering her employer with matters that didn't directly affect his business... unless the matters were very important. "That helps explain why the Panzer Kunst Gruppe wanted a top troubleshooter. They didn't want to provide their reasons over an unsecured channel." Mikuru sighed - everyone knew that anything that made its way to Haruhi counted as "unsecured".
Noah echoed the sigh. "If Takami is right, then this is very big, and not something to discuss over a secure channel, either. Whichever troubleshooters get assigned to this will have to see them face-to-face. And before you ask, Katz and I aren't the right troubleshooters to solve it. A.C., maybe, if she's not busy ..."
"She is."
"... but none of the other OF-8s have the necessary skills. You want to put an OF-6 or OF-7 cyberneticist on this one. Have whoever you pick contact Takami; I'll have her send the files she thinks are relevant."
"Thanks, Noah. When are you going to stop by Arisia Station and say hello to everyone?"
Noah grimaced. He didn't want to tell Mikuru "when Hell freezes over", but he didn't want to lie to her, either... "I'm very busy here, sorry. In fact, I'm going to have to let you go now; my assistant just came in with more paperwork."
"All right. I'll talk to you later." And the connection went silent.
Great, he thought. I've pissed her off. And she's the only one in that group that I can tolerate enough to work with. It's never a good day when that damned phone rings.
--
Rob Kelk
"Governments have no right to question the loyalty of those who oppose
them. Adversaries remain citizens of the same state, common subjects of
the same sovereign, servants of the same law."
- Michael Ignatieff, addressing Stanford University in 2012