Moaning in delight, Chris slumped back across the couch, closing her eyes. "MMmmmm..." she managed, savouring the delightfully fresh cheesecake.
Chuckling, Nene reached over and took another strawberry from the bowl. "Well, I think someone approves," she noted, dipping it in the chocolate.
Looking over from where she was savoring her own strawberries, Jules gave the blonde an admiring look. "Just where are you getting these from?" she asked, trying to keep her purring to a minimum. "So fresh..."
"There's a farm dome about three hundred miles out," Nene replied, pausing to take a bite. "When I heard what they were trying to grow, I had to step in and back them, obviously..."
"Obviously," the Orion sighed, almost lustfully, as she took another bite of her own snack. "Mmmm... and the wonderful cheesecake?" She managed to ask, licking her lips.
Looking over the curvaceous figure, Nene swallowed despite herself. "Now, that's in Serenity Valley itself. There's this lovely little shop that bakes all their own goods." She smirked slightly. "I've helped them out a little, but I'm a little paranoid about sharing too much information. After all, I need something to bribe A.C. with." Chris glanced over at her, one eyebrow raised, and the blonde grinned. "Don't worry, I trust you not to abuse that knowledge."
Ears perking up, Jules gave Nene a hopeful look. "You're not going to neglect me, are you?" she asked, voice wavering adorably.
"That's a dirty trick," the other woman replied with a mock scowl. Jule's only response was to widen her eyes slightly, pout a little deeper, and generally look much cuter and helpless. "Guh, fine, I'll share. Just turn off the adorbs!" she cried, covering her eyes with her hand, causing the other three women to start laughing and giggling.
After a moment, the laughter was interrupted by an indignant squeak of protest. Turning towards the door, they saw Jeph standing there, hands on her hips. "Oh that is just not fair," she grumbled. "I'm off being the mature adult, and here you lot are, lazing around and enjoying the really nice cheesecake."
Jules raised one finger. "Point of order, if you please," she said. "Only Chris is really going after the cake. I'm falling in love with the strawberries."
JMC's lord and mistress gave her an amused look. "That really doesn't help make me feel better," she noted.
On the table, Kitbashes avatar raised a hand. "Another point of order. I'm not eating. Kinda can't, if I'm honest. I'm only here for the social interaction."
Jeph pouted. "I was still stuck working," she complained, before darting forward and stealing several of Nene's strawberries before the smaller woman could react, grinning playfully at her protests.
Still looking horribly relaxed, Chris merely smiled. "Oh, we’re working too," she told her friend. "We were just a little smarter about it. We’re working on Void Shipping's official press release for the past few days, since apparently my gender and skin color is newsworthy," she said dryly. “And it occurred to us that this was the sort of thing that needs to be done while suitably relaxed. And since I don’t drink, we needed another method.”
“I prefer this approach,” Jules added. “Much more relaxing.”
Kitbash simply shrugged. “I’ve got no way to compare the two.” She paused, looking thoughtful. “There’s got to be a sim program for that around somewhere… Food,” she quickly added at her parents look. “I’m not sure I want to try alcohol.”
Picking up the phone projector, Jeph grinned. “Well, go ahead and google it later. For now, get your shoes back on Chris. We’re due at City Hall in a little bit.”
Blinking, Chris sat up. “Already? Huh.” Stretching, she climbed to her feet, then looked around Nene’s living room. Frowning thoughtfully, she headed for the front door. “Where did I leave them…”
Jeph watched her go, then glanced at Nene. “You are a genius,” she said quietly.
“Jennifer's cheesecake is a wonder of the ‘verse,” Nene replied. “Of course it could help here.”
***
ISN NEWS STUDIOS, CRYSTAL KYOTO, VENUS.
Putting the phone down, Tamara sighed, running a hand down her face. “Dammit dammit dammit…”
“Bad?” Robert asked from the doorway, making the catgirl jump slightly. “Crap. Sorry,” he added.
“Yes. No. Maybe,” she muttered. “There’s good news and bad. The good news is that the Crystal Millennium isn’t immediately revoking our press credentials or our interweave broadcast license.” She snorted, rolling her eyes. “They’re not Noah Scott, they need to discuss such things like an actual democracy. The bad news is that Queen Serenity herself is apparently pretty irritated with us, and that ass from Crystal Seattle has already put us on the List for discussion in parliaments next debate session.” Sighing at the thought of Venus’s isolationist movement deciding they were a valid target, she leaned forward and rested her head on her hands. “So, what’ve you got to drop on me?”
“Well, for starters, Void Shipping issued a press release,” he commented, holding up the first of several printouts he was holding. “There’s not really much to it, for the most part. It’s a nice, bland statement that basically says nothing on the grounds Captain Wood wants to actually give the police his official statement over yesterday's events first, and he still hasn’t had the chance to do that.” Tamara started to ask a question, but Robert beat her to the answer. “No mention of us by name. It does confirm he’s gotten ker-girled and the green skin, so that video John found almost certainly was him.”
“Ker-girled?” Tamara asked despite herself.
“It’s a technical term the Sammies use,” he replied dryly. “Oh, one thing we need to keep in mind. The press release used the term ‘Orion’, not ‘Orion Slave Girl’.”
The catgirl laughed bitterly. “Well of course it did. The concept of ‘Slave Girl’ has certain implications that anyone that’s not a freaking idiot would notice.” Her large, black-furred ears twitched as she said that, grabbing her employees attention. He winced, reminded of just where those ears had come from, but Tamara continued on before he had time to consider it. "Make it clear to any of our people covering this that I expect them to show some common sense regarding the species name."
"Already done," he assured her, then pressed on. "The other thing I wanted to bring up was that the Research department gave me their report on Captain Wood." He sighed, shaking his head as he flipped through the papers in his hands. "You know, I always thought of John as an idiot with too much fondness for filling in the blanks with fiction, but this is kind of sad. He's managed to find a 'conspiracy' that actually exists, but managed to be completely wrong about their goal."
Frowning, Tamara sat up straighter in her chair. "I'm not sure I follow."
"He's claiming Antilles is trying to protect the Professor," Rob noted, "when anyone with a functional brain can tell he's simply helping a friend. And he's not the only one." He smirked at the surprised look on his boss's face. "Captain Chris Wood and Void Shipping seem to have connections to quite a few SMOFs," he said. "Stellvia has them under contract for several of their major routes, including Artemis and Nikaido related projects. JMC outsources to them on a regular basis. He's been a regular poster on Schroecks forums since before Grover's Corner launched, so on and so on.”
Reaching over her desk, Tamara grabbed the papers out of Roberts hands.”Give me that,” she demanded, spreading them out in front of her. “Not quite a Big Name Fen, but damn close,” she muttered. “How have we never heard of him before yesterday?”
“Not everyone’s interested in being known across the ‘Verse,” Robert shrugged. “For every Haruhi or Noah, I could name half a dozen Chris Woods, simply living their lives unnoticed. If yesterday hadn’t happened, I think he’d have quite happily gone on running his company.” He leaned forward, expression thoughtful. “But what I’m getting at is that we might be able to show the actions people are taking against ISN are unjustified.”
Eye narrowing, Tamara glanced up at him. “Argue that Scott and the like are just retaliating to one of their friends being reported on?” she asked. Robert nodded, although he did look reluctant, and she shook her head. “No. It’s tempting, I admit. The old battlecry of ‘Freedom of the Press’ and all that, but out here... “ she shook her head again. “No. The truth always comes out. The AIs make sure of that, if nothing else. And media freedom doesn’t excuse bad journalism. Besides,” she muttered, “this one, I think we brought on ourselves.”
Robert shrugged, conceding the point, then glanced towards the doorway as Lucas appeared in it, a panicked look on his face. “Johns’s pulling another stupid stunt,” he said quickly.
“What?!” the catgirl snarled, ears going flat against her head.
“He’s still in Serenity Valley,” the man replied, stepping inside. “I know he got the email to get back here, but he just sent a message to the newsroom. Antilles and Wood just left the JMC offices, and he’s following them to try and get a statement.”
Horror spreading over her features, Tamara dropped back into her chair. “Holy christ,” she whispered. “What the hell is he thinking?”
“The same thing he was thinking when he started this crap,” Robert answered, running a hand through his hair. “That he’s being bold and daring, seizing the initiative. If we don’t broadcast whatever he’s about to do, I’ll bet he’s planning on trying to find a way to get it out there, and probably claim we’re oppressing him in the process.”
Facepalming, Tamara moaned. “God dammit! Anything he does right now is going to splash all over us, even if we never touch it…”
Pulling an iPad from his jacket pocket, Lucas frowned. “We need to get a press release out there,” he said. “Make it as clear as we can that his actions and opinions aren’t supported by ISN-” he paused as his boss twitched, sitting straight up, eyes wide and tail sticking up. “Tam?”
“Not a press release,” she said quietly. “We don’t want to do it like the ‘Danes would. We do this Fen style.” A grin began to form, a terrifying mix of playful and savage. “Loud, proud, and about as subtle as Haruhi,” she noted, searching through the papers scattered across her desk with one hand, the other reaching for her phone.
***
SERENITY VALLEY, GANYMEDE
Glancing at the side mirror, Nene frowned at the ISN News van right behind them. “He’s really got no sense of subtlety, does he?” she grumbled.
“You know, I think he’s trying to intimidate us,” Jeph replied. “Because he’s a big scary reporter out to get us. Ohhhh… so scary...” she added, rolling her eyes.
“I think we should have swung by the Eagle first,” Chris commented from Cerulean Edge’s back seat.
Glancing at the green skinned girl in the rear mirror, Nene rolled her eyes. “You’re not shooting up a news van,” she scolded her. “No matter how much Simmons deserves it.”
Eyes widening, Chris gave her a horrified look. “Nene! I would never destroy an innocent vehicle, even if there’s an asshole driving it,” she declared, then smirked. “That’s why I have a glue gun.”
“I’m pretty sure that still wouldn’t look good,” Jeph muttered.
“It’d make me feel better,” Chris replied with a mild pout. That got a laugh out of the other two, before it was interrupted by the Orions ringtone. “Hmm?” she said, picking it up off the seat next to her and frowning at the unfamiliar number.
Frowning, Jeph glanced back at her. “Careful with that. Odds are good your number’s leaked by now,” she warned.
“Fair point, but I’m feeling lucky,” she said, answering the call in speaker mode. “Hello?”
“Is this Captain Chris Wood of the Void Eagle?” asked an unfamiliar voice. Female, clearly irritated at something.
Chris raised an eyebrow. “Yes, that’s me. Might I ask who’s calling?” she said.
“Someone you’re probably not happy with right now, and justifiably so. But I think we can help each other deal with a mutual problem. You have an ISN News van following you, containing a rather ethically challenged ‘reporter’ with a bad habit of making up stories that have a rather limited connection to reality.”
Jeph snorted, raising her voice to be heard from the front seat. “He’s damn near tailgating us,” she noted. “I’m really damn tempted to slam on the brakes.”
The mystery woman laughed. “Oh so tempting. How would you like to shut him down hard, for all the ‘Verse to see?”
Turning to look at the phone, Nene raised an eyebrow. “Who are you?”
“My name is Tamara Barnes, manager of ISNs news division, and that idiots boss… until I rip him apart on system wide television in a few minutes, that is.” Chris scowled, but the woman continued before she could interrupted. “I know you’ve got no reason to trust me, and more than a few reasons to actively hate me right now. But we did not approve that idiotic stunt he pulled earlier, and what he did to you is crossing the the line as far as I’m concerned personally. I’d like to make it up to you.”
The three women looked at each other, expressions thoughtful. It was Jeph that spoke first, her voice low and cautious. “What did you have in mind?”
***
Chuckling, Nene reached over and took another strawberry from the bowl. "Well, I think someone approves," she noted, dipping it in the chocolate.
Looking over from where she was savoring her own strawberries, Jules gave the blonde an admiring look. "Just where are you getting these from?" she asked, trying to keep her purring to a minimum. "So fresh..."
"There's a farm dome about three hundred miles out," Nene replied, pausing to take a bite. "When I heard what they were trying to grow, I had to step in and back them, obviously..."
"Obviously," the Orion sighed, almost lustfully, as she took another bite of her own snack. "Mmmm... and the wonderful cheesecake?" She managed to ask, licking her lips.
Looking over the curvaceous figure, Nene swallowed despite herself. "Now, that's in Serenity Valley itself. There's this lovely little shop that bakes all their own goods." She smirked slightly. "I've helped them out a little, but I'm a little paranoid about sharing too much information. After all, I need something to bribe A.C. with." Chris glanced over at her, one eyebrow raised, and the blonde grinned. "Don't worry, I trust you not to abuse that knowledge."
Ears perking up, Jules gave Nene a hopeful look. "You're not going to neglect me, are you?" she asked, voice wavering adorably.
"That's a dirty trick," the other woman replied with a mock scowl. Jule's only response was to widen her eyes slightly, pout a little deeper, and generally look much cuter and helpless. "Guh, fine, I'll share. Just turn off the adorbs!" she cried, covering her eyes with her hand, causing the other three women to start laughing and giggling.
After a moment, the laughter was interrupted by an indignant squeak of protest. Turning towards the door, they saw Jeph standing there, hands on her hips. "Oh that is just not fair," she grumbled. "I'm off being the mature adult, and here you lot are, lazing around and enjoying the really nice cheesecake."
Jules raised one finger. "Point of order, if you please," she said. "Only Chris is really going after the cake. I'm falling in love with the strawberries."
JMC's lord and mistress gave her an amused look. "That really doesn't help make me feel better," she noted.
On the table, Kitbashes avatar raised a hand. "Another point of order. I'm not eating. Kinda can't, if I'm honest. I'm only here for the social interaction."
Jeph pouted. "I was still stuck working," she complained, before darting forward and stealing several of Nene's strawberries before the smaller woman could react, grinning playfully at her protests.
Still looking horribly relaxed, Chris merely smiled. "Oh, we’re working too," she told her friend. "We were just a little smarter about it. We’re working on Void Shipping's official press release for the past few days, since apparently my gender and skin color is newsworthy," she said dryly. “And it occurred to us that this was the sort of thing that needs to be done while suitably relaxed. And since I don’t drink, we needed another method.”
“I prefer this approach,” Jules added. “Much more relaxing.”
Kitbash simply shrugged. “I’ve got no way to compare the two.” She paused, looking thoughtful. “There’s got to be a sim program for that around somewhere… Food,” she quickly added at her parents look. “I’m not sure I want to try alcohol.”
Picking up the phone projector, Jeph grinned. “Well, go ahead and google it later. For now, get your shoes back on Chris. We’re due at City Hall in a little bit.”
Blinking, Chris sat up. “Already? Huh.” Stretching, she climbed to her feet, then looked around Nene’s living room. Frowning thoughtfully, she headed for the front door. “Where did I leave them…”
Jeph watched her go, then glanced at Nene. “You are a genius,” she said quietly.
“Jennifer's cheesecake is a wonder of the ‘verse,” Nene replied. “Of course it could help here.”
***
ISN NEWS STUDIOS, CRYSTAL KYOTO, VENUS.
Putting the phone down, Tamara sighed, running a hand down her face. “Dammit dammit dammit…”
“Bad?” Robert asked from the doorway, making the catgirl jump slightly. “Crap. Sorry,” he added.
“Yes. No. Maybe,” she muttered. “There’s good news and bad. The good news is that the Crystal Millennium isn’t immediately revoking our press credentials or our interweave broadcast license.” She snorted, rolling her eyes. “They’re not Noah Scott, they need to discuss such things like an actual democracy. The bad news is that Queen Serenity herself is apparently pretty irritated with us, and that ass from Crystal Seattle has already put us on the List for discussion in parliaments next debate session.” Sighing at the thought of Venus’s isolationist movement deciding they were a valid target, she leaned forward and rested her head on her hands. “So, what’ve you got to drop on me?”
“Well, for starters, Void Shipping issued a press release,” he commented, holding up the first of several printouts he was holding. “There’s not really much to it, for the most part. It’s a nice, bland statement that basically says nothing on the grounds Captain Wood wants to actually give the police his official statement over yesterday's events first, and he still hasn’t had the chance to do that.” Tamara started to ask a question, but Robert beat her to the answer. “No mention of us by name. It does confirm he’s gotten ker-girled and the green skin, so that video John found almost certainly was him.”
“Ker-girled?” Tamara asked despite herself.
“It’s a technical term the Sammies use,” he replied dryly. “Oh, one thing we need to keep in mind. The press release used the term ‘Orion’, not ‘Orion Slave Girl’.”
The catgirl laughed bitterly. “Well of course it did. The concept of ‘Slave Girl’ has certain implications that anyone that’s not a freaking idiot would notice.” Her large, black-furred ears twitched as she said that, grabbing her employees attention. He winced, reminded of just where those ears had come from, but Tamara continued on before he had time to consider it. "Make it clear to any of our people covering this that I expect them to show some common sense regarding the species name."
"Already done," he assured her, then pressed on. "The other thing I wanted to bring up was that the Research department gave me their report on Captain Wood." He sighed, shaking his head as he flipped through the papers in his hands. "You know, I always thought of John as an idiot with too much fondness for filling in the blanks with fiction, but this is kind of sad. He's managed to find a 'conspiracy' that actually exists, but managed to be completely wrong about their goal."
Frowning, Tamara sat up straighter in her chair. "I'm not sure I follow."
"He's claiming Antilles is trying to protect the Professor," Rob noted, "when anyone with a functional brain can tell he's simply helping a friend. And he's not the only one." He smirked at the surprised look on his boss's face. "Captain Chris Wood and Void Shipping seem to have connections to quite a few SMOFs," he said. "Stellvia has them under contract for several of their major routes, including Artemis and Nikaido related projects. JMC outsources to them on a regular basis. He's been a regular poster on Schroecks forums since before Grover's Corner launched, so on and so on.”
Reaching over her desk, Tamara grabbed the papers out of Roberts hands.”Give me that,” she demanded, spreading them out in front of her. “Not quite a Big Name Fen, but damn close,” she muttered. “How have we never heard of him before yesterday?”
“Not everyone’s interested in being known across the ‘Verse,” Robert shrugged. “For every Haruhi or Noah, I could name half a dozen Chris Woods, simply living their lives unnoticed. If yesterday hadn’t happened, I think he’d have quite happily gone on running his company.” He leaned forward, expression thoughtful. “But what I’m getting at is that we might be able to show the actions people are taking against ISN are unjustified.”
Eye narrowing, Tamara glanced up at him. “Argue that Scott and the like are just retaliating to one of their friends being reported on?” she asked. Robert nodded, although he did look reluctant, and she shook her head. “No. It’s tempting, I admit. The old battlecry of ‘Freedom of the Press’ and all that, but out here... “ she shook her head again. “No. The truth always comes out. The AIs make sure of that, if nothing else. And media freedom doesn’t excuse bad journalism. Besides,” she muttered, “this one, I think we brought on ourselves.”
Robert shrugged, conceding the point, then glanced towards the doorway as Lucas appeared in it, a panicked look on his face. “Johns’s pulling another stupid stunt,” he said quickly.
“What?!” the catgirl snarled, ears going flat against her head.
“He’s still in Serenity Valley,” the man replied, stepping inside. “I know he got the email to get back here, but he just sent a message to the newsroom. Antilles and Wood just left the JMC offices, and he’s following them to try and get a statement.”
Horror spreading over her features, Tamara dropped back into her chair. “Holy christ,” she whispered. “What the hell is he thinking?”
“The same thing he was thinking when he started this crap,” Robert answered, running a hand through his hair. “That he’s being bold and daring, seizing the initiative. If we don’t broadcast whatever he’s about to do, I’ll bet he’s planning on trying to find a way to get it out there, and probably claim we’re oppressing him in the process.”
Facepalming, Tamara moaned. “God dammit! Anything he does right now is going to splash all over us, even if we never touch it…”
Pulling an iPad from his jacket pocket, Lucas frowned. “We need to get a press release out there,” he said. “Make it as clear as we can that his actions and opinions aren’t supported by ISN-” he paused as his boss twitched, sitting straight up, eyes wide and tail sticking up. “Tam?”
“Not a press release,” she said quietly. “We don’t want to do it like the ‘Danes would. We do this Fen style.” A grin began to form, a terrifying mix of playful and savage. “Loud, proud, and about as subtle as Haruhi,” she noted, searching through the papers scattered across her desk with one hand, the other reaching for her phone.
***
SERENITY VALLEY, GANYMEDE
Glancing at the side mirror, Nene frowned at the ISN News van right behind them. “He’s really got no sense of subtlety, does he?” she grumbled.
“You know, I think he’s trying to intimidate us,” Jeph replied. “Because he’s a big scary reporter out to get us. Ohhhh… so scary...” she added, rolling her eyes.
“I think we should have swung by the Eagle first,” Chris commented from Cerulean Edge’s back seat.
Glancing at the green skinned girl in the rear mirror, Nene rolled her eyes. “You’re not shooting up a news van,” she scolded her. “No matter how much Simmons deserves it.”
Eyes widening, Chris gave her a horrified look. “Nene! I would never destroy an innocent vehicle, even if there’s an asshole driving it,” she declared, then smirked. “That’s why I have a glue gun.”
“I’m pretty sure that still wouldn’t look good,” Jeph muttered.
“It’d make me feel better,” Chris replied with a mild pout. That got a laugh out of the other two, before it was interrupted by the Orions ringtone. “Hmm?” she said, picking it up off the seat next to her and frowning at the unfamiliar number.
Frowning, Jeph glanced back at her. “Careful with that. Odds are good your number’s leaked by now,” she warned.
“Fair point, but I’m feeling lucky,” she said, answering the call in speaker mode. “Hello?”
“Is this Captain Chris Wood of the Void Eagle?” asked an unfamiliar voice. Female, clearly irritated at something.
Chris raised an eyebrow. “Yes, that’s me. Might I ask who’s calling?” she said.
“Someone you’re probably not happy with right now, and justifiably so. But I think we can help each other deal with a mutual problem. You have an ISN News van following you, containing a rather ethically challenged ‘reporter’ with a bad habit of making up stories that have a rather limited connection to reality.”
Jeph snorted, raising her voice to be heard from the front seat. “He’s damn near tailgating us,” she noted. “I’m really damn tempted to slam on the brakes.”
The mystery woman laughed. “Oh so tempting. How would you like to shut him down hard, for all the ‘Verse to see?”
Turning to look at the phone, Nene raised an eyebrow. “Who are you?”
“My name is Tamara Barnes, manager of ISNs news division, and that idiots boss… until I rip him apart on system wide television in a few minutes, that is.” Chris scowled, but the woman continued before she could interrupted. “I know you’ve got no reason to trust me, and more than a few reasons to actively hate me right now. But we did not approve that idiotic stunt he pulled earlier, and what he did to you is crossing the the line as far as I’m concerned personally. I’d like to make it up to you.”
The three women looked at each other, expressions thoughtful. It was Jeph that spoke first, her voice low and cautious. “What did you have in mind?”
***