Rebirth and Second Chances

Chapter 184: Money, Money

"I've not had much success," Princess Wynne admitted. "I was able to track down the method Olympus used to smuggle people in and out of Talahm. The people involved included an entire shift of teleport monitors that were easily identified.

"The monitors were paid to ignore certain cargoes that were sent through. They were never informed who was supplying the funds or asking for the favors, but names were dropped, including Queen Mab. As long as people entered and were able to display a token, the Consul Atreides seal, they were allowed in.

"Goods, cargo, people. Anything with that seal was given immunity from search and seizure based on bribes and coercion. The Atreides House is insignificant in politics, their only claim to any power is Consul Harkens, a minor diplomat, considered to be more a functionary and attach at best. But his Harkens father is General Atreides, and that relationship allows him to command benefits based on his military and political connections.

"I was able to get access to Consul Atreides M-AI. The one that is used for his duties with the embassy was easily infiltrated, but his personal device has military level encryptions the embassy lacks," she explained. "Encryptions that are more advanced than anything I have seen anywhere but inside CERN."

"Do you believe the Consul Atreides is involved or was his name, connections, and seal stolen by some other organization to facilitate the smuggling?" I asked.

"He's a stooge," Lord Aesin said interjecting himself into the conversation for the first time. "The reason he was assigned to the Embassy was to give him the semblance of power without any real responsibilities. He owes his position to his father.

"If not for the respect and sacrifice General Atreides has made, he would be relegated to some minor holding in a backwater planet. Safely hidden and assigned duties that would keep him occupied and out of trouble."

"His father has all but disowned him for a younger sister," Wynne agreed.

"Then perhaps he is in league with those behind this?" I suggested. "Even if simply acting on orders, a flunky easily discarded if circumstance demanded?"

"No," Aesin denied emphatically. "He may not have his father's backing, not officially, but he does continue to have the protection of his name. No one would dare risk angering General Atreides by making use of a child of his House."

"Is it possible the General is involved?" I wondered.

"Unlikely," Aesin answered. "The General is a devotee of Athena, not Ares. He is known for his brilliance as a strategist. He would be intelligent enough to recognize the repercussions of failure. His abilities in risk assessment are unapparelled. It might have been approached, but he is too savvy to not realize that the plan would fail at some point."

"Meddling with System? Trying to use a loophole in the electromagnetic spectrum to introduce a virus? The plan was doomed to fail from the beginning. System is too powerful not to have fail-safes in place that would generate solutions at some point," Wynne explained.

"I have to agree," Lord Aesin said, "how could they hide their activities when the entire enterprise was predicated around empowering a new class of Gods."

"He would have discussed the information with Athena if he had any reservations or thought the plan had the slightest chance of success, and she is a Goddess of Wisdom. I believe that she would have forbidden his intervention, at the minimum. She may have even directed him to interfere. The thought of a new cadre of Gods, perhaps usurping Her position and Power? Only Zeus and his cohorts would have the hubris to believe they could control the ramifications. If there is a way for System to be successfully exploited, Athena would have found the means long ago."

"So, where does that leave us?" I asked. "It seems all avenues of investigation have reached a dead-end."

"Not completely," Aesin advised. "Whatever plans they had instigated on Talahm or closed. The replacement of key figures discovered, the illusions broken, and reparations paid when you presented the legion of prisoners before the Senate.

"But planet Ijal is an opportunity for both sides," he continued. "It will be the first planet added to the Tuatha de Danaan Pantheon, and if these sent to claim the Dungeon core can influence how System evolves and adapts, they may be able to inject a 'back door' or workaround that deal with the Summerlands restrictions."

"Are our people in danger from sabotage on Ijal?" Wynne asked.

"I doubt it," I said understanding what Lord Aesin was suggesting. "The Olympians and Asgardians probably want us to succeed as badly as we do. At this point, it is there best chance to affect the impasse that has existed since the Tuatha de Danaan entered sleep. I believe they hope that something we do will loosen restrictions on the Summerlands, a mistake of System Integration between the two worlds."

"Exactly," Aesin agreed, "if anything, they will nudge events, watch from the shadows, and possibly even give subtle help to the party of adventurers that have been assigned the Quest to claim the planet. Help that they hope will guide events and System integration in their favor."

"I think so too," I said. "In the meantime, we have to come up with a new strategy to target and investigate who was responsible for Wynne's daughter's death."

"If you think they might be a chance for them to gain access to the Summerlands," Wynne said, "wouldn't it be better to forgo claiming the planet? The Sidhe cannot risk losing the only advantage they have over the other Pantheons by losing control of this dimension."

"I believe Zeus and Odin are going to be greatly disappointed when Ijal has been claimed and System integration is complete," I said assuaging her worries. "System was unable to punish those people that had the temerity to insert a virus. Do you think It will reward them at this point?"

"You believe the System holds a grudge? Aren't you using Anthropomorphism with the construct?" Wynne asked.

"I don't believe so," I said, not explaining that I had had conversations with System's avatar and knew that logic and data did not equate with emotionless responses. I believed System was pissed over what Olympus had attempted, and it was only the constraints programmed in that disallowed retribution that had kept them safe.

But that didn't mean it couldn't nudge events, assign harder quests, give out substandard rewards, and place restrictions on experience gains. System couldn't harm them, but it could make it harder for them.

"Wynne. You and your people learned how to program, hack, and insert viruses while you were trapped in the CERN dungeon. I think it might be best to expand on your actions. Instead of using those abilities to try to hack networks and servers for information, maybe it's time to use those skills for something besides information gathering.

"Aesin, I want your Aziza to begin investigating businesses, feuds, and alliances between Olympus and Asgard. Ferret out any tidbit of information you can find. I want to know who is cheating with whom, who is skimming money from business coffers, and who is double-dealing.

"Wynne trace the money, please. Start with those companies that have the most use and need for Silinium. I want you to steal every bit of corporate information you can find. Who are the major investors in these businesses? What ties do they have to the Gods?

"Pay special attention to research and development information. I want that information in our hands soonest. If we can begin to use that information and start to apply for Patents, we will force those companies to begin their own investigations into how we co-opted those technologies. Investigations that we can monitor.

"Let them do some of the work for us.

"Once you have the research and financial information, corrupt it, enter a virus that destroys the current data as well as anything stored on their backup servers.

"And our people on Ijal?" Aesin asked.

"System has already begun integrating changes. Ryu contacted me late last night with a new System feature that allows us to communicate even without a ley-line communication matrix and array established.

"We can chat in real-time. Additionally, there are advantages for Ryu as a member of House Teigh. Advantages that allow for re-supply or fielding equipment as events unfold," I promised.

"I'm not going to ask you how you did it, but I am guessing that you managed to place an Aziza spy with them? Someone that arrived on Ijal when they did?" I asked Aesin, confident in his abilities. You might consider having him contact Ryu to gain access to this new messaging System.

"And Wynne," I said making sure she realized the importance of what I was about to suggest, "you are perhaps the only Sidhe who has any idea about the materials and construction plans for building a Hadron Collider.

"System may have made it impossible to be built and operated now, but if you can cross-reference records and material acquisitions from twenty years ago? Find out who was purchasing materials that would be unique to constructing that piece of equipment? I think you might find yourself very close to finding your target."