To: Otis Jethro VP IND, COO Renzu Corporation, CFO Liberty Police Incorporated

[oZoneRanger]

**Incoming Transmission**
**Modulating Frequency**
**Encryption HIGH**

To: Otis Jethro
VP IND, COO Renzu Corporation, CFO Liberty Police
Incorporated

From:Phillip DeLafontain
Director General -icTransport-
Toronto Station
Ontario

Greetings Mr. Jethro, I'm hoping this message finds you well and in good spirits. Sorry for the confusion in who to address this matter to. I hope you understand. Things around the IC offices are a bit up in the air at the moment as I'm sure you can understand.

I will go ahead and put my cards on the table. Keeping anything from you and Independent Neural Net Division would be a waste of both or our time, and not a good way to start a dialog.

-icT- has been granted a limited transport permit to operate in Gallia, for the purpose of delivering Neon, (I am hoping to expand the agreement in the near future to include Platinum), and to bring back wine and tobacco (and I hope in the future Cryocubes). I am now waiting for final approval from the Gallia Govenment on this matter.

At the moment, as far as I am aware, icT is the only one of the IC subdivision (at least in Liberty) that has been able to reach an agreement of this sort with Gallia.

While the conditions of this agreement are strict and the route to Gallia is full of peril, I think that it is well worth the effort to start new trading routes with the Gallia.

Now...back to the rental of office space. Please keep in mind, as majority shareholder in LPI, that icT dedicates lots of time in its trading schedule to keep LPI Sugarland and Huntsville supplied with all its needs. Something I see few other companies doing. While the price per month seems a bit steep. I am not in a position to bargain and I am aware of this. It is a take or leave it situation.

The only way I see icT being able to pay this amount is if this contract with Gallia goes through. I don't know, if the Independent Neural Net Division has any pull in that part of space, but if you do, putting in a good word for icT, would go along way in help us meet our rent payments on time.

I know that there are two discussion going on here. On one hand the rent for office space, on the other hand a trade contract with Gallia, but to me they go hand in hand. I wont be able to make the payments just supplying LPI bases with its its needs.

Lets see if you are agreeable to the following.
icT will pay 25mill credits for the rest of this calendar month, for the office space on Toronto station. Should I get approval from the Gallia government to being Neon shipments, We will gladly pay the 50million you ask.

I am also sending you copies of all conversations icT has had with Gallia on this matter, so you can see that we would be able to play this monthly rent.

Yes, it is funny how things work out, and should this fall through, no hard feeling on my end, its just business.

Phillip DeLafontain
Director General
icTransports
Toronto Station
Ontario

Original proposal from icT to Gallia

Approval of the Terms from Gallia

Responce from icT to the approval

Request for final confirmation from Gallia

[Zelot]

>>>>>INCOMING TRANSMISSION<<<<<
Comm ID: Otis Jethro Vice President, IND
Location: Renzu Headquarters, Roppongi Station, New Tokyo

Mr. DeLafontain,

Ya know Phil.. can I call ya Phil? I'm sure youre relaxed enough to be a Phil. Anyway Phil, I went to bed thinking about this last night, and it occured to me. There is no reason we cant be freinds, IC and IND. It's a big sector, and to quote our President Pro-Tem John Winchester, "It's always better to have friends than enemies." So, of course 25 million for the first month is perfectly fine. After that though, instead of 50 million a month, I was thinking we could find a more interesting arrangement. You see, I think building a closer relationship between our organizations couldn't be a bad thing. There are things we can help you with, and there are also things you can help us with.

One of the things that would could use your help with is a small bit of office space. Obviously when we left Interspace we gave up the leases on our offices on Roppongi, Bonn, Newark, and Waterloo. IND has been in the process of consolidating our corporate headquarters in the Oita system, where we are building Wall Street Station, which is estimated to be complete in late 819. Our small corporate staff has been operating our the the Renzu offices on Roppongi and the LPI offices on Fort Bush. Now of course, one of the reasons we left Interspace was to rid ourselves of the large corporate bureaucracy that was holding us back. We dont regret the move one bit, but we do miss having a small office in each house, and a suit of rooms for our people to stay in during business meetings and the like. Five residence suites on each of the five Interspace bases, Newark, Roppongi, Bonn, Waterloo and Furyoku would do the trick perfectly.

In exchange for those twenty five residential suits, the IND would cover the lease on Toronto, paying all costs and fees for the life of our contract. We will also offer you the lease on a small office and housing suit on Wall Street Station when its construction is complete. A small note, While that would give you access to the Oita system, you would have to make your own arraignments with anyone necessary to get to Oita.

Unfortunately, we do not have much political clout in Gallia, so we would unlikely be any help to you on that front.

This is just an idea, I think it can work to the benefit of both of our companies, as well as maybe get over some hard feelings. If you aren't interested in the idea, that's fine and the offer on the lease at Toronto still stands.

I look forward to your thoughts.

Otis

---

 

[oZoneRanger]

Phillip DeLafontaine was asleep in his chair, feet up on his desk, he was in a beautiful dream, sipping Gallic wine on some far off beach in his head, where the air was fresh, the sun shinning and life was good and perfect..

"MISTER LAFUENTE..."

His assistants high pitched booming voice made him loose his balance, and from a perfect sleep he awoke to find himself on the floor of his office with a large bumb on the back of his head.

"MISTER LAFUENTE...."

He pulled him self up to the edge of his desk and hit the intercom.

"Maria its DELAFONTAIN...Fontain...not Fuente"

He rubbed the back of his head and wondered if his headache was due to his crash with reality or the 2 bottles of wine he drank before passing out at his desk.

"What is it maria?"

"Sir" her whisper voice came over the speaker "sir the ion storm has passed, the comms are up again"

He was now annoyed, bruised and hungover.
"speak up Maria I can't hear you "

"DE STORM HAS PASSED..YOU HAVE A MESSAGE FROM MR. JET ROW, DO YOU KNOW IF HE IS CUTE HE SOUND RICH"

He grabbed his aching head. He sat down in his chair. The severity of his reality comming to full weight on his shoulders. He hit the intercom.

"Maria could you please come in here". It was the last straw, he was going to fire her.

A few moments later, she appeared in the door way. She must have know she was going to get fired. She was wearing her tightest blouse and shortest skirt. The outline of her figure in his doorway made him loose his thoughts for a brief second. He remembered why he had hired her. Eye candy for prospective clients.

"Yes Mr. LaFontaaaaiiiin" she said meekly with a flirtish grin, putting emphasis on the last part of his last name.

"ahh...nothing..nothing..Maria..send Mr Jethros message to my terminal, and bring my some pharmaceuticals would you please."

"Yes Mr Lafuente" she said curtly, looking at her nails, as if sensing that the danger of unemployment had passed.

He rubbed the back of his head. All of a sudden curious "..ah Maria, why do you think Mr. Jethro to be rich?"

She peaked her head around the corner with excitement in her eyes. "Becouse... he want you to seel him 25 apartamentos...thas is allot of bathrooms..aiii quien pudiera tener un hombre asi" her voice trailed off behind her as she went to get the pharma.

"He what?' he though to himself. He hit a couple of keys and waited for the message to show up on screen. "she is half crazy, but nice to look at" he mused

The message came up and he started to read it. "Nope, shes not that crazy after all" he thought. "At least there is no bad news here", he thought to himself, "and a unique opportunity to rid himself of stale spacestation air for good." He could hear Marias voice coming back to his office.

"...tiene que ser un hombre muy rico..all those houses ...Here mister Lafuente" she said handing over the pills. As she turned to leave, she put on her best wiggle, knowing her boss would be watching her walk out, all men watched her walk. She knew it, used it and liked the attention.

"Thank you Maria" his eyes lost somewhere between the small of her back and her knees. "Anything from Gallia yet Maria?". He popped the pills into his mouth and washed them down with the last bit of the wine left over from the night before.

"Gallia? no notting yet Mr.Lafuente."

He finished reading the message. Pulled up a fresh transmit page and started to work. He didn't care what he had to do. Beg, borrow, steal, sell his first yet unborn child, it didn't matter. He was going to live the good life no matter what it took. And a nice little office on a nice new station sounded like to perfect place to be.

"Maria.." he said while typing.."have the cafeteria send up a pot of Java and take the rest of the day off."

"Really Mr. Lafuente...oh thank you, I think I go get my nails done..." her voice trailed off, as he put his thoughts together.

As much as she was nice to look at, he didn't need her around to read over his shoulder. And he could do with out the squealing tone in her voice considering the condition of his head. And, she had already proven to him that she could play dumb real good. He could not risk taking any chances of any of this getting out.

[oZoneRanger]

**Incoming Transmission**

**Modulating Frequency**

**Encryption HIGH**

To: Otis Jethro
VP IND, COO Renzu Corporation, CFO Liberty Police
Incorporated

From:Phillip DeLafontain
Director General -icTransport-
Toronto Station
Ontario

Mr. Jethro:

My dear friend Otis, I can call you friend cant I? I find its better to do business with friends or at least with people that have a common interest. I think we can work something out on this matter, but there are a couple of ..how would I say this ...small, insignificant problems to address.

I'm not going to beat around the bush here, I'm just going to throw this out there for ya ponder and take into consideration.

When you guys ran IC, it was primarily an Insurance Company as I'm sure you know more about this than I. The Transport division was like the bastard step child of IC. Little if no attention was given to this part of the company. Now, since you guys have left, things have changed quite a bit it seems.

At the moment there is no "Official" board of directors at IC. As yet, I still have access to IC communications, and I have seen some interesting things floating through the comms terminal at my desk. Though this access will probably change once a new board is elected.

Now Ill be honest with ya. I'm just a small squirl trying to bust a big nut in a hostile universe. My division, icTransports, has two ships flagged under IC but in essence we have not been asked to join the party.

I really cant rent ya what I don't have access to or is not mine. With that said, IC's properties belong to no one and everyone at the moment. For example, with no "official" board of directors in place how can THIS contract take place? Now I was curious about it and it seems that the Person (entry #8) representing this contract for IC is, of all things, a full time Navy pilot who in her spare time has the authority to make multi million credit deals. Also, it seems to me that instead of Insuring cargo, the new IC will be dealing more with long run shipping than Insurance. Essentially leaving me and my ships out of work as well as potentially giving USI and (I'm not trying to scare ya here Otis), IND a run for their money.

Now, here is where the opportunity lies. Possesion is 9/10th of the law. Hell, Ill sell ya the 25 suites your looking for. why lease when you can own? Legally (and have your lawyers look into this), I'm probably in just as much authority to sign something in the name of IC as anyone else at the moment, seeing as a new board of directors is not in place.

You right up the contracts Ill sign them, you establish your self on the property and let the lawyers bicker about for eons. In exchange, you let me have that nice office space out in Iota you were talking about and set of new identification cards for me and my assistant.

If this sounds a bit off the level for ya. Hey, were just talking amongst friends and no harm done.

If not, I've got 75mill for rest of this month and next month, for the rent on Toronto station. I just need an account to send it to.

Let me know something soon. This window of opportunity will probably close fast.

Phillip DelaFontain
Director General icTranports (not to be confused with IC)
Toronto Station
Ontario

[oZoneRanger]

Maria knew the routine well. Every morning she would spend an hour getting herself ready. She had learned to mix and match her closes so it never looked like she was wearing the same thing twice. She would put on just enough makeup on to accentuate her features, but not pass over into what her mother would call a "Zorra barata".

The one item always present in her daily collage of color and cloth, was a round Opal necklace, an old family heirloom, and the only thing she had managed to keep with her since she was a little girl. It was the size of a small coin and hung around her neck from a Platinum small link chain and rested between what she liked to call "her best weapons". Men were going to stare at them anyway, so she gave them an easy excuse to do so.

Before the elevator door opened, she knew who she would see. The two LPI security guards assigned to this part of Toronto station.

"Worthless perros" she though to herself. She didn't mind putting on a show, she had done so as a means of survival for so long it was second nature. But these two were worthless, less than worthless, they offered her nothing useful at all and she had to pass by them at least 5 times a day.

She adjusted her security badge into a strategic position above her left breast. Again giving the officers one more easy excuse to gawk at her assets.

The elevator door opened, and as if on cue, the officers where at the far end of the Hall, as they were everyday. The security station was right next to the elevator door, but they were always at the opposite end, clearly against regulations, when she arrived.
"They like to see me coming instead of going" she mused to herself.

She put on her best innocent but seductive smile, and gave them a walk her mother had made her practice over and over again. "You walk like this Hija Mia and no man will ever stop you". Her mother was right. Her strut down the hall was hypnotic.

As every other morning, in her left had she carried a small tray with 5 cups of coffee. Perfectly balanced, not a drop would spill, while it seemed that every other part of her was bouncing and giggling with just the right amount of movement to stay within a proper level of decor and not appear to cheap and within reach.
"You have to make men want you, but also make it clear that they can never ever have you". Again her mother had been on the mark once again.

They watched her walk towards them. Their eyes drooling with lust. The younger one would always look at the floor and try and steal a glance here and there. The old one, he had no problems with looking and letting her know that he was.

"Good morning Mr. Fife" she said to the older one, addressing him first as he was in charge. "Barney you look handsome this morning are you lifting weights" she said to the younger.

"Good morning Maria" they both said in unison and on cue. This was the best part of the elder officers day. The younger one, had never had a woman talk to him like she did, and was in a state of nervous perpetual blush when she was around.

"Here boys, I brought you some fresh coffee" she said handing over the cups one by one.

She knew what came next. The older one, Mr. Fife, handed his coffee over to Barney the younger officer.

"Sorry Maria, need to scan you ID, protocol you know"

"Why of course Mr. fife, scan me all you like" she said with a giggle as they thrust out her upper body just a few inches.

The hand held ID scanners worked from a range of 6 meters. But the older officer would always take her ID in his right hand, and press the scanner up against the security card with his left, thus forcing his right hand to press up against her exposed skin on her upper breast, his pinky finger he tracing a small circle on her skin.

She smiled and looked deeply into the old man.

"Everything in order Mr. Fife?" she said softly.. (one day I will put a knife into both of your eyes you old useless leach of a man) thinking this at the same time she asked her question.

" ahh...yes...yes Maria..everything is in order" The old man, removed his hand from her badge and grabbed the coffee from his underling who was staring at his shoes, his face flush with emotions he did not understand. The older officer had not even bothered to check the results on the scanner.

" You know, maybe one day.." putting her fingertips on the old mans flaccid chest and moving them downward a few centimeters.., "if dat thing don't work, you have to frisk me" said Maria with a picaresque smile, adding the final touch to her rouse.

With that, she walked off to the -icT- office leaving them behind to deal with their thoughts.

"Good bye boys" she said.
"Good bye Maria" said the two officers. When she was out of earshot. The older one turned to the younger. "See that...she wants me..I know it"
"Yea..*snort* looks like she does *snort*" said the red faced novice cop.


She reached the office and entered the security code.
"Good Morning Mr. Lafuente" she said " I brought you some fresh coffee." The man never seemed to leave the office. They had much more space than they needed.

A voice came over the intercom "Tain Maria..DelaFontain...please get it right someday."

She enjoyed toying with him like this. But today she though she would give him a break. She tapped a few keystrokes on her terminal to check for new messages.
She began to walk to his office "Sorry sir, I go home and practice in the mirror every night your name..but its difficult to say for a girl like me." She said as she put the 3 coffees on his desk, and sat down in the chair across the desk from him.

Phillip looked at her as she walked in. He wondered how it was she could look so pristine and new everyday.

"Any new transmissions?" asked Phillip. He had worked all night on shipping schedules and plotting out his next move and was at a loss as to what to do next.

"No sir..nothing..aiii nothing from Mr. JetRow" she said as she clasp her hand above her heart. "and nothing from the King of Gallia either."

"Damn.." he said " this is not good" he sat staring at his desk, unaware of her observing his every move.

A dead silence lingered in the air as Phillip was lost in thought.

"Mr. DelaFontaiiiin" she said, playing with his name just a bit more. " A king is like a woman, you have to give them more than they ask for if you want them to notice you" she said nonchalantly looking at her freshly done nails. " You could send him flowers of something maybe"

"Don't be silly Maria, I can't send the King of Gallia a basket of fruit and some flowers and expect that to get this deal done." He fumed at here naivety, becoming annoyed.

"Of course not sir, but you have much more office space here than you need, you have 4 floors you do not use." still looking at her nails "maybe they need some place to stay the night when they come here." She stopped with a flash in her eyes " Do you know if these Gallia people are good looking?" adding the last part to deflect just how smart her idea was.

He looked at her. "Im going to have to keep on eye on this one." He thought, she is not as much a pushover as she pretends to be. But he had to admit, she was right. He did have something more to offer these Gallia folks. He was a bit disappointed in himself for not having thought of it before.

"You know Maria" he stood up, pulled out his wallet and took 3000 Sirus credits from it. "You are right, Maria, I hate to admit it but it is true." handing over the credits to her he said. "Her take this, go out and buy yourself some nice things, we may need to travel soon, and I want you to look nice."

"WHAT YOU MEAN LOOK NICE" she stood up taking the money from his hand at the same time. " THIS " she gestured with her hands with a wild flare of motion "IS NOT NICE TO YOU? " she said as she spun around and let him take a good look and then started to walk out the door "Pinche cabron..you would not know nice if it bit you on the ass Mr.L A F U E N T E" Her voice trailing off, she had a smile on her face he could not see.

"I meant sophisticated Maria...sophisticated" answered back Phillip.

"SOPHISTICATED?...NOW YOU CALL ME STUPID..me cago en todos tus muertos you malparido..." her voice halted by the slam of the front office door. Her face still smiling.

Phillip smiled to himself. He was beginning to catch on to her act, and it didn't bother him one bit. She was turning out to be a nice addition to his staff of one.
He started to work on a new letter to the King of Gallia and waited to hear from Otis Jethro.

Unaware to both of them, the opal necklace around her neck had been a witness to everything.