2013.05.23 - Six Million Dollar Salvage

When you're a crook, it helps to project at least an /air/ of respectability. It also helps to be able to produce the goods. Of course, not just any crook can walk into Hammer Industries with goods to sell, but the demonstration by Corvis' people to someone further down the Hammer food chain was clearly enough to earn them a push up. It isn't some tough or even a slick man in a suit that Corvis sends to the meeting - it's a woman. She is beautiful, yes, but conservatively and professionally attired. Dark hair swept to one side, makeup playing up her coffee-coloured features. She's accompanied by a man who looks like a bodyguard, who carries a case. She stops at the desk and asks in a British accent, "We've an appointment with Mister Hammer? Anna Castor."

When the lead engineer had first been approached and shown the tech, he had wanted it for himself. However, there was no way that he could make the asking price, so he did the next best thing. He told his boss about the opportunity. It would work out almost as well, since he would certainly be bumped up to a comfortable position within the company for his disclosure. Taking a chance and calling a meeting with the CEO of Hammer Industries himself, the engineer passed along the contact information. Calls were made, and a meeting set up...

Behind the large reception desk at the back of the Hammer Industries tower lobby a young woman with light skin and hair looks up from the desk. There's a security guard behind her, clad in black, who also looks toward the approaching pair. Blinking a bit as Anna Castor speaks, the receptionist smiles. "Alright, let me call up," she replies in a business like, but still friendly, tone. She picks up the phone receiver, dials, and notifies the party on the other end of the line who is downstairs. A pause, then, "I'll send them right up." Cradling the handset, the receptionist offers a smile and points back and to the left, toward the elevators. "They're expecting you. 20th floor."

Anna murmurs a polite 'thank you' and moves towards the elevator that takes them up to the meeting. If she is unused to dealing with high-profile people, she doesn't show it. The man who trails her and carries the case is likewise impassive. Presuming that the meeting place is easy to recognize, she leads her tagalong there.

The entire 20th floor is the CEO's suite. The secretary's desk is facing the elevators, almost like a second lobby. As soon as the elevators open, she picks up the phone. "They're here, sir," she says, then nods at the response. With a wave of her hand, she points to the large doors directly behind her desk. "Mr. Hammer is expecting you, go on in."

Inside the office, Justin is sitting behind his desk. By remaining in his office and making his two guests come to him he hopes to give off an air of some sort of power. The office itself is large, all of the rear wall floor to ceiling windows that look out over the R&D portions of the complex and the city skyline beyond. It's an impressive view. to the side of the desk is a large conference table and a set of chairs done in dark hardwood and stainless steel that matches the cabinets, bookcases and flooring. When the door to the office opens Hammer waits just a second, then stands to greet his guests with a smile that is anything but genuine and friendly. "Hello and welcome," he offers to Anna and her companion.

"Mister Hammer. Anna Castor. This is Jacob," she nods back to the big man. The lack of a last name establishes two things - that the man is working for her, and the man isn't likely to speak. "A pleasure to meet you. Thank you for seeing us. I must say, I'm surprised we've gotten to see the man himself. We're honoured."

Justin steps around his desk, straightening his suit jacket as he does so. He offers his right hand to Anna to shake. After he shakes hands with the woman, he'll offer his hand to Jacob as well. "After hearing what you had to offer, I knew I wanted to meet you myself," he says. "No way would I want to pass up dealing with this personally." He waves a hand toward the large conference table. "Make yourselves at home. Would either of you care for a drink? My personal collection is at your disposal." The CEO's personal liquor collection is proudly displayed on glass-doored shelves on the wall near the conference table.

"Ah, sparkling water if you have it, if not, ordinary water will do," says Anna amiably. It's as if this was a normal business meeting, and not at all a meeting to sell illegal and very likely stolen weaponry. She nods to Jacob, who opens the case to reveal a shielded box. "What have your people told you about this device, Mister Hammer?"

With the slightest bow, Justin turns toward the bar. "Absolutely," he tells Anna, not bothering to ask Jacob if he would like anything. He didn't speak up, and Justin isn't going to play nicey-nice with the help. That would make him look potentially weak. Opening the fridge that sits under the bar area, he pulls out a glass bottle of high-end sparkling water and sets it on the counter. He pours himself a glass of expensive scotch, then brings both the bottle and his glass to the table. He sits at the head of the table, and intently watches as the case is opened and it's contents presented. "That it's an extremely effective, precise and clean weapon," he replies. "Makes my HI-77 sniper rifle look like a BB-gun."

"It makes it look more like a water pistol," says Anna quite proudly and with a bit of childish glee, considering she's talking about a precision killing machine. "Mister Corvis does not exaggerate the capabilities of his products."

The case lies open and there's a black cloth covering the device. She reveals it and, well, it looks like nothing else on Earth. It is about the size of a desktop laserjet printer. Its square base is made of a gunmetal alloy that refracts in the most curious way. On the platform sits a round orb that grows a pale purple. On the surface of the orb are several symbols. "We've nicknamed this device the Scalpel. It quite literally snuffs people out without touching anything around it, while leaving no trace."

As much as he tries to seem distant or even disinterested, Justin can't help but grin when he sees the device in person, and hears about it's capabilities. Something like this would most certainly put him on the top of the defense contractor's food chain. There's no way Stark could compete with that. Looking up from the case and it's contents to Anna, he asks, "How does it do against hardened targets- armor, vehicles, that sort of thing?" He motions with his left hand as he talks, his right on his glass of scotch.

"The device works by attaching a seeker," Anna reaches for a small case and touches a finger to a row of small, barely noticeable black dots with an adhesive. "The seeker can be attached with a touch, or by deploying a UMV or a conventional sniper rifle. It only needs to adhere, and once it's attached, it's virtually undetectable." Anna places her hand on the orb and the symbols light up where she touches. It projects a map in the air with a series of lights at various spots. "Test targets. This one..." with her free hand, she indicates one that appears to be located in New York. She zooms in on the map, which changes to a satellite image, "I took the liberty of attaching to one of the sculptures in your courtyard. The smallest one, on the inside of the piece, there." The sculpture is one of those impressionist pieces of dozens of stone spires rising up out of the ground.

Anna pauses a moment to sip her sparkling water, then flashes a smile at Justin. "Keep your eye on the birdie." And then there's a noticeable charge in the air. The globe starts to glow, then discharges. The spire appears to simply...disappear. She removes her hand from the orb. "It doesn't matter what arms the target has. It doesn't matter how far away it is. If you used this on an enemy tank, the tank would vanish from around the soldiers. Or, if you wish to kill the soldiers as well, you can set it for a wider field. A tank is the largest target I'd recommend with the device's current configuration, however."

Justin listens intently, taking a sip of the scotch as he takes in the details of the device's operation. It would be simple to modify one of his existing rifle designs to fire the tiny tracking dots, or even design a new delivery system all together for more close-up work. When Anna says she's chosen one of the pieces of art in the building's courtyard as a test subject, he arches a brow. He had paid good money for those installations, and it's really ballsy of the woman to want to zap it out of existence. He could have provided a dozen different items that would have worked as viable demonstration targets...

Hammer's disappointment in the choice of target is short lived when he sees the weapon fire. It's simple, clean, effective, and only took one of the spires out of the sculpture. His face splits into a grin and he nods once. "Impressive, impressive," he comments. "I must say, you've really brought something to the table here. You say that a tank is the largest target in the current configuration, how hard would it be to modify or reconfigure the weapon?"

"Well, Mister Hammer, that depends on how clever your scientists are. I'm afraid it doesn't come with a manual. Beyond basic operating instructions, that is. We wouldn't leave you completely blind. But I can't tell you how it works." Anna removes her hand and the device powers down. "But it does. Exceedingly well."

Justin leans forward, resting his elbow on the table and leaning his chin on thumb and index finger. He studies the device for several moments, taking in the casing, the overall shape, trying to attach functions to each of it's parts. Finally he nods and sits back in his chair. He tries to keep his expression cool, and takes another drink from the glass of scotch. "So now the big questions," he starts, making a light motion with his right hand and the glass, "Where did you get it, and how much are you asking? I built this company from the ground up. All this," he motions around the room with both hands, though he's careful not to spill the contents of the glass, "is my blood sweat and tears. The last thing I want to do is get caught with something that was stolen. I'm not a car thief, this ain't a chop shop, I don't deal in that sort of crap."

"It was salvage, Mister Hammer. And Mister Corvis can say with great confidence that the original owner has no interest in reclaiming it." Anna draws the cloth back over the device. "It was recovered from a crashed alien ship. Which would sound ridiculous, except we both know it's not." She inclines her head. "Six million and you get the device and two thousand tracker dots. Those we can supply schematics for."

Hammer arches a brow. He sets down the scotch glass, then rests his elbows on the arms of his chair and steeples his fingers. He studies Anna and her companion intently while he thinks this over. Six million, for this seems awfully low priced. Bargain basement deal. He could easily sell one of the devices back to the Pentagon for a thousand time that. And they would pay it without question. "I'll give you three," he says, "since I will have to do all the reverse engineering myself." He'll gauge Anna's reaction, looking at her response to figure out if this is all on the level. Swindlers will quickly bargain, looking to offload something that's hot or doesn't truly work. Make quick money and run. If it's truly worth something and the deal is legit, she should fight for a fair price.

"Six. You can buy it from me now or you can buy it from a reseller in five weeks for ten times our asking price. Corvis is eager to get these pieces into legitimate hands so that the government doesn't try to confiscate and destroy them. We suspect this technology might have fallen through a time vortex and they have protocols in place that usually involve disposing of items that could..." Anna chuckles, "...pollute the timeline." From the smile on her face, she doesn't think much of that excuse. "Three is an insult, and you know it. The price is low because we don't have the R&D facilities to supply you with more information. We recognize the investment on your part to monetize this. But our price is firm." Her smile disappears.

So the woman has balls, and she's not looking to negotiate. Good to know. So apparently this Mr. Corvis managed to hit pay dirt, finding something rare and decided to turn it into pure profit as soon as possible. Rough tactics, but Hammer can relate on some level. Justin nods lightly then straightens up in his chair. "Six million firm... So how do you want to handle payment?" It will take some doing, but the CEO is confident he can cover even a lump-sum payment for the device, just in case.

"Cash. No offense of course, but the government could press you for banking details if they try and track us, and Mister Corvis would prefer to not put you in that situation." Anna manages a surprisingly genuine smile. "And, this could represent the start of a relationship. This is not the only item we've salvaged. We would be happy to present you with further items as we confirm what their function is and how to operate them."

Justin gives a single, precise nod. "I understand completely, and I respect Mr. Corvis' discretion," he says. "When and where for the payment? Six million is a pretty good chunk of change, not something I'm going to be able to pull out of thin air. I'm rich, yeah, but that sort of withdrawals still sparks curiosity of the wrong sort." He's already starting to form a plan on how to deliver the payment and pick up the merchandise. He owns several physical security firms through subsidiaries, and it won't take much effort to get an armored car with the cash to a predetermined location. "And if this works out, I'd love to see what else you've got squirreled away." He grins slyly.

"The day after tomorrow. Nine PM. This slip," Anna reaches into her jacket pocket and retrieves a business card that is blank except for the name of a cargo ship slip. "Jacob here will be your contact," she nods back to the big man, who has started to pack away the device. She gives Justin a long look. "Part of the reason this device is such a bargain is as a show of good faith, Mister Hammer. We would like to do further business with you."

Justin reaches forward and takes the card, quickly tucking it away into one of the inside pockets of his suit coat. "We'll definitely be talking again," he says, still grinning. "Day after tomorrow. Look for a Paxton truck. Shouldn't be too unusual, they do pick ups at the docks from time to time." Paxton is a well-known armored courier company, and owned by a subsidiary of Hammer Industries. Their trucks are pretty recognizable, a regular sight outside of banks and retail establishments. Hammer stands, offering his hand again to Anna. "Miss Castor, it's a pleasure doing business with you."

"I look forward to continuing this relationship," says Anna as she shakes Justin's hand. Jacob is already packed and ready to go. "I'm sure Corvis feels the same way." And then, if she's not stopped, she'll turn to go.

Justin watches the pair as they leave. He's just struck gold, and he knows it. There's a slight apprehension in his gut, the price still seemed WAY too good, but had he passed this up, he would have never forgiven himself. Especially if another firm ended up with the tech. Once his office is again empty of everyone save for himself, he laughs and gives a triumphant fist pump. Stark is on his way to being obsolete.