Gracie Lou Freebush

[Spark Finn]

Etti IV

Hot chocolate burned the back of her sinuses as she tried to stifle the laugh from bubbling up her throat. A picture of a naked mer-looking woman flashed briefly across the public data-terminal that the slicer occupied. Salacia Consolidated didn't steer far from its name. At all.

She popped a red-razzle in her mouth and flexed her fingers over the electronic keyboard. Gray-blue eyes tracked the screen of code behind glass lenses. "Alright Salacia, let's see how many credits you have in this account." Her pinky-finger hit the key to transmit a distracting virus that used the image of the unclothed mer-woman to fill the other screens of the company's data folks and security monitors.

[member="Judah Dashiell"]

 

[Judah Dashiell]

Etti IV
Salacia Consolidated - Corporate Sector HQ
[member="Spark Finn"]


Judah rubbed the back of his neck as he felt a mild headache coming on. The conference table was filled to the brim with sentients in business attire, datapads open and set in front of them. Flimsy was scattered across the table, stacked in important piles near certain folks. Caf and muffins sat in the center, nearly devoured as the meeting droned on and on. Some seemed to still be with it, typing away or nodding or making little affirmative like noises at certain points.

"....As you can see here." The watery voice of a Mon Calamari financial adviser cut through the air, almost lulling folks to sleep. "Profits are up in the southern end of our operations. Margins are weak here in the Corporate Sector. Most likely because we are getting our feet wet in this area. We're new. This is cutting into the bottom line out here." The Mon Cal was gesturing to a chart projected on the screen. A laser pointer indicated to a graph of their earnings in the Corporate Sector.


Eyes on his datapad, Judah was surprised to see a topless image of his wife pop up suddenly. Pleasantly surprised. Was she playing some sort of game with him? What did protocol dictate, did he send a racy holoimage back? Yet there was murmuring throughout the boardroom. Did someone catch the image on his datapad? There was no one behind him. Deep blue eyes went up to the projections. There in all her topless glory was one Thessa Kai. Only much larger and much more on display than what was on his datapad.


"Mr. Dashiell....isnt that your wife?"


Judah shifted uncomfortably. "That...uh....that is the Missus."


"Lucky man."


Before much more oogling could take place, someone shut off the projector. Little did the boardroom know that one Mrs.Dashiell was gracing the datapads and computer banks of every Salacia Consolidated screen. Galaxy wide.

 

[Spark Finn]

[member="Judah Dashiell"]

The virus seemed to be working, MORE than working. Spark battled the normal corporation cyber-security. The corporation's slicers were probably still too focused on the virus. Whether they were too focused on it or trying to stop it was another thing entirely.

She checked the chrono on her wrist.

Five more minutes and then she'd have to move. Working through the last firewall, she broke into one of the company's main account pages and immediately began siphoning credits. Someone in IT was sure to see the account activity by now. The question though, was would they be able to stop the outside-slicer in time?

 

[Judah Dashiell]

[member="Spark Finn"]


Meanwhile, back down in IT on Etti IV.....


"Hey, guess what....I just screen capped that."


"Nice." A high-five was shared between the two young men sitting side-by-side, monitors with the offending image all around them. The comms were ringing off the hook. Employees from all corners of the Galaxy were calling to report the problem. Grumbling and some words of praise all reached the IT department. Clearly, someone was messing with the system. "Upstairs says we better get on it."


Datapads were being rebooted and more clicking of the keys. IT was searching for their intruder. Maybe some old secretary downloaded a trojan onto one of the networked datapads. Comm rang again. Financial department was warning of a quick draining of credits from one of the smaller accounts. The banking system had just alerted the company.


"Great. First this dude teases us with an image now he's stealing money. Try changing up our datapackets."

 

[Spark Finn]

[member="Judah Dashiell"]

She almost got the account completely drained before the system changed. She popped another razzle in her mouth and grinned. "Finally got enough of that chick's boobs, huh?" Of course all of this was just a distraction. The credits were nice but she was after something more valuable.

Information.

She wanted to know who Salacia's benefactors were and their next major designs, who they were in bed with - besides the bed the CEO shared with his nautical wife. She dug deeper into the company's mainframes. Those IT guys would probably start to sweat.

Her chrono beeped and she had less than thirty-seconds before her location would be in jeopardy of being pinged.

 

[Judah Dashiell]

[member="Spark Finn"]


"Who is this guy? Draining credits then going for more? That takes some major huevous, y'know?" Grumbling continued throughout the IT department. The firewall for the server banks containing the information on the company were being picked at. IT was busy trying to shore up the damage but they were chasing the tail of the slicer. The server banks in questioned contained some deep company secrets : funding from ATC for the Tabaqui project, auction results, contracts spread throughout the Galaxy, pending copyrights and more.


"Corporate warfare?"


A shrug went around the room before they finally got a lock on the location of the terminal. A public one, the address looked like to belonged to a cafe or public transportation system. Somewhere residential yet nearby the main sector of Corporate Offices and warehouses.


"Someone alert Sector Authority. Lets take this guy down."

 

[Spark Finn]

[member="Judah Dashiell"]

She pulled the portable drive out of the holo-terminal as her watch beeped. Gray-blue eyes jerked away from the now blank screen as her presence was scrubbed away from the terminal. She left the half-chewed piece of gum over the holo-camera. A pair of suits walked quickly her way.

"Hey, you! Stop!"

Swinging her bag over her shoulder, she ducked into the busy-street, walking quickly but not running. The suits were running. Her hand passed over a public bench before she took a sharp turn and ducked into a used-speeder parts store.

She left something for the IT guys, though. Another virus. This one would slowly crash their systems. She just had to lose the suits and get out of there.

 

[Judah Dashiell]

[member="Spark Finn"]


Back down in the IT Department of Salacia Consolidated, things were slowly crashing. Reports were coming in from all locations. Even the mining crews and salvage operations were having trouble with their datapads that were connected to the system. No one was allowed an off-day now. Supervisors were calling in those who had an off-day, they had a metric ton of data to repair.


-------------


"Someone get those camera files!" Sector Authority was hot on the tails of their suspected hacker. A young woman with blonde-ish hair was quickly leaving the scene. A few others were scattering about, no doubt worried about their records in the area. Uniformed officers were closing in, arriving without their sirens. Sirens would only cause their suspect to flee deeper into the urban jungle. Those in suits started moving from store to store, searching for the girl seen running by many.

 

[Spark Finn]

[member="Judah Dashiell"]

Even with security's review of the holo-footage from the public data cafe, the best they could hope to find of spotting Spark at the terminal section in question would be a shadow of an image. With her paranoid nature, she was good at avoiding all public monitoring systems. She eased back toward the back exit as the shop's window filled up with the suits. Of course all shops had a back exit. It would be against fire code not to. Head swiveled left, then right when - THUNK - .

Her backpack hit up against something solid. "Miss, you'll need to come with us."

Spark jerked away but not before the security man's hand latched around her upper arm. "Ouch, ouch! Alright, I'm going with you. Loosen your grip, suit." She grumbled as she was ushered away with a few others that were identified as suspects from the public terminal station. They were piled into a security speeder, hands cuffed in front.

"I have rights you know!" She yelled as the door was shut in her face.

She imagined they were being whisked away to the corporation or the police station for questioning.

 

[Judah Dashiell]

Chaos reigned at the the Corporate Sector HQ of Salacia Consolidated as righting [member="Spark Finn"] 's wrongs became a top priority. At the very least there wasn't a topless mermaid gracing every Salacia-connected datapad or terminal in the Galaxy. Judah could take a small comfort in that fact. Not that it mattered. He was pretty sure that was ingrained and saved into the memory banks of quite a few men and women. Since the datapads were down, there wasn't much work going on in the offices. Salvage crews, mining crews, farming applications could all run. Running data and computing figures was another story -- especially when it was all stored in the server banks.


Word had come down that they had caught the person responsible for the hacking event. The Sector Authority was bringing the suspect down to Salacia Consolidated headquarters. Judah was hoping more damage wouldn't be done in the mean time. His luck and this person would have a time - released EMP, destroying months of hard work. Data was backed up. Droid and energy products were not.


"Bring them to the first floor conference room. I'll be down there waiting."


Time to see who brought down these systems.

 

[Spark Finn]

[member="Judah Dashiell"]

Luckily, Spark wasn't the only suspicious suspect the 'authorities' brought shuffling into the conference room. She walked behind a tall, pale-looking redhead male - human - and in front of a young, female twi'lek with pink-rimmed glasses. Gray-blue eyes sized up the somewhat shaggy-haired man waiting for them. She immediately recognized him from the holo net: THE CEO.

She racked her brain trying to remember the details of his bio and if he had any vengeful Sith Lords as uncles listed.

She stood around the conference table sandwiched in between the other two. With any luck they would think the ginger did it. She suddenly found the floor very interesting as the twi'lek angrily exclaimed, "What is this all about? I have a spa appointment in an hour!"

The ginger's voice squeaked to an amazing octave as he stammered, "I'm innocent! I didn't do it!"

 

[Judah Dashiell]

[member="Spark Finn"]


Judah watched as the trio entered the conference room, escorted by Sector Authorities. Deep blue eyes took them in as the group got settled and started to clamor on. One was busy loudly complaining about a spa appointment. The other -- the male -- sounded like he hadn't even hit puberty yet the way he was squeaking and carrying on. The middle was acting all too innocent and avoiding the situation. Clearly all of them were guilty of something. Whether or not any of them committed the crimes against Salacia was the question.



"Thank you all for coming. Since I'd like to get home I'll keep this brief." Ignoring their protests, he continued on. "Quite a lovely little distraction one or all of you cooked up. Certainly worked that's for sure. A few of us were impressed with your....methods, so to speak. Needless to say, I know when I can learn from a situation. Perhaps some of you are working for another corporation. Corporate warfare has been heating up. Some are paying top credit for information."


"You could have came to Salacia first. I'm more than willing to pay more than the going rate, fighting fire with fire if you will. You'll have to provide proof. You'll have to be the best-of-the-best. I've even been known to offer steady employment if your top notch. However, going this route could lead to some unpleasantness. I'll let you imagine what."


"Anyone have anything to say?"

 

[Spark Finn]

[member="Judah Dashiell"]

She finally made eye contact but kept her mouth shut as the cogs to her mind turned.

Did he know? Was it a trap? No, it wasn't trap. Couldn't be. No. Way. Right? Right. No way anybody would confess. Did he think they were a bunch of idiots? No way anyone would...

"A job?!" The ginger squeaked. "My mom would be thrilled to have her basement ba-I mean." With some amount of hidden dignity he straightened his sloppy shirt. "Where do I sign up?"

The pink twi'lek stopped filing her nails and rolled her eyes. "See, yah gots a volunteer. As good as a confession." She blew a bubble of gum from her mouth before smacking it closed with a loud POP. "We free to go now?"

More nail filing and smacking of gum.

Spark jammed her fingers in her pockets and bit back a strangled snort that threatened to rise from the back of her throat.

 

[Judah Dashiell]

[member="Spark Finn"]


"We will be happy to take your resume once Sector Authority has completed their investigation." Judah answered diplomatically of course. Anyone who fell for that trap was not someone he wanted handling sensitive databases down in their respective departments. There was a small smile to the annoying Twi'lek and the overly quiet girl. Besides the quips, it looked like everyone was done talking.


"I suppose I am done. Detectives, they are all yours. I am sure you have more questioning and following-up to do. As for you investigation, do let Salacia know if we can be of any use to you. I am sure you will want to speak down to IT and infrastructure later on. Feel free to stop by anytime."


Re-buttoning his suit jacket, Judah left the suspects to be dealt with via the local authorities.

 

[Spark Finn]

[member="Judah Dashiell"]

The ginger and twi'lek were escorted out quickly. Spark hesitated when the suits got to her, pressing the soles of her rubber keds firmly into the conference room floor. "Wait. Wait."

It didn't take much for them to move her. She had less than the strength of a flying mynock. She craned her neck around one of the bulky guard's arm. She wasn't dumb enough to confess to anything but she wasn't about to just waltz into booking either.

"Let me see what happened to your systems. I bet I could fix it. And I bet I could build in some better security coding. Please Mister. Just don't let them bring me down there." Her feet left the floor as they picked her up and half carried her to the door.

 

[Judah Dashiell]

[member="Spark Finn"]


Judah had stopped to check out the feet dragging of what was the quietest person in the room. Now she was protesting like a stuck bantha. A very weak one at that. Eyebrow raised at her offer. Was he just supposed to trust a potential suspect that had just wandered off the street to mess with his systems? What if she tried to further harm it? Or funnel information into off-site server banks.


"You're a suspect in this investigation. How am I supposed to know you aren't going to cause further harm? Or gather more information? What are your qualifications? Lets say I do let you work on our systems. Should you choose to betray my trust it wouldn't be pretty for you. Is that a risk you're willing to take?"

 

[Spark Finn]

[member="Judah Dashiell"]

Her rubber-soled shoes hit the ground again but her arms remained firmly pinned to her sides. She huffed a few dirty-blond wispies away from her freckled-face. The CEO-man was a bit blurry through the slightly askew black-rimmed glasses on her nose. "I'd be a grade-A mook if I tried something with all these suits watching me."

Although the challenge would be fun, but no-NO, not this time.

"Post as many guards as you want with me at any terminal you want. Feel free to have as many IT techs monitoring my work. Heck, I'd be willing to build you a better security model in a mock-system so your people can set it up themselves in the real thing. It's a risk I'm willing to take as long as I walk after this." She glanced at the guards on either side. "You'll see my qualifications when I start working, Mister."

 

[Judah Dashiell]

[member="Spark Finn"]



"So you go around committing crimes, when you get caught pretend to fix them? Can't say it isn't smart." Judah was quiet a long moment. Someone -- most likely this girl -- had already taken down his systems. It wasn't as if any real work was being done. Their own data team and security protocols didn't even stop a girl that looked all
of seventeen from breaking in.


"Alright, take her downstairs and have her get to work. Maybe she can teach someone down there something."

 

[Spark Finn]

[member="Judah Dashiell"]

"Let's note these are all allegations!" She spoke to the two men as they escorted her out. "And I can walk on my own, suits," bony elbows demanded they give her space. She was pretty good at first impressions and her impression of the CEO was that he wasn't a typical greedy and arrogant one. He was a good man.

Did she have regrets about what she did? No. But that didn't mean that she didn't want to make it right and not just to save her own skin. She could've easily erased any name they put into the database, even after booking. She knew they didn't have anything on her. But it was a hassle and a risk - one she'd rather not take.

Ten minutes later they got her situated in a very well, monitored area with the IT folks shooting her so many skeptical looks she could drown in 'em if they were water.

Forty-seven minutes later the looks of skepticism turned to looks equivalent to kids in a candy shop as she got rid of the naked mermaid virus and built an entirely new firewall that would keep slicers like her, out.

She cracked her knuckles and scooted back in her chair. "As promised. Am I free to go? I've thrown in a bonus of some anti-malware software."

One of the IT guys checked the screens and sounded distracted. "Yeah, yeah, someone go get the boss."

 

[Judah Dashiell]

[member="Spark Finn"]



Murmuring had gone through the Etti V offices about the 'geek girl' who was done in the basement areas working on their databases. Some had gone down to watch, as if it was some sideshow they could catch for free. It was unusually quiet throughout the spaces and Judah had retreated to an office to work on his own personal datapad, off the network. An office manager or someone with a similar title knocked on the temporary office door.


"Mr. Dashiell, could you go down to the basement?"


"Hm? Oh, yeah. On my way."


Making his way down to the basement, Judah found the small crowd assembled around their suspect-not-a-suspect. The screens seemed to be back to life and a number of the technicians were already typing away, connecting all of Salacia's locations back together in the network.


"So, I assume you've fixed the issue?"