[quote][color=#00FF00]>>CONNECTING
>>USERNAME:  ************
>>PASSWORD:  *********************************************************
>>SECONDARY PASSWORD:  *************************************************
>>TERTIARY PASSWORD:  ***********************************************
>>QUATERNARY PASSWORD: *-

>>BIOMETRIC SCAN INITIATED
>>PLEASE PROCEED WITH BIOMETRIC SCAN PROCEDURE
>>SCAN RUNNING…DO NOT REMOVE YOUR HAND. . . . . . . .
>>BIOMETRIC DNA SCAN COMPLETE

>>SECOND BIOMETRIC SCAN INITIATED
>>PLEASE PROCEED WITH SECONDARY BIOMETRIC SCAN PROCEDURE
>>SCAN RUNNING…DO NOT LOOK AWAY FROM THE CAMERA. . . . . . .
>>SECONDARY IRIS-RETINA BIOMETRIC SCAN COMPLETE

>>VOICE RECOGNITION REQUIRED
>>PLEASE RECITE THE VOICE RECOGNITION PASS PHRASE[/color][/quote]

[color=#BF0000]“Paranoia is a requirement in today’s information industry.”[/color]

[quote][color=#00FF00]>>PROCESSING. . . . . . . . .
>>VOICE RECOGNITION SCAN COMPLETED
>>SECONDARY VOICE RECOGNITION SCAN INITIATED
>>PLEASE RECITE THE SCONDARY VOICE RECOGNITION PASS PHRASE[/color][/quote]

[color=#BF0000]“Fünf Minuten der Prävention lohnt Millionen der Credits der sicheren Informationen.“[/color]

[quote][color=#00FF00]>>PROCESSING. . . . . . . . .
>>SECONDARY VOICE RECOGNITION SCAN COMPLETED

>>WELCOME BACK, USER DIETRICH.

>>YOU HAVE 457 UNREAD MESSAGES

>>RUNNING FILTER VI
>>REROUTING 307 “LOW-PRIORITY” TO “TRUST’-LEVEL PERSONNEL

>>SCANNING…
>>COLLECTING TEXT DATA FROM 42 INFECTED FILES
>>42 INFECTED FILES DELETED
>>TEXT DATA FROM INFECTED FILES SAVED AS “21860520INFECT.TXT” IN
>>*******/*****/******/***********/**/*/INFECT

>>52 MESSAGES WITH MATCHING STRINGS IN CHAINLETTER.TXT DELETED

>>6 MESSAGES WITH MATCHING STRINGS IN DEATHTHREAT.TXT MOVED TO MIDDLE-PRIORITY “DEATH THREAT” FOLDER

>>23 MESSAGES COPIED
>>23 MESSAGE COPIES REVISED TO REPAIR GRAMMATICAL AND SPELLING MISTAKES; ORIGINALS MOVED TO “GNAZ” FOLDER

>>27 MESSAGES REQUIRING IMMEDIATE PERUSAL AND RESPONSE[/color][/quote]

[quote][color=#00FF00]>>run nextsched.exe[/color][/quote]

[quote][color=#00FF00]>>NEXT SCHEDULED ACTIVITY:
>>12:50 GST VIDEO INTERVIEW WITH CLIENT “IONID BOHR”[/color][/quote]

[quote][color=#00FF00]>>run commshield.exo[/color][/quote]

[quote][color=#00FF00]>>COMMUNICATIONS SHIELD ACTIVATED

>>DISCONNECTING ALL PRIMARY, SECONDARY AND TERTIARY STORAGE DEVICES. . . . . . . . .
>>SHUTTING DOWN PRIMARY TERMINAL. . . . . . .

>>ENGAGING “VIDEO COMMUNICATIONS” OMNITOOL
>>RUNNING DIAGNOSTICS. . . . . . . . . . . . . .
>>DIAGNOSTICS COMPLETED
>>SYSTEM IS RATED AS “SAFE FOR USE”

>>ENGAGING ENCRYPTION PROTOCOLS
>>SPOOLING…
[/color][/quote]

“Mr. Bohr.”

“Mr…Dietrich.”

“That is my name, yes.”

“Indeed.  You are sure this line is secure?”

“Only as secure as your end is, Mr. Bohr.  I assure you, if there’s anything leaked from this conversation, it will [i]not[/i] be from someone spying on [i]my[/i] end.”

“Good.”

“…”

“…”

“You’re new at this, aren’t you.”

“I’m sorry?”

“Hiring a third party for this sort of...potentially damaging transaction.”

“Oh, well, of course not, Mr. Dietrich.  It’s just…”

“Save it.  You may rest assured; whatever you state in this conversation is confidential.  Now spit it out.  What is it you are looking for?”

“Well, sir, as you know, I represent the Clarke Syndicate, a minor subsidiary of Kassa Fabrications.  Emphasis on [i]minor[/i] – most of our products don’t reach the Galaxy proper.  Hell, half our sales come in military contracts for the UNAS alone – but we think we’re on the verge of a major breakthrough in the synthesis between armor and kinetic barriers.”

“Really.”

“Yes.”

“Do tell.”

“No.”

“Then what do you want from me?”

“Information.”

“I gathered that.  Being a [i]broker[/i] and all.”

“If you’re not going to be serious about this-”

“I [i]am[/i] being serious, and I’m tired of you yanking my chain.  Stop dawdling and spit it out. [i]What the fuck do you want?[/i]”

“Well, you can probably guess.  If you’ve been keeping tabs on recent western UNAS news—”

“I have.”

“—oh.  Well, you’ll know, then, that a cadre of salarians recently announced their own breakthrough in weapons tech and barriers: they claim to have created plans for a kinetic barrier generator that can resist most overload projects, and schematics for weaponry that utilize select-fire systems: both the old heat sink model and the new thermal clip system would be incorporated into this. These are the exact same projects my company was working on. What I'm asking is for you to tell me how the salarians got to this stage of development...and for you to get their data for [i]us[/i]."









[quote][color=#00FF00]>>CLOSING COMMUNICATIONS
>>DISCONNECTING…

>>DISABLING WIRELESS NETWORK. . . .

>>PERFORMING SYSTEM DIAGNOSTICS. . . . . . . . . . . .
>>NO VIRUSES FOUND

>>UPLOADING COMMUNICATION LOGS TO “QUARANTINE” DRIVE

>>CREATING BACKUP ON OSD DRIVE J:/

>>BEGINNING OMNITOOL REFORMAT. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
*****************************************************
>>ERROR:  NO OPERATING SYSTEM FOUND.
>>INSTALLING FROM OSD DRIVE R:/

>>. . . . . . . . . . . . . . [/color][/quote]

[color=#BF0000]“I’ll never understand how people can lap up that “confidentiality” line when talking to a broker.”[/color]