Turkish’s Killer Plan

Turkish’s meeting was at 0700 hours, a bit early for Portia’s tastes, but she arrived on time. Today she was wearing a vivid green dress, knee length with her favorite white boats and a long gossamer greenish golden robe that floated behind her like a cloud when she walked.
It seemed the party was already waiting for her. Big Julie and his Weasel Man was waiting, drinking an orange beverage that Portia suspected was not strictly juice. The Boone Fabulous Clone Twelve was also drinking an orange beverage, which confirmed that it was not strictly orange juice. His manager Robin Slick sat besides him with a sour look on her face. She clearly needed some morning orange colored juice. Bea was waiting and waved brightly at Portia. Also were two others individuals the author is not going to describe now but will hold them in reserve in case she needs more characters to pull off the heist. It’s a dirty trick, I know, but what you going to do about it?
A large man, brick like in shape and density, sat with his hands on the table and said nothing. He did not take his eyes off the table but Portia had a feeling that he was watching every one in the room very carefully.
The Weasel Man was sitting next to Big Julie. Unfortunately, they were both wearing matching outfits again. Portia sat opposite the table from Big Julie.
Franklin entered the room after her and sat at the opposite end of the table.
“Big Julie says he appreciates a woman with moxie, with spirit,” Weasel Man said.
“Tell Big Julie thank you for me and please let him know how much I appreciate a man who is forthright and honest about his feelings and doesn’t manipulate people or lead them on.”
“Big Julie’s sitting right here.”
“Nonetheless.”
Laredo was in close orbit to Jupiter. The red plant was huge above them, massive and blocking most of the view, creating the optical illusion that the planet was falling towards the station.
Turkish arrived last. Clearly he had a sense of the dramatic and was wearing a shirt the same color as his hair.
“Thank you for your promptness,” he said, sitting in the chair at the head of the table. “No doubt you’ve wondered why I’ve gathered you all here this morning.”
Turkish chuckled at his own joke.
“Big Julie wants to know what’s the payout,” Weasel Man said.
Turkish held up a hand. “I know you are all here by hook or by crook but let me assure that your participation may be less than voluntary, you will be amply rewarded. Let me show you something interesting.”
He pressed buttons on the table and a holo of a Drive ship was projected. It hung in amber perfection, spanning the length of the table. Sleek and very, very fast, it was the crowning achievement of the Corporation and the pinnacle of modern technology.
“This is the Chairman of the Board,” Turkish said. “It is currently docked at the Juno Access Station not but a week from here.” The Juno Access Station was built on the far side of Jupiter to replace the defunct Laredo Station. It housed a Slingshot and lots of other Corporate ships.
“Very pretty,” the Brick said. “But you didn’t mean to entertain us with pretty pictures.
“Quiet right,” Turkish said. “I had to the good fortune to intercept a message from Martin Ang.”
The message played, audio only. It was short and brief (figure out what it says later).
Big Julie leaned forward in interest.
Weasel Man said, “Big Julie is lead to believe that Martin Ang plans on, shall we say, relieving the Corporation of the Chairman of the Board and this fact is of interest to you.”
“Big Julie is a very observant man,” Turkish said. “Yes, Martin Ang is planning on stealing the chairman of the Board. My contacts indicate that he has been planning this for a very long time and has plants Corporate side to aid his endeavor.”
Turkish glanced in Portia’s direction. “Now, I can’t tell you how much Martin Ang sticks in my caw and how much more the thought of Martin Ang with a Drive Ship irritates me. It gets me to wondering if there isn’t something we can do to take the ship off Martin’s hands.”
Brick laughed loudly and slapped the table with his large right hand. “Good and shiny, you are a devil, Turkish.”
“Handsome profits for everyone all around and cancellation of your debts,” Turkish said. “I want this ship and I want to see the look on Martin Ang smug smegging face when we speed away with the damn ship.”
The holo of the Chairman of the Board slowly rotated. After a complete revolution, it was replaced by the holo of the Juno Access Station. The station was large, well guarded, not filled with a lot of convenient nooks and crannies good for hiding and plotting, and the station was currently the most secure location under corporate control.
“Big Julie wants to know what’s the catch,” Weasel Man said.
“The catch is this is very difficult, extremely dangerous, and when I ran the calculations, we have a sixteen percent chance of success.”
“Why us,” Portia said.
“Excellent question,” Turkish said. “Franklin said you were sharp and right he was. Good eye, good eye. Well, firstly, you all possess the skills needed to successfully infiltrate the June Access Station and secondly, you owe me, thus driving down the price of negotiations. If I was not such a generous man, and I am a generous man, I could pass the job on to someone else and you would still be in my debt. And repayment then might not be so pleasant.”
Portia hardly considered this a pleasant repayment.
The station’s holo flickered and was replaced with an advertisement for Boone Fabulous Clone Twelve live for one night only!
“You are all now part of the Boone Fabulous Clone Twelve’s road crew. Congratulations and welcome to the world of showbiz.”
Turkish leaned back in his chair. “Twelve is our front man and how we get into the station. So generous of him, willing to entertain the Corporate employees for what, believe me, won’t cover the cost of fuel to get there.”
“Are you honestly expecting a show?” Twelve asked.
“There will be show,” Turkish said.
“Wait a minute,” Robin Slick said, leaning forward in her seat. “I’m Twelve’s manager and you can not book shows for him without my permission. It’s a violation of my contract.”
“Robin, I suggest you quiet your mouth or you’ll find yourself exactly where a wash-up middle aged groupie should be.”
Robin’s lips pressed firmly together and she did not look happy.
Bea laughed and tried to hide it with a cough.
“We’ll need a killer pilot, of course,” Turkish said. “Think you can fly a Drive Ship?”
“I can fly anything,” Bea said.
“Big Julie wants to know what his role is, exactly, in this affair,” Weasel Man said.
“I will need his remarkable powers of persuasion,” Turkish said.
For the first time, emotion flickered across Big Julie’s face, indicating that Big Julie’s powers of persuasion were not due to his amazing oratory ability.
“And me?” Franklin asked.
“On the surface, you’re the Entourage for Twelve, make it seem believable, like he in no way could be plotting to steal a ship. What I actually need you to do for me is to be my eyes and ears in the field. You call the shots, you organize the team.”
Franklin nodded.
“Brick is our gun man.”
Brick grinned. “Luckily for you I brought my very favorite gun with me.”
“What about me?” Portia asked.
“You, darling, possess a Corporate Identity Signature, which we need to infiltrate the system. Plus, you have knowledge of Corporate Machines and their programming oddities.” That much was true. The Corporation deliberately wrote in bugs and flaws into coding to act as traps to prevent hacking. Nasty tricks.
“I’m transmitting details to your Data Pads. Essentially we are going to let Martin Ang do all the work for us, piggyback on his efforts, and then run away very quickly.”
“We can run away pretty fast with that ship,” Bea said.
“When do we leave?” Franklin asked.
“Tonight. Twelve needs to be on stage in one week.”