Sable had been trained from a very young age to handle just about any sort of business situation. Her family, while nowhere near as famous as some of the other dynasty families, was known enough that there was a certain expectancy attached to her name. Her generation, namely her siblings and cousins, were expected to rise up the ranks and add glory and power to the Arcturus name. They were expected to push the name to new heights, strive for profit and influence, and then use that influence to elevate their family further.

  Yet somehow, she was the disappointing one for refusing to take the family job Grandfather had chosen for her. A job defined by her name, where she had no chance of pushing beyond what they had already created.

  She shook her head, trying her best to calm her thoughts. The fact that her mind, trained from such a young age to stay calm and logical, was so… frazzled, showed just how disquieted she was. She ran her fingers through her hair, a move well practiced to seem casual despite how dangerous her nails could be.

  Her Rayfield continued to drive itself away from Rocky Ridge, setting a sedate pace that seemed even slower compared to her normal hair-raising speed. As much as she hated letting the car drive itself, she was not really prepared to drive herself.

  "Crazy fucking geniuses," She said to herself, shaking her head.

  Really, that was unfair. Yes, the incredibly smart did have a reputation for being strange and eccentric. Sable had even met a few people who undoubtedly counted as eccentric geniuses. Difficult to handle people who could, if directed properly, make your company exuberant amounts of money.

  That was not what Jackson was.

  No, Jackson was another beast altogether. She hesitated to even call him a genius, as somehow, that seemed to undervalue what he was. Besides, other than a few spots, he was a surprisingly normal person.

  Now, technically, she hadn't been entirely honest when explaining to the inventor that she was more than a bit clueless when it came to the tech and innovations they were selling. Her education, after all, had been extremely thorough, and the idea of not being able to at least hold a conversation about the products they were selling was unacceptable. If nothing, she needed to know enough to make them sound good while making sales pitches.

  She would never describe herself as a technological genius, but she knew enough to know the general gist of what was being said to her. And what Jackson was saying was insane. He had shown off his molecular printers, his Molly Makers, as some sort of grand, incredible achievement. And yes, if his description was accurate, they absolutely were. What he didn't seem to realize was that nearly everything else he talked about was just as groundbreaking. Half the tools he showed off were tech she didn't recognize in the slightest, and some of the things he mentioned doing were downright baffling.

  Then, one of his worker robots walked in, moving smoothly and steadily as a real person. It had put down a box of goodies, all built in the room behind Jackson's workshop, before smoothly walking out, with no input or orders from anyone.

  And then there was the fucking bear!

  Following Jackson's bodyguard around was a massive robotic bear, as big as a fucking. Jackson's companion robot, the incredibly smooth and steady canine Duke, was one thing, but that monstrosity? Sable didn't think things that big could move so steadily and quietly, and yet there it was, following along with barely a sound.

  And let's not forget what Jackson showed off when she first visited the town! Casually, like it was no big deal, he had pulled out a pistol not much bigger than an, and then used it to blast through a boulder with some sort of energy blast. Even if it had been a laser pistol, it still would have been insane, but the pale green energy did not match any laser weapon she knew of. He then casually promised more, like this was just the tip of the iceberg.

  Perhaps worse was that she believed him.

  Sable took a deep breath, closing her eyes and slowly releasing it. She worked to calm herself, focusing on what mattered. This was a good thing. Learning that the golden goose you had stumbled on was actually a platinum goose, and that it could also occasionally pump out eggs or rhodium when it was feeling frisky was a good thing.

  As long as no one else found out about it.

  After a minute of mentally spinning her wheels, she cursed loudly, resisting the urge to slice through the center console with her fingers. Instead, she tapped into her cyberware and dialed a number. This was not a situation where she could rely on resources scratched up from nothing. She needed real professionals, and she needed them as soon as possible. Which meant doing the unthinkable.

  Calling a "family friend."

  The phone call, passing through her Rayfield and projecting up along the front windshield like a hologram, rang for a few seconds before a face popped up. It was a woman, young, peppy, and clearly sculpted to look perfectly attractive.

  "Hello, Ms. Arcturus. I am Mr. Diminski's secretary," She explained with a perfectly programmed thousand-watt smile. "I apologize, but Mr. Diminski is currently in a meeting. Could I take a message for him?"

  "Yes, tell him Sable is looking to hire his services," Sable explained. "And I'm willing to pay the extra discrepancy fee."

  "Very well, Ms Arcturus, I will see that Mr. Diminski receives this message as soon as his meeting is complete," The secretary said with the same smile plastered on her face. "Is there anything else?"

  "No," Sable answered simply.

  "Very well, have a nice day!"

  The call cutout and Sable chewed the inside of her cheek. Diminski was a specialist service provider who was well-known in the field of obfuscation. His job, or rather his company's job, was to quell rumors, squash whispers, and spread misinformation. This would likely seem small time to him, but with her name attached, he would pass the job off to one of his teams anyway. She was loathe to use her family name or contacts like this, but Jackson was well past what she had managed to pull together so far. She needed a professional team in play, cutting out any rumors that were spreading.

  She let out another long breath, finally reaching forward and tapping the autopilot off, taking control of the vehicle. She slowly pushed the pedal down, speeding up, but she still didn't return to her usual breakneck speed. Instead, she simply watched the speedometer climb to a more realistic speed than what the autopilot kept. As she drove, she mentally went over her plans, re-evaluating them heavily after seeing more of what Jackson had shown her. A lot of them would need to speed up to cover the extra help, while some could be postponed while she prepared.

  She was only about a minute or so out of Night City when a call came through from a familiar number. Sable couldn't help but smile as she put the number through. The face that appeared as she switched back to autopilot was not a business contact or a new hire. In fact, it wasn't even an adult. It was a girl, ten years old, with white hair down to her shoulders. Her eyes were purple, but other than that, she could have been a copy of Sable when she was young.

  "Sable! Guess what!" A voice cut through, excited and happy, not a trace of guile or deceit.

  "Hello, Cassie," Sable greeted, unable to keep the smile off her face. "What is it?

  Young Cassiopeia Arcturus, daughter of her oldest brother, was as innocent and sweet as you could imagine. Somehow, despite growing up surrounded by people like her father and mother and the rest of the Arcuturus family at that, the young woman was growing up to be kind, genuine, and infectiously happy. Her parents were horrified to find that the preteen failed to take to any of the business lessons they tried to teach her. Her mother was disappointed, instead choosing to dote on Cassie's older brother, who had taken to the family's business practices like a pig to shit. Her father had stopped caring, barely interacting with any of his children at all.

  Cassie didn't mind, though. Despite the poor treatment, her smile was not squashed for a moment.

  Of course, Cassie caused Sable no end of anxiety. The poor, sweet little fish was swimming in a tank full of sharks. It was only a matter of time before someone saw her as an easy target.

  "Today was Miss Rizorio's day for lessons," The young girl said happily, talking happily about her tutor. "We spent the afternoon painting, I managed to finish…"

  The bubbly preteen continued to talk and talk, gushing about her lesson and about how much fun she had with her friends over the weekend. Sable listened with a smile, happy to talk to her favorite family member. Eventually, not too long before Sable was about to pull into the parking garage, little Cassie was forced to hang up. She said goodbye, promised to talk to her soon, and hung up, leaving Sable alone in her car, which now felt all too quiet.

  The smile that had been stretched across Sable's face slowly faded as she drove the last lap around the garage before finally finding a parking spot near the elevator. At that point, she was only going through the motions, her mind far away.

  Cassie, in a lot of ways, reminded her of herself when she was that age. Not because she had not been a fount of ever-flowing exuberance, happiness, and positivity. No, Sable's acerbic, sarcastic, and often scathing personality had been set in stone when she was born. Instead, it was her inability to conform, her refusal to just accept and sink into what her parents had told her. It made her want to scoop her up and shield her, to keep the reality of Night City, of this whole fucking world from crushing her spirit.

  She knew how that went. What it did to a kid. She didn't want that for her.

  She desperately wanted to take care of Cassie, to take her under her wing and teach her how to survive in this world. She could do it, maybe even in a way that would let her keep her open, optimistic nature. But her brother would never go for it, not as she was now. To him, to her whole family, she was the black sheep, a failure. The one who refused to work with them, who struck out on their own and failed.

  But now, she was on a different gig. One without influence from her family, one she had found and fostered on her own. A business that was thriving, even if it was dancing on a razor's edge. All she had to do was push it further, grow it into a real business… If she could take Tinkertech to the next level, then maybe her brother would let Cassie work under her. She could give the poor girl what she actually needed, support, rather than what her family felt she needed, a good brainwashing.

  Letting out a long breath and leaning on the steering wheel, Sable finally activated the vehicle's gull-wing doors, stepping out of the door smoothly. By the time she was out of her vehicle, she had schooled her features perfectly, and the cool, smooth look she always sported had returned. She needed to focus on growing this business into a powerhouse, and then she could think about saving her niece.

  She casually scanned the parking garage, more by habit than anything, before making her way around her vehicle and retrieving the box of goods she had just received from Jackson. After making sure everything was secured, she left her car behind, making her way into the primary business elevator.

  Once inside, she entered the floor, followed by the security code, and the elevator began to ascend, rising up about thirty floors before finally stopping. She stepped out into the hallway, making her way into the rented rooms TinkerTech worked from. The moment she stepped inside, she was immediately greeted by her assistant.

  "Welcome back, Ms. Arcturus," the pale, blacked haired woman said, following after her as she walked. "Two messages were left for you while you were gone, one from the lawyer firm you are in talks with, as well as a supplies company you contacted."

  "Tell Richard and Sons that I will call them within the next fifteen minutes," Sable responded, her pace not slowing. "Tell the supplies company that they have their offer. Either agree to the deal, or I'll find someone who will. It's not even a bad deal."

  "Yes, Ma'am," her assistant said, turning back to head to her desk, leaving Sable alone as she made a turn to one of the larger rooms on the corner of their floor.

  The door ahead of her slid open silently as she stepped in, revealing a room with three other people in it, set up in relatively open cubicles. All three employees, an older man, a younger man, and a middle-aged woman, were visible from the doorway. As she entered, all three of them stood and turned to her, various looks of interest on their faces. As she stepped inside, the older man stepped forward, greeting her with a slight bow.

  "Ms. Arcturus, welcome back," He said, his eye drifting to the box she was holding. "Is that...?"

  "That's right, our next wave of goods," She confirmed, carrying her box past the older man to the fourth, empty cubicle.

  Stolen from its rightful author, this tale is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

  Inside was a bench, which was covered by the previous batch of Jackson designs. She used the edge of the box to push them to the side before turning to address her salesmen. She had hired these people for a mix of their technical know-how and their ability to sell their products. Each of them had friends in different industries, and with their help, she would be able to disseminate Jackson's developments across several businesses. Already, this group was making progress from the last batch, but this next one would set them apart as an independent development company, not just a one-hit wonder.

  "What did we get this time?" Parker, the younger man she had hired, asked, peeking up over the edge of the cubicle.

  "Another set of five things, including a supposedly more efficient coolant liquid and high-powered LED system," She responded, stepping back to let them get access to the box. "Samples and information on the parts should be there, save for the coolant, which only has specs and manufacturing instructions."

  "We'll need to get some whipped up then," The older man responded, pulling out the data shard labeled 'coolant.' "Should we use the same company as before?"

  "Yes, I finished signing a contract with them yesterday. They should accept any requests you need under a certain ten thousand eddies," Sable confirmed. "Anything past that will require sign-off from me. Do not abuse that, as I read the end-of-the-month list anyway."

  Sable listened to and discussed some of the options her employees came up with immediately before eventually leaving them to their jobs. They were all doing their best, working hard to secure their positions in the company. All of them had been sold on Sable's assurances that this was only the beginning and that if the company withstood the early stages, it could become a pillar of Night City and beyond.

  After she left, she made her way to her office, the corner space overlooking a decent view. It was hard not to see the buildings around her and imagine just how much better their business would be in a few years. As long as they survived, the sky was the limit with what Jackson was producing.

  After a minute or so of daydreaming, the corpo woman steadied herself, shaking the thoughts of grandeur away. If she wanted to get the company to that point, she would need to make sure that it survived that long. She idly tapped the phone system on her desk, resigning herself to an afternoon of phone calls and messages.

  The hot, dry desert air was much more bearable when sitting under the shade, sipping a glass of clean water. The fact that it was free, that it had been pulled from the air in a method that still confused her and her other techie's, made it all the better. She had taken to sitting in the shade, just outside her shop, enjoying a cold glass while looking out over the desert at the monolith that was Night City. A fuck you to the corpos, that they had shed a major chain, the major chain, that they had wrapped around the nomad families' necks for generations.

  Saul might be obsessed with food, and finding a way to feed the Aldecados without the help of supply chains or stores, but he was a minority, by and large. The truth was that Nomads had access to the same food that most people did, and while it was a pain to have to go into a city to purchase it, it was hardly something that held them back.

  No food company had prepared to restrict their food to individual people, so they lacked the ability to use their food to force any one group into servitude. It wasn't like the XXL Burrito machines could tell who was feeding them eddies. Hell, ten minutes and a thousand eddies and you could find dozens of workers willing to lose large shipments of food, most of it stuffed full of enough preservatives to last for months.

  No, food was not the noose around the Nomad's neck. Water was.

  And then Jackson came and cut that chain free. Not to demand payment, not to squeeze the nomads for all they were worth, but to show that he was a friend, someone who wouldn't just screw them over the first chance they had. Now, several water purification companies were bankrupt and pure, clean water was as good as free.

  Dakota finished the last sip of her water, placing the glass on the table. The medical unit on her chest hissed softly, and a flush of oxygen flowed for a moment, her breath coming a little easier, the weight on her shoulders lifting just enough to be noticeable. Despite the fact that her afternoon routine was complete, she remained sitting, waiting. After a few minutes, one of her guards walked around the side of her building, approaching her calmly.

  "Saul and his second in command are here," She said simply, waiting for her response.

  "Send them around," Dakota responded, leaning back in her chair.

  The armed woman nodded and went back the way she came, disappearing around the corner. A minute later and the two familiar faces of Saul and Panam came around the corner. Saul approached first, and after a moment, Dakota gestured for him to sit in the only other chair in her little shaded spot. Panam remained standing behind him, her arms crossed and reeking of frustration and agitation, her default state these days if what she heard had any truth.

  Not hard to imagine, as Saul could be… difficult to work with.

  "What is it going to be, Saul?" She asked, giving him a look. "I told you before the decision is up to you and your family and that you would need to make it soon. So what is it? Did you reach a decision?"

  "It's not that simple, Dakota," He complained with a frown. "Especially not after what he and his band did to the Wraiths."

  Panam had a physical reaction to what he said, shaking her head and barely restraining herself from saying anything. Dakota's only visual reaction was to raise her eyebrow.

  "What he did to the Wraiths was extreme, but earned," Dakota said, with no room for debate.

  "Earned? It was monstrous!" Saul said, sounding disgusted. "I saw the cement works slaughter with my own eyes, he mutilated them!"

  "And? Have the Wraiths done anything less to us?" Dakota asked, fighting her rising frustration. "At least he had the decency to kill them first, where the Wraiths are just as likely to make people beg for death first. Jackson was sending a message, and so far, it's been an effective message. Raffen activity has dropped since news of the second attack cleared. As far as I am concerned, he is doing a public service."

  Dakota noted that Panam nodded her head in agreement, visibly confused about her leader's outlook. Saul himself seemed to struggle with what he was hearing, eventually shaking his head and smartly dropping the subject.

  "I've decided not to take him up on his offer," Saul finally said. "And I plan on sending word back to the other Aldecados to steer clear of him as well."

  Dakota sent a look up to Panam, who had opened her mouth to speak. The younger woman, a spitfire by all Dakota knew about her, seemed to at least be smart enough to read the look correctly, as she quickly shut her mouth. Meanwhile, the static Nomad looked back down at Saul, who had somehow missed the moment.

  "Why?" Dakota asked, the simple word carrying weight.

  "Because I don't trust him," He responded with a slight hint of petulance in his voice. "His deal is too good to be true, and I could feel how he plans on taking advantage of us. Use us for cheap labor, or worse. Once gets his hooks into us, we will never be free."

  "Like you would be free after signing a deal with Biotechnica?" Dakota asked, the question shocking Saul, causing Dakota to snort. "Please, do you really think I wouldn't have heard? Answer the question, Saul, what is the difference?"

  "The difference is that getting our own food would give us more freedom," Saul explained. "We wouldn't have to worry about coming to these places, losing our people to the cities, because we could make your own food."

  "And in exchange, you would put a noose around your family, giving a corp the perfect place to anchor us down," Dakota fired back, staring him down. "Any contract you sign with a corp like that would only weigh us down and give them chances to legally subjugate us. It would only be a matter of time."

  "The contract-"

  "Was so riddled with bullshit I'm surprised it didn't stain your hands brown," Dakota responded, cutting him off. "But you were so sure of yourself, you never even asked me to take a look at it. No, you were preparing to chain yourself and your whole family down for some tools and seeds that may or may not actually grow in harsh conditions. Do I have the general idea down?"

  Saul, for a moment, seemed ready to stand up and refute her claims. It was only the fact that movements in the shadows not far from where she sat that stopped him. Someone like Dakota Smith was never really alone.

  "Now, Saul, I could call you many things, but stupid isn't one of them. Which is why I think there must be something behind your bout of idiocy," Dakota said. "Tell me if this sounds familiar. With a slowly shrinking group, the only one from all fifteen Aldecado families, mind you, you begin to fear that your group, your little fiefdom, might be broken up and absorbed. You'd lose everything, since you most certainly wouldn't retain a leadership position in the process, especially not when we were eyeing your methods as one of the reasons for the most recent losses."

  Dakota paused, reaching out her hand and snapping her fingers. One of the few people from her security stepped closer, handing her a tablet, which she put on the table.

  "Faced with the potential loss of your little piece of power, you were desperate to find a way to tie everyone to you. To keep everyone locked together, under your leadership," She said, painting a picture that had Panam's jaw slowly dropping. "Anyone there when you signed the papers could never leave, not without facing whatever bullshit repercussions Biotechnia wrote into the fine print. They wouldn't even be able to run to other families, since no other group would take someone tied under a contract to a corp."

  Panam was now looking murderous at her leader, who was now looking at the ground by his feet. He said nothing, but that didn't seem to bother Dakota.

  "Whether you are willing to admit it or not is immaterial. You said you would reach out to the other Aldecados? Well, you're too late, I already did," the older woman revealed. "We had a meeting when I first put what was going on together. The other family heads agree by majority. The last test was Jackson. We guessed, rather accurately, I imagine, that the real reason you didn't want to work with him was you were scared people would leave even faster if they had access to proper living quarters, support, and an ally helping them settle in."

  Once again, Saul's silence was damning. Panam looked like she was moments away from strangling him with her bare hands.

  "The family heads agreed that if you refused to accept Jackson's hospitality without proper reasoning, you would be stripped of your position," Dakota explained. "It is clear you are scared of losing control, and you have put that fear ahead of what is best for your people, making you unfit for leadership. If you wish to remain in the family, Darius has volunteered to take you in. Otherwise, you will be exiled."

  Silence hung over the group, both Saul and Panam staring at Dakota with wide, stunned eyes. It was a full thirty seconds before Saul recovered enough to say anything.

  "You… you can't. You don't have the power."

  "You're correct, I don't. I simply presented what I uncovered and my own theories to the family heads, and they agreed with me," Dakota said, shrugging casually. "Your time as a head is over, Saul. Respect the family's choice. Panam."

  The younger woman jumped slightly at being addressed directly, standing straight, a bead of sweat dripping down her temple.

  "It was discussed that you might take over Saul's position, but it was decided that you are still too young and untested," she explained. "You will retain your position as second in command, under the new leader, who is currently on their way. The current schedule has you taking their place in a few years in a more natural way, with less harsh feelings and more time to teach you the ropes."

  "I… I understand," Panam said, though it took a moment for her to swallow her first response. "I… just want what's best for the family."

  "Which is why you're retaining your position as second," Dakota confirmed. "Now, Saul. Are you going to make this transition difficult, or will you accept the family head's decision, suck it up, and do what's best for the family?"

  "I…I won't make things difficult," He finally said, his face pale and gaunt as if he had aged twenty years sitting there.

  "Good. We can start by coming up with a speech for you to give when we return," Dakota said while leaning forward. "Something honest that won't stir your people up to do something stupid. Then we can contact Jackson and accept his hospitality. As far as we can tell, he is being honest, and having a legal, protected place for this branch will give us time to recruit from the city and hopefully expand our members, undoing the damage you did."