Chapter 12

Kat was given the choice of a company-owned apartment, a small, one-bedroom affair with a view of the next apartment building, or of getting her own place in the city. She made the decision to take the company apartment for at least a month while she got more familiar with the city.

She spent that entire first month in her office, leaving for meals and at quitting time. Here she applied herself to learning everything she could about the Agency setup and about the firm for which she was supposedly employed.

The first topic didn't take her long, but was of particular interest to her. She was given a rundown on the Agency assets who were 'in-house' and under cover with the firm. They had a Comm team of four people who monitored communications around the clock. They had a protective team whose job it was to sweep the offices daily, to protect the integrity of the Sector CO and to act as a reaction force should something go wrong. Last, but certainly not least, there was an intelligence analysis team that processed information sent in from the field and compiled it with data received from headquarters.

The second, and more involved topic, was not as fascinating, but no less important. The cover firm, Calysto Core Development, Inc, was and old, well-established firm that made its name by providing infrastructure services to other companies. They would build the power stations, the water and sewer stations, telecommunications relays and even ground ports for orbital services.

There were three primary divisions of the business. Emerging Markets consisted of primarily the sales force and teams of engineers. They would travel to any planet or system to meet with clients, assess their needs and do a preliminary survey. Engineering Services provided engineers for Emerging Markets and for those customers that wanted to own their own infrastructure and just needed the designers, architects and experienced workforce. The last division, Support Services, contracted with various customers to supply the trained and experienced personnel to run these facilities on a contracted or even an emergency basis.

CCD had a wide reputation as a firm that was solid. It did what it said it would do, did it right and didn't take advantage of the clients. They had projects up and running on time and sometimes even under-budget, and they lasted.

CCD had completed more than seventy thousand projects, large and small, in their three hundred year existence. That Kat had never heard of them wasn't unusual, they tended to work for the mega-corps, planetary and even system governments.

She saw very little of Helios during that first month, he was frequently out of the office for long stretches of time, or so Margo informed her. Unfortunately, she saw entirely too much of Tav Paron. He was strictly business side, knowing very little about the more secretive side of the firm's operations. He was not completely ignorant, but he was deliberately kept out of the loop. In his capacity as Mr. William's deputy, Williams being Poseidon's public persona, Paron was tasked with making sure that Kat had the data she needed to familiarize herself with CCD operations. Kat would be using one or another of the CCD divisions for her various covers during her tenure here.

Paron seemed to take an inordinate amount of satisfaction from filling her company account with more and more data files. He had taken to asking, each time he saw her, if she had enough reading material and then, no matter her answer, he would find more to send.

Kat noticed something else about Paron, he was always watching her. If she was not in her office, she could count on turning a corner and running in to him. The break room, coming and going from lunch, even first thing in the morning, he would be there. He never greeted her or had anything to say that was not work related, but he was making her uncomfortable.

When she felt she had learned as much about the company as she could through the manuals and the literature, Kat left a message for Helios. Two days passed, mostly twiddling her thumbs and ignoring new data packets from Paron, before she went to see Margo.

Margo, as always was sitting at her desk, working on her terminal. She was drinking a local tea whose pleasant aroma reminded Kat of black currant, but whose taste made her feel slightly nauseous the one time she had tried it.

Margo looked up at her and squinted, tilting her head slightly. "You look like you have had enough of the research and are itching to get out of the office. Kat nodded her head enthusiastically, eliciting a knowing smile from Margo.

"You lasted longer than Helios did, when he first arrived. It helps to think of it as a rite of passage." Margo, laying her hands on the desk, started firing questions at Kat, all concerning various facets of the CCD business.

Kat managed to get the majority of the answers correct without prompting and felt relieved that the studying had paid off.

When the pop quiz was done, Margo waved to the chair in front of her desk, silently asking Kat to take a seat. "Have you taken any days off since you arrived? Here is a hint; that is a rhetorical question. I usually take weekends, but I was surprised to hear from security that you have been here every day without fail. While a strong work ethic is admirable, burning yourself out is not. So, with that in mind, what can I do for you today?"

Kat grimaced, but didn't refute Margo's statements. She had been working hard, but mostly because the apartment was lonely, and she really missed Pan. She had been writing him every couple of days, but instead of making her feel closer, it just brought home how empty the temporary apartment was without him.

"I actually came it to see if you had any info you could give me on Helios. I left him a message a couple of days ago but haven't heard back. Up to now, it was rarely more than twenty-four hours before I got a response, and never more than thirty-six."

"Dimitri is on Callabria at the moment, on the Anson job. They are renegotiating that hydroelectric dam service contract. Let me send the info to your pad." Margo stared at Kat for a moment, then tapped out a combination on her terminal. Kat was puzzled. Margo almost never used first names in the office, and Dimitri was Helios's. Pulling her data pad from her pocket, she expanded the screen and keyed in her access code.