05-19-2014, 10:18 PM
To some, it would be disheartening to realize that a woman of so lofty a reputation; one of selflessness and sacrifice to aid those less fortunate, to carry on the good work in an age when most of the world couldn't give two flying fucks about what happened beyond their own front door, could be so selfishly motivated.
Dominance V was aflame with civil war. Aflame literally, as the live broadcasts were already starting to show. Suicide bombs and IEDs, armed mobs, ambushes and assassinations and arsons. And while the very same and more happened in Sierra Leone, it didn't touch a single headline the world round, outside of Africa. That continent had been all but forgotten by the world, and the Red Cross' good works were often only thanks to people like Eleanor Northbrook.
And she worried only about her daughter, and her reputation.
He could not fault her in the slightest for being worried of her daughter. In fact, had she not been, that would have been a frightening revelation for him. He could also understand her desire to protect her reputation; reputation was a powerful thing after all. It opened doors. It served as a shield, and a mask. Her reputation made her job easier; and her job made the lives of others easier.
She sought to keep her daughter safe, and she sought to keep her reputation safe as well. Both were motivations he understood, and appreciated. Family was important. His was the Legion. Hers was a more direct blood tie.
He pulled up images from his Wallet, and began to compose the contract in some detail. The particulars were vague; so worded in her own favour. The Legion would secure the school and the Red Cross staff that worked there. They would secure all the Red Cross missions and staff in the country, which were, it seemed, blessedly few. The excuse was that those staff would be needed in the coming weeks as the conflict surely escalated. And in that excuse, was the legal wiggle-room they would need to secure her daughter without drawing unwanted attention to the task.
It also meant that a sizable chunk of the funds that Eleanor paid to the contract would go into establishing Legion Premiere-secured field hospitals and refugee camps. That funding of money, and the establishment of the camps, would bolster both Eleanor's reputation as a humanitarian, and the Legion's as an effective stabilizing force, able to go far beyond the means and will of similar private security companies in Africa.
"I have a team near your daughter's school. They shall secure the area, your people, and your daughter."
He'd already sent a warning order to his nearest team. They would be at the school within the hour, should the situation around Freetown not prove too troublesome for their movement yet.
Of course that team would arrive too late; Natalie would already be gone, bound for the hospital, and another team would be assigned the task, but that was a problem that would reveal itself later. The two would discuss the legal particularities of their contract, and more importantly, the disguise that hid her true motivation under a thick cloak of humanitarian desires and foresight.
Through the legal rigmarole, Jacques was direct and to the point. The negotiations on costs were not as aggressive as they would have been with a CEO of some multi-national company, however. The Red Cross was not so well funded as for him to desire to clean their coffers, and working with them had long-term benefits for him and his Legion.
But as that drew to a head, his Wallet screens popping up with important messages mostly regarding DV and some of his teams on the ground in Sierra Leone, Jacques accepted a cup of very black coffee from one of his personal retinue, as another of his men laid out a uniform and bodyarmour on an empty chair behind him. They were all beginning to gear up, making use of brief lulls in their work. They were still hours away from executing the DV rescue, but there was little time to be wasted.
"Mademoiselle Northbrook. My men will do all they can to see your daughter is safe. They are very good at their job. It is late. Please, get some rest. An impossible request I understand, but you are going to be needed in the morning to help pick up the pieces of this mess."
He stepped back from his work space and began working on the buttons of his expensive dress shirt, "You have good works to do on the morrow. 'It is folly for a man to pray to the gods for that which he has the power to obtain by himself.'"
Epicurus, an ancient Greek philosopher. "You have done what you can this night."
Edited by Jacques, May 21 2014, 01:31 PM.
Dominance V was aflame with civil war. Aflame literally, as the live broadcasts were already starting to show. Suicide bombs and IEDs, armed mobs, ambushes and assassinations and arsons. And while the very same and more happened in Sierra Leone, it didn't touch a single headline the world round, outside of Africa. That continent had been all but forgotten by the world, and the Red Cross' good works were often only thanks to people like Eleanor Northbrook.
And she worried only about her daughter, and her reputation.
He could not fault her in the slightest for being worried of her daughter. In fact, had she not been, that would have been a frightening revelation for him. He could also understand her desire to protect her reputation; reputation was a powerful thing after all. It opened doors. It served as a shield, and a mask. Her reputation made her job easier; and her job made the lives of others easier.
She sought to keep her daughter safe, and she sought to keep her reputation safe as well. Both were motivations he understood, and appreciated. Family was important. His was the Legion. Hers was a more direct blood tie.
He pulled up images from his Wallet, and began to compose the contract in some detail. The particulars were vague; so worded in her own favour. The Legion would secure the school and the Red Cross staff that worked there. They would secure all the Red Cross missions and staff in the country, which were, it seemed, blessedly few. The excuse was that those staff would be needed in the coming weeks as the conflict surely escalated. And in that excuse, was the legal wiggle-room they would need to secure her daughter without drawing unwanted attention to the task.
It also meant that a sizable chunk of the funds that Eleanor paid to the contract would go into establishing Legion Premiere-secured field hospitals and refugee camps. That funding of money, and the establishment of the camps, would bolster both Eleanor's reputation as a humanitarian, and the Legion's as an effective stabilizing force, able to go far beyond the means and will of similar private security companies in Africa.
"I have a team near your daughter's school. They shall secure the area, your people, and your daughter."
He'd already sent a warning order to his nearest team. They would be at the school within the hour, should the situation around Freetown not prove too troublesome for their movement yet.
Of course that team would arrive too late; Natalie would already be gone, bound for the hospital, and another team would be assigned the task, but that was a problem that would reveal itself later. The two would discuss the legal particularities of their contract, and more importantly, the disguise that hid her true motivation under a thick cloak of humanitarian desires and foresight.
Through the legal rigmarole, Jacques was direct and to the point. The negotiations on costs were not as aggressive as they would have been with a CEO of some multi-national company, however. The Red Cross was not so well funded as for him to desire to clean their coffers, and working with them had long-term benefits for him and his Legion.
But as that drew to a head, his Wallet screens popping up with important messages mostly regarding DV and some of his teams on the ground in Sierra Leone, Jacques accepted a cup of very black coffee from one of his personal retinue, as another of his men laid out a uniform and bodyarmour on an empty chair behind him. They were all beginning to gear up, making use of brief lulls in their work. They were still hours away from executing the DV rescue, but there was little time to be wasted.
"Mademoiselle Northbrook. My men will do all they can to see your daughter is safe. They are very good at their job. It is late. Please, get some rest. An impossible request I understand, but you are going to be needed in the morning to help pick up the pieces of this mess."
He stepped back from his work space and began working on the buttons of his expensive dress shirt, "You have good works to do on the morrow. 'It is folly for a man to pray to the gods for that which he has the power to obtain by himself.'"
Epicurus, an ancient Greek philosopher. "You have done what you can this night."
Edited by Jacques, May 21 2014, 01:31 PM.