Sirius Zero: Building A Corporate Kingdom After Being Expelled

Natasha nervously entered Aaron's office, her heart pounding in her chest.

"Master Zakhrov, I need to talk to you about Saladin," she said.

Aaron raised an eyebrow, intrigued.

Natasha sat down, and looked at her hands, collecting her thoughts.

"When I was in the CIA, my first assignment was to infiltrate the harem of a Libyan warlord, and assassinate him," she began.

Aaron nodded, listening intently.

"The mission failed. The Libyan civil war did the job for me, and I was stuck with no way out. It was Saladin that facilitated my safe return to the US, and not the CIA who disavowed me and left me to die as collateral damage," she said.

"Saladin is this warlord's heir I take it?" asked Aaron,

"Yes sir, but he's also smart. He was only 17 at the time, and was able to save me because he had already got a military following," said Natasha.

"So, what you're telling me, is that I can trust Saladin, and I should back his idea to bring nuclear energy to Libya," said Aaron.

"Yes sir, I'm indebted to you, but also to him. I'd like to settle that debt with him if I can," she said.

Aaron smiled at Natasha, came around his desk, and gently lifted her chin to look up at him.

"I was going to back him anyway, but now I have a personal reason to do so. However, you're mine now, and I don't like to share," said Aaron, his hand tightening possessively on her chin.

"Yes sir," said Natasha, blushing at his possessive tone.

Olga's voice broke over the intercom: "Master Zakhrov, we've got a small army of federal agents outside with an arrest warrant for a Saladin!"

"Send them in Olga," said Aaron into the intercom. He turned to Natasha.

"I'm pretty sure Saladin is smart enough to get them off his back, you agree?" he asked her.

"Yes sir, I agree," chuckled Natasha.

"Come on then, let's see what they want," said Aaron, as he opened the door to his office.

----

Color drained from Daniel's face as he saw Natasha standing outside the Sirius Software HQ building, with Saladin and Aaron.

"Well hello, Daniel. It's been a while," said Natasha, her gloved hands twitching to draw her guns.

Daniel's mouth opened and closed like a fish, as he tried to process the sight of Natasha standing between Aaron and Saladin.

Natasha relaxed, and her face lit up in a mocking smile.

"What's the matter? You look like you've seen a ghost," she teased, as she stepped forward.

"I, I thought you were dead," stammered Daniel, as he tried to regain his composure.

Natasha raised an eyebrow. "Disavowed doesn't mean dead Daniel, you really have grown incompetent," she scoffed.

Daniel shook his head vigorously, as if trying to clear cobwebs.

"Well, that's beside the point. We're here to bring Saladin in for questioning, along with his associates, which includes you, Natasha," he said, his voice steadying.

"You have a warrant?" asked Natasha.

Daniel pulled an envelope out of his pocket and handed it to her.

Aaron took out his phone and called Andre.

"Andre, we've got federal agents here with a warrant, get the entire legal team prepped and ready to move," he commanded.

"We'll be there in ten minutes," replied Andre over the phone.

"Well, you heard the man Mr. Daniel, we'll leave in ten minutes, with my legal team," said Aaron, as Daniel grit his teeth.

----

Daniel fought hard to suppress his feeling of being outgunned as he stared at Aaron, Saladin and Andre flanked on either side by Andre's team of law-bunny aides and paralegals, capped by a smirking Natasha on one end, and a bemused Olga on the other.

"All right, let's cut to the chase Mr. Zakhrov, have you been approached by Saladin and his associates to build nuclear power plants in Libya?" asked Elijah.

"My client answers only to US authorities, and will not answer to foreign agents," said Andre, his voice firm.

Elijah gestured impatiently for Daniel to repeat the question.

"No, I was approached to upgrade and modernize their power grid," said Aaron.

"You expect us to believe that bullshit? Modernize the grid indeed! You've been asked to build nuclear power plants!" snarled Elijah.

"Mr. Daniels, I refuse to answer any more questions. Good afternoon," said Aaron, getting to his feet.

"Sit your ass down! We're not finished!" snarled Elijah, springing to his feet.

"Mr. Daniels, we're done here. Now if you'll excuse me. I have a business to run," said Aaron, completely ignoring Elijah.

"You're free to go, Mr. Zakhrov. However, Mr. Saladin here has overstayed his welcome on United States soil, he will be taken straight to the airport," said Daniels.

"I do not wish to overstay my welcome. Thank you for your hospitality," said Saladin, standing and bowing.

"Mr. Saladin, it was a pleasure discussing business terms with you. I'll send you the contracts and plans once you're back in Libya," said Aaron, shaking Saladin's hand, and leaving with Andre and the others.

----

"You're a piece of work you know that?" grumbled Michael, as he watched massive crates marked with Sirius Nuclear's logo being loaded onto a military cargo plane.

"Hey, it's a legitimate business plan," said Aaron.

"Yeah yeah, tell that to Israel and Mossad. They almost had an aneurysm until the IAEA declared the sites clean," growled Michael.

"Well, I did say that this was a black box operation. Libya gets a new power grid, and we get good money," said Aaron.

"You better hope that it stays that way Aaron. If even one of those reactors gets compromised, we'll be looking at the gallows," said Michael seriously.

"I'm not an idiot Michael, I've made sure that the reactors are non-breeding. There's no chance of proliferation," said Aaron.

"Like that will stop Israel from bombing the shit out of them on the first sniff of enrichment they get," shot back Michael.

"Which is why I specifically selected Jewish-American technicians to operate those reactors once we have them up and running," said Aaron with a smirk.

"Only you can come up with an idea of making a Jewish ghetto town in the middle of an Islamic dictator's country and sell it with a straight face," sighed Michael shaking his head.

"Hey, if it works, it works," said Aaron with a shrug, as the plane's cargo bay closed.

"Be safe Aaron. I mean it," said Michael, giving Aaron a firm handshake.

"I will. And thank you, I know this was hard on you as well," said Aaron.

"It was way harder for Monica and her father," chuckled Michael to himself, as Aaron waved goodbye.

----

Monica's scream of frustration rent the air as she pummeled a punching bag with brass knuckles.

"How dare he! How dare he do this to me, my people!" she wailed as tears spilled out of her eyes, and the punching bag grew deformed.

Daniel and Elijah shifted uncomfortably as he watched her.

Finally, Monica calmed down and zipped open the punching bag.

The two men recoiled as a bloody and battered corpse, that was the IAEA inspector who had signed off on the Sirius Nuclear Libya project fell out of it.

With a deep breath, Monica turned to them.

"I suppose that worm's report means that we can't stop the project?" she asked with a pout.

"U-um no. Now the only way to stop it is if we find evidence of proliferation," said Daniel.

"Well then Eli, get your little boys to plant some evidence. I'm sure you managed to sneak a few agents into that plane," said Monica.

"I don't know what kind of voodoo that kid's got, but he -" began Elijah, before Monica's brass knuckles slammed into his face, sending him sprawling.

"Pathetic! Useless! He's just a spoiled brat! How hard is it to infiltrate his operations?" she screamed, as she kicked Elijah in the ribs.

"Get up! Get up and do your job!" she screamed, as Elijah groaned in pain.

Daniel stepped in, and pulled Monica away from Elijah.

"Monica, stop! You're not helping anything by beating up Elijah," he said firmly.

Monica viciously elbowed Daniel in the stomach, making him double over in pain.

"You're no better! You had him detained! Why didn't you just throw him in a CIA prison? Or better yet, just kill him?" she screamed.

Daniel moved quickly and forced Monica into a half-nelson before slamming her against the wall.

"That's because my dear Emily, doing so would have exposed our own operations to federal scrutiny. So calm yourself, and let us think of a way to stop this without exposing us," he hissed, as Monica started to whimper.

"Y-yes sir," she said, her voice low and submissive.

"There's a good girl, now run along and see what you can do about making sure that monstrosity of a school he built doesn't get a single admission," said Daniel, releasing her.

Monica nodded, and walked out of the room, her head down.

Daniel helped Elijah up.

"Are you all right?" he asked.

Elijah spat out a mouthful of blood.

"That bitch is unstable, all thanks your damn inbreeding," he snarled.

"Careful Elijah, or you'll spit more than blood," said Daniel softly.

Elijah swallowed nervously.

"I think we should look at the regime change option. Pretty sure Saladin has pissed off at least some people that we can use," he said, trying to get back into a professional mode.

"You want a regime change, you'll have to do it yourself. I've got Zakhrov and DuPont to deal with," said Daniel.

"All right, I'll see what I can do," said Elijah, leaving Daniel.

"Dammit, I'll have to arrange for making this look like an accident," muttered Daniel, looking at the corpse that had been left.