Chapter 50 - Future Tech F1 Win
While Vince enjoyed the Formula 1 event in Australia, US-allied countries like Japan, the UK, France, Sweden, and South Korea were working to enact laws allowing new technologies from the US to be imported and owned.
President Lee Myung-bak was discussing the corporate espionage mission with his men.
"We\'ve gathered the best of the best for this mission: expert hackers and highly trained soldiers." one of the men said to Mr. Lee.
[Now that other countries are allowing the purchase of higher-tech products, it\'s the perfect time to steal data from Future Tech.] Mr. Lee thought.
"Have them take advantage of the secret entrances at the key telecommunication hubs. Go in and out quickly, and don\'t get caught. And have the hackers penetrate their cyber defenses as cover," Mr. Lee instructed before dismissing the men.
A few hours later, Price received a notification from the FS nethunter team assigned to the East Asia region.
The high priority message stated there was unusual activity in East Asia trying to disrupt the telecommunication hub defenses at multiple sites across the East Asia Future Tech communications network.
Price called Anthony, who was working at the Austin headquarters.
"Something\'s happening to our communications systems in East Asia. Your mission is to investigate and retaliate." Price instructed.
"I\'ve been on it before you even called, Price. We\'ll find them." Anthony replied before ending the call.
Price ordered FS operators to deploy at critical communications hubs as reinforcements from the South Korea branch.
A dozen Stingrays with 50 troops each flew towards their destinations from the US Air Force Osan Airbase while the nethunters utilized Future Tech satellites to find their enemies.
Grand Prix Sunday, Albert Park.
The red lights were blinking, counting down the start of the race.
Nico had a great start and pulled away at the front of the pack. Unfortunately, Randall had a poor start as it was his first time launching an F1 car during a race.
He maintained second place while trying to catch up with Nico. The Marussia and Caterham cars were making good time on the straights and started tailing the RedBulls.
An hour and a half later, a few laps before the race ends, Randall tried to overtake Nico through a chicane but couldn\'t stick the move.
They battled for three straight laps in a race of their own, making the fans go wild in excitement.
They were side by side at the last corner and dragged raced to the finish line.
Nico crossed the line half a second before Randall and won the race.
The German fans in the crowd were chanting while the top three finishers parked the cars.
[What a thrilling first race we just had here in Albert Park. It\'s a Future Tech one-two finish! We\'ll hear more from the drivers from the pitlane. To you, Martin." David Croft said to a microphone.
"That was a fantastic start Nico, but an even more electrifying last few laps. What was going through your mind battling your teammate." Martin asked.
"I was fighting for my first win in F1 with my all. I knew Randall was quick after training for months together. He\'s a respectful driver, and I enjoyed sharing the battle for the win with him." Nico replied.
"Congratulations on the win, Nico," Martin said before starting to interview Randall.
"P2 is an excellent result for your first race in F1. What was in your mind while battling Nico for a potential win?" Martin asked.
"I knew I had the chance of winning the race, but I\'ll have to work on my race starts from now on. Nevertheless, I\'m proud of Nico and the team\'s success today." Randall replied.
"Enjoy the champagne, Randall," Martin stated.
Sebastian Vettel was the next interviewee. "It was a rough day for RedBull; what went wrong, do you think?" Martin asked.
"The Future Tech cars are much quicker than us, plain and simple. So we\'ll have to rethink our aerodynamic package to keep in pace with them." Vettel replied.
"P3 isn\'t the end of the world, Sebastian. I wish you good fortune for the races to come." Martin Brundle said before ending the interview segment.
Nico reveled in his victory at the top of the podium while celebrating with Randall and Kevin.
The stereotypical champagne showered over all the people at the podium box and some in the crowd.
Vince congratulated the team members at the garages and invited Nico, Randall, and Kevin to join his group for dinner at Vue de monde.
"That was a great battle towards the end of the race. I enjoyed it so much that I\'ll give both of you an Agera SFV. Then, we can go racing at COTA whenever we want!" Christian declared.
"I hope you guys are content with your contract bonuses; it\'s well deserved," Vince stated.
"The world needs an all-electric racing series. Electric cars are the future." Elon complained.
"I agree regarding electric cars\' importance in society, but racing electric vehicles? It doesn\'t sound good cause there is no sound literally." Vince replied jokingly.
Christian started laughing and joined in the conversation.
"Aerodyne vehicle racing would be fun to watch but incredibly dangerous," Christian stated.
"That\'s a good idea, but I think it\'s too early. Maybe in a few years, Christian. Let\'s focus on perfecting our turbofan engine fuel complex and increasing efficiency first." Vince explained.
"SpaceX will join the advanced fuel complex project. We\'ll have to invest in fuel research to expedite our mission to the moon." Elon declared.
Nico and Randall were listening in to their conversation and stared at Kevin in shock. Kevin shook his head in agreement as he, too, felt the same way once in an executive meeting.
[These guys are nuts.] So Randall thought while eating his costly meal.
President Lee\'s men boarded a helicopter bound for an island off the coast of Taiwan. The ten private soldiers and two hackers were tasked with stealing valuable intelligence and installing a back door program without Future Tech knowing.
The island was primarily used as a telecommunication hub for the trans-pacific underwater optical fiber cables originating from Seattle and running through Hawaii, Japan, Taiwan, and South Korea.
The helicopter landed five miles from their intended target to avoid being spotted by Dragonflies.
A cave was located near the pre-determined landing zone, which served as an entrance to a hidden pathway underground.
Hyundai Construction and Engineering built the secret pathway while upgrading the communication hub structure earlier in the year.
Mr. Lee determined the most important communication hub and built only one such pathway to minimize exposure to Future Tech monitoring.
The infiltration team walked through the underground passage for five miles before reaching the target.
They hadn\'t realized the small vibration and acoustic sensors strategically placed within a mile radius of every Future Tech communications center worldwide.
The sensors were the size of a hockey puck and utilized IoT device functionality like communicating with the home base via satellite internet connection.
Anthony and Price designed the sensors specifically to protect and monitor Future Tech\'s static assets.
A notification appeared on Price\'s screen stating a vibration anomaly occurred at a hub off the coast of Taiwan.
He diverted two Stingrays to secure the target base and capture the detected intruders.
The infiltration team took half an hour to traverse through the underground pathway and found the entrance into the hub building.
They emerged and found themselves in the maintenance room. The team knew exactly where to find the Data Access Node room because of the blueprints Hyundai C&E provided.
It took another few minutes to find and open the security door leading to the Node. Then, two of the hackers took laptops and various tools out of the bags and went to work on disabling the doors.
The 50 troops from the first Stingray that arrived surrounded the building while waiting for reinforcements. Another two Stingrays and 100 troops gathered to overwhelm whatever enemy was waiting.
The vanguard FS operators went straight to where most likely the infiltrators would be, at a Node room.
The two Korean hackers disabled the security door in ten minutes. After that, their group entered the room, and the hackers immediately plugged into the Data Access Node.
After connecting to the Node, they started attempts to bypass the security protocols and defenses. The other men vigilantly guarded the area while the hackers were at work.
The corporate espionage mission was going smoothly until they heard loud footsteps outside the security door.
Stats last time checked:
Future Tech current valuation - $300 billion
15 million BTC (currently trades at $1,000)
$40 Billion cash in Future Tech
21,000+ employees (FT AI, Future Studios, Hive Mind Manufacturing, FT Micro Devices, BitCash, FT VR, Future Tech F1, FT Investments, Future Arms, Future Med, Future Tech Robotics)
20,000+ operators under Future Security
Personal Vehicles: Klassen Phantom, Agera R, Agera SFV, Boeing Luxury 787 Dreamliner
Five company collaborators (Epic, Koenegisegg, SpaceX, Tesla, Hyundai C&E)
Dozens of investments under Future Tech Holdings (i..e., Instagram)