Streaming reality

Once I got used to correcting the data streams on the fly and got my algorithms in place, covering for Lily's 'unacceptable' data became a manageable task, if not entirely routine.  Of course, It didn't hurt that I was able to tap a resource that was frighteningly good at manipulating numbers in real time.  Not that I had her doing it for me directly.  No. Just a few quick algorithms that would do the job I needed done and would run within the limits of the hardware I had at hand.

With the Lily situation more or less under control, I could turn some attention back to my own projects.  Not that my crew wasn't able to continue on their own.  They were capable and I'd trained them well.  I just wanted to be involved more.  Routine didn't really suit me.

I did have a number of irons in the fire, of course.  We were still gathering incriminating evidence against Niska.  At least incriminating evidence that was useful to our cause, rather than specific evidence the Justice Department would be interested in.  They weren't, after all, especially interested in Justice.  Just the Law and those it was written to benefit.  No.  Our interest in Niska and his operation were more subtle and more focused on his operations than any specific violations of Alliance or local laws.

On another side, we had our own counter-Intel operations.  We couldn't be especially effective if our project was widely known, so it behooved us to keep our operations as far below the radar as possible.  Which naturally lead to trying to get a twenty thousand meter view from down in the weeds.  Not impossible, but not especially easy.  But that was why the majority of our operation was SigInt rather than HumInt.  Can't stop the signal, or so the saying went.  And, where there was signal, we could tap into it with barely a whisper in the ether.

Listen.
Record.
Analyze.
Archive.

Wash.
Rinse.
Repeat.

I had live operatives, of course.  But not many, and only one or two who had any real idea who they worked for and what we did.  Unlike Mister Niska, for us, an individual Reputation was more of a Bad Thing(tm) than an asset.  For the organization, it was a different matter.  But that was more concerning making sure the information you sold was actually accurate, and secrets you were paid to keep stayed secret.  A task I had a unique perspective on from a previous life.

For the time being, we were just in Listen mode.  Tuned in to the ebb and flow of information through the 'Verse.  Measuring the data.  Scoping out the competition.  Developing sources and potential clients.  Learning how to scale to the volumes we were seeing.  It was taking time.  Perhaps more than I wanted it to.  But we knew going in what we were up against and how substantial the task was.

Of course, we weren't doing this cold.  People had been doing this for years and the Business Plan, such as it was, was familiar to anyone who reached management levels in any decent Intel organization. Processes and objectives I was well familiar with.

Work behind the scenes
As we build the perfect beast
Knowledge is power