Personal Justice

Title: Personal Justice
Author: Ladyholder McCaffrey
Fandom: The Sentinel
Characters: Blair Sandburg
Genre: Gen
Word Count: 779
Warning: No Beta
Word Prompt Fic: Justice

 

 

“We would like to offer you a book contract to publish your work titled The Sentinel,” Sid, the publisher his mother had involved in this mess told him.

“No.” the word was easy to say and Blair put his will behind it to enforce the ultimatum. “And I did not send that document to you, so you don’t have my permission to have even opened them, let alone try to publish them. You have received stolen intellectual property and even when told so, you have persisted in pushing this forward. Due to the gross violation of my privacy, I am looking into how to sue you, your publisher and the person who sent you the material.”

Sid blanched and Blair could see his jaw loosen slightly. He figured that the man should be a bit shocked and scared. The screaming match he had gotten into with his mother had been epic on a scale that he had never appreciated until he had started his ride along with Jim. His mother had pulled a Kincaid level of betrayal and Blair was done with her.

As for Sid? Well, it paid to have friends who were lawyers and understanding about being woken up at 6am. And who were willing to put their legal acumen to supporting him as he dealt with the particular Naomi had dropped him in.

He slid the prepared cease and desist document across the expanse of the conference room table. When Sid read it, he lost what little color he had left. “But you would be making a lot of money! Not to mention the fame!”

Blair leaned forward to look the older man in the eye. “I don’t need money. And I sure don’t need fame. Letting my work be published in this manner violates the privacy of the people mentioned in the body of the document at a minimum. Plus all the various scholarly standards that would need to be met if I was submitting it for peer review. Since it was on my hard drive and not under such review, I am reasonably certain I wasn’t willing to release it.”

“But you wrote something fresh and new! Plus it could make you major money!” Sid wailed as he waved at the manuscript in front of them and Blair grimaced.

“I don’t care,” Blair enunciated clearly. “You are to cease and desist your activities. You are to withdraw all the excerpts you have published and you are to return all copies of the work in question, electronic and paper, to me in 24 hours.”

“But!”

The internal ‘snap’ of his temper slipping its bonds was almost a physical sensation and Blair drew in a deep breath and stood up to lean on the table. Putting all his ire into his gaze, he pinned Sid to his seat. “Due to your continued, unwanted publications of my intellectual property, you have put people in danger. Your actions have led to 3 people being shot. Cascade has suffered an unknown amount of property damage. All of this has led to me being in danger of losing my position at Rainer University. Why should I want to continue this farce?”

“Fine. We’ll withdraw everything. But I think you are making a mistake,” Sid told him before he pushed the manuscript copy towards Blair.

Blair pulled the document to him before he turned to stare at the phone on the table with a pointed look. “I would suggest you call and get that process started. Now.”

The look the older man flashed him was faintly poisonous but Blair didn’t care that he had insulted him. He had a list being ticked off in his head and Sid, for all he was a major point was coming off the urgent list. Listening to the publisher bark out orders, Blair crossed a few more things off his mental list.

“There, I’ve done what you wanted. You’ll never get published with this marring your reputation,” Sid announced.

Blair was sure the man was pleased to inform him of how he was persona non grata, but he could have cared less. “I don’t care,” Blair again explained slowly. Like one would to a toddler. “I’ll have the personal justice I need to allow me to look at myself in a mirror every day. Can you say that? Also, you should be looking after your own reputation, Sid. After all, this whole mess wouldn’t have started if you hadn’t accepted stolen goods.”

With that Blair stood up and walked out. His next appointment was at Rainier. He had a Chancellor to ruin. And then a press conference to call. After that? Well. Time would tell.

 

9 Comments:

  1. Go, Blair! This just warmed my heart. Thanks so much!

  2. Greywolf the Wanderer

    this is how it should have gone. it’s good to have large carnivorous lawyer friends!

  3. Fantastic. Thank you for sharing this! 🙂

  4. You know, it never occurred to me until I read this, but you’re right. That was stolen intellectual property. By publishing any part of it, the people involved really opened themselves up for this kind of law suit. If anyone’s reputation is going to be ruined by this, it’s the people dealing in stolen goods.

  5. I always love me a badass Blair.

    Thanks for that!

  6. Always love a BAMF Blair. Great little fic.

  7. Absolutely MARVELOUS revision of canon and definitely how it SHOULD’VE gone down! Blair may obfuscate a bit, but he was as honest as a summer’s day is long and under Eli’s mentorship he would never have released a publication with the subject’s names still in it. Most especially after he got to know Jim and saw how badly Jim had been treated by the military. And any friend of Jack Kelso’s would be exquisitely sensitive of the risks in letting the government have sensitive intel for leverage. I LOVE reading of a Blair who isn’t a doormat for all & sundry!

    Thank you for a wonderful trip down a road less traveled ! I would very much enjoy reading any more your Muse inspires you with, but if this story is complete, then I’ll accept it for the delicious gift the story is as it stands. Again, thank you!

  8. This is how the series should have ended, with a firm hand, instead we got a whimper.

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