Chapter 96: The Choice They Expected
Rhea gave me two lawful choices.
We could ask for an immediate order stopping the Northstar signing while the rights warranties were reviewed. The record was strong enough to request it, but no court could promise the result.
Or we could give Sterling's directors forty-eight hours to correct the transaction themselves.
"They expect you to choose the injunction," she said. "Then they can say you attacked the company before the board had a chance to act."
"Have they had a chance?"
"They received the correction yesterday. A formal board deadline removes the argument."
The transaction schedule showed a signing session in three days. Forty-eight hours would leave enough time for directors to amend the prospectus, qualify the warranty, delay signing, or authorize independent review. It would also leave enough time for them to refuse.
"Every director gets a separate notice," I said.
Rhea nodded. "Separate receipt. Separate response."
The letter did not threaten personal ruin. It listed four requested actions: correct the inventor description, disclose the active license suspension, correct the crown's ownership and display status, and preserve all transaction records pending independent review.
It included Nathan's two certifications and his secure-link receipt under restricted board access. It did not publish them.
The final paragraph stated that the Trust reserved every remedy but would wait forty-eight hours before seeking emergency relief if the board confirmed a corrective process.
I signed only as the principal inventor and Trust scientific observer.
The independent trustees signed for the Trust.
By noon, all nine directors had received individual copies.
Two acknowledged within an hour. One asked whether the employee protection plan could be discussed at the same meeting. Three routed everything to Nathan. Conrad replied that the board should not make decisions under coercion. Celeste called the deadline an attempt to seize control without buying a single share.
The remaining two directors asked for the underlying public records and confirmed receipt without adopting management's position. Rhea logged each response beside its delivery time. Silence, forwarding, objection, and inquiry were no longer one corporate answer.
Neither addressed the facts.
Nathan sent a procedural objection. He argued that the Trust lacked authority to supervise Sterling's board.
Rhea answered that the Trust was not supervising the board. It was giving the board time before enforcing its own license and ownership rights.
The distinction entered the record.
Julian asked whether Mercer should prepare a competing proposal if Northstar delayed.
"No," I said. "Not while they are deciding whether the first process was accurate."
He accepted the answer without making me defend it.
At hour twenty, Sterling announced that the board had full confidence in management. At hour twenty-six, two independent directors requested the complete rights schedule and learned they had never received the suspension notice before our service.
At hour thirty-one, Northstar asked whether the board intended to amend the prospectus.
Nathan replied that it was evaluating language.
At hour thirty-eight, Conrad requested another private meeting. I declined.
At hour forty-four, Celeste's communications team circulated a draft statement saying "historical attribution questions have been conclusively resolved without impact on Sterling's ownership."
The Trust did not own Sterling.
Sterling did not own the Trust.
The sentence blurred both directions at once.
Rhea sent the draft back with tracked corrections. No one accepted them.
At hour forty-seven, the board scheduled a statement for the next morning, one hour after the deadline.
"They want the clock to expire while promising language later," Rhea said.
I looked at the nine delivery receipts.
The choice they expected was whether I would save the deal or stop it.
That was not the choice I had given them.
I had asked whether they would correct their own record.
At hour forty-eight, no director had committed to doing so.
The deadline closed with every name still attached to a decision.