by Mark Wandrey
"I'm glad to finally meet the young daughter of our previous First," Jasmine said and held out her hand. "And sometimes traditions have to be broken."
Minu took the offered hand somewhat reluctantly, finding her grip to be weak and slightly sweaty. Those hands had never spent a hard day working or fighting. She was as petite as Minu but a dozen centimeters taller. Her face was triangular with sharp cheekbones and long jet black hair that disappeared behind her head. Her eyes were green, like Minu’s, but held a distinctive epicanthic fold. "There aren't many Chosen from the Peninsula Tribe," Minu noted coolly.
"No, our people tend to keep to themselves. The survivors from Japan where an independent people, not as technologically fortunate as your own Plateau Tribe. We only realized the Concordian had returned after many years. Most other tribes thought our people were extinct. My uncle was the first from our tribe to be Chosen, I'm the tenth."
"You must be very proud." Minu saw her green eyes narrow and knew she'd struck pay dirt. Jasmine turned back to her desk and Minu saw she hair was almost waist length and held in a braided tail so tight it must be painful. "Is there a reason I was called in so early? My department is very busy and I've been working late..."
"Yes, we know." Jasmine picked up a tablet and almost dramatically read from it before continuing. "The robot maintenance team was summoned to service some of the heavy crab-bots in the HERT this morning. Turns out they were overburdened with the cleaning of a large quantity of blood and pig offal!"
"Oh, yes," Minu almost laughed.
"I believe I already explained," Bjorn began.
"I'd like to hear it from this young lady herself."
"First I'd like you to stop calling me a young lady.” It was Minu's turn for her green eyes to flash with anger. “You're not exactly an old woman yourself." Jasmine was halfway into her seat and hesitated a second, her face growing stormy as she finished seating. "Second, the details are all in my reports, and requisitions for the pigs. The new weapon system I am developing required live fire, real world tests."
"Naturally, that is what the HERT you so boldly lobbied in favor of is for. Not to mention Bjorn's creative demonstration to august members of the planetary press corps." Bjorn smiled for the first time and Jasmine speared him with a glare. His smile dimmed somewhat. "Considering the tens of thousands of credits spent on the HERT and the instrumentation installed, I fail to understand why blowing up a pack of pigs was necessary?"
"You read the report?"
"Of course, young, erm, Chosen Alma."
"Then I believe you know the answer." Minu saw the tinniest of nods from Bjorn and she knew she was playing it right. Don't hand yourself to her, Minu thought, restating the obvious was how she wanted it to go.
"I see your reasoning, but how come the instruments couldn't provide the answers? Surely Concordia manufactured multi spectral energy analyzing machines can provide much more in depth data than exploding a porcine?"
"Oh, more data surely, of course more accurate data is another thing."
"Explain yourself."
"I seem to be forced to do that. Perhaps this is the reason a scientist should run this section?"
"You are no scientist yourself," Jasmine pointed out.
"I have a bachelors in physics and in electrical engineering, and I’m halfway to a masters in physics." Bjorn coughed to cover up a choked laugh that escaped. Jasmine was starting to turn red. "Anyway, the targets used by the Concordia analysis devices gather a large amount of data. That data alone cannot predict the response of an actual weapons impact."
"That is what they are supposed to do."
"Maybe, but the targets aren't consumed."
"There would be little purpose to the targets being destroyed if they can't then register the data."
"This weapon system causes secondary damage through exploded tissue, as the crab-bots can testify. How is a hunk of dualloy and moliplas supposed to simulate burning skin, boiling flesh, shattering bone and exploding internal organs?"
Jasmine sat for a minute and picked up the tablet. She appeared to be scrolling through Minu's report from the previous night, Minu knew better. Jasmine plainly hadn't expected this 'young girl' to be any sort of a scientist herself. After all, Minu wore four gold stars, not silver. Clearly caught off balance, she was desperately trying to recover.
"I can perhaps understand some limited and controlled testing of the sort being necessary. But live pigs? Good lord, how horrible."
"How horrible would it be to deploy these new guns without knowing how they work, how they kill? How do you think our scouts will feel when they can't properly use the guns and get slaughtered? Maybe if we'd killed a few pigs with the beamcasters before rushing them into service, we wouldn't have lost as many as we have already?"
"Maybe if you left them where you found them the Rasa wouldn't be using us for target practice."
"That issue is no longer on the table," said a new voice. Minu turned and saw Jacob standing in the doorway.
Jasmine fairly leaped to her feet. "First Jacob, I didn't expect you here this early."
"No, I don't imagine you did," said Dram as he came in behind Jacob, "after all, this meeting was planned for almost an hour from now." Jasmine's jaw worked back and forth. Minu understood a little better now.
"I was just taking the time to get to know this young Chosen better," Jasmine said and gestured to Minu.
"A little harmless grilling," Bjorn said.
"Not a problem," Minu smiled and proscribed a slight bow, "any time you would like another science lesson, just let me know." Minu was certain the top of Jasmine's head was going to blow off. Bjorn was undergoing a minor coughing fit for the same reason, and Dram showed his bright white teeth. Minu was certain there was a hint of a smile behind Jacob’s scowl.
"As I'm sure you already know," Jacob said and gestured them all to seats, which unlike a few days ago where now empty, "we're making some changes. Bjorn has relinquished command of Science department to facilitate a new direction."
"Where is he going?" Minu asked, not waiting for Jacob to continue. He looked annoyed as he answered.
"Bjorn has formed a new research team with Dr. Ted Hurt and Pipson Leata."
"Pip's on my team."
"Not any more. You're being reassigned as well."
"What?"
"We're giving you your own scout team," Dram said with a smile, "you've earned it."
"No," Minu said adamantly. "I have work to finish here first."
"Only a few months ago you insisted on being transferred immediately," Jacob pointed out, "Dram told me right after the first launch of the beamcasters you all but demanded a transfer."
"I did, true, and that was before I made so much progress."
"We are glad you are making progress," Jasmine said in an obviously condescending tone, "and I'm sure your replacement will have wonderful success."
"I refuse the transfer."
"You can't do that!" Jasmine spoke louder than she'd obviously wanted to and looked self conscious.
"Yes I can. Section eleven of the regulations. If a Chosen is involved in vital research they can temporarily refuse transfer, reassignment, or retirement."
All the much older Chosen looked back and forth at each other, clearly caught off guard. Minu saw Jasmine consulting a computer out of the corner of her eye and hoped she'd memorized the regulation correctly.
"What can you say?" Dram asked. "The lady knows her regulations." Minu desperately wanted to give the big obsidian handsome man a hug, or more, and just for calling her a lady instead of young lady."
"It isn't her place to pull a stunt like that," Jasmine argued.
"Completely reasonable," Bjorn said.
Jacob silenced them all with an upheld hand. "Unless I'm mistaken, I am the First here and I will make the policy decisions!" Dram just nodded while Bjorn stopped talking and looked embarrassed. Jasmine on the other hand looked profoundly betrayed. Minu wondered if Jasmine was taki
ng over the job Mandi had been applying for a few months back in the HERT armory? "Your request to delay transfer is granted. You have six months."
"Six months?!"
"That is correct."
"I don't know if that is enough time."
"Nevertheless, it's what I'm giving you. The regulation states the transfer delay is at the discretion of your department head."
"But that's me?" Jasmine complained, her voice sounding a little whiny.
"However, it is up to me to decide if the research is of vital interest, and based on the tests reports I read this morning I would have to agree with Chosen Alma that they are. I'm pulling rank on this one and overriding the department head."
"Thank you," Minu said quietly while Jasmine chewed her tongue, a small vein standing out on her forehead.
"Don't ever thank me for doing my job. Maybe using dead pigs next time?"
"Actually," Minu said with a little smile, "because the new gun fires a laser to channel the plasma, the pig jumped when the laser burned it making the main charge miss."
"How did you solve that?" Jacob asked.
"We tinkered with the ionizing cycle rate of the laser. It cycles fast enough now that the blast hits before the animal knows it's being burned."
Jacob nodded thoughtfully. "Well done. You have six months, you better get back to work." She nodded and smiled at Jasmine as she turned to leave. Bjorn gave her a little smile and clenched his fist in a victory sign. Minu gave him a sad look. His expression said not to worry, an underlying confidence showing through. As she left Minu knew she'd won a sort of victory, at the cost of a friend and ally. She also knew she’d made a new enemy.
Once she was gone Jasmine started to complain but Jacob silenced her with a wave of his hand. "Don't even try, my decision is final. Bjorn, what do you think of this new Shock Rifle concept?"
"If she can get it to work, it will be nothing short of revolutionary. I don't know if the Concordia have even had anything that compares. It will be less lethal than many of their weapons. Of course lethality isn't everything. When you consider the potential versatility when taken into the context of a human wielding it? The thing could be as close to perfect as possible." Jacob nodded his head. “Minu is probably the most creative, tenacious, and downright resourceful Chosen I’ve ever known. And in fifty years, I’ve known a lot.” Jacob's frown deepened.
"What can I say?" Dram said and they all turned to look at him. "The lady takes after her dad!" Jasmine scowl rivaled Jacob's, the two looking like bookends.
Chapter 10
June 2nd, 518 AE
Science Branch, Chosen Headquarters, Steven’s Pass
A certain degree of desperation set in as Minu confronted the deadline. The biggest part of the problem wasn't the engineering, which was already three quarters completed, the problem was materials. In order to make the weapon usable for its intended purpose an extensive wish list of components were needed. And they needed to find them locally to avoid alien curiosity. The parts on Bellatrix went from uncommon, to unheard of.
"The laser collimator is one of the trickiest," Pip said as they gazed at her creation. Just like the beamcaster first started out, her Shock Rifle was exploded and mounted on the wall. Where their first project dealt with unknown, unlabeled components, now they knew what they needed, but had no idea where to get it. Pip isolated the design into three main problem areas. Laser collimator, plasma channel, and targeting computer. "The plasma channel is off the shelf, even if we don't have them. We can't come close on the targeting computer, really."
"Well then why isn't the computer the trickiest?" Mandi asked.
"Because I didn't want to even consider the impossible, let’s tackle the possible first."
Minu smiled at her friends, glad she'd convinced Jasmine that the only chance of success was to keep her team intact until the project was complete. Knowing that this would be the last project they worked on together gave the whole thing a feeling of melancholy. Of them all, Mandi was the only one not upset to find out they were soon breaking up. Minu knew there was bad blood between them, and the big breasted blonde's relationship with Aaron was only the latest insult, even if Minu never admitted it to herself.
"Okay," Minu said after staring at the components long enough, "first things first. We need to create a list required for a run of one hundred Shock Rifles."
"One hundred?" Terry exclaimed, "we can't even make one without linking it to an exterior computer."
"Not to mention using components so large the damn thing is bigger than the beamcaster," Alijah agreed.
"You are right, but worrying about what we can't do is a waste of time. Let's put together those components and get a good feel how much we're missing and how we can work around the shortfalls." A few days later the bins of parts were assembled Minu experienced a feeling of hopelessness at how much was missing or incompatible. Maybe Terry had been right, this was a waste of time.
Pip was rubbing his chin and nodding his head. "You were right, this isn't as bad as it looks. We've got more than half the components, maybe even more if I can go poking around the network." Minu cast him a quick look of concern. He just winked and she relaxed.
"Okay, so as a team we set about looking for the big three missing pieces. Three options; One, we find the components in enough quantity at least for our initial production run. Two, we improvise existing or attainable units to fit our needs. Three, we find a suitable replacement. Next progress meeting in a week."
One week later they'd gone no further. Each experience negligible progress or none at all. Minu sent a message to Dram explaining her problem in as much detail as possible then left for the day. She met up with Cherise in the Steven’s Pass gym for a rare workout.
"So what the hell are you doing up there in your lab, oh mad scientist?" Minu watched her taller friend stretch and limber up as she finished securing her own sparing helmet. "Gregg was talking about blowing up pigs, and the rumors aren't much nicer."
"We're onto a new infantry weapon, but we've having major problems finding some high end components."
Cherise joined Minu on the mats, finished her stretches, and assumed a defensive stance. "Wouldn't it be easier to just buy some better firepower?" She came at Minu low and fast, her foot sweeping out like a scythe.
Minu hopped up and back, Cherise' foot sweeping by below hers, and then aimed a jab at the other girls face. Cherise slipped sideways and recovered her stance. They continued to face each other. "Firepower is easy enough, we have the beamcasters." Minu attacked with a leaping kick at her friends head.
Cherise gave ground, slipping sideways and blocking with a forearm. She caught Minu's ankle and pushed up, hoping to spill her on her back. Minu brought her other leg up with startling speed, nearly catching Cherise in the side of the head. Cherise released her and Minu landed lightly, back on guard. "The beamcasters aren't cutting it?" She rolled away from the double kick and Minu almost got kicked in the side. She barely managed to check the kick her left forearm, the impact leaving her a little numb. "Better concentrate," Cherise warned her.
"I'm trying," Minu growled and regained her guard. They jumped at each other and fell away several times trading a light punch or two. "Yeah, the beamcasters aren't well suited for our purposes." Minu rested for a second as she considered another attack.
"So why not check a Junk Pile?" Cherise moved to wipe sweat from her forehead and suddenly sprung like a tiger. Minu wasn't fooled for a second. She caught her by a wrist and an ankle, turning her momentum against the bigger girl and flinging her over a shoulder with a jackknife move. She hung on and let Cherise' weight finish the move for her. They crashed to the ground together with Minu on top.
"I thought only trash was on the junk piles." Cherise tried an elbow jab and Minu spun her around onto her stomach and got an arm around her throat in a second. She pulled back, arching Cherise' back and cutting off her air. A hand slap on the mat signaled submission. Score one for Minu.
&n
bsp; Cherise rolled over and sat up, her face was red and she was massaging her neck. "I didn't teach you that one," she said in obvious surprise."
"No, I saw it somewhere. So what about the junk piles?"
"Tell me about the move, and I'll tell you about the junk piles."
"Deal."
"The junk piles are a combination of trashed stuff and obsolete."
"That doesn't help. The components we're looking for are advanced, maybe a generation or two old by Concordia standards."
"So you're saying it's not brand new, the hottest out there?" Minu nodded her head. "So it's obsolete to someone." Minu's mouth fell open in understanding.
"Why wouldn't they sell it to someone lower down the food chain?"
"Does a rich guy sell his old car, or just trade it in."
"I see what you mean. The junk piles are hot beds of action with other species. We've lost more Chosen at those locations than anywhere else. It isn't worth sending dozens of scout teams out hoping to strike gold."
"You don't have to, our teams have been doing that for decades, and keeping extensive records of what they find and where. That stuff you need isn't anything we'd have much use for, or be particularly valuable in trade to the Tog, right?"
"No, not really. Too specialized."
"So if a team came across it, they'd likely just log it and move on."
"I'll be darn."
"I covered my part. Where did you learn that move?"
"Bruce Lee, a movie called Enter the Dragon."
Minu finished her workout with Cherise, eventually progressing from sparring to working knife forms and finishing with a recent addition, swords. Ever since the Trials the knife was been her favorite, even considering how her first knife experience turned out. That very blade was still in her field kit, even though she hadn't been in the field for months. Then it was up to her room for a quick shower and into the lab. After checking on her team she retreated to her office. There she began going over scout mission logs looking for notations on Junk Piles. After her conversation with Cherise she wasn't surprised to find dozens and dozens of the enigmas. All in all, there were nearly a hundred.