Decisions and Orders

Posted on December 04, 2007 @ 06:18AM

Finishing the final scenario, I toggled the switch to open the canopy. Several techs and instructors were poring over the recordings, and none of them noticed Caplan or several Politia Officers entering the hangar. From the looks of things, Caplan’s mood hadn’t improved much after I had left.

Caplan walked over to one of the v-net terminals and checked through some of his mail. Nodding, he showed a few of them to his entourage. From where I was standing, I could see him pull up the data on a set of scenarios that I had completed earlier this morning, and then he scrolled through the results of the ones I had just completed. Quietly conferring with the techs and instructors that were gathered in the control center, they went over the results; some of the officers shook their heads, while others just stared at the data, seeming to become lost in the numbers and data that they were looking at.

Caplan looked up from the vid screen and seeing me standing there acknowledged me with a small nod.

While the Officers spoke among themselves, Caplan walked over to where I was standing. Taking my helmet from my hands, he quietly said, “They’re not sure what they want to do with you. Seems that you’ve become quite an enigma for them, and they’re afraid of what they don’t understand. Take a break and head over to the library for a while. Roberts will give you some stuff to research, and I think that there’s some v-mail waiting for you.”

Technician First Class Roberts gave me a list of topics to study. Mostly they were schematics and diagrams of different systems and aircraft. Some of them had codes written in the margin which granted me access to them. Several of the cadets and a few of the Officers watched me leave.

At the library I logged into the system, and discovered that there was indeed some v-mail waiting for me. Opsidian had sent me a short message congratulating me on pulling off the dead-stick landing, that he and Lex were doing well at their new squadron, and that they would be heading out on their first sortie in the morning.

Turning my attention to the data that I was to research, I scrolled through it, most of which was fairly straight forward, and I couldn’t understand why it would be locked away from public knowledge. Then it hit me, perhaps it wasn’t that it was locked out from them, but had been locked out from me.

That got me to thinking about all that had transpired in the briefing room. Obviously there was more going on than what I was aware of, and indeed they were afraid. I had become more than a basic biodroid, but had evolved into something more, and that is what worried them, biodroids follow protocols and orders with limited capabilities of independent thought, and now I was something that was not predictable.

Refocusing on what I had been studying, Caplan walked in.

He informed me that a decision had been made, and that I was to report back to Briefing Room Five.

Logging off, we quietly walked to the Briefing Room. Before we entered, Caplan stopped me, and said, “What ever they decide, remember what you’ve seen and learned here. It may not only save you, but countless other lives.

Entering the briefing room I noticed that most of the Academy Staff were not present, and neither was LT Jerra. Maj Geranth was at the dais. Signaling that I should join him up front, Caplan took a seat in the back.

Maj Geranth informed me that I provided a unique opportunity for the Politia Aviation and Intelligence communities. I was briefed on security, protocols; and that any information that I gathered was only for official channels and those with the proper clearances and need to know. I was provided with a list of names, secured channels, and methods of contact.

I was informed that unofficially an Officer’s Record Book was opened in my name, I would be granted the honorary rank of Ensign and the equivalent of a certification for my aviator’s wings. The grade was only to be used for official correspondence, and to grant me access to intelligence and aviator programs, and that my flight status was at the discretion whom ever I was assigned, and that my primary assignment was to provide intelligence on my thoughts regarding the Black Guard.

Lastly I was informed that I was to personally carry a set of classified orders for a squadron to be reassigned to an Air Station area outside of the dome covering Atlantia. The orders identified me as call sign Dead-stick, stating that I was to report to Squadron VFX-33 (Tarsiers). The Commanding Officer… CAPT Kagawa Yu.

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