Imperial Institute of Technology, Pauchang, Xinyang
Benjamin Military District, Draconis Combine
26 April 3029
Kowalski sighed as he read his name on his new office door. Somehow, he had become 'Senior Chief Researcher' even though he was fairly sure there weren't even any Chief Researchers yet.
Unless my staff decided to promote themselves--wouldn't put it past them, actually, he grumbled mentally as he juggled the noteputers, optichips, and scathing-hot tea to open the door. His old office, close to the labs, was too useful real estate to be used by an administrator.
He saw the pragmatism of breaking down the walls to expand a smaller lab, but it stung that he was no longer considered 'one of the boys'. A whole life dedicated to making 'Mechs work and the fortune of being assigned to the 11th Legion of Vega had landed him this job, and while he tried to focus on 'Mech improvements for Theodore Kurita's sake, he found that he spent more time absorbing the scientific and engineering textbooks.
And, Buddha help him, economics texts.
It's been a year, he realized suddenly as he saw the date blink repeatedly on his state of the art desk; it had an embedded terminal onto the touch-controlled surface, even a holoprojector that could allow him to manipulate schematics in realspace. One by one, he plugged in the optichips into the numerous slots and called up his work for today.
There was a light knock on his door and a woman stepped in, her own hot tea in her hand and a carefully balanced set of optichips and pads.
He smiled up at his blonde assistant. At least she makes for a more efficient assistant than Ninyu-kun was supposed to be, even if she is a little... absent? Kowalski shoved the thought from his mind, he had a lot of backed-up datawork since his trip to Nirasaki and her attention to detail made the catching-up process a breeze.
He tried not to watch her walk towards his desk, but he noticed something in her body language.
She's a MechWarrior. How odd. Didn't notice that till now...
"Ohayo, Marie!" he said cheerfully. "Any word from the deckers?" he asked, using the nickname the data technicians had appropriated for themselves.
Delving into the Helm core was difficult work, and he had to assemble a special set of people to find the data they needed; index or no index. He had no idea where their nickname came from, or if he did he couldn't think of it at that moment.
"Oh-hi-you," Marie said with a smile.
That was their little ritual; the woman had horrible japanese, which was understandable for a low-class worker that Marie obviously was. He had no idea how Ninyu-kun found her, only that the two knew each other from somewhere else.
A lowborn MechWarrior... Yakuza?
It didn't matter to him, and she continued. "The deckers send their regards, as always, and said something about 'frames' which I didn't fully understand. In any case, they've finished fragmenting the data which is somehow supposed to speed up searching even more," Marie said as she sat down, arranging her own set of optichips neatly on her edge of the desk.
"Hmph, well make sure to send them my 'regards' as well and remind them about their animated avatars having to conform to the Order of Five Pillars' standards, hmm?"
Marie's smile strained a bit at the mention of the O5P, but laughed lightly back. The deckers had done a magnificent job in un-collapsing the Helm Core's contents; it could now be traversed virtually with any holoprojector in the Institute. It meant that researchers who normally wouldn't come into contact with each other were able to converse, also virtually, even though their areas of research were only intertwined by the slimmest of threads.
Accessing the Core left a datatrail unique to each researcher, and the protocols required the use of an avatar to maintain secrecy.
And that meant the users wanted personalized avatars which the deckers were more than willing to furnish; at a price. Some were just odd, but a few were more than risque and earned Kowalski a few visits from O5P Adepts who frowned at him continuously.
More and more, he was finding that collaboration was the key in unlocking the Helm Core's secrets; that a holistic approach was the most effective, rather than specialization.
If only the samurai would listen...
"The harvest on several worlds have improved, according to our calculations, but the prices haven't come down. On some planets, it actually went up," Marie was saying.
"Talk to the--"
"--I spoke with the economists," she continued saying and he nodded, "and they said it's simply due to the high demand. Especially with the displaced populations following the Federats' invasions."
"Wonderful. And there's nothing we can do?"
"No, the information is already out there and the farmers are taking advantage of it. But we won't see as big an impact as we'd hoped, not with transportation still being harassed."
"Harassed? What a nice name for piracy," Kowalski said. "And on that note..." he lead.
Marie tapped on the desk and activated her first optichip. "At Theo--the Coordinator's suggestion, we have begun dealing directly with the various aerospace manufacturers instead of going through the Procurement Department." Marie tilted her head. "There's been some luck there."
Kowalski perked up at the news. He had been too busy with his own pet projects to keep track of all the communications. His enthusiasm drew another smile from his assistant.
"Dharma Hyperspace, on Schuyler, has been making Scout-class JumpShips since..." she paused to scan through the file that was projecting above the desk, "well, for a long time. With some technical assistance, and some breathing room between them and the Draconis Combine Admiralty, they could expand to a second slip by the end of the year."
Kowalski nodded; the Scout-class was the smallest JumpShip the Inner Sphere could still make and was useful for both exploration for its light maintenance requirements, and recon since its jump signature was harder to detect.
I hope we can keep the DCA off their backs long enough. Why can't they see they're running the economy ragged? The thought brought him up short. Help me, I'm turning into one of them...
"Wonderful," he said instead, sipping his too-hot tea. "What did Dharma say about our training program?"
"They're all for it, provided..."
"Provided they get first pick at the interns we send them. Fine, but impose a limit. We want to spread around the knowledge after all, not make them more profit. Also, we want to rotate--"
"Trainees, yes. Hands-on experience. They've agreed to that," Marie nodded and added a note to her files. "Stellar Trek, on Chatham, is also on-board with your proposal," she continued.
When he showed no signs of remembering, Marie shook her head. "The Monolith-class JumpShips?"
The Senior Chief Research shrugged and sipped his tea.
"Stellar Trek has been unable to solve most of the Monolith's production problems; the parts are plentiful, but from scattered factories, and assembly is over-complicated... So, you suggested consolidating their supply chain for them."
"I did?" Kowalski asked. "I did!" he said, finally remembering. "Did they choose a system?"
Marie nodded. "As much as consolidating everything on Togura appealed to their heritage, they agreed that Aix-la-Chapelle would be perfect. Diplan 'MechYards has already established plenty of heavy industries, plus I believe your aim was to give our planetary engineers a project of their own?"
"They need something to do other than designing new air filters for Kessel," Kowalski murmured.
Aix-la-Chapelle was very much like the proverbial dragon's lair; it had all the wealth they needed hidden in a very dangerous place. They couldn't grow their own food, not even orbitally. Togura, on the other hand, had been mined out of all its easily accessible ores; it had been cheaper to relocate factories to far-off worlds that could make specialized parts from local resources. But that left them too vulnerable to shipping woes and its rising costs over the centuries.
A consolidated parts factory with a dedicated shipping line of parts from Aix-la-Chapelle to Chatham, with food shipped in from nearby Kilmarnock--one of the farming worlds that were producing a surplus--back to Aix-la-Chapelle would provide transportation relief across three districts.
And, Kowalski hoped, speed up Monolith construction times even if the astronomical costs remained mostly the same.
"It would be good to test them, give them a challenge. I suspect living in hazardous environments will become a booming industry," he added quietly.
His assistant chastised him with a look. "We also promised to upgrade the system's recharge stations on a loan that we'll repay from a cut of the fees," she went on, scrolling through the details, "but they want first pick at our graduating class. At least those involved in JumpShips somehow," Marie quickly added.
"Wonderful," he said genuinely. "We'll have all of this ready in what? Five years?"
"If we start right now--"
The emergency sirens began wailing in the distance. Kowalski shot straight out of his desk to his now decent view of Pauchang.
It was in flames.
An explosion, closer to the Institute's grounds but still far away, rattled the city. He knew that area. The 2nd Legion of Vega use that for their infantry-- Another blast interrupted his thoughts, farther off but much larger. It was a 'Mech hangar he had ordered built for the garrison's patrols.
My students are supposed to be there now, getting hands-on experience... Another blast drowned that neighbourhood in smoke.
He looked to Marie who was already on her comms, speaking frantically in broken japanese. His desk was shorting out; he spilt his tea on his high-tech desk.
Slowly, Kowalski turned back to his window.
The Imperial Institute of Technology had been the target of spies, saboteurs, and more spies since the Helm Core's recovery. Its defenses were the highest the ISF (and the O5P) could provide, and the walls around the compound rose as the windows shuttered close by armoured curtains.
Turrets rose from the gardens and greens of the grounds, each with an independent ammo supply or power source. A few sported the prototype anti-missile systems the weaponeers had manage to cobble together. They had horrible accuracy, but could shoot down some missiles.
"Federats?" Marie asked, almost calmly. Almost hopefully.
"I don't--" he began to say then stopped as black-clad foot soldiers spewed from various holes in the wall. "Well, there goes the ISF!" he said, somewhat relieved.
"Never thought I'd be happy they'd be around," he said to calm his assistant.
She smiled weakly and walked beside him to the office's windows. "We should probably move away--"
The black-clad soldiers opened fire.
