Intangible

Date/Timing: 7 January 2019
Setting: Marshal's office, The Shed; Vaucluse, NSW, Australia
Note: This ficlet has been made redundant with the changes to "Highest"
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Lightcap peeks into Nguyen's office. "Marshal? I've got Officer—or is he a Cadet now?—Vos' classification report."
Nguyen sets aside a folder. "And you're hand-delivering it? Must be exciting, Doctor."
Lightcap grins and takes the seat Nguyen indicates. "You've made the discovery of the year."
"Lovely. What did I do?"
"You found Pietr Vos." She passes him a memo.
He reads it. "My Drift Science is a little rusty, but these numbers seem rather high."
"They're the highest we've ever found. Pietr is closer to universally Drift Compatible than we thought possible."
"Universally Compatible? Well, that certainly explains what happened with Hansen."
"That's only the /beginning. Pietr's a walking /revolution in Drift Science and we never would've found him if it weren't for you."
"Good thing I was getting desperate for a pilot, then." He smiles. "And, no, you can't have him. I still need a pilot and he still needs a lot of training."
"Can I borrow him during his downtime?"
"He's not going to /have any downtime. You know what it's like to build a uniquely specialized Jaeger, Doctor."
"Dear god, not that third arm, not on the SE."
"Only the feet, I promise." Nguyen sighs. "Her AI and control systems will need a lot of work to compensate for Vos' disability."
Lightcap brightens. "We're already working on a speech-to-text HUD for LOCCENT audio. That should shave off some development time."
"Doctor ... I appreciate your research interest in my new Cadet, but I have a rather large section of Pacific coast to protect and I need that man and his Jaeger in fighting shape as quickly as possible."
"I should be clearer, then." Lightcap leans forward. "If I can figure out what it is about Pietr's brain that lets him score this high, we might be able to make anyone Compatible."
Nguyen pauses thoughtfully. "You're talking about artificially inducing Drift Compatibility."
"That's one possible application of the research."
"So if I give you Vos now, you might—/might—be able to give me any pair of candidates I want in the future."
"That's a possibility, yes."
Nguyen sighs. "I need you to appreciate my position, Doctor. I have the largest patrol area of any Shatterdome, the first—and, if there is any sanity in this world, not the last—Mark V Jaeger under construction and in need of pilots, and ten months to make a perfect fighting machine from a man who'd never even /Drifted before three days ago whose disability nearly ended his PPDC career before it began and the most brilliant and most difficult Cadet we've ever seen, who just happens to be the fifteen-year-old son of one of my Rangers."
"But the possibilities—!"
"Doctor, I sympathize, but I have to prioritize combat readiness over research. If you can find me someone else capable of a stable handshake with Hansen, I'll reconsider."
Lightcap considers a response.
"I'll even settle for a matched pair of equal capability."
Lightcap opens her mouth to reply.
Nguyen holds up a hand. "Look, I'm already losing Vos for two weeks next month. I can't spare him. At least not until the SE is online."
"You're giving him leave? Cancel it and send him to Anchorage!"
Nguyen shakes his head, "I can't do that, Doctor. The man hasn't seen his wife and children in over a year. I have responsibilities, but I'm not a monster."
"A /year?"
"A year." Nguyen nods. "He was already a valuable commodity among the Marshals even before your discovery. Well-behaved Fightmasters are hard to keep. I'm lucky to have gotten him at all."
"We almost lost him."
"/Missed, Doctor, not lost. If he's what your numbers say he is, someone would've found him eventually."
"But you're the one who did."
Nguyen shrugs. "If you want to thank someone, thank Jackson Jones. He's the one who put the idea of testing with Vos in Hansen's head."
"Jackson Jones."
"Yes."
"The same Jackson Jones who's made it his life's mission to torment the kid."
"The same."
"I think I'll stick with thanking you."
"Probably wise. Wouldn't do to stroke Jackson's ego too much. He might become insufferable."
Lightcap snorts.
Tags: Ficlet, Skeleton Key, Go, Team Science! arc, Chuck H (mention), Jackson (mention), Sydney Shatterdome (setting) Lightcap, Lightcap (ficlet), Herc (mention), Pietr (mention), Elize (mention), Izzy (mention), Griet (mention), Drift Science, Nguyen (ficlet), Nguyen
Category:Ficlets made redundant
Category:Ficlets with comments
Category:Ficlets (incorporated)
Category:Comments