The Brief

Posted on November 26, 2007 @ 06:04AM

Following LT Jerra’s order, everyone’s attention was focused on me. Instructor Caplan entered before I could shut the door. LT Jerra smiled briefly and said, “Thank you for joining us Commander, please come in and have a seat. OPALMOX, come up front.”

Caplan snorted and said, “Tiana I’ve been retired for several years, it’s just Mr. Caplan or Instructor Caplan now a days.”

LT Jerra’s smile faded. “Despite your protest, you’re still a Commander. Although retired, you are still a commissioned officer, subject to Active Duty Recall. Additionally, I know that you still file reports with Politia Aviation and Intelligence Offices. Lastly, refer to me at Lieutenant.”

Caplan’s face turned red for a moment, taking a deep calming breath said, “As an instructor here at the Academy it is my job to file the appropriate reports on the status of the Cadets that are attending Tosadae, and to make my recommendations when they’re asked for, Lieutenant.”

Nodding, LT Jerra said, “Which is precisely why you’ve been called in, but we don’t have time for your report to go through “official” channels. Now have a seat Commander.”

I moved to the front of the briefing room and stopped after the first row of seats. LT Jerra nodded contemplatively and watched. Pausing momentarily, she examined a dossier on the dais before returning her attention to the gathering of people before her. Addressing Karrissa Blesche, Tosadae’s Chief Administrator she asked, “Mrs. Blesche, would you please continue what you were saying.”

Karrissa said, “As I was saying, we received OPALMOX almost a year ago from Ducane Covax, several months prior to the attack on the Orbis Temple. Mr. Covax had said that OPALMOX was an experiment that didn’t meet his initial expectations, but wanted to see what its new capabilities could evolve into. Thus, due to our training facilities, he had requested that we see to its training. Its courses of study were done from remote locations, and everything was progressing well, until it started doing research on the Visionistic Arts. Its behavior started to change, so we pulled its security card. According to security cams, it seemed to shut down for a several hours. When it reactivated, it seemed that it had completely lost focus and was confused. On Masta Poe’s recommendation, we discontinued his curriculum and switched to observation and monitoring. He started walking around aimlessly for a while. Several times it stopped at the Shield Exercise Room, and returned there several times, the rest of the time it seemed to wander aimlessly looking for its security card, until the end of the last class session. Then it seemed to have found a new focus.”

LT Jerra pondered what she had heard as she looked me up and down from where I stood. Not removing her eyes from me, she asked, “Masta Poe, can you please tell me why you recommended that his studies be discontinued and that the staff just observe him?”

Masta Poe bowed slightly to LT Jerra and said, “I knew that Mox needed some time to find himself, and with recent events, I knew that the Politia would never approve of him wandering about without some type of security measure in place, thus the request for observation and monitoring. What initiated Mox’s odd behavior was when he independently initiated some of the exercises that I personally conduct with senior cadets. Those exercises woke something within him, and he became consciously aware of himself, and the connection to all that is living.” Pausing briefly, Masta Poe continued, “Mox is a bit confused. He knows that he’s a biodroid, but is also aware that he is something more. He has demonstrated abilities in the Shield Exercise Room. He’s also rapidly developing other skills as well. Speaking to him briefly, I told him that with the current state of affairs, Tosadae was not the best place for him. In that encounter, I know he has considerable potential, not bound by preconceived notions, or any self induced barriers that he has to work through.”

LT Jerra looked at Masta Poe intently, and asked, “What do you think of it?”

Masta Poe smiled and said, “ He is a living entity, conscious, aware, and full of untapped potential. Unfortunately due to the current state of affairs, Tosadae is not the best place for him, and he is following a path that could benefit us all.”

LT Jerra considered what Masta Poe had said for several moments, shifting her focus to Instructor Caplan. “Commander,” LT Jerra asked, “what do you have to share with us about its abilities?”

Caplan bit off what ever it was that he was first going to say, taking a moment he began, “I don’t have much to share at this point; I’m still reviewing the flight logs.”

LT Jerra looked displeased with Caplan’s response. “What can you tell us from what you’ve seen thus far?”

“He’s no Firefly, I can tell you that much. I can also tell you that I found Dead-stick in one of my cockpits this morning. He completed over six months worth of training and scenarios in only a few hours, which are still being reviewed. Some of the downloads I sent out on V-mail to get additional information and outside opinions, and I had him observing class operations most of the day,” Caplan replied.

“ Dead-Stick? A few hours in the sims and it already has a call sign?” LT Jerra nearly screeched.

Without flinching, Caplan responded, “Without any heads up, he executed the lateral spin scenario almost flawlessly on the first try, and managed to bring the assigned aircraft to a successful dead-stick landing. So I would say that he’s proving to be a decent pilot, and if I had to give an immediate recommendation, I would say that he would qualify for his wings, but I don’t know if the Politia would approve it.”

LT Jerra momentarily lost her composure. After a few moments she said, “Decent pilot? When I was a cadet, you told me I’d be lucky to qualify to fly tankers craft.”

With a hint of a smile, Caplan said, “When you’ve had the pleasure of training pilots such as CAPT Kagawa “Firefly” Yu, it’s difficult for anyone else to measure up. And it seems to me, like many of my former cadets, that laying down the gauntlet like that pushed them to prove me wrong, and they became better pilots than any amount of praise, debriefings, or training would have produced otherwise.”

LT Jerra narrowed her eyes, then shifted her focus towards me. “OPALMOX, what can you tell us about yourself?”

I pondered everything that I had heard up to that point, and carefully considered my reply.

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