You wake up, step out of your po... medical pod, and ready yourself for another day.
Today in the afternoon is the session you set to discuss the possible effects of project rebirth. That means you have the morning to do your paperwork, inform yourself about the current events and authorize whatever request they send you to keep the city running... Or you could spend the morning on some projects you wanted to do anyway.
If you play your cards right, maybe you can do both.
You spend the first hours reading quickly the news report, making sure everything is alright and nothing exploded, then authorizing the most mundane of the requests.
Call-wise, the day so far has been very calm, probably because everyone is preparing the reports for the coming meeting.
After a while, you step out of your office and walk towards the cargo bay.
For what you have read lately, you deduce this area was used to repair satellites in geostationary orbit, back when the world was able to build and send satellites into orbit.
You step outside the airlock and into the external platform, and then you try to call Ciel.
"Hello?"
"It's me" You say.
"Oh, hello Copy X. Is everything alright?" She answers. By the sound of her voice, it appears she was already up, which means you didn't wake her up, which is a good thing.
"Yes. I wished to ask you some questions, if it's alright with you"
"Of course it is."
You think for a moment what is it exactly what you are going to ask, and then you proceed.
"Have you found something about energy sources?"
"Well... I have read a few articles about it, but nothing on the scale of a city" She answers, some embarrassment leaking through the line. "My specialty is on reploids and cyber elves, I don't know much about city grids..."
Well, you made Ciel sad again... Great.
"You don't need to worry about it" You say, trying to amend the situation "It's just... Why is the energy grid so strained? The city has not grown in nearly 50 years, and yet..." Some frustration is visible in your expression. The whole situation so far does not represent a problem, but you
feel it will. You just know it, and thus you must make sure the problem is eliminated before it begins.
"...From what I read, many of the machines responsible for the city's energy are old" Ciel finally says. "Some parts are very hard to come by, and because of that they are saved as replacements. And the bigger plants cannot be made nowadays"
You think for a moment. If the problem, or soon-to-be problem is parts, the solution sounds fairly obvious.
"What about the ruins? Some of them are intact enough to have said parts."
"I... I don't know nearly enough to answer that" Ciel says, sounding a little defeated. "I will keep investigating whenever I can"
"I would really appreciate that" You say, "and I trust you can figure out things."
Some seconds pass. You look at your sides and behind you, to make sure no-one is eavesdropping. Not like you are making sounds, being in space and all.
Finally, confident there is no-one looking, you proceed.
"There's another question I have" You say at last.
"huh?"
"Do you happen to know some way of improving my combat abilities without copying weapons? Yesterday I had a firefight against some pantheons, and my performance was... It could have been better"
"..."
"You did what!"
"It was in controlled conditions, there wasn't serious injuries!" You quickly say, before the situation escalates.
"Your first combat experience was a firefight? It... You... You should be more careful! What if I made a mistake, and you are not as strong as you should?"
"Second. And I wasn't in serious risk, you don't need to worry" You point out. Perhaps you are not even lying.
"I... okay." Ciel says,
seemingly more calmed "There are several ways for a reploid to become stronger. You could carry e-tanks, those would accelerate your natural healing, up to a point."
"There's also cyber elves," She continues, " but they should be your last resource, always. They can make you more powerful in many ways, but... They die when they use their powers too much"
"And finally, there are multiple armors you can use. They should be contained in your potential system, but I don't know what the trigger is for they to appear" Ciel says, in a more sincerely calmed tone. It must be the theme of conversation, you think.
"Master X was capable of summoning the armors at will, for what I investigated. You could try that, and see what happens."
After that, you say good bye and end the transmission.
Currently you are in an open platform, at 35 thousand Km above the surface, in hard vacuum. You can't think of a better place to test new varieties of shots with your buster.
You transform your right hand into a buster, and fire. A small, yellow plasma ball comes out, and quickly disappears into space.
You concentrate on the sensation, and try pushing more energy, then you try to make it turn, and then you shot the fastest you can. Besides shooting more plasma balls, it makes no difference.
Finally, when you are about to give up and you try to hold the energy of the next shot, the power sensation begins to increase.
Curious, you take aim and shoot, and instead of the usual plasma ball you see a greener, much bigger shot come out of the buster and into the void. The recoil is stronger but manageable, and the flash of green light is not enough to bother you.
You try that again, and again, until you can consistently make those energy shots. They are faster than the regular ones and probably stronger, but take longer to fire.
Back in your office, you think on ways to make yourself more resistant to damage. You could try your hand at designing combat armors, but you have 0 experience with those. Ciel mentioned there being armors in some component of you, so maybe you could try to get them out meditating or something.
Buying a e-tank should be trivial, but that would only help repairing damage, not preventing it. So far, the only armor you have is the one you were made with, but it appears to resist at least low-level plasma busters, if your exercise is any indication.
You could also buy a shield, but historically Master X never used one of those.
...
Is already midday, and you already finished today's paperwork.
The meeting is in 2 hours, and you use some of that time to quickly read what the meeting is about.
For what you can read, it will have a presentation on the required changes, cost and projected benefits, then a tentative timescale, a discussion between the generals of the 4 armies, declarations of the civilian council, the judges and finally your opinion. For a rushed special session, it sounds pretty well organized.
...
You walk towards the judgment room. As the name implies, it was originally designed for the important trials made in the city, including the ones made after the elf wars. Nowadays its uses have expanded to include important meetings, public declarations and such things.
Tradition dictates you are supposed to enter last, sit on the hearing chair and then start the session. You have seen previous tapes, and have a very decent idea how to behave in this situation without raising suspicions.
You enter the auditorium. It is a very nice room, with tall pillars and ceiling, brow metal plates reminiscing of wood, and many, many chairs arranged as in a theater. A little behind the center, opposite to all the seats is your place.
You walk with confidence, as if you had done this many times before, and reach your seat.
Said seat is a throne in all but name, with a golden X embedded in a flat hourglass-shaped structure behind, and with the Neo Arcadia symbol on top.
You look at the people in the session. There are many faces you don't recognize, both human and reploid, but some of them you had read of before, or even spoke to.
There are the generals and colonels of the Neo Arcadian armies, the science and research team, the civilian councilors and 2 judges. The session is private, so there is no press present, but camera crews are still working to record it.
And so, the session begins.
The first presentation shows the planned restructuration of the armies in 4 main branches, with the inclusion of the explorer corps into the Jin'en and Rekku Armies and the police force into the Zan'ei Army.
By the scientist's estimates, the cost of the operation would be enough to set back the city's growth for the next 2-3 years, and the military forces would be tied down for 6 months.
After those years, the benefits for the elimination of dangerous mechaniloids, climate control and repopulation would offset the cost. The chief explorer even mentions the possibility of recovering lost technologies using the help of the Jin'en ground tanks to penetrate the most hardened maverick outpost.
Aztec Falcon, a humanoid reploid with wing-blades instead of arms, a bird-like face and the general of the Rekku Army, doesn't seems convinced by the project. He considers that it would transform his army into a glorified transport and maintenance service, instead of the fighting machine it currently is.
Hanumachine, a white and red monkey-shaped reploid and a general of the zan'ei army would also prefer their forces to be more involved in combat, but he is interrupted by Tech kraken, another fierce-looking zan'ei reploid, who mentions it would be an honor for their people to join operations with the police forces, maintaining peace in the shadows.
Anubis Necromancess, a reploid resembling its namesake and the newest general of the Jin'en army express his delight in bringing death and desolation on the enemies of Neo Arcadia, and supports the project in full.
Poler Kamrous, a big reploid partially based on a polar bear, but with giant globe-like hands ending in ice claws and general of the Meikai Army, sees the project with good eyes, as it would represent a substantial increase on the navy's budget and would give them an actual purpose beyond patrolling empty waters.
The civilian council is more divided on the matter. Most of the councilors favor the project, as it would represent an expansion in the city's economy mid-term, it would help create civilian outpost and lower the prices of scavenged parts.
Others warn that it would be necessary to lower salaries and reduce life quality for the first years of the project, and the potential of a recession.
The more radical human parties view the project as yet another way in which reploids are amassing more power for themselves and leaving the humans aside.
The more conservative parties fear an increment in maverick attacks until the armies restructure themselves, and suggest a preemptive strike against the closest bases before implementation.
Finally, the two members representing the Eight Gentle Judges speak their pieces.
Blazin' Flizzard, the judge of war actions, a dark-skinned, fuchsia-eyed humanoid reploid in the typical white attire of the judges says that the proposed plan doesn't act against the laws of war, and that seeing the armies dedicated to the betterment of the city outside combat warms his core.
Cubit Foxtar, the androgynous judge of deceitful actions, also gives approval to the plan, but warns that paranoia and overzeal could easily find its place in the Zan'ei Army, if care is not taken. He/she appears to look at Tech Kraken when saying her part, but you are not sure if the message is for him, or at him.
Finally, it comes your part to speak. You are supposed to give your verdict, decide if the plan will be approved or not, and in which way.
You also are somewhat tired. The session extended well in the afternoon, and there was a lot to take into account. Maybe a walk after this would do good to you.
No, you are definitively going outside after this. To know some of the city and vent pressure if nothing else.
[X]Write in the veredict. At the very least write if yes/no, and why. Take into account that's the explanation Copy X will give.
[X]What do you plan to do in the city, and how?
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Well, that was longer than I expected. Not much to say here, comments are always apreciated and if you see an error point it out.
Also, I'm considering putting an image from the web before each update, to give more references about the setting and the characters's look. Thoughs?
