[X] Go to the R&D department and meet Dr Kiri. You don't recall meeting them earlier and you already have some ideas for gear improvements
No. of Votes: 4
10ebbor10
Asmodemus
Nevill
Pyro Hawk
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With a whisper-quiet whoosh, the doors to the R&D department smoothly slide apart to reveal a vast chamber the length and width of a soccer field buried in the heart of your airship. Separated into cells filled with busy researchers and inscrutable machinery by walls of armoured glass, you can't help but get the impression that the chamber has been taken over by some kind of mechanical insect hive before dismissing the idea with a roll of your eyes. Before you can turn to Ellie and comment on the scene, a muffled burst of gunfire rings out from somewhere inside the chamber and time slows like molasses.
With the kind of speed that only the best gene-editing can buy, you shoot your hand down to your hip and, like a drone seeking targets, whip your eyes across the vast chamber in search of the shooter. Suddenly, your hand passes through the empty air where your pistol should be hanging and you freeze mid-motion as your heart lurches painfully.
A moment passes, and then another, and then time speeds up like a video on fast-forward. Like a light switching from off to on, you find yourself standing in the doorway with your fist hanging frozen by your side, and with a self-effacing grin, you realize that it must have been a test firing or something similar. Letting your hand drop to your side, you grumble to yourself about the adrenaline still pumping through your system from the earlier mission and shake your head as if to clear a fly.
"Sir," says Ellie lightly, either studiously ignoring your reaction or else not noticing it in the first place.
"Just getting my bearings," you respond neutrally before glancing around the area and spotting a dense knot of people clustered around an invisible source of interest.
That must be Kiri, you think to yourself before starting towards the group; Ellie smoothly falling into place beside you.
===
As you approach the source of the interest, moving researchers and lab assistants aside with nothing more forceful than a look, you hear the unmistakable strains of a New Zealand accent ring out.
"Yeah, nah, that's not right. The QC should be cracking those training codes way faster. The temperature must still be too high."
With a gentle cough you announce your presence to those unaware, and like a school of fish scattering before a shark, the people surrounding Doctor Tessa Kiri flee in all direction. Within the blink of an eye, it's just you, Ellie, and one very surprised looking doctor.
"Errr…." says the doctor slowly as she looks at you blankly, confusion etched across the Maori roboticist and quantum computing expert's youthful face as she fails to recognize you.
In return, you radiate the best disarming smile you have as you go over the file rapidly scrolling through your DART and shoot out a hand toward the short New Zealander.
"Doctor Kiri," you say brightly as she hesitantly clasps your hand and awkwardly shakes it, "William Cain."
Instantly, a flash of recognition —and not a little embarrassment— sketches across her face and she returns your handshake much more vigorously as she rallies.
"Sorry sir," she says, "I've been up to my elbows in the guts of the quantum computer trying to sort sh-" with a clack of teeth, she catches herself.
"- things out," she continues after a brief pause.
Before you can reassure her that it's fine, the young doctor —28 years old last month according to the text that flashes past your vision— suddenly tears off into a complicated explanation of quantum computing that sails entirely over your head. As the doctor enters the realm of supercooled liquids, you zone out entirely and ask your DART how someone that young could be in charge of the entire department. Instantly, it returns with a short biography.
The child of two climate refugees from New Zealand who fled the country after its coasts were inundated by rising ocean levels in the 2040's, Tessa Kiri spent the early years of her life separated from her parents' native Maori culture and living in an increasingly disgruntled Australia. During her early schooling years there, Tessa showed none of the promise that would later earn her a place in one of EuroCorp's accelerated learning programs and instead was described as lazy and listless. It was only after her family returned to New Zealand in the 2050's —as part of the nation's 'Haere Mai' program— and her introduction to her native culture that the trajectory of doctor Kiri's life turned around and sent her hurtling into place as your head of R&D.
"So we should have it sorted out in about ten minutes or so," says the doctor with an air of proud finality, and with a start, you snap your focus back to her and increase the brightness of your smile.
"Excellent work!" You reply happily, before glancing down and releasing her from the handshake the two of you had apparently kept going unnoticed.
"Anyway," she says with a sheepish smile as she glances at you and your assistant, "I don't imagine the two of you came down here to hear about math. What can I help you with?"
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OOC: Man, I hope this makes sense, because I'm pretty tired. 
OOC 2: You only have 1 recent slot available now. I'll do a proper post for it later.
[] Tour the facilities and reassure the staff that the R&D department will be key to the mission's success. The truth is that this mission will fail unless the R&D department leads the charge in understanding and building off of discoveries made in this new universe. Reverse engineering is good, novel developments are better.
[
] Tour the facilities and inform doctor Kiri that the R&D department will work with Agent Operations in a supporting role. You've been in this universe for less than a day and already it's shown you that it's weird. Add in the fact that it doesn't seem to have suffered from the same level of ocean rises as your own, and you can bet that there are mountains of valuable biological and technological goods just waiting to be reverse engineered and exploited.
[] I've had some ideas…. Your recent conflict with US forces has spurred some thoughts towards improvements to your gear. Their armour stood up well for 2000's era gear… (Tutorial research project)
[] Write-in.
