TBVF: Chapter 3: The Horrible Catfight Amongst Adults
Title: The Blue Vast Future
Author: Ariel Chew
Genre: Sci-Fi, Humor, Friendship, Family
Summary: A SB#187 team aged-up to be in a Kaiju battle. Ariel’s merely a 21-year-old supervisor of Gamma Rapper, but with all the training of the Academy she has, will it prepare her for the biggest turns of events of the century?
~*~
“Good morning!” She greets warmly, bowing slightly in respect towards her seniors who nod back in return. She quickly scans the group, instantly recognizing new faces among the members. Are there new additions to the team? Is there a big announcement due today?
Ariel wordlessly takes the empty seat next to Talha, Beta Strucker’s pilot, who smiles in greeting to the girl as she returns in kind.
Beta Strucker is the oldest in the Jaegar, piloted by Talha and Amirul, the only pair on the base that achieved stable neural handshake for as long as four hours and the highest compatibility figures.
Once again, she tries not to think about Kabitra, the former supervisor of Beta Strucker who left to continue her studies in the business field. Ariel is relieved that its pilots are not as affected when a new supervisor, Iris, took over. Perhaps the two pilots are more mature and experienced than Gamma Rapper’s pilots, Ariel unconsciously stares down the notes before her as she recalls the time when Aaron and Eric displayed ill behavior during Siti’s absence.
So this is how the meeting always starts, Achik will open the meeting with short enquiries on each one’s well being, on general level on matter. At this stage everyone is at ease, one glance at Aaron and Eric next to her proved her point with their matching bored-like facial expression. Opposite her is Wan and Mundzir, each respective head J-techs for Gamma Rapper and Beta Strucker. Her eye catches what Shah is doing, sitting to the left of Wan and opposite of Talha, medically keen eyes staring at his, no doubt, latest medical newsletter while keeping an ear open to the conversation around him.
She hides a smile behind her palm just as Zul is given the green light to speak. As the male assistant Marshall overseeing the Jaegar teams and progress made by the J-techs, the slim tan man directs everyone’s attention to the latest updates narrated by Wan and Mundzir. Jaegar updates and its technical stuff goes completely over her head, no matter how hard she try to follow, her mind ends up getting all jumbled up over the fiber cabling and the topic of electric core VS nuclear-powered core.
Even Eric looks like he’s nodding back to sleep.
She nudges Aaron and motions him to keep his co-pilot next to him awake. The taller man catches her eye and nods, and without glancing over his shorter companion Aaron reaches down and pinches Eric hard on his thigh. Eric instantly is alert, shooting accusatory and deadly glares at the younger male before a swift stomp on Aaron’s foot follows.
How does she know this? Easy; just look under the table.
The Gamma Rapper pilots’ little antic thankfully goes unmentioned, probably noticed but no one says a thing as Wan goes onto the topic of electric plates and new software interface does Achik holds up her hand.
“Okay, okay. You two have done very well on your researches, but I’m afraid the rest of us have no idea what you two are arguing about even though we have the face of interest plastered.” A short burst of laughter by the group before Achik holds up her hand, silencing the mass. “Alright, updates from the recent Kaiju activities. Asyikin?”
The female assistant Marshall in charge of the LOCCENT Control clears her throat, and begins.
“We have recently developed a software that can estimate the arrival of incoming Kaiju attacks, all thanks to Joey and the K-Lab team.” Asyikin gestures to Joey, who immediately adjusts the position of her black-framed spectacles. “Joey will be giving us the latest data on the next Kaiju attack. Joey, if you will?”
Joey gathers the documents in front of her, arranging them in a neat stack as everyone watches her sternly address the gathered audience.
“To what the K-team has gleamed from the software, we will be facing a Kaiju attack exactly one week from today,” she glances around the disturbed faces in a moment of silence before she adds. “The calculation of the program points to a Cat. III Kaiju, coming in the evening with the high tide.”
Ariel folds her hands together and sets her chin on them, deep in thought as murmurs rises from the crew. In one week, they’re going head-to-head with a Category III monster? Questions circle her mind, like flies surrounding a delicious meal, but the biggest question of them all is:
What if Joey is wrong?
“How accurate is that software?” Khairil asks, as though voicing up on behalf of the community. “Where is your base of your confidence that you want us to believe in this new system we have yet to test before?”
“That they have poured countless hours into this project, that I was there to see the results with my own eyes.” Nazirah interjects before Joey could even open her mouth, a dark scowl decorating her face. “You just have to throw your two-cents worth of opinion in even though you don’t know anything.”
“The system that the K-team came up with is an improved version of the existing software. And if we didn’t run the program, how did you think we got our figures? From imagination?”
As Ariel fear most, a brawl is about to break out with how deadly cold Khairil turned as anger boils in Nazirah, the atmosphere tenses as everyone significantly leans slightly away from both of them. Mainly Nazirah, because she is known to be someone who keeps grudge as long as she lives, and most of the time her short temper is the result of brash men like Khairil or even Tharmen who never thinks their words through before saying them aloud.
While Ariel laments within herself, one of the new guys speaks up.
“I agree to what Ms. Nazirah has said earlier. The previous program could only show us an attack a few days before it happened, and only then the detection of what category we were going up against were merely an estimate that 70% proved us wrong every single time.” Ariel suppresses the urge to snort at that. Now that; that is the truth.
Cuscapi can really be a jerk sometimes, and many other colorful descriptions used by the others.
“He’s right. I totally agree with him.” Two seats to Ariel’s right, Iris voices to concur with the new guy. “The old software is a sorry excuse of detection system made by God-knows-who. If it wasn’t for our team of experts, we’ve long been Kaiju-feed instead of being here.”
Ariel cringes a little from the mental image, internally thankful when Achik steps in to save the day by graciously inserting her piece. “Mm. Thank you for the point, Aaron.”
“Everyone, this is Aaron Lim from the Hong Kong Shatterdome. HKS is well known for their superb interface, as they are the new leaders of two high-tech Gen. V Jaegars: Rising Phoenix, and Storm Dragon. He will be with us for a few months until we are settled with the new software. Furthermore…”
Achik gestures to the person next to Ariel. “Aaron, this is Aaron Tan, our local Shatterdome’s beat-boxer who is also a Jaegar pilot for Gamma Rapper. So consider this a reunion between long-lost twins, okay?” She once again brings a round of laughter from the team, as Aaron Tan playfully lifts a hand in cool bro-like greeting at the other Aaron, to which the other male (with significantly fairer skin and spectacle-wearer) greets back in the same manner.
No, Ariel’s heart did not melt a bit from the endearing moment.
“So given that the new software is the final-piece that could actually make a difference, this means it’s still in its trial stage, right?” Akmal breaks the brittle humorous moment of ease, making Ariel closing her eyes as she braces herself for the worst. Why God why…
“Not that we doubt any of the scientists,” Tharmen quickly amends Akmal’s words. “We’re just curious as to how the software is able to even pin-point the exact time and date when we could barely be aware of the number of Kaiju, much less the category of the Kaiju.”
‘Tharmen, that doesn’t make Nazirah any less angry…’ Ariel wisely keeps her thoughts to herself, watching Nazirah’s tense posture in her seat next to Asyikin. Everyone in the Malaysia Shatterdome knows her bad temper and habit to last out sarcastically at anyone. Thankfully, tragedy is safely avoided when Joey replies. “We managed to change some of the restricting codes and placing in new commands from the data Izwin and I managed to extract from the recent battles.”
“But not to worry; As preventive measure we have both systems running simultaneously should either one fail on us. That way the data is still save and live to run on the other software.”
Achik clasps her hands together. “If that’s the case, I approve of this method.” Nonetheless, the Marshall looks pleased, no doubt from seeing the achievement of the K-Team who has placed much effort into making this work. “Regardless of whether the result is really accurate, we should still stay on alert. I want everyone to be fully prepared when the time comes. Understood?”
“Speaking of being prepared, let me introduce our newest addition.” Achik gestures to the silent bespectacled, tan guy who blinks owl-ishly behind his pronounced black-frame spectacles. “This is Caleb, he’ll be joining Beta Strucker’s J-Tech team from today onwards. Mundzir, please look after your junior well.”
“No worries Achik! I, Mundzir, will make sure he can do our job well in just three days! Trust me!” As if to back up his claim, Mundzir pats himself on the chest, appearing to be manly and full with confidence while Asyikin coughs loudly, the latter discreetly sharing a small smile with Zul who’s seating opposite of her.
This doesn’t go unnoticed by Ariel, who has been keeping an eye on the pair ever since Iris tells her the rumor about the two dating in secret. Without Iris, she probably wouldn’t be able to tell the difference as Ariel is told several times that she is a rather dense person.
Oh well. There’s a reason why they say ‘Ignorance is a Bliss’, right?
~*~
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Author: Ariel Chew
Genre: Sci-Fi, Humor, Friendship, Family
Summary: A SB#187 team aged-up to be in a Kaiju battle. Ariel’s merely a 21-year-old supervisor of Gamma Rapper, but with all the training of the Academy she has, will it prepare her for the biggest turns of events of the century?
~*~
“Good morning!” She greets warmly, bowing slightly in respect towards her seniors who nod back in return. She quickly scans the group, instantly recognizing new faces among the members. Are there new additions to the team? Is there a big announcement due today?
Ariel wordlessly takes the empty seat next to Talha, Beta Strucker’s pilot, who smiles in greeting to the girl as she returns in kind.
Beta Strucker is the oldest in the Jaegar, piloted by Talha and Amirul, the only pair on the base that achieved stable neural handshake for as long as four hours and the highest compatibility figures.
Once again, she tries not to think about Kabitra, the former supervisor of Beta Strucker who left to continue her studies in the business field. Ariel is relieved that its pilots are not as affected when a new supervisor, Iris, took over. Perhaps the two pilots are more mature and experienced than Gamma Rapper’s pilots, Ariel unconsciously stares down the notes before her as she recalls the time when Aaron and Eric displayed ill behavior during Siti’s absence.
So this is how the meeting always starts, Achik will open the meeting with short enquiries on each one’s well being, on general level on matter. At this stage everyone is at ease, one glance at Aaron and Eric next to her proved her point with their matching bored-like facial expression. Opposite her is Wan and Mundzir, each respective head J-techs for Gamma Rapper and Beta Strucker. Her eye catches what Shah is doing, sitting to the left of Wan and opposite of Talha, medically keen eyes staring at his, no doubt, latest medical newsletter while keeping an ear open to the conversation around him.
She hides a smile behind her palm just as Zul is given the green light to speak. As the male assistant Marshall overseeing the Jaegar teams and progress made by the J-techs, the slim tan man directs everyone’s attention to the latest updates narrated by Wan and Mundzir. Jaegar updates and its technical stuff goes completely over her head, no matter how hard she try to follow, her mind ends up getting all jumbled up over the fiber cabling and the topic of electric core VS nuclear-powered core.
Even Eric looks like he’s nodding back to sleep.
She nudges Aaron and motions him to keep his co-pilot next to him awake. The taller man catches her eye and nods, and without glancing over his shorter companion Aaron reaches down and pinches Eric hard on his thigh. Eric instantly is alert, shooting accusatory and deadly glares at the younger male before a swift stomp on Aaron’s foot follows.
How does she know this? Easy; just look under the table.
The Gamma Rapper pilots’ little antic thankfully goes unmentioned, probably noticed but no one says a thing as Wan goes onto the topic of electric plates and new software interface does Achik holds up her hand.
“Okay, okay. You two have done very well on your researches, but I’m afraid the rest of us have no idea what you two are arguing about even though we have the face of interest plastered.” A short burst of laughter by the group before Achik holds up her hand, silencing the mass. “Alright, updates from the recent Kaiju activities. Asyikin?”
The female assistant Marshall in charge of the LOCCENT Control clears her throat, and begins.
“We have recently developed a software that can estimate the arrival of incoming Kaiju attacks, all thanks to Joey and the K-Lab team.” Asyikin gestures to Joey, who immediately adjusts the position of her black-framed spectacles. “Joey will be giving us the latest data on the next Kaiju attack. Joey, if you will?”
Joey gathers the documents in front of her, arranging them in a neat stack as everyone watches her sternly address the gathered audience.
“To what the K-team has gleamed from the software, we will be facing a Kaiju attack exactly one week from today,” she glances around the disturbed faces in a moment of silence before she adds. “The calculation of the program points to a Cat. III Kaiju, coming in the evening with the high tide.”
Ariel folds her hands together and sets her chin on them, deep in thought as murmurs rises from the crew. In one week, they’re going head-to-head with a Category III monster? Questions circle her mind, like flies surrounding a delicious meal, but the biggest question of them all is:
What if Joey is wrong?
“How accurate is that software?” Khairil asks, as though voicing up on behalf of the community. “Where is your base of your confidence that you want us to believe in this new system we have yet to test before?”
“That they have poured countless hours into this project, that I was there to see the results with my own eyes.” Nazirah interjects before Joey could even open her mouth, a dark scowl decorating her face. “You just have to throw your two-cents worth of opinion in even though you don’t know anything.”
“The system that the K-team came up with is an improved version of the existing software. And if we didn’t run the program, how did you think we got our figures? From imagination?”
As Ariel fear most, a brawl is about to break out with how deadly cold Khairil turned as anger boils in Nazirah, the atmosphere tenses as everyone significantly leans slightly away from both of them. Mainly Nazirah, because she is known to be someone who keeps grudge as long as she lives, and most of the time her short temper is the result of brash men like Khairil or even Tharmen who never thinks their words through before saying them aloud.
While Ariel laments within herself, one of the new guys speaks up.
“I agree to what Ms. Nazirah has said earlier. The previous program could only show us an attack a few days before it happened, and only then the detection of what category we were going up against were merely an estimate that 70% proved us wrong every single time.” Ariel suppresses the urge to snort at that. Now that; that is the truth.
Cuscapi can really be a jerk sometimes, and many other colorful descriptions used by the others.
“He’s right. I totally agree with him.” Two seats to Ariel’s right, Iris voices to concur with the new guy. “The old software is a sorry excuse of detection system made by God-knows-who. If it wasn’t for our team of experts, we’ve long been Kaiju-feed instead of being here.”
Ariel cringes a little from the mental image, internally thankful when Achik steps in to save the day by graciously inserting her piece. “Mm. Thank you for the point, Aaron.”
“Everyone, this is Aaron Lim from the Hong Kong Shatterdome. HKS is well known for their superb interface, as they are the new leaders of two high-tech Gen. V Jaegars: Rising Phoenix, and Storm Dragon. He will be with us for a few months until we are settled with the new software. Furthermore…”
Achik gestures to the person next to Ariel. “Aaron, this is Aaron Tan, our local Shatterdome’s beat-boxer who is also a Jaegar pilot for Gamma Rapper. So consider this a reunion between long-lost twins, okay?” She once again brings a round of laughter from the team, as Aaron Tan playfully lifts a hand in cool bro-like greeting at the other Aaron, to which the other male (with significantly fairer skin and spectacle-wearer) greets back in the same manner.
No, Ariel’s heart did not melt a bit from the endearing moment.
“So given that the new software is the final-piece that could actually make a difference, this means it’s still in its trial stage, right?” Akmal breaks the brittle humorous moment of ease, making Ariel closing her eyes as she braces herself for the worst. Why God why…
“Not that we doubt any of the scientists,” Tharmen quickly amends Akmal’s words. “We’re just curious as to how the software is able to even pin-point the exact time and date when we could barely be aware of the number of Kaiju, much less the category of the Kaiju.”
‘Tharmen, that doesn’t make Nazirah any less angry…’ Ariel wisely keeps her thoughts to herself, watching Nazirah’s tense posture in her seat next to Asyikin. Everyone in the Malaysia Shatterdome knows her bad temper and habit to last out sarcastically at anyone. Thankfully, tragedy is safely avoided when Joey replies. “We managed to change some of the restricting codes and placing in new commands from the data Izwin and I managed to extract from the recent battles.”
“But not to worry; As preventive measure we have both systems running simultaneously should either one fail on us. That way the data is still save and live to run on the other software.”
Achik clasps her hands together. “If that’s the case, I approve of this method.” Nonetheless, the Marshall looks pleased, no doubt from seeing the achievement of the K-Team who has placed much effort into making this work. “Regardless of whether the result is really accurate, we should still stay on alert. I want everyone to be fully prepared when the time comes. Understood?”
“Speaking of being prepared, let me introduce our newest addition.” Achik gestures to the silent bespectacled, tan guy who blinks owl-ishly behind his pronounced black-frame spectacles. “This is Caleb, he’ll be joining Beta Strucker’s J-Tech team from today onwards. Mundzir, please look after your junior well.”
“No worries Achik! I, Mundzir, will make sure he can do our job well in just three days! Trust me!” As if to back up his claim, Mundzir pats himself on the chest, appearing to be manly and full with confidence while Asyikin coughs loudly, the latter discreetly sharing a small smile with Zul who’s seating opposite of her.
This doesn’t go unnoticed by Ariel, who has been keeping an eye on the pair ever since Iris tells her the rumor about the two dating in secret. Without Iris, she probably wouldn’t be able to tell the difference as Ariel is told several times that she is a rather dense person.
Oh well. There’s a reason why they say ‘Ignorance is a Bliss’, right?
~*~
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