The bed clothes were pushed lethargically back and the semi-aware face of crew chief Galding blinked for a moment in the bleaching LED glow. "Hu..? Wha's happenin'? Mmmph..." she mumbled as she pushed herself up onto her elbows. She shook her head and looked back at the face of the person by her cot. "Oh, it's you Fu. To what do I owe this unwelcome and ridiculously timed interruption"? she asked.
Don Fugate, ZEON's chief technical officer, leaned slightly closer and lowered his voice once more. "Sorry to wake you chief. Got a bit of a problem. I can't find my initializer card for my new Boreas, y'know, the one I left in the tech-bays with the data chip for my recent power-plant configurations"?
Chief Galding nodded. "Yeah, I know the one. Fairly basic changes there to get such a surprising set of results. Separating the core conduits with plasma feeders to increase the initial torque is bloody brilliant. It negates almost all targeting vibration meaning you can maintain sustained firing whilst accelerating from a sand still. You can engage the avoidance programs and lose nothing from your counter method. We're gonna have to nick that little gem and drop it on the other vehicles". She gave a half smile. "how did you g......" Officer Fugate held up a hand, "Chief. Please. It's quite urgent", he cut in. "I promise I'll give you all the 'hows' and whys' at a later point. I just need to borrow the engineer's master-card until I find my own. I've got a formation test in half an hour and if I can't get it done the Admiral will chew my ass".
Galding sighed and gave a quick shrug. "Fine, fine. Here", she muttered, and handed the impatient officer her operator's card from her overall pocket lying on the bedside chair. "Just make sure I get that back asap. If that goes walkies sod all gets done around here".
Officer Fugate took the card and nodded his thanks before hurrying out of the dormitory. "Flippin' pilots", Galding grumbled as she pulled her bed clothes back over herself, "They'd lose their minds if they weren't needed".
8.45 in the briefing hall of the ZEON main office block. The senior pilots assembled as per standing orders and awaited the day's op's briefing. A few of the lead hands shared a joke about the previous shift's events. The smell of fresh coffee hung heavily in the air.
The door opened and a red faced and distinctly irate officer Fugate stormed into the room, filling every available inch of breathing space with his near tangible rage. He stormed straight over to crew chief Galding. "Do you mind telling me what the hell you were doing running motion stability tests on my Boreas at 4.25 this morning? That mech had just been re-aligned to run my power-plant improvements. In-field stability tests on a machine that hasn't had the diagnostic assessments completed on it is a sheer bloody danger, not just to the person piloting it, but to any bugger in the vicinity as well"! he barked.
Crew Chief Galding sprang to her feet. "Now you hold the f*** on there 'sir'", she spat the formal courtesy as a criminal would address a judge before sentence. "I haven't taken your machine ANYWHERE. It was YOU who woke me up at stupid o'clock this morning begging my master key off me. If you lose your initializer and need me to dig you out of the cack don't come blame slinging' when it goes wrong, y'hear"? she hollered.
Don pulled his head back and half frowned, half scowled. "What the damned hell are you rattling about technician"? he snapped. "I've just come from the service docks and Prosser from night shift said he saw you take the mech out at a little after four this morning. He says you didn't return with the mech before shift change. I've checked the security replays and clear as day you're there in my mech. Now, here you are large as life. Where the hell have you put my mech"? he spat.
The head of ZEON's maintenance and development department held her hands up, palms facing out, and shook her head. "Don, I have no idea what the heck you're talking about. I didn't even get out of my cot until 6.45. You came into the dorm around 4 this morning and borrowed my master key because you said you had 'Formation testing' to run. I swear it. Check the security replays for the accommodation corridors if you don't believe me".
The senior pilot's features expressed a fleeting hint of uncertainty. He had known chief Galding for years now. The woman was a legend within the maintenance and repair circles within the mecha-combat galaxy. She could take a right-off and get it back in the field with prayer and a stick of chewing gum. Don nodded slowly. "Okay", he said, "Fine. Come with me. We'll get this s**t straightened out".
He and Galder left the room together and made their way down to the security control offices. Upon arrival they found ZEON's current head of security Captain Brown waiting. The captain turned to face them as they entered. "Wondered how long it'd take you two to get here", he said flatly. The pair came to attention, officer Fugate throwing up a formal salute. "Sir", he said. The captain flagged a hand at him. "Calm down chap", he responded, "protocol can take a back seat until we know what the frakk is happening here".
He gestured to the security monitors in front of him. "On the left we have footage of chief Galding leaving the base air lock in officer Fugate's Boreas. I've watched it over and over. No immediately obvious glitches. Now; On the right we have footage of chief Galding leaving the dormitory building at 7.14 and heading to the mess hall for breakfast. A class act considering she did not return at all through the air lock".
The captain turned to face the bewildered pair once more. "Any suggestions on current events"? He inquired.
Officer Fugate pointed to the monitors. "The chief here says I went to see her in her cot around 4 this morning to borrow her master initialization card. Now, I know that's a bunch of c**p because I have my own card and did not leave my room until much later".
He stepped over to a young corporal seated at the operating desk. "Young man, pull up the camera footage from the chief's dormitory corridor around 4 a.m.", he said.
The young op's worker tapped a few keys and brought up the footage as requested. They all stared in silence for a number of minutes, then, at 4.04 on the relay counter, officer Fugate stepped into view, clear as day, and entered the chief's room.
Don looked over to the others. Galding cocked her head to one side. "Is that an apology I hear Don"? she sneered.
The pilot stared blankly back. "What the F*** is going on here? I don't sleep walk. Seriously, what is going on"? he asked, bemusement hanging on every syllable.
The security captain wagged a conclusive finger. "Now 'that' I can shed a modicum of light upon", he said, and motioned to the two to join him at a third monitor showing a close up still image of chief Galding seated in the cockpit of the missing Boreas.
The captain magnified the image and focused on the chief's eyes. "What do you make of that then peeps"? he said.
The pair leaned in and inspected the close up. There was the evidence. A tell tale milk white iris in the mech-thief's right eye. A flaw common place in one very nasty aspect of the galaxy, usually hidden, but, fortunately for the security captain's keen attention to detail, not in this case.
Officer Fugate stood up straight and stared unblinkingly at officer Brown. "Well... F*** ME"! he stated, "A god damned CLONE"!
The captain nodded slowly. "A bloody good one two. It fooled the DNA access ports on the bay doors AND the main entrance. I had my doubts, but that footage of you, well, the 'other' you, entering the dormitory confirmed it. I can sense Drake's hand in this stinking scenario. That's bad enough, but if the evidence is accurate then it's a whole lot worse. This son of a bitch simulated and copied two of our senior staff with subatomic precision. If we're right on this then A: we have a highly prized mecha out there, possibly in the hands of a lunatic, and B: Said lunatic has perfected polymorphic clones".
Submitted by Steve Ross#162076