Tag Archives: Tosca Shi

Champions of Battle: AD7- Awakening #036

With little additional thought, Tosca followed her sisters to the royal garage.  The three of them always, always, always had meals together after work, without exception.  It’s been their routine for the longest of times.  It didn’t matter how the day went.  Every evening, the three of them shared a meal, did an activity, and then went to their separate apartments.  It just wouldn’t feel right for things to change, even today.

The three ladies began their practiced path through Rubin’s Castle.  The transition of architecture was stunning.  Cold, emotionless, plain lab walls were quickly replaced by the tapestries, polished marble floors, and expensive displays of the palace.  The regal elegance caught Tosca’s eye every time the three found an excuse to walk through.

Every now and then, there was a surprise.  A new token or trophy was displayed.  A new exotic rug from who knows where was placed near their path.  Regardless, everything in the palace was perfectly clean and cared for.  Things were definitely classier than they were ten years ago.  It was nice to see how Rubin’s style changed over the years.  Everything was stunning.  However, the best part of the evening still had to be the time the sisters would spend eating together.

The excitement or difficulty of a day usually affected the class of meal they had.  And with all the buzz throughout the facility and Adrianne’s excited tests, news about their new friend’s progress was exciting enough to warrant meal at the Bosstown Ge’s.  No doubt, Adrianne learned incredible things from watching the mechanized woman in action.  In any case, they probably would not hear anything about it tonight.

Work topics rarely made it into their after-work conversations; they were usually top secret.  Besides, they had far too many important things to sort out, especially this time of year.  The Trails were coming up.  They had to get ready to face any challenge thrown their way.  And while Rubin’s Trail turned out to be a wonderful and prosperous kingdom, it never hurt to have two.

The three ladies made up the active part of team Leuk Aga1n, a leading group in the royal clan Rubin’s Trail Mix.  Capable warriors, they fought alongside many other champions to defend the boundaries and honor of Rubin’s Trail.  However, Leuk Aga1n’s main focus was research and developing weapons for the clan and the kingdom.

As they reached the royal garage, Adrianne took the lead flanked closely by Chaeri on her left and Tosca on her right.  After hearing about their discussion earlier, she was surprised that Tosca was following so closely.  Of course, Tosca was the mentally tough one.  She had a much stronger character than Adrianne could muster on the best of days.

Entering the royal garage also never got old.  The lavish cleanliness and expensive style continued even here.  Not a speck of oil or fluid was on the light concrete flooring.  In the distance Rubin’s Royal Shuttle, a sleek black monster of a ship, menaced; even while resting.  Very heavily armed and elegant, it was a combination of Rubin’s older and newer tastes.

As always the kingdoms standard, the simplified sketch of a red trail through the woods, took its place on all the fighter ships.  It was also prominent on the king’s ship and the walls of the garage.

Spotting Dr. Yu, a few of the pilots rushed to their ships.  There were a few questions from her friends about the guards following them.  As a response, Adrianne told the quick story of the gankers she ran into.  In the end, she was just happy to be alive and thankful that Chaeri thought to call the sky guard to help her.  They were all happy for the guard’s foresight to follow along today.

Adrianne’s amazement continued as she spotted her ship among the many docked there.  After the morning’s excitement with the gankers, Silent Blur was covered in scorch marks and other debris.  Only half a day later, it looked as good as new.  The minty-lemon scent gave testimony of the royal garage staff’s tireless work.  Not a speck of soot or sap was on her ship.

Adrianne paused, Chaeri and Tosca followed suit.  “Ready?” she asked.  With no objections, they entered Silent Blur for another daily adventure.

#1 – Awakening #35 – Awakening #37

Champions of Battle: AD7 – Awakening #035

It took a good while for Tosca to mentally recover from the scolding.  Shi wanted to work but Wu’s words cut deep.  For an hour or so, the best Tosca could manage was sitting with the ball droid trying not to cry.  Her previous excited planning took a backseat in her thoughts; too emotionally bruised to think properly.

The droid sat on her work station inside a circular cushion.  Staring at the droid, Tosca felt the strange grooved patterns on its surface.  They have to mean something.  Nothing was made haphazardly, especially Mech Fortress droids.  A simple explanation was most likely.  She couldn’t think clearly about it; the scolding echoed fresh in her mind along with unspoken rebuttals.

A lot of what Doctor Wu said made since but other parts had to be exaggerated paranoia.  She admitted to making a risky mistake but judging from the doctor, Tosca had just set a time bomb in the lab and Rubin’s Trail was already destroyed.  AD7 could have everything she needed to go on a rampage covering the entire world with her machines.  And of course, it was all Tosca’s fault for one careless mistake.

The assistant director was usually stiff, but was it really that important?  Could AD7 do all that just by being near a droid?  That was a little farfetched.  Those words were never spoken.  Knowing Wu, Tosca would have lost her job and any little respect of research circles in that moment.  Instead, she kept her job but now it was time to get back to it.

Tosca had used the energy reading devices so often that they were now stored at her work station.  Shaking her despair, she managed to work the devices and compare them to previous energy readings.  As she suspected there was no change.  No energy readings of any kind were recorded.  Strange, she was certain she felt a calming vibe from the droid when she touched it.

Glancing at the clock, she saw that there was less than a fifth of an hour left in hour sixteen.  The workday was ending and she hadn’t accomplished anything, again.  She didn’t like it, but she decided to stay after to set up an experiment.  At the very least, she could do that much.

Buckling down, Tosca prepared all the energy reading machines.  She sat and started making notes of what she had observed about the droid before and things that could give some kind of response.  Many of the observations were repeated elsewhere but it never hurt to post things again.  Perhaps a view from a different angle would expose a small detail that ended up being important.

Shi wrote what she could but there wasn’t much.  The droid was unresponsive to any stimuli; electrical, thermal, magical, or otherwise.  Perhaps the correct combination of different energies would do something.  Her emotional state dulled her excitement but it was a new path to follow.  Still she made sure to plan out as much as she could before she lost her thoughts.  Perhaps sometime next week, she could look on the notes again and gain a ground breaking insight.

As she was sketching out her first set of ideas, the lab was nearly empty.  Tosca returned a few glances as the last few coworkers left.  She was usually chatty but today, they knew to leave her alone.

However, one familiar shadow hung over her desk.  With her weak performance today, she was surprised to see it.  Still, it was always nice to see her.

“Tosca,” said a slightly apologetic voice, “You’re still here?”

Tosca turned around and, as expected, saw Adrianne standing near with Chaeri a few rows back looking down, arms crossed, and leaning against a lab table.  She would never… ever dream of using their first names during work hours.  However, it was no secret that the three were the best of friends since Tosca could remember.

“We’re going to the Ge’s across the valley.  Wanna come?” Adrianne said eagerly without sounding too corny.

Tosca’s eyes darted between Adrianne and Chaeri noting their expressions.  Adrianne had clearly heard about their “discussion.”  Tosca and Chaeri both loved the Ge’s Noodles and Subs restaurant in the city across the valley.  Adrianne had different tastes.  However, as the Big Sister, it was her job to make peace between the two, again.

Though Tosca had no problems with this obvious attempt to keep the three of them together, she found other problems with the plans, “I’ve been wasting time since hour thirteen,” she turned back to her work station, “I have to get some work done today.”

“Don’t worry about that thing,” Chaeri said flatly from the distance, “It’ll still be there in the morning.”

Tosca flinched at hearing Cheari’s stone voice again so soon.  There was a good chance that she was bribed into the dinner as well.  ‘Ge’s Subs and Pastas’ was so very good.  The original one in Bosstown was even better than the one in Rubin’s Trail.  Flying in Silent Blur was always a dream.  Besides, she was very hungry and Chaeri’s reasoning was unquestionable, this time.  The droid never moved.  It’ll be there when she comes back.

After a few moments thought, Tosca gave the only reply that made sense, “Fine, I’ll go.”

#1 – Awakening #34 – Awakening #36

Champions of Battle: AD7 – Awakening #034

Rubin’s Trail, Science Facility, Research Labs:

Tosca Shi’s joy of potential research and discovery was short lived.  It was only a question of time before news of her actions reached her supervisor.  It didn’t take long at all.

She already knew how the assistant director would respond to her request to test the droid with AD7.  However, going behind her supervisor’s back for the director’s permission was a risky boundary to cross.  Now in the assistant director’s office, she was feeling the full brunt of Dr. Cheari Wu’s wrath.  Tosca could do nothing but listen as she was scolded.

Dr. Wu was not the one who saw wisdom in pointless yelling.  However, it became evident how strongly she felt about this issue.  After a few minutes of loud scolding, it seemed as though Chaeri was only getting started, “What were you thinking?!  We have no way to know how the droids would react to her!  We keep Aa Dee Seven separate from her droids for a reason!”

The assistant director continued along those lines, sternly reminding Tosca of the great risks posed by each of the projects.  Boundaries were set to eliminate those risks.  Though she avoided insulting Tosca’s intelligence, she wanted to make it painfully clear the danger she may have caused with her impatience.

Tosca spent the time finding interest in her shoes as she listened.  After taking ownership of the ball droid project, she did all she could to see something come of it.  Perhaps she had let the presumed power get the best of her.

Tosca had figured that AD7 was able to interact with all the facility’s machines already.  Granted, many of the devices they used were considered Rubin’s Trail technology now.  Still, almost all of the technology developed in the last twenty years had been modified from the Mech Fortress’ devices.  To AD7, the programming would only be slightly different from her machines.

Tosca knew the risk was possible.  There were always risks with innovative research.  Doctor Yu was even testing AD7 with the weapons she used in the war!  If AD7 was to act in violence, she would have done so by now.

However, it would do little good to explain this to the facility’s assistant director.  Doctor Wu didn’t seem to agree with her reasoning, “Let me remind you who we are dealing with,” the assistant facility director paced as she spoke, “Aa Dee Seven, the one that held our greatest warriors back with a simple tower defense wall. Aa Dee Seven, the one that could have covered our entire valley with her mechanized landscape when she took the offensive.

“She became a machine herself and defeated us time and time again with her creations.  So, the most brilliant, horrifying, mechanized, military mind is here, awake, in this facility.  Unless we can convince her that the war is over and we are not her enemy, she will escape and destroy us.  Do you understand?”

The clear, cold tone the assistant director used as she finished told Tosca that there was much more she wanted to say but chose not to.  The war was horrible enough when it was on the other side of the valley.  If it started again in the castle, Rubin’s Trail was doomed.

Tosca took the cue to be much more respectful of their situation, “Yes ma’am.”

Sitting back down at her desk, Dr. Wu added, “Never do anything like that again or your work in this field is over.”

Taking that as a signal of the conversation’s end, Tosca bowed and left the room.

#1 – Awakening #33 – Awakening #35