Hee hee Dr. DeNyle.

"Thank you, gentlemen," she says, volunteering nothing, as is her wont with people like this.

Samantha profoundly does not wish to reveal the existence of Ishte to anyone else, but so be it.

"I have contact with an extradimensional being named Ishte who is capable of predicting the precise time and rough location of any shard incursion in the world, the opposite situation as Liberation, who have access to a similar being, her brother, who can predict the precise location and rough time of any incursion. She contacted me for the express purpose of freeing her brother. There's another, but I know very little about her at the moment."

She folds her arms, tilting her hips a little. "I'm working with Wetzstein for the sake of freeing Ishte's brother from Liberation. If your next command is a demand that I turn her over to you - first, good luck even recognizing her if you see her, because only I can, and second, absolutely not."

Seshat's wariness fades, just a little. Not completely.

She nods. "Very well. If she has no objections, we will."

"As I've demonstrated, I'm pretty capable in a scrap. I don't imagine we'll be hitting Liberation soon, so I'll have time to prepare more tools to come at them with."

Once she has a moment, she gets alone with Aline. "Speaking of, could I get some instruction from one of the soldiers?"

She needs to learn quick-draw to take advantage of this sweet launch system for her pistol after all.

"Great. Well, let's deal with the suits and then I can go endure some training."

She returns to the SRI gathering. She isn't keen on sharing her results, nor is she keen on anyone who might want to get their hands on Ishte - which is everyone - but this is her chance to get access to something she very much needs.

"I have a condition, before I begin. I want researcher credentials. I'll take any test you like for regulatory purposes - I guarantee I can pass. I'll publish my upcoming research with SRI, just like anyone, but I want access."

"Information on further shard events will be contingent upon success."

She sets her tablet on the table, an image of a complicated energy pattern displaying. "This is the one that struck yesterday, and is now split between three adorable wolf pups."

She rotates it at will.

"I can view any shard so long as I know who holds it. Even if they're impacted. I haven't tried dead people, but I'm sure I could. My friend can predict shard strikes as discussed - I haven't established the limits, but you're free to ask questions."

"Please, go right ahead. I would love to publish with SRI instead of, say, Nature - not just about my findings with Ishte, but the studies I've made on my own. Minus a few upcoming patents I have unrelated to shard matters, of course. Everyone here knows that I have a unique perspective on shards - I've never admitted it publicly, but if you've studied my creations you know I can manipulate my shard to take the shape of - in hard matter, at least - any of them." Her smile is beatific. "I've already transmitted full videos of the wolf's shard and the one that struck the young baker, Sienna, to your account."
By which she means everything but the platforms and the people there. Maelstrom to impact, plus the on-site footage her Scarabs took.

"You can reach me anytime when the board has made their decision. Gentlemen, ladies." And then, having implicitly ended the meeting, she gets up and goes.

For the last few weeks - and especially the last few days - people have been reminding her that she's special, that she has things they don't, and Sam is finally starting to understand just how right they are.

"I hope you don't mind me using you as a bargaining chip here," she comments to Ishte. "I won't compromise rescuing your brother - SRI came here to get what they want. I think they expect to treat amateur heroes a particular way, one where the youth is happy to give without reward - if they work with me, though, I aim to make it a mutually beneficial relationship. I'll still work with Wetzstein even if they turn me down, but if they insist on treating me as a member I'll simply have to expect member privileges."

Captain Desmon Sylas is found outside, behind the building, where a track has been made of beaten dirt. Some greenhorns are making jogging laps around it. When he finds the cat-headed girl approaching him, he turns to her. He's a dark skinned older man, maybe his 40s - clearly he's seen his share of action. He's in the Wetzstein uniform, though he's omitting the jacket which he has instead tied around his waist by the sleeves, and keeps his hair short cut.

"Seshat, hello. Captain Sylas - Ms. Lafaile told me you needed help with some manner of training?"

He reaches down and collects the weapon, watching his trigger-finger, then gives it a few points and test-draws. "Good heft, good balance. Can't say I've ever trained with a raygun, so this is new, but it feels like a fancy handgun.

"A lot of it is going to be practice and getting to know your weapon." He sets the gun back down on the table. "But I can run you through handgun discipline and a handgun program to handle your weapon safely and effectively. After that, you'll need to put in the hours at the range."

"Handgun Marksmanship 101. We go over proper grip, stance, sight picture, trigger press... I'd normally also cover loading and unloading, but I suppose you don't need it. Unless you need to slap in fresh batteries? You'll have to figure it out, but I can let you practice with a regular handgun. You might need to use one.

"After that, then we do some shooting while moving at different ranges."

He leads her further down the terrain to where shooting practice is. For the next few hours, she's shown how to handle herself with - and drilled on - her new toy. How to hold it properly, how to safely keep herself from shooting, how to aim, proper way of firing, and a whole lot of practice. It's pretty satisfying to see her hardwork zap paper and reactive steel targets, even if the power is currently too low to really do much.

Captain Sylas ends up learning a thing or two about beam weapons in the process as well. He also has the combat experience and firearm training to know how to leverage what he learns, which is knowledge he passes onto her.

By the end of the session later that afternoon, she's getting pretty good at it. She can flick the gun out of its holster, into her hand, and pointing at a target most of the time without missing the grab or putting her aim off-kilter. She's also able to coordinate her own mind with the moment where she knows she's pointing at a target rather than before or after.

During it, Jake pings her with a what's up, and after explaining to him what she's up to, he ends up suggesting to try some competitive gaming as a way of lowering her reflex time.

"Not bad," the Captain praises. "Not bad at all. Some of my recruits could learn from watching you learn." He crosses his arms with an amused smile.

(Claiming 1 point for Fast-Draw (Pistols). More at your option.)

She hopes he'll enjoy the new company pet AI! Well, soft AI.

For her part, she heads to see what else they need her for.

"Aww~ I feel really welcome now, Aline, thank you." She accepts it and clips it on. She'll send it to the YPA rather than taking it to her base later - never trust people too much. "I look forward to our future collaborations."

Speaking of - oughta head back and get some work done while she can.

--------

(Phew, think we can call the pre-Zosime stuff done.)