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Freedom Through Technology

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Welcome back, Technician Silverleaf
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<P>ersonal or P<U>blic? /> P
<N>ew entry or <R>eview? /> N
Encrypt? /> Y

An unusual gear request crossed my station about a week back. Wasn't given much detail about it; only a name and a contact location. So, being the somewhat cautious person I am and to back up human resources with more data, I went to check with the adventurers' guild in Gridania.

The client: Kalina Fairhaven. Employee of the Ul'Dah Trading Company Golden Arcana according to the adventurer records. Furthermore she was a known privateer of the airwaves from an acquired garlean gunship. This alone was an interesting shock as not many were given or used by private individuals, let alone out of the garlean hands. I began to understand why this floated my direction as I tend to be given crazier assignments than most.

Returning back to my work desk I study the request in better detail: a wrist mounted grappling hook. Main function would be to maneuver around her airship exterior with greater ease. I read a few of the other details and access the records of gunships. Once I downloaded a few of the schemas to my tomepad I set about going to her office at the headquarters. Surprisingly it's a few districts away from my house in the Mist. Perhaps accounting is trying to save on travel charges; it's almost time for the quarterly review and they always pinch a gil here or there on small stuff like this.

Never mind. They don't need to read that thought.

Anyroad, I arrive and ask if she's in. One of her fellow colleagues informed me that she's at her private study in the nearby Topmast apartments and provided me district and room number. I thanked them and headed on my way.

Politely knocking on her door I wait for response. Listening closely I could tell she was in as there was muted papers being shuffled quickly followed by boot sounds approaching the door. She allows me in. After trading a few pleasantries about current events, we got down to business. I confirmed specific design requirements of hers and told her that I could have a workable design, showing her how I could install magnetic connection points along certain spots of the hull. Using my tomepad as a reference, I point out the specific places. She certainly seemed please if slightly curious as to how I would pull it off. I smiled and assured her that it would work out. We made an appointment to meet at the airship dock in Ul'Dah the next day to begin the installation.

In the workings of all this, I admit I missed the point: she needed a grappling system and not my first idea which was a mobile magnetized rail network. I admit I thought that it would be a more reasonable idea.

The morning of the meeting I got clearance to use one of our free company ships to haul over the materials from my office in Rhalgar's to Ul'Dah, and got airspace permission from Ul'Dah for dropping off materials and goods using my Ironworks clearance.

I arrived at the docks with enough materials that I'd been slowly bringing back from the First that were especially magnetic when enough lightning aether is used. The dock lead was new and probably unused to my passage there since I only visit it on occasion. I informed him I did have a permit to visit the Fairhaven dock but was being a smug prick and claiming that I had contraband in my bags rather than my permit read. Contacting Kalina I made her aware of the situation. She was as surprised about the charges as I was. I told her to hang a moment. Turning off the linkpearl I looked the lead in the face and told him if I didn't pass by he'd get a scathing kick to the backside. Naturally he laughed in my face...and then lept a yalm into the air and sideways as I did exactly that. Being a thaumaturge does have its uses on occasion. He was nursing his rear as I made my way down the halls and contacting Ul'Dah main air command. They confirmed he was just trying to play 'politicks' and they assured me he was going to be dealt with.

Contacting her again to get the specific bay she was in I quickly made my way there. After a brief conversation I signaled to the mammet pilot to fly over the bay and lower the goods. When she looked at the gloved gauntlet I made I could tell her heart sank and inwardly cursed my own over-excitement. We talked a bit more about what she really had in mind and I went into her airship to jot better notes down, and also to partly hide my own embarrassment.

I had one major concern on my mind: how she would need to carry all that rope needed for the grappler hook. Working outside and in windy conditions she would need to be as light as possible. Then a crazy idea hit me: linking two objects between space. But the moment I thought that I knew I would need to consult Tycoon about it. It would have the answers if nothing else.

I informed her that I needed to take a trip to the First. Her face went dark the moment I mentioned it as if she was reliving some bad memories. Ultimately she agreed to accompany me to get the materials.

We arrived there and it was about as bustling as usual. It was late afternoon and I thought we would be better served by a nights' sleep to get our bodies temporally aligned here. She agreed then, probably musing, asked a very poignant question--one that has been stirring in my mind since I first arrived months ago as a world traveler. Lost in my own thoughts, my pixie came and in my distraction bothered her. She handled it reasonably well and we parted to our inn rooms in the Pendant.

During the night I thought about what to make the rope out of that would be able to withstand the weight of a body and not break. Going over the inventory manifest on my tomepad, I discovered that a braided rope of Carbontwine and Scaeven Twine would suffice, mixed with a bit of bluespirit and hematite ore shavings. I knew I had a private stash of all of that back at the office so I slept content that at least half of the problem would be solved.

The next morning we met at The Staircase for breakfast. I informed her I needed to head to the cabinet of curiosities to renew my permission to enter the Crystal Tower. She shrugged and agreed to wait for me in the plaza. After obtaining the permission we delved downwards into the lower heart of the tower. She must've been very curious about all the ironworks crates being here but I ignored it since I cataloged quite a bit of it (though haven't told anyone here in the First or at the home office; I want to see how the timeline plays out if it remains without this knowledge).

Her meeting Tycoon was a bit like shock and awe, I imagine, but I wasn't really paying attention to her expression. Already in my mind I was preparing the input to determine what we were after. What surprised me was the speed of how quickly it calculated what was needed. It created an entire tome based on this information which, after quickly studying the index and relevant information to myself (it also shared my assessment of materials to create the specialized rope) I passed the book to her so she would study the arcanima sections of it. We returned to the surface.

Next step was the creation of the storage box. The book describes bluespirit being capable of holding a steady temporal signature. I kind of already knew this from interactions with Aislinn Sablebullet, the allagan war android I helped repair for the Winters family, but confirmation is nice. She informed me of a specialist in Mord Suuq that would be able to make it. The trip there and back, thanks to some repurposed eulmorean airships, was made uneventful as the skies were no longer contested by flying sineaters.

All in all, a relatively quick visit and very fruitful too; I heard a rumor about a 'phantom' starshower over the Crystarium and Lakeland that happened a few days back that piqued my interest. One of my trips back I'll want to investigate better, but I was on official business still.

I promised I'd have for certain what she was wanting by the following morning. I set an appointment with her to meet at my office to transport materials needed for installation at the docks of Castrum Oriens. I spent part of the night creating the twine which, honestly, worked a lot better in practice than in paper. I wonder what the world would be like if Master Garlond and then Specialist Scaevis actually worked in harmony instead of at odds.

The next morning after a brief altercation with the quartermasters to chocobo cart rental and at the receptionist desk we made our way to the castrum. To fill the time, we shared some brief stories about ourselves. Once we arrived, we put our business faces on and got to work. Once the etching and quenching she did and the frame weldwork I did were concluded we got together for the hookshot. I described the type of aether that would need to be manipulated to both cast and retrieve it and she gave it a quick test. It worked exactly as described with the claw projectile and its magnetic capabilities. Work satisfied, I handed her my card with the offer for any future maintenance on work I've carried out.

Right now, I've come back from the budgeting office. Suffice it to say, they don't like my expense report.