Jernwerks

Janet looked over at the clock again. Damn, five after eleven. She had been sure it had been like three hours, not five minutes.  She tapped on her desk, and it displayed a list of twenty-five applicants for the EDDA scout program that she had to evaluate.  She rubbed her temples. This had to be the worst part of working for the corporation, but at least she had a transfer to research to look forward to.  Then it was on to retirement. She knew things would be so much better in the future.  She clicked on the top of the list for and a digital avatar for Hangaku Gozen popped up.  She went by the handle Yumi when she was streaming on the planet info-stream.  Janet shook her head. That couldn’t be right. Why would they send her an internet personality for a potential Jern operative?   Sighing, she double-tapped the avatar to indicate to her assistant that she should be sent in. 

The woman walked in, and Janet’s doubts only grew.  She was only five feet three inches tall and thin, as if she had been surviving on ramen. She had small, delicate features and a rounded forehead.  A mountain of blue hair was crumpled together in a loose ponytail and shoved down the back of a hooded sweatshirt.  The hoodie was covered in katakana and samurai imagery.   She walked in slowly as if she was not familiar with a corporate office and did not feel at ease.  Her hand kept straying down to the empty pocket on her hip.  Oh god, she was one of those phone addicts. Well, at least this would be quick.  Janet stood up and extended her hand.  The girl slowly walked forward and shook it.  Janet motioned to a chair opposite her desk.  Yumi plopped down on it unceremoniously. 

“So, Miss Hangaku. I understand you are looking for a position among the company’s Jern pilots.”

“You can just call me Yumi.”

“Okay, Yumi, I was looking over your resume, and I thought you might have ended up here by mistake.  Maybe you meant to apply for social outreach or communications.”

“Nope, if I did that, then Yuki-onna would get bored, and I hate to disappoint her.”

“Who is that?”

“My ichiban no shinyuu, my comrade, my Jern.”

Janet forced down the urge to roll her eyes. She hated the people who pretended their Jerns were anything but mechanical tools.

“Well, we don’t want that to happen.  So your resume did not indicate a military background. Where did you get your Jern experience?”

“building and maintenance.”

“Construction? You know there is a big difference between piloting a constructicon then a full-fledged Jern.”

“Yeah, you know, sometimes there is not a lot.” 

Janet’s hand slid over to click on the button that would call security and end the interview. Then she would find out who sent this person and exact revenge for her time being wasted. 

“I mean that day at the Himinbjörg mountain mines, there wasn’t any difference, was there?” Yumi’s comment froze Janet’s hand.

“That was you.”

“Yep, well, me and Yuki-onna.”

“They never released many details of what happened. I remember there was a video circulating for a while, but it was taken down.”

“Yeah, Sixth Sun Corp did not like the impression that their workers might face an unruly Jotun on the loose.”

“So what exactly happened?”

“I was helping set up a mining camp at the foot of the Himinbjörg mountain.  We were still in the process of building the facilities where the workers would live. Everybody was in those pre-fabricated structures, many of which were made of fabric and wood. Good enough to keep out the weather but not much else. I had just gotten back from an MRE extension run.”

“MRE extension run?”

“I was out hunting.  The meal packs supplied by Sixth Sun meet the basic nutritional requirements, but they lack steaks. I supplemented my wages by hunting the local fauna and selling the meat and fur.   That was the reason they gave for firing me. It was a funny thing. I was competing with the company by providing unscheduled protein.”

Janet frowned and made a mental note to submit a memo to add that to Edda regulations.  “That’s awful.”

“Yeah.”

“How were you hunting. Most corps don’t allow workers to carry weapons in their camps.”

“They don’t, but since I used a sporting bow and not a firearm. It was allowed.”

“Oh, okay, keep going.”

“Anyway, I get home from my hunt. I got some small game and was heading to the kitchen to trade the meat for some extra credits when the alarms started going off. They were just pulling out one of the first loads of ore out of the mine, and I guess a juvenile forge father got a whiff of it and decided to help itself.”

“Oh my. How big was it?”

“I think it measured about 20 meters and weighed in at about 1,800 metric tons.”

 “Wow.”

“That wasn’t the word we used at the time.” Yumi continued.     The staff was running for the storm shelters, but I knew they wouldn’t make it.  So I jumped into my Constructicon. I had traded some meat with this techie named Garth, and he had made the Jern a little more nimble.”  Yumi got up She seemed to be getting more stressed as she told the tale.

“I first rushed into hand-to-hand range. I mean, the mech was rated to construct skyscrapers. It could handle a youngling.  As I engaged it just dropped its head and charged, sending me and Yuki-onna flying into a pile of materials.  We hit hard, and I sat there for a long moment just contemplating my life choices.  The facility security team got in between the Jotun and the fleeing employees, but the beast made short work of them.”

“They were that ineffective?’

“Yeah, I think Sixth Sun only had them equipped for making sure none of the crew went AWOL from their contracts. They were not meant to take on monsters.”

“So, as I am lying there in a pile of rebar,  girders, and aircraft control cable. I get a really stupid idea. I bend one of the girders into a curve and then attach a length of cable to each side of it. Boom, I get myself a bow. I make an arrow stand with the rebar, and I start letting loose.  The first shot goes far right, directly into the Excavators, and it goes up in an explosion of green fire.  This at least gets the Forge Father’s attention, and it turns to look at me. I  nock and release again, the shot going left but still clips the Forge Father’s shoulder, ricocheting off its armored hide.  Then it digs in and charges at me. I fire off a third arrow, and it hits it square in the head, sinking deep but not slowing it down.  I take a deep breath, pulling the missile to full draw. I wait till it’s almost on top of me before I let go.  I shoot and then the beast collides, sending me to the ground and driving me probably ten feet back.” 

 “It was still alive?” Janet had become engrossed in the story, despite herself.

“Nope, the last shot took it in the eye and straight to the brain. The beast was dead before it hit me. It was just inertia that kept it going.  I had a very small following on the info-net, but Garth hacked the security camera’s and I was able to upload video of the fight.  It took off, and before it was taken down by Sixth Sun, I was able to crowdsource upgrades for Yuki-onna, leaving a little left to buy out my contract. I have been freelance ever since.”

“Hmm, okay, well that is very interesting. I think we might have a place for you. I will send a notice for you to be given an invitation to the proving grounds.”

“Cool Beans.”