Hinn Ch. 43-46

"So, let's go introduce you around," Ray suggested. Nodding, Ousha joined him.

"I think I'm going to go down to the dojo for a bit, Ray - I had a thought I wanted to try," Tauriz said.

"Fine by me - good luck with it!"

Walking out of the conference room, Ray introduce Ousha to Harry, who had stayed camped out at the front desk. "She's a direct hire by Tauriz and I to act as a coordinator and scheduler for everyone. She'll be set up on the third floor in the office and taking the single across the hall. Once she's set up, hopefully later today, she'll be a call away if you need something scheduled. Please let her know if you've got anything going on that'll take you away from the site."

"Can do, Ray. Welcome, Ms. Nair!"

"Please, call me Ousha, Harry. We will be working pretty closely together, I do not doubt."

"Very well, Ousha!"

The next stop was Jessica's onsite digs. As she'd mentioned, she was chattering on her headset with someone. Amber waved them over as they walked in. "She's tied up for most of the day - anything I can do to help?"

"Just wanted to introduce the newest teammate, Ms. Ousha Nair. She'll be the scheduling and coordination bellybutton for everyone, working directly for Tauriz and I. We'll be getting her set up on the third floor in the office, and she'll have the single across the hall from it."

"Welcome! I suspect you're going to become very busy very quickly here, Ms. Nair!"

"From what Ray said, he prefers using first names - so please, call me Ousha."

"Of course, Ousha - I'm Amber, by the way. I work for Jessica over there who's Ray's lawyer, as do the rest of us in here. How open are we being here, Ray?"

"As open as you feel comfortable with, Amber. She's on the NDA and has excellent credentials and recommendations from people I trust."

"I see. Then let's get it all out there. Jessica's pulled together a very effective team here. She's got Hina as her personal secretary, something like what you're going to be doing for Ray it seems, but she's also Jessica's lead bodyguard. Jonathon over there's our computer guru who also has a lot of military experience. Pete is a PI, as well as another trained bodyguard. Monica and I are researchers."

"The simplest explanation would be that you and Monica have other skills that you're not comfortable talking about, as Ray led me to you rather than one of the others. I do not feel slighted, your secrets are your own, just you might wish to reconsider how you reveal your teammates' abilities."

"Hrm. I see. I'll guess I'll be blunt. Do you believe in magic, Ousha?"

"There are multiple groups of people who have developed abilities beyond what is considered normal, Amber. In that sense, yes, I believe there are people who can do more than others, including some seemingly impossible things."

"Where did you find her, Ray?"

"She's the result of a carefully worded wish to find the ideal candidate and some other effort."

"I am not the creation of a wish, Ray."

"Not my intent, Ousha - I just meant that I used a wish to find the best candidate for the job, much like I used one to find Jessica."

"I see. Apparently I have a bit of a tender spot there, about being a creation rather than a person."

"Apparently, and my apologies I phrased things that poorly."

"No apology needed. You look like you have questions, Amber?"

"Yes, I do. What's your experience with magic? I know more than a bit about Ray and Tauriz, but I'm very curious about everyone with these, these abilities, as Ray calls them."

"I am afraid I cannot be completely forthright with you due to binding oaths I have taken, but I can say I have been involved with magic for quite some time. It might help you to know that English is not my native language - I learned to speak Arabic first. My family has a long history of dealing with magic, for that matter, although very few of them practice it as I do. And I cannot speak much of how I learned magic, but I can definitely share quite a bit of what I know now."

"I'd love to compare notes when you've got time. Monica will be more than curious about it, as well."

"I would like that, once I have settled in."

"Excellent! But - speaking of Monica, was she able to get the invites for the Long Island meeting?"

"I think so. Let's ask." Amber waved her sister over, rather than distracting Jessica.

"Yes?" Monica asked, and Ray repeated his question.

"Oh! Yes, we have a group invite if you can make the time. One of my elders, I'd guess you'd call her, made the invite, so you've got a little bit of a buzz started. She doesn't generally invite non-Asatru."

"The other tasks that would've prevented us attending are taking time - let's plan on going. Can you work with Jennifer to get things set up for us down there, including transport?"

"Certainly, not a problem."

"Thanks, Amber - Oh, and Amber, this is Ousha, who Tauriz and I hired. She's going to be the coordinator and scheduler between the groups once she's set up on the third floor."

"Pleasure to meet you, Ousha."

"She's also a practitioner," Amber mentioned, "but can't go into details as to the type. She's willing to share techniques though once things settle down a little, though."

"Oh? Wonderful! For your information, I'm Asatru, if you know that term?"

"Followers of the Old Norse?"

"Just about exactly. I look forward to discussing whatever you're comfortable with when you can, Ousha."

"As am I - I suspect it will be an interesting talk," Ousha agreed.

Amber and Monica took a second to introduce her to Jonathon, Pete and Hina before Ray led them off to the next introductions.

Heading across the hall, Ray introduce Ousha to Jennifer and her team - Jimmy, James, Susan, El and Betty. Mentioning the trip Friday to Betty, Ray told her that Monica would be getting with her shortly with the details, but did say it'd be on Long Island.

"Shouldn't be a problem at all, Ray. I'll head over and pick her brain a bit then get things set up."

"Thanks Betty - but before you go, I wanted to let you know more about Ousha's role. She's going to be working directly for Tauriz and I, and she'll be the coordinator and scheduler for this building and those working here. I'm not trying to say you're not doing a great job, I just feel a little better if the overall coordination was a little closer held."

"Not a problem. Ousha, if you ever need anything, anything at all, please don't hesitate to call me. I'll be glad to be a backup for you - less on my plate means I can do the rest of the jobs better."

"Thank you, Betty - I suspect we shall be working closely together going forwards."

Tracking down Annya was a little more difficult, but eventually they knocked on her door on the second floor. At her "Come in!" they did. Annya had taken one of the doubles and pretty much filled the space. She had a full server rack in one corner, a bedroll in another, an electronics bench under the window, and bookshelves filled with a vast array of parts, binders, books, piles of paper, rolled cables, tools and clothing covering the rest of the walls. Incongruously, in the middle of the bookshelf was a small oriental shrine up near the ceiling with lit candles, paper banners and a painted silk backdrop showing tori in a tranquil sea.

"Ray!" Annya called happily. She was seated crosslegged on a cushion on the floor, holding a small laptop across her thighs. "Welcome to my little slice of heaven!"

"Thanks, Annya - appreciate the warm welcome. I'm just stopping by briefly - wanted to introduce you to Ousha, here. Tauriz and I hired her on to do scheduling between the groups. I'd like you to get her set up with new electronics up on the third floor in the office there."

"Certainly, Ray - Ousha, what kind of computer background do you have?"

"Well, I can use Apple, PC or Linux, as needed, but I prefer Windows usually. Apple is a little too secretive to trust, and Linux is still too finicky for easy use in my experience."

"Oh, great! OK, we'll get you set up. Do you have any preferences?"

"I would like a standalone secure system plus one networked in. I prefer the networking to be wireless on a reasonable laptop if possible, the secure system will get locked down in the office so I care much less about that. Both systems will need printers and scanners - I prefer to pass data printed out to reduce risks to the secure system."

"OK, that's quite do-able. Will you mind using a shared printer for the networked system?"

"Ray? Your call."

"I don't see any reason why you couldn't? Do either of you?"

"I don't," Annya said, "but I'm not sure what all you'll be using on the standalone. If it's real sensitive, a separate printer might make sense."

"It is not that sensitive, I just want a ground truth for electronic data that I can rely on. Not saying Tongxin does a poor job - I am just paranoid about some things."

"No, no, it makes a lot of sense. We'll set up a backup for the standalone system too, something fire-resistant and very non-volatile that you won't have to mess around with, it'll just take snapshots and backups on a regular schedule so if anything does go wrong we can bring it back up quick and easy with minimal lost time or data."

"Great, thank you Annya, sounds wonderful," Ousha enthused.

"For your information, too, Annya, Tauriz and I will be taking a trip down to Long Island this coming Friday. Not sure if or how that'll affect your plans, but this just got confirmed."

"OK, not a problem, we'll be very ready to support you from here when you go - unless you're asking me to come along?"

"It's a meeting of the Asatru, Norse believers. Some of them are supposed to be magically active, and we'll be spending time with them learning a bit more about the world."

"Hrmm. I don't think I'd be of particular use there, do you? And I have a lot more setup to do here."

"That's fine. On another matter, should we plan on getting together around 3 when Emily's done with her meetings?"

"Sounds like a good idea to me. Third floor living room?"

"Works. See you there."

Finally Ray led Ousha down to the second basement level. Passing through the first basement, he realized adding the elevator there would ruin the flow through the security loop. He'd have to reconsider the layout later when he had a minute to think it through. Given Ousha's feedback earlier, he instead spun off an immaterial copy of himself to work the problem and come back with a solution.

Tomaz was training, so they went back up a level to the dojo. He was lined up with four Skepsi personnel working some martial arts form in one corner following one of his cohort's lead. Tauriz was in another corner doing some sort of quick spinning in place, but with a much more stable base than most dancers would consider practical.

Watching Tomaz' group, it quickly became evident they were following some hard-striking style with very few bells or whistles. It wasn't one Ray had practiced before, so his curiousity was peaked.

A couple minutes later the form was done and the leader pointed out Ray and Ousha to Tomaz. Bowing to the leader, he turned and trotted over. "Ray, good morning. Are you going to practice with us one of these days?"

"I'll be glad to once things settle down a little more, but first - as I mentioned earlier, Tomaz, this is Ousha, and vice versa. Ousha's just signed on, working directly for Tauriz and I as a scheduling resource between and for all the groups. We'll be setting her up on the third floor, and she'll soon be handling those tasks for all of us."

"Great! Hi, Ousha. Do you have any military skills or requirements?"

"I have never been in the military, Tomaz, never had the time or interest. Think of me more like a librarian by background, struggling to keep things organized and available. However, like Amber and Monica, I have some, I guess, magic, so I'll be working with Ray and Tauriz to help defend this building that way. I'd love to talk more about that to see how we can best work together on that, when you have time."

"If Ray doesn't have anything else for you, Ousha, I'd think that takes priority over any training I could do."

"I think that'd be great if you folks could look into that," Ray agreed. "You might want to pull Amber and Monica into the discussion as well, and possibly Annya if you're looking into sensors and the like. If you need things, talk to Harry and/or the Boch folks."

"Great! Let me grab a couple of my people and we'll meet you, where, in the conference room?"

Ray nodded, "I think that'd be a good spot. Don't forget that Tauriz or I will also be able to help out some if needed, too."

Hearing her name, Tauriz walked over from whatever she'd been trying to accomplish in the other corner. "You called?" she asked.

"Looking to coordinate physical security with techniques and sensors, and I volunteered the both of us to assist with that."

"Certainly. When is it?"

"Ten minutes or so, in the conference room."

"See you there," she said before kissing Ray and walking out the door like a proud cat.

The group followed her and left to ready for the upcoming meeting.

Author's footnote - I ain't dead. :)