Judgment day, graduation day, it comes once a week, a new swath of cadet judges take the final practical exam. Three out of five die in their first day, only one out of five become full Judges. For Judge Anderson, it was his least favorite day of the week. He had failed a number of rookies, made wrong judgment calls, and a few had wound up dead. He was getting really tired of taking rookies onto the streets of Megacity One. So when the Chief Judge asked for his presence in the hall, he already had a good idea of what he was being called into. What he didn't understand was why this one felt different. Walking through the halls with the Chief Judge, he was given Cadet Alpin's file. He sighed and looked it over.
"She was fast-tracked." He could tell because she was 22, fresh out of the academy but had only been in the system for a little while. In fact, her file didn't have her birthday listed. "Unregistered birth? What is she, a Judges bastard?" He could get away with some uncouth questions. He was one of the oldest judges in the halls and probably would be in the lead for names of the next Chief judge, but even his access could only get him so much information.
"No, we wouldn't send a case of nepotism to you. She's a genuine cadet, we need someone to be tough on her." Anderson scoffed for a moment. "Your job is to assess if she's a threat?"
"A threat?" He raised an eyebrow at that.
"She's a rookie, but her augmentations make her unique. She has tech that outpaces our own by years. The science division wanted to bisect her, rip apart all of the shiny chrome in her system."
"Why didn't they?"
"Her system would apparently scrape itself if broken down. She's useless to us dead, alive we might be able to use her chrome to our advantage, but if she has any rogue tendencies than she's better off useless than against us. If she fails her judgment, the sentence is death." It sounded cruel, and it was a bit different than the usual cases, but the truth was most who failed their judgment died anyway. The only difference would be the one who is pulling the trigger.
"Understood sir. I'll meet her outside the hall."<|im_end|>
Tugging at her uniform, Nesrin felt out of place. It wasn't some figment of her imagination either. Despite her dress blues, crisp lines and shiny buttons, just like everyone else in her graduating class... She wasn't the same. No, even trying to fit in, she stood out. Nesrin was tiny, but that alone wasn't what caused her to stand out. It wasn't her wealth of blue-black hair either, pinned into a bun at the nape of her neck. Hell it wasn't even her green eyes, so bright they were almost feline in their shade of green. That too, might have been explained away as just some odd genetics or even a mutation.
No, it was all the shiny chrome in her body and visible between the bottom of her cuff to her pristine white gloves. There was no skin, but silver and blue. If all that precious chrome wasn't odd enough, she had been fast tracked. Nesrin wasn't stupid... She understood what was on the line. If she wasn't an asset, she wasn't useful, she'd be decommissioned. It wouldn't matter that the chrome, the tech that was woven into her very being would be no more than scrap if they tried to take it and not even useful scrap. Her body, from what she understood would sort of self-destruct, after a fashion at least if they tried to dissect her.
Nesrin couldn't remember her parents. It might have been a blessing in disguise. For it wasn't only her parents she couldn't remember, but her years before coming to the judges. Nesrin doubted that her early life was sunshine and rainbows. In the academy she had excelled, stellar marks across the board. Her augments, all that chrome came in use, thought the full extent of what was her and what was augmented was unknown.
She was to report to Judge Anderson outside of the hall. The instructions had been relayed and Nesrin breathed out, trying to quiet her nerves. Hurrying to change, she didn't think keeping her assessor waiting would be wise. Once in her gear, she felt less out of place, her armor hid her differences a lot better than her blues. The body armor masked her sex and with the helmet on, the only giveaway was the small shoulders. Checking everything one more time, she took the stairs two by two, excited and nervous. She'd been trained for this and she knew her price of failure. If a rookie didn't die and failed, they were released or they could work as auxiliaries.
Coming to stand before him, Nesrin's voice, honeyed and sweet, was soft. "Rookie Alpin, reporting" It wasn't the voice of a judge.<|im_end|>