Scattered Diary Entries of Iwakura Reiko

[Amba]

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Kansai Research Institute, Honshu System, Kusari
19/07/833 AS

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Free at last! Three long years and too many hours of my blood sweat and tears poured into this accursed photon generation array but at long last the project, and my contract is finished!

For once I must give Father credit. He was correct in saying that with the family's backing or no, Samura's lackeys would try to sabotage my contributions every step of the way. All the whispering behind my back, the permissions for materials granted only at the very last minute, the three separate lockdowns imposed on MY OWN LABORATORY!?

But in the end I had the last laugh. The terms of the contract were set far before they even arrived to the project. The patents are mine, history will remember the Iwakura name and our coffers will grow fatter as the Naval Forces start to field the weapons I helped build.

Furthermore I gained two resources far more important than credits: contacts and rapport. Especially with the myriad of external contractors and experts that our government handlers insisted on wheeling into the labs. They had little input of value to offer most of the time, of course. But there was much to learn from their mere presence, from their number and from the flow of credits you could see therein.

It would seem we are entering something of an arms race. One that leaves plenty of room for smaller actors with the capital, technological expertise and connections to leave a mark. This warrants a bit of exploration. And luckily my schedule just opened up.

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