Paranormal Group Conference Room, Australian Federal Police National Headquarters, Canberra Australia, the bastion of strange and unique wildlife, has preserved such a host of oddities because of its isolation. In the past, even stranger animals could have been found…among the strangest of Australian’s extinct megafauna were a group of birds called dromornithids, also known as the mihirungs or, due to their size and their relation to waterfowl, the “demon ducks of doom.” eartharchives.org Alexa entered the conference room. Inside were the group that she had come to know over the previous three months. Sitting down, she turned to Mary and said, “You asked me here?” “Yes, Alexa. A couple of things, firstly thanks for all your assistance over the past three months. You’ve been invaluable and a pleasure to work with.” The rest of the group chimed in with their agreement. “Secondly, I understand that you have applied for operational work?” “Yes, but I have yet to be accepted.” “Well, would you like the job now?” Alexa sat there, her brain not quite working as it should. “You’re offering me a position in the Paranormal Group?” “Yep. Want it?” “Yes Ma’am!” “Talk to your supervisor and see if there is anything they need you to finish up and then you can report here. I’ll put the authorisation through, and your pass and access level will be updated in time for tomorrow morning. Move in here when you can, you’ll be working under Joey.” “Thanks, Ma’am. This means so much to me! I know my dad will want to thank you all, in fact, I’d like to invite you all to a barbeque at my place this weekend. Can you come?” Various agreements were heard around the table. It had been a while since they did something as a group. It would be good for all. Mary said, “We’ll limit it too those you’ve met. There are another three people in the department who have just started.” ‘Please, ma’am, I’d like for them to be there too.” “Is this the ‘community’ thing you talked about?” Blushing, Alexa answered, “Yes, Ma’am. My eagle sees my work colleagues as part of her ‘convocation’, which is eagle for community.” ---***--- It took Alexa another day to clear up everything her supervisor wanted, then she was able to settle into her new department. “Alexa, once you’ve set up your desk and electronic footprint, I’ve emailed you a link to some software and our internal secure server. Install the investigator’s software suite and link it to our secure server. Everything you work on will then be automatically saved there. Everything you do on that server is automatically logged, so don’t access anything except what you are supposed to be accessing. “This software creates a secure bubble on your new laptop, allowing you to remotely access the secure server while you are out of the office. You just need to always remember to check that no one or nothing can see your screen while you are using it. You’ll note that your new laptop has a very small viewing angle on its screen to help with that. “I’ve also sent you links to the orientation and training stuff. This is your primary tasks over the next few weeks. We’re trialling some new training software, mainly because the old stuff was really good at getting you ‘signed off’ that you knew it all, but the actual, long-term retention was abysmal. “Funnily enough, the testing that was done on that software by the manufacturer was designed to only test the short-term retention. Anyway, what it does is present the same material in a few different ways, each designed for a different type of learner. Go through a module, then think about if it all makes sense. If it doesn’t, just go back through the section that did make the most sense and see if it all comes together the second time through. “Talk to me if things still don’t gel, as there are some that need to learn as a group for things to really make sense. If’ you’re one of those, we’ll organise something.” “As you complete the training on the Investigator Suite, you will begin to see tasks assigned to you. I’m going to let you in on a secret. There will be a lot more work for you then you have time. Don’t stress it, don’t neglect your training. At this stage, think of your tasks as stress relief for when your mind has given up on the training. Questions?” “Probably? My mind’s swirling around at this point, I’m sure they’ll come.” Joey smiled and walked away. ---***--- Software installed, training underway, it was a good end to the week. Before she logged out for the day, she brought up the Investigation Suite and checked if she had been assigned any tasks yet. “Twenty tasks? At least there’re all low priority.” Joey wandered over and sat on the edge of her desk. “Good, you’ve spotted them. Now a word of explanation. Nineteen of those tasks are basically the same thing. We have requests from research institutes, Universities, Museums, Zoos, you name it. I need you to start going through them and compile a list of requests versus institution, and a list of procedures or assistance types needed. This matrix will help to define what ‘services’ will be needed. We don’t want to end up being a gatekeeper or clearing house for all this, it’s not what we are good at. See if you can come up with something that will work. The stuff will need to be run through both ACoS and ACoMP to see if they have any concerns on any of the procedures, plus whether ACoMP would agree to similar things once they, what was the phrase they came up with for their big reveal?” “’Come out of the broom closet’. One of them suggested to my father that we call ours ‘coming out of the kennel’. It didn’t end well for him.” “What did your dad do?” “Well, I’m not sure if you know, but he’s were-animal is the spotted tail quoll, though he will usually call it a ‘tiger quoll’, same thing. Males have scent glands on their chest. He waited for a gap in proceedings, then shifted and rubbed all over that Magi’s chair. He didn’t notice until after he had sat, so the smell transferred to his clothes. It’s really strong and really hard to get out of fabric.” Joey laughed, “OK. I can see how he deserved it. So, compile the list, check it with ACoS, ACoMP, some of the medical doctors and veterinarians we keep on retainer, and you might as well add in a couple of psychologists and psychiatrists. We want to come up with protocols to protect the paranormals. Something like, an individual can only be asked once, or once a year, maybe some tests should never be done, or some other test is harmful if conducted too much. I know we must ask the questions, but I don’t know who and what. “The last task is sort of related. The boss wants you to work with the AFP Special Response Group - SRG - to come up with an initial blueprint for shifters and the AFP. The contact details are in the task. As it says, you are to at least consider medical, equipment and career. They deal with a lot of stuff for the whole of the AFP, so the guidelines created will apply to us all. “Now don’t get overwhelmed. You will see there are no timelines on these. Deal with them as you have time and in the priority order. I’ll show you a trick. Highlight those nineteen tasks to do with research and information requests. They should be all at priority 2.” It took a couple of goes, but Alexa did it. “Right-click and select ‘Consolidate Tasks’. Great, now you only have two tasks outstanding!” Alexa gave Joey a wry smile and, her answer dripping in sarcasm, said, “Thanks. I feel so less overwhelmed now.” “Remember that currently your training is the most important thing. Concentrate on that. We’ll meet in a few days to discuss how you are going. Now get out of here and I’ll see you for lunch tomorrow.”

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