Disclaimer

Fei Yen came about because her envisioner, pickleplum, wanted to write a scene with a particular character, Hermann, and a child, overheard by a second character, Newt.

Two issues arose: the only time those two characters would be in the same place at the same time without meetings, conferences, other engagements, or coincidence (thus leading to a cliché) was after 2020 when both were stationed in the Hong Kong Shatterdome.

Secondly, the grownups were co-chiefs of the science, neither are very social or from Hong Kong, so it would too idealist for the child’s parent to be a lower-ranked mechanic—the difference in rank would be too great if the parent and Hermann even knew each other—and Hermann would doubtfully be close enough to a fellow division chief for such a favour to be asked so the parent would have to know Hermann and be of a higher rank.

That leaves, at the very least, the Marshal or their second-in-command. The Marshal would have to make an appearance, at the very least for the change 2024 change in command, but the story may go from start to finish without a glimpse of the second-in-command.

http://pickle-plum.tumblr.com/post/115894501505/skeleton-key-for-the-ficspecific-questions-all