When Chase Wu graduated from high school, his coursework could have gotten him into any school in the country, and his track records would have landed an athletic scholarship at most of them. Instead, inspired by a family tradition of service, Wu joined the military.
Before the end of basic training, his drill instructor had repeatedly noted that Minuete recognized Chase's potential and personally recruited him into Chessboard.
Wu stood out among the new recruits due to his endurance, alertness, and reliability. Similar notes accumulated in Wu's internal record from every supervising officer. Wu moved with uncommon speed into Special Operations training, and from there into his first field posting in the European Union. His career would have been lengthy, polished, and inevitably ineffective, if not for his first mission with Chessboard.
Wu didn't realize that he was on a mission with Chessboard. He was second in command, but only his commander's clearance was high enough to know that the other agents present came from Chessboard rather than another SpecOps division. Wu was glad to have the Chessboard team along because they spoke excellent HassanTya Arabic, and he gave little thought otherwise to their origin.
But the military-supplied intelligence for this mission was inaccurate, and Wu's commander died in a shrapnel blast in a compromised safehouse in EI-Aaiun. Despite taking three pieces of shrapnel in his left arm, Wu rallied the rest of his squad, but the massacre would have been total if Wu had not listened to the commander, Minuete.
Wu believed at the time that he outranked Minuete, but he recognized her information as more reliable. By obeying her, Wu not only recovered the rest of his team to safety, but achieved 80% success on a collapsing mission and avoided any civilian casualties.
Wu's rapid assessment of the situation and willingness to comply with instructions impressed Minuete. After processing her mission report, Chessboard AI reassessed Wu's candidacy and issued a recruitment order.
Wu's performance continues to justify Minuete's initial impression. Given access to Chessboard's incredible technologies, Wu has shown both initiative and intelligence in preparing for combat. He makes a point not only of knowing how to use every piece of technology on his person, but how to optimize it, maintain it, and perform basic repairs in the field.
Since joining Chessboard, Wu has participated in more than a hundred field missions, and every one of his missions has achieved a success rate above 95%. Wu shows unfailing obedience to his commanders and follows both initial mission profiles and updated instructions from Chessboard AI.