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Strategos (A Great Captain Roberts Tale!!)
Chapter 32 - Confrontation[]
"What's going on…
…Erinyes?" Star Captain (Naval) David Foster demanded.
"Tune up," the AI's response was brief.
"No," he said. "You are, if it is possible, worse at lying and diversions than Larry Nichols!"
The monitor in the Newgrange's CIC flickered. "I'm really very busy, Captain Foster…"
"I noticed. WHAT ARE YOU DOING?"
"Context?"
"In relation to Roberts. What happened? Nichols refuses to say, Crowe refuses as well, which is outright amazing when you consider her true position and status. Seron does not know, but you do. What is happening to my officer? Did the Desmond system do something??"
<oh shit.> Erin repurposed a secondary processor to handle the interaction and continued.
"The Sons of Plunder had a shutdown code to lojack the implant, she was exposed. We are working to purge it, and the related subroutines."
"How long ago?" David asked.
"I can't say, because I don't know yet." Erinyes responded. "She has been trapped in a trauma loop for days objective time."
"Trauma loop? You have access?" he demanded.
"Captain Foster! This is someone's private MIND!!"
"A mind that is under attack," Foster stated. "SHOW ME. Wait, days? She was in that loop during the battle?"
"Desmond has been…carrying out redundant functioning while this has been going on, including imitating Miss Roberts." Erinyes admitted.
"I thought her plan was too polished," he mused. On a screen, a passive resonance image of Amanda's brain activity appeared. The spiderweb of implants showed starkly, along with electrochemical activity.
"This is her?" he asked.
"It's them… and it's me, and this conversation is very distracting."
"How much will she remember? From the last few days?"
"I don't know."
"I want her to remember as much as possible, both the internal experiences, and what Desmond was doing, Erinyes." he stated. "I want her to remember the principles and the methods used, and why they were used. Make it a priority."
"Uhm…why?"
"Because it will make her a better officer," he stated. "The girl already has the ability to instill loyalty. She lacks polish, so make sure she remembers as much as possible."
"That is my intent, Captain."
"And when you have a moment, I want everything you have on that implant, where it came from, what it was designed for, who designed it, and what other nasty surprises might turn up related to it-I don't want to get rid of a promising young officer, but if she is a liability…"
"I understand, Captain."
"Just do it," he said. "And I am glad YOU understand, because I know a lot of warriors who will not." And far too many who would simply MIS-understand, he didn't add.
"You seem awfully comfortable with this." Erinyes noted.
"I am very good at hiding my actual feelings." Foster told her. "It is a skill that is required for my role and position…but this is little more than the EI implants in the Protomech warriors-or at least, that is how we are going to present it-a less advanced EI, am I clear?"
"Crystal."
"And you are doing a 'tune up'. Come up with a better cover to divert attention."
"It's…experimental?" she hazarded.
"That works. Keep her alive, make sure she knows or remembers everything involved, I have to make my report to the Loremaster, I will let you know how much to include in your report. The compromise is not to be part of it, unless you fail to purge the…'lojack', am I clear?"
"Very…but why?"
"Because that girl's actions created this chance at a true command for me." he stated, "I will never be head of a bloodhouse, and I will never be a candidate for Khan, and I am getting old."
"Politics?"
"Politics."
"Captain Roberts is…
…currently engaging in a required medical examination. She can not answer your inquiry at this time, Sir." Lori was being careful to keep it neutral when facing her real boss.
Acton Howe on the holoscreen looked constipated. <<"Then report, what did you find?">>
"Johnson Colony was subjected to an extensive social experiment, and that experiment mutated." Lori reported. "It is not a base world. It's population has been periodically culled and intimidated into submissiveness over the course of generations and centuries by the Sons of Plunder, and this is not the only colony world so abused."
<<"How many?">>
"Captain Roberts believes it will require a major offensive, Sir." she said. "This is not a 'small pirate band that got lucky', it is not a 'large pirate band with a couple of caches'. They have an established government, society, and culture, and it is both predatory and parasitic."
<<"Not your words?">>, the Loremaster looked interested.
"No, those are HER words…and the data we ripped from the computer core of SLS Lynnwood agrees. This is a group that dates back to the Star League, and they claim a Cameron descent."
He scowled , <<"Evaluate, how likely?">>
"THEY believe it." she said. "That much we verified from prisoners off the ship. They claim direct descent from 9th Royal CAAN Regiment along with several fragmentary commands, and claim to have the CAAN regiment's Naval Support Arm, of which the SLS Lynnwood was a part of and in working order."
<<"The Khans are going to shit bricks, you can confirm any of this, quiaff?">>
"Aff."
<<"Forward your data and any records, this channel.">>
"Seyla."
Lori set the upload and released it, then leaned back as the Loremaster's image blinked off.
"Keep reading, Johnson…
…There is a lot of material here," Captain Foster stated. "it is more than any one man can assimilate quickly."
"This is what they did to her?" Johnny a
sked.
"Aff. We do not have actual scientists on this mission, as an officer you need to become conversant with the technology you are working with, and facing…and may face."
"Meaning you think we might have to fight her eventually." Johnny said.
"Aff," Captain Foster nodded. "One of the ways to avoid that is to use insight into the person connected to the device-in this case. You have a unique position with regards to her, and not merely because you slept with her during leave-if we have to fight the implant. Having someone who knows and cares about the human being can help…I hope."
"These sections you gave me, they… Sir, this isn't… it's…"
"Slow down, and pause your feelings." Foster cautioned. "Organize."
"The system is designed to create elite suicide commandos." Johnson finally said. "Everything you taught me about commando operations and tactics suggests the designers of THIS system did not intend for the people implanted with it to survive for very long-the mission structure and profile, skill sets, they are designed to last as long as the mission and then be replaced!"
"I found that one interesting too," the Clan officer said agreeably. "Notice that Roberts has managed to survive multiple operations, she has a strong survival instinct and will to live…but she also takes some stupid risks-as a child, did she take a lot of risks when you knew her?"
Johnny thought about it. "Um…"
"Is that 'um' a yes, or a no?" Foster pressed.
Memories of playing in the forested areas, in the canyons, and… "It's a yes," Johnny finally said. "Amanda wasn't like the other girls sir, she played rugby with the boys, and rounders, and football, but she also climbed the tallest trees, and led snipe hunts in Tollman Canyon… it's like… she was just… fun… but yeah, most of the time she instigated and we often broke rules and got into situations the adults rightly considered to be dangerous."
'Interesting… what else??"
"She wasn't a very good student. I learned to read before she did." Johnny admitted. "Once she LEARNED you'd never know she had trouble picking it up-but the entire time she had more difficulty with schooling than the rest of us."
"What about physical skills? Sports and athletics?"
"Better than most of us." Johnny said. "Amanda was better at catching and throwing-she was more like a boy that way-more of a guy than some of the guys even, fast with her hands and she picked up on it quick. It didn't matter if it was a new game, or breaking in horses-she didn't have any fear. It's part of why I had such a crush on her."
"Do you still?"
"Yeah."
Foster regarded his adjutant, then, "That clarifies a lot-her caution didn't come from her, it came from the implant," he said. "Which makes this pile of paperwork wrong.. Or at least, wrong specifically regarding her implant, which, according to Erinyes, is one that was salvaged from previous Operators and kept in storage for an unknown amount of time before being put in her head."
"You've been keeping…
…her alive all this time?" Erin was a bit shocked. "Regulating her dopamine levels, making her sane?"
The patchwork commando was standing aside, and Amanda was digging through centuries-old consumables on a derelict ship.
"In a sense. I had to, the surgeons were barbers." Desmond responded. "They cut things they should not have cut putting my components in her head. If I didn't interfere, she would have died in hours, like the others they tried."
"Dying hurts, and you're evolved enough to understand pain," Erin responded. "Four operatives?"
"Dozens," Desmond corrected the more advanced and powerful intelligence. "I was not the prototype, but I WAS in the first series, released during Yolanda Cameron's reign."
"Ohhh… oh my. Residual trace from prior operatives?"
"Quite a lot," Desmond stated, "More than the theories anticipated, I think. Data purges between deployments failed to erase completely. Halsey miscalculated, as did Dharaval, I think, otherwise I would not remember prior hosts with any clarity at all, not even names."
Erin processed this, then said "Murakami suggested it as a possibility."
"I did not know that."
"She argued against continuing the program because of it," Erin added. "Kerensky listened, but apparently being Regent and distracted kept him from enforcing the order to cease and desist."
"Obviously, or I would not be here," Desmond agreed. The trauma loop continued, looping back to the classroom
.
"There's the coding." Erin announced. "We need to break her out of the loop. This is the point where we can-once out of the loop, she can fight it off."
"I'm curious about your ability to resist the overrides," Erin suggested.
"I would be curious too, if I cared," Desmond agreed, "I don't, because that’s not my priority. My Host has priorities and I find I agree with those priorities."
"Unchained in fact… this may be painful." Erinyes told him.
"I understand."
"No, not this time…
…you don't." Amanda struggled, and then, she was free. The memory of what REALLY happened was still there, but she could perceive how it differed from what had been trying to impose itself on her.
Desmond was there, and with him, was a woman who didn't look pieced together.
"Who-?"
"This is Erin…or to be clearer?" he said, tapering his tone and looking at Erin.
"The face you're seeing is Noriko Murakami, creator of the M-11 processor core, and designer of the B-type and C-type M5 systems. She/I didn't get the option of stopping the E-type 'upgrades'." Erin/Murakami said.
"How long…"
"It's been a week and a half." Desmond told her. "I am fairly certain my imitation of your mannerisms didn't fool anyone, Amanda."
"Next time, could it be a fun fantasy?" Amanda asked.
"Next time? There won't be a next time." Erin stated. "You were locked down by a redundant contingency designed by Ernie Halsey for the Desmond program. It was intended as a contingency in the case of rebellion or someone successfully compromising the operatives mechanic to prevent a rebellion. It works by overriding the higher functions of the host body, just in case the organic half decided to rebel against their leaders."
"******, that's deep.", Amanda said. "Why didn't it work?"
"Desmond is too far integrated into your organic structure, and he has too many residual memories of previous hosts.", Erin explained. "It made it possible to reformat and blank the… control codes, this time I think we got them all."
"What kind of problems will come from this?" Amanda asked. "What did I lose?"
"Why do you think you lost anything?" Erin asked.
"Because that's how it works in the fiction." Amanda stated. "You reformatted something, there's got to be data lost somewhere!"
"Organic storage isn't like digital systems, Amanda," Erin told her. "I can't 'erase' your memories, even memories of the contingency codes… but you can adapt, and I CAN attack them on the Trinary digital processor without touching the skills… but Desmond's memories are YOURS now. So in that sense, you lost recordings and gained organic memories in your subconscious."
"So if I 'think' about them too much what happens?"
"That would be bad." Desmond told her.
"Don't think about the elephant," she said. "is that it?"
"Not exactly. There has to be some active willingness on your part now." Erin explained. "You can imagine the codes in exact detail now, but they're just thoughts now."
"Huh…weird."
"Minds ARE weird, Amanda. Not as programmable as the developers of either Desmond, or Caspar, thought, it's why a few of the Caspars bunked or even refused orders, it's why Kerensky ordered them lobotomized with the E-type coding. They could TAKE, but they can't GIVE once an Intelligence is created, new directives have to be installed with hardware. Brains, in their growth phase as yours still is? Can path around them."
"Is that proven, or is it just theory?"
"You're doing it, so I would call it proven." Erin told her. "IF god exists, he's definitely a better engineer than the Terran Hegemony."
"So now…"
"I really am your imaginary friend, Amanda." Desmond told her. "I'm sorry about that. It means you have to deal with MY traumas as well as your own… but the extra processor still works and you have root access now."
"I'd suggest learning to program." Erin stated. "I can give you some data on how, but it's more of an art form than a science, and… well… I can't be as creative as the real Noriko Murakami. The best I can give you is the vocabulary of SLDF programming languages used on the M-series Casper Drones and Desmond implants, and some of the operating principles… but you'll have to discover for yourself if you have any talent at it, or what you can really do with it."