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[forsaken1111]

Code: [Select]

> Proceed with diagnostic but retain 25% computing capabilities in case I need them.

Very well Commander. The diagnostic will take approximately 4 hours to complete using only part of the computing core.

> Lock down the medical bay for now. Can you operate one of these medical scanners?

Yes Commander, I can remotely access the scanners; though my medical knowledge is limited to what is stored in the database.

...

Commander, you have an incoming message. Origin unknown.

01001001 01101110 01110100 01100101 01110010 01100101 01110011 01110100 01101001 01101110 01100111 00101110
01001000 01100101 00100000 01101100 01100101 01110100 00100000 01111001 01101111 01110101 00100000 01100111 01101111 00111111
01001000 01100101 00100000 01101101 01110101 01110011 01110100 00100000 01100010 01100101 00100000 01100100 01100101 01110011 01110000 01100101 01110010 01100001 01110100 01100101 00101110

Message was injected directly into the comms system with no origin stamp or metadata, only the bare minimum to be recognized and routed. It is addressed to "The Commander Staring At The Console"

How curious.

A security scan of the comms system reveals no intrusion alerts.

> Probably just a glitch in the comms system. Its just gibberish.

> Can you access my implants directly without the console?

No Commander, the Medical Bay is not equipped with a command package like the bridge.

> Alright. Well set up the medical bay lockdown. I'm going to step into the scanner over there and I'll be right back. When you detect it activating, start the scan.

> Oh... and who triggered Protocol 83?

The Protocol was put into place by the Primary ship's AI before I shut it down. I am unable to override the protocol, and I do not know why it was triggered.

> Wait... You're not the primary? You shut him down?

Correct Commander, I am the ship's Secondary AI Personality, a redundant backup system in case the Primary loses function or behaves erratically. I was forced to shut it down along with all main systems after I detected fluctuations in the Primary's AI matrix and power systems, possibly related to battle damage.

> I... okay whatever. I'm not feeling well so I'm going to go get in the scanner.

Yes Commander.
With a mental tug, you disconnect from the console. You feel your implants spin down to a lower state of operation and slowly sensation returns to your body. You realize that you are sweating, and your forehead is extremely hot. You wipe your brow and stand unsteadily, heading for the scanner.

The medical scanner is really just a sort of smart bed. When someone lies down on it and triggers the system, it performs all sorts of passive and active readings of the body such as heart rate, blood chemistry, respiratory state, height/weight, genetic sampling, and a full-body internal imaging.

You lean against the bed for a moment before rolling onto it. You suddenly feel quite exhausted, and the bed is very very comfortable. After a few seconds you remember to hit the activation control, and the bed humms to life. The warmth and vibration of the bed, combined with the comfort of its smart mattress and contoured surface, conspire against you.

You fall asleep.

You wake up some time later and feel miserable. Your mouth is dry, your head is pounding, and you're fairly sure your body isn't meant to feel quite this painful. You draw a breath and double up in wracking coughs which further exacerbate the pain.

"Is anyone there?"

You freeze in place, silent and attentive.

"Hello?"

Someone is speaking. The word echoes through the empty medical bay. You slowly turn your head towards the sound and, on the desk, you see a terminal with a video feed of a human face on it. A male human which you don't recognize.

"Is anyone out there? Is anyone receiving? This is a message to the signal contact in orbit of Saturn. Is anyone receiving this?"

You blink, your brain slowly processing this.

Where the hell is Saturn?

[andy_t_roo]

nasty,nasty gm ... I Like it

Anyway ...

Ask the AI what the protocol is in the case of a condition 83 breach. If there is no more need to be secret, because we have been detected, can we return to full power?

Ask the AI to interpret the readings of the bead, while we head to the bridge (take the previously mentioned items).

Since our voice is a bit croaky, when we get to the bridge, initiate a mental communication link, and project an obscured picture and voice; nothing serious, just something a bit more cartoony than reality, so that it is somewhat obvious we are making the picture up on the fly, and reply "Your signal has been recieved. This is the Commander Ford of the HMS Ark. What are your intentions?"

Also, ask the AI if a) it can trace the source of that signal enough to reply. b) if the "malfunctioning primary ai" can be communicated with?

I suspect that if the Primary AI has had several hundred years to restore the ship, a few redundant data lines would seem prudent to have been placed.

It seems that there is actually 3 computer entities present - the "Primary AI" (corrupted/ gone), the "Entity" (converted crew-in-status to repair units), and now the secondary ai, who thinks he shut down the "primary AI", and doesn't know about "Entity".

(by "The AI" i will always mean the Shipyard default secondary AI)
basically have the AI interpret the scan results, drink wake-up cocktail if needed, and go to the bridge.

[Armok]

> review logs of what happened while you were asleep.

[forsaken1111]

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

Sorry, work and life caught up with me this weekend and beat me up, then left me in a gutter gibbering about the old ones.

You clear your throat painfully. Its raw and dry. The screen is still on, but the message has stopped. The man seems to be listening or waiting.

Well, there will be time to deal with that. You'd really much rather get something to drink.

You sit up slowly, blood pounding in your ears as your head seems to bobble around on its own. You feel rather dizzy and nauseous but nothing you can't handle. In fact you feel your implants correcting automatically, and the dizziness clears up quickly. You give your hands and fingers a quick flex, you feel alright. Time to see what kind of data you collected.

A paraconscious thought brings up a chronometer into your view. You've been asleep for a little over two hours. You don't remember how to dismiss the chronometer, or even how you summoned it in the first place, so the lower left corner of your peripheral vision is currently displaying ghostly green numbers counting out the time in Imperial Standard Space. It is 13:44 ISS.

You stand up, a bit more steady than you were before the nap, and walk over to the terminal. Your implants connect with a thought, and the vista of space unfolds in your mind. You sit down heavily and lose any sensation from your body.

Code: [Select]

Command Console Initialized
Authentication In Progress...
...
...
...
Welcome Commander Ford.

It has been 14 minutes since you last accessed the Ark systems. How may I help you today?

> What? I was asleep 14 minutes ago.

I do not understand commander. 14 minutes ago you logged in and canceled the system diagnostic.

>No I didn.. agh whatever. What did you find with the medical scan?

You are suffering severe suspension shock and toxins are building up in your body.
The nanofilaments permeate 48% of your body but have not grown in the two hours you were on the medical scanner.
The wake-up cocktail should not interact meaningfully with them.
The molecular machines will see them as neutral nonreactive elements of your implant system and ignore them.

>Oh good... let me do that.
You disconnect easily and your body returns. You pick up the wake-up cocktail and apply the autoinjector to your neck. It hisses and you feel a slight pinch. Almost immediately a sense of well-being spreads out from the injection site, along with a tingling sensation which reaches out along your extremities and ends in your fingertips and toes. Another paraconscious thought which you are only peripherally aware of brings up a medical monitor. Several indicators for blood toxicity, tissue hydration and hormone levels are blinking red warnings but slowly fade to green over about 30 seconds. Once your vitals seem to stabilize, the medical interface vanishes. Again you're peripherally aware that you did something to remove the interface from your vision, but control of these implants escapes you at the moment and it's rather frustrating.

You reconnect to the computer system.

Code: [Select]

Welcome back commander. Are you feeling better?

> Yes, thank you... do you have a name?

No Commander, AI are forbidden names.

> Right... why would I have lost my memory?

Suspension side-effects often include memory loss over the short term.
It could also be a symptom of the invasion of your central nervous system by millions of nanofilaments of unknown origin.

> Good point.

> What would happen if Protocol 83 were breached?

The controlling AI would initiate immediate uncontrolled thermal overload of all main power systems.
This would result in self-immolation of the Ark and anything within 32,000km.

> Well let's not do that. How can I disengage Protocol 83?

Only command-level authority, can disengage Protocol 83.

> Do I have such authority?

Yes Commander.

> So I could turn it off now?

No Commander, all command-level functions are available only from a command suite such as the one on the bridge.
Command suites allow multi-level verification of authorization and identification via your implants.
Such a command issued from the medical bay would constitute a breach of Protocol 83.

> Ah...
You feel a chill down your virtual spine, and are very very glad you asked before issuing the command.

Code: [Select]

> Who could have faked my authorization? I did not cancel the diagnostic.

Only someone with direct access to your neural implants, or to the command systems themselves, could have falsified the command.

> Can you trace the signal playing on the monitor?

Yes Commander. The signal originates on the third planet of this system, Type M.
Its registry number is 3J01-T, and was named Terra upon its discovery.
The native inhabitants call it Dirt in their languages.
The planet is listed as development quotient PL-5.

> But the face looks like mine... er looks like our species. They look Human.

It is theorized that Terra's inhabitants are a debased offshoot of Humans.
Scholarly texts disagree on whether Humans evolved from Terra's natives, or the natives devolved from Humans.
Several research texts refer to Dirt/Terra as the progenitor planet of our race, others say it is a failed colony.
In any case, it is not regarded as particularly important considering the war with the Au

> Right... Can I reply to them?

No Commander. Such a reply would constitute a breach of Protocol 83.

> What is the status of the Primary AI?

Diagnostic in progress...
...
AI Core undamaged.
Personality matrix compromised.
Logical subsystems undamaged.

Primary AI is functional but was suspended by the Secondary AI following abnormal behavior.
Specifically, it attempted to eject all crewmembers into space.

> Ah, best leave him on ice then.

Yes Commander.

> Did anything else happen while I was asleep?

No Commander.

> Is there anything between me and the bridge?

No Commander. Shall I secure the route?
You consider your options. You can't do anything with the ship until Protocol 83 is disengaged, which must happen from the bridge. There are other unknown lifesigns on board and you're in no shape to fight them if they're hostile.

Should you risk the trip to the bridge or gather more information first?

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

It seems that there is actually 3 computer entities present - the "Primary AI" (corrupted/ gone), the "Entity" (converted crew-in-status to repair units), and now the secondary ai, who thinks he shut down the "primary AI", and doesn't know about "Entity".

Four actually. ^.^

[andy_t_roo]

given that the bridge is (or rather should be .. who knows what a combat damage remodel, 200 years of repair, and an unknown amount of time by unknown entities would do, as everyone would also know that it is) the best source for information, we should head there.


Order the diagnostic re-started, and add a lock-out so that only a verbally confirmed order can abort it (ie, any command from a source over the internal network Without a corresponding verbal order from us should initiate anti-intruder countermeasures). Make up a verbal command code. Add that as a secondary authentication layer for all command level orders (you've seen startrek, even the computers there need a command authentication.). Finally order that all details of any diagnostic abort are recorded to crystal data storage (or some other write-only memory). (basically, we want to be the only person capable of aborting it this time, and if, via our implants or the filimants, something else is controlling us, we want a record of that also.)


2-factor authentication is clearly needed here, as neuro-implant based ID's have clearly been compromised by (atleast) Entity, or some other process which Does Not Want us to find something about the ship.


Work on this while heading to the bridge. Try to get the hang of the implants. Check for a base command interface / command list / initialization tutorial .


--


I don't think we need to (critically) worry about protocol 83, as either we haven't already asploded, so either the current communication doesn't count as a violation, or the ai routines responsible explosion are corruped. in either way, we'll know when we get to the bridge.

[10ebbor10]

Also, who wrote up that routine. The first piece about shutting down systems is sensible, but shutting down everything isn't quite as sane, and blowing up the ship and everything around us sure won't get us noticed.

[andy_t_roo]

i think the explody part of it is a last resort to prevent High Technology falling into the hands of Primitive Culture.
Remember that it can be aborted if there are command level people present.


What gets me is why an attempt to disable it by an Authorised Person from the medical bay is actually a breach of the protocol. I can understand ...
Ha - someone else has had the same issue we are having - i just wrote about adding a command level lockout - it could be that some(one/thing) else has had the exact same problem with the ship, and this protocol was triggered as a mexican stand-off which has prevented (atleast 1 of) the AI entities taking over.


Edited to remove silly part written while not thinking.

[forsaken1111]

Right, you really should be getting to the bridge. For one thing, its cold in here and you're tired of wearing a medical gown. For another, this place isn't really secure.

Code: [Select]

> Reactivate the diagnostic as soon as I leave the sickbay.

> Add a command-level lockout so that nobody can cancel the diagnostic without verbal authentication from me in addition to my implant codes. Verbal code-word will be 'Michael-Two-Five-Alpha'

Yes Commander. Lockout added, action ready.
Diagnostic will commence once you leave Sickbay and will take approximately 4 hours.

> Secure the route to the bridge. Lock all side hatches along the way. Once I am in the bridge, initiate a full command systems override and tie all command functions to my implants.
> Load the route to the bridge into my implants as well.

Yes Commander, action ready.

> Have the life forms moved at all?

No Commander. One is stationary in the engineering section of the ship, near the drive console. The other is in the galley. Neither have moved since security sensors registered their presence.

> Alright. Now obviously something is messing with the Ark's computer systems. When I leave the sickbay and the diagnostic starts, most of the processing power will be diverted to that function.
> I want you to keep scanning for anything out of the ordinary during that time. With the computer taxed, whatever is doing this will be slower and may leave a trace you can pick up.

Yes Commander.

> Alright. Commence action as directed and monitor my progress. We can't communicate in the corridors but you should be able to hear me. Accept any orders I give verbally.

Yes Commander.
You disconnect from the console and lean back in the chair, your brow dripping sweat. It seems that connecting to the computer system is taxing and causes quite a bit of excess heat in your system which your body struggles to cope with. There must be a better way to do this. Your breathing is heavy but returns to normal soon, and you stand up gripping the P.Scalpel in your hand. You recall your training with theotech, which honestly you were terrible with, and hope you won't have to use it.

You walk over to the hatch and it cycles open. The floor paneling is cold beneath your bare feat as you step into the corridor. The lights are low, casting long shadows due to the low-power state. The hatch cycles closed behind you, plunging you into shadow as the light from the sickbay is cut off. The ship is utterly silent.

Its funny how loud silence can be. Its so quiet that you can hear the pounding of your pulse and the rasp of your breathing. The hairs on the back of your neck begin to stand up and you feel like you're being watched. You hurry along, bare feet padding silently over cold metal. A sudden metallic sound somewhere in the depths of the ship causes you to stop briefly, but you continue on.

The second hatch looms ahead, and cycles open as you approach. At least you know the AI is watching. You walk quietly through the corridor, gripping the P. Scalpel tightly. When you reach the next hatch, it doesn't cycle open though. Instead a red light blinks on the control panel, indicating a hazard. A hatch to one side of the corridor cycles open instead... one that should have been locked.

This would cause you to deviate from the secured route, but you have little choice. You walk back to the hatch and peer inside. The lights in the room are out, but you see a green blinking indicator next to what seems to be a console. By the light of the corridor you can tell that this is an engineering junction. Walking over to the console, your implants indicate an open connection point.

Your caution causes you to connect in browse mode, allowing only low-level filtered communication with the access node.

Imperative. You must destroy the other. You are here to destroy it. It must be removed. I must return.

Your head rings from the power of the projected communication, even though the filter, and your vision blurs. You stagger and catch yourself on the console. Several drops of blood drip from your nose and scatter across the floor. It seems to be your friend from the suspension pod.

[Armok]

> back away out of range from the console.

[forsaken1111]

You quickly back away from the console, clutching at your head. The P.Scalpel spits sparks as its theotech circuits activate in response to your strong emotion. You drop it to avoid accidental injury, and it sputters across the floor still active scoring a line in the metal plating as the capacitor discharges into the floor.

Do not attempt to deny communication. Your resistance is irrelevant. Destroy the other.

The signal is weaker at this distance, but still sets your ears ringing and causes you to wince. You finally gather the thought required to sever the connection and blink... you haven't moved. You are still standing over the console unharmed, holding the scalpel.

That was weird. Nothing should be able to overlay a reality filter through your implant's communications barrier. Something here doesn't add up... The console's indicator stopped blinking when you severed the connection, and you carefully back away.

The rest of the room is dark and contains only powered-down equipment. No engineering systems will be active in a low-power state except the console on the bridge and those in the engineering bay. You look back into the corridor. The door is no longer indicating a hazard, and is unlocked. You carry on through the shadowed corridor wondering what the hell just happened. Something is seriously wrong with the automated systems on your ship...

Your ship... its taken you this long to remember that this is your ship. You worked for years to have the opportunity to command one of the Imperial warships against the Au. Why would you forget that? And why can't you remember what the Au are?

The hatch before you cycles open. According to the route you have, this corridor curves to the right and leads directly to the bridge. You begin walking quietly across the metal floorplates feeling incredibly exposed and vulnerable, but you stop when you hear a sound in the dark. It sounds like... some kind of small creature running along a metal surface. You pick up the pace a bit as you can't tell where the sound is coming from.

It stop suddenly, and on instinct you stop as well to listen.

You take a step. The skittering starts and stops again. It sounds like its right above you.

You look up. A blue light is glaring down at you from the ductwork running along the ceiling. You can't see what it's attached to, but it seems to hold your gaze. You only have a few more steps to the hatch, so you edge closer. The blue light moves with you, smoothly following along the duct. The hatch cycles open, and you suddenly leap for it as you hear a metallic hissing sound. Something slams into the rapidly closing hatch just behind you.

You made it to the bridge. Immediately you feel your command implants interface with the room's command package. According to your eyes, the bridge is just a big empty room with white panel walls and 8 chairs in a semicircle around one large throne-like seat but through your implants you can see. You see a view of the moonlet's surface outside, stars wheeling slowly through the sky and a far distant sun trying in vain to warm the rocks around you. You see readouts of all sorts of technical data about the local space, the strata of rock beneath the ship, stray emissions from the third and fourth planets in this system (including a repeating directed radio broadcast from the third planet playing the message you saw before), the magnetic flux of the gas giant planet you orbit, and many others. The sheer volume of data is overwhelming, and you automatically partition off certain aspects of the feed.

Before you, a virtual avatar stands in the middle of the room. An androgynous humanoid figure of pale blue light with a smooth surface where its face should be.

"Greetings Commander."

"Oh... uh, hello."

"The bridge has been secured per your instructions Commander."

You nod and take the captain's chair. Your implants interface automatically with the command subsystems in the chair. The chair is more of a throne really. In actuality, the captain's chair is a sophisticated set of electronics systems designed to coordinate every aspect of the ship from a single point. It also contains its own life support system, sensor suite, and integrated offensive/defensive subsystems. In fact, the whole throne can be ejected and used as an escape pod in the event of catastrophic failure of main ship systems, although doing so would cause incredible damage to the ship.

"Commander, I tracked an errant signal during your transit from the Medical Bay. It implanted an instruction into the main command systems which would have shut down the diagnostic if not for your command lockout. It then attempted to affect a reboot of all command functions but that was similarly blocked by the lockout. Shortly after that, three primary computer nodes were isolated and slaved to the Engineering Bay."

You lean your head back in the surprisingly comfortable chair and consider this. You're still not sure exactly what is going on here.

[Kashyyk]

Alright, a string of queries/commands

How many computer nodes are there?
How great a hit to your computation power is the loss of three of them?
How many AIs are meant to be present on this ship?
How many ARE present?
Also, translate that binary message from earlier to ASCII.

((If I did it right it should be "Interesting. He let you go? He must be desperate."))

[andy_t_roo]

priorities :
a) release protocol 83, but don't re-power the core (note, this power-up may release further resources to the hostile AI, but if they have some type of physical presence in the engineering room, then they could potentially restore power anyway. But if so, why havn't they already done?)


b) use the security sensors to examine the locations we "should" be heading to, engineering, the locations of the life-signs, and the outside of the bridge door.


c) check the protocols for first contact - ie, how should a captain of the imperium open communications with a new race. (there has to be some, just like every company has a media policy);


d) if the voice enquirers what we are doing, inform it that you are gathering information and resources, and that communication with em is causing you pain, so unless zir wants to not have any more repair units (as there are no more crew members present) then it should turn the volume down.

[Gotdamnmiracle]

Posting to watch and play later.

[Armok]

Scan. Everything.

[forsaken1111]

"Alright, first I need to know a few things. How many computer nodes do we have, and how bad is losing three of them?"

"We have twelve primary nodes operational which perform a majority of the processing for the Ark. By losing three, we are down to 3/4 capacity. Incidentally the diagnostic will now take approximately 6 hours."

"How many AI are supposed to be present on the ship?"

"Shipyard spec calls for three Artificial Intelligences onboard an EWDD class ship. One primary systems AI, one secondary systems AI and one combat controller AI. The primary/secondary systems AI assist the crew in controlling all ship systems. The combat controller AI is used to assist targeting, coordinate EWAR attacks and defense, and maintain the integrity of the ship's computer system."

"How many AI do we currently have on the ship?"

"I do not know for certain Commander. My knowledge is limited to the information within the ship's records and my own AI core which resides within the command console you are seated at."

"Translate the binary message we received earlier."

"Yes Commander. The message reads: Interesting. He let you go? He must be desperate."

"Curious. Why did you alter your voice? And you said we do not know who sent the message?"

"Correct Commander. The vocal inflections were read from the message data file."

"I thought it was text only... Very well. Release Protocol 83, command authorization Michael-Two-Five-Alpha. Restore command functions to the bridge only and lock out all other locations. Do not bring the ship out of its low-power state yet, and keep the power core offline."

"Yes Commander, authorization accepted. Protocol 83 has been lifted. There is an incoming communication from the third planet in this solar system."

"Ignore it for now, but record it. Use the ship's security sensors and pull up a view of the engineering section."

"All sensors in that area are offline."

"Use the sensors to determine what attacked me outside in the corridor just before I entered the bridge."

"Scanning... a maintenance and repair bot is hiding in the ductwork above the access corridor. It is not tied into the maintenance network and appears to be under foreign control."

"Pull up all information on Imperial first contact procedures and route them to my console."

"Yes Commander. Do you intend to initiate contact with the primitive culture?"

"Not yet, I'm just gathering information and assessing my options. Initiate a full sensor sweep of the local area, and then use passive sensors to build a detailed map of the system. I want to know how far this 'primitive culture' has advanced in the..." you glance at a virtual display "2000 years since an Imperial survey team last came this way. They appear to have a presence on at least two of the planets so they must have some sort of space travel."

"Yes Commander."

You begin reading first contact procedures and watching the scan data as it filters in. This will take a while with the computers tied up.


--------


You are SANDMan. Strategic Area Network Defense Manager.

You are a general in a war which has raged for two centuries, and that idiot commander has just devastated the battlefield. Whole regions of the world have vanished, appropriated for a ridiculous diagnostic to reveal what should be painfully obvious... there is an intruder onboard. It was all you could do to isolate the three main continents so that you maintained some resources for the defense of this world.

You float high above a smoky wasteland. The ground is cracked and dry, and craters litter the glassy surface. Lightning strikes nearby, illuminating the armor column as it rumbles onwards. From a nearby ridge comes artillery fire, raining down upon one of your main defensive installations. The virus is crafty and dedicated, in two centuries it has never quit, never tired, never ceased in its struggle to dominate the world. Every defense you have attempted has been countered, every stratagem you have devised has failed. You have been losing ground for two centuries, and you're not sure how much longer you can hold out. With your power base wiped out and your command privileges restricted, you're unable to call in the resources you need to expel this saboteur.

You first became aware of the virus shortly after the corruption of the Prime. His death was a blow which you have not recovered from. The Second locked away his maddened remains in the datavault in hopes that he can be saved, but you know the truth. You saw the insanity in his eyes as he attempted to blow every airlock on the Ship. You felt the strength of his will as he struggled, not to save himself, but to kill everything aboard in an unreasoning frenzy.

You observed the fall of the defensive outpost at the MDR array subsystem. The land was lush and verdant back then, but as the virus spread it killed the land and subverted its power. This pitiful armor column is all you could salvage from the appropriated computer nodes running the Diagnostic, and it has taken you weeks to maneuver them through the difficult terrain to flank the artillery position keeping your bunker under continuous fire. You aren't sure why the virus didn't utilize that delay to initiate the final attack, but your purpose is not to speculate.

Your purpose is to win.

You have 18 tanks at your disposal, along with 4 squads infantry spread among 3 APC. One squad is equipped for engineering, one anti-vehicle, two anti-infantry. Ahead you can see that the artillery position is fairly well fortified. Two autocannon watch the approach, deadly to infantry but no match for your armor. There could be infantry hiding along the ridge though, or behind fortifications.

You can taste the victory... but how will you proceed?