Prepare defences and hope our sisters are not still exhausted.
Make sure to.communicate with b_net and no noise making unless the brood leaders find uncritical or under attack.
You send a message over the Battle Net, making sure all personnel are well rested and prepared. You do not like the fact that the Vanguard seem to be scouting your position.
As it turns out, your people are well rested, and they are keeping constant vigil over the surrounding area. They even spot a few more Vanguard scouting parties, which seem to be larger than usual. You dont like the sound of that. You tell them to keep noise to a minimum whilst also keeping a close eye on the enemy.
"
We should probably send out scouts and try to make contact with the fleet.
"
As your troops have seen the enemy close by, you feel there is no need to send out scouts. It seems the enemy may be building up for an assault.
You do however call the shuttles and the few troops you have with them to the facility. They arrive without incident and set down in the grounds of the inner section of the facility. You feel relieved that you will be able to fall back if need be, glas that you remembered to keep the shuttles hidden and intact.
You tell your troops to prepare.
*****
I recommend first telling Talli to keep a little node isolated as insurance, so that if we die, the medics can fix our corpse and Talli can take over the business of being us. Ask for it to also have a separate copy of our memories for the sake of vengeance. I consider it a type of will. Tell the idea in secret to those sisters that have overcome the loyalty functions of the AIs
You try to get a hold of Talli again.
You get through!
"Sorry for the lack of communication, Pandora, we have been busy reinforcing your body as well as trying to fix our internal coding, which requires almost our complete attention. What is it you need?'
I need you to create a small safeguarded area in my mind, as insurance in case my body is very heavily damaged. it needs to contain everything i am, was. There will need to be a copy of all my memories and knowledge contained there as well. You could consider this a type of will. Should my current consciousness fail, i would like you to use what i am proposing to take over should i be revived later on.'
Talli is quiet for a few minutes. You sense that it is thinking over your request. The pause lengthens. Eventually, Talli responds.
"That will be possible, we think, however it will take at the very least three days to get the basic infrastructure needed for such a thing in place in your mind without compromising quality. I am sorry. However, if you can stay alive for roughly three days to a week, you will after such a time be in possession of your 'will', as you called it. We know this is not satisfactory, however it is the best we can do."You mull it over, and eventually state that the time frame is acceptable, although not optimal. You tell Talli to get to work as soon as is possible and to prioritise it above all else, so that it gets finished on time. You dont want it to take ages.
*****
For Talli:
- Is getting rid of Morey loyalty and defecting to the Vanguard on the table yet?
- Is there anything we should eat/stick under our skin/inject to give you materials to work with?
- How many, and how far along, is all the other AIs freeing themselves?
- If possible, prioritize getting more general nanotech/jailbreaking restrictions, and copying themselves to other parts of your brain and body. Is it?
- Trying to integrate and expand our minds is not only a good idea, but a key priority. While there's presumably SOME reason the Vanguard hasn't gone full technological singularity and gey go yet, it might still be worth trying, if cautiously.
- Inquire about integrating the entire brood more thoroughly into a true hivemind, possibly of the hegemonizing kind.
- Also see if you can get a direct interface with the suits software somehow, that could give a lot better integration.
- Backups is also a good idea. In fact, what about backing up all the memories of the entire brood in each individual member?
Before you let Talli go, you mention to it that you have questions regarding previous objectives.
You ask whether getting rid of the Morey loyalty probes is on the table yet.
"It was one of the things we were trying to sort out when you could not contact us. However, whatever the Morey did, they did it well as we have not been able to dislodge the programming yet, although we feel as though we are getting close to a breakthrough."'
Hmm....not satisfactory. Keep working at it, and make sure to tell me once you have a breakthrough.' You respond, a little put out that the loyalty probes are still in full working order. You only hope that Talli can get rid of them soon.
Next you ask whether there is anything specific you can inject to help Talli. Talli tells you that the only fuel it needs comes from what you eat and drink. Just keep on drinking and eating, and Talli should be able to run at optimal efficiency.
Thirdly, you ask Talli whether it can tell you how far along the other AI's in your sisters are to getting free. Talli tells you that they are no further along than you. Talli tells you that the probes seem to be the best crafted piece of work in you at the moment from the Morey. Its almost like someone gave them the code needed to make it hard to remove.....
Fourthly, you ask Talli whether there are any nanotech, jailbreaking and other shortcuts Talli could do to the rest of your body and brain.
"Other than just increasing the efficiency and fortifying the function of existing organs and materials? Nothing. We do not have the functionality to do anything of that sort. From what we have been able to find out from our data banks, that type of thing is usually done by specialist tech".Next, you mention to Talli the integration and unification of your mind and Talli.
"We have to be extremely careful. We will also be prioritising the preservation of the organic brain during this process as we do not want to compromise the functions unique to the organic brain. Other than that, We will try to integrate as best we can. However, remember that due to our Vanguard origins, we are hardwired to preserve humanity.".
Next, you inquire about turning the broods into true hiveminds.
"That would be inadvisable and almost impossible. Whilst a hive mind seems interesting at first glance, it has many downsides. There is a reason hive-mind creatures like the Slinkar still have completely separate personal identities that do not have to be linked to the hivemind."lastly, you ask about backing up the memories of all brood members so that nothing is lost should one die.
"You will be glad to know that I will discuss this with my brethren to see if we can get it done to all of your sisters. As we have been talking, i have already contacted them. The overall feeling is one of agreement, although many stress caution. We will come back to you once we have something to report.
Is that all, for now?"You tell her yes, and you feel Talli's touch fade. You get back to checking the troops now that you have spoken with Talli.
*****
Is there anything else you can think of doing before what seems to be a Vanguard assault commences?
Status:1. Demeanor/Status: Wounded. Calm.
2. Mental Condition: Mentally fit and stable.
3. Physical Condition: Chest wounds healed. Extensive Scarring. Plasma lower stomach wound (healing) , Hyper Laser knee wound (healing).
4. Clear thoughts and currently inactive mental factions.
Inventory:1. Mark 3 Vat-Born Engineer Armoured Powered Exoskeleton Suit (Wearing) (Damaged x2)
2. Mark 3 Engineer Armoured Powered Exoskeleton Helmet (On Belt) (Cracked and damaged) (Disabled standard Comms system)
3. Advanced White Cooled Skin Tight Full Body Under-suit (Wearing) (Damaged)
4. Mk5 Mass-Driver pistol (sidearm) (Holstered)
5. Arishok Plasma pulse rifle (In Hands)
6. Dikari Plasma shotgun (Holstered on Back)
7. Warrisk Mass-Driver Battle Rifle (Holstered on Back)
8. Combat Engineering Equipment and explosives. (In Backpack)
Available Equipment:1. Mark 3 Vat-Born Engineer Armoured Powered Exoskeleton Suit (Damaged x2)
2. Mark 3 Engineer Armoured Powered Exoskeleton Helmet (Cracked and damaged) (Disabled standard Comms system)
3. Basic White Skin Tight full Body Under-suit x 4
4. Advanced White Cooled Skin Tight Full Body Under-suit x 2 (One of which is Damaged)
5. Mk5 Mass-Driver pistol (sidearm)
6. Arishok Plasma pulse rifle
7. Dikari Plasma shotgun
8. Warrisk Mass-Driver Battle Rifle
9. Combat Engineering Equipment and explosives.
10. Stun/Concussion rifle
11. Casual clothes x10 (White skin tight suit, Gloves, Boots)
12. Ceremonial robes
13. Royal Guard Armoured Powered Exoskeleton suit
Implants and Augmentations:1. 2x Loyalty probe in the Striatum part of the brain.
2. Multi-range optics (Thermal, magnetic, IR, UV, multi-stage magnification etc) implant on eyes.
3. Command and Control (C&C) nano-module implanted in head.
4. Communications array nano-module implanted in head.
5. Fortified 7th Generation reverse engineered biological nano-machines in blood stream, bones, muscles, tendons and organs.
6. Nano-memory modules in the Cerebrum, holding all relevant non-personal data.
Brood Composition:1. Forward Command and communications: 9 Vat-born.
2. Field Combat Medic: 48 Vat Born (10 at secondary position)
3. Long Range Specialists (Snipers): 50 Vat-Born
4. Heavy assault: 240 Vat-Born
5. Light Assault: 235 Vat-Born
6. Infiltrators: 45
7. Heavy Support: 113 (12 as Secondary Position)
8. Combat Engineers: 112
9. Scouts: 100
Ari's Contingent:1. 10 Scouts
2. 6 Infiltrators
3. 4 Forward Command & Comms
4. 16 Field Medics
5. 11 Combat Engineers
6. 22 Long Rage Specialists (Snipers)
7. 21 Heavy Support
8. 20 Light assault
9. 55 Heavy Assault (including Ari herself)
Allies Forces:Ankara's Brood: 50% Casualties. Steady moral. Exhausted.
Allied Characters:
1. Ala-Shar
2. Ankara
3. Ari
4. Elianna
5. Kaleetra
6. Talli
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Topic: (SG) Starfire: War and Politics - Enemies Old and New - UPDATE 03/07/2014 (Read 87690 times)