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side - sim: My Own Worst Enemy (TAG Martel)

Posted June 18, 2022, 5:35 p.m. by Lieutenant Miranda Martel (Chief Engineer) (Sam Haynes)

Posted by Lieutenant Commander Bethany Kovra Gadi (Chief of Security) in side - sim: My Own Worst Enemy (TAG Martel)

Posted by Lieutenant Miranda Martel (Chief Engineer) in side - sim: My Own Worst Enemy (TAG Martel)

Posted by Lieutenant Commander Bethany Kovra Gadi (Chief of Security) in side - sim: My Own Worst Enemy (TAG Martel)
Posted by… suppressed (2) by the Post Ghost! 👻
Ryley’s revelations hit Bethany a lot harder than she wanted to admit to. Things she had escaped years ago were not back to create chaos in her life. And Ryley’s little cocktail was only a stop-gap. It wasn’t going to fix the problem. But she had the mission to work on and she couldn’t be distracted by it. The idea that Ryley’s stop-gap may not be enough was disturbing because that meant she was a liability because of something beyond her control.

She paced around the ship for a while before stopping at her office for some equipment and making her way down to deck 6 and the main computer core. Bethany loved computers and she loved working with the one on Asimov, but given their mission, the AI needed some tweaks. They didn’t need the AI’s ethics program getting in the way or ruining their cover. She sat down in front of the main access point. PaDD in hand with a stylus and she began to play with the program.

Gadi, CoS

“Bosslady,” NE Hammer spoke up as he stood near one of the primary control panels for the ship. “Do we have anyone in junction thirty-one c on deck six?”

Miranda frowned as she turned to look at NE Hammer. “Not that I’m aware of, why?”

“Uh, somebody just opened the computer core up. They have clearance but the panel warning still went off.” There wasn’t much of a way around that, not unless someone came at it backward and there just wasn’t room. But if they were quick enough it might go unnoticed. Pull the panel off, and put down some contact circuitry to reconnect the seal circuit. Took only a second or two. If they were sneaking around. She pulled up the log. Gadi’s access codes. “Alright. I’ll look into it. It’s probably nothing. Hold down the fort.”

Moving quickly she headed for the back of engineering and slipped into one of the Jeffrey’s tubes and began making her way down to deck six, moving over and across, before poking her head down from above, laying on the decking of the tube. She was quiet, even for her size. for the moment she simply watched Bethany from above, then scooted forward, head hanging down. “Hey, pretty lady, what’re you doin’ to my ship and computer?” The question was meant to be a mixture of hum or and curiosity. And like any good engineer, she considered the Asimov Rabid Pelican hers. But she also knew others had their own skills and talents. and if Bethany was down here there was a damn good reason for it.

Bethany was scanning each of the chips attached to the ENINTADI AI system. She was pulling the data from each chip and pulling up the program on her PaDD and reading it. She had a small hand held holo disk to run holographic scenarios as she tinkered and adjusted the program. She wouldn’t upload the changes until she was sure they were correct.

Bethy heard breathing from the hatch above her. She wasn’t trying to hide and what she was doing wasn’t against regulations, not that they had regulations anymore. Miranda was silent moving through the tubes, but she could hear her breathing when she stopped to watch her. In all truthfulness, Bethy and Calloway were probably the only person who would notice the telltale signs of breath moving through lungs. She didn’t look up however when Miranda spoke to her. “Hey hot stuff, you gonna join me?”

Hooking her hands onto the edge of the decking, she rolled forward into the small computer room, and let herself down slow and easy so she didn’t hit Gadi. A moment later she was perched next to the security chief and her friend. There was no suspicion there either, but Miranda doubted that if Gadi was up to no good, she’d be able to stop her in this confined space. Not.. that she ever wanted to fight her friend for real. Sparring and training though? All day long. That idea made her grin for just a moment.

Randi

Bethany slid over in the small space. Her tone was flat and her perpetual smile was gone. “All this talk about new personas and prepping to hit targets, and cosmetic work, we forgot about one of our crew. The ENINTADI. It doesn’t even have a name. And the last thing we need is the system activated and its ethics program engage and stop us from doing what needs to be done. So first I changed the appearance and gave it a name.” She waved a finger at the small holo disk and a very scraggly over-dressed and rugged image appeared, well known in the cinema world. “Meet Jack, Cpt Jack Sparrow.” The small holographic image did a rather rude and crude little bow. “Ah Randi Loverly, arrrre we ready ta set sail?” it asked. Bethany didn’t even grin she just shut it off. “I thought about setting him up to wander the corridors and remind everyone how to be a pirate. Rude suggestive gestures, lustful looks, stealing stuff off the crew, stumbling around drunk on rum.”

Beth

“Oh, so you turned a vital military asset into a walking mascot,” she said. The tone would have been scolding if not for the grin that spread across her face. “Did you ask if it wanted those changes made?” Probably not. It seemed the AI had been dormant and thus hadn’t had time to figure out how it wanted to present itself. She supposed this was as good as any shell though to start from. It could completely rewire and rewrite itself later.

Bethany shook her head, “In this capacity I’m hoping he will be useful in keeping the crew in character. And he is still a huge asset to our capabilities.
And actually I did ask. Final choices were Jack Sparrow and Anne Bonny. Jack here decided we had a disproportion of male crew and went with Jack instead of Anne. He thought he could get away with more, given Jack’s ‘famous’ charm.”

After a moment, when she wasn’t doing anything vital, Miranda bumped her shoulder against Gadi’s. “Happy to help though. what do you need?”

“Well I’m trying to reprogram him. We want an ethics subroutine so he doesn’t go crazy, but we need it relaxed, or an override that the senior and command staff can use. But also don’t want to have to use the override in the middle of sensitive work. You know. And I don’t want him going off crazy and cruel. I’m doing it here, manually because adjusting by working it in the holodeck leaves too many back doors that could be exploited by someone else. I could use a second pair of eyes if you have time. I downloaded the program to my PaDD to adjust there first. Don’t want to delete or change the wrong thing, ya know?”

“Yeah, the last thing we need is an un-braked AI running amok, considering it’s not just a hologram but way more powerful than that.” She looked up at the computer core. “Yes, we’re talking about you.” Fishing out the small PADD she almost always had on her, she pulled up what she could. Once she hooked in, she went to scanning over the changes.

She paused for a moment, studying the chief. She looked drawn and worn. Clouded, dark skies. She almost always had at least a little bit of a smile or had something light to say. But now? “Am I bothering you,” she asked quietly. The computer core was a place that hardly anyone ever ventured to, for good reason. There were very few people on the entire ship that would have access in the first place, even among senior officers. This was one of them.

Martel

Bethany looked over at her, “Naw, you’re not bothering me. I’m bothered in the head, but what else is new.” Oh, that came out bitter. Bethany took a deep breath and let it out slowly. “Sorry, Miranda. You’re fine, really. I’m not. I’ll figure it out.”

Gadi

She smiled faintly and shook her head. “It’s okay. There wasn’t anything in that to take personally.” She paused for a moment then scrolled back through the mission parameters and operational directives, double-checking them first. Adjusting a million subroutines took time and a meticulousness that they didn’t really have. “I’m no counselor, but I’ve got some working ears, a brain.” She shrugged a tiny shrug. “I’m here, but I don’t want to pry. But if you don’t want to talk about it just tell me to shut up and do my work.”

Martel


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