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 (12) 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.

Bethy smirked for just a moment. At least she wasn’t the only one who spoke to the computer. She’d started when she was young, right after her mom died. She’d become fascinated with computers and their verbal interface. For a 10 year old Bethany, a nonjudgmental voice void of disappointment had been something she couldn’t help but latch onto. Then she’d discovered AI, and she’d become fascinated with programming.

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

Bethany tapped away, adding lines of code, removing some, and then running simulations through the small holopad. “I was always a great disappointment to my father. And now that I finally have the one thing that would redeem me in his eyes, it’s killing me.” She laughed and it was hysterical and full of irony and bitterness.

Gadi

Miranda tilted her head, looking sidelong at the redheaded chief. “Killing you? What’s going on?” She sat down her padd. It could be hyperbole, but Miranda didn’t think so. Not with the stone-faced Gadi she was looking at. Her instincts were screaming something was wrong. Gadi wasn’t known for being dramatic. She’d always been very down to earth, so to speak. Grounded.

Miranda

Bethany continued to work and adjust and tweak the program. “When Betazoid children enter adolescence, somewhere between the ages of 9 and 13, they get their telepathy, their empathy, their extra-sensory perceptions. Having married a human and sired a half Betazoid child he had ‘accepted I would never be among the great members of our race. But that was his failing for falling in love with a human.’ When my gifts didn’t arrive at 9 he said I was a late bloomer. By 13 I was the greatest disappointment of his life.”

Betazoid? Miranda listened as she spoke about them but felt a chill run through her body. Her insides knotting and twisting. Oh God, did she know? Did she feel… But as she spoke about not her abilities not showing up she frowned. She knew at least a little of what that felt like, but she couldn’t truly imagine a parten ever telling their child that. Miranda fought the urge to reach out and hug Bethany. Instead, she let the woman speak, not wanting to interrupt.

Bethany didn’t miss the shiver, she’d seen it enough and despite having no telepathy she was a very good observer of body language. Whatever secrets Miranda had at the moment, they were safe. They were safe no matter what, Bethany wasn’t interested in exploiting them or forcing Mira to tell her. She just felt weary.

“I’ve been ill for awhile. Even asked the previous doc about it. Was told I was high strung and nervous. I needed to ‘learn how to meditatie.’ Ryley caught me in the corridor last night.” She shrugged that off. “Anyway, apparently my mind had decided to try and make the dead part of my half Betazoid brain work, but it won’t, it’s dead off, stagnant, never to wake up. So now my human half is attacking it. I’m killing myself. My father would be so proud on so many levels.”

Gadi

That sent a stab right through her heart. The idea of losing her, Bethany. Her Bethany, who had done so much to be her rock, lift her out of dark places, give her a safe space, looking after her. The tough warrior lady she looked up to so much. Dying by a cruel twist of fate like that. Suddenly it was hard to see, hard to breathe with her throat so tight.

Reaching out she slipped one arm around Bethany, drawing her into a tight embrace. At the same time she felt like smashing dear old dad’s face in with a rounding hammer. She wished she could fight… what was killing her. Something… anything that would help, make a difference. While she was no doctor, she did have a brain and education. People were just meat machines in many ways, and the similarities between a doctor and an engineer weren’t that far off. “What about gene therapy? Or… removing that part?” She felt like crap as soon as it came out of her mouth. But it was killing her, almost like a cancer. Or a rejected organ. If excising it could offer her the chance to live.. and wouldn’t change anything otherwise…?

Miranda

Bethany let Miranda put an arm around her and hug her. It was really for her Miranda. Bethany wasn’t ready to let go, she couldn’t not now. There was too much to do. “Ryley gave me this fun little cocktail to clear out the hormone in my bloodstream and suppress my immune system. I gotta take it twice a day. And after shift he’s gonna put this nifty little subdermal monitor/implant in me. That way he can see everything my body is doing. I go back for additional scans and tests in a week. I guess we could just take out my paracortex, I mean it’s useless anyway, right? But Ryley doesn’t want to do anything drastic till he knows for sure what’s causing it.” She was so flippant. That was fall back position. It didn’t matter what was wrong with her or her father or her genetics. They had a mission. She was likely to die on it anyway, so what was the point?

Bethany

Miranda held on for a few moments, but when Gadi remained stiff and focused on her work, she let go with reluctance. She said nothing. There wasn’t anything she could say about the matter. Not likely that Bethany hadn’t already thought of or asked. It was so unfair. Wasn’t there anything they could do? … It .. was so unfair. Over and over it rang through her head. Without even realizing it she was doubled over, fists balled into white-knuckled hammers. From the way Bethany talked it sounded… hopeless. Felt hopeless. But maybe it wasn’t. Ryley hadn’t given up on the matter yet. That was a good thing, right? She hadn’t been to see him yet, but… he seemed like he was the type that was good at his job.

Miranda

Bethany relaxed for a moment, putting the PaDD aside and giving Miranda a one armed hug. She obviously needed it. And it wasn’t that Bethany didn’t need it, but she couldn’t afford the luxury right now. Then she got back to work, worrying and messing with a line of code. Bethany knew how much Miranda struggled with loosing her crew and her friends. She shouldn’t have said anything. After a few minutes she reached over with one hand and gently pried Miranda’s fists open. “Slow down there, Tigress. Nothing is set in stone. Ryley is a top notch doctor and I’m sure if there is more he can do he’ll figure it out. Given we can’t put in to the nearest Star Base I’m reassured it’s Ryley working on the problem. Besides none of us were ever promised fair. That’s why I do what I do, to even the odds for tho.....” She stopped suddenly and swore in Klingon. “I am SO stupid. I’m going about this all wrong.”

Miranda straightened and then leaned into the embrace, returning it, though she looked … well terrible. By then it wasn’t hard to unclench her fists, even though now her palms were bloody from her nails digging in. “I know. And I hope…he’s ..as good as he seems to think he is.”

She reset the coding and went into the ethics subroutine and started adding a If/Then clause. “All we have to do is make it so the AI can’t countermand any order given by the officer in charge unless it is given either two over ride codes from lower ranking officers or one by a higher ranking officer. Easy Peasy.” Bethany grinned then and shoulder bumped Miranda. “Now we can play with his behavior and personality. Can you see those Tellarites talking to him over the comms?”

Gadi, CoS

“That still doesn’t stop him from griping and complaining and nattering on about moral and ethical violations the whole time. Also he’s a hologram. He can fake a voiceprint unless you lock that down tight,” Miranda said. The work sucked, but she could at least lean on that to get her through. Working quickly she pulled up everything that had to do with voice or audio modulation in any bandwidth or range and started locking them off. “Aaand we’ll need to lock off playback features so he can’t make a cypher either.”

Not that she thought Jack would, but Jack could and that would be bad for business.

Martel, fixing things… maybe

“Let him natter. That’s fine as long as he doesn’t screw up the mission. Besides it’s always fun to listen to them argue and process and figure things out. I mean it would be easier to turn him off but he is really a great asset to ship and crew.” Bethany worked a few more minutes. “Okay and there, I’ve isolated and protected the override code. Protects him from outside hacking.” She looked over and then grabbed both Miranda’s hands and held them palm up, concerned. “Miranda! You’re bleeding! Go…go to sickbay.” Bethany should have noticed that sooner. “Really, this will only take me another minute or so. We can run some simulations in the holodeck after to make sure there are no glitches.”

Gadi

She looked down at her hands then wiped them on her black pants without pulling free from Gadi’s grip. As she turned them back up to inspect, it seemed the very minor bleeding had stopped a while ago. Her nails had barely broken the skin. “I’m fine,” she said quietly. Even if they scarred, what were a few more? She said nothing as she sat there, not pulling away, looking almost lifeless.

Martel