Posted by Lieutenant Commander Omni (2 of 13) (Executive Officer) in Lounge - Clearing the Refined Air (Tag Pol)

Posted by Lieutenant Scott Woods (Chief Engineer) in Lounge - Clearing the Refined Air (Tag Pol)

Posted by Captain Michael Stout (CO) in Lounge - Clearing the Refined Air (Tag Pol)
Posted by… suppressed (9) by the Post Ghost! 👻
Stout came through the doors to the lounge and looked around. It was completely empty, as he expected it to be at this hour. Well, he knew it wasn’t exactly empty.

He made his way to a booth at the far side of the room and took a seat. “Polaris. This is Captain Stout. I’d like to speak with you, please.” he said to the empty room.

Stout, CO

The blonde girl appears next to Stout, or rather the chair across from him, and puts her elbow on the table and her head in her hand. “You rang,” she asks simply as she looks at him, “Or are you just checking up on me to make sure I am behaving. You can ask the owner, I am a -very- good girl now.”

Pol

Stout didn’t speak. He simply looked at the AI for a few long moments, a look of concern and conflict on his face. Finally he spoke. “Polaris, do you know why I had you transferred here? Do you understand the reasoning behind it?” Stout knew that she knew the ‘how’ of why she was here: Stout ordered Woods her to move her. He gave Woods no choice. But he wanted to know a few things about this construct, and how she answered the questions before her would show him how advanced she was, what kind of personality matrix was used in her construction, and how well she could infer reasoning versus emotion.

Stout. CO

“Not really,” Polaris bemoans as she sits there looking at him. Her features were flawless, almost too perfect for what she was, like a touched up photo of old. “I mean I know the reason you give Scott and what he told me but I don’t see the logic in it.” She looks around, “So now I am here, playing chess with myself. “

Polaris

Stout looked at the table and sighed a bit. “You are an unknown factor, Polaris. I am the one responsible for everyone and everything on this station, and you were put inside critical systems without my knowledge… before or after the fact. That is not something that any Commanding Officer or Engineer in their right mind would tolerate in any form or fashion.” and he leaned back and watched her. “Now, do you you know why I didn’t order Woods to dump the core and you with it inside the nearest star?” he asked intently.

Stout, CO

The AI sighed with minor frustration. Dealing with Adults and Humans at the same time was so very frustrating at times. “Because if you did that you would have no computer systems at all, assuming you could actually get the core out, into something movable, and tow it to a star, which by the way is that way.” She points over her shoulder, “About an hour at warp 3, if you are curious. Plus it would be willful destruction of Star Fleet property.”

To her credit she isn’t mocking Stout, or even trying to insult him. She was asked a question and she gave the best and most complete answer she could given the information present: It would cripple the station and be too costly.

Polaris

OOC: Bump

Pol

Stout looked at her and a small smile crossed his face briefly. “It’s a figure of speech. If you are to engage with people on board this station, you need to learn how to differentiate between literal and analogy.” and he leaned forward. “That is what I mean, Polaris. That right there. You are more machine than anything, and that I have zero problems with. What concerns me is that you have demonstrated a personality that I simply do not trust. At least, not yet. Idle threats, even in jest, have no place in what you were slated to do. So when you said that you would shut off the gravity in an area where someone who had set themselves against you would be… I took that seriously, Polaris. You of all of us should know that problems and dangers that unshackled AI’s have presented in the past. Those dangers are foremost in my mind. And if you truly are designed and willing to help, that’s great. But you still have to prove yourself. Just like any other Star Fleet officer or civilian adviser would. And so far? You haven’t impressed me. You have been argumentative, disrespectful, and stubborn. I can work with those traits, but only if I see something else that makes putting up with that worth it.” and he leaned back and crossed his hands on the table. “So what is it gonna be? Are you going to try to show me what an asset you can be to the station and crew? Or do I bounce you like I have a few others? We are short-handed anyway, losing crew at this point makes zero difference.” He knew that last bit wasn’t entirely true, but he hoped she would understand the nuance of what he was saying.

Stout, CO

“There is a fail safe,” Pol repeats for Stout’s benefit, “I can’t actually hurt anyone, but people who aren’t nice deserve reminders to be nice, do they not?” She arches one of her thin, blonde, eyebrows, “Besides from what I here, the few times Scott has come in here, most of the issues are hardware related. I don’t do hardware.” She folds her arms across her chest, “I am only argumentative with people who are wrong and I believe the word you were looking for is iron-willed, which is to say once I have decided on a course I stick to it.”

She looks at the Captain a moment and lets her, well, argument sink in before adding, “Sir.” at the end, just to disprove the disrespectful part of it all. She remains silent at this point and adds, “And I am quite well versed in most idioms. You don’t actually want to know what floats my boat, when in fact it is any substance with sufficient density to push air to the surface, provided my boat has an adequate buoyancy coefficient. You are wondering what makes me happy.”

She pauses then sighs, defeated, “But you are right. You don’t now what you have at your disposal, so I will continue to turn play chess against myself and stay out of Elizabeth’s hair. She is nice though.” She pauses and mutters something under her breath before adding, “I’ll shut off my projection soon.”

Polaris

Stout looked at Polaris for a moment and then simply shook his head. “I was hoping you would understand. But I guess you either can’t… or won’t.” and he sighed. “Shame, really. You could have been a wonderful addition to the team. But whoever programmed you did you a huge disservice. They made you arrogant and stubborn. Somewhere you got in your head that you have the authority to decide who is right and who is wrong. That is arrogance. And that is not a quality I like to have in my crew… no matter how talented or knowledgeable they are.”

Stout, CO

The AI is trying her hardest to bite her tongue but eventually she just can’t hold it any longer, “Arrogance is having an exaggerated belief of one’s importance or abilities. I know exactly how important I am…” She gestures around, “Which is to say not very. I am very confidant in my abilities. I know exactly how much I have been programmed to do and not do. Like I said I can’t do hardware. That is beyond my ability.”

She sighed then and waves her hand, “Stubborn yes, but tell me Captain, is it so wrong to evaluate people based on the rules? There is a rule set yes?” She thinks a moment then demonstrates, “If you walk into the bridge and everyone doesn’t rise and wait for you to seat them, is that not breaking the rules? Is that not rude behavior? Therefore they should be reprimanded or punished, sir.” She pauses again, “If you will permit I would like to ask you a question, sir.”

Pol

OOC: Boop!
Trin

OOC: Boop?