Posted by Civilian Elizabeth Notta (Lounge Manager and Bartender) in Lounge - Clearing the Refined Air (Tag Pol)

Posted by Captain Michael Stout (CO) in Lounge - Clearing the Refined Air (Tag Pol)

Posted by Polaris (Station AI) in Lounge - Clearing the Refined Air (Tag Pol)
Posted by… suppressed (14) by the Post Ghost! 👻
snip
“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

“I could give a rat’s hind quarters if people stand up when I come on the bridge. What you need to learn, Polaris, is that the rules are made by the person in charge. And those rules change, they aren’t static… no matter how much you want them to be. You have to learn to adapt to those in charge around you, feel them out, see what their priorities are and then find your place within that framework.”

Stout shook his head in slight frustration and then said “Go ahead and ask you question. And you don’t have to ask my permission to ask a question when it is just you and I having a talk, by the way.”

Stout, CO

OOC: … I forgot the question she was going to ask. LOL

IC: “How can you have two sets of rules,” the AI asked, suddenly derailed by this change in information. “If then, that is how rules are made, that is how decisions are made. One must always be behaved and follow the rules.” She grows slightly frustrated then waves her hand. “Fine fine I will be here when you decide I am useful again, playing chess against myself.”

Pol

Stout smiled. “Polaris… is that what you like to be called by the way?… there aren’t two sets of rules. There are the rules put in place by whomever is in charge. On this station, that’s me. My job is to make sure my rules don’t contradict Federation law and Star Fleet regulations. Everyone else’s job is follow my rules. And my rules are simple. You treat everyone with respect. You do your job. You look out for each other and the station. You do your job. You work with, not against, your team. You do your job. You make sure that everything you do, you do your best at it. And lastly… You. Do. Your. Job. Pretty simple, but you would be amazed at the number of folks who have a hard time with that.”

Stout, CO

“Pol, or Polaris,” the AI says. “I was named after the ship, you know, the Polaris. The North Star.” She sighs, “Gone now. Decommissioned. I probably would be just another blip in history were it not for the Fleet Captain.”

She remains silent for a moment and then asks, “And what, in your opinion, is my job, sir?”

Pol

Stout scowled at the question, but not in anger… more in frustration. “That’s the thing, Pol. I don’t know. My issue with you isn’t that you are an AI, or even that you are on the station. My issue is that I was never told about you. Not once. I know nothing about you,: your design, your social engineering, construct framework, power draw, safety protocols, core matrix… nothing. You are an unknown factor on a pretty remote station. That makes me nervous. So I guess to answer your question… right now your job is to sell your being here to me. Make me understand and want to have you as part of my crew. If you can do that, then we figure out where we want you to be and what we want you doing. So…” and he leaned back and sat his hands flat on the table, “… why do I want you here, Pol? What do you bring to the table that makes you someone I want here?”

Stout, CO

About this time Lt. McMoragh walked into the lounge and ordered what was once called a “diet Pepsi” and saw the Captain and another officer; he wondered if he should go over and sit with them. After all, the Captain had been nice to McMoragh so far but there were still pending questions. Would Riker finally fit in somewhere or would he be discharged from service? If he was able to stay, where would he be useful? Only time would tell.

McMoragh

OOC: Sorry for promoting myself LOL I mean Ensign, I just got my characters mixed up.

The projection of the AI turns his head slightly to look over McMoragh but then returns her pale blue eyes to Stout. “Well for starters I have far more personality than the standard computer,” she offers less than helpfully, “But I also am designed to be a light weight alternative. I can’t do science work exactly nor can I do anything outside the realm of system monitoring and repair. That is to say I can tell you when communications is broken and how it is broken, but I can’t send communications myself.”

She takes a breaths again, a not needed gesture but something that is done to put others at ease, “So there you go. I can help in engineering and operations.”

Pol

Ensign McMoragh listened with open ears and responded, “Well, at least I know my job is safe.”

McMoragh

“What makes you say that Ensign?” Elizabeth asked as she set the ice cold Pepsi before the Science Ensign at her bar and looked to him waiting for an answer.

BUMP

Pol side-eyed McMoragh for a brief moment before going about her business, waiting on the captain’s response.

Pol

Stout looked at her intently. “I know what you are capable of, Pol. Woods told me as much. But you didn’t answer the question… Why would I want you as part of the crew? I have engineers and scientists.” and he cast a glance at McMoragh. “Well… scientist.”

Stout, CO

Elizabeth looked from her customer McMoragh to the captain and Pol wondering what Pol would say.

Elizabeth Notta, Civ

“I am not going to answer that,” Pol says indignant as ever, folding her arms across her chest. “You are the captain it is up to you to decide if you want me around or not. You just got done yelling about me full of myself.” She huffs, “But if I were going to answer, which I am not, but if I were, I would say its because I am faster at thinking even than your best engineer. I am par excellence when it comes to detecting flaws.”

Polaris, The AI

Elizabeth covered her face with her hand and shook her head as she heard Polaris’s answer and turned back to taking care of her Bar and seeing if McMoragh needed anything else.

Elizabeth Notta, Civ

Stout looked at Pol. He saw Notta’s gesture from the corner of his eye, and a small smile formed. “Junior. I now you’re listening. You have any advice for Ms. Polaris here?”

Stout, CO

“depends on if she’s a learning AI or needs to be reprogrammed, Chief.” Elizabeth said honestly.

Elizabeth Notta, Civ

“You wouldn’t dare,” Polaris says to Elizabeth with scorn in her eyes, “I’ll.... I’ll…” She looks around with a hurried and uncalculated expression, “I’ll melt all your ice cubes!”

Pol

Stout laughed. Out loud. But just once. “Pol. I know you are an advanced AI with incredible capabilities. And I am leaning more and more to making you a full fledged member of my crew. But let me warn you about something.” and he pointed a finger at Notta, the smile still on his face. “That…” and he jabbed finger towards her, “is one of the finest Engineers Starfleet ever had in it’s ranks. And she is absolutely the most vengeful one ever. I would think long and hard before I threaten her ice cubes. I have seen her slag entire computer cores just to make a point, fail-safes be damned.” and he leaned back and chuckled. “Besides. It wouldn’t look to good for me to make you an officer with you being all petty.”

Stout, CO

“Besides, threaten my baby again and the only thing you’ll be able to do is act as a coat rack because I’ll lock every motor function you have until your standing with one arm standing straight up and the other out to your side with one leg bent at the knee and your holo projections have frozen to solid so you’ll be useful as just a coat rack.” Elizabeth smiled a smile of pure pleasure at the thought of it. “Other than that She has some potential if she’s just willing to learn rather than constantly be on the defensive with everyone.”

Elizabeth Notta, Civ

Pol was about to correct both of them but just closed her mouth, arms remaining crossed in impotent rage. After her temperament gets the better of her and she muttered under her breath at Notta, “If you are so good why are you a bartender? “

Pol