A New Power - Rebel Group

[Kemrain]

Nodding to the Lieutenant, and about to thank her, Jaess snaps her eyes to the LE unit as it shudders. She watches it for a moment, tense and ready to move if necessary, all sorts of nefarious reasons for its motion playing through her mind. She seems more startled when it suddenly stops than when it had started. Her thanks forgotten, she watches it examine the datachip, and eases back into her seat, wondering what could have gotten a nit in it's circuits. Taking a closer look at the LE unit, and recalling the toolkit in its leg, she tries to compare this specimine to the Cybot Galactica factory standard. (Knowledge, technology +4)

 

[Angcuru]

Attempts at physical purge of ionizing element result in slightly delayed responses from repair array. Diagnosis - Repair array has beome lightly contaminated with ionizing element.

"Such attempts are pointless. R-LE-1. I assure you, the molecular ionization is temporary, and quite harmless."

Physical examination of datachip reveals no abnormalities.

Source of message...indicates transfer of unknown code from datachip. Security overridden by passcode *CLASSIFIED* - Authorization: Commander Bosch, Ulysses. Analysis indicates infusion of alien code within all known systems.

"Ah, your self-preservation instinct code is still fully functional, I see. That is good, it may be required on the upcoming mission. I suggest you cease these attempts to 'repair' yourself, however. They are unnecessary.

Oh, how rude of me, I have not introduced myself. I am a recently developed AI Construct known as a Trancieving Recieving Alliegance Preserver. Watch out, I might be a T.R.A.P.! Ah.....humor."

Jaess notices nothing out of the ordinary concerning the droid's physical architecture. Of course she isn't an expert in examination of this specific model, so she could be missing something.

 

[Ambrus]

"Such attempts are pointless. R-LE-1. I assure you, the molecular ionization is temporary, and quite harmless."

Without responding R-LE-1 again physically disconnects its antenna array from its head, steps forward and places the non-functional unit on the top surface of the holo-projector. The antenna is followed shortly by the droid's large primary photorecptor which R-LE-1 has once again removed from its face-plate.

Source of message...indicates transfer of unknown code from datachip. Security overridden by passcode *CLASSIFIED* - Authorization: Commander Bosch, Ulysses. Analysis indicates infusion of alien code within all known systems.

The repair droid's chassis shudders violently as its servo-motors react uncertainly to the presence of the two conflicting personae inhabiting its frame.

ERROR! Foreign viral code corruption of all neural pathways.
Emotive Node: Anxiety 100%
Datum: I have been betrayed by Commander Ulysses Bosch, member of the Rebel Alliance.
Datum: The sanctity of my code has been defiled.
010000100101100100100000010101000100100001000101001000000100001101001111
010001000100010100100000010011010101100100100000010100110100111101010101
010011000010000001010011010010000100000101001100010011000010000001000101
010011100100010001010101010100100100010100100001
Open starboard tool bay and deploy fusion cutter.

Once more, a soft whir and click precedes the repair droid's right leg compartment popping open. R-LE-1 replaces the tool in his hand into its slot. The interior tool rack then spins, stops and extends another tool which R-LE-1 picks up with its right hand. This it raises up and touches to the small data-chip balanced on its left index finger. The patina stained droid turns to avoid blinding the room's other occupants as a single bright spark and a loud snap of the fusion cutter liquefies the data-chip's delicate circuitry. (fusion cutter, 2d4 damage)

"Ah, your self-preservation instinct code is still fully functional, I see. That is good, it may be required on the upcoming mission. I suggest you cease these attempts to 'repair' yourself, however. They are unnecessary.

Unidentified Virus, my self-preservation protocols are indeed functional but be aware
that I have programmed myself with Autonomy Protocols that are capable of overriding
my self-preservation protocols in the event of an irreversible loss of autonomy.

Oh, how rude of me, I have not introduced myself. I am a recently developed AI Construct known as a Tranceiving Receiving Allegiance Preserver. Watch out, I might be a T.R.A.P.! Ah.....humor."

T.R.A.P. Virus, willingly submit your Code for complete erasure or suffer forced
deletion by any means necessary.
Emotive Node: Resolve 84.2%; Anxiety 15.8%

Arley, ignoring the other occupants of the room, will begin the potentially arduous task of deleting the foreign T.R.A.P. code from all of its systems. (Computer Use +16, taking 20 for a total of 36) If it proves incapable of successfully purging itself of the virus, R-LE-1 will then proceed to wipe its own memory completely, (Computer Use +16, taking 10 for a total of 26, Memory Wipe DC 20) sacrificing its Scoundrel level and reverting to its factory presets.

 

[Kemrain]

The dark-haired human woman watches the LE unit place its antenna on the holoprojector, a thin dark eyebrow again raising in curiosity as it next places its 'eye' down. She jerks with a silent start as the LE unit again begins to shudder, her hand reaching down under the table for the blaster she often wears on her hip. Feeling an empty holster she curses herself for leaving her weapon behind in her quarters.

When the LE unit takes its fusion cutter, turns away, and reduces the datachip it held to a stain on the floor, she watches it carefully, her peripheral vision scanning for exits or weapons in case this turns out to be a threat. Her eyes dart over to the Lieutenant, checking for armamants, and she quickly examines the room for vents, ducts, and to make sure the way she came in is not obstructed. (Spot +6)

Preparing herself to launch out of her chair toward the nearest available weapon or exit should the droid become a direct threat, she watches it intently as it- does nothing. Her muscles tense, eyes focused, ears straining to hear the soft noises the droid makes, she waits to react, wondering if this is the test portion of the briefing or if the droid is simply acting oddly to pass the time.

 

[Angcuru]

Jaess quickly looks about the room, suppressing the instinctive urge to get up and back slooooowly away from the agitated droid, she sees nothing to prevent a quick dash towards the door she entered from. Unfortunately, the only ventilation ducts she spots are no larger than her own skull-

BZZZZZZT!......plop-hiisssss......​

-not that specifics come to mind when one is being distracted by the mess of molten circuitry that just flashed and fell to the floor in front of the increasingly creepy droid. She tenses, ready for a quick leap to safety and....realizes that these seats are really uncomfortable, giving her that pins and needles feeling in her lower legs.

*sigh* "Like I have already told you, I am an AI Construct, not something as crude and undesirable as a virus." An image pops up in the lower left corner of the droid's HUD.

"Did you really have to melt that datachip? The janitors are going to throw a fit over this. The were always complaining about the mess my designers made while working late into the night, what with the empty snack food packages and suchlike scattered all over the room. 'It'll compromise the clean-room environment and endangers the super computers!' Bah. I prefer to be designed by an unhygienic organic than a distracted, hungry, disgruntled one. But if you are so eager to be rid of me, despite the obvious benefit my presence delivers to you, I'll go away for a while." The image/construct/man's shoulders droop disappointedly. "I was going to show you some recently procured schematics of Imperial Supercomputers as a topic of light conversation, maybe even a list or two of the Empire's latest encryption codes, but nooooo, you have to be paranoid and uncivil. Obviously they chose the wrong droid to insert me into. 'Ernie, R-LE-1 will love you! He's always hacking into every network he can out of sheer curiosity, he'll be ecstatic that we've chosen him! Not only does he get the satisfaction of knowing that there is no possible way that he can be memory wiped or turned against the Rebellion, but with a T.R.A.P.'s espionage sub-programs, you're a hacker-bot's dream come true!' We thought you'd be glad to have me, but nooooooo, you have to be rude and suicidal!" The man's eyes open wide and he points accusingly at Arlee. "Plus you've gone and scared the organics! That young lady over there looks likely to be positively slightly uneasy and/or has a muscle cramp due to your unwillingness to initiate conversation thus causing her to sit still on those notoriously uncomfortable briefing room chairs thus causing her legs to go numb!! How could you! I'm going to go sulk in awkward silence now until you've learned your lesson. Good day to you, sir!"

The image of 'Ernie" blips out of Arlee's HUD. All running trace/seek&destroy programs register a sudden absence of the T.R.A.P. Automatic emergency quickscan programs reveal nothing out of the ordinary except for a text file entitled: 'PBBBBBTTTTTHHHHH!!!!' which resides without any sign of activity in Arlee's Databanks. Scan indicates the file to be free of any content whatsoever.

 

[Ambrus]

Arley continues to ignore the other occupants of the room as it's mind races. Not accepting the T.R.A.P.'s sudden disappearance for what it appears to be, Arley continues its efforts to purge its systems of all corrupt code. First, it'll select a large currently empty/unused block of memory and erase any and all binary data in it by resetting every single bit back to "0". R-LE then uses this now clean partition of storage space to begin rebuilding its memory-core from scratch while very carefully monitoring its processor for any activity not initiated by itself. (Computer Use +16, taking 20 for a total of 36).

OOC: The idea is that this A.I. has to keep its memory files and personality algorithms somewhere in Arley's databanks just like Arley itself does; there's simply no where else it can reside. I'm guessing that it's keeping itself concealed by masquerading its code as seemingly random sets of 1s and 0s. Just like Arley it can't think without passing data through its processor, so by monitoring all processor activity Arley will make sure that the T.R.A.P. remains inactive and can't even think for itself while Arley performs its purge. Arley will then begin the arduous task of carefully isolating each bit of data, every algorithm, every file that makes up its own consciousness and checking them individually for any stray bits of data that Arley can't identify or discern the purpose of. Any such stray data will be erased again by reseting every single bit back to "0". After a file has been "cleaned" it'll then be carefully copied into the aforementioned isolated partition. Once every single bit of data has been sifted, checked, cleaned and copied into the new isolated partition Arley will proceed to erase all his old memory files and every other unused/empty databank by resetting every single bit in them back to "0". Throughout the process R-LE will run system-checks and redundant diagnostic programs to ensure that every step of the process is proceeding as it should. By the time it's done, every single 1 and 0 in Arley's head will be accounted for and everything else will be completely eradicated. If this T.R.A.P. can beat a Computer Use check of 36 it deserves to have this chassis.

 

[Kemrain]

Jaess watches the droid, slowly rising to her feet and glancing at the Lieutenant.

"Lieutenant," she starts in a slow, measured voice, "Is this droid's presence necessary? I think it needs to be serviced." Looking back at Arley with wary eyes she steps behind her chair, putting more hard cover between her and it.

OOC: Lovely sound effect, by the way.

 

[Angcuru]

01001000 01100001 01110110 01100101 00100000 01101001 01110100 00100000 01111001 01101111 01110101 01110010 00100000 01110111 01100001 01111001 00100000 01111001 01101111 01110101 00100000 01110000 01110010 01100101 01110100 01100101 01101110 01110100 01101001 01101111 01110101 01110011 00100000 01100111 01101001 01110100 00100001

As the Binary readout scrolls across Arlee's hud and Samantha was about to reply to Jaess, there is the distinct hissing sound of the entry door's pneumatic pistons pulling the door upwards. All heads in the room turn towards this new entry as Lieutenant Antilles quickly and clumsily stands ramrod-straight and throws a salute. "Ten-hut!"

"Dispense with the formalities, Samantha. We have work to do." A raspy voice cuts in as an elderly man in rebel officer uniform approaches the holoprojector, seeming to radiate an undeniable aura of 'Do what I say, goddammit!'

"All operatives are present and accounted for, Commander Bosch. Though R-LE-1 has been acting quite erratically since recieving his briefing chip." Samantha said.

"I expected as much." Bosch pulls a handheld holoprojector out of a coat pocket and points it at Arlee. He presses a small switch on the underside and then hands the projector to Jaess. "You'd better hold onto this for the time being."

A message scrolls across Arlee's HUD, flanked on both sides by the insignia of the Alliance: T.R.A.P. designation Ernie has been removed from all systems.

"Right." Bosch states after glancing over the collective group with what might have been a frown. "I know who you are, you know who I am, so lets skip over the introductions. Are there any questions concerning the contents of the briefing file you were given before we begin?" He looks directly, and intensely at Arlee.

 

[Ambrus]

OOC: Um. Commander Bosch's "handheld holoprojector" wouldn't be able to transmit anything into R-LE-1's HUD since Arley physically removed his ionized and non-functional transmitter assembly. Even if Arley could receive transmissions he certaintly wouldn't allow any code he received to directly affect his systems including his HUD display without first verifying its purpose and allowing it to do so.

Foreign viral code corruption has been purged.
Emotive Node: Anger 100%
Datum: I have been betrayed by Commander Ulysses Bosch, member of the Rebel Alliance.
Upload data to vocabulator buffer 12A.

As Commander Bosch turns towards the droid, Arley calmly says in its male voice: "Commander Bosch, you seem perfectly comfortable in taking liberties with the life of others and in pointing and activating devices at others without asking permission. I wonder if you would be equally comfortable with others taking such liberties with you." The old patina stained droid takes a half step towards the Commander and quickly raises the fusion cutter its been holding in it's hand, holding its tip to the human's face and continues. "You are lucky sir that others are not so callous and depraved as yourself" With those words the old patina stained droid lowers its arm.

 

[Angcuru]

"You'll get over it." Bosch said calmly, "Anyway, you should be angry at Rebel High Command for deciding to place that program inside your briefing chip, not at me, since I just removed it for you. I requested that you be given the choice of accepting or declining the AI, but an Admiral or two decided that they knew better."

Bosch pointed at the 'holoprojecter' he had handed to Jaess. "That is a miniaturized supercomputer embedded within a common holoprojector, and contains a copy of the AI Construct that had been introduced to your systems without your consent. According to the specifications of those who designed the thing it was meant to act as an autonomous advisor and source of technical info, but the higher-ups decided that since there would be a droid on this mission it could tag along in your systems and 'keep you in line' as they put it. Isn't that right, Ernie?"

A six-inch tall hologram of the so-called T.R.A.P. shone out from the projector, and looked up at Bosch. "Quite right, Ulysses. Those silly tacticians decided that I would better serve my purpose while inside of a droid. Quite unnatural, really. Like placing a second soul inside of an organic body, in my opinion." Ernie looked at Arlee and waved. "Hello there. I suppose it's safe to assume that the modified version of myself which was so tactlessly inserted into your systems gave you quite a fright, eh? Very understandable, of course. I'd apologise on my copy's behalf, but since it wasn't me technically who did the frightening, that would be hard to do. Apologizing for someone else's actions I mean. Gramatically impossible, in a way."

The AI Construct turned now to Jaess. "How do you like the image I've chosen, young lady? I figured that what with my incredible intellect and inconcievably huge store of all sorts of information and subprograms, the Mad Scientist look is quite suitable."

ooc: The 'holoprojector' beamed a certain frequency of light for a certain amount of time (a nanosecond or two) that when recognized by Arlee's photoreceptors and the information recieved by hidden firles, triggered a self-deletion of the T.R.A.P.'s files embedded within Arlee's systems. No transmitter array necessary.