IKC FHew 7C6110
Cloak and dagger – Articifial Intelligence
by Soghla' Jared
Post Details
Jared was furiously tinkering away in the computer core, a deep frown on his face. They didn't have enough spares to rebuilt the warp reaction control systems, and with them down there was no way to control the warp core, meaning they couldn't dare fire it up. That meant no Warp Engines and no way off this world, unless they could pull off some miracle.
He was running system tests on other non-critical computer systems, seeing if there was any chance of using them as a jury-rigged substitute - even to get warp 1 or 2 for a while.
Targeting control? Quite apart from the look it would make Ro give him, they just weren't fast enough. The WRC System had to be making about a thousand minuscule adjustments every second. The targeting systems were designed to track and hit three to four big things.
Sensors? Again, not fast enough. Sensors took time to observe things, or took recordings and then analysed them afterward.
Cloak? Perhaps. The chamelionic systems had to adjust for a lot of minor variables. But it'd mean disabling the cloak for hours - possibly days - before they'd be able to get things working. They'd be setting ducks for the battle-fleets overhead. Not to mention they'd be trying to fly OUT of the battle-zone in full view of everyone.
RCS? No. IDF? No. Navigational Deflector? Fast enough, but taking that offline would mean pretty good odds that the ship would hit a wandering asteroid at ten times light speed and be obliterated in the process.
He ran through all the systems he could think of, and came up blank.
It was probably going to have to be the cloak systems, after all. Maybe they could camouflage the ship for a few days the old fashioned way. This swampy murk was certainly a good place to hide. Now he just had to worry about how you build software for a warp reaction control system from scratch in a couple of days.
He checked the engineering systems again to check if their was even a portion of the WRC memory still functioning. Just so he didn't have to rebuild the WHOLE thing from scra...
He blinked in surprise at what he saw on screen.
-- WARP REACTION CONTROL [PRIMARY]: SYSTEM OFFLINE --
-- WARP REACTION CONTROL [SECONDARY]: SYSTEM ONLINE --
Jared simply stared for a minute or so.
There WAS no secondary WRC system!
Well... no, that wasn't true. This was a klingon ship, and klingons built things to last. There were redundant versions of critical systems all over the place. But that was the point. The F'Hew had ALREADY lasted. It was ancient, and all the backup systems had burned out years ago. Nothing got fixed on this ship if there was still a backup working. There just wasn't time.
The Secondary WRC system hadn't worked in decades. Old Tholcar used to complain how he never had a chance to fix that system, and he died back in the Dominion war!
Jared ran a very quick diagnostic. The secondary WRC system seemed to be fully operational, as far as the diagnostics could tell. He very quickly ran a warp-core startup simulation. All the numbers looked good.
The little Vetus shook his head in disbelief. How long had that been working? And who fixed it?
He brought up the maintenance log, but there was nothing in there. Tell never filled it in anyway.
Struck by a sudden thought he took a look at the software for the secondary WRC system. All the files seemed to have been created a few hours ago.
"What the hell?" Jared exclaimed aloud.
Someone had been rebuilding the secondary WRC system a few hours ago. BEFORE the first one had failed. It mustn't have come online until after the crash, but they'd started work before then.
He took a close look at the software.
And it looked like they'd been UPGRADING things. This software was a lot smoother and more efficient than Klingon software. Klingons liked dirty, robust and functional. This software was... almost elegant.
Borg? No. This wasn't borg stuff. You could tell Borg software a mile away.
He took a look at the permissions on the software. Then he checked the logs to see who'd been maintaining the computer systems in the last few hours. They'd have needed a logon. Everyone needed a logon to fiddle with the system.
Tell hadn't been on these systems for days. Jared had been logged on, obviously. One of the Klingons - that one that had been helping Tell out - had been on. And... someone called "V-Root".
As Jared started to pull up the user profiles, there was a blip. And the profile for V-Root disappeared.
"Oh no!" Jared said out loud. "I saw you there! You can't hide from me!"
He quickly checked the active terminals, but no-one but him seemed to be logged on anywhere aboard ship. Without a moments hesitation, he checked processor sharing - finding out WHO was using the computers RIGHT NOW.
Jared... various automated programs, and... V-User.
He checked the logins again, and still no-one else was logged in. He pulled up some data on V-User and...
It wasn't a user. It was a software process. A program. One that was apparently upgrading their systems and creating and deleting it's own user profiles.
"What the heck are you?" Jared breathed, an alarmed look on his face.
Unexpectedly, someone answered. The computer audio crackled to life, and there was the gentle sound of someone clearing their throat. Then a rather polite voice spoke in perfect, fluent Vetus.
"I'm an MKF 12-50 series Shell Ghost, Artificer configuration. Serial code 513847321885354. Active Designation: 'Jarvis'. How else may I be of assistance, Mr Jared?"
Jared mouthed at the computer screen for a moment. A very long moment. Finally, he managed.
"Oh."
There was another long pause. Than Jared said.
"That's... Bad."
by Soghla' Jared
Post Details
| Title | Articifial Intelligence | |
| Mission | Cloak and dagger | |
| Author(s) | Soghla' Jared | |
| Posted | Thu Dec 12, 2013 @ 9:43am | |
| Location | Computer Core | |
| Timeline | Around the time the away team headed out |
He was running system tests on other non-critical computer systems, seeing if there was any chance of using them as a jury-rigged substitute - even to get warp 1 or 2 for a while.
Targeting control? Quite apart from the look it would make Ro give him, they just weren't fast enough. The WRC System had to be making about a thousand minuscule adjustments every second. The targeting systems were designed to track and hit three to four big things.
Sensors? Again, not fast enough. Sensors took time to observe things, or took recordings and then analysed them afterward.
Cloak? Perhaps. The chamelionic systems had to adjust for a lot of minor variables. But it'd mean disabling the cloak for hours - possibly days - before they'd be able to get things working. They'd be setting ducks for the battle-fleets overhead. Not to mention they'd be trying to fly OUT of the battle-zone in full view of everyone.
RCS? No. IDF? No. Navigational Deflector? Fast enough, but taking that offline would mean pretty good odds that the ship would hit a wandering asteroid at ten times light speed and be obliterated in the process.
He ran through all the systems he could think of, and came up blank.
It was probably going to have to be the cloak systems, after all. Maybe they could camouflage the ship for a few days the old fashioned way. This swampy murk was certainly a good place to hide. Now he just had to worry about how you build software for a warp reaction control system from scratch in a couple of days.
He checked the engineering systems again to check if their was even a portion of the WRC memory still functioning. Just so he didn't have to rebuild the WHOLE thing from scra...
He blinked in surprise at what he saw on screen.
-- WARP REACTION CONTROL [PRIMARY]: SYSTEM OFFLINE --
-- WARP REACTION CONTROL [SECONDARY]: SYSTEM ONLINE --
Jared simply stared for a minute or so.
There WAS no secondary WRC system!
Well... no, that wasn't true. This was a klingon ship, and klingons built things to last. There were redundant versions of critical systems all over the place. But that was the point. The F'Hew had ALREADY lasted. It was ancient, and all the backup systems had burned out years ago. Nothing got fixed on this ship if there was still a backup working. There just wasn't time.
The Secondary WRC system hadn't worked in decades. Old Tholcar used to complain how he never had a chance to fix that system, and he died back in the Dominion war!
Jared ran a very quick diagnostic. The secondary WRC system seemed to be fully operational, as far as the diagnostics could tell. He very quickly ran a warp-core startup simulation. All the numbers looked good.
The little Vetus shook his head in disbelief. How long had that been working? And who fixed it?
He brought up the maintenance log, but there was nothing in there. Tell never filled it in anyway.
Struck by a sudden thought he took a look at the software for the secondary WRC system. All the files seemed to have been created a few hours ago.
"What the hell?" Jared exclaimed aloud.
Someone had been rebuilding the secondary WRC system a few hours ago. BEFORE the first one had failed. It mustn't have come online until after the crash, but they'd started work before then.
He took a close look at the software.
And it looked like they'd been UPGRADING things. This software was a lot smoother and more efficient than Klingon software. Klingons liked dirty, robust and functional. This software was... almost elegant.
Borg? No. This wasn't borg stuff. You could tell Borg software a mile away.
He took a look at the permissions on the software. Then he checked the logs to see who'd been maintaining the computer systems in the last few hours. They'd have needed a logon. Everyone needed a logon to fiddle with the system.
Tell hadn't been on these systems for days. Jared had been logged on, obviously. One of the Klingons - that one that had been helping Tell out - had been on. And... someone called "V-Root".
As Jared started to pull up the user profiles, there was a blip. And the profile for V-Root disappeared.
"Oh no!" Jared said out loud. "I saw you there! You can't hide from me!"
He quickly checked the active terminals, but no-one but him seemed to be logged on anywhere aboard ship. Without a moments hesitation, he checked processor sharing - finding out WHO was using the computers RIGHT NOW.
Jared... various automated programs, and... V-User.
He checked the logins again, and still no-one else was logged in. He pulled up some data on V-User and...
It wasn't a user. It was a software process. A program. One that was apparently upgrading their systems and creating and deleting it's own user profiles.
"What the heck are you?" Jared breathed, an alarmed look on his face.
Unexpectedly, someone answered. The computer audio crackled to life, and there was the gentle sound of someone clearing their throat. Then a rather polite voice spoke in perfect, fluent Vetus.
"I'm an MKF 12-50 series Shell Ghost, Artificer configuration. Serial code 513847321885354. Active Designation: 'Jarvis'. How else may I be of assistance, Mr Jared?"
Jared mouthed at the computer screen for a moment. A very long moment. Finally, he managed.
"Oh."
There was another long pause. Than Jared said.
"That's... Bad."