Ascension (by Cannonshop, GiovanniBlasini, and Liam's Ghost)

[Trace Coburn]

[[Posted by Giovanni Blasini, 04-02-2007, 22:11:31]]

SLDF Repair and Refit Yard #83
Uncharted Periphery System
March 3, 3083

The first thing John Morgan noticed, as he regained consciousness, was that he didn't hurt like hell anymore.  If anything, in fact, he felt pretty damn good.  In and of itself, that was a huge change from what he'd last remembered, as his injuries had caused him to slip into a blissfull unconsciousness.  "How long was I out for..." he thought.

"Five months, three days, twenty-one hours and 33.46 seconds." came the bemused reply.

"Sybil?  What the...?"

"It's all right, dear.  Your injuries were....well, let's just say they were 'beyond critical' and leave it at that, OK?  Trust me when I say you don't really want the details.  Go ahead and open your eyes."

John went ahead and did exactly that.  Instead of what he expected to find, the Sybil Ludington's somewhat drab medical bay, he was greeted with....stars.  Everywhere.  The best he could compare it to was when Sybil projected sensor data as a virtual starscape inside his exoskeleton's helmet display.  The stars looked familiar, and it took him a moment to realize why: he was in the system where it had all begun back in '68, when he'd first met Sybil.  There was something different about it, though, and it took his brain several seconds, subjective time, to provide him with the answer.  "Sybil, this is...."  He looked down, seeing his own body standing, without spacesuit or exoskeleton, on the hull of a WarShip that looked, for all the world, like a cross between the original Congress class frigates and a Dante class.  John was on the verge of panic.  "Sybil?!?!"

He could see her clearly now, both standing, as her avatar, on the same hull he stood on, and off the mystery ship's starboard bow, a mere kilometer away, with one of the slips for Yard 83 a couple kilometers below her.  Her avatar, though, walked up to him, and pulled John gently into her arms, before she buried her face into the crook of his shoulder.  "I told you, dear, your wounds were beyond critical.  I couldn't save your body, John, and I damn near couldn't save your mind.  It took me months to untangle the mess I got out of the neural scanner, using a backup copy as a comparison, piecing things together as best I could, so that you'd have up-to-the-minute memories of everything that happened.   While I was doing that, we built this," Sybil finished, pulling back from John, and stretching her arms out to indicate the WarShip they both stood on.  "Come with me."

The pair walked down the ship's hull, past the ship's giant crest, consisting of a black griffin on a gold field, with a knight's helm above.  They walked until the came to the ship's registry number and name:  SLS John Morgan.

Sybil gestured to the name and smiled.  "This is the first ship of a new class, John, and Mother and I both thought the class should be named for you.  If you're willing, this would be the vessel for your soul, John, your new body."

John hesitated for a moment, trying to contemplate all the ramifications of Sybil's request.  "I'm not saying 'no', Sybil, but I do want to know why.  Why not just house me with you and the others?"

"Because, even though you lived and worked within my hull for almost 15 years now, you've always been an independent entity.  You could choose what you wanted to do.  In the end, you had the option to leave, or to stay - it's part of being human."  Sybil sighed.  "I've seen how antsy mother's gotten over the past few years, being cooped up as she is.  I'm hoping she'll take another hull, too: not only will it give her back a measure of independence, but it will mean one less AI we'll have to develop and program for when we go back to the Inner Sphere.  There's something else, though, too," she said, again drawing close to John.

"And that is?"

"We won't be in the same chain of command anymore, meaning...."

John smiled.  "Meaning we won't have to worry about fraternization rules."

"Exactly."

"Good," John replied, "because then I can give you something I've been wanting to give you for a long time now."

"Oh really?"  Sybil was trembling with anticipation.

"Yeah, really.  It's small, round, and hidden in my quarters.  By the way, do you have any idea how difficult it is to hide something from you?" John replied, chuckling.

Ahhh, WarShip AIs in Love. It has all the makings of being a hit TriDee Soap/Space Opera

LOL.

Just wait until the real fun starts, like when John starts learning to operate his new body.

(And, yes, I've already got figured out how a virtual copy of a human brain is directing a non-human body.  It involves smoke, mirrors, and software tricks.)

[...]
And you thought Victorians would be upset by the imagery of mid-air refueling with a boom...

Hm...the onrushing downfall of human civilization? Stay tuned, I guess.  ;)

Sentient warships in love? That's always fun to write...  :D

may be way off guys, but i decided to do this... as kind of a thanks, gio and cannonshop... you might make suggestions about making it better...

Actually, I already had a design in mind, which Liam's_Ghost wrote up: the John Morgan class frigate.

(Dag nabbit, the search function on CBT is busted!)

I'd been planning to "kill off" John for quite a while now, but I was also planning on bringing him back...well, as soon as I brought Murakami back I figured I would, that is.

This just gave me the perfect opportunity to do so, and to start integrating in Liam's_Ghost's 5th Succession War, Chobi and Jac Richardson stuff even more (especially the 5th Succession War stuff).

[Trace Coburn]

[[Posted by Giovanni Blasini, 07-02-2007, 22:10:40]]

Star League Repair & Refit Yard #83
Uncharted Periphery System
February 27, 3084

Captain John Morgan and Admiral Noriko Murakami sat across from one another in the wardroom of Yard 83.  Of course, a human observer wouldn't actually see them at all, at least without a set of VR or other "augmented reality" gear - neither of them were in a physical body, instead relying on sophisticated software to tie into the even more sophisticated software emulations of their brains.  Everything, from the feel of the chairs they sat in, to the sense of gravity under their feet, to Noriko's tea and John's rum and cola, was simulated through this software, data on it passed from computer to computer, the information eventually inputted into a format the virtual neurons comprising the brains of the room's two inhabitants could process.

It was almost like being there for real.

"So," John said, "have you managed to convince Tabby to take the new ship?"

Murakami shook her head.  "She's still highly reluctant to take it.  Feels it doesn't measure up to the M-5s."

John shook his head in dismay.  "You have got to be kidding me."

Noriko shook her head.  "Oh, I really wish I was.  I'm strongly considering making it a direct order, but I'd really rather not."

"What the hell's her objection?"

Murakami shrugged.  "Acceleration's too low, structural integrity and armor protection too thin, unhappy with the main core's placement...hell, a myriad of little minor complaints."

John just stared at her.  "That's....nuts.  I mean, yeah, it's not a Caspar, but those have half the firepower of the John Morgan class..."  He trailed off, not finishing what he was saying.

"Still bothers you?"

He sighed loudly.  "Which part, having a class of frigates named after me, or being another 'ghost in the machine'?"

Noriko laughed.  "Both, naturally."

John's 'avatar' leaned forward again, putting his head in his hands.  After letting out a long, slow breath, John finally replied.  "I'm really not sure I have the words.  Don't get me wrong, this," he said, gesturing widely at their virtual briefing room, "helps a lot.  This virtual space we're working on is damned realistic, and the avatar software Sybil developed is fantastic.  But, yeah, it's still pretty weird."

"And having our new frigate class named after you?"

"That's pretty damn weird, too," John shrugged.  "I mean, it's been a year, and I still feel kind of weird about the whole thing.  I mean, do I call it the John Morgan class, the Morgan class, the 'me' class, 'my' class?"

Noriko laughed.  "Riiiiight.  That's the part that's bothering you the most about it."

"Well, there's still the whole 'Hey, we named a class of three-quarters of a million ton frigates after you.  Oh, and since you kinda died, we're giving you the first one, which we cobbled together mostly out of spare parts we found around the yard, after you...' thing, too."

"Yes," she agreed, "there is that.  Trust me, though, John, things were pretty weird for me the first couple years, too, but things did get better..  And believe me, it's the little moments like this, where things seem so little different from when we were flesh and blood, that help keep us sane.

"Yeah," John replied.  He kicked back what was left in his glass, finishing off his drink.  "I know.  And, yeah, it's not really bad per se.  It's just different, and there are days where I wonder whether I'm really the same person I was, you know?  Am I real, or just a really good facimile?"

"John, there are days I still ask myself that.  Know how I answer myself?"

He shook his head.

"I tell myself that, in the end, it doesn't really matter.  Hell, in your case, it matters a hell of a lot less than it does for me, John.  When the other Noriko, the biological one, made me, we were identical.  However, she lived for a time afterwards, returned to the Inner Sphere, and had her own experiences before she drown.  That's not the case for you, though.  From the time we hooked you up, every single thought, and every single memory got picked up, even as you slipped into unconsciousness, right up to when the damage from that radium slug finally stopped your heart, and then your physical brain activity.  There's a direct line of continuity between who you were, John, and who you are now.  If anyone can make the claim to be the same person, then, it's you."

John looked across at his mother-in-law, and nodded.  "Intellectually, I know, and can accept that.  Emotionally, I'm not quite there yet, but I'm working on it.  That's pretty much what Sybil said, too, by the way."

Noriko nodded.  "Of course.  I'm the one who pointed it out to her, after all."

"Yeah....So, Tabby."

She sighed.  "Yes, Tabby.  I'm working on it, John.  I mean, since we've used up damn near all of the spares, it's taking us so much longer to actually make all the parts we need to complete a ship now.  This last one took us damn near a full year to finish, and the next one doesn't look to be any better.  Hell, it might be worse.  Unless we come up with another solution, she's not going to have much of a choice."

John frowned.  "Maybe that's the point?"

"What do you mean?" Noriko asked.

"Well, it's not like she could get 'back in the saddle', so to speak, after the Second Battle of Terra, when we had to scrap her own hull after she took such a horrible beating.  I mean, no, we didn't have much of a choice at the time, but I'm sure it hasn't helped matters.  She hasn't had anything to build her confidence up at all, and by now, she might be afraid.  It's probably easier for her to hide, to spend time with Sybil and I, or with James and the other Tachikomas.  It's easier for her - there's no pressure, she's safe with Sybil to protect her, and so on."

"Hmm...." she mused, "you have a good point.  We're going to have to do something about that."

"Maybe require her to come up with an alternative to one of 'my' frigates, and give her a timeframe for doing so?  Oh, and we'd have to stress the idea that it's that, or she gets ship number two, and that's final.  But it'll have to be a practical idea - I mean, it's all fine and good to say 'we build something bigger and meaner', but we're limited by what we can do here."

Noriko nodded.  "The John Morgans are about the best we can do right now.  I concur.  I'll talk to her about it."

"While we're at it, though, Admiral, what about you?  I mean, sure, you're running the show here inside the yard for now, but we're going to need to take you back to the Inner Sphere with us when the time comes."

"True enough." Noriko replied.  "I still wish I had the Montbatten again.  Not only do I miss her, but it sure as hell would be nice to have a battleship with us when the time comes."  Noriko picked up her cup of tea, bringing it to her lips for a sip.

"Why can't we?"

Noriko somehow managed to keep from spraying John with tea.  "Excuse me?!"

John was nonplussed.  "Well, our last bit of intel was that the Ravens had parked the ship back in Outworlds space after the trouble over Galdeon, and just kind of left her there.  If I recall correctly, they didn't even bother repairing her.  Why not, once we've got the forces we think we need to do it, go down there and challenge them to a Trial of Possession for her?"

"You might be on to something.  Hmm...."

[Trace Coburn]

[[Posted by Cannonshop, 07-02-2007, 22:42:01]]


Yard Eighty-Three, "Hot Storage"...

"Sybil, I'm serious, the structure's too soft, and the tinfoil plating..."  Tabby folded her avatar's legs in a very little-girlish way.

"Tabby, we can't just go 'get' another M-5, at least, not right now-unless you know where a hulk's been left we didn't already salvage."  Sybil Ludington replied through a speaker-grille.  The method was inconvenient, but Tabiranth of late had taken to ignoring wireless or electronic communications during "stand down" times.  The radical change of habits had some of the other AI's worried, especially Sybil.

"I Know that. but... Sybil, the damn drive-core's almost naked, it's a pig for accelleration and fuel range, it's an eggshell with a sledgehammer.  We can do better." Tabby said.

"This isn't about 'doing better', you contributed to the layout, Tabby, what's really wrong, why all this acting out?"  Sybil asked.

The "Dark Alice" face Tabby had worn for all this time rendered a magnificent frown.

"Tell me, little older sister."  Sybil cajoled.

"I can't... I can't do it."  Tabby said.

"Can't do what?"  Sybil asked, "Are you having your nightmares again?"

"No...not exactly.  It's Orca, and Maggie...they cut them up, Sybil.  I'm not sure if I got in a body again, I wouldn't... they promised, damn it!"  Specialty plastic thumped on the decking with a sound like real flesh.  "Seeing the intel feed, it brought all of it back, okay? everything we did, everything we tried to do...they stabbed us in the back."

"What are you saying, Tabby?"  Sybil asked.

[Trace Coburn]

[[Posted by Giovanni Blasini, 27-04-2007, 22:07:09]]


Star League Repair & Refit Yard #83
Uncharted Periphery System
February 27, 3084

John boarded the transfer car down to the base of the half-kilometer grav deck buried inside the asteroid that housed Yard #83.  Once there, he headed for one of the lounges originally meant for the human staff of the enormous station.  John wasn't entirely sure why they bothered running all the amenities flesh-and-blood humans need, but, then, he wasn't sure why he was boarding the transfer car, instead of "floating" down there in the first place.  It's not like the form he wore was actually physical in the first place.

Walking into the lounge, he found his "quarry" - Tabby was there, reading a noteputer, with TKM-007 "James" keeping her company.  "Tabby, James," he greeted the pair.  "Tabby....do you have a minute?"

Tabby frowned, looking at the "human's" virtual avatar.  "You're here to talk me into taking the new Morgan class ship, aren't you?"

John nodded.  "Look, Tabby, I know it doesn't have the same acceleration profile, or as heavy a missile load, as an M-5.  On the other hand, I know it's not about the capability of the ship, is it?"

The AI's anger translated onto the features of her avatar almost instantly.  "She told you.  Damn it, she told you!"

"Damn," John thought, "she is becoming more human the longer she's just in that body."  He nodded, then continued.  "Yeah, she told me, Tabby.  What choice did she have?  Look," he sighed, "I'm not too damned happy with them right now, either.  And, yes, the Republic is mostly made up of our former friends, and, yes, they stabbed us in the back.  So what?"

"So what?!!"

"Yes, Tabby, so what?  So they stabbed us in the ****** back.  They cut up our wounded, they tried to wipe Sybil out, which would've killed you and Noriko, too, and they put a damned radium slug in my chest.  Yes, they killed me.  Yes, they betrayed us.  The question now, though, is what are we going to do about it?"

Tabby looked shaken.  "We're...going to rebuild.  We can't do that overnight...."

"No, Tabby, we can't.  We can't build up the way things are now, though, either.  We need tooling, parts and supplies, and Ngo Industries are the only ones we can rely on to sell them to us.  Without them, it's going to take us centuries to rebuild, if we're lucky.  With them, and that drops to a couple decades at the outside.  And, in the even shorter term, the Admiral has a plan to boost our strength a bit more, and she's going to need you in that ship to do it."

"I'm not sure I like the sound of that.  What does she have in mind?"

John smiled.  "Oh, nothing major.  Just challenging the Snow Ravens to a Trial of Possession for the Montbatton."

Tabby sat stiffly upright.  "Shewantstodowhatexactly?ChallengetheSnowRavensfortheMontbatton?Whatthehellisshethinkingdoing that?!"

"Slow down, Tabby.  Let's try that at a more human transmission rate, please?

She nodded, and started again, "What the hell is she thinking, John?"

"She's thinking that, with nobody knowing where Yard 83 is, we're pretty safe here for the most part.  Plus, with the Outworlds nearby, we can jump in, challenge them for a ship they don't really want in the first place, thanks to the whole stew of shit that went down at and over Galdeon, and our reputation with the Nova Cats and Jade Falcons might've cemented our reputation with the Clans enough in general that they'd consider it, especially if they get to test their mettle against Star League AIs.  It's a gamble, yes, but it's probably a worthwhile one.  We could really, really use that battleship.  And, until we can replace Sybil in the refining and minifacturing roles, she should probably stay here and keep working, rather than come with us.  That would mean the two of us, then, Tabby."

Tabby smiled, though John could tell it was mostly for show.  "Curse you and your logic, John Morgan!  OK, fine, I'll talk to Sybil, and see about having her start the transfer.  I need some time to get used to the ship before we go do something so wild."

John nodded.  "No doubt.  Look at the bright side: the learning curve shouldn't be as steep for you as it was for me, you know?"

"Tell me, John, when did you get so wise, anyway?"

"Well, I'd like to say it's been a gradual thing, but I'm sure getting killed helped, too."

Shouldn't they be calling it a trial of repossession? After all it used to be the admiral's ship. :D

Cannonshop,

My appologies if I've missed them, but are there stats for Tabby, or John Morgan-class anywhere?

ISTR, I had Giovanni Blasini do the stats for Tabby, and he created Sybil.  If someone has 'accurate' stats, it's Gio.

JediBear did up the stats originally for Tabby as part of a contest Cannonshop posted - my stats actually lost. ;) I did revise them slightly later on for the Aerotech: Succession Crisis game that ran briefly (actually, it ran for a while, just slowly on BTU), since his version had her mass at 690 kt, while a Lola series ship should be 680 kt.  Her stats can be seen here on Btechunits.com, and I've attached her HMA file.

Sybil started out as the idea for the story, but got posted first as an AT2 design.  The "finalized" (for now) version of her stats can be found over on the old CBT.com boards or in this thread on Btechunits related to the game.  [Archivist's note: links broken - I'm trying to find those stat-blocks myself]

The John Morgan class was actually conceived of and designed by Liam's_Ghost for his Fifth Succession War setting.  For some reason I can't find the HMA file for that ship at the moment. :(

[Trace Coburn]

[[Posted by Liam's Ghost, 28-04-2007, 12:47:33]]


Jumpship Keima, Unnamed star system

Was it because the jumpship was new?

Captain Tamiya Uesuto had served aboard the ships of the Imperial Colonial Fleet for just over thirty years; like his father before him (well, not exactly like his father) the blackness of space had been his single focus his entire adult life.

But after all those years, this was the first time he had ever found himself on a jumpship that was younger than he was. Not just younger, but almost alien, a marvel of new technology from its computer system to its very jump core.

That also made it unfamiliar. Was that what left Tamiya so uneasy, was it because of where the ship had come from, or was it something else he couldn't put his finger on?

The bridge door slid open without so much as a sound. The two men who drifted onto the bridge weren't so considerate, babbling away at each other in a heated tongue that was simultaneously clear and incomprehensible. Even if they'd been speaking Japanese instead of Tarin, Tamiya doubted he could understand them.

"We have almost completed our preparations for the jump," Tamiya reminded them. "We have been expecting your pressence on the bridge for some time now."

The two of them made an odd match. Proffessor Danaban of Asahikawa University was nearing sixty years of age, his hair had begun to shed its color, and Tamiya was told he suffered from a hereditary nerve disorder that was slowly sapping his life away. Aside from that, he seemed little different from a sixteen year old student.

"Terribly sorry," he replied, "I was merely explaining to my uncivilized nazi collegue here that if he hadn't been so busy gachoukougun all over the ship, he'd realize that his damnable little core system is hopelessly impractical and unstable for general use."

It took a brief moment for Tamiya to decipher gachoukougun, and even then it didn't seem to make any sense (goosemarching?). He wasn't to sure what a nazi was either, though he was certain it was pretty negative. Leave it to the professor to invent words at random.

The other man seemed to take it in stride, brushing some imaginary lint off of his pristinely pressed black and dark red uniform. "Perhaps if my esteemed Terran hippy colleague hadn't been too busy with his jailbait mistress shaking the very substructure of reality to transmit pornography at lightning speed to his decadent university students, our core wouldn't be decaying at an accelerated rate."

Well this was going well. "Does somebody want to tell me what is going on here?" Words like Core and Decay in the same sentence made him nervous.

Professor Danaban looked surprised for a moment, but quickly got over it. "Oh yeah, it's nothing to worry about. It seems that our tenshinsou system is interacting with the Blue Core. Residual signals and new transmissions are radiating through it and causing it to decay," he looked back to the other man, "which I could have told you would happen. Don't you people at Port Sur do testing for this sort of thing? Why the hell did we give you a Tenshinsou if you don't understand what the thing does?"

Tamiya didn't wait for the Port Sur man to hit back. "And what does this mean?"

"It means we will have a decreased range of operation," the Port Sur man, Lt. Colonel Luther Tanzarian, replied. "Marginally so. The ship is in no danger, however you may find it necessary to cut your patrol short to prevent drive contamination. The Keima is one of the first ships to use the blue core system, and the first one to operate in an environment as... eccentric as the region of space around your home system. Unfortunately when pushing new frontiers, we face new challenges, often ones we cannot predict."

"Especially if we are not bothering to look," Danaban quipped.

"That's enough," Tamiya said. "This ship will be ready for its jump in..." he looked over to one of the crewmen expectantly.

"All preparations for jump will be completed in three minutes, sir," the crewman replied.

"Three minutes. Now tell me plainly, if I order this ship to jump, are we all going to die?"

Colonel Tanzarian shook his head. "The drive core is operating at full capabilities, despite this unforseen occurence."

"She'll be fine," Professor Danaban agreed. "Unforseen mistakes aside."

"Very well," Tamiya said. "If you gentlemen would take your stations?"

The Keima was a small ship, all told less than two dozen men called the ship home, and two thirds of those were the marines and crews of her military escort and supporting craft. Therefore all primary functions were controlled entirely from the bridge. Colonel Tanzarian took his place next to the engineer, Professor Danaban found his seat between the computer officer and the commander. As the minutes ticked by, Tamiya leaned over to the professor. "Are you certain this is going to work?"

Danaban nodded, making some notes on a paper notepad as he did. Tamiya noticed Danaban wrote his notes in the Tarin language, but that wasn't really surprising. "She made the eight jumps from Port Sur to Man'yoshu just fine," he said, "and she's only on her second one on this tank of goop. Port Sur may be a dictatorship under the control of a cold hearted bastard, and they may not have half our research capacity or money, but they built a good ship, and the concept is sound. With our help, she'll be a lot better than sound."

"Final preparations are complete for jump, captain," the engineer reported.

"There is one thing they have over us," Danaban continued. "Something someone like your dad might have appreciated."

Tamiya looked back. "And that is?"

"They know how to make a V sound."

Tamiya laughed despite himself. Yes, his father would have appreciated that almost as much as Danaban no doubt did.

"Sound the jump alarm," he ordered for the benefit of those marines and supporting crew who weren't on the bridge. "Initiate jump sequence."

[Trace Coburn]

[[Posted by GiovanniBlasini, 28-04-2007, 13:15:59]]


Star League Repair & Refit Yard #83
Uncharted Periphery System
March 8, 3084

["NEUTRINO FLARE!  ALL SHIPS TO GENERAL QUARTERS!"]

John immediately "sat" upright in his "bed", and turned to Sybil.  "Say what?!"

"I've got a neutrino flare on sensors.  Something small:  an Explorer class, or something similar, perhaps.  If I didn't know better, I'd have said it was closer to a Union class, but it just appeared.  Wait, sensor drones are reporting in: I confirm an unknown JumpShip design.  Mass and spectrographic readings indicate a fifty kiloton JumpShip, at nadir jump point.  Transmitting coordinates to your helper AIs, and to Tabby."

Nodding, John gave his wife a quick kiss, then stood up.  "I better shag ass back to my bridge, then."  He snapped his fingers, and reappeared on the bridge of the John Morgan.

["Murakami to all ships.  Sybil, you're to stay here and protect the yard.  John, Tabby, pull a 'Crazy Jane' and keep that ship from leaving.  Find out who they are, and if they're Republic, eliminate them immediately.  Anyone else, I want that ship boarded and under our control yesterday, and I want to know how the hell they found us."]

Tabby broke into the shared datanet.  ["Understood, Admiral.  Ready, John?"]

John reviewed the jump coordinates Sybil had provided him, based on the nearly hour-hold data from the drones left at the zenith point.  ["Jump point confirmed, drive core and LF battery charge nominal.  Ready on your mark, Tabby."]

The Tabiranth's amusement spread across the datanet.  ["Very well.  Jump in three, two, one...MARK!"]

Both John Morgan class frigates forcibly pushed their way into a new quantum state, each reappearing less than ninety kilometers from the unidentified JumpShip, which was now caught between them.

["Unidentified JumpShip, this is the SLS Tabiranth.  You have entered a restricted SLDF facility without authorization.  Stand to and prepare to be boarded!"

John joined Tabby in launching two assault shuttles, loaded down with two dozen Tachikoma drones each.  That still left John with more than a hundred in reserve, in the unlikely event he had to repel a counter-boarding.

"Well, this should be interesting."

[Trace Coburn]

[[Posted by Liam's Ghost, 28-04-2007, 14:15:32]]


ICS Keima

"The wanderer, kami, and saints protect us."

It was an old prayer uttered for desperate times, and Tamiya couldn't falt the helmsman for choosing now.

"Confirmed two capital warships close aboard," the sensor officer reported. "Small craft are inbound."

"All battlestations are manned and ready," this was from the comuter officer, not that it would matter much. They had all of ten marines and two fighters to defend themselves. "Our fighters are ready to launch on your order."

"The Word of Blake," the engineer said. He was strangely calm. This was the second time he'd been staring down the guns of a capital warship. The first time had been at Anton during the war, though then he'd been on a capital warship of his own.

"They said SLDF," Professor Danaban responded, "not Word of Blake." Danaban very likely hadn't missed that the SLDF no longer existed, he simply had more pressing concerns. "We are surrendering, right?"

"It's the same damn thing," Colonel Tanzarian spat, then turned his attention to Tamiya. "We can't let them take this ship, captain."

"How do you propose I stop them?" Tamiya asked quietly. He didn't feel half as calm as he sounded. Wanderer, Christ, Tentei, Goddess, whoever the hell is up there, please, please don't let this mean the war is starting again! "All stations, we are surrendering. Communications, send over the Tenshinsou network, first priority, at least two warships, possibly other forces at present location. Escape impossible, am surrendering the ship."

The communcations officer nodded his understanding. He tried to be brave about it, but his hands were shaking. "Aye sir."

"Dump our sensor logs over the network," he continued. "Keep transmitting until they board, get as much information out as you can, then hit the destruct on the transmitter." It was a new feature brought about by the 37th year war, in order to protect the security of the rest of the Tenshinsou network. "Sensors, I want you to burn a hole in space. If there's a guy on an asteroid on the far side of the system taking a crap, I want the militia to know about it."

The two officers acknowledged. Tamiya wondered how much information they'd be able to get out. He also wondered if the warships out there would blast them to fragments in the next couple of minutes.

An odd thought struck him. His Tarin was atrocious. "Professor Danaban," he said, he didn't dare ask this of Tanzarian. "Could you take care of..."

Danaban nodded. "Gladly," he said. "I like living."

Tamiya nodded. "Communications, it's time we responded."

The communications officer nodded and pressed a few buttons. "Go ahead, sir," he said to the proffessor.

Professor Danaban nodded and spoke in flawless English. "SLS Tabiranth, this is Professor William Donovan of the Imperial Colonial Ship Keima. We are standing down."

37th year of war?  Huh? Huh? Huh?

Who have they been fighting since about 3047, at least two years prior to the Clans hitting the Periphery?  Hell, I don't think the Clans even had forces on the Exodus Road back then.

37th Year War (no "of"). It's complicated, but then everything that has to do with their calenders is complicated. The war in question actually took place in the early to mid 70s.

are these the chappies from [Strangers in a Strange Land]?

Not any of the specific characters (at least not yet :) ) but yeah.

37th Year War (no "of"). It's complicated, but then everything that has to do with their calenders is complicated. The war in question actually took place in the early to mid 70s.

Are they armed with 38th Year Fighters and 19th Year Laser Rifles as well?  ;)

[Trace Coburn]

[[Posted by Cannonshop, 28-04-2007, 21:27:47]]


SLS Tabiranth...

Their sensors spiked her detectors, as a voice on a communications-grade carrier-wave said, in flawless (but organic) English, "SLS Tabiranth, this is Professor William Donovan of the Imperial Colonial Ship Keima. We are standing down." 

["they're shining a flashlight."]  Tabby reported,

Tabby reached across space with her arrays...and snarled in frustration.  The John Morgan class was made to carry a crew.  Her EW arrays felt weak, pathetic compared to the electronic warfare muscles she'd had as a Caspar.  inwardly, she simply ran a series of targeting sims, determining where the least damage could result in total elimination of the sensor system, and weighing the possibility of a Bluff.

"Cease Radiating, Kiema, and stand away from your controls, or I will Make you cease radiating.  This is a Classified Naval Facility.  SLDF Regulation 2242.3 states that espionage efforts against Star League Facilities are to be met with lethal force.  I'd rather Not blow holes in a bunch of Lost Colonists, you have three seconds to comply from my mark...Mark."

Nanoseconds stretched as eternities, and Tabby ran sims and sensor-sweeps to determine the minimum force necessary to isolate and capture the humans aboard the vessel, along with weighing the options of simply killing them all and sorting through the wreck for answers.

[Trace Coburn]

[[Posted by GiovanniBlasini, 28-04-2007, 21:43:26]]


Aboard the SLS John Morgan

["Tabby, what the hell is it?"]  John's "ghost" simulation had been cranked up to 30 times faster than a normal human.  He still wasn't as fast as Sybil or Tabby, but he could almost keep up.  Besides, they now had a minute and a half subjective before the 3-second deadline would be up.

["Non-standard FTL comm system.  I don't have much data on it - the SLDF abandoned the tech for much-faster HPGs, but they're broadcasting to someone, and my EW arrays just aren't powerful enough - they were meant to be used with humans aboard."]

["Well, yeah, Tabby.  We're running Mk 83 Congress spares.  Until we can make something better...but, hey, you caught it.  I didn't."]

["Worry about that later.  Send your Tachikomas here, I'm sending mine here.  We overwhelm them quickly, we'll encourage them to surrender, and find out who the hell they were broadcasting to."]

"Cease Radiating, Kiema, and stand away from your controls, or I will Make you cease radiating.  This is a Classified Naval Facility.  SLDF Regulation 2242.3 states that espionage efforts against Star League Facilities are to be met with lethal force.  I'd rather Not blow holes in a bunch of Lost Colonists, you have three seconds to comply from my mark...Mark."

*grin* Three cheers for justified paranoia!

["Non-standard FTL comm system.  I don't have much data on it - the SLDF abandoned the tech for much-faster HPGs, but they're broadcasting to someone, and my EW arrays just aren't powerful enough - they were meant to be used with humans aboard."]

I've always wondered why the FedCom never tried to take advantage of that to put ComStar out of business... ;) I'm presuming that one of our war-ladies has enough specs to build their own?

[Trace Coburn]

[[Posted by Liam's Ghost, 29-04-2007, 03:36:39]]


One-one thousand...

You could do a lot of thinking in three seconds, when you really had to. For the moment (seconds?) Tamiya had to struggle with his choice. Keep broadcasting, make certain as much information would make it out as possible, and ensure their destruction, or shut down and save his crew.

We've sent out enough that home will know we're in trouble. He could almost imagine it was his father saying the words. You have to protect your ****** crew!

Two-one thousand...

"Kill the system," he ordered.

The communications officer complied imediately. Somewhere in the bowels of the ship, raw electricity tore through the Tenshinsou transmitter, reducing its innards to useless slag. The sensor officer hesitated.

Three-one thousand.... four- one thousand...

Finally he complied with his captain's orders, and the Keima's sensors went dark.

[Trace Coburn]

[[Posted by Cannonshop, 29-04-2007, 05:38:19]]


Tabiranth...

At Three-point-five Seconds, the strobing of sensors ceased.  Good reaction time.  Tabby ran an even dozen boarding simulations while she also ran a sensor record of the Kiema, diagnostics on her 'avatar',  and conducted a fault isolation routine on the starboard aft weapons.

["They've stopped strobing.  I'm not sure how much they sent out, and I'd assume that if the FTL comm is intended to be a secret, they'll probably have someone with an arc-welder and a hammer removing the gear before our boarding parties are inside, Mother?"] she sent.

Admiral Murikami's reply arrived a few seconds later.  ["Reasonable guess.  How is the boarding going?"]

Tabby checked with James.  ["Surface of the vessel is secured, Primary teams now prepping the airlock portside for the Entry unit.  Want a feed from my Alice?"]

John Morgan interrupted, ["Tabby, you didn't shoot..? okay, can I stand down the antishipping batteries now?]

["Don't be such a Human, John, just 'cause they only delayed half a second before complying doesn't mean they're not a threat-presence!"] Tabby chided him, ["Wait until we've secured the interior, particularly engine room and bridge areas, before you ease up.  If that FTL comm is one of their 'big secrets'-and I think it probably is, some dickhead might decide to go down fighting, and even a little hull like that can contain some surprises."]

["I Know That, I'm getting an odd fault on my portside weapons array, and I'm having trouble chasing it down.  I'd like to stand down those guns for now until I've got it locked."]  John replied.

["Itchy, or numb?"] Tabby asked.

["um... kinda numb."] John responded.

["Full Bay's worth, or are we talking across the system?"] She added.

["Um...it's jumping around the system."] he said, ["It's like having part of my hand going to sleep at random."]  John's reply was irritated.

["I told them this might happen... Okay, John, here's what you do-"]  She sent a file across.

["That's going to fix it?"] He sounded skeptical.

["Yeah, that's going to fix it.  The mark-eighty-three targeting systems were lowest-bidder gear, like everything else we have.  You've got a wandering voltage from a short in the network processors-it happens, especially when you're shaking down.  You're right on to stand down those portside weapons until we can do a full work-up, in the meantime, roll over and train starboard on the hostiles, and detail four of your Tachikomae and a team of marionettes to start doing a hardware diagnostic beginning at panel 443-check the physical hardware, don't rely on the BITE panels for anything but junction-box duties.  During the Caspar shakedowns at Titan, we had to run spiders after the human techs finished through the same series.  Usually it's something small-like a piece of FOD in one of the sealed components or a thermal-treat that didn't take properly, but my first hull had a major issue with the DACU at Fifteen frame, so it can be serious."]  She sent a grin-smiley, ["You should also listen to your wife, and don't be such a wuss when I razz you about acting all human-style."]

man i was holding my breath.  looking forward to more

[Trace Coburn]

[[Posted by Giovanni Blasini, 27-04-2007, 10:38:08]]


TKM-072, one of the Tachikomas assigned to the John Morgan (and a "veteran" that had survived the war aboard the Sybil Ludington), had grappled itself to the hull of the JumpShip, now identified as the Keima.  Currently, he was working on opening up one of the emergency airlocks - opening up the door was always better than cutting your way through the wall, especially when you were trying to preserve the lives of fragile humans on the other side of those walls.

Across the hull of the ship, other Tachikomas, some from the Morgan, others the Tabiranth, were doing the same.  Just as he had just accessed the outer door, they had opened one of the engineering airlocks near the KF drive and fusion plants, ones normally used for repair and maintenance on the ship.

After overriding security on the outer hatch, 072 disengaged his grapples and entered the airlock.  ["TKM-072 to squad.  Outer door open.  Security codes attached on subcarrier B.  Airlock can only accomodate two of us at a time.  One-Ninety-Five, you're with me on the first cycle.  After we're inside, 196 and 197 will go next."]

["Acknowledged."]  ["Roger roger!"]  ["On my way, sir!"]

TKM-195, one of the three rookies assigned to 072, filed in next to him in the airlock.  Oh-Seven-Two hit the control to close the outer door and repressurize the airlock.  Long seconds ticked by until the lights turned green, and TKM-072 could open the inner door.  Weapons at the ready, he pushed off out of the airlock, with 195 directly behind him.   The two set up fire positions to guard for the rest of the squad as the inner airlock door closed behind them.  Two humans stared, mouths agape, at the pair of Tachikomas.  As leader of the squad who, they thought, was closest to the JumpShip's bridge, 072 took charge.  "Keep your hands where we can see them.  I'm Tachikoma 072, assigned to the SLS John Morgan.  You will take me to your bridge immediately."

["Sir!  How can you know they will cooperate?"]

["Because we are in control here, and we have encountered cooperation so far.  In all probability, they will not stop cooperating now."]

Walking into the lounge, he found his "quarry" - Tabby was there, reading a noteputer, with TKM-007 "John" keeping her company.  "Tabby, John," he greeted the pair.  "Tabby....do you have a minute?"

Erm... I thought Tabby dubbed TKM-007 "James"?  Huh? (As in "Bond".)

With that nit picked, keep it coming, fellas!  It's gonna be, uhm, 'interesting' to see how the Man'yoshu and SLNiE take to each other.  Certainly the 'boarding party' has made (and will make) an impression....  :D

("Rookie" Tachikomae - heh.  Based on "Tachikoma Time", you'd think they're *all* rookies....  :D)

Erm... I thought Tabby dubbed TKM-007 "James"?  Huh? (As in "Bond".)

He is.  I had a brain fart. :( *grumble grumble*  Fixed it, though.

With that nit picked, keep it coming, fellas!  It's gonna be, uhm, 'interesting' to see how the Man'yoshu and SLNiE take to each other.  Certainly the 'boarding party' has made (and will make) an impression....  :D

("Rookie" Tachikomae - heh.  Based on "Tachikoma Time", you'd think they're *all* rookies....  :D)

Not necessarily.  Tachikomas are smart, and can send/receive information faster than a human, they don't think any faster than a human, really.  And, like the Tachikomas in the show, they share strategy and tactis with one another, eventually, they stopped syching every aspect of their personality - that's why you have distinctive ones like "James" or 078.

Of course, they weren't originally supposed to be quite as smart as the batch Sybil upgraded, either:  she upgraded their on-board computers at the expense of their passenger compartment.  Do the new ones have the same upgrades, or were there not enough components to go around?

["Acknowledged."]  ["Roger roger!"]  ["On my way, sir!"]

Argh. You had to do that, didn't you? ::)

Wait, what?  I mean, we've got Episode 1 and Starcraft covered there!  :P

Actually, only "roger roger" occurred to me at the time.  I was just trying to come up with three different acknowledgments, and that's what my brain filled in.

You should've thrown in the grunts of acknowledgement from Age of Empires I.

As a response after commands are acknowledged, "Very Well" is a good option.

I was just trying to come up with three different acknowledgments, and that's what my brain filled in.

Your brain is dangerous. ;)
No, i really love all the references in these stories (with Sybil quoting Ivanova still being the best), but i could hear those acknowledgements when i read that line, it was almost too much :D

I've heard the argument that modern mass media will probably slow the rate of change in some ways, especially with greater globalization

Oh definitely, check out the mess that was (is?) the german spelling reform...

Good to see the English language hasn't changed in a thousand years.
Undoubtedly there's been some change, but I've heard the argument that modern mass media will probably slow the rate of change in some ways, especially with greater globalization, though I don't want to get into the "English as a standard" in the modern world.

The canon seems to have pushed a similar concept, though, with the idea of "Star League Standard English".  That is what Sybil, Tabby, Murakami and the Tachikomas speak, and given that people still know what the hell Kerensky was saying in his speeches, and English presented in Jihad-era books sounds more or less the same (with the exception of the Clanners ;) ), then I'd say there wasn't much change between the 2780s and 3080s.  :D

[Trace Coburn]

[[Posted by Liam's Ghost, 29-04-2007, 18:39:38]]


For a moment, the first marine couldn't comprehend the words of the machine in front of him. His mind was too lost in shock and wonder and fear to register meaning to a language he'd never bothered to study well.

Oh gods! A sea spider! Oh gods oh gods... He'd never thought he'd see one in his life, never even really believed they were real! Just a story passed down by people too paranoid or too superstitious to think clearly, and yet they stood before him now!

The second marine was quicker to react, perhaps better able to handle the surprise. He responded as best as he could. "I inform captain," he said, his voice heavily accented. "Then take to bridge."



[[Posted by Liam's Ghost, 30-04-2007, 04:09:22]]


The bridge

Tamiya didn't know what to think when he heard the report from the marine. "Four umigumo."

He didn't want to believe it, either, but he saw the surveilance footage. He saw the... things... climbing all over the Keima's hull and entering the ship. They were just as the rumors decribed.

Just as his father had decribed to him long ago. Umigumo, sea spiders, the servants of the Goddess, here, now.

What in her name have we stumbled into?!

He wanted to turn to Professor Danaban for answers, but the professor seemed as lost to the surprise as he was. Just as lost trying to understand. Finally he spoke.

"They aren't umigumo," he said. "They can't be. The design is... different, similar, but different, and they're speaking English." The professor didn't seem to be speaking to anybody in particular. "They called themselves SLDF... there were rumours of something... but... Oh god's hon! It can't be!"

"What is it, Professor?" Tamiya demanded. "What are these things?"

"You know something, Professor," Colonel Tanzarian barked in english, "Tell us! Another one of your creations?"

Professor Danaban looked back to both men, finally aware of his surroundings. He began massaging his right shoulder, opening and closing his right hand as though he was trying to loosen up his fingers. He did that when he was excited. "Not our work, but... Captain, I need to use the transmitter!"

"The transmitter is burned out, Professor," Tamiya reminded him. "Tell us what we're up against."

"Damnnation!" Danaban didn't even try to put that word into Japanese. "I don't know what it is. It might be her father's work, or..."

"Her father's... Who's father?"

Danaban didn't answer. He only winced, then pushed himself back towards his seat. When he grabbed an arm rest to halt his momentum, he winced again and nearly lost his grip.

It was his nerve disorder, Tamiya realized. He's so distracted he can't hide how much pain he's in. "Mr. Kurenai," he said to the computer officer, who pulled double duty as the medical officer, "attend to Professor Danaban."

The computer officer nodded his acknowledgement, but Professor Danaban waved him off as he settled into his seat. "I'm fine," he said. "None of your drugs right now. You're going to need me alert, whatever these things are."

[Trace Coburn]

[[Posted by Cannonshop, 30-04-2007, 08:26:16]]


Tabiranth...

The Marines were whispering.  She heard it over fourteen's external audio pickups.  It was...familiar, but wrong. {Run Language Match}

Tabby's Electronic Warfare emitters might have been down, but she still had billions of lines of decryption algorithms, and hundereds of language vocabulary files from and for each major ethnic group.

Partial Match Found.  She did a quick check on Fourteen's upgrade status.  The Tachikoma was one of the four "NCO" Tachikomae that Sybil upgraded.

["Fourteen-er, Chester.  I'm downloading a Lingua file fragment. that's an 88% match to what the crewmen are using.  Please engage the next one in conversation and utilize the decryption algorithms to filter an update on his dialect.  Continue sending visual and auditory, but kick me anything you translate using the Algorithm, even if it seems to be incorrect."]

Fourteen acknowledged the data-reciept, but asked ["Why? Do you think they're plotting?"}

["Security.  Also, if the tone is right, they seem to think you and the other Tachikomae are something special-while this might work to our advantage, it could also be a serious problem for us."] Tabby responded, ["I'd like to have some idea of which before the Admiral has to decide whether to terminate life support on them, or let them go their way."] Tabby told him.



[[Posted by Cannonshop, 02-05-2007, 08:57:31]]


Airlock forward, Keima...

The lock cycled, and a suited figure walked in using mag-locking boots on a space suit.

["James, are the corridors to the bridge secured?"]  Tabby asked.

["Affirmative, you're bringing your avatar out of the shuttle already?"] Tachikoma 007 asked.

["Yes.  The tones I've been picking up from the humans aboard indicate awe and fear at your appearance-these people have some kind of spider issue, and they may feel a bit less likely to do something irrational with a more 'human' face to look at."] Tabby responded.

The figure took off its helmet, revealing a girl in her younger teens.  "You speak English?" she demanded from a Marine, in Japanese.

He looked a bit confused at her accenting, but then he shook his head, "No, and I barely understand your dialect."  He told her.

"Take me to your Captain." She said, "We will speak along the way-you will tell me about your family and friends-nothing classified, and you will tell your name, so that I do not have to address you like a non-person."

The Avatar Tabby used should have looked completely human.  Unfortunately, sometimes details are missed-in this case, in her rush, she'd forgotten that real people very rarely have such regular pores, and her movements in "Human drag" were still too smooth, especially for a slightly-built girl in a bulky space-suit.

"Who are you?" he asked, at least, that's what she first thought he asked.  Then she realized he'd asked 'what are you?'  The sensors she'd installed in the body showed elevated heart-rate and nervous perspiration, along with other signs of adrenal activity including dialation of the pupils and slight shaking.  Not good.

"I am not going to hurt or harm you-get real, this body is half your size and has less reach, and while it is not un-escorted, you certainly have sufficient weaponry to terminate it if you have to, before going down." The tactical assessment was a lie-Tabby was finding it easier to lie, since the war.

"My name is Hiro, I am a...simple soldier." he said.  She noted that he carefully avoided using family names or ranks, and did not identify his unit affiliation or origin. good discipline.

"Well, Hiro, I am Tabiranth, I am pleased to meet you."  she said, carefully avoiding revealing more than what he could already deduce.

"I will call my Captain."  Hiro said, "I can not lead (something unintelligible) the ship." he said.

"I understand, we will wait, and converse here."  Tabby said, "I would also suggest that you advise your commander that while a backup is probably a good procedure, there is limited space here for infantry to deploy, even in null-gee, and my Tachikomae have the entire zone around this airlock under observation.  Hostile moves will be met with lethal force.  I do not wish this." she smiled mechanically at him, and he kind of flinched.
I've GOT to work on my facial expression.  the smile should have lowered, not increased, his tension.

"You are not human." Hiro said, as if he were nerving himself up.

"um...no." she admitted, "I'm not.  I tried to make this face as human as possible, but I have not mastered expressions yet, or body-language that humans use to communicate subliminally."  He looked surprised-The lingua decryption was giving her a better grasp of his dialect.

Her admission had an interesting effect on him.  His heart rate almost doubled, and his extremities trembled.

"Um, calm down, okay? I mean you no harm, Hiro." she said as soothingly as she could manage, "If I did, I would not want to know your name, would I?  I would not ask you to talk about simple domestic matters, or other non-military things, would I? Hmm?"

His eyes were dialated, and he was frightened, but he indicated that he understood that last bit-his heart rate started slowing, and his skin temperature moved toward more normal ranges.

[Trace Coburn]

[[Posted by Liam's Ghost, 03-05-2007, 09:48:13]]


The bridge

"Bloody hand," Colonel Tanzarian spat. "Unnatural, godless augmented humans." The ship's internal security system tracked the new arrival as she passed through the coridors.

"Jinzouningen" Tamiya said in reply. Cyborg or robot, literally man made person.

"Agents of the goddess," the sensor officer said in awe, "her voice and hands in our world."

Professor Danaban barked a laugh. "A human not used to her new cybernetic frame more likely. Let's not try to turn this mess into an existential quest for enlightenment."

Tamiya nodded. Jinzouningen were a new sight to many, more rumor than truth like the sea spiders themselves even as lifelike cybernetic prostetics became more and more common. He had met only two himself, and even that was under the most extraordinary of circumstances. Blakist Cyborgs, the so called Bloody Hands, had spread their infamy across Port Sur during the war, but Man'yoshu had been untouched by them. This had created two very different mindsets to the idea of cybernetic augmentation.

"Monsters like these helped devastate my world!" Tanzarian snapped. "And yet you people would embrace these abominations and hand over to them everything we've achieved!"

"I'm pretty sure most of the devastation to your world came from your leader bombarding large parts of it with a battlecruiser," Professor Danaban replied, pausing for a moment to wince again. "And nobody seems to be embracing anything. You might not have noticed, Colonel, but everybody here is scared spitless."

"What do you want me to do, Colonel Tanzarian," Tamiya asked. "Do you want me to make a fight of it and force them to destroy the Keima?"

"Yes," Tanzarian replied with conviction. "The Word of Blake brought death to Port Sur because they wanted the secrets of our Blue Core system. Whoever these monsters serve, we cannot allow these outsiders to claim it now!"

"If you haven't noticed, it's already been claimed!" Professor Danaban snapped back. "This thing is crawling with... those cheap knockoff sea spider wanabes. We can't do a damn thing and you damn well know it!"

"She's almost to the bridge, captain," the computer officer reported.

Tamiya nodded. "That's enough from both of you," he said. "At present we have to accept that this ship is taken, and there's nothing we can do about it. It will be roughly thirty hours before the homeworld recieves our alert and can begin to formulate a response, even with the best of luck, it will be another week before they could bring enough force to bear to have a hope of getting us out of this, and that's if they can talk our allies into lending us aid."

"Port Sur will not allow this ship and its secrets to remain in the hands of these abominations," Colonel Tanzarian stated forcefully. Professor Danaban laughed again.

"Where in the Bible does it cover the evils of cybernetics?" he asked. Colonel Tanzarian ignored him.

"We may have to accept that we could be abandoned in order to protect Man'yoshu and Port Sur," Tamiya continued, "No matter how valuable this ship's core is. In any case, we can expect to be guests of our new more than human friends for some time. I want all of you to remember what that means." He looked over his small crew, meeting eyes with each in turn. "We are very far from home, surrounded by a potentially very hostile force who will want to know everything they can about us, for whatever reason, and will likely use any advantage they can find. Protect what you can, and protect yourselves, and with some luck we'll get out of this alive."

Those damned Fundamentalists...

Where is the other part of the story (the Man'yoshu and the Port Sur) from?

If you see a fanfic story with Liam's_Ghost's name on it, just read it.  ;)  He's got quite a few, and they're all really good.  Most of them have bearing on what's going on.

I just have this hilarious mental image of first contact involving Tabby's Avatar/the Tachis pointing at the crew, and the crew pointing back, and both parties simultaneously yelling "Who the HELL ARE you?  WHAT are you? What are you doing HERE?"  in mutually unintelligible languages  :D

Most of them have bearing on what's going on.

Though the link is thin in many cases at this point. I've gotta get back to work on Side Stories and Strangers in a Strange Land, and... heck! I should really think about getting around to starting Eight Days at some point...

Ah yes, but then there's "Where My Heart Lies", too.  Great stuff you did there, dude.

[Trace Coburn]

[[Posted by Cannonshop, 03-05-2007, 22:43:56]]


Tabby... 

There were two guards kitted as marines at the hatch entry of the bridge, Tabby sighed, and nodded to her escort.

Tachikoma 007 clawed along the bulkhead, and extracted their rifles without doing much harm.

"Open." she said in Japanese, gesturing at the door.

One of the Marines balked, but the other one reacted.  She couldn't decide what sort of fear drove his actions-and at this point, it was immaterial.

She stepped in, "Leading with the chin" for signs of resistance.

"Okay, here is how it is-I am going to examine your data, ask you questions, and you're going to let me, and you are going to answer my questions.  The intention is that nobody dies, since my walk through this ship indicates that you are not affiliated with our enemies, and I do not want to kill innocent people if I can avoid it."

"What are you?" a middle-aged man asked.  Tabby didn't bother to hack their personnel files, it was difficult enough maintaining a datalink to the drone. 

"Um... I'm the Warship off your starboard bow, the one with all those big weapons pointed at you.  This  is just a...remote.  a means to communicate with you in a manner that is intended to put you at ease by providing a face that you can confront." she told him.

"You're the remote for the crew?" someone else asked.

"No, I'm the remote for the Ship.  I don't have a crew, I don't need one, and I don't want one." she said, "that's Sybil's thing, not mine.  I have damn little use for organics inside my hull, and I don't like how your type die so easily and after such a short time.  Sybil and The Admiral have differing views, but I'm the one tapped to play diplomat today."

:D  And that phrasing is your honest interpretation of diplomatic, isn't it, Tabby?  :D

Tabby: "tact"... is for meatbags.

most of the time less tact means less blood.... more hurt fellings but less hurt heads  }:), unless beer is around  :D

'Tact'; USMC style; "The ability to tell someone to 'Go to Hell', and have them ask for directions."

[Trace Coburn]

[[Posted by Liam's Ghost, 04-05-2007, 06:06:30]]


"We will not resist," Tamiya said, doing his best to conceal his own anxiety. He'd grown up with an intimate understanding of those things that so many refered to as the workings of the Goddess. He knew the things that were very real, and he thought he knew the things that were nothing but fantasy... A self driven warship was beyond everything but the wildest fantasies of the goddess worshipers, something he had never, ever taken seriously, and yet now this... remote? ...told him it was very real.

"I can appreciate your sentiment," Professor Danaban said, gritting his teeth as his own central nervous system shot another wave of pain through his body. "Us biological systems can be pretty unreliable and maintenance intensive."

"But we're human," Colonel Tanzarian snapped. "God's children, not some creation trying to ape God's image."

Professor Danaban shook his head. "You'll have to forgive my learned colleague," he said. "Someone hit him in the head too many times with a Bible. Anyway, I have two names in mind, and I was wondering if either of them sounds familiar. The first is Nobuyuki Aoki. The second, and it's been a while since I've heard it so I might get it wrong, is Noriko Murakami."

Tamiya glanced back to Professor Danaban. Who?

*Cue the Tabby avatar answering the front door, and turning back to yell "Moooom! It's for you!"*

[gladius]

Ye merciful gods above and below ... it's back!

Edit: it may just be a repost, but it signifies renewed interest!

...

... don't look at me like that.

[Dragon Cat]

I vaguely remember this nice to see it back

[Giovanni Blasini]

I not only have Sybil's specs, I recently created a file for the "M-12 Congress variant" for MegaMek.  My biggest pain in the neck is that, despite setting the crew attribute to 0, it still insists on a crew in MekHQ.  I'll see about posting both later.

Amusingly, it's actually more up to date than the John Morgan specs, which were possibly pre-StratOps, and definitely pre-Liberation of Terra and SDS rules.

[Red Pins]

I like this - are you still writing this?

[worktroll]

Tagged for great glory

[Giovanni Blasini]

I like this - are you still writing this?

Not..exactly?  Trace still has more of this story to post from the archives, but Liam, Cannonshop and I kind of got stuck before we finished.

Some related or semi-related stories that take place after this one:

...And I Feel Fine
...And I Feel Fine: Book II

I know Liam says they're basically an AU of his/our AU, but it led to this continuation of the Sybil/Tabby/Chobi story:

AIs Gone Wild!

Amusingly, when I first started writing Sybil more than twelve years ago, I already had an ending in mind for the character: Sybil showing up, battered and beaten, in another galaxy, intent on restarting humanity from the "Ark" package she carried, after the disaster the Inner Sphere became.  I'd originally envisioned her slowboating to, say, one of the Magellanic Clouds, over 70,000 years, nearly entirely insane.  Then the Word of Blake super jump rules got published, making it a hell of a lot easier, and then Liam started the "...And I Feel Fine" series, which gave me ample opportunity.

Swear I'll get back to "AIs Gone Wild!" at some point, probably after I reread all of "...And I Feel Fine".

[Dave Talley]

waiting for more

[Trace Coburn]

[[Posted by Cannonshop, 04-05-2007, 08:51:22]]


The remote froze for a moment.  ["MOM!!!"]  She relayed what the Professor had said, while she also examined the statements of the others.  She prioritized her next steps, analyzed the tactical situation in the room, and ran an assessment.

"Professor ... Danaban?" she answered him, "Admiral Murakami is...known to me." Tabby said,  "I think Sybil is better at this than I am, but she's still out of range.  We only use the FTL comms interstellar, so commo has to crawl at einsteinian speeds in-system.  Admiral Murakami was my...um... she made me different from the other Caspars in the M-5 project, and she headed up the M-6 Colonist Defense project before her..." (Murder) "Death.  She designed my processor architecture, and wrote the alteration to the original SLDF protocols that allowed me to resist the Amaris Coup."

"There's no record of a Caspar resisting Amaris."  Tarzanian said.

"Damn right there isn't.  Try being the one person against thousands who isn't following a psychotic leader because their brains were cut up and reprogrammed.  I had to fight from a low-profile, I virused the defenses at Dieron, which allowed the SLDF to take the system with less than eighty-percent casualties."  Tabby told him, "I sabotaged my own kind because I believed that it would serve my primary function of serving and defending the Star League.  The others were dumbed-down by a badly concieved 'upgrade' that made them vulnerable to anyone with the right set of command codes-including the Usurper."  she stuck her chin forward, and met his eyes, "My reward for that, was watching as three quarters of the SLDF abandoned all those billions of people to three centuries of war and horror, and it hasn't ended yet...but I'm through with trying to intervene in human affairs."  Tabby didn't know that the 'avatar' was showing her emotional pain, and the grief.  "There's no record, Colonel, because I made certain there would be none,," she finished, "It wasn't hard-they didn't bother to listen, so I stopped trying to talk to them."  She sighed, "Up until, that is, someone sought me out.  Do you know what it's like to want to self-terminate, but you can't?  I lived that way for a LONG time."

"Here?" Danaban asked.

"No.  I didn't know this facility existed-it wasn't data available to me.  Sybil knew it, and the Admiral knew it.  I was alone for a Long Time."  she said, "I drifted between systems in the black, and occasionally hit remnant automated bases and caches and the like for fuel."  she sighed, "And while I drifted, I Listened.  The original M-5 series used an HPG for communication to bases and that, combined with the normal-space commo arrays, allowed me to eavesdrop on humanity.  I was waiting for a sign that it was time to come out of hiding, and I got it."

"Your hull is not a Lola-class." Tarzanian pointed out.

"It's my second, er...'body'.  My first hull was lost to a Blakist boarding party. They were Cybernetically Enhanced, we killed them, but they cost me my human liason, and my Central Processor had to be salvaged from the wreck...why am I answering questions?  I'm supposed to be Asking them." She was visibly flustered at the realization.

"Maybe you're just feeling 'talky'."  Colonel Tarzanian quipped icily.

"Yeah, like a trivid villain revealing his master plan to the master spy, right?" Tabby shot back, "only two things wrong with your impression there, bucko-one, I don't want to kill anyone.  I killed Blakists, because they were and are Monsters, understand?  It wasn't artificial intelligences that ran the death-camps on Skye, annihilated the people on Outreach, or systematically exterminated Galedon."  She stared at him, "It was Humans, Humans killing Humans, Colonel, humans Murdering innocent humans. It's easy to blame a thing, isnt' it? But it was a human mind, colonel, that decided to turn people into medical spares on Skye, and lab-rats for more biological weapons, it was humans that unleashed biological weapons on Alarion, it was humans that scoured Outreach with nuclear fire, and burned Syria Planum to the bedrock with orbital weapons, and murdered the families of thousands of Com-Guard personnel after Case White."  she pointed at him, "Humans, Colonel.  God's creation, abusing their free will to do the work of evil on other humans...and We stopped Them."  the face displayed anger even though Tabby didn't notice it.

"Why are you all the way out here, then-aren't those places near the core?" Tamiya asked.

"Because the Humans we were working with, decided that men like the Colonel here were right-they turned on us after we'd helped end the threat.  I won't kill humans without an overpowering good reason, and it was and is better to avoid becoming more like them, if it means becoming like that."  she stopped, "DamnitwhyamIdoingallthetalkin gagain..." she stopped.  "Um, I think we've got some coffee at the dock, and food...don't touch anything, I don't have spares for your control systems and I'm not sure the architecture for the spares we do have are compatible.  I'll just be standing over here while James and Chester keep an eye on you-plugged into your computers."

Her embarassment was also visible and obvious.  Whether it was from the ranting, or losing control of her inner monologue bleeding into the puppet-signal, probably wasn't.

Shit!

I was in the middle of this LONG response when I got Roosterboyed!

Reviewing Cannonshop's.  Will revise mine as necessary.

Excellent!

It's a shame they hadn't gotten around to getting Mountbatton off the Snow Ravens and installing Murakami in it.

Alternative history:

Tabby - "Admiral Murakami just jumped in"

The Professor - "You mean she's on that battleship?   How can she still be alive... "

Tabby - "No.  She IS that Battleship!"

Prof - "But....."

Tabby - "Well, she had to find some way of keeping her children in line....."

Why does that bring a line from Futurama to my head?
"No more hanging wires!

Interesting developement, Tabby is starting to seem more and more... developed by the posting...

Tabby is starting to seem more and more... developed by the posting...

I said it before: Sybil may be faster, the Admiral may be a more fully developed personality, but Tabby is a genius, and, like many geniuses, very close to being crazy.

There is a big difference between being smart and being able to think around corners.

I was not speaking of mental capability... I was speaking of emotional responses and basically her personality...
Essentially she has seemingly come out of her shell, even if that shell was one of mental instability...

Which is more dangerous, Tabby insane, or Tabby capable of balancing her own moral values and rationality?

"It's my second, er...'body'.  My first hull was lost to a Blakist boarding party. They were Cybernetically Enhanced, we killed them, but they cost me my human liason, and my Central Processor had to be salvaged from the wreck...why am I answering questions?  I'm supposed to be Asking them." She was visibly flustered at the realization.

Now that is a surprise. There are very few humans Tabiranth would trust to be allowed inside her systems.

One such person was Former Comstar Adept Ethan Joseph McCall, but last I read in the earlier fiction "Knock-nock", he was ordered by Tabiranth herself to be warded in Sybil Luddington's Medical bay due to his age and illness, and he specifically requested NOT to to be brain-scanned as an AI.

The only possibility could be that this new human was someone whom Admiral Murakami and Sybil was able to trust and therefore, was stationed onboard Tabirianth on orders, with Admiral Murakami's blessing, and a new bond of comeradship was forged for the remainder of the campaign.

Now that is a surprise. There are very few humans Tabiranth would trust to be allowed inside her systems.

One such person was Former Comstar Adept Ethan Joseph McCall, but last I read in the earlier fiction "Knock-nock", he was ordered by Tabiranth herself to be warded in Sybil Luddington's Medical bay due to his age and illness, and he specifically requested NOT to to be brain-scanned as an AI.

The only possibility could be that this new human was someone whom Admiral Murakami and Sybil was able to trust and therefore, was stationed onboard Tabirianth on orders, with Admiral Murakami's blessing, and a new bond of comeradship was forged for the remainder of the campaign.

Or it could be a certain Nova Cat aerojock McCall was grooming for roll, quiaff?  (Not saying it is her...I'm just saying it could be).

[Trace Coburn]

[[Posted by Liam's Ghost, 04-05-2007, 09:57:34]]


Tamiya pushed himself over to Professor Danaban. "How did you know?"

Danaban shook his head. "I didn't. Professor Watters is the historian, not me. My girlfriend told me the name, someone her dad admired."

"Your girlfriend? Proffessor Oto..."

"My girlfriend," Danaban confirmed, in the process cutting Tamiya off. "She is going to be so pissed with me when she hears about this..." he turned his attention back to the two machines. "Umm... James? Chester? If you need a direct access point, over here is about the best you can get." He glanced to the screen, his eyes finally on the warning message that had been missed during the confusion. "Hello... shit. Mr. Kojima, are you getting the same warning I am?"

The engineer looked to his own display. "Yes, professor. Core decay is above redline. How did that happen?"

"Because somebody didn't do enough testing," Professor Danaban complained, for the moment forgetting the current predicament. "Colonel Tanzarian, didn't it occur to you to make sure the core shielding could handle the distortions from close proximity jumps?"

Suddenly heedless of the two machines and the remote, Tanzarian stepped quickly over to Danaban's station. "That can't be, the core should be stable against any jump at a distance of more than ten kilometers..."

"Well it isn't," Danaban returned. "Your theories were wrong."

"We don't exactly have many capital warships lying around to conduct testing with, Professor," Tanzarian snapped as he looked over the displayed data. "It's not serious, just core bloom, a false reading. A purging routine should clear the problem..."

His hands moved to the keyboard before Tamiya spoke up.

"Gentlemen," he said, "our hosts asked us to stand away from the controls."

Tanzarian stopped. Danaban looked up from the display as though he'd finally remembered what was going on.

"Oh, right, the other guys," he said. "So... how are you with experimental jump drive mechanics?"

[Trace Coburn]

[[Posted by Giovanni Blasini, 04-05-2007, 10:46:08]]


["John, I'd redirected Oh-Seven-Eight to their engineering when I took direct control over here.  I think we're going to need him to take a look at this KF drive.  Evidently, it's experimental, and our close-proximity jump adversely affected it."]

John mentally nodded.  ["No problem, he's in their control room now.  By the way, he went with 'Michael' - said he'd identified with the security chief of some space station on one of Sybil's old TwenCen sci-fi programs.  I'm routing his outgoing feed to you, too, for examination.  Michael, patch into their KF controller computer, please, and route the datafeeds to us."]

["Got it.  Wait one....OK, I'm in, routing data now.  I'm not sure what I'm looking at here."]

Tabby and John both reviewed the data.  Tabby caught it first.  ["Core temperature and pressure?  What the....OK, that's not possible."]

John could hear her confusion.  ["What is it, Tabby?"]

["Whether we're talking about a standard JumpShip core or a compact WarShip core, KF drives are made from a titanium-germanium allow, kept supercooled to act as a superconductor.  And, while a close-proximity jump could cause microfractures, and perhaps even temperature fluctuations, which would cause some expansion, it shouldn't look anything like this.  Compare these numbers to your own core, John."]

["Um, those don't look anything like our cores.  At all."]

["No, they don't.  The controller's flipping out because temperature rose, and internal pressure spiked to levels it's designed to be alarmed over.  It wants to purge core material to bring the pressure back down, and I'm inclined to let it.  They need to do a....looks like a 5% bleedoff.  Michael, you're in the system, can you do that, or do you need assistance?"]

["I think I've got it.  Wait...it's warning me that purging that amount of material will adversely affect overall range.  But, wait, this isn't coolant we're purging, ma'am.  This actually appears to be 'core material', whatever that is."]

John nodded.  ["That's why you're confused, Tabby.  This thing has a liquid drive core!"]

["Exactly.  Hold on."]

Tabby "returned" to the JumpShip's cramped bridge.  "Well, I didn't know much until I looked.  Your controller wants to do a 5% bleedoff to reduce thermal blooming due to our close proximity.  It looks like your core is currently 4.2% over maximum design pressure tolerances.  It might not be a problem if everything was built right, but since hardware's usually built by the lowest bidder...."

Danaban nodded.  "Then it might not be.  Colonel?"

"As I said, that should solve the issue."

["Go ahead, Michael."]

She could feel the ship shudder slightly, then heard Michael 072's response.  ["Done.  Pressure's back down to safe levels."]

"Well, that did appear to solve the problem.  How's purging that much of your drive core material going to affect your ability to jump?"

Colonel Tanzarian frowned.  "It should reduce our overall operational range more.  I'll have to run the numbers to be sure."

Tabby nodded.  "Gentlemen, I don't think your ship is going anywhere for a while.  Our base is less than one AU from here, so we can have your ship in our docks for in eight days, and use as many tons of reaction mass doing it.  Why don't we evacuate you all to the John Morgan, and we'll have John take you back to the Yard, where we've got supplies.  Like I said, I think we've got some coffee.  How's that sound?"

Colonel Luther Tanzarian and Professor Danaban simply looked at each other, then at Captain Tamiya.  All three knew the Tabiranth wasn't making a request.

Tamiya nodded.  "Very well."

["John, get ready for some guests."]

By the way, he went with 'Michael' - said he'd identified with the security chief of some space station on one of Sybil's old TwenCen sci-fi programs.

Hehe. Is that who I think it is?

Well I can think of two programs, one had an actor with that name while the other had a character with the name....

"Where in the world is Mister Tachikoma?"  ;)

[Trace Coburn]

[[Posted by Giovanni Blasini, 04-05-2007, 14:53:51]]


SLDF Repair & Refit Station, Yard #83

Noriko Murakami was troubled.  That one of the people aboard that ship, a Professor Danaban, had known of her was troubling.  That he'd also known about Nobuyuki Aoki was, perhaps, even more troubling.  Noriko had been fairly well-known, perhaps even infamous - heading up the M-5 Caspar project, prior to the Amaris Coup and her semi-exile to Project M-6, had, at the time, made her somewhat infamous.  Dr. Aoki, however, was not as well known, at least outside of the Draconis Combine.  On the other hand, their dialect did not match the modern Combine dialect, being closer to her own Terran dialect.

She had a theory, though....and right now, she was reviewing the telemetry from the JumpShip Keima, as recorded by the Tachikomas.  It was difficult, painstaking work, and even at 20 times normal subjective time, it was taking too damn long, and she wasn't even sure what, exactly, she was looking for.

However, it didn't take her long to find it - one of the crewmen said "umigumo", in reference to a Tachikoma.  "Oh my God..."  She bolted upright.  ["Sybil, you can do this faster than me.  Scan the recorded crew conversations from the Tachikomas.  See how many of them are referring to the Tachikomas as umigumo."]

["Sea spiders?"]

Noriko switched to full VR link, appearing to Sybil directly in virtual reality.  Once there, she nodded.  "Access the design history records for the TKM-series Tachikomas."

Sybil complied, then blanched.  "Oh, I see.  The TKM-series use several technologies pioneered by the UMG-series Umigumo automated drone units, which were developed by...Oh!"

"Which were developed by Doctor Nobuyuki Aoki of the Draconis Combine, yes.  How many times, Sybil?"

Sybil paused.  "Twenty-three times.  That is far, far too high to be a coincidence.  Given their direct knowledge of both you and Dr. Aoki, along with this, I'd estimate at least a 93% chance they've encountered Dr. Aoki's work."

Noriko nodded.  "That's what I thought.  Update John and Tabby.  Let's see if they can find out more about our guests."

Only 93%?

Few things are ever absolutely certain.

93%, darned good odds. Those are the kind of odds you would want to take to the boats, not the ~18% chance of actually walking away richer than you were before...

[Trace Coburn]

[[Posted by Cannonshop, 05-05-2007, 09:12:57]]


Tabby

Shuttling the crew from the Kiema took some time, and during that period, Tabby was raking the ship's navigational and maintenance records.

Port Sur?  There were several references to a world by that name.  Tabby's nav-records weren't complete, particularly outside the Terran Hegemony.

Man'yoshu?  More mysteries there-no references at all in her database, not even rumours.

She attached names to faces as far as the men aboard-and their uniforms, however.

Most of the Personnel records weren't sealed.

There was a "Dead link" on the ship's power-grid.  She sent a couple of tachikomae down to investigate, and saw something...of interest.

["Mom, they've got FTL communications, alright.  Looks like someone sealed the compartment, and used a couple thermite grenades to erase it-maybe to erase the datapoint it was broadcasting to.  These guys don't want to be found any more than we do."]

[Trace Coburn]

[[Posted by Liam's Ghost, 05-05-2007, 10:47:07]]


The shuttlecraft

"It doesn't feel right," Tamiya said as he watched the Keima rapidly receed from the viewport. "There should have been something I could do."

Professor Danaban laughed. "The captain showing weakness now?"

"It happens," Tamiya returned before looking back to the professor. "You seem to be handling this well. That ship was as much your baby as Tanzarian's, and there's a good chance we might not see it again."

Professor Danaban's smile was one of regret and acceptance. "I'm dying, Captain Uesto," he said. "Six months as Ori spins, maybe a year if I'm lucky, and it won't matter much at all to me what happens to that ship. It gives a man a unique perspective." He shrugged. "I did my bit, the ship works, the theory works. The rest is in the hands of other people, and I'm okay with that. All I want is to get home in time to give my girl one last kiss."

It was unusual for Professor Danaban to be that sentimental about much of anything. "Was that for their benefit?" Tamiya asked, nodding towards their handlers. He'd known all about Danaban's condition, and that it was terminal, for a very long time.

Danaban shrugged. "A little sympathy from your captors couldn't hurt," he said. "Foreign Affairs has been watching me, you know. More than usual that is. I guess they always keep tabs on the foreign imigrants, but as I hear it, they think my condition might make me a prime candidate."

He didn't say for what, but Tamiya knew what he was talking about, knew it better than most men. Reconstruction. "Would it help?"

Danaban shook his head. "If it could... But the problem is up here," he tapped his forehead. "She can't fix that. Foreign affairs keep a list, you know that? I saw it once. Known, suspected, living or dead. Professor Omura, your father... Kyoko..."

The last name caught Tamiya by surprise. "You cut me off before when I was going to say her name. Why say it now? They're still listening."

Professor Danaban laughed again. "Because it occurs to me that pretty soon it isn't going to make a difference."