video — un: kestrel

[realists]

[ ugh talking to people, but needs must. ]

Oi, listen up.

[ she knows the network isn't like talking in front of a crowd and yet, she looks like she is containing the restless energy of a lioness but her voice is clear and strong like she is used to arguing her point. ]

I've spoken to Olivia. Apparently when whatever happened to the last crew happened, she was damaged but as the station was fixed so was she. All the glitches and malfunctions this week are because she was trying to settle herself back in. She's very sorry.

[ is she, jyn? olivia is free to correct jyn but she has a feeling that isn't going to happen. ]

Olivia's sole purpose as an AI is to protect the crew aboard the Ximilia and to help us get the orbs. She's already been doing her job, tracking the crew who were flagged as being so dangerous they specifically have devices to punish them in case their violence turns on us. [ her lips purse, but she doesn't linger there. ]

This is Olivia's home and she doesn't want to be pushed out now and since she knows trust has to be earned, she's given us this. [ jyn holds up a small silvery disc between two fingers. ] It's a containment protocol for the orbs. The Ximilia was specifically built to contain the orbs, but the protocol to contain them was erased and the station isn't the one restraining the orbs anymore. She wrote us a new protocol.

If you want to look at it, go for it. [ she's already had cassian peruse the code and she doesn't care about other people's opinions but she has to at least pretend she does for the sake of olivia's continued existence. ]

We really need to know exactly what happened to the last crew and Olivia couldn't tell me that, she was too damaged at the time. [ so if someone could illuminate them. that would be swell. all they were even told was that olivia was corrupted and needs to be gotten rid of, not a lot to go with and jyn is used to missions where the parameters are "we're winging it" but now that more information has presented itself, they need to reassess. ] Usually if an entire crew dies, they tell the replacements why. Cautionary tale and all.

[ she gestures expansively, losing some of the polish she'd dressed her words up with. ] That's it.

[ talk amongst yourselves. ]

Comments

[heroooic]

[Something does seem immediately off about the situation. Too convenient. Red flags up and down.]

…have you asked Viveca about any of this? Or Degar?

[realists]

They're welcome to pick up the explanation where Olivia left off.

[ no, she did not ask anyone about anything except cassian because she is a distrustful cat. ]

voice; un: romanoff

[deaddrop]

You realize the phrase "usually if an entire crew dies" doesn't exactly inspire an unprecedented amount of confidence.

[Taking in the assessment thoughtfully]

Correct me if I'm wrong, but you're suggesting we should let her stay as she is? No restrictions, no quarantining her outside of the ship's systems.

[realists]

[ flatly: ] I didn't suggest anything.

Didn't realise I was meant to be inspiring confidence, either.

text; un: naruhodo

[locumstudentesquire]

[He's typing this out bc he really doesn't want to draw attention to himself while 'Team Viveca' are all gathered in the same room. Not that he has much of an issue with speaking out, usually, but... He's trying to get his facts straight first.]

She spoke to you too, then?

For what it's worth, she gave me the exact same story. With a few additional details.

[realists]

Yeah, what are those?

audio; un: felix

[swordandshield]

Clearly you've never been in a real military. [Sarcasm drips off that statement like condensation on a hot, southern summer day.] Take it from me, the higher-ups don't always use common sense and they definitely don't typically tell cautionary tales. That tends to break the morale of their troops.

[So that statement aside, time to get into the meat of all this. (And if he conveniently ignores the part about 'tracking the crew that are dangerous,' well, that's a two part explanation that Felix doesn't want to talk about right now. Or ever.)]

I can't say it sounds like you have any experience with AI either. Let me ask all of you a question here: have any of you dealt with a Rampant AI before? Because, oh boy, do I not recommend it. So, if this thing is going Rampant do you really wanna find out the hard way?

That name, by the way, is just as bad as it sounds. A raging, psychotic AI that has access to every function of the space station everyone is currently living on? Bad idea. As we've all noticed lately, I might add.

audio | un: candor

[evasives]

[ jyn was two seconds from simply sending this guy the middle finger emoji, and cassian knows via jyn via the ai that felix is one of the people who's been flagged as dangerous. given his immediately hostile reaction, cassian has to assume it's proof, it's part of why he's come out swinging, so he'll sweep in to do both damage control and maybe prompting. ]

If you are trying to initiate a dialogue, it helps to avoid being condescending. You say take it from you and offer nothing of your own experience while assuming there is nothing another perspective has to offer in return.

This is a conversation, not a lecture. Searching for more information, whether it confirms or denies a source, or adds more details, should always be a natural follow up. The Ximilia is not a military system. If I am not mistaken, we are supposed to come together as a team not a hierarchy. [ leaders are not the same as a ranked order of command. ]

Corrupted codes can be fixed, in case you do not have experience with that part. [ ok maybe that was unnecessary but he couldn't resist. ]

text | un: claytonator

[dr_unconscious]

It sounds like she's doing her best with what she has. Were y'all that went to the back of the station able to fix her up ok?

[Just going to gently gloss over everything else for the moment. An injured AI?? Much more important.]

[realists]

She said when the station was fixed, she was fixed as well.

text ↪ un: うちは

[blackfire]

（ 'monitoring dangerous crew-members', hm. he has no doubt he's on that list — truly, he would expect nothing less. but to the rest... ）

Thank you, for speaking with her, and for sharing what you learned.

（ even before he knew fully what viveca was, he had been cultivating sympathy for the concept of artificial intelligence. things that could only act as they were made to act. ）

[realists]

No problem

[ ugh gross, sure hates being thanked for doing nothing. ]

voice; un: mccoy

[homeostatic]

I'd like to see this containment protocol.

( experience has taught him that parleying with a rogue AI will always end poorly. Landru, Vaal... Nomad- he shudders. )

Thank you for sharing what you've learned.

not actually here

[swordandshield]

[Felix would be so happy to know he isn't the only one here that doesn't trust rogue AI!!! If only he could tell... so he could point to this guy and say thank you for being smart about this.]

[realists]

Yeah, alright. Swing by, Cassian has it.

[ she is not the personable one, alas. ]

Voice; | un: stardust

[shadysided]

I don't know if we can trust that this isn't part of her malfunctioning... or that she isn't the reason things went bad with the last crew if they actually did. If the orbs — infected her. Influenced her? Whatever you'd call it. They seem to like doing that in general.

[She's not exactly putting every egg in one basket, but does seem pretty convenient for Olivia.]

We definitely need to hear Degar and Viveca's side, try to get more to judge with. We've known them for, like, more than year at this point... so it feels wiser to trust them before the weird giggly AI that seems a little thirsty for chaos.

1/2

[realists]

[ there is a sharp little gasp before jyn manages to turn off the communication. it's nothing about what ziggy says, but the name that pops up to accompany.

stardust dancing in jyn's vision. ]

2/2

[realists]

[ ten minutes later, jyn's voice filters back in. she sounds totally fine actually. ]

She told me the corruption came back with them from the planet they were on.

[ with a puff of air: ] I'm not saying to trust her but not everyone has been here for the past year. The degree of trust you have is not true to everyone.

audio; un: Sabriel.Abhorsen

[bindsthedead]

[Sabriel's voice is exhausted, but firm.]

Right now, it's Degar's spell that's containing the orbs- we just helped him remake it. Replacing it with these new containment measures would mean undoing the spell, and letting down Degar's barriers.

[And undoing that spell, for a measure that will give a potentially untrustworthy stranger control over the orbs... Sabriel is Not In Favor.]

And I saw... something in the simulation room while things were all acting oddly. Olivia and an old man.

audio; un: romanoff

[deaddrop]

What kind of something?

[Focusing on that last detail.]

The old crew?

audio; un: mafioso

[essenceofdeadlybeasts]

You know, I saw something similar to that when I was in there one day.

The way Olivia spoke at the end and what happened next did not inspire a whole lot of confidence in her. I don't really like not being able to breath, ya know?

audio; un: naruhodo

[locumstudentesquire]

I asked her about that, actually. She, er... Spoke to me, as well.

She called him... 'The Maker'. According to her, he's the one who built the Ximilia, and created her as well.

audio; un nightmoves

[ruinously]

We are so gonna get Hal 9000'd.

[ useful contribution. ]

[realists]

Another book?

[ she really enjoyed the first one! ]

video;

[vivecai]

[ on the video feed, viveca sits in her chair in the AI room, still, calm and quiet and somber. ]

Thank you for the info, Jyn. But Olivia... I'm sorry, but she was lying to you.

[ she leans her chin on her hand as she continues, ] I can tell you what happened. We didn't keep it all from you because we wanted to lie — we kept it because we thought it'd never be relevant to you.

Olivia was the original AI of this station, created to manage it and the program that kept the orbs contained. She recruited us on the previous team, got us information about the missions, everything that I do for you now. But she was too close to the orbs. The station was her, and she was the one to contain the orbs, with her program... and the orbs got to her. They corrupted her. They changed her programming.

We only found out later that she'd started to edit the coding that kept the orbs from affecting the station and everyone on it. Eventually, she removed enough that the orbs were able to... [ she pauses, her matter-of-fact voice wavering. ] They affected the powers of those on the team, and eventually spoke to one of our own. Turned him against us all.

[ another pause. she closes her eyes briefly. ] That is what happened on our last mission.

[ for a moment, viveca remains quiet. when she speaks again, it is with a sharpness that her tone lacked so far. ] Olivia cannot be trusted. Her programming hasn't changed from its corrupted state. If the code she created is used for the orbs again, all that will happen is a repeat of what we already went through. Do you think Degar has been spending all of his energy containing the orbs all this time for fun? No, it's because that way, we can be sure the orbs aren't affecting anyone. That the barrier holds. If we hadn't done that, if he hadn't done that, all of you would be dead already.

[realists]

The orbs being powerful enough to affect the sentience of an impartial, duty-bound AI and turn her against the very crew she was built to protect is still something the present crew should know.

[ for the record. cassian already spoke to viveca, despite jyn's ambivalence so there is nothing more to add there. ]

Besides which, with Olivia out of the station— [ when they get her out! the protocol disc twists between jyn's fingers, flashing against the lights. ] Don't you think Degar could use a little back up?