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

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. ]

[swordandshield]

[The sad (and annoying in Felix's eyes) part of that was that Felix wasn't actually trying to be condescending. It just came naturally.

He bites his tongue to withhold his initial reaction but Cassian's every word annoys the hell out of Felix. (One of his various hypocritical faults, everybody.) He tries to lay on a sweeter tone but perhaps it comes off a little too thick.]

I did ask if anyone else had experience with AI and, all right, I'll admit it, I could phrase it better. Does anyone have any experience with AI? Rampancy is the worst part, but not the only part of an AI. Dumb AI don't even have the capacity to go Rampant. Smart AI can't prevent it. It's an inherent part of their matrix.

It's not a corrupted code that you can just fix, it's a physical limitation. They literally think themselves to death. The problem is that they tend to go insane before they get to the death part.

[A pause for either emphasis or perhaps he actually takes two seconds to consider because when he resumes he actually has a small concession to make.]

I'll give you this: this isn't my universe and maybe they don't make AI the same way. So maybe it's the equivalent of a dumb AI whose programming is absolute. It has functions that are useful. We use AI to help with spaceship functions and combat readiness, and even civilian tasks such as running metropolis traffic grids and security measures.

But didn't this one malfunction once already? What if that was the first sign of Rampancy? I'm just saying, it's something to consider. She's already almost killed a few people by suffocation. Was that really an accident or is she sweet talking you?

[evasives]

Correct. You speak of Rampancy as if it were the same. It may not be. We are dealing with magical orbs as well as code. I do not begrudge your caution, but you need to consider other possibilities and other functionalities of an AI. The corruption is clear. But my first instinct is to fix a code not destroy it, and this is something I have done myself, before you assume otherwise. [ the difference is it's droid code not ai code, but given what he's experienced with the current situation so far, it's not dissimilar. ]

I did not speak with her. She could very well be trying to manipulate. That is the purpose of this conversation, of sharing what Olivia is saying, to try and understand the entire story.

[swordandshield]

Great. Can you fix her before she airlocks everyone on the station? Because I'm not sure how many people here can survive that other than myself and the robots. [He pauses just long enough to take a breath.] I'm not saying we have to trash her right off the bat either. That was never my intention. I do think it would be smart to get her out of the station's systems for now though. That was kinda the original plan anyway.

You, her, whatever. You knew what I meant. [Look, sometimes words just come out of his mouth that aren't from a perfect script. Life isn't a show for someone else's entertainment. /camera stare] Well, we definitely got the gist of it. And I gave my two cents. Was I not supposed to do that?

[Even though that was exactly what seemed to be wanted here. He'd raise an eyebrow in challenge but he's not recording video so no point in that expression.]

[evasives]

I am not advocating for one thing or another yet. Neither is the information above. It is being presented so we are all on the same page, as a team. [ he is going to continue to call back to the teamwork component more than is necessary at this rate. ]

Input is encouraged. Belittlement is not.

I do not know if I can fix this code, especially if the corruption comes via the orbs. But that is the point. We do not know and given this does affect all of us on board, perhaps we should know more. It could very well still come down to getting her out of the systems.

[swordandshield]

[Oh my god, he hates teamwork. Stop saying that. You are not his partner. Teams... squadmates die, and partners betray. Teams are dumb, stupid, things no one can trust. Not to fight together, not to survive together. That was all up to the individual. All that mattered anymore was himself. There was nothing else. Not anymore.

So please understand how hard it was for him to pretend that he cared enough about the other people on this station to want them to survive rather than be airlocked. Because honestly at this point in time he's beginning to want to airlock you, Cassian, and blame it on the rogue AI. If only that one airlock actually fucking worked... alas.]

I'm...sorry? That wasn't really my intent? [He sounds more bewildered than apologetic but not entirely insincere either because of it. Just very...bemused.] Look, I'm being honest. I don't like the idea of something controlling all the station's systems all at once with the mental speed of a Slipspace engine going rogue or malfunctioning some more and ending up with everyone dead.

[For half a second he actually misses Kimball. She actually knew how to deal with his attitude without irritating him or misinterpreting his point of view. She knew him. She-- was completely irrelevant. She wasn't his fucking friend. She had just been a mark.

Then for a longer moment Felix is lost in memories and thought pathways. Overwhelmed by his own history. All the lies and betrayals, the act of playing a part, friendship that mattered, didn't matter, had it ever mattered? At some point? Any point?

It's gone in an instant. Felix's demeanor doesn't change, not even for a second. Like the silence never happened.]

Repeating the fact that we don't know does not inspire the concept of waiting while we debate it over and risk death or worse at the hands of an unknown entity. It really emphasizes the point that we should ensure our safety and then figure out what to do with the AI. We don't have to harm her to lock her down while we find out all that other juicy information you're so desperate to know.

And don't get me wrong, because I am curious what happened before if it was a complete and utter disaster. I'd rather we didn't repeat the act same as the last. We have the means to figure it out we just need to be more decisive about it.