Loose an ARROW

[Diranor Cadain]

ARROW Development, Entry One

With the expansion of Artorian Royal Intelligence’s operations throughout the Galactic North region of the Outer Rim, field agents and informants are undertaking observation missions on dozens of different worlds, monitoring all manner of urban centers, space stations, and outposts and providing a wealth of data to their superiors on Artorias. Unfortunately, this volume of data has quickly proven overwhelming. Although ARI hosts well over two thousand talented analysts, the sheer amount of information being processed through these new channels is far more than these personnel are able to process, and any omission could endanger Artorian citizens.

As a result, the Royal Family has approved the development of a sophisticated data analysis tool, one capable of real-time adaptation to constantly changing information. This system, to be designated the Artorian Royal Reconnaissance Operations Web (ARROW), will assist both analysts and field agents by keeping them informed at all times; whatever data one agent uncovers will be instantly available to all other agents, sorted to ensure that it is relevant to their mission parameters. Concerns include cost, housing, and range, but the development technicians believe they will be able to address all of these concerns to our full satisfaction.

 

[Diranor Cadain]

ARROW Development, Entry Two

The first significant hurdle has been encountered: size.

Original visions of ARROW saw it as something the size of a datapad, carried by each agent and analyst. Technicians have rapidly realized that, with the volume of data we are working with, such a device is the realm of science fiction. ARROW will need a vast databank and central processing hub in order to achieve the kind of instantaneous and thorough results Royal Intelligence requires, and that means a physical location. For a covert organization in space surrounded by dangerous expansionist powers, this presents a major vulnerability. If the processing hub were to be captured or destroyed, the entire system would be nullified.

The best protection for such a hub, then, is secrecy. Royal Intelligence has received the Crown’s approval to reactivate [REDACTED] under the codename Haven Command, and to use a substantial portion of that facility’s interior space to house ARROW’s processing center. Since Haven Command was built to house a considerable portion of Artorias’s population, it should comfortably contain both the data hub and the personnel required to maintain and protect it. The geothermal taps will have to be adjusted to provide sufficient power while remaining disguised, but the technicians are optimistic about the swift feasibility of this strategy.

 

[Diranor Cadain]

ARROW Development, Entry Three

Construction has been completed on the processing core that will house ARROW, and efforts to code the intelligence itself are picking up speed. As it will serve primarily as a database and processor, it is unnecessary to code any particular personality beyond helpfulness and a hardworking nature, though the technicians warn that accumulation of data will likely lead the AI to develop its own personality over time - a risk with any self-aware machine. Wiping its memory will be a last resort, as it would considerably set back our intelligence efforts, so ARI is hopeful that whatever personality develops will be one that is easy to work with.

Coding ARROW’s actual capabilities has been the main area of difficulty. Undersea relays have been painstakingly constructed to conceal incoming and outgoing signals while also ensuring that they are received and transmitted with great speed - the lives of field agents may well depend on it. Range, however, is becoming a concern. With the relay network, satellite stations, and the holonet, ARROW should be able to reach all neighboring sectors with ease and speed. An agent operating beyond the northern Outer Rim, however, would experience choppy communications at best, and would likely have to operate without ARROW’s assistance.

Fortunately, ARI’s operations are almost entirely restricted to our immediate surroundings. They’re dangerous enough.

 

[Diranor Cadain]

ARROW Development, Entry Four

Range and housing have been addressed as much as possible, and cost has stayed within manageable parameters, but a new concern has arisen: personnel. ARROW’s coding is nearly complete, but in all their simulations, technicians found that even this sophisticated computer can be overwhelmed by the massive amounts of data, much of it irrelevant, arriving from bugs, taps, and informants every second. In order to sort through this unending stream, ARROW will need help, and that help will need to be full-time and well trained. Some five-hundred workstations will be required to keep the data hub operating at full efficiency.

This is a significant drawback, but not an insurmountable one. ARI analysts are rapidly being trained in the operation of ARROW’s data stations, and should be proficient in their use by the time the system is activated. They will have to live full-time in Haven Command, and will need to be compensated accordingly and rotated frequently to prevent burnout. [REDACTED] has suggested having three teams, each with an eight-hour shift, so as to provide time for sleep and leisure. Since enough analysts are available to facilitate this plan, and much of their prior work will be made obsolete by ARROW, this is almost certainly the approach that will be taken.

 

[Diranor Cadain]

ARROW Development, Entry Five

ARROW is now active, and operating far beyond initial expectations. Though the crew of analysts assisting it are certainly being worked hard, the AI itself is experiencing few problems in sorting through data that would take a major university a lifetime to analyze. As predicted, it is beginning to show signs of a developing personality, but a workable one - sometimes sardonic or humorous, it nonetheless processes and reports all needed information within a very short timeframe. Agents and analysts alike are (mostly) growing to appreciate its wry humor, and there have been no signs of discontent or other troubling behavior. Monitoring continues.

Field agents in particular are enthusiastic about the new system. Several of those who have been cleared to access ARROW credit the AI with saving their lives by providing exit routes, cover stories, and technical instructions that have allowed them to escape from dangerous situations. Even [REDACTED] have been pleased with the results so far - planning further regional operations has been greatly simplified by the immediate availability of all relevant data. Concerns remain about the possibility of signal interruptions, however, which has led the technicians to consider options for a sort of limited backup system.

This system, intended for field agents in areas under jamming fields or far isolated from Artorias, retains ARROW’s personality and processing ability in the originally-envisioned datapad size, but lacks access to the databanks. It is able to log what it learns from its surroundings in order to assist agents in their decisionmaking, but cannot help them any further than that. Hopefully this backup system will help to preserve agents’ lives until they are positioned to receive ARROW’s full assistance once again. If the processing hub is ever located and destroyed, this pale imitation of the full program will be all that remains of our efforts.