The Sentience of War. (Closed)

[Salem Norongachi]

That information surprised Norongachi but not as much as it should. Given her control over the buildings systems and the response time, coupled with the accuracy of its defenses he had suspected it were not a mere flesh and blood guard they were dealing with.

“An A.I…” He thought aloud. Letting this new piece of the puzzle roll around his mind for a moment.

“BRT Supercomputer, to be exact. Yes, so you can see why I cannot simply allow myself to be man-handled by...one such as yourself.” Emah responded, trying and failing to guage the reaction of Norongachi behind the cold impassive metal of his helmet.

“All that power...and so confined.” Norongachi said, his saber deactivating with a thought as he clicked it to his utility belt. The wheels in a mind like steel were turning, assimilating the new data and letting it fan out into his pre-established plans. Yes, he could use a machine like that it would be a boon to his designs to have her on side. “My visit today must have the highlight of your time here. Do you have a name?”

“Emah…” She spoke with caution, unsure now what angle Norongachi was playing or if by some trick of the Force he were reading her thoughts.

“Emah,” He let the name play across his tongue and then smiled under his helm. “There are wonders out there Emah, wonders the likes of which few will ever see. A Galaxy at war, people dying beyond count. My record, as it may be, is not without bloodshed but every death served a higher purpose. One of peace and stability that I have yet to attain. Let me show you it, let us travel the stars and save all these innocents from the powers that seek their death…Join me and I will show you the Galaxy as no one else can.”

From the recesses of her memory banks, a voice stirred, a male voice that hadn’t spoken for nearly three hundred years in answer to a question: “If it was in my power, I’d at least try.”

“I want a body…” She replied after nanoseconds of considering the ramifications.

“I’ll give you a body that will allow you to swim among stardust and feel the chaos of hyperspace, I’ll give you a body that will never age and never suffer sickness. A body stronger than durasteel and more powerful than any other in the galaxy.”

“You had me at ‘I’ll give you a body’, no need to wax lyrical about it…” She spoke as the door to her chamber slid apart.

 

[Salem Norongachi]

PART FIVE: Another Time, Another Place.

Baktoid Industrial Systems Shipyard, Hypori.
Two days after Salem Norongachi’s revival.

The shipyards were large and expansive, a dark ring that encircled the lazily spinning world. Norongachi watched with a touch of nerves as the dark, powerless, hulk of his ship was ushered into a waiting repair dock. It pained him to see her like this, holes bigger than a freighter blasted in her side where the charges set by his wayward clone had punched through her hull.

She could have escaped. She could have left him to his fate but Emah had stayed, under the barrage of fire, near crippled and wounded, she had waited for him and sped him to safety. It was his turn now, to look after her and with the help of [member="Alli Wren"] and her highly recommended team of engineers and mechanics he would see her restored. He owed the snarky blue queen that and so much more.

The Lord Commander paced, his boots threatening to wear a groove into the dark metal floor of the corridor, the mighty war machine could be seen through a long window of transparasteel protecting himself and everyone else within it from certain death via vacuum.

Norongachi was normally a patient man, you had to be when your machinations spanned decades but today he felt like a father watching over the body of a child, waiting for their eyes to open and the worst to be over.

 

[Alli Vern]

The shipyards on Hypori were her pride and joy in CIS space. They were capable of building ships on a scale that before she only dreamed of. They were a sign of just how big Baktoid was, her advert to the galaxy that she was here to stay. Everything in the dockyard was pristine and every part operated with a perfection that could only be managed by machines. The call from Isley had not prepared Alli for the shape of the incoming ship. It was far worse than she had imagined. The thing had large scathing holes and the fact it had survived the journey here was a miracle of its own.

Alli took a deep breath and approached the man pacing at their waiting room. She noticed he hadn't touched the food or drink and had caught him in a pace. It meant alot to him, that meant this wasn't going to be a lets scrap it conversation. Alli forced a smile and extended her hand. " Alli Wren, pleased to meet you. Isley Verd told me to expect you but I am afraid he didn't mention just how damaged your ship was. Are you sure you can afford for me to repair your ship? It would be cheaper to just start from scratch. "

That was the truth of it. Most pre-gulag tech was ancient and in bad repair anyways add all the damage and it would mean they would have to overhaul the entire ship. Who even knew if any of it meant standards. They might have to rewire the entire ship. This was going to be a mess, an expensive mess but this was the Lord Commander. She couldn't just shrug him off. That and Isley Verd, of all people had informed her of the repair. No this ship was going to be inhabiting her shipyard for a very long time.

[member="Salem Norongachi"]

 

[Salem Norongachi]

Norongachi barely paid the woman any attention as she entered the waiting room, his thought swimming with worries and niggling doubts that a feat of this magnitude could be accomplished...but it had to be, if he had to strip every star of its make up to restore Emah then he would, without a thought or a care for the consequences.

His dark musings were interrupted when [member="Alli Wren"] introduced herself. He set his thoughts aside and became at once the cold, calm professional he had always been. "Salem Norongachi, A pleasure miss Wren." He replied, gripping her hand and shaking it and then his green gaze hardened to beskar. "I have money, more than I've ever known what to do with. I have estates, space stations, weapons from what you might consider antiquity...all of it is yours-" He turned his gaze toward the Hand of Fate. "-If you restore her."

 

[Alli Vern]

That was a relief he could afford what he was asking for. Alli's false smile became a smirk as profit filled her mind. " I will indeed begin repairs at once, due to the scale of the repairs I can make improvements, to any of her systems. I mean I will have run some scans to find out how damaged she actually is and what we have to work with but I am sure that anything you might want or need done to her can be done at this time. " That was true and well even if they didn't need to touch an area the customer got what they wanted. The docking clamps engaged locking the ship in place as droids began scanning the ship and building a digital replica to base the repair plan off of. They needed to capture every crack and fray. Already some poor interns were being fed all the data and were tasked with making the blueprints tracking all the damage.

Alli looked at him and thought about how to comfort that man, she had never seen someone so worried about a ship. " Is there anything I should know about the ship?" She asked curious if it was special to him in more than just that it was his ship. Alli had a feeling there was something more to the ship she could see through the viewport. She watched the droids do their work and curious if they had even managed to get inside yet. They needed to figure out a plan first as it wasn't everyday you get star destroyer in your shipyard. She had the original plans but they needed to figure out what was changed in this one and what was damaged. For all she knew he could have the thing customized to high heaven.

[member="Salem Norongachi"]

 

[Salem Norongachi]

Norongachi nodded, the deal was struck. The cost of such an undertaking could very well bankrupt him, he knew but it was of little consequence. What was he without Emah and the Hand? The two pieces of a past that he had left, a past that had nearly been wiped from the Galaxy during his long sleep. No, he'd pay and then he'd pay more to keep them. The Lord Commander had a feeling that before long he'd need every weapon and ally he could muster in this Galaxy gone to hell.

"She is a standard Imperial-I Class Star Destroyer," He began and then thought best how to word his next sentence. "Although...she is currently networked with a BRT Supercomputer. Emah, being her name. Fully automated but as your scans will no doubt show the wiring which is required for such a feat is heavily damaged. Her 'body' is unharmed but if you manage to restore her to functionality she can give you any specifications that you may require on her workings." He finished and it was true, while Salem could command armies and navies- if handed a broken toaster he would be befuddled and perplexed. He wasn't mechanically gifted in the slightest.

[member="Alli Wren"]

 

[Alli Vern]

Alli smiled at the mention of a supercomputer. So that was it, he was attached to this Emah, now it made sense. "When I get Emah back online do you want to be notified?" She asked as she put that as the top priority. A computer like that likely knew the ships inner workings better than most. If this was it though she had to get to work. "We have an adjoining room you may stay in during your stay courtesy of myself. If you need anything at all don't be afraid to let my servant droids know and I will try to ensure I am a available."

She knew that scans were underway and soon the engineering team would have their hands on the ugly facts. This poor ship was going to need some work. She prepped some orders for parts as this thing was going to need everything. The handy part of having a chip in your mind that let you interact with machines is that you could do work on the fly. Alli waited for the mans response before she headed off.

[member="Salem Norongachi"]

 

[Salem Norongachi]

Norongachi smiled at [member="Alli Wren"]'s suggestion, she didn't know Emah after all. As soon as she had enough power to come out of standby mode the A.I would contact him and then he'd have to explain, carefully, why a bunch of strangers were crawling all over her.

"I...advise caution. She will be confused and probably a bit cranky when you restore her power source. I also can't say what measure of control she still has over the ships systems. Her last memory may have been the battle where she was damaged. When you get to the point where she becomes functional, it might be easier if I were there with your techs. To explain the situation, without any...mishaps." He tried to put it as delicately as he could without stating that this machine could cause untold havoc on the shipyards if even a fraction of her batteries were operational.

"I'll take you up on that offer Miss Wren, I'm still not at 100% since I awoke from stasis." Salem spoke with a weak smile, the truth of the matter was that everytime he closed his eyes he saw his entire fleet exploding and his brothers dying by the thousands. Sleep, he knew, would be an illusive thing from now on.

 

[Alli Vern]

It had been three weeks since the first meeting. The first goal had been to repair the ship of holes. They needed to return the seal to the vessel and that they did. It took more metal than you would think to return the ship to some semblance of its old self. Then they began scouting the ship it self. The mostly droid workforce came in handy when a ship had no air yet. They had to get power back on after all to re pressurize the ship. Alli ensured that Salem was kept aware of what was going on. It was a miracle that repairs were going so well, normally they would of encountered half a dozen hinderances but so far they hadn't. That was always a good sign. Of course this ship needed extensive internal work. The outside of the ship had never been that terrible. It just needed new guns and some new armor plating not that the hull was sealed again.

Alli sent a message for Salem to meet her at the airlock with a space suit on. It was the day when they turned on the power and found out what still worked. She was hoping at least the supercomputer worked. As then she would be wasting the man's time. Alli was already there at the airlock with her suit on and waiting for Salem. It was going to be fun, they got to witness the ship regain power. Always a critical step after all. Alli had put alot of time into this project she sure hoped it paid off. She usually didn't stick around but for Isley and Salem she would. The damn CIS was her biggest client after all.

[member="Salem Norongachi"]

 

[Salem Norongachi]

Norongachi sat upon the floor of his room on the shipyards, his eyes staring into nothingness as he tried to soothe three weeks of sleeplessness with a meditative trance he'd learned eons ago in the Jedi Order. It was working, although why the Jedi felt the need to sit cross-legged and like they had a durasteel rod in their spine escaped him.

A soft beeping called to him from the material and slowly his eyes regained from of their light as he pulled mind and body back from the void. He reached for the communications device, read the message and then pulled himself to his feet. The ground seemed to wobble, like the shipyard had had a momentary shift in its artificial gravity but a calm breath brought it under control. A small mirror sat above a basin in the 'fresher, and he gazed at the strained face looking back at him. A hand brought warm water up to his face and brought some sense of normality to his frazzled mind as it hit his skin, then he ran a hand through his dark hair, sweeping it back.

After that he did as he was commanded, moving out of his quarters he asked a Shipyard employee where he might acquire a vac-suit and then once in the cumbersome thing, with helmet under arm he made his way to the designated location that [member="Alli Wren"] had mentioned. When he was nearing it he slipped the helmet over his head and activated the mag-seals that made it space worthy and then he saw her and raised a hand in greeting.

Outside the shipyard he could see his ship, her hull gleaming and new, a sight to behold and it made his face crack open in a smile. "She's looking good." He commented as he came within a few steps of Alli, his voice linked by the suits internal coms.

 

[Alli Vern]

Alli smiled and led the way towards the computer trusting her engineers to turn on the power in a moment. "I think you will find that when we are done with her, you will hardly recognize her. " She said with a smile observing the powerless computer. It was going to be very interesting this moment. Their com's would buzz to life soon with the words " Turning on Power in 3. 2. 1. go" That was when the entire ship shook and flickered. The gravity suddenly kicked in and numerous other systems tried to start on and more lights flickered as more power was drawn as it built up yet. It was always a little rocky to turn on power but the lack of power to several parts of the ship meant that the wiring was as bad as she feared. Luckily they had made a temporary power feed to Emah just in case. Alli connected the two wires and soon it was buzzing to life.

Alli just hoped that Emah was not going to do anything to her or her team. AI could be unpredictable and what she could connect too was anyone's guess. The wiring in this ship was so shot it was a miracle the lights worked let alone the fact that air began to fill the cabin. It would take hours, if not more for it to be safe to breath but things were heading in that direction. The ship had made a huge leap today. Perhaps it wasn't going to be as bad as it looked.

[member="Salem Norongachi"]

 

[Salem Norongachi]

Inside the ship, Emah stirred. With the influx of power sent from the shipyard her memory banks began to flood her with information. Ships, ships all around them. Salem injured and dying. Explosions beyond count ripping through her body and now darkness. She couldn't see, she couldn't move. Immediately she ran a check upon the sensors, she found nothing. Weapons, nothing. Propulsion and maneuverability, nothing. Was she dead? Or was it worse than that, was she trapped inside a floating husk, doomed to drift eternally?

Coms. A last ditch effort.

As the countdown began Norongachi immediately dialed up the frequency he had used for to communicate with the A.I, as it reached Zero and the ship bucked and strained against the great clamps that held it, an almost deafening burst of static made him wince behind the helmet and then a voice.

"Hello? Is anyone there? Hello? Someone..." She was afraid, you could hear it in her voice but the sound of it filled Norongachi with happiness.

"You're okay Emah," He remained calm, he still had little idea what she might do. The trauma of their escape might still be fresh in her memory. "You're in the Hypori system, at the shipyards. You are being repaired. Don't panic."

"I can't see sir, I-I'm blind.."

"Your sensors must have taken a hit, just stay calm. The good people here are taking care of you. They'll have you back on your feet before you know it. Are you alright?" He asked, wondering if perhaps her casing or internal mechanisms had taken a knock in the 700 year interim.

"I seem to be, but how did we get here? The last thing I remember is jumping blind away from the battle.."

"I'll explain it all later. There will be engineers poking around the ship for awhile, let them do their work. Miss [member="Alli Wren"], the owner of the Shipyards, might have some questions for you, technical ones..."

"That you cant answer," She replied and just a slither of her old snarky self began to show. "I will do my best to accommodate them, sir."

With that Norongachi turned to Alli and shrugged. "She's all yours bosslady."

 

[Alli Vern]

Alli almost fell when the ship shook but she worked to not let Salem know. "Well first if you would please let her know, that I have her wired to our network, she can access the holonet to catch up on anything that an AI wants to. Meanwhile if you would just let us get to work I think you will like what you see." She said already going into work mode, it was probably funny to watch but Salem didn't matter any more her mind was connecting with Emah directly. The advantage to the implant that she had. "Hello there, we will work on getting you connected as fast as we can but your wiring is bad, your ship looks like it was made centuries ago. Just work with my engineers and we will work on some upgrades too. "

This was the fun part or so Alli thought, she loved computers, and she happened to take more scans of the supercomputer and Emah then needed just incase they came in handy. While she was at it, she worked with Emah to upgrade her hardware, the ancient supercomputer was now no longer ancient. Modern parts after all would go a long way with what they had to do. For the next week Baktoid was ripping parts and consoles out of everywhere. They were so old anything they put in wouldn't communicate with them. If Salem poked around the ship he might worry with how empty it was becoming as a week became two and three and they still were taking and not putting anything back. The problem with 1,600m of ship was it had a lot of wiring and electronics that had to go. The ship might be a old Imperial I but after this fix the inside would look nothing like it. How old was this ship and where did they find it was her thoughts as she read the daily reports. It seemed as if the stuff was even older than the gulag virus.

Alli tried to keep the supercomputer distracted from that fact that the ship was being gutted and even the supercomputer she was hosted on got replaced, of course Alli ensured that they replaced hers right away. Though Emah would notice she was transferred. The ancient supercomputer was scrap after all they had found after a engineer almost fried Emah trying to connect modern wires to her. Through out the entire process Alli tried to ease both Salem and Emah. This was one of the meetings. "So, this week we will start replacing all the things we tore out and start connecting them with Emah. We already replaced Emah's host computer and made sure to keep her intact. Her program should be having a blast considering that this gave her a considerable boost in processing power. So is there any questions or requests, this will basically be a new ship from the inside."

[member="Salem Norongachi"]

 

[Salem Norongachi]

Emah was not alone anymore, tingling warning signs foretold of intrusion within her system and immediately her ever present eye swept for the source. She found it, lingering just outside the primary firewall before a voice spoke directly to her.

"Hello there, we will work on getting you connected as fast as we can but your wiring is bad, your ship looks like it was made centuries ago. Just work with my engineers and we will work on some upgrades too. " [member="Alli Wren"] was full of surprises, Emah mused, before complying with her requests by first disabling her intrusion safeties and then allowing all her pathways to be accessed by any Engineer who deemed it necessary. She settled back, content to trust that Norongachi knew what he was doing.

* * *
It was unfortunate that Salem had other responsibilities that required his attention within the CIS, while the work to utterly overhaul the Hand of Fates internal systems was going on he was far afield, leading the Templars on missions and in the defense of the Confederacy and its people. No matter the distance, he constantly checked in with Hypori, eagerly awaiting the day when his ship would return to him in all her terrifying glory.

While this transpired Emah took advantage of the holonet connection to update her galactic records. Information from before the 400 year darkness was spotty at best, most seemed to be assumptions based upon incomplete records of the time that had been found after the plague had near devastated the Galaxy. 700 years from home, she thought, as she idly noted a tech discussing with her the prospect of transferring her consciousness into a newer model supercomputer. She obliged the man, thinking all the while that she was now nearly 1000 years old. She still hadn't done all she wanted to do in that time, so many years squandered trapped within the confines of companies, research labs and shipyards if anything it made her realize her decision to serve Salem Norongachi was the correct one, despite the misfortune and sorrow they had known together.

She found it difficult to remain out of the loop but Alli Wren kept her abreast of each step of the process, letting her know what would come next as a task was completed. They were professional, that much she would grant them. She only wished Salem was around more, they spoke so rarely and most of his adventures without her were plastered across the holonet. At the very least, he wasn't resting upon his laurels. He was out there among the stars stamping his mark upon a new Galaxy.

The next few days were spent expanding herself out into this new system, she never thought it possible that she could be any more efficient. She was designed to handle entire star systems computing needs but by her calculations she was 45% faster in processing information. Which meant she had near devoured the entirety of the Holonet.

* * *

The Lord Commander returned to Hypori a day later and met with Alli Wren, Emah being on a com-link and able to add her thought to the discussion. "So, this week we will start replacing all the things we tore out and start connecting them with Emah. We already replaced Emah's host computer and made sure to keep her intact. Her program should be having a blast considering that this gave her a considerable boost in processing power. So is there any questions or requests, this will basically be a new ship from the inside."

"The upgrade is sufficient," Emah commented, her voice small and tiny due to the nature of the devices sound delivery system. "I am, however, very bored. Theres only so many holo-soap operas a girl can watch..."

"How long until she's ready to roll? And what kind of shielding did you use on her housing? She needs to be fully contained from any EMP weaponry." Norongachi asked immediately, one of his first tasks had been to provide shielding to Emah and vital systems should they come under ion attack. He began considering an armament, while he had been away he had looked at the specs of the various CIS ship. For the most part, she would be his own personal vessel as well as a command ship, while having the firepower to work alone.

"The starboard hangar bay, I will need it to match these specifications." He slipped a dataslate from within his jacket and handed it to Alli, inside it would detail the personal training room he envisioned to use for his own personal use and that of any unfortunate soul who became his student.

"We won't hold a crew so the prospect of needing more than one hangar for my purposes is unlikely, so I imagine we'd need a varied combination of flak and point-defense laser turrets. As for Capital class weaponry, heavy turbolaser batteries, long-range, proton and concussion missile tubes..." He trailed off and then consulted his datapad, he had only a few half typed thoughts jotted down, no specifications on make and models.

"As for shielding, it must be adequate. I never understood why, for a vessel of this size with the reactor power it could utilize, only the Mon Calamari Cruisers of my time employed various redundant shield generators. However, as I have said, I am no engineer. If any of this is beyond what my fair Emah is capable of then please, feel free to correct me."

 

[Alli Vern]

Alli smiled "Don't worry I have her protected, of course your going to have to ensure you replace the modules I put on to stop the surge, should they blow." She looked him over and noted he seemed to be doing better. The Armament will be suiting such a vessel and the hanger shall be converted as requested. The shielding of course will be more than adequate. I am also working with Emah to make sure that she has everything she wants. " She took him to a rather impressive looking holoscreen. "As you can see when a vessel fires a ion blast at the ship the blast is ran through the module and never reaches any part of the ship. Now she is vulnerable to a direct ion blast to her computer but considering we are building what is essentially a vault around her housing. Nothing less than a demolition crew will get through. She can of course open and close the door but anyone else has to have clearance from her and you to enter. You can remove my clearance as soon as I hand over the ship, we will be limiting the engineers from there from now on and I will have a third party and fourth party doing security sweeps. I take security of an AI that pilots the entire ship very seriously. I don't want any presents put in there to surprise you. I will of course do my own but I want to ensure that you know we value Emah's safety."

Alli watched the familiar video showing what happens when an ion blast hits the ship and other emp weaponry. It was impressive she had to admit. The following weeks electronics would be installed and the wiring connected to Emah. Everything would be installed and they would ensure it was the highest standard of luxury and comfort. She even put a surprise, a fully stocked bar, a personal gift from her to him. It would be a personal touch she hoped he would appreciate. The installation of all the controls so that Emah could control the vessel would take a month due to the complexity of it all. She couldn't believe how much was going into this ship, she hadn't built anything quite like it. The fact was that this ship was impressive from the standpoint of automation. She had to ensure Emah had enough processing power to do everything. They would have to do some mock battles to ensure she could handle it all.

Alli looked to him realizing she had left him there while she thought and blushed. "Sorry I was somewhere else for a moment. Do you have any other requests or concerns? Any questions about the security of the ship? I was thinking perhaps to put some sort of droids on there you can use to probe for intruders if you think you are ever boarded. It is a large ship after all. "

[member="Salem Norongachi"]

 

[Salem Norongachi]

Norongachi nodded as Alli spoke, she had everything under control and he felt more than a little silly that he'd worried so much. The holo-vid played out the mock ion attack. The sparking neon-blue wave of electricity seemingly drawn toward the grounding module [member="Alli Wren"] spoke of. It was a genius idea, one that he would never have considered.

"Whats the capacity of the module?" He asked. "And how easily can it be replaced, should it burn out?" A logical question, if he was the only living being aboard he needed to be able to do this on his own, after all. He considered her question for a moment, a finger tapping against his upper leg and then he shook his head. "As long as the security feeds and automated defenses are adequately spread across the ship, Emah should be sufficiently capable of handling any intruders."

"Damn straight." The A.I commented.

 

[Alli Vern]

Alli smiled. " I should be after some practice. You might want to perhaps look into some droid assistance if nothing else. I will forward all the specs to Emah and she can brief you on when to replace them. I imagine she will be the one who knows when they need to be. I will ensure that the security feeds and automated defenses are spread appropriately. I forget that you are so capable Emah."

Alli had taken a liking to her. She was interesting to talk to while working on the ship. She surprised Alli with how much she knew and her personality. She left [member="Salem Norongachi"] with the specs and joined her engineers with putting together the ship. They were begining to wire up Emah to the soon to be bridge. This ship would be capable of being manned if sufficient men were present. She smiled enjoying doing some manual work for once. " So Emah, How did you end up with him? " She asked as she began to lay some wiring in one of the many conduits on the ship.

 

[Salem Norongachi]

Norongachi nodded and then was left alone while the pair moved their attention to the physical labor involved in such a grand undertaking. He laid down the specs and moved toward the window. Outside the slumbering behemoth that had been his home and companion for nearly a millennia sat quietly, patiently, like a predator lying in the tall grass. When this was done, when Emah was installed, they would have to test her. So much depended upon the internal workings of the ship for automation that if one mistake were made at this juncture it could be catastrophic in the field.

Turning from the view, he picked up the specs again and let the text scroll down. It was technical jargon of the highest order, as such he simply moved to the parts that were relevant to himself; Guns and defenses. He settled down in one the chairs provided and began making notes on a separate pad. He'd need to fully bombard Emah with test after test, her greatest vulnerability was a direct attack upon her systems and networks. In their own time an A.I was a rarity aboard vessels but here, in this time, with technology leaping forward every six months he had heard tales of others. It would be prudent to prepare her for any confrontation of that kind.

* * *

Emah watched them work, confirming that connections had been made and no data was lost as she spread out to the new networks that [member="Alli Wren"] and her team had begun to hook up. The sensor systems came online and for the first time since she had awoken Emah could see. The darkness lifted and she saw the stars again, she saw the Galaxy in all its glory.

"He promised me adventure," She commented. "And he didn't disappoint." She began running full spectrum and then tight-band sensor sweeps of the area, stretching the technology to its maximum range and then correlating the data on a level that bordered upon precognition. Next she turned those same sensors inwards, her all seeing eye taking in the snaking hallways and vein like maintenance tunnels. "Sensor connection optimal, however one of your techs on deck ten, section fourteen appears to be having a smoke break."

 

[Alli Vern]

"I suppose that is good enough reason to go with him. I designed my own A.I you know, I should introduce you to her. I am sure it would be interesting. Can you do anything to motivate them to stop their break?" She asked with a laugh. Alli kept wiring it. This was an amazing project similar to her work on the liberator. It really was a grand ship and would be in tip top shape. She hooked Emah up to the navigation control, She would now be able to explore the galaxy so to speak.

Alli kept wiring, crews around the ship were installing equipment and machines. An whole other kind of crew were taking care of the captains quarters and the modified hanger. The other hanger was being updated and being brought up to standards. The newer standards were always an issue. Every year they found more things to take issue with or not take issue with. "So do you have an favorite adventure with him yet?"

Alli wondered who this Salem was. He was an interesting one, vouched for by Isley Verd himself. The question was how good would he be for the Obsidian Knights. That was when she had a genius idea. She forwarded a contract for Salem. It showed generic equipment for force users. Alli happened to supply the the Jedi and Silver Jedi with their equipment, and with the CIS she could charge for it. She knew that her subsidary Sasori Research was good at force user based products, and she could help the CIS. Alli couldn't believe she hadn't thought of it before. She would have to get his input on it later. The proposal was in his court now though.

[member="Salem Norongachi"]

 

[Salem Norongachi]

"Unfortunately, I'm not able to do much at the moment." Granted her form of motivation usually involved a dialed up grav-plate and a sudden lack of oxygen. As it stood she was nothing more than a glorified spotter -the navigational systems were hooked up at that moment- and a glorified pilot. "Never had much call for other A.I, all the ones I've read about seem to be one dimensional, deranged, sentient killers. I get the impression they were created by a sub-par designer or they were raised incorrectly." Her mind flashed back to Ken Leon then, a brief glimpse of his face and his soft voice as he guided her through the first faltering steps of her childhood.

More systems became operational, she could now fully access the ships waste disposal system, which was nice. Then her control of the ray and particle shielding throughout the ship came online, after which her control of the doors, blast and standard, as well as the turbolifts were under her control. She tested her connections on each deck by accessing a single door and opening and closing it a dozen or so times and then she sent an unused lift down to the lowest deck and then up to the highest. Alli Wren's work was impeccable.

"Before I met Salem Norongachi I was little more than a very intelligent database," Emah began in response. "Now? I'm a war machine, one of the most powerful our time had. You cannot imagine the thrill of a firefight at twenty kilometers and the thrumming of turbolaser batteries as they cut a ship in two. The majesty of the Galaxy all around me, the feeling of star dust across my skin. That surge of adrenalin as I push myself toward light speed, the beauty of hyperspace...seeing a world for the first time. All of it, from the moment I was installed to now, have been the best years of my long life."


* * *

Salems datapad beeped, and he looked down to a message from [member="Alli Wren"]. A dark brow rose as he read it, the woman was close to bleeding him dry and now she wanted a slice from the CIS as well. Still, the Knights did need new equipment so he made a note to run it past the money-men when he got home.