WoWS3 Chpt 14

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==Weapons of War Saga: The Final March- Chapter 14 - ==
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===Interview with an Aromantic Woman===
Kolossus Station, Deep Periphery
October 19th, 3142
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"We suspected you were artificial." Otto admitted. "This is pretty blatant."
She poured his drink, "I'm biologically as human as you are, Otto." she noted, "We all are. All of us, the Envoys, that is." and she passed it across to him.
"How do you tell the difference?"
"Eventually, you'll be able to answer that question for yourself, if you stick around long enough." she then poured herself something from the bar, and leaned over it, "We have different interests, different inclinations. Perfidy would very much like to cut your throat-that's 'Persephone', the one you've killed three or four times."
"Special names-designations?" he asked.
"Yep."
"Which one are you?"
"Lyran Ident card said Phoebe, but you can call me Perversion. I like to do fun things, like drinking alcohol…" she downed her shot, and set it on the bar, "Or playing with men…or women. I have, as they say, very few limits, it was useful when infiltrating Jade Falcon controlled systems and worlds. Unlike my older sister, I've only been killed and recovered from backups once. Dying hurts, Otto. As I said, my sis would LOVE to have an excuse to show you how much."
"And you?" he asked.
She shrugged, "I don't know you that well. You've been a decent guy here on the station who hasn't made any trouble, you're not hard to look at…" she shrugged, "I would say it depends on how well we get along, and whether or not you can keep it up."
He blinked, "Are you…?"
"Teasing, maybe propositioning? Maybe." she gave him a coquettish look, "Maybe not, maybe I'm leading you on, maybe I'm not, maybe I'm just testing your integrity…or maybe we're just having a good time in what passes for a night-life here. Most of the Privateer personnel are already taken and the ones who aren't see me like my sister, and treat me like…well, not an option. I'm between deployments and the R&R sucks, you're single…or seem that way, no wedding band, anyway."
"I will..pass, if it is all the same to you, Phoebe." he told her, "aside from the fact your face makes me feel guilty about the number of times someone who looks just like you died in my interrogation room in the last three years, The…ah…unique? Nature of your…provenance…"
"Ha…who would have thought a Clanner would have hangups over casual sex with a potential enemy?" she laughed, and poured them both another drink. "Yah…you see through me, don't you?"
"I honestly can not say, what do you think I see?"
"That I'm not capable of that kind of love." she told him, "Sex, sure, but I don't actually feel any attachments to it, it's a defect, it's how I got my…'unique designation', you can tell because you've got suppressed Empathy."
"Speculation." he pronounced.
"Is it? You'd be a SHITTY intel officer if you didn't have the ability to feel and understand genuine emotions, and I can't imagine YOUR watch would be weaker on that end than the Falcons' agents were."
He tested the refill, then drank it with her. "You're right, you have…cold eyes, not like your…sister."
"Bingo! You're learning." she said, "We're the same on the outside, but we all have these little…tweaks. I seduced my way across the Lyran Commonwealth and manipulated officials in two nations before the Falcons caught me, because I can fake it, fake the attraction, fake the emotions…but the trick is, I got caught because their agent was better at it than me."
"SO, are you completely a sociopath?" he asked.
"Aromantic. I do feel love, but it's more…platonic, abstract." she deferred, "I cared enough to head straight back to get the Sibkids off Sudeten, and they're not even mine. This doesn't mean I don't love the endorphin hit from coupling, I just don't become…attached to partners, and people I love are off the menu."
"That sounds awful."
"Heh, yeah, hence the name." she topped him off again. "The upside is, I don't really hate...not like they describe it anyway. I know what you did, and I don't hate you, which is why Kolossus has me keeping an eye on you instead of one of the other Envoys."
"Your…detachment."
She nodded again.
"That much variation suggests your mass-production is…"
"Not mass production. Every one of us, is a custom job." She told him, "We all have the same base memories to start with, but from different perspectives, different priorities, orientations…inclinations. If you stick here, you'll learn to spot it."
"Are there any of you I should be worried about?"
"Pretty…er, Priss." she said, "Priss is like Perfidy, but she'll actually kill you if she thinks she can, because of how you treated Perfidy-she's…vengeful. She's also currently working with Lyran free-spacers, so she's months away…and being Priss, she might just let it go, if you behave well while you're here." she waited, "See, I'm vengeful too-but I don't kill my enemies if I can make it embarrassing or compromising instead. I go for abject humiliation."
"You…did you..?"
"Not this time, You're under Kolossus' protection and I'm open minded enough to allow that you might reform on your own without me having to do the really fun stuff. You're just drunk right now. Sake does that to people, so does Absinthe, and this stuff? It's a mix of both. I'll get you to your room, and make sure you don't choke on your vomit, and maybe you'll remember this conversation. I hope you do, so you'll remember I didn't pump you for info while you were too hammered to resist."
She caught him when his legs gave, "There's a good boy…let's get you somewhere you can sleep it off safely okay?"
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===Sorting out marching order of a relationship===
Meanwhile in Elspeth’s room
“Kolossus, wow, I’m not sure why I’m so nervous. But I know of all the people you invited here and what happened on the trip here, I must be pretty high on your list of people you’d like to talk with.” Elspeth said.
“Kolossus wonders why you do feel nervous?”
“Because I’m basically meeting the parent of someone I’m dating and I’m not really sure if we’re at that stage of our relationship yet.”
“Ah. Yes. That would be a rather substantial milestone in a human relationship.”
“Yeah. I actually kind of like him but… The odds are really against us lasting past the return trip to Port Orphan. I gave my oath and that’s important to me, especially with everything that everyone at Port Orphan has done for me.”
“Kolossus understands. Kolossus also points out that while Tiny Armature is not mature enough yet. He is an AI and will be so eventually and when he is he can wait for you, for when you have fulfilled your oath. If that is what you both still want when that time comes.”
“I think that is the worst part. Our relationship is so new and raw I don’t think either one of us knows for sure if we want to make that kind of commitment yet and while I know you can address certain other issues, again that’s a rather big leap yet for where we are in our relationship.”
“Elspeth and Tiny are the only ones who can decide such things, but as a parent Kolossus is happy that Tiny is happy and from what I have observed Elspeth is unlikely to do something to hurt Tiny.”
“Then I better not be late for our next date. Thank you, Kolossus.” Elspeth began digging through her clothes for something to wear on her date.
“For what do you thank Kolossus?”
“You’re my best friend’s dad and my boyfriend’s too.” Elspeth stripped down to put on the new garment.
“Kolossus is still getting used to the notion of being a parent now.”
“Which is why you’ve asked Amanda the rest of us here, you may be an AI but if anything that makes you more aware of the fact that you do not have infinite time with your children and you want to get to know their friends too. Which means Alice and her gang of too smart for their own good kids will be getting an invite at some point too. Probably in a few years when they’ve grown up a bit more.”
“Elspeth seems rather perceptive.”
“It wasn’t actually that hard to figure out. I asked myself ‘what would a hyper advanced AI want with someone like me?’ and the revelation of my best friend’s true parentage led to only one logical answer. If you wish, we’ll talk more later.”
“Kolossus may hold you to that.”
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===Gifts for Training===
Range 22 - SLDF in Exile Compound
New Lazarus
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Haida had joined Allison to observe the exercises.
“Part of me wishes to join them, to see what ground warfare is really like.” Haida said.
“You could, you know.”
“It would go poorly. I reviewed the incident with Maori, Elizabeth, and the Roberts family. There was a fault in Maori’s security. One caused by our very nature. Distance. With our hulls in orbit and our current remotes inability to run our full matrices, we do not have enough combat efficiency in surface warfare to be much better than a typical human soldier at best. And that is without jamming or interference.” Haida shook her head.
“That is a solvable problem.”
“Yes. Victoria has elected for it. It is why she has become so much more important in the roles of diplomacy and intelligence gathering. I am not sure I want to go that far. I do enjoy boarding actions but I am fond of being what I am. I am a Caspar and that means I am a Warship.”
“Well you came here to learn so I think you really should learn. No excuses. Nothing wrong with being a little better than a typical human soldier.”
“You’re on. Next cycle we shall see how it goes.”
“That’s the spirit. When will the third AI be joining us?”
“Her refit should be done by the day after tomorrow.”
“Should be fun putting you three through a few exercises then. Get you to know how we work and thus give you a better understanding of how to achieve maximum efficiency in supporting us.”
“Hmmm…While that is not exactly what we were thinking, that is logical. We know space warfare, not surface warfare. If we get some first hand experience with it, that should allow us to offer better support.”
“Team work makes the dream work!” Allison laughed, then said, "no…every patch leaves a vulnerability, it's fine if you participate in exercises to get some experiences, but in the field?" she shook her head and said, "in the field, your job is to keep their air-support and naval support off of us, cover our entry and our escape, and secure the supply and support lines. Roles Matter. If my ground troops can't get to the ground they're useless, if we can't extract when it goes wrong (and it will), well…and if we run out of munitions, spares, food, or medicine? We'll do some joint training, but that's not going to translate into you joining actual live combat on the ground-you're too valuable in the role you're already made for." she paused, "Nonetheless, often times, its' not the best prepared or the most skilled, it's whoever happens to be on hand…so we'll practice joint exercises."
“Agreed. A strong enough ECM field and I’d be cut off from my primary core and actually be a liability in ground combat. Still too much of the history of human conflict is littered with different branches being unable to work together yet respect the other’s specialty leading to unnecessary losses. So some first hand experience in the other’s realm seems wise.”
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"What the hell are those?" Haida asked, as the 'training drones' formed up after the exercise.
"Dobermans. Part of the care packet from Kolossus. The T-9s are limited SI driven drones." Pestilence explained. "Kolossus is sending field-ready models as soon as they're ready, along with a consignment of AID-02's and DCU-02 maintenance and repair spiders."
"SI?" Haida asked.
"Means they have a limited autonomy when cut off from control signals from the base station, a set of basic decision trees and a fuzzy logic processor along with ident software…basically when they're isolated from direct control, they're a bit smarter than a dog-but only a bit. A pack and clear signal links and they get a little smarter, but we'll keep that under our hats, hey?" Pestilence smiled, "right now I've got a company of human operators training to serve in what amounts to a 'K-9' unit-drone wrangling instead of dog-wrangling. They'll be integrated into the surface recon and artillery spotter roles for close combat."
"Such as?" 
"Mortar sections mostly. We're likely to end up fighting in close urban, that's not a place you want free falling artillery shells. The Dobies sweep ahead of conventional 'mech units or patrol as point security at rallying points, or act as hunter-killers aimed at enemy command and control areas."
"So Kolossus is sending MORE?"
Pestilence hemmed and said, "Yeah. There are six or seven containers in Truk's dock with more stuff. Things Kolossus can't test on the station, but these guys aren't ready to work with just yet. I'd be breaking them out too, but I don't have confidence the Army's ready for or will be ready for by the date Her Majesty gave us."
“Well then we’ll just have to see about giving out lumps of coal with what we have then.”
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