2023-05-31: I Require A Mission
- Cast: Sousuke Sagara, Kaname Chidori
- Where: Merida Island Hangars
- Date: U.C. 0097 05 31
- Summary: Sousuke remains troubled about the friends taken by the Vist Foundation. Fortunately, Kaname is around to help him figure himself out. As they speak, the Arbalest's AI requests assistance.
<Pose Tracker> Sousuke Sagara has posed.
The Merida Island hangars are quieter than usual. Everyone just a bit subdued. The events of days ago still hang in the air. But, the work must go on. The engineering team is pushing through maintenance to get the TDD'S whole compliment ready for battle the second the captain finds a shot to take. They all trust she will.
The SRT is, of course, thusly at loose ends, expecting a deployment at any moment but with nothing to do for this one. Technically, they are at liberty to return to their homes away from the island: No mission order has been given.
Sousuke Sagara, Uruz Seven, sits on a gun case with a vending machine rice ball next to him, elbows on his knees, slouched over with his hair around his eyes. Across from him is the ARX-7 Arbalest, in the resting pose of the ARM Slave, hands and knees down for ease of access to the cockpit in the neck.
Their postures together create an image like defeat.
<Pose Tracker> Kaname Chidori has posed.
It's only the second time Kaname's been here... and somehow, despite the gravity of meeting about Whispered intelligence, this felt worse. She'd read the intelligence, and she'd heard the conversations about it over the comms, but...
Seeing Sousuke here, in this state, makes it feel so much more real.
She's in uniform right now, a three-piece suit with a skirt, with a tupperware container under one arm. "Sergeant Sagara?" she calls out from across the hangar, heels clicking against tarmac as she makes her way over. At a more conversational distance, she says, "Sousuke... I brought you something better to eat."
She holds out the tupperware, with a fork held to the lid. It appears to be lasagna. "It's cold now, but... it's about as fresh-made as I could get." She smiles.
<Pose Tracker> Sousuke Sagara has posed.
Hearing her call him 'Sergeant Sagara' isn't the best feeling, but hearing her voice makes up for it. Sousuke's head turns up. He's in his SRT fatigues, of course. Once it would've been an outfit he'd hide from her at all costs, but now...it's just as much the right thing for him to wear as that suit is for her.
That suit, though; even with things as they are, he can't hide his eyes crawling up her silhouette, the sweep of her hips to her shoulders, nor the blush that comes over his cheeks by the time he finds her eyes. "Kaname," he says, and then almost startles as he averts his eyes. "You look....wonderful," he stammers. "Uhm. Ma'am."
Lasagna is delivered. "It's not a problem," he says, and sets his rice ball aside to accept the container. "I truly appreciate it," he says. He steps back across the way, because next to Arbalest is a small computer table, hooked up to a laptop, which is displaying...something...? It's a series of graphs, spinning around each other rapidly; a map of AL's mind. It moves at lightning speed, even with his apparent silence. Words, correlating and relating across a massive dataspace. A normal M9 AI would have a few hundred of these words, perhaps a thousand; just enough to hold an intelligent, idiomatic conversation with its pilot about battlefield situations. AL's map must be millions.
Sousuke just uses the table for a table for his meal, though. "I'm sure you heard. There's not much good news. I..."
...he hurls a sigh and grabs for the fork. "I'm sorry. You knew her well, didn't you?"
<Pose Tracker> Kaname Chidori has posed.
It seems Kaname isn't too comfortable calling him 'Sergeant Sagara' herself, seeming relieved once she's past yelling distance. There's a blush as she sees his eyes wandering; it's a well-tailored suit, hugging her curves nicely.
A smile does cross her lips, though a small one, when he takes the food. That should, hopefully, brighten him up. "Of course." She pauses, glancing toward the screen, then leaning in closer to watch a moment. "This is... a mind-map, right?" she asks, tracing the cables toward the Arbalest with her eyes.
She nods to the question, pulling up a seat next to Sousuke. "... Yeah. She's a sweet girl." Another small grin. "I'm pretty sure she's the one that got you, me, and T-- ... er, the three of us together." The flush to her cheeks goes a bit redder.
"The Arbalest's AI... you called it AL, right? This looks way more complex than an M9..." She didn't really understand the details, but she knew the basics, from watching the hangars at the Geotron garage.
<Pose Tracker> Sousuke Sagara has posed.
"It is. They're monitoring the Arbalest's AI to try and study what he's...become." Sousuke is almost grudging to say it that way. But...after Dakar, it's hard to deny...
Sousuke chews on lasagna and also the thought Kaname feeds him. Seeing her smile gets one cooking on his own face, though it's more restrained than the one he usually wears with her. "We had a fight," he admits. "...maybe about that very thing, now that you say it. She was trying to..." He blushes just a bit more. "Ah. Pry into my sexual history." He's still a teenager; he's shy even bringing up the topic with his own girlfriend. "I had barely thought about her for weeks, but I don't," he slows, and seems to weigh his own thoughts. "I don't want things to end like this."
Kaname's gaze traces off...and Sousuke glances up to where Arbalest's eyes are, silent green camera covers. "Affirmative. Callsign AL. Ever since he found out about his designer's fate, he's been...talkative."
Then, a voice comes from the computer; artificial, male. Calm, but with an officious, clipped precision.
<<Good evening, Kaname Chidori. I am AL.>>
CHANSYS: No channel with that name or alias found.
<Pose Tracker> Kaname Chidori has posed.
Kaname nods, though she looks a little confused, at the mention of 'what he's become'.
"A fight about y-" She giggles. "Yeah... that sounds like her. Little matchmaking gremlin..." The smile disappears, though, as she remembers the situation they're in. She shakes her head. "It won't. This isn't the end, not yet... I know it won't be easy, but... we can get her back. Her, and the rest of them."
It takes a moment for her to process, but she lifts a hand toward the Arbalest across the hangar, waving. "Um... Hello, Al. I'm Kaname. Sousuke's girlfriend."
And technically his superior, but... well, they try not to think about that too much.
She turns to Sousuke. "So... more talkative... I mean, I can't really follow it, but... it looks like you're thinking a lot more than a normal Arm Slave AI, too..."
Maybe he's sapient, like one of those Super AIs...?
<Pose Tracker> Sousuke Sagara has posed.
Somewhere, Kurz Weber's head whips around like a dog hearing a fox in the grass.
Sousuke manages a chuckle; Kaname laughing about it makes it all seem so trivial. Even as she gets more serious, he finds his own spirits stay just slightly elevated. She's here. Kaname's with him. She's fine, and Tessa's fine, and they can believe in each other through it. "Yes," he affirms. "I'll give it my all."
Leina's name highlights a few times on the map. <<She had some interesting opinions about hobbies you two could explore, Sergeant,>> AL notes.
Sousuke's face falls from hopeful to irritated in a heartbeat. He jabs at Arbalest's face with his fork. "Don't you start. Who even taught you that!"
<<I thought the antecedent was unambiguous. Did you know she has an entire slide deck?>>
Sousuke growls in his throat and shoves a chunk of lasagna in his mouth rather than reply.
Perhaps the banter style feels familiar, Kaname?
AL says, his voice never quite inflecting beyond the kind of automated politeness one expects from a generated voice, <<I am pleased to finally see you myself, Kaname. The Sergeant had not relayed the progress of your relationship. My congratulations. In answer to your question, my precise current nature is unknown. It appears that Supervisor Bani Morauta, the creator of the ARX platform, prepared a flag for my kernel to do something upon confirmation of his death. We do not yet know precisely what occurred.>>
"Other than to put your nose where it doesn't belong," Sousuke mutters.
<<I do not have a nose, Sergeant.>>
<Pose Tracker> Kaname Chidori has posed.
Kaname's face goes dark red as AL brings that up, having A Few Ideas what that means. She buries iher face in her hands. "Oh my Godddd..." she groans... and looks back up. "AL, was that a *joke*?" She grins, "C'mon, Sousuke. That was funny."
With that kind of voice, AL could do stand-up, she thinks. When you can't break deadpan, your delivery will always be perfect...
She nods, as AL explains. "Well, thank you, AL. I appreciate it." She frowns, just a little, thinking about it. "Well, you're... hm." She glances between the two, thoughtful. It's hard to put her finger on the familiarity, there. "Be patient with him, Sousuke. You're stuck with him... and he's *learning*. It's a turn of phrase, AL. Sticking your nose where it doesn't belong is like... getting into other people's business, where you don't belong."
<Pose Tracker> Sousuke Sagara has posed.
<<Oh, the slide deck is entirely real,>> AL clarifies. <<I learned much from Leina Ashta's rigorous dedication to her craft. I disagree with some of her conclusions, however.>>
He leaves THAT one hanging like a sword of Damocles.
Sousuke grumps but consents with a nod. AL does not look smug but might if he had the capacity. Eventually, Sousuke mutters, "I shouldn't have to be patient with my combat computer," but looks to Kaname and cannot stop himself from softening. "....very well."
<<Understood. I have updated my database. Thank you for your cooperation,>> AL says, apparently deciding Sousuke's words didn't warrant the dignity of a reply
A long few seconds pass, something like companionable silence as Sousuke eats. And then, AL speaks again. <<Sergeant. Miss Chidori. I am experiencing an irregularity.>>
Sousuke grunts at that. "We noticed a while ago, AL."
The mind map whirls, spiraling around itself in circles.
Again, AL ignores Sousuke's jab and just says: <<I have been reviewing the mission logs and radio transmissions. I am still unable to comprehend why this has happened to Leina Ashta.>>
That gets Sousuke to shut his mouth with a click of his teeth.
<Pose Tracker> Kaname Chidori has posed.
Kaname can't help but stare over at AL over the first remark.
Better to unpack that later.
But if that gave her pause, the irregularity stops her dead.
She closes her eyes, and sighs. "You understand war, right? At least... a bit about the cruelty of war. Why Newtype labs exist, right?"
Her words are bitter, and sad. "But even more than that, some people are awful. Monstrous. You'd think they could have taken anyone... but... from what I understand, I think the people who did that to Leina just did it to get at the people who care about her. To hurt them."
<Pose Tracker> Sousuke Sagara has posed.
<<Affirmative,>> AL replies. Arbalest is motionless, but that mind churns, relates, considers. <<Following the outsized influence of what would be identified as Newtype soldiers on the One Year War, research into the phenomenon began in earnest soon after. Due to much of that funding coming from the military sector, the combat applications of any technology was pursued first. My data indicates such a pattern is common among the development new technologies, but in this case, the result was an explosion of technologies dedicated to the destruction, deregulation, or manipulation of the mind. Much of Mithril's mandate pertains to stemming the human costs of such activities.>>
He speaks again almost immediately, like the thoughts collided. <<Human costs. The effects upon uninvolved persons of a strategic or tactical combat action.>>
<<Human costs. Learning message: Is the concept related to 'betrayal'?>>
"She said she did this of her own will," Sousuke notes, speaking loudly for AL to hear. "But it was more than likely something she has been forced to believe. ...I do not believe she has betrayed us, AL." He looks up to Kaname, shaking his head slowly. "He's been turning this over since Dakar. It's like the idea is stuck in his program. I don't understand what's happening."
<<Sergeant.>>
"Yeah?"
<<Are there no mission orders?>>
"No, AL. You'd get those before me, probably."
<<My system insists there is a mission to complete. But there are no orders for such a thing. Why?>>
Sousuke looks at Kaname again. "Kaname..." he says, slowly.
"...does this sound like anxiety, to you?"
<Pose Tracker> Kaname Chidori has posed.
Kaname nods, "That's correct. Betrayal... and a show of power, I think, when it finally came out. And until then, they'd have someone close enough to the Unicorn to track its every move."
She takes notice when AL mentions a mission, despite there being none. She frowns... and at Sousuke's suggestion, she nods. "It does." Leaning forward a little, she watches the map shift and spin, watching the gears of AL's thoughts turn.
"How seriously have you considered the idea that maybe he's not just a combat computer anymore?" She looks over at Sousuke. "This isn't something I really get, but... what if Supervisor Morauta's death triggered some sort of Super-AI awakening?"
And maybe that's a good thing for Sousuke... out on the battlefield, his most frequent contact is with Kurz and Mao. And while she doesn't know Mao too well... she sometimes wishes she knew Kurz Weber *less* well.
<Pose Tracker> Sousuke Sagara has posed.
The map spins a little, taking in Sousuke and Kaname's inputs both. <<Inferrence: One objective of the enemy in specifically choosing Leina Ashta as their initial target was to simply cause emotional distress to her loved ones.>>
Some pretty violent words pop up on the map briefly after that statement. He doesn't say anything.
Sousuke glances to the side. "Dr. Mass believed that was precisely what happened immediately," he says. "She was with me there at the time."
He can't help but watch that complicated map swirl. "I have had trouble with the notion. An arm slave is a weapon of war. It's supposed to just be a tool," he says, quietly. "I keep myself alive by knowing everything about my weapons. The lambda driver is bad enough, but the M9's combat computer is a data analysis engine, not a...copilot."
<<Sergeant. There is an unresolvable conflict. I require a mission.>>
Sousuke sets his utensil aside, and turns his attention on Kaname. "But what he's describing is anxiety. He wants to go help her right now. But he can't. Because we can't. And so he lacks a mission, but needs one. It's common enough, in the field."
He says it with his usual analytical fashion...but maybe Kaname can see how much a similar feeling is eating him, too.
<Pose Tracker> Kaname Chidori has posed.
Kaname nods to AL, and glances at the map... then nods again, hands balling into fists.
"Yeah. I understand," she sighs. "Something like that can change things a lot, especially for someone like you... but..." And then it dawns on her.
AL is to Sousuke what Sousuke is to her.
"Mm... there must be a good reason for it," she muses, "If Supervisor Morauta had a dead man's switch programmed into AL, it must've been to do something he knew he wouldn't be able to. Whatever's going on... he probably wanted to do it more gradually than this. But whatever the reason is... well, I don't think you can really go back from it."
She speaks up, so AL can hear clearly. "For right now, I think the best course of action--the mission, I guess--is to wait. Be ready to move. We're no good to her sitting here and wringing our hands. The only way we can get her back is to be ready to go when we find her. As soon as you get the order."
She reaches over and takes Sousuke's hand. "I know you feel useless right now... we all do. But part of being useful is being there, being *ready*, when the time comes to do what needs to be done."
<Pose Tracker> Sousuke Sagara has posed.
Sousuke nods slowly as Kaname reasons it out. Throwing him into the deep end with the Arbalest had been frustrating in the extreme, but...it does make sense. "He'd found a way to achieve...this, but wanted to test it more," he hypothesizes. "But put in a flag to ensure the system could attempt to complete itself without him. ...I see."
AL is silent, considering Kaname's words, while Sousuke's fingers curl around Kaname's hand as she takes it. "In Khanka..." he says, slowly. "When I ran to you in the trailer, I was worried the worst had happened. I can't run to her side, now. Not hers, nor Takarada's or Shinjo's." ...A small squeeze. He is frustrated.
"Morauta's dying message called the Arbalest a vehicle of possibility," he says. "...if Leina has been made to give up on that, then AL and I will remind her."
He takes a small moment to smile at her, thin but true, and then look up to Arbalest. "You hear that, AL?"
He has, the map says, but he still takes some seconds to reply. <<Inference: The request is related to 'patience.'>>
<<Very well. I will prepare every part of the ARX system I control to its utmost. Sergeant. I must ask you to take care of your own portion.>>
Sousuke briefly grimaces. He hates it when AL calls him part of the machine. But this time, he swallows that pride, holds Kaname's hand, and feels like it might just work.
"Understood, AL. Not a problem."