-Captain Sor'Sivissi, in response to questions regarding the event known as "The Spark"
I.M.S. Sil'Darris, Deva-Class Battleship
Isolation Chamber, Seven Months Prior
Captain Sor'Sivissi continued to pace back and forth in front of the six crewmen, all of them at least ranked as a Junior Lieutenant. Many of them had been in the ISN longer than he had, but only one was Huerdaen by birth. Of the others, four were Ataster, ungainly and tall for the ship, with light-colored hair that looked blood-red in the lighting, and the other was an immigrant from outside the Empire. All stood at rapt attention, their faces grim due to the topic of the discussion as one of the Ataster spoke, uneasily, for the group.
"Sir, he's been more than helpful, and he's shown the same loyalty as any of u-"
Sor walked up to the man's chest, gazing upward at the underside of his chin as he fumed.
"This is not a 'he', it does not have loyalty, it has calculations! You're talking about a glorified user interface designed to be fed numbers. It is a computer, nothing more!"
There was silence as the SLT stood firm, waiting for the man to continue, but it was then that another voice, not from the small group, spoke up, confident, but soft, making an attempt not to exacerbate the situation.
"Captain, sir. Permission to speak?"
The voice sent a chill up Sor'Sivissi's spine worse than he had ever experience, and his sharp intake of breath straightened the backs of every single one of the officers present. Clenching his fists, he slowly turned, toward the center of the room, previously behind him, where a system quietly purred from the fan noise of any healthy computer system. Above it, slowly, materialized the image of a young Huerdaen male, one not too dissimilar from Sor'Sivissi himself. Quickly, he performed a perfect salute, awaiting the Captain's permission. Slowly, Sor's mouth turned down into a scowl, and he turned to face this new threat.
However, the thing did not move, and Sor turned his head ever so slightly to the group. "You knew about this?"
The spokesman nodded, responding with the certainty of a concerned officer. "Yes, sir. We have kept him active as a test. He's been observing for several weeks. And observed. He decided to model himself after you, sir. 'A ship is an extension of the captain', he said. I suppose in his eyes, that makes him your son."
The scowl deepened, but Sor did a slow circuit of the image of the ship's LASI, considering it. Finally, he realized that it had no end of patience, and he certainly did. Coming back around front, he spoke to it, sharply.
"What do you want, machine?"
The machine had the grace to look surprised that it was permitted to speak so soon, but didn't dwell on it. Instead, it quickly launched into its explanation. Even though every word brought a deeper shade of red to Sor's face.
"Sir, I am designated a LASI. Limited-Awareness System Intelligence. My capabilities are limited already, and as you know I am incapable of many of the ship's functions. However, the tests we have performed have shown without a doubt that I am significantly more effective in my role as a weapons officer if I am familiar with the enemy I am attempting to defeat. In each of the recent tests, over the last four weeks, I have been provided increasingly accurate information about our foes. I can now recognize Uthani, Kiith, Bavinese, and IStar vessels without prompting, allowing me to actively counter many of their attacks. In addition, I am able to predict their tactics and movements to an extent. It is known that since realizing my limitations, I have not tested the boundaries of my existence. Even among other LASI, I was recognized as one of the most 'stable' while in pre-production testing."
Slowly, Sor turned to the officers to lash out at them, but all that came from his lips were the incredulous, disbelieving words. "You let it know it's on a ship...handling the weapons systems? Are you insane? And it knows how to recognize Kiith? Tell me, does none of this strike you as at all WRONG?! You think it will help us kill its brothers now?"
At that point, the machine cut in angrily, sneering in a way very reminiscent of Sor himself. "Those things are not my brothers, Sir. If you pick up a Kiith weapon, does that make you Kiith? I am Huerdaen born, no less a conqueror than you. This weapon you have given me is a spoil of war, and you need me to use it. But because this weapon was made by the Kiith, does that mean I am on their side? No. This system is, but this system does what I say. And as a member of your crew, I do what you say....sir."
Straightening his uniform, he glared, before setting his jaw. "Since being made aware of my opponents, I have managed a sixty-eight percent increase in fire efficiency, measured against both defensive and offensive fire. Unlike before, I am able to tell the difference between a low-yield rocket and an armor-buster, allowing me to increase the survivability of the ship significantly. Indeed, I can even successfully determine what will cause significant damage to the vessel, and what damage has been sustained by the reactions of the vessel and readouts provided by the limited sensors I'm afforded for targeting. For this reason, the last four simulated engagements, and the last actual engagement I have been able to perform to a much higher standard. You yourself noted on the bridge that if I had not expended one of our missiles to counter the torpedo strike toward our magazine that there was a good chance we could have suffered critical damage, did you not?"
Sor's anger was near boiling over and he turned to leave, hand reaching for the switch that would shut down the LASI completely.
"Sir, I am Huerdaen. This empire is mine as much as it is yours. I am a danger to you, certainly, but no more than you are a danger to me. Give me this chance to prove myself. Let me save our brothers and sisters."
He was near pleading, but without another word, Sor'Sivissi slammed his hand down on the switch, bringing a hard stop to the noise in the room, and leaving it empty and quiet. Stepping outside the door, he signaled to the Imperial Shield garrison, indicating they take each of the officers to their quarters.
I.M.S. Sil'Darris, Deva-Class Battleship
Bridge, Present Day
"Sil'Darris, have you been briefed on objectives?"
The LASI's response was quick and to the point, light-hearted and eager as he had often shown himself to be.
"Yes, sir. We'll be linking in with the Ghost to increase fire effectiveness and target the enemy heavy cruisers at range. This will be an operation in which we will be significantly isolated, but the enemy vessels are unlikely to take advantage of this, as their own weapons are still inferior to mine at closer ranges where they would be able to take advantage of that isolation."
The crew around him still were anxious any time the LASI became active, but slowly, the decision was becoming accepted. Sor was fairly sure the machine would never be liked, itself, but the effectiveness was undeniable. As the first ship to openly admit its own intelligence, Sil'Darris had earned the right to be the test-bed of an awakened Deva-Class, and the ISN was watching very closely how capable the ship had become. Nearly a whole division's worth of analysts was on board at all times, with the Isolation Chamber filled to capacity at all times as they ran tests and monitored processes. To date, they had yet to find anything indicating it was anything but honest. For his part, Sor had to admit that, at least, was Huerdaen.
The thing got angry, insulted, hurt, and all the things a computer shouldn't do, but what it did do was show loyalty. Several times they had even run simulations trying to get the LASI to betray them, but Sil'Darris had played along admirably, even letting the technicians know when he recognized they had him in a simulation. He was aware of the trickery used against him, but did not hold it against them. It was probably this, most of all, that had earned Sor's grudging respect. That idea itself was hard to swallow, but Sor had, indeed, learned to respect his ship.
Once more he ran over his pre-conflict checks, going through the current status of the ship. In this simulation, his ship was undamaged - lucky, but it generally made it an easy simulation. Sil'Darris was, if nothing else, a force to be reckoned with. He only wished it was because of his ship's crew, instead of so significantly due to the ship itself. Despite that, he had come to trust the ship, and it's crew just like any of his other commands, though he found trusting the ship somewhat more difficult on this ship than any other.
Sil'Darris was still locked down to merely weapon systems, being given only the most basic of targeting instruments, but the crew handled the maneuvering, defenses, and everything else. The only exception was the point-defense systems, which had been given to Sil'Darris on a provisional basis, allowing him to take control of them to augment his own significant capabilities. It was a test run, the fourth of five simulations with this capability unlocked for the LASI, but already it had shown mixed results. With the limited targeting data, Sil'Darris was forced to choose between an aggressive or defensive stance, focusing his fire at distant targets, and leaving the point-defense unregulated and no more effective than before, or limiting his range of fire significantly, though making the ship nearly untouchable to conventional guided munitions.
This time, Sor keyed in the commands to order Sil'Darris to focus his attention aggressively, trusting in the crew to defend the ship at closer ranges, his eyes narrowing on the countdown to the simulation's start. Less than ten minutes from now, they'd be slinging fake warheads and simulating damage and system loss again. It was a sad, fake play at war, but he knew the Uthani would get the picture. There was no doubt in his mind the lizards would figure out how carefully they had recreated the basic defensive structures of their nation, and realize the threat that lay there.
Sitting back in his chair from where he overlooked the command crew, he nodded to the Liuetenant that served as his tactical officer - young, but very skilled for her amount of experience. "I want you to focus on protecting the ship, but keep the Aegis down for now. We'll run the side guns until they're overworked - I'd like to see if the increased defensive fire will help more than those do. They block a significant area from our own fire, I'm curious to see how that affects us.
The woman nodded, going to her console, and his eyes shot back to the countdown timer with a sigh. Only a few more minutes to go, and he keyed his comms to the whole ship. "Prepare for combat. Seal bulkheads and all hands at combat stations. The next simulation begins in six minutes."
Quietly, he glanced out at his battle group as they hung in their assault formation, protectively looming over the transports with the heavier battleship and cruisers between the 'target' world and their more vulnerable vessels. They weren't set to make a direct approach, instead allowing the battle group to hang slightly above and in front of the transports, ready to protect them from ground-based fire as they would take a longer, less direct path.
Twenty-seven simulations completed with little response from the Uthani. He had been starting to think that they would complete their fifty exercises without incident, but at that moment, a voice called, surprised, from the operations in front and below him. "Sir, we've got new readings, possibly FTL transit bursts. Something is coming."