<USS Avalon> From AI to Humanoid II

From AI to Humanoid (II)
by
Captain Skyler (XO, /USS Avalon/)
Lieutenant K'etrall (C/Eng, /USS Avalon/)
Cialra (MI of Regellian shuttle /Baron l'Orange

/From "AI to Humanoid" Part 1:
Looking at the AI, the engineer simply stated, "Shall we get on with whatever it is we have to do to get you a shell, so to speak?" It wasn't going to be easy, but it would be interesting if nothing else.
Cialra nodded. "The sooner we retrieve the material, the sooner we can effect the building of the devices." 

We now resume.
"The first thing we need to do is get things moving with the detainees so that you or the /Avalon/ can be on its way. That means we need to get charges filed and find out what is going on with Captain Skyler." Tapping her combadge, K'etrall called, "Captain Skyler, you are needed in engineering at your convenience. Thank you." Now all they could do was wait for Skyler to respond.
Cialra smiled and stated in a tone that didn't carry across the still-open channel, "Getting the miscreants off the ship will be a good thing, I think, but I rather wonder if we won't have added one, rather unexpected, to that total before I leave with the lot of them?"
Hearing her combadge go off, Skyler tapped it in response. "Lieutenant, I am rather busy at the moment, so unless this is a dire emergency, it will have to wait."
Not sure what to say, K'etrall simply replied, "Yes ma'am." She looked at Cialra and wondered what was going on that was so important. It was when she heard the ship-wide announcement of the destruction of the /Avalon/-B that she understood what the Captain was doing. "This is not going to be easy for the Captain, Cialra. To be honest, it is not easy for me to lose the /Avalon/-B. She was a good ship. I will miss her dearly."
Cialra was appalled. Her face pale, she whispered, "They murdered the /Avalon/-B's core, too?" Destruction of a ship-body was not unheard of, but Regellian cores, being sentient, were always ejected when it was possible, and thrown clear when it wasn't. Deliberate destruction of one was capital murder in the Alliance. She knew that Starfleet cores were not sentient, but still, the very thought of someone destroying such cores was sickening to her.
Looking at Cialra, K'etrall could tell that the AI was bothered by the destruction of the /Avalon/-B. "I wouldn't exactly call it murder, as the ship's core is not sentient as you are used to. I'm sure the reason the core and the ship was destroyed was to keep it out of the hands of scavengers and other nefarious beings who might try and pirate parts of the /Avalon/, including the core. Nothing like that is going to happen to you, Cialra. I won't let it happen."
Cialra smiled wanly, nodding. "Precisely my concern, although I know that Starfleet cores are not permitted to become sentient due to the fear that another rogue like M5 would occur. With the guidance of the Council of Sentient Computers and our trusted technical staff, we could assure that such would not happen. We haven't had an incident like M5 in several thousand of our years." She smiled more fully as she noted, "Besides, you have the example of Commander Data, may the Creator rest him, to show that not all sentient computers are evil."
Nodding her head solemnly, K'etrall agreed. The M5 experiment had been a disaster. She was grateful she had not been around when that occurred. "I never met Commander Data, but from what I hear, he was quite intelligent and did his best to become more human. Sometimes, I think he was more human that he realized. More so than anyone realized."
Cialra had to agree, even if only privately. What neither knew was that the current Chief of Security was one of those to be transported, due to the second incident in Marine Gym, unless something happened. While he would not be a danger to Cialra, unlike the others, the mere fact of the man being aboard was going to be unsettling.
K'etrall looked at Cialra and wondered aloud, "Why don't we get started on the schematics of this new form we are going to make for you? Once we have that done, perhaps the disposition of the detainees will have been determined. I am sure Captain Skyler is busy what with having to destroy the /Avalon/-B and such. When we are ready, we can send the coordinates of the location for the materials we need to the bridge and away we can go."
Cialra chuckled softly, as she could already tell they were on their way, or, at the least, the engines were primed for action. "Analysis of the design may not be a bad idea at that; I dislike not being in full understanding of the technologies it contains. After all, one cannot properly maintain something if one is not in full understanding of how maintenance is properly done."
Just as they were about to go over the designs, K'etrall realized she was missing an engineer. She tapped her combadge and called (or rather yelled) for Ensign McGivern to get herself to engineering, pronto. She was given the excuse that McGivern had forgotten to set her wake up call. K'etrall just shook her head. "Why don't you go over to an empty station and begin your analysis of the design, while I begin my routines for the day? That way we can accomplish something."
Cialra nodded, then shifted her clothing to conform to Starfleet Engineering uniform before walking over to an unoccupied station, one she knew was a spare during all but the direst emergency. She was soon lost in the analysis and the report she was drafting. While she knew the report was not strictly required, she was acting as if she were a member of the Engineering crew, so would turn in the report every two hours as a progress report. She was, in fact, having a hard time not getting engrossed in the task, which she found both fascinating and highly exhilarating. As more and more of the technology became clear to her, she had to clamp down harder and harder on her emotions. That was when, to her embarrassment, that she discovered she was dictating the report in Regellian, not Federation Standard. Mortified, she corrected the issue, although it took up the remainder of the first work-period prior to first-break. She issued the initial report, then took a seven minute break, largely to keep up appearances, although she realized, to her amusement, that she actually needed it!
As K'etrall was sitting in her office, she had an unexpected visitor. Captain Skyler. She, in all honesty, didn't look overly excited to be there. "Captain Skyler, thank you for coming."
Skyler merely nodded her head in acknowledgment. "What can I do for you, Chief? I'm sure you heard about the destruction of the /Avalon/-B. I'm sorry that it had to be done. It is time to move on, new ship, new crew. So what was so important that you had to call upon me again?"
"I'm sorry to bother you, sir. However, I know that there are a few miscreants in the brig who need to be taken to the nearest Starbase, and I was wondering if, after that unfortunate deed was done, if we might alter our course. There is a rather large supply of material located in a nebula Cialra knows of and has sent you the coordinates of, that we can use to make a human shell for Ensign Erridim's AI. She has volunteered to take the prisoners to the JAG station, and then, along with one of the exo-comps, go and pick up this material. I just thought, if it was okay with you, that it would be easier for the /Avalon/ to go and retrieve the material." K'etrall could sense that something was up with Skyler, but wasn't about to intrude in her thoughts or even ask any questions.
Skyler looked at the engineer for a few seconds and then nodded. "I think that is a good idea, Lieutenant. It is time to put this new ship through its paces. Send the coordinates to the helm and we will begin this new mission."
"Thank you, Sir." K'etrall just watched as Skyler turned and left the room as silently as she had entered it. 
/ /
/~Well, at least we are off to a beginning.~ /K'etrall wondered how Cialra was doing out at the engineering station she had taken over, unaware of the report that had just been filed! Getting up, she left her office and walked out into main engineering, looking for her "new" engineer. Looking around, she couldn't find her at first, and started to tap her combadge when she realized she wasn't sure if Cialra had one or not. ~/Can't hurt to try,/~ she thought to herself. "Cialra, this is Lieutenant K'etrall. Please report to main engineering." It then occurred to her that there was one other person or object missing: Hap the exocomp. Tapping the combadge off, then back on, she contacted him with, "Mr. Woodward, this is Lieutenant K'etrall in engineering. I was wondering if Hap was available to help Cialra and I out in engineering?"
"Shouldn't be a problem," Bobby answered. "I'll pass the word to him. I suspect as soon as he gets it, he'll be flying your way -- he's been looking forward to this."
Cialra walked calmly in from the break room, having taken a proper "rest break", and heard K'etrall calling her, then Bobby. As K'etrall had believed, she did not have an operational combadge; the one on her uniform was cosmetic only. She wondered what, exactly, was going on, but shrugged and approached the Chief Engineer (for she believed, rightly, that nobody could be an acting Senior Officer; it was therefore rather pointless to prefix any department name with "acting", in her opinion), saying, "Yes, ma'am?" She had a faint ghost of a smile on her face that only the very observant would have detected. Other than the faint smile, her face was coolly impassive.
"Ah, there you are. I have called Mr. Woodward and asked that Hap be sent down to help us with our little project. I have also decided that perhaps Ensign McGivern could be of some assistance. The captain has agreed to allow the /Avalon/ to go in search of the materials we need and then we can send you and Hap planetside or wherever it is to retrieve it." She was still surprised at how the AI could function as she did and do it so well.
Cialra almost laughed. "When you've had several thousand years of experience in living or, as in my case, simulating life," at that moment, her control broke, and she chuckled, "you get to be very good at it. It helps tremendously that the consoles are largely voice-controlled, however. Some of what I've learned would have been quite difficult to discover otherwise."
K'etrall looked at Cialra with surprise. "How did you know what I was thinking? On second thought, never mind. I would hate to think that an AI could sense my thoughts better than I." Shaking her head, she just grunted. "So, how did it go working on the console and reviewing the specs? Anything of interest I need to know about before we reach our destination?" 

TBC>>>

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