Martin,in his Genesis suit, makes his way to the Hangar Bay 2 of Ames Research Station, with two engineering teams beside him.They were all carrying multiple big crates, the new weapons to be mounted and some tools to hopefully make this transition easier.
As soon as Martin and his team walked through the hangar door, he saw Kyle Vaughn patiently waiting near the Jackdaw.
At a first look, to Martin the ship seemed a standard one,a classic Jackdaw, how would define him.
As soon as he was approaching the vessel and Kyle, he has made a sign to the teams and they took the small generators and put them at the corners of the vessel, creating a small energy cage around the vessel."Do not worry Mister Vaughn, it's just a safety measure, in case the AI tries to do anything crazy."Then he firmly rises the hand in sign of wanting to shake Kyle's."It's a pleasure meeting you personally. I hope you had a safe journey."Then he briefly stopped to look at the vessel and continued."So, Mister Vaughn, what can you tell me about this vessel? Like some technical data, so we have an idea of where we can start.Also, I've received your communication and I'd like to thank you, I've already sent some security teams to the Hangar where the Titan Very Heavy Fighter vessel is parked. Usually Corsair vessels are not so welcome on our installations, since the Ingenuus times, and hopefully we'll manage to understand what intentions has. But I have to admit that the conversation was very odd."Martin slightly smiles after his last sentence, but he was still maintaining that seriousness vibe he always has.
Kyle stood next to the Jackdaw, leaned against it. As he saw Martin Lawrence- the head of Genesis Research Group, he stopped leaning against the Jackdaw. "Call me Kyle, there is no need for pleasantries, and yes - I had a safe trip here." once he shook hands with Martin. Kyle turns over to the Jackdaw, and points at the cockpit which glowed a bright red color then shouts. "Bit! Power on the ship!". In less than three seconds, the Jackdaw showed a burst in its engines - a similar color of red and blood orange for a few brief seconds - then turned off. "B-B-B-BUUUURN BABY B-B-BUUURN!" says Bit with a glitched voice, yet vaguely humanoid - the voice was probably simulated after a humanoid personality. "I found Bit inside a wrecked Bustard carrier in an Uncharted system. Obviously, he wasn't the Carrier itself, but the very Jackdaw you see before your eyes. I prefer to associate his array of features with the Cult of Technology that once roamed Sirius. With various modifications, you see Bit in his...almost best state. This Jackdaw has a power output with unknown values. My engineers said it would be around 13,500 - something uncommon to normal Jackdaws. Engine windup time is also fastened by 5%." says Kyle, vaguely confident, then turns to Martin, shrugging. "Glad I could be of assistance about that corsair. Your smile is concerning, though. Something tells me Bit's brainstorming caused amusement to kick in, or its simply the thought of having a detained Corsair on your decks. Nonetheless, I won't judge. Now I'm sorry I can't stick around any longer, but I have a meeting aboard The Black Liner. Naturally, this Jackdaw is not the only one that needs maintenance and upgrades, but my own home too. Take care of Bit, and don't give him Azurite under any circumstances unless you want to get him high - and by default, calm him down." With that said, Kyle hands Martin a set of keys for the Jackdaw, then leaves the Hangar in a hurry.
After Martin received the keys from Kyle, he went back to his teams, grabbed a pad and start swiping."So let's see what do we have here. Run a full scan of the ship."Not long after that statement, the workers promptly started working on said command. In the mean time Martin, was trying to understand what was the link between Azurite and the "addiction" of that AI to it, but firstly he wanted to make sure it was safe to work on it and to understand it better.
Then he understood something, that the key to knowing the ship was to know the AI, so he went near the vessel with his pad in his hand, while the teams were still working on scanning the vessels."So, you are Bit, right? Tell me something about yourself, as I see you are really after Azurite, maybe you want to share the why of it"?
Bit was already muttering audibly before Martin even came to see him. A frantic, excited attitude with a humanoid voice. The Jackdaw's cockpit instantly brightens up even more than before as Martin came closer, and in a rapid succession Bit says: "Hello! I'm Bit! Nice to meetc'h'ya! Haven't we met before? I believe I did! Wait. Azurite, right? Got some? I could use a nice boost to brighten up the depressive mood in this hangar. No disco lights, no music...eh...Kyle's Liner was more entertaining than this. And where's the TV?! Or a hologram show?! God you guys are bo-ring! When are the-" with the same excited tone, Bit's voice breaks up in glitched static for a split-second, then comes up with a very loud volume. "G-G-GUN! GUN! GUN! P-PP-PURGE THE L-L-LAWFUL SCUMBAGS!" he says in the glitched, loud voice as if neither he expected this to happen. Bit comes back to his former self, the excited self now rather ashamed. "Ah, -uh...sorry about that. I tend to lose control sometimes. About the Azurite...I...don't remember why I like it. I just know I do. I have a feeling I know why but its just not coming out! says Bit in the end on a calmer tone.
Martin, somehow amused of Bit, slightly smiled."Hmm, I understand. So you are just an AI following a coding, that gave you this "addiction". Most probably you are working on gas injectors in the powercore, in this case Azurite gas injectors, so when you are running low, you "crave" for more."One of his men gave him another pad, with the fully completed scan of the vessel. The scan showed that the vessel was indeed working as Martin predicted, but the engines were different aswell. It seemed that they received partial power from the powercore, along side the fuel and in the fuel, before the fuel turns in plasma, there is another gas injector, Neon filled. Martin has never seen such use of a gas injectors, so he was in a small shock, but he understood how it worked. He was quite amazed with the work put in this vessel, but he wasn't there to study it, but to make the prototypes work. "So, let's get to work. We need to redirect more energy to the weaponry system, because as you are aware, they eat a lot of energy." He took a small break from talking, then he turned to Bit. "Uh, let's see if this works. Bit, manual override, protocol Alpha Theta Eight. Initialize weaponry's system release locks."
"Coding? What coding? I never remember being coded, or...anything since I was found. And using Azurite as fuel? I never needed Azurite until I took the first sniff of it back in Omicron Delta." says Bit in a confused tone. A few beepings come from the cockpit, and the AI seemed to mutter, whistling innocently for a while for several seconds until Martin mentioned a sort of override code - unknown to Bit - to which he answers: "What flip-flap-maninjang are you muttering there? If you want more energy you just have to say! After all - I'm here to help you guys out!". Few seconds after Bit stops speaking with Martin, the powercore instantly overloads, and an enormous amount of energy is released into the subsystems - maybe a bit too much. "I AM ON SPEED. V-V-VROOM VROOOOOMMM" says Bit with the once again, glitched voice. The Azurite injectors begin to pump as fast as possible, the engines blasted a few red flames before self-regulating so that it won't disrupt the Hangar. Several warning signs show up inverted on the cockpit's protection glass, reflected from the computers. "Warning, powercore overload"; "Warning, weaponry subsystems overload": "Warning, "YTTP32" exposure to Azurite detected" were only a few of the whole wall text of warnings.
As soon as Martin saw what was going on, he tried to get everyone out of the shield that was constructed around the vessel, and luckily it was there."Get out of the shield! Everyone needs to stay out because we have no idea what's going on."As soon as everyone was out of the "cage", Martin started to look interested at what was going on."Run a diagnosis of what's going on please, we need to understand what is happening."As soon as he finished the sentence, Martin received the pad with the running diagnosis."So I was right in the end. This is an "outburst", which is when the vessel has too much energy and can't be contained, energy that's created by the Azurite injectors themselves. As predicted, the propulsion system is, in a low percentage, tied to the power-core itself, so it's fueled not by one, but by two sources.While he was reading the pad, he also noticed the writings on the screen."We need something to clear all this Azurite that was leaked. It is small quantities, but we need to cut as soon as possible the exposure with it. You know it's consequences.So the workers, without hesitation, went to get something similar to a gas extractor, and they initiated the cleaning. In the mean time, Martin was trying to understand how to proceed further, as obviously there were some issues with the gas injectors in the reactor, and the AI itself behaved like a child. So this needed a different approach."So Bit, I did not want more power; I actually needed you to shut down your weapons, so we could simply take them off and replace them with something better. But now, you need to let us see your powercore, what do you think?"
Bit felt bad for the misunderstood requirement, and answered with a lower tone. "I'm...I'm sorry. Give me a moment to rid the excess energy. And hang on something, it will inevitably shake things up - I think." he says seconds before the powercore inevitably overloads to its very limit, and discharges an EMP blast. Unlike normal discharges, Bit attempted to contain the outburst before it caused any damage in case the cage couldn't handle. With all the systems nominal, Bit powers down the weaponry. The cockpit opens, letting Martin see many of Kyle's personal decorations, mostly related to gears dangling on thin steel rope and an only slight tint of Blue Jillies. Behind the leather chair, a small hatch was halfway open which lead to a small room where a bed and a fridge were on the left. However, a hatch opens on the Jackdaw's left-wing, where circuits pulsate energy towards the powercore. There seemed to be enough space for a human to get in."There you go. You should fit right in. Just don't touch the circuits. They carry high voltage and I can't power myself down any lower. I don't know why...something denies my access. Best of luck to you.
"You do not need to apologize Bit.Mistakes happen. Now, thank you for letting me passing through.We'll try to help you as much as possible.Martin takes a suit from his workers, a suit that was supposed to protect him from the high voltage that was going through the circuits."Now let's see."Martin takes a deep breath, and starts looking around the circuits, trying to understand where to find the one that was leading to the weaponry system, but it was all messed up.Then he moves on at the gas injectors, and for his surprise, they worked exactly as he expected. They were giving a 10% of the gas contained in the injectors to the powercore, and the Azurite was creating more and more energy, creating that improvement to the powercore itself, but most of the time it just overloaded, so Bit needed to release the energy in a way, so the powercore is tied to a Cloak Distruptor device and to the propulsion itself, so it can release safely the energy. Martin thought it was a very clever way to improve it, but not a long time efficient way to do it; he thought that the energy could have been used differently,in a more productive way."Hey Bit, can you please send me an electrical scheme of you? I cannot find the power supplying circuit for the weaponry systems, so would be easier if you send it to me."
A silent humming comes from the Jackdaw - its belly specifically. However, after a few seconds, the noise subsides, and Bit begins to speak with a more comfortable voice. One that doesn't scream or sound annoying childish. "The power supply circuit should be the one with white strips next to the shock absorbers, but be careful, that area is dangerous. One wrong move and you will be zapped. Hold on a moment. Maybe I can..." says Bit before he suddenly stops and the entire ship shuts down for around 15 seconds, before returning on the backup power supply, giving Martin a safer environment to work in. However, the low power doesn't support Bit, and directly affects him. "I-I-I...cut off some m-m-m-mo-ore p-power f-f-for your s-s-safety. I-I-I'll have to turn it on in 30 m-minutes, so wh-whatever you do, probably hurry.