Commander's Rounds

Entry 52: The Little Sister

It was a day for exercises. It was important to bring everyone in line, moreso because Marblehead was talking to him about what Purifier was up to.

"It's pretty out-there stuff, really."

"How so?" The commander was paying attention to what was going on out there. Saint Louis had brought Anchorage out to watch, but was instead enthralled by Anchorage's unique rigging. Saint Louis gave Anchorage's halo a nervous poke, and Anchorage simply smiled and made it shine for Saint Louis, making the devout cruiser do a wide-eyed blush, as though she were witness to some revelation.

Marblehead went on. "Well, the Sirens are trying to continue their operations, but as soon as they drop some of their ships somewhere, Purifier pops in, takes control, and scoops up the fleet to take elsewhere."

She was right. That was pretty out there. "I'm surprised she's getting away with it. I'd have thought the other Sirens would have some leash they could yank on to restrain her."

Marblehead gave him a nervous smile. "Yeeeeahhh... Well, you see, this is why making a, like, real artificial intelligence is one of the most dangerous things you can do. 'Cause a regular computer, even a really complex one, can only really do what it's told- it'll do it automatically, sure, but it'll only do that thing. An artificial intelligence is something that can look over itself, go "Beep boop, hey, that's a problem!" and fix it on its own without being told or asked or anything. So, Purifier might have had something like that, but, she might've "fixed" that, too. Aaaand that's why we're in a pickle, right?"

"No wonder Yuubari insists on a hardware solution to lock the Sirens out of their network. It may be more difficult for us to use, but..."

Marblehead nodded. "Yeah, it's easier for a machine to fix software problem than, like, stab itself."

The commander watched. "...By the way, have any of you figured out what's up with Anchorage's rigging yet?"

"No clue!" She said with great enthusiasm. "I mean, the guns and stuff, that's all normal, but that halo and those orbiters? Those are all black boxes. I don't know what they'll do, and I don't know if I want to be around when we find out." She threw up her hands. "I swear, it's like their accessories just keep getting weirder."

He turned to look at her. "Well, there are a few words we have for times like these."

"What?"

The commander smiled. "Be not afraid."

Marblehead rolled her eyes. "Oh, real funny commander."

After Marblehead left, the commander had a good look at the proceedings in question. Hornet was proving to be a bit of a shaky replacement for Saratoga. Sure, she could execute things flawlessly when she made up her mind to, but the fact of the matter was she wasn't all that used to performing in the hot seat. It wasn't that she couldn't do the job, and wasn't that she was unused to the breakneck pace of battle. There was something else on Hornet's mind, consciously or otherwise.

He was going to have to talk to her later- Privately, of course. He wasn't one for shaming sessions.

He could understand why she might have certain apprehensions- Hornet wasn't quite as famous as either of her older sisters, and Enterprise certainly cast a long shadow in the history of the Union's carrier operations, as well as its naval traditions in general. The main benefit to talking to Hornet was that she was honest about her feelings- you could ask her about anything and she'd be entirely up-front about it, which made things just that much easier on him, seeing as he couldn't just always simply order these ships to "do better" and then go back to his office.