The Time from Before

Kindling

Allen knelt beside Callie, his hand gently resting on her chest, feeling the rhythmic rise and fall of her breathing. It was a delicate dance, like a whisper on the breeze, lacking the usual vigor that characterized her strength. He always wondered where her arm strength came from, but, who knows.

When he first discovered her, she was quite battered and bruised. Allen had never seen an Inkling in such a dire state; it was truly shocking.

Thankfully, their innate healing ability meant that simply sitting in a pool of ink, which Allen had prepared in advance, was sufficient to restore her physically.

Now, she lay unconscious, sleeping soundly in his lap.

Memories of their previous encounters danced through Allen's mind... Reminding him of the exact same situation, actually. Strange how things turn out.

The silence was gently interrupted by a hushed rustling as an ACU entered the room, its arrival marked by the soft shuffling and the clanking of metal from its feet.

"Sir." It spoke in a hushed, robotic voice. "Cv-7 is requesting to speak with you."

Allen had earlier switched off his PDA to prevent it from waking Callie.

He then signaled to the ACU, 'In a moment.'

Grabbing the device, he held the power button until the screen flickered on. As it went through its usual boot-up process, the home screen finally appeared.

He then opened a command terminal, directly connecting to Cv-7 via satellite.

* Connection established. Please consult the wiki before use!

> I heard you wanted to speak with me?

// Cv-7 ACTIVE.

* Affirmative.

> What about?

* Given the Arctos Dominion's protocols and the current circumstances, I must express my reservations about your choice to deploy combat units in response to the abduction of a civilian not deemed high priority.

> Your point is taken. Yet, as a commanding officer, I assert my authority to greenlight this mission, consequences notwithstanding. My direct involvement underscores its importance.

* Can I interpret this as privilege?

> Far from it. My actions are well within the operational guidelines. Cv-7, rebuild your database.

* Order confirmed. One moment...

* ...

* Database built. Combing...

* Article Nine found. Index report complete.

* Apologies. It appears that I was wrong. Tuning model.

// Cv-7 INACTIVE.

...

What in the world?

He's never actually seen Cv-7 make such a significant oversight.

> Send me the related log files: Hardware, software diagnostics.

* Order confirmed. Contacting...

* Files received.

* Decoding...

* Logs corrupted. Attempting to recover.

* If you see this message, Cv-7 is hella fucked. Seriously, restart the thing. It's always doing this... And that's coming from the guy who designed the damn AI!