Do Androids Negotiate?

Posted on Wed Oct 5th, 2022 @ 4:34am by Captain Taliserra Tigran & Lieutenant Commander Tyrus Acevedo & Lieutenant Dovenice Baka & Lieutenant Anthony Edwards Ph. D & Lieutenant JG Summer Wyse

Mission: The devil wears tripolymer
Location: USS Wolff | Obseration Lounge
Timeline: directly following 'Zeroth Law'

Lieutenant Commander Tyrus Acevedo returned to the USS Wolff with key members of his away team seeking to meet with the captain in private. They proceeded from the transporter room up to the observation lounge to give Captain Tigran a debrief of the situation as they saw it. Ty led them into the room where Taliserra was waiting for them.

"You can be reassured that we are dealing with Vulcanoids," Ty said as he walked in and took the appropriate seat. He shot a look up and over towards Edwards. "Offshoots...whatever they are. They speak like Vulcans, fully equipped with condescending tones and exhausting logic."

Anthony chuckled to himself but said nothing. It wasn't a good look for either himself, or for Commander Acevedo, for him to openly discuss it in front of the captain until it was his turn to present something for the team.

Summer made her way over to a seat as she entered the room, she was still going over everything in her head wondering what they could possibly do to help.

Smoothing out her uniform as she entered the room, Dovenice gave the space a quick review before finding a spot to sit. She could see out the windows from her seat. The view of the planet below was stunning. But when considering the genocidal activities currently happening there, it left her with a sour feeling.

"Commander, how did it go down there?" Taliserra asked as the away team filtered into the lounge.

"It did not go well," Ty replied. "Not how it needs to anyways. The colonists are being attacked by their own creations, androids, but we have not encountered one yet ourselves. I would like to open a line of communication with them, but I don't believe the colonists would be interested."

"Attacked by their own creations..." Taliserra remarked "Is it a programming error or a virus.... or have they developed some sentience?" She hoped it wasn't the latter as it would make everything much more complicated than it already was.

As the lead scientist and having known the Captain the longest of anyone in the briefing, he knew she wouldn't like his answer. Anthony prefaced his briefing as he said. "You're not going to like my answer, Captain! From what I could gather from our contact, the androids were working normally right up to whatever set it off. The speed of the spread and the fact they were working completely normally leads me to hypothesise that they have developed either a hive mind or complete sentience."

"You are right Anthony, I do not like your answer." Taliserra said. "Do you believe we can make contact with them?"

"I can't be positive about whether we can make contact because a lot of that will depend on whether or not they want to talk to us, but I certainly think we need to try, Captain, because we are only going to be able to get their side of the story by attempting to talk to them." Anthony said.

Summer looked towards Taliserra. “I obviously can’t read an Android, Captain, but I’d like to volunteer to be in on the negotiations. My skills as Counsellor might help. That’s if we can encourage these androids to communicate with us in the first place.”

"Of course, counsellor. Your advice will be most useful when the time comes." Taliserra said glad that Summer had offered to help, diplomacy wasn't her favourite subject. "Now the question is how do we contact them."

“Like we normally do for first contact? Hail them, see if we get a response?” Summer looked at Taliserra curiously.

It was only a throwaway comment, but Anthony controlled the need to chuckle after he said, "Binary code Captain!" He let that sit for a while to see how it settled before he added, "I mean it makes sense that we try it with Binary because they are likely to feel better in response to something that feels natural to them."

"It is not a bad idea," Ty commented and nodded with agreement. "Counsellor Wyse's background and proficiency with diplomacy will be an asset, and Lieutenant Edwards' suggestion of using binary as our first contact attempt at language may be more appealing to these androids. We know these colonists have likely made no attempts at communicating with the androids, not in a productive manner at least. Binary code may be the building blocks needed for bringing the androids to the table."

"hhhmmm." Taliserra pondered for a moment. "I agree. Anthony, prepare a message translated into binary code. Express our desire for a peaceful discussion about the situation on the planet."

Anthony took this as a dismissal and got up to head to the bridge and get on with the job requested of him and said, "I'll get right on it, Captain." He was already concentrating on what should be said to attract the attention of the Androids. Coding it to binary would just be quicker to run through a computer program.

Taliserra then turned to Ty and Dove. "Commander, work with Lieutenants Baka and Dunamis, see if you can't narrow down how many androids we're dealing with. Work on some tactical solutions just as a precaution." She didn't want to have to resort to that but having solutions available would always help.

Lieutenant Commander Acevedo looked at the captain and then at the Chief Engineer. He gave a nod before explaining what he had in mind. "Let's find a means to disrupt or terminate their neural network" Ty stated. "Worst case scenario, we electronically tear them from the planet with a cataclysmic electromagnetic pulse."

“An EMP could be devastating to the biological inhabitants of the planet,” Baka warned. “Depending on the way their infrastructure is set up, we would be shutting down all life support systems that maintain their underground facilities. Which brings up an interesting question, why do they have such an extensive underground network to escape from the android ‘plague’ if this is a recent event. We don’t have enough information at this point in time to get involved in this problem, do we?”

Summer shook her head. “There’s definitely more to this that we don’t know. It’s making us piggy in the middle.”

"A lot of questions that we are limited on time to get answers for, and from people who are not in the mood to be very forthcoming," noted Ty. "If we are able to settle this situation and ease tensions, this planet may benefit from more active study and socialisation by the Federation."

"I can design a planetary EMP, of course, Commander. But I'm standing by my recommendation that it wouldn't be the best plan to implement if your goal is to eventually make friends," Baka said. Indeed, she thought to herself, such an attack could be seen as an act of war.

Taliserra interjected before Ty could respond. "That would be a last resort option, we will try any and all options before resorting to anything like that."

"Ergo, worst case scenario," Ty said crisply. "Contrary to rumours or popular opinion, I don't just make extreme calls off the cuff," the First Officer said jestfully. "I want that as an ace up our sleeve, but I have no intention of getting to the point where that is needed."

"Good." Taliserra said glad that all her officers understood the situation. "You're all dismissed."

Ty stood up and tugged his uniform. "I'll do my best not to offend these Androids" he teased. "I can't promise the same about these people."

“That’s why I’m here” Summer smiled as she joined Tyrus. “To help keep the peace.”


OFF:

Captain Taliserra Tigran
Commanding Officer

Lieutenant Anthony Edwards Ph.D
Chief Science Officer

Lieutenant Commander Tyrus Acevedo
Executive Officer

Lieutenant Dovenice Baka
Chief Engineering Officer

Lieutenant jg Summer Wyse
Chief Counsellor