The road to hell is paved with good intentions

Posted on Sun May 21st, 2023 @ 1:40pm by Captain Taliserra Tigran & Lieutenant Dovenice Baka & Lieutenant Anthony Edwards Ph. D & Lieutenant JG Ash Rowe & Lieutenant JG Summer Wyse & Petty Officer 3rd Class Nakata Akira

Mission: The devil wears tripolymer
Location: Deck 1- Bridge
Timeline: current

Old:
Sitting back in her chair Taliserra mulled over her options. Wiping out the androids would be simpler but potentially only a short term solution, finding a way for them to coexist was going to be a lot harder but would be a more appropriate solution for all involved.

After several long minutes and after finishing her tea she clicked her computer off and headed back to the bridge with a purpose.


New:
Leaving her ready room Taliserra immediately headed for her chair and sat down. "If this goes well it could be commendations all around," She remarked to her crew. "It it goes badly..... well it’s been a good captaincy."

Anthony groaned and said with aplomb tongue in cheek, "Looking for a Bunkie in New Zealand Captain?"

"I've a nice spot already in mind on the south coast, it's beautiful." Taliserra replied.

Summer had returned to the bridge and was now sitting waiting to see what the captain had decided to do.

"Akira," Taliserra said to the Petty Officer now manning the ops station. "Put me through to the ministers compound."

Akira physically straightened at being addressed by the captain, clearing his throat slightly as he moved his fingers across the controls. "Yes Captain..." he paused, waiting for the link to connect. "Channel open."

Taliserra took a deep breath. "Minister Sarel this is Captain Tigran, despite your attempts to block our communications we have made contact with the android community and have heard their side of this situation, it is my intention to attempt to resolve this situation in a way that both sides will find agreeable."

"Our attempts to block communications?" replied the Minister, her tone was steady neither admitting having done so, nor giving any indication of surprise. The Minister's tone did not waver in her response. "Logically, it would be prudent to listen to all sides of a conflict to see about a resolution to the conflict; however, I see no logic in communicating with mechanisms. Do you discuss your day's work with your food replicator, Captain? or do you simply instruct it to make your meals and prepare your beverages?"

"My replicator does not show signs of sentience Minister," Taliserra replied. "Your androids appear to have the hallmarks of self-awareness."

"Because they attack my people?" countered the Minister. "If you ask your replicator for milk and it gives your acid, do you find that sentience, Captain, or do you consider that a malfunction of equipment? Ours are built to provide us labor. They are not. That too is a malfunction."

"Because they want to survive and have made their decision to resist your attempts to dismantle and reprogram them forcibly," Taliserra returned the counter "are those the actions of a malfunctioning machine or of a being with awareness of its own."

The Minster's tone did not show agitation though this conversation was not going where they wanted it. "If you want to communicate with faulty equipment, Captain, we will not stop you" she assured Taliserra. "This colony needs our creations functioning within normal operations. If you cannot do this, we will request that the Federation send a starship with a crew that can."

"My ship will be staying here for the time being minister, this situation needs resolving in a way suitable for all sides." Taliserra said, she tried not to roll her eyes in annoyance, Vulcans could be so hard to argue with. "I would request you come aboard my ship and discuss this personally. After all we don't want the androids discovering the location of your last refuge by tracking where this rather long discussion between our my ship and your hidden underground base is, do we?"

"A logical security argument, Captain." The Minister was aware that the longer the channel was open, secure or not, it could be tracked. These malfunctioning machines were effective. "I'll head to the surface in a few minutes with a small group. I'm transmitting the coordinates to you now. Monitor them and begin transport once we arrive."

"We will be ready, Tigran out." Taliserra tapped her chairs arm panel to end close the channel. "That went slightly better than I expected." She slumped back in the chair slightly.

“I think you did well to convince them Captain” Summer smiled warmly. “Vulcans are not easy to deal with.”

"Thank you, Summer," Taliserra said returning the smile slightly. "I'm just hoping it will keep being this easy, I very much doubt it though."

Summer nodded in agreement. “As do I Captain, I’m sorry to say.”

=/\= Bridge to transporter room one, prepare to receive transport coordinates. =/\= Taliserra sent down. "Akira?"

"One moment, Captain," a slight frown had appeared on Akira's features, uneasy with the direction this had taken. "I have the coordinates...we're locked and ready for transport."

Taliserra looked both ways to Ty and summer "Commander, Counselor will you meet our guests and bring them up to the observation lounge."

Summer looked to Tyrus, then back at Taliserra. “Of course, Captain.”

Ty took a deep breath. "This should be interesting," he said to Summer with a flash of a smile. Escorting dignitaries and such were commonplace for a First Officer, but theses guests? This was certainly something different. "Bring forth the headaches."

Summer grinned. “To be honest Vulcans are quite... relaxing for a Betazoid to be around. Their emotions are so well controlled. The downside being is that I won’t be able to read practically anything from them.

"I'll follow your lead," Ty said looking at Summer. "The Minister is particularly excellent at annoying the hell out of me" confessed the First Officer. Maybe it wasn't the best thing for a First Officer to say, but Ty was very transparent.



=== Transport room

At the transporter station Po Saral looked up as the doors opened. "Commander, we're ready for transport."

Ty gave a nod to Po Saral. "Make it so," he said to the transporter operator. He glanced over at Summer. "I am glad you're here" he said to the counsellor.

*Smiling warmly at Ty* “I’m glad to be here, there’s nowhere else I’d rather be than here with you.”

Ty stood closer to Summer and gently brushed his knuckles against Summer's hand, an acknowledgement that he was still interested in her. He had not had much interaction with her lately due to this whole mess. Pretty sure I owe you a date night he thought.

The shimmering effect of the transporter soon displayed several shapes, silhouettes of the minister and her accompaniment. It was taking longer than usual which caused Ty to glare over at Po Saral. "Let's get them here. If you need more juice, take it where you can get it."

The First Officer took a deep breath. This was not going as planned. The Minister had left the caverns, nothing should be interfering with their signals except for unnatural interference, the Androids. Shit he thought and quickly broke away from Summer and crossed across the transporter console.

Ty pushed the operator aside. He frantically worked the controls and tapped away like a pianist, but it was not music that he was trying to make. He slammed his fist against the console. The chorus of figures began to fade on the transporter pad, but one's features sharpened. It was the Minister, the rest faded in and out until the minister stood alone.

The Vulcanoid looked around and said nothing though her facial expression said it all. There was some concern on her face as though she had been lured into a trap. Ty looked at Summer and shook his head. "Minister, you're safe here. I assure you this was not..."

“Minister I’m Summer Wyse, ship’s Counsellor” Summer stepped in to aid Tyrus as best as she could. “I’m sorry, we couldn’t save the rest of your companions. Commander Acevedo tried his hardest to save them.” She looked at Tyrus then back at the minister. “You are safe here with us.”

Ty tapped his communicator "Acevedo to Captain Tigran," he said and took a deep breath. "We have the Minister ma'am, but we lost the rest." Ty gave the basic information; he didn't want to go into detail in front of the minister.

Moving across to Tyrus, Summer stood beside him for a moment offering a gentle squeeze of his hand in support, before moving back to the minister.

"What the hell happened Commander?" Taliserra responded.

Ty looked at the Minister. "Captain, it would be illogical of me to speculate at this time. It merits a more thorough investigation. For the time being, I would not recommend anyone use the transporters."

"Understood," Came Taliserra's voice after a few moments. "Please bring the minister up to the bridge."

"I'll have the Counsellor do so, Captain. Acevedo out" he said and looked over at Summer with a nod. He was going to stay behind and tear the transporter apart if needed. He wanted answers.

Summer nodded as she looked towards Tyrus, then at the Minister. “Minister if you’ll follow me, I’ll escort you to the bridge.”

The Vulcanoid Minister nodded. "Of course," she responded. Though her mind had already factored what had happened. These deaths were the Androids. They had somehow caused this, and among the dead was not only her Chief of Staff and some of her security detail, but her husband as well.

Leading the Minister from the transporter room Summer lead her to the turbolift. As they stood together inside Summer looked towards the Vulcan female. “If there is anything you need Minister please let me know. I am here to listen if you should want to talk.”

The Minister gave a nod of understanding. "Should I require anything, I will summon you." The Minister was still left digesting what had just happened.

Arriving at the bridge Summer stepped out and headed across to Taliserra. “Minister this is Captain Tigran.”

"Minister Sarel, I can only apologize for the incident with your transport and assure you on this ship you are completely safe." Taliserra said, she hoped it was not the androids already breaking their pledge to refrain from killing any more of the population while negotiations took place.

"Contrary to your attempts of reassurance, Captain, I am here, but my entourage of advisors, protection detail, and my husband are not" stated the Minister. "Your apology does not change that, and it was aboard your ship that those lives were taken, and I highly suspect that your First Officer was not at fault, but I likely owe my continued existence to him."

Summer looked towards the Minister. “I am sorry for your losses minister. As ship’s Chief Counsellor it is part of my duties to advise Captain Tigran. With her permission I would be happy to volunteer my services as advisor to you as well.”

Taliserra gave a small nod to Summer. "My crew will discover what caused this unfortunate event Minister, you have my word on that."

"We'll see" she replied.

"If you will follow me, please Minister." Taliserra began to move in the direction of the observation lounge. "Lieutenants Edwards and Baka, please. Lieutenant Rowe, you have the bridge."

Ash Rowe glanced across at the order. Taking the bridge was still a novelty to the Chief of Flight, and it made her eyes just a touch brighter. Still, she wouldn't exactly be kicking her feet up on the seats with it. "Yes, Captain..."

Following on along behind the Minister, Summer made her way around to a seat as they took their places in the observation lounge. Her role now was doubly important, so she needed to be fully aware of everything that was going on.

Lieutenant Baka signed out of the engineering station at the sound of her name. She checked her PADD to make sure the diagnostic reports were updating there. Then she followed the captain into the observation lounge, adjusting her uniform as she went.

Anthony had been working on what had happened down in the transporter room. It was an operations and Engineering problem to fix but maybe the sensors had picked up something that might have been missed. He was the last of those called to follow the captain still working on the problem and eventually handed over to the tap on his shoulder as his replacement officer gave him a quiet shift it Sir. He did and made his way quickly to the observation lounge. "Sorry for my tardiness captain but I was trying to find anything that might have led to the incident." He had been surprised as to why the group had gone to the surface over using the pattern enhancers left when the team had visited, but that would wait.

The Minister made a noise, almost a scoffing. "We have learned to not trust technology for a reason. Our whole society has become fat too dependent on it. and I believe we all know who is responsible."

Taliserra sat down and invited everyone else to do the same. "I hope it is a grievous mechanical accident on our part rather than deliberate interference by the androids." She said though both were a possibility; Ty's investigation should yield an answer and she hoped it was the one she wanted.

Anthony turned an angry shade rufous as he thought to himself *Your problem with technology was because you ignored it except when it suited you.* but controlled his tongue as the Captain invited everyone to have a seat.

“Please Minister” Summer motioned to a chair at the table, sitting down in the next one to it.

Seated, the Minister was still processing everything that had happened. "This situation has gone well past conflict," she stated. "If this does not reach a solution soon, I won't have a world to govern."

"I want you to tell me everything you can about this situation," Taliserra began. "Not just what you want to tell me, everything you Can tell me, your attempts to solve the programming error you think is responsible for their turning against you, why you don't believe it's possible the androids have developed sentience."

The Minister sat straight backed in the chair. "They were designed to help us, Captain. To propel our civilization, our industries. It was fascinating when their vocabulary expanded beyond the simplicity of their programming. We did not design them to be conversationalist or poets. They were not created to have hobbies or interests" explained the woman.

She looked sternly at the Captain. "They began to do so. They began refusing to operate as programed. In our scope of cybernetics and robotics, Captain, they were malfunctioning. We began seizing our operations of producing more, and trying to terminate those were found to be defective in hopes of analyzing each part and piece to find where the error is or how it begins. We are still at a loss for answers."

"If I might be so bold captain?" Anthony said but didn't plan on being stopped at this point. He turned to the minister, "Minister, with respect, did it ever occur to you that life finds a way? You may not have been ready for their sentience, and because of that, this civil war is just that. You might have made them, but one thing you seem to have missed is that sometimes our children develop beyond our expectations. in that case, your belief in them being defective is almost as bad as Adolph Hitler, a very evil leader of a very evil Nationalist party whose policies euthanised six million European Jewish men women and children during Earth's Second World War in the mid Twentieth century. On top of that, the party also euthanised untold numbers of other people with either physical or mental challenges that in the centuries after have either been cured or for many alleviated."

The Minister was not fond of the connection that the science officer had pointedly made. "I understand that children have a way of defying their parents and becoming their own individuals, Lieutenant Edwards," the Minister replied crisply. "Though we are not talking about children. We are talking about machines. We created them, but not as offspring, but as tools. They were not to have what you may describe as a soul or what our Vulcan ancestors would call a katra."

"It may be so Minister that you created them as tools to be used up and just thrown away once they had outlived their usefulness. However, they have become self-aware through developing sentience and because of that your deconstruction of them is tantamount to genocide. Especially without first asking them what they wanted. Life finds a way. You kill thousands or millions of them by deconstructing or rebooting the computer chip, to force them into continued servitude, they get militant and riotous and kill thousands or millions in retribution. It is a nasty cycle but cyclic it is. You need to now look at them not as tools to use but as a part of your society, that if respected and offered growth, can be a fully functional part of that society.

“They’re right Minister” Summer gave the Vulcan female an understanding look. “Just because these androids weren’t sentient before, it doesn’t mean they aren’t now. It may be best to try and open a dialogue with them, to try to negotiate peace.”

Biological species were known to adapt whether that be from some sort of change in environment or through some sort of mutation that took hold. Sometimes, computer programs were able to do things that they should not have been able to do. These Androids were not biological but they were more sophisticated than the dutronic robotics of predecessor versions before them.

The Minister looked at Summer. "I may not find it logical to negotiate with tools, machines, or Androids programed to do the tasks we assigned them, but these Androids are clearly capable of exceeding programming. Be that a malfunction as I assert, I would be foolish to ignore the evidence laid before me. I will agree to negotiate."

A quick glance at the Captain, however, led to a further point. "This is my world. My people belong here, and we will not be beholden to our creations."

Taliserra smiled, quite surprised at how quickly the minister had decided to agree to negotiate with the androids. "I understand that Minister but you must consider just what the android community wants."

Anthony smiled, it seemed that something he or Summer had said had certainly changed the minister's mind. Right now it didn’t matter, because he was willing to negotiate and that was what was important.

"A pauper can want a fortune, it does not mean they will get one," the Minister pointed out bluntly, leaning back rigidly in her chair. "I will listen, that is all I shall promise at this stage. I find it curious though...that we were the ones who called for aid, you have seen our plight, and yet you are all more concerned with the welfare of robust machines than that of my comparatively fragile people."

“We are not choosing sides Minister." Summer looked at the Vulcan woman next to her. “We are simply trying to see both sides of the argument. We would be remiss in our duties not to.”

"Sides are irrelevant, sentient beings are all due the same level of respect, attention and assistance." Taliserra said supporting Summer. "We will provide what assistance we can to both sides to help resolve the situation in a way appropriate for both parties "

"Then there is much to do," the Minister asserted, her hands spreading to either side in a gesture of 'there you have it'. "We have many injured, sick, hungry even."

Taliserra nodded. "We can provide humanitarian assistance though we will have to inform the androids before we begin."

"Captain is now a good time to remind you we have two crew members Ensigns Kore and Turell planetside, which at this time will need a lift until Engineering and operations find and correct the transporter issues. They could be a first line to starting medical treatment at least." Anthony added.

Taliserra tapped out some information on a Padd. "Miranda," she called for her yeoman.

"Yes Captain?" Miranda stepped forward and stood by Taliserra.

"Take this to Lieutenant Ross, have her stand by to depart as soon as they're ready." Taliserra handed her the Padd and she quickly headed off.

"With your approval of course Minister I can have a medical support team at your compound within the hour."

"Absolutely, Captain. Any and all aid you can render will be welcomed," she replied, bowing her head momentarily in recognition of the assistance.

"Excellent." Taliserra said with a warm smile. "Now I want to know exactly how you would prefer this situation to be resolved." She already had an idea but wanted to hear it directly from her.

"We need a solution that speaks to both halves of our trouble," the Minister tilted her head, contemplating the other woman and the likely outcomes. "On the one side, my people are in mortal danger from the actions of these machines. This must cease. On the other side, our infrastructure is built upon the service of the automatons. Those that have not malfunctioned must be made safe to continue work, or my people will still perish, only later rather than sooner."

Anthony took a deep breath to swallow the gall that was building each time he heard the word automatons each time the minister said it. He expected it would be building in the Captain too. "You might want to find a less offensive word for the workers of your world, it could be a sticking point in the process of combined civilisation."

The Minister didn't react to the statement, her gaze remaining fixed on the Captain. For a woman who had just become widowed mere moments ago and had the safety and future of an entire community on her shoulders, it seemed as though he was literally arguing semantics.

Taliserr ma glanced across to her chief science officer before back to the minister. "I doubt that the androids would allow a part of them to remain in what would be effectively servitude. it's possible all of them with the current computing system will develop full sentience eventually."

"It is also possible that they will not," the Minister replied flatly. "And even if that is the case, it is also possible that their programming can be altered to prevent such a development. I would also like to point out that I have yet to see a full suite of evidence to confirm your hypothesis. There are a lot of possibles. A lot of assumptions. We shall have to face each one when and if it becomes reality. For the time being, you asked for my preferred resolution. This is it. If there are viable alternatives, I am willing to consider them."

"I would need to contact the androids community and see what they would want and would accept from your people to resolve this situation." Taliserra explained. "In the meantime the hospitality of my ship is yours." She turned to Summer. "LT Wyse will you take the Minister to guest quarters."

Summer nodded. “Of course Captain” She offered the minister a warm smile.

The Minister stood, tilting her head in acknowledgement and farewell, but remained silent. She felt like quite enough had been said. She moved to follow Summer, acutely aware that she would be staying in the guest quarters alone.

When the Minister left Taliserra turned to Anthony and Dovenice. "Find me irrefutable evidence that these androids are self aware, otherwise I'm not certain we can resolve this situation..... Dismissed."

OFF:

Captain Taliserra Tigran
Commanding Officer

Lt Anthony Edwards
Chief Science Officer

Lt Dovenice Baka
Chief Engineer

Ltjg Summer Wyse
Chief Counselor

LTjg Ash Row
Writing as Minister Sarel

Po3 Nakata Akira
Ops Officer [pnpc Ash]