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(game date: 11/4/2020)
I didn't wait for us to arrive at Sanctuary before loading up the datastick and scanning the schematics. I was searching for one specific thing: built-in security tags. Where to find them, how to best disable them. I wanted that done quickly; I wasn't taking the slightest chance that we could be tracked with this load.
I'll say this: There is no way that the same engineers who scribbled passwords on stickynotes, wrote this documentation. It had to be Hilda's work. I found what I was looking for before we even got halfway to the Gate, and had all the tags erased soon after. Only the docs for the juggernaut gave me the slightest bit of trouble; they seemed much more disorganized, but in the end it really was the same basic principle.
Back at Sanctuary, we took a peek at our ill-gotten gains, and I dove a little deeper into the data dump.
crates, intended for government use, and these had the best specs, with pilot and sensor arrays both rated 6, armor rating at 4, and sturdy as hell. Two of these were female-presenting, and one male, and
luck was with us! One of them looked as if it could have been tailor-made just for Hilda. We put it aside.
One of the crates (yellow) was intended for a corporate buyer. The drone inside presented female, and had a slightly lower pilot, sensor, & armor ratings. The red crate, for the "general public" (read: wealthy people without government or corporate connections), was male, nearly as good, just slightly less sturdy.
Surprisingly, the Juggernaut model had some of the worst specs. Apart from heavy armor, and the built-in plasmer rifle, the smaller Anthros outperformed it in every way. I shook my head. CyberTek made a huge mistake, welshing on their deal with Hilda. They should have, instead, hired her as chief of engineering.
I learned that CyberTek had included a standard software package for these models, which included a complete martial arts array: guns and unarmed combat, each at a 6 rating. One of the drones must have been a special order, because it also had blades skill programmed in.
Well. I saw no reason not to give all these drones, all the programs. It was just a matter of cloning the installation packages. Then, once I got going, I realized that I had some useful software of my own: the First Aid routines, also rated 6. At the time, that seemed a bit of a waste of money, since Maggy only has a pilot processor of 3, but now? Now, we have five new field medics. Okay six, but one of them is a clumsy giant with one hand that you probably don't want as your surgeon.
I also learned that none of them were rigged for wireless control, which is a standard feature on most drones. An interesting decision, and once again I can't help but think that this was a deliberate choice on Hilda's part, which the CT engineers overlooked. It's perfect for closed security, or if you're a ghost who's planning to move in and shut the door behind you. It's good if you only intend to give orders in person, or over a separate BANlink. Apart from that, it's inconvenient. And who, among the decadent wealthy, could resist the temptation of literally becoming another person in AR deep-dive? At any rate, it's another easy fix.
We called up H.I.L.D.A. and arranged an appointment with the Crytal Pilot's next dock-time. We didn't even unload anything before heading over, trusting "Frank" to keep the rest of our cargo safe.
As soon as we boarded, the holo-maid transferred payment before she'd even seen the product. Then she led us down a corridor we'd not seen on our previous visits. The side passage was narrow, and long, leading to a small room that could only be the cockpit. She pointed to a powercell set into the console.
"The PowerCell there is mine," she said. "If one of you could remove it, and place it into the drone before activating?"
I was dubious, as was Katrya. "Is this going to affect the ship in a disastrous way?" I asked.
"No, not immediately," Hilda assured us. "It will still be an hour or so before the ship would begin to descend. By that time, I hope I would be able to replace it." She went on to give us an ACCount number for us to enter as the primary user, when the drone was actually activated. She knew the procedure, as if...well, as if she'd written it, which I suppose she had.
None of this was difficult, given the step-by-step instructions, and my preliminary reading of the schematics. What was odd, however, was watching that thing power up. The chest began to rise and fall, exactly as if it were breathing -- a dead body, coming to life. We could see a pulse beneath the skin, at all the proper pulse points. I checked the wrist, and could feel it. More than that, I could feel the skin warming up. Then I dropped the arm in surprise, for at that moment the drone's eyes fluttered open and stared blankly.
At times like this, I really would prefer that we had a designated spokesman. Someone with EllieRock's charm, but the acumen of a fully-grown adult would be nice. Unfortunately, we have no one on our team who satisfies these requirements, and several people simultaneously appointed themselves to the position, however unqualified or ineffective.
From Katrya: "It is still in progress."
From Aru: "Only what she asked of us, ma'am. We acquired for her, a body."
From Mauger: "I know it's a little late to ask, but... we're sure H.I.L.D.A.'s not evil, right?"
From Ellie: "Calm down Cecily!! We're doing a H.I.L.D.A. mission!!"
If I have to judge from this sampling, I believe I'll choose Aru. This, of course, is from my review, because at the time my attention was on the drone, which was flatly intoning: "Please enter primary ACCount number now," and I had to concentrate very hard to make sure I didn't bobble it, with all the chaos going on around me.
Cecily, quite naturally, did not calm down. "You what??" she shouted.
Having finished feeding the ACCount to the drone, I remarked (unhelpfully), "Honestly, at this point, we're only helping her...move in."
I don't believe Ms. Blackrose even heard me. She was still catching up from a couple of voices back. "Evil?" she queried.
"You learn to ignore him," Katrya replied, and from there, I am ashamed to admit, a three-way spat ensued, right there in front of a woman who was older than the city itself, possibly more powerful than everyone in the room combined, and at the moment on the verge of trauma. ER kept repeating her calming mantra, which was not calming. I made a note to form smaller committees in the future.
I tried to speak up above the din. "Okay, okay," I said. "I'm sure that these are not the best conditions for someone to wake up to." Addressing the Captain of the ship, "Ms. Blackrose, perhaps you could step forward?"
If I live a thousand years...if I die tomorrow...I do believe that I shall never accomplish anything more significant in my life than whatever part I played that led up to the reunion that I then witnessed. All confusion left Cecily's face. The two of them closed the tiny gap which separated them, and, for the first time in several hundred years, Hilda held her wife, and vice versa.
About thirty seconds after the scene turned awkward, their passionate embrace ended. Hilda stepped away, retrieved a spare PowerCell from a side cabinet, and placed it into the empty spot on the console, thus leading me to believe that we could have done this from the very beginning, and that she wanted Cecie to come storming down the hall in exactly the fashion that she did. Quite the sense of drama, that one.
At any rate, she walked us out, seeming to take great pleasure in the action -- and not, I noted, offering dinner this time. I suspect that dinner service was canceled for this evening. Hilda offered to find buyers for any other drones which we may have acquired, but, owing to Aru's sensibilities (and, to be honest, some very interesting ideas for side cons), I politely declined.
I suggested to the group that we keep these drones for our use, and also that (regardless of who the primary user was) every member of the team becomes authorized users. This is what we ended up doing, with the two kids being very keen on the idea of driving adult-seeming drones, but not many other people expressing much of an interest. Okay, Mauger liked the juggernaut, but I think he wants to convert it to a construction bot. I had thought that there would be more interest. I kept the yellow-crate, naming it Ŝtelita (for "stolen"), and modified it for wireless operation. Sure, Parker hadn't expressed an interest, but if she ever does attain AI status, it will be ready. The fourth one reminded me so much of a popular animated character that I thought it would be a good idea to make it a clerk in Varfana's shop - especially with its specialized blade programming.
The payment, I split ten ways. One-tenth, at Mauger's suggestion, went into a group projects fund, the creation of which was long overdue. I put Vamir in charge of it. Another part went to Jane Doe. That woman has been indispensable in more than one job, and she is the very reason this team is together. It's time we started treating her like a part of it.
Later, I got a look at the downloaded data that didn't relate to the drones. I'll talk about that... in a different journal entry.
..::Kai::..
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