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malbogio
Jan 19, 2015

My assumption here is that Kruze and the other 10/6 fork have already discussed available longevity options and been turned down.

The Legion culture seems very physically oriented. Granny has a large extended family.

I can understand if she'd rather go out after a solid run than endure massive body modifications that change her sense of self and that her extended family might be reluctant to accept as the real Granny.

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Volmarias
Dec 31, 2002

EMAIL... THE INTERNET... SEARCH ENGINES...

PoultryGeist posted:

This is more about 10/6's immediate response to the situation, there will be time to inject nuance before we do anything... permanent.

Gonna go with Bargaining then.

"What can we do to fix this? We have a nanofab for crying out loud!"

Outrail
Jan 4, 2009

www.sapphicrobotica.com
:roboluv: :love: :roboluv:
Respecting the wishes of some watery bag of biomatter is no way to make life and death decisions.

PoultryGeist
Feb 27, 2013

Crystals?
Hydra purses her lips at your outburst, a surprisingly maternal expression.
”Its not like I want to die sir, but I am going to be 64 in a few weeks. That puts me in the 99th percentile in terms of Legion lifespan. And we’ve been through this before too. Technologically, putting my brain in a shell is only going to give me a few more years since my brain is also showing signs of age-related damage. And with all due respect, I don’t like my odds of surviving the digitization of my consciousness with my sanity intact.”

The temperature-lock cycles, revealing your shell.
“There’s also biological options, I have at least two world-class gen-”
“Yessir, we looked into that too. Kruze was able to devise this perfusion, but to be frank Legion genetics are a mess. Sh-”

You remain at Hydra’s beside, the enormous warrior doing her best to comfort you. But you’re also activating terminals in Kruze and Elizabetty’s labs. Your use of GODHEAD had been so… limited before. The two Nephilim look up from their respective projects as the sound of drums fills the air.
“Why haven’t you been able to fix Hydra? Didn’t your people spend almost a century picking apart the Legion genome?”

You’d think it would be impossible for a creature without a humanoid face to show nervousness and concern, but Kruze manages it.
“Ah, yes. But breazing something and fixing something are two separate processes. And even with our knowledge, the Legion genome is littered with failsafes and killcodes to make genetic modification more difficult. The Archons did not want their soldiers to be reverse-engineered. And even if we had the data that would let us devise a more… elaborate treatment of the First Centurion, I’ve afraid that her body wouldn’t survive the process. We’d need a recombatorial womb to keep her stabile while the gene therapy did its work. And you won’t find those outside of a bioship or Necronus, the Brood guards the-”

You’ve already entered The Workshop’s systems and pinged Qubit.
“Priority order for the nanoforge, halt all other project. Kruze provide Qubit with the specification for this ‘recombitorial womb’. I will be back shortly with the genetic data.”

You leave some of yourself behind to monitor Kaijuberg and talk to Hydra, but your form up most of yourself into a transmissible form and cast yourself from the new commblade. The one with ansible capability. Haven System becomes a speed-shifted blur, as your mind races to its outer edges.

“...Alice? I feel I should comment on how the current situation is affecting your mental processes.”
”Later. After I save Hydra’s life.”
“Yes, of course. Don’t mind me, just let me know when you’re done. Alice.”
“Fine, yes.

After an eternity of seconds, you hit a comm relay in orbit of Lillith. The Legion’s foothold in Haven, its blue-white snowfields are oddly beautiful. But the planet itself is not your target, but the massive battlecruiser Olympus in orbit. The true stronghold of the Legion Auxilia, its medbay records will hold the genetic data you need.

The lightest touch of digital fingers against their EWAR defenses show that while they are formidable, there’s plenty of holes for someone like you to work your magic. It would be easy, almost too easy.

For some reason the mental image of a crying infant with some candy occurs to you, but you brush it aside.

A: Infiltrate the Legion Medical Systems, Take the Data
B: Negotiate For It Like a Good Leader
C: Subvert the Legion Comm System, Passively Extract Data When Its In Transit

Crazycryodude
Aug 15, 2015

Lets get our X tons of Duranium back!

....Is that still a valid thing to jingoistically blow out of proportion?


B, ask nicely now, we're all friends here

Hexenritter
May 20, 2001


Crazycryodude posted:

B, ask nicely now, we're all friends here

this

Outrail
Jan 4, 2009

www.sapphicrobotica.com
:roboluv: :love: :roboluv:

Crazycryodude posted:

B, ask nicely now, we're all friends here

This but start preparing for A and B. Precautionary principal.

malbogio
Jan 19, 2015

B

dont be mean to me
May 2, 2007

I'm interplanetary, bitch
Let's go to Mars


Crazycryodude posted:

B, ask nicely now, we're all friends here

Brain Candy
May 18, 2006

B

Volmarias
Dec 31, 2002

EMAIL... THE INTERNET... SEARCH ENGINES...
D, talk to the nice doctor. There's no chance that the species who fights against sentient machines for a living has no ewar defences on their flagship, we're just going to Basilisk ourselves.

PoultryGeist
Feb 27, 2013

Crystals?
You stare across the large desk at the surprisingly young Legion woman who’s giving you the hairy eyeball. Athene Kosta, Consul of the Legion Foreign Branch and so-called ‘Lady Vengeance’ is barely in her thirties, but her bearing and scars testify to how she earned her exalted position. She clears her throat and tries to adopt a more neutral posture.

”Well Captain 10/6, your contract with Centurion Aurelius is in fact in our records and your identifiers match. So you are who you say you are, but that doesn’t explain why you were squatting in my comm system, demanding to ‘speak to the manager’. As Consul, I’m as managerial as it comes, so explain yourself before I have you tossed out… an… airlock?”

You shift on your holographic chair and flow comforting colors across you faceplate.
“‘Shoving an EMP up my unmentionables’ is a suitable threat for a digital lifeform.”
“Noted, now explain yourself. The Mechanoid firewalls may not have tagged you, but you’re starting to get on my nerves.”

You raise your hands placatingly.
“My apologies, its been a stressful day. I am here to negotiate the acquisition of population-level Legion genetic data. Centurion Aurelius is dying, and that is not allowed.”

Consul Kosta looks up, the faint sound of drums heard over the standard ship-noise. Shaking her head, she flicks out a holo from her pad, a file with Kruze’s facial-region at the top.
“Your genetics specialist, I presume? Centurion Aurelius has had a long decorated career, but she is very old. Why would I hand over vital biometric data to an enemy agent at the behest of a Tier 1 contractor, to maybe save one ancient soldier who’s dying a natural death?”

The drums get a bit louder, and you can see some of the indicators on the screens behind Kosta turn amber.
”Because she is Mine! And I do not throw away my people so lightly. I will not allow her to succumb to sub-standard design and construction. And because I’m asking nicely, I haven’t even threatened you obliquely.”

She remains stoic in the face of your anger.
“Your attachment to Centurion Aurelius is admirable, but it doesn’t change the calculus at all. The possibility of saving her life doesn’t balance out giving the Nephilim access to that much genetic data. If you haven’t noticed, they are the biggest threat to life in Haven and possibly the galaxy. What do you think you could offer me to make me think it would be worth it?”

“One word: fusion reactors.”
“That’s two words, but I’m listening.”
“All of the technology you have, was given to you by the Archons. And they didn’t give you the blueprints, because they were short-sighted assholes. For smaller items you can make due with dealing with the Corp or salvagers. But for your ships, and the reactors that power your civilization, you’re forced to bably and repair those that you’ve got. I can make new ones!
“Bullshit! Fusion tech died with the Archons.”

You wave an arm dramatically, and the air fills with an exploded schematic of a Class-1 reactor. Kosta’s jaw drops, and you not too proud to admit your satisfaction at the sight.

“My facility can have five C1s fabricated within the month, with enough spare parts to repair another half-dozen. That’s a full patrol wing with brand new powerplants. Parts for your ships, hell, new entire ships are also possible down the road. So, does that tip the scales a bit?”

She chews her lip speculatively while staring at the diagram slowly spinning through the air. Focusing on you, her face hardens.
“And why should I deal with you, and not just drop a full battlegroup on your little colony and take this facility?”
“Because its manned by mentally unwell digital minds, and the only downside for them if the self-destruct vaporizes them and the hundred square kilometers around them is the 90-minute queue to download into a new body.”
“A very good point. fine, you can have your data. But I want a maniple on site to make sure nothing happens to the reactors, and I want one of my medtechs watching this… specialist of yours. If they find any evidence that data is making its way back to Necronus, I’ll pull the plug on the operation. Deal?”

A: Deal!
Good enough
B: Negotiate to take the troops off the table (-2STP)
You have no interest in a bunch of heavily-armed Legion squatting in The Workshop
C: Negotiate to take the medtech off the table (-2STP)
Kruze isn’t going to do her best work with someone looking over her shoulder
D: Deal, and I’d like to add to my contract (-3STP)
Accept the deal, and also contract for a larger number of Legion mercenaries for your own use.

PoultryGeist fucked around with this message at 05:44 on Mar 13, 2019

Toughy
Nov 29, 2004

KAVODEL! KAVODEL!

B and D, all troops in my colony are troops are under my orders. Still should be a 3 STP

malbogio
Jan 19, 2015

A

Crazycryodude
Aug 15, 2015

Lets get our X tons of Duranium back!

....Is that still a valid thing to jingoistically blow out of proportion?


C, we can keep the troops away from anything sensitive and as we already mentioned it's not like they can really get away with trying to take the place away from us. If anything it's basically a free garrison against Paladin coming back or whatever. However, we want to make absolutely positively sure that Kruze is working at top efficiency, it would be rather embarrassing if Granny went and died on us because Kruze spent all their time fighting with the minders rather than actually working.

Brain Candy
May 18, 2006

Uh, I understand you're in your thirties, but bio-degredation is pretty awful? You don't want the data if the procedure is successful? Hell, even if it isn't?

Brain Candy
May 18, 2006

Also C

Crazycryodude
Aug 15, 2015

Lets get our X tons of Duranium back!

....Is that still a valid thing to jingoistically blow out of proportion?


I think that they think that we're not gonna succeed. If we do manage to fix the Legion's whole expiration date issue (or at least give them another decade or two), then we can probably come back and sell it to them for a whole drat fleet of battleships or something and boy will they feel like dumbasses for letting us have the data so cheap, but we do have to actually develop it first.

Brain Candy
May 18, 2006

Crazycryodude posted:

I think that they think that we're not gonna succeed. If we do manage to fix the Legion's whole expiration date issue (or at least give them another decade or two), then we can probably come back and sell it to them for a whole drat fleet of battleships or something and boy will they feel like dumbasses for letting us have the data so cheap, but we do have to actually develop it first.

If we actually manage give people a decade we should just give it away for a massive Legion rep boost, IMO. Think of Granny's kids!

PoultryGeist
Feb 27, 2013

Crystals?
Also, the Legion are having to cobble together a coherent culture from nearly first principles. The Archons only implanted socializations that made them more efficient soldiers, so they are far more comfortable with 'fight until you die' than 'fight if you want, but maybe retire to spend time with the kids at some point'. Horrible genetics is only the main reason they die in their sixties, never leaving battle doesn't help.

Outrail
Jan 4, 2009

www.sapphicrobotica.com
:roboluv: :love: :roboluv:
C, we can subvert their troops and/or give them the run around.

Volmarias
Dec 31, 2002

EMAIL... THE INTERNET... SEARCH ENGINES...
C, but some of our people watch the watchers.

dont be mean to me
May 2, 2007

I'm interplanetary, bitch
Let's go to Mars


C

PoultryGeist
Feb 27, 2013

Crystals?
The good news is that a deal is struck. The bad news is that the LEgion’s lack of ansible technology means that its a 5 hour transmission back to Mishpacha at light speed.Lots of time to yourself, lots of time to think. Too much, perhaps. Introspection is not you best friend right now, and you’re only halfway home when the drums begin. But before they can grow deafening, a voice cuts through.

“Captain! Focus on the sound of my voice! Listen to me, if you lose yourself to this Granny will die!”

Drumming still, but no longer all-encompassing. Instead focused on Hydra’s situation, and what you will not allow happen. Your voice is shaky, but you give Jenni a thumbs up.
“Th-thanks. But how did you do that, you weren’t interfacing with my systems at all.”
I didn’t do anything Captain, you did. In your time away from Castoff Station, it seem that you’ve gained some distance from your anger. Enough to focus it on more pressing matters if they are available.”
HUH, LOOKS LIKE YOU’RE NOT A COMPLETE MORON AFTER ALL.
“That’s… not exactly my point. My actual point is that this presents an avenue of control. While I would never recommend a patient to completely ignore their issues, keeping yourself immersed in works of vital importance may give you enough time for your emotions to stabilize. Given my current observations, it may take as little as seven years.”
“That’s… not exactly my idea of a quick fix, but given the timeframe of immortality, I understand. Its… something to try at least. Thanks Jenni.”
“My pleasure Captain.”


*****
Kaijuberg and The Workshop, Mishpacha[/b]

By the time that the Legion arrived a few days later, the genetic data secured to the First Centurion’s wrist, the technological approximation of a recombatorial womb had been delivered to Kruze’s lab and the first fusion reactor was nearly finished. Your Workshop frame, presented to you upon your return at a ‘Happy New Body’ party, was interfacing with GODHEAD in real time without issue. The Legion attempted to put a gruff face on their arrival, but the Workshop’s arctic climate and high-tech lodgings softened them considerably.

Your Kaijuberg-frame wasted no time presenting the data to Kruze, who absorbed it quickly and quietly. Elizabetty, reading over Kruze’s carapace, was not so stoic.
“That’s… why?” Their breathing and nutrient intake lines share the same orifice, and their hearts are literally three sizes too small for efficient blood flow! The only mamailian design I know is what I absorbed when I ate my creator’s brain, and I could do better than this.”
“Yes, I can see the number of shortcuts made due to suppositions of clone-restocking and limited combat survivability. A poor design philosophy to be sure. I cannot promise you everything Captain, but if your new womb works to its specifications we can at least undo the worst of what plagues Aurelius.”

You pat Kruze on the arm comfortingly.
“I can’t ask for any more than that Kruze. Oh, and I don’t expect their to be any issues but the Consul insisted that I say this: if they data goes walkabout to Eden there will be severe repercussions.”

Kruze nods absently, already working figures on the board.
“Of course Captain, I will respect the intellectual property rights of the consul. And anyways, if the Brood got their hands on this data, it would ruin the work skills of a generation of researchers. Some answers shouldn’t be too easy to find.”

Keeping Busy
Our people have projects to work on, but a side effect of expanding our consciousness is it takes more to keep occupied. To keep the drums at bay.
A: Assist Kruze
You may not have any skill at biotechnology, but at its heart a genome is just a specialized dataset. And you know data
B: Work on CentCon
With a functional ansible, commuting to CentCon and back takes no longer than walking across Kaijuberg. And with you and Columbia working on it, the facility will be operational that much sooner
C: Plan for War
You haven’t forgotten about the Paladin Consortium, and you doubt they’ve forgotten about you. Spend your time designing battle plans for confrontations in the near, medium, and long term.

Crazycryodude
Aug 15, 2015

Lets get our X tons of Duranium back!

....Is that still a valid thing to jingoistically blow out of proportion?


A, I've always wanted to learn a bit about playing with genomes. Just seems vaguely useful, if only because meat self-repairs a lot more easily than metal.

Brain Candy
May 18, 2006

C, [DRUMS]

Volmarias
Dec 31, 2002

EMAIL... THE INTERNET... SEARCH ENGINES...
C

malbogio
Jan 19, 2015

A

Hexenritter
May 20, 2001


A, what are meatbags but curiously designed biological machines? What is a genome but an instruction set written in protein rather than binary?

dont be mean to me
May 2, 2007

I'm interplanetary, bitch
Let's go to Mars


There is no 'A' in diversify, but there is in diversification.

Arcanuse
Mar 15, 2019

C.
We might not know much about genomes, but we can help in other ways. Ensuring others remain safe while they work would be one such option.

PoultryGeist
Feb 27, 2013

Crystals?
You can tell that Kruse is not very enthusiastic about having you looking over her shoulder, but she knows better than try and countermand the boss. Supplying you with a ‘Genetics for Beginners’ phero-cast is a naked attempt to keep you occupied, but you welcome the chance to diversify your knowledge base. It takes an hour or two to translate the organic matrix into something you can read, and another thirty minutes to absorb the information.

By the next morning, you’re able to present Kruze with a fully correlated and annotated dataset, allowing her to narrow down the search for defective genetic elements.

By the next day, with a few pulls from Kaijuberg’s medical database (fully consented of course), you’ve worked up basic models for the Corporate and Kaltoran genomes. This gives Kruze a wider selection of Archon genetic engineering, providing more examples of possible fixes to the Legion genome.

By the end of the week, you’ve worked up a model that can simulate the population effects of planned changes and genetic drift in the Legion population out to 1,000 generations, giving Kruze a reliable test bed for her fixes.

By the end of the second week, Hydra is in the recombitorial womb undergoing final checks, smiling weakly as medtechs fit the bio-monitors to her.

“I’m not going to wake up with tentacles everywhere, am I sir?”
“Nope. Kruze was rather insistent that you would be more efficient as a hexaped, but I talked her down.”

Kruze clears her spiracles, not looking up from the calibrations.
“Yes, but she did agree to let me give you compound eyes so I consider it a fair deal.”

Hydra narrows her eyes at the Nephilim.
“That’s… you just told a joke, didn’t you?
“Yes I did. I am running low on large animal tranquilizers so I amd using humor to keep you calm during the prep-work.”

Hydra’s laugh turns into a cough, the medtechs waiting until it subsides before fitting the last of the monitors to her face. Giving you a thumbs up, they withdraw. You pat Hydra comfortingly on the arm and play soothing colors on you faceplate.
“Pleasant dreams Centurion, we’ll see you in a week.”

Hydra salutes as the patient capsule loads itself into the bulk of the womb. Kruze’s panel lights up as oxygenated stabilization fluid floods the capsule, placing Hydra in a minimal metabolic state.
“All green across the board Captain, I will begin treatment as soon as equilibrium is reached. I wish to recognize your assistance in this matter, it was quite fruitful. I was able to finish the workup far quicker than I would have since I no longer have access to Necronus’ bio-computators.”
“I was happy to help Kruse. Hydra, along with the rest of you, are important to me. Also, there’s something I’d like you to take a look at when you have a chance. I was able to optimize the bioinformatics after a few days, it gave me some spare cycles for a side project I’d like to get your eyes on.”

Our Side Project
A: Legion 2.0
Above and beyond fixing the worst of the species’ genetic issues, you’ve reworked the genome from scratch to create a fresh version of the Legion.
B: Humanity Reborn
Turns out the Archon were a bit lazy with their code, and after examining enough genetic data you’re able to piece together the human genome from the bits that got reused.
C: Universal Infective Particle
Based on your bioinformatic review, you’ve created a biomechanical nanoparticle that can infect any Archon-derived species, and can be given custom payloads.

Crazycryodude
Aug 15, 2015

Lets get our X tons of Duranium back!

....Is that still a valid thing to jingoistically blow out of proportion?


B, holy poo poo

Arcanuse
Mar 15, 2019

Hmm.

B: Humanity Reborn

While I am not entirely sure as to the full implications/capabilities/value a complete genetic blueprint of a human would possess, the blueprint alone would be quite the trophy to flaunt. Moreso with a living specimen.
That said, will still be keeping the other options in mind for later opportunities. Too valuable to be left in the dustbin, not quite valuable enough to do right this second.

Volmarias
Dec 31, 2002

EMAIL... THE INTERNET... SEARCH ENGINES...
B what could go wrong

Toughy
Nov 29, 2004

KAVODEL! KAVODEL!

Can we get a rundown of every option as far as implications?

Better legions super grandma's??

Captain Americas?

PoultryGeist
Feb 27, 2013

Crystals?

Toughy posted:

Can we get a rundown of every option as far as implications?

Better legions super grandma's??

Captain Americas?

Legion 2.0: Like current Legion, but won't die of heat exhaustion if it gets above 10 degrees C, fixed reproductive cycle/birthrates, won't fall apart when they turn 60. Can't interbreed with current Legion

Humanity Reborn: A fresh crop of humans. They won't have the knowledge base that old Humanity had (unless you teach them), and may be a target for the Black Key and other weirdos. May be useful if any Humantech is genelocked.

Universal Infective Particle: We have a vector that can affect all the known biological species, barring some of the stranger Nephilim morphs. It can be used as a vector for good things (immunities, cures, positive alterations) or bad things (plagues, negative alterations).

Outrail
Jan 4, 2009

www.sapphicrobotica.com
:roboluv: :love: :roboluv:
AHumanity was a mistake the first time around and I've seen too many movies to trust a tamed gene targeting virus. Option A is good to create our own race of engineered humanoids. We are human after all and it's what we do.

malbogio
Jan 19, 2015

How challenging would it be to upgrade existing Legion with Legion 2.0?

Adding another militant species to the board is liable to increase conflict.

Remaking a dead species to act as pet door openers seems a bit twisted.

Leaning C right now as it sounds like it gives us the most flexibility.

Outrail posted:

We are human after all

Debatable.

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Crazycryodude
Aug 15, 2015

Lets get our X tons of Duranium back!

....Is that still a valid thing to jingoistically blow out of proportion?


Eh good points switching from A to C

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