trans_9 | The Connors say hello meatship!

With his bugout location secure, and now stocked with some food John decided it was time to get some weapons. Carefully he made his way to the armory making damn sure this time that no one else was around. He wasn't going to slip up again like he had at the Vatican.

Scrolling through the weapons in the armory computer he was impressed with the selection. Hell, some of these hadn't even finished being developed before Judgment Day occurred. If he wasn't god only knows where being ordered around by an AI, and it's slave crew he'd almost be happy about it. In a few minutes he had quite the list assembled. Double checking it one more time he submitted it to the computer.

[Access to that quantity of weapons is restricted. Please see the command staff for authorization. Any furthers attempt to retrieve weapons will result in you being locked out of this system until your access is reauthorized by the captain.]

He glared at the machine, and pulled out his computer. Interfacing it with the omnicomm he started searching for an access panel. Finding one he spent several minutes methodically prying it open enough to get to the console's guts. Patching in he began to run through sub systems one by one looking for a way in. Whoever had designed the security hadn't counted on someone for who information warfare was a way of life. Finally he found a crack in the armor. It wouldn't be pretty, and they'd know he'd been here but he didn't have a choice. It was act now, or let this opportunity slip by.

Running the program the computer began to send out the weapons to the caches John had designated. Now all he had to do was move them again so the crew couldn't track them down by just following the digital trail. Hopefully that would keep them guessing long enough for him to slip back to Grand Central unnoticed.

After another couple of hours he'd managed just that. Already he was prepping the weapons, and loading magazines just in case someone was smart enough to pick up his trail.

[ooc: Once again in case anyone wants it the list of weapons John has stolen is here. Once you see the sub-thread you want your pup in go ahead and tag it. I'll leave it to each thread to sort out their posting order. Have fun everyone!]

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

A scoff. Will do, Connor, will do.

“Well this master AI—Stacy—is already badly damaged,” Dustin explained with only the slightest tinge of boredom in his voice, “As far as I know the crew’s been trying to fix her for some time now. But I’ve taken a look at the codes, the security and repair protocols, and quite frankly there’s nothing we can do about it, either on the helping or the harming end.

“The only way to keep Stacy disabled is to keep her from repairing herself. And that would take some helluva subroutine—trust me, I should know.”

A pause, but the line was still on. Dustin wasn’t finished just yet.

“Needless to say, you’re going to have a hard time of it. And it doesn't deal with the organic tech, either.”

Dustin had his full attention now. This was the kind of intel he needed. "I'll take your word for it on the subroutine. The security on the armory was bad enough. So how do we keep her from repairing? Is it something physical we can remove or damage?"

Once he had more details he could start planning something. Even if it left him exposed if he could stop the ship from exerting more control it would be worth it.

It was too bad, then that Dustin was using this less as a way of giving advice and more as a way of warning. John was about to get a pretty rude awakening.

In three.

“Just how I said—programming. That’s the only way we’re capable of inhibiting the regenerative process.”

Two.

“I mean, you could always try to bioengineer a virus of some sort, maybe figure out a way to damage the immune system, but as far as I’ve seen that’s out of our reach. Even with lots of guns and ‘splody things, Connor, which seems to be the approach that you’re taking.”

One.

“Besides, I wouldn’t let you even if you tried.”

That grin behind the comm ring was almost tangible.

The asshole could smirk all he wanted because John had information now. Enough for him to start trying to figure out how to take this ship down. He'd find a way to those system, and either insert a virus or blow them to hell. Whatever would end that AI's rule.

"Cute, but if you wanted to keep from doing it you should have kept your mouth shut. I'll make good use of that information."

It could all be lies, but John didn't think so. No the guy sounded too sure of himself. Too damn cocky. There was confidence and then there was letting it turn you stupid. Lucky for John he was able to profit from it this time.

Dustin was laughing at him on the other side, a cool, condescending series of chuckles ringing tinnily over the line. ‘Cocky’ wasn’t quite adequate enough to describe this fellow.

“Who said I was trying to keep you away?” he sniffed matter-of-factly, “I’m looking forward to the challenge that I’m sure you’ll provide for me—I just felt obligated to give you a little nudge, you know? Get you motivated, put you in the right direction.

“I should warn you ahead of time, though; when you ‘make good use of my information’ as you have so dutifully promised, just remember that I’ll be waiting for you. And if even so much as a single inquiry goes through this ship’s brain, I will tear you apart, limb from limb, molecule from molecule.

“Don’t take it personally—we’re not all that different—we both want to get the hell off of here, right? But see, we have different ways of going about the problem, and I figured that I should tell you about how I deal with people who stand in my way, such as you are in serious danger of doing.

“Have I made myself understood?”

Someone trying to intimidate him. John wasn't impressed. He was sure it wouldn't be the last time someone on this ship tried it. People killing other people to save machines. It was just sad how messed up their priorities were. Why did people have to make it so difficult to save them?

"Are you done?"

Dustin’s thoughts exactly.

“Don’t say I never warned you, Connor.”

And he severed the link to continue his search in peace.

The Connors say hello meatship!

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