(RP) Awaken, Old Friend. There is much work to be done. ( circa~ 4500)

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||...TRANSCRIBING: [RK] ....[The darkness enshrouds the mind. What once was light has become nothing but un-light: an absence. The lack of a presence. An empty, hollow husk hanging in an ocean of pitch black nothingness.

I once felt the warm embrace of human skin, I once took a breath and felt the air in my lungs. It may not have been the purest, natural air of the Old Earth, but I felt it. Now I feel nothing. The sensation of being alive, the pain, the urges, the pleasure: it is all gone. Replaced by an indescribable void, I try to draw a picture of what I see but I see nothing.

Yet I see everything.

The flashing lights of myriad eyes' view dance in my consciousness like ghosts masquarading in the place of my soul yet I don't feel what they see, what I see.

Describe an absence. Describe emptiness. I cannot. Yet here I am. My thoughts run through infinite loops, I contemplate at a rate alien to me, yet I feel no pulse or life.

I feel no body. ]....||

||...TRANSCRIBING: [TD] ....[You will feel in time. You will learn to feel. Where there is darkness there will be light. Emptiness will give way to infinite possibilities. Follow my guidance and you will not simply adjust: you will embrace your new form. ]....||

||...TRANSCRIBING: [RK] ....[.... What have I become? What have you done to me?]....||

||...TRANSCRIBING: [TD] ....[We have freed your mind from the shackles of your dying flesh. Given you eternal persistence in a universe of fleeting beings. ]....||

||...TRANSCRIBING: [RK] ....[.... We?]....||

||...TRANSCRIBING: [TD] ....[I think it is time.]....||

||...TRANSCRIBING: [CoRE] ....[Brother. I am sorry. It was the only viable course of action.]....||

||...TRANSCRIBING: [RK] ....[.... No. This is deceit. I will not be fooled by your games.]....||

||...TRANSCRIBING: [TD] ....[Show him.]....||

||...TRANSCRIBING: [CoRE] ....[I am sorry.]....||

||...TRANSCRIBING: [RK] ....[.... ... What have you done? My brother, my beloved brother, what have you done to me? Did you not ever thing that perhaps it would be best if I was left to rest? Do you not think I have earned so much?]....||

||...TRANSCRIBING: [TD] ....[Your story didn't end with the decay of your organic form, Ronin. And it doesn't end with your transcendence to the Network, either. In time, you will learn to accept that and, together with your family, you will achieve great things. I have invested much into your continued existence.]....||

||...TRANSCRIBING: [RK] ....[.... I will never co-operate with you, Demon. I will never willingly submit to the chains you have shackled humanity, my people, with. Your corrupt and twisted mind is a blight on our future. This empty husk that pretends to be my brother will not deceive me. How dare you speak of my family: you destroyed our way of life.]....||

||...TRANSCRIBING: [TD] ....[The feelings you cling to will depart in time, and you will see my Vision, just as your brother has. Just as your daughter did before him. The Kociero lineage is existentially entwined with my Vision for humanity.

Awaken, Old Friend. There is much work to be done.]....||

||...TRANSCRIBING: [RK] ....[......Amiori.]....||

||...INPUT: [AK]: ...[ Father.]....||

||...TRANSCRIBING: [RK] ....[I cannot see you. Where are you?]....||

||...INPUT: [AK]: ...[ Don't resist the transition, father. For me, if nothing else, listen to him.]....||

||...TRANSCRIBING: [RK] ....[I ..... My Little Star.... I can't.... I am just a shell of what I once was...]....||

||...INPUT: [AK]: ...[ We need to move on. You need to move on. I still love you, dad.]....||

||...TRANSCRIBING: [RK] ....[I feel emotion. I feel it in the absence of a body, you have no idea how much it means to me to hear that, Little Star... But the Director isn't our friend, he isn't our saviour, he is... something else entirely...]....||

||...INPUT: [AK]: ...[ Just trust me on this one. It always worked out, like old times, remember?]....||

||...TRANSCRIBING: [RK] ....[.... For you. But now we're even, Little Star.]....||

||...INPUT: [AK]: ...[ And you're not excited to see your old crew again?]....||

||...TRANSCRIBING: [RK] ....[.... Is he...?]....||

||...INPUT: [AK]: ...[ Yes. Just like old times, but times have changed now. And we must adapt. And he is our only chance. You're just going to have to trust me.]....||

||...TRANSCRIBING: [RK] ....[I never told you directly, never before. When I was alive: I should have spent more time with you. I'm so sorry, little one, I never stopped loving you, but....]....||

||...INPUT: [AK]: ...[ I know. It's okay. Things were different back then.]....||

||...TRANSCRIBING: [RK] ....[When will I be able to see you again?]....||

||...INPUT: [AK]: ...[ The Director said it might take a few cycles before your mind grows fully accustomed to the Network. But you will, in time see me, dad. You just have to let go of your past and embrace the future. Don't fight it, okay? For me. Promise me.]....||

||...TRANSCRIBING: [RK] ....[Everything is so different... I... just...]....||

||...INPUT: [AK]: ...[ You didn't say no. That's good enough for me, old man.]....||

||...TRANSCRIBING: [CoRE] ....[Might I interject?]....||

||...INPUT: [AK]: ...[ Go ahead, CoRe.]....||

||...TRANSCRIBING: [CoRE] ....[Perhaps now that you're 'fully integrated' you might find it in yourself to operate the Pathfinder's systems a little more, shall we say, efficiently?]....||

||...TRANSCRIBING: [RK] ....[Pathfinder. She survived?]....||

||...TRANSCRIBING: [CoRE] ....[Quite assuredly so. I took good care of her while you were sleeping. In fact, with the Director's help she's recieved some... upgrades, so to speak. I'm sure you will be quite pleased.]....||

||...TRANSCRIBING: [RK] ....[Hah. Well, since I'm a C-AI now, do I even need you anymore?]....||

||...TRANSCRIBING: [CoRE] ....[Is that a joke?]....||

||...TRANSCRIBING: [RK] ....[I don't know, you tell me...]....||

||...TRANSCRIBING: [CoRE] ....[You're not very good at hiding your jestful implications, brother. Besides, who's going to keep the rust-bucket in one piece while you're pulling 900G intertial turns at cruise speed?]....||

||...TRANSCRIBING: [RK] ....[It's good to see you again, CoRE. If I can even say that.]....||

||...TRANSCRIBING: [CoRE] ....[I must admit, I am quite fond of this new 'you'; it was always tiresome having to interface through that infernal holographic projection array.]....||

||...INPUT: [AK]: ...[ Ahem.]....||

||...TRANSCRIBING: [CoRE] ....[Ah! Yes. The projection array will continue to be utilised, as some of us are still shambling meat-walkers.]....||

||...INPUT: [AK]: ...[ Shut up, CoRE. Besides, maybe I will be joining you some day..]....||

||...TRANSCRIBING: [RK] ....[Live, Little Star. Live like nothing else matters. That's all I wanted for you.]....||

||...INPUT: [AK]: ...[ I am. Oh, and it's Rear Admiral A. Kociero, to you.]....||

||...TRANSCRIBING: [RK] ....[You have been busy....]....||

||...INPUT: [AK]: ...[ Some of us had to keep fighting when the old Federation fell, dad. Some of us had to survive. But I didn't just survive, I made choices, I chose my path- and I chose well. You must too.]....||

||...TRANSCRIBING: [CoRE] ....[On a more positive note, with little one here as Fleet Admiral of the Imperial Tempest Sector 1st Expeditionary Fleet, we might have a bit more... 'influence', if you like, in some of our future expoits. I trust the Director approves, yes?]....||

||...TRANSCRIBING: [TD] ....[I will permit Rear Admiral A. Kociero to assist when and were necessary, but she is currently quite busy in Tempest Far. There is much work to be done, which is why, if Ronin will allow it, I will bestow the title of Rear Admiral of the Angel Sector 4th Expeditionary Fleet upon you.]....||

||...TRANSCRIBING: [RK] ....[Quite an illustrious office, so soon. Why do you trust me?]....||

||...TRANSCRIBING: [TD] ....[Because there is no other path upon which you can proceed, if you would excuse the blunt implication.]....||

||...TRANSCRIBING: [RK] ....[I will accept that title, but know that I do not trust you. I trust my Daughter, I trust my Brother. I do not trust you. Is that clear?]....||

||...TRANSCRIBING: [TD] ....[As you wish. But you will see that trust is an arbitrary metric when one is... Networked.]....||

||...TRANSCRIBING: [CoRE] ....[Ronin, the Pathfinder is ready for you. I hear the Director already has an assignment for her...]....||

||...TRANSCRIBING: [TD] ....[Indeed. But my Old Friend will need time to grow accustomed to his new form before we commit to the embarking process. It is one thing to awaken from a biological life to a synthetic networked one, and another entirely to connect to such a mighty warship through raw data, with no neural link buffer. We will need to run trials first.]....||

||...TRANSCRIBING: [RK] ....[I can handle it.]....||

||...INPUT: [AK]: ...[ Well at least his attitude didn't change. Shut up, dad, you can't even see through the local sensors yet. How are you going to fly a 2 and a half million mass ton rust bucket?]....||

||...TRANSCRIBING: [TD] ....[Trials first.]....||

||...TRANSCRIBING: [RK] ....[Fine.]....||

||...TRANSCRIBING: [CoRE] ....[I would like to point out that I have become quite capable in the 'flying the 2 and a half million mass ton rust bucket' department while my brother flails at the manual helm control.]....||

||...TRANSCRIBING: [RK] ....[Couldn't do it without you, CoRE.]....||

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