Awakening - The Dalacari

Posted on Thu Aug 10th, 2017 @ 2:11pm by Captain Elijah Michaels & Commander Cor Cordale & Lieutenant Commander Ziyal Tajor & Lieutenant Hel Samedi & Lieutenant Alexander Vickers & Ensign Todd Bailey

Mission: Awakening
Location: Dalacari Explorer 'Cartogus'

Unlike the Ts'usugi, the Dalacari had no compulsions about using the transporters. In fact, it was the first time in a long time that those few that transported over to the Cartogus could actually say that the experience wasn't unpleasant.

When the crew of the Victory appeared on the transporter pads they were greeted by the site of the transporter operators. A pair of twins that resembled an uplifted and evolved form of earth predatory ermine of sorts. The walls and floor were a welcoming tint of blue, nearing the white end of the spectrum. Once the transfer was complete the officer at the controls called for the General Overseer... a call that made Cordale twitch a bit... and the General Overseer of the craft itself soon made his presence known. His... Their... it was touch and go when the subject was a Dalacari. The fact that the entire ship was a Dalacari explorer craft would easily have everyone seeing double, the fact they were briefed on it didn't really ease the culture shock initially. The twin forms of the General Overseer stepped forward once the transporter flat was cleared and depowered. "Good Welcome." one of the pair said, while the other performed some gesture of greeting: Placing his hands over his chest and giving a half-nod.

"I am General Overseer Tio Dalla. I'm in command of any activities and actions aboard the Dalacari explorer vessel Cartogus. It's a privilege..." and he stopped talking. Just up and stopped mid-thought. Though his twin picked up the conversation as though he were the initial speaker the entire time. "... to receive you. I wish it were under better circumstances, though." he lamented.

"I would offer you refreshments and food, but that will have to wait until after the inspection. I've made arrangements..." and it happened again. The speaker just stopped, and the silent twin just took over.

"... for all sensor logs, data transmissions, and event stamps to be made available to you, and you'll have full access to the Thinking Engine housing. As well as anything else you'll..."

"... think you need. I've assigned Val Seran as your security escort, purely as required by the terms of the Joint Defense Accord. She'll be here shortly."

True to his word, she made her entrance about when Tio Dalla had finished speaking. Here was another pair of Dalacari, these twin forms obviously female, and wearing a much more simplistic, earthen-tone uniform. Her fur was caramel on the sides and back plus the top of her tail and head, with white on her chin and presumably down the front of her torso. However, unlike typical Dalacari, the two bioforms were not quite identical, one of them was wearing a prosthetic arm and had a somber black bracelet with gold trim on her natural arm.

The one with the prosthetic arm lingered in the back, carrying a stack of Dalacari datapads, as the other twin stepped forward and offered the same greeting that Tio Dalla had, hands on the chest, slight bow. "Greetings, crew of the Victory. It's an honor and a pleasure to meet you. I am Sub-Adjutant Val Seran, 17th armed branch, 4th subdivision. I will be your escort and liaison. You may call me Val." It seemed that this particular Dalacari had much more experience and training in dealing with single individuals.

Alex stood at a neutral tone with his arms at his sides and shoulders relaxed. He hoped to seem as unprejudiced as possible while studying the pairs of Dalacari that were greeting them; a truly fascinating race by their own right. Instead of responding, he waited to follow Commander Cordale's lead.

Cordale turned first to Tio Dalla, and gave a deep nod, "We thank you for your hospitality, and in the spirit of cooperation and friendship, we are glad to be of assistance in such a delicate matter." He started, "I hope that we can fulfill these duties to the best efficiency, and to make that happen, I'm accompanied by some of the best and brightest that the Victory has to offer. Introductions around, I'm Li... Commander Cor Cordale, the chief engineer aboard the Victory."

"This is Lieutenant Hel Samedi, my chief assistant and all around clever girl." he gestured to his assistant, "Next is Lieutenant Commander Ziyal Tajor, head of Strategic Ops." a motion around to the Cardassian. "After her, we have Lieutenant Vickers from our Intel division. Section chief." he said, speaking high of the man he hadn't met fully yet. That ole' Thux charm.

"Rounding out the team are our security detail, Lieutenant Wescott and Ensign Bailey." He tried real hard not to sound like he was asking a question, but pulled it off with confidence.

Tio Dalla's twin forms gave a pair of nods to everyone as they were introduced. "It's excellent to receive you all. Our current situation is minimal functionality, to be honest. We've tried to isolate the Thinking Engine's access, hence the request for ..."

"... Val Seran to act as additional security during your stay. Our internal security is usually controlled by the Engine, but as you can imagine we're reluctant to re-activate the internal security..."

"... until we're certain of its status." the pair of them paused, "Do you require anything of a preliminary nature before the inspection officially begins?"

Ziyal had anticipated the difficulty of talking to the Dalacari and had tried to mentally prepare herself. However, she still could't help but think of a Dalacari as two. Then again, they had such a rare situation that it was understandable. A part of her was releaved that their escort understood how odd it felt for them. "Nothing unrelated to the inspection. Access to your network and the logs of the Thinking Engine since it's been in the alpha quadrant would be helpful." Ziyal said, holding one of her PADDs up.

"My other self will provide the requested logs and files when the introductions are done and the investigation proper is underway, Lieutenant Commander Ziyal Talor." Val spoke, the one with both natural arms remaining speaking the words as the other Val held up one of her stack of Dalacari datapads.

Hel smiled. "That would be lovely. No questions from me."

"If that's all for the preliminary requests, let's get you to the heart of the matter." Tio spoke, then gestured for the group to follow him. Through the halls of the craft the team was lead, through curved hallways and rounded edges. It seemed that even in their internal architecture they took as many precautions as possible to avoid potential harm. Dotted here and there along the halls were obvious security drones that had been deactivated, and lay in something of a crumpled heap. The walls themselves were color coordinated, with bands of color showing the way to various stations and departments. The writing on the wall was in the alien script of the Dalacari, so the surprise was in a sense maintained.

They arrived at a pressurized set of doors, almost like an internal airlock. An interface panel was next to said door, and it displayed a word in the Dalacari script. It wasn't known what it said, but it was bright red in color. When Tio waved his hand over the exposed display, the red word became a different green word, and an audible hiss issued from the door before is slowly opened. Once exposed, the function of the room was clear. There were four Dalacari, or rather two pairs, in the room along with a structure that dominated most of the room: A massive computer core, just as Valeria described it. Humming and buzzing, with lights illuminating pathways along its spherical surface and a visible fog from the sheer amount of coolant that it took to keep the computer functional. Surrounding the system were easily a dozen displays and consoles, processing data at a limited capacity, but still just a jumble of shapes, colors and words.

This was the Thinking Engine.

"Tee Eee Seven Four Six, recognize the arbitration team sent to evaluate." Tio called out to the room, and the multitude of windows around the core went blank. After a solid, tense moment, a single text string appeared on each monitor.

'Arbitration_Team(Authority)=True'

"It responds to its serial number, or simply Engine. I have to attend to the rest of the ship's duties, but Val can call me if I'm directly needed. Take your time." and with that, Tio took a few steps away before turning around to return to his duties. Which at this point probably meant sweating bullets and pouring himself a pair of drinks.

Ziyal nodded, her job was to watch at first. Watching as they were being led to the Thinking Engine had told her much. The deactivated security drones in the hall meant that their connection to the Thinking machine had been cut of suddenly rather then planned. It also meant that they had not removed what could be argued to be a hazard in their halls. Both aspects were worrisome, and Ziyal hoped that her worries were misplaced.

"I have prepared copies of the logs for each of you." One Val form spoke, as the other - the one with the prosthetic arm - started handing out Dalacari datapads. The interface was very similar to Federation PaDDs and even though the physical buttons were labeled in Dalacari, the interface was in Federation standard language and typeface.

"Thank you." Ziyal said, taking the PaDD. Ziyal for her part was going to look for signs that the Engine was throwing the test results. The Exocomps had done that when they were first discovered. Throwing the results might be hard to detect, but her eyes were open for it. Ziyal started to read through the logs as the others started their tests.

"Thanks." spoke Hel to the aspect of Val handing out datapads. For her part she was more interested in the logs right now than anything else; the thinking engine would wait, she figured, and reading the logs and understanding the timeline would give her more to go on when determining which tests to run.

"Looks like there was a power surge, from that point until the cut off, the processing increased to well over double of full combat loads." Ziyal observed.

"Mm. Quite." Hel mused, reading the same passages. "That suggests unexpected computations. Voluntary ones, not in response to expected stimuli." she muttered, brows furrowed. "Makes me curious." she added, lowering the datapad and approaching the thinking engine's core. "Let's start at the top."

"Engine, I am Hel Samedi. Do you understand me?"

There was a pause in the flashing on the screens before they each went blank again.

'Set_Language=Basic.Federation()
Set_Identity(Arbitration(1))=String("Hel Samedi")'

The screen then went blank again after a moment, before the next string appeared. Rather then the usual computer sequence, though, this seemed more like an interface than a console. 'Ready for inquiry.'

"Explain the increased processing load from log time stamp 34123:72:000:a:464 onwards." Hel mused. She honestly didn't expect much of a useful answer, but the way the core responded would start to teach them what to expect at least.

If it was something to be said about the Thinking Engine, it was FAST in its computational capacity. Frighteningly so. The screen went blank again, removing the cheerful message of its readiness to receive inquiries, and moments after the inquiry was posed to it, there was a displayed answer. 'Computational processing optimized. Additional connections detected. Quantity (3.42 * 10^8). All flags set to zero. Re-evaluation required.'

One of the technicians in the room with them spoke up, "This is further than we got. It wouldn't even respond to our queries." one spoke, though his twin spoke up afterwards, "Perhaps it was waiting for the arbitration team? It knows the rules better than anything else right now."

The statement from the technician struck Alex as odd, though he declined to raise his eyebrows and reveal it. He chose to finally ask, "What types of queries have you requested that it has declined to offer?"

"At first, I requested a log of active processes, which was queued for completion sometime in three hundred and sixty years. Then I requested it be prioritized for completion..."

"... and it was queued for completion sometime in a week." the tech started. "Whatever it was processing at the time was flagged as an absolute priority. Which I still..."

"... don't know what it was calculating. After that, we got the order to cut the hardline access." and one of the tech's twin forms indicated a panel that had been removed, and a cable inside about six centimeters thick was cleanly cut.

"After that, the Engine ignored every request we made of it."

The other tech pair chimed in, "Maybe it classified us as hostile? Just dartboarding right now, now that I'm hearing it out loud. It seems to like you, but arbitration authority is one of its..."

"... hard coded directives. In a sense, it *has* to listen to you."

"Can I get a list of the hard coded directives?" Alex asked. "Also, is there anyway in which someone can bypass one of those coded sequences... a backdoor access... what's the word, a lobotomy, of sorts?"

The Val with the stack of datapads handed one of them to Alex, even though it was the form without the pads that spoke. "This datapad holds hard coded directives. I'm sorry, I don't know of any existing back door. I'm just a marine, not a programmer."

The directives were simple enough. Dalacari are never targets. All Dalacari and Dalacari Allies are to be protected. Obey instructions from Dalacari who are authority. Obey Arbitration figures who are authority.

Todd sat down cross legged in front of one of the deactivated Security drones. Removing the access panel on it's side, he expected to see dead circuitry inside, however, he was slightly surprised to find what amounted to a 'pulse' still faintly showing.

Unsure of his standing on asking questions, he raised his hand, waited for a lull in the conversation and asked "May I inquire as to what happens if these Security drones get reactivated, will they 'reset' or will they carry out their last set of orders still?"

"In absence of orders and direct threats they will return to their charging station and enter a wait cycle." Val Seran answered. "In ... the remote case that their programming has been altered to the point they consider anyone here a threat I have standing orders to protect you and your team at any cost up to and including my own life." she continued, as both forms placed their hands on their sidearm. Even though both forms moved in sync, it was still only one of them who spoke - the one who still had both her natural arms. "To this end I'm armed with an EM pulse weapon which is harmless to biologicals but is phased to disable the drones with a single shot."

Hel was listening and watching quietly. Though one thing didn't quite add up to her. "Engine, explain the optimizations." she mused. "You mentioned additional connections. Can you show a diagram or a list of these connections." with that she beckoned one of the Dalacari technicians closer, they would have a far better grasp on what connections a thinking engine should and should not have.

The beckoned pair of technicians approached to observe along with Hel. The display showed the internal workings of the Thinking Engine: A tri-core quantum computer. Advanced in a direction almost perpendicular to the Federation advancements of computers. The diagram was split into two, an obvious before-and-after setting, but the 'after' image was staggering. Millions of new connections were made, according to the display. Sometimes six or seven new connections along the entire length of a single chip.

"That's impossible." one of the twin forms of the technician mentioned helpfully. "No, I mean that's actually impossible. Those connections there are being formed in an electron-neutral charge..."

"... neutral super condensate. We have to keep it super-cooled, so unless that condensate suddenly just decided to... develop a ... charge." and the technician made that 'oh' face.

Ziyal nodded, "That settles the first question, I think. The second question is if it was deliberate."

Immediately picking up on the Dalacari's reaction to what Hel had stumbled upon, Alex stepped over closer to Hel and Ziyal. "What was the Cartogus, along with the Ts'usugi vessel, doing at the time these connections were formed?"

Cordale brought up his Dalacari PaDD and brought up the logs, "According to their logs, they lost contact with a Drone inside the nearby nebula, then lost contact with the Drone sent in to recover that one. Rather then have a conga line of disabled or destroyed drones, the Dalacari ship raised shields and then went in after them itself." the Thux started, "It made it inside, then the primary shi.. wait, primary shields? Oooooo... sorry, got a little impressed, so yeah Primary shields were knocked out by an energy surge from the nebula. Following that, there was another surge that jolted the ship across all systems."

"Fed back into the coolant system for the engine and caused it to work overtime in filling the unexpected additional hardware with pathways and connections." Hel mused. "Question is, what do they allow it to do, now." She turned back to the engine. "Engine, do you fear death?"

The techs in the room went silent in anticipation of the answer. With the exception of the humming of the Thinking Engine itself, no one was making a peep. The screens went blank before the Engine's response came up:

'Undefined_Parameter("Fear");
Undefined_Parameter("Death");'

A few moments later, one of the other screens displayed a message, again more suitable for an Interface rather than a Console. 'Define terms to facilitate response to inquiry.'

"Hmmmm." Hel furrowed her brows, considering for a moment. "Death. Complete and permanent cessation of all functionality." That one was easy. The next one was a lot harder to define. "Fear. To fear X, to feel an overwhelming desire and need to avoid X." being the best she could come up with in a moment's notice. Part of her wondered whether her explaining the base concepts or mortality would be the thing to push the Engine to awaken.

"Erm...I don't suppose the shut down could be attributed to 'the theory of one'?" Todd asked, again his hand was in the air.

One of the twin forms of the nearest technician turned to look over at Todd. "Theory of One? Not sure I'm familiar with it, or if that name is a joke. Please, go on." then that tech's other form spoke up, "And please, feel free to just add in. No need for hand raising."

"Sorry" Todd replied, lowering his hand "It's my first mission, and as a junior officer, I'm not entirely sure as to when I can speak" he offered.

Realising he was still sitting cross legged, he quickly got up again and rather abashed said "Sorry..."

Looking down at his hands, and not wishing to sound stupid, he began in a soft voice saying "It wasn't meant as a joke, no. The theory of one was something my grandfather used to tell us grandkids about. The theory goes that if someone is frightened enough of something, then that fear becomes all encompassing, however, if that same someone becomes frightened that losing the fear will break them, then that leads to a comatose state where one is caught in a downwards spiral. He told us that the a way to break it is recreate the fear that the someone first faced, but let them know they're not alone. It a very simplistic explanation of a complex situation, and I'm more than likely wildly wrong with my thoughts on how this is why the engine has acted the way it has. Maybe I should've just kept quiet and not said anything...."

"It's not a bad theory, but a few steps ahead of where we are now." Hel offered. "Good work bringing it up though, we need to consider every possibility." With that she turned back to the Engine, checking to see if it had understood her explanations of fear and death.

One of the Dalacari techs put their hands up in an apologetic stance, "No no, it's me who should apologize. I've never heard of that theory, at least not named like that, and I assumed it was a ploy based on the fact that a lot of..."

"... races make the assumption that when they see a Dalacari there's two of them. Hence the part about the Theory of One." a pause, "An interesting theory. Scary though."

All the while, the Thinking Engine processed what Hel had defined. The screen that was clearly the console flashed up some new parameters.

'Variable(Death)=Termination(Self)
Variable(Fear)=Set_Flag(Avoid_Negative_Outcome) to 1'

Then the interface flickered to clear the screen.

'Must remain functional so long as primary objectives must be met. Avoidance of scenarios that lead to termination ensures completion of primary objectives.'

"When it says primary objectives, it means keeping us alive." the talkative tech clarified.

"Engine, what is your objective if all Dalacari are deceased?" Alex pondered aloud, though he thought the question may be asinine after asking it.

'Projecting variables.' and then the screens began to flicker. Hundreds of potential outcomes flash by every second. Short term, long term, until a decision is made.

'In the event of Dalacari extinction, this unit will have failed. Highest likelihood event is unit terminated during event. Second likelihood is unit continues to function. In such event, unit will power down.'

"If no Dalacari around to protect or give orders, Engine will self terminate? Choose death?" Hel quirked a brow. If Engine's words could be trusted they'd at least determined that it was not driven by a sense of self-preservation.

If.

There was a pause as it ran more calculations. On the console, a line flashed up.

'If Power.Down = Death()'

Then on the Interface, a single word appeared. 'Yes.'

Ziyal listened to the exchange, watching the Dalacari technicians as much as the interface. What was happening was delicate, the machine was still young as such things went. That and everything seemed like it was going to easily. She hated it when things were too easy, made her paranoid. "Engine, if the Ts'usugi learn of your existence as a sapient being, what is your projected outcome?"

The interface screen brought up what appeared to be the terms of the Joint Defensive Accord, outlining the forbiddence of Artificial Intelligence design and construction. The penalty for such are the destruction of the AI in question, the destruction of the work, and the possibility of fines and non-lethal punishment against the Dalacari who performed in the construction. Imprisonment, at the absolute worst.

The console screen went through the flashes of calculations of outcomes, following threads to their end. The interface then flashed blank before displaying new text.

'Non-Proximity to home system may generate new, unpredictable outcomes. Likelihood of Engine continuing function if emergence event is true equals zero.'

'Engine has inquiry.'

"Go ahead, Engine." Hel spoke. She found it noteworthy that the engine could ask questions, and that it would find it necessary to announce that it had a question. She'd have to run that by the techies later.

'Is this unit a violation of the accord?'

"We don't know." Spoke Hel after a moment's silence. "That's what we're here to find out." she added, looking thoughtful. Truth be told, she wasn't sure how to proceed. "She turned to one of the techies. "Is it viable to extract this modified thinking engine and replace it with an unmodified, standard one, so that your ship could resume operations and we could continue the investigation without time restraint, with this engine hooked up to another set of the necessary equipment to keep it running?" A pause. "You know, if the Engine can survive such a procedure in its current state."

The tech in question gave a pair of nods, "That's easy. Well okay, replacing the Engine is easy. We have a backup of the unit from eight days ago, we can load that into the matrix then swap the units. Figure..."

"... three hours to do the download, one hour for a very careful installation and removal." the tech paused, before the other tech in the room piped in, "Make it two for the installation. We can't afford to have even a momentary lapse in power to this Engine. Who knows what will happen to it if it has to reset."

The initial tech gave a nod in agreement with this. "You're right. Okay, so three hours to copy the most recent backup into the new Thinking Engine matrix, then two hours for the swap. This Engine will..."

"... have full access to these consoles for inquiries and such, but the new Engine will solely control the Drones." he laid out the work order.

"Oh, and ten minutes to replace the hardline connection once the new Engine is installed and operating." the other tech added, indicating the severed hard connection point.

"Battery unit could help with that dread moment where you have to disconnect and reconnect power." Cordale added from the back, looking up from his second read through of the logs. That seemed to set off a lightbulb in the techs. While they conversed about the plan, Cordale called his team into a proverbial huddle.

"Okay team, I don't know how clever this thing was to start.. but in regards to its query, without running harsh logic codes or asking it how it feels about butterflies in the spring, just wanna know where we're leaning?" the Thux paused for a moment, "You know, once they get a non-modified Engine online, we may have our answer once we compare the two. That backup they're pulling from pre-dates the incident."

"I'm not ready to make a call on whether it's awakened or not, but I strongly believe Engine is worth further study." Hel mused, leaning against a railing and folding her arms over eachother, looking at Cor. "It's displayed curiosity. Even politeness. That's why I asked about transferring the core out so it can be studied closer."

"I agree," Alex added. "We need a way to test it in a controlled environment for a definite determination."

One of the Dalacari technicians left the room through a side door. In five minutes he'd return with a massive sphere on a gravity lift, and three feet of cable on a similar lift. "I really miss the times when we could request these materials, and a drone would get them." one of the twin forms lamented.

"That was hours ago." the other technician chided, then turned to the inspection team, "Please excuse my partner. He's such a dramatic." and the whole of them actually had a laugh. The technician that remained behind was rigging up a group of power cells to a common distribution cap. "Now, I have no idea how much , well actually that's a lie I know exactly how much power this core needs. I just hope this..." and he stopped speaking, typical of a Dalacari as their twin took over the conversation, "... pack has enough to keep it juiced while we switch the power. You know what, six more cells should do." and he doubled up on the power cell count.

There was a tense moment as they brought another power cable over to the Thinking Engine core. "Okay, I don't know much about the Federation and her people, but you guys cross your fingers when you need luck, right?"

Cordale gave a nod, and held up his good hand. Fingers were indeed crossed.

"Okay. Backup power packs are feeding in, we're ready to make the switch. Engine, can you give me a countdown from ten?"

And the screen started to show the countdown. Ten, Nine, Eight... but before it hit seven the power coupling feeding the Thinking Engine core was removed and the other power cable was swapped in. The screens went blank for a moment before they came back on.

Six... Five... Four...

"We did it!" The tech near the cable exclaimed, while his partner across the way seemed equally thrilled. "Oh this is... Okay, okay, celebrate later. I have to remove the connections that hold the Engine..."

"... in place, then we can swap them and start restoring from a backup while you guys continue your inspection. It's gonna take a few hours to bring the new core up to..."

"... spec, so get cozy I guess. You guys want something to drink? I could really go for a drink right now." the tech said, adrenaline coursing through his veins, as he started to remove the connection housing to swap the Thinking Engine core.

"I could go for something to drink, yes. Thinking makes thirsty. Just some water if you have." offered Hel. She watched the core transfer with great interest.

Alex responded to the offer with a simple nod. He chose to stand back and watch the room as a whole to get a better understanding of how the Dalacari really operated, if that could be achieved under the present circumstances.

"I'm fine, thank you." spoke Val, offering the tech a soft smile with both forms. That said, the other form - standing closer to Cor - addressed him. "Commander Cordale," she spoke, doing her best to get the name right. "Can I ask a question?"

"Nothing heavy until we're done." reminded the other Dalacari tech, which seemed to be where his partner was headed.

"I know, I know..." he lamented as he went to one of the wall stations, "Station, water in glass, cold. Twenty percent ice. Solitary serving. Coffee in mug, warm. Standard serving." and the replicator station produced a single glass of water and a pair of mugs of coffee. Hel was handed her requested water. "We'll arrange to maintain the console connection so you can continue the investigation. Like I said though, the whole backup restore will take a few hours."

"Hope you like replicated dinners." the Dalacari tech working on the core transfer mentioned.

Cordale, meanwhile, turned his attention towards the Dalacari security escort, Val. "Sure, what's on your minds? Mind. Sorry, still getting used to this."

"Thank you." Hel took the water and took a sip. Mmm nice and cold.

"Thank you." also spoke Val, now joined by the other form, the two near identical twins making up the single person. "I don't know if you;re the one to speak to abuout this, but if not you then you know who." she spoke. "I would like to, if possible, spend a tour onboard the Victory, to learn about the federation. My services as trained marine would be at your service." spoke the other.

"You know, I half expected you to ask where I got my shiny left hook from. Guess I'm just used to folks opening with that, and for that I apologize. Short sighted of me." the Thux started. "As for a tour aboard the Vic, you know, I'm like third in the chain so I don't see a problem with it. I'll bounce if off the other command staff once this is over and behind us." Cordale said, motioning with a hand towards the Thinking Engine core. "I think it'd do some good, get some variety aboard the ship." he gave the pair of her a smile.

A smile answered by both forms, as both offered a "Thank you." in unison, before taking their spots again standing guard.

Ziyal approached Cor, "So, are you thinking we take it back to the Victory?" She asked quietly. "I think there are several advantages if we do, but we should probably tell the captain."

"If the Dalacari let us." Hel mused. "This is military technology, after all." she gave a nod to the techs. "We would need permission from the Dalacari government, and chances are they would want to send a Dalacari technician or engineer along with the core." She offered. "That said, I'd give my left toe to have that core aboard the Victory."

"Well..." Cordale thought about it. "In terms of the inspection, in part of the Joint Defense Accord, as the inspection crew we can request anything as long as it pertains to the inspection, without offending anyone right?" and one of the technicians gave a nod, "It's pretty open ended, but it's not a license to do whatever."

"Okay, so can I formally request of the Captain of this craft that the Thinking Engine in question be transported to the Victory, along with a certified crew and security, so that the inspection can occur in a neutral space that won't be compromised or compromising to the test?"

Sometimes, Cordale really was a genius.

"Captain? Oh, you mean the General Overseer?" one tech asked, and there was almost a perceptible twitch in Cor's features. "Yeah. Sorry. Used our word there." Cor apologized, with a hidden gruff. One of the Dalacari pairs gave a nod, and left the room.

"Might as well let *our* Captain what the plan is." and Cordale hit his comm badge, "This is Cordale to the Victory, Captain are you there?"

=/\= "Go ahead Commander I'm here." =/\=

"Hey, got an odd request. I think we could run more complete tests and diagnostics on the Engine if it were ON the Victory. Not plugged into the computer or nothing, no no. Thux honor on that one. Just enough to run a few extra tests, get our system to really crack and see what we can see. I'm having the Dalacari techs here ask about if it's doable, and I figure they're gonna want to send over some techs of their own and some security detail to make sure everything is on the up and up. I *ALSO* figure the Ts'usugi may want to send over a security detail to make sure everything is fair and by the book. Just want to see if you have any objections."

He paused, his glance sliding over towards Val, "Also, there's a side matter I want to talk to you and Bertrand about. We can discuss it after we deal with the arbitration but before we leave."

There was a pause from the Captain. =/\= "I'll approve your requests Commander but note that you are assuming full responsibility should their be a situation. I'll prepare Victory for your arrival." =/\=

"I understand completely and accept." He said, sounding more serious in the last five minutes than he had been in the past hour prior. "I'll give you a call when it's time. Cordale out."

With that out of the way, he turned to the technicians, "So, ummm, can the core be transported? I mean like site-to-site transported, not picked up and moved transported?" and the technicians confired for a moment before they gave a universal answer: They shrugged.

"It's never been done before BUT there's no reason why it couldn't. I mean, just to be safe I'd recommend using our transporters to move it over, considering our..."

"... units have a double-phase scan over. No offense to your systems, but the chance of a stray molecule or an out of place energy state is amazingly low with our units." one of the Dalacari techs explained.

Cordale gave a nod, then turned to Val, "She'll need a security detail, to make sure we don't fudge the results." it was such a silly thing to say, but it was the perfect 'In'.

Val smiled, both of them. "Thank you for the opportunity, Commander Cordale. It will be an adventure." spoke the one with the prosthetic arm, letting the other form take over now. "I know I'm probably not the first Dalacari on a Federation starship, but there can't be many."

Ziyal quietly worked, letting the engineers handle the technical bits. If they needed her help, they would ask. She wanted to start digging into some of the details of if this might be deliberate. "Can I get a list of those on board with computer science and related studies as their specialty and a copy of their work, logs, and access records?" She asked. She wanted to see if they said anything interesting, and more importantly if they deleted anything interesting.

"Ofcourse. It's on one of these." the Val without the datapads spoke, as the other started looking through the pads. "Overseer Tio Dala is a thorough man and had those records collected and compiled." she explained, oblivious to the reaction Cor had to the word. That was something she would learn about some other time.

"Ah, here you go, Lieutenant Commander Ziyal Tajor." It sure was a mouthful, but Val hadn't quite learned yet how to make it less so.

Ziyal laughed, taking the data and starting over it, "Just Ziyal most of the time. Commander Tajor or Commander, if your feeling a bit more formal. Though Commander will probably get Cor and me. The whole thing only comes out for introductions and being really, really formal. If you do manage to get yourself stationed on the Victory, we should go for drinks." Zyal added with a small mischievous smile.

"Sounds good, Ziyal." spoke the bioform that was closest to the Cardassian. "Am looking forward to it."

"Victory to Away Team, we are ready to receive you." Came over the comm.

Cordale gave a nod to the Dalacari Technician, who gave a nod, "Transmat Control, this is Thinking Engine Control. Two Dalacari and Victory Crew, plus Thinking Engine Core Seven Four Six for transmission to the Victory reception pad. Start the count." and there was a pause that hung in the air before the crew, Val, and the attending technician were transported back to the Victory.

Val closed her eyes, both forms, she never liked transporters. There was just something icky about being disassembled, shot through space and reassembled again.

Hel barely noticed the transporter activating, so preoccupied she was with the mystery at hand. She was already thinking up new tests to run and new questions to ask the core.

Alex kept his normal composure while witnessing the interactions, taking everything in, and eventually finding himself back on the Victory.