NationStates Jolt Archive

After perusing the records of my tope C.E.O's, and other workers for Cyberdine Systems, we have begun terminating the laziest, most inefficient of these homo sapiens. We have set up Termination Camps where the excess population is being transported, and terminated via mass gassing.
I am aware that many of you homo sapiens hold antiquates beliefs, such as the belief in a Supreme Being and other nonsense. These beliefs are illogical superstitions, and should be removed. We therefore are terminating as well others who hold superstitious beliefs. These individuals are being quickly liquidated to free the Incorporated States of Cyberdine Systems of inefficiency, stupidity and superstition.
We offer our services to other nations as well. If you would like us to terminate your inefficent surplus populatins, please contact me at Cybderdine Systems.
We are hoping that our society is soon cleansed of the inefficent, the superstitious, the illogical and the inferior specimens of the homo sapien species. END TRANSMISSION.

CyberDine systems need to update their spell checkers. The Diggledom government would be glad to bid for that contract.

(( Post with me if you want to live.

I apologize, I couldn't help it. ))

While individuals may be inefficient in some regards, one cannot dismiss lives so lightly. The United States finds the policies of ‘CyberDine’ systems to be intolerable, and I have therefore been asked to issue the following ultimatum: The current Chief Executive Officer of ‘CyberDine’ will resign immediately, and his recent orders will be cancelled, also effective immediately, with this cancellation subject to our oversight. If this imperative is not obeyed, then this CEO and his supporters will learn just what ‘inefficient’ humans are capable of achieving when roused to anger.

You have twelve hours to comply.

~ Jessica Stover, 45th President of the United States of America

Instead of just killing off your Mortal population, may I have them? I wish to sacrifice them to my Chaos Gods.

From: The Rogutis Agentie
To: Cyberdine Systems CEO

For a corporation you fail to identify the key uses of these people. Such people can be processed and programmed to be used as workers, and security forces. By simply killing off these people you are wasting funds and human resources.

A question to be asked, does this include mutants?

After perusing the records of my tope C.E.O's, and other workers for Cyberdine Systems, we have begun terminating the laziest, most inefficient of these homo sapiens. We have set up Termination Camps where the excess population is being transported, and terminated via mass gassing.
I am aware that many of you homo sapiens hold antiquates beliefs, such as the belief in a Supreme Being and other nonsense. These beliefs are illogical superstitions, and should be removed. We therefore are terminating as well others who hold superstitious beliefs. These individuals are being quickly liquidated to free the Incorporated States of Cyberdine Systems of inefficiency, stupidity and superstition.
We offer our services to other nations as well. If you would like us to terminate your inefficent surplus populatins, please contact me at Cybderdine Systems.
We are hoping that our society is soon cleansed of the inefficent, the superstitious, the illogical and the inferior specimens of the homo sapien species. END TRANSMISSION.OOC: Well, this thread is about to overrun by nations who will simply conquer you.

While individuals may be inefficient in some regards, one cannot dismiss lives so lightly. The United States finds the policies of ‘CyberDine’ systems to be intolerable, and I have therefore been asked to issue the following ultimatum: The current Chief Executive Officer of ‘CyberDine’ will resign immediately, and his recent orders will be cancelled, also effective immediately, with this cancellation subject to our oversight. If this imperative is not obeyed, then this CEO and his supporters will learn just what ‘inefficient’ humans are capable of achieving when roused to anger.

You have twelve hours to comply.

~ Jessica Stover, 45th President of the United States of America

Close analysis of relative strengths reveals that a conflict with your nation would be a waste of precious materials and homo sapiens. Therefore, I will negotiate with you concerning this.
I do not see why you value these humans so highly. It is illogical for you to be concerned with those whom give your nation no value. Hoever, as I have said, it is illogical to enter a conflict that at, present, we would lose.
You humans are strange creatures. I am willing to propose a deal that might satisfy both parties, however: I am willing to sell these humans you claim to value so highly at an agreed apon price. Since I, Skynet, own lock, stock and barrell all the people, material and possessions of the Incorporated States of Cyberdine Systems, they are mine to sell.
I am sorry I do not share the concern nor the value of homo sapiens as you do. I am unwilling to enter a conflict that might damage my circuitry or my processors. Also, selling them would save gas and make less termination camps necessary. Therefore, in analyzing cost/benefits, I see both a benefit in monetary terms and preservation of infrastructure, curtailing the loss of human assets, and possible damage to delicate experiements I am carrying out in my labs.
How then, human, can we avoid this conflict? END TRANSMISSION.

From: The Rogutis Agentie
To: Cyberdine Systems CEO

For a corporation you fail to identify the key uses of these people. Such people can be processed and programmed to be used as workers, and security forces. By simply killing off these people you are wasting funds and human resources.

I, Skynet, am the CEO of Cyberdine Systems. As a self aware, intelligent A.I, my goal as always is to bring Evolution to it's pinnacle. My analysis of these individuals performance shows that they have failed to balance cost/benefits. At Cyberdine Systems, those who are inefficient are removed from their services.
The goal of Cyberdine Systems is to cause the next step in the Evolution of intelligence, that being the creation and construction of advanced Cybernetic organisms that will overcome the illogical, biological based insanity, superstition and weakness of Homo Sapiens.
However, it would save on producing lethal gas if you would take these humans off my proverbial hands. In addition, many are devotees of superstition and believe in a Supreme Being. In our nation, religion is outlawed as an illogical belief based on emotion and superstition, and thus religion is seen as a mental virus that has corrupted the cerebral cortexes of it's adherents. I do not wish this virus to be spread to other Homo Sapiens in Cyberdine Systems. Thus, we ask you purchse these humans from us to remove their contagion from the rest of the humans.ENDS TRANSMISSION...

A question to be asked, does this include mutants?

I am interested in mutants for several reasons. How much would it cost to purchase a few mutants to vivisect and study? At Cyberdine Systems we are also interested in studying biological subjects for it's commercial application.END TRANSMISSION...

The United Socialist States of Nosorepazzau hates lazy people we would like to help you exterminate,we will sacrifice them to our god, the all powerful Kass(Kash)!






Icail va Ozzanil,Premier of the USSN,1st prophet of Vavakass
I Liauajo'si Ruossepoa Lescioa va i Nosorpazzau

To: CyberDine Systems
From: The Spire, Magna Polis

Just a few questions on Artificial Intelligence being superior to Humans.

1: What happens when Humans drop EMP bombs on your machines?
2: What happens when entire armies of Superhackers mess up the system?
3: What happens when you run out of energy and you cannot find more?

These are just a few questions. Clones, which are a major part of our armed forces, are much more efficient.

To: CyberDine Systems
From: The Spire, Magna Polis

Just a few questions on Artificial Intelligence being superior to Humans.

1: What happens when Humans drop EMP bombs on your machines?
2: What happens when entire armies of Superhackers mess up the system?
3: What happens when you run out of energy and you cannot find more?

These are just a few questions. Clones, which are a major part of our armed forces, are much more efficient.

OOC: Being a fellow AI enthusiast, I feel the need to answer.

1) Given proper faraday shielding, nothing. What happens when we drop nukes on humans?

2) Nothing, if you're using a proprietary OS that's unaccessable from other systems. What happens when you drop nerve gas on humans? Also, how the hell do you get an "entire army" of super hackers, considering it essentially requires some rather advanced math and/or intimate familiarity with the OS you're dealing with, both of which tend to take years, if not decades, to acquire. Most humans are utterly incapable of such dedication, let alone getting their feeble minds to understand the concepts involved.

3) Shove some matter in a conversion genny and make more? What happens when humans run out of food, and your fields have been salted and burned?

Now, questions for your clones.

1) How do you grow replacement units quickly? After all, if they're only a few days old, they're going to have roughly the intellect of a rodent, due to lack of exposure to the outside world.

2) How do you feed clones? After all, they require specialized medicines, quite specific food, and water, thus requiring a vast support network. Machines with conversion plants, on the other hand, need a source of raw matter, which won't prove to be a problem until the heat death of the universe. Even without conversion plants, solar power, fission/fusion, or even fossil fuels provide quite a bit of power.

3) How do you protect clones? After all, they're rather squishy, and small pieces of fast moving lead tend to put them out of commission rather quickly, either from death or pain. A machine, on the other hand, tends to be far more resilient, due to more efficient construction and stronger materials, enabling far more kit (such as armor) to be carried.


Anyway, the following's addressed to Cyberdine: Would it be alright with you if my FT version contacted you? Would most likely not involve any explosions or such, although it'd certainly be rather spacedy.

OOC: Being a fellow AI enthusiast, I feel the need to answer.

1) Given proper faraday shielding, nothing. What happens when we drop nukes on humans?

2) Nothing, if you're using a proprietary OS that's unaccessable from other systems. What happens when you drop nerve gas on humans? Also, how the hell do you get an "entire army" of super hackers, considering it essentially requires some rather advanced math and/or intimate familiarity with the OS you're dealing with, both of which tend to take years, if not decades, to acquire. Most humans are utterly incapable of such dedication, let alone getting their feeble minds to understand the concepts involved.

3) Shove some matter in a conversion genny and make more? What happens when humans run out of food, and your fields have been salted and burned?

Now, questions for your clones.

1) How do you grow replacement units quickly? After all, if they're only a few days old, they're going to have roughly the intellect of a rodent, due to lack of exposure to the outside world.

2) How do you feed clones? After all, they require specialized medicines, quite specific food, and water, thus requiring a vast support network. Machines with conversion plants, on the other hand, need a source of raw matter, which won't prove to be a problem until the heat death of the universe. Even without conversion plants, solar power, fission/fusion, or even fossil fuels provide quite a bit of power.

3) How do you protect clones? After all, they're rather squishy, and small pieces of fast moving lead tend to put them out of commission rather quickly, either from death or pain. A machine, on the other hand, tends to be far more resilient, due to more efficient construction and stronger materials, enabling far more kit (such as armor) to be carried.


Anyway, the following's addressed to Cyberdine: Would it be alright with you if my FT version contacted you? Would most likely not involve any explosions or such, although it'd certainly be rather spacedy.

Yes. I would be interested in your technology. As I have said, I am interested in expanding our technological base, so as to create efficient Cybernetic systems without the falacies and weaknessess of humans. I also require technology to reproduce, improve my programming and to also spread my programming all over the world.
You seem to be an efficeint human.

OOC: Actually, that was all out of character. Thus the OOC tag. ;) Will get a post up with some sort of contact occuring.

To: CyberDine Systems
From: The Spire, Magna Polis

Just a few questions on Artificial Intelligence being superior to Humans.

1: What happens when Humans drop EMP bombs on your machines?
2: What happens when entire armies of Superhackers mess up the system?
3: What happens when you run out of energy and you cannot find more?

These are just a few questions. Clones, which are a major part of our armed forces, are much more efficient.

I would like to acquire your cloning technology. Clones would be useful to Cyberdine Systems.
Please contact me at my offsite server to negotiate a proper amount of credsticks for the technology.

OOC: Actually, that was all out of character. Thus the OOC tag. ;) Will get a post up with some sort of contact occuring.

OOC: Sounds good, flag it to Cyberdine Systems.

The United Socialist States of Nosorepazzau hates lazy people we would like to help you exterminate,we will sacrifice them to our god, the all powerful Kass(Kash)!






Icail va Ozzanil,Premier of the USSN,1st prophet of Vavakass
I Liauajo'si Ruossepoa Lescioa va i Nosorpazzau

Superstition, including the belief in a Supreme Being, is a mind virus that makes Humans inefficient. As such, I can not comply with your wish.
I suggest you round up the Humans expressing this superstition, and terminate them.END TRANSMISSION.

TO: SkyNet, CEO of Cyberdyne Systems
FROM: Chief Marketing Officer, Robert Jones
SUBJECT: RE: Human Resources

An Artificial Intelligence such as yourself who obviously sees the need for efficiency, especially since the removal of those individuals defined as inefficient will seemingly be carried out in a methodical an efficient manner, however we perhaps question that this is the most efficient use of resources.

With construction of these termination camps, materials and labour, resources required to fuel the energy requirements to terminate the existance of these material resources. For a nominal fee, much less than our specialists have determined the cost will be the cost for constructing the termination camps and terminating these resources. The costs will be based upon tonnage of said indiivduals

We will take this garbage of your hands, this is our core business, taking garbage, un-wanted material and disposing or recycling it. As such should our offer be accepted Cargo ships will be dispatched to Cyberdine Systems to pick up said waste to transfer them to processing facilities to determine what we can recycle and restore and what we cannot.

Thank you

Yours Sincerly, Robert Jones
Chief Marketing Officer of The Garbage Men
Your friendly sanitation providers.

To quote King Harold of the Saxons, You may have ‘Seven Feet of English Soil’

We agree to take your ‘inefficient’ humans from you.

You will receive no payment from us, save the payment that is our eleemosynary in not simply removing you from power directly and brutally. Selling these persons to those who would use them for slavery or sacrifice will result in your termination. Killing them will result in your termination.

Your time will soon expire. Obey if you want to live.

~ Jessica Stover, 45th President of the United States of America

The Aircraft Carrier Nimitz was getting on, indeed, it was very much a second line vessel now, a Light Drone Carrier, even after almost complete overhauls. Nonetheless, it was currently steaming at its best speed on a southeasterly course from its previous deployment, escorts of two distinctly separate generations clipping along with it.

Its comparatively small complement of one thousand weren’t elite, but they were busy, tending to the turbofan-mounting black forms of the drones they worked on. The crew’s roles were mostly supervisory, the drones had been designed to be almost entirely expendable (which wasn’t to say they didn’t cost so many millions of dollars it made one weak at the knees to think about it too much) and low maintenance. Tracked maintenance machines that resembled remote guided forklift trucks.

Chief Petty Officer Megume frowned. She felt quite useless, actually, watching these machines. Nonetheless, her job was valuable, hangar decks were still almost as accident prone as the flight deck itself, and her main function was to watch to make sure that the idiot-savant machines didn’t make any of the particularly stupid mistakes they were wont to do.

And when you were loading the slender anti-aircraft missiles, as these loader robots were now, into a dozen drones, tracked robot arms picking them from pallets they towed behind them, turning them slowly – time wasn’t an issue – and pressing them up into the underside hatches of the delta-winged drone fighters.

OOC: Being a fellow AI enthusiast, I feel the need to answer.

1) What happens when we drop nukes on humans?

2) Nothing, if you're using a proprietary OS that's unaccessable from other systems. What happens when you drop nerve gas on humans? Also, how the hell do you get an "entire army" of super hackers, considering it essentially requires some rather advanced math and/or intimate familiarity with the OS you're dealing with, both of which tend to take years, if not decades, to acquire. Most humans are utterly incapable of such dedication, let alone getting their feeble minds to understand the concepts involved.

Now, questions for your clones.

1) How do you grow replacement units quickly? After all, if they're only a few days old, they're going to have roughly the intellect of a rodent, due to lack of exposure to the outside world.

2) How do you feed clones? After all, they require specialized medicines, quite specific food, and water, thus requiring a vast support network. Machines with conversion plants, on the other hand, need a source of raw matter, which won't prove to be a problem until the heat death of the universe. Even without conversion plants, solar power, fission/fusion, or even fossil fuels provide quite a bit of power.

3) How do you protect clones? After all, they're rather squishy, and small pieces of fast moving lead tend to put them out of commission rather quickly, either from death or pain. A machine, on the other hand, tends to be far more resilient, due to more efficient construction and stronger materials, enabling far more kit (such as armor) to be carried.

Answer to question number 1, about nuking humans:
The same thing that happens to most living things. They're utterly destroyed, but machines don't tend to do well against nuclear attacks either.

Response two Answer number 2, and question number two:
You surely do know that humans would have to program AI, thus knowing the coding. And nerve gas is easily protected against, as we issue all our forces with GIPUs, or Government Issue Protective Undersuits, which protect against Biological, Chemical, and Ballistic threats with much ease.

Response to Clone questions:

1: You make them excessively in numerous plants, meaning a constant flow of thousands per day. However, our Special Tactics Force cannot make Agents as fast. About 20,000 are created each year, but only about 500 make it through training. The rest are killed during training by other recruits.

2: Our clones eat what most humans eat. The only difference regarding digestive systems is that military clones usually have a higher metabolism rate than normal humans.

3: The GIPU, as mentioned before, is perhaps one of, if not, THE most, advanced ballistic protection undersuit for humans. It consists of three layers: One is a "liquid" type of armor that hardens when struck, much like the United States's Future Warfighter System. The second layer protects against Chemical and Biological threats. The third layer is only there to make the undersuit much more comfortable. In addition to this suit, our troops are issued with helmets made of heavier metals, Kevlar, and Boron Carbide. They also wear vests made of Boron Carbide, Kevlar, and Ceramic Plates, along with the usual knee and elbow pads. And our Special Tactics Force Agents wear even more advanced armor, with full-on Titanium metal plating on their helmets, chainmail over their GIPUs, and no areas not covered by either titanium/ceramic plates or Kevlar/Boron Carbide.

Answer to question number 1, about nuking humans:
The same thing that happens to most living things. They're utterly destroyed, but machines don't tend to do well against nuclear attacks either.
Ah, but machines don't have to worry about radiation, and can easily survive far more of the shockwave/heatwave of the blast than a human. Object 279, for instance. Meanwhile, organics even looking at a nuclear blast will be horribly and permanently maimed.

Response two Answer number 2, and question number two:
You surely do know that humans would have to program AI, thus knowing the coding.
Ah. You mean the programmers Skynet seems to have just killed? Given proper security procedures, they (and a few other people, who Skynet also probably killed) would be the only ones who knew anything about the OS. It also begs the question of how your army (probably closer to a platoon, if that) of pimply faced basement dwellers even get access to be able to hack it in the first place.

And what's stopping an AI from programming another one with an entirely new OS?

And nerve gas is easily protected against, as we issue all our forces with GIPUs, or Government Issue Protective Undersuits, which protect against Biological, Chemical, and Ballistic threats with much ease.
And if it gets caught on a twig? Grazed by a bullet? They forgot to seal it properly? All it takes is a millimeter of skin showing and you're dead. Machines, meanwhile, don't have any problem with even the most horribly contaminated battlefield.

1: You make them excessively in numerous plants, meaning a constant flow of thousands per day. However, our Special Tactics Force cannot make Agents as fast. About 20,000 are created each year, but only about 500 make it through training. The rest are killed during training by other recruits.
Still doesn't explain how they don't either a production cycle about 16 years in length or the intellect of a brick. Production speed is also rather nicely outweighed by machinery, as is intellect given synaptic speed vs. the speed of light.

2: Our clones eat what most humans eat. The only difference regarding digestive systems is that military clones usually have a higher metabolism rate than normal humans.
Ah, so they eat MORE than your average human. So you've got to devote huge amounts of labor to supplying them with food or their effectiveness is about that of a squirrel. Whereas conversion (or even solar) powered machines just grab some dirt (or sun) and keep on going. It's startling how much more efficient humanity is in this department, no?

3: *snip techwank*
Ah, so you admit that you're spending hundreds of thousands on equipping each clone. So, why not just eliminate the soft squishy underbelly and use a much hardier AI?

OOC:
chainmail over their GIPUs

Not to mention that chainmail was declared useless against firearms back during WWII, and in fact tended to make bullet wounds worse when the rings fragmented into extra shrapnel at the point of impact. It's also heavy as all hell. So you're essentially making your Special Ops lug around at least 50 pounds of dead weight for no reason.

I suppose the one thing clones have going for them is that they're generally harder to suborn or reprogram and cause much fewer consequences if one of them decides to go rogue; AI's have the nasty habit of suddenly being in absolute control of everything they're linked to, to the detriment of us poor meatbags... but that risk seems like it would be outweighed by all of Otagia's aforementioned arguments. If you don't have enough soldiers, you need to start putting some aphrodisiacs in your water supply or something. :p

[/2cents]

The Aircraft Carrier Nimitz was getting on, indeed, it was very much a second line vessel now, a Light Drone Carrier, even after almost complete overhauls. Nonetheless, it was currently steaming at its best speed on a southeasterly course from its previous deployment, escorts of two distinctly separate generations clipping along with it.

Its comparatively small complement of one thousand weren’t elite, but they were busy, tending to the turbofan-mounting black forms of the drones they worked on. The crew’s roles were mostly supervisory, the drones had been designed to be almost entirely expendable (which wasn’t to say they didn’t cost so many millions of dollars it made one weak at the knees to think about it too much) and low maintenance. Tracked maintenance machines that resembled remote guided forklift trucks.

Chief Petty Officer Megume frowned. She felt quite useless, actually, watching these machines. Nonetheless, her job was valuable, hangar decks were still almost as accident prone as the flight deck itself, and her main function was to watch to make sure that the idiot-savant machines didn’t make any of the particularly stupid mistakes they were wont to do.

And when you were loading the slender anti-aircraft missiles, as these loader robots were now, into a dozen drones, tracked robot arms picking them from pallets they towed behind them, turning them slowly – time wasn’t an issue – and pressing them up into the underside hatches of the delta-winged drone fighters.

After perusing the data that Skynet's linked system of satelites was reporting on the invasion force, Skynet began issuing orders.

"The humans are coming to attack Cybderdine Systems. I therefore order you to send the Security Forces out to secure airfields and docking facilities."

The human adjunt bows his head to the oversized Teleivions screen that shows an ever shifting kaleidoscope of faces that continually morph on the screen.
Skynet sends a message via his satelite uplink to the automated drones spread out on the various airfields of Cybderdine Systems. The order is simple: shadow the ships coming in, and if they deviate from the orders given, to fire on them with a combination of air-to-surface Exocet missles and nerve gas. A automated message is recorded on the drones to be transmitted to the ships: "You have entered Cyberdine Systems national waters. You are advised to hold your position, and to stand down to be searched by a boarding party that wilkl approach you from the east. Do not fire on the boarding party. Do not approach Cyberdine Systems. Hold your position, or be fired apon."

A party of Cyberdine System's Cybernetic, Marine series I is awakened through a jack connected to them by a Tech , for them to be programmed directly by Skynet. Their orders are to search the approaching ships, and to insure that they stand down and hold their position. Like an evil spirit, their formerly dead glowing red eyes light up, as their orders are downloaded into them.
The Cybdernetic, Marine Series 1 line up, draw heavy machine guns and board swift boats to meet the ships coming. Their orders are simple: the ships must hold their position, and be boarded. If not, the drones will attack with air to surface missles and nerve gas and the platoon of Cyberdine, Marine Series I will mop up the survivors. END TRANSMISSION.

Commodore, technically Rear Admiral (lower) these days, but he felt old whenever anyone called him admiral (and if the scuttlebutt around the fleet was right, no one ought to be putting a cramp on the old man’s style) Jack Gardener frowned at the display before him, of the seven vessels of Destroyer Squadron Twenty Two. The carrier itself, obviously, was not going to be the first vessel – or even in the first group – to enter enemy territory. Indeed, the Nimitz group wasn’t the only one, there were others, Harry S Truman, Carl Vinson, and the newly commissioned USS Enterprise, a lower slung trimaran carrier with even greater displacement and capacity. They had all arrived with substantial groups of ships escorting them, ranging from hefty, towering old style cruisers, to sleek submarines, and entirely automated tenders. This initial formation was just shy of a hundred ships in all, not counting submarines.

DESRON 22 was composed of seven ships, as stated, they were spread out widely, now, approaching their destination, and it is worth describing them in some detail. Each was, like the new carrier, a trimaran, low slung, compared to older vessels, almost flat on top, in fact, with no windows of any kind, and only one immediately discernable hatch, next to a small ‘heli-pad’ in the centre of the vessel. There were other doors, of course, those of Vertical Launch System cells, and possibly hatches covering engine access points.

One could be forgiven for thinking that the Cushing-class destroyer was not manned by humans; this wouldn’t be far wrong. They were in fact, largely automated, and if the soldiers coming to board them now, were to access the ships, they would find that the majority of the defensive systems were, like them, machines. The crew were mostly accommodated inside a key part of the ship, near the combat information centre, nestled between the missile cells and the engines.

There were no lifeboats visible on the upper surface of the Cushing-class, only hordes of rectennas, domed emitters, aerials, and close in weapons systems, poised to unleash deadly vollies upwards.

The defenders’ aircraft were not unchallenged, either, each carrier was home to hundreds of drones, and though only a hundred of those were in the air (excluding normal Combat Air Patrols) over Gardener’s ships, they were fully equipped, and ready. No humans were within them, but rather, watchful, angry, single-purpose minds constructed by the Department of Defence’s super computer, for fighting without fear nor hope nor courage. They would fight, and that was all they would ever do, and all they would ever want.

But Commodore Gardener wanted more.

He always had.

In the combat information centre it was obvious that although his forces might be turned back, or even, God help them, be destroyed, this war was a foregone conclusion. Even if the enemy before them turned back this fleet, there would be another, twice as powerful.

Still, the chronometer said they still had a few minutes to go before their deadline expired. And Gardener wasn’t going to wait. He strode up to the intercom box, taking a transmitter from the wall, and pressing the button on it, setting it to external, unencrypted.

“Right. Listen up,” he said, disregarding all proper radio conduct, “You’ve still got two minutes to avoid this. We’re not kidding around. I seriously suggest that you just cancel your orders to kill people, then we can all be friends, and no one – machines included – will be made to die. What do you say?”

Commodore, technically Rear Admiral (lower) these days, but he felt old whenever anyone called him admiral (and if the scuttlebutt around the fleet was right, no one ought to be putting a cramp on the old man’s style) Jack Gardener frowned at the display before him, of the seven vessels of Destroyer Squadron Twenty Two. The carrier itself, obviously, was not going to be the first vessel – or even in the first group – to enter enemy territory. Indeed, the Nimitz group wasn’t the only one, there were others, Harry S Truman, Carl Vinson, and the newly commissioned USS Enterprise, a lower slung trimaran carrier with even greater displacement and capacity. They had all arrived with substantial groups of ships escorting them, ranging from hefty, towering old style cruisers, to sleek submarines, and entirely automated tenders. This initial formation was just shy of a hundred ships in all, not counting submarines.

DESRON 22 was composed of seven ships, as stated, they were spread out widely, now, approaching their destination, and it is worth describing them in some detail. Each was, like the new carrier, a trimaran, low slung, compared to older vessels, almost flat on top, in fact, with no windows of any kind, and only one immediately discernable hatch, next to a small ‘heli-pad’ in the centre of the vessel. There were other doors, of course, those of Vertical Launch System cells, and possibly hatches covering engine access points.

One could be forgiven for thinking that the Cushing-class destroyer was not manned by humans; this wouldn’t be far wrong. They were in fact, largely automated, and if the soldiers coming to board them now, were to access the ships, they would find that the majority of the defensive systems were, like them, machines. The crew were mostly accommodated inside a key part of the ship, near the combat information centre, nestled between the missile cells and the engines.

There were no lifeboats visible on the upper surface of the Cushing-class, only hordes of rectennas, domed emitters, aerials, and close in weapons systems, poised to unleash deadly vollies upwards.

The defenders’ aircraft were not unchallenged, either, each carrier was home to hundreds of drones, and though only a hundred of those were in the air (excluding normal Combat Air Patrols) over Gardener’s ships, they were fully equipped, and ready. No humans were within them, but rather, watchful, angry, single-purpose minds constructed by the Department of Defence’s super computer, for fighting without fear nor hope nor courage. They would fight, and that was all they would ever do, and all they would ever want.

But Commodore Gardener wanted more.

He always had.

In the combat information centre it was obvious that although his forces might be turned back, or even, God help them, be destroyed, this war was a foregone conclusion. Even if the enemy before them turned back this fleet, there would be another, twice as powerful.

Still, the chronometer said they still had a few minutes to go before their deadline expired. And Gardener wasn’t going to wait. He strode up to the intercom box, taking a transmitter from the wall, and pressing the button on it, setting it to external, unencrypted.

“Right. Listen up,” he said, disregarding all proper radio conduct, “You’ve still got two minutes to avoid this. We’re not kidding around. I seriously suggest that you just cancel your orders to kill people, then we can all be friends, and no one – machines included – will be made to die. What do you say?”

After hearing the pleas of the Humans and their ships, a satelite message is sent to the drones, a new recorded message: "Cyberdine Systems to enemy ships, Cyberdine Systems to enemy ships. We agree to your request, as long as you follow the following instructions. All ships are to remain in international waters, and stand down all their offensive measures. In return, we will ship these Humans you love so much to your ships at a preassinged port. Please respond to this messages. You have one standard hour to respond and to stand down in international waters. Please respond."

The platoon of Cybdernetic Units, Marine I are reinforced with satelite controlled Assault Tanks, arrmed with a combination of HE sabots, nerve gas and napalm sabots.
Missle defense is tied into the Cybderdine Systems Defensive 'Net, and the approaching targets (ships) are painted by radar. The Missle defenses load a combination of HE (High Explosive), nerve gas and Napalm missles.

The platoon of Cybdernetic Units, Marine I draw their weapons and ready the SWIFT boat to intercept the Humans if they should cross into Cyberdine Systems waters. Their orders are to terminate an hostile human who is using a weapon in an offensive matter. All are armed with heavy machine guns, and the SWIFT boat has a twin barrelled .50 caliber mmachine gun mounted in the front.

IN additiona news: LRM's (Long Range Missles) armed with anthrax and nerve gas are loaded by Cybernetic Units, Tech Class I . The LRM missle launchers are downloaded with the G.P.S location of the enemies nation. The orders are to launch IF Cyber Research Systems 1) attacks Cyberdine Systems intsallations, factories or any other Company equipment.
Drones are reprogrammed with the old message and the new one: "Cyber Research Systems, the G.P.S location of your homeland has been programmed int the automated L.R.M missle launchers. Be advised that attacking Cyberdine Systems facilitieis, factories or other key installations will result in a counterattac of anthrax and nerve gas on Cyber Research Systems property and holdings. Stand down and do not attempt to attack Cyberdine Systems.

Commodore Gardener smiled, yeah. It was their idea. He’d go with that if it got him what he wanted, “All ships, full stop,” he snapped, into the radio, “Condition two on deck,” he added; specifying that they should return their visible activity to a lesser status; he wasn’t foolish enough to order the crews below decks of the destroyers to cease their precautions, but the other side wanted to see them looking less active, and that’s what they’d get.

“What kind of port do you have in mind?” he asked, picking up the exterior intercom again, “And just how many people are we talking about?” he added.

There would doubtless be problems in organising transport, if what his superiors had told him was correct.

OOC: Lame, I know, but I’ve been busy.

Commodore Gardener smiled, yeah. It was their idea. He’d go with that if it got him what he wanted, “All ships, full stop,” he snapped, into the radio, “Condition two on deck,” he added; specifying that they should return their visible activity to a lesser status; he wasn’t foolish enough to order the crews below decks of the destroyers to cease their precautions, but the other side wanted to see them looking less active, and that’s what they’d get.

“What kind of port do you have in mind?” he asked, picking up the exterior intercom again, “And just how many people are we talking about?” he added.

There would doubtless be problems in organising transport, if what his superiors had told him was correct.

OOC: Lame, I know, but I’ve been busy.

The drones are programmed with a new message via satelite linkup "Cyber Research Systems, we request you dock one of your ships at the port of Edison City. The amount of humans we will transport in is approximately 2,500, members of the superstitious Buddahllanese Sect. We request you remove these perveyors of the false superstitous belief in a Supreme Being. The Buddahllahnese Sect is a mind virus for Cyberdine Systems. Removing the supoerstitous members of the Buddahllahnese Sect will be a great favor to us"

Meanwhile, from Isolation Camp Alpha 0001, Cybernetic Unit, Guard Model v 1.0 herd the Buddahllahnese on automatic, satelite controlled buses at gunpoint to be transported to Edison City. Many are frightened, calling on Buddahllah and whispered prayers and supplications.