[HL] LtCmdrs Tristam Core & Sky Blake, "Don't look at yourself through a tainted mirror."

[Deliera Jay]

((Hololab 2))

::He had to admit, when he met the real version, she was nothing like he'd imagined her to be.::

::It'd happened by accident. Lieutenant Commander Tristam Core had bumped into the one and only Lieutenant Commander Sky Blake and almost had a fit. He'd thought the holographic version of her had managed to find a way onto the Syracuse, as impossible as it sounded. Emerald green eyes, short blonde hair, she was out of uniform and donned in a neat casual getup, brown leather jacket atop a red shirt and dark jeans.

::She was also relatively unimpressed when he'd bumped into her and then promptly jumped back in a startled manner mere seconds after the fact. As if *she'd* been the one to run into *him*. But the oh-so-familiar scowl had only freaked him out more.

::By the time she'd managed to coax whatever the hell was wrong with him out of his mouth and into the open ("I-I-I mistook you for . . . for someone else!" - which was strange for her, being that Sky had a reputation for being incredibly unique), all instincts of hers screamed that something was off. And Tristam's knowing that she knew something was off only escalated his reaction to the point where he was actually stock still for a few moments. And then he decided to show her.

::Because that was the logical decision.::

::They were here in the hololab to call up the one and only Sky Blake. Not the real Blake, but the holographic one. The one whom the Mercury had conjured.

::The differences between the two Blakes were astounding - and you think that they'd be identical, but in reality, they weren't even in the same league. The real Blake held herself in a manner of self respect, as if she'd had some experience in basically anything and everything. Even if her reaction to this was tempered in the tone of her thoughts, she kept her arms crossed, warm green eyes examining the hologram - of whom was also somehow an inch taller than the real thing.

::The holographic Blake however was shifting in her stance, hands on her hips as cold and calculated eyes were likely looking for anything recognizable from the realer version of herself. She acted like a lower lifeform, backed into a corner and looking for any way to strike.::

Blake: You made a holographic version of me.

Core: Not me. The Mercury.

Blake: The *Mercury* made a holographic version of me? ::She directed her next question to the other Blake.:: *Why*?

Blake: Because I was good at my job.

Blake:::scoffing:: Hardly.

Blake: Oh really? You know *better*? Is insulting me really the best way to handle this situation?

Blake: I think whatever the AI on the Mercury was thinking when using a template of me to do its dirty work, it knew that I was unhinged enough to know exactly how to control me. You're a product of *manipulation* - it's unfortunate that you're programmed to not see that.

::The Rodulan, standing apart from the two of them and safe behind the console, knew exactly what the holograms parameters were, what she was capable of. And just how much the manipulated could manipulate in turn. If he said any of this, there'd be problems.::

Core: I'm sensing tension.

Blake: You sense right. ::The real Blake turned back to him, walking away from the other her.:: I've done everything to shut that part of me out of my life. You have no idea what I've given up just to *move on*, and now here she is, standing in front of me.

Core: . . . actually she's standing behind you-

Blake: Not the point, Core.

::Sky turned back to the hologram, a bit miffed that it'd spoken for her.::

Blake: Computer, deactivate the hologram.

::And holoBlake disappeared without being given a chance to say another word. Sky turned back to Tristam.::

Blake: Reports say that the incident with the Mercury happened two years ago now - why is she on the Invicta, of all places?

Core: She's was an anomaly. She thinks for herself, acts for herself.

::One with her own agenda, maybe, but a well acted artificial intelligence nonetheless.::

Blake: And you can't figure out why?

Core: No. Or, at least, I couldn't.

Blake: There's your answer. She *doesn't* think for herself - she turns every and any word anyone says to her, mixes it up, and rides on that knowledge to fend for survival. I know how she thinks, I know how she will act - you have a loose canon in your holomatrix.

Core: What makes you say that?

Blake: Because she's an accurate representation of what I was.

::The Rodulan gave her a curious raised eyebrow, leaning against the console with his hands clasped.::

Core: You're afraid of her.

::She sighed.::

Blake: I'd rather not talk about it. Most of the scrumb I pulled prior to my son's birth whilst an officer was just . . . let's just say I had counsellors request transfers to as far as Outpost Outed.

Core: Your son's birth turned your problems around?

Blake: My son's birth marked the end of my old life. As did a number of other events. But things got fixed, and the manner they were fixed meant that I lost most of what happened during that life.

Core: You'll have to excuse my curiosity. But why *are* you back? If you hated your life so much, why not just disappear?

::There was a moment of silence, her eyes looking down at the floor with her eyebrows creased in thought - likely of how to respond. An image of a flippant Terran almost poisoning himself with his lack of knowledge of Ornaran foods wizzed past her mind.::

Blake: I tried, at first. But I got a chance to be a new person - no mention of my prior record other than what's required, very few strings attached. Veritas doesn't care who I was before, just that what I do now is effective in the job we're doing.

::Well. A couple of them *did* care who she was prior to being the Strat Ops officer, but it wasn't a factor in their assessment of her now, having spent a good year aboard the vessel. Now it was just "what do you know about these aching bahoonas who keep picking on the wrong people? Because we're getting sick of the crap and if we don't find something soon, the Tac officer is gonna get antsy again". Nevermind the fact that often she just retold what their Intel officer told, topped with the occasional "this is how others have reportedly handled this . . . we need to do it ten times better because clearly what they're doing ain't sticking". She was good at picking out weak links, though - she always was - and now she did it as a full time job instead of just throwing it in with what she'd do as a Chief of Security. And it wasn't just regulated to whatever happened to be the event of the day, to the one area they just happened to be in at the time.

::The Strategic Operations Officer was only strategically operating the Veritas. There were no other ships around for her to coordinate with. Or, well, there *were*, but she wasn't about to go knocking on some Nausicaan raider's subspace frequency asking if they'd like to sell out some friends.::

Core: You were listed as deceased.

::That brought her into the present.::

Blake: Skyleena Blake *is* deceased.

::Did she miss the old her? Yes and no. There were moments of her life that she looked back on fondly, but others, and it felt as though there were more of these, where she could only cringe and desperately find something else to think about, to focus her attention elsewhere until it went away. The rest was all a blur, empty spots missing as a result of the fix, the removal of the one thing that'd caused her so many problems.

::Removing someones telepathy was thus far a controversial topic, one she was tired of hearing about.::

Core: But why?

::She rose an eyebrow.::

Blake: My file isn't black-listed, Commander. It's not classified. If you're so interested, go ahead and read it. I'm told it's quite entertaining after they'd managed to misplace almost everything.

::Well, actually, moreso "deleted" than "misplaced". Upon "confirmation" of her death, Sky's mother had gone ahead and requested all files related to Sky be purged - she was the next of kin and Sky had already left Starfleet prior to it. They'd done so, out of respect, so when Zhou decided to go ahead and put pieces together to find her in Bintac (and he'd never explained exactly *what* pieces those happened to be), they'd had to compile anything and everything to make ends meet. Her academy record, final medical reports, the occasional mention in another officer's log, coupled with her time spent on Ornara, were the slithers that made up her file. Whatever Tristam had seen prior to her return to active duty might have been the original before it got "updated".::

Core: She read your file, when you were dead.

Blake: I'd imagine it only added more variables to her unstable matrix.

::The Rodulan frowned.::

Core: Actually her matrix isn't "unstable" at all. I ran through her code properly - took me a couple of months - but I found out what the problem is.

Blake: There's a problem?

Core: No - which is the point. There's nothing wrong with her, nothing abnormal about her. She's not even an artificial intelligence. She's a hologram doing exactly what she was programmed to do.

Blake: Manipulate others for the safety of the Mercury.

::She'd been looking away when she's spoken the words, but Tristam still gave her a surprised look. The Mercury happened a while ago, reports sent out as per usual, but he hadn't thought anyone outside Kinan's office or the Garuda had even bothered to look at them.::

Core: You read your reports. ::He noted.::

Blake: I was one of the original Mercury staff members - one of the few left in Starfleet that served aboard her. Of course I'm going to read reports about her sudden resurrection from mothballs. Would have been nice to have been told that there was another me running around because of it, though.

Core: You were dead!

Blake: Well I'm not *now*, am I?

::She could only imagine what her reaction would have been had she found out some other way. It'd probably be the something Zhou would just casually mention to her on a slow day, over a morning coffee. "How are you doing this morning, Sky?" "Fine. ...why are you you looking at me like that." "Oh you know, I just found out that there's not one but *two* Sky Blakes." -cue her choking on her mouthful of jibrore with a gleeful cackling noise coming from the background.

::Sufficed to say, there wasn't much her crew didn't find hilariously entertaining when time was moving ten times slower than usual. The rumor mill would probably go on for *months* if it got out.

::And it wasn't getting out. Neither Elis Nacubaq (their antsy tactical officer), nor Zhou Tai-Sheng, would ever find out about this, even if it damn well killed her.::

Blake: So you found out about her programming?

Core: Found out about, yes. I'm still not certain on what her intention is - what the Mercury's AI original intentions were. Last I heard, the AI was purged, though I could be wrong. You holographic counterpart hasn't made any attempt to communicate with anyone outside the ship - she's . . . just been talking to me and a select group of others. Including a flag officer.

Blake: She's not hostile - consider that a blessing. Just delete her from your system and move on.

::Tristam looked shocked, standing properly now.::

Core: Programming or not, it's possible that most of her actions are of her own accord - she controls herself, has access to her own systems.

Blake: Plenty of holograms have been known to switch themselves on and off, Commander. You're an engineer - why is this such a difficult decision for you? The 'permanently off' switch should be the giant red button on your console there.

Core: This engineer has to consider the ethics behind what you're proposing I do. If holographic rights come into affect in these following months, I could be held accountable for her 'death'. How can you prove that she isn't a sentient being capable of her own decisions?

Blake: Prove that she is.

::The Rodulan sighed. It was an argument that would only lead them around in circles, providing no closer and no further insight into the problem at hand.::

Blake: You just said she was doing what she was programmed to do, that she fooled you into believing that she was sentient. *Fooled* you into believing. You don't want another Sky Blake roaming around your ships corridors, Commander. Definitely not the one when she's from. Trust me on that.

::She'd started to leave, straightening her jacket as she did so against a shiver of cold.::

Core: And if I don't?

::With a sigh, Sky turned back to face the black eyed engineer.::

Blake: Don't take me the wrong way, Core. I'm not threatening you.

Core: I know. But if I don't delete her, if I don't "move on", what would your intentions be?

Blake: I go back to where I came from, drink another mug of jibrore and get on with my job like I did before I knew she existed. Not like she can follow me if she's trapped on your holodeck.

::Once more, she spun on her heels and left the Rodulan alone in the lab.::


Tbc . . .

LtCmdr Tristam Core
First Officer
USS Invicta

&

LtCmdr Sky Blake
Strategic Operations Officer
On assignment to USS Syracuse

C238803SB0

I am not a sheep, ser.