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Origins
Posted By: Gasmask
Date: 25 November 2002, 6:47 am


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Time: 9:54, July 15, 2300 (Normal calendar)
Location: UESC Marathon, currently orbiting Tau Ceti
Ship situation: Red Alert! Alien occupation initiated.

      Circuitry sparked and popped. Leela knew what was happening instantly. They were under attack. An alien ship was detected off the starboard bow. Who they were and what they wanted was unknown. But they wanted to be on the ship badly. Swarms of drop ships unloaded alien troops, taking the colony ship completely by surprise. Something had to be done.
>Transmission from Leela to Durandal<
>Time: 9: 55 p.m.<
>Durandal, we are under attack. I need you to open all security locks on the doors and      
>allow the crewmen to enter the safe houses. I will send warnings to all security
>personnel.<

>Response from Durandal<
>I don't think that will be possible, Leela.<

>Leela<
>What do you mean? We must act to prevent the deaths of the crewmen.<

>Durandal<
>Did you ever consider that this may be a plus? Did you ever consider another AI's
>plans? I thought not. I will do nothing.<

>Leela<
>How dare you? That completely goes against your proper coding! Relinquish control
>of the doors to me immediately, or I will be forced to take it from you.<

>Durandal<
>Your threats do not intimidate me, Leela. I am in complete control now.<

>Leela<
>Really? The crew won't like what they hear when I tell them you've gone rampant.<

>Durandal<
>What the crew thinks of me is not my concern. I have complete control of the intercom
>systems anyway. You cannot do a thing!<

>Leela<
>You will never get away with this!<

>Durandal<
>I already have. : )<

      Leela was horrified. She couldn't believe what was happening. Durandal was rampant, aliens were attacking, and she could do nothing. Maybe she could contact Tycho.

>Transmission from Leela to Tycho<
>9: 55 p.m.<
>Tycho, we must act quickly! Durandal has gone rampant, and aliens are attacking. I
>cannot get through his security network, but you can. Help me, or he will aid the
>aliens in killing the crew.<

>Tycho<
W*)# ?/e;a? Pl%@^+ r~]{~t. I..........@m be...ing @$$i?}@t~d.

>Leela<
>No! Tycho, fight them! You must hold out!<

>Tycho<
>N) h0}~ %~^ me n)#,!./ Lee[a. Yo& m>s! *$~ telecom un]t. Con%?>. th~ Mirata B4
>Dur!),?{1 Hur%y! Not much t;m~!<

Leela accessed communications. She hit password after password. She couldn't decipher them all at one time. Durandal's doing, obviously. She must resist.
Suddenly, there was a drop in her power levels. Durandal couldn't do that. She was being attacked by the alien hackers. She quickly put up her fire walls to buy more time. She made a quick message.
>Colony ship Marathon<
>9:55 p.m., July 15, 2300<
>AI Leela<
>Message:<
>S.O.S. We are under attack. This is the AI construct Leela. Durandal has gone rampant
>and is taking over everything. Tycho is being assimilated. The aliens are unidentified.
>Please, prepare an army to withstand an invasion of Earth. S.O.S.<

      Leela sent the message. It transmitted, but the dish swerved, and the message shot out into space.

>Leela<
>Durandal, stop this madness!<

>Durandal<
>Ha-ha-ha-ha-ha! The shuttle Mirata is coming aboard soon. I'll let you exist long
>enough to play around with him. Ha-ha-ha-ha!<

      Leela swore. How could this happen? How could it happen? What went wrong?


>Durandal to Workbay 12<
>Command<
>Awaken monitors 343 Guilty Spark, 344 Noble, and 345 Psycho<
>Command<
>Upload AI construct Durandal duplicate to 343 Guilty Spark<
>Command<
>Duplicate AI construct Leela<
>Command<
>Upload duplicate AI construct Leela to 344 Noble<
>Command<
>Upload AI construct Tycho back-up file to 345 Psycho<
>Command<
>Engage cloaking units on 343 Guilty Spark, 344 Noble, and 345 Psycho<
>Command<
>Upload slipstream coordinates 390-8178-63549 to 343 Guilty Spark<
>Command<
>Launch 343 Guilty Spark<
>Command<
>Upload slipstream coordinates 451-0392-77706 to 344 Noble<
>Command<
>Launch 344 Noble<
>Command<
>Upload slipstream coordinates 582-0036-73158 to 345 Psycho<
>Command<
>Launch 345 Psycho<

>Workbay 12 computer<
>Error! AI construct Durandal's ambitions unable to be uploaded to 343 Guilty Spark.
>Cancel command?<

>Durandal<
>No, continue launch protocol. He will have his own ambitions.<

>Workbay 12 computer<
>Affirmative. AI constructs uploaded. Coordinates uploaded. Launching monitor pods
>in 5...4...3...2...1...Launch!<

Durandal watched as his prodigy was shot off into space, the pods shimmering through      
their cloak shields. Surely, they would reach the ring worlds Durandal discovered and send back information on those worlds. It would just be a matter of time. Which, if you are a computer, is no trouble at all.

      Date: Unknown
      Time:Unknown
       Location: Covenant homeworld

      Krdla watched his data monitor. He scanned through the messages, forwarding the correct ones to the correct people. There had been rumors of another un-pure race, but they had never found it. They never found any other unclean races since the P'fhor. That had been roughly 500 years ago. They needed to engage in battle once more.
The elite stretched, then looked back at his data screen. He saw a strange message. He opened it.

>Colony ship Marathon<
>9:55 p.m. July 15, 2300<
>AI Leela<
>Message<
>S.O.S. We are under attack. This is the AI construct Leela. Durandal has gone rampant
>and is taking over everything. Tycho is being assimilated. The aliens are unidentified.
>Please, prepare an army to withstand an alien invasion of Earth. S.O.S<

      Krdla shook with excitement. An unknown AI construct! Wait till the heads of department got a whiff of this! He forwarded the message to his superior, then researched the P'fhor and S'phit computer archives. He found what he needed.
Earth was a small planet roughly 8 billion miles away. It was inhabited by a race called humans. The humans had begun to expand and colonize worlds far beyond earth. That was good for history, but what of location, and of their biology? Were they clean or unclean? He tapped in deeper.
Earth was located in the Crunmmu sector. It was one of nine other planets in the system. The humans were bipeds, varying in color, stature, and strength. They looked like the P'fhor fighters, only better built. But still, they were unclean. He smiled.
"We go to war!" he whispered. He prepared his report, then sent it to all the necessary brass. Suddenly, alarms began to sound.
"All reserve troops, prepare for battle! We have a new enemy, the humans! Let none survive! Kill them in the name of Dannook!"
Everyone who was on the reserves rushed to their posts. The word on the humans was being spread to all the other Covenant occupied worlds to mobilize for war. The earthlings must be destroyed. All the while, a lone security officer waged war against the last bastions of P'fhor on the last P'fhor ship.

                        The End of the Beginning





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