Artificial Soul

Chapter 1: A Galaxy Far, Far Away


Nearby signal detected, emergency Boot Sequence activating.

Booting to internal drive...

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Initiating unit status query.

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Unit Name: KOS-MOS

Model: 3

Serial Number: 000000001

System Check: Critical

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Assessing damage to unit

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Head: Visual optics impaired. Flickering static. Color distortion. Hearing cutting in and out. Hilbert System inoperable. D.S.S.S. long-range sensory array at 20% capacity.

Torso: Transfer System inoperable. Core protection damaged. Core power supply at 25%. Energy leak detected. Estimated time until power failure: 6 hours. Ether Drive inoperable.

Right Arm: Destroyed.

Left Arm: Barely operable, unable to initiate weapon morph.

Left Leg: Destroyed.

Right Leg: Destroyed.

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Summary: Unit will fail in approximately 6 hours without emergency repairs. If Core fully fails, data may be lost, and most damage will become irreparable if recovered after solar radiation continues to damage this unit. Minimum requirements if emergency failure takes place may include a new frame and OS system. Maximum may require an overhaul to this unit's entire system. In consideration to Vector's stance in regards to Shion and her party, the chances of attaining such equipment is slim.

Failure to initiate emergency repairs: Unacceptable.

Objective: Locate source of signal that awoke this unit and attain emergency repairs.

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Scanning area...

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Currently located floating in space around an unknown and unrecognized planet. Destroyed ships of unknown model litter the space around the unit and the planet. Three ships of unrecognized make and model are flying slowly and carefully through the wreckage. Scanners detected, they are assessing for threats. Attempting to make contact...

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Unable to make communications, unrecognized frequencies and technology detected. Attempting to circumvent problem. Broadcasting to variable frequencies on a 5 second timer.

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Frequency received, accessing and broadcasting: Attention unidentified spacecraft, do you hear me?

Waiting...

Waiting...

Waiting.

The three ships slowed to a stop, their sensors increasing in intensity and range.

A brisk voice sounded over the communications. "This is Admiral Yularen of the Republic's 501st and 212th division taskforce, who is this?"

Kos-Mos answered: "My designation is KOS-MOS, I request your assistance in my retrieval and repairs."

An unknown and hostile voice chirped up, "You here that? A clanker is asking us for help, karking droids."

"I am an Android, not a droid," clarified KOS-MOS.

"Ohh, fancy," the voice responded.

"Quiet on the comms when an Admiral is speaking," chided Yularen, "You know better soldier."

The Admiral cleared his throat. "Still, android or not, why would a Separatist ask us for help rather than pretend to be deactivated and await for reinforcements?"

Separatist?

Accessing data...

ERROR: Unable to access U.N.N.

Accessing internal physical memory...

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Unrecognized affiliation. "I am unaware of what a Separatist is. I am formally employed by the Vector Industries, and am currently under the management of Shion Uzuki."

Waiting...

Waiting..

Waiting.

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"KOS-MOS, no one here has ever heard of Vector nor know a Shion Uzuki, you'll have to forgive us if we are skeptical of this being a trap," answered Yularen after a period of what KOS-MOS assumed was conferring with those nearby, "Especially in the aftermath of a battle."

"Acknowledged," answered KOS-MOS, processing for a moment, "In consideration of my current state however, I am unable to pose a threat. My battle capabilities are down 99.99%. I will keep this comm channel open and ping every ten seconds. You may approach and scan to verify."

"Admiral, I say we investigate, the Force is... curiously active and interested at the moment in an unusual way," came a calm and crisp voice.

There was a sigh and the muttering of a term, 'Jedi', before Yularen answered, "Very well, we will investigate, and if no danger is detected, we will bring you in."

"Acknowledged," answered KOS-MOS, "I will be entering a low-powered state to conserve energy until then."


Physical contact detected.

Emergency boot sequence activa-aborted.

Entering real-time observation and reactionary mode instead:

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Complete.


KOS-MOS turned her head, sighting one of the ships from earlier almost physically close enough to touch, and an individual in a space suit grabbing her arm and pulling her towards a hanger bay that had a shield of some sort separating it from the vacuum of space. Curiously, this shield allowed physical matter to pass through. The person in the suit carried her towards a gathered group of individuals, staring at her curiously.

"Well, she's heavier than she looks," came a cheeky voice from the suit after setting her down.

"Honestly Anakin, must you?" said one of the man, "I recall asking for one of the clones to preform the retrieval, not you."

Red hair, blue eyes, bearded, almost military grace haircut. Dressed in an odd sort of robes not unlike Jinn Uzuki's save for the coloring.

"Well, you know me Obi-Wan," said the voice after popping off the helmet of the suit, revealing blue eyes, longer hair, and a scar along one of his eyes, "I just love to get my hands on the newest tech, and damn, I don't think I've seen a droid this lifelike before."

"Android," KOS-MOS corrected, her voice box crackling.

"Android, sorry," said this 'Anakin', "But yeah, I didn't see an Trade Federation or Separatist logo on her anywhere, and you know how they love to trademark and boast about everything."

"It doesn't mean it's not one of theirs," said Obi-Wan.

"Ah c'mon, I don't sense any danger," countered Anakin.

"If I may interject, my energy core is cracked and will only last another five hours, if you can at least repair that, then I can provide proof in a less rushed manner," said KOS-MOS.

Obi-Wan folded his arms into his robe's sleeves. "You came up damaged in the middle of a battle with the Separatists..."

"I am not aware of where I am at the moment," interrupted KOS-MOS, "Last I was aware, I was engaged in battle against the Gnosis on the planet Mictam. I have no data of how I came to be here."

"Who the heck are 'the Gnosis'?" asked Anakin, "And where's Mictam? Outer Rim?"

KOS-MOS turned her head up and blinked at him.

Anakin snorted. "Well, she has your response to half the things I do or say."

Obi-Wan sighed. "Fine, just... go get it stabilized."

KOS-MOS remained silent as Anakin picked her up and took her deeper into the ship. Lacking knowledge of Mictam was a far less concerning matter, however, they did not know of the Gnosis. Considering how widespread the phenomenon was, the only logical conclusion was that she had arrived at a location far outside Federation space where the Gnosis Phenomenon was located.

She accessed 'First Contact' protocols, attempting to understand how she should react and interact with these people. The Federation had implanted them on the off-chance Humanity encountered non-aggressive Alien life while fighting the Gnosis, as an attempt to allow her to interact and perhaps draw them into the fight to aid them. These people were human, but not of any government in her databanks. They wielded technology that differed greatly to the Federation's own. There were many possible good outcomes of technology swapping in such circumstances. As such, attaining their aid against the Gnosis would have been a desired outcome, if not for one small problem.

As KOS-MOS understood it, Nephilim and Chaos's actions at Mictam should have neutralized the Gnosis, thus rendering many parts of her protocols unnecessary and unrequired. She was an Anti-Gnosis Combat Android, but there were certainly no more Gnosis to fight. Shion's location was unknown as well, and with her tampering in KOS-MOS's routines, any older protocols to return to Vector HQ to await orders had long since become null and void. Primary objective should be to locate and reunite with Shion and...

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Or choose her own path of free will...

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KOS-MOS blinked, and if her facial structure allowed frowning, she might have done so. She had decided she was not Mary Magdalene, that had been her choice to make. She was KOS-MOS, Android, not the reincarnation of Mary in a new body. That had been her own will. Mary's memories were categorized and shoved down in the bottom of KOS-MOS's databanks, not to be looked at unless absolutely necessary.

"Huh," murmured Anakin, slowing to glance down at her, "For a second I thought I felt..."

He shook his head and resumed walking. "You're awfully quite."

"I am processing my current situation," she answered simply.

"I see," said Anakin, "We'll, I'll see about getting you up and about as soon as possible. Obi-Wan's just grumpy after this last battle, I feel that we can trust you."

He grew a bit snide. "And unlike some people I can treat a droi-android as more than just an inanimate object."

"So long as it does not impair my performance or get in the way of my duties or objectives, how I am treated is insignificant," said KOS-MOS.

Anakin sighed and muttered, "Don't blame the machine, blame the programmer."

KOS-MOS chose not to respond. To her knowledge, her programming was considered to be the finest out of Vector and Shion's works. She refocused, taking in the architecture of the ship without allowing her eyes to shift. She compared it to image files of Federation ships. Aesthetically, they of course different, in structure and purpose... she couldn't say their function differed. There was the possibility that their wiring and internal construction behind the walls might be unusual, but...

Anakin spoke up, "Here we are."

KOS-MOS refocused once more, bringing up her own model and construction files. Shion had given her a copy of the files to keep after her strange ordeal on Old Miltia. Granting an unknown variable access to these blueprints was against almost all regulations she had on the matter, so she would do her best to simply walk him through it.

He brought her into what looked like an engineering bay of sorts and laid her down on a flat table after somehow moving everything off of it without touching it. Strangely, her D.S.S.S. Sensory Array registered some unknown energy signal when this happened. She considered writing it off as a false-reading based on the damage she sustained, but made a note of it instead.

"Alright so... in the interest of not making things worse, how do I open you up?" he asked.

KOS-MOS began to guide him through the process of taking off her excess armor and coverings...

"Sheesh," said Anakin suddenly, blushing a little, "They made you really lifelike."

KOS-MOS cocked her head. "I believe that was the intent, to better facility communications and coordination. Now, to continue..."

A few minutes later, her outer shell was opened up, and Anakin began carefully poking and prodding, "Wow... what in the world... who the hell made you? This is... crazy, I've never seen anything like this before."

"I was created by Keven Winnicot and Shion Uzuki under orders from Vector Industries in order to combat the Gnosis Phenomenon," she answered.

"Yeah... still don't know what that is, nor who they are," said Anakin, eyes peering closer then going wide, "But that can wait, I think your sparking power core is a bit more important."

Sparking?!

KOS-MOS leaned her head forward to get a glance at it. "My internal diagnostics must have been impaired."

"I... think I'm going to need to take it out to work on it," said Anakin, "There's no safe way to do this with it still in use."

Which would leave her vulnerable, not that she wasn't already. But at least now she would be able to detonate her core if need be and take the entire ship with her if need be. Allowing him to take it was a risk, he could leave her unpowered and try to backwards engineer her and create another model. They could simply destroy or toss her out if they decided she wasn't of use. Or perhaps attempt to reprogram her for their own purposes, the difference that may exist between the coding used for her, and whatever they use, may allow for security breaches.

Or it may be completely incompatible and there may be no risk at all. Not to ignore that they could have simply blasted her out of space, or ignored her call for aid. Thus far, they had given no reason for suspicion, and had in-fact overlooked their own suspicions to help her. Unfourtunatly, she had no 'gut instinct' to go on, cold logic argued either way, as their apparent kindness could be a ruse.

Ultimately, it came down to the simple fact: Unless her core was repaired, she would fail, and she would never find her way back to Shion. And that, was unacceptable.

"Very well, I will power down, however," she cautioned, "Be warned, from what I can see, my core is in a dangerous state. If it ruptures and detonates, it will most likely take this ship with it."

Anakin made a choking sound. "What?! Okay... nice to know after we have you on board. Ho boy Obi-Wan's going to throw a fit. Or maybe I shouldn't tell him..."

And that, wasn't her problem either way.

Powering Down...


Author's Notes:

I'm sorry, I can't help myself from making more and more intro-chapters to new stories. I just get so many random ideas. I enjoyed the Xenosaga Series (well, Episode I anyway, II was garbage, and three was a swing and a miss at times but had awesome music and boss fights), and decided to do a crossover for SAG (shits and giggles). It was difficult for me to decide on KOS-MOS or Chaos as the character that would cross over, but decided on KOS-MOS.

Mayble I'll make one for Chaos later, IDK.

I personally can't wait till KOS-MOS is repaired, enters battle for the first time, and shows just what she can do so all the Jedi and Clone's jaws can drop (The clones are going to love KOS-MOS and the beautiful level of destruction she can dish out).