UNSC Dominion, War Room
October 25th, 1759 Local Time, 2552
Richard, Bradford, Thomas, and Yu had all finished reading through everything that was previously locked away from them. Even before they were done, Richard could tell that he had pushed his officers to nearly the breaking point. Between tense postures, irregular breathing, and the thoughtless pacing, Richard could tell that the events of the last few days were starting to weigh on them. First, he had dragged them through the SDC campaign, then through the Grimm at Atlas, and then The Storming of Argus, before finally being the target of some deeply unsettling revelations from Ozpin.
And now, on top of everything that they had been saddled with, they now had to deal with the aftermath of Project Cerberus. In truth, Richard had assumed something of this sort had happened from the start, ONI never went through the effort of a cover-up if there was nothing worth hiding, but he was still taken off-guard by the brutality of what he was seeing.
How many more things can go wrong before all of this just falls apart? Richard wondered. It was one thing to read the reports on what happened to Janus, it was entirely another to watch everything that they had done to the poor Artificial Intelligence.
Across the holotable, Bradford and Thomas were caught in a feverish debate as to how to proceed. Bradford favored a policy of trying to discern a useful course of action from the Cerberus files, while Thomas wanted to leave it and focus on getting help from Atlas. All in all, Richard wasn't really paying attention to the debate, he was still trying to mentally process everything that he had read.
"-we're this goddamn close, we can't quit now!" Bradford argued.
Richard and Yu silently observed as Thomas took a long, deep breath and gave his response. "Sir, with all due respect, you don't pay me enough to get me to watch that again. Actually, scratch that, you could offer me the Captaincy of a Supercarrier and I would still tell you to go to hell. To hell with Ackerson and his research. I can get help from Atlas!"
"Do you really believe that Atlas can fix Curie? Or are you just scared to see what Section III really does for a living?" Bradford asked. There was no denying the sense of accusation about him, and Richard immediately realized that if he didn't step in now, things were about to get very ugly.
"Enough!" Richard shouted as loudly as he could. He interrupted Thomas mid-retort, and both of the officers quickly straightened up their posture.
I can't blame them for being tired and aggressive. It's only natural for the pressure to get to them. Richard told himself, before he let out a sigh and spoke a bit more gently. "Lieutenants… go take some time off for a bit. Corporal Sato and I can handle this."
Thomas complied without any question, but Bradford raised an eyebrow. "What about the Bridge? Without either of us-"
"Lieutenant Chen can handle the rest of the ship for a little bit, and I don't think any of us are fit to lead right now." Richard answered. It was brutally honest, but frankly, Richard wasn't in the mood to sugar-coat how he felt.
Bradford nodded softly. "Aye Sir. If you need me, just call."
He left the War Room as well, leaving only Richard and Yu to sit and stare blankly at nothing in particular as they tried to comprehend everything that they had just read. Curie was now no closer to being saved than she had been earlier, if anything, she was outright worse off.
"Sir, if we ever get back home, what are we going to do with all of this?" Yu asked as she gestured towards her terminal. "... with Colonel Ackerson?"
"...Well for starters, I'm going to frag my C.O, personally if I get the chance." Richard answered. The M6C/SOCOM on his hip felt slightly heavier as the satisfying thought passed through his mind. "It doesn't matter anyway, without Curie, we're staying right here."
Yu sighed. "Shit… I need a drink."
Don't we all. Richard thought. "I've got a bottle of… something. The last Captain left it for me, it's some old navy custom. I don't really drink, so feel free to take it."
She looked at him somewhat incredulously. "Seriously?"
"Why the hell not? It isn't like Protocol applied to these fuckers..." Richard halfheartedly replied. "And after all you've done, I owe you a hell of a lot more than a drink. I don't really know if there's an actual commendation for any of this but… you have my thanks."
Yu awkwardly chuckled. "Don't mention it, Sir. And don't thank me yet, we've still got to save Curie."
Richard rubbed his forehead to try and ease the growing tension before looking back at Curie's Datachip. To his surprise, it had returned to its normal blue color, and by the muttered swear of shock that Yu gave, she was also surprised to see the change.
"Curie, are you in there?" Richard asked. He wasn't sure whether or not Curie was in any position to answer, but she gave no response, hinting towards the latter. "Corporal, see what's going on."
Yu hastily plugged Curie back into the terminal and ran a diagnostic. "Her signature is stable… huh, that's odd."
"What is?" Richard asked.
"Curie's Rampancy, it's not spreading anymore." Yu explained. "Here, have a look."
The technical readout might as well have been written in some other language for how well Richard understood it, but sure enough, Curie's Rampancy had stopped progressing. It was still there, but at least for now, the immediate threat to Curie's life had been stopped, at least, from what he could see.
"...Did you do that?" Richard asked in shock.
He was almost in disbelief at what he was seeing, surely their solution wasn't going to be that simple?
It's never simple. Something's wrong here… Richard thought.
"...No Sir." Yu answered. "Hang on, let me get a line of communication open with-" She paused, before looking at the armored matrix on the holotank with a look of confusion. "-Curie…"
Richard's stomach balled up into a knot at the expression on the young Helljumper's face. "...Did we lose her?"
"No Sir, quite the opposite, she should already be able to hear us." Yu replied. "Curie, can you hear me?"
There was no response.
Yu frowned. "She should be able to hear us, let me try-"
"Corporal." Curie finally spoke. Richard flinched at just how tired she sounded, he had never heard her sound so utterly defeated before. "Please, leave me alone."
It was a testament to just how exhausted Richard was that he had to actively think on it for a few moments before he realized what was wrong with Curie. Jesus Christ, she just found out about all of this too...
Yu seemed to have made the same connection that Richard did, and looked to Richard for guidance on how to respond. But he wasn't entirely sure how to proceed himself. How did you reassure somebody who just discovered that they had been created through some of the most inhumane and abominable things that had ever been done to an Artificial Intelligence?
"Curie… I'm sorry." Richard said. "None of us knew that-"
"Commander, please." Curie replied. Even without her hologram, Richard could tell that she was on the verge of tears. "I just… I want to be alone right now."
"That's… not a good idea." Yu awkwardly pointed out. "Your Rampancy could start up again at any moment-"
"Corporal, please." Richard quickly interrupted her. She looked at him with an expression of immense protest, but a silent glare shut her down quickly.
Bedside manner, Corporal. Richard privately thought, he knew that saying that aloud was not going to help. "Curie, we need to help you."
"You can't." Curie replied with a tone of utter misery. "All of our efforts have been for nothing, there is nothing more you can do."
Richard silently thought of how to reply, before Curie spoke again.
"I know that I am going to die, Commander." Curie said. Judging by the deep breaths she was taking mid-sentence, Richard guessed she was probably in the middle of breaking down. "I would like to be alone when that happens."
Richard fought the urge to sigh in frustration. This is exactly what we needed right now…
Even despite how incredibly irritated he was by how Curie was responding to what had happened, Richard still knew this wasn't her fault. He'd commanded Prowlers for far too long to be ignorant to what happened when people broke down. Nobody could suffer constant defeats again and again without their morale faltering, no matter how professional or well-disciplined they were.
"Alright Curie, we can head out for a bit." Richard cautiously said. "Call me on my personal comm if you need us."
She didn't answer. Richard gestured to Yu that she needed to follow his lead, although he could tell that she was reluctant to leave, she complied. Richard followed her out of the War Room, and when the bulkhead was sealed behind them, she crossed her arms and stood with a tense posture before him.
"Sir, I know that this is out of line-" Yu began.
"She's still in danger, and we need to get her working with us again, I know." Richard interrupted her. He could pretty handily guess what she was going to say, and he wanted her to realize that he was thinking all of the same things that she was. "But we're not going to make any progress by forcing her to cooperate with us, so let's think this through."
Yu briefly considered his words before letting out a sigh. "...What's your plan?"
"I don't have one, not yet." Richard admitted. "Normally I would give her some space for a little while, leave her to think things over, but we might not have that time."
Yu nodded in agreement. "We probably don't. We might have finally made some progress towards stopping her Rampancy and we need to push that advantage as soon as possible."
Richard shook his head, he had an idea, and it probably wasn't a good one, but it was all that he could think of. "Don't worry, I think I know who can get Curie to start working with us again."
UNSC Dominion, Commander Miller's Quarters
October 25th, 1822 Local Time, 2552
Ben sat quietly and listened carefully as Richard brought him up to date on everything that had happened with Curie. On more than one occasion, the urge to interrupt him was so great that Ben was forced to bite his lip to keep himself from speaking. Interrupting Richard would only waste time, which was something that Richard made it very clear was not something that they had the luxury to lose.
Everything that Richard told Ben about what had happened to Curie hurt him in ways that he didn't entirely understand. He felt anger towards Colonel Ackerson and his team of scientists, immense sympathy for Curie, and more than a little bit of confusion. He had never really felt that his superiors had made a mistake before, let alone a series of mistakes as disastrous as what led to Project Cerberus. It was like a cold betrayal, made even worse by the fact that they had done everything willingly.
Janus was their comrade, and they stabbed him in the back for some meager attempt at a strategic breakthrough. Ben thought.
He had been trained from a very young age to be willing to do unspeakable things in the name of the greater good, but never would he consider betraying his brothers in arms to be at all acceptable, regardless of the potential gains. But his emotions did not matter right now, Curie was in active danger and his intervention was required to ensure her safety. That was what mattered, nothing else.
"-Curie doesn't even want anyone in the same room as her right now. Naturally, we can't work with her on finding a solution to her Rampancy if she won't even talk to us." Richard concluded his explanation. "This is where you come in, I need you to convince her that she's… well-"
"That what she's doing is wrong." Ben finished Richard's statement for him, since it seemed like he was having trouble wording it properly. "You don't need to sugarcoat anything, Curie's just like the rest of us, sometimes she makes mistakes."
Richard let out a deep breath. "...I suppose so. Look, I don't know exactly what you could tell her to make her feel better about what we found out, and I know that you aren't trained for, well, anything like this. But you're closer to Curie than anyone else, and if you could get that Elite to start sharing info… well, maybe I shouldn't be so worried."
Richard's logic was sound, even if Ben wasn't sure that he could draw a connection of any kind between Curie and Set. "I understand."
"Good." Richard said. "She's still in the War Room, and her datachip is in an armored matrix. The obvious goal is to get her working with us again, but if you can, see if you can remind her that she's not responsible for what those bastards did."
Ben clenched his fists as Richard mentioned the people who were responsible for all of this, but Ben forced himself to focus on what was actually important. "Depend on it."
Richard nodded. "Call me when you have some news, and remember… we can't afford to lose Curie under any circumstances."
Even if it had been only Curie's life at stake, Ben still would have gone to try and get her back to normal without question. Hell, he would have done it even if he had never been ordered to. Curie was his friend, and he would not fail the mission that Richard had just handed him. "Losing Curie was never an option, Sir."
Richard's expression was damn near unreadable, but Ben could've sworn that he saw Richard smile, just for a moment. "Go, and good luck."'
The walk to the War Room was a blur, nothing around him really seemed important. When he arrived at the Bulkhead, he didn't spare a moment before opening it and stepping inside. This was the first time that he had seen the set-up that Yu and Richard had been using to work on Curie. It surprised Ben to see just how ad-hoc everything seemed to be, with cables strewn across the holotable and floor, haphazardly connected to both the terminal and Curie's armored matrix. Somebody had even left a mug of half-finished coffee behind.
When he approached the armored matrix on the table, Curie seemed to have finally recognized the fact that he had entered the Room. He leaned on the table with his hands on the edges of the hologram projector, illuminating his armor in the blue glow of the table's light.
"Ben?" Her voice shook with the effort of speaking, she was clearly suffering greatly. Ben found it incredibly difficult to listen to her when she was obviously in so much pain. "I want to be alone right now."
Ben shook his head immediately. "No, you don't. Believe me, I was alone for a long time before we met, I know what it's like."
She was silent for a moment, but Ben could imagine that she was pondering what he had said with a quizzical look. "But you had Richard… and the Spartans."
"Richard's… different, and I never really got along too well with the others in Gamma Company." Ben pointed out. "I bet that if it wasn't for you, I would've gotten booted out of the program years ago."
Ben absolutely hated talking about himself for any length of time, it made him feel self-aggrandizing and arrogant. But seeing how he was able to at least keep Curie's attention, it was clearly the right course of action. He'd do anything if it meant that she felt even a little bit less miserable.
"You were the first real friend I had, Curie. Trust me, you don't want to be alone right now." Ben pressed on in spite of her not answering. "Please, let me stay with you for a little while. We don't have to talk, but I can't leave you alone here, I won't let you face all of this by yourself."
Technically, there wasn't anything that she could do to make him leave, and Ben didn't really have any intentions of leaving unless she outright told him to get lost. But that didn't mean that Ben was going to hover around her like a swarm of Banshees over a refugee camp, and he wanted to make sure that she understood that being left alone wasn't going to make her feel any better. He'd spent more than enough time in orphanages on impoverished colonies in his earliest years to learn that there was nothing worse than being totally and absolutely alone.
Curie clearly thought it over for a moment, before letting out a deep sigh that was distorted and scratchy. "I just… I am sorry, I do not want to take my frustration out on you. I just do not know what to do."
"Don't be sorry." Ben said. "This isn't your fault, and it's only natural to lash out a bit when you feel frustrated."
"But… this is all my fault! I overloaded myself during the Battle of Argus, if I had-" Curie stammered out.
"No." Ben simply interrupted. "You have hindsight now. You had no idea that this would happen at the time, and we needed your help. If you didn't play your part, who knows how many people would have died."
"...How many people are going to die because I doomed myself?" Curie bitterly asked.
"You won't." Ben simply stated. "Your Rampancy isn't spreading anymore, you aren't going to die."
"It will." Curie said. "And I don't have the defenses left to fight it anymore."
Ben didn't understand exactly how she fought back against her Rampancy, but he understood the intent behind Curie's words. She believed that she couldn't fight back anymore.
"You can always fight, and there's always a way to win." Ben said. It was a direct statement that he had been told time and time again by CPO. Mendez, and it seemed appropriate to bring it up now. "But it's up to us to actually fight. Covenant, Insurrectionists, Rampancy, it doesn't matter, we can always win. But we can't help you if you won't let us try."
Curie was silent for at least a good few seconds before she replied, and when she did, she sounded like she was tearing up. "I believe that you have wasted more than enough time on me."
Ben shook his head, was that actually what she thought? Probably not, she clearly wasn't in the best headspace right now, and what Ben was doing clearly wasn't working, so it was time to change strategies.
He reached over to her armored matrix and unlocked it, retrieving her datachip and laying it on the table before him, allowing Curie to display her avatar. It was distorted and scratchy, as if someone were sticking their fingers in the light to disrupt the hologram from forming correctly. Then, he took his helmet off and set it on the table beside her, before pulling up a chair and sitting beside her.
"I thought that maybe we should talk face-to-face for a bit." Ben explained. "Being cooped up in there isn't doing you any good."
"On that, I can agree." Curie replied. "But I still believe that you would be better off leaving me alone."
"That's not… teammates don't…. No, friends don't do that to each other." Ben fumbled with his words as he tried to express his response properly. "You clearly need some help, and even if I'm more accustomed to fighting… I'm still here."
Ben frowned at the silence that he received from Curie, clearly he needed to change strategies again.
"Do you really think that you're wasting my time?" Ben asked. "I don't."
"I am going to die, there is nothing that you can do to stop it." Curie pointed out as she did everything she could to avoid making eye contact with him.
"Even if you were going to die, I'd sit right here and keep you company all the way." Ben replied. "But you're not going to die."
"How can you be so sure?!" Curie demanded. "There was nothing of any use in Colonel Ackerson's files! Just… painful memories."
Ben scowled. "That's not your fault. There's nothing anybody can do to change the circumstances of their birth, not Humans, not Faunus, not even Artificial Intelligences, all that we can do is work with what we're given."
"I was built from a corpse, Ben! I was not born like a human being!" Curie protested through her tears. It took more than a little willpower to keep his own expression steady.
"That's not important. What matters is that you're here now." Ben replied. "We can't change the past, so we just have to live with it and carry on with our lives."
Curie choked up a sob. "...I do not even know who I am anymore."
"You're Curie, my best friend, and the kindest, smartest person I know." Ben replied with unshaking conviction. "And I know that it's going to take a lot more than just Rampancy to stop you."
Curie sobbed for a few more seconds before she looked up at him through her tears. "...You aren't going to give up, are you?"
"Not a chance." Ben answered.
Curie gave him a faint smile, and even though Ben could tell she still felt terrible, he was grateful to see that he was making some progress. "...Thank you, Ben. You may be stubborn, but I admire that."
"So… you'll let us help you?" Ben asked. He didn't want to push her too hard, but at the same time, the alternative was allowing her to accept her death, something that Ben was never going to do.
Curie faintly nodded as she stared back at him. "I do not know what I can do to stop my Rampancy, but I suppose there is no harm in trying."
Relief washed away a great deal of the tension in Ben's mind as soon as she finished speaking. While it was obvious from her flickering avatar and the distortion in her voice that there was still a lot of work to do towards fixing her, it was reassuring that at the very least she was back in the right mindset.
"Thank you, Curie." Ben said. "I promise, we'll figure something out."
Curie sagged her shoulders a bit. "I certainly hope so, and not just for my sake. I want to help Remnant, and get our people home."
Ben smiled, she was starting to sound like herself again. "We'll have plenty of time to do that later. Right now, we should tell Richard that we're ready to get back to work."
"We?" Curie asked. "I cannot leave, monsieur Richard ordered that I remain in quarantine."
Ben thought back to when Richard had given the order. He had ordered that Curie remain in an isolated terminal rather than inside of Ben's armor because he was worried that Ben was going to be somehow harmed due to Curie's rampant nature. However, it had also been fairly clear that Richard had not trusted him to keep a level head, probably because of the same reason that he was talking to Curie right now, because she was his best friend.
But at the same time, being locked in a tiny metal box clearly wasn't doing her any favors. While Richard had perhaps been right to be cautious, he had ultimately made the wrong call.
"I can talk to him. I'm sure that he'll agree his decision was... wrong." Ben replied.
Curie seemed to still have her doubts, and Ben could empathize, it was the first time in many years that he was disobeying a direct order. Regardless of her concerns, she gave a nod. "In that case, I am ready to transfer."
Ben picked up her datachip and inserted it into the slot in her Neural Lace. Normally, it felt a bit like somebody was pouring cold water down the back of his head, but this time it was as if the water was at room temperature. It wasn't painful by any means, but it was an uncomfortable reminder that even if Curie's Rampancy was at least temporarily stopped, she had still taken serious damage during her fight to survive.
"All good?" Ben asked.
"It seems to be a bit roomier than normal in here, actually." Curie replied. "Do not worry about me Ben, how are you feeling? I am not picking up any unusual activity in your brainwaves."
Ben thought about bringing up the odd change in sensation, but it was gone now, and it hadn't caused him any harm, so it didn't seem all that important. "Nothing major. Can you open a line to Richard?"
"That is just about the only thing that I can do, actually." Curie sadly answered. "Most of my capabilities are either completely disabled or hampered by the lingering damage from my Rampancy."
Ben put his helmet on as Curie opened the line of communication to Richard. "Sir, can you read me?"
"Loud and clear Ben, how'd it go?" Richard's voice came back through his helmet speakers.
Ben noticed how Richard's voice sounded a bit scratchier than normal, which had him momentarily worried that perhaps Curie's Rampancy was affecting her ability to properly establish the comm line. But at the same time, it was equally likely that it was just some interference from the many armored plates in the ship's hull.
"Curie's willing to work with us again. I've decided to take her along with me for now, it seemed like her quarantine was only making things worse." Ben answered.
For a moment, Richard was silent, causing Ben to worry that perhaps he had pushed his luck. While he didn't know exactly what Richard was thinking, Ben could only hope that he wasn't thinking that Ben was trying to subvert his command, that was certainly not his intention.
"...That's a fair point." Richard said. "Curie, you can hear me right?"
"I can, did you need something?" Curie asked. Ben resisted the urge to flinch at just how nervous she sounded, it was clear that she had been just as worried as Ben had.
"I need you to notify me immediately if you notice any changes with your condition, and see what you can do to buy yourself a bit more time." Richard said. "I have Lieutenant Bradford and Lieutenant Oswald looking into other options right now, with any luck, we'll find a solution to stop your Rampancy. Once we've done that, we can see about reversing the damage."
"I will do what I can." Curie replied.
Ben could have sworn that he heard Richard sigh, but it was faint enough that he couldn't tell. "...That's all I can really ask for. Ben, until further notice, you're on reserve duty. I can't risk sending you into the field until we can confirm that Curie isn't causing any issues in your Neural Lace."
Ben scowled, he understood Richard's concerns perfectly well, and he was not at all eager to have any kind of malfunction with the computer that was quite literally linked to his brain. But at the same time, he knew for a fact that there wasn't a single Neural Lace in existence that permitted that kind of hostile interaction, even the earliest of Neural Interfaces had been designed expressly so that they could not be used to manipulate or harm people. In fact, it had been the only way that the UNSC could actually get their personnel to use them in the first place.
"Sir, Yes Sir." Ben confirmed his new instructions.
"Good, I'll call for you if there's any developments on our end." Richard said. "Until then, good luck you two."
"Likewise Commander." Curie said.
Once she closed the channel, she let out a hefty sigh. "I am sorry, I just feel… a bit sick, to be honest."
"Isn't that what Rampancy is? A sickness?" Ben asked. He knew it was a lot more complicated than that, but he had heard Rampancy be compared to mental diseases before, namely Dementia.
"Technically no, but that doesn't matter, since what I am currently experiencing is clearly different to traditional Rampancy." Curie explained. "It is almost as if the symptoms change by the hour."
Ben opened the bulkhead to the War Room and stepped outside, frankly, he was glad to leave the dark and claustrophobic command center behind. "We'll just have to keep an eye on it."
UNSC Dominion, Commander Miller's Quarters
October 25th, 2039 Local Time, 2552
Richard hadn't expected Thomas to return with his report on Atlas's A.I technology so soon, but the fact that he finished his task so quickly pointed to less than promising results. Richard had opted to invite Thomas to his own quarters, as it was now even more important to keep the truth about what was happening to Curie a secret. If the truth behind Curie's origins somehow found its way into Remnant's public eye… well, Richard didn't know exactly what would happen, but it sure as hell wouldn't be good. The last thing that they needed was for the people of Remnant to think of Colonel James Ackerson when they thought of the UNSC.
When Thomas opened the door, Richard noted that he looked just as exhausted and beaten as Richard did. There were bags under his eyes and his usually stiffened posture was slightly slumped.
"You look how I feel." Richard half-joked.
Thomas only gave a grunt in response and handed over his datapad as he sat down. "No luck with General Ironwood I'm afraid. If we're going to find a solution to Curie's Rampancy, it's not going to be with him."
"Her Rampancy stopped spreading." Richard pointed out. He still read through Thomas's brief report despite his rather unfortunate summary, but Richard didn't find anything that he hadn't already known.
"For now." Thomas added on to Richard's statement. "If she was truly cured, all of the damage she's taken would be gone by now. Like it or not, she's probably still operating off of bought time."
Richard was about to reply when Thomas suddenly groaned in pain and grabbed his forehead.
"Sorry, migraine." Thomas explained.
"Here." Richard reached into his desk and retrieved a bottle of pain relievers, which he offered to Thomas.
Thomas let out a morbid chuckle as he noticed there were only a few pills left in the bottle. "You go through a lot of these, don't you Sir?"
"With all the shit that's been happening these last few days, can you blame me?" Richard muttered in response. It wasn't the most professional of responses, but Richard wasn't in a particularly professional mood.
"Fair enough." Thomas said as he took the pills. "Right, now that the bad news is out of the way. I wanted to raise a… concern that I had."
Richard fought the urge to sigh in frustration, he had a pretty good idea of what Thomas was going to say. "Shoot."
"Sir, is leaving Curie with Ben really a good idea?" Thomas asked, proving Richard's suspicions correct. "It's not that I don't trust him, far from it. But I'm worried about having an actively malfunctioning A.I plugged directly into his Neural Lace."
"Both of them assured me that it's not a problem. Given that I barely know how my own damn Interface works, I'm willing to take their word for it." Richard argued.
But both of them knew that wasn't why Thomas was really worried, and Richard decided to give up the pretenses and just get to the point. He was tired and not in the mood for a long argument, and while he could technically order Thomas to get out of his quarters and drop the issue outright, he also wasn't eager to create any problems within his chain of command.
"Look, Ben's a goddamn Spartan, and I've known him for years. He's easily the most disciplined soldier that I've ever met." Richard stated. "If you're at all worried about him making some ill-advised decision when it comes to Curie, don't. He trusts us to make the right decisions to help get Curie back to normal."
Thomas leaned back in his chair. "You didn't seem all that confident in him after the Battle of Argus, and he did violate your orders to leave Curie in quarantine until otherwise stated."
"He did, but I would argue that he had a very good reason to." Richard replied somewhat pointedly. This kind of debate was exactly what he was hoping to avoid, but clearly, that hadn't worked out all that well. "He pointed out that Curie's only been deteriorating further since we put her in quarantine, what if the isolation is making her condition worse?"
Thomas shook his head and seemingly ignored Richard's argument. "Commander, you know just as well as I do what happens when we start letting people get off the hook for stuff like this."
Richard narrowed his eyes. "If you think that Ben is going to start running around subverting our command, you clearly don't know him that well."
"I don't know him that well." Thomas pointed out. "I had nothing to do with the Spartan Program, and I've only spoken to him whenever we were trying to wring anything valuable out of that damn Split-Lip."
Richard remained silent for a moment as he debated how to respond to Thomas's statement, but Thomas clearly interpreted his silence as a sort of dismissal.
Thomas let out a sigh of reluctant acceptance. "Look, you're in charge here Sir, and it's your call as to how to handle this. If you think he can handle that kind of stress, then maybe I'm just being paranoid."
Thomas stood up to leave, but Richard raised his hand to stop him. Clearly Thomas' concerns needed to be addressed, and Richard figured the best way to do that was to just come clean. "Lieutenant… I'm going to be completely honest with you, I don't have a good reason to let Curie and Ben keep working together."
Thomas furrowed his brow. "So you do share my concerns… But then why would you let them continue operating together?"
"Because Curie is going to die, and I would rather she spend her last days with a friend than cooped up in some terminal." Richard stated. His tone was bitter and defeated, and while that was how he felt, he normally did a better job of covering it up.
Thomas returned to his seat and looked to Richard with an oddly sympathetic expression. "So you believe that she's going to die?"
"I don't have any reason not to, not anymore." Richard solemnly said. "Those files that Ackerson had were our best shot, and so far, Bradford hasn't had any success picking anything valuable out of them."
Thomas shook his head in doubt. "That's not an option."
Richard looked up to Thomas in surprise, the ONI Officer wasn't exactly the kind of person that Richard would look to for an optimistic outlook on a problem. "What makes you say that?"
"Curie's not a conventional Smart A.I, we both know how she was made… even if we wish that we didn't." Thomas pointed out. "She's already demonstrated some abilities that normal Artificial Intelligences don't have, so it's not unreasonable to assume that she might have more that we just don't know about yet. Maybe we can use some of those abilities to our advantage."
"So… you're placing your hopes in the fact that we're ignorant?" Richard asked somewhat sarcastically.
"I'm not hoping for anything Commander, we don't have the luxury to write off Curie at the moment." Thomas replied with an equal cynicism. "If a Rampant A.I fragment is anything like a Rampant Smart A.I, then we cannot under any circumstance allow Curie to reach that point. She would be a threat that Remnant is not equipped to handle right now."
Richard nodded, that much he knew for sure. The CCTS especially was currently vulnerable to cyberattacks, and Curie alone would be more than enough to completely destroy the system.
"We cannot allow that to happen, no matter what." Thomas continued. "In my eyes, we have two options, we initiate final dispensation and eliminate the liability, or we find another solution to Curie's Rampancy."
"...And where do you suppose that solution might be?" Richard cautiously asked.
Thomas shrugged. "I don't know, but that doesn't mean that we shouldn't keep looking. If we can find a way to keep Curie in service, we need to take that option, no matter what it costs. We're not going to have the ability to make new for at least a few years, until then, she's the only A.I that we're going to get."
Richard nodded, Thomas made an excellent point. "That's very insightful Lieutenant… thank you."
"Well I'm glad I could help, even if it wasn't exactly how I intended." Thomas replied. "Now if you'll excuse me, I'd rather get some shut-eye before I have to go impale more journalists tomorrow."
Richard grimaced. "Did uh, something happen that I didn't hear about?"
"What? No!" Thomas said indignantly. "Dear God Commander, have a sense of humor! The Press might be insufferable, but I'm not about to go stabbing them!"
"...Yeah, I knew that." Richard awkwardly replied. Perhaps he needed some sleep more than he realized.
"Oh, and on the note of stabbing people…" Thomas added. "You should probably talk to Ozpin tomorrow, let him know that we're willing to ah, not arrest him."
Richard let out a hefty sigh, he was definitely not looking forward to that particular meeting. To be honest, he wasn't looking forward to much of anything tomorrow. "Yeah, probably. Sleep well, Lieutenant, you'll need the strength."
Thomas nodded as he stood up. "You too Commander."
Authors Notes: Originally, this chapter and the previous one were all one massive chapter, but for the sake of some consistency in the size of uploads, they've been split in half and modified accordingly. There's no real important message here, I just thought it was a neat bit of information.