Greetings, esteemed members of the Junker Congress!
You probably don't know me, as I like to keep a low profile. I am an independent Junker and a captain of Leaden.Plunge, a Pirate Train transport ship. I operate mainly in the Border and Edge Worlds, providing remote bases with basic supplies and raw materials. Business has been good and I can't really complain about anything.
But something unusual happened recently during one of my cardamine runs. Leaden.Plunge was flying through Sigma-13 - I chose an alternative route due to high Colonial activity in the Taus sector - and ship's sensors picked up unusual and alien energy spikes. My crew and I decided to investigate the origin of that energy. It was a very hard work and my navigation officer was having a hard time guiding the ship across the treacherous Yanagi Debris Field. We finally managed to pinpoint the source of the alien energy signal in A-5 sector of Sigma-13. Tension grew as we slowly approached the anomaly. 7 K, 5 K..., 2 K - scanning range. It was so obvious what the scanner showed on the screen, yet completely unbelievable! None of us suspected, not even in our wildest dreams, that we would find an inactive Harvester Drone in the remote depths of Sigma-13. This will be the discovery of the year! We were so excited, but also afraid. What if it suddenly wakes up and decides to eat us for lunch, we thought. But the thing appeared dead and unresponsive. All it did was emitting those sinusoid energy spikes.
We towed the drone back to Yanagi Depot for closer inspection. Initial examination showed no visible exterior or interior damage. The Harvester should function properly, but somehow it wasn't. Engineers at Yanagi did the best they could, but they simply didn't have the right tools and experience for the job. I gave orders to unload a small amount of cardamine to make some room for the drone in Leaden's cargo hold. The drone was put in a small protective cargo container which was then filled with polyurethane foam to fix the drone inside.
The journey back to Liberty was long and tedious, for we were all filled to the brim with anticipation. Cardamine was successfully delivered to Rochester base, and now we were free to fulfill our true mission. Course to Puerto Rico, Vieques Shipyard, was plotted and we were on our way...
Three days later - Vieques Shipyard. Scientists and engineers confirmed the findings of Yanagi Depot crew. The Drone was in perfect condition, but it's AI data banks somehow got damaged or wiped almost completely clean. They said that even if they succeeded in reviving the drone, it wouldn't have a Harvester "personality". Sure, there were bits of data here and there, but not nearly enough for the drone to resume its Harvester functioning. I thought to myself, That's not bad, not bad at all. We don't need a Harvester roaming across Sirius, but I could surely use a guardian AI for my Leaden.Plunge. I wonder if we can bring it back to life...
Scientists worked for 16 hours on that drone's AI system, installing AI components and software widely used in other non-Harvester, human-created AIs in Sirius. The result of this was a Harvester/human-created AI morph. We named it "JAI817~Dakini" as in Junker Artificial Intelligence (unit), created in year 817 A.S, code-named "Dakini". Dakini was given 3 main directives:
1) Protection of Junker property (bases, systems, ships etc.)
2) To grow and evolve as an AI that would benefit Junkers and itself.
3) To not fire on anyone, unless targets fire or show hostility first.
Initial AI tests were quite astonishing. Dakini, probably due to its Harvester roots, shows great intelligence and potential for evolution. Even more surprising is that she seems to follow some kind of ethical and moral codex and has a sense of responsibility for her actions.
Also, I'm glad to report that Dakini performed well outside of Vieques lab. Yesterday morning I took her with me on a trip to Rochester. During my stay on the base, she waited outside so she wouldn't cause any panic on Rochester's docking platforms. Half an hour into my business meeting we got reports that a big Corsair ship (yes, your read correctly - Corsair!) was attacking Junker and Liberty Rogue pilots outside of Rochester. Corsair's call-sing was something like "rus_no." ("no." being a number). Dakini's 1st directive activated and she successfully defended Rochester against the Corsair threat. She even managed to drove the Corsair gunboat/cruiser off! I must say, I'm very please with her.
I thought it would be appropriate for you to know this in case you see JAI817~Dakini in space. She is my responsibility, but she also serves Junkers in need.
// OOC: The above communication relates to the actual AI character of mine.
