[center][h2]An interview with the Architect[/h2]
[sub]A collab with [@Sep][/sub][/center]

Locke had to stifle a laugh. He then cast a finger at the droid to his right. “This machine is top of the line Martian military hardware. From our initial scans it will be stronger than you, and a processor that’s top of the line without all the fleshy meaty bits. If it came to a fight my money would be on the droid.” He nodded to the guard standing at the cell. “As it is, these are your new keepers. So should you wish to fight, all you need do is escape. Thanks to the inability of the United Earth Council to collaborate, I’m holding you under Martian law now since you want to be held so badly.” The admiral could clearly notice a certain lack of attention from the prisoner, as she seemed to evaluate the droids instead of listening to him.

“I have no doubt you have skills, or maybe even abilities that Chief TreVayne could benefit from in performing his duties. Though at this moment in time, all evaluations are to whether or not you will be released into the general population. You’ll return to your duties in engineering under the observation of the Chief of Engineering and staff I appoint to keep an eye on you, however you’ll be in considerably less sensitive areas than the main engineering bay. If you prove yourself to be trusted, given time, I may be willing to re-evaluate my position on the matter. Is this clear?”

“Er, what? [i]Engineering[/i]?” she finally turned her head at the man. “If it’s a clearance issue, I’m sure Security have ‘less sensitive’ areas as well.” The woman didn’t sound satisfied, but she wasn’t overly feisty either. “Now, look, I’m not complaining - [i]this[/i] is acceptable,” she gestured at the droids with her hands, “But it would be a waste of everyone’s time. What matters to me is not what the Chief of Engineering thinks - but what the Chief of Security does. I will take this opportunity to remind you that the reason I infiltrated Engineering was not because I thought I would be useful there - but because it’s the one place where it’s easiest to hide with a minimal amount of technical savvy and without knowing anyone else.”

The prisoner crossed her arms. “What you’re basically asking me is to prove how good a race driver I am by making me fix airplane engines. Sure it’s a good way as any to gauge personality and work ethic, but is it the [i]correct[/i] personality and work ethic?”

Locke merely looked at her. “It is not my concern to what you believe is acceptable, and not acceptable.” He brought a tablet up to view, from holding it by his right hand side and pointed the screen towards Chizuru in the cell so she could read it, it was her dossier. “You are the one who chose engineering, if I may remind you. You chose [i]not[/i] to approach the program out of what, spite to your former masters in the conglomerate? If you had approached the program we wouldn’t be having this conversation as you would likely be on the alien planet right now.” 

Lowering the tablet again he sighed. “At the end of the day, this is the offer. You need to wait, earn your trust and then if by the time we send an away team to a planet you’ve not gotten yourself into any trouble we’ll see how well you can follow orders and act as part of a security detail. You chose this path, you’re going to have to deal with the consequences. Now, do you have anything else you wish to add?”

At the end of what seemed a short but violent internal struggle, the cyborg poked a finger at the forcefield with startling speed. “What the [i]hell[/i] do you mean, chose not to approach the program? I have applied numerously, through different channels! None of them were public due to the secrecy around the Daedalus Project, which may explain [i]your[/i] information, but you can rest assured all of the high brass knew about this application. I was rejected at the threshold by a reason so ridiculous and hypocritical I even considered sabotaging the program in order to see these Holier-Than-Thou cowards burn in the flames of irony with the rest of us!”

“Ten thousand people!” She threw up her hands. “Ten to the power of four people died for each member of this crew, including those in cryostasis! Are you humanity’s best, Mr. Locke? Knowing I was rejected? Are you ten thousand times better than me?”

Locke retained his cool. Some people could. “Admiral Locke is the correct title-” he said cooly as he raised his hand as if correcting a child. “-Also I am sorry. I may have missed something in your file, the part where you fought during the Three Day War. I was there above Mars, three fleets.” He raised three fingers, emphasising his point “[i]Three[/i] Fleets. The bulk of Martian, Federation and Conglomerate forces-” His voice began to raise the more he spoke. “-the best and the bravest fought a fleet a [i]fraction[/i] of the size the one that was coming for us! [i]Three god damn fleets[/i]!”

He cleared his throat. “I don’t know what it was your Conglomerate Masters thought you could do but by god get your head out of your own ass. What could you possibly have done? What could a thousand of you possibly have done? If everyone had been changed like you, and I mean everyone. We may have stood a chance I suppose, but at what cost? How much of you is actually human? Your problem with your Conglomerate masters blocking your entry, I’ll admit that is unfortunate. That’s the problem when a Government does research it was banned from doing and doesn’t want anyone to know about.”

Locke moved in closer to the force field. “Though I don’t give a [i]damn[/i] how good you think you are, you do not get to choose to be a security risk aboard [i]my[/i] ship. Am I better? Well not physically but I was given this post, I may have had my reservations but I am responsible for the safety and wellbeing of these people and I will see them land safely on a new world or I will give my life to see that come true. You better believe that. You stowed away [i]fine[/i], but you come to me directly, instead of causing some facade and call it a [i]test[/i]. That isn’t your decision to make, nor is casually suggesting the sabotage of an Ark. Do you realize what these Arks even represent? Do you even care?”

“I have looked at the numbers.” the cyborg’s voice was now strangely monotonous. “There was only one way to make a project at such a scale work - bleeding everything else dry. What you are looking at is a prototype, the best that could’ve been done with the given budget and personnel. Hah, [i]budget[/i], kind of amusing to think in such terms when humanity’s future is at stake, right? We were not amused.”

“What these Arks used to represent to me was a backstab in humanity’s artery. It is funny how quickly we adapt to new horrors, though. The arks, [i]this ship[/i], is the only Earth I have left. But you must understand, at your rank, you were part of this betrayal for me. I could have never approached you. And even now I still think whether it would’ve been better to burn to death with the rest of my friends and my family. They were not good enough for this program, were they? They wouldn’t’ve made a difference. [i]I will.[/i] In their name and in the name of Old Earth.”

She took a deep breath, with a loud hiss of air but barely any movement of her chest. “For this, I will endure - Being looked down upon by you for being a mere child in the Three Day War, even though I doubt most of this ship’s crew was selected with this parameter, wasting time in Engineering in the same way you consider my drill a waste of time. It is not such a bad deal, Admiral Locke. I am ready for the transfer.”

“I don’t look down on you for being a child during the war, I was just making it clear to you that no matter how many of you were made it wasn’t going to do anything in the grand scheme of things. An army of cyborgs would have been effective had the Devastators shown any interest in invasion rather than just attacking us. These Arks represent hope, and if we could have got every human possible aboard then I wouldn’t have left until we had done so. We had to save the few in order to have a future.” He sighed, that wasn’t really a conversation he felt that he was ready to have with himself, let alone anyone else. Everytime he brought it up he still felt a twang of guilt at not staying behind, even just himself to contribute to the fighting. 

“Like everyone else here, you’ll get your chance to prove yourself. Though now you need to earn back trust. Your Psych eval looks promising, and once our robotics expert is back on the ship she’ll give you the once over before you’re released back to your new duty station. Though if you wish, under escort, you may visit the garden of Eden for an hour or so, many aboard the ship find it therapeutic and relaxing.”

The garden of eden is not real. Chizuru closed her mouth, then suddenly realized she did not say that out loud. Did she want it to be real? “There’s no rest for the wicked.” She forced out of herself, her voice on the verge of faltering, “But then again, no one refuses a shower before going back out to war.”

She stepped away from the energized threshold. “I wish to believe this isn’t the last time we discuss this, Admiral Locke. I would fire everything I have at you otherwise, but you have managed to shake me, and I have lost my edge for now.” She slowly lowered herself into her usual sitting position in the center of the cell. “I accept your proposition - all of it. Please do not decrease the stopping power of the security you assign to me until I am deemed trustworthy. I will make sure they are not wasted should a real security breach occur.”