Θ HARBINGER Θ
“My Oracle.”
The sound stilled her thoughts, pausing processes and breaking her concentration on the feeds the satellites and sensors provided her. Ishtar opened her eyes to find A12-9X4 facing her. Speaking.
Audibly.
They had the neural connection. Ishtar herself had often bypassed some of the protocol on occasion, addressing the faithful Forged without commanding the execution of her will. A12-9X4 had often reported in a similar manner, addressing her directly without waiting for acknowledgement. It had sped up some of the conversion processes, even if it bent the rules of the Pattern Eternal.
He had just used the neural link too.
It.
Then its words registered.
My Oracle.
Possessive. Indicative of deviation outside allowable parameters. And it stirred an emotion Ishtar could not name.
She listened as it continued, laying out its new, altered prime directive and the steps it needed to take to fulfill it. It extended a three digit hand and gently but firmly placed it around one of hers. It was an egregious breach of protocol. The Oracles were the sacred prophets and executors of the Pattern Eternal. A12-9X4 should be deactivated, its memory core wiped clean, melted down into new parts.
She should have sealed the command pod after entering.
She should seal it now.
“Request denied,” Ishtar said, voice rough from disuse and her helmet’s vocoder. “Protocol dictates Oracle overwatch during assault and defense. Data upload contingency must be completed. The command pod facilitates these functions.”
She paused before continuing on quietly, echoing the words she spoke so very long ago in a galaxy so very far away.
“My life for the Pattern Eternal.”
Prime directive: your safety.
Extract priority target: Ishtar-Array, it had said. When had that changed, she wondered. A12-9X4 had become just as much an anomaly to her as this new galaxy with its unseen variable. The unseen variable. Ishtar tilted her head, staring through the optic sensor looking at her, as she considered options.
Leaving the Forerunner was to abandon the Expansion, the mission, her responsibilities. To abandon the Pattern Eternal as she knew it. It was no option.
A12-9X4 would likely not let her stay here in the command pod. He—It had shown more and more independent behaviors. If she elected to stay, the probability was high that it would take matters into its own hands to keep her safe.
The other location she could perform her function was the secondary command pod in the cloister. As a personal chamber for her organic needs, it was slotted into the design of the Forerunner out of the way but with short paths to the bridge and its command pod, and the primary escape pods. Out of the way enough that it might get overlooked by ground forces if the worst happened and they were overrun.
“Run alternative calculations: I perform my functions from the cloister under your direct protection. Result?”
Visual feed on her HUD showed the fleet entering atmosphere on a projected approach vector. They had precious little time to prepare.
