Event- return of the Shehazarad and the Persepolis
A triumphant return for the two ships, and their rather battered crews! Word has already gotten around of a prolonged but successful mission- though details are classified.
Persepolis glides into an easy landing on the upper bays.
Shehazarad plonks itself violently down somewhere in the middle, jolting everyone on board. Dallas is at the helm.
The ship doors open, and Dallas neatens the hat on his head as he steps down the ramp.
"Every time I get here," he says, happily, "I'm reminded just how much... I really hate this place..."
"Neb's gone," remarks Marduk, as the Persepolis opens up. "As ever, Morpheus didn't hang around long."
The Council Chamber
The Council, with Locke also in attendance, listen carefully to every detail of your mission, taking meticulous notes. They have several statements to make at the conclusion of things.
First, from wha they can tell, the codes have indeed been acquires securely. Congratulations to you all- work we thought was wasted has borne fruit after all. These codes will be invaluable in our fight against the machines. Minds are being freed at a greater and greater rate- soon, it may be time to begin more direct operations against the System.
Secondly, it can indeed be confirmed that Jericho was of the strategic opinion that the war was lost, and that he face the loss of his command. Bounty was most certainly destroyed by a seemingly random sentinel sweep on a test run. No evidence can be found that this was anything other than bad luck, but in the circumstances an open mind is being kept. Nothing can be found at all of what the ship was trying to do when it was destroyed, when Jericho met Melitus, whether the others ever met him, or indeed the entire process surrounding the ship's destruction and the AI reincarnation of its crew. It DOES seem, however, that Melitus required more than a casual look at people to create these AIs- Rade, Castor and Azrael were all examined in detail in thgeir sleep; the others who had met, and even been re-encoded by, Melitus were not re-created. Therefore at some point Melitus must have had an extended look at all of them.
Thirdly, at this point, it is confirmed that the Council is on the look out for the copies of Rade, Azrael and Castor, and also Medea and Jericho. Melitus himself is also unaccounted for, and his actual status in the Machine hierarchy is a mystery- his purpose, both original and then assumed, even more so.
Finally, whilst Melitus might not have been a Renegade programme, the Xiao Emo certainly is. So, effectively, are those copies. This situation troubles the Council greatly. There have been sporadic reports over time of programmes that do not serve the System. Many theories have been advanced as to what they are, but actual solid knowledge is very small. This mission has made it clear that these programmes constitute a security risk to Zion. An full investigation as to their locations, purpose, origins and intents will be set up.
It is the opinion of the Council that Captain Dallas will be put in charge of a team responsible for investigating all anomolous activiites inside the Matrix. You will have a wide-ranging remit to look into thew activiites of all such suspected 'Renegade' behaviour. This remit, and all such missions, will be absolutely classified. They may not be spoken of to anyone outside this room.
"One question," asks Dallas.
"Yes, Captain?"
"Does Morpheus know about all this?"
"No..." says the spokesperson, confused.
"YES!!!!!!!!! In your FACE, dream-boy!" yells out Dallas, loudly. He then clears his throat, and puts his hat on.
"Captain Dallas is always happy to answer the Council's call," he says. "When you need us... just call. We'll be waiting."
And this concludes the first story.
Two months later
Two people, a young woman and a young man, stand by the starboard engine array of the Schehezerade.
"Well?" asked the woman.
"It will hold."
"You sure?"
"Yeah."
"You sure?"
"... well, no."
"Great. What the hell is wrong?"
"Well, this is scrounged. It's not actually easy to build an entire array. It's the majority part of building a new ship."
"I know that, genius."
"Sorry, Ariadne. I'm just nervous."
"What's the actual problem?"
"The flow regulator is fritzed. If it gets knocked too hard, both starboard and port arrays could overload. You'll get a lot of power form the engines, and then they'll probably never work again."
"Can't you replace it?"
"Engine regulators for full sized vessels are pretty much the rarest spare part there is. They take time to build! They'll have one finished soon."
"They didn't have any in stock?"
"Well, they had one."
"Had? Had? Well, what happ... oh no..."
"Yeah, well, the Neb got beat up pretty bad bringing Neo in. I mean, the superstucture was dropping all over the sewers; the Sentinels cut it up real bad. It was amazing they got back. And... they kinda get first call on everything... Morpheus got the ship fixed pretty quickly."
"Don't tell him. Don't tell him."
"Well, I didn't tell him that bit."
".. you didn't call me here because you were worried about the engines, did you?"
"Ahhh, no, not as such. I might... just might... have told him that the ship was ready to fly."
"Oh holy hell..."
"Well... he seemed so keen, and what was I going to tell him? Morpheus had stolen the spare part he needed? He'd have thrown me off the walkway!"
"You do realise Persepolis arrived home yesterday?"
"Yeah. ok Ariadne, I ain't blind!"
"But you ARE stupid. If Marduk is back, it means he's found a lead and he's reporting in. And Dallas has been going stir crazy over Marduk doing all the work. And from what I heard, Marduk thought that if he could get this one, it would be the big break. He's going to go for it!"
"Don't be silly! He can't go. Dallas hasn't even picked a cre yet. He wanted to put them through their paces, remember?"
All potential crew members for the Schehezerade and Persepolis, please report to the Training Hall. Repeat, all potential crew members for the Schehezerade and Persepolis, please report to the Training Hall
Ariadne did little other than glare.
"Ahhh, ok, ok," said the man. "Look, it doesn't matter. We've got A regulator. It weill hold. It just shouldn't be bashed around too much! We'll be fine so long as we don't get into any trouble."
Ariadne covered her face in her hands, and turned around.
"You're going to enjoy working with Dallas..." she said, walking away.