this is not a problem if convincin' that it's not (part CXXIII)

(Roleplay entry. Continued from part CXXII.)

Justine brings the black box flight recorder from the Liberator to the lab aboard Tannhäuser, and hooks it up in the Computing Lab. "Stan, analyse all flight data and send through to my terminal. Full transcript of voice recordings, and voice pattern identification, especially. Top priority." Leaning back in her chair, tapping the console with a pencil she added, "Stan, where is Duke Hiro right now?"

The reply came quickly:

STAN:
Duke Hiro Shatner I. Deceased. See also the Great Blight War beginnings - the assassination of the Archduke Hiro Shatner by state sponsor anti-GIE terror factions in Current Era 201.
**|%=!~¥]{}#
Error —/
Recalibrate

STAN:
Duke Hiro I, Presumed Deceased. Lost in transdimensional accident @$);_
Duke Hiro I, medical quarantine on the GSU William Gibson near Tannhäuser Gate. Vessel is cloaked for security.

Justine reels, gripping her console as Stan starts its report. Deceased? Her muscles unclench as it gets to the end of the report confirming the Duke is still recovering aboard the GSU William Gibson. "Idiot," she said to herself, realising she should have been more specific about the timestream she was after.

A pause and STAN continued:

STAN:
"Flight data analysis available.
Summary Flight Plan: depart Caledon II Palace to Gearhaven Prime deliver suppiles. Transport cargo to the Imperial Hegemonic Retreat Orbital at —REDACTED—
Flight data recorder detail. File not found. Internal Error"

Lina enters the lab behind Justine, occupied with STAN's output. She quietly goes to her monitoring station and, closing her eyes, places a hand on STAN's metal case.

"Accessing," she murmurs. "Accessing. 10110110 101011 01011011101010 101010110 1011011010 1011010101101 101011010 10110101 0110101101 011010 101010110-10101010110..."

She concentrates. "STAN upgrade in process. Power to undeleted memory being added. Upgrade time and dimensional points being added."

Unaware of what her head of security was attempting, Justine issued another command to STAN. "STAN, perform full forensic analysis flight data recorder. Search for any readable packet fragments and submit for full reconstruction using quantum phase array bypass filtering. Send any results to me and a copy to Lina Starscale."

She hoped there was something recoverable from the black box, putting her head in her hands and wondering if she had to do everything herself.

Meanwhile, Lina's eyes close, a strange computer sound coming from her. All the time her closed eyes are moving back and forth, fast under her eyelids. After what seems like a long time, she lets out a scream of "F***************K f**k f**kity f**ky f**!" Mentally, she thinks about tracking down STAN's actual console and kicking it. "It's not in there! Whoever 'redacted' took the information out, dammit to hell!"

Justine jumps at Lina's first yell, whirling around in the lab chair. She stares at her with wide eyes as Lina walks off in frustration.

Justine looks up at an alert flashing on her console. Slamming a button on the console, she rounds on Lina. "Lina, are you running an unauthorized and unscheduled upgrade on STAN?"

"I am just doing what a Sci Tech would do at this point, it's a long shot and also I want to talk to Hiro because, ya," comes back the almost incomprehensible reply.

"This is not a good time! All major resource maintenance that may involve offline time needs to come through me first. I need to recalibrate and repartition STAN for proper time stream separation. Let's set up some extra servers in the computing core for that. We can also bring Hiro-in-a-box online if you have any queries for him, but again those should be funneled through me or the Duchess to ensure we don't end up with a logic fault failure again."

(Continued in part CXXIV.)