P.n. G1:28

[Fa'Rawn Lin]

Fa'Rawn Lin sat patiently. A rarity for her. Normaly the fidgity type, she'd made it a habit to always be doing something. She hated doing nothing. Her hair was also pulled back in a small ponytail... something else never seen. Her clothes though, well. She prided herself on being the one that stuck out in a crowd, and she usually did. Loose fitting grey trousers, a midriff shirt, and a Terrisz'Voss MI tanker jacket. That was the extent of her 'appropriate' clothes.

Her stomach growled. Today was rice day; she hoped this meeting with Kunnon would go by quickly. She was hungry.

Of course, if she knew anything about Merr Kunnon, it was that he loved to talk. Usually about himself. Why Hyde hired the man she would never know, but he did get the job done, and that was really all she could ask for.

Except for the man to show up some time soon, she thought idly. She'd been waiting for ten minutes in his lab. Where the hell was he?! They had to go over the final designs on the dogs before the prototype was started; and she was wanting to start that today.

Hurry up I'm hungry!

[Merr Kunnon]

"I dont give a damn if you have run it across with duck tape! Shorter line, quicker feed! Dayum!"

Merr didnt break stride and he chastized a few of the other techs who were scrambling down the halls behind him. He had this meeting 'this' to go to, and he was already running late, which really wasnt entirely a bad thing. A fashionably late entrance was his style, but even then, he would stick yell and fuss at the other techs and blame the whole ordeal on them. Made him seem more important..

The door to the lab swung open with a certain gusto as Kunnon made his way in, and slammed with further gusto directly in front of the following techs.

"Good morning."

[Fa'Rawn Lin]

Of course he tried to make an entrance; she'd only seen him once during one of the annual meetings with Hyde and the other department heads, and even then he'd shown up late and in a flurry of colorful expletives on the shortcomings of the men Hyde had put under him.

And today was no differnt.

Rawny stood up slowly, looking him up and down just like a fine piece of meat. He did have a certain... charisma... about him. But she was here for business. And it was business that she got right down to.

"Did you get the readouts and blues I sent you?"

[Merr Kunnon]

"Sure did. Do I need to go get them from the trash? I didnt think you were serious."

Merr crossed his arms over his chest and looked down at her for a moment, gauging her reaction.

[Fa'Rawn Lin]

A disgusted look crossed her petite features, and she pulled a small palm-sized datapad from her back pocket. With a hmph, she none-so-gently tossed it at him.

"I thought you'd do that," she snapped back aas he fumbled to catch the pad. "Can't stand it when someone besides you comes up with a good idea?"

[Merr Kunnon]

"No, actually I was kidding with you.."

He smiled and remove a datapad from his coat pocket and tossed it to her...

"Cool down, we're here to have fun."

[Fa'Rawn Lin]

She only eyed him, catching the pad while repressing the urge to flip him off. He was so arrogant...

"Glad to see you have a sense of pseudo-humor," she grumbled, flicking the pad on and holding it loosely, skimming over the contents. Her eyes lingered for a second over a cretain section.

"You changed the shielding generator placements."

[Merr Kunnon]

"Well the way it was placed was venting off excess heat directly onto the weapon generator. If the drone started taking alot of fire, you stand a chance of losing shields AND weapons..."

He gave a sly wink..

"That's not good."

[Fa'Rawn Lin]

She nodded her approval, then turned the pad off. Everything looked fine, and she set the datapad on the console at her side. From her other back pocket she produced a small datadisc; the AI program for her babies.

She held the disc up, a devious smile on her face.

"Are we ready to start then?"

[Merr Kunnon]

"Ready whenever you are..."

Kunnon took a step back and propped up on a desk while Rawny went to put the discs in. It was his experience with AI, that the trial run was never perfect, and considering the dogs had weapons strapped to them, well....He was more or less ready to dive over the desk for cover...

[Fa'Rawn Lin]

Prototypes were always tricky, and this particular prototype was exceptionally different. The AI Rawny had built was semi-sentient, a mix of a loyal dog and that of a five year old. A five year old unmanned mech with enough firepower to disable a ship. Funny, how childhood fancies and a brilliant mind came together.

She side-stepped the console and made her way to the raised platform in the center of the room where the dog stood; motionelss and inactive. It was so gorgeous; so perrfect.

Squatting down in front of the thing, Rawny ran a finger over the top of the gleaming head, and with slim fingers, brandished the disc. Because it was the prototype, this particular dog would carry the original AI disc.

Slipping the disc into the slim port in the nose, she was rewarded with a humming click as it was sucked in. A few soft clicking noises came from the dog, as it seemed to process, download, and activate itself.

Standing up, Rawny jogged back to where Kunnon was, waiting for the dog to come online fully.

And come online it did.

Oddly enough, its first act of being online was to shake itself down, and swiveling its head left and right, locked its optical receptor on Rawny. In a burst of speed it lunged, scrambling from the platform to sprint the short distance to where she stood, open mouth and in partial shock that the thing would already turn on her.

It leapt, landing nimbly on the console; eight-toed claws gripping the metal it crouched on as it stuck its neck out. Frozen, Fa'Rawn could only stand there as it 'eyed' her up and down, its face mere inches from Rawny's. Satisfied, it then turned to Kunnon, regarding the man for a few seconds before... growling... ?

Dumbstruck for a full 30 seconds, Rawny burst out laughing then.

"I... " she managed to sputter out, feeling vindicated in a way, "I don't think he likes you."

[Merr Kunnon]

Kunnon's eyes narrowed at the dog for a few moments...

"SIT!"

[Fa'Rawn Lin]

The dog looked at Kunnon, unmoving, and Rawny grinned.

"Sit," she said quietly.

And on command, the machine sat. An odd sight to say the least; a semi-sentient mechanical dog sitting on Kunnon's main console.

Rawny smiled widely.

[Merr Kunnon]

"I guess you think you're funny....."

Kun stood up and started his way toward the doors.

"We got everything we need on the drones, we should have a prototype out within the next two weeks."

[Fa'Rawn Lin]

"Oh I know I'm funny," she shot back, glaring at his back before turning to the dog.

If the thing had a tail, it would have been wagging it at that moment, and Rawny smiled to herself. She'd created it, essentially, and she was intenssely proud of the matter.

Smiling at the mechanoid, she took a step back, and it took the liberty of hopping from the console to the floor, coming up to almost her waist.

"Sit."

It sat.

"Stay."

The thing didn't move, only staring at her intently as she turned to follow Kun out the door. On second thought...

"Shut down."

And abruptly, the lights of its optical blinked out, and the entire thing stood like a statue; poised and ready to once more be activated.

Another smile, and she once again turned about, her pace quickening to catck up with Kunnon.

"I think you owe me a drink," she grinned, the doors shutting behind her, leaving the dog, or UCRM as its technical term was, alone; ready to be utilized as Yag'Dhul's defensive pointguard.