Facial Mask By Pakkrat This is an unofficial work of community fan fiction not affiliated with Cloud Imperium group of companies and in no way is meant to challenge copyrights or brands owned by Cloud Imperium Games and Roberts Space Industries. All content on this file not authored by its host or users are property of their respective owners. Readers of this fan-fiction are encouraged to visit http://robertsspaceindustries.com/ for further enrichment. The events told in the story are strictly coincidental to any real world events. Star Citizen, Squadron 42, Roberts Space Industries and Cloud Imperium or other content produced or created by its publishers are property of and registered trademarks of Cloud Imperium Rights LLC. Author’s Note: This story was inspired loosely by events in Star Citizen alpha PU that happened to me in-game as a Citizen of the alpha Persistent Universe. A story explaining the mobiGlas bug evidenced and needed to make sense as to why I had to back out to Character Customization for a workaround. It needed explanation. Is all. 1. I was in so much trouble. As my Origin Jumpworks 315p slipped from the lower orbit of the gas giant Crusader and away from its Comm Array, my passive scopes and sensors caught sight of an Idris-class capital ship. I did not have time to ascertain if it was UEE or a corporate version owned by Crusader Industries. I was guilty of stealing an unauthorized, unregistered, and rogue artificial intelligence that had successfully hacked the previously secure mobiGlas developed by microTech. The AI designated Cyeryl now rode my mobiGlas and monitored my Novikov cold environment, armored suit. The entity, for what else could I call it, was assembled through the repeated, piecemeal use of tainted Re-Authorizers and given the task of hacking Stanton System mobiGlas, a thing that no human or alien could possibly hope to accomplish. The algorithms and hard architecture was just too compact and mercurial. A living being simply could not keep up with microTech programming and security. But an AI could. Cyeryl had been ordered to input what everyone in Stanton was calling a bug. This bug denied a certain percentage of male Users the apps contained within everyone’s personal livelihood. The mobiGlas suffused human society so much that the device was almost part of every civilian and Citizen, almost anatomy. The initial workaround, one that had been intended by whoever set Cyeryl upon the mobiGlas, was for Citizens, (registered voters in the most recent Imperator election), to reiterate from male to female, to change bodies. I caught the bug but was going to wait for microTech to fix what they were calling a minor glitch. I didn’t want the workaround. I could wait for some kind of patch or modification to the mobiGlas. But a pad-ramming, suicidal asshat had to destroy my Constellation Andromeda-class gunship, the Call Forward, the ProTect Insurance taking its sweet time in approving my Claim for a new ship destroyed at Port Olisar. I had the remainder of the tainted Re-Authorizer cryptokeys hidden in the gear housings of my 315p named the Slip Sideways. Each tainted cryptokey, normally a “password recovery” card meant for one-use to help those who misplace or forget their system passwords, actually held bits and pieces of the artificial intelligence Cyeryl. When enough were used on the Crusader Comm Array, Cyeryl went to work inserting the bug. This caused those who suffered it to voluntarily implement the workaround. Later, it was discovered that a simple cosmetic change such as eye color was enough to bypass the bug. However, by then it was too late. The bug began and lasted through the 2950 Imperator Election, putting Laylani Addison in office. And guess who has been working with xenotechnology and research into true artificial intelligence, not just the automated computer systems we take for granted in planetary logistics, aerospace traffic control, and a host of other doldrums? And I had it in my head that Addison had won the election because many men had reiterated to female. For the record, I voted for Ilyana Sherrad. She seemed what the Universalist Party needed even though she was smeared by her fellow Universalist contender Titus Costigan’s campaign machine. Sherrad lost to Costigan who in turn lost to the independent Addison. With this AI, who needs a party backing them? Just loose the only entity that can hack microTech code and silicon and rig the 2950 election. Costigan lost because of Addison’s pet project. I could not return to Levski on Delamar. Port Olisar was out. But my stealthy load-out on my smuggling ship 315p was not a long range craft. It was configured for short, quiet runs of illegal E’tam, the “meditative catalyst” humans have borrowed from the X’ian to abuse for themselves. I’ve made naughty credits with this ship. Never mind that I now had a large packet of super-illegal Maze hidden in my ship’s lavatory, drugs that belonged to Ruto the fixer for the Dusters syndicate. To get quickly and quietly away from Crusader jurisdiction, I made the jaunt to Ambitious Dream Station Rest & Relax at Crusader Lagrange 1 or CRU-L1 for short. There, I could refuel and make it further afield. A change of armors to the Novikov would further disguise my exit from the frying pan and into the fire. A ping on my helmet Heads Up Display or HUD let me know that ProTect Insurance had finally stamped my Claim as valid. I could now Retrieve a new Constellation Andromeda, again registered as the Call Forward. This was timely as I wanted to change my ship as well as my armor. Addison or someone underneath her would want Cyeryl returned now that the mobiGlas bug had been rendered doubly worked around. A reiteration gender change had been supplanted by a cosmetic eye color change. Until microTech fixed the damage Cyeryl had done, the entire fiasco was moot. But the difference now was that Laylani Addison was now the United Earth Empire or UEE Imperator for the next ten years. And if she wanted to be re-elected, all she’d have to do is release Cyeryl again, forgotten over the course of a decade and skew the Citizen vote again in her favor. I had to get this version of Cyeryl to someone and report on this twisted election outcome. So many Citizens had voted for Addison and her independent party plank of science over military or economy, likely because they were influenced into reiterating as women of the Empire. I had early voted for Ilyana Sherrad who lost to both Titus Costigan and Laylani Addison. So much for my candidate. She didn’t have much of a chance with the smear campaign from Costigan’s team. But I liked her plank of economics over military or science. War with the Vanduul and the construction of Synthworld can wait until the UEE economy stabilizes. At least that’s what I believed.