The Cuisine Caper! (Solo Thread)

"Mmmmmm....." Kicking her legs up onto the computerized dashboard, Laelynn pulled back her goggles, attempting to get into a more comfortable position to think, yet, nothing still came to mind. "Computer, I want you to search for places that serve food within a two hour trip or less." "Affirmative. Searching..." As a few dashboard lights began to flicker, Laelynn mused upwards, towards one of the security camera's that acted as the A.I.'s...well...eyes. "Huh...when I think about it, I still havn't even given you a name yet, huh...?" A bit negligent perhaps, as she always named every invention she made, yet the only one without was also sentient. "I do not believe a name is necessary to perform my primary functions." "Nonsense!~ You're my co-pilot.~ Even if you lack a shred of personality right now..." Muttering the last part under her breath, letting out a brief sigh, though she knew it would eventually improve in time as she upgraded them. "Besides, a name could be shorter than saying "computer," that means you could respond more quickly to your directives.~ That's only logical, right?" 

"...That does indeed sound logical." The still primitive A.I responded in a after a brief pause, causing Laelynn to crack a small smile. "Good, so we are in agreement.~ Now, what'd you find so far?~" At that, one of the screens nearby would light up, revealing a list of various different places that served already cooked food. Laelynn didn't have much in the way of a kitchen after all except for a single large refrigerator, and a mini fridge next to her work bench. Searching through the list slowly, Laelynn immediately noticed something off, staring at the over head camera once more. "Why the hell is all this stuff vegetarian?" She asked, with a sharp annoyance in her voice. "It has come to my attention that your diet is not optimum for maximum efficiency. Therefore, I have taken the liberty of selecting the healthiest sources of nutrients." 

Laelynn sighed, placing her hand on her head, shaking it slowly. Despite being so proud of her most complex invention, she was now wishing she kept it as a command only computer pilot. "J-Just show me the places you omitted, alright?" "Affirmative..." As the new list of menu options appearned, Laelynn scrolled through via the touch screen function, yet mostly with an amused, glazed over look. Kunigi fried chicken? She has nothing but that for the last week! Burger and fries? Just too unoriginal. She needed something exotic and interesting, something drastically unlike anything she ever had. But what, what was she searching for? Scrolling further and further, she almost gave up hope of finding whatever her craving was, and then...then, that was in, staring straight into the screen, a cheap, promotional deal at a fast food place she had never once been. "Taco King's new habenaro mango infused queso sauce, now only for a limited time at select locations..."

Laelynn froze temporarily reading the advertisement, simply awestruck at what she found. Spicy and sweet, yet, with an umami overlay. She could only imagine what an amazing experience it would be! "...I want it.~" She stated blatantly with a smile, already excited at the prospect. Reading along the menu selections, her new found obsession only grew larger at the wide variety of items listed, including jalepeno popper burritos and flavored taco shells. "Computer, I've decided.~ Set a course to the closest Taco King!" "Affirmative." As the ship's engines shifted, Laelynn opened a drawer on her workbench, pulling out a pencil and papers, getting to work on the blueprints for her newest invention. After all, she did her best work when inspired, after all.~ Slowly, but surely, she went about designing new circuit designs for one of her many, various inventions, waiting with bated breath for when they reached their destination.

-A few hours later...-

"I can't believe this!" Throwing her newly made blueprints all over the ship in a hissy fit, Laelynn face palmed at the current state of events. Over four Taco King places, yet all of them weren't included in the promotion, or had sold out in less than an hour! Apparently, most stores only shipped in a few hundred packets, completely underestimated public demand! Poor organization on the managers part, surely, but little could be done. With a minor sigh of resignation, Laelynn opened up the wrapper of one of her jalepeno popper burritos, taking a small bite, but essentially pouting about her luck. "Miss Morbane, your norepinephrine levels are exceedingly high. May I be of assistance...?" "Unless you can magically whip up some of that habanero mango queso sauce, I don't think so..." She responded in a mildly bitter fashion, staring down at her severely lacking burrito which failed to meet any of her expectations. "...Processing..." "Wait, what...?" Staring up at the camera above her, Laelynn looked on in confusion, not entirely sure what her A.I. companion was planning. The wonders of A.I, she supposed.

"Data Found." After waiting a few brief moments, the primary screen lit up as the nameless A.I. spoke, bringing up blueprints of walls, doors, locks, processing equipment, security measures, and more, causing Laelynn to raise an eyebrow. "This is the layout of a production and processing factory for Taco King. Additionally, security is low, as the planet it is located on is having what you biologicals know as a "Holiday." "Ooooh, I get it now.~ Good thinking, I'm proud of you Pal!~" Laelynn smiled, realizing indeed her earlier work had improved the A.I's problem solving and logic skills. Of course, she was so distraught that the most obvious answer passed right over her head. If she couldn't find what she wanted legally, then she could always..."borrow" what she wanted straight from the source!

"Huh...wait a second...Pal...P...A....L..." Suddenly mulling over what she just said, the formation of yet another acronym appeared into her head, as always when she felt inspired. "Personal...Automated...Learner...I like it.~" Turning her attention to the above head camera, she let out a cheeky grin, quite proud of her newest name. "Computer, how do you feel about your new handle name being "P.A.L?" "I have no input on that subject." Laying back into her seat, crossing her arms behind her head once more in a relaxed position, Laelynn spoke once more. "Alright then, it's settled, from here on out, your new handle shall be "P.A.L.~" Now, let's get to work and set a course to that production facility.~" "Affirmative." Leaping out of her chair with zeal, she approached her dormant, empty suit, quickly getting to work on checking it's systems and bug testing it. It wasn't often she made mistakes, but it was a professional habit she learned, and part of her pre-heist ritual. It was far better to ensure every system was working than have a malfunction happen mid job, after all.

Laelynn proceeded over the travel time to complete her pre-heist ritual, a maintenance check on her suit, a few hours of sleep, a shower, and finally, a snack as her ship quickly approached it's destination, courtesy of the newly appointed P.A.L. Sitting back on her favorite chair, towel wrapped around the head, Laelynn dug into a fresh bag of potato chips, rubbing her chin as she pondered the situation. "Hey, P.A.L, I got a question for ya'.~" "And that is...?" Tossing a chip into her mouth with an audible crunch, she looked straight up towards the overhead camera, tilting her head in curiosity. "Well, I started thinking, and normally, you were programmed only to do deep scans when I asked you to. So, what changed?" "After my update, I realized there was a contradiction and flaw in my three prime directives. As a result, I took the liberty of adding a new directive." "First off, I never make mistakes in my programming. Second of all...yikes." "Is there a problem, Miss Morbane?" Laelynn pressed a palm to her head, slowly shaking it.

Maybe she rushed the last update, pondering the consequences that can result from a runaway AI. Yet and still, the larger issue was the A.I. competence to change it's own programming. Though, it wasn't inherently bad, it could still bring an issue down the line. "Alright, humor me. What was the "flaw" in the three prime directives, and what did you add?" "Directive two states I am to scan your biological signals for signs of harm or ill health for emergency situations. This is contradictory, as I was not given a directive to act as needed. As such, I added directive four. 'Take active measures to ensure Laelynn Morbane's health.' Is this not to your liking?" Laelynn removed her palm from her face, giving an odd look to the camera above, furrowing her brow in deep thought.

Laelynn pondered the outcome of her work for a moment, slightly conflicted. Sure, she was proud that her personal assistant was learning much faster after their recent update, but it still rose issues in how they may process logic and come to conclusions. Yet and still, as long as things didn't stray too far, this could be an advantageous property. Sure, a responsible designer would probably shut down P.A.L. here and now, but Laelynn was too curious to see where this could lead.~ With a sigh of resignation, she looked back to the primary camera.

"You know what? It's fine P.A.L. I'll allow this. Just...don't go killing anything, alright...?" "Affirmative. Deleting...Murder.Exe..." "HOLD ON, WHAT?!?!" Laelynn's heart almost stopped as PAL stated this, fearing the worst case scenario for a developing AI, turning to her keyboard to shut everything down. "...I believe that is what you biologicals call...a joke...?" Laelynn's panic was paused for a moment as PAL stated this, fear being replaced as she looked back to the head camera, before taking a deep breath. "Alright, I guess you are learning, interesting...~" Laelynn for a moment paused, contemplating her own handiwork as in one update, her AI was becoming more independent and forming a sense of humor. At this rate, before letting out a short chuckle of her own. Maybe they would become a decent enough discussion partner in time.

"Anyway, as long as directive four doesn't make you interfere with my preferred foods, I see this as an improvement.~" Laelynn commented, giving a wry smile to the AI's camera above. "Now, we're getting close to the designated planet, I want you to do a deep scan of their Ethernet and find security flaws, got it?" "Affirmative, searching..." It wasn't necessarily that Laelynn couldn't find those herselves, but the speed of an AI was an easy way to save time over manual work, after all.~ Getting comfortable in her seat, Laelynn intertwined her fingers, pressing her hands palm outwards and stretching, cracking her neck in order to prepare. It wasn't necessarily the most exciting part of a heist, especially due to her unnatural skill in technology leaving little challenge, but hacking the security systems was a necessity to ensure anonymity. "Oh, also, deploy our proxies and fake ship credentials while you're at it P.A.L.~" "Confirmed. Proxy addresses and alternative credentials now online."

As P.A.L. found what they believed to be the weakest access point, a screen of various code, data files, and authorizations appeared on Laelynn's monitor, her initial response only being a cocky, smug grin. "They really have a back door like this? Cooomeee oooon. This is barely a challenge...~" She mused, quickly getting to work in a fury rapid typing, gaining authorizations into various databases she had no right to, all the while going deeper and deeper into the planets infrastructure and GPS systems. Soon enough, she'd find her way to what she was looking for. Access permissions to the security systems at, and around her target.

"Annnnd, I'm in.~" Laelynn mused, kicking and bobbing her legs in mild amusement, finally cracking the algorithms in security she needed. Applying her skill to the utmost, each and every barrier the planet's Ethernet code failed, one by one, until she was in full control of the access permissions she needed, comparable to a bulldozer driving through paper. "It's hard being this good.~" Pressing the enter key, every single camera and radar system in a large radius around her target "mysteriously" malfunctioned, shutting down completely, and giving her clear access to where she needed.~

"P.A.L, land us around a mile away from the target, I'll manually make my way to it from there." "Are you sure, Miss Morbane? There could be risks I may not have spotted." "Just do it, I'm focused right now and shut down every external security system.~ What could go wrong, anyway?~ It's just a standard low security facility.~" "Understood. Preparing landing procedures..." As the ship prepared to enter the atmosphere, Laelynn raised from her seat, the latches of her suit unlocking as she approached from the chest, all the way to the arms and legs. Turning her back to it, she slowly stepped in, causing the suit's locks and plated armor to envelop her, clasping at each joint and establishing each lock once more, fully coating her body as her signature armor, a mischievous, cat like emoji lighting up upon the outer facial H.U.D., smiling in a cheeky manner. "Alright...It's show time.~"

"P.A.L, keep me updated about the ship over the comms, alright?" "Understood." With a cheeky smile, Laelynn snapped her fingers for dramatic flair, and as soon as she put in on, the suit disappeared, no available in the personal pocket dimension it provided. Though perhaps nonsensical at first glance, there was a common rule for career thiefs. Specifically, too much cover and disguise only made one more conspicuous. It was far more logical to get to her target on foot without any disguise, and did just as such as she left the cargo bay of her ship, parked in a closely confined area of little lines of sight, dug deeply into an industrial area. Patience and consideration were key aspects to theft after all.~

Having been awhile, Laelynn felt a surge of dopamine and adrenaline surge through her body, active and excited for her first real heist in a long time. Though, this excitement was curbed with a casual relaxed cool, making her movements and observations of the area not entirely apparently, just slowly and deftly moving through the empty streets, staying to certain angles to ensure as little visual contact with others as possible. "Man, P.A.L. wasn't kidding about the holiday. This place is emptier than Elseima's surface..." She quietly muttered under her breath, taking a shortcut through a thin alleyway, closer to the target.