On the subject of pirates

The famed Crescent Island quickly came into view, its form appearing as nothing more than just a small moon in the ocean from this high up. The unit M.A.I was sent by Sabertooth to this place in order to answer a distress signal along with another member of the guild. Perhaps a form of training or something akin to it, meant to ensure that there were no anomalies in this unit and that she was still capable of following orders. As far as her internal library and database went, there were no such errors and success rate for this operation neared full 100%.

The unit even determined that it would get to the island the fastest if it took flight, hence why it could currently be found several kilometers above the sea level, its wings emanating a light blue field that kept the unit in the air. That said, it was about time to descend. Right below her was the most important port town for this island, one all of the tourists went through. Quite vital for the location’s survival, even. This was why it became a target of pirates, outlaws who desired only to plunder and take advantage of defenseless maidens.

Or so was the information in the unit’s memory about them. Taking a nearly perfect dive down, it took only a few seconds before landing was possible. The unit took care to land outside of the town, on a sandy beach where no civilians would be disturbed by the appearance of a robot with the form of a young human female. Especially considering her current status that some would describe as ‘shameless’. The unit had no concept of shame, nor did it saw any benefit in wearing woven fabric. All it cared about was getting to the rendezvous point so that it could meet up with Sabertooth’s other agent.

It was supposed to be right by the gate tourists went into the island through, so the unit decided it would be best for everyone if it stood some distance away. Turning on a detective mode, its pupils would become quite bright, scanning the area for the one known as Sarah Stone so that the two of them would not miss one another under any circumstances. Failure in this instance was quite unacceptable, after all. The city could not fall to the pirate scum, no matter the cost. The reputation of the guild and the unit’s potential evaluation was at stake here.

MAI’s scanner was quite an efficient and convenient tool. Comparing visual data to what was stored in her database, she was able to detect Sarah pretty much the moment her mechanical pupils glazed over her. Along with that recognition, a set of publicly available information was also relayed to the unit’s active memory to work with.

This allowed her to easily interact with her guildmate without having to ask the boring, yet essential question. That part of was pretty much already taken care of. So first things first, in order to minimize wasted time, she would walk toward Sarah as well.

But it was still an odd meeting. Especially given that Sarah didn’t even greet MAI and instead called her “kid”. This prompted the unit to turn her head to the side curiously.

“Greetings, subject Sarah Stone. Correction, while this unit projects the appearance of a juvenile human, it is not designated as one.”

Some people probably found the way she spoke annoying, while others would classify it as funny. The matter of fact was that MAI was still an AI and unable to convey any emotions with her speech alone. And whoever her creators were, perhaps they did not understand humans speech, either.

Looking Sarah over some more, her scanners analyzed pretty much anything they could, including her somewhat compromising attire. Nevertheless, she followed her guildmate closely and did not stray away for anything. That said, she did follow up with her mouth a bit.

“Query, does subject Sarah Stone intend to enter live combat in this outfit? Lack of any armor increases the lethality of the mission by roughly 16.9%. However, such attire will also increase the chance of any opposing male combatants to miss by roughly 27.2%”

Not that these numbers meant much on a job of such a low ranking. Still, the unit had to follow her inner protocols and inform her partner of any potential risks and dangers. With that out of the way, she absorbed the information about the pirates and them being in the next town over.

“Live combat is required to finalize the combat module evaluation. This unit appreciates the chance to do this.”

Mai would merely nod as her eyes started changing a little, a spinning ring of sorts displayed around her mechanical pupil. A little indicator that a process of one sort or another was running in her system.

“Affirmative, this unit shall commit shared data into memory. From this point on, potential sexuality of the opponent shall be added into the calculation of the distraction factor. This unit shall ask the Guild Master for more data at a later date.”

The conversation then seemed to pick back up while they were on their way to the desired location. Mai could have easily got there with her wings, but what little social programming she had dictated that she should remain with the senior guild member who was with her. Incidentally, she got a bit of a briefing on what to expect.

“Affirmative, this unit will deal with everyone else using non-lethal force. This unit is also constructed from element-resistant materials, making fire ineffective.”

Not to mention that Mai was still a machine that was at least partly designed to be a perfect combatant. Most of her modules were still heavily damaged and calibration needed to be done, but there was little that could really stop her. As for the other question, Mai opened her mouth in preparation for answering it, but never did. The sudden stop and Sarah leaving outside made it not needed.

Following closely behind her, she scanned the entire area they were now in. A fairly standard village. But it seemed that they were a bit late, as the pirates have already arrived. Mai’s sensors started immediately picking up all the potentially hostile forces that were around so she could deal with them when the time came. But for now, she listened to the dialog Sarah and their enemy were engaged in.

“Warning, innuendos detected. This unit’s social protocols dictate that making such remarks in a public space is not appropriate and even looked down upon by the members of Homo sapiens species.”

Such was her somewhat comical response to the two of them when they finished. Now she was just waiting for Sarah’s command before engaging in combat with the pirates.

“Negative, this unit has yet to receive any officially filed complaints about performance.”

That was her simple answer. Not to mention that she was not programmed to understand the atmosphere or human intimacy. Inside of her rested no beating heart or even a soul. She was a cold hunk of steel and plastic designed to fulfill in a certain role. And that was what she would do. Looking around, there appeared to be quite a few pirates that were part of the crew. And the moment Sarah attacked, so would Mai.

In a similar fashion, she immediately broke into a sprint, but one much faster than the enemy had anticipated. Her wings helped her, their blue ethereal glow illuminating the area as much as it could, given that it was in the middle of a day. Bending her arm, the machine’s elbow would sink into the first pirate’s stomach, going far enough that he was forced to quickly toss out whatever lunch he might have had.

Circling around him so instantly that a naked eye would have a problem keeping up with her, the unit’s small hand grabbed onto the back of his head and slammed it into the ground, a crunch indicating his nose easily breaking as blood mixed with the content of his stomach. Another one was already running at her from behind after witnessing the assault, a machete of sorts in hand. But all Mai had to do was perform a high kick behind.

She probably dislocated the man’s jaw with the hit. Sending him backward, it gave her enough time to turn around and get next to him, using her leg again to kick the back of his knees and forcefully bend them before grabbing his face and slamming the back of his head into the ground as well. Since all of this happened in a span of only a few seconds, most of the pirates realized that they probably didn’t really want to fight unless they wanted something broken.

Well, all but one came to that decision, anyway. The gunshot echoed throughout the village as the blunderbuss was fired, only slightly grazing Mai who locked the man in her targeting system. She got in front of him before he could fire again, performing a spin kick to send the weapon flying out of his hand, then grabbing that same limb with her arms and getting behind him, pushing him onto the ground and pulling onto the arm until it dislocated.

Given all the screams of pain from those she put down, the rest of the crew quickly tossed their own weapons onto the ground and put their hands up, indicated that they were giving up. Their captain was defeated effortlessly and three of their best were utterly destroyed in mere moments. It was a losing fight no matter which way they looked at it. Mai was simply standing there, awaiting Sarah’s next order.