a conversation with shifty

8 AM: the ark.

"Shifty. Marian. What's going on?" Anis asked as if she wanted a question and an answer from her.

"That corruption code implanted into Marian's brain must be acting as a navigator!" Shifty responded as she explained what she could find in her research during the investigation, "It guides Nikkes to the blacksmith's location. That way, they're having their 'food' delivered straight to their doorstep."

After the commander heard Shifty say this, the first thing that came to mind were the words "WHERE'S THE BLACKSMITH."

"But she was acting completely normal before she went haywire," Anis pointed out and asked as if she remembered what happened before the corruption took over.

Shifty nodded as she started to confirm what Anis asked, "That's probably because of the commander." she explained as she looked at Anis and Rapi before returning to her research report and continuing.

"A nikke's highest priority is protecting their commander and obeying any orders given. And I'm willing to bet that the problem started when she met the commander, That's when her priorities were shifted out of order." she finished secondly as if she found out what was going on and confirmed the information while looking into it.

"she was completely defenseless when in close proximity to the blacksmith. That means the corruption was quite severe." she finally finished.

After hearing this both Anis and Rapi nodded as they decided to head to the elevator along with the commander and start asking questions there.

10 AM: elevator.

When Rapi and the others got on the elevator, the first question started to come out of Rapi's mouth.

"so... when did it start?" she started asking Shifty who responded with "What?" while trying to get a better understanding of Rapi's question she wanted a response to before Rapi asked another question.

"When was she first corrupted?" Rapi asked again as Shifty started to respond to the question, "During the operation, I suppose... Ah, yes." she asked as she looked at the intel again and was correct while they were in the elevator.

"You said she was the one that sabotaged the transport ship that had the commander inside, right? She must have already been corrupted at that point." Rapi asked as she pointed out the part that played out during the events of the chaos before confirming something that would catch Shifty by surprise.

"And that transport ship came from the ark." she said as she noticed a piece of intel that needed to be brought up.

"!! Were the aegis barriers broken?" was all Shifty would respond with after hearing Rapi say what needed to be said.

"No, the aegis barriers are strong. They'd pick up any corruption in an instant." she explained to Shifty while sending the info to her as anis jumped in to throw the question at her, "...Rapi, what are you trying to say?".

"Well..."

11 AM: Andersen office.

"that concludes my report." shifty said as she was finished with the info she supplied Andersen with as he was surprised and impressed by all of this.

"You mean they took down a blacksmith? A novice commander with three Nikkes, all in a single day?" he asked shifty with shock and surprise.

"Yes, sir. However, one nikke was destroyed during the operation." shifty reported as she looked at the photo of the now-dead Marian.

"well if i didn't know any better, I'd say you're starting to develop a sense of humor, shifty." he asked as he started finishing his glass.

"should i forward the combat data to you?" she said as she wanted a responding permissive answer from him.

"no that won't be necessary, but i would, however, like to meet this commander in person, so shifty please make an appointment for this afternoon, will you?" Andersen said as shifty nodded and also decided not to forward the data.

"I'll inform them." she asked as she got onto it while Andersen smiled and wrote down what was next, "You do that."