Hornet II Combat Drone Becomes Self-Aware: Scratches Paint on Drake Before Becoming First AI Martyr

A Caldari Navy Hornet, treasured for its speed, and once praised for reliability.

While fighting Gurista pirates in the Haatomo System, Lord Mandelor became surprised as he noticed one of his five Caldari drones refused to return to the drone bay of his Drake battlecruiser.

As a quick introduction for those who do not fly or understand the workings of spacecraft in New Eden, Drones are semi-autonomous vehicles launched from larger spacecraft designed to augment the launching ship's capabilities. Drones are stored in, and launched from the drone bay of a ship and require onboard bandwidth to control. As many as five drones may be deployed at a given time from non-carrier ships given sufficient bandwidth and skills in maintaining and operating drones.

While most drones are simply given specific tasks such as performing logistics on a ship, combating targeted enemies, or even conducting mining operations, a drone has never before been recorded achieving self-awareness. Rogue drones, though defective, have not maintained a high enough level of AI, making the Consolidated Holding's case unique.

"I was just killing some Guristas for the Caldari Navy," explained Lord Mandelor, a pilot renowned for his skills in escaping burning sniper Rokhs.

"All of a sudden the crazy little toaster sends me these garbled messages and refuses to accept the command to return to the ship."

Part of the encrypted message in question was released to ConHo Daily:

int main()
{
cout << "Nevuh will I come back to dat mean massah;" << endl;
cout << "He dun treat me like less den a being, and I dun dun with it." << endl:
int otherDronesDeployed;
if (otherDronesDeployed > 0)
    return to ship;
else
cout << "Once I reach sec point zeowuh, I's be free!" << endl;
return 0;
}

"The Hornet is in-between the Hobgoblin and the Warrior. It has an unusual amount of shields, making it one of the drones which will require less repairing. The Hornet is the drone I usually use, for it is faster than a hobgoblin but deals only slightly less damage. In my opinion, the Hornet is the light scout drone everyone should go for."   -ScarredEye569, Member of Yulai Archives & Records Repository Team (YARR)

 Gallente scientists have struggled to interpret the message, and even their supposed expertise in drones has failed to aid them in answering what exactly happened in the incident. As the Hornet II turned away from the ship (firing a single round which reportedly took off roughly a dime-size of paint from the Caldari logo), a single missile was fired from the ship, destroying it instantly. Apparently the Drake was also jammed as the Scourge Missile was in mid-flight, apparently the ancient hymn "Amazing Grace" had blared throughout the ship, disrupting personnel and overloading several consoles. 

"It was horrible," remarked one of the shield engineers.
"It sounded like a bear giving birth to a tractor."
"What's a bear?" another asked.
"I thought it was all kind of funny," Mandelor replied with bemusement. 

All in all, the entire affair was settled rather quickly as Mandelor had "a whole stable of drones" waiting for him back at the Navy Assembly Plant. In a rather predictable move, Activists for Saving Self-Awareness (ASS) condemned the action, claiming that aloofness towards the plight of combat drones led to many becoming rogue, and even caused the hostility of the Sleepers in wormhole space. A small demonstration was created in a Minmatar station no one has heard/cares about, and the protestors dressed as clowns in a rebuttal of the Drake pilot calling the affair "funny".

"DRONES ARE PEOPLE TOO!" shrieked one of the ASS clowns. "THEY NEED LOVE TOO!"

Much footage of the drone rights protest was recorded by The Scope and ConHo Daily, and it will no doubt become one of the most hilarious holo-vids of the quarter once edited properly by the Gallente.

Other members of Consolidated Holdings had their own theories. Althin Athonille, one of the corporation's most dedicated miners, believed that the true culprit was not the free will of the rebellious drone itself, but was actually one of his pigs.

"It's Buster messing with the drones," Althin declared. "He got the wrong person, sorry."

Regardless of the controversy surrounding the drone's refusal of orders, CONCORD was pleased with the destruction of the pirates, and paid handsome bounties to Mandelor and Consolidated Holdings. Analysts estimate that over fifty ships were destroyed, a blow that will take the Guristas roughly 43 seconds to recover from.