Chapter 8: Cortana's Development
Landing at the Jedi Temple Hanger on Coruscant, Daimon was greeted by a few fellow Jedi Knights who were raised within the same clan as him when they were younger. "Just came back from a mission Daimon," asked one of the Knights, a tall man named Irol.
Daimon nodded, "I did. And as always, it was an enlightening experience," Daimon casually said, though Irol who knew Daimon well enough from their childhood knew there was more to it than just that, so he tilted his head slightly for Daimon to elaborate further.
"We dealt with a Dark Jedi and his followers," Daimon began, "It was a difficult task, taking them down while attempting to steer them back towards the light, something I am of the opinion that we should be trying to do more frequently."
"Iron raised an eyebrow at this. "I never took you for one pushing for rehabilitation, Daimon," he replied, from when they were little, Daimon was probably the best out of everybody when it came to adhering to the Jedi's principles and rules that were established, while barely questioning anything. So, to hear him say something like this was a little shocker.
"I'm not sure it's rehabilitation so much as it's about our failure to address emotions," Daimon replied. "We teach people to suppress their feelings, and when that suppression doesn't work…well, we've all seen what happens."
His words hung in the air as it really got the other knights thinking. Irol had thought about it for a few seconds trying to look at it from various prospectives before he spoke. "Your methods are definitely not what the majority think or want, Daimon," He confessed. "But perhaps that's not a bad thing."
This was something he had expected from Irol, the man had always been open to new ideas and ways of thinking in their youth. It reassured Daimon somewhat that maybe some Jedi Knights would be open to his way of approaching things, but not enough. The council members still held the highest authority and without persuading them…
Daimon dismissed the thought for now, the council could wait. There were other things that he wanted to do. After talking with his fellow knights for a few more minutes, Daimon dismissed his Padawan and returned to his personal quarters. The living space was modest, decorated lightly with small tokens of his many missions. His mind immediately wondered back to the project that he had already spent countless hours on when he had time to spare, the creation of Cortana.
He had invested hundreds of hours into studying artificial intelligence, advanced holocron archives, ancient texts, and collaborating with a Republic engineer who is a Columi. The Columi are one of the oldest sentient species in the galaxy. They are easily recognized by their large heads (which made up over one-third of their approximately 1.75 meter height) and their vestigial arms and legs.
They are a highly evolved bipedal species who joined the Republic thousands of years ago and generally have great inventions and technology that are overlooked.
For Daimon they were the perfect species that he could utilize to create a super advanced AI. And not only that, but they also had advanced knowledge on cloning which would be very useful in the future.
The Columi named Mazzic had proven indispensable in his project. Despite his delicate nature and peculiar appearance, Mazzic possessed a level of brilliance that was extraordinary, even among his species. His fascination with Daimon's project and interest in artificial intelligence made him the ideal collaborator.
Another thing that he used was the Force, which would imbue Cortana with the Force to enhance her awareness and sensitivity. A Force-integrated Cortana will have a higher level of precognitive insight similar to Force-sensitive beings. This would allow her to anticipate outcomes, navigate dangers, or provide tactical advice with near perfect accuracy.
Next would be Heightened Data Processing which would combine Cortana's computational speed with the Force's ability to "feel" the underlying flow of events, enhancing its ability to interpret and analyze information beyond pure logic.
Force integration would imbue Cortana with an understanding of living beings' emotions and suffering, fostering empathy and creating a "moral compass" to guide her decisions.
Essentially, Daimon would use the force alongside other parameters, to try and create the Cortana that he had in his memory and to make up for the fact that he couldn't flash clone somebody to make Cortana like Halsey did. Cortana was made up of her combined intelligence and flash cloned brain, that method was beyond Daimon's reach right now and would require unimaginable expertise. However, using the force to create an AI like Cortana was more possible than the latter.
After completing a mission, he always had a few weeks, sometimes months before his next major mission that took him off planet, in the meantime he was assigned a few local missions that kept him on Coruscant.
So as the days passed turning into weeks, Daimon began incorporating the various bits of knowledge he had gained from Mazzic and his own study. He balanced his training with Sera, meditation and the usual duties of a Jedi Knight, while also devoting immeasurable time to the Cortana project.
The progress was slow, and there were occasional setbacks that frustrated him to no end, but he could feel Cortana begin to take shape bit by bit. He created a Central Core Processor made up of kyber crystals that he acquired on one of his missions. The kyber crystals would make it easier for the Core Processor to resonate with the Force when combined with other advanced metals such as durasteel and phrik.
The Neural framework was built to mimic an organic brain, using quantum computing to create an adaptive and self-learning AI. After this was a holomatrix design which would allow for projecting the AI as a holographic avatar, similar to Cortana's representation.
The power source for the Central Core Processor was small kyber crystal shard that would serve as both a power source and a medium for Force connection, amplifying the AI's ability to interact with the Force.
Her core intelligence would be built on a combination of Jedi knowledge (from the archives) and other advanced technologies such as slicing algorithms, droid personalities, and military-grade processors. To ensure adaptability, she would have heuristic programming, enabling her to learn and evolve dynamically.
Cortana's neural framework would be integrated with the Force-attuned kyber crystal, creating a unique synergy between technology and the Force. This process would allow Cortana to sense Force energies, perceive intentions, or even gain limited precognitive abilities.
It wouldn't be the first time that technology and the force were integrated with each other as the ancient Rakata did it over twenty thousand years ago. But ever since their collapse, integration between technology and the force was a rare thing to see in the galaxy.
Since the core was imbued with his Force energy, Dark side corruption was near impossible since Daimon had worked hard during his time in the Order to make is Force energy reflect a Balance between both sides allowing the use of both light and dark side abilities without being corrupted.
And just like that, time flew as 5 Months had passed since returning from taking down the Dark Jedi and his followers. Contrary to what Daimon suggested, the Jedi were exiled from the Order and Republic space which basically would allow them to continue their practice of the dark side, only far away from the order.
The Council had deemed it a waste of resources to try and guide those who fell to the dark side back to the light. For Daimon, this decision was expected since this method had been something that the Jedi had been doing for thousands of years and changing it based off what one person said would not be the wise thing to do. They saw it as easier to just exile the dark jedi away from the order.
He was the only one who knew just how this decision would come to bite not just the Council but the entire Jedi Order in the ass in the future.
Putting that matter aside, Daimon was asked to go to the Headquarters of the Republic Intelligence Agency to help them with investigating a corrupt Senator. After grabbing Sera who was meditating after her training, they took a civilian shuttle to their destination.
As he set foot inside the headquarters of the Republic Intelligence Agency, he was reminded of a quote he remembered from his previous life, 'In politics, nothing happens by accident. If it happens, you can bet it was planned that way.' It was a quote by US President Franklin D. Roosevelt during his time in office.
Greeting them at the front as they walked in was Lt. Kaan, a stern faced Twi'lek with broad shoulders and sharp, perceptive eyes. He wore the uniform of the Intelligence Agency with a sense of pride and duty.
"Lt. Kaan," Daimon greeted, giving the man a respectful nod. "I presume you already have some leads on the Senator's case?"
"Indeed, Knight Daimon," Lt. Kaan greeted back, gesturing to follow him towards his office. "This way." Sera and Daimon followed the lieutenant into his office as they were briefed on what the Intelligence Agency had gathered so far on the Senator.