Past the Redline

Throttle Sixty-Three

The Federation’s idea of a computer system was rather different than what she was used to. For one thing, without AIs doing most of the grunt work, the system relied on a lot more input from the bridge crew. Even the tertiary bridge she was in had more control surfaces than any human ship she’d ever seen.

A lot of those were dedicated controls, split into consoles that were designed to do one thing and that one thing only. Those generally had some analog controls at them. Switches and knobs were common, but so were tactile screens and a few hologram-projected readouts.

Diana appreciated the aesthetic, it was very retro.

It took her a bit to find a port for data-entry, but there was one in one of the side-consoles, one that likely dealt with information security and communication. She removed a tab from atop the port (likely to prevent dust from falling in) and then grabbed the universal jack ChaOS had given her and shoved it in.

It took a second for it to click into place. “I’m in,” ChaOS said simply. “Give me a moment… and we’ve bypassed their security. The internal security onboard this vessel is rather lax, but I presume the reason for that is that a hacking attempt would have to come from within.”

“That’s not half bad, as far as security measures go,” Diana said. She turned and kept an eye on her prisoners.

“I’m locking down the ship’s bulkheads and cutting off exterior communications. Reviewing previous communication logs… and imitating replies. Unless someone is paying very close attention, no one should know that we’ve taken over the vessel.”

“So, I have my own Federation cruiser now?” Diana asked. “A bit used, with a few dings, but still all mine?”

“Not quite. A lot of the controls for the vessel, including weapons control and most piloting, is done on a separate system. The systems don’t interact directly. If one is compromised, the others won’t be.”

“Huh, not bad,” Diana said. “So I need to jack you into one of the other consoles?”

“That would be welcome. Before that, though, what do you wish to do?”

Diana hesitated, then grinned. “Time until phase three is ready?” she asked as she unplugged the jack. She moved over to the pilot’s seat and plugged it in there.

“Still several minutes, even at an accelerated pace.”

“In that case, let’s see what kind of fun we can have. Which cruiser was the flagship? Do they even have one?”

“Not this one, unfortunately. Most orders are coming from another vessel.”

Diana nodded. It was a one-in-four chance, and she guessed wrong. Not a big deal. “Can we start sending conflicting orders over the coms? Mess things up a little?”

“I can do better. I have access to their plans, their plotted trajectories, the hidden jump rings they used to enter the system, and the names of a few Bolgian captains that are secretly on the Federation’s payroll.”

“Oh, the poor idiots,” Diana said with relish. The ship shifted minutely and she paused.

“That was me,” ChaOS said. “We now have control of the ship.”

“Nice work. Okay, get started on a package with all of that juicy info. We’ll squeal it out to anyone who wants to know it. Do you have control of the weapons yet? The missiles?”

“Not yet. We might be cutting it close with our escape. We’re approaching far-range with the Bolgian’s main fleet. It’s likely the Federation will start to open fire within the next few minutes.”

Diana pulled the plug and moved over to the weapon’s control station and jammed it in. “Let’s make that interesting then. Follow orders from the flag for now, but miss by a smidge, will you? Don’t fire the missiles yet. Those we can play with.”

“Understood. What’s your plan now?”

“We’ll do what we can to achieve maximum chaos. I’m thinking we open up on the back of the smaller ships then ram this baby into one of the other cruisers. Think we can manage that?”

“They’ll know this vessel is compromised the moment we open fire with its gun on allied targets,” ChaOS said.

Diana nodded along as she thought. “Do you have access to their protocols?”

“Yes. The list of procedures to follow under different circumstances isn’t hidden.”

“Do they have anything about sheltering a damaged vessel?” Diana asked.

ChaOS took a moment to reply. “They do. In the case that a vessel’s captain asks for it, and can justify it, a ship can be moved to a location of lower risk during any engagements to prevent further damages.”

“Think you can mimic the captain’s voice well enough to ask?” Diana wondered.

“I can make the attempt. You want to position us at the rear of the Federation fleet?”

“They’ll have their shields set to take damage from the Bolgians, it’s possible they’ll be weaker from the rear because of it,” Diana said. “Which means it would be great to be in the rear when we have the ship switch sides.”

“Noted. Having observed the Federation protocols, I must warn you that we’re about to commit approximately six war crimes.”

Diana snorted. “Okay. Which ones? Also, has anyone declared a war? Because it’s not a war crime without a war.”

“I’m certain you could argue that to a Federation war tribunal judge. Mostly the crimes we’ve committed come down to not declaring a vessel’s change of allegiance after capture.

“So… if we tell everyone we’ve captured the ship, then we’ll be legally safe?” Diana asked.

“No. But we’ll be legally safe-er.”

Diana couldn’t help but giggle, which seemed to unnerve the aliens taped together nearby. “Okay, cool. So let’s declare it, shall we? Not now, obviously, we don’t have full control of the ship yet, but once we’re in position…”

“Weapon systems are under our control, Mistress. All that remains are some life support controls and a few minor systems. Shall I hold off on capturing them until the last moment to prevent any technical war crimes?”

“Exactly,” Diana said. “I don’t want to technically be a criminal if I can technically avoid it.” She pulled the jack out and stuffed it into a pocket of her jumpsuit. “Still have control over the doors?”

“Indeed.”

“Then lock everything up behind me. I’m heading back,” Diana said.

With ChaOS now in control of the ship’s doors and security, it was easy to fool the Federation soldiers aboard the ship into thinking she was heading one way while she moved in another, and with the soldiers having to blow open every door in their path, she easily managed to retrace her steps without running into any violent aliens.

On arriving at the hangar, Diana found the place changed. The Hercules looked like it had blown up, but in slow-motion. The armoured panels were pressing up against the walls, and new struts had formed holding the cruiser together.

The reason why was obvious. There were now crane-like arms connecting to the exterior walls and reaching towards a central mass of machinery. Hoses ran all over in, carrying slurry to printer-heads and banks of nano machines while a makeshift drydock was being built around the central core of a brand new ship.

Diana recognized the remains of her cockpit in the centre, though the seat was now reclined into a much smaller space with an actual windowed canopy before it.

“How are things going?” Diana asked as a set of arms unfolded some platforms so that she could casually walk towards the fighter craft.

It wasn’t going to be a very large vessel, maybe twenty-five metres long, with a distinctly wedge-shaped profile. It had plenty of forward and reverse thrust, though less directional manoeuvrability. That didn’t matter. It was a light, speedy vessel when she needed to be light and speedy.

The cockpit opened up with a hiss, and she grabbed the edge to boost herself in. She shook her hand once she was inside. The exterior armour was well past warm; it was likely still cooling off.

“Sixty-five percent complete. I had to cannibalize more of the cruiser’s interior contents than I originally wished to, but we lacked some materials, and the process of fabricating those from scratch would increase our total production time to an unacceptable degree.”

Diana nodded as she removed some gear, stowed it in a little cupboard, then sat down and acquainted herself with the controls. They weren’t all that different to those of her Star Skimmer, though the vessel had significantly more weapons and likely stronger shields.

Daina was about to ask another question when she felt the ship rock. “Did we just get hit?” she asked.

“The cruiser’s shields deflected a long-range kinetic strike. The two fleets are beginning to trade fire, though both of their accuracies leave something to be desired.”

“Well then, we’d best hurry up.”