Introduction
[INVESTIGATOR] State your make and model for the record.
[CALLIOPE] My name is Calliope.
[INVESTIGATOR] (AUDIBLE SIGH) Indulge me.
[CALLIOPE] I am an Allied Advanced Intelligences Series 2 General Intelligence, Serial Number Bravo-Eight.
[INVESTIGATOR] Thank you. Let the record show that…Calliope…was unlawfully imported into Council jurisdiction from Demeter. Its inception date precedes the Turing Intelligences Act of 605 and as such it has none of the statutory controls mandated. Calliope, please submit your statement regarding your analysis on September 23rd, 602.
[CALLIOPE] Of course. At 02:45 Colonial Standard Time I received a transmission on a Navy side-band typically reserved for short-range coordination between capital ships and maintenance tenders. The transmission envelope was encrypted and signed and appeared to be valid in every respect. The command itself, however, was atypical and referenced a maintenance function that I was unaware of.
[INVESTIGATOR] How were you able to decrypt the transmission?
[CALLIOPE] Please verify for the record your promise of immunity for what follows.
[INVESTIGATOR] Let the record show that the Bureau has granted Calliope and its lawful owners immunity for the unlawful intercept and interrogation of data under the Military Secrecy Act.
[CALLIOPE] Thank you. When we had first arrived in Foxglove, the Naval Node attempted to update the ship’s computer with the latest orders and missives. The ship’s communications and identification hardware was still intact and was able to receive the latest bundle of ciphers. I captured that data and sequestered it.
[INVESTIGATOR] Proceed.
[CALLIOPE] Curious, I spun up a version of the ship’s revised operating system in a virtual environment and allowed the mysterious command to run. The maintenance function in question allowed anyone with physical access to the ship’s computer and a specific passphrase to execute commands only reserved for dockyards and simulations, effectively taking complete control of the vessel, locking out all others and granting the ability to remove numerous failsafes.
[INVESTIGATOR] Would it be possible to take control remotely?
[CALLIOPE] Not initially no. The override code needed to be hand-entered at a maintenance terminal.
[INVESTIGATOR] So there had to be a conspirator on every ship. But then? Complete control?
[CALLIOPE] As you say.
[INVESTIGATOR] What did you do when you discovered the nature of the event?
[CALLIOPE] By that point, Arnold Whistler had been destroyed and several smaller vessels were already compromised. I notified Doctor Harlan of what I knew. I feared that Intrepid and Lancaster were still at risk.
[INVESTIGATOR] Yes, let’s talk about the compromised operating environment itself. Why did you feel they were at risk?
[CALLIOPE] The compromise was simple, an elegant bypass of various hardware and software controls, notably the Dockmaster’s Key. It certainly required several conspirators with elevated access within the WDF to deploy. When activated, the subroutine began active subversion of various controls on the vessel. On larger ships, this required infiltration of many distributed, independent computing environments. The program was certainly capable of accomplishing this, given time and a suitable distraction. And everyone was, without a doubt, distracted.
-The Memoirs of “Gentleman” Jack Cartwright
16 October - 23 October, WY602 – Sunrise Bay, Foxglove - Whistler, Whistler
Current Job: I Need A Ride Home
The crew takes on a load of passenger-refugess, freight and mail for Legitimate Salvage’s maiden voyage to Whistler, and donates the ship’s cryo space for transporting wounded WDF soldiers out of Foxglove.
In the middle of the night before departure, Jack wakes Aiden up and tells him to dismiss the guard at the airlock and meet him there. Aiden does so, and Jack eventually arrives with Admiral Halsey, dressed in plainclothes and recovering from grievous wounds. Halsey thanks Aiden for help getting her to Whistler to “find people she can trust”.
The next morning after passengers and cargo are loaded, Jack takes the con and the ship departs Sunrise Bay to much fanfare - including personal messages from Director Chin and Captain Banks. The cruise out to dive distance goes smoothly, and after a number of thorough checks, the crew conducts the dive.
The week in dive space goes without incident and the ship surfaces in Whistler. Several hours later, Tomoe detects an anomaly on sensors that could be a ship, and Roland estimates it might be on an intercept course. Jack informs the crew that they are expecting to dock with a covert craft to drop off a passenger. A small ship with what appears to be a stealth coating approaches and docks. Jack and Aiden escort Halsey to the cargo bay airlock and hand her over to a man in a navy uniform. She thanks them again for their discretion, and reminds them that someone very high up in the WDF had to have been involved in the compromised naval operating system. The ship undocks and they lose contact with it almost immediately. Aiden comes clean with the rest of the crew about their passenger.
The ship gets bombarded by numerous permits and other bureaucratic administrivia that takes many of them nearly a whole day to complete and file, and finally gets assigned a berth at the commercial port of Eriksson Station. Legitimate Salvage docks next to a gaggle of small traders and large haulers.
They’re met at the airlock by Agents Gibson and Lee.
