Chapter 8

“I figured it would happen soon,” I replied hesitantly. “How are we going to manage an audience, given that the sectors between here and the habitable areas can’t be readily traversed?”

“I have returned life support to the areas between the three settled sectors of the station, allowing them to once again interact with their brethren. There is a docking port that is nearby, you could fly the Obsidian to the port to meet with them here on the ship.”

I turned to Tali and Vish’ala, “What are your thoughts on this? You two are part of this crew and have as much say as I do.”

Tali got an unreadable look on her face, while Vish’ala smiled for a brief moment before returning to a neutral expression.

“You are the captain, sir,” Vish’ala answered. “You give the order, and we will follow it, sir.”

I sighed, “Yes, but I would never want you to blindly follow orders, doing that is an easy way to end up dead. Besides, I may be Captain, but you two are Mac’skarian and therefore best equipped to advise me.”

Vish’ala thought for a moment they answered, “I agree with Alta’s suggestion. Have the meeting in the communications room. Alta and Tali will be there representing the ship and the station, and my presence will solidify the validity of your claim as Captain.”

“Okay that sounds like a plan,” I replied, “but what happens if one of these representatives decides that things would be better with them in charge?”

Tali spoke up then, “The Omega Protocol cannot be circumvented by a challenge of leadership. Only the Liger council can circumvent that, and we are unsure that any survived.”

“What if they formed their own Liger council,” I retorted, “believing that there were no other Mac’skarians left other than those who survived here on the station?”

Tali cocked her head, “The only way to circumvent the protocol is in the command core on Is’val Prime. Is’val Prime is the Mac’skarian home world and seat of government for the Mac’skarian Empire. Should anyone try to force the issue, you are well within your right to incapacitate them or kill them if you wish.”

I laughed nervously and said, “Yeah, I don’t plan on killing anyone anytime soon, unless I have been given no other choice.”

“Understood, Captain,” Alta replied, “shall I notify them that you will meet with them in four hours?”

I thought about it for a minute and nodded in response, my mind worriedly working through various scenarios that could occur. I knew that no amount of anticipating what they will do will prepare me for what might happen.

I glanced at my comrades, “Vish’ala, Tali. Are there any rites or rituals to how to interact with them in a situation like this? I would rather impress them than upset or alienate them.”

“No, sir,” Tali replied. “However, those with lower rank are required to bow, meaning that since these three are civilians, they would be required to bow to you.”

“If they believed themselves of a higher station, such as a new Liger council, wouldn’t they assume that they were the highest rank?”

Vish’ala shook her head “They aren’t until registered and confirmed on the home world, which every Mac’skarian knows even as a child.”

“Yes, but these people have been isolated from anyone else for the last three hundred years, they may have decided to move away from those practices.”

Tali smiled, “While that is true, neither Alta or myself will respond to any order from them, as the Omega Protocol deems you the highest-ranking member of the Mac’skarian Empire.”

I thought for a moment then asked, “Couldn’t they just disconnect you from the systems and thereby circumvent your control over the ship and outpost?”

Tali shook her head, “Once a unit is activated, it is the only AI that will be used for that system. All critical functions are controlled and maintained through the AI core. Had Alta’s core been destroyed, there would have been no survivors on the outpost and the same would go for the Obsidian if I had been destroyed.”

“Well that eases my fears,” I replied, pacing on the bridge. “Though it is both a sign of paranoia and something that could have proved fatal to them.”

Tali and Vish’ala looked at me with a confused look on their faces, obviously unsure of what I meant.

I gestured to the holo display, “Effectively, should the council ever have to deal with a civil war, they could have the AI units cut the life support to the ship or facility, giving them ultimate control over the life and death of the entire Mac’skarian people. The other possible outcome would be a revolt of the AI’s themselves. They have the ability to commandeer any ship or facility, given their intrinsic access.”

Both of them went from confused to shocked and finally to horrified as I mentioned the circumstances that could have happened.

I stood before Tali and said, “That is not to say you and Alta are dangerous or anything like that, but you do have a unique access that could make that possible. We already know that this enemy’s technology was advanced compared to Mac’skarian standards, but could they have been able to hack into the AI units? While they are individual to each vessel and facility, they could also connect to the main core, as you told me. That means there is a specific carrier wave that is used to send commands, transfer information and software upgrades. If the enemy learned of what the carrier wave was, figured out the precise modulation, they would be able to access the signal and send viruses and malware.”

Vish’ala looked to be still confused, but I could see that Tali was accessing the knowledge she had downloaded from Earth to better understand what I was trying to convey.

“I see what you mean, sir,” Tali said softly. “I would need to see the logs of the outpost, in order to test your hypothesis. If you are right, we would be able to detect a transmission near the battle that is close, but not perfectly matching a signal from the council or the main core. While there is a possibility of either scenario occurring, we are programmed to protect and serve the empire and its citizens.”

“Tali, I want you to go through every android and artificial intelligence story or movie you downloaded from earth and see how we thought up ways for such programming to be ignored or circumvented by the AI”

She got a faraway look in her eyes, as she delved into the massive amounts of data that comprised the movies and stories about those circumstances. It was another five minutes before she came out of it, with an unreadable look on her face.

Her eyes locked with mine, “I will say your species’ talent of imagination is both vast and terrifying, plus I can’t find fault in the logic they used to create the scenarios. To think that it was possible before now would have been impossible, but now, after seeing that, I am unsure. Captain, you believe that they had to have help for a strike of this magnitude. If they had gotten into the AI Units on even a handful of our command carriers, then they could have kept the empire blind. The command carrier AI were hubs of information along with the main system. Infecting those, you could change troop assignments, reports, sightings, requests for assistance.”

“Are there any command carriers in this system, Tali?” I asked. “I know it is a long shot, but if so, it could pose a risk.”

“There are no command carriers in the system, Captain,” Tali answered, obviously aware of why I had asked.

“You think that the carriers’ AI units were taken over?” Vish’ala asked, visibly upset. “There were seven hundred command carriers how would they be able to infect them all?”

I sighed and said, “You only need to infect one. Once successful, the AI could infect two others and have those two infect two more. If they tried all at once for the whole fleet, then it could have been caught and neutralized. This could even have been done over the course of years to ensure no suspicions were raised. The AI would act no different, instead following commands or updated orders from the enemy. I bet every carrier is destroyed and that it was due to the shields not activating or going down suddenly. The easiest way to cover up their infiltration would be to utterly destroy the carriers.”

“The AI core serves as a black box,” Vish’ala countered, slightly agitated. “It’s designed to survive the complete destruction of the ship.”

Nodding, I asked, “Can it survive crashing into the surface of a star, being flown into the centre of a black hole? There are many ways to utterly destroy a ship so that the black box is completely destroyed, or unrecoverable.”

Vish’ala sighed in defeat. “That is an utterly morbid and paranoid way to think, Captain. What makes you think that they would do such things?”

“Because it would be how I would do it,” I replied, knowing it would increase her discomfort. “Infiltrate their means of communications to plant false information and hide your movements. Turn or conquer allies of your enemy to help further your plans and give you potential access to your enemy’s weakness. Amass a force that is equal to or more than your enemy in scale and attack everywhere at once, ensuring no time to plan, adapt or allow them to regain balance.”

My words caused Vish’ala to become lost in thought and I felt horrible that I put her in a position to question how secure their systems were or even the honour of their people. I needed to be pragmatic to ensure that we survived and perhaps win in the process. I had no delusions about what I had gotten myself into and there was a very high probability of failure, but I couldn’t walk away from this, either. To reference a movie I used to watch, I took the blue pill and dove down the rabbit hole of my own volition. I had to see this path to the end, no matter what that end might be.

While Vish’ala worked through her issues, I got up and made my way to the pilot’s chair. I sat down and looked over the control panel: the interface reminded me of one on Star Trek. A touchscreen interface, though the controls were clearly defined, unlike on Trek, where the actors would tap random buttons. Identifying the proper controls, I activated a mini holo representation in front of me, I began the lift off sequence.

Powering up the thrusters, I lifted the ship half a meter off the surface and activated the reverse thrusters to move us out of the hanger. I increased the detail so that I could see the dimensions of the entrance to the hanger bay. Flight simulators were never my forte, but I could hold my own. This command interface was much more my speed, almost like using a keyboard and I soon had the ship out of the hanger without a scratch. I killed the reverse thrusters and with a couple of bursts from the others, turned the ship towards the docking port and engaged the sub light engines.

I kept it at one fifth top speed for a few moments before letting the inertia of the burst take me to my destination. I was in no rush and didn’t want to risk having to take evasive maneuvers that I was unable to perform. I had to make multiple micro adjustments, but thirty minutes later I was nearing the designated docking port. I slowed our movements and turned the ship, so the docking port was facing the correct way. I could feel the sweat as my nervousness increased, but I was successful in docking the ship to the docking bay.

“Good job, Captain,” Vish’ala said softly to my right, a small smile on her face. “Thank you for doing this while I was working through the scenarios you put forth, though I shouldn’t have let my emotions get to me like that. I will endeavour to not let my emotions get in the way of my duty again, sir.”

I gave Vish’ala a reassuring smile, “Thank you for your praise, but you are allowed to be upset or confused by something. Besides, I needed to test the knowledge that I had been given, though I will need to work on my muscle memory.”

Vish’ala smiled and nodded, taking her post, once I had vacated the chair and, no doubt, double checking that I did everything properly. She looked back at me with a big smile, flashing those sparkling canines at me. Tali stood by my command chair, smiling at me as I took a seat.

I still had a few hours before the meeting with the representatives of the Mac’skarian survivors. I figured the time I had to wait for them to arrive was best spent learning.

I stood from my chair and said, “I will be in my room, going over what to expect from this meeting, both good and bad. Vish’ala, you have the bridge, Tali, keep our sensors scanning for possible threats. Our sensors may be limited, but I would rather have some form of warning than nothing at all.”

Both replied with a ‘yes, sir ‘before I left the bridge and headed for my room. I got some food from the food dispenser and sat at my desk. I enjoyed the soup I had ordered while I went through the various expectations when talking or negotiating with a Mac’skarian. The importance in conversation and negotiation with them is twofold, the first being respect, the second being strength. Equal respect is to be given to each member of the meeting, Mac’skarian and non Mac’skarian alike, as well as respect to the military rank of an individual. Lack of respect in either case is a serious faux pas and could see the individual ejected from the meeting or even punished, given the severity of the disrespect.

A delegation of Mac’skarians was once punished and imprisoned for the arrogance and disrespect shown to a Lith’roran delegation. They felt the Lith’roran, a small statured amphibian species, were beneath them and treated them as such. They were charged and punished by the Liger council with ten days in the brig for their disrespect. Another incident had a Mac’skarian from a well-off family show disrespect to both the Mac’skarian they were meeting with, as well as ignoring the person’s rank. Despite the importance in their society to instill this respect, there are always people who decide to ignore it because they think they know better. This resulted in the meeting being cancelled and a hefty fine being placed on the family, as well as the individual Mac’skarian.

Strength of stance and character is expected when talking with a Mac’skarian delegation. They expect decisive thoughts and plans when meeting, so the idea of an unsure or incomplete plan is offensive and a waste of time for them. They also expect those of strong character to conduct these meetings, not people easily swayed by forceful words or the promise of things of a monetary nature. If the plans are incomplete, the delegation can completely cancel the meeting then and there. If any individual, especially a Mac’skarian, is convicted of receiving a bribe of some kind, they are imprisoned for no less than five years, the maximum sentence being life in a penal colony. While it seemed rather harsh, it seemed that loyalty and strength of character were prized among the Mac’skarian people, but I wondered how much of that would have remained after three hundred years of struggle.