Post by EmperorMyric on Mar 22, 2021 15:36:08 GMT
Following FTL signatures was a tedious and boring process. There was a lot of sitting around watching progress bars go up, and the tedious task was made even more so by the fact Lethalon knew there was still fighting going on in and around Rubikon. She could be there, hijacking convoys and blasting warships but instead she was off on a game of cat and mouse across the galaxy.
But someone had to find the Z1, and she wasn't going to delegate the task to someone else. In the days since leaving Rubikon she'd occupied herself by catching up on reports from around the Organization. Trouble was brewing with the Anointed and the Twins were off on an adventure to stop it, Alison was still playing at being a proper mercenary, Caroline was off on a heist...
But even that only kept her occupied for so long. Then it was back to waiting, and waiting, and waiting, and waiting...
And finally something interesting.
The EPA had split up after retreating from Rubikon. Lethalon had had three lane pirates and decided to maximize her chances of finding the Z1 by following three different signatures. But, as the Greyhound dropped from FTL in a system on the edge of Dectrose space she was surprised to see the two other lane pirates and their escorts arriving.
"They must have met back up here," She commented, more to herself than to anyone else. "And then went where?"
Her forces linked back up with one another, three lane pirates, her battleship, three heavy cruisers, and six destroyers falling into formations, making fourteen ships total.
Patrol Fleet Echo Beta had been working with Corsair assets here and there to moniter and control the territory's borders, as per their usual routine. Johnathan Rios picked up the multiple signals coming from a sensor pod a little ways out from his position, and with things as they where, his small Hawk Escort Frigate wouldn't be the right fit for such an investigation, so instead Corsair Fleet Sapphire was dispatched out to take a look, the sensor pod giving the usual early warning information, as well as their current locations, now that they where at rest.
Captian Ajani Kyrnt already knew of the BSO, and felt a sickening feeling in his gut, scratching at his suit with his rather thick claws "Well now, the pirates that want to play politics are here? This should be an interesting discussion, warm up our warp drives and bring us in Helmsman." Soon after, the three Emerald Jewel IVs, four Orian IV Cruisers and six Vengeance Destroyers warped away from the Scrutinous, leaving Rios to continue on with his job.
"The plot thickens," Lethalon commented as her sensor operator finished relaying the ship's arrival to her. She'd expected the Dectrose might put in an appearance this close to their own space, but not so quickly. She smirked.
"Should we send a message?"
"Nope," Lethalon answered. "Continue running the scans, if they want to have a conversation they'll start it,"
Some time between destinations, Ajani scratched at his chin wondering what exactly the BSO are doing here, to be honest, it was a long-overdue meeting, and with what they had, he was sure to put on the pressure. The thirteen strong Corsair Fleet dropped out at least 2AU away from the BSO, and the lumbering captain opened up communications "Black Sail Organization, I've been sent to inform you of the restrictions of entering the Dectrose Empire at this time, as well as run scans on you to ensure that you're not actually Annointed, if indeed you are the Black Sail Organization, the Dectrose have been looking forward to speaking with you about a particular subject, do you agree to the terms? Or shall we make do away from the border?"
As he spoke, his claw skimmed through datalogs of what Shu and Morgan's fleets had on sensors during their brief moments with the BSO, it seemed that their warp system was upgraded from before, usually they had appeared to lock on to gravity signatures like stars or planets, this, while interesting, didn't suprise Ajani much.
"A particular subject," She commented tossing a tennis ball across the bridge to her communications officer. "What particular subject to you suppose that is Abdul?"
"Probably the Anointed,"
"Probably the Anointed," Lethalon agreed, catching the ball when he tossed it back to her. "You think they're going to tell us why they stood up the Arnott twins?"
He shrugged and caught the ball again.
"Shall we find out?" Lethalon asked with a smirk. "Yes, I believe we shall,"
She put the ball down after catching it once again and motioned for a communications line to be opened.
"Yoooooooooo," She said. "Yeah I was sent by Mbauntuwe with instructions to speak to an Admiral Terri. She around?"
The large captain scoffed, and moved his ships closer, sensors already warming up for passive scans, doing so on the BSO fleet "Quite an interesting taste for admirals, I will inform her of the situation, but we're not having a repeat of the Hana. I can assume since you didn't reply to our request for an active scan of your fleets, that your non-movement is consent enough to perform the check, if you have any conflict with this acceptance to be scanned, you can move to these new coordinates."
The Corsair warp drives cooled down, soon ready to go again, as was usual with the QRF-type ships that IBG and Corsairs shared when on duty together. Though to be hinest, this entire scene felt like some sort of set-up. Ajani knew in his most primal instincts that something was out of place. Terri herself was on Lupus, in the Command Tower preparing for the upcoming FDC meet with Bohler, she recieved the message from Ajani, but replied with her current situation, and asked that the Corsair fleet confirm that the BSO fleet was exactly that.
Ajani picked up the comms to the BSO ships "Terri is currently preparing for a diplomatic meeting with several other nations, so she is unavailable at this moment in time, would you like to ask for someone else?" He restrained himself a little, he wanted to let his normally aggressive side out, but as a Corsair, he had to play nice in this sort of situation.
"They're scanning,"
"Shields active?"
"Aye ma'am, the scan will come back inconclusive and they'll know we blocked it,"
"Good,"
She picked up the comms again and yawned loudly into the reciever.
"Yes, I'll hold for Admiral Terri," She said finally. "To be honest my man, your folks seem the most likely to be infected by the Anointed. They sure seem awful interested in you. So I'll wait until your Admiral gets on the line with me or shows up in person, because I was told to trust her, and not you."
She released the reciever and turned to one of her bridge crew.
"Get Murph and her people jacked in. I want cover this thing goes sideways,"
"On it ma'am," He answered.
"You got an ETA on when I can expect her man," She said, clicking the communicator back on. "I'm hoping to catch the last rack of egg rolls back my way,"
Ajani tapped his thick claws on the board, of course, the passive sensors said 'BSO' but active scans where turned on, and came back with little to no information. He ignored the first half of the BSO's transmission towards them, sending out an alert back to Patrol Fleet Echo Beta of the 'BSO' fleet's non-compliance for procedure, who then contacted the nearest IBG station, then contacted Strongtower Command.
The usual chain of command ordered Corsair Fleet Shadow to head out and see what the fuss was about, as well as Patrol Fleet Beta Echo to the location. Rios sighed and grumbled to himself about wasted time, called in a reserve IBG Patrol Fleet to cover for him, then warped out to the location. Packard, meanwhile was more interested why pirates where trying to contact Terri, if that even was the BSO. Last he heard through the grapevine was that this Mbauntuwe would contact the Dectrose Command should he want to talk to anyone, not park a fleet outside of the borders. It's not like they suddenly lost her number.
Still, Terri was updated with such proceedings, again. She informed Ajani to play it cool and try again to confirm that they where not Annointed. She didn't want to bother her ATAF guards today after the craziness of the Alfurian situation. To which Ajani opened Comms back "I'm told to inform you that your non-compliance to our standard procedure has alerted both IBG and Corsairs in the area to the situation, and they are currently en-route. Admiral Terri also stated that I must confirm that you are indeed who you say you are, please lower your shields so we can move this along." He didn't really know why, but Terri definately had a cool, calming effect on him, he didn't know why, or how, but it certainly helped, as much as he'd like to get his claws dirty.
[17/01/2018 7:03:42 PM] Pyromaniac: "Oooh, so that's how we want to play this hmm? Alright, alright, I see how it's gonna be," She picked up the comms and briefly sent a message out of system. She confirmed support and then came back comming the corsairs.
"Alright, that how you want to play it then sure, we'll play it like that," She said. They kept blocking the scan and she pulled Mbauntuwe's report and put in Terri's number. Waiting for the Admiral to pick up herself.
"Murphy online?" She called while she waited for Terri to pick up.
"She is, full audio-visual stream is out to her."
"Cool,"
She turned back to the communicator waiting for Terri to pick up.
Terri herself exhaled, apoligizing to Bohler as she left the room with her guards, and walked into a room similar to those on her own ship, and accepted the call "Grand Assault Fleet Admiral Vanessa Terri here, what seems to be the issue?" Soon after she picked up, the Scrutinous the wing of frigates warped in, Rios tapping on open comms "There better be a very good reason to not comply with the standard procedure, I'd like an explaination."
"Ah the great Admiral Terri," Lethalon cried exuberantly. "I've read so very much about you in Alison and Mbauntuwe's reports. This is Lethalon Fairwind, Pirate Queen of the Black Sail Organization here to deal with your little Anointed problem personally. Well they're not Anointed really. They're Shades. There's a difference. I'd be happy to explain all this and so much more to you for the low, low price of... oh... shall we say putting a halt to all these corsairs and over eager military captains trying to intimidate me and scan my vessels. We wouldn't want to start an incident, now would we Admiral? Not when I have so much to tell you to get you and your boys up to speed for when you rendezvous with the Arnott twins,"
"I appreciate your eagerness to tell me such information, Lethalon Fairwind, but you must understand, this.. Shade.. problem is one we still are dealing with. After the events of Kaikoma, we've established standard procedures for our IBG and Corsair fleets to follow to ensure that traffic is directed to the safe areas. And if we where to allow your own fleet to skip these procedures, others will likely cite such as a reason to skip these safety measures. Sadly I cannot stop the IBG and Corsairs from following orders and doing their job, I'd kindly ask that you just allow them to scan your vessels, and we can start from there." She inhaled a little, and drank from her cup of coffee.
"As far as the Annointed, I'll be able to tell you more once we can confirm your identity, it's not that I don't believe you, but we simply need to confirm things in order to talk further."
"So all vessels are scanned this way?" Lethalon asked. "Well, as long as its all of them,"
She let go of the comms.
"There's a starting point Murph. Anderson, get the shields down. Murph, do your thing,"
"You got it," Murphy answered letting Lethalon and her ship fall away. Around her five hundred of her fellow neuromancers were waiting. Attack programs were loaded, cracks were ready to roll, and they had a starting point.
"Alright boys and girls. Let's rock,"
The attack began suddenly. At the speed of thought the neuromancers pulled together every spare byte of process power the Anointed's dedicated EW vessel had and launched their assault. They began the same place they had last time, following the trail left by the Mantis I they'd subdued months ago back to the DRI institute and into the Dectrose network.
Attacks launched, the system was flooded with malware and brute force attacks, all carrying tell tale signs of being of Anointed origins. Most of the attacks were false flags, mass attacks meant to disguise the true target of the neuromancers, a program weaving its way to the IBG databanks.
With the shield down the scans went through and returned to the Dectrose, confirming the ships as being of Black Sail Origin.
"There, I've submitted to your scan Admiral," Lethalon said with a sigh. "Since you couldn't prevent that the price has gone up. I'm going to ask a question, I want an honest answer and then I'll tell you everything you want to know about the Shades,"
Shortly after IBG began their scans, taking the reigns from the Corsair fleet, Packard's own fleet arrived, opening comms with Ajani "So, what's this about?" to which the large bear replied "We got these guys rocking up to our border, and expected us to just let it fly. It's not like there's stations to go to listed on the Ancnet where this can be done more effectively." Packard sighed "Well, you gunna ask them or shall I? I seem to be packing the most here in regards to ship numbers." Ajani did a quick headcount, counting out 25 ships of Packard's own ships, and tapped his claw on the comms button "Sure, just make sure they understand what it's all about."
Once finished, IBG confirmed that they where indeed ships belonging to the BSO, having checked for any signs of known Annointed technology, and personnel, they came up clean. The IBG then logged this to the nearest station, and moved in line with the Corsairs. Terri then proceeded "Yes, all vessels entering the Empire must submit to these scans, I'd advise you look on our official governmental page on Ancnet for up-to-date information from now on, if this happened at the proper IBG station, I can assure you would have had a different welcome. But in regards to your question, I believe that there is an unfinished contract you have with us, that I'll let Corsair Captain Packard explain."
Packard nonchalantly messed with the collar on his uniform, then opened the channel "Right, so, greetings to you and all, I'm Corsair Commander Packard, and I'd like to ask you about that equipment you had borrowed from Vi-Jon at the DRI Facility at Uproth. Cause, you see, we had a contract, and we haven't heard anything since about it, but we would like it brought back before we do any more business with the BSO. Such equipment is now outdated, but the technology may fall into.. worse hands if it was decided to be dropped in the black market, and me and my boys would very much like to prevent such a thing. So when can we expect it?"
--
Uproth had been enjoying some peace and quiet of late, working on progressing the Mantis IV project, and further fine-tuning the prototype models based on notes given to them from Gavin. While the Mantis III EW/EWDS was running just as well as it could be, the Mantis IV would include a multitude of newer cyberwarfare suites, physical abilities and more fluid control of the nanites that made it up, to begin on supplementing the Dectrose Marines onboard the Imperial ships.
Vi-Jon had saved his neck when Saber's reign fell, by putting all his efforts into the Soul Capture technology, without the help of the BSO whom he had contracted prior, but with the volunteers coming forward at a slow, but steady pace, he was able to both capture, and release the 'souls' back into their original bodies using the basis of the Cloning Chips. It was all he needed for a massive increase in funding, and his research was going well, but before he could work on the next line of code, EWDS systems rang out and signaled a cyber attack from an as-of-unknown assailant.
It wasn't long before the RAVD nodes and the Mantis IIIs working alongside them concluded such an attack was immensely overwhelming, but given the usage of older technology and pathways that had previously been scrubbed off, it was deduced that it belonged to the older Mantis I EWDS Software. The system shut down the pathway completely, but the attack still kept coming, trying to access communications and database information, the latter sealed off on Uproth to try and protect the information, as the Mantis IV platforms where prematurely sent into the fray.
Still, the attackers had the advantage of the first strike, several EWDS programs succumbing and then being shut down for their own safety, as Limbo Server Farms, Mantis III and the prototype IVs moving into action to slow the tide, as well as the RAVD nodes supplementing with their own unique EWDS. A final communication from Uproth stated it was under cyberattack, and shutting off most lines of communication except the heavily encrypted ones, and contacted the IBG station to investigate.
This communication, however was ridden by the BSO Neuromancers, and once they achieved getting into the IBG databank on Mark Sokolov Station, they began their search, finding some logs and dates regarding recent incidents. Though every step of the way, they had been detected and EWDS where trying to stop and contain them, nearly every file regarding recent incidents where encrypted, so it would take some time to decrypt them.
Once inside the IBG database the job got easier. Lethalon and the Raiders hadn't been far behind the Z1, only a few days at most, which left a relatively small window of time where the Z1 would have been detected.
Spider Murphy flicked through the files while the neuromancers kept the electronic warfare occupied. She supposed there was little the Dectrose could actually do to them. After all, neuromancers had been manufactured as dedicated AI killers, and an electronic warfare system that relied heavily on AIs (worse, on AI's who's source code they'd been able to study in at least some small capacity) posed little in the way of an actual threat to them.
Having found the files she was searching for the neuromancer loaded up her decryption programs, syphoning off processing power from the main attack to decrypting the file. The neuromancers could manage momentarily without the power.
"Won't be long now," Spider Murphy muttered to herself.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"Dunno," Lethalon answered with a bored sigh. "That was the Reaper Crew's thing. You'd have to ask them. I've got enough to worry about without trying to keep track of every little contract every indie agrees to do."
She let the line go dead with Packard, he was of little interest to her, and turned her attention back to Terri.
"Now I've submitted to your scan and answered your question. My turn? My turn." She paused momentarily as she was informed the shields had been brought back online. "Where's the Z1 Vanessa?" She asked, a sly grin playing at her lips.
She gave a calculated pause, not too short and not too long, before answering "You're going to have to forward to me what this might be, as far as I'm aware, the Dectrose have never encountered such a thing as the "Z1". Is it perhaps a ship designation for an Araxium vessel? I'd be happy to help you if I knew exactly what we're talking about, but as far as Packard, he is correct. We would like that equipment back, no exceptions. You can simply open a channel to their fleet and speak to them without much hassle I hope?"
Reports from the attack on Uproth filtered through the channels, and did eventually meet Terri's RAVD node. The timing, plus the fact it looked like an Annointed attack, lead her to believe that the BSO where here for something much more. They had already attacked Uproth before, why would the Annointed attack Uproth as well? They would be almost fighting themselves, but with the force and assault of the attack better connecting with Corsair Admiral Shu, Admiral Morgan and Grand Defense Fleet Admiral Powell's accounts, it was more than likely a BSO ruse.
But she wasn't about to make accusations yet, she wanted to see where they went, and how far they would go, before taking any other action. For now, she'd let them play their game. Meanwhile, Bohler had readied up an ISF task force, including the ISF Pride of Decoroso in responce to the attack on Uproth.
--
As the Mantis Programs tried to stem the tide, they did make some valuable defense in containing the spread to Uproth and fortified three of the IBG stations that had been contaminated after the communication. They where putting up a fight, but at this point it was just a numbers game, how many would die to protect the databases before the BSO relented?
Though with the defense slowly solidifying, the BSO decryption took some time, needing to break through several unique EWDS that belonged to the RAVD nodes that held some of the information, but even then, some had leaked out. The incoming signal from the IBG databanks to the north regarding the Alfurian ships was available, another one detailed a false signal that came from another sector that IBG investigated and found nothing, then finally the third information set detailed a response from the ISF and IBG on a cargo ship that didn't go through the usual procedure, and was investigated on.
Murphy kept digging and the neuromancers kept fighting. She downloaded the files she'd already found, copying them to a dozen locations and back ups. They weren't what she was looking for, but they may very well prove useful at a later point.
~~~~
"Okay, this shit's boring now," Lethalon declared with a sigh. "Politicians may enjoy these games but I don't Vanessa. Here's where we stand: I know the Z1 came here, and given how quickly ya boi showed up and the fact the stupid thing practically glows in the dark I'm pretty sure there's no way you didn't notice it. So here are the choices: Option one, you tell me where it is, after which my ship suffers inexplicable comms failure, and I fly my fine ass back to the nearest Freeport to phone in the information giving you a whole six hours to prepare. Option two, you don't tell me where it is, I find out anyway, and I transfer that information straight to the AGA. Or option three, you don't tell me, I don't find out, and rather than miss a lucrative pay day I manufacture the evidence. I'm sure Murph has enough samples by now for me to make a very convincing forgery. Could make it look like the Z1 was taken to Uproth, or Decorso, or any number of heavily populated systems. So, you can tell me where it really is Vanessa, or I'll point the AGA to somewhere it isn't and watch the civilian death toll sky rocket. This is a class three weapon of mass destruction after all. The AGA will shoot first and ask questions never,"
She paused letting all of that sink in while her comms officer informed her that all preparations were complete.
Terri listened as Lethalon ranted on, threats and the like flowed under her like water under a bridge. "Quick to lose patience with someone asking for some more significant explaination? It's likely not a coincidence that after you allowed our scans to go through, that we where attacked at long range by a cyberattack, using the same route, on the same target, as you have before. I know the BSO are attacking Uproth, and for what exactly? Is this what the AGA does now, is use pirates to try and force neutral powers into submission for things they have no part of? Don't try to play me Lethalon, if the AGA where to attack the Dectrose, after Kaikoma, it would be foolish for APP not to use it against your employers. Not to mention that our alliances would likely come to our aid after the fireworks die down, and then what?"
She smiled and kept cooly, calmly talking "I don't think you're looking at the long term consequences, as you've already tried to strongarm the wrong person. I'd like to formally call off any remaining contracts we have together, if you want to drop that equipment on some planet, we can likely find ways to either get it back or destroy it, but don't think you have an upper hand on us." She tapped her node, and the ISF Fleet Bohler readied became available to warp to the location as soon as possible.
"Though, I'll allow your team to keep what you gained from the IBG databanks, as you will find we have not had contact with this Z1 you mentioned, and perhaps this was a ruse to lead you off the trail of where the Z1 resides. I wish you luck, but I'll be sure to inform the IBG to shoot you on sight should you return in the future, and upload the conversation and send it to the appropriate parties. You are no longer welcome here, please see yourself away from our borders, and should you wish to contact us again, I'm sure you know where our embassies are. Have a good day Lethalon."
She tapped her node to cut off the line, and contacted Strongtower Command "See to it those files on the IBG databanks are made public, contact an AGA representative and forward the conversation, and explain to them that we will not work with pirates in the future." She paused "And ready our friends for combat, should the BSO try to take aggressive action."
Packard recieved the order to see the BSO out, and simply stood by to see what they would do, shields came up, weapons turned hot across the assembled fleets as they prepped for the worst-case scenario, the ISF fleet was primed and ready to warp, ready to respond if an assault came in much higher force than they already had.
--
Murphy had, by this time, dried the river of information that was available, and is Terri had stated, there was nothing involving the Z1 there. The Neuromancers had bled dry what they could get, with the noose tightening with ever more numbers of EWDS programs flooding in from other free servers to contain them. It was an uphill battle, for every one AI they took out, three more where increasingly putting in their weight.
"Well that went well," Lethalon commented. "How are we looking?"
"Analysis is complete. We identified the Z1's signature. FTL jump was undertaken into Dectrose space,"
"Perfect. Murphy, would you kindly make good on my threat? And get Volkus on the line if you'd be so kind,"
The comms officer did as he was told dialing into the comms frequency.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~
There it was. That wonderful word Murphy had awaited for so long. Ever since coming to this galaxy in fact. All she'd done up until now was coast along. Writing defenses, crashing a power grid once when she got bored. Nothing challenging, nothing that truly deserved her attentions.
But now she had that wonderful word:
Attack.
Murphy let the decryptions and her gentle weavings through cyberspace slip away.
"Slash and burn baby,"
Brute force didn't begin to describe what came next. Gigabytes of malware were abruptly uploaded to the system as Murphy seized control of every spare inch of processing power she could find. The Anointed ship was hers, the other neuromancers a mere sideshow.
She turned the Dectrose's own systems against them, immediately purging the IBG and taking the processing power to fuel her own attack. Malware flooded into the system and the neuromancers attack programs lashed out with a deadly efficiency. Artificial intelligences were cut down around her as she seized control of the system and carved a path back to the communications node, destroying everything in her path.
The other neuromancers, for their part, attempted to replicate the process on Uproth, deleting information and seizing control of more systems and power to fuel Murphy as her assault continued.
She divided her attentions upon reaching the communications node. One attack tunneled toward the most secure server it could find while Murphy set about a second task. Lethalon and Terri's conversation was easy enough to find among the swirling data. She knew Lethalon's comm signature already, it was easy enough to find it.
She began purging all logs of the conversation while she simultenously flooded the comms system with more garbage transmissions then it could every hope to properly rout.
"Now then, Terri seems mighty smug, lets have a look through your comms history..." The neuromancer grinned.
It was then that the EWDS simply gave way, cutting off connection to exterior sources, burning and deleting them in a way that the infiltration was fully contained to the three IBG stations and Uproth. Sure they would be helpless and the data on those servers would be wiped, but there where always backups. The three stations and Uproth where gone, everything had been wiped, but there was no more forward progress following that.
The node Terri had used uploaded the conversation already prior to the attack, and once it found itself in danger, cut itself off and made itself inert. The node itself wasn't the one that Terri had been using for her own use, it was for meetings on Lupus, it had provided nothing but a dead end. For all intents and purposes, there was nothing more the Neuromancers or Murphy could have done. But be it as it was, it was still considered an attack.
--
Immediately, interdiction came online with the IBG and Corsair Fleets, trapping the BSO there as Murphy attacked. They had their chance to go, now they stood there as the attack took place. The Corsairs and IBG fleets opened fire on where they thought that critical components may be, engines, the communications equipment that may be near the bridge, amidships where a reactor may be, anything that would disable but not kill them. It was not accurate enough fire to know for sure, as the scans only confirmed the identity of the ships, and didn't identify major systems.
The Hawk, Orian IVs and Emerald Jewel IVs opened their EW up, bringing up combat logs of the previous engagement Morgan and Shu had with the BSO to get an idea on hampering and delaying use of weapons, targeting and propulsion. Of course, internal systems may have had an upgrade since then, and the effectiveness may not be as successful as previous attempts. The assembled ships also set to full speed, using their small size and propulsion speed to evade most of the fire that would likely come it's way. Automatically, the ISF fleet also began it's warp to the location, ensuring that there would be sufficient force to capture them.
The situation was grim. Despite all aspects and possible outcomes the possibility of such a large influx of reinforcements put the entire plan in jeopady. Either they could leave the interdicted craft to their fate or they could fight an overwhelming enemy and die. For the 425 vessels that were now faced with that choice they now took the oppotunity. The BSO force immediately engaged FTL drives and left the area, the chance of death outweighed the payment of the job, it was a simple fact.
For Lethalon and the other 13 vessels in her flotilla they too had a choice, die or surrender. And considering that some of the crews would likely not take kindly to the death optiom surrender was the safest option. They had been put into a situation out of their control and now simply had to face those down. Surrendering to the Dectrose the 13 ships and fighter craft were detained, although multiple Dectrose personel were either killed or harmed by fighting inside the ships as organised crew reissted the surrender order and fought back. Either way the BSO small fleet was now faced with whatever the future held for them and Lethalon and their fates would be decided in the coming days.
But someone had to find the Z1, and she wasn't going to delegate the task to someone else. In the days since leaving Rubikon she'd occupied herself by catching up on reports from around the Organization. Trouble was brewing with the Anointed and the Twins were off on an adventure to stop it, Alison was still playing at being a proper mercenary, Caroline was off on a heist...
But even that only kept her occupied for so long. Then it was back to waiting, and waiting, and waiting, and waiting...
And finally something interesting.
The EPA had split up after retreating from Rubikon. Lethalon had had three lane pirates and decided to maximize her chances of finding the Z1 by following three different signatures. But, as the Greyhound dropped from FTL in a system on the edge of Dectrose space she was surprised to see the two other lane pirates and their escorts arriving.
"They must have met back up here," She commented, more to herself than to anyone else. "And then went where?"
Her forces linked back up with one another, three lane pirates, her battleship, three heavy cruisers, and six destroyers falling into formations, making fourteen ships total.
Patrol Fleet Echo Beta had been working with Corsair assets here and there to moniter and control the territory's borders, as per their usual routine. Johnathan Rios picked up the multiple signals coming from a sensor pod a little ways out from his position, and with things as they where, his small Hawk Escort Frigate wouldn't be the right fit for such an investigation, so instead Corsair Fleet Sapphire was dispatched out to take a look, the sensor pod giving the usual early warning information, as well as their current locations, now that they where at rest.
Captian Ajani Kyrnt already knew of the BSO, and felt a sickening feeling in his gut, scratching at his suit with his rather thick claws "Well now, the pirates that want to play politics are here? This should be an interesting discussion, warm up our warp drives and bring us in Helmsman." Soon after, the three Emerald Jewel IVs, four Orian IV Cruisers and six Vengeance Destroyers warped away from the Scrutinous, leaving Rios to continue on with his job.
"The plot thickens," Lethalon commented as her sensor operator finished relaying the ship's arrival to her. She'd expected the Dectrose might put in an appearance this close to their own space, but not so quickly. She smirked.
"Should we send a message?"
"Nope," Lethalon answered. "Continue running the scans, if they want to have a conversation they'll start it,"
Some time between destinations, Ajani scratched at his chin wondering what exactly the BSO are doing here, to be honest, it was a long-overdue meeting, and with what they had, he was sure to put on the pressure. The thirteen strong Corsair Fleet dropped out at least 2AU away from the BSO, and the lumbering captain opened up communications "Black Sail Organization, I've been sent to inform you of the restrictions of entering the Dectrose Empire at this time, as well as run scans on you to ensure that you're not actually Annointed, if indeed you are the Black Sail Organization, the Dectrose have been looking forward to speaking with you about a particular subject, do you agree to the terms? Or shall we make do away from the border?"
As he spoke, his claw skimmed through datalogs of what Shu and Morgan's fleets had on sensors during their brief moments with the BSO, it seemed that their warp system was upgraded from before, usually they had appeared to lock on to gravity signatures like stars or planets, this, while interesting, didn't suprise Ajani much.
"A particular subject," She commented tossing a tennis ball across the bridge to her communications officer. "What particular subject to you suppose that is Abdul?"
"Probably the Anointed,"
"Probably the Anointed," Lethalon agreed, catching the ball when he tossed it back to her. "You think they're going to tell us why they stood up the Arnott twins?"
He shrugged and caught the ball again.
"Shall we find out?" Lethalon asked with a smirk. "Yes, I believe we shall,"
She put the ball down after catching it once again and motioned for a communications line to be opened.
"Yoooooooooo," She said. "Yeah I was sent by Mbauntuwe with instructions to speak to an Admiral Terri. She around?"
The large captain scoffed, and moved his ships closer, sensors already warming up for passive scans, doing so on the BSO fleet "Quite an interesting taste for admirals, I will inform her of the situation, but we're not having a repeat of the Hana. I can assume since you didn't reply to our request for an active scan of your fleets, that your non-movement is consent enough to perform the check, if you have any conflict with this acceptance to be scanned, you can move to these new coordinates."
The Corsair warp drives cooled down, soon ready to go again, as was usual with the QRF-type ships that IBG and Corsairs shared when on duty together. Though to be hinest, this entire scene felt like some sort of set-up. Ajani knew in his most primal instincts that something was out of place. Terri herself was on Lupus, in the Command Tower preparing for the upcoming FDC meet with Bohler, she recieved the message from Ajani, but replied with her current situation, and asked that the Corsair fleet confirm that the BSO fleet was exactly that.
Ajani picked up the comms to the BSO ships "Terri is currently preparing for a diplomatic meeting with several other nations, so she is unavailable at this moment in time, would you like to ask for someone else?" He restrained himself a little, he wanted to let his normally aggressive side out, but as a Corsair, he had to play nice in this sort of situation.
"They're scanning,"
"Shields active?"
"Aye ma'am, the scan will come back inconclusive and they'll know we blocked it,"
"Good,"
She picked up the comms again and yawned loudly into the reciever.
"Yes, I'll hold for Admiral Terri," She said finally. "To be honest my man, your folks seem the most likely to be infected by the Anointed. They sure seem awful interested in you. So I'll wait until your Admiral gets on the line with me or shows up in person, because I was told to trust her, and not you."
She released the reciever and turned to one of her bridge crew.
"Get Murph and her people jacked in. I want cover this thing goes sideways,"
"On it ma'am," He answered.
"You got an ETA on when I can expect her man," She said, clicking the communicator back on. "I'm hoping to catch the last rack of egg rolls back my way,"
Ajani tapped his thick claws on the board, of course, the passive sensors said 'BSO' but active scans where turned on, and came back with little to no information. He ignored the first half of the BSO's transmission towards them, sending out an alert back to Patrol Fleet Echo Beta of the 'BSO' fleet's non-compliance for procedure, who then contacted the nearest IBG station, then contacted Strongtower Command.
The usual chain of command ordered Corsair Fleet Shadow to head out and see what the fuss was about, as well as Patrol Fleet Beta Echo to the location. Rios sighed and grumbled to himself about wasted time, called in a reserve IBG Patrol Fleet to cover for him, then warped out to the location. Packard, meanwhile was more interested why pirates where trying to contact Terri, if that even was the BSO. Last he heard through the grapevine was that this Mbauntuwe would contact the Dectrose Command should he want to talk to anyone, not park a fleet outside of the borders. It's not like they suddenly lost her number.
Still, Terri was updated with such proceedings, again. She informed Ajani to play it cool and try again to confirm that they where not Annointed. She didn't want to bother her ATAF guards today after the craziness of the Alfurian situation. To which Ajani opened Comms back "I'm told to inform you that your non-compliance to our standard procedure has alerted both IBG and Corsairs in the area to the situation, and they are currently en-route. Admiral Terri also stated that I must confirm that you are indeed who you say you are, please lower your shields so we can move this along." He didn't really know why, but Terri definately had a cool, calming effect on him, he didn't know why, or how, but it certainly helped, as much as he'd like to get his claws dirty.
[17/01/2018 7:03:42 PM] Pyromaniac: "Oooh, so that's how we want to play this hmm? Alright, alright, I see how it's gonna be," She picked up the comms and briefly sent a message out of system. She confirmed support and then came back comming the corsairs.
"Alright, that how you want to play it then sure, we'll play it like that," She said. They kept blocking the scan and she pulled Mbauntuwe's report and put in Terri's number. Waiting for the Admiral to pick up herself.
"Murphy online?" She called while she waited for Terri to pick up.
"She is, full audio-visual stream is out to her."
"Cool,"
She turned back to the communicator waiting for Terri to pick up.
Terri herself exhaled, apoligizing to Bohler as she left the room with her guards, and walked into a room similar to those on her own ship, and accepted the call "Grand Assault Fleet Admiral Vanessa Terri here, what seems to be the issue?" Soon after she picked up, the Scrutinous the wing of frigates warped in, Rios tapping on open comms "There better be a very good reason to not comply with the standard procedure, I'd like an explaination."
"Ah the great Admiral Terri," Lethalon cried exuberantly. "I've read so very much about you in Alison and Mbauntuwe's reports. This is Lethalon Fairwind, Pirate Queen of the Black Sail Organization here to deal with your little Anointed problem personally. Well they're not Anointed really. They're Shades. There's a difference. I'd be happy to explain all this and so much more to you for the low, low price of... oh... shall we say putting a halt to all these corsairs and over eager military captains trying to intimidate me and scan my vessels. We wouldn't want to start an incident, now would we Admiral? Not when I have so much to tell you to get you and your boys up to speed for when you rendezvous with the Arnott twins,"
"I appreciate your eagerness to tell me such information, Lethalon Fairwind, but you must understand, this.. Shade.. problem is one we still are dealing with. After the events of Kaikoma, we've established standard procedures for our IBG and Corsair fleets to follow to ensure that traffic is directed to the safe areas. And if we where to allow your own fleet to skip these procedures, others will likely cite such as a reason to skip these safety measures. Sadly I cannot stop the IBG and Corsairs from following orders and doing their job, I'd kindly ask that you just allow them to scan your vessels, and we can start from there." She inhaled a little, and drank from her cup of coffee.
"As far as the Annointed, I'll be able to tell you more once we can confirm your identity, it's not that I don't believe you, but we simply need to confirm things in order to talk further."
"So all vessels are scanned this way?" Lethalon asked. "Well, as long as its all of them,"
She let go of the comms.
"There's a starting point Murph. Anderson, get the shields down. Murph, do your thing,"
"You got it," Murphy answered letting Lethalon and her ship fall away. Around her five hundred of her fellow neuromancers were waiting. Attack programs were loaded, cracks were ready to roll, and they had a starting point.
"Alright boys and girls. Let's rock,"
The attack began suddenly. At the speed of thought the neuromancers pulled together every spare byte of process power the Anointed's dedicated EW vessel had and launched their assault. They began the same place they had last time, following the trail left by the Mantis I they'd subdued months ago back to the DRI institute and into the Dectrose network.
Attacks launched, the system was flooded with malware and brute force attacks, all carrying tell tale signs of being of Anointed origins. Most of the attacks were false flags, mass attacks meant to disguise the true target of the neuromancers, a program weaving its way to the IBG databanks.
With the shield down the scans went through and returned to the Dectrose, confirming the ships as being of Black Sail Origin.
"There, I've submitted to your scan Admiral," Lethalon said with a sigh. "Since you couldn't prevent that the price has gone up. I'm going to ask a question, I want an honest answer and then I'll tell you everything you want to know about the Shades,"
Shortly after IBG began their scans, taking the reigns from the Corsair fleet, Packard's own fleet arrived, opening comms with Ajani "So, what's this about?" to which the large bear replied "We got these guys rocking up to our border, and expected us to just let it fly. It's not like there's stations to go to listed on the Ancnet where this can be done more effectively." Packard sighed "Well, you gunna ask them or shall I? I seem to be packing the most here in regards to ship numbers." Ajani did a quick headcount, counting out 25 ships of Packard's own ships, and tapped his claw on the comms button "Sure, just make sure they understand what it's all about."
Once finished, IBG confirmed that they where indeed ships belonging to the BSO, having checked for any signs of known Annointed technology, and personnel, they came up clean. The IBG then logged this to the nearest station, and moved in line with the Corsairs. Terri then proceeded "Yes, all vessels entering the Empire must submit to these scans, I'd advise you look on our official governmental page on Ancnet for up-to-date information from now on, if this happened at the proper IBG station, I can assure you would have had a different welcome. But in regards to your question, I believe that there is an unfinished contract you have with us, that I'll let Corsair Captain Packard explain."
Packard nonchalantly messed with the collar on his uniform, then opened the channel "Right, so, greetings to you and all, I'm Corsair Commander Packard, and I'd like to ask you about that equipment you had borrowed from Vi-Jon at the DRI Facility at Uproth. Cause, you see, we had a contract, and we haven't heard anything since about it, but we would like it brought back before we do any more business with the BSO. Such equipment is now outdated, but the technology may fall into.. worse hands if it was decided to be dropped in the black market, and me and my boys would very much like to prevent such a thing. So when can we expect it?"
--
Uproth had been enjoying some peace and quiet of late, working on progressing the Mantis IV project, and further fine-tuning the prototype models based on notes given to them from Gavin. While the Mantis III EW/EWDS was running just as well as it could be, the Mantis IV would include a multitude of newer cyberwarfare suites, physical abilities and more fluid control of the nanites that made it up, to begin on supplementing the Dectrose Marines onboard the Imperial ships.
Vi-Jon had saved his neck when Saber's reign fell, by putting all his efforts into the Soul Capture technology, without the help of the BSO whom he had contracted prior, but with the volunteers coming forward at a slow, but steady pace, he was able to both capture, and release the 'souls' back into their original bodies using the basis of the Cloning Chips. It was all he needed for a massive increase in funding, and his research was going well, but before he could work on the next line of code, EWDS systems rang out and signaled a cyber attack from an as-of-unknown assailant.
It wasn't long before the RAVD nodes and the Mantis IIIs working alongside them concluded such an attack was immensely overwhelming, but given the usage of older technology and pathways that had previously been scrubbed off, it was deduced that it belonged to the older Mantis I EWDS Software. The system shut down the pathway completely, but the attack still kept coming, trying to access communications and database information, the latter sealed off on Uproth to try and protect the information, as the Mantis IV platforms where prematurely sent into the fray.
Still, the attackers had the advantage of the first strike, several EWDS programs succumbing and then being shut down for their own safety, as Limbo Server Farms, Mantis III and the prototype IVs moving into action to slow the tide, as well as the RAVD nodes supplementing with their own unique EWDS. A final communication from Uproth stated it was under cyberattack, and shutting off most lines of communication except the heavily encrypted ones, and contacted the IBG station to investigate.
This communication, however was ridden by the BSO Neuromancers, and once they achieved getting into the IBG databank on Mark Sokolov Station, they began their search, finding some logs and dates regarding recent incidents. Though every step of the way, they had been detected and EWDS where trying to stop and contain them, nearly every file regarding recent incidents where encrypted, so it would take some time to decrypt them.
Once inside the IBG database the job got easier. Lethalon and the Raiders hadn't been far behind the Z1, only a few days at most, which left a relatively small window of time where the Z1 would have been detected.
Spider Murphy flicked through the files while the neuromancers kept the electronic warfare occupied. She supposed there was little the Dectrose could actually do to them. After all, neuromancers had been manufactured as dedicated AI killers, and an electronic warfare system that relied heavily on AIs (worse, on AI's who's source code they'd been able to study in at least some small capacity) posed little in the way of an actual threat to them.
Having found the files she was searching for the neuromancer loaded up her decryption programs, syphoning off processing power from the main attack to decrypting the file. The neuromancers could manage momentarily without the power.
"Won't be long now," Spider Murphy muttered to herself.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"Dunno," Lethalon answered with a bored sigh. "That was the Reaper Crew's thing. You'd have to ask them. I've got enough to worry about without trying to keep track of every little contract every indie agrees to do."
She let the line go dead with Packard, he was of little interest to her, and turned her attention back to Terri.
"Now I've submitted to your scan and answered your question. My turn? My turn." She paused momentarily as she was informed the shields had been brought back online. "Where's the Z1 Vanessa?" She asked, a sly grin playing at her lips.
She gave a calculated pause, not too short and not too long, before answering "You're going to have to forward to me what this might be, as far as I'm aware, the Dectrose have never encountered such a thing as the "Z1". Is it perhaps a ship designation for an Araxium vessel? I'd be happy to help you if I knew exactly what we're talking about, but as far as Packard, he is correct. We would like that equipment back, no exceptions. You can simply open a channel to their fleet and speak to them without much hassle I hope?"
Reports from the attack on Uproth filtered through the channels, and did eventually meet Terri's RAVD node. The timing, plus the fact it looked like an Annointed attack, lead her to believe that the BSO where here for something much more. They had already attacked Uproth before, why would the Annointed attack Uproth as well? They would be almost fighting themselves, but with the force and assault of the attack better connecting with Corsair Admiral Shu, Admiral Morgan and Grand Defense Fleet Admiral Powell's accounts, it was more than likely a BSO ruse.
But she wasn't about to make accusations yet, she wanted to see where they went, and how far they would go, before taking any other action. For now, she'd let them play their game. Meanwhile, Bohler had readied up an ISF task force, including the ISF Pride of Decoroso in responce to the attack on Uproth.
--
As the Mantis Programs tried to stem the tide, they did make some valuable defense in containing the spread to Uproth and fortified three of the IBG stations that had been contaminated after the communication. They where putting up a fight, but at this point it was just a numbers game, how many would die to protect the databases before the BSO relented?
Though with the defense slowly solidifying, the BSO decryption took some time, needing to break through several unique EWDS that belonged to the RAVD nodes that held some of the information, but even then, some had leaked out. The incoming signal from the IBG databanks to the north regarding the Alfurian ships was available, another one detailed a false signal that came from another sector that IBG investigated and found nothing, then finally the third information set detailed a response from the ISF and IBG on a cargo ship that didn't go through the usual procedure, and was investigated on.
Murphy kept digging and the neuromancers kept fighting. She downloaded the files she'd already found, copying them to a dozen locations and back ups. They weren't what she was looking for, but they may very well prove useful at a later point.
~~~~
"Okay, this shit's boring now," Lethalon declared with a sigh. "Politicians may enjoy these games but I don't Vanessa. Here's where we stand: I know the Z1 came here, and given how quickly ya boi showed up and the fact the stupid thing practically glows in the dark I'm pretty sure there's no way you didn't notice it. So here are the choices: Option one, you tell me where it is, after which my ship suffers inexplicable comms failure, and I fly my fine ass back to the nearest Freeport to phone in the information giving you a whole six hours to prepare. Option two, you don't tell me where it is, I find out anyway, and I transfer that information straight to the AGA. Or option three, you don't tell me, I don't find out, and rather than miss a lucrative pay day I manufacture the evidence. I'm sure Murph has enough samples by now for me to make a very convincing forgery. Could make it look like the Z1 was taken to Uproth, or Decorso, or any number of heavily populated systems. So, you can tell me where it really is Vanessa, or I'll point the AGA to somewhere it isn't and watch the civilian death toll sky rocket. This is a class three weapon of mass destruction after all. The AGA will shoot first and ask questions never,"
She paused letting all of that sink in while her comms officer informed her that all preparations were complete.
Terri listened as Lethalon ranted on, threats and the like flowed under her like water under a bridge. "Quick to lose patience with someone asking for some more significant explaination? It's likely not a coincidence that after you allowed our scans to go through, that we where attacked at long range by a cyberattack, using the same route, on the same target, as you have before. I know the BSO are attacking Uproth, and for what exactly? Is this what the AGA does now, is use pirates to try and force neutral powers into submission for things they have no part of? Don't try to play me Lethalon, if the AGA where to attack the Dectrose, after Kaikoma, it would be foolish for APP not to use it against your employers. Not to mention that our alliances would likely come to our aid after the fireworks die down, and then what?"
She smiled and kept cooly, calmly talking "I don't think you're looking at the long term consequences, as you've already tried to strongarm the wrong person. I'd like to formally call off any remaining contracts we have together, if you want to drop that equipment on some planet, we can likely find ways to either get it back or destroy it, but don't think you have an upper hand on us." She tapped her node, and the ISF Fleet Bohler readied became available to warp to the location as soon as possible.
"Though, I'll allow your team to keep what you gained from the IBG databanks, as you will find we have not had contact with this Z1 you mentioned, and perhaps this was a ruse to lead you off the trail of where the Z1 resides. I wish you luck, but I'll be sure to inform the IBG to shoot you on sight should you return in the future, and upload the conversation and send it to the appropriate parties. You are no longer welcome here, please see yourself away from our borders, and should you wish to contact us again, I'm sure you know where our embassies are. Have a good day Lethalon."
She tapped her node to cut off the line, and contacted Strongtower Command "See to it those files on the IBG databanks are made public, contact an AGA representative and forward the conversation, and explain to them that we will not work with pirates in the future." She paused "And ready our friends for combat, should the BSO try to take aggressive action."
Packard recieved the order to see the BSO out, and simply stood by to see what they would do, shields came up, weapons turned hot across the assembled fleets as they prepped for the worst-case scenario, the ISF fleet was primed and ready to warp, ready to respond if an assault came in much higher force than they already had.
--
Murphy had, by this time, dried the river of information that was available, and is Terri had stated, there was nothing involving the Z1 there. The Neuromancers had bled dry what they could get, with the noose tightening with ever more numbers of EWDS programs flooding in from other free servers to contain them. It was an uphill battle, for every one AI they took out, three more where increasingly putting in their weight.
"Well that went well," Lethalon commented. "How are we looking?"
"Analysis is complete. We identified the Z1's signature. FTL jump was undertaken into Dectrose space,"
"Perfect. Murphy, would you kindly make good on my threat? And get Volkus on the line if you'd be so kind,"
The comms officer did as he was told dialing into the comms frequency.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~
There it was. That wonderful word Murphy had awaited for so long. Ever since coming to this galaxy in fact. All she'd done up until now was coast along. Writing defenses, crashing a power grid once when she got bored. Nothing challenging, nothing that truly deserved her attentions.
But now she had that wonderful word:
Attack.
Murphy let the decryptions and her gentle weavings through cyberspace slip away.
"Slash and burn baby,"
Brute force didn't begin to describe what came next. Gigabytes of malware were abruptly uploaded to the system as Murphy seized control of every spare inch of processing power she could find. The Anointed ship was hers, the other neuromancers a mere sideshow.
She turned the Dectrose's own systems against them, immediately purging the IBG and taking the processing power to fuel her own attack. Malware flooded into the system and the neuromancers attack programs lashed out with a deadly efficiency. Artificial intelligences were cut down around her as she seized control of the system and carved a path back to the communications node, destroying everything in her path.
The other neuromancers, for their part, attempted to replicate the process on Uproth, deleting information and seizing control of more systems and power to fuel Murphy as her assault continued.
She divided her attentions upon reaching the communications node. One attack tunneled toward the most secure server it could find while Murphy set about a second task. Lethalon and Terri's conversation was easy enough to find among the swirling data. She knew Lethalon's comm signature already, it was easy enough to find it.
She began purging all logs of the conversation while she simultenously flooded the comms system with more garbage transmissions then it could every hope to properly rout.
"Now then, Terri seems mighty smug, lets have a look through your comms history..." The neuromancer grinned.
It was then that the EWDS simply gave way, cutting off connection to exterior sources, burning and deleting them in a way that the infiltration was fully contained to the three IBG stations and Uproth. Sure they would be helpless and the data on those servers would be wiped, but there where always backups. The three stations and Uproth where gone, everything had been wiped, but there was no more forward progress following that.
The node Terri had used uploaded the conversation already prior to the attack, and once it found itself in danger, cut itself off and made itself inert. The node itself wasn't the one that Terri had been using for her own use, it was for meetings on Lupus, it had provided nothing but a dead end. For all intents and purposes, there was nothing more the Neuromancers or Murphy could have done. But be it as it was, it was still considered an attack.
--
Immediately, interdiction came online with the IBG and Corsair Fleets, trapping the BSO there as Murphy attacked. They had their chance to go, now they stood there as the attack took place. The Corsairs and IBG fleets opened fire on where they thought that critical components may be, engines, the communications equipment that may be near the bridge, amidships where a reactor may be, anything that would disable but not kill them. It was not accurate enough fire to know for sure, as the scans only confirmed the identity of the ships, and didn't identify major systems.
The Hawk, Orian IVs and Emerald Jewel IVs opened their EW up, bringing up combat logs of the previous engagement Morgan and Shu had with the BSO to get an idea on hampering and delaying use of weapons, targeting and propulsion. Of course, internal systems may have had an upgrade since then, and the effectiveness may not be as successful as previous attempts. The assembled ships also set to full speed, using their small size and propulsion speed to evade most of the fire that would likely come it's way. Automatically, the ISF fleet also began it's warp to the location, ensuring that there would be sufficient force to capture them.
The situation was grim. Despite all aspects and possible outcomes the possibility of such a large influx of reinforcements put the entire plan in jeopady. Either they could leave the interdicted craft to their fate or they could fight an overwhelming enemy and die. For the 425 vessels that were now faced with that choice they now took the oppotunity. The BSO force immediately engaged FTL drives and left the area, the chance of death outweighed the payment of the job, it was a simple fact.
For Lethalon and the other 13 vessels in her flotilla they too had a choice, die or surrender. And considering that some of the crews would likely not take kindly to the death optiom surrender was the safest option. They had been put into a situation out of their control and now simply had to face those down. Surrendering to the Dectrose the 13 ships and fighter craft were detained, although multiple Dectrose personel were either killed or harmed by fighting inside the ships as organised crew reissted the surrender order and fought back. Either way the BSO small fleet was now faced with whatever the future held for them and Lethalon and their fates would be decided in the coming days.