Post by CanisDirus on Mar 21, 2022 20:46:08 GMT
Ancerious Department of Science and Developent Headquarters, Arx System
"We have received a priority request from military headquarters, regarding a new weapons system used by an enemy nation. Accompanying the request were excerpts from recordings taken during the battle."
"I see, and what did this weapon entail?"
"When the weapon fires, the target experiences a large amount of gamma ray discharge both inside and outside the hull. The weapon seems to interact with the gravitic shield layer while bypassing the other layers completely. I'm going to be handing the footage to our AIs for analysis, and when that's done I want you to review the results. The military wants a countermeasure as soon as possible."
"I'll be ready as soon as the analysis is finished then, sir."
"Good. Keep me appraised of what you find. As soon as we know what's going on and have a viable solution, I'm authorizing engineering to begin work on a prototype."
"Vexar is the largest native manufacturer in this sector of the galaxy. Not only that, but his factory worlds are completely automated. If we can infiltrate their systems, it will give us access to many unaligned and perhaps some colonial equipment."
"Yes sir. I'll have a plan on your desk as soon as possible."
Vexar's Empire, Headquarters System
Mr Vexar strode through the hallways of his main office building, leading an entourage of representatives from the Isoterran Empire and their robotic guards, all of whom towered over the human industrialist. He was excitedly talking, pointing through windows in the hallway walls, in reality high-quality video screens displaying views of various factory floors on the planet, talking up the production speed and quality that his company, or empire, as he liked to call it, was capable of performing. This constant stream of words was being taken in by the entourage leaders, who were quite successfully playing the part of knowing little about the specifics of manufacturing and more about negotiating deals than anything else.
While the man continued his glorified sales pitch, the MCUs that were accompanying the group were silently hard at work, recording everything they saw and heard, and monitoring the details of Vexar's wifi and any other stray signals, of which there were many.
Around they went, the tour lengthened by the representatives purposefully asking questions whenever Vexar used a technical term or pointed out something they knew wouldn't be obvious to pencil pushers or upper management, taking several hours, before they wound back to the CEO's office.
Sitting down, one of the representatives, a female named Dala was handed a tablet by a robotic aide. Placing it on the desk between her and Vexar, she spoke in the guttural voice typical of the Isoterran species, which was often the source of much confusion for those who couldn't use her species physiological traits to determine gender. "Mr. Vexar, I think I can speak for all of us in saying that your facilities are quite impressive, and we would like to place an order with your empire."
She touched the screen of the laptop, and above it, a semi-solid hologram appeared, showing details of what their desired order was, accompanied by a quickly moving slide show of part images. Vexar read through it, nodding while he made a thoughtful 'hmmm' noise. The order was decently sized, but not too complex, mostly consisting of various parts such as bearings, tooling, and various fasteners. The hardest part about it would be the tolerances they were requesting. Finishing, he looked back at Dala "Yes I think I can do that. Things are running a little tight right now, especially with the ancerium shortage, so I'll have to charge a bit more than usual, I'm sure you understand."
"Oh yes, of course" smiled the Isoterran, showing her fangs, which slightly unnerved Vexar. But these people had money, and money was good, so he quickly banished his misgivings.
Dala continued, pulling a small generic data drive from a pocket. "Here are the design files, and our logistics department will also be in contact to arrange pick up. I'm looking forward to working with you, Mr. Vexar."
"Thank you" Vexar said, taking the data drive, handing it to his robotic assistant, who took it to a nearby terminal to begin downloading the files it carried. Dala rose, reaching out a clawed hand, which Vexar took, shaking firmly. With that, the Isoterran delegation promptly filed out and returned to their shuttle.
After returning from walking them out, Vexar sat down at his desk, ordering his aide to create an invoice for the new customers, while lighting a cigar. Across the room meanwhile, the terminal finished pulling the files off the drive, including several viruses embedded in the plans. As each plan was accessed, several small subscripts began to run, innocuously under the guise of creating backup data, while in reality copying themselves across the system, while leaving special markers accross the system for the next phase. Shortly, an email arrived for Vexar from Arkaya Mining and Transport, regarding the pickup plan. The attached document contained another virus, which as soon as the document was opened began seeping into the computer network, interfacing with the first set of viruses, updating them with information gathered during the tour. As the plan files were copied into the appropriate locations to set the production chain in motion, the viruses were carried with them, spreading across the system and infecting both the equipment and product firmware, doing no harm but modifying the part firmware so that it could be exploited if needed.
System I-M7-24782, Uninhabited
The dim red dwarf at the center of the solar system provided little illumination for the barren rocky sphere that was its inner planet, which between the lack of sunlight and atmosphere, had up until this point been doomed to a quiet eternity of silent lifelessness.
Hanging around a light minute from the barren surface was the grey bulk of Suppressor, its circular bulk gliding around the planet like a great metallic predator, waiting for the moment to strike. Onboard, Fleet Admiral Vito stood in the command center, along with the station's commander and executive officer.
A disembodied voice, belonging to the station's fire control AI, suddenly spoke "Admiral Vito, station is ready to fire on command."
"Very well, commence test firing." replied the head of the Isoterran sector forces, while the officers assembled watched on the tactical display.
The station gently rotated, pointing its dish 'downward' towards the planet, while beneath their feet, inside the wheel-eque construct's hub, mana capacitors discharged the unnatural energy that had been collected within them, sending it through converters and into the mirrored surface of the main dish.
From the reflective surface, suddenly a bright pink light shone, focused into a narrow conical beam directly at the planet's center. The beam crossed the distance in an instant, striking the surface and causing a massive explosion to emanate out from the impact point, as the material in the crust suddenly had its own material strength turned against it.
Within a few seconds, the explosions had caused the planet to break apart, and the beam ceased. Admiral Dido watched, admiring the effectiveness of this new weapon. "Send the data recording to Lord Fisk. Tell him that Suppressor is ready."
"We have received a priority request from military headquarters, regarding a new weapons system used by an enemy nation. Accompanying the request were excerpts from recordings taken during the battle."
"I see, and what did this weapon entail?"
"When the weapon fires, the target experiences a large amount of gamma ray discharge both inside and outside the hull. The weapon seems to interact with the gravitic shield layer while bypassing the other layers completely. I'm going to be handing the footage to our AIs for analysis, and when that's done I want you to review the results. The military wants a countermeasure as soon as possible."
"I'll be ready as soon as the analysis is finished then, sir."
"Good. Keep me appraised of what you find. As soon as we know what's going on and have a viable solution, I'm authorizing engineering to begin work on a prototype."
"Vexar is the largest native manufacturer in this sector of the galaxy. Not only that, but his factory worlds are completely automated. If we can infiltrate their systems, it will give us access to many unaligned and perhaps some colonial equipment."
"Yes sir. I'll have a plan on your desk as soon as possible."
Vexar's Empire, Headquarters System
Mr Vexar strode through the hallways of his main office building, leading an entourage of representatives from the Isoterran Empire and their robotic guards, all of whom towered over the human industrialist. He was excitedly talking, pointing through windows in the hallway walls, in reality high-quality video screens displaying views of various factory floors on the planet, talking up the production speed and quality that his company, or empire, as he liked to call it, was capable of performing. This constant stream of words was being taken in by the entourage leaders, who were quite successfully playing the part of knowing little about the specifics of manufacturing and more about negotiating deals than anything else.
While the man continued his glorified sales pitch, the MCUs that were accompanying the group were silently hard at work, recording everything they saw and heard, and monitoring the details of Vexar's wifi and any other stray signals, of which there were many.
Around they went, the tour lengthened by the representatives purposefully asking questions whenever Vexar used a technical term or pointed out something they knew wouldn't be obvious to pencil pushers or upper management, taking several hours, before they wound back to the CEO's office.
Sitting down, one of the representatives, a female named Dala was handed a tablet by a robotic aide. Placing it on the desk between her and Vexar, she spoke in the guttural voice typical of the Isoterran species, which was often the source of much confusion for those who couldn't use her species physiological traits to determine gender. "Mr. Vexar, I think I can speak for all of us in saying that your facilities are quite impressive, and we would like to place an order with your empire."
She touched the screen of the laptop, and above it, a semi-solid hologram appeared, showing details of what their desired order was, accompanied by a quickly moving slide show of part images. Vexar read through it, nodding while he made a thoughtful 'hmmm' noise. The order was decently sized, but not too complex, mostly consisting of various parts such as bearings, tooling, and various fasteners. The hardest part about it would be the tolerances they were requesting. Finishing, he looked back at Dala "Yes I think I can do that. Things are running a little tight right now, especially with the ancerium shortage, so I'll have to charge a bit more than usual, I'm sure you understand."
"Oh yes, of course" smiled the Isoterran, showing her fangs, which slightly unnerved Vexar. But these people had money, and money was good, so he quickly banished his misgivings.
Dala continued, pulling a small generic data drive from a pocket. "Here are the design files, and our logistics department will also be in contact to arrange pick up. I'm looking forward to working with you, Mr. Vexar."
"Thank you" Vexar said, taking the data drive, handing it to his robotic assistant, who took it to a nearby terminal to begin downloading the files it carried. Dala rose, reaching out a clawed hand, which Vexar took, shaking firmly. With that, the Isoterran delegation promptly filed out and returned to their shuttle.
After returning from walking them out, Vexar sat down at his desk, ordering his aide to create an invoice for the new customers, while lighting a cigar. Across the room meanwhile, the terminal finished pulling the files off the drive, including several viruses embedded in the plans. As each plan was accessed, several small subscripts began to run, innocuously under the guise of creating backup data, while in reality copying themselves across the system, while leaving special markers accross the system for the next phase. Shortly, an email arrived for Vexar from Arkaya Mining and Transport, regarding the pickup plan. The attached document contained another virus, which as soon as the document was opened began seeping into the computer network, interfacing with the first set of viruses, updating them with information gathered during the tour. As the plan files were copied into the appropriate locations to set the production chain in motion, the viruses were carried with them, spreading across the system and infecting both the equipment and product firmware, doing no harm but modifying the part firmware so that it could be exploited if needed.
System I-M7-24782, Uninhabited
The dim red dwarf at the center of the solar system provided little illumination for the barren rocky sphere that was its inner planet, which between the lack of sunlight and atmosphere, had up until this point been doomed to a quiet eternity of silent lifelessness.
Hanging around a light minute from the barren surface was the grey bulk of Suppressor, its circular bulk gliding around the planet like a great metallic predator, waiting for the moment to strike. Onboard, Fleet Admiral Vito stood in the command center, along with the station's commander and executive officer.
A disembodied voice, belonging to the station's fire control AI, suddenly spoke "Admiral Vito, station is ready to fire on command."
"Very well, commence test firing." replied the head of the Isoterran sector forces, while the officers assembled watched on the tactical display.
The station gently rotated, pointing its dish 'downward' towards the planet, while beneath their feet, inside the wheel-eque construct's hub, mana capacitors discharged the unnatural energy that had been collected within them, sending it through converters and into the mirrored surface of the main dish.
From the reflective surface, suddenly a bright pink light shone, focused into a narrow conical beam directly at the planet's center. The beam crossed the distance in an instant, striking the surface and causing a massive explosion to emanate out from the impact point, as the material in the crust suddenly had its own material strength turned against it.
Within a few seconds, the explosions had caused the planet to break apart, and the beam ceased. Admiral Dido watched, admiring the effectiveness of this new weapon. "Send the data recording to Lord Fisk. Tell him that Suppressor is ready."