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Sender ID: N.I.D, The Sisterhood of Dreams.
Sender Location: Hokkaido, Inner System, Shiden Cloud, Ainu Station, Floor 24
Encryption: Enervating
Transmission Priority: Epsilon

[Image: steampunk_girl_with_cigarett_by_luria_xxii-d6yybjj.jpg]

Nishi smiles with the glacial cynicism of well-bred housecats, if only for an illusory instant. A drag of the Dream punctures her back into her present self, and an impression of the real starts to filter back into her eye. Manet would have found her too distracted, but Monet would have loved her. She regarded both as horsecrap. She was an engineer, a grease-monkey. The waxen perfection of near-immortality hadn't robbed that from her eyes - yet.

I’m gonna’ ask you to take a real, hard, Holmes-esque look at this. Get your sharp-eye on and your sharpie out, and take yourself some notes. You’ll get lost if ya’ don’t, or won’t. Pay attention.

What do you see?

[Image: cab36723a66c6c561421d6942bb53a6b.gif]

[Image: cab36723a66c6c561421d6942bb53a6b.gif]

You, and me, we. We, are looking at a supercomputer, or more exactly The Supercomputer. It’s a title you see, not an object. Just as a noble may start his life an earl and aspire to be an emperor simply by the acquisition of additional influence, a computer can aspire to be a supercomputer simply by the addition of hardware.

And yet processing power, like any other form of power, is the constant victim of shifting goalposts. The average fifty five credit locket disk can hold store a comfortable pecobyte of raw, transcendent data; more data than accumulated all the grey matter in your body clasped within the base of your neck. With data we have transcended the corruptible realm and made ourselves gods among gods, beyond evolution or natural disaster, an effectively immortal species, whom the laws of physics do not condemn to corruption, but instead emancipate. Through the millennia of the computer, mankind has become a machine dependent not on flesh, but on light, silicone, rare earths, addicted to the pomegranate of knowledge with such devotion that we cannot help but laugh in the face of the imagined scions who crafted this existential plane – it is ours for the plunder, for the spoils.

Unfortunately virtual intelligences, being rather more streetwise than we are, did not invent sexism, money, poverty, war, homophobia, racism, transphobia, theistic discrimination, political discrimination, substance discrimination and lifestyle discrimination. Humans, being stupid to the Nth degree, are more than welcome to fill said niche. If it can be invented, humans will do so, and after the last millennia of mankind doing nothing to amputate its own gangrene it’s time somebody started, somewhere.

Regardless if that place is amongst the desolate plains of Maltese grass or amongst the volatile star nursery that is the crow nebula, it has to happen somewhere, somehow. Our organisations both offer such releases – both accept the inherent lie of mercantilist democracy as a pavlovian reaction to the museum worthy, quaintly decrepit systems of usury that keep Sirius in check till this day. That prevent Sirians from fulfilling their spiritual and biological potential. We both believe in the merit of what some geopolitics postgraduates would cliché as a “firm grip.” Both the Nation and the Chrysanthemums share The Dream in all of its manifestations; we understand the necessity of cardamine proliferation in the evolutionary cycle of our species – the final step to the true transhumanism of a utopian Sirius, free from suspicion, war, and even the decay of death our limited DNA imposes upon us. We live to fly, we live to breathe. We live off The Dream and are its perpetuators.

Now, back to the computer.

This is the Prime Control Unit on our – only – battleship, ‘The Matsuda’, titled after our beloved founder. If you chanced to have a crack at publically available Kusarian records, you would see the ship detailed as “lost” under the less salubrious title she began life with, ‘The Himeji’. Fortunately for providence, she was stricken with a severe case of crew abandonment during the fall of Heaven’s Gate, an event (I am sure) the Blood Dragons know more about than they are willing to reveal to us. But that is a matter of history, relevant only for academia.

Since the recovery of the (mostly operational) hulk, we have been restoring her. Improving her, and have even been able to move her into Okinawa, her present resting place. However, despite the innumerable number of unemployed female software engineers the Kusarian patriarchy regularly furnishes the movement with, we have not been able to glean access to the brain of the beast – indeed, the VI at the core of the ship still believes that she is called the KNF ‘Himeji’, and, if made aware of the umpteen-hundred Chrysanthemums residing within our corridors, would certainly blow them out of the nearest available airlock. Obviously, we do not have access to Yokohama shipyard, nor do we have the tools required to successfully lobotomise one of the heftiest war machines in this quadrant of the Sector, so, instead, we are coming to someone who knows a great deal more about battleships than we do. You – our closest of compadres.

We need a virus that can take the battleship's firewalls down – a full-on firesale. We need to wipe everything – targeting information, crew manifests, hardcoded files, everything, right down to the OS. We need a way of making the battleship braindead, effectively wiping eight hundred tonnes of solid state drive, so we can code a replacement operating system more compliant with the end goal of using the machine as a functional tool against the republic.

What do you say? We will not bribe you with payment – we hold you in too great esteem to trivialise your aid. Instead, we remain mindful of our debt to you and if you need our sisters for the assistance of your own great cause, you need but say the word. If you wish to observe – we will not defame you with the shameful adjective “spy” amongst friends – the process of restoring the warship to a functional life, then you need but say, and we will permit you to see all for yourself. I am sure you already know where we intend to move it, and for what purpose, the once she is restored – but this a matter is too sensitive for such an insecure medium.

These are the terms we lay before you, without haggling. If you are willing to aid in the proliferation of Orange Dream throughout Kusari, transport one Counterfeit Software Package of your design in the container imaged below, to the battleship. Coordinates are attached in the unlikely event your scouts have not already enlightened you – she is no stranger to accommodating Hispanics.

[Image: Software.jpg]

I am Nishi Adeline Darche – you may (and will) call me Mrs Darche or Darche alone, whichever suits your particular peculiarity. I have been informed by Munen that you are a man of great esteem, and I have no doubt that you will amply fulfil our request with all the expedience expected of an allied power. Prove me right, and I’ll buy you a drink. Prove me wrong, and I’ll buy you three.

Be in touch. Touch wood.

_______________________________

[+]=======

_______________________________

To: Nishi Darche (via Ainu Depot secure communications relay)

From: Tomas Mendes

Signora,

A pleasure to finally make your acquaintance; I have heard much of you from signora Musou.

First thing's first. I need to make sure everything is in order before I contact the Lane Hackers. Our records have the Matsuda listed as 'Meiji' class, and of course the last operational version of its software would have been from 800 A.S. and the battle of Heaven's Gate (or slightly before). I am also curious as to what exactly you have done to keep the battleship from 'blowing you all out of the nearest airlock' as you put it. Whatever workaround is in place may affect how our friends tailor the software package to attack it.

As for controlling the battleship after the fact, I will see if the Lane Hackers can somehow obtain a separate copy of the Meiji-class' AI factory specifications. Depending on how strong the security is, and how elegant the Hacker's solution is, you may need it to replace firmware after the firesale is completed. Worst case, it may be possible to modify the systems we use for our Ranseur-type dreadnoughts to control the liberated Matsuda. If we can't get those factory specifications I'll have a team look into it.

I will send my message to the Lane Hackers as soon as these last little details are clarified. I am looking forward to working with you on this, signora Darche.

--Capitán, Tomas Mendes

Sender ID: N.I.D, The Sisterhood of Dreams.
Sender Location: Hokkaido, Inner System, Shiden Cloud, Ainu Station, Floor 24
Encryption: Enervating
Transmission Priority: Epsilon

Nishi grins through he eyelashes; so, Munen hadn't let her down. Fan-Tastic.

My compliments for your swift response - you do credit both to yourself and to the Cross at large.

I am not aware of the precise words Munen exchanged with you as to my person, but if there is one adjective I would have dedicated to myself, it is “shrewd”. Both I and my precursors within the Chrysanthemum movement have been fairly liberal when it came to decapitating P.C.U from any and every fibre optic cable adhering it to the rest of the warship, barring its connection to the reactor, of course. This effectively has reduced the battleship to all the operational effectiveness of a headless chicken; able to keep her vitals running smoothly but bereft of consciousness. Whilst the ship features sufficient manoeuvring capability for the odd plane change manoeuvre and her shields are stable enough to protect her from whatever the Farmer’s Alliance can throw at us, and her gravity field and life support systems are functional enough, the battleship still remains functionally neutered. Isolated from her own eyes and ears, the Ship cannot identify friend from foe, mass from vacuum, energy from oblivion, and thus has to be carted ignominiously around by a series of tugs. Equally, whilst the Sisters of days gone by have succeeded in integrating substitute targeting computers into Matsuda’s point defence systems, the performance they provide tends to be rather sub-par.

The overall synopsis is that the battleship is not only bind and deaf, but comatose too. Oh, I warrant you; is possible that she would survive the dash to the Crow Nebula in her present condition, but the danger of her loss is unacceptably high - she is prone to being boarded, or, at worse, ignominiously torpedoed in open space. Even if the dash was successful, we would have to squander a significant slice of our person power in preventing her capture - the number of sisters and ships lost to the KNF would vastly outweigh any benefit incurred by her new, more tactically useful, hiding place.

The inverse perspective of this somewhat masochistic repair job is that the Matsuda’s P.C.U presents no threat to any Chrysanthemums, Hispanics or Blood Dragons either inside the battleship, or outside. Sisters may work and live their at their leisure without the jarring possibility the battleship would attempt to murder or detain them, as the battleship is not aware of the existence of its occupants.

Mr Mendes, I must profess the records of your people are impeccable - she is a Meiji, which makes her somewhat temperamental as she suffers from structural vulnerabilities around her fuel cells, which was probably why the Navy saw fit to abandon her in the first place, if any of the holes we have patched are indicative of their motivations. Like most of the Navy’s battleships, she is a Samura product, and as such any and all data pertinent to the AI’s factory specifications would be held somewhere within their database - presumably somewhere highly covered with the black ink of censorship. However, if we did manage to extricate these files from our beloved compatriots in Samura Heavy Industries, then the same data would be applicant to any other Meiji, or Meiji derived battleship within the KNF. In the extremely unlikely fluke event that any one of the other few remaining Meiji’s entered hands sympathetic to The Orange Dream, the restoration work that has taken the Sisterhood decades to complete could be executed in a matter of months - such a state of affairs is highly preferable than having to jury-rig incompatible systems elements from Maltese warships, regardless of their inherent superiority.

I am sympathetic too that the Nazione Maltese and the Council of Dons in general may not be too pleased with us if we started utilising design elements of your own warships in ours. Additionally, it would cause headaches on our side as well - the Sisterhood has the manufacturing capabilities to clone most 13th and 14th generation KNF-issue components currently employed by the Navy - it does not have the technical knowhow to build Stortas, for example. Whilst we can modify the odd Conquistador-line strike fighter that you sell us to suit our needs, we have never been able to attain similar performance ratios from the fighters as the your own people have attained from the Conquistador. There is a difference between retrofitting foreign hardware we do not have the user’s guide for, and rebuilding domestic hardware which advances only in increments.

Time for me to render a confession - I am somewhat hesitant at the idea of attempting to glean access to Samura’s databanks through the medium of the Lane Hackers. Whilst both of our organisations have retained close affiliations with the Hackers, they are… ah, not known for the virtue of honesty. Bluntly, they’d sell their own mothers if they thought it’d earn them enough credits to purchase a superior replacement.

The Hackers will doubtless request a repayment of some kind - on that matter, I will defer to you, although we would prefer if the Lane Hackers were kept in the dark as to where we intend to place the battleship. What do you suggest that the Sisterhood offers the Lane Hackers in return for their services. What do you believe, sincerely, that an organisation that deals in secrets, would expect from another that deals in insurgency?

The Sisterhood is indebted to you for your services, Mr Mendes.

_______________________________

[+]=======

_______________________________

To: Nishi Darche (via Ainu Depot secure communications relay)

From: Tomas Mendes

Signora Darche,

Your response solves some issues for us and creates others; the blunt approach your sisterhood has used to cut the control unit from the rest of the ship will make destroying it a simple task. Any well crafted infiltration program should be able to enter via the reactor interface and sweep the place clean, so to speak, with a minimal of risk to the families living on the Matsuda, and most likely without requiring any specialized software to minimize collateral damage.

(he clears his throat quietly)

I can understand your mistrust of the Lane Hackers. They have...fingers in many pies, as the expression goes, and for a group surrounded by enemies such as you are a single misspoken whisper can lead to disaster, as well as a lot of dead sisters. Fortunately the information you've given leads me to believe that I need not tell the Hackers exactly what the intrusion software is for; indeed not mention the GC or the Sisterhood of Dreams at all. This approach also lets the Sisterhood stay clear of any inconvenient debts to the Hackers, a pleasant little bonus I am sure your leader would be relieved to hear of. If I am pressed about why we need the software I can let a few details slip about another side project we're working on to mollify them. On the other hand, I do not believe they will get involved if they won't be allowed to know all of the details, and even if they did agree, I would then expect a lot of remote computer access attempts you see, and several that you don't. Then they get to choose what they wish to know about your organization and its plans...not the best scenario, we can both agree.

Unfortunately this means that the second stage of the plan to revive the Matsuda will become a good deal harder, and without the Hackers I doubt we'll be able to retrieve the information you'll need. I've heard some whispers about Blood Dragon movement in Nagano, which is a heavily Samura controlled system. While I loathe the idea of 'sharing the load' with a group such as they, who hate the Dream and mistake it for just another street drug, they may obtain access to large amounts of classified information in their operations. Who knows, they may acquire a backup of a certain battleship control unit scheme, and further, with the right incentives, they might be convinced to pass a copy along to certain interested third parties. The universe is full of little 'maybes' like that.

One thing I feel I need to explain better before I sign off - I'm sure you are familiar with emulation software? What I proposed when I mentioned the Maltese equipment was using a standard Ranseur AI, no hardware, to emulate the command and control functions of the Meiji class through an interface of your own design. Considering similarities in terms of weapons and reactor output, and the disparity between both age and technological level, such a process shouldn't be hard to do, even if additional generic computing space is required. This option theoretically wouldn't need the specs of the ship at all, since firmware defaults on everything disconnected from the computer core will remain intact after the firesale event, and you clearly have a way to create new ones if repairs are needed. Boot the emulation software, then reconnect everything. The AI, wearing the emulator as a mask, does the rest.

Should all other options fail, this might be the way to solve your issues if you can bring yourself to trust us that much. I am well aware of the position it would put your sisterhood in.

I must say, this is quite the puzzle you've set out for us, and I am enjoying the challenge thus far. I'll wait to hear how exactly you want to proceed before making any further moves on this.

--Capitán, Tomas Mendes

// (accidental double post)

Sender ID: N.I.D, The Sisterhood of Dreams.
Sender Location: Hokkaido, Inner System, Shiden Cloud, Ainu Station, Floor 24
Encryption: Enervating
Transmission Priority: Epsilon

There is a decisive linguistic jump between allegorically “fingers in many pies” and the literal process of making pie out of fingers, most notably our fingers. Mining information from the Lane Hackers isn’t all that dissimilar from guarding your property with a rabid dog – yes, it’ll send prospective cat-burglars running for the nearest trauma clinic, but you’ll never quite overcome the sensation that it’d take a lump out of your own trachea if you untied it from its post.

This perspective may seem odd from an organisation that trades heavily with the Agiera-alumni. We pass the orange product downstream, whilst they send the fruits of Detroit upstream. It is an amicable trade, all the more so because the only items exchange are material and thus expendable, and credits, which are replaceable. Data, which is a treasure so desirable that if you’re not wary you’ll find dragons napping on it, is forever.

The desire to be left alone to our own devices and those of our beloved colleagues of the upper Omicrons, is the very reason why we attempt to gain your services now, Mr Mendes. As you aptly state, the sisterhood is surrounded by enemies, the most insidious of which being those who claim to be our friends, who claim to work in our interests but instead hold promiscuous hearts.

Between our last two communiques, Mrs Munen and myself suffered the displeasure of a visitation by none other than a certain guild master, the identity of which I’ll leave to your own discernment. The man epitomised his kind; he was full of hot air – quite literally, his hold was stuffed to the pressure hull with enough H-fuel to give birth to your own personal Sun. With this flatulent requisition he attempted to sweeten the first sister into disclosing information on innumerable matters that concerned him not. By chance, señor Antonio of the ‘Rose and an esteemed representative of the Contari happened to be present to cluck at his incompetence alongside us. It does credit to your people that both gentlemen refrained from exacerbating the situation by opening fire on the hapless Guildmaster, and if not for the totem that the Matsuda ties to, I would have been tempted to treat him with the customary curtesy awarded to individuals who steamroll up to Ainu with little regard as to the risks a wing of KNF interceptors would bring them, or us. These, Mr Mendes, are the people who claim to be the backbone of our movement – a high claim considering that their leader is singularly lacking in spine.

To be diplomatically crisp; we face greater inconvenience by remaining tied to the dubious good will of the Gas Mining Guild; an organisation that repetitively acts to sabotage the Orange Dream whilst bankrolling the very state we wish to depose, than we do from a few probable acts of intellectual property theft by our good friends in Leiden. I suspect that the Lane Hackers will attempt to breach our firewalls regardless if we tell them the truth or not, and, in some places, will certainly succeed. It’ll be interesting to see how many false foxholes we can lead them down before they eventually give up the effort, but if we can persuade them to deliver the goods then we may not need to. The suggestion of using a Maltesian emulator is much appreciated, but, ah, the issue runs beyond the sanity of mere technical chasms. You must understand – the Chrysanthemum were born by the fire of belief; the belief that our beloved Kusari has a manifest destiny to serve the interests of a wider pool of her own people than that of the mere oligarchy alone. Despite our participation in the dream, there remain those who view our, ah, link of the blood, to be a two-headed snake. You appreciate that nationalist pride alone compels us to a certain degree of self-reliance, Mr Mendes.

However, as a backup option it is more than acceptable, and the Sisterhood does trust Hispania sufficiently to let your hold the baby. As to the technical perspective, the bonafide, 100% original Samura product is going to save many, many more man hours than the emulator will take to code. Time is of the essence, Tomas. The Guild have been searching for excuses to abandon the Sisterhood for a long time now, and, as always, the best form of damage limitation is to beat the arsonist to the act. As for the blood dragons, hm – I trust them with material transport but not with software. That scenario can also be relegated to an auxiliary option.

Mr Mendes, if it encourages the Lane Hackers to part with the data we are happy for you to disclose that package will be used for the repair of the Matsuda. The important detail is not the Matsuda’s existence, which is known to multiple parties already including particularly undesirable organisations such as OSI, but where the Matsuda is going. We mandate that you make no referral whatsoever to the fact that we are likely to move the Matsuda in the near future – that is a secret for the Sisterhood and the Maltese nation alone. If they ask what we are going to use the battleship for, we answer with its present role, as a staging ground for raiding Kusari-affiliated shipping passing through the Honshu and New Tokyo systems. I repeat, no reference is to be made as to where we intend to move the Matsuda. That is information for your eyes in exclusion.

We trust you with a brave and noble task, Mr Mendes. The puzzle is a difficult one, but not one we view above your cunning and discretion.

For the dream.

_______________________________

[+]=======

_______________________________

To: Nishi Darche (via Ainu Depot secure communications relay)

From: Tomas Mendes

Signora Darche,

I believe we have a plan of action. A communication to the Lane Hackers will be sent shortly.

--Capitán, Tomas Mendes

Enkidu

Tomas.

Enkidu

Tomas.

Tomas.

Enkidu

Tomas.