Discovery Gaming Community - To: Lane Hackers | From: Albert, Starflier Base

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Technocracy x Starfliers Hybrid Encryption ██

Albert, Starflier Base ██
Lane Hackers ██

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Greetings again, Lane Hackers.

Our last conversation was about the use of your engines, which was concluded rather swiftly. I thought my business was done, but due to Leon being hasty writing down the items on this list, something else has come up that requires sending another inquiry out to you.

Halpert, one of our pilots encountered a member of your organisation and was surveyed on his experience with the scanners you have kindly allowed us to purchase. My transmission today refers to the scanners on board our Starflier vessels and on Starflier Base. We wish to deploy some sort of link between our vessels and our home base in Kepler. This link will serve as a back-up signal for our black box records, forwarding all information from our ships back to our servers. With this Dark Matter Storm, I'm afraid retrofitting the usual signals of communication for wireless data backups will not be feasible. Is there another way to accomplish this using your hardware? I'll await your response.

Godspeed, Hackers.
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20:05, 14.08.828 ██
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...hack.initiated...connecting.to.Spyglass.Network...decryption.in.progress...
...Deceiver.Mr.Ling.recognized...encoding.transmission...
...uploading.data...

Greetings, I am Mr. Ling. I don't think I've ever had a direct contact with your group, but I do know a fair bit about our networking.

What you're asking for is very specific, yet somehow inoperably vague at the same time. Trade Lane networking provides something that is close to what you described, except it does much more than just record black boxes. Rather, it upholds the very Neural Net we're communicating on. See, the wrench in the works is the claim that reworking standard communication methods would be unfeasible. Dark Matter storms are incredibly dangerous, and do disrupt communications, but they don't do it in such a blanket way as to cause conventional communications to be entirely unfeasible.

If I were to describe it simply, it would be that Dark Matter clouds and storms are like a cloud of radioactive mirrors all angled towards the center. Getting communications into Dark Matter clouds is quite easy, such as communications from black boxes. Dark Matter clouds have a habit of bouncing such signals for ridiculously extended periods of time, causing "ghost transmissions" within them. The communication danger of Dark Matter clouds is that there is no ability to pinpoint transmission locations within them because the signal is mirrored, copied, and shifted billions of times before it's received, and that transmissions from within the cloud to without are seldom able to get out without very tight relays, which the cloud would damage in a matter of weeks if not months.

For the purpose of black boxes, or really all communications from the outside in, the main issue is the billions of repeated and shifted transmissions that result from the signal diffraction and refraction. If it were just a few, like with water, oxygen, and various metal clouds, there wouldn't be much of an issue. It would simply be accounting for errors by hand or by estimation. With Dark Matter, though, we suddenly end on exponentially different levels of error. There is a bypass, of course, however it is both tedious and inefficient. Using an Adaptive Interface Error Accounting and Approximation matrix calibrated to Dark Matter would bring the error levels down to manageable levels quite cleanly.

The issue is that the matrix calculation is an incredibly intense computation order. The required processor mega-units to maintain the calculation are already incredibly expensive, and would have to be hand built by our technicians. These mega-units, about 8 in total, are also not normally used on a constant basis that would be required for black box recording, but rather small bursts for emergency response and high-risk robotics. Running them consistently would use about 20,393.28 gigawatts a year, or the equivalent of 4 military-grade Dreadnought nuclear reactors. Needless to say, maintenance for the power supply and the processors would be both dangerous and exhausting. Next would be cooling systems, because keeping those reactors from overheating would be vital for the continued existence of the base. Finally, there's a neat reaction from high concentrations of heat and electricity in Dark Matter clouds, and that is that Dark Matter will begin crystalizing on exposed surfaces. While this is an endothermic reaction, and would help with cooling, Dark Matter is dangerously reactive and radioactive, and crystalized Dark Matter wouldn't be good for personnel or station health.

Frankly, all this is entirely possible. It would be a massive undertaking, but it's not even close to impossible. The big hold-ups would be time, resources and perhaps interpersonal things if your group has colorful relationships. For us to participate in this, though, we'd surely require it to be profitable. Something of this level just simply can't be charity. If you're willing to go through with this project, then we can begin discussing prices and sources.

I look forward to your reply. I do quite enjoy watching ambition unfold, after all.

...encryption.in.progress...disconnecting.from.network...hack.terminated...

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Technocracy x Starfliers Hybrid Encryption ██

Albert, Starflier Base ██
Mr. Ling, Lane Hackers ██

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Only the Hackers themselves know how far their own technology can go. Hail, Mr. Ling, it seems I have a bit to learn about how the Dark Matter Storms interact with communications, apologies for jumping to the conclusion of it being unfeasible. I feel ashamed even have said that.

So the Neural Net is hosted on the Trade Lane Network... that's very interesting. I figured there'd be nodes and repeaters in certain areas to forward transmissions to their correct destination, however I completely didn't take into consideration the already existing networks. Fascinating. Do the Jump Gates operate in this network? They must be in order to carry signals to other systems. Jump Holes must be too unpredictable to use. Apologies, this is new territory for me, I'm getting a little too excited.

These signals that get repeated and reflected throughout Dark Matter Storms, is there any chance that a stray signal could be stripped of it's encryption during it's travel and be intercepted? We take our encryption very seriously and wouldn't like to unintentionally leave a back door open for unfavourable access to our data. If not, then this Matrix you have described may be something we may need. Otherwise, the alternative would be to wait for this Dark Matter Storm to move out of Kepler. What use could this Matrix have in a system unaffected by a storm? I would like more information on the Trade Lane Network and the Adaptive Interface Error Accounting and Approximation Matrix.

Your recommendation to obtain four military-grade dreadnaught nuclear reactors just to power this super-computer is quite the requirement. This is not something the Starfliers are able to easily obtain, let alone store on our small installation. We're already at capacity with our four ships docked. We would need a complete remodel and overhaul to even house something like that. The research teams based on Starflier Base are working on a separate experiment, however I am happy to further plan this project. Once everything is in order, we will move onto the next steps, if that is alright with you.

Godspeed, Hackers.
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21:18, 18.08.828 ██
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...hack.initiated...connecting.to.Spyglass.Network...decryption.in.progress...
...Deceiver.Mr.Ling.recognized...encoding.transmission...
...uploading.data...

Signals in Dark Matter storms won't be be deciphered through the storm. Rather, the scrambling of the message would make it even harder to decrypt once intercepted. As for interception of the message itself, it's almost guaranteed. Signals in a Dark Matter storm linger for much longer than transmissions in any other environment, excluding black holes. This raises the chance of a signal being picked up by any stray ship in the cloud to the 90th percentile, if not 100 percent. Though, as I said before, between encryption and the scrambling in the Dark Matter storm, these transmissions would likely be unreadable to anyone without the encryption cypher.

As for the Trade Lane Network, most of the software and communication in Sirius is transferred long distances through wireless channels built into Trade Lanes and Jump Gates. Jump Gate's faster-than-light capabilities easily apply to the channels, and transfer all of this data with negligible errors that are usually measured in number-per-year if not number-per-decade. The original design for the Jump Gate networking was actually made by some of the first Lane Hackers, and as much as I'd love to sing their praises right here, it gets into topics that we call "trade secrets".

Lastly, the Adaptive Interface Error Accounting and Approximation Matrix is the realization of a theory developed all the way back in 300 A.S designed to eliminate standard computing errors perfectly. It was a grand project designed to defeat luck itself, but, unfortunately, technology had not advanced nearly as much as was needed then to build the matrix. Fast forward to about 20-15 years ago, and the first prototype of the Matrix was built as part of a larger project by Cambridge University graduates to disprove the 3rd Wormhole hypothesis. We Hackers were quick to grab the matrix blueprints, and even have improved the power-efficiency. It originally required the entirety of the Cambridge Auxiliary Power Grid. In a system unaffected by a storm, the error matrix can provide a neat effect that we refer to as the Error Approximation Paradox. By utilizing all of the matrix on astrolocation, one can fully eliminate the need for triangulation or even biangulation. The exact way that it completes this is strange to me, and I don't quite have the ability to explain it, but the effect itself is incredibly strong.

If this seems worth it to you, we can begin discussing costs, sources, and materials.

...encryption.in.progress...disconnecting.from.network...hack.terminated...

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Technocracy x Starfliers Hybrid Encryption ██

Albert, Starflier Base ██
Mr. Ling, Lane Hackers ██

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The prospect of having something of this magnitude sitting inside our own walls is quite the thought indeed. We shall proceed.

I've taken a trip to the Ames Research Station over the last few hours to pickup some blueprints for what is known as a Hyperspace Survey Module MK3. During my time there, I asked the head researcher about power sources that matched the output of a Dreadnaught-Class capital vessel. The researcher took me to a tour guide, who guided me to a tech merchant. This particular merchant sells something that might match exactly what we are after. This item is called an "Ingenuus Power Cell"

I downloaded the information page on it and have attached it along this transmission. This sounds too good to be true, may need one of your own to verify the claims of this particular item. One of our major hurdles could be over already if this power cell can accomplish the demanding power requirements you described. As for everything else, you're organisation has the blueprints, so we'll start with that once we understand what this cell can do.

Godspeed, Hackers.
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Ingenuus Power Cell

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21:17, 20.08.828 ██
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...hack.initiated...connecting.to.Spyglass.Network...decryption.in.progress...
...Deceiver.Mr.Ling.recognized...encoding.transmission...
...uploading.data...

Well, in terms of this Ingenuus Power Cell, I'm afraid it is, in fact, too good to be true. The specific info on that is classified. However, the IRG's little toy is not something you want to be touching. Neither is IRG itself. Long story short, though, it's just a big battery built out of Nomad tech. You're going to need to charge it anyway, and pray that little blue friends don't eat your spinal cord in the process.

(08-01-2018, 08:43 PM)Order Overwatch Wrote: [ -> ]Ingenuus has made fame in Sirius for “producing” seemingly perfect power sources. Their cells are however merely smartly disguised Nomad technology, carrying the same negatives and dangers as their alien counterparts. Eliminate any ship carrying and/or powered by these devices and ensure its destruction or handing over to suitable Order authority.

Anyway, to begin the process of building the processing units, we're going to start with the frame and housing unit. Since we're doing 8 of them, I've made the executive decision to not do it on a station to preserve limited space. Instead, we're going to set up a position on a celestial body to engage in this. I'll contact the respective parties, and let you know when we get through.

...encryption.in.progress...disconnecting.from.network...hack.terminated...

Connection Established ██
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Technocracy x Starfliers Hybrid Encryption ██

Albert, Starflier Base ██
Mr. Ling, Lane Hackers ██

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"Smartly disguised Nomad technology" ?

After reading that, I'd prefer to not tamper, research or use this Power Cell in any way. The volatile nature of it could mean the end of Starflier Base. When it comes to the location of constructing this matrix, if not a base of some kind, where would you suggest to setup this platform? You and I are on the same page to assemble a proprietary power source for this Matrix. I'll await your findings.

Godspeed, Hackers.
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10:34, 23.08.828 ██
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