Discovery Gaming Community

September, 819 AS
Three months ago.


ERROR: File is corrupt.

The girl frowned, her brow furrowing in concentration as her fingers flew across the keyboard in front of her.

Data Parse Initiated… Success!

Her eyes quickly scanned the data revealed by the parse, a predatory smile now on her astonishingly young face.

Moments later, she found what she wanted.

Node 533-A Selected. ERROR: Access Denied

She quickly executed a brute force password cracking program she’d devised. The terminal in front of her breathed now, fans working to cool the abruptly heated processors as her program pushed them to the limit.

RUNNING…. RUNNING… RUNNING… COMPLETE. Access Granted.

She nodded, now smiling openly. A bead of sweat trickled down her forehead, but the hardest part was now complete. Her program had blown open the “hidden” administrator backdoor, and she now had full access to the files.

She scanned through them now, making hidden local copies of the ones that might prove useful. The company, like all the others, lacked the necessary static security measures to stop her, but the breach would be detected shortly, and when it did…

She found another set of files that would be important, and then she found the link to what she wanted.

DIR\DSEROOT\DOE\DISP\DIV5

ERROR: Access to “DISP” Denied.

She frowned. That was unusual. A second layer of defense? Usually these big companies thought their generic cyber defense suites were more than enough protection.

She tried a different approach.

ERROR: “DISP” files are localized. Link cannot be established.

That was strange indeed. For some reason, they had severed the connection between their main servers down on the planet and the secure data of this installation in orbit. The only way those files could be accessed would be to go there in person.

“Guess someone at DSE knows a thing or two about security,” the girl muttered to herself.

But the hunt had not been entirely fruitless. She had still lifted a number of potentially valuable files off the server she had cracked, and hopefully that would appease her masters for the time being. At least she hoped it would.

AI-ALFRED: Identify yourself.

“Damn. That was quick,” she muttered.

AI-ALFRED: Authorize immediately, or be terminated.

The watchguard AI for this server was of the ALFRED protocol, which was a standard package sold to major corporations throughout Sirius. ALFRED was one of the most advanced and expensive AIs, and the girl had tangled with it on a few other occasions. She’d never beaten it, for any AI’s strength was in its unbelievable speed. It could move and operate faster than a human could possibly react, and the ALFRED model in particular was designed to learn and master its own system domain, down to the last byte.

In other words, it was akin to walking into a mother panther’s den and kicking a cub. The response would be quick and deadly.

Well, relatively deadly, considering that she was physically pretty far away from the physical server.

AI-ALFRED: Intruder detected. Active defense net protocols: Engaged.

AI-DOUGLAS: Online.

AI-MARSH: Online

That wasn't good. She had never seen a server with three embedded AI watchdogs. The situation had just become dire.

She attempted to escape.

ERROR: Lockdown initiated. Access denied.

AI-ALFRED: Initiating trace protocols.

Time was running out. It would take even an AI some time to trace through all the false leads and other security measures she’d set up, but an ALFRED would make relatively short work of them. Meanwhile, the other two were busy hunting for her presence.

She initiated another program she’d developed, which cracked through security measures in a much more subtle manner. Hopefully the other, weaker, AIs wouldn’t be able to detect that one. But it required a bit of luck…

RUNNING… RUNNING… RUNNING…

She could do nothing but wait, sweat now freely running down her face.

COMPLETE. Access granted.

She leapt back into action. She’d created a tiny hole in their security fence, one that she could exploit if she moved quickly enough.

WARNING: Hostile trace approaching source.

She frowned, fingers flying with sure precision across the keyboard as she wriggled her way back out of the system, throwing out false trails for the two AIs pursuing her.

Just another second…

She was out. She killed the virtual connection with a sigh of relief, and she blinked off the grid of the server that was the domain of the three AIs. The ALFRED had come within a mere three points of finding her true source, but now that the connection had been severed, it wouldn’t be able to find or track her.

If she’d been a little slower, though… in that case the authorities would be en route to her location already at this point. But she was safe now, because she’d managed to get out in time.

She breathed a long sigh of relief, and moved all the stolen files she’d copied out to a local containment drive, just in case they’d been implanted with any kind of malicious software. She wouldn’t put it past a server admin who had installed no less than three watchdog AIs, headed by an ALFRED to boot!

She sighed, rubbing weary eyes. Fortunately, her flight home wouldn’t be too long this time. She pulled herself out of her chair, and the monitors surrounding the massive terminal automatically dimmed. She stumbled down the hallway, still in a daze, until she reached the bridge. She took a seat and powered up the navigation systems, setting a course for Kepler.

The Dromedary freighter slowly powered up as various systems came online. Out the front glass she could see the New York system, and particularly Planet Pittsburgh, which had been the source of her efforts. She didn’t have access to the wireless data flow on the tradelane and jumpgate network, that was reserved for Ageria employees, but she could wirelessly hack a system as long as her ship was reasonably close to it, physically. That had necessitated this little trip to New York.

The ship came online fully, and she engaged the cruise drive. Once she got “home” she’d need to submit a report to her masters. Hopefully her failure to obtain the primary files needed wouldn’t make them too angry…

September, 819 AS
Six hours later.


STATUS: HOLDING. Thank you for your patience.

The girl sighed in frustration as she stared at the large comm screen embedded in the wall of her small apartment on Ames Research Station. For her, this was one of the worst parts of her involuntary “employment” with the shadowy men who called themselves the Theban Syndicate.

She worked directly for the two men who ran the company, a pair of brothers who went by the names Amphion and Zethus. She had first come under their employ about eight years before, when she had only been nine years old. They had taken her to work for them in order to pay off the debts of her erstwhile father, without a care in the world about such small matters as child labor laws.

She had been taken to a secret facility that had been underground or in some kind of space station. She’d never been given enough freedom to discover where she was, and they had trained her in all kinds of things. It hadn’t been the worst experience; honestly, as they had kept her well fed and the constant puzzles and challenges they had presented her with had actually been a fun sort of challenge. She knew no other life, and definitely knew better than to try and run away. The one time she’d attempted had been… unpleasant.

Her thoughts were interrupted by a change on the screen before her.

Call Accepted. SECURE LINK… ESTABLISHED.

She straightened in her chair, smoothing her shoulder-length hair a bit. Then, she was on with them.

It was the usual setup. Amphion and Zethus, obviously brothers and sharing a rather nondescript appearance, sat before her in two comfortable-looking chairs. The background was a simple room that could’ve been anywhere, and both men wore matching grey suits.

Amphion, the dominant and older brother, was the first to speak as usual. “Jaeger, I assume you have something to report?”

The girl winced internally as he said that name. She hated being called “Jaeger”, for it was her father’s last name. She wanted nothing to do with the man, but they had forced her to change her name almost immediately after she had been taken. It still upset her to this day.

“Uh, yes. I completed my assignment. The files obtained have already been dispatched through the usual channel.” She was nervous now. These men always had a way of putting her on edge.

Amphion frowned. “I had seen them, yes, but I assumed it was an incomplete dump. You are suggesting otherwise?” His displeasure was clear.

Zethus spoke for the first time, his voice softer, almost soothing. “I’m sure Lisa here has a reason for this. She’s always so thorough in her work.” He smiled at her, but still looked expectant.

“T-there was an issue getting the requested files on Division Five,” Lisa responded. “The f-files are stored aboard a space station in orbit of Pittsburgh. But they’re localized, so I can’t access them without going aboard the station itself. I g-got everything I could from the server on Pittsburgh, despite their security measures.”

Amphion glared at her. “Mere security measures have never been a problem for you before, girl. We invested a lot of time and money in making you the best.”

“Even I can’t get around localization, because there’s literally no link to the files. And there were also three watchdog AIs on that server…”

Zethus raised his eyebrows. “Three? Brother, clearly someone who knows what they’re doing is at work over there. Does this change anything?”

Amphion frowned, but shrugged. “Probably not. Whoever it is can’t be better than Jaeger here. But we need those files on Division Five.”

He sighed, then looked back to Lisa. “Your mission is complete. Your reward is two-fifty thousand.”

She blanched. It was a mere fourth of what had been promised. Not that she’d see a credit of it anyways, for it all went right back into paying the massive debt.

Amphion spoke again. “Your next mission will involve boarding that station and getting our files. Expect the details to reach your account within a day or two.”

She nodded, and he reached and cut the connection without another word.

September, 819 AS
Eight hours later.

The alarm went off. As always the noise was deafening, especially for those still in deep slumber. A man’s arm pushed forth from the covers, trying to find the offending clock in a lazy attempt to turn it off. As usual, the clock was at the far side of the bedside table, just beyond reach, forcing more of an effort. Finally, the man reached the alarm clock and shut it off.

He fell back onto the bed, sighing with his eyes still closed. He was in his forties, with short black hair. He opened dark eyes, staring at the ceiling.

"Blinds," he said sleepily. The voice recognition computer activated the shutters at the opposite end of the room. The man smiled as he saw the impressive view emerge. In high orbit above Planet Pittsburgh, New York, his stateroom aboard Doe Industries Space Port had one of the finest views available. He shivered slightly and leaned up, just now noticing the rather chilly temperature.

"Climate dry, twenty degrees!" he ordered. Almost immediately a gust of warm air enveloped him, the vents around the room changing the temperature accordingly.

Suddenly, a musical chime echoed through the room, followed by a robotic voice. “Incoming internal communication. Accept?”

He sighed and said, “Yes.”

The robotic voice was replaced with a human one, a young female’s. “Good morning Mister Moray.”

It was his secretary, Erin Fargo. She knew his schedule often better than he did, so she was sure to know he’d just woken up. Which meant it had to be something important.

“Good morning Erin. What is it?”

She got straight to the point. “The top IT guy from the datacenter down on Pittsburgh commed me just half an hour ago. He said he needed to speak with you, there’s been an incident. He said it was urgent.”

He winced. If there was a problem with the datacenter, that was a serious concern indeed, considering the valuable records and other information that were stored down there. However, it clearly wasn’t a catastrophic problem; else the man would’ve gone directly to Moray’s bosses, Mr. and Mrs. Doe.

“Fine, put him on my schedule for thirty minutes from now. Best get him a shuttle up here as soon as possible.”

“Of course, Mr. Moray. Anything else?”

“Nope. I’ll be there soon.”

---

Thirty minutes later.

---

“And you’re saying this happened over fourteen hours ago? Why the hell am I just hearing about it?”

“I’m… sorry, Mr. Moray sir. We had our most junior DBA on duty at the time and he didn’t catch it right away. Not to mention that the damn AI didn’t see fit to alert him until hours later…” The head of IT for the Pittsburgh datacenter was a heavyset man with a nasally voice that Moray didn’t particularly care for.

Moray sighed, rubbing his eyes as he tilted his plush chair back. “Please… I’m not an idiot, so don’t treat me like one. I know that once the hacker was identified and targeted by the AIs, a system notification would have been generated that your DBA couldn’t have missed if he was paying any attention at all. That leads me to believe he was either asleep at his desk, playing a flight sim, or perhaps temporarily assigned to another duty despite my specific instructions to keep a DBA on duty at all hours.”

The man’s reaction to the last bit of his statement confirmed Moray’s suspicions.

“Ah, I see. You figured the data was perfectly fine with the AIs there to watch. Let me tell you – that hacker was assuredly a human, and they just proved that even the most effective AIs aren’t enough protection for such files. This company has a strongly vested interest in keeping that datacenter secure; in fact I believe it’s the first thing listed on your job description.”

He frowned, now decidedly angry at the hapless man sitting across the expansive desk. “Now, I don’t care what you have to do – I want that datacenter secured against any future attacks, and I want it done now. I will not allow hackers to make DSE’s most secure files their personal playground any longer, and if I need to make some personnel changes to ensure that, I will. Do I make myself sufficiently clear?”

The head of IT blanched, and silently nodded.

Moray sighed. “You have a lot of work to do. Get to it.”

The man nodded jerkily, stood up, and beat a hasty retreat out of the office.

Andrew Moray watched him go, and then pulled up the man’s official report regarding the incident on his personal terminal. He hadn’t had time to read it in its entirety, but he’d wanted to catch the man’s obvious lie about his DBA’s status before anything else.

He needed to figure out what this hacker had been after in the first place, and more importantly, which files they’d managed to grab.