FAO PFC Dane Kinnaird

[Echo 7-7]

...>{/set.transmitdirect}<...
...>{decrypting}<...

]] Signal: Audio only [[

Whoa, Grand Admiral Wainwright himself is contacting me! That's amazing! I'm...

In a lot of trouble.

Oh frak.

(away from microphone)
Aww, crap, I knew I shouldn't have, why did I... time for some quick talking... quick... oh bollocks.
(clears throat)

I have to say, when I signed up for the Legion, it had been years since I had operated with organised military forces. The Rogues I met were plain awful with their comms discipline - you practically had to yell everyone else down if you wanted to be heard. Unfortunately, no matter how hard I tried, I guess that rowdy attitude rubbed off a bit on me. See, when it comes down to survival, it's not really about who's the fastest... it's just who's faster than his, uh, buddies. If yelling at people gets their attention, then I guess you could say that it works.

(pauses)

As for cracking the channel... I have to be frank, sir, but it was a hell of a lot easier than I expected it to be.

Now I spent many years with Hackers, many more so than the Rogues. It brought back the thrill of organised crime. The Lane Hackers, they taught me what it means, and how you go about being, an 'organised' criminal. With them, it was always about information. Times, dates, locations, you name it... and they knew it.

I'll be honest here. Using technology against its creators was just... so damn fun. It's the surprise, you see. Some fools were surprised when we showed up, surprised... that we knew everything about them, down to their preferred brand of underwear. Oh, the gloriousness that is hacking the neural net!

The Hackers take it beyond annoyance. They made their specialty into an art, and when I stumbled across this one - and is one hard find, mind you - I really just couldn't resist. When you see a transmission that just screams 'military intelligence' due to the style of excessive encryption layers, you just have to have a go, take a peek at what's inside.

(pauses, and takes a breath)
Ah, dammit. I really hope they don't take this the wrong way. Man, I am so busted...

And... yeah, well, that's what happened here.

Now, as to literally how I accessed the channel. To be frank, I wouldn't have gotten it but for one minor flaw. While the original transmission was sent via a direct sub-wave burst to Vespucci, the lack of response signal caused the original transmission to bounce around the Independent Worlds for a little while, namely Freeport Four, where I was stationed at the time. Before you ask, yes, I was undercover, and just picking up some basic supplies.

Yeah, sure, the IMG have electronic security, but it's much like any other place. It's got entrances if you know where to look. If it didn't relay via the FP4 node, I never would have found it. A few hours later, and there I was, reading one hell of a classified transmission, and one that looked darn hilarious at that. I mean, the guy looks like a child! Ah, uh, yeah, though I guess that's for you to decide, of course, about the content of the message.

(deep exhalation)

So, with that lovely viewfinder that is hindsight, it probably would have been better to have passed the transmission on to someone higher up by hand.

Uh, yeah... I guess it really wasn't my place to send a reply. Not at all.

The hacking was a fun challenge though!

Frak, I can't say that. I hope that didn't get recorded.
(clears throat)
Ahem.

Admiral, I wish to formally apologise for intruding upon a communication directed solely towards the Legion's High Command.

(swallows)

I will accept the consequences of my actions like a man, even if my earlier actions displayed a severe lack of mature judgement.

Pilot First Class, Dane Kinnaird, out.

...>{end}<...

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There was a sig here, once.