Barrett’s Privateers – Throwing Stones VI

by | Nov 18, 2024 | Fiction | 47 comments

Six

The clearing

They arrived at the clearing just in time to see the shuttle flare and bump to a rather clumsy landing.  Moments later, Darrell Weems opened the hatch and stepped out.

“Rafael, Peter, will you get our gear out?” Amole ordered.  “Get that fender out and deploy it along the tree line.”

“Gomp, get that shuttle ready for departure as soon as they’re out…”  Jean stopped as she noticed Darrell Weems watching her, a sly look on his face.

“I don’t think you’ll be able to use the shuttle,” he said.

Barrett spun to face Hudson Amole.  “You son of a bitch – you got what you wanted, your gear and your people are on the surface.  Have your man unlock my shuttle so we can get the hell out of here!”

“So you can run to the Feds, Captain?  I think not.  For the time being, why don’t we all just concentrate on the task at hand?”

“Which is?”

“Setting up a defense, obviously.”

Jean reached in her jacket pocket and started to withdraw her datapad. 

“You can’t call your ship,” Weems gloated.  “It’s all locked down – full fire protocols.”

“That means the air system is locked down, too,” Hector Gomp snarled.  “They’ll have air for what, two hours?” 

“We can talk about your ship later, Captain,” Amole said smoothly.  “Have your people help mine in getting our fender out and our e-beam cutters deployed – oh, don’t frown so, I told you I was expecting something like this, you should have guessed I’d have automatic defenses packed.  Once that’s done, we can talk about unlocking your ship so you and your crew can leave.”

“Gomp, Crowe, help them get set up,” Jean ordered.  Yvette Langstrom had wandered over to the shuttle’s blunt nose as if inspecting it for damage and was just now strolling slowly towards her Captain.  Jean looked at her; the young Security troop was mouthing one word: Kaelee.

Kaelee indeed, Jean remembered her own hacker, up there on that locked-down ship.  If Kaelee can break the lock on the ship up there – then we can break the standoff down here.  Sure as hell Amole can’t just let us leave – not when he knows the Navy will drop in on him a few weeks later.

Damn it all.  I bet we won’t get the rest of our money, either.

***

The Shade Tree

Kaelee Adams awoke slowly.  Her head hurt – and the room was dark.

“Lights,” she said.  Nothing happened.  “Lights,” she repeated, louder this time.

The lights stayed off.

“What’s going on, Kaelee?” Anita Knapp asked from her bunk above Kaelee’s.

Kaelee leaned out of her bunk and looked up, pointing at her wristband.  “Time for us to be up – but the bloody lights are out.”

Anita yawned.  “Stuffy, isn’t it?”

Kaelee noticed the red light flashing – her datapad.  Who would be calling my pad here on the ship?  She rolled to sit on the edge of her bunk, picked it up, placed her thumb on the screen to unlock it, and said, “Return call.”

The pad buzzed for a moment before there was a click, and the Executive Officer’s voice came through.  “Kaelee?  Is that you?  Where the hell have you been?”

“Asleep,” Kaelee replied.  “In case you haven’t noticed, I’m on the late watch, and it’s nice to get a little kip now and then…”

“Shut up and listen to me,” the Exec snapped.  “The ship’s computer is locked down, with all fire protocols activated – and the air here in the Bridge is getting foul.  Amole’s man Weems hacked our systems.  We need you to unlock them.”

Kaelee sniffed. “Anita just mentioned it was stuffy in here. Right, I’ll have a go.  Give me a few minutes to see what he’s done.”

“Hurry,” the Exec ordered.  “We don’t have all day.”

“On it,” Kaelee said, and disconnected.  “Anita, you have a pocket light?”

“Yeah – hang on, I’ll find it.”  The Scanning tech hopped out of her bunk, smoothed down her nightgown and rummaged in her locker.  Sleepy voices came from the darkness on the other side of the tiny compartment; Annette Wilson and Amanda Davis were waking up.  Kaelee ignored them.

“Here,” Anita said.  There was a click, and a small but bright white light came on, illuminating the compartment.  Anita held it over Kaelee where she held her datapad, allowing her to see the unit better.  Kaelee hit the contact to extend her custom pad’s laser keyboard onto her pajama-clad legs.

“That’s better. Let’s see what this bastard did to our computer, eh?”

Still sitting on her bunk, she tapped away at her datapad for five minutes, ten, before looking up.  “Son of a bloody bitch – this guy is good.  He had to leave the open-air net open so he could send commands, but he used a 512k encryption to lock it.  I think I can open it, but it will take a few minutes.  Then I’m betting he has another passcode lockout on main computer control, but if I can blow through that, I should be able to get full ship control back and lock him out from trying it again.”

“Get us some air,” Amanda Davis complained.

“Be patient,” Kaelee said.  She watched the flow of characters on her screen as her passcode protocol spun through millions of combinations a second. 

Two minutes later, the pad chimed.  “Lovely – I’m into the ship network, now just need to see how he’s locked down the command system.  Amanda, since you’re just lying about, get your pad out and call the Exec so I can speak with her whilst I’m hacking.”

That took another minute; Indira Krishnavarna’s voice came through Amanda’s pad just as Kaelee let out a whispered curse.  “Kaelee?” the Exec asked.  “How are you doing?”

“That bugger’s better than we thought.  He’s put a bloody biometric key on the main command unit.  Maybe a thumbprint, more likely a retinal scan.  It will only take commands combined with the biometric.”

“Can you break that?”

“Might take days,” Kaelee said.

“The air’s getting pretty bad up here,” the Exec replied.  “We may not have more than another hour.  Can you at least take down the fire protocols?”

“No way.”

“Hang on, BJ Smith is calling in – let me bring him in.”

“Exec?” the deep, sonorous voice of the ship’s Chief of Engineering joined the conversation.

“I’m here, and Kaelee is on too – she’s trying to get through the locks Amole’s sidekick Weems put on the computer.”

“How bad is it?” Smith asked.

“He’s put a biometric lock on the main controls,” Kaelee answered.  “Probably a retinal scan into his own pad.  I don’t know if I can get around it.  Might take hours, might take days if I can do it at all.”

“Would a reboot help?”

“What do you mean, a reboot?”

“I mean, Exec,” Smith explained, “that I can kill main power from here manually, and manually disconnect the battery backup.  The main computer can only run a few seconds on residual power, maybe a minute, tops.  I recommend we wait five minutes, then kick the main power back in.  That should restart the computer with default access, and enable you to get control of the ship again.”

“It’s worth a try,” Kaelee agreed.

“Agree,” Indira Krishnavarna agreed from the Bridge – realizing that, after all, it was her decision now.  “Go ahead and do it, BJ – we’re running out of air up here, I’d say we have very little to lose at this point.”

“It’s in the works now.  By my pad it’s 1204 now – I’ll shut down all power at 1207, and bring it back online at 1212.”

“I’ll be ready,” Kaelee said, “and grab control of the main panels before anything Weems has done can kick in.”

“Get me voice input,” the Exec said, “and I can handle the rest, I think.”

“Will do.”

The time passed slowly.  At 1207, on the Bridge, the power went dead, plunging the compartment into pitch darkness.  The faint hum of instruments stopped.

The Shade Tree was dead in space.

On the Bridge and in Kaelee’s compartment, all eyes were on private datapads, the only instruments still running, on their own internal power.

Finally, the time counter clicked over to 1212.

“OK,” Kaelee called over the open channel, “I’m in.  Damn, Weem’s programming is trying to block me – Exec, I can get you voice command control, but be quick, do whatever you have to do.”

On the Bridge, where the watch was still blinking against the newly-restored lighting, Indira Krishnavarna leaned over the arm of the Captain’s chair, tapped a stud, and said, “Command override, Krishnavarna Nine Seven Seven Shiva.”

A light on the panel turned amber.

“Restore all access controls to restore point Kilo.”

The light turned green.

Krishnavarna stepped to the Security panel, shoving Tim McNeal out of the way where he manned what was normally Hector Gomp’s station.  Her slim hands danced across the Security panel.  “OK, she said after a moment.  “Fire protocols are down.  I’ve locked out any new access; Kaelee, see if you can track Weem’s signal and block any access from his ‘pad.  All stations, report – we should have ship control back.”  Already, the watch could feel the fresh air wafting into the Bridge.

“Helm is back.”

“Weapons is good.”

“Scanning is OK.”

“Signals is up.”

The Bridge speaker crackled. “We should have full control,” BJ Smith said from Engineering.  “We have full power, drive and thrusters are available on command.”

Krishnavarna walked back to the Captain’s station and sat down.  “Tim,” she said as the Security man sat back down at his panel, “where’s our shuttle?”

“Looks like it’s on the surface again, Exec,” Tim McNeal answered.  “I’m betting Weems took it down to join his boss.”

“I bet you’re right,” the Exec said, looking up as Kaelee Adams walked onto the Bridge, carrying her custom datapad.  “Signals, see if you can raise the Captain.”

***

To see more of Animal’s writing, visit his page at Crimson Dragon Publishing or Amazon.

About The Author

Animal

Animal

Semi-notorious local political gadfly and general pain in the ass. I’m firmly convinced that the Earth and all its inhabitants were placed here for my personal amusement and entertainment, and I comport myself accordingly. Vote Animal/STEVE SMITH 2024!

47 Comments

  1. juris imprudent

    I would imagine when Barrett maroons Amole et al, it will be without weapons or comms. Hack that MFer!

    • EvilSheldon

      Maroons?

      I refer you back to Dunham for the generally accepted way to deal with mutineers.

      • juris imprudent

        I think that was the mutineers action upon the former command. Besides, why be merciful and give them a swift death?

      • EvilSheldon

        The one big advantage of killing someone quickly, is that you can be absolutely certain that they’re dead. I’ve played enough D&D to worry about such things.

      • Not Adahn

        In D&D, them being dead isn’t a fixed status.

      • R C Dean

        Marooning was done with mutineers during the age of exploration. I think Magellan did it, for example.

    • Timeloose

      This is how you get Kahhhnnn! Be sure it isn’t called Ceti Alpha 5.

      Make sure to kill all of them or put them in jail.

  2. kinnath

    thnaks

    • pistoffnick (370HSSV)

      thnaks

      What is the treat Mike Tyson looks forward to after losing a bout?

      • kinnath

        Can’t thay.

  3. Sean

    Hudson’s gonna lose a testicle.

    • R.J.

      I look forward to The Stabbening.

  4. Not Adahn

    *This is not a criticism*

    This kind of scene where one hacker/engineer/wizard overrides another one’s action by being better at hacking/engineering/magic and more particularly done this way because mere mortals can’t see/understand such esoterica/arcana has become such a set piece that when The Expanse broke that convention with the Naomi on the Chetzomoka sequence it really impressed me.

    • Timeloose

      That was a hard episode to watch. She did a great job making me like her again. I disliked her as a character and though she should have been left behind when she went after her son.

    • Nephilium

      It was something I appreciated when Mr. Robot actually showed the work and planning that actually goes into a hack.

      • kinnath

        Are you saying that Swordfish lied to me about how easy it is to hack a computer

      • EvilSheldon

        Seriously. I have great fondness for Hackers, but not for its portrayal of computer hacking (more for it’s portrayal of something else technically illegal…)

      • Nephilium

        kinnath:

        Sneakers is more realistic about hacking than Swordfish.

        EvilSheldon:

        I watched Hackers once, and it hurt my brain too much. The entire time was me going “That’s not how that works… that’s not how ANY of this works!”

      • kinnath

        Sneakers was a good movie.

        Swordfish was not.

      • EvilSheldon

        Neph – did you at least get to the part where Angelina Jolie takes her top off?
        kinnath – Sneakers is awesome.

      • Nephilium

        EvilSheldon:

        Of course I did. I said I hated the movie, not that I wouldn’t appreciate more topless Angelina Jolie.

      • ZWAK, doktor of BRAIN SCIENCE!

        Hey, if Mathew Lillard can’t hack it, no one can!

      • Evan from Evansville

        Sneakers is easily in my Top 10 Favorite Movie list. Nails everything, from story to acting to casting. Sidney Poitier, Robert Redford, Dan Akroyd, River Phoenix to Ben Kingsley? One of the more prescient movie’s I’ve ever seen, especially coming out in ’92, when home computing was quite rare. (We got Windows 3.1 as everyone else got Windows ’95.)

        Manages to take (then and now) tech issues and ‘mainstream’ ’em in an entertaining spy romp. Well fucking done, all.

      • Not Adahn

        The best variant of that is in anime, where the cybernetically-enhanced hackers have extra fingers attached so they can type even faster!

  5. R.J.

    “Did you turn it off and on again?”

    • slumbrew

      White on white translucent black capes
      Back on the rack

  6. cyto

    I just saw something in the Anson Dorrance / Michael Jordan goat stat category.

    Magnus Carleson is widely considered the greatest chess player of all time. He is past his prime and pulling back from the game, no longer defending his world title. But he is still the best player in the world, having the highest FIDE rating.

    So, Magnus goes to play a big tournament in India. All grand masters, most in the top 10 or 20 players in the world

    He wins the tournament easily, going 9-1 with a few draws (draws are super common at that level)

    9-1 against the top players in the world

    He loses 3 FIDE rating points.

    That is how high his rating is. Losing 1 game costs more ratings points than winning 9, against the very best players on the planet

    Pretty cool.

    • cyto

      BTW, for those not familiar with Anson Forrance, he is the former womens soccer coach at North Carolina.

      His record is 22-20

      • cyto

        Oh, I forgot to mention. 22- 20 record is in national championship games.

        He also went undefeated as USWNT head coach, winning the first women’s world cup.

    • ZWAK, doktor of BRAIN SCIENCE!

      Carlson is no Capablanca, is no Lasker.

  7. The Late P Brooks

    What if we just fire them all and not replace them?

    President-elect Trump’s plans to reshape the federal workforce would allow him to fire wide swaths of career employees and replace them with political appointees — a move that comes as he has demanded loyalty at every level of government.

    Trump has said he will reissue an order released in the waning days of his first administration that ends merit-based hiring for a number of federal jobs that work on policy, instead creating a new class of federal employees — Schedule F — that could be hired and fired just like political appointees.

    It’s sparking alarm among federal workers, who see it as a way to insert politics into government actions, a move that could both reward Trump allies and politicize government decisionmaking.

    “I think there would probably be an exodus, because federal employees just want to do their jobs. They want to do the job according to law and regulation,” said Jacqueline Simon, policy director of the American Federation of Government Employees.

    “They do not want to be political appointees. They don’t want politics to interfere with any aspect of their job.”

    “We don’t want other people’s politics infecting our political agenda.” How can one say something like this and not just burst into flames?

    • R.J.

      Jeez.
      Also who says he has to replace them? Just vanish entire departments. Nobody will notice outside of the people who worked there. No sarcasm intended.

    • juris imprudent

      Because they honestly don’t think of their technocratic governance as political. Politics is for things that need to be debated/decided, and none of you plebes have any say in what WE are doing.

  8. The Late P Brooks

    Agencies across government are headed by political appointees tapped by the president, but the bulk of work is carried out by nonpartisan staffers hired for their expertise.

    Nonpartisan experts who, purely by coincidence, overwhelmingly vote for Democrats.

  9. The Late P Brooks

    Because they honestly don’t think of their technocratic governance as political.

    Does a fish know it’s swimming?

    More government “guidance” is the solution to every problem. Shrinking the government is suicide.

    • juris imprudent

      Howcome you don’t recognize that we are the philosopher-kings Plato talked about?

    • The Other Kevin

      This is the living embodiment of “nothing left to cut”.

  10. The Late P Brooks

    “Even if you don’t think having a professional civil service is important, there are some fundamental tenets to decisionmaking. Pick up any edition of the Harvard Business Review, and they’ll talk about how decisionmakers need to look at issues from every possible angle, how they need to have the best unbiased information,” the official said.

    Harvard Business Review; the bible of bureaucracy.

    • Sean

      best unbiased information

      From CNN or NBC?

    • Contrarian P

      This sort of talk is always annoying. It is not possible to look at anything from every angle nor can you have complete information. It’s the primary reason that central planning doesn’t work and never can. It’s utopian-speak to talk this way and I fully expect that from a government drone.

      • Compelled Speechless

        I remember during the early days of COVID, Fauci and other high-ranking officials casually stating that they hadn’t even had time to consider any economic effects of lockdowns before throwing out the pre-established pandemic response rule book and implementing totalitarianism. Not only do these people not consider every angle, you’re incredibly lucky if they consider more than zero angles.