Mystic smiled calmly at all the flabbergasted looks she was getting as she strolled up the deck from her ship. It was not often that a well known pirate came to Viper HQ under their own steam. The woman had an agenda and wasn't about to even think about backing away from it. Walking into the lobby she saw a rookie Vpr on the front desk. "Good, will make this easier," she thought. Glad now that her bandana and obvious weapons where still back in her ship she approached the young cadet. "Hello there" she said with a bright smile. "May I help you miss?" the ruddy young man was all but drooling as he spoke. Mystic responded, "As a matter of fact you can, I have a paper here for Seta Ralel".

"Officer Ralel isnt here at that moment, I will be happy to see that he gets it", the young man tried to hide his disappointment that this business would be concluded so soon. "Well actually....its kind of personal, could I possibly leave it on his desk in his office?" The officer thought for a moment, contemplating the dangers from this woman. "I suppose that would be alright" he finally said. Mystic smiled a bit brighter,"You dont know how much it would mean to me, If you could just direct me there, I wouldn't want to pull you away from your duties." She very well could have been on a stage, with her practiced movements and speech,

The young man gave Mystic the directions and then watched as she walked past him down the hall.
She walked slowly and carefully, keeping her eyes open for anyone that might recognize her, even though she had picked the time of day when most of the ones she knew would be off or out on patrol she knew it would not hurt to be careful any way. The door to Duncan's office was closed, would be a happy day for him if he was in there and just happened to walk out about now. Mystic almost giggled at the thought of the look on his face if that were to happen. The next two doors were for Blackhawk and Nerde's offices respectively, then she found the one she had been directed to. Opening the door she walked in and left the flyer advertising the Last Man Standing competition on Seta's desk."Now thats taken care of, lets see what we can find" she said to herself. Leaving Seta's office she looked around carefully to be sure she was alone.

At the end of the hall, gleaming like a bright star was the door to the information center of the building. According to her source this is where the officers stored their files for input into their central computer. Mystic checked that her blaster was at the ready, just in case she ran into someone that could cause a ruckus. Opening the door to the room she slipped in quickly and shut it behind her. The room was disorganized to say the least, but functional, with a couple of data entry stations and files everywhere.

It didnt take long for Mystic to find what she was looking for, files on CLM members, just waiting to be input into the system. "Well we cant have that now can we?" she asked aloud. Gathering up the folders and doing a cursory glance thru them, she noticed not only her name, but the names of most of her best pilots. There was Tumble,Yoda,Trailox,Splash...the list went on. "Geeze, these guys really wanna be thorough" Putting the folders into what appeared to be a ladies large purse, she pulled out a disk that she had gotten from her buddy Borb. "Now lets see what kind of entertainment Borby supplied me with." Sitting down at one of the data stations she entered the disk, half expecting alarms to go off everywhere, but nothing happened. Inserting the disk and typing in a few codes she had memorized she watched seemingly nothing happened. Then the screen flashed black and white a few times, then went back to normal. To most this would mean that nothing happened, but Mystic had faith in Borbs toys.

Realizing she might arouse suspicion if she tarried any longer, she quickly got up to leave and as she did so noticed something lying on one of the desks, marked "Confidential Officers Only". All this meant to Mystic was that it might be interesting. Opening the packet, she found 8 card type things, about the size of credit sticks, but upon closer examination, they appeared to have some sort of chip installed. They all seemed to be exactly the same, possibly for a single purpose for a group. Not wanting to set off too many alarms at once, she pocketed half of them, just to find out what they were. Heading back out, she again looked to see that all was quiet in the hall, "Sheesh,"she thought "there is more activity at our HQ".

As she walked back down the hall to the lobby, she smiled again at the young officer. "Thanks ever so much, I left it on his desk, along with a note" Which wasn't a lie, she had scribbled a quick note to Seta on the flyer before she had arrived. "So you found what you were looking for miss?" the rookie asked. "Oh I found everything just fine officer, and all thanks to you", she smiled as she said it, knowing that once it was found out this poor rookie might never make it past desk duty. "Have a good day"she said as she smiled and headed for the door. "You too miss, hope to see you again sometime, and I didnt catch your name in case officer Ralel asks?" the desk guy asked. "Just tell him that Mystic said hi",she said as she closed the door behind her and moved quickly to her ship.

She almost expected any moment to hear sirens blaring in the station, but all was quite as she entered her ship and prepared to undock. Still people had these strange looks on their faces, guess it was bad enough seeing her walk into the Vpr station, but to walk out again? Mystic laughed out loud as she plotted her course back to Latos and undocked."I can not wait to hear what the others have to say about this lil adventure."

Seta completed the docking sequence he had become so used to over the years - calling approach, and getting clearance without even requesting permission. It was so familiar, he could almost perform it in his sleep... and a good thing. This has been a long mission... a very long mission.

Several nights of chasing various members of a particular "questionable" organization has left him very weary. Hours of boredom chasing lead after lead... accentuated by moments of adrenaline-pumping raw violence has left it's toll. Seta needed sleep. A chance for his body, and more importantly his mind, to heal. He longed for the tranquil environment of his bunk he had come to treasure.

As the station keeping latches at the dock made their familiar loud thump, Seta shut down the engines of his favorite white RevC... and in one swift motion he placed the systems into auto mode, unbuckled, and climbed out of the cockpit. As he stepped from the ship to the dock platform, he noticed that the Viper logo on the front hull was slightly burned and scared from battle... "I should have that replaced", he thought... then he chuckled to himself... the look of a rather well-used ship with a shiny new badge... that would be a sight. "Rather like the pilot...", he thought to himself... and then looked down at the replacement badge on his chest.

It was quiet in the corridor as Seta walked towards his office, his well worn flight boots barely making a sound on the metalic flooring as he passed. "One quick check of the logger, and then horizontal...", he thought to himself.

The vader from the flight deck to the office section opened with it's familiar groan, and Seta walked out into hallway towards his office. He passed the night guard - "what's his name?", Seta thought to himself... there have been quite a few rookies of late, and while Seta prided himself on mentoring the new recruits, there has been little time of late to devote to those duties. "I should make a note to spend some more time with them", he thought...

"Good Evening...", Seta flashed a salute and nodded as he passed towards the hallway to his office...

"Council Ralel, Sir?", the guard spoke up... Seta paused, and turned to face the recruit. "You had a visitor earlier, she left a message on your desk", he said. "She?", Seta asked... "Yes sir. A rather striking looking woman, with red hair... she obviously knew you", the recruit respnded... and then hesitated. "I directed her towards your office because she seemed to be in somewhat of a hurry, but she obviously knew you", he repeated.

"She have a name?", Seta asked... although he knew the answer already... "Yes, sir", the guard responded. "She said to tell you 'Mystic says hi'", he stuttered. "Very well, recruit. And may I suggest something?", seta relaxed and shuffled on his feet... leaned in towards the guard, and smiled rather crookedly... "Yes, Sir... please", he said. "Study, study, study...", Seta whispered... and then turned and walked towards his office.

Mystic was drained, it was always this way after an adrenaline rush. Getting into and out of Vpr HQ was simple enough, but eluding those SF once they picked up your signal was another matter. Those guys were relentless, chasing you all the way to the border. Of course this was one of Mystic's favorite past-times, but today it was an overload. She just wanted to kick back and relax while she examined her special haul.

Fishing the latest box of chocolates from Leber out of the cabinet, Mystic sat down at her desk and opened a com channel to everyone in CLM. "Guys you need to be on extra alert status for a while, I think I may have stirred up a pit of vipers."

Mystic knew her next order of business needed to be sorting through those papers, just to see how much possible Intel was included, but instead pulled the unknown cards from her pocket and turned them over gently trying to decipher exactly what they could be for.

Deep in thought, Mystic was startled when the door to her office opened, resulting in her blaster being pulled by sheer reflex. "You know, you really should knock, a hole wouldn't look very good on you", she chided. " Looky what I managed to grab today while I happened to be strolling through Vpr territory." Sliding one of the cards across the desk to her Lt, "Any idea what this could be and if it could be any use to us?" she asked.

Yoda studied the card for a minute "Nope, no idea, but we know someone who can find out for us." he grinned. Smiling, Mystic turned to her com again and punched in a number she knew by heart. "Borby, I got something here I need your help with"....

The last piss yellow vulture roars impotently past the rock I sit behind, finally learns how to properly utilize the obvious blinking blue lights... Makes me think. I watch Seta roar in, then, insipid regulatory flying, 45m/s, straight in... park. I can see him, through the little windows, leaving his coffin of a cockpit... now walking artificially tall down the gangplank. I rub a smear off my canopy and he sinks back to proportion.

A small red light blinks just to the right of my reflection, I look down. Yeah, yeah, just flew in an’... no, nono.... but!...there’s three, or four....Boss...Boss, cmon..... I just needanotherhalfhour...they’re toas’, no.... maybe yeah.... No they might not leave for a few ho’...

...Alright...fine, I leave. Set up two pops away. A weeks food my ass. This keeps up I’m hittin Odia. Been a while. Reminds me of that scavenger’s prey, running trails behind. The flip-frames flash before my eyes, replaying the times I’ve seen this exchange: pirate out, snake in; snake out, pirate in; bloodier though. And done. Time has passed, people have left and death found those who stayed (almost).

Still, I’m camped here for as long as it takes. If it comes to it, I’ll bring it to them. If not, well, we’ll see how the librarian’s make out...

Just as soon as Seta entered his office... he recognised the scent. He smiled, thinking that there truly was only one person in the 'verse that wore - could possibly wear - that fragrance. "Pheromone enhancement", he thought - remembering the lab results from the first arrest. The fact that several of his men were *affected* by Mystic had initially puzzled Seta, until he had the lab run additional tests. It was perfectly clear now, how she managed to just walk through the front lobby. "That poor sap had no clue...", he thought to himself. Seta remembered the technician explaining - or trying to explain - the makeup of the various interactions of that particular scent upon the brain... and how rather relieved he felt at being much less affected than others.

Seta limped to his desk, and slumped deep into his favorite chair. "I guess I'm not going to get that sack time", he thought... "well, anytime soon." He reached across his desk, and shoved a stack of memdevs out of the way... and then leaned back and propped his feet up, as he was accoustomed to. "Access", he spoke... "Ready", was the reply... "sec-cams 14-4A and D... minus four", Seta commanded... The screen on his desk blinked, and started replaying images from earlier that night. One side of his screen showed the front lobby, and the security guard at the front desk. The other side showed his empty office. "forward to first activity", he said. The screen blinked again... and then the scene in the lobby changed. "There she is...", Seta whispered to himself as he sat upright.

Seta watched as Mystic spoke to the guard, and then - almost magically - moved directly down the corridor. He noticed her pause at the junction between the Commander's office and Lt. Millennium Blackhawk's office, and rather instinctively, touch her lower thigh. "She's got one of those gorram ceramic sidearms", Seta thought to himself... and then he whispered "no wonder she got past the detectors. Nicely done..." He watched her walk out of the frame.

In a few seconds, the other side of his screen showed the door to his office open... and he watched as Mystic placed a memdev on his desk... and then, she hesitated... Seta watched as she looked around the office, in short determined glances. It appeared that she relaxed, as Seta noticed her shoulders drop a bit... and she moved easily towards the door. "Pause", Seta spoke... and he started looking through the jumble of memdevs on his desk that he had just shoved aside... most were typical commications that tend to pile up, but he quickly found the one he was looking for. He waved the device in front of the reccom set and the image of a flyer appeared. "Last man standing", it said... and a short description of the competition scrolled by the screen.

Seta continued to watch as Mystic moved to the IC, and just as she started to rifle through some files - his vid went black. "Continue", Seta spoke softly... nothing happened. "Continue playback", he repeated... still nothing. "This is not good", Seta thought to himself. "Shutdown, flush the system, and restart... scan for anomalies.", he said. "Affirmati..." and the screen went down.

Seta grabed his iPad, and made a few notations... then walked to Commander Duncan's office, and left it on his desk. "Now would be the time to get some sleep", he thought to himself... knowing that the comp was going to be busy for a few hours. He walked back down the hall to Ash's office, and then paused... "I'm so tired, it'd be a waste of a Rammer™", he thought...

Images of the battles earlier in the day flashed through Seta's mind, as he tried to find a comfortable position on the couch in his office. "One thing that is consistent about those pirates... is that they are inconsistent", he thought... "no telling what they conjure from one tick to another". And with that, Seta dozed off...

Mystic! Girl you ready to marry me yet! No, no, no, wait, just hold up, see I know this guy in Latos that can marry us. Tonight! Are you busy tonight? Oh... Your always busy huh... Oh I can huh? So I help you and then your not busy and then we can get married? GR or there abouts, yeah, no I can be there in no time yeah it's just a small trip.

And with that I jumped in my ship to take a small trip down south. 15 min later I was docking in Odia M14, it had been over 6 months since I last walked down the halls deep with in M14. Most people no matter who they where never saw more then 20% of the station, and that includes your drug and human traffickers, your pirates, and most other scum you think would.

No most of the station was privately owned by big time corporations wanting privacy to make more discreet business deals. Security was tight, well paid, and knew every one on sight. If you did not belong, you did not get in, at least not out side of a body bag. Back in the day BLAK owned over 50% of this secret area, when we disbanded much of it was sold back to the station but yoda at the time had the foresight to talk Shape into giving him a few of the larger more luxurious sections before selling off the rest.

It was down these old familiar corridors I now walked once again, to go see an old friend.

"Hey you land lubber down here!"

I looked down the well maintained hall to see a short man with close cut blond hair flipping me off and grinning.

"yoda! What are you doing here, there's miners out there that need killing!" I shouted as I walked faster now closing the gap between me and the door.

"Yeah and your wasting my time." He grumbled as I walked through the door.

I smiled as I smelled the sweet smell of pheromone enhanced roses.

"How ya been girl."

I said walking over and greeting Mystic.

"Better if you would come down more often." She said grinning and handing me a cold roid rammer.

"So what cha got for me today hmm?" I said as I took a drink and grinned happy to be hanging out with my friends after so long.

Journal: July 3rd

Looking around, the place seemed somehow smaller,

Walking around my old haunts, just seemed to make me feel old. There was none of the invigorating rush that I used to get. Memories of running down these halls, hopping in a "Revver" and hitting the accelerator wafted through my head.

I'm 150 years old, but I didn't feel it till today when I looked behind me.

Luckily, I looked behind me to see docking area, where dwelt the flashy transports of a few of my old mates.

Yoda appeared to have acquired some cubist modifications... that Marauder looked more functional than usual. No doubt designed for removing cargo while his prey were still in flight. Would be good to see that bugger again. Especially here, I first met him here. Long ago when he was just a red blip.

Mystic was here too apparently. It was a bit more low key, elegant even. I couldn't have noticed it was her, except, she tagged her hull with a copy of her tattoo (don't ask, tricks of the trade y'know).

My hunch is that someone has been up to a little recon. Mystic just isn't the type to forgo weaponry unless she's packing a few other guns.

And.... yes... Borb's "Vehicle". The firepower was over the top... just over the top enough to be shocking.

They won't know I'm here. Recently, it has been useful to travel under the radar, average enough to be invisible. Even planned on paying pirates who accosted me, for fun. But, this isn't an age for piracy, I was disappointed.

My thoughts turned to the sudden appearance of 3 notorites like these, Mystic's ship (and probably her dress to boot), and the locale, Corvus M14...

Something is going down. Damn my curiousity, but my "exciting crime"-sense was tingling something fierce. I'll check the old BLAK quarters of the station tomorrow.

Until then..

Oblivious to the goings-on surrounding him, LeberMac snored loudly in the cozy subfloor ventilation duct as Shape walked over him, wondering what the hell that noise was. He made a mental note to check the ductwork in this area and moved on, deeper into the old station.

"So what cha got for me today hmm?" Borb was grinning like a little kid as he spoke these words. "Well if you will quit sniffing me like a puppy after a new scent, I will tell you" Mystic laughed. She knew her perfume affected people, thats why she had it specially made. It helped her a lot, especially in a male dominated profession like hers. Female pirates weren't taken seriously by some, that is til they find themselves on the business end of a blaster.

She had gotten the idea when she first joined with the group who were now more like family than anything. A couple of them had remarked on her perfume, a special blend of roses, manufactured specifically for her by this sweet little man she had met on Copacati in Pyronis. Seeing the affect of the normal perfume had prompted her to set up a special deal with the distiller and a scientist, to have a special pheromone enhancer added to it. It cost a pretty penny, but had more than paid for itself with the results.

Moving to the desk, Mystic retrieved one of the cards and handed it to Borb.
"This is what I have for you today sweetums. I "found" this little gem and 3 more identical to it at Vpr HQ." She watched as Borb studied the card, glad that she had decided to have this meeting in Odia. CLM was headquartered in Latos now, but with the vipers so stirred up, it was safer to be in the old BLAK suites here at M-14.

It did feel strange being back here, yet gave Mystic a feeling of security and nostalgia. This is where she had started her career as a pirate and had joined BLAK. Now days, Odia was more Syn's territory, but at times like this, this was the place to be. Mystic watched Borb as he was so engrossed in the card, and Yoda looking bored and itching to be out shooting someone, and had to smile, we are a strange bunch at times.

Yoda noticed her smiling and asked, "Ok what devilment is on your mind this time?" "Ah nothing really, just a lil traveling down memory lane, and thinking how much I truly adore you guys" Mystic grinned as she jumped from her perch on the desk to stand beside Borb. "So, what do you think these could be Borby, and how can we use em?"

Shape, the insomniac,

<You should sleep, SLEEP. Even if something is going down TONIGHT, you're going to negotiate tired? Last time you did that, you ended up running from an unarmed target>

He reached the entrance to the BLAK suites. Once guarded by a horde of concealed weaponry and alarms, its only remaining guard now was its sheer inconspicuousness. All the same, Shape donned the hood of his cloak.

As he walked, deeper and deeper, into the labyrinthian mess that he had helped design, he heard the faint sounds of familiar laughter, laughter which had been, in the past, as likely to accompany celebration as complete and utter chaos.

He abandoned walking in favor of creeping. He doubted they had guards, but if they did, no need to damage valuable assets. It was better that he knew what he was walking into. Borb had since become quite the nationalist, and despite his best efforts, Shape had never been able to quite shed his itani ancestry (Baldness is hereditary after all). It would do Borb no good if there were witnesses who could place him in a room with an Itani, even a notorious expat.

He stopped outside. Mystic was speaking..

"....I "found" this little gem and 3 more identical to it at Vpr HQ."

He stopped...

<New VPR tech?>

Since the TPG rollouts, the VPR's had been left out of most security operations, with the new high-powered TPG designs, the need for escorts had drastically diminished. A sole trader might run into problems with the roudy crowd of Grey, but the new Constellation-class vessels were virtually unassailable. Without a Teradon, you couldn't hope to make a dent, and those that had Teradon's were keeping the lid on them awfully tight. Shape had repeatedly tried to get his hands on one, but the Corps seemed hellbent against his success.

Again Mystic talking, and then...

"So, what do you think these could be Borby, and how can we use em?"

Shape listened intently.

<Indeed. Perhaps... If its a play to regain power, the VPR's will have either noticed a flaw in Capital class defense.. or have information regarding leaks in technology. Whatever this is... either it, or the usage of it could put the pirates back in the driver's seat. This ought to be profitable...>

And so he listened.

Mystic's eyes strayed from the card in Borbs hand to the desk and was instantly alert, the small device that controlled the portable sensor was blinking. Something, no someone, was too close for comfort.

Moving the few feet to the doorway, she pulled her blaster and opened the door. Instantly she relaxed. "Come and join us my friend." she opened the door wider and motioned her former commander into the room.

"This is beginning to feel more like a reunion than a covert meeting," picking up the sensor control she wiggled it in front of Shape smiling, "didn't think I would forget my training did you?" Mystic asked as she reset the control. "Always be aware and no matter how safe, still take precautions", repeating words she had been told many many times in the early days.

Mystic removed her jacket as she regained her perch on the desk and waited patiently for the greetings to be over so they could get back to the business at hand. Not often did she enjoy the luxury of not wearing a jacket unless in the privacy of her own apartments in Latos. Especially not as she had donned a halter top with decent cleavage for her venture into the viper pit and hadn't bothered to change.

Still slightly self-conscious about the two inch scar on her upper arm, not to mention the tattoo she had gotten one night when she had been drinking with "the guys". It was really a very nice one, thorned roses spiraling around a sword . "All good pirates have tattoos," they had said, and too many drinks had the next morning found her with a hangover and a very sore shoulder.

Truth was, not many knew of this, rite of initiation they called it. It also said a lot about Mystic herself. The sword for strength and honor, and the rose with thorns that shows that even beauty can be dangerous.At least that is the reasoning her friends gave her when she threatened to hurt them for doing that to her.

She gave a mock glare at them now as she remembered that night and these three's part in it. "Now back to the business at hand guys. These cards..and what could they mean?"

I couldn't help but grin as Shape walked in it had been along time. Setting down the two .45s I had pulled from where they rested in the small of my back I took another look down at the chip now back in my hand.

"I donno, they look like older weapons control chips. No one uses them now days though because they are vulnerable to interference..."

"Borb, do you think they could be used on a Constellation?" Shape said softly.

"A Connie... Yeah I guess they could be, all the newer control chips where made for smaller power-loads as seen in the common fighter ships. Up till now only the government used capital ships and they all have forms of weapon control that is safe. But I doubt they would share that information.

Yeah I guess since the Connies are civilian maybe this is all they have that can handle the power-load of so many guns."

"But why would Viper have them?" Mystic said speaking for the first time since she had invited Shape in. I looked up at her as I thought.

I had always been attracted to her, she was I guess just your average pretty woman, but I always enjoyed her personality. She used that funny perfume that always cracked me up , from what she told me it some how made men like her more or some thing like that. All I know is that after she got it I did not like her any more or any less, but I did like her none the less. It had been to long since the last time I had seen her.

"Well um Seta is the closest thing the Vipers have to a techie so I guess TPG wanted the Vipers to make the chips less vulnerable so he would have been the one to look at it I guess. Which is why you would have found them on his desk."

"You think he can make them work?" Shape said once again.

"Oh yeah he's not that incompetent. It won't be hard or even take to long."

I looked back at Mystic, she was deep in thought. She still had that tattoo from one of our prates. It all started in this room, I think... We all got really drunk that night and some how all ended up getting tattoos. Her's was my idea, mine was less imaginative, I was never much for body art but I did get the BLAK logo on my left shoulder. Some thing I still bore with pride to this day.

"What do you not have any women up in Serco space?" I heard as I was awakened from my memories by Mystic.

"Haha no, no, we have tons up there but none of them have such interesting tattoos, I said as I smiled.

She blushed not expecting that as she said. "I've got an idea, what if we you know like messed them up or some thing."

"You mean like we stick a back door in the chips that we can shut down and then plant the ones we messed with back on Seta's desk?"

Shape was more than a little shocked at being discovered, apparently Mystic's stealth tech had experienced a few upgrades.

Sitting down, they returned to their conversation.

---------------------------------

Shape intervened,

"I don't think its feasible for us to return them to Seta, too many risks. The primary one is that Seta is no fool. I'm sure he's already trying to investigate our intentions."

"However, that being said, I have an idea"

Shape realized that this was more Alamar or Tramshed's area of expertise, but Borb was more than capable.

"Borb, Perhaps you can complete Seta's job, design it to be as foolproof as possible. Do anything you think he would do. We need to know what exactly we'll be dealing with"

"We may not be able to get it back into VPR HQ, but, we have 2 other options:

First,
The interference problem is an interesting one. The Constellations will probably compensate with a Faraday Cage-Emitter, not a large one, nothing to draw attention. Which gives the Constellation a major weakness. If we can take down the emitter, we can hit the sucker from well outside of weapons range.

But, if we take this route we need another Recon mission, probably into TPG Shipyards, we need to know makes, models, and anything else we can possibly get our hands on."

"That's our first option....

Our second is a less general solution, while the former would allow us free access to any Connie. We could also see about working the weapons chips into existing Connies. This poses fewer problems, most notably that we don't have to infilitrate the most heavily guarded shipyard in known space."

"We know that Corps in command of Constellation class ships are likely to use conditioning on their crews, so extortion/blackmail/kidnapping are effectively out. The crews are too well trained. Though, if you have some inventive methods, I wouldn't put it past you guys to be the first to pull it off."

Shape could see Mystic lose herself in the idea...

"So. The other way to infiltrate these is to infiltrate a repair vessel, and cause the Constellation a few 'Natural Disasters', then work the magic."

Shape sat back and waited, planning was something of a knack. But execution entirely depended on these pirates, these scoundrels, his mates.

Seta awoke to alarms going off on his wrist, his desk, and in the VPR central comp center...

"what the heck?"... he sat up rather starkly... trying to shake the sleep that had finally enveloped him... it had been a long time since he had relaxed enough to allow the total darkness of healing to overcome him... rest was usually a matter of laying down till the next alert caused him to respond... in this case, apparently REM state had won... and now it was a battle to decern reality from vexation...

Priority protocals were to be followed, and Seta lept from his (rather lacking) place of slumber, grabbed his chair and focused on the terminal on his desk. The alarms were deafening... and the first order of business was to acknowledge them and start the debug sequence...

The overhead alarms went silent as Seta frantically worked the keyboard holo projected on his desk... obviously there was a perimeter breach... and Seta smiled as he silenced those alarms... "thanks a lot", he mumbled to himself as he worked through the various alarms and their priorities... "I knew that *before* I went to sleep, stoopid comp"...

Progressing through the alarms... it was apparent to Seta that a series of "virus" had been injected into the systems. He worked at each level of the containment... some were obviously less critical than others... and several were simple "dead ends" that were used to distract attention.

"gotcha!", Seta mumbled... as he slammed the enter key for the last time...

The alarms all went silent... except for the one on his wrist...

"Four targets", the alarm reported on his wrist...

"Gorram UPS...", Seta replied...

"wait... that's not supposed to be active until next month...", Seta thought to himself... "what the heck is that about?"...

Seta pulled up the holo of the UPS command interface, and started to work his way through the rather pooky graphical representations that were *supposed* to make interface easier...

There were three principals, and one "guarded" char represented on his palate...

"Identify", Seta commanded...

Just as the computer started to project it's hologramatic versions of those to be identified, Epideme walked into Seta's Office.

Somewhat shocked to find Shape, Borb and Mystic in front of him, he'd drawn his guns and aimed before Seta's hurried shout stopped him.

"What's going on in here then?" Epideme asked...

Mystic listened intently to the discussion, but an idea was beginning to form in her mind, dangerous...reckless, but the rewards could be worth it. Finally she spoke up, "I lifted 4 of these cards, but there are 4 more..if we could get these fixed, and swap them out for the others..." "Tis impossible Mystic," Yoda interjected. "Actually there is, if Borb can get these fixed quickly, it can be done" Mystic replied.

All three were looking at her now, listening. "Ok here is my thoughts, my source told me, that due to our activity, Vprs have increased their patrol times." she paused, "Borb if you can get these babies fixed in say an hour or two, their HQ should still be almost empty."

Shape interjected, "And just how do you intend to swap these for the new ones? They are going to be on tighter watch now." Mystic smiled, "Well if the little "present" I gave their computers worked properly, even if they have found that, it will take hours to clean and get to working properly again. Without security cameras, thats plenty of time."

"Plenty of time for...?" Borb was now paying close attention. "Well to turn myself in of course Borby." Mystic smiled. "By my reckoning, that young officer at the front desk, is going to be on alert, after most likely getting chewed a new one for allowing me in earlier." Mystic continued, "So he will be very eager to "arrest" me and make it up to his superiors."

"Have you lost your mind?" Yoda seemed almost angry as he spoke."Allowing the Vprs to arrest the commander of CLM is not a smart move, Myst". "I don't intend to spend a minute more there than it takes to swap out the cards and get the hell out." she answered. "I know you guys have been doing this a lot longer than I have, but this is something I KNOW I can do, besides if it gets too hot, we can have a "distraction" planned, if say I'm not out in twenty minutes or so." Mystic finished up and sat back to let them process her idea. She wouldn't go ahead without their support, but she fervently hoped they saw the merit in what she proposed.

" ..ing patient. Genetic resequencing interrupted by outside user. Reviving patient. Genetic reseqencing inter-"
"What the FRAK!" snarled the wizzened old man. "Who woke me up now! Some recruit is on latrine duty for a month, I swear!"
Grabbing his cane and a robe, Counselor lenzenm hauled himself out of the gene therapy tank, and hobbled at top speed to the executive suites in the Viper Lair.

Bashing open the door to the only occupied office with his cane, he snarled "Seta! Epideme! Why did you wake me up! Look at my knees, I still need my cane!"

"Patience, ancient one," Seta chuckled. "We wouldn't interrupt your monthly treatment if your attention wasn't needed. We have a matter of some import to discuss with you."

"The assault carrier conversion on that Constellation we procured can't be done yet! I still have weeks to complete the crew roster & complete their training! And I can't command from the bridge like this," he stated as he gesticulated wildly at his dripping robe.

"Um, yes, about that....we seem to have a problem, there was an incident earlier today..."

"yes sir, you're right sir... I accept full responsibility. I did not follow the proper protocols in securing the DUECC cards, sir.", Seta spoke forcefully... and rather accented the final "sir" to show his respect, as well as to re-emphasize the fact that he really did accept the responsibility for his lack of judgement... his entire body was rigid (despite it's years of abuse) holding attention, standing in front of Commander Duncan's desk at the regulation distance - eye's front, and thumbs aligned with the seams of his (less-than-regulation, slept-in) uniform pant.

Seta was "old school"... and he had the habit of blousing his trouser over his flight boots using, well... not so regulation means. But it was as he was raised. It was what he was accustomed to... and he was too old to change now. Old habits die hard.

"At ease, I said... and if you don't relax, you'll pull some rather unusual duty that I can't even think of at the moment...", Cmdr Duncan replied.

"Yes sir...", Seta replied... rather sinking into a lopsided parade rest... more at ease.

"So, what do we do now?", Cmdr Duncan asked... with the look on his face that he was already formulating his own ideas.

"Well sir, I think we should secure the remaining cards... and fully assess the penetration of the systems. We have to know exactly what we are looking at in terms of containment...", Seta replied. "You know as well as me the potential of any *one* of those cards...", he said.

"I do. But they don't. Not immediately, anyway...", Duncan replied. "But it won't take them long."

"Yes Sir. We were able to identify four principals... using the UPS... heh, Epideme just about did me in... And that is what gets to me, sir. Mystic, Borb, Shape, and YodaofBorg. It shows that their net is still working very well. They have been scattered about, as you know... but for them to be in the same place at the same time... could only mean one thing. They intend on figuring these things out.", Seta responded. "...and it's only a matter of time, sir. Contact was lost too soon to pull auditory data... but I am working on the logs."

"Very well...", Cmdr Duncan replied... looking down at his desk...

"Get lenzenm whatever he needs... it was right to pull him early, but we weren't ready to start that part of the operation", Duncan said. "How about partial regenerative support?"

"It's risky... but it would be up to him... it's been very successful in the past, from personal experience.", Seta replied.

"Okay, I'll talk to Nerde and MB... you talk to lenzenm... and send Epideme in here... and have you heard from Ash yet?", Duncan asked...

"Not yet, sir... but he responded to the alerts... he's on the roster.", Seta replied...

Seta limped to his desk, and set the remaining four DUECC cards out in order. When the Vipers were first approached by TPG to test the new "command/control" capabilities... most were hesitant because of the commitment involved. Seta, however, jumped at the opportunity. He convinced Cmdr Duncan to allow him to spend some time investigating the capabilities of the DUECC.

There were several functions not quite ready for production, but basically the units were the central control for all new TPG ships. They provided authentication capabilities (managing those allowed near, surrounding, and on board), navigation (UPS-based positioning and reporting), systems management (power, stores, and energy direction), and disaster recovery management. The normal pre-production protocols were to be followed in the tests, with specific procedures that were to be reported at various test stages.

Seta had completed only about half of the test procedures. The portions of the tests specific to systems management were easy to complete - basically initialize the modules, set the parameters to the ship to be tested, and fly 'em. The test points were automatially recorded. Once complete, the modules were removed and the flight data downloaded, and then they were prepared for the next round of testing.

Seta had just begun the UPS functions testing... and had not fully secured the units using the public/private 256Mb key encryption... only the simplistic barrier controls had been enabled... (it basically made the reconfiguration after each test flight easier).

Now he had a problem on his hands... four were missing.

"go back to basics...", Seta thought to himself... "protect the remaining assets first. Then go after the lost sheep..."

Seta sat in his office, and started what was to be a long night's work...

I too was fast at work. The thing I hated was just waiting for the information to burn to the chips, it did not take long to make them do what I wanted, but loading it on to them was a whole nother matter.

Fortunately it was all over with a small beep. Grinning I picked up the chips and left the small room I had converted in to a communications hub to find the guys and girl.

It did not take long.

"You guys fired up the hot tub with out me!" I shouted as I walked into the steam filled room where yoda, Shape, and Mystic where getting drunk at.

"Don't worry we saved some beer for you." Mystic laughed.

"I leave y'all for 45 and y'all go off and have all kinds of fun...."

"Did you get it done?" Shape asked, the light glistening off his wet bald head.

"Yes, and I made a few phone calls. These are not weapon control chips, they control the whole ship, it's like the brain of every thing. Now I messed with them so that we can well do what ever we want with the ship, and it should all be untraceable. It's like those old movies with the worms that got in peoples brains and made them crazy.

Just we're the worms and none will know we are there. Oh yeah one last thing I found out was this is just a test batch and they are not the only ones. The Snakes got a few to test but nothing really important or any thing like that, so there are good odds that these will never been in any ships y'all would ever shoot at.

So yeah... Any way I did my part."

There was an awkward silence I a reached down into the cooler for a beer and contemplated how long it would take for me to get every weapon off my body, then get into a swim suit, and then the hot tub.

By the time Mystic looked up and said she had some thing I had taken a long drink and decided every thing was or at least should be able to handle a little water.

"Yeah?" I said slipping into the pool combat boots and all.