Captain Trake Promontory: Dronefare
Avander Promontory
((Central Quantum Transport Junction, USPS Showrunner))
Trake, Morro, and Ay were at the junction of the power behind the power. At least they presumed. It seemed that the massive datacenter they accidently found themselves in supported the whole of the Astrachthoni operation, or at least the quantum reality correlating functions.
So they intended to break it before they left.
They had managed to wrestle a repair drone to the ground and discussed their captors while Morro dug in the guts of the machine.
Promontory: It pays to be genre-savvy. (beat) These Astrachthoni are like perversions of El-Aurians. Like, they don’t have any stories of their own and they are desperately trying to find meaning in other peoples’ without doing the work needed to make them meaningful…
The way that the Astrachthoni had cannibalized the creative libraries of the Federation ships for content suggested a telling lack of creativity. Most of their shows were fairly derivative.
Nera: Almost makes me feel sorry for the Astrachthoni, when you put it like that.
Caras: I’m not sure I do. This technology has limitless potential, but they choose to wield it this way. They understand emotions, they try to evoke them for entertainment, but seemingly have no empathy for their subjects. That’s a choice.
Trake nodded in agreement with the Orion. It was a complete waste of potential. It suggested a sort of developmental stagnation that could hopefully be exploited. Sure they had vastly superior technology, but if they didn’t innovate, if they had stopped thinking creatively, hopefully they could be outwitted—at least enough to effectuate an escape.
Nera: Stories are so central to countless cultures. Creating them, listening to them, drawing meaning from them. For an entire race to have either lost the ability to create their own, or just have no interest in that simple pleasure? ::mutter:: What a sad existence.
Caras: I think it might be rooted in fear, and thus control.
Promontory: Given enough time, every empire falls, and in a predictable pattern: they stop learning from stories, then they overindulge in their decadence, then they stagnate, fail to innovate, and then they’re ripe to be ended.
Then usually they got overthrown—the violent ones often violently, but Trake and his officers would settle for some light sabotage.
Nera: Doesn’t excuse the continued abduction of other races for their own entertainment. That’s something we should put a stop to if we can, or at least get the Diplomatic Corps involved.
Now that would be a trick. The Diplomatic Corps had representatives on the Syren Song and even the longsuffering patience of career diplomats had surely been strained by coerced role-playing in the Tangle.
Caras: We have to get out of here first to do that, but something tells me they don’t want to do something boring like diplomacy, unless they’re the ones watching it. I honestly think these guys might ground for a galactic “off limits” zone.
Promontory: That’s probably more likely. The Tangle was already mostly off limits, but I can imagine the Federation slapping a decent exclusion zone all around the edges as a buffer. (beat) In fact, I’m going to recommend the same to Commodore V’Airu when we get back.
Morro now had several components of the device arrayed on the floor. Trake wasn’t much of a technician, but it looked like progress.
Nera: How’s our little friend here? Think you’ve gotten something useful out of it?
Morro manipulated an element and elicited a blinking light in response.
Caras: There is a signal here, It might be the link to a central core. I think it’s constant, but I have no way of tracing it. I can however… cause some feedback with it, and also block it.
A couple more pokes and a couple more signals.
Promontory: (encouragingly) Looks like you have basic communications with the mainframe.
Caras: I think that’s a good sign? Now we can probably access the data but I don’t know what that means. I can turn it back on, but I've disabled its sensors, so it won’t be able to see or hear us.
Promontory Do it. We don’t have time to be overly cautious.
Just because no one had caught them yet, didn’t mean no one was about to.
Nera: Response
A flick of the switch caused the antigrav system to reactivate, but the main lights on the drone face remained dim.
Drone: Enigma systems entertainment deluxe patching drone established, please set up for initial users.
Trake exchanged a look with the other officers. This was promising right? Like a new infant about to imprint on the first thing it saw, perhaps they could become the master users of this device.
Caras: What do you think? Patch bot? Patchy? What should we say? I’ve removed its sensors for now, but we’re not Astrachthoni, it’s going to find out we’re intruders really quick if I flip those on.
Nera: Response
Promontory: I say we go for it. Turn on the audio sensors only and let's set ourselves up as the ‘initial users.’
Caras: I mean, if you think it’ll buy it. That means we’ll have to act like…. Some of them. I bet they order bots like these around all the time.
Promontory: Well, we’ve all had years of practice sharpening our acting chops—time to put those skills to good use. Go ahead and activate it!
Morro made another adjustment and another bit of the drone lit up.
Drone: Awaiting audio input. Please establish initial users.
Trake thought back to the various Astrachthoni directors he had encountered.
Promontory: Recognize voice print: P4124G0N and establish as primary user.
The machine whirled and clicked. Trake tensed up during the ensuing pause before finally hearing it respond.
Drone: User established. Awaiting instructions or additional users.
Nera/Caras: Response
Drone: Users established. Awaiting instructions or additional users.
Promontory: First instruction, slave all other drones and auxiliary system functions through this device and lock out all other users.
He flashed the others a cheeky grin.
Drone: Processing…
Drone/Nera/Caras: Response
Trake furrowed his brow.
Promontory: Identify key system vulnerabilities.
Drone/Nera/Caras: Response
[[TBC]]
