by Chris Hechtl
“We're getting requests for help from a few. They are still alive!” Neogorilla Journeyman Avery Brooks said in horror.
Horatio kept focusing on what he was doing. “Focus sailor. Get someone on SAR duty if you've got one to spare.”
“How the hell are they still alive?” Spaceman Z'k'll demanded.
“Sailors with full implants can survive brief exposures to vacuum. The better the implant package, the longer they can survive. Don't dwell on it, we've got a job to do,” CPO Garcia said as he looked at the floating bodies around them.
“Oh.”
“Focus on what we need to do to keep the rest alive. We can't help them now,” Horatio said. “Move it, people. We've got a mission to complete. When we're done, we'll work on SAR. I promise.”
“Damn, sir. Some won't survive that long,” the Neochimp said.
“I know. Welcome to the joys of command,” Horatio said heavily as he clipped into the safety line.
~<><{<^>}><>~
“A.I. attack. This vessel is under cyber attack,” Buzzkill reported.
Captain Bites Hard looked up from the report he'd been scanning and then over to the A.I.'s avatar. The A.I. showed an image of intrusion reports and the origin.
“The station is under internal attack,” the A.I. reported.
“All hands on deck!” the T'clock captain ordered.
~<><{<^>}><>~
“Sir, we've got reports of people on the hull of the station,” a rating reported.
“Let me see it,” Captain Chung stated. He blinked at the image. There were suited workers, nothing of note … except they couldn't raise anyone on the station and something kept trying to get through to their computers. “Comm, see if you can raise them.”
“The station is jamming our comms.” the rating instantly reported.
“Not good,” the Neopanda captain muttered. He saw a hand move in frame. He blinked then his eyes narrowed. “Zoom out,” he ordered.
When the image zoomed out, he saw bodies. People were being vomited out of the station. Some were still alive, trying to cling together. A few had managed to get back to the hull of the station and were trying to get to a lock. “Son of a … boat bay! We've got a major SAR incident! Get every shuttle and suited person we've got out there to recover them now!” he ordered as his hand slammed down on the red alert button.
Klaxons and red lights instantly went off within the ship. He wasn't certain what good it would do but having all hands on deck had to account for something he thought.
“Sir, robots are out there,” a Veraxin rating reported.
“On SAR duty?” the captain asked as the view switched to another camera. He saw the robots plow through a knot of people and then move on a course for the suited workers.
“No, something tells me they aren't on our side anymore,” the rating said as the captain began to curse.
“The station is under internal attack by a Xeno virus,” Ensign Justica, the ship's smart A.I. reported.
“We are so hosed,” a rating said quietly.
“Not yet we’re not,” the captain snarled. “You're blocking the virus?” he demanded, looking at the A.I. avatar. Justica had taken on the personage of the classic justice figure, with the roman toga but without the blindfold.
“Definitely, sir,” she said, hefting a sword. A shield with the image of the crest of the ship appeared on her free arm. “I'm fending it off. Air gapping will help. We need to pass the word, sir.”
“Audio only,” the captain said. “Comm, broadcast it. Work the problem, people!”
~<><{<^>}><>~
“Whose side are they on?!?” Can anyone tell me what the frack is going on?” the captain snarled.
Ilmarinen's A.I. had received the security updates from Ensign Justica when she had docked. He had been fending off the intruder attempting to hack the firewall by simply not accepting any incoming data.
When Captain Clayton said that statement, he was put on the horns of a dilemma since he knew what was going on, but he had been ordered not to speak.
Instead, his simple avatar flashed into being on the holographic table. He held up a hand.
The flash didn't initially attract attention, but then a rating noted it. The Neochimp turned to look at the avatar curiously, then to the captain. “What?” the captain demanded.
“There, sir,” the rating replied, pointing to the avatar.
The captain turned a fulminating look on the holographic image. “You know something? Well? Spit it out,” he growled.
“The station has been compromised by a Xeno A.I. and is under internal attack. The virus is attempting to hack our systems. I'm keeping it out,” the A.I. replied.
“Damn it!” the captain snarled as he turned away. “Gods be damned A.I.! What do we do!”
“Firewalls are keeping it out for the moment. We need to get our tugs and equipment on manual control, sir. Secure the ship that way in case it does get on board somehow,” the XO stated.
“Get on that,” the captain ordered. He turned a look on the A.I. avatar and then nodded once. The A.I. returned the nod and then winked out.
~<><{<^>}><>~
“This would have been faster if we'd had a scooter or tug or called someone to do it for us,” a rating complained.
“Less talking more walking,” the CPO growled.
“Once we get there, we need to disconnect the fuel lines from the tanks to the reactor. On either end, I don't care at this point. Obviously the less damage we do the better, but if we have to break something, so be it,” Horatio stated over the radio network.
“Good to hear, sir,” a rating said. “We're almost there.”
CPO Garcia looked up and then did a double take. “We either have help coming or trouble,” he said as they neared the bottom of the station.
Horatio turned in time to see a group of robots coming. He turned in place and saw others coming from all directions. “That's not help. We're in trouble. Can you raise the ships with suit comms?”
“Trying, sir.”
“Figure a way to defend yourselves and hurry!” Horatio barked. “Incoming! Move people!”
~<><{<^>}><>~
Initially the flying robots tried to knock them off the hull with collisions. That made the group duck and find cover by blocks of cargo. CPO Garcia used his fire axe to cut the lines on a net then throw pieces of scrap at the robots. Most of the scrap went sailing off into the void.
Two of the sailors were knocked off their maglocked feet by impacts from the robots, but safety lines pulled them back to the deck. So the robots changed tactics to cut the lines and rip the people off the hull.
The Virus swarmed every tug and robot in the vicinity onto the organics. It attacked with robotic arms, trying to grapple and crush or breach their suits.
~<><{<^>}><>~
When they were within ten meters of the fuel lines, the admiral had them spread out into a perimeter. Garcia was one of those people on the perimeter. “Brooks, get those lines shut down. Garcia, the rest of you we're covering him. Keep them busy,” the admiral growled as he hefted a pry bar.
“You want this, sir?” Garcia asked, holding out the axe.
Horatio looked over to it then shook his head. “You're the one best suited to use it,” he said.
“Aye aye, sir.” Garcia said just as a robot came in to attack. He dodged sideways then used the pike end to hook the android remote. It thrashed at him but he managed to pin it to the deck. Another rating reached in and yanked wires to cut the feed to its camera. She smashed its head for good measure.
Garcia motioned to her to step back. He picked the thrashing remote up by the arm with one hand then threw it like a discus thrower at another remote. The second remote got caught in a tangle of thrashing limbs, bounced off the hull and then went off into the shadow of the station.
“That's the way to do it,” Garcia said as the female steadied him. “Thanks.”
“Show off,” the woman muttered. Her eyes widened as she saw
more robots coming in.
Garcia saw her horrified look, but more importantly the reflection of more robots coming in, this time from directly above. “Frack,” he muttered, turning to fend them off.
~<><{<^>}><>~
Journeyman Brooks was having a bit more excitement than he'd expected. He'd bitched about being assigned to the job, but he now bitterly regretted that. All he wanted to do was survive it. He got to one valve and heaved but nearly kicked his short legs out from under him. He reassessed the situation, placed his legs differently, with one leaning against a pipe, then gripped the circular valve control and turned it again. It moved. The metal was most likely vacuum welded in a few places, but faced with the strength of a desperate and adrenalin riddled gorilla, the welds snapped and it moved. Reluctantly, but then with more force as he tightened the valve and shut off the flow of fuel.
When he got it fully closed, he huffed, panting. “One down,” he said tiredly.
“Good, get the other three,” the admiral said.
The Neogorilla looked up to the others and then groaned. “You've got to be kidding me,” he muttered just as he saw a rating get grabbed by a tug's massive claws and then cut in half. “Frack,” he muttered.
“Stop scratching your ass and move sailor!” the admiral barked over his shoulder.
“On it!” Avery replied with a grunt as he dropped to all fours and knuckle ran to the next valve.
~<><{<^>}><>~
The station slowly drifted, all the out-gassing having broken her previous stationary position. As she did so, the section of hull Horatio and his work party were on slowly drifted into shadow. The shadows grew longer and longer than night descended, only lit by the running lights of the personnel, and the attackers.
“Turn off your lights. Use your eyes, people,” Horatio said.
“They are coming in again!” Garcia warned just as a robot tried to use a tentacle to whip a few of the defenders off the hull.
Horatio had to focus on defense and trust his people to get the job done. He tried using his command override to shut down any equipment that came near him. It took a lot of power though, and he had to be quick in sending it. After the third time he locked down a robot, the attacker got wise and steered clear of him.
He looked around to see the drifting robots and a few too many inert bodies. “We're getting there, people. Once we shut the reactor down we just need to defend the fuel valves until the fuel in the reactor runs out. Then we can shut down the batteries inside the station.”
A few people groaned. He ignored it. “Getting there,” he muttered again as a robot tried to push an inert robot at him as an improvised weapon.
“Here we go again,” Garcia said tiredly. “They don't know when to quit!”
~<><{<^>}><>~
Avery got to the second valve without incident and closed it, now knowing the trick involved. A third valve was being worked on by a Veraxin with a pry bar. The bug had the right idea. He'd wedged the pry bar in to use it as leverage, but his small claws couldn't get enough leverage on the deck and surrounding area. He also just didn't have the brute strength.
The Neogorilla pushed him gently aside and then set himself. He tugged on the bar and then heaved with both arms. He groaned as he did it. The welds broke and then the valve began to spin.
“I got it!” he said. He panted but did a victory slap on the chest a few times. He roared, making a few of the survivors cringe.
“Look out!” a rating called out. He turned in time to see a robot land on the hull behind him. It lashed out with one arm to knock the Veraxin off the hull and into the dark void.
It tried to get it's claws into play, but one was stuck so instead it used its other arm, this one with a multitool on the end. Avery grappled with it with one hand, fending the other claw off. He tried to lift the thing off the hull but it's stuck claw kept it firmly grounded.
“Okay, if that's the way you want to play,” he snarled, canines bared in rage and hysterical strength. He pushed down until he could get a foot up to step on the claw. When he did he used his boot to keep it down while his hand lashed out and yanked the wires zip-tied to the arm. The arm spat electrical sparks then died.
With his hand free he reached up and tried to do the same with the multitool arm that was looming over his head. His body gave, forcing him into a crouch. “A little … help … here?” he gasped as he tried to fend the arm off.
“Busy,” a rating said.
“Gee, thanks,” Avery said. He reached up with his free hand, formed a fist and started battering at the arm until it locked in place. When it did he gasped out. His fist lashed at the cameras on the thing, smashing them into wreckage. He heard whistling in his gloves and knew they were breached but for the moment all he could focus on was the arm with the nasty claws and crap all over it.
But the arm stopped about a centimeter from his head. He turned away, and then looked at it. “Whew,” he said, starting to relax. “It's over,” he muttered.
That was when the tip flipped to a plasma cutter. His eyes caught the motion and had just enough time to widen as the tip heated up white hot in a second then spat a stream of plasma right through his visor.
The visor instantly darkened to deal with the sudden intense light but was useless to fend off the searing heat. The glass and plastic softened and melted in less than a second, and then the fire of a sun cut through to his head and face, flash boiling the liquid there and making his head explode.
~<><{<^>}><>~
CPO Garcia saw Avery's arms thrash as he climbed onto the robot and used the axe to sever its fuel and electrical lines. Sparks kicked out, hitting the fuel line, but without an oxidizer, it couldn't burn. He stuck the axe in, twisted and yanked, then pulled out wiring.
“That ought to do it. You okay, Brooks?” his voice cut off with a gasp of horror and dismay as he saw the body drift end over end. The head was just … he looked away from it. He felt a clank and looked back to see a boot had somehow brushed and touched the robot, locking it in place. “Sorry, Brooks,” he muttered as he turned back to the other survivors.
“Cut the plasma feeds. We're starving this thing one way or another,” Horatio snarled.
“On it,” Garcia said grimly as he gripped the axe.
~<><{<^>}><>~
Without Deuterium and Helium 3, the reactor slowly starved itself of fuel cut down the plasma being fed into the station as its internal systems attempted to maintain ignition temperatures. After a minute, that failed and the reactor went into emergency shutdown mode.
The virus tried to counter the action by stepping down the reactor and cutting in the emergency power. It cut all nonessential power. It had already cut power to life support. It tried to secure power in its batteries while it worked on a backup plan.
~<><{<^>}><>~
PO3 Billy “Thor” Thornton had been out in Bobsy moving external cargo pods from Justica to the station and Ilmarinen when all hell literally broke loose.
Automated tugs and robots that had been passively following the crew's directions suddenly stopped what they were doing, then went after the nearest tug or suited worker. After a moment they stopped, then attempted to swarm Ilmarinen.
“I don't know what's going on, but shut ‘em down!” Billy called out over the radio network. His telemetry was set to broadcast his location. A window popped up stating an external signal wanted to take control of his tug. He hit deny and then gripped the yoke. “Something's going haywire with the computers. Deny the signal coming in. Shut down the telemetry …”
“The brass is going to have your ass if we do!” Bo warned.
“Let me worry … shit!” Thor snarled as an automated tug got into the nearest open boat bay on the port side X arm. Havoc ensued as the tug tried to smash its way in.
“Stop em, folks! Anyway you can!” He ordered, putting words to action.
The radio network was filled with chatter as the tug pilots fought to protect themselves as well as their ship.
~<><{<^>}><>~
The Virus realized it didn't have sufficient resources to direct each tug or robot. It could direct them to a basic task, but attacking the organic driven equipment required focus. Since it was remote piloting the craft and robots, it was at a disadvantage. Surprise quickly melted away as the piloted craft went on the offense.
~<><{<^>}><>~
“Thor, got one on your six,” Jake warned.
“Thanks,” Billy replied. He cut his drive then kicked his OMS in a quick flip. He lashed out with his cargo claws as he pitched over the automated tug. His claws tore into fuel and electrical lines and then punctured her spherical fuel tank. He used his implants to direct a robotic arm to lash into the tug to rip out her remaining fuel lines for good measure just as his tug shook. He looked around and noted an android worker on his hull attempting to cut into his flank.
“Oh no, you didn't scratch my paint!” he bellowed. He kicked the OMS to spin his craft to put his starboard side with the robot towards the dying automated tug, then kicked his port OMS thrusters on to ram the robot and his tug into the automated tug. He jerked in his harness, momentarily stunned before he kicked the OMS slightly to get clear. When he did he noted his starboard side was dented and mangled, but the robot was nowhere around.
Worried, he cut into the other camera feeds until he caught sight of it. He zoomed in and then grunted as he noted the robot was tumbling away in pieces. It was on the same general path as the automated tug. Good riddance, he thought.
“We've fended them off,” Jake said, interrupting Billy's thoughts.
Billy looked up and around.
“What, no more?” someone quipped over the radio.
“Well, that was fun,” someone else drawled. “What do we do for an encore? Does anyone know what the frack is going on?” More and more people began to chatter on the open frequency now that the shakes were setting in.
Billy noted that suited personnel from Justica who had been deployed to move the cargo or for SAR had joined into the brief fight. Apparently, he owed them a drink.
