Eclipse Phase: Oblitus Memorias

[Josh]

Mal's taciturn response fell into the 62% predicted response, which was narrowed to 84% for Mal alone, but confounded somewhat by the potential of all the excess variables present in the room with Mal that could have offered differing arguments, with percentages running askew for the prospect that they could convince him to a different outcome, or irritate him sufficiently as to incur a more vehement response of some sort.

He'd known going in what the most likely answer was. The profile for most of these people was that they fell into line with leadership, a useful trait for the mission profile for which they'd been pulled for in the first place. Mal and Eli were the leadership now, so long as they cared to hold it between them.

"Thank you, Mal," Eli said. The viewscreen blanked as he rose to his feet. There was indeed a great deal of work to be done.

[raulpascal]

Jameson filed out with the rest of the crew. Other crew members going back to their stations nodded at him in passing; he smiled at that inside, keeping it blandly friendly outwardly. He wanted to thank Muninn; whether or not the other one was a threat didn't matter. What mattered was that the others in the crew heard him speak up, heard his suggestion. That's the trick, making what sounds like an intelligent suggestion when in fact the outcome was already decided. Make them remember you as the thoughtful one, the one weighing the options. Doesn't matter what the customer chooses, the more they remember you the greater your tip. And if they remember you as the thoughtful one, they're more likely to take your guidance next time.

The crew exchanged comments as they left, mostly jokes, a few complaints about little things--the food, the accommodations, the lack of entertainment. He nodded at complaints, laughed at jokes, generally worked the room like a good waiter should. Most of the crew were like him, people caught up involuntarily and just wanting to be elsewhere. One or two, though, were less savory characters. Sukarko knew the type; he didn't grow up on the streets, but was just above it, had friends among those who did. He knew the gangs, could tell the ones who were a bit rough and the ones you didn't turn your back on. He didn't finger the knife he had hidden, not wanting to draw attention to it, but he was comforted by its presence. It was just a standard kitchen multi-purpose knife with a ten-centimeter blade of cheap steel, but it was something. He was good with a knife, had used a knife before in more than one fight, and that was a sort of power here. He had it nestled in among the paramedic tools he carried. The computer saw it, of course--the damn computer was everywhere--so he had made a point to comment on how the medic kit was lacking a good blade, and how you needed a good blade. Which was true--never tell an outright lie unless you absolutely have to.

[Josh]

Eli let out a breath as he stepped out of his quarters. The calculations in his mind cascaded loose now that he was no longer repressing them, the equations reordering themselves in response to the release of data.

By calculation his confession was a suboptimal maneuver, though as when he'd manipulated the games on Juggernaut he couldn't speak as to what the game was. So in its way that defiance pleased him. It was a sign that whatever was going on in his ego, he could make choices. He could resist the influence, be it AI-driven or manmade.

As he reviewed the discussion, one face continually highlighted in his memory- Jameson.

He was one of the spin-ups they'd raised against the possibility that they could take Juggernaut by force and deny Vasily the egos harvested from LEO, and while he'd had time with Jameson just as he with the others when they'd spun them up to interview them, nothing about the man had stood out before now. But something was sticking out. Perhaps it was simply his willingness to speak up?

Perhaps.

But it felt like something more. The equation of interpersonal dynamics on the ship was shifting, away from the original four who Muninn had revived to protect itself against the invasion, and to a new equation, and somehow Jameson was flagging in his mind as a part of that equation.

Some innocuous conversation time would need to be arranged. This new factor would need to be analyzed, categorized, and the equation recalculated.

There was, after all, a new mission to carry out.

[B4UTRUST]

Several weeks had passed that were fairly uneventful since the big meeting. Muninn had arrived at the edge of the asteroid belt and travel had slowed to a crawl as the search for their specific target began. al-Bahth was on the bridge going through the navigation screens trying to narrow down the location of 34351 Decatur. It was in there somewhere, but even with precision data it was still a needle in a haystack search. As his eyes began to glaze over for the 3rd day in a row of staring at these fields of rocks there was a blip at the outer edge of the screen. He blinked, then looked around at the others on the bridge. It was quiet of course, Muninn was more or less running the show while others were doing their thing.
"Excuse me, Muninn?"
"How can I be of assistance?"
"There is umm... I'm not sure. I'm seeing something on the far edge of the sensor range that wasn't there a few minutes ago. Any idea what it is?"
"One moment while I investigate."

In truth Muninn had already started scanning and analyzing as soon as al-Bahth had brought it to Muninn's attention. It was strictly for the sake of social protocol that Muninn bothered to respond. Had it been someone like Eli, it was doubtful he would have at all. Muninn enjoyed the pragmatic and logical manner of Eli. It was comforting after so long dealing with the randomness of the previous crew.
"It appears to be another ship, Mr. Al-Bahth. I am unable to determine more from this distance without direct engagement which is unadvisable at this time. I will alert the crew. In the meantime, please continue your search for our objective. It seems that this will be a more time sensitive endeavor than was originally expected."

As Muninn was relaying this to the ship's passenger, likewise private comm messages were being sent over to the crew's muses.
"Attention, we have detected an unknown ship at the edge of our sensor range appears to be shadowing us at a distance. I am unable to determine who they are or how long they have been there. Please report to the bridge."

[Josh]

Eli, who had been sitting in a pressure suit 'atop' the hull, clicked a simple acknowledgement. During the intervening weeks, he'd taken to sometimes stepping out.

Outside, away from the others, it seemed as though the effect of his passenger, as he'd come to think of whatever psychological manifestation, seemed to flag off. It couldn't be simple distance- he was entirely aware that the whole crew was inside the vessel.

Perhaps it was the stark starlight, and the desire to find patterns in those stars as humans had been doing since they first stared skyward. The sun itself was a small, painful orb at this range, far less significant than it was at a relatively close-in single AU.

Here, he could just think, with little between him and the void but a tiny bubble of atmosphere and high-density plastics.

He rose up and began clomping toward the airlock.

[Dark Silver]

In the interum weeks since the reveal of Eli's infection, Mal had kept busy on the ship. Despite the wonders of automation and self-repair, Mal was untrusting of what Vasily's men may have done to Muninn during the repair work.

He was doing a deep dive into the mechanical systems near the cargo deck, when the alert came over the comm. "Fuckin seriously..." he whispered under his breath, as he worked on closing the access panel. "On my way," he said in his slightly aggrivated tone - the same one he got whenever he was interrupted from his intended plans.

"Bring us to heightened alert status, and arm the primary guns, just in case." After a few moments, Mal stood up and made his way to the bridge.

[raulpascal]

Almost despite himself, Jameson settled into the life of the ship. It was a familiar routine: the other spin-ups were a mixed lot that he navigated with familiar skill, the same way he navigated the gangs he grew up with. He created a fairly comfortable little niche for himself, serving as the unofficial ship's counselor as well as medical tech--a fairly pointless task, since the ship itself could perform any medical scan, but several of the spin-ups like himself had been given cheaper human bodies, and there were any number of bruises, cuts, scrapes, and in one case even a finger stuck in a beverage can. Most importantly, though, he made friends, or at least friendly impressions, among the crew. He saw the cliques forming, and he moved between them.

Jameson found himself in the tiny room that passed for the sick bay, cleaning equipment as an excuse to be alone and think. He remembered one time one of his corporate clients, some wannabe bigshot, droning on to his date about the axis of power, about how, in any group, there was always a center point, a center point of power, around which the group rotated. The client used to brag about how he knew the axis of power in his company. He figured this gave him special power, let him move up the ladder. He was wrong, not just about his special power but about the axis, and he found out the hard way. Jameson was determined not to make that mistake. So far Eli and Mal didn't seem the usual corporate types--no displays of wealth and power, no sniping and backbiting, and no jockeying between the two of them for power and control. There was an axis of power somewhere there, but it appeared as though they genuinely didn't care about status between them. Almost as if their relationship was based around friendship rather than power.

His musings were interrupted by Muninn. "Attention, we have detected an unknown ship at the edge of our sensor range appears to be shadowing us at a distance. I am unable to determine who they are or how long they have been there. Please report to the bridge."

Jameson put down the cloth he was using, grabbed his paltry medical kit. He wasn't sure that was intended for him--he had no real purpose on the bridge, really--but no way was he going to be stuck down here while things were going on elsewhere. He put on a bit of speed, enough to get there before Mal. Look as though you're supposed to be there, he thought as he settled into the background.

[Josh]

Eli arrived moments later. As was generally the case, he projected an air of calm, unruffled ease, the sort of contagious confidence that could infect a room.

He nodded at Mal, then fixed his gaze on Jameson for a long second. His subsequent nod had the sense of being more of an internal confirmation than a greeting, as his eyes had shifted ever so slightly away from Jameson as he nodded, a rare slip in his seemingly impeccable body language.

"Right Muninn," he said, lips quirking in a faint smile. "We're here. Talk to us."

[B4UTRUST]

The forward screen in the room flickered as the image on it changed to split between several graphs and charts showing various astrogational data, sensor data and other assorted information, most of which was meaningless to someone without the background in reading it. In one quarter of the screen though was a projection of the trajectories for both ships along current alignment and a visual representation of Muninn's interpretations of the data. None of the details were clear, it was more of a roughly shaped blob against a black background flecked with pinpoints of white than anything identifiable as a ship. But Muninn hadn't given them false alerts yet with regards to all the stellar debris and objects around them, it seemed unlikely that such a thing would happen now.
"This is a current processed image based on sensor data of what is out there. Triangulating its trajectory puts it on a flight path that is running parallel to our own while staying at the edge of our sensor range. Had it not had to move closer to avoid an asteroid, it is likely that it would not have been spotted at all. Going back through sensor scans previous to this, I surmise that it has been following us for at least a week, if not longer. The odds of another ship being in this area and maintaining that precise level of distance is unlikely to fall in the range of coincidental.

"At this time I have not engaged in any alterations to our flight path , and I do not believe that are aware that we have detected them. This is, however, troubling as if they have been following us for any length of time that means that they are aware of the limits of my sensor range and are exploiting this knowledge."

[Josh]

Eli glanced at Mal. "Logical conclusion- someone with an interest in our potential find is waiting for us to reveal the location."

[raulpascal]

Jameson caught the side look Eli gave him, recognized it from many a corp exec: I don't know what you're doing here as such, but I'm not going to object until you give me reason to. He remembered one dinner party at the restaurant, some working event where deals were made and careers were made--and broken. He was not one of the staff scheduled to be there, but had invited himself in anyway, ostensibly to serve the very expensive Bordeaux, but more importantly to be a part, no matter how small. One of the execs, some senior executive vice president or CIO or some such, gave him the same look. It said, yes, I see you, I know you aren't really supposed to be here, but I'm willing to allow it. For now.

He looked at the numbers, attempting to make sense of them. Suddenly what Muninn said sunk in. Following us. It brought back memories of walking home from school, gang bangers trailing him home, staying just far enough back to be able to feign disinterest, but always right there, waiting. He exposed his teeth in a shaky grin. "Burat," he muttered under his breath. Then a bit louder, "I'm going to guess we can't outrun or outfight them."

[B4UTRUST]

"Unfortunately both of those options are unknowns at this point. Without more concrete data on their capabilities I cannot give an accurate assessment of our chances against them."

[Dark Silver]

"Munnin, how about dropping a unmanned probe behind us, let it drift in our wake, use it to perhaps extend out sensor range? Act as a relay for us."

Mal was considering the issue at hand, they needed someway to get more information - they could be outgunned and were more than likely outclassed by whatever was out there. But that didn't mean they couldn't figure something out.

[B4UTRUST]

"That is something I can do, however it does increase the chance of them figuring out we are aware of them by a large percentage. Hence my inaction to this point and consultation with you. I am unable to see a path that does not result in us either ignoring them and seeing what transpires, or taking action and alerting them to our awareness of their presence. This is not an optimal situation for me. This is something that would under optimal circumstances be dealt with by Tyr."

[Josh]

"Interesting," Eli murmured. "Whatever their capabilities, it suits them to wait until we've reached our specified point before they initiate their next phase. Muninn, how many probes do we have, and can we make more?"

[B4UTRUST]

"We have six probes ready for launch. We have the capability of making more given time and resources, as we do have the fabrication facilities to do so. However, given the current perceived time constraints that is not a viable short term option."

[Josh]

Eli blew air through his teeth as he considered.

"We have to subvert their expectations of our actions," he said. "Stand by please."

He directed his MUSE to begin downloading naval tactical doctrine. Ground fights he had some familiarity with, albeit as an observer more than as a participant, as he had generally been the HVT being escorted in most circumstances.

While his MUSE was gathering information, he pondered the options. "Calculus one," he said "is that any quantity of drones is a reasonable expenditure for survival of Muninn and the occupants thereof. Calculus two is how many drones we would like to retain for our future usage if we can divert our pursuer. An easy ratio would currently say that we can afford to lose one third of our current capacity. My idea would be to launch two of them in a fashion that suggests that we are not sure of our objective point and are now probing for it."

[Dark Silver]

"So we can't do the trick more than six times, and everytime we do the thing - it's more likely they'll know we know."

Mal's face would have scrunched up, had he been in a Bio-morph. His synth-morph's faceplace though remained placid. "Muninn, who is Tyr? Is he another onboard AI that's in storage?"

[B4UTRUST]

"To better account for that type of deception, I believe it would be optimal to fire the two probes in opposite directions. However this would have the effect of potentially wasting a probe that we may not be able to retrieve later. It is a gambit, of course.

"Tyr is another onboard AI, but he is not on this vessel. He is another vessel AI in Valhalla fleet in charge of security operations His knowledge base and design would lend themselves to this situation far better than my own skillset."

[Josh]

As Eli's MUSE downloaded fundamental naval tactics, Eli began running cross-comparisons between tactical maneuvers and Muninn's available capacities. He stood rock-still as he downloaded maneuver capacities, threat-globe theory in interplanetary combat maneuvers, weapons and countermeasures.

If they didn't have a god of war, he'd have to do the best he could to emulate one.

[Josh]

Eli's head lifted slightly, and a plan transmitted to Mal and Jamison's MUSEs, as well as Muninn. Maps and schematics unfolded in their systems, numbers popping in describing thrust values, signature and emissions levels, and projected course vectors.

***
Muninn would deviate path toward a presumably uninhabited rock, depositing a probe in its wake running passives only and bearing a beta fork of Eli aboard.

At the appropriate time Muninn would cut all main drive thrust and drop to silent running, utilizing the low-emission RCS system to deviate its course to a new position. Periodic tightbeams would keep the probe oriented as to Muninn's maneuverings to allow for a two-way tightbeam channel as needed.

If the pursuer passed to within passive sensor range of the probe, the beta fork would gather as much information as possible while making the decision whether to go active and illuminate the target, or simply pass on such information as it could discern via passive sensing over the tightbeam link.

In the event of potential capture, the probe would self-wipe.

Upon gathering of further information, or failure thereof, the crew would then develop new plans for future action.
***

Eli stared at the screen, waiting for the other two to finish processing the suggested plan.

[raulpascal]

Jameson digested the plan, nodding. He thought back to his earlier image of being followed by gang bangers; when possible, make an innocuous turn around a corner and then hide. But two thoughts came to mind. "If we go to passive, how long will it take to go back to active if we needed to run or fight? And, this probably won't work, but could we launch a probe in front of us that would be able to mimic our signals? If we suddenly go silent they're going to know we spotted them, but if our signals continue, it may distract them."

[Dark Silver]

Mal looked over the information Eli sent over, studied it as best as he could considering naval warfare and maneuvers wasn't his forte, and gave it his signal of approval. With luck, they just might be able to pull it off.

"We can keep the engines on hot stand-by, shouldn't be long to be able to get us back to burn - the rock could do most of the hiding for us - it'll mask our EM signature. Most of these are big nickle-iron ferrite. really good at mucking up EM if you huge close to it."

Mal considered Jameson's proposal, "Muninn, thoughts? Can we do that?"

[B4UTRUST]

"I do not believe that any probe currently available would be sufficient to mimic a ship of this size. I was originally tasked as a specialized storage vessel, not a stealth or combat ship. I apologize but I am simply not equipped for this sort of operation or engagement. That is why I have engaged the minds of the crew to try to help resolve this situation.

"I do, however, believe that Eli's plan is feasible as laid out. I have ran simulations and it is the best plan for variables we can account for at the moment. Eli, please proceed with uploading your forks to the probes. I will make preparations and the announcement."

A moment later muses across the ship received the same broadcast.
"Attention. All crew make ready for emergency deceleration and reduction in ship power. Secure equipment and personnel as needed. Ship will be entering low power and silent running operation."

[Josh]

Eli nodded to Mal and Jameson, then made his way to a couch to plug in.

"Vaya con dios," he said softly. Breaktime was over.