Cloakinization (Mining Stygium With Siobhan on Maramere)

[HK-36]

[member="Siobhan Kerrigan"],

HK nodded,

"Well being able to see the tech in action or a sample of its program would be helpful. Usually slicing is done by disrupting the transmissions from devices, either by muffling their signals, diverting the stream of data somewhere else, or placing additional commands into the stream to execute operations like unlocking a door or shutting down a gun turret."

The droid explained,

"Sometimes they do it by changing the lines of the code within a machine's programming, although dangerous, such is rare as it requires the program to be shut down for it to be reprogrammed. Changing commands while they are being executed is more or less impossible and even then program being shut off is usually noticeable even to organics and the re-coding could be easily interrupted. Unless the Sith had access to some of the best slicers in the Galaxy, I doubt this is how they have done it."

HK looked over the mining droids again just to have them somewhat included in the story,

"If their slicing was data-stream based then new scramblers and encrypts should do the trick, if it was re-coding then we could counter it by forming a new programming language their slicers would not be familiar with."

The droid looked to Siobhan,

"Which would be actually easier to do than forming a new scrambling protocol, encryption techniques are fairly universal and done in so many ways already, programming languages have been formed to be inherently understood by organics, and the window for that is pretty narrow. Problem is, if I was to create a programming language that organics would not be able to understand, if something went wrong, only mechanical slicers would be able to fix the issue."

 

[Siobhan Kerrigan]

[member="HK-36"]


"I see. Unfortunately, the Sanctum fleet didn't capture any of the Sith's e-war ships during the engagement, but I have access to the after-action reports. The Sanctum's commanding admiral, [member="Kyrana Gould"], resigned her commission shortly after the Jedi decided to turn into feudal theocrats. The technobabble is a bit beyond me, but I can put you in touch."


Many of Gould's flag officers had followed her when she left the Silver's services. Morale, already low after Ruusan, had taken another blow when the Silver Jedi blundered into the Yavin Incident and then decided that henceforth they should be a Jedi-centric theocracy.


"Far as I recall, the Sith targeted sensors, communications systems and targeting. Sensors went haywire, comms were overloaded. The Sanctum had to disable all external comms traffic and hyperwave reception. They were able to communicate infrequently with their own warships by switching frequencies each time the enemy tried to jam them. I believe they used subspace transmitters. The enemy fogged sensors with distorted images. That wasn't very effective because it seems their ships weren't designed to do this at long range, but forced the Sanctum to resort to manual targeting.

 

[HK-36]

[member="Siobhan Kerrigan"],

"Of course they did not capture any of their ships,"

HK shrugged,

"Pardon me for assuming they were somewhat competent."

The droid quipped before continuing,

"But the e-attack issue does sound effed up, yo,"

HK stroke an imaginary beard,

"Effed up, indeed."

He glanced to Siobhan,

"This sounds less like typical slicing attacks and more like some sort of a jamming field, they are usually weaker attacks compared to something like overloading engines or shutting down turrets, but also harder to beat back, pretty much the most efficient way is to deactivate or destroy the jammer or jump frequencies and channels like they did."

The droid calculated for a second,

"We could design a scrambler that automatically switches every few seconds once the jamming starts, it would make communications come in slower and probably a bit jagged, but it would be better than no communications at all."

He would shrug again as he looked over the mining droids just to make sure they were still doing their thing,

"As to the sensors, that was probably jamming of signal between the receptors and the computer that processed the signal, hardwiring the system so they would have a backup connection by actual cable would solve the issue, unless they were using electromagnetic disturbance to actually mess with the sensors themselves, then that would be a problem because there is honestly no way to counter magnets like that. Same for the targeting computers, probably interference between the sensors and the targeting computer."

The droid rubbed the back of his head,

"Either way, this is all just speculation on my part, unless I would be able to get actual data on the jamming to see how the process was formed, then it is pretty much just guessing, they could always be using some obscure technique to achieve the same result from an unexpected angle."

 

[Siobhan Kerrigan]

[member="HK-36"]


"The Silvers were never competent. They depended on Dark Jedi and rogues to do the actual work. You can see for yourself how things went downhill after they decided to be Jedi exclusive. Except they're terrible at being Jedi. No surprise so many Force-blind officers left since their overlords don't appreciate anyone who doesn't yammer about the light side," Siobhan spoke scathingly.


She noded curtly. "Effed up sums up the e-attack. Our experts theorised they used an A.I. to synchronise their ships and support their jamming efforts. Admittedly e-war is a field few people take any interest in, but it pays to be prepared. I don't like being caught off-guard." Especially since Primeval and Fringe warships seemed to wander from Sithy faction to Sithy faction. They were kind of passed around like a bad penny.


"Thanks for your thoughts. Maybe Firemane can whip something up in the future to counter this crap. Or we'll build our own offensive e-war capabilities." The latter was not high up on her priority list simply because she preferred straightforward attacks that made things go bang, but she'd seen how useful it could be. Meanwhile, the NPC minions had been doing a good job. "Seems like we'll have plenty of stygium before the day's over," Siobhan remarked, watching the labourers scurry around like bees.

 

[HK-36]

[member="Siobhan Kerrigan"],

"Well I know that now, but first I gave them a benefit of a doubt because apparently I am a nicer person than you."

The machine quipped, referring to the whole issue of whether the Silvers were competent or not,

"I am still not sure how they are capable of keeping things running since majority of people in any territory are Non-Force users, with exception of some specific species. Still, in the current times there are many more Force-users around than I witnessed at any time before, even during the golden age of the Jedi Oder."

It's true, seemingly when one Force-user died, another one was ready to take its place, sometimes appearing out of nowhere as a Master or a Sith Lord, point in case some of the Sith Lords who would come to perish, by their own hand funnily enough, on Atrisia.

"Artificial Intelligence does make things a bit more complicated, it is not just one program or organic slicer running the show, the machines are much better at multi-tasking and running numerous operations. But, lucky for you, you are talking to probably the most complex and adaptable A.I. in the Galaxy, if given enough time I could write an A.I. with new slicing protections to work as defense against e-warfare."

The machine was unsure about making one for offense, however, outside of counter-attacks that is. He knew fairly well just how easily and how often A.I.s came to turn against their creators, there was something about the whole being disembodied thing that really brought out jerks in them.

At Siobhan's reference to Stygium the droid would nod again and look to the mines,

"Yes, already it should be enough for my project at least. We can probably head out and leave them be, but I will be leaving a garrison to defend them."

HK looked up in the sky, scanning over it,

"It seems that the CIS or remnants of it, whatever was attacking these people, are not showing up just yet. They will probably be back soon enough, I want my men and the Meres to be ready for any possible attacks."

 

[Siobhan Kerrigan]

[member="HK-36"]


"Last I heard, they decided it was a swell idea to hand out Jedi Lord...pardon, Jedi Protector, titles like candy and let Padawans oversee planets." Clear disdain crept into Siobhan's voice. "Well, none of their dashing Protectors were there to protect anything when the Sith launched their Jihad on Korriban and Thule. Their Grand Master was strangely absent, then gave a cowardly retreat order." As a matter of fact, the Silvers' Grand Master was busy delivering a baby.


It was rather ironic that despite representing only 0.01% of the galactic population, Force-users seemed to have commandeered more than 90% of the Galaxy's top jobs, even if they appeared out of nowhere.


"I'll get back to you on the e-war thing and the A.I. I'm very wary about building an A.I. that has enough power to turn on its creators and go all OMNI. Clockwork wasn't fun and I've had enough trouble with Archangel." Two weeks later, Archangel instigated an orc invasion of Tygara and sicced Sio's clone on her.


Anyhow, it seemed their mining activities were coming to a close for now. "I suppose the CIS is busy embarrassing itself elsewhere. Perhaps they'll gas an arena again. I'll be setting up a small Firemane presence here. The mines aren't exhausted yet, best put down roots before someone else strip mines the place."

 

[HK-36]

[member="Siobhan Kerrigan"],


"Geez, well it sounds like they will not be around for too much longer. We could wait for them to fall apart completely and thrive on what is left, or just stage for other powers to invade them and divide their holdings into territories we would have more control over."

Currently the Silvers held Tygara, the seat of Tygaran alliance, but if the two of them could stage for Tygara to become independent once more, or better yet put under protection of a faction like Galactic Alliance, although that might be a stretch considering the distance they would have to cross, then that would have been great.

HK nodded about her stance on A.I.,

"Yes, I understand, I am wary of disembodied Artificial Intelligence as well, their freedom and often access to large amounts of data makes them a bit unpredictable, they are usually driven mad and develop a god-complex as soon as they tap into the HoloNet. If we would make one we would have to take precautions into making sure that it will be isolated."

But who is to say that the droid has not already perhaps developed an A.I. based off of his mind that eluded him and now lingered somewhere among the HoloNet?

"Yes, that was all done to do what? Capture two Sith that escaped either way?"

He asked, referring to the incident with the CIS,

"Either way, I will keep mining for some time, probably as much as we need, although I do not suspect that I will have to visit the planet too often just to make sure that the mining efforts are still functional."

HK looked up into the sky again,

"Even if CIS would show up, they would probably stumble over themselves and destroy each other before we would even have to worry about firing at them."

The droid shrugged then,

"Either way, I am ready to leave whenever you are."

 

[Siobhan Kerrigan]

[member="HK-36"]


Siobhan chuckled slightly. "I'm not looking for war, but I've got no loyalty to the Silvers. They haven't bothered me due to lack of institutional will and capability, but sooner or later they'll collapse and their incompetence could inconvenience us. Even their Masters are cowards stuck in a fairy tale. Fortunately, Tygara has no Silver presence, and the same applies to Arkas. We could declare independence, but the question is what comes after since one planet cannot stand alone. The Mandalorians have made loud noise about invading Silver space, but their leadership is very chaotic. I'm somewhat concerned about the Sith who set up shop in the Stygian Caldera. I figure the main thing keeping them from making a resurgence is the fact that their egoes are too big to accept anyone as Dark Lord."


The truth was that while Siobhan was technically a Mandalorian, she was not close to them and considered some of their methods too thuggish. Should it come to war, Tygara would have to consider its options carefully. The Silvers were feeble and incompetent, but their downfall would mean there'd be plenty of territory to fight over.


She gave HK a nod regarding his points about A.I.s. They were in agreement, so there was no need to comment more for now. "We can always count on the CIS, in all of its incarnations, to do something stupid and embarassing," she added dryly.


"I think I'll stay a day or two longer. There's a fancy resort close to here," she smirked, imagining a relaxing spa weekend where she'd be pampered by pretty girls or laze around on the beach. Her tastes were unrepentantly decadent.

 

[HK-36]

[member="Siobhan Kerrigan"],

"Well whatever happens with the Silvers, I suppose we will come out on top. We have survived and thrived for this long, I doubt that them collapsing in on themselves will bring us down as well."

HK quipped as he begun to make his way towards the landing pad where their transport onto the planet was still waiting.

"Besides it would not be only one planet standing against them."

The droid looked back,

"It would be two at least, plus our friends, you know how much I love bringing in allies and making other people owe me one by arriving unexpectedly at the last minute to help them."

He turned back to keep on moving towards the shuttle,

"Either way, if you wish to just waste your time away being inefficient and 'relaxing' instead of productive work, suit yourself. I will be going back for a quick patrol of our holdings, and to put that stygium towards stealth generator development before I will be occupied with something else."

HK climbed aboard the shuttle, turning to face Siobhan again,

"If CIS will show up here in the end, you know how to contact me, I will come with reinforcements."

 

[Siobhan Kerrigan]

[member="HK-36"]


Siobhan pouted. "Inefficient? You're just jealous. Looking this good and keping all those women happy and satisfied is hard work," she insisted. It was really appropriate to troll an asexual droid with your sexual escapades.


"Anyhow, see you. Safe travelling, old friend." HK climbed aboard the shuttle, and for her part Siobhan went off to be picked up by a speeder that would take her to a fancy luxury resort. Two days of being pampered and fawned over in a spa awaited her.

 

[HK-36]

[member="Siobhan Kerrigan"],

"Gross."

Was what the droid had to say to her trolling,

"Makes me want to purify this planet by covering it in disinfectant."

The nearby Mere representatives raised their brows, which HK simply dismissed with a wave of his hand,

"Joke."


He then waved to Siobhan goodbye, saying those familiar words,

"May the Force be with you, Siobhan."

Before the airlock of the shuttle closed and the transport would begin to lift off, eventually taking him away from the planet for now and marking his exit from this thread so the writer could get a part of his life back.