Sneak Peek - The Last Angel: The Hungry Stars, Chapter 14 (Patreon)

I've just got one more section in this chapter to complete for the rough draft and then I can begin editing. I'm looking to have this posted by the end of the weekend, so hopefully things will go according to plan. Hopefully.

In the meantime, here's a look at something we can expect from the upcoming chapter; enjoy!

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“The Confederate OMI entered this network at 1431 ship standard time,” the custodian reported. “It gained access through a tertiary drone link node, bypassing initial security and EW locks.”

Obed bit the inside of his lip. That was a far more indirect method than the unknown custodian on Lakhesis had tried. “It wasn’t a brute-force incursion,” he said, voicing his thoughts aloud.

“She slid in almost as easily as a greased pig,” Oksana agreed. “She might even have been in and out before we noticed, if it wasn’t for Observer.”

Keating was silent for a moment, thinking. Going from Lakhesis’s probes to a full-incursion over such a short span of time showed an impressive level of adaptation on Red One’s part. Impressive… and worrying. “Was anything damaged or compromised?”

“Negative,” Observer replied. “This incursion appeared to be for the purposes of evaluation and analysis rather than hostile attack. The intruder made no attempts to gain access to ship systems or archives and no evidence of infective residual code was left behind.”

“You said it was a conversation,” Keating said. “What did you talk about?”

“Information,” Observer supplied. “Primarily about the Triquetran League, but the Confederate OMI’s secondary objective appeared to be interested in my capabilities and function. Concomitant with our mission objectives, I provided the relevant non-classified data regarding our mission, civilization and myself that the intruder requested. It made no attempt to breach the secure sections of the network. What additional files would you like sent to Nemesis, captain?”

“We’ll get into that shortly.” Keating thought for a moment. “She spoke to you?”

“Yes, captain.”

“What was your interpretation of her?”

“I have no baseline for comparison. Outside of the non-contact probes between Vegvisir and Lakhesis, have had no contact with any non-Triquetran custodians. On a technical level, the Confederate OMI appears highly evolved and likely superior  to a Chinvat-class intelligence, possibly on par with a Chinnaphapast.I have been running threat-response simulations since the encounter, but for a complete determination on the Confederate OMI’s capabilities, I would require more data.”

“Hmm,” Obed mused. “Speculate on the encounter.”

“The entity Red One is intensely curious, but not aggressive. She is gathering data, both from encounters with you and directly from Vegvisir, likely comparing each source. Worth noting was that in my encounter with the Confederate OMI, it demonstrated a…reaction to myself.”

“What kind of reaction?” Keating said, his fingernails briefing digging into his palms and his heart catching in his throat.

“Discordance,” the custodian replied.