The systems were quite literally screeching. The channels were all blowing up many ships trying to reach each other to co-ordinate while others were requesting numerous things from more medical staff to extra rations and fuel and not to mention the thousands of individual emergency vac requests from Phobos itself. Samika dashes around her console, frantically attempting to transfer the incoming comms to the right people. Majority of the messages from the fleet were unencoded which was absolutely the stupidest damn thing she had seen in a while so now here she was, trying to cover up their tracks, hiding transmission behind static and false wavelengths and all sorts of bullshit she hadn't needed to do since graduating. Her team are doing the best they can, shouting and typing and generally being one step away from a full breakdown.
Something catches her eye on one of the monitors to her left. She walks over to it, feeling unease well up in her stomach as she gets a better look.
Oh no...Her software is freaking out, trying to alert her to a hidden presence at the bottom of all the coding. She wondered if the terrorist group responsible for the attacks down on the ground would attempt anything but had hoped they had been left too weak by the brutal defence the Navy and Army had put up. But there it was, flashing up in front of her eyes and suddenly she's moving on instinct, fingers flying across the keyboard as she changes the channel her sub-dermal implant is registered to.
"Admiral Raa'Kaf?," she begins slowly, her voice surprisingly level despite the frantic pace of her fingers on the keyboard, "we have an issue here."
"Yeah, us and about fifty other ships. Just do what you can Officer Ahmad." His voice is a strange noise, a dull sort of droning that leaves a low bass buzzing through her human ears. Despite serving under him for over a year she still finds it hard to gauge his emotions.
She's quick to stop him from signing off though, still doing her best to isolate the threat in their system. "We're bugged, sir. Don't know how they got in but with all the chaos they're burrowing in deep."
He's silent for a few minutes before suddenly he's barking orders to the whole station. "We're under attack! Officer Ahmad has found a bug in our system. I want all available techs helping her right now - listen to everything she says and do it to the best of your abilities. The rest of you I want ready to go should any systems be shut down. Make sure life support stays online - we can lose the drive core as long as that stays on!"
She's buzzing with the sudden knowledge that she was in charge of this and before she knows it she's issuing orders of her own. "Start signing off comms with the fleet. Let each ship know the situation and warn them of the threat so they can start investigating themselves. We're going to need forced radio silence from here on out. Once we're isolated cut off the connection to the net. The last thing we need is this getting back to HQ." People are nodding and saluting to her, dashing off to complete the tasks given. She's surprised with the powerful feeling sweeping through her, a dizzy warmth that makes her grin almost manically. "Kadar, Santiago, I need you two to get all crew out of the stasis pods for their own safety. And while you're there, get as much tea and coffee on the go as you can - we may be working on this for a while." If she was going to have a power-trip she might as well make it worth her while.
----
Its almost five days later when she manages to trap the interloper. She's not slept a wink, running on stims, cerebral implants and tea and she's chased the bastard through all their systems and even some of the net before she managed to lure it into a coding loop program she had one of the guys whip up. On discovering it was trapped and that Samika was now the one forcing her way into their systems, it self-destructed. She swears loudly when it happens, slamming her fists down on the unit, startling the small team who had set up camp around her. There's a heavy silence in the air until quietly, one of them pipes up.
"We have a rough location"
The team erupts at that, cheering and jumping around, hugging each other through tears of exhaustion. Samika watches fondly before picking up the Datapad and handing to off to the Agaar who had spoken up."Go give that to the Admiral on duty. The rest of you restore comms to the fleet. I'm going to catch a nap and make sure you guys do too." They nod, though she doesn't see as she stumbles towards the quiet room. Its a small room rarely used for much more than card games and the occasional off-duty drink but she preferred sleeping in there to the stasis pods. Her throat and eyes always felt so dry after staying in them.
She stumbles in with heavy feet, already feeling the come-down from her five day adrenaline rush. She's greeted by a small team playing cards and smiles gently when she realises they're all scientists from the ship that was damaged in the whole situation down on Phobos. They invite her to play but she declines with a small shake of her head and instead flops over the couch in the corner by the port side viewing window. After getting comfy, she stares out at the inky expanse of space and feels strangely at peace with her insignificance. If she could help them deflect a terrorist attack on the Admiral's ship, then her small part in the universe must be worth something, even if for a short while.
Sweetheart Ontra
