Post by Kayura on Aug 30, 2006 17:00:08 GMT -5
She sat at the screen watching carefully. This time the doors to the office made from a personal chamber were opening to reveal something that seemed out of a nightmare. The room itself was in near black-out conditions except for a single pale face that stood out from the blackness. A pair of amber wolf-like eyes stared into the glare of a screen and seemed to be fixed.
Without looking up, she said "Ah, General, I trust you have gathered an assesment of the troops and equipment?"
"Yes, ma'am."
There was a satisfied nod as a small datapad flew from his hand to her as she raised one slowly. The focus of the eyes shifted to the screen, but never at any point did those amber eyes lose thier power. They seemed unblinking as her gaze shifted seemlessly from one to the next. Then there was a dark smile on her face that became a soft chuckle. "Poor bastards didn't know what hit 'em."
"Ma'am?"
"General, I am watching the Republic defense networks as we speak. Byss has just come under hacker attack and there was a tactical exercise that had been cancelled because they lost com and nav signals for five minutes."
He blinked. "Ma'am, how do you know about this? The Holonet?"
Her eyes fell on him. He suddenly knew what it was like to stare death in the face, especially if the rumors about her were true. Her voice was still the same velvet whisper, "I'm the hacker that did it. I'm now watching for changes in the network so that I'll know what to get around later. When the time comes general, this will be critical information."
"Was this the experiment you mentioned earlier?"
She nodded. "Yes. And now, looking over these figures it seems that we'll be better served provoking the Republic to action in the form of a tactical exercise of our own. The only difference, of course, is that we will be practicing on live, hostile targets. Right now, we look and act as the Republic expects. We will engage in one final tactical exercise in plain sight as the Red Hand. I want to see thier reaction times to an armed threat and compare it to thier reactions to a cyberattack. If my suspiscions are confirmed, then we may have a force-multipliying ability on our hands in spite of our current military state."
"Ma'am, you intend to do it again in a strike?"
She smiled, "Of course. We will take away thier nav and com abilities. Unless they get a lot smarter about thier network security, then they won't have a chain of command."
There was a cold, ruthless logic at work. She would have to have been as ruthless a fighter as she was a strategist and tactician. No matter what, it spelled out that she was a warrior to the core. This was something he could work with and a smile played on his face as he ralized she was no one's fool. "Ma'am, what targets did you have in mind?"
Her eyes went to the screen and there was a satisfied nod, the mark of her multitasking, as she seemed to switch to a different program. "The Council tells me that Ando and Kataar are weak, and otherwise useless, however, that can be a proving ground for what I'm looking to glean from the Republic. If we can hold them, then the best that they can become are relay stations for the new com system that's about to be put in place. We needed to upgrade the systems as it was. With our encryption being so degraded as it had been, I wouldn't be at all surprised if the Bothan SpyNet knew what I ate for breakfast this morning."
"How extensive is the change ma'am?"
"The change will only be the software, so the change to the equipment will be minimized. However, it seems my attack on Coruscant was a screaming success."
He was floored that she was so matter-of-fact again. His eyes widened as soon as she had said "Coruscant." He shook his head as he asked, "Ma'am, did I hear that right? Did I hear you say that you had attacked Coruscant?"
She wore a smile that would have made any Darth look like the very gatekeeper of Hell itself. "You heard me correctly. I have at least half a dozen worms feeding off subtle round-up errors in the galactic finacial networks. Instead of simply dropping off the rounded thousandth of a credit in exchange rates, the equivalent goes into a certain untraceable bank account. As we speak, we are getting funding." She saw his eyes widen again. "Oh that's not all. I have already set up a few dormant viruses that have woven thier way through the systems on that planet. All it would take now to severly cripple the planet is a few keystrokes."
"Ma'am, you must be a master hacker or something to pull that off."
She shook her head. "The computer language needed to pull it off for now is quite simple. The more I do it, the smarter they will become. For now it is an option. The planets of Ando, Hoth, Kataar, and Mannan are the best places to begin our bid to expand. The objective here is to lay down infrastructure on more than Korriban, general. If we can manage to do so in the face of the Republic, this will also get the rust off of our military as we go along."
"Yes ma'am."
"As you are the general, I leave the execution of the raids to you."
He smiled. It was action at last. "Yes ma'am!"
Without looking up, she said "Ah, General, I trust you have gathered an assesment of the troops and equipment?"
"Yes, ma'am."
There was a satisfied nod as a small datapad flew from his hand to her as she raised one slowly. The focus of the eyes shifted to the screen, but never at any point did those amber eyes lose thier power. They seemed unblinking as her gaze shifted seemlessly from one to the next. Then there was a dark smile on her face that became a soft chuckle. "Poor bastards didn't know what hit 'em."
"Ma'am?"
"General, I am watching the Republic defense networks as we speak. Byss has just come under hacker attack and there was a tactical exercise that had been cancelled because they lost com and nav signals for five minutes."
He blinked. "Ma'am, how do you know about this? The Holonet?"
Her eyes fell on him. He suddenly knew what it was like to stare death in the face, especially if the rumors about her were true. Her voice was still the same velvet whisper, "I'm the hacker that did it. I'm now watching for changes in the network so that I'll know what to get around later. When the time comes general, this will be critical information."
"Was this the experiment you mentioned earlier?"
She nodded. "Yes. And now, looking over these figures it seems that we'll be better served provoking the Republic to action in the form of a tactical exercise of our own. The only difference, of course, is that we will be practicing on live, hostile targets. Right now, we look and act as the Republic expects. We will engage in one final tactical exercise in plain sight as the Red Hand. I want to see thier reaction times to an armed threat and compare it to thier reactions to a cyberattack. If my suspiscions are confirmed, then we may have a force-multipliying ability on our hands in spite of our current military state."
"Ma'am, you intend to do it again in a strike?"
She smiled, "Of course. We will take away thier nav and com abilities. Unless they get a lot smarter about thier network security, then they won't have a chain of command."
There was a cold, ruthless logic at work. She would have to have been as ruthless a fighter as she was a strategist and tactician. No matter what, it spelled out that she was a warrior to the core. This was something he could work with and a smile played on his face as he ralized she was no one's fool. "Ma'am, what targets did you have in mind?"
Her eyes went to the screen and there was a satisfied nod, the mark of her multitasking, as she seemed to switch to a different program. "The Council tells me that Ando and Kataar are weak, and otherwise useless, however, that can be a proving ground for what I'm looking to glean from the Republic. If we can hold them, then the best that they can become are relay stations for the new com system that's about to be put in place. We needed to upgrade the systems as it was. With our encryption being so degraded as it had been, I wouldn't be at all surprised if the Bothan SpyNet knew what I ate for breakfast this morning."
"How extensive is the change ma'am?"
"The change will only be the software, so the change to the equipment will be minimized. However, it seems my attack on Coruscant was a screaming success."
He was floored that she was so matter-of-fact again. His eyes widened as soon as she had said "Coruscant." He shook his head as he asked, "Ma'am, did I hear that right? Did I hear you say that you had attacked Coruscant?"
She wore a smile that would have made any Darth look like the very gatekeeper of Hell itself. "You heard me correctly. I have at least half a dozen worms feeding off subtle round-up errors in the galactic finacial networks. Instead of simply dropping off the rounded thousandth of a credit in exchange rates, the equivalent goes into a certain untraceable bank account. As we speak, we are getting funding." She saw his eyes widen again. "Oh that's not all. I have already set up a few dormant viruses that have woven thier way through the systems on that planet. All it would take now to severly cripple the planet is a few keystrokes."
"Ma'am, you must be a master hacker or something to pull that off."
She shook her head. "The computer language needed to pull it off for now is quite simple. The more I do it, the smarter they will become. For now it is an option. The planets of Ando, Hoth, Kataar, and Mannan are the best places to begin our bid to expand. The objective here is to lay down infrastructure on more than Korriban, general. If we can manage to do so in the face of the Republic, this will also get the rust off of our military as we go along."
"Yes ma'am."
"As you are the general, I leave the execution of the raids to you."
He smiled. It was action at last. "Yes ma'am!"
