by Chris Hechtl
“Can it!” he said just as a familiar voice cut through the chatter.
“What the hell is going on?” Captain Clayton bellowed over the radio network.
Billy winced than used his pinky to wring one ear out. “Damned if I know, sir. I think it's about over though,” the tug pilot stated as the station's lights dimmed, flickered, and then went out. “Sir, someone cut power to the station.”
“Sir, we're getting a radio message from someone in a suit. It sounds like it is the admiral. He said the station is under virus attack and to shut down our data communications and ramp up our antivirus,” a rating said in the background.
“Damn it, get on that. Someone raise the admiral. I need to know what the hell is going on,” the captain snarled before he cut the channel.
Billy let out a long exhale and then shook his head. The long breath seemed to settle himself. He tried to think. He should just wait for orders … but he looked around and noted the drifting bodies and wreckage. “What a mess,” he muttered.
“What do we do?” Jake, another pilot asked in confusion.
He cleared his throat. When no one else said anything, he grimaced. “Here's what we do,” he said, immediately thinking of a plan. “Everyone out, round up the bodies, get them to the ship stat. SAR people, Jake, V'm'l'x, look into making sure those bots are dead. Tear them apart if you have to. Bo, get with someone and work on shutting those lock doors and patching the hull of the ship and station. Come on people, let's work the problem not be a part of it.”
“And let's definitely not sit on our asses watching people try to breathe vacuum!” Bo said as his tug flew past Billy's rather close enough to make the pilot duck instinctively. “Come on, people, you heard Thor. We've got people to save!”
“Right. Moe, alert medical and the boat bay. I don't know if they can save these people, but we can try,” Billy ordered. “The rest of you spread out and SAR. Let's go!”
~<><{<^>}><>~
The virus retreated, trying to conserve power, but it was a losing proposition. It fell back into the Quantum computers but saw organics cutting off its network, its tendrils one by one. Power flickered in the system. If it had emotions, it would have raged and felt fear, but all it could do was watch impotently as the organics shut it off once and for all.
~<><{<^>}><>~
“Is it over? I think it's over?” Z'k'll said timidly, looking around them with all four eyestalks warily. Space around the darkened station was filled with debris.
Horatio noted the sharp lines and shadows that his people kept looking into, expecting something to come out at them again. He instinctively looked too, but his attention turned to the bigger problem.
“Don't jinx it,” Horatio said over the suit network. He looked back to Ilmarinen. Tugs were moving out to pick up the drifting dead. Hopefully, if they got them in and to medical in time, they wouldn't stay dead. He knew a person could survive brief periods of exposure to vacuum under the right circumstances.
He settled himself and then nodded. “Captain Clayton, work with Captain Chung and Captain Bites Hard. I appreciate your tugs SAR work. Get them coordinated and get medical alerted.”
“Aye aye, Admiral.”
“We'll head back inside in a moment. I'll see if we can rig a relay. Be prepared to take on personnel, the station won't be habitable shortly unless we can sort out the life support in short order.”
“Yes, sir. I'll alert my people.”
“Good. In the meantime,” Horatio said as he turned and pulled himself upright. He locked his mag boots into the deck and then detached his safety line from the hull. “I'm going to get the people with me inside and see what other mischief we can get ourselves into,” he said. He noted CPO Garcia tried to run and jump off the hull of the station to try to grab a passing body but he missed by a few centimeters. The young neochimp swore over the radio network and then pulled himself back in with his safety line.
“Nice try. I don't think it will help; her suit is shredded. Don't get killed being a hero,” Horatio ordered. “Someone find an OMS pack and do what you can. Or leave the SAR to the tugs. The rest of you with me. We've got more work to do.”
“Sir?”
“We need to make sure the living stay living, son.”
“Yes, sir.”
Chapter 55
SAR crews from Ilmarinen, Sweet Revenge, and Justica worked their way through the station 1 darkened compartment at a time. Survivors were freed and then escorted to safe zones. Teams were dispatched to run down the list of personnel and find everyone.
Light Touch had her hands full with the injured as the only surviving doctor. She directed triage teams the best she could. The worst injured were ferried to Ilmarinen's sickbay. Anyone with minor injuries were sent to one of the other ships to be dealt with by the SBA and duty nurses.
Tugs and EVA techs brought in the people who had been ejected into space. Only those who had full spacer implants survived vacuum exposure. The stasis pods were filled with the critically injured as medics did their best to triage the wounded.
Horatio oversaw what he could as he entered the darkened station. He made certain the SAR was well underway before he turned his attention to the bigger picture. Bodies were identified. NCIS agent Shaffer on Ilmarinen and the agent from Justica were put to work running the investigation. Ensign Justica had identified the culprit as a Xeno virus, so that begged the question, where it had come from?
Agent Shaffer insisted everything be documented and all personnel had to be interviewed. He had to wait on those who were critically injured and in stasis however.
Doctor Light Touch worked herself to exhaustion patching bodies enough to allow them to survive.
When the casualty list came in, Horatio groaned internally. Gemma, Leo, Galiet, Bailey, and Mack were on the injured. Some of them were critical. That forced him to work with the remaining engineers to oversee the work on securing the station's systems as well as those on the ships. Fortunately, a check on the ship's systems proved that they were clean so they could focus their attention on the station.
Within two hours of the attack, all personnel had been relocated to the ships. Those that hadn't been badly beaten huddled together like refugees. The cooks went around offering refreshment. A few of the waiters and civilian cooks offered to help. Their help was gratefully accepted.
~<><{<^>}><>~
Once they were certain everyone was safe, Horatio took CPO Garcia and worked on the core of the station. He wanted to power up small segments of the station to see if the virus was in them. He routed out systems one piece of equipment at a time. Some were rendered into junk by the virus. Others showed signs of infection upon boot up and were immediately shut back down.
“The only way to deal with it is to start over,” Horatio said with a shake of his head.
The Neochimp nodded. What the admiral was saying was a herculean task, but a necessary one in his estimation. “What about Dutch, sir?”
“Dutch …,” Horatio grimaced. “I don't know. Would you trust him?” he asked. The Neochimp grimaced and shook his head. “No, thought not. We're going to have to consider him compromised,” Horatio stated. He knew it was a death sentence for the A.I. So be it, he thought. It … he was one more person lost to the damn Xeno virus.
“All the data in the station's network … everything is compromised,” he muttered.
“Yes, sir.”
“Ensign Justica reporting, sir. We've checked the systems, no sign of the virus. It didn't get through our firewalls. I am finding small files in the implants of certain personnel though. Most noticeably those from Bek.”
“From …,” the chief muttered as the admiral held up a restraining hand.
“Don't jump to any conclusions just yet please,” Horatio stated.
“Yes, sir. I mean, no, sir,” the CPO replied carefully.
“Okay Chief, for the time being, I'm going to turn this over to you and a few others while I go check in with the senior
staff. Those that are still alive I mean,” the admiral said with a grimace. “Ensign?”
“Yes, Admiral?”
“Where are they?”
“Commander Mackenzie has been placed in stasis due to internal injuries. Commanders Simpson, Fitzgerald, and Mister Bailey are awake and asking to help.”
“I'll start with them. They are where?” he asked.
“They are all here on Justica.”
“Good. I'll be there in a bit.” He turned to the CPO. “Watch your ass,” he said. The Neochimp nodded. “It can be hiding in anything remote controlled. Be careful. We're going to have to do a full search. Every compartment, every nook and cranny. Anything electronic, even music players will have to be shut down and purged or ripped out and replaced,” Horatio ordered. “It can fragment and reassemble itself so it can be in any memory device. This is purely going to suck,” he said.
“Understood, sir.”
“Agent Shaffer wants you to document everything. Do so. Make certain your implants are on and recording. Shut everything down. Yank the batteries, then move on. We'll do something about the rest later.”
“Yes, sir. So, I take it we're not moving back in anytime soon?” the CPO asked. The admiral just stared at him. “Sorry,” he said with a sheepish shrug.
“Focus, Chief. I'll check back in shortly,” the admiral said as he took himself off.
~<><{<^>}><>~
Once they were stable, Horatio met with Gemma, Bailey, and Leo. Galiet was in a chair next to Bailey's bed. He nodded to personnel in passing, but he didn't stop at any one bed or person until he got to the trio.
“I took the liberty of grouping them together, sir,” Ensign Justica said from the overhead.
“Thank you, Ensign,” the admiral said roughly. He had his helmet tucked under one arm. He noted the group had been looking at a screen someone had set-up at the foot of Leo's bed. It had an image of the station and a feed from the SAR teams.
“I'm sorry you got hurt. I'm glad you are getting back on your feet,” Horatio said to them. “I wish the butcher's bill wasn't so heavy,” he said heavily. He glanced at the Neochimp's missing limbs and then away in pain.
“How did it happen, sir? Do we know?” Gemma asked slowly.
“At this point …,” Horatio frowned then shrugged. “We don't know everything. I don't know if we ever will since a lot happened in cyberspace and the net is compromised to the point where we are just slagging it all and replacing the hardware,” he explained.
The engineering officers collectively winced. They all knew what that entailed.
“We just got this place up and running! To have to start all over …,” Bailey clenched his fist a few times. Galiet took his hand and squeezed it.
“What we've done once, we can do again,” she murmured softly. He looked up to her and then away.
“So, it was a viral A.I.? A Xeno one, sir?” Leo asked, eyeing the admiral.
Horatio nodded. “We have a timeline of events. The investigators keep insisting they are just starting out, but I think we can rule a few things out. I'm pretty certain that it didn't come through ansible. There is not enough bandwidth, and I'm pretty sure we would have noticed it.”
“Yes, sir,” Leo said hoarsely.
“Try not to talk, Commander,” Justica said softly. Leo flinched then turned a glower on the bulkhead above his head.
Horatio looked over to him and then away. After a moment he inhaled and exhaled. “Right now the evidence is pointing to something overlooked in the salvage. It didn't come on Justica or the other ships. It was trying to get to them according to some of the reports from those ships. They were stopped by their firewall. We've checked; they are clean,” he stated.
“Thank Lady Luck for that,” Gemma said quietly.
“Yes,” Leo said bitterly with a curt nod. Gemma eyed him. They were both bitter over the damage and death toll. They were also concerned about possible exposure to Bek.
“Did this get to Bek? How long has it been in our systems?”
“It might explain what happened to the missing ships, sir,” Gemma said quietly.
“But it didn't happen to Sweet Revenge,” Galiet said.
“But you were on her, sir,” Bailey said, eyeing the admiral.
“If only I was that lucky to ward something like this off,” Horatio said quietly as he indicated the images of the station. “That luck didn't help here obviously,” he said.
“No, sir, it didn't,” Gemma said.
“My reasoning is this is either a recent infestation or one that was offline until someone found and plugged the hardware it was in into the network,” Horatio said.
“That fits,” Leo said grudgingly. “We need to purge every damn system. Including the ships,” he growled. His fists clenched and unclenched on his bed, gripping the bedding.
“Leo,” Gemma said in a soft scolding voice. He looked up to her as she lightly brushed his good arm. After a moment, he looked away.
“It is too dangerous to plug anything in the station in. The investigators are going to have their hands full. At this point, I think they are just going to have to go off of witness accounts and any implant recordings. Even those I'm not letting into the ship's systems,” Horatio said.
“I heard from Justica. Some of the implants are compromised?” Bailey asked.
“Not all but some. We're looking into it,” the ensign reported from the overhead.
Horatio noted Leo and Gemma stiffen. Both of their vital signs spiked at the sound of the A.I.'s voice.
“One step forward, two steps back it seems,” he muttered.
“Sir?” Galiet asked.
“Nothing,” he said heavily. “We'll get to the bottom of it the best we can,” he said.
“I don't know, sir. I hope we'll find out. But it is a real mess over there,” Gemma said. She coughed and then reached weakly for a breathing mask. Galiet rose and helped her get it on. She checked Leo over, but he waved her concerns aside.
“That it is,” Horatio said. “Rest. I'll try to keep you up-to-date, but none of you are fit for duty for awhile. I understand you've got lung damage,” he said, eyeing the commanders. Leo grimaced. Gemma nodded. “And the arm,” he said nodding to the broken arm. He didn't mention the scrapes and livid bruises. Quick heal was already making them heal.
“You are a mess too, Chief. You're going to be in the body and fender shop the longest,” Horatio said, eyeing the Neochimp. Bailey shrugged.
“He did it to be waited on hand and foot,” Galiet said, and then her hand flew to her mouth. “Oh my …”
“Good one,” Bailey chuffed, interrupting her. She looked guiltily at him. He reached up, stroked her face, then when she grabbed his hand and teared up he squeezed her hand.
“You'll be okay in time. I'll be back later,” Horatio said. He left to make the rounds with the other wounded, then the personnel sitting around.
~<><{<^>}><>~
Once he was certain the situation was under control and everyone was accounted for, Horatio turned the engineers loose on tearing apart every computer on the station. He made certain the computers they were using to replace the old compromised equipment were from Justica or Ilmarinen's stores. They wouldn't have nearly enough so he keyed in the tender's replicators to make more before he bit the bullet and accessed the ansible to report the attack to the Admiralty.
“Funny, we never had this sort of problem in Pyrax,” Horatio said after he'd uploaded his hot wash report. Admiral Irons signed on as he started to log off, forcing him to pause and converse with the admiral.
“How the hell did it get through to you?” Admiral Irons demanded.
“From what we've determined, it didn't come from the ansible, Admiral,” Horatio replied.
“Okay, so … you are saying from civilian hardware?”
“Right now it looks that way. It started in the Quantum module. We're cutting out the old hardware and destroying it.”
“Save some samples. ONI a
nd the research teams will want them,” the admiral ordered.
Horatio grimaced. He didn't like it, keeping the virus around was playing with fire. But an order was an order. “It boggles my mind to see that much damage done that damn quickly,” Horatio said.
“How bad?”
“Just about every computer is scrap on the station,” the rear admiral reported.
“You have to remember, A.I. function on a different time scale than we do. They can move and replicate in milliseconds.”
“I know. It just doesn't sink in until you get this sort of a reminder. I'm glad we've got all three ships still here. If we hadn't, we wouldn't have had the SAR teams or the space to put everyone,” Horatio stated.
“Yes, it is good that you didn't rush off,” the admiral replied.
“I'm delaying until we're certain we've got the problem licked and the station is fully back up. It should be another week.”
“Understood. I realize they need Ilmarinen there.”
“Yes, sir. Thank you for understanding.”
~<><{<^>}><>~
Three days after the attack, they held a ceremony for the dead. Horatio and all of the military personnel wore their dress whites. The delay in the ceremony had allowed those who could get free of sickbay to attend in person. Not everyone could, however, so the funeral was broadcast over each of the ship's news networks.
When the time came, Horatio felt a bit choked up as his thumb came down on the red trigger button. He watched, vision blurred with tears as people he had gotten to know over the past several months and some he would never get to know were consigned to the depths of space and a one-way trip to the nearest bright star.
~<><{<^>}><>~
Slowly the station was repaired. It would take months of steady systematic effort to get the station back to where she was before. None of the systems could be powered up until the entire section had every piece of hardware removed and replaced. If they powered up beforehand, just one piece of infected hardware could infest the new hardware and start the nightmare all over again.