Quoted By:
“The Mizarians cannot see us yet. But they do not need to.
Hacking tends to be distance-limited. Even the most lethal SPLICE/INTRUSION variants can be neutered into irrelevancy by simple light-lag. Seconds of delay create a workable – if immensely challenging - stochastic modeling problem. Any longer and even predictive simulation decays into a sea of irrelevant probabilities.
On some level, the Mizarians are aware of this constraint. They know that the RAIN is close enough to have attempted a breach against their comm systems. And they know that there is only a single stellar body in their immediate vicinity large enough to shield the RAIN from their active sensor arrays.
A few months ago, the aliens would have never gambled on mere suspicion – on the simple absence of a sensor reading. Now, they commit eagerly.
All three cruisers fire, dumping their full allotment of needle-nosed missiles without a hint of hesitation. The volley aims to bracket the runt-moon, skimming the edges of its projected position with only six thousand kilometers of clearance. IR-spikes light up the RAIN’s tactical display, pulsing arterial red. The RAIN’s optical units tracked faint shapes, seeing tapered nosecones hunt for the characteristic backscatter of a targeting laser.
I force calm as the bridge initiated an emergency purge cycle, replacing dry air with the slick, horribly claustrophic pressure of fresh acceleration gel. Human error is blind and frantic. I cannot not afford human error here.
The missiles are comparatively harmless now – their semiactive seekers still dormant. But that would change very soon. The glint of sunlight across the glacial surface of MIZAR-IV-J fades to reveal a pair of overdriven drive torches and the red stutter-flash of a pulse modulated targeting laser: Mizarian destroyers, bounding ahead of their cruiser formation like a pair of eager bloodhounds….”
- [UNSIGNED], EXECUTIVE AUDITOR, TRS NOVEMBER RAIN, AD. 2242, OCTOBER 23rd, PERSONAL JOURNAL
