Wheat and the Mitch Menace

Taeio

Well-Known Member
May 31, 2023
66
3
45
Episode 5

After days interrogating Raeleth, she finally messed up. Something she said hinted to me that I should check the derelict Destiny for a clue to proceed. I sent a ship there with orders to use Essi to comb it's systems for anything that seemed out of place.

When the ship arrived, I got word that the Destiny looked gutted. My heart sank at this, but I should have expected such a thing. It had been 20 years since she was abandoned. Still, I told Essi to see if she could find something. And find something she did.

It turns out that the networking systems on the Destiny were still intact. And with those systems, a suspicious record. It would turn out that this was a location in Black Void space of a place I was looking for. Something that would expose Watson to me and bring about his downfall.

I contacted Kirk for permission to send one of our specialists on his pension ship (which he still hasn't named). He agreed. I gave instructions to the specialist to do whatever it took to take a data chip, which I gave him, and insert it into a terminal at the location.

When the specialist arrived, he noted that the location looked deserted. Inside, there was only one inhabitant, which he eliminated. He then found a compatible terminal and inserted the data chip.

Headquarters suddenly got a data dump on virtually everything stored at that data center. I had Essi look over everything with a focus on possible locations that Watson could operate from. It didn't take her long, and this information was sent to the fleet. The idea was to hit all these locations at the same time. Essi directed various ship groups in the fleet to their destinations.

Unfortunately, before they could set out, the Void had sent seemingly all of their remaining fleet to retake the station. It was also then that Watson attempted to hack Essi.
 

Taeio

Well-Known Member
May 31, 2023
66
3
45
Episode 6

It was a battle over who was superior. Essi was down for this entire time, and my fleet was fighting the enemy without her help. Watson, busy with hacking Essi, fortunately wasn't guiding the Void ships either.

It was hard to say who came out on top in the beginning. Multiple ships on both sides were rendered non-functional. It was only after Essi purged Watson from her systems that she was able to guide the fleet. Watson also tried to guide the pirates, but it quickly became clear that doing so wasn't a specialty of his like it was with Essi. He was outmatched, and the pirates were soon routed. Afterwards, Essi warned me that Watson had learned of my plan. "However, I hope he likes the present I gave him before I purged him," she said.

Watson knowing what I intended to do was meaningless. I felt at that moment that he couldn't stop the oncoming onslaught. I ordered Essi to direct all capable ships into groups to assault Watson's data center locations immediately. I then ordered those ships not capable of going but still capable of rendering aid to do so.

Those sent were ordered to assault the centers at the same time. They faced resistance at every location, but the attempted retaking of the station had crippled them, and they couldn't put up much of a fight. All the data centers were infiltrated, and the data contained within usurped and then erased. Nowhere in all that data did we find Watson's core programming; he must have escaped. After we were done with the sites, they were destroyed.

We had effectively won. We had the information necessary to locate any Black Void entity operating in the galaxy. The fleet was then directed to hunt them down. If they surrendered, great. If they didn't, they'd be rendered a space paperweight, rubble, or worse.

I still had some questions, though.
 

Taeio

Well-Known Member
May 31, 2023
66
3
45
Episode: Epilogue

What happened to Watson? I am sure he escaped and was plotting revenge. What happened to my recolor device the pirates captured? It was clear the pirates couldn't make anything of it or I would have gotten reports of purplized planets across the galaxy. Did my team make something even Watson couldn't understand? Did I overbuild Essi, creating something even the supposed most powerful AI in the galaxy couldn't overcome, thereby supplanting him as the most powerful AI in the galaxy? None of these questions would be answered to my satisfaction. But stuff like this letter made it worth it.

I intercepted it from Admiral Kirk Nansen (yes, he's an admiral now) to his love Fioretta Tasslebaum. It read:

"Dear Fior,

A spot has opened up on my ship for someone with your skills. I'll be in the area soon. Let me know if you're interested.

I heard that Riker has joined the UGC police forces. I'm glad that he finally made the decision. I can only hope he'll be deployed somewhere with just enough excitement to keep him busy, but not so much that he'll be run ragged. HAH! What am I worried about? He'll be run ragged in the academy, I'm sure.

Much love, Fior. I will see you soon.

Love, Kirk"

Letters like this gave me affirmation and the motivation to keep going.

The spoils of war allowed me to pay off my company's debts. Watson tried to secure all he could, and I'm sure, wherever he ended up, that he had access to enough resources that the galaxy would see him again. But I got the rest, and it was enough to put my company back in the black.

I was finally able to steer the company back to being a mercenary outfit, and with my new fleet of ships, and the capability to cheaply build new ones when needed, the Tae Adon corporation became the official mercenary company in the galaxy. Orders came pouring in on the announcements of the elimination of the pirates and my returning the company to mercenary work. Our future is secure.

In closing, my recolor device is in someone's hands. Probably some eclectic elite collector. At worst, it was in Watson's hands. I was sure he was still out there, but having been rendered a normal AI just like all the others, we may never see him again for decades, maybe a century or two.

Essi was downgraded, as the cost to continue operating that much computational power wasn't justified anymore. Fleet captains and admirals were given the choice to continue using her for their ships, or another AI. I did keep enough compute for everyone still using Essi, and a crack team was formed amongst the fleet still using her for what they deemed the toughest jobs.

And finally, me. Kirk wasn't the only one with a love interest. Granted, I had no kids because the Mitch menace interrupted that. We reconnected while I was undergoing therapy for that, but work still prevented something more serious, and then my crusade against the Black Void interrupted it again. That wasn't to say we didn't keep in touch throughout all these years; whatever she wanted, she got. But maybe it was time to take it to the next level. Since I would only need to check on the board every now and then now, I suddenly had a lot more free time on my hands.

To whoever is reading this, whether it be an heir of mine or some hacker, I hope you enjoyed this story of my greatest accomplishment. With that, this is Taeio, signing off.

Addendum: It turns out raising kids was my greatest accomplishment, and the hardest by far...