Between a rock and a hard place

Azrael Corporation Ship - Nemesis
Sigma Beta Cluster, orbit of Angelus V


Up on the bridge in systems operations there was a strange signal showing up in system scans, and intermittent interference in the AI's of the maintenance robots. The chief systems analyst looked up and alerted the commander who had just arrived, usually the kind of person who was quick to act before thinking this was a situation they knew not to trust her on. "Commander Starling we have some strange fluctuations in the AI's down in cargo bay five, the maintenance mecha are behaving strangely. I'm going to call this one in to security."

The young woman who while she looked attractive was known for her disregard of both life and the chain of command, she got the job done and that was what mattered. "I'll handle this one, have three men meet me at the entrance. Tell them to be ready for possible hostile mechs and no life support." She said then turned on her heel, she was going to put them down if control could not be regained. "Pput the ship on high alert, and lock down all systems. Cut life support to the cargo area, and evacuate all personel. If we have a snitch onboard their going to be in for a surprise."

"Don't you think that..." He was about to say before he got cut off, and without words she left him with a gun to his head and a sharp look. As he issued the orders and engaged the specific systems, she then went and got her gear on for these situations, securing the rest of her gear she then went to the door and opened a channel. "In five seconds open this door, then fan out and if anything makes one hostile move shoot it." The men nodded as she got a confirmation from the chief systems analyst, who began a counter hack to regain control of their machines.

Little did they know the person they were dealing wasn't on board and was tailing behind them in a small custom built ship. Know as a top rank hacker. Malik normally stole data from other ships and sold it to neighboring enemies for a profit. He didn't care about the cause of what he did.

All he knew it was the only way to survive. He could easily see everything that was going on on the ship just by getting into it. Hearing the commanding officer's orders he smirked saying, "Stupid as usual. Sorry people but you know you ain't gonna find me on board. Now to screw with their scanners and sensors." Quickly typing he hit the enter key and suddenly their scanners were completely knocked offline.

When sensors went offline the analyst cursed and then activated their next line of defense, instead of ordinary lockdown all essential systems suddenly went into proprietary mode and all access was linked to that one terminal, however the sensors were still down. Once a sweep of the cargo hold was done and nobody turned up they had teams scouring the ship looking for the hacker. "Commander we need to do a manual reset of the sensor system, I'm locked out myself now so you'll have to do it." Came his voice as he frantically worked to fight on the remaining fronts, many of the smaller systems could still cause disruptions, but it was obvious someone did not want to be found.

"Damnit... We're going to have to get security upgrades, alright once I am done scan internally and externally. I want a full sweep of this ship and surrounding area!" She then directed the rest of them to carry on with searches on each floor room by room, while she made her way into the engineering level. Finding the correct panel she entered in her code, and as the system went offline she re-engaged it a minute later once the system was ready to be activated again. "Sensor system will be up in nine minutes, do your job and find this bastard!"

Malik smirked seeing they were putting up a good fight. Cracking his knuckles he started typing rapidly once again and this time he cut off all their communications within the ship. So nobody could contact one another on the large aircraft.

When no response came she decided to do something drasting, using the fact someone was connected to the systems she sent a message system wide. 'Whoever you are this is a violation of corporate law, Azrael Corporation holds legal claim to Angelus V. Any attacks on this vessel or it's personnel will be met with lethal force, should you resist and not surrender immediately to penalty of prison and fines. Under Article 5, subsection C of the Corporate Security Act any actions carried outside of legal jurisdiction can be handled as the CO sees fit.' She then sent the message so it displayed on all terminals and any connected, and if they responded she knew they would be difficult to trace.

Now as the sensors were rebooting she looked to the crew down here, there was nothing she could do but let them get the other systems back online. "Get communications back but do not bring it online, we're going to run silent and use messages delivered by hand. This may be slow but we have to outsmart them, shut down the ship AI and go to manual control. Cut all power except emergency power and divert all excess energy to the sensor system once they come online. I want maximum range and efficiency!" They all answered and then she made her way to a hatch that lead to a maintenance corridor that would get her to the upper decks. They were going to play hardball here, and weapons were not going to be used unless they were necessary.

Malik just shook his head seeing the message. Typing once more he quickly used a program to disguise his voice and flipped a switch. Everyone was doing as ordered when the communications suddenly switched on by themselves and a voice echoed in the ship saying, "Do you people honestly take me for a fool? You best stop your search because if you don't I'll cut off all life support throughout the whole ship. And don't underestimate me. It takes just one command and you can all just suffocate to death." Everyone looked at each other worried at the moment. But forced themselves to stay on task even though they were a bit rattled their lives were on the line now.

An answer came as the scans carried on, by now they had a wide radius around the ship, and there was a questioning tone to her voice. She paused the line so he could not hear then ordered everyone to prepare for a loss of life support, then she replied. "We're prepared for that inevitability, You may have my crew shaken but I am willing to protect our interests by any means necessary." She smiled as she sat down against a wall and close her eyes, unsure if he had found a back door into the system that was used by engineers if it was locked out due to accident.

Malik heard what she said. His voice echoed over their intercom and said, "Alright it's your funeral everyone." The lines then went dead that moment and everyone waited for a few moments but nothing happened. Malik on the other hand had his PC crashed. "The hell! I don't believe this! Someone hacked me back but who!" Said Malik as he tried to gain control.

Meanwhile back on the other ship a man in a white coat just stood up and left the bridge quickly to go inform that he had at least stopped the one responsible. It didn't take him long to find the commander. Walking up to her he said, "Commander I don't think our little hacker will be able to do much more. I've crashed his computer. We got another ten extra minutes to locate him and get him into custody if he's as smart as I think he is. From what I've seen he's not on board and more then likely outside of us in a smaller vessel.

"Good work, once we have him I will talk with him. Once he has been located send a team to arrest him, target him with all available weapons once he is located." She then smirked and used the still open channel, so that she could express her regards to their attacker. She was going to make sure that he could not escape them, and it was apparent this was an external attack. "Now you and I are gonna have a nice talk, I hold the power now and it looks like you forgot to watch your own systems for problems." She chuckled and then as normal power was restored and the scan finished up she smiled to herself, if he did not want to listen then she would make him listen.

"SHUT UP YOU STUPID BITCH!!" Malik yelled as he tried to get his ship under control now. But thanks to the whole thing being custom built from AI parts. He was fucked because not only did the crash affect his PC but his ship as well. Suddenly he whole thing rattled. It didn't take long for them to drag his ship into the docking area of theirs after locating him.

Luke the one who had managed to crash his system said, "Everyone weapons drawn now. We don't know who we're dealing with." After everyone was prepared at least four men went aboard and Malik didn't have a chance to fight back before he was dragged out thrashing and cussing them out. He found himself put in restraints and Luke walked up saying, "Just a kid huh? How did you like my surprise I left you boy?" "Piss off!" Yelled Malik. "Go ahead and take him to the holding cell. Our captain wants a word with him after all." Said Luke walking off. Malik struggled till he was thrown into a cell. Sitting up he tried to run out but the door slammed shut and he hit the bars.

Approaching the cell in her environmental armor she saw that the field in front of the bars was up as well, he was in their tight. His response on the comms was rather blunt but she had ignored it and waited, all she needed was to know he'd been cornered. Once she was there she spoke from beneath the helmet and tapped the gun by her side, she was making sure he knew his place. "I'm going to make this quick, and if you don't like what I have to say I will send you back to rot in a penal colony until you die. Who hired you and I can offer you a way out, as long as you tell me what I want to know it may go easier on you."

She did not remove the helmet so he could only see her eyes, and her voice came though unmodified as if it were through a normal filter. She was not using the internal air supply, as it did not call for it. "If you'd like I an return you to your ship after, and let the gravity suck you and it down until you crash. After all you posed a threat to my crew and I, I could just report you as a spy then."

"Hired!? You assume I've been hired! Get this straight! I work for no one! Go ahead give me a lie detection test! I only hacked you for any valuable info I could sell!" Said Malik standing up putting a dent in the metal wall with his fist only. It was easy to see by that sheer strength he was no human by him punching steel and leaving a mark in it. He seemed to be shaken up and started to panic. Standing up he stood up banging on the door crying, "Let me out of here now! I have claustrophobia damn it! Let me out now!! I'm begging you! I don't want to die in this damn cell!!!"

"If you so much as move to escape or try anything, I will shove you out of an airlock myself. You have two choices, penal colony or until such a time as I see fit to let you go you work for me. Officially you will be added to the payroll of the corporation I an an official representative of, what will it be? Freelance information brokers cannot exist, they are to dangerous so these are your only choices." She said as she made a motion to open the door then paused so they hesitated, the answer was what would come first and then she would consider the action to be taken. If he chose one way he would be free, if he chose another he would be left there then shipped off to the worst place she could imagine where he would find no escape from.

"Fine! Fine! I'll fucking work for you! Now let me out of this hell hole damn it!" Malik cried loudly. A sudden thud was heard after that and he had blacked out from the shock finally.

What seemed like hours later he seemed to startle awake from a horrifying nightmare and saw nothing but a room full of beds around him. The medical bay nurse who was in there looked up from what she was doing and saw him awake. Walking up she said, "So you're awake. That was one charade you put us through kid. Trying to threaten to kill us all."

"I would have succeeded if my computer didn't crash!" Said Malik with a huff. "You mean this?" Asked a voice. Luke came walking up holding his laptop. "I find it interesting you still use this form of technology. Our portables are normally much smaller these days." Said Luke. "Give me that!" Cried Malik snatching it out of Luke's hand. When he got it back he saw his wrist was bandaged up. "Huh I don't remember being hurt there..." Said Malik.

"You been tagged with a transmitter. You're our prisoner now. Even though you agreed to work for us you'll still be watched like a hawk." Said Luke. Malik sighed and didn't say a word.

The hours that passed they she sat up in her quarters and went over the logs, the various reports that came in from the attack she had to look over and approve before they were sent back to the corporate headquarters. She also sent in a personnel report listing the new acquisition, and the note they proved to be an asset as long as they were under observation and movement was restricted. Getting word he was awake she spoke to him through the comm system in the medical bay. "I'd come down there myself but I am caught in the middle of paperwork, do you realize the mess you caused. Now I have to deal with insurance and requests for additional resources, after all you've proven even our systems still have holes. For now you will be confined to quarters, and your system access will be limited to per an as needed basis until your paperwork is formally processed." She then paused to let him reply, so she knew he understood his position on the matter.

"Your systems are shit! Your firewall is garbage! I cracked in less then a minute! Oh and you can kiss my ass! Seeing as I'm chipped I won't be held hostage in one room thank you very much!" Said Malik standing up and marching out of the medical bay. Once out into the hall he checked to see if his computer had been tampered with any further and went to work fixing it. "Jeez thanks to that tech asshole I'll be out of business for a couple weeks..." Grumbled Malik annoyed as he perched himself in the corner trying to rid his laptop of the remains of what that jerk had left on it.

Luke came out and said, "You'll need to show some respect to our commander kid. She's only not coming down here to put you in line for your mouth because of the mess you put on her shoulders." "Please the systems on this place are garbage. If I had this thing working I could point out every flaw on this ship. The two biggest mistakes are the main frame code encryption and the firewall. Whoever was the moron that put those on this ship is stupid that's for sure."

"She runs a good ship, even if the network security sucks at least it's kept orderly. Luke I'll escort him to his assigned quarters, she's requesting permission for on site security upgrades you know." Said a woman who was almost twenty with a pistol at her side, assault rifle on her back, and a baton on the other side wearing a security uniform. She stood there looking like she was bored, this was too quiet and she wanted something more than this. Even security detail at the mining site was more fun, the ship was now back it;s usual old self. "Thanks to you I had some fun, but some advice. Watch it with her, she's usually serious when she issues a threat."

The commander chuckled then replied easily, she had paperwork to do and needed to focus on that. "I'll expect a full status report within a week Luke, and recommendations on network security." She then cut the line and went back to work, leaving Tawnie Nicols, Like, and Malik there.

"Watch out this one might bite you." Said Luke with a smirk. "Piss off!" Snapped Malik and Luke laughed walking off after snatching Malik's laptop back from him. "I already made it clear I'm not going to be locked up somewhere. Touch me I break your arm and trust me I can snap it like a twig easily." Said Malik standing up.

"A little explanation about procedure, right now until your paperwork clears your not authorized to do anything. Due to the circumstances, this is the best we can do. You'll be confined to the Decks 5 and 6, which are for crew living quarters. This includes the rec facility and mess hall area, any other decks are off limits and any computers for now are disconnected from the main systems. You will have communications and basic information services." She said as she motioned for him to follow and then tapped her pistol to remind him that she didn't need to get close to make him go, her orders were to escort him to the room then to keep an eye on the decks he was on. This was until approval came, so it would likely be a day or two.

Malik rolled his eyes and waved her off as he followed behind her. After a long boring lecture he was finally happy to be left alone. Nobody was even allowed on the decks for the time being while he was confined there. So he sat there alone staring out a window into the black depths of space. Drawing his fingers on the window he sighed wondering what he was going to be forced to do if he was to be a worker on this god forsaken ship.

He had been left to his own devices here, hopefully he realized the gravity of the situation. Nothing could have prepared them for this kind of random data theft attack, they expected a more precise surgical strike that was in and out. So now they had to deal with this matter differently. Tawnie walked around rec area while she waited word on the paperwork, it would be a day or two of pure boredom. Heading back to the room she knocked on the door, she might as well see if he was comfortable.


"It's not so bad here, you know if your lucky you'll get to work planetside where all the real fun is. It's pretty boring on the ship, you at least made things interesting." She said through the panel beside it and then leaned against the wall, waiting for a response and wondering how they might make use of his skills. "You gonna come out or what, there's nobody around right now so nobody'll bother ya."

"Go away...." Said Malik in a soft voice. For the past few minutes he had been crying silently to himself. He didn't want to be seen as being so damn soft or weak like this. He rubbed his wrist since it was still sore from the chip being embedded into it. He just got up and swung open the door and walked by her without a word. he had the hood to his jacket over his head so she couldn't see his tear stained face.

She saw him coming out as she leaned there and placed a hand on his shoulder, partly to stop him and partly to say that she was actually trying to be nice. "She's not so bad, you just had no idea who you were going against. She wouldn't send you out the airlock, she'd just dock your pay for the next few months." She smiled as she spoke and handed him the security pass coded to this area, so that he had access to all the functions it had.

"Whats your name? Tawnie Nicols, I've been passed up for promotion to head of security three times. I think she'd rather have me here instead of in charge, but then I don't mind." She said with a laugh and then smiled, always so nice which was a weakness. In fact she found it hard to even draw her weapon and use it, so she often resorted to her stun baton.

Malik just took the card and put it into his pocket. "I don't know my real name. I've been orphaned since birth and raised among the rough crowd you can say. But everyone's adapted to calling me Malik so I guess you can just call me that too. It's been so long I have no idea how old I am even..." He said softly. He just pulled his hood back down. A a few moments of silence went by when loud growl was heard echoing through the room and Malik turned pink and groaned, "I haven't eaten in forever... Oh man." He sighed and tried to control his loud stomach. Standing up he said, "Mind escorting me to some place I can cook? Yes I might not look it but I'm also a pretty decent cook."

"Our cook is pretty good, and besides we don't get high quality ingredients. Just because we're out in the ass end of space, they think we can get by with cheap reconstituted goods and enjoy them." She replied as she led him to the mess hall and saw that the cook was not in, if that was the case he could do as he pleased and the stores were not sealed though they were securely stowed. If he could work something better out of them then it would be fine, though they usually got what they needed and nothing more.