October 22, 2361 AIA

Rising’s Home Base

Vidian Pyre skidded to a halt outside the computer lab. Her hand was already on the door handle, but she forced herself to stop so she could straighten her uniform and double check that she had the papers and nan-card in hand. Only then did she knock.

A moment later, she knocked again.

“Come in, Pyre.”

When she entered, she saw Ciro Vas had turned away from his computers and pulled one side of his headphones from his ear.

“How did you know it was me, sir?”

Ciro Vas was always busy, but this was the first time Vidian had even seen him look strained. Despite his fatigue, a smile pulled up one edge of his mouth. “Because you’re still new enough you knock instead of walking in. This is the computer lab, you know.”

“For now it’s also your office,” she said, “and it’s against regulations to enter a superior’s office without knocking and being told to enter.”

Ciro turned back to his computers so she wouldn’t see him roll his eyes. She did see it but pretended she hadn’t.

“And it’s still the public computer lab.” Ciro started typing again. Without taking his eyes from the monitor, he said, “So what’s up?”

Pyre tried not to come across as too eager. She was well aware that she was young and inexperienced, but she hoped she could at least hide the pitiable enthusiasm that had always made her seem too earnest. Especially from Mr. Vas.

If she’d known him better, she might have realized that Ciro wouldn’t roll his eyes at a little enthusiasm the way he did at the word “regulations.”

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She said, “I found something strange as I was monitoring the signal. I wondered if I might have stumbled across…” She took a breath so her voice wouldn’t squeak. “I wondered if it might be a Supremacy hidden message.”

Ciro Vas stopped what he was doing and completely removed his headphones. He turned to her. “Let’s see what you’ve got.”

She handed over the papers.

After a moment, he said, “This is definitely a pattern, so there’s a code. Did you mark the source?”

Pyre handed over the nan-card with a cute, self-satisfied smile. Ciro wondered if she’d be insulted if he offered her a gold star sticker. He was pretty sure he still had some around somewhere.

He plugged the nan-card into one of the seven consoles that were huddled around him and pulled up the source code. After he double-checked the information, he leaned back in his office chair.

“Well, Pyre, don’t get your hopes up. This is a lamprey code.” He pointed to his screen. “Do you see here? It’s riding on the back of the legitimate code and creating enough interference for us to catch it.”

“It’s not a secret message?”

“No. This kind of thing is kid’s stuff. It might be two hackers trying to talk to each other using a faster channel. The Supremacy would use a code like this, but they would use their own authorized channels. It’s more secure that way. I mean, this was begging to be found.”

Pyre watched as a strange expression passed over Mr. Vas’s face. He tilted his head to the side.

“You know, a message begging to be found is also begging to be read. Wouldn’t you agree, Private Pyre?”

“Uh, I guess so, sir?”

“Bring me that kit over there, would you?”

She stumbled over, grabbed the small zippered case, and handed it off to him. It opened to reveal a book of nan-cards. He removed five of them. She stood back to watch as he worked. In an almost impossibly short amount of time, he had five computers whirring away, chipping at the code.

“Pyre,” he said, “what channel were you monitoring when you came across this code?”

“Military fifth.”

Ciro nodded.

“Is that significant, sir?”

“It might be.”

“Why?”

“It’s one they know we monitor.”

“Who?”

“The Supremacy.”

Beeping filled the room. Ciro cut the noise and turned to one of the computers. He stared at the screen for a while, then, picked up the com beside him. His eyes never left the screen.

“Peters,” he said into it. “Engineering.”

A moment later a voice came from the com.

“Ciro, is that you?”

“Peters, is Reyer with you?”

“Yeah. She’s working on battleship eight. Is there a problem?”

“Not…exactly. I have a message for her. Could you tell her to come by my lab as soon as possible?”

“What’s the rush?”

“I don’t want the generals to tell me it’s classified before I can give it to her.”