Upstaging An AI

Posted on Tue May 5th, 2026 @ 1:10am by Lieutenant Commander Hadir Prenar & Lieutenant Laural Hawke & Lieutenant JG Vanya Karolyi

1,211 words; about a 6 minute read

Mission: Mini Mission-Tales of the Majestic Crew
Location: Adna Station
Timeline: Two Hours after To Kill A Mocking Station

Hadir brought the shuttle out of warp and guided it into the asteroid belt. "Well here we are. We will arrive at the targeted asteroid in five minutes. Are you both ready to make this run?"

Vanya grinned. "Yes, sir." For her, it was the idea of getting into the computer and gathering as much data as she could without the station interfering. She hoped that it would be more concerned with what the other two were doing.

Laural nodded, “ready as I’ll ever be” she answered, using a passive scan to search the asteroid field for an appropriate rock for them to throw. The idea of testing her skills against an A.I. really appealed to her.

"Right then. Lets get this done." Hadir guided the shuttle toward the asteroid. Within moments they were in position. He keyed a command on the console and a small timer appeared on the screen. "This is a countdown before that station knows we are here. You have five minutes." Hadir turned back to the console and awaited the orders from the two ladies that sat behind him.

Vanya ran some calculations, then put an image on the main viewscreen. "If we nudge this asteroid here, with this force..." The calculations ran down the side of the viewscreen. "It'll collides with this asteroid, diverting it onto a collision course with the station." She turned to Laural. "What do you think?"

Laural nodded, looking over the sensor scans of the field. “That would make more sense then just one random asteroid suddenly flying out of the field.” She said, turning to them. “Do we have time to launch more then one? Or should we just go for it first try?”

"We should try to do it right the first time. Having two asteroids bounce toward the station would draw the wrong kind of attention," Vanya replied. "But we should look for a second way to distract the AI if this fails. Too bad we can't send a solar flare as well."

"You're right, we don't have the time to set that level of distraction up. And it's harder to justify destroying an entire star system then just a station"

"No. It's not worth destroying the system for one station." Vanya replied. At least, she hoped not. She looked at the viewscreen, noting the pieces of the ships that had been destroyed--probably by the AI. "Can we use any of those to mask our approach?"

It was an idea and a great one to boot. Hadir slowed the shuttle. "Disengaging non essential systems. I am going to make us look as close to space junk as I can. I don't think this is going to work for too long. So, lets get this done as soon as possible." The shuttle slowed and powered down. Outside it began to drift albeit the drift was guided by Hadir.

Vanya got ready to slip into the main computer through a subroutine and grab as much information as she could while she could. She'd leave it to Laural and Hadir to blow up the station.

Looking through the scans of the field, Laural found a good candidate for their throw, “there, baring 080 mark 340. It’s small but dense, probably an iron core. We can land and magnetize the hull to hook us to it”

"Firing maneuvering thrusters now." Hadir called from the conn. The small shuttle turned toward the asteroid in question and glided through space. "Brace for impact on my mark. Three... Two... One... Mark!" The shuttled touched down on the asteroid with a thud as the hull's magnetism took hold. "Well, ladies we are here and she is all yours. I will keep an eye on our friend on the station. So, far they have no idea we are here."

Vanya went in through three automatic subroutines and carefully navigated to the secondary computer core, the sensor and personal logs, and then the internal sensors. She went slowly and carefully so it would look like one of a million microtransfers of data to not alert the AI.

She had to wait for Laural and the asteroid to give her enough of a distraction to grab more. But, by bits and bytes, she was getting information. She hoped it would prove relevant.

Laural was glued to her display, calculating, waiting. “Ok, give me a full impulse burst for 2 seconds on my mark. 5, 4, 3, 2, mark”

When Laural spoke up Hadir placed his right hand over the impulse control. The hand hovered in place. When the mark was given he pressed and the shuttle shot forward pushing the asteroid forward.

Laural nodded as the asteroid started moving in the right direction. “Alright, it’s on course. Disengage the magnetic lock and let her float.”

"Disengaged." Vanya watched the asteroid on the viewscreen and the data from the station as she waited.

"You know I never thought I would thank a long dead Human for my survival. But Isaac Newton does it again. I am putting us back on course for the station. One eighth impulse. Go active sensors, confirm that the station is tracking the asteroid and not us." Hadir had a smile on his face. It was broader than even the broadest Cardassian smiles. He truly did love it when a plan came together.

Vanya took a moment to check the trajectory, then nodded. "Confirmed. It's tracking the asteroid."

"Right then let me know if it redirects its eyes. We are going in." Hadir steered the shuttle on thrusters only through the asteroids and toward the station. He managed to keep the shuttle gliding as to not attract any attention with the engines. After a long intense flight the shuttle attached to the station with a thud. "Well now ladies, we have arrived. Please make sure to collect your luggage."

Checking that she had everything she would need in her cross pack, Vanya nodded. Getting in was one thing. Getting the job done and getting out was another. Distractions. It was all about distractions.

Hadir pulled out three arm bands from a compartment in the console. "This is the latest for SFI." He began as he placed one on Vanya, one on Laurel and one on himself. "These bands will mask your lifesigns. Makes you invisible to sensors. That said once you interact directly with your surroundings. Such as touch a console you will be seen. But it is a start in avoiding this thing."

Vanya would have to learn more about this technology later. For now, they had a mission to perform. "There are places where Adna is blind. Jefferies Tubes among them. There is also an access area the former chief science officer used." She'd studied everything she had on the station before they left. She inserted a data rod and pulled up the information. "With the armbands, and this information, we should be successful in our incursion."

"Well then, lets get to it. To use an old Earth phrase. 'Lead on MacDuff'." Hadir holstered a phaser and motioned toward the hatch. They were as ready as they ever would be.

Lieutenant Commander Hadir Prenar
Chief of Tactical Operations
USS Orcrist

Lieutenant JG Vanya Karolyi
Data Systems Analyst/Archivist
USS Orcrist

Lieutenant Laural Hawke
Encryptions specialist
USS Orcrist

 

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