Omega Force: Rebellion (OF11), стр. 64
"Better not," Jason said. "If he figures out what we're up to, he may try to force the issue by threatening to withhold his merc crews or broadcasting a warning to the HDF fleet."
"You think he'd really do that?" Doc asked. "Sabotage the entire operation?"
"I don't think Mok's fully committed yet," Jason said carefully. "He understands the necessity on an intellectual level, but he's just not ready to make that leap."
"I also think he's worried that his position is tenuous, at best," Kage said. "Being the head of the Blazing Sun Syndicate isn't the most secure position in the galaxy. He serves as long as his Twelve Points don't decide that someone else could do a better job. If they found out he was running around funding rebellions, something that's inherently bad for criminal enterprise, they'll kill him off without a moment's hesitation."
"Grim," Doc said.
"Unfortunately, standing on the sidelines and seeing which side might be winning before jumping into the game is no longer an option," Jason said. "We'll tell him after the fact since I'm sure his ship will be lightyears away before the first missiles hit their targets."
"We're coming up on the midway point," Twingo said. "I'll be down in Engineering. Lucky, I could use your help down there in case the Phoenix has to fight her way out of something."
"Go ahead," Jason said at Lucky's questioning look. "There's not much for you to do up here." Once the battlesynth was gone Crusher decided that it would be a good time to bring up a completely unwanted distraction.
"Should we tell the others about his—"
"Not now, damnit!" Jason snapped. "What the hell is the matter with you? I know I ask that a lot, but I'm genuinely curious…is it genetic?"
"Fine…I'll just sit here silently."
"I'll believe that when I see it," Kage said. "It looks like we're getting an answering call from the HDF fleet on a broadcast channel typically reserved for the Orbital Control Authority."
"Put it on."
"—ast warning. We repeat…to the battlefleet that has entered the Miressa System, you are here illegally. Your Empire has surrendered, your leadership has accepted treaty terms with the ConFed. If you do not power down and surrender your ships, we will be forced to take action. By now, you must realize that your remnant fleet is no match against our forces."
"What the hell was that babbling drivel?" Crusher asked. "No commander talks like that."
"No commander broadcasts a warning over a public channel when they can clearly see the approaching enemy, either," Jason said. "That was meant to be heard by all the ships in the system, recorded, and retransmitted throughout the quadrant. It was a little overdramatic, though. I might have gone a different way."
The hours dragged by as the ships all repositioned themselves, creeping along on subliminal drives. The Phoenix was faster than most, so she had already passed the Eshquarian armada and was nearing the point Jason thought would most likely be where the two fleets would face off. He saw on the sensors that the Sarafin was also discreetly coming down into the system on a tangential course that would allow her to deploy the attack boats quickly when the time came.
So far, the bulk of the civilian traffic within the system seemed unsure what was happening. The Orbital Authority had finally issued a general alert for the area and warned them to begin clearing out, but most still loitered where they were. The idea that someone would attack the Miressa System seemed so outlandish that apparently nobody was taking it seriously. That might work in the Machine's favor since more witnesses helped spread the story faster and allowed it to grow in scope, but for Jason's plans, it created an all new wrinkle he hadn't counted on. A few thousand slow, ungainly freighters stampeding out of the system once they realized the Eshquarians were actually serious about opening fire would be a mess he'd have to navigate around.
"Have we received any direct queries from the planet or and ConFed ships since we fired up our beacon?" he asked.
"No, why?"
"I just expected the Machine to detect us pretty early once we were out of the Sarafin," Jason said. "It's either not nearly as omnipresent as we've been assuming, or we're not seeing the whole picture."
"A little late to worry about that now," Kage snorted. "We're fully committed at this point. Any surprises they throw at us will have to be dealt with on the fly."
Something about what Kage said about surprises nagged at the back of Jason's mind, but he couldn't pin it down. What was he forgetting? What could have been overlooked? On the surface, what they were about to do was ridiculously easy…as long as they hadn't been discovered. If the contractor crews on the Eshquarian ships had purged and loaded in new encryption routines, then they were going to be caught with their ass flapping in the breeze. Unfortunately, there was no way to test ahead of time whether the weapon encryption was the same as that of the com systems of the ship. Kage had already checked the latter and found that they were still good, he just hoped the same held true for the former.
Still…could it really be this easy to thwart a hyper-advanced AI?
"This is it," Mok said tensely. "Once they exchange the first volley prepare to get us out of here. Try to blend in with the rest of the panicked herd."
"When do you want to actually mesh-out, master?" Similan asked from the pilot's seat.
"As soon as we know for certain that Kage was able to disable the warheads on the missiles and the Sarafin deploys the attack boats," Mok said. "Hopefully, in the confusion of the missiles never reaching the defense force ships, our crews will be able to retake their ships and get out of here in