Inunne Chapter 7
Shaking himself a little, Ikota gets his mind back on topic. “Ah, yes. The captain has noted that the ship - I mean, you - seem to have been run a little ragged lately and have had a hard time keeping up with ship damages.”
He steps to the console and rests his hand on it in thought, then brings up a basic readout. “Diagnostics information through the system is very limited though, so we can’t really figure out what is going on. Do you have any information or insights on those issues?” At Oscillation’s silence, he adds, “If you would prefer I don’t share some of the details, we can do that. The captain just wants to make sure everything is all good.”
There’s a short silence. Oscillation’s manifestation ripples a bit, their form almost looking as they’re going through static, before resolving as the mostly translucent form again. They tilt their head, double pointed ears bouncing a little with the movement.
“I doubt it is something which can be fixed by mortal hand.”
Ikota rubs his face with a hand in frustration. Quil, Rith, Wek, Tria. he repeats in his head, the names of the constellations he grew up gazing at giving him a measure of calm. Looking back up at the chrysalis manifestation, he fiddles with a tool in his pocket and focuses on keeping his tone reasonable. “That may be so, but we won’t know how we might be able to help or where to bring the ship to without an idea of what’s going on.”
Oscillation floats down towards him gently, pausing a couple of feet away. Their bizarre multicolored eyes filter through rainbows of pigment, seeming to study him.
“I have felt… weak.” Their voice seems to grow hushed, taking up less of the room around him. “My spirit feels limited. Some of my outer chrysalis… it does not respond as it used to. As if pieces are fading away and beyond my reach. There seems to be a great weight upon my chrysalis, a pressure that chokes me when I reach through it. It is unlike anything I have ever experienced.”
A chill goes down Ikota’s spine, and he flips open his comm to start taking hurried notes. “When did this start?”
Oscillation considers it, their unblinking eyes tilting to gaze at the ceiling in thought. “31 of your days is when I first noted the effects, though I believe it may have existed in more limited capacity earlier.”
Ikota nods, tapping the side of his screen idly, and his tail swishes side to side a couple of times as he thinks. “When did you port last, before picking me up?”
“45 of your days. In Kodesh.”
Biting back a curse, Ikota closes his comm with a wave of his hand. Kodesh was a large spaceport, with many ships coming and going at all hours. The perfect place for trouble to brew… or diseases to spread.
“Well, it sounds very similar to a virus that pirates have been using lately to temporarily cripple ships. Normally I’d suggest to wait it out or do a full system reset, but resetting isn’t an option here and it’s been much longer than that virus normally lasts…”
Oscillation flickers a moment. “A virus?”
Ikota nods, “Yeah, magitech ships tend to be more vulnerable to that kind of thing since there’s not usually as focused of a system firewall. Since the system is handling both magic and mundane functions, sometimes things can confuse the system and slip through. You might not have even noticed it in a busy environment like a spaceport full of signals bouncing off you.”
Ikota taps his tail against the ground unconsciously, furrowing his brow. This was a very strange case, that the virus had burned so slowly and so long. He didn’t know why it was different than your typical pirating attack, but it was concerning. He could:
A) Recommend docking somewhere for a full system check by a ship virus specialist. It would be expensive, but ship engines are an investment and this was a very strangely behaving infection. Surely the captain would understand my concerns? B) Try to treat it myself for now, by going through a standard antivirus process. It would take multiple sweeps for one so entrenched, but it sounds like the damage is inconvenient but not immediately threatening. And why go through the trouble of a specialist if I can take care of it with a little TLC? They could always seek a specialist later. C) Question the crew about their last few shipments and see if anything strange may have occurred to explain this. Maybe I’m missing some obvious piece of the puzzle? I’d hate to make a recommendation on incomplete information. D) Bring the entire problem to the captain and just let him decide what to do next. It is his ship after all, and while ship care is my job this is a rather large issue, and I wouldn’t want to step on any toes accidentally.
A) Recommend docking somewhere for a full system check by a ship virus specialist. It would be expensive, but ship engines are an investment and this was a very strangely behaving infection. Surely the captain would understand my concerns? B) Try to treat it myself for now, by going through a standard antivirus process. It would take multiple sweeps for one so entrenched, but it sounds like the damage is inconvenient but not immediately threatening. And why go through the trouble of a specialist if I can take care of it with a little TLC? They could always seek a specialist later. C) Question the crew about their last few shipments and see if anything strange may have occurred to explain this. Maybe I’m missing some obvious piece of the puzzle? I’d hate to make a recommendation on incomplete information. D) Bring the entire problem to the captain and just let him decide what to do next. It is his ship after all, and while ship care is my job this is a rather large issue, and I wouldn’t want to step on any toes accidentally.
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