"Admiral Mei, in command of Outer Expedition Fleet Alpha, currently in command of-"
"I know, I know, sit down." I said. "How have you been, Mei?"
She slowly walked closer and sat on one of the chairs next to my desk. She looked a bit anxious.
"I've been... okay. I was on a pretty regular mission, it was good to have some peaceful cruise time after all the terror we've been through." she said. "I left Mars behind and... you know, it was almost like a vacation rather than a job. Well, except of course, the-"
"The methane station." I completed.
"Exactly." she said. "And, as I said before coming down from orbit, we detected a signal..."
"You said you could record some of it, am I correct?" I asked.
"Of course." she said. "In fact, I have it with me, on a USB drive."
"A... what?" I was puzzled for a second.
"A USB flash drive. It is an electronic data write and read device."
"Yes, yes, I know; but why would you revive an ancient technology out of the blue? No one even sells those things anymore, or hardware to use them."
"Retro shops do." she said. "Some people like collecting these stuff."
"Okay, but you didn't answer why."
"You know why." she said. "If you have to see me personally, it means there is something you don't want to transmit through navy channels. So I followed suit, I didn't transmit the recording through comms channels."
"Now I remember why you were chosen to captain that ship." I said.
"Was that a compliment?" she asked.
"Nevermind." I sighed. "Anyway, let's hear the- Oh, by the way, how did you even write it on that thing?"
"It is not hard to emulate a serial bus."
She threw the USB drive towards me, and I caught it in the air.
"Okay, so how do I use this?" I asked. "I could hack into most modern devices, but I am not acquainted with old technology."
"You are helpless." she murmured and came by. "It is a solid state drive... Oh, I need a computer though."
I pushed a button, and my computer console was revealed from underneath the desk. Mei continued.
"You boot the computer up, meanwhile I will connect those pins there."
If there was someone else in her place, I wouldn't trust anyone with such operation - but I knew her very well.
"Now watch." she said as she opened a software window on my computer. A loading bar started to fill as a complex multilayered schematic of electronic circuits slowly appeared above it.
"See, that's the whole USB drive." she said. "Now the software can detect what kind of device this is, which is obviously a USB drive, find the relevant technical data from the libraries and be able to read the data stored within. Easy as that."
Some white text appeared on the black screen.
'Searching for Solar Federation / Republic of Mars device ID...
Not found.
Searching for People's Republic of Mars device ID...
Not found.
Is this an experimental device (y/n)?'
Mei pushed some buttons.
' > n
Would you like to scan legacy libraries (y/n)?
> y
WARNING: Using legacy devices on your computer may put your security at risk!
Scanning legacy libraries...
Not found. Abort (y/n)?
> n
Auto-identification could not identify your device. Please enter legacy device type:'
Mei started typing.
' > Data storage
Not found. Retry (y/n)?
> y
Please enter legacy device type:'
"I thought you knew what you are doing." I told Mei.
"Shut up, I'm trying." she said. "I couldn't risk trying this aboard the ship beforehand, with all the Feds around."
' > USB disk
Scanning USB 1.x flash drive libraries...
Scanning USB 2.x flash drive libraries...
Scanning USB 3.x flash drive libraries...
Device identified as: [Toshiba 32 GB USB 3.0]
Proceed (y/n)?
> y'
Mei's stressful face turned cheerful. She navigated through a set of menus on the screen.
'Reading and copying data...
Done. Average speed: 19 GB/s.'
"There we go." she said. "Now, let's decipher it."
"You didn't already decipher it?" I asked.
"We follow our orders very well, Mr. President." she said. "Your orders, mind you."
I laughed. I knew what orders I've given them.
I had instructed all Republic vessel commanders and bridge crews to be discreet about intelligence matters. We were going to keep intelligence data to ourselves whenever possible - and since our military communications were under Federation control, it was a good idea to avoid those channels as well.
Some high level officers, such as Mei herself, were also given permission to lie.
"But the Feds know we intercepted a signal." I said. "How are you going to keep this data safe from them?" I asked.
"My crew already modified the ship's data banks." she said. "When Federal intelligence agencies look for the data we found, they will just get some bunch of garbage, a carefully designed garbage to grow interest but give no result."
"But the real data will be here..." I said.
"Yes, that's right. Only on the local storage of our computers." she said. "Wow, wait."
"What happened?"
"This isn't even encrypted." she said. "It is just pure, unaltered, frequency modulation comms signal."
"Like an FM radio?"
"Yes, absolutely. Anyway..." she said. "Listen. Oh, I mean, read."
She pointed at the screen.
'**********************************
mplete. The 2nd Collection is already on it's way to Inner Solar System.
It's been a pleasure working with you. While you work on the project, I will only ask for some seclusion. Thank you.
-END OF FILE-
**********************************'
"What is that?" I asked.
"We could only catch the last part of it." she said. "I don't know what it means, but apparently, something is coming to the Inner Solar System."
"2nd Collection." I said. "What could that mean?"
"No idea." she said. "That's why I want to take Lodos for another flight and find out."
"Whoever the sender is, they are trying to stay hidden." I said. "It won't be easy to find. Once they see a fleet coming nearby, they will just lower all the curtains and close the lights."
"Right." she said. "One more time, brute force won't solve anything."
"How many Feds do you have aboard Lodos?" I asked her.
"Twelve."
"Is there a way to kick them out, at least for one mission?" I asked.
"If and once they understand I'm trying to kick all Feds out of the vessel, they will notify the Federation Joint Command."
"Of course, of course..." I said.
She looked at me.
I looked at her.
"Are you thinking what I'm thinking?" she asked.
"I don't know, what are you thinking?" I said, smiling.
Two sinister laughs filled my office.