Chapter 675

Bab 675 Mengendarai Badai

Pilot pesawat ulang-alik menghadapi perjuangan berat untuk kembali ke ibu mereka. Ves, Ketis, Soapstone, dan para pengiring mereka tidak menginginkan apa pun selain untuk kembali ke keselamatan kapal induk lapis baja mereka. Sebuah pesawat ulang-alik di tengah pertempuran antariksa mungkin juga terbang telanjang, karena satu pukulan dari senapan seukuran mech bisa langsung meledakkannya dan penumpangnya menjadi berkeping-keping!

Antar-jemput dimaksudkan untuk mengangkut penumpang dan kargo kecil antara kapal yang berbeda dan antara planet dan kapal. Desainer mereka membuat mereka kecil, ringan dan hemat energi untuk memenuhi peran logistik vital dalam armada atau planet yang menetap.

Mereka secara tegas dikesampingkan sebagai pejuang aktif dalam pertempuran mech ruang angkasa. Mereka hampir tidak memiliki lapis baja yang lebih baik daripada pesawat terbang dalam konfigurasi standar mereka. Varian yang lebih berat seperti pesawat ulang-alik tempur mungkin telah digunakan untuk menjatuhkan pasukan infantri ke wilayah yang bermusuhan, tetapi tujuan dari baju besi mereka yang sedikit lebih tipis adalah untuk melindungi mereka dari senjata kecil dan peluncur misil portabel.

Terhadap kekuatan mechs, mereka mungkin juga telanjang, karena secara harfiah setiap mech bisa merobek-robeknya!

Pesawat ulang-alik mengembang dari port ke kanan, atas dan ke bawah, dan berputar pada porosnya sendiri untuk beberapa alasan. Pilot di kokpit tidak menahan apa pun dalam cadangan dan mendorong mobilitas pesawat ulang-aliknya melewati ambang batas di mana modul antigrav dan kompensator inersia mencegah penumpangnya merasakan g-force.

Mereka pada dasarnya mengendarai pesawat ulang-alik yang hampir tidak terkendali yang selangkah lagi keluar dari kendali dalam kecelakaan yang tak terhindarkan!

“Aku benar-benar berharap pilot tahu apa yang dia lakukan!”

“Percaya pada kawan kita, Ves.” Soapstone berbicara dari samping. “Ini tidak ada bedanya dengan mempercayakan hidup kita dan keselamatan kita kepada pilot mech yang memilah-milah ke medan perang setiap saat.”

“Ya, tapi setidaknya dalam kasus-kasus itu, aku dengan aman terselip di dalam pelukan pelindung kapal induk besar yang gemuk. Sekarang, aku mengendarai pesawat ulang-alik bermuatan super yang mendekati arah pertempuran utama di orbit!”

Ratusan mechs saling menjatuhkan, dan Ves tidak tahu bagaimana pertempuran berlangsung. Umpannya yang terbatas ke jaringan internal Vandal terputus ketika gangguan lokal dari kedua sisi konflik melemparkan informasi lokal ke dalam keruh kebisingan. Sensor pesawat ulang-alik menangkap beberapa pertempuran, tetapi tidak memiliki resolusi atau kekuatan pemrosesan di belakangnya untuk sepenuhnya menyelesaikan detail pertarungan yang terjadi ribuan kilometer jauhnya. Pilot sudah mengeluarkan sumber daya penuh dari pesawat ulang-alik untuk membantu dalam menavigasi medan perang yang kacau!

“Soapstone.”

“Iya?”

“Karena pertempuran ini meletus begitu tiba-tiba, apakah kamu berhasil mengamankan batch terakhir dari bahan bakar dan pasokan untuk armada?”

“Oh, bets terakhir sudah dikirim satu jam yang lalu. Saat itu, tidak begitu jelas apakah Flagrant Vandal akan terseret ke dalam pertarungan ini. Aku yakin transport telah menurunkan kargo mereka di kapal logistik kami.”

Setidaknya mereka tidak perlu khawatir kehilangan pasokan akhir mereka.

“Apakah kamu berhasil mengamankan hal lain?” Dia bertanya.

“Beberapa pernak pernik di sana-sini. Kamu bukan satu-satunya yang mengambil jalan memutar karena alasan pribadi. Satu-satunya perbedaan adalah aku jauh lebih dekat ke dermaga ketika pertempuran benar-benar meletus! Mengarungi semua pembersihan yang tidak berfungsi bot adalah slog! ”

“That’s the weirdest thing about this entire incident. I can imagine why the pirates who lost all of their life savings stirred up trouble. I can even imagine why the Castle Breakers would be impulsive enough to attack the Omen of Misfortune out of the blue. What I can’t wrap my head around is why the bots were able to rebel in the first place.”

He already formed his previous guess that whoever hacked the bots did so as a prank gone out of control or to destabilize the entire Mancroft Independent Harbor. He wanted to hear what Soapstone had to say and if she concurred with his theories.

“Hm..” She paused for a moment. “I don’t have a solid explanation about the bots. My experience suggests that it’s unlikely that a bug in the programming is to blame. Cleaning bots may look cheap to you, but they are sold and used in every single indoor location in human space. Do you know how many cleaning bots are used in the Bright Republic alone? Some estimates put their total number at five times the Republic’s total population, and that is just a conservative estimate!”

“So because a cleaning bot is so prevalent, a lot more care is put into their design than other products?”

“Exactly! They are some of the most bug-tested, optimized and abused bots the galaxy. They are frequently employed in sensitive rooms where matters of great import to a state, planet or company is discussed. Will their buyers allow these bots to clean these sensitive rooms if they are embedded with hidden sensors and recording devices? Absolutely not! Therefore, the integrity and soundness of the hardware and software of cleaning bots endures some of the most rigorous tests in the galaxy.”

It made sense. Soapstone rambled a bit about all the certifications a cleaning bot had to go through before being pronounced ready for use. A silly bug like mistaking open wounds on living bodies as a stain to be wiped away really shouldn’t have occurred in even the worst cleaning bots on sale today.

Ves nodded in agreement. “So that directs us strongly to the possibility of deliberate sabotage. Still, if cleaning bots are so rigorously tested and developed, how come a hacker managed to penetrate through their ironclad programming?”

Now that he thought about it, it took more than a single whiz kid who knew his way around the virtual battlefield. Cleaning bots were everywhere, out in the open and vulnerable to all kinds of intrusions. Nolsen tried to engage his military-grade automatic hacking module on the stupid bots, but it plainly couldn’t find a way to drill through their firewall.

What the cleaning bots lack in hardware prowess, they more than made up for it with exquisite and virtually impenetrable software!

Soapstone announced her conclusion. “It’s a premeditated hack, and far too complex to be done by a single hacker with a vendetta against cleaning bots. This smells like the kind of stunt a state-backed intelligence agency would pull off. Only they are sophisticated enough to research and dig out an unpatched bug hidden deep within the programming of the bots.”

That partially matched his own guesses. “I concur. Whoever is behind it has plenty of hacking muscle at their disposal.”

This also highlighted the risks of becoming too dependent on machines. Fortunately, the Vandals and the Swordmaidens ran their most important systems through manual controls, only relying on machinery to perform bulk calculations or precise movements that couldn’t be done by human hands or minds. They were considerably hardened against a virtual attack.

In the worst case scenario, their combat carriers even came with the option of pulling the metaphorical plug! This shut off virtually every digital system on the ship and delegated controls to actual human beings who needed to perform every action by hand.

It was terribly inefficient, but it was better than nothing when faced with an overwhelming hacker on the enemy’s side.

As for mechs, they possessed natural protection from most forms of hacking due to their peculiar control method.

The neural interface practically blended the mech pilot’s mind with the cold hard circuits and processors of the mech. In that active state, the line between the human mind and the machine mind became a little blurred. It was difficult to say where one reached the end and where the other began.

From what Ves had learned from Iris’ tutoring sessions, an active mech was controlled by a hybrid amalgamation that was neither exclusively man or machine, but both at the same time. This led to a lot of strange repercussions that was wildly out of the scope of her tutoring session, but one of the strongest reminders she imparted him was that this amalgamation couldn’t be hacked.

“It takes man-machine hybrid to hack a man-machine driven mech.” She solemnly spoke back then. “Do you know how weird that sounds? It requires a potentate with the potential to pilot mechs, but instead of pursuing their natural vocation, they instead dedicate their life to becoming a mech hacker.”

Mech hacker! This forbidden profession formed the bogeymen of every living mech pilot! If there was anything they feared above all else, mech hackers must be close to the top of their list!

Still, Ves didn’t fear their presence here in Mancroft. The MTA loathed mech hackers with the same vehemence against weapons of mass destruction and actively hunted them down whenever they showed up in civilized space.

If any hackers were still present at Mancroft, then they could only work their magic on regular machinery.

Machinery like.. their shuttle!

“Damnit, do you think our shuttle is secure?”

“Hey, calm down Ves.” Soapstone gestured him to remain strapped to his seat. “Have some faith in our own gear. We’re very thorough in updating the firmware of all of our vehicles and equipment, shuttles included. We also employ our own hackers who are constantly on the lookout for enemy hackers.”

He needed that reminder. As a military mech regiment, the Vandals wouldn’t be caught off guard by a virtual attack.

As Ves contemplated many possibilities, the shuttle kept juking along the periphery of the battlefield. It was slowly but firmly navigating towards the formation of Vandal and Swordmaiden ships.

Ketika pesawat ulang-alik itu terbang lebih dekat ke induknya, kendaraan itu mengalami beberapa kali pencukuran. Bagian yang paling mengancam dari perjalanan mereka datang ketika rudal yang tertipu oleh sistem ECM kehilangan target mereka dan terbang ke arah yang acak. Salah satu dari mereka hampir menggunakan kunci pada pesawat ulang-alik, dan jika bukan karena ditembak oleh Akkara yang jauh dengan tugas anti-rudal, pesawat ulang-alik dan penumpangnya akan dihancurkan berkeping-keping oleh rudal yang dirancang untuk menghancurkan kapal luar angkasa!

Tidak ada penghuni yang religius dengan cara apa pun, tetapi mereka diam-diam berdoa kepada takhayul apa pun yang memberi mereka kehangatan di masa-masa sulit ini.

Tiba-tiba terdengar bunyi berdentang dari geladak. Tumbukan kasar itu hampir menjatuhkan Ves dari kursinya, dan hanya tali yang menahannya kuat-kuat.

“Kami telah tiba di Perisai Hispania! Kami pulang!”

Semua orang menghela nafas lega atau menghela nafas panjang. Tidak ada yang berminat untuk bersorak atau merayakan mengingat mereka baru saja menjalankan tantangan itu.

“Ayo bergerak, ayo bergerak, ayo bergerak! Semuanya keluar! Kita perlu mengamankan teluk hangar!”

Tali yang menahannya di tempatnya secara otomatis menghilang, memungkinkan Ves untuk bangkit kembali. Para penumpang berduyun-duyun di luar pesawat ulang-alik, di mana Letnan Nolsen memberi hormat cepat kepada Ves.

“Misi pengawalku sudah berakhir. Aku dan aku dibutuhkan di tempat lain, jadi sampai jumpa lagi, Ves!”

“Sangat menyenangkan, Nolsen!”

They all moved away from the landing deck and exited the shuttle bay in order to avoid getting in the way of busy servicemen. Ves was very much aware that they practically hot-dropped onto a combat carrier in the midst of a running engagement! He eagerly wanted to apprise himself of the situation and see if he could be of assistance.

Ves turned to Ketis. “If I recall, you aren’t cleared to enter the command center yet. Since you don’t have any formal combat posting, it’s best for you to stay out of the way. Go back to our office and stay put.”

“But whyyyy? That’s boring, teacher! I want to go fight, or at least watch the battle!”

“Aku bisa memberimu rekaman nanti, tetapi saat ini Vandal tidak punya waktu untuk menghibur keinginanmu. Pergi ke kantor, pergi ke ranjang, atau pergi ke ruang makan dan ambil makanan jika kamu perlu mengisi perutmu!”

Swordmaiden menggerutu sedikit, tetapi dia tahu dia tidak bisa melawan Vandal sendirian. Ketika dia dengan enggan pergi, Vespa dengan cepat berbaris menuju geladak atas.

Jika Anda menemukan kesalahan (tautan rusak, konten non-standar, dll.), Harap beri tahu kami sehingga kami dapat memperbaikinya sesegera mungkin.