ten_fwd | Protection (Ten Forward Lounge)

There were two ways to gauge Billy's stress level: as he worked later and later into the night, the pages of discarded notes would build up around him, and his hair would start to stand on end. Considering his frizzy-haired and paper-surrounded appearance at the moment, he'd clearly been at whatever he was doing for a while.

What was he doing, exactly? At the moment, he was kneeling on the floor in front of a round table. There was a doll standing in the center, a stuffed bear wearing a belt with a button next to the buckle. He reached over and pressed the button, producing a blue bubble around the bear. Billy tried to pass his hand through the bubble, and he met solid resistance.

Excellent. He then picked up a screwdriver and tried to pierce the bubble at varying speeds---it blocked most of his hits with a solid bounce, but the light still broke too soon, sending the bear tumbling to the ground. Billy scooted to the other side of the table to pick it up, frowning. "All right, we'll need to prioritize upholding the integrity of the shield. Nothing I haven't done before."

He gave the bear a quick squeeze before removing the belt, picking up his screwdriver and wire cutters for another go. He was getting closer to producing an acceptable defense, surely? He hoped so.

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Billy looks at her sheepishly. "Maybe I've overdone it again, but...when I want to protect something important, I can't stop. It's an obsession. Have you ever felt that way?"

It's an awkward personal question, but it comes out before he can fully stop himself.

"I have," admits Marika. In the face of honesty, she is honest in return.

"I've pulled all nighters for it too, working out plans and that sort of thing not inventing new tech though."

"And in the end you feel ground down to the bone...but it's always worth it, because some people are just that important."

Billy gives her an honest smile. "I still don't know everyone here as well as I'd like, but I'm hoping to keep you all safe too."

Marika's smile is a little more shadowed. She doesn't always win, and even when she does, they aren't painless successes.

"Tools are a big part of that, and there's enough training - from what I've seen and who I've met - to take care of the rest of just about anything that comes up."

There's a beat of silence.

"I still want enough to outfit my crew back home as soon as I can get in touch with them though."

"I'd never dream of getting you anything less," Billy promised her, smiling wide. "But I'm not sure I'd want to be paid the traditional way..." he trailed off mysteriously.

"Oh?"

One of Marika's eyebrows ticks up and she leans in a little.

"What sort of pay would you be interested in then?"

Billy simply tapped one of his notebooks. "What I want is knowledge. I'd love to hear stories from your adventures, technical details optional."

Because he insisted on sticking his nose everywhere.

"There are some I can't," warns Marika, "They're secret or private, but there are some I can share no problem."

Regular raids or cruise ships are fine, things closer to the levers of interstellar power will need more discression.

"Whatever you can, then," Billy says easily. "But I never turn down an opportunity to learn. And you've seen things I've only dreamed of, I'll bet. This starship is...not quite as exciting as advertised, though that could be a good thing."

Marika smiles a little. No one really wants things to be boring all the time, but a little boring is good. Boring means that you haven't made any terrible mistakes.

"If you want exciting there's the first time the yacht club took the Odette II out on a practice cruise," she offers, "That was just supposed to be a peaceful flight around the inner system."

"And I'm guessing it wasn't just games of shuffleboard and chess?" Billy prodded, a faint smile on his face.

"Not so much, no," agrees Marika, "It had been a few years since anyone had taken the Odette II out. The school hadn't had anyone on staff with a pilot's rating for a ship that big, so we were updating the software and checking things ahead of the launch when we noticed the first attack."

And because that sounds a little silly, she explains, "A hacking attempt on the ships computer trying to slip in before we updated the anti-virus and firewalls."

Which is way more missable than, oh, missiles or lasers when it comes to how obvious an attack it was.

"Computer viruses can be a nightmare," Billy agreed. "It's why I'll always be partial to pure mechanical systems...I can code, but mechanical solutions are still easier for me than digital ones."

He shook his head. "But that doesn't exactly work in space, so I'm updating my programming knowledge as best I can."

"Mechanical systems for the absolute essentials are great," agrees Marika, "But code is more flexible and sometimes that's more important than reliability."

"Anyway, I was one of the club members on watch making sure that nothing broke while the update was happening. When we caught on, we turned on the counter intrusion routines."

Which were surprisingly robust and aggressive.

Until you discovered that the Odette II had a history before it became the school's ship and while the weapons had been dismounted being able to coordinate a fleet or enough processing power to model a solar system down to the asteroids in faster than real time wasn't nearly as restricted.

"We'd almost shut down their ship before they broke the connection."

"...wow. On one hand, that's frightening. On the other hand...I really would've loved to see that. Guess I'll have to settle for whatever adventures we get into here!"

Billy grinned and picked up his prototype. "And with this...hopefully we'll have those adventures and stay safe. I'll keep you updated."

Protection (Ten Forward Lounge)

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