Later that day…
A junior officer pulls her aside privately and whispers in her ear, "Come with me to the beach. I need to inform you about something, ma'am. Permission to speak freely?"
Shannon nods, and walks outside, in sandals, before the officer says, "The house has audio bugs, though no spy cameras, so be careful what you say. I just wanted to tell you that. If we need to chat about something, we do it on the beach. The waves and lack of bugs mean it's safe, assuming you aren't too loud, ma'am."
Shannon replies, "Thank you for telling me."
"The Manties give us datapads for our correspondence classes and a few games. I think there's one in the pile of stuff for you. Do you think you can hack them to at least improve the games?" Normally, even under the PRH, Shannon would have smiled and laughed at hacking a datapad to do that. This time, she only brightens slightly. Sure, I'll give it a try… was replaced with...
"I'll have to examine the hardware closely, and ask Admiral Tourville if he's okay with me taking the risk. How often do the Manties drop stuff off?"
"They drop off food every other week, normally in the morning. They quickly land, drop and leave, but don't search the building. Of course, we know they have sensors watching from orbit, ma'am. Is there any chance you can do some of your magic to somehow get an undetected message out to home? I know I'm grasping at threads, but everyone says you're a witch." This makes it easier to conceal my hacking, but not on the message.
"If you are asking if I can make an undetectable FTL transmitter out of datapads and other scraps, the answer's no. I'm sorry. Even I can't do that, though I should be able to do some hacking, assuming they didn't lock it insanely down, which they likely wouldn't have bothered with, as most people can't hack tech like R&D tech nerds." Shannon hints at a smile, which never appears, unlike normal, even under the PRH. The junior officer nods, and looks away.
They continue walking in silence, along the beach, until they get to the protected spot.
"Here's the best swimming spot. They left us some beach gear, so we'd have something to do, but most spots are too rough to be safe, ma'am." Shannon nods in acknowledgement.
Shannon knocks on the door of Admiral Tourville's quarters, and he replies, "Come in, Shannon." He's sitting on his bed, looking at the floor, until he looks up at Shannon.
She signals him to be quiet and come with her, which he does.
"Have you heard about the audio bugs, sir?" Shannon asks.
"Yes, I heard. What do you want to discuss with me?"
"Can I try to hack the datapads? Until I hack them and look at the OS code, I won't know how much I'll be able to do and do I have your permission to enroll in a computer class, and to enroll your flag lieutenant as well, so I have something computer related to do? I'll tutor her, if she needs it." Shannon asks.
"You have my permission. Don't talk about it inside." he says. She nods.
Notes:
The next chapter will likely have a nightmare from Shannon...
I'm really busy in RL, so it's taking me a while to write very much. Thanks for reading, it means a lot.