Notes: Sonja Hemphill makes her promised appearance. She'll show up later, as well. Shannon gets a message back from Sonja. We get hints about Shannon's past that will prove relevant later (hint hint).
Landing City, Manticore, Admiral Hemphill's office
Sonja Hemphill walks into her office, back from her vacation, on which she had received a bunch of com calls over Admirals Tourville and Chin invading the MBS, and barely managed to stay on vacation (It would have been too late to develop a tech counter to anything new anyway, Fleet Admiral Alexander-Harrington, and I was relaxing on the beach, so please don't com me 15 times about you wanting more Apollo missiles. I know you want more of them.), and grabs herself some coffee, to wake herself up as she checks her teaching inbox. She sees the first message.
Hello, Your Ladyship,
It seems that the writer knows how to address nobles, which is surprising for Havenites. I mean, a few worlds have their own royal family and peerage, but not a lot.
I'm writing you this note to inform you that the placement test placed me in Computer 102 because I can't test any higher. That's interesting, so few Havenites are that good at tech. It'll be interesting to see how stupid this one turns out to be.
I'm taking this class as I've been into tech for a long time, and I'm trying to not go insane from boredom. Is she one of Vice Admiral Foraker's staffers at her Bolthole Station?
Do you cover software development in this? No, I don't.
Thank you for teaching this. Oh, good.
Thanks, Shannon Foraker Sonja gasps, and nearly spits out her coffee. Why would someone have dragged their lead R&D person off their projects to go run a combat command as a Vice Admiral or even ops or tac officer, both positions which she'd have been too senior, and likely out of training for? The Republic of Haven, while many things, isn't stupid, that's for sure. And if our ONI data and Honor's stories are correct, she came up as an officer as a line officer, so she didn't need this posting, unlike my Grendelsbane posting. Given what projects she helped roll out and based on the shifts I had to pull to counter them, she's smart, and based on her former tac officer skills, she could be good at tech, for being Havenite. I don't think she's as stupid as I'd have expected, given the start of the note.
Sonja drafts a reply.
Hello Shannon Foraker,
I'm glad to see that you signed up. I don't cover software development (besides basic games at the very end as the last unit) in this class, though I have done other software development, though not for any classes. What programming languages are you familiar with? This class will be in a high level language, so I don't have to teach compiling or binary. It's called Particle Script +. If you're as good as I've heard with tech, you'll probably find it easy. I can't bump you into a higher class, and don't think you can get someone to do it for you, though. I'm attaching some reports about the rest of your officers, for you and your Admiral Tourville. I also don't use my title, so no need to address me as Your Ladyship.
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Sincerely, Admiral Sonja Hemphill
She sends the message, before getting back to checking her inbox. Why do I think she's smarter than most Havenites at tech? Was it Admiral Pat Givens's reports out of ONI, or was it Honor's reports?
Shannon's datapad dings with a notification as she reads through the code, making mental notes on what to exploit to sandbox the OS. She clicks on the notification, and reads the reply from the instructor.
Hello Shannon Foraker,
I'm glad to see that you signed up. Oh, so this Mantie decides to be polite. That's nice.
I don't cover software development (besides basic games at the very end as the last unit) in this class, though I have done other software development, though not for any classes. What, they don't cover that by the middle? I mean, it is a 102 class, for presumed technological imcompetent Havenites, but still.
What programming languages are you familiar with? Oh, a lot of them. Not that I'd tell her that. This class will be in a high level language, so I don't have to teach compiling or binary. Anything that requires a compiler or binary is also more vulnerable, if you know how to use the tools to hack into the system, so I can see you know what you're doing on the security side, as well as the tech design side (Though not the OS writing side, I've found some exploit ideas already, and hacking to view source code was much too easy, compared to some tech.).
It's called Particle Script +. I know that one from coding some projects years back.
If you're as good as I've heard with tech, you'll probably find it easy. Agreed, based on what I've seen.
I can't bump you into a higher class, and don't think you can get someone to do it for you, though. It was asking a lot to just not be in the 101 class. I'd be even more bored in that class.
I'm attaching some reports about the rest of your officers, for you and your Admiral Tourville. Thank you. That will be appreciated, both for something else to do, and so that we have some idea how they're being treated, and if I need to slip a coded message out via a personal message.
I also don't use my title, so no need to address me as Your Ladyship. That was awkward, as I'm of the peerage of my homeworld, and while I haven't used my title offworld since I was a little girl, due to the PRH rolling in, having to do that was hard, but needed, so I'm not more of a high-value hostage than I already am.
[report1 . pdf]
[report2 . pdf]
[report3 . pdf]
Sincerely, Admiral Sonja Hemphill
She downloads the files to her datapad, and forwards them to Admiral Tourville, before getting back to reading the OS code, and mentally noting what to exploit.
Notes:
How do you like my way of mixing in people's reactions to their mail? Please review, as I want to know what you think. I have more stuff written (as of Apr 14th 2022), and have a plan for this story.
I also removed a few fics to play it safe. If you want to read them, PM me on , and I'll send you them.