Spacetime near Space Station Harmony ripples, radiating gravitational waves. A cargo ship owned by the Xaos Interstellar Corporation defolds into the normal four-dimensional spacetime. The ship's thrusters burn in order to change its trajectory so that it can intercept the huge space station at a constant speed.
Roy Hunter looks at his instruments and listens in to traffic control.
"Easy now," says the lead pilot, Giuseppe Gandino.
"Got it," replies Roy. He checks the instruments, and the relative speed to the landing bay is twenty-five knots.
"We're reeling you in," says the traffic controller.
The pilots watch as the entrance to Landing Bay 23 appears to get bigger and bigger. The cargo ship enters into the landing bay via an opening about one thousand feet wide. It passes through a soft friction field that keeps air in.
"All right," says Gandino, "let;'s taxi this baby."
And soon, the cargo ship, moving along landing gears, taxies to a stop.
Roy glances at the instrument panel one last time, checking for anything he might want to tell the maintenance crew later, and then the flight from Planet Ragna, and his first tour of duty flying cargo ships, ends. . Standing up, he uses his canes to help his braced legs walk. He walks to a stairway and carefully navigates down. Slowly walking along the hallway, he reaches the door which also serves as a stairs leading to the deck of the landing bay.
"You okay, Hunter?" asks Gandino.
"I"m still getting used to walking around slowly, Gandino" replies Roy.
"We just have to file our final reports and then we can clock out."
Roy smiles. He is still getting used to civilian terms. His job as a cargo ship pilot for Xaos is his first civilian job. He went straight from being a boy living with his parents to the United Earth Forces Academy, and then as a commissioned officer in the United Nations Spacy. Now, after five years, he is a civilian again- albeit a civilian experienced in operating aerospace craft. This, plus his degree from the Academy, no doubt appealed to Xaos's headhunters.
He walk through the door and enters Xaos's Harmony Cargo Terminal Offices. He had been given a brief tour by the staff, but did not have time to become familiar with the layout. The cargo pilot looks through a door and sees a large room with some tables and benches and a sink against a wall; this must be the break room where cargo pilots can relax.
"Right here," says Gandino. Roy follows him to an office with some cubicles. The pilot sits down by one of the cubicles, which has a screen and a keyboard and a mouse.
"Go to file your after action report," he says.
"Sure," says Roy, getting onto the screen and logging in with the credentials. He did have to file a report after each live flight during his time at V-School.
"Yeah, I know it;'s annoyin', Hunter. The higher-ups need to know what we were doin'."
He proceeds. It is quick, as there had not been anything unusual about the flight from Ragna to Harmony. After clicking the "Send" button, he is ready to go.
He rides an elevator to "ground level", and then leaves through the main entrance, entering the main chamber of Space Station Harmony. The main part of the station's city is inside a huge pressurized chamber. The ceiling is about one thousand feet high. There are clouds high above, as the chamber is large enough for moisture to precipitate and for there to be weather. Indeed, Roy feels a slight breeze. In the distance he can see the "skyline" of the city.
He walks out, going towards a security checkpoint. Stopping by the guard shack, he leans one his left cane so that he can wave goodbye to the uniformed guard inside the little boxlike building.
Roy walks along the sidewalk until he reaches the staircase leading down to the subway station. It looks like a stereotypical subway station with a platform. Some people are inside, and there are posters advertising businesses. While some people drive personal automobiles, parking is expensive. There are no suburbs inside here with free parking.
Roy then boards the subway. As he takes a seat, he reflects on his life. He is still trying to place to call home, ever since his military career came to an unexpected end. He never figured out where he wanted to live. One upside to taking a job as a cargo pilot is that he would be able to visit many places- natural and artificial- throughout the Milky Way Galaxy. He recalls what his parents told him about living in a city in space. It was clearly smaller.
Then again, Across City had been confined in a one-kilometer long space vessel, while Space Station Harmony had far more than enough room.
The subway train arrives at central station- essentially, a hub for Space Station Harmony's subway system. Roy goers through the motions of disembarking, and then walking and riding a maze of escalators, passing by some people, to get to the platform serving the line that will take him to his neighborhood. After a few minutes, he once again takes another train. He recalls reading something about how Space Station Harmony is under the territorial jurisdiction of the United Earth Government, and that it is governed by a charter enacted by the United Nations General Assembly. A council could enact municipal ordinances, subject, of course, to the laws and judgments of the General Assembly.
Soon enough, the train stops at the station closest to his home.
He leaves the train, climbs some stairs and emerges on his street. There are various stores along the street, including a general store, some bars, a restaurant, a diner, and some fast food places. The people here are young, single workers.
Looking at the building numbers, he finds his apartment building. He unlocks the door, walks inside the hallway, and presses a button for the elevator. Soon, he is inside his own apartment.
His apartment is not much to talk about- basically a bigger version of a motel room plus a kitchen. Roy feels exhausted, with his sojourn from the cargo terminal to his apartment almost as exhausting as the flight between Planet Ragna and Space Station Harmony.
The cargo pilot is not even hungry. He lies on his bed. So much is on the surface of Roy's mind. Aside from adjusting to civilian life and his new career in Xaos, he thinks of the court-martial of his former commanding officer.
oooo
Third Lieutenant Roy Hunter pressed a button and the Stonewell Bellcom VF-6A Alpha transformed into its battloid mode. The structure shifted, the arms and legs unfolding out, so that it looked a giant, humanoid suit of armor about eight meters and two feet tall. Another Alpha battloid, piloted by Third Lieutenant Rachel Krantz, landed.
On the other side of the training field, more Alphas in battloid mode were standing.
"All right, people," said Commander Arihiso Hamato, sitting in the cockpit of an Alpha hovering five hundred feet above them in guardian mode, "you know the drill from our practice in the sims. Capture the hill. Remember, for this exercise, stay in battloid mode."
"Let's move out," said Hunter.
He and the others were in this maze of what looked like burnt, bombed-out buildings, simulating an urban environment, with plenty of cover.
Roy operated the controls, which sent signals to the motors, and his battloid ran.
And then he saw something blink on his instrument panel.
"You're hit!" exclaimed Lieutenant Krantz. She could see a splotch of paint.
"Gotcha," said Third Lieutenant Hyun Seuk.
"You're out, Hunter," said Commander Hamato.
"But, sir, it's not fair. And it was only a side blow."
"Hunter!"
Hunter pressed a switch to transform his veritech into guardian mode, which looked like a fighter jet with two legs hanging below. He then flew off to a nearby area. Soon, other veritechs joined him.
Oort
"I call Yak Jung to the stand," says Lieutenant Commander Michael Sarakian.
A bespectacled purple-haired man wearing a blue shirt with a red necktie walks to the witness stand.
"Do you swear to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth, so help you God?" asks the bailiff.
"I do," replies the man.
"State your name for the record," says the trial counsel.
"Yak Jung," replies the witness.
"And what is your present occupation, sir?"
"I am a civilian contractor informations technology specialist with the United Earth Forces, specializing in cyber-security?"
"Cyber-security, to keep computers safe?"
"Yes, both hardware and software, Commander. And while I did not swear the oath you did, if I badmouth my superiors too many times they can show me the door for good."
The judge smiles at the witness's statement.
"Mr. Jung, have you worked in support of military investigations in the past, correct?"
"Yeah. Several times. My last time was last year. A cargo shuttle crashed into the hull of a cruiser, and I examined the sensor datas. As I recall, the cause was a faulty sensor. No one was killed or even maimed, so there wasn't a Commission unlike this case."
"I introduce this exhibit showing reports of past accident cases in which Mr. Jung worked. For the record, Mr. Jung was referring to the U.E.S. Istanbul incident. Now, you were assigned to work for the Commission of Inquiry that investigated the death of a veritech pilot who crashed. Are we right?"
"That's what I was told, yes," says Jung. "My specific role, Commander, was to examine the data collected from the black boxes and sensors, like thew past few times I worked on this type of project."
"And how was this data sent to you in this case?"
"It was transmitted through a secure channel, and we also received the physical black boxes from the crashed aircraft and directly uploaded the data."
"And you examine the data for any discrepancies, is that correct?"
"Yes, Commander. It is part and parcel of investigating accidents."
"Sir, did you receive a second copy of the black box data from Lieutenant Seuk's veritech?" asks the prosecutor.
"Yes," replies the witness. "We received a copy transmitted from that Leonard ship. I performed a check on it and I found a discrepancy between the copy and the original data. I informed Major Gandhi who was on the support staff for the Commission. They extended the investigation and I found out that the newer copy was the original data, while the data we uploaded from the black box was tampered with."
"Please explain o this court-martial how you deduced this."
Commander Arihiso Hamato looks at Yak Jung and listens carefully.
"We have a utility program, Meta Finders," answers Jung. "It examines the metadata and that's how we knew that the black box had been tampered with."
"Okay, sir," says Commander Sarakian. "Please explain to this court-martial what metadata is."
"Your Honor, what is that paper?" asks Jung.
"My notes," replies Captain Jaquan Thompson.
Lieutenant Commander Sari Priyatosh stands up. "Excuse me, sir," she says. "Is this appropriate?"
"Yes, it is, Counselor," replies the judge. "For now."
"The dats on that paper is what you write, sir," continues Jung. "Your notes about my testimony, a recipe for pho, or the phone number of a friend you haven't seen in ten years. Now, your Honor, metadata would describe the paper- how long and wide it is, its color, whether it has those lines useful for writing. Metadata has the information about the file itself such as its size and its extension."
"And would metadata include when the file was created?" asks Sarakian.
"Yes, Commander."
"And would it have a history on when the file was altered?"
"Yes, it would. That was what we found. The copy uploaded into the Leonard's computers, none of it was altered after uploading. It is a true copy of the file as it was when the black box was recovered."
"and what of the copy you directly uploaded from the black box itself?"
"The metadata clearly showed that it had been altered after the black box was brought to Tirol, before we accessed it."
"And what was the data that was altered."
"Data regarding the condition of the nose sensor array. It had been altered to make it look like there was a malfunction. The original data showed no signs of any malfunctions on the veritech's systems before the collision."
"Thank you. We have no further questions."
"Your witness," Thompson says to Commander Priyatosh.
"Mr. Jung, what did you use to examine the metadata?" she asks. "Please remind this court."
"Meta Finders," answers Jung. "It's a program that examines metadata."
"Do you know how it works?"
"Yes, I've used this program for seven years. I'm still getting used to the latest update."
"No, I mean do you know how it examines the metadata?"
Jung pauses. Commander Sarakian looks on.
"Mr. Jung, please answer the question," says Captain Thompson.
"I do not know exactly how it works," he says.
"Did you write or modify the program?"
"Sidebar, your Honor," says Sarakian.
"Approach the bench, please."
Hamato watches as his defense attorney and the trial counsel approach the bench where the judge is siting.
"Your Honor," says the trial counsel. "Is defense counsel suggesting that I need to actually call the author of the program to the stand?"
"Do you?" ask the judge. " will allow this line of questioning. Witness shall answer."
The two lawyers go back to their tables.
"No, I did not write nor modify Meta Finders," says Jung.
"Can you explain how this program reads the metadata?"
"No, I can not."
"No further questions."
"Witness may step down," says Captain Thompson. "Court will be in recess until 1430."
Commander Sarakian approaches Commander Priyatosh.
"I'm impressed by your cross, Sari," he says.
"You wouldn't want my right hook, Michael," she replies.