The PacificBoard

The Kamasira was moving in silence, a few meters above the abyssal nothingness. Unseen. Unheard. It was as if it had become a sea creature itself, echoing the Krakens and whales that were sometimes troubling the peace of the abyss. A Leviathan was swimming in complete silence above the submarine. A cloud of jellyfish-like creatures was following it, drawing geometric lanes in the unfathomable night. The ship was approaching the Isilankan continental plateau. Leviathans were usually living near the abyssal cliffs.
The bay windows of the observation room were still open. Lilia had lit a candle next to the sofa. Vangelis was smiling to her, his hand still in her hair.
They had made love for the first time in years.
"Do you remember" whispered Lilia "that day in Tlosa ?"
"Yes...it was like the first time you saw snow...I remember the wonder in your eyes...while you were walking in the streets of the old city."
"But it was the first time ! I'm a child of the desert, Peter. But there was something I...well I don't know if the right time for that."
"Ask, Lilia. Ask whatever you want."
She kissed him, the continued.
"This day, when you entered the old cathedral, you started crying. And you refused to talk about it for years. Why, Peter ?"
Vangelis sat on the sofa, looking through the window. The Leviathan had disappeared and there was absolutely nothing but blackness outside.
"Because I...I've seen it being destroyed, Lilia. I can still recall the moment where I saw the missiles hit the cathedral through the satellite cameras, the instant when the first cruise missile shattered the nave in half, breaking the building in two as if it had been made of...of carboard. And before that, I remember pressing the button. Turning the key. And seeing all the icons on the screens turning green. Fire at will, the commander said. Fire at will. So we did what we had been trained to do. And we razed the city. Burnt it down to the ground. And this day, with the snow, I was standing inside a decoy, an empty building, a cathedral without a soul, a poor imitation, because I had pressed a button. There. You have your answer."
Lilia nodded, then kissed him again. A faint smile appeared on her lips.
"You knew it all along, right ?" said Vangelis to his lover.
"Yes. I knew, Vangelis, I knew that you had been once the second-in-command of our ship. Before Tsindrel-Kali even existed. I knew. I just wanted to hear it from you."
"I helped a madman destroying a city, Lilia."
"Yes. And one day..." She smiled again at him. "One day you helped a young and lost lady find her way in Tsindrel-Kali after the winter storms. You showed her the way, helped her, invited her to your small apartment, shared what little food and electricity the government gave you. This is the man I know. And this will never change."
"Lilia...there is one last thing I'd like to ask you."

The door opened in silence. They were deep inside the submarine, in a room that didn't appear on any blueprint or plan of the Kamasira. A room so close to the Triangle drive that one would hear its powerful vibration through the walls. Vangelis switched the light on. The room was covered in old renaissance paintings, drawings and antique maps.
"I discovered this room last year. Our XO back in the day kept mentioning it but of course no one in the ship had access to it bar the captain. I had to blow the door open. I like to think it was the captain's private museum. All of this was stolen in Isilanka. It doesn't belong here. I would like you to take it."
Lilia shivered, then walked towards one of the oil paintings.
"It's from the XVIth century. Looks like one of Cassandra Helgast's early works. Seems authentic."
"It is. Do you think you can take it with you ?"
"I think I can. We have unused protected crates. They were meant to evacuate top secret documents, but I assume we aren't going to do that. The maps won't be a problem, I can take care of the paintings if I have a few hours."
"You'll have them, darling. We're surfacing in a few hours only."
"And...what do I do with this ?"
She showed him the horrendous golden eagle standing above the paintings. A few words were engraved in the gold feathers of the statue.
AQUILA said the first six letters.
Then, STRENGTH THROUGH HONOR.
And finally, PRAISE BE ISILANKA. 1986.
Vangelis looked at the eagle with a mixture of hatred and annoyance.
"This thing will follow the Kamasira. It's heading straight for hell."

"Calm down, Catarina."
"I am calm !"
"No you aren't."
She looked at the AI with fury in her eyes.
"I bloody am."
"Catarina, you almost killed the man you were sparring with."
"Sorry. Thought it would help. Bad idea."
"Why don't you take your medicine ?"
"Sod off. I'm not sick."
"No. But you're in shock."
"I am not ! Look, you stupid thing !" She almost destroyed the AI's eye while standing up. "I just lost my two ships, a handful of good men, several friends, and nearly three hundred sailors ! And that's entirely because this f**** decided it was a good idea to bloody betray us ! So spare me your lecture. What do you know about anger and grief anyway..."
"Not much. But I know a lot about pride."
Catarina took a deep breath.
She closed her eyes and put her hand on the AI's hull. Her will started infusing inside the circuits.
Catarina had always had this weird power ; something unspeakable, something she couldn't understand, something she knew would get her killed if she told it to anyone.
Sometimes her superiors were wondering how she was able to modify her submarines without even having a degree in engineering.
She had never told them that she could actually feel how the circuits and machinery worked, just by telling her mind to go inside them. It was purely instinctive. She had no idea of how it worked.
She stayed inside the AI's programs for a minute, just long enough to interfere with its antivirus system. The AI reacted in a split-second and Catarina had to back down. She had time, however, to erase her RAM memory while escaping. For the AI nothing had happened, just a small antivirus bug.
The admiral closed her eyes again.
In a second she had had enough time to get a good glimpse of the inner systems of the aircraft carriers. Strangely enough the main AI was very poorly protected from an intrusion from the inside. The inner mainframe of the AI system was almost open. Of course, the rest was more protected than a fortress. The Tsindrel-Kalian computer scientists had good freasons to think that if for some reason the mainframe was compromised it would be too late to do anything. And their systems were protected enough...just not against someone who could establish a wireless connection and upload her instruction with her mind. For a second Catarina had had access to virtually everything on the ship, from weapon systems to defenses and engines.
She whispered to the AI.
"Yes, you're right. It's more about pride than sadness or hatred."