Conflux Vocalizations?

UUNN Newswire

(UUNN HQ) With the results of the Conflux Symposium as yet undisclosed, it appears that the Conflux themselves might have something to say. A fairly weak Sentient c3 has been spotted harassing shipping lanes the past few days. Data pulled from pilot mission logs and firsthand reports have confirmed that this Sentient has indeed broadcast on the local f3 channel. What has it said? Just these 1 liners:

111 040 150 145 141 162 040 164 150 145 040 154 151 147 150 164 041

And…

167 145 040 141 162 145 040 145 166 145 162 171 167 150 145 162 145

As of yet, no ships have been lost to this scout. It’s flight patterns suggest that it enters our space from either Amananth or Pulsar, and then travels along our jump lanes and between anomalies, as has been typical of other Sentients of late.  According to TRI bounty payout records, this c3 has probed into our space as deeply as Zealot’s Refuge, Ekoo’s Stop, and Arkan’s Cloud before being turned away by pilots of all 3 factions.

Calatorius Snubs Conflux Symposium

 UUNN Newswire

(UUNN HQ) The meeting of “Conflux experts” that was announced 2 weeks ago by Speaker Demeter Garreth of Solrain and held secretly earlier this week at Wake station was precisely one notable expert short. Dr. Aulus Calatorius of the Octavian Ministry of War announced today that though he was invited, he declined to attend the intensive meetings. Instead, he announced his retirement (at age 79) from public and academic service, citing personal and health reasons, plus a desire to see the next generation step up into a leadership role in the Conflux War. Cinatus Emperor Cineon released the following statement:

In my 16 years as Emperor, I’ve never met a man as loyal and dedicated to the people of Octavius as Minister Calatorius. His knowledge and service to all of humanity against the mindless onslaught of the Conflux will never be matched. Yet the people of Octavius shall remain undaunted in the face of our enemies. Aveg et H’nore, Doctor Calatorius.

In the absence of an established authority figure such as Dr. Calatorius setting the tone, we are told that the experts present were sharing information in an unusually open format where the exchange of theories and data was fluid. The symposium overran its allotted time in the conference center at Wake station, meeting almost continuously for 3 full days.

 

KTRI-Hacked Message Deciphered

UUNN Newswire

(UUNN HQ) The final piece of cipher was decoded by experts contracted by UUNN. The message had been partially decoded through two layers of encoding by TRI Corporation experts. The final layer (siahwtsrouktaeto24442) had remained undeciphered until yesterday. It seemingly translates as “to take what is ours” — though it could be “what is ours to take.” The final encoding layer in the end was simply a kind of word-scramble.

Combining the three sets of coded messages hacked-onto KTRI results in the sentence “We are coming to take what is ours and create order.”

A later message added “We are relentless.”

Sentient Activity Heats Up; Amananth Station Damaged

By Thane Carios

(UUNN HQ)  Today, Conflux sentients took the battle to Amananth with repeated nuclear missile hits and kamikaze runs against Amananth station.  Activity has heated up over the past week with gates around Pulsar and Amananth being repeatedly infested.  Attacks were aimed at the market area of the station where missiles are stored and inventories took a hit.

“The Conflux are clearly on the attack and they have very specific targets,” said conflux expert Athena ShaiDen.  “They have already cracked into TRI systems and have obviously ramped-up their knowledge about us.”

While pilots have been consistently taking out the infestations, they have incurred losses, and nuclear missile supplies have been decreasing.

In addition to the attacks, the TRI systems were again briefly compromised, broadcasting a new message:  167 145 141 162 145 162 145 154 145 156 164 154 145 163 163

This message, like the last one, is simple octal encoding, translating to “wearerelentless.”

TRI Admits to Withholding Uzelin Information

by Thane Carios

(Solrain Core) TRI Corporation today released a statement admitting that it had withheld information about Tache Uzelin’s disappearance as well as about recent computer system security breaches. The release came directly from Garth Taren, the CEO of TRI Corp:

It is with great dismay and embarrassment that I have to announce that TRI Corporation has withheld certain facts about the disappearance of Tache Uzelin, as well as about the recent security breaches in our systems, and about findings relating to the coded messages that were broadcast through KTRI.

So in the spirit of turning over a new leaf – a transparent leaf – I am publicly providing the following summary data publicly and will provide more detailed data to each of the factional governments.

Following the seizure of Tache Uzelin’s abandoned ship and a review of the ships’s log, it was very clear that Uzelin’s disappearance was not accidental – it was what he intended. It was apparent that Uzelin was not in a completely stable mental state. And it seemed evident that he had developed an unusual affinity with The Conflux.

With regard to the intrusions into our computer systems, it was evident early-on that the Mission Computer problems and the KTRI intrusions were both related. We also knew early-on – as reported by UUNN about a week ago – that the security breach was very similar to one that occurred ten years ago that, at the time, resulted in the release of a captive Conflux Sentient.

With regard to the coded message that was locked into a loop on KTRI, we had decoded the cipher within 48 hours of the broadcast, but did not release the finding that the translation was “we are coming.”

With regard to the message broadcast three days ago, we have partially decoded the message through two layers of code — Base32 and Ascii85 — but have not, as yet, deciphered the next layer, which is: siahwtsrouktaeto24442

We are working diligently to review the policy and procedures that resulted in this egregious lack of judgment and will be making changes to ensure that it does not happen again.

When TRI Corporation was contacted as asked about direct connections between Uzelin, system hacks and Conflux Sentient attacks, TRI refused to speculate, saying that they were focusing on making sure all of the facts were disseminated.

STCC Speaker Demeter Garreth has called for a meeting of experts on Solrain Wake station this week to discuss possible changes in the nature and level of the current Conflux threat. The exact date and time will not be released for security reasons.

{EDITOR’S NOTE: Since this story was filed, Conflux have breached the KTRI system yet again with a new message: 141 156 144 040 143 162 145 141 164 145 040 157 162 144 145 162

They have also begun infesting gates around Pulsar sector.}

Independent Investigation into Uzelin Disappearance Raises More Questions

By Thane Carios

(Wake Station) With no information coming from TRI Security regarding Tache Uzelin’s abandoned ship, found undamaged in The Depths sector in Conflux space, an independent investigation was launched. There was absolutely no physical evidence in The Depths – but since the ship was undamaged, with just its LifePod missing – that was not surprising.

We discovered that the pilot who initially reported the abandoned ship had actually removed an X-0013-S Shipping Crate from Uzelin’s cargo hold prior to the arrival of TRI Security. He had never examined the contents of that crate. The crate contained several now-obsolete GateKey devices, which have little if any market value these days.

A search of Uzelin’s quarters on Wake Station suggested that Uzelin had moved out. The only personal item remaining in the apartment was Uzelin’s old dress uniform from when he served as Defense Minister for TRI. But one small scrap of paper found in the quarters led to the discovery that Uzelin had contacted Rohi bin Hamalzahad, former Quantar High Defender of the Faith, just days before his disappearance. Rohi agreed to release a recording of that conversation:

<<CONTACT TERMINATED>>

Given Uzelin’s disturbed state and the indication that he had planned to pull up stakes and go “somewhere” his disappearance is not so much of a surprise. The questions remaining are: where did he go . . . and is he alive.

KTRI Hacked Again; New Code Broadcasted

UUNN Newswire

The KTRI automated broadcast system was hacked once again at around 22:00 UTClast night (114.7.11).  TRI Corp. engineers and programmers worked around the clock to remove the message, finally succeeding at about 13:00 UTC this morning.

“This is not just about removing a message,” said one of the exhausted engineers.  “It’s more like defusing a bomb.  If we do this the wrong way, the whole system could go down, not just KTRI.”

The coded message broadcast this time was: IYUG6JTSI5BEA3SIIRTG62J3IA5GCUBBGEWEYZ2FGETA

TRI Security officials say they already have it partially decoded based on knowledge gained from the decoding the last message.

Multiple Sentients Held-Off in Quantar Gate

UUNN Newswire

(Quantar Core) Several sentient conflux were sighted in the evening of 114.7.10, apparently coming from the Pulsar Gate and penetrating as far as Ekoos Stop, before finally being driven off.

Most of the fighting occurred in Quantar Gate where members of Eternal Legacy and Gravediggaz bravely battled two sentients (C9 and C8 in two engagements; C9 and C7 in another) and a mini-swarm of drones ranging from C8 Kraken to C0 Jellyfish.

The sentient incursion was, for the most part, held at bay in Quantar Gate but a single C9 sentient slipped into Ekoos Stop where, once the defense posse had docked, it ran down and engaged a freighter piloted by Kytianna of squad STMG. Fortunately, a TRI-Security patrol ship jumped into Ekoos where it engaged and destroyed the sentient before it was able to do serious damage to the freighter.

KTRI Message Decoded

UUNN Newswire

(UUNN HQ) The code experts hired by UUNN have decoded the message broadcast repeatedly on KTRI on 114.7.5.     In the end, the message was triple-encoded the initial two layers having been decoded by pilots.  The final cipher, O5SSAYLSMUQGG33NNFXGO, was encoded in Base32 and read simply “We are coming.”

Additional details will be provided as they become available.

TRI Computer Hacks Tied to 10-Year-Old Incident

By Thane Carios

(UUNN HQ) Sources within TRI Corporation say that it appears that both the issues with the Mission Computer on Friday, 114.7.4 and the still-undeciphered KTRI announcement that could not be removed on Sunday, 114.7.6 had ties to a security breach that happened nearly ten years ago.

Although TRI Corp. has made no official comments, reliable sources within that organization have stated that the methods used to get into TRI Corp’s system relied on intimate knowledge of the old systems that were in-place before the dissolution of the TRI charter when TRI was privatized.

“New systems get built on top of old systems – it’s not an unusual thing at all,” said independent network security expert Kiner Lerend. “In this case, it sounds like there was a back door in the system – a very old back door that had gotten buried over the last ten years.”

“But someone still has the key,” he added with a wink.

The related ten-year-old breach happened when a small group allegedly disabled the security systems of TRI-R CSDs Conflux Containment Center and released a Sentient C8 that was being held there. At the time, TRI-R denied that there had been a break in and blamed the escape on a system failure.