Holiday Away
24 Dec 2022Iridium Nova
I've not really celebrated any holidays or festive occasions since I was a kid. Didn't really see the point. I'm not a social person and I've got no family to speak of, unless you count many-generations removed relatives who probably have never heard of me and would probably launch nefarious machinations to get ahold of my money if they did. Holidays are usually a regional thing and as someone for whom location is a fleeting thing, I can't really get behind any of them. Even the holidays of Fomalhaut, which were mostly just Federation holidays, feel distant and foreign to me now, since they've changed so much from when I was a kid. Even Charter Day is a farce now. The patriots of my day would vomit at the sight of the rampant corporate exploitation that became of it, made possible largely by the patriots of today.But there's one holiday which seems to have transcended most human cultures and nations and can be found celebrated almost everywhere there are humans, even in Colonia and Beagle Point. That holiday goes by many names but shares the same qualities wherever you go. It was called Christmas where I grew up, and has it's roots in Old Earth's northern hemisphere winter solstice celebration, dating back to the earliest days of ancient history. The exact time this holiday starts varies by culture and location, but generally lasts from between a couple of weeks to a month. Today is the day my parents and I used to celebrate as Christmas Eve. I suppose there's still plenty of people who do. I could probably find some community of people to spend the holiday with, but I'm a loner these days and find myself over a thousand light years from the bubble, collecting more data.
Why? Well, because there's something disturbing happening in the bubble that makes contributing to the war effort more difficult. Mission boards across the bubble have been cutting out, sometimes going offline for hours, even days. This has introduced terrible delays to rescue operations and tactical coordination for anti xeno activities. After I was advised to keep out of politics for a while, I found that this issue was also hampering my ability to contribute in other ways. However, this issue doesn't stop Vista Genomics from operating and therefore exobiology is unaffected. With that in mind, I decided my efforts would be best applied to doing another expedition. And maybe this time I'll make enough to buy a fleet carrier. Been meaning to get around to it, but I haven't had a significant enough need for one to make the push. But now, given the current situation, I might as well.
Of course, the real question is why? And the timing. It's no coincidence that humanity's ability to coordinate the war effort was crippled just as the Thargoids invaded. But how? Have the Thargoids figured out how to hack human computers? I suppose that's possible, but unlikely. Given the concerning intel I've recently learned, it is looking more likely that there is a widespread conspiracy of human factions whose goal is to sabotage humanity. It's absurd, and yet still more believable than Thargoid hackers. And while I don't have evidence yet, I've had experiences lately which make me believe it. There are groups who publicly claim that the Thargoids are here to fix all our problems and will benevolently rule us if we just let them. Others believe that the Thargoids will purge the weak and corrupt, leaving only the strong and pure, and that we should not rescue our fellow humans from the fire of judgement. Others simply want to profit from the chaos and see a desperate humanity as a golden opportunity to get rich and get out while the getting is good.
Multiple organizations are investigating and attempting to root out the ones responsible, including the big boys like Sirius, Aisling's Angels, the Imperial ISS, and even the Kumo Crew, surprisingly. They may be selfish opportunists, but they still need their mission boards to work. Meanwhile, the Pilot's Federation is working on restoring functionality, since the largest part of the issue lies with their software. I'd be helping but I'm out here on my own, looking for pretty trees that some xenophobic egghead back in the bubble can turn into a weapon of mass destruction.
How ironic would it be, if the little Christmas Frutexa I set up in my lounge ended up holding the secret to defeating the Thargoids in it's DNA? At least it looks nice with a chunk of chaff on the top.