Read Online For Honor We Stand by Harvey G. Phillips, H. Paul Honsinger - Free Book Online Page B
Authors: Harvey G. Phillips, H. Paul Honsinger
Tags: Science-Fiction
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have you got.”
The Communications Officer, who was, after all, only a twenty year old Ensign and who had never before sat drinking coffee in the Captain’s Day Cabin, took a second or two to compose himself, and then began. “Sir, the Cumberland has assigned to it metaspacial data channel 77580, and we monitor it constantly. We get ten or twelve transmissions on it per watch, in addition to the signals we get on the ALL FLEET channel, the Task Force Tango Delta Channel, etc.
“Well, about an hour ago, we received a signal on channel 77580, only it didn’t start off with an authentication code prefix.” To the obviously confused doctor, “That’s a twenty-seven character identifier assigned to each authorized naval sender, which is how we know a signal is from Norfolk or Admiral Hornmeyer instead of from the Krag or a bunch of school kids in North Tonawanda, New York. Ordinarily, we would have discarded it, since civilians send signals on the wrong channel all the time. They get the digits transposed, punch in the wrong number, have a glitch in their equipment, bump the channel selector in the middle of sending, and so on. Most of those signals are in clear. No code. No encryption. But this signal was encrypted. Not only that, it’s a Union Space Navy encrypt. Permafrost .”
Max, who had been sitting rather comfortably (all right, he was slouching) suddenly sat bolt upright. “ Permafrost ? You’re sure they used that one?”
“No doubt, sir. We get a perfectly comprehensible, if a bit cryptic, message if we use Permafrost . Otherwise, we just get a lot of gibberish.”
“Pardon me,” the doctor verbally threw an elbow to get into the conversation. “But not everyone present is versed on the latest developments in military and naval cryptography. What is so special about Permafrost ?”
The entire ship’s company had tacitly agreed that it was the Captain’s job to answer this kind of question for the doctor. Max tried to keep his voice from sounding too pedantic. “It’s the code name of a high level naval encrypt. In fact, it’s Indigo level, which is the second highest. We replaced it with Icicle what, about four months ago?” Chin nodded a confirmation. “Even if we have no indication of it having been broken, we never use any encryption for more than a year. That way, even if someone does break it the damage is limited and the enemy has to start off breaking a new one.
“Anyway, Permafrost was the main high level encrypt we used for sending intelligence reports, operational orders, tactical and strategic communications, basically the kind of information that would do the most damage if it fell into the hands of the enemy. There’s only one higher level, Violet, that we use for our deepest, darkest secrets. I’ve never received anything encrypted at that level—I’m not important enough, you see—so I really don’t know what is more important than the Indigo material. Who other than the Navy would have the ability to send a message in Permafrost and why would they do it?”
“I have an idea, sir,” said Chin, somewhat tentatively.
“Let’s have it.”
“Another government with a strong defense and intelligence establishment could pull it off: Romanova, Rashid, Ghifta, Pfelung. Now, suppose a private party wanted to hint that he had high level connections with one of those governments, but did not want to come right out and say so. Or, what if a government wanted to communicate something to us unofficially through a private party, but in a way that said the communication had official sanction. This would be a good way to do it. The sender would be providing us with his bona fides right there, in the structure of the message. Of course, I’ve seen the message, and that theory fits with what it says.”
“Let’s see the message, then.”
Chin reached into a pocket of his uniform and pulled out two slips of
The Communications Officer, who was, after all, only a twenty year old Ensign and who had never before sat drinking coffee in the Captain’s Day Cabin, took a second or two to compose himself, and then began. “Sir, the Cumberland has assigned to it metaspacial data channel 77580, and we monitor it constantly. We get ten or twelve transmissions on it per watch, in addition to the signals we get on the ALL FLEET channel, the Task Force Tango Delta Channel, etc.
“Well, about an hour ago, we received a signal on channel 77580, only it didn’t start off with an authentication code prefix.” To the obviously confused doctor, “That’s a twenty-seven character identifier assigned to each authorized naval sender, which is how we know a signal is from Norfolk or Admiral Hornmeyer instead of from the Krag or a bunch of school kids in North Tonawanda, New York. Ordinarily, we would have discarded it, since civilians send signals on the wrong channel all the time. They get the digits transposed, punch in the wrong number, have a glitch in their equipment, bump the channel selector in the middle of sending, and so on. Most of those signals are in clear. No code. No encryption. But this signal was encrypted. Not only that, it’s a Union Space Navy encrypt. Permafrost .”
Max, who had been sitting rather comfortably (all right, he was slouching) suddenly sat bolt upright. “ Permafrost ? You’re sure they used that one?”
“No doubt, sir. We get a perfectly comprehensible, if a bit cryptic, message if we use Permafrost . Otherwise, we just get a lot of gibberish.”
“Pardon me,” the doctor verbally threw an elbow to get into the conversation. “But not everyone present is versed on the latest developments in military and naval cryptography. What is so special about Permafrost ?”
The entire ship’s company had tacitly agreed that it was the Captain’s job to answer this kind of question for the doctor. Max tried to keep his voice from sounding too pedantic. “It’s the code name of a high level naval encrypt. In fact, it’s Indigo level, which is the second highest. We replaced it with Icicle what, about four months ago?” Chin nodded a confirmation. “Even if we have no indication of it having been broken, we never use any encryption for more than a year. That way, even if someone does break it the damage is limited and the enemy has to start off breaking a new one.
“Anyway, Permafrost was the main high level encrypt we used for sending intelligence reports, operational orders, tactical and strategic communications, basically the kind of information that would do the most damage if it fell into the hands of the enemy. There’s only one higher level, Violet, that we use for our deepest, darkest secrets. I’ve never received anything encrypted at that level—I’m not important enough, you see—so I really don’t know what is more important than the Indigo material. Who other than the Navy would have the ability to send a message in Permafrost and why would they do it?”
“I have an idea, sir,” said Chin, somewhat tentatively.
“Let’s have it.”
“Another government with a strong defense and intelligence establishment could pull it off: Romanova, Rashid, Ghifta, Pfelung. Now, suppose a private party wanted to hint that he had high level connections with one of those governments, but did not want to come right out and say so. Or, what if a government wanted to communicate something to us unofficially through a private party, but in a way that said the communication had official sanction. This would be a good way to do it. The sender would be providing us with his bona fides right there, in the structure of the message. Of course, I’ve seen the message, and that theory fits with what it says.”
“Let’s see the message, then.”
Chin reached into a pocket of his uniform and pulled out two slips of
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