08-28-2026, 12:15 AM
Jez was surprised; her first official meeting in the Observation lounge, it wasn’t what she expected. Jez had been quiet for several moments, listening to Cologero finish his explanation. She watched the way he had been physically mapping the battlefield in the air, expanding his imaginary net as the pieces came together.
“We extend while they contract,” she repeated softly.
Then she looked at the tactical display again.
“I think we're missing one piece.”
Jez stepped closer to the display and brought up a schematic of the battlefield.
“Everyone keeps talking about what we want the Cardassians to see. The blockade. The retreat. The bots. The ships.” She looked around the table. “But what if we don't show them the battlefield at all?”
She manipulated the display, creating several Federation ship icons.
“What if we use holographic emitters and sensor spoofing to make them believe there are ships where there aren't?”
She moved several icons into different positions.
“Not simple holographic ships. That would be too easy to detect. We combine holographic projections with our existing sensor data and communications traffic. Make each false ship appear to have a believable warp signature, shield emissions, weapons charging, even internal communications.”
Jez smiled slightly.
“We don't need them to fool every Cardassian sensor forever. We only need to fool their tactical officers long enough for them to make a decision.”
She turned toward Cologero.
“Your blockade becomes bigger than it actually is.”
Then toward Alex.
“And your bots become part of the illusion. We deliberately attach some to real ships while others are directed toward false targets. The Cardassians see the bots moving toward a vessel that doesn't actually exist, and suddenly their tactical computers are telling them something completely different from what their eyes are telling them.”
Jez paused.
“And that's when we give them the retreat.”
She rearranged the display.
“Except we're not retreating from them. We're creating the appearance that we're falling back because we've encountered a much larger Cardassian force than expected.”
Her eyes narrowed as the idea developed.
“We make them believe they're winning. Their ships advance. Their formation changes. They move toward what they think is our weakened position.”
Jez tapped several of the false contacts.
“And those ships they're advancing toward?”
She smiled.
“They're not there.”
She let the silence sit for a moment.
“We could use the holographic signatures to pull individual ships out of formation. Convince one group that another Cardassian unit is moving into their position. Make another group believe we've broken through somewhere else. We don't have to control their ships.”
Her smile widened.
“We just have to make them control themselves.”
Jez looked toward the Captain.
“Meanwhile, the real ships stay quiet. The infiltration teams get into position. The bots gather intelligence. And Tactical watches how the Cardassians respond to every false threat we create.”
She folded her arms.
“Eventually, they'll start seeing patterns. They'll think they've identified our trick. That's when we change it.”
Jez glanced at Cologero.
“That's where your idea comes back in. We give them two or three apparent victories. Let them believe they've figured out the deception. Then, when they become confident enough to stop questioning their sensors…”
She pointed toward the tactical display.
“We give them one contact that's real.”
A beat passed.
“And make sure it's exactly where we want them to look.”
Jez leaned back slightly.
“Think about it. The Obsidian Order expects deception. They expect spies. They expect tricks. So they'll be looking for the trick.”
She smiled.
“What they won't expect is for us to deliberately show them the trick they're expecting.”
Jez looked around the table.
“We aren't hiding the battlefield from them. We're giving them a battlefield that doesn't exist.”
She glanced at Cologero's medallion and then back to him.
“And if Saint Jude wants to take credit afterward, I'm sure we'll let him.”
Jez's expression became serious again.
“But that's the advantage. Their greatest intelligence organization becomes a liability because they'll be so certain that everything they're seeing has meaning.”
She tapped the display one final time.
“Sometimes the best way to defeat an enemy who thinks they know everything…”
A faint grin crossed her face.
“…is to give them more information than they can possibly interpret correctly.” Said Jez.
"Gentlemen, in my opinion, that Dreadnought Missile is the greater threat, Jez stood beside the tactical display, bringing up a series of Cardassian vessel schematics.
“Captain, I'd like to add something to the discussion before we decide exactly how we're going to use Alex's devices and Cologero's infiltration plan.”
She enlarged the first schematic.
“We have a historical advantage here. Cardassian weapons and automated systems have demonstrated a rather interesting weakness over the years: they can be extremely sophisticated while still being remarkably predictable.”
Jez brought up a series of highlighted system pathways.
“Take the old Dreadnought weapons platform. Its artificial intelligence was designed around probabilistic analysis and game theory. That sounds impressive until you realize what happens when the system encounters information that contradicts its assumptions. Instead of reconsidering its conclusions, it could interpret contradictory information as enemy deception.”
She paused.
“In other words, it could become convinced that it was right precisely because someone was trying to prove it wrong.”
Jez gave the room a faint smile.
“That's not artificial intelligence. That's a Cardassian with a computer.”
She continued.
“The system also demonstrated extreme distrust of its own operators. Attempts to override or abort its mission could be interpreted as hostile interference. That's important because it gives us a potential avenue for deception. If their automated systems inherit even a fraction of that design philosophy, we don't necessarily have to defeat their systems.”
She tapped the display.
“We may be able to convince their systems that their own operators are the threat.”
The next schematic appeared.
“Target recognition is another concern. Cardassian targeting systems have historically placed enormous weight on matching known signatures and mission parameters. That's useful when the battlefield behaves exactly as expected. But introduce contradictory sensor information, false signatures, or localized spatial anomalies, and suddenly the system has to decide which information it trusts.”
Jez looked toward Tactical.
“That gives us an opening.”
She brought up several false sensor contacts.
“If we combine holographic deception with sensor spoofing, we can create conflicting information. Not enough to simply make a ship disappear, but enough to make their computers disagree with their crews.”
She paused.
“And when the computer says one thing and the tactical officer sees another, someone has to make a decision.”
Jez smiled.
“We want them arguing with their computers instead of shooting at us.”
She changed the display again.
“There's also a hardware lesson. The Dreadnought carried an enormous matter-antimatter warhead, but development problems reportedly resulted in a mechanical kinetic detonator. The important part isn't the detonator itself. It's the philosophy behind it.”
She pointed toward the schematic.
“Cardassian engineering tends to be very good at making something powerful. That doesn't necessarily mean every component is equally sophisticated. Sometimes the weakest component is buried inside an otherwise extremely advanced system.”
Jez looked around the table.
“So our objective shouldn't necessarily be finding the strongest part of their defenses. It should be finding the part they assumed nobody would bother looking for.”
She brought up another set of systems.
“There's precedent for navigational and sensor systems being disrupted by unusual spatial phenomena. Again, I'm not suggesting we manufacture a tetryon anomaly and hope for the best. But it demonstrates something useful: their systems can become dangerously dependent on the integrity of their sensor picture.”
She leaned against the edge of the console.
“And that brings me back to the holographic deception.”
The tactical display filled with multiple versions of the same Cardassian formation.
“Imagine their sensors detect six Federation vessels. Their visual systems confirm six vessels. Their communications intercept six vessel signatures. Their tactical computer identifies six targets.”
She paused.
“There are actually three.”
Jez allowed the implication to settle.
“Now imagine we deliberately make two of those false contacts behave incorrectly. One appears to be retreating. Another appears to be moving toward their flank. Their tactical computer will try to reconcile the information. If we make the contradictions believable enough, they'll start making decisions based on what they think is happening rather than what is actually happening.”
She turned toward Cologero.
“That gives your infiltration teams something much more valuable than a simple distraction.”
She pointed toward the tactical display.
“It gives them cover.”
Jez then brought up a representation of a Cardassian ship.
“And if we do get people aboard, the historical lesson from Dreadnought becomes even more interesting. External defenses can be extremely difficult to defeat. Internal systems are another matter.”
She looked toward the Captain.
“That's the principle I'd recommend we use. We don't try to overpower the fortress. We convince the fortress to open the door.”
A slight grin appeared.
“Preferably while it's busy shooting at a hologram.”
Jez stepped back from the display.
“So my recommendation is that we stop thinking about these as three separate plans. The bots create confusion and gather intelligence. The holographic deception corrupts their understanding of the battlefield. The apparent retreats encourage them to become overconfident. And the infiltration teams exploit the gaps created by all three.”
She folded her arms.
“We aren't trying to make the Cardassians believe something that isn't true.”
A beat.
“We're giving them so many believable versions of the truth that they can't determine which one actually is.”
Jez looked around the table.
“And if their systems have inherited the same weakness we've seen before—if they trust their assumptions more than contradictory evidence—then eventually they'll do our work for us.”
She nodded toward the tactical display.
“They'll trap themselves.”
Jez sat down and waited for everyone to process what she had said. She knew that the Cardassians were sneaky and ruthless, especially when the Obsidian Order was involved.
== Tag All. ==
“We extend while they contract,” she repeated softly.
Then she looked at the tactical display again.
“I think we're missing one piece.”
Jez stepped closer to the display and brought up a schematic of the battlefield.
“Everyone keeps talking about what we want the Cardassians to see. The blockade. The retreat. The bots. The ships.” She looked around the table. “But what if we don't show them the battlefield at all?”
She manipulated the display, creating several Federation ship icons.
“What if we use holographic emitters and sensor spoofing to make them believe there are ships where there aren't?”
She moved several icons into different positions.
“Not simple holographic ships. That would be too easy to detect. We combine holographic projections with our existing sensor data and communications traffic. Make each false ship appear to have a believable warp signature, shield emissions, weapons charging, even internal communications.”
Jez smiled slightly.
“We don't need them to fool every Cardassian sensor forever. We only need to fool their tactical officers long enough for them to make a decision.”
She turned toward Cologero.
“Your blockade becomes bigger than it actually is.”
Then toward Alex.
“And your bots become part of the illusion. We deliberately attach some to real ships while others are directed toward false targets. The Cardassians see the bots moving toward a vessel that doesn't actually exist, and suddenly their tactical computers are telling them something completely different from what their eyes are telling them.”
Jez paused.
“And that's when we give them the retreat.”
She rearranged the display.
“Except we're not retreating from them. We're creating the appearance that we're falling back because we've encountered a much larger Cardassian force than expected.”
Her eyes narrowed as the idea developed.
“We make them believe they're winning. Their ships advance. Their formation changes. They move toward what they think is our weakened position.”
Jez tapped several of the false contacts.
“And those ships they're advancing toward?”
She smiled.
“They're not there.”
She let the silence sit for a moment.
“We could use the holographic signatures to pull individual ships out of formation. Convince one group that another Cardassian unit is moving into their position. Make another group believe we've broken through somewhere else. We don't have to control their ships.”
Her smile widened.
“We just have to make them control themselves.”
Jez looked toward the Captain.
“Meanwhile, the real ships stay quiet. The infiltration teams get into position. The bots gather intelligence. And Tactical watches how the Cardassians respond to every false threat we create.”
She folded her arms.
“Eventually, they'll start seeing patterns. They'll think they've identified our trick. That's when we change it.”
Jez glanced at Cologero.
“That's where your idea comes back in. We give them two or three apparent victories. Let them believe they've figured out the deception. Then, when they become confident enough to stop questioning their sensors…”
She pointed toward the tactical display.
“We give them one contact that's real.”
A beat passed.
“And make sure it's exactly where we want them to look.”
Jez leaned back slightly.
“Think about it. The Obsidian Order expects deception. They expect spies. They expect tricks. So they'll be looking for the trick.”
She smiled.
“What they won't expect is for us to deliberately show them the trick they're expecting.”
Jez looked around the table.
“We aren't hiding the battlefield from them. We're giving them a battlefield that doesn't exist.”
She glanced at Cologero's medallion and then back to him.
“And if Saint Jude wants to take credit afterward, I'm sure we'll let him.”
Jez's expression became serious again.
“But that's the advantage. Their greatest intelligence organization becomes a liability because they'll be so certain that everything they're seeing has meaning.”
She tapped the display one final time.
“Sometimes the best way to defeat an enemy who thinks they know everything…”
A faint grin crossed her face.
“…is to give them more information than they can possibly interpret correctly.” Said Jez.
"Gentlemen, in my opinion, that Dreadnought Missile is the greater threat, Jez stood beside the tactical display, bringing up a series of Cardassian vessel schematics.
“Captain, I'd like to add something to the discussion before we decide exactly how we're going to use Alex's devices and Cologero's infiltration plan.”
She enlarged the first schematic.
“We have a historical advantage here. Cardassian weapons and automated systems have demonstrated a rather interesting weakness over the years: they can be extremely sophisticated while still being remarkably predictable.”
Jez brought up a series of highlighted system pathways.
“Take the old Dreadnought weapons platform. Its artificial intelligence was designed around probabilistic analysis and game theory. That sounds impressive until you realize what happens when the system encounters information that contradicts its assumptions. Instead of reconsidering its conclusions, it could interpret contradictory information as enemy deception.”
She paused.
“In other words, it could become convinced that it was right precisely because someone was trying to prove it wrong.”
Jez gave the room a faint smile.
“That's not artificial intelligence. That's a Cardassian with a computer.”
She continued.
“The system also demonstrated extreme distrust of its own operators. Attempts to override or abort its mission could be interpreted as hostile interference. That's important because it gives us a potential avenue for deception. If their automated systems inherit even a fraction of that design philosophy, we don't necessarily have to defeat their systems.”
She tapped the display.
“We may be able to convince their systems that their own operators are the threat.”
The next schematic appeared.
“Target recognition is another concern. Cardassian targeting systems have historically placed enormous weight on matching known signatures and mission parameters. That's useful when the battlefield behaves exactly as expected. But introduce contradictory sensor information, false signatures, or localized spatial anomalies, and suddenly the system has to decide which information it trusts.”
Jez looked toward Tactical.
“That gives us an opening.”
She brought up several false sensor contacts.
“If we combine holographic deception with sensor spoofing, we can create conflicting information. Not enough to simply make a ship disappear, but enough to make their computers disagree with their crews.”
She paused.
“And when the computer says one thing and the tactical officer sees another, someone has to make a decision.”
Jez smiled.
“We want them arguing with their computers instead of shooting at us.”
She changed the display again.
“There's also a hardware lesson. The Dreadnought carried an enormous matter-antimatter warhead, but development problems reportedly resulted in a mechanical kinetic detonator. The important part isn't the detonator itself. It's the philosophy behind it.”
She pointed toward the schematic.
“Cardassian engineering tends to be very good at making something powerful. That doesn't necessarily mean every component is equally sophisticated. Sometimes the weakest component is buried inside an otherwise extremely advanced system.”
Jez looked around the table.
“So our objective shouldn't necessarily be finding the strongest part of their defenses. It should be finding the part they assumed nobody would bother looking for.”
She brought up another set of systems.
“There's precedent for navigational and sensor systems being disrupted by unusual spatial phenomena. Again, I'm not suggesting we manufacture a tetryon anomaly and hope for the best. But it demonstrates something useful: their systems can become dangerously dependent on the integrity of their sensor picture.”
She leaned against the edge of the console.
“And that brings me back to the holographic deception.”
The tactical display filled with multiple versions of the same Cardassian formation.
“Imagine their sensors detect six Federation vessels. Their visual systems confirm six vessels. Their communications intercept six vessel signatures. Their tactical computer identifies six targets.”
She paused.
“There are actually three.”
Jez allowed the implication to settle.
“Now imagine we deliberately make two of those false contacts behave incorrectly. One appears to be retreating. Another appears to be moving toward their flank. Their tactical computer will try to reconcile the information. If we make the contradictions believable enough, they'll start making decisions based on what they think is happening rather than what is actually happening.”
She turned toward Cologero.
“That gives your infiltration teams something much more valuable than a simple distraction.”
She pointed toward the tactical display.
“It gives them cover.”
Jez then brought up a representation of a Cardassian ship.
“And if we do get people aboard, the historical lesson from Dreadnought becomes even more interesting. External defenses can be extremely difficult to defeat. Internal systems are another matter.”
She looked toward the Captain.
“That's the principle I'd recommend we use. We don't try to overpower the fortress. We convince the fortress to open the door.”
A slight grin appeared.
“Preferably while it's busy shooting at a hologram.”
Jez stepped back from the display.
“So my recommendation is that we stop thinking about these as three separate plans. The bots create confusion and gather intelligence. The holographic deception corrupts their understanding of the battlefield. The apparent retreats encourage them to become overconfident. And the infiltration teams exploit the gaps created by all three.”
She folded her arms.
“We aren't trying to make the Cardassians believe something that isn't true.”
A beat.
“We're giving them so many believable versions of the truth that they can't determine which one actually is.”
Jez looked around the table.
“And if their systems have inherited the same weakness we've seen before—if they trust their assumptions more than contradictory evidence—then eventually they'll do our work for us.”
She nodded toward the tactical display.
“They'll trap themselves.”
Jez sat down and waited for everyone to process what she had said. She knew that the Cardassians were sneaky and ruthless, especially when the Obsidian Order was involved.
== Tag All. ==