Blog Trek: In Harm's Way

CYBERSPACE, THE FINAL FRONTIER...

THESE ARE THE VOYAGES OF THE UCS WEBLOG...

ITS MULTIYEAR MISSION...

TO EXPLORE STRANGE NEW SITES...

TO SEEK OUT NEW FACTS AND NEW POINTS OF VIEW...

TO BOLDLY GO WHERE NO BLOGGER HAS GONE BEFORE....


Aboard the United Cybership (UCS) Weblog...


Captain's Blog, Cyberdate 20080224


Now just over one year into our patrol, and over eleven months in deep cyberspace, we recently picked up distress calls from some of our sister ships along the neutral zone.

Our immediate instinct was, of course, to rush to the scene and help in any way possible. However, since the neutral zone was left far behind us months ago as we pursue an elusive and exceedingly dangerous foe in the depths of uncharted cyberspace, the consensus aboard the UCS Weblog was to relay the distress signals, but then move quickly to continue the mission at hand, since we assess that the enemy with which we are now engaged is perhaps an order of magnitude more dangerous than any enemy currently recognized by the Federation.

Some time ago, we realized the nature of the war we were in, a war in which the Federation surprisingly has common cause with many of our nominal "enemies" against the dark machinations of a hostile force which threatens us all. Interestingly, we are in fact late-comers to the fight.

We have identified key targets and maintain fire on them to the best of our ability. Our fire appears to be having some effect, as sensors have picked up the reverbertions of some secondaries among our targets. The overall effect is minimal to say the least, however, since we are sure it will take the concentrated fire from dozens if not hundreds of cyberships accurately delivered onto critical targets to begin to seriously damage our enemy.

Consequently, our hope has been that other cyberships -- not just from the Federation -- would pick up on the situation, and specifically on the criticality of the targets which we have been marking with our salvoes. For this to happen, of course, we need to survive and stay focused -- hence the decision to pursue our enemy, rather than respond more forcefully to the distress calls of our sister ships.

In this context, I recall a quote from a great general who once said, "We are advancing constantly and we're not interested in holding on to anything except the enemy."

We recently received some messages from other cyberships which have, like ourselves, been engaged in this battle. The messages were generally congratulatory and quite heartening, as we now know our efforts have been noticed and have allowed our colleagues to reassess the battle damage they have been inflicting on the same foe, and recalibrate their fire accordingly.

Ominously, however, the congratulatory comments have also been accompanied by words of caution and concern, calling attention to the power of the enemy with which we are engaged.

We are now maneuvering at high speed in the depths of cyberspace, reloading to fire further salvoes on to critical targets, including some new ones, upon which we have thus far not fired. As we seek an advantageous firing position, I recall the words of another great warrior, a predecessor from whose history I have often taken great courage: "Give me a fast ship, for I intend to sail in harm's way."