[GZG] [HIST] Military Hackers

  On a similar
> note, how does the Internet (and its offspring(s)) fit into the FT
> universe?  What kind of role would hackers have in military
operations?

I'm glad you asked, as that's one of the things the Alarishi do so
well--of
necessity, since they have a serious manpower shortage.  The unofficial
motto of the Alarishi Imperial Forces is "Finish your fighting before
they
get started."  In the soon-to-be-written story "To Ride a Painted
Dragon"
(which you will eventually find on my web page, right next to the
going-to-be-added-any-day-now details of the Alarishi Empire system,
fleet
and philosophy), an enemy capital ship preparing for an incursion into
Alarishi territory finds itself dealing with an Alarishi specialist
team,
and thus the following:

1. The CO is ordered into the hospital for extensive tests.
2. The Chief Engineer receives a letter stating that his eleven weeks of
paid leave must be taken, not paid, within the next three months, or
else
forfeited.
3.  The Executive Officer is audited by the Department of Revenue.
4.  The purchasing department's credit cards are mostly overdrawn or
canceled.  Most vendors won't ship materials.
5.  Critical material that does ship from the vendors is marked as
"scrap
steel, odd sizes, 1 lot"; or sent to the wrong unit; or simply lost in
transit.
6.  Weapons manuals received with the new ammo load have a few serious
errors (such as leaving out "engage safety lock P before arming test
circuits").
7.  Payroll for the entire ship is transferred to the Department of
Revenue
one week; next week it goes to the Executive Officer's personal account.
8. The Chief Gunnery Officer discovers that he has apparently filed for
bankruptcy and been denied.  Lawyers start calling him on a regular and
frequent basis.

...and so forth.  The Alarishi Fleet usually has ships to spare for
mercenary work.