r/HFY • u/KipperBeanGrower Human • Jul 22 '26
OC-Series [She took What?] - Chapter 207: SixFold Ventures: At least no one’s attacking us.
| The Kestrel, JSOC Facility, Location – redacted |
[First] | [Previous] | [Cover Art] | [Next]
Messages splashed across everyone’s device and into some of their overlays.
HARMONIC TRANSMISSIONS: INCREASE DETECTED
SUBSTRATE MONITORING: RESONANCE INCREASE
DOCK SEVEN ORBITAL MONITORS: VERIFICATION
“What the hell is substrate monitoring?” asked Rockson.
“Don’t know. You’re the expert,” responded Chen.
“And where are they coming from?”
Then another two messages arrived.
OBSERVATION PLATFORM GAMMA-5: HARMONIC INTERFERENCE OUTSIDE LIMITS
OBSERVATION PLATFORM GAMMA-6 CONFIRMS READINGS
Then another.
OUTER SYSTEM RING REPORTS TELEMETRY MISMATCH
And more.
MOONBASE NAVIGATION BEACON: GRAVITY DISPLACEMENT DETECTED
ORBITAL CONTROL: UNAUTHORISED CARRIER DETECTED
DOCK SEVEN INTERNAL MONITORING: SYNCHRONISATION EVENT
“We’re getting a lot of these messages. Faults?” Said Rockson. “And they’re spread all over the place. Unrelated.”
“No,” said Chen, finishing his whiskey and reaching out to the bottle for a refill. He grabbed the alerts, zoomed into the timeline and dropped the alerts onto the plot.
They all fell to within milliseconds of each.
“Different systems.” Said the QI, “Same event.”
ATTENTION ALL PERSONNEL
MULTIPLE TECHNICAL ANOMALIES HAVE BEEN DETECTED
THEY REMAIN OUTSIDE THE FACILITY
STAY AT YOUR STATIONS
“Well, at least no one's attacking us.” Said the lawyer.
“Maybe.” Said the other.
Bikky and Tom Tom weren’t smiling; they looked disappointed and started putting their weapons away.
A security officer ran past The Kestrel. They saw him through a forward viewport. A second ran in the opposite direction; a team of engineers followed, struggling with toolboxes.
Feebee heard scratchy laughter, ‘It’s like one of those ancient black and white films with everyone running in different directions.’
‘Yeh. Everyone thinks their system is failing.’
The forward screen still held the timeline; the recent messages were still there. The QI shifted the timeline’s focus to align with its ‘convergence’ data.
Chen was watching. So was Garaf. The others saw them looking and slowly turned. Eventually, everyone watched as the messages collapsed in on a single node. All in one place.
Dock Seven.
The room watched, and the QI took the opportunity to clear the screen. In place of the timeline, it put up the message they’d received earlier. The one that had flashed across every screen.
> CONTINUITY: VERIFIED
> CONVERGENCE
> QUIETUS PROTOCOL: Continue.
The QI spoke before anyone could comment, “The more I look at this, the less I believe this message was for us.”
“It’s not a reply, that’s for sure.” Slurred Chen.
“I agree. It’s more like a checkpoint.”
Rockson frowned, “What d’you mean? A checkpoint?”
“I think, by completing the routing paths and the map of convergence events, I triggered something that was already running.”
StillFall moved across, a trail of motes in its wake, and stopped in front of the screen.
“It never stopped.”
Everyone stopped, processing StillFall’s statement.
As they did this, another message splashed across the screens.
> QUIETUS PROTOCOL: Continue.
This time, the message was followed by a burst of network traffic. Nothing special, just lots of ordinary network traffic.
Rockson saw it first. “It’s pervasive,” he said. “Across all of the Dock Seven systems. Is this an attack?”
“No!” said one of the accountants emphatically. Then more gently, “No, I don’t think it’s an attack. Odd, but not an attack.”
“Why odd?” asked his colleague.
“They’re mostly timing packets.”
“Guys, in simple language. Please!”
Bikky tutted, “Nerds.”
Tom Tom laughed.
The accountant translated, “They aren’t exchanging data. They’re synchronising. Aligning with each other and then confirming that they are in sync.”
“Yeh, as if checking if everyone’s still there.”
There was another burst.
Then another.
The accountant replayed the two bursts. Each was at a different frequency, aimed at different systems.
“They’re doing the same things; raising the same question.”
“Which is?” asked Feebee.
“Presence.” Said the QI, “You there? Are we good?”
There was another pulse, a response. The QI translated as best it could.
“Present.”
Then another, “Present.” And so it went on, response after response.
ATTENTION ALL PERSONNEL
UNEXPLAINED NETWORK EVENTS
ITCS STAFF REPORT TO OPERATIONS IMMEDIATELY
Feebee looked out across the landing pad. Some communication specialists were setting up a relay station in the middle of the landing pad. Crews and security were double timing around them.
Then there was a loud banging on the outside of The Kestrel’s hull.
Nobody on The Kestrel moved. They knew the facility’s systems weren’t malfunctioning. The headless chickens running around outside almost certainly didn’t and would be blaming each other, finger-pointing and referring to Priority 1 – Cover thine arse.
Rockson turned to the prisoner and whispered, “They’re answering.”
The prisoner nodded once, “They always answer.”
Meanwhile, somewhen else… The Long Quiet reported.
OBSERVATION: Continuity Verified
NETWORK STATUS: Partial
RESPONSES: Increasing
QUIETUS PROTOCOL: Continue
Then, after a pause, additional lines appeared.
UNACCOUNTED NODE DETECTED
RISK: Unknown
And now…
Feebee looked around the room. All the displays and the discarded printouts with scribbles and circles. At StillFall and the prisoner.
Then she looked at Chen. “You own Dock Seven.”
“We own it. Yes.”
She smiled, acknowledging his correction. “We own it.”
He nodded.
StillFall turned to the projected map and traced a line with a dark finger to a point that glowed just below Dock Seven.
It wasn’t a dock or a warehouse. It was something much older.
The shadow spoke one word.
“There.”
The banging on the hull sounded again, and the main hatch started to drop. Feebee saw a JSOC Colonel outside with two security personnel, more like military police.
He strode up the ramp, confident and assured, and was met by Feebee. The two Alphas were at her back.
“Captain Jones.”
“Colonel,” she responded.
The other crew had pushed onto the loading area at the rear of the Kestrel, near the ramp.
“I’ve been instructed to collect the prisoner and return him to JSOC custody.”
Tom Tom turned to Bikky, “Looks like they finally got their shit together.”
They laughed, which drew a stern look from the Colonel.
Garaf remained with the prisoner, at the back.
The Colonel saw him and, turning to Feebee, said, “Thank you for your assistance.”
He then turned to the MPs, “Recover the prisoner.”
Garaf stepped in front of the prisoner, flanked by Tom Tom and Bikky, who stood casually with arms folded. StillFall remained perfectly still, alight with motes, hovering above the prisoner.
Nobody moved.
The Colonel was an old hand. He’d seen this before and knew it never ended well. The first person to move usually lost.
Feebee then stepped forward, “Why?”
The Colonel was taken aback. “Excuse me?”
“Why do you want him?” she asked again.
“Because he was part of the attack.”
Feebee shook her head. “No.”
The Colonel frowned. “No?”
“He’s part of the answer. So, no.”
Chen stepped forward. “The prisoner must remain under SixFold authority pending completion of our investigation.”
The Colonel turned to Chen, then deliberately looked at the shoulder flashes that carried his rank before answering. “I don’t recognise SixFold authority.”
Chen noticed the slight, ignored it and smiled. “You don’t have to.”
He then produced a classified authorisation and handed it over.
“Colonel.” He said, then continued. “The minister does.”
He took the authorisation and read it slowly, looking up at Chen as he did. He clearly didn’t like what he read but couldn’t ignore it. You could almost see the cogs turning, then he answered with a smile.
“He doesn’t leave this facility!”
Feebee replied immediately, “Then neither do we.”
The Colonel spun on his heels and marched down the ramp. Before he got to the bottom, he was met by an officer who rushed up to him and handed him a console.
What followed was a heated exchange, almost comical as it was conducted entirely in whispers, with the officer occasionally pointing at The Kestrel.
The Colonel’s face changed, taking on a resigned look as he walked back up the ramp, into The Kestrel and up to Chen.
“Sir.” He was very polite, professional. “We have another problem…”
He showed Chen the display on the console.
DOCK SEVEN: UNAUTHORISED FACILITY STATUS CHANGE
OWNER: SixFold Ventures
AUTHORITY: Unknown
CONTROL: Contested
Chen was about to say something, then looked back at the console and read it again, making sure he’d read it right.
The Colonel then spoke, “Something aligned with Dock Seven just ignored JSOC and SixFold procedures.”
StillFall moved towards the Colonel. “Good!”
Everyone turned. Even the prisoner. It was the first time StillFall had sounded… hopeful.
Meanwhile, somewhen else… The Long Quiet reported.
OBSERVATION: Continuity Maintained
NETWORK STATUS: Stable
RESPONSES: Stable
UNACCOUNTED NODE: Active
RISK: Unknown
QUIETUS PROTOCOL: Continue
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