The tablet slipped from Olivia's fingers, again, and she jerked awake at the clatter. Her neck screamed from another night spent passed out over diagnostic reports. God, when had she last slept in her actual bed? Cozumel's shoreline pulsed a steady backbeat to her shrill 5 AM alarm as she dug the heels of her hands into eyes that felt like sandpaper. Three hours. She was getting too old for this.

  My shower groans exactly like those old whale recordings from before they all disappeared. Nature's vengeful little reminder in her bathroom. She waited, counting under her breath until the temperamental pressure stabilized. The lukewarm water hit her shoulders as always. Salt air had eaten through half the facility's plumbing, she was thankful that she had this little bit of luxury.

  Her footsteps broke the silence—click, echo, click, echo—all the way to the mess hall. She'd dug her heels of storage a few months back when the silence started feeling like a physical weight.

  As Olivia approached the mess hall, Carmen's humming reached her first, something Spanish and familiar that had her blinking back unexpected tears of homesickness. Her nose caught it first honest coffee, not the fake stuff, embracing her like an old blanket.

  "Dios mío, you look worse than yesterday," Carmen said, sliding a steaming mug across the counter. "The maintenance crew's coming, yes? Any word on our supplies?"

  Olivia's lips twitched in what passed for a smile these days. "I'll touch base with Kaito about the timing of our next shipment," she muttered, tapping a quick reminder into her datapad.

  Carmen's hand, a map of kitchen battles with burn scars and calloused ridges, found Olivia's wrist as she leaned over the chipped countertop. "My abuela fed our whole village during the Resource Wars with three sacks of rice and whatever she could grow. Trust me to feed our family."

  Family. The word caught in Olivia's chest like broken glass. Twelve people rattling around in a facility built for hundreds. No, eleven now; she kept forgetting Martinez had left last month.

  Thunder growled outside, too close for comfort. The security center would be tracking the storm—they always did these days. She found Hayes and Nakamura at their stations, both looking like they'd been rode hard and put away wet.

  "Boss." Hayes's red hair was fighting a losing battle with her bun. "Just in time for Emily's impression of our illustrious maintenance crew."

  "It's not—" Nakamura started, then caught Hayes's grin. "I simply stated objective facts about their time management. Systems check before assumptions."

  "Forty-three minutes at the cooling towers," Hayes drawled, her Texas accent slipping through, "three hours with their lines in the water. But who's counting? Adapt, overcome, annihilate... or in their case, adapt, overcome, go fishing."

  Olivia studied Hayes's face: the shadows under her eyes, the way she kept glancing between screens like she expected them to explode. "How bad is the rotation situation?"

  Hayes's laugh could have stripped paint. "Six people, boss. Six. Including Emily. For a facility that needs..." She ran shaking fingers through her hair, destroying what was left of her bun. "Twenty-five, minimum. We're pulling doubles, triples sometimes. Emily hasn't slept properly in weeks because she's our only drone specialist."

  "I'm managing," Emily muttered, her fingers unconsciously tapping a precise pattern against her console. "The drone programs are stable. I've optimized the surveillance algorithms for maximum coverage with minimal power consumption."

  "You're not. None of us are." Hayes's voice cracked. "One real incident, one actual security breach..."

  Olivia sank into a chair, her bones feeling twice their age. Through the window, another acid storm rolled in, eating at what remained of the world they'd known. When had that sickly yellow become normal? "The Exodus ships..." Her voice caught. "They're not waiting anymore. Anyone who can buy their way out is gone or going."

  "Four more last week." Emily's voice was barely audible over the humming equipment. "Watched them break atmo during night shift. Pretty, in a terrifying way."

  "I need to call Kaito." The words slipped out before Olivia could catch them. "His connections, his experience... we need someone to shoulder some of this. I can't..." She pressed her fingers against her temples, where a headache was building. "The gateway needs my full attention, but everything else..."

  "Speaking of attention." Hayes straightened, all business now despite the exhaustion etched in her face. "Three fishing boats hanging around the outer marker. Could be nothing, but..." She glanced at Nakamura, who was already pulling up feeds.

  "One keeps circling back." Emily's fingers flew across her controls, the screens casting a sickly glow on her face. "See this pattern? Third pass through the same zone. Like they're looking for something. The movement tracks with deliberate scanning procedures, not typical fishing patterns."

  Or mapping something, Olivia thought, her stomach turning to lead. "Options, Emma?"

  "Already shuffled the patrol routes; what's left of them." Hayes rubbed her neck, and Olivia heard vertebrae pop. "But there's worse. Show her the readings, Em."

  Nakamura's usual composed expression cracked slightly. "Electromagnetic spikes from last night. Almost missed them, but..." She pulled up a familiar pattern that made Olivia's blood run cold. "APU scanning signatures. They're not even trying to hide it anymore."

  "Show me everything." Olivia moved to Emily's station, the three women huddling around the displays. Each data spike felt like another nail in their coffin. The acid rain drummed harder against the windows, eating at the world outside while they watched their own walls crumble from within.

  "I can scatter the drone paths," Nakamura offered, her voice tight. "Use the storm for cover, make any readings they get look like atmospheric interference. The drones can execute a pseudo-random flight pattern while maintaining surveillance coverage."

  "And I'll put our best people on the perimeter." Hayes's bitter laugh came back. "All six of them. We'll call it storm protocols, make it look routine."

  Through the window, the acid rain carved new patterns into the old harbor structures. How much longer until it reached the foundation? How much longer did any of them have?

  "Do it. Keep those drones moving." Olivia squeezed Hayes's shoulder, felt the tension there. "And Emma? I'm calling Kaito today. We need real help: resources, personnel, someone to share this load. Before we lose everything."

  Hayes nodded, exhaustion warring with determination. "Make it soon, boss. We're running out of miracles here."

  The storm chased Olivia down empty corridors, her heels marking time with the thunder. Every door she passed held ghosts: Thompson's office, where he'd argued quantum theory until sunrise, coffee cup permanently grafted to his hand; the break room where Sarah's burnt popcorn experiments had become a Friday tradition. All gone now, leaving only memories and silence.

  The familiar sound of bickering drifted from the gateway control room before she even reached the door.

  "—if you'd just let me try the parallel circuit bypass—" That was Davidson, the rapid click-click-click of her pen punctuating her words.

  "Which would work great until the first power spike, and then—what the capacitor—we'd lose the whole tertiary system," Brooks shot back, her slight Texas drawl more pronounced in frustration. "Let's troubleshoot this from first principles, not just slap on another bypass."

  Olivia pushed through the door to find the two young engineers in their natural habitat: surrounded by open panels, scattered tools, and the blue glow of diagnostic screens. Davidson was hunched over the main regulator panel, her multi-tool watch catching the light as she gestured. Brooks had contorted herself halfway into a maintenance duct, colorful bandana keeping her curls from the exposed wiring.

  "Ladies," Olivia said, "progress report?"

  Brooks extracted herself from the duct with surprising grace, rubbing her hands together before grabbing her tablet. "Dr. Smith! Perfect timing. We've isolated the harmonic fluctuations to the tertiary field regulator, but there's something weird about the pattern."

  "Weird doesn't begin to cover it," Davidson added, tucking a screwdriver behind her ear where it left a slight impression in her wavy brown hair. "The fluctuations are... they're almost performing a call and response pattern."

  Brooks nodded enthusiastically, hands sketching invisible schematics in the air. "Exactly! Like the system's trying to sync with an external frequency. I've been tracking the harmonic resonance, and look—" She thrust her tablet forward, where a complex waveform pulsed. "These patterns shouldn't match unless—"

  "—unless something's deliberately syncing with our equipment," Davidson finished, blue eyes bright despite the shadows beneath them. "It's like when you tune two guitars to resonate with each other."

  Olivia felt her chest tighten. "Could it be the APU scans?"

  The two technicians exchanged glances.

  "Not with this precision," Brooks said, unconsciously tapping out what Olivia recognized as binary code on her tablet edge. "This is... this is more like the system found what it's been looking for."

  "How bad are the power fluctuations?" Olivia asked, studying the erratic blue pulse of the generators.

  Davidson's expression shifted to professional concern. "Fifteen percent variance since 0200 hours, but the pattern's accelerating. I've been trying to stabilize the regulators, but—"

  "—but we're basically using duct tape on a quantum interface," Brooks finished with a grim smile that didn't reach her eyes. "I've got some ideas for an alternative power routing system, but we'd need time and parts, and—"

  "—we're short on both," Davidson sighed.

  "Give me numbers. Real ones." Olivia felt her headache intensifying.

  The two women glanced at each other again, a silent technical conversation passing between them.

  "A month," Davidson said finally, her fingers absently clicking her pen. "Maybe two if we keep playing musical power couplings and can scavenge parts from the dormant sections."

  "I might be able to squeeze some juice from the dormant sections," Brooks added, twisting a loose curl around her finger. "Actually, if we could repurpose the aluminum shielding from the decommissioned lab on level three, I could build a resonance dampener that might buy us another few weeks."

  "But Dr. Smith?" Davidson's voice was steady despite her youth. "We need to talk about real solutions. Soon."

  "Do what you can. I'm heading to see Peterson now."

  Both technicians nodded, already turning back to their work, Brooks pulling her magnifier headband down and Davidson cracking her knuckles before diving back into the open panel.

  Peterson's lab looked like a caffeine bomb had detonated. Empty cups occupied every flat surface, and the man himself was bathed in the blue glow of too many monitors.

  "Please tell me you slept." The words came out sharper than she intended, worry making her tone harsh.

  He spun his chair, nearly knocking over yesterday's cups. Despite everything, his eyes still held that manic gleam of scientific discovery. "Sleep is for people who aren't watching quantum harmonics rewrite physics! This is paradigm-shifting stuff happening right in front of us! But..." He caught her look, the one Carmen called her 'mom face.' "I maybe dozed. Until the readings went sideways around two. Did you know the containment field fluctuations actually sync with certain harmonic frequencies? It's like the universe is trying to tell us something through mathematical poetry."

  "Define sideways." Her headache was back full force.

  "Remember when I accidentally turned my roommate's guitar into a light show? Less pyrotechnics this time, but..." He gestured at the containment field readouts, hands modeling quantum concepts in the air. "The tertiary field is fluctuating. Bad. Actually, not just bad—it's fascinating from a theoretical standpoint, but terrifying from a 'we-need-this-to-work' perspective. The quantum state is becoming increasingly unstable at precisely the junction points we need for gateway stability."

  The generators hummed in their housing, the usual steady blue pulse now erratic. Olivia reached for her comm, dreading the response.

  "Brooks here." Static crackled through her voice. "I'm currently watching harmonic patterns that shouldn't exist in nature. Unless... hold on, I'm sending you the comparison frequencies."

  "Davidson here. Still elbow-deep in the regulator circuits trying to stabilize everything. Dr. Smith, whatever's happening is spreading to the secondary systems now."

  Olivia pressed her fingers to the bridge of her nose. "Peterson will head down after he finishes diagnostics. I want everyone on this—full analysis, no assumptions. We need to understand what we're dealing with."

  Peterson looked up, already halfway into another explanation about quantum harmonics. "I'll run a complete system check on the power distribution nodes. I have some ideas about rerouting the auxiliary systems through a modified resonance circuit that might—" He caught himself. "Right. Diagnostics first."

  Dawn painted the harbor in sick watercolors, yellow acid rain mixing with gray storm clouds. A lone gull (probably Carmen's regular visitor) wheeled past the window, somehow surviving in this broken world. Like them, hanging on by determination and duct tape, trying to save a future that felt further away each day.

  But they'd manage. They had to. There wasn't anyone else left to do it.

  The oscillation dampener sparked, making Olivia yank her hand back. "Damn it!" She sucked her burned finger, tasting metal and grease. The warning lights kept flashing, each pulse making her stomach twist tighter. This was bad. Really bad.

  "Hey, you okay in there?" Peterson's footsteps quickened across the floor.

  She didn't look up, just thrust her other hand deeper into the access panel. Had to find it. Had to fix it before- Another spark. "I need the micro-spanner. Now."

  "I got it," Brooks said, but he was moving too slow, always too slow when things were falling apart.

  "Now, Brooks!" Her voice cracked. The panel was hot under her fingers. Too hot. The readouts were all wrong, everything was wrong, and if she couldn't figure out why-

  "Here." The tool appeared in her peripheral vision. She grabbed it, ignored the way her hands were shaking. One chance to get this right.

  "What's happening?" Peterson asked. She could hear him shuffling through diagnostics on his tablet, papers rustling. "These readings don't make any sense."

  "Nothing makes sense anymore," she muttered, more to herself than them. The burned finger throbbed in time with her pulse. "Everything’s falling apart since they cut our funding a year ago."

  Another spark, bigger this time. She felt the heat on her face.

  Is this heading in a better direction for a more human score? Let me know and I can continue adjusting.

  The acrid smell of burning electronics hit her nose just as the panel let out a loud pop. Olivia scrambled backward, nearly colliding with Brooks. Her heart hammered against her ribs.

  "Holy shit," Brooks muttered, grabbing her arm. Even through his steady tone, she heard fear. "What's wrong with this bastard?"

  Peterson moved closer, tablet forgotten at his side. "I checked everything this morning. Three times. It was fine, it was all fine..." His words trailed off as smoke started seeping from the edges of the panel.

  Stolen content warning: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences.

  Olivia's mind raced, fragments of thoughts crashing together. Three failures in a month. Always during maintenance. Always when they were vulnerable. The realization hit her like ice water.

  "Get back," she ordered, already moving forward again. Her burned finger screamed as she grabbed another tool. "Both of you, just- just shut up and let me think."

  The smoke was getting thicker. The sudden shriek of the overhead fan made her wince. She wanted to tell Brooks and Peterson to stop their anxious hovering, but she didn't have the energy.

  "The containment fields," Peterson suddenly said, voice small. "If this system goes down-"

  "I know!" The words came out sharper than she meant. She took a shaky breath. "I know. Just... just watch the readings. Tell me if anything spikes into yellow."

  Her hands moved through the familiar components, searching. There had to be something she was missing. Some reason why everything was falling apart just when they couldn't afford it to.

  That's when she saw it. The cut was clean, professional. Hidden where no one would look unless they knew exactly what they were looking for.

  "Oh god." The words came out as a whisper. Her stomach lurched as implications crashed over her. "This wasn't an accident."

  Brooks leaned in, looking over her shoulder. "What do you mean this wasn't…" He trailed off, staring at what she was seeing. "No. No way. Nobody could get in here without..."

  "Without knowing someone on the inside?" Olivia let out a laugh, but it didn’t sound right to her. Without knowing exactly when we'd be closed for maintenance? The quiet that followed was thick, even thicker than the smoke still hanging in the air.

  The next few moments were a blur of smoke and panic. Olivia's fingers moved mechanically, who would do this? Who could do this? Olivia's fingers quivered, the wires slipping as she worked.

  "Shit, shit, shit," Brooks kept muttering beside her, holding her tablet like it might explode. Sweat dripped down his face, leaving clean tracks in the carbon smudges. "The readings are... I don't even know what I'm looking at anymore."

  Peterson had backed himself against the far wall, looking like he might throw up. "We should evacuate. Protocol says-"

  "Protocol can go to hell!" Olivia surprised herself with the outburst. Her voice cracked as she continued, softer, "We evacuate now, we lose everything. Twenty years of work, just... gone."

  More sparks showered down, burning tiny holes in her lab coat. She barely felt them. The smell of melting plastic made her eyes water - at least, that's what she told herself as her vision blurred.

  "Boss..." Brooks's voice was gentle. Too gentle. Like he was talking to someone about to break. "Maybe we should-"

  "No." The word came out raw. "I'm not losing this place. Not like this. Not to some coward who won't even face us."

  Her fingers found another cut wire, then another. Each one deliberate. Each one placed to cause maximum damage when they were most vulnerable. The betrayal felt personal, cutting deeper than any sparks could reach.

  "Yellow!" Brooks suddenly shouted. "We're spiking into yellow!"

  Olivia's heart slammed against her ribs. "Give me the blue wire. The thick one. Now!"

  She didn't look to see if he moved. Just held out her hand, praying he'd be fast enough. The heat was intense now, making the air shimmer. Time seemed to stretch like taffy, each second lasting an eternity until-

  The wire slapped into her palm. She stripped it with her teeth, tasting copper and fear, and started splicing. No time for elegance. No time for protocol. Just desperate hope and muscle memory from too many late nights keeping this place running on spit and prayers.

  "Come on," she whispered. "Come on, please..."

  "Please work, please work," she kept whispering, her voice cracking. The wire twisted under her fingers, seeming to fight her every move. Her hands were shaking so bad she almost dropped the connector twice.

  "Readings?" She couldn't look away from what she was doing, couldn't risk even a glance at Brooks.

  "Still yellow, but..." Brooks swallowed hard enough she could hear it. "It's... Christ, I don't know. The numbers keep jumping around."

  Peterson made a strangled sound from his corner. "That's impossible. The system doesn't work that way. It can't-"

  "Shut up!" Olivia's voice broke completely. "Just... everyone shut up for a second."

  The silence that followed was broken only by the crackle of failing electronics and their ragged breathing. Olivia's burned finger throbbed in time with her racing pulse. She could feel sweat or tears - she wasn't sure which anymore - running down her face.

  One more connection. Just one more. Her hands were trembling so badly she had to stop, take a breath that tasted like fear and ozone.

  "Boss..." Brooks's voice was barely a whisper. "We're running out of time."

  "I know." She bit her lip hard enough to taste blood. "I know, I know, I know..."

  The final wire slipped into place with a click that seemed too quiet for something so important. For a moment, nothing happened. The crackling continued. The heat pressed against her face like a physical weight.

  Then everything went quiet.

  The sudden silence felt wrong, like the moment before a thunderstorm or an earthquake or-

  "Green." Brooks's voice was shaky with disbelief. "We're... we're back in the green."

  Olivia's legs gave out. She sat down hard on the metal floor, not caring about the scorch marks or the grease or anything else. Her chest felt too tight, like she'd been holding her breath for hours instead of minutes.

  "Holy shit," Peterson breathed. "Holy shit, you actually did it."

  "Yeah," she managed, staring at her trembling hands. "But someone tried to make sure I couldn't."

  She felt sick. Actually, physically sick. The adrenaline crash hit her like a truck, and she had to swallow hard against the bile rising in her throat. The floor felt unsteady beneath her, even though she was sitting down.

  "I need..." Her voice came out as a croak. She cleared her throat and tried again. "I need to call Hayes."

  Brooks crouched next to her, his face pale under the dirt and sweat. "You need to sit still for a minute. You look like hell."

  "Thanks." She tried to smile but it felt wrong on her face. "You're not exactly runway material yourself right now."

  Peterson had slid down his wall to sit on the floor, his legs apparently as shaky as hers. "Someone tried to kill us," he said, his voice small and distant. "Someone actually tried to..."

  "Don't." Olivia cut him off. She couldn't deal with that reality yet. Not when her hands were still shaking and her heart felt like it might explode. "Just... don't say it out loud."

  The comm unit felt heavy in her hand. Like it was made of lead instead of plastic and circuits. Hayes needed to know. Everyone needed to know. But saying it out loud would make it real in a way she wasn't ready for.

  "You know what the worst part is?" Brooks wasn't looking at either of them, just staring at the damaged panel like it might start talking. "Whoever did this... they're probably still here. Still walking around like everything's normal."

  A sound escaped Olivia's throat - something between a laugh and a sob. "Yeah. Thanks for that nightmare fuel. Really helpful right now."

  Her finger hovered over Hayes's contact info. Just press the button. Just make the call. Just admit that everything they'd built, everything they'd sacrificed for, was compromised.

  "Boss?" Peterson's voice was steadier now. "Your hand's bleeding."

  She looked down. He was right. A small cut on her palm she hadn't even felt was leaving red smears on the comm unit. Funny, how you don't notice some kinds of pain until someone points them out.

  "Screw it," she muttered, jabbing Hayes's contact with her uninjured hand. Blood smeared across the screen. Perfect. Just perfect.

  The comm crackled. "Hayes here. Those fishing boats are-"

  "Emma." Olivia's voice cracked. She took a breath, tried again. "Emma, I need you in the embarkation room. Now."

  There must have been something in her tone - something raw and wrong - because Hayes went quiet for a second. When she spoke again, all the casual was gone from her voice. "What happened?"

  "Someone tried to..." The words stuck in her throat. "Someone's trying to kill us all."

  "Jesus, Liv." Hayes's voice went soft, then hardened. "Don't move. Don't touch anything else. I'm coming."

  Hayes burst through the door with two security officers, her face set in grim determination. "Full lockdown! I want this room sealed and I mean now. Mitchell, get me a cyber lockdown - I want us completely air gapped."

  Olivia watched her friend's face, seeing the soldier beneath the security chief emerge. "You think it's APU Security?"

  "Those maintenance workers they sent?" Hayes nodded sharply. "Has to be. This was too precise."

  Peterson cleared his throat, his voice still shaky. "It's the stabilization materials," he said quietly. Everyone turned to look at him. "The rare earth metals we use for the gateway... APU needs the same materials for their exodus machine."

  "Son of a bitch," Brooks breathed. "They're not trying to steal our research-"

  "They're trying to shut us down completely," Olivia finished, the pieces clicking into place. "Take us out of the competition for those metals entirely."

  Hayes nodded to Mitchell. "Rhino, get our stockpile secured. Full protocol."

  Mitchell's massive frame straightened, his calm presence a stark contrast to the tension in the room. "Yes ma'am. Want me to move it to Vault Three?"

  "No," Olivia cut in. "Engineering sub-level. Behind the cooling systems."

  "Copy that," Mitchell replied, already moving. "Jones, meet me in Engineering. Bring your toolkit and don't tell anyone where you're going."

  Hayes pulled out her comm unit. "Emily, we need you. Got some uninvited guests in fishing boats that need to leave. Now."

  "Copy that," Emily's precise voice responded. "Accessing drone control now. Which assets are authorized?"

  "Everything non-lethal. Make it look like a malfunction."

  They watched through the window as Emily's drones began herding the boats away, but Olivia knew it wasn't enough. She pulled out her data pad with shaking hands. Calling Kaito was a calculated risk - once the Nexus Cartel got involved, there was no going back. But they needed his resources, his network, his understanding of both legitimate and shadow operations.

  "We need help," she said quietly. "This is bigger than us." She opened the secure communications application. "We need Kaito."

  Hayes's eyes widened. "You sure? Once we bring him in, we're playing by his rules. You know how he operates - everything's a transaction to him."

  "We're past the point of handling this internally." Olivia selected Kaito's contact. "APU's trying to shut us down. We need someone who can match their resources, someone who understands both sides of the game. Someone who knows how to handle corporate warfare."

  "And someone who has his own interest in rare earth metals," Brooks added quietly.

  Olivia nodded. The Nexus Cartel's tech operations depended on the same materials they used. Kaito would understand exactly what APU was trying to do - and why it needed to be stopped.

  The comm signal pulsed three times, then connected. When Kaito's voice came through, it was smooth and controlled, carrying that familiar hint of cultured politeness that masked the steel beneath.

  The comm signal pulsed three times, then connected.

  "Dr. Smith." Kaito's cultured voice carried its usual precise formality. "What a remarkable coincidence. I was quite literally reaching for my comm to contact you when I noticed your incoming signal."

  "Oh! I... what can I do for you, Kaito?" Olivia's professional instincts kicked in, momentarily pushing aside her own crisis. Hayes shot her a warning look, but she was already caught in the gravity of Kaito's careful politeness.

  "I would like to arrange a secure three-way quantum communication between yourself, Major Diego Martinez, and myself," Kaito said, his measured tone carrying purpose. "There are matters regarding your gateway project's security and potential scaling operations that I believe would benefit greatly from the Major's expertise. Would it be possible to establish such a connection in approximately two hours?"

  Olivia glanced at Hayes, who gave a slight nod. "Yes, of course. I'll have Emily configure the quantum encryption protocols personally."

  "Your assistance is most appreciated, Dr. Smith." There was a slight pause, then Kaito's voice shifted to one of elegant self-reproach. "But I must apologize for my deplorable manners. You initiated this communication with what I suspect is a pressing matter, yet I have redirected our discussion to my own agenda. Please, what situation requires my attention?"

  Olivia exhales heavily, the weight of the day's events finally catching up to her. "Kaito, we've got serious problems here. APU agents posing as maintenance workers sabotaged our oscillation dampeners. They're trying to destabilize our quantum containment fields." Her voice tightens. "But that's not even the worst of it. They've got fishing boats running surveillance patterns around us, and our supply lines are getting squeezed. Peterson says we've got maybe two months before critical systems start failing."

  She runs a hand through her hair, continuing, "We're down to twelve staff, equipment's failing faster than we can repair it, and now this deliberate sabotage... Kaito, they're not just trying to steal our research anymore. APU is trying to shut us down completely. They want us out of the competition for the rare earth metals we both need."

  Hayes steps closer to the comm, her presence lending support to Olivia's words. "We've got evidence suggesting there's someone on the inside helping them. Someone with high-level access."

  "We need help," Olivia concludes quietly. "The kind of help that understands both sides of this game. I was calling to ask for your assistance, but it seems you had similar thoughts."

  "Ah." Kaito's single syllable carried layers of understanding, his formal tone sharpening with controlled anger. "This explains the rather interesting data packets my security team intercepted regarding APU's recent requisitions of maintenance credentials." There was a slight pause, filled with the sound of what might have been him setting down a cup. "Their targeting of your oscillation systems is... concerning. They are being far more aggressive than anticipated."

  His voice took on a precise, measured quality that Olivia had learned meant he was already formulating plans. "Dr. Smith, I believe this confirms the wisdom of arranging our discussion with Major Martinez. He has... extensive experience with APU's more dubious security operations."

  "As for your current situation," Kaito's cultured voice took on a note of subtle amusement, "I shall dispatch two of my most... capable security assets. I feel compelled to warn you that Ms. Harper and Ms. Tau have what one might charitably call a complex professional dynamic. However, their combined expertise is rather extraordinary. Ms. Harper's particular talents with network architecture and Ms. Tau's methodical approach to software security should prove most beneficial to your circumstances. They will arrive within four hours."

  "Thank you, Kaito," Olivia said, relief evident in her voice. She glanced at Hayes, who was already pulling up personnel files on her tablet. "We'll prepare for their arrival. And yes, we can be ready for the secure call with Martinez in two hours."

  "Excellent." There was a slight rustling of papers on Kaito's end. "One final matter, Dr. Smith. Given the sophistication of the sabotage attempt, I suggest you limit knowledge of Ms. Harper and Ms. Tau's true purpose to only those you trust implicitly. To the rest of your staff, they should appear as nothing more than standard IT consultants brought in to address your system failures."

  Hayes looked up from her tablet, her expression grim. "Agreed. We'll handle their clearance and access personally."

  "If that will be all," Kaito interjected smoothly, "I shall see you both in two hours. And Dr. Smith... do try to keep your oscillation systems intact until my team arrives." The comm signal terminated with three soft pulses.

  Hayes closed the files with a slight frown. "But we've got enough drama around here already with the APU situation-"

  Olivia leaned back in her chair, allowing herself to feel a moment of relief. "Well, at least we'll have some real expertise dealing with our security issues soon." She turned to Hayes with a hint of optimism in her voice. "Four hours. Let's use this time to prepare for their arrival. I want complete access logs, security protocols, and system diagnostics ready for review."

  Hayes nodded, already pulling up the relevant files. "I'll have Emily set up dedicated workstations in the secure wing. The fewer people who know about their real purpose here, the better."

  "Agreed." Olivia stood, stretching slightly. "For the first time in weeks, I actually feel like we might be getting ahead of this situation instead of just reacting to it."

  "Even if we have to manage two specialists who can't stand each other?" Hayes asked, raising an eyebrow.

  Olivia smiled. "At this point, I'll take complicated personalities over APU saboteurs any day."

  The quantum-encryption console bathed the Secure Conference Room in an eerie blue glow that made Olivia's eyes ache. She'd been staring at screens for too long, mainlining coffee that had long since gone cold. The room's climate control hummed at that perfect pitch guaranteed to set teeth on edge after hours of exposure. Her neck cracked as she rolled her shoulders, trying to work out the knots.

  Emily's fingers danced across the holographic interface, each motion precise and controlled. Olivia had always envied that economy of movement - no wasted energy, just pure efficiency born from years of drone work. The soft click of Emily's nails against the holo-surface provided a steady counterpoint to Hayes' boot tapping against the polished desk.

  "For God's sake, Em, you've triple-checked everything." Hayes stretched, her tactical vest creaking with the movement. "One glitch in this connection and Dr. Smith will be insufferable about it for months."

  "Since when do you call accuracy 'insufferable'?" Emily's lips quirked up at the corner, but her eyes never left the console. The question carried a weight that suggested history - the kind that came from shared firefights and midnight operations.

  "Since our beloved Olivia started swooning over Martinez's picture.." Hayes rolled her eyes, but there was fondness in her voice. She caught Olivia trying to discreetly angle her data pad away and grinned.

  Olivia felt heat creep up her neck. "Don't start."

  "Who's starting anything?" Hayes held up her hands in mock surrender. "I'm just appreciating your... thoroughness in reviewing the mission files."

  Emily's fingers paused momentarily. "Is that what we're calling it now?"

  "I'm doing my job," Olivia protested, but even she could hear the defensive note in her voice. The image on her pad - Martinez in full combat gear, moving with lethal grace through a combat simulation - definitely wasn't part of her official briefing package.

  "Seven times in two hours?" Hayes' eyebrows shot up. "That's some dedicated research, Doc."

  "Eight," Emily corrected, still focused on her calibrations. "She switched to his Kandahar footage right after you went for coffee."

  "I hate you both," Olivia muttered, but couldn't quite suppress her smile. The teasing was better than dwelling on why she kept returning to his files, especially that one clip where he'd stripped off his tactical gear after the simulation, sweat making his shirt cling to-

  "Nine!" Hayes crowed triumphantly. "She's got his personnel photo up now. You know, the one from the formal military ball?"

  "I'm studying his strategic approach-"

  "To wearing a dress uniform? Because I've got to admit, he does make those medals look good."

  Emily snorted softly. "That's not the only thing he makes look good."

  "You too, Emily?" Olivia groaned, dropping her head into her hands. "I thought you were the professional one."

  "Sweetheart, I've run enough ops with Martinez to maintain professional distance. You, on the other hand..." Hayes let the sentence trail off suggestively.

  "His extraction patterns are tactically significant," Olivia insisted, trying to salvage some dignity. "The way he adapts to changing conditions-"

  "Is that what we're calling those abs now? 'Changing conditions'?"

  "I hate you so much."

  The banter died as Emily's hands suddenly stilled over the console. A slight tremor ran through her fingers - barely noticeable unless you knew what to look for. Hayes clearly did; her boots hit the floor with a sharp crack.

  "Singapore," Emily said quietly, and the room's temperature seemed to drop ten degrees. "That was... different."

  Hayes leaned forward, all trace of humor gone. "Emily-"

  "Running final checks on the quantum matrices." Emily's voice had taken on that artificial steadiness that set off warning bells in Olivia's head. Her movements were too precise now, too controlled - like a drone pilot holding something darker at bay. "Need to verify the backup arrays."

  "We're live in ten," Hayes said softly, concern evident in her eyes.

  Emily gathered her data pads with mechanical efficiency. "Won't take long." At the door, she paused, not quite looking back. "Olivia? The tactical records might be safer than that profile shot. Trust me on this."

  The door whispered shut behind her, leaving a heavy silence in its wake.

  Hayes stared at the empty doorway, tension visible in the set of her shoulders. "Twenty-four drones," she said finally, voice rough. "She ran twenty-four combat drones that night. Never missed a target."

  "That's... impressive?" Olivia ventured, noting the way Hayes' hand had drifted to her sidearm.

  "Four hundred and twelve confirmed kills. All technically legitimate targets." Hayes' fingers traced the grip of her weapon - muscle memory seeking comfort. "But you try sleeping after something like that. Especially when half of them were..." She shook her head sharply. "Doesn't matter now."

  The lights dimmed as the holoscreen powered up, casting stark shadows across Hayes' face. Olivia found herself staring at Emily's empty chair, understanding now why she'd fled. Some ghosts didn't fade with time - they just waited for quiet moments to resurface.

  "Dr. Smith," Kaito said, "thank you for joining us. This is Diego Martinez."

  The silence hung for a fraction too long as Olivia absorbed the full impact of the man's presence through the holo-projection. His dark gaze held a calculating intelligence that made her breath catch slightly. Even through the quantum connection, she could sense the raw power contained in his frame, the way he carried himself with the absolute confidence of someone who had survived impossible odds.

  Hayes cleared her throat pointedly, one hand absently checking her sidearm - a habit that betrayed her tactical training even in secure environments. Olivia realized she needed to respond. The next words would set the tone for everything that followed. She straightened in her chair, forcing her mind back to the crisis at hand, even as she remained acutely aware of Diego's unwavering attention.

  The fate of her project - maybe even Earth itself - hung in the balance. She couldn't afford to be distracted, no matter how compelling the Major's presence might be.