Chapter 6 - The Override Order
Captain Henderson stepped fully into the room, his boots clicking sharply against the linoleum. The two MPs flanking him raised their weapon barrels just an inch higher—not enough to constitute an immediate threat, but enough to make it clear that compliance was no longer optional. Henderson’s eyes swept over the desk, lingering briefly on the stack of logistics manifests Miller had just handed over.
"Colonel Vance, Major General Davies," Henderson said, his tone dripping with false politeness. "I'm afraid I have to relieve you of your duties effective immediately, per orders of the garrison commander."
Davies stepped forward, his chest puffed out with outraged authority. "Are you out of your mind, Henderson? I am a two-star general! You cannot relieve me with a scrap of paper signed by a base commander!"
"With all due respect, sir, things are changing around here," Henderson replied smoothly, not flinching under Davies's glare. He tapped the crisp paper in his hand. "Colonel Thorne has declared a base-wide security emergency due to suspected internal intelligence leaks. All secure terminals are being seized, and all personnel connected to unauthorized document retrieval are to be detained for questioning in the secure holding facility."
Vance remained seated behind her desk. Her breathing remained slow and measured, her face an unreadable mask of absolute calm. She reached down slowly, her fingers brushing against the edge of the secure flash drive resting beside her keyboard.
"You're a bit late, Captain," Vance said quietly.
Henderson’s smile faltered for a microsecond. "Excuse me, Colonel?"
"The documents you're here to confiscate aren't sitting on this desk anymore," Vance said, looking him dead in the eye. "And the digital files containing the ghost roster, the weapons manifests, and the financial audit trail were automatically uploaded to the Department of the Army Inspector General's secure server three minutes ago, right before you knocked."
A flicker of genuine panic crossed Henderson’s face. He lunged forward across the mahogany desk, slamming his palm down on the wood. "You're lying! The base communications grid was jammed an hour ago!"
"It was jammed locally," Vance replied, tilting her head with supreme confidence. "Which is why I routed the transmission through the emergency satellite link on my personal military-issue tactical tablet—the one that doesn't rely on base infrastructure."
Henderson stared at her, his jaw tightening until the muscles stood out in white knots. He turned sharply to the MPs. "Secure her! Seize every piece of electronic hardware in this room right now!"
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Before the MPs could take a step forward, the overhead lights flickered violently once, twice, and then died completely, plunging the office into the crimson glow of the emergency red-backup bulbs. Outside in the hallway, the wail of the base-wide general quarters alarm began to shriek, echoing through the concrete corridors with deafening urgency.
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