Chapter 4 - The Internal Audit
Captain Vance Jr. stepped into the locker room, his boots clicking sharply against the concrete floor. He held the recording device out like a weapon, its small red LED blinking rhythmically in the dim light. His eyes flicked between Thomas, who stood frozen near the lockers, and Maya, whose hand hovered instinctively near her tactical rucksack.
"At ease, soldiers," Vance Jr. said smoothly, though there was nothing comforting in his tone. "Though I see neither of you has been practicing much relaxation lately. General Vance sends his regards. He wants to know why two of his best combatives instructors are huddled together in a restricted locker room discussing classified intelligence leaks."
Thomas stepped smoothly in front of Maya, throwing up a casual, practiced military salute that masked the tension radiating from his posture. The familiar, confident smile crept back onto his face, though it looked brittle and forced under the harsh light.
"Just hashing out a disagreement over training protocols, Captain," Thomas replied evenly, his voice steady despite the adrenaline pumping through his veins. "Miller here thinks my instructional style is too lax for the upcoming deployment rotation. We were just clearing the air before the afternoon briefing."
Vance Jr. didn't return the salute. He walked past Thomas slowly, his gaze locking onto Maya over Thomas's shoulder. The captain's face was a mask of cold authority, untouched by the camaraderie typical of frontline units.
"Is that right, Sergeant Miller?" Vance Jr. asked quietly, stopping just inches away from her. "You were clearing the air about training protocols while holding an encrypted sector drive belonging to the European theater command?"
Maya met the captain's gaze without blinking. She slowly lowered her hand away from her rucksack, keeping her movements deliberate and non-threatening.
"Training protocols often involve real-world operational data, Captain," Maya answered, her voice level and devoid of fear. "If we are going to prepare these recruits for urban combat, they need to understand how secure networks fail in the field. Rheinhardt was simply demonstrating a worst-case scenario."
Vance Jr. smiled, a thin, humorless stretching of his lips that bore an unsettling resemblance to Thomas’s fake grin. He reached out and tapped the casing of the recording device against his palm.
May you like
"A worst-case scenario," Vance Jr. repeated softly. "How fortunate that you two are working so collaboratively to prevent it. Because as of five minutes ago, satellite communications with Forward Operating Base Alpha went completely dark. And the last transmission received from their command terminal was routed directly through this IP address."
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