New Earth, Eden Sector, Cyberspace
0530, September 2, 2050
In a certain command room, a bored operator who was playing with a stress ball noticed a breach alert on her holoscreen. Narrowing her eyebrows she started pulling up the exact coordinates of breach. She then pressed a button on the left side of her station which is only to be used if there is a security breach.
[Homebase to all sentries. We got a data fluctuation at grid ‘Zebra’. Possible security breach from ‘Surface’. Anyone within proximity please respond.]
A few minutes of silence had gone by and the operator at ‘Homebase’ received a reply from a westbound VTOL craft that appeared on her radar.
[Homebase. This is Eagle One, I read. Diverting original flight path to grid ‘Zebra’. Stand by for updates.]
The operator picked up the log book next to her which contained all scheduled traffic for the day. The westbound craft, designated as ‘Eagle’ was returning from a scheduled game maintenance work.
[Acknowledged, Eagle. Reassigning your status to “Responding”]
-POV change-
New Earth, Eden Sector, Cyberspace
'Grid Zebra'
0530, September 2, 2050
[Roger HQ, Eagle is responding. Over and out]
After confirming the status, I let out a heavy sigh. I knew today was not going to be a simple routine, it was problems after another...
“God dammit, can’t I get a goddamn break? It took me half the day just to fix the “Research timer” exploit….”
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I yelled in the cockpit room with my voice echoing in the spacious room. I pulled up the holographic terrain map of 'Zebra', it was basically a dense forest. I wonder what kind idiot from the 'Surface' would even use that place as a insertion point. Shrugging it off I heard a voice coming from the ship's intercom.
[T-minus 4 minutes till destination arrival. Pilot, Please switch your role to ‘Admin’ on your tablet. ]
The voice belonged to the pilot’s personal digital assistant EVA, a support AI that assisted in both communication and information flow. The pilot stretched out his body and picked up the tablet that was resting on the seat by the cargo bay door.
[I will set the aircraft down near the fluctuation point. Please be careful]
The pilot went over to the weapon storage case and took out Hera Arms CQR M4 Firestorm from it. He pulled up his inventory menu to take out a red dot sight which he later attached on the M4. He proceeded to eject the drum magazine to briefly check whether if it was empty. It was not empty, he then reinserted the magazine back into the M4 and pulled back the cocking handle just in time for EVA next message over the aircraft intercom.
[Touch down, Opening cargo bay door… Stand by.]
The pilot exited the aircraft cautiously, gun drawn as he approached the fluctuation point expecting intruders. What he saw instead was a distorted plane with numbers phasing in and out of existence. The shape of it resembled a portal from an old game he used to play with his childhood friend. After looking around his surroundings and confirming there was no intruder, he took out his tablet to scan the anomaly. While his scan is still being processing, he reconnected back to “Homebase” to report his findings.
[Homebase, This is Eagle. I am at the fluctuation point. There is no sign of intruders however it would appear that some sort of glitch had appeared in our cyber system. I am attempting a bypass quick fix with my privilege as ‘Admin’ Stand by...]
After a few minutes the pilot got a reply from the operator.
[Acknowledged Eagle. Standing By for further updates.]
As soon as the pilot ended the transmission, the distorted piles of numbers started to clear up leaving behind a white translucent portal. Unable to see what was on the other side, the pilot drew his M4 Firestorm pointed at the portal and slowly made his approach. The muzzle break was the first that went through causing the portal to vibrate. The pilot, noticing the change in the portal behavior attempted to radio in however he was stopped when a sudden gust of wind hit him from behind causing him to glide straight into it. On the other side of the portal was an empty space, the pilot landed head first on the ground causing him to be knocked out. The only thing he last recalled before losing complete conscious was a voice that sounded like a woman pitting him.