A dark shape appears in the water about 100 meters off the coast of the northern shore of the Yucatan peninsula. This was not a beach full of tourists. It was a more isolated, rocky stretch in view of just a few homes surrounded by the lush jungle. The shape grew clearer before a large ship erupted from the surface. This was not a submarine, but a flat ship with 3 large panels on the deck. The bridge sat above three floors of accommodations, but curiously there was not a visible funnel. The ship had a dark color that gave it a sinister, military appearance despite no visible weapon systems.
The ship sat on numerous bright yellow flotation bags that had lifted it from the sea floor. Water was pouring out of several holes in the side of the hull. Despite the remote location, there were several groups watching the appearance of this curious ship with interest.
One group had poured champagne and were cheering loudly as they watched the video feed. Their neighbors assumed the noise must signify some grand milestone in video gaming.
In a well-furnished New York city apartment, a stylish woman stared in amazement. Her instincts about this group of people were proven again with this spectacular event. In a house in Mexico eight people cheered loudly as staff served drinks and appetizers while they enjoyed the show.
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In a Washington DC office, Jack Edwards was simply speechless. He was familiar with all kinds of speed boats and submarines the cartels used for smuggling, but he had never seen a vessel that looked quite like this. After a few hours of frantic scrambling his aids had come up with a few theories. Despite its dramatic appearance, this ship was not likely to be submersible. It was probably just a shell. They would need to add equipment, engines, furnishings now that the ship was floated. How it had been built was a mystery.
There must be some extensive underground facilities. How they were getting supplies for what must be hundreds of workers was inexplicable. Was there a long tunnel that exited in another location? He made finding this a high priority for his agents in the area.
The biggest mystery was why this had been built. There were a number of wild theories, but the most plausible was that they would fill the ship with thousands of tons of drugs. They could use it as a mobile base for speedboats to deliver to the United States while keeping the mother ship in international waters. That theory seemed unlikely. Surely the cartel would not expect the Navy to leave it alone.
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Equally puzzled was a group of Russian analysts. The appearance of the ship was dramatic and the idea of an underwater shipyard very troubling. The capabilities of this new class of ship were unknown, but they assumed a few things. The absence of smokestacks indicated nuclear power, but the hull design did not indicate the ship was built for speed.
The large covers on the deck were likely filled with launchers for drones or some kind of unknown weaponry. With the assumption of a nuclear reactor, it was possible this ship had some kind of railguns or energy weapons. The analysts knew quite a bit about various programs under research, but the existence of a new class of ship built under such high security was shocking.
The hull seemed to be made of some new alloy or material. It was unclear if this was some new kind of armor or stealth system, but they would be scrambling to find out as soon as possible.
Alexey felt vindicated. He had been outmatched at every turn by his opponents, but he had persisted. His actions had probably forced the Americans to reveal their project earlier than planned, but he would need to work hard to understand what they had uncovered.
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A final group noticed the appearance of the ship, although they had no direct surveillance. The Armada de México had several ships patrolling near Campeche offshore oil rigs and noticed a ship appearing on radar that was not registered. They sent a ship to investigate.
Hours later, the owners of this new ship had presented a copy of their pending application for registration of the vessel Dark Siren. They had supporting documentation indicating a lease for mineral extraction in the area. The owners indicated that they would be finishing construction onsite before proceeding to trade in ores and extracted minerals. The Mexican Navy captain was suspicious but did not really know of a crime or regulation that was violated here. Why had his supervisors not mentioned an offshore mining operation? He was given a tour inside the unfinished ship. It had three empty holds. The accommodations, engine area and bridge were also unfinished and empty. Some pumps were still running to remove water from the interior.
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Shortly after the Navy ship had left, work crews and various supplies started arriving on the Dark Siren. Observers noted that a flurry of activity had been happening onshore while the ship was raised. A small dock made of the same dark metal had emerged from the water and was moved to the shore. The water was clear, but cameras were not placed to get a good view of any workers underwater.
A couple trucks had pulled up to the property, and a forklift was moving large crates onto the dock. Two tender boats had arrived from the west, and they got to work moving supplies and people to the new ship.
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It was noted that the timing of crews and supplies showing up was impressive. This indicated someone was paying well and closely managing all the sub-contractors. This kind of efficiency was sometimes seen in the military, but rarely in other government projects that tended to award contracts to the lowest bidder or to politically connected favorites.
At the center of all this, in a lab underneath the house on the Avenida Felipe Carrillo Puerto, Melinda had started yet another project. While simultaneously managing a number of logistics operations on her computer, Melinda eagerly watched several of the flat containers where they had tested synthesizing proteins. The experiment complete, she pulled several small metal plates that were now coated in tooth enamel. She had generated amelogenin and enamelin and added calcium phosphate. Growing tooth enamel was interesting and would probably be useful for dental procedures, but more importantly this was her first success with protein guided crystal growth. The possibilities of a whole new class of materials were exciting. Melinda pulled up Glitch_HR and started looking for some more employees.
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Scott’s friends were clearly enjoying themselves. Melinda had sent them a care package with a note that they should open on Saturday at 1PM. The package contained snacks, several bottles of champagne and a link to their camera feed in Mexico. Melinda apparently didn’t care that buying alcohol for minors and sending it by mail was a federal crime. She seemed to be pretty unconcerned with breaking laws in general.
They had watched in amazement as the ship breached the surface. Scott thought about how trusting he had been about the recommendations of a software program he suspected was built mostly by Russian gangsters. Melinda was brilliant, but he got hints that she might be some kind of aspiring criminal mastermind or warlord. Roughly half the people she had hired so far were mercenaries, and she seemed rather obsessed with building a secret underwater base.
They had also hired an actual convict. Solomon had done good work moving their code to well distributed and protected locations, but they hadn’t heard much from him in a while. For all Scott knew, he was using his computer access to cause trouble again. Scott would likely be blamed if Mr. Rhodes did anything.
Now, on top of his other worries they were the owners of a rather ominous looking ship. It was just designed for hauling cargo, but the ship looked a bit more sinister. Government officials were going to notice a new ship and anyone in the shipping industry would notice that it was not a standard design. In short, Scott felt that there would now be a lot more attention on his company and he did not like the idea of intense scrutiny. They had started with just building fun tech, but soon they would be up against competitors not wanting them to disrupt their profitable businesses. Governments would not be happy if they had tech more advanced than the military. In general, a lot of powerful, established groups would be taking a closer look.
While Scott’s friends were celebrating, he was in a downward spiral of anxiety. Adriana noticed his troubled look.
“Hey Scott, you look like you ate something bad. Any of the snacks I should be avoiding?” Adrianna asked.
“No, the food is great. I’m just worried about what kind of attention we will get when people see this new ship.”
“I think it looks pretty amazing. I would have preferred to paint it something cheerful, but now that Melinda named it the Dark Siren, I’m guessing we don’t have paint in the budget.”
“Yeah, I’m kind of worried Melinda’s goals are a bit more super-villainy than what I was planning for our company.” Scott added.
“She’s a sweet old lady… OK, I guess some of her personalities might be more likely to build a crime syndicate.” Adriana admitted. “She doesn’t actually have much ownership in any of the companies. If she gets too out of line, we could always replace her.”
“Well, I’m not planning that. She’s done a great job. I’m just nervous because she always seems to be planning 10 steps ahead and I can only see a couple at most. Also, I’m worried about what competitors and governments are going to do when they see us as a threat.”
“Basically, you are worried that Melinda is doubling down on security and secrecy while at the same time worrying that big companies and governments are going to attack or try to steal from us. So Melinda has just been taking steps to address issues you are only starting to be aware of.”
“I guess you’re right,” Scott admitted. “I’m just not sure I’m ready to deal with challenging really powerful groups. I don’t like conflict.”
“Hey Scott!” Barry interrupted. “Quit whining about your feelings. Matt and I were discussing what kind of secret weapon systems we should install on Dark Siren.”
“Oh yeah, the port authorities will love that,” Scott complained.
“Dude, we’re not really going to do it. Well, probably not. Remember when you used to be fun?”
“Yeah, so I think the whole ship could transform into a Mecha.” Matt said. “Obviously it would have a sword in one hand and a big rotary missile launcher in the other.”
“That’s stupid.” Barry replied “A big robot would just sink, and all those parts would waste space. It would be nice if it could turn into a submarine. Airship would be better, but we haven’t invented anti-gravity yet.”
“Yet? “Matt asked, “Do you have any ideas on that?”
“Unfortunately, no. I looked on Glitch_HR. There is some theoretical stuff and science fiction, but mostly they concluded it wasn’t possible.” Barry said, disappointed.
“A submarine would be nice, “agreed Elsa. “we’re probably going to be running from the law at some point. It would be funny if they were chasing us, and we just go ‘bloop’ under the water.”
“Exactly!” Barry agreed. “Of course, if we had a huge gun that popped up from one of those storage bays, they would think twice about chasing us.”
“A huge gun?” Scott laughed, starting to get into the conversation. “It would be better to just have a swarm of drones fly out. With lasers so they could shoot down any planes or missiles.”
“Boring. How about a huge gun with giant bullets that shoot lasers!” Barry said, excited.
“That’s super dumb.” Matt argued. “We should launch robotic dolphins that would sneak up on other ships. Then they pop up out of the water near the other ship and Bam! Lasers!”
Barry was snorting with laughter at this point and Scott was in a much better mood.
“You guys are idiots.” Adriana complained. “I design this amazing ship and you just want turn it into some stupid kids’ cartoon.”
Scott knew they would soon cross some very powerful people in the near future. But their enemies would never expect the robotic laser dolphins!