Private Phase III: Cyber Phantoms

[R'ayne Asara]

cyber phantoms

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Savage Queen of Hearts - by Neon Dreams

I descended through the bruised heavens of Anaxes beneath a sky the color of old wounds, where thunderheads crawled across the atmosphere like vast, slumbering leviathans stirring in their sleep.

The territory of the Sith Covenant sprawled beneath me in jagged silhouettes of ebony spires and splashes of red luminescence, a realm that seemed less constructed than grown from some ancient nightmare buried deep within the planet's marrow.

My shuttle pierced the murk and settled upon a landing platform overlooking Pols Anaxes, the capital city whose endless towers rose like blackened fangs toward the heavens.

Yet it was not the heart of the city that summoned me, but a peculiar district nestled within its metallic labyrinth; a place the Cyber Phantoms had designated the "Cyber District."

I found the name almost insultingly unimaginative. It carried the unmistakable scent of deliberate mischief, the sort of humor employed by technicians and slicers who found themselves far cleverer than they truly were. I had little doubt the district possessed some older, more meaningful designation buried beneath layers of data and history.

That the Cyber Phantoms refused to use it felt less like bureaucracy and more like a joke crafted at my expense.

I made my way through canyons of flickering holosigns and tangled cables that hung overhead like mechanical spiderwebs, their glowing veins pulsing with unseen information. Countless eyes watched from behind tinted transparisteel and concealed surveillance systems, their attention brushing against my senses like cold fingers trailing across a grave.

Somewhere within this electronic necropolis awaited my contact, a representative known only by the designation OU812.

The codename itself was another example of their tiresome wit, an enigma wrapped in nonsense and presented as though it were profound. I found it trifling.

Yet beneath my irritation lingered curiosity, for organizations such as the Cyber Phantoms thrived upon mystery as predators thrived upon darkness. Eventually I arrived before an unremarkable kiosk wedged between towers of humming processors and neon-lit merchant stalls.

There I waited amidst the static whisper of machinery, knowing that somewhere nearby the one called OU812 observed me already, preparing to escort me beyond the veil and into the presence of the hidden architects who ruled the Cyber Phantoms from the shadows of their digital kingdom.​

 

[R'ayne Asara]

cyber phantoms

[]

Savage Queen of Hearts - by Neon Dreams

I watched them emerge from the mouth of a side alley where the city's neon sickness pooled like stagnant blood beneath the ribs of towering durasteel monoliths.

Four figures advanced through the murk with the peculiar confidence of scavengers who had survived too many predators to fear another. Their silhouettes swam between curtains of steam and drifting particulate ash, cybernetic implants flickering beneath flesh that had long since surrendered ownership of itself to circuitry and chemical dependency.

I remained motionless, my reddish-orange gaze following their approach as one might observe carrion insects crossing the surface of a grave.

They halted several paces from me, and silence descended like a burial shroud. Around us, the city groaned in its endless mechanical slumber, while unseen data currents whispered through the darkness like the dreams of dead machine gods.

The one who led them was a human female whose body appeared assembled from equal portions desperation, chrome, and spite. Augmented lenses clicked within her skull as she looked me up and down, measuring, judging, searching for some hidden flaw she might exploit.

I felt her skepticism before she ever spoke, though not through the Force. It was written plainly in the curl of her lip and the dismissive tilt of her head. A harsh laugh escaped her throat, dry as a corpse's rattle.

"Are you her?" she asked in caustic tones, glancing toward her companions before returning her stare to me. "Can't be. You're not the ghost orchestrating this little round-up of hackney groups."

Her cybernetic eye whirred softly as it focused upon me. "So you're wasting our time. You should go. Now "

The words hung between us like rusted blades, while behind her I could see uncertainty lurking beneath the bravado, a small and fragile thing desperately hiding beneath layers of synthetic steel and cultivated contempt.​

 

[R'ayne Asara]

cyber phantoms

[]

Savage Queen of Hearts - by Neon Dreams

The corners of my lips curved upward into a faint, measured smile, one touched not by warmth but by a quiet amusement that lingered beneath the surface like something lurking beneath black water.

I tilted my head ever so slightly, crimson eyes studying the cybernetic woman before me as though she were a curious specimen displayed beneath glass. "My, my," I murmured, my voice smooth as velvet draped over a blade's edge.

"Has civility become so scarce in this galaxy that introductions are now replaced with accusations and rudeness?" A soft chuckle escaped me, low and restrained. "One would think a woman seeking answers would possess enough manners to ask a proper question before barking at strangers in alleyways."

My gaze drifted beyond her, settling upon the figures gathered at her flanks. I said nothing at first. There was no need. The Force flowed around them like unseen currents through a sea of darkness, carrying whispers far more honest than words.

Their postures betrayed them; the subtle shifts of weight, the uncertain glances, the tension concealed behind hardened expressions. They had arrived expecting something, someone perhaps larger than life, a phantom assembled from rumor and fear.

Yet now uncertainty gnawed at them. I could feel it pulsing beneath their confidence like a diseased heartbeat. Some questioned the woman leading them. Others questioned themselves.

The sensation was deliciously familiar. Fear always arrived before understanding.

At last my attention returned to the cyberpunk leader. The smile remained, though it had sharpened into something predatory. "Tell me, then," I said softly, taking a single step forward, "what precisely is this ghost supposed to look like if I am not who I claim to be?"

The darkness seemed to gather around my silhouette as I regarded her. "A specter wrapped in shadows? A voice hiding behind encrypted transmissions? A myth stitched together from frightened whispers?"

My eyes narrowed ever so slightly. "And yet here you stand attempting to identify me while failing to conceal your own identity." The smile widened.

"Because unlike you, OU812, I made it my business to know exactly who was coming to meet me long before you stepped into this alley."​