Private Project Darktide: An 'Operation Papercut' Story | Invite

[Avenyx Bevan]

CAIROKA'S GATE - ODESSEN
1838 HOURS LOCAL
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It was almost dusk in Odessen's southern continent, and a cool draft seemed to sweep through the caves and caverns as less of a whistle and more of a low, haunting moan. One got used to it after awhile, but there were moments that were still a bit spooky. Avenyx Bevan sat in the briefing room's smaller alcove, studying a map that rotated slowly over the surface of the table. It was outlined in blue and all-but filled win the grey, with the exception of a few jabs of blue where the fog of war had cleared thanks to a few preliminary probes. There was also a red blotch right off to the left. Her eyes kept returning to it, then back to the grey, that frustrating fog of war that she couldn't force to resolve into a clearer picture.

Well, not yet.

She looked up as the doors slid open, her eyes alighting upon Ivo Mozorov through the map. She raised a hand in a half-wave but didn't rise. "Agent Mozorov," she said. "Sorry to say you drew the short straw on this one. But you might be pleased to know there's hazard pay, if that's any consolation. Come and have a seat, I'll explain."

Bevan waited, taking off her reading glasses and setting them on the table next to her notes. When Mozorov had settled in, Bevan clicked a key on her remote. "This is the Nullwake Gyre, a highly volatile pocket of space lightyears from anything, out way past the Perann Nebula." She touched a spot on the map. "As part of a cache of intelligence recently provided by an asset from the former Galactic Alliance, we've uncovered a tool that we believe will help us make the most of the asset we hope to recover as part of Operation: Papercut. Even if not -- if we do not recover the Arquitens -- this tool could well be dangerous in the wrong hands. So we are going to recover it."

She paused a moment. "Not -- you and I. That's not this mission. The tool in question is the Multi-Node Intelligence & Navigation Environment for Reconnaissance & Vector Analysis -- Minerva, for short. Originally developed as a Virtual Intelligence assistant for the SIA, it was lost on its host ship's -- the Liberty's Penumbra -- first run toward Sith Space, and the handwringers at the SIA thought it was in too dangerous a position to be recovered. Now, to be clear, if even half of what the SIA described about the Gyre is true, it will be incredibly dangerous. But there is already evidence of pirate and scavenger activity in the region, and if they manage to get a hold of Minerva, there's no telling the kind of damage they could do. So we need to act fast."

She touched a screen and the map changed to a short, looping video clip showing a vast spiraling vortex, flashing with vivid blue lightning, a chaotic and volatile asteroid field, not to mention debris. The wreckage in the shot was not behaving as one would expect them to behave based on an understanding of the physics that should have been at play. "The Gyre is unpredictable. We've had reports the electrical discharges and storms raging in the system flashing sensors, downing comms, overloading shields, and generally playing havoc with ships, systems, and people. Gravity doesn't work like it should. Engines don't."

Bevan went back to the original map, mostly grey, little dribs and drabs of blue, red splotch. "This is what we know of the system. The probes that took that video? Made it this far in before they were destroyed. Unclear by what, but it could be anything -- debris, rock, lightning strike, or even a scavenger. We know they're probing the system the same as we are. I'm going to have to ask Striker Squadron for backup on our mission to recover it, and for that I know their commanding officers will want details in order to approve the request, so he knows his men aren't flying into a meatgrinder. Unfortunately those details are details our probes can't seem to get on their own. So that will be our mission. We'll take a ship with a long-range sensor suite into the Nullwake Gyre, get as much data as we can, and maybe even get some probes to fly past Liberty's Penumbra to get a better idea of what we're getting ourselves into."

She sat back, folded her arms, fixing her glassy eyes on Ivo Mozorov . "Questions?"