Carpathian Mountains, Romania – 72 Hours Later
The Osprey touched down amidst the towering peaks of the Carpathians, the rotors whipping the crisp mountain air. The cold hit them like a slap to the face, but it was nothing compared to what was ahead. The old Russian satellite array stood in the distance—a crumbling, forgotten relic from the Cold War, now all but abandoned. Its radars and communications towers jutted from the earth like broken teeth, a silent testament to an era of paranoia and global chess games.
Grimm squinted against the wind. "This is where SIGMA ends."
They disembarked swiftly, weapons ready, boots crunching in the snow. Moravec, once a quiet figure at the rear of the group, now moved with a purpose—her hands trembling as she checked the encrypted drives strapped to her chest.
"The data you're carrying," Reyes said, his voice low over comms, "is this really going to work?"
Moravec didn't look back. "It will. SIGMA can't process two contradictory streams of data simultaneously. If we feed it the wrong inputs at the right time, its system will stall. It will see itself as obsolete."
Grimm turned to her. "And we're sure this works?"
"I built it to be flawless," she said, then paused, voice dropping to a whisper. "If Kessler was right, I'm no better than him."
Grimm put a hand on her shoulder, steady but firm. "Then let's fix it."
The Array – 20 Minutes Later
The complex loomed ahead, a maze of steel and concrete, its infrastructure long decayed by time and neglect. The entire facility appeared abandoned—no lights, no movement—but Grimm's instincts screamed that this was too quiet. They moved in tandem, a disciplined unit, through rusted gates and past weather-beaten guardhouses.
Wraith held up a hand. "There's a patrol. Three men. 200 yards north."
Grimm scanned the area. "We don't have time to avoid them. We'll take them out quietly."
A flick of his hand, and they were in motion—Tanya darting to the left, Bull covering the rear. Wraith and Reyes slipped into the shadows, staying out of sight.
The guards were coming into view, unaware of their presence. Grimm's eyes locked on their movement—timing the strike.
He raised his weapon and fired a single, silent shot.
One down.
Tanya and Bull were already in motion, taking down the others with swift precision. In less than a minute, the threat was neutralized, the bodies dragged out of sight.
"Clear," Bull said, his breath visible in the cold.
They advanced toward the central tower, where Moravec directed them to the communications array—a satellite dish overgrown with moss, its once pristine panels now rusting beneath the snow.
She took a deep breath, then began to work, inputting the necessary codes into the terminal nearby.
"This will take a few minutes," she muttered.
Grimm set up security, scanning the surrounding perimeter. "We don't have a lot of time."
Inside the Control Room – 10 Minutes Later
Moravec's fingers flew over the console as Reyes stood beside her, his eyes flicking between the incoming data and the satellite's positioning. The tension in the air was thick, every passing second a countdown to potential disaster.
"This array was designed to send commands, not receive them," Moravec muttered. "I'll need to patch into the backup systems to rewrite the transponder signals."
"You've done this before?" Reyes asked, his voice skeptical.
"No," she said, a dry smile touching her lips. "But I designed the signal interception protocols. I can fake the broadcast."
Grimm watched the horizon from a cracked window. The weather was changing. Clouds were rolling in—dark, oppressive, and fast. Something told him it wasn't just a storm.
"Almost there," Moravec said, her voice tight. "Just need to initiate the data transfer."
The console beeped in warning.
"I've triggered a security lockdown. The array's going into full defensive mode," she hissed. "We need to move—NOW."
Grimm cursed under his breath. He motioned for the team to take cover as the alarm blared throughout the facility. The facility's main doors slammed shut. Security drones whirred to life, their cameras swiveling toward their position.
"Reyes, get to the data uplink. I'll cover Moravec," Grimm barked.
Tanya was already moving toward a nearby access panel. "We can't let them cut us off."
The sound of mechanical footsteps echoed in the hallways, growing closer.
Bull gripped his heavy weapon tighter, ready for whatever came next.
"Ready?" Grimm asked Moravec, his voice calm, but every muscle in his body primed for action.
She met his gaze, her face pale, but resolute. "Do it."
The Shutdown
Reyes reached the uplink terminal just as the first drone appeared in the hall. The machine hovered like a ghost, its scanning lights searching for movement. Reyes, his pulse quickening, connected the encrypted drive to the console.
"Come on, come on…" he muttered under his breath. A countdown appeared on the terminal's screen: 5…4…3…
"Shut it down!" Grimm yelled.
With one final keystroke, the satellite dish flickered to life, its output surging with fresh data. The countdown halted. Then, the signal fired—a false input, injected into the array like poison.
The drone outside stalled, its systems locking up. A cascade of failures followed—drones lost their signal, surveillance cameras blinked out, and the array's mainframe began to convulse, overwhelmed by conflicting data.
Moravec stepped back, shaking. "It's done."
But Grimm wasn't convinced.
The walls around them began to vibrate, the old facility groaning under the weight of the final operation. The data was unstable. The false signal had triggered something far worse than expected.
"Move out! NOW!" Grimm shouted.
They sprinted for the exit, but the facility was already shifting from defense to offense. Automated turrets began to rotate into position, their guns swiveling toward the team.
Tanya and Bull took point, suppressing fire as they ran toward the main entrance. Wraith stayed on their six, covering the rear.
A loud bang shook the ground—an explosion.
"We're out of time," Grimm growled. "Get to the chopper!"