RTS System in the Apocalypse: New World

Kordula went quiet for several seconds.

The two automated escorts remained behind the DASFs, their lenses fixed on the reinforced door ahead.

Matilda waited. A soft tone sounded from the control panel beside it.

"Overseer Weissenberg requesting access to Security Administration Section Four."

"Confirm supervisory purpose."

Kordula answered more slowly than before.

"Emergency systems inspection."

"Request conflicts with current external-personnel restrictions."

Matilda looked toward the nearest camera. Kordula spoke before the system could continue.

"Override these restrictions. Authorize all eight personnel through Section Four."

"Request denied. Supervisory behavior demonstrates repeated reduction of established facility safeguards."

"External personnel remain unidentified."

"External personnel remain armed."

"External personnel are approaching protected automated-security infrastructure."

Kordula’s voice hardened.

"I am ordering you to grant them access."

"Order rejected."

The lights beside the reinforced door changed from yellow to red.

"Overseer Kordula Weissenberg. Supervisory security clearance revoked."

Kordula inhaled sharply through the speaker.

"ASS-116, cancel that action."

"Request denied."

"Restore supervisory clearance! I order you as the Overseer!"

"Request denied."

Several locks engaged somewhere inside the corridor. The two security units behind the DASFs unfolded their weapon assemblies.

Matilda raised one hand. Both squads spread without stepping away from the door.

Kordula spoke again, much faster this time.

"Damn it! It’s learning faster than I expected! Fairy, listen to me."

Matilda kept her attention on the machines.

"I’m listening."

"The normal shutdown procedure is gone. Don’t bother with it anymore. Once my clearance is revoked, the security layer won’t accept the sequence."

The ASS interrupted.

"Overseer Weissenberg, cease communication with unauthorized external personnel."

Kordula ignored it.

"There’s a DAEDALUS emergency kill-switch. It’s a physical failsafe. It doesn’t need my current clearance. It will activate once—"

One of the security units moved. Specter shifted with it.

"Overseer Weissenberg, terminate communication."

Kordula kept talking.

"Damn it! Security Administration Section Four. Deep office level, eastern side! Look for an old supervisory office marked S-four-A. The secured equipment room is behind it."

Matilda committed every word to memory.

The synchronized map still showed the underground section around them, but the deeper structure had become increasingly vague. Rooms overlapped across different elevations while corridors disappeared into the same rough shapes.

"How do we activate it?" Matilda asked.

"There’s a red emergency case inside a small safe on S-four-A. The code is 15L-32R-26L-99L-82R! The kill-switch is a physical drive. Take it to the AWP control server in the equipment room and insert it into the emergency—"

The ASS spoke over her again.

"Unauthorized disclosure of protected security infrastructure detected."

"Overseer Weissenberg is ordered to cease transmission."

Kordula’s voice sharpened.

"Shut it, you damn robot!"

The nearest camera turned away from the DASFs. For the first time, it pointed somewhere deeper inside the facility.

Kordula noticed.

"Oh, fuck."

The words came out before whatever control she had been maintaining could stop them.

"Once the server reads the drive, ASS-116 will be forced down. Do not touch anything else!"

A warning tone filled the corridor.

"Overseer Weissenberg."

"Protected supervisory personnel status under review."

Kordula continued as though she had not heard it.

"The office is several levels below you, but I can’t give you a clean route anymore. There are two service branches after the next junction. Both will eventually reach the administration level. Use whichever one stays open."

Matilda glanced toward Specter. Two squads and two routes, all pointing to the same objective.

Kordula’s breathing came through the speaker.

"Fairy, if this thing starts shooting at you—"

The ASS spoke again.

"Overseer Weissenberg has demonstrated continued suspicious cooperation with unauthorized hostile personnel."

"Protected personnel safety has been compromised. Security classification updated."

Kordula cut across it.

"Don’t destroy more than you have to! Just reach the kill-switch and end its control. Here, I’ll open one last door for you."

The door opened enough for the DASFs to pass. Matilda’s eyes narrowed slightly.

"And you?"

Kordula spoke again, her words beginning to break under another burst of static.

"I’ll keep them off for as long as I can. Don’t worry about me. I know this facility better—"

A sharp metallic sound came through the speaker from somewhere on Kordula’s end.

"Overseer Weissenberg, remain in your assigned protected area. Security units are on their—"

"Go fuck your—"

The speaker died. Every floor light in the corridor went red.

The reinforced door began closing almost as soon as Kordula’s transmission disappeared.

"Overseer Weissenberg has been compromised. Initiating containment protocol on—"

Matilda turned and fired.

Three .338 rounds struck the nearest security unit across its upper assembly. The first sparked against the armor, while the next two tore into the exposed weapon mount as it started rotating toward them.

"Move!"

She was already through the opening.

Bar, Saint, and Vesper followed immediately. Specter Squad crossed behind them while the second security unit brought its weapon forward.

Warden fired on the move.

The round struck one of its frontal lenses. Harrow followed with another shot into the same section, breaking the housing apart before the machine could finish aligning its weapon.

A burst of gunfire came through the narrowing doorway.

Rounds struck the reinforced frame and the opposite wall, throwing fragments of concrete and metal into the corridor.

Specter crossed last.

The door came down behind him with less than a meter remaining. Another burst struck the other side.

The reinforced panel sealed. A mechanical lock engaged immediately afterward.

The corridor ahead was already changing. Red warning lights replaced the white route markers Kordula had been using, while several doors farther inside began closing one after another.

The facility speakers activated.

"Warning: Unauthorized hostile activity confirmed."

"External personnel security classification updated."

"Extermination response initiated."

Matilda ran.

The next junction appeared ahead exactly where Kordula had said it would. One service corridor turned left and continued downward. The other passed through a narrower access section to the right. There was no longer a useful route highlighted on their displays.

Matilda pointed right.

"Specter, take that side. We’ll take the left. Find S-four-A."

"Copy."

Specter turned without slowing. Chancel, Warden, and Harrow followed him into the right passage while Matilda led Bar, Saint, and Vesper down the left.

Their friendly markers remained visible on the synchronized map, but the Physical Radar Facility had lost most of the useful underground structure around them.

Several corridors appeared almost on top of one another. Rooms from different levels blended into broad shapes, while the elevation readings shifted enough that Matilda could no longer tell which passage actually connected to which.

Specter Squad moved east on the display.

Their markers seemed almost parallel with Matilda’s group despite the two squads having taken different corridors.

...

Outside the station, the first alarm sirens began carrying across the river.

Hans looked toward the Nuclear Power Station as another siren joined it. His Radar changed as several scattered groups around the northern approaches had begun turning toward the sound.

He opened the command channel.

"Golden Eagle to Fairy. Do you copy?"

Static crossed the response.

"Fairy reads you."

"The station’s alarms just went active. Infected are already moving toward the area."

"Our entry has been compromised. We’re moving to shut down the facility’s security systems."

"Understood. Handle the inside."

Hans changed channels.

"Flight Operations, establish a defensive screen around the Nuclear Power Station. Stay outside restricted airspace. Engage anything approaching the facility. No strikes inside the perimeter."

"Flight Operations copies."

Hans returned to Matilda’s channel.

"We’ll keep the outside clear."

"Received. Fairy, out."

Matilda closed the channel.

The left passage widened into another maintenance section. A security unit was already moving into position at the far end. Its weapon assembly unfolded before the DASFs reached the center of the corridor.

"Hostile external personnel detected."

Matilda raised her HCMAR.

The machine fired first this time. The burst crossed the corridor at chest height.

Matilda shifted left. Bar and Saint separated to the opposite side while Vesper dropped behind a structural column. The rounds passed between them and struck the wall farther back.

Matilda fired twice.

One round struck the weapon housing. The second entered the joint beneath it and forced the assembly sideways.

Bar added another shot into the damaged section.

The weapon stopped moving yet the machine continued forward.

Saint fired into one of its front legs. The .338 round punched through the exposed joint as the machine stepped. Its body dropped sharply on one side, scraped across the floor, then pushed itself onward using the remaining legs.

Matilda did not wait for it to recover.

"Past it."

The damaged machine tried to turn while the four DASFs passed along the opposite side of the corridor. Its remaining weapon mount twitched toward them but could no longer track properly.

Vesper fired once into the nearest lens before following the others and leaving it behind.

Another security warning sounded throughout the level.

"External personnel proceeding toward restricted infrastructure."

"All automated security units within Section Four are authorized for interdiction."

Matilda reached the next intersection. Three routes branched from it, but none carried the S-four-A designation.

The synchronized map showed Specter Squad somewhere east of them, but their four markers had begun overlapping with another section of the underground structure. Matilda could still tell that they were moving. She could no longer tell whether they were on the same level.

"Fairy."

Specter’s voice came through the squad channel.

"Go ahead."

"We’ve reached another split. No office designation."

"Same here."

Matilda checked the walls.

Most of the signs identified utility sectors, access numbers, and maintenance zones. Security Administration Section Four appeared nowhere in sight. Farther down the center passage, something mechanical struck a door.

Vesper turned toward the sound.

"More incoming."

Matilda looked between the three routes.

"Keep searching. First squad to locate S-four-A calls the other."

"Copy."

The channel closed. Matilda took the center passage.

Behind them, the damaged security unit had started moving again.

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