Chapter 201

# Chapter 201 ## SERAPHINA Command was already in crisis mode when we arrived. The main display showed a tactical overview of New Athens—our network of interconnected facilities spread across the northern hemisphere like luminous nodes in a web. Three of them pulsed red: Stations Seven, Nineteen, and Twenty-Three. Geographically dispersed, functionally distinct, but all experiencing identical anomalies. Chen stood at the center console, her face carved from ice and determination. Around her, technicians worked with barely controlled urgency, voices clipped and professional despite the tension crackling through the air. "Report," she said without preamble as we approached. Kael pulled up the synchronized data streams. "Fifteen-second dropout in collective field integrity, identical signature to this morning's event. But the timing—" "Suggests coordination," I finished. My implants were already processing the pattern, overlaying the three incidents onto our network topology. "They're not