The Ambitious Puppet

[Dab]

May, 819 A.S.

Ancient stories say that looking into Medusa's eyes turns you into stone, and her hair writhes with the movement of a dozen snakes. A temptress and demon, she was thought of in equal parts awe and fear. Standing two hundred meters above the floor on a rickety catwalk might bring the petrification aspect of Medusa's story real. The mass of twisting cables covering it certainly resembled the iconic hair made of snakes. But it wasn't awe, or fear, that Evyn felt as she gazed on the bloated metal construct bearing her name. It was a seething rage that rose in her.

The hundred-meter diameter sphere suspended in the center of the BIS facility was the culmination of years of Bretonian Intelligence technological and counter-intelligence effort. The Medusa Project, aptly named for the remarkable physical resemblance the massive supercomputer had to the mythical creature, was the epitome of surveillance and intelligence capability. The project had been one of the best kept secrets in Bretonia.

It had taken her years to find the location of the facility, and she had spent the last nine months getting access inside. The last two of which had been spent in intensive preparation and infiltration. She had been "missing" for those two months, and the news networks were abuzz with rumors about her disappearance combined with the recent row she had had with newly-returned Fleet Admiral Frasier.

Obviously, she was not at the facility under the identity of Evyn Hunter, Admiral of the Armed Forces. Instead she had assumed the role of a scientist, a technical analyst assigned to the project to assist in final checks and the first live tests of the system. She had taken to her role in earnest, not only to keep cover, but to collect as much data on Medusa as possible.

It was vital to her that this project were never recreated - and that she punish its creators in the way it'd hurt the most.

The blaring of sirens and the flashing of red lights jolted her from her thoughts. For a few seconds, she panicked, the sudden sound surprising her, before getting control of herself. This was planned, everything was prepared. She rushed off the catwalk and took the lift back to the ground floor, covered in as many serpents as Medusa's head. She picked her way across the chamber to the single entrance, and exit, where she joined the throng of scientists being herded out. Once outside, half of the scientists were taken away, still flanked by guards, to be taken out a separate exit from the facility to a secure location. All procedure.

She was left with three scientists, two men, herself, and another woman. Evyn moved closer to her as the entire group went down a second corridor. The woman was the chief security technician for Medusa, responsible for developing the software protocols protecting the computer's systems, and had been doing so for six years. Following the project's secrecy guidelines, she had also been assigned to design the facility's security system. From the viewpoint of the BIS Directorship, less people meant better secrecy, and it had proven to be an astonishingly good policy.

Fortunately, it also meant that a single woman held the keys to Medusa and the facility that held it.

As the group arrived at the door to the second escape tunnel, Evyn stiffened. This would be the first obstacle to her plan. She stood just inches from Kathryn, the security technician, as one of the guards tried to unlock the door. The four scientists, herself included, were huddled against the wall with two guards shielding them as they covered the corridor they had come through. The third was at the door, and the last, the commander, was standing with the scientists, coordinating the facility's security teams via a headset.

Finally the third guard made the announcement she was waiting for. "The door is locked, the access codes are being rejected." This marked the first stage of her plan. She glanced at the guard commander as he stepped towards the door. He returned her glance and nodded, almost imperceptibly. For just a moment everyone around them was looking away, the scientists towards the door, the guards down the corridor. They had only seconds in their window to act. She stepped right up behind Kathryn, covering her mouth with one hand and wrapping her other around the woman's abdomen as she dragged the woman to the floor. As she did, she clinched her eyes as tightly as possible.

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