“SecCen, this is Agent Hawkins. Doctor Larson has been escorted to her quarters, and I'm currently en route back to the Hub. Over.”
“Copy that, Stevens is doing a last sweep of the area and will rendezvous at Checkpoint B3. SecCen out.”
Security Central, or “SecCen” as it was referred to, had been busily preparing for the journey through the Eye, and Gavon found himself pacing once again from one console to the other, ensuring consistency in both his dispatch team as well as the computer information. Natalie assured her husband on more than one occasion that he wasn’t necessarily expected to monitor every little piece of activity happening within his Division, and that the AI was here to help alleviate that work. However, this was really the first day for him as Chief of Security, the first real day since they left Earth, and he was going to make sure nothing went wrong on his watch.
It seemed that the launch was successful so far, albeit leaving a wake of sorrow in it’s trail for many, and yet for others, a glimmer of hope toward a new future. Radio check-ins from various Agents throughout the Ark caused endless chatter within the main communications room, where a half dozen specialists received, transmitted, and relayed information to each Patrol Agent per written instructions by Chief TreVayne. The post-launch camera outages which occurred on various levels -as per Chief of Engineering, Calhound- were most likely due to signal disruptions on the initial takeoff, but his team have nevertheless been dispatched to resolve the issues. He didn’t know much about the Engineering Chief, except from brief glimpses of personnel reports, and relatively positive reviews of his work ethics. Overall, he trusted Chief Xaith Calhound enough to keep the large metal boat from sinking, partly because he seemed a man bound by duty, but more so because he really had no other choice but to trust him.
A message from the Archives section came through, and to the disappointment of many patrol agents, the request for additional guards for a temporary amount of time while the administration personnel stepped away for a short break. As much as Agent of the Security Division wanted to see action on a daily basis, some assignments were rather low on their list of places to be, and the Archives was probably one of them. Either way, they all knew their duty was to the safety of the Vitae and it’s crew, regardless of their post.
For the most part, it was typical protocol for the Security Division of the Vitae, and aside from a few minor incidents that were quickly resolved, things were running as any well-oiled machine should be…
And then the ghost ship arrived, bringing with it a whole new set of problems.
Shortly after Locke’s announcement came over the ship wide communication system, power was being diverted to various engine functions, causing a slight flux of system response within Security Central’s main hub and it’s sub-bases.
“This is Chief TreVayne, I need all non-active Agents suited up and ready A-SAP and all active Agents will need to begin security protocols Alpha-Niner-Two-Six-Charlie in their respective sectors. Safety of the crew comes first. This is not a drill, I repeat this is not a drill.”
The Chief locked his gaze onto the multiplex monitors that showed crowds of crewmembers quickly exiting the Hub, Eden, and various other recreational districts that a good majority of the civilian and non-essential population frequented. Agents throughout the Ark initiated a “crowd control” protocol, sealing off certain areas of the ships from further unauthorized access, and funneling massive crowds toward the transit systems where they would be greeted and escorted by additional Agents until safety secured in their quarters. Panicked and concerned questions were presented to just about every Agent at one time or another, but the same answer came as though it had been rehearsed a thousand times: “This is Ark-wide safety protocol”.
In the chaos though, most of the Agents themselves didn’t quite know what was transpiring outside of the ship, nor whether the Vitae was going to make it to the Eye, but it wasn’t their job to worry about the unknown.
“Chief...” Natalie spoke up, all the while multi-tasking through keycode inputs, diagnostic readouts, and network signals. “Scanning system security and firewall integrity as yielded very little trace of any network breach that we’ve detected as of yet. On top of that, Noah, has been essentially pulled in so many directions that response times have dropped slightly, but he’s reassured me that there is no breach as of yet.”
Natalie looked over at her husband, whose arms were crossed and his expression a mixture of doubt and anger. She didn’t envy him in a time like this, but knew Gavon could handle the position as Chief of Security better than most, and with a vast team of trained Agents backing his command, wouldn’t allow any incident to go down without a fight.
Fuzzybootz
Heat