An Apex-class MagLev glided silently to a stop along one of the many platforms in the central station beneath the Centreon. A series of tones heralded its arrival and the doors whisked open. Ursula Wilks disembarked the train and walked with a sense of urgency to the nearest elevator.

Ursula was a no-nonsense business woman in her fifties, shrewd and articulate, who had attained her high position through her tireless hard work and steadfast dedication to the job. Her hair was uniformly pewter and cut in a conservative bob, lending to her distinguished look. Always impeccably dressed, her attire was strictly professional, she had no time for fashion statements. Fearless in the boardroom, she swam with the sharks, for she was one herself.

Not one to apologize for achieving such success, she made no effort to disguise the fact she very much enjoyed the power bestowed upon her. She liked to be in charge and rarely had to take orders from anyone, a perk of her position. However, Niles was not just anyone, nor someone you could summarily dismiss, he was one of the very few people Ursula would defer to.

This thing with Wagner and Niles had been stewing for as long as she could remember. When she was an intern researcher fresh out of university, she would hear about them, the see-saw battle between the two was an oft-debated topic among the newly employed scions. Even then their power struggle was legend.

She was having trouble believing Niles was really going to try to remove Wagner from the equation. There was a polarity to that relationship, a necessary natural dichotomy. It was a balance that many powerful people secretly wanted in place. Wagner kept Niles in check.

It was ludicrous, perhaps insane, she thought. Wagner was essential not only to the day-to-day operations of the Core, but he held the keys to a wealth of Second Age information stored in the Cortex databases. Yes, her teams had been researching how to obtain that data without Wagner's knowledge or consent, and yes, they had made some progress, but she felt apprehensive about actually attempting it. Theories are just theories after all.

The express elevator did not provide much time for introspection and too soon she arrived on the top floor. The doors opened to a long hallway of brilliant white Creole marble, that lead to his office. She didn't remember the marblel from her last visit, a gift from Atlans she guessed. She took a deep breath. It was time to face Niles.

"Come in Ursula, take a seat." Niles said as she entered. Ursula not prepared for his beaten appearance. She tried to conceal her surprise and made every effort to avoid staring at his swollen eye. The odor of liquor lingered in the air, a bottle sat uncorked out in the open and by the looks of it, his glass was recently topped up.

"What happened to you?" She could not help but ask.

"We had an incident in the MemEx Lab," Niles pursed his lips and looked around, choosing his words, "it's being handled. What I want to hear from you is where are we with regard to Wagner. Can we disable his construct?"

"Disable?"

Niles cleared his throat, "Let me make this clear, I have no intent of leaving Wagner intact after the events of today. He has proven to be a significant security risk to us and can no longer be trusted. Containment is not enough. We have managed to seal him off in the Cortex network, but he has already prevented our physical access to the the site and now he has time to think. I know him, I know him like I know myself and he's already a step ahead of us, he's planning something. It is imperative we get to him before he is able to execute whatever it is he plans to do next.

We will gain access soon though and when we do I need to know your team is up to the task at hand. I want Wagner taken out of the picture and I want the databases preserved. The Cortex must remain usable because we don't have the ability to transfer the databases. As you know, we have no technology that is compatible with the Second Age bio-based data systems, so the current storage arrays in there must be kept viable. That's imperative. At least until your team has a break-through and I'm sure that will happen very soon."

"So you send in a Guardian?"

"We need to get in there now, Ursula. Wagner is trapped, he knows we are trying to gain entry and he likely knows what we intend to do. My concern is what he might do if he has too much time in there to think."

"You still have his son, can't you leverage that? Perhaps Erik can open the door or he can talk Wagner into surrendering." Ursula proposed.

"That has been considered and dismissed at a viable option, Wagner won't go for it. At this juncture, it's rather pointless..." he trailed off.

Ursula picked up on it immediately, "you're going to kill Erik too?! He's a child Niles."

"He's not a child!" Niles roared, slamming his fist down. "He and Wagner are not of this Age, they are constructs, remnants of another Age. They are more like AI, they are synthetic, they are not of flesh and blood, and they no longer belong in this world." He rose from his desk. "I want you to assemble your team, gather what you need and be ready, that door is going to be opened, one way or another and I want this thing done."

"As you wish Niles." Ursula stood and went off to prep her team. There was no point to arguing. Yet, Erik was a child, she thought, there was no easy way around it. Calling him a construct does nothing to change the fact that he's still a little boy. The thought of killing a child did not sit well with her.

* * * * *

Back at the church, Nic was still analyzing the quantum bridge documentation, while Katherine monitored the network. There had been no traffic destined for the far side of the bridge and certainly nothing originating from within it. Nic got up and stretched, walked around his lab, his stomach grumbled and his head was beginning to ache.

"I'm just going to take a quick break and run down the the kitchen, I'll be back in a minute." He told Katherine. She chittered in response.

Nic literally ran to the kitchen and hastily filled a plate with whatever he could find. Some cheese, a few grapes, a croissant and a leftover piece of ham. He grabbed a cup of coffee and went straight back to the lab as fast as he could manage without spilling his coffee or losing any items off the plate.

When he entered the lab the first thing he noticed was Katherine's eyes were blue and flickering madly, something was happening. His display was alive with activity, as Katherine fed data to his systems. He quickly jumped back into his chair, a couple errant grapes rolled off the plate onto the desk. He scanned the display, Katherine was dumping a large sum of data, someone had crossed the bridge.

"Katherine, what did I miss?" Her eyes blinked back to a soft white. "Who went in?"

She was still decoding all the data, but a few seconds later a username popped up on Nic's display. WilksU6443. This was followed by three unique CIT keys. He squinted as he peered at the data, there was something else, another encoded hash was presented for authorization, a passphrase perhaps, or a chronologically-based keycode. "Katherine, replay the authorization scheme against the bridge. We're going to have to be fast about it." He checked the worm count again, there was significant penetration of the Core network. "If their security is any good at all, our access will be detected almost immediately, if Erik is there, we need to get him out fast! Go."

Katherine replayed the whole authentication stream and just like that, the bridge was open and Nic was in. He had no time to relish what was the greatest hack of his life.

Over in the Core's Network Security Operations Center, the adaptive intrusion detection display lit up like a Christmas tree prompting several analysts to bolt upright and take notice, one immediately opened an urgent comm channel.

Nic quickly created an outbound tunnel back to his network, it was sloppy, far from transparent and readily traceable. It made him cringe. He input a code Wagner had left him with and broadcast it through the R&D network. It only took a second before data began to flow back into Nic's system, it was apparent that Erik got the message loud and clear and understood the gravity of the situation.

Nic had Katherine disconnect to gain a little extra bandwidth and then he realized he had no idea how much space Erik would require so he started scrounging the lab, bringing out-dated storage systems online and connecting anything he could find that would give him more space. Erik's data continued to flow inbound at an ever-increasing rate until all Nic's network feeds were saturated.

Nic kept a constant eye on the Core network, he knew his activity had painted him with a large bull's eye. His paranoia quickly paid off as a network security engineer accessed the R&D network, Nic tried to kill the engineer's socket, but failed. Instead it was he who was disconnected.

"Damn it!" Nic swore as he retried accessing the Core through his backdoor. Nic breathed a sigh of relief when he got connected again. It was obvious that they were out of time, he would have to risk triggering the worms with Erik still in transit. The outbound tunnel should not be affected, but hopefully it would keep the NetSec engineers busy. He brought up the command and control application for the worms and issued the command Jericho - and killed all his connections to the Core.

The worm's malicious payload was designed for one thing, mayhem. The essence of the code was another benefit from doing business with foreign powers, Nic had expropriated it, reverse engineered it and made it his own. In the world of malicious code, it was as lethal as it gets. A digital pandemic.

Meta NetSec got to witness this first hand as systems began failing at an alarming rate including a few analyst systems right there in Operations. Analysts were running around, Managers were screaming and calls from departments throughout the Centreon briefly maxed out the comms servers, just before they went offline for good. In an effort to stay ahead of the outbreak, one of the Managers used his personal Netpod to try to contact systems engineers in other departments and instructed them to disconnect from the central network. Desperate, but effective.

Within minutes vast portions of the Centreon network were dark, even those departments that disconnected still had localized infections raging. High up in the executive department, Niles Netpod chimed cordially, the innocuous tone a stark contrast to the message about to be delivered.

Niles answered and listened intently with a frown as the NetSec department head informed him of the widespread problems. As the voice on the comm continue on about containment protocols, forensic log analysis and recovery options, Niles began to realize this would incapacitate the Paladin Recall effort and make Ursula's work near impossible until the problem was resolved. When the engineer was done there was a long, uncomfortable silence, then Niles spoke.

"What exactly is this 'infection', as you say?" he asked.

"I have a full team working on it, we isolated a sample from one of our analysts machines and we are working it up offline. It bears all the hallmarks of foreign military."

"Why was it not detected earlier?"

"Unknown at this time, we believe it may have been cloaked by another application, it appeared in too many places simultaneously to have come in through the usual vectors. It was somehow deployed surreptitiously and triggered."

"By who?"

"I don't have an answer for you on that, sir. We had an intrusion alert on the R&D Q-Bridge, an analyst investigated and found an unauthorized open socket and killed it. Shortly thereafter this outbreak occurred and prevented further analysis of the intrusion."

"Did you get a trace?"

"Yes. But it's inconclusive."

"Approximate origin?"

"We think Old Cities. It could be a foreign operative working from here, or a compromised system acting as a proxy. At this point we can't even be sure the trace was accurate."

"Did you say the R&D Q-Bridge?"

"Yes." the engineer replied. He overheard only part of a curse as Niles disconnected abruptly.

Niles burst out of his office, stabbing his finger at his Netpod violently, trying to establish a connection with Ursula Wilks. As he headed for the elevators his executive assistant called after him, "They're out of order, sir!" Without even acknowledging his assistant, he turned and continued quickly to the stairs. He got a connection just as he entered the stairwell, Ursula sounded frazzled.

"Hi Niles, we are having some major issues down here."

"I'm aware of the issues, what is the status on Erik's containment?"

They was a pause. "Erik is gone, he somehow managed to get across the Q-Bridge."

"He had help." Niles informed.

"Who?"

"I don't know yet. Can we track Erik?"

"Not with the current state of things, we have a major system outage down here and we disconnected from the Centreon mesh. We are pretty much in the dark."

"And what of Wagner?"

"Can't do anything from here, I could still send a team down to the Cortex, but I'd advise against that right now with things the way they are. We simply don't have the resources available, can Wagner wait?"

Niles thought a moment, pausing on the landing. "No, this cannot wait, bring your team down to the Cortex, I'll try to meet you there. Are any of these damn elevators working?" He asked, realizing how many flights of stairs he would have to descend otherwise.

"I'm not sure Niles, I know ours have power, but they won't open."

"I'll take the Jumper then, that will be much quicker. See you down there. Don't enter the Cortex area until the Guardian is finished." Niles reversed course and went up a few flights to the roof.

On the roof was a landing area about the size of a football field, surrounded by small hangars. On the blacktop were scores of sleek Jumpers that were used by the elite and executive class to flit about the Core, jumping from building to building. The Jumpers are near the size of a limousine, seating four comfortably, plus the pilot. Four lifter engines, which can rotate from vertical to horizontal, set at each corner provided propulsion. Niles personal Jumper was painted a brilliant white with the company logo splashed all over it. It was a rarity in the skies above the Core, as few could afford this top end model. Niles hopped in and keyed the intercom.

"Kennedy, take me to the parking deck above the Mag Station."

"Yes sir." The pilot replied, as she flipped some switches and brought the Jumper to life. It took less than two minutes to make the descent. "Shall I wait, sir?" She asked.

"Yes, there are some issues with the elevators right now."

"Very well." The pilot answered.

Although the elevator issue was curious, the pilot had long ago learned to kowtow to certain people, people like Niles, whether or not they deserved the respect. Being a Jumper pilot was usually a pretty good job. The pay was excellent. Being Niles' pilot was even better, insofar as the money was concerned, if you could put up with Niles. The pilot's days in MCSF made her very accustomed to the chain of command, and her days spent flying Jumpers in the South Desert War made her an excellent pilot.

She often spent a lot of time waiting for Niles, perched on some rooftop. Time she often spent reminiscing about her combat experiences. The intensity of air combat had a way of burning memories into you mind whether you wanted them there or not.

The corporate Jumpers had nothing on their military counterparts, the ones she now piloted were slow, comfortable and well-appointed, but there was little thrill piloting them. On rare occasions, when Niles was in a hurry, she might get to fly in a more spirited manner, but there is only so much you can do in an exec Jumper.

The R-Type Jumper she flew in the war was a wickedly agile, screaming-fast aircraft. The R-type was capable of changing direction so fast, pilots in dogfights sometimes broke bones from maneuvers alone. She never broke a bone, but got beat up quite seriously on numerous occasions, she sustained a concussion late in the war, it impaired her performance and she knew it, after 42 confirmed kills it was time to move on.

Corporate Jumper pilot was a perfect retirement, and since the rich and powerful had a tendency to clamour for pilots with impressive combat records - some sort of vicarious bragging right - she was a hot commodity. In addition to her kills she previously held the record for dodging the dart. With a record like that Kennedy rose quickly through the field of Jumper pilots. By her third year she was already Niles backup pilot and now she was his number one.

Kennedy flared the Jumper slightly and touched down like a butterfly on a blade of grass, perfectly centered in a parking spot on the deck. Niles disembarked without a word as per routine as she powered down the aircraft.

Niles proceeded to the nearby stairwell, it was still a fair walk to the Cortex. The engineers and NetSec team were told to fallback to a rally point while the Guardian dealt with the door. Ursula's team was to meet Niles there.

Niles arrived first, his presence making everyone uneasy, as it usually did. Niles asked a select few of the head people in attendance some pointed questions about their failure to gain entry to the Cortex. The ever increasing volume of his voice made it obvious he was not getting the answers he wanted.

The team leaders got a reprieve when Ursula and her team showed up. Several men were hauling equipment on carts, large tanks with biohazard markings and computer systems. They were red-faced and drenched in sweat from bringing all the gear down by way of the stairs. Ursula ordered them to take a break while she spoke to Niles.

"Well Niles, here we are, what are the plans?" She asked.

"First, have your team assimilate these people." He gestured toward the group that was previously at the rally point. "If you need some extra hands these are your people. Don't rely on them too much though. The Guardian should be reaching the door any time now, we're close enough that we will definitely know when he's hit the door. Then we can proceed down to the Cortex and get this done."

"I have to advise you again, what we are doing is very experimental, I cannot even advise of the risks since we haven't even worked that out yet."

"I'm aware of your concerns Ursula, and the only risk that concerns me is Wagner he is by far the biggest risk to our venture. So let us concentrate our efforts on removing that risk, we can deal with the fallout after the fact, in a controlled fashion."

Ursula caught herself, she felt there would be nothing controlled about the fallout, this had the potential to go wrong in so many ways, in fact, she found it hard to imagine a scenario where the outcome would be acceptable. Yet, she knew Niles was blinded by his malice and contempt for Wagner and at this point arguing would only inflame Niles unjustified rage.

If she challenged him, he would simply replace her with a subordinate who would not have the guts to say no. Her best chance reducing the negative repercussions of this procedure was to stay inline and do the job as best she could. "Okay Niles, we wait for the signal and move in. Are you coming along?"