CROSSFIRE - Atlantis DSV - New Cape Quest

“Captain Roderick, I‟d remind you that what happened at Marinduque is still
classified,” Banick berated her sternly, having heard her from outside.
She flushed a little, and nodded apologetically. “Yes sir. Sorry sir.”
“It‟s alright. I‟m eager to find out just what the hell is going on as much as you are, I
don‟t blame you. But as the Admiral said... let‟s try and keep things quiet for now.”
“Do you have any idea what‟s going on, sir?” Madeline Hayes asked, having seen
nothing of what had transpired on Commonwealth‟s bridge.
“I wish I did,” he grumbled. “Coming out here was a mistake. I just hope the Admiral
is more forthcoming about things now that this little mess is out in the open.”
The officers were waiting only a few minutes before Ainsley led Stiles in to the room,
the two officers circling around the table as the rest of the staff stood up and waited for the
Admiral to take his seat. The sat down only when he did. “Before I arrived on the
Commonwealth,” Ainsley started slowly, “I met with Admiral Anise von Schrader in London,
the head of the NSIS. A few months ago, my office in London received several messages
from an unknown source, and what I didn‟t know at the time was that these messages
contained a series of numbers that – with Captain Banick‟s help – I only recently worked out.
They were dates, attached to a broken set of latitude and longitude coordinates leading to
this location.”
No one said a word, and Ainsley finally turned to Stiles, his tone suddenly taking on
an accusing note. “...Prior to that, I had the NSIS looking in to a personal matter of mind as a
favour. All Admiral Schrader told me was that some „professional colleagues‟ were looking in
to it, and that I‟d be hearing from them in a few days. It now dawns on me, Captain Stiles,
that the timing of all this is a little too good to be true.”
“I thought his name was „Smith‟?” whispered Captain Barker to Hayes beside him.
The Commander of the Fall River smiled in return. “It‟s a long story.”
Stiles sat in silence for a moment, a small smile curling at the corner of his mouth. “I
concede the point, Admiral,” he admitted with a curt nod. “Admiral Schrader did contact me,
and I am the one who was sent to meet with you – on both matters. The personal matter she
asked me to follow up for you we can discuss later, but for the time being, there is a larger
issue.”
“I don‟t believe for a minute, Captain that the NSIS didn‟t know what those messages
meant. It took me only three days to work it out when your analysts had it for weeks. What
was the purpose of it?”
“We need your help,” he replied plainly. “Recently some things have come to light for
the NSIS that have left us... in a difficult position. I regret that I am not able to discuss that
much further for reasons of security, but you will learn of it in due course... For the moment,
I‟m asking you to trust me. Our goals are very much in line with one another.”
“Those goals being?” Ainsley pressed.
“Your orders are to destroy the Atlas missile battery presently being constructed at
the former UEO Naval Base of Pearl Harbor,” he explained in an effort to supplicate his
presumption. “In truth, the NSIS knows as little about the origin of the messages you
received as you do. By now you have doubtless worked out that the encryption used in the
message‟s cipher originated from a command protocol that was used exclusively on UEO
DSVs – specifically by so-called “Human A.I.” sentience. The solution to this cipher is
dependent on knowing both where and when the signal originated, something of a
Heisenberg principle, if you will, that prevents enemy Signals offices from intercepting and
reading such transmissions. This is knowledge the NSIS does not have.”
Roderick cocked her head. “So how did you break the cipher if you didn‟t have the
information?”
Stiles hesitated, and looked at Roderick with a face that betrayed next to nothing.
“...It was given to us.”
“By who?”
“Something else I can‟t say,” he confessed. “The important thing is that we didn‟t
send the message, and we have reason to believe that both you, Admiral Ainsley, and we,
were meant to receive it.”
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