Go Take A Look

Posted on Thu Jul 9th, 2026 @ 5:20am by Colonel Jason "Jack" Frost & Captain Wolfe Sean

858 words; about a 4 minute read

Mission: The Hand That Rocks The Babe
Location: Marine Command Room - USS Dreadnought

The Marine Operations Centre aboard the U.S.S. Dreadnought remained alive with activity despite the late hour. Officers moved quietly between tactical consoles while holographic displays continuously updated with sensor telemetry arriving from the planet below. Every few moments another report filtered in from the growing field hospital on Velis III, each one adding another layer to an increasingly complex humanitarian crisis.

Colonel Jack Frost stood alone before the central holographic display, his hands clasped behind his back as he studied the latest orbital reconnaissance. The towering image of Velis III slowly rotated before him, countless coloured overlays highlighting infected population centres, refugee movements and relief operations. Yet it was one particular city that held his attention.

Once home to more than six million people, the sprawling metropolitan centre now appeared eerily lifeless from orbit. Entire districts sat without power. Communications traffic had all but vanished. Vast sections of the city were swallowed by silence, chaos and fire, as though life itself had simply stopped.

And yet, buried beneath that silence, something persisted.

A series of faint energy signatures pulsed beneath the city's central government district before fading from existence, only to reappear minutes later several kilometres away. At first, the science teams had dismissed them as damaged infrastructure struggling against a failing power grid. As more sensor passes accumulated, however, the pattern refused to conform to any known explanation.

The signatures were deliberate.

Organised.

Moving.

Minutes later they would return somewhere else, never remaining visible long enough for the sensors to obtain a reliable lock.

The briefing room doors parted with a quiet hiss.

Captain Wolfe Sean entered, immediately recognising the expression on Colonel Frost's face. It was one he had learned to respect, the look of a man who had found something he didn't like but intended to understand. Sean crossed the room before joining the Colonel beside the tactical display.

Frost expanded the holographic projection. The city enlarged until individual streets, government buildings and collapsed infrastructure filled the room in luminous shades of blue.

"Our latest orbital scans have identified something unusual," the Colonel began, his voice calm but measured. "Science can't explain it. Engineering can't identify it. Intelligence doesn't have enough information to classify it."

Sean remained silent, studying the display.

Clusters of energy signatures blinked beneath the city like distant heartbeats.

"Survivors?" he asked quietly.

"I hope so." Frost's answer came without hesitation. "But if that's what we're looking at, they've remained hidden throughout the worst stages of the outbreak." He gestured toward several highlighted sectors surrounding the government district.

"Over the past forty-eight hours we've interviewed dozens of refugees arriving at the hospital. Several independently described government evacuation zones established during the early days of the epidemic." Another series of overlays appeared across the hologram.

"Some claim entire neighbourhoods were sealed off overnight." Jack spoke. "Others insist senior government officials disappeared beneath the city shortly before communications collapsed." He looked back toward Sean.

"Most dismissed the stories as panic." The Colonel paused. "I'm no longer convinced."

Silence settled between them as both officers studied the mysterious readings. The city felt wrong, too quiet, too empty. Almost as though it were deliberately concealing something beneath its ruined streets.

Finally, Frost broke the silence. "I want eyes on the ground."

Sean looked up. "I'll take a reconnaissance platoon."

"Two full squads. We don't know what to expect and I don't want to take chances." The Colonel nodded. "You'll deploy by shuttle approximately two kilometres from the strongest concentration of energy signatures. From there you'll proceed on foot."

His finger traced a route through the holographic streets. "Your primary objective is reconnaissance. If there are survivors, establish contact. If these signatures represent functioning infrastructure, determine who controls it and if you encounter something we haven't anticipated..."

He allowed the sentence to trail away.

Sean understood.

"The field hospital remains your nearest extraction point," Frost continued. "Maintain constant communication with both the hospital and the Dreadnought. If your signal begins to degrade, I expect you to notify us immediately."

Sean gave a single nod. "Aye, sir."

For several moments neither officer spoke. The holographic city continued its slow rotation between them, its shattered skyline illuminated by countless sensor markers. Frost couldn't explain it, but years of experience had taught him to trust the quiet warnings that surfaced long before evidence caught up.

Something beneath that city had survived. Whether it was frightened civilians desperately clinging to life...

A hidden government bunker...

Or something far more dangerous...

He couldn't yet say. But every instinct he possessed told him that the answers to Velis III's unfolding tragedy lay somewhere beneath those silent streets.

Sean straightened to attention once more. "My Marines will be ready within thirty minutes."

The Colonel nodded. "I know they will."

As the Captain departed to assemble his reconnaissance force, Frost remained alone before the holographic display. His eyes lingered on the mysterious signatures as they pulsed once again beneath the government district before fading into silence.

Somewhere beneath the dead city, something was waiting.

Before long, the Marines would find it. Whether they were prepared for what they discovered was another question entirely.

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