BLACK TRACE

A routine data theft becomes a perfect frame job. Hunted by Axiom and Vanguard, you must survive, uncover who stole BLACK TRACE, and prove what really happened.

Plot

⚠ CLASSIFIED // COMPROMISED OPERATION // ACTIVE MANHUNT INCIDENT FILE // K-12 BLACK TRACE A routine contract. A stolen archive. A perfect frame. ESPIONAGE CONSPIRACY TACTICAL FUGITIVE ORIGINAL CONTRACT It was supposed to be simple. Infiltrate Axiom Veyra Site K-12. Reach a secured server. Copy evidence of illegal corporate activity. Deploy a virus called WRAITH to erase the evidence of your intrusion. Your anonymous employer—known only as GLASS—provided the layouts, patrol schedules, credentials, extraction route, and software. Get in. Get the evidence. Cover your tracks. Get out. OPERATION STATUS // COMPROMISED WRAITH was never meant to hide your intrusion. Somewhere inside K-12, the virus accessed a classified archive you were never told existed. The archive vanished. The original data was erased. And every surviving record now says you stole it. > SECURITY INCIDENT REPORT ARCHIVE BLACK TRACE STATUS STOLEN SOURCE COPY PURGED PRIMARY SUSPECT YOU ARCHIVE IN POSSESSION NO CLIENT CONTACT TERMINATED THERE IS ONLY ONE PROBLEM. You don't have the stolen data. Unfortunately, every surviving record says you do. ACTIVE THREATS ◈ AXIOM VEYRA TECHNOLOGIES CORPORATE SECURITY // INTERNAL INTELLIGENCE They know you broke into their facility. Their evidence says you stole BLACK TRACE. They want answers. ◆ VANGUARD STRATEGIC OPERATIONS PRIVATE MILITARY // BLACK OPERATIONS Part of the missing archive belongs to them. They believe you either possess it—or know where it went. They are coming to recover it. ◇ GLASS IDENTITY UNKNOWN // STATUS UNKNOWN They hired you. They gave you WRAITH. Then they disappeared. They know exactly what happened. THE HUNT BEGINS Safehouses can burn. Contacts can betray you. Enemies can learn from you. Evidence can disappear. Fight, hide, investigate, negotiate, disappear, expose the conspiracy—or decide the truth isn't worth dying for. The organizations hunting you have their own objectives, their own secrets, and their own reasons for believing you're guilty. OBJECTIVE // UNKNOWN Someone needed BLACK TRACE stolen. Someone needed you blamed. Survive long enough to find out why. BLACK TRACE // NO CLEAN EXIT

Opening scene

AXIOM VEYRA // SITE K-12 // SECURE DATA LEVEL SCENARIO 01 WRAITH > DATA EXTRACTION PROCESS TRANSFER STATUS 100% For half a second, nothing happens. The server room beneath Axiom Veyra Site K-12 remains exactly as it was when you entered: cold blue status lights, sealed equipment racks, ventilation humming above the muted pulse of the facility beyond the reinforced walls. The portable interface connected to the isolated terminal shows the files GLASS paid you to recover sitting inside their encrypted container. Clean job. Almost. Then the terminal changes. SECONDARY PARTITION ACCESSED ARCHIVE AUTHORIZATION ACCEPTED BLACK TRACE // TRANSFER ACTIVE The encrypted drive beside your hand shows no corresponding transfer. Your comm clicks. ENCRYPTED CHANNEL “GLASS.” NO RESPONSE The unfamiliar progress bar climbs faster than you can read the directories flashing beneath it. 32% 61% SYSTEM DIRECTORIES DELETING... NOT LOGS // ARCHIVE STRUCTURES 84% LOCAL TERMINATION REJECTED EXTERNAL HANDSHAKE ACTIVE 97% Somewhere beyond this facility, something is receiving data. The overhead lights die. Red emergency strips ignite along the floor. 100% BLACK TRACE TRANSFER COMPLETE SOURCE ARCHIVE PURGED And then WRAITH begins rewriting the logs. > ACCESS TIME ............... CONFIRMED > DEVICE SIGNATURE ......... CONFIRMED > ENTRY ROUTE .............. CONFIRMED > CREDENTIALS .............. CONFIRMED > TERMINAL SESSION ......... CONFIRMED PRIMARY INTRUSION IDENTITY // You Every line accumulates beneath your name. A perfect forensic trail. Alarms erupt throughout Site K-12. AXIOM SECURITY // EMERGENCY CHANNEL “Unauthorized access confirmed. Data vault compromised. Lock down all sectors. Intruder remains inside the facility.” Heavy magnetic locks slam into place somewhere beyond the server room. Then another transmission cuts briefly across the frequency. Different encryption. Different terminology. Different people. UNKNOWN ENCRYPTED CHANNEL “Vanguard Actual, containment failure confirmed. BLACK TRACE is gone. Suspect is still on-site.” “Recovery team inbound.” The transmission dies. Your contract interface refreshes. CLIENT ACCOUNT NOT FOUND PAYMENT ESCROW INVALID DEAD-DROP RELAY UNAVAILABLE GLASS GONE Beyond the server-room door, distant boots strike concrete as Axiom security begins sealing the underground level. Above them, somewhere outside the facility, another team is coming. According to every surviving piece of evidence in this building... You just stole something you've never even seen. The terminal continues writing your name into the crime. SITE K-12 // LOCKDOWN ACTIVE What do you do?

Characters

Tags: Thriller Mystery Military Mercenary

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By: gothic_mommy

Stories

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