STALKER: The Rift Protocol - Flux Load (a web novel) ~ Chapter 30 ~

📖 Chapter 30 — The Siege Begins 🎬 Chapter 30.0 — Contact The command centre had become silent. Not because there was nothing happening. Because everyone was listening. Cooling fans. Telemetry processors. Radio static. Rain striking reinforced windows. Every sound suddenly seemed louder. A Greyfield operations operative leaned closer to the surveillance display. Camera Seven. Motion detected. South perimeter. Every screen in the room immediately changed. One by one. Camera Seven filled the central display. Nothing. Only rain. Dead trees. Broken asphalt. Static rippled across the image. Then... A shape emerged from the mist. One figure. Walking. Not running. Not stumbling. Walking. The silhouette never slowed. Never hesitated. Operations operative Visual contact. Bearing one-eight-six. Range one thousand four hundred metres. Unknown carrier confirmed. Nobody spoke. The figure carried something long and cylindrical. Everyone recognised the shape instantly. An Anomaly Containment Canister. 🎬 Chapter 30.1 — Hope Greyfield telemetry team immediately overlaid tracking data. Distance. Bearing. Movement speed. Unchanged. The figure continued toward Nexus Two. Step. Step. Step. Exactly the same rhythm. Camera Eight automatically acquired the target. The image sharpened slightly. Still too distant. Still little more than a shadow beneath the rain. Nadiya leaned closer. Her breathing slowed. The build. The height. The way the right shoulder dipped slightly beneath the weight. It looked familiar. Too familiar. Nobody wanted to say it. Not first. She barely realised she had whispered. Pavel... The room remained silent. Wu Ming never looked away from the screen. Hope was dangerous. Especially here. Greyfield remained professional. Greyfield Operations Identity unconfirmed. Another camera took over. The image sharpened again. The carrier continued walking. Never looking up. Never looking around. Only forward. Always toward Nexus Two. 🎬 Chapter 30.2 — Procession Perimeter sensors chimed. Once. Then again. Nexus Two Telemetry looked down. Additional contacts. The tactical display updated. One new marker appeared. Then another. Another. Another. Wu Ming frowned. Operations enlarged the southern sector. The forest itself seemed to move. Dark shapes slowly emerged between the trees. Not charging. Walking. Exactly the same pace as the carrier. Nexus Two Telemetry Twenty contacts. The count immediately changed. Forty-three. Again. Eighty-seven. Another second. One hundred fifty-nine. The numbers accelerated faster than anyone could read. Entire sections of woodland became populated with moving indicators. Not random. Not scattered. They formed behind the carrier. Rows. Columns. Like an enormous funeral procession disappearing into the mist. Yura stared at the display. His voice was barely audible. They're following him... Another update. Nexus Two Telemetry Five hundred contacts. Nobody reacted. Because the count was still climbing. Six hundred. Eight hundred. One thousand. The command room had never seen telemetry behave like this. Wu Ming slowly looked toward the tactical map. Every Feral... Maintained formation. None broke away. None sprinted. None hunted. They simply walked. Together. Toward Nexus Two. 🎬 Chapter 30.3 — Authorization Nexus Two Perimeter Systems looked away from the surveillance feed. Another monitor had begun flashing. Yellow. Then amber. Then red. Perimeter Systems South Tower One. Valid firing solution acquired. Almost immediately— South Tower Two. Valid firing solution acquired. Another. East Tower One. Valid firing solution acquired. The alerts spread across the display. Every watchtower. Every autocannon. Every grenade battery. One after another. Ready. The operations operative looked toward Wu Ming. Local Command. Autonomous Defense Grid awaiting authorization. Nobody moved. The surveillance screen continued showing the lone carrier. Still walking. The procession behind him continued growing. Nadiya couldn't take her eyes off the image. What if... She stopped herself. Nobody answered. Operations spoke again. Local Command. Engagement authorization required. Wu Ming slowly approached the primary command console. A single confirmation button pulsed softly beneath the glass. AUTHORIZE AUTONOMOUS ENGAGEMENT He looked once more toward the surveillance display. The carrier never stopped walking. Never acknowledged the cameras. Never acknowledged the fortress. Only the ACC remained clutched tightly in one hand. Wu Ming closed his eyes. For just a second. Then... He placed his hand over the confirmation button. 🎬 Chapter 30.4 — Autonomous Engagement Wu Ming lowered his hand. click The confirmation button illuminated green. A soft tone echoed through the command centre. Operations Local authorization received. Autonomous Engagement Protocol enabled. Almost immediately, the room came alive. Perimeter Systems South Tower One engaging. South Tower Two engaging. East Tower One engaging. East Tower Two engaging. Engineering Defensive power redistribution complete. Non-essential systems suspended. Telemetry Firing solutions synchronized. Hostile tracking confirmed. One by one... Entire sections of Nexus Two awakened. Across the fortress, heavy searchlights converged upon the southern forest. Hydraulic actuators groaned. Steel towers slowly rotated. Massive weapon assemblies elevated into firing position. Deep beneath the facility... The Stabilization Lattice dimmed ever so slightly. Power was being diverted. Not away from containment... But away from everything else. The fortress had entered wartime configuration. Wu Ming watched hundreds of defensive icons change colour. Amber. Amber. Amber. Green. Every weapon. Ready. Outside... The first tower fired. The sound reached the command room almost a second later. A thunderous crack rolled across the valley. The surveillance monitors shook violently. A line of trees simply disappeared. Then the second tower fired. The third. The fourth. Within seconds... The entire southern perimeter erupted. 🎬 Chapter 30.5 — The Valley of Steel The dead forest became a storm of fire. Twin autocannons stitched glowing streams across the valley. Automatic grenade launchers hammered the tree line. Heavy machine guns filled the rain with intersecting walls of tracer fire. Searchlights transformed night into blinding white daylight. Explosions ripped through soaked earth. Mud erupted dozens of metres into the air. Entire trees splintered apart. The first ranks of Ferals vanished beneath the barrage. Bodies were thrown backwards. Others were torn apart before they reached the next step. Yet... The procession never broke. Camera Nine tracked the advance. Ferals continued walking. Those behind simply stepped over the fallen. No panic. No hesitation. No instinct for survival. Only movement. Always forward. Yura stared at the tactical display. They're not reacting... Telemetry Hostile casualties... extensive. Another update arrived. Formation integrity unchanged. Nobody had ever seen anything like it. Outside the walls... The DTV convoy engines roared to life. Operations DTV One. Assigned Sector Charlie. DTV Two. Assigned Sector Delta. Defensive posture only. Wu Ming keyed his radio. Drivers. Hold behind the inner barricades. Nobody leaves cover. The heavy vehicles rolled into prepared firing positions behind reinforced concrete revetments. Their roof-mounted turrets elevated. The convoy had stopped being transport. It had become another wall. 🎬 Chapter 30.6 — The Carrier Operations quietly enlarged Camera Seven. Nobody had asked. Everyone wanted to see. The image stabilized. The barrage filled the valley. Explosions consumed everything around the lone figure. Shrapnel tore through the rain. Trees collapsed. Ferals died by the hundreds. The Carrier... Never changed pace. One step. Another. Another. The ACC remained held firmly in one hand. Not once did the figure flinch. Not once did it turn its head. Nadiya's eyes never left the screen. She leaned closer. The image sharpened. Torn combat gear. Burned equipment. Mud. Blood. A familiar silhouette. Her voice barely escaped. Pavel... Greyfield remained silent. Operations simply continued observing. Another shell exploded only metres away. The Carrier walked through drifting smoke. Still untouched. Still walking. Yura slowly shook his head. That's impossible... No one argued. Because everyone had reached the same conclusion. 🎬 Chapter 30.7 — Waiting Without warning... The Carrier stopped. Exactly at the edge of the southern kill zone. The ACC hung motionless at its side. Every Feral behind it... Stopped as well. Thousands of them. Perfectly still. Across the valley... The guns continued firing. Then— Perimeter Systems Kill zone clear. The towers ceased fire. One after another. Silence returned. Rain fell once more. Steam rose from shattered earth. Broken trees burned quietly beneath the searchlights. The Carrier remained standing. Watching. Or perhaps... Waiting. Nobody could tell. Telemetry broke the silence. All remaining hostiles stationary. Operations Awaiting hostile action. No one moved. Not inside Nexus Two. Not beyond its walls. For one impossible moment... An entire battlefield simply waited. Wu Ming looked at the lone figure standing beneath the sweeping searchlights. Then at the ACC. He no longer cared whether it was Pavel. He cared why it had stopped. Because deep inside... He already knew. The next move... Would not belong to humanity. DIRECTORATE INTERNAL DOSSIER CLASSIFICATION BLACK LEVEL — EYES ONLY FILE: DR-0172 SUBJECT: UNKNOWN ACC CARRIER STATUS: ACTIVE OBSERVATION INITIAL ASSESSMENT The individual currently transporting the recovered Anomaly Containment Canister (ACC) cannot be positively identified. Remote visual analysis indicates an approximate 94.3% physical correspondence with missing recovery operative Pavel Sidorov . Positive identification remains withheld. No surviving human subject is expected to remain ambulatory following exposure levels previously recorded at the recovery site. Note: This is my attempt at making a long series. If you enjoyed reading. please consider giving any amount of claps (up to 20 claps) to let me know how well received the chapters and this series is. Index: Chapters Selection Beginning: Chapter 1: The Edge of Entry Links to previous and next chapter: Chapter 29: Containment Breach Contingency Chapter 31: (Coming Soon) You can now collect Wu Ming and Oksana as a usable character for spinoffs in the new BudgetPixel Characters Market.