Ourobors Key; 96 hours in the shadows

Episode 3

my question, my tone had completely shifted from the architect's calm to a cold, deadly military speed. Juri’s silence this time was long and calculated. Even artificial intelligence knew that I had violated one of my own fundamental rules: never allowing the past to become a real burden on my current operations.

“After the Silver Brooch image was sent, location C-7, Sanctuary Isles, stopped transmitting the Aethelard Protocol. The signal self-terminated, systematically,” Juri concluded with remarkable gravity. “Your sensitive personal information—the locket belonging to your adopted daughter, Dahlia—was the trigger. The brooch was not disseminated as part of a random lure, Jax. It was a specific encryption key designed to elicit an emotional response, to convince you that the threat was personal and very direct.”

A silence hung in the high-tech room, heavier than a grave. The Bauhinia Brooch. There, an object connecting Dahlia (my adopted daughter, whom he silently adored) and Serena (the love he let go of ten years ago). This kidnapping wasn't random. They were being drawn in. I was being drawn in.

Jax's skepticism instantly dissolved. He was now consumed by terror and awareness, a genuine conflict programmed into his defense system: the reawakening of his protective, dangerous self, long dormant.

I hurried toward the navigation station. My gaze still burned the interface displaying the corrupted Bauhinia Brooch. “Dahlia’s status. Where was she last seen?” I demanded.

“Currently searching, Jax. Five minutes ago, you requested focus on E-Prime. The Titan Proxy sensors do not yet have privilege to respond to the Dahlia alarm; she is outside the operational area of consideration.” Juri reminded me of my own operational bureaucratic failure. My fifth mistake in the first minute of the crisis. The mistake of trusting the false routine I had built for myself.

“Forget E-Prime. Activate Protocol Gamma-96, Ouroboros. Priority one, non-negotiable. Change focus; search for records of Dahlia and Serena. Access their school, home, and social contacts. Destroy every firewall on Titan that dares to slow down our access; I don’t care about the consequences,” I commanded. A sharp cracking sound erupted from the chair I kicked. The architect had now turned into a destroyer.

Juri's voice resonated back, the formal tone now tinged with the highest operational urgency. “Activating Protocol Gamma-96. Digital security conflict within Titan confirmed. We are loading the request, Jax.”

It was then that the crisis transformed from an operational problem I resented into a personal horror I accepted as punishment.

“I want full access to our oldest encryption system. Category Zero Data. Encrypted with the Aethelard frequency. Search among millions of obsolete signals for vital information about Lazarus’ true purpose. And I want the name of the individual connecting Sanctuary Isles, the Bauhinia Brooch, and Dahlia,” I declared.

I punched the console, unleashing pure rage I hadn't thought still ran through my veins. The console absorbed the hard impact, converting its energy into filtered visual data, displaying an artificial calm. This was the bitter realization: they touched the untouchable, I thought, realizing the magnitude of my failure to interpret such a silent threat.

Suddenly, the air felt significantly denser with threat. Every neuron in Jax worked overtime, dismantling his composure. The world was no longer static and orderly. The world was attacking the most important thing in his life.

“Security anomaly detected, Jax. Location near city outskirts: panic alarm. Isolated data. The micro-sensor network indicates an anomalous spike in activity at Dahlia’s connection point to the GPS tracking satellite, exactly at three in the morning, Titan time,” Juri reported.

My heart clenched. The time of the kidnapping had passed. Hours had already gone by. Every second since that alarm felt like an irreversible, precious loss.

I didn’t think I could still scream, after having been so long removed from emotional reactions. But what I let out wasn't a scream. It was a cold and terrifying command, the command of a father returned from retirement. “Hold all Ouroboros global assets! Focus one hundred percent processing on Sanctuary Isles and everything related to Bauhinia!” I roared, my eyes fixed on the Bauhinia Brooch still projected on the wall—a symbol of my past, now a marker of my future's destruction.

Juri, the obedient servant, acknowledged. The protocol launching this search would financially rock the global stock market within the next twelve hours. The resulting chaos was tantamount to destroying Ouroboros financially. I had decided; Dahlia was worth more than global stability. “Operational command locked: Kardioplegia V4.1 Project at Sanctuary Isles is the absolute target. Intensive search for Dahlia’s position now commences. All units mobilized. Countdown of necessary logistics before loss of evacuation window is estimated to begin in the next fifteen minutes, Jax,” Juri reported, its concise voice calming the storm within me. I grabbed my jacket with a hard grip. The fear was real. And the Bauhinia Brooch became the first clue toward the horror. A new chapter of my life—a new, personal, and total war—had begun without my permission.