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Chapter 37: Director’s Mandate
The Bastion Facility had always been a fortress of cold efficiency, but tonight it pulsed with a different kind of energy—paranoia. The corridors, usually humming with the quiet rhythm of routine, were now alive with the heavy boots of security units and the low static of encrypted comms. Red emergency strips along the walls blinked in sharp cadence, a constant reminder that the Spiral Vault breach had changed everything.
Director Cassian Vey stood in the glass-encased command bridge, his hands clasped behind his back, eyes fixed on the shifting holographic displays. His figure was perfectly still, save for the faint tapping of one finger against the other—a habit that meant his mind was moving faster than his body could betray.
The data streams befor
