The rain and thunders that stormed the Dar-es-salaam city the whole night, had already ceased, in its place, replaced by the magnificent shining sun which shimmered the city in bright golden hues.
In the streets of Buguruni, a woman sat on the sofa in her sitting room, eyes heavy with a tint of dark shades around them, traits of not having a sleep, every small sound on the street made her glance at the door, her eyes were glued on the wall where the Tv was, its sound swallowing the whole house.
Soft sound of something boiling in the kettle could be heard from the kitchen, she stood, headed to the kitchen, poured herself a cup of tea, put in more sugar than usual, stirred it as she went back to the sofa and sat A faint sound, the announcer's voice crackled through the Tv's speaker:
".....unexplained gunshots around Masaki depot is reported to be the work of Special Unit Police Force against a terrorist group who are related to cyber crimes....."
She leaned a little on the sofa's armrest, still listening on the news, though the spoon tapping the same rhythm again and again and again as she stirred.
"...Captain Komba, the head of operat...."
She turned the volume down.
For a moment, the room was filled with the sound of the kettle boiling in the kitchen, chirps of the birds from the outside and her clash with the cup.
Her gaze moved to the wall where an old photo hung, a boy, Arman in his childhood, clutching a first place medal, smiling, on his left and right stood both his mother and father respectively.
Infront of her, on the table sat Arman's old gaming headset, wire taped in two places, she bruthed dust from mic as if it were fragile glass.
Then.
A knock echoed at the door, she hesitated for a sec, stood up, then stepped outside.
The sky was clear, bright, the world noisy again, yet something felt wrong in the quiet between sounds.
There was nobody at the door, it was all but empty except for a single small white envelope which lay on the steps, just a damp paper, no name, unmarked and heavy with silence.
She tore it open, inside was a thin black metal chip, shaped like a card, when she turned it in her hand, sunlight caught the engraving of a broken silver crown.
Her breath caught.
"Not after all these years," she whispered.
The wind carried her away, lost among the morning shouts of school children.
**************
Far North, miles away, an old telecom facility blinked to life with the rising sun, its dishes turned slowly, gathering light instead of data.
Inside, beneath rusted steel beams, the hum of old servers and a cluster of monitors showed the East African grid, a web of blue and red lines pulsing like a heartbeat.
With tired sighs, two men in plain clothes stood amid the glow as they worked through the silence, they were soldiers once, the way they scanned the room said so.
The first one, dark skinned, leaned leaned against a desk littered with cables, the second one, broader, older, sipped black coffee that had long gone cold.
"Nairobi's relay went dark at 03:27" the first man said.
"I know, I watched it flatline."
"It's the same pulse frequency as the old DG network ."
They exchanged a look,
"Could be NOKO testing the line again."
"Or the Knights, ALPHA-7 went live around the same time."
"You think the Ghost Knights rebooted an ALPHA?"
"Maybe, or maybe one of ours jumped protocal."
The second man sipped his coffee. "You mean Switcher?"
"Yeah."
The second man frowned. "You sure? That hub in Sinza was supposed to be shut since the collapse."
"Tell that to the new manager," the first replied. "He was never good at following orders"
"he was good at saving people though," the second replied with a firm look. "He's one of ours, a Sentinel, just like us." the name hung between them like a secret too heavy to say aloud
"If he's brought ALPHA-7 online, he'll need protection, NOKO's learning faster this time."
They stared at the central monitor where Dar es salaam's data grid shimmered hundrreds of connections forming and collapsing like breathing light, one node glowed brighter than the rest, Sinza.
"Looks like he's awake"
**************
Underneath a parking complex in downtown Nairobi, a lone operator crouched beside a flickering monitor, he worked fast, his hand reached toward the keyboard, trembling.
"Come on, come on, please .... connect ....." muttered the person.
The screen blinked, lines of codes scrolled past, one line blinked red
ALPHA-7 // UNAUTHORIZED LINK // SIGNAL ATTEMP // PING SENT
He didn't care about authorization, he waited, heartbeat loud in his ears.
He typed fast, whispered between breaths.
"Dar, if you're out there, lock your systems, they're already crawling through the east grid..."
For a moment, static turned to a voice, distorted, almost mechanical, but human.
"Identify ... source..."
He flinched. "No names, there's no time, just listen.."
The lights above him flickered, once, twice then the servers hissed.
>CONNECTION LOST
He slumped back, wiping sweat from his forehead, from the corridor came the soft hum of motors folowed by slow footsteps.
He exhaled, the last thing the console displayed before dying was a single word;
DELIVERED.
He reached for the flash drive and whispered. "At least the signal got through, you better wake up, Ghost Knights ..." then ran to the emergency ladder.
**************
ALPHA-7
The morning in Sinza came slow, as if the city itself had stayed up too late, the streets still glistened from the night rain, children in uniforms chased a bus splashing through puddles.
To anyone else, it was just another day, but under the plaza, below Respawn point, ALPHA-7 hummed with a quiet, steady pulse.
Arman squinted against the sunlight as he stepped outside for the first time since the long ride, Joyce followed behind him.
"You sure it's safe out here?" he asked, glancing around.
"For now it is." she said, stretching her arms.
After some time of catching a breather on the outside, they walked back toward Respawn point as the plaza came alive arcade shutters rising, gamers trickling in, the hum of routers filling the air.
Underneath, the Ghost Knights were already moving, Switcher leaned over the central console, sleeves rolled to his elbows, faint scars visible on his forearms, relics about a past he never spoke about.
Across the room, Gojo was brewing instant coffee, KT Suzume was already working on monitoring new data routes, as Arman and Joyce came back inside.
Dubster, half awake, hummed to himself as he stretched, glanced on his left to see Anime Girl and Cherry stirring from their makeshift bunks.
"Morning, captain," Gojo said, tossing Switcher cup.
"Don't call me that, I retired."
"Yet you still give orders."
Switcher ignored him, eyes glued on the screen.
"You ever sleep?" Dubster asked.
Switcher didn't look up. "You ever stop snoring?"
"An enemy has been slain" Cherry blurted,
"Savage" Anime Girl caught up.
Joyce chuckled from her seat, "Morning banter already? Thought we'd get at least one peaceful sunrise"
"Keep Respawn Point open," Switcher said. "If we go dark, people will ask questions"
He tapped a key, opening a live network map. green lines pulsed across Tanzania's grid, it was then a red blip flared near the border, then faded.
"A ping?" KT asked.
"The display showed a short lived pulse from the nothern grid, the source tag read: NAIROBI NODE - TERMINATED"
"A beacon?" KT murmured.
"Maybe," Switcher said. "Same signature as the DG line, someone tried to reach us before they went dark."
Dubster leaned over the desk, "Friendly?" Switcher shrugged, "We dont have enough data, but whoever it was knew how to find ALPHA-7"
Arman stepped closer, "Ummh! what's happening?"
Switcher glanced at him, half smile fading, "Welcome to morning brief, someone just called our doorsteps and got cut off before finishing the sentence."
"Think it's NOKO?" Joyce asked.
"Could be, could also be a survivor, either way it means the grid's awake again" he stood, adjusted his sleeves, "Prep the uplink, if the signal repeats, I want to know within seconds"
Gojo nodded. "And if it's a trap?"
Switcher's tone turned dry. "Then we make sure they regret knocking."
"Should we trace it?" KT asked.
"Not yet," Switcher said. "Let the signal come to us, I don't want to stir the ghosts while they're sleeping"
Arman lingered near the stairs, watching them all this strange mix of soldiers, hackers and ghosts who spoke in codes he barely understood.
He wasn't sure what he'd joined yet, but for the first time, he felt part of soomething larger than the game.
Dubster walked in with a bag of chips, crunching loudly, "Did they make it though?"
"Huh! now that I think of it ...... it barely reached us, wait." he typed quickly, filtering the feed, the words soon appeared on the screen:
LOCK YOUR SYSTEMS, THEY'RE CRAWLING THROUGH...
Gojo frowned, "Sounds like a warning."
"Or bait," Joyce said.
"Either way," Dubster murmered, "someone out there knows about ALPHA-7, that means NOKO's map is spreading."
Switcher typed a final command, the console dimmed, leaving only the reflection of his own eyes on the screen, "Let's hope whoever's out there sent that signal for the rightreasons," he murmered.
Arman sat at the far corner, watching silent, he'd spent half the night trying to understand what he'd walked into, what this place even was, now he saw the he'd met in chaos working like they'd done this for years.
"So this is normal?" he asked quietly.
Dubster grinned, "For us? Pretty much."
Switcher turned, looked at Arman, "The more you stay close, the more you learn."
Arman blinked , "Learn what exactly?"
"How deep this game really goes."
**************
In Ubungo, a young tech repairman, unlocked his small shop, he was known for fixing phones nobody else could and for streaming late night matches when business was slow.
As he booted his computer, an update prompt blinked on screen;
>System Optimization Patch - Download Now.
He didn't remember installing it, but shrugged and clicked Accept.
The bar filled halfway, then stalled.
His screen flickered once.
Lines of unreadable code flashed, then vanished.
He thought nothing of it, rebooted, shrugged again and went back to work.
But behind the reboot screen, a faint pattern pulsed three circles forming the outline of a crown.
**************
ALPHA-7
Hours later, KT noticed a new blip on her monitor, "We've got a civilian node pinging with Ghost line encryption."
Switcher looked up, "Where?"
"Around Ubungo, someone downloaded something they shouldn't have." she said. "It's more like .... a reflection, something mirrored our old protocal and bounced them back through a public connection"
Arman frowned, "In English?"
"It means," Switcher said, "something out there is starting to remember us."
The lights flickered once briefly then stabilized, "Patch the source," Gojo said, "If it's infected, we clean it."
"Already on it." KT's fingers danced over the keys, a small window opened on he screen, displaying a shaky livestream from a repir shop camera, a young man munching on something while working, unaware of the crown shaped flicker pulsing on his monitor behind him.
"Civilian?" Arman asked.
"Yeah," Switcher said, "wrong place, wrong signal." he sighed, "Every time we hide, the world finds new ways to trip over our ghosts."
**************
The day faded to orange, Respawn Point was busy again upstairs kids to adults shouting, keyboards clacking, laughter echoing against glass, no one knew what was beneath their feet.
Switcher leaned back in his chair, staring at the map on his screen, the orange spot had gone dark, but it left a faint echo in the grid, a residue of code that shouldn't exist anymore.
"Erase it?" KT asked.
"No," he said quiet. "Tag it, if NOKO's testing the waters, I want to know what bait it's using."
Joyce stood besite him, arms crossed, "Feels like we're being watched."
Arman looked around the base, at the tired faces, the blinking lights, the endless screens, for the first time, he realized this wasn't just a secret hideout, It was a frontline.
Outside, Sinza pulsed with normal life again and somewhere in a small repair shop, Ubungo's monitor glowed faintly even after he switched of the lights, the crown symbol shimmered once more ..... then faded into static.
Back in ALPHA-7, Arman thought of something for a while then asked, "Yo guys, since im still new here, can someone brief about NOKO because I've been hearing y'all mentioning it a couple of times."
"That's one good question." Dubster said.
"Agreed." Anime Girl, Cherry and Gojo said at the same time.
Switcher leaned back in his chair, eyes half lit by the monitor glow. "You know NOKO, right? Everyone does, Big tech name, sponsors half the MLBB and other major eSports tournaments in East Africa, 'Empowering the Next Generation of Competitive Play,' blah blah."
He tapped a few keys, a list of shell companies filled the screen
"But look closer, their main server farm isn't even registered in Africa, It's routed through something called Trident Holdings, and guess what? That name pops up in your dad's encrypted drive."
Silence.
Joyce shot Arman a look, "Told you, NOKO's not a sponsor, It's a system."
He turned back to the console, on one of the side monitors, a faint connection still blinked red, Switcher's eyes narrowed, the data string looked almost like a heartbeat, he reached for the comm headset, muttering under his breath.
"Whoever you are, Nairobi ... I'm listening."
The line staedied for half a second then went dark, the silence afterward wasn't empty, It felt like the world hold its breath