Timestamp: Cycle 4, Month 4 — Solar Season
Location: Arcanum Base – Resonant Hangar & Civilian Supply Sector Delta
I. The Hangar
The hum of the Arc-Heart reactors filled the Resonant Hangar as maintenance drones moved along their circuits, inspecting every joint and pulse conduit. Jasmine leaned over a suspended console, wiping sweat off her brow.
"Another hot day," she muttered. "Feels like these reactors are cooking the place from inside out."
Mateo chuckled. "You say that every Solar Season."
Celene's eyes stayed on the monitors, brows furrowed. "Something's… off. Look at the M.A.N.A. flow on grid sector nine. It's fluctuating weirdly."
Jasmine frowned. "Fluctuating? Could be interference from the simulators last night?"
Dean's voice crackled through the comm. "Negative. That's not normal, cadet. Keep your eyes open."
No one could have predicted how fast the anomaly would spread. A spark jumped along a conduit — just a small flicker at first, then a low thrum shook the entire hangar. Maintenance drones sputtered and glitched, their lights flickering violently.
"Drones!" Celene yelled. "They're being infected… wait — Rift spores!"
Jasmine's eyes widened. "Sp—what?"
The hum turned into a high-pitched whine, mechanical limbs jerking as the drones started colliding into each other. Sparks flew.
"Everyone, back!" Dean shouted, but the chaos had already spread beyond the hangar floor.
II. Contamination
Outside the hangar, the solar winds of the Bloom Season had given way to harsher Solar Season gusts. Rift spores, glowing faint blue, leaked from the affected drones and clung to the walls, floors, and equipment.
A civilian transport vehicle careened into a maintenance bay, its AI failing as the spores infected its system. One worker tripped, falling across a spill of energized plasma. The screech of sparks and sizzling heat filled the air.
"Jasmine, get out there! Now!" Dean barked.
Tempest Wing activated in a burst of violet energy, wings unfurling like a blade of light. Jasmine vaulted into the Frame's cockpit.
"Strap in," she said, voice tense, and the neural interface hummed in response. The Frame's wings unfurled, and with a sharp tilt, she shot toward the chaos, the air rippling around her with every movement.
She intercepted a drone barreling toward a group of engineers. With a sweep of her energy blades, she knocked it aside — metal screaming against the wind. One engineer hit the ground hard, bruised and limping, but alive.
"Are you crazy?!" Mateo yelled, trying to help another worker out of the path of a sputtering drone. "You can't just throw yourself in there!"
"Yeah, well, someone's gotta!" Jasmine yelled back, looping Tempest Wing around a drone as it sparked and flailed.
The Rift spores were everywhere, infecting every system they touched. The drones jerked violently, some slamming into walls, others crushing crates and machinery. The floor shook, and the hum of the reactors pulsed with interference.
III. Containment
Jasmine moved with a speed that blurred her silhouette. Tempest Wing's energy flares created a protective bubble around trapped civilians. Sparks from malfunctioning drones ignited small fires on the floor, but her wings acted like a wind tunnel, pushing debris away and redirecting the worst of the chaos.
Dean's voice came in through the comm again. "Jasmine, focus! Protect civilians, do not engage unless necessary! Remember — injuries only, no heroics that risk the lives of your own!"
Jasmine gritted her teeth. "Yeah, yeah, I know!"
She redirected another drone away from a collapsed crate, but her movement wasn't perfect — a sharp jolt sent her Frame skidding into the side wall. The armor groaned, sparks flickering across the hull. She winced, pain radiating through her arms, but she kept going.
Celene shouted from the observation deck. "Spore cluster detected near the civilian bay! They're trying to breach containment!"
Jasmine's eyes narrowed. "Tempest Wing — countermeasures active. Let's clear the way."
With a pulse of concentrated M.A.N.A., the Frame released a wave that disabled infected drones temporarily, short-circuiting their spore-contaminated cores. Dust and debris rained down, and she barely caught a collapsing beam with a wing tip. Her heart pounded, adrenaline burning through the fatigue.
One civilian hit the ground hard from falling debris, another clutching a leg where machinery had grazed it. Jasmine swore under her breath. "Ok, ok, everyone's alive… for now."
IV. Aftermath
The hangar was a mess. Sparks and smoke hung in the air, the floor scorched, crates smashed. Infected drones lay still or smoldering, temporarily neutralized but not destroyed.
Dean stepped into the room, face tight with tension. "That… could've been worse. Good work getting civilians out."
Jasmine leaned against the Frame, breathing heavily. "Yeah… but look at this mess. How many of these drones are fully compromised?"
Celene examined the control console, tapping a few commands. "Too many. And whatever this Rift malware is… it's adaptive. It's learning from the drones, from the interference patterns… It's fast."
Mateo groaned, rubbing his temple. "And you're telling me they just randomly spread this while we were doing maintenance?"
"Apparently," Dean said. "Solar Season's M.A.N.A. fluctuations amplified the Rift spores. We need containment protocols updated — immediately."
Jasmine shook her head. "If we don't act fast, this could hit civilian sectors. Hospitals… residences…"
Celene glanced up. "Which is why Jade's working on a counter-algorithm. She'll neutralize the Rift malware before it spreads further."
Jasmine exhaled slowly. "And here I thought today was just maintenance day."
Dean placed a hand on her shoulder. "Storm's not over. But you kept everyone alive — no fatalities. That's what matters right now."
Jasmine smirked, still panting. "Yeah… just a lotta broken bones, burns, and bruises. Classic Solar Season, huh?"
Celene rolled her eyes, half amused. "You always gotta make it sound dramatic, don't you?"
Mateo muttered under his breath, "I swear, one of these days… you're gonna give me a heart attack before breakfast."
Outside the hangar, the Solar winds picked up, scattering faint blue spores into the evening light. The Arc-Heart reactors hummed steadily again, but a low-frequency ripple in the M.A.N.A. field reminded everyone — the Abyssal Infection was far from over.