The Council sit with grim faces around the conference table, their aides silent behind them. Mars speaks solemnly and with barely contained rage, “It appears they have no interest in negotiation. They have sent us a clear message. This rebellion must be put down, right now.” The others nod in agreement, “So, there are no objections to a full military offensive?”

“None.”

“Not at all.”

“It seems there is no other course of action at this time.”

“As Janus’ AI has been breached, we should follow protocol and move our headquarters to the Needle. It is a separate AI system and will maintain Council security for the duration of this conflict.”

“Agreed, that is the safest course of action.” Jupiter addresses his colleagues, “I would advise we keep this meeting brief, and move all further decision making to the Needle’s Council-room.”

“Look what pandering to one child has wrought…”

“Save it for the Needle, Saturn.”

She glares at Jupiter as the four of them stand to make their way from the room, “There will be investigations into all that has happened—and why—once this is over.”

The analytical array in front of Bear scrolls, his curious eye finds an anomaly in the scans. A slight peak in signal strength emanating from one of the relays wired under the floor of this level. Bear frowns and makes note of the location before heading out to investigate.

It’s only a few hundred meters to the panel, and once there he unlocks it and lifts it to the side, “Huh, you shouldn’t be there.” Bellerophon scans the relay and the foreign device connected to it. An encrypted signal emanates from the strange tech, “Skata, how many of these are there?” He reaches into a small toolkit and begins trying to work it free, but it is strongly magnetized. And potentially boobytrapped. He completes his scan and replaces the floor panel, then flips his communicator on, “Sir, ready to report.”

“Affirmative, meet me here.”

A set of coordinates flashes briefly on Bellerophon’s screen. He immediately begins making his way to the rendezvous.

After a few minutes the streets become narrower and less crowded. The coordinates lead him to a wall behind the pilot training office building. Jupiter walks out of a back door, fresh from the Council meeting and obviously frustrated, “Report.”

“Sir, I found a foreign device attached to one of Janus’ AI relays. I scanned it and it is sending out a signal as well as receiving data. I was unable to remove it with the tools I had.”

Jupiter analyzes the scans Bellerophon shows him, “What will it take to remove it?”

“Good tools and about an hour of work, Sir.”

“I doubt highly there is only one of these. We don’t have time to spend an hour on each one. How about ten seconds and an EMP grenade?”

Bear smiles a ridiculous grin, “Yes sir, I reckon that would do it.”

“Janus is designed to recover quickly from such pulses, this invasive tech looks to be vulnerable. Come with me.”

Bellerophon watches Jupiter open a panel into the wall and step inside, “Holy sk…”

“You coming, Agent?”

“Agent?”

“Congratulations on your wartime promotion.”

A slightly stunned Bellerophon follows Jupiter. Behind the wall is a set of stairs leading to a large, hidden chamber containing a number of scientists all hard at work. In the centre of the room is a matte-black ship unlike any Bear has seen before, “This has been a top-secret operation for several years. This craft has been designed to navigate within Janus completely undetectable by any of his sensors. When the stealth technology is turned on, even the naked eye has a hard time seeing the craft. It is the latest in our covert technology and has been waiting for a mission like this. You are going to find the invasive hardware that has been placed on Janus, and use this craft to travel undetected to those zones. Then you are going to use EMP grenades to disable them. She does not yet have guns, and the stealth technology has very little armor. So keep out of sight and if you encounter resistance be very careful. Do you understand, Agent?”

Bellerophon can barely keep himself from jumping in excitement, let alone try to subdue his excited grin, “Absolutely, Sir.”

“Good. You start immediately. Only one thing left to do. What are you going to name her?”

“Sir, I think you already know the answer to that.”

Jupiter smiles, “I guess I do.” He points toward some tactical special-forces armor, “Get suited up. The Pegasus awaits.”