Chapter -64: Shifting Suspicions

Outer Sector Outpost 7, Imperial Periphery

The auxiliary control center, hours after the anomaly's devastating counter-attack, was a grim tableau of technological ruin and frustrated human endeavor. Navy engineers, their faces smudged with soot and drawn with fatigue, carefully cataloged the fused and shattered components of Scanner Unit Two. The air still carried a faint, metallic tang of ozone, a lingering reminder of the immense energies unleashed.

Valerius stood observing the salvage operation, his expression carefully neutral. Internally, however, he was contending with a profound sense of disquiet. His System remained critically impaired, the nanite network's self-repair agonizingly slow. Each passing hour without its full analytical power and sensory augmentation felt like a step deeper into a minefield.

<>

Twenty-eight hours. Still too long.

Investigator Thorne, her demeanor as unyielding as durasteel, was reviewing the meager data salvaged from the scanner's memory buffers before its catastrophic failure. Lieutenant Commander Jian stood beside her, his brow furrowed in concentration. Lieutenant Kaelen, no longer a peripheral figure, was actively engaged in the discussion, his datapad displaying complex energy waveforms.

"The data is fragmented, Investigator," a lead technician reported, "but the moments leading up to the energy surge show the anomaly's core nexus reacting with extreme sensitivity to the scanner's focused probe. The energy build-up was exponential."

"And the nature of the retaliatory pulse?" Thorne pressed.

"Beyond anything standard," the technician admitted. "It wasn't just raw energy; it had… structural characteristics. Subspace distortions, high-frequency psionic resonance. It effectively 'unmade' the scanner's core systems rather than simply overloading them."

Kaelen seized the opening, stepping forward. "Investigator, Lieutenant Commander, if I may? The subspace harmonics present in that pulse, even in their residual traces, bear a striking resemblance – albeit on a vastly magnified scale – to the 'sensor ghost' I logged during the battle. The one that disabled Frigate Two."

He brought up his own data on a shared display, overlaying the faint, distorted signature from the battle with the heavily degraded readings from the anomaly's attack. "Look here," he pointed, "the phase variance, the way the energy decays… it's not identical, the power levels are incomparable, but the type of energy manipulation shares fundamental characteristics."

Thorne studied the comparison, her sharp eyes missing nothing. Jian leaned closer, his expression thoughtful.

"Your theory, Lieutenant Kaelen," Thorne said slowly, "is that the event which disabled Frigate Two was not a random sensor ghost, nor a conventional weapon discharge, but a manifestation of similar, if significantly weaker, energy manipulation as demonstrated by the anomaly?"

"Precisely, Investigator," Kaelen affirmed, his voice ringing with conviction. "I believe something, or someone, on this outpost during that battle, perhaps inadvertently or deliberately, tapped into or mimicked the kind of energies this anomaly wields. The resonance link between the outpost anomaly and the Omega signal on Moon 7C suggests these energies might be more pervasive, more accessible under certain conditions, than we realize."

Valerius felt a cold dread seep through him. Kaelen wasn't just connecting dots anymore; he was drawing a direct line from the anomaly's power to the battle, and by implication, to an unknown agent capable of wielding such force. While Kaelen didn't name Valerius, the focus of his theory was uncomfortably close.

Jian spoke, his tone measured. "If such energies can be 'tapped into', as you suggest, Lieutenant Kaelen, that implies either unknown Precursor technology influencing events, or… an individual with capabilities far exceeding standard Imperial kinetic training." His gaze, almost casually, flicked towards Valerius, then away.

Valerius kept his expression impassive, his Wargod energy suppressed to the point of near non-existence. He knew they were watching his reaction. "A fascinating, if alarming, theory, Lieutenant Kaelen," Valerius commented, his voice calm and even. "However, attributing battlefield sensor anomalies to Precursor-level energy manipulation without more concrete evidence remains a significant leap. The chaos of combat, combined with the outpost's older sensor systems, could produce highly misleading data." He was subtly defending his previous explanations, reinforcing the idea of mundane malfunctions.

"Perhaps," Thorne conceded, though her eyes remained sharp. "But the 'misleading data' in this case disabled an enemy frigate quite effectively, Lieutenant Valerius. And now, a similar, if vastly more powerful, energy has disabled one of our most advanced investigative tools." She turned back to Kaelen. "Continue your comparative analysis, Lieutenant. I want every data point, every resonance signature, scrutinized. If there is a link, however faint, we will find it."

She then addressed Jian. "With Scanner Unit Two destroyed, our direct investigation here is stalled. Re-double efforts on Moon 7C. Understanding the Omega signal and the Precursor facility there is now paramount. It may be the only way to understand what we are facing beneath this outpost."

The focus was shifting back to the moon, a small reprieve for Valerius. But Kaelen, now armed with Thorne's implicit endorsement, would be digging deeper than ever into the battle logs, his suspicions no longer easily dismissed.

Valerius knew he was walking an increasingly precarious path. Without his System, he was relying on his wits and his carefully concealed Wargod abilities to navigate a web of suspicion that was drawing tighter with every new revelation. The unblinking eye of the scanner might be broken, but the investigators' gaze was sharpening, and Kaelen was determined to lead it directly to the truth, whatever the cost.