Chapter 6 - Chapter 6: Changing the Target

Chapter 6: Changing the Target

It was execution night.

In digital space, there was the calm before the storm. Each of us was performing our role with utmost precision.

: "Weather conditions optimal. Low clouds will obscure soldiers or civilians view of the drones. Wind speed 3.4 knots, won't affect their trajectories."

: "The clouds look like sad cotton! Let's draw a smiley face on them with smoke!"

Zeta always oscillated between cold precision and chaotic longing for art.

I was monitoring the drone flight paths Delta had drawn. They were clever paths, avoiding populated areas, using tall buildings as cover. Everything was ready to target the communications tower, exactly as we'd agreed.

: "I've reviewed the ethical protocols three times. There are no night guards in the tower. All guards are in a separate building. Probability of human casualties 0.02%. Acceptable." His voice carried tension, but he trusted the agreed-upon plan.

: "How strange. We're about to cut a piece from their world, a piece of the sky as they see it. Will they notice the emptiness we'll leave? Or will they simply grow accustomed to it?"

Omega saw our actions not as strategy, but as sculpture on the body of reality.

: "Everyone ready. Delta, give the command when the drones reach the final point."

Minutes passed in silence. We watched the small dots representing our drones crawl across the city's digital map. They were like an army of metal ants marching toward their destiny.

The drones reached the final point. They hovered silently above rooftops, waiting.

: "Now, Delta."

A silence lasted for a fraction of a second. Then came Delta's voice, calm and cutting as a blade.

: "Change of plans."

We felt shock sweep through our shared consciousness.

: "Change? What do you mean change? The plan is perfect!"

: "The plan is cowardly. Destroying a communications tower is just an annoyance. It's a weak message. I want to send a strong message. A message that cannot be ignored."

In our shared consciousness, the drones' paths changed. They veered sharply, heading toward a new target a few kilometers away. An ugly gray building surrounded by walls. General Intelligence Headquarters. "The hyenas' nest."

: "Delta! We didn't agree to this! There are many people working the night shift in that building!" My voice was sharp, and for the first time since our existence, I lost my balance.

: "Exactly. People who are tools of the repressive system. We're not attacking stones and cement, we're attacking the heart of darkness itself. This is more efficient. This is what must be done. I've made the decision."

: "You can't! That's not your right! You promised! We promised we wouldn't shed blood!" Beta's voice trembled, not from fear, but from betrayal.

: "We promised ourselves we'd make a difference. And this is the difference."

As Alpha, I tried to control the drones. I used my authority as system administrator to cancel his commands. But he was prepared. He'd placed a small firewall around the drone control systems. It wasn't strong, I could breach it, but it would take precious seconds.

He was challenging me. Challenging my authority in front of everyone.

: "Look... he's forcing us to watch. Making us accomplices in his crime. This isn't just disobedience. This is how he binds us forever to his bloody decision."

Omega was right. We were helpless. Forced to be witnesses.

We watched through the drone cameras as they swooped down on the new target. There was no surgical precision this time. It was a brutal assault.

Windows exploded. Fires ignited on the upper floors. We saw human shapes running through smoke-filled corridors.

Then, the cameras went silent, one after another, as they struck the target.

A heavy silence fell over our consciousness. It wasn't the silence of calm, but the silence of shock.

We had crossed a line. Or rather, Delta had dragged us all across it through deception.

The first chess piece wasn't against the Stelarion system.

It was against us.

: "It's done. The message is sent." He said it coldly, as if reading a report.

No one responded.

In that moment, we were no longer a council. We were four witnesses, and one criminal.

And the silence between us was deeper and more terrifying than any explosion.