Diana Kessler sat in the dimly lit maintenance bay of StellarCore's primary production facility, her fingers hovering over a series of complicated terminals. Her black gloves, worn from years of exposure to harsh industrial environments, tapped a steady rhythm against the cold metal surface. She was no stranger to the underbelly of the corporation, but tonight's task was something else entirely.
She was deep in the heart of one of the galaxy's most powerful mech manufacturers, and what she was about to do would shake the very foundation of StellarCore's military supremacy. A few well-placed lines of code, a manipulated subroutine, and the latest generation of Titan-class mechs would fail their first deployment.
It wasn't about the money. It wasn't about the fame. Diana's motivations were deeply personal—an old betrayal, the wreckage of her own past. Her life had been ruined by the CMC, her family torn apart in the wake of a corporate scandal she couldn't shake from her mind. The power and influence StellarCore wielded were now the targets of her fury.
Her mission was simple: sabotage the new batch of mechs designed for CMC, the juggernauts that were expected to turn the tide of the war. The thought of the looming battle between UOP and CMC had pushed her to act. The war needed an equalizer, something to tip the scales in favor of the people who had no part in these corporate games. People like her.
She had spent months inside the facility, working as a low-level maintenance tech, slipping under the radar. All the while, she had been gathering intel, discovering the weak points in the newest generation of mechs. It wasn't hard—after all, StellarCore's pride was its arrogance. They believed their mechs were invincible, and no one cared about the little people. They never thought that someone like Diana, someone with nothing to lose, would dare to challenge them from within.
She glanced at the work orders on the screen. It was almost too easy. The new Titan-class mechs were in the final stages of their assembly, and they had been assigned to the most recent war production batch—ready to be deployed to the front lines. Diana's hands moved quickly, typing a string of commands into the terminal, bypassing the standard security protocols with a skill that only a former hacker turned mechanic could possess.
The key was to embed a command that would allow the mechs to experience a critical failure during battle. A system error, disguised as an upgrade malfunction, would cause a full shutdown of their thrusters and weaponry. And when it happened, the CMC would be blindsided—an entire line of their most powerful mechs turned useless in the blink of an eye.
Her mind raced as she prepared to upload the final code. Her breath was shallow, and the ticking of the clock on the wall echoed loudly in her ears. If she were caught now, there would be no escape. The CMC would bury her—literally.
A flash of doubt flickered in her mind, but she quickly pushed it aside. The decision had been made long ago. This wasn't just about sabotage. It was about giving the UOP a chance. About showing the galaxy that corporations like StellarCore weren't invincible. That no one was above the law.
She hit enter.
The system prompted a final confirmation: "Upload complete. Proceed to execute in 30 minutes."
Diana exhaled slowly. Her heart was pounding in her chest, but there was no turning back now. The course of the war was about to change, and she would be the one who set it into motion.
But just as she prepared to log out and leave the terminal, something caught her eye on the adjacent screen. A list of mech serial numbers. And in that list, a few of them weren't marked as part of the new batch. They were marked with an unusual designation—"Stealth Class Modification: Active".
Her brow furrowed in confusion. She wasn't aware that any stealth-class models were being tested in the facility, especially not at this scale. Her curiosity gnawed at her, urging her to investigate further. The idea of further sabotage flickered through her mind. After all, if they were incorporating stealth technology into their mechs, that could turn the tide of battle for either side.
She hesitated for a moment. The temptation to take a deeper look was almost overwhelming, but she couldn't afford to waste any more time.
With one last glance at the terminal, she hit the shutdown sequence. The code had been deployed, and there was nothing more she could do for the time being. The mechs would fail—there was no doubt about that. She'd made sure of it.
But the stealth-class mechs? They were something else entirely.
As she slipped out of the maintenance bay, Diana couldn't shake the uneasy feeling crawling up her spine. What had she just uncovered? Would it change the course of her sabotage mission? Or would it lead her to something darker—a far more dangerous game?
The war had just become far more complicated, and Diana Kessler was in deeper than she had ever intended. But she didn't care. She was already too far gone to stop now.