The data chip wasn't ordinary.
When Mason cracked it open inside the camp's signal-blocked room, the chip pulsed with a faint, rhythmic light—like a heartbeat coded into silicon.
"It's not just a comm relay," he muttered. "This thing's a behavior logger. It learns how you respond. Tracks patterns. Could be feeding a predictive AI."
James stood behind him, arms crossed. "Can we fake responses? Feed it what we want it to see?"
Mason smirked. "With enough time and the right bait? Yeah. We can make it think you're a patriot in the making."
"Do it," James said. "Let's start with something small. Give them a scavenger route we've already burned through. Make it look like goodwill."
"And if they send drones to check?" Erika asked from the corner.
James reached into his coat and held up the sleek black casing of the Disruption Beacon—his reward from the system, no larger than a thick data tablet.
"We'll give them a taste of silence."
---
The target site was an old transmission hub buried halfway in the hills—ruined tech, empty fuel tanks, and enough scorched metal to make it look like a hotspot.
James took a team of five, all trusted, none who asked too many questions. The beacon sat in his pack like a secret weapon, its screen glowing a faint blue.
They arrived under cloud cover. The horizon bled gold as the sun dipped, and shadows crept across the cratered earth.
Mason set up the false camp markers: scavenged crates, discarded wrappers, a few buried heat pads to simulate activity.
"Drones will see signs of life," he said. "Old tech, recycled supplies. Exactly what they want."
Erika planted the portable signal nodes nearby—broadcasting just enough noise to tempt a flyby.
Then they waited.
---
Two hours passed before they heard it.
A faint hum.
Erika dropped her voice. "Northwest. Low. Fast."
James saw it next—sleek, disc-shaped, UNO reconnaissance drone, quiet as a falling leaf.
"Beacon ready?" he asked.
Mason held it tight. "Sixty-second blackout once I hit it."
James nodded. "Wait until it's right over us. I want to know if they notice the silence."
The drone circled once, then dipped lower, scanning. The light on its underbelly pulsed with each pass—recording, analyzing.
Then it paused.
For just a second.
As if it saw too much… or not enough.
"Now," James whispered.
Mason pressed the beacon.
The world went still.
The drone's light died. Its hum vanished. Erika's comms snapped into static.
It hovered for a moment longer—drifting without input—then jerked upward and rocketed away, a silent retreat into the darkening sky.
Sixty seconds later, the beacon clicked off.
Everything came back online.
James's system lit up:
[Beacon Test Successful – UNO Drone Interruption Confirmed.]
[UNO Recon Unit Designation: Kilo-7. Status: Jammed. Temporary Memory Loss Induced.]
He exhaled. "We'll get a response. They'll think it was terrain interference. For now."
Ray tapped the side of his rifle. "And when they don't?"
James smiled thinly. "Then we hit them with the real version next time."
---
Back at camp, a new message appeared on the data chip—donated via the UNO encrypted relay.
"Appreciate the route data. Scavengers confirmed low-yield supplies. You've shown initiative. The Order recognizes early collaboration. More to come."
Attached was a query.
"Would you consider hosting a local assessment officer—temporarily? To observe operational habits and leadership efficacy?"
Erika read it aloud, voice dry. "They want to plant someone in the camp."
Ray cursed. "That's a trojan horse. You let them walk inside, they'll never leave."
James didn't speak for a while. His mind was already a battlefield—decisions spiraling like a map of consequences.
"They'll send someone eventually," he said. "Either we let it happen on our terms… or they force it on theirs."
Vivian narrowed her eyes. "You're not actually considering it?"
James looked up, voice cold. "Not unless we flip them."
Erika blinked. "Wait… you want to turn a UNO officer?"
James leaned forward, tapping the chip gently with one finger.
"We plant seeds. Doubt. Humanity. Show them their perfect machine isn't as clean as they think."
Vivian's voice dropped. "That's a hell of a risk."
He smiled.
"Good. It means they won't see it coming."
---
That night, the system updated again:
[New Task Available: Convert or Corrupt Incoming UNO Liaison Officer]
Objective: Undermine loyalty, redirect sympathies, acquire operational intel
Reward: Advanced Interrogation Suite – Portable AI for detecting lies, reading microexpressions, and emotional profiling (non-lethal use only)]
James stared at it, unmoving.
The next stage had begun.
UNO thought they were crawling in quietly.
But they'd walked into something else entirely.
A war of truth.
A war of shadows.
And James was already writing the rules.
---