"Project Zero-Transit is docking. We expect your full cooperation."
The operative's voice remained flawlessly polite, but his grip was brutal, hauling him out of the room like a captured dog.
The Raven ground his teeth together, the veins in his forehead pulsing visibly.
But he had zero clearance. No backup. Nothing.
Any resistance would just make him look pathetic.
All he could do was let the ship's security drag him down the hallway.
The operative shoved him hard from behind, forcing him to pick up the pace.
He stumbled, snapping his head over his shoulder to glare one last time at the camera tucked in the corner of his room.
The tiny red recording light was still calmly blinking.
He had assumed that docking at Whitecliffe Harbor would reset the board and give him a fighting chance.
But in this exact moment, reality finally crashed down on him...
The Commodore had never planned on letting him walk away in the first place!
...
Time bled away.
Project Zero-Transit's engines hummed down to a steady thrum.
A booming horn blasted through the mist as the colossal vessel drifted along the glowing channel markers, sliding into Whitecliffe Harbor.
The shipwide PA system crackled to life. "Esteemed guests, Project Zero-Transit is now navigating Whitecliffe Controlled Waters. Final docking will commence in twenty minutes."
"Please proceed to your designated staging areas according to your assigned boarding pass numbers, and await further instructions from our staff."
"Different terminals operate strictly segregated access protocols. Do not attempt to alter your disembarkation route, or you will bear full responsibility for the consequences."
"A final reminder: upon entering Whitecliffe Harbor, you are bound by their internal laws."
The announcement repeated three times.
Up on the forward observation deck, Serena stood by the railing, gazing out at the looming port.
Nicholas stood right beside her, his hand resting lightly against the curve of her waist.
The sharp sea breeze carried a damp chill, sending her loose hair whipping wildly around her face.
The oppressive fog banking the water slowly drifted apart to clear a path for the ship.
At first, only a few searchlights pierced the haze.
But as they drew closer, a sprawling city of steel and light began to materialize from the darkness.
A massive white tower pierced the
fog first, its rotating beacon
sweeping the waters, casting
blinding arcs of light over rows upon ows of industrial monoliths
From a distance, Whitecliffe Harbor looked like a phantom fortress hovering between the ocean and the mist.
Brilliant, yet impossible to fully comprehend.
The outermost cargo terminal
looked deceivingly normal, packed with towering cranes endless grids of shipping containers, and
transport vehicles zipping under the floodlights.
But beyond that facade lay layer upon layer of fortified steel barricades, completely segmenting the harbor.
A faint blue electromagnetic shield pulsed above the perimeter walls.
Heavily armed sentries guarded every chokepoint, while biometric scanning drones circled like vultures overhead.
The inner harbor was further sliced into isolated, grid-locked zones.
Each zone possessed its own identification number, blast doors, security checkpoints, and exclusive transit lanes.
A complex web of enclosed skybridges stretched from the docks straight into the heart of the mist.
Even from the ship's massive vantage point, it was impossible to see past the outermost layer.
What horrors lay hidden deeper in who controlled them, and what sick experiments they were running. astall buried in the impenetrable fog.
Once guests stepped onto their assigned bridges, they were funneled straight into
their isolated zones.
No crossing paths. No interference.
It was a massive, deliberately segregated labyrinth.
Serena scanned the hermetically sealed bridges branching out from the docks, her
gaze turning frigid.