Chapter Text
"I tried to ask around for more information on the campus closure, but no one seems to know anything or…is willing to talk about it. That's mad, right?" Violet leans back against the sofa cushion in Frankie's flat, pulling her feet up under herself. "And I've even attempted asking the University Board of Directors, the maintenance staff…whoever I could get ahold of, and I've been met with bloody crickets."
"Well, what about yourself?" Frankie, cross-legged with her laptop on top of her lap, sits at the other end of the sofa, knowing exactly why no one remembers anything. Of course it's mad. "What do you remember?"
Violet adjusts her position, sitting sideways to face her friend, giving her a moment to think. Her legs curl under herself, finding the space comfortable. Violet's negative head shake is subtle as she absently looks at her friend. "Well, that's…that's terrifying."
Frankie nods slowly, fully remembering everything that occurred, but knowing she can't let onto that secret. "So, you need to…decide whether you wish to investigate that or…if there are questions that you don't want the answers to."
It's the way her friend says the words that catches Violet's interest, "because you think the truth is worse than not knowing at all."
"I didn't say that," Frankie answers quietly, typing something on her laptop. Code. "I uh…I managed to infiltrate the network that maintains the security cameras around campus. You can see what what they're doing." She pauses, reaching over to the television remote and turning the device on before streaming her laptop window, allowing them both to see everything more clearly.
Violet turns her attention towards the television, her face softening with wonder, "how did you manage this?"
"They have poor security measures," Frankie answers quietly, "nothing terribly impressive."
"Well, I'm impressed." Violet answers with certainty, a half-smile starting to appear at the corner of her mouth. "I could never do anything like this."
Frankie blushes, but does her best not to draw attention to it. "It looks like most of the damage was on the center grounds." She switches between camera feeds, furrowing her brow as she focuses on her own laptop screen, knowing that Violet is watching the television, "hazmat suits…" Frankie uses the camera to zoom-in on one of the workers.
"Meaning, in some way, there were hazardous materials involved." Violet draws her own conclusion, "from where though?"
"Maybe not necessarily hazardous, but they aren't sure if it's hazardous. So it's probably unknown." Frankie answers quietly, moving the camera to another worker, "they're collecting samples."
"Samples," Violet folds her arms over her chest, getting up from her seat and walking closer to the television, as if it would make the view clearer, "samples of what, though." It isn't a question, more like something she's attempting to reason with herself. Violet turns, looking at Frankie again, "I don't…what happened yesterday?" She takes another moment, "and why do I get the feeling that you know the answer to that?"
Frankie begins to shake her slow, dismissive head, "Vi, I don't-"
"You do. I can see it in your eyes." Violet lowers her hands to her sides, "what happened to us?"
"I really don't know," Frankie doubles down, "I just think it must have been something that the government is going to great lengths to cover up." She motions to the television with an absent wave of her hand, "look at the logo on that yellow kit. Are you able to make it out?"
Turning to look at the television again, Violet tilts her head to the side, trying to focus on the black blur, "a bird of some sort?" She pauses, "I see wings."
Frankie begins to nod slowly, "Right. Have you ever heard of an organization called U.N.I.T?"
"What updates do we have?" Kate glances around the conference table at the individuals she's elected to assist her in this conquest in finding the one known as M155 5M17H. She gives a quick glance over at Christofer, who seems to be peering at her with adoration, something he does without even realizing it these days. Kate does her best not to pay him much mind, "has anything regarding the Vellatrax appeared on the Blue Box Files servers?"
"It certainly has." Osgood nods, pulling the website up on the laptop in front of her as it streams onto the wall in front of them, capturing the attention of the others in the room. "We'll start with the ship crash."
Kate is slightly taken back by both the angle and the clarity of the photographs, "this is as if we were being followed by a film crew." Her voice is slightly breathy, surprised, "how is this possible?"
Osgood inhales, "I tried to track the properties of the photos, which includes the type of camera that was used as well as the time that the photo was taken and-"
"We were on-scene at that time." Kate shakes her head, then looks at the others around the table before focusing on Osgood once more, "were you able to discern any other details from the pictures?" She lets out a sigh when the other woman shakes her head negatively. "Figures."
"The information was then passed over to me. I started following the websites and the uploads by the user known as Miss Smith." Melanie explains, "each time anything is uploaded to the internet, whether it be a comment or a photo, usually an IP address is left like a footprint. IP address stands for Internet Protocol, which is a set of rules governing the format of data sent over the internet or local network. There are ones for a local network like in your home between printers and laptops, smart home devices, and there are ones for the larger internet as a whole. They tell you where someone is located, essentially, and what computer something may originate."
"Okay," Kate nods slowly, glad to have context for the information she's about to be told.
"So, when I track the IP addresses of all the images uploaded from the crash site and the photos of Wychwood University, they are all from different places in the world, but same camera. One registers from Lisbon, Greenland, Australia, New York, et cetera." Mel explains, "which then tells me that Miss Smith has something called a rotating VPN, or Virtual Private Network."
"I remember hearing the term in the press," Kate comfortably folds her arms over her chest as she sits back in the seat, "it allows you to appear as if you're elsewhere, correct?"
"Exactly." Mel nods again, "now, a rotating VPN is one that constantly cycles place to place. Making the user even more difficult to track." She pauses, glancing up at the screen, "it normally isn't impossible though. Usually someone will slip up at some point. Forget to turn it on, things of that nature, but that doesn't happen here…ever."
"Miss Smith is a professional then." Shirley offers, "they're simply careful."
"I think it's more than that, because when I do use our systems and technologies to track it, and they're often able to bypass VPN systems, there is…nothing. It's completely blank. They're using multiple VPN servers, but then altering their own IP…effectively blank."
"Meaning they're untraceable." Shirley mutters, an impressed half-smile forming in the corner of her mouth, "completely untraceable."
"And we have no other identifying qualities about them. No contacts, no…nothing." Kate shakes her head a little, "because they masked their voice and appearance when they were on Blue Box Files."
"Yes, but they made a program for the hosts to use in order to communicate." Osgood mentions, remembering the podcast episode, "what if there is some sort of programming fragments that were left behind after the connection?"
Mel notices Kate lean forward in interest from the corner of her eye, "I actually reached out to them already."
"And?" Kate raises a hopeful brow.
"One of the members was reached out to with a long line of code to input. There was nothing that Miss Smith touched." Mel shakes her head, "I've already spoken to each of them."
Kate sighs, leaning back again, "okay, what else do we have?"
"There was something else from the photographs that were uploaded and I'm hoping you'll catch on to why it's troublesome." Shirley offers, giving a nod to Osgood to scroll down on the webpage. There are photographs of the grounds of Wychwood University with the spots of violet blood on the statue decor scattered around the campus grounds.
Swallowing, Kate looks at the photos. It takes her only a brief moment before she speaks, "we aren't there." There's a beat as she turns her attention to Shirley, "Follow the helpers, but Miss Smith was there before we were."
"My thoughts exactly." Shirley's eyes dance with mild excitement, returning her attention to the photographs that Osgood is streaming.
"Okay, that's…that makes things interesting." Kate exhales, drawing her lower lip into her mouth and biting the skin absently.
"I can request a list of students that were reported to have attended their morning classes." Christofer offers, "and we'll go from there." He continues to stand by the single door leading out to the hallway, "I'll also request campus security cameras though I believe we acquired all that we needed."
Kate glances over at him, "All rooms or just the rooms that the Vellatrax were in?"
Christofer points at her, symbolizing that she's making a good point. "I'll look over all of it again." He pauses to add emphasis, "personally."
An affectionate half smile fills the corner of Kate's mouth, "Thank you, Colonel."
Shirley discretely exhales a soft laugh to herself, leaning back in her chair, "what would you like the rest of us to do, Kate?"
"Oh, uh," Kate turns her attention back to the rest of the table, "maintain attempts to track and locate Miss Smith, as well as any updates to the Blu Box Files websites." She gives a nod, moving to get up herself.
"Ma'am, could I have a brief word?" Osgood interrupts her mentor's movements.
Kate gives Christofer a nod, dismissing him with Mel and Shirley. She watches a moment as the other three leave the room, turning her attention back to Osgood, "everything okay?"
"I actually…had a bit of a search regarding a young woman that came up to me not long after we first got there." Osgood explains, "Violet Ripley, you probably saw her in the feed from-"
"Yes, I remember." Kate nods, interrupting her friend. "What about her?"
"She's a close friend of your daughter." Osgood explains, "who she mentioned, in passing, was also in the building that day. She said they were working together on the Uni newsletter." She notices Kate's face soften, "however, when the building was searched, your daughter was nowhere to be found and she was not part of the Retcon deployment efforts."
Kate furrows her brow, "I don't understand."
"I don't either." She admits quietly, swallowing. "The Colonel knows, but didn't speak about it to his team that were searching the tapes." Osgood hesitates briefly, "It might be something to bring up with him later when it's just the two of you." She notices the slight alarm in Kate's eyes, "you're my closest friend and he makes you happy. Your reasons for keeping the relationship secret is yours alone, but there's no need to hide it from me."
Swallowing, Kate relaxes and nods with slight embarrassment, "thank you."
Osgood removes the cord from the side of the laptop before closing it. She exhales slowly, "it feels like we're closer to finding this out than we've ever been. We'll get it figured out."
Kate watches as the younger woman leaves the room from the corner from her eye, taking a moment to breathe. She inhales and exhales deeply, slowly before standing, making her way back to her own secluded office. Has she been too obvious? Who else might know about her and Christofer? How long will it be before she's called into HR or receives a summons from Geneva?
Lowering herself into her office chair, Kate opens the lid of her own laptop, starting to type when a terminal prompt opens suddenly, then a simple text document. She tries to close them both when they open again.
I am not your enemy.
Kate furrows her brow, not quite understanding what is happening. She types on the next line, 'Who is this?'
M155 5M17H.
Her eyes widening with slight alarm, Kate moves her hands back to the keyboard, ready to type again when-
I think we should talk.