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False dawn was barely colouring the eastern sky when the world went silent. Messages were cut off, downloads paused, money transfers failed, open world games crashed.Through it all, the city of Tria continued to follow the equator just ahead of the international date line, floating serenely above the ocean waves.*Proper decorum in the debating chamber was collapsing in almost direct proportion to the number of people entering it. A dozen competing conversations and arguments were breaking, some at cross purpose and all verging away from civil. Each new arrival, in varying states of haste and dishevelment, clutching steaming cups or chilled bottles, added to the churn of voices that grew in response to the early morning crisis. The obsidian table at the heart of the room was a sea of message and alert icons demanding responses, some having followed their target recipient since they had been woken by the emergency summons.By the time the last stranglers were arriving to take their seats, Tui Nina had secured temporary dominance of the debate by sheer force of personality, her stare carrying raw threat to anyone that made to interrupt her. An early arrival, she had become the axis for orbiting rumour and fact. "You are not listening to me, we have zero connection to the rest of the world. As far as the city is concerned, the cloud ends with our boundary buoys.""Impossible," came an adamant rebuttal. "We're a tier one hub, people get cut off from us not the other way around.""And for the same reason it can't be a technical fault," added the flatley irritated tones of a new arrival, every sign of his membership among the sleep deprived and overworked plain to see. "We're being actively isolated.""The Vault...," someone gasped, setting off an anxious frisson through the room."I have people conducting an eyes-on confirmation of each server block's integrity. So far no damage or interference. The banks have declared an emergency halt on trading anyway," the latecomer replied, rubbing their face as panic was averted. "Best case scenario, we'll merely loose millions personally rather than watch the whole economy fall apart once we reconnect.""There is barely even a chance of someone benefiting long term from this type of attack," came another voice, taking the chance to be heard. "And the ones that might want it don't have the means.""We need outside assistance," Tui announced, trying to regain her commanding position before the debates momentum escaped her.Order lapsed again in the face of potentially ruinous loses and rising disagreement on the best course of action. It was testament to the unprecedented nature of the city's situation and the impact thereof that the majority failed to notice the Secretaries General arrival until they had covered half the blue glaze tiled floor towards their seats. Alem Cengic, iron haired ancient of the political arena, as neat and fresh seeming as if he'd scheduled the emergency meeting personally. Sol Ju-Yin, who carried herself like Kali Ma's own avatar apon Earth and had risen to prominence through tireless focus on her goals and a network cultivated through every branch and rank of the city's population.A single word, "order," was carried clearly to each person in the room as the walls resonated to amplify the women's voice. Sol tipped her head by the barest fraction in deference to her opposite number as silence descended, receiving his warm smile in return."Ladies and gentlemen," came the older man's calming tones. "When our city lost connectivity the barrier arrays did as designed and went into what might be called 'cornered animal mode' before anyone even had time to notice something had happened. Less than a second later this sorry excuse for a ship body slammed them, results as you might expect." In response to his gesture a container ship was painted in the air over the table's black mirror surface, turning slowly to reveal one crinkled and scorched side to all present. "As we speak a cutter is preparing to deploy a boarding party, and I've told them not to bother being gentle. This detail however is the one I am most concerned by," a quick command and the image bled to transparent monochrome, zooming in on the stern. "A fossil fuel engine.""They've been illegal for decades," came Sol's crisp emphases, "no one should be stupid enough to build one that size or display it that blatantly. We made too much of an example of the last group that did.""An yet," Alem concluded, "there it is. And this is obviously not a new build design, nor a drifting legacy craft. So, it seems our best chance for immediate answers, even if they might not the ones we're seeking, lies on board."