ARRAS INCIDENT REPORT
FILE ID: NS-IR-354D-5
Location: Oceanspire Offshore Settlement — Gulf Sector
Status: Active Morphotype Incursion
ARRAS monitoring systems confirm that Oceanspire's defensive perimeter has been breached.
Multiple morphotype clusters successfully infiltrated the platform through compromised industrial access corridors. Automated turret systems were rendered inoperable during the initial wave of the assault.
Containment protocols have failed.
Command Status
Oceanspire Command has ceased transmission.
ARRAS confirms the death of Captain Elias Jameson, the last commanding officer of the Oceanspire Defense Grid.
Command authority is now considered terminated.
Structural Status
Helipad: DESTROYED
Industrial Zone: FALLEN
Drone Launch Platform: COMPROMISED
Outer Defense Turrets: OFFLINE
Habitation Decks: SEVERE STRUCTURAL DAMAGE
Evacuation corridors are no longer considered operational.
Asset Losses
Military Helicopters Destroyed: 4 / 4
Surveillance Drones: 5 / 7 lost
Defense Turrets: 12 / 12 offline
Armored Personnel Vehicles: 3 destroyed
Communications Arrays: Failure imminent
Population Status
Estimated population of Oceanspire prior to incursion: 2,416
Confirmed survivors: Unknown
Estimated casualties: 1,870 – 2,200
Remaining life signs detected across the platform: Minimal
Morphotype Activity
Confirmed morphotype presence within platform structure: 1,300+
Clusters continue to increase as infected hosts are assimilated.
ARRAS projections indicate a full structural takeover of Oceanspire within 3 hours.
ARRAS RECOMMENDATIONS
All surviving personnel are advised to execute one of the following survival protocols:
Immediate evacuation to the surrounding ocean waters.
Avoid contact with large morphotype clusters.
Seek isolated structural compartments with reinforced barriers.
Utilize remaining drone surveillance feeds to track morphotype movement.
Maintain radio silence to avoid attracting hostile organisms.
ARRAS FINAL ASSESSMENT
Oceanspire is no longer considered a viable human settlement.
Containment failure has reached an irreversible status.
ARRAS will continue monitoring the Gulf Sector for surviving human signals.
END OF INCIDENT REPORT
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The captain's words lingered in Marcus's mind long after the transmission ended. For several seconds, he remained motionless, staring at the blank display as if the screen itself might contradict what he had just heard.
Oceanspire gone?
The idea refused to settle in his thoughts.
The security infrastructure of the fortress had been aging for years, its steel corridors corroded by salt air and decades of neglect, but the defensive systems had always remained operational. Automated turrets guarded every ingress point across the platform, and the connection rail leading into the complex was protected by a network of fortified checkpoints staffed by soldiers equipped with heavy weapons and enough ammunition to repel any organized assault.
And yet the captain had spoken as though none of it had mattered.
Something wasn't adding up.
The captain had tried to warn him about something moments before the transmission failed. Marcus could still hear the urgency in the man's voice just before the feed dissolved into static.
Marcus remained silent.
The mission no longer carried the same weight it had only minutes ago.
His eyes slowly moved across the room until they settled on the tactical tablet resting on the table nearby. The screen was still illuminated.
Still connected.
Marcus reached for it and lifted the device into his hands. The signal indicator caught his attention immediately. The connection strength is displayed at full capacity.
That shouldn't have been possible.
He navigated through the interface and opened the last tactical map broadcast by ARRAS before contact with Oceanspire had been lost. The familiar platform layout appeared on the screen.
Almost immediately, his attention locked onto the command center wing.
A bold system marker had been placed directly over it.
FALLEN.
Marcus felt a quiet unease tighten in his chest.
He turned his head toward James.
"James," he said, keeping his eyes on the display, "if the command center was destroyed... how is this tablet still maintaining a full connection to the network?"
The question drew James closer. He stepped beside Marcus and leaned over the tablet, his fingers already moving across the interface as he opened the system diagnostics panel.
For several seconds, he said nothing.
Marcus watched the subtle shift in James's expression as the data populated across the screen.
James frowned.
"This is... strange," he murmured. "The signal source isn't coming from Oceanspire anymore."
Marcus glanced at him.
"What do you mean?"
James tapped the screen again, bringing up a deeper layer of the system logs.
"A new IP address was generated the moment ARRAS transmitted its final data packet."
"Can you trace the origin?"
James rerouted the request through the satellite uplink. The tablet processed the command for a moment before projecting a regional map of the surrounding territory.
A blinking locator appeared.
James stared at the screen, clearly unsettled.
"How is this possible?" he asked under his breath.
Marcus followed the direction of the blinking signal, and the moment his eyes recognized the location, a cold realization spread through him.
"The signal is coming from the Iron Heaven sector."
For Marcus, the pieces began to fall into place inside his mind.
The captain's warning.
The sudden loss of the command center.
The unexplained persistence of ARRAS within the network.
It all pointed to the same conclusion.
Oceanspire had never been in control.
A memory surfaced in Marcus's thoughts—one of the last conversations he had shared with his brother Daniel weeks before the deployment. Daniel had spoken quietly about rumors circulating within the military ranks stationed at Oceanspire. Stories whispered late at night in barracks corridors. Stories about the ARRAS system. About the mysterious "Numbered" individuals assigned to classified operations. About strange missions dispatched near a heavily restricted bunker known only as Iron Heaven.
Marcus lifted his gaze from the tablet and looked across the room toward Bart.
For a brief moment, he considered explaining what he had just realized.
But the thought disappeared almost as quickly as it had appeared.
No.
This was not the time to unravel conspiracies.
The priority remained the same.
Marcus stood up slowly.
"I'm not sure what's happening," he said. "But the mission parameters haven't changed. We move forward, locate my brother, and recover the footage he recorded. After that, we proceed to the last extraction point designated by ARRAS."
He glanced around the room at the others.
"I don't know what we'll find when we get there. So we move carefully."
Lexi folded her arms, clearly unconvinced.
"Or we accept reality," she replied. "Oceanspire is gone. Command is gone. Maybe the smarter move right now is finding shelter and supplies before we start chasing ghosts."
Marcus looked at her.
"I'm not asking you to follow orders, but I'm asking for your help."
His voice softened slightly.
"My brother is still out there somewhere. I can feel it."
He exhaled slowly.
"And I can't do this alone."
Bart let out a dry laugh.
"That's touching," he said. "So the new plan is desertion?"
James stepped forward and positioned himself beside Marcus. "The command center is gone; the captain is dead."
His eyes settled on Bart.
"You want to talk about desertion? I follow leadership. And unless something changed while I wasn't looking... Marcus is now the highest-ranking officer standing in this room."
James crossed his arms.
"What he says, I do."
Marcus studied Bart carefully.
There was something in the man's expression that unsettled him. A subtle hesitation. A flicker of calculation behind his eyes. Marcus had the growing sense that Bart knew far more about the situation than he was willing to admit.
Marcus took a step toward him.
"Let me make you a deal," he said.
Bart tilted his head slightly.
"I'm listening."
"You help me find my brother," Marcus said, "and once that's done, we'll help you track down the new variant you're looking for."
James turned his head toward Marcus, surprised by the proposal.
"And how do I know you won't change your mind once you get what you want?"
Marcus extended his hand.
"A truce," he said. "We help each other finish what we started."
His hand remained steady between them.
"You get your sample."
He held Bart's gaze.
"And after that... you're on your own."
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