Routine questioning on the landing pad, the Black Crow commander's overstepping probe
The hydraulic doors at the end of quarantine lane number 17 slid open to both sides.
The cold wind from the inner harbor Landing Pad, carrying the smell of engine oil, wafted into the connecting corridor.
As soon as Lynn stepped out of the door, before his boots had even touched the anti-slip steel plate of the Landing Pad, three dark figures emerged from behind the side elevator shaft, forming a triangular shape to block the only way to the main administration building.
The leading man was thin and wore a black raven down Cloak in the style of the Stability Maintenance Office, with two silver bone spike badges pinned to his collar.
Commander-in-Chief of the Black Crow Guard, Ke'er.
Hela's henchmen are mad dogs specifically responsible for internal rebellion and high-risk interrogations.
Behind Ke'er were two young clerks, one carrying a portable energy detector that was in operation, and the other holding a stack of blank seizure slips with red seals.
Hearing the commotion, the two security guards from the Stability Maintenance Office who had been standing by the quarantine station immediately jogged up and stopped three steps behind Lynn, one on each side, effectively blocking the way back to the corridor bridge.
Lynn stopped, folded the pass that had just been stamped with a red seal, and put it into the bottom pocket of his dark gray uniform.
Ke'er didn't bow, nor did he even look at Lynn's face. His gaze lingered for two seconds on the slowly closing gate behind Lynn before he leisurely removed the black leather glove from his right hand.
"Director, what a coincidence."
Ke'er patted his left palm with his leather glove, his tone devoid of any subordinate's respect for his superior.
"I just received a coded Assistance Investigation Notice from the outer outpost that a Class II exploration vessel, which was not registered with the Stability Maintenance Office, has breached the Defense Line of the third Buffer Zone. We're bringing people over to verify this, but we didn't expect it to be you who disembarked."
Lynn's expression remained calm, his hands hanging naturally at his sides.
"B-44 Monitoring Ship, belonging to the Seventh Exploration Section under the Logistics Department, reported its departure sixteen hours ago according to standard procedures, and the return receipt has just been signed and verified by the Starport quarantine officer."
Lynn pointed in the direction of the quarantine station.
"If Commander Ke'er needs to verify the flight permit number, there's still time to retrieve the original document from station number seventeen."
Ke'er didn't move, and the smile on his face faded slightly.
He took a step forward, his boots striking the steel plate with a crisp sound, no more than two feet from Lynn.
"The quarantine station only checks for radiation on the ship's surface; it can't control what unclean things the people inside might have picked up outside."
Ke'er tilted his head, gesturing for the clerk behind him who was holding the detector to come forward.
"Director Hela issued the ' Starport Level-One Combat Readiness Martial Law Order ' two hours ago. According to the annex to the order, all personnel returning from the direction of the unidentified ruins in the XN sequence, regardless of rank, must go to the temporary interrogation room of the Stability Maintenance Office, hand over all paper documents, storage media, and shipboard flight logs they are carrying, and cooperate with the full set of traceability screening."
The clerk holding the equipment immediately stepped forward and pointed the scanning probe of the detector at Lynn's chest, while the other clerk unscrewed the cap of his pen and looked at the items in the seizure order.
Upon seeing this, several Logistics Department department who were loading and unloading cargo around the Landing Pad stopped their trolleys and shrank into the shadows of the containers in the distance, barely daring to breathe.
The Black Crow Guard of the Stability Maintenance Office openly intercepted the highest-ranking official in the Director's Office at Starport and even conducted a body search and confiscated his personal belongings on the spot.
This was no longer a routine matter; rather, it was a way for Hela to test Lynn's bottom line amidst the undercurrents within the Management Committee.
Lynn sneered inwardly.
Ke'er's insistence on "the direction of the XN sequence ruins is unknown" indicates that although Hela did not have concrete evidence of his contact with TVA, she locked down the warp sector before the B-44 Monitoring Ship returned through some kind of Star Map monitoring method.
At this moment, he was carrying the forged confession written on K-7-Chaos-M special paper, as well as the encrypted video of the "Forty-Second Execution" sent by the Clockmaker.
If either of these things were exposed to the surveillance equipment of the Stability Maintenance Office, Ke'er would have ample excuse to immediately turn the "routine inquiry" into "protective detention."
But he couldn't back down, much less use his position as Director to exert pressure.
Using administrative privileges to refuse inspection before finding loopholes in the other party's procedures is tantamount to admitting guilt.
Lynn glanced at the scanning probe that was so close to him, but instead of backing away, he raised his right hand and gently tapped the cold metal casing of the probe twice with the knuckle of his index finger.
"Commander Ke'er, you've only recently been transferred back from the outer defense zone; you may not have had time to thoroughly study the Management Committee's internal control revisions from last year."
Lynn's voice wasn't loud, but every word clearly reached the ears of everyone present.
The clerk holding the detector trembled at the tap and instinctively looked at Ke'er.
Ke'er narrowed his eyes and remained silent.
According to Article 42 of Chapter VII of the "General Principles for Logistics and Defense Management of Starport under the Management Committee," the martial law order issued by the Stability Maintenance Office only grants the authority to conduct mandatory searches to unregistered vagrants, outsourced armed personnel, and field staff below level four.
Lynn looked straight at Ke'er, speaking at a steady pace as if he were reading out the minutes of a routine meeting.
"I'm wearing the uniform of a Level 3 dispatcher in the Logistics Department, and I also carry a Level 3 exploration magnetic card. However, according to the supplementary clause of Article 43 of the General Provisions, all data and personal records related to the Logistics Department Department's ' Magnetic Field and Waterway Mapping' special mission are classified as Level 2 combat readiness classified assets before they are technically archived by the General Logistics Bureau."
Lynn paused, then shifted his gaze to the clerk holding the seizure warrant.
"If the Stability Maintenance Office intends to forcibly seize or access Level II classified strategic assets, it must present a ' Interdepartmental Top Secret Asset Access Order ' jointly signed by the heads of the Internal Affairs Inspection Office, the General Logistics Bureau, and your Stability Maintenance Office, and the handover must be supervised on-site by at least two Level III inspectors dispatched by the Internal Affairs Inspection Office."
Lynn looked at Ke'er again.
"The seizure warrant in the commander's hand only seems to bear the Black Crow Guard's departmental seal. What, Director Hela changed the Management Committee's parent law, or is Commander Ke'er planning to personally take the blame for the entire Stability Maintenance Office for 'stealing Logistics Department's combat readiness mapping secrets'?"
The clerk holding the seizure order's expression changed drastically. He abruptly pulled back the pen he had been holding on the paper, and even tucked the folder in his hand half an inch into his clothes.
The various departments within the Management Committee have always maintained a facade of harmony while harboring underlying discord.
If a charge of "unauthorized withholding of the Logistics Department combat readiness secrets" were to be filed on paper, the Internal Affairs Inspection Office's impeachment document would be delivered directly to the Joint Conference table before tomorrow morning.
When the time comes, in order to absolve herself of any responsibility, Director Hela will be the first to step in and take the blame, namely the clerks who signed and handled the documents on site and Ke'er himself.
Ke'er's fingers tightened around the leather glove, the leather creaking slightly against each other.
He originally thought that Lynn would either reveal his identity Director and force his way in, or compromise out of a guilty conscience. To this end, he even ambushed a team of elites equipped with strong magnetic restraint nets in the elevator shaft.
But to his utter surprise, this usually aloof Director of the Management Committee could recite the obscure and cumbersome asset protection regulations of the grassroots Logistics Department word for word, and directly used the rules to put the Black Crow Guard on the brink of overstepping their authority and breaking the law.
Forcibly searching someone's property violates the Joint Conference's core principles and gives others ammunition against them.
If they didn't search and let Lynn swagger back to the Director's Office, Hela's mission to probe would have been completely ruined.
The cold wind on the Landing Pad ruffled the hem of Ke'er's Cloak, and the only sound in the silence was the distant hum of the ventilation ducts.
The Logistics Department staff hiding behind the containers exchanged glances, their eyes filled with awe.
As expected of Director, who is in charge of the central government, he didn't even blush. With just a few words, he cornered the infamous Black Crow Commander.
A full ten seconds passed.
Ke'er's tense jawline slowly relaxed, and a stiff smile returned to his face.
He raised his hand and pressed the energy detector that the clerk was holding.
"Director is so familiar with the local regulations; it was I who failed to consider this and almost committed a procedural error."
Ke'er took a half step back, making way for the passage leading to the elevator, and gestured to the two guards behind him, signaling them to lower their guard.
The two clerks, as if granted a pardon, quickly bowed their heads and stepped aside.
However, just as Lynn stepped forward to pass Ke'er...
Ke'er's steps shifted slightly to the side, but his gaze inadvertently fell and stopped at the inside pocket of Lynn's uniform on the left breast.
Because of the action of folding the pass receipt in, the fabric now showed a very subtle, square edge, like the folded edges of stiff paper.
"Since these are the surveying assets of the Logistics Department, I naturally dare not touch them carelessly."
Ke'er's voice was low, only the two of them could hear it, and it carried a meaningful smile.
"However, Director just returned from outside, and there's something you might not know. Just half an hour ago, there was some trouble at the Department of Technology. I heard that a batch of Top Secret consumables soaked in magic mysteriously went missing from the Seventh Laboratory on the third basement floor."
Ke'er lifted his eyelids and stared into Lynn's eyes.
"Minister Wanda is in a bad mood; she even turned away the people from the Internal Affairs Inspection Office. Director, that thing you're carrying in your uniform pocket looks quite valuable. You'd better keep it safe when you go to the single-person disinfection pod; don't let the corrosive chemicals smudge the writing on it."
Lynn's steps did not falter at all, and even the frequency of his breathing remained unchanged.
"Thank you for the reminder, Commander."
Lynn brushed past Ke'er and walked straight toward the single-person radiation disinfection isolation chamber in front of him.
"If the consumables from the Department of Technology and Department of Technology are lost, their internal controls will handle the investigation. As for you, Commander, instead of worrying about the receipt in my pocket, you should go back and check the Black Crow Guard's attendance records from the 17th of last month to see if any deputy commander forgot anything they shouldn't have taken out on someone else's territory."
As soon as he finished speaking, Lynn pressed the button to open the isolation chamber and stepped into the sealed chamber made of double-layered lead plates.
The heavy lead Alloy Door slammed shut, completely shutting out Ke'er's suddenly gloomy expression.