[ Claudia bridge / September 21, 0078 09:13 ]
"Urgent transmission from the Infinity Library, Captain!"
"Patch it through."
Teana raised her head from her own screen, right next to the Captain's chair, where she had been working frantically to pull up any information on the Kaiserkrone, just like every other intelligence officer in the task force. Subaru was shadowing quietly behind her.
She instantly recognized the face on the big screen. It was the man who accompanied the blonde woman at the Portfall Memorial two days ago.
"Figured it'll be you, ferret boy," Admiral Harlaown greeted the man with a chuckle.
"Bite me, big man," the librarian scowled. "I got something you'd wanna see."
A quick search through the library roster revealed his name: Yuuno Scrya, Chief Librarian. A mid-ranked mage, shapeshifter, last survivor of the famous Scrya family… Involved in the PT and Book of Darkness incidents of 0065, all data classified. So he was another of Captain Takamachi's comrades. And Captain Testarossa's, as well…
The image on the screen caught her attention.
"The Kaiserkrone," Chrono nodded. "I already know what it looks like."
"Yeah, but this one isn't from a history book. It's recent. Pulled it from a generic image host just now, uploaded a few hours ago. Now if that isn't a contrived coincidence."
"How do you know it's not a Belkan-era picture, like the rest of them?"
"The compression format. Quality like this wasn't possible just 20 years ago."
"Can you figure out its source?"
"You're gonna love this. We've traced the upload to the non-administrated world #97. I am sending you the coordinates."
"I will dispatch a group to investigate," Chrono nodded after a pause. "Do you think the image was taken there?"
"That was my first guess but then I spotted a bit of junk data appended to it. It isn't part of the bitmap but if you isolate it, it looks very much like old Belkan 128-bit encryption."
"A message for the Cradle? Does it say where the Krone is?"
"Don't know yet. It will take time to crack it, so whoever uploaded it must have wanted a head start. I think he knows the Crown is not on Earth and wants to get there first."
"How fast can you crack it?"
Yuuno shrugged.
"Anywhere between 24 and 48 hours. Even with language heuristics, we will have to check thousands of results manually."
"You have my taskforce."
"That should do. And one more thing: wherever that is, it looks like a big city out there," Yuuno looked at Admiral Harlaown intently. "It won't be like Walder or the previous attacks. If you want to save anyone, you have to bring in the fleet."
"I'll send the word. Harlaown out."
