Book 0 - The Shattered Seal

An average town with a population of 200,000 as of 2099, known as Neosprings in Hungary, was home to the largest archaeology site on the planet. This site, called W.A.O. or The World Archaeology Organisation, covered 800 square kilometres and therefore holds a once-in-a-lifetime record for its size. The archaeological site had a lot of controversy due to allegations of illegally keeping archaeological discoveries secret. This would have gone directly against the Cultural Heritage Law Nr. LXIV of 2001. Due to similar issues across many archaeological sites, an organisation was formed in 2070, WAJO or the World’s Archaeological Justice Organisation. This was formed by the ex-CEO of W.A.O., Sir Bence Farkas. A large issue the public had with W.A.O. is that it used its links to WAJO, despite WAJO’s departure as an independent company, to get away with crimes and immoral behaviour, along with overworking and underpaying employees, the treatment of employees and business partners being different based on wealth and many of heinous acts.

“Reports suggest W.A.O. has resumed reporting their findings since the passing of Sir Bence Farkas earlier this year, in the hopes of ending the controversy,” played the radio of the Mobile Task Force Lead Reporter of WAJO, called Reporter Arany. “There are rumours and theories that W.A.O. will reveal the ‘greatest archaeological find in history’ on New Year’s in a ‘New Year: New Me’ campaign.”

Reporter Arany hurriedly jotted notes of Ms Adelin Varga, the W.A.O. CEO’s manifesto in case there were hidden plans to report to his boss, Sir Jonas Antos, the current CEO of WAJO. This procedure began a week after Sir Farkas’ death, as Suspicion had fallen on Ms. Varga’s involvement in his death, but the investigation led nowhere. The case was dismissed, leaving only WAJO to continue suspecting her, without the support of law enforcement. Once the radio had stopped, Arany dashed straight to the WAJO office building to meet Jonas and other members of his team known as the Echo Division. The Echo Division consisted of three members who were: Reporter Arany, the lead reporter for the team, who focused on planning and keeping track of leads in a case, although he didn’t go on actual missions. He was a tall, skinny man from Hungary with short, dark-brown curly hair and hazel coloured eyes. There is Sergeant Major Oscar Kelly from the Republic of Ireland, an ex-marine who left after an explosion blew off his left leg. He was of average height but had a larger build as he was not active in the military for some years, therefore doing less exercise. He also had short, straight ginger hair and glasses. He focused on technology for the team, doing jobs such as hacking surveillance equipment or taking them out completely while also gathering information from enemy servers. Ms Lola Smith, a tall, slim woman from Belize with long, black, braided hair and dark-brown eyes. She specialised in infiltration and had skills such as lockpicking, safe cracking and other qualities to help the team get in and out of buildings with ease.

“We have reason to suspect Ms Varga is making false replicas of lost archaeology findings to cover for her previous offences,” Ms Smith mentioned, “There are small inconsistencies between the actual models of the artefacts compared to the way they were described during parts of her manifesto.”

“Without any clear-cut evidence, we may struggle to get a warrant to search the facility under a slight suspicion. Do you remember the last time we tried going with simple allegations?” Sir Antos quickly snapped, as he referenced the original controversy Varga was involved in being the death of Farkas.

The group continued going back and forth as they thought of ways to prove their suspicions, all fruitless. A creaking sound from outside the meeting made everyone go silent, as they focused on finding out the origin of the sound. This was unusual as the building was under heavy security and only personnel with keycards could pass through the doors, along with guards after each door to prove your identity. All of Echo Division started questioning what it could be other than Jonas, who had one good idea of who was on the other side.

“AZURA! I told you not to interrupt me during work. This is a very important job,” snapped Jonas, without even turning to prove who it was. “I know you want to help, but this can be a dangerous job, and you’re only young.”

Azura Antos was the nineteen-year-old daughter of Sir Jonas Antos and always wanted to work with him. She had thick, curly, dark-brown hair, similar to her father’s, but amber coloured eyes from her mother. She was also tall for her age and toned. She was never able to work with her father as he had always been protective of the family and worried she might get hurt during missions or enemy-directed raids.

“Surely by now I can join the team,” Azura answered back while still showing respect by not raising her voice, “I’m nineteen now, I could literally get any other job, but I really want this one. I’m not some defenceless little girl anymore.”

She challenged the other members of the Echo division to an arm wrestling competition, and she had beaten everyone but Oscar and her father. She continued to try to prove a point by attempting to beat the members in a reflex game. She put in good effort but still ended up being last.

“See, you are strong and I understand that,” Jonas started to say, “but you are focusing too heavily on strength and not putting enough effort into the intellectual side of the job. For example, do you know how to pick a lock like Lola?”

“No, but I coul—” she went to reply

“That’s what I thought. How about cracking a safe open?”

“No, not that either, but I could learn!”

“And I can see that, but you will have to go through a lot of training before I can even consider letting you join the team. Now head back home, this discussion is over, but don’t worry, you aren’t in trouble. Think twice about listening in during meetings.”

The rest of the team continued to plan to collect evidence that W.A.O. had made replicas of artefacts. None of their plans were good enough for Jonas’ standards. The clock struck 11 PM, and everyone went home planning to get enough rest for New Year’s Eve the next day, although they still needed to be back at work at 1 PM in case any leads were found.

Jonas jolted awake due to an emergency alert on his work phone. His phone started beeping the same message repeatedly, like a broken record. There were new leads on the investigation into W.A.O. possibly faking artefacts. Seizing the opportunity, Jonas rushed to his car, faster than a cheetah and turned on the engine, flying down the road like there was no tomorrow. Little did he realise his daughter Azura was tailing him the entire time; she expected this to happen. By the time he got to the HQ, Jonas was drenched in sweat and was still half asleep. He went to get a drink from the coffee machine in the lobby, but realised he had left his key card at home.

“Aaaaaah!” Jonas shouts as he notices someone right beside him with his key card.

“Is this what you’re looking for? You need it to get a free coffee, right?” Azura said once her father realised who she was, “By the way, mum knows I’m here, you woke everyone up, with all the noise. She noticed you left your key card, but I thought you would get in, as the guards would recognise you as the CEO. Mum knew you would want to get a free coffee this early in the morning, guess she was right.”

Jonas took the key card from her and mumbled thanks, partially because he was tired but also because he was embarrassed by his daughter’s outsmarting. In return, he allowed her to stay for this one meeting, possibly being more lenient due to his drowsiness.

After half an hour, the rest of the Echo Division arrived ready to discuss the evidence found. They all headed to the meeting room of the HQ. After several seconds of silence, Jonas went to the front.

“Who reported the emergency? It wasn’t specified in the original recording?” Jonas questioned, yet no one replied for a few seconds. This was because on the computers of the other members, it said it was issued by Sir Jonas Antos.

“Well, to be honest, Dad,” Azura began, ready to be told off. “It was me who called the meeting, through your computer, but I do have actual evidence, I promise.”

“You better have some perfect evidence to have called a meeting like this, out of the blue. Otherwise, you’re grounded for three months!” Jonas warned sternly, hoping for the best.

“Yes, I do,” she reassured, knowing there was one useful skill he didn’t question the day before. This gave her a chance to catch him off guard. “I managed to hack the enemy’s drones and surveillance systems through your computer and download the videos to this USB.”

“Show us, please. This better be good.”

Still tense about what might happen, Azura stuck the USB into her laptop and connected it to her portable projector she had come prepared with, along with the matching Bluetooth speakers. As she hit play, everyone focused, filled with anticipation of what would play. What tales would unfold? What truths lie ahead? What mysteries would be revealed, and most importantly of all? What danger may lie ahead?