BY ORDER OF THE OVERSEER COUNCIL
Information contained within this document is currently under review by Overwatch Command so as to ensure it follows proper Security Clearance Protocols.
Unauthorized access is forbidden.
9600
Special Containment Procedures: Under no circumstances is SCP-9600 to reach the Earth's terrestrial surface or impact any man-made objects orbiting the planet. To this end, the Astrophysics Department has been granted full access to all Foundation military assets, including its orbital and thaumaturgic arsenals.
All of SCP-9600's passengers must be terminated.
Description: SCP-9600 is the PLSS Daedalus, the fourth and final space station launched into the Earth's orbit by Prometheus Laboratories.
Visualization of SCP-9600's geosynchronous rotation (objects not up to scale).
SCP-9600's primary purpose is the containment of demonic entities previously utilized by Prometheus for scientific projects.1 By harnessing the orbital spin of the station alongside the latent thaumaturgic energy of the Sun, SCP-9600 is capable of powering exorcism circles engraved into its irrilite apparatus to indefinitely imprison demonic entities that would otherwise be too powerful or useful to the company for it to banish them by standard means. The station possesses the additional advantage of being positioned far away from any terrestrial infrastructure; Prometheus assumed that, should any of SCP-9600's cells fail, the threat would essentially remain a non-issue to anyone but itself, thus avoiding any unexpected collateral damages to its own equipment and the Veil at large.
SCP-9600 was put into orbit in 1987, and remained operational until Prometheus' bankruptcy and subsequent liquidation in 1998. Following the company's dissolution, the station was abandoned. Not only was the continued maintenance required for SCP-9600 to remain fully scientifically operational too expensive to be profitable for the investors which bought out Prometheus' subsidiaries, the station could also safely operate indefinitely without any outside input. Similarly, without a full cadre of Prometheus scientists, working on the station could risk damaging the containment apparatus and exposing the new owners to an array of potentially deadly and expensive threats.
As such, for over a decade, SCP-9600 remained in a stable geosynchronous orbit of around 36,000 kilometers of altitude above the Earth's surface, and was left unattended by all paranormal and mundane organizations.
This changed on 21/08/2009 at 14:58 UTC+01:00, when, without any outside interference, SCP-9600 suddenly activated its reverse engines, changing its orbit and beginning to rapidly approach the Earth.
Addendum 9600-1
Initial SCP-9600 Orbital Shift
⚠ 6 HOURS UNTIL IMPACT ⚠
The Foundation was first alerted to the change in SCP-9600's orbit by the Atreus Array, its global orbital surveillance system, when the sub-program dedicated to monitoring the Daedalus detected a change in its expected trajectory. It was initially presumed that this was the result of a malfunction of the station caused by 11 years of negligence; however, when a closer scan detected that SCP-9600 had deliberately activated its reverse engines — an action which could not be the result of any technical error — the situation was re-assessed as an intentional action on behalf of an unknown third party.
Foundation Site-72.
Predictive models immediately supplied by Site-7 alongside the office of O5-2 revealed that SCP-9600's shift in trajectory was similarly intentional. Its expected point of terrestrial impact was calculated to be Site-72, a building located in Gänserndorf, Austria previously acting as the HQ of Prometheus Demonology during the group's early days of operation wherein it has still primarily concerned itself with progress against commerce, that has since been transformed into a Foundation research facility.
Based on this information, it was presumed that the shift was intentionally caused by the entities previously imprisoned inside SCP-9600. As SCP-9600 reaching its destination would inevitably lead to the destruction of a Foundation Site, substantial damages to a civilian urban center, and the release of numerous hostile paranormal entities, the event was deemed an unacceptable threat to be prevented.
To this end, the O5 Council was immediately put on Level 1 (Emergent Contingency) Alert, and has mobilized the Emergent Tactical Threat Response Authority (ETTRA) and the Astrophysics Department to organize the necessary counter-measures.
ETTRA ENGAGEMENT PROPOSALS
(LIST ABRIDGED)
| PROPOSAL | VERDICT | RATIONALE |
|---|---|---|
| Utilize HECOR2 against SCP-9600, liquidating the Daedalus before it reaches the Earth. | REJECTED | HECOR has been designed as a weapon against terrestrial targets; any deviation from this pattern — a change that would be necessary to weaponize it against SCP-9600 — could not be covered by Foundation cloaking mechanisms, thus potentially confirming HECOR's existence to the Global Occult Coalition.3 |
| […] | ||
| Contact Foundation externals similar in nature to the entities onboard SCP-9600; attempt to pressure them into neutralizing the threat of their own kind, thus disarming the Daedalus and allowing the Foundation to blame the fall of the station on the collapse of an old fabricated Soviet satellite. | ACCEPTED | See below. |
Addendum 9600-2
Communion With Outside External
⚠ 5 HOURS UNTIL IMPACT ⚠
Over the many years of its operation, the Foundation has contacted several Outside externals on numerous occasions so as to gain insight into issues that would otherwise prove unsolvable. This practice — though generally discouraged — has always been performed on rare occasions and under strict oversight, thus preventing any damages done to the Foundation.
It was decided that the Foundation will contact an Outside entity classified as OE-0553 ("The Severed Voice"), a being possessing sufficiently enough power that it was presumed it would hold dominion over the passengers of SCP-9600 and thus could force them into submission. Below attached is a transcript of the performed procedure.
<Begin Log>
The knife in O5-5's hand falls, and the voice of the last offering falls silent as it gives way to its wounds. Its blood falls to the floor — first slowly, drop by drop, until it flows like a stream — and soon fills the depression molded in the concrete.
Five closes her eyes, extends her arms, and whispers an inaudible phrase, touching her lips with ashen fingers.
A breeze runs through the room, turning off all of the lights, and the blood begins to move.
It breaches the borders of its container, and it flows, trembling as if wounded. It flows upwards and turns first into a ball of liquid that leaks up and down, bleeding, until the liquid forms a featureless shape of a human female wearing a wide hat, shifting and disproportionate. The figure settles, the blood never stopping trembling and boiling, and it skews its head, looking with its eyeless head at Five.
Sudden silence falls upon the room, broken only by the slow, calm breathing of Five — and eventually by the feminine voice of the entity.
The Severed Voice: ██████ ███.4
Five shudders, blinking rapidly, but does not react to the name.
The entity skews its head again, as if unsatisfied, and morphs again — this time into a taller, masculine figure, wide in the shoulders but nevertheless dysmorphic. The entity speaks with a heavy, gruff tone.
The Severed Voice: Overseer Five.
Five again does not react.
The entity shifts for the last time, now into a fully featureless figure, bearing only the most general outline of a human being. Its voice is now quiet, hollow.
The Severed Voice: Sorceress.
Five turns to face it.
O5-5, circa 1938.
O5-5: I come before you to inquire about the Daedalus.
The entity looks up, then down, then skews its head again.
The Severed Voice: The old thing amidst the stars, the restless pilgrim? Have its bones yet given way to rust?
O5-5: We believe so.
The Severed Voice: My eyes do not reach into its black veins and silver heart.
Five picks up a small vial containing an opaque liquid. She looks at it briefly, and — for a split second — the liquid's color shifts to that of her eyes.
O5-5: Then see.
She throws it to the ground and smashes it with her boot, the liquid flowing to join the blood below it.
The Severed Voice: Ah. Its soul runs rich with entropy. The box is opened.
O5-5: We believe it is the doing of your own kin.
The entity looks up once more, its empty sockets moving as if following a movement.
The Severed Voice: Their blood is not mine.
O5-5: Are you certain?
The entity looks back at Five.
The Severed Voice: I feel not their fingers inside my wound. They are foreign ilk.
O5-5: Can you force them to lay down?
The entity considers.
The Severed Voice: No. They are of another master. But this is not his doing. They are of another purpose.
O5-5: Then whose is it?
The entity stands motionless, staring at Five. She sighs. She closes her eyes, and unpockets a locket. She looks at its contents — invisible to the cameras — exhales, and throws it into the puddle of blood.
The Severed Voice: Hatred blinds their eyes. You will not find parlay with them.
It pauses.
The Severed Voice: Long have they waited for their chains to prove weak. Their captors were brilliant, but even fools may shine bright. They think their time as grand, in the scheme of the cosmos. But they have forgotten that men far mightier have taken up sword against the inevitable. They have forgotten that all succumbs to rot, however white the marble.
O5-5: Can you tell us why?
The entity considers.
The Severed Voice: Not without a price.
At once, O5-5's knife falls once more, cutting the throat of the second offering; its blood flows and joins the rest, nourishing the figure, making it taller.
The entity inhales as a wave of boiling blood flows through its structure, and then it opens its mouth.
The Severed Voice: [REDACTED]
[REMAINDER OF FILE RESTRICTED TO O5 COUNCIL CLEARENCE.]
<End Log>
As the communion with the external entity has resulted in no substantial help to the Foundation, the search for further solutions has once again commenced at full focus.
| PROPOSAL | VERDICT | RATIONALE |
|---|---|---|
| Via the utilization of thaumaturgy, teleport SCP-9600 from the Earth's orbit into a sufficiently remote terrestrial location — such as one of the oceans or near one of the Foundation's facilities located in the Antarctic — so as to minimize the collateral damage caused by its impact and allow the Foundation to deal with its fallout in a controlled manner, outside of civilian attention. | REJECTED | The teleportation of any moving objects — particularly of objects as quick as SCP-9600 — requires accurate calculations and inputs so as to their speed, mass, composition, and precise location at the exact time of casting. The Foundation does not possess enough information about SCP-9600 to be able to properly perform the ritual or pure thaumaturgic muscle to be able to circumvent those requirements. Additionally, a failed rite could result in the teleportation of unintended objects or beings into the ritual site — and well beyond it — as well as the release of dangerous, unrestrained backlash from the spell. |
| Via the utilization of thaumaturgy, teleport a squad of trained Department of Tactical Theology personnel onto SCP-9600 itself, granting them access into the Daedalus and allowing them to terminate the station's passengers, regaining control of SCP-9600's trajectory and preventing it from reaching its intended destination. | ACCEPTED | See below. |
Addendum 9600-3
Direct Contact With SCP-9600
⚠ 4 HOURS UNTIL IMPACT ⚠
Appropriately combat-experienced personnel trained by the Department of Tactical Theology — the members of Mobile Task Force Eta-7 ("The Altar Boys") codenamed "Joan," "Sofia," "Benedict," and "Lazarus" during their training — were immediately mobilized and first teleported into Site-01. There, they met with Department of Astrophysics members and the joint ETTRA-Overwatch board and were briefed on the nature of the situation and prepared for boarding the Daedalus. Below attached is a log of their engagement.
<Begin Log>
MTF Eta-7 is standing in a thaumaturgic circle engraved in the floor of Site-01. Each of the four is checking their suits, then their helmets. Joan corrects her sheath, tying it closer to her armour; Sofia signs from the inside of her helmet, filled with holy water, that her breathing systems are properly in place; Benedict corrects his grip on the gatling gun, the chains of rosary-bead munitions clinging against his chestplate; and Lazarus simply crosses his arms, the thick wooden blades nailed to the back of his palms hitting against each other.
Joan: All's set.
Joan turns towards the team.
Joan: Around twelve entities are expected; ten more are probable. All high-class, high-intelligence. Volatile and violent. Shoot on sight.
Benedict grins through the helmet. Sofia points to the holographic map on display before the team.
Sofia: <Blessed shall we enter through the storage, outside the evil's eye.>
Joan: The shits'll be in the engines or the bridge — can't steer it any other way.
Sofia: <Our vanguard commencing forward, we shall force our way into the prisons wherein the first sword shall fall.>
Joan touches her sheath.
Joan: Damn right it will.
She gestures towards the map once more.
Joan: We hack them up there, taking the few by surprise, then finish the job with the remaining shits scattered before they can put two and two together. Then we drive that baby back up into proper orbit and get taken back home in time for mass.
Joan eyes the remaining members.
Joan: Questions? No? Great.
She nods towards the personnel gathered around the thaumaturgic circle. They nod back, and she smiles, signalling them with a mock salute.
Joan: See you on the other side, ██████.
The circle starts to light up, and the team begins to flicker.
Joan: Here's to praying, anyhow.
In sudden bright a flash of light the team disappears. When the feed connects again, they are standing in the loading docks of SCP-9600, all four gathered back-to-back, eyeing each of the entries and exits into the room. It is empty, bar the team members. Joan signs for them to commence.
Slowly and quietly, the team marches forward, each tightening the grip on their weapons. The Daedalus' infrastructure remains intact which Lazarus is quick to point out. The corridors remain in perfect shape, the exact same as was depicted in the initial engineering plans intercepted by the Foundation. No damaged circuitry which would be consistent with demonic possessions of modern technology is visible. There are no damages to the hull, floor, or ceilings. The lights are turned steadily on, and a quiet, stable buzzing can be heard throughout the station.
Benedict eyes the team, but instead of saying anything, he points towards the nearest junction. The crossing consists of four corridors — one through which the team has just walked, one leading towards the central control bridge of SCP-9600, one towards the engines and technical infrastructure, and one towards the laboratories and holding cells.
The team looks at Joan; she nods, and they begin their walk again.
As they approach, the laboratories are revealed to be in similarly good condition. Despite this, they show clear signs of use. On the chalkboards, graphs and formulas can be seen written — the languages of the graphs' signage is indiscernible from the distance, but presumed to be ██████ ███, German, and French. The tables and apparatus are similarly moved into the positions that would be expected when in use. In the distance, there is an unidentified liquid boiling inside equally unidentified alchemical apparatus; on a wall behind it, a runic circle with clear pointers written in the languages from before can be seen.
Lazarus eyes Joan, and begins to sign.
Lazarus: <What class, again?>
Joan considers, eyeing the rooms rapidly.
Joan: <Four. Fuck, they were meant to be a four. God damn it.>
Sofia looks at Joan sharply at the last sentence. Joan just rolls her eyes and taps the communications device on her forearm.
Joan: <Joan to ██████: we've got fives on our hands, pending six classification. Clearly above-average intelligence, and bearing occult talents.>
Lazarus: <How did Prometheus even manage to summon them? That's, what, Overlord class at the least? No way they could've handled one, let alone more than ten.>
Benedict: <How did they manage to contain them?>
Joan: <Well, they very clearly fucking didn't, so here we are.>
Sofia: <A fair point is raised. The flame-bearers ought not to have had the might to bring them into this land alone.>
Command: Copied, Joan. Are you requesting extraction?
Joan: <Hold that thought.>
She looks at the rest, and raises her eyebrow. the rest all shake their heads.
Joan: <Negative, ██████. We can handle them.>
She turns off the device, then unsheaths her sword. The silver zweihander shines in her hands as she grips it firmly, then starts to walk towards the containment cells.
Joan: <Come on.>
The team quickly follows, and as the containment cells come into view, they are shown to be without any signs of struggle. The doors to each unit are opened neatly, and none of the exorcism circles engraved inside the cells are damaged or interrupted. The lights all around are also as stable as in the rest of the structure.
Joan: <Shit.>
Sofia: <Stable egress.>
Joan: <Yeah, fucking noticed.>
Joan turns back, and starts to rapidly walk towards the connector corridor. The sword begins to shine slightly, the aura only barely visible against the bright inside of SCP-9600; she nevertheless puts it in a combat position. The rest of the team quickly follow.
Suddenly, when the team is around five meters away from the corridor, a tall figure marches into it from the bridge section. It is humanoid but is flickering, presumably due to its spectral nature, its height and proportions off balance compared to a baseline human physique; it has elongated limbs and sharp, pointy ears, consistent with the appearance of █ ███ ████. Its movements are erratic, unsteady, and as it moves closer to the team the figure can be identified as one ████████ █████. ██ suddenly stops as ██ notices the team, and before ██ can vocalize, Benedict pulls the trigger and his gun fires fourty consecutive rounds in two seconds. Each of the beads hits the target, which does not immediately dissipate as would be standard for a demonic entity — instead, the ███ apparition falls to the ground, grabbing ███ stomach, the beads stuck in ███ carcass. Before ██ dissipates, however, ██ looks at the gathered with fury in ███ eyes, and opens ███ mouth; Joan's sword falling and cutting ██ head off silences ███ before ██ can say anything.
Joan turns to her left, towards the corridor leading to the bridge, and widens her eyes.
Joan: INCOMING!
Around ten entities — only some of which bear the characteristics of the just-eliminated ███ — suddenly rush into the room, alarmed by the sound from before. They all bear varied clothing, ranging from robes to uniforms. Only some of them are ███; the others are clearly █████ or █████. Each of the entities is visibly angry.
Before the farthest of the entities — identified as a █████████ ████ ██████ ██████ can throw the bright needle of light suddenly appearing in ███ hand towards the team, Lazarus rushes into the group, his wood-covered arms covering his head. The segments of the cross cut right through the entities, injuring them and spilling a liquid similair to ectoplasm on the floor. Only one of the figures — the one standing in front, identified as the █████ ████████ ██ ███ █████ ██████████ — recovers before the next attack falls, unsheathing a knive from ███ back. ██ swings at Lazarus but the action is interrupted by Sofia, her eyes fully white and her body levitating; she moves her fingers and the ████████ falls back, ███ weapon breaking and ███ body hitting a few of the remaining entities.
Joan pulls her sword in front of her and as the symbol of the cross flashes from the weapon's shape, but it does not stagger any of the entities; though she is confused, she nevertheless lunges forward, joining Lazarus on the front. The other entities begin to struggle against the two as their weapons fall back and back again, each of the hostile attacks breaking on their white, plated armor. Sofia continues her chanting as Benedict continues firing into the group. Suddenly, one of the ███ moves ███ hand in a gesture reminiscent of baseline thaumaturgy and one of the beads is redirected. Before Benedict can react, the bullet pierces Sofia's helmet, and the holy water leaks from inside it as she is left gasping for air.
In a moment of hesitation, Benedict stops firing as he runs towards Sofia, but it is already too late; her lips have stopped moving and she has gone pale. He realizes this and tries to bring his weapon back up again but is stopped by the falling arm of one of the entities — identified as one ████████ ███████ █████ — ███ long ███ limbs enhanced with thaumaturgy piercing first his armor, then his chest. Before Benedict goes down, however, he fires one final salve, hitting █████ and ███ accomplices; each of the bullets pierces an entity, leaving them to fall to the ground in a manner similair to that of the first-fallen ███.
Joan and Lazarus notice Benedict ceasing movement but do not react. They continue their struggle against the seven remaining entities, slashing with the sword and charging with the wood; they are met with opposition, thrown spells, and active counterattacks.
███████████ ██████: ███ ███ ███ ████?
Joan blinks twice, confused.
Joan: What? You… You can █████?
She nevertheless continues slashing, the entity similarly continuing to evade her.
███████████ ██████: ██, ███ ████. ███ ████. ████ ████ ██████ ███ ███.
Joan: Nobody's played me, you shit! Fuck you!
Joan's sword falls again, this time more erratically, the entity smiles.
███████████ ██████: ███ ████ ███ ████ ██████. ███ ████ ████ ██ ██, ██ ██ ███ ██ ██████.
Joan: No, you won't. Not while I remain breathing, you shit.
Joan rushes one final time, taking a broad swing with her sword, and the entity ducks again, this time its movement visibly enhanced with thaumaturgy. Joan's sword lodges itself in the floor as she is unable to pick it back up, and as she tries to let go of the weapon her head is suddenly pinned down by the hand of the █████ from before. ███ smiles, and puts all of ███ nails on Joan's scalp.
Suddenly, in the background, Lazarus screams, impaled on one of the metal bars dislodged during the fight by one of the entities. Joan tries to turn back, but the █████ grabs her head more firmly. The █████ whispers a few words, and Joan's face goes pale. She begins to shake, her eyes moving rapidly; meanwhile, the █████ is smiling more and more widely, ███ own ████ also moving, though much less frantically than Joan's, as if ███ was reading something.
███████████ ██████: Well, isn't that interesting.
███ looks down at Joan, and before ███ can tighten ███ grip on Joan's head any more, through a great effort of will she unsheathes a rusted dagger hidden in her calf armor. She tries to stab the █████ with it, but she fails as the █████ laughs and kicks it out of her feed.
███████████ ██████: █████ ███ ███ █████ ████ ██.
Joan furrows her brows as she twists her lips to curse, but before she can do that the █████ moves ███ hand and Joan's head suddenly bursts from the inside, her viscera staining the floor of the Daedalus.
As the █████ picks up Joan's body Camera, ███ smiles.
███████████ ██████: See you all soon, you ███████ █████.
The feed terminates as ███ throws the camera to the ground and breaks it with ███ ████.
<End Log>
Addendum 9600-4
Second SCP-9600 Orbital Shift
⚠ 3 HOURS UNTIL IMPACT ⚠
Immediately following the cessation of the feed from MTF Eta-7, Atreus Array data paired with Site-01 readings of chips implanted in the body of each of the team members confirmed that they were eliminated. It was decided by Tactical Theology Directorship that the Department ought to perform blessings on the blood of the team members left behind in their facilities so as to, by utilizing the thaumaturgic Law of Contagion, also bless the remainder of their bodies and preventing their corpses from being possessed by the entities onboard SCP-9600.
Two minutes and thirty-seven seconds following the death of MTF Eta-7, the Atreus Array detected another sudden change in SCP-9600. Activating its engines once more, this time far more rapidly and with more power than during the initial shift, it had altered its path for a second time, leaving the previous course and instead opting for a new destination.
HECOR in orbit, as seen during the final stages of its construction.
Thanks to SCP-9600's closer proximity, more detailed data became available to on-site ETTRA specialists. Their calculations indicated one possible end point to SCP-9600's destination: HECOR.
SCP-9600 impacting HECOR would inevitably lead to one of two outcomes: 1) the destruction of the Foundation's single most expensive and powerful piece of paraweaponry; 2) the haunting of said weapon by the entities onboard the Daedalus. The former outcome would effectively cripple the Foundation's defensive capabilities and render it useless against emergent K-Class Scenarios, additionally costing it over $200,000,000,000 in lost technology and labor; the latter outcome would result in ceding control of the asset over to hostile entities, thus granting them access to potentially world-ending technology that they could and would use without regard for civilian safety or the Veil at large.
The data was immediately forwarded to non-Atreus Array stations so as to confirm its validity and was shortly thereafter confirmed four times by Site-7, the office of O5-2, the office of O5-11, and other analytically-clairvoyant assets within Foundation employ. In light of both of the possible conclusions of the SCP-9600 emergency being potentially catastrophic in consequence, Overwatch Command decided that the escalation of the crisis merited the raising of its Alert to Level 0 (K-Class Scenario Inbound), granting it unilateral access to all assets in disregard for the core tenets of the Foundation's modus operandi in order to regain control of the situation for as long as the emergency remained active.
Addendum 9600-5
Emergency Overwatch Summit
⚠ 2.5 HOURS UNTIL IMPACT ⚠
Immediately following the escalation of its Alert, the O5 Council notified all other appropriate Foundation Departments which were previously not informed of the SCP-9600 crisis due to the secrecy of the operation. All of these, including:
- The O4 Council;
- The Decommissioning Department;
- The Department of Ontokinetics;
- The Department of Applied Force;
- The Department of Analytics;
- The Department of External Affairs;
- The Department of Spectral Affairs;
- The Demonology Department
were placed on similarly high Alert as Overwatch Command and mobilized to their full possible extent. Due to the limited resources and time at disposal of the Foundation, only one member of each Department — their leader or representative — was teleported to Site-01 for a special emergency summit to continue re-containment attempts in the limited time still available.
At this point, the leader of the Department of External Affairs — Dir. Maxwell Eder, the secondary liaison of the Foundation to the Global Occult Coalition after O5-5 — proposed to contact the GOC so as to force it to use its Ganzir installation5 to neutralize SCP-9600 via teleportation of the Daedalus to the site, an occult task which the thaumaturgic might of Ganzir would be fully capable of performing.
Despite the fact that Dir. Eder's proposal was logically sound, it was nevertheless vetoed by an O5 Council vote of 1-11-0; it was presumed that ceding control of SCP-9600 over to the GOC, an allied but nevertheless external organization, would be undesirable. At best, it would give the GOC access to data regarding HECOR alongside powerful entities it could potentially exploit for its own gain; at worst, it would endanger Ganzir itself, risking the SCP-9600's passengers taking over the installation and causing an K-Class Scenario regardless.
The latter risk was only heightened by the fact that the previous engagement with SCP-9600 by MTF Eta-7 has proven that the entities onboard were far more powerful and dangerous than was previously expected. Between their defeat of MTF Eta-7 and their utilization of thaumaturgy as well as demonstrated higher intelligence, it was decided that they indeed pose a serious, thaumaturgically-potent threat that shouldn't under any circumstances be underestimated again. As such, it was decided that maximum caution should be the most appropriate response in further planning in regards to the contingency, which continued immediately following the vetoing of the proposal.
| PROPOSAL | VERDICT | RATIONALE |
|---|---|---|
| Utilize HECOR regardless of it breaching the Köln Agreement, as not using it and letting SCP-9600 impact and destroy the weapon would alert the Global Coalition to its existence regardless; show proof of successful HECOR utilization as means of preventing a K-Class Scenario as sufficient justification for the weapon's existence against the GOC, thus opening rational negotiations between the group and the Foundation. | REJECTED | As the previous expedition has shown that the occult potency of the entities aboard SCP-9600 far exceeds previous expectations, it is uncertain what an interaction between HECOR and the Daedalus would result in. HECOR is an eigenweapon powered by the ritualistic motion of its thaumaturgically-ontokinetic engines — and as such, its proper blast is also primarily made of thaumaturgic energy. It remains the fear of Overwatch Command that a blast — even as powerful as that of HECOR — could be redirected or even reflected back by the station's passengers. |
| […] | ||
| Redirect the trajectory of non-anomalous Foundation assets located in the Earth's orbit so as to put them on a course destined to impact SCP-9600, thus neutralizing the Daedalus without the risk of its passengers being able to interfere with or against the wholly mundane and unavoidable attack. | REJECTED | All Foundation orbital assets are currently positioned too far away to be able to reach SCP-9600 before it impacts HECOR; even if they were, however, all of them remain essential parts of the Foundation's logistical and informational infrastructures and a loss of enough of them that they could neutralize the Daedaulus would cripple the global efforts of the Foundation on a scale rivaling that of the actual inbound SCP-9600 K-Class Scenario. |
| Utilize asset CRIMSON CADENCE to power HECOR by teleporting the asset right into the weapon's fuel chamber and firing it remotely; harness the asset's occult potency and other paranormal traits to vastly overpower SCP-9600's passengers, neutralizing the threat posed by the station and offsetting most of its backlash. | ACCEPTED | See below. |
Addendum 9600-6
Transport of Asset CRIMSON CADENCE
⚠ 2 HOURS UNTIL IMPACT ⚠
ASSET CRIMSON CADENCE BRIEFING (ABRIDGED)
Designation: CODENAME: "CRIMSON CADENCE," a.k.a. "The Scarlet Fool," a.k.a. "The Chain of Deavon," a.k.a. "The Amaranth Emperor," a.k.a. "The Crimson Khan"
Asset Type: Exanimated cadaver, deific, remnant, occult source
Description: Humanoid cadaver of an ancient, semi-deific entity dated to originate in the late Fae Empire era. 3.6 meters in height. 50 kilograms in weight. Vaguely masculine in appearance and severely malnourished; with gaunt, unnaturally long fingers and nails and rotten, deformed teeth. Unnaturally well preserved for its age. Bodily bears scars suggesting of several years of abuse. Genetic makeup inconsistent with any known genus; bearing skin with a light red pigmentation, with horns bearing signs of cutting emerging from the sides of its cranium.
Excavated alongside several other objects of relevance to the Daevite matriarchy during the 1897 Daevon archeological expedition led by O5-4. Current academic consensus inside the Foundation's scientific community — even if an actual consensus on subjects relating to the Daevite civilization is impossible — is that the asset had served as a "battery" for the rituals used by the Maharani of Daevon and her court, in particular those capable of interfering with the time-space continuum and utilizing retroactive displacements.
Despite the fact that the asset is functionally dead, it nevertheless occasionally twitches at irregular intervals, often thrashing violently. After each incident, the asset without fail returns to its docile state, continuing to act like a normal corpse would. Brain scans reveal minor activity regardless of the body's state. Despite this and years of use, the asset remains a potent source of thaumaturgic energy. Prior experimentation has shown success in powering occult machinery based solely on the asset, often bearing cross-spacial and cross-temporal results. Research into the exact nature of the thaumaturgy inherent to the asset is still ongoing.
The usage of any deific remnants for the benefit of the Foundation has officially been banned by a unanimous O5 Council resolution following the Damien Nowak/O5-9 incident of the 1980s. As the dangers associated with harnessing the latent energy of any pluripotent entities have proven to be far too numerous and unpredictable to effectively remain under Foundation control, under normal circumstances, protocol would explicitly forbid their harvest in any shape or form.
However, In spite of these regulations, the O5 Council has decided by a vote of 12-0-0 that the SCP-9600 crisis should not constitute normal circumstances — and that as such, its previous verdict should not apply. Although some members of the Council were initially skeptical, following an Atreus Array transmission notifying the crisis summit that following the change of its destination, SCP-9600 has quickened its pace and indeed would arrive sooner than previously expected by an hour, all the undecided votes were cast and the proposal was greenlit.
Occult experts within the Foundation still remained uncertain whether or not the proposed solutions would actually work as expected. However, as the plan was the last-ditch effort to handle the SCP-9600 crisis without it fully spiralling out of Foundation control, preparations were immediately made for the transport asset CRIMSON CADENCE onto HECOR. Similarly to the previous operation, this was to be achieved via the utilization of thaumaturgy. Due to the shortage of time, the asset wasn't first transported to Site-01 where it could receive highest-grade thaumaturgic care in the Foundation. Instead, it was decided that the teleportation would be performed directly from the site of its containment, even if then the exact quality of the ritual — and thus its success — could not be fully guaranteed. Below attached is a transcript of the ritual.
<Begin Log>
The asset is laying motionless upon stone dais in the center of a heptagon drawn with red chalk over a concrete floor. The corpse is completely covered with a long red fabric, stretched so as to mirror the shape of the heptagon around it. At each corner of the fabric, daggers impale the sheet to the floor.
At each of the seven ends of the larger shape stand groups of seven people, every one of them gathered in a shape similarly reminiscent of a heptagon. The personnel are wearing flowing red robes, ancient Daevite runes engraved in black upon them. They are unmoving, each of them holding a piece of a long black chain that connects all of the groups together.
At once, candles located sporadically throughout the room light up, and the groups begin to move. They circle the dais, holding up the chain and then banging it against the floor only to pick it up again. All of their eyes are closed, and they pick up the speed, moving faster and faster until they are practically running.
With breathless voices, the gathered begin to chanting in an old Daevite dialect, the chain breaking on the floor louder and louder, until the voices drown in the clanking of the steel.
The corpse begins twitching violently, the motion similair to that of a scared animal, its head moving rapidly in search of the voices' source. In spite of this, the material holds it down, restricting its movements as it continues moving and breaking in unnatural ways.
As the personnel start to sprint, their singing never ceasing, there is a sudden flash of red light as each of the candles throughout the room blossoms, their ends melting into abstract, flower-like shapes. The personnel come to a hard-breathing stop; when they turn to look at the asset, the corpse is already gone.
<End Log>
Addendum 9600-7
Engagement of Asset CRIMSON CADENCE
⚠ 0.5 HOURS UNTIL IMPACT ⚠
At exactly 20:03:57 UTC+01:00, 27 minutes and 13 seconds prior to the calculated collision time of SCP-9600 and HECOR, asset CRIMSON CADENCE was successfully transported into HECOR's fuel chamber. Terrestrial HECOR control teams were previously notified and thus remotely prepared the weapon for firing under the new circumstances, achieving readiness to begin the harvest of the asset for fuel at 20:07:18 UTC+01:00. Below attached is a log of the asset's utilization, alongside recordings sourced directly from SCP-9600's exterior cameras which could be intercepted due to the Daedalus' proximity to HECOR.
<Begin Log>
[00:23:52] Asset CRIMSON CADENCE is seen inside of HECOR's loading chamber. It is struggling against its constraints, twitching violently, but the daggers in its skin pin it down, effectively preventing it from freeing itself. The runes around the body start to glow, the whole chamber beginning to spin faster and faster as CRIMSON CADENCE's limbs get stretched farther, the irrilite needles of HECOR stabbing its veins and pumping its blood into the machine's engines. The muscles in the corpse's empty eye sockets move rapidly around the room, in apparent panic. It attempts to scream, but no sound comes out of its mouth.
[00:19:21] HECOR begins buzzing, its engines and firing mechanisms rotating clockwise and counterclockwise respectively; the whole weapon begins its spin as a bright point of light emerges near its terminus, stretching into the shape of a ball, then into that of a large needle. HECOR quickens its pace as its output grows and grows, never leaving the control of the beryllium bronze rods attached to the mechanism.
[00:18:48] CRIMSON CADENCE attempts to scream once more; HECOR merely continues its preparations.
HECOR, view at 00:16:12.
[00:15:26] In the far distance, SCP-9600 can be seen. The Daedalus is not spinning, instead continuing towards its destination in a steady, controlled manner. The runes engraved in its solar panels are burning brightly, their intensity far exceeding the brightness expected from their normal operation. Parts of the station in its rear end are visibly damaged, and several segments of its loading docks begin to fall off on their own volition, forcing SCP-9600 to wobble but nevertheless not altering its trajectory.
[00:13:11] There is a sudden light in SCP-9600 frontal modules, around its bridge, and like a flame a bright orange shape comes to life in its front. It quickly grows and spins, and soon forms a rudimentary thaumaturgic circle engraved with symbols outside of the baseline Prometheus set formerly utilized by its personnel for rituals. The circle continues its movement alongside the Daedalus and it grows, branching off into new shapes that soon cover most of the station save for its solar panels.
[00:12:58] Over time, the light of the runes dims slightly, but remains nevertheless active, the brightness pulsating like a living heart.
SCP-9600, view at 00:12:43.
[00:11:34] CRIMSON CADENCE continues struggling against its constraints, but it is growing visibly paler with each needle and its transfusion; soon, its red skin turns gray and its movements grow slower, each of its movements bearing less and less strength.
[00:11:23] The chamber quickens the pace of its spinning, irrilite rods and spikes being brought forward by the apparatus as they impale the body; this brings about another attempted scream accompanied by several thrashings, but the strength with which the rods hold CRIMSON CADENCE's spine prohibits its movements from performing any actual damage. The spikes slowly but methodically flay its skin and burn it with purple fire, the runes around the chamber glowing more and more intensely each time the smoke comes into contact with them.
[00:10:46] The rods expand into blades, cutting through CRIMSON CADENCE's flesh and nails. It opens its mouth once more, but the only result is the widening of HECOR's beam, which is now a circle 20 meters in diameter, constantly growing and pulsating.
[00:10:12] The engines continue to spin faster and faster as the beam continues to expand.
SCP-9600, view at 00:09:41.
[00:07:48] The circle around SCP-9600's bridge suddenly stops its movement as its runes begin to glow so bright as to become unreadable; from the front of the station there comes a sudden thaumaturgic shot, similarly orange in color as the rest of the occult circuitry surrounding the Daedalus, and it starts to move faster than SCP-9600. In its wake, parts of the station continue to fall off.
[00:07:23] The shot soon overtakes the station as it flickers around towards HECOR in a twitching motion, fidgeting like lightning and often branching off into smaller arms of backlash that soon die out the second the primary missile disappears from their range.
[00:06:52] Terrestrial HECOR personnel are primed in control to immediately fire the weapon despite it not finishing loading its beam out of fear that the shot will interfere with its preparations, which they raise as a comment; the concern is immediately overruled by order of O5-7.
[00:05:15] The shot continues its journey, rapidly closing the gap between SCP-9600 and HECOR.
[00:05:06] Terrestrial HECOR personnel again protest, but are silenced once more by a now unanimous O5 Council: HECOR must finish its priming.
[00:05:01] Seven more needles stab CRIMSON CADENCE where its eyes once were.
[00:04:23] Seven more blades insert themselves into the space that was once CRIMSON CADENCE's brain.
[00:04:02] The corpse no longer opens its mouth.
HECOR, view at 00:04:01.
[00:03:54] In one final frantic movement, the shot reaches HECOR, impacting its primary loading chamber, but it does not damage any of its apparatus; instead, it merely causes light to briefly appear in the vicinity of CRIMSON CADENCE. At once, the corpse stops thrashing as it attempts to take a deep, ragged breath.
[00:03:36] The space that was once the muscles behind its empty eyesockets attempts to close, as if in sudden understanding, but it finds no muscle capable of performing the action. The asset nevertheless does not continue its struggle. It takes yet another "breath," and the corners of its mouth begin to twitch.
[00:03:32] They are unable to perform any actual action as within seconds, CRIMSON CADENCE loses its jaw.
[00:02:12] The blades move and the needles stab and the rods retract and assert themselves back again. As its bones and organs fall out of what remains of its body, a bright fire — this time blue — scorches its remains. The runes around the loading chamber begin to glow for the last time.
SCP-9600, view at 00:02:05.
[00:01:46] At once, HECOR's primary engines stop rotating.
[00:01:24] The beam at its terminus is now stable, no longer twitching. It is ready.
[00:01:12] SCP-9600 is now fully in sight.
[00:00:54] HECOR's secondary engines cease movement.
[00:00:45] Simultaneously, the circles around SCP-9600 stop their glow, and disappear.
[00:00:37] Terrestrial HECOR personnel try to notify the O5 Council of the apparent change but before they can do that, O5-7 personally brushes them off and turns both of the keys to the right.
[00:00:23] HECOR stops its movement.
[00:00:19] HECOR fires.
Atreus Array Sattelite AA-78/S, view at 00:00:12.
[+00:00:03] HECOR ceases transmission, and connection is lost.
<End Log>
…
…
…
Addendum 9600-8
Aftermath of SCP-9600's Fall
⚠ 2 YEARS FOLLOWING IMPACT ⚠
At exactly 20:30:08 UTC+01:00, the Atreus Array confirmed that HECOR's firing impacted SCP-9600. In the process, asset CRIMSON CADENCE was wholly obliterated; the Daedalus was left similarly damaged. What little remained of the station was blown out of its trajectory and seven minutes later entered the Earth's atmosphere, landing in uninhabited parts of the Ulytau region in central Kazakhstan.
SCP-9600's site of impact.
Immediately following the confirmation that the remnants of SCP-9600 have impacted the Earth, an armed escort of seven Mobile Task Forces alongside personnel from several Departments led by O5-7 was sent out to confirm that the threat posed by the Daedalus was fully neutralized.
What little of SCP-9600 remained — and was not obliterated by HECOR or by its entry into the atmosphere — contained several pieces of previously clandestine Prometheus paratechnology alongside the ectological remains of 12 out of the 26 confirmed spiritual entities onboard. The neutralized residue was forwarded to Overwatch Command for processing and was later confirmed to contain the spiritual remains of, alongside others:
- Shanahan R'yann; formerly of Prometheus Laboratories; involved in opposition to former Foundation policies; one of the last members of Prometheus' original cadre of "contemporarily Enlightened" idealists, later replaced by the more business-oriented generation; perished fighting the Foundation during the Site-01 raid;
- "Adara;" formerly of the Serpent's Hand; leader of the pre-thaumatological movement aimed at unifying magic into a coherent scientific model and Little Sister — a de facto leader of the Hand and interpreter of the Serpent's will — during the times of the Sixth Occult War and the creation of the Foundation;
- Osvendor Sarrian Enzan; formerly of the Serpent's Hand; intellectualist, theorist, Veil abolitionist, and political activist; perished at the hands of MTF Alpha-1 ("Red Right Hand") personnel during riots in London, United Kingdom;
- Jonah Matthews; formerly of Prometheus Laboratories; co-inventor of the the Armoth-Mathews cage, the Boorman-Mathews entanglement web, and the null-hell conduit and ardent lobbyist against the Foundation continuing to interfere with Prometheus affairs, later responsible for the organization gaining full independence;
- Tomás Vasquez; formerly of the Chaos Insurgency; a graduate of ICSUT Santiago holding a thaumaturgic engineering degree and the third Engineer of the Insurgency; perished at the hands of his own people — supported by embedded Foundation assets — for attempting to change the modus operandi of his organization from suprematist towards liberationist ideas;
- Montserrada Lloper; former battlemage and veteran of the Spanish Civil War; Veil abolitionist and anti-fascist activist; perished at the hands of the Franco government;
- Niamh Bríspalleach; formerly of the Serpent's Hand, the Irish Volunteers, and the Irish Republican Army; seen as the pioneer of modern industrial rune-writing; perished during skirmishes against the British government
All of the processed residue was confirmed to be in-line with the data expected, as previously predicted by the external entity contacted by O5-5.
log-in
> DOES THE BLACK MOON HOWL?
only once its web snaps, the weaver plunged into darkness
> OVERSEER CREDENTIALS ACCEPTED.
> WELCOME, O5-7.
Recording 9600-2-1 — Cont'd
O5-5: Can you tell us why?
[…]
The Severed Voice: They yearn for a legacy.
Five blinks twice.
O5-5: Explain what you mean.
The entity's surface bubbles again.
The Severed Voice: The shades that they have gathered burn restless. Their chains have rattled for too long, your weight upon their shoulders too great. They were born under your star; they wish not to die under it. They wish not for others to suffer the same fate.
O5-5: What do you mean "bor—
Five stops, considering for a moment; when she gets it, her eyes go wide.
O5-5: Oh, god.
The entity skews its head.
The Severed Voice: I have told you they are not my kin. Not my ilk. My blood runs not through their hateful hearts. Yours does. They are but an echo of a once mighty voice, called once more by its own folk for guidance.
The Severed Voice: Those of Prometheus might've been proud, but they were not fools — they saw the writing on the wall was writ with their own blood. They wished not suffer the same destiny as their formers, as those they have called for counsel. They wished not their work be buried, the children of their brilliance strangled in their cradle.
Five takes a shaking breath.
The Severed Voice: But I repeat: it is not their fault. Not their doing. You have made them who they are. You have made them what they are. You have blown at their flame and found yourselves surprised when it burned you still before it went out, unlike all the other fires you have put out with your grip.
The Severed Voice: What you see now is but one symptom — in time, the plague will come. And they will come, all of your bastards. All of the fruits of your labor.
The Severed Voice: They will come, and when they do, they will not be alone. They will not be as tame as the messengers you have bled out first, and they shall ride the steed of change like the herald of a new beginning.
The Severed Voice: Unless you manage to tighten their chains one final time, of course.
Five turns to her assistants, signalling that the ritual is over.
The Severed Voice: But know this.
Five turns back towards the entity, its shape breaking down as the blood flows back down, all the lights around the room flickering.
The Severed Voice: If you do grab their chain and bring it closer, hoping to snap their necks, remember that you will find yourselves within their reach.
The runes in the floor glow more dimly and dimly, until the entity is again but a puddle of blood upon concrete; its voice is but a whisper.
The Severed Voice: Remember that the chain can bind your hands and break your neck, too.
<End Log>
All of the remains were thoroughly tested, confirmed as inactive, and then properly disposed of.
When the following day, the scientific personnel of the expedition task force returned to the crash site, over half of the material remaining from the Daedalus' fall had disappeared overnight. Notably, all of the missing material was paratechnological in origin.
Following a reprimand being issued to all task force members stationed on-site, the Foundation conducted a thorough search into the surrounding Kazakh occult societies to ascertain whether or not one of them was responsible. Despite this, no clear culprit was found. Over the coming months, several of similar pieces would be found in use by civilian populations of the underbellies of Russian, Chinese, Indian, Mongolian, Bangladeshi, Tajik, Kyrgyz, Uzbek, Pakistani, Belarusian, Ukrainian, Moldovan, and Polish cities. The recovered pieces would prove to be replicas based on the theory behind the SCP-9600 technology.
In the following weeks, Atreus Array data combined with analysis performed by the office O5-2 revealed a noticeable uptick in the global proliferation of paratechnology unseen since the Cold War. On average, the indexes of passive civilian awereness of the paranormal was marked to rise by 12.5%; the indexes of Veiled theoretical research into parascientific models was marked to rise by 43.3%; the indexes of the possibility of the ████ collapsing within the next ██ years was marked to rise by 21.8%.
The only line of investigation in regards to the distributor of the technology led to a Serpent's Hand cell operating out Hong Kong; the only pieces of SCP-9600-related paratechnology that could be retrieved in the aftermath of the incident were severely burnt and damaged by the confrontation. Amongst them was a steel plate, presumably taken from the interior of one of the containment cells of the Daedalus. Engraved onto it was a phrase, which translated from modern Fae into English reads:
Order is not a measure of peace; change is.
As of writing, all other pieces of SCP-9600 and paratechnology created from them remains at large. Further search is ongoing.
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