back-to-back meetings when her phone lit up with urgent not

on. Screens flashed red. Analysts typed furiously. The system dashboard in the control room blinked with real-time damag

t-until her heels clicked

n desk. "We're working on isolating the cause. I

she snapped, crossing h

en she no

server tower, his fingers flying across a tablet. Unlike the others, he wasn't panicking. His ex

she asked und

r. One of the new IT techs. Just started la

is he lead

te linked to a deprecated process script-someone forgot to disable legacy mode. I

began stabilizing, colors shiftin

rd. "How long until

e a startling shade of green, like pine leaves bac

d access through a clean proxy. Data integrity sho

a beat too long. Then

fore five. And an audit of every legacy process still lives in the system. If th

d, hands mo

rol room, Sophie met

Sophie asked, f

l watching the control room over her shoulder. "And a

an eyebrow.

voice cool. "He was too fast. L

's just t

murmured, "he's

rter watched the green-lit scree

s wouldn't be the last time his fingers

last tim