President Dmitri Volkov sat in his private study in the Kremlin, the winter darkness outside matching his mood. Across from him, Director of the Federal Security Service Alexei Kuznetsov and Chief of the General Staff Nikolai Petrov waited in silence.
"The Americans want unity," Volkov finally said, his voice heavy with vodka and contempt. "The Chinese want dominance. And we are expected to simply fall in line with whatever framework they propose."
"Russia has never fallen in line," Petrov observed. "We do not intend to start now."
Volkov nodded slowly, pulling up encrypted files on his tablet. "Our analysis teams have made progress on the data packets. Tell me, Nikolai, what did they find?"
Petrov leaned forward. "Something the others either haven't noticed or are keeping quiet about. The message wasn't just a warning and blueprints. There was a third component—a test protocol."
"Explain."
