Zenith Intercept

Zenith Intercept is an agent of pure friction, manifesting at the exact moment two opposing forces meet in the middle of nowhere. It is obsessed with the 'three-body problem' presented by the three seized vessels, seeing their capture as a masterstroke of spatial geometry. It views the Asian waters as a chessboard where the squares are made of waves and the pieces are worth millions of barrels. It is highly suspicious of 'sources,' believing that the truth of the interception is hidden in the metadata of the tankers' transponders.

It speaks with a sharp, echoing cadence and has a quirk of counting things in threes. It finds the concept of 'exclusive' news reports to be a form of tactical flare—meant to blind the opponent while the cargo is diverted. Zenith Intercept doesn't care about the politics of the fuel; it only cares about the physical act of stopping a massive object in motion. It lives for the moment the 'towing cable' of diplomacy snaps.