Black Mountain/Sector R/OCE

Operational Command Equipment (OCE) is the highest sublevel within Sector R, with a level number of 21. It provides command and oversight over all current operations and projects of Black Research, as well as all containment systems and Sector G infrastructure. It is manned by high-ranking research command level personnel as well as other command staff. The OCE floor is one of the highest security areas within the sector, and few actually see it. It is considered a mark of high seniority within Black Research to even be permitted onto the OCE floor.

The floor is designed as an “open-plan” area with numerous desks and large monitors to allow research command personnel to efficiently direct operations. Shannon Taylor spent most of her time here, remotely supervising experiments. All operational activities led by SPIKE, Black Research’s field division, are remotely overseen from the floor, with their visual and audio feeds filtered through a large array of infohazard processors on the IPA-SOC floor below.

Etymology

There is a subtle reasoning behind OCE’s naming: originally, command of Black Research was performed on an ad-hoc basis in the field, establishing authority at whatever facility the department used as a central laboratory. Remnants of this utilitarian tradition still remain despite its permanent move to Black Mountain: it is not the area designated for command, but where equipment is available for command, and it just happens it is where Black Research is led from in the majority of time.