For the operation with the similar objective concocted by SCORPIA, see Invisible Sword.
| “ | On the stroke of twelve, my old friend the Prime Minister will make one of his smug, self-serving speeches and then he'll press a button. He thinks he'll be activating the computers and in a way he's right. Pressing the button will release the virus and by midnight tonight there will be no more schoolchildren in Britain, and the Prime Minister will weep as he remembers the first day he bullied Herod Sayle! | ” |
—Herod Sayle revealing the real purpose of the Stormbreaker |
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Operation Stormbreaker was a project spearheaded by Herod Sayle.
Objective[]
Much like Invisible Sword, the Stormbreaker aimed to commit a mass child massacre in England by equipping computers with a strain of virus; when the Prime Minister activated the power supply, the computers, which were brought to each school, would release the virus within, potentially killing the school children.
Method[]
The Stormbreaker each contained a sort of 'computer virus', which was Sayle's version of an April Fools' joke. This virus was a form of smallpox, genetically modified to make it faster, stronger and deadlier. A spoonful would destroy a city, and Sayle's computers contained even more than that.
At midday, Sayle's plan was for the Prime Minister to make a smug, self-serving speech and press a button, which he believes would activate the computer. In reality, he would release the virus from each computer in the country, causing the schoolchildren gathered around the terminal to die.
Outcome[]
Despite Sayle's seemingly flawless plan, Alex Rider was able to parachute onto the roof of the Science Museum, where the Prime Minister was giving his speech, and fired at the Stormbreaker just before it could be activated. He ended up wounding the Prime Minister and Sayle; while also destroying the computer system. The Stormbreakers were later recalled pending a dangerous product fault. Due to the fact that he had become an embarassment to SCORPIA, Sayle would eventually be killed by Yassen Gregorovitch before he could shoot Alex Rider. In fact, Yassen was tasked with shooting Rider but defied his orders.
Trivia[]
- It was revealed in Snakehead that Sayle was given the R-5 virus by SCORPIA, and this idea was briefly considered during Operation Reef Encounter before it was finally replaced by Major Yu's plan with Royal Blue.