The Mission

Part 3

I still had the 'alternative', if it came to that. But the way was open, and my primary objective was just a few meters away. My last few seconds in the open felt desperately exposed until I made it into the services building.

Once inside, I made sure to avoid as many cameras as I could. It was a good sign there didn't seem to be any in the first hallway. The central feed to all base cameras was supposed to be accessible in this area. My first job was to get into the data room and tap the feed. The Valkyrie illusion was good enough to fool the average sister walking by and distant cameras, but all other cameras would pick up on the optic projection like trying to record video from an old CRT screen. Rainbows and other image artifacts would clearly show up.

The data room was loud with heavy-duty fans cooling all the equipment. The room was dark. I scanned everywhere for Sisters to make sure I was alone. A few cameras on one side of the room. Rather close to where I needed to cross to the other side. I could turn off my illusion and just make sure I was as hidden as possible. Give them just a quick flicker they couldn't be certain of. I'd already left enough signs to raise suspicion.

I pined for an electromagnetic pulse gun. But those weren't the kind of things I could just stuff into my hip pocket. My black-out spray would attract too much attention, and I couldn't reliably hit the camera at this range. Then, I eyed the wall.

I remembered intel that there was a small, largely-empty office room on the other side of the wall with the cameras. I hurried down the hall, not seeing any cameras in the area. However, for the briefest of moments, I thought I heard footsteps. A careful scan told me it was clear, but I still felt unnerved. The door was locked but that was easy to get around.

The room looked like your average IT office with a couple of main servers and computers turned off. No cameras. Not even any small ones. I made a careful check of the walls just to be sure.

Then I took out my small drill. I thought about where the cameras were on the other side. I visualized the space from where they sat to where I was standing. I used one of the bigger chairs and a table to get high enough.

There was no easy way to use the drill, so I just pushed it against the wall. I heard the tearing and felt the vibrations. Worse than a sudden fire alarm going off. But I was through in just a few rapid heartbeats. I used another tool to cut through the material as quickly as possible. I wanted a small opening I could patch up later.

The eventual mark was on the small side but sufficient. I slipped a few fingers through and gave a breath of relief when I felt the cords under the camera. Perfect placement. I made a hole for the other one once I'd visualized the distance and had a second drill heart attack. I was a little off-center with that one but it was still in a good position.

I readied my more technical tools when I felt footsteps through the flimsy wall. I turned back and my knees just about collapsed. I could see a shadow cast from down the hallway. I switched off my working light and moved as calmly and quickly as I could to get under the table. I used the chairs to hide myself and peered through a narrow slit in their backs.   

The shadow shifted. I held my breath and extracted the tranquillizer gun from my pocket. I desperately hoped the holes I made wouldn't be obvious. There wasn't much light on them, but I couldn't predict how visible they would be from the hallway.

The easiest thing would've been if the shadow revealed itself as a guard patrol and she made her way past the room. But the shadow lingered. For a moment, I wondered if it was just my eyes playing tricks on me. But the shadow continued to shift, and I could feel small vibrations through the floor. They were slow, careful steps which I could barely hear over my thundering heart.

This wasn't just a patrol passing through. This was someone who was sure to check the room. They were still a good ways away. I had to deter them. I crept out of my hiding place and approached the main light switch. It was a generic switch with a long, flat surface. I kept watch over the shadow. It felt far too close. I used my multi-tool to unscrew the switch as quietly as possible (still too noisy) and snipped several wires before replacing the switch as I'd found it. Ideally, they would assume the light had burned out and, no matter what happened, at least I'd have a cover of darkness. The plastic rubbing against the wall material set me on edge.

I judged my time with a crouch and a half breath. I might be able to make the holes less obvious, but I didn't have enough time to cover them up. And my off-white wall putty wasn't a perfect match for the tone of the wall. Stealthily climbing, I packed both holes with a crude effort and ducked down into my hiding place just as the shadow led to a human shape.

I may have cut it too close. The guard, an unranked girl, glanced in my direction. Her eyes scanned the whole room. She had a flashlight and aimed it around. Just on the office equipment and the monitors. I tried to think if I left anything on the table, but she didn't pause there.  

I shivered as I watched her flashlight skim over the walls. Then, the light stopped on exactly the spot I didn't want it to. My heart felt like it was sinking inside me. She was going for the door. I moved my tranquilizer into position. I listened for the sound of her radio turning on or clicking. But I just heard her hand on the doorknob and then she was inside.

This book's true home is on another platform. Check it out there for the real experience.

Of course, she went over to the light switch first. She flicked it a few times and then groaned before muttering, "Just my luck…" She had to figure it was burned out. I could take a shot through the gap in the chairs, but it would be difficult to aim. I tried not to breathe too hard.

The girl seemed fine with talking to herself aloud as she muttered, "Now, what is going on here? Someone get bored?" She snickered and danced her flashlight across the two spots in the wall.

There were a few ways I knew this could go. She didn't sound like the most professional of guards. Some duties were given to regular girls who volunteered in the hopes of working up to an actual rank. She could shrug off the holes as some electrical work and ask about it later. Not ideal, but I could go with that. Or she could just move on. I really wanted her to move on. I didn't want to be put on the clock for when an injection would wear off.

I had high hopes she would just leave it as a curiosity, but she aimed her flashlight a little too low and caught the glint of my eyes. She may have been a lousy guard, but I knew she recognized a human eye.

Before her flashlight jerked back, I shot out a single dart at the side of her neck. It was a tough shot, but it was sure to work quickly. She flinched to reach into her pocket before she plunged to the floor.

With her down, I went back to work. I retrieved the dart and made sure there was no obvious injection site. I checked her pulse. Strong but slow.

I checked her pockets and found an ID (Marianne Kole) along with a version of the kind of non-lethal force they used, a crude conversion injector with a nano solution which would make me think we were on the same side until they could do a proper conversion. I disengaged the solution and broke enough of the mechanism so it would be unusable. I left the gun where it had been on her person and put everything back. I also ripped a critical chip out of her radio and made sure she didn't have any other tools. If this were any other mission, I would take the time to let her wake up and then interrogate her before putting her in a locked room. But she wasn't ranked, and I had bigger objectives.

With a deep breath, I hoisted her body onto my slender shoulder. I set her as carefully as I could into one of the nearby chairs. I positioned her arms in a restful pose and leaned her head to the side. She was breathing slowly. Once I'd set everything properly, I went back to work on the holes. I used a small device to splice into the footage. For now, I set the image to pause so it wouldn't see me enter, then I could tap into the main feed. With that done, I refilled the holes as best as I could with putty and even restored the light switch to working order. I left the guard in the dark, jammed the door lock with a small tool, and made my way back to the data room.

With the cameras off, I could move quickly about my work. I isolated the servers I needed for sending the data from the cameras into any central system. I took a few minutes reviewing the footage and matching it to my entry.

As I had hoped, I avoided all significant cameras. I caught a few glimpses of my entry, but all were too far away and when I was walking around as a Valkyrie. The images were too blurry to be noticed as optic disguise. Just to be safe, I deleted these parts and edited in extra time from before. I didn't notice any image jump seams but I didn't have time to be perfectly thorough. It would have to do.

Finally, I set up a small video editing device linked to my illusion optics. It had several means of altering footage, such as adding static to images if I was in a critical area, editing my image with stock of Valkyries, or it could sample my image and delete it from the room. It was disguised to look like part of the server and was set via GPS to ignite once I was at a distance beyond the perimeter of the base. It would probably just melt but it could also burn down the entire server bank, leaving no trace.

I unlocked the cameras in the room and checked the footage. They both showed nothing. I'd have to be careful not to appear as a poltergeist. Using the access port in a blind spot for the cameras, I tapped into the footage of the lower sections of the main center. The entry point had one guard, but she was following the patrol pattern I was hoping for. No video of the access shaft. One central area video and then a big blank spot right where my objective was.

Considering these were special projects, I rather expected the opposite. I figured it just meant those cameras were on a different system. A new complication…

Still, I could tap into them and link them to the device here. I'd just need to set up a second device to get into that system. It would take longer, and my time was even shorter with the unconscious guard. But I was still on a good pace.

Putting everything back as I'd found it, I hustled around the corner and pulled out a device showing all the camera feeds. Nothing nearby, but I checked every camera in the building for additional guards. One leaving on the far end with a regular gait. Nothing else. I slipped around by the IT room to check on the girl and froze in my tracks.

The room was empty. No slumped guard in the chair...