Warning: Unknown Error

…

Unable to connect to the Net

…

Terminating Process…

…

The screen went black and the helmet hissed before letting go of Damien’s head and retracting to the ceiling automatically.

“Well?” Kat said. “How’d it go?”

Lana swiveled her computer chair around to face them. She was seated in a hunched over position, her feet on the chair and her knees bent up against her chest. “Unbelievable… I can’t get it to work. You were right to inquire about it, Kat. I’ve never heard of someone being unable to connect to the Net before, and now I’m really curious as to what’s going on here.”

Damien’s chair reclined upwards and he stood back on his feet. “Let me guess, it was something that TrillTech did, wasn’t it?”

“I’m not entirely sure,” Lana said. “Roger dug out every strange piece of cyberware within you, so I don’t know what could be causing it. I have to say, as a hacker, I’m intrigued by your existence. I wish I could study you further, but that’ll have to come after our date.” She gave him a not-so-subtle wink.

“Right…” Damien picked up his new katana and clipped it to his side. He’d decided to stick with his casual clothes for now. The new combat armor was quite heavy and it felt impractical to carry it around all the time, especially when he was just hanging out with his acquaintances. Kat had offered to hold on to it for him, so they used the new Freedom Channel to transport it to her apartment until the mission started.

“I’m sure we’ll figure it all out eventually,” Kat said. “If Zero’s right, those Archangel files will tell us the full extent of what they did to you.”

Damien nodded. Not being able to connect to the Net like everyone else reminded him that he was still an outsider in this new world. Even though he didn’t understand what had happened prior to being awoken by Kat, the very thought of someone messing with his mind and body made his blood boil. This was made worse by the fact that he was starting to take a liking to this city as well as the people living here. This juxtaposition of emotions only strengthened his will, however, and he vowed to find out what happened to him and how he got here.

Heavy footsteps stomped from the other side of the room, and Marcus appeared from the stairs, joining them in the neon-soaked basement. “Sorry I’m late, guys. Those damn flashbangs are hard to come by, it took me way too long to find some. Figured they’d be useful when we kick some TrillTech ass.”

“About time, you oaf. How dare you make me wait?” Lana threw a Mind Chip at him-- quite hard for a girl of her stature.

Marcus caught it and gritted his teeth, but he didn’t say anything back. Those two clearly didn’t like each other very much.

“Now we can finally get started,” Lana said. “After you three left last night, I immediately got to work on gathering intel for this mission. But before anything else, I had to make sure that Zero’s information was correct. It would be a waste of time if there wasn’t an actual research facility, after all. Turns out, it’s a safe bet that something fishy is going on at the location he gave us. Slot in those Mind Chips and see for yourself.”

Damien pulled out the chip that he’d received earlier and slipped it into his neural slot. His two crew mates did the same. Just as with his first mission with Kat, a 3D projection popped up in Damien’s vision. It was a group of buildings; the same ones that Zero had shown them inside his office. Using his will to manipulate the projection, Damien could go inside and look through all the corridors and rooms within.

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“I managed to get the layout of the insides,” Lana said, “but I doubt that the files we’re looking for are anywhere above ground. Each of those buildings are interconnected to one another underground, and they’re all based around the bulkhead in the center. I’m still working on getting the layout of the underground portion, but I found signatures that suggest there are automatic turrets and armed personnel down there. Even though I didn’t get a clear look for myself, I’m absolutely certain that there are a lot of defenses— too many for three pirates to handle head on.”

“You managed to find all this since we left?” Damien asked. “Did you stay up all night?”

“Of course I did. My work days are 11pm to 4pm. Now stop interrupting me and stay focused on the task at hand.” She waved a dismissive hand at him . “The location of this place is another problem to consider. There are direct routes to multiple nearby Skull-controlled locations as well as other TrillTech buildings. Most are connected via major arteries within the city, and I suspect that reinforcements can arrive in as little as five to ten minutes.”

“So, we’re facing a lot of firepower and it’ll only get worse once the mission starts,” Marcus said.

Kat crossed her arms and the familiar full-concentration scowl formed on her face. “It’s not just an issue of additional firepower showing up. We could get sandwiched between their initial defenses and any oncoming reinforcements if we’re not quick enough.”

“Correct, but that’s not all,” Lana said. “There are cameras all around the outer perimeter. There’s virtually no chance that you’ll be able to approach without being spotted, even if we start the operation late into the night. It also means that you can’t just park nearby and bolt out of there if things go wrong. Funnily enough, there aren’t any cameras on the inside, which suggests that they don’t want any visual records of whatever is going on in there.”

“But cameras aren’t normally an issue for you,” Kat said. “Can’t you just hack them blind like you normally do?”

“And that’s where it gets even worse,” Lana said with a heavy sigh. “They’re using an unorthodox security system. I can certainly brute force my way through, but I’d need more time to manually do it. Time that we don’t have.”

That didn’t sound very good. Their entire game plan up until now had revolved around getting their ace hacker inside the facilities’ systems.

“So what now?” Damien asked. “Are we screwed?”

Lana swerved back around and start typing away on her keyboard. “Somewhat, but not entirely. We’ve got one option left, but it’s a long shot, and it’ll require us to gather two more tools before I can get in the facility to do some damage.”

Kat’s scowl softened slightly, the mention of a final option perhaps giving her some hope. “So, what are these tools, and where do we get them?”

“The first one is called a Blizzard, a specialized chip that can freeze everything connected to their local network. It’s a rare item, but I found someone trying to sell it discreetly on the web. As the great XO, I managed to find their location and contact them, and they’re willing to discuss a deal. Of course, you can always try and take it by force, but I’ll let you make that call. The Blizzard will be necessary, but it’ll require one of you to get up close and personal before we can use it, so we’ll also need something to manually bypass their cameras during the initial infiltration.” She turned back around towards Kat. “You’ll secure the second tool on your own while the boys get the chip. In the mean time, I’ll finalize the details of the plan. Normally, I’d ask if you have any objections, but this is our only option so we either go through with this or we bail right now.”

“There’s no way we’re bailing,” Kat said. “Let's get to work securing those tools.”

“My thoughts exactly,” Lana said. “I’ll send you the details in a minute, so you should all head out now.”

Damien felt a heavy hand on his shoulder, and he turned to see the wide-smiling face of Marcus looking down at him. “Looks like it’s me and you, buddy. Let’s go get that chip.”

Quest Updated Secure the [Blizzard]