//------------------------------// // Chapter 2 - Recon // Story: The Freelancers // by OverHeart //------------------------------// Access barged into the cybercafe and waved the post in Sheet Rock’s face much to her annoyance. “What? You found something?” Sheet Rock asked as she scrunched up her nose. “I sure did, unsecured corporate system. Check it.” Access said triumphantly. Sheet Rock took one look at the post and started to laugh manically which worried Access somewhat. “Get your things together, we’re hitting this thing tonight.” Sheet Rock grinned. “Throwing caution to the wind? That’s not like you at all.” Access joked. “This time is different, if a corp is going to leave something unsecured it’ll be for a reason. We can’t pass up a chance like this!” Sheet Rock stated. “We need to…” Access said before being cut off. “Yeah yeah, Jack out. We’ll talk in realspace for this.” She stated before she suddenly vanished. Access blinked in surprise. “Looks like you lit a fire in her this time, Access” said one of the cafe avatars. “I better go, before she does something stupid.” Access said as he too vanished. Back in the apartment, Sheet Rock was pacing back and forth in the living room mumbling various worries and second guessing herself with worrying intensity. Access sat up in his lounger before he spoke. “We need to plan before we hit this thing, it could easily be bait.” Access warned. “Yeah, you’re right.” Sheet Rock said as she calmed down somewhat. Access called up a Net map on the apartment’s vidscreen and keyed in the information from the post, a gray system located somewhere in the Lower Canterlot region appeared in the center. One access point was marked and it was a public one, accessible from nearly anywhere in the district. “Whatever this system is, it only has one way in. Rated gray, for the most part.” Access stated. “Do we have any ID on who this system belongs to?” Sheet Rock asked. Access tapped on his keyboard for a moment and ran a few checks, while he did so Sheet Rock had started to pace again. The vidscreen flickered for a moment which caused Access to blink in surprise. On the vidscreen a distinct image of a crown overlaid with multiple areas which gems would be set into appeared. Sub-nets or virtual spaces could look like nearly anything, but the most common was to recreate a physical place as you could do things in the Net that wouldn’t be possible in realspace. Other times they were modeled after logos or physical objects. “That’s weird.” he said. “What?” “You know how corps tend to be narcissistic enough to make a digital space look like their logo?” “Pretty much all corporate sub-nets are like that, whats your point?” “This one looks like a crown.” Access stated. The room fell silent and both Access and Sheet Rock stare at each other for the briefest of moments before they became extremely nervous. The Crown was an organization that housed all the royals Equestria still had, only three were known to exist and they were often seen on public vidscreens giving announcements to the masses. Neither Princess Celestia or Princess Luna were seen in public very often. If this system truly had anything to do with them it was almost certainly going to be a trap. “I didn’t know the crown even still existed.” Sheet Rock whispered. Access sighed. “Not officially, the corps hold all the power but they still willingly answer to the Crown. At least that’s how the stories go.” Sheet Rock stared at the sub-net map on the vidscreen for a few minutes solid, she tried to figure out this enigma but the only way they’d know was to go for it. She then looked at Access nervously who shared her sentiment wholeheartedly. “How likely is it we’ll be caught?” Access stared at the screen, looking pensively at the security rating of the sub-net. It was rated gray, which meant it was unlikely to be defended at all, but that only accounted for automated security and not hostile Netrunners; and especially not the worst possible thing to encounter when you’re breaking and entering: Netwatch. “If that security rating is anything to go by, we should be fine. Assuming other Netrunners don’t get on it.” Access stated confidently. “This is a horrible idea, Access.” “What happened to that confidence you had before?” Access questioned. “That was before I knew what we’d be walking into!” she responded as she stamped a fore-hoof against the cheap laminate flooring. Access sighed. “Look, would it make you feel better if we rented a couple of pods at a net-cafe? a physical one.” “Fine, but I’m not paying those outrageous prices for two of the damned things, we’re sharing one.” Sheet Rock stated as she gathered her things, most importantly slipping her Cyberdeck and cables in a small harness attached to her left flank. Access rolled his eyes as he too collected up his Cyberdeck and cables, slipping them into his own harness. The harnesses themselves were bulky, unwieldy and awkward to move in. The only real way to catch a Netrunner with evidence of their crimes was to get a hold of his or her deck; if authorities wanted to search their Deck’s memory, they’d be in trouble in a flash. Subtlety was the name of the game. As the two walked out of their apartment the door closed itself behind them and clicked softly as the electronic lock engaged. The hallway was covered in cheap plastic plating that covered the walls and it had begun to show it’s age with cracks and warping in places. The floor didn’t look much better, plastic plating was cheap but the carpet used in low-class properties like these was on a whole other level and was almost threadbare in places. The two walked out of the apartment building in relative silence and made their way down the grimy and dim streets where Access broke the silence. “You sure about this? We can always turn back, find something else.” Access asked gently. Sheet Rock didn’t answer as she kept her gaze locked onto the street up ahead, she was so focused she barged into several passing ponies as they walked in the opposite direction, eliciting a small grumble as they steadied themselves. After a few tense minutes, Sheet Rock spoke up. “Something doesn’t feel right about this, Access. We need to watch each others backs while we’re in there.” “Calm down, that’s why we’re going to a net-cafe, so if they trace us they’ll just get taken to our pod and you know Chilled Coffee doesn’t ask questions.” “Yeah, you’re right.” Sheet Rock grumbled as she shook off her paranoia. Chilled Coffee was the name of the net-cafe they used for higher risk jobs; the two knew the proprietor, who shared his name with his business, and he didn’t co-operate with authorities in general. If a job went south he’d keep them safe for as long as he could.