//------------------------------// // Chapter 15 - Plan B // Story: The Freelancers // by OverHeart //------------------------------// “What is he going to do?” Star asked quietly. “He’ll hook into the network using that junction box, and break in without having to be directly connected. Problem is he’ll be immobile while he’s in there.” “Huh. I didn’t know that’s how that worked.” Sheet Rock raised an eyebrow. “You’ve never seen a Netrunner work before?” Star tapped the ground with a fore-hoof in embarrassment. “I’ve seen the chairs ours are hooked into for most of their shifts, but I’ve never really known what you ponies do in there.” “The only thing you need to worry about is stopping anyone from asking questions they shouldn’t, do you think you can handle that?” The air filled with the sound of creaking metal and the two mares joined Access in the utility room, where he was hard at work prying the cover off the aforementioned junction box. Multiple plastic conduits ran from the box and into the walls, and with any luck the box will contain network wiring as well. “You know, you could easily rip that cover off. Use those hydraulic muscles I bought you for goodness sake.” Sheet Rock pointed out. “I can do it quickly and loudly or slowly and properly, maybe setting something off. Which would you prefer?” Access said with a growl. “Forgive me for asking, but how do you know you’ll find what you need in there?” Star said with a hoof on her chin. “Typically, there would be hook-ins to the network in boxes like these, given how much is controlled by a computer these days. Boxes like these often contain all manner of things for ponies like us to exploit.” Access said with a malicious grin. Sheet Rock nodded in agreement. “It’s more common than you think.” “That doesn’t seem safe. Good news for us though.” Star said with a frown. With a final heave and liberal application of a small pry bar, the cover flew off its seal and clattered to the floor, which revealed the box’s contents. Access looked around the board and at the various wiring, and while most of it was unremarkable there was an access point inside the box complete with a port for him to hook into, just as he’d thought there would be, and he connected up his Cyberdeck to it with the hope that it was live. His Cyberdeck’s menu opened in his vision and he ran a quick scan of the local network. A tense few minutes passed until the results came back, and to his amazement this port and by extension the junction box was connected to the network at large. The scan identified it as an air conditioning monitoring box, likely to keep the machines down there from overheating catastrophically. It was also directly connected to the central server room so the racks could self monitor and report any abnormalities. This would be his one and only way in. Sheet Rock peeked out the slightly ajar door and into the hallway. She felt nervous being so out in the open, but Star’s escort and reassurance she could handle any issues settled her nerves somewhat. “Talk to me Access. Are we good?” He nodded. “We’re good. Got a live port with access to the local network.” “Star, how suspicious would it be if someone found us here with Access connected up like that? Just out of interest.” “Depends on who finds us. Regular office staff probably wont even bother us, but one of the Netrunners would probably raise the alarm for sure.” Sheet Rock turned to face Star with a stern expression. “Where would they be now?” Star shrugged dismissively. “Given the bulkheads are sealed and the heavy security presence, I would assume they’re down here with us, but I can’t be sure about that.” “I’ll have to be careful then. They’ll have the advantage in this case.” Access reassured. Access apprehensively started a deep dive connection. His vision blurred and the world around him dissolved into nothingness, soon to be replaced by the shifting landscape of the building’s Subnet. He masked his arrival as best as he could when his avatar finally materialized within the network, and noted the large numbers of small spherical security programs flying high above in the digital sky. He took stock of his surrounding and for the most part things were quiet, his masked signal allowed him some degree of freedom to move toward a cube-like cluster of structures in the distance, likely the representation of the machines within the network. Around it were more cube-like structures arranged in a tight wall-like pattern, from this distance he could see other avatars flit about among the inner and outer structures. He observed for a few more moments before he made his way closer to the structure, and as long as he didn’t stick around too long in any one place, he’d be able to slip past thanks to his signal mask. That was the plan at least. The two mares were snapped out of their daydream by the sound of hydraulics. Star nodded to Sheet Rock wordlessly, to which she returned with a nod of her own. Star stepped into the hallway and closed the door softly behind her and rounded the corner, only to see the bulkheads open and the security detail being funneled towards the stairwells and elevators. “Might I ask why you’re leaving your posts?” she inquired. The power armored troopers ignored her and piled into the stairwells, but one fresh faced guard addressed her directly in an authoritative but nervous tone. “Orders are to get topside immediately, we’re directing everyone else to stay below ground. For your own safety of course.” “Trouble?” “Possibly. I can’t say for sure.” The fresh faced guard piled into the elevator with his fellows who all wore worried expressions, and after the elevator doors slid shut Star turned her attention back to the utility room. She half-glanced at the main corridor and as expected the Bulkheads had been closed behind them. Star stepped back into the utility room with a grim look on her face. “Be ready. Something has security worried.” “Should we abort and get out while we can?” “No, not until we get something of use. I don’t think it’s us they’re referring to.” Sheet Rock shrugged. “You’re the boss.” Access made good progress and found himself at the outer wall of cuboid structures, and like the rest of the Subnet they were bathed in a nauseating purple hue, and pulsed with an unnatural steadiness. He could hear voices above him, though distant and quiet they grew in volume rather rapidly, he’d have to act quickly. He looked down at his plain avatar, placed a hoof on one of the walls and ran one of his cracking programs designed to burrow through defenses like these. A cone of light short forth from his horn, embedded itself in the wall and began to chip away at the wall and piece by piece the wall started to fall apart, he just hoped that he hadn’t been too noisy and attracted the attention of the other avatars. A loud thump from overhead made Access jump a little, and although his masked signal rendered him completely invisible to those in the system as well, his programs weren’t and if they ran scans of the Subnet they’d easily detect him. He needed to give the programs in the system and the other Netrunners as wide a berth as possible, as knocking someone out wasn’t a viable tactic here nor was blindly engaging in combat. The noise was two Netrunners that had dropped onto the wall above him and both of them were corporate employees, no doubt about that. The Darkspace logo of a dark rain cloud surrounded by stars emblazoned on the polygonal avatars flanks all but screamed out that fact. “What has the boss so spooked?” the shorter avatar asked. “Been a lot of intrusion attempts recently, so he had one of his subordinates hire some muscle.” a taller avatar answered, unimpressed. “I hope he vetted them.” “He trusts her judgment, that foal ain’t getting in here again, physically or through the net.” “I dunno about that, the kid was good, scarily so.” The taller avatar gestured around itself confidently. “Look around you, does it look like we’re in any danger at all? Nobody is getting in, we’ve got this place locked down to all hell and the muscle upstairs have things well in hoof.” The wall finally crumbled into digital dust before it vanished into nothingness, and he proceeded through to the other side with haste and hid behind a short stack of pulsing cubes. He watched the Netrunners drop to his level and inspect the wall he’d just made a hole in, and after a brief moment the shorter avatar took notice of Access’ handiwork, though they didn’t seem as panicked as he first thought they’d be. “Looks like we missed a breach. We gotta patch this up, before Silver Shield sees it!” “We missed one? Just how much damage did this kid do?” The shorter avatar shook its head. “I dunno man, we better just fix it.” Access peeked out from his hiding spot and hurried onward at some speed, eager to put as much distance between him and them as possible.