The Freelancers

by OverHeart

Chapter 12 - Preperations

“We’re professionals, if anything you’re the ones that have the most to hide.” Access stated smugly.

Snowy’s head snapped towards Access and it put its full attention on him, despite having little in the way of expressive capability, he could tell it was quite angry.

“Maybe we do. But Miss Starry Night trusts you despite the fact we hardly know you or your intentions. If it was up to me we’d not have enlisted your help this soon.” Snowy growled.

Access took a step back. “Don’t misunderstand me, Snowy. Down here, you’ll learn very quickly that trust is a currency and you’d be wise to make friends as early as you can, should things go badly.”

“But they wont will they? Because you’re professionals, as you say.”

Sheet Rock slid the chip into a small chip reader below the vidscreen on the wall which sprung to life as soon as the chip was inserted, on it was a set of images, a short message and a floor plan of the office they were to infiltrate.

She opened the short message, figuring they should read that first as the message would likely provide some measure of context for what they were about to be let in on.

I’ve loaded everything I could gather onto this chip for you two, I’ve included a floor plan of the office and some images of the exterior. I’ve also managed to procure a couple of temporary access passes, they should satisfy the front desk staff as well as any police on your way up here.

The office is in Upper Canterlot, near the central plaza. Snowy will have already brought a spare vehicle for you to use plus a little something extra I think you’ll like.

You’ll be posing as a pair of electrical contractors that have been called in to do some specialist work. They’ll grill you about why you’re here but you can safely tell them that the decision was made from up high, they’ll cave without question if you mention my name and then they should verify your passes with little further argument.

At this point they’ll call me down and from there we’ll make our way into the basement of the building and hopefully, the central server room will be empty and we’ll have free reign of the place.

When we gain access to the central server room, you two will comb through the system and look for anything that looks useful to this “Project” you have going on. I’ll put my trust in you that what you gather will be of use to our continuing partnership.

Review the images and look over the map before you two leave.

It should go without saying, but do NOT bring anything that could be used as a weapon. They WILL frisk you the moment you enter the building. I’ll explain why when you show up.

Sheet Rock whistled. “Seems pretty solid, assuming nobody grows a brain.”

Snowy shook its head. “If the stories Miss Starry Night has told me are true, nobody should be any the wiser to our plans. Though you should plan for the worst.”

“I’m not used to things actually being thought out. You sure I don’t have anything to worry about from you two?”

“I assure you, Miss Starry Night has connections and will be an asset to this mission. She has also authorized me to dispense payment should you succeed.”

Sheet Rock blinked. “Payment?”

Snowy let out what amounted to a chuckle. “Unless its become customary to work for free, yes, payment.”

Sheet Rock turned to face Snowy in amazement. “That’s unexpected, I assumed this was a favor.”

“Favors aren’t her thing. She believes in money, and what it can do for ponies like you.”

Access shook his head. “She doesn’t need to do that, we stand to profit by quite the margin if Darkspace is involved in our little project.”

“Regardless, I am to follow her orders.”

Access huffed. “Suit yourself.”

Sheet Rock coughed loudly and waved a fore-hoof at the two in an attempt to get their attention.

“Anyway, Gettingback on topic.”

Snowy nodded. “Of course.”

She opened one of the images at random, and a floor-plan of the office appeared on screen. It was annotated with a few notes about the interior, mostly regarding portions of the layout that weren’t visible on the floor-plan itself,such as temporary partition walls and cubicles.

Like most of the office spaces in Upper Canterlot, the interior space of the ground floor was open-plan and only a few permanent walls served to partition the space. The south side was the main entrance with a stairwell leading up on the west side, and a stairwell leading down on the east side.

Sheet Rock pointed out a rectangular structure roughly in the middle of the floor plan that was outlined in red, likely the elevators for the several story tall building “That looks like our way down. Snowy, have you been inside this building at all?”

“I have on one of my many days assisting Miss Starry Night. That is indeed a bank of elevators as you imply, however they are locked out to most visitors.They only operate when presented with the correct key and even then, access to them is strictly controlled.”

“Too open to bust in forcefully, same with using the cloned keys.We’d be spotted in moments.” Access added.

“Netrunning is out of the question too. I’m not willing to go traipsing around looking for an access point and doing it the hard way either, we’ll have to rely on Star. As much as I’d rather we didn’t”

“What’s the plan if Star gets sidetracked, or if we need to make a swift exit without her?” Access pointed out.

Snowy gave another chuckle. “It’ll be the stairs for you, my friend. I hope you’re a fast runner.”

The target being far underground and having to cover that distance on hoof wasn’t appealing and would likely result in them being cornered if they had to take the stairs, but this job was unlikely to go smoothly one way or anothergiven the amount of security on site.

Sheet Rock opened the set of images, various pictures of the building, security deployments and a few of the interior confirmed that the building was very open-plan, and to a much larger degree than the map would have suggested.

The only blind spots between the entrance and the elevator bank was the reception desk itself, and behind the stairwells that led up and down.

There was only one image of the security stationed inside, they wore a standard white dress shirt and gray slacks with some light body armor. They weren’t heavily armed from what could be seen in the image, but what looked suspiciously like a shock baton hung from the flank of the pictured officer.

Not at all a threat to Access’ chromed body if he only took a couple of strikes, but it was to Sheet Rock with her mostly organic body. He pointed out the baton with a light tap to the screen.

“I’m not seeing any firearms, but I don’t like the look of these batons.”

Sheet Rock let out a short hum and tapped her muzzle gently. “We can only hope that’s all they have, but we should try to disarm them as quietly as possible.”

“You two are Unicorns, yes? Simply just pull them from their grasp.” Snowy stated as if it was obvious.

“That’d be great, if stun batons weren’t designed with that in mind. You dope.” Access said sarcastically.

Snowy stared up at a clock on the wall, it was just past midnight and their window for entry would soon close if they didn’t hurry and it threw Sheet Rock a set of keys, presumably for the vehicle they’d be using.

“I don’t mean to rush you or anything, but you should think about getting a move on. They’re expecting someone to show up with the credentials we’ve provided you. Present the chips when asked and you’ll be fine.”

Sheet Rock stared at the keys suspiciously as they clatter to the floor. “Do I need to worry where these came from?”

“No, just don’t scratch the paint. It’s worth more than you are.”

With that rather sharp comment, Snowy excused itself and left swiftly. Access looked to Sheet Rock who wore a somewhat irritated scowl.

“Who programmed that absolute…”

“Quality software, Sheet. Hundreds of thousands of eurobits spent on a synth and she couldn’t spring for a nicer personality.” Access said absentmindedly.

She opened her mouth to speak but closed it quickly and motioned for Access to follow her.

They hastily made their way downstairs and stepped out onto the tenant parking lot, mostly empty as expected, and the scowl she wore vanished completely upon seeing the vehicle they’d be using.

It was painted in a glossy midnight black color, accented with shiny silver chrome trim and bore no markings apart from its model and branding, which identified it as an Equi-Tech Transporter S-Type.

An expensive vehicle to be essentially thrown away at the end of it all, but the two weren’t going to complain.

Access was similarly impressed and let out a short whistle of approval. “You sure this is ours?”

Sheet Rock pushed a button on the vehicle’s remote, and the indicator lamps of the van lit up briefly as the doors made a loud thump.

“Seems so. Here’s hoping we can keep it!” Sheet Rock laughed.