The Freelancers

by OverHeart

Chapter 65 - Coordination

Waiting was always the worst part of any job, but Phantom had insisted in the past that they were not to do anything on their own, at least not until she’d said her piece as there were some specifics to go over before they could carry out their assigned roles.

“Twenty on Earth Pony.” Access chuckled. “Gotta be.”

“Fine, twenty says Pegasus.” Bulwark retorted. “Explains the short travel time, no?”

“Two words, Bulwark. Acid. Rain.”

“Sorry Bulwark, I have to agree with Access on this one.” Scarlet cut in. “As surprising as that is.”

“Are you really taking bets?” Sheet Rock said from her chair. “…Fifty says bat pony.”

“Fifty?” Bulwark replied, surprised. “Someone’s confident.”

In actuality, it was a matter of probability. A Pegasus would just fly, an earth pony would use the Skytrain or maybe an AV, and a Unicorn would just teleport station to station if he or she had the skills.

They didn’t have to wait long, as the sound of an engine hummed all around them, echoing inside the steel structure of their warehouse. Sheet Rock wouldn’t miss the echo once Snowy showed back up with the rest of the things he’d bought, half of which was still bundled up in the van.

The sound circled the warehouse for a time until it came to a stop outside the rolling garage door, followed by the sound of two ponies getting out. Access signaled for everyone to grab the weapons, all of which were now trained squarely toward the source of the disturbance.

You could cut the silence with a knife it was so thick, hoofsteps approached the door, voices muffled by the corrugated steel until they abrubtly stopped. The door opened a little, not enough to see the other side, but enough so that those outside could be heard.

“Guns down, alright?”

Like hell, Sheet Rock thought, a thought mirrored by everyone present.

“How about you put YOURS down, kick them in through the door!”

“I don’t think that’ll do you much good.” The voice paused for a moment. “Fine, have it your way!”

A couple heavy automatic pistols flew in through the crack in the door, bounced against the poured concrete floor, and clattered to a stop near Bulwark.

“Walk in slowly, any sudden movements and you die.”

The door opened all the way to a Bat Pony mare who looked more amused than anything about the situation. She wore a smug smile, like she’d already won some kind of game and looked to have something in her hoof.

Before anyone could object, a thick gray slab-like object was tossed at Sheet Rock’s hooves. It took a moment, but she eventually recognized what it was.

A completely filled out pad of Baloperidol scripts, a few months worth at least, complete with doctor’s signatures and authorization codes.

Sheet Rock lowered her SMG. “Could’ve said something sooner, we could’ve shot you.”

“I doubt that, my friend here had my back.” Phantom remarked, gesturing at the figure outside. “He sent you packing once, so I doubt he’d fail this time either.”

“They were lucky none of them were the pony I had been sent after, I never broke a sweat defending myself.” Matterhorn added. “Thankfully you wont have to be in the firing line this time around.”

“Yeah, yeah, don’t get too big headed.” Access snorted, holstering his weapon. “We thought you were done for.”

“I’ll have to regale you with the story some time, but for now we have better things to be doing.” Matterhorn pointed out. “Phantom?”

She nodded and put down a hoofful of chips down on a small folding table in their clear plastic cases. They looked like they’d taken a beating at some point, and the cases were scuffed and cracked from repeated usage.

“Slot the chip if you want a visual aid or two, but the plan’s pretty simple as things go.” Phantom chuckled. “I’ve already appraised Matterhorn of his role, but everyone else’s will be a bit more… remote.”

They’d be split into three teams, Phantom and Matterhorn as the physical infiltrators, Access and Sheet Rock as the primary runners, and Bulwark and Scarlet as backup runners on the off chance something went wrong sooner than expected.

Phantom had procured a list of access points that would briefly make connection to Rift City to deliver some email originating from the Arcology. This connection would remain in place for about an hour until the microwave transmitters realigned and repeated the aforementioned operation with Canterlot, if they missed both these windows the whole op would be a complete bust.

“It might be worthwhile for each team to remain on standby at either access point, the fewer connections we make through any of their access points, the less likely it’ll be that we’ll be noticed.” Sheet Rock stressed. “I don’t think the two of you are gonna cut it though.”

“How’s your bat pony friend with a firearm?” Phantom asked. “We could always take her with us?”

“I’m willing to do that, but I’d like to avoid violence if we can.” Star shouted down from her office. “I might have a contact or two in the Arcology who could help us, assuming they’re still alive.”

Once either team is able to secure a foothold in the residential systems, they would need to wait for Phantom to bridge the gap between the public-facing residential systems, and the internal private network, the only viable method of doing so required someone to be there physically.

It was imperative that nobody did anything to arouse suspicion, Arcology security weren’t known for their understanding and sunny personalities, they took their jobs very seriously as did their perpetually jacked-in Netrunners, known as Dwellers among those in the know.

“I don’t think we’ll be able to slip past that easily.” Scarlet remarked. “The Dweller will notice us the moment we show up.”

“True…” Phantom sighed. “I suppose you’ll just have to flatline them. With any luck we’ll show up around the time they swap Dwellers, it’s about that time of the month, but I wouldn’t count on it.”

“Black ICE?”

“On the private side it’s inactive unless you’re doing something you shouldn’t, there’s not much ICE at all beyond the usual on the public side though. Remember, Arcology staff handle security for their own systems, but as far as Corporate networks go, they don’t care. They should only give you trouble if they have reason to.”

“Our target’s GeneTech, right?”

“Yes, it’s a small location tucked away in some dusty corner on the upper levels, barely noticeable unless you’re looking for it.” Phantom revealed. “It’ll be your job to disable security and keep them distracted while Matterhorn, Star, and myself get what we need.”

“Wait, wait, so the thing we’re looking for isn’t even accessible from the net?” Scarlet said, throwing up her hooves. “But everything protecting it is?”

“The Labs themselves often have isolated systems, Scarlet, it makes the likelihood of a breach occurring from the public-facing part of the network much less likely.” Phantom said, rubbing her temples. “That particular location is a central data repository, one of many actually. They’re probably a little over confident considering the Arcology is isolated ninety percent of the time.”

The trip to the Arcology would take a few hours by High-Speed Skytrain, enough to allow the Runners to get ready, compile software, do a few connectivity checks, and quadruple-check their gear. Phantom’s chips contained an entire list of what they might encounter, where and how to strike at a few weak spots, and the Cyberdeck IDs of a few of their Dwellers as well.

“Any questions?”

There were none.

“You have four, maybe five, hours to get yourselves together.” Phantom stated. “Star, I need a word with you outside.”

Phantom walked outside and waited for a few moments. She considered lighting a smoke to take the edge off, but refrained from doing so as Star walked outside into the cool morning air with a look of disapproval on her face.

Phantom knew Matterhorn could be depended upon in a firefight, she’d seen it herself, but she needed to be sure that the ex-corpo wouldn’t fall apart the moment someone started shooting.

“How’re you in a firefight?” she said abrubtly. “If you freak out, we aren’t coming back for you.”

“When I told you I don’t want any violence if we can help it, I meant that.” Star answered, annoyed that she had to repeat herself. “Leaving a pile of bodies behind us will only paint a larger target on our backs.”

“She’s right, Phantom. I don’t know how you usually do things, but it’s generally advantageous to leave the job having given your enemies fewer reasons to come after you.”

“I happen to agree with you, but you should be prepared for the worst. GeneTech do not mess around when it comes to protecting their secrets, but rest assured that the data my employer is interested in will bury GeneTech forever.”

“Illegal or unethical?”

“Maybe both, definitely unethical.”

“We should go, we’ve a scant few hours to get into position and it would be unwise to deviate too much from the plan.” Matterhorn pointed out. “Do you have everything you need?”

The two mares nodded in agreement.

“Let’s not waste any time then.”

Author's Note:

It has occurred to me that i mentioned the last chapter (Chapter 64) would be a "Part Three" to the other two parts, the difference is purely the chapter name though, it's still the same chapter.

I'm not completely happy with this chapter though, it feels like not a whole lot happens but i dunno. I suppose there have been chapters like that in the past, but i dunno what annoys me specifically about this time around.

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