Freezing Shadows, Chapter 26

Chapter 26: Action Plan

A couple days, we got all the deliveries we were expecting. The parts for the boat were stacked in the warehouse, but there was nothing we could do about that. Installing them was several days of work, if not a couple weeks, and we couldn’t take that kind of time.

I’d gotten lucky, and on one of our ‘pleasure cruises’ through the Sound, we managed to get close enough that I was able to go out of body, and check out the home we were going to. That was when we got our first confirmation that this was more than just a little routine wetwork.

There was a very definite and distinct ward surrounding the property. A strong one, too. Unfortunately, my skill at ‘reading’ the Astral world was nowhere near high enough to get an exact read of how strong the ward was. Something to improve once I got more Karma, for sure.

Getting through the ward itself wouldn’t be too big a problem. I would have to deactivate my foci before we went through, but reactivating them after we passed the barrier would be easy enough. The main issue I had was that I wouldn’t be able to pull the trick of ‘resting off’ the Drain of casting my Increase Reflexes spell. I’d have to cast in the moment, and hope for the best.

However, a powerful ward meant that there was likely to be a powerful magician hanging around. Well, there was always the possibility that the ward was a contract thing, since wards could last for weeks before needing to be renewed, but we couldn’t count on that. We had to assume the magician would be on site, and a powerful magician could make things turn ugly, fast. Not only would they be able to throw around spells to try and harass us, but they’d be able to protect their allies from my magic, if they had any skill at Counterspelling at all.

Even worse was the subject of spirits. A powerful magician would almost certainly have a watcher spirit on call, patrolling the area ready to tattle on us if we intruded on the property. They might also have bound spirits that they could bring to the fight, or summon spirits to help them. Either way, that was a problem, and one that only I was really equipped to handle, since I was the only spellcaster in the group, and Shadowgirl didn’t have the right adept powers to attack spirits.

The issue was that all spirits, from the weakest to the god-tier uber-spirits that could make dragons think twice about something had a special ability called Immunity to Normal Weapons. That was basically exactly what it said on the tin. When faced with nonmagical weapons, like bullets, then they could shrug off any attack that didn’t do more than (2 x Spirit’s Force) – (AP of the attack). So, a Force 5 spirit would laugh at an attack doing 6P, with -4 AP, because (2 x 5) - 4 = 6, and the attack didn’t do more than 6 damage. And, if you did get over the required number? That number was added to the damage resistance, like armor.

I knew from the Beta that the highest Force spirit that most magicians could throw around was a 6 or so, but if you were willing to risk it all, you could summon a spirit with force equal to twice your Magic rating, so most people capped out at a Force 10 spirit, which would absolutely kick our asses, unless we got very lucky, given that it would have an effective armor of 20. Sure, we had weapons that would be able to hit it, theoretically, but nothing about it would be easy, or fun.

“Well, that’s a depressing thought,” Babydoll said. We’d met up at base to discuss our findings, and I’d just laid out my concerns about the ward. “But the ward thing won’t stop drones, right?”

“No, it is a magic barrier, so no casting spells in or out of it, and even active magic is no good crossing it. But it won’t do anything to your sniper drone, or anything else we can bring to bear on it.”

“That’s fine, then,” Babydoll nodded. “I’ll have my sniper drone on deck. Would like to bring more, but there’s no way to get my main combat drones over.”

“You have the area mapped out, though?”

“Oh, yeah,” the rigger nodded. “No one paid any attention to my drone floating back and forth along the sound, especially since I used the chameleon coating and spoof chips to make it read as a mobile ad for one of the local environmental groups. Save Our Sound, I think it was. I just copied one of their old ads to broadcast, though I did update the timestamps and current events parts.”

“Good work,” I nodded. “It is always easier to hide as something or someone that everyone expects to be in the area. And it is a lot less concerning for security types than when they manage to detect a hole in the airspace, or something like that.” Looking over to Twilight, I asked, “How about you, Twilight? Good news?”

“Yes, and no. Yes, I managed to get into the home’s node, and I managed to do it without tripping alarms, but it was a close thing. If I hadn’t boosted my stealth and had a sprite covering me, I probably would have been caught, even though I was going slow and steady. That system they’re running is top of the line. Maybe even past the best that normal folks can get, and into military-grade tech.”

Sexkitten frowned. “But doesn’t military-grade usually mean ‘a few generations behind, but ruggedized so grunts won’t break it’?”

I shook my head. “Three kinds of military-grade. You got the stuff you’re talking about, where they took whatever they could get from the cheapest contractor putting in a bid, and made it so that it would stand up to abuse. Then, you have the ‘this shit is too dangerous, and probably a war crime if anyone uses it in the wrong way’, like tanks, strike fighters, and so on. And then you have what Twilight is talking about, where they are going bleeding edge, because without proper cybersecurity everyone knows that all those lovely toys you have can be turned against you.”

“Exactly,” Twilight nodded. “And while I can’t say for sure that this was the bleeding edge stuff, it was definitely walking the line of what the corporations would allow in someplace that wasn’t a secure research facility or corporate headquarters. So, when we go in, I’m going to have to be as quiet as possible. Once things light off, I’m sure the system will move to high alert, so I don’t know how much I’ll be able to do.”

“That’s fine, Twilight. We’ll make it work. What about the system itself. Did you manage to look around any while you were there?”

“Yes, actually. After I put in a legitimate administrator account hidden in secondary lines of code, I checked out the security feeds. And there’s more trouble, there. I counted seven guards, plus the target. Guards have augments. Can’t tell just what kinds, beyond cybereyes, but we should assume that they’ve at least got some basic wired reflexes. The rest of their gear certainly suggests it.”

“Hmm. If they have augmentations, then they’re not magicians, since those would seriously impact their magic. Any sign of the magician on site?”

“No. Other than guards, the only people on site are the target, and the maid. Neither of them have any obvious talismans or other signs that they’re a mage, but I can’t count them out.”

“Maybe we’ll be lucky, and the ward is a contract thing. What about the guards’ gear?”

Twilight waved a hand, and the screen showed an image of a couple of the guards. “I’ve identified their weapons as an AK-147 assault rifle, with a smartgun attachment up top, a Mars Predator IV, and a Monofilament Sword. Normal guards are sporting Armored Vests, and helmets from the SecureTech line. The leader has upgraded to an AVC-7.62 battle rifle, but still has the Predator and sword. He’s got also got an armored jacket, and the same model helmet as his team. I can also confirm that they’re running a tactical network, as well.”

“Drek,” I muttered, causing all eyes to turn to me. “Tac-net basically means that they can share targeting data and such with each other. If one sees you, they all see you, and that’s going to give them an edge on all kinds of things.” Looking over to Twilight, I asked, “They’re running this net through house node?”

“Yes, because they’ve got four pop-up turrets on the ground that they want to network with. However, due to the geometry, we should only have to deal with two, since two are covering the front, two are covering the back. All four are armed with White Knight light machine guns. So, getting control of those will be my highest priority during the run.”

Berzerker leaned in thoughtfully. “Do the turrets have manual controls, Twilight?”

“Uh, yeah, but that’s mainly because no one removed them from the guns once they were installed. What are you thinking?”

“Well, seems to me that if a spider jumps in from elsewhere because a VIP is under attack, then that’s going to be all kinds of problematic. However, if you go in while it is quiet, and delete the fire control programs, maybe in some way that it still reads as being ready to go, if they do checks? Then it doesn’t matter if someone logs in, they won’t be able to fire the guns.”

“Only if they don’t jump into the turret itself,” Babydoll said. “They won’t be able to use any software aids the turret might have, but they would be able to turn and fire the gun.”

“What about planting a file that triggers a full reformat of the turret systems?” I asked. “Would a jumped-in rigger be able to handle the turret then?”

Babydoll considered it, and then shook her head. “No, with just erasing the fire control, there would still be at least something for a rigger to work with in the turret. It would be massively inefficient, and probably worthless for anything but spray and pray, but it would work. With the whole thing erased, or bricked? Yeah, someone could probably walk up and manually aim and fire the gun, but anything else, you’re out of luck.”

“Twilight?” I asked.

“I don’t have the forms for that kind of malware attack, but I can brick the turrets themselves. However, that will draw attention to me in a hurry. At least with the creative deletions, I won’t immediately pop up on someone’s radar.”

“How would you go about solving the problem of the turrets?”

The technomancer took a breath, and closed her eyes. Probably sneaking back to the server, or examining her memories of it, at least. When she spoke, her voice had a ‘not quite there’ tone to it. “Hidden admin account is still good. Presence undetected. Going into the turret controls directly. Manual controls are an option.”

A pause. “Lockdown protocol found. Assumes hacker has triggered an alert. All security systems go to local control, network automatically reboots and clears all access codes, requiring physical access and inputting access codes manually to allow limited access for administrators with corporate credentials to reset permissions. Individual systems have to be added back to the central network by a technician using a datacable and their commlink on each affected system.”

Another pause, and then she continued, “Lockdown sends an alert to the Vancouver offices on dedicated transmitter, cuts all other incoming and outgoing communications to the node. Would induce dumpshock on all individuals present in system via VR. Corporate strike team would be incoming, ETA twenty minutes from signal going out. Strike team will make entrance, even if all-clear is given, just in case.”

“Can you fry the transmitter, and then trigger the lockdown?”

There was a pause, and then Twilight opened her eyes. When she spoke, it was clear that she was all the way ‘here’. “Yes, but I would suffer dumpshock, and be disorientated for several minutes, as well as potentially suffering damage.”

“Would the dumpshock be a major threat to your life?”

“No, especially if I was hacking remotely, and in a safe place, rather than being nearby.”

“Then here’s the plan. Tomorrow night, we do this. You slip in, quiet-like, and be editing the sensors and letting us know where the guards are, that kind of thing. We’ll slide in quietly, slowly enough that I can turn my foci back on and prepare for a fight after crossing the ward. Babydoll is out of body on the boat, acting through her drones. You use her drone with the retransmitter to bounce off of, while your body is back here. Moment things go loud, you pop the transmitter, and trigger a lockdown.”

I looked at the rest of the group. “After that, we’ll be on our own, without matrix backup. Babydoll will still be eyes in the sky, but we can expect Twilight to be out of it for a while. Good news is that the strike team will be delayed, the turrets will be out of commission, and the guards won’t have their tac-net, unless we fuck around long enough for them to rework it with one of them as the main node. We go fast, we go hard, and we hopefully are well on our way back to Seattle before the strike team even leaves Vancouver.”

Twilight huffed. “That plan sucks, but it is the best we got. I’m in.”