《Hijinks in and out of the gilded Cage》


 Operation: Divine Discus

    My drones were slowly expanding the search area starting from where I lost my target when one of them spotted the black, unmarked van again. A quick check of the numberplates confirmed this was indeed the target I was after.


    Sadly, the amount of little back and forth weaving even on this straight main street, meant there was a real human driving it. ¡®Probably couldn¡¯t afford the newly raised license fees Horch put on their in-house autopilot.¡¯ I thought to myself. ¡®People really need to stop falling for the dealer¡¯s upsale on the manufacturer autopilot install. Then again, doubt they would even know where to get a bootleg one, let alone code their own.¡¯


    Giving a mental sigh, wishing very hard I could actually do the real thing while in cyberspace like this, I returned control to the worker usually running this drone and ordered it to follow that van.


    Converting that virtual window to a simplified distance indicator so I knew how far the target was from its final destination, I turned my attention to the other screens, most of which showing the feeds from the presumed path it would take there. While so many Krackers loved to create, or at least claim to use, virtual avatars even for work like this, I never saw the need to waste processing power on one while not interacting with other humans. So instead of a fursona or cheese OC¡¯s arm, or just a model of my own, reaching out to virtual inputs, I simply used the direct neural link required to do this all anyways to think all the inputs I needed.


    It also helped with multi-tasking, letting me spin up a worker for my homunculus grabbing the necessary pre assembled bot packages for the role it would have to play in this all. While simultaneously maneuvering my way into the traffic system¡¯s cameras along the route.


    Many a Kracker decried manipulating traffic signs and guidance as utterly impossible. And if one tried to just brute force their way into the control softs, they¡¯d be correct. Which is why I came prepared for this. Manipulating the AI controlling the whole city''s traffic was beyond even me. What was not, was feeding it misinformation. As it relied on the same traffic cameras I was currently using to keep track of the target, one could perform small scale manipulations through these.


    Spinning up a simple image manipulation bot, I set it to remove all traffic that would cross the target¡¯s path. Before letting it loose though, I booted a virtual machine on some random coffeeshops wireless network. Starting up the bot there, I wrote a quick script that would remove all traces of my backdoor and recent access to this network, and cut my connection.


    Then I simply had to watch as the seemingly, at least to the AI, only vehicle on these streets was given priority at every street crossing. Once I was sure everything was going according to plan, I checked on my homunculus¡¯ feed. It had just finished the first of its tasks, judging by the temperature readings on its synthskin covered hands.


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    Seeing that everything was indeed in place and should not need any further input from me, I disconnected from cyberspace and opened my eyes back in my living room. Disconnecting my interface, the cable quickly retracting into my cybernetic left arm, I got up from the recliner I usually used for Kracker work. Moving over to my couch, where a nice ice cold Pepoke was waiting for me, a pop up on my AR overlay alerted me to an incoming call.


    Picking up the call, it turned out to be a group call. The Holocall soft quickly projected the avatars of everyone in it around my couch table alongside various fake furniture.


    ¡°Cutting it a bit close aren¡¯t you?¡± Tamamo, the young woman usually in charge of our small group greeted me. Her avatar was, as usual, based on her namesake from Japanese mythology. And the only one of our small gang not to base her Avatar for this off of herself irl. Well except maybe the fact she was still of Japanese descent.


    ¡°Don¡¯t be too hard on him.¡± Oni, our groups muscle said as his avatar scratched behind the horns I knew he had had installed irl too so as to model himself more after his code name. Never got a clear answer as to if they were modular like his right arm. He had at least two of those, one with an SMG in the forearm, and another with a smuggling compartment and a taser integrated into the palm.


    ¡°Yeah, there¡¯s still like 5 minutes left.¡± Ibex, our resident furry grumbled impatiently, more annoyed that she had to wait still than that I had blocked calls while kracking. Even her avatar was scraping her goat hooves nervously, while the huge horns on her head clipped through my ceiling. Luckily she didn¡¯t actually have those irl. If she had those alongside the furry hooved biomods she insisted were vital to letting her climb and kick like she did on the job.


    ¡°So what is the plan for tonight?¡± I asked just as the drone¡¯s worker alerted me that the target had arrived. opening a screen with its camera footage again, I watched as the hand of was taking place. "Oh and Ibex, remember that Coffee shop that kicked you out because of your mods? They''ll likely get a nice long visit from the CyberPolice soon."


    ¡°Well once you have everything you need.¡± Tamamo began as Ibex gave me a smirk and thumbs up. Meanwhile I also watched the driver of the van grab a black box, and exchange it for another such box from the asian looking cat girl waiting for him. ¡°We will need to go back over your guys¡¯ plan to storm Neuschwanstein Palace.¡±


    ¡°Are we going to go through with the actual assault as well?¡± Ibex asked.


    ¡°Maybe if we are fast enough.¡± Oni chirmed in, trying to placate the impatient goat girl.


    Just as she groaned, the door to my living room was opened by my homunculus, her two cat tails swishing back and forth behind her jeans clad legs, while the two sizes too large hoodie just made her look even cuter.


    Taking the pizza carton out of the box she had brought up for me, I placed it on the table before me and grabbed a slice.


    And, as I had been taught manners unlike Oni and Ibex, instead of trying to talk with a full mouth, I just dropped the group a text message.


    [Pizza finally arrived, I am ready for some Shadowrun Miss ST.]

 Operation: Salty Slushy 1

    As I walked into the cafeteria I immediately spotted Tamamo and began to walk over. Though it definitely helped she was the only student always wearing a kimono. Even the other scions of the big Japanese Corps wore them only for special occasions. And I can understand them completely ever since She dragged us all to Japan for a fancy birthday dinner with her grandfather. Even with their servants it took forever to put the thing on.


    That said, she looked stunning in them, especially when they were as fancy as the one she wore today, painted with a scene of a bright sunrise over a calm sea.


    ¡°Oh hi there Sepp.¡± She greeted me as I sat down opposite of her after putting down my tray of food.


    ¡°Hey Tsuki.¡± I mumbled back before sliding open a small compartment on my left forearm and pulling out a small flash drive. ¡°Just what you asked for.¡± I said as I slid it over to her before opening my soft drink. ¡°Just keep in mind that while it shouldn¡¯t trigger any alarms, they will void the warranty the moment someone checks up on your car.¡±


    ¡°Oh noes.¡± She began as she grabbed the drive and cupped it in her hands. ¡°What ever shall I do then?¡± Tamamo whined, eyes wide open, hands clutched to her chest. ¡°I would have to dirty my finely manicured nails doing manual labor to take care of my car.¡± All while inspecting her lightly grease stained fingers, one of which was still bandaged up after she cut herself on some sharp edge the day before.


    I of course had completely forgotten how funny she could be when she wanted to. leading to me snorting half a mouth full of orange soda all over the table and onto her. While her kimono, made from her family¡¯s patented teflon-lotus-weave synth-silk just let the sticky soda run off the kimono straight to the ground, her crimson hair and pale face were not so lucky. While most of her hair was tied back in a messy braid, maybe even from the day before with how much hair had begun to stick out, her bangs were still sticky now. So with an annoyed groan, despite her amused smirk, she got up. ¡°Well I¡¯ll be right back.¡±


    ¡°Sorry. I¡¯ll keep an eye on your stuff.¡± I replied between coughs before she headed to the bathroom to clean up. Taking a handful of paper napkins from the table¡¯s dispenser, I began to wipe up the mess I made as best as I could.


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    [Ibex: Hey, going to miss lunch with you and Tamamo.]


    [Why? What¡¯s happening?]


    [Ibex: Nothing serious. Just bypassed the wrong securities while tinkering on my legs earlier. And now my left knee¡¯s servos seized up.]


    [Oh shit, do you need some help?]


    [Ibex: Nah, don¡¯t worry. Almost finished hobbling to the workshop. Going to take a while to disassemble the servos and make replacement gears though.]


    [You sure?]


    [Ibex: yeah yeah. You have fun with the speed junky.]


    [You know she hates that nickname.]


    [Ibex: I¡¯ll stop calling her that if she starts obeying speed limits]


    [Well good luck with your servos]


    Letting out an exasperated sigh I finished my attempts at cleaning up, and quickly dropped the now wet napkins in a nearby garbage bin. A few moments later, Tamamo was returning.


    ¡°Stacy won¡¯t join us today.¡± I informed her as she sat down again. ¡°Messed up her legs.¡±


    ¡°Yeah, that¡¯s her alright.¡± She replied, rolling her dark brown eyes. ¡°Just waiting for when it finally bites us all in the ass.¡± Brightening up a bit, she leaned forward and continued more quietly. ¡°Which reminds me, got wind of an interesting gig, you good to meet at Phil¡¯s tonight to talk deets?¡±


    ¡°Was planning on finally finishing debugging my upgrades to the bot packages I am using atm.¡±


    ¡°Can¡¯t you do that on the way there?¡± She asked resting her brow on her hand, the near floor length sleeve of her Kimono barely not benign dragged into her food.


    ¡°That good an offer?¡± I asked curiously. Usually she wasn¡¯t so keen on us meeting for a job so soon.


    ¡°Mhm.¡±


    ¡°Fine.¡± I grumbled. ¡°But you bring the food.¡± As she nodded eagerly I amended that. ¡°And not some fake fungi-flesh filet. Actual dead animal meat in it.¡±


    ¡°Suuure.¡± She replied with a smirk, making me wonder what exactly she was planning to get for dinner.

 Operation: Salty Slushy 2

    Before I headed out to Oni¡¯s place, I took a short detour to my pantry. While his place was the best to meet at due to being in Stra?bourg rather than Enterprise Ville, he also had the least disposable Income out of all of us. So I had made a habit out of bringing him something nice to drink that would last a while even after the meeting. As I reached the two stacks of crates of beer, I looked for one holding only full bottles.


    Carrying it down to my building¡¯s underground car park, I was once again filled with a pang of jealousy for Tamamo and her big fat trust fund. Not that I was missing anything. A lot of what I had was much more upper class than hers. Which was kind of the problem at times like this. Because while most of her drone and tool filled vans would not be out of place anywhere contractors would be expected, the extra fancy executive edition Porsche limousine I got from my Uncle when asking for a Car would stand out like a very sore thumb around Oni¡¯s neighborhood.


    After loading the beer into the boot, with a quick command I had the hidden drone compartment slide out. One of the few features that did make up for how over the top the rest of the car was. After quickly checking that the surveillance drone loaded in it was fully charged and operational, I plugged into one of the aftermarket additions I did have Tamamo install. The connection to the small server set up, which replaced two of the three mini fridges the engineers had stuffed into this thing, was stable, and everything had been kept up to date from the repositories running on my servers.


    Disconnecting and closing the compartment, I slid into one of the rear passenger seats, and with a quick command to input my destination, the car came to life under the customized and improved autopilot I had installed. As it pulled out of the car park and into traffic, I opened the one remaining fridge between the rear seats. While I would have loved nothing more than crack open one of the cans of premixed cocktails, I instead reached for a can of Pepoke. Activating the seat''s massage feature, I began to relax, having nothing better to do until I arrived.


    ~~~


    When I drove past Oni''s place on the way to the nearby parking lot Tamamo and I usually use when visiting him, I already saw Ibex¡¯s Harley sitting on the sidewalk.And seeing as the only car in said parking lot this afternoon was one of our speed junkies vans, I was going to be the last one there. Once my car had parked itself, I booted up the surveillance drone. Once it had finished that, it would automatically take off and keep an eye on our cars. taking the crate of beer with me, I locked the car remotely and began the short walk to meet up with everyone else.


    Once I got up to the apartment¡¯s front door and knocked, it was actually Ibex who opened the door for me. She quickly brushed a lock of her light brown hair out of her face before grabbing my sleeve and pulling me in. As often, she was still wearing her black and green synth leather Motorcycle jacket with a pleated miniskirt that didn¡¯t get in the way of her very out there goat leg like prosthetics. While I took a moment to take off my jacket, she headed back to the living room to rejoin the others.


    Once I followed after her, I was greeted by a very familiar scene. Oni was lounging on his couch wearing an old Tshirt and some jeans. Ibex was sitting next to him. The two were sharing some small talk. Probably either about their prosthetics or their current workout plans. Tamamo was sitting at his small dining table, unloading small cardboard takeout boxes from a larger styrofoam one.


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    ¡°Ah, we¡¯re finally all here.¡± She said once she noticed me, and waved everyone over to join her at the table. ¡°Now food first, plans later.¡±


    Just nodding in reply, I put down the crate of beer next to the table. While we weren¡¯t likely to go through it completely, I knew at least Oni and I would want some with the food at the very least.


    ¡°So we got Kitsune Udon for Ibex and me.¡± Tamamo began as she distributed the boxes of food. ¡°Tempura style fried mushrooms for Oni.¡± I did not like that pause she inserted as she handed me the last remaining box of food. ¡°Oh and some deep fried cockroaches  for Mr. ¡®I want real dead animal protein¡¯¡±


    ¡®Great. Well maybe it won¡¯t be that bad?¡¯ I tried to psyche myself up as I grabbed the first of the fried insects out of the box, other hand prepared with an open bottle of beer. And was very very glad for it. After my first bite, the consistency was already weird enough, like extra crispy fries filled with porridge or something. but the taste was absolutely not for me. Not one bit. Still food was food, and with enough beer I managed to swallow the first mouthful.


    ¡°Chilly sauce is in the fridge, hard to miss.¡± Oni said as my dislike for the cockroach must have been quite evident if even he could tell.


    While I didn¡¯t like how hot he liked his hot sauces, that was mostly due to how they somehow managed to erase any kind of taste besides spicy from the food he put them on. Which was exactly what I needed for these stupid cockroaches. After drowning the whole box in sauce, their taste indeed vanished under a comfortably hot mantle of spiciness.


    We ate mostly in silence after that. though from the looks on their faces, I was sure Tamamo and Ibex had planned this together. Because Ibex was usually not nearly as fond of schadenfreude as her current smirk would imply.


    ¡°So what¡¯s this job you mentioned at lunch?¡± I asked once we all had finished our food.


    ¡°You guys know of that new Satellite powered liquid salt power plant Rhein Energy has brought into service last week?¡±


    ¡°Heard of it, yeah.¡± Ibex grumbled as she slumped back over her chair, while Oni and I simply nodded in response.


    ¡°Well the astronomy department is royally pissed.¡± Tamamo began to elaborate. ¡°Because those orbital solar collection satellites have already ruined two of their optical telescopes.¡±


    ¡°And that relates to the job how exactly?¡± Oni asked just what I was wondering as well.


    ¡°Well, they got in touch with ¨¦lectricit¨¦ Swiss for some donations towards, and I quote ¡®Assisting with the restoration and continued operation of astrological equipment.¡¯¡±


    ¡°So they got a lot of money from Rhein¡¯s competitors ¡®cause they both want third parties to mess with the plant?¡± I inquired quickly, hoping I understood what Tamamo was insinuating correctly. ¡°And you want us to be one of those third parties.¡±


    ¡°Yup.¡± Tamamo said, smiling like the cat that caught the koi from the pond.


    ¡°That¡¯s a lot higher profile than our usual stuff.¡± Oni commented, his voice filled with concern. ¡°Think the closest we got to something like that was when the Italians hired us to stop that drug dealer ring trying to move in on campus.¡±


    ¡°This whole thing? Sure.¡± Tamamo began to justify herself. ¡°But the job we have been hired to do is much less grand than even that gig.¡±


    ¡°So what is our job in all this?¡± Ibex grumbled while drumming her fingers on the table.


    ¡°We are to get them the list of employees and if possible their schedules.¡±


    ¡°That is indeed much closer to our usual kinda work.¡± I concurred.


    ¡°Still. We are going to go mess with a corp.¡± Oni countered, arms crossed before his chest. ¡°This better be really worth it.¡±


    ¡°Don¡¯t worry it will be.¡± Tamamo tried to reassure him, even leaning forward to rest a hand on his shoulder. Which caused some strands of her currently not actually tied back hair to fall into the box her noodles had been in.

 Operation: Salty Slushy 3

    A bit under a week later, I was once again the last to arrive at Oni¡¯s place. Though this time for a good reason. I had pulled the short straw of getting food, so I decided to take the slight detour to the one pizzeria near his neighborhood that used all traditional ingredients, including actual meat and seafood. The Prosciutto di Parma I got on mine will definitely be worth every single euro, even if it was nearly double what Ibex¡¯ Margherita cost.


    Leaning back I checked I still had all three of the memory cards I prepared in my pocket. tiny little buggers had an annoying tendency to get lost. And it would be a pain to secure a wireless transfer of all the sensitive data my research had uncovered. And unless one splurged on quantum encryption like Tamamo did for her drone uplinks, you never knew who would be willing to throw resources at decrypting your communications in real time. Especially when it involved very sensitive information about a corporation''s security procedures.


    Of course none of this would be necessary if Ibex and Oni would finally get themselves a dataport for wired connections. it¡¯s not like it would be hard to integrate it into one of their cybernetic limbs.


    I was pulled out of my musings as my car stopped. Surprisingly there¡¯d been an empty parking spot right by Oni¡¯s place. Once it had come to a full stop, I got out and grabbed the self heating box holding the pizzas from the trunk.


    ¡°Finally.¡± Ibex greeted me when she opened the door of the apartment building for me. She must have waited impatiently right behind it, seeing as I had barely made my way to it.


    ¡°Someone seems to be hungry.¡± I said as she raced off towards the elevator, her short pleated skirt just barely protecting her modesty with the rushed movements of her digitigrade legs.


    ¡°Mhm. Missed lunch today.¡± She Mumbled as we stepped into the elevator.


    ¡°Broke your legs again?¡± I asked with a concerned glance towards her faux fur covered cybernetics. If she was starting to make a habit of breaking them it would surely bite us all in the ass sooner or later.


    ¡°Not this time.¡± She shot back defensively. ¡°A demonstration of a cheap upgrade to increase the flexibility of cyberarm joints backfired and messed up the lab I was working in. And Prof. Meier made me fix it all.¡± She grumbled. ¡°Supposed to teach me something about ensuring enough space for demonstrations or something.¡±


    I decided that pointing out she really could use some lessons in being more careful in general would probably just sour her mood more and thus kept my agreement with the professor to myself. I let her Mumbling about how annoying that waste of time had been wash over me as we made our way into Oni¡¯s apartment.


    Inside Tamamo and Oni were already waiting for us, with Tamamo about to prepare some cutlery for the few among us able to eat pizza in a civilized manner. She was even using the sleeves of her Kimono to polish it up a bit, clearly not worried about the immaculate cherry tree branch design on them.


    Setting down the box, we quickly sorted out who got what pizza before we all sat down to eat. While we all ate, with some small talk to fill the silence, I gave the information I was about to share one last mental review.


    ¡°So.¡± Tamamo said as she put down her knife and fork and looked over to me. ¡°Why did we meet today? besides the free pizza.¡±


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    ¡°Because I finally got enough data that is worth sharing.¡± Putting down my own cutlery, I handed out the memory cards and waited for everyone to slot them in before continuing.


    ¡°Getting into Rhein Energy¡¯s System from the outside is nigh on impossible. But people are idiots.¡± I began my explanation. ¡°And setting up crawlers to filter through all Social media posts made in the area definitely paid off.¡±


    ¡°What does Social media help us with getting the intel we promised on Rhein?¡± Ibex grumbled, Eyes flicking back and forth as she looked through the provided data on an AR feed.


    ¡°Everything. There¡¯s about a dozen people listing their occupation as HR for Rhein Energy on various dating apps and forums. Over half of them could be verified to do so by cross referencing other Social media posts they made complaining about work in semi-public groups.¡±


    ¡°Semi-public?¡± Oni inquired as he leaned back in his chair and turned to look at me. When he put his hands behind his head, his black T-shirt seemed to be close to giving out against his bulky cybernetic arms.


    ¡°Well technically most social media platforms label them as private. but when the admins have basically no checks on who can join, it really is just a public group with an extra hoop to go through.¡± I explained. As I continued a smirk spread across my lips. ¡°Of course few people are aware of that, so they start to chat about things they should not. Like the photos in the folder ¡®Workplace Rhein¡¯¡±


    ¡°It¡¯s just your average wage slave office space.¡± Tammamo mumbled as she presumably went through the mentioned images.


    ¡°Yes, but there¡¯s one clear detail in all of them. Whenever a workstation is online and pixelated to keep data secure, there¡¯s also an ID badge sticking out of a card reader on that desk.¡±


    ¡°So?¡± Ibex grumbled. ¡°That doesn¡¯t get us the data if they pixelated it.¡±


    ¡°No. But it tells us how we can get it.¡± I continued. ¡°It implies their two factor authentication is tied to these badges. And as there are no biometric sensors in any of these images, One can conclude that Rhein is assuming that that is secure enough, probably with passwords.¡±


    ¡°So if we can get a badge, we then just have to crack a basic Password.¡± Tamamo realized. ¡°So do you need me to get you some off the book quantum computing time?¡±


    ¡°Let¡¯s worry about that once we get the badge data. We should try to copy the data though, rather than steal a badge outright. Less chance of detection and people upping security if there is no badge missing.¡±


    ¡°And how do we go about that?¡± Ibex inquired with a cock of her head.


    ¡°That¡¯s what I got you all together for. If you look at the map in the files, there¡¯s 3 places highlighted. if you open them up there should be more info related to them.¡±


    ¡°So we have a group of 4 that likes to get lunch at the same Italian place everyday. One Cat cafe where a couple likes to meet up for a shared lunch, one of whom is on your list of HR employees. And an arcade one of their staff frequents right after work on thursdays.¡± Tamamo quickly summarized.


    ¡°Hm, the four people would give us more opportunities as they should all have a badge.¡± Oni suggested.


    ¡°No, check the website of the Italian restaurant and their AR walk around.¡± Ibex countered. ¡°No matter how we try to approach them, two of them would see us approaching. And any potential distraction would draw too much attention from other guests.¡±


    ¡°Indeed.¡± Tamamo concurred. ¡°Which leaves us with the arcade. unless it is very different from the ones I heard of, it should be loud, have loads of distracting light effects and have people wandering around at all times to blend in with.¡±


    ¡°Well then it seems we¡¯ll head to the arcade sometime soon.¡± I concluded before checking the time. ¡°But probably not today. I¡¯ll set up a doodle to find a day we can all make it to check the place out, before we try to rob someone in it.¡±


    ¡°Sounds good.¡± Ibex said as she slid her chair back and got up. ¡°Now then I¡¯ll be going for a drive while there¡¯s still some light out.¡±


    ¡°Have fun.¡± Oni said with a friendly wave. where as me and Tamamo echoed each other with a ¡°Don¡¯t break your limbs. again¡±