Pulsing electronic synth music, foreboding and tense, started coming from the internal speakers of the hovertruck.
"All right," said Death Otter, who'd been playing her handheld game system through most of this, "Now that the bullshit part of all this is done, we can get down to the fun stuff."
"This ID, if Mox did his job, should get us through the checkpoint into Level 4A. From there the target is the NTE Ziggurat."
Death Otter brought up a holomap of the level, with the entry checkpoint and the Ziggurat marked. It was a colossal structure, vaguely pyramidial in shape, though with some jagged edges on the way up the slopes of its sides.
"Our target is in there, on sub-level three, a secure R&D laboratory floor."
She tilted the hologram over so that it became a profile view, showing a glowing dot under the pyramid, far underground.
"The AI is fitted with software controls that prevent it from transmitting itself out, and the system it's currently in is pretty much part of the complex. We'll need a two prong approach to get it out. Team Asscrack, your job will be to find a portable data array and steal it. PDAs are..." she paused, her face working as she tried to dumb the explanation down enough, "...they're computers. About the size of a knapsack. They use quantum interferom...you know what? It doesn't matter. Just take one of the big black boxes that says 'NTE-PDA' and then a number. They should have some in the labs, any of them will do."
"MY job will be to get the fucking software shackles cracked so the AI can transmit out of the servers it's on now, and into the PDA," the hacker said then, her tone clearly indicating that THIS was the important part. "I'll also need someone to watch my ass while I work because it's going to be a fucking madhouse in terms of security. So we'll be Team Tittysprinkles."
Truth be told, though she hated to admit it, it would probably have been utterly impossible without the AI itself helping her from the other 'side' of the lockout. Neither of them alone could have broken that security, but together there was a chance.
"So that's all the good news," she continued. "The BAD news is that we'll be in the beating heart of Naruni Enterprises. If we fuck this up, we will be buried in those little fucking...blue guys before we can swallow our cyanide pills. This is NOT a thing we can shoot our way out of, at least not until we clear the Ziggurat."
"So, any questions?"
Hands shot up.
"Cool. Alright we're coming up on the checkpoint. Everyone get their shit together and lets do this."
The battered old hovertruck pulled up to the checkpoint, but Otter went to work well before that, creating a new set of work orders and instructions for the checkpoint staff to find, keyed to their IDs. It wasn't easy...Naruni tracked an insane amount of information on their contracted workforce, and Death Otter had to fabricate it all, going far enough back that the routine searches their systems conducted wouldn't find the end of it.
This was a big deal though. A big risk, and a big deal. The AI wasn't the only thing down in that Ziggurat that Otter was after. Her investigations had turned up some very interesting rumors if true, about a prototype next-gen wearable infowarfare suite. All she had to do was make sure she found that, AND unleashed the AI, AND stole the portable server array, AND got clear of the highly secure installation before alarms were raised AND escaped the Naruni-owned level of Central...and it would be hers to enjoy!
The checkpoint guard took the badges and ID documents from Power Dump, giving the gunbrother a suspicious stare for a second before passing it all off to his partner to check on the system.
A minute or two later, they were being waved to pass through. Fucking sweet.
But of course THAT was when...
