02-02-2018, 12:04 PM
“Whew. Thanks. Find me the terminal, buddy.” Stuart lifted off straight upward and then arced his flight path to continue down the hall. The girl looked down at her pistol and flipped the safety on with the thumb and forefinger of her left hand instead of using her thumb like anyone else on the planet comfortable with such things. She then just dropped the gun in her satchel. A faint tinking sound drew her light eyes upward. A drone was knocking into the light fixture. “Seriously Bob? Stop it, you’re embarrassing me.” She rolled her eyes and made a face at the woman. “He freaks out if his battery drops below 97%.” Nika moved to follow Jacinda and continued chatting away.
“Naw, that’s cool. You gotta be careful ‘cause you’re in the field.” She rounded the corner and stepped through to the living area and spotted the other woman. “Oh hi.” Two women...what’re the odds of that? “I’m Amelia, with Tech.” The girl scratched her shin with the heel of her light up hightops. “I normally don’t get sent out but the Evermeet expansion pack dropped last night so I’m on call because everyone else is killing orcs.” She shrugged as if what she’d just said was a common occurrence. “I got tagged to check something out.” A drone flitted in from behind her. “Ah, terminal’s that-a-way.” The girl affected a goofy grin and turned, calling over her shoulder. “C’mon, I’ll show ya...” That way if these two had been involved in the attack on the other safehouse, she wouldn’t have to hunt them down to kill them. Win-win.
The drones had made easy work sweeping the house, reporting that there were indeed only two occupants. Worked for her.
The terminal was a 6”x4” flat tablet resembling a shiny black tile more than anything else. It was tethered to this location only and could not be moved if you wanted the data intact. You couldn’t hack it remotely or anything; you physically had to touch it. Well, initially. Nika leaned over the desk and keyed into the terminal using her handprint and two passkeys. She pulled a pairing stick from her pocket and set it next to the terminal. A virtual screen flickered once in the air. The assassin flicked two fingers and the ethereal-blue screen moved back. A reverse pinch blew the whole thing up to the size of the wall above the desk.
She had a habit of singing while she worked if she was thinking or in the zone. Regardless of where she was. Within reason. Simple gestures pulled up a list of the safehouses in the area and the young woman swiped through the locations. Dismissive flicks were timed with the music in her head and really, she wasn’t singing that loud. Anyway, the key to brilliant subterfuge was to weave a little truth into the lie.
“No, no, no, no, no.” Blue eyes focused on the data as she rapidly searched through the locations.
“Everybody...”
She found the safehouse.
“Move your hair and feel united.”
Door logs.
“Oh oh-open!”
Text populated and she cross referenced bio pics with logins…Swipe, swipe close.
“Everybody,”
Eight people had been there in the last month.
“shake your hair and feel united.”
Credentials looked good. She hummed and flicked things around.
“Everybody’s coming to the celebration...”
Five pictures now occupied the right margin.
“...I’ma hook you up with an invitation.”
Four had been there a week.
“Let your hair swing and party with me.” Why did people stay in safe houses that long?
“No bad vibes just love, you’ll see.”
A woman arrived and keyed in as shown by log and external cameras.
“Hmm hm hm hm hm hm hm, 1-2-3-4 fight!”
Fast scrolling through the last of the in-house footage. More humming to herself.
“Oh no, who killed the lights?” She stopped her song. No more feed after that. “Why didn’t back up power kick in?”
Settings<Inventory. “Ugh.” That house still had the old hardware. No IR cameras either. Tsk.
She was talking to herself again. “Timeline; lights out, someone downloaded something...then the building burned down.” Nika frowned and pulled up the download log. ‘Argis Chen’ had logged in last at 10:23 AM the previous day and didn’t log back out. Disabled the auto-log out too. “Come on. Really? Security measures are for security.” Not good. “All active Atherim personnel files...and every god profile.” That’s what was taken. Not hers because even the Atherim didn’t keep a file on assets. Maybe one hard copy...probably under the Regus’ mattress. Nika chewed on her lip. She hoped.
((song link))
Edited by Nika Raskov, Feb 2 2018, 12:36 PM.
“Naw, that’s cool. You gotta be careful ‘cause you’re in the field.” She rounded the corner and stepped through to the living area and spotted the other woman. “Oh hi.” Two women...what’re the odds of that? “I’m Amelia, with Tech.” The girl scratched her shin with the heel of her light up hightops. “I normally don’t get sent out but the Evermeet expansion pack dropped last night so I’m on call because everyone else is killing orcs.” She shrugged as if what she’d just said was a common occurrence. “I got tagged to check something out.” A drone flitted in from behind her. “Ah, terminal’s that-a-way.” The girl affected a goofy grin and turned, calling over her shoulder. “C’mon, I’ll show ya...” That way if these two had been involved in the attack on the other safehouse, she wouldn’t have to hunt them down to kill them. Win-win.
The drones had made easy work sweeping the house, reporting that there were indeed only two occupants. Worked for her.
The terminal was a 6”x4” flat tablet resembling a shiny black tile more than anything else. It was tethered to this location only and could not be moved if you wanted the data intact. You couldn’t hack it remotely or anything; you physically had to touch it. Well, initially. Nika leaned over the desk and keyed into the terminal using her handprint and two passkeys. She pulled a pairing stick from her pocket and set it next to the terminal. A virtual screen flickered once in the air. The assassin flicked two fingers and the ethereal-blue screen moved back. A reverse pinch blew the whole thing up to the size of the wall above the desk.
She had a habit of singing while she worked if she was thinking or in the zone. Regardless of where she was. Within reason. Simple gestures pulled up a list of the safehouses in the area and the young woman swiped through the locations. Dismissive flicks were timed with the music in her head and really, she wasn’t singing that loud. Anyway, the key to brilliant subterfuge was to weave a little truth into the lie.
“No, no, no, no, no.” Blue eyes focused on the data as she rapidly searched through the locations.
“Everybody...”
She found the safehouse.
“Move your hair and feel united.”
Door logs.
“Oh oh-open!”
Text populated and she cross referenced bio pics with logins…Swipe, swipe close.
“Everybody,”
Eight people had been there in the last month.
“shake your hair and feel united.”
Credentials looked good. She hummed and flicked things around.
“Everybody’s coming to the celebration...”
Five pictures now occupied the right margin.
“...I’ma hook you up with an invitation.”
Four had been there a week.
“Let your hair swing and party with me.” Why did people stay in safe houses that long?
“No bad vibes just love, you’ll see.”
A woman arrived and keyed in as shown by log and external cameras.
“Hmm hm hm hm hm hm hm, 1-2-3-4 fight!”
Fast scrolling through the last of the in-house footage. More humming to herself.
“Oh no, who killed the lights?” She stopped her song. No more feed after that. “Why didn’t back up power kick in?”
Settings<Inventory. “Ugh.” That house still had the old hardware. No IR cameras either. Tsk.
She was talking to herself again. “Timeline; lights out, someone downloaded something...then the building burned down.” Nika frowned and pulled up the download log. ‘Argis Chen’ had logged in last at 10:23 AM the previous day and didn’t log back out. Disabled the auto-log out too. “Come on. Really? Security measures are for security.” Not good. “All active Atherim personnel files...and every god profile.” That’s what was taken. Not hers because even the Atherim didn’t keep a file on assets. Maybe one hard copy...probably under the Regus’ mattress. Nika chewed on her lip. She hoped.
((song link))
Edited by Nika Raskov, Feb 2 2018, 12:36 PM.