Tank O The Lake

Myriad Reality

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You're putting a lot of faith in this being quick and easy. Something tells me you're none worse off whether we make it or not.

@Legend

Of course I'll be worse off.

*I flash a devilish sort of grin.*

I won't have the data then.

In all seriousness, I really have provided more than you think. My associate's gone ahead and secured blueprints for the facility, as well as a comprehensive list of security measures, access codes, guard shifts... really, if you time it right, this'll be about as complicated as a grocery run.

Myriad Reality

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Don't you think they'll notice once we infiltrate a secured zone?

@Legend

Well, that's why you'll be offworld and off-universe before they get a bead on you. All goes well, they won't even know you're there until you've already left.

Myriad Reality

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Is that a hint that you expect us to die along the way?

@Legend

'Course not. You're not a guerrilla hiding in the woods. And unlike them, they don't know you're here or that you're coming.

Myriad Reality

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So in other words, everybody who would already help you is being tracked at this point?

@Legend

Everyone who would already help me is living in little holdouts in the fuckin' wasteland because the Cooperative doesn't bother with those. Sure, it throws an airstrike their way every once in a while for the optics, but for the most part, all the hardened guerrillas are rather busy just staying alive out there. Cruel world when you get outside the walls. People die out there.

Myriad Reality

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Are we to expect much resistance up to that point?

@Etcetera

No, they have no idea we're here. As far as they know, you're en-route to Hong Kong for a business trip. Just don't make any sudden moves and you'll be fine.

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And if you know all these people, why aren't they already getting you this information you want?

@Legend

All the people on this world that I know who have the expertise required to break into a Sol Cooperative blacksite are either in the government's pocket or known insurgents. They wouldn't be able to get within twenty miles of Hong Kong, let alone into the facility. The Cooperative is meticulous in tracking those people; the only people who can get close are people who don't really exist to them, like you and my associate.

Myriad Reality

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*Takes the card from you*
I assume we'll receive more logistic information from you shortly?

@Etcetera

Ah. Yes, of course.

*Smiling, I procure what appears to be a tourist's map of Union from thin air and present it to Vector, pointing to a spot about three quarters of the way down, a few miles from the spaceport.*

We are here. There's free autocar service across the whole city; you flag them down like a taxi and program where you want to go. Failing that, the metro runs directly to the spaceport. At some point in the next four hours, you're going to want to visit Aunt Jane's Cafe on 300th and MLK and ask for Lucy. They'll have your ID papers ready; you won't get through the entrance checkpoints without them.

My associate's currently en-route to the spaceport; she'll be waiting for you past security. She'll take you from there.

Myriad Reality

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*Taps my left-hand middle finger to my thumb a few times*
I think, my friend, that we have ourselves a deal.

@Etcetera

Excellent. I can have you and my associate on a suborbital flight in six hours, and in Hong Kong in eight. You'll need to be at the municipal spaceport in four. In the meantime...

*I reach into my pocket and retrieve a black and gold card.*

Enjoy yourselves. See the sights, live like kings. I'll pay the tab.

Myriad Reality

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So what kind of information do you want out of this, and how is it going to help us reach our goal?

@Legend

The blacksite's underwater in order to shield it from cosmic radiation and nuclear fallout. Well, that and the moral ramifications of what's being done there. What they're working on, well...

*I nod.*

Genetic data, cybernetic tests, even some work into psionic waves, brain waves. Some of it they gained from experiments that'd make Doctor Mengele blush, but it's good data nonetheless. If you want to make humanity more interconnected, that's your first place to start.

Myriad Reality

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*Lifts a hand*
I'm certain we can find an amicable way of preventing interference without resorting to utter violence, yes.

@Etcetera

I know just the person who can assist in that. It's your job; I won't try to force you to act in any way you disagree with, so long as the job gets done. My own talent is, herself, a former intelligence officer; she, of all people, understands the value of discretion.

I can arrange for transport to Hong Kong, but reaching the blacksite and getting out afterward is up to you. I can have you safely smuggled back out of the city once you return, but exfiltrating you myself would require... showing my hand to the Cooperative, so to speak.

Myriad Reality

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*Raises my eyebrows with a smile*
I had hoped you would say something like that. What do you have in mind?

@Etcetera

You see this pathetic, fucked-up little world here?

*I gesture to the city.*

I want to knock it down, burn it to the foundations and let something new grow in the ash. But first, I need to fetch something. There's some experimental data in an undersea Cooperative blacksite on the other side of the planet, just off the coast of Hong Kong. I'm not... able to enter it myself; I can't enter such a space without an invitation, and I suspect they aren't giving those out.

*I chuckle to myself.*

If need be, I can dispatch my employees to assist in lifting this data, but it is essential that I get it.