Shadowrun

“All Runners prepare to dive in 90 seconds.“

Zaron glanced up at the sterile white ceiling as the mechanical feminine voice ended the announcement. “To your stations, chummers.”

Two Technomancers broke off from conversation at the order. They reclined at their individual monitoring stations, both to his right, and fit on helmets to begin connecting to the system. Charge, the Seattle Koshari circle’s prized lead technician finished unpacking his specialized decks. Monitor wires half covered by a bath robe he no doubt pinched from one of the guest suites, the Decker plopped onto the empty medical lounge to Zaron’s left and let a nurse administer nanites to his IV resources.

“Ready to have some fun?”

Zaron glanced to the holochart displaying his own vitals. He settled in deep to his own seat, displeased. “There’s nothing fun about the Matrix.”

Charge shrugged his shoulders like a kid getting hyped for a game. “It’s better than wrapping your meat brain around astral combat.”

“Can we not facilitate an existential crisis before doing this?”

“Full dive connection to the Matrix in. Thirty. Seconds.”

Zaron and Charge both reclined back, and a specialized dive helmet was fit over the former’s head to synch with his bioware eye.

“See you on the other side!”

Zaron grunted in response. He focused instead on his breathing and keeping his heartrate down. The world was bad enough without virtual reality.

The neural connection sucked his consciousness in. Weightless and nauseated, Zaron loaded in to the data space Charge had created for the four of them. He swayed, his avatar synched with his physical body’s natural tolerances. In the corner of his vision a countdown clock started. “Report.”

One of the Technomancers worked on several floating screens with Charge. “The information you delivered was spot on. We have an open lane directly into the UCAS database. All indicators are cloaked and SIN’s are holding. Once inside the system it should be a text-book in and out.”

The other Technomancer’s arms shimmered with strings of data as he equipped sleeved gauntlets. “With a Decker this good you might be getting a couple new job applications.”

“Let’s cross that bridge after we get what we’re in here for.”

Charge brought up a data portal and walked to the threshold to scan the connection, and the others lined up in formation behind him. “No party here but us.”

With militarized precision the four men disappeared through the portal. At the exit point within the main hub of datastreams the Technomancer’s created a landing to stop the party’s fall. Jumping platforms to cross the expanse, the path behind them dissipated just as quickly to avoid colliding with the intruders.

The sudden sharp pang of an alarm lanced through their ears. All four winced and sprinted the final distance to the other side where Charge had another portal open. All of them surveyed the room even as they brought up the surveillance feed from outside the Matrix. Connected to the tower’s mainframe they could see forced entry two floors above the lab where their bodies laid in stasis.

One of the Technomancers enhanced the feed, then spat. “Tamanous.”

Through the connection to his false eye Zaron scanned the lab for immediate threats. “Time’s short, boys. I’ll dump and guard the room.”

Charge tossed the Technomancers enhancement chips and then another to Zaron. “You sure about this?”

Zaron caught the datachip and winced as it downloaded into his avatar and connected to his physical body. “No time! Dump me and go.”

Quick as he could Charge brought up the emergency dump screen. “We’ll be out in three. You let those goat-suckers reach my body and I’ll haunt your cyberware!”

Zaron flipped him off. A microsecond later he jolted into reality. Disoriented, he rolled off the recliner to land on his hands and knees on the cold tile. Hologram screens popped up, and Zaron staggered to his feet, ripping off the electrodes stickered to his bare chest.

“Unlock the door.”

“M-Mister Ward!” gasped the nurse, shaken by the sudden rumble of his voice. Her hand still rested on the lock of the blast door she’d just secured. “You’re safe in here, sir. Security has already engaged the intruders.”

Zaron shook himself like a dog and stalked towards the door, not bothering to get dressed. “I don’t like to repeat myself.”

Stammering, the nurse hurried to unlock the door. It slid open with a hiss just in time for him to pass through, then closed and locked once more. He raked a hand through his long hair, shivering as the code from Charge activated the nanites in his bloodstream.

At the end of the long hall the fight spilled out of the stairwell. Unmarked shadowrunners stepped over the bodies of the Koshari mid-tower security detail. Below the hem of his boxers Zaron’s cybernetic left thigh folded open to eject a heavy pistol into his hand, and his left eye rotated to focus four laser points on the armed mercenaries.

“Now this is more like it.”