Disclaimer: I only own my characters and story, Eclipse Phase belongs to Posthuman Studios. Here is the second entry in this story, and I hope that I can start writing this story a little faster (since I actually a hard copy of the plot outline for once). Enjoy and feel free to leave a review.

Rating: T (may change depending)

Pallas, Main Asteroid Belt

As her alarm went off Prisca considered that she would have preferred it outside her own head, like one of the ancient pre-Fall clocks. She couldn't even get the satisfaction of slapping the snooze button and getting an extra few minutes of sleep. She began to open eyes, only to feel a heavy weight land on her chest, pushing the air out of her lungs as a wet tongue assaulted her face.

"Wake up wake up wake up!" A vaguely human voice yelled as Prisca's purple eyes finally shot open. She was greeted with a large hyena perched on her chest, enlarged canine teeth barely visible, with red brown fur and bright green eyes.

"Jesus sis I'm up!" Prisca shouted as she pushed the hyena off of her, wiping the saliva off of her face. "Did you really have to do that?"

"Of course!" Her sister replied. "If I'm in this body I might as well make the most of it." She called as she ran to the door, opening it with the retractable digits on her mechanical tail.

"Just cause you're using a critter pod to blend in doesn't mean you have to act like one Kass." Prisca deadpanned as she threw some loose clothes on before following her sister into the second and main room of their small apartment.

"I know that," Kass said as she began eating the food that the servitor bot, little more than a large, levitating purple orb, produced for them. "But it's still fun. Bones really did a good job on this morph, feels like I was always a quadruped." Kass paused in her eating for a moment, a look of sadness in her eyes, before she shook her head and resumed her behavior.

Prisca's expression softened, her free hand sneaking down to rub behind her sister's ears as she began eating her own food. "Prisca, you have an incoming call." Prisca's muse Jameson said, his South African accent echoing through her mind.

"Who's it from?" Prisca asked.

"A Degar Watts, he says that the matter is urgent."

"Firewall." Kass spat. "What do they want this time?"

"I'll find out. You know the drill." Prisca's said as she went to the terminal and started the signal receptor.

"Yeah yeah. Listen but don't speak. Act like a smart pet." Kass drawled over their mental link. Prisca smiled as she sat in the nearby chair, syncing her mesh inserts with the terminal.

"Initialize private chat room." Prisca said as she closed her eyes. As her mind raced into simulspace she felt as if she were sucked out an airlock before grinding to a halt. Shaking off the dizziness Prisca opened her eyes to see a spotless white simulroom, her own avatar distorted around its edges. Before stood a well dressed menton morph, head slightly enlarged and leaning on an ornate bronze cane.

"Prisca, it's been some time." Degar Watts spoke with a bow.

"Get to the point Degar. What's my mission?" Prisca asked, she hated posh hyperelite that Degar hailed from.

"It is a pity that you will not set aside suck preconceived notion." Degar frowned. "We are both working for the betterment of all transhumans."

"Ask me to do that once your people stop fucking over mine. The only ones worse than you are those neo-fascist Jovians." She saw the man began to open his mouth. "But I know none of you hyperelites would understand what it means to survive in this system. So just get to the assignment already." Prisca hissed, her slitted pupils contracting even more.

"Fine." Degar sighed. "We've received information of an Exsurgent threat from Uranus."

"What kind of Exsurgent?" Prisca asked, her previous anger replaced with worry.

"We are not sure of their full abilities, but this individual or group of individuals have been able to infect individuals with a modified version of the Watts-MacLeod virus through the mesh."

"That's impossible!" Prisca exclaimed. "How can a biological virus be transmitted digitally?!"

"That's what we thought, but here we are with four deaths, so we must act." Degar replied.

"Fine. Who were the targets?" Prisca asked.

"Two forks of an AGI mercurial, a bioconservative leader from Luna, and most recently a precautionist mediator from Earth orbit. So far we can't find a connection between their targets."

"So you're sending me to go end them before they target anyone truly important?" Prisca scoffed.

"...to put it bluntly yes, that is my goal. You will make your way to Uranus orbit by whatever means you deem necessary. Their you will meet up with a local agent, by the name of Haseo Julianus, who will lead the expedition into the atmosphere." Degar explained.

"Who else is on the mission?"

"You have the choice to recruit one other member as you see fit. You may tell them as much or as little as you deem necessary."

Prisca sneered. "Really? Trusting such sensitive information to anyone a lowly belter like me wants to?"

"Considering the gravity of the threat, yes. However," the hyperelite paused, pushing his glasses up, "you will also be accompanied by a hacker, one of the best. His name is DR4KE, and he will be ghostiriding with you."

"WHAT?!" Prisca yelled. "Fuck no! That is-"

"He's an infomorph, and refuses to use a body. And you have the experience with ghostrider modules. So yes, you will 'carry' him." Degar deadpanned.

"Fine." Prisca spat. "Anything else?"

"Yes, we will be funding the use of a skimmer vessel once you arrive on Uranus."

"What's the catch?" Prisca asked. With Firewall operators there is always a catch.

"We will not be covering the full cost of ego casting or morph acquisition. Our resources are stretched thin at the moment." Degar explained, a twinge of regret in his voice.

"Oh for f-" Prisca began before stopping herself, taking several deep breaths. "Fine, we'll make do. Goodbye."

"Best of luck on this hunt Ms. Sylvi." Degar dipped his head. "End simulation."

"So, what did you learn?" Kass asked once Prisca had returned to the material world.

"A lot, none of it good." Prisca said, walking back to her room and grabbing her weapons and armored clothing. "I'll tell you all about it on the way to Bones' shop."