Mindfields

Figures in shadow stood around the only thing in the room that was lit up; the huge map of the West Coast on the table that showed every road, railroad, port, airport and shuttlepad in Nevada, Arizona, and both Californias.

Little plastic blocks were piled up at various points at it, representing the locations of the nomad nations' people, as well as that of Militech on the borders or other known forces.

While comms were digital, encrypted and full of codewords that practically made up its own language, the visualisation of the data was analog, like something you'd see a century and a half ago. When the location of a family or clan changed, someone with a little stick would push or pull the plastic token representing them on the map.

This was apparently how the Meta planned their own operations.

It was impossible to hack a network to get the entire picture. None of the MetaCorp employees pushing the tokens around had optical cyberware, and a netrunner would need to breach every one of their non-networked comm channels and stay on them undetected in order to get the details.

Panam liked the old-timey feel of the whole set-up, but she really loved that it was so secure. The reason why she did was that things were starting to get very real. The attack was going to happen. And the more time went by, the more it seemed like something greater than just the greatest heist in American history.

The morning before, the map had mostly been empty; a stack of tokens at Alpha Dome in Arizona representing the Aldecaldos, another stack at Reno representing the Jodes, another smaller one at Eureka for MetaCorp.

But by that evening, as Victoria Meta and Zacharias looked on with her, the table-map was filled. The other leaders had already returned to join their own nations, to get things moving. Markers representing clans of all seven nations now dotted the map everywhere, and the attendants had moved them from their previous positions towards staging areas at the borders, the coast or in central California.

The nomads were gathering for war.

"The real challenge will be getting all of them to Night City," Victoria said, "We can't concentrate in one location and then move. Traffic jam doesn't begin to describe what would happen if we tried."

Recalling rush hour on a weekday in NC, Panam smiled to herself, imagining traffic cops pulling up to a line of Aldecaldo technicals and issuing tickets to each of them for blocking the road. "Which leaves us with another two problems," she responded, tracing the line of Interstate 5 with a finger, "Divided up, we're easy to beat in a straight fight, and if we don't arrive at the same time, they'll be able to deal with our convoys one at a time."

Zacharias cleared his throat loudly, to get Victoria's attention. He succeeded. "Don't you have a buncha of heavy AVs and trains we could use?" he said, "This would be a lot easier if we don't have to use the roads as much, right?"

The CEO's mouth tightened ever so slightly with annoyance, something Panam had noticed happened regularly when Zacharias spoke to her. "We can't openly help you, remember?" Victoria said, "Any assets we give you to use, we need a cover story for. You stole them, you rented them under false pretences, that sort of thing. Or else Arasaka will sue MetaCorp and will probably win."

Panam frowned to herself, wondering if Arasaka would even be allowed to operate in the NUSA after she was done with them.

"Ah, good point," Zacharias replied sheepishly, rubbing the back of his neck, "Just tryin' to make this easier for all of us."

Victoria's expression softened again, and she exhaled a breath in exasperation. "I know, and you're not entirely wrong," she said, "We'll be able to put at least one heavy AV at the disposal of the plan, and there are no shortage of abandoned trains on the SoCal lines we can repurpose."

Panam perked up on hearing that, thinking of something else. "Can the Thelas transport some by sea?" she asked, "Maybe even steal a cargo ship?"

Victoria shook her head. "Stealing things from ships negotiating the sea-mines or waiting to go into port is one thing," she said, "Stealing the actual ships are another. Besides, it's not like there are landing craft waiting to be stolen, we would still have to unload our vehicles by crane."

The CEO really knew her stuff. But then, logistics was her whole business.

"So anyone who goes with the Thelas will be on foot when they get dropped off," Panam concluded, "They won't be able to move as fast."

"It's still going to be useful," Victoria said, "I'm having my own people rejacket as Thelas to join the assault. If we add light and heavy mechs to the mix, they'll hit hard from the sea. But we're getting ahead of ourselves."

Panam nodded. They still didn't know what exactly the other nations were going to bring to the table in full, never mind who V might be able to entice to join the attack. Making a detailed plan was still premature.

And just like that, thinking of V, her chest clutched. She hadn't heard from him since he sent a list of Militech weapons convoys that would surrender without a fight, and it was beginning to worry her, even though she was sure Alt would tell her if he had been harmed.

"Once we know who is joining the party from our end," she said, "I'm going to Night City. V is taking too long, he needs support."

Both Victoria and Zacharias snapped their heads up and looked at her in surprise.

"You can't do that, Miss Palmer," Victoria said, "Matters require your attention."

"What about the Militech weapons?" Zacharias added quickly, "Aren't you going to lead the op to get them?"

Having expected this reaction, Panam drew herself to her full height. "The Meta are by far the most able to coordinate the logistics side, my being here doesn't change that," she said, "And I won't lead the Jodes against the northern weapons convoy because I can't, I'm not one of you, Zach. Even if you have accepted my leadership over this thing, your guys will still have their pride at stake."

To her relief, the Jodes' leader tilted his head side to side, accepting her explanation. Victoria Meta on the other hand, was not so impressed, looking at her with narrowed eyes.

"Are you forgetting that once we know who is 'joining the party', we still have a small war to plan?" the CEO said, "And that is not something we can do over a call. By now, Arasaka will suspect much. They will set their netrunners to looking."

Now came the part Panam had not been looking forward to. "I know," she sighed, "But we have a solution. Something that will let us speak over cyberspace without anyone knowing. Maybe."

Victoria broke out in a knowing smile. "Ah, your secret source?" she asked, "Are we going to finally meet them?"

"You could say that," Panam admitted, "I'd prepare myself if I were you, it isn't going to be a pleasant experience." She knew that Alt would not reveal herself directly, which meant she would use an avatar and there was only one that had appeared so far.

"And how exactly is this source gonna outwit the netrunners?" Zacharias asked.

Panam hesitated to ask, particularly in his case. "What do you know about braindance technology?"