Part Two of the Power Struggle Trilogy: Laying the Groundwork
The following picks up right where "Part One of the Power Struggle Trilogy: Aftermath" leaves off.
Mai stops writing for a moment and thinks back to that moment. She focuses on it. Slowly a tear runs down her cheek. She remembers how happy she was at that point in time and wonders if that happiness will survive the terrible course she is about to embark upon.
Mai decides that if her love and happiness is meant to survive, it will pull through and continues her journal.
"So Ryan, Shinatama, and I began to formulate our plan. After a few days of brainstorming, we decided on selling anonymous information. It's not like we needed the money, but giving the information away would look a little suspicious. We figured on around 3,000 credits for each piece of intelligence. The only problem was that we didn't have an agent on the inside of the Syndicate.
Ryan had a solution to that particular problem, but I did not concur with the simplicity that he applied to it. He remembered the man that threatened him on the Chrysalis issue went by the name of Michael Howard. Ryan thought that he could contact him and reach an agreement about MetaCortex's research. He planned on making a deal in which he let the Syndicate see everything that happened at MetaCortex on a regular basis, and then they would stop breaking in.
Unfortunately, Ryan would have to become a part of the Syndicate, and that put him in danger of the TCTF. Much to my disliking, that was really the only way I could get someone inside to retrieve information.
Ryan told me that he had to have a conference with the President of MetaCortex to run the idea by him. I wished him luck and managed to give him a kiss before he slipped into his car. I sat down with Shinatama, who was now in her new SLD, and asked her if that plan was for the best. Shinatama told me that Ryan becoming a part of the Syndicate would be our best way of retrieving information. I knew she was right, but I still didn't like it.
Shinatama and I spent the next few days looking through the TCTF mainframe for things like shift schedules, attack plans, building floor plans, and crucial strike points... The kind of stuff you would need to take over buildings and convoys of supply transports.
Ryan returned from his trip to South America to speak with the company president a week after he left. I asked him almost as soon as he got into the room how it went. Ryan smiled.
"He likes it. He took to it a lot easier than I thought he would. I was under the impression that I was going to need to do some serious debating to get him to go for it. I couldn't have been more wrong. He jumped at the idea of not being attacked by the Syndicate. We'll just have to be careful and make sure the TCTF and the Syndicate observer are never there at the same time."
"So did you enjoy yourself the rest of the week?"
"Well, Mr. Edwards insisted that I stay for the week. I missed you. But, yes, besides you not being there, everything was wonderful."
I kissed him again. I then looked at him very seriously. He seemed confused.
"You have just started working for the most dangerous group in the world. You have to be very careful, keep in the right light with all the important people, and at no moment while you are there, be thinking about me or what we are doing. Do you understand me?"
"Yes. Completely."
And then it started. We began giving information to the Syndicate first. We limited contact through the mail. We gave them the schematics, shift changes, and staffing of a building that the TCTF had confiscated from the Syndicate 7 months ago. I wrote it by hand and and delivered it through street mail. I signed it "Anonymous Freedom Fighter." I also wrote that this one was free just to get their confidence, but that the price for all further information would be 3,250 credits for each operation. When more intelligence is needed they were instructed to send a high frequency message that said "My dog needs another bone" to an old lighthouse that was on the bay shore. The street mail was delivered once a week, but we couldn't afford to leave an electronic tag on an E-mail.
We had set up surveillance at the building that we had leaked the information on. We had also put up surveillance at the lighthouse along with a transmitter that would relay the message to another transmitter that was across the country, and then that transmitter would relay the message to the chop shop.
I had hooked up cameras around the building before I sent the message. Exactly one week after I sent the letter, I saw a large van make a visit to the building. It pulled up and parked on a different street every three and a half hours. Consistent with the shift change. If their schedule was correct, the same guard would never see the van twice.
Fourteen hours later, four shift changes, I saw ten black armored trucks surround the building. Strikers piled out of each truck. I approximated 20 strikers to every truck. They also had people disguised as TCTF units, setting up road blocks around the building. They charged through the building in a controlled an ordered formation. Within 23 minutes I heard cheers from the building. I could only assume that their plan went off without a hitch. Of course, how could it have had a hitch? I gave them everything they needed.
The next day, we received the message along with instructions for receiving the money. We were to send someone dressed as a bum to a particular alley, and he would collect the money. That was what they were willing to do, and it was perfectly exceptable. We found a bum on the street and offered him 4,000 credits to go and collect the money. We told him to drop the money into a garbage can four blocks away and to sleep next to it. He would receive the 4,000 credits when we collected our money. About 13 hours after his "recruitment," we found him, sleeping by a trash can. We woke him and then proceeded to dig out a bag that had a money symbol on it and contained the credits. Cute. We paid him and agreed to make this a regular deal, but instead of trading money, he would work for Ryan and receive regular pay. He jumped at the idea.
We let the Syndicate hit another target before we contacted the TCTF. Shinatama put an E-mail in the director's mailbox. She made sure that the electronic tag had a Syndicate signature. Of course, I'm sure the director got threats from the Syndicate constantly, but he still had to read them to make sure he wasn't caught off guard. He was given the location of a Syndicate bunker containing weapons, drugs, and most importantly, a shipment of elite battle suits. The battle suits were the bait, and I knew they'd bite on it. I gave them the staffing roster, floor plans, and the entrance. If they were interested in receiving more little tid bits of information, they were to send a low frequency signal to the same place we were having the Syndicate send their messages. They were to send "My dog needs to be put to sleep" and a payment method for 3,125 credits. I signed it "Hurt Employee." I was intending for them to think that the Syndicate had screwed me over and that I was getting revenge.
I had already set up surveillance around the bunker, and that same day that I had sent the information, they sent a strike team. They ordered eight black ops teams into the bunker to secure the area. Three more teams would hit in 3 minutes. Four teams were to stand by outside the entrance. I knew the procedure. I caught a transmission on the scanner I had set there. They were calling for a procurement team. 15 seconds later, a standard procurement team charged into the bunker and pulled out crate after crate of battle suits. Apparently, the report the Syndicate released was not entirely accurate in amount. I estimated three times the number of suits recorded on the order.
That night, the TCTF sent their message saying that they would pay for more information when I revealed who I was. I'm not sure if I laughed out loud or not. Ryan, Shinatama, and I decided it would be best to let the Syndicate continue their attacks. In about a week or so, we had prepared four missions and sent three of them. The TCTF was begging at the end of the week. Saying that they would pay for another piece of information with absolutely no strings attached. I agreed. We set up our payment plan so that it would be wired to Ryan's anonymous account in the Pacific South East. Ryan's account had never received his name. He was only a number. There had never been a database to link a person to a number. The only clean bank left in the world.
We spent the next two months handing information over to the TCTF and the Syndicate. We were pumping that money into backup funds in case something bad happened during our dealings. I didn't bother to look at the fund until we were close to the end of the second month and found that it had amounted to quite a sum of money. Nearly three hundred thousand credits. Of course we were handing out about five missions to each group each week!
Our missions were random at first; we were building trust and accountability. So two months into it, we switched from being random to strategic in our attacks. We had set up the first half of our missions in our spare time. The three of us had set up the first three months of attacks planned. We were set for four missions on each side every week.
These next months would be grueling because we couldn't let anything slip. Shinatama had to concentrate on being invisible within the mainframe, and Ryan had to play it cool at the Syndicate. I had been working on my combat skills since the beginning of all of this because I knew I was going to need them when I got to the end of our shadow games. Ryan informed me that on his off time, he used to practice martial arts and had a list of the world's best instructors. He called them up and had them come to the chop shop and train me. Strangely, they liked the chop shop because they said it was quiet and had lots of open space to practice. I learned two forms of Kung Fu, Kendo, and Kali. I perfected my aim with the Ares Predator II. It was a lot like the Campbell Equalizer Mk4, but was fully automatic. I had worked hard on completely eliminating the recoil with either hand, and aiming was as easy to do as pointing my finger. It was my gun of choice by far.
I felt ready to go physically, but mentally I thought I was in trouble. Ryan and I had grown closer still, and my affection toward Shinatama had multiplied also. I was afraid that if I continued with the end of our plan, I could lose one of them. I didn't think I could handle that. I still don't think I could handle losing Ryan or Shinatama. I started to second guess the plan, but Ryan and Shinatama both, told me that what we were going to do was more important than the three of us combined. They calmed me down and we kept going with our plan.
We were quickly crippling the TCTF and Syndicate defenses. We had been directing the missions toward attacking defensive targets rather than offensive. Not a single mission had been stopped. I was impressed. We had run through two months of missions and already had the last two months of missions done. I had three months to perfect my martial arts and collect gear for the last part of our plan.
I had acquired some very useful items. I had picked up an energy suit. It's skin tight, silver, and covers my entire body, neck down. It has gloves and stretch booties. It charges itself with an electric current. It disperses energy rounds and also disrupts energy fields and force shields. I've recently discovered that the suit can charge itself so that when I hit someone or they hit me, they get a 10,000 volt shock localized in that spot. It's cool. I got a full length black leather duster. The duster had two hidden holsters under the arms for Ares Predator II's. It was also lined with pockets exactly the right size for the guns' ammunition clips. I went ahead and got two Ares Predator II's and enough clips to fill the coat. There was a slit over the shoulder for a sword as well. I was amused. Since I had just learned how to use a sword I got a hold of a very nice kitana. It is folded titanium, acid edged, and very expensive. I also acquired a very nice, and very illegal light sword. The technology was almost brand new. Hard light has been one of science's greater discoveries. At first, it was just used for holograms, but then the government got their militant forces involved with it. The anxiety must be hitting me hard because I can't seem to keep a straight line of thought. Back to the sword. It, of course, has a purple blade, and seems to conduct my Daodan flame well. It cuts through most metals, polymers, and makes a satisfying sizzle when it cuts through flesh. It makes a continuous power hum. Probably not best for stealth. Conveniently, I didn't pay for any of this equipment. It was all obtained from intercepted shipments from the TCTF or the Syndicate.
I practiced my martial arts day and night. The instructors came in for seven and a half hour shifts. I was able to practice with all four instructors a day and stay refreshed for each one. Unfortunately, all of this left little time for Ryan and Shinatama. Luckily, they were preoccupied as well.
We constantly checked the final mission to see if it was precise and exact. There was zero room for error on this one. No mistake whatsoever could be permitted. The plan was to get the Syndicate and the TCTF to attack each other's headquarters, leaving very few people at both locations to guard the facility. While both groups were occupied with destroying each other, I was supposed to kill the Triumvirate and the Director of the TCTF. I had found that the Syndicate, in times of emergency, had the Triumvirate regroup at an underground bunker to discuss attack plans. It was well guarded at all times. I would have to break in unnoticed, get to the battle room, and kill the Triumvirate, along with all of their bodyguards. Then I have to break out of the bunker alive.
As soon as I've escape the bunker, I have to ride to the airport to get onto a prepped cargo plane. I'll fly two countries away to where the Director will have fallen back to. I will proceed to break into a 947- story building where the director will be hiding. The building is the headquarters of a fiber research company. To unlock the mid-floor levels, I have to access a terminal in the President's office on the top floor. I think a roof entry would be the best penetration point for that. I will then break into the 538th floor, and proceed to the office directly behind the elevator shaft. Once inside, I kill the director, his guards, and backup personnel. I need to get out of the building and regroup with Ryan and Shinatama on a hired plane set toward an airport in Anchorage, Alaska. From there we transfer to a private jet for an island where Ryan has a condo.
This was the perfect time to take out the leaders of these groups.
When I kill the Triumvirate, a power contest will take place. The Syndicate is run by the most powerful member of the group. Having a Syndicate rank meant next to nothing. The three people with the most resources, power, money, and allies will always be at the top of the Syndicate. The Syndicate is always weak when it is picking a new leader, but with the added destruction from TCTF forces, the Syndicate will be crushed between the TCTF and itself. How fitting.
Killing the Director will do astronomical damage to the TCTF. Since I killed Griffin, the Director has filled all the high ranking positions underneath himself with people who couldn't tell their left hand from their right. This was fully intentional on the Director's part. He made it so that no one would even consider pushing him into early retirement. Should the Director be forced to quit, an idiot would fill his position and the TCTF would never get anything done. I found irony in the fact that the Director's desire for job security would crush the TCTF with added pressure from the Syndicate.
Within three weeks, both groups would be destroyed. There would only be threads for people to hold onto, and eventually those threads would be gone as well. It was an ingenious plan. Fortunately, the only person on the planet who has a chance in hell of pulling it off, is the one trying to do it. After I destroy the TCTF and the Syndicate, MetaCortex will be able to work twice as fast. The truth about the toxins on the planet will be released, and with all the money that will be "given" to me by the Syndicate and TCTF, MetaCortex can afford to implant a chrysalis in everyone who is in their reach. The technology will be given to other facilities to implant the people that MetaCortex cannot get to.
I spent the last months looking forward to tomorrow. Now, the anxiety is pounding through me like a bull. I'm so worried that I'll mess this all up and let the world down. But I can't have an ounce of doubt in my mind tomorrow or I will blow it. It's just so hard to believe that two years ago, I was the most important TCTF prospect. I was so sure of myself too. I didn't think that there was anything that I couldn't handle. Little did I know that I would hold the fate of the world in my hands. I had to succeed. I just had to."
Mai stops her log. She turns off her data link and packs it into a box. She puts an express mail label on it and sends it to the condo that they will hide out at until everything blows over. She leans against a wall and puts her head down. She thinks about all the good moments that she experienced with Ryan and Shinatama in the past year. She misses the simplicity of her life with the TCTF, but discourages the thought when the death of Shinatama brushes her mind.
Mai realizes that she is fatigued slightly from those thoughts. She glances at the clock and sees that it is 8 am. Ryan woke up for work about a half hour ago and should be leaving in 15 minutes. She calls him on her vid screen. "This is it Ryan. This is what all our work has lead up to. There is no margin for mistakes today. None."
"I know. I would prefer not to be there, but my supervisor at the Syndicate has called me in to look at something his scientists have found. I'll try to be out of the building when it happens, but I have no guarantees. I'll be careful though, okay?"
"It has to be alright. Listen. Don't do anything at any time to blow your cover, but don't get yourself killed, either. I love you, Ryan."
"I love you too, Mai. I'll see you at the airport."
The vid screen goes blank. Mai walks over to the mainframe interface, where Shinatama is double and triple checking every aspect of the TCTF attack plan. She believes that if the TCTF can time the power outage at the Syndicate Headquarters with the initial strike team hit, the plan of attack is perfect. Shinatama has checked every order form, delivery invoice, and roster change to make sure that the attack will be timed correctly, and that Ryan will have enough time to get out of the building. Mai thanks Shinatama for her persistent perfectionism.
Mai glances at the clock again and realizes that if she wants to sleep instead of meditating, she would have to sleep soon. She slips out of her clothes and into her bed. Slowly, she sinks into a subconscious state. She dreams of life after tomorrow. Her life is simple again. She has Ryan. She has Shinatama. There are no threats to humanity left. All there is for her to do is to relax.
She wakes abruptly to Shinatama. Shinatama informs Mai that it is 2 PM. The Syndicate and TCTF forces will be hitting in approximately 25 minutes. Mai slides out of bed refreshed. She puts on her energy suit first. She loads her Predators and holsters them in her duster. Mai loads 30 clips into her coat and hides her light sword on the small of her back. She slips her kitana over her back through the slot in her coat, and unlocks it from the sheath. She says goodbye to Shinatama and that she will see her tonight on the plane. Mai steps out of the chop shop and into the surreal effect made by the sun reflecting off of the toxic atmosphere. She puts on her sunglasses, slides onto her bike, and charges toward the most important night of her life.
Continued with Part Three of the Power Struggle Trilogy: Endgame
The following picks up right where "Part One of the Power Struggle Trilogy: Aftermath" leaves off.
Mai stops writing for a moment and thinks back to that moment. She focuses on it. Slowly a tear runs down her cheek. She remembers how happy she was at that point in time and wonders if that happiness will survive the terrible course she is about to embark upon.
Mai decides that if her love and happiness is meant to survive, it will pull through and continues her journal.
"So Ryan, Shinatama, and I began to formulate our plan. After a few days of brainstorming, we decided on selling anonymous information. It's not like we needed the money, but giving the information away would look a little suspicious. We figured on around 3,000 credits for each piece of intelligence. The only problem was that we didn't have an agent on the inside of the Syndicate.
Ryan had a solution to that particular problem, but I did not concur with the simplicity that he applied to it. He remembered the man that threatened him on the Chrysalis issue went by the name of Michael Howard. Ryan thought that he could contact him and reach an agreement about MetaCortex's research. He planned on making a deal in which he let the Syndicate see everything that happened at MetaCortex on a regular basis, and then they would stop breaking in.
Unfortunately, Ryan would have to become a part of the Syndicate, and that put him in danger of the TCTF. Much to my disliking, that was really the only way I could get someone inside to retrieve information.
Ryan told me that he had to have a conference with the President of MetaCortex to run the idea by him. I wished him luck and managed to give him a kiss before he slipped into his car. I sat down with Shinatama, who was now in her new SLD, and asked her if that plan was for the best. Shinatama told me that Ryan becoming a part of the Syndicate would be our best way of retrieving information. I knew she was right, but I still didn't like it.
Shinatama and I spent the next few days looking through the TCTF mainframe for things like shift schedules, attack plans, building floor plans, and crucial strike points... The kind of stuff you would need to take over buildings and convoys of supply transports.
Ryan returned from his trip to South America to speak with the company president a week after he left. I asked him almost as soon as he got into the room how it went. Ryan smiled.
"He likes it. He took to it a lot easier than I thought he would. I was under the impression that I was going to need to do some serious debating to get him to go for it. I couldn't have been more wrong. He jumped at the idea of not being attacked by the Syndicate. We'll just have to be careful and make sure the TCTF and the Syndicate observer are never there at the same time."
"So did you enjoy yourself the rest of the week?"
"Well, Mr. Edwards insisted that I stay for the week. I missed you. But, yes, besides you not being there, everything was wonderful."
I kissed him again. I then looked at him very seriously. He seemed confused.
"You have just started working for the most dangerous group in the world. You have to be very careful, keep in the right light with all the important people, and at no moment while you are there, be thinking about me or what we are doing. Do you understand me?"
"Yes. Completely."
And then it started. We began giving information to the Syndicate first. We limited contact through the mail. We gave them the schematics, shift changes, and staffing of a building that the TCTF had confiscated from the Syndicate 7 months ago. I wrote it by hand and and delivered it through street mail. I signed it "Anonymous Freedom Fighter." I also wrote that this one was free just to get their confidence, but that the price for all further information would be 3,250 credits for each operation. When more intelligence is needed they were instructed to send a high frequency message that said "My dog needs another bone" to an old lighthouse that was on the bay shore. The street mail was delivered once a week, but we couldn't afford to leave an electronic tag on an E-mail.
We had set up surveillance at the building that we had leaked the information on. We had also put up surveillance at the lighthouse along with a transmitter that would relay the message to another transmitter that was across the country, and then that transmitter would relay the message to the chop shop.
I had hooked up cameras around the building before I sent the message. Exactly one week after I sent the letter, I saw a large van make a visit to the building. It pulled up and parked on a different street every three and a half hours. Consistent with the shift change. If their schedule was correct, the same guard would never see the van twice.
Fourteen hours later, four shift changes, I saw ten black armored trucks surround the building. Strikers piled out of each truck. I approximated 20 strikers to every truck. They also had people disguised as TCTF units, setting up road blocks around the building. They charged through the building in a controlled an ordered formation. Within 23 minutes I heard cheers from the building. I could only assume that their plan went off without a hitch. Of course, how could it have had a hitch? I gave them everything they needed.
The next day, we received the message along with instructions for receiving the money. We were to send someone dressed as a bum to a particular alley, and he would collect the money. That was what they were willing to do, and it was perfectly exceptable. We found a bum on the street and offered him 4,000 credits to go and collect the money. We told him to drop the money into a garbage can four blocks away and to sleep next to it. He would receive the 4,000 credits when we collected our money. About 13 hours after his "recruitment," we found him, sleeping by a trash can. We woke him and then proceeded to dig out a bag that had a money symbol on it and contained the credits. Cute. We paid him and agreed to make this a regular deal, but instead of trading money, he would work for Ryan and receive regular pay. He jumped at the idea.
We let the Syndicate hit another target before we contacted the TCTF. Shinatama put an E-mail in the director's mailbox. She made sure that the electronic tag had a Syndicate signature. Of course, I'm sure the director got threats from the Syndicate constantly, but he still had to read them to make sure he wasn't caught off guard. He was given the location of a Syndicate bunker containing weapons, drugs, and most importantly, a shipment of elite battle suits. The battle suits were the bait, and I knew they'd bite on it. I gave them the staffing roster, floor plans, and the entrance. If they were interested in receiving more little tid bits of information, they were to send a low frequency signal to the same place we were having the Syndicate send their messages. They were to send "My dog needs to be put to sleep" and a payment method for 3,125 credits. I signed it "Hurt Employee." I was intending for them to think that the Syndicate had screwed me over and that I was getting revenge.
I had already set up surveillance around the bunker, and that same day that I had sent the information, they sent a strike team. They ordered eight black ops teams into the bunker to secure the area. Three more teams would hit in 3 minutes. Four teams were to stand by outside the entrance. I knew the procedure. I caught a transmission on the scanner I had set there. They were calling for a procurement team. 15 seconds later, a standard procurement team charged into the bunker and pulled out crate after crate of battle suits. Apparently, the report the Syndicate released was not entirely accurate in amount. I estimated three times the number of suits recorded on the order.
That night, the TCTF sent their message saying that they would pay for more information when I revealed who I was. I'm not sure if I laughed out loud or not. Ryan, Shinatama, and I decided it would be best to let the Syndicate continue their attacks. In about a week or so, we had prepared four missions and sent three of them. The TCTF was begging at the end of the week. Saying that they would pay for another piece of information with absolutely no strings attached. I agreed. We set up our payment plan so that it would be wired to Ryan's anonymous account in the Pacific South East. Ryan's account had never received his name. He was only a number. There had never been a database to link a person to a number. The only clean bank left in the world.
We spent the next two months handing information over to the TCTF and the Syndicate. We were pumping that money into backup funds in case something bad happened during our dealings. I didn't bother to look at the fund until we were close to the end of the second month and found that it had amounted to quite a sum of money. Nearly three hundred thousand credits. Of course we were handing out about five missions to each group each week!
Our missions were random at first; we were building trust and accountability. So two months into it, we switched from being random to strategic in our attacks. We had set up the first half of our missions in our spare time. The three of us had set up the first three months of attacks planned. We were set for four missions on each side every week.
These next months would be grueling because we couldn't let anything slip. Shinatama had to concentrate on being invisible within the mainframe, and Ryan had to play it cool at the Syndicate. I had been working on my combat skills since the beginning of all of this because I knew I was going to need them when I got to the end of our shadow games. Ryan informed me that on his off time, he used to practice martial arts and had a list of the world's best instructors. He called them up and had them come to the chop shop and train me. Strangely, they liked the chop shop because they said it was quiet and had lots of open space to practice. I learned two forms of Kung Fu, Kendo, and Kali. I perfected my aim with the Ares Predator II. It was a lot like the Campbell Equalizer Mk4, but was fully automatic. I had worked hard on completely eliminating the recoil with either hand, and aiming was as easy to do as pointing my finger. It was my gun of choice by far.
I felt ready to go physically, but mentally I thought I was in trouble. Ryan and I had grown closer still, and my affection toward Shinatama had multiplied also. I was afraid that if I continued with the end of our plan, I could lose one of them. I didn't think I could handle that. I still don't think I could handle losing Ryan or Shinatama. I started to second guess the plan, but Ryan and Shinatama both, told me that what we were going to do was more important than the three of us combined. They calmed me down and we kept going with our plan.
We were quickly crippling the TCTF and Syndicate defenses. We had been directing the missions toward attacking defensive targets rather than offensive. Not a single mission had been stopped. I was impressed. We had run through two months of missions and already had the last two months of missions done. I had three months to perfect my martial arts and collect gear for the last part of our plan.
I had acquired some very useful items. I had picked up an energy suit. It's skin tight, silver, and covers my entire body, neck down. It has gloves and stretch booties. It charges itself with an electric current. It disperses energy rounds and also disrupts energy fields and force shields. I've recently discovered that the suit can charge itself so that when I hit someone or they hit me, they get a 10,000 volt shock localized in that spot. It's cool. I got a full length black leather duster. The duster had two hidden holsters under the arms for Ares Predator II's. It was also lined with pockets exactly the right size for the guns' ammunition clips. I went ahead and got two Ares Predator II's and enough clips to fill the coat. There was a slit over the shoulder for a sword as well. I was amused. Since I had just learned how to use a sword I got a hold of a very nice kitana. It is folded titanium, acid edged, and very expensive. I also acquired a very nice, and very illegal light sword. The technology was almost brand new. Hard light has been one of science's greater discoveries. At first, it was just used for holograms, but then the government got their militant forces involved with it. The anxiety must be hitting me hard because I can't seem to keep a straight line of thought. Back to the sword. It, of course, has a purple blade, and seems to conduct my Daodan flame well. It cuts through most metals, polymers, and makes a satisfying sizzle when it cuts through flesh. It makes a continuous power hum. Probably not best for stealth. Conveniently, I didn't pay for any of this equipment. It was all obtained from intercepted shipments from the TCTF or the Syndicate.
I practiced my martial arts day and night. The instructors came in for seven and a half hour shifts. I was able to practice with all four instructors a day and stay refreshed for each one. Unfortunately, all of this left little time for Ryan and Shinatama. Luckily, they were preoccupied as well.
We constantly checked the final mission to see if it was precise and exact. There was zero room for error on this one. No mistake whatsoever could be permitted. The plan was to get the Syndicate and the TCTF to attack each other's headquarters, leaving very few people at both locations to guard the facility. While both groups were occupied with destroying each other, I was supposed to kill the Triumvirate and the Director of the TCTF. I had found that the Syndicate, in times of emergency, had the Triumvirate regroup at an underground bunker to discuss attack plans. It was well guarded at all times. I would have to break in unnoticed, get to the battle room, and kill the Triumvirate, along with all of their bodyguards. Then I have to break out of the bunker alive.
As soon as I've escape the bunker, I have to ride to the airport to get onto a prepped cargo plane. I'll fly two countries away to where the Director will have fallen back to. I will proceed to break into a 947- story building where the director will be hiding. The building is the headquarters of a fiber research company. To unlock the mid-floor levels, I have to access a terminal in the President's office on the top floor. I think a roof entry would be the best penetration point for that. I will then break into the 538th floor, and proceed to the office directly behind the elevator shaft. Once inside, I kill the director, his guards, and backup personnel. I need to get out of the building and regroup with Ryan and Shinatama on a hired plane set toward an airport in Anchorage, Alaska. From there we transfer to a private jet for an island where Ryan has a condo.
This was the perfect time to take out the leaders of these groups.
When I kill the Triumvirate, a power contest will take place. The Syndicate is run by the most powerful member of the group. Having a Syndicate rank meant next to nothing. The three people with the most resources, power, money, and allies will always be at the top of the Syndicate. The Syndicate is always weak when it is picking a new leader, but with the added destruction from TCTF forces, the Syndicate will be crushed between the TCTF and itself. How fitting.
Killing the Director will do astronomical damage to the TCTF. Since I killed Griffin, the Director has filled all the high ranking positions underneath himself with people who couldn't tell their left hand from their right. This was fully intentional on the Director's part. He made it so that no one would even consider pushing him into early retirement. Should the Director be forced to quit, an idiot would fill his position and the TCTF would never get anything done. I found irony in the fact that the Director's desire for job security would crush the TCTF with added pressure from the Syndicate.
Within three weeks, both groups would be destroyed. There would only be threads for people to hold onto, and eventually those threads would be gone as well. It was an ingenious plan. Fortunately, the only person on the planet who has a chance in hell of pulling it off, is the one trying to do it. After I destroy the TCTF and the Syndicate, MetaCortex will be able to work twice as fast. The truth about the toxins on the planet will be released, and with all the money that will be "given" to me by the Syndicate and TCTF, MetaCortex can afford to implant a chrysalis in everyone who is in their reach. The technology will be given to other facilities to implant the people that MetaCortex cannot get to.
I spent the last months looking forward to tomorrow. Now, the anxiety is pounding through me like a bull. I'm so worried that I'll mess this all up and let the world down. But I can't have an ounce of doubt in my mind tomorrow or I will blow it. It's just so hard to believe that two years ago, I was the most important TCTF prospect. I was so sure of myself too. I didn't think that there was anything that I couldn't handle. Little did I know that I would hold the fate of the world in my hands. I had to succeed. I just had to."
Mai stops her log. She turns off her data link and packs it into a box. She puts an express mail label on it and sends it to the condo that they will hide out at until everything blows over. She leans against a wall and puts her head down. She thinks about all the good moments that she experienced with Ryan and Shinatama in the past year. She misses the simplicity of her life with the TCTF, but discourages the thought when the death of Shinatama brushes her mind.
Mai realizes that she is fatigued slightly from those thoughts. She glances at the clock and sees that it is 8 am. Ryan woke up for work about a half hour ago and should be leaving in 15 minutes. She calls him on her vid screen. "This is it Ryan. This is what all our work has lead up to. There is no margin for mistakes today. None."
"I know. I would prefer not to be there, but my supervisor at the Syndicate has called me in to look at something his scientists have found. I'll try to be out of the building when it happens, but I have no guarantees. I'll be careful though, okay?"
"It has to be alright. Listen. Don't do anything at any time to blow your cover, but don't get yourself killed, either. I love you, Ryan."
"I love you too, Mai. I'll see you at the airport."
The vid screen goes blank. Mai walks over to the mainframe interface, where Shinatama is double and triple checking every aspect of the TCTF attack plan. She believes that if the TCTF can time the power outage at the Syndicate Headquarters with the initial strike team hit, the plan of attack is perfect. Shinatama has checked every order form, delivery invoice, and roster change to make sure that the attack will be timed correctly, and that Ryan will have enough time to get out of the building. Mai thanks Shinatama for her persistent perfectionism.
Mai glances at the clock again and realizes that if she wants to sleep instead of meditating, she would have to sleep soon. She slips out of her clothes and into her bed. Slowly, she sinks into a subconscious state. She dreams of life after tomorrow. Her life is simple again. She has Ryan. She has Shinatama. There are no threats to humanity left. All there is for her to do is to relax.
She wakes abruptly to Shinatama. Shinatama informs Mai that it is 2 PM. The Syndicate and TCTF forces will be hitting in approximately 25 minutes. Mai slides out of bed refreshed. She puts on her energy suit first. She loads her Predators and holsters them in her duster. Mai loads 30 clips into her coat and hides her light sword on the small of her back. She slips her kitana over her back through the slot in her coat, and unlocks it from the sheath. She says goodbye to Shinatama and that she will see her tonight on the plane. Mai steps out of the chop shop and into the surreal effect made by the sun reflecting off of the toxic atmosphere. She puts on her sunglasses, slides onto her bike, and charges toward the most important night of her life.
Continued with Part Three of the Power Struggle Trilogy: Endgame