Title: Metal Gear Solid: Elements of Destruction- Chapter 14: Hacking
Author: The Ice Goddess (FrozenBlueIce)
Fandom: Metal Gear Solid
Feedback: All feedback is welcome, whether it be negative or positive. I'm trying to improve on my writing so, please be honest: frozenblueice@yahoo.com
Pairing: The main pairing of this story is Snake/Otacon, which is obvious to anyone who knows of my fondness for Hal Emmerich, so therefore alright to disclose. There are others, but if I told you what they were, it'd ruin the story.
Series: No. There may be sequels in the future, but right now that is looking unlikely due to time constraints.
Rating: PG-13 for minor, non-graphic depiction of violence. (this chapter only)
Disclaimer: All characters appearing in previous Metal Gear Solid video games are the property of Konami Computer Entertainment of Japan, and of their creator, Mr. Hideo Kojima. All new characters are the property of The Ice Goddess. This is a work of fanfiction, and in no way, shape, or form will I receive any monetary compensation for it. It is for entertainment purposes only.
Type: Action/Shounen-ai
Summary: This story takes place one year after the events of "The Big Shell." New information found by Otacon sends Snake back into action. (That's all I'm revealing!)
Chapter 14: Hacking
The cargo hauler came to a stop. Hal sat in the corner of the dark hold, waiting with anticipation. He could hear several soft voices around him, but he couldn't make out what they were saying.
The soldier who sat by the door got up, yawning and stretching. He had slept the entire way there, and that had given Hal's nerves of being caught a rest for at least that part of the mission.
The doors opened with a rush of bright fluorescent light, and it struck hard on the eyes of the man in stealth camo, causing him to squint as they adjusted. After spending the last 6 hours in almost total blackness, Otacon was glad to be able to see everything around him again.
Hal watched the soldier get off of the truck, then switched on his codec.
"What's the situation, Otacon?" Snake asked.
"From what I can tell from the radar, we're in a large docking bay," he answered.
"And where exactly is that?"
Otacon paused for a moment, pulling various readings from his sneaking suit's computer control system. "Well, satellite readings say that we're exactly where we should be. We're 407.5 kilometers SSE of Molodezhnaya, but according to the barometer, these air pressure readings are consistent with those of a position 14.31 km below sea level."
"What?!" Raiden exclaimed.
Snake verbally nodded. "Someone really doesn't want to get discovered out here."
"Yeah…," Otacon agreed. "So, are your radars working alright?"
"They seem to be," Snake told him. "I'll just have to get used to the upgrade. That's all."
Raiden looked at the display in the corner of his vision. The positions of the people on the radar were no longer represented by red dots. They were now red silhouettes marching around the screen. Their field of vision and hearing was now represented by a purple glow that surrounded each figure, fading with a gradient to show the level of acuity they had at a certain distance.
"Wow!" commented the young blond, "Mei's done wonders with this thing!"
"I'll admit I couldn't have done better myself," Hal said. "She's got me beat when it comes to radar system design."
"Alright, Otacon. Let us out. We'll go find the weapons. You go find Dr. Raznov and Dr. Chetnik," Snake said to his partner.
The engineer opened up the latches on the wooden crate, releasing the two men from their confines. Despite the fact that they had been cramped up inside that box for several hours, the trained soldiers got out of it and hopped off of the truck, not even pausing to stretch out their stiff bodies. They snuck quickly out of sight. On his radar, Hal watched the two stealths move expertly and silently past several guards.
"Be careful," Snake's voice added. "Don't do anything stupid."
"I won't," Hal replied with a sigh.
***
Snake's senses were in overdrive as he peered around the corner. A lone soldier was making his way down the hall towards him. The mercenary pulled out his Socom, grasping it firmly in his hands. He stood patiently with his back flat against the wall, watching and waiting. When his radar indicated that the soldier was looking away, Snake jumped out and expertly put a bullet in the back of his neck, severing his brain stem. The unsuspecting soldier fell helplessly to the ground in a heap, not even able to cry out in pain.
Snake gestured for Raiden, and together they dragged the body to the nearest locker, stashing him inside.
"Where are we going?" asked Raiden.
"I'm scoping things out, first," Snake answered, looking into one of the rooms in the hallway. "There's gotta be something around here that'll tell me where they're keeping the weapons."
A computer terminal at the far side of the room caught Snake's eye. He walked over to it, then leaned down to read the screen.
"Hmm… It's password protected," he stated.
Dave patched into frequency 141.12 on his codec. "Otacon? Do you read me?"
"Loud and clear, Snake. What do you need?" his friend's voice answered.
"Are you near a computer terminal?"
Otacon verbally shook his head, "Uh uh. But, I did see one a few rooms back. Why?"
"Good," the mercenary said, "If you can, go back there. I need you to crack the password."
"I'm on my way there now."
***
Hal's fists pounded on the desk as another error message popped up on the screen. He'd been at this for about ten minutes now, and still couldn't get through.
"Damn it!" he exclaimed, rubbing his temples in frustration. "This security system's no joke."
Otacon, still cloaked in his stealth camo, ran through the system again. He thoroughly checked over everything. Then suddenly, his eyes widened with recognition.
"Wait a minute! This looks familiar." His brow furrowed. "It can't be."
With a few quick keystrokes from there, Hal was in.
***
Snake's codec rang in his ear.
"You get in yet?"
"Yeah," Hal answered him, but I had a bit of trouble. It seems that someone was using a 'Rotating Encryption/Password Inversion' technique."
"Huh? What the Hell does that mean?" the mercenary asked, scratching the back of his head.
Otacon paused for a moment, trying to sum it all up simply. "It means that the way the computer encrypted the password was set on a timer to change every 10 seconds. Then, in addition, the password itself changed by inverting the letters every 10 seconds in a cycle. It was difficult, but I was able to decipher the pattern."
"I see," Snake said. "So, how do I get in?"
"During the last 10 seconds of every minute, type in the word 'shadow'," his partner instructed.
"Got it," Snake said, pulling up the menu. "Now, to find the weapons."
"Snake? There's something I need to tell you," Otacon began in a nervous tone.
"What is it?"
"Well…um…you see…"
"Just spit it out already!" the mercenary said impatiently.
"The Rotating Encryption/Password Inversion trick is mine."
"What?!" Snake growled, "How the Hell is that possible?"
A heavy sigh could be heard over the codec. "A person, whom I worked with on the 'Rex Project' about 5 years ago, named Sabren Knight, was an apprentice of mine. He was fresh out of college, the Valedictorian of his class at Princeton, and landed himself an internship in DARPA. I really didn't talk to people much, so it was nice having someone around, even though he never had much to say. Sabren was a quiet person, and really bright. I taught him all sorts of things, including hacking. He caught onto that so quickly. Then, on the day that Liquid and the others took over Shadow Moses, he disappeared. I always assumed that he was killed. They had me, so I didn't think that they'd have any reason to keep him around."
"Hmm," Snake pondered, "I wonder what he's doing here then?"
"Beats me. But I have a strange feeling about this."
"Yeah…," the mercenary said, pulling up the maps of the base and downloading them into his radar. "Alright. I think we have a location on those weapons. We're going to check them out."
"Good luck," his friend returned. "I'm headed for the detention area to see if Drs. Raznov and Chetnik are there."
"Keep in contact with me. Call if you need my assistance. Don't get any ideas of taking on the whole base with your M9."
Otacon snickered. "Yeah right! That's your job."
A wry smile came over Snake's lips. "Heh. I suppose it is."
"Later," Hal returned, ending the transmission.
Raiden stood beside Snake, waiting for an explanation.
"What's going on?" he asked.
"Come on, kid," Snake waved him along, "We've got work to do. I'll explain on the way."
Author's Notes:
I know absolutely nothing about hacking or the fine details on how encryption works. I only know what the quick overview at www.howstuffworks.com taught me. Please bear with my ignorance.