Life in the Sixth World

by waywardshepherd

This is a series of short in-character responses to various aspects of life in the Sixth World that were discussed on our Shadowrun group's mailing list. The character doing all the talking here is Rake, a 50-year-old elf sharpshooter/face-man with a law degree and a checkered past. Standard disclaimer: Shadowrun ain't mine, Rake is.

8. Chapter 8 - Device Modes

A word to the wise, chummers: get yourself two commlinks, one disposable and one of tactical quality.

Keep the disposable one in private or active mode as needed and run your better one in hidden mode, preferably with encryption and firewall, since it will be the basis of your PAN. Load your disposable with your fake ID and licenses so you look legit, while keeping all shadow traffic routed through your hidden one.

This practice makes you that much harder to track down and further decouples your fake ID from your less-than-legal means of employment. It also helps prevent hacks of your PAN, since the obvious target doesn't control any peripherals, such as cyberware, vehicles, or weapons. With the dummy link arrangement, somebody trying to hack you first has to find your hidden commlink node, then break your firewall, then break your encryption - that will slow down all but the best hackers.

And now you kiddos know why I keep a bargain-bin comm on me even though you know that all biz-related details are routed through my implanted 'link.

-Rake