The Broadsword angled to the east, travelling down the valley and over the road, at least for the first kilometre or two, before diverging slightly to the north.
"Marius – I've got two courses for you. Direct flight, takes us from here in Yunnan Province, into Sichuan, then into the Canton Confederation, pass through some of their territory for seven hundred clicks, then into Henan, and finally on to the Coastal Provinces and Shanghai… or we can increase the flight time and distance a little, and fly around the bulge of the Canton Confederation, and stay in the Sichuan for longer, then into Henan province."
"What is the increase in distance?"
"About two, three hundred kilometres. Maybe forty minutes extra, depending on the terrain I guess."
"I think it is worth the increase in distance to reduce the border crossings. As I understand it, these provinces are all hostile to each other, so there is likely to be more attention there, than internally. I would rather cut down the number of international borders we have to cross as far as is possible."
"Ok, port side adjustment then, come to course zero-eight-zero for three hundred and fifty clicks, then we have our first crossing, into Henan."
"Affirmative." The Broadsword angled slightly, adjusting to the new course, while Hunter fed in the proposed route into the nav-computer, linking it over to Marius. The fragmentation of China into warring provinces had left a patchwork layout of hostile regimes, all vying for success and dominance in the local and international markets, with a constantly shifting political and military balance of power. It made travel difficult and risky – but as a result, lucrative, and the changes in laws and restrictions no doubt kept a lot of smugglers in action.
As they flew onwards, Hunter kept half an eye on the news, watching as the coverage of the assassination continued, the news shows having had time now to bring in so called experts and various political talking heads and pundits to give their analysis of the events in Mecca, and the implications they held. It still seemed to be very light on details, and repetitive with basic observations and tentative opinions on what might have happened. Meanwhile, Shadowland was ablaze with rumours and gossip, and all kinds of crazy assertions. Numerous theories were being advanced on who was responsible, but nobody seemed to know anything specific. However, there was considerable agreement on the fact that it was a most righteous and well-planned attack, based on the smoothness of the hit, and how much damage had been caused.
Onwards they flew, crossing the patchwork land below them, grey and washed out by the incessant rain, with the team barely able to make out the fields, forests, mines and villages as they flashed by the Broadsword. Crossing the border didn't raise any alarms, with Marius guiding them down a narrow gully between two hills, flying precariously over the top of some powerlines and using the metallic structures to help mask his signal.
The rain didn't let up as they pushed further on into the evening, but it also kept the skies clear of pleasure craft and fewer people out in the countryside to look up and see the faint or blurry patch of cloud move past them.
As they closed in on Shanghai, Hunter connected up his deck to the commlink, bringing up his translation program, ready to convert the high-pitched whistles and squeals into text.
"Dooooooooooooo bip! Doooooooooo diddle dee diddle dee diddle dee scaweeee!" Hunter lowered the volume, watching as the text started to flow onto his screen. There wasn't much point jacking in for this – the transmission rate was low, and the responsiveness of his deck was wasted. As the menu appeared, he hit the right options to select landing rights, refuelling and a meeting with The Noodles, also specifying the change of aircraft since last time and entering the size of the landing spot required, getting confirmation back that his choices had been accepted.
Once the call was completed, he plotted a course around the north side of the city, avoiding the main conurbation and the high-rises that dominated the skyline, bringing them in down the Changjang River estuary, feeding it through to Marius, then sat back and returned to his idle flipping through news articles and feeds, seeing what was going on in the world.
Closing in on the port of Shanghai, the scene was just as overwhelming as their last visit had been. The city itself was awash with the glow of neon lights and advertising hoardings plastered onto the side of buildings, the heart of the city glowing brightly enough to be uncomfortable to look at. But down by the river the multi-coloured hues of the billboards gave way to thousands of bright mercury lamps, casting a harsh white glow over the huge port. The enormous cranes still stretched out in a row nearly twenty kilometres long, giant metallic structures reaching up into the skies and far out over the waters, lifting containers out into the super-freighters moored there.
Drones were everywhere, delivering the containers to the pick-up locations for the cranes or taking them away, doing patrols, monitoring operations – the skies were a mass of complicated tracks from multiple overlapping control zones, the transponders of dozens of different corporations broadcasting and flashing on the sensor display. Marius slowed and carefully threaded his way through the traffic, aiming for the anomalous sliver of land that lay between two giant terminals, the no-man's-land of individual ownership dividing the two behemoths on either side.
He could see the security drones monitoring the airspace, their sensors pumping out huge amounts of power as they monitored and mapped the swarm of traffic moving around – but they seemed to be mostly there for traffic control and monitoring, rather than active defence. The sheer number of competing corporate facilities must have led to a lot of compromises and acceptance of facts between them – there was just no way to enforce the normal no-fly zones around the perimeter fences when they were packed this closely together, and the security forces seemed to be aimed more at stopping collisions and accidents rather than keeping the skies locked down. No doubt that means that the ground forces were taking up the slack and were hyper-vigilant and ready to open fire at a moment's notice – but that was a problem for other teams, and not them.
They slipped in over the two medium size dry-docks, way too small for modern container ships, and crossed over into the smuggler stop. Hunter reconnected and asked for final landing clearance, and soon they had a fix on a beacon, guiding them into a spot reasonably far inland, closer in fact to the port perimeter road than to the shore. As they pushed in, they could see the mass of containers were not quite as random as they first appeared, and a number of open areas had been created, landing squares of various sizes that were walled in with piles of containers two or three high. They were directed to one of the larger areas, and Marius expertly bought them in to the exact dead-centre of the space, sinking below the height of the surrounding container wall before gently touching down.
Down at ground level they could see a few openings in the wall, spaces between containers that had been bridged over by the higher levels, creating small roads or walkways through into other areas. No more than a few moments passed, and they could see a figure emerge from the darkness, heading their way.
"All of the aircraft is concealed by the containers. The highest point of the tail is below the height of the wall surrounding us." Marius announced as he went through the engine shutdown procedure.
"Someone on the cranes down at the water's edge might just be able to spot us – though the angle would be lousy. But otherwise, we're covered from anything except directly overhead. If we throw the cammo nets up and over between the containers, we're very well hidden."
"True enough, Aswon – though it would probably look suspicious as hell for anyone looking down to see a big square of vegetation in a place like this." Hunter grinned, then continued. "Not saying not to do it, just pointing out that it might attract a little attention as well."
"True enough. Let's see what our host has to say though."
The chubby man with lank dark hair continued to walk towards them, seemingly uncaring about the rain. Kai grabbed his jacket and pulled it tightly around him, flipping the hood up to try and stay dry, before descending the steps to meet him.
"Designation?"
"New Fish. And good evening MQCXC-RQTR3-6F98Y-7KTKF-TW82J," Kai repeated the mix of characters, coached by Marius over the commlink.
"Designation accepted. Welcome back to Shanghai Noodles." The man seemed to give a small smile, perhaps at being recognised or given his full name. Kai nodded, glad that he remembered the bizarre methods of speech the man had used last time. "Do you wish to refuel at this time?"
"Affirmative. My pilot and flight engineer will assist, just like last time."
"Acceptable parameters. Refuelling will commence shortly." He didn't give a signal, but Kai suspected that he had a built in cyber-link that was relaying information back to the control centre or main hub, wherever that was, and a few moments later a pickup truck towing a bowser came through the container tunnel, heading towards them. Marius and Hunter guided the truck around to the concealed refuelling port, ensuring that they didn't strike the hidden aircraft.
While they were being fuelled up, Kai chatted with The Noodles, trying to match his pattern of speech to the strange man. When he outlined what they were in Shanghai for, the obese man stopped him and paused for a second.
"Reputation now sufficient for job opportunities. Possibility exists for mutual benefit. Desire to proceed?"
"Um… yes?"
"Job opportunity exists, mission parameters require team of assets for relocation of property. Estimates indicate team designation New Fish match parameters required."
"Good! Ok. We're certainly interested in a job. Let me grab the whole team. Once we've refuelled, perhaps we can head over there, under the container, to be out of the rain?"
"Parameters accepted." Without another word The Noodles turned and waddled off towards the dry spot, rain running down off his head and cascading over the rolls of flab that made up his torso.
"What have you signed us up for now, Kai?" Marius asked suspiciously, glaring at him from over by the fuel port.
"Nothing yet – he's got a job, and he's willing to pay in some kind related to our needs – not sure if that's info or gear. Once we've filled the tank, we can all head over to discuss. Hunter, can you bring your deck and screen and stuff, so we can check maps and things like that?"
A few minutes later the whole team stood huddled under the container, squeezing into the dry-patch created, while the rain hammered down on either side.
"The Noodles – I will pass you over to my sub-terminal now. He has the specialist skills needed to evaluate the distance and locations, and mission parameters required."
"Acceptable. Query – designation?"
"Hunter."
"Hunter – mission opportunity exists. Scope – asset relocation. Target – corporate facility. Location – neighbouring country, distance below 1000 km. Security levels – high. Target size matches estimates of available cargo capacity based on external dimensions for craft requiring this size landing bay. Certainty low due to lack of optical scanning. Cargo – inanimate, non-explosive, non-flammable, non-perishable goods. Query – opportunity matches team ethics?"
"Yeah, we can do that. A corporate break and enter – no problem."
"Mission acceptance in principle?"
"Yes." Hunter looked around to a series of nods. "We're available for the mission, and it fits our style. We need to nail down the specifics, and payment – but we're in."
"Additional information divulgence. Location is corporate manufacturing facility, location 35.31812, 126.75657." Hunter powered up his deck and checked the map for the location, throwing the output onto the larger screen. It was the south-west side of Korea, and about seven hundred kilometres away from Shanghai, nearly all of it over the East China Sea. He zoomed in on the map, spotting the sprawling city of Gwangju, with the target location about twenty kilometres to the north of the city centre. "Facility owned by Daewoo subsidiary of Eastern Tiger Corporation. Designated as a vehicle manufacturing and modification facility."
Hunter zoomed in as far as the map would show him – he'd have to get a better map to do any actual planning, but for the moment the area indicated seemed to be about half a square kilometre in size, located in a valley between two ridgelines. A rail line ran out to the east, and there were eight large industrial buildings laid out in a regular grid.
"Opportunity has two success criteria. Criteria one, priority two – enter facility and locate packages with designation WN-49383-G-Alpha Mod 1. Packages will be stored on Chi-110 Pallets, located in storage facility. High probability they will be located in secure storage area due to value of goods. Goods are sensor arrays for military and security operations, part of upgrade project for light recon vehicles. Locate four of package WN-49383-G-Alpha Mod 1 and relocate to this facility after confirming no tracking devices present. Relocation can be obvious and leave signs of destruction, forcible entry or removal."
"Ok… well, if they're that big, I guess there's no point trying to hide them. Sure – steal four pallets of high-tech sensors. Got it."
"Second criteria – nested routine. Priority one. Enter facility and secure access to off-line network located in vehicle modification section. Deploy data-worm in system, gather data and retrieve. No system alarm status. No physical detection status. No forced entry status. Exfiltration of data must be undetectable. All original data to be left intact."
"Right… do a data steal on some code, and use the other theft to mask the break-in. Data steal is the main job, the theft is gravy."
"Affirmative."
"Alright – how long have we got?"
"Data worm has current security code settings, expiration date fifty-six days. Worm deployment must be complete before security codes are cycled."
"Alright – and where abouts is this offline storage – which building?"
"Exact location unspecified. Local search must be performed."
"Not ideal… but ok. And how long will the worm take to run."
"Estimated time to extract data between sixty and one hundred and twenty seconds, depending on specification of host system."
"Alright – that's not too bad. We can work with that, I think. Now, what's the pay for this piece of work?"
"Data packet broadcasting." The jack on the side of The Noodles head started to flash a subdued yellow. Hunter set his commlink to receive, making sure his deck was offline and not about to get infected with something nasty. The data packet appeared to be a plain text file though, benign and free of any suspicious code, and he opened it up, reading through the complex specification quickly – letting out a quiet whistle.
"What is it, Hunter?"
"It's a deck Kai. It's a rig… a really sweet piece of kit. With a bunch of programs and utilities, a metric arse-ton of storage and ram… yeah. That's nice."
"Affirmative. Design parameters optimised for usage in data retrieval, system operations, unauthorised access and defence compromise."
"Yeah – kicking ass and taking names in the matrix." He turned to Kai and fixed him with a stare for a moment, then gave a very deliberate nod of agreement. Kai studied his face in return for a moment, the seconds of silence stretching out, then gave a return nod.
"Great. Job accepted, then. We'll need to do some planning. Oh, and we need to get some food and stuff. Can we get out into the city from here for that?"
"Affirmative, access codes available. Local providers can be called for delivery if required. Menu options available. Data packet broadcasting." The yellow light flashed again, and Hunter keyed his commlink once more, receiving the details of the three closest take-away restaurants, before shutting down the link again.
"Ok thanks – we're going to go do some planning then, and we'll get back to you if we need more information or any specialist supplies or anything."
"Affirmative. Conversation terminated." He turned and waddled off into the rain, still apparently not bothered by the deluge. The team turned and hurried back to the Broadsword as quickly as they could, settling down in the passenger compartment to discuss the mission ahead.
"Alright – let's get started. So, first of all, I know a little bit about ETC – or Eastern Tiger Corporation. They're one of the founding members of the Pacific Prosperity Group, and they're huge in Korea. Merges of Daewoo, Samsung, LG and a bunch of other corps. They're a double-A corp, but here… here we should treat them as if they're one of the Big Ten. They have a huge amount of sway in Korea, and a great deal of political clout. We certainly don't want to mess around with them."
"So you don't want to do the job?" Hunter exclaimed with exasperation. "You could have said while we were discussing with lard-boy!"
"No – I'm fine with the job. I just don't want to mess around. Like – don't take them for granted, or treat them like small-timers. They need to be handled with respect, and treated as carefully as breaking into an Ares, or Mitsuhama compound. We should do the job – but we need to be careful. ETC have massive reach in the unified Koreas, and probably employ more people than any other corp here. With the extra reach they have from being in the PPG, they probably aren't too far off triple-A status anyway, other than not having the seat on the corporate court."
"Alright. That's fair enough. I've found out what the package is by the way – this WN-49383-G-Alpha Mod 1 thing. Samsung have them listed in their corporate security catalogue, and it's a multi-spectrum sensor system that they fit into their Tiger class recon vehicles for the Korean army."
"Show me, please?" Shimazu asked, peering down at the screen as Hunter shunted the details over. "I've seen these before. In a mobile command centre, when we had some Korean dignitaries visiting the home islands. I had to check and co-ordinate our security forces. They're pretty good… but also very expensive, and I'd say almost impossible to get on the black market. Short of taking out a unit in the field, you're not going to get hold of one. That puts this very much in a sellers' market. Makes it a very believable cover for the secondary mission, but also has a pretty high value on its own." Shimazu considered for a moment, staring at the ceiling.
"I can't remember the exact details – I wasn't in the electronic security team. But I'd guess that these are going to go for a million Nuyen each, maybe more. So we're talking about four million Nuyen worth of gear that we're stealing from them, for what that's worth. They're likely to care at least a chunk about that, in terms of how hard they'll chase us or investigate this. How much of reward is what they're offering?"
"It's good. Very good. It's a custom-designed, mostly Japanese and Korean parts from what I saw, but not a build from an established company. All legit pieces though, and they look well optimised to work together." Hunter scraped at the side of his chin, his nails making a raspy sound as they ran over his rough skin. "If we wanted to buy this, from a fixer we know, we'd easily spend a mil on it. Maybe more, especially with the programs bundled with it. They're all good, useful stuff, and they're probably twice as powerful as what I run at the moment. I can do some serious work with this deck."
"Twenty-five percent of the reward from the job then – that is a generous payout. Though we also have to factor in the data from the primary job, and that is unknown. But that indicates that this will be a difficult endeavour, especially in light of what Kai said." Marius nodded to the team leader.
"Maybe – maybe not. I'm not saying simple… but we're not the usual run-of-the-mill Shadowrunners. We work differently. In some ways we're closer to a merc team." Aswon glanced around the rest of the group. "We've got access to firepower that a lot of people can only dream about, unparalleled mobility, excellent magical support. We could stage a frontal assault on a place like this and do some serious damage. I'm not saying we should, or that we will – I'm just saying that the kind of defences they have may not be exactly geared against us."
"Yeah – they haven't met a bunch of idiots like us – there's no telling what we'll do!"
"Speak for yourself, Kai," Hunter snorted. "But I take your point, Aswon. Marius can get us into the next valley over, for sure, without being spotted. We could hide there, and get up to the ridgeline for a couple of days' surveillance, no problem. Work out guard rotas, defences, stuff like that – without being seen or tipping them off. I can do recon like we did back in the temple valley, feed back the info. Then we can do a good sneak in, grab the data they need, and work out where the sensor systems are. If we needed to do a noisy snatch and grab on them, we could. Or if we can get them out quietly, but leave obvious signs, we can do that, too."
"Indeed. I feel that I will need to be with you, on the ground for this one – working on locks and electronic security, in the facility. At least for some part of the mission."
"I agree, Marius. We may need to split into two teams as well. Perhaps you and Hunter to go do the code steal, while the other four of us go find the sensor packages and get them ready to shift. Though I think that depends on what we find on site." Aswon looked at the grainy and blurry image available from the current map. "It's got a huge perimeter, so lots of access points. And it's likely to have a big workforce – but Kai is the only one that's going to be able to pass as Korean, I think, if he sculpts his face. Maybe you as well, Hunter? I really don't know what Korean orks look like…"
"I definitely need to learn Korean – fast. If I'm going to be using their computer systems to insert this worm, I've got to be able to read the info in the host."
"I'm guessing this will be like the prison in a way – lots of drones to cover the perimeter?"
"I would agree. Very similar. And if they have these sensor systems, they are installing them in military vehicles – so I would expect the site to be licenced for lethal responses. It will not matter that they are not a triple-A with extraterritoriality. If they are as big a deal as you say, Kai, they will be able to shoot first and then ask if there are any questions. We should expect a number of riggers – more than at the prison. I actually think the workforce will not be that large, and that there will be significant automation on the production lines, with meta-humans there to supervise or perform some tasks that are too difficult to manipulate easily. And that means having multiple riggers on site, and available."
"I agree. And inside, in an environment like that – perfect place to have a rail system for defence droids, zooming around to keep an eye on things. Outside, I would guess tracked drones, maybe some sheds or docking ports, like we saw with Novatech."
"Yes, Aswon. Condor drones or the like for surveillance of the perimeter. If they handle military and security contracts, then the onsite security guards will be carrying assault rifles and lightweight tactical body armour – soldiers in all but name, not submachine guns and lightweight body plates. Probably decent tactical radios, sights, maybe even battletac networks – that might be worth keeping an eye out for. And I would think like the Novatech headquarters, we will find segregated areas inside controlled by implanted RFID tags, decent biometric scanners and so on. All of those can be worked around, but they take time, and I can only be in one place at once."
"So we're going to be looking at good coverage on rigged systems, and probably decker coverage as well – what about magic?"
"Those buildings are quite large – I would not expect them to be warded, or at least not at a high force if they are. We would struggle to cover them, I think, and we have more magical power available than most… but I think that key areas inside will be well protected."
"Are we going to have bound elemental guards, things like that?"
"Probably, Marius. Things like that are expensive though, so I don't know how many we might be facing."
"Cost should not be a factor in our planning, this is a mega-corporation in all but name. They will operate on a level different to what we are used to thinking at."
"Are we going to face the same kinds of magical defences as elsewhere? I don't know much about Korea, other than the brief visits of Korean dignitaries to Japan, and that seemed to be fairly typical."
"Mostly the same, Shimazu – at least in this context, I think. I have heard stories in my travels about ancient Korean spirits that manifest and wander the land, and I remember hearing someone tell me about an entire village that has spirits for residents. They're like a bubble of frozen time, from centuries ago, living in a medieval style. Nobody knows why, and they've never found out, but it draws large numbers of tourists.
"That sounds cool. I'd like to go there." Aswon grinned, entranced by the idea of an entire village of manifested spirits just going about their days.
"Maybe once the job is done?" Kai suggested.
"So, we need to get over there, get close, do some recon. Identify the military and civilian sections of the factory. Find out the guard patterns, the depth of the security forces. Look for indications of air-gapped server rooms or hosts, secure facilities, things like that. I would imagine that the secure room is in the military section, as such things are somewhat expensive to build and shield – it is not just a case of not connecting them to the outside world, but of actively shielding the room to prevent communication leakage. Even for a mega-corp, such things are a costly endeavour."
"Hmm… I've been looking through the info that The Noodles has slugged over along with the map-coordinates. I'm not sure… apparently the data we're after might be in the civilian section. Look, watch this…"
He fed over a video to the screens, and the team watched as a glossy presentation played. Three dimensional animated graphics showed them a standard looking sedan car, then spun it around showing dozens of upgrade locations. The screen was rapidly filled with Korean text, though fortunately Hunter had found some appropriate subtitles to play alongside – though it was hard to keep up with the pace of the presentation. The graphics showed things like the installation of sturdy dividers between the front and rear compartments to separate the prisoner transport area from the front seats, the addition of gun-safes in the front and the trunk, improved braking, an electronic system that provided mounting points and power for police computers, radios and additional cameras for facial ID and vehicle barcode recognition, a photovoltaic panel covering the roof that fed to a battery system to boost the onboard power to cope with all the new hardware, improved seat-belts and a whole host of other minor tweaks to increase the value as a police vehicle.
The entire last third of the video, though, focussed on the work done on the two front doors of the vehicles, showing the installation of armour panels in the door itself, along with replacing the standard polarised windows with toughened bulletproof glass and a new feature that the company seemed to be exceptionally proud of, given that they showed it operating in now less than four different angles while the narrator started to sound more and more excited at the concept. It seemed to be another armour panel that could be triggered from either side of the vehicle that dropped out of the bottom of the door, covering the gap between the door and the ground. The virtual assailants fired a number of rounds into the armour, but the protection system was shown to keep the officers' feet safe and uninjured, before they returned fire and disabled the bad guys before exchanging high-fives and moving in to arrest the survivors.
"The data we're after is something to do with this package, so it says. Not the military systems – so I figure it's going to be stored somewhere on the production line for this lot."
"We may not want to hit the military side first, then. Or plan for our exit to be from that side of things, and possibly noisy – to cover activities elsewhere. Once we have located them, of course." Marius mused.
"Yeah – a distraction. Even if we just plant some squibs or demo on the wall or something to make it look like we exited that way, even if we've snuck out somewhere else." Aswon suggested.
"Do you have any information on Korean culture, Hunter – specifically on how they view metahumans?"
"They seem pretty tolerant, Tads. The country shows some really weird social trends. On one hand walking around with neon optic-fibre hair, subdermal tattoos and identifying yourself by your ranking on the leaderboard for Legends of Zangalore IV seems to be entirely normal, on the other hand there's weird bits of very conservative Confucian behaviour and a lot of respect shown for some customs and the more elderly part of society. I've been doing a quick scan, and there's actually very little signs of violence from the Awakening and Goblinisation – the country seems to have taken it in its stride and regarded things like orks and trolls as the returns of creatures from their ancient history. There's legends that go back over four thousand years, detailing warring kingdoms and strange events that suddenly made a lot more sense after you factor mages and giants into the mix, so it almost seemed like the Koreans were waiting for it. Either way, being an elf or a ork won't be the problem it would be in Japan or some other countries."
"What do they think of the Japanese, Hunter? And what do the Japanese think of them?"
"Well, the Japs helped the south reunite Korea, and were instrumental in defeating the north in the civil war. At the end of the war, the north is rumoured to have tried to nuke Japan – but nothing happened when they tried, so the stories go. But while there's a surface layer of gratitude towards Japan, there's some deep-seated resentment, and history, it seems. References to previous wars and occupations, but the details are a bit thin. There are Japanese task forces that patrol the south and east side of Korea fairly regularly though, and they've got some bases in Pusan. That might cause friction if they're rubbing people's noses in their presence…"
"Respect for authority is a big thing, then? Hope that's not going to be an issue for us." Aswon looked at Hunter, who returned his look with an innocent expression. "Come on – both of us are noted for not getting on with authority figures at times. Don't try to deny it." Hunter snorted at him, but didn't argue the point verbally, instead just sighing dramatically and moving on to something else on his deck, as if the comment wasn't even worth a response. A moment later though, Hunter stopped, staring off into the distance.
"Say… the data we're stealing. It's from the cop side of things, right. And the cops are getting fancy encrypted comms put in, so they can transmit arrest data and people searches back to base and stuff. What if what we're stealing is encryption keys?"
"That would explain why it must be done quietly." Marius saw the furrowed brows from Tads, but apparently had been expecting that. "When messages are encrypted… imagine they are translated into a language you do not understand. You can hear the transmission, but you cannot understand it. Only if you have the right code key – a person who speaks the same language at the other side – can you convert the code back into understandable messages."
"Right." Tads nodded in understanding so far.
"Ok – so if we steal the encryption key and pass it on to The Noodles – then it is like having an extra person who speaks the language – and can listen in, in the middle between the person sending, and the person receiving. But the really important thing is that because they are just listening – neither the sender nor the receiver can tell. It is a completely passive method, and cannot be detected. So someone could listen in on the police messages, and understand what it going on – and the police would never be able to tell, at least not directly."
"Not directly?"
"Well, if every time they got called to deal with an incident for a specific Korean crime ring they found that the criminals were always gone, and managed to escape any police chases, or always managed to have the right excuse or alias – eventually they would get suspicious about how they were being so lucky. And if they thought they were compromised, they could change the encryption."
"But doing that is probably a massive job, and difficult to co-ordinate." Hunter added. "What we're probably looking at here is the key for a factory diagnostic mode or low-level debugger." He saw the furrowed brows returning, and simplified his explanation. "It lets the builders do checks on the equipment. But to change it, they probably have to plug in to the radio system physically. On every single car. One after another. That could take months, and cost a huge amount of money – so it's not something they would do lightly."
"What's the value on information like that?" Kai asked.
"It depends. As Marius said – if you overuse it, it could trigger an alert or suspicion. But used carefully, it could be worth millions at the right time and place. Or it could be a low value safety net, that you just have in your back-pocket, just in case. It depends on how they use it. But potentially it is worth more than the physical sensor systems we're looking to steal. Not just something you can easily fence, and there's all kinds of mind games to factor in."
"Oh?" Kai looked curiously at Shimazu.
"Yes. If you buy the sensor system, it's a physical device. They had it, you give them money, now you have it. It's definitely yours to use. But an encryption key? Hunter could probably make a million copies of it in less time than it takes you to call a buyer. And if you buy the key, you don't know if you're the only person they're selling it to. If you are, and you're careful with it – you could use it for years, maybe even decades without it being detected. If they sell the code to a thousand people, you're relying on them all being careful with it – and it only takes on idiot to blow it, or reveal they have it – and then it triggers a code change, and makes it worthless for the other people. That's a huge risk, especially if you don't know how many other copies are being sold, or too whom."
"This could be a really tricky insertion, you know. Look at how much open space there is around the factories. Lots and lots of road and car park to cover, with nothing to hide behind. Probably cameras everywhere. Looks like a solid perimeter fence – typical double fence, I'd imagine. Can't really tell from this image, it's too blurry. Yeah – this could get interesting." Aswon squinted at the screen, as if adjusting his eyes could somehow magic some extra detail out of it. "Enhance?" he paused for a moment, then sighed as no extra detail appeared in response to his request. "Kai – you've got an arms dealer or smuggler around here somewhere, haven't you?"
"Yes, south side of the city. You think we need more firepower?"
"Maybe some special ammo. Or unusual stuff like flare grenades or things like that. Depends on what we need for distractions or cover."
"Hmm. Ok. Depends on what we find. Tads – are you able to do a quick flyby and have a look?"
"I could – but I would prefer not to. I was actually thinking of bugging Hunter and finding some other Eastern Tiger buildings, and going to do a flyby on those. Find out what kind of systems they might have, that are standard for the corporation. That way if I do get spotted, it's at a facility that we're not actually planning on breaking into, so it won't matter if the alarm is raised."
"That is a good point. An excellent point." Marius said, giving her an approving look. "Would you be happy to do a quick scout on the other side of the ridgeline though – along here?" He gestured on the map. "To check potential landing spots to see if there is anything that might cause us problems?"
"That I can do…"
While Tads was slumped, her spirit out racing across the sea, Marius turned to Hunter.
"Can you check with The Noodles, see if he has any leads on a local supplier of BattleTac systems that we could get hold of. Or IVIS – we need to add the units to our drones to get best use of them."
"Sure. Let me message him now."
"IVIS is a way for vehicles to network information from their sensors and swap their feeds and targeting information between them, and a master control unit. That can also interface with any BattleTac systems we wear or have implanted, and can rapidly share information over an area." He explained to Kai, getting a nod in return. "One of my drones could spot a target, and relay the information to Hunter, for instance, who could then fire his grenade launcher over the top of a building, or a wall at a target he could not see, and have an excellent chance of hitting it."
"The Noodles says yes – once we've done this job. And he's offering similar terms – if we do a job to get some equipment or data for him, he'll source the modules and master unit in return."
"Tell him we accept." Marius said bluntly, without even glancing at Kai or the rest of the team.
"Well, at least he seems to have some trust in us, if he's looking at potential future jobs." Aswon said brightly. "Means we might be able to get some gear from him as well, if we need it for this one. We should probably get our heads together and think about what we might need."
"It's only seven hundred klicks each way. Might not be super-efficient on fuel, but it's only about ninety minutes to get back here if we discover we do need something." Hunter pointed out.
"True enough, I suppose. Oh – if we are planning to do another job after this one – we need to watch the date. Don't forget that we agreed to do some mysterious job for the old man in a month or two. We don't know what it is, but I get the feeling that it's one of those things we need to do. He's shown up too many times in our lives for it to be a coincidence. I don't know what he is, or what his end goal is – but I don't think we want to get on his bad side.
"Hrumpf." Marius didn't look impressed at the idea of doing more mystical magical missions for strange old men – but he also knew better than to argue. Just because he didn't like magic and how it worked, didn't mean that he wanted to get on the wrong side of some mystical being that could ruin his life. "I suppose. More important at the moment though… I have just had a thought. I believe Daewoo also do shipbuilding?" He looked around but got shrugs from the others. "I am sure they do. At least lighter units – the Korean Navy version of the destroyers we ran into down in the Philippines for instance. That indicates an involvement in the Korean Military Industrial Complex that we should not overlook. It may indicate that with access to sensors of a grade to equip front line warships, things like perimeter sensors or drones may be considerably more competent than would otherwise be normal."
"Oh, frakking joy." Hunter grumbled. "Yeah – Daewoo shipping. Several docks and facilities around the southern side of the country. Like you said, mostly smaller units – not quite a brown water navy, not really blue either." He sighed, seeing the frown return to Tads' face. "Brown water is coastal only, or rivers and estuaries. Blue water is deep ocean, far from land. These ships could cross the Pacific maybe in terms of coping with the weather and sea conditions, but they're probably not equipped for it in terms of fuel capacity or ships' stores. So they can project power for a couple of hundred kilometres, but not across oceans. Won't make any difference in terms of where we run into them, though!"
"If they are producing their own destroyers and other naval units, but are also basing in proximity with visiting Japanese units that are trying to exert political power or influence, then I am sure that will only raise tensions. I am not sure if that helps or hinders us… but it will no doubt be a factor." Marius panned the map right a little, showing the relatively small distance to the closest part of Japan.
"The area we are looking at is somewhat rural. That is both good, and bad." Shimazu said quietly. "Good in that there will be few high-tech sensors to look for us, and limited local communications in some ways. Low population density, limited traffic. But bad in that many of the people will have lived in the area their whole lives. In this they are somewhat similar to the Japanese. Families are often sprawling affairs, with complex familial bonds and extended clans, with marriages as often having diplomatic factors as being for personal feelings. We will be noticed as outsiders."
"And treated badly?" Kai guessed.
"No – probably not. In fact, probably treated very well, and with respect and hospitality – at least as long as we are civil and polite. In fact we may well get treated too well, and have gifts and hospitality showered upon us, to welcome us – and that would generate a lot of contact that we might not want."
"Huh. First time we'll be worried about being loved too much." Kai grinned.
"Indeed. But the other part of a clan structure like that, is that once you are friends with a clan or family, that respect will be carried through the structure. If we help someone out, become respected and liked by someone in a family, then that will carry through to the other parts of the family. That respect or acceptance will transfer to others, and we could expect to have people willing to help us, or look after us. Equally, it works the other way. If someone helps us out, gets us out of trouble, and shows us generosity, then repayment will be to the clan or the family as a whole, not just to the person who helped us. Something to keep in mind."
"Alright, that's useful to know. Anything else?"
"We've sort of covered it already a little – but show respect to the elders or more senior members of the family. Age is often seen as going hand in hand with wisdom, and traditions are likely to be highly valued. Be careful who you disrespect, as that may really bite you in the ass later. But they will also be willing to accept you as an outsider with different customs. Probably be curious – but here at least it will be more interest rather than condescension – something my people could probably stand to learn from."
Tads twitched, then stretched as her spirit merged back into her body. After a few seconds of getting her mind back in sync with her flesh, she waited for make sure Shimazu had finished speaking, then filled in the team on her discoveries.
"There's a nice spot on the other side of the ridge. Looks big enough for the Broadsword, a good thirty metres across – though it's on a bit of a slope. I think there was a lightning strike or something, but all the trees are blasted out and burnt down, in a long patch that bends around a small bluff. Some smaller trees and low vegetation is regrowing now, but nothing too high. I didn't see any trails or paths coming through the area, so it should be nice and quiet, and I couldn't spot any large critters or magical beasts either. There's a farm about two hundred metres further down the ridge – might be a little close, but once we're landed there's thick woodland between us, and it's about the same distance to the top of the ridge as well, I think – so not too far to go. But good natural concealment, and if we stretch the camo nets over us, it should be perfect."
"Good stuff. Right – I suggest we stop for the moment, and take a break. Let's head out onto the access road and find one of those restaurants – and maybe actually try some Shanghai Noodles. Then we can head back here for a bit more planning and bed down – and work out when we're heading over to actually start our recon." Kai stood and grabbed his jacket, preparing to head out into the downpour and towards the neon filled sky that marked the edge of the city.