[Work Journal #2] Recon
Mission: Recon
Rating: N/A
Synopsis: Nova's been hired for a spy mission
Word Count: 853 words
She slipped out from the cover of the bushes, silent. The rings in her suit were cool inhibiting their glow completely to allow her to work within the shadows. But once she cloaked, uncloaking would be a problem. But that would be a hurdle to cross later. Right now she focused her attention on the bunker before her. Apparently, a large syndicate had taken control when the Terran Confederacy had vacated it, coming into possession of a considerable amount of obsolete, but still dangerous firepower. Firepower that the Sons of Korhal wanted to get their hands on.
She switched her goggles to infrared, scanning the area slowly. As expected, the compound was heavily guarded, turrets, guard towers, dogs, and ditches everywhere. They probably had Vulture mines as well. This area was well known for Zerg attacks, it always paid to be careful. What she needed, the blueprints of the bunker itself, were probably located inside the main observation room. Once inside, getting there wouldn't be a problem, bunkers seldom had heavy security inside. The problem would be getting inside, past the guards and dogs, and mines, and turrets. The dogs would be the biggest threat, even if she cloaked they'd be able to smell her.
She paused. Was that a Firebat she saw? The thermals were high enough. The Confederacy had left a Firebat suit lying around? What idiocy. She sighed, the problems just kept piling up. Well, no time like the present, she decided. Concentrating, she put forward a burst of Psionic Speed, amplifying her body's ability to the point where she was a mere blur flitting across the dark plain toward the high fence. A yard away she jumped, turning a backflip to avoid the laser grid atop the fence, before touching down lightly on the ground. Practically invisible, she slid into the darker shadows beneath a stack of crates.
Sixty yards to the doorway, thirty seconds. Ten seconds to hack past the door's security matrix, and extra twenty seconds as a precaution for mines or dogs. One minute, maximum to get inside. Glancing at the faintly glowing screen of her gauntlet she pulled up the timer. She looked around the side of the crates before hitting the start button on the timer and sprinting for the door. The thermals in her goggles clearly showed her the mines under her feet. Buried too shallow she thought. Dodging them easily she ducked around a guard and into the doorway. An elbow to the back of his neck and a hand over his mouth effectively silenced him. Placing her gloved hand on the scanpad she let her suit do the hack-work. After eight seconds, the door slid open quietly. She stopped the timer.
Forty-seven point oh-six seconds. A new record. She smirked, let the Ghosts at the Academy beat that. Hitting a stud in her gauntlet, she let the suit's rings heat up, glowing a bright blue within seconds, before they spread the invisibility field over her. At this time of morning, the bunker was deserted inside, all the men in their barracks. Besides, this was a syndicate, not the military. She could have dispensed with the cloaking field and simply have walked straight to the observation room, but propriety and training. Even if she couldn't see them, there were probably cameras if not motion activated alarms scattered throughout the area.
As such the silent bunker proved hardly a challenge, barely five minutes later she was back at the doorway, blueprints in a data-capsule in her gauntlet. She opened the door, sure that no guard was nearby she sprinted for the fence, leaping off the ground again and landing lightly on the other side. She chuckled darkly, seeing the Firebat come to life when he heard the noises she made.
'Who's there?!' He called into the dark.
She shook her head, pulling a scrambler from her pack and throwing it in a high arc over the fence. It lodged onto his armor, the padded underside barely making a sound on the metal. She grinned fiercely, moving through the brush back to her hidden hover-bike. It started silently and she kicked off, counting to three in her head. When she hit three, an explosion rocked the ground around her and she laughed.
"Bye bye Firebat."
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A few hours later, the security system to her apartment powered down and she stepped in, setting her weapons in the rack nearest the door. She pulled the data-capsule from her pack, dropping it onto the table, before hitting another stud in her armor. It powered down with a quiet hum, before the pressurized seals hissed open. She slid slowly out of it, before pulling at the back of her skin suit, opening the hidden seam and slipping out of it. That done, she set her 'working clothes' on the mannequin she'd bought and walked over to the shower.
She stood under the cold water for a long while, going over the mission in her head, step by step. No mistakes, nothing that could be traced back to her. She sighed. One word came to mind.
Boring.