Children of The Spheres

Chapter 7: NATC Heist

Night smothers the NATC compound, shadows consuming everything but the distant city glow and the faint flicker of passing security drones. The air is cold, carrying a biting chill that cuts through my jacket, and the only sounds are the distant whirring of machinery and the occasional buzz of a passing drone. This compound doubles as a shipyard, so it's fairly far removed from the rest of New Eros.

Above us, the skeletal frames of Voyager and Voyager X transport frigates loom. Even unfinished, they dominate the sky, blocking out the stars. One day they'll be raised up to orbit, never to set down on-planet again—destined to roam the void, ferrying goods and souls to places most will never live to see.

A pang of longing hits me; Jace would have loved to see all this.

Shiro crouches beside me, his Spectras flickering as he scans the facility below. My stomach twists with anxiety. This is nothing like the gigs we used to run for Lorn. Corporate security is a whole different beast. Tighter. Smarter. More lethal. But we came prepared. We've got the tools, the skill, and desperation. That's gotta count for something.

"They've really locked this place down," Shiro whispers, unease in his voice. He taps his fingers restlessly on the grip of his handgun.

"Yeah." The hum in my neural matrix is doubled from having both my chips slotted at once: CipherCore for hacking, Nemesis for fighting—one for the job, the other in case everything goes to hell.

I notice my hands trembling slightly. Still not fooling myself, no matter how much I try.

Shiro glances at me. "You good?" His voice is low, concern etched in his eyes. Shiro's always been the steady one, the optimist. I'm the one who overthinks, who hesitates. Damn if I'm not proving it right now.

"Don't worry about me. I'm ready." I clench my fists, nails digging into my palms, grounding myself. I have to be. There's no second chance here.

"Well, the archives are there," he says, pointing at one of the smaller buildings. "Spotted the server room through one of the windows."

Once again, his optics prove more useful than my own augs. This little infiltration will change that. We start our descent, slipping down the ridge toward the shipyards. Each step is careful and measured, the distance between us and the building closing slowly as we move. My heart thunders in my chest, each beat echoing in my ears, every crunch of gravel underfoot impossibly loud.

The chip pulses—I reach out mentally, probing the local network. I can feel the signal brushing up against the edge of my consciousness, like dipping my hand into a current, letting it pull me deeper. Doubt creeps in, whispering that I'm not ready—that I'm in over my head. I shove it aside.

Data floods in, an overwhelming rush of raw code that hits me like a tidal wave. For a second, I almost lose my balance, my head spinning from the overload. Focus, Ander. I grit my teeth, forcing the CipherCore to parse through the noise, trimming away the static until I can breathe again. Security protocols flare up—firewalls, layered thick. NATC's not messing around.

We duck behind the landing gear of an Atlas freighter. Metal cool against my back, I catch my breath. We're playing with fire, and any misstep could burn us alive. A drone buzzes overhead, its scanner sweeping only a few meters from us. It pauses, hovering, as if sensing something amiss. My heart nearly stops as I hold my breath, every muscle coiled tight, until it finally moves on.

"Shit," I exhale, finally able to breathe.

"So, what's the plan?" Shiro whispers, his voice tight. I can hear the edge in it, even if he's trying to hide it.

"Working on it." I close my eyes, diving back into the digital maelstrom. Come on, Ander. You've done this before. The first firewall looms before me—shimmering, shifting like a living thing. Gotta find a crack. The chip suggests a backdoor, but it's risky, untested. Screw it. I deploy a bypass script, threading it through a tiny gap. The firewall wavers. An alarm pings—a minor security protocol activating, but it doesn't stop me.