96 Chapter 95

After a slight diversion with some pirates, we finally found ourselves orbiting Halgaz. A garden world by technically only. One half of the planet has incredible bio-diversity if a bit arid. The other half is covered in a permanent storm and every 72 hours the two flip. The local flora and fauna evolved around this, but to everyone else, it's a nightmare. Our target is an enormous sub-orbital ship continually flying at the center of the planet-wide storm. In order to avoid environmental hazards, we quickly descend toward our target.

Our ship's communication system is pinged as we approach. Specifically checking for a proper IFF tag. Mentally I intercept the request from our system and send back a positive response. I don't know the proper IFF code so I can't properly respond with it. I can however trick their system into thinking it did receive the right IFF code. It won't last long, but depending on how automated the system is we should have enough time to board safely.

That estimation was put to the test as we flew past the base's many defenses. We looked like we were in the clear as our docking procedures we're being finalized. That's as far as the quite approach got us. Alarms all around us started blaring, so Suki had to force through the docking procedures for us to get off of Factory Defect.

Rushing out of our ship we were met with immediate opposition. That opposition came in primarily 4 forms. Mercs of various races and layouts wearing uniform black and white armor, Turrets, security bots, and YMIR Mech Suits were all scattered through the base. Due to environmental hazards, ship breaches can be catastrophic. This is even more true for the Shadow Brokers base where too much damage to certain ship systems will turn off the electrical dispersal keeping the ship from being damaged by the storms. The necessity for keeping the ship intact limited security forces to conventional weapons. High ordinances and explosives were strictly off-limits. While the security forces we're limited to conventional weapons our arrival has tipped off their digital security as well. Suki's and my attempts to switch the targeting parameter shut down mechs, and other disruptive measures were stopped in their tracks.

That left us with an open combat scenario. We hunkered down behind cover slowly advancing as we eliminated security forces. Turrent and Mechs are surprisingly the easiest to deal with. Turrets are stationary and it only takes a few moments of concentrated fire before they're destroyed. Mechs are very large armored suits and they are incredibly resistant. Which is why I was so surprised at how effective biotics are. Toph and I with concentrated biotic effort could rip and crush mechs completely neutralizing them. Suki's biotics just aren't powerful enough to do the same. Despite the ease at which we could disperse the mech suits, doing so used a significant portion of our biotic focus/energy. The rest of our biotics went into creating and maintain personal barriers. The three of us all had advanced armor with shields, but we increased the defense even further by layering a biotic barrier.

With the Turrets and YMIR Mechs handled, our major problem is dealing with the mercs and bots. The bots are just worse mercs, so all of the problems we have dealing with the mercs we also have dealing with the bots to a lesser extent. The mercs are quick and varied. They have a mix of tech, biotic, combat skills, and weapons making it hard to plan and counter them. However, while the mercs had a diverse quantity of skills they lacked a quality of skills. Most of them are very good, but not elite and certainly not at our level. Suki is especially helpful when dealing with the mercs with her combination of sniping and tech abilities. Despite the difference in skill they begin to overrun us over time. At first, our barriers occasionally drop, then our shields begin to flicker, and finally, cuts and bruises cover our bodies. But still, we push forward. Our biotics slow and our ammo reserves dwindle, but still, we push forward. We finally reach the door to the inner sanctum but are locked out. Using a final push of biotic might we cave in the door.

Inside is a large circular chamber surrounded by monitors, screens, and computers. At the center is a throne with a Yagh sitting on it, a 7 foot tall, eight eyed, hulking beast. It stands angrily

"I will" is all it gets out before I blood bend its brain dropping it to unconsciousness in an instant. Toph and Suki turn to look at me as he falls.

"What we couldn't be sure he didn't have a fail-safe or dead man switch. If we want we can talk after we secure the base and network."

While Toph keeps watch over the fallen broker as well as the door behind us, Suki and I make our way over to the command center. Digital security by necessity has several inherent flaws. For instance, this command terminal needs to be accessed regularly, which means it needs to be accessed quickly or else spend a significant amount of time unlocking it each time. Usually, for most people, this is a password, but with modern decryption tools, the passwords themselves are irrelevant. The only thing that matters is the encryption program. There are two types of encryption programs, static which is a single encryption program, and active which are several programs managed by a VI. The first is vulnerable to single-point failure, but the second is vulnerable to me.

With enough processing power and enough sophistication, it is easy to overwhelm an active encryption. Once through his password, we tripped a security alarm and had 60 seconds to provide biometric data and a physical key or be locked out. Which would have been more difficult had the body of the Shadow Broker hadn't been so cooperative. The Shadow Broker required either handprint as well as a key he kept on his person. Which seems like an oversight, but locking yourself out because the security was too good is equally bad.

Now with unrestricted access to his network, it was a simple task to flip ownership to Suki, Toph, and I. We shut down the alarms for the remaining security forces and issued an all-clear.