Blackmail

Two hours later, Burns had digested all the information Jimmy stole. It was a truly shocking amount of data. Hector had a large number of fairly advanced cybernetic implants, including an Aceron Multipurpose: Rising Star cerebral model for data processing and storage. Everything Hector felt with his five senses the Rising Star stored, so long as the algorithm running it deemed that information relevant. As a result, Jimmy was able to acquire a prodigious amount of useful information.

The list of Jacks that had been interviewed by Hector today was one such example. He'd spoken to over a couple dozen people, however all of the people who accepted the job were newbies, risk-takers, or ill-reputable. Hector'd been telling the truth when he said he was looking for expendable people. The only exception was Steam Jack Donovan. To Burn's surprise, he learned that Donovan actually owed Hector a favor, which was why he'd agreed to the job, although he'd also haggled for a better reward.

Aside from info on the other Jacks, Burns also checked out the information Hector had on the job. It wasn't much more detailed than what Burns had already been told, a resource extraction and combat mission with expected competition from other megacorps, nations, and freelancers.

By far the most interesting tidbit Burns learned was about Hector's Rising Star. Although it was setup to delete all stored data, a trojan program had been installed on the Rising Star.

This trojan actually recorded and transmitted all of Hector's stored data, unfiltered by the normal algorithm, to a separate Aceron employee, a Mila D. Harding. Interestingly enough, the trojan didn't seem to have been authorized by Aceron Multipurpose, as the megacorp had an even more invasive, 'official' spying program, one built into the Rising Star itself.

Burns found this very promising. In Aceron, loyalty to the corporation was prized above all else in employees. The executives might not need to play by the rules but everyone who wasn't an exec did. "Jimmy" Burns said in his mind, "I'm going to try blackmailing this Mila Harding woman. Think you can set that up?"

"Jeez boss, way to dump more work on me! I mean, yeah, I can do it but it'll be a real pain. Give me a few days and I'll be able to get her info without anyone knowing the better. Still, I don't see why you need to blackmail this lady anyway? She isn't going to be any help on the job, seeing how we're supposed to be briefed tomorrow."

"I don't want to blackmail her for this job; I just want you to start making preparations. Having someone on the inside of Aceron I can twist to my own designs could prove rather useful down the line. Besides, who knows how long this one will actually take. If we're in the field for long enough, being able to blackmail an Aceron employee could matter. Just get it done."

"Okay, Okay, I gotcha."

While Jimmy got to work, Burns began compiling a list of every gene mod he knew Aceron had for consideration. Even though he was sure he'd also be offered some gene mods that weren't on the market, he still wanted to make preparations straight away. Once he'd finished his list, Burns stopped for the night.

Later the next day, Jacob Lender found himself looking around the briefing room nervously. He'd already come to regret snapping up a chance at this job when the Aceron rep had offered him a spot. A million Aceron Credits, plus a seventy percent discount on Aceron goods for a month? It seemed incredible. Now though, Jacob realized how big of a deal this was.

A few hundred Jacks were seated in the briefing room's rows of chairs by Jacob's estimates. Even a newcomer to the scene like Jacob could tell that although the number of Jacks here was impressive, only a tiny handful of people in this room were successful veterans. Most of the people here were the dregs of the local Jack community.

In his heart, Jacob knew what most of the Jacks in this room were. They were cannon fodder. Pawns meant to spill their blood solely for Aceron's benefit, without any hope of survival. After all, no one hired Jacks in the hundreds for a small job and he was told up front there'd be fighting with other groups hoping to claim the same resource.

As terrified as he was, Jacob focused. Right now the best thing he could do would be to absorb all the information offered during the briefing. After that . . . well, he'd have to come up with something.

A few minutes passed as the last stragglers found leftover chairs or a stretch of wall to lean against. By the time everyone had assembled, the room was packed even more than before. At the front of the room, a holographic display winked into existence, revealing the figure of a Nobody.

"Greetings everyone. Let's get right to it shall we? All 212 Jacks in this room have been hired for a job of great importance to the Aceron Multipurpose Megacorporation. All information discussed here is eyes only. Information leakage will be dealt with swiftly.

Now, allow me to provide some background. As everyone here knows, over a decade ago an alien spaceship appeared in Earth's orbit and released two waves of energy. These were the Shifts, which led to the widespread magical mutations we've come to accept as normal today. Afterwards, this ship disappeared.

From the first day Aceron Multipurpose Megacorporation was founded, investigating this ship has been a priority. Very soon, that goal will be realized. Only three days ago, the same ship reappeared for a few short milliseconds, in the exact same location it was all those years ago. Since then, it has been appearing and disappearing with increasing regularity.

Our analysts at Aceron believe that this ship never actually left Earth's orbit. They believe that what's happening now is a malfunction of the ship's stealth technology. Based off of their estimates, the ship will be completely revealed approximately twenty hours from now.

Most major megacorporations and nations with space flight capability will be competing with us to explore this vessel. There's no room for negotiation here. This ship's technology and data can belong only to Aceron!"

There was a short period of silence before the seated Jacks went crazy, shouting questions over each other in a mad scramble to absorb this statement. Jacob tuned it all out. He sat in his chair glumly, realizing the pit he'd jumped into was far deeper than he'd feared. Things would not go well for him.

While the briefing continued, Burns found himself in an Aceron medlab, the kind he'd spent far too much of his childhood in. When he'd arrived it had been agreed he'd need to have the gene mods implanted as soon as possible, given how little time was left before the mission started. He'd simply have to make do with a recording of the briefing.

As he stared at the sterile room with its white walls and one-way glass observation window, he laughed. He'd walked into his own personal hell of his own volition. Once, walls like these would have left him shivering in fear. Now though, it was just a room. How he'd changed.

"Jimmy, can you double-check all the data will be erased after the gene mods are installed? I don't mind them finding out I deleted all the data, my research files' personality report and Hector's interview should make them believe me to be plenty paranoid. What's most important is making sure they don't find out about you. If they knew you existed, we'd be running from Aceron for the rest of our lives. Dealing with Milestone and the Union is already bad enough."

"No problems here boss, I quadruple-checked everything. They had some fairly high-tech spying equipment but I cracked it like a walnut. We can even leave behind false data if you want."

"No, when they inevitably find out the data's false, they'll realize whoever tampered with their data was more of an expert than me. I want them to have the impression I'm working alone, so just make it look brute-forced."

"Sure, alrighty then. In that case, we're good to go. I'll start things up now."

While he lay back on the medlab's operating table, Burns thought about his choices. As he'd expected the day before, the list of gene mods he'd been offered included several mods he'd never seen before. They'd even offered him experimental projects but he wasn't going to touch those with a ten foot pole. His dark, red skin was just one of the milder side effects his old experimental gene mods had given him.

The four mods Burns selected were all trustworthy, proven products. The Efficient Digestion gene mod would alter his stomach, allowing him to eat a much wider variety of foods, as well as limiting the amount of waste he produced. Combined with the High-Speed Regeneration mod he already had, which required burning massive amounts of calories to heal major injuries, his ability to survive had already gone up.

The Flame Regeneration mod would only further add to his survivability. With it, heat from fires and other heat sources could be transformed into a healing energy. On its own the effect wasn't remotely comparable to High-Speed Regeneration but with both Burns expected a synergistic effect.

The third mod, Danger Precognition, was a questionable choice. It would alert him to any threats he detected two seconds into the future. The issue with this mod was that it wouldn't aid him against ambushes; he'd be warned only of threats he was already going to detect anyway. Still, Burns felt those two seconds were too valuable to pass up on.

The final gene mod Burns picked was the Amplified Reaction mod. He already had Burst Focus, which shared a similar function, but where Burst Focus could only be used twice a day safely in exchange for a massive effect, Amplified Reaction would permanently increase his reaction speed. Even though the reaction speed boost would be close to the boost from Burst Focus, he was once again hoping for a synergistic effect.

Now all he had to do was survive the gene mods' installation. As he lay on the medlab's operating table, looking up at the sleek, metal arms of the surgery mech which extended down from the ceiling, he idly wondered if this was hubris or genius. He wasn't too worried about dying, not when he already had had three successful gene mod installations in the past. Hell, he was one of the first human beings to survive gaining multiple Internal Magics through genetic manipulation, back when this shit was all new. No, what worried him was the possibility of monstrafication. How many other children had he seen go through monstrafication after receiving one too many gene mods? Even after becoming an Erratic he'd kept his sanity, survived till now, but what if? What if he really did monstrify? No one retained a scrap of sanity or intelligence after such a transformation. Even someone as unique as him would almost certainly be no different. As the anesthetic kicked in and his consciousness faded away, Burns relaxed. He'd always survived by taking risks. If he died or monstrified, so be it.