Ghost in the City

That night I parked the Quadra a long way from the marina, and spent a good walk down the sidewalk.

I wasn’t wearing my normal gear either. I was in my Section 9 outfit, including the ninja mask. Which would have earned me some weird looks walking down the street in Night City, but it was late, and I was purposefully avoiding attention. The few cameras that could have spotted me as I walked down the street were hacked and turned off.

It’s not like I cared if someone at Pawn Shop noticed someone turning off their camera.

As long as it didn’t spot me.

As long as I wasn’t spotted.

I reached the Marina. The main entrance on foot was two large stone staircases leading to the high end super expensive parking lot. The sort of place that had parking meters costing ridiculous amounts of eddies to park to keep out the riff raff.

Unless you were in the club of course.

But I bypassed that. As always the biggest weakness in a security system wasn’t the lock, but the material the lock was attached to.

You see the marina had a locked down entrance way. With barricades and an actual security room with a guard sitting there to refuse the riff raff access.

But the marina was overlooked by a large office building. I was pretty sure it was actually customs. Or a shipping corpo building, but I wasn’t sure who owned it.

But it didn’t matter because a bit higher up than a normal person would be able to jump there was a long walkway that went along the entire building looking over the marina. Some architecture worker had designed it probably intending to let overworked peons go out on the walkway for some fresh air.

Of course that would require the people in charge to have installed an actual doorway to the porch.

They had not.

So there was a visual walkway just… There.

Despite the heavy traffic of Skyline St west, behind me. No one noticed a shadow leap up and easily slide over the large glass barrier around the walkway.

The inside of the building was dark. No one was around. Like I said. It was 3am. Not every corp required people to have night shifts. I still stayed low and practically crawled across the concrete. Shimmying all the way over the marina until I was on the back end of the Marina.

There was zero security on the back end of the marina.

No one was crazy enough to just jump into the ocean around the city after all!

I used a well placed palm tree to reach the floor. Which was nice, because on the back side I was probably three floors off the ground.

It would have been a painful landing.

And now all I had to do was find a security room.

I came up from the back of the Marina. The multiple cafes and bars only gave me cover as I came up from behind one of them avoiding the few drunks that were still active this late. ʀáΝôᛒËS

The security was also quiet, most of them sitting around, or I noticed to my amusement hanging out inside one of the bars flirting with the pretty bartender.

I noticed it. The back end of what I had thought was a bar actually had a security room. Better yet?

It had an open window in the room that would allow someone to walk up to the security officer to ask for help.

No glass, or window.

There was a guard though.

Hmm.

I tucked myself away. Hiding in between the drop off of the pier and a plant, with a perfect view of the guard.

I just needed him to move.

But I had time.

There was no cameras looking at me. And there was no one that could see me. The few times someone got close. I just tipped myself off the edge of the pier, and hung on until they walked past.

Chrome arms don’t get tired.

Eventually the guard inside got up from the computer and stretched walking out and across the path to the bar. I watched him slip into the bathroom.

I ran.

Leaping through the open window before the bathroom door had even fully closed. I collected myself making sure there was no one else inside, that I hadn’t attracted any attention. Once I was sure, I turned to the large computer system. I jacked in.

The security here was tight, but the moron hadn’t locked his computer when he went to the bathroom.

I was in the system in seconds, downloading the file to a shard. I was downloading all of the camera records of the last month. It would give me everything I needed, but the camera records was a big file. I kept calm, immobile, watching as the numbers ticked up. Checking through other files, I noticed a list of the yachts harbored, and who owned them. I added that to the shard as well.

The bathroom opened. I caught it out of the corner of my eye, but now I was focused.

Fuck.

I kept watch, peeking out the window just waiting. The guard stopped to chat with a coworker, even grabbed a drink from the bartender that had been flirted with for the last hour. But this guy wasn’t going to intrude, drink in hand he started walking back to his workplace.

Double fuck.

The numbers ticked up.

He walked closer. It was going to be close… No, I realized. I didn’t have time. I tsked, considered my options and grabbed a can from the desk and chucked it out the window.

It clattered into the bushes across the path and the noise caused the guard to slow his walk and look over.

Of course those were also the bushes I had been hiding in before, but I needed a few moments.

He walked over and noticed the can looking around he ended up looking up. There was a lounge on top of the security office I was in. So he probably just assumed somebody threw it from up there. Shaking his head he started making his way back to his little office.

I was done. Unjacking my personal link, I waited for him to open the door and start moving into his little guard room. I leapt back through the window silent as a ninja and raced to the waters edge. I quickly leapt over the edge of the pier grabbing onto the concrete and disappearing into the shadows.

I didn’t hear anything and danger sense hadn’t even prickled.

I hung there for a while just to make sure. And only once I was, did I relax, but I wasn’t done just yet. Just because I had the data didn’t mean my fact finding gig was over.

I pulled open the copy of camera data and checked the time that the scavs would have arrived.

There were a few cameras in the area, but thankfully a few of them were pointed at the parking lot. I watched through the small screen as I hung there off the side of the pier. Water lapping gently against the concrete half a dozen feet below me.

They drove right up to the security checkpoint, got waved through after a brief check and drove in.

I moved to the next camera watched as they drove through the little dock area talking to the security post that I just leapt out the window from and that opened the second security gate letting them drive closer to the dock and start to unload.

They carried the crates out onto the dock and dropped them off right on the pier and then left.

The fuck?

I kept watched skipping hours at a time to try and find what happened to the crates. Suddenly they vanished, and I went back finally finding what I was looking for. Some crate bots rolled up, picked up the crates and rolled them onto one of the yachts.

The big stupid looking black military-ish one we had noticed this morning. Or rather I suppose I should call it Neo-Militarism?

I mean it did stick out like a sore thumb. Looking like some stealth boat.

I glanced over my shoulder looking right at it.

I checked the records and had to snort at the name of the yacht.

Who the hell named a fancy shmancy luxury yacht the GEIshhhhA?

I started shimmying heading across the concrete towards the wooden docks.

Sure there were still some workers around but none were going to be able to spot me. I climbed back over the edge, raced over the wooden dock, and slipped over the edge of the boat without a noise.

Their wasn’t much to see. It was all black and sharp angles, but the stairs leading down into the yacht were open.

It was a… Ew.

The smell told me everything. It stank of human sweat and other things. Drugs were laying all over the place. Money rolls and alcohol spilled everywhere.

Was this a scav boat or not!?

What the hell was going on here? I moved through the club like atmosphere just glad no one was here.

And doubly glad there weren't any cameras around.

I reached the other end and saw there were two doors both locked. One was connected to the inside of the room, the other outside on the back of the boat.

The one outside looked like it led upwards, which was probably the bridge. The other inside led down.

Which is where I would put money on the crates being.

This wasn’t going to be easy. The door wasn’t a normal lock and was actually heavily secured. I would need to breach into the system to get it to open.

I pulled the personal link out of the back of my neck and slipped it into the door jack.

The security was strong.

Really strong. This ICE wasn’t just off the shelf stuff. If I tried to breach it, I was definitely going to set off an alarm.

But I was stealthy and sneaky. I started working my way around the security, instead of trying to bash down the ICE. The door used a biomon scanner, and that scanner took in data. So I was able to ‘trick’ it into grabbing data byte by byte that would when put all together turn into a virus that would add me to the registry.

It was just gonna take a while. I checked the time.

3:47 Am.

I had some time still… Hopefully.

In the end whatever party usually took place on the yacht, it wasn’t happening tonight. It was quiet for the two hours it took to finally get enough data in that the sensor registered me as an allowed contact.

The door poofed open.

It was a small staircase leading into the yachts hold. The small lights around the hold gave me enough light to see crate after crate lining the hold. I walked up to the first one, and wasn’t surprised at what I found when I popped it open and checked the boxes inside.

Chrome.

Lots. And lots of chrome.

Jackpot.

I put it back for now, and headed back up to the deck. This time I slipped into the bridge, since I was already in the registry. Thankfully it was empty. Just massive computer systems that ran the boat and kept everything ready.

Of course it was mostly powered off thanks to being in a marina.

I took a few pictures of everything, and since I was on the bridge and already had access, did a quick dive just to download the records of the boat.

And to see if it had any security I had missed.

Thankfully the man who owned the yacht used it as a party boat, so the security that could have given me trouble was all turned off.

I pulled out.

There was nothing else I could do here. At least we got confirmation on the chrome. Now we just needed a plan to get everything out of here without alerting the billionaire yacht club we were doing it.

Getting back was an easy enough task. I retraced my footsteps until I reached the rear of the Marina. Then I just climbed back up the palm tree to reach the third floor pathway sauntering back the way I came without any difficulty.

—---

The next morning everyone met up at the basement, I had once again stopped at the diner and grabbed some food so we were having a work breakfast.

“Wow. Look at all those crates!” Ichi said eyes wide as he stared at the pictures of the hold.

“That’s not a tiny stack of eddies. I don’t even know if I could sell that much chrome.” Hiromi said looking a little daunted by the task ahead of her.

“Don’t count the chrome yet. We still need to figure out a way to get it off the ship and out of the marina. The place's security is crazy.” I reminded them by pointing at the many checkpoints and security systems they had set up.

“Okay… Can we get a smaller boat and have it come up in the night take the crates and delta?” Malcolm asked with a shrug.

“Where would we even get a boat?” Hiromi asked while shaking her head. “I can ask around, but I’m not sure we could find something big enough to even hold the crates.”

“So we need a truck… Or.” It hit me then.

It wasn’t like I wanted this asshole who helped scavs, or was a scav, I hadn’t figured that out yet. To not be massively inconvenienced by this.

“How about we steal the ship.”

Everyone looked at me.

Then to the pictures of the bridge, or the boat in general.

“Can we?” Malcolm asked, part actual worry, and part hope.

“I actually… Don’t know.” I said frowning, sure I had the driving skill, but that wasn’t the same thing as sailing.

There was only one way to find out.

“I have a lot of the boats systems downloaded. I’ll see what I can find out… Ichi, Malcolm. If we steal the boat, we will need a place to dock it to offload everything. Preferably outside of the city but close enough we can try to beat the NCPD, or worse that will want to stop us. Can you both go scout for a good place. Remember it will have to be deep enough for the yacht to get there.”

“Yeah… Yeah we can do that.” Ichi said confidently, Malcolm nodding along.

“Hiromi. Go through the data we have. Find out who the owner of this yacht is… I don’t want to end up pissing off some Arasaka executive or something without even knowing.”

“Okay I’ll figure it out!”

“I… I think… I have an idea on how to do this. I’ll need to make a call.” I told them, standing up and stepping away.

Time to call in a debt.

—--

I ended up needing a face to face.

Heading out into the badlands in my Quadra was always fun. She did seem to just run better on the dusty streets leading out of Night City. This was what she was made for after all.

The Nomad camp had moved since I last saw them, which wasn’t a surprise. Thankfully it was only about a four hour drive to reach them.

As I pulled up outside the Aldecaldos camp I was surprisingly greeted with happy smiles and waving hands.

“Motoko! Hey kid, how’ve you been?” One man called out, someone I recognized from our last visit as the man who cooked the delicious BBQ I had eaten.

I could feel my tongue lick my lips as I remembered.

“Nelson! Nice to see you!” I called back, getting a smile in turn, for remembering his name, and to my surprise it was like that throughout. As I walked towards where I would find Saul.

The man was resting back in a lawn chair among a fire when I saw him. To my happiness not only was Saul there, but Scorpion and Panam were sitting around.

“Hey! Scorpion, Panam! Good to see you! Saul. Thank you for being willing to hear me out.”

“Not every day someone sends me a picture quite like the one you did.” He said and I nodded.

I had sent him a picture of the hold full of crates loaded with chrome.

“What’s going on Motoko. Saul has been tight lipped.” Panam asked, looking eager and I nodded, settling into a seat that Saul offered.

“I’ve been hitting scav dens for loot.” I explained with an evil smirk on. “It’s easy, gets rid of scum, and brings in some good income. But I was checking out a den I found on the net, the morons fucked up their security. Their cameras were saving their recordings, and had been for months.”

Saul leaned in instantly figuring it out. “You were able to see what they did with the chrome? I always did wonder.”

“Yeah. They loaded it all up into vans and took it deeper into the city. Towards City Center. I ended up tracking them to their destination. That’s what the picture I sent you was.”

“You found where the scavs were storing their stolen chrome!” Panam nearly shouted looking at me in shock.

“I found where at least this group of scavs were storing their chrome. I don’t have the whole picture. I don’t know why they are storing it on a yacht. I mean I can guess they are intending to take it out, but it’s not that sort of yacht. I don’t think it would survive an ocean cruise.”

“Definitely not. Not unless you’re sailing in an Arasaka Super Cruiser.” Saul said with a snort.

“Anyway. The yacht is docked at a super secure marina. It’s gonna be nearly impossible to try and pull the crates off the yacht with a truck. We considered getting another boat just sailing up and transporting everything over, but that would be easily noticeable, and finding a boat that can hold that much chrome?”

“Not likely. AV wouldn’t work either.” Scorpion mentioned as his mind removed possibilities.

“Which is why I thought… Why not steal the whole yacht?”

Saul was looking at me with an upraised eye. Scorpion had a growing smile on his face, and Panam had the look of a women eyeing a big payday.

“Sounds like it could work. It would be tough. Stealing a yacht like that? Not like lifting a truck.”

“Right. Plus as soon as that thing starts moving people are going to notice, so the clock starts. So I thought to myself. Motoko. What group of people do you know that you could trust that might be willing to help set up a secure area in the badlands to offload everything into vehicles and get it moving before something like the NCPD would show up.” I said ending my words with a big wave of my arms at the nomads.

“I don’t think we can help.” Saul said after a few moments of seeming to consider it.

“What? Saul!”

“Hey Saul!?” Both Panam and Scorpion tried to argue but he raised his hand and both went quiet.

That’s right. This was before the whole Panam/Saul conflict that happened in a year or so. Panam still respected Saul, and wasn’t basically running from the Aldecaldos due to their differences in opinions.

“It would bring a lot of heat down on us. Maybe even too much. Not just the NCPD, and whoever this corpo is that owns the yacht. Imagine what will happen once the Raffen figures out what we did, and they will.”

I frowned. I hadn’t considered the Raffen angle.

“Bullshit! We should do this! Imagine all the eddies that will flow in we get a piece of that much chrome!”

“Easy Panam. Easy.” Scorpion argued but Panam was on her feet.

“Saul!”

“Panam. Enough. We won’t take part. It’s too dangerous.” Saul denied firmly. He turned to me as Panam was forced to stand there in defiance. “Sorry Motoko. This isn’t something we can take part in.”

“No worries. I get it. I hadn’t considered what the Raffen would do if they caught the scent of that much chrome.” I would actually need to figure out what to do about that. It would be a long drive back into the city with our trucks full of loot. Plenty of time for some Raffen to hunt us down.

“This is bullshit!” Panam cursed as she instantly just turned away and stomped off.

“Panam! Fuck. I’ll check on her Saul.” Scorpion said but before he ran off he turned to me. “Sorry Motoko. It’s cool that you thought of us but… Yeah.”

I threw him a thumbs up as he took off and then I was back to Saul.

“You’ve been up to a lot.” Saul offered after a moment. “You should be careful. Doing something like this will put you in a lot of peoples' sights.”

I nodded but since he wasn’t going to help. “Thanks Saul. I need to get going.”

“Good luck kid.”

Nothing more needed to be said. I walked back to the Quadra with a lot on my mind.

Was I rushing a big gig because I thought it would be cool, rather than staying safe? The heat of something like this could be… Huge.

Maybe I should just skip it. Keep taking out scav dens. Let it go?

Well I had a few hours on a long drive to think about it.

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