An Unexpected Leasing

[Yoshida]

June 819 A.S.

Steven Allen was sleeping at his apartment in Leiden Base. His plans for a major operation in the eastern part of the New York system were about to become real within the coming weeks which made his sleep even better.

*beep*
"Mr Yoshida your presence is requested at the Operations Room immediately."

Goro Yoshida, or simply known as Mr Yoshida, was Steven's alias of course. Every Hacker used one, if not more. Yoshida didn't bother to ask for more information; this message -- or better say order -- certainly came from a superior. A minion would not dare to summon him without giving a good reason. Unless it had a death wish of course. The Hacker quickly dressed up and showed no sign of his discomfort while moving through the station's decks. Yoshida wasn't surprised when he found the room empty and an external communication line on standby. Afterall there were few colleagues above his station within Leiden.

He took a cardamine dose and opened the comm with his left arm. The holocommunication revealed one of the Professors and Yoshida slightly inclined his head in respect.

"Greetings Goro, it's good to see you again." Yoshida didn't miss this informality as the Professor addressed him with his first name. His mind was already making quick calculations to determine what he wanted but he found no certain answers; he was displeased.

"Professor Sanguinetti, I am equally pleased to see you. I hope the communication inteference buoys project in Ontario is going well."

"I'm afraid it does not develop as well as I expected. We cannot reach even 40% of the efficiency of dark matter clouds. Such as the ones found in Galileo and Kepler."

"That is most unfortunate Professor. Perhaps the technicians of Leiden may have an idea should you allow them to examine the schematics..."

"I don't think we can declassify the project yet, I'm afraid."

"That's a pity..."

"Anyway, I know I have disturbed you from your work so I will attempt to not waste more of our time. I am sure you know Hanáchi, a small but extremely influential Hogosha syndicate. Well, within the last few days the syndicate experienced major security issues. Their database was hacked and massive amounts of information were leaked. A lot of them sensitive too. We don't know who is behind yet, but I expect Kishiro or a rival syndicate should logically be responsible. Some hours ago they contacted us and requested an expert in order to retrieve the leaks. Needless to say, this syndicate is one of our main partners in the artifact trade, so it would be vital to help them..."

"Of course..." Yoshida said already knowing what would be asked of him.

"Goro you are one of the best hackers that we have so I'd like to ask you to go to Kusari and solve this... issue. I won't lie to you but I suspect these amateurs will take advantage of your skills and ask you to reconstruct their cyber defences too. Regardless, you will be richly rewarded by their boss."

"It sounds interesting. However I am responsible for several currently running projects, I have a network of informants to maintain and on top of that it is a matter of days before the operation against W.F.Cody will be announced. It would be a waste to abandon so many things, Professor."

The Professor could see that Yoshida could not be easily convinced. He carefully considered his words before he spoke again.

"Even though we have not decided on your proposed operation, I do not think it would be approved. We currently cannot spare the proposed amount of resources and manpower for an operation with so small chances of success. Your proposal is probably going to be postponed indefinitely, but once you return back I can promise you that we will reconsider it."

Professor Sanguinetti then paused for a moment while he started clicking a few holo-buttons and the face of a middle-aged Hispanian showed up.

"As for your network of informants, Mr Baradj will be responsible. He will maintain the network and try to expand it too. He is efficient at this type of work, I can assure you."

Goro Yoshida considered his options. The advantages certainly outweighed the cons. He was a respected and feared Hacker, even listed as one of the most-wanted individuals in Liberty. But he couldn't let his pride to get in his way. Valuable experience and a rich reward awaited him.

"Very well then. I will wrap up some outstanding business and I'll be ready to be smuggled in Kusari. You are persuasive Professor, count me in."

---

Forty hours later Mr Yoshida was at the bar waiting to board a Hogosha transport which would make the return trip back to Kusari. His memories with the Lane Hackers were removed save for his mission objectives and his alias. His face was even altered. However it was arranged to normally continue consuming cardamine.

Yoshida chuckled. His life was more valuable than any passenger onboard, he was even more valuable than the entire Hogosha transport. Yet noone knew who his was. His Hanáchi contact was expecting him in Kusari and there a new life would begin for him. Yoshida inhaled deeply trying to scent what would come next.

---

"There are those who lack ambition. Who lack ability. But if you possess both then it is your role to reign over this world."

Ageira Dossier _•_ Hanáchi Syndicate _•_ Cultism _•_ Ascension _•_ Theosis

[Pancakes]

Daichi was waiting on the landing platform. He never had much caring when he was contacted to deal with a delicate matter by one syndicate or anther, but he knew better than to ask questions. The Hanáchi boss would have anther enforcer up after his behinds if he messed it up even just a bit. Not that he ever did, he was a very calculated man.

He was given clear instructions to make sure that this outside contractor is getting all that he needs to seal some database hacking that was done, and moreover to make sure that whatever information he sees stays where it should be.


He saw the transport descending through the terminal glass window and stepped outside to the landing pads.

"Konnichiwa. I am Daichi Matsumada, I will be here to assist you with whatever you need, even with your... health-care issues. Whatever arise you should tell it to me"

Yoshida nodded and followed Daichi into the terminal where a hover car awaited them. They both stepped inside and within the confines of the dark windows Daichi handed him a small cigar box Yoshida was puzzled " Thank you for the gesture, but I doubt I will smoke these..."
Daichi shook his head in disagreement "Open it up, it's not your... traditional tobacco"

Yoshida opened it up and saw that the cigars were filled with orange powder, he knew exactly what it is and not much more was needed to say.
"We are now flying to your apartment, you will find you have all you need including an uplink to the Hanáchi mainframe, needless to say whatever information you find there - you will keep your mouth shut, I have no issues killing you if something were to happen to that data, but there are worse than me and worse than death, trust me on the matter"

Yoshida wasn't moved by the notion, he didn't expect anything else from a cruel mafia syndicate, but yet there was something disturbing about the trivial way Daichi told it to him.

As they arrived in the apartment, he found it had all the basic things he needed, and even a private hailer that he could use to contact the building's staff if he needed anything ordinary, and contact Daichi for anything out of the ordinary.

It didn't take him long to find out the hacking method into the database and seal the breach, adding more defenses to the Hanáchi database, however finding the culprit behind the hacking proved rough. There were little to no traces left behind and that was his main job, the Hanáchi syndicate had data to recover and matters to settle down, after a year of work he managed to narrow the options down and it was evident that it was the doing of anther Hogosha syndicate, perhaps a rival, or even more likely in this business - an ally.

Anther 8 months has gone by, he was close to cracking it down when he heard a knock on his door. It was Daichi. Even after nearly 2 years in the apartment he was always wary when someone knocked on the door. "Konnichiwa, Daichi-san." He grue fund of the young man, though he'd wouldn't call him a friend exactly, but definitely fund of.
"Konbanwa Tyoshi-san, brought you a new box of cigars oh and some coffee"
Daichi often spent long times in his apartment, at first he was certain it was to keep an eye on him, but Yoshida hacked the local CCTV and followed Daichi around in his 2nd week at the place, he concluded it was done just because he was likely without anything better to do, maybe Daichi considered him a friend, he did not know and at the moment did not care.

A week passed and he managed to pin it down. It was a very small allied syndicate, probably they planned to take over the Hanáchi business once they fell. He reported it to Daichi who passed it on, and started packing as his job was complete. In the same evening he read about a terrible fire that consumed a local business and with it poor 100 civilians that were trapped inside, he knew better than to ask questions.

He heard loud knocking on his door a day later. It was Daichi and he was all sweaty and nervous "Pack it up, you are leaving, now." Yoshida looked very puzzled, but he did as he asked and followed Daichi into a small unfamiliar hovercar "They are going to kill you, you've seen too much, I volunteered to do it" he pointed at the back seat, Yoshida saw a corpse looking just like him. "We need to give you a face change, and, well you might not like it, but switch your blood"
He took Yoshida to a black market face surgeon, not too different from the one who Yoshida took the original surgery at "Any special request, or should I go wild with my imagination?" Yoshida handed him an old photograph of himself "I want to look like that"
A day later, Yoshida was on a transport back to Liberty, his money safe with him in a remote account away from Hanáchi clutches, he'll have to go and retrieve it though. This will take him a few more months of his life, surely.

[The Lane Hackers]

December 821 A.S.

Medical Report by Dr. McScott

All medical and preliminary tests were conducted by Dr McScott's team the past three (3) days in Leiden's medical facilities.

1. The subject's identity was confirmed to be operative Goro Yoshida who holds the rank of "Hacker".
   
2. All preliminary tests showed that the subject does not carry any known diseases. The subject was then taken to the main medical facility of Leiden.
   
3. The subject is healthy and does not carry any injuries. An extensive research was conducted for any new body implants. The results are negative. The subject had also taken his Cardamine dosages on a regular basis.
   
4. Brain scans showed that the subject had not been under immense psychological pressure or stress (interrogation, indoctrination) and there was no unnatural intervention on his brain functions.
   
5. The Hacker used his unique security code which allowed us access to his stored memories. These memories were successfully restored back to his brain. When his memories were reinstated the subject asked information about Senior Professor Moriarty.
   

---

The Doctor and the team conclude that the Hacker does not pose any threat any his former security clearances can be reinstated. A brief interview was also conducted by a Lane Hacker operative.

---

- Orlov: State your name, clearance code and rank.
- Subject: Goro Yoshida, A13508758, rank "Hacker".

- Orlov: Mr Yoshida please tell me what you were asked to do during your stay in Kusari?
- Subject: The fortification of the cyber defenses of the Hanáchi Syndicate. Furthermore, I was asked to find who hacked their databases.

- Orlov: Were you successful?
- Subject: I was.

- Orlov: Did you receive compensation for your services?
- Subject: 200,000,000 Sirius Credits distributed in several off-House bank accounts. I have not yet transferred the money to my personal accounts.

- Orlov: Why the transfer has not been completed yet?
- Subject: My life was threatened and I had to move quickly and leave Kusari.

- Orlov: Do you wish to exact revenge on your former employers?
- Subject: My actions are not based on primal feelings such as revenge.

- Orlov: Is there something that you wish to inform us about?
- Subject: My hacking skills and knowledge about Kusari society have deepened but I cannot say the same for my combat skills. Finally, I think I once saw Nikolai Diavolo in Planet New Tokyo, but I am not certain.

---

The Lane Hackers

"Making the corporate weenies cry, so our kids can live in a free and just galaxy."

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