“Alex Shuriwa,” Mei said to the chef with white dreadlocks and an augmented arm with various makeshift parts that were designed for cooking.

  The dingy food truck with a bright red neon sign that read ‘JOFII’ was surrounded by others just like it, each with a different sign that either read the name of the truck or the food they were selling. Jofii was Mei’s favourite food– she’d nearly tried them all since she moved to Silic eight years ago, and visiting Taki’s truck became a routine of hers. It worked out well considering he was part of the local gang, and eating there often got her into their good books. Doing the odd job for them here and there whenever they needed a hacker. The underground knew her as the best in the city, and she did a good job keeping her identity under wraps, too. Frequently hacking the Atlas system to lower her bounty and keep it at a reasonable 175,000? whilst erasing any new data that might cause her problems.

  “Never ‘eard a him,” Takii said as a knife clicked out of his arm, and the spatula retracted. “Never ‘eard a FEN eitha,”

  “Worth a shot,” She shrugged.

  “He ya mark?”

  Mei swallowed her mouthful of rice before scraping down the side of beans, “Somethin’ like that,” She wiped her dark grey, metallic lower jaw with her arm warmer. “Any ideas who I could ask?”

  “Hmmm,” Takii started chopping away at an onion, “Kythera shit?”

  Mei nodded, watching his knife dance along the cutting board.

  “Yeah, A know guy,” he finished chopping the onion, and swiftly brushed the diced bits into the cooker at his side. “Good kid, do transport on Kythera hauliers. Stay East edge a city.”

  “East?” She sighed, “You got nobody closer?”

  Takii shook his head, “Kythera shit low key, dey kill motherfucka before dey let ‘em snitch.”

  “Fuck,” She murmured, “Send me his profile.”

  “Ya got it,” He said, “But first, need ya on job.”

  “I don’t have time,” Mei brushed him off as she stood up to leave.

  “Dey Need you.” He said sternly, “Ya don’t got choice. Ya want profile, ya do work.”

  “Ugh,” She scratched her head before she lifted her gaiter to her nose.

  “Pay good,” He added.

  “What is it?”

  “Kidnappin',”

  “Odd job,” She sighed again.

  “Like a said, pay good.”

  “They kidnapping a diplomat or some bullshit?”

  “Take job, dey give details. A can’t say here,”

  “Yeah, yeah, tell them I’ll do it,”

  “Don’t wanna know how much?”

  “Don’t really care,” She shrugged, “Send me that profile, or I’ll kick your ass.”

  “Ya come ‘ere, A give work, food, connects– then ya threaten me?”

  “Whatever,” She waved her hand dismissively, “Thanks for the meal, Tak,”

  “Is good, neh?”

  “Fuckin’ delicious,” She said as she walked away.

  “Ya damn welcome!” He smiled as she walked off.

  The Otewo district was on the western side of the city, known for its bright lights and holographic advertisements. It was also the area that Mei spent most of her time in, considering the Otewo gang dominated it. The jobs she’d usually do for them were robberies or break-ins, but the occasional odd job had her hacking their way into ships or secure facilities to get high-value loot.

  She didn’t mind working for the Otewo gang, they treated her well and paid her better than other hackers. But, she wanted to focus her time and efforts on figuring out what happened to Illium and everything she’s learnt up until now told her that FEN was a piece of that puzzle.

  She couldn’t imagine the resources required to topple an entire star system, let alone one filled with the most advanced human-technology hybrids in history. Still, the first steps she took to figure out what happened twelve years ago suggested that the biggest corporations in the galaxy had to have been involved.

  The next day, she received a transmission from Tak that relayed a meeting location where she’d get briefed for the job. It was in the Shatzi district, toward the centre of the city, where the central power stations for the West side of the city were located. It made for a good meeting spot because it wasn’t too busy, and most of the streets gave access to most of the districts. Unlike Otewo, it was run-down, devoid of much activity outside the power plant workers who commuted from the nearby apartment blocks. There were a few stores and run-down malls from the days when Shatzi was a middle-class area. These days, there wasn’t much of a middle class– taxes went up, mostly for the working class, and the wealthy got craftier with their political affairs, spiralling the wealth gap in the city. Mei entered a dark, decommissioned apartment building that was near the Shatzi power plant. She didn’t have to go far when she noticed the crew she’d be working with, peppered throughout the foyer.

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  “Took you long enough,” Garett muttered impatiently with his back up against a wall, a cigarette in his hand, and a black scalf looped around his neck. His bright blonde buzz cut and grey pupils stared at her as she entered. He was pale, as if he’d never seen a sun– each of these was a trait of the genetically modified, Ge-Mo for short. “You think you’re better than us?”

  “Shut up, G,” Sam, the short girl with blue hair and an eye patch, threw a small stone at his feet, “Always running ya mouth.”

  “Ge-Mo over ‘ere don’t like tardiness,” Added Lev, the muscle with a bionic arm.

  “I’m just asking her a question,” Garett pushed off the wall to square up with Mei. He wasn’t much taller than her, but enough to look down at her when he got close. “So? You too good to show us some fucking respect?”

  Mei stood in place, Garett blocking her view. She slowly looked up at him, flaring a red light in her right eye that scanned his body– getting a reading on his temperature and heart rate.

  “What if I say ‘yes’, tough guy?” She asked.

  Garett swung his hand, about to backhand her–

  “Stop it,” Caiphus said as he walked in from a broken wall to the side of the building, “Let’s act like fucking adults, neh?”

  Mei didn’t flinch and switched off the red light in her eye as they both stared at one another.

  “Da sexual tension be potent,” Sam commented, getting a chuckle out of Lev.

  Garett lowered his hand and slowly walked away before looking over his shoulder, “I’ll scrap you for parts, you fucking borg.”

  “The fuck did you say to me?” Mei’s left arm split into four, quickly and smoothly switching her hand into a blade as she approached Garett with a speedy walk. Unlike Takii’s augmented arm, Mei’s was perfectly integrated, appearing like a regular one until it was engaged.

  “Whoa, slow down missy,” Lev said as he stood up to grab her.

  “I’ll slit your fucking throat, you pale-faced shit for brains,” Mei grunted, trying to get out of Lev’s grip but to no avail.

  “Garett, I’ll have you thrown off the edge of the city if you keep messing with our hacker,” Cai sighed. “Mei, chill out, neh?”

  Lev put her down when she stopped writhing, and her hand swiftly reappeared as her blade was concealed. A smug smile peeled across Garett’s face that she felt the need to wipe off with her blaster, but she bottled up her rage, as she always did and took a seat next to Sam, who was sitting on a large piece of debris.

  “Arlight,” Cai said. His dark skin, cornrows and blue eyes scanned the room, “The job is a kidnapping,”

  Fucking knew it, Mei thought to herself. Kidnapping was among the toughest jobs, and was a high priority for the gang because it came with big influence.

  “The target in question is a diplomat,” He added before he put a small device on the ground that shared his feed to everyone’s chips, “The vice mayor.”

  “Ya kidding me?” Sam choked on her words.

  “Dat’s nuts,” Lev added as the image of a multi-story home appeared in the feed.

  “We’ll be taking him from his compound in the Goli district three days from today at around this exact time. The security switches out at two in the morning, so we need to get in and out before that happens. Otherwise, we’ll have twice the security to deal with. The reason I want us to go before the changeover and not after is because the first shifters will be sluggish after a long day– any advantage we can muster is a good one. Any questions so far?”

  They all briefly looked at one another before Garett piped up, “How much security?”

  “Thirty-five guards spread across the plot.” A series of red dots appeared all over the feed of the house.

  “Thirty-five?” Lev reiterated, “How the five of us ‘pposed a manage that?”

  “We're getting more crew, neh?” Mei asked.

  “Nope, it’s just us. I wanted a small outfit because we’ll be doing this my way. The stealthy way.”

  “Da fucking psychotic way,” Sam murmured.

  “As a result, we have an unlimited budget. I chose each of you because, in my opinion, you’re the best people in the entire gang at your respective roles.” He said with confidence, “And the higher-ups chose me because, well, I’ve never failed a job. Even the odd ones.”

  “Bullshit,” Mei commented.

  “Best believe, I’m clean with it,” He grinned.

  “First time for everything,” Garett added.

  “If we all just do our part, we’ll be in and out before anyone notices,”

  “Uhmm,” Sam raised her hand, and Cai pointed a finger at her. “So like, if ya want a go quietly, why me here?”

  “Demolition’s always useful, and in this case, we’ll need a few small charges to get onto the property. As quietly as possible,” He reiterated.

  “Easier said than done, neh.” She rebutted.

  “The exterior perimeter is alloy fencing. The asshole wants his home to be clearly visible to everyone lesser than him and thinks no one would have the balls to try breaking in. A few exothermic cuts should get us inside.”

  “Ahh, so boring, neh,” She frowned.

  “Exactly how I like it,” He replied, “But we’ll have a small charge go off on the East side of the perimeter to pull security away from us entering on the North west,”

  “Mei, we’ll need you to disable the laser alarms and turn off the lights when we’re on our way out,”

  She nodded in response, “G, you and I are on front guns– low power, and silent. Lev, you tie up and carry the target out.”

  “Got it,” He agreed.

  “It should be simple enough, but I’m working on a contingency in case things go sideways. At the moment, this is plan A, and I’d prefer if we all stick to it, yeah?”

  They nodded and murmured in agreement.

  “Get me your wishlists by the morning, and I’ll have Santa deliver the goods by the evening.”

  “Santa?” Mei asked.

  “It’s an old book about a– do hybrids not know Santa?”

  Mei shook her head.

  “A think ya only one that do extra reading, bossman,” Sam giggled.

  “None of you know the story?” He seemed perplexed as they all looked at him with equal confusion.

  “Ya goldie locs zone life be showing, neh,” Sam rolled her eyes.

  “We don’t get no extra reading ‘round ‘ere,” Lev added.

  “It doesn’t matter, just get me those wishlists,” Cai disabled the feed before transferring a package to each of them with the plans. “Dismissed,”

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