Talia looked at Ghostwire, and the NetRunner nodded. "It's ready, the connection is stable".
Without hesitation, Talia stood up and walked towards Ghostwire's flickering monitor wall that already had a stable connection to the ancient network.
At F Rank, just like any other Class, NetRunners unlock a few class-related skills, the number of skills depending on the innate talent of the NetRunner.
Apart from the skills though, just like Mechanists gain a deep knowledge of machinery and engineering, NetRunners also gain something innate after becoming an Ascendant- they learn to read and project thoughts as data pockets.
In essence, what this means is that they don't need a keyboard and mouse to connect to a computer or a network, neither do they need a physical cable. Their mind could directly infiltrate it.
This is the core of a NetRunner.
Another innate trait that they get at the F Rank is that they gain limited access to local networks and personal implants.
The uncracked ancient network was a form of local area network (LAN); interfacing with it was a natural process as simple as eating to a NetRunner.
Inside the cargo trailer, the lights flickered to amber as Talia sat down in front of Ghostwire's monitor wall, looking directly at it as her biotic eye gleamed.
She closed her eyes and tried to extend her energy.
Talia's ADE in the form of green wisps of energy flowed, converging on her upper body as dozens of illusory filaments unfolded from the back of her neck, connecting to the monitor wall, and in extension the ancient network.
Nothing unexpected happened. There was no interference, no delay- Talia smoothly connected to the ancient network as her eyes became unfocused.
With the connection secure, instinctively, Talia pushed into the next stage. She ignited her Trial Catalyst, and there was a flash of thunder.
BOOM!
Her eyes suddenly flashed white.
Her ash-black hair with blue streaks flared, levitating in the air behind her as a subtle distortion field expanded outward, bending dust and light till it tore open a rift directly in front of her.
The others all tensed as they grabbed their weapons and focused on her. Leon's eyes widened as he felt his body turning weightless; not just him, they all experienced it.
The walls of the cargo trailer vibrated as color began draining away from reality, almost like the world was forgetting how to exist.
The 6 members of the crew were tensed, all of them keenly staring at Talia as they were ready to intervene if something went wrong.
But nothing went wrong.
What happened next was expected as an illusory green version of Talia suddenly separated from her- Talia's consciousness. Under the suction influence of the Rift on her consciousness, the illusory green Talia quickly crossed the Rift and disappeared inside.
Then, her physical body slumped.
She didn't collapse though because the remnants of her green energy coalesced around her body, keeping her perfectly still. She was still breathing but it was shallow.
At that moment, Leon's HUD screen lit up again.
DING!
~----~
[Subject Consciousness Displaced – Trial Instance Active]
~----~
Silence fell inside the cargo trailer.
…
Blink!
Talia opened her eyes, but she couldn't see anything.
All she saw was light, extremely bright light in 7 colors like the rainbow as they illuminated her surroundings, blinding her sight even as her body moved about haphazardly like it was being battered by a storm.
The 7 colors around her were smeared as if in a painting, and at some point, she even felt the horror of her body stretching beyond the limits of physics like molten metal being reshaped by a forgemaster, or was this her consciousness?
Then… Blank.
Her consciousness blanked out as everything disappeared.
…
Blink!
Talia opened her eyes again.
This time, there was no bright light in 7 colors that blinded her vision, neither did she see the familiar interior of the cargo trailer. Instead, she found herself inside a command room filled with tables and soldiers shouting orders.
Alarms wailed around her.
'Where… am I?'
She was in a daze as her thought processes struggled to keep up with reality, but then, she finally regained her mental acuity.
Instinctively, she felt around for her plasma knife and when she didn't find it, she looked down and observed herself. She was wearing a green military officer's uniform, her rank insignia holding 2 stars.
'Synth Order?' She recognized the military uniform immediately.
She had a badge close to the 2-stars insignia, just above the insignia, and on it was written…
[Data Warden- Sarah Voss]
"…"
Once again, Talia blanked out.
"Warden Voss!" A soldier shouted, jolting her awake from her reverie.
"The firewall's collapsing! Multiple corrupt data packets have been discovered in the server! It's a virus, dammit! Those Omnicore bastards are trying to hack our shield dome defense again!"
"We need to tighten our cyber defense! We have to find the virus and eliminate it, or we'll lose everything!"
"Organize all the Cyber Wardens for another siege!"
Talia blinked. 'Voss? That's my name? No, my surname? Wait… this is the Trial!' Her eyes widened, then flashed with absolute clarity.
The Trial already started!
As soon as Talia realized, her eyes flashed with cold clarity and rationality as she analyzed the situation. 'Virus? A malware attack?'
She looked around, observing the command room in its full glory again, and her colleagues- officers that were dressed in the green military uniform of the Synth Order. 'But this design,' her eyes narrowed. 'It's the old one'.
The only thing that followed her from the physical world here was her Freegrid interface, and it already lit up with a holographic projection.
Talia looked at it, and then she understood.
…
Year 068 A.G, the Hope Era, in the heat of the Synth War…
A military outpost of the Synth Order was embedded in a mountain, using the natural terrain of the mountain as camouflage. It was winter as snow fell from the dark sky, further complementing the camouflage of the military outpost.
The outpost was heavily fortified with Ascendants and powerful war turrets.
The camouflage worked for a time during the violent period of the war, but not forever. After months of looking for this specific Synth outpost after suffering multiple marauding attacks from them, Omnicore scouts finally found it.
And that ignited the battle in the mountain.
Outside, neon lightning split the sky as a clash of titanic proportions took place, rattling the foundations of the mountain.
Tutututututu…!
The sound of gunfire reverberated like thunder, shaking the ground.
Heavily armored war machines rode up the mountain, bulldozing through the terrible mountain terrain as they bombarded the defense of the Synth outpost.
On both sides, bullets found soldiers at a steady interval, punching holes through flesh and metal as the casualties piled up.
Cyber Gladiators were sprinkled here and there across the rank of the invaders, charging fearlessly at the outpost's energy shield dome as they attacked with their powerful weapons to tear the shield dome down.
Mechanists who operated the war machines from the rear aimed at the energy shield dome, and they unleashed hell on it.
Behind them, the NetRunners were at work.
Apart from the appalling and violent physical clash, there was a more harrowing battle taking place that was hidden behind the scenes- the battle inside the network, the battle of code and bugs, the battle of computer wizards.
And that was the battle that Talia was suddenly thrust into.
DING!
~----~
[Trial Identity: You are a Data Warden in the ranks of the Synth Order faction during the Synth War resistance of the Hope Era between Year 067 and Year 070 A.G. Your faction is losing the war.]
[Trial Task: Maintain network control and integrity of the base, and repel all digital invasions from the Synth Order for the next 60 hours. Keep the outpost alive till reinforcement comes.]
[Objective Summary: Fight the virus- fight the code war and survive.]
~----~
The first question that entered her head was. 'What happened in history? Did this military outpost eventually survive? Did reinforcement really come?'
'What if their fate is to be annihilated? Can I change fate?'
Talia's eyes flickered with desperation as she quickly understood the catch.
'Year 068?' Her brain geared into action, piecing the bit of history knowledge that she knew together to get a more concrete idea of her situation.
'The Hope Era started in Year 060 A.G!' Her eyes twinkled as she remembered. She didn't remember the details, but knowing that her survival was on the line, she tried to remember the major timelines of Neo-Tokara.
'In the records of the Freegrid Collective, Omnicore's coup took place in Year 066, and the Synth War started in year 067, lasting 3 years'.
'If I'm in Year 068, then I'm really in the heat of the war!'
Her eyes blinked in desperation.
She didn't know the full course of history, but everyone knew that Omnicore were the eventual winners of the major wars of the past.
That means, from the beginning, she was already fighting a losing battle as history already recorded it that her opponents were the victors.
She wanted to lament why the trial didn't bring her to fight as part of the Omnicore, but remembering just how much she hated the Federation, she steeled her mind and tried to face the situation calmly.
"I don't have to win," she mumbled to herself. "I just have to save this single outpost. Saving a single outpost is easier than winning a planetary war".
"I just have to help this base last 60 hours!" Her eyes glinted.
"Warden!" The same soldier shouted again, desperation reeking in his tone.
Talia turned to look at him. "Lead the way," she ordered in a sharp voice that left no room for compromises. "Let's go to the Data Sanctuary and defend this outpost till death!"
"Yes, Warden!"