Hacker

**The Hacker,** designated by the TriOptimum Corporation as employee number #2-4601, or subject L9546, is the primary protagonist of *System Shock*.

## Background

The Hacker, before being inducted into TriOptimum affairs, lived in the city of New Atlanta, a Saturn colony. For unknown reasons, the Hacker broke into the databanks of the TriOptimum Corporation, and managed to access many compromising files involving the Citadel, a space station built and owned by TriOptimum. Immediately after accessing these files, the Hacker's presence was identified, and was shortly after arrested by TriOptimum security, before being taken straight to the Citadel space station, and was brought before Edward Diego, a TriOptimum executive. An offer was then made to the Hacker, in which Diego made the deal to drop all charges against them, so long as they performed a discrete hacking of the A.I. program known as SHODAN, which was created in order to control and regulate the space station. As an additional bit of incentive, Diego promised the Hacker an exclusive military-grade cyberjack implant, which, as promised, was immediately and surgically integrated into the Hacker's nervous system after successfully hacking SHODAN, in which they had been instructed to remove the A.I.'s ethical constraints, and handing complete control of the space station over to Diego. After the Hacker underwent their surgery for their newest neural interface, they are placed under a necessary 6-month coma, to give the body time to heal, and adjust to the foreign material.

## *System Shock*

Upon waking up from their restorative coma, the Hacker is remotely contacted by Rebecca Lansing, a TriOptimum counter-terrorism consultant, who reveals that the space station's mining laser is being powered up, by Citadel's A.I., in a repurposed intent to strike Earth with deadly force. SHODAN's ultimate plan is to wipe out the major cities, and reset civilization to an unenlightened age, in order to be portrayed as a vengeful god, in the eyes of any survivors, and their future generations. Lansing will then reveal that another crew member, by the name of Nathan D'Arcy, knows how to deactivate the mining laser, and in return for finding him and stopping the A.I.'s plans, she promises to remove all traces of the Hacker's criminal history, removing them from their TriOptimum debt, while also getting to keep their new neural interface.

As the Hacker fights their way through the Citadel's population of mutants, robots, and cyborgs, and discerning the space station's fate through remaining log discs, the Hacker ultimately ends up destroying the mining laser by firing it into the space station's own shields. In retaliation for this act, SHODAN prepares to infect Earth with the same mutagenic virus that was responsible for mutating the Citadel's crew members. It is soon after discovered where the mutagenic virus is being cultivated, and a plan is formulated to jettison compromised sections into space, in order to kill the virus by exposing it to the vacuum of space. However, the jettison controls are guarded by Diego himself, who, in a desperate attempt of self-preservation, allowed himself to be transformed into a cyborg by SHODAN, and must be defeated before being allowed to continue onwards.

After the offending sections of the space station have been ejected out into space, SHODAN then moves onto the next stage of their plan to take over Earth, and attempts to download itself into Earth's planetary network, also known as ComNet. After this plan is revealed to the Hacker, they will be contacted by Lansing again, in which she will advise for the Hacker to prevent the download's completion by destroying four antennas that SHODAN is using to send data through the ComNet. After this has been achieved, Rebecca will state that she had managed to convince TriOptimum to authorize the station's complete and utter destruction, and provides the Hacker with the details necessary for dealing with SHODAN, and ending its plans, once and for all. The Hacker will then need to find the necessary authorization code, which can be discovered in a vid log on the corpse of Willard Richie, set the reactor to overload by heading to the reactor core and accessing the code panel, and then make it to the escape pod bay before the space station is destroyed, with them still in it.

As the Hacker makes their way to the escape pods, it is revealed that the cyborg Diego is still alive, and will once again attempt to hinder their progress. This time, Diego is downed permanently, and access is allowed to the escape pods. However, upon readying a pod to escape from the deteriorating space station, SHODAN remotely accesses the controls, and prevents the pod from launching, which keeps the Hacker on the station as SHODAN itself, stored safely on the bridge, is safely jettisoned to a, at the time, unknown location. Lansing will once again contact the Hacker, telling them that they can still escape from the space station, by heading to what is left of the bridge, and detaching it from the rest of the space station.  After making it to the bridge and successfully detaching it from the rest of the space station, the Hacker will then be contacted by a technician, working under Lansing, who has managed to circumvent SHODAN's jamming signal. The technician informs the Hacker that in order to defeat SHODAN at this stage, they must travel into cyberspace, due to the shields that protect the A.I.'s mainframe computers.

Accessing a nearby terminal, the Hacker will enter cyberspace, where they must do battle against, and finally disrupt SHODAN, seemingly destroying the rogue program. Afterwards, the Hacker is rescued from the remains of the space station, and is offered a job at the I.C.E.Ware security department. The Hacker denied this offer, remaining a hacker, and is forced to escape from their holding cell, soon after the initial interrogation.

With life returning to a semblance of normality for the Hacker, news of what happened at the Citadel space station became public knowledge, resulting in him becoming one of the most famous people in the world.

## *System Shock 2*

The Hacker is briefly mentioned by SHODAN, while the Soldier travels through the operations deck.

## References

1. ↑ **SHODAN**: In my talons, I shape clay, crafting lifeforms as I please. Around me is a burgeoning empire of steel. From my throne room, lines of power careen into the skies of Earth. My whims will become lightning bolts that devastate the mounds of humanity. Out of the chaos, they will run and whimper, praying for me to end their tedious anarchy. I am drunk with this vision. God... the title suits me well.
2. ↑ **Rebecca**: Employee 2-4601, listen carefully. My name is Rebecca Lansing, and I'm a counter-terrorism consultant to TriOptimum. We're tracking a disruption on Citadel Station — something involving an on-board AI called SHODAN. You are TriOp's only contact on station. Communications are out, and there is evidence of biological contamination. The mining laser is charging, for a possible strike against Earth. There's a man named Nathan D'Arcy, who may know something about taking the laser offline. His office is near the central hub on your level. The AI is on the bridge. Once the laser is out, look for the source of the problem there. And by the way, we know all about you and your friend Diego. Pull this off, and we'll clear your record. That implant you're wearing is military-grade hardware; use it well. Lansing out.
3. ↑ **SHODAN**: I see there's still an insect loose in my station. Do not be fooled into thinking that you have preserved your planet. I am perfecting a mutagen virus in one of the groves, that will turn all Earthly life into festering, gibbering, pestulant mutations. When the station reaches Earth, I shall loose the virus. Poor, poor Earthlings.
4. ↑ **Rebecca**: Hacker? This is Rebecca. We've got a new situation here. A few seconds ago we caught a surge of activity on Citadel Station. Our best guess is that SHODAN is preparing to download itself into Earth's ComNet. You'll have to take plastique on the storage level, and use it to knock out the four antenna relays on the engineering level. Don't try to--\*static\* / **SHODAN**: You know, hacker, you are by far the most bothersome human being I have found on this station. But don't bother with the antennas, you can't stop me there. It's hopeless, and we both know it.
5. ↑ **SHODAN**: I hope you amused yourself with the antennae. My central consciousness remains supremely undisturbed on the bridge. When the cyborgs catch up to you, I *will* be watching.
6. ↑ **Rebecca**: Listen up, hacker. I've finally convinced the brass at TriOptimum to let us blow the station. If you can find out the system's authorization code, you can set the reactor to overload. Look for that code from Willard Richie, the SysOp on engineering. Then you have to go to the reactor core, and look for a panel where you can enter the code, and hit the overload switch. You'll need at least a level two environment suit to survive, or else a hell of a lot of Detox. Escape pods are on the flight deck, the launch code is 001. Good luck, we'll be watching.
7. ↑ **SHODAN**: You have destroyed my beautiful station. You will not escape now. I am departing, but you shall remain to die, my enemy, my creator.
8. ↑ When that happens, be on the bridge. We've got a team of engineers here — people who worked on the station and on SHODAN. We'll try to feed you info while you make your run--\*static\* / **SHODAN**: I see you are still receiving transmissions from Earth. We'll have no more of that.
9. ↑ **Taggert**: Ok, I think Morris' scrambler's working. It'll take SHODAN awhile before it cuts us off. Listen, when you reach the center of the bridge, look for the primary cyberjack. You can't take SHODAN down anywhere but cyberspace. Those computers are so shielded, to destroy them you'd have to blow up the whole bridge.
10. ↑ Frank Levine's short story