BitPunk V.1.2 - Halving the Peace

Though bankers command the money and means, they'll never command the will to be free!

Rebel protest chant popularized during the Depositor Uprising

Eva had been a double agent for several years now and had saved many rebel lives from deep behind enemy lines, but the attack just launched caught her completely off-guard. She hadn't had any time to send a warning beforehand, Ekon and the rebels wouldn't be ready. Not this time.

READ PART I: The Human Hardfork

You're on your own, Ekon. Be careful, damnit.

As an Intelligence Operative, or IO, she had access to all the base systems, and she used it now to see what was happening out there. A cranky tone sounded in rejection, signaling River Condition 4 and the closure of all general lines of communication. Blind.

This was standard procedure on Special Operations. The difference this time was that she hadn't known about this Op, had been left completely in the dark.

Either it's way above my pay-grade, or they suspect a mole, maybe even me.

If her cover was blown she'd have to try and fight her way out, but she knew what that really meant was death by hail of armor-piercing bullets.

Unable to learn anything about the mission in progress, Eva made her way towards the crew cafe. If she wasn't invited to the Op no one would be looking for her or indeed would want her involved. Dark thoughts were filling her mind anyway, and a break might at least calm her nerves.

The gleam of the steel brightworks wasn't blocked by a throng of hungry crewmates looking for a meal, most everyone was either supporting or executing the current OP.

Seated at a table ahead she saw IO Gino Harris. By the looks of it, he'd been left out of the surprise OP too. If there were any others, it would be a good sign that even if she were under suspicion, her cover was still intact. The bigger the pool of suspects, the better her chances of avoiding detection.

She swung the chair around to straddle it and had a seat across from IO Harris.

"They leave you out of the fun, too?"

IO Harris cocked an eyebrow, "Didn't even know about it, you?"

Eva shook her head. "Who else got ditched?"

Harris listed several other Operatives.

Good. That means I wasn't kept in the dark alone.

"Hey, this is going to be going on for several hours at the very least. Why don't we get out of here and have a round, on me? The first one, that is," Harris had already begun to rise when he started the question, and Eva couldn't think of a good reason why she shouldn't join.

True to government fashion, they had made the ownership and use of cryptocurrency illegal except through the approved apps and services. Of course, they could no more enforce this than sell air but still they had managed to create a haphazard enforcement scheme that relied on equal measures law enforcement, pervasive regulatory requirements, and mass psychology.

With the advent of the COMIT, a kind of umbrella Blockchain composed of connections to every other existing chain, the government was able to tweak and then pass into law the State-Approved, and mandatory, COMIT Act. Every Fed Citizen, and their transactions, used Comit exclusively.

Being a Fed citizen first and a secret traitor second, she was no exception. Her hardwallet identifier emitted a soft tone when held up to the bar payment strip, indicating that funds had been deducted from her account and instantly converted into whatever currency the bar preferred. This second round of drinks would be delivered to the table in short order, and the two Operatives sat in thought while consuming their beverages.

She knew that her drink purchase, like every other purchase, was centrally monitored. It was for safety, after all.

A sharp tone emitted from the wallets of both Operatives, and a voice followed that echoed across the table, "Operative, if you can hear this message, report to briefing immediately." Harris and Eva left as a second round of drinks that would never be consumed arrived at the table.

"Operatives, have a seat," General Balm was a brusque man, given to brevity and an ill-temper. He brooked no nonsense and hated the Rebels with a deep seated passion that could only come from a sincere pride in your government. He was an average height but sturdily built with thick arms and legs and a square jaw that made his face look boxy.

"By now you're aware that we've launched a surprise operation against the Rebels at Grapevine, but I'm sure you have questions like why weren't you told, or invited. The short answer is that it was need-to-know and you didn't. The longer answer is that you didn't because we need you for a separate, classified Operation. You're going to infiltrate Grapevine."

Silence descended on the room, and Eva's heart quickened.

"How're we supposed to get around and engage when COMIT isn't connected to their Blockchains?" Her question had been genuine because as far as she knew, the only reason defection hadn't been a problem for the Feds was the warning that wealth wasn't transferrable between COMIT and the Rebel chains.

"You'll be going in as refugees, and you're the first. By all appearances, you'll have defected and will have to participate in whatever process they have for taking in new citizens, or whatever they call them."

Ekon, stay alive. I'd hate for our first meeting to be between me and your corpse.

Gino Harris finally spoke, "What's the mission?"

General Balm looked at the Operative "you'll receive instructions before infiltration, and further instructions on how to communicate back to us. We need you Operatives back. Your country needs you."

Harris had been nodding for a couple of seconds when Eva realized she wasn't, and started.

"When do we leave," given the secret nature of this mission, she felt like she had already known the answer, but she needed to hear it from the General.

"Now. Transport is waiting."

Just like that, Eva was on her way to infiltrate the Rebel city that was currently under attack by the Fed. And soon she would be face to face with the man she had been giving information to for so long now.

That was, of course, if Ekon survived the surprise attack being carried out at that very moment.

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What's BitPunk?

Almost like Cyberpunk, the BitPunk genre adventures in a world that is significantly advanced in technology set against the backdrop of a society in decline, economically or morally, and often both. At this point in time there aren't many works that deal in this genre, but more and more is being developed every day, and this series is part of that effort.

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