Net Runner

Known as a cybersecurity genius, Net Runner built the defences that kept interstellar networks safe. Her software innovations protected entire galaxies, ensuring freedom, privacy and a seamless flow of information.

While hackers, rogue engineers, and entire factions worked tirelessly to destabilise the network, her job was to keep them out, to ensure that the system thrived.

But in the shadows, the corporations funding this golden age of progress had their own plans.

Over decades, they consolidated power and their influence spread. From corporate enclaves to planetary governments, from trade routes to military contracts. A gradual, inevitable shift. Until one day, they were no longer a coalition of competing interests. They became one. They became the Dominion.

Net Runner could see the world changing. She was concerned. Taking over NeuroNet, the backbone of interstellar communication she had spent her life protecting, was the last thing keeping the Dominion from assuming total control.

When they requested an update to the core of the NeuroNet, she immediately knew what was at stake. This wasn't a simple patch. It was a rewrite, a complete overhaul designed to give them control over both the network and the people who rely on it.

Net Runner was determined not to let that happen. She refused, fully aware that she would soon become the Dominion's next target. She understood that opposing them was dangerous; she had witnessed the fate that befell those who defied them. She didn't have much time. If she wanted to protect NeuroNet, she couldn't fight them face-on. Her best option was to fight from the shadows. But to do that, she had to survive first. She had to run.

Net Runner moved quickly. But so did the Dominion. They wouldn't let her simply... disappear. The Dominion's propaganda machine was on. Her credentials revoked. Her name? Tarnished. Branded cyber-terrorist and hunted by the Dominion's enforcers sent on a relentless chase.

But truth be told, Net Runner wouldn't be much of a cybersecurity genius if she hadn't seen this coming. Even though the Dominion seized control of NeuroNet, not everything went according to their plan. The system didn't reject her. It couldn't. A part of her still lived within. A failsafe, a soul shard of her consciousness locked deep inside the system's core. The goal was simple. Slow the Dominion down and give herself a chance.

But just like everything in life, it came at a price… Net Runner was now forever bound to her creation. She could sense its pulse like a second heartbeat. NeuroNet talked to her, whispered to her, a constant presence in her mind, blurring the lines between who she was and what she had become.

She can feel the system changing from within. The Dominion is introducing a new update. It feels different, almost as if it also had a presence...

She's not sure if she's still alone in the Net. The only thing she knows for sure is that this war isn't over. It has only just begun...