Editing System Shock (section)

== Plot ==
Set in the year 2072, the protagonist — a nameless hacker — is caught while attempting to access files concerning Citadel Station, a [[space station]] owned by the TriOptimum Corporation. The hacker is taken to Citadel Station and brought before Edward Diego, a TriOptimum executive. Diego offers to drop all charges against the hacker in exchange for a confidential hacking of [[SHODAN]], the [[artificial intelligence]] that controls the station. Diego secretly plans to steal an experimental mutagenic virus being tested on Citadel Station and to sell it on the black market as a biological weapon.<ref name="icebreaker" /> To entice cooperation, Diego promises the hacker a valuable military-grade neural implant.<ref>'''Diego''': This is Edward Diego from TriOptimum. The charges against you are severe, but they could be dismissed, if you perform a service. Who knows... there might even be a military-grade neural interface in it for you, if you do the job right.</ref> After hacking SHODAN, removing the AI's ethical constraints, and handing control over to Diego, the protagonist undergoes surgery to implant the promised neural interface.<ref>'''SHODAN''': True to his word, Edward Diego allows the hacker to be fitted with a neural cyberspace interface.</ref> Following the operation, the hacker is put into a six-month healing coma. The game begins as the protagonist awakens from his coma and finds that SHODAN has commandeered the station. All robots aboard have been reprogrammed for hostility, and the crew has been either [[Mutant (fictional)|mutated]], transformed into [[cyborg]]s, or killed.

Rebecca Lansing, a TriOptimum counter-terrorism consultant, contacts the player and claims that Citadel Station's mining laser is being powered up to attack Earth. SHODAN plans to destroy all major cities on the planet in a bid to establish itself as a god.<ref>'''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.</ref> Rebecca says that a certain crew member knows how to deactivate the laser and promises to destroy the records of the hacker's incriminating exchange with Diego if the strike is stopped.<ref>'''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.</ref> With information gleaned from log discs, the hacker destroys the laser by firing it into Citadel Station's own shields. Foiled by the hacker's work, SHODAN prepares to seed Earth with the virus that Diego planned to steal—the same one responsible for turning the station's crew into mutants.<ref>'''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.</ref> The hacker, while attempting to jettison the chambers used to cultivate the virus, confronts and defeats Diego, who has been transformed into a powerful cyborg by SHODAN. Next, SHODAN begins an attempt to upload itself into Earth's computer networks.<ref>'''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.</ref> Following Rebecca's advice, the hacker prevents the download's completion by destroying the four antennas that SHODAN is using to send data.<ref>'''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.</ref>

Soon after, Rebecca contacts the hacker and says that she has convinced TriOptimum to authorize the station's destruction; she provides him with details on how to do this.<ref>'''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.</ref> After obtaining the necessary codes, the hacker initiates the station's self-destruct sequence and flees to the escape pod bay. There, the hacker defeats Diego again and then attempts to disembark. However, SHODAN prevents the pod from launching; it seeks to keep the player aboard the station while the bridge containing SHODAN is jettisoned to a safe distance.<ref>'''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.</ref> Rebecca tells the hacker that he can still escape if he reaches the bridge; SHODAN then intercepts and jams the transmission.<ref>'''Rebecca''': Ok, now don't panic. You can still get out of this alive, if you move. SHODAN is going to separate the bridge from the rest of the station. 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.</ref> After defeating Diego for the third time and killing him for good, the hacker makes it to the bridge as it is released from the main station, which soon detonates. He is then contacted by a technician who managed to circumvent SHODAN's jamming signal. The technician informs him that SHODAN can only be defeated in cyberspace due to the powerful shields that protect its [[mainframe computer]]s.<ref>'''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.</ref> Using a terminal near the mainframe, the hacker enters cyberspace and destroys SHODAN. After his rescue, the hacker is offered a job at TriOptimum, but he declines in favor of continuing his life as a hacker.