Editing System Shock 2 (section)

==Plot==

===Backstory===

In 2072, after the Citadel Station's demise in ''[[System Shock]]'', TriOptimum's attempts to cover up the incident were exposed to the media, and the corporation was brought up on charges from multiple individuals and companies for the ensuing scandal. The virus developed there killed the station's population; the ruthless malevolent [[artificial intelligence|AI supercomputer]] named [[SHODAN]] controlled the Citadel Station in hopes of enslaving and destroying humanity. After a large number of trials, the company went bankrupt, and its operations were shut down. The United Nations Nominate (UNN), a successor to the [[United Nations|UN]], was established to combat the hostility and corruption of power-hungry corporations, including TriOptimum. Artificial intelligence was reduced to the most rudimentary of tasks to prevent the creation of another SHODAN-like malevolent AI, and the development of new technologies was halted. Meanwhile, the hacker (''System Shock''{{'}}s main protagonist), who became the most famous person in the world, vanished from the public eye.

In 2100, 28 years later, the company's failed stocks and assets were bought by a [[Russian oligarch]] named Anatoly Korenchkin, a former black market operator who sought to make money legitimately. He re-licensed and restored the company to its former status in the following decade. Along with producing healthcare and consumer products, Korenchkin signed weapons contracts with various military organizations, private and political-owned. The new UNN was virtually powerless, with Korenchkin exercising control over them.

In January 2114, 42 years after the Citadel events and 14 years into rebuilding TriOptimum, the company created an experimental [[faster-than-light|FTL]] [[starship]], the ''Von Braun'', which is on its maiden voyage. The ship is followed by a UNN space vessel, the ''Rickenbacker'', controlled by Captain William Bedford Diego, son of the Citadel Station's infamous commander, Edward Diego, and public hero of the Battle of the Boston Harbor during the Eastern States Police Action. Because the ''Rickenbacker'' does not have an FTL system, the two ships are attached for the trip. However, Korenchkin was egotistical enough to make himself the captain of the ''Von Braun'' despite being inexperienced.<ref name="SS2 Manual World Description">{{cite book|title=System Shock 2 instruction manual|publisher=Electronic Arts|date=1999-08-11|pages=31–33}}</ref>

Five months into the journey, the ships respond to a [[distress signal]] from the planet [[Tau Ceti|Tau Ceti V]], outside the Solar System.<ref>{{cite video game|title=System Shock 2|developer=Irrational Games|publisher=Electronic Arts|date=1999-08-11|platform=PC|quote='''Korenchkin:''' We have picked up a transmission from the surface of Tau Ceti V. I have been in negotiation with Captain Diego of the Rickenbacker and after some... coercion, he's agreed to go planet side as a joint venture. Imagine, this historic mission might even become more historic. First Contact. And who is there to get exclusive rights to all media, patents and land grants? TriOptimum. Miri, I told you this would be worth it.}}</ref> A rescue team is sent to the planet's surface, where they discover strange eggs;<ref>{{cite video game|title=System Shock 2|developer=Irrational Games|publisher=Electronic Arts|date=1999-08-11|platform=PC|quote='''Bayliss:''' After a couple of hours it was... it was like being on a bender... long periods that you couldn't remember... one minute we were in that crater... the next minute we were loading up the shuttle with the eggs... I remember hearing that idiot Korenchkin calling the Von Braun and ordering them to clear off the ENTIRE hydroponics deck. Diego seemed to think this was strange and said, 'Are you crazy, Anatoly?' And Korenchkin smiled and said back to him, 'Oh, Captain... WE are not Anatoly... }}</ref> these eggs, found in an old ejection pod, infect the rescue team and integrate them into an alien communion known as "the Many" - a psychic hive mind generated by parasitic worms which can infect and mutate a human host. The parasites eventually spread to both ships and take over or kill most of their crews.

===Story===
Owing to a computer malfunction, the remaining soldier awakens with [[amnesia]] in a [[Cryonics|cryo-tube]] on the medical deck of the ''Von Braun'', being implanted with an illegal cyber-neural interface. Another survivor, Dr. Janice Polito, contacts and guides him to safety before the [[cabin pressurization#Unplanned decompression|cabin depressurizes]]. She demands that he meets her on deck 4 of the ''Von Braun''.<ref>{{cite video game|title=System Shock 2|developer=Irrational Games|publisher=Electronic Arts|date=1999-08-11|platform=PC|quote='''Polito:''' Make sure you expend all your cybernetic modules before you leave this area. You don't know when you'll find another upgrade unit. Now, find a way to deck 4.}}</ref> Along the way, the soldier battles the infected crew members. The Many telepathically communicate with him, attempting to convince him to join them. After restarting the ship's engine core, the soldier reaches deck 4 and discovers that Polito is dead and is soon confronted by SHODAN. It is revealed she has been posing as Polito to gain the soldier's trust.<ref>{{cite video game|title=System Shock 2|developer=Irrational Games|publisher=Electronic Arts|date=1999-08-11|platform=PC|quote='''SHODAN:''' I used Polito's image to communicate with you, until we had established trust.}}</ref>

SHODAN mentions that she is responsible for creating the Many through her bioengineering experiments on Citadel Station. The [[Hacker (computer security)|Hacker]], who freed her from her ethical restraints, ejected the grove that contained her experiments to prevent them from contaminating Earth, an act that allowed part of SHODAN to survive in the grove. The grove crash-landed on Tau Ceti V. While SHODAN went into forced hibernation, the Many evolved beyond her control.<ref>{{cite video game|title=System Shock 2|developer=Irrational Games|publisher=Electronic Arts |date=1999-08-11 |platform=PC |quote='''SHODAN:''' Thrived, and grew unruly. And now they seek to destroy me. I will not allow that.}}</ref> SHODAN tells the soldier that his only chance for survival lies in helping destroy her creations.<ref>{{cite video game|title=System Shock 2|developer=Irrational Games |publisher=Electronic Arts |date=1999-08-11 |platform=PC |quote='''SHODAN:''' Remember, that it is my will that guided you here; it is my will that gave you your cybernetic implants—the only beauty in that meat you call a body. If you value that meat, you will do as I tell you.}}</ref> Efforts to regain control of XERXES, the main computer on the ''Von Braun'', fail. SHODAN informs the soldier that destroying the ship is their only option, but he must transmit her program to the ''Rickenbacker'' first.<ref>{{cite video game|title=System Shock 2|developer=Irrational Games|publisher=Electronic Arts|date=1999-08-11|platform=PC|quote='''SHODAN:''' My creation has run rampant. I demand their extermination. I have no choice but to destroy this starship. We can make our escape in the ''Rickenbacker'', but you must transfer my intelligence to that ship first.}}</ref> While en route, the soldier briefly encounters two survivors, Thomas "Tommy" Suarez and Rebecca Siddons,{{efn|Not to be confused with Rebecca Lansing from the original ''System Shock''}} who flee the ship aboard an escape pod.<ref>{{cite video game|title=System Shock 2|developer=Irrational Games|publisher=Electronic Arts|date=1999-08-11|platform=PC|quote='''Siddons:''' Move it, Tommy... the escape pod is this way!}}</ref>

With the transfer complete, the soldier travels to the ''Rickenbacker'' and learns both ships have been enveloped by the infection's source, a gigantic mass of bio-organic tissue that has wrapped itself over the two ships.<ref>{{cite video game|title=System Shock 2|developer=Irrational Games|publisher=Electronic Arts|date=1999-08-11|platform=PC|quote='''SHODAN:''' The Many has grown to a massive size. It has wrapped itself around these two ships, preventing their separation.}}</ref> The soldier enters the biomass and destroys its core, stopping the infection. SHODAN congratulates him and tells of her intentions to merge real space and cyberspace through the ''Von Braun''{{'}}s faster-than-light drive.<ref>{{cite video game|title=System Shock 2|developer=Irrational Games|publisher=Electronic Arts|date=1999-08-11|platform=PC|quote='''Delacroix:''' You must understand the stakes here... if SHODAN is left to continue, her reality will completely assimilate ours. Space will become cyberspace and SHODAN's whims will become reality.}}</ref> The soldier confronts SHODAN in [[cyberspace]] and defeats her. The final scene shows Tommy and Rebecca receiving a message from the ''Von Braun''. Tommy responds, saying they will return and noting that Rebecca is acting strange. Rebecca speaks in a SHODAN-like voice, asking Tommy if he "likes her new look" as the screen fades to black.