"Jon?"
"Yes?"
"I need you to gather a few people and head out into the wastes, grid sector k_08."
"Why?"
"We found a cave entrance... it's old. There's technology in there that predates the City."
"Predates Neocron? I'm on my way."
An hour and a couple of calls later, Jon Lawrence had assembled his team at his apartment. There was Joanna Chase, their resident weapons expert; she was surgical with a Tangent Assault Rifle... from half a kilometer. Their researcher was named Corey Holmes, a recently graduated student that was already at the top of her field. She could glance at a piece of technology and tell you who, where and when it was made. A few minutes of tinkering would yield how it worked and what it did. Mike Warren was Corey's boyfriend and so he ended up tagging along as well. He didn't actually have any specific role in the group, he just helped out wherever he was needed. No one knew how, but Mike could take relatively mundane objects and make something totally different out of them... one time he grabbed a few metal plates, a pipe and some random wires and crafted an assault rifle. Jon was the group leader, the one with the contacts inside City Administration, N.E.X.T. and Tangent Technologies. He could get inside information on any potential site and be there with all the necessary equipment and vehicles days before any other team heard of the place. He'd also get them very, very cheap.
“You won't like this Joanna, but the plan is to gene rep over to the Military Base, then drive from there. I've already made the arrangements with the Mercs,” Jon said to his team. Joanna frowned, not wanting to meet up with her former unit again. Mike whispered something to Corey, which made her smile and barely contain a giggle, but Jon ignored it for now. Knowing Mike, it would've been a comment on Joanna's lack of courage, her being the soldier after all. “Sorry to get you all up early, but time is of the essence. I'll fill you in on the drive from the base.”
An uneventful gene rep trip and walk to the garage later, the four teammates threw their stuff into a truck and they were off, heading east to sector k_08. “OK Jon, why are we going to the middle of nowhere?” Asked Corey.
“One of my contacts in City Admin told me they found a cave with real old stuff in it... if we could explore the cave system fully and find a piece of technology older than Neocron itself, we'd be rich! Think of the possibilities! It could be a newer copy of the Ceres Disks!”
“We know what the possibilities are, Jon.” Corey said, although Jon's words weren't lost on her. This could be big. Joanna didn't seem too interested, but she was getting her fair share of whatever they earned. Still, the over-enthusiasm of scientific types tended to annoy her. Mike was quiet, as usual.