Cyberpunk 2077 has many choices for players to make throughout each story mission. These choices can affect relationships with characters and the rewards that V receives. Keep a few saves ready just in case the outcome of a quest wasn't intended.
Early on during the game's prologue, players can tackle their first optional objective. Meet a Militech Corpo named Meredith Stout and decide to work for her or not. This will affect V's relationship with her later on after the heist is completed. Working with her nets the player an encrypted shard. Players can decide to hack it open and see what's inside. Here is how to decrypt the Militech Datashard in Cyberpunk 2077.
How to Get the Militech Shard
After V has met with Dexter Deshaun they need to do some setup during "The Pickup" quest before the Heist. Players need to acquire a Flathead robot that Maelstrom has taken. There will be an optional objective to meet the Militech Official responsible for losing this robot. Meet Meredith Stout, and she will demand the player help her out by paying with the Militech Datashard. Working with her in the correct way will allow V to have a brief romance with her later. Players can trust her and hand over the shard to Maelstrom to see what happens.
Find the Encrypted Datashard in the Inventory
If players are curious about the contents of the shard, they can open their inventory. The journal tab will drop down to reveal a shard tab.
Click on this tab and scroll to the bottom. Updates have made encrypted shards easier to find underneath their own encrypted tab. Click on it to find the Militech shard and see the encrypted message.
Decrypting Decision
Press Triangle/Y to decrypt the shard. This will begin the breach protocol hacking minigame. Players need to punch in the sequences on the right by clicking on alternating rows and columns. It turns out there is malware installed on the chip. This malware will attack the Maelstrom computers if it is given to them during the deal. Matching the first sequence will clean the malware off the chip, and players can trade it for the flathead. Matching the second sequence will make a copy of the malware the player can use in their cyberdeck. Players can do both and receive 10,000 credits along with the malware.
The decrypted message simply says the shard is the property of Militech. Keep an eye out for more encrypted shards in Night City.
Cyberpunk 2077 is available now on PC, PS4, PS5, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X/S.