2 Weeks Later. November 2nd, 2267. 09:45 Robinhood Apartments

The car drove up to the apartment and pulled into the visitor parking lot. Inside it were Alberic, Linus, and Elias. Today was the day that Elias had prepared for. It was time to end Daphne.

“Wait here, I’ll be back shortly,” Elias said as he stepped out of the vehicle.

“Boss, we should…”

“Stay here,” Elias said firmly as he closed his door.

Neither Linus nor Alberic were comfortable with this last-second audible. Elias had spent the better part of a week working on this elaborate plan to eliminate her. The two men thought all that work was a bit over the top. But he was their superior officer and as such allowed him to work out this plan.

Both of them would have suggested a much simpler plan. They make entry and ensure no one leaves the apartment. Elias shoots her with a suppressed pistol or injects her with an overdose of the latest and local variant of heroin. A simple and quick style of plan would have been their recommendation.

But now, here they are in a parked car with this plan completely and utterly shattered. Not a word was spoken. None needed to be for the looks the two men gave to one another spoke volumes. They knew what would and wouldn’t happen here today. And that was grossly disappointing to both.

Elias made entry into the apartment and disappeared. His confidence was shaken. He knew he couldn’t hide that from his two subordinates, but when he woke up this morning, he was ready to kill Daphne. Now though? What the hell had happened in the last thirty minutes to change his determination?

“I am so weak,” Elias muttered under his breath as he walked up the stairs.

It was a slow and sad hike up the stairs to the fourth floor. As he got closer to his destination his legs felt heavier and heavier. His pace slowed while his heartbeat increased. It was an odd sensation to feel. He was here to kill his ex-fiancé but in reality, he was an impotent weakling.

He got to Daphne’s door and placed a device over the scanner. Moments later the red light shifted to green and unlocked the door. Elias walked in and looked at the small but upscale apartment. The living room and kitchen were separated by a small island that doubled for the dining table on the living room side. A comfortable-looking couch was about ten feet away from a modest-sized television on the wall.

And there Daphne was standing up, her face shifting from surprise to an outright loathing hatred, looking at Elias.

“Guess you weren’t expecting me,” Elias said sheepishly.

Daphne spread her arms out and spat out, “Do it then, kill me and get it over with. I don’t have time to deal with your bullshit.”

Elias was surprised by the comment. The gun was in a holster at six o’clock. The logical side of his brain commanded his arm to draw the weapon. But nothing happened. He looked down at her feet momentarily then looked her up and down.

It had only been a month and a half since she’d been gone. At that time, she looked like she had gained ten pounds. The irony of that weight gain is that she looked much more attractive to him now than she ever did when they were together. Elias was smitten once again with the woman who wanted nothing to do with him.

“Oh my god, you are a fucking pussy. If you are here to kill me, then fucking do it or get the fuck out of my place. I want nothing more to do with you.”

“We… We can…” Elias paused trying to find the words, “We can make this work.”

Daphne put her arms down and looked at him in disgust, “We can make what work? Oh, my gods, this is ridiculous. I was exiled by you because I had the audacity, no the temerity, to want to live my life the way I wanted too. Now you see me,” she mocked Elias by showing off her curves, “And you want this again. It’s not happening, you impotent prick.”

“The life these pitiful creatures here live is nothing compared…”

“Pitiful? We are the pitiful creatures you fucking imbecile. All of us are slaves to the government. We have no real self-determination like the people you hate so much here do. And if you are born with a functional vagina and fallopian tubes then all that awaits you is mothering several children, some of whom aren’t even yours. That’s what’s in my future. No, no I never agreed to that.”

“That is what we must do to ensure…” Elias tried to start his common argument.

“No, we must not ensure anything. If we were smart, we’d stay put in our little hidey-hole in the middle of fucking nowhere and not try to start a galactic war. Which news flash, we will lose. Slowly but surely, we will.”

Elias clenched his fist. Daphne went into a defensive stance immediately. She then pointed at him.

“Touch me and I swear I’ll cut your balls off. Now what the fuck are you here for?”

“A last chance.”

“Fuck that,” Daphne said immediately, “Under you, I’ll have to live like I did before. Have those expectations that I never asked for hoisted upon me once again. Never again, I am going to live life the way I want to.”

“Our society places numerous demands on us all. We have to...”

“Oh, please fucking stop. I don’t care about our society. Elias, all I’ve ever wanted to do is live a life of my choosing. I do not want to do what the government wants me to do. It’s easy for you to talk of sacrifice when you make none yourself.”

“Where did all this come from? You weren’t always like this…” Elias trailed off.

“Wasn’t always like this? Elias, you daft idiot. I have always been like this. Always and forever. Never in my life have I ever wanted to be a mother, much less married. Marrying you was a way to avoid having my personality fucked with.”

Elias walked closer to Daphne and stretched out his arm, “Take my hand and I’ll find some way to lessen the blow to you and your family’s honor.”

Daphne slapped his hand away and looked at her former fiancé in utter disgust, “I will never do that. I would sooner die than rejoin the pathetic excuse we call our people.”

Elias shook his head and sighed as he turned. He paused at the door as he held the doorknob. Another sigh was let out as he paused.

“The next time we meet it won’t…”

“Get the fuck out!” yelled Daphne, “You’ve always been a disappointment. Your self-importance was always outsized. I know you’ll never be able to kill me. Don’t come at me with your impotent threats. The sooner I never see you the better.”

Elias shook his head as he left the small apartment. He did so because of his weakness and Daphne’s outburst. Today ended in yet another failure on his part. The car ride back to their location would be uncomfortable. A loose end was still out there to resolve. Yet this day he couldn’t bring himself to it.

20:50 Kenno Noir Building—2nd Floor Offices

Elias was sitting at his desk staring at his terminal’s display. There was much hushed talk throughout the afternoon. Whatever mission they went on failed. And the car ride home was most uncomfortable.

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Linus and Alberic both wanted to say something, anything, but they opted to stay quiet. Not out of respect for Elias personally, but for his rank. They were soldiers and neither wanted to be accused of insubordination.

He took a deep breath and played back the trip to Daphne’s apartment. How had he faltered? Well, he shrugged as he knew the answer to that, he simply was still in love with her. Except, that wasn’t true, he was in love with an imaginative version of Daphne.

“This sucks,” Elias said quietly to himself.

The more Elias tried to bury himself with work, the more it failed. He had no focus anymore. The sole bit of good news he clung to was the slip gate was coming along. That was the only thing that was working as expected, and not ironically, it was the only thing that he couldn’t mess up at the moment.

He scrolled through the industrial works screen and smiled when he saw that the three additional teams were at the gate and working on it. There were numerous comments from the supervisors questioning the resources devoted to creating the components and assembling this monstrosity of an engineering experiment. In addition, there were many questions about when repayment for this project would come.

The repayment was liberation from the idiocy of the Confederacy and reeducation from the Union of Xenu. Elias was certain of that. But then his mind drifted back to Daphne. Why was she so against their way of life? It was such a silly thing from his perspective.

Linus then entered the office room and quietly closed and locked the door behind him. He had a stern look about him. Elias sighed and looked back at his terminal.

“I’m busy. If you don’t mind, I’d like a little bit of privacy this evening.”

“I failed my first kill mission too. I hesitated. The target was a friend of my brothers from secondary school,” Linus said as he hopped up onto an empty desk, “It was a complete shit show. I know you can kill; I remember that back when we first got here. Killing someone we know, even loved, is something entirely different.”

“Yes, I’m keenly aware of the difficulty of that.”

“Good, you better have it figured out because we’re going back tomorrow so that you can finish the job.”

Elias pulled his head out from the terminal and looked at his subordinate. He was surprised someone spoke to him like that. That someone gave him an order even.

“I’m not sure you can appreciate how difficult it is to kill someone that you were intimate with,” Elias sighed as he dropped his shoulders.

“Oh, I can imagine it’s a sonofabitch to think about and even more difficult to execute. But if you let her live the fallout from that is going to be intense,” Linus shrugged, “Given the turmoil we went through at the time I think it’s somewhat excusable to not have executed her right then and there.”

“Linus, I understand that, before our reinforcements get here I will...”

Linus shook his head, “Tomorrow. Not next week, nor this weekend, or next month. Tomorrow is the day. If you can’t pull the trigger, then I will. And then I will ask for you to step down from your post. I don’t want to do that because I don’t want to manage this motley crew of ours. I’m not suited for that, you however are.”

“You don’t get to dictate terms to me.”

“I’m afraid I do, and I know you are aware of the regulations surrounding when we must deliver operational justice on misbehaving team members. Her behavior was so much worse, and we both know it.”

Elias stewed in anger as he stared at the screen. How dare he be given an ultimate on something like this? Who in the hell was he to do that to him? But then he began thinking about the regulations. It was a rare thing indeed to dispense the death penalty onto a team member, but Linus was right. Daphne’s transgressions were terrible indeed.

What in the hell was he thinking this morning? How had he so easily lost his nerve? And once again it was over a woman with whom he had an entirely one-sided relationship. That was the spark that burned through the rose-tinted goggles he had been wearing. That woman that he loved never existed.

“We’ll leave here at 07:00 tomorrow morning.”

“Very good sir,” Linus said as he walked to the door, “For what it’s worth, I’m sorry. I would’ve done the same thing as you if I’m being perfectly honest with you.”

Elias continued to sit at his desk in quiet as Linus left the room. The deed would finally be taken care of tomorrow. With that monkey off his back, he could refocus his efforts to complete the mission.

21:27 Maxwells Tavern

Viviana, Castor, and Ellie were sitting at the nearby establishment. Castor was having a non-alcoholic beer while the two women were drinking non-alcoholic wines. Their waitress thought their choices were odd, but she dutifully took the order and brought them their drinks.

“So, I heard a rumor about this morning,” Viviana said.

Castor nodded but said nothing.

“What did you hear?” Ellie leaned in and whispered.

“Elias was going to take out Daphne,” Viviana paused, “Like eliminate her.”

Castor nodded, “She committed high treason and was guilty of violating a standing order. Her direct actions of ignoring curfew and convincing those around her to ignore them caused their deaths. If she and the others left when they should have then everyone would’ve survived.”

“But to kill her? That seems…” Viviana paused and smiled as a fourth person sat down at the table.

“Excessive. Too bad the pussy doesn’t have what it takes,” Daphne said sitting down, clearly having overheard some of their quiet conversations.

“And with that, I’ll bid you adieu,” Castor said as he stood up from the table.

“Sit down and…” Daphne attempted to order the young agent but was interrupted.

Ellie stood up and shook her head, “Unlike you, and you as well, I am going to follow standard orders. Nothing good has come from following or associating with you.”

The couple made their way to the bar and paid for their tab. Daphne shook her head at them as they left the table. She then flagged down the waitress and ordered a fruity alcoholic drink, a local favorite.

“I was surprised when you agreed to come here,” Daphne said, “Even more surprising when you brought the new couple.”

“I needed them to get out of our building. Turns out our leader’s assumption of an enemy asset on the ground was true,” Viviana said, “Not like I have much to worry about since I’m effectively an office worker.”

“Well, let’s get our drink on and find a couple of guys to bring back to my place to bang. It’s time to live for a change,” Daphne smirked as she took a drink.

“How is it that you have the money to afford the apartment you are in? I took a look at other listings in that building,” Viviana leaned in and whispered, “There’s no way you earn enough to comfortably live there.”

“Why would I tell you my secrets?” Daphne sounded as arrogant as she looked at that moment.

“Because we’re friends, and I’m not going to play the games you want to if you aren’t able to be honest with me.”

“You want out too, don’t you? But you are worried about how to live on the outside.”

Viviana nodded, “Getting out is relatively easy. Surviving is another story. That takes credits to do so.”

“Do you remember our transaction scheme?”

Another nod came from Viviana.

“I increased our skimming percentage by about twenty percent, and had that excess placed into an account of my own making and control.”

Viviana’s eyes grew wide with the realization of what her friend had done. Daphne was in charge of implementing the code. She added a few lines to add a second skimming process. And that stole millions of credits for her, and only her, use. In other words, she was set for life.

“That explains the attitude change when you got here. You no longer needed him.”

Daphne grinned as she sipped a drink, a grin that all but confirmed her friend’s assumption. She was eyeing two men at the bar. One was a blonde-haired man, dainty but dressed like an executive. He was right up her alley.

The other man, her type technically too, was what Viviana wanted in a partner physically. The man was built like a brick shithouse. Despite his gruff outward-looking appearance, the muscular man was drinking a top-shelf spirit of some sort and had a more dignified aura than his clothing suggested.

“How’s about I go for the blonde guy, and you go for the big guy?” Daphne gave a flirtatious grin to Viviana.

Viviana turned around and grinned. She reached out blindly at the table and grabbed Daphne’s hand before turning back to look at her. More needed to be said, but she liked what she saw and agreed with the suggestion.

“Before that, I have a recommendation.”

“Alright, I suppose fun can wait a few minutes,” Daphne sucked down a third of what was left of her drink, “What is on your mind?”

“I need some of those credits to get established.”

“Consider it done.”

“And we should leave the world and head deeper into their territory. Bad things are coming here, and I don’t want to be here when the fireworks go off. And the sooner you and I get out of here the better.”

Daphne sighed, “Elias stopped by my place to eliminate loose ends. He failed.”

“Let’s get a couple of rooms at the Hilton nearby then,” Viviana said, “Linus and him were talking about a mission today. Your place may be too dangerous now.”

Daphne rolled her eyes, “He’s too much of a pussy to do anything about it.”

“True, but can you say the same about Linus or Alberic?” Viviana paused, “Well, at least Linus?”

“Ok here’s the deal. We get our guys, we have our fun, then we head up to the station tonight after I pick up some stuff at my place. It’s a win-win. We get our fun, and then we get to start new lives free from the idiotic oppression our home world wants to impart on us.”

“Done,” Viviana raised her glass and toasted Daphne’s.

Daphne quickly booked the rooms and pre-checked in. She transferred one room to Viviana’s account. They were pleasantly surprised that they were on the same floor. And right across the hall from one another, presuming of course that the floor layout was accurate at this hotel.

It was now time for the two women to hit on and acquire their sexual target for the evening. Daphne pulled her blouse down a bit to show off more cleavage. Viviana did the same while also pulling up her pants to accentuate her ass more. The women were on the hunt.

To no one’s surprise, the hunt was quite successful. Daphne acquired her target with relative ease. Viviana had to convince her target to cheat on his wife. ‘She won’t ever know,’ and ‘There are no strings here, one night of fun and I’ll be gone forever,’ were enough justification to make the man succumb to her predation.

The two women and their newfound partners left the bar one after another. The short walk to the hotel was over almost as quickly as it started. Ahead of them was an evening of debauchery, sins of the flesh, and immorality. But had the women picked the right men? Or did one, or both, choose the most dangerous kind of man? Only time will tell.