I connected to the fleet's nexus of cybernetic minds. The blockade fleet surrounded Mars just below the orbit of Phobos, Mars' first moon. Each Ambush class gunship had direct sight to five other gunships, but not even cybernetic enhanced eye-sight had that kind of range. Only the ships' navigation and targeting sensors would suffice. The blockade fleet could see in every direction that could be used to approach Mars. The only blind-spots for the fleet were the moons, but both Phobos and Deimos could also get militarized, although only Phobos maintained a connection to the fleet's cybernetic network since the fleet was using Phobos as a patrol base. The fleet could see from the view provided by navigation sensors of any individual gunship. I quickly understood why they chose navigation sensor data over targeting data. The navigation sensor uses less power and can see in every direction, where as the targeting sensor is more powerful, but only valuable in the narrow angles that a gunner is expected to shoot. It would be near impossible for even a cloaked ship to approach Mars without being at least located. When a targeting sensor is aimed at a Gunship a hostile lock alarm is triggered. Since most ambush class gunships also use stealth tech, they also know what to look out for, when an enemy ship is cloaked.
That's where the Martian City of Rhetonis was an exception. I could now see what Ylisaya saw. Over two hundred gunships made high detailed scans of Rhetonis and enabled the fleet to both see activities in the city and even hear conversations, even through the giant dome that enveloped the the city's breathable atmosphere. I thought it was strange that the Confederacy requested the fleet to keep weapons lock on the city, or if the Confederacy even knew that we would have such an easy time spying on them. The fleet was continuously watching the Ugians and Lanthanos kill off each other. The Confederacy seemed to have multiple estimates of how many gang members remained. All of the Confederacy's estimates were close to the fleet's but the none of their estimates were as accurate. The Confederacy continued to wait and watch, but they never indicated what they were waiting for. The blockade fleet continued billing the Confederacy, and it all seemed very odd to the fleet that the Confederacy seemed to not care how much the gang war was costing them. However the situation that seemed to draw the interest of the majority of the fleet was the mysterious client who entered the city with a mercenary super soldier.
I was sitting on the bridge of the Something Clever yet I could see each area of the city, which gang controlled which area, and the movements of gang members of both gangs as they attempted to fight each other. I could see Tony and the client. The scan could detail the surface of his armor, but didn't scan anything further than the surface. Through the scan, his power armor appeared like a walking fortress of black metal and within the armor a glow of molten lava. Across his chest, attached to his arms from the shoulder to the elbow, and from the hip to the knee on his non-shooting side he kept spare ammo. Hanging on the hip of his shooting side he kept a hand-cannon. On his back he kept three more weapons in their closed and folded travel configurations. I guessed those were his pulse rifle, his shotgun, and his battle-axe. Around his neck and hanging over the shoulder of his shooting side he wore his cloaking device. The fabric wasn't active, so as long as he wanted to be seen he would be visible to the scanners. His head was covered by a demonic looking skull mask with fangs, pointed ears, and two rows of small horns that ran from front to back over the eyes. Beneath the skull mask that caged his own skull, the scans could see his glowing red eyes with vertical pupil slits. The fleet scan was quite accurate.
The client next to Tony, wore a suit made of Tri-tech. Tri-tech was commonly known as the Earthborn's attempt to copy Rylkonian tech, but it only approximated Rylkonian technology, and it relied too much on electronics so didn't exactly work the same. The client's suit was made of large, medium, and small hexagon shaped red metal plates that interlocked into each other. The smallest hexagon plates composed the joints, allowing full flexibility for the hands and neck, and the large hexagon plates protected larger parts of the body not expected to flex as much. No Rylkonians, and consequently no-one in the fleet's cybernetic network fully understood how Tri-tech power armor worked, all we could be certain of is that it was the weakest of the cybernetic strength enhancements. But enough of us had seen Ugians fight and knew the Ugian fighting style relies on precision, skill, and understanding their enemy's weaknesses. Some of the fleet were expecting to find the clan markings of this Ugian warrior, which was usually displayed on the outside back of a long jacket or thick vest worn over the armor, and a belt is wrapped around such jackets or vests. The belt is also where an Ugian warrior hangs their weapons. This warrior carried a sword inside a sheath hanging from the belt, but this Ugian warrior had no clan markings and the material seemed unusually smooth for something worn into battle. The most unusual quality of the Ugian warrior's jacket and belt is that they were the color pink with white trim. The top of the Ugian warrior's head was protected by a black metal dome that scanned as Tri-tech with angled black plates that covered the sides and back. It almost seemed as if the plates were designed to appear as a hair-style. The client's face was covered by a white mask that the sensor's detected as Tri-tech. The mask was smooth, had a perky nose, high cheek-bones, slender chin, ruby lips, and intricately decorated eye holes. The fleet wasn't convinced that the Confederate officers weren't either racist or didn't suspect an Earthborn male might be pretending to be a female. The consensus of the fleet concluded this question didn't matter, the fleet isn't investigating the Phantom's client, and such a concern should only be resolved with a blood test.
The fleet watched Tony as he guided the client towards the location of three Ugian warriors. The three Ugian warriors wore black Tri-tech armor, their helmets and masks resembled demons and ferocious animals, and wore identical clan markings on black long vests. The three Ugians warriors were taking the valuables from a dead Lanthano woman. The Lanthano woman didn't appear to have any weapons or armor that identified her as a gang member, and the scan indicated she had been recently killed with metal blade weapons, as her wounds included cuts and stabs. Tony and the client approached quietly and were not noticed by the three Ugians. Tony and the client reached the corner closest to the three Ugian warriors and Tony made a gesture to the client that indicated he saw only three enemies.
"They shall fight with honor.", yelled the client in a digitally altered voice. The three warriors turned towards the direction of the client's voice and the client stepped out from the corner as drew they sword from it's sheath. The three warriors seemed to recognize the client as they drew their own swords. Tony's posture seemed frustrated that the client just chose to attack. The fleet was trying to determine why Ugians might be fighting each other. The three Ugian warriors drew their swords called Rotono blades, each was a curved blade with single cutting edge on the convex edge of the blade. The concave edge contained a hollow track with a metal wheel inside, that rested near the handle of the sword. The hand guard was thin copper dome shaped half-basket. The handle was wrapped in a grip made from cords that changed direction with alternating knots. The three warriors had swords with black handles and steel blades. The Client's sword had a red handle wrapped in white cords, and the client’s blade was made from an unknown metal that shined red. The client slowly approached the three warriors and the three warriors slowly surrounded the client. The client took a sword stance with the Rotono blade held high near the shoulder of the sword-hand, with the blade pointed upward. The Warrior in the center raised his Rotono-blade high ready to strike. The two other warriors moved away from the warrior between them. One of the warriors to the side rested the track edge of the blade over the shoulder of his off hand side with the point of the blade and his focus on the client. The third warrior took a wider stance, held his blade with both hands, and pointed the blade away from the client, which prevented the client from being able to see the blade and unable to predict the angle of the attack. The three warriors slowly surrounded the client and seemed as if their plan was to attack all at once.
"I'm not getting paid enough for this." Tony grumbled in a whisper as Tony reached for his shotgun.
The shotgun was magnetically attached to Tony's armor, closed, and folded into a compact form. As soon as Tony touched the shotgun, it seemed to jump into his hand as it unfolded and prepared to shoot. Tony looked at the ammo indicator panel and activated his cloaking device. As the cloak effect enveloped Tony, he vanished into a distortion. The scan could no longer see him exactly, but what the scan did see was replaced with a distortion just slightly larger than Tony, which meant the cloaking device was working, but the scanning from the fleet could still determine his location and when he moves, by watching the distortion.
The three Ugian warriors slowly closed in on the client, and Tony moved undetected towards the closest warrior to the side of the client. Tony deactivated his cloak, surprised the three warriors, and fired at the closest enemy. The shotgun blast launched a cluster or sharp metal projectiles that sliced through the warrior’s armor. The warrior hit by the shotgun blast dropped to his knees, touched the armor on his chest, and then looked is his hand. The warrior's armored hand was now covered in blood, and blood continued to flow from the holes recently shot. The scan from the fleet indicated that the Tri-tech armor was trying to keep the warrior alive, but the armor was going to fail. Tony turned his aim towards the next closest enemy, but both remaining warriors rushed in towards the client. It seemed they guessed from the impact pattern on their injured fellow gang-member, that Tony couldn't fire again without hitting the client. They swung their swords and with each swing the metal wheel inside the blade rolled from the handle to tip. The scan indicated that the shift in weight mechanically increased the striking power of the sword by an exponential magnitude. The client deflected the sword strike with a parry, and when the warriors attacked once more the client deflected again. Each time their blades clashed they disengaged to evade a counter attack, whether or not the client managed to strike them.
Tony attempted to aim the shotgun but the client was still in danger of the shogun blast. The client continued to defend against two opponents, and the fleet suspected the warriors armed with swords both determined that the opponent with a sword is less of a threat than the opponent with significantly more firepower. The warriors sped up their pattern of attacking and retreating, staying as close as they could to the client, to prevent being shot. The blades of the warriors and the client carved continuous flowing circles in the air resting only to prepare the mechanical blades for lethal strikes.
Tony returned the shotgun to his back carrier and the weapon folded into it's more compact form. Tony switched to his battle-axe. The handle of the Battle-Axe extended and activated a blue half-moon shaped energy blade at one end. The two warriors saw that Tony changed his weapon and the closest warrior retreated from the client to change his focus towards Tony. The warrior rushed and swung at Tony. Tony raised his battle axe, and the warrior's Rotono-blade only hit a force-field that seemed to wrap around the handle of the battle-axe. The Rotono-blade seemed to bounce off the deflector shield made of blue glowing hexagons, and the sword changed direction with the same amount of force that the warrior directed into the initial attack. The warrior lost his focus on Tony, as the sword was almost knocked out of his hands.
"My turn.”, Tony said in a chuckle.
Tony continued to push the handle of the battle axe forward towards the warrior, and Tony made the warrior lose balance. Tony swung the handle of the Battle-axe backwards into the back of the warrior's knee of the leg he was trying to balance on, and the warrior fell to the ground.
"For the Auro-blade!”, Tony yelled out as he swung his Battle-Axe, and Tony decapitated the second warrior. The client parried another sword swing from the third and final warrior. Tony deactivated the battle-axe and returned it the back carrier. The Battle-Axe folded itself into a compact form as it rested across Tony’s armor. Tony reached for his hand-cannon, and as he took aim at the third warrior, he knelt down next to the decapitated warrior. The last warrior and the client clashed blades once more and just as quickly jumped away from each other. As they landed they each prepared to attack once again. The warrior took a stance and pointed the blade upward to make the metal wheel inside the track of the blade reset to strike. As the wheel reached it’s lower rest, Tony fired the hand cannon and pierced right through the metal wheel. The warrior swung the Rotono-blade through the air and the wheel didn’t roll. The warrior realized his blade no longer had mechanically increased power. The warrior looked around and saw the client with a fully functional Rotono-blade and Tony was still aiming the hand-cannon at him. The fleet estimated an eighty-seven percent probability that the warrior would attempt to take a working sword from one of the other two warriors.
The warrior reached into his belt and threw a sphere shaped object wrapped in unknown material at the ground beneath his feet. When the sphere hit the ground, the sphere exploded in a cloud of smoke. The scan could see through the smoke and the fleet watched the warrior as he retreated into an adjacent alley-way. The fleet also determined that Tony could still see through the smoke, but allowed the warrior to escape. The Fleet now calculated there was a ninety-three percent chance that Tony planned to follow the warrior.
When the smoke cleared, Tony holstered his hand-cannon and picked up the Rotono-Blade dropped at his feet, and then stood up. Tony swung the blade, but the wheel didn’t roll. Tony examined the sword again and attempted to swing once more, but the wheel didn’t budge. The client watched Tony fail to use the Rotono-Blade a third time.
“That’s not going to work, it wasn’t made for you.”, the client said to Tony.
“These are supposed to be some of the most expensive weapons made by Ugians, and you’re telling me it just stopped working?”, Tony protested.
“Look inside the hand guard.”, the client replied.
Tony pointed the blade downwards and he peered into the hand guard.
“I see a switch and a lever…What do I do with those?” Asked Tony.
“I don’t know…They were made for him.”, the client said, as the client pointed to the warrior, the sword belonged to.
Tony picked up the other Rotono-Blade next to the warrior who lost consciousness. Tony looked in the hand guard of the other sword.
“This one has a dial and a switch…are every one of these swords made to be different?”, Tony asked.
The client sheathed the Red-Rotono-Blade, turned towards Tony, glanced at the unconscious warrior, glanced back at Tony.
"It's easier to keep the secrets of the Ugian Rotono-blade, if not just anybody can pick a Rotono-blade and start using one.”, the client said.
"Well the next time we find Ugians or run into Lanthano gang-members, I'd appriciate it if you kept our location a secret. We should go...it's getting dark and the trail will go cold.”, Tony replied.
"Should we have killed the third warrior? He'll tell others.", the client replied.
“What he says to the others is worth the risk for what he’ll show us.”, Tony replied.
Tony dropped the Rotono-Blade and led the client further into the city. Through the scans we could see that Tony followed the exact path of the warrior that escaped. The fleet was already following the warrior, however he headed towards an area that both gangs were currently fighting over. He had at least a fifty percent chance of joining other Ugians. The fleet suspected the warrior was following the sounds of battle, and suspected Tony was either following the same sound, could still detect the warrior, or combined multiple methods to track the warrior. But not me, as soon as I heard Tony say, "The trail will go cold." I knew what he did. The bullet that broke the wheel in the warrior's Rotono-Blade was altered to be exceptionally hot, and this alteration is both rare and expensive, but would explain why he choose to fire his hand-cannon instead of just using his Shotgun again. The result of the hot bullet is the heat as a bullet flies through the air and this effect burns directly into smoke. I knew, if the warrior had any of this smoke on him, then Tony will find him.
Tony led the client towards the the warrior, until they found an injured Ugian woman. She appeared to be an elderly woman and her garb showed signs of burns and she was hiding from the gangs, but all she had with her was a basket of salvaged food. The client turned to focus towards the woman.
"We don't have time to stop. Not even for refugees.”, Tony protested.
"I need to know what we're dealing with. It makes no sense for Ugian civilians to die.”, the client replied.
The client knelt down next to the woman and spoke in a language that no-one in the fleet understood. The woman replied in the same unknown language and they exchanged dialogue four more times. The client held the woman's hand as they continued talking.
"I want to find her family, let them know the Black Dragon Clan will suffer.”, the client said to Tony. The sections of the fleet that were watching the warrior verified that the warrior attacked the woman, but abandoned her and the food when he saw that all she had was food.
"How do you even know he did this?”, Tony asked the client.
"You say the warrior went this way, and this woman will be dead soon, from a wound that can only come from a Rotono-Blade without power strike. Who else would?”, the client argued.
"Protecting these people is the Confederacy's job. You paid me for the death of Warlord Zokoro. If you want to help these people, we only need to kill Zokoro, that brings this war one step closer to ending.”, Tony said.
Tony then turned towards the dying woman and he spoke in the unknown language. The woman replied to Tony, turned to the client, and smiled as the targeting scans detected her life signs fade.
"Maybe you're right, but how do we stop two armies that hate each other, and at least one side is willing to kill their own?”, the client asked.
"The Confederacy already answered that. They're fully capable of ending the fighting, but they're gonna wait for the best possible victory, the perfect moment to strike.”, Tony replied.
"That's not stopped...that's just waiting to win.”, the client argued.
"Then I only have one alternative I can think of...but I don't think you're gonna like the price tag of genocide.”, Tony replied.
"Can you do it?”, The client asked.
"Do what?”, Tony asked back.
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"Kill both the Black Dragon Clan and Lanthano gangs. Can you end this war?”, the client asked again.
"I normally do not question the motives of a client... They pay and I fight, that's usually the end of it. My answer is yes, but you already know the price of just one assassination. Do you have enough money to pay for a war?”, Tony asked.
The Client released the elderly woman's hand and crossed her arms over her chest.
"I hope her family finds her.”, the client said and then stood up.
"I'm ready, let's find Zokoro.”, the client added and then gestured for Tony to continue the search for the Black Dragon clan.
The fleet observed the Black Dragon Clan warrior was captured by a Lanthano gang, and Tony with the client were headed directly towards them. The Lanthano gang had barricaded themselves in a compound of three large buildings that allowed them to control the movement of people through the perimeter. The buildings had balconies, roof access, and bridges connecting to other buildings. The Lanthano Gang had placed lookouts with high powered assault rifles and bright spot lights on the roofs. As Tony with the client approached, Tony gestured for the client to stay back.
"I'm gonna scout the base, I'll let you know when I have a plan to get him out.”, Tony whispered to the client.
Tony activated his cloak and vanished, and the client moved behind a nearby wall. The fleet watched Tony vanish into a distortion and the distortion slowly moved through the compound with Tony inside it. Some Lanthano gang members had cybernetic enhancements, and presumably genetic modifications as well, but they tended to avoid regulations, which made them unpredictable. Tony moved cautiously as he knew it was impossible to predict which Lanthanos had cybernetic or genetic enhancements that might detect him. It might even be possible that the Lanthanos can detect the fleet’s scans.
Tony moved into a building and the fleet wasn't able to see him in scanning. The fleet estimated that Tony was searching for the Black Dragon warrior, since he wasn't killing any Lanthano Gang members. Tony slowly moved through the compound avoiding the risk of standing directly in front of any Lanthano gang members. The fleet observed the client respond to an electronic device and leave the hiding spot. The client walked into the spot lights to be completely visible to the look outs. The look outs aimed lights and assault rifles at the client, and all the lights turned off. The fleet concluded that Tony had sabotaged the electricity. The client retreated from the compound to a large wall with shallow ground next to it, and the client hid behind the wall to evade the look outs. The look outs fired at the previous location of client, but none of the shots fired managed to hit the client. A look out aimed a tube launcher in the direction of the client, dropped a projectile into the tube, and the object flew out from the tube and slowly floated as is burned bright enough to allow the look outs to see. The fleet scan identified the floating object as a flare, intended to help Earth born see for a short time.
When the scouts ceased fire, to either conserve ammo or avoid the bright flash from shooting an rapid fire weapon in near total darkness to keep searching. More Lanthano gang members exited building wandering in the dark, looking for battery operated light devices, assault rifles, and other rapid fire weapons. Tony deactivated his cloak and appeared within one of the now abundant shadows, still hidden from the Lanthanos. Tony reached for his hand-cannon and he extended his arm holding the hand-cannon around the corner of the wall. He activated a targeting scanner attached to the top of the hand cannon, and the motion sensors on the back of his head. Tony pointed the hand cannon around the corner of the wall he was hiding next to and scanned multiple enemies, although he didn't fire. Tony moved to the other end of the wall and scanned with just the hand cannon as he kept his body hidden from view in the shadows. Tony activated his cloaking device and vanished into a distortion, although the energy signature of the targeting scanner and motion sensors still partially appeared slightly distorted. Tony moved towards a barricade and deactivated his cloak. Tony raised only the hand-cannon over the top edge of the barricade to scan more enemies, while staying hidden. Yet he still did not fire.
The Lanthano Gang members fired another flare. Tony transmitted an unidentified signal from his cybernetics, but only the client’s electronic device responded to the signal. The client drew the Red-Rotono-Blade and walked into the light from the flare. As the lookouts took aim at the client, an explosion destroyed a building on the opposite side of the compound. The lookouts were distracted from the explosion and the client rushed the compound. The fleet hypothesized that Tony had not just sabotaged the base, but also planned to destroy it, perhaps even with the gang-members inside it. The blast from the explosion damaged an adjacent building, and the fleet detected the partially damaged building was also the building where the Black Dragon Warrior was imprisoned. The client jumped onto the wall of a damaged building, looking for damage large enough to grip or climb. The lookouts aimed down the wall at the client. Tony deactivated his cloak, holstered the hand-cannon, and reached for his pulse rifle. The magnetic control made the folded and compact weapon jump into his hand, and he aimed the pulse rifle at the lookouts as they threatened the client. Tony used his non-firing hand to reach for a lever on the side of the pulse rifle. As Tony pushed a lever forward, three metal firing tubes pointed forward in the front of the pulse rifle extended forward out of the casing of the pulse rifle. As the three metal tubes nearly doubled the length of the pulse rifle they, they began rolling over eachother, chasing the metal tube before and fleeing the tube after. The barrels of the pulse rifle began spinning faster and faster, and then Tony fired. The pulse rifle fed a belt of bullets from a box underneath the base of the three spinning barrels and the pulse rifle roared to life as it sprayed bullets and killed four lookouts. Tony ceased fire and rested the pulse rifle as the client reached the top of the wall. The spinning three barrels slowed to a halt. The client charged at one of the surviving look outs dodging the incoming fire. The client lunged at the lookout and slashed with one hand and the Rotono-blade’s machenical power sliced through the lookout’s assault rifle. The client continued with the momentum and of the swing and struck the lookout with a reverse open-hand strike to the neck. The fleet’s scan indicated that the lookout was still alive, but unconscious.
On the opposite side of the compound a lookout aimed an assault rifle out a window. The lookout witnessed the warrior attempt to flee. The lookout aimed an assault rifle at the warrior. Tony ran and jumped onto the roof of the nearest building. The fleet began researching, if the height of this jump was some kind of record, but I knew it wasn’t, the gravity on Mars is relatively weak, and four moons in the solar system have stronger gravity than Mars. From the roof, Tony now had an elevated firing angle against all remaining enemies in the compound. Tony aimed at the lookout and pulled the lever backward, retracting the the three barrels of the pulse rifle, and then pushed forward a different lever on the opposite side of the weapon’s casing. As the lever went forward a tube shaped magnetic coil with heat shields extended forward. The lever also seemed to extend a stabilizer from the back of the weapon. The heat shields covered the magnetic coil from above and below. Each heat shield was made of three vented panels that that narrowed and tapered from the back towards the front of the magnetic coil. The front end the coil was made of angled panels fused into a box shape. The lever seemed to also unfold and activate a long telescope shaped targeting scanner on top of the weapon. As the weapon completed reconfiguring, the overall length seemed to triple. Tony set the rear stabilizer on his shooting shoulder and aimed the gauss rifle across the compound and slightly downwards through the window. Tony fired the gauss rifle and a metal screech buzzed through the air as the a metal projectile flew near the speed of light through the window, through the the look out, through the walls of the building and into the surface of Mars. What remained of the lookout fell to the floor beneath him.
Tony switched the gauss rifle back into a pulse rifle and sprayed bullets at the Lanthano gang-members below. The client looked at the cluster of enemies below and jumped towards a line of six gang-members attempting to hide from a volley of sprayed bullets. As the client approached the six gang-members, Tony ceased fire and turned his focus towards the the fleeing warrior, and then seemed to look towards the far horizon. The fleet suspected Tony intended to continue following the warrior and believed the warrior would lead the client to the warlord. Tony walked into a shadow and activated his cloaking device, vanishing into a distortion. The client evaded the bullets fired from the six gang members, and continued to close in towards the six enemies. While the six enemies turned their focus towards the client they didn’t notice the distortion approaching from their exposed blind-spot. Tony deactivated his cloaking device and appeared holding his shotgun. Tony fired four blasts and with each blast the fleet’s scan detected one less enemy. Tony switched to his hand cannon and fired once more removing another enemy. The fleet was familiar with the type of shotgun Tony was carrying and believed it to be the “Viper Hunter” variant and it only carried five shells, with the first shot charged plus four spare. Tony ceased shooting when the client neared the final enemy, who was turning away from the client. The sixth enemy seemed unsure if he was threatened more from the cyborg with a blade that can slice through metal, or the cyborg with automatic fire. The client lunged at the enemy and flipped over landing both feet on the enemy. The client kicked with enough force to send the enemy into the opposite ruble, leaving a shatter impact on what remained of the wall behind the enemy. The client flipped in the reverse direction, and landed in a kneeling stance with the Red Rotono-blade held in one hand outwards to the side. Tony switched back to the shotgun, pushed a lever on the bottom of shotgun’s action casing, and loaded a shell from the spare ammo compartments on his armor into the shotgun.
“The Black Dragon is on the move. Fighting the rest of them is a waste of time and ammo.”, Tony said to the client, as he loaded another shell.
“So how did you plan on getting out of here?”, the client asked and sheathed the Red-Rotono-blade as Tony loaded another shell.
“Tony said I was planning on shooting our way out.”, Tony replied to the client as he loaded another shell.
“How’s that different from what got us in here or what we’ve been doing?”, the client asked as Tony reached into a different spare ammo compartment.
“I’m not going to shoot them, I’m going to shoot this.”, Tony said to the client as he held a shaped charge between his thumb and trigger finger, in front of the client.
“What’s that?”, the client asked.
“It’s our way out.”, Tony said as he loaded the shaped charge into the shotgun.
Tony faced the direction the building that the client escaped from, pulled the back of the shotgun, extending it into a rear stabilizer, and rested the reconfigured weapon on his shoulder.
“You might want to cover your ears.”, Tony said to the client.
The client pressed a series of buttons on the arm panel for the Tri-tech armor, and then the client hid behind some rubble. Tony aimed at the damaged building and fired the shaped charge. The fleet scan detected the object was flying unusually slow compared to the other type of ammo that Tony was shooting. The slow flight turned out to be necessary for the shaped charged explodes in stages, and if the shaped charge flew faster than the shockwave of an explosion, it would always miss. When the shaped charge hit the building a total explosion erupted at the point of impact, the magnitude of the explosion was even larger than the building. A large dome-shaped cloud floated upwards into the atmosphere dome, and a shock wave damaged the entire compound. Every remaining window was shattered, and every remaining structure was damaged.
“What’s that thing for?”, the client asked, as the client tapped a series of buttons on the Tri-tech armor.
“Knocking down buildings, killing armored vehicles, or distracting giant-sized biological weapons, as I’ve discovered.”, Tony casually replied as he pushed the rear-stabilizer back into the shotgun and returned it onto the magnetic carrier across his back.
Tony and the client escaped the Lanthano Gang’s compound as Tony relaxed several of his cybernetic enhancements. The Fleet’s scan detected Tony’s power systems switched to a regeneration cycle. The client followed Tony through the demolished ruble and away from the remaining Lanthano gang-members. They moved further into the city and the fleet detected that the warrior had reached the rest of the black dragon clan. The Black Dragon Clan controlled the largest mansion in the center of the City, their missing warrior just arrived, and Tony with the client quietly followed.
“I need to stop for a moment.”, the client said to Tony.
Tony turned his head to the side, then the other side, jumped to the roof of a nearby partially damaged but intact building, and then jumped back to the client and each time his feet touched the ground no sound was made.
“I like this one.”, Tony said to the client as he gestured towards the building he jumped from.
The client followed Tony as he walked through the inside of the building towards the roof.
“Where can I have some privacy? I need to remove my armor.”, the client asked Tony at the last flight of stairs before the roof.
“If you want privacy just go where you can’t see the sky. In fact take this, wrap it around your shoulders, and whatever you leave behind, make sure it’s not visible to the sky either.”, Tony said, as he removed his cloaking device and handed it to the client.
The ships in the fleet that were not scanning the city, detected Tony’s energy signature immediately, as soon as he removed his cloaking device.
“The sky?”, the client asked.
“Just go and I’ll explain when you get back.”, Tony replied.
The client did as Tony said wrapping the cloak around the Tri-tech armor and vanished into a distortion. The distortion moved deeper into the building and after few moments later the client returned. The client removed the cloak and reappeared.
“So what’s wrong with the sky?”, the client asked Tony, as the client handed back the rolled cloak.
“The blockade fleet is scanning the city. My weapons lock alarm keeps going off whenever one of them scans me. I should check the cloak for damage. You know how Tri-tech is, some of it is delicate.”, Tony replied as he flipped the fabric of the cloak over.
“Now that I can think clearly, I have three questions. One, why are they spying on a Confederate city if they’re only supposed to be a blockade? Two, what did they learn about us? And three, why are you using Tri-tech? Why not just get the Rylkonians to make a cloaking device that’s part of your armor?”, the client asked.
“The Ryl-tech version of a cloaking device is only applied to spaceships, and it would cost me fifty-thousand credits to get one custom made for my armor, and to my knowledge it wouldn’t work any better than a twenty credit cloak.”, Tony said as he discovered a bullet hole in the fabric.
“Targeting scanners are only designed to provide weapons fire accuracy, and it’s not impossible to use as a substitute for a medical scanner or as a recording device, but just spying is slightly better than if they start shooting. Everything they’re able to learn is only what they can see, the cloak limits what can be seen, but they can still determine where you are or how big you are. The clock doesn’t actually make us invisible. It’s only distorts what the scanners can detect.”, Tony said as he discovered another bullet hole.
“But I have no guess as to why the fleet is scanning or if the Confederacy is even aware, but since the Confederacy seems to have abandoned these people to the the mercy of the gangs, I doubt if they even care. We can leave whenever you’re ready.”, Tony replied as he wrapped the cloak around his shoulders.
The cloak immediately distorted the energy levels that the fleet could detect from Tony.
“To be honest, I didn’t know if we would make it this far. If the blockade fleet is scanning, could they tell me how many civilians are still in the city? The location of Lord Zokoro? Or how to get into their fortress without getting destroyed by the Black Dragon Clan?”, the client asked.
Tony walked over to the gap in the rubble to look directly at the mansion. I suspected he was using his telescopic vision to look for the warlord. Tony stepped away from the gap, drew the pulse rifle and switched the pulse rifle into gauss rifle mode.
“I can answer two of those questions for you right now. If Lord Zokoro is the big guy with the black armor, gold handle on his sword, dragon mask, and gold plated clan markings, then I can just shoot him now, if that’s him? As for getting in, at this point I don’t care if you want us to shoot our way in, approach from their blind spots, or ask politely. You get to pick. Yay. Now for the fleet, they would only do something if they’re getting paid. So if you really want to know about any civilians they can see, how much is that info worth to you?”, Tony replied.
“You can see him? From here?”, The client asked.
“It’s only four kilometers. Yeah, I can see. I can even shoot him from here.”, Tony casually replied.
“If there’s any hope of ending this war, making the Ugians retreat, maybe even surrender to the Confederacy is our only hope. I’ll need you to wait here, I must be the one to defeat Lord Zokoro, and face him alone. If I win, I will become the leader of the Black Dragon Clan. If I fail, then you’ll bring proof of my death and Lord Zokoro’s severed head to Venus, and the Cooperative will pay you all that I promised.”, the client said.
“Am I allowed to shoot any other gang-members, that aren’t the warlord?”, Tony asked.
“If you think they’ll interfere, then our current agreement already allows you to deal with any threat that gets in your way. But there’s one more thing… If they capture me, these men can be monsters, I’d rather be dead than let me use me like that.”, the client said.
“Yet, you’re still going to try to save them? They’re just as guilty for either provoking the Lanthanos to fight, bringing war to the homes of civilians, or even possibly starting this war. I agree the people who didn’t ask for war, got a bad deal, but that’s inviting an enemy to pretend to be a friend, with the risk of becoming an enemy later. The risk doesn’t seem worth it, especially when we already can’t trust them as is.”, Tony objected.
“Lord Zokoro is the only one of them who asked for war. Before Lord Zokoro took over, they had six years of peace. I need to know why they threw all of that away? Because if we don’t learn the cause, war will just happen again. So I want to ask you as a mercenary who didn’t get hired by either side, why take my contract?”, the client calmly asked.
“That’s an easy answer, you’re insured. The gangs, will only pay if they win, and I expect them to turn against me after, or try to skip out on paying me. If you die, I keep the retainer fee because you already paid the broker. Your money is good, their money has blood on it. I’m still not sure what Lord Zokoro stole from you, or what the Black Dragon Clan has to do with that, neither are my concern. All I know is you hired a mercenary and not a thief, so whatever you’re looking for isn’t something that a thief can just quietly steal back. You’re clearly expecting a fight. While I’m not thrilled about going to another planet to pickup a payment. At this time, I believe Lord Zokoro knows something and it’s worth knowing, because you paid me to assassinate him, he’s in range of my gauss rifle, and somehow he’s not dead yet. So what’s the plan?”, Tony asked.
“We attack in the morning.”, the client replied.
“Then I have a lot of planning to do.”, Tony replied.
“Like what?”, The client asked.
“I’m gonna call for a supply drop.”, Tony said as he transmitted to me.
I disconnected from the fleet, because I didn’t want all those thoughts in my mind at the same time.
“This is the flight crew of the Something Clever. How may I help you?”, I asked.
“Very funny Jhess, I need a drop window from the fleet. The client and I are gonna stay here till the morning, and we didn’t bring any food. I also need to replace my cloaking device.”, Tony replied.
“Tony, you already know nothing can approach the planet, the fleet is ordered to…”, I said until Ylisaya interrupted me.
“His supply drop is approved.”, Ylisaya told me, as I muted my call with Tony.
“What?”, I asked Ylisaya.
“Yes, the Fleet approved sending to Tony, food, medicine, weapons, ammo, and any equipment.”, Ylisaya replied.
“The Fleet doesn’t make a move like that unless they want something. What’s the catch?”, I asked Ylisaya.
“They want to know about the client. They’re offering two belts of pulse rifle bullets, five gauss rifle bullets, two shaped charges, a box of shotgun shells, regimental breakfast with coffee, two bottles of Fizzy Cola, and something called an L.G.C. Chicken Family bucket. All for free, if Tony asks the client about …oh… some in the fleet still want to know if the client is really a woman.”, Ylisaya said as she seemed ashamed for even asking.
“You know the C in L.G.C. stands for chicken, right?”, I said to Ylisaya as I switch to my call with Tony.
“Tony, the fleet is offering to replace any ammo you used, supplies, an L.G.C. family pack, breakfast, and an approved supply drop, but they want us to give up the identity of your client, specifically a gender.”, I said to Tony, and I found myself slightly disgusted that the client was this much of a topic to my own people.
“The fleet really can’t tell? Uhhmm…Let’s see what the client says.”, Tony pondered, as he muted his end of the call.
“Keep an eye on them. I need to get Tony’s spare cloak ready.”, I said to Ylisaya.
The ship wasn’t generating gravity while in orbit, so I could easily float around the ship. I went to cargo bay three, where Tony kept spare weapons, ammo, and armor. I looked around and I saw multiple containers emptied and floating in cargo bay. I wondered if Tony forgot to lock all the containers, objects tend to shift as a spacecraft reaches escape velocity.
I found Tony’s spare cloaking devices and a delivery pod, which is the easiest way to send a resupply through the heat of re-entry. I stuffed the cloak into a delivery pod and headed to the firing chamber, the fusion cannons firing at low power can safely launch a resupply. I floated into the firing chamber and pushed the delivery pod into the front of the row of warheads, so it would be launched next. The row of warheads was held in place by six thin and flexible rails, so they can be easily replaced, repaired, and even if one fails the other five will keep working. The flexibility of the rails allowed for this very process, or switching from warheads to supply drops. The delivery pod is required to enter the city’s dome. The utility and service gates will scan for anything not authorized for delivery.
I floated into the bridge and settled into the pilot’s seat.
“So is the client a boy or girl?”, I asked Ylisaya as I activated my magnetic restraints.