Ryan awoke feeling fuzzy headed and with a foul taste in his mouth. He tried to ignore those and remember. Planet Sasfriesas, the plan, the money. “Time?” He groaned out in a thin reedy voice.
“04:23:22” A brisk treble polished voice answered. Five hours. That was one small blessing. The planet had been relatively close to his own, so traveling had not taken long.
He opened bleary eyes. “Stars above, could you have found a worse body? Who is in charge of this shit?” He complained as he looked down. The body was a middle aged man, thin and pale. The joints were horribly stiff and muscles felt locked as he tried to stretch.
“It seemed prudent to waste an older body than a fresh one.” The voice said. Ryan looked up. A weaselly faced man stood before him, with slicked back hair and glasses that were for show on his face. Ryan knew they were for show because nobody bothered with glasses anymore. It was far too easy to have eyes corrected.
“I don’t mind an old body, but this one feels like it’s been decomposing for a while.” Ryan retorted back as he lifted his arms above his head to stretch, muscles screaming in protest.
“It is about two hundred years old, so maybe.” The man replied as he turned. Ryan glared at him. Of course a rich planet would find the cheapest and most disposable body possible. The man picked a handset. “He is here, Sir. Yes, awake and functioning.”
Ryan took the moment to look about the lab. It was a very airy room, full of stainless steel and white walls. A massive projection window showed a beautiful scene of purple and navy trees waving in a wind, with strange brightly feathered animals swooping about. He was focused on the two moons above when a heavy set, tall man barged in through the door.
“Hello! I’m Tiberus!” He boomed in a deep jovial voice, holding out a hand.
“Ryan.”
“Welcome! I didn’t think you would be awake so fast! I don’t have much experience with these things I’m afraid.” He laughed, gesturing towards Ryan’s borrowed body. “I normally tell them I want a message sent and they just make sure it’s delivered.”
The man was pleasant enough, likable even. “Yes, we normally awake fast. I will admit this one took a little longer to get functioning.” Ryan said disapprovingly.
“Sorry about that! It’s the only one we could find and buy without people getting too nosy. Enjire here did his best in the time he had.” Tiberus gestured to the weasel faced man. “Lets get you out of here and go over everything. I know you said you needed some time to get used to the body. But we have to go over some details first while we have the people all in the same spot.”
“That is fine. I need to walk and get things loosened up.” Ryan replied as he stood, joints popping.
The compound was a state of the art facility. Ryan didn’t know much about architect, but even he could tell the money that went into it was vast. The most modern equipment beeped and hummed, robots went to and fro, performing lab tests, and constantly overhead cameras kept track of their movements.
The lab section was nothing compared to the rest of the compound. Vast windows showed the beautiful and colorful flora outside, while priceless artifacts from worlds away were exhibited in the halls. Ryan paused before one painting that came all the way from the original Planet Earth. It had to have been half a million years old.
“One of my favorites.” Tiberus proudly said. “My great great grandfather bought that one, and it arrived in my dad’s time. Nobody remembers the painter though”
Ryan nodded as he looked at the beautiful watercoloring with blue lilies in awe.
They finally came to a grand conference room. Half a dozen people milled about, and upon seeing Tiberus fell silent. Tiberus strode confidently to a round table, Ryan following behind. Everyone began to sit and Tiberus gestured for Ryan to sit next to him on the right. Ryan plopped down, wincing at the ungraceful act. He couldn’t move any smoother though in the decrepit body.
“It appears our guest here awoke far quicker than we expected but that is perfect. Lets get started. We will go over the plan, and then spend a few hours reworking different scenarios.” Tiberus gestured to a man across the table. “Quistece, you are the mastermind, please, begin.”
“Very well.” Quistece began. “Thirty eight hours from now, Senator Talmiate will be in the region. Now is the perfect time to take her out. She is dearly beloved in this region, so there won’t be as many guards. Some, yes, but not all.” He handed Ryan a headshot of the Senator in question.
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She was a beautiful woman, no doubt about that. Honey brown curly hair, big warm brown eyes, and elfin features. Ryan took in the face, remembering it.
“Senator Talmiate is no stranger to assassination attempts. She will have the best guards on hand, for sure, with only the finest weapons. Her guards are all also certified doctors to provide medical emergency’s and they all keep a well stocked supply of emergency drugs on them.”
“She sounds nearly impossible to kill then.” Ryan raised a brow as his hand gently tapped at his thigh.
“Nearly impossible, yes. She has survived being shot in the heart, head, and kidney to date. The only way to effectively kill her is to completely destroy her brain. Not even a bullet destroying half her brain stopped her from breathing before. They just regrew it. That’s where you come in.” Quistece explained. “You will fly in with a invisibility shield attached to your jetpack. The shield not only makes you invisible to the human eye, but also hides you from trackers and other defense equipment. For a short time mind you.”
“You just said you have to completely destroy her brain.” Ryan responded in confusion. “If it can be regrown if even only a small bit remains..”
Tiberus chuckled and interruped. “No worries on that.” He slid a small, compact, gun across the table. Ryan reached for it and picked it up, intrigued. It was heavier than it looked. Far heavier.
“That,” Quistece said leaning back in his chair away from Ryan’s waving of it. “Is a state of the art, precision laser handgun. The heat it will emit in it’s beam is hot enough to flash fry her brain, turning it quite literally into a piece of glass soon as it hits.”
Ryan warily put the gun back down. “A piece of glass?” He asked incredulous.
“Yes. It will vaporize all the water content of her brain, leaving the fat and protein to fuse. The heat will cause her skull to also quiet literally explode when her cooler blood hits the super heated skull, and stars help whoever is standing behind her for about fifty yards because they will be hit with the ray also since its too hot for one body to stop.”
“No worries on even a small part of her brain remaining.” Tiberus said with satisfaction.
“Uh… May I ask what she has done to deserve that?” Ryan asked warily. He had no qualms about killing, but making someones head explode seemed a bit much for a public assassination.
“She is popular.” Tiberus said idly as he picked at his nails. “She has served five terms of twenty years as the top leading person on this planet, and the poor people keep re-electing her. I’m tired of her constant winning, and meddling and it appears as if she is not leaving anytime soon. So, I want her gone. Will that be an issue?” Tiberus asked as he eyed the gun on the table speculatively.
A chuckle came out of Ryan. “Don’t even try it with the gun. I would leave this body before you even picked it up. Do you believe in karma?”
That took Tiberus aback. “Not really. I’m agnostic.”
“To answer your question, I have no problem killing her. It’s your money, how you spend it is all on you as long as I get paid. I will kill her, her family, and her friends family if you have enough money and a solid plan to go about it. But I do feel like these sorts of things always come back to bite you in the ass.”
“Wonderful. I will deal with the consequences later.” Tiberus jovially replied, waving his hand in dismissal. Ryan kept his face blank. In truth, he didn’t like killing someone for the simple reason that they were popular. But he wanted his freedom more, and the woman had evidently lived a long life. He would do it.
Quistece began again. “You have three minutes of invisibility to get in and shoot. Taking aim will be hard. She will be downtown, so you will have to navigate buildings. Unfortunately it's the best time. Her guards know that it will be hard aiming around buildings, and instead of being close will be more spread out. Get as close as you can though. The laser is bright and they will see that, so you have only one or two shots.”
“That is fine, but I do have questions.” Ryan said, his hand tapping his thigh again. “First I want to know what sort of defense weapons I’m going against. I’ve heard tale of a weapon that can stop Astro-mercenaries by killing their spirit. Is this true?”
Quistece gave an apologetic shrug. “I’m afraid we have heard rumors too, but if there is, it’s a very closely guarded secret. None of my sources have been able to uncover anything. I could not even tell you what to watch for.” Ryan believed him. He looked sincere enough and hadn’t hesitated at the question.
Ryan looked at Tiberus. “What about you? Heard anything?”
Tiberus also truthfully shook his head. “Your brother told me to look into it, but even my best spies are clueless. We found other weapons, but none that could supposedly kill an Astro spirit. There were a few classified weapons who’s purpose was unknown, but we could never breach security to discover their intent.”
He nodded. “Alright. I will just have to assume any weapon can be fatal to me. What other weapons do we have?”
Another man, no doubt a weapons expert began to tick off on his fingers. “Ray guns for sure, none as good as ours, but still painful, poison gas, but I doubt they will use that in a crowd of people, the standard guns and bullets, small explosives that they attach to you if you get close enough…”
“That’s all I need for now.” Ryan said, making an effort not to gulp. “Basically get in, under three minutes, find the target, focus on her when she is most unguarded, and shoot.”
“Yes.” Quistece said. “The defense weapons and trackers won’t pick you up until you get at least fifty yards in, so the countdown begins soon as you start closing in.”
“Right. Show me this suit, jetpack, and weapons so I can get trained up.” Ryan said grimly. “I don’t think it matters what weapons they have. It matters more on my skill and luck.”