Infiltrating Akumini's base was months in the making. It made that first meeting seem like a trivial matter.

It had taken months to formulate a plan, anticipate what could go sideways, develop the needed contingencies, and then confirm and pay for a viewing with Akumini. Every anxious, stress-filled minute pouring over data and tracking movements was an effort to minimize the risk of failure. During those months, so many jobs had went sideways. Despite Triad pressure, the primary focus of the Ghosts was to bring down Akumini.

It was a selfish focus, but the Conclave followed the Ghosts, and the Ghosts were going for Akumini.

Nyx had been a woman possessed. She was so focused on the end goal that hardly a day went by that she did not go to bed exhausted or bruised. And those were just the days she was with the Conclave. When she was out on missions for the Conclave, she slept with one eye open and fully armed below the sheets. Especially when she was with the septs.

But after many months of planning and planting spies, they made their move. They purchased Saedah for another viewing. Their allies and operatives within the Keep were notified. An entire arsenal was smuggled into the Keep. The location of the Keep had been another huge issue. The Keep was on a moon of the planet Morpheus, in the Superior arm. It was in a sub-branch of the main arm, sitting nicely between the Superior and Major arms. It was in the heart of enemy territory.

There was no option for failure in this mission. There was only do and survive.

Before plans had started, Saedah had been gone and presumed dead for nearly a year. There had been absolutely no signs of him since his capture. That was until, in one week, two leads reached out to the Conclave. Two women, following different channels, reached out to report his location. A short time later, Several of the Ghosts and higher-ranking officials sat in suites, watching a fight, and trying their best not to blow their cover.

The first time Vorn laid eyes on Saedah had been emotional. At that time, it would have been a death sentence to reach out or greet his bond-brother. Saedah had looked terrible. His arm looked like a mangled, useless mess, and he was missing fingers. Beyond that, every bone in his body stood out against his skin.

But he fought tooth and nail against his captors.

One informant had been left with Akumini as a spy. The other was absorbed into the Conclave on sight. She would have been raised to the status of a Ghost, bringing the total to seven, had it not been for her responsibilities outside of the Conclave.

The second visit; the Conclave's assault on the Keep, revealed a much changed Saedah. Several months had passed between that first and second sighting of Saedah. He was nearly back to his fighting, or pre-capture, weight. His arm had been repaired, fingers and all. He was granted clothing and scant armor for the fight in the pit. But he did not fight the soldiers. He barely even retaliated against Akumini herself.

He even seemed to enjoy the routine.

All of the Ghosts were present. Each of the Ghosts, aside from Vorn, Vector, and Vidian, had brought two of their Generals. Vector and Vidian had each brought four of their special subordinates to act as servants.

The tech team had gone to great lengths to enter their likeness and DNA profiles under aliases in the Unified Databases. They were all dressed in the Anonymous Robes, branded with the Mavericks sept symbol.

Everyone in those robes knew Saedah. Most knew Dirge, now, as a necessity of the mission. So when he strode into the sand, analyzing the suites, they sucked in breath. Those who had not seen his previous state were appalled at his new scars. His hair had still not grown in, though none were sure if it were a slave-maintenance thing. The deep red barely reached an inch in length, and Vorn knew how important those braids had been to his bond-brother.

What none were really expecting was the venom he aimed at Nyx. They had all been working closely with her. She was a lynchpin of sorts in this venture and served in several assignments outside this immediate mission. They knew Saedah would not have known, but the sheer hatred aimed at her was unexpected.

Then when Cameron went for Saedah at the start of the match, Saedah had obviously found enjoyment in the other man's predicament. He went so far as to laugh when Cameron was restrained and forced into compliance through electric shock. It was a Saedah none had expected.

When the battle concluded and the invasion in full-swing, Vorn had retreated to the arena hallways to secure his bond-brother. As soon as Vorn confirmed Saedah's safety to the others and turned his back, Saedah had vanished. Their retreat was covered, and a clear path to the hangar was secured. Vorn had turned his head to tell Saedah, only to find the man gone.

Presently, Vorn stood motionless, back to back with Vector, listening to the silence on the com, stunned.

"Did he really…?" Vector asked.

"I think so." Vorn admitted. Logically, he knew that he would have done the same had he been in Saedah's position. Emotionally, however, it felt a bit like betrayal. "At least he is out. Do we have word on if the program uploaded before he stole his ship?"

"Interesting choice of words." Citram interjected. "But Nyx was in charge of that. We won't know for another ten minutes."

"Refugees are entering the Hangar now." Mac stated, still dealing with the fact that he had done nothing to stop Saedah.

"We have a few of our own we have to be sure to gather. Don't let them slip through the cracks." No one needed the reminder, but Citram was still trying to process the unexpected hiccup. If only she did not have a bad feeling about it all.

The list from both Nyx and the other woman were extensive. It included the guards and soldiers that were allied to their cause. Vorn feared that the casualties would rank high for this mission. The men and women wearing green were fighting hard, and not all were guaranteed to reach the hangar safely.

Vorn himself had seen two fall in the arena.

"The scanners are running now." Mac informed the forces. "First departure in two minutes."

Spies had recorded biometric samples of all those who would be rescued. They gathered and delivered this data up to and including the hour before the mission began. The moon was surrounded by Conclave destroyers and Taxies. Destroyer Tomorrow had even been called back into service for this mission to ensure that there were enough fighters to cover any battle or retreat that may ensue.

Stolen from its original source, this story is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

If all went to plan, which so far it had most definitely not, the base would be completely cleared and then destroyed, with Akumini in chains facing judgement in a Conclave court.

"Why would he just run like that?" Vector asked. "I'd think that he would stand and fight, wouldn't you?"

"I was taken for less than a week, and I wanted nothing more than to jettison out of there as soon as possible. He has been subject to gods only know what for over a year here." Vorn drew in a breath. "He may not be the same person we lost on Higarin when we find him again."

"That is worrisome." Vector thought aloud. "Do you think he talked?"

"I don't know. Get to work." It did little to contemplate such things, especially in enemy territory.

"Morpheus is sending aid." Citram called from her place in surveillance. "Attempting to deter." This was accounted for. If the forces did not heed the deterral, then the ghosts would go and lead the battle upstairs. If they did heed the deterral, then the Ghosts would be sending an emissary later to discuss treaties.

"Section 1-Alpha clear." Vidian reported. "Sections 1-Bravo through 1-Delta in evacuation."

"Section 2-Alpha through 2-Charlie in evacuation" An officer called. "2-Delta meeting rooted resistance. Requesting backup for turret-fire."

"Section 3-Alpha clear. Sections 3-Bravo through 3-Delta meeting heavy resistance. Requesting backup."

Section 4-Alpha through 4-Charlie not clear. We're fighting bottlenecks with chokepoints and they've laid ambushes. Akumini confirmed. Requesting mining team."

And so began the real fun.

The layout of the base had been pieced together by spy intel. However, it was unclear which way Akumini would dart until she did so. There were a surprising number of emergency exits, and the entire keep was designed like someone had combined a bunker and a labyrinth. It resembled an ancient castle, including the surrounding cityscape, only underground.

The blueprints consisted of nearly 1,200 acres of subterranean city.

A 1,200 acre subterranean city folded around Akumini's Keep, centered on trade. Like most trade outposts, the laws were lax and largely unregulated. Unlike most trade outposts, it was not part of any union or organization, so even the lax laws of trade posts were strict in comparison. During reconnaissance, scouts had reported barely hidden slave trade and sex trafficking. The two were closely related. There was also an organ market, black-market prosthetics, food markets that were in no way regulated, and the standard weapons and clothing markets.

So while the keep was the main focus, the entirety of the trade on that moon would also be halted.

"Raze, move to section 3-Delta. Second reserve, Flux, and Requiem, to section 4. First reserve, move to Section 2." Citram commanded across all Conclave channels. To just the Ghosts, she continued "The trade center is being shut down. The lower reserves have been called out to quell the resistance. It's focused mostly around the weapons shops, naturally. Ker is on scene manning the lines." The reserves were set up on a merit-based system. First reserve would be the most skilled, the second less so, and so on.

"Did the Morpheus forces engage?" Vorn asked as an afterthought.

"After we delivered the evidence of unlawful activity, they are happy to be of no assistance to either party. They have declared this a civil dispute on private land, despite the bounties on our heads." Citram's com went silent for a moment as she addressed another issue from within her hub of activity. "It's a good thing too. We are spread thin."

In the event all the Ghosts were called away to deal with front-line business, Mac had a line of succession to handle the medical needs and refugee verification. Citram, in a last-resort, would leave communication to her team. Ker always operated in solo ventures, so there was no need to leave a line of succession for field offices in her case. She would have already identified three or four officers on the ground as her line of successors if she were to fall. Vorn was much the same as Ker, but rarely took to commanding his soldiers. He left that to the commanding officers. He preferred to get his hands dirty and bring destruction. Vorn's successors were the other Ghosts. Vector was mentally much the same as Vorn, but the rest of the Ghosts often held him back to command small teams. He was too young yet to allow him to play such a dangerous game.

"Godspeed, brother." Vorn and Vector whispered to one another as they ran in opposite directions. Mac appeared in a cloud of smoke beside him, tendrils trailing behind like some beast out of nightmares.

The scene they arrived on was one of past carnage and present stalemate. The injured, those who had been retrievable, were laid out in lines behind a barricade. Field medics were moving among them in crouches to avoid rising above the barricade. As Vorn looked over the mess, a burst of bullets whizzed only a hair's breadth from his head. They might have actually shaved the paint job on his helmet.

"Sir Requiem, Sir Flux." A senior officer with a strip of bandage showing from below his helmet. "We have three more pinned just around the corner."

Vorn and Mac looked at one another and Mac nodded. He was the shadow, after all, and on impossibly silent feet he launched himself over the barricade and down the hall. The smoke that always surrounded him masking his movements in the darkened passageway.

"Now, report." Vorn stated. Three more officers joined them over a map at a makeshift table as they planned the next few steps.In all, the invasion took a little over two hours. The first hour was the most intense. After the major concentrations of resistance were quelled, it was a matter of evacuating and arresting the rest. The Ghosts stood together watching the final party depart from that accursed moon. From the city alone, they collected 137 non hostile civilians and 201 hostiles. From the city, they were processing an unexpected 234,042 people. Their intel had indicated less than half that number. The shuttles were working overtime and more taxies were being called in.

The best thing of the night, however, was watching Akumini kneeling at their feet. Vorn felt a horrible weight of guilt over that. The best part was supposed to have been reuniting with Saedah, freeing his bond-brother. Saedah's disappearance left Vorn with a knot in his stomach where a diamond was forming. Turning back to Akumini, he let himself feel some semblance of satisfaction. Seeing her in such discomfort was even better.

Her face was bloodied and her clothes were stained with dust, sweat and the blood of others mixed with her own. Her hair was in disarray and her skin bore ash and dirt from her failed attempt to flee. She was forced to watch as her kingdom fell and was dispersed.

Vorn kneeled and forced her to look into his mask.

"You brought this on yourself." He said, willing the woman to have some vestige of remorse.

"You should have just blew it up from orbit. You think you have stopped something great here? The galaxy is wide, and your valiant attempt to clean it up is wasted." She sneered at him, her deep brown eyes full of malice and anger.

"No, we are just starting." Vector responded. "And you put yourself at the top of the list."

"The half-breed or the other soldier?" she chuckled. "Which one? Who were they? You wouldn't be after them if they weren't important." she smiled knowingly as she watched the Ghosts and surrounding guards. "You were just after the one… but which?" She spit a clot of blood and continued, glaring as Thalia rounded a corner. "If that dross was in on this… you were after the half-breed." She looked around. "I hope they both died in this bloodbath you rained upon us. You think you are virtuous. You think you are great. Look at the dead in your wake. You are all nothing more than war mongers." She broke off in hysterical laughter.

Vorn stood and shook his head. On a private channel he addressed his fellow Ghosts.

"Where do you think he went?"

"I think…" Mac started, "That he would want to go somewhere safe. He has been through a great deal, and would want to hide somewhere familiar to him. Someplace he feels safe."

They all looked at one another. For a Conclave soldier, there were few places that could fit that description. But for Saedah…

"He went home." Vector breathed.