Mei was sitting in a meditative position with closed eyes on one of the low crates at the docks. There was a cool breeze, and the wind was blowing through her hair, causing it to flow like long tendrils of dark ebony. She listened to the rhythmic sound of the waves lapping against the pier, timing her breaths in unison with them. But this practice was not working for her right now. And she could sense that something was wrong.
She opened her eyes slowly, aware of what she was about to see. As she did so, she was greeted with a harsh image. For before her stood the open ocean, tainted red with blood. The sky was a crimson red, bearing down on her with an oppressive air as if the entire heavens were closing in on her alone. She breathed in stiffly while looking at this image, taking in the endless torrents of life and death. But she knew that right now wasn't the time for this. She shook her head and looked again, looking now to the restored image of the blue waves, ebbing and flowing under a sunlit cerulean sky. And as she did so, she began to breathe more freely again now that the trouble was past.
She leaned back against the container, feeling drained. Fortunately, she didn't have much to do here at the moment but wait. Normally she wasn't called on for drop-offs like this, but the group who was meant to handle it was down a few members on account of them still being otherwise occupied. And as she had nothing else to do until tomorrow, she was asked if she could come to watch over it in their place.
The current drop-off was moderate in scale. They knew that Weihong was planning something big for the coming days. And he would likely be seeking any resources he could use to that end. The group Mei was with had been struggling against him on and off for some time. In fact, for longer even than Mei had been part of this struggle. But it was on the verge now of coming to a head. So she was here for insurance. For it would not be ideal for him to get his hands on these resources at a time so close to his plan's fruition. Her family probably wouldn't approve if they knew she was part of this struggle. But it didn't matter. Her family probably wouldn't approve of her anyway.
Mei herself was inordinately tall and intimidating in appearance, having long black hair and skin just dark enough that it made racial purists uncomfortable. But her true capabilities were kept under the radar for the moment, being something that would be needed later on for the true objective. That is, the ultimate operation against the temple. And so, going out of her way to avoid stoking a reputation, her presence alone was not as menacing an appearance as it might otherwise be, making it likely not enough to deter any potential attackers. This was done by necessity. Because a bit of skill doesn't make you invincible. And if this skill will be needed in the future, you don't want to paint a target on your back.
Feeling a bit more calm now, she got up to walk inside the docks. Captain Jack Byun was inside, speaking with the person in charge of the shipment and gesturing to people to move the containers. What they were doing wasn't strictly speaking illegal at a glance. And the presence of weapons for defense could be passed off as a private security team. But issues of legality would stop mattering quickly if the temple were to get involved. They didn't expect the temple to be involved in their current activities today, however, on account of the intel they had gotten leaked to them, and were instead only on the lookout for Weihong's men.
Mei leaned against the wall with her arms crossed, listening to them speak. From his tone, Jack sounded perturbed about the fact that the shipment had been delayed, despite his attempts not to show it. It was supposed to be safely stored away already so that they could prepare for the operation tomorrow. And headquarters was already scrutinizing him about what was going on. She felt tired just listening to him talk in this energetic tone. But he was often high-energy. He managed to be everywhere and take on every possible responsibility for himself. This level of deliberate activity was not something she could relate to.
But she wouldn't have long to think about it. She tensed and looked up, realizing that she could faintly hear two groups of people quickly approaching. From the speed and unison of the footsteps, these were not people who could be construed as random workers or people accidentally stumbling upon them. They were moving quickly and with purpose. She could see that Jack had now noticed them as well. Jack turned to her to see what she wanted to do. She silently gestured that half of the team should take the south side, half the west, and have a few stay back in the middle. And, like a solitary wolf, she would take the north alone. Jack looked like he was thinking about this. But he complied without much in the way of protest. He usually did. She reflexively wondered why. She didn't feel like someone who should be listened to.
After a moment to reflect on this as the team split, she quickly began to rush out to the northern opening. Once she arrived, and peeking around the corner, she saw four men and one woman. When she got there, three of them shot at her in unison, and she quickly dashed back behind the shipping container. She could tell from their shots that they weren't novices. Although they didn't seem to be top of the line either. She hoped she could disarm them without killing them. Though they seemed good enough that she wouldn't be able to do so effortlessly.
She looked around a second time. They were taking cover, waiting for her to take the first move. One made a token shot, but it went wide, seemingly not meant as a serious attempt to hit, but moreso an attempt to keep her from rushing forward. She didn't expect them to stand down, but it was worth a shot. She shouted loudly above the containers.
“I don't suppose we could talk this out?”
She considered whether that could have been worded better. But it was too late to change her wording now.
“We can't make deals with your kind. You never listen! We can talk it out if you give us the canisters and go. You're not using them for anything anyway!”
She considered their response. She could try elevating from diplomacy to an appeal to their own safety. But if they were so concerned about such, they wouldn't have come this far knowing they would be in a shootout. No, their organization was a borderline death-cult. Most of them were likely prepared to die for the goals they were trying to achieve. And to be fair, there was something admirable about this in a way. But unfortunately, fate had placed them at odds. And their lack of preservation for their own lives was leading them down a path towards putting others in danger as well. Which meant they had to be taken seriously as a threat.
This story originates from Royal Road. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.
“Ah. That's unfortunate.”
She realized that she was thinking about their safety but not about her own again. She, too, was in danger. Skill or no skill, they had her outnumbered. And she had no easy way to know if they had reinforcements who were holding back.
She dove behind a smaller container in the middle of the opening for cover. This seemed to begin to draw them out, since it left less room for her to retreat to, and they expected her to be more likely to be trapped now. She looked at the protected area on the other side of the opening. She could sneak around to the other side, but it would require damaging the shipping containers. No use worrying about that now, though. They might have to dodge an investigation either way after this firefight.
She dropped a smoke bomb and dove to the other side. They could see her move, but they couldn't know what she was doing there once she was around the corner. She pulled her katana-shaped vibro-saber and cut through the containers, quickly sliding in through the opening and moving slowly and quietly to the other side before they could notice her and so that she could surprise them from behind.
She burst out the other side, turning quickly to accost them before they could react to realize what had happened. While vibro-sabers were useful on account of the ability to cut through even metal like this, it was still rare for people to be able to do so so quickly and quietly. And so it was unexpected for them to be used to traverse so much space. The group turned around confused, unsure of why she was coming from behind, but before they could react, she dropped the saber and pulled out guns from inside her longcoat.
Her reflexes were fast enough that she believed she could disarm them. But she wasn't naive, and this was far from her first rodeo. She would do what she had to if it came to it. She aimed and shot the arms holding weapons of three of them before they could react. She couldn't make sure that this wouldn't give them major injuries, but at least they would be alive. The last two turned and fired back before she had time to shoot, so she ducked back behind the container.
Looking to the left, she saw some pipes in a stack on the wall. Grabbing one, she threw it around the corner towards the two remaining standing figures. They inadvertently looked down at it to block it, giving her the opportunity to take crippling shots, causing them to crumple over.
She looked around quickly to make sure they were actually sufficiently incapacitated and shot at the remaining weapons to break them so none of them could pick them up again. She believed now that she had taken out all the opponents on this side, and without causing any immediate death. Some of the others scrutinized her methods, but they couldn't argue with her results. This was something only she could do. She couldn't always guarantee that no one died. Especially from injuries afterwards. But this side of the attackers no doubt fared much better than the other.
But she heard something suddenly in the air behind her. It was the sound of a person jumping from off the top of the container. It looks like they had a sixth person after all, hiding above for cover. She turned quickly. The boy she saw was jumping from behind her. She clenched her teeth as she realized she wouldn't have time to take a careful shot. She had to take the shot she had. She narrowed her eyes and aimed the gun behind her under her arm, pulling the trigger. The bullet went into him, and he went limp almost instantly in the air, dropping his weapon and giving her the opportunity to lean out of the way.
His body clattered to the floor, leaving a trail of blood behind it. And she realized immediately what this meant as she looked at the path in which he had fallen. Knowing what she was about to see, she wanted to look away out of weakness, but she dared not do so. This was her fight. From her actions, people would live or die. And from this one must not avert thine eyes.
She took another glance around to make sure that the others were not in a position to continue fighting. But they were much too incapacitated and seemingly realized at this point that it wouldn't be in their interests to try. She walked over and looked down at the body to observe it. He was fairly young. Likely idealistic. He probably had struggles of his own that led him to where he was. In another life, he could have been on the same side as her. But it wasn't in the cards. Sometimes where you end up is just the roll of the dice. She had no ill will towards him. They likely had very similar goals. But Weihong's men were the ones attacking. And they couldn't sit there and let themselves be overtaken. Their work was too important. And so people were going to die, all over a misunderstanding.
She looked back over to the other people she had disarmed. Jack's men were now rushing in to accost them, and so they wouldn't be any further trouble. She looked back to the body one final time and crouched down to turn him over. She closed his eyes and put his arms over his body in a dignified pose.
“Be at peace.”
She felt a little less bad when fighting temple guards. They tended to be more elite soldiers who knew exactly what they were getting into. You didn't fall into being one on accident. But situations like this left a bad taste in her mouth. Being a better fighter didn't help. Faux heroism aside, it just meant you were in more situations where you might have to kill. And if you were someone who theoretically could disarm weaker opponents without doing so, you would feel more guilty every time you did not.
She thought about the group the boy had been suckered in by. A cult that, while it had global tendrils, its headquarters was run locally to here out of a facility she was familiar with. If all went well, they would soon be able to prevent them from pulling in anyone else. These feelings brought her little comfort, however. It was all well and good to accept that sometimes you may have to be willing to kill some in order to save more. But to do so yourself and see the blood of the fallen on your own hands makes it feel less convincing. For what does the ebb and flow of the living world mean to those who no longer reside within it?
She looked down at herself, at her hands and jacket. Some of his blood was still on it. She could wash her hands and a bit of the jacket's surface, but a deeper cleaning would have to wait until she was at home. For this reason, it was perhaps good her jacket was black. For all those times she might be drenched in the blood of the dead, this would be lost to the void, and outsiders would be unaware.
After washing her hands, she went back to sit on the edge of the pier and once again looked listlessly out at the water. She wouldn't be needed for anything else. But she should still stay until the shipment was finished being moved. Theoretically, there could be another attack, but it was unlikely at this point. She waited until they were done, and then quickly told Captain Jack she was leaving. And then wandered off alone as he stared after her apprehensively. But he didn't question her. He rarely did. In the years since she had begun working with them, they had gotten used to the fact that she was often cold and aloof in this way. Aloof to all but one, that is. And they had come to terms with the fact that they had little choice but to tolerate it. Because she was, after all, irreplaceable.
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Arriving back at her compound, Mei walked in to finish the trek to her lonely living space. She felt tired after the events of the day. Moreso mentally than physically, although there was quite a bit of both going on. But she figured she needed some rest before tomorrow all the same. It was still early, so she had plenty of time to just sit back and eat while watching something. But as is unfortunately so often the case, time enough to rest your body is not always time enough to rest your mind. She wondered what fate had in store for her on this front. And whether she would feel better by tomorrow.
As she passed by the adjoining park outside her building, she slowed to a stop so that she could take a longer look at it. There was still a cool breeze here, like there had been in the morning. And it felt nice to stand out in it at the moment. Although she initially intended to head inside for rest, she considered that it might be good to spend a bit of time out in the park too. That maybe she should spend awhile sitting by the small remaining slice of nature that had been afforded to her in so industrial a place. The tension between nature and construct had been raging on since early history. And it raged on still. She wondered how Sakras felt about nature. And whether it cared about its preservation or merely saw it as resources to be used for its own ends.
But in the end, she never had to make a decision. As she was standing there observing the park with a listless quietude, she was shocked suddenly and looked up as someone called out to her unexpectedly. She looked over to the one speaking. They were in a group of three.