Brothels were one of the most profitable businesses in the port. Mercenaries dumped their money on women and alcohol, and a place that could provide the best women was surely profitable.
The Pleasure House was one of the brothels. Earning thousands of credits a day, it was only about to stay alive because Colonel Orlan offered protection. Otherwise, the brothel would be robbed by half its customers and the other half would leave without paying a single cent.
In return, Orlan’s men received special treatment when they spent their time here. High ranking officers, like Isaacs, could get the best girl in town.
In one of the rooms in the building, Jean silently looked into a one man tall mirror.
She was wearing a red dress. It revealed most of the skin on her back and most of her arms, as well as some of her cleavage. In reality she had more skin revealed than not.
After all, she was posing as a girl who sleeps with people for money. She needed to make herself as attractive as possible.
“Impressive. If I’m Isaac I would be on top of you as soon as I see you.” Viper joked through the earpiece Jean had on. She was looking at Jean through a security camera she managed to hack.
Maybe it was the aftereffect of the inhibitor chip, or maybe Viper was always a talkative girl and she was just showing it now because Jean was the first one she could really talk to, but Jean realized the ghost has been extremely flirty. She commented when Jean chose her dress. She commented when Jean changed. Now she was commenting on how she looks, and the ghost acted more like Jean’s girlfriend than her partner.
“Are you ready?” Jean asked without getting even slightly annoyed. If anything she was planning on using Viper’s potential feeling to her advantage.
“I’m monitoring the building you are in. As soon as the lights go out, I come in. I still don’t understand where you put that EMP, by the way. Care to enlighten me?”
“No.” Jean stretched her arms. “If that’s it, I’ll be taking off the earpiece. With any luck, we will see each other again in Isaac's bedroom.”
“Well, have fun with Issacs. I’m sure he’ll enjoy you.” Jean might’ve heard a tiny fragment of jealously in Viper’s voice.
Jean silently took off her earpiece and tapped her watch. After the earpiece disappeared, she quickly walked out of the room.
A short man walked up to her. He had a pistol by his side, but oddly he was dodging Jean’s eyes.
“I will bring you to Lieutenant Isaacs. I’ve done my part. Tell your friend to stay away from me.” He glanced at Jean and gulped when he saw her long legs and slant body, but he immediately looked backed down. It was as if he was too scared to even breathe heavily.
Jean knew Viper used threats on the brothel owner to convince him to bring her to where she needed to be. Ghosts were used to assassinate army commanders and destroy military targets. It was simply too much for a brothel owner to handle.
“Very well.” The girl nodded and followed the man down a hallway. Two mercenary marines were standing guard at the other end, and they were just the first line of defenses.
“Hold up. You look fresh.” One of the marines opened his helmet and said. He looked like he was just doing his job, but Jean suspected he had some alternate intentions.
“She’s new.” The brothel owner explained. He knew the woman behind him was up to no good, and he knew whatever she did would be connected to him, but he already made up his mind to get on a ship and leave this place ASAP. His bag was already packed and his credits were kept on him.
The marines didn’t back down, so the shop owner pushed further.
“She’s for Isaac.”
The marines exchanged a look with each other and took a step back. The man grinned, satisfied, and walked past the marines. He might be a lamb in front of Viper and Jean, but he wouldn’t hesitate to beat down on a marine. As Jean followed, she heard one of the marines whisper something.
“Bitch.”
She kept on walking.
Behind the sentries was a hallway. Several lines of rooms were on the side, and Jean could hear the sound of men breathing and women gasping as she moved.
The shop owner reached a door that was behind the protection of over twenty marines. Something that looked like a sonar warbot, capable of detecting cloaked units, patrolled around the door. If Viper was to make a frontal assault, she would be instantly detected and potentially terminated. Even if VIper could come out on top, the guards on the outer perimeter could come to reinforce.
One of the marines standing guard was an officer. The man walked up to the officer and said something. As the man spoke, the officer looked at Jean and waved his hand. A marine, judging by her helmet she was female, walked up and ran her hands through every inch of Jean’s dress.
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She didn’t find anything. Jean knew she would be searched, so she didn’t have anything on her.
After a full examination, the marine stepped back and nodded at the officer, who waved his hand. Jean silently walked into the room.
After she entered, the guards closed the door. The brothel owner nodded at the captain and turned around and left. A thick layer of sweat covered the back of his neck.
The room Jean entered was large and comfortable. A large bed covered a large portion of the room. Two sofa lined along the wall. A line of drinks was on a table. But what truly attracted Jean’s attention was a large man sitting on one of the sofas.
He looked at Jean and licked his lips. A satisfied grin found its way onto his face. He waved for Jean to come over. The girl complied and sat down beside him.
Isaacs slid his left arm into Jean’s dress and started going down. He grinned even wider as he felt the soft skin under his fingers.
Jean smiled softly and moved her lips to his. As they kissed, she reached her hand behind the man, as if wanting to embrace him.
But one second that hand was empty, and the next second a taser appeared in her grip. Without a second of hesitation, she jabbed the taser into the back of the large man.
Isaacs’ eyes widened and he struggled, but Jean held him tightly. He tried to call for help, but Jean’s mouth covered his. The only sound that came out was a muffled groan, and considering this was a brothel, it was nothing strange.
As the man finally collapsed, Jean stood back up. The cute innocent smile on her face was nowhere to be seen. She tapped the watch on her wrist, and a one man tall silver device appeared on the ground in front of her.
Jean quickly tapped something on the EMP bomb and took a few steps back as the weapon went off.
With a hollow bang, a wave of blue energy exploded from the EMP device and spread outward with incredible speed.
The marines and sonar droids just outside of the suite were the first to fall victim. The warbots immediately fell over with their circuits fried. They would need some spare parts and a good engineer to be of use again.
Marines were biological units, but their armors had electronic parts, and those parts were gone as well. Radios were completely down. The power supplies shut down. Without the reactors, there was no way the marines could carry nearly a ton of metal all by themselves.
“What the hell? It’s an EMP! How did it get in there?” The marine captain that ordered Jean to be searched cursed. He tried to break free, but the former protector was now a metal coffin. Without power, these men had no way of getting out of their armors. All they could do was stand there and hope some help could arrive before the oxygen in their armors run out.
As the twenty or so marines collapsed, the EMP shockwave continued extending outward. The customers of the brothel groaned as they realized the lights were out, but most of them simply returned to what they were doing. Their hormones washed over whatever logic they had.
On the outermost layer of defenses, the goliaths and the marines patrolled around. One of the marines realized something as he turned around and saw the shockwave approaching. He opened his mouth, as if wanting to shout a warning, but the layer of blue immediately washed over him, along with the rest of his comrades. Electronics sparked and bodies collapsed. None of the pilots or the marines were killed, but they would be down for quite a while.
Within just seconds, the entire brothel was disabled. Hundreds of marines and nearly a dozen goliaths went down. Every mean of communication was disabled. Orlan’s men might realize something was wrong, but they would never get here in time.
Inside the room, Jean waited patiently.
“Ahh.” At one point Isaacs woke up, only to earn another strike in his neck. Jean stored her taser inside her watch when the EMP was activated, so it was saved from the fate of being fried.
With a light tap, the door of the chamber was opened. Jean pointed her gauss pistol at the opening and lowered the weapon when she saw a familiar figure walking in.
“Wow.” Viper eyed the unconscious men. She walked over to Isaacs and kicked him lightly. “He didn’t do anything to you, did he?”
Jean rose her eyebrows. “Well, he did kiss me...” Before she could say anything else, Viper raised her left leg and kicked the unconscious man between his legs. Jean quietly turned away as the man screamed and sat up in pain.
Seeing the ghost, Isaacs raised his fist, as if moving out for a punch, but just before he could do anything Viper grabbed him by the neck and forced him to look into her eyes. The large man resisted, but without his armor he had no chance of overpowering a ghost operative.
“Obey me.”
Viper’s psionic power washed over Isaac’s mind and, after a few seconds of delay, made him her puppet.
Letting go of Isaacs, Viper knelt down and inhaled deeply. The thing she just did, domination, was extremely exhausting on her part. Thankfully mercenaries weren’t exactly known for their willpower, and Isaacs was just knocked out twice and was suffering from utter pain, Otherwise, it would be even more difficult. Hybrids could permanently control armies at once, but ghosts could only dominate one person, and the process was tiring and risky.
That being said, dominating someone like Isaac was a good use of the ghost’s psionic energy. The man’s usage was far beyond simply being a source for security access code.
Jean walked up to Viper and gave her a hand. The ghost grinned and grabbed onto Jean’s arm and got back up. Jean felt her tightly tapping in her palm before letting it go.
“Command me, sir.” Isaacs stood back up, but this time he showed no sign of being hostile. Instead, he saluted in full obedience.
He was still the lieutenant that went into a brothel for women, but instead of being loyal to Orlan or himself, he now serves Viper with all his heart. Even if he was told to commit suicide he would do it without a second thought.
“Give her the security code.” Viper ordered, and Isaacs gave Jean a series of numbers and alphabets. “Let’s get out of here.”
The three walked out of the door and through the hallway. The marines were still alive and they could see what was happening around them, but there was nothing they could do. Without control of their armor, they could barely move their rifles. Most of them had their helmets closed and their radios were down, so they couldn’t even talk to each other.
Jean would’ve terminated all the eyewitnesses present, but she didn’t have the time. One more second they spent on slaughtering the defenseless guards would mean one more second Orlan’s men might have to realize something was wrong and prepare the defenses.
Plus, if everything went right, if Jean killed the guards, she would be killing her own underling.
Running out of the brothel, the three entered a transport that was prepared beforehand.