The only worse thing than getting no sleep, is having a perfectly good sleep session ruined. If it's something falling, or me waking myself up, I curse a bit, but go right back to sleep. On the other hand, if someone other than me is trying to wake me up early, well that's how people end up dead. And I guess someone was going to wind up a corpse today, as the sound of my phone woke me from a rather cool dream. My eyes struggled to open, and I felt really warm. Somehow I ended up in my bed, all wrapped up in a large blanket. By the time I managed to actually open my eyes, and sit up, my phone stopped ringing. I sighed, and went to lay back down, when my phone started going off again. I groaned, as I painfully removed the blanket from myself, exposing myself to the cruel morning air. I looked on my nightstand for my phone, but it wasn't there. Rather, the sound seemed to be coming from across the room. I had a single bedroom apartment, where the bedroom, kitchen, and Livingroom were all one large room, with a connected bathroom. So it didn't take me long to find the damn thing, as it was next to my television, where I guess I passed out.
Hoping it was just a scam caller, my heart sank when I saw that it was Ross who was calling. Ross is one of the employees at the Mercenary Firm, and assigns contracts to qualified mercs. I hit accept, and brought the phone up to my head. "What is it Ross?"
A young man's voice came out of the phone's speaker. "Hey sorry for waking you, especially on your day off! But we have two major things we need you to do for us."
"And what the hell is that? I said no contracts remember?"
"W..well yes. But one of these isn't a contract."
This was definitely odd. All my time working for these guys, and all I've ever done was contract work. "What is it, you want me to clean the shitters or something? I gotta say, I'm not going to go into the males bathroom. That place is a disaster."
"N...No. It's nothing like that. As you recently turned twenty-two, we have to write up a Performance Report."
"Fuck!" I blurted out. I had a vague idea on what Performance Reports were, but I never thought I would actually have to do one. I mean, to the world I pretty much don't exist. What possible chance is there for me to go up a Class? Freaking none.
"I know, I know. But we are required to do it. I already wrote most of it up, we just have to finish it up, and I'll send it on up." Ross said, obviously treading on water.
"Alright, fine, whatever. But why the hell didn't we do this yesterday?"
"Y..you seemed to be in a bad mood, that's all! And I know you wanted to start your time off as soon as possible, so I thought it could wait until Wednesday."
"First off, always assume I am in a bad mood." This was a lie. I was actually normally in a great mood. I just hate people trying to get me to do more shit. "And second, what changed?"
"Well, that's the other thing I need to talk to you about..." Ross said sheepishly.
"Let me guess, it's a contract?"
"Y...yeah..."
"Well get someone else to do it then. I'm off, remember?"
"W...well, there really isn't anyone else..."
"Oh bullshit! There are normally fifteen guys standing around with their dicks in their hands, waiting for jobs! Just get one of them to do it!"
"W...well this job is not suitable for those that lack... uh... finesse?"
I sighed. I completely understood what he meant. It was a stealth op, which means that the common meat thugs won't cut it. "Does it have to be done now?"
"Unfortunately, yes. This is an emergency contract."
"Fine, I'll be on my way. But I expect triple the pay. Along with my pay from yesterday."
"Deal. Trucks just came in, so I'll have your money ready whenever you are done. Sending you the details now. Drop off is at the office."
"Understood. Expect to see me soon"
"Will do."
"And expect to be knocked on your ass for ruining a cool dream."
"W..will do..." The call ended, and a text message was received a moment later. The message read:
CLASS E EMERGENCY CONTRACT - PRIORITY HIGH. HIGH VALUE CLASS E CITIZEN HAS BEEN KIDNAPPED BY A GANG OF LOCAL THUGS. VIOLENCE THREATENED UNLESS SUSPECTS ARE GRANTED CLASS D ACCESS. RISK OF TARGET DEATH FROM POLICE EXTRACTION: HIGH. MISSION: RETRIEVE HIGH VALUE CITIZEN, WITHOUT ALERTING THUGS. LETHAL FORCE IS AUTHORIZED, AS LONG AS TARGET REMAINS SAFE. FURTHER DETAILS WILL BE PROVIDED MOMENTARILY.
A few moments later, the address of the thugs base, along with a picture of the target showed up in the chat. I knew the area, and expected moderate resistance. The target looked to be a kid, probably some big businessman's kid who was plucked off the street. I went over to my wall locker, and began grabbing my gear. Since this was a stealth op, it would be better to go in light. I grabbed twin daggers, modified with Arc energy, to allow me to slice through most metals and people. Then I grabbed a silenced pistol, along with a few magazines of both Arc and normal rounds. Finally, I grabbed a few tear gas and smoke grenades, and made my way out. Though it was around two in the morning, the city was as alive as normal, though instead of businessmen, homeless and thugs roamed the streets. Most of them were clustered in tight groups, in areas where the Mana Sensors could not detect them. Though it was pointless, they would eventually get scanned, and be taken in for rehabilitation. But when they are released, once they have one moment of anger, or one desire to commit a crime, they will be taken in. That is unless they have a gang permit, a paradoxical permit that allows for the formation of a gang for the purpose of committing crimes. But the crimes are regulated, and are pretty much treated like a normal job. Though with the caveat of being able to be arrested if caught, or even killed. Which is where mercenaries come in. The police force is mainly composed of bots finding people, or human officers arresting anyone who pops on a mana scan. So when it comes to dealing with thugs and gangs, they push it off onto mercs. So in essence, mercs and gangs are legally killing each other. A great fucking way of whittling down the population!
I said hello to a few bums I knew from back in my childhood, but they were too hopped up on psych meds to respond, just another aspect of living Class E life I guess. The walk to the gang's hideout was uneventful, just like their hideout itself. As gangs were legal, and technically a business, they were allowed their own office buildings. Which they share with many other gangs. So it wasn't a surprise to see multiple other merc vehicles parked out front, and the sound of gunfire filling the air. I looked at my map to make sure I had the location right, and once I was sure, I skirted around the side of the building. The gang's office should be on the second floor, with window access, so spotting it should be easy. I started to scale the side of the building, which had many spots to latch onto, as it was severely run down. As I climbed over to where the gang's office should be, I would occasionally stop when I feared I would be spotted by a random window lurker. One it seemed clear, I continued to climb. Once I reached the window, I peeked inside to get a good scope of the place. The target was definitely inside, along with six armed men. None of them looked to be mages, nor did they have any Arc weapons. It seemed they were just armed with pipes and wrenches. I continued to observe the room, and I spotted only a single camera. Though fortunately, it was a Mana Scanner, which meant I could slip past it with no problem. Mana Scanners were considered the norm, as they pretty much handle all aspects of security. But some old timers and paranoid bastards prefer old CCTV setups, which I have unfortunately run into. Finally, and not surprising in the least, the glass was made out of Alliance Corp - Anti Causality Glass. Or in other words, glass that requires serious firepower to break. I could use my dagger to cut a hole, but that would just make things a bit too obvious, plus smashing through the glass wouldn't really be all that stealthy. But admittedly, it would be kinda fun.
With the area surveyed, I placed a tracking nub on the railing of the window, and made my way up the building. From there, I found the access hatch to the building's maintenance corridors, and slipped my way in. This wasn't the first time I had to run an op in this building, and it definitely won't be the last. As I would normally do, I pulled out my dagger, and slashed a small line, along with seventy four others. Seventy five, seventy five times I had to come to this dumb, and clean up street thugs. But now wasn't the time to get caught up in work repetition blues, I had to get to the target. I crawled my way through the corridors, occasionally looking at my phone, to make sure I am heading towards the tracker. Thank god it was winter, or crawling through here would suck, as I definitely know from experience. Eventually, I would reach my beacon, and I looked for the right hatch that would lead me to the gang's office. There were two, and judging from my positioning, it had to be the left hatch. I slowly opened it, and surveyed the area below. I was clearly above a kitchen, where only one person seemed to be standing guard. I waited a few moments, listening closely for potential passersby, and once it was clear, I took my shot.
With dagger in hand, I softly fell to the floor. The man was too distracted by whatever was playing on his headphones to care. Carefully, like a lioness stalking her prey, I crept closer and closer. I had to ensure my strike is both fast, and lethal to ensure he doesn't scream out for help. One wrong move, one wrong sound, and the target might end up dead. And frankly, I actually do feel like getting paid tonight. Once I knew I was close enough, I reached out with my left hand to grab the man's mouth, and with the right I plunged the dagger into the side of his neck, followed by a thrust forward, effortlessly slicing through the arteries, veins, and trachea. I immediately felt the man's weight in my arms, as his body immediately went limp. He wasn't dead quite yet, as his eyes were darting around, trying to figure out what just happened. Once I knew he couldn't make any sounds, I softly put his body on the floor, as he began to drown in his own blood. With the first target down, I made my way to the door, and looked around for drifters. Once the area was clear, I made my way down the hallway, and to the main part of this office.
But it was clear something was wrong. There were only two people in the room, and the target was nowhere in sight. Needing to get to the bottom of this, I carefully skirted around the edge of a cubicle maze, trying to properly position myself. I slipped into a cubicle, and began to listen to the two individuals.
But just my damn luck, the cubicle wasn't empty. A large burly man stood up, with a stupid expression on his face. "Heeeeey. I waaaas sleeeeping heeeere. Fiiind yooour ooown sleeeepy ceeeellll'' The giant drooled. Quickly, I raided my dagger, anticipating danger. But the large man wasn't making any moves, rather just cleaning the sleep from his eyes. Knowing this might be my only chance, I readied my dagger for a single, deadly strike.
"Hey Fred! Someone over there with you? Is it Greg?" Said a voice, which I realized was right next to me. I turned around to see a smaller man, who wore a horrific polka-dot suit. "Hey, who the hell are y..." But he cut himself off. He came closer to me, and I could tell he wasn't armed. Still, I was ready to stab him, and shoot the giant if things went south. He leaned in close, as if he were trying to find a pimple, and finally snapped his fingers. "Ah, I knew it! Hey guys, it's Mordred! Girls come to party!"
I stood there, confused as to what was going on. Lights came on, and made things much more awkward. The men In front of me were not the people who were guarding the target, nor was the target even here. More colorfully dressed people started to gather around us, and something about them seemed a bit too familiar. "Wait.... Tiffany?!" I exclaimed, when I put a name to his face.
He did a large gesture, though he was extremely small. "Who else could it be! No one is as awesome, or as handsome as me, Tiffany the Pirate King!" The men who gathered around started to clap and cheer, as I put away my daggers, feeling really silly.
"Uh, when exactly did you become a pirate king, Tiff? Last I checked, you were still a bunch of low level losers, who stole a barely functioning ship, rob defenseless junk food transports, and somehow tried to make people take them seriously as pirates."
"Well my dear Mordred, that sincerely hurts me to my core! It's been years since we last had a chat, and you immediately go for my heart!" He said, with a dramatic flair.
"Oh come on now, we both know that's a bunch of bull. You aint got a heart."
Tiffany laughed. "Well that's true enough I guess. What brings you here anyways? Wanted to say hello to your future husband?"
"Ha! In your damn dreams shorty! And uh, this is going to be a bit awkward, but I am here for a mission."
The smile on the small man's face vanished, as concern quickly took over. "Wha...what?! We just got our permit today! And we haven't done anything illegal yet! This isn't fair, this is pure harassment! I demand to speak to your manager!"
"Relax, relax. I'm not here for you. I am here for your neighbors. "
The concern immediately vanished, as his classic cocky smile returned. "Oh those losers? Sheesh, what'd they do to get a badass like you after them?"
"They kidnapped someone's kid, apparently they are pretty important."
Tiffany laughed again. "Lemme guess, they are trying to negotiate with them right? Probably something stupid, like extra rations or something?"
"Nope. They want a change in class"
"Oh shit, really?! Are they that freaking stupid?! Like the Alliance would ever allow that! Hell, the rations would be more possible."
"Yeah, I guess."
"Though I am kinda surprised."
"About what?"
"Well in cases like this, even if some important person's kid was involved, the higher ups woulda just had everyone killed. To send a message, you know?"
And almost as if on queue, my phone started to sound off. I quickly checked it, and saw that it was an update to the operation. ATTENTION: AS PER ARC ALLIANCE JUDICIAL BRANCH'S INSTRUCTIONS, ALL TARGETS WILL BE ELIMINATED. SAVING THE TARGET IS NOW AN OPTIONAL OBJECTIVE. LOSS OF TARGETS LIFE WILL NOT RESULT IN A LOSS OF PAY. PAYMENT WILL BE INCREASED DUE TO INCREASED RISK.
"Well shit" I said, as I showed Tiffany my phone. "Guess you were right."
"Always am Moe, always am!" He laughed. "Also, why haven't you gotten your implant yet? You are definitely old enough by now, and it's gotta be annoying to carry that thing around." He said, gesturing to my phone.
"You do know that implants require mana right?" I darted back, slipping my phone back into my pocket.
"Ah, right. I tend to forget you are a freak with no magic."
"Shut it gnome."
"Oh feisty! Maybe I should grab some drinks from the kitchen, and we could have a little date."
"No." I quickly responded. And with the mention of the word kitchen. "Say, that guy who was in the kitchen listening to music. Was he one of yours?"
"Who, Georgo? Yeah he's one of ours. Why you askin."
Ah, here's the awkward part. "Uh, I hope he wasn't too important to you. He might be slightly dead."
"Slightly dead? How can you be slightly dead?" Tiff asked sincerely.
"Well, I might have sliced his neck halfway off..."
Silence filled the air, as the pirates took a brief moment to mourn their fallen comrade.And once the moment was over, Tiffany resumed his playful demeanor. "Eh, don't worry about it. Dude was new, and was a massive prick. Woulda prolly killed him myself!"
"You seem to get over fallen allies kinda easily..."
"Hey, you don't become the pirate king without losing a few men."
"First, that's a horrible way of justifying it. And secondly, you are not a pirate king."
"Ah, but after this job, I will be!"
"And why exactly are you here? You said you got a gang permit right?"
"Yup! Our goal here is twofold! We are going to launch raids on the devilish Ms. Sammies Smile Factory, and loot the place dry!"
"T...the toy factory?" I said, with genuine confusion.
"Yup!"
"But...." For a moment, I forgot that I was talking to the most ridiculous man in the universe. "Okay. What is the second goal?"
"Recruitment of course! After a mishap on a remote mining facility, that may or may not have involved six metric tons of scissors, we found ourselves lacking in manpower."
"Ah. Well, I am sure you will find someone. Most people here would kill to get off this rock."
"Great! That's exactly what I like to hear!"
I sighed. I honestly regret that I consider this weird man a friend. And even though this reunion was nice and all, I still have a job to do. "Hey Tiff, I still got a job to do. How about we catch up another time?"
"Sounds good ya lass! I've gotta go and make sure these fools clean up Georgo. Don't want the corpse smell to stink up our new office!"
With this very irritating detour over, I went back to the kitchen, where some of Tiffany's men were working on cleaning up the mess I made. I stepped over the body, and climbed back through the hatch to the maintenance corridor. This time, I would take the left hatch, and land in a similar looking kitchen. But unlike Tiffany's there was no dead body here, or people cleaning it up. No, this room was empty. I listened closely, for possible signs of activity. That's when I heard them.
"Listen here you corporate ass! I WILL kill your son, if you don't give us what we want!" It was clear this was the right place. The man was on the phone with someone, probably an unpaid intern, making his demands. Unfortunately for him, other arrangements have been made. Rather than going straight towards the sounds of shouting, I decided to look through the rest of the office, ensuring nobody gets the jump on me. And much to my surprise, these morons didn't have a single person on guard duty, nor did they have anyone patrolling the rest of the office. Every single one of them were in the main area, waiting for something that will never happen. Just as I saw before, there were six men, all armed with blunt objects, all standing around the kid. Since saving the kid was secondary, acting with tact no longer mattered.
The next thing the group knew, tear gas started to fill the room. All six men, and the kid, were all starting to tear up, and faces becoming swollen. Using this moment of distraction, I pulled out my pistol, and took aim. Though I lacked any magic, I still had some tricks up my sleeve. I shifted my focus slightly, and seven ghost-like figures could be seen through the smoke. These were still the same men, however I was now seeing their mana. With six shots meeting with the skull of their intended target, the six thugs all collapsed, and the traces of their mana vanished. And fortunately, the kid was still alive. I shifted my vision back to normal, and saw that the gas was still rather thick. Since I would rather not get tear gassed today, I decided to wait a bit for it to go away. I went back to the kitchen, and started to look around for some snacks. And luckily, this place was fully stocked. I guess these thugs just rented this place out. Their loss I guess. I looked through the snacks, and found my favorite brand of chips, and a nice cold soda to complement it. I made my way back to the main office area, took a seat, and waited for the gas to clear.
The kid was not thrilled about being gassed, and he was leaking snot and drool during our entire trip back to the Merc Office. Once there, the kid's dad was glad to see his little flesh rodent was safe, and proceeded to yell at me for putting him in danger. When I pointed out that I didn't have to save the brat, the dad nearly busted a vein in rage. So of course, I knocked him on his ass, and he ran away like a little child. It was satisfying seeing those two elite snobs crying their eyes out. Ross, who had been hiding up until now, finally came out with three gold cards. Ross was a stringy looking man, in his early twenties. He looked like the sad dork that he sounded like on the phone, and his eyes screamed "dont hurt me"
I reached out to grab the cards. "This everything?"
"Yup." Ross responded. "Your pay for both jobs are on those, with an extra from the man you just punched."
"Aww, maybe I shouldn't have punched him so hard."
"Nah, rich assholes like that don't really care about their kids. It's more about appearances you know? And dead kids don't look that great."
"Eh, I guess you have a point." I responded, as I put the gold cards in my back pocket. Now I would have to run by the bank to upload these. "So is that all? Can I go now?" I asked, hoping for a yes.
"I'm really sorry, but we gotta do your evaluation. It'll be over quickly, I promise." Ross said in a gentle tone.
"Alright fine, let's get this over with." I said, resigned to my fate of boring paperwork. Ross led me to the back office, where two chairs were set up at a desk, with a large stack of paperwork ready. Though I haven't done an evaluation before, I knew they were long and boring procedures. I sat down opposite of Ross, and he started handing me forms to sign, as he explained a bunch of dumb shit. I ignored most of it, but I understood the basics. Pretty much since we are on a Class E planet, the Alliance requires us to have an evaluation done every three months. It is through these evaluations where we are judged, and graded. And our grade will determine if we go up a class rank, or go down. But since we are already at the lowest class, we just stay here. And to make matters more fun, if we score a single dismal on the eval, we will remain stuck here, and wont be considered for reclassification for ten years. Truly riveting stuff.
After signing a mountain of paperwork, my hand felt like it was ready to cry. But luckily we were at the final form, though this required an actual discussion. Ross began to speak in a more businesslike manner, which was a bit odd. "Alright, so time to go over your performance. First, we are starting off with job performance. As I tend to state often, you provide quality work, and are dedicated to the team. I would say that would warrant an excellent, correct?"
"Yeah, whatever I guess." I said, bored out of my mind.
"Alright, second one. Expertise. Frankly, your job is mostly killing people, which I guess you do well. But since you do cause a mess, and can kill with your mind, I'll just give you a satisfactory. That's good with you."
"Sure."
"Okay. Social life. As far as I am aware, you don't really go out that much, and don't have a social circle of your own. As you tend to stay inside and play video games and read books when you are not at work. Would that be correct?"
Freaking ouch man. Way to call me out. "Yeah, that's pretty much it."
"Okay, so because you fall into the antisocial category, I'll have to unfortunately put you down for below satisfactory. I am sorry about that."
"Whatever, like I care about how the Alliance cares how I spend my time."
"Alright, next is community assistance. Since you assist the community by helping fight crime, I would say that definitely screams above satisfaction. Wouldn't you agree?"
"I guess."
"Great! Last two! This one is easy, education. You might try to fool everyone, but I know you are a smart cookie. So I'll mark you down as satisfactory."
"Hey, please don't call me that. Like ever again."
"My apologies. I guess I am too far into the zone."
"It's fine, let's just get this over with."
"Alright, last one. Law Infractions. For this, I'll just pull your record really quick, and see any and all violations." He typed a few things into his computer, and nearly fainted from shock. "Well... that's certainly unexpected!"
Concerned, I looked over at his screen, and saw just my name. "What, you didn't know my name or something?"
"No, I know that by heart. It's everything else, or more specifically the lack of. According to this, you have never once committed an infraction. Not even a single mood swing. Heck, even I have my fair share of infractions. I mean, I have heard of people without any infractions, but..."
"But what?"
"Well, and please don't hurt me for this, but I figured that you of all people would have thousands of infractions."
"Well, as you can see very clearly, I am clearly an innocent and kind girl."
Ross laughed, and I punched him in the arm. "Sorry, sorry. It's still surprising is all. But I guess that's how it is. I'll put you down as an excellent. Now let me just go over the scores..." He started to read the scores, and a big smile ran across his face. "Well well well, looks like you might be getting off this rock!"
"Oh really now?"
"Yup! Based on my math, you would actually qualify for a Class B planet. That's absolutely fantastic!"
"Oh, wow that is really wonderful" I lied, trying not to sound bothered.
"Alright, I'll send this up the chain for review. I'll let you know when the meeting with the judicator is, so we can finalize the paperwork. That should be about a month from now. And from there, we will see if we can get you off this rock."
"Great." I responded. "Is that all?"
"Yup! You are free to go!"
"Awesome. Since I had to come in today, I'm taking Thursday off."
"Alright, i'll see you on friday then! I'll make sure to save some nice contracts just for you!"
"Cool." I walked out of his office, and out of the merc building. Before I knew it, I was already home, and changed out of my blood soaked clothes. After I put them in my high powered washer, I collapsed in my bed, and started to curse at the top of my lungs. "There is no way in hell that I am leaving this hell hole! Not until that bastard shows back up! Once I kick him square in the sack, THEN I'll consider getting away from here! But not a damn moment earlier!" After a few more rants about the Alliance, corporations, Tiffany, Ross, and the number eight, did I finally pass out.