Spring 2164
Laser dot trembles on the skull. Spice on the spring wind. Sunset eyes defiant in the scope.
Her body trembles. Not fear, indignation. Her mouth moves…
The assassin sits transfixed, unable to act, unable to think as this scene plays out before his eyes. This assignment should have been simple, but it was the simple tasks that were the easiest to complicate.
~~*V*~~
Two weeks previous
He stood before the one called Shrimaanharkaara, as he had dozens of times before. The hanar's body flashed with vivid streaks of light as it spoke without words in a language Thane is privileged enough to understand.
"I regret calling upon you so soon after your last assignment." The spots of light are faint, conveying feelings of regret. They'd been acquainted for years, the hanar going so far as to tell the drell his soul name, Honored Messenger was reluctant to rely on Thane's abilities, though he was one of the most capable assassins at his disposal.
"I assure you, it's no trouble." Thane had been waiting to be called upon. He didn't like being idle
"Sere Krios will find his assignment on the datapad." A slow, fluid movement of one tentacle showed him what he'd already noticed when he'd first entered the room; the item in question rested on a low table set between them. Thane knew Honored Messenger well enough to now that he did not offer his help as a slight.
"My thanks." Thane accepted the pad. He tucked it underneath his arm as he stepped back into place. He bowed stiffly at the waist before raising his eyes to his benefactor once more.
"If that is all, I will be on my way." He was eager to look over the file. The sooner that was out of the way, the sooner he could begin the actual hunt.
The hanar paused. His body went dark, devoid of the silvery lights that ran along its length. The break in conversation was unusual from this particular creature. There were times when Thane had to chance being rude to excise himself from conversations that had no end in sight. Thane took note of it.
Honored Messenger spoke again, his many lights still subdued, "No, Krios. That will be all."
~~*V*~~
When he arrived back at the temple, Thane went directly to his quarters. He shut himself away to prepare for the days ahead. As he poured over the information available for his next target, he chewed numbly on a protein bar to quell the ache hunger left in his stomach. He barely tasted the bland, dry mixture as he took in each detail.
Ismat Marna. Male, drell. Judging by the attached photos he was Thane's senior by a great many years. Thane's own father would be close to his age if he was still living.
Few drell were brought to Thane's attention, and the reason why remained a mystery. He was given a name, a photo and anything that he could use to his advantage to carry out his task. He didn't need to know anything more.
This target would not be easy to find. According to his dossier, he was aware that he was a marked man and was taking precautions in preserving his life. He was rarely seen during daylight hours. On those few occasions when he was spotted, he was never alone. He was accompanied by no less than two hired toughs. They moved quickly, not staying out in the open for very long.
The knowledge that forces were moving against him had served to heighten Marna's awareness when others would have fallen apart. Thane was impressed by Marna's adaptability, but in the end Marna was still prey. He would slip up sooner or later. They always did. It was just a matter of waiting him out. And patience was a virtue Thane had in abundance.
~~*V*~~
Thirty minutes previous
Despite his apparent will to live, Marna had a critical flaw that left him vulnerable: he was a creature of habit. To the untrained eye, his movements might have seemed random, sporadic, but to Thane's honed senses it was glaringly obvious that his quarry was moving in a set routine.
Every time Marna surfaced somewhere in the capital, he would perform the most mundane activities. A trip to the tailor, the market, places that from a cursory glance held little to no significance. It was unlikely these sites were as innocuous as they seemed, but checking on that was someone else's task.
After three days of his wandering, he always ended his excursions the same way. On the outskirts of the city, just outside of the dome, there stood a building that shouldn't have existed. There were no publicly available records, no signs, illuminated or otherwise stated its name or purpose. For all intents and purposes, the building seemed abandoned, but it was here that Marna made his last stop before fading back into the city among the masses making their way home.
Once he was within the building's walls, he didn't reemerge until well after night had fallen. Thane had observed that the target was left alone. Marna let confidence get the best of him when it seemed he should be the most cautious. It was then that he would strike. The window was a scant five minutes, but it was more than enough time for Thane to do what needed to be done and disappear.
Down the street from the blank slate of a building, Thane waited on the roof of a hospice some blocks away. His legs ached from disuse. For the last week he'd spent most of his time in one of two positions: crouched or prone, though he wished for once that he could rest on a surface other than concrete that was strewn with grit and pebbles. If his head rose too far above the lip of the rooftop, there was the chance that he might be spotted, though he figured he might be written off as someone taking their break to enjoy the vista.
From his perch he had an excellent view well away from the prying eyes of ever curious city dwellers. Sealing the door assured him that he wouldn't be disturbed by someone seeking a reprieve.
While his choice in location was impeccable, it did nothing to shield him from the elements. The roof was bare, save for an employee break area with a small garden, and a few vents. There were no structures that Thane could use as shelter. Thane had set up a field tarp in lieu of a proper tent because of its low profile. It kept the sun from beating down him when it got too intense, but it was utterly useless against rain that fell on an angle. Outside of the climate controlled city was a common occurrence.
Every drell who travelled outside the domed cities was equipped with a device to keep their exposure to the humid atmosphere to a minimum, but while on the job, Thane rarely wore his. The contraption was cumbersome. The part that fit over his nose and mouth butted against the stock of his rifle, severely throwing off his aim. When a thin layer of plastic was the difference between a clean kill and cruelly maiming the target, every millimeter counted.
The lord of hunters smiled on him. This evening was warm and dry as he lay under a cloudless sky.
Movement on the street in front of the building caught his eye. A car pulled up in front of the building, as close to the curb as possible, and out stepped Marna. He was early. The sun was still well in the sky as Marna stepped out of the car, looking rushed and flustered. He crossed to the courtyard of the building with long strides. Something had obviously gone wrong to make him break routine.
Something had spooked Marna bad enough for him to risk being seen out in the open. Chances were this might be the last time he visited this facility before he went aground, possibly for months. Thane couldn't let this chance slip away.
Marna disappeared within the building and the car pulled off to await his return.
Things were not going as Thane had planned, but the necessity of adapting to change had been drilled into him almost as intensely as his name had been. Civilians still milled about. The shot could be taken without endangering their lives, but there was the off chance that he could be seen by some bystander. The chances of that happening were slim, but Thane liked to complete a job as thoroughly as possible. This would be a black mark against his otherwise flawless record in his eyes, but it would be regarded as a mission accomplished if there was no loss of innocent life.
A scant few minutes passed, and Marna stepped back out into the open, with a lot less bluster than he'd entered the building with. Thane tracked his movements through the scope. Marna was clearly displeased by the events of his visit. That made two of them.
As Marna waited for his ride, he chatted on a communicator which only seemed to sour his mood. Now was the time to act.
With a slow flick of his thumb, Thane turned on the sighting laser. He raised the rifle until it was lined up for a clean, kill.
Laser dot trembles on the skull.
He took a deep breath to stabilize the shot. A strong breeze carried the pungent smell of flowers from the garden to his nose.
Spice on the spring wind.
He removed the safety. His index finger hovered just above the trigger.
"I know not what you've done, but may Kalahira accept you with open arms," he whispered though he knew full well the man couldn't hear him at this distance. "Amonkira, allow that my aim be true."
With both eyes open, he blew out slowly as his finger made contact with the trigger.
This day couldn't get any worse.
Not only had Irikah given up her day off to try to help a friend in need, but now the product of her hard work was running away from her.
She'd spent her whole afternoon in the park just outside the dome city. Tori, her friend and classmate, needed a picture of a scenic overlook to complete her own finals project. But rather than just finding a picture on the extranet, she insisted it had to be from the mind of a fellow student.
Ordinarily, Irkiah would have told her to forget it; she usually found herself knee deep in her own projects. But her classes were all but done with. Soon, she'd be graduating, all that was left was to attend the finishing lectures. She didn't really have a reason to tell Tori no, so Irkiah agreed to help.
After hours of trying different techniques, she ended up with several copies that she could choose from. If she didn't like any of them after all of this, then she could come out and sketch the scene herself.
As Irkiah made her way back towards the domed city, a wind kicked up and tore the few papers she'd been trying to fit into her portfolio from her fingers.
She hurried after the papers into the courtyard of the abandoned building. The first two papers were simple enough to retrieve as she plucked them from the air. The third she had to step on halt it's flight. The fourth twirled around a lone figure standing in the middle of this place before dancing on. He faced away from the street, embroiled in a conversation on his commlink.
Winded, Irikah approached the man to apologize before he chastised her. She didn't want him to think she'd thrown it at him, but he didn't seem to notice. As she drew closer, something seemed off. On the back of his head, in the midst of a sea of blue and black scales was a single red dot. She thought it might have been an odd birthmark until it started to move.
The dot trembled left to right, but never more than a few centimeters in either direction.
She'd seen this before. In one of the action holos she'd had the misfortune of watching, it was the unmistakable sign of a sniper lining up his shot. It was like she'd been thrown into one of those horrible movies. And she remembered what soon came after that.
This man's head would be blown to bits. And his body would just lay here in this abandoned lot in this forgotten part of town.
If she hadn't lost her papers, she could have just walked on, oblivious to what was really going on. But now she knew what would happen to this man and she couldn't just ignore it.
Paper in hand the woman walked on, coming to stop in between Thane and his target. The red dot now hovered on the bridge of her nose, just between eyes that were as startling as they were beautiful. Orange irises, flecked with red set against dark sclera. They were unsettling as they stared back at him, as if she truly saw him.
Sunset colored eyes defiant in the scope.
Her body trembles. Not fear; indignation. Her mouth moves, "How dare you."
Her fingers clenched tightly around her papers. Her knuckles turned pale from the pressure. Her words were full of reproach yet he didn't need to hear them to understand. He could feel the anger radiating from her, jaw set with resolve.
What kind of person would take a life like this? It was so impersonal. Chance were, whoever was controlling that dot had never even met this man she'd thrown herself in front of. If he had to die, he deserved the chance to meet his death head on, rather than being shot in the back. Rage bubbled up in Irkiah again. There was no honor in this. No matter what he'd done, she didn't think he deserved this.
While he preferred a more hands on approach, Thane had used a sniper rifle to carry out his duty thirty-seven times before. At least fifteen of those times had required that he act under less than favorable circumstances; in public, in broad daylight with inadequate cover. Never before had a civilian, a bystander stepped in. Most people were too wrapped up in their own lives to notice that someone else was in danger. And the few that had spotted him merely kept their heads down in an attempt to preserve their own lives.
It was as if the goddess Arashu herself had stepped in to spare Marna's life.
Perhaps she had.
With fingers that trembled, he latched the safety, never removing his eyes from the rifle's scope. He turned off the guiding laser. The red dot no longer danced between her brows, yet that was not enough to satisfy held her ground, while Marna railed on his communicator, unaware of the battle of wills that raged on behind him.
The woman stood there, immobile, never taking her gaze from the direction of Thane's post. She was determined to stand there until Marna was safe. And for reasons he didn't quite comprehend, Thane was powerless to act against her.
This mission had already failed. He should have packed up his kit and left. But he didn't. He should have contacted Shrimaanharkaara to tell him that unforeseen circumstances had arisen, but he didn't do that, either. Instead he lay there, perplexed. What made this woman impede his work? She didn't know Marna. They'd exchanged no friendly greetings or even acknowledged each other's presence. He was a stranger to her, and yet she'd risked her life to save his.
Thane mind couldn't comprehend that a creature of mortal flesh would be so selfless...unless she was not of mortal flesh at all.
Marna's car arrived and the man dashed to it, ignorant of how close he'd come to meeting the sea. The woman remained, rooted to the spot until the car had driven off down the road.
She glared at Thane one last time, her golden eyes piercing him to his very core from such a great distance. Slowly she turned on her heel and simply walked out of the courtyard and continued on her way as if she had not just stared down certain death.
After she was gone, Thane could still feel her eyes boring into him. Hers was a memory that would haunt him like nothing had before. He had to find her and find out why she had interfered. If she was Arashu in the flesh, he would have to apologize for aiming his gun at her.