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The Job
~The conversation on Fichina only added to Cyrus's worry. The thought about completing his mission became filled with doubt as he flew his fighter into the Sector X region. Upon exiting his hyperspace jump, he looked out and noticed a large convoy of migrant ships in the area. Some of the migrant ships were massive in size compared to the others, and nearly three dozen ships traveled in the convoy.
Cyrus flew his fighter towards the largest of the migrant ships in the area, and set a course to dock with the main flagship. As he neared his target, the words of the Black Sun agent surfaced once more in the back of his mind.
"The task will not be easy. Neither on the body nor on the mind." The Black Sun agent said back then. "Your target is a covert mercenary cell traveling in secret aboard a migrant convoy in the Sector X region. Regrettably, the fleet's main flagship has been taken over as the fleet's commander has been taken as a hostage. These mercenaries look to send the fleet to a rogue ultranationalist group in the Titania system. This cannot be allowed. Your mission is to board the main flagship, the Generate, eliminate the leader of these mercenaries, and restore control of the migrant fleet to its commander."
"For starters, is this some kind of a joke?" Cyrus asked back then. "You're sending me alone against god knows how many mercs. Even if I pull this off, are you trying to make me into some kind of hero? I'm a bounty hunter, one who keeps to the shadows and is in it for the money. I don't like a lot of attention."
"I am prepared to offer you two-hundred thousand credits upon the completion of this task. The conditions is that the fleet must not be destroyed, and the mercenaries must be eliminated before the fleet reaches Titania."
Cyrus took a moment to ponder his decision, and he turned his back towards the Black Sun agent. After thinking about the terms, and his mission, he turned back and holstered his blaster. "I'll do this for two-fifty. No less."
"Done." The agent responded. "When you complete this task, I will send the funds your way." The Black Sun agent slowly stepped backwards into the shadows of the alley, and Cyrus became alert. After a brief moment, he chased after the Black Sun agent and noticed that he had disappeared.
Cyrus brought his thoughts back into his cockpit and the Generate before him. The closer he approached the flagship, the more nervous he felt. "Unidentified fighter." A voice called out to him over his communicator. "You are entering the vicinity of the migrant fleet Freedom's Progress. State your business."
"Looking to dock with the Generate." Cyrus responded. "My fighter is running a bit low on fuel and I'm running low on supplies. I'm not planning on staying long and I can be out of your way in less than an hour."
After a short pause, the communications line opened again. "All right. Proceed to docking bay eight and be ready inspection."
"Understood." Cyrus silenced the communications line and he flew towards the rear of the Generate. "Inspection…" He softly said to himself. "This will make my job a lot harder. If mercs are running this place, then getting my weapons in side will be a lot harder."
As he found the docking bay at the rear end of the Generate, he lowered his fighters speed. "I can try sweet talking my way through with my gear, or try my luck with unarmed combat." He thought to himself. "Wait, they're mercs. No way will they let me in with my weapons. Guess I'm going to have to do this the old fashioned way."
He slowly flew through a shield to enter the large hangar, and he noticed a group of people waiting for him below. As he slowly brought his fighter down for docking, a crew with a fuel dispenser approached his fighter. Moments after touchdown, Cyrus powered down his fighter and equipped his mask. "All right!" A large anthropomorphic pig called out. "Come on out!"
Cyrus opened his cockpit windshield and he hopped out of his fighter onto the ground. The welcome crew stepped back as Cyrus's appearance drove a feeling of unease into their systems. His black robes covered his armor underneath, and his mask delivered a cold emotionless gaze. As Cyrus stood tall, he noticed two of the crewmembers held rifles in their hands. "Interesting character we've got here." The pig said. "There a freak under that mask?"
Cyrus didn't respond and simply stared at the crew before him. He looked to his side for a brief moment and noticed another trio of people bringing a fuel dispenser towards his fighter. As he looked back, he noticed the two riflemen bring their weapons to the ready. "Is there a problem?" Cyrus asked the crew.
"Yea, there is." The pig responded. "No masks. We don't like unfamiliar faces around these parts."
Cyrus looked around him and noticed a group of mercs physically harassing a group of civilians in the corner of the hangar. Seeing the innocents being hurt slowly built up range in Cyrus's emotions, and he tightened his fist. "That's too bad." He said. "My face isn't something I like to show. I'm not here to cause trouble, but I'm not going to take off my mask."
The two riflemen pointed their weapons at Cyrus and Cyrus became nervous. However, the pig extended both of his arms to his sides to calm his riflemen. "Seems my boys are a bit jumpy." The pig said. "Fine, you can keep your mask. If you try anything you'll be shot dead anyways. Any weapons you got are to be left on your fighter. The boys here will fill her up so you can kindly fuck off."
"I appreciate that." Cyrus said in an angry tone.
The welcome crew walked off to the side and Cyrus looked about his surroundings. He noticed a trio of hares refueling his fighter, but they all appeared to fear him. Cyrus approached the hares and noticed they all fearfully looked away. "Hey…" Cyrus said in a calming tone. "Listen, I'm not here to hurt you."
"Like hell we can trust you." A female hare responded. "You're just another mercenary. Why can't you just leave us alone?"
Cyrus took a deep breath and slowly undid the straps in the back of his mask. He removed his mask from his face and the hares stared at him. The sight of his calm face eased the hares' worry, and Cyrus took a breath. "Listen, I've got no time to explain." He said. "I'm here on a job to help you and your migrant fleet. I need to know where the leader of these mercs are. Can any of you tell me?"
The hares looked amongst each other and they exchanged looks of worry. "How do we know you're not just trying to get us into trouble?" One of the hares asked.
"You don't." Cyrus bluntly answered. "Truth be told, I really don't care for the rest of you. I'm doing this because there's six months' worth of credits waiting for me at the end. I have a job to do and I intend to see it through. I'm going to find the leader of these mercs, kill him, and then restore command of the fleet to your commander. Now are you going to help me or not?"
The hares took a deep breath, and one of them approached Cyrus. "The main door to the bridge is on the far side of the hangar there." The female hare said as she pointed to a large set of double doors. "We don't know where exactly their leader is, but in reality he's actually a woman. They call her Mistress, and she's a falcon with a long black ponytail. If you're heading to the bridge that might be where you'll find her."
"And your commander?" Cyrus asked.
"He's been held captive in the bridge for weeks now. Please, save him if you can."
"Thank you. Listen, when the action starts going down, you might want to find shelter fast."
The hare nodded her head and proceeded to continue to work on Cyrus's fighter. Cyrus turned away and locked his gaze on the bridge entrance. He walked for a brief minute and noticed a pair of guards at the entrance to the gate. As he approached them, the two guards stepped in between Cyrus and the door. Cyrus stopped within an arm's reach of the two guards, and they both shot a hateful glare at him. "Turn back around buddy." One of the guards said. "Market's on the other side of the hangar."
"I'm looking to get into the bridge." Cyrus said to the two guards. "Please let me pass."
One of the guards immediately pointed his weapon at Cyrus's head. "I'll fill up that dumb ass head of your with a plasma round instead." The guard angrily said. "Now go fu-"
Cyrus grabbed the barrel of the guard's gun and pulled it past his head. He quickly drove his fist into the guard's throat and immediately crushed his wind pipe. The other guard quickly aimed his rifle at Cyrus but Cyrus quickly but Cyrus ripped the rifle out of the first guard's hand and used it as a club to deliver a two handed swing into the other guard's head. As the two guards fell down to the ground, one of them slowly died from choking on his own breath while Cyrus placed his knee into the throat of the other. "Where is your boss?" Cyrus asked in a devilish tone.
"T-The bridge." The guard coughed out. "She's i-in the bridge!"
Cyrus took the butt end of the guard's rifle and smashed it onto the guard's head. The resulting impact delivered a fatal skull fracture to the guard's cranium and Cyrus stood with the rifle in hand. "Thanks." He said as he walked through the hangar exit.
He pulled out the rifle magazine and noticed the magazine fully loaded with blue plasma rounds. As he popped the magazine back into the rifle, he continued to move forward and held the rifle at the ready.
Cyrus quickly exited the hanger and found himself in a long hallway lined with pillars. As he moved through the hall, he noticed a trio of contacts appear on his HUD. He quickly looked to his side and pressed his back against the wall to hide behind a pillar. "The guy in the mask just took out two of our guys." One of the mercs said as the trio ran past Cyrus. "Move to the hangar and bring him down. Mistress wants him alive."
Cyrus emerged from behind his pillar and quickly ran around the corner from where the mercs came. He quickened his pace and noticed a small group of contacts appear on his HUD once more. As he neared another corner, he peaked around it and noticed a trio of mercs guarding a set of double doors at the end of the hall. He took a deep breath and hid his rifle within his robes.
To the mercs' surprise, Cyrus walked around the corner and casually approached the two of them. "You!" One of the mercs called out. "Stop right there!"
Cyrus noticed the mercs about to raise their rifles, and took that moment to surprise the mercs with his own. He unloaded the entirety of the rifle clip upon the mercs and quickly killed the three of them before they could fire a single round. As he neared the door, he dropped his rifle on the ground and grabbed one of the weapons from the dead mercs around him. Realizing that he held a shotgun in his hands, he pumped the fore grip back and forth and readied a shell.
The doors before Cyrus quickly opened and revealed an additional pair of mercs guarding the other side. Cyrus quickly fired a pair of shotgun rounds and killed the two mercs and proceeded inside the room. He looked about his surroundings and noticed he walked into a lobby like room with a pair of doors on the other side. Two rows of pillars lined the room from end to end, and half a dozen mercs stood between Cyrus and the other side. Seeing their comrades fall to the ground lifeless, the rest of the mercs in the room quickly aimed their weapons at Cyrus.
Cyrus dove behind a pillar as dozens of plasma rounds quickly flew directly at him. The edges of the pillar slowly wore away as plasma rounds took out bits and pieces of it. Hearing a break in the fire, Cyrus quickly rushed towards the next pillar before him and fired off a shot gun round towards the mercs. Though he missed, he took cover behind the next pillar and noticed the mercs slowly advancing on his position. Cyrus quickly poked his head out of cover and noticed a pair of mercs approaching him from his side. He quickly turned the pillar and fired off a shot gun round to kill them both at once.
As the remaining mercs in the room continued to fire their rifles, Cyrus sprinted to the next pillar. He slid on his knees and grabbed the rifle of one of the dead mercs near him. As he made it back into cover, he dropped his shotgun and readied his rifle. He quickly aimed at two exposed mercs and fired his rifle, killing the both of them. With two mercs remaining, he retreated back into cover as they continued to fire upon him. Cyrus tracked their movements on his HUD and noticed that one of the mercs moved to flank his side.
Cyrus quickly dropped to one knee and aimed to his side and noticed the merc come from behind a pillar. He fired his rifle and shot the merc directly in the head, but the second merc rushed his other side. The merc delivered a hard thrust kick to Cyrus's head and Cyrus fell over and dropped his rifle. Seeing the merc take aim, Cyrus quickly rolled to his side to avoid being fired upon from point blank range. He quickly made his way behind a pillar and took cover while the merc continued to fire. Hearing a break in the fire, Cyrus sprung from behind the pillar and charged the merc.
As the merc attempted to reload his weapon, Cyrus dove at the merc and drove his hands into the merc's neck. The merc quickly fell to the ground and Cyrus tightened his grip on the merc's neck. The merc struggled to catch his breath as Cyrus continued to strangle him, and after a brief minute of struggling the merc lost consciousness and ceased to move. Cyrus slowly stood up and reached for the rifle and clip to his side. After loading the clip into the rifle, he fired a single round into the head of the last merc. "Always confirm a kill." He thought to himself.
With his new rifle in hand, Cyrus approached the double doors on the far side of the lobby. As the doors opened, he looked inside to find half a dozen mercs standing about the ship's spacious bridge. At the end of the bridge, a large anthropomorphic rhino towered over a nearby anthropomorphic falcon. "So you're the one causing all the trouble." The feminine falcon said. "Nice to make your acquaintance."