Chapter 10

As Montague docked with the orbital tether, the Assassins were making sure their "luggage" was secure and picked up and left, thanking the captain, who smiled and waved them on their way, feeling immensely good about himself.

"Sucker, that ONI guy was right to scold him for picking us up. Well, at least we're here now, so I guess we have that to thank him for." Said Zhang to Hank

"I liked him; he seems like one of the few decent military folk left. Those kind of people are a dying breed, and such a tragedy too." He replied

"Ah, come off it. You're not telling me you're going soft on ONI now are you?"

"But he isn't ONI, just UNSC. He's just following orders, and those orders seem to be the kind taken with a grain of salt. He wasn't particularly fond of that ONI operative either."

"Buddy, enough. We got work to do. Get on the elevator and shut up for the rest of the trip down. Okay?"

Hank laughed, "That's rich, coming from you, Ho."

Zhang scowled

"Don't, don't ever do that again. You know how much I hate that."

"Yes, yes I do."

The Assassins boarded the tether and began their descent down to the surface of Mars. It had been terraformed a long time ago and had lost its meaning of 'the red planet.'

"Hey Jack, did you know that Mars used to be an uninhabitable planet?" asked Jill

"Yep, I hear it used to be just one big red rock with trace amounts of water."

"Did you also know it was named after the ancient Roman god of war?"

"No, I did not know that. Why would you name planets after gods?"

"Maybe because they looked up in the sky and though that was what they were."

"Yeah, I guess that makes sense."

Jill nudged Jack and brought his attention forward; the elevator was nearly at the surface

"We're nearly there. I'll see you later. And don't forget to stay alive so we can keep our date afterwards."

"You got it, I don't die easily." Replied Jack, clenching his fist in confidence

The elevator finished its descent and the Assassins casually departed in small groups in different directions.

About an hour later, an alarm went off inside Misriah armoury; an intruder had been detected in the north quadrant. Guards from all over the compound rushed to apprehend them, only to find out that it was a false alarm. Cautiously, some of the guards fanned out to determine the cause.

On a ridge at the south side, Zhang radioed the other Assassins

"Ok, most of the guards have been diverted. Alpha team, you're clear."

"Roger that. We're going in." replied the dark-skinned woman in charge of Alpha

She gestured to her team, Jill and Hank to follow her. The seven of them snuck around the back of the compound, Jill took out the cameras with her plasma glove's overcharge shot and they got in undetected.

As the guards who were investigating the disturbance at the north side fanned east, Eta and the rest of Gamma team made their way into the west side, narrowly avoiding another guard patrol. They approached the inner fence. A sign hanging off it said "Warning: electric fence. Intruders will be prosecuted."

Jack gave a chuckle and Julia crept forward and activated her plasma blade, cutting through the fence like it was nothing. The other eight members went through the hole, with Jack covering them invisibly.

Alpha team made their way into the facility that housed the vehicle production line. The computer terminal they had to access was on the other side, the facility guarded by two squads of patrolling soldiers. Alpha team split into close and long-range fighters, with the two snipers in Alpha covering both entrances. The other five Assassins went through the facility, moving along with the parts of the vehicles being constructed, the huge plates of metal being pressed into shape easily hiding the group as they stalked through the huge machines. Two Assassins from Alpha, Jill and Hank, headed towards the terminal. Flat against the wall, Jill indicated for Hank to cover her as she initiated the transfer. He did so, heaving the heavily modified turret off his back and into a position that let him cover all angles.

"Things are about to get heavy." He said to Jill

"That's fine, I know you're the man for the kind of job. Just make sure they die before we do and we're fine."

"Good, 'cause I think that one over there saw me."

Sure enough, a guard on the catwalk above them brought up his rifle and took aim. Before he could get a clear shot on either of them, a heavy weight dropped down onto him and a blade pierced his heart. He cried out in shock but was stifled by his own lips jammed together on the floor.

Jill continued with renewed vigour, bypassing all the standard security firewalls and hacking the classified file database.

"Damn it, these guys really wanted to keep this secret. I've never seen this level of encryption on a standard industrial computer."

"Can you crack it?"

"Of course,"

"Then we picked the right girl for the job. Hey, maybe this isn't a usual civilian computer system."

"ONI probably has their name written all over it. But if they really wanted to ensure the safety if their assets, they'd assign an AI."

Cassandra, who'd been silent up until now, commented, "Even if there was, I'm equipped with the latest and greatest in AAI software, and you have the hardware."

"AAI?" asked Hank

"Isn't it obvious?" retorted Jill getting back to work.

"Got it! Ok, planting infospike now."

Jill stabbed the port on the side of the screen and the data began flowing away at a vast rate of gigabytes.

Another guard saw the Assassin dispose of the dead guard and gave a yell. Recognising the danger, instead of engaging, he ran to the security panel to raise the alarm.

The other Assassin dropped behind him and ran to catch him. As he raised his silenced pistol and fired, hitting the back of the guard's knee, the guard had reached the alarm and his fingers brushed the touch pad, sending it into shut down instead of alarm. The guard hit the floor and then tried to climb back up and try again, but his venture was stopped short by a M225 semi-armour piercing round through his head. He slumped to the ground dead.

"Area is secure. Security system offline." Reported the Assassin

"Roger that, that makes my job easier." Replied Hank

"Alright, and we have a go." Said Jill as she pulled the infospike from the terminal with a flourish

"Alright everyone, let's move." Said Alpha team leader over the radio

Alpha team, Jill and Hank slunk back out the door and back through the way they came in.

Jack's team had just made it to the storage facility when things started to go bad. One of the taller Assassins had been spotted and fired at, a bullet wound through his shoulder incapacitated him and guards flooded in and pinned them in place.

"Return fire, frag arrows!" said Julia, the others willingly obliged. Jack pulled his crossbow off his back and looked down the sights, taking one who was next to another and firing. Seven high-speed arrows launched through the air, impaling the ground and people when they landed. Jack's shot hit right between the two guards and detonated, sending shards of metal into their sides and faces. The rest of the guards suffered a similar fate or had large portions of their bodies blown up. The rest who survived were taken out by the Assassins who charged in and took them out personally. Once the area was cleared, they made their way forward, the one who was injured had his shoulder patched up and biofoam applied so he could use his arm again.

"Split up, we'll take the front entrance. Eta, you take the rooftops." ordered Julia

The leader of Eta nodded silently in acknowledgement.

The teams split up accordingly, Eta team climbing the roof to cover the entrance. Jack was ordered to go in first, with Julia behind him and Zhang bringing up the rear.

Jack burst through the door, crossbow up. Two security guards standing next to the lift were caught off guard and brought their weapons up.

"Halt! You are in a restricted area. Put down your weapon or we'll- guh!"
Jack shot the man in the neck, his spine snapped in half by the impact arrow tip. The other fired at Jack, but he went invisible after firing the first shot, making it near-impossible to hit him.

"Code yellow, I repeat, code yellow; sector three, casua-uhn."

Jack had stabbed the man in the heart, silencing his call for help. As he went to the door to motion the others in, he heard the response on the dead guard's radio

"Roger that, we'll send kill teams to assist. Stand by."

Jack's eyes went wide, and he ushered the others inside with haste, explaining the situation.