Chapter 1: Black Ops

Planet Sepheril, Aeegan System, Outer Colonies

Zion City

"Today, Sepharil will have voice! Today, Sepharil shall throw off the weight of oppression! Today, we will be free!"

The growing crowd around Minister Jorgen's podium began to cheer. The Minister's stirring words, and striking charisma was gathering followers by the thousands.

"They never make it a challenge…"

Maya Wellings propped her TL-7 rifle on a crate, and zeroed in her sights. After checking her equipment, she took out a radio.

"Longbow is ready."

A series of acknowledgements from other team members came in as well.

"Eye in the sky is ready."

"Eagle's Nest is ready."

"Snoop and Scoot is ready."

"Control is ready. SILENCER is go."

Maya checked her rifle to see if it was loaded, and waited for the perfect moment…

The man she was aiming at was Minister Gabriel Jorgen. He was a famous religious figure on several Outer Colony worlds, and has garnered quite a lot of power for himself. It was no secret that Jorgen was viciously anti-UNSC, and it was suspected that several very large and very damaging terrorist attacks were made in his name. Unfortunately, there was no evidence linking Jorgen to any of these attacks, so he continued utilizing the UNSC's right of freedom of speech, hopping from planet to planet and "spreading the word." Obviously, the UNSC was not very happy with letting a man like Jorgen waltzing around the Outer Colonies drumming up support for his cause, so they called upon their trump card.

The ONI Black Ops division, aka, the Shadow Squad.

Officially, the Black Ops division of ONI was formed as a "counter-terrorist and counter-insurgency task force", but their activities went far deeper than that. It was the sort of unit the UNSC would use to do some very dirty work, without getting any grime on its hands. They ran the whole gamut of things, ranging from intrusion, reconnaissance, espionage, and assassination. The only difference was, if a Black Ops member was ever killed or captured and identified, the UNSC would deny any knowledge of them. Basically, if you were caught, you never existed.

Often a great motivator to get the job done.

Maya sighed. Another routine assassination. Ho-hum. As with all Black Ops operations, it was imperative that the UNSC not be implicated or associated with any of its actions if they were made public.

That was why Maya was wearing civilian clothes and a civilian weapon to hide the fact that this was a military op. Her clothes were matched to the usual atire of the natives of Seraphil, and her weapon, the TL-7, was a rifle known to be used by a hard-line and extremist organization that often jockeyed with Jorgen for recruitment rights. It also happened that this organization was both anti-religious AND anti-UNSC as well.

What a mess the UNSC is in.

Maya centered her sights over Jorgen's head. She compensated for distance and windspeed, and kept her crosshairs on him. She resisted the urge to pull the trigger. She was on strict orders to fire only during a specific moment in his speech.

"For too long, the UNSC has put us under its heel! Now it is time to fight back! For the power of God is with us all!"

"Can we just shoot him already? This crackpot is starting to get on my nerves."

"Five bucks she gets him on the first shot."

"You're on."

Maya frowned at her squadmates' seemingly immature behavior. They never had to do any of the actual shooting.

Then, Jorgen brought his hands up, and raised his head in silent prayer, as if asking God for deliverance. He was going to get it alright, since in several seconds, Jorgen would have the chance to ask God personally for it.

"This is Control. Longbow, you are clear to fire."

Without hesitation, without doubt, without remorse, and without any consideration to the target whatsoever, Maya pulled the trigger of her TL-7 and fired.