My mission to deal with the crime syndicate was, well, interesting.

Probably because I wasn't expecting to have help doing so.

I'd already informed the various colonies of what I was doing, as well as why. I made the claim that my'people' didn't really like what this syndicate was doing, and the probable fates of the children had I not intervened were very personal issues for me. They seemed understanding, but asked that I try to keep my actions discreet.

Of course, when things really kicked off, well, surprising doesn't even begin to describe what happened.

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It wasn't hard for me to get a good view of the syndicate's station. According to the data I'd discovered, the station was known as Shackleton, while the syndicate was code named Blind Eye, supposedly because many people turned a blind eye to their operations. Considering how big the list of crimes attributed to them was, as well as the fact that only a dozen of their number had been arrested, it was a good name. Rough estimates suggested that they only had a thousand or so actual members, and that they went to great lengths to hide who these members were. Even the estimates admitted they could be wildly off, since they'd been reduced to guess work. These people were good at covering their tracks.

The note I'd recovered from the caravan also had some more details on it that made my job easier: once the caravan arrived at the station, it was supposed to change some of its cargo, then head to a nearby dome. This way, they could justify it as moving supplies to the dome. Occasionally, people traveled in the caravans to reach the domes, so if the kids were found, they had an excuse.

Unfortunately for them, that excuse did not work on me.

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Now, most people would probably want to go into the dome guns blazing and utterly dismantle the operations of Blind Eye. Most people aren't me: I had no idea who was in there, and for all that I knew, there could be innocent workers in there who would make excellent hostages. So, time for stealth.

It wasn't hard to make a spy plane that could study the dome with impunity: x-rays scanners, radar and sonar deflecting hull, thermal shielding and visual camouflage were all I needed to turn a tac-jet into a spy plane. Pretty soon, said plane was skimming over the dome with impunity, while also deploying fly sized drones to scan the inside of the dome.

The results validated my early thoughts: there were roughly 200 armed personnel inside the dome, as well as 100 unarmed staff. Unfortunately, some places were too well secured for me to get access to, but among the things I did find were assembly lines for weapons, armor and vehicles, as well as an RD facility. Clearly, these guys had their bases covered.

That included their security: they had plenty of automated turrets, checkpoints and shaped charges in their base, alongside tons of drones. While I easily subverted these defenses, the fact they existed indicated these criminals were well prepared for a fight. Plenty of armories and munitions depots were scattered around the base, and these things weren't hackable: they didn't have any access ports for me to hack into. Oh well.

While the armories may not have been hackable, the perimeter sensors were, so I wasted no time in setting them to always broadcast the 'all clear' signal. While this was going on, an army of CNDR drones amassed outside the base. Best to remain anonymous for the moment, and since CNDR drones were among the most common robots already on the planet, they were perfect for this mission. The sun was starting to set, and since a day assault would be really obvious due to the fact that canceling out the sensors didn't include disabling the Mark-One Eyeball, it would be best if I attacked at nig-why is there a dropship landing near my robots?

Heedless of the army of warbots (which were, admittedly, stealthed), the ship deposited four people before taking off: two men and two women. One carried a sniper rifle, another an LMG, a third an assault rifle, while the fourth had a shotgun. All four weapons had areas with red highlights on them. I thought they looked familiar, but no bells were ringing on that subject. Still, might as well tune into their communications.

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'Gamma one, reporting in' went the man with the LMG

'Gamma two, reporting in' replied the man with the sniper rifle.

'Gamma three, reporting in' announced the woman with the shotgun.

'Gamma four, reporting in' finished the woman with the rifle.

"Alright team," began gamma one, "We've got a job to do: infiltrate the base, incapacitate all Blind Eye personnel, collect the research, then get out." Huh, so there was apparently some important research going on in the base. "Any questions?"

"Yes," responded Gamma Four, "do we have any additional intel on the enemy?"

"Not much, other than that this dome is one of their major operating facilities. Take it down, and we cripple Blind Eye."

"Good to know. I have one more question."

"Go ahead."

"Do we know how the newest arrival on Chiron will act? I mean, his forces were spotted moving here."

"No intel there, but if his forces show up, try to avoid conflict with the. Best we don't antagonize the new guy."

"Understood. How long until mission is a go?"

"Ten minutes." That was when nightfall would commence. "Good luck."

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Sure enough, ten minutes later, the team mobilized, as did my CNDRs. My bots quickly reached the front gates, while the unknown force proceeded to circle around and infiltrate the dome from the side.

As cool as going in guns blazing would be, this mission required stealth, so all of the weapons the CNDRs were carrying were silenced and non-lethal: taking down these guys alive would not only make me appear more heroic, but also provide the colonies with people to interrogate, which would do more long term damage to the syndicate. However, despite what Metal Gear and movies will tell you, non-lethal weapons take time to take effect: even with careful modification, it took a while to clear out the ground level of the dome. Apparently, the unknown guys I was working with shared this mindset, going out of their way to spare their foes, though they weren't above knocking out Blind Eyes with the butts of their guns.

Once the first level was cleared, the descent began. My CNDRs advanced through carefully, avoiding unnecessary fights while quietly taking down any enemy personnel that they encountered. I was silently thankful that I enjoyed playing stealth games, because my patience with those games meant that I could wait for my foes to come in close enough to take them out silently. As for my allies, they were just as cautious and quickly cleared out the opposition. When they started hacking into the base, I decided not to try and slip a worm into their systems: they'd given me the benefit of the doubt, so I would offer it to them.

Eventually, we reached the lowest level of the facility. From there, we parted: the CNDRs were headed for the arms facilities, while the gammas headed toward RD. A spy bot followed them, its fly-sized body imperceptible to all without special sensors or really good eyesight. All personnel encountered were incapacitated non-lethally, leaving the total kill count at zero. Kill-bots my forces may be, but quite take downs are oh-so-satisfying.

Once all the personnel managing them were down, I shut down the production facilities, but left them standing: they were, after all, evidence, and I needed all the evidence I could get here. You see, this dome was apparently designed for preservation of Old earth culture, so if it was destroyed outright, people would assume I wrecked a relic of our homeworld. If I left the dome intact with evidence that it wasn't being used for benign purposes, well, that made me look more heroic.

With the production line offline, I turned my attention to the RD lab: Team Gamma, as they were apparently called, was busy hacking into the research logs. Nothing too big, mostly stuff on the native wildlife, but apparently, there was also research into the human genome here. Apparently, they were studying a unique mutation that had been present on Earth, but had increased on Chiron. In fact, Team Gamma was looking over a research log about it right now.

"While the mutation was fairly common on Earth, its providence has increased on Chiron. We can only speculate on why, but right now, the few test subjects we have are only providing inconclusive results. If we wish to understand this phenomenon, we will need a large population of subjects to examine and experiment on."

"So, do we have what we need, boss?" asked Gamma Two.

"Not quite, we still have one more thing we need to find," replied Gamma One. "Search the room, see if there are any hidden doors."

Sure enough, there was a hidden door behind a set of file cabinets. It was fingerprint locked, but that didn't help when the gatecrashers had several unconscious scientists with them who more than likely had access to the room. The door opened a couple of seconds later, and a quick hack ensured it would stay open. The team advanced through, with a few CNDRs following them shortly after. No way that I was gonna miss out on this.

The passage behind the door wound deeper into the earth than the rest of the facility, probably because whatever was at the end had best be kept out of prying eyes. I wondered what it was: space zombies? Super Soldiers New Combat droids?

What we found was none of the above. When the passage ended in another door, the team opened it, revealing people.

Lots of people. I wasn't exactly sure, but it looked like a hundred were stored here. All of them were hooked up to strange machines, which resembled life support systems. Those machines also resembled operating tables, making me rather uncomfortable just looking at them. Apparently, Team Gamma shared my sentiments.

"Holy hell, this is...Ugh, I don't know what to say, sir. How could they do this?" asked Gamma Three.

"I don't know, but they did. Four, get command on the horn, tell them we found our what we were looking for."

"Alright. Remember, we only got one dropship in range, so its gonna take time to get them all to safety."

Not if I could help it.

"Perhaps I could assist?"

To my surprise, only Gamma Three fired at me. Her shotgun had a surprisingly long effective range, as the shots only barely missed my CNDR. I immediately had drop its weapons and raise its arms, as hopefully, that would mollify Team Gamma.

Also, the gun apparently fired lasers. Somehow, this felt important, but I still wasn't getting it.

"I am not your enemy."

Gamma Three held up the CNDR for one moment, then lowered her gun.

"You're Commander Flame, aren't you?" she questioned.

"Correct. I was investigating this base because someone trespassed on my territory on this planet. Evidence from their vehicle indicates this was their destination. Additionally, I discovered that he was carrying several illicit items aboard his vehicle, as well as several children. I assumed they were to be pressed into illegal employment, but...well, it appears I was wrong. As for helping you, I could supply additional transports and provide medical assistance for all of the people in this facility."

"...Give me one reason to trust," was her response.

"...I can't."

"...Sir?"

"...Three, stand down. Unnecessary violence isn't his MO. He's tried to avoid conflict with everyone, even the natives. Besides, we could use the help."

"...Fine. Command needs to hear this, though."

"Already on it."

While Gamma One got to work talking to his command, I located the nearest computer terminal and had my CNDR start hacking. Once it was in, I began skimming through the files on hand, until I found one labeled test subjects. Opening it revealed a list of people who were now in this facility: apparently, they'd been screened for whatever mutation that these guys were looking for, then kidnapped. They'd been careful about it, though: most of the kidnapping had been done in the aftermath of disasters, where the death toll could be fudged without anyone noticing. Additionally, some of the people kidnapped didn't have this mutation (which they called 'the gift'), but has started asking too many questions, so they needed to be dealt with. These people were to be 'disposed of' at a later date.

Okay, this was disgusting.

Shortly after this, Gamma One finished his conversation with his superiors and said that they'd given me the greenlight to act. I told him that he would not regret this, then got to work getting transports above the base to evacuate everyone. We were in luck: there were elevators that could be used to transport the test subjects to the surface. Apparently, their use was monitored, but I did have one excuse: they needed to use the lifts to change out the vital fluid containers, as well as remove disposed subjects (this facility had none, but apparently, there were others out there, and quite a few subjects had expired at those. That these people treated other humans as disposable was...disgusting). A simple message informing the rest of the bases that several of the subjects had expired would give me enough time to get everyone out (they always moved the bodies off site for disposal).

As soon as the lifts were active, my CNDRs and Team Gamma got to work moving the subjects. As they could be safely removed from their machines, we had to move the life support devices themselves onto the lifts, which could still hold quite a few people on them. Once the lifts were full, they went up, the subjects were moved to the transports, full transports headed for my base, while new ones took their place. All in all, it took about two hours to get everyone out. Two very boring hours, because I soon found out that this base had relatively little information for me to examine. Apparently, they'd stored most of the data on their research off site. Figures.

Once the last transport left, Team Gamma decided it was time to evacuate the field. With nothing to loot from inside the base, I had to agree with them.

As they prepared to signal their dropship, Gamma Four walked up to one of my CNDRs.

"Thanks for the help."

"You are welcome."

Warning: Unidentified Aircraft detected.

What?

Turning toward the alert, I found that there was indeed an aerial vehicle headed my way. It looked like a gunship of some sort, but had no visible weapons. Also, it did not look like Team Gamma's dropship.

"What's up?" asked Gamma Four.

"There is an unidentified aircraft headed our way. I suggest you take cover."

Four's eyes went wide, before she told her squad to split. Just in time, too: the minute the aircraft arrived, it rotated 90 degrees and opened up its sides, revealing a group of armed soldiers inside. Several opened fire while the rest began roping down. Team Gamma quickly hid themselves behind a nearby set of buildings (apparently, this area was registered as a manufactory, and the lift was used to move products underground for safe keeping), as did my CNDRs. Once they were on the ground, the Blind Eye troops began to open fire.

So much for pacifism.

My CNDRs and Team Gamma returned firing, killing three soldiers, while I began moving doxes to assist my troops. As soon as I had some doxes in range, they opened fire, rapidly killing off the opposition.

Warning: Additional Aircraft detected. Unknown armor approaching.

OH COME ON!

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AN: Was going to post this and the ensuing battle as one chapter, but the flow didn't feel right. Oh well.

Read and Review! This is Flameal15k, signing off!