Please see the disclaimer in the Introbuction.
==^== Prologue ==^==
He looked down at his hands, covered in the blood of the man he'd just killed. Looking around the dark alley, he heard the sounds of people shouting, and feet running. His survival instinct taking over, the boy got up and ran in the other direction, leaving the Nietzschean lying in the gutter.
Moving as silently as he could, the boy crept along the shadows. The Nietzschean patrol had found the body, the boy knew they would search until they found him, or a person they thought to be him. On Earth, nobody killed a Nietzschean and expected to live. The punishment was a public execution of the killer and his immediate family, husband, wife, and children. The Dragans liked to make a point.
Continuing to move through the shadows, the boy had to hide several times to avoid the patrols. Moving like a shadow himself, he finally made his way to a safe house, if there truly was such a thing any more.
The safe house was an old burned-out, bombed, half-destroyed building with a reinforced basement. He'd once heard the basement called a 'fall-out shelter,' whatever that was, but this was his destination. Entering the building, he passed several hidden checkpoints without a second thought, he knew them and they knew him. He came to the stairway leading to the basement, it was as usual, pitch-black.
Opening the stairway door and going down the black path, he was aware of the hidden cameras and auto-guns tracking his movement. Finally reaching the bottom, he approached another door, this one reinforced with a rare alloy. The alloy was so strong that a gauss gun couldn't blast through it. The door opened at his approach, the doorman on the other side kept a gun pointed at him as he entered.
"You're late," a voice said to his left, the Leader didn't seem upset, but looks can be deceiving.
"Yeah, I know," the boy said as he nervously rubbed the back of his neck. "I ran into a Nietzschean and had to deal with him."
"Yes, I know, the scouts are reporting increased Dragan patrols all over the city, you really shock them up good, Banshee," the Leader praised.
None of the group went by their real name, in fact the only names they knew were the folkloric monikers given them when they joined.
"Thank you, Sir. I got the information you wanted; I was on my way back when a drunk Nietzschean stopped me. I defended myself with those new techniques you developed, and then I finished him off with my stiletto." Banshee said as he turned the data chip over to the nearest technician.
"Good, very good, it's nice to see the new techniques are paying off. Now, if an agent can kill an uber every time they may begin to fear us as they should." Leader said with a smile.
After the cheering subsided, he went on.
"Now Banshee, I have a final mission for you, if you accept it that is. I say final because if you take it you'll have to leave Earth, forever. However, there is an upside, you will become a living legend among humans. Before you decide, sleep on it and tell me in the morning, but wash the blood from your hands first." Leader said as he dismissed Banshee to the sleeping quarters.
==^==
As he lay in his bed, blood washed from his hands, questions filling his mind, Banshee considered the mission.
"Become a legend and have to leave Earth forever, stay and be just an agent the rest of my life. The choice seems clear, I think."
After several hours of mental debates, he finally fell asleep, knowing what he'd tell the Leader in the morning.
==^==
In the morning, Banshee returned to the main room for breakfast, having slept in the adjoining quarters.
"Well, have you decided?" Leader asked as Banshee joined him at a table for breakfast, cup of coffee in hand.
"Yeah, I have, I'll do it. But I want to be off planet before the ubers start looking for me." Banshee said as he absently stirred his coffee.
"Good," Leader said as he clapped him on the shoulder, "I'll explain the mission. We've been hired by a salvage ship to steal several crates of Dragan missiles; we're to deliver the crates to a pre-arranged landing bay. Now, here is where you come in, we need you to infiltrate the Dragan supply depot and steal the crates. On your way out blow the reactor, the hitch is that your image will be picked up by their security system, that's why you have to leave Earth. Once they have your image, they won't stop looking until they find you, dead or alive. Once you blow the reactor and deliver the crates, get on that ship, it's your ticket off world. Another agent will meet you outside the depot and take you to the pad. Now that you've been briefed, go get your data port checked. I know it was only installed a few weeks ago, but you'll need it to complete your mission. Have the doctors check on your tattoo, I don't want anyone but us to see it, now get to the doctor."
Grinning, Banshee got up from the table and headed for the infirmary.
==^==
"Well, aside from a little tenderness around the port, the implant looks fine. The swelling will go down in a week, now let me see you arm." The doctor ordered as he ran a scanner over Banshee's arm. "Hmmm, yes, only the ying-yang is visible to the naked eye. However, under a special combination of infrared and ultraviolet the wraith is clearly visible. You've checked out fine, considering your, unique immune system. Report to acquisitions for your gear."
With that the doctor released Banshee to gather his gear.
==^==
Entering acquisitions, Banshee went over to the first tech he saw.
"Excuse me, but I need to get some gear."
Turning to face him, the man checked his flexi.
"Name and mission type?" He said.
"Banshee, infiltration and demolitions."
"Ah yes, here you are, one standard blaster, one color shift infiltration suit, and one encrypted bracer." The man handed Banshee the articles as he named them. "There you go, good luck on your mission."
"Thanks." Banshee said as he left with his gear, he returned to the room he'd spent the night in to change.
==^==
Having changed into the infiltration suit, he made his way through the basement that housed the headquarters for the Order of the White Shadows. The Order is a powerful and far reaching resistance movement with chapters around the world. They have the best human doctors, scientists, and the newest and best technology available.
Banshee was one of a hundred field agents located in and around Boston.
He left the basement and stealthily made his way to the Dragan depot, dressed in the color shift suit, he blended with the buildings and the shadows.
Moving against the concrete buildings, Banshee arrived at the depot 20 minutes later. It was mid-afternoon, this excursion was mainly a recon run, scouting out the Dragan weaknesses. He'd stay hidden until nightfall, then he'd make his move.
==^==
Hours later, when the sun was setting, Banshee had devised a way into the depot. The ubers were so full of themselves that they had allowed a five minute gap between patrols. All he had to do was sneak in, steal the crates and blow the reactor, simple.
Simple plans tend to be the ones that always have trouble. Getting past the patrols was simple, wait for the gap and then run, scale the wall, hide in the shadows, next part of plan. Luckily for Banshee, that part of the plan went exactly as planned.
Hidden in the shadows as he was, he had time to visually scout the complex. It was a standard supply depot, one garrison of troops, offices, warehouses, torture facilities, the usual. It was towards the warehouses that he now moved.
There were a total of 15 warehouses, all powered by the underground reactor, as were all the other buildings. Banshee knew exactly which one he was headed for, number 13.
Warehouse 13 was nestled at the back of the compound, making it easy for Banshee to stay hidden. Approaching the doors, he say that they used old and out dated security locks, easily pick able for a 'master criminal' like Banshee. He called himself a criminal because that's how the Dragans had the order portrayed by the few remaining news agencies.
Having easily picked the lock, he entered the darkened warehouse. Looking at his bracer, he followed the map to the crates, 100 Surface-To-Air Missiles ripe for the plucking.
He had the missiles, now all he had to do was get them to the landing port and blow the reactor.
Moving to a computer, he accessed the Dragan security grid. If he wasn't going to be able to ever return to Dragan controlled Earth, then he'd make sure there was a very good reason to avoid the Dragans. Accessing the core through the security grid, he implanted a devastating virus he'd created into the main reactor control. When the virus activated it'd blow the core and their entire power grid for days. Turning towards a security camera, he waved, making sure they got a good image of him. He'd release that with the virus, no sense getting caught before the reactor blew, once activated the virus was unstoppable.
Having set the cameras to play a looped image from before he entered, he turned towards the crates. Standing in front of them, he activated his comm link.
"Banshee to Wraith, come in," he said to thin air.
"Wraith here, go ahead Banshee," came the reply.
"I'll need transport for 100 SAMs at Depot 28, warehouse 13, delivery to customer 8536A, a Mr. 'Ipsen,' docking bay 36."
"Got it, be there in 2," with that the agent known as Wraith signed off.
Returning to the security console, Banshee set to work looping the compound cameras, allowing Wraith to arrive with the trucks.
The trucks were rigged with noise reducing engines, making it easy to slip by the drugged guards, tranquilizer darts stuck in their necks.
As the convoy of two trucks pulled into the warehouse, Banshee came up to them, closing the doors behind the trucks.
"Nice to see you Sea…Banshee," Wraith said as the other man approached and signaled the way to the SAMs.
"Ten crates, five on each truck, you guys will take different routes to the rendezvous point, understood?" Banshee asked as the 2 men with Wraith nodded.
"So, how long do we have?" Wraith asked as he helped Banshee load the crates.
"About 5 minutes till the patrols get suspicious, we have to be gone before then."
"I've heard that we'll never see you again, that you have to leave Earth. Is that true?"
Banshee took a minute before answering, making sure the last crates were on the trucks.
"Yeah, it is," he said with a sigh. The two other with Wraith got in their truck and drove out of the warehouse without another word.
"Before we leave I'm gonna activate a virus in their systems that'll blow the reactor, so get the truck ready to go, I'll be riding with you," he said as he moved to the computer console.
"Banshee, I…" he began.
"Wraith don't, you knew this day would come when we joined. We'd either die for the cause or be banished for it. I'm lucky to be banished, who knows what's waiting for me out there. I may meet the girl of my dreams," he said with a derisive laugh, he'd never been popular with the women. Banshee sighed as he considered one day finding a girl to settle down with, a dream he had few hopes of fulfilling.
"She's out there, I know it, and you'll meet her some day. Come on, we need to go now." Wraith said as Banshee activated a countdown.
"We've got 2 minutes to get out of here before the reactor blows," Banshee said as he and Wraith got in the truck.
"No problem, we'll be gone before they know what's happened."
With that Wraith started the truck and drove out of the warehouse, taking a different route than the other truck.
==
"I'll never know how you managed to blind their sensors, but I'm glad you did. We almost didn't make it out of there, those Dragans would have found us if their scanners were working," Wraith said under his breath.
They were currently hiding in the forest, the truck carefully screened. Banshee and Wraith were hardly breathing as a Dragan Patrol marched past, on their way to warehouse 13. There was no way they'd be able to explain the truck to the Dragans so they hid it and themselves in the brush off the side of the road. Fortunately for them, the patrol was more interested in the warehouse in front of them, then the forest surrounding it.
After what seemed an eternity, Wraith released the breath he'd been holding, he turned his head to say something to Banshee, but stopped when he held up his hand.
"4 … 3 … 2 … 1 … BOOM!" He whispered as the virus activated and caused the reactor to overload.
The explosion was spectacular, too bad they didn't stay around to see it. as soon as the reactor blew Banshee and Wraith were in the truck driving as fast as they could away from the Depot.
The only way to describe the ensuing events would be to call it complete and utter chaos. The Dragans were running around, trying to put out the fires, desperate to restore any power that they could. As it stood, the compound was defenseless and the Dragans were basically sitting ducks, not to mention that most, if not all of the buildings were destroyed in the explosion.
Fortunately, everyone was too busy to notice a lone truck driving away from the compound, headed in the direction of the Spaceport.
==
Arriving at the Spaceport five minutes later, they met the other truck and waited to make the delivery, they didn't have to wait long. A few minutes later, an old freighter in need of repair landed at docking bay 36, exactly at the scheduled time.
Banshee waited for the 'Customer' to exit before leaving the shadows. When he saw the man walking down the gangplank, he moved towards him to finalize the transaction.
"Excuse me, but are you Mr. Ipsen?"
"Who want's to know?" The man asked, folding his arms over his chest. Banshee could tell the man was trying to decide if he could take him, judging by his small size, the man decided he could and relaxed, a little.
"Just a messenger, I have a message from your friend Sam, he says that he's ready to be picked up."
"Is that so? How much did Sam pay you to tell me that?"
"100 Thrones, in two pouches of ten."
"I see, he paid you well," Ipsen said.
"Yes he did, he mentioned one condition to his travel," Banshee told him.
"And that would be?"
"That I go with you, I'm no longer welcomed here and need to get off world. So, would you like to pick Sam up?" Banshee asked.
"Yes, I would, even with his condition. So, where is Sam?" Ipsen asked, looking around the deserted port.
"Right here," Banshee said as he gave a piercing whistle. Lights came on directly behind him in the shadows and two trucks pulled towards the freighter.
"You get Sam loaded then find me on the ship, we'll leave when you do," Ipsen said before turning and walking away.
==
Three minutes later, all the SAMs were loaded in the freighter's cargo hold, returning to Wraith, Banshee made his goodbye.
"Well Wraith, I'll see you in the Space Lanes, someday," Banshee said as he hugged the other man.
"Yeah, I'll see you," Wraith replied without conviction as he returned the hug.
Pulling apart, the two men took a step away from each other, Banshee then turned and went up the gangplank into the freighter.
"See you Cousin," Wraith said as the gangplank retracted into the ship
As the ship lifted off, Wraith just watched it leave with his best friend on it, never to see him again. After the ship had left the atmosphere, Wraith got back into his truck and returned to the Order's headquarters for the mission debriefing.
==^==
Aboard the freighter, Banshee made his way to the cockpit, there he met a beautiful Redhead, Ipsen standing behind her.
Clearing his throat to get their attention, he stepped forward to introduce himself.
"My name is Seamus Harper, I'm an engineer."
"Bobby Jensen, and this is Rebecca Valentine," Ipsen replied.
"Owner and Captain of the Eureka Maru, welcome aboard Seamus," she said with a small grin.
"I'd appreciate it you could call me Harper, no one's called me Seamus since my parents died."
"Ok, Harper it is, so you say you're an engineer. Get to work on the engines, they've been acting sluggishly and I may need them at full capacity," Beka told him.
"You got it boss," Harper replied.
"Oh, and Harper, we'll drop you off at the next Drift out of Dragan space," she called over her shoulder.
"K, thanks," he said as he got to work on the engines.
== End Prologue ==
To Be Continued in Chapter 1...