Planet Tenhunny. Class Two New World.
Near nighfall. Eve zoomed the hover bike through the city. Full throttle. Zigzagging fast. Heavy air traffic.
Yes, this planet has a government and law. But this is space commander Eve with a license to kill. Forget the Intergalactic Committee. When she's wild and locked on, law can't stop her from accomplishing her mission.
After a minute into the police chase, the head police officer received instructions from officials... to assist and facilitate the woman with builsh white hair wearing a leather mini-jacket and crop top.
Pursuit becomes protocol. But she's way past them.
"How are we supposed to catch up to her, she's way too fast?"
"She's Eve fuckin' Andromeda… she's supposed to be fast. If you can't keep up, make sure police doesn't get in her way."
"Roger that! Alright. You heard the operator. Set up a fifteen mile radius perimeter around her. Don't interfere with whatever she does."
Eve's not wearing her exosuit. This mission was supposed to be easy, except for changes the Nomad team didn't account for.
Her comm buzzed, "Authorities have been informed," Mira comms Eve.
"Good, tell them… not to bother me if that wanna help."
"What about the squad?"
"I am going for the governor. Split the team, send them to other targets on the hitlist." A passenger bus. She twists the bike's handle, plasma jet engines roar, she twists in the mid air upside down, spiraling to avoid collision. "Until the clients are safe, we can't rely on the local government."
"Where do we put 'em?" Mira asks.
"The IC embassy."
"Roger that."
Eve finally arrived at the ocean line where Tenhunny's governor had been sent to conduct a meeting with delegations from neighboring planets. The sea shore was lined by countless hotels. Her destination was the tallest building.
Someone was trying to sabotage peace accords.
It could be a bomb. A merc. Or a rabid alien animal secretly hidden to carry out the job. So called swarm incident to mask an attack as an accident. Nothing was clear until she reached there.
"Time?" Eve comm-ed.
"Meeting's in the central hall. Fifteen minutes. The governor must be in his suite."
She was some 300 meters out. Clicks her earpiece, it transforms into a visor. Details line up. 3D holographic map of the hotel. Distance to the window. Trajectory.
30 meters out, Eve stands on the bike, and hits the air-brake button with her boots. Reverse thrusters eject massive plasma through the exhaust pipes, freezing the bike in place almost instantly. Eve is catapulted forward.
Smashing through the window lands on the luxury suite's floor. Multiple men inside the room. Her HUD instantly tags the governor. Nearby guards pull out their guns. Dozens waiting outside.
She calmly gets up and walks towards the governor.
"Stay where you are! Not one more step!"
Her visor cascades info. Chief Security Officer. Dave. 6'3". Ex-millitary. Expert skills in close combat. Sharp shooter.
She takes out her Nomad badge from her mini-jacket and swaying those hypnotic hips walks up to the governor.
"Relax Dave, this is IC operation. I am space commander..."
"I said you didn't raise your hand," Dave points gun in her face.
"I said you didn't let me finish," Eve curves eyes at him.
"Let her speak," the governor finally speaks up.
"I am space commander… Eve Andromeda."
Silent fell for a moment. Dave holsters his gun. Rest follow. Then he salutes her, "Sorry commander, we were not informed."
"At ease, soldier," she tells him and then approaches the governor, "Sir, we have Intel your life's in danger. I need to take you in now."
Dave looks at the governor, he nods. Then he looks at Eve, "but I have an important meeting with the…"
Eve wanders off to the window, "you are coming with me sir, pick up your stuff, documents… anything necessary you might wanna keep in your pockets, " she says scanning the perimeter," you have two minutes to pack up." Hundreds of police guards surrounded the tower. Dave just watched them and instantly understood the gravity of the situation.
The governor cues his assistant, who hands him a small briefcase.
"Alright, I'm ready."
She turns around, "let's go. We are taking the stairs."
Moments later they hasten out. Eve marches in the corridor wielding her dual plasma pistols. The governor, chief security officer and other bodyguards follow.
A room attending carrying wine clung to the sidewall, watching a lethal belly button, black belt over tactical jeans. And the open patch of sweaty skin that led from there to the sporty crop top. Eve blinked at him as she passed. He continued to watch her as the mini-jacket bared most of her glistening back, hips praying to bulge out from the fitting.
The stairs. Half way down, they could hear the screams from the surrounding halls. Panic. People. Chaos. And venomous screams of an alien creatures.
"What the hell was that?" Dave asks her as they keep moving downwards. l
"It's a Rugnok. Things you shoot at sight, you miss, you get torn down to pieces in seconds."
They reached eighteenth floor when a dog like creature with skin that had pores and leaked plasma acid from it, broke through the emergency exit door. Blocking the stairway. They paused. It growled maliciously through it's teeth. Saliva from its mouth dropping on floor burnt the concrete with hissing noises.
Eve aims her gun, "steady. Nobody move. They engage moving targets first." They froze holding their guns. Some had never seen such vicious creatures, they were completely dominated by fear.
It jumped at them, Eve shot. It's face and neck splattered in the mid air. Glowing plasmatic acid leaking from its veins melted holes through and decayed everything it splattered upon. The walls. The railing. The stairs.
"Watch out for the acid. Move!" She cautioned them. They sped.
Suddenly, more doors cracked open. More Rugnoks showed up. The stairwell became impossible to tread.
"Take the first door to the left! Exit now!" She screamed as she ran down shooting the beasts.
The guards escorted the governor to the exit as he held his briefcase to his chest.
Eve jumped from wall to wall as she fired. Acids filled the stairs. Fumes lifted where it hissed on the surfaces.
She hurried to the corridor. Guards were shooting a Rugnok running towards them. Blood and bodies of the dead lined up. Screams everywhere.
"Aim between the eyes," she growled as she shot it down.
They scrambled for the main hall. Where police, hotel security and Rugnoks faught each other. Many dead Rugnoks on the floor, but more kept coming from some hidden origin point.
"Take the escalator!" Eve screamed and vaulted in the air, dual guns spilling plasma, each shot, a confirmed kill.
By the time Eve dropped on the floor she had cleared the hall.
Guards escorted the governor to a luxury vehicle.
"Wait! Not this. That vehicle." She pointed to Dave's police car. An armored high-speed cybercar.
"Yes, commander! You heard her!!" he cautioned the guards.
As Dave approached, the driver seat door opened. She held him by the shoulders and slid into the driver's seat. "I'll take it from here. Get back to the hotel. There's must be a hive Rugnoks are coming from. Find it, destroy it."
Before he could respond, she lifted the cybercar into the air and zoomed away.
"Mira!"
"What do you need?"
"You saw the Rugnoks."
"The other targets are high officials and cabinet members of the president. Hannah is rounding them up. Zara and Anya fixed on target three. Vayne and Jax are flying half way around the planet to pick the last asset."
"Alight. Headed to the embassy now. Keep me posted."
"Who do you think are behind these assassinations?" Governed asked Eve from the backseat.
"The opposition party. The rebellion. The Syndicate, Thelarians… who knows." Eve answered as she focused her mind on the airway, thoughts focussed on this whole plot.
"Then why not go to the military?"
"Because opposition and rebels are one thing, but if the Syndicate or Thelarians are behind it, then you have another thing coming."
"What if they are not?"
"Even so, your security can't be guaranteed if this is an internal game. We can't talk to the officials until you are safe."
She circled the cybercar. It landed right on the embassy's rooftop. A huge complex with the logo of Intergalactic Committee's on a cubicle mounted by three huge pillars.Could be seen from miles away.
They got out of the car. Several IC guards escorted them inside the building.
She arrived in the guestroom after consigning the governor to the IC authorities. Nomad had pre-informed them of the situation.
Eve was thinking about the chain of events as she took a shower. A peace delegation from neighbouring planets were due to meet officials here. Nomad was called to make sure the accords are signed between them and delegates are safe. Then an Andromedan agent reports to the Nomad about the assassination list. The IC confirms movements within the internal circle of the government. Elections were near. Soon after the report, the agent is murdered, but he was able to send Nomad the potential list of the targets. Problem was, why would anybody target the locals instead of the delegates if they really wanted peace accords to muck up? It didn't add up.
There's a knock at the door. Eve gets out of the shower and opens the door. A young man carrying a supply box looks at the voluptuous and athletic woman standing naked in front of her, water trickling down her body drips on the floor. She wasn't even wearing a towel.
"That'll be all," she grabs the box and dismisses him. Setting the box on a table she grabs a towel, dries her body, and opens the box. Inside, new clothes just like the one she shed off. Cash chips. Tactical gloves. Perfumes. Plasma pistols and explosives. Gifts from locals…and various complements from the local IC establishment given to the visiting offers. Commanders.
She grabs the outfit. The gloves and ditches the rest.
The embassy's briefing room was hot, intense as the IC officials went head to head with local state agencies. Bureaucrats and intelligence officers trying to best each other. Trying to pin down what was happening and weighing future options. Eve was there with the governor.
"Don't worry, you are safe here. They are not handing you over until the situation has been neutralized."
The governor nodded, "thanks for saving my life."
"That's what we do," Eve smiled.
Then Mira buzzed in. "All clients secured. Vayne and Anya's team faced no resistance. Hannah met and dropped some mercs. Soul Drifter inbound."
"But we still don't know whose collar to grab?"
"We will. By the way, his name was Murphy. The Andromedan agent who was martyred."
"Something is really off about all of this."
"Why target hosts, why not the guests. And… are the guests secure?"
"Exactly. Dots don't match. The visiting delegation is under military protection now. Additional elite guards are also on the way."
"The hive?"
"Governor's guards and police handled it."
Eve informs the governor, "your team took care of the Rugnok hive."
"I completely trust Dave, he's been on our team for three years now."
"Who did he serve before?"
"The president."
"Why did he let him go?"
"He didn't. The president consigned him to me. Because he had to attend the launch of a new orbital station. Air forces took his guard. Dave was spare and…"
"Wait… when you said, he's been on your team for three years you meant…"
"On the cabinet, of course."
"So he's the president's chief security?"
"Yes."
"When is the launch of the orbital station due?"
"It was planned for tomorrow, but given how important it is for the people of Tenhunny and its progress. The president must have rushed his plans."
Eve jumped on her feet, "where's the launch supposed to take place?"
The ocean. Near Raccoon island. The island serves as…"
But Eve didn't let him finish and stormed out of the room, "Motherfucker!!"
Comm was still on, Mira had been listening to all the conversation, "I just confirmed President Chan Lee has arrived on the Raccoon Island," she spoke fast, "the Soul Drifter won't get there in time, what do you want Mark 2 or Mark 3."
"Just need to get there fast, I don't need fire power."
"Roger that Commander, Mark 3 in bound," Mira says nodding to the officer who had been waiting for her cue, "The garden… three minutes."
Eve raced.
"This was well planned, Mira." Eve ran through the walls, leaping through junctions, heading to the rooftop.
"And well timed. There was no way to know the president is the prime target."
"Mira, they had their strategy figured out the second Soul Drifter touched down Tenhunny. They knew our numbers. How we work. They deliberately split us off and sent away my ship so I won't be able to reach Racoon Island in time." Eve stood at the rim of the rooftop, watching a flare… comet-like descending down at incredible speed.
"Well, they didn't take in account Dr. Salam and Anya's new capsule," Mira's voice was both concerned and calm at the same time.
"They are not just going for the president. They are intimidating Nomad." Eve said and jumped off the roof.
Various officers talked to each other on the phone as the alarms went off.
"HQ. This is control tower, detecting an enhanced one on the premises. And an unidentified boogie's been spotted in the orbit. HQ, please advise."
"Control tower, this is HQ. Be advised Phoenix one is on the move. All forces, stand down."
"Roger, that HQ, Beacon five, stand down. This is a false alarm. I repeat, a false alarm. We have a friendly in the house."
Capsule hits the ground. Dust washes off. Eve hits the panel interface. The panel comes off, she takes the exosuit and jets into the sky at hypersonic speeds.
Mark 3 had thicker waist, thighs and calves. It was lightweight and was designed for longer, faster flights at the cost of firepower.
In fifteen minutes, the suit's visor pointed to the launchpad near Raccoon Island where the launching ceremony was about to take place on a floating military airbase.
Data drips on her HUD. She reads and responds, "Airbase 71, this is Phoenix one, approaching the compound, requesting immediate clearance."
"Phoenix one, this is Airbase 71, you are good to go."
Eve flies over the no fly zone to the building where the president was located. Getting closer, her visor HUD zooms into the window. She saw movement. Hits the thrusters.
The neurally linked suit calculates her trajectory and separates off, throwing her straight in the window.
She dives, somersaults, crouches and points her gun at the hooded infiltrator, "Show yourself!"
The mystic figure sat in the president's chair. Eve turns her head to watch a man's body laying on the sofa, lifeless, bleeding through his chest.
"Oh no!" Words came out of Mira's mouth inadvertently as she looked at the live feed of Eve's visor. The entire Nomad command center hall suddenly ceased all activity.
Eve stood up and ran towards the president. Double checked his vitals. President Chan Lee was gone.
She turned around, eyes blazing. The infiltrator took off the hood along with the cape, tossed it on the table and cleaned the murder weapon with it. A dagger. Eve had seen that dagger before.
Eve's eyes widened in disbelief. "Sable! It can't be, I killed you. I killed you and I saw your body decay."
Sable wore a puplish-blue bodysuit baring her thighs, most of her hips and abs, thigh length boots.
"You are going to have to kill a lot of me before you really kill me," Sable said with a hideous laughter.
"How could this be… unless, I killed a clone… but that wasn't a clone." Eve remembered, it was one of the toughest fights.
"Oh, Andromeda, you are so naive. There's so much for you to learn darling. Don't worry. I'll teach you everything in time," Sable said as walked for the window.
"You bitch!" Eve screamed and lunged at her.
In a millisecond, Sable's body electrified, she turned around and kicked Eve right in the abs, sending her crashing to a wall.
Sable jumped out of the window and jumped on a drone waiting for her. Eve's AI-powered Exosuit tried to attack, but Sable sliced it into half with her blade and disappeared in the sky.