Kill Pirates, Not Time!
01 Dec 2021Lily Flemmon
This morning I woke up in a bed that was unfamiliar for a solid 15 seconds. It's tough to remember where you are when you're barely conscious, heh. But then I realized I was in one of several seldom used guest rooms at Bresa Modifications, probably rooms that Eleanor had gotten installed, anticipating more high-profile clients down the line. Here I knew I was safe, but it even felt like... home? It's clearly not Chilton, but I felt warm and safe almost as if it were. My back felt really great after sleeping on that mattress, and when I looked at it more closely, I noticed some similar integrated sensor technology as I saw in Domino's Not-Medkit. I, being curious as usual, lifted up the sheet a ways and noticed the words "Mama Bresa Mattress (galactic pat. pending)" and realized this mattress was a sort of robotic chiropractor-mattress hybrid?And the shower was really nice too, in an interesting way- it was one of those super creepy robotic assisted showers with a gimballed showerhead and visual (hence creepy) sensors, except the sensors were removed entirely and replaced with a small directional antenna array. And there was a little transponder ring that I put on my dominant hand and the shower head just followed that. This place really is great.
Finished my morning and got ready for a day of... well, I didn't really know. But today, unlike the last few days, I really didn't feel like killing time. I was feeling too confident in myself to just lounge all day. Then I realized that out here in Colonia, people can actually make their name known rather than forgotten among the massive society of the core systems. And while I had already tried looking for surface conflict zones through Frontline that would be worth my time (no luck), I realized that the work I could do out here, and do well, was assassination.
Now, I'm no mindless killer. I'm arguably too mindful of a killer. I don't just look at bounties, I look at what the bounties are for. But one mission I found was a perfect way for me to start: A man was caught doing human trafficking, specifically targeting women and children. His conviction was not public knowledge, and he had stopped his criminal activities and erased all public evidence, and he faced no justice. He was head of a settlement, and sure, he blended in great, just like every other horrible person does.
But now he's dead, because I shot him. And nobody knew it was me except the authorities that gave me the contract. See, stealth in a hardsuit isn't about avoiding detection, it's about always being seen as either "not a problem" or "someone else's problem." Guard saw me cutting into an access panel on a ground turret? I was a maintenance contractor, and I was doing some updates on all the turrets. And when I overloaded the power port, I told them the power couplings were faulty and had to be destroyed to be removed. Kinda like a jammed shell in a kinetic weapon, really. The target was in the power center? Well, I asked to borrow an access profile from the head of security, explaining I had to recalibrate the regulator for the new load and any other fluctuations, and that I'd drop off a fresh regulator for the trouble. He said he can just go with me to keep things in the books? Sure thing. I showed him the contract I was given and the convictions on my target, and apologized for the deception. He understood, saying “your target’s deception was a lot worse.” Once we entered the corridor leading to the reactor room, he finally realized that I'm equipped with an engineered Tormentor pistol. The security chief walks into the power room with his warrant scanner in hand, and the target reaches for his gun, and not long after he turned off his safety and before he turned on his shields, he was dead with my plasma round to his face.
The security officer was pretty shaken, because had I not been there, the same would have happened to him, with his shields off and his scanner in hand.
"You must be a seasoned assassin," he said, after a shocked pause.
"Nah, this was actually my first time. But hey, are you okay?"
"Thanks to you, I'm completely intact."
"No, I meant, like, mentally. Emotionally."
And he almost started crying.
"Hey, I wouldn't have been able to live with myself if I had done this the way most contractors do, or if he had just been a regular criminal trying to feed his family or whatever."
"Who are you, exactly? like, actually?"
"The name's Lily Flemmon. I'm actually from an agricultural cooperative back in the Bubble, visiting here for diplomatic reasons. But while I'm in this room..." I pulled out a shiny new power regulator and handed it to him.
He let out a sort of chuckle-snort. "Well I'll be damned... You actually didn’t lie about the regulator."
So yeah, that's how today went. A wild ride for everyone involved, that's for sure, but my first takedown contract couldn't possibly have gone cleaner.
Shooting a man point-blank in the face though… Even knowing who he was and that he definitely deserved it by all measures legal and extralegal, it’s still a bit burned into my head.