Erich took a deep breath as he aimed his rail gun revolver towards his hostages, naturally his finger was off the trigger, as he was thoroughly trained in the use of firearms during his tenure in the Germanic Youth Corps, andter during his time at the Naval Academy. Thest thing he needed was to cause a negligent discharge and alert the entire spaceport to his hostage crisis.


    The five customs security officers remained kneeling on the ground with their arms behind their head, as they eyed the security cameras, as if waiting for the star port''s crisis team to respond. When Erich noticed this, he chuckled before informing the five men that their hopes were in vain.


    "I hate to break it to you guys, but reinforcements are not arriving. It was quite easy for me to slice into your securitywork and put those cameras on repeat. As far as anyone knows, you are still investigating my starship."


    Upon hearing this grave news, the hearts of the hostages nearly imploded. When they were tipped off about a potential drug smuggling ring, they did not expect things to end so poorly. They could only sigh andment their lot in life as they waited for their fate to unfold.


    Shortly thereafter Erich could hear the elevator functioning, and though the Vaxkorvians appeared hopeful that their saviors had arrived, the moment the doors open they were filled with even further despair, as a group of fellow Vaxkorvians appeared on the scene. However, they were not dressed in security uniforms, but rather civilian clothes, with masks concealing their features.


    When they rushed into the Hangar, these thugs drew their pistols which were concealed in their jackets, where they then approached the ship, while the leader of the unit spoke with Erich directly in the Germanguage.


    "The Glimex Gang thanks you for your efforts. Do not fret, now that we have the cargo, the payment is already been transferred to Splinter as we speak. You did good, not many smugglers could handle a sudden search and seizure this well. We''ll take it from here…."


    Erich sighed in relief as he lowered his rail gun revolver and ced it in its holster after de-cocking its hammer. All the anxiety he felt prior to this moment suddenly disappeared, and instead a wide smile formed on his handsome face, though it was obscured by the tinted visor that his helmet made use of.


    Just when he was about to express his gratitude, the gangster in charge attached a suppressor to his pistol, before shooting the leader of the Vaxkorvian security agents, point nk in the head. Erich had not expected that the gang who he was smuggling drugs to would outright execute his hostages, and he was quick to scream out at them in disbelief.


    "What the fuck are you doing!?!?"


    The gangster simply snorted in disdain as the rest of the Vaxkorvian security officers ran for their lives. However, they did not make it far, as the gangsters ceased their actions and aimed their handguns at the hostages'' backs before pulling the triggers, and thus sending all the remaining hostages straight to the afterlife. After doing so, he responded to Erich''s question with a cold tone in his voice.


    "No witnesses…."


    Erich could not believe his eyes. The murders had happened so quickly that he had not been able to intervene, instead he fell to his knees, knowing that he was responsible for the deaths of five innocent security officers who were just doing their job.


    When he entered the criminal underworld, Erich had justified the murders that Drake and his crewmitted, because they were Germanic citizens, and criminals no less, who were well within the range of cloning facilities. Those men had revived, and were most likely currently facing prison stints for the list of charges they were no doubt wanted for.


    But clearly the Vaxkorvians did not have the technology to bring their dead back to life, and thus, the five men who were murdered just now were well and truly dead. Killing in war was one thing, after all, it was a fight for Erich''s survival. It was him, or the enemy, but to witness the outright murder of several security officers happen in front of him, which was undoubtedly his own fault. Erich felt a part of him die inside and realized immediately that he was not cut out for the cutthroat business of drug smuggling.


    The lead gangster could sense Erich''s despair, and thus he pointed his pistol towards Erich''s head, before asking one simple question. One which undoubtedly would determine whether Erich would live or die.


    "Are we going to have a problem?"


    Realizing that he might die without the chance of resurrection in a cloning facility due to the distance between him and the Empire''swork, Erich quickly shook his head, before climbing to his feet while finding his resolve to stomach this heinous crime that was undoubtedly a result of his own actions.


    After seeing that Erich was being cooperative, the gangster chuckled before stashing away his pistol, he then ordered his crew to put the bodies in Erich''s cargo bay once all the contraband had been sessfully transferred into their hands, where he gave onest bit of advice to Erich who was struggling to keep his shit together.


    "When you enter FTL, you should dump those bodies out of your cargo hold. Trust me, nobody will ever find them that way. Oh and onest thing, I don''t believe I need to remind you that we were never here...."


    After saying this, the Glimex Gang departed with the drugs, which they would no doubt distribute across Vaxkorvian space. As for Erich, he climbed into his ship and took off with lifeless eyes. It took everything he had to properly dispose of the bodies which lie in his cargo bay without having a mental breakdown.


    No longer feeling up for a vacation on the beach, Erich immediately began to head back to the industrial world of Quadi, where he spent as much time as possible cleaning off the bloodstains from his cargo hold.


    Another month passed, and before Erich knew it, he was already back in Imperial Space. The memories of what he had done on Vaxkorvia had never left his mind. Only the mass quantity of Asuran Palm Wine which he kept in his ship could help him tolerate the guilt that ate away at his stomach. When he finally pulled into Quadi''s orbit, he spoke to himself in a depressed voice.


    "It wasn''t supposed to be this way…."


    Despite the internal conflict that he was currently suffering from, Erich knew that he needed to put on his game face, or else when he re-entered active duty within the next three days, his fellow pilots would realize that something had happened, and he would undoubtedly be investigated. Thus, Erich forced himself to appear stoic, knowing that his freedom depended on it.


    The next three days were difficult to get through, as Erich primarily stayed within the confines of his starship, drinking wine to cope with the many disturbing emotions he felt at this moment, in the end, he stashed his ship away for long-term storage, before heading back to the carrier which he served on.


    It had only been four months since he wasst fighting in Dvrakian space, and yet, he felt as if a lifetime had passed. His brief foray into the criminal underworld, while exciting at first, had ended with a bloody mess. Something which even now he endured a tremendous amount of guilt over.


    Meanwhile, the war against the Dvrakian Consortium was quickly approaching its end. Something which Erich was immediately reminded of when he met up with his unit. Commander Erwin Wulf, who was in charge of the squadron, gazed upon the pilots of the ck Sun, and smiled before weing them back to service.


    "It is good to see all of us together again. Now, as many of you already know, the war is rapidly nearing its end, and all that is left is toy siege to the Dvrakian home world, thus we will immediately be deploying to the front lines to lead the charge against the enemy.


    Silber, you''ll be d to know that your interceptor has been reced, though I would feel remiss if I did not remind you to take it easy on the stims, and that goes for the rest of you adrenaline junkies as well, understood?"


    Erich, along with the other pilots who had crashed as a result of overdosing on stimnts, immediately saluted their Wing Commander and responded in the affirmative.


    "Yes, sir!"


    With this said, Commander Wulf smiled once more before giving out his orders to his unit.


    "Alright, well, now I want you fuckers ready forbat at a moment''s notice. You all received a minimum of four months''s leave, and thest thing I need is for you to getcent. So, over the next few weeks, as we approach the front lines, I want you guys runningbat drills on the regr. That''s all for now… Dismissed!"


    Erich followed the rest of his fellow pilots back to the bunks, where he stashed away his gear, undoubtedly there would be another illegal card game tonight, but by now Erich had received his fill of uwful activity, and decided to just get as much rest as possible before he was once more thrust intobat.


    ---


    In another sector of Imperial space, the cobalt haired woman who was Erich''s contact within the Criminal Syndicate mostmonly known by the name of "Splinter" was standing before a man, who was dressed in a full set of power armor, but this was not the kind of power armor that had been illegally modified from more conventional sets of body armor like the one Erich owned. No, this was a genuine suit of Star Marine Armor that had been scavenged from a raid against Imperial Security Forces.


    Despite the fact that this was a genuine set of power armor, it was cosmetically modified with the skull and bones of arge bovine like creature that was found on a multitude of alien worlds outside of Imperial space. The creature had a particrly violent and dangerous reputation, and its remains were prized among hunters from multiple interster civilizations. Not only was the armor decorated with bones, but it was also painted in a rather haphazard pattern whose markings almost appeared random in design.


    The cobalt haired woman''s scarlet eyes glowed, as a DataStream reflected from her irises. In this DataStream was the Naval Profile of a certain man, one who had recently conducted a job for her criminal organization. With a cold, and collected voice, the woman read the information from the DataStream aloud.


    "Lieutenant Erich "Silber" Jaeger, recently assigned to the legendary ck Sun Squadron, where for the past year he has been performingbat duties as the spearhead of the GSE''s invasion of the Dvrakian Consortium.


    The man has been awarded the Iron Cross First ss for his actions during the Battle of Therakles at the onset of the campaign, but despite his astonishing record of kills as an Ace Pilot, it appears that his career in the Imperial Navy has been stifled by the Admiral in charge of the Thirteenth Fleet, who is quite angry with Erich for the controversy he caused when he assaulted a female reporter. It doesn''t help that several monthster he crashednded on the hangar bay of his carrier after overdosing on stimnts, and in doing so caused some minor damage to the ship."


    A voice which had been modified by a modtor spoke in a way that resembled that of a robot, as the man in the power armor quickly raised his hand and halted his subordinate''s report.


    "Mirage! I don''t give a damn about his military service! In case you haven''t forgotten, literally every man in the Empire is required to serve in the Armed Forces, myself included. This kid was rmended by Drake and his crew, and shortly thereafter, our smuggling operations were leaked to the authorities! I need to know if he is working for anyone else. What connections does Apex have to the party that might suggest he is an undercover agent?"


    The look on the face of the woman who went by the alias of Mirage after hearing her boss''s words was like that of a woman who had just walked into a sulfur pit. She did not approve in the slightest of being spoken to in such a rude manner, but she did not have the guts to reprimand an underboss of the syndicate. Thus, she could only respond passive aggressively as he answered the man''s questions.


    "Well, Butcher…. The only thing I can find that is remotely simr to your request is that this kid is the son of a Sector Governor, however, he was disowned by his parents for whatever reason shortly after joining the Naval Academy on Germania. I could not find the exact reason behind it, no matter how badly I tried to search for an answer, but I do have some clues.


    It happened almost immediately after the pop sensation Erika Kriegermbasted him on social media for a picture he had taken with a member of the Kondo Dynasty. Leading me to believe that his parents believed the rumors of him sleeping with the Oni woman and thus expelled him from their family in an act to save face."


    After hearing this, the man nicknamed Butcher remained quiet for several moments as if he were deep in thought. After a while, he took off his helmet, and took a deep breath of the purified air that was filtered through his carrier''s life support system before speaking his thoughts on the matter.


    "Despite your background as a former Agent in the Imperial Intelligence Services, you are telling me that this kid has no connection with the authorities other than his father, who just so happens to be a high-ranking politician? Was Apex really just disowned by his parents for fucking an alien whore and left with nothing? Did this boy really turn to a life of crime just to support himself? Why does this story sound so familiar, Mirage?"


    It was only after saying this that the man turned around to reveal his heavily scarred face. Like Erich, and Mirage, he too was a mutant, one with blood red hair which was cut into the style of a mohawk. His battle worn face had a distinctive tattoo beneath his right eye, which was no doubt applied during a stint in a prison colony, as tattoos were only worn by those members of Germanic society who were a part of the criminal underworld.


    With a heavy sigh, Mirage responded to her boss with a mncholy tone in her hyper feminine voice.


    "It is what we as mutants have to do to survive. We are not allowed to marry or have children, so we turn to the arms of other mutants, or even aliens, forfort. While the Party expects us to fight and die for the expansion of their power and influence, they throws us to the wolves after we are no longer of any value to them. Where most of us turn to a life of crime in order to sustain ourselves.


    Apex''s story is one as old as the Empire itself. It is of my professional opinion that he is not the rat, and thus you have no reason to act against him. No, whoever informed the Vaxkorian authorities about our business was definitely an insider. So you best turn your intention inwards, because from what I hear, after the way hisst job ended, Apex is already considering returning to the life of aw-abiding citizen, but in twenty years, when his mandatory military service ispleted, he will realize that he has no other choice but toe crawling back to us…."


    Butcher did not respond for several minutes, instead he stared out of the window with his arms held behind his back, as if in deep contemtion. After some time, he finally spoke again, and in doing so gave his orders to his right-hand woman.


    "Alright, I believe you, I want this rat found and made an example of. If it turns out that he is a part of our outfit, then we better find him before the other Underbosses do so, or God forbid, the Boss himself does. As for Apex, leave him be for the time being.


    And when the boy finally realizes that no matter how good of a little soldier he is, that his fate was determined from the moment he was born, we will be waiting for him with open arms. After all, as a former ace pilot of the ck Sun myself, I know just how valuable of an asset Apex is to Splinter…"


    Butcher shifted his gaze towards the window and remained silent. However, if one closely observed his reflection, they could see the DataStream in his sanguine eyes, one which disyed a picture of himself, with a wife and kids. Something a mutant like himself should never have had…