Erich stood on the of Germania, while gazing up at an apartmentplex, one which he would make use of to assassinate a fellow military officer on behalf of the interster crime syndicate known only as Splinter.


    He was dressed in a solid ck flight suit, which acted as a base for the conceble body armor that he wore beneath some standard civilian clothes. On his head was a low profile flight helmet, which was concealed by arge ck hood.


    Currently in Erich''s hands was the container which held the weapon he intended to use for his uing assassination. After taking a deep breath, he stepped forward and entered the apartmentplex so naturally that it appeared that he actually lived there.


    After taking the elevator to the 9th floor, Erich stepped out into a long hallway, which was illuminated by a series of lights embedded in the roof. He then reached the door to the unit he had scouted out in advance and knocked on it three times.


    Since the moment Erich first appeared within the vicinity of the apartmentplex, he had covertly sliced into its securitywork, and put its camera feed on a loop. Thus, none of the cameras in the hallway were able to detect his presence as he confirmed that the unit was currently empty.


    After knocking three times and waiting for an answer that never came, Erich effortlessly opened the door because he had already infiltrated the security system, allowing him to unlock any room within the building that he so desired. Once inside, he locked the door behind him, and shut off the all the lights which had instinctively lit themselves upon the entrance of the intruder.


    Just to make sure that nobody was home, Erichid down the container which held his sniper rifle inside and proceeded to sweep through the building with his modified rail gun revolver, before finally sighing in relief when he confirmed that nobody else was present.


    After which, he immediately opened the shades of one window in particr, where he began to set up his sniper rifle on a tripod so that it was facing the home of his target. In particr, a window which led directly into the man''s dining room.


    Once Erich had confirmed that he was facing the correct house which his target was known to live in, he lied in wait for three hours before the man finally revealed himself. By now it was gettingte, and while the faculty of the Naval Academy had returned to their homes, which were located on campus, the students were out socializing.


    Erich had stared down the sights of his optic for three whole hours without moving muscle until finally his target came into sight, and when he did, Erich suddenly lost the will to pull the trigger. The man who he was supposed to kill was none other than his old gctic politics teacher, Commander Vernik Ekberg…


    The shock and dismay that Erich felt nearly overwhelmed him as he realized that one of his favorite teachers who had instructed him during his tenure at the naval academy was in reality a high-ranking member of an interster syndicate, and a rat at that. He stood there in disbelief and panic while the auto-correcting optic locked onto the man who had sat down at his dining table and began to sip a cup of coffee, which his wife had just brewed for him.


    Standing by his side was a beautiful Germanic woman, and several young kids who were no older than ten. They sat down at the dinner table beside their father and talked about the peaceful days that had just enjoyed.


    Tears began to stream down Erich''s eyes as he struggled to do what was necessary. If he did not pull off this job, then he was effectively condemning himself to death. But if he pulled this trigger, he would be killing a man he respected, and in front of his loving family, no less.


    Just when Erich was about to pull his finger off of the trigger, the door to the apartment opened, revealing a young man, no older than neen, who stood in shock as he gazed upon the masked sniper who was about to no doubt about to kill a man. And when the door opened, Erich''s trigger finger instinctively jerked as a result of his nerves just enough that it pulled the trigger, and thus sent the 8mm depleted uranium projectile down range, and through the skull of his target, instantly killing the man in front of his family.


    The sound of the rail guns shot was deafening, even to Erich, who was wearing high grade military hearing protection. It was so loud that the cadet who had entered the apartment fell to the ground, and clutched his ears in agony, which were now bleeding from his perforated ear drums.


    It took Erich several seconds to realize what he had done, and when he did, his body instinctively took control over his mind, and forced him to run away from the scene of his crime, which was no doubt having a government kill squad sent to its location at this very moment.


    The entire city block was acting like an atom bomb had gone off within its vicinity, as rms were ringing across the area, and people had burst from their homes in search of the cause. Yet Erich was relying entirely on instinct at this point, and had used the Survival Evasion Resistance and Escape training to run from the authorities, which had drilled into his mind and muscle memory during his tenure at the naval academy.


    Within no more than two minutes Erich could see a shuttle approach the building where the shot had gone off, as heavily armored Star Marines entered into the apartment which he had used for his crime. Knowing that the government kill squad was already nearby, Erich skillfully dashed through alleyways, and evaded even the slightest bit of detection, while his mind essed the nearby security systems that every building had, and in doing so buried any trace that he was ever in the area.


    Eventually Erich made his way to the starport, where he was no longer being pursued by the government kill team. He had no idea how he had sessfully evaded them and had no memory of what happened immediately after firing the shot. All he knew was that the moment he left the atmosphere and activated his quantum drive, that he waspletely, and utterly dead inside.


    Commander Vernik Ekberg was a good man, an honorable man, one who had clearly been working with the IIS to infiltrate Splinter, where he had climbed through the ranks to the point where he was able to effectively bring down many of its operations. And Erich had just killed him in front of his family.


    The guilt which Erich felt inside at this moment was like a poison, which slowly gnawed away at his mind as he rapidly descended into madness. Just when he thought he was going to lose thest shred of his sanity, a notification appeared on his NeuroLink, which revealed that he had received a substantial payment of twenty-five million credits, and a request to meet up with his syndicate contact.


    At first Erich did not even want to think about meeting with that horrible woman. But… after several seconds of thought, he realized that more than anything he did not want to be alone to deal with his thoughts, and thus, he messaged her that he was inbound. Where he immediately headed back to the world of Quadi where she was waiting for him.


    ---


    By the time Erich arrived in Quadi, he smelled like a winery, having drunken multiple bottles of his Asuran Palm Wine. When he entered the bar, Mirage looked at his haggard appearance with a hint of pity in her scarlet eyes. After patting the seat next to her, indicating that she wanted Erich to sit beside her, she waited patiently until the man obeyed. Erich did as he wasmanded, where immediately after the attractive young woman ordered for the bartender to bring the man a special drink.


    "Oi, Franz, bring my boy here some of the good stuff, and pronto!"


    Immediately the bartender went into the back of the bar where he retrieved a solid vial of what appeared to be a white milky liquid. Erich had never seen this before, and thus slurred his words as he held it in his hands.


    "Izz dis malk?"


    Mirage did not say a word, instead she swiftly opened up the vial, and stuffed it down Erich''s mouth, while messaging his neck so that he was forced to swallow the entire shot in one go. Immediately Erich felt like the severely intoxicated state he was previously in had suddenly vanished, and was reced with a burst of energy that was at the highest levels he had ever felt before in his life.


    Erich felt a need to either get into a fistfight with the first man he made eye contact with, or viciously fuck the first women heid eyes upon. After seeing this intense reaction, Mirage giggled while responding to Erich''s sudden burst of energy and aggression with a slight shake of her pretty head.


    "Everybody has a different reaction when they first take vitality. Sit down Erich, we have things to discuss…"


    Contrary to what she was expecting Erich did not do as she had instructed, and instead immediately grabbed hold of the cobalt haired woman''s chin and kissed her with intense passion, to which she responded by grabbing hold of her stun gun, and shooting it straight into Erich''s sr plexus, which dropped the man to his knees.


    Unlike what Erich had expected when he was forcibly kicked down from his intense high, the woman smiled before grabbing hold of Erich''s chin, where she began to tease him with a seductive tone.


    "Easy there tiger! If you still want to have some fun after we have concluded our business, then I am all for it, but I doubt your little girlfriend would approve of such a thing. So, now that you havee down from you high, sit down, we need to discuss some things…"


    Erich did as he was instructed, but could immediately feel his negative emotions attacking his mental state, something which Mirage took notice of, and thus responded for perhaps the first time in her recent memory with a sympathetic tone in her alluring voice.


    "I know what you are probably thinking. You think that specter was a good and honest man, who was working with the authorities to bring down our little organization? Well, the good news is, none of that is true…"


    Erich gazed over at Mirage with an astonished look, as he quickly spoke about his concerns regarding her statement.


    "But I knewm-"


    Before he could finish his sentence, Mirage ced her dainty index finger on his lips and shushed him while continuing her train of thought.


    "First off, when we speak about the man, we call him by his alias. Secondly, no, he was not working for the IIS, if he was you can damn well believe we would have taken care of this delicate matter in house… No, Specter was a rival of my employer. He was not what he appeared to be to the public. Specter was a filthy murderer, a drug peddler, a piece of shit sex trafficker, and a fucking rat!


    If that man was working for the IIS, he would have informed them about your little delivery so that you could be picked up on your way back. But instead he ratted you out to Vaxkorvian customs, not because of some sense of honor, or justice, but because he wanted to hurt my employer''s operations.


    I won''t bore you with the political structure of our organization. It is incrediblyplex, and quite dull, if I''m being honest. But there are some things that you should know. For example, working for every under boss is a gang of hardened criminals who are loyal to him. And these gangs arepeting with one another for the favor of the man in charge of it all.


    So, you don''t need to feel bad about what you did, Specter had iting, and by the way, in case you are still having doubts about what you just did then you should know that the sick bastard sold his own twelve-year-old daughter into very. I will leave what kind to your imagination, and yes, his bitch of a wife was in on it too….


    So cheer up kid, you did an amazing job, and took out a real scum bag while you were at it! The gxy is a better ce for what you just did! I mean sniping the fucker from a cadet''s apartment, with a fucking Reaper no less? God damn, I wish I could have seen it! It''s just a shame that the authorities now have their hands on such a fine piece of military hardware, but at least it got the job done!"


    Although he did not know whether or not Mirage was making this whole story up for his benefit, or was actually telling the truth, Erich chose to believe it, because by believing this particr tale, he was able to live with his actions, and even take a bit of pride in them. The only thing he regretted was that those kids would now be scarred for life after watching their dirt bag of a father get his head blown off in front of them. But, if that didn''t harden them up for the harsh realities of the gxy, then Erich did not know what would.