The hangar of the asteroid base was quiet, lit only by faint strips of amber light running along the ceiling. Ryn stood beside Ragnir, arms folded, watching as a sleek shuttle descended through the magnetic shield. Its hull bore no markings, its thrusters whispering as it eased down onto the platform.
The ramp lowered, and out stepped Thalara Ashvyrne, cloak trailing behind her, eyes sharp with curiosity. Close behind was her ever-present second-in-command, the one they called the nanny, moving with the cautious precision of someone who trusted no one but her captain.
Thalara's gaze swept the hangar, finally settling on Ryn. A smirk curved her lips. "So," she said, her voice carrying equal parts amusement and suspicion, "what is this cloak and dagger nonsense you've dragged me into? You've got me curious."
Ryn chuckled, unbothered by her tone. "Let's take this to the meeting room," he said smoothly. "I'll explain everything there."
They followed him through the corridors of the asteroid base, the hum of machinery beneath their feet. The meeting room was sparse, only a holotable at its center, waiting. With a flick of his hand, Ryn activated it, casting the faces of his companions in pale blue light.
The image of Virel Prime appeared, a mining colony wrapped in steel and shadows. Then, the name: Tharvek Soryn.
Thalara froze. Her smirk vanished. "You're not serious," she said, disbelief sharp in her tone. "That's a warlord. You're not crazy enough to think we're actually going to assassinate him."
Ryn laughed, the sound echoing in the small chamber. "Come on, Thalara. You love the thrill. You've been bored running trading routes and making deals. This," he gestured at the glowing image of Soryn's compound, "this is excitement. And the pay…" He leaned forward, eyes locking with hers. "…the pay will bring your goals a lot closer."
Her jaw tightened. She didn't answer immediately. Instead, her eyes flicked to the nanny. In the quiet of her comms, her voice whispered: "He's insane. But…"
The nanny's reply was calm, steady. "Insane pays well. And you've been itching for something like this. He's not wrong."
Thalara exhaled slowly, turning back to Ryn. "Alright. Fine. Tell me the plan."
The holotable shifted, displaying the operation layout: orbital insertion vectors, security perimeters, and the precise vantage point for the shot.
"The nanny will handle the ship," Ryn said, pointing at the small stealth gunship they had secured. "She keeps us hidden in orbit, ready to extract."
He shifted the map to the upper atmosphere of Virel Prime, highlighting descent markers. "The three of us, me, you, and Ragnir, HALO jump directly into position. No one will see us coming."
Thalara crossed her arms. "And roles?"
"Simple." Ryn zoomed in on a ridge overlooking the warlord's compound. "I'm the sniper. You're my spotter, range calls, wind adjustments, thermal sweeps. Ragnir provides security while I take the shot. Nothing gets near us."
The plan hung in the air, stark and razor-sharp.
Ragnir's cybernetic optics glowed faintly as he studied the map. "Clean. Risky. But it'll work."
Thalara shook her head, half-smiling despite herself. "You're insane, Ryn. Absolutely insane."
He just grinned. "Maybe. But you wouldn't be here if you didn't love it."
The glow of the holotable reflected in their eyes, casting them in shades of cold blue. The team was small, but the intent was undeniable. The warlord of Virel Prime had no idea death was already falling toward him from the stars.
The team lined up at the airlock, exosuits sealed and systems humming silently. Ryn double-checked RE-001's interface, the AI running tactical overlays, monitoring descent vectors, and providing drop coordination. Another layer worked unseen. EP-Psi, buried deep in encrypted code, quietly optimized their stealth systems: thermal dampening, acoustic suppression, and micro-adjustments to camouflage. The others would never know how seamless their infiltration truly was.
[RE-001]: "Status check."
The clipped, neutral voice rippled across their HUDs. Altitude, descent vectors, atmospheric stability, calculated and clean. Behind the numbers, EP-Psi smoothed turbulence before it even touched the team.
Ryn exhaled slowly, eyes narrowing on the green canopy below. "Two clicks from the base. Stay tight. Stay invisible. We drop in three."
The airlock cycled. One by one, they leapt into the void. Stabilizers hissed, then silence reclaimed the descent. Below, the planet's dense forest spread like a black sea, waiting to swallow them whole.
Turbulence struck, dragging at their vectors. "Hold formation!" Ryn barked. Exosuits compensated instantly, EP-Psi masking the corrections beyond what RE-001 displayed.
Moments stretched thin as wire. Then, one by one, they cut through the canopy and touched down. Their exosuits absorbed the impact with barely a sound. The forest closed around them, silent, hiding, perfect cover.
Two clicks from the warlord's base, Ryn unstrapped a matte-black drone and sent it into the night. Its surface drank the moonlight, vanishing between trees.
The others followed the feed, assuming reconnaissance. Only Ryn and EP-Psi knew its true payload: advanced infiltration protocols drilling toward the warlord's vault.
From cover, Thalara's voice cut in, steady and low. "Do we wait for him to step out?" Her rifle rested, scope trained on the compound.
Ryn chuckled in comms. "He'll come. Spot for me."
Inside his HUD, the drone's view unfolded, a lattice of crystalline barriers, firewalls shifting and alive with hostile light. EP-Psi flowed through them like black water, dissolving defenses, carving silent corridors into the vault. Credits began siphoning in precise streams, vanishing into hidden accounts.
To mask its work, EP-Psi flicked alarms like switches. Sirens shrieked across the compound. Red warning lights split the night.
Inside the command deck, the warlord's AI specialist jolted at her console, eyes wide. "Breach detected! Sir, the vault's under attack!"
"What kind of breach?" Tharvek Soryn's voice was a low growl, dangerous.
"Not brute force, it's already inside!" Her hands blurred across the interface, shunting credits into hidden subnets, sealing bypasses, throwing up counter-walls. But every path she opened collapsed. EP-Psi was already there, consuming her defenses before they formed.
On Ryn's HUD, the siphon accelerated, digits pouring away in a cascade of stolen wealth. A small, quiet thrill coiled in his chest as he steadied his rifle.
The specialist cursed, panic cracking her voice. "Sir, I can't stop it, it's rewriting the ledgers as it drains them!"
Soryn slammed a gauntleted fist into the console, denting steel. Sparks burst. His eyes blazed with more than rage, it was humiliation. Wealth was his weapon, the leash he held around vassals and smugglers across three systems. Losing it here, under their noses, was worse than death.
"Mobilize the garrison! Lock every vault door!" he bellowed, storming from the command deck. His armored boots slammed metal, fury echoing into the night.
In the forest, Thalara adjusted her scope, voice tight. "He's coming out. Angry doesn't even cover it."
"Perfect," Ryn said, lying prone, rifle settling into his shoulder. "Spot for me."
His HUD bloomed with ballistic overlays: wind speed, humidity, air density, Coriolis drift, even the subtle sway of the warlord's armored stance. EP-Psi's predictive modeling assembled the perfect shot in real time.
[RE-001]: "Range six hundred twelve meters. Wind four-point-two meters per second, ten degrees north. Temperature seventeen-point-six Celsius. Density one-point-two-one kilograms per cubic meter. Adjust hold point left zero-point-four mils."
Thalara crouched low beside him, eye fixed through her spotting scope. "Target acquired. Standing in the open. No armor plates over the chest. Shooter, ready?"
"Ready." Ryn's tone was calm steel.
"Send it on my call," Thalara whispered, watching the warlord's every move. "Stand by, wind steady, target squared, send it."
The suppressed rifle hissed. The round sailed, EP-Psi subtly correcting for a stray gust mid-flight.
Tharvek Soryn's chest folded inward, armor crumpling as blood misted. He staggered, arms flailing once before he crashed into the dirt. Vitals flatlined instantly across Ryn's HUD.
[RE-001]: "Target neutralized. No collateral. Systems clear."
"Confirmed," Thalara murmured, lowering her scope. A quiet satisfaction laced her words. "Let's move."
Ryn motioned the team out. Exosuits melted back into the forest shadows, slipping toward the treeline where their stealth ship hovered low.
The nanny sat at the helm, calm and unshaken. "Board," she ordered crisply.
The ramp sealed shut, turbines whispering as the ship lifted. RE-001 monitored diagnostics while the nanny piloted them clean through the atmosphere.
EP-Psi lingered inside the drone, finishing its siphon and erasing every trace. To the others, it was just another flawless op.
As the ship cleared orbit, Ryn leaned back, exhaling. The warlord was gone. The vault was empty. And only he and EP-Psi knew just how deep the victory ran.