91 Reward.
Shi Lang had recovered from the fatigue of using the neural link in the combat spaceship. The boy walked outside the villa and made his way to the Town Hall. Since Archie has summoned him personally then it might be something important. While he was walking around, he saw a few familiar faces and exchanged smiles with them.
After a few moments, he came to the town hall and arrived in front of the door leading inside Archie’s office. He knocked on the door and a calm voice sounded from the inside, “Come In.”
Shi Lang walked in and came to stand in front of the table. He saluted the lady sitting behind the table and said, “Reporting, Sir.”
Archie Arkham raised her head and nodded to him with a faint smile. She said, “Have a seat.”
Shi Lang walked forward and pulled himself a chair. As he sat down, he waited for the lady to speak first. He was the junior in the room. Archie Arkham gazed at him for a few minutes and then said, “I heard from Gamma that you performed really well in both the missions till now and the result was also very satisfactory.”
Shi Lang sat calmly in his chair and did not reply. Archie Arkham continued, “I now have a rewarding task for you. If you could complete this task, then I will allow you to go and take on solo tasks. However, if you failed you will not get such a chance till next year. Also, if you passed, then you might be assigned to a new crew of solo agents. What do you think?”
Shi Lang did not reply immediately and fell in thought. After ten minutes he said, “I accept.”
Archie Arkham nodded and said, “Check your communicator. I am assigning you the task to fish a bad fish in the pond on Celestia-Ruby. This fish is spoiling the surrounding fish as well. Thus it must be hunted. You are eligible for this task.”
Shi Lang nodded and said, “May I be given the details of this fish? Also, is this mission a covert one?”
Archie Arkham said, “It is a covert mission. You will leave tomorrow. The target will not stay in this place for more than three days and that is all the time that you will get to execute the orders. Understood?”
Shi Lang stood up and saluted the lady and said, “Yes, Sir.”
Archie Arkham said, “Your orders are effective immediately and after you have finished this task, I will allow you two days off.”
Shi Lang nodded and then walked out. He jogged his way back to the crew villa. He found that most of the people had gone back to bed, but Gamma was still sitting in the living room. She said, “I know that you must have accepted the reward task. Go, be careful, and do not underestimate your goal at any cost.”
Since this was a covert operation he was not allowed to show his status as a secret division soldier. He was given an ‘On Vacation’ status in the dossier of the military. He went inside his room and took out his common military uniform. After changing his clothes, the boy walked out looking all dapper. He came outside the villa and rode a bike to the spaceport.
The black coat and black pants made him look strikingly handsome and a cold look on his face attracted a lot of gazes as he arrived at the military business passenger ship heading to the designated planet. The military business organization was involved in all sorts of things that could be necessary for inter celestial travel or survival.
Shi Lang had read the document in his comm unit. The details of Celestia-Ruby declared that the planet was completely colonized. However, the present administrator of the place was a pain in the butt of the federation. The man had terrorized the natives and a lot many times the situation was completely close to a rebellion. Thanks to timely intervention the situation stabilized.
The main reason for this task to be handed over to the secret division was because the investigations never bore any fruit. It was high time and the fleet general of the region commissioned the hit. He did not find any proof after the rigorous investigation. The people around the administrator were like a close-knit net. They all were scratching their backs and not leaving any loopholes.
Shi Lang was allowed to board the passenger ship when he submitted his permits. Celestia-ruby did not have a big specialty but it was famous for its native population. The natives of this place were a species of beings that looked like cat-men. Yes, they all had features that crossed with a cat, vertical pupils, cat ears, a tail. Other than this the ladies were particularly beautiful.
They all had an innate grace and charm that many Terran men could not help but succumb to. However, the current administrator was the one who had fallen the most in this pit. The person negotiated the peace treaty with the queens of the natives, after the Terran forces took down all the male representatives from them.
The cat-men were not fools. They had long established a council of the rulers and came together to put up a resistance against the Terran forces. The war was fought for several months before the last Male Cat-men fell. The ladies took the council and signed the treaty of peace so that the youth of their races is not extinguished.
Everything was fine for the past few years before the new administrator took over the office. This man was nothing more than a lustful beast. In the reports it was said that he almost raped a queen of the council under influence, however, he managed to put out all the witnesses and got away with it. The natives found this out and tried to rebel but the queens came forward to calm them down.
Shi Lang read the data provided to him and his expression became colder by the second. He did not realize when the passenger ship got out the atmosphere. He only woke up from his thoughts when the boy heard the announcement that the ship was entering space jump. Celestia-Ruby was a Terran name assigned for the planet. The reason he was given three days for this task was because the administrator was going back to the federation to report for something.
It was possible that someone from his family was trying to get him back home to save him from imminent death. Family was called family for a reason. Shi Lang had read a lot and his brain was like cogs turning over, trying to come up with an assassination plan.
As the ship, exited the space jump, Shi Lang realized why the planet was called Celestia-Ruby. This round sphere was a work of art with red and white colors spread over it. The red was the landmass while the white was water. The scenery was so dazzling that he could not help but click a picture of this place from his communicator.
…
Soon the ship landed on the space port. This place was visited by a lot of Terrans not only because of the beautiful females, but a lot more reasons, the handicrafts and other things crafted by the artisans here were not matched by any other civilization in the galaxy.
Shi Lang used his communicator and decided to travel to the capital of this planet, Xenati. The means of transport was the same Maglev train that he used to go to college back on The Federation. He found himself a seat and squinted for the time it took him to reach the destination. He was traveling to Xenati was that the council of Xena, the native government representatives were located their.
After the peace treaty was signed the queens moved to live in the capital making it the stronghold of their race. They did not wish to ignite their world with the flames of wars until they could not resort to any other means. Shi Lang was going to communicate with them directly and ask for some aid.
The train followed the track at a high speed and it came to the capital city in six hours. Shi Lang got down and decided to find himself an inn to stay the night. The other thing that he was looking for was to find some traditional garbs before he could meet the Queens in the council.
He operated quickly due to the time constrain on him. He got down and took a cab to the market nearby. He came to a shop that was run by the military. They dealt with traditional garbs and sold them to the coming Terrans in exchange of Terran credits.
Shi Lang was a captain so he could over draft or take things on a credit. He decided to use that privilege and have Archie renumerate him later. Inside the shop, he looked around and turned out that the traditional garbs here looked like a vest and a slightly higher pants, with an unbuttoned overcoat. The sandals were similar to the gypsy sandals back at the federation.
Shi Lang decided to by a white set of clothes and walked outside. He lodged himself in a nearby inn and took a shower. After he cleaned himself, the guy sat down on the bed and he moved his fingers to use the communicator to the limit of its capabilities. He found that he could only meet the queens after he reserved an appointment in advance. However, that appointment might take him quite a few months to arrive.
He took a deep breath and got dressed in his secret division uniform. He packed the traditional garbs he bought in a black back pack and jumped out of the window. The sun had gone out and the sky had no moonlight. For someone like him, who was trained by a terrifyingly toxic and sadistic assassin, it was easy to use the covers of the shadows and move through the city. He was going to sneak inside the headquarters of the council of Xena.
Shi Lang moved quickly. The architecture of the city was not high rising skyscrapers but anciet looking stone buildings none higher than nine or seven floors. Only the headquarter of the council was fifteen floor high, being the tallest building in the city. Shi Lang moved through the abandoned alleyways and hopped from terrace to terrace as the buildings were closely built.
The place had a lot of people living inside. So the congestion was normal and Shi Lang was thankful for it. The boy moved quickly and decisively. He had taken up one day already and he could not afford to delay any longer.
It took him a couple of hours to make his way through the concrete jungle and reach the headquarters of the council of Xena. Shi Lang did not enter the complex as soon as he arrived near, he hid in a dark alleyway. The soldiers of the cat-men were guarding this place with very high vigilance and they all gave off a blood thirsty aura. Shi Lang did not wish to get into fight with them at any cost.
He changed his clothes into a traditional garb and hid his bag before he began his incursion inside the beehive.