She looked at the cityscape. Air traffic. Sky-high towers slicing through the clouds. Colorful auroras painted the sky as they slowly shifted.
Can't believe I spent all those years bounty hunting. I missed this city, she thought to herself.
Her silhouette sculpted in a skin-tight combat suit.
Her earpiece buzzed, "You go in five."
"Affirmative," she replied.
The wind caught her hair, fluttering wild as she tapped the countdown on her arm's holographic screen.
This was Planet Nihigua. Class One New World. Her birthplace. She was created here as a lethal weapon to serve the government—designed to cleanse the underworld. To do the jobs the official forces couldn't touch.
But over time, she began to question herself. Eventually, she realized not all her targets were criminals. She was also being used for political assassinations.
She rebelled. Was pursued as a rogue operative. Disposable. So she escaped. Found refuge in Sal Parlos... where bounty hunting became her survival and salvation.
250 years later, Nomad services were required. Eve knew Hannah would love a chance to visit her home planet. So she sent her to aid the Intergalactic Committee–aligned world.
Nihigua had already cleared her name. Not as a citizen, but as a Nomad operative. She was offered to serve the government again—but she refused.
Nomad was her home now.
The mission was multifaceted. This was the most complex part.
The countdown was about to hit zero.
"Gemeni, I'm going in," Hannah whispered. Then leapt. Two kilometers straight down. Her hair lashed like lightning in freefall.
Around the 430th floor, she used her grappler—an anchor speared into the concrete wall, and she swung right through the glass.
Fifty armed men. Cyborgs. Guarding eight mafia leaders who stared at the woman in the black bodysuit, crouching on the floor like a jaguar about to pounce.
Guns roared. She unsheathed her dual plasma blades.
Wall-running, she sliced through the sentinel line on the left. First wave. Thirty-two men remaining.
The mafia leaders ducked as their guards screamed for backup.
Hannah rebounded off a wall, and dove back to the center—flying over the sentinels, her body spinning, blades rotating like a ceiling fan.
She landed, brushed the floor, and cut through five pairs of legs. Somersaulting, she attacked the guards protecting the mafia heads leaning on the table.
Only five guards were left—frozen in horror, unsure whether to run or shoot.
"Run."
They scrambled for the exit. She grabbed one mafia head by the collar and let the rest go.
"You're coming with me," she said, grabbing his pants with her other hand and tossed him through the shattered window of the luxury suite.
He tumbled down the building.
"Gemeni, package on the way."
Gemeni, a scout ship assigned to Cesna Squad, hovered halfway up the vertical skyscraper.
Cesna 1 stood at the tail door, cabled to the craft. The mafia head plummeted toward her. She leapt to catch him mid-air.
"Pull me up!" Cesna 1 yelled, as the cable tugged her back, carrying the package.
Cesna 5 piloted the ship. Seconds later, Hannah landed on Gemeni's hull and dove through the open hatch.
Part one of the mission was complete. Now, they had to extract the daughter of the Nihiguan president from the mafia base.
Gemini flew across a desert, hundreds of miles away from the city. A small compound shimmered down below, viewable through the viewport.
Hannah and the Cesnas grabbed their gear. Cesna 2 shoved the mafia head off the ship. They all jumped.
Gemini hovered silently on autopilot.
Six femme-fatale unit shot down. Just before hitting the ground, their waist-belt thrusters slowed their fall. Cesna 3 caught the bound militant hostage—his mouth taped.
They stealthily infiltrated the building, neutralizing every threat. The mafia head's face and eyes were used to bypass biometric security. Finally, they reached the room where the girl was kept.
They moved to the rooftop. Gemini descended. But they had been spotted.
Five sniper-mode plasma rifles activated—blazing hot. In the crosshairs, nothing moved again.
Gemini dropped the anchor. They clung to it and were lifted away. Two enemy ships gave chase, but Gemini's turrets took care of them.
"This is Gemini, reporting to Nomad," Hannah transmitted.
"This is Command Center, patching you through. Hold on a sec," an officer responded.
Mira and Eve were sitting on a bed in their pajamas, discussing various Nomad-related issues, when Mira's comm buzzed.
She listened. "Alright, patch them through."
"Commander Mira, we have the president's daughter."
"I could send staff to hand over the delivery... or you could do it yourself. Your planet, your style."
Hannah paused. "I don't intend to stay. What's the point of—?"
Eve chimed in. "It's your homeworld, Hannah. You can stay for a while if you want. Claim your citizenship. Then do whatever you want."
"I'll let Nomad have it," Hannah said. "I like this place... but staying away from you guys is going to feel weird now."
Eve and Hannah looked at each other and smiled. A motherly... sisterly glow in their eyes.
"Go to the embassy. You'll meet our crew there," Mira said. "Joseph Henley at Command Center."
"Got that, Ma'am," the officer responded.
Mira stared at Eve. Silently.
"What?" Eve asked.
"Can't believe... looking at that pretty face through the glass as a child. Wondering when my time would come. And now, living my dream life."