[Another call from miss Alcia is being received]
"...How long has it been since we docked?"
[7 hours]
"Alright, take the call"
Mark hadn't done much since he docked back at the 2nd hanger of Creh-2 trade hub, other than accepting the cargo transfer of his payment and the order of a bottle of booze (Which he tasted once before flushing it down the Sparrow's zero G toilet)
"Flyboy… I've been trying to reach you for a few hours, did you knock out completely?"
"Yep, did you have another job for me?"
"Yeah, but I would rather talk these things over in person"
"Sure thing, the same waterhole?"
"You got it, stop by sometime soon"
[Communications terminated]
"Did you catch anything in the downtime?"
[Yes, I've caught one of the biggest catches, an unsecured terminal that was logged into the public SubNet administration of the station]
"...Does that mean you have control over the entire station?"
[No, however, any terminal connected to the open SubNet without military grade encryption is now open game for skimming and information harvest. You will also be able to talk with me through any terminal connected to the open SubNet without leaving any traces]
"Nice, then let's get ready to head out"
Mark quickly put on the modified vacuum suit, then after focusing for a few minutes he expanded himself and covered the surface of the suit and camouflage it, after a few moments it now looked like he was wearing a sleek all black vacuum suit with a plate carrier over it
"How do I look?"
[It looks good, maybe a tad too 'tactical' however I believe it suits our current situation]
"Yay"
Mark picked up a terminal and put it in a magazine pouch of his plate carrier before he pulled himself out of the Sparrow and onto the pier
"I'll be back later"
[Take care, be sure to contact me if anything happens]
After clicking his heels together to magnetize them, Mark walked into the trade hub. It was filthy and in a general state of disrepair with loose planning all over the hallway that made up main street, never mind the allies, however this time no one called out to or stopped Mark, in fact most simply watched him with a uneasy look
'Yep, the plate carrier might be a tad too 'tactical' oh well…'
Walking into the bar Mark felt most eyes inside gather on him, in response Mark showed a thin smile and made eye contact with Alcia that stood behind the bar before he made a drinking gesture before showing two fingers and sat down at a free table
"Is the coast calm, little one?"
[No unusual activity at the moment, I will notify you if any security forces or local elements deploy]
"Alright"
Mark leaned back in the creaky metal chair and folded his hands behind his head as he looked into the ceiling for a few moments until Alcia placed two bottles of beer in front of him
"Flyboy, or should I call you Soldier-boy instead?"
Mark's smile widened before he gestured for her to sit down ahead of him
"Nah, I've never even shot a firearm in my life~"
Despite the fact Mark was telling the truth, his nonchalant refusal only made Alcia think he was even more dangerous, however she needed his skill set, so she took a seat and got straight to the point
"How are you with zero G Wet work?"
"I am great with my hands, but I can't really bring heavy equipment into the trade hub, can I?"
Now, Mark didn't have any 'heavy equipment' nor was he sure exactly what he was referring to, let alone talking about himself, how that didn't really matter as Alcia blindly believed him at this point
'This guy is a real fucking freak, first he disarms and kills some scumbag by crushing his lungs and heart with his own sternum, then Jeqer and Aliza catches footage of him doing 400m/s flying around an asteroid field in a highly modified craft for the fuck of it after he disables the security of a state ammunition depot in less than an hour… And now he shows up in a fucking plate carrier designed for a chemical ballistic rifle!?'
"... I received some work from the high security area, the pay is good too"
"What kind of work?"
"Well, it is not zero G, but it is wet work… Extraction to be precise… Are you interested?"
Mark mulled it over for a few moments, he didn't really want to risk getting injured or, worse yet, exposed as something inhuman
'... Still, I would like to keep building goodwill with this group… Eh, might as well'
Mark downed the rest of his beer before he paid his tap and rose to his feet and spoke confidently
"Send me the details, I'll get it done"
"Alright"
Leaving the bar behind, Mark headed straight back to hanger 2 and boarded the Sparrow, after he entered the cockpit the little one spoke
[I have received the job information from miss Alcia, and I have renegotiated for an introduction and personal guarantee to the merc guild on top of the promised reward of half a million credits. However the job is tough]
"Show me"
A few moments passed as the Sparrow's drive spun up a bit, a moment later the cockpit lit up with a 3-dimensional structure that was made up of 4 different large asteroids
[The extraction target got captured and abducted by a local band of bandits which inhabit this makeshift outpost in the innermost Creh-8 asteroid belt, the band is made up of an estimated 31 FTL capable crafts with a total 24 thought to be armed. The original plan called for drawing out most of the bandit ships with some sort of bait before assaulting their outpost with multiple ships]
"Yeah, that sounds real messy… And expensive, so how did you underbid them?"
[I simply posed as your operator and proposed a solution that only needed a single craft]
Mark nodded and remind silent for a few moments before he spoke
"Alright, let's do it"
[You don't need to hear what I've planned before agreeing to it?]
"No, I trust you with my life… And you don't need to pose as anyone little one, you are my operator and oldest friend"
[Thank you, Mark]
-
"Mother trucker…"
[Mark?]
"It's nothing, another craft just returned to the outpost"
Mark hugged the asteroid close to his body as he slid around it to stay out of line of sight from the ship that moved towards the bandit outpost, Mark had been moving through the Creh-8 asteroid belt for the past 14 hours wearing a real black vacuum suit which the little one had procured for this mission specifically
[Alright, keep alert Mark, I am 12 minutes out if you need me]
The solution the little one had proposed to extract the target successfully was quite a bit more simple than a combined assault and bait operation, it called for a single person doing an extended space walk, inserting from outside the detection range of the outpost sensors
'... Well it's only simple in theory, anyone agreeing to pull this off has to be mad'
Once the madman (Mark in this case) made it to the station the plan the little one had gotten Alcia to agree to called for a breaching the outpost and securing the extraction target, however Mark and the little one had an extra trick up their sleeve, trailing after Mark lay a cable of thin 32 kilometer long Ficer wire which the little one would use to take over the bandit outpost's systems
'That must be the outpost… The intel told us they were in the smaller side outpost which functions as a detention facility'
Mark eyed up the smaller of the 3 hallowed out asteroids as he checked his pistol, having been printed on the way over with a 3d printer the black plastic pistol looked entirely unlike any pistol Mark had ever seen, the entire top and sides of the extra large slide were covered in ports to reduce the problem that came with firing it in a zero G environment
'Hopefully I won't need to use this…'
The little one had warned that while it was fitted with a 15 round magazine and one bullet loaded in the chamber, he would likely only get 5 to 9 shots out of it before the barrel became inoperable
'Alright…'
Flying over to the final asteroid before he reached the outposts gravity field Mark scanned the area one final time before he spoke
"Alright, connection should be up in 30 seconds"
[I got it, there are no crafts on the long range FTL scanner so you should be clear]
Mark did a final check before he pushed off the final asteroid and flew over to the side of the outpost, Marking contact with the smooth metal surface he quickly began searching for a maintenance panel
'Oh, wait, this looks like exposed Ficer… This definitely also smells like a bandit detention facility too…'
Seeing an exposed line of clear crystal where a metal panel had been haphazardly secured over it Mark quickly reached behind him and caught the thin line of Ficer cable he had trailing behind him before he pressed it against the metal panel and shoved it into the opening where he held it in place for a few moments until a voice echoed out in his helmet
[The connection is live, secure the wire]
"Got it"
Mark reached around and pulled out a metal patch from his pouch which he pulled over the wire and exposed Ficer before he removed a pin on the back of the patch, a few moments later it sealed itself and the wire onto the side of the outpost
"It's secured"
[Got it, I've overwritten a maintenance hatch to your left]
Mark flew over and found the hatch, while it was made for smaller maintenance drones he managed to just fit into it by morphing his body as soon as the small airlock cycled and the internal hatch opened he stuck his head out and looked around
"Ugh… God damn…"
[Anything wrong Mark?]
"Nope, I've just confined we're in the right place"
While what Mark had entered were but a small walk in freezer the 'produce' inside was anything but usual
'Well, maybe it is for a bandit outpost…'
Packages of chemical stimulants and booze were neatly stacked just to the side of the entrance, while piles of frozen body parts and corpses marked with plastic tags stabled onto them were stacked in the back
"How does it look?"
[Internal surveillance equipment is sparse, however I've overwritten some sensors to get a better look around standby… Turn left down the hallway as you leave the freezer, then take the 3rd right, that should lead you to the detention cells]
Exiting the freezer, Mark found himself in a surprisingly clean hallway with guide rails on 2 sides broken by hatch like doors, following the little one's instructions Mark made his way down the hallway and arrived at the hatch to the detention area
[There's a guard on your right side as you enter, he is asleep. The extraction target is in cell number #12]
"Alright"
A moment passed before the hatch door opened and Mark flew in and to his right, the guard had awoken from the sound of the hatch opening, however Mark reached him before he could react
'Nighty night…'
Covering the bandit's mouth with one hand, Mark crushed his throat and neck with his other hand, not having time to feed Mark left the delicious smelling corpse behind and began searching for the right cell
'... Reminds me of a capsule hotel'
Quickly locating the cell with '12' painted on it Mark flew over to it
"Open the hatch"
A moment passed before the hatch opened, looking inside the small capsule Mark found a woman clad in a boiler suit strapped down on a long stretcher, pulling the stretcher out Mark marveled at her platinum blonde hair that floated around freely in air, a plastic mask covered her mouth and nose, tracing the air tube Mark found a pressurized canister on the side of the stretcher
"...She's asleep, can I remove the mask?"
[No, there is no telling what kind of substance she's sedated with, plus it should work as an independent air supply once you secure the life vest onto her… Hunker down and secure the hostage, I will have full control over the outpost in a couple of minutes]
"Alright…"
Mark removed a metal box from his belt, flipping it over he pulled out a harness which he pulled onto the unconscious woman before he accessed the consol on the front of the box
'Secure the harness…'
Pressing a button, the harness tightened up and secured the metal box in the center of the woman's chest
'And engage… There'
As Mark turned the life vest on, a small barely visible shield formed around the unconscious woman, now having secured her for a limited stay in outer space Mark flew back over to the bandit corpse and patted it down for any kind of weapons
'A knife? Well, might as well'
After securing the looted knife to his belt, Mark closed his eyes and curled his knees up before he hugged them tight, after calming himself down for a few moments he strained his senses and picked up several sounds of life in the outpost, however none of them were near him so he calmed down a little and patiently waited for the little one to contact him again
[I've finished up, I am inbound to pick you up now]
"Alright, any chance we'll have to fight to get out?"
[None, I've taken control of 4 combat capable ships in the main hangar along with the entire outpost. Our communications will be cut until I reach you… Please stand by]
"Got it…"
Mark floated over to the hostage and folded out a handle from the life vest which he grabbed and waited
'...'
As Mark waited the scents of the outpost stopped tempting him as much and he took some time to feel out the different 'scents'
'Hmm..?'
Opening his eyes, Mark looked down at hostage's face, her pale skin was completely smooth and she was by far the most naturally beautiful person Mark had ever laid his eyes on, however that wasn't what he was focused on at the moment
'It's faint but now that I am honed in I can smell it clearly… Deep-seated despair of some kind… Maybe it's because she's hidden it deeply for so long… A damn shame I can't have a little taste…'
Even if he wanted to risk being found out after he had given over the hostage, he couldn't remove the life vest now that it had been deployed and before he finished weighing the success of the mission between a small tasting the little one's voice echoed out in Mark's helmet
[Mark, please move back into the hallway with the hostage and make your way to the hatch outside the freezer]
"Alright, on my way"
Pulling out his pistol Mark flew over to the hatch to the hallway with the hostage in tow and cleared it before he floated out into it and made his way to the hatch to the freezer
"I here"
[Alright, breaching now]
A moment passed before the outpost shock with an explosion, then a moment later Mark felt the hallway he was in depressurize
[Move now]
"Moving"
Mark opened the hatch and flew into the freezer with the hostage, the entire wall where the maintenance hatch was placed had been destroyed by a breaching charge and just outside the outpost Mark saw the open side hatch of the Sparrow which Mark quickly entered through and closed the hatch behind him before he strapped down and secured the hostage
"I'm in"
[Got it, mission completed then]
Mark took one last look at the hostage before he closed his eyes and linked himself to the Sparrow and took control of it a moment later
"...What the fuck?"
[I've overwritten the outpost's security protocols and triggered a complete lockdown]
"You don't say…"
Using the senses of the Sparrow to look over the outpost, Mark 'saw' all outer hatches opened up, the main hangar doors closed shut and the entire station without power
[I estimate around 5 hours until the surviving bandits can make it through the bulkheads to access the hanger. The 4 ships under my control have already left the outpost towards predesignated coordinates in the belt where they'll loiter]
"Nice, well done little one"
Burning clear from the asteroid belt Mark prepped the Sparrow for FTL cruise and a few moments later the Sparrow shock as it accelerated