One day before the killing of Mr. Marksman.

An armed squad of SEKT soldiers gathered outside an abandoned region. Each one wore a lightweight suit that protected them from radiation. It had a charcoal gray outer layer with white neon lights twisting around the arms and legs of the suit. The region was a vast desert. The sand had darkened as it mixed with the ash that lay on the ground. The night was dry and cold as the temperature dropped below zero. The deafening silence was only disturbed by the sound of boots walking through the sand.

Beyond the dunes stood a small beacon. It was barely visible to the naked eye, but the buzzing sound spread far and wide allowing the soldiers to track the beacon down. Sigvald held his fist in the air, signaling the battalion to stop marching.

“We’re here,” he said confidently. “This is the Alliance’s data storage facility.”

He walked up to the beacon and inspected it. The rest of the soldiers exchanged glances as they wondered what their leader meant. This was merely a barren, radioactive desert with one hidden beacon.

Sigvald scoffed, “I never thought Steven to be so foolish. Using the very technology I designed and thinking I wouldn’t know how to use it.”

Sigvald unsheathed his small dagger and marked a circle in the sand around the beacon. He then summoned his troops to stand inside the demarcated area.

“Initiate cloakers and SD-boots. We’re moving up. Commander Asher, I assume you’re familiar with the plan?”

A broad-shouldered man with curly, brown hair that reached the base of his neck stepped forward. A stern look painted his face as he nodded slightly in approval. Two scythes joined by a steel chain were tied to his waist. A weapon both equipped for ranged and melee combat. Only the elite ranks such as commanders were allowed to carry weapons of their choice. The rest of the troops were given standard issue rifles and daggers.

“The Alliance space station we are about to assault is of key importance to Lord Sigvald’s plan,” Asher began.

He pulled up a map of the space station. It was a generic design. One main, cylindrical shaft led to the four wings of the station where data was stored.

“Our spies have given us this schematic of this intelligence base. It is guarded by approximately sixty soldiers. They are spread out in groups of nine on each floor with fifteen on the top floor guarding the command center,” said Asher. “The troops will deal with the floors below the command center as a distraction. The final floor will be dealt with by me and Lord Sigvald. Understood?”

“Yes, Commander!” the troopers chanted.

They turn the circle on the front of their suits. Their suits cloak and they vanish from sight gradually as if dissolving into the background. Sigvald initiates the terminal.

“Initiating spacial breach in 3...2...1...Spacial breach underway!”

All the troopers begin to disintegrate as they are teleported. On the other side of the terminal, Sigvald, Asher, and the battalion stepped out of the terminal and into the middle of The Alliance’s intelligence space station. Being in space, the space station simulated the gravity of Earth. The four branches from the main shaft were referred to as the four wings.

A few troopers quickly and silently dispatched the guards on the ground floor and dragged their bodies to the airlock. Sigvald looked at his clock. Their cloakers would only last another minute before their charge would be drained.

The troopers acknowledged and silently walked across the metal staircase. Their SD-boots dampened the noise. There was no stealthy method of taking over. As soon as the troopers make the first kill, others will notice the dead body and sound the alarm. The only option they had was to simply overwhelm the base with their numbers.

The troopers fired at the unaware guards on the next floor as they rushed the floors. The guards who were quick to react ducked behind some crates to avoid the barrage of laser bolts. One guard, with a deep breath, summoned the courage to make a run for the alarm at the other end of the room. He dashed across the room and grabbed hold of the alarm.

“Intruder! Cloakers on the sec-”

The guard’s plea for help was silenced by the SEKT forces as they filled his body with holes. The rest of the guards fell like dominos as their cover was destroyed.

“Floor 2, we’re sending reinforcements!” shouted one of the operatives from the top floor. “Floor 2? Come in?”

Asher and Sigvald, still cloaked, exited the main shaft. They bypassed the lower floors and headed for the command center. Sigvald nodded slightly to Asher. Sigvald was not one to get his hands dirty in bloody combat. He let his subordinates handle that for him.

The door to the command center opened and a canister rolled into the center of the room. The Chief Supervisor in charge of the station yelled, “Smoke!”

A grey smoke filled the room as Asher unsheathed his chained scythe. He wielded one moon-shaped blade in each hand that was connected together by a chain. He turned off the white lights on his suit, becoming almost invisible to his victims. The guards began to blindly fire shots around them in fear. The commander ran aimlessly through the smoke, hoping for a clearing.

The room fell silent. The clicking of a gun with empty magazines echoed through the room as all the guards have expended their blaster bolts. In a flash, Asher swung the chain above a guard’s head like a rope dart. Using a sharpened scythe, he slashed the man’s head from above. Asher yanked the chain and pulled the man’s body towards him. Using the man as a human shield, Asher closed the gap between him and the guards.

“Come out, you monster!” shouted a guard in a shaky voice.

Before the man could close his mouth, Asher stuck one of his curved blades in it. The blade cut through his lower jaw and protruded from his chin. He pounced on the man’s shoulders and drove him to the ground. In one swift motion, Asher ripped the man’s head off his body.

The smoke hid the swift deaths of the guards but not their screams. Their collective cries for help only softened as their numbers dwindled. Sigvald smiled smugly as Asher dealt swiftly with the guards. He was Sigvald’s most lethal and loyal asset.

The smoke cleared from the room. Asher stood amongst a scene of corpses. All victims of his scythe. Most of the deaths were beheadings; swift and as painless as possible. Blood had splattered all across the room. It stained the walls and created ponds on the floor. The clean smell of the control room disappeared and was replaced with its stench. To most people, the presence of that stench would be enough to make them wrinkle their noses in disgust. As familiar as it was, they noticed the lack of stench instead.

The Chief Supervisor ran straight into Sigvald’s gigantic figure. Sigvald’s eyes bore down on him as he shook helplessly. He lifted the Chief up by his shirt and pinned him to the wall.

“Give us the codes to the intelligence console and your death will be swift,” demanded Sigvald.

The man stammered, “I don’t know the codes! I swear! I’m meant to guard the information, not access it!”

Sigvald grunted and tightened his grip, “I am losing my patience old man...”

“I don’t know, okay! I don’t have a clue, I swear! If I knew I’d tell you!” he yelled desperately.

Sigvald grinned slightly as he lowered the man to the ground. “I believe you...”

Asher stretched his hand out to protest but Sigvald unsheathed his dagger and drove it into the man’s abdomen. The Chief screeched in pain. His screech turned into a silent gasp as Sigvald twisted the dagger and drove it into him like a drill. He then dropped the whimpering man to the ground.

“Call your medics. You’ll bleed out in an hour,” he said nonchalantly as he wiped the blood on his dagger on the Chief’s cheek.

Sigvald turned his attention to the console. If Steve had kept any of the intel systems he had put in place before he left the Alliance, then any tampering with the data will automatically erase it. There’s no point in hacking this, Sigvald thought, I’d rather just get rid of it. He picked up a guard’s pistol and shot the console until it powered down.

Tampering detected. Deleting data. Please enter the passcode to abort!

“What the hell are you doing?” demanded Asher. “I didn’t slaughter a dozen soldiers just so you could pick up a damn pistol and destroy this data.”

“You did what you did because I told you to do it and that’s all the reason you need,” SIgvald snapped. “You know what the price of disobedience is, don’t you?”

Asher immediately backed up and answered, “Yes, of course, Lord Sigvald.”

Sigvald raised one eyebrow and nodded to Asher’s link, “Aren’t you forgetting something?”

“Oh, yes... of course!” Asher stammered as he contacted the other troops who had taken the rest of the base. “Trooper, report!”

“Mission accomplished, Commander Asher.”

Sigvald glanced at his watch. He only had 2 hours left.

“Hurry up here! I need to be somewhere,” he ordered before walking off. Asher followed behind him. The troops had attempted to retrieve the data in the four wings, but it had been wiped.

With a last glance at the wrecked space station, Sigvald asked one of the troopers, “Have you planted the bombs?”

The trooper nodded in affirmation and handed Sigvald the trigger switch. He pressed it and the entire station began to tick at an increasing rate. The clock counted down. Sigvald and his troops teleported out of the station and back to the desert. As they exited, Sigvald picked up the beacon embedded in the sand. He watched the flashing green light until it turned a solid red. The beacon had lost signal with the station.

Two hours later.

Sigvald opened the wooden double door and took a seat in the middle of the audience. He had heard of a court case that was pending for the alleged murder of a pauper. It’s incredibly rare that the murder of someone deemed so insignificant is actually taken to court, Sigvald thought. He was curious as to who decided to escalate it. Deep down, he held out some hope that the law would for once, dish out justice.

“Your honor, I would like to call Ethan Rider, an eye-witness to the murder, to the stand,” the lawyer said.

Ethan? As in, Haley’s son? questioned Sigvald. He couldn’t believe his eyes when he saw the green-eyed man stand up and walk past him. Did he escalate it?

Ethan stood up behind the table next to the judge and raised one hand. “My name is Ethan James Rider, son of Haley Steinberg-Rider. I solemnly, sincerely, and truly declare and affirm that I will tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth.”

The judge stamps her gavel on the table, “Excellent. Let us begin.”