Interesting Times - Chapter 56

December 7th, 2173

17:34

Illium, Tesale-System

Nos Astra

Leaning back in his chair, Laurence couldn't help the smile that grew on his face.

"Always a nice feeling to see everything fall into place," he whispered.

A few weeks ago, he finally found his target and followed her to her hideout. Or, at least, one of her hideouts.

She changed the place from where she commanded her mercenaries every three days, yet there was one place she always returned to more often than the other five hideouts Laurence identified.

He could understand why she used the place as her main base of operation.

After all, not even Ad Astra would expect Eclipse to operate from a skyscraper consisting mainly of residential units.

Three whole floors were fortified like a military base and teeming with Eclipse personnel.

There were only two entries or exits to those floors, and both were heavily fortified.

Well, there was a third exit. If one had a way to survive when jumping out of a window from the 57th to 59th story, at least.

If the buildings' plans, which had cost Laurence a small fortune to obtain, were correct, then Eclipse, or the people who had the previous ownership, had to have been involved in the construction.

There could be no other explanation for the fact that the regular staircase and elevator could let you access every floor but those three. And Laurence didn't mean not getting on those floors because you're missing the correct keycard or something like that.

The elevator doors from the 57th to 59th floor did not exist. The doors at the west and east staircases were only dummies.

It wasn't physically possible to enter those three floors via the methods accessible to the other residents of the skyscraper.

Instead, there was an extra staircase right next to the east staircase for the residents. The secret staircase could only accessed through the basement and only had one door on the 57th floor.

It was clear to Laurence that this was only an emergency entry or exit in case the elevator, which could only be accessed via the basement, was shut down for any reason.

The secret elevator only went up to the 57th floor like the staircase. It was hidden inside a pillar that the official building plans declared simply as that: a pillar to support the building's stability.

A simple yet effective disguise, as Laurence wouldn't have known that there was a hidden elevator if he hadn't seen the floor plans beforehand when he visited the building to get a good look at the area.

In fact, the whole setup was quite ingenious, as he would bet that none of the residents had any idea that three complete floors on the higher levels of the building were used as a mercenary base.

If he had visited the building without prior knowledge, he wouldn't have seen anything out of place.

Of course, he sent a report concerning his findings to Tara, who, in turn, sent it higher up while adding to his recommendation of setting up bases for the AIS like this in the bigger human cities across the Alliance territory. 

He hadn't heard anything back, but he guessed that his proposal would find approval if the AIS didn't already do it, and Laurence just hadn't heard about any of them. He wouldn't put it past the AIS and their need-to-know policy among the lower ranks.

In any case, he had observed the building from all four cardinal directions for a few days, and not even once had Laurence seen anyone entering or leaving that could be identified as a member of Eclipse.

The only logical conclusion was that there had to be a secondary entrance in the basement Eclipse used to transfer people and materials.

A more in-depth investigation and infiltration of the basement helped to find the secondary entrance hidden behind a fake wall leading into a tunnel to a different house where the Eclipse personnel went in and out hourly.

While checking out the basement had been relatively easy for Laurence, getting into the three floors of the Eclipse base was a different undertaking.

There were only two entrances, as the three floors were independent of the rest of the building, and one could only get to the 59th floor if one entered via the 57th. Those three floors were connected by their own elevators and staircases that could only be accessed through those floors.

It would be nearly impossible to enter those floors without being detected, and not even his suit's abilities would make it easier. While its stealth capabilities were much better than anything the members of the Alliance military's soldiers with the infiltrator specialization had access to, they were still subject to limitations. The suit's batteries couldn't keep up the invisibility forever, and there were too many cameras and patrols throughout the three floors and the staircase leading up to them to have a hiding place to let them recharge without being found in the meantime.

Yet, there was one option Laurence found, an option that revealed a structural weakness to exploit.

When he first saw it on the building's plans, he couldn't help the laugh that escaped him.

It was such a stereotypical weakness that there could be no other reaction, and he was sure that any other AIS agent would have reacted the same.

After all, was there anything more clichéd than using the ventilation system to infiltrate a heavily defended base?

The ventilation system was too small to climb into it himself, not to speak of how loud it would have been if he crawled through it, but it was perfect to send through some spy drones to get a picture of the layout of the three floors and to plant a few observation devices.

Laurence didn't even wait two hours after finding this weakness before leaving his hotel room with his equipment.

And, now?

Now, he just had to sit at his desk and could observe everything that was going on in the Eclipse base from afar.

Thankfully, the drones worked automatically and cataloged everything that was going on in the base since Laurence didn't have time to do it manually as his target did not stay there the whole time.

She visited the other Eclipse bases regularly to bring up morale, check on things personally, or punish incompetent members.

If Laurence had to pick a moment to strike, it would be during one of those visits, as the security and defensive measures at those places were not up to the level of their main base.

Yet, he would probably not get the chance.

In the last few days, Laurence had noted an increase in activities among all bases while, at the same time, the fighting with Ad Astra's forces had nearly stopped. It seemed like something important was about to happen.

A call to Tara confirmed his suspicions.

"Denebren is going to end this conflict in six days," Tara told him yesterday. "It seems like he's about to confront the person who employed Eclipse and take them out of the game. He wants Eclipse's leadership in shambles before that. Can you make it happen?"

"If they are about to clash for the last time, Ayori will not move from her fortress. I'll have to get here there, and that could be a problem."

"You? Having a problem?" she asked, not believing that Laurence would have any problems taking out a target. After all, his records didn't show a single mission that hadn't been completed satisfactorily.

"I could do it," he reassured, his pride rearing its head, "but it would be easier with a team. The risk of the target escaping is too high if I go in. She mostly stays on the third floor, and I would have to fight my way up from the first. Furthermore, detection is unavoidable as there aren't enough places for my suit to recharge."

"Can't you hit her from the outside? There should be enough positions from where you could make the shot."

"The position is not the problem," Laurence corrected. "The command room has a window to the north, and there is a high enough building in that direction to make a shot. The problem is that the window is made of bulletproof glass with a double layer of kinetic barriers. Eclipse didn't shy away from the costs when they updated their defenses. My bullets could punch through. They have enough power behind them for that, but they would veer off course and probably miss. Usually, I would install a remote trigger to deactivate the barriers since the glass alone wouldn't be enough to stop them, but without getting in there, I can't. And the drones can't do it."

"So, you're lacking the power?" Tara asked, and Laurence could hear that she was thinking about something.

"Yes," he answered tentatively.

"I'll contact you again tomorrow. I've heard about something that should help you with that." Without waiting for a response, Tara closed the connection, leaving Laurence to wonder what she meant.

He hadn't heard back from her until now and could only guess what she was doing.

As if the universe heard his thoughts, his Omni-tool started to flash in short intervals, indicating a call for him.

Activating the features for a secure line, Laurence took the call and asked: "Found what you were looking for?"

"I did, and you're going to love it," answered Tara, who didn't seem surprised at his lack of a greeting and responded likewise.

"Am I?" Laurence raised an eyebrow in question, something Tara couldn't see but could definitely hear in his tone.

"Yes," she replied and left no room for doubt. "Is your line secure? I have a data package for you."

Quickly opening another application on his Omni-tool, Laurence started the process to make sure that the connection on his end was secure enough to receive the data package without giving anything away.

It wasn't often that Tara asked or did such things, but whenever she did, it was because she came across something that would be indispensable to the success of the mission.

"It is now," said Laurence when his Omni-tool showed him that it finished securing the line.

"It should be there in a minute or two," replied Tara, and already he could see the download starting.

When it finished, Laurence didn't wait a moment before opening the file and asking: "It arrived. What am I looking at?"

"A new sniper rifle prototype, not even out of Ad Astra's labs."

"How did you get those schematics? I don't believe that Ad Astra would let them lie around if they are as new as you say," asked Laurence as his eyes scanned everything displayed.

Its design wasn't too different from the one he was used to, yet he could see that this model was bulkier than his.

The most glaring difference was that the barrel looked like it could be swapped out and seemed proportionally longer than usual for a rifle of that size.

"I got them from our guy in Acquisition. Heard him talking with one of your old trainers about a new rifle being tested by Ad Astra with much higher firepower than anything else currently on the market. I asked him yesterday if he could get me the schematics. He delivered. There are no real details about its construction and its internal structure, but the thing that will interest you the most, its performance test, is there. Look them over and tell me what you think."

Laurence opened the second file and had to stop his chin from falling when he saw the data.

If everything he read was true, this rifle would be more than enough to get the job done.

The speed and penetrative power of the bullets were off the charts, in his opinion. The kickback would be a problem for most, yet with his suit giving Laurence a minor boost in strength, he could handle it easily.

"There has to be a drawback besides the kickback, right? Else, I can't see how Ad Astra isn't bringing this on the market soon."

"True," agreed Tara without hesitation, "there are drawbacks. Yet, they aren't significant for someone with your talent and experience in hitting a target."

"Okay," replied Laurence slowly, "now, you're making me worry."

"It's not like the rifle will explode in your hands after a shot. The problem is similar to that, but nothing so extreme."

"Could you please tell me? I need to know everything about this rifle to decide if it's useful enough for what I have to do."

"You have seen the performance data, right? I heard from my contact in Acquisition that the rifle's barrel can't withstand the force it's put through and has to be changed after every shot."

"Does the barrel get too hot? That could warp the metal, and the rifle's shot would lose accuracy. If that is the case, I won't be using it, no matter the power. If I can not hit my target, I would be better off storming the base."

"Don't worry, that is not the problem," assuaged Tara. "Ad Astra's researchers wanted the rifle to function with the high performance you saw in the files, and dealing with the resulting heat was one of the first problems they tackled. The problem lies with the capacitors in the barrel, which are needed to accelerate the bullet to the speeds you saw. A single shot burns through them like a fire burns through an oil-soaked paper."

"And with no chance of repairing them, the barrel has to be exchanged," Laurence concluded, a frown finding its way onto his face as he contemplated if the rifle could be used in his endeavors. 

"Correct," said Tara. "That's why the prototype looks like it does. The end product will probably have an encased barrel for structural integrity, but for now, as they are testing different methods, it is enough."

"And you think I could get one of the prototypes? I don't believe they're building and testing them here on Illium. Something like this has to be tested inside the Alliance. Much more secure, too."

"You're right. Ad Astra isn't building them on Illium, but they have the means to do so. Shouldn't take them longer than a day or two to make a prototype on-site. That is if you think that you need one. I don't want to strain any relationships with my contacts for something unneeded."

Laurence leaned back in his seat, rubbing his chin as he thought about the prototype.

If what Tara said was true, it could be an advantage. Yet, he was still skeptical. After all, they were talking about an unfinished prototype, and those had the tendency to not work as they should in critical moments.

The rifle would be more than enough to pierce through Eclipse's defenses and turn his target into mush, but a single shot was all he would get. There would be no second chance.

Laurence let out a sigh before clapping his cheeks, banishing the thought from his mind.

He was one of the best Hunters of the AIS. He didn't need a second chance. One was more than enough.

During the whole time he had been training for his position within the AIS he had never needed a second try to get the job done, and the Hunters were trained to never need a second try anyway.

They were trained to be the best of the best, and the simple thought of not making it on the first try was already a sign that they were losing their edge. That was one of the first things they were taught by their trainers.

And Laurence definitely wasn't losing his edge, and he would prove it to the person who mattered the most.

Himself.

"Ask them to build it," said Laurence, deciding to use the prototype rifle. "I need three barrels. Two for testing the rifle, and one to get the job done."

"I'll send you the details where you can pick it up tomorrow. They are already making it," replied Tara with a tone that told Laurence that she knew he would go for the option she offered him.

He good-naturedly rolled his eyes.

Sometimes, it seemed like his handler knew him better than he did himself.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------

December 10th, 2173

21:21 

Illium, Tesale-System

Nos Astra 

His hands slowly and methodically dismantled the rifle in front of him. He held every single part up to his eyes, inspecting them for any faults.

There would be no room for any kind of equipment failure, not now.

Laying the pieces carefully down on a small blanket, Laurence pulled out a cloth and dribbled a few drops of oil on it.

As if the rifle had been his long-time partner and not just a tool he possessed for less than two days, he took great care of giving each piece the attention they deserved.

At first, Laurence had been skeptical about the rifle's performance despite Tara's assurances.

Yet, when he met a team of Ad Astra's soldiers in an abandoned dockyard in the dead of the night to test it, he fell in love with it.

He wore his nanofibre suit underneath his regular clothes, giving his strength a minor passive boost, and the kickback of the first shot had taken him by surprise nonetheless.

Even the rocket launcher he tried during his training days hadn't thrown off his aim that much!

Laurence accounted it to his surprise, if only to spare his pride as the Ad Astra soldiers snickered around him as he was thrown on his butt.

Thankfully, they had brought two more barrels than Laurence said he would need, and after firing his third shot, he could say with certainty that even if Ad Astra's scientists never found a way to make a barrel hold out longer than a single shot, this rifle would and should become a part of every AIS-Hunter's equipment.

It was simply perfect for them.

The bullet was heavy and fast enough to simply ignore any obstacle in its way. The perfect tool for the assassination of a single target.

When he left, Laurence asked the Ad Astra soldiers to pass on his thanks to the genius who thought of such a wonderful toy, and they only smiled and said they would.

After that, Laurence didn't waste any time and traveled to the Eclipse base, intending to decide from which position he would strike.

In the days before, he marked a few of them, but deciding which would be the best should only be done on the day of the strike.

After all, the conditions were ever-changing.

It would be embarrassing to be found by an unscheduled cleaning crew only because someone important was visiting the location in the next few days.

That had happened to one of Laurence's colleagues, and the story never failed to elicit a chuckle whenever it was told.

It took him half of the early afternoon to decide on a skyscraper half a kilometer south of the building Eclipse was occupying, and another half an hour for the place within the selected skyscraper.

Yet, he couldn't have found a better place as Laurence had a free view of the level where his target would appear later on.

Closing his eyes, Laurence emptied his mind of superfluous thoughts.

This wasn't the time to indulge in reminiscence.

Right now, he was nothing but a hunter.

A hunter making sure that his tools of trade were in optimal condition.

Slowly and carefully, he put every part of the rifle back together, and when he finished, his hand ghosted over it only a hairsbreadth away.

A swipe with his Omni-tool to check if everything was correctly put together, to which the hunter nodded satisfied when he got the read-out.

He placed the rifle at his shoulder, his eye perfectly in line with the scope.

It didn't take him long to survey the outside of the room where his target would appear, as he wouldn't be able to see through the mirrored windows the conventional way anyway. This was more to check if anything had changed and if the sensors of his scope picked up any data that deviated from the one he picked up yesterday.

Any deviation could cause him to miss his shot.

Yet, the hunter's sensors did not pick up any changes.

He didn't feel any relief at that, but he would have felt annoyance if it had changed.

Details changed, that was a fact of life, but that didn't mean that one desired them to change, not even for the better.

After all, it would undo any previously made plan and could cause failure.

The twitch of his ring finger activated the camera he painstakingly directed through the ventilation system to see into the room of his target, and with his middle finger the four small drones that had attached themselves at the four corners of the room's window.

A thin screen started to spread out from the four drones, unseen to the naked eye and only visible through his scope that could interpret the frequency of the screen. It grew and grew until it encompassed the whole window.

The moment it finished, the camera within the ventilation system went to work.

One of its scanners recorded everything that happened inside the room while the other projected it onto the screen right outside the window, using its frequency to oscillate the particles until they formed a picture.

A picture of the room's interior.

An addition to the Hunter's equipment that had already paid its price back and more, as not only things hidden by glass but stone and metal could be made visible, too. Furthermore, it came out of the AIS's own labs, and as such not even Ad Astra, their usual supplier for nifty gadgets, knew about it.

Sadly, the picture it projected wasn't very clear. It simply showed the outlines from the inside, which would make it difficult to identify the target if he hadn't the camera to cross-reference.

Slowly, the hunter felt how his mind went into a trance.

Time started to feel unimportant. Time didn't matter. Time would only become important when the right moment arrived.

And that moment came.

Three people entered the room, one was a Salrian, and two were Asari.

The Salarian was easily recognizable, even though the screen was the Salarian's head distinctive.

The wild articulating Asari was probably the hunter's target as that would fit her personality profile. Nonetheless, he closed his right eye and activated the camera feed.

The hunter's hunch proved correct when he recognized the facial markings.

His breathing slowed, and the same could be said for his heart. The internal dampers of the rifle helped to compensate for any movements of his body the hunter couldn't stop. It was a limitation of the human body that human ingenuity found an answer to.

Every time the target moved, the cross of the scope would smoothly follow.

He could feel the moment come closer.

The moment appeared when the figure stopped, gesturing toward the Salarian, who suddenly started to float.

When before it felt like time had become insubstantial, now it felt like the hunter could count every millisecond.

He took in every scrap of data at once.

The wind, the skycars flying close by, the minor fluctuations of the kinetic barrier around the window.

His right pointer finger, which hadn't left the trigger since the moment his target appeared, increased the pressure, and within a moment, he felt the kickback of the bullet leaving the barrel.

He watched for a moment longer, seeing how cracks appeared on the window and, most importantly, how the torso of his target disappeared into nothingness.

The hunter lowered the rifle, and Laurence Barnes let out a sigh of relief.

His mission was done, and the only thing left to do was to leave no evidence that he had ever been here.