This had to be one of the easier assignments that she had been given. Drawing security detail for the graduation ceremony for the next batch of recruits sounded easy. There were several other agents present though many were hardly more advanced then graduates themselves.

The planet was pretty safe, far from one of those lawless worlds and had been the same that she had her own graduation ceremony at. Security was light, herself and a few other agents. As it was she had been closest to the stage where keynote speakers were given speeches.

First there was one of the graduates that had the highest marks, then one of the higher ups, one of the instructors, a major that know had it easier in her advanced years. She wasn't old but not young either being in her mid 40's where her reflexes had diminished and such work as an infiltrator had been left to younger agents for the most part.

Audrey was her name. In time she would present the class with diplomas before the cadets were shipped out for their first assignments after a small brake they would be partnered with other more experienced agents until they amassed enough experience to work on their own.

Everything was going well … at least until Haley caught a glimpse of light that had to be from the scope on a rifle, at least that was what her mind would spring too from one of the buildings closest to the park they were at, a point that had a clear line vantage point to the stage ...

Agent Young wasn’t sure how she felt about these graduation ceremonies. On the one hand, it was a far better fate that befell these girls than the alternatives. On the other… it wasn’t a decision they had made, but one that had been made for them… sometimes by alien predators, and sometimes by scheming humans trying to fill the “school” and keep themselves safe, knowing exactly what they were sending those girls to.

The redhead sighed and cleared her thoughts… too much daydreaming lately. This batch at least looked… determined, if not jubilant. It was a feeling she understood well, though she was beginning to find some happiness in her role as a protector at least. She hadn’t been assigned a trainee… though if she made officer, next year she might be getting one. That thought made her brighten up… the idea of helping someone else ease into this life.

She didn’t know the woman on stage, at least not personally. She knew her name was “Audrey”, and knew that she was doing her best to help ease this class into a new life as well. She knew because nobody at her rank would normally let themselves be called “Audrey” in such a professional setting.

The glint of light almost went unnoticed. To an untrained eye, it would have just been the sun’s reflection on a window or metal siding. But to Haley… “Overwatch, can you check a window, looks like… 5th floor, 7 o’clock from the podium? Looks like… a slate grey structure… just like all of them…” She muttered as she trailed off. She wasn’t going to feel good until she went and checked that out herself. Damned perfectionist nature, she laughed to herself, and took off at a good clip towards the building, finding a stairwell and trying to keep track of which direction would be facing the ceremony.

“Copy.” Came a response over her com. While attention and resources had been trained on the building Overwatch could tap into security cameras and even use thermals to pick up on heat sources.

The building was not far away, no more than a few blocks. A light jog later she found herself in the stairwell of an office building.

There were various companies inside operating out of it.

“red,” Overwatch came back, “I have various heat sources in that building. Pulling up the records of that structure various companies operate out of there. However, DimoTech has offices on the fifth floor but they are closed today. Further all the security cameras on that level have been turned off.

“It could be a cleaner but most companies use droids for that sort of thing. You want to check room 518. Be careful, Red, I'll alert the others.”

Getting up those stairs her approach had been opposed by no one. The fifth floor appeared vacant though the lights in the hall were on. Not too suspicious by itself but the fact that the security system was down was another matter.

Room 518 was there on her left. From beyond the door she could hear something, voices of two beings though their tone was low and it was tough to hear what was being said. She could catch a few words but on there own they didn't make much sense, at least most of them. Among them she could pick out the word target.

The agent managed a smile at the nickname that had become her unofficial call sign on most ops. She was also thankful that all her sports training in high school and university translated to this job, as she was barely winded by the time she reached the 5th floor of the building. Even so, the place looked uninviting, half-lit and deserted as it was. Better than if it were staffed though, she thought to herself.

“Copy, I’ll check it out. Maybe get someone to cover my post, who knows how long this will take.” She said quietly into her comms. Haley drew her sidearm as she moved into the office, trying to be stealthy… she hadn’t been issued a rifle for this assignment, so she hoped that the small energy pistol would be enough to handle anything she might run into. At the very least, it had a flashlight built into it, allowing her to scan the room, and finally find the room she was looking for. The door was closed, so she listened carefully at it.

Taking a deep breath, she finally kicked the door in, sweeping the room with her weapon…

There crouched by the window was a being in black body armor and a helmet. He or she as the case maybe was kneeling by the open window with an old fashioned slug thrower rifle leaning up against the wall complete with the scope that gave away the sniper's position.

The tech was a long cry away from the blasters that she had to get use to and reminded her more of a weapon that she would find on Earth. From a gauntlet the image of a second being could be seem as projected by some sort of holo communicator.

She did not have long to see the image as it winked out after looking in her direction. Clearly he could see her and the shift of his head alerted the assassin to her presence. The being was some sort of alien, the image in both black and blue making it impossible to tell what color it actually was. It's eyes had no pupils and his face, at least it struck her as male, lacked a noise and even mouth but looked rather stern like on of the things that frequented the island. The hands contained only three fingers and a thumb along with a tail she could see behind it though she was not certain of that given the brief time she had in taking in the image.

The assassin rolled popping up while drawing a sidearm that was far more advanced then the rifle but quick motion caused his shot to miss. Her surprise was short lived and while she managed a brief exchange of shots her own splashed over the body armor where she would see a crackling blue electrical discharge was over the assassin rather than the usual effect.

The assassin came straight at her after a few quick shots. It was clear that there was little cover from the window to the adjoining room so she would likely get more shots off. Maybe that armor could only absorb a shot or two, maybe it had some other flaw.

With that sidearm it was clear that the assassin was a poor shot with it. At least that seemed to be the case. He was trying to close the distance in order to use hand to hand combat skills against her since she stood between him and the door.

Agent Young didn’t even have time to order them to surrender before they were coming at her. The figure that had been… supervising?... winked out of existence before she could figure out what was going on, though she did manage to get a good look at them at least. The pair exchanged shots, her own seeming to be absorbed across whatever armor it was wearing, while the assassins went wild, framing her in the doorway.

Haley decided to risk the armor having a limit and stood her ground, firing until her sidearm started to beep from overheating. If they were still advancing after that, she’d grab her batons and attempt to keep blocking the door.

“Overwatch, I need support!” She managed to get out, though couldn’t add details amid the firefight…

“On it. I'm sending back up to your local. What's going on Red?”

As she brought out the batons after their exchange of small arms fire the assassin paused for half a second then produced a knife. Hand to hand the assassin was good. Their footwork, even their grip on the weapon reeked of some sort of formal training.

She could guess that the assassin enjoyed or was more comfortable with primitive weapons. The assassin moved well and quickly having the disadvantage of having the single weapon since any time she blocked she had the other baton to strike.

Fortunately the assassin didn't appear to be immensely stronger than her but was quicker always pulling away from her strikes, hitting her forearm of that attacking arm to redirect her attack or even getting her to give up some ground by kicking or kneeing at her.

Her combat training in the ADD kept her clued in that there were martial arts that used kicks so when the first was thrown it didn't take her by surprise.

The assassin was too quick. She was going to loose in time, that was clear. Eventually the assassin would manage to deal with the batons and was working out her timing. Before that happened she could hear others ascending the staircase making good time.

Unable to take her out quickly the assassin withdrew, tossing some sort of pellet or orb at the ground generating a cloud of smoke just as two other agents appeared on the floor. When the smoke cleared the assassin was gone. The rifle, however, still remained propped up by the window.

Haley tried more than once in the intense melee to get a response back to overwatch, but it was all she could do to hold her own in hand to hand against the would-be assassin, and she felt more than one slash of her opponent’s weapon scratch over her reinforced suit… thankfully never stabbing her anywhere vital or unarmored, but definitely not keeping her nerves in check. More than once her baton was either swept aside by just the small blade or avoided entirely by the agile aggressor. She doubted she could defeat this opponent… either they were toying with her, or just too good for her… but if she could just keep them distracted for long enough…

“No!” She got out before the smoke pellet flooded the room… perfectly timed to coincide with her backup arriving. Haley looked about this way and that but the small gadget had done its job and she couldn’t even see her reinforcements. “Hold fire!” She called out, not wanting to get shot herself in the confusion. Unsurprisingly, by the time the smoke cleared, it was just her and two more agents in the room. “Damnit…” She muttered, nodding to her backup and opening communication with the entire time. “Likely assassin escaped capture. Suggest either wrapping up the ceremony or increasing security drastically…” She sighed, letting command take over from there.

The others were already sweeping the room, but she busied herself with investigating the rifle and anything else left behind near it. It was an old design, she was fairly sure… it almost looked like the bullet-firing weapons of earth’s history. Maybe the assassin had a bit of a personality… and maybe that could help her track them, if needed.

The rifle had some weight too it. The scope was advanced allowing one to see in darkness, perfectly calibrated and nonetheless lethal. The rounds were soft points too. This increased the likelihood of the shot fragmenting inside the body and were more dangerous than full metal jackets increasing the number of wounds within the body.

Looking out the window from this vantage point it was not far from the target, perhaps the selected rounds had something to do with that. She didn't understand why someone would elect to use such a weapon when more advanced ones were easier to acquire and the only thing that readily came to mind was some sort of signature weapon.

There were more ways to trace such a weapon though most were seen as antique pieces the ammunition itself could be tracked easier.

“Get yourself checked out,” one of the new arrivals said when noting some of the knife wounds as she examined the rifle. The wounds felt minor but she had adrenaline coursing through her veins too.

She could see that Audrey was being escorted away by a pair of agents while the ceremony was still going on there was more activity on the scene.

Her wounds were minor and the rest of the ceremony went off without a hitch. But upon returning to the base she was summoned for the usual debriefing and had learned that there was in fact another assassination attempt on Audrey by her very escort who happened not to be agents at all. Certainly someone wanted Audrey dead.

Audrey was at this meeting as well as half a dozen other field agents.

“You were the one that went after the assassin, correct?” Audrey asked as attention fell to her. On the table she could see the very rifle that she recovered from the crime scene.

The redhead looked the weapon over a bit more but she couldn’t take much more from a surface inspection than she already had. There were people far better equipped in the agency that could trace it, she knew. Better off to let the pros handle it.

The agent caught her breath, her large chest puffing in and out, all but on display in the skintight combat uniform. She was starting to get used to it but every time she got a look… be it curious, jealous, or any other reaction… she still blushed a bit. “Stupid pervert aliens…” She muttered to herself, realizing that one of the other women was talking to her. “Huh? I’m fine… oh…” She got out, realizing for the first time that not all of the slashes had bounced off her arm’s bracers…. Several had gone through the suit and found flesh. And now that the action was over…

“Ow… yeah, I think you’re right. Nothing they can’t fix easily though. Thanks…” She said, before taking the other agent’s advice and heading back to command to see the triage medic on sight.

A few hours later after some high tech medical spray and a couple pain relievers, her arms were perfectly fine again, not even bearing any scars. Medicine had definitely benefited from man’s forays into the stars if nothing else. Her suit couldn’t be repaired quickly, but it was still usable so she didn’t mind. Unfortunately, they often had to fit these suits to the individual agent, so repairs took time and left one out of fieldwork.

As the meeting commenced, Haley stayed alert, paying attention and taking in any information offered. It seemed whoever this Major was, she was important… or at least had made someone angry. When the focus shifted to her, she nodded, snapping a quick salute before responding. “Yes, ma’am. I apologize for not capturing them. It won’t happen again.” She had questions she wanted to ask of course but didn’t want to speak out of turn.

Audrey nodded glancing to the weapon. “You have done more than enough. The two assassins disguised as agents were hired by a third party in event that the job went sour they were to finish it. But I have not lived this long without being perceptive and could see through their rouse.

“We have not discovered much through interrogating the others but they were hired by some alien as back up in case the shooter failed. Neither seems to recall anything about this alien and we pressed the pair hard.

“Some sort of memory obscurement I presume. The alien must have psychic abilities or access to them. In any case we have already dispatched an agent to check on the meeting point where the assassins were suppose to collect their final payment when the job was completed. I suspect that this will be a dead end, their employer may know that they failed or at least the shooter has seeing how we were in a public place.

“Still it may uncover something. However, we were able to pull ballistics from the rifle you uncovered linking it to three other shootings. It's the calling card of an assassin that calls himself Eighty-Eight. The number might indicate some sort of military unit or a love for the piano for all we know.

“The bullets could be traced to a manufacturer that shipped those particular rounds to Lydran and what shop there sells them. I have formed a small team to check it out. You six will go there working in teams of two. A pair will remain on your ship to protect it and coordinate the mission while the others will split into two groups one to check out this shop and try to get a lead and the other to check upon a few locations that Eighty-Eight frequented.

“The mission is to capture Eighty-Eight for the attempt on my life and the three murders we can tie him to. Bring him back alive, if possible, so we can find out who hired him in the first place. Are there any questions?”

The major scanned them one at a time.

Haley listens to the briefing, assuming by her presence at the meeting that she was to be on the team, though she didn’t know if the major was assigning the individual pairs herself or leaving that up to the individuals themselves. She glanced about the room… recognizing one of the other agents from being paired up on an op before. Chloe, she believed her name was? A slightly taller, equally beautiful woman to herself with long blonde hair and piercing blue eyes. Haley had always assumed she was also “Shokushu alumni” based on her appearance alone, but it wasn’t something you asked about unless there was a reason.

“Actually ma’am… something to add if I may? I wasn’t debriefed yet… I assume there was a lot of confusion after the matter. But regardless, when I broke down the door there was a holoprojector with another individual either… watching, or conversing… something.” She said, describing the strange-eyed, somewhat featureless humanoid as best she could. “Not sure if that means anything to you, but at least it’s something else to investigate.” She offers in a professional tone.

Audrey's eyes widen slightly. She recognized the described creature, that was clear. That had not mattered much in the long run since they would still need to find the assassin to locate this individual.

She went on unphased by this or at least it didn't bother her outside of that initial reaction. At least not on the surface.

“If either team sees this individual do not engage and call it in. If he eludes us even if we manage to secure Eighty-Eight we're not likely to get another crack at this. You'll head out tomorrow at o six hundred. Lieutenant, I'll leave it to you to assign the teams.”

The major departed leaving the details in the hands of the lieutenant. Her role wasn't made clear but she was going to either check on the ammo supplier or ask around about Eighty-Eight and frequent some of the assassins old haunts.

While she may have never met the woman before she recognized the voice belonging to Overwatch who would stay with the ship with the pilot coordinating the team as needed.

Though her role was not made clear the teams were. As it was she was paired with Chloe and it wasn't until the following day when they were on their way that she and Chloe had been given datapads containing a list of possible areas that Eighty-Eight visited.

The planet adhered to galactic laws on the surface

The young agent took note of her superior’s reaction but didn’t comment any further. She was relatively sure they’d let her in on any need to know info, and she had quickly learned not to press on matters of secrecy… whether they be classified information or personal secrets.

She brightened up and smiled a bit as she and the previous overwatch operator, whose name was Sarah apparently, introduced themselves to each other. As the briefing wore on and Audrey departed, they were given their pairings, and Chloe seemed happy enough to be working with her again as well. The three women got dinner together in the commissary and got to know each other a little better before calling it a night early and getting some rest.

The next day of course came early, but Haley had long since gotten used to such things. She was just happy to have slept at all… the night before a mission was always tense, no matter how simple the objectives. The young woman slipped into the first layer of her combat suit, a skintight latex-like material that still somehow acted as a manageable body armor, before locking on the heavier reinforced bits and doing a test on her communications array. Once onboard the dropship, she picked out a rifle with a sling, a couple of flashbangs, a smoke grenade, and her standard sidearm and batons as usual. This time, if they ran into “Eighty Eight” again, she’d be ready for him. Her. It. Whatever.

She and Chloe made planetfall with the others and headed out towards the first area to check…

There were a list of bars that Eighty-Eight frequented for employment opportunities among other locals such as places to get weapons and information. An information broker had pointed them in the direction of a bar that wasn't on their list, a place were one tended to get jobs off planet, jobs that were assigned to the best of the best.

“I don't get it. Six of us to do this? I mean I'm glad for the back up but the agency often has budget issues. One or two agents, sometimes three in rare cases but we have double that. There's something going on here that we have no clue about. This is the place.”

The Blue Note. Part bar. Part club. The establishment was pumped full of jazz music that the pair could hear from outside. Chloe looked to the door then to her blaster rifle then to her. “How do you want to play this? Should we split up or stay together?

“I think someone should cover the back in case we have a runner but I've never been to this club before so there's no telling what we can expect. Or we can do the whole good cop, bad cop thing if we find anyone. It could be a dead end too. I'm babbling. I'll be quiet now.”

Chloe tended to be talkative when she got nervous which was only typical before the start of any mission.