NOVEL NEXT Prologue: Near Decade in the Making
A shockwave echoed throughout the bastion. Jessica stood by the window, adorned with a cloak over her suit. She rubbed her thumb over her hand, cherishing a small holo-locket as she watched the battle unfold outside. With each passing second the smell of death staggered ever closer. Each explosion dragged out another deafening reminder of death.
Innumerable warships up above in low orbit fought broadsides. Stray missiles hammered the fortress' shields in its strong points. Another shockwave drew Jessica's glance away from the battle above, towards the footage on her monitors, lining the walls with their holographic molecules.
Camera reels displayed footage across the whole citadel showed death and destruction, a blurry visage cutting through entire swaths of her best guards. The battle in orbit seemed akin to a backdrop to the forces currently storming her citadel, her fortress world.
Jessica could see barricades and machine gun sections fall, their gunfire dying. Whoever was in the path of this armoured blur was shredded to pieces. The conclusion was final: reinforcements were not coming, and her death was guaranteed.
She turned to face the guards in the room, chambered with heavy guns and armour. Her guards' muzzles pointed towards the sealed vault door. She straightened her suit, before fixing her beige hair.
Her eyes sparkled a bloodied turquoise as quivering gunshots echoed death. A dozen reports came in on Jessica's earpiece uplink.
'Director Louis, the Contract-Breakers have taken the lower facility,' reported a raspy voice, dying most likely.
It had been ten years since the incident… Karma finally seemed to have caught up to her. Still: the others will have it worse. Her legacy continued, it thrived... Just not in the way that she thought it would - still quite happy about it though.
Jessica didn't respond to the reports coming in from the uplink, sliding the earpiece off her ear, falling with a light thud onto the carpeted floor. Walking to the decorated desk in the centre of the room, Jessica picked up a steel dagger, before tucking it neatly within her right sleeve.
The blast door's mechanisms slowly unwound. Another explosion rocked the building's foundations; smoke seeped under the vault door. The guards' exospines glistened red as the door slowly creaked open - a thick fog bellowed from the abyss.
A silhouette appeared within the miasma. Jessica's Augmented-lens on her eye informed Jessica of her guards' heart rates. Upon a single movement, the heart-rate numbers skyrocketed.
Silence permeated through the air, until a guard cried out with a crackling voice, "OPEN FIRE!"
Pressing down on the triggers of their chain guns, explosive rounds whizzed across the room. Jessica stood firm as the figure charged forward. A white deflector shield activated on their forearm - crying with pale white hues with each step out from the smog.
Clad in armour, the figure had a streak of gold across his chest. He lowered his profile - presenting a much smaller target.
Explosions rattled his shield took a beating from the three guards' assault. But with each ejected casing, the figure stretched closer towards Jessica.
Jessica watched as the figure sent a railgun bolt straight into the head of the first guard, only a metre away from him.
The second guard rushed in, grappling the figure. The figure bashed their fist into the guard's guts, before igniting their WRIST-SHOT. A puff of plasma flicked them into the wall as the third guard rushed in to cover his injured comrade. The figure twirled on the spot, batting the third guard away. The last thing that poor guard must have seen was the two muzzle flashes, as the figure drew his second pistol, hammering two explosive bolts into them.
Blood, organs and gore spread out from the exit wounds onto the walls and carpet. A small streak of blood covered the figure's mask.
The final guard staggered up and raised their weapon against him. With all their strength, they steadied their muzzle and pulled the trigger. A string of rounds smacked into the back of the figure's helm-mask. The figure bled as a white flash engulfed them.
A watch on the figure's wrists lit up. An ANCHOR Watch, capable of short-range relocation.
Green beams of cybernetic-energy glistened out from the figure's exospine as they careened out of a second white flash, sizzling in front of the guard as the figure body slammed them backwards. An arming dagger ejected out from their right brace and they injected it directly into the guard's neck. A splatter of cybernetic juice squeezed out with the trickling blood.
The guard was pinned against the wall, gargling. The elite of Jessica's guards, bested by a singular cripple. Jessica smirked in amusement as she glanced over towards her ICAPAD, attached to her forearm.
The tablet device showed the path this man cleaved through just to get to her. There must have been tens - No: hundreds of corpses littering the paved path to her office.
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"You could have just knocked, Kazu," said Jessica, turning to face them and backing up against the window. She slowly placed her arms behind her.
A cold, indifferent voice came from the armoured figure as they unsealed their helmet, painted with pale leviathan teeth markings, "Say that name again and I'll rip your tongue out." Harsh and banal.
Jessica let off a light laugh as her eyes glanced towards him, her lips curling. "Where's your Brooch? Rather unbecoming of an aristocrat... let alone a 'Prince' to barge his way in here without his Sigil."
Kazuki slowed and stared straight forward... That's it, Jessica started thinking, the regrets of a disgraced prince. At least she'd die knowing that whatever game this boy was playing will continue, and she'd only wish to see the faces of all her fellow peers.
That kicked the number of disgraced Princes Jessica had known up to two... Rather ironic, coming from the same sub-branch of the same line. Jessica smiled at his lack of a response. Kazuki narrowed his eyes. "It was never my style to begin with."
"Subtlety was never your style," sneered Jessica. "You know, little Prince, this war you started isn't over."
"It is." The lifeless figure's eyes burnt in golden rays as blood dripped down his burnt cheek.
The explosive rounds did some damage, it seemed, but not enough. His jet-black fringe and bangs lightly covered his face, the burn marks earned a decade ago were still visible, stretching across his face and torso.
In front of Jessica was the epitome of malice, justice incarnate - ready to strike her down.
"Not our war… the war, in due time, you'll comprehend what fuse your actions had lit, and what personalities you'll apprehend. Quite a Shadow War you and your friends have started, I'm sure you'll have things sorted out, given a lifetime or two - but you don't have that much time, do you?" She maintained a smile and gleefully nodded at Kazuki. "You'll never achieve the same as us."
"That's not relevant," said Kazuki. The two knew full well the power of a single deal. Contracts. The foundations of the industry held to a level akin to sacred. All adhered to them, from the lowest criminal scum to the grandest pillars of aristocratic-republic intrigues - the only difference between either side of that coin was wealth... and how many bribes they've accepted.
Jessica could briefly remember the sheer quantity of bribes she had to pay back in the day... Such bureaucracy, she lamented, before refocusing on the present.
The artificial lungs ignited to life with steam oozing from Kazuki's lips and back.
Gear mechanisms relocked themselves, letting ventilated steam out his exospine, hidden beneath Kazuki's armour. It pumped life into him. Each step let off a small mechanical crunch from his leg braces.
"Thousands of your men are dead. Surrender and I might order Felix to let the rest live. Clandestine is over, Jessica." Kazuki said calmly, yet the voice held her in high disgust.
"Just because you're in a higher echelon of the seven than him doesn't mean he will be entirely obliged to adhere to your orders…" Her smile slowly widened, "And I wasn't talking about that…"
He placed his damaged helm-mask on his belt. Those golden eyes of his muttered confusion to Jessica. He started all of this over one person. Jessica would've loved to meet who Kazuki did all this for.
Three decades too late, Jessica thought, oh well.
"I wasn't the one who authorised the attack if you were wondering."
"Then who did?" asked Kazuki, who raised his pistol at her. "Who else would kill billions?" Kazuki paused, then spat, "For profit margins?"
"That's for you to uncover. I have no intention of making life easy for you… after all, you're my successor," said Jessica, her voice thickening with acceptance. Then, she playfully commented, "The plot thickens."
"And I have no intention of going down the path you walk. At least I have the decency to look the people I kill in the eyes." snapped Kazuki.
"Decency!?" snorted Jessica. She guessed that he just wanted this to be over. But after he pulls the trigger, the training wheels are off.
"Plus, that wasn't the only reason," Kazuki continued, ignoring Jessica's rather immature outburst.
She decided to give him one piece of parting advice as she slowly moved her right arm. "Interesting. Though do make sure to look everywhere, who knows where your enemies lie, I'm sure your future will be… fruitful. But like all fruits, yours will wither away, eventually."
"I don't need to look further. After all, you know."
Jessica's face lit up with a small measure of shock. He doesn't know? But he was there? He was face-to-face with them… Perhaps someone else messed with his mind, other than herself. Such a shame that she won't be there to see who.
"You're a different monster than the rest of us… Maybe you'll be different." Jessica shook her head. "You have my resources, my mercenaries; but you won't have my knowledge, Contract-Breaker."
The knife slid down her sleeve as she gripped it, and threw it at the muzzle pointed at her.
∗ ∗ ∗
Kazuki pulled down on the trigger. An explosive burst met the flick of the knife.
It crashed directly back towards her.
Her skull was pierced with the knife digging into her brain. Dead. Jessica Kiki-Louis, High Director of Clandestine was dead. Kazuki looked at her corpse. It folded and collapsed onto the floor. Blood seeped from the wound - eyes wide open.
He scoffed silently, raising his pistol. Aiming at the damaged brain, he sent another shot into her. He turned and walked away. His finger pressed down on his ICAPAD, attached to the underside of his left forearm. The uplink on his ear activated.
The war outside echoed a bleeding chaos of untold magnitudes. The thousands of warships in the Cantari system alone paid tribute to the wars of old. His sparkless voice spoke to all, 'The director is dead. Surrender. You have no one to fight for… but me.'
Kazuki finished his declaration. Everything was done, no more was needed. He turned his head to the half-dead guard. Blood oozed out from the guard. Grabbing the knife, Kazuki pulled it out.
The oozing turned into a red spurt.