Short - Vesta Station

Note : Apologies for the delay ! My father had decided to requisition me for lugging and then reassembling a giant piece of furniture. Whose necessity and use I am highly dubious of.

"It's her alright." Gomez smiled as he saw the lieutenant commander dart into a hallway, followed by her two marine bodyguards. "How much was the bounty again ?"

"A hundred kilocreds, boss." Answered one of his goons, awe in his voice.

Gomez's smile became strained. To these gutter rats on Vesta station, it was an unimaginable amount of money. For him it was enough money to get the hell off of this station, at long last.

When he'd chosen the damned place to lay low, he hadn't expected the fucking Arcstar to use it as a base of operation to try and nuke Earth into rubble. Now it was under a 'humanitarian mission' which was a blockade in all but name, crushing all of smuggling rings and pirate groups that used the station as their home in the process.

And stranding him here.

But at least there was one upside, it was that the locals bigwigs were keen on killing some of the European Federation's officers as payback. Including that damnably effective lieutenant commander.

"Alright, Markus ?"

"Yeah boss ?" His assistant, and spotter who'd followed him into his little expedition, looked at him, and once again Gomez had to wonder if he even qualified as human anymore, with his face a mess of cybernetics, eyes and rangefinders.

"Get the rest of our people into place."

"On it."

"Good."

He focused his intention back on the door the trio had disappeared in. That particular piece of bait had been genius, he knew their quarry wouldn't resist this little morsel, and-

Instincts honed by decades killing the rich and powerful for their fellows allowed him to dodge under the hands reaching for his neck. He whirled around, unsheathing his gauss pistol, a hand cannon really, in one smooth motion.

He froze as he recognized what was in front of him. A combat android.

His split second hesitation was enough for the automata to close the distance. He didn't even have the chance to scream, as his windpipe was mercilessly crushed.

The assassin laid there, choking, the lifeless bodies of his men all around him, as the androids that had slain him formed a circle.

"Not a wise contract, Gomez." Said one of the androids, and the assassin's eyes went wide as he recognized it.

Arcadia. One of his clients.

The android knelt over him.

"She is mine. I failed her. And I will burn this entire star system to the ground before I allow any harm to come to her."

The android got up, and the last thing Gomez saw was an armored bootsole moving down at superhuman speeds.