Old Love and New Pains.: A Missed Chance

LOCATION: Lambda 7 Port Colony - Civilian District 

The noise of the crowds outside was cut off as the door clicked shut behind her. The house was old and dusty, light poured in through dirty windows above a rickety spiral staircase. Maggie let her hold the briefcase relax a little and removed her shades as she crossed the room and mounted the stairs. Small clouds of dust rose and the floorboards groaned at her passage as she slowly climbed the long, spiralling staircase.

She was in no hurry, the rally outside would last another few hours or so, plenty of time to hit her mark. Elections on any world or colony were all the same. Bored commoners were huddled so close together that they became one giant, noisy mass gawking up at some politician shouting promises they could never keep. Maggie stopped by one of the windows and wiped away several years of dust. The crowd below erupted into fresh cheering. Maggie smiled to herself. Their cheers would soon turn to chaos as their “leader” suddenly found a bullet in his head. Maggie allowed herself a short chuckle as she continued her ascent.

Now she that thought back on it the mission was a rather strange one. She had received a call the instant she had completed her last assignment. Feeling tired and dirty she had thought into putting in a short vacation on Eden Prime so naturally she had refused. But the caller had not taken no for an answer, a generous million credit had been offered straight up plus five thousand for the flight to the colony. How could she refuse such an offer? Still the arrangements of the contract were quite unorthodox, the Underworld manners code was very strong on clients meeting with their employers but all Maggie had received were two weeks of anonymous audio messages over the Nexus Net.

But for a nice pay check the mission was a snap. Erik Marris, the shouting man in the square outside was a popular candidate for the position of Governor for Colony - Lambda 7. He was man of the law, a lead figure in the Enforcer's war against the Underworld. Lambda 7 was a major space port, the greatest stop between Eden Prime and Gatehouse. A sudden increase in anti-Underworld activity here would really hurt the big heads of the Underworld. This is why her employer wanted Erik silenced, or so Maggie believed.

Reaching the top of the stairs Maggie replaced her shades as she shoulder opened the door to the roof. It was the perfect spot, high enough so that it provided a clear view of them podium and a low running wall allowed Maggie to duck down after the shot. No would have known she was up here.

Maggie set down her case and undid the latches with a quiet click. She opened it up to reveal the disassembled pieces of her weapon of choice, the N-2 High Performance Sniper Rifle. Highly accurate, able to pierce most body armour, clip size of 24 shots and bolt action reload with recoil absorbers for the rapid marksman. It also came with an optional silencer, thermo-scope and laser targeter. Humming to herself Maggie began to assemble the rifle. Five minute later she held one of the most feared weapons “borrowed” from the DAWN military.

Setting the finished rifle down on the wall she peered into the scope. The podium jumped up to meet her, Erik stood red faced, fist raised as he boomed at the crowd. Maggie flicked on the targeter. The blue beam was only visible in infrared as the old red dot was now too much of a giveaway. Lining up Erik's head Maggie pulled back the bolt. A last minute check with the thermo-scope confirmed that he had no bionic implants in his head.

Holding her breath, Maggie pulled the trigger. At the last minute Erik was pushed down from behind and an arm moved between the bullet and its target. Maggie swore loudly as the bullet thudded into the bodyguard's arm. Pulling back the bolt Maggie moved the rifle to target the bodyguard. He'd have to go down as well, but just before she pulled the trigger she froze. For a minute she stared at the face on the other end of the scope. Locks of black hair framed a thin, grim face, a face she knew so well.

“Lance…” she whispered as the crowd below erupted into screams and chaos.