Chapter 1 Acting Out

They moved through the crowd quickly. Time was of the essence for the group as their target would only be open for a few minutes during the speech. They wouldn't have another chance.

The small bead in his ear hummed as it turned on.

"Haden you only have 3 more minutes get a move on it already. Sinclair and Howet are ready to evac you the second you make your move."

"We are almost there Rosa. When have I ever failed the cause."

Haden shut off the communication piece. He needed to focus on the task at hand. Rosa would be mad but that was a problem for later. The Courtyard was crowed today. There were thousands of people crammed together for the festival that was currently taking place. 

It was perfect. So many would be there to witness what they were going to do. It would inspire the whole populace. Haden smiled just thinking about the growth their group would achieve after this.

Haden and his two colleagues found their positions. They had made their way to a wide 4 way intersection it was the very closest one could get to the speaker unless they were part of the handful of men that would stand by or behind the speaker. The biggest of the trio, Roddie took up position in the middle of a large group. His size made him stand out but nobody would think he was overly suspicious. Jaden the other man in the group was leaning against a light pole furthest away. He was positioned well to cover the escape if necessary, being that the West side he was posted by they would be the way they escaped towards.

Haden's experience had allowed him to quickly find the greatest vantage point. It would have been better if he could have posted up in one of the nearby buildings as they were all two or three stories tall. In particular the on to his southeast right behind him. It was a three story store but the old germanic architecture meant that the top two floors were half timber with proper windows. Much safer to shoot from than the great glass skyscrapers found in the core worlds. Sadly pdf forces conducted regular searches of the rooms.

As if to snap Haden back into reality the crowd went into a great uproar with a deafening applause. It was obvious their target had taken the stage. 

The speaker was easy to see now that he was standing in the center of the podium. He wore the expensive looking Grey and black suit common to the Terran Hegemony's aristocracy. On the chest of his suit above his heart laid multiple medals, Haden counted maybe six it was hard to tell from this distance. They undoubtedly marked him out as saving someone or achieving something important. It didn't matter to Haden. All Terran born were the scum of the galaxy. Nothing but rich, greedy, and monstrous pigs that sought to take what they wanted from who they wanted consequences be damned.

Haden smiled as the removed the pistol form his coat. It was an eight shot revolver that had been given to him by his father. It may not be one of the expensive new models with a mag accelerator built in to it but it was his favorite. 

He took his aim at the speaker. No one had noticed him and no one would until it was to late.

Armin Von Hesse 3rd pleasantry governor of Ingris. Patriarch of the Von Hesse family. A hero of the Hegemony Locked eyes with Haden as he spoke his speech during the festival thrown in his honor due to the birth of his first child.

*Pop* 

Armin collapsed in on himself as blood sprayed out from his chest. Almost immediately the crowd reacted. Screams, Crying, shouting, and worst of all the tidal wave of terrified civilians as they began to run away from the gun shot. 

Haden switched his Comm bead back on.

"Roddie, Jaden it's time to go." He knew they would already be moving but it was still his duty as the operational commander to keep them orginaized. 

The trio took off west down the road. They some how managed to regroup and stick together through the Chaos of the crowd. After running for two blocks the took a left down an ally way and followed it until it brought them to a small market. They had rehearsed the route many times so Haden knew they were only a few minutes away from the Evac point. 

The air above them almost vibrated as a dozen surveillance drones soared above them then broke off formation and split up. The Planetary defense forces and HSF were being very quick to respond. Within another few minutes they would have multiple atmospheric crafts circling the area. Then it would be impossible to escape without leading the defense forces straight to their temporary operations base.

Roddie tapped Haden on the shoulder and gestured to their right. It was two HSF members going person to person checking ID's. The trio began to move back into the crowd away from them.

"Hey watch it." 

Haden looked to his right in time to see Jaden run into someone. It only took a split second to see that it was a Defense force member. It was the worst possible outcome 

The soldier's voice was clearly agitated. "Show me your Identification." 

Jaden look dumbfounded. He was the newest member of the organization and had only been on two other missions before this. If only there weren't short handed. Then they could have used a more experienced person.

"Well what are you waiting for." The soldier moved his hand to waist holster. The two HSF members had finished checking the ID's of the person they were occupied with and started heading towards the commotion. 

Jaden looked at Haden. His eyes told him everything he needed to know.

Jaden reviled his knife and stuck it through the mans eye through to the back of his skull. The soldier stood there the way you do when your brain suddenly ceases all function. 

Haden was already moving as the man fell. His experienced hands quickly drew his revolver and found his target.

The right most of the pair of HSF members was already halfway done unholstering his pistol. He was far too slow. Three .44 hollow points stuck his stomach and dropped him instantly. Not even the greatest doctors in the core worlds could save the man from the gut shots.

The mans partner had drawn his standard issue pistol and returned fire. His shots were carefully aimed as to not his the bystanders in the area. Roddie had no such problem. His modified short style Kalashnikov realized a stream of death into the Security force member. And unfortunately into two unfortunates behind him.

"We have to run now boys. They will be swarming us any moment now."

They were already moving. It was a shame they had gotten caught so very close to their escape vehicle just to be exposed now.

The trio exited to courtyard and entered through the backdoor of a mechanic's shop. Sinclair and Howet were waiting for them In the van engine readied.

They entered through the back of van and took their seats. They could hear the large garage doors open. Howet was their electronic expert and had undoubtedly rigged up some device or some such thing that could remotely control just about anything connected to the main power grid. His devices had saved Hadens life many a time.

Haden was jerked in his seat as the van took off. On the outside it looked Like any other cargo van. But in reality it was more closely to any proper military vehicle. Bulletproof to most small arms, high powered, and they had installed great monitoring capabilities. Their connections within the PDF had sourced many of the components for them.

Howet's head rounded the open space between the two front seats. 

"HAHAHA. YOU BASTARDS YOU DID IT! All the news channels on the planet are all broadcasting the news. Once we return to base I will insure the whole of the Orion expanse sees this." 

Jaden was the next one to but it. "Man I thought we were a goner back there. You should have seen Haden. In a second he had dropped one of those damned HSF members." 

Haden didn't share the same enthusiasm as the two. They had come so close to failure. Jaden reflected the pitiful state of their group. It was only two years ago that the Orion's Damned name was feared. Now they were reduced to just 3 small cells spread between three planets. Their once large fleet was now made up of just a single old cargo ship of Persian design. A pitiful state.

Haden Stood up and looked around at his small group. "My brothers and sisters. We have dealt a great blow to the Terran Hegemony. Our name will once again be on everyone's mind and through that we shall once again rebuild our strength. Tonight we Celebrate our vengeance on all those sons of terra. All those sons of Satan."

The group went up in a cheer. Haden was proud of them. They had assassinated one of the richest most powerful men of the Terran Hegemony. A man that lead the destruction of their original group. And all without the loss of a single man.

The rest of the ride was cheerful and went on without incident. The informational warfare capabilities Howet had installed in the van meant that any X-ray scans of the truck meant that they showed up as boxes of cargo. On top of this Howet was able to intercept and communications between the HSF and PDF forces. If needed he could even redirect them by making false reports. Things like shots fired, or suspicious vehicle.

After a two hour drive and taking so many random turns to throw off any surveillance systems that might had tracked them they arrived to their current base. It wasn't anything special. Just an abandoned warehouse in the original cargo district that was set up when the colony was first established a little of a century ago. Unlike a majority of colonies the planet of Ingris was an ideal spot for a colony. Breathable air, Great weather, stable tectonic plates, and so much natural resources that it seemed like the mines would never run dry. 

Ingris had another advantage over any other colonies in the area. The Cosmic Strings. While every system had them the ones in Ingris was situated on the so called Terran Highway. A vast stretch of the most stable and fastest Stings in the Orion Spur. All of the greatest Strings lead right back to The core worlds. Ingris is the gate way from the Core worlds to the newest set of colonies and therefore strategically vital. This also means that since it only takes weeks of travel along the Highway instead of months to get from the core worlds to the outer colonies it has become a massive hub of commerce.

This all leads back to the old warehouse district because it means that as the original colony was expanded and added on to the older more ancient areas were either abandoned or completely demolished and rebuilt. The Warehouse district had only recently been abandoned and wasn't slated for destruction for many more months. It was the perfect base.

Two door guards opened the main warehouse door and let the van slip In. Haden was the first to open the door and jump out taking his time to stretch his muscles.

"My love. Don't you ever turn or communications piece off on me again." He knew who it was before she had spoken. The fragrance of roses she had always worn matched her name.

"Rosa my love. I was just preoccupied. The job is done now." Haden embraced his companion.

"You too love birds are going to have to wait a few more minutes to get a room. I need Haden to record the speech we are going to play across the net when we hack it."

Rosa grunted her disapproval. Haden laughed.

"Alright Howet let's get this over with." Haden moved to the area Howet showed him. It wasn't anything special. Just a wooden podium in front of a green screen. Jaden and Roddie moved to his left and right respectively and put on their face masks. Haden also put his mask on. 

The recording wasn't live so he didn't have to worry too much about any mistakes.

Howet moved behind the camera and monitor "Ready In 3, 2, 1," 

Haden began to speak the speech he had rehearsed a million times. About the injustice of the Terran Hegemony, the unjust taxation, and uselessness of the central government. How they had fought and bled and died to free the colonies. How today they had struck a great blow against the Earth based Imperialist scum.

Something shined in Hadens peripheral vision and drew his attention. He barely understood what it was.

A handful Metallic objects no larger than a marble each, maybe a dozen total began to fall from the rafters. He would have mistaken them for parts of the warehouse simply falling apart if it wasn't for the silvery metallic look.

Within a fraction of a second that had fallen to the ground and bounced around. The noise drew everyone's attention for a moment of terrifying silence. They bounced once, twice, and finally three times.

Then as suddenly as they appeared they exploded in a cacophony of blinding light and noise. 

Haden dropped to his knees clutching his ears. He was disoriented, concussed, and completely blind. It was as if a sun and just exploded in front of him.

After a few seconds he was able to hear just a little.

Footsteps. And multiple pairs at that. The worst part was that it couldn't be any of his allies they had to be just as out of the count as him.

Pop

Pop

Pop 

Three gunshots rung out. He heard a groaned and someone to his left was undoubtedly shot. It had to be Jaden. He heard a high pitched scream across the room.

His gut dropped as he registered the femininity of the voice. It was Rosa it had to be.

His eyes slowly clearing he began to stagger up. He needed to save his lover and best friend.

Before he could make it to his feet something struck the back leg. He cried out as a bone audibly broke. He spun around as quickly as he could whilst drawing this pistol. His eyes were just clear enough to see his hand disappear from his wrist. He screamed out in pain it was unbearable. He looked around to see all of his allies died or dying. It had been no more than two minutes.

A heavy metal boot rested itself on his chest. Haden angled his head to gaze upon the figure.

He or she was clad in armor he had never seen before. It was all black even the eye pieced of the fully enclosed helmet. He could make out the hum of the armor. It was clearly powered. Most likely by the backpack on the figure. The soldier raised his rifle at Haden face. It was clearly a MAG rifle but its make and model were completely unknown to him and obviously experimental.

"If your going to kill me then at least have the balls to look at me face to face."

The figure slowly nodded and with his left hand detached some sort of seal. His masked hissed as it was removed.

Haden recoiled in horror at the sight.

It. No. He. He wasn't a monster, or demon, or even scary looking at all. No the thing that terrified Haden the most was that the person who aimed a rifle to his face was a child. He couldn't be any older than twelve. Although his body was far larger and built than any twelve year old ought to be. Perhaps it was the armor.

It wouldn't matter. Haden had only a little time to register the rails in the barrel spinning up. The red from the heat was the last thing he saw before everything went black.