Chapter 1: Dragon Gang

23:40

Aetheria's Kyto District.

Level-Seven.

Acid-laced rain was falling. It traced toxic, iridescent rainbows across the grime-slicked permacrete, mixing with the runoff streaming down the sides of monstrous hab-stacks and the fractured reflections of neon signs. The air was a heavy cocktail of heavy metals, the acrid smoke of burnt circuits, and the vaguely sweet smell of cheap, mass-produced synthetic noodles. This was the part of Aetheria they didn't show in the corporate advertisements. This was the city's gut, where shadows did the talking.

Above this gloom, perched nearly a hundred meters high on the head of an abandoned cargo crane, a figure waited in silence. Commander Ryan Solas.

His standard-issue Elysian Vector Authority (EVA) tactical gear was a second skin, allowing him to blend almost perfectly with the surrounding darkness. Lowered over his right eye was a multi-spectrum optical visor, through which the rain-washed, dark dockyard became a living map of pulsing data. His mind was calm, the way a predator's is before a strike. Every breath was controlled, every muscle ready. He was at his peak, invincible.

A calm, controlled voice echoed in his comm-link. "Commander, intel confirmed. The sellers are in position. Dock Seven-B. They're waiting for the buyers." The voice belonged to Silas Qorr, Ryan's intelligence operative, who saw the battlefield as a cascade of pure data from the eyes of a satellite.

"Acknowledged, Silas," Ryan's own voice was calm. "What's the status on the rest of the Vector?"

"Lily is in position. Delta crane, seven hundred meters from the target zone. She has a clear line of sight," Silas reported. "Juno and his heavy unit are ready behind the Alpha container block. They're getting a little antsy."

A faint smile touched Ryan's lips and was gone. Juno Raze, the muscle of his team. Patience was not his virtue. "Tell him to hold, Silas. We don't know who the buyers are or what they're bringing."

"And Elan?" Ryan asked.

"The tech-wizard is primed with his jamming suite. He'll cripple the local network as soon as the buyers arrive," Silas replied.

"Good," Ryan said. His focus returned to the dockyard below, where about a dozen SHATTERVOID members were waiting. They were impatient and disorganized. Beside them rested a large, square container. It was unmarked, but a cold vapor was venting from its seals. Project: Mycelium. Ryan had read the file. This could not be allowed to fall into the wrong hands.

"Commander," Juno's impatient voice crackled over the comm-link. "How long are these SV pigs going to make us wait? Should we just go in now and..."

"Negative, Juno," Ryan cut him off. "Our target isn't just the sellers or the shipment. We need to know who the buyers are. We have no intel on their strength or their motives. We don't engage until we see the full picture."

"But what if they bolt?"

"They won't get away," Ryan said with a confidence that resonated through the rest of his team.

They waited. Time seemed to drip by with the rain. The SV members below grew more restless, arguing amongst themselves. After about ten minutes, the silence broke.

First came the sound. A deep, powerful hum that overshadowed the other mechanical noises of the dockyard, growing steadily louder. Then came the light. A pair of bright green lights sliced through the darkness.

Ryan zoomed in with his visor. A massive, armored hover-freighter slowly materialized from the gloom. Its frame was strange and fearsome, like a mythological dragon. Green neon tubes were fitted along its sleek, black body like a spine, creating an eerie illusion in the rain. This was no cobbled-together SHATTERVOID vessel. This was advanced, powerful, and expensive.

"Silas, what is that?" For the first time, there was a hint of surprise in Ryan's voice.

"Unidentified, Commander," Silas's voice was also tinged with surprise. "No registration. Its tech... it's military-grade. Possibly a private corporate army or a black-ops unit."

The vessel, nicknamed 'Neon Dragon' in the briefing, came to a hover at Dock Seven-B, its engines humming softly. The SHATTERVOID members stopped their chaotic movements, suddenly standing alert, almost fearful. They understood that the people they were dealing with were not common criminals.

The front cargo bay door of the vessel hissed as it began to lower. Shadowy figures began to emerge from the darkness within. Ryan held his breath. The predator had seen its prey. Now, the game was about to begin.

———

As the Neon Dragon's cargo ramp fully lowered, the first person to emerge from the darkness within was a woman. She wore a black, sharp-cut corporate suit, but beneath the fabric, the subtle outline of lightweight armor was visible. Her hair was ice-white, pulled back into a severe bun, and her face held an expression of cold, effortless authority. She was flanked by two armed guards, clad in matching black, high-tech combat gear that made SHATTERVOID's patchwork cybernetics look like ancient relics.

Ryan zoomed in with his visor. "Silas, identify them."

"Attempting, Commander," Silas's voice was tense. "Their gear has no known insignias. Facial recognition is blocked, likely using biometric masking technology. These are professionals."

As the woman and her guards advanced, the SV leader, who had been pacing impatiently, stood still with a visible, newfound respect. The power and confidence of these new arrivals was a palpable force in the air.

"The shipment," the woman's voice was low and commanding, just loud enough to be picked up by Ryan's audio sensors.

The SV leader gestured, and two of his grunts pushed the 'Project: Mycelium' container forward. The woman produced a small, high-grade scanner from her suit and aimed it at the container. A blue light washed over its surface, analyzing the contents within.

"Her scanner is military-grade, heavily encrypted," Silas reported. "She knows what she's looking for."

A green light flashed on the scanner's screen, and the woman nodded in satisfaction. She held out her data-pad to the SV leader. "Payment has been transferred. Unregistered crypto. Untraceable."

The SV leader leaned over his own pad to confirm the payment. At that exact moment, the woman made a nearly invisible gesture to her guards. Ryan saw the barrels of their assault rifles shift slightly, now aimed directly at the SV members. This was no simple transaction; it was a cold display of dominance. If the SV leader tried any last-minute tricks, this dockyard would be flooded with blood.

The full picture was now clear to Ryan. These buyers were far more dangerous than SHATTERVOID.

"Load the shipment onto the vessel," the woman commanded.

The SV members began to move the container towards the Neon Dragon's ramp.

Ryan knew this was his last chance. Once that container was inside the ship, recovering it would be next to impossible.

"All stations, prepare to engage," Ryan's voice echoed in his team's comm-links, calm and final. "The exchange is complete. This is our only window. You will engage on my mark."

He fixed his targets. "Lily, your primary is the lead buyer—the woman. Neutralize her. A non-lethal shot if possible. We need her alive."

"Copy, Commander," was Lily's clipped reply.

"Juno, your team's sole objective is the container. Secure it at all costs. Use explosive force on any SV members blocking your path."

"With pleasure, Commander," Juno's voice held a grim joy.

"Elan, jam their networks and the Neon Dragon's local systems. Hit them now!"

At his command, an invisible electromagnetic pulse washed over the dockyard. The cheap optical sensors of the SV members flickered for a moment. But Ryan noticed that the gear of the buyer's guards, and the lights on the Neon Dragon itself, remained steady. Their technology was superior, capable of resisting a standard EVA jamming signal.

This new information made Ryan's plan infinitely more complicated.

Through his visor, Ryan watched the live feed from Lily's sniper scope. A single red dot settled on the woman's shoulder—a difficult but potentially non-lethal shot.

The container was now halfway up the ramp. There was no more time.

Ryan's lips moved. A single word.

"Engage."

In the next instant, the deep, heavy *thump* of Lily's sniper rifle broke the silence of the night.

———

The deep *thump* from Lily's sniper rifle was the starting pistol for all-out war.

Seven hundred meters away, the high-impact, non-lethal round found its mark perfectly, slamming into the female buyer's shoulder. It didn't kill her, but the kinetic force spun her around and dropped her hard onto the ramp. Her data-pad skittered away, its screen cracking.

The buyers' guards were prepared for this. They didn't hesitate for a fraction of a second. One guard immediately grabbed his fallen leader and began dragging her back towards the safety of the ship's interior, while the other dropped to one knee and opened up with his advanced assault rifle, laying down a field of incredibly precise and heavy covering fire. His shots were disciplined and deadly, forcing Juno's advancing team to halt for a critical moment.

In contrast, the SHATTERVOID members descended into complete chaos. Caught between EVA's assault and the professional fire from the buyers' guard, they began firing wildly, unsure of the source of the attack.

"It's not the Artist, it's EVA!" one of them screamed.

Juno took advantage of the chaos. "All units, on the container!" he roared, and his massive rotary plasma cannon unleashed a torrent of blue fire. His target was the cluster of SV guards around the 'Mycelium' container. The plasma bolts vaporized the concrete around the container and sent two SV members flying back in pieces.

"Commander, their comms are down," Elan's voice came through. "But the buyers' personal gear is shielded. They are still coordinated!"

From his perch, Ryan watched the entire battlefield unfold. He saw one guard dragging their injured leader almost completely inside the ship, while the other single-handedly held off Juno's entire heavy assault squad. His weapon and his tactics were as good as any EVA soldier's. Ryan realized that if he didn't do something now, the masterminds behind this deal would escape.

"Juno, keep them busy! Lily, pin down that second guard!" With those commands, Ryan wasted no more time. He sprinted to the edge of the crane and leaped, his grappling hook firing and biting into a low-hanging container, allowing him to descend with lightning speed.

His target was the guard pulling their leader into the ship.

When Ryan landed on the ground, he was at the very center of the battle. The guard, who had almost succeeded in getting his leader inside, saw Ryan and turned to face him. He pushed his injured leader behind the cover of the closing door and faced Ryan alone.

"You are not getting inside, Commander," a synthesized voice came from behind the guard's helmet.

Ryan didn't reply. He fired his 'Seraph' pistol. But the guard's armor was high-grade, deflecting the explosive round with a shower of sparks. The guard dropped his own rifle and lunged forward for close-quarters combat.

A brutal fight erupted between them. Ryan was at his peak, his every strike powerful and precise. But this guard was also exceptionally trained. He blocked every attack and countered with his own. It was a deadly dance between two professional warriors.

At one point, Ryan found an opening in the guard's defense, tackling him and pinning him against the wall of the ship. As they were locked together in a clinch, Ryan felt a strange, sharp sting in his neck. It was a tiny, almost imperceptible prick, like an insect bite or a static shock from the cyborg's armor. In the heat of battle, with adrenaline coursing through his veins, he barely registered it. He dismissed it as a graze from the guard's armor.

He used all his strength to overpower the guard, delivering a final, decisive blow to his chest that damaged the power core within. The guard slumped to the ground, the light in his optical sensors flickering out.

At that exact moment, the 'Neon Dragon's' ramp retracted fully, and the door slammed shut with a deafening clang. The ship's engines roared to life.

Ryan stared at the closed door. He hadn't captured the leader. But they had secured the 'Mycelium' container.

The firefight was still raging around him. He gave a command into his comm-link, "All units, surround the remaining hostiles! No one escapes!"

But his attention was on the 'Neon Dragon'. The ship was slowly beginning to rise, ready to leave the filthy environment of the dockyard and vanish into Aetheria's night sky.

———

The Neon Dragon's engines roared to life, the vessel lifting off the permacrete and ascending into the night sky. Ryan knew that once it rose above the hab-stacks, finding it in the city's countless sky-lanes would be like finding a needle in a haystack. He could not let the mastermind escape. He had only seconds.

"Juno, maintain a hard perimeter on the container!" Ryan yelled into the comm-link. "Elan, override the dockyard's main cargo crane controls! Patch them to my terminal! Now!"

"But Commander, it's offline..." Elan began.

"Then bring it online!" Ryan's voice held a steel-edged authority that tolerated no questions.

For a moment, Ryan pulled his focus from the surrounding firefight. Juno and his team had the remaining SV members pinned down. Lily was providing cover fire from above. They could hold. Ryan's target was now in the sky.

"I'm in, Commander! Crane control is yours," Elan's voice returned.

Ryan activated a small holographic display on his wrist. The crane's control interface appeared. He could see the massive magnetic grapple, designed for moving shipping containers, hanging dormant. He quickly calculated the Neon Dragon's ascending trajectory and aimed the grapple.

The huge, rusted crane groaned as it came to life, a mechanical titan awakening from a long slumber. Its heavy arm began to swing through the night sky, its magnetic claw arcing towards the Neon Dragon.

The pilot of the Neon Dragon must have seen the approaching threat on their sensors. The vessel suddenly accelerated and veered sharply to the right, attempting to dodge the crane's claw. But Ryan was ready. Anticipating the pilot's move, he adjusted the crane's trajectory.

It was an uneven fight—a slow, ancient industrial machine against a state-of-the-art, high-speed vessel. But the machine was being operated by the best commander in Aetheria.

As the Neon Dragon's pilot tried to swerve a second time, Ryan found his opening. He brought the grapple down with its full, crushing force. The massive magnetic claw slammed down onto the Neon Dragon's starboard engine nacelle with a deafening shriek of protesting metal.

It didn't destroy the ship, but the impact was catastrophic. Sparks flew from the engine, and the vessel lurched violently to one side. Its flight stability was gone. The pilot tried desperately to regain control, but the Neon Dragon was now a wounded beast, groaning as it began to descend.

The vessel crashed a few hundred meters away, at the far end of the dockyard, landing on a pile of empty shipping containers with a deafening roar.

A grim, tight smile appeared on Ryan's lips. "The Dragon's wings are broken."

He now turned his full attention back to the fight on the ground. With the fall of the Neon Dragon, the morale of the remaining SV members was shattered. They were now fighting desperately for their lives.

"Lily, cut off their escape routes," Ryan commanded.

He himself moved out from cover, advancing towards the 'Mycelium' container. Two SV members rushed to intercept him. Ryan holstered his 'Seraph' pistol. He wouldn't waste a round on these two.

The first one swung a metal pipe at him. Ryan ducked under the wild swing, grabbed the man's wrist, and used his momentum to throw him to the ground in a single, fluid motion. He brought his knee down hard on the man's chest. Before the second could even fire, Ryan took him down with a perfect leg sweep, disarming him as he fell. The entire process was fast, efficient, and brutal.

Juno's plasma cannon obliterated the last pocket of resistance. Within moments, a silence fell over the dockyard once more, heavy with the smell of ozone and burnt metal.

"Area secure, Commander," Juno said, lowering his rotary cannon. "All hostiles are down or in custody."

Ryan's team quickly formed a defensive perimeter around the 'Mycelium' container. Their primary objective was a success.

But the mission wasn't over.

Ryan looked across the dockyard at the smoking, crippled form of the 'Neon Dragon'. Inside that vessel were the masterminds of tonight's events. Inside were the answers to many of his questions.

He looked at his team. "Juno, you secure the package and our prisoners. Lily, maintain overwatch. The rest of you, with me."

A new fire of determination lit his eyes.

"It's time to knock on the Dragon's door."

———

Ryan led a small contingent of his team cautiously towards the wrecked 'Neon Dragon'. The vessel was groaning like a great, wounded beast. Smoke and steam hissed from its hull, and electrical sparks arced from broken panels. The air was tense and dangerous. They didn't know what was waiting inside—an ambush, or just wreckage.

They reached a damaged hatch on the side of the craft. It was jammed. "Blow it," Ryan ordered.

The sharp crack of a small breaching charge blew the hatch inwards. They quickly moved inside, weapons at the ready. The interior of the ship was a maze of smoke and darkness, lit intermittently by the frantic flashing of broken consoles. Ryan signaled for his team to spread out, to check every corner.

Near the cockpit, they found the first guard. He had died in the crash. And inside the cockpit itself, slumped over the control panel, was the woman with the ice-white hair. Blood was trickling from a wound on her head, and her breathing was shallow. She was alive, but severely injured.

"We have our primary target," Ryan reported into his comm-link. "She's alive. Have a medical team on standby."

They quickly searched the rest of the vessel, but there were no other survivors. They recovered a few data-pads and logbooks from the cockpit, which might help reveal the identity of this mysterious group.

An hour later, Ryan stood at attention in the vast office of General Tiberius Thorne on the 85th floor of EVA Headquarters. The atmosphere in the room was cold and formal.

"Mission successful, General," Ryan delivered his report. "'Project: Mycelium' is secure. Seventeen members of SHATTERVOID have been captured or neutralized. One member of the buyer's party was killed in action, and their leader, identity still unknown, is in our custody in critical condition. Their vessel has also been seized."

General Thorne drummed his fingers on his desk for a moment, silent. There was no trace of pleasure on his face, but his eyes held a kind of cold approval. "After the failure in the Crucible, a success like this is what I was expecting from you, Commander," he said calmly. "Find out who these new buyers are as soon as possible. Their technology is a matter of concern."

"Work is underway, General," Ryan replied.

"Very well. You are dismissed, Commander."

Ryan saluted and walked out of the office. His duty was done. He had led a successful mission, thwarted a major threat to the city, and defended his honor as a commander. But he felt no sense of victory. Only a deep, bone-weary exhaustion.

He boarded a sky-cab, heading towards his apartment. The neon-lit Aetheria floated past his window. The city was alive, but Ryan felt completely alone. He took off his right glove. He remembered the scuffle with the guard during the fight. He flexed his hand gently.

Suddenly, a strange, intense pain shot through his right hand, from his knuckles to his wrist. It wasn't like common muscle soreness. This was a sharp, neural pain, as if someone had injected an ice-cold fluid into his veins. He stared at his hand in surprise. There was no mark of injury, no bruise. He figured he must have just pinched a nerve during the fight.

Just then, a soft chime came from his personal comm-link. A private message. His hard expression softened when he saw the sender's name: "Dr. Kaelith."

The message was simple: "Come over when work is done."

A real, small smile touched Ryan's lips for the first time in a long while. The strange pain in his hand and all the exhaustion of the mission seemed to vanish in an instant. Beyond all the chaos and violence of this city, he had a place to return to.

That one name was the only soft spot inside his armor. Leaving behind all the day's smell of blood and gunpowder, he was now heading towards his only sanctuary. He gave the cab's control system a new address.

.....To be continued.