-The Long Game-

Camped out a few miles from her target, she ate her last rationed out dinner, patiently waiting for midnight to fall so she could finally put an end to this nightmare of a hunt. She had put in over a year of tracking, camping, and spying to get to where she is now. She had made no contact with anyone other than those that provided her with the necessities for everyday life, leaving no trail behind as she moved from to place to place. All her due diligence had brought her to a massive planet on the outskirts of Andromeda, where life is sparse, other than a few wild plants that struggled to learn their environment. She wore only her most essential gear, consisting of her oxygen converter breathing pump, her weapons, and infiltration tools, when she started off to the base in the distance, having buried the rest of her gear.

Climbing the surrounding fenced barricade was easily achieved, since this was a temporary setup, like all these cheap bases. She took her time between each guard, not wanting to risk being caught, because it would postpone her plan another year. She presumed this would lead to vamped security and more difficult access to the mastermind behind the operation. Executing every move perfectly, she slipped into the main building before too long. She knew the major weakness at their temporary bases was the lack of cameras, so all that was required was good timing, light footing, and a little bit of luck. She knew no one important would be asleep at this hour. Their goal was to get off this planet as soon as possible, and not risk getting caught up in their own desolation. Showing confidence, Lin held up outside the center room, with all the massive equipment being set up after its delivery. She was listening to the heinous voice of the man, one who blows up worlds to harvest their resources faster, boast about the bauxite that made up seventy present of the planet. Lin’s skin boiled, as she was unable to fathom someone destroying an entire planet for aluminum.

She slipped into the room, like a shadow flickering on the wall in the light behind the mastermind of this entire pointless operation. You can very easily mine empty planets; this, is a lazy, greedy and careless way to make your money. He had blatantly committed mass genocide of small lifeforms and some very promising starting species; tracking his long and spread out destruction has lead her to the conclusion he is the one responsible for the destruction of three well established and heavily populated planets. This put a clear target on his head in her mind.

His laughter unsettled Lin as she prepared her attack. She leapt out and caught him entirely off guard, her prudently planned and timed raid on this forsaken operation is going as smoothly as all her missions went. Within moments, she had him grasping at her, struggling to regain balance, while Lin held him by his shirt collar over the drill that had just begun to dig into the planet below them. His screams were muted outside this room by the loud mechanical noises powering the massive drill. The operator met Lin’s gaze for only a brief moment, understanding the situation, and not raising the alarm. The earth toiled beneath them; she held the fiend’s life in her hands.

“What are you waiting for?!” the operator yelled at Lin. She smirked at the old man in her grasp, and let him go. She watched as he was instantly pulverized. “Is he dead?!” he yelled again. Lin nodded, and watched his body disappear into the earth. The drill started to slow until the machine turned off. Lin was long gone before anyone else entered the room.

LIN II