Shi Lang had finished taking shower and greeted the instructors one last time before he left the base. Yuu kept her promise, she met with Amelia and treated the two people in the command outpost mess. The atmosphere among the people was very joyous. Yuu, the silent shadow was smiling more often during the conversation.
Shi Lang wanted to ask her what happened when the lady shot him a glare from behind her bangs. The youngster stifled his words and the meal came to an end. After saying his farewell to Amelia, Shi Lang did not waste any time and came to the transportation bay wearing his regular army uniform.
His spaceship was ready and after some initial checks, he coordinated with the authorities in the base and took to the starry seas. Tiberius watched his ship fly away from the base, and his mood improved a bit, Shi Lang was the dread of his happiness. However, his bad time did not end at this, Shi Lang had posted his inappropriate behavior in the reports he submitted. Soon, Major Tiberius will be transferred from this place and never come back to bother Amelia again.
Well, even though he was a mature person, he did not want to let someone, who dared to hit on his girl so easily. Shi Lang again hitched rides with the bigger space vessels he found on the way for better speed. It took him one whole day to get close to the federation.
It was nighttime when he landed at the military spaceport. Taking his bike back to the base, he came directly to the town hall. He wanted to report to the senior officer first. This was the basic protocol. He walked inside the town hall and came to stand in front of the door leading to Archie Arkham’s office.
He rapped at the door and an exhausted voice sounded, “Come in.”
Shi Lang pushed open the door and after coming to stand in front of the table, he saluted and said, “Major Shi Lang reporting back for duty, Sir.”
Archie raised her gaze and said, “At ease, Major. Have a seat.”
Shi Lang nodded and he had no reason to deny the offer, so he sat down on the chair across from Archie Arkham. The lady said, “I understand that you have achieved the goals you set before this trip.”
Shi Lang nodded to her words confirming that he has indeed achieved his goals. Archie Arkham said, “Well, I have good news and bad news. Which one would you like to hear first?”
The youngster gazed at her face deeply and said, “Whichever one you would like to share first, Commander.”
Archie nodded and said, “Lullaby and Tian, were deployed to investigate a big military family situation. They should have reported back yesterday, but till now there is no word. I want you to get this cleared up and bring our people back here. Can you do it?”
Shi Lang nodded and said, “I will.”
Archie Arkham nodded and said, “The rest of your crew is already deployed at the site. Gamma is out of the sector at the moment, you have the authority to lead the team at your own discretion.” her words surprised Shi Lang.
Archie Arkham was an experienced officer and she could tell from his expression that something was bothering him. She said, “Do not worry, the team will never overlook a direct command. You can rest assured they will be following you to the best of their abilities.”
Shi lang sighed and said, “Commander, that is not what I am worried about. I understand that they all will be following me to the best of their abilities, however, now that you have asked me to take command of this rescue operation, if they were to suffer, I will always be burdened under this weight.”
Archie Arkham said, “The stars on your lapel are not just for show, Major. They are the representation of the weight you carry. It is about time you get used to it. The reason I asked whether you would like to accept the mission earlier or not was simply a test to see how loyal you were to your teammates, if you were to hesitate in the slightest, I would have put a hole through your skull regardless of your past achievements, now get moving.”
Shi Lang sucked in a cold breath and he stood up from the chair. The lady in front may seem exhausted but the aura she gave off surprised the youngster. He asked, “What are my dispatch orders?”
Archie shook her head and said, “This time, you have to sneak in and out without the help of document manipulations. The other party got hold of the information and they dealt with Lullaby and Tian, I will not take the risk to expose any more details to them. Your task is simple, rescue your teammates and assassinate those who were involved in this. The crimes are proved, the military is just looking for a silent way to dispose of these people.”
Shi Lang nodded and saluted the lady. He turned on his heels and walked out of the town hall. The first thing he did was to come back to the villa his team lived in. His secret division uniform had been damaged so he needed a different set. While Shi Lang stood in his room, changing his clothes, the youngster’s gaze fell on his chest.
He said, “What a shame of a cultivator was I?” he circulated the thin trace of spirit energy in his body and activated the spiritual tattoo hidden on the left upper chest. Since he was needed to move around with stealth, might as well hide a few things for emergency usage. He placed a set of secret division uniforms inside the tattoo space.
Then he rummaged the villa, to find any cold and projectile weapons, and did the same as he did with the uniform. Dressed in casual attire, he came out of the secret division camp and headed to the bus stop nearby. On his shoulder, a small bag was flanged. This was going to be his cover for the time being.
He did not look like a military officer at all. After waiting for a few minutes, he caught a bus and headed to the space elevator. The plan was to sneak up on a passenger spaceship and make his way to the said planet.
Shi Lang reached the destination in the morning and came to the counter inside the main building, he bought a ticket to planet Aries, the now mars, the purpose of his visit was mentioned as fun and vacation.
After obtaining the tickets, he boarded the elevator and got on a spaceship. If anyone was watching his movements, then this was it. This was a cruise spaceship, it will take twenty days to tour the sea of stars before they arrived at Aries. Shi Lang got himself a premium ticket, this was from the reward he collected from the previous tasks, yes, they were given bonuses.
The premium ticket got him access to a private cabin inside the ship. Now, there was a catch, every cabin had a hidden hatch built inside it. Shi Lang had prior knowledge of this, he found out about this on the bus. Inside the cabin he changed into his black uniform and put on the mask, then using this hatch, he left the spaceship before the ship could leave the spaceport.
There was no way to find, how he got out because the details of this emergency hatch were available only to the manufacturers of the spaceship or the secret divisions. This hatch was designed in order to counter hijackers if there were any.
Shi Lang used this to his advantage, the hatch led to a secret area where the secret division soldiers were present to act at any moment. When the on-duty guards spotted Shi Lang, they aimed at him with phasors and said, “Halt.”
The boy raised his hands and stopped n his tracks, he replied, “Agent Ace. Shadow Executioner.”
His ID was reported and the om-duty guards moved their hands quickly to see through the data and found his claims to be correct. They put down the guns and saluted him. Shi Lang returned the salute and said, “We are all secret division people, so we are all brothers, I need a favor.”
A hoarse voice sounded from the darkness behind the guards, “What do you need brother?”
Shi Lang replied, “I need to sneak on a planet to rescue my crew.”
His words made the atmosphere even tenser. The hoarse voice said, “Someone dared to take our secret forces captive, they sure have galls of a tiger. What is the name of this planet?”
“Wei-Wai.” replied Shi Lang.
“Tch, that rat hole, it must me the Duke household. Don’t worry brother, you can board the business freighter heading in that direction, but you will have to steal an escape pod to land on yourself.” replied the other party.
Shi Lang nodded and said, “I can do that, now can you tell me how to get to this freighter?”
“Right away.” said the man. Shi Lang could see that the person hiding inside the shadow was wearing a black uniform similar to him but with a sword emblem on the shoulder. However, he did not say anything, his first priority was to go out of this place and board the freighter. After all, who knew, what might his teammates be suffering?