Shi Lang waited for the team members to come over to the spaceport. He was aware that ever since his eyes fell on that envelope, his mind has become very frantic. He found a spot inside the hangar and sat down with his legs crossed and began to meditate. The place he was going to need him to be calm and focused.
The Card Class was unexplored territory for him. Defeat originates from ignorance, that was what he believed in and while he was excited he would not be able to dedicate his complete focus and that will be the moment he becomes ignorant, and who knows what the consequences might be. As he meditated, the boy gradually forgot about time.
He only woke up when he sensed his communicator vibrate. He opened his eyes and found his teammates standing not far away from him. He raised his wrist to check who called him and found it was Carole. He tilted his head in confusion and the lady replied, “Captain said not to approach you physically when you are in meditation.”
Shi Lang nodded and he stood up. Gamma said, “Lang, you will have to use the escape pod to get off our vessel. However, that leaves you without any defense, as you know, escape pods have no weapons on them.”
Shi Lang nodded and said, “I know, you just need to drop me at the edge of the Terran Territory, I will deal with the rest later. In case, things go south, I hope you can pass on a few messages to my parents.”
Gamma was shocked to hear him say such a thing. So were the other three, only now did they realize the depth of the situation. They wanted to say something more, but no words came out of their mouths. They gazed at Shi Lang with mixed emotions. Suddenly, Carole said, “Captain, a word.”
Gamma turned to look at her and nodded. The two moved to a corner and whispered a few things to each other. Hunk, Sharpnel, and Shi Lang watched the expressions on their faces change as the two discussed something.
Hunk nudged Sharpnel with his elbow and asked, “What do you think are they talking about?”
Sharpnel shook his head and replied, “My guess is as good as yours.”
Before the two could ask Shi Lang about his opinion, Gamma turned around and walked forward with Carole in tow. She said, “Lang, you have been a member of our team for a very small time, however, you have proved your worth with your skills and during the last task, you led the team in my stead, you did a splendid job bringing them all back home safe and sound. So, to thank you and to honor you, I have decided that the transport vessel of our team, will be given to you.”
Her words had one meaning, the main spaceship that the whole team used to travel was now being assigned to Shi Lang alone for personal use. The words surprised everyone. Shi Lang was about to say no when the Captain said, “The place you are going to is a secret location inside the uncharted territory. Before you act modest and humble yourself in front of us, think, is it not better to have a vessel of your own. The ship can be operated by a single pilot and in case you come across a hostile situation, you can use the computer system on board to use the weapon system.”
Hearing her points, Shi Lang could not refuse to her anymore and nodded. Gamma nodded and then she manipulated her communicator. As the team leader she was the person thsi ship was allocated to. As the members of secret division, if they had accumulated enough merit points they can exchange them for resources.
Gamma sent a secret message to all the team members except Shi Lang to contribute merit points so that the ship could be occupied. The price of this ship was ten thousand military merit points. Sounds low? Then imagine yourself doing something like facing a peak expert like Victor Duke, or entering a new planet and committing assassinations, for a meager sum of twenty or thirty merit points?
Yeah, sounds expensive now, right? So, after the team members all donated their hard earned merit points to get Shi Lang a spaceship, Gamma transferred the ownership to him. The system worked fast, their credentials were verified from the military database and period, it was done.
Gamma said, “Go, now, she is yours, but make sure that you do not end up causing any menace, or we all will be put behind bars in charges of aiding a criminal.” she had a smile on her face.
Shi Lang felt warm in his heart and said, “When I went to the camp for training my father said, in military you will find friends who will be willing to suffer with you. It seems he was correct. Thank you for your merit points Captain.” he saluted her and the others.
Hunk was getting emotional at this scene and he came forward to give Shi Lang a bear hug. Sharpnel was next in line. Carole also briefly hugged Shi Lang before Gamma said her farewells. The team waited for Shi Lang to get inside the ship and log in to the system before the left the hanger.
…
Shi Lang sat in the main pilot seat and mumbled, “Lets do this.”
Then he operated the ship console skillfully and after communicating with the hangar mechanism, the ship took off vertically from the overhead passage. Shi Lang did not have any problem in controlling the ship as it came with a flight control artificial intelligence.
As the ship took off, Gamma led the team out of the spaceport. Sharpnel asked, “Boss, was it worth it to spend so many merit points for the kid?”
Gamma nodded without hesitation and said, “Someone from our team got selected in the card class, you tell me, was it not worth it?”
Hunk said, “He saved the lives of Lullaby and Tian, if he needed my life, I would have given it with a smile let alone some points I can earn back.” he stated clamly, with Carole nodding in approval of the statement.
…
Shi Lang was unaware of the situation and thoughts of his teammates as he entered the coordinates to the location mentioned by the masked man. The system informed him that the coordinates lie outside Terran territory and that it will take sixteen space jumps to reach the nearest border.
The youngster put away the warnings, and initiated the space jump. The journey was bland. One space jump and the jump engines will need to rest and reset. In the meantime, Shi Lang wrote down his will for his parents and Amelia in encrypted messages. The messages will need the biometrics of the receivant to be opened and read.
After he was done with the messages, he sent them to Gamma, so that the lady could hand them to his parents if something was to happen to him. He explored the ship mechanism to kill time and moved after the jump engines were reset. The process was repeated for fifteen times before he wrapped at the edge of Terran Borders.
After this post he would need only one more space jump to get to his destination. It has been three days since he set off, and not once had he slept. This journey was not easy, but was a test. Sixteen space jumps put pressure on the body and mind like nothing else. The Card Class was not someplace that could be entered without paying a price.
Shi Lang decided to take a day to rest at the edge. He controlled his ship to enter a stealth mode and went to sleep after setting the security at the highest priority level. He did not want anyone to come over and raid his ship while he grabbed rest.
After all this was done, Shi Lang slept inside the captain room. He did not remove anything that Gamma had placed in her room, leaving it all the way it was, he intended to return this ship back to the team after the usage was finished.
Shi Lang fell asleep for two days, and when he woke up, he decided to leave the place immediately. Because there was a military patrol nearby, he woke up because the system detected the patrol and alerted Shi Lang. It was not that he was afraid of the patrol, but things will become unnecessarily complicated and time consuming if he did not move now.
The youngster got inside the pilot seat and tapped a few buttons on the console to enter the final coordinates and initiated the jump sequence. It took just one moment and the ship accelerated at the speed of light. When the ship stopped, Shi Lang found himself close to a planet that looked green and blue.
If he had not known better he would have thought that this place was The Federation. Shi Lang controlled the ship and entered the atmosphere of the planet. As soon as he got inside, his ship communicator turned on, “State your identity.”
Shi Lang replied, “Agent Ace, Shadow Executions, Citizen of the federation.”
The other side was silent for a few seconds, and then a monotonous voice sounded again, “You will be following the headings provided by us.”
Shi Lang replied, “Roger that, but can you tell me what is this place.”
The voice replied after a few seconds, “Welcome to Mythya.”
