The sun dipped beneath the jagged peaks of Mining-Star #30, casting long purple shadows across the assembly plaza.
Tomorrow morning was the official ribbon-cutting ceremony for the Taichu Free Warp-Grid. Across the plaza, local miners, blacksmiths, and stonecutters were hanging festive red lanterns and yellow silk banners from the lampposts.
Laughter and the smell of roasted lamb drifted from the communal mess tents. Old men shared clay jugs of rice wine, while children ran between the support pillars, playing tag around the base of the colossal gate.
High above the celebrating crowd, near the crown of the four-hundred-meter arch, the air rippled like hot oil.
Thirteen distorted silhouettes clung to the golden superstructure. They wore pitch-black chameleon suits woven from void-silk, absorbing all light, radar pings, and spiritual scent.
At their head crawled Grandmaster Assassin Night-Fang. His reptilian yellow eyes gleamed through the slits of his carbon-fiber mask.
[Target: Grandmaster Night-Fang | Leader of the Shadow-Saboteur Guild | Goodness Score: -55/100 — Professional Mass Murderer]
Night-Fang had spent two centuries working as a high-priced mercenary for corporate oligarchs. He had bombed passenger liners, collapsed mining tunnels on striking miners, and poisoned planetary reservoirs.
