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Orion Guardians, Inc. (Location classified) – 4067

“Agent Ryder, Agent Helios – I’ve been expecting you.” The elderly Gresian wheeled over, offering Cara one of his scaly paws. “My goodness, Cara – you dyed your hair! Why? I liked your natural color…”

Cara smiled warmly at the old Gresian. “Your latest invention dyed my hair, remember, Dr. Zen? It’s designed to change my hair and eye color according to mission parameters. This color is from my last mission.” She reached up and tapped a few times on the back of her head, and her hair changed back to its original honey blonde.

Dr. Zen shook his head self-deprecatingly. “Oh, that’s right…my goodness, I’m getting old…which, I might add, is the reason I’m retiring after this mission.”

“You’re retiring? Since when? Why didn’t you announce it? Who’s replacing you? What are we going to do without you?”

Dr. Zen raised his hands in an attempt to stop the rapid flow of words shooting from her mouth. “Now ,Cara, I didn’t announce it because I didn’t want people to make a fuss. Besides, Aiden is quite capable of taking over for me.”

Cara raised an eyebrow in shock. “The boy? Are you serious?”

“I have complete confidence in him. He’s exceptional and quite knowledgeable in his field despite his age. With proper guidance and time, he could become one of the best mission tech coordinators this agency has ever had.” He looked over at Helios curiously. “I’ve never seen you before. Are you new?”

Before Helios could reply, Cara moved into Dr. Zen’s line of vision and said, “So – what do we need to know for this mission?”

Although Dr. Zen noticed this obvious slight against Helios, he said nothing, simply motioning them over to his workstation. He placed his hand on the security monitor and waited for it to finish scanning. A compartment in the wall opened, and Dr. Zen removed a sub-dermal injector and two boxes.

Helios looked suspiciously at the device. Dr. Zen laughed deeply. “Don’t worry, Agent Helios. You’ll get used to these soon enough. We use these handy little devices to inject medicine, homing beacons, tracking chips, and whatnot. Doesn’t hurt at all – you’ll just feel a little pinch.” He motioned for them to sit down so they were closer to his level.

“For this mission, we will be giving you both a dermal cam and a tracking chip that comes with a sub-dermal communication piece.” As he spoke, he pressed the injector against Cara’s shoulder and pushed a button; there was a quick hiss of air before he moved on to Helios. When he finished, he continued speaking. “You know, Aiden was able to improve these since the last time. He was able to program a small cloaking device into each chip – hopefully, it will keep the chip from being detected during a scan and be activated long enough for us to find you in case of problems.”

He rolled over to his keyboard and activated a screen. “As you know, the main goal of this mission will be to infiltrate a Brekken base to recover Agent Lani Hwang or at least determine her current status. This base, according to the intel forwarded to us by Agent Hwang before she disappeared, is highly fortified, especially in the recent weeks since the Brekken General has been on base. Sneaking or storming in, therefore, is out of the question. You will be going there undercover. ”

Cara frowned, sensing from Dr. Zen's voice that something was going to be wrong or at the very least unpleasant. “Undercover as…what?”

Dr. Zen suddenly became preoccupied with the injector still in his hands. “Well…uh, now, Cara…don’t get upset...”

“Doctor, we’ve known each other a long time. Just spit it out," she said, getting slightly impatient.

“Well, naturally, we would need a…well, a Brekken soldier in order to be allowed to dock at their spaceport and…um, well, that’s where Helios comes in so no problem there. He'll be assuming the identity of a Brekken pilot we apprehended a month ago…but, um, Cara, we haven’t been able to develop the Drago’s Serum for altering your appearance to…um, appear Brekken, um, since we have never been able to get a decent sample of Brekken DNA until Helios arrived and…well…it hasn’t been processed quite yet. So…um, in order for you to go along on this mission – and I, uh, have to remind you that, uh, you are expressly ordered to do so – you have to, um…uh, go as Helios’, um, human slave.” Dr. Zen mumbled the last part, but there was no mistaking what he had said.

“WHAT!?!” Cara’s cry of outrage echoed through the room, and, despite the soundproof walls, some agents in the hallway outside would later swear that they heard a faint sound coming from behind the wall as they walked by.

Helios winced, his sensitive hearing picking up every painful decibel, and Dr. Zen appeared extremely agitated. “Now, Cara,” he soothed, “It’s only for this one mission. The serum is Aiden’s top priority right now – it’ll be ready by your next mission. And, besides, it’s the only way for us to get both of you in and out of there in one piece.”

“I won’t do this. Get Harkow in here," she nearly growled.

“He said you’d react like this, but it’s not really open to – ”

“Just get him,” Cara clenched her teeth hard enough that Helios could almost hear them grinding together. Dr. Zen shook his head in defeat, and wheeled out the door. Cara stormed over to one of the chairs in the corner and sat down, crossing her arms.

“Ms. Ryder,” Helios stated softly for the first time, his entire body arranged in a non-threatening pose, “I can understand why you would find this whole situation...distasteful. However, I hope in the end you will be professional about this given there is more at stake than your own comfort and your own personal issues with the Brekkens. May I remind you that there is an agent’s life on the line here.”

Cara turned away. The silence stretched on and on until Harkow burst through the door with Dr. Zen behind him.

Harkow glowered at Cara, despite a subtle glimmer of understanding in his reptilian eyes. “Cara, I knew you would be disagreeable to this mission, but we have no choice! You’re the – ”

“I’ll do it.” Her voice was so quiet, they almost missed it.

Harkow stopped his tirade in shock. “Excuse me?”

“I’ll do it." She looked at him. "But only because Lani is a friend of mine and this is the only way. I’ll be in Section 10 getting tech equipment and undercover gear.” Cara stood up and walked towards the door. She had almost reached it when she turned around and looked pointedly at Helios. “We don’t have all day, you know.” Helios quirked an eyebrow before following her out the door.

“Well…that was unexpected,” Harkow said as he looked at Dr. Zen.