The Bishop, Antwar District, Tortsin.

  February 25th, 2509

  The abandoned warehouse, dubbed The Bishop, was long and large. From what they’ve read, it was supposedly a supply depot for reserves of Imperium Dropships, in the event the Dominion invades Tortsin, then allegedly discontinued 3 years ago. With news talking speculations of imminent war, Antwar District was more deserted than ever.

  But then again, it was practically a ghost town after a shootout between Special Service Bureau and Sons of Tortsin almost 4 years ago. Any citizens who were there decided to head for greener pastures. It also helped that the Empress took matters against SoT through listening and solving the grievances in the last few years, which weakened SoT’s grip, but also met with criticisms from the war-hawk news media and Parliament members, who believe in scorched earth tactics as the only solution against terrorism.

  However, the denizens of The Bishop were still working on finding leads. Ex-SSB agents Raven, Knob, and Hammer alongside former veteran SSB agent Kyla Weber, and technician Fredir’Karn huddled together in a circle to discuss things.

  As a veteran, Weber was middle-aged, 52 to be exact. Face with small wrinkles, graying dark hair, shredded muscle build, and dozens of scars to tell stories.

  “Okay, so… Neera is working on finding a lead for us. But until we get that, we need to start scouting for possible locations.” Fredir spoke first. The trio groaned, while Weber nodded.

  “Okay, so I guess by the groaning, you three have no idea where to start. Great.” Fredir commented sarcastically.

  “Hey, that’s not fair! We got marked rogue and our digital files have been restricted from access.” Knob protested.

  “Welcome to guerrilla warfare.” Raven chimed in, and Knob shrugged in frustration.

  “Relying on digital is a hindrance, Agent Schmitt. Physical can be procured more easily and they’re ever-lasting as long you keep them safe.” Weber commented, which Raven nodded.

  “Yeah, serves me right for not paying full attention to physical evidence classes.” Knob spoke bitterly.

  “There’s always learning. And we don’t stop learning until we pass away.” Weber argued.

  Hammer couldn’t help himself smiling widely at Weber’s mannerisms. While it’s not always true that wisdom comes with age, because some old people are fucking idiots, Weber’s years of experience have given her enough institutional knowledge on covert ops. And how to push through the phase of being framed rogue.

  “I assume you have ideas then, Ky?” Fredir asked, and Knob was tempted to smack his head, but Weber gestured her to stand down.

  “A few.” Weber answered and gestured them to follow her to a computer office room on the top floor. When they arrived inside, they noticed two surveillance camera on rotating left and right both ceilings.

  “Kind of excessive, unless they were trying to commit debauchery here.” Fredir’s sarcasm grew tiresome to the group.

  “You talk sarcastic shit, one more time, I’m gonna pour cement on your ears.” Knob threatened.

  “Go ahead, I have four.” Fredir dared her.

  “Fredir, can you lay it off, at least for a while?” Web ordered.

  This content has been misappropriated from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

  “Alright, I’ll stop. I’ll talk honest from now on.” Fredir spoke sincerely, but Knob didn’t believe him.

  “We’ll see.” She muttered under hear breath, but Fredir heard just fine and ignored.

  Weber perused through one of the computers, the monitor’s screen flickered, and showed a document file, in which it showed a manifest. She noticed a stack of papers left in the printer and took them. It was the manifest itself. Fredir tried to look, but Knob backed him away as Weber was still yet done. Several minutes had passed, and she finished looking through them, then stacked the papers in proper order.

  “The warehouse wasn’t discontinued until last year.” Weber spoke up.

  Eyes widened from the rest of the group. “What do you mean?” Knob asked.

  “It means that the whole news story of this warehouse being discontinued in early ‘06 was a cover story.” Weber clarified.

  Hammer rolled his eyes, and Raven nodded. “It’s like what you taught me, boss. Never take anything at face value.”

  “Exactly. So, and the manifest showed a record of Minister Yurev’Berk requesting a specialized munitions for a dropship, at June 8th, 2505.” Weber brought a paper to Raven that said so, which the latter looked through.

  “And there’s more. 20 clients, who’s names were redacted, requested the same munitions for 25 dropships.” Weber shared another paper of the manifest to the group, where it showed

  “We still need to deal with the fact that the Dominion will invade Tortsin sooner or later.” Fredir spoke, a hint of fear in his voice.

  “An advantage.” Raven commented.

  “Yeah, if you don’t mind bullets, plasma, coil, explosives and artillery on your way.” Fredir’s fear was blatant.

  “Awww, the technician is too chicken to survive a warzone.” Knob teased.

  “I’m not a combat fighter, Schmitt. You know that!” Fredir protested.

  “I’ll watch your back and front then.” Hammer put a hand on the technician’s shoulder. It didn’t ease his fears, but it gave him a sense of safety.

  Knob thought about what Weber said, then her eyes widened. “So… If I’m understanding this right, we’re using the war to our advantage to look through the IIA’s database, get evidence to clear our names, and hunt down the bastards who framed us?”

  Weber smiled widely, delighted that Knob understood loud and clear about their mission.

  Knob chuckled. “This is gonna be fun.”

  Weber nodded. “It will be, but let’s not get too excited. We still need an insider, and I have a good feeling it’ll be one of Neera’s spies.”

  Fredir’Karn sighed and shrugged. “Well, at least it’s better than putting our lives to an SSB agent. Less prone to stab us in the back, that way.”

  Weber lightly elbowed him. “See? Always healthy to have a little positivity.”

  “But I need to make one thing clear here. When the Dominion invades Tortsin, they’ll slaughter any civilians in their way. If we find yourselves in a fight against them, we strike them without mercy.”

  The trio and ‘Karn nodded.

  “And work ourselves in saving as much civilians as we can. We may be rogue by the state, but we still have a duty to our home. Our Imperium to our dying breath.” Weber brought a fist to her chest and shouted. “Mein Leben fur Tortsin!”

  “Mein Leben fur Tortsin!” The trio and ‘Karn responded likewise.

  They are rogue, but they will fight for their Imperium.