Shi Lang and Amelia strapped into their seats with Chol in another. She had been hit with a tranquilizer and would not wake up shortly but Amelia took an extra step of caution and tied her up with some utility rope.
Shi Lang controlled the vessel and they flew up. Amelia contacted the base to report the status of the mission.
“Den, do you copy? This is Chariot.” said Amelia.
“This is Den, go ahead Chariot.” the voice on the speaker belonged to Quinn.
Amelia replied, “Dark Knife has been taken into custody, heading back.”
Quinn replied, “Status confirmed, good job.”
Amelia wanted to say something when Shi Lang cut in, “This is Ace, we are now being pursued by boogeys. Must be the sheath.”
Dark Knife was the code they used for Chol, she was the knife in the dark, meant to work for the empire, but she went rogue. As for the sheath, it was the intelligence department personnel.
Quinn asked, “Do you need air support?”
Shi Lang said, “I spot two boogeys, let me see what they have. Over and Out.”
“Godspeed.” said Quinn before the connection was terminated.
Shi Lang said, “Wazir, you are on the weapons.”
Amelia nodded and quickly began to set up the weapon system ording to her needs as the chase in the skymenced.
…
Quinn reported the exchange with Shi Lang to Rosa, who was the acting captain on the base and said, “Darcx, pull up the sat-feed on Ace’s vessel. They are being chased.”
Darcx did not dy and on the main screen, he projected a live satellite monitoring footage. They could see Shi Lang being pursued by two vessels and the situation was chaotic.
…
The cockpit rang with a light beep, Amelia said, “They are hailing us. What should we do?”
Shi Lang shook his head and said, “We take them out.”
He did not dare to risk Amelia’s safety. Thus he decided to do what he was very familiar with, dao fights. This was his time pass, which he would do most of the time at the base nowadays, spending his hours in the simtion realm and practicing his flight skills.
The vessel was moving forward and the radar system told him about the two vessels following him. Shi Lang said, “They have a faster vessel.”
Amelia nodded and said, “We have a skilled pilot.”
Shi Lang smirked and said, “I will slow down, let them catch up, or think that they have caught up to us, then we enter the canyons. I want to see if they can really fly through those twists, also, keep firing at them, so that they could not lock on to us.”
Amelia nodded and said, “Aye, Captain.”
Shi Lang slowed down the speed and let the distance between the two sides and as soon as that happened, the two enemies locked on to the Shi Lang and Amelia’s ship. Thetter had hermands and as soon as this happened, she let go of the hesitation and phasor beams flew out of the weapons.
Amelia said, “These guys are good.” as she saw the enemy dodging the attacks.
Shi Lang said, “I will hit the brakes, they will fly past, you will have to take down at least one of them before they turn around.”
Amelia nodded to his instruction and suddenly, Shi Lang pulled the brakes while he shifted the nose of the vessel to aim high, the sudden change made the vessel elevate for a few feet and the enemy vessel, who did not expect this change, flew past them.
Amelia was also ready, and she controlled the weapons panel and concentrated all the firepower at one ship closest to them. These small vessels did not have a shield function to deflect the phasor beams fired at them.
Boom!!!
The enemy vessel turned into a ball of fire, the shockwaves made Shi Lang’s vessel tremble as well. However, without being bothered by it, he controlled the vehicle and began to chase the second enemy vessel at a high speed.
However, again, Shi Lang was unable to catch up to them, because of the higher speed of the enemy. The enemy began to climb and loop himself to position himself behind Shi Lang. How could it be so simple. Speed decreased the turning radius.
Shi Lang held the advantage in this. He did not let the enemy use their superior speed. Suddenly something came to his mind and he decided to enter a loop turn of his own. The radius of his turn was smaller and now instead of following the enemy, they were moving parallel to each other.
Shi Lang said, “Wazir…”
Amelia did not need another notice and her fingers sentenced the enemy to death. A this happened in a matter of seconds. After clearing the enemy, Shi Lang said, “Frisk her thoroughly, she must have some tracking device on her person.”
Amelia nodded as the young man controlled the ship to move toward the base. She took off her seat belt and checked Chol. She found a bug in her shoe and said, “They use these ancient ways?”
Shi Lang smiled and said, “To make you lower your guard a bit. Scan her for nanobots.”
Amelia nodded and calibrated the nanobots on her utility belt. The result was in front of them in a few minutes, Chol had more than one nanobot trackers in her blood vessel, with one connected to her neural system. This was her life indicator.
After some time, they reached the base, and took thedy to the interrogation room. Shi Lang did not go with Amelia and the guards, but came to the monitor room. Quinn, Darcx and Jenkins stood up and saluted him. Rosa gestured him to take his seat.
Shi Lang waved his hand and asked, “What is the status?”
Jenkins said, “They have neutralized seventy-five percent of the guards and all of the surveince has been hacked in too.”
Shi Lang nodded and asked, “Any response from the Intelligence department?”
Darcx said, “They were trying to counter us, but the teams hacked the surveince from fifty different spots, and they issued a threat, that if anyone tried to hunt them, they will be taking down the whole capital with them. This has kept the intelligence department at the bay.”
Shi Lang nodded and said, “The objective list?”
Jenkins replied, “The evidences have been leaked and will be circted on the media in a few minutes. The disclosure of the unit will be done at the same time. However, I have a question.”
Shi Lang nodded and asked, “What is it?”
“Why do we need to announce the unit to the empire?” asked Jenkins.
Rosa replied, “Because, this will be how the people will know that the Queen is not a dummy, that the court is not out of her control. At the same time, it will tell the people, that if someone acted out of the line, they will be regted.”
Shi Lang nodded and said, “It is just as Head Teacher said. We need to make a statement.”
At this moment, Amelia came inside, “Chol is awake.”
Shi Lang nodded and said, “Contact, Her Majesty, we need her to be examined and we need the Finance Minister to be present. I want to cross examine this pair of traitors.”
Ameris, who had been silent for the whole time, raised her eyebrow and asked, “What do you mean by traitor?”
Shi Lang sighed and Amelia narrated to them about the lion-man. Rosa was shocked, she said, “We need to report this to the federation. We need to prepare.”
Shi Lang nodded and said, “Yes, but I suggest we do that after the interrogation. I would like to know what it is that ising our way.”
Ameris nodded and quickly contacted the Queen. Nexalia had no problem, however, she asked if Abbey can be interrogated inside the pce grounds. Shi Lang rejected herpletely. He said, “This matter cannot be discussed within the pce grounds if you do not wish to see a Neomon Empire covered in mes. You have till the morning to decide.”
Nexalia was flusstered, she could understand the gravity of the situation when Shi Lang said if she wanted the empire to be set on fire. Unable toe up with a logical deduction, she gave in, but she asked to be present during the interrogation.
Shi Lang did not stop her, since things were changing, then a little bit more to convince thisdy were worth it. While Nexalia departed for the secret base with Nuiya and her unconscious brother. The Queen’s snare also finished their work and moved away from the capital one by one.
The night passed and the information regarding the execution of the high level white cor criminals was leaked. The Queen ordered to seize their property and wealth. The news was shattering form them.
With the first ray of sunlight, the whole Nestia was set on fire. The news was series of firecrackers.