Silent Night - An Operation Edgelord Narrative

Time flies when you're having fun! I guess the facility must have been empty by now, as a one-evening job had turned into a busy night. Yang Fang leaned back in his chair and yawned. He'd stayed in the office longer than he should have: he was really pleased to get the work done. At last, he had the chance to leave this chunk of ice and make a career for himself somewhere  else in the Human Sphere. When he was assigned to the intelligence service on Svalarheima, he thought it would be great to be able to leave as quickly as possible. The chance came up when he started looking into what connected Task Force Tundra Wolves and Diplomat Xi. here were also some local characters involved, but it was trickier to prove those links.

He yawned again. He'd been working all night on a long report that shed new light on the secret ties between the Party and the military authorities. The conflict between the Party and the Imperial Court was the most intense secret war in the Human Sphere, and this report would be like a bombing raid. Over the past year, Yang Fang has been in regular contact with the Coordination Committee for Internal Affairs. So he started to think about which people the report should be sent to in order to get the best result. And this result was definitely going to be a career boost and a reassignment to a place with a better climate. 

The room was quiet. It was right next to Shidong's orbital lift, which was perfect for keeping an eye on things and making sure everything was going smoothly. Even though the facility was right next to the lift, it was nice and quiet down there because it was deep underground. After a few minutes, Yang Fang decided it was time to get some sleep. He was almost done with the report and could leave the finer details to his Geist. He set the instructions and got up from his chair.

The terminal made a strange noise. Fang checked the interface and saw that it was disconnected from the network. Then, out of the blue, CommLog let him know it couldn't get online. A regular person might have thought of a technical issue, but not Fang. His paranoia kicked in and he started thinking faster than he could keep up with. "Jammer," he muttered. He made a run for the nearest door, but it was too late. The door suddenly opened and hit him in the face. He was a little unsteady on his feet, but managed to stay upright. He glanced up just in time to see an armoured fist strike him in the chest. This time he fell to the ground and clearly hurt a few ribs. He was having trouble breathing. The man in armour picked him up with no effort at all and threw him onto the chair. He managed to stay on his feet and stay seated. He could finally get a better look at who had attacked him. He was wearing a white and orange suit of armour, and a green light was shining in the helmet's eyepieces. There was a smell of fuel in the air. 'Jujak,' he thought. The Jujak stepped aside as another person entered the room. She was a young woman, pale as a ghost, with typical Korean features. She was folding up the antenna of the Jammer, more or less as one does with an umbrella. She began to speak an incomprehensible language. 

“Sorry, but the translator isn't working at the moment. Like everything else," said Fang, coughing. He could taste blood in his mouth.

She came closer and said, this time in Yujingyu, "Do you remember me?"

He remembered her and New Hypathia: Dam Hye-Su, the Tiāngŏu he helped to infiltrate the planet in the first phase of the crisis. He couldn't speak, tho. The pain was getting worse by the minute.

"You're doing a great job here. I bet you thought you were going to make a career out of this score, didn't you? His Yujingyu was spot on. You couldn't hear the otherwise predictable Korean accent.

Fang gave a nod. He wasn't sure if he was feeling more pain or fear at that moment.

"You bastard! You took advantage of our moment of vulnerability to send the agents after us! They're still looking around. It's a miracle they haven't found us yet," she said, looking him in the face. 

Fang finally spoke up. "I was just doing my job, as I'm sure you'll understand. It's not my fault that Diplomat Xi grew so greedy and brazen!" His mouth full of blood and his chest hurting with every breath, he was in a bad way.

"This is all your doing. You wanted this, and you'll get what you deserve…" Dam Hye-Su took a step back, regaining her composure

"What's your plan here? Kill me?" Fang enquired, with a hint of defiance in his voice.

The Jujak spoke through the speakers. "I can't stand and watch this, Dam."

Fang relaxed a little and spat blood onto the floor. ‘At least they aren't going to kill me’ he thought. But then the Jujak spoke up again.

"That's why I'll wait outside," he said as he left the room.

Dam Hye-Su unholstered the pistol.

"Wait a minute, please. I'm sorry, I haven't told anyone yet. Everything I've gathered is still on this building's servers…" There was no more Fang. Fear was driving the conversation.

"That's all I wanted to know." She placed the muzzle of the gun on Fang's forehead. "You won't be missed, I can tell you that much."

"I was just doing my job…" Fang said, his eyes welling up with tears.

"So did we…" Three gunshots rang out in the corridor of the empty building.

The vehicle they had stolen was quite large. Despite this, it was rather quiet. Quiet, like the three occupants. Bae Songwook skillfully drove the vehicle through the well-known underground roads of Shidong. Dam had not yet uttered a word, and in a rear seat, Park Kyubok, a Dokkaebi pilot, was still working on his hacking device.

"It’s done, sir. I just checked for the third time, and it looks like the data should be erased or inaccessible,” Park said in a firm, if somewhat shaken, tone. Perhaps he was still shaken by what he had seen. Or maybe by the body bag that contained what remained of Yàng Fang, lying a short distance away.

The intercom crackled, signaling an incoming communication. The voice of Bora Nogaijin, with his heavy Mongolian accent, could be heard. "Package recovered. We are en route to the extraction point."

Dam seemed to wake up and replied, "Hey, I didn’t know Zhanshi Goncheng could even talk!" Irony was her coping mechanism.

"You better hurry," Bae interjected. "A storm is coming. If we manage to pass before it hits, it will cover our escape. ETA to extraction point: three minutes."

"We're on time, I swear! The prisoner was found heavily sedated; we are carrying her by hand," Bora seemed out of breath. "But she seems to be fine."

"Good for us. There will be time at the safehouse to examine her better." Dam was genuinely pleased: both operations went smoothly.  "I don’t remember her name, tho…"

After a short delay, the answer came. "Joline Sandoval."

Previous chapters:

Just Like the Old Times
Medical Drama
Transmissions
Here cometh the Agents
"Rumors of My Death"

Inner Circle