Their silence was a large part of what made this possible. Fully kitted out, Yasuko could blend in with the replenishment troops en route to Prince Wusheng's personal flying fortress. She was drilled for three weeks to plausibly pass herself off as a newly trained soldier. How to move, how to speak. By now it was getting easier to transform herself into whatever was needed for the mission. This was certainly better than pretending to be a maidservant or a courtesan.

Not only were the troops not supposed to talk, but they weren't supposed to move either. Yasuko occasionally glanced around using her peripheral vision and all in all, everyone was showing impeccable discipline. That meant she had even less margin for error.

Though she should have been used to it by now. Yasuko found herself shifting uncomfortably in her seat. Ideally, she would find Prince Wusheng as quickly as possible, kill him, then make her escape. However, the opportunity might not present itself right away and she would have to keep the ruse going. That could prove to be a problem very quickly. To complete her disguise, Dr. Hadad outfitted her with extensive prosthetics so that she could pass for a male and so she was accustomed to her new body, she spent the past three weeks training that way. It still felt off and she was looking forward to the day she would be rid of the prostheses. And she wanted her hair back. Except for higher-ranking officers, all Regulars had their heads shaved and so did Yasuko, It only added to the sense that her body wasn't her own.

The transport shook as it touched down on the flight deck. After being taxied to the hangar for about ten or fifteen minutes, the bay door opened and Sergeant Chow stood up, shouting, "Re-move harness!"

The all quickly unbuckled the harness strapping them in to their seats.

They stood up and went to the position of attention.

The even rows turned to their left in unison.

Then the odd rows—which included Yasuko—turned to the right so that everyone was facing the bay door.

They marched out of the transport in block formation, eventually exiting the hangar single file to go through processing. They went in by squad. Yasuko was in Fifth Squad, so it took a while before it was there turn. The first chamber was a narrow corridor with a chute to the left of each person in the squad. Sergeant Chow was standing there in nothing but his dogtags.

This is where her infiltration would have failed if not for Dr. Hadad's work. Each soldier had to strip the one in front of him, with Sergeant Chow taking care of Private Lyman in the back. It was quicker to have someone else take off your armor, but Yasuko didn't particularly like having the oafish Private Wenpo's hands on her, particularly when it came to him peeling off her muscle suit.

Yasuko's alias for this mission was Wu Ping and Wenpo took to calling her Pingping as a term of twisted endearment. The army apparently worked on prison rules, where you you either made people your bitches or you were made theirs. Supposedly it was better to be the exclusive property of one 'brother' than to be fair game for whoever could take you. Just let him try something. No, she had to remind herself of her disadvantage without her suit. If she had to defend herself, sure, but she didn't need to be picking fights when she could avoid them. She chose to ignore him. So long as the Sergeant was around, it was the best thing to do.

They folded their muscle suits and neatly stacked their armor before sending them down the chute. When that was done, the door at the other end opened.

They moved into the next area where medics gave them complete physicals, ran scans and took lab samples. For the physical, this was where Dr. Hadad's handiwork was really put to the test. Yasuko had heard men joke about the 'turn your head and cough' bit, but she never thought she'd ever do it herself. Supposedly Sturla's people would be interfering with the scans and lab results because Dr. Hadad's work only applied to outside appearances. Everything else would quickly expose her as a female.

When they were done with the health check, they moved on to the issuing facility. Part of your induction into the 'real' army was a fresh issue of gear from your skivvies on up. Only the muscle suits and armor came with them because they were furnished by the noble house that sponsored their unit. They were given two sets of skivvies and fatigues and one PT uniform, a pair of boots, a pair of running shoes, and assorted equipment like a mess kit and a canteen with a duffel bag to stow it all in. Next was a dressing room where they also could pack the rest of their gear and finally an assembly area where they rejoined the rest of the platoon.

There were already three other companies assembled and there were eight more to follow Yasuko's own. Once they were all gathered, the order cascaded down.

Over two thousand soldiers snapped to attention.

They saluted, but Yasuko was too short to see who they were saluting.

They lowered their hands.

So this was Prince Wusheng. Though she couldn't see him now, she had studied him enough to know what he looked like. A big stocky man, though more muscle than fat, unlike his brother. Big bushy beard streaked with white. Honestly, he looked more like a pirate from the storybooks than a prince. As a Celestial and as her target, he was her enemy, but unlike all the people she had killed before, he was an enemy she could respect.

Another officer shouted, "From left to right, front to back, fall out!"

Though told to fall out, they were expected to do so in an orderly fashion by rank starting with the first platoon of the first company of the first battalion. They didn't have to march in step at least, which was a small mercy. They were filtered into their barracks, cramped bays for sixty men with triple-decker bunks in two rows of ten.

Yasuko was middle bunk, sandwiched between Poliang and Wenpo. She really didn't like the thought of sleeping anywhere near Wenpo.

Speaking of Wenpo, while they were stowing their gear, he looked at the bunks and told her, "Not much room there, Pingping, but if you wanna take me up on my offer, go to the showers an hour or two past lights out an' we can seal the deal."

Again, Yasuko just ignored him. At least Prince Sturla had a measure of superficial charm and an overwhelming animal magnetism. Wenpo had neither. Oh, he looked nice enough, but his predatory behavior took away any benefit his looks might have given him. She couldn't afford to let down her guard around him.

For the time being, there wasn't much to do but hit the sack, however uneasily she might rest. It had been a long flight and she needed to be in peak condition for what she was here to do.

It turned out that the day was filled from wake-up to lights out with much of the same activities as the mini boot camp she had to endure prior to the mission. Physical training, weapons training, drill and ceremonies, classroom instruction, and work details to fill out the rest of the time. There were machines that could swab the decks and clean the toilets better than the recruits, but the point was to keep them and indeed most of the rest of the garrison from having even a single idle moment. The were always doing something and they were always being watched. There was no opening to be found. Except after lights out. That was when she would have to strike.

Yasuko was supposed to have a contact on the inside, but she didn't know who it was. It was either Wenpo or Sergeant Chow. She could see Prince Sturla picking someone like Wenpo, but Sergeant Chow would have more freedom of movement than the rank and file recruits. The quickest way to narrow down the list was to test it out.

A couple hours past lights out, Yasuko went to the showers. No one else was there. So as not to draw any suspicion, she went about taking a shower like normal. There was always one or two who avoided showering with the rest of the platoon unless they were forced to do it, so no one would pay it much mind. The shower room could accommodate two squads at a time with four rows of open stalls. The partitions for the stalls were less about modesty as they were to impede gang activity. If you couldn't take a victim by yourself, you would have to find another place for it.

It didn't take long for her to sense Wenpo approach her from behind. Over the sound of the water, you couldn't really hear anyone unless they wanted to be heard.

He put his hands on her shoulders and started working his fingers like he was trying to give her a massage. If that was the intention, he wasn't very good at it. Was this all part of the game or was he exactly what he appeared to be? She could afford to let it play out a little longer, but she was ready to fight back at a moment's notice.

One of his hands started migrating down before quickly darting down to her wrist. Wenpo pinned her arm behind her back and pressed her into the wall. He leaned in to whisper into her ear.

Yasuko didn't want to risk beating her contact senseless, but this had gone too far. Before she could do anything, though, Wenpo's face smashed into the wall right next to her. He let go of her as he crumpled to the floor in a heap. Yasuko turned to see Sergeant Chow.

'Huixing' was her codename for the mission. So Sergeant Chow was her contact after all.

He handed her a towel.

As she was doing so, he pulled out a bundle hidden under his shirt. It was a muscle suit.

It was different from the general issue model she wore on the trip over here, not quite the same as her usual suit either.

He pressed the button on her wrist to demonstrate. He then pressed the button next to it that not only made the suit see-through but made her invisible as well.

He took out a laser pen and shone it on her arm, the red dot appearing on the wall as if it passed through empty air. He turned off the optic camouflage and held up her other wrist, pointing to but not pressing the button there.

Yasuko remembered what she did to Hongxia. She'd rather not suffer the same fate.

While her old suit didn't have a hood, the army issue did, though it lacked the face flap that left her completely covered. Despite the face flap appearing opaque, once it was sealed, Yasuko could see out like nothing was there. With her all suited up, Sergeant Chow looked down at Wenpo.

He picked up Wenpo and slung him over his shoulder.

She activated her optic camouflage and followed Sergeant Chow. Before they left the shower room, though, he stopped and said, "I know it's necessary, but part a' me hopes you fail. The General's a good man, a good soldier who's served this Empire well. He doesn't deserve this."

Yasuko thought it was interesting that Sergeant Chow thought of the target not as Prince Wusheng the brother to the Emperor but simply as 'the General'. He was more soldier than royalty. Of course he didn't stand a chance against Prince Sturla's plotting. Yasuko wanted to say deserving had nothing to do with it, but it seemed better to say nothing.

Good to know. Not that she had a watch on her to keep track of the time.

She followed Sergeant Chow out of the bay and let him get her through the first ring of security. She would be on her own after that. Before she parted ways with him, though, the Sergeant had one last thing to tell her.

She thought about saying something to let him know she acknowledged what he told her, but making any noise would defeat the purpose of her stealth. Though it was tempting to exploit the master key literally in the palm of her hand, she opted to play it safer, going for the maintenance tunnels as soon as she could find an access hatch. Not only was she more comfortable sneaking around this way but also she could turn off the optic camo and conserve battery power.

She struggled to keep the plans for the fortress in her head as she navigated through the labyrinthine tunnels. Even though Prince Wusheng was entitled to the Imperial suite set aside for the unlikely occasion the Emperor himself might visit, he chose to be quartered among his general staff. The area was still heavily fortified as most officers and almost all general officers were of noble blood, but the security measures were significantly less intense that those for the Imperial suite. Small mercies.

Apparently the risk of infiltration via the maintenance tunnels was considered by the designers because there were no access hatches within the block for the generals' quarters. The block was sealed, but there were roving patrols of guards inside and those guards' shift had to end eventually.

She waited with the access hatch cracked open just enough for her to peek out until she saw the replacement guards arrive. She turned on the optic camo and slithered out of the hatch, careful to open it as little as possible to get out and then quietly close it back again before sneaking up behind one of the guards. It would seem that he could sense her presence because he looked over his shoulder, but seeing nothing, he went on his way.

There were two sets of security doors you had to pass through before entering the block. Between the first and second doors, the replacement guards met the ones being relieved.

The replacements made way for the previous shift to pass. Yasuko narrowly dodged brushing up against the guard she was tailing. Once the previous shift exited, the replacements proceeded inside, paired off and started their patrols. Now she had to find Prince Wusheng's quarters.

Besides the roving patrols, there were also stationary guards posted outside the doors of some of the high priority generals' quarters. It was possible the Prince moved into different quarters without registering it if he was savvy enough to anticipate leaks. He might not even be here. No one would expect to find him among the field grade officers, for instance. More and more Yasuko worried that she might have been too hasty.

It was still a few hours until wake-up. Her batteries wouldn't hold out that long and there was nowhere she could hide without using the optic camo. There was no sure bet. She was just going to have to go for it.

She approached one of the guards posted at the door to what was supposed to be Prince Wusheng's quarters. She carefully reached over and took hold of the hilt of the guard's sword, drew it out and plunged it into his neck. She did the same for his partner, stabbing him just as he was drawing his own sword.

She placed her hand on the scanner and hoped Sergeant Chow was right about her suit being able to override the lock. It did and she darted in as soon as the door opened. Even a general's quarters were rather small and austere. Only Prince Wusheng wasn't in his bed. Though it would have been an undignified place to die, Yasuko opened the door to the toilet. Not there either. Where was he?

A Longdi-class superfortress like this was huge, nearly a kilometer in diameter and anywhere from twenty to thirty stories high. It was to too much ground to cover. He was supposed to be here. Without any active intel, what was she supposed to do?

The lights went out and a voice began to speak on the intercom. It was Prince Wusheng.

Yasuko felt her stomach sink. There was no way she could leave without killing the Prince, but now that they were on to her, how could she expect to avoid getting killed or captured? Prince Sturla said she was going to have to fight through half the garrison and it looked like that was what was going to happen. She couldn't waste time worrying about it. Clear one hurdle at a time. This suit was a lot more powerful than what she was used to. She had to be ready to use it to its fullest.

The door opened. She took some quick breaths to get herself psyched up before taking the first step. She cautiously peeked out first. The bodies of the guards she killed were gone an there was no one waiting for her. Not here at least.

As she stepped into the corridor, her foot slipped and she fell on her rear. She touched the floor and there was something like a thin coat of oil spread out over it. You couldn't really see it on the floor but Yasuko realized she could see it on herself. Not only did the oil give her bad footing but it stuck to her suit and negated the effect of her optic camouflage. Things had just gotten a lot worse for her.

Despite her efforts to proceed with a careful shuffle step through the oil patch, Yasuko slipped and fell two more times getting even more oil on her. The oil stopped at the antechamber separating the generals' quarters from the outside corridor. There was still oil stuck to her feet, so she was still slipping as she walked. The two sets of doors lay open and she could already see the welcoming committee assembled to meet her. There was sure to be just as many lying in wait crossways to her left and her right.

Her only choice, slim as it was, was to kick in the overdrive and try to rush her way through. Using the overdrive was dangerous, but there was no other way she was going to survive this. Of course, there wasn't that much chance of her surviving even with the overdrive, but she wasn't going to just lay down and die. She'd come too far. She couldn't stop until Prince Sturla joined the pile of corpses she'd been building up.

She pressed the button on her wrist and could hear the low hum of the suit as it hypercharged itself. Her muscles tensed as she prepared to burst forward but instead of being propelled forward, she locked up. The hum of her suit became louder, more of a buzzing sound. Her body starting shaking and it felt like hot knives were digging into her flesh. This wasn't the the suit overheating. No, she was being electrocuted. The pain was steadily increasing, but then there was a sudden spike in intensity. Her limbs flailed willy and she flopped onto the floor. The moment she hit, everything went black.