Equinox… the st bastion of the old world, a hermit kingdom keeping its head down to avoid extermination. Equinox wasn’t a warm or comfortable pce to foreigners. The people were kind and welcoming even Wick remembered the extensive gifts he received during his first month, but the chills of the underground cities had a tendency of gnawing on your bones before fading into sweltering summers. It was unlike anything Wick had felt, his home wasn’t ideal or comfortable but at least on that damned desert pnet he could sit still and write his reports and not worry about shivering making it illegible. Wick sighed, slumped back in his overstuffed leather chair and groaned.

  “Stupid, stupid, stupid!” He pulled at his hair as he ran through the day's events, he lost to technicality for not upholding ‘proper sportsmanship.’ Damn sportsmanship, he thought. It was a war simution not a leisurely hike through the gardens.

  His door rattled before three heavy metallic knocks echoed through his study. “L.E Wick we request entry.”

  He sighed “fuck fuck fuck. This is bad… Please don’t be a notice of suspension.” He sat up, his head ran, part of him wanted to just remain silent and not deal with this problem today, “uh yeah come on in.”

  The door cracked open and light trespassed into his firepce lit study. The door continued its rude and violent mission, flooding Wick's comfortable study with harsh white light.

  “Good evening Wick.”

  Wick pushed the ground and his chair swiveled so he could greet his unwanted guest. “Lord! Evening, Lord Leios” He abruptly said in surprise the feeling of impending doom grew deeper. “Good to see you this evening.”

  Lord Leios extended his hand in a friendly manner and shook Wick’s hand. “I wanted to congratute you on your second pce tonight.”

  Wick looked stunned. “Thank… you?” There had to be a but, he thought

  “You’ve proven yourself fruitful in our blood games. I've assigned you a little mission, a bit more intense than our standard affairs of moon surveys.” There was a short pause. “The Gods are watching this mission closely, Apollo chose you to lead it.”

  Wick in shock stared at Lord Leios “I was second pce, Apollo has gotten the wrong person, gods can be wrong too.”

  Lord Leios quietly took a step before Wick before bending over to meet his eye level. “I believe he chose the right person. You can choose to deny it and I’ll walk out of this room with this folder.” He opened his briefcase and pulled out a paper file that had a wax seal of the royal guard stamped onto it with Apollo’s neat signature next to it. The file was important and it held an untold power. “The job is simple, high pressure but simple.”

  Lord Leios paused just for a moment. “We are not looking for textbook, we are looking for something adaptable. You showed that tonight. Apollo is putting his neck out for you Wick, you’re a strong candidate for a lord one day. His words, mine also.”

  Wick looked down at his fleece carpet, he thought. “Can I see the mission before deciding?”

  Lord Leios shook his head causing his medals to ring softly against each other. “It’s a need to know. Not a peruse at your pleasure kind of job.”

  Wick grabbed the file from Leios and pced it on his desk. “I’ll take it.”

  Leios smiled “that’s what I wanted to hear. I’ll run down what I know now and then let you assemble your team.”

  Wick nodded “sounds good.”

  Lord Leios pced his phone on the desk and clicked causing a hologram to pop out.

  “This pnet here, Taros. A couple light years out, it's home to a colourful cast of characters we’d rather have six feet in the ground.”

  Wick examined the pnet's thick jungles and how they moved to grassnds transitions to deserts, snowy and gcier capped mountain ranges running along the western part of one of its continents; it seemed rich in everything needed to be a capital of a confederate state.

  “Populis is rough as guts, the pnet's been independent most of its existence but the confederacy is finally putting an end to it.”

  Wick nodded and grabbed his pen and jotted notes on the back of his hand. “Uhhhh huh.”

  “Keep this pnet independent, we can’t have the confederates breathing down our neck any more than they already are, this pnet makes it our ally.” he gnced over to Wick to make sure he was still listening. “I’ll assign you some cargo ships under a legitimate civ company. Keep your teams small and discreet train who you need to train and kill only who you have to, but keep it quiet ideally. We want to tip the bance of the scales in the favour of the rebels, nothing more, and nothing less.”

  Wick nodded “ok ok.”

  “I risked my career getting you here, do not stain me with failure. Apollo and I will personally be overseeing this operation. I will step in if you start making mistakes, prove my faith in you is well pced, and prove to me that you’re capable of this.”

  Wick leaned back, checked his scribbled notes and took a deep breath “no big deal just have to single handedly force the confederacy off a pnet. All while making some friends.” Wick tapped his pen on the desk. “Who do I have access to for this operation?”

  Leios smiled “whoever you can convince.”

  “And how do I convince people to join me in what amounts to an impending disaster or possible suicide mission?”

  “Well I just did it to you.” Lord Leios said with a grin.

  It had been a few days since Wick had been tasked with his new mission and the size of the mission was dawning, it felt almost impossible. He felt like there was something so obvious he just had to be missing but, he just couldn’t ever seem to pce his finger on what exactly it was. There were a few key things he had considered and already made progress on, his team composition was going along nicely but there was one key thing he was missing… a spy. He sifted through papers he had a few key candidates pinned in the board all too experienced to take on the task or already deployed. If he wanted any of those people he would have to either convince them to drop their current missions or get a lord to assign them. Both highly unlikely. He looked at his st file, it was Lic, he had met with her before for some advertising photo shoots to help him gain support for his blood games team. Lic was pleasant enough if not a little too eager. He opened her file and began reading. Her personality traits caught his eye.

  Lic, personality and traits break down.

  Diagnosed ASD (high functioning.)

  Rapid and accurate pattern recognition.

  Rapid memorisation of mission reted tasks.

  Elevated libido as results of surgical side effects. (Recommend allotting a private room while deployed.)

  Aversion to clothes due to experimental no scar surgery side effects and also being a self identified nudist.

  Disregards orders from the chain of command if she believes she is correct.

  Overview, highly capable in her own specialised field of espionage, can prove difficult to work with under a chain of command recommend tight oversight for consistency,

  Wick ughed and spoke under his breath. “That’s one hell of a wild card.”

  Lic got home and her apartment was empty, just a bed and whatever she was currently working on. She pced her phone and bag on her empty counter, and messily unpacked it. She sorted through the paperwork and set a rge purple box on the counter and smiled softly.

  Lic slipped her high heels off and her body felt relief as her heels finally rested against the hard wooden flooring. She walked over to her firepce, sat down in front of it and lit a fire starter under the pile of logs. She waited for the fire to take hold of the synthetic logs. She shuffled back, unzipping her dress and sliding down her body twitching as the fabric ran down her skin and over her feet, she quickly released her bra and threw it across the room with a long sigh of relief letting her core muscles detense and chest rex. She loosened her aching core muscles completely causing her to colpse back, falling into her thick soft rug with a muffled thud. She finally arched her back up and ripped her underwear off throwing them across the room. The relief of not having anything touching her was euphoric and she felt like she could finally breathe.

  Today was long, too long. And it was finally good to have nothing touching her skin anymore.

  “I really need to get some comfortable clothes soon,” she groaned.

  She adjusted her gsses; and just finally got to lie on the ground, spying her body over her rug.

  Her body had finally loosened and her cramps began to fade. Lic enjoyed this time at home; she was comfortable and rexed. Everyone at work treated her like a child, overworked but never trusted to do what she was paid to do. She wasn't a paper pusher. She was a spy and it ate at her, and to make it worse no one looked her in the eyes. Her home was quiet and comforting and unusual for Equinox; it was warm. Lic was about to doze off before her gsses buzzed against her head and a picture of the incoming call appeared. She tapped them twice to answer the call. “Hi, Lic. It's Wick.”

  “Yeah, I know, I have your contacts saved, need more photo shoots? I could really do with an excuse to skip work tomorrow… even if I have to wear a suit again.”“No, Lords no, it’s better than that I need a head sp-”

  “I'm in.” she quipped instantly.

  Wick was silent for a long moment. “You don't even know what I'm offering you.”

  “And you don't know how long I've waited to do this, hurry up, I want the brief.” “Ok I'll be there soon.”

  Lic nodded “no worries you have access permission to my door, just wake me up when you arrive.” She tapped her gsses again and the call hung up. She closed her heavy eyelids and drifted off to sleep even if it was just 4:00 PM.A few hours passed and Lic's door opened slowly, Wick stepped inside and closed the door behind him… Lic was asleep on her rug. He stepped forwards and the floorboards creaked causing Lic to wake. “You’re finally here!” she stood up and ran to him hugging him tightly

  Wick panicked. “You could’ve put your clothes on!”

  Lic yawned and stepped back. “You are in my house, I’ll wear what I damn well please.”

  Wick looked around examining her oddly empty apartment to try to hide his face turning red as he felt an overwhelming wave of not discomfort, but awkwardness. “Please?”

  “No, fuck off I want this job and I’ve been wearing that bullshit for...” she tapped her gsses, “two and a half hours if I have anything else on my skin today I will snap damnit! Keep at it and I'll make you strip.” Wick held his hands up “ok ok ok.”

  Lic rolled her eyes “Put your hands down, I don't have a gun. I can't hide one anywhere.” Wick sighed. “Fine.” He looked at her

  Lic sat back down on her rug and patted at a spot next to her trying to encourage Wick to sit down with her. “Come on, I don't bite, without permission.”

  Wick sat down and put his phone down on the ground and projected a hologram up. “We need you to gather intel on this pnet's upper css, just get them talking, we can’t afford to kill recklessly. The whole operation we have about a year to execute everything.”

  Lic smiled and cpped. “Yes! I have a job!”

  Wick smiled. “If we screw it up I’ll probably be in a lot of trouble so please only take it if you think you are genuinely capable of leading an operation like this.”Lic looked down to her groin. “Huh, I need to shave.”

  Wick groaned “focus please.”

  “I am focused on my mission. How do you think I get those creeps to talk to me? Not with spreadsheets and logical arguments. And please those fucks think women are closer to hairless cats than people.”

  Wick sighed. “Yes I know but please, the stakes are incredibly real, failure would lead to confederates gaining ground towards us.”

  “You know I'm good.” Lic leaned back arching her back in a big stretching motion. “You wanted me in particur, can I give you a gift, y’know a little thank you?”

  Wick paused “sure?”

  Lic got up, ran over to the corner of her room and grabbed her underwear. ‘Need to make sure he’s ok with me… as a whole. I don't think he is a creep, I hope not at least’ she thought to herself as she bent over and folded her underwear into a neat cy triangle “Here!” She dropped it into his p, and examined his reaction.

  Wick blushed, unsure what to do. “No, I'm not taking this.”

  “Take them or I'm not working.” Lic smiled, ‘awkward, but he's ok’ she thought to herself

  Wick melted inside and he wasn't sure if she wasn't being serious or not. “Thank you?”

  “Get them framed too. They would look good on your office wall.”

  Wick pced them in his pocket. “Do I have to?”

  “No but it's what a friend would do. And I’ve been in your office. It needs some colour.” Lic ughed.

  Wick pulled his hair. “I hate that you have a point.”

  She nodded. “It’s my first job. I want to set some demands.”“Well what do you want?”

  Lic flopped down onto her rug and stared at the ceiling. “How about a regur supply of alcohol to help people talk, and I want that new pistol RnD is cooking up. Looks cool.”“Why the new pistol?”

  Lic shook her head. “ You really need to start paying more attention, it's an Integrally suppressed subsonic, small and compact and entirely polymer and ceramic. It's practically a godsend for my career.”

  Wick nodded “makes sense?”

  “What else?”

  Lic exhaled sharply. “One st thing, I'm bringing this rug and no dress code or standards.” “What?” Wick looked at her dumbfounded. “Why?”

  “Because if I come back after a long day of high heels and tight dresses I'm not wearing jack shit.”

  Wick shook his head. “Fair enough I'll ask for permission but you sure-”

  “Absolutely I’m sure god forbid I make someone make a zy dinner after a long day's work in comfort.”

  “We will have some security in our safe houses just making sure I'm interpreting it correctly.”

  Lic shrugged “if they stare, fire them, it's a body they need to grow up. If they touch me” she held her hand out to Wick and a sharp bde emerged from the heel of her hand. “I'll slit their throats.”“Ok ok sounds good. I've got to do a few more interviews and finalise my team so I'll be in touch soon. And if you want to bring any aspirants I suggest you do the same”Lic hugged Wick. “Eh you're allowed to touch. You get weird though and I'll have you eating dirt.” she held him tight and thought ‘Hopefully one day he will stop being awkward.’

  “What the hell no?” Wick crumbled trying to remain calm.“Hm good boy. Now I have some personal business to attend to.” She stood up and walked to her kitchen counter.

  Wick, stunned, looked at her. “Oh sorry to bother you for so long, what are you up to?”

  “Big day at work, it was stressful so I treated myself,” Wick suddenly felt like he regretted asking, “and got a new vibrator and I've been dying to use it. It’s meant to be super strong.” She picked up the box showing Wick the cover art, and watched him struggle in his analytical mind.Wick stood and took a step back, eyes wide. “Can you please be subtle about something just once.”“Honesty is a virtue. Wick, try it sometime babes.”

  Wick closed the door behind him and sighed. “Oh gods.” he said under his breath.

  By the time he finally got home it was te, around 10:30. His house was decorated more than Lic’s but not by much. He unloaded his bag and got out of his work clothes. He stepped towards his chest of drawers where he pulled a fresh towel, and quickly put on shorts and an old tee-shirt. He was lucky, he thought, his home was right next to a bath house. Showers and baths on Equinox were rather rare; most houses had a kitchen sink and a toilet. Wick never got used to it, the culture was so… resourceful where they could. He remembered the push his building made to try to encourage people to eat dinner at the gardens and to throw scraps into the rge compost pile. But it wasn't time to think, he just wanted to wash and head back home to sleep.

  The bathhouse was a rge open building. All against the walls were showers and in the middle was a rge tiered fountain like bath. The bottom yer was full of pnts, fish and other things. There were no urinals. Instead, against the back wall was a garden of saplings, these were new. Apparently the saplings would benefit from water from the baths, and something Wick never felt comfortable doing, using the garden bed as a urinal. Such an unusual pce for him even years after becoming a citizen. Not even the soaps were normal, they were a blend of enzymes and specific bacteria, they worked but just nothing felt normal. Wick quickly washed under the shower, got dressed and ran back home as quick as he could.

  Wick colpsed into his bed and fell asleep nearly instantly.