I did not have to wait long for the invitation from Tecia Pacheco. I was supposed to meet her in a back alley, where else. However, this was not a dark dead end alley, but a bright spot with a nice view of Area18. Tecia Pacheco sat in a chair flanked by two scowling bodyguards. She looked somewhat like a cyborg with her implants. Besides, she was an attractive woman.

Her offer was not that attractive. I was supposed to steal drugs from a guarded warehouse. Resistance was expected. Maybe BlacJac Security was involved. Since I had to win their trust, I had no choice.

The mission was well prepared. To cover the tracks, an Anvil Hawk was waiting for me in a hangar. With that I flew to another metropolitan area, a few kilometers away from Area18.

There, a Cutlass Black was waiting for me on a roof. The markings on the Cutlass had been removed.

With the Cutlass I flew to the warehouse on the moon Lyria. It was night and I could see the lights of the house from a distance. Suddenly more lights lit up. I still wondered if this were position or landing lights. But then I saw that I was facing a tidal wave of lightning. The warehouse had several defense towers. My front shields almost collapsed under the laser defensive fire.

I took cover behind a hill and waited for the shields to regenerate. Then I attacked one tower after another and destroyed them

I landed near the entrance. After making so much noise, I had to hurry. I expected guards to come out of the gate. With drawn weapon I reached the entrance. There was no sound except the crackle of the burning towers. In the entrance area, I found only a freight elevator, no guards.

I entered the platform of the elevator and pressed the button down. With a jerk and a loud bang, the elevator began to move. It went deep, very deep, down. Maybe I was lucky and nobody had heard the roar on the surface. With another bang, the elevator stopped in the lower level. Carefully, I looked around the corner in the space in front of the elevator shaft. The light was not very bright. Clouds of steam wafted through the air.

I went further. I took my way from cover to cover. A confusing tangle of pipes, corners and niches lay before me. My knees became soft. Anyone could come around the corner anytime. I could hear voices but could not see anything through the steam. Sweat dripped from my forehead. I did not like the situation at all. I was alone and I had no idea how big the warehouse was, how many guards were here and where I could find the drugs.

The hard thing was, I should not get any drugs. Tecia Pacheco was only interested in Maze. And here, everything was full of drugs. There were pallets everywhere, loaded with all sorts of drugs. That could be the search for the needle in a haystack. I had no time, I heard voices, I panicked. How should that work?
Frantically I went from pallet to pallet. Again and again I looked around nervously. The voices seemed to come from further back and down.

The deeper I went into the storeroom, the more oppressive was my feeling. Then I heard something, I rushed my gun around and stumbled over a package. It was a package with Maze. I grabbed it and ran back to the elevator as fast as I could.

The ride upstairs seemed like forever. Nervously, I looked up. What if there were guards waiting for me? I was afraid that grenades would rain on me at any moment. I was lucky, nobody was there. I reached the Cutlass. With full force I pressed the push lever forward. The engines roared and glowed. I disappeared at low altitude as fast as I could and overloaded the drive. It was not my ship, so I did not care.

At the moment I was in Quantum flight to ArcCorp, I relaxed. I was in and out without giving a shot. That was the way I liked it, always stay under the radar.

I delivered the Maze and allowed myself a look over the city. The view from the landing pad on the roof was gigantic. As gigantic as this city-planet was.

When I got back to Area18, I went straight to the G-Loc bar. I needed a drink, a strong drink.