???

“Attention!”

You blink the sleep out of your eyes, fighting against the urge to doze off where you stand. You never were one for the military’s early morning wake-up calls at 0600, but this was your first time being singled out by your superiors. You look up at the superior before you now, tilting your head all the way back to try and catch her eye from under her visor. She towers over you, ungodly tall even by djubetos standards; she completely overshadows her more reasonably proportioned partner who’s standing guard at the door to her back, behind a large table with a faintly flickering display lighting it.

???

“You. Rookie. Repeat what I just said.”

Your spine jolts a little, though your eyes are still glazed enough to warrant a scoff. You feel the unmistakable heat of a scathing eyeroll from behind her visor before her partner steps forward to place a hand on her arm, frowning a little.

Her partner’s voice is gentle but her single eye slides over your figure impassively. Despite this, you hear a trace of pity underneath it all.

???

“Cynthia, they just got here. Cut them some slack.”

Cynthia

"How silly of me to assume the IAB might assign anyone more experienced than someone straight out of basics for a job like this. ATTENTION!"

You’re definitely wide awake and alert now, the sharpness of her voice serving as a far better wake-up call than a good cup of murkroot. You blink hard and stand ramrod straight, arms stiff at your sides. Cynthia seems pleased with this result and gestures towards the table behind her.

You realize that the bright blue display is moving now, spawning a map of the city from the bottom up. As she speaks next her partner slides over and begins to fiddle with the keypad on the side of the table before parts of the map start to turn orange pixel by pixel.

Cynthia

“Thank you, Katrina.”

Cynthia

“Even though you were given a briefing following your basic training, we're going to review the specifics once more. You have been sent to Pandora to carry out your first big mission. Recently, conditions on Pandora have been on the decline: a new illegal substance known as 'switch' has appeared on the streets. As you already know, the IAB has dubbed this drug 'MutX', and it's known to trigger rapid genetic mutation in just under two to three hours of consumption.”

Katrina circles the table and leans against it, waving a hand through the hologram.

Katrina

“Our job here is to find the main supplier of this drug and eliminate their operations. All the orange spots here you see are the city’s major hotspots.”

You grimace at the thought of trudging through Pandora’s streets.

The city of eternal light, the floating city, sinner’s alley. It floats high in the atmosphere above its parent planet, Noccanov-C6, but the platform itself and the culture that formed on it has been on its heavy ‘decline’ for centuries by now. It’s the perfect example of a dystopian society where the rich get richer and the poor are treated as subhuman entities, to the point where entire lower income areas have fallen into such a state of disrepair that they risk crumbling and eventually collapsing entirely from the main platform.

Unfortunately for you Cynthia catches this and stares you down with what you assume is a wintry look, curling her lip.

Cynthia

“Is there a problem, rookie?”

You hurriedly shake your head and move to gesture towards the map, pursing your lips.

[PC]

“No, but Pandora has… quite the reputation.”

Katrina tactfully inserts herself between you and Cynthia to draw your attention, looking grim.

Katrina

“Indeed it does. We’re here to make it better though, hopefully.”

Katrina

“Our sources tell us that there’s been an uptick in deals around these areas. We’ve managed to identify a potential seller and, because you're a new face around here, you have the best chance at conducting a sting.”

With wide eyes you jab towards your own chest with a shaky finger, mouthing “me??”. This elicits a low growl from the depths of Cynthia’s chest, and you hurriedly spring back to attention.

Cynthia

“Who else? I don’t like the idea of tossing a freshie out there that could potentially compromise our operations, but we do need someone whose face hasn’t been associated with the IAB or other local law enforcement yet.”

Cynthia

“We have units on standby but we’ve arranged for you to meet the dealer at 1800 outside the downtown Rise and Grind. You’ll be dropped off a couple blocks down at 1730. We’ll be in place to bust this guy but once you make the purchase, you best damn stay out of our way.”

Cynthia

“Don’t fuck this up. You got that, rookie?”