After my first very long day I finally managed to make it back to my apartment and get some rest in before my next shift would start.

The Sophotect had promised me with a 96.42% probability that the Celestial guard that I had been carrying back to our base, and whose name turned out to be Shen Jing, would survive the injury without any lingering damage or the need for cube resurrection.

I managed to wake up on time, most likely due to the fact that I slept quite uneasy in my first night in a new home, but thanks to that I managed to buy a steamed pork bun for breakfast from one of the vendors outside of my apartment before I entered the elevator that delivered me to the underground part of Neon-jo.

The moment I entered the complex I almost crashed into one of the Turtle delivery bots that the Yu Jing army likes to use for its secure deliveries. Even though the name and design was more of an old joke, the quick moving turtle bots are actually a blessing for every commander that needs something delivered secretly, secure and as fast as possible. Not only is the name giving turtle shell a high security container which even a TAG wouldn’t be able to break open should he stomp on it, but the design of the Bot allowed it to move quickly both in the air with a hover module, and on land with high powered quad wheeled legs, not unlike to those of our combat remotes, although much more compact in size.

Altogether the little turtle like bot was no higher than my knee, but since it came at me while hovering in the air, I barely managed to dodge to the side. Thinking that it would just move on, I was surprised to see it hovering back towards me and eventually scanning me with the biometric scanner built within its head. “Identity confirmed, General Yasashii Fuyu, Male, 31 years old. I have a delivery for you from “Kabuki Queen”. Please sign the receipt by pressing your thumb on this plate.”

As it said so a plate on its head slid down, revealing a fingerprint scanner which I quickly pressed my thumb against. The moment I did so the metallic turtle shell on its back opened up and revealed a small tightly sealed box, which surprisingly looked like a small anime like version of a raccoon head.

Once I took the box outside of the turtle shell the Turtle bot let out a friendly but direct “Thank you for your cooperation” and started dashing towards the nearest supervised exit.

“Couldn’t have picked a normal box now could she? I’ll stand out like a sore thumb once I pull this out….oh well…” Happy that I had so quickly received the “special something” I had ordered one of my agents to deliver; I put the small box in my inner coat pocket and changed my originally intended course, now moving towards the Surveillance facility.

On my way there I quickly made yet another small detour, this time to the armoury, and under the watchful eyes of the “Quartermaster” stationed there, and some Bao Troopers that were obviously preparing for their shift in the field, I stepped into my Crane Suite from the day before, the Spitfire still hanging from the back after I had cleaned it yesterday evening. To ease the minds of my subordinates who watched me expectantly as I put on the suite of armour, I nodded towards them and said “Just putting it on for some practice…still not used to this design…”.

At ease that I wouldn’t be running practice exercises with them or that some sort of mission had started without their knowledge, the Agents continued on with their duty, and I continued on my way towards the Surveillance facility. In reality I had put on this armour in case that my little box would cause some unexpected problems, but some things are better kept secret, even from the Imperial Service.

As I entered the Surveillance facility my armours visor instantly activated the flash suppression system to prevent me from getting blinded by the very high amount of monitors hanging all around the room, and even though she was standing with her back towards me, the Sophotect standing in the middle of the room greeted me with a monotone “Welcome Commander, can I be of service?”.

Not too surprised about the fact that she had the entrance of the room on one of her screens I quickly proceeded to stand next to her and, once I had assured myself that I was alone in the room with her, pulled out the small raccoon box from a belt poach where I had put it after changing into my armour. “I have a question regarding the contents of this box…would you be so kind as to open it and tell me what you think about it?”

Without even properly looking at me or the box, the Sophotect grabbed the box out of my hand and moved it in front of her head while answering in her monotone voice “Sure Sir, please specify “think about iiiiiiiiuuuuuuuut…..”” as she opened the box, which was accompanied by the surprising sound of a raccoon “snickering”, at first nothing seemed to happen, but without any sign as to why, instantly afterwards all the monitors in the room went blank for a few seconds and the Sophotect itself seemed to shut down in mid-sentence. I quickly grabbed the box from the Sophotect’s hands and put it back into my belt’s pocket.

Before the monitors came back on the Sophotect suddenly started to move again, at first jerkily but then back in full control she put down her hand in confusion and took a look at me, as if seeing me for the first time “Oh Comm…eh, General Yasashii Fuyu, sorry I must have missed you entering the room….strange really, usually I notice everything that goes on around me! How can I help you? Is there anything you need? Shen Jing is already back on her feet and I think she told me to send her thanks to you….or did she? Yes…yes she did, must have forgotten it until now, guess my subroutines were a little bugged…”

Cutting her nonstop ramblings short with a quick hand gesture, I quickly asked “Mrs…..eh sorry I forgot your name, what was it again?” “Name? Oh of course…my name is….” A gentle light flickered on her eyes as she obviously checked and double and triple checked her database “Akaseni……strange….I could have sworn it was…” once again cutting her short with a hand gesture I continued “Akaseni…what a…nice…name, anyways, I just wanted to know if everything is in order or if there is anything going on out there that’d warrant a mission for a little training and team building…”

The monitors had turned themselves back on in the meantime, and even though the still confused Akaseni wanted to negate my question, a sudden red blinking warning sign on one of the monitors stopped her from doing so as she turned around to focus on it. “General, it seems like we have a big group of Caledonian Thugs in Sector B12….they seem to be attacking the local bars and restaurants, most likely strong-arming them into some sort of protection or liquor deal…”

“Perfect! Get ready and send a mobilization call for all agents on duty, I would like to use this opportunity to get to know my team a bit more, and that includes you.” I once again cut her short, and even though Akaseni seemed quite surprised by this she quickly nodded her head and complied by sending out the mobilization call.

As I stepped outside of the room towards the elevator platform that would lead me the closest to Sector B12 I waved her goodbye “See you as the elevator, don’t be late!” and started dashing towards my goal. Akaseni….Kabuki Queen always had a strange sense of humour, but the box sure seemed to have worked, now I could only hope that the security hack that would delete all information of me giving the box to Akaseni and replacing it with fake events of me silently entering the room, would work out just as well.

Now it was time for a test run of Akaseni to see whether her loyalty could now truly be trusted, and whether or not the box had any unwanted side effects on the Sophotect, after all this was still top secret rather untested technology from the recent Flamestrike Campaign…and highly illegal maybe slightly voodoo tech at that….but it was all still better than dealing with Aleph the normal way and risking a disaster just like it had occurred on Flamia….better safe than sorry….even more so in the Imperial Service.

Now as for those Caledonians….

With a loud „Fwump!“ I landed on what would become my new bed from here on out, and crossed my hands behind my head while staring at the freshly painted white ceiling of my newly assigned apartment.

It had been a long first day indeed.

After the incident with the taxi and my fist contact with my new subordinates I was quickly escorted to the nearby Imperial Service Operation Central, or “Neon-jo” (Neon Castle) as the locals seem to call it.

The Operation Central looked more like an ancient Japanese Temple or Castle than anything else, a fact which made me feel quite at home to be honest, it’s outer wall painted in some sort of traditional beige, although the dirt and reflecting Neon lights made it look more like a giant neon rainbow, which I assume is what gave it its name.

At first glance the building seemed a little Atek, as if the architect creating it had time traveled here from old earth to build an old wood and stone castle, but with my military experience I quickly noticed the truth hidden behind this façade. The Operation Central was indeed more akin to a Castle than anything else, self-defense systems at strategic locations, cleverly concealed by decorative holo dragons, heavily fortified outer walls that even a TAG wouldn’t stand a chance to penetrate, and what appeared as simple entrances, was basically a mixture of door, scanner system and deathtrap.

The building also had several floors which allowed for manned supervision of the surrounding area as well as providing superior firing positions in case of an attack.

As I entered the building I quickly noticed that the part of the building that you saw from the outside was indeed all just for defensive and supervision reasons. Inside was little more than control panels for the countless devices of the “castle” as well as some basic restraining areas and network access panels, currently manned by what seemed to be a few Celestial Guards and a strange man in clothes that almost resembled a Christian priest. The real building itself was accessed through an elevator platform in the middle of the big room and was located below Neon-jo.

As the platform dropped down below the castle, it quickly dawned on me that this was clearly more than a simple Imperial Service Outpost in the middle of nowhere, this was a fully functional autonomous Imperial Service Base of Operation. As the platform stopped I was standing in the middle of yet another big room, not unlike the one on the ground floor, only this time I was surrounded by several automated guns pointing towards my platform as well as a couple of drones which eyed me cautiously with their guns primed at my head and upper torso.

Even though I was escorted by the two Bao Troopers and the Pheasant Agent, or maybe because of that, the moment I took a step forward a sharp voice came echoing through the room. “Name and reason for arrest!” .

Wondering how many people who ended down here actually knew the reason for their arrest, I quickly took an authoritarian pose and answered in my best commanding voice “General Yasashii Fuyu, sent here on imperial decree as part of Operation “Oni-ni-Kanabo” to take over command of this facility.”

Clearly taken aback by the fact that my horribly looking outfit and my words were completely at odds with each other, the voice on the other end fell silent for a moment and I could see the slight green glow from the Pheasant Agent’s mechanical pony tail next to me, as the operator most likely was seeking for confirmation from the Agent before proceeding.

My words confirmed by a firm nod from the Pheasant Agent the voice quickly proceeded “Welcome to Imperial Service Operation Central X000-1853 or “Neon-jo” as we like to call it…eh…Taisho!”

As stressed out as the operator seemed to be, he still had noticed the fact that I was of Japanese descent and had adapted my General Rank accordingly it seemed, which gave me hope that I’d be dealing with professionals here after all, and as the surrounding drones quickly switched from a threatening surveillance position to honour guard mode, their guns raised as high as possible, a Terminal rose from the ground in front of me. “If you could be so kind as to place your hand on the reader and speak a voice authentication so we can register you into our system please…” I raised my hand to place it on the scanning area of the Terminal as I was interrupted by a stumbled “Eh…Taisho!” that came quickly added to the previous sentence. Apparently the folks here weren’t quite used to having a General in their midst, a fact that I could understand all too well, having been assigned to the rank very recently myself. Thus I decided to give the guy a breather as I answered “Keep the formalities for official business with our suspects or when other officials are around, if we are to work together I would like to be able to speak clearly with my subordinates without the need for fine words or hidden truths….and if possible spread the word, for I wouldn’t want to repeat myself a hundred times throughout the course of the day …”

One of the Bao Troopers behind me chuckled at this, but was quickly silenced by an elbow in the side from the Pheasant Agent, as the speaker answered a obviously relieved “Okay, I will do so.”

As I placed my hand on the Terminal and finished with my registration process I was surprised to find that the voice output of the Terminal was different from the several standard military voice output options I had known so far, and since the nearby Pheasant Agent obviously noticed my surprised expression he quickly added “That’s Nanako, the Base’s custom A.I. . Don’t be surprised about the voice and appearance, our previous commander loved those kinds of things and we have grown accustomed to her…”

The A.I. visualization on the Terminal had taken the form of some sort of Anime looking Girl with a friendly smile, neon violet-ish hair and a mixture of combat suite and old earth maid outfit, as well as the obligatory slightly squeaky female voice that’d traditionally go along with a character like that.

Amused by such a show of unorthodox regulations but kind of liking the change in A.I. in comparison to the otherwise quite blunt and monotone A.I. that we had during our Operation on Flamia, I simply nodded to the Agent and stepped away from the console. “I’ll get used to….her…I’m sure. Anyways, let’s proceed with the tour then…I’d love to see how things run here, as I was told it’s supposedly quite different from what I’m used to on the JSA Frontlines and Barracks…”

What followed was a lengthy tour through Neon-jo, which turned out to be quite the huge installation even though it all was below ground level. The facility had several more elevator platforms to allow troop deployment on various spots of The Neon Dragon, as well as some emergency staircases, and as expected all of those exits and entrances were hidden from the public eye in some way shape or form. One of the exits even lead to the storage room of a Fast food restaurant, the owner obviously paid or intimidated to ensure his silent cooperation.

The facility had everything one would expect from such an installation, barracks for the lower Rank and File Troopers, although there seemed to be less of them in the Imperial Service than there’d be in a normal Force, a kitchen/dining area which I was told served….adequate…food, which meant that most of the higher agents tended to visit some of the local on ground restaurants whenever possible.

There was also an extensive Armoury, a Remote and TAG maintenance and control area, a surprisingly huge recreational area which included all sorts of entertainment and trainings equipment, as well as a sport pool, which actually looked quite nice and which I took a mental note to visit every now and then.

What one wouldn’t find in your average JSA Station but what I had kind of expected were the more sinister installations of the complex. A huge prison area with cells ranging from high security to “Even you won’t know you’re here” level of security containment, a Kuang Shi “Adoption and Storage Facility”, and a very high tech Surveillance Facility which handled the Imperial Service surveillance of basically all of The Neon Dragon, as well as the notorious interrogation chambers.

It was here, in the Surveillance Facility to be more precise, that I stumbled upon the first thing that I didn’t quite expect, and that I didn’t quite like. In the midst of the Facility, in a big room surrounded by countless Holo monitors and inside of a hovering device which I’d later learn was a Mother Forge, was a Lhost looking like a human woman in her twenties with blue hair and slightly glowing green eyes. Alterations aside I quickly identified here as a Lhost Model usually used by Aleph, a Sophotect.

Now this wasn’t that uncommon in the Imperial Service as they sometimes worked together with Aleph Forces and were also openly supported by it, but with my recent experiences on Flamia I really wasn’t too fond of having an agent of Aleph within my Base of Operation, and I quickly prepared a message on my Communication Device and sent it to one of my “old” Agents, with a request for a little something that Flamia Yu Jing High Command had come up with after the incidents with Aleph there. If I was to work with this Sophotect, I would have to ensure it’s loyalty was to me and my troops, in all situations….

The tour ended with an elevator ride to the surface where we exited right out of a normal elevator door in the middle of an apartment building. The building itself seemed like your average apartment building as you’d expect them in any Yu Jing City, but for The Neon Dragon it must have been of a higher quality than most other apartment complexes around.

I was told that I had been assigned a room here, and true enough there was a door with my name on it on the top floor of the building, although it turned out to be more of a penthouse suite and less of just a “room” in the end. I guess Imperial Services isn’t too stingy when it comes to their Officers, or maybe my higher than usual rank had led to this accommodation. Before I could ask about that though, the Pheasant Agent that had been leading me along the tour all day long and who had introduced himself as Kuang Fu Bao, wished me a relaxing first night and excused himself through the same Elevator we had come from, with the hint that I should press “1 5 5” in the elevator to directly reach our facility in the morning. Of course this would only work in combination with my fingerprint and DNA scan, but that much was to be expected from the Imperial State Service.

The Apartment itself was very spacious, with several rooms and a nice view of the surrounding city, luckily with windows that could tint, to keep out all the lights, and even display a different holo surrounding should I care for that. The inside was still quite empty though, with only a pre installed kitchen, bathroom, and a standard bed and cupboard. I would have to get some furniture shopping done until this place would feel even remotely like a home to me.

But for this day I had had enough, and thus I ended my reminiscence of the day’s events, and turned around in my bed to catch some well-deserved sleep….or so I at least intended to, until my Communication Device on my left Arm suddenly started ringing and the helmet of Fu Bao appeared in it. “Sorry to disturb Commander, but we just received word of an illegal operation going on within our jurisdictional area, and I thought you might still be up for a first taste of how we do work here….unless you’d rather sleep this one out, which I’d totally understand of course….thinking about it I guess I shouldn’t ha…” I cut him off with a slightly annoyed sneer “It’s alright it’s alright, I’ll be down in a second….I hope you have some gear prepared for me, I am not going into a combat zone in this….” I looked down at my messed up shirt and underpants which I now wore.

“Don’t worry Commander, we’ve got you covered!” came the fitting response as I put on my pants and shoes, and dashed for the Elevator. It seemed like my first day on the assignment would go on for quite a while longer….

„Hey! Hey you! Wake up!“

A scrawny pair of fingers pushing into the spot right below my rip cage pierced me out of my fitful sleep.

“That’ll be 50.000 Yuan!”

An old woman in messy out of style clothes with a sideways cap on her head was leaning backwards in her chair, holding out her hand towards me with an expecting look on her face.

I blinked and pushed myself away from the steamed up window I had slumped against in surprise, whipping sweat or grime from my face as I did so. I was apparently in a Taxi of some sort, one of the old kinds, no hover drive but still wheels, broken air condition as well as broken window opener, and no proper cleaning for at least as long as the Taxi driver herself hadn’t had one, which judging from the smell in the vehicle, had been quite a long time.

“W…what?” I managed to stumble, the last remnants of sleep not giving up their grip on my mind that easily it seemed.

“Must have had a rough evening last night eh? I said that’ll be 50.000 Yuan! Or would you rather continue driving? It’s not the nicest area around here, that’s for sure.”

Grinning from half rotten teeth the grimy old woman gestured at the partially see through windows of the taxi towards the surrounding area. I couldn’t see much, my eyes still adjusting to my surroundings and the dirt on the window obscuring most of the surroundings anyways, but what little I could see did indeed support what the old lady had said, not the nicest area for sure.

Before the bright neon lights breaking through the protective dirt shield of the windows teared up my eyes I just managed to make out a nearby food stall’s sign, claiming to advertise “The Neon Dragon’s finest Ramen!”, and instantly the last remaining specks of sleep were cleansed from my mind.

“Of course…The Neon Dragon….damn, I had hoped it was just a bad dream…”

Slapping my hand against my forehead I sacked back in my once comfortable fake leather seat, shaking my head while I did so.

“It’s a bad dream that’s for sure, but none you can wake up from. Just like you can’t wake up from owing me 50.000 Yuan. Now would you be so kind as to pay up? I haven’t got that many years left in me, and every second in this area might cut even that short…”

The gestures of the old woman became more and more hurried and frustrated, clearly she wasn’t in the mood to deal with my sleepiness any longer.

“Oh, yeah, about that. I don’t have my wallet with me right now, you see everything happened very quickly yesterday and my belongings will be sent after me some time tomorrow I was told.” The frustrated look on the old woman’s face instantly turned into stone cold suspicion with a slight hint of anger. “If you could send the bill to this address please, they’ll pay you every last Yuan I am sure…”

Handing over a piece of paper that I had been given the day before for just this occasion, the old ladies face first lightened up a bit, but then turned back to stone again.

“That’s the address of the Imperial Palace! Do you think I’m a fool to fall for that?” The woman shouted, rage swinging in her voice.

“No, No! I assure you it’s the r…” cutting me short the old woman opened her door’s window and waved her hand outside screaming at the top of her lungs “BAO! BAO!! There’s a robbery happening right here, right now! BAAAAOOOOO! Yeah you! Come over here!”

Apparently the front window of the car was much cleaner than the other ones, because not only did the old woman manage to see the Bao Judical Watch Unit patrolling the nearby street while I hastily tried to explain myself, but she also managed to make contact with him and actually bring him to approach the Taxi and listen to her.

10 Seconds of me being ignored and the old woman explaining what had happened from her point of view to the Bao Trooper later, and the door right next to me was suddenly yanked open and I was pulled out of the car by my ruffed up coat.

At this point my coat and outfit could have cleared everything up and halted the Bao trooper in what was about to happen next, but it seemed like the fancy looking coat I had been given for my meeting with his highness just the day before really was only meant to look good, and not survive a full nights drive in a shoddy taxi and stay in mint condition. Combine that with the bright neon lights of the surrounding buildings, and I must have looked like a messed up street art performer in a clowns costume, instead of the First Class and Emperor honoured citizen that I actually was…

“Soooo, you like to trick old ladies out of their money eh? You must be new to this district I guess, although you look like you’d fit right in…” Having pulled me out of the car the Bao trooper kicked me in the back of my leg, forcing me to bend on my knees with a routinized movement that showed he hadn’t been doing this for the first time. “Well I’m sorry to break it to you, but here in The Neon Dragon, we don’t take kindly to those who try to rob our elders…”

Forcing my hands above my head with a rough pull the Bao Trooper proceeded to pat over my arms and upper body, searching me for weapons or other belongings of interest to him.

“Well you see, I was just trying to explain to the old lady that..” As the hands of the Bao Trooper reached my hips he suddenly let out a sharp “Woah! What do we have here!?” and with a cautious swing of his hand attempted to pull out the Tanto that was hanging at my belt’s side.

Out of reflex I shifted to the side and on one knee, protecting my short sword from being taken away by the Trooper. But as my brain already feared while my body automatically reacted, this only enraged the Bao Trooper, who instantly lifted his Boarding Shotgun from his back and attempted to club me over the head with it.

My combat routines instantly kicked in, and I only managed to utter a frustrated “Shouldn’t have done that..” before I dropped the poor trooper to the ground with an elbow thrust right into his stomach below his breast plating, followed by an upward thrust with my palm right to his chin.

Normally that would have been it, but that day just wasn’t my lucky day I guess.

The Bao Trooper wasn’t alone on his patrol, and the moment I dropped him to the floor I heard a loud “FREEZE!” from about ten meters along the street. Another Bao Trooper with a Pistol in his hand and a Sniper Rifle at his back and an Imperial Agent of some sort with a Red Fury were both pointing their weapons at me and were coming closer with cautious steps.

“On the ground, Hands beside you! I want to see your lips kiss the dirt and your legs spread like a hooker’s right now if you don’t want a bullet in your head!” Came the Bao Troopers rough commands as I exalted a sigh of frustration and dropped back down and spreadeagled as I was told.

“Look, this is all just a big miss understanding!” A pair of gloved hands grabbed my head and forced it to the side where I stared right into the Visor of the Trooper I had just dropped. “I’m sure it was, your last mistake that is…” came the angry response of the man, who’s chin clearly was still hurting as he struggled to get the words out without showing any pain.

Some sort of device was suddenly shoved in front of my face and a red beam started scanning my features. While the device was still calculating the collected data I was once again pulled up by my coat and arms, and forced to stand in front of the Imperial Agent, who by now had stored his rifle on his connector point, and was now standing in an intimidating pose, his arms behind his back right in front of me.

Held by a Bao Trooper on each side I watched as the Imperial Agent, a Pheasant Ranked one if the sign on his tabard was any indication, prepared himself for a little speech that would most likely end with my own execution for attacking an agent of the state.

But just as he was about to speak, the device that had been shoved in my face just moments ago gave out a slight beep and the mechanical ponytail at the back of the Agent’s head started to glow slightly green. Apparently the agent had received some sort of information feed, because his posture suddenly became unfocused for a second as he took in the stream of data on his helmet display.

The two Bao Troopers were looking at each other in what I assumed was confusion, most likely annoyed by the delay of my execution, but to this day I would pay money for a Holo of the expression their faces had behind their helmets during what occurred next.

With one swift motion, the Pheasant Agent dropped to one knee, one of his hands still behind his back, the other one as a fist to his chest, his head bowed low in front of me, and with hushed respect and a bit of shame in his voice, which I didn’t recognize back then, but know now, the agent uttered “There has been a mistake indeed, I am terrible sorry!”.

One of the Bao Troopers let out a loud “Eeeeeh?” at that, but was quickly shushed by an angry look of the Agent who quickly added “Release him at once! On your knees you fools!” The Troopers reluctantly did as they were told, both of them obviously unsure whether they had done something wrong, or if their superior Agent had gone crazy.

“My sincere apology Commander Yasashii Fuyu! We expected your arrival to be a little bit more….elaborated…had I known it was you I would ha…” I cut him short with a sharp movement of my hand, and turned around in an attempt to talk to the old Taxi lady, but the smart little hag had already taken off, most likely knowing that staying close to a fight against Imperial Agents wasn’t a good idea.

So with a little smirk on my face because of the cunning lady and the absurdity of the whole situation, I turned back to take a look at the street I was standing on and the nearby buildings, my eyes still adjusting to the bright neon lights all around me. “So this is The Neon Dragon….this will be an interesting assignment…….”