An explosion from within. Written by WhiteKnight. Rated: R There characters are creations of somebody else; I’m just using them because they work well for a story. I also at no time made any money.

The explosion illuminated the sky like a super nova; however, the illumination was short lived. The ensuing plume of smoke covered what little light remained. The perfect screen. Dropping a set of night vision goggles the black-suited, ninja-like figure blended into the darkness, stealthily slithering towards the objective. A lab used by a group not very sympathetic to the Alliance. Something that the Alliance didn’t find to be… acceptable and needed to be “educated”. Slipping past the now distracted guards, the shadowy figure went about its work, slicing a small hole though the screen protecting the window. “Eight guards, eight assault rifles, two pistols, and one officer,” the figure mumbled. Feeling the familiar thump of the screen giving way, the figure gently set it aside and glided into the building. Opening up the small computer attached to his arm, the floor plans of the building blinked into view. Taking a quick look at the computer, the shadow shut down the instrument and took up a position behind the door. Peeking through the small window, he saw a single guard pass by, obviously unaware of the other person’s presence. Not that it would matter in a few moments. As soon as the guard had passed by the door, the figure sprung out, covered his mouth, and dragged him back into the room. This kind of situation had happened so many times before that the process of breaking somebody’s neck no longer affected the spy. It was simply a pop-and-drop process. Pushing the body to one side of the room the figure continued with its mission. Two rights, straight for two minutes, then a right, and look up. Sure enough, that’s where the target was. A single metal beam that spanned across the whole lab. If it went down, then the whole building went down. “Five minutes should be enough,” the spy thought. After activating and setting deactivation code for the charge, the shadowy figure slowly drifted back to the “entrance”. Surprisingly, the guards near the front of the lab had almost put out the fire from the first explosion. Normally, they have to call in for reinforcements. Chuckling softly, the figure slipped back into the shadows and took up a position on the hill. Blowing up the lab was only the first part of the mission; the second part was to make sure that all personnel were dealt with in such a way that the only stories circulated were created in the minds of somebody else. Raising the scope of the sniper rifle, the spy simply waited for the cue to remove what was left. It wasn’t long before the cue was given either. The second explosion dwarfed the first one considerably, which, in the spy’s mind, was good. That meant less to clean up. Taking aim with the rifle, it wasn’t long before all the guards and a few of the scientists were dead. What happened next though would have chilled even the most well trained spy. A child, still on fire, came stumbling out of the burning rubble. She was holding a doll, or so it appeared. Upon later closer inspection it was, in fact, a three-month-old baby. The mission had been accomplished. A strong black suited arm noiselessly slipped around the neck of the Alliance officer. “Ahhh, I see you’re back,” the officer said calmly. “Yeah, but we need to talk,” the spy replied. “Sure, but first I wanted to tell you what a great…” “Shut up. There were kids in that building,” the spy spat angrily. “So?” Spinning the officer around and slamming him up against the wall, the spy ripped off his mask and stared down the man in front of him. “You never said anything about there being kids,” he said. “You never asked. Besides, what difference does it make? They weren’t Alliance,” the officer remarked offhandedly. “The difference is that they were kids, not soldiers, not spies, not even guards, KIDS! I’m done. Understand?” “Done? You can’t just leave, we’ll…” “You’ll die and you damn well know it. I’m done. Just let me warn you about something-- if you mess with any of my identification, my files, or my status in the Alliance, I will be back, and it won’t be pretty. If you’re lucky, this will be the last you hear of me.” With that, the spy drifted back into the shadows and vanished, only to reappear at an Abby shortly afterwards, now a Sheppard. Sheppard Book.

Special thanks goes out to WildHeavenFarm for introducing me to the Firefly world and continuously encouraging me to write.