Strong Move On, 2 [mission]

Long Mission

Kanae felt good, because the snowstorm was over and cleared up. People could move in and out of their houses, and now caravans could move in and out of the city with relative ease. That meant well... that wasn't such a good thing. More people to notice her eyes... more people to stare at her, more people to avoid. More people who pretended to care, and more who clearly showed that they despised her. Well, it wasn't too hard to avoid people. Just keep her head down, and her voice quiet. She needed to take a walk anyways, but... wait, what was this?

It appeared that the friendly administration of the village, after having assessed her countless times, had determined her ready for another mission. Another envelope was there, this one being slightly thicker than before. Huh, was it a more hefty mission? Kanae bent down, and picked it up. Yawning slightly, she moved over to the sofa and sat down, her small weight barely making a depression in the couch cushion. So, it looked like the village wanted her to go out again, in the cold and the snow. Well, hopefully this would be over quickly, because Kanae was starting to tire quickly from working so much.

She flipped up the folder, and noticed the top. "Rank of the mission is C. Do not get caught." Well, this was something better than she had done before. Originally, she had done a D-rank mission, which had been somewhat easy. She expected that this would be more of a challenge for her, both mentally and physically. Her resounding success in the original mission had probably impressed the higher ups, and so they were giving this to her as more of a test to see whether or not she was ready for extra responsibility. Well, it was all for the village... all for Leader Maku. Maybe this would raise her esteem in the eyes of Daiyuki too. That would be nice. 

Well, time to review the contents of the mission. Lets see.... there was some kind of caravan passing through, but whether or not it actually had an allegiance to a village was unknown. Kanae supposed it was from a private company or corporation. Which one it was, the higher ups didn't deign to tell her. Fine. Well, her mission was to confiscate its supplies and bring them to the village, where they would be put to better use. Well, what was this? Ninjas were bandits now? Well.... as long as it was for the village, she supposed. Though what these supplies were, she had no idea.

Kanae got dressed, and went out. She was all suited up for the cold that accompanied this mission, and began the trek out to the site where she would intercept the caravan. Now.... where was it.... she waited for a bit, wondering if she had gotten the wrong time. She looked at the small notecard she had brought with her... oh, she was about 5 minutes early. Well, as long as she didn't freeze and didn't fall asleep, she would be fine. So, she kept herself nice and warm, and at the same time, wide awake. Through the bush branches, she then saw a large trail of wagons hitched to each other, and at the front, a wagon-engine type thing. On its side, was inscribed the letters "SC". Kanae didn't have time to wonder what that stood for, and she scurried down, leaping through the window of the engine. She was in the room behind the pilot room, and assessed her situation. Looking at the chart of guard shifts, she noticed that the only guard was in the pilot room, sitting next to the copilot. Well.... let's see, what were her options? She could go in there with an improvised weapon, but she had none, so that would be futile. 

What else could she possibly do? She inspected the materials around her. There was only burning coal and some gas pipes to work with. Taking out the pipes would most surely be bad for her... and the coal wasn't useful in the least, as she didn't have anything to hold it with that was useful. She needed some way to take out all the people in the car without causing too much disturbance or bloodshed. Dang, and she had to hurry too. She only had a small window of time to divert the caravan towards Yukigakure without getting off course.

She saw suddenly, there on the wall of the cabin, the button the said "airlock seal", and a strange panel. Scampering over to investigate, she looked at the panel. Apparently, the top part opened valves in various rooms to channel various gasses. One of them read "oxygen", which made sense. However, another was labeled "carbon monoxide: please do not use on rooms other than waste disposal". Well, here was her golden opportunity. She pressed the button "airlock seal", sealing the door between herself and the pilot room. This would prevent her from being harmed from her subsequent actions concerning the gas. 

"Hey, why did the door seal?" Quickly now, she had to act quickly. She shut off the carbon monoxide valves to the different rooms, and then turned onto the valve for the pilot room. In a few minutes, all the men in there died from carbon monoxide poisoning. How disgusting. She then manipulated the switches again, redirecting the flow of gases in the pipes. Man, she only had thirty seconds until the engine was off course. With great speed, she replaced that gas  in the pilot room, making it safe to go in. She unsealed the airlock, and went in, tossing aside the corpses and seizing the controls.

She shifted the levers with a great exertion of strength, changing the direction of the wagon. With a great creak and a groan, the wagon turned, heading toward the village. She slowed it down as it headed toward the supply depots, where she would be dropping it off. It had been a good mission, an she had enjoyed it.

[TWC 1013, mission done]

approved.