Ginormous wall of text update. This is most of what I've written over the past few days @@

Her methodology was sound, though. I was quick to pick up things from her... and, although she was now more or less fulfilling the role of such, she stressed to me the importance of not considering her a replacement mother. That was something I struggled with – I was, after all, just a kid still, and she'd come out of nowhere and given me the kind of care I needed. But I soon came to understand why she gave me such an order, after a few years—no, a few months, in fact. It was to protect me from my own emotions, due to her line of work.

Just as I would later become, Rei-Na was a mercenary. And an excellent one at that.

When I found out what her occupation was, I was surprised at first. She didn't look at all like a cold-blooded killer – but, as she was quick to explain, “The greatest killers are the ones you least expect to kill you”. When she put it like that, it made a lot of sense. That wasn't the end of it, though. As she'd told me when she met me, she saw potential in me. Potential to be great. And little did I know it, but she had already started training me: she'd started to nurture a cold-heartedness in my nature.

“Never get too attached to any one person, Ash.” she told me later. “A chain is only as strong as its weakest link, after all. Tether yourself to another person and their weaknesses become yours. Other people are a liability, unless they can look after themselves.”

I was twelve when she told me this, but already I'd learned from her at least thirty means of killing another person using only my bare hands and or common household objects. As I said. I'd developed an aptitude for coldness, and repressing my emotions – thanks to her influence. So, I simply nodded in reply to her advice.
“I understand.”
“Good. Well then, I've a little errand for you to run, today.” she said in her normal even tones. “We're going to be landing soon in Teivana City, down there. Now, I have an appointment to keep with an old friend. A friend whom I'd rather they didn't know I have you helping me out, so it's best that we're not seen together.”
“So you've something for me to do then.” I stated, just to let her know I understood the implications of what she was saying – she wanted me out of her hair for a little while for both of our sakes. I'd be a hindrance to her if a dangerous acquaintance of hers in the same line of work knew about me, and she'd be a hindrance to me also if the locals saw her looking after me.
“Yes.  Whilst I'm busy catching up with the man, I want you to find someone for me.” The way it was said, I understood that, in this instance, I could substitute “find” for “kill”, and that this was less of a want and more of a need – a need stemming from a lack of decent funds.

“I won't fail.”
“Is that a promise?”
“No. It's a statement of fact.”
Despite that being such a cocksure statement, and regardless of it flying in the face of what she'd already told me numerous times about overconfidence, I saw Rei-Na smile.
“I'll let you off with that one I suppose, Ash.” She passed me a holo-reader – a thin piece of perspex with holographic optical mechanisms woven into the glass itself. It lit up with a brief poke at the surface, showing me a map, a route, and a profile of a person I'd never met. “That's your target. Joanna Storm. She's a massive +*%+!.” Rei-Na informed me. Granted, looking over the profile, there were other reasons people wanted her dead as well. It was just funny to me that that was the main point my mentor had made.
“I see.” I replied, smirking a little. “'Has a soft spot for children', hmm? I can see why you gave me this job.”
“Naturally. Be on your best behaviour, Ash. I don't want her realising she's dead until she lands in the afterlife.”

Neither of us said anything more on it after that. There wasn't anything else to say, after all – I knew what I had to do, as it was all outlined in the plan Rei-Na had handed me.  She knew I'd stick to it as rigidly as possible and adapt en route if needs be. It was what she'd taught me, after all, and I was a good pupil.

We made planetfall shortly thereafter, as she'd said. Rei-Na left the ship fairly promptly, while I hung back: the plan was, after all, for as few people to know I was even there as possible. After several minutes had passed, I exited quietly. Hardly anyone paid any attention to me at all. That was a definite plus for me. I didn't want to be noticed, after all. I slipped out of the docking bay and into the city itself.
Teivana is quite a large place. You'll easily get lost there if you don't know where you're going, if you don't have a map, or if you don't know where to ask for directions. Thankfully for me, I had a pre-planned route, a GPS transceiver and forewarning from Rei-Na about asking how to get to places (i.e., don't).
Thusly armed, I set out on my errand. I wasn't carrying a weapon of any sort, under Rei-Na's orders. After all, she'd explained, I'd have to get close to Joanna to kill her. And once I was as close as needed, the last thing we wanted was for her to notice that I was actually armed – I'd be dead in no time if that occurred.
I made my way along the streets, taking care to look as ordinary as possible. This mainly involved just looking like an average street kid, not making eye contact if I could avoid it, and generally being fairly anti-social. As you've likely already guessed, that last one especially wasn't a very demanding task for me. It was fortunate for both me and my mentor that this city served as the planet's main spaceport. As such, aliens such as ourselves didn't stick out too much to the natives; most of whom were roughly humanoid in shape, but where a human would have legs, most of the natives instead had a long, thick, snake-like tail, upon which they balanced themselves as they lacked any lower limbs with which to accomplish this. Joanna herself was an alien as well, as far as the natives were concerned. That would make finding her easier, which was, again, a plus.
I forgot offhand where she was from, but her species wasn't that dissimilar to Rei-Na's. Probably the key difference between the two was the presence, in the former's case, of more prominently developed ears. Joanna's kind had longer, more pointed ears than Rei-Na's, and, according to Rei-Na, as a whole were a bit more delicately built.
“Not that you should take her any less seriously because of that, mind you.” my mentor had warned me earlier. “Mark my words, she could still kill you with relative ease. So don't give her even a moment to think that you pose a threat to her.”
My thoughts soon returned to the task at hand, as I entered the out-of-the-way inn that my target was apparently staying in. My muscles tensed slightly as I went over the means necessary for the task ahead of me in my head. The moment soon passed, however – it wasn't like I hadn't practised it a number of times already. I had the technique memorised. The woman wouldn't know what hit her. With that thought in mind, I made my way toward the reception area. Despite my being tall for my age, I had barely a foot's worth of clearance over the desk. The receptionist eyed me in a bored fashion, his dark yellow eyes boring into me.
“Yes?”
“Er...” I began, in a slightly nervous fashion. This was partly due to my wanting to appear like a nervous adolescent and partly because the receptionist genuinely made me a little nervous. “...I'm here to see Joanna. Tell her Shanice sent me.”
“Shanice? Hmph... a'right. Just wait right there.” The man replied, punching a button on the desk. A flat holographic window appeared before him, with the word “ringing” scrolling across it. A few moments later, it changed to “audio only”, as a voice groggily asked why she was being disturbed.
“Yeah, some kid here for ya, miss. Said Shanice sent him.”

[CUT HERE FOR CONTENT]

(Summarisation - twelve year old Ash kills his target in a somewhat gruesome fashion after some unpleasantness)

I fled down back alleys and streets, back toward the spaceport. Thankfully by the time I reached it, the impact of the situation had worn off somewhat. Calming my breathing and mentally ordering my heart rate to slow down, I headed in as nonchalantly as I could. As I was stood around getting my bearings, I felt a hand come down on my shoulder, suddenly. I almost cried out in surprise, and I know I certainly was startled by it. I whipped my head round – and was met by Rei-Na's calm-as-ever countenance. I practically collapsed from relief right there.
“Did you succeed, dear?” she asked, her tone even. I just nodded. I was still a little too shaken up to speak. She obviously detected my anxiety as she just nodded in reply. “Alright then. Let's get back to our ship and be on our way.” she said gently, starting to walk that way. I just murmured an agreement once more and followed her at a slight distance.

Once we were back on board and out of the planet's atmosphere, I glanced over at her from the navigator's seat where I was sitting.
“...how did things go on your end?” I ventured, remembering my manners at last. She looked round at me with a slightly curious look, but she smiled nonetheless.
“Just fine, Ash. Thank you for asking.” she said.
“That's good to hear.”

Several long minutes passed.

“...are you alright, Ash?”

I looked round again at my mentor, and saw something in her expression I don't recall ever having seen from her until that point. Genuine concern. I blinked in surprise at that.
“I...” I began, but found myself unable to actually speak about it. “...don't know.” I finished somewhat lamely, looking away.
“Hmm.” I heard her thoughtful vocalisation as she drummed her fingers on the ship's controls, and then I heard the familiar click and two beeps of the auto-pilot being engaged. The sound of her chair turning in place followed, accompanied by the movement of her clothing as she uncrossed her legs and sat there looking at me. I slowly looked back round at her.

Her jade green eyes bored into mine... but I sensed none of the usual searching gaze, nor the coldness usually present therein.
“Come here.” she ordered, though her tone was gentle. I slowly rose from my seat, watching her carefully. One of her hands flipped another switch near by, and the glass of the ship's main front view-port was obscured by thick metal shutters. The interior of the cockpit was automatically illuminated in the process.
“That's so no-one spies on us.” she explained. I gave  her an incredulous look as I stopped in front of her, not sure what to make of this.
“Rei-Na? What--?” I began, but then she reached up, took hold of my arms, and pulled. I stumbled forward and she caught me... and she pulled me onto her lap.
“...Rei... Na?” I said again, completely caught off guard. Her arms gently embraced me, and she held me close to her.
“Hush now, dear...” came her voice in my ear, and it was quiet and soothing. I did as I was told—not because it was an order, but because, for now, I felt something I'd almost forgotten about completely: how it felt to be loved. Instinctively, I put my arms around her also – at least, once she realised what I was trying to do and allowed me to, I did. I clung to her tightly, and I felt her grip on me tighten as well. I had never even thought about it until now, but it suddenly struck me that, just maybe, my cold and fearless mentor was just as alone in the vastness of deep space as I was. I stayed like that for several long minutes, not quite ready to let go yet. I soon became far calmer than I had been, though, and I began to relax, leaning more heavily against Rei-Na. I felt her fingers, which had been gently stroking through the hair on top of my head, slow as she looked down at me.
“Are you alright now, my love?” I heard her ask, her tone still soft as cotton wool.
“Yes... yes, I'm feeling much better, Rei-Na.” I confirmed as I sat up and looked at her, smiling slightly. She smiled back in the same way, and put her hands on my cheeks, holding my face gently while she looked into my eyes.
“Good.” she said firmly in her gentle voice. “Off you get then. I'd rather like the circulation in my legs back, you big brute.” she added affectionately, giving my head a gentle shake. I gave her possibly the most sheepish grin I'd ever shown anyone in my life, and got off her lap carefully. After all, she was still my mentor, and still demanding of a great deal of respect.

I sat back down in the navigator's seat as Rei-Na saw to straightening out her trousers and turning her attention back to the controls.
“Let's be on our way again.” she stated flatly, her tone and demeanour returning to the woman I was more familiar with almost instantaneously... though there remained, I noticed, the slightest smile on her face as she raised the blast shields and disengaged the auto-pilot.
“Right.” I agreed, although on my own face as well there remained a small hint of the brief happiness I'd experienced.

Had I known how truly brief my happiness would be, perhaps I would have taken the time to cherish it more...

Time passed, it has a tendency to do. Days, months, and even years have little meaning to you though when you spend most of your life in a spaceship, looking at nothing but blackness and stars.
Rei-Na continued to mould me into a perfect mercenary. Not only did she equip me with the practical skills I would need to make sure I stayed alive while others died around me, she made very sure to put the skills she imbued me with to the test. During one particularly arduous test, she dropped me off in the middle of a deep jungle on a backwater planet in the middle of nowhere, providing me with naught more than a basic set of clothing and a survival knife. Her parting words as she booted me out of the ship were that she'd see me later—assuming that I lived. She gave me no indication of how long she was leaving me there for, nor any solid promise that she'd come back – save only for the fact that she'd very clearly said she'd see me later.
I had no choice but to do my best to survive. I was barely fifteen at the time, but I was strong for someone of my age. I wasn't allowed to be anything but: Rei-Na had instilled a very powerful sense of discipline in my mind, so every day including that one I'd made sure to spend an hour or so exercising to keep myself in shape. This alongside whatever errands or missions I was sent out on. My senses were keen as well, and sharpened with experience. Yet, in spite of my strength, experience and other factors acting in my favour, survival was an endeavour I'd underestimated. I was only just managing to keep going the day I finally saw Rei-Na turn up again, close to where I was camping out. She was, however, very pleased with the fact that I saw her coming long before she noticed I was watching her. My aptitude for camouflaging myself with other materials had greatly increased out of sheer necessity during the time she'd left me here. She took me back on board the ship that day, and we left that place behind. It wasn't the last I'd see of that world, but the next time I'd visit it would be a lot later on in life.

“You've grown.” she noted, once I was back on board and cleaned up. I raised an eyebrow at that. “It's only been half a year. You can tell?”
“Are you questioning my perceptive abilities?” she demanded, arching an eyebrow at me. I nodded in reply, something I'd never have dreamed of a few years back.
“Of course I am. Wasn't it you that taught me to assess the abilities of those you have to work with? I've no measure of how much your abilities have deteriorated while I've been away.” I stated confidently, then added, with a smirk “Though of course you'll be happy to know that I doubt there's been any decrease at all in the time I've not seen you.”
Rei-Na laughed at that, shaking her head. “I did teach you that, yes. I'm now beginning to wonder if I haven't taught you far too well, though. Remember, Ash, unwarranted arrogance and confidence are partners of failure and death.”
I nodded an acknowledgement of that, solemnly. Had it been anyone else giving me a verbal slap, I'd have made just as strong a comeback. But I wouldn't dream of doing so to my mentor. Not at this stage, anyway – out of everyone in the cosmos, I held the utmost respect for her still.

It was good to be back home.

A further six months, and I'd lived sixteen years. That time was spent learning everything Rei-Na could think of to teach me, and further cementing in my head everything else I'd already learned. She never failed to amaze me sometimes, with her vast knowledge of survival techniques, martial arts, firearms, bladed weapons, blunt weapons, infiltration techniques... you name it, if it was related to mercenary work, she'd probably done it or knew how to do it. Her CV was probably longer than my arm. You could say that I had a lot to live up to, all things considered.

One day, we were sent details of a rather dangerous but equally lucrative contract.  This was while we were sat, as usual, in Rei-Na's ship, sifting through contracts forwarded to her by an anonymous association that dealt with these kinds of things. No-one was entirely sure who or what was running the association, but neither was anyone in any hurry to find out. For one thing, it brought a lot of money and business to a lot of people, and for another, any association that could easily send out contract details to every lowlife within a stellar radius was not one that you ought to consider pissing off.
“Well now, what do you make of this one, Ash?” Rei-Na's voice cut through my thoughts smoothly, grabbing my attention.
“Hmm.” I mused, looking at the contract that had been sent. I frowned a little. “Parahex Lyconnisar  text? Are we that near to the Talloria System?”
“We're on the boundary, yes. It was here we first met, as I recall, Ash.”
“It was, yes. In North Rozenaria, no less, down on Terra Four.”
“Well remembered. But then again, I suppose you could hardly forget that.” Rei-Na said thoughtfully. “Anyway. What do you make of this contract?”
I looked at the text floating on-screen, scanning over the details. “...I think, between you and me, we can handle it without breaking a sweat.” I stated. She smiled.
“I was thinking along similar lines. Well then, let's snatch it up before it passes us by.” So saying, she tapped in a few commands on a nearby keypad. The contract soon changed to show it had been taken – naturally, the information on who had taken it wasn't shown to anyone but ourselves. “So, let's see.” Rei-Na continued, reading over the contract. “We've to break into this facility and abscond with the armoursuit they've recently developed. That ought to be simple enough... hmm. And it appears the contractor is allowing the retention of the suit as well. This could be quite a profitable venture indeed. I imagine something like that would sell for quite a reasonable price, especially to the competition.”
I nodded. “I'm slightly surprised no-one else snapped this one up before us.”
“I'm not. As you can see, Ash, the particular facility we've to infiltrate belongs to a military contractor. That means military-grade security.”
“So in other words, a challenge worthy of us?”
Rei-Na laughed, shaking her head with a smile. “You're incorrigible. You're also absolutely correct. But don't get complacent.” she added, a serious tone in her voice and her expression. “If we get sloppy, we're dead.”
“I understand.” I said in an equally serious manner. “Am I going in first, or are you?”
“I will. This one's going to require stealth and agility. And, no offence to you my dear, but those are not your strong points. Plus you've not the build for squeezing through tight gaps.” That much was true. With my advancing years, my body was maturing fast. I wasn't the slim-built young boy I'd been the day she picked me up any more. I was a good deal broader across the shoulders, and a lot taller. In fact, I'd overtaken my mentor in height by now, standing as I did close to six feet tall. By her estimation, I had a few more inches to grow before I was done.
“No offence taken.” I assured her. “I'll leave that bit up to you then. Brute strength's more my forte nowadays anyway.”
“Good boy.” she smiled, rising from her seat. “I'm going to go and get changed, then. Bring us down a safe distance from the facility. Cloak once we're below ten thousand feet. Last thing we need is them knowing we're about to crash their party.” With that, she headed out of the cockpit to elsewhere in the ship. I shifted myself over to the pilot's seat, and set about following her instructions. The Solar Wind was a very responsive ship, and it'd taken me some time to get the hang of piloting it. As we descended through the atmosphere, I took some time to read over more of the contract briefing. Whoever had written it had been very thorough – the details extended as far as including activation codes for the equipment we were to take with us. I found that odd, until I read further. Apparently the contractor was a man who had been working on the research and development of this new armour. After it had progressed to a certain stage, he had abruptly been told by the military he was working for that his services were no longer needed, as they would employ their own specialists from here on out to conclude the work. He'd understandably been quite upset about this and, ill-equipped as he was to strike at them in revenge himself, he'd sought the services of others. I liked this idea – after all, revenge was a major reason many people sought the services of skilled individuals such as myself and my mentor. It kept our heads above water rather nicely.
I kept an eye on the altimeter read-out as we went. As it approached ten thousand feet, I reached over and flipped the cloaking device switch. The ship slowed a bit at that, as power was redirected to rendering us undetectable, and the engines were slowed and cooled. Rei-Na returned to the cockpit, now clad in a form-fitting outfit better suited to helping her squeeze into narrow spaces, as she would need.
“Distance to target?” she questioned.
“Two thousand metres.” I replied promptly, monitoring the equipment read-outs. “Cloaked and slowed. No detection alerts. We're clean and quiet.”
“Just how I like it. Alright Ash, take us in. Careful though. A place like this'll probably have a de-cloaker field round the perimeter. I'll have to jump.”
“Got it. Two thousand feet good for you?”
“That should work just fine. If they have a field that high, I'll be honestly shocked.”
“Two thousand it is.” I nodded, slowing the ship a little further, and swooping down toward the facility as it came into view. “Ready to exit?”
“Ready as always.” Rei-Na replied, unbuckling her seatbelt and tilting the seat back, pointing her feet toward the ceiling hatch.
“Here we go, then.” I replied, putting the ship into a slow roll. I flipped the switch for the ceiling hatch as I did so, and the roar of the wind tore over our heads. Rei-Na promptly dropped neatly out of the hatch, free-falling toward the roof of a building below. We'd picked the spot carefully from plans that came with the contract, and as such, she avoided detection as she fell through the air.