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07-25-2012, 02:36 AM | #11 |
Member
Join Date: May 2012
Posts: 486
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Special Police DekaOps
10 ----- OP- Alter Bridge- Metalingus ----- An old warehouse somewhere in Germany, a makeshift arena was built inside and the crowd was buzzing about what they have seen so far. A blue skinned woman in a red bikini strutted around the outside of a six sided cage holding a sign over her head with the number four written in various languages. Inside the cage trainers were talking to their respected fighters. On one side a green lizard-sejin was calmly staring at the back of his opponent as he listened to the instruction grunted at him. His opponent, on the other hand, was leaning on the cage trying to get his breath back. His blond hair was matted against his head and the eagle tattoo on his back was glistening from the sweat. "Ya did good kid," His trainer told. The only thing that kept him from looking human was his purple eyes and the horn growing out of his head. "That last round was a fluke, that's all. Keep your guard up and keep moving, fer God's sakes keep moving. He'll give you that opening," The human nodded his head. "Remember kid eye of the tiger." "Combatants!", the ox looking ref called out. "Next round!" "Go get 'em kid!" The human walked away and they exited the cage. The trainer looked at his assistant and went, "He's gonna get killed this round." "Combatants ready!", the ref held up a hand. Both competitors slammed their fist together, sparks flew and the crowd roared in approval as they activated the bands around their fist. The ref brought his hand down, "Do it!" The lizard came in fast and grazed the human with a right cross he tried to avoid. The blow he hardly felt, the charge from the band spun him around and knocked him to the mat. The ref started to count to ten as the human quickly tried to get his sense back. He got to his feet and slammed his fist together again. "Come on kid! Be smarter than that!", his trainer shouted. The lizard came in again but the human dropped and aimed a leg sweep at the back of it's knee. The alien fell hard and the human got on trying to grab an arm. He was knocked back by an elbow smash and the lizard slid out from under him. He backed up until his foot touched the edge of the cage. "Don't back up! That's what he wants ya to do!" He ducked a straight right that hit the cage and made sparks fly. The human hit a quick left jab to the ribs and a right uppercut under it's chin that staggered it. He turned around, jumped up as he grabbed the cage and climbed up half way. His opponent cleared the cobwebs from his head as he spun toward him as he leaped off and planted both feet into it's chest as they crashed into the mat. The human rolled backwards from the fall as the lizard got to it's knees sucking air. He jumped on top of the alien back locking in a rear naked choke. The lizard still tried to get to it's feet but he wrapped his legs around his waist and started squeezing. The lizard dropped back down to a knee then slapped it's hand on the mat three times. "He tapped," the ref called out, "fight's over!" The crowd erupted as the trainers rushed into the ring. The human rolled off his opponent as his trainers picked him up. "I knew ya could do it, never a doubt in my head." "What a fight ladies and gentlemen," A red blob of an announcer said as he walked to the center of the cage. "Didn't I tell you this would be one to remember? Give it up for both or competitors," he started clapping and the crowd soon followed. "But there can only be one winner, by tap out and approving his record to three and one," he went to the human and raised his hand, "the American Eagle Daaaaaniel Steeeeevens! Stevens!" The crowd started chanting his name. *** After the organization "doctors" gave him a clean bill of health he grabbed his winnings and headed for the hotel all the fighters were staying at. It was barely rated a star, but it wasn't drafty and it didn't leak. And more importantly it had a bar. He was the last one there, as usual, several of the patrons inside gave him a good fight or a thumbs up. A few sneered or gave him a dirty look. He stopped paying attention to those back on Nagaus 7 and took an empty stool at the bar "Where did you learn that stomp move," a bear like alien at the table behind him asked. "I've only seen a Zalmanian do anything like that." And he was going to have to remember to thank a certain Zalmanian for showing it to him, "Just popped in my head." "You should thank whatever deity you believe in you still have a head," he opponent stormed up to him. "You are extremely lucky, even for a human." "Well," Dan started as he faced him, "to quote former Governor of Minnesota Jesse Ventura, sometimes it better to be lucky than good. But right now I'm more interested in another saying you guys have around here." The guys at the table behind him started laughing, "Winner plays, loser pays!" The lizard slammed his hand on the bar. A squid-sejin wearing a multiarm shirt walked up, "Yeah, what do you want?" "Give the human a glass of his usual.... on me." "Mickey," Dan said quickly, "change it to a bottle of the good stuff since he's paying." "You got it Danny," Mickey chuckled. "I hope you choke on it human," the lizard sneered. "If anybody knows anything about choking...," the bear said loud enough for him to hear and the group laughed again. The lizard growled at them and stormed off. "Thanks for the beer," Dan called out as Mickey put down his glass. "Ugh," he said after he took a drink, "I'm glad I didn't pay for this." "You wouldn't know the good stuff if it bit you on the ass," the squid told him. "It would help if you were born with taste buds to begin with." "Go to hell Danny." "Like you too Mick," he grinned. "Excuse me," a female voice said. Dan turned around and saw an Asian woman with pink highlights in her hair and wearing a very tight blue dress standing behind him. "Oh my goodness." Dan put down his drink, "Well hello and I hope I can help you." "I saw your last fight earlier," she said, "And I just had to say that you're like totally awesome." "Why thank you. It's always nice to meet a fan, especially when they look like you." She giggled a bit then turned around bearing part of her shoulder. A small eagle tattoo was there. "I got this after your third fight last week, but it's only temporary." She lowered her head a bit and acted all shy like, "I was hoping could help me think of a reason to make it permanent." Dan looked her over, "I think I might be able to come up with a couple of reasons." He went to take another drink of his beer, remembered the taste and put it back down. "Mick, tell somebody with no taste that this is their lucky day." "Yeah, yeah," Mickey said he took the glass. Dan let her drag him off the stool. Nobody saw Mickey change glasses and dump Dan's in the garbage. "Danny!' the bear shouted out. “Women weaken the knees!" "I got no plans on standing up," he told them. That got a few shout out as they left. She latched onto his arm as they made their way upstairs. They reached her hotel room in minutes and she let him in. When she closed the door Dan eyes glazed over and he fell to the floor. "Cap!", Ace shouted then started pounding on the door leading to the room next door. "Rev I need you in here now!" The door flew open as Rev and D.E quickly went to Dan side. "What happened?", Boomer asked from the doorway. "I don't know, he just fell." Rev and D.E. picked him up and placed him on the bed. Ace quickly went into command mode as Rev started scanning him, "D.E. head out into the hallway and make sure nobody followed us." "You got it," he stuffed an SP-Shooter into his pocket and went out his room’s door. "Boomer contact OpsBase and let them know what happened." He nodded. "Rev," he was busy drawing a quick blood sample and ran it through the scanner "Keep doing what you’re doing. Rev put a hypospray to his neck and injected him with something. After a few minutes he started groaning and moving a little, she was at his side a moment later. "Ugh... did the floor just hit me?", he asked sounding very groggy and holding his head. "Something like that Cap," she told him, very relived. "Good, because it was either that or somebody dropped DekaBase on my head." He started to sit up but got very dizzy, "Oh, that was a bad idea," he said as he lay back down. "I would advise you stay in this position for a bit longer Captain," Rev said running the scanner over him again. "You are still feeling the effects." "I guess I hit harder in that last fight than I thought." "What were we telling you earlier? Duck and move, duck and move," Ace joked as she bobbed her head up and down. "Don't, it hurts when I laugh." "Unfortunately the fight didn't put him in this position," Rev told them. "He was poisoned." "It had had to be one of the guys from the fight," Ace said. "They were the only ones close enough to do anything." "No, this particular poison only activates when it comes into contact with the acids normally found in the stomach. The Captain had to ingest it." "Then it couldn't have been at that shack of an arena," Dan said sounding a little stronger. "Everybody was drinking and eating the same stuff. And I only had that beer after the fight." He stared at the ceiling, "Mickey slipped me a mickey." He chuckled, "I must be light headed, that was almost funny." "Fortunately there was only a small amount in your system," Rev told him. "A higher amount and I doubt you would have made it this far." "Now I'm really glad I ordered the good stuff." Ace got off the bed, "Boomer should be still be in contact with OpsBase. I'll give him the update so he can tell them." "God, Michelle’s going to kill me when I get back." "I'll guard you Cap, you got nothing to worry about." He gave her a weak thumbs up. "I'll have you on your feet and out of here in ten minutes Captain," Rev said while monitoring his vitals. Dan covered his eyes, "Could you stretch that out by another ten minutes or so? I got a rep to maintain." Neither of them saw Ace start blushing as that thought ran through her head. *** Back at OpsBase the Major and Michelle listen as Ace gave them the updated report. Silent op would have been observed but this was a long term undercover mission. Outside of the poisoning the mission was going according to plan. "Where's Cap now Ace?", the Major asked. "Training for his fight next week. He got word to us that nobody looked surprised to see him there. Cap said he talked to everybody he remembered seeing at the bar last night and nobody was acting strange. Or as he put it stranger than usual." The Major smiled, "At least he didn't go after his Mickey person." Ace hesitated before answering and he stopped smiling. "Don't tell me he went after him." "He waited a few hours before he did," Ace said. "I had D.E. tail him just in case. Cap just scared the squid silly." "That would explain the report from DekaSquad's temporary CO," Michelle said. "She reported that a squid-sejin nearly ran them over saying a human he tried to poison threaten him." "Do we know who put the squid up to it?" "Cap said Mickey was more scared of whoever was behind it than he was of him," Ace answered. "He didn't tell Squad either," Michelle added. "Well Cap scheduled to meet up with Anna Konstantin in a few hours. Hopefully we'll learn something new then." "We'll let you know at our next scheduled transmission, Ops5 out," and the link was cut. "That idiot better not be pushing himself if he's still feeling the effect from that poison," Michelle said to herself. "Cap got to keep up appearances," the Major said. "He can't let whomever behind this know that something wrong with him." "I know, but they been undercover for over a month. He's had a fight a week and according to D.E. a couple of them been pretty brutal. Nobody knows who going up against who until they're actually in the ring. I'm not sure how much of this he can take." "Rev taking good care of him. And I'm going to schedule him for some leave when he gets back to heal up. If he takes it that is." "If he doesn't I'm calling in Hawaii." The Major wasn't sure what she meant by that. "I'll explain it later." *** The park was pretty quiet for the time of day. Dan at on a bench in a pretty open area trying to get the smell of alien sweat out of his nose. Here he was thinking he would never have to deal with that particular smell again after Ops training. A person with a hooded jacket sat next to him. Neither of them said anything for a few minutes. Dan rested his arms on the back of the bench and flexed the fingers on his left hand. The person next to him finally said, "I hear the eagle wants to fly with the angels." "Then Heaven better close it's gates," Dan replied looking straight ahead. "Miss. Konstantin." "Ops1," she replied coolly. "I'm surprised you waited so long in contacting me again. And unprotected too, very sloppy." "Who said I was unprotected. My second in command is at two o'clock." She glanced over and saw Ace in a gray jump suit and pink top look like she was warming up. "My comm. officer is at three." Boomer was in his Laker gear sitting against a tree with headphones on his ears bobbing his head. "My medic over there at ten." Rev had his green hoodie on as he studied a water fountain. "And my weapon expert is in sniper position." "Don't you know where he is?" "Told him to surprise me. And that better be your man watching us from the trees over there because I'm about five seconds away from giving the command to take him down." She looked over and saw Peter hiding behind a tree. "Three... two..." "He's one of mine. Pierce never gave any indication you were like this." "I don't like the idea of operating in a protected region. Too many variables to worry about." "And I don't like the idea of your unit existing to begin with. If I didn't think one of my men would have been recognized I wouldn't have contacted Row about that Fire Squad project of his. To say I was confused when he suggested the Ops option doesn't even begin cover it." "Obviously, if you brought him along." "That wasn't planned. He must have overheard me when I made arrangements with your commander. Did you have to get rough with the suspect?", there was a bit of an edge in her voice. "Despite the fact the 'suspect' tried to poison me I wasn't rough with him." "You threaten to turn him into calamari!", she wasn't hiding the anger she was feeling. "No police officer would go that far, not a good one any way." Dan smiled a little, just to piss her off, "I was in character, and in case you haven't heard I'm not police." She sat there simmering, "There very little I have heard about you and your unit. I needed Row's help just to get in contact with Pierce." "There's a reason why our information is commanders only. I'm surprised Row even told you about us." "Well it's a little late to be having second thoughts about calling you in now. Have you heard anything useful?" "Just stuff from the grapevine. Apparently somebody big is coming in for the next fight night. Word is it's the guy who organized and runs the entire thing." "Good. There has been five reported death connected to this on this planet alone." She added, "And possibly one attempted murder. That we know of that is. Unfortunately there usually a couple of squads of Anaroids causing havoc on the same nights of the fights so we can't get close enough to check things out ourselves." "Everybody so far is acting like those death go with the territory. Some of them have told me stories of people dying in the ring." "I hope that rumor's true, if we take the boss down we can put a dent in this at least. Keep me informed." "Will do." She got up and left. Dan did the same a few moments later. He stopped by Boomer saying, "You get all of that?" Boomer kept bobbing his head, "Every word. That mic works like a charm." Dan glanced at the watch on his left arm, "I could almost get use to this undercover stuff," and he continued walking. *** Ace and the other meet up at a restaurant later. Cap couldn't join them and chance blowing his cover so he stayed at the hotel. Most of them ordered whatever looked familiar on the menu. Luckily Boomer remembered what "sample platter" was in German and got that for Rev. He sat there contently tasting everything that was before him. Ace smirked as she took a sip of her tea, outside of the mission Rev was having a blast. She put her glass down, "Are all Tokukyou as stiff as she looked?" "I met one once," Rev said, "he did have an aura of... confidence about him." "I'll take that as a yes." "I dunno Ace," D.E. spoke up, "word is that Harris guy in Rescue is a kind of a nut." Boomer added, "And Leon in Rail is a bit of a show off. Besides from what I hear they mellow out after awhile any way" "Whatever, I'm just glad we don't have to deal with one on a regular basis." "Never say never Ace," D.E. told her. "Maybe," she started grinning, "it might be worth it to see Cap take him down a peg or two." "If it took the heat off me," Boomer said, "I'll apply for one right now." Ace looked right at him, "Boomer, you're always going to be a heat magnet." "She speaks the truth buddy," D.E. laughed. Boomer shot him a dirty look. "Hey," she pointed at him, "you're not much better, especially when you’re around Boomer. Both of you are lucky the Major talked Cap out of putting of you two on sewage duty." "That because he likes us," Boomer told her. "No," she corrected him, "it was because he didn't want you two stinking up the place. And for the record, there no way in hell I let either of you aboard the Shepard smelling like crap too. I don't even want to know how long it would take me to air it out." "Great to be loved ain't it?", D.E. said flatly to Boomer. "I think Cap and Michelle are the experts in that department," Boomer said. He started grinning, "Hey, do you think she gonna lock Cap in her room when we get back?" Ace kicked him under the table. When he looked at her she pointed at D.E. D.E. looked up from his plate, "What?" *** A week went by quickly and Dan was back at the warehouse / arena. His trainer was giving him the usual prefight speech as he tapped up his wrists. Dan had heard it before in various forms for as long as he could remember he just tuned it out. So far there hasn't been any attempts on his life, but the mission wasn't over yet. He started tuning back when he realized the usual locker room buzz died down in a hurry, even his trainer stopped talking. Dan looked around and saw everybody staring at the door. "Don't mind us," an Igadroid said, "just making sure you guys are in top condition." He raised an eyebrow, this was new. The bot stood aside and let a green skin alien with pointed ears and a black suit strut in. This was new too. Everybody else in the room was suddenly very still. "He's over there," The Igadroid pointed right at him. "Oh geez," his trainer mumbled, "keep yer nose clean kid." "Zax?", the green guy said as he came up to them. "They still let you do this? I'm surprised one of your losers hasn't put you down yet." "I don't coach loser," then he added, "sir." "Even the poorest coach can get a lucky find every now and again." He stared Dan in the eye and he started right back. "So you're this amazing human I keep hearing about. Vance McMayhem, owner and originator of this spectacle. I came to this mud ball to see you in action personally. Who knows, if you impress me I might, might help you along to bigger and better things. If you impress me." "I'm thrilled," he replied without any enthusiasm "Don't mind 'im boss," his trainer stepped in. "My boy here fights to win just like everybody else here." "Good to hear." He got in a little closer and spoke a little lower, "But I find it better to know when to fight to lose. If you get my meaning." "Ya want 'im to throw the fight?", Zax whispered. "Ya lousy son of a...", he was cut when the Igadroid brought up it's cross blade. He stared at it and gulped. "No wonder you never made it past the local circuit Zax. You never let go of those outdated morals of yours." His trainer stood there steaming. "The choice is yours of course human. I'm just sure how long you'll be able to fight if you make the wrong one. Good luck tonight," he sneered. After he left the entire locker room was staring at them. "Take a vid!," he's trainer yelled at them. "It'll slaggin' last longer." Dan put a hand on his shoulder, "Cool down a little bit coach. I need you to have a clear head when I'm in the cage tonight. Nobody knows who's fighting who as usual." "Yeah yer right kid," he took a couple of deep breaths. "So kid, what are ya gonna do?" "You know us human ain't that smart." Zax started looking very sad, "Nice knowing ya kid. Well, at least yer gonna go out fighting. Now warm up kid," he slapped him on the chest, "ya got a fight coming up." "Sure thing coach." Dan took his bag into a corner. He noticed that everyone was doing everything they could not to look at him, that made this a little easier. He put the bag down and removed a MP3 player, while making sure his watch was still near the top. As he put the ear bud in a pressed down a small bump behind his ear. A small receiver that Rev implanted before the mission. "Please tell me you heard that?", he whispered. "We got every word Cap," Boomer told him. "We're getting ready to send what we got to Squad now. See you soon." Cap removed his finger and started throwing punches at his shadow. He started thinking about what was going to happen to Zax. The old man was ornery but he was a basically a good guy. And Dan started liking the old guy over the past month. He really wished he had his License right about now. *** A human with any kind of winning record was a rare thing in this thing. It was also a huge draw so they saved his fight for last. The announcer was already in the middle of the cage, mic in hand. "Has tonight delivered or what folks?" The crowd roared their approval. "Well it's not over yet and we got one more fight for you tonight. Introducing first, at a record of three and one, the American Eagle Daaaaaniel Steeeeeven! Stevens!" A spot light hit the entrance way as some generic patriotic sounding music started playing. Zax led him out and a good part of the crowd was already chanting his name. He got in the cage and raised a hand to acknowledge the crowd. "And as a special treat for all you fine folk tonight. His opponent, coming in at a record of thirty six and zero. Your Intergalactic Fight Federation champion. The Asteroid Smasher himself. Laaaaaaan Geeeeettor! Gettor!" The crowd nearly blew the roof off the place as his opponent entered. Zax cursed out loud as some alien sounding music started playing and a huge rocky Kordain walked foreword. It snorted smoke out from it's snout as the crowd by the walk way took a step back. Dan glanced around the arena, where in the hell was DekaSquad? Then he remembered Konstantin say they had an Anaroid problem every time they had one of these fights. He found McMayhem sitting in the front row just smiling, looks like Squad might be real busy tonight if the boss was here. The ox ref stood in the center of the ring with it's hand raised, "Combatants ready?" They slammed their fist together. Dan bands didn't spark. He did it a couple of more time, nothing. "Shit," Dan spit out "Hey," Zax shouted out, "we got a equipment failure here!" Dan saw the ox's eyes look over at McMayhem, who was slowly shaking his head. Zax saw it too, "They're gonna kill 'im." "Go!", the ref brought his hand down and the bell rang. Dan quickly got the bands off his hands, the piece of crap were useless anyway." Ace saw what was happening and made her way to the exit. The operation just went south and according to radio Squad was in several different spots in the city fighting off Anaroids as they popped up. She tapped the jewel on her bracelet twice, time to start plan B. The Kordian kept throwing hammer like blows as he got out of the way. The thing had a good foot on him and it looked like it spent a lot of time in the weight room. But this wasn't the first time he seen one of these things. There was one in the group back on Nagaus 7. He watched a sparring match between one and a tiger-sejin he made friends with. Hopefully this one will be dumb enough to fall for the same thing. The Kordain threw a straight right at his head. As he stepped out of the way he grabbed it's wrist and jumped. He wrapped his leg around it's shoulder, the added weight and it's momentum let Dan flip him to the mat as it lost it's balance. Dan pulled back on the arm with everything he had, even arching his body to get more leverage. His opponent had no choice but to slap the mat three times. "He tapped," the ref blurted as the crowd went nuts. Dan let go and climbed and jumped over the top of the cage. He looked at the crowd, McMayhem and his Igadroid was already gone. "Kid do ya know what ya did?!", Zax yelled at him "Yeah, that's why we got to run." "Screw that, yer the champ!" Dan had to drag him out of there. They went past the locker room and headed for the exit. A blast at the floor in front of him stopped them in their tracks. McMayhem and his bodyguard stepped forward blocking the path. "You know," McMayhem said, "I really hate idiots. Particularly those who can't do what I tell them too." He pulled out a blaster and shot Zax's assistant right between the eyes. "I told him to get rid of you himself, not to have that incompetent squid do it." Dan pushed Zax behind him. "No offense kid, but I find human are bad for business. They're usually way too curious than they need to be." He waved his hand and two Batsuroids came forward. "Take care of the others boys." "Not so fast!", Ace said as she and Rev hit the Batsuroids with their D-Shooters. "SPD!", McMayhem said as he backed up and ran. "Cap Catch!", she tossed him a black and white License. He caught it and spun toward the Igadroid. "Emergency! DekaOps!" The Igadroid threw a grenade down and ten Anaroids formed. Dan got Zax to safety as he looked behind them out the door. McMayhem jumped in a car and sped off. Dan yelled into his License, "We got a runner!" "We're on it," D.E. said. He and Boomer came out of hiding on the Hounds and gave chase. "We need more Anaroids!", the announcer cried running their way. "DekaSquad just showed up." Then he saw Dan and the others, "Oh slag." He jumped for cover by Zax as the firing started. "Get that over grown tin can going," McMayhem screamed into the comm. monitor in his car. "I don't want those Deka freaks following me!" "You got it boss," another Igadroid said. "Kicker will launch now." "Your damn right it's going to launch now." He punched it off and looked into this rear view mirror. Two black and white motorcycles were following him, ridden by Deka. He speeded up but they were keeping pace, no they were gaining. Every time he tried to turn off the road they fired to keep him on his path. He should have stayed on the main road and not take the back route. The black and blue shot ahead suddenly broke off and shot ahead of his car. He looked back before hitting a button in the bike. A metal spike shot out from under the Deka's seat and hit the grill of his car. An electrical charge shorted out his engine. The blue one went ahead, turned came back and stop in front of him. McMayhem got out and pointed his blaster at him. "You son of a bitch!” "You might want to rethink that," Boomer said behind him pointing his D-Shooter at him. It was just enough of a distraction for D.E. to draw and shoot the blaster from his hand. "You can't do this to me! I'm Vance McMayhem dammit!" "You think that matter to us?" D.E. got off the Hound and switched his License to Judge, "Target orders!". The area went dark as a red X and a blue circle started flashing before him. A minute later the red X shined brightly, "Eliminate target." He locked his License into his D-Shot and pulled back the grip. "Strikeout!" a blue stream of energy shot out and vaporized McMayhem. D.E. slung the D-Shot across his shoulder, "Got ya." Boomer pulled the spike out of the car and tossed it to him, "Do you think we should do something about the car?" D.E. thought it over, "I'll check for any surprises, if it's clean we'll leave it for the locals." The fight with the bots was over before the witnesses knew it. Dan and the others just fired away since anybody organic was behind them. Short and to the point, besides they were in a rush since the Squad was here. They turned around and saw the other cowering there. Well, not Zax he was staring at Dan, "Kid, yer SPD?" "Sorry coach." "Well at least I can say for a few moments that I coached a champion. Go ahead, judge me, delete me whatever the hell ya do." Dan walked up to him and went, "You coached the guy who beat the champion, that's it." Zax shook his head, "League rules kid, the champ fights in the cage the title automatically on the line." "Then you coached the guy who never lost the title," he said as he slapped the D-Whoppers around his wrist. "Do yourself a favor and tell them everything you know about this thing. It's the best I can do for you under the circumstances." "Thanks Champ." "Anytime coach." He backed away and turned to Ace and Rev, who were bust cuffing the rest. "We got to move. Squad going to wonder why these guys are tied up as it is." "We're done here Cap," Ace said. "You grab your gear back at the hotel. We'll meet you at the rendezvous point." "Right," Dan nodded and let them go first. He turned around to make sure there wasn't going to be any surprises coming behind them and looked right at DekaFire. The two red started at each other for a moment. Not sure what else to do, Dan raised two finger to his helmet and gave him a mini salute before heading out. DekaBurst came down the hallway and looked at the door DekaFire was staring at. "I just saw another Deka Unit," he said in disbelief. She told him, "Forget you saw them." "But I’ve never seen them before." "I'll explain later if I can but for right now forget you ever saw them. We got a report of a Monster Mech wreaking the place. You and the others need to get the DekaSquadRobo out there and take it down." "Rodger," DekaFire took one more look at the door and ran for the others. DekaBurst sighed, a nice spot for Pierce's people to leave her in. *** The Machine Shepard was hidden in a clearing outside of town. They watched from a distance as the DekaSquadRobo took on a kick boxer type of Monster Mech. It took a while but the Squad took it down. Boomer stood there whining, "Dude, I want a robot." Dan didn't even look at him, "Want in one hand and crap in the other. See which one gets fuller faster." "Why don't you make one of those unauthorized call to you fiancé and tell her your coming home," Ace said as she was checking the Shepard's engines. "I have not made any unauthorized transmission," Boomer protested. Then he tried to act like he wasn't glancing at his watch. "If you will excuse me, I need to.... calibrate the communication array," and he ran into the ship. "Go easy on him Cap," D.E. said, "he's in love after all." Dan put his hands in his pockets and said nothing. D.E just stared at him, "Cap, you didn't" "Just to let her know I was still I one piece. And it's my prerogative as field leader to check in sooner than scheduled." "Sure Cap, sure," he said. Then D.E. started singing," Cap and Michelle..." "I can talk the Major into letting me put you back on sewage duty," Dan shot a look at him. "Ahem," Anna coughed, she was carrying his bag. "Sorry we were late. This operation had more Anaroids than they knew what to do with it seems. And one of the participants we have in custody is willing to talk. His only condition was that I find away to get this bag back to the, and I quote, only human champ in league history?" Dan took the bag from her, "Everything will be in the report. I'm sure Pierce will get you a copy of it." "I'm sure he will, but you left me with a situation. None of my people were supposed to see you." "And I apologize for that, but I've been in too many operations to know that things don't always go according to plan. Tell him what you think you need to. If you want to tell him everything, fine. If you want, lie and say you’re not authorized to explain things at the moment." "I don't think that one is far from the truth. Winggons file on your unit was locked up pretty tight." "How is she doing anyway?" "No change," she looked down, "but we're hopeful." "We can stay a little longer if you want. My medic been trained to be a healer his entire life." "I appreciate the offer, but I doubt one more doctor will wake her up any faster. I better get back before the other start wondering where I am." "Right, glad to work with you," she nodded and walked back into the trees. They entered the Shepard and took their seats, Dan leaned back and buckled up, "Status." "The area is clear," Rev said. "Radar says the skies are wide open," D.E. announced "Base has been contacted and will be expecting us," Boomer told him. "Activate the stealth system and let's get this bird home," Dan said. "Stealth activated," Ace replied after she started the engines, "setting course for home." The Shepard rose in the air before disappearing. A sudden gust of wind was the only indication of what direction they went ----- ED- Evanescence- Whisper ----- |
07-29-2012, 01:20 AM | #12 |
Member
Join Date: May 2012
Posts: 486
|
Special Police DekaOps
11 ----- OP-Alter Bridge-Metalingus ----- The Machine Shepard's engines roared as Ace and her team stood by. After several moments she looked through the cockpit window at the guy sitting in her seat and gave the signal to power down. Soon the engines died down and everyone removed their ear protection. Ace looked at the readings from the monitors as everyone else looked on. After a bit she looked at the others and said, "You guys just earned you're lunch hour." "You're all heart boss," one of them said. "We're not done yet," she informed them. "Get that diagnostic equipment unhooked from the Shepard and you can take that lunch. Don't just stand there, get on it," she ordered and they jumped to the task. She turned around to see Michelle hanging around near the back. She walked up to her, "Hey Michelle, what's up?" "I thought you could use a coffee break or something." "After we're done here." She turned her head slightly to look at the group behind her. "Somebody has to be here to make sure they don't slack off first," she said loud enough for the others to hear. "And Cap was worried that you were going to turn into him. Obviously he's never seen you run things down here." Ace raised an eyebrow, "And what is that suppose to mean?" "Nothing o second in command," Michelle smirked at her. "This from the woman sleeping with the field leader." Michelle quickly lost the smirk, "We are not sleeping together. Me and Cap are just having some fun." "So you are sleeping together then," she teased. "Besides, I hear Cap wants you to call him Dan." Michelle put a hand on a nearby workbench and leaned against it, "You're starting to sound like Boomer." "OK, I'll stop now. And that was hitting below the belt," she tried to look hurt but both of them started chuckling. "So what minor imperfection are you trying repair now?", she gestured toward the Shepard. "The starboard engine started losing power on the last test flight. It took us a couple of days to narrow down the problem, but we got it fixed." Ace leaned back on the bench and looked at the black and white jet. "That engine been giving us trouble ever since we got back from Germany. Now if the Major would get the ball rolling on those parts I wanted I can upgrade the engines and we wouldn't have to worry about this." Her best friend started smirking again, "You might want to talk to him about those request forms before he starts sneaking them into the daily reports Cap goes over." "You're kidding. I was wondering why he was giving me that strange look a couple of weeks ago when I passed him in the corridors." "Sounds about right, that's when he started doing it. I think he’s getting Cap back for some of those stories he told me." Right then Cap's voice came over the base's intercom, "Field team to the command room, we got a incoming transmission from the Major." Ace looked Michelle, "I thought he was at that monthly meeting between the unit commanders." "He is," Michelle answered as they headed for the door. "It must be important if he's calling in." Ace started smiling, "Maybe you and Cap can get some 'fun' in before we got to leave." Michelle slapped her on the arm. *** The team assembled in the Command Room in practically no time, Michelle and Ace being the last ones to arrive. Michelle took her spot at the center table and the lined up in their usual spots. The main screen came to life as the Major's image looked at them, "Good, you're all here. As you probably gathered there’s a mission involved in this call." "What are we looking at Major?", Dan asked. "Something a little different this time around," he told them. "There been several cases across the globe of a variation of the Alienizer drug mega-gestrine being trafficked. Normally we wouldn't get involved in something like this, but I made a exception in this case. According to police reports the human dealers that would talk after they were arrested revealed that they received their shipments from this person," A green gorilla looking alien in a business suit appeared on one of the screen next to him. "This is Sparky McGillia, and he has a drug trafficking record as long as my arm. He specializes in altering a drug’s chemical makeup just enough to get it pasts any sensors sweeps. Then he changes it again to get the maximum effect in whatever species he happens to be dealing with at the time." "I'm assuming his safety standards are relatively low?", Rev asked. "Rumor has it he manufactures his variants on board his own ship, and with whatever local substances he can get his hands one. From what I hear, McGillia's not the tidiest of individuals. Several hundred deaths galaxy wide has been marked down to his variants." "I don't think any of us is going to object to taking this small fish down," Dan said. The other nodded in agreement. The Major smiled proudly, "I thought you guys would feel that way." "So where are we headed?" "Arizona, much like with Gremlin and Hawaii he's been spotted in several spots of the state. DekaRail was going to take this one, but considering the size of the state I volunteered or services. Sort of a good will gesture toward the other units if you will." "Fine, just tell Kodiak to make sure his unit stays out of our way," Dan said. Again, the other agreed, more or less. Pierce sighed before making sure nobody was listening in on his end. "I realize we're a covert unit, but eventually you guys are going to have to work with the other units. Nicely I might add." "We'll worry about it when it happens," Ace said. The Major looked like he was ready to give up. "I'm the one who has to deal with this," he muttered."You got a mission to do, so get on it." The connection cut out quickly. "I think you guys are pushing things a bit," Michelle told them. "We weren't even close to the pushing it point," Dan informed her. "Trust me I should know. But l like he said, we got a job to do. Civvies and basic equipment if we're going to be looking for this guy out in the open." "You heard the man," Ace said, "let's get moving." *** Michelle shifted through the information they were sent, she and Dan decided Tucson would be a good starting point for the search. She also mentioned an Asian heritage fair was taking place, with the main attention being on Japan, China and Korea. Ace thoughts were along the lines of 'that's just great'. Boomer looked like he remembered something and looked at her, "Ace, aren't you Korean?" "Only because of birth," she said softly. Boomer didn't hear her and thought he was being ignored so he turned back to his station. Rev, on the other hand, was staring at her. "I located the clearing Michelle told us about. I'm taking the Shepard down now." Michelle found a great spot, an old ravine with a lot of boulders around to block the view of passing glances. Still Dan ordered the stealth system on to be on the safe side. Fortunately they're hiding spot was in walking distance of the city. The ninety something degree weather, however, made it a little rougher than usual. By the time they made it to the city they were already busting out the water they brought with them. Dan started flapping the collar of his shirt, trying to cool off. "Glad I decided to leave my jacket behind." "I thought you army guys were suppose to be tougher than this," Ace joked as she took a drink from her bottle. "I mean the stories I heard about you from the Major..." "Let me point out right now that my 'pushing it' point is a lot lower than his." "If you haven't killed Boomer yet it can't be that low," Ace countered. "Rev aren't you feeling this heat?", Boomer asked. The Zalmanian looked unaffected in his usual green hoodie. "No, on Zalman this would be considered, as you would say, a cool summer day. So I am quite comfortable." That thought made Boomer sweat even more, "I am never visiting your planet." "Are you sure Robert? I am certain you would find the experience quite enlightening." "Rev might have a future in the travel business," D.E joked. Just about everybody groaned at how bad it was. "Sorry, it's the heat." "People, we got a job to do remember," Dan told them. "We’ll cover more ground if we split up. Ace, Rev you're with me. D.E., Boomer," he looked at them for a moment before saying, "don't make me regret it." Boomer looked hurt, "What have we ever done to make you regret anything?" D.E. grabbed him by the shirt and dragged him off, "Let's go before he thinks of something." "You are so gonna regret that," Ace said with a grin. "Maybe, but I been wrong before. They headed that way so let's go this way," he pointed to his left. "Let's get going, I want to get this guy before Rail has a chance to spot him." "Are we not working toward the same goal?", Rev ask. "That attitude seems counterproductive Captain." "Unit pride and bragging rights Rev," he said. He looked toward Ace for a further explanation. "We all might be SPD, but we're just individual units when you look at it. I can't speak for Cap, but I like to think we can kick the butts of any of the other units on the planet." Rev slowly shook his head, "I still say it seems counterproductive to the overall goal. "You might be right," she agreed, "but I'd bet that the other units feel that same way." They walked a few blocks before Rev's scanner picked up some massive alien life signs. To Ace's dismay it lead them to the heritage fair Michelle told them about. Several aliens were mingling with the human population with no apparent trouble. "At least we'll fit in," Dan commented as they looked over the crowd of the outdoor expo. "Keep an eye out for McGillia." Ace crossed her arms and tried not to look too uncomfortable as they walked among the crowd. Dan noticed her behavior, "You alright Ace?" "I'm fine," she answered quickly. "I just want to hurry up and catch this guy." Then get the hell out of here she added silently. "Trish," Rev spoke up suddenly, "when did you have long hair?" "What are you talking about? My hair never been past my shoulders." Rev was looking at board of pictures and pointing at a particular one. It featured a woman who looked almost exactly like her. Ace was dumbstruck, "Holy crap." "Well, they say everybody got a twin," Dan said. "Hello," an older woman said as she came up to them. "That picture you're looking is an old one from my good friend back in South Korea." She looked at the picture and started smiling sadly. Not looking at them she started talking. "She always had a happy smile, but it got a little sadder a few months after this picture was taken. Her family made her give up the baby she was carrying, a little girl. She wasn't the same after that for a long time. Even twenty years later I can hear a bit of that sadness return every so often." "Can we go now please," Ace muttered as she fidgeted a bit. The old woman looked at her. "I'd imagine the child would be around your age now." Then she started laughing. "I'm sorry for talking like that. She'd call me an old fool for telling other people about her past." She stopped talking as she took a good look at Ace. Her gaze went back to the picture than back to her. The surprise was evident on her face. "We're not here to sight see," she blurted out while hurrying off. "Ah..." Dan struggled as he wondered what the hell just happened, "sorry about that." He and Rev found her by a fountain. Ace stood there with her eyes closed, she jumped a bit when he put his hand on her shoulder. "Ace?", she wouldn't look at them. "Trish, what's wrong?" "Nothing wrong," she told them. Then she went all business, "I think we should split up. With a crowd this size we can cover more ground that way." Dan looked at his second in command. Slowly he nodded, "If none of us spot him in the next hour we meet back here." "Right," she agreed and walked off. "Is it wise to leave her alone at the moment," Rev asked. "If I thought the problem was bigger than she was letting on I wouldn't have agreed to split. Besides Ace is a professional, whatever she's feeling she'll put it aside until the mission done." Dan went off in another direction and left Rev standing there. Nodding to himself, Rev headed back to the stand and talk with the old woman some more while asking a few questions. Then he found a quiet spot as he spoke into his License, "Ops3 to base." "Base here," Michelle answered sounding concerned. "Is anything wrong?" "Everything is fine, but I have a rather unusual request. I need your assistance in locating someone." *** When Ace got back to the fountain Cap was already there sitting on it's edge. He was watching the crowd, the only indication he gave that he knew she was there was a single nod in her general direction. As she sat next to him he asked, "No sign of him?" "No, but I did see what looked like a blue dog with scales. And dreadlocks." Dan whistled, "Glad I didn't see that thing." "Cap, about the way I spazed earlier. I wanted to..." "Don't, it's already forgotten." He looked at her with a bit of concern, "Is there anything you want to talk about while we got a quiet moment?" "Not while we're on a mission." "Alright, but you know my door is always open if you do, right?" "I know Cap." Rev walked up a moment later. "No luck either huh?" "Not exactly Trish." He pulled out a piece of paper and handed it to her. "But I did find out something that you might find useful." Ace and Dan looked at each other confused. What could she possibly find all that useful that didn't involve the mission. She glanced at the paper and froze at the words South Korea. "What is this?", she demanded. "It is the address of the woman in the picture. I thought you might want to get in contact with her." "And why would I want to get in contact with this person?" "If this person is you mother...," he started. "I know who my mother is!", she snapped at him. "Her name is Mary Fieldman. My father is William Fieldman. This woman is nothing to me." Rev was stunned at her reaction, "She might be the one who gave you life." "That's all she ever did for me," she said angrily as she crumpled up the paper and stormed off. "Good job Rev," Dan sighed. "Trish," Rev started after her until Dan stopped him. "It might be a good idea to give her a little more time alone," he offered. "Captain I was only trying to be helpful." "I know you were Rev. And I sure she does too. But remind me to give you the definition of the term ‘hot button issue’ one of these days. I'm just glad Boomer wasn't here to see this. He's been looking for something on her for awhile now." *** Ace walked away from the fair mentally kicking herself for going off like that. Rev didn't deserve to get yelled at like that, she would have to find away to make it up to him. But he doubted he understand the reason why she reacted that way. Ace put her hands in her pockets, that wasn't how a second in command was suppose to act. She looked up and saw what looked like a green monkey in a suit turn in an alley. Oh what a day she was having. She hurried to the alley he turned in and peered around the corner, "Op5 to Ops1." "Stevens here, go Ace," he answered after a moment. "I might have spotted the target." "Right, keep him under surveillance for now. I'll contact D.E. and Boomer and we'll hook up with you as fast as we can." "Rodger, Ops5 out." Ace put her License away then wrapped her hand around the handle of her SP-Shooter just in case. Slowly she went down the alley, if this was McGillia he wasn't trying to hide himself. He turned a corner and Ace quickened her pace to keep him in sight. Peering around this corner he saw the ape walk up to a human who looking around nervously. "Youse got my money?", the ape demanded. "Ye..yes.. but,..." he stuttered. "But what ya hairless ape?" "Some of the regulars were too scared to buy. DekaRail’s been seen all over the state and they were asking questions." "Dat bunch of cadets!," he grabbed him by the front of the shirt and lifted him off the ground. "Why should anybody be scared of dem? I need to get rid of my current batch before some real cops get wind of me." "But they took out an Agent." "So? It's not like he was the only Agent in dis country." Ace filled that bit of info away. Command would want to know about another active Agent in operation. A cat landed by her and she jumped a little. McGillia saw her before she could hide back behind the corner. "Too bad for you girly." He reached into the bag he was carrying and pulled out what looked like a tommy gun. He pointed it in her direction and pulled the trigger. A volley of laser hit the brick by her as Ace dove for cover. "So much for waiting for the other. Emergency! DekaOps!" A pink digital flash later and she was in her DekaSuit. She ran across the open to the other side firing away with her D-Shooter. "SPD huh? Youse guys can't leave a business man alone can't ya." "There's business then there's 'business'," Ace said before she fired into the alley. As he went for cover she saw him reach into his coat. It had to be a grenade. As McGillia came back into view Ace saw she was right and tried to shot it out of his hands. Too bad she wasn't D.E she thought as it flew from his hands. Five Batsuroids formed as it hit, "Oh shit." "Show da girly a good time boys," McGillia sneered. "Yes sir," one of them replied as they raised their weapons. Ace jumped out of the way as they fired. She rolled into view, came up with her D-Shot in hand and started firing away. Two went down before the other went for cover. Ace took cover herself as they returned fire. Ace fired back as she noticed Mcgillia hightailed it. A shot by her head made her get behind the wall. How long was she going to be able to keep this up? "Hey!" a new voice caught her by surprise. Before she knew it D.E and Boomer were by her side. "Where did you come from?" "You're gonna have to talk to my momma and daddy about that one," D.E. joked. "Laughs after the mission remember," Ace chided him as she fired into the alley again. "We got three Batsuroids to deal with at the moment." "One each," Boomer said "Sounds good to me," D.E. said as he drew his D-Shooter. "What's the plan?" Any other day and she might have said something else. But right now she really needed to relieve some stress, "Full frontal assault, guns blazing." "Sounds crazy," D.E. commented, "I like it." "Go!", she ordered and they ran in. Ace hung back a bit to give the other two some cover some fire. Boomer went into a baseball slide to avoid a blast coming at him. He leveled his D-Shot and fired away until the third Batsuroid went down. At the same time D.E. jumped over his. He fired point blank in it's face as it turned around. The last one suddenly fell foreword, three hole now smoking slightly from the back of it's head. Dan put away his D-Colt as he looked over the area. "Did you get McGillia?" Ace asked him. "We didn't see anybody come our way," he told her. Ace slammed her fist into the wall, damn it how did he get away. Rev tilted his head slightly, as if he was hearing something. Then the others heard it, the sound of an engine coming online. "Sounds like it's coming from up there," Boomer said as he pointed toward the rooftops. "D.E.," Ace pointed to a fire escape. He nodded and jumped up to pull the ladder down. As they raced up Ace pulled the Shepard's remote from her pack and activated the homing signal. When they reached the roof Dan ordered for them to spread out and search the skyline. "There!", Rev pointed to a ship that was flying away from them. A beep from the remote said the Shepard was overhead. Ace worked the controls so the jet hovered over the roof. The increased winds from the engines was the only indications the ship was even there. Slowly the inside appeared as the boarding ramp lowered for them to jump in. Ace got in her seat, closed the ramp and quickly gave chase as the other were taking their positions. They still had Mcgillia's ship in sight but a light on her control caught her attention as they started to catch up. "Damn it, I thought we fixed that." "Not something I want to hear at this altitude Ace," Dan said. "The starboard engine losing power again." She did a quick system check, "It's the stealth system, it's draining power from the engine." How the hell did she miss that? What else could go wrong today? Dan lowered his head and muttered, "McGee going to have a field day with this one. Drop the stealth," he ordered and power to the starboard engine increased. She was really going to have to pressure the Major about those parts for the upgrade when she got back. "We barely got McGillia on scanners," D.E. announced. "Give me the location," Ace said. "I'll figure out the quickest approach vector to close the gap." His location appeared on her screen and she did a couple quick calculations in her flight computer. She had her approach and increased speed while keeping an eye on the engine sensor. "Come on baby,' she said under her breath, "don't disappoint me now." "We're coming up on Phoenix," Boomer said from his station. "He's almost in firing range," D.E. called out right after. There was a quick flash from Mcgillia's ship and the Shepard rocked from an impact. "We took a hit. Port wing has some slight damage." "Space ape did not just shoot my jet," Ace said in disbelief. "Return fire!", Dan ordered. "Wing guns!". D.E. took aim and fired away. Mcgillia tried to avoid the barrage. Sparks off it's hull were the only indication they hit him. Mcgillia fired at them again and hit the mark again. "Starboard engine took a hit." Everybody looked at her. She ignored them and kept her eyes on the sensors. No power loss from that engine. Finally something went right. But that damn ape shot her ship again. McGillia's ship flew between two high rise building. Dan noticed she wasn't changing course. "Ah... Ace?," he said while sitting a little straighter. D.E., Rev and Boomer started tightening the straps on their seats and braced themselves for the impact, "Ace!". She jerked the controls and the Shepard turned ninety degrees on it's side and flew the gap between the buildings, the windows rattling from the wake. Dan took a moment to find his voice, "Could you warn me when you're going to do that?!" "Didn't have time. Are we in laser range yet?" "We are now," D.E answered. Ace wasted no time, "Target his engines and bring him down." D.E. looked at Dan. "You heard her," was all he said. "Right." D.E. prepped the laser. A handle with a trigger popped out of his council and the targeting computer locked on. The nosecone split open as he concentrated. "Target acquired. Firing laser," he pulled the trigger and a yellow energy beam stuck McGillia's port engine. It started smoking immediately and the ship headed for the ground. Ace followed it down as it crashed a mile into the dessert. The Shepard landed and Dan, Boomer and D.E exited and found McGillia stumbling away from his ship. Dan took out his License and held it in front of him, "Target orders!". The area went black as a red X and blue circle started flashing in front of McGillia. After a minute the Red X shined brightly, "Eliminate Target." They locked their License into the D-Shots and took aim. "Ready. Strikeout!" Three blue energy beams deleted McGillia as they hit him. Dan lowered his weapon, "Got you." When they got back to the ship they found Ace going over the damage it sustained during the chase. "Ace," D.E. said, "normally I don't complain about your flying. But this particular trip....", he trailed off. "Hey, the Shepard's my baby," she told him. "And nobody is going to mess with it, not while I'm at the controls." Boomer started laughing, “I just wish I could see the look on Rails face when they find out the missions over." "I'm sure Kodiak will think of something," Dan told him. "Ace what kind of damage are we looking at?" "Nothing major," she answered. "Me and my team can have it fixed in no time. The ride home should be a lot smoother than the actual chase. Right Rev?" She noticed Rev was looking at everything but her. Dan saw it too. The look on his face told her that this was her mess to fix and she couldn't argue. *** Ace was finally able to corner Rev in his office. After repairing the damage to the Shepard she found Rev was doing everything possible to avoid her. At the moment he was busy looking at something on his desk. Now she understood Cap comment about a moping Zalmanian wasn't that fun to be around. "Rev we got to talk." "Trish, I want to apologize if I did anything to endanger our friendship. I realize you are angry with me..." "I'm not mad at you Rev," she corrected him. "I was never mad at you. That whole situation has always been a bit of a sore spot with me." "I did not understand your reaction. Are you upset this woman might possible be the one who gave you away?" "That would imply I cared one way or another." "Then did your adoptive parent discourage you from looking up your past and learning about the country you were born in." Ace laughed, "Oh God no, they practically shoved it down my throat. Every time I turned around it was either 'Here's a book about Korea so you can learn where you came from' or 'Learn a little Korean so you won't look like a total idiot if you ever decide to visit'." She noticed the look Rev was giving her and laughed again, "Ok, they didn't say total idiot, but that's what they meant." "Then why did you look so uncomfortable at the fair?" She turned away to study something on the wall and crossed her arms. "It's a long story Rev. You have to understand, when I see a picture of me and my parents I don't see a white couple with a Korean kid they adopted. I see me with the two people I love more than anybody on the planet. Until that one family reunion I never realized some people never saw us that way." "What happened?", Rev asked while coming up behind her. "If you don't want to tell me it is alright." "It's alright Rev," she faced him and looked him in the eyes. "I was like seven or eight at the time and this one cousin of mine was making fun of me. Dad told him to stop, but his parents gave a really half hearted attempt at making him stop. Later we heard them say they couldn't believe they brought me. Actually they called me something I didn't realize was a slur at the time. But I saw how my parents reacted and figured it was pretty bad. Then I noticed how they and a couple of the others were looking at us. I've been ultra defensive about it ever since. I still get irritable if I'm around anything that reminds me I'm not actually theirs." She lowered her head, "You think I would have outgrown something so stupid by now." "I'm sorry that some of your family reacted with such closed minds." "There's nothing for you to be sorry about Rev. I should be the one apologizing to you for reacting the way I did. You didn't deserve that." "It is alright Trish." "No, it's not alright. If anything endangered our friendship it was my stupid hang up." "Your parents mean a lot to you, do they not Trish?" "I know we're not blood, but they are my mom and dad. And I don't care what anybody else says." "Then that is all that matters." She nodded slowly. "Are we still friends Rev?", she had to ask. "I would like to think so Trish." She grinned slightly, "Come on, I'll buy you a plate a raw meat from the cafeteria. You heard a little about my family, I want to hear about yours." "It would be my pleasure." Her grin got bigger, "Cool." ----- ED-Evanescence-Whisper ----- |
08-06-2012, 02:55 AM | #13 |
Member
Join Date: May 2012
Posts: 486
|
Special Police DekaOps
12 ----- OP-Alter Bridge-Metalingus ----- D.E. stood in front of a church, admittedly a little nervous. He had to pull a few strings to get this arranged. And he was starting to hope things on this end didn't change without him knowing. Relaxing a little bit when the doors opened he gave the two people coming out one of his trademarked smiles. A woman in a suit and a preacher greeted him in return. "Howdy guys, I was starting to think I got the wrong day." "It's my fault Terry," the preacher told him. "I was a little more nervous than I thought I was going to be, Carol had to calm me down believe it or not. This is a first for me as well as the children." "It's cool padre," D.E. assured him. "Where are the rugrats?" "Missy's bringing them out in a minute," Carol told him. "We could hardly get anything done because this was all they could talk about." "Sorry about that Carol." "Don't be Terry," she laughed. "If Jeff can be a bit distracted then we can let the children get a little excited." The preacher didn't dignify that with a response. Some more footsteps could be heard, soon a bunch of kids under twelve came out onto the parking lot. "Children," Carol started as she and Missy tried to get the kids into some type of order. "Now you all know Terry, Billy's older brother." "Hi guys," he grinned and waved. "Hi," they all said back. "Do I take over now?", he whispered. "I'm not sure how this works." "Be my guest," Carol walked back behind the children to keep an eye on them. "Aright, your Sunday school teacher says y'all really excited to meet the guy I brought with me today. So instead of boring you guys by talking I'll just bring him out." He shouted behind him at a van. "Ranzack you can come out now." Rev came out from behind the van and walked toward them. As usual he was wearing the green hoodie over his uniform. He pulled the hood back revealing his huge insect eyes and antenna. "Hello children," he greeted them warmly. "Whoa," a couple of them muttered as they stared at him. Rev started to look a little uncomfortable so D.E. stepped in. "No need to be shy kids," he told them. “Ranzack just as nervous being around you as you guys are of him. Besides," he put an arm around his shoulder, "he's one of the nicest guys I ever met." Rev gave him a grateful look. "Now before the questions start flying he's got no special powers like the aliens on TV or in the movies. So don't go asking if you can see them." "Then how do we know he's really an alien," one of the older boys in the back said under his breath. Rev looked right at him, "What type of proof to you require?" "Ah...," the boy stammered as his face went beet red. D.E. had to grin at his reaction, "Did I mention he's got better hearing than a dog?" "So," Carol said trying to get everything back on track, "perhaps you can explain what you do here on Earth. And how you know Terry." "Ah," he looked over to D.E. who urged him on, "I work with Terry. I help mediate things when the police is called and a extra terrestrial is involved." Rev said a quick prayer to the Great Spirit for forgiveness for spinning a half truth, but it was the cover story he and the others had came up with in case this question was asked. "Isn't that what SPD is for?", asked a girl who was in the front. "Well yeah," D.E. stepped in, "but SPD main concern are the Alienizers. We try to handle the minor disputes with the help of some friends. Like my good buddy here." "Aren't all aliens Alienizers?", another boy in the back asked. "Of course not," D.E. told him. "But the only aliens you hear about on the news are Alienizers," he argued. "That may be true," Rev agreed. "The Alienizers are a very large group, made up of several different species. But percentage wise a very small number of those species have actually joined the Alienizers." Some of the children looked confused. D.E. stepped in again, "What I think my buddy is trying to say is there are good and bad people in all the groups you see. And you shouldn't judge all of them by a few bad apples." The kids seemed to understand that. A few more questions were asked. The kids wanted to know about Rev home planet, what he did there and if he missed it. Then a little girl got a little closer. D.E. knelt down and looked at her, "What is it darling?" In a small voice she said, "Is it alright if he can play ball?" "Lilly," Carol admonished her. "Play ball?", Rev asked D.E. "That is a children game is it not?" "Yup," D.E. replied. He looked at his watch, "You know we still got some time before we got to head back." He looked at the kids again, "I got an idea. Y'all learned a little something from Ranzack today, how about you guys teach him how to play ball and a couple of other games." That got them excited again. "I don't believe the Major or Captain Stevens said we could do something like that," Rev whispered. "They didn't say we couldn't either," D.E. grinned. "Come on, it'll be fun." "Well alright." The little girl grabbed Rev by his three fingered hand and lead him to the playground. Actually it was more like she was pulling and he was trying hard to keep up. But after things got going it looked like he was starting to enjoy himself when he got the hang of things. D.E. chatted with the preacher for a few more moments before deciding to get in on the fun himself. *** Chatrox hated the rain, especially on this planet. In fact he hated everything about this planet. He still couldn't see why the other Agents actually wanted to come here. The human stench was unbearable at best. And he had been getting up close and personal with them lately, so he was quite familiar with it. "I see you," a voice said. A purple looking alien walked out from a cave. He wore some kind of equipment on his back. Two cables from the pack trailed down his arms and connected to these emitters on his hands. "I'm not kidding, I know where you're at." To anybody passing by it would look like he was talking to the air. Chatrox looked down, he was still invisible but he walked into a puddle and two holes, the exact size of his feet, were visible. He absolutely hated the rain. Dropping his invisibility he said, "What do you want Shockblast?" "I need a reflector crystal," he said matter of factly. The Agent raised a scaly eyebrow, "That is a very rare item now a days, especially on this backwater planet." "I know, but I need to upgrade my weapon system. The one I'm using is almost spent and the backup I have ain't exactly good quality." "Even a poor quality gem is going to fetch a pretty hefty price." "Don't I know it, but everybody I talked to says you're the one I need to talk too." Chatrox thought it over, "I do believe I might have a connection to a supplier with a reflector crystal. A very excellent quality one at that." "Great I'll take it no matter the cost." Shockblast handed him a money chip. Chatrox, as a precaution, ran it through a reader. With a slightly disgusted look he said, "This is nowhere near the asking price." "But that's all I got." "Too bad." "I need that crystal" "Then I suggest you find a way to raise the remaining funds." Chatrox turned to walk away. Shockblast raised his hand and pointed it to his left. The air in front of his hand started to distort slightly then shot out crashing into a car. It bent around the near invisible shockwave. Then he pointed his other right at the Agent. "I said I need it." "Perhaps I can pull a couple of favors and get him to lower the price. But it won't be by much, you'll still have to raise the rest. "That's not good enough." Shockblast was going to fire but he felt the cross blade of an Igadroid at his head. "I use to arrest people like you for a living remember," he said smugly. "So I know exactly who I am dealing with. Get the rest and I will get you that crystal." Shockblast roared at him and stormed away. "Make sure he doesn't double back," he told the Igadroid. "Right," it replied. The one thing he missed about working for SPD? He could usually convince his superiors that any unauthorized kill he made was an accident if he played it right. *** Michelle watched as the door opened and the Major and Dan hurried in. The Major gave her a quick nod as Dan stood beside her behind the rail. Pierce planted his cane in front of him as he told her, "Put him through." Dan stood a little straighter as the image of Meng Yeow Gan appeared on screen. "Meng Yeow," the Major greeted him warmly, "Sorry about the wait. I was caught a bit by surprise." Meng Yeow nodded, "I wish this was a social call Henry." He looked over to Dan, "I assume this is Ops1." "Sir," Dan said while giving him a quick salute. "It's good to finally put a face to the stories I've heard about the rather infamous Captain Stevens." Dan eyes shifted over to the Major who quickly changed the subject, "What's the emergency Meng Yeow?" "Basically we have a jumper," he nodded to somebody off screen. At the bottom right corner an image a purple alien appeared. He was wearing a device of some sort on his back. "We only know him by the alias Shockblast. He's been wanted on several planets for massive destruction and the death of millions." "I'd wager command is just waiting for the chance to take him out," the Major commented. "I wouldn't bet against you Henry. He was spotted in Japan a few days ago. Unfortunately by the time my team got there and picked up a trail he had already boarded his craft and hit international waters." "And he made his way over here," the Major said. "For a brief stop. Then the SpaceBase tracked his vessel to Mexico." Michelle gave Dan a sympathetic look as he winced slightly. Mexico was still a bit of a sore spot. "Do we have any idea what he was after?" "We did some checking on our side and discovered he was after a reflector crystal." "That's weapon system component isn't it?", Dan asked. Meng Yeow nodded," Shockblast wears one on his back. He specialized his gear to emit a sound wave of devastating power, with the aid of one of these crystals." "Is he still in Mexico?" the Major asked. "Our latest information says he is." "We'll take him out," Pierce told him, "you don't have to worry about that." "I'm not worried at all, DekaBase out," he said right before the screen went blank. "Get the team scrambled and I'll get them up to date on route," Dan said. "If this guy is as dangerous as he says we don't have a moment to waste." "Good idea. Meng Yeow wouldn't call unless it was major. I'm lifting silent operation for this one, I want to be kept up to date." "I'm hooking up with the SpaceBase now," Michelle said. "I'll try to track him from here." "I want real time if possible," Dan said as he exited the command room. "Field team to the launch bay," the Major commanded over the intercom. "Prep to launch in fifteen minutes." "That's my job," Michelle smirked as she kept her eyes on the keyboard. "Dan's right, time is of the essence. I'll be in my office." *** Shockblast wasn't that hard to find. In fact he wasn't even trying to be stealthy at all. He stood in front of a jewelry store or a bank and blew whatever door that was in front of him open. Any human that got in his way, well that was just too bad for them. He had to meet the outrageous price Agent Chatrox’s buyer was asking. Shockblast opened his hand toward the storefront of another jewelry store and let a wave fly. The window shattered and the brick wall caved in slightly from the effect. Luckily he fine tuned this over the years. Before he would have brought the entire building down and buried what he was after. The team, dressed in full field gear, found him when he was stuffing any jewels he could get his hands on into the bag he was carrying. Dan raised a fist and they stopped behind him. Holding up five then two finger he made a half circle motion, Ace and D.E were to circle around and cover him from the other direction. Then he signaled for Boomer to head across the street. Rev did a scan of the area and showed it to him, minimal life sign detected. Hopefully they'll be smart enough to stay out of the way. Ace and D.E. signaled that they were in position. Dan signaled for Rev and Boomer to cover him as he slowly made his way forward. Just like they planned Ace was coming up from the other direction just slowly as he was. They found some cover and watched. The target was still grabbing diamonds. It actually looked like he was being choosey and taking his time from this angle. They nodded at each other then went out of hiding, their SP-shooter aimed right at the Alienizer. "SPD, freeze Shockblast!," Dan ordered. He dropped the bag and slowly faced them, "Oh shoot, you got me." "Not taking his eyes off he said, "Keep those hands were I can see them." "I plan too," he said The air in front of his hand started to distort. Ace saw it before he did, "Cap move!" Dan jumped out of the way but was caught in the wave's wake and landed hard. Ace was caught in the same wake and was thrown back. The wave crushed the car they were hiding behind. "Fire!", D.E. yelled out as they shooting. Shockblast ran away from the barrage, making sure to fire a wave in both direction to keep them from following. "Captain, Trish!", Rev called out as he ran toward them. D.E. and Boomer went in the direction Shockblast did but couldn't find a trace of him. When they got back Rev had Dan sitting against the wall and treating a gash in his forehead. "Is he going to be alright?", Boomer asked. "Just landed on my head," Dan told them. "I didn't hurt anything important." "As you humans say Captain," Rev told him, "I'll be the judge of that." "How about you Ace, anything hurt?", D.E. asked her. She rubbed her backside, "Just my pride." Rev bandaged the gash and did another scan on Dan, "I am detecting no other injuries." "Good because I felt like jell-o after that wave passed," Dan said as Rev helped him up. "You too?", Ace said. She looked at what was left of a blue sedan. "I'm glad it wasn't a direct hit. Do you think the Dekasuits can handle it?" "Let's not find out," Boomer said. "Some of us have something to live for you know," he added when D.E. looked at him. "We all do kid," Dan told him as he took out his OpsLiciense and switched into phone. Pulling up a map in the air they tried to figure out where Shockblast went. "Any ideas were someone big and purple could have ducked into?" "We stopped about here," D.E. pointed out on the map. "There were a couple of spots I saw he could have ducked into to get away." "He couldn't have gotten far," Dan said heading for that spot. Rev was right behind him to make sure he didn't fall. "Rev do a scan the area for any kind of alien life sign. Ace contact OpsBase and see if Michelle can get a fix on him or find a place he can use for a hideout that's nearby." "I'm on it," she replied. "But we're still going to do something about that blast of his." D.E. looked at them and grinned, "I might have an idea for a plan B." "What is it D.E.?", Dan asked. "A slight variation on hide and seek," he told them. "Is that not another children's game?", Rev asked His grin got bigger, "Yup." *** With Michelle help they located the warehouse Shockblast was using as a hide out. He was so busy cataloging his latest haul he didn't noticed the multi colored individuals sneaking around him. A glimpse here and there caught his attention but he dismissed it. "Eh... I must be seeing things." "You sure about that?", a voice behind him asked. Shockblast turned around and saw a figure in a black and red Dekasuit flanked by four others stood there. Where the hell did they come from? "You jackasses never learn," Shockblast stated as he raised his hands. "Scatter!", Dan yelled as he reached for the D-Colt and jumped for cover. The other ran off in different direction. All that sneaking around gave them a pretty good idea about the floor lay out so they knew were to go. Shockblast held off from firing, he had some stuff hidden around here from previous jobs and didn't want to pulverize it by accident. He tried to keep his bearing and fired a small shockwave when he saw one of them. But they moved fast, running in and out of sight. They punks actually had the nerve to take potshots at him. Dan kept an eye on the pad in his hand. He threw up the mini satellite before they made themselves known. So he was able to direct the other when he saw them. He passed D.E. and tossed him the D-Colt. The plan had better work. From the screen he saw Shockblast start to move and look for them. Dan saw Boomer and gave the signal to speed the operation up. They had to keep this guy away from D.E. as long as possible for him to get in position. "Come out, come out where ever you are," Shockblast taunted. "Tag!", Boomer shouted as he came out of hiding and fired with his D-Shooter. "You're it," Ace said as she did the same. Shockblast tried to cover up as they shot around him. It gave Dan and Rev enough time to run up, jump and punch the Alienizer back. Then Ace and Boomer jumped over them and kicked him back even more. "I think it's time you called it a day and just give up," Dan told him. "I could do that," Shockblast turned his palms toward them and sent out a quick pulse that sent them flying. "But this is more fun." Dan unhooked his D-Shot but Shockblast let loose another wave that made them all fly backwards into a wall, dropping the weapon they were holding. Dan struggled to get to his feet and muttered "There's that jell-o feeling again." "And that wasn't even full power," he boasted. "Slag, I've seen a guy turn to liquid goo at full blast in seconds. I always wondered how long it would take with a guy wearing a Dekasuit. Hey, wait a minute," he did a quick head count, "there were five of you. Where's did the blue on go?" "Blue one?", Ace asked. "What blue one?" "Cute one bitch," Shockblast looked around. "Guess he got smart and ran off. Too bad you guys weren't that smart." He rubbed the tips of his fingers together, "Now you're going to find out how I took down a capitol building in one blow." Dan and the other struggled to their feet. Shockblast put his hands together and the air started to distort, a huge field this time around. Dan and Ace pushed the others out of the way. D.E. jumped out from hiding behind him and took quick aim, right at the glowing area on the back. Three shots fired out of the D-Colt. The first shot splintered the covering. The second shot broke through. The third shot cracked the crystal within, causing a power surge in the equipment. The energy feedback traveled down the cables and into the emitters on his hand, causing them to explode. "Argh," Shockblast cried out form in pain from his smoking hands. "How about you don't cut it as close next time," Dan told D.E. "I got to make it interesting." D.E. hurried over to them and tossed him back the D-Colt, "Thanks for finally letting me play with that thing, by the way." "Let me treat your wounds," Rev said as he headed for Shockblast. Dan held up his left arm to stop him. D.E. pointed his License at him, "Target orders." The area went black as Shockblast was scanned. Before long the red X shined in front of him, "Eliminate target." D.E., Ace and Boomer locked their License into the D-Shots. Ace and Boomer got to a knee as D.E. stood behind them. "Strikeout!", three energy beams struck Shockblast and deleted him. "Got ya." "Why did you stop me Captain?", Rev demanded. "No point in fixing him if we're just going to delete him," Dan told him. "It sucks buddy, I know," D.E. said, "but it's what we have to do." "Are we still cool Rev?", Dan asked. "I do not like this," Rev told him, "but this is our duty. I knew this was a possibility when I joined SPD." "I'm not sure if this helps, but I don't like it either," Dan said. "Come on, let's check this place out then head home." *** "What the in the hell did you do to yourself?", Michelle asked Dan as he exited the Shepard and saw the bandage on his forehead. "A little on the job accident," Dan told her. It wasn't a total lie. "Rev said I was going to be fine." "Well it's lucky there nothing up there to hurt," she smirked." "Either you were listening in or you been talking to the Major again," he gave her a look. "I better report in and give him the brief mission report." "If you guys will excuse me," Boomer told them, "I have to get cleaned up and dressed to be just in time to be late with my dinner with Lisa." "Alright guys," Ace said to her crew in the bay, "time to give this bird it's post mission check up." D.E. put a hand on Rev shoulders, "You sure you're alright buddy? You were a little quieter than usual on the trip back." "I wish I could say I was," he admitted. "I am a doctor Terry. I am trained to heal those that are sick or injured. I realize that this is, as you put it, what we have to do. The Great Sprit may have set me on this path, but sometimes I wonder if I can do this." "Look Rev, I don't have a magic saying that gonna make sense of all of this. If I did I wouldn't be doing this ," he grinned. "I'm sure you're not the only one who had some doubts if they can keep doing this. I know I have, but I found something to fight for to get me through it." "May I ask what that is?" "I think of the kids, like the ones you met at the church. I think about what kind of future they might have if we fail and let a really nasty one get away." Rev thought that over, "Would it be alright if I used that as well." "Be my guest, mi motivation es tu motivation." "Thank you Terry." "No problem man." he looked at his watch. "Oh crap, I still gotta call my folks. I'll meet you in the rec room later." "Of course my friend," Rev smirked. Children were still the same no matter what species or planet they were from ----- ED-Evanescence- Whisper ----- |
08-13-2012, 03:10 AM | #14 |
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Join Date: May 2012
Posts: 486
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Special Police DekaOps
13 ----- OP – Alter Bridge – Metalingus ----- Dan sat behind his desk going over the morning reports the Major thought he should check over. Usually the routine things or if he wanted a second opinion on something. He opened one file and gave a quick glance at the first page. Dan grunted as he took the page out of the file, he snuck in one of Ace’s request forms again. Either he was going to have to talk to the Major about this or he was going to have to tell Ace to cool it with the requests. God he was wanting a novel in his hands right about now. The call button in his door went off. “It’s open,” he told the person as he read the file. The door opened and somebody, he wasn’t really paying attention who, walked in. Before he knew it Michelle was jumping in his lap. “So, Dan, what are you doing for lunch?”, she asked like nothing was out of place. “You had to do this to ask me?” “Just making sure I had your attention.” “You always have my full attention,” he told her as he wrapped his arms around her waist. Then something on his desk started beeping, “Now what?” Michelle checked the comm. display on his desk. “You have an interstellar call coming in,” she said feeling a little confused. “It’s marked private.” “You sure it’s for me?”, he had no idea what was going on. Who would be calling him? “Ops1, DekaOps Earth,” she informed him, She got off his lap so he could get up. He went over to his office wall comm. and activated it. “ID verification,” he said to the monitor, “Stevens, Daniel. Voice code ‘Puss ‘n’ Boots’.” “Puss ‘n’ Boots?”, Michelle asked with a smirk. “Would you have guessed it?” The screen came to life. A tiger-sejin in a similar black uniform stared back at him. Dan grinned at seeing his old training buddy, “Tony the Tiger.” The tiger raised an eyebrow, “How long are you going to keep calling me that furless?” “For as long as you keep calling me furless.” The tiger chuckled and Dan joined in. “I’m pretty sure you’re not using SPD equipment to make a personal call so what’s up?” “Correct, I’m breaking a couple of regulations here, but I thought I should give you a heads up.” He looked around him before continuing, “You have a sheriff heading your way.” “A sheriff? You talking about that bull guy?” “Think a little further back furless. I’m talking about a Space Sheriff.” “Those were the guys before SPD. I didn’t think they were still around.” “There are a few still out there patrolling the space lanes, but most of them went into the command chain when things got reorganized into SPD.” Dan furrowed his brow, “So why is one coming here?” “Tony” grunted, “This one a personal acquaintance of Commander Scorp and wanted to inspect the black badge units personally. I believe he is what you would call a real hard ass. He really put my unit through the wringer while he was here.” “Great,” Dan muttered. Just what he needed, a pencil pusher breathing down his neck. “So when can I expect him to show up?” A warning claxon went off and a voice over the base intercom said, “We have an incoming craft requesting clearance to land. All hands on standby.” “I’d say in about a few moments,” the tiger chuckled. “Thanks for the advanced warning,” Dan said sarcastically. “Any time furless,” and the screen went blank. *** Dan and Michelle made it to the hanger right when the ceiling doors were closing. The Major looked caught off guard as well as they fell in. The black and white craft hissed as a ramp on it’s side lowered. An individual with pointed ears and a bluish tint to his skin came walking out. He was wearing the uniform of SPD high Command. They all stood at attention when they say him. He looked them over, “Please relax, it looks like something is going to burst.” Despite their best effort to hide it, that took them by surprise. The Major stepped forward, “I like to welcome you to OpsBase Commander…?” “Trytan,” he informed him. “Commander Trytan. I apologize for the look of the place, we weren’t expecting anybody and my chief engineer and her crew just got done with the Machine Shepard’s routine maintenance.” “That’s the way I like it Maj. Pierce. May I call you Henry?” “If you wish,” he said. “Good, I hate the pomp and circumstance of the official visits. Everything seems so artificial and fake. No I prefer to catch you guys in your natural environment as it were.” Once again the Major tried not to look like he was caught off guard. “Let me introduce you to my senior staff.” He turned to the others, “This is my second in command and team field leader Capt. Daniel Stevens.” “Commander,” Dan saluted. “Captain,” Trytan saluted back. “You stand like a warrior, I like that.” “And this is our information officer, Lt. Michelle Chavez.” “Commander,” she smiled warmly. “The pleasure is all mine,” he said. “My previously mentioned chief engineer and second in command of the field unit Sgt. Trish Fieldman.” They traded pleasantries. “And the rest of the field unit: Sgt. Terry Kennedy, weapons, Sgt. Ranzack, our medic, and Sgt. Robert Parker, communications and explosives.” They all saluted and Trytan acknowledged them. “If you want we can arrange for you and your pilot to freshen up for a bit before we continue.” “That would just be me Henry,” Trytan informed him. “Blame it on my Space Sheriff days but I have never been comfortable with somebody flying the ship for me. But I will take you up on that offer to rest a bit before I inspect your unit. Maybe put them through their paces while I’m here.” “Right, if you would follow me please,” Pierce gestured to the door. Ace had her crew start in on Trytan’s ship while the others watched them leave. Michelle leaned over and whispered, “That’s supposed to be a hard ass?” Dan just stared at the door, “Unless he turns into a drill sergeant I’m going to skin that cat.” *** A couple of hours later Commander Trytan wanted to see them in action before they did anything else. Starting with how fast they could get field ready and launch the Machine Shepard. Which they did in near record time. Trytan stood in the center of the cabin as they were doing what they were suppose to do during the test flight. “I’m sorry about the accommodations Commander“, Dan said again. “You’re more than welcome to my chair.” “And that would disrupt things more than I already have Captain. Although if I could I would like to take the controls for a few moments before we head back.” “Do you want to lose an arm?”, Boomer muttered. “Boomer,” D.E. warned him softly. The Commander laughed, “I totally understand, I was the same way back in the day. I’d rather die than let someone else pilot my vessel.” “Pardon my interruption Commander,” Rev spoke up, “but you had two vessels during your career, is that correct?” “Yes I did,” Trytan said while looking impressed, “I’m surprised you knew that Ranzack. I’m not one of the legendary Space Sheriffs.” “The history of the Space Sheriffs has always fascinated me Commander. When my studies would allow I as usually buried in any data text I could find.” Trytan nodded, “Then you already know how I lost my first ship, the Waverider.” “Yes sir, but I was hoping to get your perspective on the event.” “My perspective is in the report Ranzack. I was after a scientist who was trying to decode our weaponry and armor technology. I located him but he was heavily guarded. They were able to force me away from the base. Next thing I knew there was a large flash of light and the base and my ship disappeared.” “So what happened,” Dan asked, “did this guy trip a self destruct?” “Nobody’s sure,” Trytan said. “That was the best guess anybody came up with. But there’s no actual evidence to support that theory. And that case has never been closed because of it.” Boomer spoke up, “My Grandfather was a cop too. He told me there were a couple he had a couple of cases he could never solve while he was on the force, even after he retired. Those cases still bug him to this day.” “I understand your Grandfather’s feeling. I still go over the data collected on that day.” The comm. board went off, “Cap, we got an incoming from OpsBase.” Out of habit Dan said, “Put it on screen.” The Major appeared on the monitor over the cockpit window. “I hate to interrupt, but satellites have picked up a strange signal in Brazil. And it wasn’t there before.” “Right, we’ll return to base and drop off the…” “If it’s all the same to you Captain,” Trytan interrupted, “but I think I’ll accompany you on this one. My mission is to observe how you operate, what better way than on an actual mission.” His gut told Dan to reject this idea, but unfortunately the Commander outranked him if he decided to push it. The Major thought the same thing, “I’m not sure that’s wise Commander. There’s no way to guarantee your safety if anything happens. “I’m fully aware of that Henry. I’ll take full reasonability for myself, besides I am part of SPD.” Well, there was no way out of this one. He did not need somebody out there trying to give orders over him. “Send us the location of the signal. We’ll go silent ops as soon as the transmission ended.” “Michelle sending it now Cap, OpBase out,” His image faded as the lost the signal. “Pardon me Capt. Stevens,” Trytan said right after, “but silent ops?” “I can’t speak for the other Ops units but it’s a factor in our operation here,” Dan explained.” Essentially it means we’re on our own until we get back to base.” “I got the signal location Cap,” Boomer said. “I’m sending Ace the co-ordinates.” “Got ‘em, I’m plotting the course now.” “Can I see the signal wavelength?”, Trytan asked. “I may recognize it.” Dan’s common sense overrode his gut reaction. The Commander might recognize it and he was trained to use any resource available. “D.E. pull it up and show the Commander.” “Right here Commander,” D.E. slid over a bit. As Trytan looked at he looked surprised for a brief moment. “Do you recognize it? “What…?”, he was startled. “No, it’s vaguely familiar, but I don’t want to say anything until I’m completely sure.” “Right.” Dan pulled up a map, “No offence Commander but…” “Don’t worry Captain I will stay away from the battlefield. I know my presence would interfere with your team dynamics.” Dan nodded, at least they understood each other. *** The trip to Brazil was uneventful. Then they got in range of the signal and a volley from the ground was launched in their direction. “Incoming!”, D.E. yelled out. “Hang on!”, Ace commanded as she tried to maneuver the Shepard between the blast, “How in the hell are they seeing us? The cloak is still on.” Trytan remained stone faced during the whole ordeal. “Get this bird on the ground now,” Dan told her. “Right,” Ace replied. Waiting for a blast to go off near them D.E. hit a control and something on the hull exploded leaving a smoke trail. Ace put the ship into a near vertical dive. “Is this a wise maneuver?”, Trytan asked while hanging on for dear life. “They’ll know where we are.” “They can see us anyway,” Ace told him. “And hopefully it should give us some breathing room on the way down.” As the ground quickly approached she pulled the stick back to pull the jet out of the dive and hit the landing thrusters. The ship landed with a thud as they were tossed around. “I am not looking forward to seeing what that damaged when we get back.” “Worry about it later,” Dan said as he got out of his seat and headed for the ramp. “Whoever behind this is going to send out a search party so we don’t have much time.” He turned to the Commander, “Now what the hell is going on?” “Do you think I had something to do with this?” “We go out on a test flight in full gear on your order. We suddenly get a mission where the supposed enemy can see us. You tell me what I’m supposed to think.” “Captain I couldn’t plan something like this if I wanted to, especially on a planet as divided as this one.” “Then what was that signal? And don’t give that bullshit about you’re not being sure.” The others stared at him like he grew a second head. “I appreciate your concern…” “My team safety is my only concern right now Commander,” he cut him off. Trytan nodded and conceded, “It was from my ship.” “The one that disappeared?”, Rev asked. “The very one. It… took me by surprise.” “This scientist you mentioned,” Dan said, “his name wasn’t Gremlin was it?” “No, it was Drago. But I think he had an assistant by that name. Did you run into him?” “In Hawaii awhile back, he was copying SPD tech. Kind of like the guy you mentioned.” “I guess he survived too if my ship did.” Trytan looked apologetic, “I’m sorry Captain, I should have said something sooner.” “Worry about it later,” Dan said as he hit the ramp control. “If we’re going to get out of here we’re going to have to take out those guns. Since they’re looking for us they’re going to find us. Commander, can you take out the guns while we had off the main force?” Trytan was surprised, “What about the safety of your unit?” “We don’t know what kind of defenses they have. A single man has a better chance of sneaking in.” “Especially if they’re distracted. So why me?” “As far as I’m concerned,” Dan said as he went down the ramp, “this is still you case.” He looked him in the eyes, “Time to put this one to rest Commander.” Tryatn looked moved, “Thank you Captain.” He looked at the others before heading off into the jungle. Dan pulled out his knife and SP-Shooter, “Buy him as much time as you can.” “Strike hard and strike fast,” Ace added. Dan nodded. A group of Anaroids came into view. They shot them as soon as they saw them. “That’s going to attract attention, move,” Dan ordered. *** Batsuroids and an Igadroid were studying monitors and sensors under a canopy. One of the search groups had failed to check in. Another reported that they found a craft of some sort right before contact was lost. Sitting on a rock in the sun was an old lizard, it’s green scales brittle and on the verge of falling off. It injected itself with something and started moving with a new a new energy. “Status report,” he said to the Igadroid. “We have lost two,” a Batsuroid in the back said something, “correction, three of the search parties. The fourth heard something by one of the generators and are investigating now.” “Show me where they are.” The lizard walked to a table that had a map of the surrounding area. “We lost the three in this area,” the Igadroid pointed in the area were the craft went down. “The fourth is here in this area,” it’s hand moved a few inches to the left.” “They apparently split up. Fortify the defenses around the base. I don’t want them sneaking in.” “Yes Prof. Drago.” Drago looked at the ship in the background, he knew that’s why they come. He spent fifteen years using that ship to get himself back to this dimension. He was not about to let whoever it was take it from him. On the other side of the camp Trytan was sneaking around. He recognized the tech those generators and sensors were based on and was able to bypass it quickly and send a group of them in the wrong direction. Stevens and his team may have been acting as a decoy for him, but that didn’t mean he couldn’t make their job a little easier. Finding one of the turrets he tried to find out how it worked. The turret itself was automated, but was controlled by an outside source. He knew what that source was and headed for the ship. Avoiding several patrols made his way to his old ship and closed in on an entry hatch. Much to his surprise his access code still worked. A wave of nostalgia came over him as he looked at the inside. He shook his head, he would have time for this later. Trytan headed for the main computer and started searching programs. Finding the turret program he deactivated them and sent out a false signal to the read outs. That done, he dove into the records and discovered what happened twenty years ago. Drago had accidentally opened a huge dimensional gate that had swallowed the base and his ship. He escaped about five years ago. Well that was one mystery solved now they had to take care of Drago. “Tryatn to Stevens,” he spoke into his Command License. “The turrets are deactivated, but there are guards everywhere.” “Understood Commander, we’re on our way. Stevens out. Tryatn looked at the License in his hand. This was how he did things now. But this was an old case. He searched the computer again to see if a certain set of programs was still active. *** Dan hid behind the foliage that surrounded the ship and the base. Rows of Anaroids and Batsuroids surrounded the vessel. He wasn’t kidding when he said they were everywhere. “Light it up!”, Dan shouted. Seeing the odds Boomer threw two flash grenades, they use the moment they had to charge in. “Change standby,” as one they pulled out their OpLicense. “Emergency! DekaOps!” Each of them was surrounded by a digital field. Dekametal covered their bodies and turned into a black bodysuit. A colored striped ran down their bodies and formed their number on the left side of their chest. A backpack and the D-Shot appeared on their backs. “Face on!”, they shouted and a helmet formed around their heads. “Special Police,” the light on the side of their helmets flashed, “DekaOps!” “And I thought those fools in the Space Sheriffs only had the audacity to attack in the open,” Drago said from the rear. “I guess such stupidity traveled to the next generation.” “Give it up Drago,” Dan said. “This isn’t your fight anymore.” “Those so called Alienizers thought the same thing, until I met one who believed I could reverse SPD technology by using the Space Sheriff’s. And I have had success. Shot me,” he ordered the Igadroid who complied. The shot deflect off of him as something flashed around him. “This force field may not be as flashy as your Dekasuits or the Sheriffs armor but it does the job. Did you know your weaponry is very similar to theirs? That disappointed me a little, it made my job a little too easy. Kill them, but try to salvage one of their Licenses. They intrigue me.” “Not so fast Drago!” Everybody looked up, Trytan stood on top of his ship. “Slag Trytan, I’m surprised you’re still around. Still protecting the space ways as one of these Deka fools?” “Yes, but with trash as old as you I’m not even going to use my License.” He held out left hand, palm open. Quickly he swung the arm behind him and knelt down. He stood up pumping his right hand into the air. In less than a second he was covered in a green colored plasma energy. It quickly faded away and he was covered head to toe in body armor with a greenish tint, eyes glowing yellow. Holding his left arm up again he announced, “Defender of the space ways!” He swung his left arm back and crossed his right in front of his chest, “Space Sheriff Trytan!” “Now that’s old school,” Boomer said. Trytan jumped off the ship and landed by them ready to fight. “You sure you didn’t plan this?”, Dan asked with a bit of humor in his voice. “Not even in my wildest dreams Captain.” The force in front of them looked like they were getting ready to attack. Dan glanced at his team then over to Trytan, “Give the word Commander.” “The word is given Captain.” Both sides charged the other as Drago watched from the back. Ace used her D-Rod to smash any Anaroid that came near her. Rev used his D-Knife to stab a Batsuroid as he shot at what was coming up behind him with his other hand. D.E and Boomer ran side by side firing way with their D-Shooters. Dan was unloading with his D-Shot at point blank range. Trytan jumped up and shot several Anaroids with his blaster, as he landed he holstered that one and drew his sword and cut down several more. Dan and Trytan ended up back to back as a group surrounded them. He watched the bots as he held up his D-Shot and told him, “Not bad for an old timer.” “Old?”, he said. “You’re only as young as you feel junior.” “If you say so. Now!”, following Dan lead they jumped away from each other and fired at whatever bot was closest. “Tri Cutter!” Trytan held up two fingers and a triangle shape laser blasted a Batsuroid that was coming up behind Dan. “Nice trick,” Dan said. “Surprises them every time.” Trytan told him right before he headed for another group. “Squash them,” Drago said and the Igadroid ran off. Moments later the ground started shaking. “Whoa,” D.E. exclaimed while trying to keep his footing, “is this an earthquake?” A Dragon shaped monster mech came out of the ground. They had to jumped out of the way as a foot came at them. “Now what?”, Ace asked. Dan had absolutely no idea what to do now. Maybe if they got back to the ship and aimed the laser at that thing’s cockpit. Trytan stepped forward, “Leave this to me. The Waverider might be old but she still has some life in her.” Almost on cue the old ship lifted off the ground. It flew circles around the dragon mech firing it’s weapons at it. “Fire mode,” Tyrtan said standing with his right side facing the mech. A giant green outline of his armor formed in the air above him. The Waverider hovered between the image and the mech. “I heard about this but I didn’t believe it,” Dan muttered as he watched. The ship started changing. The wing folded down and connected under the hull. The nose section split open and folded under as well. Following Trytan’s movements the image reached out and held the ship like a gun. “Maximum wave cannon”, Trytan called out, “Fire!” A massive stream of energy shot out and destroyed the mech. “Captain,” Rev said as he saw Drago run. “Stop him,” Dan ordered. They didn’t have to chase after Drago for long. He was already at the controls of a device hidden in a column. “If Trytan thinks he has total control of that ship resources, he is mistaken.” A portal opened that swallowed Drago and DekaOps up.” “No,” Trytan whispered. He hurried to the controls. Drago was using his ship to power a gateway into that dimension he was caught in. And from the looks of things he fixed it so that if the panel was messed with the portal would be sealed off forever. “I hope you guys area as good as Scorp claims you are Captain.” *** They were flung through a dimensional rift and were dumped in what looked like a rock quarry. But the sky was purple with various objects hanging in mid air. Dan and the others could feel the heat through their Dekasuits. “What the fuck just happened?!”, he demanded. “This is not good,” Rev said as he looked around. “Spill it Rev,” Dan ordered. “Some of the organizations the Sheriffs went up against had access to a unique dimension. It increased their warriors’ strength and abilities as a side effect.” “That is correct insect,” Drago came out of nowhere and fast. He slashed Dan, D.E. and Rev before any of them knew it. “I spent fifteen years of my life in this bastard place.” He came in again and nailed Ace and Boomer. “It may have increased my strength but the prolonged exposure took years off my life.” Rev pulled out something but Drago destroyed it the moment it appeared. Dan grunted in pain as he got up, “How did the Sheriffs deal with this situation?” “They had special sensors to detect the creature. And Drago just destroyed my scanner.” Dan looked at him as the idea for a plan B hit him, “Then we use the next best thing. Surround and cover Rev.” The four of them stood and circled around Rev, their backs to him. Not taking his eyes off the area in front of him Dan said, “Rev…”. “I understand Captain,” Rev calmed himself and said a quick prayer to the Great Spirit. First he concentrated on his own heartbeat to focus himself. Then he listened to the hearts of his friends. The increased beatings of their hearts the only thing betraying the anxiety they were feeling. Then he listened past them into the quarry itself. A moving heartbeat caught his attention. He looked at Dan’s back, “Eight o’ clock.” “Fire!,” he ordered as D-Colt and D-Shooter were pointed in that direction. The first few shots hit nothing. Then two hit Drago’s shield. “Concentrate your fire their!” “Slag it,” Drago cursed as the barrage forced him backwards. He hit another control on his belt and a portal opened. “Enjoy your stay here.” “Move it!”, he ordered but they were already running. They jumped through the portal right before it closed. Drago was leaning against a rock trying to inject himself with something. He dropped the injector when he saw them come through. “Target orders!”, Dan held out his License. The area went dark as a red X and a blue circle flashed in front of Drago. After a minute the Red X shined in front of him, “Eliminate Target.” Locking their OpsLicence into the D-Shots, D.E. and Boomer went to a knee as the other stood behind them. “Strikeout!,” five energy streams hit Drago. “Ha!”, Drago barked as his energy shield flickered on and off before disappearing completely, the control on his belt smoking. They couldn’t believe he was still standing after that. “You Space Police think you’re so invincible! You can’t eliminate me, not even those so called legendary Space Sheriffs could do it.” “You sure about that,” Dan said as he hooked his D-Shot to his pack. Drago felt a presence behind him and turned to see Trytan standing there. “This ends now Drago,” he stated. He held his sword up chest high as lightning struck around him. Holding his left hand in front of the blade he slowly went down the length of the sword, green energy forming around the blade. He swung it around a few times before holding it above his head. “No!” Drago cried as he tried to back away. “Dynamic slash!”, he swung the sword down at him, the energy slicing through him like nothing. Drago spun around before falling to the ground and exploding. Dan threw the thumbs down, “Got you.” Trytan turned his back to the explosion, “Mission complete.” Then he added softly, “Finally.” *** Trytan powered down the armor and just stared at his old ship. Memory flowed through him as he laid a hand on it. Dan walked up behind him, removing his hat. He waited a few moments before speaking, “We finally secured he area Commander.” Trytan nodded but kept looking at his ship. Dan slowly walked up and stood beside him, “It must be built pretty solid to survive this long.” “Yes it is, she got me through a few close calls. It broke my hearts when I thought I lost her.” Finally he looked at Dan, “Thank you once again Captain.” “Like I said it was still your case, we were just the backup squad.” They were quiet for a few moments, “I also wanted to apologize for accusing you for planning this whole thing.” “Don’t apologize Captain,” he told him. “In my day we were on our own, some of us may have had a partner but we were alone. Now a days things are different, and you have a unit to worry about. In fact, I would have been disappointed in you if your unit’s safety wasn’t your primary concern.” Dan nodded in understanding, “So I imagine you’ll be taking the Waverider back to SPD HQ. Maybe take on a few mission here and there.” “Oh no,” Trytan laughed, surprising Dan, “I’ll let SPD take her back. Besides she belongs in a museum and my space patrolling days are long behind me. No, I’ll leave that to you and this current generation. And the ones like Gavan, some of us think he going to die on his feet during one of them.” Trytan smiled at him, “But I do have to say I had a blast doing this one more time.” Dan laughed, “At least one of us did.” “Oh my, the other inspections are going to be quite boring compared to this one. Say, how well to you know this Zzyrax?” “Not that well, just that he’s a telepath.” “Slag,” Trytan said looking disappointed. “Then I guess he’ll know I’d asked you to call him right before I landed then.” Dan looked at him in disbelief, “You put ‘Tony’ up to that?” “Well he was rather reluctant until I told him it was you,” Trytan grinned. Dan shook his head and laughed. “Let’s head back to that base of yours. I’m sure Henry will want to know that despite the rather unusual circumstances, your unit passed my inspection with flying colors.” He put an arm around his shoulder, “Tell me Captain, how did you survive that dimension?” “My medic has really good hearing.” “Alright,” Trytan said pointing a finger at him, “now I’m going to need details on that one.” ----- ED – Evanescence – Whisper ----- |
09-04-2012, 01:34 AM | #15 |
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Join Date: May 2012
Posts: 486
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Special Police DekaOps
14 ----- OP-Alter Bridge-Metalingus ----- “How did I get roped into this?”, Dan asked pulling the tie out of his jacket and looked at it. Michelle took it from his hand and tucked it back in. D.E. looked like he was going to say something until Dan shot him a look. While he would never admit it out loud he really enjoyed being able to do that. Boomer, unusually, didn’t say much as they walked down the street. Rev looked as uncomfortable as he felt, how they found a suit for the guy was beyond him. Ace, who was leading them down the street, answered him anyway, “Because we been through a lot the last couple of missions. As second in command I thought we should get away from the base and relax and relieve some stress. The Major agreed with me.” “But as a unit?”, Dan said still in disbelief. He glanced over to Michelle and narrowed his eyes a bit. “I think some blackmail was involved somehow.” “Don’t look at me,” she said. “I haven’t told anybody any of those stories you told me about him.” “Well,” Ace started, “I kinda told him I go easy on the equipment request for the next week.” The rest of them gave out a collective, “Ah.” “I don’t fill out that many request forms,” she said a little defensively. “Yes you do,” Michelle told her. “I was wondering why he looked so happy earlier,” Dan commented. “I thought his cousin finally moved out or something.” “I’m pretty sure he would have been doing a jig if he did” Michelle corrected him. Dan had to agree. “So where are we heading Ace?”, D.E. asked “This new club I heard about,” she informed them. “It’s called ‘Way Out There’.” Dan spoke up, “I don’t want to sound like a downer Ace, but I don’t do the club thing.” “And I’m afraid I won’t exactly fit in,” Rev put in. “Come on Cap loosen up,” Ace told him. Then she added, “And you’ll fit in just fine Rev. A friend of mine been there a couple of times. She said it just human and aliens are mixing together having a good time.” “I’m surprise you didn’t bring Lisa along Boomer,” D.E. said. “From the sound of things this sounds like it’d be right down your alley.” “Yeah Boomer,” Ace agreed, “nobody said she couldn’t come. Besides, I don’t think Cap and Michelle wants to be the only couple in the group that drags everybody else down.” “Just wait until you get a boyfriend,” Michelle told her. “She wanted to come,” Boomer said. “But the hospital needed and extra set of hands tonight and nobody else was available.” “Too bad,” Michelle said, “I really wanted to meet her.” “Ah guys,” D.E. said as he looked down the street. “It looks like the club was hoppin’ a little too much tonight.” They looked down the street and saw a pack of flashing lights. They hurried up to see what the commotion was. The police were holding everybody back. They made their way through the crowd to get to the front. The club Ace was taking them too had it’s window smashed in and spray paint covered the outside, “Holy crap the place’s been vandalized.” “What’s a Skag?”, Boomer asked reading some of the graffiti. “It’s a damn slur,” somebody behind them said. “A bunch of idiots were calling my friends that a week ago.” “Sorry Rev,” Boomer said looking a little embarrassed. “No apologies are necessary,” he said. “Although I am loathed to admit that I have been called this myself.” “Why didn’t you say anything?”, Ace asked. “I saw no need in bringing it any more attention to it.” They looked around at the graffiti until D.E. pointed out something else. It was a circle with a one inside of it. “That looks like it might be important. Do you think you can find out that stands for Michelle?” Before she could answer Dan said, “Earth First.” They looked at him in surprise. “The Captain and I have encountered this particular symbol before,” Rev informed them. “They were telling people about their anti-alien philosophies, it appears they have taken a more aggressive stance. Dan said nothing as he made his way back through the crowd. The others followed and when they were out of earshot Ace asked, “So what do we do?” “We do nothing,” Dan said without turning around. They stopped where they were as he kept walking. “What do you mean we do nothing?”, Ace demanded. “This involved aliens.” Dan turned around to face them and pointed at the building. “Human did that Ace. As much as that disgusts me, we can’t get involved. The only humans we can touch are those that align themselves with the Alienizers.” They just stared at him. “You want to go over my head and bring this up with the Major go right ahead. I hope I’m wrong but I’m pretty sure he’ll agree with me.” “You now Cap,” D.E. said, “I’m the only one here who actually an officer in the Springfield police department. And I can go over and see what up.” “Knock yourself out,” Dan told him as turned around. He slowed down a bit to walk next to Michelle. “See if he finds out anything and try to do some unofficial checking. We can’t get involved officially but nobody said we can’t send an anonymous tip.” She smiled at him, “And here I was starting to have some doubts about you.” *** Like he said the Major did agree with him, but he did look the other way when Michelle did a little background check on Earth First. She couldn’t find much on them unfortunately, especially for the last couple of months. Whoever was behind them got really good at covering their tracks.” A couple of days had past when she called Dan into the rec room. On one of those nighttime interview shows somebody named Chad Rockwell. A tagline on the bottom of the screen identified him as the spokesman for Earth First. “Why do I want to see this?”, he asked. “They said they’re going to talk about SPD,” D.E. informed him. “Anybody want to take any bets he going to talk about that line of crap as that hag over in England?” “The one Rescue showed up?”, Boomer asked. “I wouldn’t doubt it.” “Mr. Rockwell,” the interviewer started, “I’m sure you’re aware that we heard this before, or something like it, over in England.” “Yes I know,” Rockwell said in a smooth voice. Dan’s eyes narrowed a bit as he listened to him. “But I think Mrs. Flinch went too far.” “How so? You’re both anti-alien…” “Yes,” he interrupted, ”but she called for the removal of SPD on Earth. Now, my organization sees the need for SPD but we don’t think these alien should be involved.” “But SPD is an alien organization.” “True, but we also feel that the protection of Earth should be left up to us human and nobody else. Look at DekaRanger in Singapore, to my knowledge there is not an alien involved anywhere in that entire organization and they do just fine. Now over here in the United States our own DekaRail is run by a bear of all things. God forbid he should hibernate in the winter…” The interviewer coughed a bit to cut him off. “Yes…well I’d like your opinion of the recent rise of hate crimes against Aliens currently living in the states. A word often heard and seen during these events, and I apologizes to anyone I might offend, Skag.” Rockwell shifted uncomfortably in his seat. “Yes, I personally despise that word myself. As for the recent activities of some of our members, remember, I am just the spokesman for Earth First. While I speak about our views and philosophies, some of our members prefer a more… visual way to get our views across.” “These more visible views include vandalism, harassment and there have been some unconfirmed reports of lynching…” “We are just trying to protect what’s ours,” Rockwell countered. “It was hard enough to find a decent job before these alien showed up. Some of these things will work for anything.” “Official reports have said the alien have been paid the same wage as everybody else Mr. Rockwell.” “And reports can be falsified Mr. Jones,” he countered again. “Would you really admit you’re actually paying the elephant that looks like an elephant peanuts? And how many of them want to be paid in blood…” “Turn that son of a bitch off,” Dan said after he heard enough. Boomer grabbed the remote and switched to another channel. “Why do they let guys like that on the air? It only makes things worse.” “Your country does have freedom of speech Captain,” Rev reminded him. “Yeah and jackasses like that wave it around like there’s no tomorrow.” Dan sat on the arm of the couch next to Michelle and asked, “Do you think you can find anything on this Rockwell guy?” “Already tried,” she told him. “Whoever this guy is his record is squeaky clean.” Then she looked at him a little funny, “Why do you want to know about this guy?” “I know I’ve seen that guy before,” he told her. “An idiot like that should stick out like a sore thumb but I can’t place him.” “Perhaps he was somebody you knew before you joined SPD,” Rev said. Dan looked at him confused. “The first time we encountered these people I asked you if you agreed with them. You answered that a few months prior you would have.” The others just looked at him. “Cap…?”, D.E. asked stunned. He thought about his answer, might as well be honest, “I don’t think I was as a bad as those idiots, but I’ll admit that I wasn’t the most alien happy guy in the world. I saw them as another problem being added to the ones we already had and would be jumping for joy when they finally left.” He got up and headed for the door. “Then I was assigned off planet for six months and had everything I was thinking thrown back at me ten fold. I was smart enough to figure out how stupid I was being and tried to thinks with my eyes a little more open than they were. Before all this I used to think I was a pretty open minded guy. I kind of hope I became a more open minded person because of it.” “I believe you are Captain,” Rev said. “Thanks Rev,” he said gratefully. “But there are times I wished I believed it too.” *** The Major called the team into the command room the next day. “We’re having an Alienizer problem in our own backyard. One of them has been hitting the local businesses, harassing the owners and customers.” “Do we have any idea who it is?”, Dan asked. “We don’t know,” Michelle told them. “The witnesses gave a very good description of the Alienizer in charge but it doesn’t match any known species in the SPD database.” “You sure this is guys an Alienizer then,” Boomer asked. “Those witnesses also saw a group of Anaroids with him.” “So we have an unknown species committing crimes,” the Major told them. “I would have let DekaRail handle this but like I said it is this is our backyard.” “We might want to get a holding cell ready,” Dan said. “With crimes this small I don’t think we’ll be ordered to eliminate an unknown alien.” “You never know in our line of work Cap,” the Major told him. “But we’ll have one ready just in case. *** Dressed in civvies and the bare minimum equipment they hit the streets. The businesses that were hit were small grocery stores and delis so they concentrated their search there. After they arrived Dan said, “Alright let’s split up. Ace, take D.E. and Boomer and check in that direction. Rev you’re with me. Remember we have no idea who we’re dealing with here so be careful. I don’t want any mistakes on this one.” “Rodger,” Ace replied as they headed off. Dan and Rev walked off in the other direction. He shined his light down any alley Rev heard something in. After a few minutes of silence Dan asked, “Are we still cool Rev?” “I’m not sure what you mean Captain.” “After I told you guys how I was like before I was put in this unit.” “Ah,” he said. “Yes Captain we are still ‘cool’.” He pointed down another alley and they found nothing. “I do believe people can change Captain. I doubt you would still be in command of this unit if you didn’t.” “Thanks again Rev,” Dan told him. “I guess I needed to hear somebody else say it. Although the next time somebody calls you that word, tell us about it will you. I’ll get the others and we’ll talk some sense into them.” “I highly doubt violence is the solution to this particular problem Captain.” “And ignoring it not helping it either,” he countered. His License went off before they could continue. “This is Stevens, go.” Ace’s voice answered, “Cap we found them.” “Keep an eye on them for now,” he ordered. “Rev and I are on our way.” He pulled their signal up on the map as they ran for their location. They were holding position inside an alley when Dan and Rev reached them. He peered around the corner and saw a group of Anaroids surround something that looked like a grey insect, except there were extra pinchers coming out of it’s back. “Ok guys on my mark,” he whispered. “Captain,” Rev said suddenly. Before anybody knew it he was walking out into view with his SP-Shooter in hand. He aimed a fired a shot between one of the Anaroids legs. The Anaroid jumped and went, “Shit!” Dan and the others walked around the corner in total confusion. Boomer asked the question they were all thinking, “Since when to Anaroids cuss?” “They can’t,” Dan answered. “Nor do they have heartbeats,” Rev added. “They’re human,” D.E. blurted. They looked at Dan. “They’re working for an Alienizer,” he told them, “go get them.” They ran in, the “Anaroids” were no match for them. The alien started to run off and Dan reached out to stop him, grabbing one of it’s pincher on it’s back. He thought it was going to stop, at least yelp in pain. It kept running and the pincher tore off with ease. Dan looked horrified at the pincher in his hand until he noticed something. The inside was different than the outside. He looked a little closer and muttered, “Foam rubber?” Dan looked at the fleeing alien and gave chase. Its waddling run was no match for his sprint as he tackled it to the ground. He started ripping things off of the alien trying to find the thing he was looking for. Ace and D.E. tried to stop him. “Cap what are you doing?”, Ace demanded. “Proving a hunch,” was all he told them. He kept ripping way until he found a seam and pulled it open. Dan reached inside with both hands and hauled out the guy inside. “Get this maniac off of me!!!”, he shouted while still trying to get away. “What the hell?”, Ace went as her and D.E. looked at each other. “They’re trying to stir up anti-alien sentiments around here,” Dan explained. “What better way than have an ‘alien’ rob a few human businesses?” “So what do we do with these guys then?”, D.E wondered out loud. Dan thought it over for a moment, “We call the police and tell them we made a citizen arrest.” He put the cuffs on his runner and dragged him to the others. The “Anaroids” were maskless now as Boomer and Rev were cuffing them. “Keep this Skag away from me!”, one yelled as Rev approached him. Dan quickly got in his face, “I hear you call him that again and you’ll be tasting boot leather after they remove my foot from your ass. Do you understand me?” He didn’t answer, but he did spit on him. Dan pushed him toward Rev to cuff. Then an Igadroid dropped from the sky and looked at them. “Friend of yours?”, Boomer asked. “That was a five story drop,” D.E. informed him. “A guy can hope can’t he?” “Change standby,” Dan ordered. They pulled their OpsLicense and said, “Emergency! DekaOps!” A quick digital flash later they were in their Dekasuits. Dan wasted no time in telling them, “Take that bot down!” The Igadroid moved faster than they did. It knocked Boomer into the wall, ducked Dan’s attack and kicked Rev toward the human. D.E. got his D-Rod out to block the cross blade coming at his head. Ace got in a few shots with her D-Shooter that made it recoil form impact. “Get away from me humans!”, it shouted as it swung it cross blade around. Dan and Boomer aimed their D-Shots at the bot while it aimed the cross blade at the humans. “Drop your weapons now humans,’ it ordered. Boomer looked over to Dan, he was looking at the emitter that popped out of the cross blade. Slowly he lowered the D-Shot and Boomer did the same. “Idiots,” it said and fired anyway. “No!” Rev shouted as he jumped in front of them and took the full brunt of the blast. He fell to the ground clutching his chest. “Rev!”, Ace shouted. “That Skag just saved us,” one of them said totally bewildered. D.E. energized his D-Rod and sliced through the emitter before it could fire again. Boomer fired his D-Shot, making sure he didn’t hit the captives. While it was staggering Dan and Ace pulled their D-Knife and went in. She stabbed it in the back of the neck while he impaled his blade into it’s chest. The Igadroid stood there and sputtered while they withdrew their knives. “Boomer strikeout,” Dan said quickly. Boomer complied and deleted the bot on the spot. “Rev!”, Dan and Ace ran over to him. “Is the Skag…” one of the captives started before Dan shot him a look. “Is he going to be alright?” “I will be fine,” Rev answered with a hint of pain in his voice. Dan and Ace helped him to his feet, “My Dekasuit protected me from the worse of it.” Dan nodded and looked at the “Anaroids”, “You’re lucky he’s more forgiving than I am because I don’t think I would have bothered.” They wouldn’t look at him, but a couple of them still shot Rev a nasty look. “Contact the base and have them call the police to pick these bastards up.” Above them Chad Rockwell watched the entire thing. He had that Igadroid especially built to fit his needs. His lips curled into a hateful snarl as he said, “Stevens.” His flesh rippled slightly revealing a set of scales before he turned away and became invisible. *** A few days after all that went down Dan convinced the Major to let them have another night on the town. His saying he take care of Ace’s request for the next two weeks sealed the deal. At that moment he, Michelle, Ace, Rev and D.E were sitting at a table waiting for Boomer and Lisa to show up. After awhile D.E. ended up asking, “So why did you arrange this night on the town Cap?” “The more I thought about it the more I realized Ace was right and we needed to relax a bit outside of the base.” “Thank you,” she said. He might as well be honest with as well, “And I thought I might try mending some bridges after you guy found out about the way I thought before I joined SPD.” “Come on Dan,” Michelle said, “There’s no need to do anything like that.” “Yeah Cap,” D.E. agreed, “none of us care about what you were like before. We’re just happy you’re the guy you are now. Besides you couldn’t have been that bad if you realized what kind of jackass you were being.” “I believe I told you something similar the other day Captain,” Rev said. “I know you did Rev, but it just seems like yesterday that that I was believing those things.” “Hey you did change though,” Michelle told him. “Not a whole lot of people can say they were strong enough to do that.” The others agreed with her. Ace looked over her shoulder and said, “There’s Boomer and Lisa. I’ll see if we can add a couple of more orders to our bill.” As she got up Cap got his first look at the woman in Boomer’s life. “That’s Boomer fiancé?” Michelle went, “Yeah that’s her.” “What deal with which devil did me make?” She lightly slapped him on the arm, “Behave yourself.” “Hey guys,” Boomer said as they walked up. “This is Lisa. Lisa this is…” “Let me guess,” she told him as they sat down. “D.E. I know. So you must be Cap,” Dan nodded, “Michelle,” they shook hands, “And you most definitely have to be Rev.” “A pleasure,” he replied. “Cap doesn’t look like the pit bull you described him to be hon,” she said to Boomer who eyes went wide with fright. “Oh really?”, Dan said leaning foreword a bit. Boomer tried to sink into his seat. “I… I… I never said that Cap,” he said quickly. “Hand to God.” “I’m just joking honey,” she said. Dan didn’t look convinced, but this was their night out. He wasn’t going to let this affect things back at base, much. “Bobby was telling me about your last case.” She turned to Rev, “I hope that didn’t paint too much of a negative picture of humanity for you Rev.” “I traveled the universe enough to know that such closed minded individuals are not just on Earth. You learn to, as I believe Robert would say, roll with the punches. That is the correct term?” “Picture perfect buddy,” D.E. told him. Dan just happened to look over to see some guy grab a handful of Ace’s butt as she walked back to the table. “Oh hell, D.E., Boomer let’s go.” They quickly got up and headed over. “Do they think they need to save Ace from that guy?”, Lisa asked. When they looked back over Ace had the guy in a hammerlock and up against that table saying he just tried to feel up a cop. “No,” Michelle said, “they’re going to save that guy from Ace.” “I must say though,” Rev spoke up, “Earth does have the most diverse set of… personalities I have ever come across.” “Very diplomatic Rev,” Michelle told him. “I do try”, Rev told her. ----- ED-Evanescence-Whisper ----- |
09-10-2012, 02:47 AM | #16 |
Member
Join Date: May 2012
Posts: 486
|
Special Police DekaOps
15 ----- OP-Alter Bridge-Metalingus ----- A balding heavyset man was changing the papers of the birdcages in his pet shop when he looked out the glass door. From the look of things a young woman was trying to convince her blond male friend to enter. Based on the brief discussion it looked like she won, but she still had to drag him into the shop. He quickly hurried behind the counter as the bell over the door signaled their entry. “Hello,” he greeted them, “and how are you today?” The young man put a hand over his nose, “You have got to be kidding me.” “You promised,” the woman scolded him. The shopkeeper gave them a quick once over. Seeing how the guy was dressed he was definitely from money. The woman was obviously using him for that money if he had to guess. “Alright chica, damn you’re pushy,” the man still sounded a bit annoyed. “Are we looking for anything in particular?”, he asked trying to get the sale before they blew up. “You’re going to have to ask her,” the man said. Then he was dragged over to the birdcages. “It’s a very good time to buy a bird. The weather is still nice and you don’t have to hurry and get it home.” They ignored him as they went through the entire store. “Same old, same old,” she sounded disappointed and walked toward the door. “Sorry for wasting your time dude,” the man said following. “Perhaps the lady is looking for something a little more exotic?” , he blurted out before they reached the door. Why did he say that? That could come back and bite him in the ass before he knew it, but he couldn’t let a sale get passed him that easy. “I’m sure I don’t know what you’re talking about,” the guy said. “Hush,” the woman said. “How exotic, because I’m not looking for a monkey.” “How about… shall we say,” he spoke in a quieter tone, “out of this world.” “How out of this world?” “I shouldn’t do this but I like how the two of you look together.” Quickly going to the door he looked outside before flipping the sign to close. Nervously he went back to the couple and led them to the store room at the back of the store. “Holy shit,” the guy said as it looked like his eyes were about to come out of their sockets. Various alien creatures were being held in cages. They looked on in wonder as they studied each one. “Wait,” the guy said suddenly, “are we safe? I mean I keep hearing about space germs and shit.” “Perfectly safe I assure you,” he said. “Their immunized before they arrive.” “How come you don’t keep them out front?”, the woman asked. “Some pesky laws,” he answered honestly. “You know how it is.” “You think they have something better to do,” the young man agreed. “Baby look at this one,” the woman called him over. The cage she was in front of had a lizard type creature with blue fur and tiger like stripes. It looked at them, its eyes almost pleading with them. “It’s so adorable,” the woman looked liked she fell in love with the thing. If he read the couple right the sale had already been made. “What,” the man waved a hand in front of his face, “is it?” “Something called a Trillian tree hugger, it’s very hard to get one of these let me tell you.” “And that sounds expensive,” the guy commented. “Oh please baby, it’s so cute,” the woman pleaded. “I’ll let you do that thing you like to do in bed tonight.” The guy rolled his eyes, but looked like he was giving in. “I have got to learn to say no to you,” he mumbled as he reached inside his jacket. “Ah,” he stopped him, “I hope you understand, but for something like this you don’t want to leave a paper trail. If you get my drift.” “Gotcha,” he said sounding like he understood. When he pulled his hand out he still had his wallet in it. The shopkeeper gawked as he flipped it open revealing a Springfield Police badge. “But I got another type of trail in mind. “What… who…,” he sputtered. “Let’s start with the trafficking of illegal animals,” he said sternly. “And top it off with trying to sell a highly intelligent species as a pet.” “I am not…” He cut him off, “You just tried to sell us one of them.” “It can’t even talk,” the shopkeeper argued. “It communicates with hand gestures.” Before he knew it the shopkeeper pushed him to the ground and ran out the back door. The woman ran after him pulling a black SPD License out of her purse. “Ace, he’s running, heading… uh,” she took a quick look at the License read out, “west.” “I see him,” she replied, “I’ll have Boomer head him off and pick him up, Ops5 out.” She turned around and saw her partner get up, “An old fat man pushed me down, I am never going to live that one down.” “They’re not going to hear about it from me Dan,” she assured him. “Thanks Michelle,” Dan told her. “Actually I’m saving that one for myself,” she teased. Dan ignored her and pulled out his OpsLicense, “Rev, get in here.” He closed it and opened it again to show the caged being his SPD badge, “We’re here to get you out of here.” The creature stood on it’s hind legs and started gesturing wildly with his arms. “Sorry, I don’t read the language, but my friend a Zalmanian who studied on your planet.” The alien nodded in understanding. “Michelle, see if you can find the key to get this cage open.” “I already found them.” As she tried each one she said, “My first undercover assignment, it was kinda exciting.” “At least your pride’s still intact.” “So, am I going to get a private performance review later?”, she said with a wicked grin. Dan sighed, “We’re still on the clock.” *** The Major watched Rev communicate with their visitor on the monitor. OpsBase interrogation room wasn’t definitely being put to a different use then he expected. If it wasn’t for the idea this ring was selling sentient beings they wouldn’t have gotten the report. “How is Rev keeping up with that?”, he heard Boomer ask. Seeing how fast their guest was communicating with his hands he had to agree. “As long as he understands him, that’s all that counts Boomer.” Dan put his OpsLicense back into it’s holder as he walked toward them. “D.E. just reported in,” he informed him. “He was able to listen in on the shopkeeper interrogation.” “Guess it’s a good thing he still has friends in the department,” the Major commented. Dan nodded, “The guy talked alright but he didn’t know much. We have a dock number and a very vague description of the seller. The person he deals with is human but I told D.E. to give the description to Michelle.” “Have her check out the dock too,” The Major added. “See what type of vessels have been dropping off cargo there and where they came from.” “You’re assuming she wasn’t going to do that anyway,” Dan said with a smirk. Major Pierce grunted in agreement. They watched as Rev read the little alien movements for a few more minutes. Before long he spoke to somebody off screen. A few minutes later Ace walked into the Command Room from the holding area looking a little stunned. “So what’s the word Ace?”, Pierce asked. “Well,” she started slowly, “If Rev understood him right one of his own put him in that cage.” “Wait,” Dan interrupted her trying to understand, “somebody from his own race put him in that position?” She nodded. “He must have pissed somebody off,” Boomer commented. “Close,” Ace said. “He stumbled on the operation as they were loading the animals they captured onboard their ship. Instead of getting rid of him they decided to sell him.” “That’s one way to keep him quiet,” The Major commented. “Did our visitor happen to say where they were keeping him once they got planetside?” “All he remembers seeing is the cave and a jungle,” she told them. “Well that really narrows it down,” Dan muttered as he turned away. “Michelle will pinpoint the location,” The Major assured him. “But at the moment she’s having SPD command contact his home world to arrange transport home.” “I’ll tell D.E. to head back then,” Dan said. “And I’ll get the Shepard ready to launch in the mean time,” Ace added. “Good,” Pierce nodded. Glancing back at the monitor he added, “Somebody see if our guest needs anything.” *** Michelle was able to get into the shipping database and trail where the different ships came from and find out where they went with no problem. Using that information and what their guest was able to tell them she was able to narrow the search down to a few islands in the middle of the Pacific Ocean. She highlighted the ones that were known to be uninhabited and outside the usual shipping lanes as likely targets. Now if they only didn’t have five Islands to check out that were on top of the list. And international waters meant the job was theirs alone. The first three islands turned out to be dead ends. The fourth didn’t seem like much as they approached. But they could see the mountains and the jungle foliage as they got closer. Then again so did the other three so none of them got their hopes up. After a few more moments something on D.E. console started to beep. “I’m getting an energy signature,” he announced. “It’s faint one, but I’m getting one.” “Any ships or submarines in the area?”, Dan asked wanting to eliminate any possibility of a misread. “I’m not getting any kind of chatter on the usual channels,” Boomer said. “Rader and sensor say the area is clear,” Ace added. “Rev, D.E. I’m going to circle the island a couple of time. Run a full scan.” “Rodger,” Rev replied. “On it,” D.E. answered. Dan pulled up the sensors reading on the monitor in front of him as they came in. The island itself was unremarkable, but there was an energy signature coming from it. If he had to guess he’d say it was a generator of some sort. Rev confirmed there were life signs. It read out as alien so chances were good they found their target. Dan plugged his License into the console beside him and downloaded a rough map of the island based on the sensor readings. Ace looked over the readings herself, “I’m not seeing an area big enough for a LZ.” “And the foliage looks too dense for a hot drop,” Dan commented. “I don’t suppose this bird has any water landing capabilities that I missed when I went over the specs.” “I heard there was there were plans to add them,” Ace told him. “But it involved a major redesign, and the Major didn’t think we had time to wait for a new jet.” “Too bad he wasn’t a little more patient,” Dan muttered. “The best I can do is hover over the small beach right there,” she pointed at the screen, “and let you guys off. While you guys check it out I can try to find a place to land.” “Alright, “Dan agreed, “but keep an eye open for any kind of ship that enters the area.” “Right,” she punched a code into her console. “D.E. I’m transferring weapon control to my station. I don’t have the aim he does but I can lay down some cover fire if I have too.” Ace had the Shepard hover until the ramp was a few feet off the ground. As the others jumped to the ground Dan gave her quick salute before joining them. She reactivated the cloak and took the jet back into the air. “Make it quick guys.” *** The humidity was starting to make their uniform to stick to their bodies. Dan had them stick to the shadows as much as possible so their black uniforms wouldn’t stick out as much. Checking their location on the map he saw they were close to the energy reading. Then he felt it, something felt like it lightly brushed against his mind. Needles to say, that freaked him out a bit. D.E. felt it too as he grabbed his head “What the hell?” “I do believe that was a psychic wave of some sort,” Rev answered. Boomer quickly pulled out his SP-Shooter and looked around, “We’re we just made?” “I believe so,” Rev told him, “but I am unsure by whom.” Slowly he started looking in a direction that led deeper into the jungle, “But it would explain why I have a sudden urge to head in this direction.” “That’s the same direction as the energy source we detected,” Dan said eyeing the readings. “Do you think it’s a trap Captain?”, Rev asked. “That’s what my guts telling me at the moment.” “Wouldn’t whoever doing that make your gut say something else?”, D.E pointed out. “Something could be making you say that, “Boomer countered. “And this is getting us no where,” Dan told them. “Either way we have to head in that direction” Drawing his SP-Shooter he headed off, “Keep you eyes open and try to ignore any sudden urges.” They found a mouth of a cave nearby. Dan studied the ground leading into the cave, people were going in and out alright. Recently too from the looks of things. Another push grazed their minds, this one seemed clearer then the previous one for some reason. Dan suddenly found an image of a furry alien of some sort in his memory. “I recognize this species Captain,” Rev said. “They are called Marakins and are said to be telepathic.” “Is this the one in charge?” Rev answered almost as soon as he finished talking, “I do not believe so Captain.” He was silent for a few seconds, when he started talking again he sounded a little distant. “No she is not, she was captured by accident. The head of the operation knew he couldn’t sell her because of her abilities. So far she’s been able to convince her captors not to kill her but she is unsure how much longer she will be able to do so.” “Can she tell us what to expect in there?”. Before he knew it an image of inside of the cave entered his mind. He felt the dusty air and how it smelled. He saw rows of cages standing on top of each other all containing various species from all over the universe. He also knew where the guards were at the moment and the circle of cages in the middle where the leader dwelled. Putting a hand to his temple he said, “That was freaky.” “Captain,” Rev said calmly, “I recognized most of the creatures surrounding the leader. They are on the endangered species list in several galaxies.” “So going in gun blazing is out of the question then?”, Boomer joked. “Pretty decent strategy,” D.E. said, “surround yourself with targets more valuable than you are. So how are we going this one?” Dan thought it over and opened one of the pockets on his pant leg. Taking his hand out he opened it revealing two devices that clipped on behind the ear. The others nodded and took out similar devices, except Rev who had to have a model that attached to the nubs on the side of his head. It was SPD tech from the planet Leslie they gotten a hold of a couple of months ago. As he was attaching them to his head Rev said, “She agrees that this is the wisest course of action.” He felt a bit annoyed at that so Rev added, “She apologizes for the intrusion.” *** “Would you be careful,” said a robot as it translated the arm movements of the furry lizard in charge. “These animals are priceless/valuable. They cannot be damaged/hurt.” “But boss…”, on oh the newer human workers said to the robot. “Look at me,” the robot said as the lizard talked. “I am who you address. Not this robot/machine.” “Sorry,” his eyes darted back and forth between the two of them. “But they’re just a bunch of animals.” “These animals/creatures are worth more than you.” He nodded his head toward a cage containing a bird with golden yellow feathers. “I can purchase/acquire a small planetoid for what it’s worth. I can buy and sell you…”, the robot stopped translating as the leader stopped moving. When he started talking again his movements where slow and cautious, “What is that noise?” While the others were looking up around eye level four canisters rolled by their feet. When they stopped a gas quickly released that filled the room in moments. “It’s a…. translation unknown,” the robot said as the lizard fell asleep and humans fell to the ground. Dan and the team came out of hiding, each wearing a mask that covered the lower half of their face. Boomer nudged one of the humans with his foot as he passed him. D.E. looked at the sleeping animals before pulling out a set of handcuffs and headed for the closest human. After a few moments Dan checked the air and saw it was clear, hitting a button on one of the clips the mask retracted. Looking over the scene he went, “Rev…” He was already waving a scanner around, “I am detecting no abnormal life signs. The gas had no ill effect that I can see.” “Good, I didn’t want to hurt these guys by accident.” Boomer kind of snorted and said, “This had to be the easiest assignment we ever had.” “Warning,” the robot announced as it came back to life, “intruders detected, defensives online.” Two grenades launched from it’s shoulders forming a group of Anaroids D.E. punched Boomer in the arm, “Ow! Nobody told you to hit me.” “They were thinking it.” They got in a circle with their backs to each other. “Change standby,” Dan ordered and they all reached for their License. “Emergency! DekaOps!” They charged foreword as a Digital covered them in their DekaSuits. Dan’s hand gripped the handle of the D-Colt, but he stopped. He didn’t want to worry about a stray shot hurting somebody. So he reached back into his backpack and pulled out his D-Rod. Activating the red energy field around it he started swinging away. Rev had jumped up and landed on the chest of one of the Anaroids and made it crashed to the ground. He kicked another one away when an image grazed his mind. Stepping foreword and pivoting around he jammed his D-Knife into a Anaroid’s head, right under the chin. Taking a moment he looked at the just awaking Marakin, “Thank you.” Boomer was stabbing away at anything that looked metal and mean. Seeing D.E. was having some trouble he rushed over and helped his friend, “You’re lucky I don’t hold a grudge.” Together they were able to clear a spot to get some breathing room. “Looks like you owe me one.” Without warning D.E. shot past him at the Anaroid that was sneaking up on Boomer. Tilting his head a bit he snorted, “Not any more.” “I would’ve saw him.” Dan struck down the last Anaroid in his path, looked around for another target and found nothing. This part of the job was winding down, but he didn’t want to fight anything under these conditions unless he had too. The robot surveyed the area, “Primary defensive units have failed. Activating…” “D.E.,” Dan said interrupting it. D.E. took quick aim and shot it in the head, “Thank you.” “No problem,” he replied. Looking around Dan noticed somebody was missing, “No you don’t.” A quick search found the Lizard trying to get out through a small hole in the cave wall. Grabbing him by the scruff of the next he picked him off the floor, “Got you.” The lizard started motioning fast and furious. “Same to you pal,” Dan told him. “The only reason why you are not being judge right now is because your government specifically requested you be sent back alive.” Boomer pointed something out to Rev and they brought foreword an empty cage. Behind his helmet Dan smiled, “I do believe they call this poetic justice.” Dan put him I the cage and Boomer locked the door. Deactivating their DekaSuits Dan said, “Come on, let’s find the sentients and let them out of their cages. Start with the Marakin and ask her for help.” They nodded and spread out. They contacted Ace and told her to get in touch with OpsBase to make travel arrangements as soon as possible. Rev was giving all the captured creatures a quick medical exam to make sure they were all right. Dan and the others, on the other hand, were trying hard to convince some of them that they were who they said they were. “Look see,” Dan said showing the badge on his chest to a brown turtle with a beak, “SPD, we’re part of the good guys. Granted it’s a color you never seen before, but we are the good guys.” Almost ready to give up he looked around, “Where’s that Marakin when you need her?” “Hey!”, Boomer cried out as a green lizard in a brown robe took another swing at him. “He’s trying to stab me with a butter knife.” “I believe the term they use is ‘doink’”, Rev commented. “Yeah and I’m about to shove that doink right up his…” “Easy Boomer,” Dan cut him off. “Ah, Robert,” Rev said, “There is a saying in the universe. When one of his kinds is in your path, find another way to your destination.” “It’s ok little fella,” D.E. said to an alien that looked like a blue hairless monkey. “You got nothing to worry about. Rev just wants to check you over.” Out of no where it wrapped it’s arms around his right leg and D.E. body stiffened as he got a mortified look on his face. “Could somebody get him off my leg please.” Dan looked over from where he was standing, “I had a dog that used to do that.” Boomer grinned ear to ear, “Looks like you made a friend.” “Just get him off my leg,” D.E. said through his teeth. “Ok you heard him, the honeymoon’s over,” Boomer reached for the alien who open it’s mouth revealing a set razor sharp teeth. It took a couple of bites at his hand. Boomer pulled it back clutching his fingers, “Whoa!” “Boomer,” D.E. pleaded. “Yeah, maybe when he’s finished.” *** Michelle was already in the hanger as the Machine Shepard came in for a landing. The animals were already taken care of and those who were imprisoned against there will were staying at or currently heading to various SPD embassies awaiting transport home. Dan started down the ramp when he stepped aside to let D.E. fly past him. Everybody saw that his right pant was cut off, right above the knee. “D.E. what happened…,” she started to ask. “Don’t ask,” he told her as he shot past. A few of the hanger crew started making a few cat calls in his direction. “Oh shut up,” he told them. As he exited a couple of female officers past him and whistled. Michelle looked at Dan and pointed at the door totally confused. “You really don’t want to ask,” he told her. Without looking he pointed behind him right at Ace and Boomer and said sharply, “And you two really don’t want to say anything.” “How does he do that?”, Boomer asked Ace who just shrugged and headed for her crew. “Why do I get the feeling the Major in for an interesting report,” Michelle said dryly. “That feeling would be right,” Dan told her. “Now if you will excuse me I need to get the smell of animal crap out of my nose.” “Now there’s a lovely image.” She gave him a quick kiss on the cheek, “You’re not on the clock now as far as I’m concern so don’t say anything. After you give the Major that report I’m taking you outside for some fresh air to get rid of that scent. And I’m not taking no for an answer ‘baby’.” “Didn’t even know that was an option ‘chica’,” Dan said as he followed her out. “Good thing D.E. and Boomer weren’t around to see that. We have a mess to pick up in here,” Ace told one of her crew. He nodded in agreement. ----- ED-Evanescence-Whisper ----- |
09-23-2012, 01:28 AM | #17 |
Member
Join Date: May 2012
Posts: 486
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Special Police DekaOps
16 ----- OP-Alter Bridge-Metalingus ----- It was a quiet couple of days and most of the OpsBase personnel were trying to find something to do to keep themselves busy. Ace kept her crew busy by upgrading the Machine Shepard and Hounds systems. D.E. was in the practice range keeping his skills sharp. Rev sat in the rec room reading a medical text while Boomer, who got all his work done early, played a game on the television screen. Rev watched his friend play and felt his finger twitch slightly. After signing his name to the last piece of paperwork on his desk Dan was called to the Command Room. Michelle gave him a slight smile as he entered that he returned before going all business again. “What’s the emergency?”, he asked. “We’re not sure yet,” the Major answered. “SPD satellites have been getting a strange energy reading inside the Andes Mountains inside Peru.” “I’m linking up to the next satellite that’s scheduled to pass over the area in a few moments,” Michelle announced. A few keystrokes on the keyboard later and the big screen came to life. A mountain range appeared and the image froze a second later. Various readouts flashed over the image as Michelle’s fingers danced over the keyboard. “Any luck Michelle?”, the Major asked. “I’m running the energy signature through every database we have now,” she told him. “Nothing,” she said after a few minutes sounding disappointed in herself, “the reading too faint to make out clearly. I think some sort of damper be involved here.” “That’s what Command thinks as well,” Pierce informed her. “That’s why we’ve been asked been asked to investigate.” “Get in, check it out and if we have to take it out,” Dan said knowing the drill all too well. “I’ll get the team ready to launch.” “Just remember,” Pierce said, “Peru is neutral about SPD right now. They’re not against us but they’re not exactly for us either. So watch out for the local authorities.” “Right,” Dan replied and saluted before leaving the room. “I don’t know how you keep all that straight,” Michelle commented. “I need a score card half the time to remember which countries are Pro SPD and which aren’t.” “The trick is remembering which countries are against us,” He told her. “Everybody else you got a fifty-fifty chance of getting it right.” Looking at him in disbelief she asked, “How did you make Major again?” “Funny, Helen keeps asking me that same question.” *** The Machine Shepard was in the air and disappeared from sight as the ground beneath them closed. Inside the cockpit Ace brought the rear engines to life as she swung them around toward their destination. As usual Michelle feed them information until the reach they reached the boarder. “We are now in silent ops mode,” Boomer announced. “When was the last time I said I hated this part?” “We all find this a little unnerving Robert,” Rev told him. “I think it’s the fact that something could happen to us and nobody would know about it,” Ace added, then shifted uncomfortably in her seat. “Let’s keep those thoughts to a minimum,” Dan told them. “We done this before, there’s no point on dwelling about this now.” “You’re right,” Ace agreed. She changed the subject, “So what’s the plan?” “We stay together until we find out target. Once we find out what it is we’ll devise a plan to deal with it.” “Hmm,” D.E. grunted, “that’s a little looser than what we usually do.” “Unfortunately there’s this gapping hole in the intel Michelle couldn’t fill in. Like it or not we’re going in a little blind for this one.” “I really want to vote no,” Boomer said. “So do I,” Dan thought out loud. *** That hole didn’t get any smaller when they reached Peru and Ace did a fly by of the area. She Landed the Shepard as close as she could and they headed out on foot. As a precaution Dan told Boomer to key into the local frequencies. After about a half hour of climbing they reached a small area where they could survey the area easily. Checking a scanner that was linked to the Shepard’s senor reading they could see the signal was getting a little stronger, but not by much. Dan figured Michelle’s guess about that dampening field was right on the money. “Do you think it might be a cloaking device?”, Ace asked after she saw the reading. “That would explain why we didn’t see anything as we passed by.” “Possibly,” Dan was thinking along the same lines, “But what could it be hiding.” Putting the scanner into pocket on his chest he waved them foreword. Going higher on the ridge Dan took a moment and reached into another pocket and opened up a small set of binoculars. They had to be getting close to whatever the hell it was. “What’s that over there?”, D.E. asked as he pointed at something. Dan looked over in that direction and focused as Ace and D.E. pulled out their own binoculars. One thing was for sure, it wasn’t cloaking device. But it was camouflaged to look like part of the mountain side. Feeling a cold spot form in his stomach Dan went, “Tell me that’s not what I think it is.” “Oh shit,” Ace muttered as she got a good look. “Boomer,” he jumped a little as Dan said his name, “Get ready to send a message back to base. I’m breaking silent op.” *** The Major hurried back to he Command Room when Michelle called him, “They couldn’t be done already,” he said. “Dan sent a video message,” she informed. “We won’t be able to reply.” Knowing something was wrong Pierce steadied himself for the moment, “Play the message.” Dan’s image appeared on screen. He had a worried look on his face as he kept looking at something off camera. “Stevens to OpsBase. We have a situation here.” He looked lost for words for a moment as he pointed the camera toward something. In the mountainside somebody built a huge construction frame that was structured with several levels. Inside was something huge, the bottom part was fully covered but the upper part a skeletal like frame was showing the machinery inside. “A monster mech is being built on site, I repeat a monster mech is being built on site. We’re going to try to determine the status of the power and weapon systems.” There was a pause before he continued, “We’ll do what we can to slow them down, but if that thing is fully functional we might need a little help on this one. Stevens out.” “Oh my god,” Michelle said as the message ended. “Get me Meng Yeow and Row,” the Major ordered. “I don’t care who you have to wake up get them on the line ASAP. I’ll advise Numa-O and SPD command of the situation.” *** Tensions were high as the Ops team studied the camera feed and sensor readings on the build site. The one question going through their minds was how did something like this go unnoticed for so long? Dan wasn’t positive but he estimated that even with robot labor working around the clock it would take a few months to build one of those things. Of course he’s been wrong before. “Looks like a Devil type to me,” D.E. said out loud. Dan just grunted as he studied the images. “Why don’t we just blast the thing,” Ace said suddenly. “That thing not even fully armored yet. I know the Shepard laser can do some damage.” “But what do we aim at?”, Dan countered. “And more importantly how do we know it can’t shoot back if we miss?” “No offence Cap, but sitting on our asses isn’t getting anything done,” she told him. “I’m aware of that Ace. Unfortunately we’re not equipped to take that thing head on.” “I keep telling you we need a robot,” Boomer muttered. Dan and Ace found themselves agreeing with him. “We still need to discover it’s current capabilities,” Rev reminded them. “And to do that we need to get in there and find out,” Ace said. “Not to mention slow down construction some how.” “I knew there was a plan in here somewhere,” D.E. said out of the blue. They looked at him wondering what he was talking about. He happily explained, “While no team in the galaxy has been able to capture a complete mech, there been enough of them around that SPD been able to put together a rough blue print of what’s inside it.” “Please tell me you can find a weak spot,” Ace pleaded. “Not from plans this rough,” he informed her. Boomer looked like he got an idea, “Can you show where the power core is?” “Give me a second,” D.E. hit a couple of controls and the schematics he pulled up appeared on screen. A part of the inside was flashing red, “Right about there.” “Can you tell if it’s active?” “Let me check.” “What do you got in mind Boomer?”, Dan asked. “I’m thinking if the core’s active we could cause a meltdown or something.” “That’s nut,” D.E. exclaimed “Not to mention dangerous,” Rev added. “And it might be our only option,” Ace told them. “There has to be another option,” Rev argued. “Unless this bird can transform into an eighty foot mech I’m not seeing another one,” Dan said plainly. After a minute or so D.E. finally spoke back up, “Well what ever is blocking the reading is still in effect, but I think I’m getting two readings that look like active energy cores.” “One for the frame and one for the mech,” Dan said. “Alright we’re going with Boomer’s plan.” He cut Rev off with a wave of his hand before he could protest. “We still have to gather intel on that thing. We might as well cause as much damage as we can while we’re at it. Boomer, try to find out what type of core that might be using. Rev, you and me will be accompanying Boomer carrying extra explosives just in case he needs more. Ace, you and D.E. stay on board the Shepard. You guys are officially Plan B if this doesn’t work.” “Rodger,” Ace replied. “Give us two hours. If you don’t hear from us by then assume we failed and do whatever damage you can. We only got one shot at this so we better make it count. And Rev one more thing.” “Yes Captain.” “If you haven’t already, start saying some prayers to the Great Spirit. We’re going to need any favors we can get.” *** Figuring resistance was going to be thick on this one they activated the Dekasuits as soon as they started, Dan and Rev carrying bags containing extra explosives. Dan threw the sky probe ahead of them to cut down on any surprises. And there were plenty, every few yards they had to stop and find cover to avoid the patrols of Anaroids and Batsuroids. Dan held the D-Colt tightly in his hands but didn’t dare take a shot, not without getting swamped. Hiding behind some boulders as they got close he checked the image sent by the probe. At what looked like an entrance Two Batsuroids stood guard. Not that they were planning in going in the front door anyway. Then Rev pointed out that the Frame looked like it was built into the mountain itself. Dan redirected the probe to a level that looked like a potential entry point and didn’t see any guards in the immediate vicinity. Waiting until the patrols passed they hurried across and started climbing to a higher level before making there way across to the frame. It took awhile but slowly they made it to the frame, jumped over the rail and quickly checked for any patrols. After checking the readings one more time they headed for the core. After a few yards Rev saw something and whispered, “Captain.” “What is it Rev?” “I recognize that device,” he pointed to a square panel on the wall with a glowing orb in the middle, various wires were going in and out of it. “It distributes and regulates power. Perhaps destroying some of these will slow them down.” “Good idea Rev,” Boomer said as he reached into his pack and pulled out a small explosive pack. “You guys might want to pay attention you in particular Rev,” he said as he fixed the pack under the panel then inserted a small metal cylinder into it. He pressed a button and the top started flashing red. “If you see another one of these things do it just like that. In fact if you see anything that looks important put a charge on it. And make sure you put a receiver into it, I’m going to set it so they all go off at once, and we get time to high tail it out of here.” “Just try to be picky on where you set the charges,” Dan told them. “I’m not sure how many Boomer’s going to need.” He peered around the corner before waving them on. The target was a few stories above them and they needed to get going. Much like they figured they were forced to take the long way around. Occasionally they stop just long enough to set a charge on something Rev pointed out. Dan spotted a computer and slapped a D-Hack that was hooked to the Shepard on it and a bomb right next to the Hack just in case. After an hour they found the core. They also found what looked like a monitoring station and a couple of Batsuroids and an Igadroid. “Oh great,” Dan mumbled. “Is there another way to the core?”, Rev asked. “Not according to the plans D.E. pulled up,” Boomer answered. They didn’t have a choice now. Dan only said one thing, “Make every shot count,” Than ran in. Catching the bots as unaware as they could they fired first. Dan and Rev had to dodge a couple of return shots but all of them were taken out. “Do it Boomer.” “On it,” he said as he took the bags from them and headed into the guts on the mech. “Monitoring station 8-C report,” a voice from no where said. A quick search saw that it was coming from a comm panel on the station. “8-C report.” Dan hit the comm button, “Monitoring station 8-C reporting,” and prayed to God that was the right was to answer. “A commotion was detected coming from you area, report.” “There was no commotion… we had a minor leak in the core.” “I am not registering a leak in the core,” Dan cursed under his breath. “I’m sending a repair team to investigate.” “Negative, the leak is already repaired. It was a small leak and easily repairable. It’s good, we’re fine… how are you?” Dan winced at his mistake while Rev looked at him in confusion. “How am…? Who is this? What is your designation?” “Ah…,” Dan stepped back and shot the comm panel. “That conversation wasn’t going any were any way,” he muttered as he headed for the opening Boomer used. “Boomer we got incoming!”, he shouted. “Give me a few more minutes!”, he shouted back. “I don’t think we have a few more minutes!” “No offence Cap, but make them!” “What do we do Captain?” Rev asked. Shaking his head Dan switched the D-Colt to multi-shot, “We buy him some time.” They started positioning things so they have some cover and waited. Rev unhooked his D-Shot. Dan kept looking down the corridor to the core expecting to hear shot being fired from inside there. Finally an Anaroid came through the door in front of them and Rev blasted it. Another one took it’s place and Dan nailed it between the eyes. Both of them knew it wasn’t going to be long before they realize this particular line of attack was useless. In the core Boomer was busy setting charges. Fortunately the core being used was in the database and he had a good idea where to set the charges. Destroying the core would be good enough but he wanted to cause the maximum amount of internal damage possible. If he was lucky there would be some feedback that would fry other systems. Setting the last charge he had one more thing to do, place the remote detonator. And he had to set it high to make sure the signal reached all of the charges. Using a nearby ladder he made his way up and found a pallet he could set the detonator and hide it a bit. Running a quick check to make sure the damping field wouldn’t interfere with the signal he got a lock on all of the charges they set. Boomer set the time for twenty minutes, it would be cutting it close but they didn’t need to get to the ground floor. Knowing the core would be the first thing the check he left a little surprise before running down the corridor. When he exited Rev pulled him down so he wouldn’t get shot. “I’m guessing they called in the Calvary,” he said. “I wouldn’t doubt it,” Dan said. “Let me guess there’s only one way out of here right?”, Dan said as he took a shot at an Igadroid that came into view. “I’m afraid so Cap.” “Then it’s time to thin out the heard kid.” “Right,” Boomer nodded. Reaching into his back he jumped up and side armed a frag grenade through the door opening. After a few second an explosion went off and they rushed to the door. Rev and Dan both looked out for any moving droids on the floor as Boomer covered the hallway. “I got point, Boomer watch our backs,” Dan ordered. The scanner in his pack started to beep, “Now what?” Rev checked his, “The damping field is now down. Captain I’m getting a humanoid reading now.” “We’ll worry about it later,” Dan told him. “It is heading in our direction.” “Guess whoever in charge wants to lead the troops,” Boomer quipped. “Let’s not be here when they arrive,” Dan said. “I saw a ladder this way.” “You’re not going to hear me argue,” Boome told him *** They were able to go a couple of floors before running into any resistance. Unfortunately this was making them retreat further into the frame. Finding cover they retreated as far as they could into a corridor without exposing themselves. “How much time to we got?” Boomer clanked at the readout, “Exactly twelve minutes Cap.” “Took us longer than that to get to the core.” An explosion could be heard above them, “What the hell?” “Looks like they just discovered the motion detector mine I set on the ceiling,” Boomer answered. “With any luck there should be a nice pile of debris blocking the way.” “Might be the only piece of luck we have at the moment,” Dan told him. “Whoever you are,” somebody yelled out, “come out now.” Dan recognized him as the one from the comm. “There is no where you can go to escape.” They chanced a look and saw a white humanoid standing behind the first row of bots. “We will make it quick as soon as you tell me what you did to sabotage this site. I will give you three minutes to decide.” “That’s generous of him,” Boomer said dryly. “Does he truly believe anybody would take that offer?”, a bewildered Rev wondered out loud. Dan watched him move from where he was hiding. “This has to be his first time trying to capture anybody.” “How can you be sure Captain?” “He’s acting nervous, like he unsure of what to do.” “We’re outnumbered out the wazoo and he’s the one that’s nervous?”, Boomer asked. “We don’t have time and I’m trusting my gut on this one,” he told them. Dan unhooked his D-Shot and got into position to spring out. “As soon as we get close to the door light it up,” he ordered. Boomer and Rev nodded and got into position. He ran at the entry and started firing at the first bot he saw. On cue Boomer tossed two flash grenades that temporary disrupted the bots circuits. Using the few moments they had before the reboot they fired point blank. At close range the D-Shots were causing damage to a couple of them at once. They stood close together as the Anaroids and Batsuroids started showing signs of life again. Dan swung the butt of the D-Shot into a Igadroid that got too close, then shot it in the chest for good measures. “Scatter!”, he ordered as the circle around them started to tighten. Rev jumped over them and pumped and fired his D-Shot as fast as it would let him, Boomer and Dan ran through a group of Anaroids, turned and fired. During the whole thing Dan tried to keep an eye on the white alien. He was trying to run but his path kept getting blocked. Knowing they were running out of time he had to chance it. Dan broke away from the fight and stood in front of him. He took his OpsLicense and switched to Judgment mode, “Target orders.” The area went dark as the alien was scanned and a red X and a blue circle flashed in front of him. It wasn’t long before the circle shined brightly between them, “Apprehend target.” “So you think you’re just going to take me in?”, he asked. “Do you think you’ll be able to get me to talk? Do you think I’ll just spill everything I know? You might as well kill me now.” “Just shut up and come quietly,” Dan told him. “Do you think the bosses are going to let anybody who knows about the Kaijuki operation stay alive?” “I think your overestimating them,” Dan told him plainly as he took the D-Whoppers off his belt as he approached. “You don’t get it do you,” he started laughing. “I’m already dead.” He turned around and ran before Dan could stop him. He jumped over a railing that over looked a shaft of some kind. “No!”, Dan shouted. He ran over and looked down. The alien was laying, with his neck bent at a funny angle several stories below. “Damn it,” Dan pounded the pillar next to him. “Captain,” Rev called out, “Robert say the clock is ticking.” “Right,” he said as he took his eyes away. “I saw the entire thing Captain, he was more afraid of his bosses than he was of anything else. Do not blame yourself.”He knew Rev was right, but damn it he wanted this one alive. They ran down a couple of flights of stairs before Boomer called out, “Six minutes.” Dan looked around, “This way, I see daylight.” They ran and found themselves on the outside of the frame. And no where near the mountainside. “Please tell me you got a plan,” Boomer begged. “We take the express,” Answered Dan as he reached into his pack and pulled out the rope. While he quickly tied one end to the railing they took theirs out and did the same and tossed the rope over. Climbing over the railing they held the rope so it was behind them and rappelled down the frame as fast as they could. The rope wasn’t long enough to reach the bottom, but it was high enough off the ground the drop wouldn’t hurt them. “Four minutes,” Boomer shouted as the hit the ground and started running, pushing themselves to their limit. Before long Boomer started counting down, “Ten seconds, five, four, three, two…”. They dove for the ground and covered their heads. A second past, then three, four. As they got to their feet Dan and Rev looked at the mech, then at each other and then slowly at Boomer whose eyes never left the mech. “No way, that should have worked,” he said as he stormed past them toward the mech. “The equipment was green, all green, that should have worked.” Dan patted him on the shoulder, “Sorry kid, they must have found the detonator. It was a great plan.” He turned away and pulled out his License. “Stevens to Shepard, prepare for Plan B.” “Acknowledged Ops1, Shepard…”, Ace as cut off by a massive explosion sounded and knocked them to the ground. They looked and saw that it came from the Mech and the frame. Then several more went off as the Mech smoked. “Ops 1 come in! Cap answer me!” Boomer stared at the sight as other sections went off. Suddenly he jumped up amid the falling debris, “WOOOO! Who’s the man?! Who! Is! The! Man!” Dan shook his head, “Shepard, cancel Plan B and prepare for a pickup.” He looked over at Boomer who was still celebrating. “The timer was off but I don’t care!” He jumped on Rev’s back, “WOOOO!” Sighing he added, “And get ready for a long trip home.” Ace chuckled, “Understood Cap, D.E said he’ll have the aspirin and the restraints ready when you get aboard.” *** The Major paced around the Command Room waiting for an answer from anybody at this point. Dan, Numa-O, Scorp, an Alienizer who wanted to know what the hell his team was doing. He knew informing the Peruvian government was going to be a headache, but even they had to see that this was dangerous to them and everybody else. He and Michelle nearly jumped when her console went off signaling an incoming transmission. He stood in front of the wall screen as the image split three ways showing a human, a lion-seijin and a bird like alien, DekaRanger’s Meng Yeow, DekaRescue’s Gyoc Row and Supreme Commander Numa-O. “Were we given the green light by the Peruvian Government?” Numa-O did not look pleased, “They want more proof before they’ll let us inside their boarder.” “The Alineizers has a base inside their country,” Row said in disbelief. “How much more proof do they need?” “More than a weak sensor reading I’m afraid.” “This is insane,” Pierce said out loud. “I’m sure your team’s fine Henry,” Meng Yeow said, reading his features. “If half the stories you told us were true than they have the right man leading them.” “I know,” he said grateful somebody else said that. “So what do we do now?” “We tread carefully,” Numa-O said. “Earth is one of the few planets in the galaxy with more than one government, so we know how to deal with the situation. But if we have too I will contact Commander Scorp and see if we can use one of the other Ops units.” “We might have another option,” Meng Yeow said looking thoughtful. “Row, do you think your Fire Squad program can work here?” “We’re still finalizing things on our end,” the Lion answered. “Outside of Ops1 there’s not that many red Deka on the planet. The only ones available at the moment are Yeo, Harris and Van Der Gun. Ideally I would want the standard five person unit for this type of thing.” He thought it over, “But it could work with a smaller number, and working in concert with Ops it might work out as well.” Before the discussion could continue Michelle spoke up, “Major, I don’t want to interrupt, but we just recorded an explosion in Peru.” She checked the coordinates to make sure, “Exactly were we originally recorded the energy blip.” “I knew Dan said they try and slow them down, but I didn’t think they go that far,” said a stunned Pierce. “I’m guessing those stories are more than half true,” Meng Yeow smirked, but looking relieved as well. “Perhaps now the Peruvian government will have enough proof,” Row said. “If we tread carefully,” Numa-O said, “I believe we will.” He chuckled a bit, “Although you’re going to have to tell me one of those stories Major Pierce. I get the feeling Trytan’s report didn’t quite capture him.” “Captain Stevens can surprise you when he wants to,” the Major informed him. And to think Dan originally didn’t want to be part of this when Pierce recruited him for the job. They talked for a bit when Michelle spoke up again, “Major we have an incoming transmission from the Shepard.” “Put him on.” The screen configuration changed to add an image of a tired looking Dan. Like a professional he hid it when he noticed they wouldn’t be talking alone. “Dan, it’s good to see you and the team still in one piece.” “And I might add,” Numa-O spoke, “an excellent job as well.” “Thank you Commander,” he responded. Looking back he added, “My team did a good job on this one.” “Can I ask how you can up with this particular plan Captain?”, Meng Yeow asked. “It was Sgt. Parker’s, Ops4, idea sir. We’re just lucky we were able to pull it off.” “Dan,” the Major said, “what the situation now?” “The upper portion of the Monster Mech was rendered inoperable as far as we could tell. We were going to do a more thorough investigation but Ops4 said the local military and police channels lit up after the explosion went off. I ordered the Shepard cloaked and air born before they arrived. We’re currently circling the area just incase that thing still has some life in it.” “A smart decision Dan, keep us informed if there are any changes.” “Rodger,” he replied. “One more thing Captain,” Numa-O said “Do you think you put a dent in the construction of Kaijuki on Earth?” Pierce saw the answer in his face before he even spoke. “Honestly sir, I doubt it. Only one mech was being built and the construction frame didn’t look like it went further into the mountain than what it did. But we were able to hack into their computer system while we were there. We should have some type of info for Michelle and the SPD techs to go through once we get back.” “Just some wishful thinking on my part Captain,” Numa-O informed him. “Major Pierce I want a copy of this mission report sent to me.” “Will do sir,” the Major saluted. “Good, SPD Command out.” His image blinked out leaving the rest of them. “Word about this is going to spread quickly,” Meng Yeow said. “My people are going to wonder what happened.” “As are mine,” Row added. “I don’t want to ask this of you two,” the Major said, “but I have to ask that you keep some of the details out when you explain it to them.” “You don’t want us to tell them about a faulty core Henry?”, Meng Yeow said innocently. “You can’t get good parts these days I guess,” Row commented. “I owe you two one,” Pierce told them and they ended the conference call on their end. “I can’t say I like that idea Major,” Dan said after they were alone. “A couple of people in Squad know about us already, and so far there been no harm done.” “Meng Yeow and Row both know Peru going to be a sticky situation Dan,” He told him. “And frankly the less said about us at this point the better.” Dan nodded, “I understand sir. Shepard out.” The screen went blank and pierce tapped the railing, proudly saying, “That’s my boy.” Michelle coughed,” Actually Major, that may be your team but that my boy.” Pierce smiled and left the Command Room still feeling glad that all of them were coming back alive after this one. ----- ED – Evanescence – Whisper ----- |
09-29-2012, 01:35 AM | #18 |
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Join Date: May 2012
Posts: 486
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Special Police DekaOps
17 ----- OP – Alter Bridge – Metalingus ----- The hallways of OpsBase were pretty quiet compared to the day time. Then again he usually wasn’t here at night. Fortunately Helen didn’t press the matter when he told her something work related came up. Pierce hated lying to her about what he really did, even if he did give D.E. and Boomer permission to tell their family and fiancé respectively. He did tell her he was part of SPD, only as a military advisor slash negotiator. Maybe he would get up the nerve to tell her what he really did with them one of these days. Pushing those thoughts aside he walked the rest of the way to the last door on the right of the field team quarters hallway. He knocked three times, loud enough for him to hear. After several moments, and a couple of muffled noises, the door open and Dan stood there, “Major?” “I’m sorry to wake you Dan,” he took a look at him. Dan was trying to stand in a way that he was blocking the doorway a bit. “Are you alright? You look a little… flushed.” “Perfectly fine,” he answered quickly. “So what up?” “Not good news I’m afraid,” he replied. “Rumors are starting to spread that another version of that alien rifle is being sold.” “You’re kidding me,” Dan said as he lowered his head. “I guess it was a little too much to ask that after we took out the factory that would be it.” “You should know better than that Dan, especially in our business.” He nodded in agreement. “Seeing how the rumor’s still fresh we’re getting first crack at it since nobody knows where the new factory is. I thought I give you a heads up seeing how that why you were originally assigned here.” “Right,” Dan said. “I’ll let Michelle know right away so she can get looking.” “I’ll tell her,” Pierce told him, “her door’s right over there.” “I’m not sure that’s a good idea,” Dan said quickly, then looked at a loss for words. “Why not?”, Pierce asked raising an eyebrow. “Because…”, he trailed off while his eyes glanced back into his room, “she… told me it was a really bad idea to wake her up in the middle of the night. I’ll wake her… she might go easier on me.” “I’ll take my chances,” the Major told him as he continued for Michelle’s room. Behind him Dan stepped back and waved Michelle out of his room. Quickly and quietly she made her way to the woman’s restroom door and tried to act like she was just coming out. “Major Pierce, I thought I heard you out here. Is there anything wrong?” “I’ll fill her in,” Dan quickly volunteered. “Right,” he said slowly. “I’ll be in my office for the time being.” Dan gave him a quick salute while Michelle nodded her head. Then she made her way over to him and softly said, “Do you think we fooled him?” Before Dan could answer the Major called out from down the hall, “Not for a second.” Both of their faces went red as Dan started to scratch the back of his head. *** Once again he hated this god forsaken planet. It was bad enough he had to be assigned here, now his bosses told he him to check out the new weapon factory set in the coldest part of this miserable country. Wrapping his cloak around him even tighter Chatrox could still feel the cold. He for one would be extremely glad when they would hopefully decide his punishment was over. Locating the building he knocked on the door twice. A panel slid open and a pair of inhuman eyes peered out, “what’s the password?” Why some of them insist on doing this, he would never know. He always hated this part of things and was one of the few things he actually missed about being part of SPD. “Glory to the bosses, may they run things now and forever,” he replied. The door open and he walked in. Several guns, many manned by humans surprisingly, were pointed at him. And again he cursed Stevens for destroying his own personal Igadroid. “Don’t trust I am who I say I am?” “I know you,” said a slug like being with those inhuman eyes. “You’re part of SPD.” A few of the rifle holders started looking like they wanted to pull the trigger. He sighed, he knew this was going to happen eventually. “Not any more in case you haven’t heard,” he told them. “You tracked me down and destroyed my operation.” “I was suppose to delete you too if you remember, yet here you are,” Chatrox countered. The slug didn’t seem to have an argument for that. Looking around the ‘factory’ he sarcastically said, “Impressive.” “It’s hard to get parts up here,” the slug said as he kept his weapon trained on the Agent. “Especially after that rumored black badge unit supposedly took out the first one and the supply depot.” “Unfortunately they are not a rumor,” Chatrox said distastefully. “I know from personal experience they are quite real. Which was why I was sent here. The bosses realize if they discovered the first one chances are they could locate this one as well.” “So what do we do?” “’We’ do nothing,” Chatrox told him. “I on the other hand am to check over the factory and determine what it needs so it doesn’t suffer the same fate as the last one.” “Are you looking at this dump?”, the slug ask. “I don’t think we can afford the bare minimum to get the security it needs.” “Then you have nothing to worry about,” Chatrox informed him. “Sales of this particular rifle are very important to the bosses and they are footing the expense for the security upgrade. You have, to use a Earth expression,” saying that left a bad taste in his mouth, “a blank check.” *** As soon as she got dressed Michelle was immediately at her station and started searching. Using the information they gathered from the rifle D.E. took apart she looked for anybody ordering similar parts. Whomever it was better at covering their tracks this time around. But not good enough to stump her, not with this equipment at her fingertips. It took a while and she had to look past several dummy companies but she found a possible location, an old fishing town on the coast of upper Alaska. Not as definite as she would have liked but it was a place to start. They walked into the town more or less unnoticed, although a few were giving Rev a curious look. The real strange looks were being directed at Boomer, who was dressed in full winter gear, pulling up the rear. “Guys wait up,” he called after them. “How long do you think we can get away with ignoring him?”, Ace asked. “And it’s cold in case you haven’t noticed.” “It’s like fifty degrees and you look like a Sherpa,” she shot back. D.E. agreed, “Like I said my family from Oklahoma but even I think you look ridiculous.” “So much for some support from your friends,” he frowned. Rev yawned for the fifth time since leaving the Machine Shepard. “You get enough sleep last night buddy?”, D.E. asked. “I believe so Terry,” he replied. “I think the climate might be affecting me some how. My planet does not have a section with this type of temperature.” He yawned again, “My apologies Captain, if I suspected this…” “We’ll worry about it in case it becomes a problem,” Dan told him. “We’re still here to find out if this place has the factory or not. Keep an eye on your scanner and ask the locals if you have too. Somebody bound to have seen something if it’s here. Ace, take D.E. and Rev and check out the pier and factories on the waterfront. Me and Nanuck of the north here will check out the center of town.” “Cap you too?”, Boomer sounded hurt. “You’re the one dressed like that,” Dan told him as he walked away. “He just so spared him from further ribbing by us,” Ace said to no one in particular. “I was thinking the same thing,” D.E. told her as he zipped up his jacket a little higher and stuck his hands in his pockets. “It is kinda chilly though.” “Wuss,” Ace teased him as Rev yawned behind them. *** Based on the reaction Rev was getting earlier she was surprised at how many aliens there were in town. Then again there were several polar like planets out there and the inhabitants would have found this comfortable. A couple of them nodded and greeted them as they passed. Every so often they stop and ask a person on the street if they saw anything strange. This part was tricky, trying to ask if anything suspicious was going on without raising suspicions at the same time. Luckily she thought of a pretty good cover story. “Pardon me sir?”, she asked an older gentleman standing in front of a store. “What can I do for you young lady?”, he seemed kind enough. “I know this is going to sound really strange, but I’m a news reporter. I’m new and I think the station I’m working for just sent me on a joke assignment just to see if I’d actually do it.” The guy laughed, “You have to pay your dues some how little lady. So why did they have you come all the way out here for?” “Well they told me that there were some strange things going on up here, but they didn’t tell me what.” She gave him a pleading look, “I don’t suppose you’ve seen anything out of the ordinary?” “Sorry,” he told them. “Outside of the deer running across Main Street a few days back the place has been pretty quiet. I think there pulling the wool over your eyes.” “I’m starting to think you’re right, thanks any way.” “Do you get the feeling the deer thing is like the biggest news this town seen in awhile?”, D.E. asked after they walked down the street a bit. “It does seem like a popular topic so far,” Rev commented as he stifled another yawn. “Rev would you quit it, you’re starting to make me sleepy,” Ace told him. “My apologies Trish,” he said. “So what do you think”, D.E. asked, “is this a dead end?” “Unless we pick up something or Cap and Boomer get a lead it might be,” she agreed. “Let’s keep checking though just in case.” They nodded in agreement. Then they noticed a little girl standing near by staring at them. “Excuse me,” she said as she got a little braver, “but are you the reporters?” “Yes we are,” Ace said as she got down to a knee.”Do you have a name sweetie?” “Amber,” the girl answered. Ace smiled at her, “Hi there my name Trish.” Amber shot a scared look at Rev. “Don’t worry about him, he’s not a scary as he looks. And my alien friend is pretty cool too.” “Funny,” D.E. said sarcastically. “Do you have a story for us?”, she asked ignoring him “My big brother,” she said. “He went into the old factory and disappeared. They said he ran away. But he wouldn’t do that, he wouldn’t,” she started to tear up. “I believe you,” Ace said trying to calm her down. “I’ll look into it for you, free of charge this time around. But you’re going to have to show me where this factory is, ok?”. Amber agreed and took Ace by the hand and showed them. “I’m not sure if this is a wise decision Terry,” Rev said as the two of them hung back a bit. “It’s the closest thing we have for a lead,” D.E. told him. “Besides if we can help her find a lead to her brother it’s has to be a good thing.” Rev silently agreed. Amber took them to where she last saw he brother, an old fishing factory that looked like it hasn’t been used in years. If Ace was going to pick a place for a secret factory, it would have been something like this. If this was the place the big question was what did the inside look like? Ace had them hang back a bit while she scanned the outside as best she could. Before long something on D.E’s back started beeping. Looking at Amber she asked, “Do you remember where your brother was at?” While Amber was pointing that out D.E. stood behind Rev and checked the scanner on his OpsLicense. After a moment Ace looked back at him and he said, “Same reading as the first time.” Nodding she returned her attention to the girl, “Amber I want you to go back to town for now.” “But my brother…,” she started to protest. “We’ll look for him,” Ace assured her, “but I don’t want you getting hurt in the process because that place looks dangerous. Go back to that store where you first talked to us ok. We’ll let you know what we found out as soon as we can.” “You promise?” “I promise,” Ace told her and crossed her heart. Reluctantly she did what he was told and left them. Ace wasn’t sure what they were going to do if they didn’t find a trace of her brother in there. A thought for later as her License beeped too, “Ops5 here.” “Ace,” Dan said over the line, “we think we found out where they might be selling the rifles, or at least storing them. Boomer and I are going to check it out. How soon do you think you can join us in case things get hairy?” “I’m not sure Cap,” Ace replied, “because I think we just found out where they’re building them.” “We’re on our way.” “Cap wait,” she said quickly. “Let’s try to take both of them if we can.” “I don’ think that’s a good idea Ace. After that last time security bound to be beefed up.” “And if we go after one the other one is going to take what they have and get away,” she countered. “If we have a chance to get both points we should do it.” After a few moments of silence Dan said, “Alright, but be careful. I want to hear back from you one way or the other.” “Rodger, Ops5 out.” Looking back at D.E. and Rev she said, “You heard him, let’s check it out.” *** As they got closer they noticed that while the building looked abandoned there were a few paths in the ground that look rather new. Especially one that lead to a particular steel door. So somebody been going inside recently. She motioned for them to bypass the door and find another way in. A broken window that was around the corner looked promising. Remembering how toxic the building process was the last time each of them activated the filter mask that folded out and covered their moth and nose and went inside. D.E. and Ace both drew their SP-Shooters as they entered. Rev check the air quality, “It is not as bad as the factory but still dangerous if breathed in for extended periods.” “Right, keep them on for now,” Ace ordered. Pointing at the door D.E. nodded and quickly checked the other side before giving the all clear. Entering the hallway she wished she had some Cap’s recon gear with them. D.E. found a lock door while he was checking the various doorknobs they came across. “What do you think?”, he asked. She nodded and told Rev to watch the other direction. D.E. stepped to the side of the door and shot the doorknob. God that sounded really loud. “They really need to look into silencers for these things,” he whispered to himself. He pushed the door open and Ace and Rev pointed their weapons inside. They saw a teenage boy huddled in the corner looking really scared. She and Rev went to him as D.E. guarded the door. “I don’t suppose you have a little sister named Amber do you?”, she asked feeling hopeful. “Yeah,” he said before he started coughing. Rev immediately ran on scan on him. “What… what’s he doing?” “Just checking you out,” she assured him. After a few moments she looked at Rev, “Well?” “He is starting to show sign of lung damage from the fumes, but it is easily reparable at this stage.” Opening one of the pockets on his pants he pulled out a small med kit. Choosing the right liquid he loaded it into a hypospray and placed it on the boy’s neck. A small hiss later he said, “That should start to heal the damage and neutralize what’s already in his system.” “Right,” she said feeling relieved. Looking at the boy she asked, “What are you doing locked up in here?” “I kept seeing things going on but nobody believed me. So I snuck in to find proof I wasn’t lying. Then this slug thing caught me and threw me in here.” “This is the right place alright,” Ace said. “Rev do you have a spare mask on you?” he said he did and pulled the pieces out of another pocket and handed them to her. “Listen, I need you to stay here for a little while longer. We’re going to find the slug you told us about. But it’ll probably be safer if you stay in here.” He agreed as he took the pieces and put them on. Ace reached up and activated the mask which surprised the boy. “My friend said there’s something nasty in the air so this will filter it out. We’ll be back for you as soon as we’re done.” They closed the door and continued their search. “I am so pouring salt on that slug,” D.E. said out loud, she agreed. It wasn’t long before they found the main area of the building and the apparent construction site for the rifles. What surprised them was the actual number of humans working on the weapons. Willingly, judging from the lack of guards in the room. The slug, on the other hand, was in plain view. “Come on you low lives work harder,” it ordered. “Every one of you have said this town has been going to hell since the factories closed. Are you going to blow this chance I’m giving you to bring it back to life?” “I’m starting to get an idea why nobody believed that kid,” D.E. commented and she had to agree again. They noticed Revs’ head start to drop slowly, D.E nudged him with and elbow to wake him up and he agreed as well. At her command they jumped out of their hiding spot and aimed their SP-Shooters at the slug. “SPD,” Ace shouted, “freeze!”. The slug laughed as a few of the humans pointed a completed version of the rifle at them. “What are you doing?” “We don’t want you here!”, someone shouted. “We need the sales of these rifles,” said another. “Our town will go down the crapper even more without it.” None of them expected this to happen as they waved their SP-Shooter around trying to cover everybody. Then some Batsuroids came out of a couple of grenades holding the rifles as well. The slug laughed even louder, “Looks like you’re outnumbered, better put those peashooters down.” “Ace,” D.E. said with a bit of worry in his voice. “You heard him,” she said with a small smirk as the mask folded away. They dropped their weapons and she said, “Change standby.” They grabbed their OpLicense from behind their back. “Emergency! DekaOps!” A quick digital flash later and they were in their Dekasuits. “Shot ‘em!” the slug yelled. The Batsuroids fired immediately, the humans started firing a few moments later a bit unsure of themselves. It was so much they had to dive for cover and return fire with their D-Shooters. “Tell me you have a plan B,” D.E. said as he ducked a shot that barely sailed over his head. “Pick a bot and shot the gun,” she told him. “But the weapon will…,” Rev started to say. “I know what’s going to happen.” “It’s crazy,” D.E. said, “But I love it.” He took a quick peek and spotted a group of Batsuroids without any humans around. Lowering his head slightly he started breathing slowly as Ace and Rev continued to fire back. He looked up, took quick aim and fired at the center of the group. The bullet flew and hit the rifle in the power source. As expected the weapon exploded taking out the Batsuroid holding it and a couple surrounding it. In turn the weapons they were holding started to explode too in a chain reaction. The humans with the slug dropped to the ground as soon as that happened. Slowly they looked up after it was over. “What are you low lives doing!?”, the slug shouted. “Shot the bastards!” One of the humans looked at the gun in his hands the spot where the Batsuroids were. “Fuck this shit” he said dropping the weapon to run. The other humans quickly joined him. “Get back here you worthless hairless apes!” “Ahem”, Ace coughed to get his attention s D.E and Rev took out the remaining Batsuroids. “Hey wait a second,” the slug said while backing away. “Maybe we can make a deal.” “We don’t make deals”, she told him and held out her License. He reached for a lever behind him but a shot from D.E. stopped that. “Slagging Agent,” the slug spat. “He said he have this place ready before you would show up.” “Target orders,” she said and the area around them went dark. A red X and a blue circle flashed between them before finally settling on the X, “Eliminate target.” D.E and Rev stood beside her and locked their License into the D-Shot and took aim. “Strikeout!,” three blue energy streams hit the slug and deleted him. *** Amber waited anxiously , hoping the lady the lady would keep her word. She as starting to think they weren’t going to show back up. Then she looked down the street and saw the lady wave at her, then she saw somebody else. “Hank!”, she cried out happily as she raced toward them. “I’ve never been so glad to see you, you little pain in the butt,” he said as he scooped her up. Ace and Rev broke away as a crowd started to form around them. Dan got their attention as they walked away. “How did you your end go Cap?”, she asked. “Caught him with his pants down,” he told her. “How about you?” “The factory’s taken care of. D.E. covering it now in case some of the locals come back. I’ll explain in my report.” “Right, Rev show Boomer where the factory is so he can take care of the rest of those rifles.” Rev said he understood and told Boomer to follow him. After they left he looked at the crowd that was starting to split. A few were shooting Ace some nasty looks and a couple could be heard saying she ruined our town. “I get the feeling I know what’s going to be in that report. I also get the feeling you guys went outside the mission little bit.” “I take full responsibility for that,” Ace told him. “D.E. and Rev were following my lead the whole time. If anything comes down, it should come down on me only.” Dan looked her in the eyes, then looked at the reunited brother and sister. “I think we can let this one slide. But we better cover Rev and Boomer. Some of these guys look like they might want some payback.” *** “I still don’t believe it,” the Major said as he put down the repot on the desk. He looked right at Dan who was setting across from him, “Using a town own desperation to get them to help build this thing. How low can you go?” “Some of them didn’t seem to care that what they were doing was illegal or even life threatening, they just wanted their town back the way it was.” Dan leaned back a bit, “But there bound to be some health problem now for the guys working on the rifles. And the way Ace and them described the place a few not involved in this might have been affected without knowing it.” “Which is why SPD is secretly supplying some medical aid for the town. They told the local doctors what to look for and how to treat it. Thanks to Ace and the other’s report the local police were able to arrest a few that were involved. I’m not sure how many more they’ll get though.” Dan agreed and started to leave. “Just a second, I want to talk to you about what happened last night.” “Here we go,” Dan mumbled as he dropped back down. “I don’t know why you two felt you had to sneak around. You know as well as I do that there no regulation in SPD that say two officers can’t have a relationship. Of course with some of the nuts around here I can kind of see why you thought you had to.” “Yeah, but I also know how you feel about the whole premarital thing.” “True, I do believe a man and a woman should wait for marriage before having that kind of a relationship. But I’m also aware that you and Michelle are two grown adults capable of making you own decisions.” He took a deep breath, “I also realize that sometime a couple might want to mix things up a bit and get a little adventurous. So I’m only going to say this once,” he tapped his finger on the desk with each word, “not in here.” Dan blinked a few times totally not understanding what he said, “What?” “Not in here,” he repeated. “You two can do it in your quarters, her quarters, in med bay. If you can sneak on top of the Sheapard without Ace finding out more power to you. But not in here.” Again Dan blinked and said, “What?” “Do I make myself clear?” Dan looked around the room, “I… guess.” “Good, I’m glad we had this little talk.” Dan left the room and every so often he would look back at the door leading to the Majors’ office. That was the weirdest conversation he was never part of. ----- ED – Evanescence – Whisper ----- |
10-02-2012, 02:43 AM | #19 |
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Join Date: May 2012
Posts: 486
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DekaOps
18 ----- OP – Alter Bridge – Metalingus ----- Michelle walked the halls to the Major’s office with the morning reports in her hands. She would have had them on his desk sooner but she had to make sure Ace didn’t sneak in any more request forms in. She found two, and the Major wasn’t even in yet. She turned the corner and stopped for a second. Outside the Major office Dan was leaning against the door talking to somebody inside, “You see that cup of pens? Turn it a quarter twist to the left.” She walked up to see a confused looking Rev inside the office. “Hi Michelle,” he greeted her with a quick kiss on the check. “Now move the picture of his wife.” “What are you…” “Too much,” he said suddenly, “just move it enough to make it look like it got touched.” “What,” she repeated, “are you doing? And why is Rev in there?” “Because the Major would suspect D.E. and Boomer and go to them immediately,” he answered her second question. She repeated the first one again. “The other day when he almost walked in on us, he told me that you and I were not to have any,” he made quote marks in the air, “‘relations’ in his office.” Michelle snorted, “Does he think we’re a couple of hormone crazed teenagers who’ll do it at the drop of a hat?” “I know, ain’t it ridiculous. Twist the box of tissues a bit, it’d be a nice touch.” “Still doesn’t tell me what you’re doing.” “Going to try and make him think we did.” Michelle let out a tired sigh. “Don’t act like that. As many pranks he’s pulled on me over the years I have to try and even the score.” “And you say Boomer acts like a four year… wait,” her forehead creased a little as she thought it over. Giving him a suspicious look she said, “You were going to tell me about this, right?” Dan glanced between her and the office a couple of times before saying, “Of course I was.” She looked at him before slapping him in the arm hard, “No you weren’t.” “Yes I was,” he started rubbing his arm, “eventually.” “If he fell for this he’d be giving me the strangest looks and I wouldn’t know what the hell was going on.” “You have to admit, it be funny.” He took a look at her expression then mumbled, “Oh yeah that was the wrong thing to say.” “Very perceptive Mr. fill in the blanks.” She walked into the office, slapped the reports on the desk and left without saying another word. Dan stood there for a few moments then said, “I’m going to have some lonely nights for the immediate future.” “Captain,” Rev started, “if it I companionship you seek, I would...” “Rev,” Dan quickly cut him off while pointing a finger at him, “I know you mean well, but before you even finish that thought I’m telling you right know. It will not be the same.” “Oh,” he said. Then his antenna perked up a little when he understood what Dan was talking about, “Oh.” *** “Alright team listen up,” The Major said after called them all together in the Command Room. “Word through the grapevine is a new slavery ring is in effect. A couple of humans have been located off planet in places they’re not suppose to be.” “Sanders at it again?”, Dan asked. “No, the Colonel is still safely locked away in his cell,” Pierce informed them. “After Command rescued them they gave a description of their capturer. They found a match in the database, a Rigillien named Vosk. Michelle,” she nodded and an image of a green skinned humanoid with pointed ears appeared on screen. “Vosk has a record a mile long, but it’s small time stuff, vandalism, disturbing the peace. Up till know his biggest crime was pick pocketing. Apparently he’s gotten bored with that and starting something a little more ambitious.” “Don’t you just hate it when that happens?”, Boomer quipped. “More than likely Sander capture left a huge hole in this particular operation,” Pierce continued. “From various reports Vosk is a two bit of a con man and probably talked his way into the assignment. Either the Alienizer bosses were desperate or they wanted to see how fast he would crash and burn.” Michelle took over, “The sensor net registered an unauthorized entry over Africa. From the entry angle we think it landed here in the rainforest.” A map appeared and a small section was highlighted. From what I can tell this area is sparsely populated, but a few scientific studies are being done right now, some without any immediate way to contact the outside. Plenty of opportunities to nab somebody who’s not going to be missed for a few days. “ “I’d personally say time is of the essence here so launch now,” the Major told them. “Rodger,” they saluted. As they were leaving Ace said, “The guy better hope he doesn’t try anything,” she looked at Dan and stressed, “funny.” He stopped and looked at Michelle before saying, “Best friends, or course they talked.” As he exited the room the Major thought he heard him mumble, “This is why I had that rule to begin with.” Major Pierce glanced over to Michelle, “You guys hit a bump in the road?” “Just caught him doing something stupid,” she told him. “Basically he was being a guy.” “Ah, the all purpose reason,” he said. “You can look at me all you want, but I’ve been married long enough to know that much.” *** Before they left Ace assured him she wouldn’t act like he made Michelle angry while they were on the job. Dan got the feeling the trip home would be a different story. So better get his talking with the apparently non mad Ace in while he could. The SPD orbital satellites were having a hard time picking out individual life signs underneath the dense canopy of the tree tops. The Major was hoping the Shepard sensor package would have a better time of it at a closer range. Dan turned to Rev, “Can you make out what’s what done there?” “Yes,” he answered, “But so far I’m not detecting any human or humanoid life signs as of yet.” “Maybe we should do a two party search,” Ace offered. “One of from the air and one from the ground. It could make things go quicker. I saw a clearing over there that would make a perfect hot drop point.” “You sure you just don’t want to test the Hounds in this type of environment,” D.E. teased. “I do believe we have a volunteer,” she said with a half smile. Dan nodded, “Rev go with him.” “Rodger,” Rev said as they got up and headed for the cargo hold. Ace changed course and lowered their altitude. “Approaching hot drop height and speed,” she announced. “Hot dropping in three… two… one now!” Underneath the ship by each wing a panel opened and two black and white motorcycles fell to the ground. After they landed D.E quickly pointed out a path that looked like it could accommodate vehicles and they headed that while Ace went in the opposite direction. *** “I’m telling you the sensors got a reading,” An Igadroid was telling Vosk, who was looked distracted s he sat under a manmade canopy fanning himself with a pith hat “And I keep telling ya the sensor are wrong,” he said irritably. “It is slagging hot around here. Why did I want come here again?” “Because you convinced the bosses that this would be the best place to acquire new slaves without being noticed.” It turned a data pad in it’s hand around so he could read the display himself,” We’re behind quota incase you weren’t aware.” “Don’t get your circuits in a bunch,” he dismissed the robot. “If we have to we’ll get some of those, watta ya call them… gorillas and shave them or something. Nobody will know the difference.” “Human are starting to be recognized as one of the more somewhat intelligent species,” the Igadroid informed him. “People will note the difference.” “Then we’ll sell them to the dumber clients,” he shot out of the chair. “This wasn’t supposed to be this hard. Gather up a few humans and ship them out to whoever wanted them. Human slaves fetch top credits in the right sector you know. Easy money all the way to the bank.” “Humans don’t earn any more credits than any other species,” it informed Vosk. “That’s because human haven’t packaged the right way yet. It’s what everything comes down too, the right angle. Ya have to know the right bait for the hook.” He headed for the sensor and looked at it, “So what this so called anomaly?” Turning to the Igadroid he demanded, “You’re the one who dragged me all the way over here so show me the stupid thing.” Vosk slapped his hand against the side or the sensor before the Igadroid stopped him. “The readout I was talking about is over here,” the Igadroid went to a separate senor screen. Punching something in on the control a readout appeared that quickly repeated itself. Vosk looked at the readout for a long time. “So what is it?”. Thinking quickly he added, “I know what I’m seeing but I what to make sure we’re seeing the same thing.” The Igadroid stared at him for a second before answering, “Two metallic objects were detected briefly before dropping below sensor range.” “Say what now?” “They dropped from midair.” “Why didn’t ya say so,” he snapped. Walking past him to the communication array he switched to wideband transmission and grabbed the microphone. “Listen up whoever you are. Ya just don’t appear out of nowhere and try to horn in on my operation. Ya want to impress the bosses do it somewhere else!” Slamming the microphone down he said to the Igadroid, “Ya have ta show these wanna bes whose boss.” As Vosk went back to his chair the Igadroid muttered, “Idiot.” *** “Well that took a set,” Ace commented as she held the Shepard in a holding pattern over the jungle. “Boomer did you get a lock on that transmission?”, Dan asked. “Like he lit up a Christmas tree,” Boomer confirmed. “I haven’t seen anything that easy to locate since… ever.” “Ops2 to Machine Shepard,” D.E. called. “Did you guys get a weird transmission?” “We got it,” Dan sighed. “Boomer will give you his location. We’ll come in on…” “Ah… Cap,” Boomer cut in, “you’re not going to believe this.” “Let D.E and Rev hear it too,” he told him. “If they’re not already.” “Yo,” Vosk called out, “whoever out there listen up. I’ve been thinking things over. Maybe we can work together or something. I could use a little more brawn around here. Whatta ya say?” Dan motioned to open the link, “What’s in it for us?” “A part of the profits,” Vosk answered. “Not a big part, I mean this is my operation and I’d be the boss so I’d get a larger cut.” “Why would I agree to something like that?” “I already know the territory and I got a couple of loads off already.” “You’re finding that many humans out here in the middle of nowhere?” “Oh loads,” he said. Then he added, “a couple of them tried to say they were ‘scientists’,” he laughed out loud. “Like a human can be that smart, ya know what I’m saying?” “I said human…,” a new voice started before it was cut off. “Shadup! Ya say what I program ya to say.” There was a few moments of silence then Vosk spoke again, “Igadroids, sometime I think they made them waaaay too smart, ya know what I mean?” “That’s why I never use them.” Dan said nothing for a few moments trying to look like he was thinking things over. “How about we meet up, negotiate terms and such.” “A businessman, I like that. I know this little clearing. I’ll have my robot send you the location.” Boomer indicated they received the co-ordinates. “Ok, we’ll meet you there, say an earth half hour?” “How long is that?”, he said to somebody. “Oh yeah I can do that. Look foreword to doing business with you.” “Right see you then,” Dan ran his hand across his throat and Boomer closed the link. “So I guess we’re not rushing in?”, D.E asked over his License. “He already knows somebody here, he could expect somebody to come at him,” Dan explained. “He could beef up security around his camp. This way we can make him think he’s in control. Besides,” he added with a grin, “he doesn’t know how many of us are here.” “I smell a plan,” Ace chimed in. *** Vosk paced around the edge of the clearing by his Igadroid impatiently. He kept looking at the field with growing anger. “Were are these morons, I hate dealing with amateurs.” Before long the Igadroid picked something that wasn’t there before, a jet. It flew over their heads as Vosk ducked. Without an order the Igadroid tossed a grenade and group of Anaroids formed. As the black and white jet landed with its rear section toward them Vosk could just make out the symbol on one of the tail fins, “Crud SPD.” The anaroids took position as the ramp lowered and the three inside walked out. Ace looked around and whistled, “Ten Anaroids and an Igadroid, impressive.” “Wha… what are you doing here?”, Vosk asked hiding a little behind the Igadroid. “Oh slag black badges.” “I thought we were going to do business?”, Dan said. Vosk got a little braver and talked from behind the row of Anaroids as he recognized the voice, “wait, ya want to do business with me? Heh, guess SPD doesn’t pay that well after all.” “Actually I wanted to see how dumb you actually were,” Dan informed him. “I’d say pretty dumb,” Boomer chuckled. “I’m not sure what kind of transmitter you’re using but I think they pinpointed your location over in Singapore.” Vosk was insulted, “I needed something powerful to stay in touch with the bosses. We’re like this by the way,” he held up two crossed fingers. “Yeah, some of the underlings are jealous at how tight we are. I’m pretty sure they were making sure some of my other messages from getting through.” Starting to feel a little more confident he said, “Besides, ya guys look like the dumb ones here. I mean you’re outnumbered and you’re not wearing your flashy suits.” “Looks that way doesn’t it,” Dan commented. “Well seeing how I got the upper hand I’ll be a nice guy and ask if you have any last words.” “Actually I do,” Dan said while crossing his arms. A few yards away, hidden in the foliage, Rev watched waiting for that very gesture. Listening closely he spoke into his License, “The Captain said ‘nice hat’.” Further away with his License laying bedside him D.E said, “Right,” and took quick aim with his sniper rifle. He had Vosk smug face in his sights then aimed up slightly before he pulled the trigger. The pith hat flew off his head and a second later Vosk reacted, “What the slag?” Half the Anaroids looked for the source of that shot. Dan and the others lowered there head and closed their eyes as Boomer threw up a grenade of his own. The flash disrupted the bots’ systems long enough for them to grab their OpsLicense, “Emergency! DekaOps!” They were surrounded by a digital field as the Dekametal formed a black bodysuit around them. A colored strip went down their suit and formed a number on the left side of their chest. A hard backpack formed and the D-shots appeared. The three of them shouted, “Face on!”, as a helmet appeared around their heads. Another shot from D.E. pierced the Igadroid’s head as they rushed the line of Anaroids. Dan ducked an incoming swing from one as he pulled his D-Colt and shot it in the gut. Flicking the switch by his thumb to multi he fired at another one and three energized slugs knocked it down sparking. Ace was picking her shots with her D-Rod, only energizing it when she had a clear opening. Boomer was mowing them down with his D-shot. “Where’s Vosk?”, Ace called out after the last one went down. Dan quickly surveyed the area and saw him, “This way.” Vosk ran to where he thought his base was. His hearts felt like they were pounding in his head. The bosses had to have something close by to take these guys out. They owed him something for all the things he’s done for them. Then he tripped and crashed to the ground, “Slagging tree.” “Hold it Vosk!”, Dan shout out as they caught up with him, OpsLicense in his hand. “Go ahead,” he challenged, “you think you’re string pullers are gonna let somebody like me bite the dust?” “Target orders,” Dan said as the area went black. A red X and a blue circle flashed between them. Vosk looked confident the entire time, until the X shined brightly after it was done. “Eliminate target.” “No! There was a mistake!” Vosk cried out. “Do it again. Do ya hear me? Judge me again!” Locking their License into the D-Shots Ace and Boomer went to a knee as Dan stood behind them, “Ready.” “I’m important ya slagging idiots! I’m somebody ya hear!” “Strikeout!”, Dan ordered. Three energy beams fired out and Vosk was deleted screaming. Dan lowered his D-Shot and said, “Got you.” Ace stood saying, “Is it bad I think I kinda enjoyed that one? Because he was really annoying.” “Eh,” Dan said while shaking his hand slightly. “D.E and Rev should be heading for his base site. Let’s join up with them.” *** Hours later Dan finally caught Michelle by herself by the field team quarters. She saw him and started for her quarters, but he ran in and stopped her, “Look Michelle, I’m sorry I didn’t let you in on the joke from the beginning.” She crossed her arms and asked, “Can you at least tell me why you didn’t think you could tell me about it? You had Rev with you for God sakes.” Scratching the back of his head he said, “Honestly it sounded like a good idea at the time.” “Well it wasn’t. I could have helped you know. I could have put some of my perfume on a rag and rubbed it on part of his desk.” “I never thought of that,” Dan said thinking it over. “That’s a pretty good idea.” “See you jerk,” she pushed him in the shoulder. “Well I guess it’s a little late now,” Dan said. “And you probably already told him everything.” “Well he did notice something was off about his desk, so I’ll give you credit for knowing him that well,” she conceded. “But I never told him it was a joke.” “Why?”, he asked. “I figured you bust me the first chance you got.” “As much as I hate to admit it, the look on his face was priceless when he came out of his office,” she stifled a laugh.” “I knew it be funny,” he said. “So,” he put his hands around her waist and pulled her a little closer, “is there any way I can make this particular plunder up to you?” “I’m sure I can think of something,” she smiled seductively. Then she pulled away saying, “In a couple of days when I’m ready to forgive you.” “That was borderline evil,” he told her. “You deserved it,” she countered as she opened her door. “Can you at least tell Ace to stop giving me the cold shoulder? Rev was yawning like a madman on the trip back.” “I’ll try,” she said, “but if I can you’re going to owe me another one.” And she closed the door. He looked at the door for a few moments before walking away. “She says I’m going to owe her another favor. I still have Hawaii hanging over my head. And I didn’t even want anything to do with Hawaii.” ----- ED – Evanescence – Whisper ----- |
10-17-2012, 06:19 PM | #20 |
Member
Join Date: May 2012
Posts: 486
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Special Police DekaOps
19 ----- OP – Alter Bridge – Metalingus ----- A nearly disserted highway during midday, everything was quiet except for a lone semi truck. On the inside the blond haired driver kept his eyes on the road in front and behind him. The red haired person besides him was watching everything else while he tapped his fingers on the arm rest. So far everything was going to plan but they had a while to go. The driver glanced at the clock on the dashboard. Flipping on the CB he said, “How’s the package?” In the trailer a person in a black and blue Dekasuit looked at the freezer unit containing something that was pinkish purple. “Still solid,” D.E. answered. “Right, keep you eyes on the readouts and make sure it stays that way.” Switching over to another frequency he said, “Ops1 to Shepard.” “Shepard here,” Ace answered. “The area’s still clear. We’ll let you know the moment something does.” “Understood, Ops1…” “Wait,” Boomer took the mic, “Ace I just wanted to say thank you again. Lisa and me really appreciated it when you agreed to be part of it all.” “Once again no problem, Shepard out,” she said quickly and ended the connection. Dipping her head a bit she said, “I still can’t believe she asked me to be one of her bridesmaids.” “If this distresses you so much, why did you agree?”, Rev asked behind her. “I don’t know, she just asked me out of the blue. She had this look on her face. Maybe if could have said no if I knew I was a last minute replacement for one of her friends who backed out. No, I’ve been part of the plans for awhile now apparently.” Ace put the Shepard on auto so she could look at Rev. “I mean I barely know the woman. I’ve meet her a couple of times tops, and that’s only because Boomer was around.” “You are part of Robert’s life,” Rev said thinking it over. “Perhaps she wants to make sure this part of his life is still welcomed in his new one.” “I could do that from the pew in the church,” she argued. “God, you should have seen me at the dress fitting. Outside of Lisa I knew nobody and her friends were giving me the outsider treatment. She was the only one there who actually wanted me there.” Turning back around and taking the stick she continued, “Michelle’s been married before, why didn’t she ask her? Maybe she can give me some tips on how not to be bored out of my mind while I’m standing there.” “I’m sure that not all you have to do Trish,” Rev told her. “No, I’m supposed to help plan things too. Every couple of days I’ll get a call asking if I think such and such is a good idea. The moment I say anything that sounds like a yes I’ll hear,” she started talking like a valley girl, “’So like thanks, byeeeeeeee.’ Lisa found out and apologized up and down but they kept doing it.” “If this is so much of an annoyance perhaps you should find away to step away.” “I thought about it but it wouldn’t be far to Lisa, ducking out this close to the wedding. Besides I kinda like her. I mean anybody prepared to spend the rest of their life with Boomer can’t be all bad.” *** Boomer continued tapping his fingers, way off to the beat to the tune coming off the radio. Which got on Dan’s nerve a little more considering he only turned it on to drown the tapping out. “Getting nervous about the wedding kid? It’s only a week away.” After a moment he replied, “I am now, thanks Cap.” He started tapping faster. Dan resisted the urge to grab those fingers just to get a moment of silence. “I don’t mean to pry or anything but have you thought about the living arrangements…” “I decided I’m going to do like the Major and his wife,’ Boomer told him before Dan got the question out. “A while ago actually. Me and Lisa found this apartment a couple miles away OpsBase. So I’ll be there in a couple of minutes if we got an assignment during the night.” “That’s not what I was going to say,” Dan informed him. “I figured you’d be living off base. With some of the guys we bring in I wouldn’t want my wife around either. Not to mention the in-laws wanting to visit.” “Let’s not mention the in-laws,” Boomer said. “I’m sure they like you,” Dan told him. “But you are marrying their little girl after all.” “Telling me to my face they don’t want me marrying her is a funny way of saying they like me.” Dan raised an eyebrow at that one. “It’s because I’m a cop. They’re dead set against Lisa becoming a widow at a young age.” “She could become a widow even if you weren’t a cop.” “And Lisa told them that, but they are dead set in their ways.” Boomer looked out the window and watched the countryside. “Hell I’ll be amazed if they show up for the wedding.” After a few minutes of silence he asked, “If you weren’t worried about where Lisa was going to live or how close I’d be what were you going to say?” “Basically I was going to say it was going to be a little weird on base without you there all the time.” Boomer got a huge grin on his face, “I knew it you liked me.” “It’s a situation I can quickly get used to,” he quickly said. “Especially the quiet.” “Admit you like me.” “Do you want to be running laps till an hour before you’re married?” The truck hit a rough patch in the road that made it jump slightly. Almost immediately Dan grabbed the CB, “How’s the package?” “Power readings fluctuated a bit,” D.E. answered, “but they’re back to normal now.” “Make sure they stay that way. You have that freeze gun nearby?” D.E. patted the oversize gun hang by the strap off his shoulder, “Hasn’t left my side since the trip started.” “Keep it there until we’re done.” “Rodger,” D.E. said. “Refresh my memory,” Boomer said. “Why are we transporting this thing across a couple of states this way and not in the Shepard?” “Well for one,” Dan answered, “in case things get hairy while we’re trying to unload this thing we might need the Shepard’s firepower. Two, the freezer unit needed for this job wouldn’t fit in the cargo bay. And three, Ace was already complaining about modifying the Hound bay as it was.” “I’d feel better if we actually had some back up for this one.” “For once I agree with you. Some space amoeba that can dissolve just about anything it wants when it’s thawed out. You bet I want an extra tech team back there with him.” “So why don’t we?” “Commander Scorp,” Dan spat. “The Major said he wanted to see how we acted under this type of situation.” “So he just happened to have access to some sinister space slime?” “Apparently a lab planet did. There are other things out there like this one just floating around the galaxy, and they cause a lot of damage when they’re caught by a planet’s gravitational pull and thaw out. From some of the reports the Major passed me there’s a big push to find a way to counter act them.” “Then why are we babysitting this one?” “Because they captured very few of these things and various labs wants to run tests on it.” Anticipating the next question Dan added, “And they don’t want this thing in one place for any long periods of time.” “In case the Alienizers get any ideas,” Boomer said in understanding, Dan nodded. “So basically we’re just a pit stop.” “We’re part of the leg of this particular journey. They do this every time when they transport this thing. Plan out a long complicated route, throw out a couple of false trails. A couple dummy ships and they think they have a plan.” Dan sighed, “Always a bureaucrats plan too.” “Why do you say that?” Dan waited a few moments before answering, “Now I can’t speak for the police department, but when I was in the military I could usually tell which officers spent time in the trench with the men and which rode a desk their entire career. And bureaucrats always come up with shit like this.” After another couple of moments he added, “I had Scorp pegged as a bureaucrat the moment I saw him.” “You figured that out the moment you meet an ‘alien’ SPD commander?” Boomer asked with some skepticism. “It’s a vibe you learn to read,” Dan informed him. “And that why the faster we hand this off to the next courier the better.” *** “Mr. Rockwell,” The driver of the nearby car said as a man in an immaculate suit looked out over the area with a pair of binoculars, “did you find what you’re looking for yet?” “Not yet,” he said as patiently as he could. His distain for humans grew with every second he was around them. Then he spotted it and his mood brighten, the truck with the special delivery. It was amazing how easy it was to look through SPD security when you knew where the lesser know cracks where, especially when you planted them yourself. Using a special add on he developed the magnification amplified greatly and he got a good look at the driver. “Perfect,” he whispered, the fact Stevens was involved made this all the better. “What was that sir?”, the driver asked. “Nothing.” He said as he headed for the car. “Sorry for the inconvenience. Sometimes you hear a report about an alien that’s so outlandish you have to check it out for yourself.” “Oh I understand sir. I heard about one that could change from human size to something the size of a whale in a second. Dropped everything myself to take a look.” ‘Rockwell’ nodded and pulled a palm pilot out of his coat, or something that looked like a palm pilot. Sending a message to his, thanks to Stevens and his lackeys, new Igadroid, he ordered it to set the trap. He smirked to himself as he saw his eyes go reptilian briefly in his reflection. *** The trip was uneventful for awhile, then they passed through a energy field that literally came out of nowhere. Dan stomped on the brakes the moment his mind registered what was going on but the engine had already died. “What the hell?”. He grabbed the CB but got nothing but static. He and Boomer jumped out of the cab as Dan’s OpLicense went off, “This is Steven, go.” Ace sounded worried, “Cap we just registered an electrical magnetic pulse near you on the sensors.” “We ran into it Ace, the truck stalled.” “D.E.,” Boomer activated his, “how are things back there buddy?” “A little shaken up with the sudden stop,” he answered. “The back up systems kicked in, what happened?” “We got hit with an EMP.” “Good thing for the shielding on SPD equipment then.” “Tell me about it.” He saw something on the edge of the road a few feet back. “Wait a second. Cap,” he shouted after checking it out, “I found an emitter!” “I found one too,” he called back. “Rev what kind of life sign readings are you getting?” “You are the only humanoid reading I am receiving in the current area,” he answered after a moment. “Bots,” Dan said as he tried to put everything together. It was the only thing that made sense with the clues available. “Scan for any stray energy readings. I’m sure whatever set these emitter was smart enough to get away and be close enough to make sure they had the right target. Ace keep us on visual cause this could go south in a hurry.” None of them thought to check under the truck. Once the pulse went off heavily a shielded roller drone silently slide under the trailer bofore either of them noticed. It’s scanner detected the coldest spot overhead and stopped. A cannon raised as it did a deeper scan of the interior. Then it used the rest of it’s energy cell to power one shot that pierced the trailer. Dan turned around just in time to see the shot go through the roof, “What the hell?” Inside the trailer D.E. stepped back as the shot surprised him. When he looked back he saw a couple of the power conduit and coolant tubes severed. He quickly checked the readings and grabbed his License, “We lost power to the chamber and this thing heating up fast.” “Blast it with the freeze gun!”, Dan snapped. “Right,” he said and fired at it. “We lost the containment field,” he announced as it flashed out of existence. It thawed out quicker than he thought it would and the amoeba lashed out at him. “Holy…!”, D.E. headed for the floor. By the time he looked up it was already headed for the hole in the floor. “Oh no you don’t,” he said as he took aim. He fired as it as it shot out another stream at him. The frozen slime arm continued foreword and pierced the freeze gun and jerked it out of his hands. It dissolved the gun in seconds and actually grew a little after absorbing a part of it. Then it started on the floor. “Weapon’s down and it’s getting out.” “There’s a couple of more in the locker behind you,” Dan reminded him as he looked under the trailer. “Get ‘em and get out here.” Watching the slime come toward him he shouted, “Boomer change standby!” Stumbling to the side he was surprised when it actually jumped at him. The amoeba landed on a boulder and quickly absorbed it mass into it’s own in no time. Standing by Boomer he said, “Emergency! DekaOps!” A digital flash later and both of them where in their Dekasuits and drew their D-Colt and D-Shooter respectively. “Do we fire?”, Boomer asked. Dan looked at the D-Colt in his hand, “Either the shot goes through it or it gets bigger. D.E get your ass out here!” Finally the back of the trailer opened up and the ramp started to lower. D.E. jumped out with both freeze guns when he had enough room. “Sorry, had a hard time overriding the security lock. It wouldn’t let me input the emergency override code, kept saying no access in an emergency situation,” he explained as he tossed one of the guns to Boomer. “Had half a mind to shoot the damn thing.” “Damn bureaucrats,” Dan muttered. “Let it have it.” The amoeba lashed out again, D.E. was ready while Boomer caught on real quick. Dan looked inside the trailer to find anything useful. He thought about tearing out one of the cooling tanks from the containment units, but they would probably going to need that intact. “Cap it’s bolting!” Boomer shouted. He looked back and saw it roll away from the freeze beam dissolving and absorbing whatever it ran over. “Oh no you don’t,” Dan said. “Ace, freeze run now.” “Rodger,” she replied. She pulled the Shepard around and dropped the cloaking field. Locking on the ever growing target she opened the Hound bay doors and released some of the bombs they were carrying, “Bombs away.” The bombs hit the ground and the air quickly got a lot colder around the amoeba and it started to shrink. “Good shooting Ace,” D.E. pumped his fist. “It’s not over yet,” Dan reminded him. “You two cover that thing now.” The Shepard landed and Rev rushed out with two short compact rifles with a dish at the end of the barrels. Dan took one saying, “Rev come with me, Ace fix that the containment unit.” “I’ll try, but it’s going to depend on how bad the damage is,” she informed him. “Then jury rig something,” He told her as he and Rev followed Boomer and D.E.. Getting on either side of the thing Dan and Rev raised their weapons. “Rev you ready?” He nodded, “Now.” Two beams came from the dishes and encompassed the amoeba. Slowly the slime shrunk even more and changed shape into what looked like a sphere. An alarm started to come from his gun, “it’s starting to fight back.” “On it,” Boomer said as he shot another ray at the sphere. “Ok, we have to keep this thing hibernating until Ace gets the containment unit fixed. How’s the power levels on the freeze guns?” “I’m still good,” Boomer answered. “I got a lot of shots left,” D.E. added. “Hey, what do we do if somebody drives by?” Dan thought for a second, “Say we’re filming a movie.” “But what about…?” “Tell them it’s a special effect,” he snapped. “Sorry, situation getting to me and I don’t want an angry ex fiancé coming for my head if anything happens to Boomer. Here’s what we’re going to do, we’re going to take this to the trailer right now. D.E., Boomer watch this thing carefully. Alternate shots to keep it cold until then. Ready? Let’s go.” Slowly they made their way to the trailer with D.E. and Boomer freezing again every time it started looking active. It seemed like forever before Ace peek her head out the door. “I think I got it,” she announced. “That’s not the word I want to hear,” Dan told her. “It’s the best you’re going to get right now,” she shot back. “Guess it has to do. Rev come on.” Carefully they headed into the trailer. Dan backed into the trailer first. He looked behind to watch out for the hole and saw Ace crouching by the unit. “Do you have to be right there?” “I’m not sure if this is going to work and I might have to rig up something else as fast as I can,” she informed him. “Alright then,” Dan said as he and Rev got the sphere into position. When it was hovering in the unit’s chamber Ace activated the containment field. “Cross you fingers,” Ace said and turned on the freezing unit. After several moments Dan nodded at Rev and they deactivated their weapons. All of them held their breath until the readouts stabilized and stayed strong. “Yes!” Ace celebrated by jumping into the air. Dan breathed out hard as he tilted his head back and lowered his weapon. “Rev watch this thing for the time being. Ace, your next job…” She already ahead of him as he reached into he pack and pulled out a wrench, “Get the truck going. Should be the easiest thing I do today.” Hours later they arrived at their destination. Dan jumped out of the cab as an annoyed looking pointed eared alien walked toward them, “You are late.” A gold badge, just great. Dan said nothing as he reached into the cab and tossed the remaining half of the freeze gun at the SPD operative. “We had a little bump in the road,” Dan said. “Boomer, you and D.E. help our… friends get it out of the truck. Then it’s officially theirs and we can get the hell out of here. Oh and you can tell whoever in charge of this project that they will be getting my complaints about their security system and set up in the report.” *** A week later they made it to the church without any assignments coming their way. Although they wanted to do it differently the Major insisted they wear civvies to avoid any question why members of police department from different states and a couple of army officers where there. Dan and the guys rented some tuxes while Michelle found a dress in her closest and Rev wore a ceremonial rob from his home planet. From what they knew of Lisa’s family they were surprised that so many showed up, even her parents. D.E. was next to Boomer trying to keep him calm. Finally the music started and eventually Ace walked out trying not to look out of place in the dress she was wearing. Then Lisa came out and Boomer fell in love all over again. Michelle whispered into Dan’s ear about the dress while the Major and his wife Helen watched from behind them. The preacher started and everyone paid close attention. When he got to, “If there is anybody here who think these two should not be married, speak now or forever hold you piece.”, Dan, Michelle, Ace and D.E all glanced over to Lisa side of the family. Nobody said anything and the preacher continued. After they exchanged their vows the preacher announced, “With the power invested in me I now pronounce you man and wife. You may now kiss your bride.” Everybody got to their feet as Boomer did just that. “Ladies and gentlemen, it is my pleasure to present to you for the first time Mr. and Mrs. Robert Parker.” Hours later at the wedding reception Lisa’s Father gave a quick speech welcoming him into the family, but he quickly sat down. That didn’t dampen the mood. A mood that elevated as they gave in to the small smash chant D.E. got started when they cut into the cake. After they had their first dance the floor quickly filled. Boomer and Lisa paid attention to nothing but each other while the Major and his wife remembered their wedding day. There was a tap on the Major shoulder. “Do you mind if we cut in?”, Dan asked. “Not at all,” The Major replied. He grabbed Dan hand saying, “But I lead.” Dan backed away, “Do you think I’m afraid to hit a guy with a cane in front of all these people?” “Don’t mind him honey,” Helen said as she took Dan’s arm. “I’ll be glad to dance with a handsome young man.” Dan took one last chance to point at the Major, “Keep you hands where I can see them.” He looked hurt, “I thought you knew me better than that.” “I do, that’s why I’m repeating keep your hands where I can see them.” “Come on Major,” Michelle said, “lets’ make both of them jealous.” “Careful, he breaks easily.” “That’s my husband your talking about,” Helen chided him. They talked for a bit, catching up where they could, or what Dan thought he could tell her. Then she said, “So, Henry tells me that you and Michelle are pretty close. It’s about time you broke that stupid rule of yours.” “We’re having some fun,” Dan admitted. “We enjoy being around each other. I kind of wish I broke that rule a lot sooner than what I did.” “Any plan to make an honest woman out of her?” “I’ve never heard her tell a lie,” Dan deadpanned. “Well there was that one time involving Hawaii, but I try not to think about it too much. In a corner Rev and the Preacher were discussing the differences and similarities of their respective bonding ceremonies. At a table sitting by herself Ace watched the others enjoy themselves. Boomer looked happier than she ever seen him so she tried to make sure her mood didn’t dampen theirs. D.E. sat next to her unexpectedly and asked, “How are you doing?” “How am I doing?”, she repeated. “I’m at a wedding reception, sitting by myself in a God awful pink dress. How do you think I’m doing?” “Well I can’t do anything about the dress,” D.E. said as he stood up. “But maybe I can do something about the sitting alone part,” and he held out a hand. Ace looked at it for a moment before taking it. He led her to the dance floor, just in time for a slow dance to start. While they danced she looked over at Boomer and Lisa. Whatever they were felling must have been catching, because she slowly started to enjoy herself. All of them glad none of their License went off to ruin the evening. ----- ED – Evanescence – Whisper ----- |
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