Bubble Gum Crisis:  Beat of Defiance

CHAPTER 1: First Contact

Nene was in her normal position for a boomer hunt.  In other words back a ways and providing electronic warfare and electronic counter measures support for the other Knight  Sabers.  In the middle of cheering on Priss, who was turning a boomer into so much hi-tech junk and fluids, her sensors alerted her.

"Sylia, someone is scanning us.  It doesn't read as military and it doesn't match anything Genom might produce."

Sylia Stingray frowned behind her suits visor.  "Is it targeting anyone?  Can you tell what they are looking for."

Shaking her head, despite the fact that the other Sabers couldn't see the movement, Nene reported "No targeting  or fire control characteristics.  It is  more like navigation radar. It's like who ever is using this is just watching us.  They have some decent counter measures, I'm still trying to get a good fix on the source."  Suddenly another display of hers lit up.  "Targeting Laser!!  Not on anyone of us!!  It is locked onto a wall.  What is going on..."

Nene was going to add "here"  But some sort of weapon had opened up blowing up part of the wall.  The hole reveled a second wall of metal.  Nene switched sensors from Passive to Active mode.  "Boomer!! He was powered down so the wall blocked him until now!!  It's going up to full power now!!"  As Sylia and Priss responded (Linna was busy finishing off her boomer) to the new threat the weapon opened up again.  Four rounds were fired.  The first blew a large hole in the wall, bringing the boomer into view.  The next three walked up the boomer's body, starting at the  chest and ending at the head.  The boomer was severely damaged but not down.  The boomer opened its mouth to use its laser when a shot from Priss' railgun finished him.

"Who the hell was that!!" shouted Priss as she scanned the roof tops, looking for more threats.

"I don't know but whoever they are the don't like boomers either" responded Linna as her boomer fell into three different pieces.

Sylia was more concerned with locating the interloper.  "Nene can you get a lock now?"

The Sabers computer wizard reply was rapid.  "I got it!  They stopped transmitting but I am getting a radar return.  They are on that roof ".  She pointed.

"Priss, Linna go" ordered Sylia.

Using their jump jets they quickly reached the roof.  At this point in time the confusion started.

"Is the target still there Nene?" asked Linna.

"I'm showing all three of you now, why are you asking?"

Priss shot back.  "Because we don't see a @#$%^&* thing that is why."

"Priss is right Nene.  We are getting your targeting data but we can see no one, our suits wont give us a lock."

Sylia ordered "Priss switch to IR, Linna stay in normal light."

Following her orders Priss suddenly saw a figure in armor standing just where Nene's sensors said it would be.  "Found it!  Hey it's a hardsuit.  How did they pull that off?!"

Sylia ordered "You can ask them later.   Priss , don't start any hostile action but let it know we can see it."

Priss complied by starting to walk directly toward the still invisible figure, changing direction when the figure shifted one way or another.  "I think it knows now Sylia."  Priss took a closer look.  "Sylia it is hard to tell in IR but I think the person in the suit is a woman." 

"Then invite her to talk Priss"

Priss was opening her mouth when  a bolt of lightning struck the roof.  And the figure disappeared from all their sensors.

All four of the Sabers where thinking variants of "What the hell?"

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It looked like a normal full size van only with heavier than normal suspension.  If you looked closely a the right time you could have seen sudden flash of light. You would have also noticed the van rocked slightly like additional weight had been suddenly added. The driver, a young man,  turned and looked inside.  "Did it go well?  I got worried when I lost contact." The man was speaking English with a noticeable French accent.  

The man was addressing an armored figure who had not been there a second ago.  The armor was painted in dark blues and gold.  The person in the armor removed a helmet before speaking.  The action revealed a woman with long iron gray hair and gray eyes.

"Yes, up until when I had to show myself.  There was a passive boomer behind a metal wall that escaped their detection.  I spotted it just as it started to go active.  Their EW person spotted me soon after, that suit must pack a lot of sensor and electronic warfare gear.  I think it is their routine to jam the area they are in.  That's why we lost contact."  the woman paused.  "Louis you are going to have to boost and tighten our signal strength.  I also need for you work on that IR/UV module.  I was invisible and at least one of them spotted me anyway."

"Oui, mon commadante.  In the meantime are Angelique's services going to be needed?"

As she started getting out of the armor, revealing undergarment similar to the one the Knight Sabers wore, the woman said "No, the only combat was at range against that single boomer.  And the Blue Knight Saber got the final shot on it."

"And your assessment of these Knight Sabers?"

"A well coordinated team.  The Pink and Blue one is their EW person, I saw no weapons but I doubt that one is unarmed."

She repeated her remark when the man turned on a recorder.  She then continued "All members appear to be female.  The Blue Saber fights at both range and close in, she appears be a brawler, her fighting style is crude, unrefined but effective, The Green Saber prefers to close in.  I didn't have enough time to identify her style but I she has had martial arts training.  The white saber appears to be the tactical leader.  She is also competent as a fighter.  The EW one showed no combat skills.  However she was not engaged at all.  All of them appeared to support each other well.  I couldn't find it in the electronic hash out there but I bet they use very tight encrypted links.  By the way your search beam worked but the range was degraded by all the ECM out there."

"And your general assessment?"

"To early to say.  However reports do stay they are mercs who also hunt boomers for free.  I don't think they are a threat to us.  In fact they have a potential for being allies.  I don't know yet."  Having finished removing herself from the armor the woman heaved a sigh.  "Lets go home Louis, I'm sure you want to check the flight recorder. " Then she grinned  "and Angelique will most likely want to check me out just to be sure I'm all right."

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The KS were also discussing the night's events.

"I'm telling you the suit was there one moment and then just vanished.  I would have know if they were using ECM." Nene repeated for the third time.  

"Could her suit have as much electronics as yours Nene?" asked Linna.

"No way, not with that gun she was carrying." replied  Nene.

"But she was invisible.  I couldn't see her until I switched to IR."

Nene was clearly exasperated.  "I know Priss, I can't explain it either, but however she did it, she did it without using electronics."

Meanwhile Sylia had been reviewing the battle tapes.  "Nene, please come over here please, I would like your help"

"What is it Sylia?"

As Priss and Linna watched, Sylia asked Nene to bring up the IR footage.  "What I want you to do is see if you can give us a picture of how that suit would look like in normal light."


"Sure no problem, You just have to adjust for the different light frequencies."

It actually was much more difficult to do than Nene indicated it would be.  Never the less Sylia had full confidence that Nene could do the job.

While Nene punched bits Sylia reviewed the rest of the evening with the others.  Just as the other three were finishing Nene gave out a whoop of triumph.

Nene pointed at a screen.  It showed a blurred image of armor painted in blue and gold.  The suit was sleeker than standard military ones but not quite at the KS level.  Further details could not be made out.

Sylia tapped her chin.  "Defiance.  That is who it must be."

"Who?" asked Linna.

"A new arrival on the scene,  A female merc who has taken a few contracts that required both fire power and stealth."

Priss' eyes narrowed.  "She a threat to us?"

"I don't know Priss.  I've had Fargo look into her.  But he has not discovered much.  To date it appears she has taken a few contracts that we have refused, partially because of other projects we were doing.   She also has been hired by people who could not even start to afford us or whom our firepower would have been overkill. Of note that she has refused some very lucrative offers from several corporations, including Genom.  However there was one contract  with Wilson Industrial Holdings"

Sylia continued.  "WIH competes with Genom in several areas.  However from what I've find out WIH is cleaner than most Mega-Corporations 

The meeting was clearly over for the night.  As Sylia showed them out she added.  "We must look into this further.  I'll contact you if needed."

After the other Sabers had left, Sylia continued to ponder.     * "Why is she here now?  What are her goals?  Could she be a help or hindrance to our activities?  I just do not have enough data to make a decision." *