As Usual C+C welcomed.
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BGC- BEAT OF DEFIANCE II
Chapter 5
As they drove toward the Boomer incident Sylia Stingray covertly
viewed her troops.
Nene had her helmet off and was seated at the communications
panel, scanning the police frequencies and talking on the sideband
with Louis. The Frenchman was driving the van that Defiance had
used before joining the Sabers. The two were fine tuning the
communications and jamming plans they had made. Sylia nodded
to herself, all as it should be.
If nervous energy and excitement could be tapped, Priss would be a
major power source. It was clear in her posture and her constant
movement. Again Sylia nodded to herself, reassured that all was
normal.
Linna was in the relaxation pose she had adopted for waiting action
in a hardsuit. Sylia had been told that it helped her concentrate on
the coming battle. * Another go. *
Then the Lead Knight Saber looked at the final and newest
member of the team. Tina appeared to be using a combination of
Priss' and Linna's methods. Overtly she appeared relaxed, but her
armored foot appeared to be tapping out a rhythm.
* Understandable, this is the first time she is going into action with
a team. And in spite of how well she did in the drills, she is an
unknown factor. We will know more after this Boomer hunt. * Then
she shook her head. *Ironic that it is the same general area we first
met one another."
Then the alert light lit up announcing it was almost time to
deploy. Standing up and bracing her self she addressed the other
Sabers.
"Standard Boomer hunt. Tonight we keep the old pairings with
Defiance providing coverage. The next time we might use one of
the 3-2 formations we worked out. Everybody ready?"
Linna simply nodded. The others responded verbally:
"Yes Sylia."
"Let's get this show on the road."
"Locked and Loaded Boss"
Once they had all taken their deployment positions, Sylia took a
breath. "Knight Sabers.....Go!!"
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Mariko was playing some computer game while Mr. Ski watched.
Oparuu entered. "How is it going?
"She is winning the game. I would say her mind is on about a 10
year olds level, at least. I also note that for a seven year old she is
very reserved." he replied quietly. "One can also see that Mariko is
a very nice girl and she is lucky to have such a mother." Mr Ski
glanced up at Oparuu. "And an aunt who loves her just as much, in
spite of the 'all business' face that same aunt shows to the world."
Oparuu's expression showed that this was a much more complete
answer than she expected. "You are very good."
"Oparuu-san, I am much older than you know. I have been many
things in my life. But most of them involved being observant."
"And what else have you observed about my niece?"
"She likes math and music. She is quiet and reserved, but once
she opens up to some one she loves that person wholly. And I have
noticed that she is very careful not to show any paranormal abilities.
So I still have no clue what she or your sister can do."
"We have told her to be very careful about using her gifts and she
does listen. I think Mariko would only use her powers if her own life
or if the life of someone she loved was in danger. Or if Diamond or
I asked her to do so."
"Wise, but I hope she practices."
"She does. If you would compare her talents with normal physical
abilities, I would say she about as strong as an 10 year old."
"Not giving anything away, are you?"
"No. And I'm going to play some with my niece, alone."
Mr. Ski grinned slightly as he stood. "Yes ma'am. I'll be outside the
door."
After he closed the door he sat back and listened as his adopted
clan elders had taught him. * Oparuu has a nice laugh. Something
must have happened to make her so reserved. But she is right,
you shouldn't give anything away in a situation like this." He
concentrated and his hands glowed. "An hold out is often very
useful."
***************
"So this is what going into combat is like without firing a shot "
{Is that a complaint Tina?} was Louis amused response.
"More of an observation. Priss and Linna have been doing most of
the fighting. I've heard Priss remark about Nene's 'cheer leading'
but
even Sylia has done little."
{Well there were only three Boomers to start with}
"Yes but..." Defiance trailed off while while she examined an area
carefully.
{Tina}
"I see it. Someone is getting clever, he was powered down."
Defiance activated the general channel. "Saber Prime there is a
Boomer powering back up, he isn't at a level to fire but he can move
and SHIT!"
Tina suddenly snapped her arm up and fired twice before either
Sylia or Nene could respond.
"I had him spotted Tina, he was a long way from .... firing?" Nene
surprised tone was very apparent in her voice.
She was justified. Yes the Boomer had only been powered up to
move, but it still had the strength to pick up heavy objects. Like a
Vulcan cannon salvaged from an downed ADP chopper. The
Boomer dropped the weapon back into the metal scraps that had
concealed it as it staggered back clutching uselessly at the two
railgun spikes embedded in its head. As she watched it collapse
Nene started to thank Tina when her sensors sounded an alert. At
the same moment Linna pointed and shouted.
"Above you!! Another one!!" The other Sabers opened fire at the
descending Boomer. One of Sylia's shots hit the biomechanical and
forced it off its mark. Defiance had rolled to the side at the warning,
her suits armblades suddenly popping out. She did one sweeping
pass with them that appeared to miss, but her follow-up showed her
real intention, a kick. The fact that Tina also activated her
footbomber made Priss' up close head shot unneeded.
"Nene, Tina, I want a detailed scan of our immediate area. Any
other surprises? Louis wide scan. Are any reinforcements
coming? Mackie, get ready to move us out." Sylia's orders were
crisp and followed instantly.
"Negative Sylia, clear for at least 5 kilometers." reported Louis.
"Working Sylia. Tina move over 25 meters so I can triangulate."
"Will do but I think that was the last of them."
"Why?" asked Priss, before Sylia could voice the same question.
"Because if there where, they would have reacted to the sensor
probes that Nene and I made. No Reaction = No Boomers. QED."
"Huh?"
"We'll explain later Priss." Priss' grumbled response was missed or
ignored by the others.
As they moved back to the Semi, Sylia's mind was churning.
"Boomers are not that smart or as sneaky as the last two. Who is
pulling the strings?"
**********************
Madigan entered the apartment. Her objective was seated before a
computer console. Quietly she advanced prepared to pounce.
Then her prey chuckled. "No tag my dear, so I get to chose tonight."
"Hyru, my dear you can be very irritating at times."
"True my dear Kate, but we all have our faults."
The embrace that the two went into would have surprised their
juniors and started schemes with their peers. In all of Genom,
only Quincy knew of their affair. And he kept quiet, because he
knew also of their loyalty.
When they had come up for air Madigan glanced at the computer
terminal. "What were you looking at?"
"Part of Mason's workload that I inherited. It appears he started a
few projects dealing with the Knight Sabers. One was an
information gathering mission which had two parts planned. The
first part was deemed a failure due to intervention of an outsider and
the higher than anticipated jamming the Knight Sabers produced. I
added a few refinements and continued the second mission Its
results just came in. Only one bit of data not already covered in our
rather scanty database is of interest and it appears garbled."
Madigan raised an eyebrow.
"We may now have five Knight Sabers to worry about."
"Do you need any help from my department?"
"No, I'm going to let this simmer for a while. Besides I've got that
Special Talent search and you have all those African Projects. Plus
whatever Quincy gave you from Mason's workload."
"Do you know who else besides USSD is searching?"
"No but there are a few smaller players, I just haven't ID'ed them
yet. And there is a complication with candidates 3a and b."
"The mother daughter pair?"
"Yes, Mason was also covering that aspect. He neglected to
mention that the Mother is a rather public performer. However, I
am leaning toward that pair because they have some of the highest
ratings of all the candidates and the daughter is at a very trainable
age."
Madigan shook her head. "Annoying that we can read power
levels, but not what those powers are, isn't it?"
Ruefully Hyru agreed. "In addition several entertainment
corporations are bidding for her new contract, including Genom
Entertainment."
"You and I will solve it dear. We always have. "
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Ben L. Harrison - HM1(FMF)/USN/RET
Harriso3@ix.netcom.com
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Anime Excuse #212: Went on a mission with the Lovely Angels
Anime Excuse #213: Tried to help Linna start her car