CHAPTER 3 - Ride Of The Knight Sabers

  Ian was _not_ having a good day.  It had started off alright, except
for a brief encounter with an iron bar belonging to a jail cell, and a
slightly longer encounter spent infuriating a police detective with
Technospeak.  _Apart_ from that, it had been a glorious day.
Reasonably warm, not too hot, or cold, but most of all, _quiet_.  No
one shooting at him, or chasing him.  Sure, some guys had given him
some funny looks, or maybe even glared, but up until thirty-five
minutes ago, his life had not been in even the slightest bit of
danger.
  Now he was five feet underwater, attempting to avoid plasma bolts
shot from a Chronotrooper who was standing on a jetty just above him.
  On top of all that, his ankle had started hurting.
  /Well,/ he thought as he fought to hold his breath, /we know a way
out of this, don't we..../
  He surfaced under the jetty, presented his firearm to bear, aiming
up through the floor, and pulled the trigger....
  There was a loud, distinct click, followed by a loud, distinct
silence.
  After a few moments, heavy footsteps were heard above, and then the
nozzle of a plasma rifle was shoved through the rotten wood, aimed
directly for Ian's head.  "Too late," said the modulated voice.
  And _then_ Ian's pistol went off.

  --**************--

  It was only of minor importance that Ian Robinson had managed to
escape their immediate attention.  The main thing that was occupying
Max's attention was the C-55 series boomer that had systematically
tore apart Vernon before any of them had spotted it.  Funny, that.
Max had always imagined they made more _noise_ when they were on a
rampage....
  It really wasn't the time or the place to test the Chronotrooper's
capabilities, but Max had lost another of his gang, and this time,
someone was going to pay for it.
  Despite the fact that the boomer had tore apart Vernon like a can
opener, most of its energy weapons had little effect on the hardsuits.
The plasma rifles, however, _were_ having an effect on _it_.  When
they hit the target, of course.
  There wasn't even any response from Vernon's hardsuit anymore.  It
didn't even register on his sensors.  Admittedly, most of the bolts
targeted at the boomer had punched through the broken hardsuit
instead, but Vernon was too far gone to feel it.
  Just as it seemed that the boomer was going to collapse, it stopped
firing.  The blistering heat from phased energy fire stopped playing
on Max's suit.  The C-55 absorbed a few more plasma bolts, before
abruptly turning and disappearing off the other side of the building.
Hardly like a rampage, at all.  The guys kept on firing at the space
where it had been for a few seconds, before the singularly astounding
event sunk in.
  Max had just a few seconds to ponder over the boomer's change of
tactics, before yet another scream echoed over the comm.

  --**************--

  Pulsed laser bolts are nothing like plasma.  Pure laser light
travels at the speed of light, because it is made from pure energy.
However, the effect of pulsing, at least the way pulse-lasers do it,
not only make the laser fire come out in short bursts, it also has the
effect of lending it a _mass_.  This, obviously, slows down the bolts,
but only slightly.  You basically end up with a small mass travelling
at a colossal velocity, equalling very high momentum and a tremendous
amount of kinetic energy.  To put it simply, it packed a punch.  In a
relatively small area.
  Plasma, on the other hand, is merely super-heated balls of gas, that
can simply burn right through armour.  They hang around just long
enough to do serious damage, in addition to the force from the
projectile itself.  Being balls of gas, they had trouble moving
through different mediums, were generally absorbed by water, and also
had a tendency to explode upon contact with certain fuels.  But the
main thing about plasma is that it's hot.  The type of `hot' that
causes liquid nitrogen to just give up and go away.
  However, despite the pulse laser being lighter and far less damaging
by itself than plasma bolts, it does have one feature that, if used
carefully, gives it a slight advantage over the heavier weapon.
Because pulse lasers are made out of light, they are affected by the
same laws as normal light; reflection, refraction, etc.  In the hands
of an expert, this ability can prove to be particularly lethal.  Of
course, sometimes it is difficult to distinguish between an expert and
someone who suffers from dumb luck.

  The visual array of the Chronotrooper suit is like one giant lens.
The tiny slit takes light coming from all directions and focuses it
into each eye, giving as wide a view as possible while keeping
weaknesses down to a minimal.
  It is generally accepted that laser light focused into the human eye
is a _bad_ thing.

  --**************--

  When Ian pulled the trigger, he failed to take into consideration
exactly what effects water might have on a laser pistol.  This is
primarily because Ian spent more time swimming _away_ from danger than
actually considering using it as a form of sneak attack.
  The pulse-laser pistol is, on the outside at least, waterproof.
However, as the gun was fired, water was in the firing chamber.  Since
water is both a superb conductor as well as a refractor of light, it
was very likely that it would have played havoc with the system.  This
could have had several possible effects; most of them though are
generally unpleasant, and typically involve the gun exploding, or
laser fire streaking out the back of the pistol and into Ian's chest.
  However, all that happened was that the charge was delayed.  What
was happening was that the focus of the chamber was off, so the charge
was bouncing around, building up, looking for an escape....
  Ian, staring death in the face, too petrified by the threat of his
demise to do anything, watched in stunned horror as light exploded
from the barrel of his pistol, punching through the pier to reveal the
startled visage of a Chronotrooper.  The pulse continued inexorably,
streaking up into the narrow slit of the Chronotrooper's helmet.
  Fortunately, Ian retrieved his scattered wits quickly enough to make
use of this fluke occurrence, and was gone long before the
Chronotrooper's agonised cries brought help.

  --**************--

  Overhead, the moon was briefly eclipsed by a dark shape darting
past.
  "Sis?  I think I've got it.  A C-55 combat boomer in the eastern
dock district.  Looks like it's damaged or something.  Odd...."
  "What?" asked Sylia.
  "It doesn't seem to be causing a whole lot of devastation," came
Mackie's voice from the cockpit.  Piloting the KnightWing was
generally left up to him.  "And there's no sign...."
  "Sylia?" interrupted Nene, "I'm picking up local radio transmissions
down there.  It's not a data channel either, nor ADP transmissions."  
  "Priss, you and Linna check out the boomer.  See what it's up to
before you take it down.  Nene, you come with me.  We're going to find
out what's going on down there."  
  The bay doors opened, revealing the cityscape below.  All four of
them approached the opening, and prepared to....
  "Knight Sabers... SANJO!"

  --**************--

  Twenty to ten.  Within forty minutes, Ian's situation had changed
from "cheerfully searching for a place to crash" to "running for his
life, filled with terror", as so often happened.  Which still left
about another hour before a chance of a temporary respite from
concentrating on self-preservation.
  However, occupying Ian's mind at the moment was tactics.  He knew
that luck wouldn't see him through this alone, (that is, he wasn't
sure, but he didn't want to push his already miraculous fortune,) so
he was going to have to think up some sort of plan to keep himself
alive.
  /Last time I ran, I didn't bothered thinking about _where_ I was
running to.  And that almost got my head blown off.  Well, this time,
I'm not going to be caught out so easily./
  What he needed was somewhere where he could blend in, just _slip_
out of sight.  The dock district may have been a good place to find
somewhere quiet to rest, but it was not ideally suited for hiding out
in.  If anything, a person in the dock district at night stood out
like a sore thumb.
  In the end, it was little or no choice.  Not having a map of Tokyo
handy, and not knowing really where the best place to go was, Ian
simply headed into town.

  --**************--

  "So now where is he?"
  "I didn't see him, Max...  the bastard got me good...."
  Max cursed under his breath.  Vernon was dead, his neck ripped to
shreds.  Louis was limping after being shot in the leg, and now Jools
was whimpering in pain, blinded.  That left six of them still able to
continue, including Max.  And there was still that boomer around.  It
may have been badly damaged, but some of its weapons systems had still
been operational when it left.
  "Hey, Max, look."  Louis pointed back towards the warehouses where
their ill-fated battle with the C-55 had taken place.  Moonlight
gleaming on metal picked out two shapes descending towards their
battlefield.  Their scanners listed the objects as unknowns.  Max had
a sinking feeling about this.
  "Louis, you stay with Jools and get him back to the factory.
Chronos owes us for this.  Gos, Ryu, you find out what those things
are.  Make sure you keep them away from us as long as you can.  Rest
of you, you're with me."
  The eight of them split up into their various groups and left the
jetty in silence.

  --**************--

  "Sis, just picked up some ADP patrol vehicles.  They're coming near
your position.  I give them about five minutes before they join the
party."
  "Thanks, Mackie.  Nene's just picked up some newcomers herself.
Keep us updated on that boomer."
  "Right, sis."

  --**************--

  The `battlefield' was basically a small area of concrete surrounded
by various buildings.  Stacked near the centre were a few melted oil
drums.  In fact, most of the area was pockmarked with small craters
and black scorch marks from lasers.  There hadn't been any major
structural damage, fortunately.
  "Sylia?  Take a look at this."  Nene was on top of one of the
surrounding warehouses, looking at some sort of white suit.  Sylia
gave a blast from her jets to join her for a closer look.
  The hardsuit was like nothing they'd seen before.  It was big, more
like some sort of exoskeleton; but all the necessary electronics and
mechanisms had been installed, including rudimentary communications
and scanning equipment.  It wasn't quite top notch, but it was pretty
close.
  However, it was mangled beyond recognition.  From what they could
tell, there was someone still inside.  Dead, though.  It had happened
recently; Nene could still get a good thermal reading from the corpse.
  "Take a few samples to test," ordered Sylia.  "We'll analyse it when
we get back, and leave the rest for ADP to pick up."  Nene nodded, and
set to work.  Sylia then made her way to the other end of the roof to
await the company.
  She didn't have long to wait.  Before long, two more of the strange
white suits walked out from behind a building and marched towards
them.  As they got into what Sylia assumed was firing range, they
levelled their black rifles up towards where she was crouching, and
waited patiently.  A very low-pitched modulated voice came from one of
them: "You there.  Come on out where we can see ya."
  Sylia stood up, revealing herself.  She could almost sense the wave
of shock going through the two suits.  They were human, that was for
sure; the suits were just that.
  "Oh shit, the Knight Sabers!"  To them, she was just a female in an
stylised white hardsuit; one quarter of the vigilante group dedicated
to bringing down Genom.  They had already seen two of their friends
killed by various factions in MegaTokyo, one of them being their own
employer.  Another two had been badly injured, both by the target they
had been sent to catch or kill.  At this point, they didn't even want
to know what the Knight Sabers intended to do with them.
  Without warning, they opened fire.

  --**************--

  As the first shot streaked up through the air, Nene jerked her head
up to see what had happened.  On the other side of the roof, Sylia was
dodging white hot plasma rounds, occasionally firing off her own 10mm
at her attackers.
  Finishing collecting the samples she wanted, the pink suited Knight
Saber rushed over towards Sylia.  "What's happening?" she asked over
the comm.
  As soon as Sylia saw Nene was finished, she backed away from the
edge, retreating near the computer expert.  "Trouble.  From an unknown
source.  I haven't seen suit specifications like that _anywhere_.
It's going to be tough to close in with them."
  Nene nodded.  Then her comm system picked up an incoming message.
  "Sylia, you got to come see this."
  "What is it," answered Sylia.  Linna sounded worried.  Or was it
surprise?  Either was odd with the normally cheerful gymnast.
  "We've found the boomer.  Lucky for us, it hasn't found _us_ yet.
It seems to be stalking some guy.  Oh, and we just picked up four
unknowns moving after him as well.  It's getting crowded here, that's
for sure.  It's moving towards the western districts."
  "Ok," Sylia replied.  "We'll be with you in a couple of minutes."
  "We're just going to leave those guys?" asked Nene, gesturing to the
two huge hardsuits backing away from the building, trying to get a
clear shot at the Knight Sabers, as well as waiting for their firearms
to cool down.
  Sylia listened to the rising noise of sirens, and the drone of ADP
helicopters.  "I think they'll be taken care of."

  --**************--

  Twenty-five past ten.  Actually, the stopwatch gave him thirty-two
minutes to go, but he was still walking at a leisurely pace, away from
the docks.  Ian could run fast when the situation demanded it, but
there was no way he would be able to keep that pace for another thirty
minutes.  Either way, Ian wondered whether he'd lost those
Chronotroopers yet.
  At least the climate was still warm enough to help dry him out.  Of
course, he could still feel water sloshing around in his boots, and
he'd had to turn out his pockets to drain them.  But although his pack
had also suffered, Ian had wisely taken the precaution of protecting
certain valuables (wallet, currencies, food, aspirin) in waterproof
plastic containers.  He'd learnt from experience.  A little wipe and
they were fine, at least after he'd emptied the half gallon of water
that had collected in his pack.  Anyhow, he wasn't nearly as wet as he
had been.  Which was fortunate, because we was beginning to enter the
busier districts.  What Ian had miscalculated on, though, was exactly
_which_ district he was heading into.
  Every city has a part like this.  In modern-day Tokyo, it was
Shinjuku; in Ankh-Morpork, it was the Shades; in New York, it was
Harlem.  You get the idea.  No matter where you go, there's always
somewhere that has a bad reputation, a place where you don't go when
it gets dark.  Sometimes you don't even bother going when it's light
either.  These places are usually filled with unsavoury types,
prowling the street doing unspeakable things, that most innocent
citizens would care to forget about.
  That isn't really true in practice, or even in most stories.  Except
perhaps Ankh-Morpork.  However, all places have their bad areas, and
this was one of them.
  It doesn't really matter what the name of the place _is_.  Actually,
for the completists out there, it was still named Shinjuku.  Perhaps
it was not _the_ Shinjuku; but sometimes places with bad reputations
sometimes get names with bad reputations.  In any case, it only
matters that it exists.
  Ian passed through the imaginary border that separated the empty
dock districts from the inner districts.
  He didn't notice anyone in particular.  But people noticed _him_.

  --**************--

  "We have to go in _there_?"
  "Aw, come on Linna.  Where's your sense of adventure?  All we gotta
do is catch up with the boomer and trash it.  And find out why the
hell it's following that guy," she added as an afterthought.
  "It's probably doing it because it's not a normal C-55."
  "Huh?"
  Nene and Sylia touched down beside their friends, onto the roof of a
rather dilapidated building.  They looked out over the western core of
the city, their scanners pinpointing the boomer easily as it made its
way deeper into the Shinjuku district.
  "I said, it's not a normal C-55," continued Nene.
  "What do you mean about that?" Priss asked, a little confused.
  Nene sighed.  "It's sending a constant data transmission to a
listening station on the outskirts of MegaTokyo.  It's heavily
encoded, and I can't decode it quickly enough to intercept exactly
what they're getting.  I'm recording it at the moment so I can analyse
it when we get back.  I think it's an observer.  I don't know _who_
it's observing though."
  "Nene's also collected a sample of a new type of hardsuit," Sylia
chipped in.  "I think those are the four unknowns following the boomer
in."
  "A new type of hardsuit?" echoed Priss a little disbelievingly.
"What, ADP finally got some funding?"
  "It's not much of a laughing matter, I assure you," countered their
stern leader.  "They don't appear to be affiliated with any of the
known groups, and they appear to have heavy firearms."
  "But they're not really as versatile as us," chimed Nene.  "They've
only got one weapon, and that's only a middle range rifle.  And they
can't shoot straight either."
  "Sis?  Got something you might want to hear."
  They all quietened down as Sylia asked Mackie to continue.
  "Looks like that C-55's been spotted.  ADPolice is bringing up a
perimeter around the Shinjuku district.  They're also flying in some
choppers to conduct surveillance.  I can't hang around here much
longer; I think they already suspect that we've got some air presence
here.  I'm going back to base.  I'll meet you there, ok?"
  "Ok, Mackie."  She shut down the communications channel, and then
turned to look at the others.
  "I think we better find out what's so important about this guy.
Will you two be able to recognise him?" she asked Linna and Priss.
  "Sure," came Priss's answer.  "I'd recognise a drowned rat like him
anytime."
  "Drowned rat?" inquired Sylia.
  "Don't ask," Linna replied, grinning behind her visor.

  --**************--


  End Chapter 3

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