STC: Just Add Water
Note-[ Enter disclaimers here The fic can stand alone but its easier to understand if you've read "the bug war continued" (yes, i now realize the title's a bit lame-- but that's what that fic was) Otherwise, I must've been really high on caffeine to think that this was going to be an easy fic to write... which is why it became a two part thing instead of a one shot.
Edit 09/10/2007:: Make that a three part thing.
SICON HQ, San Francisco
The mess hall of any SICON base would usually be busy feeding hungry troopers trying to refuel before their next battle. These days, the cafeteria in SICON HQ, San Francisco is normally half, or more, empty. Earth was finally clean of the bugs. Most of the infantry squads are now spread out in various Starships exterminating infestations. The bug leader may be gone but the bugs were still posing a problem. Although the bugs can't communicate to organize an attack combining the forces of its colonies, the arachnids also decided that they weren't going down without a fight. Only a handful of squads remained on Earth to keep the peace.
Today, however, the cafeteria was abuzz with troopers not to eat, but to peer out the window overlooking the heli-pad. The Roughnecks were glad that they had a window seat regardless of the occasion giving them a good view of the landing retrieval ship on this momentous occasion. The federation decided that infantry, fleet and the Tophetti alliance headed by Colonel T'Phai may not be enough to ensure human security. They wanted reinforcements and today was the day HQ would receive their new squad in the form of new, improved, yet cheaper Cybernetic Humanoid Assault System version 2.0.
Higgins filmed from the window as a squad of 10 Cyborgs filed into formation on the heli- pad under the clear sunny day. He's been on the same seat for hours awaiting the robot's arrival. FedNet would kill him if he didn't have footage of the occasion. He caught a glimpse of the girl sitting across him who has kept him company for hours and smiled. She had both hands on the glass, grinning from ear to ear like she just caught a glimpse of her honorable dismissal letter. "So what do you think, Andy?" He asked as the cyborgs were lead into one of the building surrounding the heli-pad. He swung his camera to get some trooper comments.
"Absolute killer piece of art." Andy replied still excited. "Chills down my spine. Just chills." She said returning her gaze to the table's occupants.
Max Brutto smirked beside Higgins. "Takes a CHAS to like a CHAS."
Doc gave the girl a friendly pat on the shoulder before she could answer Brutto. "Careful there private. You're starting to sound like you have a crush on those sheets of metal."
Andy gave the two boys a dry smile before taking a sip off her mug. "Hey, it has a brain doesn't it." She shot back.
"Oh and I suppose lowly troopers like me, don't?" Brutto replied.
Andy smiled. "Yeah, exactly. Troopers like you." She nodded. Then she pointed to the others. "Note--I didn't say anything about them." She added.
Higgins shook his head laughing. "Have to learn how to shut up, Brutto."
Dizzy Flores sat back down on her seat. She had been standing to get a view of the new CHAS's. But now that she's seen it, she was left a bit confused. She looked at the resident tech wiz sitting across her. "I thought they said it was new. It looks like the same tin can to me."
Gossard shook his head. "On the outside. But in the inside they're not even close." He said grinning almost as wide as the younger trooper had been. "The new cyborgs have better yet lighter armours that are waterproof, shockproof, pressure proof, heat and fire proof until 1200 degrees. They've made the joints better so it moves with less friction and wear and tear. Suspension's been upgraded too. Battery efficiency is off the charts and it now carries more ammo. Have I mentioned that they're also equipped with wireless communications knowing where and what each robot is up to so they can act like an autonomous squad?"
"Someone took 'all for one, one for all' a bit too seriously." Carl commented.
"Better to grease us all with my dear." Rico shook his head remembering their earlier excursion to Tophet with the cyborg's original version. The first CHAS had countered Lieutenant Razak's orders and saw troopers as mere statistics instead of actual lives. Its priorities were a bit skewed. They survived that day with the its help that much was true. But the robot had also almost shot him without warning which permanently black listed the technology in his opinion.
Dizzy nudged the lieutenant beside her. "Someone's still holding a grudge."
"See, you guys are missing the most important point." Carl said putting down his mug.
Gossard gave the psychic a curious look. "And what may that be?"
Carl grinned. "Sgt. Zim said they're taking over our perimeter watch tonight."
--
Dizzy stared out the window while waiting for the meeting behind the doors behind her to finish. She couldn't understand how the weather could change so fast in this area of the world. It was absolutely sunny for most of the morning and afternoon. But right after dinner, the rain started pouring from angry clouds that seemingly have come out of nowhere. She had heard one of the troopers that she passed saying that the low depression area over the Bay area was just slightly shy of being an actual storm. To think the Roughnecks could be the ones out there tonight doing perimeter rounds in the rain as originally planned instead of the Cyborgs. The pre- cog was right all along about missing this very important point.
She was amazed by two CHAS passing by the quad below her. She could see the wind and rain hitting them straight on ;yet, the robots kept their pace even. There were no signs of them being pushed back by the force of the wind. Maybe there was more to eye with those cyborgs than Rico thought.
A hand placed on her shoulder knocked her out of her thoughts. She grinned as Rico slid to lean on the post beside her. She hadn't noticed that the people in the room had filed out while she was preoccupied with the robots on the quad. "Ok. That's over." He pointed at the door sliding shut. "I'm back." Rico smiled.
"And the world makes sense again." She replied sarcastically. "Whoopeedoo."
Rico gave her a curious look and turned his head so he could see what she was looking at. He groaned seeing the CHAS units marching on the quad. He'd rather she was thinking about the rain instead of the CHAS. "And here I thought you were thinking of me." He said wryly turning away from the window.
"Yes. Because she wants you. She needs you. She'll absolutely die without you." A voice answered in the same mocking tone from down the hall. Rico rolled his eyes when he saw Carl Jenkins walking towards them. Dizzy erupted in laughter seeing the officer's shocked reaction.
The lieutenant crossed his arms. "One day Carl Jenkins, you're going to get yours." He said with a small smile on his face.
The psychic grinned smugly stopping in front of his friends. "So we've met up as planned. Are we going to eat anytime soon?" He asked.
The three troopers started to make their way to the mess hall. Rico couldn't help but look at the CHAS units that Dizzy was watching earlier. He couldn't shake the feeling that they were trouble. He sighed. Maybe Dizzy was right. He's been holding his grudge against the robots for far too long. The CHAS did have its merits and he himself have seen how fast and efficient it could be deployed. He glanced at the window again but this time stopped in his tracks. He could've sworn he saw sparks coming from the back of the CHASs.
Dizzy turned to the lieutenant looking out the window. "Hey Rico, you're frying Jenkin's brains here." She taunted walking backwards.
Rico tore his eyes away from the cyborgs. The meeting must've affected his brains because he was definitely imagining things. It must be just the wind and rain playing tricks on him. Gossard had said that the CHASs were waterproof. His growling stomach was saying that he was hungry after all. "Yeah, coming." He answered. He jogged a few meters to catch up with his two friends trying to shake off the nagging feeling in his head.
--
Sgt. Zim sat in front of the control panel and shook his head. He watched in dismay as Higgins fell to the floor catching his breath after Gossard ended the sim program inside the training room. He didn't even bother listening to what the reporter's score was. The technician's laughter was enough to tell him that the trooper hadn't done very well, yet again. He leaned back on his chair. "Brutto! Get in there." He ordered. He heard a groan from the trooper behind him grabbing a morita replica off the rack.
"He's trying to kill us, Andy." The reporter complained when the younger trooper helped pull him off the floor. She lead him to the control room where he could collapse on the floor in peace for a few minutes at least until Brutto was finish with his turn.
Andy gave her friend a sympathetic pat on the back and sat down with him while Doc handed the reporter a bottle of water. "Old habits die hard." he said wryly remembering that Zim had been a drill sergeant.
"No kidding." Gossard said sitting on the floor space beside the two behind the Sergeant as gun fire filled the air once again.
The old sergeant crossed his arms in defiance. He wished the troopers could see things his way. With Colonel T'Phai back in Tophet, the Roughnecks were finding themselves a shooter down their normal calibre. It worked out fine when they were in cleaning up Pluto (again). But they were about to be deployed to Ceres in less than 48 hours and clean up on that planetoid hasn't even officially started yet. If the place looked anything like it did before, they were going to be in trouble. He came to book the VR room earlier in the afternoon just to see that the list was full. Then he spotted Anderson's name scheduled on the last slot available-- just a little after midnight. He wasn't surprised. This was one of the weird habits she gained from being in Sierra squad that she hasn't gotten over. It didn't take much to convince her to give it up for his purpose of training Higgins and Brutto to have a better aim-- with the emphasis on Higgins. The sergeant did out rank her after all.
He took a quick glance behind him at the three troopers in their black MI suits that had accompanied the two troopers in question, trying to get the paperboy donning a power suit to see the random up side of training.
"The bugs don't bite." Doc pointed out at the light display.
Gossard shrugged. "But then again, there's the sarge and he might as well be the one biting." He said earning a playful slap on his shoulder from the younger girl.
"Well, you're just a bucket of sunshine." She replied sarcastically. "Don't listen to him Hig. Check it out, you're up three from your average." She said trying to cheer up the reporter but to no avail.
Higgins groaned trying to massage his sore shoulder from holding up the morita. "Yeah, only after 30 thousand times."
Sgt. Zim rolled his eyes and went back to watching the younger Brutto work his turn on the sim. Suddenly, the power in the simulation room went awry. Brutto's exercise stopped as the lights blinked unsurely overhead.
"Finally, the Sim blew a fuse." Brutto said joining the troopers in the control room putting the mock morita back. "It can't take the heat I was packing in there." He grinned proudly. The lights continued blinking until it died. Irridescent blue emergency lights barely illuminated the room. The troopers got themselves off the floor and looked at each other in confusion. SICON bases hardly ran out of power because they weren't linked into any sector's power grid. They had their own autonomous power supply.
"What's going on?" Higgins asked out loud worriedly. He saw Doc and Gossard look at each other and shrug. Andy tossed the water bottle to Brutto before he could make any comment about Higgins' distress.
"Brutto's inflated ego hit something." The technician offered. Brutto almost choked on the water he was drinking.
Zim swiveled his chair to face them. "Must be a power outage. Power reserves should come soon." He crossed his arms. However, the sounds of people shouting and gun fire filtered through the computerized doors was starting to make him think otherwise.
Brutto lowered the water bottle from his lips. "That doesn't sound right." He said.
"Looks like SICON's scared of the dark." Doc replied grimly.
Then, the weapons fire and shouting stopped only to be replaced by a constant thumping growing louder. Zim eyed the boy as he headed for the control pad of the door. The four troopers followed and waited behind him as he punched the a code on the keypad. "Doc and I will asses the situation. You three stay in the room until my signal. Are we clear, Roughnecks?" He ordered.
"Sir yes sir." Came the troopers' prompt response.
Zim pressed the last button on the keypad. The door slid open. The thumping sound stopped. Doc and Zim slowly peered out to the hallway dimly lighted by the emergency lights above. The sergeant's eye's widened at the sight in front of him. There were four fallen troopers sprawled on the ground in front of a Cyborg. He saw the robot's telescopic lens eyes focus on the them.
"It's a CHAS." Higgins realized as he filmed the hallway from a lower position compared to the older troopers. The cyborg lifted both arms to their direction. Higgins lowered his camera and froze. He felt his body being jerked back in the simulation room a second before the CHAS's eyes completely focused and started shooting.
Gossard hurriedly punched in a code to shut the doors. He saw the girl help pull the fallen reporter again. "Did he just say CHAS?" He asked the Sergeant and Doc. The weapon's fire stopped. But now it was replaced by the sound cyborg's even and menacing footsteps. Doc nodded crossing his arms. The mechanic's jaw dropped in shock as he stared at the medic.
"You've got to be kidding." Brutto grabbed the camera that had fallen away from Higgin's hand. He punched buttons buttons so that the film would play back. He grimaced and passed the reel on to Andy. "Absolute killer piece of art huh?" He said emphasizing the second word.
Andy watched the video rerun. "Oh man." She sighed defeatedly. She gave the camera back to its owner shaking her head. She had a sinking feeling Brutto would never let her live this one down.
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