Infestation In Limbo

(Silverhawks is property of Lorimar Telepictures, or whomever owns the rights now. No money was made off this story.)

Chapter 1: War on the Horizon

On the planet of Bedlama, the head of the security force, Brigadier Brightlight, was on a serious mission. Lately, some of his troops had been acting odd, and some had been going AWOL. Both were literally inexcusable, since it would mean they had been compromised by Mon*Star's Mob. The only thing he had needed to do was find the source of the odd behavior.

To that end, he started walking variations of the normal paths outside the base. All the recruits traveled the same paths between the base and the business district. If the Mob had an operation going on, it would be on one of the various side paths.

It wasn't unheard of that some sort of business would be on these side paths. It had even been rumored that Hardware had operated a small weapons shop from time to time in this area. Of course, that particular shop wasn't operating right now.

He was brought out of that thought when a human looking woman came running out of a building. This, in and of itself, was cause for him to react. When she spotted him, he could tell something horrible must have happened. Her clothing was torn in a way that would be considered indecent had she not had a wild panicked look on her face. Something was seriously wrong in that building. He'd bet his beak on it.

Before Brigadier Brightlight could ask, the woman pointed back to the building, and said, "You need to do something. They are trying to drug us into being whores." At that moment, Brightlight saw a human looking man stagger out, and look in their direction. He didn't doubt that the woman was the one he was after.

Brigadier Brightlight shielded the woman from view, and raised his weapon. "Stop right there." He wasn't surprised when the man didn't stop. Luckily, Brightlight had his weapon on stun already. He didn't hesitate to fire, causing the humanoid to fall to the ground.

He walked over to the downed man, and checked his pulse. The man was still alive, but out. He then reached for his communicator, and called in. "I need some support at my location." He then looked back to assure the woman she would be alright, only to see she must have run off.

He waited for a few moments, and all of his on duty officers turned up. He was thankful that none of them arrived ahead of the group, since that would have meant they had been there before. He issued his orders then. "I want all of you ready to fire, just in case." He then motioned to one, and said, "Watch him. I suspect he is someone in charge of this place." He then led his officers into the place.

He was horrified by what he saw. Various members of Bedlama's society were in the place, some actively engaging in relations with various women who looked not fully with it, but aware of their actions. It was the worst kind of activity that the Mob could engage in. He almost lost his composure as he bellowed, "THIS IS A RAID!"

Both patrons of the brothel, as well as employees, went into a panic, but the officers contained it. Brigadier Brightlight, barely containing his anger, said through clenched lips to his second-in-command, "Get a call to the Silverhawks. They need to see Mon*Star's latest actions."

As the Silverhawks were contacted, Brigadier Brightlight's troop secured the place. As that happened, two individuals watched the location from two different vantage points. Both collected information, but for two different individuals.

Having reacted right away to the summons, both Commander Stargazer and Lt Quicksilver came down to Bedlama. They had arrived just as Brigadier Brightlight's forces had finally secured everything. It had been the Commander who reacted in shock vocally. "What in all of Limbo?"

Brigadier Brightlight was there to answer immediately. "A brothel, Commander, was operating on Bedlama, and I fear it is not the only one.". The statement caused a look of shock to cross both Silverhawks' faces, however it was Stargazer who was more shocked.

Lt. Quicksilver, who was the de facto leader of the current generation of Silverhawks looked over things. He looked at the working girls, a look of disgust and concern on his face. "A brothel? Then why do these women look so out of it." Each one, he noted, looked like they had been on drugs at some point, and might still be on them.

One officer came out of the building carrying a crate. As the officer approached, Quicksilver could see that the crate contained some sort of crystals. The officer put the crate down, and went to pick one of them up, saying "This was found in there. Maybe it is used to hide the drugs that were used..."

Stargazer had moved so quick that everyone had been surprised by the action. His gold hand had clamped on the officer's hand, stopping it before it touched them. "Don't. This is Crystal Twist, one of the most dangerous drugs in the universe. I can't believe that someone would leave this out in the open like this."

Hearing that, Quicksilver remember the history of that particular drug, and how dangerous it was. He took a chance to pick one up with his metal hand, and looked at it. "I have only heard of this. It plagued Earth in the past, before special task forces were developed to get rid of it. Then it got utilized to break people, and turn them into mindless slaves." After that last statement, Quicksilver just shook his head in disgust. "Mon*Star has sunk to a new low."

Brigadier Brightlight nodded in agreement. "Indeed, but we should have expected this was going on. It's not hard to believe that he is operating a brothel, and using drugs to turn women into 'working girls'." That last word was followed by a sound of disgust common to the Brigadier's species.

Only one person didn't seem to buy into that thought process. Commander Stargazer shook his head, and said, "I don't think that brothel was one of Mon*Star's operations." He then rubbed his chin, as he thought about what he said, and what it would mean. If he was right in his statement, it meant that Limbo was in for a serious problem, one it hadn't seen since he came to Limbo.

Quicksilver looked at his commander, and could tell that Stargazer's last statement troubled him. Even he could make the same conclusions that his superior came to. It made him pause, and inquire, "What makes you say that, Commander?"

Quicksilver and Brigadier Brightlight watched as Commander Stargazer pointed to the crate of Crystal Twist. "That crate is the main reason." Stargazer looked at Brightlight as he said, "First off, your officer found that crate pretty much out in the open. That's a sloppy mistake that Mon*Star would not allow to happen. The fact your officer found it so quickly should make it seem odd." He then looked at Quicksilver as well as Brigadier Brightlight, and said, "Plus, there is something you aren't aware of when it comes to The Mob. I will, however, consider that I could be wrong in thinking that this might not be Mon*Star's operation." He didn't have to continue, but the implications were dawning on all.

Stargazer walked over to Quicksilver, and then said, "I want to explain more, back at Hawk Haven. I wouldn't be surprised if the ones behind this place are listening in." He then headed back to his vehicle, The Equalizer. Quicksilver nodded, and departed heading back to the Sprint Hawk.

As Brigadier Brightlight continued overseeing the gathering of evidence, two different groups had been discretely observing the interaction. The first was Hardware, who has stationed at the top of a nearby building, using his special surveillance gear. He had it pointed over the edge of the roof. He had actually come up to the roof when he heard events going on, since he was operating in his one 'shop'. While the action caused one client to vanish, Hardware knew he would have to gather information for Mon*Star.

When the Silverhawks left, Hardware already knew The Planet Master would want to know about this operation. He could never understand why Mon*Star didn't start a brothel operation, but now someone else had. What was worse was that the Silverhawks seemed to think The Mob was to blame. Hardware gathered up the recording he made, and reached into his pack, pulling out his trusty, collapsible, mechanical bird, Prowler. As the bird expanded, Hardware spoke to himself. "The Planet Master is definitely going to want to hear this."

Once Prowler had taken full form, Hardware made sure his rut sack was in place, and was sure the coast was clear. While he was certain no one had spotted him, he didn't need his flight back to Brim*Star noticed by the Silverhawks. They'd take that as a sign of his involvement with the brothel they found.

Also watching the investigation was a group of individuals. They had remained in the shadows, since the one person knew that the local law enforcement group would come running over in an instant. The one figure, who remained obscured by their hooded cloak watched, and finally spoke. "I think we are dealing with slightly smarter law enforcers in these Silverhawks."

The second of the group, Space Bandit, nodded in agreement. "Stargazer has been in Limbo since the last gang wars, when Mon*Star rose to power. He probably recognized the brothel as being something Mon*Star wouldn't do. I know I never heard of Mon*Star having any brothels."

The hooded figure nodded. If they could have seen the figure's face, they would have know he was upset, but not angry. "That might have been true. Not the first one I have encountered that doesn't like brothels." He then turned to the third in the group, the female and asked, "Is She the reason?"

The female nodded, brushing her blonde hair out of her eyes. "No doubt about it, sir. If that older Silverhawk is aware of it, he'll know the Mob isn't in charge of the brothel, so all of the prep for our patsy is for naught. "

This actually made the figure chuckle, which was an eerie sound. "No. This can be spun to our advantage. The Mob will know a force is muscling in on their action, and the Silverhawks will start second guessing their actions. They will also contact the only expert on this matter, and we all know what that means." With that, the hooded figure and the blonde laughed an evil laugh.

Bandit was a little lost on it all, but started to laugh anyhow. He was still new to the Infestation, so he wasn't in on every secret in the group yet. He would be soon, since he was proving his worth. He had helped get all the brothels set up, and equipped, while Rhino set up things for other operations the Infestation was putting into action.

Finally, the blonde broke the laughter, and said, "Yes. Before too long, Mel will be joining us. I will be able to finish what I started long ago." Another laugh came from the blonde, and Bandit could have sworn it sounded so familiar. He put that out of his mind though. Since the plan was starting to move forward, he had more important things to worry about.