Here is the next chapter at last. Sorry it took me so long. I was suffering a little writers block. Anyways, things start to pick up in this chapter and there should be a lot more action in the next. As always, please read and review and the wet fish threat still stands if you fail to comply.

-indicates Keaira's thoughts-

Disclaimer: I do not own any of the characters of Hellsing. I only own those characters of my own creation: Keaira and her cohorts.


Chapter Four-A Prelude Disaster

After the unsettling tale of the misfortune that befell unit fourteen, and Rebecca's colourful summation of the situation, another silence fell over the briefing room as its occupants all turned inward: each becoming lost in their thoughts.

"There was more than one vampire." I was startled and a little confused as my mind tried to relate that statement to what I had been mulling over.

"What Alexis?" Apparently I wasn't the only one confused. Berkley turned to the object of his query, Capt. Jacobs, with a small frown on his face. Seeing her colleagues' confusion, Jacobs explained.

"I was trying to figure out how one vampire could have taken out so many so quickly, and there is only one explanation that makes any sense: one vampire couldn't. There had to be more than one vampire at that mansion." Now that was a highly unsettling thought; unfortunately, Jacobs did have a point. I myself couldn't see how a single vampire could have picked off the sentries and the numerous scouts scattered about the site simultaneously. I had thought that the vampire may have been making use of the newly risen ghouls but that didn't sound overly plausible, for while ghouls are vicious and relentless they don't have the stealth capabilities to take out one half of a scouting pair without the other noticing.

Captain Jacobs took a look around the table before continuing.

"We also have to consider the possibility that some of our missing may have become vampires themselves. After all, we have no idea what variety of vampire we're dealing with, and I know for a fact that Lt. Rice was a virgin (don't ask me how I know)." There was some general nodding around the table and Lt. Mick decided to put in his two cents.

"Those aren't the only unknowns: we don't really have any idea how many ghouls these leeches have. We only know about the ones they got using our men and for all we know these blood suckers could have legions at their disposal." Yet another good, while highly unsettling, point. Jackson rubbed a hand over his face and let out a heavy sigh.

"This mess is developing far too many unknowns for my liking. Berkley, Jacobs? Are your lot done with their chores?"

Berkley shrugged "If they aren't already they should be done soon. They were sorting the stuff out when I left."

"My unit is finished." Jacobs put in. Ackard and Jackson nodded and then Jackson said "In which case we should sort out the patrols schedules." Ackard jumped in with "We should maintain the heightened security: we don't know what this bastard (or bastards) is going to pull and I don't wanna get caught with my pants down, thank you very much."

"Right. My unit should be catching up on their sleep, if they've got any sense, and Ackard's unit is running security at the moment so….."

-- -- --

-ugh, I thought I was a trump card, so why did I get stuck on security detail why my dear captain Ackard gets to take a nap!?- The sun was low in the sky, the officers' meeting had finished a couple hours ago and I was now bored out of my skull as I sat in the control room supervising the unfortunate souls trapped here with me as they monitored the feeds from the security cameras and the radio communications of the rest of my unit patrolling the compound. The grouchy, whiny little voice in the back of my head was complaining bitterly about my presence here while the rational voice was trying to drown it out, stating that an officer's presence was required here to give orders and co-ordinate the efforts of each squad if and when something actually happens. The whiny voice was louder.

I groaned and sipped my coffee. My only consolation was that my current activity was mildly more entertaining than the second half of that earlier meeting where we discussed such riveting topics as 'which unit gets guard duty at such and such a time' and 'who gets to sleep where'. The most entertaining part of that discussion was Berkley and Jacobs arguing over who got these supposedly 'special quarters'. The only special thing I could see about them was that they smelled slightly better than my own room, which I was now sharing with Rebecca Garcia due to the limited number of availible officer's quarters which in turn was due to the increased number of units being stationed here. I'm just glad that there weren't so many officers here that we'd have to take turn using the beds.

"Keaira!" There was a voice I would know anywhere. I turned my head to face Lt. Garcia as she strode into the room making a bee line for where I sat in a near stupor against the back wall.

"Hey Becca. Shouldn't you be asleep like any sane person would be?" The tiny Latino woman laughed.

"Since when have I ever been considered 'sane'?"

"I don't know. Perhaps when you were a child and your dementia had yet to really flourish." This time she emitted more of a snort.

"My my, is someone a little grumpy?" I rolled my eyes.

"Seriously, I know why I am still awake, Rebecca, but why are you still up? I would have thought you would've hit the sack first chance you got." She glanced down at the floor for a moment before meeting my eyes with her own haunted looking pair.

"I couldn't sleep. Every time I close my eyes I see that mansion; I see all that blood. I see…" She faltered and looked away again.

"You wanna talk about it?" She shook her head no and took a deep, shaking breath before bringing her eyes back to my own once more.

"Nuh-uh. I just need to take my mind off it for a while. I haven't exactly had much of a chance to distract myself from this mess especially considering I've spent the day cleaning up after it." Looking at Becca I could see the dark circles under her blood shot eyes. She definitely needed to sleep but I guess that wasn't going to happen for a while at least.

"Okay, what do you want to talk about?"

-- -- --

Rebecca ended up hanging around (and talking about just about anything and everything that came into her head) with me for the rest of my shift. She also stuck with me as I hit the mess hall and the women's locker room before heading back to our quarters. It's not like I minded though: she was one of my best friends in the organization and right now what she needed more than anything was a friend. This whole massacre business had left her scared and she was more than a little worried about what the target behind this mess was going to try and pull next. Heck, I was scared and all I had seen were the photos, and there is a big difference between looking at a couple pictures and seeing something with your own eyes.

Talk more or less ceased once we finally reached our room (where my luggage had already been placed) as we were both utterly exhausted and it was only a matter of minutes before we both passed out after our heads hit our pillows. The last thing that can remember before sleep took me was Rebecca saying "I feel safer, with you here." I thank that statement for keeping my dreams free of nightmares. Just that one little phrase coming from a dear friend who knew exactly what I was and what had happened to me (very few of those who knew what I was, also knew of my past) and yet felt safer because ofmy presence. If I could only be assured that the knowledge of what I am wouldn't change how my men felt about me.

-- -- --

'beep beep beep beep BANG beep beep beep CRASH' and silence. I sluggishly rubbed the sleep from my eyes and yawned before looking at the remains of my alarm-clock. In my highly dangerous pre-conscious state I had slammed my fist down upon my alarm-clock then flung it across the room to collide with the wall when hitting it failed to shut the accursed thing up. –Sigh, I lose more alarm-clocks that way- I turned away from pile of shrapnel to the empty bed across from my own. –Rebecca must already be up for her shift-. Just then the door crashed open.

"GOOD MORNING KEAIRA SHAW!!" Oh, my overly cheerful captain had come to help me greet the day. –Now where did I put that gun?- My handgun wasn't where I had left it leaving me to suspect that Rebecca had moved it out of reach before she left; so, with no gun and my alarm-clock in pieces I grabbed the closest thing to hand which happened to be one of my big combat boots.

"WAIT SHAW! HOLD YOUR FIRE! HOLD YOUR FIRE!!" I didn't lower the boot but I didn't throw it either.

"State your purpose."

"I have coffee Keaira. I have coffee. Just don't throw the boot." Part of me found it highly amusing that my captain was so scared of me when I was armed with nothing more than a boot; however, considering the time it was a very small part of me that was amused.
"Show me the coffee first." He slowly brought one hand from behind his back, and there in his grasp was a steaming mug. I lowered the boot and Ackard slowly approached my bed, ready to bolt if I so much as twitched the hand holding the boot.

"Give it here." He cautiously handed over the mug and I took a sip of its contents. "Now, why are you here? More than that why are you here and exceedingly cheerful? Don't you know what time it is? I would have thought that by now you would have learned not to disturb me in the morning, much less disturb me in such a boisterous fashion, even when you had the foresight to bring coffee." Nervous laughter followed in response to this statement which was steeped with unspoken threats.

"Sorry…..we just need you to be awake and alert. We've had report of a werewolf attack and a necromancer making trouble, so we're down to two units on base until the sixth and thirteenth get back in." I was one-hundred-percent awake now.

"Two separate sites? Could this have anything to do with our target?"

"Not likely. Neither report mentioned anything about vampires or ghouls so there is next to no chance that this has anything to do with our primary target; it's just a couple of routine calls. Besides, last time I checked vampires, necromancers and werewolves don't get on so well. Dunno why. Anyway, pull yourself together and I'll see you in the mess." I nodded and he left, closing the door behind him.

I knew that Ackard was probably right especially given the way that vampires very rarely willingly interacted (and have never co-operated) with the two species causing problems tonight. For one thing a lone werewolf is unpredictable and uncontrollable, and apack of werewolves will only answer to the pack's Alpha who is generally unpredictable and uncontrollable. This is something that generally pisses vampires off as vampires (master vampires in particular) have a tendency to be control freaks. The same goes for necromancers, which is one of the primary reasons why I think that vampires and necromancers don't work together: the constant power struggles that would ensue in any attempted alliance would severely piss off both sides.

I sighed and ran a hand over my face. Despite what I knew to be fact, I could not throw off this niggling feeling in the back of my mind that something was off. I told myself it was just paranoia and finished my coffee before grabbing my toiletries and a clean uniform then heading to the women's locker room.

-- -- --

"Ah, so she lives. I was beginning to think that you'd gone back to sleep." I grunted at my captain and sat down with a tray full of food. I then grumbled a 'morning' to Rebecca sitting across from me.

"Morning? It's 1700 hours." Rebecca laughed. "By the way, was there any particular reason I found a very smashed alarm-clock when I went into our room?"

"It wouldn't shut up." My reply was little more than a growl, for it takes more than one cup of coffee and a shower to make me civil. My companions chuckled, both long used to the anti-social temperament I just about always displayed in, what I described as, the morning.

"I'm just glad she threw the clock before I came to get her up. The last thing I need is another Lieutenant Shaw induced concussion." I glared at him over the rim of my coffee mug as Rebecca snorted.

"You still would have received a concussion, smashed alarm-clock or no, had you arrived empty handed." Rebecca laughed harder and Ackard gave me an only half-mock frightened glance.

After finishing my breakfast and third cup of coffee, I was a lot more alert and slightly less of a bear just coming out of hibernation. It was at this point that I was able to do a little mental arithmetic and realize that we only had three out of the four top officers left on base.

"Where's Jackson?"

"He's over in the central hub. Said he'd rather be bored out of his skull than risk his life trying to drag some conversation out of you."

"Hah, hah." Note the heavy sarcasm. I may have been slightly less of an ill tempered bear, but I was still an irritable bear. An irritable grizzly bear.

I took another sip of coffee and a closer look at Rebecca and Ackard as they continued their conversation. They were both tired (physically and mentally) and definitely stressed, and while they hid it well, I could see it in the shadows beneath their eyes and the way the corners of their mouths pulled down ever so slightly. There was no doubt about it that our situation was more than a little stressful, and more than a lot terrifying, and yet neither Ackard nor Rebecca (nor anyone else that I could see for that matter) was letting it interfere with his or her daily life. Rebecca, even though she was struggling to put it all aside and not let it control her last night, seemed steady and completely in control of her emotions and reactions. It was this control, shared by all those I could see around me, that marked her as true a soldier of ADAH: she didn't let the fear stop her from carrying on, or from pulling the trigger.

After my fourth cup of coffee I could finally be considered a human being, and not a bear, so I allowed myself a small smile as Ackard stood and stretched in and overly dramatic fashion (how on earth anyone could achieve being overly dramatic as they stretched is beyond me) before declaring that he could no longer stand being in the presence of such disrespectful lieutenants and so he was off to find company who would respect him for his office. Rebecca and I replied that the only ones he would find to respect him would be the little kiss-asses looking for a promotion.

"They may be little kiss-asses but at least they give me the respect my rank demands." which only made us snigger and roll our eyes at his dramatics and ranting. And it wasn't that I didn't respect him; it was just that I didn't feel the need to show my respect 24/7.

Ackard finally stopped ranting and produced a weary smile. "As much as I loathe that room, I guess I should go give that overgrown farm boy a breather. I'll see you insubordinate lieutenants later, and don't go back to bed Shaw." I pulled a face at him as he sauntered off and Rebecca chuckled. I shot Rebecca a look before hauling myself to my feet and depositing my coffee cup with the rest of the dirty dishes.

"Well what do you want to do now?" Rebecca looked thoughtful for a moment before her eyes lit up with an idea.

"Why don't we hit the pool table?" I grinned and nodded while once again silently thanking the nice people who were responsible for providing a well equipped rec-room to prevent our personnel from going off the deep-end in boredom.

"I'm gonna beat you this time Shaw." I laughed

"I'm sure you will Garcia. Just like every other time you've played me in your dreams." Rebecca stuck her tongue out and I started laughing again and I continued laughing as we made our way down the corridor (much to Rebecca's displeasure). I only stopped laughing when the lights suddenly went out and we were immersed in an inky blackness.

"Shit!" The main lights didn't come back on but the dimmer, red emergency lights did.

"The generator must be down but why hasn't the backup generator come on? Why are we on emergency power?" Rebecca's confusion lasted only a moment as I drew my side arm, and then she cursed silently.

"I knew something was wrong." I sighed as the alarm went off and the PA started blaring.

"ATTENTION! THIS IS CAPTAIN JACKSON! WE HAVE A SECURITY BREECH! THIS IS NOT A DRILL! ALL PERSONNEL TO EMERGENCY STATIONS! I REPEAT: THIS IS NOT A DRILL! ALL PERSONNEL TO EMERGENCY STATIONS NOW!" Rebecca drew her side arm and turned to me.

"We need to get to the hub."

"No! What need to do is arm ourselves with more than a couple of handguns." Rebecca looked ready to argue, worry for her captain obvious in her eyes. "Look Rebecca, you won't be able to help anyone once you run out of bullets and there is only so much I can do with my knives once I'm out. If we aren't a help we are a hindrance and if we are a hindrance we'll get somebody killed." She took a deep breath and relented with a nod.

"Let's hit the armory by the women's locker room: it's the closest one." I nodded and we started running to our chosen destination with our side arms at the ready.


Thank you for reading folks. Please review as it makes me smile.