Readers...yes that's right there,s more. You know once you get chapters back to back from ME that I've hit my stride for the month. There's more where this comes from trust me...I'll just wait for a few reviews before i continue... Guten-tag people
Laser-Tag
Clarissa's foot was barely outside the elevator carriage when a bolt of red energy whizzed past her nose. She ducked instinctively and looked for the shooter. To her surprise she saw Shiva hovering in mid air, slowly turning.
"What the hell?!" Clarissa thought, before dashing into cover behind a triangular stack of boxes. Her heart was pounding furiously, her hand on the hilt of her knife. She was pressed against the containers, her eyes level with the logo of an arms dealer she'd stolen a shipment from 3 years pervious. The harsh acrid smell of the crate's anti scuff coating filled her nostrils. What was going on; had the bat gone rogue, was she trying to take over the ship?
Clarissa didn't know and at that point didn't care. She gathered her legs out from under her and prepared to volley over the lowest crate and attempt to sprint toward the airlock and get to her ship. Then she could undock and-
She stopped. Quiet had settled over the hangar bay. Clarissa didn't hear the flaps of wingbeats any longer, perhaps the bat had landed. The vixen peered at the ceiling above her, no there was nothing within view. This was getting weirder and weirder by the second.
Suddenly a pair of large ears and a curious face with equally inquisitive eyes peered over the crate. Clarissa cried out in surprise, "AAhhh!... wha- "
"You know in a game of laser tag you're not supposed to spot-camp for more than 15 seconds. Granted you're good but…" Shiva flicked an ear for emphasis, "You're not quiet enough to hide from my ears."
"L-laser t-tag?" Clarissa sputtered as she attempted to get her heart under control. The bat cocked her head to the left. "Yes laser tag, kind of like tag only with a sort of stun pistol. Didn't you play it when you were in nappies?"
"No… I've never played."
"Well now's a good time to learn. This is a bit small for an arena, but there are plenty of places to hide." The bat's face was eager, surprisingly so. Clarissa had to wonder at the bat's age, she couldn't be any older than say, late teens, perhaps 18 or so if one preferred to use the human calendar.
Clarissa's mind was still reeling. "Wait, isn't there a mission…" Shiva laughed and pointed at her chronometer. "It's 1415, silly. I got ready ahead of time; my sniping kit is in the cargo compartment of my Mercury GH-23."
Clarissa looked at the ceiling momentarily. She had prepared last night anyway, her assault rifle ammo and the weapon itself was in a specially designed locker behind the A-12's pilot compartment. Her twin pistols along with the holster assembly and charge-pacs were down in the hold/armory/cargo bay/hangar (Clarissa heartily wanted to upgrade to a larger ship within the next year, the space issues were getting ridiculous.)
Clarissa rolled over onto her stomach and rose, looking at the bat fully for the first time. Siva was thin but well proportioned, and the torn jeans and red shirt with a black exclamation point gave her the air of your typical teenager. But something told Clarissa that the bat was much deeper than that.
Clarissa cracked her neck and said "I'd love to play but…time is of the essence. Where would our fearless leader be at the moment?"
"Z's on the bridge probably mapping the route and entering it into the main guidance computer. Half the time the thing's on autopilot…this explains how we can be on the wing and not piloting the ship."
Clarissa turned and swept the upper landing with her gaze. As she walked back toward the elevator she quickly said, "Shiva…target .45 degrees north ….78.98 degrees west give or take a few degrees. He's grinning like an idiot." Shiva suddenly sprang into action. Her pistol snapped upward and to the left and before the leopard on the landing could even blink, he had been nailed square in the forehead. Clarissa smiled thinly.
"I just hated to see him sitting there like the cat that swallowed the canary." Shiva grinned as Lou began walking back down the staircase. A hand was pressed to a spot on his forehead. "Geeze that smarts. Remind me never to play against you again." Shiva shrugged and waggled her ears in response.
The leopard turned to Clarissa. "Why'd you feed her positional data anyway?" The vixen's eyes swept down the green bomber jacket, over which a heavy armored vest was tightly strapped. A pair of light Myrtana plasma SMG's were strapped to his waist, a short range Vicarious pulse cannon attached to the magnaplate on the leopard's back.
Clarissa's hand strayed to the knife at her hip. Her eyes bore into his. Metal creaked around them as the ship's superstructure contracted in the heat of a nearby star.
"I swear if this was a staring contest I'd bet my money on the vixen…green eyes are hard to stare down." Shiva quipped.
The leopard chuckled and held out a hand. "You're crafty…I like you already. So you're the new member eh?"
Clarissa grasped the proffered hand, attempting to keep her eyebrows from lifting. This was getting weirder and weirder by the second. " Zachary didn't introduce you….typical. He can be a bit thick headed when it comes to certain things. I'm Lois, just call me Lou. Resident demolitions and hacker and all around good guy…well in most situations in which people don't piss me off. This…" he gestured toward the bat who gave a cheery little wave. "Is Shiva…the one teenager who can out snipe most mercs in the system."
"We've met."
They were interrupted as the elevator's scarred doors opened and Zachary stepped out. "Ah, good you're all here. I just got the signal from the bridge, the troop carriers are waiting about half an hour's travel from here. Let's move people. Launch and form up."
As the three headed toward their ships Zachary in passing quipped "Don't trip on your way in…" Clarissa rolled her eyes and headed toward the airlock.
Clarissa's heart skipped a beat as her hands flicked the engine test switches and she felt the energy turbines rumble through the controls. She pulsed the throttle once, just to hear the loud howl shudder through the ship's innards. This ship was hers it was her sanctuary. And it preformed for it's master…
The docking clamps disengaged and the Valkeryie surged ahead of the Malarkey's expansive bulk. Clarissa powered up the COM system and initialized the scanners, setting them for wide-beam intensive mode.
All units this is Lead…please check to verify working COM's over.
Lead this is Shiva, call sign Deadlock reporting in, over.
Lead this is Lou, call sign Pulse reporting in, over
Lead this is Clarissa, call sign Hotfoot Reporting…
As Clarissa locked the throttle and set the ETA gauge she had to admit, this was cool. She was back in the saddle so to speak. Her companions were interesting, not like the generic assholes that she'd worked with on her other stints with mercenary companies in the past…. Things were…for the moment…good.
Jazz
Zenia loved good music. She had to admit, since the human's inception into the galaxy's planetary roster; 150 years ago the field of music and art had exploded outward. Jazz and classical music had become exceedingly popular across the system, vulpines on the scholar planets of Delarosa VI, felids in the pleasure districts of Carnalis XIII and of course humans on Earth partook in the cultural explosion.
The human's first contact with the anthro universe had been equally explosive-although not intentionally. The 'God's Ring' Supercollider had been built on the dark side of the moon in the year 2120; it's planning having taken place during the 2090's. The earth had been going through great turmoil both politically and climactically, global warming was now in full swing, the polar ice caps having almost disappeared; wars over natural resources had reached a fever pitch.
Thus when the US and Europe banded together in the project, the population of the world took notice, no scientific endeavor of this magnitude had ever been attempted in the known history of man…
On December 25th 2120 the ring was test fired. Or rather, it's test firing was attempted…
The forces contained within the 2000 mile wide ring of super magnets were too much for the frame of the structure despite the safeguards and countless simulations run during the planning phase. And evidently it was too much for the boundaries of space-time and reality as well. A huge expanding globe of incandescence had surrounded the moon for a half hour, and when the light had faded somewhat…the D-gate was born.
Coincidentally an experimental reactor had gone critical on a similar moon in the anthro universe. A year later, probes from both sides were sent through, satellites on the human side had been picking up traffic with growing wonderment, as had COM stations on the Anthro side-they had to know what was out there.
And so the two sides met. The humans thought the Anthros to be a great cosmic joke, as if God had finally decided to give animals the upper hand. After all they were more technologically advanced than humanity could have even dreamed of becoming. The Anthros considered the Humans to be pink skinned relatives of the simians, and during those first years of contact any human envoy to the various worlds was treated to more ape and primate jokes, references and comparisons than could be healthy for one.
But if the humans did have one thing over on the Anthros it was sheer military experience. The humans had fought more military conflicts in 1000 years than the Anthros had fought in 50,000. The humans and anthro people exchange much. The vulpines had mastered terraforming and as a gesture of good faith began the immediate process of restoring the planet's atmosphere to previous levels.
And now both universes were reaping the benefits. Or at least that was what the media attempted to project. In reality despite the benefits which had been gained by both sides, the humans had brought a number of more unpleasant 'gifts' to this side of the cosmos.
Profiteering, money laundering both had been around before contact with the humans. Afterward it exploded as the humans knowledge spread like wildfire throughout the system. Thus the Draxel Coalition, The ZarCon Group and the Monarchy had risen up, with the ZarCon and Draxel companies becoming major players in the undercurrent of lawlessness that was beginning to suffuse through the planets.
The Galactic Police were forced to create new sections from scratch for problems that they hadn't even had. Prostitution, slave labor in some of the more lawless parts… the drug trade…
This was how the Outer and Inner rings were born. The more active-or at least the more visible segments of the criminal population were relegated there-and the segments which were clad in the livery of the political system were allowed a foothold in the Inner-Rim worlds. And the military kept it that way. Unless one
Thus the division was upheld. And life continued…after a fashion. Zenia had been fascinated by this history, but was not upset by the strife that the galaxy was attempting so valiantly to hide. She benefited from it after all.
Rose sat across from her, her hand idly playing with the tip of her right ear, just as she had envisioned her in the shimmering black dress that she swore had turned the heads of every single male in the room. Of course both females had had the same effect on most males. Rose's body had matured even more since her pregnancy which had been aborted during the first 4 weeks. She seemed to have become as with wine…better with age.
And speaking of wine, they were drinking to their health, not excessively as neither favored the thought of hangovers, and both preferred to keep the current number of brain cells they had been born with. They were sharing a bottle of rather expensive 2000 year- De-Vanges white wine. Rose however, was not one for expense when it came to alcohol; she knew that bottles had been bought which were worth over 100,000 credits but upon testing had been found to taste like the dirt the berries had been farmed from.
Thus she favored quality over price and notoriety. Still this was exquisitely crafted, Rose dined upon a bowl of delicately prepared Moroccan Chick Pea soup, her teeth glinting slightly as the silver spoon migrated towards her lips. Rose was an oddity; her family it seemed had begun supplementing their gene pool with canid DNA strands. Thus she had augmented night vision, a doubled sense of smell and her teeth were a…mix. Canines along with incisors. Along with a digestive tract that could handle both meat and vegetables.
Zenia's own bodily changes were less dramatic but equally visible. Her entire dental alignment was false. Molds of her teeth had been taken, duplicating everything down to the last micrometer. And the teeth had been removed-and replaced with tempered-hardened tritanium steel alloy. The teeth were unbreakable and murderously sharp, and would stay that way even if she chewed on diamonds for the rest of her life. They were the ultimate last defense weapon…and she had tasted blood. And heartily enjoyed it.
"The music here is good. Well presented and lively. I'm almost tempted to tap my feet to the rhythm."
Rose smiled. "I'm glad you've enjoyed it so far." She raised her glass. "To us."
"And to future pursuits." The glasses clinked audibly and the pair's free hands linked across the tabletop. Zenia felt her blood grow hot, and locked Roses eyes with her own. She was the only one who could drive her up the wall with merely a look. They were almost like sisters in a way.
Zenia began. "Are our friends well taken care of?"
"Their mission begins a half hour from now when they are to meet up with a spec-ops team and provide escort to the moon."
Zenia's eyes narrowed in confusion. "But if our plan is to work, you must be there…how-" The rabbit pressed an index finger to Zenia's lips.
"It will take them at least a day to work their way through the city considering the number of roadblocks they've got set up. And I've added my own measures to the facility's systems to slow them down… I had to provide time for us after all…"
Zenia released a barely audible sigh of relief. Good…they weren't damned…
Rose continued, "From what I've seen she's quite competent…maybe even a match for me or you."
"Taunt her, goad her… I want her scared…and eventually angry. If we can make her hate the Draxel coalition she'll be all the more willing once the time comes to take it out."
Rose smiled. "I shall do so. I have information from a contact on their families…a few well placed hits could be useful."
"Not yet…that must be the final blow…the thing to tip her over the edge. Start slow…work toward big."
The two could talk with relative freedom as the rabbit had placed a scrambler underneath the table to fool any recording devices…and besides Zenia's wing of the D-coalition owned the place. But then again precautions were always necessary. Their talk moved on to other matters…politics…the weather.
They talked as lovers did, although most lovers weren't attempting to plan the eventual takeover and conversion of a crime empire during a simple dinner date.
They worked their way thorough desert and then rose. Zenia licked the last of her freshly whipped cream from her lips. "I might have enjoyed that you know." Rose quipped as they walked out the door.
"Well perhaps tonight…you can." Zenia's eyes glowed seductively in the half-light of the parking lot. They stood next to the blue Banshee 2-seater that Rose owned, the cool breeze swirling around them, causing the cloth of their respective dresses to shift in the wind, making them appear as wraiths…although no apparitions were ever this beautiful.
"Let's go while the night is still young…and celebrate. I-I haven't seen you in over a month. and-" Zenia's eyes sparkled in an uncharacteristic show of true emotion.
Rose smiled "We have time… I've got a small summer residence on the other side of town…we'll go there…" Zenia nodded and the pair climbed into the Banshee which rose from the ground momentarily and screamed upward in a vertical spin before flipping over, leveling out and rocketing northwest at high speed.