Welcome back. Last time we saw our heroes, Ester took Trude to her home and introduced her to her family. Or, more precisely, their family, considering, that they are so closely related. They even accepted Trude in their family. But as this was going on, some people in the shadows were preparing for 'something'. What it will be, will be revealed in this chapter.
So, without further extending, let's go with it.
XXX
July 27, 2150
09:53
London, Great Britain
The buzzing streets of London were filled with cars of various marks and hundreds of thousands of people walking in different directions. They all seemed not to bother with what was currently going on with the rest of the Galaxy. Looking at people going over their daily business in such circumstances as Galaxy-wide war, it was hard to believe, that something like war was even happening.
This was the environment Trude found herself in standing next to the cafeteria, eating a doughnut and drinking it with coffee. She dipped the doughnut in the coffee and bit it.
"Ah~"Ester sighed, walking out of the cafeteria with Dora."Hot coffee and doughnut in the morning sure hit the spot, right Trude?"
"Can't argue with that."the Witch replied.
"By the way, what are you looking at?"Dora asked.
"Just at the crowds. They just look too calm, considering the shit that's going on in the rest of the Galaxy."
"This is the civilian mentality."Ester started explaining."Earth is relatively far away from the front lines and many people don't yet see Holy Order as the danger to the planet. That's simply how it works."
Witch nodded.
The last week she spent with Ester's family was pretty good. Daniel and Clara were good hosts. Daniel was also a great military enthusiast and had a big collection of military models in special room. Clara, on the other hand, liked to take care of her flower garden. She had a florist shop after all. And Penny…Well, Penny turned out to be a kind of obsessive about anime. She had so many posters and figurines, that Trude could not count them all. Still, this was and interesting family.
She also met Dora's parents. Briefly, but she did. They came to visit for dinner once. Immediately, she could feel some kind of tension between Dora and her parents, but at the beginning, she could not determine what it was about. Finally, Ester explained to her, that after the 'incident' from few years back, Dora's parents became very overprotective of her. And, in fact, Ester believed, that Dora actually joined the Titan Academy to simply get away from her parents, not be with Ester.
Either way, the last week was full of interesting experiences.
"I think we should go."Dora said, snapping Trude out of her thoughts."Others might be waiting for us."
"Yeah, let's go."Ester said.
With this, the three started making their way towards the Piccadilly Circus, where they were supposed to meet the rest of the team.
Meanwhile…
Somewhere else in the city
A man stood in the window of an abandoned building, looking at the street below. He was making sure, that nobody would see him. Today, was supposed to be their day and he wanted everything to go right as planned.
"Boss."one of his subordinates said."We just contacted the other groups."
Boss looked back at him.
"And?"he asked.
"They all say they're ready. They only await your signal."
Boss nodded and walked away from the window.
"Show me the photos again."he ordered.
The subordinate nodded and activated the laptop. On it, he pulled out the photos Boss asked for and looked at them. The target area was guarded by only two people on the outside. Probably there were more in the inside. But that did not matter for now.
"Well then. I think we should go."Boss said.
"Of course, sir."subordinate said.
The two then looked at the rest of their men, all preparing their weapons and looking at the two.
"Alright, people."Boss said, grabbing his assault riffle."This it. Today, is our great day. Today, we will bring glory to our cause. We will be heroes for our people and the nightmare to our enemies!"
Everyone agreed with him by lifting their weapons in the air.
"Alright, let's go."
The group quickly grabbed every piece of papers and put it in one place, putting it on fire, so they wouldn't have to worry about the evidence. Also, one of them shot the laptop, destroying it. Now, they were clear to go.
They left the building and loaded to three vans, which left building's courtyard.
10:33
Piccadilly Circus
"Hey, there they are!"Ester exclaimed.
Trude and Dora looked towards the pub she pointed and actually, they already saw the rest sitting there and talking. They also noticed them and waved to them. The three quickly made it through the square and entered the pub, coming up to the rest of their team.
"So you came on time."Jackie said.
"Sure we did."Ester said.
"But we had to stop several times, because Ester had to check the map."Trude pointed out.
"I don't know streets of London by heart, you know."White Squadron leader pouted.
Dora simply patted her back.
"Take a sit."Aqi said.
The three sat with them at the table. But then, Dora noticed one thing.
"Where is Suvi?"she asked.
"Well, you know…"Yuko said, scratching back of her head.
"She said, that she was late for the shuttle leaving Mars and because of that, she can't come now. "
"She said we'll meet back on Ike."Liz explained.
Ester sighed.
"She can't be changed, it seems."
Right then, Trude felt buzzing in her pocket. She reached into it and pulled out her phone she got as a present from Ester. Jackie also taught her how to use it.
She looked at the phone and noticed, that she has one new message. Trude opened the messages and saw, that she a message from Suvi.
S: Hey, Trude. I wanna show you something. Just don't tell anyone until I do.
Witch risen her eyebrow, but had to agree. She started writing back.
T: Alright, what is it?
S: Did you know, that they sold 1,5 meter tall wine glasses in a shopping mall in Martian capital?
Suddenly, Witch understood what was about to go down.
T: Please don't…
S: Mistakes were made… :)
In response, Suvi sent her a photo of the said wine glass already put in the shopping cart. She just sighed.
"She really is hopeless sometimes…"she thought.
"What is it, Trude?"Ester asked.
Witch turned her phone off and hid it back to her pocket.
"Nothing important."Trude replied."Just some news."
"Yeah, sometimes, they can come one after another."Jackie stated.
Everyone agreed, nodding.
"Anyway, tell us, what did you all do?"Ester said.
"Nothing important."Arlette said.
"We just visited some friends and families back home."Yuko said.
"Yuko was kind enough to introduce me to her family and friends."S4ra said.
"That's nice."Ester said.
"I saw the Grand Canyon."Jackie said."Not as impressive as the biggest canyons on Minenia, but it was close."
"And I visited the places, where biggest battles of the Invasion of Earth took place."Aqi said."Golan Highs, Gobi Desert, Dresden…Pretty teaching experience."
"I hope so."Dora said."It will remind you, that next time you try, we would again kick your ass."
Everyone laughed hearing this.
Meanwhile…
Buckingham Palace
The day was as calm as in the rest of the city. The house of British Royal Family was in peace for a long time, with nothing endangering it. Last time the Palace saw something terrifying, was during 1st Tertan War, when London burned and Palace itself was almost completely destroyed. Fortunately, after the end of the war, thanks to various photos and surviving blueprints, the Palace was easily rebuilt and proudly stood to this day.
As always, the Royal Guards were guarding the gates to the Palace, standing untouched and unmoved by anything. They were doing it for hundreds of years and they will be doing it for hundreds more.
One of the Guards, additionally to standing in place, was also eying the area. More precisely, the roundabout in front of the Palace. But he was well aware, that if some tourist would come up to him, he had to stop moving his eyes, pretending to be untouched by anything or anyone. This was his job after all.
Suddenly, he noticed something strange.
It was a white van, driving up the street. It was making sharp turns, evading all cars, coming straight in this direction. The Guard looked towards his companion, a veteran of the job, and whispered:
"Hey, Smith…"
"Stand still."Smith replied.
"But Smith…That van…"
"Probably some high speed delivery company trying to save time. Ignore it."
"But…"
"Listen, I know you're new in the job, but just do as I say."
Guard just nodded and returned to his still stance. But they white van still kept his focus. The vehicle was coming closer and closer, not slowing down a bit to turn on the roundabout. It was still going in the same direction.
"Alright, this is strange."Smith said.
"Told you…"
"Get ready for anything…"
Two guards lowered their weapons and waited. Finally, they could see the face of the driver. It showed desperation and hatred the two never seen before. Even Smith in his long career as the Royal Guard.
"Alright, weapons free!"Smith shouted.
Two Guards aimed their riffles at the van and started firing. However, much to their shock, the bullets were bouncing off the vehicle.
"It's bulletproof!"Smith shouted."Brace for impact!"
The van sped up and with it's full weight crashed into the Palace's gate, breaking through it and driving through the whole courtyard, much to they shock of everyone present there. Before anyone could say anything, vehicle crashed into the building.
Five hundred kilograms of C4 exploded, sending giant shockwave around and making large part of the Palace simply vanish. It's strength was so large, that the sound it made was heard kilometers away.
Back at Piccadilly…
Giant explosion reached everyone's ears withing seconds. White Squadron members looked at each other.
"What was that?"Arlette asked.
"I don't like it…"Yuko said.
"Let's go and see."Ester said.
The team quickly went out of the cafe and noticed, that everyone is looking in the same direction, so they also did. And when they did, they saw a large pile of smoke in the sky.
"Where is it coming from?"Trude asked.
"I don't know, honestly."Ester said.
Liz's mind kicked into full gear, until she understood.
"Buckingham Palace."she said, turning everyone's attention."It's coming from Buckingham Palace."
"What?"Dora asked."Does that mean…"
"HO terrorists? Possible."Ana said.
As everyone were discussing what was happening, something else caught Trude's eye. A white van, which just stopped few meters away. It's back side door opened and a man in a hoodie walked out, keeping something in his hand. He also had something tied around his waist. Upon closer look, she noticed, that he's holding a detonator.
Everything seemed to slow down. Man started pressing the detonator, while all people around started running away in fear. Trude jumped in front of her team, activated her familiar and put up her shield. Finally, the man pressed the button.
Sound deafened everyone for a second. Shockwave sent Trude and the others flying forward and crashing into the window of the cafe, making her lose her senses. Others were pushed on the ground by the explosion.
Finally, Trude felt someone shaking her. The Witch opened her eyes and saw concerned Ester standing over her.
"Trude! Trude, wake up!"she exclaimed.
"I'm here…Damn it…"Trude replied with hiss of pain.
"Are you alright?"
"Been worse…What the hell happened?"
In response, she heard gunfire from the outside.
"I think we got into the middle of a terrorist attack…"Ester replied.
"Just great…"
"Now get up, we have to do something."
Ester grabbed Trude's hand and helped her in standing up. When she did, Witch could finally see what was happening outside. Burning cars, dead bodies and pieces of buildings littered the area. In one moment, she saw a police car pulling over, only to be fired upon with a machine gun, killing the policemen inside.
"You have your gun, right?"Ester asked, holding her gun in her hands.
"Sure."Trude replied, pulling hers out.
"Good. Let's go."
The two ran out of the cafe and into the Piccadilly, which was constantly full of gunfire sounds. Ester led the Witch towards a group of wrecks. When they got there, Trude saw rest of the team, also with their weapons in hands. Maybe except Liz, which was tightly hugging Emiko.
"You okay Trude?"Arlette asked.
"Yeah."Trude replied."How are you doing?"
"Hard to say, considering our situation."Aqi said.
"Not to mention, that we are stuck under fire from that machine gun."Dora replied.
Trude looked over the wrecks, only to immediately hide behind the cars again, when machine gun came to life.
"I see it."she said.
"Yeah, no shit."Ana stated.
"And I think I have an idea."Trude said.
Everyone looked at her.
"Really?"Dora asked.
"Just give me some cover fire."the Witch replied and before anyone could say anything, she left the cover.
She put up her shield again, right before the machine gun came to life again. Fortunately, her shield, for now, was strong enough to hold it.
"You heard her, covering fire!"Ester ordered.
Everyone stood up and aimed their guns at the window from which the machine gun was firing. This silenced it for a minute, allowing Trude to run between the destroyed vehicles and dead bodies, towards the building with machine gun in it. She used her Super Strength to simply bash the door open and started climbing up the staircase.
On the way, she was hit by the stench on the staircase. She covered her nose, wondering what that might have been. She got her answer, when she came upon a body laying on the staircase, with it's head blown open by a bullet. Flies were already gathering around it and doing their thing.
Further up, it was not better, with more bodies there. What shocked her the most, was a little girl without a leg crawling up the stairs, leaving a bloody trail and crying. She really wanted to help her somehow, but if she didn't take care of that machine gun fast, the rest could be dead soon.
She passed by the girl, painfully. The machine gun was at sixth floor, in the third window to the left. Witch quickly ran up the stairs, just waiting for an enemy to jump from behind the corner and fire at her. Fortunately, nothing like that happened.
After some time, she finally reached the door to the flat she was looking for and slowly opened it.
Behind it, stood a single man, dressed in civilian clothes, but with assault riffle in his hands. Without thinking much, Trude slowly put the gun to his head and pulled the trigger. There was loud bang, but it meddled with sound of machine, which started firing at the same time. Lifeless body fell on the ground, with it's head opened.
With this done, Witch grabbed AR4 in which the man was armed and slowly started moving towards the sound of machine gun fire. It was placed in the living and continued to rain fire on the Piccadilly, trying to eliminate the rest of White Squadron. One of the service turned around to grab another box of ammo and his eyes stopped on the Witch standing in the doorway.
She didn't think much and simply unloaded the clip at the two. Bullets pushed one of them out the window.
When this was done, Trude walked up to the machine gun, took out the ammo belt and, using her Super Strength, simply torn out the ejection port cover, making the weapon non-useable. She looked out the window and showed thumbs up to the rest.
With this done, she walked out of the apartment and down the stairs. On the way, she once again looked at the same girl as before. She stopped moving and breathing. Knowing, that she can't do anything, Witch simply went past.
She walked out of the building and joined the rest, which already left the cover.
"Was it hard?"Ester asked.
"They didn't even shoot back."Trude replied.
However, Ester risen her eyebrow.
"Trude, is everything okay?"she asked again.
"Yeah…I mean…Just don't enter that staircase…"Witch replied.
"If you say so."White Squadron leader nodded.
"I don't think it's over, you know!"Dora shouted and pulled the trigger.
What she fired at, was a man dressed the same way as the first bomber which kicked off the attack. The bullets hit him in the legs, while Dora started pushing everyone away into another cover.
"Death is not a disgrace!"the man shouted and pulled the detonator.
Another explosion sounded and shockwave swept through the area. When it was done, White Squadron left the cover and, much to their shock, noticed, that more armed men appeared on the square and started searching the area. One of them jumped on the car and unloaded a magazine into the front window.
Yuko took aim and fired. Red mist appeared, when bullet hit the man and forced the others to quickly look for cover. When they saw the attackers, they fired at them.
"Great, what do we do now?"Ana asked.
"Ester?"Aqi turned to the team's leader.
"I think we have to simply try and fight them back."she said.
"I like this idea."Dora smiled.
"Me too, but I think we need to be more reserved."Trude said.
"Whatever you say."Arlette said.
"Alright, let's move."Ester ordered."Everyone, go in different directions, they can't fight all of us at the same time."
"On it!"everyone replied.
"Liz, stay with Emiko until she calms down."Ester turned to the British.
"Of course."Liz replied.
The group, except Liz and Emiko, left their cover and started running in different directions. Enemies tried to fire at them, but their aim was slower than their run. With that, everyone hid behind different car and unless the terrorists would bring another heavy machine gun, they were safe.
Dora leaned out first and fired at the man, which tried to run from one cover to the other, but his run was ended when bullets hit him in his side. He fell face first on the ground. Yuko followed, using her sniper abilities and literally sniping enemies with her handgun, taking out four enemies withing three seconds, all spending four shots on that.
Others were as efficient as the two. Trude already threw away the assault riffle, as she went out of ammo and changed back to her handgun. She fired tow shots and took down another enemy. Ester followed, taking down another. Lena noticed two more enemies trying to approach Arlette and Anastasia from the side, so she quickly aimed at them and made them fall on the ground, arms spread wide.
Aqi shot another and tried to fire another shot, but she noticed one, certain thing, that everyone seemed to forget. They did not have additional magazines.
"Girls, I think we have a problem!"she shouted.
Lena fired another shot and her gun stopped working.
"Agreed!"the Russian replied, going behind cover.
"Ester, what do we do now?"Trude asked.
"I have no idea, really…"Ester replied.
She looked around and saw even more terrorists swarming into the square. That was one of many things, that amazed her about Holy Order. They could sneak in hundreds of agents, terrorists or operatives within Resistance space, with the latter not even knowing about it. Resistance only learned about them after they did their job or became active.
Just like now.
"I think this is it for us…"Arlette whined.
However, this was not it for them. Soon, the sound of sirens was heard and not long after, armored trucks, followed by military vehicles, entered the square and started firing mounted machine gun sin all directions, putting down the terrorists for good. Trucks opened the back doors and anti-terrorists of Scotland Yards started pouring out of them. With this, terrorists could not fight any longer. Within minutes, over one hundred terrorists either surrendered, committed suicide or simply ran away, only to be caught later.
When the shots went silent, members of White Squadron wanted to leave their covers, only to be fired at and immediately ducking back down.
"Friendly! Friendly!"Ester shouted.
Anti-terrorists lowered their weapons, while White Squadron exited from behind the cars with arms in the air.
"You, what's your name?"one of the anti-terrorists asked Ester.
"Major Ester Barkhorn, Resistance Navy."Ester replied.
Anti-terrorist looked at the others and nodded.
"Alright then."he said."Major Arthur Longsley. What are you doing here?"
"We were just finishing our vacation."Dora said.
"We happened to be in bad place at bad time."Trude said.
Longsley nodded and turned to the rest of his team.
"Morgan, Taylor, take these bastards away."
"Aye."the two replied.
Major turned back to the girls.
"Did any of you got hurt?"
"No."Ester said, then looked at Liz and Emiko."Although…"
Arthur also looked at the two girls, with the younger one literally crying into the older one's uniform.
"I understand."he said."Sarah, take care of these two."
"Of course, sir."female anti-terrorist said.
Liz and Emiko walked away with the woman, while the rest stayed with Arthur and the others.
"How's the situation?"Ester asked.
"There were attacks all round the city."Longsley replied."Buckingham got damaged, as well as number of other buildings. We estimate the number of victims to be around 100 dead and 300 wounded."
"Shit."Trude said, kicking a piece of rubble.
"I just hope other places will do better…"Arthur stated.
This turned White Squadron's attention.
"Other places?"Ana asked.
"London was not the only one attacked."
Officer grabbed his hand terminal and pressed something on the screen. Next, he showed it to the girls.
On it, they saw more cities with smokes and fires in them. Geneva, Paris, Los Angeles, Cape Town, Shanghai. A large pile of smoke was coming from St. Peter's Basilica in Rome. All of this was being showed in news.
"Holy fuck…"Dora said.
"I know."Arthur replied."They said some maniac detonated two vans full of explosives in Vatican. They still count the victims."
"What do you gonna do now?"Ester asked.
"We're gonna hunt down the terrorists."Longsley said."We found their laptop in some abandoned building."
Everyone risen their eyebrows.
"Really?"Yuko asked.
"Yeah. Someone reported a group of armed men leaving the building. We went there and found the laptop."officer explained.
"They didn't seem to hide, really."Jackie noticed.
"They simply never expected to come back alive."Dora said."This is how Holy Order terrorists work."
"What about that laptop?"Arlette returned to the subject.
"They shot it through."Arthur said."However, the bullet passed by the hard drive by mere millimeters. Now, we wait for someone able to crack the codes."
As per his words, Yuko's face was decorated with a wide smile. She cleared her throat and stood proudly.
"I can do it."she said.
"Really?"Arthur asked.
"Really."Yuko simply replied.
"When it comes to computers, not many can rival Yuko."Ester stood up for Yuko."Give her the laptop and you will have the needed information soon."
Arthur looked at the Japanese, then back at the rest of his anti-terrorists. Then, he looked back at Yuko and nodded.
"If you say so."he said."Come with me to the station."
"Right behind you."
The group started loading into the anti-terrorists' trucks. When they did, vehicles started moving towards the police station, while other trucks carried the captured terrorists away.
12:54
Scotland Yard's station near Piccadilly
White Squadron members, as well as Arthur and one other police officer, gathered in the computer room. Yuko was sitting on the chair in front of a table with computer and was quickly pressing the keys on the keyboard. So fast, that everyone else had problems with keeping up.
"She's fast…"Arthur said.
"Don't distract her."Ester whispered to him.
For few more seconds, they watched Yuko clicking the keys, until finally she clicked the last key and smiled.
"Okay, I'm done with the program."she said."Now, give me the hard drive from that laptop."
"Phil."Arthur said.
Another officer came up to them and gave Yuko the device. She grabbed a cable and plugged it into the hard drive. Immediately, a stream of data appeared on the computers screen. Yuko smiled.
"Well, would you look at that."she said.
"Look at what?"Arthur asked, not understanding anything anything from the screen.
"You see, they were using the easiest coding system in existence."Yuko replied."Even a child would be able to break these codes."
"I don't think so."Longsley stated.
"Say what you think, but few more seconds…"Yuko said, as a signal was heard."…and everything will be decoded."
The data stopped flowing and screen appeared back, showing several folders on it. They were signed as 'Makad', 'Zara', 'Akkad' and 'Seren'.
"Folders?"Trude asked.
"Yeah."Yuko said."Let's take a look in them, shall we?"
"Start with Makad."Ester said.
Yuko nodded and clicked the folder. When it opened, they all saw several lines of text, talking about some airport.
"Berlin Brandenburg Airport."Dora said."An airport in Berlin."
"Look, we also have this."Yuko said, pressing something.
What appeared on the screen, was a bunch of blueprints of passenger planes, together with something resembling a big suitcase. But why suitcase needed switches and cables?
"Passenger planes? What is that for?"Ana asked.
"I don't know, but there is also this written."Yuko said, pointing at a little note on the blueprint of the suitcase."'The action will commence on July 30'. What is on July 30?"
Arthur frowned and then he understood.
"The conference…"he said.
"Conference?"Lena asked.
"G8 conference in Potsdam."officer said."It will take place on July 28 and 29, while everything will end on July 30."
Everyone immediately paled. Turns out, that it wasn't any simple terrorist cell. They were aiming even higher, than they could have imagine.
"What is G8, by the way?"Trude asked.
"Eight most powerful economical powers of Earth."Ester said."There will be president of the United States, president of Russia, chancellor of Germany, prime minister of Japan, prime minister of Canada, president of France, prime minister of Italy and prime minister of Great Britain will be present there."
"I think I understand now…"Witch said.
"Check what else can you find, I need to inform the services responsible for conference's security to search the planes by all three days of the conference."Arthur said and walked away, taking his phone.
They all watched him leave and turned back to the screen.
"Check 'Zara' next."Arlette said.
Yuko clicked the folder and again, a text appeared in front of them. They all started reading and again, they paled when they saw what was it about.
"They want to…"Aqi wanted to say, but even for her, it was too much.
"They planned to release a virus in North America."Dora said."Some kind of flu, genetically modified to be more deadly and able to spread fast."
"And look here."Ana said, pointing at another part of text."List of pharmacies and hospitals…They wanted to infect the vaccines to spread the virus instead of healing it. What a bunch of motherfuckers…"
"The only good point is, that the virus dies out on it's own after few weeks."Yuko read the last part.
"But imagine what it could do by these few weeks."Jackie said.
Everyone shuddered at the thought.
"Now 'Akkad'."Ester said.
Yuko closed 'Zara' and opened 'Akkad' folder. What they saw there, made everyone immediately blush and some turned eyes away.
"Well, that's a lot of naked pics…"Yuko said.
"Seems like the guy responsible for this laptop liked some hot chicks, that's for sure…"Ester added.
"I'm pretty sure Suvi would want you to copy some of these pics for her."Dora said.
"Yeah…"
Yuko quickly closed the folder. All eyes immediately turned towards the last folder named 'Seren'.
"Let's check what this one holds."Yuko said, as everyone held their breaths.
She clicked the folder and they saw long list, full of numbers and letters. According to the index on the side, there were one hundred and eighty two thousand of these positions.
"What are those?"Jackie asked.
"Wait…"Yuko said, looking closer at the positions. Finally, she started laughing.
"What are you laughing at?"Trude asked.
"You know what this is?"Japanese asked and everyone shook their heads."Addresses, names, phone numbers…Everything you need to know of all Holy Order terrorist cells on Earth!"
"Holy shit…This laptop truly is a mine of knowledge!"Ester exclaimed.
"Not fully…"Dora said, looking at 'Akkad'.
"Major!"Ester shouted."I think you need to see this!"
Arthur came to them and they quickly explained him what they found. Immediately, smile appeared on Longsley's face.
"That's great!"he said."Now, can you find the ones in London?"
"Sure."Yuko replied.
She quickly started clicking something and soon, she isolated all HO cells in London. As it turned out, there was only one.
"Easier than thought."she said."Now what?"
"We're gonna go there."Arthur said."Immediately and take these fuckers. Thank you for your help."
Arthur started walking away, but soon, Ester, Dora and Trude followed him.
"Is there something else you need?"he asked.
"Yes."Dora said.
"We wanna go with you."Ester said.
Officer felt dumbfounded by this question.
"You what?"
"We want to help you put those fuckers in jail."Trude said.
"You don't have to worry about us."Dora said."We know from which side of the gun does bullet come out."
Arthur looked at the three girls in front of him and sighed.
"I guess I can't tell you no."he sighed."You're in the military after all, what means you stand above me. Okay. Get ready. We're moving out at 2000."
Later that day…
21:02
London suburbs
As the night fallen over the city, a truck moved out of the Scotland Yard, with assault team aboard. The team consisted of fifteen members, from which three were Ester, Dora and Trude. They were wearing the same outfits as officers and had the same weapons.
The inside of the vehicle was filled with complete silence, until finally, Arthur broke the silence.
"Alright, people."he said."You remember the plan. Morrigan, you check the basement. Staton, secure the outside. I will lead the team inside. Everything clear?"
"Yes."officers and pilots replied.
"We want this to be a precise action, without any mistakes and bad organization."
"Of course."
The truck finally stopped.
"Alright, we're here. Everyone out."
Back door opened and officers started getting out. First ones quickly secured the perimeter and made sure, that nobody was aiming and looking at them. When everyone was out, the truck closed and Arthur looked at all of them.
"Follow me."he ordered."Barkhorns, Heidel, you're on me."
"Roger."the three replied.
Line of police officers and pilots started moving under the wall, so they would be secure from anyone sitting within the target house. The night was dark tonight and only lights within buildings.
Arthur walked up to the wicket in the wall and opened it slowly. The assault team moved in and behind the house. There, they found what they were looking for in the first place: distribution box.
"Here it is."Arthur said."How should we…"
"Sir."Ester said.
"What?"
"Let Trude do it."
Arthur looked at the Witch and nodded.
"Do your magic."he said.
"That, I can do."Trude replied.
She walked up to the distribution box and hung the riffle on the belt. Next, she started glowing blue, activating her Super Strength and simply punched through the box, tearing cables out. All lights in the house quickly flickered and turned off. Witch simply threw the cables away. Next, she turned around and rubbed her hands.
"Done."she said like nothing happened.
"What…was that…?"Morrigan asked.
"Too much explaining."Dora said.
"Just accept it as reality."Ester added.
Longsley just sighed and nodded.
"Alright."He motioned to another officer."Lang, give the ladder. Morrigan, Staton, do your job."
"On it."the two said.
Lang, in the meantime, walked up to the nearest window and grabbed a package he carried all the time. The package then opened and turned into a small ladder, which he then put against the wall. He showed everyone a hand sign to wait and climbed onto the ladder, aiming the gun towards the window. After checking everything inside with night vision, he gave a thumbs up.
"Clear."Lang said.
"Alright, night vision on, get in."Arthur said.
Everyone activated the night vision and slowly started walking up the ladder into the building.
Trude was the last one to do it and looked around. They were in the kitchen. However, she had no time to think about it and simply followed the others.
"Check the rooms."Arthur said.
"Copy."the four said.
Slowly, everyone dispersed in different directions and started checking different rooms. Trude had the living room and the storage, which was just after it. Who even puts storage in the living room?
She had no more time to think of that, when she saw a man wielding a laser assault riffle standing in the middle of the room, searching for something or someone to shoot. Witch aimed her weapon and pulled the trigger. Bullet made a muffled sound and as did the man, when he fell on the carpet with hole in the head.
Another man appeared to her left, slowly looking around, as he moved forward in the direction of the dead body. Not five seconds later, he joined his dead comrade. Trude looked around, trying to find another sign of danger, but there was none. Now, she had to take care of the storage.
She slowly approached the white door and stopped in front of it. The easiest way to check what's inside, was to simply open it. But she knew, that the helmet she was wearing had a certain function, showed to her by Jackie back in the day.
Witch pressed something on her helmet and soon, she could see a thermal signature of anything she wanted. This allowed her to see a man standing in the storage, aiming his weapon towards her. With a smirk on her face, she aimed the riffle at him and pulled the trigger. Man fell, hit by three shot series. Next, she opened the door, allowing the body to fall on the floor.
As she was clearing the room, she could hear more muffled sounds coming from around the house.
"This is Trude, living room and storage clear."she said in the radio.
"This is Heidel, lower floor bathroom clear."Dora said.
"This is Ester, we cleared other rooms with Webster."Ester said.
"Understood, meet me at the stairs."Arthur said.
With now walked without any anticipation and simply went towards the stairs leading to upper floor, where everyone else were already waiting.
"Alright, line up."Longsley ordered.
Everyone started lining up at the wall, with Arthur in the front. Trude was at the end, although she would better do in the front, with her shield, but Arthur couldn't know that.
"Okay. On three."Arthur said."One. Two. Three."
With three said, he started slowly moving upwards, with others following them. They climbed the stairs as slowly as possible, to make as little noise as hey could. And they were doing a very good job at that, as there was almost no sound from their steps.
Finally, they reached the upper floor, where they quickly aimed their weapons in all possible ways of attack.
"Clear!"they all shouted.
"Great."Arthur said."Now, let's check the room behind this door."
The five moved towards the door pointed by the officer and stood on both sides, Arthur, Webster and Ester on one side, Dora and Trude on the other.
"Webster, open it, slowly."Arthur ordered.
"On it, boss."Webster replied.
He walked up to the door and grabbed the handle, slowly lowering it. When it finally hit the lowest point, he started to push it forward to pen it. It seemed that…
Five bullet series pierced through the door, hitting Webster and almost throwing him over the railings. He fell on the ground, miraculously evading two more bullets, which followed the previous five.
"Webster!"Arthur exclaimed silently.
"I'm okay, boss…"Webster said and hissed.
Arthur knelt next to him and looked at his wounds. Four bullets were stopped by the vest, while fifth one was lucky and sunk between his ribs.
"Damn it, you need to get you to the medic."Arthur said."Can you handle it by yourselves?"
"Yes."Ester said.
"Sure."Dora said.
"Of course."Trude said.
"Thank you."Arthur said, helping Webster stand up.
The three watched two police officers go down the stairs.
"Well, you think we can handle it?"Trude asked.
"You really don't know, or a re you just asking?"Dora asked.
"Just asking."
"If so, then prepare your magic."Ester said.
Witch stood in front of the door, activating her magic. Next, Dora opened the door a bit more, throwing a flashbang inside. When the grenade exploded, Trude kicked the door open, going inside quickly and activating her shield. It immediately came in handy, when three laser shots hit it. Witch sent two bullets in that direction.
Ester and Dora came in behind her and fired to the sides, eliminating three more enemies. Terrorists started regaining senses, but it was too late for them. Three Resistance pilots were simply mowing them all down, not giving them anymore chances. Dora even came up to one of the enemies and simply grabbed him, throwing weapon out of his hands and smashing his face against the wall, leaving bloody stain.
"Clear!"Trude exclaimed, killing the last enemy.
"Clear!"Ester followed.
"Clear!"Dora finished.
The three looked at the carnage they just performed without any emotions.
"I think they have enough."Ester said.
"Seems like it."Dora agreed.
Suddenly, Trude noticed a movement in the nearby room.
"I think not!"she exclaimed and ran after the culprit.
She ran through the door and found herself in another room. There, she saw a map lighted by lamps, hanging on the wall, with some devices laying on the table. And a woman with hands in the air.
"Stay where you are!"Trude ordered.
"I…I am the victim…"the woman muttered.
"Don't move!"
As Witch noticed, woman started to move a little.
"They forced me…to…"
"Don't do it!"
"I had no choice…"
Suddenly, woman tried to take a run for the table, but was quickly stopped with two bullets in the back. Witch approached the table and picked up a device she already saw several times on the ship.
"Trude, is everything okay?"Ester asked, as she and Dora entered the room. They aimed their weapons at the body on the floor.
"Don't bother, I took her out."Trude replied."She was going for a freaking detonator."she added, throwing the device to them.
Dora grabbed it and looked from all sides.
"Indeed, she was."she said."And what is this map?"
The three looked at the map and tried to decipher what was marked on it.
"Wait…I think I know what these are."Ester said."London Underground stations. And this detonator…"
"I think we just stopped another attack."Trude said.
"Yeah."Dora said.
Right then, all of their communicators came to life.
"All units, this is Morrigan. Basement clear, how are you?"Morrigan asked.
"This is Barkhorn, inside is clear as well."Ester replied.
"Where is Longsley or Webster?"
"Webster got hit, Longsley carried him out."Dora answered.
"Ah, I understand. See you outside."
"See you."Ester said and ended the call."Let's go."
With these words, the three turned around and left the room. Outside of the building, they met with other officers and waited for the cleaning team to come and clear all the bodies, weapons and blood. When the team came, they loaded back into the truck and left.
July 28
07:55
Mars Orbital Shipyard
Following the events in London, White Squadron members were allowed to sleep on police station and when the day came, they left for the Heathrow, where shuttle came for them to take them aboard Ike. After that, the Heavy Cruiser jumped towards Mars, where they had to pick up Suvi.
Right now, all members of the squadron were sitting in one of the bars and eating, awaiting Suvi's arrival.
"When do you think she'll come?"Ana asked.
"I dunno."Ester said."She might come in few minutes or few hours. It depends."
"Depends on the fact, if she isn't spreading money around brothels or shit."Dora stated.
"Spreading not only money."Jackie said.
Some of them laughed.
"GIRLS!"they all heard.
Before they could hear, they all were quickly hugged one by one from behind. When they finally turned, they saw Suvi with worried face.
"Suvi? What is it?"Ester asked.
"I heard about what happened in London. I was worried…"Suvi replied.
"Awww…I never expected anything like that from you."Yuko said.
"Wait, you think that I really don't care about anything else than sex?"the Martian asked and pouted.
"Yes."came the unitary answer.
Suvi just sighed.
"Well, I guess you might be partially right…"she said, scratching her back.
"Anyway, what were you doing on Mars?"Liz asked.
"You know, I was running around, spending time with the family and shopping."Suvi replied.
"And what did you buy?"S4ra asked.
Immediately, giant smile appeared Suvi's smile and ran away. Not long after, she returned with giant wine glass in her hands.
"Taa-daa!"she presented.
"Wait, you actually bought that?"Trude asked, surprised.
"Sure. Why do you think I sent you a photo?"Suvi said to her.
Everyone looked at Witch.
"What?"Trude threw up her arms."She wanted me to keep it secret."
"Anyway…"Dora said."How much was it?"
"Five hundred Martian dollars."the Martian said.
"And you really had so much money? Or did your parents gave you?"Ester asked.
"No, I don't take money from mom and dad anymore."Suvi said, waving her hand."I simply put the bill on Dora."
As if the lightning struck, Dora stood up and ran up to Suvi. The anger beaming from her eyes could literally burn through your soul.
"YOU DID WHAT?!"White Squadron 2IC shouted.
"Hehe…Listen, I just hoped…"Suvi tried to explain herself.
"Now, you can only hope, that you will still have all limbs when I'm done with you!"Dora shouted, turning some heads."We almost died down there and you was crashing around malls, buying shit on us?"
"WAAAAH!"Suvi exclaimed and started running, with Dora following her.
Ester sighed and stood up from her chair.
"Let's stop Dora, before she throws Suvi through the airlock for fun."she said
Soon, entire squadron ran after the two.
XXX
And another chapter off the list. Terrorists from London eliminated, making the city a safer place. But now, with this explosive end of the vacation behind us, White Squadron can now go back to what they do best: kicking some Holy Order asses. But in the next chapter, they're gonna do it on a bit different plain of existence, so to say…
Anyway, see you later!