Senshi Sabers

Chapter 45

Mistress Nine watched as she deployed a number of bioboomers on a small Japanese island. It was corporate owned, nearly completely, and was used as a research lab for secret projects. There was a minimal staff, mostly there to monitor experiments of various types.

Fiore, a mostly male looking bioboomer, gave the orders, "Disable the security forces! Advance on the main labs!"

Automated security drones fired relentlessly at the bioboomers, but their armored shells mostly resisted the small arms. They would grab the drones then tear them apart, before moving on relentlessly. They swept across the island, killing any humans they found.

"Is this the target?" a 'ranger' bioboomer asked.

Fiore checked a map stored in his memory. "Confirmed," he nodded. He gestured to a different bioboomer, "Breach the entrance."

The bioboomer, designed for lock breaking, interfaced with the electronic lock system and went to work breaking the access code. Numbers scrolled across the display as it worked, while Fiore waited impatiently. Finally the lock beeped loudly.

"Now." Fiore started.

BOOOOM.

"What?!" Mistress Nine blurted as the connection cut.

Viluy was also observing. "I'll try to connect to any other bioboomers on site," she said calmly.

There was a break, then an image came up for them. There was a huge crater where the secure facility had been, with nothing left behind.

"It's completely gone?" Mistress Nine frowned.

"But we cracked the security?" Viluy frowned.

"There was probably a failsafe that activated when we attacked the island," Mistress Nine mused. "The destruction of the security forces probably armed the device, then our hacking the door triggered it."

"I'm sorry, Mistress Nine, we have failed the objective," Viluy apologized.

Mistress Nine shook her head, "The test was successful. We can attack a secure position with heavy defences and win."

"Yes, Mistress Nine," Viluy agreed.

Mistress Nine smiled coldly. "And next time," she mused, "our target will be within the city."

0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0

"Hmm," Ami Mizuno sighed happily, "that was nice."

Rei Hino lay sprawled on the bed beside her. "Woman, you wore me out," Rei joked cheerfully.

"Oh sure," Ami teased.

Rei stretched, then got up reluctantly.

"We could sleep in...?" Ami suggested, giving her a seductive look.

"Well...," Rei started just before Ami's phone chirped.

Ami cursed softly as she checked the device. "Huh. Bioboomer attack, on a supposedly uninhabited island," she read.

"I bet you it was someone's secret lab," Rei noted as Ami got up and began to dress.

Ami pulled up her pants as she said, "I'm not taking that bet." She pressed a key on her phone then waited.

"Who are you calling?" Rei asked curiously.

"Infinity and Starlight. I want to see if it was their lab," Ami replied.

Interestingly both Hotaru and Seiya pled ignorance. After checking public sources of data they came up blank. However, Ami had a hack into certain confidential government systems...

"Gulf and Bradly?" Rei blinked.

"Yes," Ami nodded, "They are a United States based company, specializing in military drone technology. Apparently they leased the whole island."

"So why the secrecy?" Rei wondered.

"The government probably didn't want the public to know they leased the island to the US military industry," Ami mused.

"Makes sense," Rei conceded.

"Is Nina working today?" Ami asked.

Rei nodded, "You want her to see what the ADP knows?"

"Exactly," Ami agreed. She dialed another number, then waited a moment. "Nina?" she asked.

"I know what you're going to ask, and no can do," Nina answered quietly.

"Because...?" Ami asked.

"ADP has been barred from the site," Nina explained.

0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0

"What do you mean we can't go out to the site? It's a bioboomer attack!" Usagi Tsukino loudly demanded.

"Just what I said," Chief Haruna sighed. "We've been barred from the site."

Naru fround as she asked, "Why, though?"

"Because Gulf and Bradly have authority over the whole area, and they are refusing us access," Haruna told them.

"But," Usagi blinked.

"They might think it was another corporation that did it," Naru mused. "And if so, they might want to investigate themselves."

Usagi paused, "That makes a weird kind of sense."

"I'm trying to reason with the rep from the company," Haruna noted, "but for now at least, carry on as usual."

"Yes ma'am," both replied.

"What do you think they were after?" Naru asked as they headed back to their desks.

"Better weapons for the bioboomers?" Usagi shrugged. "We don't know what they were developing there."

"And we don't know what happened, other than the original call for help," Naru added.

Usagi sat back in her chair, her expression thoughtful. "Gulf and Bradly... they do drones, right?" she mused aloud.

"Yeah?" Naru said.

"Just... huh. Maybe we could use a flying drone to get an overview of the island, at least?"

Usagi suggested.

"That's an idea," Naru admitted. "Let's look into it."

It turned out they DID have a long range flying drone, and there was even a officer who had done the virtual training course to fly it.

"Why ME though? I was on break," Mina pretended to complain. She actually wanted to do it, for various reasons.

"Come on, help us out," Usagi asked.

In fairly short order Mina was in the VR flying rig, and they launched the drone into the air, then out to the island.

"The drone has enough fuel to get to the island, scout it, and get back," Mina cautioned. "We can't fool around, or it'll run out of fuel and crash."

"Got it," Naru nodded.

"As a precaution we'll stream all the data back to headquarters, but there's going to be a slight lag," Mina added.

The three watched images of the drone's flight across the water, waiting impatiently. Eventually, a shape appeared on the horizon.

"Here we go," Usagi murmured.

The island looked like a bomb had hit it. There were still parts of the facility that were still burning, and rubble was strewn everywhere.

"The debris is spread outward from a central point," Mina noted.

"Can we see where it came from?" Naru asked.

"Flying forward," Mina acknowledged.

They reached where the main facility was... and saw a huge blast crater, nearly six kilometers across. There were no traces of whatever had been there.

"That is a BIG hole," Usagi blinked. "Whatever was there, Gulf and Bradly decided to wipe any trace of it away."

Suddenly an alarm wailed. "What?" Naru asked.

"Something is targeting our drone, I...," Mina started, then the images cut off.

"What?" Usagi demanded.

"Let me rewind the feed," Mina said, going back over what just happened. "There," she pointed as something flew at their drone. "We were shot down."

"Well, shit," Naru sighed. "Who gets to tell the Chief we got the drone shot down?"

Both women looked at Usagi. "Oh gee, THANKS," she sighed.

To be continued...

Notes: Wanted Mistress Nine's forces to not win, but still be formidable.