An Alternate Story of the Knight Sabers
2034 Year of the Tiger
Neo No Armour Against Fate (Section 1 of 5)
Domino Effect (Part 6 of 6)
by Shawn Hagen(1997;1999)
Based on Characters and Situations created by Suzuki Toshimichi.
Music filled the room, pounding with intensity, lights flashed, the air was scented with smoke, and alcohol and sweat. It was sensory overload at its finest. Priss drank it all in, for a moment becoming one with the room.
After leaving Sylia's place she had wandered about for a bit before meeting up with Yuuko.
"So what do you think?" Yuuko yelled over the noise of the band.
"They're extremely bad but they're loud. I respect that," Priss yelled back. "You really used to play with them?"
"Not so long ago. 'Gross Stupidity' seemed like a dream come true when I first started playing with them. They won't go anywhere."
"Neither may the Replicants," Priss told her.
"Would you believe me if I told you that didn't matter?"
"Right now, yes. A few months from now the novelty and the desire to express your art will wear off. Then it's just a job that goes no where."
"That doesn't seem to affect you."
"I'm on a path of self destruction."
Yuuko laughed, thinking Priss was making a joke.
"Hear from Okita?"
"A few hours ago. Things are progressing but he's not sure, it could go either way. He says he's hopeful but I figure he'd say that if they were roasting him."
"Is the record industry full of people like him?"
"Maybe, I haven't had a lot of contact with them since Genom decided to blacklist me."
"I've heard some of your earlier stuff, it was..." she seemed to be searching for a word, "interesting."
"It was loud and bad," Priss told her.
"I was trying to be nice."
"Don't bother."
"Actually it wasn't all that bad." Yuuko found herself screaming unnecessarily. The music had suddenly stopped.
Both women turned to look over at the stage. There was a small fire, which was quickly put out, and the band was rushing around the stage.
"Looks like something blew up." Priss said.
"Those idiots." Yuuko shook her head. "Never knew how to set up their equipment, lost a good set of speakers once because of them. Let's get the hell out of here, place will explode once everyone realises that the music isn't going to start up again." She finished her beer and got to her feet.
"I forgot about how wonderful these places were." Priss got to her feet, leaving her drink untouched.
"A real joy to play in."
They left the "Rat's Loft", a second story dance club over a warehouse. Priss had played in the place once when it had been called "Club Black". The venue had not changed much since then.
"So do you like working at that Cabaret?" Priss asked as they walked down the stairs. From behind them came the sound of breaking glass and shouting-obviously Yuuko had been right in suggesting they leave.
"Not really." She jumped down the last four steps.
"But you don't have much choice."
"Yeah, it could be worse though. At least I'm not expected to sleep with anyone. Sit, talk, drink watered scotch or coffee, make them buy more drinks, but no sex. What did you do to make ends meet before you started making real money?"
"I'm making real money? News to me."
"But all you do is play in the band."
"Ever see where and how I live?"
"You have one of the best bikes on the streets, that has to be costly."
"Not that much," Priss lied.
The two women walked in silence for a time.
"Think we'll make it, the record contract?" Yuuko asked.
"I might, but I get the idea Oshiro is not interested in the Replicants." They stepped out of the alley they had been walking through onto a brightly-lit street. They were immediately surrounded by the late night crowds.
"That sucks," Yuuko told her.
"If anything does come of this I'll see what I can do for everyone, but I'm not even going to think of making any promises."
"Maybe we can get a new lead and set ourselves up as your opening band for any touring?"
"Who knows? Like I said, no promises."
"Well knowing someone who makes it has got to help."
"Yuuko-san, don't pin your hopes on this." Priss didn't look over at her Bassist as they walked along the streets.
"I have to pin my hopes on something don't I?" she asked, more than a little anger in her voice. Priss wondered whether it was the alcohol or real anger.
"I guess it's a weakness we all share." Priss looked up at the sky; the clouds were turned into a choppy sea by the winds, the crescent moon coming into view every few seconds as well as the stars. "Have to hope for something."
"What do you hope for Priss?"
"Nothing," she told her.
January 18th, Wednesday, 10:37 am
The music remained constant, but the dance did not.
Linna had been rather impressed, and admittedly a little scared, when she had watched the tape of the dance routine.
Learning a dance routine that way was not the easiest way to do so, but Linna had decided it was part of the test.
She danced, changing styles many times. Classical shifted into modern shifted into ballet shifted into jazz shifted back to classical. It was a difficult routine; it pushed her harder than she had been pushed in quite some time.
Days of hard work, working herself hard, taking time off work, ignoring the Knight Sabers for the most part and it all came down to a three minute routine-three minutes for a decision that would have a great effect on her life. It did not seem right to Linna but it was the way things were. She had to deal with them.
It ended simply, a bit of flourish and a theatrical bow. Linna held to pose for a moment as the music faded then relaxed.
"Could you come down here," Andrea said, not bothering to look up from her palmtop computer. She was a short woman, pretty-looking younger than her forty years-with brown eyes. She wore her light brown hair long.
Jumping off the stage Linna did her best to maintain some poise as she rushed to Andrea's side.
As she stood next to the woman's chair she wondered if she should start the conversation. Would that make me seem confident or pushy? Linna wondered. The choice was taken out of her hands.
"Do you think that performance was particularly good Yamazaki-san?" Andrea shut off her palmtop as she looked up at Linna.
"Well..."
"It was horrible." Andrea put her computer on the floor then got to her feet. "Your movements were not crisp," she slid past Linna into the aisle. "Your timing is off, your skill in several styles is almost non-existent. Now what do you think of your performance?"
"It was not very good, Kikuchi-sensei." Linna felt crushed.
"I'm glad you can admit it. Do you really think that you could handle a leading role?"
"Perhaps if I had a chance." Linna had not meant to say that, nor for her tone to have that sharp of an edge.
"True." Andrea turned and walked towards the stage. "Everyone wants a chance, I can't give everyone a chance though." She jumped up onto the stage and turned to face Linna. "Supporting role, understudy to a lead role, that will give you the time you need to clean your technique up and improve your skill in several areas."
"Pardon?" Linna was not sure she had heard right.
"You are very good Yamazaki-san, very good, bordering on great. I can use that, if you want the job."
"Yes!" Linna almost shouted as she ran to stand in front of the stage. "Yes, of course I want it." Linna stepped back slightly. "Thank you very much," Linna said formally as she bowed deeply.
"You earned it." Andrea stepped down from the stage. "Of course had you put a bit more work into it you could have earned a leading role." She shook her head. "I expect all your time - you will have to give up your current job. I do not want to deal with the problems of my dancers juggling work schedules."
"There is no problem with that," Linna said quickly.
"You are aware that the salary I offer is not what most people would consider high?" She asked smiling slightly.
"I'd be happy to pay for this chance," Linna said in all sincerity.
"That's cute," Andrea told Linna. "Stupid, but cute." Linna blushed, feeling like some over eager teenager.
"I own a building close by where I supply rooms for my dancers. Sort of a dormitory. Rent's cheap, and if you go in with everyone on buying food in bulk it can really stretch out the paycheque. If you want there's several empty rooms, small rooms of course." She smiled.
"No, that shouldn't be a problem," Linna told her. "I have managed to invest some money, it should help to pad things out."
"The offer is always open as long as you dance for me. First rehearsal is day after tomorrow, be here no later than eight in the morning." Andrea walked towards her seat. "Now get out of here, celebrate, have some fun."
"Thank you," Linna said as she bowed again.
"Don't mention it." Andrea turned around. "Take care Yamazaki-san. You have promise, but don't let that go to your head. Every dancer I choose has promise."
"Thank you." Linna said again then jumped up onto the stage, walking towards the wings to get her things.
Andrea took her seat again and picked up her computer, turning it back on. She pressed one of the keys, switching it over to voice recognition.
"Open file, Yamazaki Linna. The girl has spunk and talent; she will either fall on her face or succeed admirably. It's going to be fun watching whatever she does. Save that, move file to active dancers, close file. Open file, schedule." Andrea looked at her calendar that came up on the screen.
"Who has the family put in charge of Aphros Industries?" Domino asked D.
"A man named David Frost. He's thirty six, has an impressive number of degrees, and is the oldest grandson of the woman who originally founded Aprhos."
"Anything special about him?"
"Beyond his degrees, nothing that I have uncovered."
"What about his relationship with his family?"
"While such information is difficult to acquire, what we do have suggests that he has grown distant from them."
"Interesting."
"How so?" D asked.
"I do not think that Aphros Industries is aware of Knight-hakase's true work," Domino said. "I think they are being used. If so, I am interested in who might be using them. It is possible that Mr. Frost is the link we are looking for."
"What do you want done about him?"
"Keep an eye on him. I might decide to let his family know just what he is up to, once I know that. The effect may be interesting."
Domino leaned back in her chair. "Why use Aprhos Industries in the first place though?" she asked softly.
"No one would expect anything of them. They are a clean company, well respected."
Domino nodded. "A good cover I suppose, for a time." She thought about that for several seconds, then shook her head. "I want to take over MRAStech."
D tapped a few keys on her laptop. "Genom controls two percent of the voting shares of MRAStech at this moment."
"Does Andrews-hakase have any shares?"
"No," D shook her head.
"We'll need about fifteen percent to vote out the current board of directors and move our people in. I'd rather have twenty, just to make sure of things." Domino turned her chair so she was facing her computer. Her fingers tapped across the keys as she began calling up information. "Mastason-hakase, Hendle and Saunders. That will give us twenty one percent."
"Hendle and Saunders will sell, as long as the offer is large enough, but Mastason-hakase will be difficult," D told her.
"I'm aware of that, but I think I Mastason-hakase will work with us, as long as the right offer is made. As for Hendle and Saunders," Domino smiled, "I think I have something that they will want. Have one of my office ladies arrange a teleconference as soon as possible. I want you to put a operations team together, surveillance, extraction, possible termination."
"I'll have one ready in a few hours," D said.
"Good. You may go now."
D nodded as she got to her feet.
Domino watched her go, then turned her chair around to look out the window. She did not have the biggest office suites in the tower; in fact it was one of the smaller ones, but she did not mind. It had the best view, next to Quincy's.
Priss down shifted as she applied only slight pressure to her brake lever, letting the engine compression slow the bike down for her. Exerting a little more force on the lever brought the bike to a stop directly in front of a heavy, steel door set into the concrete wall of the old reactor complex.
She looked around the deserted area, but because the reactor sat on an old landfill, there was nothing else close by. No one would want to put anything near a nuclear reactor in the first place. The nearest road was shrouded by a line of trees that that acted to hide the reactor. Priss suspected that the trees must have been transplanted for the very reason. They were too even to be natural and too big to be recent growth.
Turning back to the door she stared at the radiation-warning symbol. Mackie had told her no radioactive material had ever been brought in but she still felt a small touch of worry. It was no surprise the area was so deserted.
She pulled a set of keys from her pocket and selected the one that was still shiny. She put it into an equally new lock at chest height and opened up a small cabinet door.
Inside was another lock, which she also had the key for and a keypad. After inserting and turning the key she typed in two sets of codes. As the door began to slide back she put her keys back in her pocket and pushed the cover back into place. There was a click as the locking bolts slid home.
By then the door was fully open and Priss put her bike into gear, driving through the opening. She went down a ramp which levelled out into a tunnel lit by red lights. She reached over and tapped another code into another keypad. Above her the door slid closed once again.
Satisfied the entrance was sealed she took off down the tunnel, noting the slight refraction of the light beams as her bike passed through them. They were triggers for taser nets, and near the end of the tunnel, explosives. Priss was not worried. If she had not disarmed everything the taser net would only knock her unconscious and the explosives, well that would be so quick as to be nearly painless.
It did not take her long to reach the far end of the tunnel and another steel door. Squeezing her brakes she skidded to a stop, letting her bike slide perpendicular to its original bearing.
Reaching out she tapped a lit button just below a small, locked cabinet that held a keypad and a retinal scanner. She did not have to worry about using them though, a camera above her swivelled to face her, she was not the first to arrive.
As the door slid back Priss turned the handlebars sharply and drove through.
Mackie, in his bulky, heavy hardsuit, was loading missiles into one of the Sky Carrier's many racks.
"You arrived just in time to miss most of the work," Linna accused Priss.
"It's a talent." Priss shut off her bike and pushed the kick stand down with her toe.
"An annoying one," Linna said quietly as she stretched, arching her back. She had pushed herself just a little too hard during the audition.
"So, you got the job," Priss said, deciding to side track Linna.
"I got it!" Linna said.
"Congratulations."
"Thank you. You still missed most of the work."
"Sorry," Priss said, rolling her eyes.
"So what's the news?" Priss got off her bike.
"Weather is good until we reach Miyagi, then we hit a blizzard," Sylia said as she stepped out of the Sky Carrier.
"But we're still go?" Priss asked as she took off her helmet and locked it to the bike.
"We're still go," Sylia nodded. "All right, let's start the briefing, I want to be airborne as soon as possible. Mackie," she called, "come here."
As Mackie shut his suit down and exited it the others had gathered around Sylia at the bottom of the ramp.
Sylia opened up a briefcase revealing a holographic stage. She pulled the keyboard out and began entering commands. When Mackie joined them a few seconds later she had it up and running.
"This is the ski lodge in Miyagi. Closed down since an avalanche buried part of the slopes, the lodge itself is in good condition. Still has electricity and has been maintained in hopes of one day opening the slopes up once more."
"Pretty secluded," Linna said, noticing there was nothing around it but for a few roads.
"Which is no doubt why Knight-hakase chose it as her bolt hole."
"How are we going in?" Priss asked.
"The Sky Carrier will put us down in this valley," she pressed a button and the map pulled out, the lodge buildings loosing definition. "It is about six kilometres from the lodge. We'll move in, along this river," a red line appeared on the map, "to this point here."
"Our observation post?" Nene asked.
"Yes. From there we move in. We should be able to do this quietly."
"And what if we can't do it quietly?" Priss asked.
"The Sky Carrier can be on site within thirty seconds. With it and the motosalves as support we should be able to deal with all opposition."
"Are we getting paid for this?" Linna suddenly asked.
Sylia gave her an odd look for a moment. "I'll cover your normal fee."
"Sorry," Linna said. She really did not care about the money all that much, but after quitting her job at Phoebes, she was thinking a lot about her savings.
"What is the heaviest resistance we can expect if it comes down to a fight?" Priss asked.
"Hard to say. Boomers, mostly security models, perhaps some traps. I don't think we'll run into any human resistance beyond Knight-hakase herself. Nothing we can't handle."
"Okay," Priss nodded.
"Any other questions?" Sylia waited a moment. "Then we'll continue the briefing aboard the Sky Carrier."
Mackie was sweating slightly as he fought the winds, doing his best to keep the Sky Carrier level. Somewhere close by was the valley he was supposed to land in, but he had almost zero visibility with all the snow. The gale force wind buffeted the aircraft, tossing it back and forth. He grasped the controls tighter and looked at the instruments. According to them, he was almost directly over the target area.
Taking a deep breath he began to descend, keeping the rate of descent slow. He had looked at satellite photos of the valley and while there was a lot of clear space, there were also a lot of rocking outcroppings and trees. Spearing something through one of the Sky Carrier's fans would not be good.
His visibility suddenly improved and the wind speed dropped, making it much easier for him to control the craft. He looked around and realised that the valley was acting as a windbreak of sorts. While not perfect, it helped.
He spotted a clear area, rocky, and there was a lot of snow, but it looked good. Turning the Sky Carrier, he eased back on the throttles, letting it drop slowly towards the ground. He turned on the landing sensors, which were of limited use with the weather, and checked the area out. The ultra sound showed him several deep pockets filled with snow. He marked them on his topographical map so he wouldn't put the landing gear into one, then put the Sky Carrier down.
The landing was a little rough, the craft slid to the side a moment after he was down and he almost took off again, but it settled securely.
"Nice landing Ace!" he heard Priss shout from the back of the Sky Carrier.
"Old woman," Mackie said softly, shutting the engines down. He activated the skin heaters to keep the craft from icing up, though they would make it stand out like a beacon if anyone was using IR scanning tools.
"Ready to go?" he asked over the intercom.
"Open the ramp. If we need you, come in fast," Sylia told him.
"Gotcha," Mackie said, opening the ramp.
Priss went out first, Nene beside her. Nene had all of her suit's sensors up, scanning the entire valley. Priss was there to protect Nene.
"Clear," Nene said.
"Let's go," Sylia said, coming out of the Sky Carrier, Linna beside her. "Two, you're on point, four, rear guard. Three, you're with me."
"Roger," Priss said, moving out, making towards the river. Sylia followed her after forty seconds, Nene beside her. Linna held back for a minute then went after them.
Priss moved quickly, walking instead of using her flight units. Sylia wanted them to approach the lodge as unobtrusively as possible. She moved on the frozen river, watching her sensors, stopping every five hundred meters, waiting for Sylia and Nene to show, then moving on again.
The ice was slippery, hard to move on at times. While the trees around her offered some shelter from the wind, it still made the going a little harder. When she looked back the way she had come she could see that the wind and falling snow had erased most of the signs of her passage. Priss dealt with it all though, just glad she was in the hardsuit, which was both insulated and heated. Being out in just normal clothing would not have been pleasant. Even with all the insulation and heaters her feet still felt cold.
During one of her stops she opened her helmet, wanting to look around the area with her eyes. After a few seconds her breath began to condense on the rapidly cooling armourglass. Priss swore softly and pulled the helmet closed again. The heating units provided more heat and a pair of air vents mounted on either side of her temples began blowing air onto the armourglass, clearing it.
Just one of the many minor problems that extreme cold caused.
She was almost half way to the complex when the ice gave out under. It happened suddenly, she had little time to react and there was nothing close by for her to grab onto. She fell into the river, sinking right away
The suit's environmental computer detected the danger and sealed the suit's vents, going over to internal air supply. Priss forced herself not to panic as she sank into the three-meter deep water. The water pulled at her, carrying her down stream a few meters, but not very far.
As she reached bottom, Priss wondered what she was going do. The flight units were mostly useless underwater. She could try them, but they might not work. She'd wait until she had no other options. With the air in the suit, and the air scrubbers, she had almost twenty minutes of air. No danger there. Swimming was out of the question, not with what the suit weighed.
She could wait for Sylia and Nene to show up, a perfectly good plan, but waiting to be rescued did not sit well with her. Her sensors were of limited use underwater, but they functioned well enough to give her a good picture of her situation.
Giving it some thought, she began to walk forward along the bottom of the river, fighting slightly to keep her balance with the current trying to push her forward. About ten meters from where she had fallen in the river got a little wider, and shallower. She had to bend down slightly with the ice scrapping the top of her helmet.
She put her usehand up against the ice, splaying her fingers, pushing against it to hold herself tight. She cocked her powerarm back, then slammed it up, punching a hole into the ice. She moved her usehand farther away from the hole then punched a second hole. She kept it up until she had cleared a space large enough for her to pull herself out of.
She slid on the ice once she got out; the water that covered her hardsuit would be ice soon enough. Pushing herself to her hands and knees first, she got to her feet, being careful not to fall. She shook herself, hoping to get as much of the water off as possible. Then she stumbled over to the bank where she waited for Nene and Sylia to show up.
"What do you think?" Sylia asked, her hand on Nene's shoulder to establish a direct transmission link.
"I'm screening out the weather interference, so that is costing a little, but there is nothing down there that looks important."
"Guards?"
"None. Couple of simple security cameras." Nene said nothing for a moment. "There might be something under the snow, boomers probably, but I can't be sure, not with passive scans."
"I see. Any idea where Knight-hakase might be?"
"There is some heat bleeding from the west-side of the main lodge. That is where I'd guess she is."
Sylia looked the compound over as best she could. Her suit's sensors were not quite the equals of Nene's, but they were good. There might be boomers under the snow, but if Nene could not be sure, neither could she. They would have to be powered down. It would take several seconds for the units to come fully on line.
"Let's go," Sylia said, pushing herself off the slope, down below the ridge. Nene came after her. Once they were below the ridge they climbed to their feet and continued down to where Priss and Linna were waiting.
"Nene and I will be going in for a closer look. I want to avoid confrontation, but we will be ready for it." She looked at Priss. "Move to the south side and get ready to move in quickly."
Priss nodded, then turned and began to move off.
Sylia looked over at Linna. "Move over to the chair-lift. Secure the area if necessary, then wait there."
"Right," Linna said then moved off.
"Nene, tell Mackie to have the Sky Carrier ready to go."
"Hai," Nene said as she deployed her sensor booms, looking up towards the sky. There was a satellite up there, not quite directly overhead, but close. After a few seconds she had it. She took a few seconds to make sure the link she was setting up was clean, then began to transmit, "Angel 1, this is three, over."
"Three, this is Angel 1, send, over," Mackie replied over the link.
"We're getting ready to move. One wants you to be ready in case we need you, over."
"I'll be listening. Everything here is set to go, over."
"Good. Three out." Nene cut the transmission then turned to look at Sylia. "He's ready."
Sylia nodded, the movement barely perceptible in her suit, then turned and began back up the hill. Nene followed.
Linna flipped over the cable of the chair-lift, landing in the deep snow near the motor-shed. She crouched low as she looked about, making sure she had not been spotted. The blizzard seemed to be blowing out, but there was still a lot of snow in the air. It both helped and hindered her.
It looked clear. No sign she had been seen, no boomers screaming in at her. She moved off, pushing through the knee-deep snow towards the shed. It was a single story building, mostly metal construction, the cable from the lift passing into the shed near the roof.
She moved up close, moving towards the door. She noted that there was less snow in front of the door than that around the rest of the shed. She circled back around until she was standing under the cables. She reached up and grasped the cable then pulled herself up until she could see through the cable opening.
It took her a moment to spot the boomer in the darkness of the she motor-shed. It was a construction model, and it looked to be powered down. Linna considered her options. It would be extremely easy to destroy the boomer, but she was not sure if that would go undetected. If she had Nene's sensors, and her skill, she might be able to determine if the boomer was emitting some kind of signal.
She dropped down into the snow and began to move to an area of cover. A construction boomer was not really much of a threat. She could deal with it later if she had to. As things were she felt she had the area secured, as Sylia had ordered.
Priss stood close to several boulders, part of the avalanche that had closed the ski slope. She waited there for several seconds, getting a feel for the area. Making sure that that everything was clear. Satisfied that there was no threat, she slid between the boulders, moving into an open area between her and the ski lodge.
She wanted to get a little closer, in case anything happened. There was not a lot of cover. She looked down at the snow she stood in and smiled slightly. Actually, there was a lot of cover.
She knelt down into the snow, then let herself fall forward into the snow. She used her hands to pull herself deeper into the snow, then her legs to push. The smooth form of the hardsuit easily slid into and under the snow. She gave another push with her legs and was completely under the snow.
After pulling herself a little deeper, crunching through the hard packed snow, she began to move off, trusting the suits inertial locator and compass to keep her on course. Above her the snow was disturbed as she moved under it, but the falling snow quickly covered the signs of her presence.
Sylia moved out front, Nene close behind her, scanning the area. They were moving along a path of beaten down snow. While the path was covered in fresh snow, the snow under it was packed down hard. Sylia guessed that the boomers had made the path, walking back and forth between the various buildings.
Closer, they had confirmed Nene's earlier suspicion about the buried boomers. Powered down as they were, the boomers were not a threat, but the two women avoided getting too close to any of them. Sylia had assumed they could be activated by a central signal, but was not about to take a chance that they might not come up if someone got too close.
Ahead of them was the main lodge where the heat was bleeding from. It might be a trap, but Sylia did not think so. There was no where else where Knight-hakase might have set up, at least not comfortably. It was also the only building that was currently drawing electric power.
Still, it never hurt to be careful. She stopped and looked back at Nene. Nene moved up until she was beside Sylia, turning her scanners towards the building. She started out with a passive scan. She switched to active scans, an ultrasound pulse, kept in a very narrow beam and a laser microphone, using the curtained window as a sounding plate.
Both she and Sylia were tense, worried that the active scan might set off some sort of alarm. Nothing happened though. "I'm getting some noise," Nene said softly. "Sounds like music and someone moving about. The ultrasound suggests one person."
"All right, let's move closer." Sylia stepped forward, moving in front of Nene as she pushed through the snow.
A short time later the two hardsuited women stood under the window in a pool of light that radiated through the curtain. "Do it," Sylia said to Nene.
Nene deployed her lasers and drilled a hole into the wall, careful not to burn completely through. From her suit a small, fibre-optic cable slid free. Nene threaded it into the hole, waited a moment, then pushed it completely through with a little bit of pressure.
Sharon yawned and stretched at her desk. She rubbed at her eyes. Staring at her little bots through the dissection microscope was causing a great deal of eyestrain. She reached over and turned the volume up on her small radio then tapped the tuning button in an attempt to get the signal a little clearer. The mountains played havoc with radio reception.
She turned her attention away from the radio and picked up a notepad. She jotted down a few notes and then began sketching out a new layout for her bots. With a little reorganisation she might be able to put a larger battery into her little creation. If so it might go a long way to alleviating some of the problems she was having.
A few more days to finish off her work and then she could leave with a near finished product in hand. With that she was certain she could get additional funding to prefect her work, and more than enough chances to perform tests.
"She's in there," Nene said softly, and there are two boomers in the room as well. One looks powered down, but I think the other is ready to go."
"What type?"
"Both are C-Class."
Sylia considered that. If she could get in, snatch Dr. Knight, and get her out fast enough, and if Mackie were near enough, the entire place could be raised and they could clear out before any serious fighting started.
"Call Mackie, tell him to get into the air."
"Hai," Nene said, pulling her fibre-optic cable free then began to move away from the building. She did not want to be too close to a boomer when she linked up with the satellite. While she was fairly certain the laser link would go unnoticed, it never hurt to be careful.
Sharon shivered slightly, her toes curling up against a small breath of cold. She was in her bare feet and the tiny thread of cool wind, blowing across the floor, was noticed. Of course she was used to the drafts, they seemed to be, as far as she could tell, a natural part of Japanese architecture, at least in older buildings.
She might have ignored it had it not been for the fact she was looking for a reason to take a break. Finding where the draft was coming from and perhaps pushing a box in front of it would waste some time. Maybe once she had done that she'd go and get herself a cup off coffee.
She got to her feet and looked around.
Her activity was not missed by the C-Class boomer standing nearby. The older boomer had been in Sharon's service for quite some time and it had come to feel very protective towards its owner. It did not know what its master was looking for-not being able to feel the slight breeze-but it was obvious that she was looking for something.
Wanting to know what its master was so interested in the boomer brought ups its sensor systems, going fully active, just in case there was something it should be aware of.
A moment later Sharon was taken by surprise as her boomer moved forward, grasping her shoulder, thrusting her back. She watched as the boomer's mouth cannon slid out from between its jaws. It was obvious that something was up.
Nene had made the contact with Mackie and was beginning to relay Sylia's request when her suit's sensors shrilled in alarm. Something had just gone into active scanning mode, no doubt tagging her. That thought was confirmed a moment later when Nene realised that she was being targeted.
"We've been spotted," Nene transmitted even as she was diving for cover.
A blast of energy tore through the window, ripping into the snow-covered ground where Nene had just stood.
With the element of surprise lost Nene brought up her suits ECM gear, jamming on all frequencies.
Sylia was taken by surprise by the attack. She had not expected it. Still, she was moving fast, spinning about, bringing her power arms up, the cannons ready. The boomer that came crashing through the window and wall almost surprised her, but she was able to spin to the side, and then around, rapidly firing at the boomer all the time.
The boomer exploded, the force of the blast driving Sylia back against the lodge wall. She felt the wood give under her, but she did not break through. While she was a little shaken, neither she nor the suit had taken any real damage.
At that moment the second boomer punched its hands through the wall and grabbed Sylia about her shoulders.
Sylia reacted instantly, the blades sliding from her suit's powerarms. She lifted her arms and then drove the blades into the wall to either side of her head and into the boomer holding her. One of the boomer's arms released her. She broke free of the remaining one, turned, and drove the blade on her right arm into the wall, sinking it deep into the boomer's chest.
The boomer reeled back for a moment, but then its back thrusters deployed, the blast of superheated air straightening it before it rocketed forward, through the wall, over Sylia's head.
Sharon watched, not quite believing it as the first boomer was taken out by the figure outside her room. In the light from the blast of the boomer's exploding fuel she got a good look at the intruder. She was almost certain it was one of the Knight Sabers. What would the Knight Sabers be doing so far outside of MegaTokyo?
She decided that such a question would be for later, at that moment she needed to get away. Her second boomer was already stumbling forward towards the Knight Saber when Sharon turned and ran towards the door. As she exited the room she reached out and flicked a switch mounted on the wall with electrical tape.
On the roof of the lodge a para-flare was launched into the sky, climbing high, the powerful flare igniting, bathing the area below it in stark, white light. While Sharon would have normally had gone for a radio signal to activate her boomers, she had learned a trick or two during her time with Terence.
She ran towards the other side of the building, her arm shielding her eyes from the glare that was even then shining through the windows.
Once Priss had reached the place where she had chosen, she popped one of her helmet booms up through the snow. While the boom on her helmet did not have all the options as the one on Nene's, it did have a variable light camera in it. With that up, like a submarine's periscope, she was able to watch the area without revealing her position.
She saw Sylia and Nene move towards the building, closing on it. She watched, unconcerned, until Nene was fired on. Even as the blast from the cannon was lighting the area up, even as Nene was calling out her warning, Priss was raising to her knees, breaking through the thin crust of snow.
She watched as one boomer exploded and then as Sylia started to deal with the second. When it flew from the building Priss had her powerarm up and opened up the airborne boomer. Three spikes, each travelling at several times the speed of sound ripped through the boomer.
And when it exploded Priss thought the sun had just appeared in their midst.
It took her a moment to realise the extremely bright flash of light-so intense it made her the sensors in her suit bring up light filters, so sudden some of the light got past the compensation and Priss had spots dancing in front of her eyes-was not caused by the explosion of the boomer but from a flare climbing into the sky above her.
Not far from where she was kneeling in the snow a form began to push itself up. Priss looked at the boomer that had hidden as she had done and swung her powerarm about.
Linna moved quickly when Nene's warning came over her com system. She opened fire on the motor shed, aiming at where she had seen the boomer. The explosion that ripped out part of the wall told her that she had hit.
She was canning the area, trying to decide where she might be of the most use when the flare went up.
Like Priss her suit's filters cut in to prevent her from being blinded by the sudden glare, but some still got through. She blinked her eyes to clear them as she rapidly scanned the area around her.
The boomer that surged out of the snow near to her left did not surprise her, but it came at her fast. Too fast for her to bring her powerarm around to fire on it.
She dropped into a crouch, neatly avoiding a punch and putting her in prime position to sweep its legs, which she did.
The boomer fell back into the snow, lading on its back. Even as it was trying to get up Linna spun about, letting her laser ribbons slash across its body, cutting deep into its chest. And when it did get to its feet it moved right into Linna's extended knuckle bomber. The blast tore it in half, touching off its fuel.
Linna lifted her powerarm in front of her and let the blast wash over her. The snow around her was melted, but neither she nor her suit took any appreciable damage. Linna turned and looked towards where Nene and Sylia were and began to make her way towards them.
Mackie had the Sky Carriers fans up to full output within seconds of Nene's call. The stealth aircraft lifted into the sky, climbing up into the blinding snow. The snow was not a concern now. Since they no longer had to be quiet, he powered up the Sky Carrier's sensors and the ECM gear.
As he flew towards the lodge he noted a strange glow in the sky. Almost as if the sun was raising, but dawn was still several hours away. It must be some sort of flare, he decided. A signal of some sort. Well, he would find out what it was about soon.
Priss and Linna moved towards where Sylia and Nene were waiting. They were going to have to take stock of the situation first, though none of them were particularly worried. They were up against older C-Class models, and ones that were not operating at peak efficiency. Even Nene, who had not actually fought one, could tell that.
Sylia was considering let Priss and Linna perform mop up, while she and Nene went after Dr. Knight.
Their assessment combat situation changed very suddenly.
Nene was the first to pick up on it when a she found herself being jammed and something was cutting right through her own jamming. Before she could call out a warning the Bu-12B pushed up from under a snow drift, the 12.7mm machine gun in its right arm weapon-pod spinning out a hail of projectiles.
Sylia, Nene and Linna leapt clear on their thruster wash, moving quickly into cover. Priss, who stood her ground, swinging her powerarm around, took a burst of machine gun fire. While her armour was not cracked by the attack, it did knock her back. Some of the force transferred through the protective padding, making Priss feel as if someone had kicked her in the ribs. The suit also suffered some minor damage.
Priss did manage to get off a shot of her own, shattering part of the left optic cluster.
Nene, who had settled behind the lodge, was working to counteract the boomers jamming field, and well as its ECM. She had to admit that her opponent was pretty good, for a boomer, but she was better. A few seconds and she was jamming all the boomers again, and had her own sensors clear. The boomers still had communication, which was going to be a problem.
Linna landed on the roof of the lodge, looking down at the boomer below her. The flare had reached its apex of flight by that time and was beginning to float down on a parachute. It was casting its light over quite a wide area, though it made what shadow there was pockets of impenetrable darkness.
Fortunately the boomer was standing out in the open.
Linna opened up on it with her powerarm finger lasers. She got several sold hits on it, punching holes into the right fuel tank. While there was no explosion, it did start leaking reaction mass.
The boomer turned on her and fired the 46mm rail cannon. Linna leapt clear before the section of roof she had been on exploded.
Sylia had come down in one of the shadowy pockets and was watching the battle. She was not really worried about the combat boomer, certain that they could deal with it, especially with Mackie on the way, but she suspected that the boomer was not going to be alone for long.
"Three, status," Sylia sent, glad to note that their com systems were open.
"We're clear, but they've got an open line of communication. I'm trying to find it and jam it," Nene told her.
"Do so, out," Sylia said. She watched as one of the C-Class moved towards the 12B, falling into a guard position on its left flank. If the combat boomer could organise the rest of the boomers, they could become quite a threat. She wondered how Dr. Knight had managed to acquire a combat boomer.
Another C-Class and a construction boomer, carrying some sort of weapon, moved up to join the combat boomer. All of them were moving across the open space, towards the lodge. It would be a good place for them to set up.
Priss flipped over onto her feet, swinging her powerarm around, opening up on the boomers. The construction boomer went down first, and one of the C-Class lost its arm before they began to return fire.
Moving fast, and aided by Nene's jamming, Priss avoided the return fire. Linna, from her new position near what had once been a garage, opened fire on the boomers exposed back, forcing them to deal with two opponents.
Then the 12B managed to put a cannon round close enough to Priss to send her crashing into a snow bank and another boomer tore through the garage wall to confront Linna.
"Two, get clear, four, deal with that boomer, then fall back to help two. Three, cut their communications, now!"
"I'm trying!" Nene called back.
Sylia resisted the urge to tell her to try harder and waited.
Linna had just finished off her boomer, and Priss had moved to cover, when the Sky Carrier came flying in. Mackie opened up with the nose-mounted machine guns, but that was only something to keep the boomers busy. The centre, rear ramp had opened and three motoslaves leapt from the craft.
Mackie went into a steep climb to clear out of the area before any of the boomers could fire on him. Not that the boomers would have had much chance. The descending motoslaves, including Priss' Typhoon II, were opening up on the boomers, their heavy weapons forcing the 12B to fall back for the first time.
"I've jammed their coms," Nene shouted out triumphantly.
"Two, grab your motoslave and take out the 12B. Four, you and your motoslave will begin to secure the area. Three, you're with me. Let's try to make some sense of this. Angel 1, I want you in here. Destroy the lodge and then get clear. Move."
The Knight Sabers moved. Priss linked up with the Typhoon II and went after the B-12; the combat boomer really did not have much of a chance after that. Priss moved in fast while the Typhoon II provided cover fire. Once close enough, she cracked the armour on its left side with a rocket-assisted kick and the leg bombers. The Typhoon II used the opening to put three 35mm rounds into the boomer.
The B-12 staggered back, leaking various fluids. It tried to straighten but discovered its left leg was no longer responding. Before it could try to bypass the damage Priss was on it, slamming her knuckle bomber into the central sensor cluster, it's main eye. The superheated gasses ripped right through its upper body section, and through the remaining fuel tank.
The explosion, while not large, was enough to shut the boomer down permanently.
Linna and her motoslave dealt with the other boomers. A well placed knuckle bomber, a slash of ribbons, or a burst of cannon fire quickly removed the boomers from the field of battle.
Mackie turned the Sky Carrier sharply, sending it back towards the area of the fight. He took the missiles off safe, the green LED switching to red to indicate everything was ready to go.
He increased the speed, burning fuel off at a tremendous rate. "Coming in now," he transmitted. He waited until the weapon screen indicated a clean lock on the lodge. "Missiles away!" he called out.
The high explosive missiles streaked out of their housing-the Sky Carrier venting a large amount of heat at that moment-and sped towards the lodge. A moment later the building was blown apart like it was made of match sticks and someone had kicked it.
The Sky Carrier climbed sharply, riding the thermals of the explosion.
Linna ducked the boomer's punch, then let her leg slide on the hard packed snow, shifting behind the boomer. She activated the first stage trigger of her knuckle bomber, then slammed her powerarm forward, right into the boomers exposed back.
The explosion nearly cut the boomer in half. Linna finished the job by spinning about, bringing her laser ribbons into play. The boomer's top half slid from its legs to land in the snow. There was no explosion.
"This is four, target down. Anyone else need a hand."
"I could," Nene said, her voice holding a hint of panic.
Linna smiled slightly. "I'll be right there."
The already weakened wall shattered at Priss was hurled through it. With a quick thruster blast, a little bit of luck, she managed to land on her feet, and then remain on them. Not too far from her stood the hulking form of a heavy construction boomer.
Even considering the capabilities of combat boomers, the heavy construction boomer was incredibly strong and very durable. Someone had also affixed armour plates on to it, making it that much tougher. Several railgun spikes embedded in the armour plate attested to that.
All right, maybe it was strong and tough, but it was also incredibly stupid. Priss could use that.
She leapt at it, powerarm extended, waiting for it to reach out to grab her, as it had before. At the last moment Priss flipped up, over the grab, slapping one of her S-mines down onto the wrist of the boomer.
The S-mine went off, the shaped charge blowing the entire hand off. The boomer stared down at its truncated wrist, as if trying to understand what had just happened. Priss, who had landed behind the boomer, sprang at the boomer's back, and laid the last two S-mines on its shoulders before leaping away.
The boomer was just turning to face her when the charges went off, almost ripping the left arm off, and heavily damaging the actuators in the right shoulder unit.
Priss stood, her feet wide apart to give her a stable stance, powerarm extended. She locked on the boomer's head and fired. The right eye was destroyed by the spike.
A moment later the boomer was rocked by several rounds from the Typhoon II's hand cannon. Using the damage caused by Priss' mines, it was able to bypass the armour, putting the high velocity rounds directly into the boomers internal systems.
The motoslave was about to fire again when Priss held up her hand, motioning it to stop. The unit almost seemed reluctant as it checked its weapon.
The boomer took an unsteady step forward, rocking back and forth. Then another step, moving closer to Priss. Its body shifted, as if it was trying to reach out, but its arms would not move. It stopped, its head moving slowly back and forth as it surveyed the damage. Somehow the unchanging face of the large boomer seemed to radiate confusion.
Priss moved in, the knuckle guard sliding forward over her use hand. She slammed a punch forward, into its lower chest. The metal cracked, the crack began to widen. She stepped back, waiting to see what the boomer would do next.
The boomer took a step forward, but its foot stopped several centimetres above the snow. For a moment it did not move, then it began to fall back. The snow rose up around it as it crashed onto the ground.
"This is two, target down. What's up?"
"Everything clear here," Linna's voice came over the com.
"There is nothing on my scanners," Nene said.
"Stay sharp," Sylia ordered. "Angel 1, put down in the open area three hundred metres from the objective. Two, three and four, move to secure the area. We'll be leaving soon."
"Coming down," Mackie's voice came over the com system. A moment later they could all see lights of the Sky Carrier as it approached.
Sylia pushed the remains of a boomer out of her way as she made her way through the blasted shell of the ski lodge. Her suit's sensors were turned up, helping her in her search. The area suddenly went dark as the para flare finally burnt out, but the low light and IR visual enhancements came up automatically.
She found what she was looking for a short time later, once she had exited the remains of the ledge. Dr. Knight stood some distance away, barely illuminated by the light of some burning wood-remains of the lodge-near to where she stood.
As Sylia approached she could see that the woman was wearing only a pair of slacks and a sweater. She did not even have any shoes on; she stood there, in the snow, in her bare feet. The small woman looked up as Sylia approached, a look of confusion and fear on her face.
Sylia guessed she was a little shell-shocked.
The Muramasa blade slid forth from its housing in her left powerarm. Sharon's eyes widened as she saw that, but she did not move. Sylia looked at the woman standing in front of her, the woman who had threatened, still threatened to corrupt some part of her father's work. How much pain might she release on the world if she got the chance?
It would be so easy. All she had to do was flick out her arm. It would be quick and clean.
"Please," Sharon said after a moment. "Don't hurt me." He voice was soft, panicky, scared.
Sylia's blade lashed out. Sharon's eyes snapped shut, sure she was about to die and not wanting to face it. There was a stinging pain above her eyes, but that was it. She felt something warm begin to run down her face.
Sharon opened her eyes, then closed them as blood ran into them.
Sylia reached out and grasped the woman about the neck with her right power arm, pulling her close. "I suggest you do not pursue this work any further," Sylia said, her voice distorted by filters within her helmet. She placed the Muramasa blade up against Sharon's face. "Do you understand?"
"Yes," Sharon said, keeping her eyes tightly shut.
Sylia pushed the woman away from her, watched as she fell back into the snow. The Muramasa blade snapped back into its housing as she turned sharply and walked back the way she had come.
Not that far away she found Priss. The woman in the blue hardsuit reached out and placed her hand on Sylia's suit, forming a private link. "If you leave her like this, she'll probably die." It was not an alarmed statement, or one that was accusing; it was simply a statement of fact.
"That is possible," Sylia said as she moved past Priss.
Priss released her hold on Sylia suit, letting her go by. She looked off in the direction where Sharon Knight lay in the snow. With her IR sensors she could see the heat from her body rising up into the air. She turned and followed after Sylia.
Before Sylia boarded the Sky Carrier she stopped to remove a downed boomers head and several other components.
Less than a minute later the Sky Carrier was climbing into the air, a cloud of snow billowing around it. It rose straight up for almost twenty metres, then spun on its central axis until its nose was pointing towards the wreckage of the lodge. The missile bays opened and a second later a number of missiles were launched.
When they hit, the wreckage began to burn. The fire would destroy everything, and perhaps provide enough heat for someone to survive until help arrived. Maybe.
The aircraft then began to move forward, banking sharply as it headed back towards MegaTokyo.
"So, what do you think?" Priss asked, standing in the doorway of Sylia's workshop. The others had already left and Priss looked as if she planned to leave soon as well.
"The boomer is a standard Genom model, but it has been altered: the OMS link partially severed."
"Which means?"
"It's no longer connected to the OMS system. Normally that results in the AI chip burning itself out, but if you know what you are doing you can keep most of the chip functioning."
"Which is what you would do if you did not want Genom knowing what you were up to with their boomers?"
"Yes," Sylia nodded, looking at the open boomer skull in front of her.
"Lot of people can do that work?"
Sylia looked over at Priss. "Most people know nothing about the OMS system. There are maybe a handful who could do something like this." She looked back at the skull. "I thought they all worked for Genom."
"Well, I doubt Knight is going to be doing much more of that, one way or another."
"Yes," Sylia nodded. "At least we can be fairly certain that this was not a Genom operation."
Priss shrugged her shoulders. "I'm going home."
"Goodnight," Sylia said.
"Night."
January 19th, Thursday, 7:45am
Leon put his boot down on a piece of charred wood. It made a soft crunch as it became powder. There was a lot of fire damage around him. The snow had all been melted around what had used to be, so he had been told, a ski lodge.
"Leon-chan," he heard shouted behind him. He turned to see Daily standing some distance away. "Head's up." Daily lobbed a snowball in Leon's direction. It was easy enough for him to avoid, but that had been Daily's intention.
"Enjoying yourself?" Leon asked.
"We don't get much snow in Tokyo," he said, walking towards Leon. "So, got any ideas?"
"Looks like someone wanted to destroy something really bad," he told Daily.
Daily nodded. "Looks like they succeeded. Let's talk to Akamura-san."
Leon nodded and turned to walk after Daily.
Kaneko Akamura, an ADP lieutenant, forensics and boomer specialist, had come up to Miyagi with Leon and Daily. She was currently squatting near one of the more interesting finds, a Bu-12B light combat boomer. The lieutenant was a very attractive young woman with brown hair and light brown eyes. The tan coat she wore, with the fur trim, made her blend in with the snow somewhat.
It had become something of a truism among the ADP that Lieutenant Akamura would always be well turned out. She was their fashion goddess.
"Kaneko-chan, what have you got?" Leon asked, crunching through the snow towards her.
"A little frost bite, and a lot of questions," she replied, looking back over her shoulder to smile at Leon.
"You look warm enough," Leon told her, dropping down beside her.
"Real fur?" Daily asked, looking at the soft yellow, fluffy fur that trimmed her coat.
"Synthetic."
Daily nodded as he moved to stand over the boomer.
"Now that the fashion lesson is out of the way, what happened?" Leon asked.
"That I'm not exactly sure of, but I think I can tell you at least one of the parties involved in this."
"Who?"
"I pulled this out of this guy's optics," she said, holding up a plastic evidence bag. Inside was a spike. "Recognise this?"
"The Knight Sabers," Leon said.
Kaneko nodded. "I've found other damage that is consistent with that theory. I wonder that they were doing up here?"
"Good question," Leon said. "Any idea about who owns this place?" Leon looked up at Daily.
"Small construction company, bought it two years ago. No connection to Genom that I could find. Doubt there is any."
"You'll trace all the serial numbers?" Leon looked over at Kaneko.
"I've already sent some in. We'll probably start getting feedback in a few hours, if not sooner."
Leon got to his feet. "Once we've taken a look at all the boomers we can go. We'll let the local cops handle the rest of it."
"I'll be done in another twenty minutes or so," Kaneko told him.
"We might as well go and talk to the local people," Daily said. "Be all political and stuff."
"Might as well."
Nene scribbled a note on a piece of paper to remind her that Linna wanted to meet for a celebration dinner that evening. A day late to celebrate her success, but that hardly mattered. It was exciting, Linna now part of a professional dance company. She might go anywhere soon. She might become very famous. Nene thought of how neat it would be to have a famous friend.
She folded the paper and slid it into the breast pocket of her blouse. That done she turned her attention to her work, trying to get caught up. She had spent most of the morning cat napping because of the late night. That, combined with the day she had taken off earlier, had left her with a heavy workload.
The workload had become a little heavier with the events in Miyagi. Lieutenant Akamura had sent in a bunch of boomer serial numbers and she wanted a history on those units as soon as possible. Nene had been volunteered for that.
Not too surprisingly most of the units had been traced back to MRAStech, bought for and by one of their researchers. Doctor Sharon Knight. Nene would let Leon and the others worry about getting in touch with Germany and hunting down clues there.
"Hey, Romanova-kun," Kaoru Wada, a PR lieutenant called to her. "I'm not a mail boy, got it?" His tone was a little cross.
Nene looked away from her work as soon as he called. He was waving an envelope in his hand.
"Pardon Wada-san?"
"This was delivered by courier." He presented her with a letter. "I was volunteered to bring it up to you." He smiled and Nene realised he had been joking earlier.
"Thank you Wada-san," Nene said, taking the envelope, deciding that he was also kind of cute.
"Don't mention it." He smiled at her then turned and left.
The envelope was marked with the logo of a courier company, her name and the address of the AD Police building and a bar code. She turned it over, wondering if there was a return address and found a small piece of paper tapped to the back.
Pulling it free and unfolding it Nene discovered it was a note from Kaoru, with his phone extension on it. Nene smiled as she placed it off to the side. She wondered if he had volunteered himself to come up to see her. She wondered if she should call him.
Naoko, having just witnessed everything and wanting to take a break for her work got up and walked over to Nene's desk.
Turning her attention back to the envelope she undid the flap and dumped the contents out on her desk. Several brochures from various universities and a guide to the entrance exam times spilled out across the desktop. The entire thing had her mother's handwriting all over it. While the results of the central exam had not come yet, both she and her mother knew she had done well.
"Are you thinking of going to University?" Naoko asked, picking up one of the brochures.
Nene looked up at her, a little surprised. She had not noticed her come over. "Well, not really," Nene lied.
"Wait," Naoko looked deep in thought. "You weren't here on the sixteenth were you? You were writing the central exam."
Nene sighed. "Yes. I'm thinking of going to university."
"Why?"
"Because I want to," Nene said, kind of a lie. She was not about to admit that while she wanted to, her mother had bullied her into it.
"You're going to quit the ADP?"
"I guess," Nene said. She had not given that too much thought really. Now that Naoko was asking the question, it made that part seem all the more real.
"Aren't you happy here? I mean, what about all your friends?"
"My friends will still be my friends," Nene told her. "And just because I am thinking doesn't mean I'll do it, or even that I'll pass the entrance exams," she lied once more.
"Why didn't you tell me you were thinking about this?"
"It's fairly recent. Can we keep this between ourselves?" Nene asked as she put the brochures and the guide back into the envelope.
"We'll have to tell everyone if you actually get accepted. There'll have to be a party after all."
"Fine. Once I've made it into a university we can tell everyone. Until then, I just don't want anyone to know."
"Nene-chan and her secrets," Naoko shook her head and smiled.
"You know how some of the people are. Always looking for an excuse for a joke. I don't need text books left on my desk and stuff like that."
"Or a seifuku in your locker."
"Definitely not that."
"Okay, but when you know, you tell, and accept all jokes with dignity."
"Why?"
"Because I'll put the seifuku in your locker."
"Pervert," Nene said playfully.
"But it will be cute."
"Idiot," Nene shook her head, smiling.
Naoko laughed then looked across the room. "Yabai(oh no), Sergeant Harrison is giving me one of those stares. I better get back to work. How about lunch?"
"Sure." Nene told her, a little disappointed she would not be able to give Kaoru a call suggesting lunch.
"See you then." Naoko returned to her own desk and her work.
Nene continued with her tasks but only gave the job the bare amount of attention it required. The rest of her mind was considering her future. She was going to have to decide which entrance exams to write soon, and then there was the question about what she ultimately wanted to do. Too many questions. She almost did not feel up to answering them.
12:03pm, Korea, Pusan
Sharon blinked her eyes as she stepped out of the main cabin and into the bright sun. She fished her sunglasses from her jacket pocket, put them on, and then continued along towards the gangplank.
While she would be the first to admit that security had not been her strong point, as the previous night's events proved, she had paid attention to some of what Terrence has said. Making sure she had an escape route was one of those things she had taken to heart.
A single C-Class and a copy of all her work had been the things she had kept hidden some distance from the ski lodge. After the Knight Sabers had left, so had she. An early morning helicopter trip, expensive, but worth it, had put her in Fukoka just in time to catch the high-speed ferry between Japan and Korea.
She knew she would be able to find someone in Korea, or China, or just in the whole area, who would be willing to support her work. She just needed a new lab and a few weeks to make up the work lost in the destruction of the ski lodge. Easy as breathing.
It did not take her long to clear customs and soon she was walking out of the ferry terminal, into Pusan. Within the hour she was in her hotel room-under a false name-for some much deserved rest.
She pulled the curtains closed and then stripped down to her panties; glad to be out of the clothes she had been wearing for more than twenty-four hours. While she would have liked to take a long shower, she wanted to sleep more. She would go to the bathroom first, and then sleep.
She had just entered the bathroom when the door to her room, which she had locked and bolted, swung open. She turned to look at the door and the woman who had entered. Tall, with a sort of elegance about her, she did not look like a robber.
"Knight-hakase," D said, closing the door behind her. "I'm so glad I caught up with you." She dropped the bag she was carrying.
Sharon was opening her mouth to scream but the other woman moved so fast, impossibly fast, and put her gloved hand over Sharon's mouth, stifling the scream.
D forced the woman back, pushing her so she ended up sitting on the toilet-she tore the 'Sanitised for Your Protection' strip off first. Still holding the woman with the finger lock on her jaw, D pulled her panties down to her knees, just to make things look proper.
"I'm sorry Knight-hakase, but I'm sure you understand," D said as she reached into her pocket, pulling out a small, auto-injector.
Sharon tried to struggle, but the woman-no, she had to be a boomer-was too strong. She was being held as if she were a child and nothing she could do seemed to have any effect. It was terrifying her. The sound of urine splashing in the water and on the porcelain was heard over the sound of Sharon's struggles.
D, as carefully as possible, forced the woman to open her mouth. She knew there was going to be some bruising around the jaw, but she hoped that it would not be considered important. Once she had Sharon's mouth open she lifted the auto-injector to her teeth and pulled the cap off. The needle clear, she reversed the injector and slid the needle into Sharon's mouth, under her tongue. It was less likely to be noticed there.
With a gentle squeeze, the entire contents of the injector were pumped into Sharon. D continued to hold her for a minute more before the woman went limp. Her eyes were open, as was her mouth. A small trail of saliva ran down her chin.
"That's better," D said, looking at the woman. "The drug will make your last moments comfortable."
Sharon wanted to say something, but it was as if all the strength had drained from her body. She blinked, slowly, trying to get her eyes to properly focus.
D looked down at the woman as she removed several items from within her jacket. Everything ready, she went to work. First she made sure Sharon's fingerprints were on everything. Best to be sure of the little things. That done she began to cook the heroin over an electric burner.
D looked over at the woman, wondering if there was recognition in her eyes. Did she know what was about to happen? Perhaps. It hardly mattered. She tied the surgical tubing around Sharon's upper, left arm and then prepared the syringe.
Heroin was such a tricky thing, D thought as she filled the syringe body. Get some a little purer than one was used to, and it was so easy to overdose. Or if it was cut with the wrong things. The heroin she had brought with her was three times more pure than what was currently being sold on the streets, and had too much quinine in it. She flicked the syringe to get the few bubbles to the top, the squeezed the plunger, gently, venting all the air, and a small stream of the heroin.
Reaching down she grasped Sharon's right arm, pulling it up and placing the syringe into her hand. Carefully she guided the woman's hand, sliding the needle into the distended vein and the pumping the contents into her arm.
She left the needle in as she stepped back. Death would come too fast for the victim to remove the needle.
D watched, with a sort of professional detachment, as Sharon Knight died. It happened, as she had expected, very fast. Her eyes rolled back into her head, she jerked once, and that was it. She was dead.
D left the bathroom, picking up the bag she had dropped earlier. She walked over to the bed, placed her bag down, and then removed several pieces of scanning equipment. She was not going to miss anything when she swept the room. She did have time after all, it would be at least a day before anyone came to check on Sharon. D expected to be there for no more than an hour.
Domino ran across the helipad, keeping her head down. When she reached the helicopter one of the crew reached out and pulled her in. The door was closed behind her and the aircraft lifted off.
"He'll see you now," the man who had pulled her into the craft said.
Domino nodded and let herself be directed towards the door. The aircraft was huge, similar to the ones the SDF used for transporting their combat suits. There was more than enough room for the several offices that were on board the craft.
The door was open and Domino stepped through. Quincy sat behind a desk, smaller than the one in the Tower, staring at her. She bowed deeply. "Sumimasen."
"Sit," he said.
Domino crossed the deck and sat down.
"Your work with Persies is adequate. Tell me of Aphros Industries."
"Harmless. They are being used."
"Are you certain of that?"
"Yes," Domino told him.
"Who is using them?"
"I am not sure yet," she admitted.
"When will you be sure?" he asked her, his neutral tone holding so much subtle warning.
"I do not wish to be specific until I know for sure. I have people working on it."
Quincy nodded. "What about Knight-hakase and her work?"
"It has been dealt with."
"How certain of that are you?"
"Anything she left at the office building would have been destroyed by the explosives she set off. The ski lodge was completely destroyed. We have recovered anything she took with her to Korea. I am as certain as I can be."
"As one of the few people who know about this, I'll expect you to watch for any signs that Knight-hakase's work has spread."
"I understand," Domino said.
"Good."
"Shachou-san, may I make a suggestion?"
Quincy looked at her then nodded.
"I think we should continue with Knight-hakase's work. There are a number of ways that it could be used which might be very useful."
Quincy stared at her for a time, not saying anything. Domino began to feel nervous, wondering if she had just made a mistake. "Do you know what the greatest threat to Genom is, Odotte-kun?" he finally asked.
Domino was confused by the question and was not sure how to answer it. "The government and its various agencies..."
"No," Quincy told her, cutting her off. "We own the government on several levels, and even those politicians we do not control know better than to make any attempts on us. We are too important to the economy; we have forced ourselves into that advantageous position in several countries.
"Nor are the press agencies a problem, we can buy those overtly unlike the politicians. We need not fear individuals or mercenaries, no matter how large or small their numbers are.
"The only thing that can truly threaten Genom," He paused, "is the population of the city we are flying over, the ordinary people of the world."
"Sir?" Domino was a little confused. She did not like what she was feeling. There was something of disappointment in Quincy's words, and for some reason that bothered her. It bothered her a lot.
"If they storm our doors we are destroyed. Yes, we can battle them and win, with the many layered defence of the Tower they would not stand a chance. The same is true for all our towers. And in so doing we have sealed our fate.
"Our power is based on them; they design, make, and buy our products. Without them we are nothing. Do you understand?"
"Sir..." Domino trailed off, shaking her head. Quincy had thrown her off stride, was taking the argument into areas she had never considered. For the first time in her short life she felt completely bewildered.
"They are lazy Odotte-kun." He sighed, looking a little disappointed. Domino did not know why, but that displeasure bothered her more than she thought it should. "Corporations have proved time and time again that they can do almost anything and the people will forget, go on with their lives. If it is no longer on the news it might as well have never happened.
"Dow poisoned an entire community, Exxon polluted a pristine environment, we have tested combat boomers in this very city. The populace has let us; we throw a little money at the problem and people forget.
"I want them to remain lazy and complacent. I do not want to give them a reason to turn their anger on us for any great length of time. Knight-hakase's work would scare them, and rightfully so. It hits too closely to thoughts of mind control. People would not sit still for that. They would get angry, truly angry because they would be truly afraid. I do not like it when people become afraid. Fear is a very dangerous emotion."
He looked at Domino for several seconds. "Do you understand now, Odotte-kun?"
Domino took a deep breath, not aware she had been holding it. "Hai, wakarimasu(I understand)."
"You are dismissed."
"Hai." She stood and stepped away from the chair. Bowing deeply, she took a step back, then straightened. Turning, she walked towards the door.
"Remember what I have told you Odotte-kun," Quincy said as she began to open the door.
She turned. "I will," she told him, bowing again before leaving his office.
"We will be landing at the airport in five minutes," the man who had helped her aboard said once she had closed the door. "You will leave then."
Domino nodded and moved towards one of the seats. She was in a very dangerous game, but she had cleared the first obstacle. She had Quincy's trust, or at least as much as he was willing to give.
"How likely is it that the coroners discover it was a murder?" Domino asked D.
"It would depend how thorough they are. A foreigner, found dead in her hotel room, no money missing, obvious drug overdose, I don't think that they will look too close."
"No, I suppose they just want to see a drug overdose; it will make them feel superior."
"That is what I thought."
"Good," Domino said. She picked up the MMSD from her desk, turning it over in her hands. "This is the only one?" she asked, holding up the disk.
D nodded. "The last file entry on that disk was made at 6:23pm, January 18th."
Domino took a disk case from her desk and then slid the MSSD in. She closed it, locking it.
"What are you going to do with it?" D asked, a little curious.
"I'll send it to Shachou-sama. He'll do what he wishes with it."
"Does this mean your position here is secure?"
"As secure as it can be. Now I just have to worry about my peers trying to get rid of competition, and my subordinates trying to take my position."
"Business as usual."
Domino smiled slightly. "Yes. Business as usual."
A soft chime came from the lady's Rolex that Domino wore. Domino looked down at it. "Time for business. D, move over there," she said, indicating a chair off to the side.
As D moved to where Domino indicated a set of liquid-crystal screens on the walls flickered on. The screens showed three men. Doctor Richard Mastason, head of MRAStech; Paul Hendle, European investment specialist; and Amy Saunders, a dilettante with a trust fund that was too large for her own good.
"Mr. Mastason, Mr. Hendle, Miss Saunders, I'm glad you were willing to speak with me."
"My pleasure," Paul said, smiling broadly.
"What is this about Miss Odotte," Amy said sharply. She was an attractive woman, though beginning to show her age. The jealous type, Domino knew that from her file.
Richard was silent, he was just waiting, watching. Domino took note of that as she looked over her security board. Paul had a tap on his line. Sloppy of him Domino thought as she sent a burst of static down the line to confuse the tap before switching the line.
"I wish to purchase your shares in MRAStech," Domino said, brining it out into the open. "I'll offer you twice their current market value."
"So, Genom wants to take over MRAStech," Amy said. She was smiling like someone who thought they had all the cards.
"If news gets out about this the value of the stocks is likely to jump to more than twice their value." Paul smiled broadly as he looked at his camera.
"And they could drop suddenly, if Genom were to start selling off their shares of MRAStech," Domino paused. "Or for other reasons." She gave them a moment to think about that, but then started again before they could say anything. "I will trade you your stock in MRAStech on a one for one basis with shares of Gendyne Bionetics. While the shares are not quite the value of those of MRAStech, I'm sure that will change soon. Think about it Mr. Hendle, Miss Saunders." Domino cut her feed to both of them. The lines were still open, but she was no longer transmitting to them.
"Dr. Mastason," Domino said, turning to look at him.
"I am not interested," he told her.
"But they are, and you cannot match anything I can offer them. They will take my offer. They are both greedy."
"That will only give you fifteen percent of my company's stock. That will not be enough for you to take over."
Domino smiled. "As of this morning Genom took over Donaldson Incorporated. Donaldson owned a company called Kinkade Resources. Kinkade Resources was in fact a holding company for a number of interesting things, including a small firm that held eight percent of your Company's stock. As soon as Mr. Hendle and Miss Saunders sell Genom their shares we will control twenty three percent of MRAStech."
Richard looked uncomfortable, and perhaps a little angry. "I will ensure that you have a fight on your hands."
"You may try that Dr. Mastason, and you will fail, but I do have another suggestion. You will sell Genom two of the six percent of MRAStech you own, for twice the current market value. You will remain in charge of MRAStech, and with Genom support you should be able to get a number of stalled projects running, and keep better control over people like Dr. Knight, and their work."
Richard's eyes opened wide at that. "What do you mean?" he asked, trying to sound calm.
"Stingray-sensei would not have wanted his work abused by a woman like her Dr. Mastason. You either work for Genom, to the benefit of both companies, or you will no longer have any say in the running of your company. I'll give you a few minutes to think about it." Domino cut her feed to him and re-connected to both Paul and Amy. "I'm sure you've had time to think about this, and you have been talking to each other. What is your answer."
The two stared at Domino, saying nothing for a moment, then Amy said, "We agree to your offer, but we also want two million, Canadian, each, to sweeten the offer as it were."
Domino smiled. "One million, each, and that is my final offer. Genom will not play games like this. We are deadly," she stressed 'deadly' ever so slightly, "serious. Now, do we have a deal or not?"
"We have a deal," Paul said.
"Good," Domino said happily. "My people will be by your respective offices within the hour with the contracts. As this is a simple stock transfer I don't expect it to take long. Good day," she said, then hung up on both. She re-connected to Richard, smiling at him. "What will it be Dr. Mastason?"
"I want a guarantee, in writing, that I hold my position for as long as I want."
"That will not be a problem Doctor. We at Genom would prefer it if you stayed with the company for as long as you wish. Now, shall we hammer out all the details now?"
"Yes," Richard said, sounding a little mollified.
Domino nodded, still smiling. She was beginning to enjoy her work.
Priss sat on the edge of the stage, her legs hanging over. She flipped through the pages of the contract that Oshiro had brought her, going back to read an earlier subsection. Her head was beginning to hurt.
Oshiro and two other executive types with the look of lawyers had shown up near the end of her show. She had put them off long enough to take a shower and for the club to empty. She wanted as much privacy as she could get. A room full of well wishers, some drunk, would not have provided that.
"So, if I'm reading this right, you want me to cease to exist. That is what section C deals with correct?"
"Priss-san, this is not a big deal." Oshiro gave her that smile again. "It's just that Priss of the Replicants and of Hot Legs and of this dark, seedy music scene is just a bit too high profile as being anti-Genom."
"I thought you said people like it when celebs bite the hands that feed them?"
"They do but if an openly Genom controlled company-and most of the music giants are to one extent or another-gives 'the' Priss a contract then they come off looking a little stupid. It's much better if they start biting the hand after they have been signed."
"I don't like this," She told him.
"Son of a bitch," he cursed, "it's not like I'm asking you to go Idol or anything stupid like that. Play the same music, go by Prisila Asagiri-or anything that's not Priss-and dump the blonde wig. That's it. It's not like we are asking too much is it?" He smiled again.
Priss looked at the papers in her hands. It was a good contract, three records-though Sony had the option to cancel after the first-generous touring expenses, everything she could want.
She could also understand Genom's desire not to have 'the' Priss as one of their new finds, even if they were doing it through Sony. Did it really matter? she wondered. She could give in on that one thing.
Of course it might make it easier for her to give in on other things.
She was strong enough to deal with that, wasn't she? She thought back to the night with Nene's mother, what they had said. She had gone through a lot of pain to get where she was, but somehow she had always managed to stay true to herself, no matter that it often meant taking the harder road.
She looked at Okita, then folded the contract in half, then in half again, pressing the crease down sharp. "Not interested," she told him, handing him back the contract.
"What do you mean you are not interested?"
"I'm not interested. Change it or I won't sign."
"Listen to me, Asagiri-san," he said, his voice suddenly getting very hard. "You are a no one. I can find a hundred singers just like you without working at it. I chose you because I liked your style. I thought you were intelligent. We will not be rewriting this contract," he unfolded it and thrust it back at her. "Now sign or I will ensure that you never work again, do you understand me?"
Priss stared at him for a few seconds, then reached out and took the contract. She flipped to the rear page, then tore it free. Oshiro stared angrily at her. Priss looked up at him, then dropped the rest of the contract. Placing the last page on the stage, she began to fold it. A short time later she had an origami crane.
"I wish I could do a dog," Priss said calmly, holding the crane out towards Oshiro. "Then I could tell you to fuck it!" she snapped, flipping the swan into his face.
"You stupid..."
Priss reached out and grabbed his tie, pulling him close. "Tell Genom if they want to exploit me they'll have to choke down their pride first." She pushed him away.
Oshiro was livid, he seemed unable to talk, just making grunts and such in his attempt to speak. He closed his eyes, going still for a moment.
"You'll regret that," he told her.
"Maybe." Priss shrugged her shoulders.
He turned, taking his two associates with him.
"Well thanks for that," Yuuko said, coming out onto the stage.
"The Replicants weren't included in the deal, in fact they did not want anything that would link me to the "Old Priss" as they put it."
"Well that sucks," Yuuko told her.
"Tell me about it."
"So now what?" Yuuko asked.
"How about a celebratory drink Priss-chan?" Leon stepped out from the shadows of one of the booths.
"What the hell are you doing here?" Priss demanded.
"Watching you. I come to most of your concerts, you know that. I noticed those Genom types and waited to see what was happening. Professional curiosity. So how about that drink?" He walked towards her, holding up a bottle of Suntory Premium and some shot glasses.
"And what the hell are we supposed to drink to?"
"Your continuing engagement at Hot Legs. Whenever you finally get a contract, I'll never get a chance to see you perform as often as I do now," he said as he put the glasses on the stage and began to fill them.
"Well, I'll drink to that." Yuuko picked up one of the glasses.
"Don't get any ideas Leon." Priss picked up a glass.
"A guy can dream." He put the bottle aside to take up the third glass.
"To success in the future," Yuuko raised her glass.
"Works for me," Leon lifted his.
"It's okay to go nowhere, baby, just as long as you go nowhere fast." Priss and the others drank their shots.
"This stuff is horrible." Yuuko grimaced.
"Tasted better." Leon shook his head as he placed the shot glass back on the tray. "What do you say to drinks at a nicer place?"
"I'm game." Yuuko jumped off the stage and slid up close to Leon. "So Priss, who's your friend?"
"Leon, this is my bassist Nishizaki Yuuko. Yuuko, McNichol Leon. Captain in the AD Police."
"You must be Priss' obsessive fan." Yuuko smiled up at him.
"Well, obsessive might be a bit too strong."
"I wish I had a fan like you." She was obvious in her attentions and intentions.
Leon smiled at her, the attractive girl at his side tripping all the right switches.
Priss smiled as she watched the interplay between the two. It looked like Yuuko would be better at running interference than Linna had ever been.
"So where you taking us Leon-kun?" Priss pushed herself off the stage. "Better be good." She told him.
"I'm sure I can find some place." Leon offered his arm to Yuuko.
"So tell me about your job, it must be ever so exciting." Yuuko looked up at him, batting her eyelashes coquettishly at him.
Priss groaned as they set off towards the exit.
