Thank you ApocSM, even one review shows that someone appreciates my work. Of course, if more people review it will inspire me even more to kepp writing

Chapter 3

Johnson and his men returned to the Arbite HQ. The hospital was being cleared of the dead now. Who ever had intervened was extremely skilled to defeat fifty Z warriors with no civilian casualties. All fire fights were in corridors, and all civilians remained in their rooms. Johnson had finished his report and went to hand it over to the captain. Two hospital patients had seen the black figure, a seven year old girl and a forty one year old man, and were being questioned now. Neither had gotten a look at his face under the hood, but the girl, Lucy, had managed to get his name. Marius. Johnson was lost in his own thoughts when he bumped into Gregory.

"Hey, Johnson. Nice work back there."

"Not really," he replied, "that Marius did all the work for me."

"True, but you had plans in motion to do the same. He just beat you to it."

Johnson merely smiled, knowing his plans would have likely seen a messier outcome. "How are McCoy and Wright?" he asked, inquiring about the men who were hit by heavy stubber fire at the beginning of the incident.

"Wright will be ok, only took wounds to his left arm and leg, but McCoy is worse. He took a bullet to the lung, and the doctors are trying to stabilise him now."

"Good thing the fight was at a hospital," Johnson remarked wryly.

"Yeah."

"Does it look like he'll pull through?"

"The doctors are hopeful."

"That's good news," Johnson said with a smile, "See you around, I have to hand in my report, then I'm going home to sleep."

"Me too, see you tomorrow."

Johnson handed in his report and headed home. On the way he could only think about who was it that kept intervening and why. Whoever it was seemed to disappear after every encounter. With any luck he could help in their attempts to shut down the Z warriors. Every thing the Arbites had tried had met with very heavy resistance. Whoever their leader was, he was organised. Other gangs in Dakaan could not expand beyond a certain point due to the inability to organise such a large force. That is why the Z warrior expansion went unchecked at first; the Arbites assumed disorganisation would tear it apart. How wrong they had been. Now more than fifty per cent of the people in gangs belong with the Z warriors. At this rate they would soon outnumber the Arbites. That was what Johnson was afraid of.

The black figure dropped down from the roof and landed in a crouch in front of the building he had been using as a hideout. Glancing either side to see if anyone had followed didn't see anyone. Rising from his crouch he entered the building.

Rat had been watching from above, perched atop a near by roof. He was curious as to why the figure had entered this building. Pausing to consider sneaking into the building for a look, he decided against it recalling the damage the black figure had done at the hospital. Rat deduced that this was where the figure was living and that this was valuable information that Zarlan would want to know. Smiling to himself Rat headed off to report.

The black figure entered the room he was staying in and got out the med kit. During the fire fight he had taken a few hits, nothing serious. He removed his robes and treated the wounds. He then turned to his robes. There were now blood stains on them and they needed to be removed. He went to the sink and turned the taps on, the fact that the water was still on was one of the reasons he had chosen this place. While removing the blood stains he began to wonder why the Z warriors had attacked the hospital. They could not have hoped to capture the place permanently, and if they had wanted to free the prisoners, like the leader of them claimed, why had they not attacked the prison? There numbers were sufficient to overwhelm the prison guards in a surprise attack.

He thought about it for a while before coming to the conclusion that the attack was in response the massacre at the warehouse. Whoever was running this gang was testing the new foe that he was, determining his strength. He was not dealing with an ordinary gang leader. Whoever ran this gang was doing so with military precision. Hanging the robes to dry he lay on the bed and pondered his latest problem. Ammunition. The transport he had used to reach the planet was not stocked with ammunition when he took it. He was now down to four and a half clips. He had heard of information of a rouge trader that was in the city on business. He would be the most likely person to re-supply him. He would rest now, then try and find out where he could meet the rouge trader.

Zarlan had heard what had happened at St Janus hospital. He had lost fifty men. What ever force the Arbites had put together must have been a good one, as there were no civilian casualties reported. He was now eagerly awaiting Rat's report. What ever he was facing he would need a better force than these poorly organised gangsters. He had several trusted lieutenants; he called five into his throne room.

"Listen," he said leaning forward, "I need each of you to train up a fifteen man squad. Get them to the level that you all know I expect. I'll soon have a special mission for them."

They nodded and left to begin training the squads. As they left Rat entered. Zarlan did not like the small, rodent like man who came before him, but he was the best at the job.

"What do you have to report?"

"I've found who's attacking your men."

"Who?" asked Zarlan with disbelief. How could one man cause so much damage?

"Yeah, who. He's a massive guy wearin' black robes with a hood. I couldn't see his face. I've found his hideout though."

"His hideout," said Zarlan, sitting back. This would be perfect for an ambush. "Take this," he tossed a small vox unit to Rat, "and stake out his hideout. Radio in whenever he leaves, understood?"

Rat nodded and scurried out. Zarlan now began thinking. He would give his lieutenants a week to get the squads ready, then when this new foe left his force would move in and set up an ambush. With seventy five men waiting in ambush whoever was interfering with the Z warriors would soon stop.

The mysterious man donned his robes and set off. He would prowl through the bars and clubs for a lead. Rouge traders rarely advertise their presence and this one was no exception. He after searching through many clubs he found who he had been seeking. Due to his size he could not blend into the crowd, so hung back at the edge, hidden mainly in shadow. He approached his target slowly. The man near the bar speaking with three large men was his target. He had heard that he always knew what was going on in the city. He sat down near by, so as not to give away his size. He could not afford for his possibly only lead for finding the Rouge trader to be scared off.

"Excuse me," he asked keeping his head down so they couldn't see his face, "I need some information."

"Oh really, and who are you?"

Seeing as he had already used this name he decided to stick with it. "My name is Marius."

"Well Marius, what do you want to know?"

"I heard there was a Rouge trader in town. I want to know where I can find him."

"Well sorry, but I don't know about any Rouge trader," he said turning to go.

"You're lying," Marius said firmly.

He paused. "Oh you think so. Get him boys!" the three guys advanced cracking their knuckles.

"If you tell me what I want to know I will not have to hurt you."

"You're in no position to make threats," he smirked. Rising swiftly he caught the first one's punch and crushed his fist and tossing him aside he booted another in the stomach and smashed the third across the jaw. The speed with which he had taken them down silenced the club, save for the club music. With the goons dispatched Marius grabbed the man by the throat and lifted him clear off the ground.

"Are you going to cooperate?" Jason nodded, unable to speak from the choking. "Good." Marius dropped him. "Now were can I find the Rouge trader?"

"I don't know," he said coughing and holding his throat, "but I know someone who might do. He moves around a lot, but can always been found gambling in the casino across town. His name's Mike. He goes in their every couple of weeks."

Now Marius had the information he wanted he turned and left rapidly before Arbites arrived. He did not need their interference.

Johnson arrived soon after the call was sent to the Arbites about a disturbance. Unfortunately all those involved had left the scene, but there were still plenty of witnesses inside the crowded club. As soon as Marius was linked to the scene he was put in charge due to the two previous connections with him. He quickly began questioning people. He soon discovered what had happened.

Jason Molino, a well know information source, was approached by Marius. No one heard what he asked, but whatever it was Jason clearly did not want to talk about it as he was said to set his three goons on Marius. In under a minute Marius had dispatched them, got his information and left. At least now they had a lead on Marius.

Johnson quickly organised a search for Jason, he would be brought in for questioning, and then hopefully they could get some information on Marius. Maybe they could recruit him into the Adeptus Arbites. Someone like that would be invaluable.

The captain put Johnson in charge of a force that was dedicated to tracking down Marius, including any incidents he was involved in. The force comprised of Johnson's squad along with three others. Johnson had no doubt that it would not be enough to stop Marius if he attacked them, and there was no way they could contain him. Unless he wanted to come with them there was no way to bring him in for questioning.

Gareth was one of Zarlan's lieutenants. He, like the rest, was ex Imperial Guard and would soon have his squad combat ready. Firstly he had to get them to respond on command. This would have been a difficult task with an ordinary bunch of gangers, but the seventy five picked for this were the best and most obedient. He was putting them through a week long boot camp; fortunately they were more than raw recruits. All could handle weapons with a reasonable level of proficiency and knew how to follow general orders.

But responding to general orders would not be enough. He spent the first day doing exercises in which he would give rapid orders and they had to respond instantly. With it so concentrated by the end of day one they could respond as well as an Imperial Guard squad. The next day he moved on to weapons training. They all had preferences in different weapons. That had to change. The Mars pattern las gun was what his previous recruits had used and that's what they would use. Only one of the fifteen had used one before so it took two full days to get them fully trained on it and by the end they were far more proficient than they had been with any weapon. All save two. Three of the gangers had experience with heavy stubbers. After a few tests Gareth had discovered the two best and while the rest retrained on the las gun they practised offering suppressing fire as well as target practise and running with the heavy weapon.

On the beginning of the fourth day they moved onto squad based tactics. They ran teamwork exercises for the day and were soon so integrated that they would trust each other with their lives. There previous experience with one another in the gang helped. Gareth was wondering if training gangs into Imperial Guard regiments would be effective. They had responded better to his training than any recruits he had ever had because of their gang experience.

For the rest of the week a mixture of exercises were done to keep their new skills sharp and by the end Gareth's squad was ready to face their new foe. On the final day all five squads gathered together and trained as one. They fought as effectively as an Imperial Guard platoon. The other squads had responded as well to the training and the fiercest gang force the Dakaan city, in fact the fiercest in the Cypra system. Whoever was after the Z warriors would have one hell of a fight on their hands.