This one hammered at me until I set it in text. CajunBear73 and Sentinel103 came through again on Beta Duties. Thanks Dudes
Chapter 24 Temper Temper
The next couple of weeks were interesting to say the least. The first was Kaname's father. Both Kaname and Sousuke had promised to visit the man in New York, but events precluded the trip.
Between the Escort mission for Grace Wiseman, school, Sousuke's G.J. duties, the personal training they were engaged in, including weapons training and A.S. Sims, and various other minor missions like Kim and Kaname delivering a load of medical supplies to a remote Amazon research station to the girls kidnapping by Gemini and the full out assault against the Rocky Mountain WWEE base, they just didn't have the time to spare to leave for the 7 to 10 days her father wanted.
He had taken to calling every other day or so letting his displeasure be known. Finally he decided that if 'Mohammad wouldn't come to the Mountain, the Mountain would come to Mohammad'. So Shunya Chidori arranged both his schedule and that of his younger daughter, Ayame, in order to visit the last week of October. Including, much to the young teenager's displeasure, making sure she had all her class work available.
The next thing on their plates was something Roger thought up. People could say what they wanted about Roger Thomas Olsen, but stupid wasn't one of the things they could use. Sneaky on the other hand could, at times, fit very well. He called his sister and got her to arrange a covert meeting with the Doctors Mr. and Mrs. Possible. Once he laid out his ideas and plans, they called in their daughter to another covert meeting.
She in turn called in Kaname and, most importantly, one Dr. Wade Load, who contacted other various co-conspirators. People with names like Drew Lipsky, Dr. Elizabeth Director and Senor Senior Senior. Kaname thought of someone that no one did and quickly called a number in Japan.
They waited until both Sagara and Ron were in classes, and while Wade kept one eye on the unsuspecting guys, they all met, either in person for the locals or virtually for the Seniors and Toshimaru Ishido, at Sagara's base. After the introductions, Roger informed them of his ideas. With as much brain power and sheer MONEY as there was at the meeting, it didn't take long before a plan of action was agreed upon. Roger had made a few calls to the appropriate entities and got several things arranged. The twenty-fourth of October was going to be a very interesting day to say the least.
There was also another video making the rounds on the internet. It showed an indistinct figure landing in the middle of a hangar and the resulting cloud of dust. What happened afterward was hard to follow because bad guys started flying all over the place. In some ways it was brutal to watch; but like watching a train wreck, you couldn't stop. Rumors had started that somebody had invented a light saber, because that was the only explanation anyone could come up with for a Bo Staff that could slice through metal. For those in the know, it was obvious that "The Buffoon" was doing his thing again.
The video reinforced the idea that bothering Team Possible would continue to be a losing proposition. As a result, the 'Bad Guy" hits to the site dropped to an all time low. The only downside was that it had been leaked from the GJ files, something Dr. Director was furious about. Wade had clued her in that he suspected a mole, but he couldn't tag them. Yet! A goodly portion of his time was being taken up by the hunt because they were leaking information about his friend.
Betty was just about to order a full out investigation, but Wade convinced her otherwise by saying, "I don't think they know I'm looking yet. Let's keep it that way. Sooner or later, they'll mess up and I can nail 'em. If you go broadcasting that we're looking, they might shut down until the heat's off." She reluctantly agreed, but wanted to be kept in the loop as to his findings. She had him set up an account on the GJ servers that only the two of them would have access to, to pass information back and forth.
Into this was the visit by a group of lawyers who brought reports of the 'Friends Of Lowardia' case. Ron nearly blew a gasket because no one, including his parents had told him anything about what was going on. The spokesman took a HEAT (High Explosive Anti Tank) round for Ron's parents by saying it was at their request that nothing was said until now. They told Ron the reason was that he had more than enough to worry about without adding this to the list. They said the only reason they were mentioning it now was there were some documents that required his signature.
One of the reasons 'The Friends Of Lowardia' had finally given up was the threat of one countersuit after another, with indictments going from stalking and harassment to religious discrimination. What really got their attention was the names on the already prepared countersuit documents. The first six names were the 'Friends Of Lowardia' legal team.
As soon as they saw their own names in an indictment brief, for charges of religious discrimination, the 'Friends Of Lowardia' lawyers quickly rethought the idea of pushing forward the charges against Ron. The documents that Ron had to sign, without the legalese, stated that they would cease and desist any charges against one Ronald D. Stoppable on behalf of Warhok and Warmonga as long as he didn't bring charges against them. 'The Friends of Lowardia' only acceded to the agreement with an ill grace, but under the circumstances, they didn't have much choice.
The litigious collapse of 'The Friends of Lowardia' was a fait accompli, especially after the names of the backers of Ronald Stoppable's legal team came to light. Both Martin Smarty and Nakasumi-san had A LOT more money then they did and could afford to drag them through years of legal hell.
When Roger found out about it, he nearly had to be taken to the hospital because he was laughing so hard at the irony of it all.
The A.S. training was going good as well, but Kim wasn't sure whether to be tweaked or not. As Kaname had predicted, except for Sagara, she had surpassed the rest of the Team in A.S. Sims. She could accept that. She didn't like it, but she understood the reasons he was so much better then the rest of the Team.
The reason for her quandary was there was one other on the Team that thrashed her regularly. Ron. Once he was able to make a few connections in his mind, he took to the Arm Slave like a duck to water. To him, it was like a giant video game. In fact it was better then a video game, because like the Mii systems, it was a lot more intuitive and physically interactive, forcing the "Player" to move around to get the machine to do what they wanted it to do. Instead of pushing B-B-C-D to perform a Punch, Punch, Duck, Jump Back combo, you just did it. Ron loved it and win or lose came out of the Simulators grinning every time.
Kim had done a bit of research and found out a disturbing piece of information. If Ron didn't know he was fighting her, he beat her about fifty percent of the time. When he was aware of her being his opponent, his numbers dropped drastically: to something like twenty-five percent.
When she found out, she asked Sagara about it. He confirmed her suspicions. Sousuke quickly adjusted the simulations so NO ONE, but him, knew who they were fighting against. After that, Kim and Ron would regularly trade places between first and second place, Sousuke excluding himself from the rankings because he was the primary trainer.
Kaname and Wade would trade off between third and forth. The longer the engagements lasted the more likely it was that Kaname would win. Her greater stamina and endurance would wear the younger student out to the point that he became easy pickings. But if Wade could get in close, hard and fast, his greater understanding of the machines would come into play.
Sagara mentally laid out a probable roster for the team and he placed Wade in the same slot Kurz Weber occupied. That of the Long Gun. While Kurz could get close and fight melee, he excelled at picking off targets from range. Because of his age and lack of long term stamina, Sousuke started assigning Wade to the same job: Sniper.
The rest of the Team he was able to lay out in a more balanced fashion since they could all get in close to the enemy and "Duke It Out". They were all improving to the point that as long as the enemy didn't have Venoms or some other Lambda Driver machines, he felt confident they could at least hold their own. He was confident enough that he placed a call to some friends to come and test this theory.
They would be operating in simulated American M6A1's, an upgraded version of the American Arm Slave the USSF used in the failed Berildaobu Island assault. It was an excellent machine in it's own right. It was the fault of neither the machines nor the pilots that they faced an enemy who was both equipped with a Venom and a complete sociopath: Gauron! Had they been aware of the danger they were in, they could have had a much better chance against the maniac.
Even after the death of the man in front of his own eyes and at his own hands, the thought of him caused a shudder down Sagara's spine. He had gone through the mission logs Wade kept for the Team Possible missions and none of the villains, with maybe the exception of the Lowardians, came close to either Gauron or Gates for psychotic behavior.
The shoot-house and hand-to-hand training was going good as well. Although it revealed some interesting data. In the Dojo, unarmed, Kim regularly trounced everybody. With blunt weapons, such as a Bo, Bokken or Tonfa both Ron and Sagara were able to hold their own against her. Against Ron though, she would win nearly every time, while against Sagara, she had to work a lot harder to achieve even a draw. Sagara suspected an unconscious reserve on Ron's part when he faced her because Ron would regularly beat the Soldier under the same conditions.
Kaname was nowhere near the levels of Sagara, Kim or Ron, But under Kim's direction she steadily improved. Wade, despite his severe dislike of the exercises, would workout to the best of his ability. And while he couldn't take anyone on the Team hand-to-hand, if some goon or Henchman tried to grab the genius, they were going to be in for a nasty surprise. Particularly if they made the mistake of letting him get armed with either melee weapons or firearms.
And since he had built a special Bo for himself, he was almost never unarmed. The Bo was about eleven inches long in a collapsed state and close to three and a half feet when expanded. He had even started wearing his modified body armor all the time when he was in the building. He had modified it to allowed him to carry an assortment of tools and gadgets, including the Bo and his Glock.
When Kim asked him why, he said that wearing the 24 lbs of body armor was better then a workout and because it was on him all the time, he was never without his basic tools and gadgets. He wasn't losing any weight, but he was quickly losing the chubby figure he has sported for years when the only time they saw him was on the other side of a computer monitor or Kimmunicator screen. His mass was being shifted from body fat to muscle.
In the Shoot-house on the other hand, Kaname had slightly higher scores than Kim did. She was much more willing to drop an enemy than the redhead and reacted faster to an increasing enemy force level. As the enemy shifted from subduing to incapacitating to lethal force, Kim would, unconsciously, continue to try and use hand-to-hand to knock them out. Kaname on the other hand would shuck the BDA in a heartbeat.
Ron and Wade continued to make an excellent entry team with scores on par with Kim. With Ron on point and Wade covering his back, they could drop a multitude of opponents. It was only when the enemy started coming faster than they could drop them that they became overwhelmed.
Sagara would regularly switch up the teams on operations, between two, three, four and five man teams. This had the effect of forcing everyone to learn everyone else's strengths and weaknesses. It also got them use to working with someone other than the old Team Possible combination of Kim and Ron in the field while Wade sat behind in a room full of computer equipment.
There were problems. Wade would sometimes freeze up when the situation changed faster then he could adapt. He was fine as long as they had a set of contingency plans. It was improvisation that caused him to overload trying to work out all the factors to adapt to the new situation. Sousuke was trying to get him to understand the Battlefield maxim of "A good plan NOW is better then a perfect plan in three minutes. Because in three minutes, you could be dead."
Drakken and Shego would regularly monitor the shoot house training sessions and much to Shego's displeasure, she was basically barred from training. She was starting to show her condition and her mood swings were getting more pronounced as the weeks went by. When Drew told her she had been locked out of the shoot house controls she nearly exploded the building until Ron, of all people, calmed her down enough to listen to reason.
It was his "Is your wanting to blast the drones worth your baby?" that slowed her down enough to think about what he had just said. When he continued with "I dunno, but I think if you take a bad hit out there, you could lose her." MOOD SWING! Shego went from boiling fury to crying jag in record time.
Mood swings weren't her only problem. Her cravings were driving Drakken to a distraction. It was the chocolate chip and ketchup tortillas that sent him scrambling to Ron for help. He would call Ron at any hour begging for things like marshmallow lasagna or hollandaise sauce for her Thankful Departed ice cream. Knowing what Shego was like normally made him really want to avoid a visit by a craving impaired, hormone driven, plasma firing powerhouse!
The other interesting thing was Kaname's temper had landed Sousuke and Ron into a sitch, that if they didn't emerge victorious, Kim and Kaname would be the ones paying the piper. The weekend following the WWEE sitch, the foursome had gone to a club to makeup for the missed night out the week prior. What they didn't know was there was a local garage band playing that night. A band headed by a two-tone haired young man named Josh Mankey.
**********
The four were sitting at a table that Sousuke had chosen. In a corner away from the door that allowed for lines of sight to nearly the rest of the club. They had arrived early and the place hadn't even started filling yet, so the crowd was light. In the booth next to them was a group of girls who were swooning over various members of the band, particularly the front man/rhythm guitarist. That golden hottie, Josh Mankey.
Now Sagara didn't care one way or the other and Kaname didn't even glance at the singer. Ron wasn't thinking about it, he was more concerned with the club's severe lack of nachos and other consumables. Kim, remembering the last time she laid eyes on her former crush was of half a mind, and maybe a little more, to go somewhere else for the night.
Josh had wandered over during a break, but he only had eyes on the girls in the booth and his plans for later in the evening. Kim and Ron were sitting with their backs to the other booth, while Sousuke and Kaname were in view, so he didn't realize who was sitting in the booth next to them. When the girls started gushing about how great a singer he was, nothing really happened other than Kim shuddering, What started it was when one of the girls went on and on about how great a guitarist he was.
When Kaname heard the girl, she was about to take a drink from her soda. It was one of those strange silent lulls in the conversation inside the club that led to her laughter sounding clearly. And since no one in Mankey's booth heard anything to set her off, they jumped, correctly, to the conclusion that she found the girl's comment funny.
Now being the pretty boy that he was, that didn't set too well with Josh. "Why's what she said funny? I happen to think I'm pretty good. Both singing and playing the guitar!"
Kaname wasn't about to let that shot across the bow pass unanswered. "Please! Sousuke here's waaaay better then either you or the other guy you have playing. And I know Ron there can sing better then you!"
Sousuke who was thinking fast and trying to defuse the situation, quietly said, "Kaname-chan?'
Josh finally noticed the blond and redhead he was looking over the top of. "Ron! Kim! Wait a minute? What do you mean he can sing better than me? I've had a band for years. We've never missed getting a gig that we wanted." Josh tossed his head in Sousuke's direction. "What the hell could he possibly know about singing?"
Kaname's temper was doing a slow boil by now, because she didn't like anyone putting her man down. He had won her love and respect through fire and blood and had spent too long not standing up for himself in social situations. "Well, I won't let Sousuke even sing alone in the shower because he can scare the animals away. But he gets a guitar in his hands, it's magic. And I've heard Ron sing when he's working in the garage and he sounds way better than you."
"Kaname-chaaaan!"
"Please, this lll…" And the memory of pain he had been promised flashed in Kim's eyes. Josh knew he was about two syllables from a beat down. "Lack wit."
"You heard me! I know for a fact their better than you and your 'Band'!" She said the word band with complete condescension. "The only guys you have worth anything are the drummer and keyboardist. The bass-man's not too bad! But you and the guy playing lead? Please!"
Another young man approached saying, "Hey, Josh, come on. We've only got a few minutes before the next set.
By now Josh was getting tweaked "You've no idea how good we are. We have a packed house every time we play!"
"That's because this place is gonna be packed anyway! The only people that care if you show up are your groupies there!"
"Is that so. Wanna put your money where you mouth is?
"Sure! What's the bet?"
"Kanaaaame-chan!"
"If I win you and Kim have to go on a date with me, and you gotta pay for it! Dinner, dancing, the works!"
Sousuke looked like he was about implode. Kim wasn't amused at all. The worst was Ron. At the mention of a Kim-date that didn't involve him, there was a flash of blue to his eyes just before he regained control.
"You're on! And when Sousuke and Ron win you have to take out a full page, full week's ad in the newspaper saying that you lost and they won!"
Steel gray, cocoa brown and emerald green along with three dropped jaws appeared around the table
Kim was the first to regain her senses. "I'm not agreeing to this."
Josh seeing his chance to have not one but two of the hottest looking girls on campus on his arms wasn't about to let the opportunity pass. "What, you don't think he can do it? I thought you had confidence in him."
And suddenly her Kimness took over. "Now I didn't say that! It's just the last thing I want is a date with you."
"Well if he wins, you don't have to. That's IF he wins!"
Green fire flashed, "You're on." She looked to her right at the blond sitting there, "Ron, you're gonna kick his biscuit on that stage, you hear me?!" She glared back at the smug Josh., "Terms?"
"Hmmm, three songs, player's choice?"
"Audience judges! Next weekend!"
"Great! Well I gotta get back to the band. Girls, I want you to dress nice for my date. That black dress you wore at the Middleton Days is a good choice, Kimmie." Josh headed back to the stage wearing a very pleased and smug expression.
Ron looked first at Kim, then Kaname. He looked at Sagara and asked, "What just happened?"
Sousuke was as befuddled as Ron. "I'm not sure Stoppable-san, but I think you and I have to victoriously participate in a contest performing a selection of musical pieces to prevent Possible-san and Kaname-chan from accompanying that individual on a outing of a romantic nature."
"Huh?"
"We play and win or he dates the girls."
"Why didn't you say that?"
"I did!"
"Oh!" Ron turned from Kaname to Kim, back to Kim and asked, "Are you two insane?!?!"
Kim didn't answer because she was too busy banging her head on the table, while Kaname was just then realizing where her temper had led her.
*********
When Kaname's family arrived, Sousuke moved into Ron's room, giving up his room to Shunya, while Kaname put her sister in the same room with her. The man was not happy that his daughter was sharing an apartment with not one, but two males, Kim's presence not withstanding. He was only slightly mollified by the fact that the only presence of Sousuke in her room was a few pictures on the walls and her nightstand and vice versa for Sousuke's room. If anything, Sagara's room was the barest of the four, causing a raised eyebrow, wondering if his daughter's beau had hidden the incriminating evidence.
They went through their normal daily routines of school, study, cleaning the apartment, training or relaxing. Ron and Sagara were also trying to figure out how they were going to win a bet they had nothing to do with starting. They thought that between them they had a workable plan. The girls kept trying to find out what they had in mind but quickly got the idea the guys weren't happy with how they had been shanghaied into the contest.
The only difference in the normal routine was the presence of Shunya and Ayame accompanying them to the Dojo, firing line, shoot house or the A.S. Simulators. The Team even helped Ayame, to her delight, try out the Sims. Kaname arranged to have her sister distracted by Ron, Kim and Sousuke while she talked with her father. Kaname had a plan for dealing with her father and it involved impressing upon him the idea that she was nobody's pushover. Not even his!
The elder Chidori was very hesitant when he and Kaname adjourned to the Dojo. Like a lot of Japanese men, he had served a short time in the JSDF and gotten the basics of hand-to-hand and martial arts skills. But she proceeded try and take his head off until he finally got the idea he really should defend himself. He might have been stronger than her, but the last year had built her stamina and speed to the point that she only took a hit when she was trying to get close enough to grapple with her father.
This was before they visited the firing line. Seeing his eldest child first gather several magazines from the armory and step up to the firing line, then pull a pistol from…. somewhere, and start sending round after round into a target hanging about 7 meters downrange made for a very uncomfortable feeling.
That uncomfortable feeling of his especially increased after she brought the target forward. None of the thirty rounds she fired missed the man-shaped target, with about a third landing in the face and the rest being center mass. It was the rounds that landed in places like the shoulder or the lower abdomen, top of the skull or the ear that caused her to grumble in annoyance.
And that made her father very uncomfortable. It certainly didn't fit into his ideal of what his daughter should be doing. They spoke Japanese for both the privacy and because it was a reminder to him of an earlier time with his daughter. He questioned her about these things and received a strange, frightening answer.
"I'm not going to be anybody's victim, Daddy! Daddy, you don't know most of what's happened to me in the last two years." She had talked to Sousuke and called Tessa, who referred her to Lord Mallory, about what to reveal to her family. Twenty months ago, at their suggestion and for a variety of reasons, she had kept most of what was happening at Jindai under wraps from her father. Not the least was her family's security. If they didn't know anything, there was less of a chance they would be targeted.
Now she felt she should let the man know what was going on. As she would reset a target or reload a magazine, she started to explain the Whispers, Mithral, her kidnappings at the hands of various terrorist groups. She drew other weapons from the armory and practiced with both hand guns and carbines. When she grabbed the FN2000 and some magazines for it, he was aghast because she calmly walked to the line, slapped a mag in, pulled the charging handle, raised the weapon to her shoulder and leaned into it as she emptied the clip on full auto, shredding the target.
She turned back to her father as she dropped the magazine and made sure the weapon was clear. "Daddy, you have no idea what it's like to know there are people like the GRU or KGB that want to squeeze your mind like you would a grapefruit for breakfast juice. Sometimes it was only Sousuke that kept me alive. I've watched as he waded through a hail of bullets to protect me. He's risked his life and his honor for me. Daddy, I love you! But you can't understand!
Before they left his daughter had laid a stern duty upon him. "Daddy, I want you to give him a chance, a real chance. The same kind of chance you would give one of your new interns. I want you to judge him like you do them. Fairly!" He prided himself on his honor and self honesty and because this was his daughter asking, he felt he had to at least give the young man the benefit of the doubt.
**********
Sousuke and Ron had brainstormed together and decided that the bet Kim and Kaname had gotten them shanghaied into didn't cover having to form a band. They just had to outperform Josh as the lead singer/rhythm guitarist and the lead guitarist. Since it was players' choice, Sagara decided to stick with his strengths and do a series of riffs on the Fender with Wade handling the backup for the rest of the instruments. Then to drive the point home they decided to work on song that played to Sagara's strengths and assisted Ron in setting the final song up.
For the final song, Ron had thought long and hard and decided that he needed to outperform Josh, not out sing him. So he got a copy of the song he wanted to use from Roger and had Wade pull the lyrics' data from it and set it up for the performance.
Both the Possibles and Shunya Chidori had gotten wind of the contest, with Mrs. Dr P and Shunya both shaking their heads at the tempers of their respective daughters. Both the American mother and the Japanese father knew where the temper of their respective daughters had come from. The girls' mothers! It was only her training as a neurosurgeon that allowed Anne Possible to conquer hers. And Shunya's deceased wife only started to get hers under control after the birth of her children.
Naturally when the Possibles found out, they called their friends the Stoppables. Therefore all the adult members of both families wanted to see the outcome of the contest and made reservations for a table close to the stage. Shunya Chidori, trying to find out more about the people his daughter was associating with, invited himself along to the little outing.
**********
The Thursday before the contest, Sousuke's testers arrived in the form of CPT Belfangan Grouseaux, newly promoted (to her displeasure) LT Mellissa Mao and Sergeant Major Kurz Weber. The Urzu team would be acting as OPFOR (Opposing Force) insurgents operating a variety of surplus and frontline Soviet equipment with Captain Grouseaux taking the oldest Arm Slave, an RK-89 Shamrock and Mellissa and Kurz operating newer RK-92 Savages.
Sagara knew that having Belfangan in an RK-89 wouldn't really be an advantage because the man had defeated him using a prototype M-9 while Sagara was in the ARX7. No mean feat since Sagara had taken out no less then five Venoms alone. Of course, Sagara hadn't been able to utilize the Lambda Driver against Captain Grouseaux.
But as the Hong Kong mission had shown, a group of M9's led by the Captain had held their own against a Venom for hours until it was destroyed by Gates and his crew. Sousuke had no doubts that Belfangan would be more than a match against the M6's the Team would be using in the Sims.
The engagement would be taking place in the simulated deserts of the Four Corners area of the United States. The place where New Mexico, Arizona, Colorado and Utah came together. A place where none of the combatants had much previous knowledge. This gave no one the advantage of terrain, forcing everyone to pay attention to the landscape.
The OPFOR would deploy first with the mission of destroying a notional United Nations Aid Station set up to assist with recovery operations in a Third World country. The Team's mission was to protect the Station from insurgents trying to force the U.N. to leave and clear the way for a Military Coup to take over the resource rich mountains that, with proper management, could allow the people to see an increase in their standard of living by nearly 500 percent.
One thing Sousuke tried to impress upon the Team in the pre-mission briefing was that they had the support of a wing of British RAF Tornados on call thirty minutes away. If they could hold the enemy for that long, they would have a serious amount of Air Support.
To the south was almost open country that even with ECS (Electronic Camouflage Systems), which both Threat and Friendly forces lacked, would make for a very hard approach. To the north, the terrain was more rugged, allowing for defilades and hidden approaches. Sagara decided to keep his people in the familiar teams they were used to. Corporal Possible and Specialist Stoppable he sent to the Northeast while he took PFC Chidori and moved out to the Northwest.
Wade Load, having been given the Rank of PFC, he sent to the Southern perimeter. Using every resource available, Sagara called in two flights of two Predator Drones each. One flight to cover the area to either side of PFC Load's flanks with their sensor feeds directed to the lone unit. The second pair, he requested and got permission from Command to slave to the command unit of each of the wing pairs. One for himself and the other to Corporal Possible.
With three sets of eyes and sensors on the Southern perimeter and a total of six on the Northern side, he felt confident that they could repel an attack and hold their own at least until the Tornados arrived for Close Air Support. And once the Tornados had them in their bomb sights, they would make short work of any enemy on the ground.
Sagara kept them on a random roving patrol that never had anyone, other then PFC Load, more then five minutes from support by the other wing. PFC Load was no more than eight minutes away. They moved in a bounding overwatch, one unit stationary and covering the other while their wingman moved to a position. When the wingman was in place, the second moved ahead under the covering guns of their partner.
For hours they kept it up. On the Northern side, they continued getting frustrating sensor readings of the enemy. As soon as they tried to localize the enemy units, they would fade back. It was obvious to Sagara, they were trying to draw them away from the Station to either move in behind them and destroy it or pull them too far apart to support each other and 'Divide and Conquer' by ganging up and killing the defending forces in detail.
*********
On the Southern side, all PFC Load saw was open ground with a whole lot of nothing. Watching nothing for hours would be boring to anyone, but to a 13 year old genius, it was torture. He amused himself by hacking the controls of the drones and started them in a wider pattern then the one programmed by Flight Control. Sometimes closer, then farther away, off to the East, back to the West.
Laaa de daaa.
He also got tired of bouncing around out in the open. For some reason, it bothered him. Maybe it was a subliminal affect of his agoraphobia. So he found the highest piece of ground for miles and quickly expanded an existing trench, pulled up some scrub brush and hopped into the trench, covering himself with the scrub brush. He commanded the Drones to a slightly higher altitude with a more aggressive overlapping search pattern.
**********
About forty-five minutes after PFC Load went slightly off mission profile, threat sensors started blaring inside the HUD's of Corporal Possible's wing. Bare seconds before incoming rounds impacted, they scattered taking cover behind the rocky outcroppings. They enemy was firing HEAT rounds and the close explosions rattled them inside the cockpits. Both Kim and Ron were trying to make heads or tails of the sensor reading to decide how many of the enemy they faced. Sagara called repeatedly asking if they needed assistance.
Kim screamed into the radio, "NOT YET! We've got some cover, but we don't know how many are out there!" Ron was firing off measured shots to force the enemy into cover. So far they only had one target localized and they could fade back if pushed to hard.
Sagara gritted his teeth, "Roger, stay in contact, Possible-san. Keep the channel open."
"Roger. So far all I have is one bad guy trying to pick us off from the ridge to the north-west. Call 1500 meters." she popped up and fired a quick three rounds, stitching them along the crest of the ridge where she thought the enemy was firing from.
Ron peeked around the boulder he was hunkered down behind only to have the rock explode into the face of his AS from a near miss. Back up on the ridgeline, the enemy pilot was cursing the un-calibrated piece of junk they were at the controls of.
"WHOOOA!"
"ROOONNN!"
"KIM, HE'S STILL THERE!"
"You ok?"
Ron glanced at his displays, "Gonna have to repaint this thing later, but yeah!"
"Be careful!" Like all good training simulators, they had forgotten they were in one and were reacting like it was real.
Kim was just about to try and maneuver closer when the sensors on the drone started pinging. Kim flipped through the data feeds and saw a second machine angling to get them in a cross-fire. She checked the Heads Up and picked a spot slightly closer to the Station. She flipped the data to Ron's AI and screamed, "RON, NEW POSITION. MOOOOOVEEEE!"
As Ron bounded back to new cover, she called the Sergeant, "SAGARA We have two, I repeat, two enemy machines inbound. We're falling back to position indicated." When Ron was able to lay down covering fire, she bounced out of her position to an outcrop behind her wingman, the weeks of training overcoming her natural reaction to put herself in front of Ron.
**********
Back with Sergeant Sagara, he had to make a hard choice. Keep Kaname with him and hope that Kim and Ron could hold the enemy or send either her or himself in support of the other members of his squad. The next call over the radio made his choice for him. "Sagara, we're getting readings of two possibly three machines advancing on our position!"
With the possibility of Belfangan still being out there somewhere he couldn't leave the sector uncovered. He was the best A.S. pilot they had and had the best chance against him alone. "Chidori-san, move out to assist them. Circle wide and approach from behind the Corporal's position."
After what they had been through together, even in a mock combat situation, Kaname had total faith in him, "Roger!" She started hurtling back towards the Station.
They were in simulators deep inside the G.J. base so he had no idea why he said it. "Kaname-chan, be careful!" He just had to say it.
Through the monitor, he saw her grin, "You too, Sousuke."
"Possible-san, reinforcements are inbound. ETA five minutes."
"ROGER"
He switched channels to Higher command. "Central Command, Central Command, Aid Station 5, we have hostile contact on two, I repeat, two confirmed targets. Engaging now. Requesting Close Air Support. I designate Unit 3, Corporal Kimberly Possible, as Forward Air Control Commander, how copy, over."
"Station 5 Commander, Central Command, we currently have two flights, that's two pair, aloft. ETA your position two zero minutes, FAC Commander Corporal Possible. Scrambling ready flights, ETA three zero minutes. How copy, over." It was unnerving to hear the voice of Betty Director as "Commanding General UN Forces"
"I copy two flights two zero minutes out, next wave three zero minutes, over."
Roger, Station 5, Godspeed, Central Command out."
"Possible, Sagara"
"This is Possible, go ahead."
"Possible, Close Air Support is inbound, your position, 20 minutes out. Your Command. Call the ball!"
"Understood, 20 minutes."
**********
To the south, a teenage voice asked "What the…?" As Kaname was charging back in support of her teammates, Wade was getting some funny readings from the drones. There was a big rock moving. Not a lot. But every time the drones passed overhead it seemed to be in a different spot. It wasn't enough to call for help. Not yet! But he had the A.I. mark it and programmed one of the drones to circle more often.
**********
Kaname was about 3 minutes away when Kim and Ron started taking slightly heavier harassing fire. It wasn't a full out assault, but it peppered the area around them enough to force them to stay under cover. It wasn't long before Ron got tired of that.
"KIM! Old School. Drakken's lairs. On three!"
They had such a synchronicity, that those few words conveyed an entire plan to her. It still hadn't registered with them they were in the simulators. As fast as her heart was pounding, it accelerated when Ron got ready to play his old part of distraction.
"One!" The thought of Ron moving out to draw fire had her mouth instantly dry.
"Two!" She gripped the Bofors tighter and focused on the target lock that was tracing the ridgeline.
"Three!" Ron took off like a runner leaving the starting blocks. He covered 60 meters in ten strides and pivoted to the right away from Kim. She popped up and the target lock in the HUD started a pulsing tone the indicated imminent target acquisition. Ron completed the zag to his previous zig when an enemy snapped off a round that landed right about where he was going to be if he had stayed on course. The sudden direction change had caught the enemy off guard.
Immediately after firing the enemy dropped back under cover as Kim's round passed overhead. The second enemy was laying in wait in a position that allowed him to stay undercover until Ron passed into his field of fire. The number two man received an information flip from his partner just before Ron was about to duck back under cover, so he was ready when Ron came into view. He had a perfect shot except for one problem. The Ron Factor took effect, causing Ron to trip just before he made it. The good news was he lived. If he hadn't fallen, the shot would have gone straight through the cockpit. The bad news was the shot blew off the right leg of his A.S.
"ROOOOONNNN?!?!?!"
"KP, I'm OK! But I think it's gonna take a royalty check or two to pay for this thing!"
"OH Thank God! Can you move?"
"Give me a second to un-bunch my shorts and I'll tell ya!"
Over her radio she heard, "Possible, Chidori. I'm 90 seconds away, where do you want me?"
Kim tapped a few buttons and flipped a position to Kaname's A.I. shouting "Hurry!"
Kaname saw the spot blinking on her HUD and took an evasive course to the location. She had to balance speed against survivability.
Ron in the meantime was closing down damaged sections and rerouting his remaining power to his Arm Slaves other three limbs. He had taken something Sagara had said, almost in passing, to heart. 'Just because your machine might not have legs, doesn't mean you have to be immobile.' Ron had seen three legged dogs before and they got along pretty good.
**********
Back on the South Side, per SOP, Wade had been monitoring the radio traffic and knew that Kim and Ron were engaged with at least two targets. And if they had two targets in front of them where was the third? After watching the moving 'Rock' Wade was convinced he had a bad guy trying to sneak up on the Station. "Sagara, Load."
"Sagara, go ahead."
"Sagara, check this out." Wade send him all the drone readings from before the engagement started till now. "I got a rock moving out here. It ain't real fast, but it's steady. Are you sure we've only got three targets?"
"Load, Sagara, Affirmative! That's probably their sniper, can you engage?" Sousuke left his patrol and moved towards the battle occurring about 6 kilometers to his east.
"In about 90 seconds, they'll be at optimal range for the Bofors. Should I take a shot now or what?"
Sousuke thought about it for a second, "Load, Sagara, use your best judgment!"
"Understood, Load out!"
Having had the chance to watch the 'Rock' for a while, Wade had had a chance to think about things and consider his options. The thing he really needed, but didn't have, was a distraction to get the bad guy's attention.
Unless…….
**********
Ron had his machine back under control now. The A.I. didn't like the movement plan Ron had in mind and informed of such. Ron ignored it as he got ready to try again. He flipped the data on the enemy that had gotten him to Kim and Kaname. "Hey girls, let's try that one more time. You ready?"
"Ron?!"
Ron popped around the outcropping and fired off a series of shots in the general direction of the enemy. "On three."
"Ron, stay down."
"Aww where the fun in that KP! One." Kim didn't like this one little bit.
"Two." Something was twigging at the back of Kaname's mind. Something Sousuke had mentioned. Something about the radios.
"Three!" Ron bounded out heading to a position closer to his teammates. He was moving like a dog missing a hind leg. Knuckles, leg in, shove, Knuckles, leg in, shove. Knuckles, leg in, shove. Just as he moved. Kim cleared the rock she was behind and it clicked in Kaname's head. They had been on the same radio frequencies too long. The enemy on the ridgeline was already up and waiting when Kim and Ron came into view. Ron took a three round burst through the cockpit.
The enemy firing on Kim was a shade too fast and blasted the head of her machine. She could still fight but she had lost nearly all of her sensors. Her Arm Slave dropped flat on it's back as Kim tried to shake off the stunning blow. She only had one forward viewer, allowing her to scramble back under cover. She turned the sensor to where the blasted form of Ron's mangled machine lay.
"RROOOOOOOONNNN!" She still hadn't remembered.
The enemy didn't get it all their way though. Kaname had come up at the same time. She was trying to warn Ron back ,but didn't make it in time. Instead, she was able to fire a three round burst and hammer one of the enemy. She spun and took aim at the other one and fired from the hip. Her first round went wide, as did the second, but the third slammed into the side of the head of the second machine, knocking it back under cover.
Kim was just about to rush to Ron's AS when another machine came out of the west over the ridgeline behind the enemy's position, monomolecular cutter engaged, driving it into the cockpit of the second enemy. Sagara heard Kim's screams over the radio. He had been following events on his HUD and seen Stoppable's icon go dark. Realizing what was going through her mind, he exercised Command Authority and had his A.I. shut her simulator down. Technically it would be too damaged to continue Combat Operations anyway. For now they still had a mission and one enemy left. He looked around and to his horror, he DID NOT see an RK-89 Shamrock.
Oh, shit!
**********
"So you wanna play, huh? Just a little closer!" The 'Rock' had moved steadily closer. And in about 15 seconds, all hell was gonna break loose. As soon as it cleared the slight hill less then 250 meters away. Point blank range for the Bofors. Almost too close for the HEAT rounds to arm themselves. Just before the 'Rock' was in the kill box, Sagara started calling.
"LOAD, SAGARA,……….LOAD, SAGARA, COME IN."
"I'm a little busy, gimme 60 seconds."
"You may not HAVE 60 seconds."
"Standby."
THERE! Wade flipped an order through the A.I. From straight up came the now gliding Predator drone. Wade had shut the engine down to mask the noise as the robot kamikazed into the 'Rock'. It was still carrying a fair load of fuel which Wade quickly set ablaze with HEAT round after HEAT round. He emptied his weapons magazine, ejected the empty and quickly inserted a full one. His eyes only left the target long enough to flip the data to the rest of the Team.
"Target possibly destroyed. I need backup to be sure."
For the first time, Wade heard a confused Sagara. "Load, Sagara, are you certain?"
"Well, I got a smashed up burning rock here that I emptied the Bofors into, so I'd say it's a pretty good bet."
"Load Sagara. Excellent work! Chidori is inbound your position. What's your ammo situation? Over."
"One mag in, two reserve for the Bofors, full load out for the Chainguns."
"Roger. Load, if the target so much as twitches, I want you to hit it with at least two mags on the cannon and half your Chaingun ammo, how copy over?"
"Two mags and half the Chainguns, Roger. Question, what's with the firestorm? He's already down"
"Load, Sagara, I cannot stress to you just how dangerous that target really is. If it's who I think it is, he defeated me in the ARX7 in close Combat. Be aware we have Close Air Support inbound ETA 7 minutes. I'm assigning one flight to you. As soon as they are on station, just in case, have them make a run at it. Unleash Hell!"
250 meters away from the newly minted Warrior, the 'Rock' exploded. "Uhh, Sagara, Load, I don't think that'll be a problem. The 'Rock' just went BOOM!" And suddenly Wade's screens went blank, with the voice of the AI saying "Simulation terminated." and the cockpit hatch opened to reveal a very distraught Kim clutching Ron for dear life.
**********
The After Action Review was a trial for all involved. The Urzu Team as Instructors/OPFOR debriefed the Team under the eyes of Dr. Director, Shunya and Ayame Chidori. The last two having been informed that ANY interference or interruptions would result in their being escorted out of the room and taken to a secure area until either Kaname or another member of the Team could come and collect them
It started with a computer representation of the action, accelerated ten times until Kim and Ron were engaged against Kurz and Mellissa. 2X speed after that unless there was communications flying.
When the replay was finished, a Stone Faced Belfangan asked "Who was the little twerp that took me out?" When he found out it was the little, thirteen year old, Doctorate holding, genius, he LOOMED over the teenager and with an icy voice told him to explain step by step 'What?' 'When?' 'Why?' And 'How?' Wade did so in a shaky voice.
Kaname was about to let the Officer have it when Sousuke placed a hand on her shoulder. She looked at him to see one of his rare tiny grins and a small shake of the head. She looked over to see Kurz and Mellissa valiantly trying to hide their smiles. The GJ Commander was leaning against a wall at the rear of the room with a neutral face, except for the twinkle in her eye.
Shunya watched with his normal Japanese reserve, but you could tell he knew something was going on. Ayame watched in trepidation as the young genius was being grilled. Kim was still too shaken at the sight of Ron's destroyed machine to come to Wade's assistance and Ron was dealing with Kim.
As Wade finished, Belfangan said, still in that icy voice, "So, let me get this straight, you dug a hole, climbed in and covered yourself up, let me get to within 250 meters and crashed a drone into my camouflage, before you unloaded a Bofors into me."
"Uhhh, Pppretty much, Sir."
"Then, just to be sure, you were prepared to have not one," He held up a finger and added a second, "but two RAF Tornados make bombing runs at me?"
"Uhhhh, yes Sir."
Like an iceberg calving from a glacier, Belfangan started to grin, then he smiled, then he started to laugh which set off both Kurz and Mellissa. Before they were done all of the Urzu Team were having a laugh riot. Even Sousuke was wearing a smile while Kaname looked like the Cheshire Cat. Kim had come out of her funk enough to figure out what was going on and she and Ron were smiling at their friend. Betty just smiled and shook her head. Shunya had seen this kind of thing before and had a smile on his reserved face. Ayame grinned and looked around trying to figure out the joke.
"Sarn' Major Weber, I think you might have to watch out or Specialist Load here will steal your title of the best sniper in Mithril."
"Uhhh, Sir I'm Ranked as a PFC."
"Really?" Belfangan looked towards the back to where Betty Director of leaning against the wall. Receiving a nod he looked back at the teenager and said, "Not anymore. If a performance like that doesn't rate a promotion, I don't know what does!"
"Now as for you three!" He indicated Kim, Ron and Kaname. "All I gotta say is 'Out Standing'! Corporal Possible, what was your mission in there?"
Kim gulped and looked around at the assembled Warriors finally settling on Ron. "To protect the Station."
"Exactly! Did you, in anyway, fail it?"
"But, Ron was killed!"
"Did you fail in your mission? Your mission was to protect the Station from terroristic forces seeking to destroy it and kill everyone for 20 miles around it to erase even it's memory! Did! You! Fail?"
She was downbeat with a trembling bottom lip as she answered "No."
"Exactly." He looked at Mellissa and said, "Lieutenant?"
Mao addressed Kim and Ron, "When did you guys remember it was all a simulation?"
They looked at each other and Ron answered, shaking his head, "When the hatches opened!"
"Possible?" Kim just nodded her answer. Mao asked them "When did you forget?"
Ron quipped, "About the time you guys started taking potshots at us!"
"So from the time Weber and I engaged until the Sim ended, you both believed it was real?"
Both of them nodded and Mellissa continued, pointing at Ron "Then that makes what you did even more insane." She stared at Ron HARD. "Let me tell you something. You look like a real Goofball, ya do, but boy, you got Guts. The most dangerous thing a Soldier can do is move out and draw fire. And you didn't hesitate! And when you KNOW there's a good chance you're gonna take fire?! That's guts!"
"Your first run, I had you dead to rights until you pulled that pump fake and dodged. Then as I was trying to avoid having your girlfriend take my head off, I sent Weber your course track. If you hadn't tripped HE would a had ya. But the best he could pull out of it was tagging your AS."
"Later, you got yourself mobile and tried to draw fire AGAIN! What the hell were you thinking?"
"Well, I figured if you guys were watching me, then you weren't watching Kim."
Mao had her grin back, "And while we're watching you, she would a been watching us! Incredible! Stoppable, that was exactly the right thing to do. And the fact you thought it was real makes it even more remarkable. Weber?"
"Little Dude, I don't know where the hell you learned to run, but we need to figure out how to copy it for training. Despite what Sis just said, even knowing you were about to cross my line of fire, I nearly wasn't ready. I saw that fake out number you did on her. That was the wildest thing I've ever seen. I've only seen one other pilot be able to make a cut like that and he was your team leader."
"And to tell you the truth, if I hadn't seen Sousuke move an AS without legs before, I wouldn't have believed it. But that was just the arms which is about what I expected from you. Not the three-legged dog trick. Kick ass!"
"Angel, you fired 6 rounds in 4 seconds. Three of them from the hip. And you hit one of the targets you were aiming at dead on, the other according to the 'puters, you got a soft kill on, making it Combat ineffective. Girl, that's shooten." He looked at Belfangan, "Captain?"
Belfangan looked at Betty who nodded. "Private First Class Chidori, since you were the high scorer on this little exercise, with one and a half kills, you're promoted to Specialist. Congratulations."
Belfangan said, "OK, we've talked about what you did right. Now let's talk about what you did WRONG! Chidori?"
"We didn't change radio frequencies soon enough."
"And you figured that out, when?"
"I thought about it just as Specialist Stoppable broke cover the second time. I was opening my mouth to say something just as he moved, but I was too late."
Belfangan glared at Sagara, "Sergeant?"
"No excuse, Captain. It was my fault for not ordering a freq change."
"You're right, there is no excuse." He looked around at the rest of the Team, "Except, for maybe inexperience. Any team member should be able to call for a freq change. So, Sergeant, while the blame might be primarily yours, every member of your Team was responsible. Lieutenant?"
Mao looked at Kim and Ron, "It was us cracking your commo that let Weber bag Stoppable there and me get a piece of you before Kaname tagged us. If you had changed freqs before, we wouldn't have been ready and waiting for you all to break cover. It was only the fact that Kaname arrived before we cracked it and we didn't know she was there that let her get the drop on us. Weber?"
Kurz sadly looked at Kim and Ron. "You two need to either figure out how to separate the professional and personal or split up either professionally or personally." Kurz looked at Kim both stern and understanding. "When he went down, you freaked. Understandable. But you need to learn that there's time for it. And while you're still under fire IS NOT it!"
He looked at Kaname, "Angel, a little slower on the trigger next time. If you'd have taken just a tad more time, you could have caught more than just a piece of Sis's machine. You already had me plugged. Mellissa could a waited a second more and you would have gotten her too."
Shunya seemed to bristle as these people criticized his daughter and it took an effort of will to think about it dispassionately. Yes it was criticism, however he had had enough peer reviews to know it was actually 'Constructive Criticism'.
Belfangan got a contemplative look on his face, "You know, gambling is forbidden in the Quran. But if I gambled, I would wager that none of you, Ms. Possible in particular, will EVER forget communication security again."
Hearing what had caused his 'Death' Kim knew she would never forget it, "That's a def!"
"Corporal Possible, learn from this, because that's what training is for! You know, I don't think you realize just what you and your people have done. It's a safe assumption that there are four of the Best Arm Slave Pilots in the world sitting in this room. Three of us were your enemy! And your Team, led by Sergeant Sagara, not only held their own, but won, with only one causality and two machines lost. That's unheard of!"
Belfangan looked at the Staff Sergeant, "Sergeant, excellent work!"
Mao tossed in her two cents, "He's right Sousuke, you've done a kick ass job!"
"Sir, Ma'am, they did all the work!"
"Maybe," Belfangan looked at the assembled young people, "but they couldn't have done it without the leadership." he saw nods all around. "If you people can demonstrate that kind of teamwork outside an Arm Slave, then the enemy is going to have a bad time!"
He looked around at the young people and said, "I just wanna say, that I would be glad to have any of you on my Team, anytime, anywhere!" He pointed to Wade, "Not you!" At his crestfallen expression, he grinned and added, "You give us a call in four or five years! Then we'll talk.