Senshi Sabers
Chapter 50
The bioboomer general Diamond calmly ripped the head off a armored security guard, then let the body drop to the ground.
Around them the advanced synthetics development lab burned. A team of the 'new' Starlight Armor Corps had been on site, and there bad been a pitched battle. The bioboomers had had the advantage of greater numbers, but their losses were near total. On the other hand, the armored defenders were wiped out.
"What should we do with the surviving humans?" a soldier bioboomer asked mechanically. Mistress Nine hadn't built them for conversation.
"Kill them," Diamond ordered calmly.
As screams rang out, Diamond observed his surviving 'hacker' bioboomer raiding the secure files. He did not expect to get much actual useful data from the facility, but there might be something useful there...
"Status report?" Viluy demanded over a highspeed communications link.
"Target aquired, data download progressing," Diamond reported in.
"Losses were higher than projected," Viluy noted. "Why?"
Diamond noted calmly, "The armored units were protecting others in the facility. It appears to make them fight harder."
"Interesting," Viluy said, though clearely she didn't care too much. "How did the combat units fare against the Starlight Armor?"
"Not as well as we hoped," Diamond conceded. He continued, "It took at least two units to stop an attacker, sometimes three. In further engagements, we will need to have superior numbers by at least a three to one margin."
"Understood," Viluy sounded unhappy, but facts were facts. "You have only ten units left... are they combat worthy?"
"Less than half," Diamond admitted.
"Added police forces are inbound," Viluy told them. "You do not have time to extract, engage them until the data extraction is complete."
"It will be done," Diamond said, then the communication ended.
The hacker unit was standing inside the building, directly plugged into the secure systems of the lab. It gazed off in the distance blankly, even as it's AI dove into the system and smashed the various firewalls and such.
"How long until all data is extracted?" Diamond asked.
"Two minutes, barring aditional security," it noted.
Diamond heard sirens waiting as more security forces neared, and was certain they were going to have to fight, then...
0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0
"Holy fuck," Loni Lenai managed as they shot the last bioboomer.
They heard an explosioin within the facility, but muffled. "What was THAT?" Higure Akiyama, one of her security team, blurted.
"Check it out," Loni ordered.
Ryo Urawa and Higure went into the wrecked facility, finding a wrecked bioboomer still plugged into the computers. It had apparently self destructed.
"Looks like they hacked the secure system," Ryo reported to Loni. As their 'tech' expert he offered, "I can try to plug into the system, assess damage."
"No, they'll have their own experts, we're security only," Loni told him briskly. Plus the clients might be concerned over security.
Yumiko Seto returned to where Loni stood and announced, "Scene is secured, remaininbg bioboomers are destroyed."
"They were all these new combat models?" Loni asked, studying the now wrecked Diamond sitting at her feet.
Kuri Masami nodded, "Yes ma'am. There's a LOT oif them too... I'd estimate nearly fourty attacked the facility."
"And up against only ten of our suits," Yumiko noted. Sadly she mused, "Our guys fought hard, took a lot of them with them..."
"Bastards," Ryo kicked the body at Loni's feet.
Loni had to ask the two searchers, "Any survivors?"
Yumiko hesitated, clearly not happy with the facts, then said, "Unless they hid themselves somewhere in the facility, no ma'am."
"Son of a bitch," Loni cursed softly.
"ADP is inbound," Kuri said, as they heard more sirens coming, "we're being asked to secure the site, for now."
"Yeah, since we were too fucking late to do anything other than avenge the dead," Loni said a bit bitterly.
No one could really argue that point...
0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0
"Hell," Hotaru Tomoe sighed as the report came in.
"It was a research facility for Shiroe Biotechnics," Kaori Knight told her boss. She shook her head, "WHY did they get attacked?"
It was puzzling, Hotaru had to agree. I mean, YES the bio-tech might be of some use to hide their presence, but nothing leaped out at her. Unless there was something VERY classified they were developing. It was just an average facility with average security.
"Oh," Hotaru blinked as it hit her.
"Ma'am?" Kaori asked.
"It was a test run," Hotaru said bleakly.
Kaoru looked shocked, "What?"
Hotaru continued, "They picked a target, probably based on a set of criteria. Starlight Armor, a secure location, maybe other factors. Then they launched a attack based on how much force they thought they'd need, then saw what happened."
"... and they won, but barely," Kaori noted.
"So they'll probably pick a similar target, adjust their forces a bit, and try it again," Hotaru said to her flatly.
"Oh no...," Kaori murmured.
Hotaru nodded, "I need to bring this to Seiya Kou, make sure they know. And we need to figure out where these damn advanced bioboomers are coming from."
"Yes ma'am," Kaori agreed, the secretary hurrying off to contact Seiya.
The problem with finding Mistress Nine was that it was a needle in a haystack. They knew she HAD to have some kind of sophisticated lab and factory set up, but the city and a huge swath under it were all highly developed. There was a near infinite number of places they could be operating, tapping into the power grid...
"I have Seiya Kou on the line," Kaori reported.
"Thanks," Hotaru flashed her a smile then prepared to give the bad news.
"I'll clear a hour in your schedule," Kaori added.
Hotaru grimly hoped it wouldn't be THAT long...
0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0
"Is it related to the Risa Meru case?" Usagi Tsukino asked as the ADP forensics teams went over the wreckage. The coroner had already picked up the bodies...
"Why do you think it's related?" Naru Osaka asked, looking up at her police partner as she took notes on a tablet.
"There's been wierder connections," Usagi noted dryly.
"Point," Naru agreed.
The Starlight Armored security had put up a hell of a fight. They had known that there were innocent civilians in the lab, so had did their damndest to hold off the attacking bioboomers. Sadly, it hadn't been enough.
"Where did the bioboomers come from? Shouldn't they have been spotted?" Naru wondered. There had been fourty of them, aftrer all...
"Underground, came up from a sewer access a block that way," Usagi pointed. "The local system is unmonitored, too."
"Seriously?" Naru scowled.
"Monitoring the sewers costs money, and our corporate overlords don't like spending it," Usagi noted sarcastically.
"Hmm," Naru sighed. "Well, someone's head is going to roll for it now."
"Too late to help us though," Usagi sighed. She shook herself, "Let's go over the site again, maybe something got missed by the beat cops."
"Right," Naru agreed...
To be continued.
Notes: In honor of hitting fifty chapters, I've done a chapter with NONE of the main Sailor Scouts. Other than Usagi.
Heh.
Yes, I'm evil.
Next chapter, everyone'll be back. I also need to figure out how I want the heroes to figure out where Mistress Nine is actually hiding. I have some thoughts...