Time and Again ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ "I've seen things you people wouldn't believe. Attack ships on fire off the shoulder of Orion... I've watched C-beams glitter in the dark near the Tannhauser Gate... All those moments will be lost in time... like tears in rain... time to die." - Roy Batty, "Bladerunner" "Nothing's forever, now or ever. Never look back. Never say die." - Iron Eagle: Never Say Die. *********************************** "That's the last of it, then." "It's all finished, boss. All the repairs are through, and we can re-open tomorrow." "Good. Once I'm back in business, I can start repaying Sylia." Ed shook his head. "I _never_ want to cross her again. That is one _sharp_ woman, Minerva." He blinked several times. "Sometimes I think that the folks on the alt.fan.bgcrisis newsgroup were right. Maybe her father _did_ improve her somehow." "Would you like me to scan her?" He shivered. "Hell, no. That might get her _angry_ with me." "You're probably right. Oh, boss?" "What?" "Can you PLEASE do something about Mackie? He's constantly trying to badger Nene into hacking into me." Ed rolled his eyes in an exasperated manner. "I knew the little deviate was hard up for female companionship, but really... All right, pretty lady. I'll let Sylia know. She doesn't stand for his peeping ways, and she'll let him have it with both barrels." "Thank you, lover. Reminder: You have an appointment with Sylia today. She wants you over at Doctor Raven's garage." "Any idea what for?" "I'm not supposed to tell you. She said you'd find out when you got there." * * * STEEL BREEZE PRODUCTIONS and Industrial Might & Logic Are Proud to Present L E G I O N ' S Q U E S T Time and Again * * * "This has to be the leading contender for the craziest idea of this or any _other_ century! I know I promised to make restitution to you personally, Sylia, as well as the city.. but this is.. it's.. arrgh!" Ed spread his arms wide. "This is nuts!" "Did you or did you not explain to me that you seem to be invulnerable to all weapons you've encountered to date?" "Yes, but..." And you _did_ promise to try to make amends?" "I.. well.. but this isn't.." Sylia narrowed her eyes at him. "Given your abilities, and the needs of the Sabers, this is both simple for you to do, and highly useful for us." She waved at the pile of equipment lying at his feet. "Now please put that on, and go to the training room. The rest of us will be waiting for you." She turned and left, while he simply moaned. Picking up the gear, and shaking his head, he wondered, *How the hell did I let myself in for this?* * * * "You will notice the vest, helmet, and gauntlets Edward is wearing. They will allow him to simulate the weapons of a typical C-55 boomer. The helmet contains a low-power particle beam, the vest an array of flat-plate lasers, and each of the gauntlets a rapid fire machine gun in 5 mm caseless. None of these is powerful enough to cause injury to us while in our hardsuits, but they _can_ be painful." Sylia paused, then raised the volume on her external speakers to overcome Ed's pained groans. "In addition, our suits have been programed to simulate the appropriate damage from any strikes he may succeed in dealing to us. As tests indicate that he is highly resistant to physical damage, _our_ weapons remain at 25% power. Enough to show damage, but not enough to damage the training area." "What about me?" he grumbled. "I won't get hurt, but it's still smarts, you know... and I don't think Priss intends to pull any of her punches!" Sylia shot a knowing glance at Priss. "You needn't worry about that, Ed. I've programmed Priss' suit myself. And included an override, in case she should become over-enthusiastic, mid-exercise." "Gee, thanks!" came the sarcastic rejoinder. Priss simply raised her visor and smiled at him sweetly. "To continue...? Thank you. Given Edward's current physical state, he can convincingly simulate anything short of a missile boomer. At my request, he has reviewed standard boomer combat routines, and will be executing several of then." She looked closely at Nene. "Do _not_ take this lightly. In order to be more realistic about this exercise, I have promised him that for every one of us he successfully defeats, he will have one day removed from his `sentence'. So he will be highly motivated." "It's the next best thing to really being there!" smirked Priss. "Who needs holographic opponents, when we've got Punching-bag Man, here!" The dark look Ed gave her at that moment could have killed several small countries. Nene smiled at him, and did her best kawaii thing. "He wouldn't hurt a girl, would he?" "A girl? No," he growled. "_Priss_ is a different matter." "Are you saying I'm unfeminine?!" Priss snarled. "Compared to you, a _grizzly_ bear is feminine, you hyper-agressive, shoot-first, ask questions later, trigger-happy, hardsuited.. _lounge singer_!!" "LOUNGE SINGER?!?!" Sylia sighed. *At just what point did I lose control here?* "Please calm down, Priss. You too, Edward. The objective here is to _simulate_ a battle, not to actually engage in one. Now, take your places. We'll begin at my signal." Darlene, who was watching on the monitors, snickered loudly. "This is going to be entertaining." /* ** battle scene in the Sabers training room ** talk to bert/jeanne/barry... ** something silly/humiliating for Ed here */ "Sylia? The next time you find me standing in a crater in the middle of the street, smoking?" "Yes?" "Leave me there to die, please." Ed stomped off to the showers. * * * Ed groaned as he finished his shower and pulled on the spare clothing from the gym bag he'd brought with him. The shirt and jeans he'd been wearing in the training room now reeked of smoke and ozone. *Minerva is never going to let me live this down,* he thought. *Ah, well... at least she can't complain that I'm failing to get enough exercise.* He slung the bag over his shoulder, and left the Saber's locker room. To his surprise, Linna was waiting for him. "To what do I owe the honor, Ms. Yamazaki?" "Oh.. I thought I'd just walk you home." Linna frowned slightly. "Sylia seems to know more about you than the rest of us, and I thought we could talk as we walked." Ed nodded. "Works for me." He held the door open for her. "There isn't all that much to know, actually. I think Sylvie and Anri gave you most of the story that night." They turned down the street. "Most of it, but not all. Like.. where did you get that _huge_ mecha you used?" Ed winced. "The last universe I was in. That's how they fought their wars. With war machines they called Battlemechs. From little 20-ton things called Locusts, Wasps, and Stingers; all the way to 100-ton monstrosities with names like Atlas, Grand Titan, and Behemoth." He shrugged, his face growing somber. "I got involved in a stupid, senseless civil war, and my conscience made me see it through to the end." "I thought it might be something like that. Sometimes you seem almost as grim as Sylia." "Eh?" "Almost. That warped sense of humor you have helps a lot." He smiled. "Thank you." "There. See? When you smile, you look ten years younger!" He nodded. "Minerva keeps telling me I should smile more. But it's not as easy as it sounds." They turned a corner, and he continued. "Linna, there were a LOT of people in my native reality who would have considered all of this a dream come true. I don't." Linna looked confused. "All of what?" He pointed to a nearby building where a boomer was serving as a doorman. "That. The boomer. Your hardsuits. The high tech. The adventures. So many of my friends would have, to borrow the words of a fellow author, `wanted to do this in the worst possible way for a long time now.... Get dressed up in a suit of powered armor and solve the world's evils, protect the innocent, and all that jazz.'" "Who said that?" "An old friend of mine. Bert Van Vliet. You wouldn't know him. I don't know if he exists in this reality." "I think your friend had an overly romantic view of things. Fighting boomers is hard work and not very fun." "To you, yes. And to me. But most of the people where I come from long for the good old days when a single person could make a difference, a time of heroes and villians, an age where answers to problems were simple and clear cut, coming in either black or white, no shades of grey." He snorted "To them, what they saw of your world, _this_ world, it seems a simple one. If someone does you dirt, you climb into a hardsuit and you fight for your rights. A battle to the death, and may God grant victory to the righteous." "And you don't see it that way?" Ed shook his head. "Linna... I spent the last twelve years at war. Before that, I'd been an officer with the Tank Police, a bounty hunter, and a mercenary soldier of fortune. In my own world, I was a soldier with the American army for eleven years, before a really stupid accident robbed me of my career, my honor, and my future." He glanced her way, giving her a tired look. "I haven't believed in simple solutions to anything for a very long time now." Linna frowned at that. "I see." They walked along in companionable silence for a while, finally reaching the street where `Rare Books' and `Flights of Fantasy' were located. He turned to Linna. "Thank you. It was nice to have some company. Do you want me to call you a cab? It is a stretch to your appartment." "Thank you. And it was nice talking with you. See you at the re-opening party." *********************************** Personal Log: Entry 194, Year 20 I have _got_ to stop underestimating Sylia. That practice session might not have been the worst hour of my life, but it certainly rated as one of the most embarrasing. Priss has an evil sense of humor. I don't know where she got the recording, but playing Lynn-Minmei's "We Will Win" from the Robotech Perfect Collection was a _cruel_ thing to do. I wonder where she got it from. I haven't been _that_ nauseated in decades. Note: Tell.. no.. _ORDER_ Minerva to delete ALL copies of that song on this planet!! Tomorrow I reopen the bookstore. I've invited everyone over to the re-opening party tomorrow morning. It'll be good to get back to a normal life. Okay.. sort of normal, anyway. Before the mistake I made in trying to take on Genom the way I did, the months spent in the bookstore were some of the best in my life. I _am_ installing stronger security measures, though... I do NOT intend to get caught off guard again. Letting that razor doll slip into the shop.. I still feel foolish over that. Sylia is advising me on that, however. The sensor suite she installed over at her place after those boomers tore up her store-front seems like the way to go. I could use some of the technology from the Calypso, but it's mostly _generations_ ahead of anything this world has. I don't want to take a chance on Genom's getting their grubby paws on any of that. Goddess knows what they might try to pervert it into. I do have an idea on how to get back at Priss.. one that Darlene gave me, indirectly. Boy, is she going to regret her choice of music! I can't _wait_ until she shows up with the others for the party tomorrow morning! Heh, heh, heh.... End Log Entry 194 *********************************** The next morning, Ed woke up in the apartment over the bookstore, with yet another dead alarm clock resting on the nighttable by his bed. *I've _got_ to stop DOING that!* he thought as he rolled out of the bed with a groan. *It's starting to get embarrassing. And I'm making the owner of the appliance shop down the road a very rich man.* He cleared his throat with a rough-sounding cough. "Anything to report, baby?" "Nothing at the moment, b'wana. Are you certain you want to go through with this? It's going to drive Priss crazy." He grinned. "After all the glee she got out of playing that song at me, she _deserves_ it." "Let me guess.. you intend to go through this no matter what I say. Right?" "Got it in one, love." He yawned and stretched. "Shower, shave, breakfast, then opening the shop." He blinked. "Hmm... been there, done that. Life is getting rather monotonous." Minerva laughed. "And you wouldn't have it any other way, would you?" He chuckled. "Found me out, eh?" "I found you out years ago, boss. If you get any more predictable, I could set MY clocks by you. Now go get cleaned up. Breakfast will be on the table by the time you're out of the shower." * * * "Hi, Sylia!" Ed smiled widely as the four women came through the door. "What do you think?" Priss looked around with a suspicious expression. "Books. Bleah." Sylia shot her a quelling look and nodded. "It's very pleasant. I see you've managed to completely restore everything." "Well.. not quite. I didn't want to put those scanners and the extra security in, they make the windows look ugly. But you were right. I need them." He bowed, and pulled a couple of packages out from underneath the counter. "A few presents for you, in gratitude for your patience with me." He handed a book to Nene. "The Compleate History of Chocolate. I thought you'd enjoy it." A second book went to Linna. "An autographed copy of J. P. Morgan's autobiography. I hope you like it. And to Sylia... this took a little doing, but.. one of Isaac Newton's handwritten copies of Principia." He grinned widely as Sylia's controlled expression slipped just a little. "It is authentic. Not from a replicator. That's why it was so hard to get." He glanced over to Priss. "And something _very_ special for you, Ms. Asagiri." He grinned evilly. Priss regarded him warily. "What is it? I don't like books." "Oh, just a little piece of music from my past I thought you might enjoy." He chuckled. "Here.. I'll play a bit of it for you." He slipped a disk into the sound system and after a few seconds of staticky silence, a man began to sing. "Well, out here in the country, it's easy to get bored, Seems like all there is to do is eat and sleep and chores. But I found this here magazine, 'side the road 'bout a week ago.. Tells all about a wild, new lifestyle in San Francisco And Junie May, it says the way we live's just a lot o' hokum. Yes, where we're at is just old hat, we gotta get with the program So I'll get me some leather overalls and get my teeth chrome plated. Make you a necklace from a barbwire fence, our clothes are just _outdated_! And you can throw away that old housedress you made from floursacks. And get you some wild, strange hotpants with chicken feathers up the back! I'll fire up that threshing machine, let it nibble on our toes! And I'll wrestle that ring away from the bull and I'll wear it in MY nose! Yeah, and we can go out to the barn and whup the cows! Paint all the animals purple, saftey pin the sow! Staple all them chickens together, watch 'em flop around the yard! And handcuff the hired man and grease him down with lard! And I'll put on my black studded Stevens work glove. And whup you upside the head with some Punk Country LOVE!" Later, several innocent bystanders on the sidewalk outside swore to the Highway Police that the screaming woman who ran past them to the waiting motorcycle broke the sound barrier _before_ she got the bike started. * * * Nene looked at Ed, who was bent over the counter, laughing helplessly. "What in the world was that? It was English, wasn't it?" He just nodded, unable to catch his breath, and pawed at a coat pocket, finally pulling out a sheet of paper with a Japanese translation of the song's lyrics on it. He passed it to Linna, who read it, and began to giggle herself. Nene peeked over her shoulder, read it, and joined in. Even Sylia smiled when she saw the words. Ed finally caught his breath. "It's called `Punk Country Love' by Ray Stevens, and I don't think there's a rock and roll singer on the planet who can _stand_ it." He broke out in fresh laughter and staggered to a seat. "That'll show her for playing Lynn-Minmei at me in the middle of a fight!" His laughter subsided, and he snapped his fingers. "Oh.. almost forgot. I wanted to introduce you to the new assistant I have for the book store." Sylia raised an eyebrow. "Given who you are, I'd had thought you would avoid hiring anyone. It _is_ a security risk." "Not this person," Ed grinned. "Minerva? You want to come down here?" To the Sabers' surprise, Minerva came down the stairs. Not as outrageously dressed as the first night they'd met, she was wearing a conservative business suit not unlike Sylia's own. She smiled as she stepped behind the counter. "I don't think that I pose a security risk, Sylia. Do you?" Sylia looked at her, then back at Ed. "I'd compliment you on your choice of assistants, but I suspect that I'd merely be contributing to an already over-inflated ego.." He simply smirked. *********************************** "Military intelligence - a contradiction in terms." - Oswald Garrison Villard, 1920 In a small, shabby looking office located at the USSD's earthside facilities, a man was reading a report that had just been delivered. "This has been confirmed?" "As far as it can be without endangering our agent, sir. Genom is aware of the identity and current location of the person, if it _is_ a person, who demonstrated what appeared to be a working form of teleportation. It seems that the machine that attacked Genom plaza was piloted by the same person." "Then Genom has gained another enemy." The man behind the desk shut the folder, laying it on the desk. "Yes, Colonel. But that doesn't mean as much as it should. From the data our agent obtained, the target seems adamantly opposed to providing the technology to anyone." The nondescript man sitting in the chair shook his head slightly. "And if he's as difficult to persuade as the files seem to indicate, then we may endanger the USSD in much the same way Quincy did his company." The Colonel nodded. "Then we need to find a way to control him, if one exists. Have our agent continue as before." "Yes sir. Are there any further instructions?" "Not at present." The nondescript little man nodded. "It will be handled, sir." *********************************** Ed was enjoying a light lunch in his shop with Minerva, Anri and Sylvie when the shop bell rang, announcing Mackie. He blinked, mildly surprised. Sylia's younger brother had shown little interest in books, aside from the occasional technical reference. "This is a suprise, Mackie... What can I do for you? You need a technical manual ordered or something like that? It's a little out of my line, but I'd be happy to help." The young man shook his head. "There's.. ahh.. something I'd like to talk to you about, if you don't mind?" Ed nodded politely. "Certainly. What can I help you with?" Mackie looked at Minerva and the two sexaroids and flushed slightly. "If you don't mind.. is there somewhere private we can talk?" Ed raised an eyebrow. "Hmmm? It's like that, eh? Well, there is the office." He nodded to the three women. "Be right back, m'ladies. Carry on with lunch." The women chuckled and deliberately watched Mackie enter the office, causing the young man no small amount of distress. "I wonder what it's about?" asked Anri. "Knowing Mackie, do we really need to know? And more important, do we really WANT to know?" Anri made a face. "Good point." She listened to the faint murmmers coming from behind the office door. "He's supposed to be a grown man.. but at this rate, I don't believe he'll _ever_ learn to think with his brain, instead of his..." A loud CRASH interrupted her. The office door flew open, and Mackie described an arc, flying through the air until his trajectory was interrupted by a bookcase. "You get out NOW, boy! AND NEVER COME BACK!! You just better pray I don't let your sister know what you said, you sex-crazed idiot!" Sylvie nodded to Anri. "He did it again." As Edward advanced threateningly, Mackie scrambled to his feet and left the bookstore at a dead run. He shouted after the boy, "And if you even _think_ about something like that again, Sylia's going to end up as an only child, you lech!" He stomped over to the table and sat back down to his lunch, literally glowing with anger. Minerva put a hand on his arm. "Calm down, boss. Relax. What could Mackie have possibly said to get you this angry?" A fork between his fingers suddenly became a piece of abstract sculpture. "The little hentai wanted to know if it was possible to use the Calypso's computers to reprogram you, Anri and Sylvie to fall in love with him!" Three sets of female eyes went hard and cold at that statement. There was a long pause as the women looked at each other over the table. "Revenge?" asked Sylvie. Anri and Minerva nodded together. "Revenge." Ed just shook his head and sighed. "First that poster of Darlene, now this. The boy just never learns." *********************************** A mental nudge woke him from a sound sleep. "Whaaa..." he mumbled brightly. "Wha.. what is it, Min?" "We've got someone trying to help himself to Christine, boss." Ed yawned and rolled over and prepared to go back to sleep. "I left the security systems on, girl.. now lemme go back to sleep." "That's the TROUBLE, boss... don't you remember what LEVEL you left them on?" He nodded sleepily. "Same as last time... OH, SHIT!" He leapt from the bed, grabbed a robe and rushed down the stairs to the alley in back of the shop where he usually left the Capri parked. He burst from the loading dock doors just in time to hear a sizzling, crackling noise, not unlike the sound of a large insect hitting a bug zapper. "God Damn It!" He slowed to a walk, as there wasn't much urgency left. Lying on the pavement next to the loading dock was a young man in the smoking remains of a leather jacket, various burgler tools on the ground beside him. He poked the thug with a toe and received a small moan for his pains. "Damn. He's still alive? Tough little bugger.. he should have been extra crispy after a jolt like that." "It looks like he expected a trap, boss.. just not one quite that large. What now?" "Find out what you can, then turn him in to the cops. We want to be civic minded citizens, don't we?" He paused. "Wait.. did he discover anything?" "No, lover.. and he's in no condition to remember much, either. From his life signs, I'd say he not only had his short-term memory scrambled, he's likely lost the last day or two from the trama." "Good. Call the cops, and let's get rid of him." He yawned again. "I need to catch up on my beauty sleep." Minerva couldn't pass that up. "So - you're planning on sleeping for a week?" * * * After the MegaTokyo police picked up the semi-comatose car thief, Ed sat down to breakfast and went over what he'd learned. "Read it back, Min." "Right." The brunette smiled, and a list appeared on the breakfast table in a shimmer of cold blue light. "First, he wasn't a freelancer. He's a member of some minor gang called the Obsidian Daggers." He sighed. "What is it with oriental tongs and their fancy names? Righteous Fists, Obsidian Daggers, the Secret Order of the Scarlet Dragon, blah, blah, blah..." She tapped him on the nose gently. "Be nice, boss. Now.. they weren't a serious gang until a few months ago. They were mostly a group of minor league gangster 'wannabee's' who came from a little town outside of MegaTokyo." "What happened?" "You did, boss," she replied. "Or rather, you, the Sabers, the sportscar from Hell, and Twister." "Huh? I mean, you want to explain that? And keep it simple?" "Simple. Food chain logic, lover. The Griffin knocked a huge hole in the Outriders. Twister knocked another one when he broke Steelhands, and it got worse when Ryouga killed the twit with a bandana during that little problem with Mason version 3.0." She laughed gently."After that, you put those two twists who tried to rob the shop in prison. Then _you_ proceeded to clean out all the minor crime in the area, wiping out what was left of the Outriders in the process." The light dawned. "Ahhh... and with the Outriders out of the picture, all of the two for a dollar would-be gangs fought it out for the vacant position?" "Exactly. And so far, the Obsidian Daggers are the front-runners." "Okay.. that explains why them. Now, I'd like to know, why _me_? Why did they come here? This street had a reputation for being unhealthy for their types." *********************************** "The skies are filled with miracles.. and half of them are lies. Are you real or not? It's a fine line... and I don't want to live this way." - TekWar, End theme. The bell over the door rang, and Ed looked up in time to see Sylia and Darlene walk in. He Spock'ed an eyebrow at them. "Anything the matter, Ms. Stingray?" Darlene grinned. "We came to talk to you. Sylia and I were a little interested in how you got here, and some details of your story." Ed looked over to Minerva. "Hold down the shop, pretty lady." He nodded to Sylia. "We might want to `talk' in my office. It's more.. private." He held open the door as the mage and the scientist entered. He offered them a seat and smiled. "You want to see the Calypso?" "Yes," said Sylia. "I find the concept of a controlable, technological method of crossing dimentional barriers fascinating. Not to mention the fact the you have an FTL-capable spacecraft at your disposal." Ed grinned. "I should have expected this.. you _are_ one of the great minds of this space/time. I'm just surprised that you haven't asked me sooner." His brows knitted together. "What I _don't_ understand.. is why you, Darlene? You already know how to do it, and with your method, you get straight to where you're going, instead of bouncing all over meta-reality at random the way I do." Darlene shrugged. "It never hurts to learn." "True enough." He looked around, and touched a pad on the desk. "There, we're shielded. If it's all right with you two, we can just beam straight up." The two women nodded and Ed's eyes went unfocused. A cool dislocation gripped the three of them and Sylia watched, fascinated, as the world around her dissolved into a glittering kalidoscope of light. * * * Appearing on the main transporter pad aboard the Calypso, Ed smiled, and put out a hand for Sylia, who'd stumbled. "I'm sorry. I should have warned you. A transporter's a bit different from Twister's teleportation." Darlene looked around and began laughing at the architecture. "You bought a _Klingon_ ship?" "Not thlIngan, actually... but the basic design is partial theirs. I'm told that this particular ship began life as a B'rel class scout, with a compliment of 12, and the ability to carry about 6 more as passengers or prisoners. Apparently, after I buy it from the shipyards at Utopia Planetia, sometime in my far future, I'm going to extensively modify it, then take it back to myself in my past." He held his head painfully. "God, I hate temporal mechanics." He began to lead them through the ship, pointing out items of interest. When they walked through the cargo bay, Darlene nearly fell down in hysterical laughter, and even Sylia smiled. It looked like an explosion at a rummage sale. Pieces of combat armor of various types lay everywhere, segements of Battlemechs that Sylia recognized from her recent research into his background, small vehicles, even a huge, three meter high copper coin of some sort. For some reason, the coin sent Darlene into another fit of uncontrolable giggling. "I'm sorry it's such a mess. I never got around to cleaning it up after pulling the Chameleon out of storage, and I was too furious with myself to have Minerva to it for me." "If this is a Bird of Prey type ship, then why does the cargo bay look so large, Edward?" frowned Sylia. "It seems larger than the ship itself would be, if I recall the movies correctly." "It is. That's a side benefit of using the Burroughs Irrelevancy Drive. You can open pocket space warps. It's rather convienient for extra storage when you need some," Ed grinned. "It's been a fine tour, Edward." Sylia frowned. "But now I'd like to know what you are hiding from us." "I.. I have no idea what you're talking about, Sylia." "Please.. don't insult my intellegence. Minerva has told us about the dukedom you were offered, Edward. I've researched what I could of that reality. From what I've learned, a Duke usually ruled at least an entire planet, and as a rule several of them. The political and financial power such a dukedom would have provided would have made it possible for you to re-create the research project that resulted in your accident." She shook her head, giving him a level look. "I want to know what you are withholding from us, and I want to know now." There was a long pause, and his face crumpled. He waved them towards the cabin he used as a study, a cabin they hadn't yet seen. The two women looked around, and noticed the unusual items adorning the walls. Darlene grinned at the Vorlon encounter suit hung on a rack in a corner... then stopped grining after she took a second, closer look. The suit was covered with a spiderweb of tiny cracks and showed evidence of having suffered some sort of massive electrical strike. She turned and noticed Sylia staring at an oddly shaped armored mask mounted on the wall, with a circular discus-like blade hanging from it by a cord strung through its fingerholes. Both were deeply scored with what seemed to be acid burns. Ed motioned them towards a seat and took one himself. He ran a tired hand through his hair and begain to speak. "Do you know what a hellburner is, Sylia?" "I don't think so." Ed smiled sadly. "When a star uses up all of it's hydrogen, and has even fused all of its helium.. there is a further step, if it's the right class of star. A star of more than 1.44 solar masses can begin fusing oxygen, carbon, even silicon. It keeps going until all that's left in its core is iron and the heavier elements. Those can't be fused without losing energy in the reaction, you see. Then the star collapses and dies, in a violent supernova." "Elementary stellar physics," said Sylia. Darlene nodded in agreement. "What you may not know is that it's possible - incredibly difficult, but possible - to initiate and _sustain_ such a reaction artificially." Sylia felt chill fingers of horror wrap themselves around her heart. "You don't mean..." He nodded bleakly, grief spilling across his face. "It's called a hellburner. You drop it on a planet and it begins a Bethe-cycle reaction, sometimes called a solar phoenix. A fusion reaction begins, feeding on all of the lighter elements in the planet's crust. It continues burning until nothing is left but the iron core." In a faint voice Darlene whispered, "That's planetary genocide." "It's worse, Darlene.. it's the total destruction of the planet as a life-bearing habitat." Sylia's face was grim. "One was used, wasn't it." "Yes." Sylia's voice was colder than the space outside the Calypso. "Why?" Ed stared at the wall behind her, his voice eerily distant. "We'd won the war. We knew it, what little remained of the Clans knew it, everyone knew it. And the Jade Falcons couldn't take it. It horrified them. One of their own leaders said it flat out.. `The thought of the Star League being reborn without our divine input and guiding hand is appalling.' Divine, he said.. and meant it. It had to be _their_ holy version of a reborn Star League as envisioned by General Kerensky, or none at all. When they knew they had lost, they decided that they'd take everyone with them." "How?" "You had to see one to really believe it, Sylia. They called them annihilators. A thermonuclear device the size of a _ship_. You had to measure its power in _teratons_. Not kilotons, megatons, or even gigatons. Teratons. And the accursed things were jacketed in strontium. A strontium-90 bomb. Can you imagine that? A half-life of 29 years. The fallout would last for centuries. They were designed to punch through a planet's crust before detonating, giving a three-fold effect. Massive tsunamis of magma would radiate outward, cracking tectonic plates like cheap china, causing catastrophic planet-wide seismic convulsions. The acompanying seawater tsunamis would simply be a lethal icing on the cake, so to speak." "Second, an _uncountable_ number of cubic miles of vaporized seawater, mud, and bedrock, well mixed with radioactive strontium-90 would be blasted up into the stratosphere, eventually coming back down to shower the planet in a lethal cloud. Strontium is a chemical cousin to calcium, and tends to head straight for the same places when absorbed into the body. That means the bones. Radioactive strontium is no different. Makes for a nice recipe for leukemia and bone cancer." "And lest we forget, the sheer _amount_ of crud it would throw into the atmosphere would, in all likelyhood, guarantee a nuclear winter. If there was anything left of a biosphere at that point, the resulting darkness and deep freeze would do nicely to finish it off." He looked directly at the two women. "Get the picture?" Sylia nodded slowly, her face expressionless. "And these devices were no doubt heavily defended." "Yes. When you build a bomb the size of an aircraft carrier, you can build in defences strong enough to insure that it WILL reach it's target, no matter how hard fought the battle might be." A muscle in the left side of his face began to spasm, and wouldn't stop. "Once they were launched, about the only way you could stop them would be to hit them with something the size of an asteroid." The twitch in his face grew worse. He continued on in a controlled, brittle, horribly offhand manner. "So it was decided to stop them _before_ they were launched. But Strana Mechty was too heavily fortified. Millions of lives would have been lost in the assault and they still could have succeeded in launching. So..." His voice trailed off. "So they used a hellburner." said Darlene in stricken tones. The disgust in her voice was palpable. Ed continued on as if he hadn't heard her. "Promotions came thick and fast during the war.. mainly because people kept dying a lot. It was especially bad towards the end, when we followed the Exodus Road and invaded the clan homeworlds. I hadn't managed to completely hide what I was from everyone. No one suspected that I wasn't human.. but they had noticed that I'd survived where others couldn't. It was put down to skill and an incredibly sustained run of good luck. So by that time, they'd made me a Colonel and I'd been assigned the job of running force recon on Strana Mechty. I was the one who'd brought back the word about the annihilators." His eyes turned to stare at Darlene. "I took down three fully loaded Fortress class drop ships, Sylia. Are you familar with that class?" When she nodded, he continued. "Each one carried a reenforced combined arms batallion, consisting of a company each of 'mechs, vehicles, and power armor infantry. And each drop ship mounted a Long Tom, a long range artillery piece that was a match for the old 'Big Bertha' field pieces used by Germany during WW II. Enough to fight a medium sized war with.. or so I thought. All of that, for a lousy recon mission." His eyes closed in pain. "I brought _back_ one badly damaged drop ship and the remains of a single company. Less than eighty men. But we had the evidence that the annihilators were real." "I was certain we'd invade... but the council was split right down the center. They voted half for invasion and half for using hellburners. General Travis Correy was the supreme commander of the combined forces, second only to the House lords. He went over the reconnaisance report, read the casualty figures, then voted for using the hellburners." He gave a sick laugh that sent shudders running down Darlene's back. "We watched from orbit as Strana Mechty died. Afterwards, Correy returned to his cabin. When they heard the shot, it was already too late." He paused, memories he'd fought to deny returning with a vengance. "And he wasn't the last. More than a few joined him, Sylia." He laughed again, sounding slightly hysterical. "There were more marines guarding us from ourselves than were guarding us from the enemy, afterwards. Prince Victor had an entire company on his suicide watch. They tried to put some on me, as well. Not that I needed any. I would have needed someone as powerful as Darlene here to even begin to threaten me." Sylia looked at him. "You did what was needed." "No. I helped to commit an act of genocide." He raised a tired hand and pointed to the items on the walls. "That's what this room is. A reminder that no matter how powerful I think I am, I still make mistakes. And when I make those mistakes, people die." He stood. "And that's why I didn't want to show you this room, Sylia. it's the living symbol of my shame." /* ** add */ Sylia looked up and, to her surprise, noticed Edward walking through the door. "Welcome, Mr. Edwards. What brings you to Silky Doll Lingerie? I was under the impression you were avoiding us." He looked around the room, noting that there weren't any other customers at the moment. "To be perfectly honest, Sylia, I was." He waved an arm around in the air, vaguely indicating the entire shop. "It was the sensors. I didn't want you using them on me, you know? I knew about them from the stories about Twister, and I was afraid you might discover something. But that's a moot point now, right?" "Indeed," she smiled. "Much like being just a little pregnant." Ed grinned ruefully. "I suppose so. It's not as if I had anything to hide from you any longer." He reached into a pocket and pulled out a slip of paper that he fingered nervously. "Uhh.. I have a small request, Sylia." He passed the paper to her. "Do you.. I mean.. Can you.." he stuttered. Sylia looked at him, then down at the paper. It held two sets of measurements. "Let me guess. You'd like to purchase some lingerie for Minerva?" She smiled as he blushed deeply and nodded. "The first set of measurements are Minerva's, I assume. But whose are the second?" The color went higher in his cheeks. "They're for Ailuro. You don't know her. She's a.. friend of mine. Now that Vallana tells me I _will_ get home, sooner or later, I've decided to get some souvenirs for my.. friends." He tugged desperately at his collar. "Gods, is it hot in here?" Mackie looked back from a display window where he was setting up a new mannequin. "She sounds like more than a friend to me, Ed. Why don't you introduce..URK!" Mackie suddenly found it slightly difficult to breath, probably because Ed's fist was tangled in his collar. Sylia looked at him sharply, then turned her head slightly and winked. "Edward, please put my brother down. I'm certain he didn't mean it." He nodded and set the younger man down. "Boy, the _only_ reason you're not pushing up daisies right now is because you're Sylia's brother. But lemme make something perfectly clear. Stay _away_. Got that? I can't kill you, but if you insult Aili or Minerva in word, thought or deed, I'm gonna come hunting for you, and when I catch you I'm gonna take a knife and turn you from a stud to a gelding. You got that?" Mackie blanched. "You wouldn't do that!" "Try me." He looked over at his sister. "But sis.." Sylia shook her head. "I've _told_ you to control your tongue, Mackie. As long as he doesn't actually _kill_ you..." She shrugged. Mackie swallowed loudly, and scurried towards the back of the store, hands unconsciously positioned so as to protect his family jewels. Ed watched him flee, and sighed. "Are you _certain_ you have no Native Americans in your family line, Sylia? If I didn't know better, I'd swear that Mackie has to be a Son of Coyote. He's certainly perverted enough." She gave him an odd look. "Coyote?" "Long story, Sylia." He flushed again. "Umm.. Can you recommend something for Min? And mabye for Aili?" /* ** more scenes */ "Everything is funny as long as it happens to somebody else." - Will Rogers. Mackie looked over at Sylia. "I'll be right back, sis. I have to visit the men's room. Too much tea." He turned towards the restroom, and failed to notice Sylvie, Anri and Minerva begin to snicker and giggle. Sylia looked up when she heard her younger brother scream. Alarmed, she scanned the shop, but there didn't appear to be any danger. She quickly stepped to the door and finding it locked, pounded on it. "What's the matter, Mackie? Open the door!" All she heard from him was a low moan and something that sounded like the word `blue'. Then she turned towards the three laughing women standing in the lingerie shop and waved a hand at the locked door. "I presume you three had something to do with this?" Laughing too hard to answer her, they nodded. Sylia gave an annoyed sigh, and walked back to the phone. She punched in the number for `Rare Books' and waited, tapping one foot impatiently. Ed's face appeared in the screen. "Sylia? This is a surprise. What can I do for you?" "You can tell me what your assistant and her two friends have done to my younger brother and why. He's locked himself in the bathroom, and won't come out, muttering something about having `gone blue'." Ed groaned. "Bloody naffin' hell.. I _never_ should've let Minerva read my personal journals." He quickly explained about Mackie's earlier visit to his shop and _why_ Mackie had made that visit. "All three decided that they were going to get him for that little perverted fantasy, and it looks like they just have." "And the `gone blue' remark?" He flinched. "Well.. years ago, some of my squadmates played a practical joke on me. It's in my journals. Minerva must've gotten the idea from that." Sylia's eyes bored into the screen. "_What_ idea?" she asked, her patience growing short. Ed squirmed under her gaze. "Methylene Blue, Sylia. It's an old, old drug. Probably from well before your time. They used to use it to treat urinary tract infections." He looked at the expression in Sylia's face and hurried, trying to get the words out before she did something _he'd_ regret. Something painful. "It's not a dangerous drug, Sylia, and it's not addictive, either. But it does have one.. ahh.. slightly.. err.. _unusual_ side effect." Liquid nitrogen dripped from Sylia's voice. "And that side effect is?" Ed swallowed hard and muttered something in a very faint voice. "ittrnsurrnbrtble." "What was that, please?" His face flushed an embarrassed crimson. "It turns one's urine bright blue." Sylia's lips twitched ever so slightly. "And you say it's otherwise totally harmless?" "Usually, yes. You should be able to get further details from any good medical database." She rubbed her chin. "And he did try something perverted towards Sylvie, Anri and Minerva?" "Yes." "Thank you, Edward. I have all I need to know. I'll speak with you later." She broke the connection, and turned towards the three, who were by then giving her worried looks. "I have but one thing to say, ladies. And that is... well done." She gave the bathroom door a long, thoughtful look, then smiled faintly and returned to the lingerie showroom. /* ** add */ Sylvie looked at the clock on the wall and wondered where Ed was. She, Anri and Minerva were supposed to be going out to lunch at a new italian restaurant that had just opened near Genom tower. The fact that it _was_ close to Genom bothered her slightly, but Minerva had assured her that she could monitor all approaches and that the food was more than worth the slight risk entailed. "He's probably forgoten again," she sighed. "Knowing him he's likely wrapped up in some old book." She waved to Anri. "Let's go get him." They walked down the block and sure enough, when they stepped inside 'Rare Books', they found him bent over a digital notepad, reading something. Anri held a finger to her lips and, guesturing Sylvie to follow, carefully tip-toed over to a spot where she could read over his shoulder without his noticing. When they saw what he was reading, it was all the two women could do to stifle hilarious laughter. They grinned as the text scrolled up the tiny screen. "Livin' and Lovin' In The Anime Universe: A Basic Guide Ok, so you've decided to make that big step, to finally achieve the ultimate Otaku dream... to become an anime character. You're prepared. You put your mundane affairs in order, packed, said your goodbyes, picked your universe, translated your currency, took a crash course in Japanese and have your mousse and hair dye ready to turn you into Ensign Wildhair. But unless you are a truly hard core otaku, there are some things you should keep in mind as you venture off into that wild, primary colored universe: 1) Money. Be sure to have lots of it. Not only are there a nigh infinite number of people who are going to help you part with it (and you'll never notice it in the first place), keep in mind that the insurence rates tend to skyrocket at a moment's notice. This is particularly true for Tomobiki-cho, the Nerima ward, Macross Island, old Buddhist shrines, most of Tokyo, especially Shinjuku and other famous areas. 2) Just throw out any science textbooks you have. None of it's going to work normally anyhow. 3) People tend to come in various personality types, body types and hair colors. Just remember that if they start bulging or glowing blue, red, white or any other color, or begin bleeding profusely, leave the area *immediately*. Unless of course the person in question is bleeding through the nose in which case you may want to make a discrete check of your clothing. (And possibly the clothing of any nearby bystanders, if they happen to be especially attractive.) 4) Be nice. To everybody. Many people tend to have a nasty tendency to carry grudges to the grave. Yours. And then they'll come back yearly just to do the Meposian Dance of Joy on it. Besides, nothing bad ever happens to Kasumi or Mihoshi, does it? 5) Read the fine print. Particularly when dealing with mysterious old strangers who sell you old and wonderous magical items. 6) Puzzle Boxes are hard to open for a REASON!!! (Oops, that's supposed to go under Horror Movie Survival Tips) 7) Within minutes of establishing yourself in your new home, check the local constabulry. If there's a profound lack of them, you may wish to consider moving. It tends to mean that the area gets demolished at least once a week. 8) When choosing your house bear in mind that aliens, demons, monsters, Intergalactic Overlords and Really Big Nasty Things With Tentacles tend to show up in Tokyo first, possibly because it is a probability nexus. Adjust your domicile appropriately. Remember, no matter how often it is rebuilt, Tokyo keeps getting destroyed by a major fireball. 9) Get training in martial arts as soon as humanly possible. Preferably ones that specialize in ki-attacks, leaping impossibly high and surviving incredibly huge ammounts of corporeal damage. You may wind up having to deal with your teachers rivals and fiancees as soon as you step in the door, but at least your survival chances will rise marginally above "Butterfly in front of a speeding Mack Truck" 10) At some point you may find someone you're attracted to. Be very careful when attempting to gain this person's affections. They may well be either married, engaged, stupid beyond all possible tolerence, an alien, an android, a ghost, a deity of some form or another, have all other members of the opposite sex after them. Note that this final situation may well be more dangerous than the previous ones as the afformentioned members of the opposite sex tend to be violently posessive of said love object. 11) When dating, keep in mind that you are now in an anime world and dress appropriately. Remember, running shoes, personal force-fields and hardsuits are *never* out of fashion. 12) Again, while dating, Murphy's Law will be in full effect and any and all negative possibilities in the Universe will be centered on *you*. In the worst cases (most of which are 90% likely to occur, particularly on an important date), be prepared to make a speedy exit, leaving a human-shaped hole in the wall if necessary. If your date truly cares about you, they'll understand. Note that the correllary guidelines: Numbers 1, 3, 4, 8 and 9. 13) There is no number 13. It's bad luck. Move on. 13b) Before entering a relationship with someone of the opposite sex, you may wish to make sure that (s)he does not have: ° a demon side-kick/slave. ° a yen for poisons, floral arrangements and rythmic gymnastics. ° a tendency to electrify/blast people for any reason whatsoever. ° supernatural powers of any sort. ° an appetite to put Rosanne to shame. ° fiancees of any gender/race. ° a curse. (note: When in doubt, perform the classic cold water/hot water test) 14) Magic works. Especially black magic. Especially black magic that's intended for summoning the Really Big Nasty Things With Tentacles mentioned in guideline number 8. Unfortunately the control circles/pentagrams always have fatal flaws. 15) Always know where the exits are. Be prepared to make your own if necessary. 16) Shinto wards (or just about any other spell from any other religion/magick system) will not work on any monster/demon/RBNTWT larger than a mean grasshopper. (See notes to 14, above.) 17) Some basic survival equipment that you may wish to acquire, either before or after your successful entrance into the Anime Universe of your choice: ° A book of magic spells. ° Sword of Demon Slaying +8. ° Tentacle-Proof Overcoat. ° Alien Girl/Boyfriend with incredible supernatural powers. ° (be careful in your choices. Check guideline number 13b.) ° Wand of Teleportation. ° Hot Water (you never know). ° Portable Hole, for those frequent quick exits. ° Life Insurance. As much as humanly possible. ° Mecha. Be sure to upgrade frequently. ° Bandages. Lots and lots of bandages. 18) If you plan on having normal human sex you might want to consider not going. If the opportunity of a sexual encounter does present itself however, try not to let any black dots, white splotches, mosaics or pixellations pose too much of a distraction. (Kyle Pope) 19) You will also find that women between the ages of 16 and 45 are rare to non-existent. Adjust your tastes and expectations accordingly. (Kyle Pope) 20) If you happen to fall in love with someone in an anime universe expect every obstacle you can imagine (and quite a few you can't) to be thrown in your path to True Happiness. This can be anything from family opposition to demon possession to invading alien fleets seeking their long lost queen. Develope patience. Remember also that anything (and that means *anything*) can fall head over heels in love with you. This could be a person of the same sex, a demon, a demon of the same sex, an alien, an alien of the same sex, a supercomputer or possibly that odd looking tree down the block. Remember that the further from human whatever falls in love with you is, the more jealous and possessive it will be of you. And it will usually have strong supernatural powers which it will freely use to protect you from "interlopers". (Kyle Pope) 21) Don't eat mermaid flesh. Period. (Kyle Pope) 22) Expect to spend the rest of your life in either junior high or high school. There is an upside. Your english skills will make you very popular. (Kyle Pope) 23) Just because you've picked one particular anime universe to live in doesn't necessarily mean you'll stay there. Try to stay away from Tokyo Tower. It appears to mark an inter-universal nexus. (Kyle Pope)" At that point, Anri looked at Sylvie, and reached out to gently tap Ed on the shoulder. "What, no warnings about artificial female lifeforms?" she giggled. He jumped from his seat, and the notepad went flying across the room. "I.. err.. you..." Sylvie grinned. "You forgot about lunch again. Any where did _that_ come from?" she asked, pointing at the notepad now lying on the floor. He urk'ed slightly, and picked it up. "It's a little something from the internet back home. I was reading it as a joke. Anyway, you missed item #24." He tapped a button. Anri looked at the pad again as the list scrolled slightly. "24) Female androids are sexy; male androids are...male androids." Sylvie smiled and poked him in the ribs. "And don't you ever forget it, Ed." Anri nodded. "Oh, Priss is going to be going us for lunch." "Priss?! For God's sake, WHY?" Sylvie laughed. "She was over yesterday, and heard us discussing lunch.. and the fact that _you_ would be paying for it today. So she invited herself." "Figures," he grumped. "I've never know _any_ musician to pass up a free feed. Ever. I think it's a natural law or something. What shocks me is the fact that she can even wake _up_ before 12 noon. I didn't think that was possible." /* ** add */ "He's entering the restaurant now, sir. There are several people acompanying him, however. Should we proceed with the test?" "Proceed. Civilian casualties are regrettable, but will probably be neccessary. Nevertheless, try to keep them as low as possible. We don't want to attract too much attention at this stage." "Yes, sir." The little grey man snapped the cel phone shut and motioned to his companion. "Is the sniper ready?" "Uh-huh. And I've already arranged for him to have an 'accident' while trying to make his get-away." "Excellent. You're thinking ahead." "I try, sir, I try. Should we have the sniper fire as he's going in, or coming out?" "Coming out, I think. The general confusion that will result when the Obsidian Daggers invade the premesis will be useful, and if he is hit before he enters, he may divert from his afternoon plans." As they entered Manrico & Pagliacci, Ed watched Priss take in the decore, and saw her wince. "You had this planned ahead of time, you rat!" she hissed. He chuckled. "No. It just worked out that way. You might not believe it, Priss, but I _do_ like opera, on occasion." Manrico & Pagliacci specialized in Italian cuisine, but with an unusual twist. The food was set to operatic videos shown on a full length wall-screen - although it wasn't exclusively Italian opera. "I think you'll like this one, Priss.. it should appeal to your anarchistic tastes." He waved at the screen, where the opera was just beginning. "Die Achselnzuchen des Atlas. Loosely translated - Atlas Shrugged. From the book by Ayn Rand." If looks could kill, the one she gave him then would have sent him home in a basket. The other three women just laughed. /* ** add */ "Now, where were we?" smirked the oily gang member. "You were about to join the international club for eunuchs," Minerva purred seductively, as she jammed a small double-barreled derringer into the man's crotch. "I like it rough." At that point, the doors were kicked in violently. "I understand you took an entire restaurant hostage just so you could meet me. I'm flattered. But I don't really like your way of inviting me to dinner." The Mystery Vigilante stood there in the open doorway, all eyes upon him. "Want to put down the toys and come visit my friend, Officer Bochinski? He's got some stainless steel jewelry I'm just certain you'd LOVE to try on." The square looking gang member waved an arm to his men. "GET HIM!" he shouted, as he aimed the bulky launcher at the Vigilante. Ed sighed. "I'll take that as a 'no'," he muttered just before a small missile hit him and he vanished in the smoke as it blew up. Back at their table, Sylvie and Anri had released Priss's hands, and the singer had quickly assembled her break-down pistol, resting the barrel in the would-be lothario's ear. "Please resist," she hissed. The biker rolled his eyes downward, looking at the derringer pointed at his genitals, swallowed heavily, and froze in place. The Vigilante picked himself up from the remnants of the kitchen. "Get him. Get him. Is that _all_ you can say? When are you guys gonna get some original dialogue? And that missile was uncalled for." The leader laughed. "You certainly arrived in a baroque fashion, for a superhero. Could we do any less that greet you in a similar way?" "Baroque. Right. You want to put down the guns before I baroque you into a lot of little pieces?" Then he froze, realizing what he'd just heard. {MIN! Did I just say what I think I said?} {Afraid so, boss. That joke only plays in English, which is what he addressed you in.} {SHIT! SHITSHITSHIT! Another bloody _trap_!} /* ** add */ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ "Good. Is there anything else?" "One... small problem, boss." He winced dramatically. "I'm ready, straighten me." "Sylia wants to see you tomorrow evening. It's about the archive you gave her. There's .. something she'd like to discuss with you." "Oh? What?" Minerva began edging slowly away from his chair. "You aren't going to like this, boss.. we made a little mistake.. it's not my fault.. honest.." "Will you _please_ tell me what the problem is?!" "I copied the entire BGC fanfic archive onto the logic solid you gave her, boss. Just like _you_ asked me to." "So?" he wondered. "The _entire_ directory. Including the lemon stories." Ed swallowed hard. "I'm dead. Oh boy, am I dead." He started to shiver ever so slightly. "I'm so dead, they're gonna have to kill me three times over, I'm so dead." He looked at her with desperate eyes. "Please tell me Priss hasn't seen them. Please!" "Not yet," she said. "Sylia told me that the rest of the Sabers haven't seen them yet. And they won't, unless you try to skip out on this meeting." He nodded. "Yup. I'm dead. I am SOOOOO dead..." *********************************** Priss wasn't irate. She wasn't angry. She wasn't even furious. There simply wasn't a word for the state of incandesent rage Priss was in at the moment. She wanted someone very, very dead, and wasn't going to get that. Right now, she was doing a slow burn at Mackie. "I want to know _everything_ you've heard about this, you little pervert, and I want to know NOW! Or I'll start taking you apart like a roast chicken! You got that?!" Mackie looked back at the angry red eyes that were burning into his, and fervently wished that he'd managed to obtain the plans for that belt Nene had told him about, the one that let the Mystery Vigilante turn invisible and walk through walls. He felt a sudden urgent need to do both at the moment. "I.. uhh.. I was snooping on sis, and I found out that Mr. Edwards gave her a holographic storage crystal full of text files about the lives that we.. ahh.. they.. I mean.. the _other_ Stingrays and Asigiri's and Yamazaki's lead in the other realities he knows about. Sylia wanted it for research." He started to wipe some nervous sweat from his forehead and froze, as Priss's fingers tightened in the front of his shirt. He hurried on. "I took a look inside and there was an entire directory, dozens of megabytes long, devoted to nothing but erotic stories about the Knight Sabers. Stories about Sylvie and Anri, you and Leon.." He gulped slightly, and contined. "Stories about you and Sylvie, me and sis, Linna and Nene... and you and sis." The hand tangled in his shirt front threatened to lift him from the garage floor. "And you made copies for your own amusement, didn't you, you disgusting deviate," Priss hissed at him. He nodded nervously. "Well, little boy, we're going to go to your terminal, and we're going to wipe those files, aren't we?" "But I went to so much trouble to get..." He paused there as Priss's other hand began to approach his throat. "OntheotherhandIsupposeIdon't reallyneedthosefilestherearealwaysthephonesexnumberslemmeshowyouthepassword togetintomyprivatedirectory," he managed to get out in the rush of a single breath. Priss grinned ferally. "Good boy. The sooner you delete those files, the sooner I may decide to let you live." The young man nodded and managed to ask a question. "How did you..?" "...find out?" she finished. "You may have a brain, Mackie, but if you don't stop thinking with what's between your legs, it won't do you any good. Nene walked into the computer center while you were _supposed_ to be on duty and saw what was on the screen before you hid it. She was shocked. I wasn't. I know you better." She set him back on the ground. "I can't do much to Ed, but I can _certainly_ make sure that _you_ don't have any copies of those stories to drool over." She spun him around and gave him a one-handed shove that sent him stumbling towards the computer room. "Time to start deleting files. Unless you want me to delete you." When they reached the room, Mackie's spirits sank even further. The other three members of the Knight Sabers were standing there, arms crossed. *Oh, shit. I'm fucked,* he thought wildly. *They haven't looked this pissed at me since they found those nude posters of themselves and Darlene hidden in my bedroom.* He desperately searched for something to say, something that would let him get out of this alive. "I.. I'm sorry??" Sylia simply pointed to the keyboard. "We're recording every keystroke and mouse movement. Nene will be watching you on another terminal," she said in a flat, almost disinterested tone. "Don't even think of trying to keep any copies. And delete the .image files as well." Mackie went whiter than before. *They found the pictures too?! How?!* "Err.. what image files, sis?" Then he urked as Priss's hand wrapped around his throat. "RIGHT! _Those_ image files! Right away, sis!" He raced for the seat in front of the keyboard and began deleting files at a furious pace. Sylia gave him a cold smile. "Excellent. And Mackie? We're going to have a long talk tonight." He groaned miserably. * * * The Sabers had spent a great deal of time trying to explain to Mackie just how deeply he'd managed to get himself in it this time, and the young man was now over at Dr. Raven's garage, steam-cleaning the grease pits, hauling garbage, and anything else messy and disgusting that the good doctor could dream up. Sylia was resting, and wondering. The lemon stories were somewhat embarrassing, but they could be dealt with. Her true worries were focused not on them, but on the serious stories on the logic solid. One in particular had drawn her attention... * * * Priss prowled through Mackie's bedroom with the unconscious grace of a big cat on the hunt. "I _know_ you, you little lech," she muttered. "Dr. Stingray wouldn't even take a _dump_ without a backup plan, and Sylia is just the same. And so are you." She pried through a drawer, careful not to disturb to contents TOO much. "You wouldn't have folded HALF that easy," she growled, "unless you'd had more than one copy. Now where'd you put it?" She lifted his matress, and rolled her eyes at the collection of skin magazines revealed to view. "At least Twister caught you with those posters. Bet you won't try _that_ trick again." Uncertain what form the copy might take, she kept searching. Looking over at his stereo, she began to peer behind it, when something caught her eye. "Now just what the hell are you doing with a disk full of *my* songs, Mackie?" She picked up the disk, noting that it wasn't any sort of official pressing. It looked like a pirate disk of some sort. "Especially as I don't _have_ any disks out yet, hmmm?" "Hurricane Live: 2032? Yeah, right, Mackie. I don't _think_ so." She ran her thumb over the lable side of the disk and grinned when she felt a slight ripple in the slick surface. Digging in with a thumbnail, the lable peeled completely off of the CD, nothing more that a simple press on. Underneath, there was the simple logo of a blank 3M brand recordable optical disk. "Gotcha!" Smiling, she grabbed a jewel case from his collection and slipped the disk and bogus lable inside of it, hurrying from the room. * * * Nene had stayed late, still upset at the thought that Mackie had tried something like this again. The posters he'd made were bad enough.. but stories? Then she noticed Priss leaving Mackie's room with a slightly furtive expression on her face, and curious, began to follow the singer. * * * /* ** Priss hears noise, leaves disk in drive ** Nene enters, in hurry, copies disk to home ** system without reading, decides to see what ** it is when she gets to her appt. ** Linna, noticing fuss, investigates, finds disk ** discovers contents, takes home to read. */ * * * /* ** next morning */ "Morning, Priss." "AAAH! DON'T TOUCH ME!" "..." "um... aheh.. sorry about that... too much coffee?" /* ** add */ * * * The next day, Ed walked into 'Silky Dolls' in what could only be termed a sheepish manner, unable to look Sylia in the eye. "You.. ahh.. wanted to see me, Sylia?" She nodded towards her private office. "If you would?" *I was right. I might as well order the coffin now. I am SO dead..* he thought as he followed her inside. Taking a seat, he awaited the inevitable. {Come on, boss! Think positive!} interjected Minerva. {All right, I'm _positive_ I'm dead.} The ACI sighed in frustration. {Gods, you're stubborn, boss.} At that moment, Sylia cleared her throat, and he looked across the desk at her. "I found some rather _interesting_ files in that logic solid you provided me with Edward. They were.. educational." In a single motion, he took the only honorable course of action left to him. He threw himself to the floor at her feet, and proceeded to grovel there in a manner worthy of Genma Saotome himself. "I'm sorry! I'm so SORRY! It was all a mistake! I wasn't looking! Mackie joggled my elbow! Minerva did it all! I wasn't there! The Moon was in the southern house and Jupiter aligned with Mars! It was the Age of Aquarius! I was doing my taxes! The cops were pounding on my door!" He broke into a full Soun Tendou wail. "IT WASN'T MY FAULT!!!" Gentle laughter greeted this plea. "I'm well aware of that fact, Edward." She smiled as she reached down to tap him on the shoulder. "Please return to your seat. It's much easier to talk to you that way." "I.. uhh.. you're not.. err.. I mean..." "I'm not pissed with you, as Priss would put it." She frowned. "I _am_ irritated with Mackie, however. One would think that a boy of his age would have long since managed to find a girlfriend some time ago." Staring down at the crystal resting on the desk, she shook her head. "Something really must be done about this situation. It's a problem. He has secrets, and beds are a poor place for keeping secrets. I'll have to take him in hand." She heard a strangled squawk come from Ed, and looked at him only to discover he'd gone a brilliant carmine. She reran her last few sentences through her mind, and flushed slightly herself. "You have a rather imaginative mind, sir," she said coolly. "I'm sorry. I just.." He shut up at that point, determined not to dig himself any deeper into the hole he'd seemed to have fallen into. "You, ahhh.. you wanted to discuss the technology, right? And get ready for the meeting with Reika and her grandfather tomorrow?" "Yes. In fact, some of the more passive devices here could possibly be turned over to world-wide law enforcement." She turned to the keyboard on her desk and brought up a file on the monitor. "This shield, for example. I find it interesting. It seems fairly simple to construct, is entirely passive, and as far as I'm able to tell, lends itself to no abuse by Genom. Where did you find it?" He took a closer look at the screen. "Ah. The Holtzman defensive shield. Well, you're pretty close.. it has one other application, but that's simply a form of low-level flight. It's nice." He pointed a finger at one portion of the diagram. "That's the main generator. Set to phase one, it created a field that cannot be penetrated from the outside, permitting entry only to objects moving at very slow speeds, six to nine centimeters per second, depending on the setting. Bullets, railguns, artillery.. defends against them all. Of course, you can still end up injured from the sheer momentum." "What of energy weapons?" asked Sylia. "And where did it come from?" "Where?" He smirked, reminding Sylia of Mackie at his most hentai. "Ever read anything by Frank Herbert?" "Yes, when I was younger.. you don't mean Dune?" "Yup. That's exactly where I mean. Interestingly enough, Dino De Laurentis got it right. When activated, the shield _does_ look the way he portrayed it in the movie version. And as for energy weapons? Well, particle beams, especially proton or ion beams, can short the field out. But it'll take a hell of a lot of power. Lasers? That's stickier. Much stickier." "How so?" "Remember the book? Either the laser or the shield would blow up in an almost atomic-scale blast, depending on which one failed first. This version won't, though." He pointed at another area of the diagram. "This ensures that the field simply shuts down when hit by a laser, and it comes back up when the laser is gone. Not perfect, but installed in a K-12 armored trooper, it's defensive power will bring the ADP on a par with the boomers _without_ making them a threat to the Knight Sabres." "It's a nice design." "I'll be certain to tell Min that." He smiled. "It's hers. She got interested in it the last time I watched the movie, and tried to design around that flaw as an intellectual exersize. To her, that's entertainment." They continued on discussing technology and chosing what items they would present to Reika and her grandfather for about an hour. Then as he rose to leave, Sylia reached for the keyboard to her computer and brought up another file. "There's one last thing I'd like to discuss with you, Edward.. and a message I'd like for you to deliver for me, when possible." He blinked in a bemused way. "A message? I don't understand." She swiveled the screen around so he could see it. "Do you understand now?" His mind went completely blank for several seconds, and when it did return to normal functioning, a single thought endlessly circled inside of his head like a mantra. *Damn You Overstreet. Damn You Overstreet. Damn You Overstreet. Damn You Overstreet.* He shut his eyes to avoid looking at the title of the story on the screen, but it was far too late. Sylia gazed at him. "Should you, as Valanna implied, manage to return home, I would like you to inform Doctor Mann and Mr. Overstreet that We Are Not Amused." He could _hear_ the capitals in her voice. *Ohhh... this is _bad_,* he thought. {That's something of an understatement, boss.. I'd completely forgotten that Bubblegum Pink: Raging Fires was still in that directory.} {Forgot?! How the hell could you _forget_? You're a computer!} {Ahhh... Oooops?} "I.. ahh.. " He swallowed hard. "Priss hasn't seen this yet, has she?" Sylia's expression turned vulpine. "I'm afraid that she has. Fortunately for you, Nene and Linna haven't, to the best of my knowledge." "What's going to happen to me?" A cold smile found its way to Sylia's face. "It just so happens that the Knight Sabers need another live-fire exercize, Edward." She pointed towards a bulky dufflebag that he hadn't noticed, sitting in a corner of her office. He winced. "I have to play boomer AGAIN? But it wasn't my fault!" "6 p.m. this evening, Edward, at the garage. You don't want to be late." Nodding slowly, he rose and picked up the bag, filled with the weapon-equipped helmet, vest and gauntlets he would need to play the part of an armed boomer. Turning to leave, he stopped when Sylia called his name. "And Edward? _This_ time, both my own suit, and Priss's will be set on full power." He walked out of the office, shoulders slumped. As he opened the door to the street, Sylia could hear, very faintly... "The next time this happens, Min, I'm gonna sell you to that cyber-pimp from Spicy City!" * * * <<<>> She thrust a sheet of paper into his hands, and told them to read it. Twister finished it, astonished, and passed it to Ed. He too read it. They both looked at Sylia, unbelieving. Twister was the first to find his voice. "There's no chance this is some kind of hoax?" "No," she replied. "A radical eco-terrorist group calling itself 'Gaia's Vengance' has somehow managed to hijack a liquid natural gas tanker. They've announced that they intend to release its contents outside Toyko harbor, using it to form a fuel-air bomb of enormous size, destroying MegaTokyo." Ed had gone an unhealthy shade of grey. "An entire tanker's worth of compressed liquid methane? It'll level the city to the ground, if there's enough of it. What size are we talking about?" "250 thousand tons," said Sylia. He swallowed hard, and looked at Twister. "Darren.. this used to be my job, knowing about these sorts of weapons. 250 kilotons of natural gas will have an explosive yield at least equal to a 200 kiloton nuclear blast." The psionist look worried. "And the damage to the city from something that big?" "Total destruction of _all_ structures within 1.7 km of Ground Zero, even damaging buried shelters. Massive damage within 2.2 km. Vehicles and train cars lifted in the air and thrown about all the way out to 3.5 km. There will be severe damage all the way out to 9.5 kilometers from the center of the blast." He shook his head. "Even Genom tower won't survive this one, Twister. We're talking damage at _least_ ten times greater than that seen at Hiroshima. It'll gut the center of MegaTokyo, and they'll feel it all the way out to the USSD HQ." "But that's nearly 35 kilometers outside the city!" "I know." Twister turned to look at Sylia. "I'm at your command." Ed nodded. "As am I, Saber Prime. We can't let this happen." "The problem with that is that the Diet is attempting to negotiate with the terrorists." Her eyes burned with anger. "The ADPolice and units of the Self-Defence Force have been ordered to the docks to prevent 'unauthorized vigilante actions' while the negotiations are taking place. And for once, Genom's vaunted influence has failed them. The Diet is more concerned with looking like saviors of the people than they are with obeying their masters in the corporation." She gave them a level look. "I want you to know that if you chose to join us on this one, we may end up fighting the armed forces before we can even reach the ship. Do you still want to try?" Twister shrugged. "Once more into the breach, dear friends..." Ed pointed at Twister. "What he said." "Then you'd best suit up. We haven't much time." She turned to head for the hardsuit locker, then looked back. "Edward, if you have anything heavier than your normal Vigilante costume, I strongly suggest you use it. But some common sense, please.. I doubt the group holding the tanker would miss seeing a 10 meter tall mecha wading through the surf towards them." He nodded, embarrassed. /* ** scene change to docks ** */ As the six heavily armed figures emerged from the KnightWing, the ADPolice moved to stand between them and the waterline. Not surprisingly, Leon and Daley came forward. Leon nodded to all six. "Sabers. Knight. Vigilante. I'm sorry, but I can't let you pass. We've been ordered to prevent anyone from trying to reach the ship." An amplified voice came from a large truck with Genom markings that had just pulled up to the shoreline road. "Does that include us?" Everyone turned to look at the truck, and what was getting out of the trailor it towed. Sylia hissed like an enraged cobra. Eighteen powered suits had just disembarked from the semi-trailor. These were not the standard K series battlesuits, however. Each and every one of them was a perfect match for the battlesuit that Brian Mason had died in, over two years ago. And they were all emblazed with identical logos proclaiming them to be members of 'TEAM GENOM'. The Crystal Knight quickly put a armored hand on her shoulder. Speaking over the encrypted voice net, all four Sabers heard, "This isn't the time or place, Prime." Sylia nodded. "But they WILL pay. No one will pervert my father's technology like this." She activated her external speakers. "Who are you, and what are you doing here?" The foremost figure opened his helmet, addressing the white Saber. "We're Team Genom, Saber. We were formed at Chairman Quincy's orders to protect Gemon property and defend Genom's employees. Since these lunatics demanded that the chairman disband Genom and turn over all assets to their group in 'repayment' for having 'raped Mother Gaia' in return for their disarming the ship, he ordered us to stop them, using whatever means necessary." "Be that as it may," Leon interjected, "None of you can go any farther. I have my orders. I may not like them, but I have to carry them out." The Vigilante smiled. "Uh.. Leon?" "Yes?" He disappeared in a cool blue swirl of light, only to reappear behind Leon an instant later. He tapped the officer on the shoulder. "Do you _really_ think you can stop ANY of us?" The ADPolice inspector spun around to face him and swore. "You're going to make this difficult, aren't you." "Yup." The man in black paused for a moment, then continued. "Leon, those people are fanatics. You know as well as I do that they WON'T surrender unless they get their way. And the odds of Quincy giving in to them? I'd rather bet on a snowball's chances in hell. The chances of the snowball's winning are _much_ better." "You make it sound like we're about to be crushed between the irresistable force and the immovable object," muttered Leon. "An apt description, Officer McNichols," noted the white Saber. "And the clock _is_ ticking." Leon threw up his hands. "So what more is there to say?" "What the terrorists have on hand, that's what," interjected the Genom team leader. "How they are equipped, how many there are, information." The white Saber nodded. "Such information would greatly improve our chances." "I KNOW that," Leon bit out, his vaunted 'cool' slipping a bit, "but I _can't_ tell you. Not here and now." Daley stepped forward. "Leon-chan.. you can't tell them.. but I think your memory is slipping. Would you like me to re-brief you?" A cunning smile crossed his face. "I'm _certain_ these fine, outstanding citizens would NEVER eavesdrop on two police officers." McNichols sighed, and shot a glance at the pink Saber, who was trying (and failing) to unobtrusively deploy the hyper-sensors built into her helmet. He rolled his eyes and turned back to his partner. "Why not? Tell me, Daley.. what did I forget?" /* ** insert terrorist numbers here.. ** */ crates put aboard Gulf & Bradley tanker (find a good name for tanker.. maybe something ironic? ask pre-readers) under guise of shipping personal belongings to G&B exec in MegaTokyo.. deck cargo using available space to free-ship it. crates full of kit-bashed terrorist boomers (mannequin types?) from off the street. type from pg 76, BGC:Before & After book..easy enough for group to get.. and cheap. 6 or 8 of them? one boomer leader.. salariman/terrorist leader type. (pgs 40 and 77). boomers seize control of ship, allow human terrorists from eco-ship (think of the Rainbow Warrior anti-whaling ship here. need name here too.. something terribly blunt.. perhaps same name as group? Gaia's Vengance? get suggestions.) 3 K-11 suits.. explanation? eco-moles cooked books at three US cities when anti-boomer police dumped them for up-rated models.. _supposed_ to be stripped and scrapped, paperwork was faked, and group smuggled them away. 2 K-17 suits... eco-moles in San Diego? LA? San Francisco? PD worked way into anti-boomer police division, simply went awol with suits at very last minute, boarded eco-warrior ship in harbor, followed LNGC ship at descreet distance until boomers made takeover. note: plan may not be _rational_ but is well thought out.. they spent a LOT of time and effort to this.. "If you say 'information is ammunition' one more time, I'm going to put this axe in a *very* uncomfortable place..." - Hauptmann Andrew Steiner, echoing a sentiment shared by many a Battletech fan... * * * Madagan tapped at the door to Quincy's office, which swung wide at her touch. She entered and stopped before his desk. "I have failed, sir. The quorum was formed, and the orders given to the civil and military commanders. The ADPolice and elements of the JSDF have taken up positions around the harbor." Quincy steepled his fingers thoughtfully. "It would seem that some of our bought and paid for politicians have finally managed to grow some spine." "Somewhat, sir. But not much. I took the liberty to try to obtain the names of those who defied you." She frowned. "They're indulging in a literal orgy of finger-pointing. Each insists that his neighbor was the first to make the suggestion that this action be undertaken. I believe that, success or failure, they intend to hide from your wrath by leveraging the responsibility onto the Diet as a whole, feeling that not even you would dare strike down the entire Diet." Quincy's stone-hard eyes stared at her, piercing her soul. "If they believe that, then they are more foolish than they know. And their foolishness will cost them." His gaze shifted to a screen where the names of the members of the Japanese parliment scrolled. The names of those owned by Genom were highlighed in green. He turned back to Madagan. "I chose you to be my personal trouble-shooter for a reason, Madagan. Your new psychic powers, useful though they are, have nothing to do with that choice. I trust I will not have to rethink my decision." She bowed. "Sir. I have again taken the liberty, and ordered three elements of Team Genom to proceed to the harbor, and await orders. They are equiped with the new powersuits. If a way can be found to board the ship, they will take advantage of it. I have additionally arranged to obtain one of the pages from the Diet. I am reliably informed that this young man was witness to the vote. With suitable chemical assistance, we will be able to determine who voted for negotiations with the terrorists, and who voted against them." "Excellent. Honest failure can be accepted. Lying or treachery cannot. I see my trust was not, in fact, misplaced." He tapped out a code on the flat-plate display built into his desk and closely examined the result. "The Knight Sabers are at this moment confronting the police. Instruct our people to assist the Sabers in every way possible." "Sir??" "The destruction of this city is as much their concern as it is mine, Madagan. In this case, the interests of all co-incide. Issue the order." "Immediately, sir." She waited until he turned away. As she was about to go through the door, his voice halted her. "I want those names, Madagan. Defiance of Genom by outsiders is one thing. It is annoying, and must be removed when the time is right, but disobiedience on the part of those I have purchased is not to be tolerated." He paused for a long moment, then spoke once more. "I expect those I buy to _stay_ bought." She shivered slightly at the utter lack of emotion in his voice, nodded her compliance, and left on her mission. * * * Ed turned to the apparent leader of the Genom armored squads. "As you've seen, the Crystal Knight and I have a way to get inside that ship that no one else does. I can't order you.. but every extra body is precious. Even a single extra hand might make the difference." The leader opened his helmet. "No need, sir. I've just received a message from our base. We're to cooperate with the Knight Sabers to the fullest extent. There's enough latitude in those orders to include you, sir. How can we help?" "Good. Choose six of your people. They'll go in with me, straight into one of the holds, same as the Sabers will. Then.." he shrugged. "Then, we kick ass and take names." "And pray they don't get a chance to set off those explosives," muttered the leader, sotto voice. "Yeah, that too. By the way, what's your name?" "Captain Fumio Shimoyama, sir." The Vigilante frowned slightly. "Any relation to a Private Shigeru Shimoyama of the Imperial Japanese Army, back in 1945?" The captain looked surprised. "My great grandfather, sir. How did you know?" "Just a guess." *Why does the universe keep _doing_ this to me?!* "Tell you what, Captain.. we get through this, and I'll buy you a drink and tell you some stories about your ancester and how he got rid of his glasses." Captain Shimoyama nodded and started pointing to several of his people. "Ikeda. Johannsen. Koniev. Tetsuhara. Sterling. You're with me." "That's only five, Captain," Ed observed. "I don't send people anywhere I won't send myself, sir." "Eighteen Genom armored troopers, the Sabers, and you, Knight.." frowned the Vigilante. "Twenty-four people to take the ship from inside AND outside. It's thin, but it'll have to do." "You know," Daley said thoughtfully, "It would be rather conveinient to have a police observer along as these gallant heroes undertake their perilous mission." Leon eyed him sourly. *Now I _know_ I know how the Chief feels.* "We can't do that, Daley. We're already stretching the rules as far as we can. I wouldn't be surprised if we get suspended for this." The White Saber spoke up. "As the senior officer present at the scene, you DO have the authority to relieve any subordinates of duty, Inspector McNichols." "What does that have to do with it?" said Leon, puzzled. He was abruptly interupted by a loud, painful sounding grunt from the rear of the ADP ranks. Patrolman Bochinski was bent double, gasping for breath. This was probably due to the fact that his partner's elbow was buried deeply in his gut. "Sir, my partner here looks ill. Maybe he should be taken off duty?" smirked Wadderson. "And I volunteer to help him get home." Daley grinned, looking at the White Saber. "This wouldn't have anything to do with the fact that what an officer does _off-duty_ can't officially be held against the ADP?" Sylia simply looked in a different direction. In her helmet, she smiled. Leon shook his head ruefully. "Why not? Nothing _else_ is going by the book here." He turned towards the two officers. "Bochinski, you're relieved of duty. Wadderson, you too. Take whatever actions you need to help Bochinski home, then report back. Any.. neccessary side trips don't need to be reported." The two nodded, and moved towards the Crystal Knight. "Daley, you have a coin on you?" asked the Vigilante. The red-headed officer reached into a pocket and pulled out a 50 yen piece. "Yes.. what do you want?" Legion turned towards the White Saber. "Heads you get to choose which end of the ship to hit, tails I do. That okay?" Sylia nodded, and Ed looked back at Daley. "Flip it, Daley... and NO CHEATING, KNIGHT!" "Would I do something like that?" replied the psionist in mock-hurt tones. "Damn straight you would. So would I. That's why Daley's flipping for us." He watched as the coin fell, with the head facing up. "Your choice, Saber Prime." "Engine room and stern LNG storage hold. You take the anchor chain locker and the forward hold. When we meet in the center, the rest of the Genom troopers can assault the deck from above while we come up from below." Ed nodded. "If there's anything wrong with that plan, I'm too slow to see it. Simple, fast, and hopefully effective." He turned back to the captain and the five troopers. "Gather around. Don't be surprised by anything you see, and be ready for anything." Returning his gaze to Sylia, he inclined his head. "On your mark, my lady." The Sabers gathered around the Crystal Knight, as did Wadderson and Bochinski. The Knight raised his arms, and purple fire limned the group. Ed look up to the sky. {Ready, Min?} {Ready.} As the Sabers faded away, he smiled. {Now, Min!} * * * An instant of shimmer later, all seven found themselves in the small compartment that served to hold the tanker's anchor chain and winch. Looking around, Ed noticed that the hatch was dogged down and secured. {Min? Take care of that, will you?} {Gotcha, boss.} The Genom troopers had surrounded him and their captain, taking equidistant positions around them both. One of them exclaimed softly, and quietly trotted over. "Sir? I've found the source of the interference. Look at this." The captain nodded at an item that appeared on his heads-up display. "Some enviromentalists," he said sarcastically. {Min?} {She picked up the same thing I did, boss.. this compartment, and the rest of the ship, from what I can tell, has been flooded with radon gas.} The Vigilante frowned, and took a deep breath. "I see what you mean. Real frigging cute." He looked at Koniev. "Let me guess. What sort of rad level are you picking up?" "Approximately 2500 milirems an hour. Enough to hash radio transmission/reception nicely, and cause some injury to an unshielded person. Not a problem inside our suits." The young woman realized what she'd just said and began to apologize." "No need, Koniev. Trust me, it doesn't bother me a bit," grinned the man in black. "Believe it, Koniev," said Captain Shimoyama. He inclined his helmet towards Ed. "I saw your file, sir. Including the.. *ahem* event at Genom plaza." "Nice to know I'm famous. Heh." He listened to Minerva for a moment. "Right, then. We've got three boomers in there, all 33-C models. And one human, in a K-11 suit. "When we get through that hatch, I want two suits to a boomer. Gang up on them. And if you finish yours quickly, help your buddy. I don't want them to have any chance to open fire." His face hardened. "The clown in the suit is _mine_. Clear?" He got a quiet rumble of assent. "And for God's sake, try to avoid using any weapon that might set this ship off. I'd likely survive, but they'd be picking up your remains with a strainer." They gathered around the hatch. "Ready... steady... GO!" His foot lashed out, and the shattered remains of the hatch went spraying into the forward hold. One large chunk clipped the leg of one of the boomers, tearing it off, crippling the machine and slowing it down. The other five immediately attacked. Ed paid them little mind, heading straight for the K-11 suit. The caseless machinegun held in its right hand tracked him and opened fire, spraying him with slugs. He advanced full on, letting the slugs strike him. *Every one that hits me,* he thought, *isn't hitting a storage tank.* A detail flashed through his mind from the old sourcebooks he'd once enjoyed. //For example, the K-11's fingers are rather fragile; when they become damaged, that Powered Suit loses its ability to use hand-held weapons (which are its only armament).// Reaching out, he closed with the suit and slapped the machinegun from its grip. Grabbing both armored hands in his own, his fingers clenched. True to what he remembered, the metal fingers crumpled like tinfoil. There was a shriek from inside the suit. {Min? What's the quickest way to disable this hunk of junk?} A spot lit up in his vision, marking an area on the suit. {Hit it there, boss, you'll damage the main buss, and cause a surge that will take out most of the backup circuits.} He heard her laugh. {It's a design flaw.} Driving his fist through the armor, he tore out a handful of chips and wiring. The suit (still bearing the markings of the last police department that had owned it) collapsed like a rag doll. Looking around, he noticed that the three boomers were down, with no casualties to the team. But all of the suits were covered with odd-looking white smears. "What the hell hit you?" Captain Shimoyama pulled something from the grip of a detatched arm of one of the boomers. "Take a look." He did so, and ahhh'ed. "Mauser and Grey M-31 needle pistol. Shaves splinters of plastic from a block of high-grade ballistic polymer and spits then out at Mach 2 or something like that. 15 needles to a shot, 200 shots a minute. Cute. It'll cut an unarmored human into hamburger, and even wear through soft body armor given the time. But it won't puncture metal or strike sparks, so the gas tanks in here are perfectly safe." He looked at the wreckage of the boomers. The other two had beem similarly armed. "Their mistake, our benefit." The captain nodded in agreement. "Stuck to the armor, though." Ed could hear the mild irritation in his voice. "Hell to clean off." "I'll buy you some solvent. Make certain those boomers are totally non-functional. I'm going to question our volunteer here." ================================================ He reached for the phone, then gently replaced the receiver. "This has to be personal." He tucked the disk into his pocket, and headed for 'Silky Dolls'. * * * "I've asked you here because McCarthy has gone over the edge," said Ed. His face was a ghastly grey color, and he paced nervously. "He's .. well, it's easier if you just listen." The four members of the Knight Sabers listened to the voice in growing disbelief and no little shock. "Hello, Mr. Edwards. Your efforts to turn my superiors agains me have worked quite well, and you're no doubt gloating over that fact that I'm helpless against you. Well, that has come to an end. It's my turn to gloat. I hope you're familiar with the actions taken in old Tokyo by a religious cult known as Aum, for I've taken a page from their book." There was a pause, and the voice contined. "Somewhere in MegaTokyo is a rather.. unusual sort of nerve agent. It's a trinary/binary gas. This, for those unfamiliar with the idea, is a gas that's formed when three other components are mixed. That's the trinary bit. The binary portion comes from the fact that each of the three primary ingredients can be further broken down into pairs." There was a brief laugh, and McCarthy went on. "So, there are six different chemicals, and none of them are hazardous, or even particularly noticable by thenselves. And completely harmless when blended out of order. But when they're mixed in the proper sequence? Oh, they are _quite_ lethal then." "Now, I believe you know the drill. There is a derelict building in the Canyons of a rather different sort.. rather than being demolished, it was never finished. It's a tower that was under construction when the Great Quake hit. They hadn't even finished the ironwork. I don't think you'll have much trouble picking it out. You're going to be there tonight, with a complete set of files regarding your advanced technology. You'll turn those over, then you will return with me to the USSD where you will surrender yourself to my superiors, in my name, might I add, and set to work re-creating the weapons we desire." "Don't be late. You wouldn't want those cannisters breached, Mr. Edwards. Should those chemicals mix to form the gas, casualties could exceed five figures." The playback ended in a static-filled hiss. Sylia nodded to him. "Of course, you'll have our help." Ed shook his head. "No. This.. needs a different touch. Sylia, I want you to oversee the transfer of my bookstore to Sylvie. After what I'm about to do.." He gave a frustrated shrug. "..I may not be able to remain here." He caught her eye and looked upward. "May I invite someone in?" Sylia looked puzzled for a moment, then realization hit her and she nodded. "Minerva, would you please manifest? I need your help, dear." When the holographic representation appeared, it was obvious to all from the look on her face that she had already heard the recording. "I'll try, boss.. but what can we do? I don't have any idea where he might of hidden those chemicals, and if he isn't lying.. I can't really scan for them. After all.. _six_ different chemicals?" She gave him an anguished look. "I should have maintained a 24 hour watch on him... then we'd know when and where he did this. It's my fault. I'm sorry." "No it's not, pretty lady.. and there is a solution. You simply won't like it much." "What can that possibl... NO!" He shook his head. "Yes. Open File Sherred." "No! No, boss! They'll _find_ you! They'll send _him_ after you!" "Nerve agent, baby.. possibly hundreds of thousands dying. Neither of us could live with that. One more time. Then I'll use the override codes. I say again... Open File Sherred." The agony in her voice was a dull pain in the pit of his stomache. "Password?" "Miguel Jose Zapata Laviada." "Countersign?" "Edward Joseph Lefkowicz." She was openly crying now. "Final code?" His voice was colder than arctic ice. "E For Effort." "Full release is authorized," she whispered. "I have access and control." "Use it. Track him back, Minerva. Track him and find those canisters as fast as you possibly can. When they're found, destroy them. I'll meet him tonight, and do what has to be done." She nodded, still weeping, and vanished. The Sabers stared at him, uncomprehending. Sylia was the first to speak. "What have you done?" she quietly asked. "What I had to do, Sylia. What I'll always do. Saving lives as best I can. It's just going to cost me, this time." She nodded slowly. "And File Sherred?" Ed walked slowly over to a seat, and droped heavily into it. "The truth can be a very dangerous thing, Sylia.. especially so if _everyone_ has free access to it." He scrubbed the back of one hand across his forehead. "I told you I'd visited many dead worlds.. worlds where mankind had commited mass suicide with any number of weapons. But there was one very special world. What they used to kill themselves with - was the truth." Nene and Linna were looking nervous. Priss? Priss somehow had an expectant look. "Go on," requested Sylia. "It never really had a name, per se... The inventer, Miguel Laviada, or Mike, as he liked to be called, never gave it one. It was just 'the thing'. And it killed a world." He rose and turned away from them? "It was a simple machine.. anyone who could have built a vacuum tube television set could build one of them. It's just that no one had even thought of researching that particular obscure area of science. And Sylia.. what it did, was let you see the past." The other three looked confused. Sylia went a shade grey, and steadied herself. "I see," she murmured. "Well, _I_ don't!" insisted Nene. "What's so wrong with the truth?" "You don't, Nene? How would you like Mackie to have a machine that could spy on you anywhere, anywhen? As long as it was at least a fraction of a second into the past, he could watch you. He could watch your entire life. No jamming, no hiding.. darkness, fog, smoke.. none of these would present any barriers. No privacy. No secrecy. And you can _scan_ through time as if it were a video-tape. Fast forward through it, or rewind, pausing it when there's something _particular_ you'd like to see in detail. Imagine if Quincy had one. He could simply focus a machine on a place and time he knew a Knight Saber had been. Then following you _backwards_ through time, like a rewinding film, he could wait and watch until you returned to this place and removed your armor." He shrugged off her startled gasps. "It's that simple, Nene." Sylia's mouth tasted like ashes. "And history was revealed for the tissue of lies that it has always been." "For that world.. yes. When word of the machine leaked, it spawned a war that didn't end until the earth was a ball of radioactive rubble. All illusions were gone.. there was nowhere you could run or hide. There was no hiding for the cynical ones who signed and laughed and lied, the false patriots who hid behind the flags while millions died from their betrayals." He looked at her sadly. "Mankind needs those illusions, Sylia. Without something to believe in, most simply can't survive. And every nation fought to have its own machine.. then fought again to be the ONLY nation to have one. For if you had one, and your enemy didn't... he was helpless before you." His lips twitched. "And thus a world died." To his mild surprise, it was Priss who asked the obvious question. "What has that to do with your leaving?" "Using one of these things isn't just dangerous, Priss -- it's _noisy_. Think of it as the cosmic equivelent of fingernails on a universe-sized blackboard. There are some beings out there that want me... well, leashed, for lack of a better word. They like to think that they have the monopoly on the sort of power that can alter the course of entire realities, and when someone new comes along and posesses those powers, they offer that person a choice. Join the club, abiding by it's bylaws; or die." He coughed, then continued. "Aren't many people who have access to Laviada's little toy. Most realities that discover it end up like his, destroying themselves in an insane battle over what's true and what isn't. The universes that found it and _lived_, they can be counted on the fingers of one hand. And those are closely watched. So when a new `noise' is heard, from a new reality, it's going to be investigated." He tried to smile, unaware how painfully false it appeared. "It's going to take them a while.. a few months at the very least. Infinity is a very LARGE place, after all. But they will find this universe, and they will find Earth, and MegaTokyo. And they'll find me." Ed looked at Sylia firmly. "There's no way any of you can stand up to what they're going to send at me. Twister could, maybe, but it wouldn't be pretty. And remember, Sylia, even a simple battle between you and some 55c's can leave innocent bystanders hurt. Scale up the level of power involved, and draw your own conclusions." She nodded. "You have to leave. You don't really have any other options. I'll take care of the shop, and the legal needs. You've already made out a power of attorney for Sylvie?" "Yes, I have. And there is something else. A special gift for both Sylvie and Anri. I was going to give it to them, but you're going to have to do it now. You and Darlene are the only others who are both capable of it, and trustworthy enough to do it." He reached into an inner jacket pocket, and swore absently. "Got to remember to get this jacket cleaned," he muttered, dropping several broken cigars to the floor. He fished around for a moment, and handed Sylia another disk. "Read this one in private, Sylia. Don't share it with _anyone_ other than Darlene." He nodded towards the other Sabers. "Not even them. I think you'll understand why after you're read it. So will they." /* ** add */ Priss grabbed him by the arm. "You bring an alien invasion to our door and you run away. You damned *coward*." "Little error in the basics, Priss. They'll come here because I'm here. If I'm not here...?" She let go. "They'll follow you?" "Priss, not to be insulting, but this is a pretty small world. The sort of folks who want my hide, well, they'd take the position that the difference between humans and paramicium is barely noticable to the naked eye. They'll send a scout first, to spot me. All I have to do is leave the scout the right message, and he'll leave, and that's it. Finto." She shook her head. "Can't be that simple." "Priss.. have you ever stepped on an ant?" "I suppose I have." "Ever worry that the ants might come after you for revenge?" She laughed. "Don't be ridiculous!" Ed raised a finger. "Exactly." Priss blinked in brief confusion, then growled. "I'm no damned ant." "To me, no. To them? Less than an ant." He shrugged. "Don't take it too personally, Priss. They're a bunch of arrogant old bastards who could give Quincy lessons in how to be soulless. And they've had millenia to practice it." "I still don't like it." "Trust me. No one ever does." /* ** add */ Sylia put the disk into a small projector Ed had given her. It hummed to life, and a life-sized hologram of him in his favorite armchair faced her. He was smoking another of his incessant cigars. *At least I can't smell them,* she thought thankfully. "Sylia - I'd originally planned on doing this myself, with a little help from Minerva, a *lot* of help from the Calypso's replicators, and something I stole. But McCarthy's interference changed all of that. I still want to give Sylvie and Anri this gift, but I'm going to have to ask you to do it for me." He smiled. "You might not be comfortable with this, and I _know_ Priss isn't going to like it at first, but I'm hoping that the girls will go wild over it." He leaned forward in the chair. "When Fargo verified the information that Quincy gave me, I decided to take two birds with one stone. McCarthy might have given the orders, but Major Landsdown was the spy who blew my cover to the USSD. Hiding him in Genaros was inspired, true, but they didn't know I had my own starship." He chuckled, and tapped the ash from his cigar. "After a little snooping, I found that the good Major wasn't a bastard like McCarthy, just a loyal agent of the USSD. Didn't have any idea what his boss was doing with the info he'd stolen. So I decided to just harrass him a little. Things like.. oh.. laxative in his food, having Min replace all his pants with look-alikes that were one size too small.. you get the idea." Sylia smiled, and nodded. "But while I was doing all that, I _found_ something in the USSD's local HQ, up there. I found _these_" He waved an arm, and the picture dissolved into a burst of color. When it came back, he was in his workshop aboard the Calypso. Standing next to him were three large metal cylinders. "Take a close look at them, Sylia... recognize the symbol?" The recording went in closer, and Sylia got a clear view of the colorful insignia on the fronts of all three cannisters. A phoenix, rampant, rising from a bed of flames. Below it was a single word, engraved, not painted, deeply into the metal. ALCOR. She drew a quick breath, recognizing the name. "It took me a bit to recognize them, even though I'd seen them before. I wondered why the resident USSD spooks would have one of _these_ in their offices, much less _three_ of them. Then I noticed the names! It was a serious shock when I recognized them. So I scanned them and you wouldn't believe how surprised I was. All three cannisters were still functional. Seems like Genom had refurbished them for the USSD." He grinned. "And charged them something fierce. You could buy a classic Rolls-Royce for what Genom charged to restore just one of these." He walked to the other side of the frame and tapped the third container. "And the contents are still intact. Not surprising, considering that ALCOR built these tubes to go through hell and still keep the contents safe." He turned and pointed to the camera. "So I stole all three of them, and replaced them with non-functional duplicates that Min replicated for me using one of the cargo transporters. They won't be able to tell the difference. In point of fact, there really isn't much difference. Only that if they try to thaw out the contents and use them, they won't work. The rest of what's on this disk are mostly templates for that replicator I gave you, and a few helpful hints I got from a character named Edison Bell. The templates will let you reproduce all the parts you're going to need to help them. And Bell? Well.. they were hurt pretty bad. And while you're as good as your father when it comes to this, you've never done anything _quite_ like this before. Bell has a slightly different take on things like this. His suggestions might prove useful. Or not. You never know." "Anyway, I hope you'll go through with this. After what Sylia and Anri went through during their escape from Genaros, they deserve this. But the choice is up to you, now. I know you'll do what is right." Ed waved. "Well, that's it for this recording. If all goes well, I might be back again for a visit, hopefully soon. It all depends on who they're going to send after me. If it's who I think it's going to be, I stand a fair chance. But I can't fight him here. I have to find someplace where any incidental supernovas won't be a bother to the locals." He chuckled. "Joke. But there's some truth in it. If they _do_ send him, it'll be a hell of a battle. Tell Priss I'll send her a video of it if I win. My way of appologizing for causing her to miss the fight of the millenia." /* ** add */ "Hello, McCarthy. You're looking unhealthy, lately." "So I am, you bastard. Mostly your fault. I've spent myself penniless trying to break you, after you got to my superiors and convinced them to cut my budget for going after you." The redheaded Irishman spat over the side of the flooring, watching it drop 80 stories. "But now I have the upper hand, and as long as I have you, they're going to have to dance to MY tune!" Ed nodded. "But you know.. when they play your tune, eventually you have to pay the piper. And I believe you're about to find that debt coming due." McCarthy looked at him suspiciously. "Don't even think about trying anything, Edwards. I still have that gas, and I'm not going to dismantle it ever. I have the upper hand, and it's going to stay that way." "So. You never intended to keep your word." "Only fools do that. And only a fool would believe me when I said that." McCarthy's smile turned into a vengeful rictus. "You're going to make me the most powerful man on Earth. First the USSD, then everything else." "Ayup. Nice plan. Only one problem with it." "It's perfect! If you even _look_ at me in a way I don't like, that gas is going off!" "What gas is that?" He waved an arm in a pre-arrange signal. Six metal tanks appeared in a shimmer of light. "The gas from these tanks, perhaps?" He gave McCarthy a cold smile. "You never should have tried that on someone familiar with Project Sampson. I recognized it right off. Although I never thought anyone would stoop so low as to steal that old suicide plan from the NIA. Besides, it was a stupid plan to begin with. President Reagan never should have listened to the idiot who thought it up." McCarthy glared at him hatefully. "That won't stop me. You were lucky, this time. I'll _never_ give up! I'll try again. And again. As many times as I need to. And eventually, I'll win." Ed shook his head sadly. "No, you won't. You taught me a lesson, these past months. You're dangerous. Too dangerous. Quincy was a rational man. I could deal with him. I could even _make_ deals with him. You? You're a scorpion. You'll keep trying to win even when it's impossible. Stinging and stinging everything around you until you sting everyone to death. Even yourself. You don't make deals with scorpions. You _can't_ make deals with them. You have to kill them." He started towards the taller man. "I can't afford to let you hide behind my sense of honor any longer." "NO!" shouted the Colonel. He yanked a small device from his jacket pocket, ripping the fabric in his haste. He stabbed at a button on it, but there was no answer. "I paid the Sabers to 'clean up' the area, McCarthy. That included those hired flunkies of yours. They've been contained. The mechanical backups? They're all listening to synthesized input, guarenteed to keep any alarms from going off. It's just you and me, Kevin.. And it's over." McCarthy threw the useless remote at his face. He batted it away with one hand, but it had obscured his vision for the briefest of moments. Moments that McCarthy used to try and make a run for it. In his panic, he failed to notice the rusted rivet gun lying on the uncompleted floor of the skyscraper where some panicked high-steel worker had left it during the earthquake so many years before. It seemed that the world had slowed to a timeless crawl as he watched the former head of USSD Intellegence trip over it, and go over the edge. McCarthy's scream seemed to hang in the air, echoing forever. Ed steped over to the spot and looked down. In the deeping gloom, he couldn't see the gory mess he knew awaited him at the base of the tower. He pulled a small handkerchief from a pocket and wiped the makeup from the scar on his forehead. "Poorly barganed, Kevin, but done nevertheless. Done, indeed." A few moments later, four hardsuited women arrived, flying through the open walls of the unfinished floor. "Where's McCarthy?" asked the white Knight Saber. "Trying to fly, the last I saw of him." "Excuse me?" asked Sylia in a puzzled tone. "He wasn't doing it very well," Ed shrugged. "But who knows? It might have come to him in time." Priss grinned under her helmet. She spotted the tracks in the dust and stepped over to the edge. Turning up her image amplification circuits, she looked down. She spotted a bloody smear on the projecting arm of a derelict crane. "Does bouncing count?" Ed grinned wryly. "I don't think so." "Then I don't think he learned in time," laughed Priss. "A pity, that." Then he chuckled too. "You know, I'm feeling _much_ better, now." Nene gagged, and Linna made a small, disgusted noise. Sylia merely faced him. "Was it absolutely neccessary?" she asked. "I recorded it all, Saber Prime. After you watch it, I think you'll agree. His death was as neccessary to me as Mason's death was to you four."