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FourtyTwoThe doctor squinted at the list Esailia displayed and gave a hmm of interest, looking at her over the frames of his spectacles, before levering himself to his feet, and beginning to sort through the boxes and shelves of medications as he spoke.
"It looks to me, miss Alonare, that you're a woman who knows what she needs, and with a purpose in mind. And even if I didn't agree to sell you your medication, I'm sure you'd find it another way, or carry on without it, for better or worse. So, I'll sell it to you. I only hope, though, that you don't let your condition put people other than yourself in danger," he cautioned, before laying the packages on the table, and totting up figures on a PADD, showing her the figures.
Outside, civil defence sirens began to wail.
***
Kellia waved her hands and shook her head. "Oh, hell no! I came to you because you have firepower! I don't have anything like that at the moment. If you want systems hacked, or intel provided, that I can do. Random item drops, that's out of my control. I can tell you one curious thing; whoever those people on the west-side with the hi-tech stuff are? They're somehow off the 'net; their ID's and their GEARs don't match to any known models or makes from any state or manufacturer. The ones on the East Side, that your colleagues are moving in on now, those are Northern Empire models, and that's clear and plain; though they've also disabled the cameras and data-lines into the warehouse".
She cut off as they began to move, following the pair along as the civil defence sirens began to wail. Police began emerging from the station, herding people toward underground shelters and other reinforced places. SWAT-equivalent teams began to move out, along with other emergency services moving to standby positions. An open-topped civilian jeep-like vehicle sat nearby, and Kellia pointed it out as Mike mentioned the need for wheels.
As they climbed in, she accepted the water from Aidan with a grateful nod, her expression still uncertain and a little panicked at all the sudden activity, but a brief flashing smile crossing her face all the same.
***
Blade ran on down the street, dodging between the oncoming people running for shelters, and to get off the streets. The civil defence sirens had began a few moments earlier. They were closing in on the blip, but it was still a good mile, or mile and a half away. He paused again as more messages came over the PADD's comm channels.
"Civil Defence have been alerted, they're moving the locals into shelters now. It'll alert the hostiles, but it can't be helped. At least then we'll be able to engage in combat with less concern for civilian casualties where possible. We'll have to keep fluid with the situation as it changes, and act accordingly, over".
As soon as he'd replied, the channel burst into life again, this time with a messag from Sykes.
The very best, he considered, adding in the mention of advanced armour. And someone who wanted the princess too? It gave him some worrying thoughts, that churned in his stomach. The South, he thought with a grimace.
"Roger that. I'll contact the Claw, and get our GEARs to us. No point having them where we can't get to 'em. If they've got that firepower, then I reckon they're intent on usin' it to get outta here. Keel and I are inbound, map says there's a vacant lot two streets to the East of the target location, bordering a park. Rendezvous at that point, over".
He switched channels back to the ship, and spoke to the captain once more.
"Claw, this is Rider Actual. Looks like we might have some guests from down south. Gonna move things up a notch; we need all of our GEARs; equipped for heavy urban combat, and ASAP. Location's attached... what's the shortest range you can have them prepped, and the minimum distance for a BGD, over?"
On the bridge of the ship, the Captain directed the operations officer to crunch the numbers immediately, and he crouched over a terminal, rapidly recalling data from the 'Net's tactical database for the LDF. Within moments - quicker than normal, almost - the information returned, and he quickly conversed with the captain. Her eyes widened, and she nodded.
"Rider Actual, this is Claw. GEARs will be up in ten minutes. And we'll manage the BGD, don't worry on that count. Be in position in twelve minutes. Good luck, Claw out".
He slid the PADD back into its' case and looked over to Adrian. "GEARs'll be inbound in twelve minutes, which means we need to get to the location - we need some wheels! Time to commandeer some".
***
At Ken and Kuraiko's location, the throbbing of rotor blades could be heard drawing closer as the civil defence sirens wailed in the background. the shape of the tilt-rotor with the GEAR slung beneath and the smaller shape of Ken's chopper flying escort alongside. Both aircraft rapidly grew bigger as they manoeuvered, circling the warehouse and then both dropping lower behind the nearest row of buildings into the adjacent street at a wide intersection, allowing the GEAR to be dropped and Ken's chopper to come to a landing out of direct line-of-fire from the warehouse. Moments later, the ATV raced up alongside with Irry's GEAR providing cover. The Gungnir's head swivelled to look at the pair. "What are you waiting for! Climb into the ATV, and get to the vehicles, I'll keep you covered!" She paused a moment and then spoke again, confusion in her voice.
"Where's Sprinstream?"
***
Blade hauled the little coupe around a corner, wheels squeaking on the asphalt as he guided the little car through increasingly insane turns into the warren of streets through Martenstown. Hunched low over the wheel and glaring with bared teeth, he looked almost manic as he drove, weaving between police and civil defence vehicles, or dallying citizens.
All at once, he drifted the car less-than expertly around a final corner, and slammed the brakes on, parking cock-eyed by the kerb and vaulting over the door and onto the pavement, looking around for Mike and Aidan to arrive. He checked a time readout on the back of his artificial hand and nodded to the hare.
"Take cover behind the car!" he declared, as he scanned the horizon, and then locked his vision onto four white trails lancing skyward from the distant direction of the docks, rising high into the pale blue later afternoon skies. As they reached a point where he could barely look up without toppling backward, the trails seemed to tip over. The vague objects at the top dived toward them, before seeming to disintegrate into shattered sections, a rumble coming from overhead.
As they dropped, they resolved into the shapes of the four pilots' GEARs, bundled up with parachutes and one-use disposable retro-packs. Guided by autonomous sensors, the four machines did a head-over-heels flip, and the parachutes opened, guiding them to the ground, and braking their descent with an orange flare of rumbling rockets, steered by GPS and laser-guidance, the four machines touched down in an arc in the vacant scrub of earth between the park and the nearest building. All of them were armed and equipped for combat, the damage previously sustained now repaired as much as it could possibly be, in the intervening period.
"BGD, Ballistic GEAR Deployment," Silverwind murmured for his own benefit. "Launch the GEARs from the VLS tubes on the Claw, get 'em to their pilots. Mount up," he declared to Adrian with a nod. "I think we're about to hit trouble."
***
In the makeshift hangar, the Lynx growled to his team, strapped into his GEAR and fully equipped for combat. "LDF GEARs are here, as we suspected; closing in on the same location as us. The local defence force is also on the move. But doesn't matter; we have them outnumbered. We can take them down, and still take the Princess. And remember; she's expendable if necessary, but capture is preferred."
"Civilians?" asked his second in command, as the hum of the UHD batteries rose, and the systemry of his GEAR came to life in blood-red and pale orange tones, casting harsh shadows into the dark, cramped cockpit and giving his already frightening visage an even more macabre tone.
"Collateral Damage is to be expected," he growled back. "The target is the only concern. Move out".
The external door of the warehouse burst open from pressure within as the flimsy metal roll-door was pushed aside. One by one the ten-strong unit of Imperial Special Forces GEARs moved out. All of them were equipped with the best equipment possible; automated close-in flechette dischargers, head-mounted .50 miniguns, multiple weapon racks for grenade launchers, multifire missiles, autocannons, railguns and all other manner of firepower, ECM equipment and more. Moving with smooth, precise actions, they fanned out across parallel streets, gliding on foot-wheels through the towns thoroughfares. A wheeled civil defence APC opened fire as it roared into place; almost instantly a missile blasted it apart, and autocannon fire swept up the missile-mounting ATV that backed it up. The Imperial GEARs were cutting a bloody swathe through the town - right toward the warehouse pinpointed on Kellia's photos and in Blades' recovered intel.
"It looks to me, miss Alonare, that you're a woman who knows what she needs, and with a purpose in mind. And even if I didn't agree to sell you your medication, I'm sure you'd find it another way, or carry on without it, for better or worse. So, I'll sell it to you. I only hope, though, that you don't let your condition put people other than yourself in danger," he cautioned, before laying the packages on the table, and totting up figures on a PADD, showing her the figures.
Outside, civil defence sirens began to wail.
***
"if you're in, we need weapons, big ones." he said, pulling up the image of a RPG type weapon. "ideally 7th gen or higher." he put the PADD away. "Quick, Quiet, and no curious dealers." he said quietly. "think Casper up there can pull some strings and find some?"
Kellia waved her hands and shook her head. "Oh, hell no! I came to you because you have firepower! I don't have anything like that at the moment. If you want systems hacked, or intel provided, that I can do. Random item drops, that's out of my control. I can tell you one curious thing; whoever those people on the west-side with the hi-tech stuff are? They're somehow off the 'net; their ID's and their GEARs don't match to any known models or makes from any state or manufacturer. The ones on the East Side, that your colleagues are moving in on now, those are Northern Empire models, and that's clear and plain; though they've also disabled the cameras and data-lines into the warehouse".
She cut off as they began to move, following the pair along as the civil defence sirens began to wail. Police began emerging from the station, herding people toward underground shelters and other reinforced places. SWAT-equivalent teams began to move out, along with other emergency services moving to standby positions. An open-topped civilian jeep-like vehicle sat nearby, and Kellia pointed it out as Mike mentioned the need for wheels.
As they climbed in, she accepted the water from Aidan with a grateful nod, her expression still uncertain and a little panicked at all the sudden activity, but a brief flashing smile crossing her face all the same.
***
Blade ran on down the street, dodging between the oncoming people running for shelters, and to get off the streets. The civil defence sirens had began a few moments earlier. They were closing in on the blip, but it was still a good mile, or mile and a half away. He paused again as more messages came over the PADD's comm channels.
"What about the locals?? This is asking for a lot of collateral damage."
"Civil Defence have been alerted, they're moving the locals into shelters now. It'll alert the hostiles, but it can't be helped. At least then we'll be able to engage in combat with less concern for civilian casualties where possible. We'll have to keep fluid with the situation as it changes, and act accordingly, over".
As soon as he'd replied, the channel burst into life again, this time with a messag from Sykes.
Sir, Sykes, we've got very capable friends. One guy, or one entity, pulled our pictures, the Claw in its dock, the warehouse and the princess's exact location. Oh, and a good visual on tang- holy shit. Sir, they've got advanced combat armor and prototype GEARs and they're mean looking. If these photos are for real, we're up against the very best."
The very best, he considered, adding in the mention of advanced armour. And someone who wanted the princess too? It gave him some worrying thoughts, that churned in his stomach. The South, he thought with a grimace.
"Roger that. I'll contact the Claw, and get our GEARs to us. No point having them where we can't get to 'em. If they've got that firepower, then I reckon they're intent on usin' it to get outta here. Keel and I are inbound, map says there's a vacant lot two streets to the East of the target location, bordering a park. Rendezvous at that point, over".
He switched channels back to the ship, and spoke to the captain once more.
"Claw, this is Rider Actual. Looks like we might have some guests from down south. Gonna move things up a notch; we need all of our GEARs; equipped for heavy urban combat, and ASAP. Location's attached... what's the shortest range you can have them prepped, and the minimum distance for a BGD, over?"
On the bridge of the ship, the Captain directed the operations officer to crunch the numbers immediately, and he crouched over a terminal, rapidly recalling data from the 'Net's tactical database for the LDF. Within moments - quicker than normal, almost - the information returned, and he quickly conversed with the captain. Her eyes widened, and she nodded.
"Rider Actual, this is Claw. GEARs will be up in ten minutes. And we'll manage the BGD, don't worry on that count. Be in position in twelve minutes. Good luck, Claw out".
He slid the PADD back into its' case and looked over to Adrian. "GEARs'll be inbound in twelve minutes, which means we need to get to the location - we need some wheels! Time to commandeer some".
***
At Ken and Kuraiko's location, the throbbing of rotor blades could be heard drawing closer as the civil defence sirens wailed in the background. the shape of the tilt-rotor with the GEAR slung beneath and the smaller shape of Ken's chopper flying escort alongside. Both aircraft rapidly grew bigger as they manoeuvered, circling the warehouse and then both dropping lower behind the nearest row of buildings into the adjacent street at a wide intersection, allowing the GEAR to be dropped and Ken's chopper to come to a landing out of direct line-of-fire from the warehouse. Moments later, the ATV raced up alongside with Irry's GEAR providing cover. The Gungnir's head swivelled to look at the pair. "What are you waiting for! Climb into the ATV, and get to the vehicles, I'll keep you covered!" She paused a moment and then spoke again, confusion in her voice.
"Where's Sprinstream?"
***
Blade hauled the little coupe around a corner, wheels squeaking on the asphalt as he guided the little car through increasingly insane turns into the warren of streets through Martenstown. Hunched low over the wheel and glaring with bared teeth, he looked almost manic as he drove, weaving between police and civil defence vehicles, or dallying citizens.
All at once, he drifted the car less-than expertly around a final corner, and slammed the brakes on, parking cock-eyed by the kerb and vaulting over the door and onto the pavement, looking around for Mike and Aidan to arrive. He checked a time readout on the back of his artificial hand and nodded to the hare.
"Take cover behind the car!" he declared, as he scanned the horizon, and then locked his vision onto four white trails lancing skyward from the distant direction of the docks, rising high into the pale blue later afternoon skies. As they reached a point where he could barely look up without toppling backward, the trails seemed to tip over. The vague objects at the top dived toward them, before seeming to disintegrate into shattered sections, a rumble coming from overhead.
As they dropped, they resolved into the shapes of the four pilots' GEARs, bundled up with parachutes and one-use disposable retro-packs. Guided by autonomous sensors, the four machines did a head-over-heels flip, and the parachutes opened, guiding them to the ground, and braking their descent with an orange flare of rumbling rockets, steered by GPS and laser-guidance, the four machines touched down in an arc in the vacant scrub of earth between the park and the nearest building. All of them were armed and equipped for combat, the damage previously sustained now repaired as much as it could possibly be, in the intervening period.
"BGD, Ballistic GEAR Deployment," Silverwind murmured for his own benefit. "Launch the GEARs from the VLS tubes on the Claw, get 'em to their pilots. Mount up," he declared to Adrian with a nod. "I think we're about to hit trouble."
***
In the makeshift hangar, the Lynx growled to his team, strapped into his GEAR and fully equipped for combat. "LDF GEARs are here, as we suspected; closing in on the same location as us. The local defence force is also on the move. But doesn't matter; we have them outnumbered. We can take them down, and still take the Princess. And remember; she's expendable if necessary, but capture is preferred."
"Civilians?" asked his second in command, as the hum of the UHD batteries rose, and the systemry of his GEAR came to life in blood-red and pale orange tones, casting harsh shadows into the dark, cramped cockpit and giving his already frightening visage an even more macabre tone.
"Collateral Damage is to be expected," he growled back. "The target is the only concern. Move out".
The external door of the warehouse burst open from pressure within as the flimsy metal roll-door was pushed aside. One by one the ten-strong unit of Imperial Special Forces GEARs moved out. All of them were equipped with the best equipment possible; automated close-in flechette dischargers, head-mounted .50 miniguns, multiple weapon racks for grenade launchers, multifire missiles, autocannons, railguns and all other manner of firepower, ECM equipment and more. Moving with smooth, precise actions, they fanned out across parallel streets, gliding on foot-wheels through the towns thoroughfares. A wheeled civil defence APC opened fire as it roared into place; almost instantly a missile blasted it apart, and autocannon fire swept up the missile-mounting ATV that backed it up. The Imperial GEARs were cutting a bloody swathe through the town - right toward the warehouse pinpointed on Kellia's photos and in Blades' recovered intel.