Bubblegum Crisis Fan Fiction ❯ Black Knights, Steel Hearts ❯ Chapter 42

[ T - Teen: Not suitable for readers under 13 ]

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The Bubble Gum Crisis OVA's (which this story is based on) are copyrighted
by Artmic Inc. and Youmex, Inc. I am just borrowing the characters for a little
while for non-monetary reasons. Serious CandC will be accepted, out-and-out
flames will result in a Boomer or two being sent after you, once they get around
to building them.

Please, enjoy my take on the Bubble Gum Crisis universe . . .
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Chapter 42

ARNPTSE Storage compound
Sunday, December 23, 2035
5:26am

"Here they come again!"

Chika snarled a harsh word and went to the window. The threat of dawn was in the air, but the group of about three dozen men charging out of the warehouses towards her position was more dangerous. The ground between the warehouses and the single standing office building was littered with shallow craters, torn up swaths of dirt, shattered concrete and the equally fragmented bodies of a dozen Yakuza gunmen. The area was backlit with the out-of-control fires raging through the warehouses, and Chika was concerned that the fire department was going to put in an appearance at any moment.

This was the third time in the last five minutes the Yakuza gunmen had tried to assault her people's position, and Chika was angry at the stupidity of the leaders. "Wait until they're closer this time!" she snapped into her radio. "We want them in range of the claymores!"

//Hokay, Boss.//

"Why the hell are they doing this?" Chika hissed out loud.

Suyuri, who was in the room with her, shrugged. "Given a choice between having to explain to Sato why they lost one of his drug labs and dying, most are choosing to die."

"That's stupid!" Chika snarled.

The ex-solider shrugged again. "Which would you rather do -- fight boomers with no heavy weapons of any type, explain to your Oyabun how you managed to loose an entire drug lab to another gang, or try and kill us and regain control of the lab? The worse we can do to them is shoot or frag them. Boomers aren't as considerate, and neither is Sato."

Chika ignore him for the moment. "Galahad Six to Galahad Red Six. What is your location?"

The channel was scratchy and //...three minutes....We have one seriously wounded Knight....four dead among Galahad Blue.//

"Damn interference," she muttered. "Galahad Six to Galahad Black. Can you see Galahad Red and Blue?"

//Negative, Six. Between the smoke and the heat those fires are putting out, I can't get close enough to see anything.//

"Any sign of the Fire department or the ADP?"

//Negative, Six. If I didn't know any better, I'd think they'd taken the night off.//

"Or more likely trying to put out some of the other fires we've started. Stay ready in case we --"

//They're here!// yelled Fuko over the radio in a high-pitched, sing-song voice.

"Black, stand by. All Green members -- open fire!"

Just then, several of the gang members opened fire on the advancing Yakuza. A few fell, but the rest came charging, firing their own weapons from the hip and screaming at the top of their lungs. More of the defender's guns joined the gunfire, and more Yakuza fell.

Until they ran into the line of claymores.

Originally developed and used bu the US Army in the last half of the last century, claymores were anti-personal mines, designed to disrupt an enemy's charge. They were covered under the land mine ban treaty of 2010, but Skeeter Karns was never a signer, and with Doc's help, designed a version that could be useful against boomers. It was this modified design that exploded in the faces of the charging Sleeping Dragon's men.

The attack died right then and there, as did most of the attackers. Chika felt bile rise in her throat as she saw Yakuza turned into unidentifiable lumps a bloody meat. "You fucking assholes," she hissed. "You bloody stupid assholes."

A few, outside the blast range, managed to stumble back to the dubious safety of the warehouses. The sounds of screaming men in agony was almost lost in the sounds of explosions and other sounds of destruction. Chika watched in silence as one or two tried to crawl back to the warehouses.

She felt a hand on her shoulder. "They made their choice," Suyuri said softly. "They chose honor over living."

"A choice to die for some asinine ideals!" Chika snarled back. "For an old man who preys on other's people's weaknesses? Where is the honor in that?"

"Skeeter is much the same way. He expects us to follow him in whatever he decides."

"But Skeeter would NEVER accept us throwing our lives away like that!" She gestured to the carnage outside the window.

"I never said Sato would be happy with what those men out there decided to do." replied the ex-mercenary. "Do you know why I joined up with Skeeter Karns?"

"No."

"I could have gone to work for GENOM, or MALCORP, or even Gulf and Bradley. But Skeeter talked to me one night and promised me something more valuable then money or power."

"What was that?"

"That I could do the jobs he wanted me to do and I could still look at myself in the mirror the next morning. That is a feeling that's better then the feel of money or the taste of power."

Just then, the radio flared to life. //Galahad Six, this is Red One! We're at the edge of the warehouses and are ready to make a run for it. Do you copy?//

"Affirmative, Red One," the dark-haired woman replied, all business again. "What is your status?"

//Red Three is wounded and Galahad Blue has four dead, two wounded. Be advised that we are low on ammo and out of explosives. There are a large number of security guards and GENOM boomers running around here, and we're nearly had it.//

"Understood. Get ready to move out in thirty seconds."

//Right. Red One, Out.//

"Black, this is Six," Chika said. "I want you to start a strafing run across the row of warehouses nearest to the office building on my mark. I don't want anything getting through but our people."

//Understood Six.//

"All units, this is Galahad Six. Galahad Red and Blue are about to join us. Look sharp and don't shoot at anything coming across the area between here and the warehouses unless you're one hundred percent sure of your targets. Galahad Black is about to make a strafing run against the nearest warehouses. We pull back as soon as Red and Blue has joined us. Any questions?" Silence was the only answer. "Galahad Red and Black, stand by to move on my mark."

"I'd better get back to the troops," said Suyuri.

"Is the building ready to blow?"

"Say the word, and it's rubble."

Chika looked at her second in command. "Take charge of the remote detonator. As soon as the tin suits and our people with them have reach us, take them and half the troops and fall back to the factory across the street. As soon as you're in place, call me and I'll lead the other half out of here. Once the last of us have gotten clear, blow it. Don't wait for me to give the order."

"Right. You're expecting trouble?"

The raven-hair woman snorted. "With the way things have gone tonight, you actually have the nerve to ask me that?"

Suyuri shrugged. "Just thought I checked, Boss."

"Get going."

"Right." Like a wraith, Suyuri slipped out the door, and was gone.

Chika turned back towards the battle scene before her. "Galahad Red and Blue, this is Galahad Six, Go! Go! Go!" She waited until she saw figures break free of the burning storehouses before she snapped, "Galahad Black start your strafing run -- now!"

**********

Gulf and Bradley - Japan Headquarters
Sunday, December 23, 2035
5:27am

The rescue team raced back towards the staircase. Both Red Four and his Saber counterpart were running down the corridor to the next intersection, stopping long enough to allow the rest of the team to catch up, then dashing on to the next intersection. The trio carrying the heavy pod were straining from the effort, but they hung on grimly. Trailing behind them were the leaders, who continued to watch all their backs.

After three minutes of tense traveling, Red Four said. //We're around the corner from the stairwell.// From ahead of them he turned and waved back at the rear guard.

"Right," said Knight One crisply. "Red Two, you guys awake?"

//We're wide awake and nervous as Hell. Get your asses over here.//

"Copy that. You all heard the man, let's move."

"Nene," Sylia said crisply over the Saber's private channel. "Go with Red Four and join up with Linna."

"Right!" Red Four and Nene slipped around the corner and out of sight.

"Linna," Sylia said as the team started forward again. "Any problems?"

"No. Are you guys all right?"

"We're fine. I'm calling in the KnightWing right now. Stay alert. We're not out of the woods yet."

"Understood."

"Nene, any signs of Boomers?"

"No," replied the redhead, "but this area of the building is making it difficult to get solid readings."

"Stay with it." Sylia switched over to the KnightWing channel. "Mackie, we have the girl. Get here ASAP."

//We're already on our way in,// Mackie replied. //Priss' been listening in on your conversations and convinced me to start in as soon as you had the girl. Our ETA is two minutes.//

Sylia closed her eyes for a second. Priss can't stand to be out of a fight, she thought. "Be careful. The building is crawling with boomers from both sides."

//Understood. Priss is standing by on the weapon system, ready to kill something.//

"Just make sure she knows what she's shooting at before she fires."

Leon and the others reached the intersection and were met by a couple of Red Two's troopers, who grabbed handles on the pod and hurried the pod and it's cargo out of sight. With only them left in the corridor, both Sylia and Greg dashed for the intersection.

//Don't worry about us,// Priss said, sounding more cheerful then she had a couple of hours ago. //Just don't hang around, Okay?//

"We've no intension of wearing out our welcome. Just don't be late."

//We won't. See you in a couple of minutes."

Just then, Greg turned and fired a laser at something behind them. "We've got company!" he shouted.

Sylia turned, dropped and fired in one smooth motion. One of two BU-12 boomers who had stepped into the corridor at the far end of the hall staggered as both her shots hit it. Before it or the other boomer could react, both leaders had flung themselves into the hallway leading to the stairwell. The rolled to their feet and ran for the staircase, some ten meters down the hall. As they ran, they heard the walls behind them get fractured as several hundred bullets impacted within a span of a couple of heartbeats.

The pod was just going through the door, now carried by all six troopers. Red Two stood by the door, along with Linna and Nene. Sylia noted that Nene's pulse strikers were deployed and ready for action, and she shifted her stance slightly so she could cover the corridor.

"Where are the others?" Greg asked as they dashed up.

"I sent them up to secure the roof," replied Red Two. He waved towards the other Sabers. "I would have sent these two also, but they wanted to wait for their leader."

Just then, the first two boomer came flying around the corner. Before they could fire, Nene fired her pulse strikers. The shot seized the boomers and the pair started convulsing as their internal systems were turned into junk. Before either one could fall, a burst from Red Two's cannon finished the job.

"Yes!" Nene cried in triumph. Linna patted her in the shoulder.

"Very nice," said Knight One. "But I don't think they were the last."

"The rest of you go first." Red Two said. He held up the still smoking, multi-barreled gun that comprised his hardsuit's lower right arm. "I'll take rear guard now."

"Right." Knight One went into the stairwell, followed by the Sabers and raced up the stairs, three at a time. The pod containing Janie was moving rapidly upwards, now a full floor above them. The sounds of multiple footsteps was loud in the confined area of the stairwell.

Sylia turned to Nene and Linna. "Catch up with the capsule and see if you can give them a hand."

"Right!" The two tore up the stairs after the troopers.

"You have a well-trained team," said Greg over their private channel.

"They're more then that. They're my friends."

"Your father would be proud of you."

"Maybe." Sylia looked at her counterpart. "But this isn't the time or place to discuss this. We've got an evacuation to lead."

Knight One stepped aside and waved a hand. "Ladies first."

With the assistance of the two Knight Sabers, the pod was being moved quickly up the stairs. The two leaders followed at a slightly slower pace, not wanting to crowd the rest of the team.

The pod had gone up four stories, and the leaders three when the combat boomers started their attack

//Here they come!// Red Two backed into the stairwell, firing a couple of bursts down the hallway at unseen targets as he did so. He pulled out a small gray block out of a belt pouch and slapped on the wall next to the hall door. "Fire in the hole!" he yelled.

"How long?" Greg shouted back.

"Thirty seconds!"

"What did he do?" asked Linna.

"You'll find out in about thirty seconds! Stop talking and start running!" Knight One took his own advice and increased his pace, White Saber right behind him. The troopers who had given up their spot on the pod grabbed it again and increased the pace.

They managed to gain another floor before they heard the door below them crumple under a barrage of bullets. There was the sound a door being violently slammed open above them, and someone shouted over the common channel, //We've made it to the roof!//

Sylia and Greg were now running up the stairs as fast as they could, with Red Two right behind them. Just then, something crashed through the door below them, and Sylia though she saw a flash of tan and brown several landings beneath her.

"Five seconds!" Red Two shouted. They were still half a floor away from the door leading to the roof. All three took the last flight of stairs in two strides.

"Clear the doorway!" Greg roared just as the demolitions pack Red Two had left went off. Sylia felt herself go airborne as the force of the explosion threw her and the others through the open door. She went limp just before she hit the roof, allowing herself to roll and tumble to take the force of impact out of the fall. She got to her feet quickly, her mind quickly placing everyone's location on the roof.

Both Knight One and Red Two had landed close by, but not as smoothly as Sylia. The other Black Knights were running to aid their team members, while Nene and Linna ran towards Sylia. Leon and a couple of the other MALCORP troopers were carefully watching the smoke filled stairwell, just in case the boomers hadn't been destroyed in the explosion. The other black-clad troopers were standing by the capsule and it's critically injured cargo some distance away from the stairwell.

"Are you all right?' asked Nene.

"I'm fine," Sylia assured her. "Is the pod all right?"

"No problems," Linna assured her.

Red Two got up slowly, shaking his head. "I'm getting too old for this shit," he muttered.

"We're all getting too old for this shit," Greg replied, sitting up. "Everyone all right?"

"Now I know how a champaign cork feels," growled Red Two.

"I'll take that as a 'yes'." He looked over at Sylia. "Are you okay?"

"I'm fine."

Knight One got up. "Defensive positions!" he said in a command voice. The MALCORP troopers and Black Knights started moving into a loose circle around the capsule. Leon stayed close to the stairwell.

//We're coming in now!// said Mackie. //Our ETA is thirty seconds!//

//Boomers on the way up!// Leon shouted over the common channel. He dove out of the way as a pair of BU-12s came charging out of the smoke-filled stairwell.

The defenders were a bit slow to react, which gave the boomers a few precious seconds to analyze and start maneuvering. A quick burst from the boomers' machine guns sent both Red Three and Four twisting away to escape. Sparks from the return fire pitted the boomer's armor, but the boomers were still intact. One of the MALCORP troopers grunted and collapsed as shrapnel struck him in the thighs and knees.

Until the Knight Sabers and Black Knights moved into action

Linna went for one, while Sylia move in after the other. Even as she started in, Sylia saw Greg charge in after the same boomer she was going after, while Red Three somersaulted her way towards Linna's target. The other two Knights moved to place themselves between the battle and the capsule, while Nene hung back, her ECM system running full blast.

Sylia tucked and rolled towards the boomer, as the combat machine tried to decide which one of the two targets attacking it was the most dangerous. It took in the size, distance, and possibilities into its calculations. After a few milliseconds of processing time, it decided that the Black Knight was the more dangerous of the two.

It decided wrong.

As the boomer fired at Greg, Sylia came out of her roll and fired both lasers as she dove forward. Both shots struck low, hitting the boomers in the legs. The boomer staggered, sending its fire wide of the black-and-gold hardsuit. Revising its calculations, the boomer abandoned its previous decision and turned towards the rapidly approaching White Saber.

Greg fired his laser and gauss needler, then launched himself in a high arching attack. The laser slammed into the BU-12's shoulder, while the steel bolts struck deep into its exposed neck. The boomer fired a short burst, but Sylia had tucked herself in a tight roll and when she came out of it, she was inside the boomer's arc of fire. The twin laserswords snapped out and buried themselves in the boomer's middle. A heartbeat later, Greg's own vibrosword punched through the top of the boomers head and out through the neck. With a spray of yellow fluid, the boomer started dying.

Sylia withdrew the laserswords, and sliced the boomer's machine gun in half. Pushing off the boomer's shoulder with his free hand, Greg finished his somersault over the dying cyberdroid, twisted in the air and landed a couple of meters away from the boomer. Sylia dove clear just as the boomer toppled over with a loud crash.

The second boomer fell nearly as fast as the first, only in several more pieces. Both Linna and Red Three watched as several explosion wracked the dismember boomer as it fell apart.

The sound of jet engines overhead made everyone on the roof look up. A dark shape dropped out of the dark sky towards them. As it got closer, several streams of tracers from the ground flash by the aircraft, but the craft was coming down too fast for the boomers to lock onto it. As illumination from the roof lights struck the descending craft, the dark sleek form of the KnightWing was identifiable.

Fifty meters from the roof, the sound of the KnightWing's engines became more high pitched as Mackie applied more power to them. The aircraft slowed quickly and landed on the roof slightly harder then if it had been a normal landing, even as the wheels bounced on the roof's surface, the rear ramp was opening. As soon as the craft settled, and the ramp came down, a blur of blue dove out of the KnightWing onto the roof and rolled to her feet.

"Hey, guys!" Priss said over the Saber's private channel, waving at the rest of her team. "Time to leave!"

"I thought I told you to stay on the craft," Sylia said cooly.

"You can yell at me later," the blue hardsuit replied, running towards them. "Mackie picked up several boomers climbing the side of this building, and he thinks we're going to be hip deep in them in a couple of minutes."

The Pod was being hauled towards the KnightWing by four troopers and Red Three and Four. Red Two and Leon was covering them, while Knight One was carrying the wounded MALCORP trooper. There was no shouted commands, no need for orders to be issued.

"Let's get out of here," Sylia said.

They started for the KnightWing, but they had only managed to reach the base of the aircraft's ramp when the next wave of boomers appeared.

A trio of dull black BU-55C leapt over the lip of the roof at the opposite end of the building and charged towards the invaders. Even as they ran towards the KnightWing, another pair of tan-and-brown BU-12's came blasting out of the smoke-filled stairwell.

"Get the pod onboard!" Sylia shouted turning and firing her lasers at the 55C. Her beams slammed into an invisible wall just short of the lead boomer. "They've got force shields!"

Two of the troopers, Leon, Priss, and three of the Black Knights also opened fire on both sets of boomers, lighting up the rooftop with lasers and muzzle flashes. Linna, Nene, and the two other uninjured troopers half carried, half dragged the pod up the ramp into the cargo bay, while Knight One paused only long enough to carry the injured trooper up the ramp before he returned and added his fire. Mackie, unable to target the Gulf and Bradley boomers, activated the aircraft's laser turret and sent a stream of lasers at the two BU-12s, who dodged them. The wind and noise from the engines almost drowned out the sounds of battle.

The boomers themselves found themselves facing an unusual tactical situation - the BU-12s were GENOM's, while the 55Cs were the only survivors of Bradley's special boomer strike force. Both sets of Boomers analyzed the two different groups of opponents, weighed the factors according to their programming, and decided in several microseconds that the other group of boomers were the bigger threat.

The 55Cs angled their charge so they were charging the 12s. The combat boomers responded by altering their fire to sweep across the 55C's arc and informed other GENOM boomers nearby of their situation. Several more GENOM boomers, including one of the anti-tank models, moved to assist the BU-12 on the roof.

"Let's move!" Knight One shouted. "All unarmored personnel, get into the craft!" The MALCORP troopers broke of their firing and dashed onboard, Leon kneeling on the ramp and continued firing at any target he could see. Mackie stopped firing the laser turret and concentrating on getting ready to lift off.

"Red Three and four, You're next!" The two Knights charged up the ramp and disappeared inside.

Sylia said, "Priss, you're next!" over the Saber's channel. The singer, realizing that this wasn't the time for arguing, ran up the ramp, stopping only long enough to grab a surprised Leon and dragging him inside by his tacvest collar.

"Let's move!" Knight One shouted, and the last three members of the team dashed up the ramp, Sylia making sure she was the last one up.

Halfway up, Sylia shouted over her radio, "Mackie, take us out of here!"

The KnightWing began to rise, and Sylia could feel the ramp rising, closing even as she was still running up it. She reached the flight deck just as the ramp finished closing. "Everyone!" Mackie was shouting, "Hang on tight!" The aircraft banked sharply to the right and suddenly accelerated, sending anything not firmly secured bouncing around the deck.

"I'm receiving ground fire!" Mackie yelled.

"I'm on it!" Nene called out from her position at the EW board. "I'm maxing out ECM and stealth systems."

"Priss," said Sylia over her radio. "Get up front and help Mackie. Nene, stay on top of the ECM. Some of GENOM's boomers are armed with ground-to-air missiles, and I don't want to take any chances this late. Linna, see if you can help Leon with the wounded trooper."

The Sabers moved off to their tasks. Knight One looked at his Saber counterpart. "I hope we've pulled this off," he said.

"So do I," replied Sylia softly "So do I."

**********

Outside Gulf and Bradley - Japan Headquarters
Sunday, December 23, 2035
5:30am

"What the hell is going on?" were the first words out of Ko's mouth when he was escorted into Daley's and Jeena's presence. His escort, one of the Black Knights, stepped back into the shadows and was gone.

The battle around the Gulf and Bradley building was winding down, most of the combat that was left visible only a small explosions and sporadic laser and cannon fire, and most of that was inside the building itself. The area surrounding the building was a field of shattered concrete, twisted metal, and broken bodies, both boomer and human. A few GENOM combat boomers patrolled the wasteland, looking for any survivors, and preventing either escape or rescue for the surviving Gulf and Bradley forces. Once in a while, one or two Black Knight would come out of the surrounding darkness, fire their weapons at the patrolling boomers, then retreat before more then a single boomer could respond to the attack.

Jeena barely gave the young Inspector a glance. "Do you have any idea when your people are going to get here?" she asked Daley.

"Lars said he'd tried to be here in fifteen minutes," Daley replied.

"You got through?" Ko asked him.

The redheaded Inspector nodded grimly. "Jeena was kind enough to let me use her phone."

"What's she doing here?"

The one-armed woman allowed a smile to cross her face. "What would you say if I told you I had a bad case of insomnia?"

Ko gave her a distrusting look, but before he could say anything, Daley said, "Looks like those shielded boomers didn't fare too well against Quincy's combat boomers."

"With the amount of firepower those babies were putting out, Mount Fuji wouldn't have lasted long."

"So what are we going to do?" Ko asked again, feeling like he was missing something.

"Until Lars and his people show up, we can't do shit."

Jeena focused her binoculars on the Gulf and Bradley building. "Looks like we have some action on the roof." An explosion and flash on the cover of the said building gave her words some credence.

"What's going on up there?' Ko asked, trying to see something in the darkness.

"You expect me to know?" Daley replied.

"Now, now children," Jeena said, not looking away from her observations. "It looks like the main event has moved to the roof."

For several more seconds, there was the sounds of battle, then it stopped as suddenly as it had started. After several seconds, an aircraft dropped out of the darkness above the roof and disappeared from the trio's view, apparently landing on one of the helicopter pads located on the roof. They could hear the engines though, a low scream that almost lost in the background.

"What the hell is that?" Ko asked.

"Looks like the KnightWing," Daley said.

"The Knight Sabers are involved in this?" asked the younger man.

"Of course they're involved," said Jeena easily. "MALCORP hired them as 'native guides' and extra support for this mission."

"What the hell is going on?" Ko demanded. "How many laws are being violated --"

"Ko," said Daley mildly. "Shut up for the time being and I'll explain everything later. I believe Jeena when she told me that this is a rescue mission, and Gulf and Bradley are responsible for most of the mayhem that's occurred in the last three days." Daley gave his temporary partner a stern look. "I will explain everything later."

"All Knights," said Jeena into her radio, ignoring the disagreement between the two ADP officers. "This is the One Armed Bandit. "We've got action on the G and B rooftop. Does anyone have a sight line on what's going on up there?"

"Something's moving near the entrance of the building," Ko said, his need to find out what was going on less pressing then what was happening around them.

Three humanoid shapes separated themselves from the darkness dashed across a short expanse of rubble-strewn street, and reached the base of the G and B building. Once they reached the base, they started to climb the side of the building. They swarmed up the side of the building like ants, reaching the roof quicker then any human could have. They climbed over the wall surrounding the rooftop, and in a couple of heartbeats, a intense firefight started.

"It's our rescue team on the roof," said Jeena to the ADP officers. "They're under attack from both GENOM and Gulf and Bradley boomers."

"Isn't there anything you can do?" asked Daley.

"The Knights' hardsuits are good, but they're not good enough to take on AT boomers and their firepower. We've been trying to draw them off, but they've been programmed to stick close to the building. We can't rush them, even with the Rattlesnakes in support."

"So we wait?"

"Only thing we can do. By the time we could move in to help them, the fight will be over, one way or another. The team has more then enough firepower to take on most boomers." Daley thought he heard her say under her breath, "I hope," but he didn't have time to ask her before the whine of the KnightWing's engines picking up speed became louder. Several small explosions on the roof added somewhat to the noise level, then a black shape shot into the air. Several of the boomers on the ground, turned towards the ascending craft and opened fire, sending tracers and missiles after it.

"Rattlesnakes Two and Three!" Jeena snapped into her radio. "I need a strafing run against the boomers on the ground, Now!"

The KnightWing stopped climbing and banked hard to the right, the engines becoming even more high pitched as the pilot accelerated. The boomers shifted fire, trying to anticipate their target's actions, but the craft darted right, then left. There was now half a dozen boomers firing at the escaping craft, the streams of machine gun firing just missing the aircraft, while the missiles, evidently affected by strong ECM, twisted and randomly went off in different directions. Several slammed into nearby buildings, adding to the surrounding damage. The three spectators had to duck as a missile slammed into the far side of building they was standing next to. More smoke rase into the air from the new fires and the old ones.

Two more aircraft came out of the darkness and fired several salvos into the boomers on the ground. The land erupted as torrents of fire, concrete, and others fragments added another layer of destruction to the already battle scarred terrain. Several of the boomers were staggered, and a couple were even destroyed. The Rattlesnakes held formation long enough to shoot across through the billowing smoke before peeling off and out of sight behind some buildings.

Jeena was listening to her radio. As she listen, a grin broke on his face. Like a striking cobra, she reached out and grabbed Ko. Before he could protest, she'd spun him around, grabbed him by the front of his shirt, pulled him close and kissed him. After a few seconds of struggling, Ko finally gave in.

"Good news, I hope?" asked Daley blandly, but his expression was one of amusement.

Jeena released Ko, who stumbled back with a stunned looked on his face. "You might say that," she said, her grin even larger. "The Knights rescued Janie and got away clean. The mission is over."

"You're pulling out?" Daley asked.

"Yep. I suspect that GENOM will be doing the same, as soon as they figure it out. They don't want to get out there's combat boomers in the city, so they'll clear out as soon as your people show up."

"That's a comfort."

The faint sounds of sirens could be heard in the lightening dawn. Jeena glanced in the direction. "That sounds like our cue to scatter. Daley, call me in about a week and we can discuss everything over a beer or two -- you're buying." She turned to look at Ko, her smile feral. "You on the other hand...." She pulled out a business card and handed it to him. "You have three days to call me," she said, stroking Ko's cheek. "If you don't, I'll come looking for you...." She chuckled deeply at Ko expression. "Relax, I don't bite...much." All Ko could mange was something like a strangled moan. Still smiling, Jeena climbed into the van and drove off.

Seeing Ko's slightly stunned, Daley leaned in. "Are you married?" he asked softly.

"N-No," the young man managed to get out.

"Engaged?"

"No."

"Then a word of advice. Do not wait three days to call her. The sooner you call her, the sooner it will be over."

"Er...."

"Trust me on this. I've known her for years, and when she takes an interest in someone, she doesn't relent until she's satisfied."

"Um...."

The sirens were getting closer now. Daley slapped Ko on the back. "Snap out of it!' he said loudly, startling the younger man. "We have a mess to clean up. So let's get back to reality."

"Right," Ko replied weakly.

"See if you can contact Lars now. He should be close enough."

"Right!" This time, the voice was stronger, more assertive. Daley steeped away as Ko called Lars and started directing the incoming ADP force into position.

The battlezone was a mass of wreckage, bodies, fire and smoke. It looks like the only winners tonight were death and devastation, Daley thought. On a sudden impulse, he turned to look in the slowly fading night sky where the KnightWing had disappeared. Well, maybe not the only winners....

**********