Here's a piece from Dartz and me mainly about her character Jet just arriving to help deal with the robberies.
Main thread - http://drunkardswalkforums.yuku.com/topic/7461
=====================================================================
Day 1
Blue Grass Airport
Lexington, Kentucky
Sheriff
Deputy Ruth waited with a sign just beyond the airport check points for
her charge to show up. Being a small airport made it a good place to
pick up the fen coming to help deal with these robberies. No DHS to
speak of...in theory at least. A blacksuit was heading straight for the
arrivals area. She swore as she recognised him. How the hell did they
know the fen was coming here? She growled to herself, she wasn't going
to make it through the checkpoints before they got to the fen.
Agent
Smith wasn't a happy man, he hated the fen. While he followed the book
it didn't stop him from taking any opportunity to be a total asswipe to
any fen coming down. He maintained contacts within the airport system
so he could intercept fen trying to squeeze into the country through
some of the smaller airports.
"I'm saying... it doesn't come off," A voice, mildly annoyed, and almost femine. "It's not armour, it a part of me,"
Ruth's
first impression was of a tall woman, clad in pearlescent white armour.
She carried a helmet under one arm, and what at first seemed to be a
backpack with a pair of wings folded into it. A few moments later, it
became clear to her that the backpack was a part of the armour.
She had red hair, fair skin, and strange ears. Where they covered in latex?
"It's
still gotta be declared ma'am," The fen ‘agent' winced at that. "And
tested and confirmed that it won't contaminate to local ecosystem,"
Agent Smith, doing his job by the book. As usual, he was being a
stickler for procedure. " And your helmet. Also the Pistol and the
handwavium in your pouch will have to be turned over."
"That wave's medicinal. I need that to not die if something goes wrong with my mechparts,"
"Well," sighed Smith, "It's also illegal down here. Are there any other contraband items you're carrying,"
The armoured woman just rolled her eyes, and turned out the contents of the pouch. Ruth couldn't see what fell onto the tray.
"Just that. Identification, some money, a datapad, the keys to my apartment on Genaros, and the ammunition for my sidearm,"
Smith's eyes narrowed as he inspected the bullets. ".357 Magnum Cop Killers?"
"Fen
pressure helmets are armoured. Jesus man, you ask me to come down here
and then you give me the third bloody degree. I have all your poxy
permits!" Her anger flared.
"We
still have to make sure. Now, about that iPhone you say you have inside
you. Are there any illicit copyrighted materials stored on it?"
Ruth'd
had enough, "Excuse me Agent Smith, do you wish to be arrested for
interfering with a police investigation?" The Agent sputtered in shock,
"What!?" She pointed at the armoured woman, "That is why she's here,
she is helping us with a investigating into the robberies," Having put
a hand on her weapon, "So I ask you again, do you wish to be arrested?"
The armoured woman turned and seemed to blink. She glanced between the agent and the cop.
"What's going on here?"
Agent
Smith is still sputtering while the other one is smirking. Not often
you get to see someone burn out a brain clutch. Ruth scooped up the
tray and signaled for the armoured woman to follow her. "Lets go."
The armoured woman gave her a quizzical look. "I'm a little caught short here. You are?"
The
woman leaned over slight and whispered, "I'm Deputy Ruth, that hollow
suit would have tied you up in red tape as long as he could. Come on
lets get out of here before his brain unlocks."
"Thanks," smiled the woman, offering a handshake "I'm Jet Jaguar, Operation Great Justice,"
Ruth
shook the offered hand and returned the tray with her free one. "I've
got a basic briefing in the car for you. You've may have seen the
video, but we have better pictures from a early morning bird watcher."
She said, leading Jet out of the airport and to a police van.
Outside,
Jet looked around, a little surprised at how small the airport actually
was. Only a few commuters and business travellers were in the main
terminal, some waiting by the baggage claim. The carpark was little
bigger than a small shopping centre back home. A bigger surprise, it
was mostly farmland around the airport, nothing more. A twin engined
turboprop droned overhead, banking off to the North. Jet envied it for
a moment, feeling her folded wings on her back.
"First time in America?" queried Ruth,
"Yeah," said Jet, looking a little uneasy. "I though DHS handled this sort of thing. That git scared the hell out of me,"
Ruth couldn't quite place Jet's accent. European?
"Oh he's like that,"
"Fen-hater?" asked Jet, "Are you sure it's okay I have this pistol? I'm not going to get arrested for it?"
Ruth
opened the side door on an anonymous yellow van for Jet. "As long as
you don't wave it around in people's faces I'm not going to say
anything." The inside of the van was setup for covert surveillance with
a seat in the back, a small desk for gear and a brace of old Pentium II
PC's. Most of it seemed to be little used.
Ruth
climbed into the driver's seat, "And yea, fen-hater, by the book
fen-hater. He'd have used all the rules he could to tie you up as long
as possible."
"Thanks
for the rescue then," Jet looked at the passenger's seat, and felt a
little uncomfortable all over again. How long ago was it that she'd
been in a car? "And yourself?"
"I
think you guys call it fendane, I have friends that have gone up." Ruth
pointed to a rack holding a folder. "The pictures are in there." She
started up the van and pulled out of the airport carefully.
"Right,
right," Jet opened the window, reading the contents of the folder as
Ruth drove. "Why didn't you go up yourself, if you don't mind me
asking?"
Inside,
there were pictures of the destroyed banks, reduced to rubble as if
someone'd taken a wrecking ball to them, followed by six specially
marked photographs. The first two, blurred and barely in focus, the
third zoomed in far too close and the final three, a quadruped that
looked almost like a giant bus-sized cat.
"Most
of my family lives in this area." She glanced over at Jet, "That set
of the mech thing where taken in the early morning by a bird watcher
about a week before the first robbery."
"That's big..."
"Yea,
has the governor really worried. We're not sure what it is besides a
mech of some sort. You can scan ‘em and send them off, maybe someone
upstairs'd know."
Jet thought. "Might be another transformer. You know Wave Convoy you do?"
Ruth
merged with traffic on the highway towards Frenchburg, "I've heard of
him, but don't know that much about him. I'm taking you to the first
robbery site, less people about, but they've not started clean up yet."
The
traffic was achingly slow. Jet checked her own GPS, and noted they were
doing near 123kph. It felt like they were crawling along.
"Right,"
nodded the cyborg, "Can I get some rest actually. I've come a long way
and I need to recharge the batteries," she smirked.
"Yea I know a small place near Frenchburg, they won't ask questions. Family owned, one of their sons went up two years ago."
"Thanks.
If I can get a good wave connection, I'll post this stuff back to Hotel
Quebec, and see what they make of it. It's a bloody big thing whatever
it is."
"They
might, I know they stay in touch with their son, but not how. We leave
them alone and try not to draw attention to them." said Ruth, "The
folder also contains info on the vaults. They where brute forced out of
the foundation and taken in one piece."
Jet sat, half stunned for a moment.
"...what?... wow. That's a lot of power."
Tonnes of steel and concrete lifted away in one piece. Whatever else it is, it's not short on strength.
"I
don't know if you've seen the youtube video yet. That's what forced the
governor's hand into asking for help. He doesn't want a panic on his
hands or it being set loose on a city. The damage from just trying to
stop it would be costly." Ruth glanced at Jet again. "We're not sure
how the vehicles working with the mech are avoiding radar even when
they are flying."
"I've
seen it," nodded Jet. "They fly it in? That must be at least a hundred
tonnes on it's own." A thought "If they stay below about thirty metres,
they'll be hard to spot on civil radar, especially behind mountains. I
used to do the same myself back home."
"We're
not sure on the fly part. The pictures from the bird watcher where
taken in less then ten seconds. It, according to him, was going really
fast. We've also become aware of cellphone disruptions in the areas
near the banks on the night of the attacks." She paused to check
traffic before changing lanes. "That weird flatbed might have something
to do with it. I swear it looks familiar, but I can't place it."
"The flying lorry with that U-shaped yoke on it?"
"Yea, just can't place it. Think it might be from a game."
"Computer Game?"
Jet
scanned for a mobile tower nearby, trying to hook up to a 3G internet
provider. She grimaced... nothing at all useable. Ruth could see a
stray lock of hair angling around like a searching antenna, apparently
under the cyborg's control.
"Which
one I can't recall, but I definitely seen it somewhere," Ruth tried to
ignore the hair with a life of it's own and keep her eyes on the road.
"Someone
upstairs'll have seen it if it is." She sighed. "Reception out here is
crap in anyways, but can you track the disruptions with the mobile
phones, tell which towers are being affected? If we can do that, we
might be able to tell where they're coming from... or going."
"Well
it's more like the signal is running into a wall. Sudden zero
connectivity according to the techs we've interviewed. The hills and
such in the area don't help ether so connectivity has never been good."
"And no footprints because they're flying it, right?".... a pause... "Clever buggers."
"We've
tried to track them, but they end about a mile from each robbery in a
empty field. We have found marks that look like something landed in the
area. Haven't done over flights of the area near Mountain Valley where
those pictures from the bird watcher where taken."
"I'll
do that after I've had some rest. Before I went up, I used to film
high-speed flights and post them on the web. I can hit Mach 1 if I have
to," bragged the cyborg. "They won't spot me unless they're lucky,"
"Just don't go around shattering people's windows with the boom." Commented Ruth
"Don't worry, that's just a myth," smiled Jet knowingly. "And going that fast gets too hot too quick anyway,"
Ruth chuckled, "Alright, still be careful of flying over people's houses. They may take potshots at you."
Jet blinked, "Really?"
"Yep,
mainly as you head up into the mountains, the area is pretty divided
about the fen. Some will wave, others will just go get their guns."
A shudder. "That's unsettling." she glanced out the window, "Is this it?"
With
a nod Ruth pulled the van into the small parking lot. A rain-stained
ten-foot satellite dish sat just at the edge of the woods, seeming odd
to Jet for a moment. "Yep, the Little Watch Inn."
It
was a small motel, single storied with a flat roof. Jet counted ten
rooms or so, and a reception office. It seemed old, like the dish, but
still well kept. The grass was cut, and the paint seemed clean if not
fresh.
"I'll
see you tomorrow morning I guess." said Jet, yawning slightly, "Oh...
by the way. If anyone calls and says you're on the global frequency...
they're not nuts. Listen to them, they're here to help."
"I know." Ruth just smiled.
"I see. They normally get involved in this sort of thing. Anyway, we'll see tomorrow. And try get an idea whose behind this."
Ruth nodded, "Keep the folder too in case you can get a connection to up there."
"Right so. See you tomorrow,"
================================================================
The
owner, Janet Fokker, was a middle-aged woman, short and greying
slightly. The shock on the her face when she saw Jet made made the
cyber laugh nervously. A quick explanation from Ruth however earned her
a discount rate. Jet noticed a small photograph on the table of someone
in a dark military uniform. A heart-shaped medal was displayed beside
it, with a collection box ‘For our troops overseas'.
Jet drew the obvious conclusion and kept quiet about it.
"Well
we used to have a working interwave connection," said the owner, "Using
the old satellite outside. It's been on the blink since August. If you
can get it going I'll give you the network key,"
"Shouldn't
be hard," said Jet. "Nodes get shuffled around from time to time. Maybe
your satellite's looking for one that isn't there anymore."
That was the simple explanation.
"I been so worried about my son Roy, since SerenityCon," the owner said. "Last message I got was in July said he was going,"
Jet looked concerned for a moment.
"You know his faction?"
"I think a...'gearhead'." she wasn't sure if that was the right word. "He was a pilot of something he called a VF-1."
"Right... I saw a few of those." Get shot down, Jet didn't add. "I'll check up when I get online,"
"Thanks,"
"One
more thing," said Jet, putting a finger to her lips. "If you get any
phone calls saying you're on the global frequency, don't ignore them,
it's going to be important,"
"Uh... yeah," the woman blinked. It must be come fen-code, she guessed.
Jet's
room was small... having little more than a bed, a chair, TV, phone,
and shower. Of course everything was bolted down besides the remote and
that was a cheap easy to replace model.
She
stored her pistol,ammunition and the pouch containing most of her
equipment in an empty drawer, she set about fixing the dish. The
hardest thing about that was the forty questions from the two kids.
"Are you a robot ma'am,"
"Cyborg"
"Like the Terminator?"
"The opposite"
"So you're metal on the outside, skin on the inside,"
"Sorta,"
And so on. Jet had to swallow her anger, telling herself over and over again that they were just curious kids.
"What's it like to fly?" the youngest questioned.
"Ever jump off a tall building," Jet snarked back.
"No..."
"Maybe you should try it," she smirked.
"No...
my mom'd kill me," said the kid. Jet honestly couldn't tell if they
were a boy or a girl. Clothes gave no hint. Even the name Alex was
androgynous. She shrugged and carried on. It looked more like the dish
had just gotten knocked out of alignment a little, losing the satellite
node it had been aimed at. Half asleep, and with her onboard power
cells deep in the red, she allowed herself a satisfied smile as the
signal bar crept up.
Then
followed it with a deep breath of real air. The smell of cut grass
lingered in her nostrils for a few moments, before she turned back to
her room. Dusk was settling in, and the L5 stations where rising. The
bright star of Grovers Corners was beginning to drop below the horizon,
while Kandor city sparked on the rising moon's surface.
A
few fenships scooted overhead, seeming to chase each other across to
L5. She picked out her home, Genaros, with her own navigation software.
It
felt strange to be looking up at the sky again. Not unpleasant... just
a little bit weird to be pounding ground again. American cars looked
funny too.
It
was strange that she was sent, however. Weren't earthbound issues
normally handled by the BBI? Maybe they were why she was sent? It
wasn't the first time they'd made specific requests for people from the
PKG if it was. Maybe they'dve been better served by the new Patrol?
Make one Tiger run on one base, and suddenly you're James Bond. At least for a first mission, it seemed to be an easy one.
After
scanning and sending off those photographs, she checked for Roy the
VF-1 pilot. He wasn't hard to find. She smiled, saving the good news
for the next morning. Leaving the bed alone, Jet sat down in the old
chair, and went to sleep sitting bolt upright.
----->>
>> MIME encode complete.
>> Message length within key.
>> OTP connection establish.
>> Server Key authenticates.
>> Request HashPad d3841adcd395fc4fff47f075a7ccb49e
>> HashPad d3841adcd395fc4fff47f075a7ccb49e Server Accept.
>> Enciphering message.
>> Transmitting message.
>> Server acknowledges sane message received.
>> HashPad d3841adcd395fc4fff47f075a7ccb49e delete.
>>From:Juliette2@grunthall.fen
>>To: alitagally@grunthall.fen
>>Subject: Kentucky Cat
>>I'm
onsite. Local reaction was mixed, but better than expected. DHS were
their usual >>welcoming selves. My local law enforcement contact
seems to be BBI, or at least aware of >>them. It would surprise
me if they weren't involved in this already tbh. Normally it's them
that >>handles these things, isn't it.
>>I've
attaching photographs of the mech used in the robberies. I don't
recognise it myself. Can >>you get this identified? My first
thought was that it was a transformer of some sort, like Wave
>>Convoy, but something this big's got to be something else. It's
twice the size of a Dublin bus, >>and at least a hundred tons in
mass.
>>They're
flying it in to the banks, letting it do it's dirty work, then lifting
the vaults out holesale >>using a waved tow truck, and a pair of
works vans. There's disruption of the mobile network, >>that
seems to be caused by a waved lorry with a strange device on the
flatbed. Local law >>seems to recognise the lorry. It may be from
a computer game. It's not one I know offhand
>>I've attached some pictures run through CSIEnhance. They're poor, but you can make out >>most of it.
>>The
Cat runs away about a mile or so, to an open field, where it appears
they pick it up too. >>None of this shows up on radar. A hundred
ton cat-mech, and a truck capable of lifting a bank's >>vault in
one piece... whoever they are, they know what they're doing. Or stole
it from some who >>did.
>>Will
be making overflights of the area tomorrow. Take some pctures, see if I
can find anything >>out of the ordinary. I'll try find a thermal
camera aswell. A hundred tons of mech can't be that >>easy to
hide?
>>With
a bit of luck, local law can bring them in when we find them. We'll
find out who they're >>working for, and where this money's going.
To early to jump to conclusions about them >>funnelling it all to
the Boskonians, they could just be Turnerites, or some locals who got
their >>hands on some cool toys.
>>-JJ
----->>
Digital
one-use cipher, it couldn't beaten. Jet had two terabytes worth of it.
Should an agent be compromised, their entire key could be
de-authorised, ensuring that it could never be used again. The only
problem was the raw computing power needed to keep track of keys, but
in Fenspace, computing power wasn't an issue.
=====================================================================
_______________________________________________________________
Characters
Sabre Fang
Dakota
Main thread - http://drunkardswalkforums.yuku.com/topic/7461
=====================================================================
Day 1
Blue Grass Airport
Lexington, Kentucky
Sheriff
Deputy Ruth waited with a sign just beyond the airport check points for
her charge to show up. Being a small airport made it a good place to
pick up the fen coming to help deal with these robberies. No DHS to
speak of...in theory at least. A blacksuit was heading straight for the
arrivals area. She swore as she recognised him. How the hell did they
know the fen was coming here? She growled to herself, she wasn't going
to make it through the checkpoints before they got to the fen.
Agent
Smith wasn't a happy man, he hated the fen. While he followed the book
it didn't stop him from taking any opportunity to be a total asswipe to
any fen coming down. He maintained contacts within the airport system
so he could intercept fen trying to squeeze into the country through
some of the smaller airports.
"I'm saying... it doesn't come off," A voice, mildly annoyed, and almost femine. "It's not armour, it a part of me,"
Ruth's
first impression was of a tall woman, clad in pearlescent white armour.
She carried a helmet under one arm, and what at first seemed to be a
backpack with a pair of wings folded into it. A few moments later, it
became clear to her that the backpack was a part of the armour.
She had red hair, fair skin, and strange ears. Where they covered in latex?
"It's
still gotta be declared ma'am," The fen ‘agent' winced at that. "And
tested and confirmed that it won't contaminate to local ecosystem,"
Agent Smith, doing his job by the book. As usual, he was being a
stickler for procedure. " And your helmet. Also the Pistol and the
handwavium in your pouch will have to be turned over."
"That wave's medicinal. I need that to not die if something goes wrong with my mechparts,"
"Well," sighed Smith, "It's also illegal down here. Are there any other contraband items you're carrying,"
The armoured woman just rolled her eyes, and turned out the contents of the pouch. Ruth couldn't see what fell onto the tray.
"Just that. Identification, some money, a datapad, the keys to my apartment on Genaros, and the ammunition for my sidearm,"
Smith's eyes narrowed as he inspected the bullets. ".357 Magnum Cop Killers?"
"Fen
pressure helmets are armoured. Jesus man, you ask me to come down here
and then you give me the third bloody degree. I have all your poxy
permits!" Her anger flared.
"We
still have to make sure. Now, about that iPhone you say you have inside
you. Are there any illicit copyrighted materials stored on it?"
Ruth'd
had enough, "Excuse me Agent Smith, do you wish to be arrested for
interfering with a police investigation?" The Agent sputtered in shock,
"What!?" She pointed at the armoured woman, "That is why she's here,
she is helping us with a investigating into the robberies," Having put
a hand on her weapon, "So I ask you again, do you wish to be arrested?"
The armoured woman turned and seemed to blink. She glanced between the agent and the cop.
"What's going on here?"
Agent
Smith is still sputtering while the other one is smirking. Not often
you get to see someone burn out a brain clutch. Ruth scooped up the
tray and signaled for the armoured woman to follow her. "Lets go."
The armoured woman gave her a quizzical look. "I'm a little caught short here. You are?"
The
woman leaned over slight and whispered, "I'm Deputy Ruth, that hollow
suit would have tied you up in red tape as long as he could. Come on
lets get out of here before his brain unlocks."
"Thanks," smiled the woman, offering a handshake "I'm Jet Jaguar, Operation Great Justice,"
Ruth
shook the offered hand and returned the tray with her free one. "I've
got a basic briefing in the car for you. You've may have seen the
video, but we have better pictures from a early morning bird watcher."
She said, leading Jet out of the airport and to a police van.
Outside,
Jet looked around, a little surprised at how small the airport actually
was. Only a few commuters and business travellers were in the main
terminal, some waiting by the baggage claim. The carpark was little
bigger than a small shopping centre back home. A bigger surprise, it
was mostly farmland around the airport, nothing more. A twin engined
turboprop droned overhead, banking off to the North. Jet envied it for
a moment, feeling her folded wings on her back.
"First time in America?" queried Ruth,
"Yeah," said Jet, looking a little uneasy. "I though DHS handled this sort of thing. That git scared the hell out of me,"
Ruth couldn't quite place Jet's accent. European?
"Oh he's like that,"
"Fen-hater?" asked Jet, "Are you sure it's okay I have this pistol? I'm not going to get arrested for it?"
Ruth
opened the side door on an anonymous yellow van for Jet. "As long as
you don't wave it around in people's faces I'm not going to say
anything." The inside of the van was setup for covert surveillance with
a seat in the back, a small desk for gear and a brace of old Pentium II
PC's. Most of it seemed to be little used.
Ruth
climbed into the driver's seat, "And yea, fen-hater, by the book
fen-hater. He'd have used all the rules he could to tie you up as long
as possible."
"Thanks
for the rescue then," Jet looked at the passenger's seat, and felt a
little uncomfortable all over again. How long ago was it that she'd
been in a car? "And yourself?"
"I
think you guys call it fendane, I have friends that have gone up." Ruth
pointed to a rack holding a folder. "The pictures are in there." She
started up the van and pulled out of the airport carefully.
"Right,
right," Jet opened the window, reading the contents of the folder as
Ruth drove. "Why didn't you go up yourself, if you don't mind me
asking?"
Inside,
there were pictures of the destroyed banks, reduced to rubble as if
someone'd taken a wrecking ball to them, followed by six specially
marked photographs. The first two, blurred and barely in focus, the
third zoomed in far too close and the final three, a quadruped that
looked almost like a giant bus-sized cat.
"Most
of my family lives in this area." She glanced over at Jet, "That set
of the mech thing where taken in the early morning by a bird watcher
about a week before the first robbery."
"That's big..."
"Yea,
has the governor really worried. We're not sure what it is besides a
mech of some sort. You can scan ‘em and send them off, maybe someone
upstairs'd know."
Jet thought. "Might be another transformer. You know Wave Convoy you do?"
Ruth
merged with traffic on the highway towards Frenchburg, "I've heard of
him, but don't know that much about him. I'm taking you to the first
robbery site, less people about, but they've not started clean up yet."
The
traffic was achingly slow. Jet checked her own GPS, and noted they were
doing near 123kph. It felt like they were crawling along.
"Right,"
nodded the cyborg, "Can I get some rest actually. I've come a long way
and I need to recharge the batteries," she smirked.
"Yea I know a small place near Frenchburg, they won't ask questions. Family owned, one of their sons went up two years ago."
"Thanks.
If I can get a good wave connection, I'll post this stuff back to Hotel
Quebec, and see what they make of it. It's a bloody big thing whatever
it is."
"They
might, I know they stay in touch with their son, but not how. We leave
them alone and try not to draw attention to them." said Ruth, "The
folder also contains info on the vaults. They where brute forced out of
the foundation and taken in one piece."
Jet sat, half stunned for a moment.
"...what?... wow. That's a lot of power."
Tonnes of steel and concrete lifted away in one piece. Whatever else it is, it's not short on strength.
"I
don't know if you've seen the youtube video yet. That's what forced the
governor's hand into asking for help. He doesn't want a panic on his
hands or it being set loose on a city. The damage from just trying to
stop it would be costly." Ruth glanced at Jet again. "We're not sure
how the vehicles working with the mech are avoiding radar even when
they are flying."
"I've
seen it," nodded Jet. "They fly it in? That must be at least a hundred
tonnes on it's own." A thought "If they stay below about thirty metres,
they'll be hard to spot on civil radar, especially behind mountains. I
used to do the same myself back home."
"We're
not sure on the fly part. The pictures from the bird watcher where
taken in less then ten seconds. It, according to him, was going really
fast. We've also become aware of cellphone disruptions in the areas
near the banks on the night of the attacks." She paused to check
traffic before changing lanes. "That weird flatbed might have something
to do with it. I swear it looks familiar, but I can't place it."
"The flying lorry with that U-shaped yoke on it?"
"Yea, just can't place it. Think it might be from a game."
"Computer Game?"
Jet
scanned for a mobile tower nearby, trying to hook up to a 3G internet
provider. She grimaced... nothing at all useable. Ruth could see a
stray lock of hair angling around like a searching antenna, apparently
under the cyborg's control.
"Which
one I can't recall, but I definitely seen it somewhere," Ruth tried to
ignore the hair with a life of it's own and keep her eyes on the road.
"Someone
upstairs'll have seen it if it is." She sighed. "Reception out here is
crap in anyways, but can you track the disruptions with the mobile
phones, tell which towers are being affected? If we can do that, we
might be able to tell where they're coming from... or going."
"Well
it's more like the signal is running into a wall. Sudden zero
connectivity according to the techs we've interviewed. The hills and
such in the area don't help ether so connectivity has never been good."
"And no footprints because they're flying it, right?".... a pause... "Clever buggers."
"We've
tried to track them, but they end about a mile from each robbery in a
empty field. We have found marks that look like something landed in the
area. Haven't done over flights of the area near Mountain Valley where
those pictures from the bird watcher where taken."
"I'll
do that after I've had some rest. Before I went up, I used to film
high-speed flights and post them on the web. I can hit Mach 1 if I have
to," bragged the cyborg. "They won't spot me unless they're lucky,"
"Just don't go around shattering people's windows with the boom." Commented Ruth
"Don't worry, that's just a myth," smiled Jet knowingly. "And going that fast gets too hot too quick anyway,"
Ruth chuckled, "Alright, still be careful of flying over people's houses. They may take potshots at you."
Jet blinked, "Really?"
"Yep,
mainly as you head up into the mountains, the area is pretty divided
about the fen. Some will wave, others will just go get their guns."
A shudder. "That's unsettling." she glanced out the window, "Is this it?"
With
a nod Ruth pulled the van into the small parking lot. A rain-stained
ten-foot satellite dish sat just at the edge of the woods, seeming odd
to Jet for a moment. "Yep, the Little Watch Inn."
It
was a small motel, single storied with a flat roof. Jet counted ten
rooms or so, and a reception office. It seemed old, like the dish, but
still well kept. The grass was cut, and the paint seemed clean if not
fresh.
"I'll
see you tomorrow morning I guess." said Jet, yawning slightly, "Oh...
by the way. If anyone calls and says you're on the global frequency...
they're not nuts. Listen to them, they're here to help."
"I know." Ruth just smiled.
"I see. They normally get involved in this sort of thing. Anyway, we'll see tomorrow. And try get an idea whose behind this."
Ruth nodded, "Keep the folder too in case you can get a connection to up there."
"Right so. See you tomorrow,"
================================================================
The
owner, Janet Fokker, was a middle-aged woman, short and greying
slightly. The shock on the her face when she saw Jet made made the
cyber laugh nervously. A quick explanation from Ruth however earned her
a discount rate. Jet noticed a small photograph on the table of someone
in a dark military uniform. A heart-shaped medal was displayed beside
it, with a collection box ‘For our troops overseas'.
Jet drew the obvious conclusion and kept quiet about it.
"Well
we used to have a working interwave connection," said the owner, "Using
the old satellite outside. It's been on the blink since August. If you
can get it going I'll give you the network key,"
"Shouldn't
be hard," said Jet. "Nodes get shuffled around from time to time. Maybe
your satellite's looking for one that isn't there anymore."
That was the simple explanation.
"I been so worried about my son Roy, since SerenityCon," the owner said. "Last message I got was in July said he was going,"
Jet looked concerned for a moment.
"You know his faction?"
"I think a...'gearhead'." she wasn't sure if that was the right word. "He was a pilot of something he called a VF-1."
"Right... I saw a few of those." Get shot down, Jet didn't add. "I'll check up when I get online,"
"Thanks,"
"One
more thing," said Jet, putting a finger to her lips. "If you get any
phone calls saying you're on the global frequency, don't ignore them,
it's going to be important,"
"Uh... yeah," the woman blinked. It must be come fen-code, she guessed.
Jet's
room was small... having little more than a bed, a chair, TV, phone,
and shower. Of course everything was bolted down besides the remote and
that was a cheap easy to replace model.
She
stored her pistol,ammunition and the pouch containing most of her
equipment in an empty drawer, she set about fixing the dish. The
hardest thing about that was the forty questions from the two kids.
"Are you a robot ma'am,"
"Cyborg"
"Like the Terminator?"
"The opposite"
"So you're metal on the outside, skin on the inside,"
"Sorta,"
And so on. Jet had to swallow her anger, telling herself over and over again that they were just curious kids.
"What's it like to fly?" the youngest questioned.
"Ever jump off a tall building," Jet snarked back.
"No..."
"Maybe you should try it," she smirked.
"No...
my mom'd kill me," said the kid. Jet honestly couldn't tell if they
were a boy or a girl. Clothes gave no hint. Even the name Alex was
androgynous. She shrugged and carried on. It looked more like the dish
had just gotten knocked out of alignment a little, losing the satellite
node it had been aimed at. Half asleep, and with her onboard power
cells deep in the red, she allowed herself a satisfied smile as the
signal bar crept up.
Then
followed it with a deep breath of real air. The smell of cut grass
lingered in her nostrils for a few moments, before she turned back to
her room. Dusk was settling in, and the L5 stations where rising. The
bright star of Grovers Corners was beginning to drop below the horizon,
while Kandor city sparked on the rising moon's surface.
A
few fenships scooted overhead, seeming to chase each other across to
L5. She picked out her home, Genaros, with her own navigation software.
It
felt strange to be looking up at the sky again. Not unpleasant... just
a little bit weird to be pounding ground again. American cars looked
funny too.
It
was strange that she was sent, however. Weren't earthbound issues
normally handled by the BBI? Maybe they were why she was sent? It
wasn't the first time they'd made specific requests for people from the
PKG if it was. Maybe they'dve been better served by the new Patrol?
Make one Tiger run on one base, and suddenly you're James Bond. At least for a first mission, it seemed to be an easy one.
After
scanning and sending off those photographs, she checked for Roy the
VF-1 pilot. He wasn't hard to find. She smiled, saving the good news
for the next morning. Leaving the bed alone, Jet sat down in the old
chair, and went to sleep sitting bolt upright.
----->>
>> MIME encode complete.
>> Message length within key.
>> OTP connection establish.
>> Server Key authenticates.
>> Request HashPad d3841adcd395fc4fff47f075a7ccb49e
>> HashPad d3841adcd395fc4fff47f075a7ccb49e Server Accept.
>> Enciphering message.
>> Transmitting message.
>> Server acknowledges sane message received.
>> HashPad d3841adcd395fc4fff47f075a7ccb49e delete.
>>From:Juliette2@grunthall.fen
>>To: alitagally@grunthall.fen
>>Subject: Kentucky Cat
>>I'm
onsite. Local reaction was mixed, but better than expected. DHS were
their usual >>welcoming selves. My local law enforcement contact
seems to be BBI, or at least aware of >>them. It would surprise
me if they weren't involved in this already tbh. Normally it's them
that >>handles these things, isn't it.
>>I've
attaching photographs of the mech used in the robberies. I don't
recognise it myself. Can >>you get this identified? My first
thought was that it was a transformer of some sort, like Wave
>>Convoy, but something this big's got to be something else. It's
twice the size of a Dublin bus, >>and at least a hundred tons in
mass.
>>They're
flying it in to the banks, letting it do it's dirty work, then lifting
the vaults out holesale >>using a waved tow truck, and a pair of
works vans. There's disruption of the mobile network, >>that
seems to be caused by a waved lorry with a strange device on the
flatbed. Local law >>seems to recognise the lorry. It may be from
a computer game. It's not one I know offhand
>>I've attached some pictures run through CSIEnhance. They're poor, but you can make out >>most of it.
>>The
Cat runs away about a mile or so, to an open field, where it appears
they pick it up too. >>None of this shows up on radar. A hundred
ton cat-mech, and a truck capable of lifting a bank's >>vault in
one piece... whoever they are, they know what they're doing. Or stole
it from some who >>did.
>>Will
be making overflights of the area tomorrow. Take some pctures, see if I
can find anything >>out of the ordinary. I'll try find a thermal
camera aswell. A hundred tons of mech can't be that >>easy to
hide?
>>With
a bit of luck, local law can bring them in when we find them. We'll
find out who they're >>working for, and where this money's going.
To early to jump to conclusions about them >>funnelling it all to
the Boskonians, they could just be Turnerites, or some locals who got
their >>hands on some cool toys.
>>-JJ
----->>
Digital
one-use cipher, it couldn't beaten. Jet had two terabytes worth of it.
Should an agent be compromised, their entire key could be
de-authorised, ensuring that it could never be used again. The only
problem was the raw computing power needed to keep track of keys, but
in Fenspace, computing power wasn't an issue.
=====================================================================
_______________________________________________________________
Characters
Sabre Fang
Dakota
Warning:
Dihydrogen monoxide
Containment Vessel
Dihydrogen monoxide
Containment Vessel