2

Dan was able to get the feel of the OpsBase, as the others called it, pretty quickly. Actually he was surprised how quickly this place felt like home. Then again after being where he was for the last six month anyplace would feel like home. Walking into the Command Room he noticed Michelle was talking to D.E., who was excited about something. “What’s going on?”, he asked as he walked up to them.

“We finally got the Mark Two D-shots in,” he said.

“Cool, now what in the hell is a Mark Two D-Shot?”

D.E. looked at Michelle then back at him, “You don’t know what it is?”

“It wasn’t in any manual I was given.”

“Well, it’s still rather new,” Michelle told him. “It’s one of your primary weapons. Why don’t we show him what it can do D.E.”

“Yes ma’am.” They lead him to the door that lead to the training section of the OpsBase. Then they entered the shooting range. Michelle walked over to a bay and picked up a long white gun with a black handle and grip under the barrel. It looked kind of like a shotgun in a way, that alone helped him wrap his head around it.

“This,” she started, “Captain Stevens, is the Mark Two D-Shot. It fires a high density energized projectile. It works better at close range but you can still do some damage if you target is a little further away. The effective range is estimated at fifteen meters. Give it ago,” she handed him the weapon.

Dan faced a target and held the D-shot about waist high. With his left hand he pulled the grip back until he heard a click, slid it back and pulled the trigger. A blue energy shot flew out of the barrel and left a nice size hole in the target. “Now that I understand.”

“Thing of beauty ain’t it,” D.E. grinned.

Dan started examining the latch at the back of the weapon, “What’s this for?”

“The Opslicense hook in there,” Michelle said. “When you get an elimination order it’ll boost the power level.”

“Basically we’re deleting our target,” D.E. added. Dan still had a hard time wrapping his head around that idea. Still he was trained to follow orders.

He put the gun down, “Anything else I should know about?”

“Actually there was one more thing,” Michelle said. She went to a nearby table and picked up a red and black gun he didn’t recognize from before before. He spent the last few days practicing with the D-Shooter, the unit’s standard firearm. He wasn’t exactly thrilled about the idea of a new handgun being sprung on him. “Maj. Pierce had me request this for you.”

“I don’t need a special weapon.”

“It’s kind of a SPD tradition Cap,” D.E. said. “The team leader always gets a unique firearm.” He shot him a look, “Really, look it up.”

“This is the D-Colt,” Michelle told him.” It’s the single unit version of the D-Magnum.” He took the gun in his hand, it had a nice heft to it. Felt pretty natural in his hand too. “Unlike the D-Magnum it can’t do a Strikeout, but you can switch it between single and multishot. I’m assuming you can be happy with that.”

“Only one way to find out.” Dan aimed it at the target. He fired off a couple of shots, all of them landed close to where he was aiming. The accuracy was pretty good on this thing. Flicking a switch by his thumb he fired again. This time three shots fired at once. He let a small smile show on his face. “I can live with it.”

“You’re going to have to let me play with that one of these days,” D.E. told him while eyeing the gun.

“As soon as you explain to me why you’re the weapon expert when she’s the one telling me about these things.”

“He’s got you there D.E.,” she teased.

Well… , “he thought it over,” she’s the information officer and she informing you about them.”

Dan handed the D-Colt back to Michelle, “Nice try.”

***

Pierce was walking the hallways of the OpsBase when he ran into Ace. He was afraid he knew why it looked like she was looking for him. He kept his attention on the file in his hand while he hoped she would just keep going in the other direction. Too bad she kept saying, “Major Pierce,” over and over.

“What is it Ace”, he said tiredly.

“I was wondering if you got that request form I filled out.”

“Which one Ace?”, he unintentionally said out loud. She wasn’t fazed.

“The one for the new power regulator for the laser on the Shepard.”

“There’s nothing wrong with the regulator we have now. Even you said it worked well above operating specs.”

“Yeah but Michelle was telling me about a newer model that would increase the efficiency rating for the laser.” He made a mental note to talk to Michelle later. “The Shepard deserves the best. Actually there were these new style spark plugs I wanted to get for the Hounds too.”

An SPD officer in a black uniform with blue trim walked up and handed him a sheet of paper. Saved by the red tape. His mood changed when he read the paper.” Ace…”

“Find the others and get them into the Command Room?”, she read his mind.

“Right,” he affirmed.” It’s officially go time.”

***

It only took a few moments to locate the others. Ranzack and Boomer were in the rec room while Dan, D.E. and Michelle were still in the shooting range. They all hustled to the Command Room and got in line while Michelle took her spot at the table. Pierce hand her pull up an image of a Alienizer style rifle on the screen. Dan rolled his shoulder as he recognized the picture on the screen. “I’m sure,” Pierce began, “you know what this is.”

“It was the reason why I was volunteered,” Dan said under his breath. Ranzack looked at him briefly before returning his attention to the screen.

“One of the reasons why this unit was formed was because the Alienizers were using Earth technology to make weapons like this one. Seeing how the original model of the weapon is illegal in most galaxies they think they found a loophole by making copies of it. We are going to show them otherwise.”

“Did we find out where they’re coming from?” Boomer asked.

“Unfortunately no, but we have something almost as good.” He handed a disk to Michelle who put it in a drive on her desk. An image of a warehouse replaced that of the rifle. “I’m not sure if Cap knows this yet but we have a network of informants. Through them we were able to discover that this building is being used as storage space before the weapons are shipped out to God knows were. You’re job is to go in there and destroy the shipment and deal with any resistance you might encounter.”

Michelle rose from the table, “If you can try to find out where they came from and where they were being shipped to. Any information you can gather can help us.” She handed a rectangular device to Dan. “This is the D-Hack, it will let you get into any computer you may find on site. If need be I can use it to set up a remote link to our systems here.”

“So if it says ‘you got mail’ don’t blow it up,” Boomer joked.

“Then you better hope none of the rifle are programmed to say that,” D.E. told him. Dan cleared his throat. “Sorry Cap.”

“I told you, laughs after the mission.”

“Lady and gentlemen, this is our first job,” Pierce said before pausing to look them in the eyes. “Try not to mess this up too badly.”

“Wait,” Boomer said suddenly, “are we getting a robot for this one?” D.E. and Ace both groaned.

“There is no robot,” Pierce said, sounding like he had this conversation before, “never was one and we’ll never have one.”

“Other units have a robot,” he whined.

“A robot going to be a little flashy for what we’re going to be doing.”

“Boomer zip it,” Dan ordered. “Suit up people, we launch in twenty.” They saluted and headed for a door.

“I’ll send you all the information on the building I can find before you land,” Michelle told them.

“What you don’t find I’ll fill in,” Dan said as he followed the others.

***

In the launch hanger a crew of eight were busy getting a black jet with white highlights ready to launch. In a room down the hall of the hanger the team was putting on their field gear. A “bulletproof” vest, fingerless gloves, a small supply pack on their back and various electronic devices in the lockers. Ranzack was studying one of the SP-Shooters, one designed for his three fingered hand, rather closely. Dan tested the sharpness of the black knife in his hand before putting it back in the sheath on his right leg before he asked, “You sure you can do this Ranzack?”

Ranzack holstered the weapon saying, “I will do my duty Captain. I will not hesitate if that is what you are worried about.”

“Not what I was asking,” he said as he put a black ball cap on his head. Ranzack remained silent. “We’re launching in five people.” Dan led them out of the room, any doubt he had earlier now gone from his mind. Pierce and Michelle were standing in the hanger waiting for them. Somebody said the Machine Shepard was green for launch. Dan had to silently admit these guys were good.

“You ready?”, Pierce asked as they past. While D.E. and the others all said they were, Dan made a shooting motion with his right hand. Pierce had to smile, “Like there was ever any doubt.”

“You’re resorting to secret hand signal now?”, Michelle asked him.

“Something him and his buddies came up with while they were under me,” he explained. He showed her the gesture, first he stuck up his thumb, “Cocked,” then he extended his index finger to form a gun, “locked,” he finished with the shooting motion, “ready to rock. If he did anything else I’d be worried right about now.” With that he exited the hanger.

A voice over the loud speaker announced for everyone to leave the hanger as the team boarded the jet from the ramp in the back. A cargo bay with a cell and a small medical bay were passed as they entered the cockpit. Ace took a seat behind the control as Dan sat in a chair that was slightly behind her and to the right. D.E. took a console that was in the back of the room while Boomer and Ranzack took the ones on the sides. Ace checked a few reading before announcing, “This is the Shepard, we are ready for launch.”

“The sky and surrounding area is clear of civilians. Shepard, you are clear for lift off.” The ceiling above them opened up and the jets under the ship came to life. Slowly the Shepard lifted off the ground and the landing gear folded into the craft.

“Nice and easy Ace,” Dan told her.

“No offense Cap,” she said, never taking her eyes off the controls,” but I don’t tell you how to command.”

“Is it wise to talk that way to a commanding officer?”, Ranzack asked them.

“Never argue with the person piloting the ship,” Dan told him. In moments they were above the tree line of the forest behind the building that disguised their HQ.

“Cap, we’re getting a transmission from Michelle,” Boomer called out.

“Let’s hear it.” A small screen above the windshield came to life.

“I’m sending you an update on the information I’ve found on the warehouse.”

“Is there a brick we don’t know about yet?”, he asked her. Dan was still amazed at the amount of info she pulled up while they were getting ready.

She smiled at him, “Just making sure you don’t have that many blanks to fill in. I’m sending the file now.”

“We’re getting the information with no problem Cap,” Boomer said.

“Thanks Michelle, Shepard out.” He motioned for Boomer to cut the connection. Dan looked over the update as it came in. He had a feeling that Michelle could find the proverbial needle in a haystack with no problems. “ETA?”

“Thirty minutes to middle of nowhere California,” Ace said. She glanced over at him, Dan pointed foreword with two fingers, “Rodger.” She brought the rear engines online and the ship shot foreword. After a minute she said, “The no smoking and seat belt signs are now off. You’re free to walk around the cabin.”

“Cute,” he told her. “Alright guys I think we…”

“Ah Captain,” Ranzack said somewhat tentatively.

“Yeah Ranzack?”

“I was wondering if it would be alright if I offered a small prayer to the Great Spirit for our well being and mission?”

“If nobody has any objections then go for it.”

“Thank you Captain.” Ranzack lowered his head. Dan took off his hat as the other did the same. “Great Spirit, creator of all, guidance of the universe. May your wisdom engulf your humble follower and my companions. Let our action help ease this universe of the malady that now sickens it and those who live in it. Protect us and let us know always the path of that which is right.” Ranzack lifted his head as he finished.

“Amen,” Boomer said.

“Sounds like something my Reverend would say,” D.E. told them.

“Reverend huh?”, Boomer looked over at Ranzack. Ace, D.E. and Dan looked at each other, Ranzack might have just gotten his nick name. Dan went over the plan in flight. Ace landed the Shepard about mile away from the target building. She wasn’t kidding when she said it was in the middle of nowhere. There was desert as far as the eye could see.

“Any signs of life?” Dan looked over to Ranzack, he checked a sensor at his post

“I am detecting one life form in the building.”

“Just one for that entire building?”, Ace looked at them.

“Seems strange to me too,” he told her. “How about the surrounding area?” Ranzack went back to his sensor but shook his head. One thing they drilled into him during those six month that he made sure he took to heart was pretty simple. Just because there was just one doesn’t me it was alone. “Alright, let’s do this by the numbers people.” They all nodded and exited the ship. Before he could say anything Ace pulled out a controller and pointed it at the ship. It shimmered and disappeared from view.

“Somebody remember where we’d parked.” Boomer joked.

***

They covered the distance to the warehouse pretty quickly. The weapons were being stored at the taller section on the east end of the building. So they were going in at the west part. At his command Boomer put a small explosive device on the door and blew the lock. D.E. and Ace went in first SP-Shooter in hand and gave the all clear. They walked through the building to the storage area with no incident. Dan was starting to get a little jumpy, there should have been some kind of security system in place somewhere. But he examined every hallway before he let them entered, nothing. Approaching the door the storage area Dan reached into a pocket and pulled out two devices. One was a cylinder shape device with a knob and an optic fiber on the other end that he slid under the door. He attached the other one to his head, a small rectangle with a wire that stretched over his eyebrow. Dan pressed a button on the rectangle and an image of the other side of the door, supplied by the optic, appeared in front of his eye. Manipulating the knob on the cylinder he was able to get a good idea on what was on the other side. He found the life form Ranzack detected, it was some kind of leopard type alien wearing armor.

Keeping an eye on the alien he carefully tried the doorknob, it was unlocked. Dan held up two fingers then three and made a half circle motion in the air. D.E. and Ranzack nodded and went down the hallway. Dan stowed his equipment and opened the door and waved Ace and Boomer in quickly. He closed the door as he entered and hid behind a crate. One of several that filed the room. Dan looked over the box at the alien. He was holding a device and seemed to be talking into it. Looking over to Boomer he gestured to the crate behind him. He took out his license and scanned it. Ace did the same to the one behind them. Both of the nodded, the rifles were in there. Dan pulled out his license and pulled up a map of the area. Two dots representing D,E, and Ranzack flashed once, they were in position. He tapped a sensor on his right glove once. They put their License back made their way to the leopard.

He screamed suddenly and threw the device, “I can’t stand new Agents! Always trying to impress the bosses.” Dan relaxed a bit, they weren’t spotted. Time to change that.

Dan tapped the sensor twice, go time. Almost as one they came out of hiding, their weapons aimed at the leopard, “SPD freeze!” The alien grabbed a rifle that was on top of the crates and started firing making them duck back into hiding.

“There wasn’t supposed to be any of you freaks here!” the leopard said. He pulled two grenades off his armor and tossed them in the air. Twenty Anaroids formed, some of them smashed into a crate to pull out the rifles and started firing. “Get them freaks.”

“Not good!”, Boomer yelled as he and the other returned fire

“Tell me something I don’t know!”, Dan barked.

“Cap,” Ace said, “time to up the game.” He knew what she was talking about, he just didn’t want to use it. Dan looked up and saw a couple of Anaroids trying to flank their position.

Damn it, he made a fist and pounded his leg. He didn’t have a choice, “Change standby! Boomer light it up!” Boomer pulled out a grenade and threw it straight up as they covered their eyes. It exploded in a bright flash of light, one designed to temporally disrupt the Anaroids motor function. The Leopard covered his eyes and screamed but the Anaroids started moving soon enough but it gave them enough time. All of them stood up and held their license across their chest, “Emergency!”, then they thrust them foreword, “DekaOps!” A press of the button in the middle opened the white plate revealing a black SPD badge that started shining.

Dan was surrounded by a red digital field as the Deka metal formed around his body in a flash of white light. It changed into black body suit in a burst. A dark red stripe went down the middle of his body from his shoulders to the top of his boots, on the left side of his chest the red and black formed the outline for a number one. A backpack solidified on his back and the D-Shot appeared in a flash. “Face on!”, Deka metal flashed over his head and formed a dark red helmet.

Dead-Eye was surrounded by a blue digital field as the Deka metal formed around his body in a flash of white light. It changed into black body suit in a burst. A dark blue stripe went down the middle of his body from his shoulders to the top of his boots, on the left side of his chest the blue and black formed the outline for a number two. A backpack solidified on his back and the D-Shot appeared in a flash. “Face on!”, Deka meatal flashed over his head and formed a dark blue helmet.

Ranzack was surrounded by a green digital field as the Deka metal formed around his body in a flash of white light. It changed into black body suit in a burst. A dark green stripe went down the middle of his body from his shoulders to the top of his boots, on the left side of his chest the green and black formed the outline for a number three. A backpack solidified on his back and the D-Shot appeared in a flash. “Face on!”, Deka metal flashed over his head and formed a dark green helmet.

Boomer was surrounded by a yellow digital field as the Deka metal formed around his body in a flash of white light. It changed into black body suit in a burst. A dark yellow stripe went down the middle of his body from his shoulders to the top of his boots, on the left side of his chest the yellow and black formed the outline for a number four. A backpack solidified on his back and the D-Shot appeared in a flash. “Face on!”, Deka metal flashed over his head and formed a dark yellow helmet.

Ace was surrounded by a pink digital field as the Deka metal formed around her body in a flash of white light. It changed into black body suit in a burst. A dark pink stripe went down the middle of her body from her shoulders to the top of her boots, on the left side of her chest the pink and black formed the outline for a number five. A backpack solidified on her back and the D-Shot appeared in a flash. “Face on!”, Deka metal flashed over her head and formed a dark pink helmet.

Dan reached behind his right shoulder and unlatched the D-shot from his pack and held it in both hands, “Ops1.”

D.E. pulled out his D-Shooter and twirled it around his finger before bringing it across his chest, “Ops2.”

Ranzack slide his left foot back and but his arms up in a fight position, “Ops3.”

Boomer reached behind him and pulled out a knife, “Ops4.”

Ace brought out a D-Rod and held it back about head high, “Ops5.”

“Special Police,” Dan started. The light on their helmet flashed and they all said, “DekaOps!”

“How many of you Deka freaks are there?!” the leopard said blinking its eyes. “Don’t just stand there, get them!”

“Take the bots down,” Dan said plainly. All of them rushed the Anaroids. D.E. jumped into a group of five and started firing, three of them went down no problem. A forth grabbed him from behind and a fifth took aim. Then it stopped and fell to the ground, a knife stuck in the back of its head. D.E. flipped the other one to the ground and they both blasted it with their D-Shooter.

“Thanks,” D.E. said.

“No problem buddy,” Boomer told him. He unlatched the D-Shot and brought it forward. “Time to upgrade.”

“Guess you’re right,” he agreed and did the same.

Ace and Razack had each other’s back as they unloaded on the Anaroids. One came from the side and they split up. Ace brought the D-Rod back out and cocked it behind the knees as Ranzack kicked it in the chest. He shot it point blank leaving a fist size hole in its chest. They looked at each other and nodded and went back to work.

Dan walked foreword taking out any Anaroid that he saw. He switched the D-Shot to his left hand and pulled out the D-Colt. He shot four of them before switching to multishot. He turned the gun sideways and swept his arm as he fired. Two slugs planted an Anaroid while the third hit a second one. Another one tried to catch him by surprise and Dan placed the barrel of the D-Shot in it’s hand. He pushed it foreword until he heard the click and pulled the trigger. It flew back as he holstered the D-Colt and brought the D-Shot back around. Looking around he saw Boomer take out the last one. “Now that was a rush,” he had to admit. “Alright Spot… ,” he told the Leopard before it started firing the rifle again.

“Die!” They ducked behind any cover they could find. Before they knew it D.E. jumped up and fired a single shot. The Leopard dropped the rifle and held it’s hand, “Argh!”

“Nice shooting Tex,” Boomer said.

“Actually the family originally from Oklahoma,” D.E. told him.

Ranzack, D.E., Dan, Boomer and Ace all stood in front of the alien. “Holding illegal weapons,” Dan said, “firing on officers of the law. It’s not looking good. Let’s see if he knows anything.” He pulled out his license, switched it to Judgment and pressed the button. The area went dark as a blue circle and a red X flashed in front of the Leopard. After a minute the X on the license flashed brightly, “Eliminate target.” The other took out their license and the all attached them to the D-Shot. “Ready,” D.E. and Boomer went to a knee and they aimed their weapon at the alien. As one they pulled back the grip, inside the D-Shot energy built up and traveled through the gun to the front part of the barrel. “Strikeout!”, and they pulled the trigger. Five energy streams shot out and in moments the leopard was disintegrated.

“Got ‘im!”, Boomer shouted out.

“We still got a mission to finish people,” Dan told them. “Get that done and we can go home.” They deactivated the suits and went to work.

D.E. went over to the rifle the Leopard had and checked it out, “Hey Cap.”

“What is it?”

“This one isn’t home grown, so to speak.”

“Great, an off planet version,” Dan said. “Anybody see anything that looks like a computer?”

“Kinda,” Ace called out.

“Kinda? Do I want to know?”

“I think it took a hit during the fire fight.”

Dan groaned, “Take it with us, maybe Michelle can salvage the hard drive.” He grabbed a couple of crowbars and handed one to D.E. “Help me open one of these crates.”

“Alright, but why?”, He asked.

“Plan B, we take one of these back and break it down. We’ll try to figure out what came from where the hard way. I’ve seen one of these before but I don’t know if the military still has it or if Scorp took it with him. So our access to it might be limited. Take the other one with us too. Maybe the differences in the rifles will tell us something. Boomer, do you have enough explosives to take this shipment out?”

“Do chicken have beaks?” he replied.

“I’ll take that for a yes.”

***

The team was back at the OpsBase hours later, already debriefed and trying to relax. Ranzack was sitting in a corner reading an earth history book. Ace was siting on top of the couch watching D.E. and boomer playing a video game. She had winner, depending on who won that is. Pretty soon the level was over, D.E. was the winner, “Oh come on,” Boomer cried.

Ace told him, “You challenged him to a game that needed a light gun, duh.”

D.E. looked at her, “Your turn.”

“You kidding, I was holding out for a miracle that Boomer would win.” She jumped off the couch and sat next to Ranzack.

The Major walked in looking rather pleased, “Good news guys, Commander Scorp was slightly impressed with your performance. From what I understand that’s a small miracle in and of itself.” He looked around the room, “Hey, where’s Cap? I’d figured he be in here.”

“He said something about working on his form,” D.E. answered.

“I don’t think he likes us,” Boomer said.

“The Captain is still trying to adjust to his new post,” Ranzack said.

“Ranzack right, or should I say Rev?” That name stuck to him pretty fast, even Dan called him that once or twice so far.

“Whatever you wish Major,” was his response.

“Like he said, Cap just needs some time to get to know you better. Then he really going to hate you guys,” he said with a grin.

Ace said, “Boomer I can understand, but me?” Boomer threw a pillow at her. They got in a few good natured jabs at each other before Pierce left. He walked until he got to the gym. On the far side he saw a guy pounding away at the heavy bag. The eagle tattoo on his shoulder told him that it was Dan. He tapped his cane a few times on the floor before turning around and walking away. He wasn’t shadow boxing so it wasn’t too much of a concern at the moment. Sometimes a man just needed sometime alone and they can talk later. Besides his wife was expecting home for dinner in an hour.