Special Police DekaOps

6

An abandoned building in the middle of the city was something most people never paid attention to. That particular building suited his needs just fine. Agent Chatrox knew he needed a place to base his operations. And the skills those SPD fools on Nagaus 7 taught him came in handy to fix the interior to his needs. He waited patiently as his communicator finally came to life, “Has the package arrived?”

“Yes Agent Chatrox,” the voice on the other end replied. “But there is a fear that the SPD space station orbiting the planet may have detected it.”

“We’ll worry about it later,” he snapped, his green skin shimmered slightly. “Are you able to get the package before SPD does?”

“No, there was a problem that arose with the guidance system as it entered the atmosphere. The package missed the target zone by a hundred parsecs.”

“Where did it land?”, he hissed. None of the other Agents could have had this much trouble with their deliveries.

“Projection from the scanners say it landed in the country of Mexico.”

“Mexico,” he wondered out loud, “is there a Deka unit currently in Mexico?”

“None that I’m currently aware of. The country is neutral as far as SPD command is concerned. DekaRail is the closest unit currently active. Is there a chance they might send them?”

Chatrox thought it over, “Perhaps, but it’s more than likely that they’ll send the other Deka unit in the country to retrieve it.”

“Agent Chatrox, there is no active SPD unit in North America other than DekaRail.”

He smirked, “Don’t be so sure of that. Time is of the essence, the package must be retrieved before any Deka unit gets there, is that understood. If you have to use what I taught you to complete your task.” And if SPD does arrive use any means you feel is necessary to eliminate them.”

“Yes Agent Chatrox.” He turned off his communicator and hissed in anger. Chatrox looked at the crumpled up Earth First pamphlet in his hand. If his plan was to succeed he needed that device.

***

Rev studied the controller Robert placed in his hands. His human friend had convinced him to try this thing called Dynasty Warriors. Robert assured him that the “game” would be easy to pick up. Behind them Terry was applying a finish to an old Earth weapon that he said belonged to his Grandfather. Trish came into the rec room going over a report in her hand before sitting in on one of the chairs in the room. Rev didn’t want to question Captain Steven’s decision to make the youngest member of the team status as second in command, it was highly unorthodox. But the young woman has so far proven worthy of the role. Whatever the Captain saw in her was right on the mark.

Terry looked up at her, “I thought we agreed, no work in the rec room.”

“Yeah Ace,” Robert said not taking his eye off the way Rev was playing, “I’d figured the number two person on the team wouldn’t break that rule.”

“It’s not work,” she said, “it’s a performance review of the Shepard laser. I don’t want it going out when we need it.”

“Sounds like work to me,” Boomer said. Trish ignored him and put the report between them. “So where’s Cap? Working on his ‘form’ again?”

“I saw him talking to Michelle in the Command Room,” Ace replied.

“Hmm,” Terry uttered as he put his rag on the table, “they seem to talk a lot, don’t they?”

“You noticed that too,” Boomer took his gaze off the screen just long enough to look back at him. This was another trait these humans had that he was trying to understand, he believed Michelle called it idle gossip. “Rev watch out for the group of guys on your left. Does anybody else think there’s something there might be something there?”

“Why is it engaged couples always try to get other people hooked up?”, Trish asked.

“Not all of them,” Terry said, “but you got to admit outside of the Major he seems pretty close to Michelle.” Rev remembered a conversation he had with the Captain about making the hard call. He felt that might have something to do with it seeing how Michelle did not go out into the field with the rest of them. Of course that was a private conversation between the two of them. He did not want to break the Captain’s trust.

Trish finally put down her report, “Wait, me and Michelle talk all the time. I think she would have mentioned something like that.”

“It’s in the early stages,” Robert spoke up, “they’re still feeling each other out. That’s what happened between me and Lisa.”

“Was that before or after you blackmailed her into marrying you,” Terry joked.

Robert actually looked upset, which surprised all of them, “Never make a joke about that, got it?”

“Sorry buddy I didn’t realize I was crossing a line.”

“It’s cool dude,” Robert said after a moment. “Lisa is the best thing that ever happened to me. It’s bad enough her family thinks I tricked her into marrying me I don’t need to hear it from my friends too.” Terry nodded and all was apparently forgiven just like that. Rev was amazed at how fast bad feeling between the two of them could disappear. To his knowledge the two of them have never met before joining DekaOps. But they acted like birth mates at times at how they reacted around each other and how fast they forgive each other. It was truly the deepest form of friendship he has ever seen on any planet.

“Guys listen…,” the Captain started as he came in but stopped as he looked in his direction. “Rev, you play video games?”

“I apparently do now,” was all he said while he tried to understand the appeal of this past time.

“I’m amazed I’m surprised by anything after joining this unit,” he muttered before getting back to business. “We just got a job from command.”

“Cap,” Terry whined, “no work in the rec room.”

“We all agreed,” Trish added.

The Captain wasn’t fazed, “As field leader I have the authority to over ride that agreement any time I deem it necessary.”

“Since when?”, Boomer demanded.

“Since now,” the Captain said. His voice and expression told them he wasn’t going to accept any kind of argument on the matter. Captain Stevens was an interesting being. Despite his admitted reluctance to assume the position he had totally embraced the role as leader almost from the start. Rev also noticed that despite his wish to remain emotionally distant from the rest of them, to use an earth expression, the walls were not holding. He thought that was it at any point. “Besides it’s a pretty simple job, we got a retrieval mission in Mexico.”

“We’re sneaking into Mexico?”, Boomer asked.

“Actually SPD was invited by the Mexican government,” the Captain informed them. “The SpaceBase spotted a ship landing a mile outside Puerto Penasce in Sonara, Mexico and so did the locals. As far as the government is concerned if it feel out of the sky it’s SPD jurisdiction.

“But us?,” Trish asked.

“I know, but the only units available were us, DekaRanger Patrol and DekaRail. The Patrol is a little busy at the moment and they’re not sure if the cadets are ready for something international yet. So far there hasn’t been any Alienizer activity in the yet and they want this kept as quiet as possible. That means it goes to us, and the Major specifically said he doesn’t want a repeat of what happened with Radon.”

“Well if we’re being invited in wouldn’t the local authorities help us cover our track,” Terry inquired.

“It’s not that,” he started to explain. “Pierce was able to use his connections to get a media blackout on what happened with Radon. But people still talked and there were reporters willing to listen, especially those who are anti-SPD. Some news program ran with the story any way, including this one tabloid show called Inside Extra that really latched itself onto the story. So it goes without saying that we don’t need to gives these guys any more ammo.”

They all nodded. Trish looked like she was concentrating on something, “Since we’re being invited in silent op doesn’t apply right?”

“Somebody has been studying,” Captain Steven said with approval.

“Teacher’s pet,” Robert said with a smile. Then he saw the look Trish was giving him. “Whoa, you can’t hit me. Cap said you couldn’t.”

Trish raised an a single eyebrow as she calmly said, “D.E.” Terry picked up an orange that was in a bowl on the table and threw it at Robert.

“Ow!,” he cried as he rubbed his arm, “traitor.” Terry just shrugged his shoulders.

Steven put a hand up to his face, “I definitely wouldn’t have done that. Any way it’s a pretty easy mission, we should be back in time for dinner. But the simple ones can surprise you so I want everybody in full gear just in case.”

Trish got out of the chair, “You heard the man people, let’s move out.” Rev was ready to comply, however for some strange reason he had a hard time letting go if the controller.

***

They arrived at the co-ordinates they were given by the Mexican government in no time, but they did not land right away. There was the ship just like they expected. The guy standing by the car, on the other hand, was unexpected. Should have told Ace to activate the cloak before they got there. “What do we do now Cap?”, D.E. asked

“We’ll circle the area for a bit, if he doesn’t leave soon we’ll land a click away and wait.”

“Cap,” Boomer said while listening to his earpiece, “We’re getting a hailing call on all radio frequencies.”

Dan raised an eyebrow and went over to the communication board, “Let me hear it.”

“Hello?”, said a voice with a Hispanic accent, “You are DekaRanger correct?”

“Ah…,” he looked at the rest of them, “yeah, Special Police DekaRanger at your service.”

“Excellent,” the voice sounded happy. “We weren’t expecting you this quickly. Why did you not answer my previous hails?”

“Sorry about that, we weren’t expecting a welcoming committee. Pardon me, but who am I talking to again?”

“I apologize, my name is Artega, I am a local city councilman. I wanted to make sure the situation is contained. No need to panic the locals yes?”

“We’ll do our best to make sure it doesn’t get out of hand. You might want to vacate the area yourself. I’m sure it’s nothing but I don’t want to worry about a civilian getting hurt in case things go bad.”

“Of course I understand, please contact us after your mission has ended.”

“Not a problem, ah… DekaRed out.” Dan ran two fingers across his neck telling Boomer to end the transmission.

“Smooth one ‘DekaRed’,” Ace joked as he sat back down. He watched as the figure got into his car and drove off.

“It got him out of here didn’t it?”

“I’m not sure it was wise to lie to a government official like that,” Rev commented.

“It was half a lie Rev,” Dan told him.

“But he was looking for DekaRanger.”

“And we are the DekaRanger covert operation team. Like I said it was half a lie.”

“I still don’t think it was right,” Rev returned his attention to his board.

“Objection noted Rev,” Dan said, “I’ll put it my mission report. What do we got on the scanners.”

“No life signs are being detected in the immediate area,” Rev reported.

D.E added, “I’m not detecting any active weapon signatures or anything from the ship power source.”

“I got nada on any kind of signal from the ship. I’m not even getting an ID code,” Boomer piped in

“It didn’t crash land from the looks of things,” Ace said. “Something had to be piloting it.”

“Take her down Ace, “Dan told her. In moments they surrounded the vehicle and after opening it to discover whatever, or whomever, was inside was long gone.”I knew I was going to regret saying this was going to be simple.”

“Captain I found a set of footprints,” Rev called out.

“Can you tell what they belonged too?”

“No,” he said as he ran his scan. “I am detecting trace amounts of metal, non that come from this planet.”

“Bots, great.” Dan squatted down and studied the tracks. There were two sets of track that he could see. One set coming from the ship and another set going to the ship. His gut was telling him one thing, “They were retrieving whatever was on that ship. Fan out and search the area, they had to come here in something.” All of them went a few yards from the ship before Rev and D.E. both called out that they found tire tracks. There was a big empty spot with the tracks going in different directions, the footprints also headed into the blank area.

“Well that’s helpful,” Boomer commented.

“It looks like whoever did this tried to wipe out the tracks from here to there,” She pointed at the distance between D.E. and Rev. “I don’t get it, why go to that much trouble to clearing just that area?”

“Remind me to ask once we find them,” Dan told her. “But these guys are good, I’ll give them that.”

“I think we should send two of the guys to follow the tracks in each direction,” she said. “We’re bound to find something. And we can back up who ever finds the vehicle first in the Shepard.”

Dan let out small chuckle as he told her, “You’ll be doing my job before I know it. D.E., Rev take the Hounds and follow the track. Call us when you find anything. Boomer use your D-Hack on the ship computer if you can find it, maybe it can tell us what we’re dealing with.”

***

Rev followed the track in the dirt road as he rode the Machine Hound. He found himself checking out the local scenery as well. This planet could be most beautiful when left alone. That alone increased his desire to prevent the Alienizers from having their way with it. Of course the humans had to learn not to ruin the planet on their own. But it was not his place to tell them that. Hopefully they will learn that before it was too late. He noticed the trail he was following went around a curve ahead. He slowed his speed to make sure he didn’t run into any surprises.

A car was stopped on the side of the road, the trunk was sitting close to the ground. His SPD training told him something rather heavy was weighing it down. He got off the Hound as he looked at the ground, the track lead to the car. He found his target. He was about to call for the others when a voice said, “What is a Zalmanian doing here?” He turned to see a blue headed Batsuroid standing behind him.

He quickly pulled out his License, “Emergency! DekaOps!”

Rev was surrounded by a green digital field as the DekaMetal formed around him in a flash of light. It turned into a black body suit in a burst. A dark green stripe went down the center 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 the number three. A backpack solidified in his back and the D-Shot appeared in a flash. “Face on!”, Deka Metal flashed over his head and formed a dark green helmet.

He let his SPD training take over as the Batsuroid started firing at him. Rev had little to no cover as so he had to fire back in the open for now. Batsuroids were more intelligent than Anaroids, therefore more dangerous. Fortunately it looked like this one wasn’t carrying any grenades, so that was one thing he didn’t have to worry about. Rev ran as he returned fire, he noticed the robot was trying to keep him away from the car. If he survived this he would find out if he was right about it being his target or not. He made it to a rock that as large enough to give him some cover and took a moment to catch his breath. The problem with fighting a machine was that the machine did not get tired. Perhaps he could buy himself some time as the human say, “What was in the space craft?”

“None of your concern,” the Batsuroid answered. He could hear it get closer.

Rev looked at the D-Shooter in his hand and holstered it. He centered his spirit and calmed himself. His cast may have trained him to be Shalimon but that did not mean he was defenseless. Eons of experience had taught them that even one that did the Great Spirit’s work was not safe from those who would do harm to others. When it was close enough he jumped over the rock and planted both his feet into its chest. It crashed on the ground as Rev pulled out his D-Knife and stabbed at its head. The blue headed robot rolled out of the way as the blade pierced the ground.

He blocked a swing at his head then threw the robot to the ground. Rev took out his D-Rod as it got to its feet. The rod glowed green as he pressed a button on it and slashed the Batsuroid diagonally. The robot sparked slightly before falling to the ground. He put the D-Rod back as he said, “I believe my team mates would say ‘got you’.” Like on earlier mission he said a small prayer to the Great Spirit asking for forgiveness for taking a life. The Batsuroid may have been mechanical life but it was still a life in his eyes. Rev deactivated the Dekasuit as he switched his license over to phone. “Captain Stevens come in.”

“Tell me you got something Rev,” he said over the link. “D.E. reported back bit ago and came up with nothing.”

“I believe I located the target vehicle. I would have reported it earlier but I was confronted by a Batsuroid.”

“Why didn’t you call for back up?”

“I was a little busy at the time but the danger has passed.”

“Ok Rev, you did the right thing. Check out the target for confirmation.”

“It appears to be in a locked trunk of a car,” he informed the Captain.

“Bust it open,” the Captain told him without hesitation. “If it’s the wrong target I’ll take any heat for it.”

“Are you sure Captain?” Stevens said he was. He did not want his friend to get into trouble for something he had did, but he would not disobey an order. Rev aimed his SP-Shooter at the lock and fired. Inside the trunk was not what he was expecting. “Rocks?”, he said out loud.

“Rev can you repeat that, I don’t think I heard you right.”

“The trunk is full of rocks to weigh it down. The tracks I was following lead to this vehicle.”

Steven let out a small curse. “Rev had back to the Shepard,” the Captain told him, “I’m not liking this.”

He nodded, “At once Captain.”

***

Dan sat in his chair on board the Shepard as they went over the facts they knew. Things were not adding up for the bigger picture, which meant they were missing some pieces. But what in the hell were they? “Alright we know that there was something in the ship and it was taken away, but both trails we followed lead nowhere.”

“Maybe it was air lifted away,” Ace offered. “That would explain why a section of the trail is missing.”

“And the car was used as a decoy,” Boomer added.

“But according to Michelle no aircraft was seen entering or leaving the area,” D.E. countered.

“Which means we’re back at the beginning.”

Rev thought it over, “We might be overlooking a factor we already knew about.”

“What?”, Ace asked him.

“Councilman Artega,” he answered. Dan slapped his hand against his forehead. “Of course it might be a long shot.”

“Remind me to tell you the old joke about how to tell if a politician is lying. Boomer…”

“I’m already opening the link to base Cap.”

“How do you tell if a politician is lying?”, Rev asked D.E.

“Their lips are moving,” he replied. “Joke works with lawyers too.”

“I… don’t get it.”

“Stevens to OpsBbase,” Dan called out after Boomer gave to ok.

“Base here, “the Major answered, “what is it?”

“What ever was in that ship was long gone by the time we got here but we might have lead. We’re going to need to run a check on a Councilman from the area, last name was Artega.”

“I’m checking now,” Michelle said. After a few moments she looked puzzled, “That’s strange.”

“And those two words have never been followed by anything good,” Dan said.

“According to this Artega was found dead in his home six hours ago. And his car was found abandoned about twenty minutes ago in a parking garage.”

“Find a scan of that car and send it to Michelle,” Dan ordered. A few moments later an image was found and sent back to base.

“That fits his car description,” She confirmed.

“So who was impersonating him?” the Major asked, echoing their thoughts.

Ace thought of something, “Didn’t Rev say he didn’t get any life signs in the area?”

Rev checked his scanner logs from the time period, “There were no humanoid life signs in the area when we arrived.”

Dan leaned back into his chair, “Ladies and gentlemen, we just officially been had.”

***

Chatrox watched as an old truck pulled up to the building. An orange spike headed Igaroid jumped out and pulled the tarp off the cargo he was traveling with. “Well done,” he said. “Was there any problems?”

“An SPD unit showed up but they fell for the ruse just like you said they would.”

“Excellent, take it inside.”

“At once,” the Igadroid got back in the truck and did as ordered. Chatrox wrapped his cloak around him. The last time he was connected to a genetic resequencer he gained his ability to turn invisible. And the pain was worth it. Now he had to go through that pain again if he wanted the ability to look human when he needed to.