Special Police DekaOps
11

The Machine Shepard’s engines roared as Ace and her team stood by. After several moments she looked through the cockpit window at the guy sitting in her seat and gave the signal to power down. Soon the engines died down and everyone removed their ear protection. Ace looked at the readings from the monitors as everyone else looked on. After a bit she looked at the others and said, “You guys just earned you’re lunch hour.”

“You’re all heart boss,” one of them said.

“We’re not done yet,” she informed them. “Get that diagnostic equipment unhooked from the Shepard and you can take that lunch. Don’t just stand there, get on it,” she ordered and they jumped to the task. She turned around to see Michelle hanging around near the back. She walked up to her, “Hey Michelle, what’s up?”

“I thought you could use a coffee break or something.”

“After we’re done here.” She turned her head slightly to look at the group behind her. “Somebody has to be here to make sure they don’t slack off first,” she said loud enough for the others to hear.

“And Cap was worried that you were going to turn into him. Obviously he’s never seen you run things down here.”

Ace raised an eyebrow, “And what is that suppose to mean?”

“Nothing o second in command,” Michelle smirked at her.

“This from the woman sleeping with the field leader.”

Michelle quickly lost the smirk, “We are not sleeping together. Me and Cap are just having some fun.”

“So you are sleeping together then,” she teased. “Besides, I hear Cap wants you to call him Dan.”

Michelle put a hand on a nearby workbench and leaned against it, “You’re starting to sound like Boomer.”

“OK, I’ll stop now. And that was hitting below the belt,” she tried to look hurt but both of them started chuckling.

“So what minor imperfection are you trying repair now?”, she gestured toward the Shepard.

“The starboard engine started losing power on the last test flight. It took us a couple of days to narrow down the problem, but we got it fixed.” Ace leaned back on the bench and looked at the black and white jet. “That engine been giving us trouble ever since we got back from Germany. Now if the Major would get the ball rolling on those parts I wanted I can upgrade the engines and we wouldn’t have to worry about this.”

Her best friend started smirking again, “You might want to talk to him about those request forms before he starts sneaking them into the daily reports Cap goes over.”

“You’re kidding. I was wondering why he was giving me that strange look a couple of weeks ago when I passed him in the corridors.”

“Sounds about right, that’s when he started doing it. I think he’s getting Cap back for some of those stories he told me.”

Right then Cap’s voice came over the base’s intercom, “Field team to the command room, we got a incoming transmission from the Major.”

Ace looked Michelle, “I thought he was at that monthly meeting between the unit commanders.”

“He is,” Michelle answered as they headed for the door. “It must be important if he’s calling in.”

Ace started smiling, “Maybe you and Cap can get some ‘fun’ in before we got to leave.” Michelle slapped her on the arm.

***
The team assembled in the Command Room in practically no time, Michelle and Ace being the last ones to arrive. Michelle took her spot at the center table and the lined up in their usual spots. The main screen came to life as the Major’s image looked at them, “Good, you’re all here. As you probably gathered there’s a mission involved in this call.”

“What are we looking at Major?”, Dan asked.

“Something a little different this time around,” he told them. “There been several cases across the globe of a variation of the Alienizer drug mega-gestrine being trafficked. Normally we wouldn’t get involved in something like this, but I made a exception in this case. According to police reports the human dealers that would talk after they were arrested revealed that they received their shipments from this person,” A green gorilla looking alien in a business suit appeared on one of the screen next to him. “This is Sparky McGillia, and he has a drug trafficking record as long as my arm. He specializes in altering a drug’s chemical makeup just enough to get it pasts any sensors sweeps. Then he changes it again to get the maximum effect in whatever species he happens to be dealing with at the time.”

“I’m assuming his safety standards are relatively low?”, Rev asked.

“Rumor has it he manufactures his variants on board his own ship, and with whatever local substances he can get his hands one. From what I hear, McGillia’s not the tidiest of individuals. Several hundred deaths galaxy wide has been marked down to his variants.”

“I don’t think any of us is going to object to taking this small fish down,” Dan said. The other nodded in agreement.

The Major smiled proudly, “I thought you guys would feel that way.”

“So where are we headed?”

“Arizona, much like with Gremlin and Hawaii he’s been spotted in several spots of the state. DekaRail was going to take this one, but considering the size of the state I volunteered or services. Sort of a good will gesture toward the other units if you will.”

“Fine, just tell Kodiak to make sure his unit stays out of our way,” Dan said. Again, the other agreed, more or less. Pierce sighed before making sure nobody was listening in on his end.

“I realize we’re a covert unit, but eventually you guys are going to have to work with the other units. Nicely I might add.”

“We’ll worry about it when it happens,” Ace said. The Major looked like he was ready to give up.

“I’m the one who has to deal with this,” he muttered.”You got a mission to do, so get on it.” The connection cut out quickly.

“I think you guys are pushing things a bit,” Michelle told them.

“We weren’t even close to the pushing it point,” Dan informed her. “Trust me I should know. But l like he said, we got a job to do. Civvies and basic equipment if we’re going to be looking for this guy out in the open.”

“You heard the man,” Ace said, “let’s get moving.”

***
Michelle shifted through the information they were sent, she and Dan decided Tucson would be a good starting point for the search. She also mentioned an Asian heritage fair was taking place, with the main attention being on Japan, China and Korea. Ace thoughts were along the lines of ‘that’s just great’. Boomer looked like he remembered something and looked at her, “Ace, aren’t you Korean?”

“Only because of birth,” she said softly. Boomer didn’t hear her and thought he was being ignored so he turned back to his station. Rev, on the other hand, was staring at her. “I located the clearing Michelle told us about. I’m taking the Shepard down now.” Michelle found a great spot, an old ravine with a lot of boulders around to block the view of passing glances. Still Dan ordered the stealth system on to be on the safe side. Fortunately they’re hiding spot was in walking distance of the city. The ninety something degree weather, however, made it a little rougher than usual. By the time they made it to the city they were already busting out the water they brought with them.

Dan started flapping the collar of his shirt, trying to cool off. “Glad I decided to leave my jacket behind.”

“I thought you army guys were suppose to be tougher than this,” Ace joked as she took a drink from her bottle. “I mean the stories I heard about you from the Major…”

“Let me point out right now that my ‘pushing it’ point is a lot lower than his.”

“If you haven’t killed Boomer yet it can’t be that low,” Ace countered.

“Rev aren’t you feeling this heat?”, Boomer asked. The Zalmanian looked unaffected in his usual green hoodie.

“No, on Zalman this would be considered, as you would say, a cool summer day. So I am quite comfortable.”

That thought made Boomer sweat even more, “I am never visiting your planet.”

“Are you sure Robert? I am certain you would find the experience quite enlightening.”

“Rev might have a future in the travel business,” D.E joked. Just about everybody groaned at how bad it was. “Sorry, it’s the heat.”

“People, we got a job to do remember,” Dan told them. “We’ll cover more ground if we split up. Ace, Rev you’re with me. D.E., Boomer,” he looked at them for a moment before saying, “don’t make me regret it.”

Boomer looked hurt, “What have we ever done to make you regret anything?”

D.E. grabbed him by the shirt and dragged him off, “Let’s go before he thinks of something.”

“You are so gonna regret that,” Ace said with a grin.

“Maybe, but I been wrong before. They headed that way so let’s go this way,” he pointed to his left. “Let’s get going, I want to get this guy before Rail has a chance to spot him.”

“Are we not working toward the same goal?”, Rev ask. “That attitude seems counterproductive Captain.”

“Unit pride and bragging rights Rev,” he said. He looked toward Ace for a further explanation.

“We all might be SPD, but we’re just individual units when you look at it. I can’t speak for Cap, but I like to think we can kick the butts of any of the other units on the planet.”

Rev slowly shook his head, “I still say it seems counterproductive to the overall goal.

“You might be right,” she agreed, “but I’d bet that the other units feel that same way.”

They walked a few blocks before Rev’s scanner picked up some massive alien life signs. To Ace’s dismay it lead them to the heritage fair Michelle told them about. Several aliens were mingling with the human population with no apparent trouble. “At least we’ll fit in,” Dan commented as they looked over the crowd of the outdoor expo. “Keep an eye out for McGillia.” Ace crossed her arms and tried not to look too uncomfortable as they walked among the crowd. Dan noticed her behavior, “You alright Ace?”

“I’m fine,” she answered quickly. “I just want to hurry up and catch this guy.” Then get the hell out of here she added silently.

“Trish,” Rev spoke up suddenly, “when did you have long hair?”

“What are you talking about? My hair never been past my shoulders.” Rev was looking at board of pictures and pointing at a particular one. It featured a woman who looked almost exactly like her. Ace was dumbstruck, “Holy crap.”

“Well, they say everybody got a twin,” Dan said.

“Hello,” an older woman said as she came up to them. “That picture you’re looking is an old one from my good friend back in South Korea.” She looked at the picture and started smiling sadly. Not looking at them she started talking. “She always had a happy smile, but it got a little sadder a few months after this picture was taken. Her family made her give up the baby she was carrying, a little girl. She wasn’t the same after that for a long time. Even twenty years later I can hear a bit of that sadness return every so often.”

“Can we go now please,” Ace muttered as she fidgeted a bit. The old woman looked at her.

“I’d imagine the child would be around your age now.” Then she started laughing. “I’m sorry for talking like that. She’d call me an old fool for telling other people about her past.” She stopped talking as she took a good look at Ace. Her gaze went back to the picture than back to her. The surprise was evident on her face.

“We’re not here to sight see,” she blurted out while hurrying off.

“Ah…” Dan struggled as he wondered what the hell just happened, “sorry about that.” He and Rev found her by a fountain. Ace stood there with her eyes closed, she jumped a bit when he put his hand on her shoulder. “Ace?”, she wouldn’t look at them. “Trish, what’s wrong?”

“Nothing wrong,” she told them. Then she went all business, “I think we should split up. With a crowd this size we can cover more ground that way.”

Dan looked at his second in command. Slowly he nodded, “If none of us spot him in the next hour we meet back here.”

“Right,” she agreed and walked off.

“Is it wise to leave her alone at the moment,” Rev asked.

“If I thought the problem was bigger than she was letting on I wouldn’t have agreed to split. Besides Ace is a professional, whatever she’s feeling she’ll put it aside until the mission done.” Dan went off in another direction and left Rev standing there.

Nodding to himself, Rev headed back to the stand and talk with the old woman some more while asking a few questions. Then he found a quiet spot as he spoke into his License, “Ops3 to base.”

“Base here,” Michelle answered sounding concerned. “Is anything wrong?”

“Everything is fine, but I have a rather unusual request. I need your assistance in locating someone.”

***
When Ace got back to the fountain Cap was already there sitting on it’s edge. He was watching the crowd, the only indication he gave that he knew she was there was a single nod in her general direction. As she sat next to him he asked, “No sign of him?”

“No, but I did see what looked like a blue dog with scales. And dreadlocks.”

Dan whistled, “Glad I didn’t see that thing.”

“Cap, about the way I spazed earlier. I wanted to…”

“Don’t, it’s already forgotten.” He looked at her with a bit of concern, “Is there anything you want to talk about while we got a quiet moment?”

“Not while we’re on a mission.”

“Alright, but you know my door is always open if you do, right?”

“I know Cap.” Rev walked up a moment later. “No luck either huh?”

“Not exactly Trish.” He pulled out a piece of paper and handed it to her. “But I did find out something that you might find useful.” Ace and Dan looked at each other confused. What could she possibly find all that useful that didn’t involve the mission. She glanced at the paper and froze at the words South Korea.

“What is this?”, she demanded.

“It is the address of the woman in the picture. I thought you might want to get in contact with her.”

“And why would I want to get in contact with this person?”

“If this person is you mother…,” he started.

“I know who my mother is!”, she snapped at him. “Her name is Mary Fieldman. My father is William Fieldman. This woman is nothing to me.”

Rev was stunned at her reaction, “She might be the one who gave you life.”

“That’s all she ever did for me,” she said angrily as she crumpled up the paper and stormed off.

“Good job Rev,” Dan sighed.

“Trish,” Rev started after her until Dan stopped him.

“It might be a good idea to give her a little more time alone,” he offered.

“Captain I was only trying to be helpful.”

“I know you were Rev. And I sure she does too. But remind me to give you the definition of the term ‘hot button issue’ one of these days. I’m just glad Boomer wasn’t here to see this. He’s been looking for something on her for awhile now.”

***
Ace walked away from the fair mentally kicking herself for going off like that. Rev didn’t deserve to get yelled at like that, she would have to find away to make it up to him. But he doubted he understand the reason why she reacted that way. Ace put her hands in her pockets, that wasn’t how a second in command was suppose to act. She looked up and saw what looked like a green monkey in a suit turn in an alley. Oh what a day she was having.

She hurried to the alley he turned in and peered around the corner, “Op5 to Ops1.”

“Stevens here, go Ace,” he answered after a moment.

“I might have spotted the target.”

“Right, keep him under surveillance for now. I’ll contact D.E. and Boomer and we’ll hook up with you as fast as we can.”

“Rodger, Ops5 out.” Ace put her License away then wrapped her hand around the handle of her SP-Shooter just in case. Slowly she went down the alley, if this was McGillia he wasn’t trying to hide himself. He turned a corner and Ace quickened her pace to keep him in sight. Peering around this corner he saw the ape walk up to a human who looking around nervously.

“Youse got my money?”, the ape demanded.

“Ye..yes.. but,…” he stuttered.

“But what ya hairless ape?”

“Some of the regulars were too scared to buy. DekaRail’s been seen all over the state and they were asking questions.”

“Dat bunch of cadets!,” he grabbed him by the front of the shirt and lifted him off the ground. “Why should anybody be scared of dem? I need to get rid of my current batch before some real cops get wind of me.”

“But they took out an Agent.”

“So? It’s not like he was the only Agent in dis country.” Ace filled that bit of info away. Command would want to know about another active Agent in operation. A cat landed by her and she jumped a little. McGillia saw her before she could hide back behind the corner. “Too bad for you girly.” He reached into the bag he was carrying and pulled out what looked like a tommy gun. He pointed it in her direction and pulled the trigger. A volley of laser hit the brick by her as Ace dove for cover.

“So much for waiting for the other. Emergency! DekaOps!” A pink digital flash later and she was in her DekaSuit. She ran across the open to the other side firing away with her D-Shooter.

“SPD huh? Youse guys can’t leave a business man alone can’t ya.”

“There’s business then there’s ‘business’,” Ace said before she fired into the alley. As he went for cover she saw him reach into his coat. It had to be a grenade. As McGillia came back into view Ace saw she was right and tried to shot it out of his hands. Too bad she wasn’t D.E she thought as it flew from his hands. Five Batsuroids formed as it hit, “Oh shit.”

“Show da girly a good time boys,” McGillia sneered.

“Yes sir,” one of them replied as they raised their weapons. Ace jumped out of the way as they fired. She rolled into view, came up with her D-Shot in hand and started firing away. Two went down before the other went for cover. Ace took cover herself as they returned fire. Ace fired back as she noticed Mcgillia hightailed it.

A shot by her head made her get behind the wall. How long was she going to be able to keep this up? “Hey!” a new voice caught her by surprise. Before she knew it D.E and Boomer were by her side.

“Where did you come from?”

“You’re gonna have to talk to my momma and daddy about that one,” D.E. joked.

“Laughs after the mission remember,” Ace chided him as she fired into the alley again. “We got three Batsuroids to deal with at the moment.”

“One each,” Boomer said

“Sounds good to me,” D.E. said as he drew his D-Shooter. “What’s the plan?”

Any other day and she might have said something else. But right now she really needed to relieve some stress, “Full frontal assault, guns blazing.”

“Sounds crazy,” D.E. commented, “I like it.”

“Go!”, she ordered and they ran in. Ace hung back a bit to give the other two some cover some fire. Boomer went into a baseball slide to avoid a blast coming at him. He leveled his D-Shot and fired away until the third Batsuroid went down. At the same time D.E. jumped over his. He fired point blank in it’s face as it turned around. The last one suddenly fell foreword, three hole now smoking slightly from the back of it’s head. Dan put away his D-Colt as he looked over the area. “Did you get McGillia?” Ace asked him.

“We didn’t see anybody come our way,” he told her. Ace slammed her fist into the wall, damn it how did he get away. Rev tilted his head slightly, as if he was hearing something. Then the others heard it, the sound of an engine coming online.

“Sounds like it’s coming from up there,” Boomer said as he pointed toward the rooftops.

“D.E.,” Ace pointed to a fire escape. He nodded and jumped up to pull the ladder down. As they raced up Ace pulled the Shepard’s remote from her pack and activated the homing signal. When they reached the roof Dan ordered for them to spread out and search the skyline.

“There!”, Rev pointed to a ship that was flying away from them. A beep from the remote said the Shepard was overhead. Ace worked the controls so the jet hovered over the roof. The increased winds from the engines was the only indications the ship was even there. Slowly the inside appeared as the boarding ramp lowered for them to jump in.

Ace got in her seat, closed the ramp and quickly gave chase as the other were taking their positions. They still had Mcgillia’s ship in sight but a light on her control caught her attention as they started to catch up. “Damn it, I thought we fixed that.”

“Not something I want to hear at this altitude Ace,” Dan said.

“The starboard engine losing power again.” She did a quick system check, “It’s the stealth system, it’s draining power from the engine.” How the hell did she miss that? What else could go wrong today?

Dan lowered his head and muttered, “McGee going to have a field day with this one. Drop the stealth,” he ordered and power to the starboard engine increased. She was really going to have to pressure the Major about those parts for the upgrade when she got back.

“We barely got McGillia on scanners,” D.E. announced.

“Give me the location,” Ace said. “I’ll figure out the quickest approach vector to close the gap.” His location appeared on her screen and she did a couple quick calculations in her flight computer. She had her approach and increased speed while keeping an eye on the engine sensor. “Come on baby,’ she said under her breath, “don’t disappoint me now.”

“We’re coming up on Phoenix,” Boomer said from his station.

“He’s almost in firing range,” D.E. called out right after. There was a quick flash from Mcgillia’s ship and the Shepard rocked from an impact. “We took a hit. Port wing has some slight damage.”

“Space ape did not just shoot my jet,” Ace said in disbelief.

“Return fire!”, Dan ordered. “Wing guns!”. D.E. took aim and fired away. Mcgillia tried to avoid the barrage. Sparks off it’s hull were the only indication they hit him. Mcgillia fired at them again and hit the mark again.

“Starboard engine took a hit.” Everybody looked at her.

She ignored them and kept her eyes on the sensors. No power loss from that engine. Finally something went right. But that damn ape shot her ship again. McGillia’s ship flew between two high rise building. Dan noticed she wasn’t changing course. “Ah… Ace?,” he said while sitting a little straighter. D.E., Rev and Boomer started tightening the straps on their seats and braced themselves for the impact, “Ace!”. She jerked the controls and the Shepard turned ninety degrees on it’s side and flew the gap between the buildings, the windows rattling from the wake. Dan took a moment to find his voice, “Could you warn me when you’re going to do that?!”

“Didn’t have time. Are we in laser range yet?”

“We are now,” D.E answered.

Ace wasted no time, “Target his engines and bring him down.”

D.E. looked at Dan. “You heard her,” was all he said.

“Right.” D.E. prepped the laser. A handle with a trigger popped out of his council and the targeting computer locked on. The nosecone split open as he concentrated. “Target acquired. Firing laser,” he pulled the trigger and a yellow energy beam stuck McGillia’s port engine. It started smoking immediately and the ship headed for the ground. Ace followed it down as it crashed a mile into the dessert. The Shepard landed and Dan, Boomer and D.E exited and found McGillia stumbling away from his ship.

Dan took out his License and held it in front of him, “Target orders!”. The area went black as a red X and blue circle started flashing in front of McGillia. After a minute the Red X shined brightly, “Eliminate Target.” They locked their License into the D-Shots and took aim. “Ready. Strikeout!” Three blue energy beams deleted McGillia as they hit him. Dan lowered his weapon, “Got you.”

When they got back to the ship they found Ace going over the damage it sustained during the chase. “Ace,” D.E. said, “normally I don’t complain about your flying. But this particular trip….”, he trailed off.

“Hey, the Shepard’s my baby,” she told him. “And nobody is going to mess with it, not while I’m at the controls.”

Boomer started laughing, “I just wish I could see the look on Rails face when they find out the missions over.”

“I’m sure Kodiak will think of something,” Dan told him. “Ace what kind of damage are we looking at?”

“Nothing major,” she answered. “Me and my team can have it fixed in no time. The ride home should be a lot smoother than the actual chase. Right Rev?” She noticed Rev was looking at everything but her. Dan saw it too. The look on his face told her that this was her mess to fix and she couldn’t argue.

***
Ace was finally able to corner Rev in his office. After repairing the damage to the Shepard she found Rev was doing everything possible to avoid her. At the moment he was busy looking at something on his desk. Now she understood Cap comment about a moping Zalmanian wasn’t that fun to be around. “Rev we got to talk.”

“Trish, I want to apologize if I did anything to endanger our friendship. I realize you are angry with me…”

“I’m not mad at you Rev,” she corrected him. “I was never mad at you. That whole situation has always been a bit of a sore spot with me.”

“I did not understand your reaction. Are you upset this woman might possible be the one who gave you away?”

“That would imply I cared one way or another.”

“Then did your adoptive parent discourage you from looking up your past and learning about the country you were born in.”

Ace laughed, “Oh God no, they practically shoved it down my throat. Every time I turned around it was either ‘Here’s a book about Korea so you can learn where you came from’ or ‘Learn a little Korean so you won’t look like a total idiot if you ever decide to visit’.” She noticed the look Rev was giving her and laughed again, “Ok, they didn’t say total idiot, but that’s what they meant.”

“Then why did you look so uncomfortable at the fair?”

She turned away to study something on the wall and crossed her arms. “It’s a long story Rev. You have to understand, when I see a picture of me and my parents I don’t see a white couple with a Korean kid they adopted. I see me with the two people I love more than anybody on the planet. Until that one family reunion I never realized some people never saw us that way.”

“What happened?”, Rev asked while coming up behind her. “If you don’t want to tell me it is alright.”

“It’s alright Rev,” she faced him and looked him in the eyes. “I was like seven or eight at the time and this one cousin of mine was making fun of me. Dad told him to stop, but his parents gave a really half hearted attempt at making him stop. Later we heard them say they couldn’t believe they brought me. Actually they called me something I didn’t realize was a slur at the time. But I saw how my parents reacted and figured it was pretty bad. Then I noticed how they and a couple of the others were looking at us. I’ve been ultra defensive about it ever since. I still get irritable if I’m around anything that reminds me I’m not actually theirs.” She lowered her head, “You think I would have outgrown something so stupid by now.”

“I’m sorry that some of your family reacted with such closed minds.”

“There’s nothing for you to be sorry about Rev. I should be the one apologizing to you for reacting the way I did. You didn’t deserve that.”

“It is alright Trish.”

“No, it’s not alright. If anything endangered our friendship it was my stupid hang up.”

“Your parents mean a lot to you, do they not Trish?”

“I know we’re not blood, but they are my mom and dad. And I don’t care what anybody else says.”

“Then that is all that matters.”

She nodded slowly. “Are we still friends Rev?”, she had to ask.

“I would like to think so Trish.”

She grinned slightly, “Come on, I’ll buy you a plate a raw meat from the cafeteria. You heard a little about my family, I want to hear about yours.”

“It would be my pleasure.”

Her grin got bigger, “Cool.”