Special Police DekaOps

24

The sun overhead shined down on the field of white below it. The near pristine snow betrayed nothing as three machines made their way over it. The snowmobiles where white with black trim with the SPD Earth symbol embossed on the side. Each of the five individuals riding the machines wore a white padded bodysuit, a black SPD badge on their chest. The lead machine in the middle came to a stop and the other two did the same. Rising up Dan lowered his goggles from his eyes and put a pair of binoculars to them. Still seeing nothing he looked to his right and asked, “Any idea how close we are?”

Michelle, who was sitting behind Ace, looked at the monitor in her hand. “We’re near the projected landing area. There should be a sign somewhere.”

“Maybe a few months ago when they first landed, “Ace reminded her. “If these guys are so dangerous why are we just hearing about it now?”

“Because Command didn’t know about it until that other Ops unit did that raid,” Michelle told her. “The Iczians are hard enough to track as it is. Most planets don’t know they’re there until it’s too late. We got lucky this time around.”

“Like a meteor hit in the Arctic wasn’t a big enough clue,” Ace shot back.

“Wouldn’t Rev be helpful in this situation?”, Boomer asked from behind D.E.. “Tracking life signs is kinda what he does.”

“And Rev looked like he was about to fall asleep back in Alaska,” Dan said replacing his goggles. “He’d probably be in a coma if we brought him up here, even with the polar suits.”

“Who actually saw him yawn?”, Boomer asked. Dan, Ace and D.E. raised their hands. “That was a rhetorical question.”

“Look at the bright side,” D.E. said, “at least we’re getting to test drive these Machine Polar Bears. These babies handle like a dream.”

“So why ain’t I driving one again?”, Boomer demanded.

“You lost the coin toss,” Ace reminded him.

“Just remember to keep your hands above the waist buddy,” D.E. said.

Boomer quickly pulled away, “That’s not funny.”

“Why do you think Dan won’t let me ride with him,” Michelle smiled. Ace shook her head. “What, they can joke but I can’t?”

“In your case it wouldn’t be a joke,” Ace said. Michelle slapped her on the shoulder.

“People,” Dan said sternly.

The other got serious as Michelle said, “Sorry.”

“You can joke after we locate these guys,” Dan told them. “D.E., Michelle work on a grid for a search pattern once we hit the coordinates. Boomer, listen for anything other than the chattering of your own teeth. Ace, you and me are going to keep our eyes peeled for anything that looks out of place.” The team confirmed his order and they headed off again.

***

In an underground cavern dug out of the ice a creature in a robe and covered with white fur sat while he watched the screen made of ice. Various lights below it combined to form an image of the surface above. He leaned foreword a bit and raised his eyebrows slightly. “Darling,” he called out with a slight gravely sound to his voice, “come look at this.”

“What is it dear?”, a female of the same species said. Wearing a longer robe with jewels in the labels she leaned on his shoulder. “More of those pesky humans?”

“It looks like it is, but they seem different.” Waving his hand over a crystal like device the image changed to an readout with three still moving lines. “These are in a search pattern from the look of things.”

“Do you think they’re looking for us,” she asked not sounding concerned.

“Well they did warn us about adding a planet with so many of these so called officers of interstellar law darling.”

“I know dear, but remember we need to expand our territory some how, and show these lower life form the beauty and joy of the natural cold.”

“I know darling,” he sighed, “but it would be so much easier if they didn’t fight back. How anybody can live in such weather. It’s unnatural. It’s uncivilized.”

“That is why we made it our mission to civilize these primitives dear. It’s a pity really that those ‘officers’ would rather cater to the common rift raft than do the bidding of the elite.”

“It’s not like those Alienizers are any better darling. All they care for is profit. I wouldn’t be surprised if they fought along side the officers to try and stop us.

“And won’t that be a sight to see,” she laughed. “Well in a few hours it won’t matter, the generator is almost ready. Then the beautiful cold will take over this poor planet.”

“It will be a thing of beauty, almost as beautiful as you,” he said as he took her hand and kissed it.

***

The search went on for another hour before Dan looked at the sky. It was going to be dark before they knew it, and while the polar suits were heated it was going to get cold fast and get harder to see. And they couldn’t risk waiting for the sun to come back up. “Cap,” Boomer shouted, “I saw tracks!” He pointed to an area behind them. Turning the Polar Bears around they went slow before Dan saw the tracks too.

Getting off the snowmobile Dan walked over and examined the tracks in the snow. Ace came up behind him and asked, “Are those what we’re looking for or are those animals tracks?”

“I’m seeing human and animal traits,” he said while gesturing at the tracks shape, “so it’s definitely humanoid.” Unzipping a pocket he took out his OpLicense and scanned the footprint. “The track fits the basic Iczian footprint, so we got a lead.”

“Dan,” Michelle called out, “I found another set of tracks.”

Ace ran over and called back, ”It’s the same print.”

“Are they heading that way?” he asked pointing in the directions the tracks were. She pointed in the opposite direction. “Great, one set going toward something and another heading away from something. So which is which?”

“Do we split up?”, Michelle asked.

“No,” Dan told her. “Either one can’t be that far away, no matter how much these guys love the cold.

Boomer looked around and pointed at something, “How about that?” They looked where he was pointing and saw what looked like a hill of ice in the middle of the field. With a finger he traced the path of the tracks by him.

“And we have the tracks leading way from something,” he said to nobody in particular. Looking the other way he didn’t see anything of notice, so for the moment they had a destination. “Good eye Boomer. Try not to disturb the tracks to much, we may have to follow them the other way.”

“That’s two for me man,” Boomer told D.E.. “Looks like that Dead Eye of your needs a vacation.” D.E. hit the accelerator on the Polar Bear without any warning and Boomer almost fell off, “Whoa!”

They arrived at the hill in no time and they hopped off the Polar Bears and examined it. The tracks lead to the edge and disappeared. D.E. cautiously reached out and touched the surface and moved it over the ice. Suddenly he stopped and announced, “I think I found a crease.” With his finger he followed it and traced an outline of a door.

“See if you can find a lock,” Michelle said. “Maybe I can hack into it.”

“Or we could have Boomer use his special key,” Ace said. Boomer took off his backpack and took out five small disks with spikes on one side that he pushed into the door.

Dan and Ace drew their SP-Shooters and stood on either side of the door about a foot away from the edge as the other got behind them. Counting down with his fingers Dan gave the signal to activate the devices. They heated up quickly to melt the ice right to a gaseous state. Once the remaining ice fell away Dan and Ace moved and pointed their weapons into the opening. They found a stairway leading down. “Clear,” Dan told them.

“I wonder how much Agents charge for robot anti-freeze,” Boomer joked.

“You’re not going to find out this time around, “Michelle told him. “Iczians are one of the few races the Alienizers won’t deal with. I’ve read the case file where they tried. The Alienizers wanted to hold the planet hostage but the Iczians didn’t care about the money. I won’t go into the details but the disagreement between the two got ugly quick. The Iczians only goal is to expand their empire one flash frozen planet at a time.”

“Which is why we have first crack,” Ace said.

“Wait, do we judge them this time?”, D.E. asked unsure about what the procedure for this one was.

“The Major said this wasn’t a silent operation, “Boomer informed him.

“The other units have been informed about the situation and have been put on standby,” Dan added. “For any reason we fail the commanders are already cutting through the red tape.” Dan went a few steps down and checked for any surprises. “They may not have any bots but these guys aren’t defenseless. So keep your eyes open for anything.” They complied and followed him down the stair well.

***

“Why those ruffians!”, the male Iczain said outraged. “Just barging in unannounced!  And destroying private property to boot. What kind of savages do they breed on this planet?”

“Calm yourself dear,” his companion said. “You’re heating yourself for no reason. It’s not their fault they were not raised with proper etiquette.”

“You’re right darling,” he said trying to force himself to relax. “It wouldn’t be the first time some primitives tried resisting having their life improved. Which is why we had to create those things so we can ‘communicate’ in a language they will understand.”

“Just sit down and try to remain calm,” she gave his shoulders a quick squeeze. “I’ll activate the Crystalines to take of them.”

“Thank you darling, I don’t know where I’d be without you.”

***

The stairs lead to a hallway withy several doorways and turn offs. Checking each turn off they came across for any surprises D.E. and Michelle waved their energy scanners around. After a few moments Michelle ending up asking what was on all their minds, “Is it just me or is it getting colder?”

“It’s not just you,” Dan said. “I keep glancing at my Shooter to see if it’s icing up.”

“And it’s not this cold outside either,” Ace piped in. “I’ve checked the readout from where we landed the Shepard twice. It’s forty degrees colder down here than it is topside. I’m starting to wonder if the polar suits are going to hold up.”

“Then let’s find that machine they’re setting up and get this over and done with,” Dan told them.

A second later they started to hear a crackling sound. The wall seemed to be falling apart. Then it looked like part of the wall was walking away from the rest. They were humanoid shape for the most part, but the pointed head had no recognizable features. Michelle knew what they were instantly, “Crystalines.”

“Open fire!”, Dan shouted but they didn’t need the prompt. The Crystalines shook from the impact of the shots. Eventually they cracked and fell apart leaving nothing but chunks of ice.

“Well that was easy,” D.E. commented. There was another crackling sound as the chunks started to shake. They moved toward each other and reformed their original form. “Or maybe not.”

“I didn’t see that hole coming,” Dan said.

“This wasn’t in any report I’ve read, “Michelle said. “It must be a recent upgrade.” One of the Crystalines regained its’ humanoid form and raised an arm. Several Ice shards flew toward them. Michelle dove for the floor as the others jumped to the sides. “I think that’s new too.”

D.E. quickly shot the arm, shattering it. But it quickly began to form again. “And that’s getting old fast.”

“Then we bring out the big guns,” Dan told him. “Change Standby. Emergency! DekaOps!”

“DekaData!”, Michelle added. Digital fields flashed around them as their respective Dekasuits formed around them. Michelle quickly ran her finger down the keypad on her left arm and held her arms out wide as another salvo came at her, “Barrier shield!” Several rounds of D-Colt and D-Shooter fire turned them into ice chunks again.

“Move!”, Dan yelled as he ran toward the reforming chunks. They ran past them, Dan slid to a quick stop and aimed his D-Colt behind them. Ace and Boomer did the same as the mowed the Crystalines down again. “Boomer, Michelle find that machine and take it out. We’ll cover you from here.”

“Right,” Boomer answered.

“Be careful,” Michelle said as they headed started down a corridor.

“Always,” Ace said as she squeezed off a shot that took the head off of one of the ice creatures. “Not to question your authority or anything Cap but how do we do that without running out of ammo first?”

“We find out how small a piece these things can regenerate from,” he answered while holstering his D-Colt and unlatching his D-Shot.

“How did I know out were going to say that,” D.E. said while he and Ace did the same.

***

“I say darling,” the male said as he continued to watch the screen, “for a band of primitives they are rather surprising. It occurred to them to run past he Crystalines as they were reforming.” Looking thoughtful for a moment he added, “Remind me to send a note to the researchers, there has to be a way to speed that process up.”

“Of course dear.” She leaned on his shoulders again, “So what are they doing now?”

“They split up apparently,” he pointed at the screen. “This group here are attempting to hold the line while these two here…,” he trailed off as he studied the situation a little closer. “My, this could be a bit of a problem.”

“What is it dear?”

“Well these two ruffians appear to be heading for the ice generator. In fact it appears they have been able to lock onto it faster than I anticipated.”

“Then it is a good thing I placed some Crytalines in the generator room as a precaution.”

“Such foresight as always darling, do make sure they are properly taken care of.”

“Of course dear,” she kissed him on the top of the head and went to activate the guards in the generator room.

***

“I got a reading,” Michelle said as the scanner started to beep. Boomer followed her as she ran toward the source. The beeps got louder the closer they got. Entering a large chamber they slid to a stop stared at a large machine that was a couple of stories tall, and looked like it went a bit into the ground beneath them.

“That’s bigger than I was expecting,” Boomer commented.

“It’s designed to freeze the planet, it’s not going to be small.” Michelle entered a command into her scanner and pulled up a schematic of the generator. “Command was able to study enough of these things to identify a couple of weak spots we can exploit. It won’t destroy it completely but it should stop them from activating it.”

They heard the crackling sound again and got ready as more Crystalines came out if the wall. Boomer drew his D-Shooter and started shooting. Michelle decided now was good as any to try out that new program she developed. Running at the ones coming from the other wall she punched in a five digit code into her keypad, “Electro kicks!” Energy built up around her feet as she threw every kick she knew at the Crystalines. She stopped as they started cracking and shattered. Running back to Boomer she forced the scanner into his hand. “Go, we got to take that generator out.”

“Do you have any idea what Caps going to do to me if I let anything happen to you?”

“Do you have any idea what he’s going to do to you if you let the planet become a giant icicle?”

“Point,” he conceded. Giving her his D-Shooter he said, “Take it you’re going to have to keep them at bay for as along as possible.”

“Right,” she said.

Dan and the others were learning the hard way these things could regenerate from some pretty small pieces. And with the small amount of cover they have now it turning into a question of how many times could they do that before they, hopefully, degraded. “I could really use a flame thrower right about now,” Ace commented as she put her back to the wall, as another volley of shards came at them.

“I’d settle for a hair dyer set on high set on high,” D.E. half joked.

One of the Crystalines changed tactics and shot a stream of ice at them. Dan was a second too slow as his left arm was quickly frozen to the wall beside him. “Again with the fucking arm,” he grunted as he reached into his pack. Extended his D-Rod to its’ full length he smashed it against the ice until it broke and he could pull his arm free. “We’re changing tactics,” Dan ordered. Picking up his D-Shot he locked his License into it. “Bring down the house,” he said as he pumped the grip and primed the shot. All three aimed their D-Shots at the roof above the Crystalines, “Strikeout!” The beams stuck the roof and huge chunks of ice fell on top of the ice creature.

They held their breath listening for that crackling sound. When it wasn’t coming right away D.E. went, “Did we do it?”

“I’m not waiting around to find out,” Dan said. “Come on, we got to see if Boomer and Michelle are having any trouble.”

Michelle was barely holding her own while Boomer continued to place explosives on the generator. She tried to shot any of the creatures that were taking aim at him, at most she was able to distract them momentarily. She really needed to spend more time on the firing range. So it was time to play to her strengths. Creating some space by throwing some kicks she punched in another code, clapped her hands together and prayed this was going to work, “Electro charge!”. Dropping to a knee she put both hands on the ground and an electrical charge ran through the ice. Like she hoped the Crystalines started to crack and stopped moving. She started smashing them as fast as she could. Then one reformed around her leg as she kicked it in the chest and it started to raise it’s hand at her, “Oh shit.”

“Michelle heads up!”, Boomer shouted and dropped his D-Shot. She caught it, primed a shot and blasted the crystalline point blank.

It shattered and her leg was free, but she got herself in the process as she came away limping, “Fuck.” Punching in another code the cylinders on the pack on her back flipped foreword, “Datablast!” She swung her body around as the green beam mowed through the Crystalines.

Boomer dropped down and grabbed her by the arm, “They’re set, let’s go!” They ran past the reforming ice creatures. As soon as they got past the door Boomer hit the trigger in his hands, “Fire in the hole.”The explosives he placed went off. They heard a loud crackling sound as the lights went off and the emergency lights kicked in. Looking behind them they saw the Crystalines start to crumble. “Did we get lucky or what?”

A few minutes later they saw Dan and Ace slide across the floor at them and D.E. flew in their general direction seconds later. Michelle was shocked, “What’s going on?”

“The alien snowman is kicking out ass,” Dan grunted as they got to their feet. Just them the female Iczian came up behind them as the male stormed in from the front.

“Ruffians!”, he bellowed. “How dare you come in unannounced and tear apart our home!”

“Hey,” Ace cut him off, “you’re the ones who snuck in and planned to freeze our planet.”

“To bring you civilization,” he dismissed her. “Now we have to start all over again.”

“I don’t think so,” Dan told him. “Boomer put down the disk.” The Iczians backed up as he took a silver disk out of his pack and placed it on the ground. After a moment the image of Commander Numa-O and Scorp hovered in the air.

“I assume you are the Iczian representatives for this particular endeavor,” Numa-O started.

“I am,” the male said. “Are you the one in charge of these ruffians?”

“In a general sense that I am the Supreme Commander of SPD. Commander Scorp here is the one in charge of the Ops program.”

“Then I suggest one of you orders these… dogs out of our home and reprimanded then for the destruction they caused.”

The clicks coming from Commander Scorp were translated, “But the truth of the matter is you this is not your home. You came to Earth illegally and plan on severely damaging it’s ecosystems.”

“We are here to save it,” he argued, “to preserve it under the ice the natural cold provides. It is one of our gifts to the uncivilized in the universe.”

“An unwanted gift,” Numa-o stated sternly. “Planets are still out there trying to recover from your ‘gift’. Let me cut to the chase, you are to stop your plans and leave the Earth immediately.”

“And what if we refuse to be bullied like this by a commoner?”

“Because you are not part of the Alinizer organization,” Scorp said, “we have held off on judging you. If you refuse to take this offer it will be waived. And I assure you the judgment will not be in your favor.” Dan held up his OpsLicense and waved it slightly to drive that point home.

“What makes you think they will have the chance to do anything?”

“As we speak the other Earth Deka Units are preparing to come in and finish the assignment this unit started if need be,” Numa-O informed him.

“And I have ordered the other Ops units to this planet,” Scorp added.

“What are you going to do dear?”, the female asked.

“If these primitives are that desperate to resort to that sort of violence to prevent this lowly planet from receiving our gifts, than it is not worth the effort. Come darling, let us leave these savages to their ways. I am sure we can find another planet in need of civilization.” He took her hand and they walked off without another word.

After making sure they were alone Commander Scorp spoke, “Captain Stevens, I think it would be wise if you stayed in the area to make until after they leave. Just in case they decided not to keep their word to the ‘primitives’.”

“Understood Commander,” Dan complied. “We’ll report what happens after we get back to base.”

“Make sure to leave a marker for your location in case they leave the generator,” Numa-O added. “No point in leaving around to be found and accidently activated if it wasn’t damaged enough.”

“Will do, Steven out.”

“SPD Command out,” Numa-O said before the image faded away.

“Not to mention we still go to dig our way out of here,” D.E. commented.

“What are you talking about?”, Michelle asked.

“You’ll know it when you see it,” Ace told her. Then she noticed she was limping a bit, “What happened to you?”

“She took the phrase shooting yourself in the foot a little too literal,” Boomer said.

“D.E.,” Michelle said. He promptly punched Boomer in the arm, “Hey, you’re right that is kinda fun.”

“The mission not over yet people,” Dan reminded them.

“Is he always like this after the bad guys are sent packing?”, Michelle whispered to Ace.

“Usually until we get back to base,” Ace answered.

“I was really hoping he was only like that because we lost Chatrox.”

“Don’t remind me,” Ace told her.

“I don’t know about you guys,” D.E. said, “but as soon as we get back to base I’m going to find out exactly how hot those showers actually get.”

“I’m never going to complain about winter ever again,” Dan said out of the blue. Letting Michelle lean on him he headed for the entrance, “Come on the faster we start digging the faster we can go home when they leave.”

Ace tapped D.E. on the arm, “Do you think she’s making him a little soft?”

“Don’t say that so loud,” D.E told her. “Cap overheard me say something like that last week. Next thing I know I’m running laps in my shorts. So I’m going to say no because I’m cold enough as it is.”

“Wait, I missed that?”, Ace asked. “Where in the hell was I?”

“I don’t know but I think you were the only girl on base who didn’t see it,” Michelle called back.

“That’s what I get for staying in the hanger tweaking the Shepard.” She started rubbing her head as a thought hit her, “I do not want to see the ice build up on my engines.”