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                           Bubblegum Crisis
                                 ****
                      The Tempest Chronicles II
                                 ****
                        (c) Robin Smith 1995/6

                 Bubblegum Crisis is copyright Armtic,
                     Youmex and Toshimichi Suzuki.
          Other copyrights belong to their respective holders.
                              =========

Chapter 2.16
------------

The evening meeting that Sylia had called based upon Nene's worried 
call at lunch time was a short affair. There was an update from 
Kusanagi who'd confirmed the bike was Tempest's but the laboratory was 
still unable to confirm a positive identification on the body.
The laboratory personnel were trying to perform match via dental 
records as for some reason none of Tempest's medical files could be 
traced; Kusanagi said she'd been unable to locate any other details 
either.

A bonus from Kusanagi was that super-buma had been spotted heading 
towards the old warehouse and dock area. The earlier bravado Priss had 
displayed had waned and she was slightly worried about the prospect of 
fighting this particular buma; not that she would ever admit it to 
anyone. If it could wipe out Tempest, then the four of them would be 
...; she did her best to dismiss the thought.

"We've been offered a job by the Major. It's a private affair and the 
Major is putting up the money herself, so we won't be well paid. There 
is no obligation to come on this one, so if you want to bow out then 
you can do so freely; this is strictly a volunteer operation. I'm going 
to make some tea and coffee, so if you want to discuss it first please 
do."
With that, Sylia walked off towards the kitchen with Mackie trailing 
after her; leaving the others somewhat stunned for a moment.

Linna and Priss sat there quietly, deep in thought but for differing 
reasons. Linna was thinking about how to attack the buma whilst 
minimising the danger; they would have to strike quickly and accurately 
as a team; she was sure that they would lose otherwise.

Externally Priss's expression was one of confidence; internally she was 
slightly concerned. The super-buma at Aqua city had anchored itself to 
the city's structure and was thus stationary; a relatively easy target 
for the heavy weaponry carried by the motoroids.
A mobile super-buma was an entirely different proposition; the heavy 
weaponry would be needed, but the motoroids weren't manoeuvrable enough 
to avoid fast moving targets.
'Damn it' she thought, 'I must be getting old to think this way.'

Sylia returned and set the tray down upon the table, poured the drinks 
and sat down. Silently she sipped her coffee gazing at the others with 
a questioning look.

Upon observing Sylia's look Nene put down her tea and announced, "Count 
me in."

"Me too", Linna stated.

Sylia was surprised at the speed and confidence with which Nene 
answered.
"Linna, Nene thank you. Priss ?"

Priss hesitated slightly before answering, "Yeah, 'spose you can count 
me in as well."

Sylia cast a quizzical look at Priss, "You don't sound too certain, are 
you sure ?"

"Yeah, I was just thinking about what weapons would take it out.
I mean if Tempest couldn't stop it, can we ?"

"You've made a major assumption that Tempest managed to hit it."
Replied Sylia.

Sylia was correct as usual thought Priss; she hadn't even considered 
the possibility that Tempest might not have even hit it. If that was so 
then he must have been concentrating on something else and got jumped; 
she buried her concern and concentrated on listening to Sylia's plan of 
attack.

Sylia outlined the plan of attack; Nene would run her usual 
interference patterns but the output would be boosted by one of the 
motoroids. Linna, Priss and herself would encircle the buma whilst co-
ordinating their attacks; Mackie was to hang back and provide long 
range heavy support fire. That way his suit's bulk and slowness 
wouldn't interfere with their own much move manoeuvrable suits.
Sylia hoped they'd be able to lure the buma out into a fairly open area 
where they would have plenty of room for 'tip and run' tactics.

She had also developed a more powerful version of her own suit's arm 
canon; which although fully tested had not yet been incorporated into 
the suits; a hand held version was available. This did mean however, 
that one hand was fully occupied holding the canon with a subsequent 
loss in versatility.
Nene wouldn't need it; she had the motoroid's firepower at her 
disposal. Linna decided she'd rather be with the extra bulk arguing 
that it would detract too much from usual balletic fighting style. 
Priss seemed only too happy to have a new weapon to pulverise bumas 
with; figuring if used in her left hand then she could hit it with both 
the new canon and her rail gun.

Everyone's thoughts were interrupted at that point by an alarm sounding 
in the computer room. Nene being closest rose from her chair and went 
to investigate the source of the noise.
"Sylia", she shouted, "there's a light flashing on panel three. What's 
it for ?"

"Wait a moment please; I'll come and check."
She placed her coffee cup on the table and went to investigate what 
Nene was shouting about.

Sylia returned a minute later accompanied by Nene.

"The super-buma has been located in the old warehouse district.
The Major has agreed to feed us updated co-ordinates of its position.
Everybody ready ?"
There were nods all round.
"Good. I hope I don't need to remind you, to be careful and stick to 
the plan."

                                ******

It was short trip in the truck to the old warehouse district near the 
fault edge; taking about twenty minutes during which time Nene received 
data from the Major. From the changes in its position it appeared to be 
conducting a box search pattern; though why, that was currently 
unknown.

Mackie circled the area where the buma had been located; dropping 
Sylia, Priss and Linna off at selected points. He then parked the truck 
two streets away; then he and Nene began to move in following Sylia's 
directions. There was an open area where some buildings had been 
demolished; Priss was decoying the buma out into this area having got 
its attention by firing some shots at it. The others were concealed 
behind other buildings waiting for the buma to emerge into the open. 
Nene was doing her utmost to scramble any signals she detected coming 
from the buma in an effort to confound its sensors.
She found a very effective method by bouncing her interference off 
Linna that then had the added bonus of making it appear that it was 
Linna who was the source of the problem from the buma's viewpoint.
This meant that Linna was getting fired upon at regularly as the buma 
sought to eradicate the source of the interference and shots.

"Hey, someone give me hand here; this is hard work and that thing's 
damn good; its aim isn't getting any worse either."

Only Sylia responded to Linna's call,
"We need it out in the open if possible, come forward another fifty 
metres and then it'll be where we need it.
Everyone stay in cover until Nene calls for the start the attack."

Linna was having increasing difficulty in dodging the buma's fire; it 
had begun to predict some of her methods of escape. She managed to 
confound it and gain another thirty metres before she got caught out. A 
multiple blast from the buma forced her into a backward flip but her 
foot slipped on the rubble underfoot; there was a bone jarring crunch 
as she collided with the lamp standard behind her.
The buma fired at the base of the lamp in anticipation of Linna 
falling; however she'd fired her jets to cushion the landing and 
touched down just after the buma's beam shut off.
"Damn it!" she cursed, "That was way too close."

"You okay ?", Priss answered.

"Oh, just fine and dandy."
Linna leapt sideways, just avoiding another blast.
"I think I've got bruises on my bruises now."
She retaliated by blowing out the base of the lamp she collided with 
and succeeded in bringing it down on the buma. The buma went down for a 
moment; rose and casually flicked the lamp standard aside like a broken 
matchstick.

Nene called over the channel,
"Run for the open space Linna; then break to your right when I say so. 
I'm going to try to overload it's sensor pack but it will also 
interfere with your visuals as well.
Get ready everyone.
Okay Linna, go for it."

"Come into my parlour said the spider to the fly."
Linna said commencing her run, jinking from to side.
"Just hope I'm not the fly."
At one point Linna appeared to trip but turned it into a forward roll; 
flipping herself into the air with a handspring and flic-flac.
Although this manoeuvre succeeded in dodging the buma's fire, it 
allowed the buma to make up some of the distance between them.
Suddenly Linna was out in the open with nothing around and then her 
visual systems went haywire as Nene flooded the area with a powerful 
electronic cacophony.
The buma sped into the open space hard on Linna's heels; she took three 
more steps before Nene yelled "NOW!"; Linna made a prodigious leap to 
her right and the buma was now exposed in open. Its head swept form 
side to side; clearly trying to determine where its quarry had 
disappeared to.
Halting for a moment; it re-adjusted its sensor net to give the best 
view through Nene's electronic soup. Priss and Sylia slipped from their 
respective hiding places and laid down a withering barrage of fire into 
the boomer. Supporting fire came from Mackie as he pelted the buma with 
armour piercing shells from the large gun he was wielding. Once the 
attack was under way, Nene reduced her electronic fog so that Linna and 
the others were no longer blinded.

"Sylia, I've lost the signal.
There's no trace of it now on any of my monitors."
Nene called.

Sylia called a halt to the firing. When the dust had cleared, all that 
was visible was a small depression surrounded by pock marks where some 
of Mackie's shells had missed. Of the buma though, there was no sign.

"Do you think we got it ?"
Linna asked, not having done much during the attack; the incoming fire 
from the others had prevented her from getting close enough to use her 
monomolecular ribbons.

"Anything on your monitors ?"
Sylia asked.

"No, absolutely nothing."
Nene replied.
"I think we've destroyed it."

"Aww, that was too easy and where was the explosion ?"
Priss cried, a hint of humour in voice.

"Good point; there wasn't an explosion.
Can you see any debris Linna ?"
Sylia asked.

"I'll go ch.. uurrrk."
Her transmission was abruptly terminated when she was flung into the 
side of a building, landing in a crumpled heap after impacting heavily 
with the concrete wall.

"Linna are you all right ?
Nene! What happened ?
Anything on your sensors ?"

Linna lay silent and unmoving.

"I don't know and there's nothing on my sensors.
Shall I stop the jamming ?"

"Yes, cease jamming and do a full sweep.
Anything abnormal, call out; that goes for you as well Priss.
That thing's still out there.
Mackie see how Linna is, but be careful."

"You don't hav"
Priss stopped in mid sentence as something knocked her unconscious.

"Priss ?" Sylia queried, a slight edge to her voice.

The channel remained silent until Nene spoke,
"Her suit's power signature has changed and there was a slight surge 
just beforehand."

"Damn!"
It was unusual for Sylia to curse; but she could now see that despite 
the planning, it was not the buma who was caught in a trap but those 
that had sought to hunt it.

"Watch yourselves that thing is out there and very dangerous.
Mackie how's Linna ?"
Her question was met by an ominous silence.
'Oh god no' she thought.
"Nene have you got any trace yet ?"
An overwhelming silence greeted her question; then the hairs on her 
neck began to prickle; Sylia whirled round and fell; her suit's motor 
systems suddenly having ceased to function.

A hazy outline reached for her and just before consciousness left her a 
deep funereal voice intoned, "Foolish mortals, you can not kill that 
which does not live."

                                ******

The veil of darkness lifted; her senses slowly returning to normal; 
Sylia groaned, her body aching all over.
'How long have I been out ?' was her first thought.

"Ahh, at last, the mortal stirs.
How foolish you were to think you could destroy me with these 
ridiculous toys of yours."
The buma's face was expressionless; however the tone of voice was all 
that was required; the damn thing was sneering at them !

Sylia tried to move but found that her hardsuit's servos weren't 
responding; she ran a full check and found that all motion and weapons 
systems were locked out.

"Do not bother to try anything Sylia; you can not move or fire.
Likewise your friends and brother have been similarly disabled.
It would be of little consequence even if you could; your pathetic 
little weapons can not harm me."
It spoke with the manner of spoiled child dismissing a servant; as 
thought it was 'born' to rule.

Turning her head Sylia saw Linna, Nene, Priss and Mackie lined up 
alongside her and thought, 'if we aren't a threat then why immobilise 
us ?'.
"Then there must be some other reason for holding us."

"For someone who has an enhanced mind, that statement hardly reflects 
it; even a child could have deduced that."
The abject sneer in the buma's voice returned.

She wondered why the others were silent.
"Even though it is obvious, the statement is true.
Don't you agree Nene ?"

The buma was standing with its back to her; gazing out of the window, 
presumably it was scanning for other hostile forces.
"She can not hear you; nor can the others.
Your communications channel is currently disabled.
Yes, there is another reason; you have some things I want; that is the 
only reason you still live.
You will hand me the data cartridge left by father and the remains of 
Tempest's data unit."
There was nothing but contempt and pure hatred in its voice when it 
spoke of Tempest. Sylia reasoned that it must hold him responsible for 
the years it had been imprisoned.

Its attitude caused something to snap inside Sylia; defiance and 
indignation burned brightly with a passion unknown since she learned of 
the person behind her father's death.
A sliver of her mind questioned why Tempest's revelations about her 
father had not stirred these feelings; it was silenced by the thought 
of this abomination before her further besmirching the memories of the 
good times with her father. She felt a slight movement in her arm as 
her fists clenched in anger; it was using the suit's servos against 
each other to lock her limbs from moving !  

Rapidly she directed her suit's computer to perform an emergency 
reboot; this would result in a temporary total power loss and no 
vision. The display counted down as the seconds ticked away; Sylia knew 
she would get only one chance at this. She steeled herself for the 
effort required to lift both her arms in the short period the power 
would be off.

"The you had better resign yourself to being without; I'd rather die 
than help you!"
She spat the words out with as much venom and animosity that she could 
muster.

The buma muttered an oath and growled,
"You will regret that !"
Sylia triggered the manual release on both her blades and threw them at 
the buma just at the right moment; it whirled round and the blades 
lodged in its torso.

"A pitiful attempt, now your suffering will be greater."
It snarled and reached for the blades. There was a momentary pause and 
then the blades exploded; opening a small gash in the buma's side.
"Arrgh! For that you and your comrades will die a slow, lingering and 
exceedingly painful death; commencing with Miss Romanova."
It raised its arm to fire at Nene; there was a dazzling flash; she 
waited for the beam to strike home; nothing happened.
Nene opened her eyes to be greeted by a blinding light flooding into 
the room, dazzling everyone even through their darkened visors.

"That will NOT be permitted; you will have to get past me first !"
The voice came from within a column of light that was now hovering 
between the buma and the Knight Sabers. The buma snarled and fired; 
there was a groan from within light that dimmed momentarily before 
returning to its original intensity.

A beam shot out of the column striking the buma squarely in the chest 
that blasted the buma into the wall. The wall collapsed into the street 
taking the surprised buma with it; the resulting hole leaving the 
Knight Sabers with a panoramic view of the street below.

Sylia had hoped that they would be able to move now the buma was 
otherwise engaged; however she found that they were still in the same 
immobile state as before.
"Nene, can you do anything about the lock that's been imposed upon the 
hardsuits ?"

"I'll try but I think my computers have been pretty well disabled.
Just don't hold your breath waiting for a result."

Sylia sighed, the only bright spot was that at least they could now 
hear each other if they spoke loudly. Mackie and Linna were in the 
worst positions being at the ends of the line.

"What do we do now Sylia ?"
Priss asked.

"There's not a lot we can do, if Nene can release our hardsuits then we 
could join the fray below, but for now all we can do is watch."

The buma seemed to have its hands full; trading blows with the 
mysterious column of light which groaned and grunted when a blow from 
the buma struck home. The fight was slowly increasing its pace; as 
though the two protagonists had been assessing each other's limits and 
abilities.

A series of rapid strikes by the buma left the column groaning in pain; 
it's light level an order or two of magnitude darker.
Another blast sent the column smashing into a supporting pillar; 
instead of a sickening crunch though it passed straight through. For a 
brief instant the light faded to level where the hazy outline of a 
humanoid figure could be seen.
Several oaths were heard that cast aspersions about the parentage of 
the buma. These were not well received; it snarled angrily in reply, 
"You are merely a minor annoyance, now bow down before me for I am the 
Hurricane and the bringer of your death !"

There was an eerie silence, then the glow regained some of its former 
brilliance and a voice that sent an icy fear coursing through everyone 
responded.
"DEATH! You do not know not the meaning of DEATH.
I however, *can* and WILL teach you just what that word means."

The buma did not waste any time; opened its chest array and fired 
whilst the column spoke.

"LOOK OUT, IT'S GOING TO FIRE !"
Linna yelled with all the force she muster; the column appeared not to 
hear and the blast struck it square on.

"Oh my god", whispered Nene, certain that she was witnessing the 
destruction of city's freedom and probably the precursor to their 
deaths.

A strange thing was happening below; the column had begun to glow 
brighter. Sylia mused that it was almost as if the column was feeding 
upon the energy the buma was now discharging into it; most curious.

Upon realising that the blast from its chest weapons were not affecting 
the column in any manner useful; the buma ceased the discharge. This 
was the opportunity the column had been waiting for and it responded by 
rapidly circling around the buma and then unleashing its own beam upon 
the hapless machine.
The buma retaliated by firing again; the two beams met and night became 
brighter than the noon-day sun as a bright glow formed at the 
epicentre. They coalesced into a brightly glowing orb that then began 
to grow consuming both the column and the buma.
Expanding rapidly, it's outer edge now encountered various objects; 
metal lamp standards melted, trees burned up and turned to ash, not 
even concrete could resist it's advance. The edge of the orb reached 
the outer skin of the building where the Knight Sabers were standing 
motionless; unable to move since the early stages of the battle.
The orb's periphery began to eat through the outer wall and incessantly 
advanced towards the motionless women; as it did so they noted the 
increase in temperature and began to sweat profusely.
"How long before we die Sylia ?"
The was a nervous quaver in Nene's voice as she stated what everyone 
knew, but had been afraid to say.

"Not much longer now; either that orb will destroy us or we'll pass out 
with from the heat."
The edginess in Sylia's voice betraying the emotion she was feeling.

The hardsuits had only a limited heat resistance and cooling system; 
both were being stressed to the limit by the heat given off by the orb. 
Even the light was becoming painful as the suit's systems were 
straining to dim the visual onslaught.  
The orb advanced ever closer; the temperature within the hardsuits 
reached forty-eight degrees centigrade before it suddenly plummeted 
back to a relatively bearable thirty-four.

The edge of the orb was now less than two metres away when Priss spoke 
what she thought would be her last words.
"I for one would have liked to go out fighti...."
Priss never finished her sentence as something reached out and snatched 
her away; she lost consciousness in the process.

                                ******

<End of Part 2.16>

TO BE CONTINUED ....
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(c) Robin Smith 1995/96                    Tempest@ktsabers.demon.co.uk
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-- Mink/Tempest   aka Robin Smith        Author: "BGC : The Tempest Chronicles"
http://www.geocities.com/Tokyo/2302    Lichfield, Staffordshire, United Kingdom
"I was committed once, but the fools let me out for good behaviour !"
IRC :  Mink  or  Tempest-    [ but "Mink" most of the time ^_^ ]