CHAPTER 3 - Ride Of The Knight Sabers

  Ian was *not* having a good day.  It had started off alright, except for
a brief encounter with an iron bar belonging to a jail cell, and a slightly
longer encounter spent infuriating a police detective with Technospeak.
*Apart* from that, it had been a glorious day.  Reasonably warm, not too
hot, or cold, but most of all, *quiet*.  No one shooting at him, or chasing
him.  Sure, some guys had given him some funny looks, or maybe even glared,
but up until thirty-five minutes ago, his life had not been even the
slightest bit of danger.
  Now he was five feet underwater, attempting to avoid plasma bolts shot
from a Chronotrooper who was standing on a jetty just above him.
  On top of all that, his ankle had started hurting.
  /Well,/ he thought as he fought to hold his breath, /we know a way out of
this, don't we..../
  He surfaced under the jetty, presented his firearm to bear, aiming up
through the floor, and pulled the trigger....
  There was a loud, distinct click, followed by a loud, distinct silence.
  After a few moments, heavy footsteps were heard above, and then the
nozzle of a plasma rifle was shoved through the rotten wood, aimed directly
for Ian's head.  "Too late," said the modulated voice.
  And *then* Ian's pistol went off.

  --**************--

  It was only of minor importance that Ian Robinson had managed to escape
their immediate attention.  The main thing that was occupying Max's
attention was the C-55 series boomer that had systematically tore apart
Vernon before any of them had spotted it.  Funny, that.  Max had always
imagined they made more *noise* when they were on a rampage....
  It really wasn't the time or the place to test the Chronotrooper's
capabilities, but Max had lost another of his gang, and this time, someone
was going to pay for it.
  Despite the fact that the boomer had tore apart Vernon like a can opener,
most of its energy weapons had little effect on the hardsuits.  The plasma
rifles, however, *were* having an effect on *it*.  When they hit the
target, of course.
  There wasn't even any response from Vernon's hardsuit anymore.  It didn't
even register on his sensors.  Admittedly, most of the bolts targeted at
the boomer had punched through the broken hardsuit instead, but Vernon was
too far gone to feel it.
  Just as it seemed that the boomer was going to collapse, it stopped
firing.  The blistering heat from phased energy fire stopped playing on
Max's suit.  The C-55 absorbed a few more plasma bolts, before abruptly
turning and disappearing off the other side of the building.  Hardly like a
rampage, at all.  The guys kept on firing at the space where it had been
for a few seconds, before the singularly astounding event sunk in.
  Max had just a few seconds to ponder over the boomer's change of tactics,
before yet another scream echoed over the comm.

  --**************--

  Pulsed laser bolts are nothing like plasma.  Pure laser light travels at
the speed of light, because it is made from pure energy.  However, the
effect of pulsing, at least the way pulse-lasers do it, not only make the
laser fire come out in short bursts, it also has the effect of lending it a
*mass*.  This, obviously, slows down the bolts, but only slightly.  You
basically end up with a small mass travelling at a colossal velocity,
equalling very high momentum and a tremendous amount of kinetic energy.  To
put it simply, it packed a punch.  In a relatively small area.
  Plasma, on the other hand, is merely super-heated balls of gas, that can
simply burn right through armour.  They hang around just long enough to do
serious damage, in addition to the force from the projectile itself.  Being
balls of gas, they had trouble moving through different mediums, were
generally absorbed by water, and also had a tendency to explode upon
contact with certain fuels.  But the main thing about plasma is that it's
hot.  The type of `hot' that causes liquid nitrogen to just give up and go
away.
  However, despite the pulse laser being lighter and far less damaging by
itself than plasma bolts, it does have one major advantage.  Because pulse
lasers are made out of light, they are effected by the same laws as normal
light; reflection, refraction, etc.
  The visual array of the Chronotrooper suit is like one giant lens.  The
tiny slit takes light coming from all directions and focuses it into each
eye, giving as wide a view as possible while keeping weaknesses down to a
minimal.
  It is generally accepted that laser light focused into the human eye is a
*bad* thing.

  --**************--

  When Ian pulled the trigger, he failed to take into consideration exactly
what effects water might have on a laser pistol.  This is primarily because
Ian spent more time swimming *away* from danger than actually considering
using it as a form of sneak attack.
  The pulse-laser pistol is, on the outside at least, waterproof.  However,
as the gun was fired, water was in the firing chamber.  Since water is both
a superb conductor, as well as a refractor of light, it was very likely
that it would have played havoc with the system.  This could have had
several possible effects; most of them though, are generally unpleasant,
and typically involve the gun exploding, or laser fire streaking out the
back of the pistol and into Ian's chest.
  However, all that happened was that the charge was delayed.  What was
happening was that the focus of the chamber was off, so the charge was
bouncing around, building up, looking for an escape....
  Ian, staring death in the face, too petrified by the threat of his demise
to do anything, watched in stunned horror as light exploded from the barrel
of his pistol, punching through the pier to reveal the startled visage of a
Chronotrooper.  The pulse continued inexorably, streaking up into the
narrow slit of the Chronotrooper's helmet.
  Fortunately, Ian retrieved his scattered wits quickly enough to make use
of this fluke occurrence, and was gone long before the Chronotrooper's
agonised cries brought help.

  --**************--

  Overhead, the moon was briefly eclipsed by a dark shape darting past.
  "Sis?  I think I've got it.  A C-55 combat boomer in the eastern dock
district.  Looks like it's damaged or something.  Odd...."
  "What?" asked Sylia.
  "It doesn't seem to be causing a whole lot of devastation.  And there's
no sign...."  That was Mackie's voice from the cockpit.  Piloting the
KnightWing was generally left up to him.
  "Sylia?" interrupted Nene, "I'm picking up local radio transmissions down
there.  It's not a data channel either, and it's not ADP transmissions."  
  "Priss, you and Linna check out the boomer.  See what it's up to before
you take it down.  Nene, you come with me.  We're going to find out what's
going on down there."  
  The bay doors opened, revealing the cityscape below.  All four of them
approached the opening, and prepared to....
  "Knight Sabers... SANJO!"

  --**************--

  Twenty to ten.  Within forty minutes, Ian's situation had changed from
"cheerfully searching for a place to crash" to "running for his life,
filled with terror", as so often happened.  Which still left about another
hour before a chance of a temporary respite from concentrating on self-
preservation.
  However, occupying Ian's mind at the moment was tactics.  He knew that
luck wouldn't see him through this alone, (that is, he wasn't sure, but he
didn't want to push his already miraculous fortune,) so he was going to
have to think up some sort of plan to keep himself alive.
  /Last time I ran, I didn't bothered thinking about *where* I was running
to.  And that almost got my head blown off.  Well, this time, I'm not going
to be caught out so easily./
  What he needed was somewhere where he could blend in, just *slip* out of
sight.  The dock district may have been a good place to find somewhere
quiet to rest, but it was not ideally suited for hiding out in.  If
anything, a person in the dock district at night stood out like a sore
thumb.
  In the end, it was little or no choice.  Not having a map of Tokyo handy,
and not knowing really where the best place to go was, Ian simply headed
into town.

  --**************--

  "So now where is he?"
  "I didn't see him, Max...  the bastard got me good...."
  Max cursed under his breath.  Vernon was dead, his neck ripped to shreds.
Louis was limping after being shot in the leg, and now Jools was whimpering
in pain, blinded.  That left six of them still able to continue, including
Max.  And there was still that boomer around.  It may have been badly
damaged, but some of its weapons systems had still been operational when it
left.
  "Hey, Max, look."  Louis pointed back towards the warehouses where their
ill-fated battle with the C-55 had taken place.  Moonlight gleaming on
metal picked out two shapes descending towards their battlefield.  Their
scanners listed the objects as unknowns.  Max had a sinking feeling about
this.
  "Louis, you stay with Jools and get him back to the factory.  Chronos
owes us for this.  Gos, Ryu, you find out what those things are.  Make sure
you keep them away from us as long as you can.  Rest of you, you're with
me."
  The eight of them split up into their various groups and left the jetty
in silence.

  --**************--

  "Sis, just picked up some ADP patrol vehicles.  They're coming near your
position.  I give them about five minutes before they join the party."
  "Thanks, Mackie.  Nene's just picked up some newcomers herself.  Keep us
updated on that boomer."
  "Right, sis."

  --**************--

  The `battlefield' was basically a small area of concrete surrounded by
various buildings.  Stacked near the centre were a few melted oil drums.
In fact, most of the area was pockmarked with small craters and black
scorch marks from lasers.  There hadn't been any major structural damage,
fortunately.
  "Sylia?  Take a look at this."  Nene was on top of one of the surrounding
warehouses, looking at some sort of white suit.  Sylia gave a blast from
her jets to join her for a closer look.
  The hardsuit was like nothing they'd seen before.  It was big, more like
some sort of exoskeleton; but all the necessary electronics and mechanisms
had been installed, including rudimentary communications and scanning
equipment.  It wasn't quite top notch, but it was pretty close.
  However, it was mangled beyond recognition.  From what they could tell,
there was someone still inside.  Dead, though.  It had happened recently;
Nene could still get a good thermal reading from the corpse.
  "Take a few samples to test," ordered Sylia.  "We'll analyse it when we
get back, and leave the rest for ADP to pick up."  Nene nodded, and set to
work.  Sylia then made her way to the other end of the roof to await the
company.
  She didn't have long to wait.  Before long, two more of the strange white
suits walked out from behind a building and marched towards them.  As they
got into what Sylia assumed was firing range, they levelled their black
rifles up towards where she was crouching, and waited patiently.  A very
low-pitched modulated voice came from one of them: "You there.  Come on
out where we can see ya."
  Sylia stood up, revealing herself.  She could almost sense the wave of
shock going through the two suits.  They were human, that was for sure; the
suits were just that.
  "Oh shit, the Knight Sabers!"  To them, she was just a female in an
stylised white hardsuit; one quarter of the vigilante group dedicated to
bringing down Genom.  They had already seen two of their friends killed by
various factions in MegaTokyo, one of them being their own employer.
Another two had been badly injured, both by the target they had been sent
to catch or kill.  At this point, they didn't even want to know what the
Knight Sabers intended to do with them.
  Without warning, they opened fire.

  --**************--

  As the first shot streaked up through the air, Nene jerked her head up to
see what had happened.  On the other side of the roof, Sylia was dodging
white hot plasma rounds, occasionally firing off her own 10mm at her
attackers.
  Finishing collecting the samples she wanted, the pink suited Knight Saber
rushed over towards Sylia.  "What's happening?" she asked over the comm.
  As soon as Sylia saw Nene was finished, she backed away from the edge,
retreating near the computer expert.  "Trouble.  From an unknown source.  I
haven't seen suit specifications like that *anywhere*.  It's going to be
tough to close in with them."
  Nene nodded.  Then her comm system picked up an incoming message.
  "Sylia, you got to come see this."
  "What is it," answered Sylia.  Linna sounded worried.  Or was it
surprise?  Either was odd with the normally cheerful gymnast.
  "We've found the boomer.  Lucky for us, it hasn't found *us* yet.  It
seems to be stalking some guy.  Oh, and we just picked up four unknowns
moving after him as well.  It's getting crowded here, that's for sure.
It's moving towards the western districts."
  "Ok," Sylia replied.  "We'll be with you in a couple of minutes."
  "We're just going to leave those guys?" asked Nene, gesturing to the two
huge hardsuits backing away from the building, trying to get a clear shot
at the Knight Sabers, as well as waiting for their firearms to cool down.
  Sylia listened to the rising noise of sirens, and the drone of ADP
helicopters.  "I think they'll be taken care of."

  --**************--

  Twenty-five past ten.  Actually, the stopwatch gave him thirty-two
minutes to go, but he was still walking at a leisurely pace, away from the
docks.  Ian could run fast when the situation demanded it, but there was no
way he would be able to keep that pace for another thirty minutes.  Either
way, Ian wondered whether he'd lost those Chronotroopers yet.
  At least the climate was still warm enough to help dry him out.  Of
course, he could still feel water sloshing around in his boots, and he'd
had to turn out his pockets to drain them.  But although his pack had also
suffered, Ian had wisely taken the precaution of protecting certain
valuables (wallet, currencies, food, aspirin) in waterproof plastic
containers.  He'd learnt from experience.  A little wipe and they were
fine, at least after he'd emptied the half gallon of water that had
collected in his pack.  Anyhow, he wasn't nearly as wet as he had been.
Which was fortunate, because we was beginning to enter the busier
districts.  What Ian had miscalculated on, though, was exactly *which*
district he was heading into.
  Every city has a part like this.  In modern-day Tokyo, it was Shinjuku;
in Ankh-Morpork, it was the Shades; in New York, it was Harlem.  You get
the idea.  No matter where you go, there's always somewhere that has a bad
reputation, a place where you don't go when it gets dark.  Sometimes you
don't even bother going when it's light either.  These places are usually
filled with unsavoury types, prowling the street doing unspeakable things,
that most innocent citizens would care to forget about.
  That isn't really true in practice, or even in most stories.  Except
perhaps Ankh-Morpork.  However, all places have their bad areas, and this
was one of them.
  It doesn't really matter what the name of the place *is*.  Actually, for
the completists out there, it was still named Shinjuku.  Perhaps it was not
*the* Shinjuku; but sometimes places with bad reputations sometimes get
names with bad reputations.  In any case, it only matters that it exists.
  Ian passed through the imaginary border that separated the empty dock
districts from the inner districts.
  He didn't notice anyone in particular.  But people noticed *him*.

  --**************--

  "We have to go in *there*?"
  "Aw, come on Linna.  Where's your sense of adventure?  All we gotta do is
catch up with the boomer and trash it.  And find out why the hell it's
following that guy," she added as an afterthought.
  "It's probably doing it because it's not a normal C-55."
  "Huh?"
  Nene and Sylia touched down beside their friends, onto the roof of a
rather dilapidated building.  They looked out over the western core of the
city, their scanners pinpointing the boomer easily as it made its way
deeper into the Shinjuku district.
  "I said, it's not a normal C-55," continued Nene.
  "What do you mean about that?" Priss asked, a little confused.
  Nene sighed.  "It's sending a constant data transmission to a listening
station on the outskirts of MegaTokyo.  It's heavily encoded, and I can't
decode it quickly enough to intercept exactly what they're getting.  I'm
recording it at the moment so I can analyse it when we get back.  I think
it's an observer.  I don't know *who* it's observing though."
  "Nene's also collected a sample of a new type of hardsuit," Sylia chipped
in.  "I think those are the four unknowns following the boomer in."
  "A new type of hardsuit?" echoed Priss a little disbelievingly.  "What,
ADP finally got some funding?"
  "It's not much of a laughing matter, I assure you," countered their stern
leader.  "They don't appear to be affiliated with any of the known groups,
and they appear to have heavy firearms."
  "But they're not really as versatile as us," chimed Nene.  "They've only
got one weapon, and that's only a middle range rifle.  And they can't shoot
straight either."
  "Sis?  Got something you might want to hear."
  They all quietened down as Sylia asked Mackie to continue.
  "Looks like that C-55's been spotted.  ADPolice is bringing up a
perimeter around the Shinjuku district.  They're also flying in some
choppers to conduct surveillance.  I can't hang around here much longer; I
think they already suspect that we've got some air presence here.  I'm
going back to base.  I'll meet you there, ok?"
  "Ok, Mackie."  She shut down the communications channel, and then turned
to look at the others.
  "I think we better find out what's so important about this guy.  Will you
two be able to recognise him?" she asked Linna and Priss.
  "Sure," came Priss's answer.  "I'd recognise a drowned rat like him
anytime."
  "Drowned rat?" inquired Sylia.
  "Don't ask," Linna replied, grinning behind her visor.

  --**************--


  End Chapter 3

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