Of Terrorists and Territory (& Crumpets)

[Incindre]

Join up with us Sykes, well take pillar one. Silsbury responded and soon Sykes was amongst their ranks.
Lucy led the group of nine people out of the alley and towards the perimeter fence, checking her weapon and maintaining tabs on the other teams through her helmets Heads Up Display.
The gap in the fence was far enough away that they had time to get into the area without being noticed but it soon became clear that they were going to have to charge the pillar to retain the element of surprise.

The gravel gave a rather loud crunch when a boot stood upon it, a serious problem as it would alert the person working on the support to their approach.
She pressed a button and the front of the helmet retracted.
Ok, on three were going to run at the pillar. She said quietly.

This caused a bit of a stir, the Officers were not used to Silsbury making what seemed like a rash decision such as this. Eventually it was agreed on because of the aggregate under their feet.

One, Two... She started but was interrupted.
Wait! On three or three and then go? asked a Constable holding one of the light stands.
On three, Sykes replied its always quicker that way.
Excuse me but are we going to do this or not? Silsbury snapped.

One, two... THREE!

The nine officers sprinted along the gravel towards the shadowed pillar halting but eight meters away from the five figures. They had turned in surprise at the noise and were now encountered with several bright spotlights illuminating their once dark work area and a group of real Bretonian Police starting to encircle them.

Drop your weapon! Sykes yelled at the phony officer who had pulled out a pistol. Distant yelling could be heard from the other pillars which were illuminated also. Drop all tools, put your hands up and take five steps away from the pillar! Silsbury ordered as the ring of BPA was closed and the Constables crouched behind their riot shields training their PPGs at the offending group.

Nathan White sneered, he had finished his work on that pillar and he was not letting his employer down by not using it. He had learned from his prior mistakes and had informed all three of the teams of a contingency plan should something like this happen.
The phony officer drew the attention of the BPA as he made a show of putting his gun down while the other four lifted their hands in the air and walked forward.

One of the Constabless however noticed the small devices that were held in the fingers of the four apparently un-armed engineers. Drop your tools! she screamed, DROP YOUR TOOLS!
NOW! White yelled and the devices were thrown on the ground in front of the ring of BPA. The five terrorists covered their eyes and special foam earplugs expanded completely, sealing their respective orifices on signals from the activated cylinders.

The flash bangs detonated not long before those dropped at the feet of the other two groups did and the Officers were left with ears ringing and blinded eyes, they fell to the ground clutching their faces, completely disorientated.
Six stories up the snipers dropped their weapons to the floor of the balcony and yelled in agony, the light amplifying scopes had brightened the flash of magnesium compound substantially, burning into their retinas like molten steel.

Constable Walden swore repeatedly, his comrades and himself would only be able to see a huge purple-green splodge in their right eyes for hours to come. Walden controlled himself however and through sheer force of will, retrieved his gun and focused on the now fleeing assailants with his left eye (not a comfortable thing to do).

Snipers, open fire! the order crackled through their earpieces.
Walden gritted his teeth and fired at the men fleeing from pillar one.
A .30-callibre bullet whizzed through the rain and slammed into the back of one of the engineers.

The helmets Silsbury and Sykes were wearing dimmed automatically at the sudden flash and the brunt of the noise was stopped by the deactivation of the helmets audio but the first split second made it through unfiltered.
Recovering a good deal faster than their comrades the two sprinted off after the fleeing terrorists. A sniper opened fire overhead and one of their quarries collapsed with a scream.

The body was motionless when they reached the spot, it clutched a submachine gun in a bloodied hand. Silsbury was about to warn the other teams but McArthur got their first.
All units, they now have SMGs!
WE KNOW! Roared one Constable Hansen and the sounds of a fire fight could be heard distinctly through his transmission.
Behind them the stunned Constables were getting to their feet.

Savins what is the status of your team? Silsbury queried as she ran on.
I cant really tell from up here, the reply came some of the red dots have gone out though.
Silsbury widened her HUDs focus area and realized that Savins was still in his Hussar.
Savins... land that ship immediately and get to your team where you should have been five minutes ago, theyre obviously dying! she yelled the last three words.

Sykes swore as they emerged from the end of the alley and observed that the assailants had grouped together to form fifteen men and were now barrelling straight towards the huge glass doors of the Burlington Mall.

Calvert, theyre going into the arcade!
Way ahead of you. The Cambridge Super replied, pulling up the mall camera feeds and examining the buildings 3D wireframe with practiced movements.
Sniper team two, you need to move to the tall building directly west of your position. Team one you are fine as you are. He instructed.

Silsbury contacted the perimeter, Move in to surround the mall and set up a police cordon, it doesnt have many exits and its quite large, if you get there on time well pen them in. Mobile Hussars proceed to this position; you will keep surveillance on each side of the compass.

They heard screams from inside and the sound of weapons discharge. Calvert I need the civilians out of there, the cordon will be able to filter the targets out if they try and leave in the rush but if they stay in the mall well be able to engage without fear of collateral damage. Start a fire alarm, order an evacuation; I dont care how you do it just do it.

Silsbury and Sykes ran through the open doorway into Burlington mall. It was fairly old but it was built expensively, one of the biggest and flashest on New London with a very complex flooring layout. It was said the architect was savaged by his guide dog.
Interestingly enough, the roughly dome shaped building formed a distinct, your side, my side with no mans land in the middle.

They stopped behind some cover, a low wall separating an open cafe from the huge courtyard area in the centre of the building, complete with ornamental fountain, and exotic tree-shrubs.

The dots on her HUD told her that the perimeter was in place, the Hussars were orbiting and the ground teams were just entering the mall now. Shoppers on the upper floors looked down in wonder and those on the bottom floor had thrown themselves to the ground in an effort to escape the rampaging group of terrorists which had made it to the other side.
Calvert, seal the doors on the west side of the building.
With a quick security override Calvert had the mesh guards descending over the glass doors.
Done, he said but this doesnt stop the service doors at the back of the stores, Ill have to look through the function list and see if I can find it.
Copy that Calvert, ring the bell.

A klaxon began to wail and an echoing voice issued from nowhere in particular, Warning: All persons inside are to exit the building immediately on the East side. Repeating over and over.

The shoppers boarded lifts and elevators taking them down from the hive like floor structure to the bottom and then out into the night they went.

Lets see what happens now... Sykes muttered, cradling his weapon protectively.

---

Currently Retired

Signs and Portents

[Contaan]

A chill began to creep into the Inspector as Commander Silsbury's harsh tone shot through him. He pounded the controls on his Hussar, his usual cheerfulness swept away. The rain continued to batter down on the small ship, however making the descent was relatively easy. His commando armor shifting constantly, he struggled to reach for his carbine sitting in the back compartment. Hearing the orders being barked by the command members, he hurried in turning off the ship's systems and opening the canopy. Climbing down from the cockpit, he suddenly froze.. waiting.. waiting, then climbed up the ladder, and retrieved Jeeves.

"I can't forget about you, Jeeves." Adam muttered, then broke off at a dead run into the entrance that some time before, Constable Hansen was receiving orders. Klaxons, warnings and general commotion was setting in as many were leaving the scene as quickly as he could.

Pulling out his communicator, he spat, "Constable, your location, now."

"North-east side, Inspector. Things are getting a tad bit hectic though sir." came the quick reply.

"On my way." Adam managed, sliding past the small crowd moving against him.

Adam had gone to this mall several times, specifically at times when he wasn't on duty. When he could, he would sneak off and buy some of the delectable crumpets that were sold by a middle-aged burly man named Garrick Jansen at the corner store. Every time he would pass that part of the mall, his mind wanders back to the first time he encountered such delicious pastry. At this time however, Adam shook off the feeling of nostalgia and caught up with his team which several were holding position behind several outcroppings from the wall, constantly looking at the other side.

"Constable Hansen, report." The inspector said curtly.

"Well we have set up firing positions if these terrorists should appear, sir. Also.... uhh sir? Are you alright?" Hansen asked as he saw Adam gaze behind him.

"Hmm? Yes, yes constable.. continue with your report." Adam said, his attention elsewhere.

"Yes sir. We have also been in contact with Commander Silsbury and the rest of the command members.

Reports indicate......"

---

People relaxing, talking about their everyday going-ons, and what to buy next was the scene at the Burlington Mall. Clothing stores hung their wares in glass showcases for all to see, food vendors giving free samples... which one man graciously took. Now this would not be a problem, however, this man was on his fifth tour around the mall. With small picks in his left hand, and his next snack in the other, Adam Savins blissfully walked down into the next row of the food court and into the crumpet shop.

"Welcome! Welcome! Here! Try a piece, fresh from the oven!" a voice boomed joyously from the back room.

The curious Savins took a bite, and was suddenly taken aback. Somewhere he could swear he could hear a chorus singing, see a beam of sunlight brilliantly flash the store, and all was right in the world...

---

"Inspector? Sir?" Constable Hansen asked repeatedly.

"Hmm? What is it, Constable?" Adam said off-handedly, snapping back away from his reverie.

"You didn't hear a single word of that report, did you, sir?"

"No I didn't Constable.. not a single word at all. Let's wait for Commander Silsbury's move. Get ready."

[Seth Karlo]

The three modified freighter gunships soared through the clouds towards the surface of the planet. Large energy bolts whizzed past them, melting the air and scorching the hull as ships in orbit attempted to shoot down the mysterious transports.

As they passed through the last layer of the atmosphere, they began to decelerate, as weapon pods on the side of them sprang to life and targeted small defensive AA missile launchers. 10 seconds later the batteries were destroyed, and the gunships were swirling around and starting to land on the pads of a large building.

The Hub.

The freighters never actually landed, they hovered slightly above the pads to make sure no lockdown procedures could be activated. Men, dressed in black and carrying military style repeating blasters and full body armor poured out of the ships, moving in almost robot like style. Then, stepping calmly out of one of them was a single man, with a large sword buckled to his hip. He had no armor on.

He spoke quietly, and every man in the area listened intently before moving into the building, shooting anyone they saw.

Harry breathed deeply twice, before drawing his sword and following them into the complex. He knew that the location and access codes he needed were in this building, and he would kill anyone who got in his way.

Alarms started to blare, and the group moved through the corridors without issue at first, until eventually they turned into a large hall like area and found a barricade facing them. BPA officers stood unwaveringly behind the barricade, a large number of nasty looking weapons started firing.

Harry backflipped and landed back in the corridor as two men in front of him took most of the blows. He looked at one of the men.

"Congratulations, you're now a Captain. Destroy the barricade and keep moving."

The man nodded, and Harry looked at the ceiling. There was a vent there. He pulled a blaster out of a soldiers leg holster, shot it, and then threw the blaster back at the soldier who saluted smartly.

He leapt into the vent like a grasshopper, then started to move once more.

---

Signature by Sleipnir.

[Bauer]

Because of the complex floor layout of Burlington Mall, there are many great places to barricade yourself in. White and his team had barricaded themselves in the food court. This provided an abundance of tables and chairs to use as protection. Unfortunately for them, the BPA were on the other side of the food court, across the two bridges. Bodies were scattered around the mall, making the mall look like a warzone, which it soon will be.

“Sir, why couldn’t we barricade ourselves at the other end of the court?” one of the henchmen asked. “See that corner shop over there? It sells delicious crumpets. We could be fattening ourselves up on crumpets while shooting at BPA. What more could you want?”

Nathan sighed. “Well the next time we’re being shot at and then chased into this mall by the BPA, I’ll make sure we barricade ourselves over there. If you want a crumpet so badly, why don’t you go ask those kind BPA officers to buy you one?”

“…I’m fine”, the henchmen replied.

“Good. Right then fellas, our employer gave us a plan B. Should we have failed blowing up the bridge, we’re to cause as much mayhem as we can. We were to barricade ourselves in the mall, and take out as many BPA officers as we can. He wants us to keep them occupied. I don’t know why, but who cares. As you may have noticed, we’ve completed the barricade part. To complete the second part, we need heavier weapons, which he helpfully supplied us.” Nathan opened up one of the big black bags and picked up an assault rifle. “There are 10 of these, and ammunition and various grenades in that backpack. We don’t have unlimited ammunition, so don’t go spraying and praying. Any questions?”

“Uhh, how are we meant to escape?” One of the henchmen asked.

“Well…uhh… lemme work on that. We’ll most likely use the hostages we caught. Anything else?”

Murmurs of no came from the group.

“Excellent, let’s get this show on the road. If it moves, shoot it.”

As if on cue, a terrified civilian ran out from behind one of the food court’s stalls. Nathan aimed down the sights of his rifle.

Blam! Blam! Blam!

The civilian dropped like a stone.

---

[10:10:28 AM] Josh (Dejavu): Bauer is legendary to the LPI, I joined because I wanted to be that epic.

[Incindre]

The majority of the mall had been evacuated, the BPA’s side completely and most of the side where the terrorists were entrenched. Close to ten bodies lay on the floor, victims of the wild fire from the sub-machine guns that were used upon entry of the building by White’s gang.
The civilians who were intelligent had gone up a few levels from the ground floor and crossed over to the safe zone on one of the complex bridges out of the immediate vision of the criminals, some of which were now swapping their SMG’s for more accurate assault rifles. This idea evidently did not occur to one person who made a desperate dash past the circular court yard and directly into the path of a bullet.

Jason Sykes swore and ducked down behind the food courts low wall, “They’ve got slug throwers!” he informed the rest of the group. “Really.” said a Constable sarcastically while examining the bullet hole half a meter above his head.
Jason continued unperturbed, “Assault rifles, AR-92’s by the look of them, more accurate than the SMG’s by any rate, keep your heads down or you’ll lose ‘em.”
This obvious show of weapon familiarity silenced any sarcastic persons in the group but also made the officers all the more curious about Sykes shady background.

The ground floor of the building was almost as complex as the mismatch of strangely angled escalators and oddly shaped lifts seen on the levels above. You entered into the dome from either the West or the East doors which brought you straight up to a curve of smaller radius with an information wall directly in front. The curving hallway went each side past a few premium paying stores until one reached either the North or South of the dome where the inner curve ended allowing access to the centre of the mall. The rest nobody could comprehend and this would inevitably cause problems.

Silsbury held two fingers to the panel on her helmet and contacted the Superintendant in her planning room.
“Calvert, I need you to send a schematic of the building to my helmet, I can’t make sense of this place.”
“I can’t make sense of it either; they have cameras in all the strangest places here! I mean who needs to check on the state of the ceiling in the crumpet stand?”
“Sir, I need it now.”
“Alright, patching it through now.”

A download bar popped up on the right of her HUD.
“Oh! There’s sound on these things!” Calvert exclaimed tapping a small icon in the corner of the camera feed. “Targets are in more or less the same position as you just in reverse.”
“Keep monitoring them and tell us if they say anything important or move.”
The Superintendant affirmed this and then turned his attention to a new flag which popped up regarding the building he was currently in.

The map finished downloading and replaced the basic wireframe already sitting in the navigation square in the bottom right of her helmet readout.
“McArthur, Savins, I need you in our half of the food court to look at this map.” She transmitted.
“Coming around now.” McArthur replied and two vested figures came around one of the curves towards them as fast as possible while maintaining a strange crouch.
The members of Silsbury’s group gave covering fire, Sykes’ ball bearing shooter making an impressive noise and prompting all of the opposition to keep out of the way.

Once the two inspectors had reached cover the officers dropped back down behind the wall.
“Are your teams ready?” Lucy quizzed them.
“Aye, both of them waiting at the entrance.” McArthur answered as Savins attention turned towards the nearby crumpet stand.
Sykes leaned over and tapped the distracted Inspector on the shoulder before motioning where his attention should be directed.

“Ah yes, the map!” Savins said brightly, “Would be nice to know how this place worked!”
At that very moment the only rifle grenade in the terrorist’s possession sailed gracefully in an arc preceded by its distinctive ‘Puchunk!’ and landed in the crumpet stand, rendering the small outlet a burning box of kindling and pastry.

“NO!” Savins cried out and he had to be restrained, a reaction similarly mirrored by White’s right hand man on the other side of the building. Adam was glad that he didn’t run to the ruins of the snack outlet as five seconds later the flour exploded in a much larger fireball which singed a nearby Constable.

“Oh well,” he conceded “there’s a much nicer one on the fifth floor.”
Silsbury pulled a few levers on her hefty weapon, spun on her knees and fired an explosive towards the assailants. This one, having been aimed by a woman who spent her spare time either working out at the gym or practicing in the firing range, hit the top of the opposite food court wall and blew a large chunk of rock directly into the head of a thug who collapsed, very dead.

“Ok,” she said, not betraying any hint of satisfaction, “I’ll just send the map to my PDA and we can all see the hologram.”
As is sometimes the way with technology, things didn’t go as smoothly as that, mainly on account of the fact that the wireless device link drivers in her helmet had not been installed properly.
She relayed this grave piece of news to an audience who then proceeded to give all their worldly knowledge on such matters.

After deciding that tricks such as “turning it off and then turning it back on again” were not going to work she grabbed a receipt off the ground and called for a pen.
Once one was produced she began to sketch a representation of the ground floor going off the schematic in her wirelessly challenged helmet.
“There,” she said proudly “What do you think?”

North

The three men gathered around the slip of paper.
“Can you believe that?”
“All those ponds!”
“Insane...”
“I know! Who would pay one hundred and twelve credits for a pair of football boots!?”
“On task Savins please...”
“What are all these squiggly blue patches?”

“They’re trees and shrubs!” Lucy responded slightly miffed.
“Ah... OK so here WE are...” Savins said stabbing a finger at the word ‘Friendly’, “and that’s where THEY are...” he finished slowly examining the two food court areas marked by the inner curves.
“Your powers of deduction never cease to amaze Savins.” Jason said dryly.
“Hey! I have just been through a very traumatic experience Mr. Sykes, and that’s Inspector Savins to you!”
“Alright then, Sir...”
“Cut it out!” Silsbury ordered “As you can see, the only easy ways for them to get over here are over these two bridges in the middle or around the courtyard and through to this side. This applies to us as well, the ground floor being fairly symmetrical; just wait until you see the upper floors. ”

Looking upwards the beehive like mess of strangely shaped mezzanines made their senses of direction and aesthetic design waver in resolution.
“I doubt they will try and come through the centre as the water will slow them down and alert us to their direction.” She continued “If we can get two of the teams up each side onto the first floor then they will not be able to proceed across or up, they’ll have to surrender or fight it out.”

A few bullets pinged overhead, smashing glass and chipping walls, a grenade exploded in a nearby pond spraying water over them. “Alright, are all our personnel present and correct?” Lucy asked?
“Team three, all members uninjured and ready.” Lachlan McArthur stated in his no nonsense Leeds accent.
“Ah, now, Constable Hansen lost four of his men.” Savins said his tone becoming serious. “Must have a rather vindictive group at pillar two.” He finished.

Silsbury sighed, “Need I remind you that you probably should have been on the ground leading them Adam. That number could have been decreased” She only called the Inspector by his first name when she was disappointed with him.
“I know Ma’am, but there was no room in the gunships, I had to take my Hussar and you didn’t give me an order to land when I arrived.”

The Commander relented, it had been negligent of her not to specify in which manner the Inspectors were to lead their teams. “Alright Savins, my apologies, it can’t be helped now.”
Sykes coughed to remind them of the situation.

“Savins, McArthur, head back to your teams; you will take a side each and ascend the stairs on our side, we can’t give you effective covering fire if you go up their side.” She said.
“From there we take one of these strange bridge things to the other side and hold the staircases correct?” McArthur finished for her.
“Indeed, they will be penned in with no-” she was cut off by a communiqu? from Benford Calvert back in The Hub.
“Sorry to interrupt but they’re on the move!” The superintendant was watching the camera feeds as the terrorists mobilized. He turned his head towards another feed playing out a scene in a corridor, a battle between the BPA in The Hub and some unknown commando’s. The Police appeared to be winning. “There’s an attack on Head Quarters that we’re dealing with here, nothing we can’t handle from the looks of it though.”

Sykes stuck his head above the wall and immediately retracted it on being greeted by a squadron of bullets. “Dammit! They’ve got to the stairs on both sides!”
“Ah Hell!” Silsbury swore, “Ok, we’ll leave two Constables on each stairwell and follow them up!”
“You said it yourself, whoever has the top of the stairs will pin the other side down!” Savins exclaimed.
Lucy flicked a few more leavers on her assault rifle before handing a few smoke grenades to the Inspectors crouched before her.

“We’ll do what they do,” she said “If they like flash bangs then they’re sure going to love us!”
McArthur and Savins looked down at the small cylinders attached magnetically to their ammo belts.
“Get up the stairs on our side; we’ll keep them from crossing the bridges to this side of the room! Move!” She ordered.

The Inspectors rushed to their respective teams and ascended the stairs while Silsbury discouraged any who dared cross the North side with stun grenade after stun grenade launched from her gun. Sykes and the Constable’s had the other bridge covered with spread bursts of plasma and small lethal pellets.

“Commander,” It was McArthur “We’ve secured this floor and they can’t come down the stairs on their side without tripping over a claymore or five.”

“Ma’am?” Savins asked tentatively “Can you come here and draw us a map of this level? Would be good to have the edge before they figure out how to get up to the crump- err... the next floor. I’ve found you a lovely napkin you can use!”

---

Currently Retired

Signs and Portents

[Aztech]

Sykes ducked below a small hail of bullets from the enemy, before popping up and loosing a burst of fire at the other side of the mall. For a moment, the dull murmur of the electromagnetic rails increased to a throaty roar and the dust in the air zipped inwards and stuck to the outside of the gun, sizzling and popping in the heat.
The newer versions of the gun had EM shielding, which turned the megnetism that left the barrel back in on itself, preventing exactly this from happening. This gun was either a very old model, or more likely, the junker he had seized it off had found a broken one and "fixed" it with spare parts from his CSV.
Either way, Sykes didn't trust the gun, effective as it may be, and besides, after dropping the spare ammunition box in order to keep up with the charge on the pillar, he had already eaten through almost a quarter of his ammo.

A second after the impact of his burst of fire, a small 'ping' could be heard, then a sharp wizzing sound.
"Ow! Me eye!"
Sykes looked over to the source of the sound. One of the constables was holding his hand over a swollen eye, and a shining peice of metal was rolling at his feet. Sykes picked it up. The small ball bearing was still warm from it's recent flight, and a clear dent could be seen where it had ricocheted off a solid object in the distance. Sykes shrugged a popped it back through the ammo feeding system, where it tinkled into the ammo box.

Sykes checked his ammo belt, then rose up again to provide more covering fire for the teams heading upwards.

Looking down the worn iron sights of his weapon, Sykes applied a slight pressure with his trigger finger. The gun responded with a light shudder, and it's sound deepened slightly in preperation for firing. He scanned left, looking for a target. The terrorists where doing a very good job of finding cover behind the various items inside the half ruined store. He ended his left sweep and started moving his gun to the right, aware that he had already spent too long out of cover. If these men where any kind of profesionals- Sykes stopped. A trick of the light, or was it- No! a man's hand was protruding slightly from behind a thin wooden partition on the enemy line. It looked like he was reloading his rifle. Sykes grinned with and pressed the trigger down fully.

A millisecond after Sykes' finger curled the trigger back, the gun opened up the latch on the ammunition box and the first of seven ball bearings dropped back into the small rail gun. It touched the back of the tube, gathered a moderate magnetic charge and was sent rocketing down the barrel, out the end and on its way across the mall. Each of the ball bearings made a hissing sound as it brushed through the foliage in front of Sykes, then curved a slight arc through the air, looping and turning faster than the eye could follow. The first ball bearing to hit the man's position smashed a table-tennis ball sized hole in the light partition wall and took two of the man's fingers with it as it knocked the rifle out of his hands. He barely had time to scream before the rest of the bearings hit, vaporising the wooden wall. Two hit the man in the back, imparting their full force onto the man's frame as he fell towards the wall behind him. As he tumbled backwards, three of the four aluminite balls that had missed overtook him and shattered against the back wall, rebounding and sending metal shards shreaking through the air back at the man as he fell.

Suffering from deep shrapnel wounds to the entire left side of his body, a collapsed lung, a ruptured valve in his heart, a severly lacerated face and a tenis ball sized hole in his gut, the terrorist collapsed forwards and his body mercifully shut down. The last ball bearing, which had mushroomed against the wall and stuck, plopped off and rolled unsteadily to rest beside his head.

In the distance, a heavy shouldered man with a large, slightly glowing machine gun smiled with grim satisfaction, and ducked back below cover.

---

[Seth Karlo]

The sword left the scabbard with a deadly hiss, the sound of steel upon air cutting across the room like the blade that created it. The sword was deadly, 3 feet of perfection, metal hammered upon metal to create an alloy capable of bringing death and carving destruction.

It was a tool, an extension of the body, and Harry could wield it like almost no others could. It was amazing what the human brain could accomplish when under enough strain, under enough pressure that it has no choice to do the undoable.

His feet, clad in stylish leather boots, hit the floor silently, his legs crouching underneath him to take the strain of his lithe body falling from the ceiling. The 3 guards in the room had no chance, the blade swishing horizontally, then stabbing, then slicing. One decapitation, one startled scream, one interrupted yell.

Harry wiped the blade of his beloved weapon on the uniforms of his victims and turned to the computer systems. He would not take long.

Newly created Captain J23 tried to re-assess the situation. He had been in the top 3% of his classes and was transferred into a weekly class with the Lord himself, learning the intricacies of combat warfare, of advanced tactics, to learn from your enemy.

He sent two more commandos to their deaths to see once more how the officers behind the barricade reacted, then he made his move. Pulling 2 stun grenades from his belt, he flicked the timers on them to infinite and threw them into the air, around the corner towards the barricade.

He listened for a second for the startled yells, then silence. He was not fooled, and pulled his blaster smoothly from the holster, rolled into the open and shot the two grenades on the ground cleanly as he covered his own eyes.

The two explosives roared, and as soon as he had counted to 5, J23 looked up to find nobody there. The BPA officers had fled when the grenades had first been thrown.

"Cowards" he muttered, and beckoned to his troop. They quickly moved to the opposite side of the barricade, now they controlled the corridor.

---

Signature by Sleipnir.

[Incindre]

Benford Calvert watched the scene unfolding in the holographic display in grim realization. The mall callout had been simply a distraction for this group of assailants to infiltrate The Hub and find it relatively undefended.

He pulled up a readout on screen taking stock of the numbers. There were nine remaining Constables in the building and one Sergeant, the others had been killed or incapacitated. A small barricade had been set up in one of the corridors on the level sixty four above the station built into the below floor. It held for a time despite it consisting of two tables and a chair hastily thrown on their sides.

A few stun grenades from the group of Commando'€™s sent the Constable'€™s hiding practically un-armed behind the office furniture scurrying out of the corridor and into the canteen where they regrouped with Sergeant Kiriko and their other peers.

Calvert accessed the communication program in Kiriko'€™s palm-top computer, his orders were clear: Hold as much ground as possible. Do not let targets reach higher levels.
He then contacted Silsbury who was ascending the strange ramp to the third floor to hold back the ever rising terrorists intent on getting to the other side and freedom (having discovered the lockdown on the exits on their half of the domed building).

The Police Commander stopped in her tracks, listened in disbelief before pivoting her combat boots 180 degrees, grabbing Sykes by the arm and descending as quickly as possible.

'€œSavins: you are now leading this operation, McArthur: meet me at the main entrance as soon as you possibly can, something has gone wrong at The Hub.'€

The three officers sprinted through the doorway past the stationed guards and onto the street. Above the two sniper teams were in the final stages of re-arranging themselves to provide better cover of the mall area. Inspector Roger had joined Lindsay in team 2 to cover the rear of the building leaving a three man squad guarding the front from the top of a multi-story shuttle park across the road. This was due to the fact that the terrorists had a much larger area in which to run at the back of the building.

One of the gunships was requisitioned by a superior officer at the main entrance so Rogers took Team two'€™s transport and flew down to pick up the urgent sounding passengers.
'€œTake us to The Hub Rogers!'€ Silsbury ordered and the vessel rose back up into the night.

---

Currently Retired

Signs and Portents

[Mechanist-V.81]

--Khenan.Lawrence--


The 18 year old was still in bed when the police radio turned on.

****Attention units attention Corsairs in new London please report at planet new London!****

"ugh *snoring*"

Khenan Feels some one nudging him "Not now mum i..i *Snoring*"

The nudging turns into pushing and becomes stronger and stronger.

"PLEASE MUM I err *snore*

Then there is a loud roar that wake's Khenan with a start.He opens his eyes to see a 5 legged dragon perched on his bed post."oh...its you Zshan"(Zshan Being his Gaian Wild life companion) .The Beast breathed out a strange purple gas that formed the words."About time you noticed the BPA need you!".
"Ugh ok...you comin with me?".The Lizard nodded
He hurriedly got dressed and rushed to his Hussar....


By the time He got there some junkers were moping up the debris.
"Oh god my boss is going to kill me" (but he was secretly more afraid of what his mum would say)
At that very moment Zshan slapped Khenan in on the head."Hey what was that for?"Zshan simply puffed the word "Imbecile".Khenan Returned home (luxury Liner Shetland)in a mood.

--**Five days Later**--

KHENAN!!!!
"Oh God Mums home"he thought.Khenan Trooped down stairs looking unhappy."What in the name of all thats good is THIS"She said thrusting a Report card in his face. It read

--********* University Report--
----For----
--Khenan Lawrence--

Science=80/100-G
Animals=100/100-*P*
English=30/100-T
Maths=30/100-T
Mechanics=50/100-P
Self-Defence=60/100-P
Ship Simulator=25/100-T
Attendance=280/365-B
Punctuality=50/50-P
Awareness=WWYT




Key=Perfection*P*
Outstanding=O
Good=G
Pass=P
Bad=B
Terrible=T
Absolute Fail=AF
What were you thinking!?!?=WWYT
--End Report--
"I can Explain mum"
"YOU BETTER EXLPLAIN"
"OTHER WISE YOUR NEVER SEEING THAT HUSSAR AGAIN!"

After A long Punishment Khenan went back into his room where Zshan was rolling on the floor laughing"
"Its not funny!"
Zshan puffed " It was and you know it.....Oh and By the way"
"what"
Zshan hit him on the head again

--End Transsmission--

---

[Benford Calvert]

Quickly plotting Silsbury's course back to the Hub over ridding all traffic control points to let them thorough at top speed. Connecting to Planet wide communication network he contacted the Governmental Office, “This is The Hub, authorisation code Alpha Vector Mario, We have been breached, consider all Top Secret intelligence filed on our severs to be compromised. Please take appropriate action to protect all members of the Royal Family and Government that may be under threat. Note that one diversion attack has already been launched tying up most of our units. I suggest you lock down all important buildings and call in the Axillary forces.” switching to the highly encrypted relay to Poole. “Newbury Station, be on standby to be transferred command, All units in Space are to lock down secure locations, all Top Secret information is to be considered known to all criminal elements to further notice.”

His duty done Calvert stares at blankly as the battle of The Hub unfolded on the projection in front of him, “Who on earth has the money, organisation and will to do this? Not Kusari intelligence they would have gone after the BAF systems and not ours, the Mollys have enough political grunt now that they could get most of the information with out doing this, Gaians wouldn't target here they would hit Cambridge where they have the most support from activists. Im thinking about this all wrong, I don't need to worry about who, but what they are after.” Numbers and words flew across the screen “Well, its either the locations of the heads of Government and details of the secure military supply lines or its not what they are after but whom.” Grabbing a portable communication device he dived for the door “Lucy! I'm going to try and seal myself in room and I need you to do me a favour!” Grabbing his personal assault rifle he sealed the Door effectively imprisoning himself in the room bare of all life bar a console. He settled down to wait, because he knew that they were going to have to come to him.

---

Superintendent Benford Calvert (OBE)
Captain James Calvert of the Darrowby
Captain Libertas of the Hearts.Delight