Asteroid Blues

Captain Mei Yamada sat back in a firm, metal chair. Her leg was crossed, wrinkling the neatly pressed dress uniform. Her medals and campaign badges contrasted to the cheap visitor pass on a loop around her neck. A bemused scowl completed the look.

The air was musty and stale. Dim lights flickered gently, masking the grimy nature of the room. There was a muted, consistent clicking from the ventilation fans, threatening to seize and turn the stale air dank. Sounds of the Main Strip outside filtered through the walls, punctuated by the odd gunshot and faint scream.

It really wasn't a pleasant place - nothing in Novvy Bangkok was - but it couldn't have hurt the O-12 to use somewhere a little less decrepit for their local command hub.

She watched the man sitting opposite her fondle a cigarette while skimming through a folder of documents. His neat white jacket looked a sickly grey-green in the light. He seemed visibly stressed. He made various grunts of disapproval as he progressed through the after action report, making and crossing out notes on the pad next to it. Occasionally he would flip through and refer to other earlier notes. His name badge waggled with his movements, the light playing off the vibrant gold.

Theodore Harris
Senior Intelligence Officer
BUREAU NOIR
O-12

When he was finally done, he turned on the voice recorder in the center of the table.

"Senior Officer Harris, holding interview with Captain Mei Yamada, JSA, attached to the Non Aligned Armies division of the O-12 Taskforce, investigating the events on Thursday September 19th, at approximately 1830 local time, in the vicinity of Harry's Bar in the Main Strip."

He prattled on about other things for the official record. When he was done, he turned his gaze to Mei. "Captain, please detail your force composition for the patrol on the evening in question."

She replied curtly. "Myself; four members from Squad Beta, consisting of a rifleman, two observers, and a hacker; a Husong remote; a single Daiyokai Dengekitai, equipped for the cramped environment with a Red Fury; and a Tokusetsu Eisei. At Joint Command's request, the patrol was strengthened to cater for alternative combat situations and the capability to handle quickly shifting mission objectives on the ground. These capabilities were provided by a Shikami operative; a pair of Tanko troopers, armed with a Missile Launcher, and Flammenspeer/Contender respectively, who were accompanied by who I assume was a high ranking member of JSA intelligence, but no details were provided by command. A journalist attached to NA-2 operations command also accompanied the patrol."

The O-12 officer frowned and flicked through his notes. "There are unconfirmed reports of another member of your fireteam, engaging in aggressive close combat maneuvers in the AO."

Mei cocked an eyebrow "I cannot speculate on hearsay - my patrol and all attachments are documented. Anyone beyond that is unknown to myself." It wasn't entirely a lie, and they had no hard evidence of anyone else - merely shadowy vidcapture from security cameras in the dark alleyways and unreliable witnesses.

He frowned further, his forehead creasing deeper, made some notes, and continued: "Please detail the events of the patrol. I am now showing the Captain a reconstructed holovideo of the area and events, as captured by various imaging devices in the area. Captain, please proceed." In the center of the table was a dark disc, roughly the size of a dinner plate. It glowed and hummed, and building upwards, a holographic representation appeared. It showed the area of operations from the night in question, from a high angle, as if viewed from a security camera.

She raised her hand into the holovid, and scrolled it forward to the engagement proper. Litter in the streets bounced around as if possessed as time sped forward in the holo. She resumed regular playback just as her patrol appeared. "As per my formal report, at approximately 1800 local time my patrol had received reports from NA-2 command of possible EI operatives in the vicinity of Harry's Bar in the Main Strip. We moved into the area in a search pattern, and came under fire at approximately 1830. The patrol fell back, and took up defensive positions as able." Muffled cracks of gunfire were audible from the holo, as Mei barked orders. The patrol scrambled back to cover.

She brought her hands together in the holo, as if grasping a ball, and, by rotating them, moved the visualization around to more clearly show a side street, then continued. "Our attached Shikami operative performed advance maneuvers; while scouting the area he came under fire, which was returned."

The holo showed a barely visible, flickering figure running down darkened streets, before launching itself skyward to see over a high wall over twice its height. A sniper rifle wielding foe was partly visible on a nearby rooftop, taking a shot as the Shikami crested the wall, and various flashes marked other gunfire from various darkened street corners. The Operative promptly returned fire, at both the sniper and an unseen assailant behind the wall. The enemy sniper dropped limply from view, and a muffled, choking cry was heard. The Shikami landed unscathed and took cover, awaiting reinforcement.

Officer Harris took over the holo and rotated it around, showing the other side of the wall, revealing a fallen figure. The figure was surrounded by a pool of glistening blood. No weapon was visible, but a briefcase had disgorged its contents, documents blowing about the fallen figure. Harris frowned and made further notes.

At the same time the Shikami was moving to scout the area ahead, the loud roar of an engine was erupting, and in the background of the holo, dark plumes of smoke obscured the view down a street running through the middle of the area.

Several gunshots were heard - presumably from the now dead sniper hidden on the rooftop - followed by the crunch of crumpling metal. An HT-14 "CrazyKoala" was visible, slowly limping circles in and out of the obscuring smoke, its motors whining and struggling sadly, before finally collapsing. A second Koala ran past, following a larger blurred figure down a nearby alley.

Mei rotated the view again, verbally detailing the movements of the Daioykai trooper to support the Shikami. The holo showed the Daiyoki advancing quickly despite the battlesuit's bulk. It climbed up a set of stairs and onto a bridge, gaining line of site to several hostiles. Two short bursts rang out, and two hostiles crumpled - the Red Fury's shock ammunition gave no quarter to lightly armored foes. The return fire missed wildly, audibly pinging off nearby buildings, and a window shattered in the distance. The heavy trooper stood watch, cautiously overlooking the street below.

She brought the holo back to near where it had started, showing the main patrol group moving about into better defensive positions. "Our hacker put up Assisted Fire Supportware about now, and moved the Husong Rem into a position to better cover our patrol’s defensive position." There was a brief angle where the holo showed a motorcycle sitting at the corner of an ally, the rider gesticulating angrily in the dim lighting, as if taunting an unseen foe.

Mei continued. “At this point our Daiyokai was engaged by an enemy heavy trooper, which was reported to be very similar in both appearance and equipment to a Nomad Kriza.” She zoomed the holo and rotated slightly to show a large heavy infantry unit coming into view from a nearby cross street, and taking cover behind a car. There was the distinct bark of a Mk12 burst, and the Daiyokai returned fire with a Panzerfaust. More fire was exchanged, with the Daiyokai being hit several times and missing the assailant completely with both shots of the Panzerfaust. One projectile appeared to be a dud, bouncing off the car harmlessly, while the other exploded into a trash receptacle, flaming garbage and papers raining down behind the Kriza.

Mei rewound the holo, and changed the view back to the previous alleyway. “At the same time as the Daiyokai was engaged, our defensive position was engaged by what appeared to be heavily bio-modified warband - our closest approximation at the time was a small squad resembling a Bakunin Uberfallkommando team. Post-engagement assessment revealed this to be accurate.”

A growing plume of entirely opaque smoke was visible down the alley, while several distressingly grotesque figures emerged from around the corner. They resembled various old Earth animals, and howled as they launched themselves past the figure astride the motorcycle, directly toward the patrol. The Husong fired a burst into one of the creatures, hitting its mark and dismembering the target with a great mess of gore. The shadowy biker to launch a small, blue-green cloud as the creatures rounded the corner.

More plumes of smoke erupted closer as the two remaining creatures fell and writhed in agony, being torn apart by nanobots from the inside. From the billowing smoke clouds erupted a lithe, catlike figure. Mei followed the cat-creature on the holovid as it rounded a nearby corner, making a direct line for a what appeared to be a nearby civilian. The civilian drew a small pistol, firing upon the ever nearing threat. The cat-creature fell to the ground spasming just as it prepared to swing its vicious claws - and was promptly blown apart by the nearby Tanko heavy infantry firing upon the creature.

“From there, the Daiyokai reported an apparently friendly figure racing along the streets, and the sounds of close engagement and gunfire, which were followed by several loud explosions. We could not confirm the specific actions, or even who this individual was, due to poor visibility. Even from his vantage point, our Daiyokai could not get a clear read on what happened - the unknown individual was covering their movements with copious quantities of smoke grenades. From our post-engagement assessment of the area, it appears they had engaged and destroyed an opposing Remote - probably a Sierra model, from the weapons loadout with the wreckage; presumably the same Kriza unit that had engaged our Daiyokai earlier - the unit’s wreckage was in approximately the same area friendly forces had received fire from, and curiously the pilot was missing the upper torso and head; and an Iguana TAG, severed almost cleanly in half.”

Harris nodded, then pulled out several pictures.

“Captain Yamada, these are several images from the post-engagement assessment - please describe them for the record.”

“This is the wreckage of the heavy infantry Kriza unit. As noted in the report accompanying the image, the damage sustained seemed to largely be isolated from the main pilot compartment. The pilot compartment seems to be carefully cut open, but only the pilot’s limbs and abdomen were found - no upper torso or head were found in the immediate area.”

She looked to the next set of images.

“These images show the Iguana TAG wreckage. It is cut cleanly in half, from left shoulder to right thigh along the diagonal. This pilot was still inside, as clearly seen in these images.” One half of the TAG lay on the ground - almost perfectly flat, as if merging into the asphalt. The key giveaway was the mixing of brown, black and red fluids leaking underneath the TAG. The other half had fallen gingerly against the side of a nearby building, the top half of the pilot spilling out of the TAG, just as the pilots entrails spilled from him.

Harris continued “Captain, where there any survivors or medical aid given to the wounded.”

“Our doctor attempted to aid the wounded animal-creatures, but they appeared feral - they hissed and snapped as we attempted to assist them - the decision was made to put them down. They were bleeding from cranial orifices - there was no way of telling if their nanobot injuries were survivable anyway. No other survivors were found. Various shell casings were found, but if any other elements of the enemy squad remained they had dispersed by the time we reached their positions.”

Officer Harris made some further notes. “Thank you Captain. If we require any further clarification we will be in touch”. Mei nodded, stood, and left.

------------

Outside, Mei entered the backseat of a waiting vehicle.

A rough voice spoke in the darkened car.

"Did the recreation do anything?"

Mei sighed angrily. "He kept the Tanko's from running amok, but other than that, no".

"Hmm. What about the asset Shrike?".

Mei scoffed. "Yojimbo?"

The shadowy voice grunted in disapproval. Deniable assets were to be referred to by codename only. Mei was fully aware - she did not care.

She continued. "Next time you decide to involve that maniac in my squad, some forewarning would be nice. He's too unpredictable for an area like this. Civilians are going to get killed. My troopers are going to get killed."

He shrugged. "It's a hot zone, people die. Is the objective complete?"

She shrugged back. "If you mean 'did he turn the target into hamburger and secure the cube', then yes."

He grunted again - this time in satisfaction, raised a hand and waved Mei off. She left the vehicle, and watched it speed down the Main Strip.