Meanwhile, more of the original story....
--m(^0^)m-- Wot, no sig?
Quote:Maico pushed her way through he Republicon crowds. Corsucant city was heaving under it’s dome with the energy of Convention Time. If you wanted to catch up to a particular BNF, now was the time. If you want to find out what which direction the tech curve had bent to this year, check out the exhibition halls where sparks and mads were vying to find someone sane enough to mass-produce their latest creations.________________________________
A marked course recreating the original Death Star attack run allowed the latest in hardware to be put through its paces. It was becoming the big attraction.
If you were boring, the terraforming projects were giving dry dissertations on water reclamation. If you wanted a little excitement, the Martial Arts panel promised demonstrations, up to shattering the block of a running engine. There was a firearms show for those who preferred to put their faith in a good blaster rather than hokey old philosophies. The Imperial Stormtrooper Marksmanship Academy was giving complementary lessons.
“My feet hurt,” Maico told no-one. “But of course, everyone else gets to enjoy the con except me,”
Such was the fate of the journalist.
“Alright, what’s left on my schedule?”
Her headset brought up her notes for the day on a flip down screen in front of her eye. She had to catch up with a representative of the Soviet Airforce. After that, Steganovich Steelwear who wanted to show off their latest Evangelion-styled hardsuits.
“And I have to ask them about the ‘other matter’., she reminded herself. “Then there’s the official announcement about Ultima Station.” She had the scoop on that already.
The Roughriders had their time on stage. Then the Forge. Then Greenwood. Then the Senshi were taking a long time over their elections. Then Haephestus, then John Henry demonstrating a new revolutionary manufacturing process. The Soviets had something planned.
After that, came the legal wrangling and the final convention wide voting.
“Then maybe I have some time to myself before the closing ceremonies,”
She sighed.
Her headset chose that moment to start trilling in her ear. She stiffened with the shock... it was always a minor fright.
“Maico,” she answer.
“Hey, Maico, it’s me, Ryan. When’re you free to meet?”
She swallowed a lump. Have to give the Soviet announcement a miss. “Give me ten minutes,”
“My place?”
“Your place,” she confirmed.
“Bring cookies.”
“But of course...”
Maico bought her cookies at the Stellvian exhibition. Even after a decade they were still among the best. After a quick chat that turned into a longer conversation, she made her way out into Coruscant proper. Which was being rebuilt again.
“Don’t these people know what the enemy of Good Enough is Let’s Make it Better?”
A squad of Stormtroopers didn’t even look at her. The Tower she was looking for was named for Noa Briqualon, a minor character nobody’d ever heard of. Inside, the lighting fixtures were flourescent white lightsabers hung on the walls.
Any any other day she might’ve found them curious.. Now, she was in a hurry. She felt she’d become an old woman by the time the lift reached the right floor, listing to that same Music from Episode IV.
She had no idea what it was called, just that it got annoying when looped.
The hallways were empty. Almost everyone was at the con. She counted the doors, while reading the map on her headset. 221 Bravo. There it was.
She pressed the door chime.
“Who is it?” a speaker mounted to the wall demanded.
“It’s me, Maico,” she answer.
“You said you’d be here a half hour ago,”
“I got caught up with some old friends,” she explained. “And I brought cookies,”
“Cookies?” the speaker questioned. A moment later, the door unlatched with a click from inside.
Maico pushed it open. Hmmm.... Bacon?
“I’m in the back,” Ryan called out. “And you want to see this,”
Maico made her way through a small apartment crammed with model battle-tanks, real and fictional. A wall of Honor Harrington books, a little Jack Ryan and a little Edward Cullen.
Everyone has their quirks.
Ryan Harrison himself was waiting at his workstation, bathed in a blue-hued glow from a jealously guarded CRT monitor. Snapshots of the Sabers and their hardware were pinned to the wall in front of him. Maico recognised her own photograph of their Lancer, blown up, enhanced as much as possible.
“You’ve got my cookies?”
Maico held out the bag. “But of course..... You got my information?”
Silence, for a moment. Then the pair shared a chuckle as Maico placed the bag on the desk beside the monitor. Ryan snatched it, putting it as far from her reach as he could managed.
“Well I can tell you one thing straight off the bat. Saber white is definitely not A.C. Peters.”
Maico seemed to shrink a little. “I know. She told me,”
“Well now we have proof,”
He started the video playing. It was rough, overcompressed and tending to jitter from time to time as the signal was interrupted. An armoured trooper wearing an old battlesuit.... years out of date but still deadly in the right hands. It stood almost dead centre in frame, readying it’s autocannon
“Watch this. This is what confirms it,”
“From that video?”
“Yup,” A white figure flashed through. She seemed to flow around the battlesuit, dodging around it’s cannon. Sparks and shrapnel flew from somewhere near the head. Smoke burst from the back as the suit began to collapse. “For one thing, Saber White just doesn’t have the same ‘talent’ “ he smirked.
Maico snorted, glared then snatched a cookie.
“Hey! It’s a fair point. Her bodyshape is complete different. There’s no way A.C. would fit in there.”
“Fine...” she sighed.
“Also it’s a completely different fighting style,” Ryan said. “And I even checked that against that Gauntlet run.” his expression flattened. “...which I had to pay for by the way. Compare highlights of that with how Saber White moves and it’s obvious they’re entirely different.”
Maico nodded, “I’ll take your word for that,”
“Also, I can tell you what fighting style Saber White uses...”
“Oh?”
He munched a cookie, tacking long moments to savour while covering the bag. Maico rolled her eyes. “Keep me in suspence why don’t you?
He smirked playfully and swallowed.
“Alright! Saber White uses Panzer Kunst. There’s no doubt about it. More to the point, Saber White exclusively uses Panzer Kunst with nothing else mixed in.”
He brough up another video with a sweep of his fingers. Another battlesuit getting introduced to some form of open-handed blow that shattered the armour. The back of the suit seemed to bow out, as it was hit by a shockwave from within, hinting at the fate of the pilot within. The outer covers flew off.
“That was the Herza Haon. You ever see one of their demonstrations at a convention, where they destroy an engine with a single blow and it just seems to fly apart like they’d packed it with explosives? That’s what she’s using.”
“So this is someone trained by the Gruppe then.” Maico spoke her thoughts out loud.
“Almost certainly. Even though I’ve never seen a powered armour using a move like that. But yeah, they’re all gruppe-trained.... or trained by someone in the gruppe at any rate. Check out Saber Green...”
Another image. She seemed to dance, trailing monofilament from her wrists, “A stardancer’s ribbons?”
“That’s what I thought. She’s got her own thing going. It’s based on Panzer Kunst, but she’s added her own tricks to it. She’s aerial, she seems to prefer close in fighting, and she’s the most elegant.”
Something onscreen burst into a fireball. Maico started.
“Saber Blue’s a bit more brutal. She can handle herself close in, but she trusts to her firepower more than than the others. She’s got a different weapon mount than on the Genaros video, so maybe they’re modular,”
“But of course...” said Maico.
The next shot. Saber Pink. She hunkered down beside some sort of comm’s panel.
“I’m guessing she’s a bot. Maybe they might be all bots but she’s the most likely. Anyway, she runs three cables from her suit to the panel. And watch this here...”A blue haze seemed to form a bubble around her for a moment, before fading out of view. “She’s got some kind of forcefield. It lets her get to work while being shot at. ”
To emphasise the point, a burst of gunfire sparked against the shield.
Her motorslave returned fire with a blast that killed the camera. The feed flickered and went blue
Maico thought for a moment
“If I remember right, the Panzer Kunst do train people to use power armour. Maybe they might know who this is,”
“It’s as good a chance as any,” Ryan shrugged.
Maico felt a smirk forming on her lips. “It’s a lead. That’s what’s important.”
“But of course,” Ryan smirked back at her.
Maico glared. She made a snap grab for the cookie bag. Ryan hugged it like a bear, grinning. Maico pursed her lips into a cute little pout. She went full arms akimbo on him. trying to glare him down into his chair.
Daring the other to make the first strike, they stared into each others eyes....
And burst out laughing simultaneously.
“Thanks for the information, Ryan,” said Maico after collecting herself together.
“No problemo. You bring good cookies and good rep, I bring good info’.”
Maico left the apartment feeling renewed. Panzer Kunst Gruppe, Benjamin Rhodes, make a note of that. She had meetings to arrange. Leads to follow.
“I’m back on the trail!” she announced to no-one not listening. She paused at the lift door, waiting a moment before calling the car. “I think I am getting obsessed,”
She exhaled a long, satisfied sigh, then pushed the button to call the lift. Her headset trilled in her ear. Caller I.D. Mike Peck. Researcher for Fen News Network...
“Maico,” she answered.
“Maico, Mike. You got the Soviet announcement, quiaff?”
Her stomach shrank. “What announcement,” she asked cautiously.
She swore she heard a pin drop at the other end of the line. “The one ten minutes ago, where they announced that the newest member of the Federation was the Sozvezide Soviet.”
Maico’s brain entered spinlock
“Bwa....”
“The Soviets just joined the Federation. It’s the biggest story this year...”
Bigger than the Sabers.
“No....” she said in a small voice.
“Well. Better luck next time,”
“Wait!” she yelped.
Too late. The line clicked to silence. Call ended
Maico slumped against the door, listening the distant reverberation of the working machinery beyond.
“I missed the big one,” she mumbled. “I missed the big one....”
When the doors finally opened, she was on the verge of throwing up. She was on the verge of crying. Sure she could mop up and catch the aftermath, the commentary, the reactions of a few BNF’s.... but the actual announcement itself was the money shot.
And she missed it because of her own pet project...
“I’m such an idiot,”
Her headset trilled again. Another caller. Another familiar name. Another demand for footage of the historic announcement.
And another after that.
Maico disconnected her headset with tears in her eyes.
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--m(^0^)m-- Wot, no sig?