[story] Saber Chase

[Dartz]

Well, what Jet wants to do ranges from lounging around experiencing sensations on her skin..... to full bore combat, with her real self remaining aboard the KnightWing to oversee the battle with it's sensor pods.

Okay. This was hard. And a revised ending for the previous scene, because I realised Maico didn't actually know about the Halcyon node yet.

“She was monitoring systems with her real self in the control room, while running around adjusting systems down in the generator room at the same time.” She glanced away at the camera. It was clearly off. “So I think she could,” Miyuri concluded, keeping her voice quiet. “She’s not a multi-tasker, not a full one .... but it isn’t really multiple tasks is it? It’s an extra set of eyes to monitor in person, and occasionally adjust things on the fly if needed. She has the sensory bandwidth to do it. If she can do that, I think fighting with a puppet would just be a matter of practice.”

“Thanks.” said Maico, “And one more?”

Miyuri nodded.

“What is StellviaCorp’s relationship with Jet Jaguar?”

“The official line is that Survival Shot provides a valuable and worthwhile service. We at Stellvia Corporation look forward to maintaining our ongoing business relationship to the mutual benefit of both parties, provided Survival Shot continues to meet the high standard they have already set.”

“And unofficially?”

Miyuri gave a wan smile, before making certain Maico’s camera was actually off. “So long as this is off the record,”

“We’re just friends having a conversation then,” Maico assured her.

“Jet and Mister Scott first met over a comm-link in 2015. They met in person at Bubblecon that year, after the race. They’re from different sides of the fandom, but.... they do business on friendly terms. Ford Sierra still remembers the kaboomite incident, so she’s a little more wary of us. Frigga as a whole are wary of us...” she paused for a moment, adjusting her glasses. “...they were hesitant to accept the Halcyon node.”

Halcyon node? That says a lot.

“It’s understandable really, they’re a small business just trying to find their feet and if we’re not careful we could easily push them over the edge. We know they’re worried about being too reliant on us for business, even if they don’t say it. It’s better for Fenspace if they remain independent, and better for us, when they do finally find their feet, we’re still on good terms.”

Maico closed her eyes for a second, a soft smile spreading across her face. Nice switch, Miyuri.

“Thanks a lot.” she said with a soft voice “That gives me some new ideas for tomorrow,” It really did.

“Tomorrow?”

She grinned, ear to ear. “I have my own battle to fight,”

“Well, Good luck, Maico,”

-----

Maico had begun to understand why Ford used that warthog to get around Frigga. Relying on the cargo lifts was taking an age. Time enough for one last read through her notes. Time enough to get through Ryan’s dossier on Jet.

Silica rock walls rushed past, momentarily lit up by the lift’s lights. The railings surrounding her had originally been painted yellow, but hard worn through to bare metal in many places by thousands of hands.

The air around her parched her mouth dry. The smell of ozone, ancient dry stone, greece and steel made her eyes water. Guidewheels thundered along their tracks, cable winches howling as they pulled the carriage up the shaft. The whole carriage shuddered and rattle as one of the guidewheels crashed over a buckle in the rail.

Her heart was pounding.

She was entering the lion’s den, and she was about to ask her if she ate the gazelle.

“I don’t know what Jet’s going to do. She seems pretty normal in person. She doesn’t seem so....ruthless. And then I think about that picture. All that blood isn’t hers, and unless she had a fight with a grove of blood oranges..... it had to have come from somewhere,”

“She’s killed people because ‘not killing them would’ve taken too long’ and while I know that’s probably taken out of context, and there’s probably a genuine reason why it was necessary.“ I’m not Constance Gardner, she reminded herself. “I still have to wonder at the sort of person who’s able to make that call. What would they be willing to do to protect a secret?”

She had a quick thought, “And she’d know Stellvians know I’m here. Jet’s a cheater, she takes every advantage.... I think she’s more likely to lie to me. She’s probably going to lie. The trick will be catching her in it. Even if I don’t get the truth, confirming that she’s lied to me would be a hell of a story on it’s own. ”

Stencilled numbers on the wall told her she still had 500 metres to go before she reached the surface. She prepped her plan of attack. When the lift finally did reach the top, it finished in what appeared to be a large garden shed, smelling faintly of sawdust, sunlight filtering through the gaps in the boards. She pushed it the door open with a squeak from a rusting hinge and stepped into an incongruous slice of middle America.

A two story wood-panelled American house sat in the centre of shaggy lawn, a quad-bike parked at the front door. The scent of fresh cut grass reached her nostrils at the same time as the low thrumming sound of a diesel lawnmower grazing away. It seemed to be autonomous.

A single sickly tree stood in pock-marked slowly filling with grass, flanked by a pair of huge stainless steel ventilation shafts capable of swallowing a horse whole. They must’ve used trees to clean the air, and then ripped them out for the valuable biomass. A soft breeze blew towards the vents, confirming her suspicions.

The sun was rising through the glass of the dome like a magnesium flare, arcing slowly overhead, chased by the trailing spark of the Rinna Kazamatsuri.

A woman was practicing in a bright gymnast’s leotard on the lawn, trailing streaming ribbons behind her arms. Saber Green, thought Maico, feeling a little guddy thrill run through her body. She satisfied her suspicion by snapping a quick video of her moving through a backflip.

Maico recognised her as Kotono Ito, from earlier.

“Hi,” she said.

Kotono stopped on her feet, breathing deep.

“Maico Tange, right?”

“I’m up here to meet with Jet,”

“She’s inside,” Kotono pointed towards the house with her thumb.

“Gymnastics?” Maico question.

“Stardancing, actually,” Kotono explained with a smile. She had a very slender, athletic figure, with her dark hair tied back off her face. “It’s just the low gravity sections are being used right now, so I have to stick to normal Gee,”

“Ah,” Maico thought. She furrowed her brow. “You were at Jeanne’s dance last year?”

“No,” Kotono shook her head slowly, wearing a disappointed smile. “I missed out on the qualifiers, thanks a broken ankle,” said Kotono, sighing lightly. “I was planning on doing it this year too, but something else came up,”

“Oh. Jet won’t give you the time off?” Maico giggled.

“Something like that.” she said, flatly. Kotono looked away out through the glass of the dome, and the jet black wall of space beyond. “It takes work to get a new business going, but it’ll be worth it,” Her smile turned avaricious, “Each of us has a fair share,”

“But of course...”

An exocomp whirred by, swooping around for a glance at the newcomer before scooting into the ventilation shaft and hiding.

“Are they watching me?” Maico asked, with a quiver in her voice. “They seem to follow me everywhere.”

It hovered there, barely keeping it’s sensors over the lip of the duct. Maico glared at the thing.

“Jet’s got this weird thing going on between Catgirl industries. I think she might secretly want to be one or something,” explained Kotono, an alto chuckle rising out of her mouth. She hid it behind her hand in the Japanese fashion. “That’s half the reason why we have so many of them,”

“I hope they don’t bite.”, said Maico, her voice shrinking down a little.

Kotono’s eyebrow rose. Maico snickered through her nostrils, a smile spreading across her face.

The stardancer slowly shook her head. “Crazy things sometimes,”

“If you don’t mind, could you tell me what sort of person Jet is, in your own opinion?”

“It’s alright,” said Kotono. She closed her eyes, thinking it over. One single breath caused her chest to rise, highlighting how well endowed she wasn’t. “She’s Great Justice, with everything that implies. She still calls them Boskonians, how old is that?” she laughed, a little nervously. “She’s not a businesswoman, she prefers practical work to theory, but she’s not a bad person to work with and she pays us more than well enough to make it worth our while staying on this rusting old stone.” she forced an exasperated sigh, “Even if it does make it hard to get a stable relationship since nobody wants to move out here.... oh well,”

“Thank you,” said the reporter giving a gentle bow.

Kotono went back to her practice, Maico watching for a few minutes for no other reason than to delay her meeting with Jet a few minutes longer. That image from Boskone Prime still stuck in her mind.

“And how many Senshi have I met who’ve been in action? how many of them would’ve looked the same?”

She forced her fears down and crossed the driveway, gravel crunching under her feet. A plaque mounted to the steps leading up to the door told her the house and it’s surroundings were part of the original launch from Alabama, how the Mayor’s residence had originally been the hub around which the miner’s had arranged their own waved RV’s and trailers as spokes.

The house itself was intimidatingly big, the door large enough to be used for the ‘huge’ bathrooms in Kandor. There was something obscene about it, when her apartment on Luna was so tiny. She knocked once.

And waited.

The whole wooden door shook, like something on the other side was trying to crash through it, before pulling open. Maico jumped back a step, expecting it to fall out on top of her. Jet was standing in the door, propping it open with one hand with a welcoming smile on her face,

She was dressed... for want of a better word... in some sort of blue and yellow crash padding. It bulked her armoured frame out even more, a pair of big-wheeled rollerblades adding a few centimetres to her height.

“Maico, come inside, please,” she beckoned, rolling back a little to allow her inside.

She could look up and see the underside of Jet’s arm, and a pair of gas-dampers that whispered as she moved. It hinted at power, and made her insides tighten up as she slipped her feet out of her shoes.

“Thank you,” she said, doing her damnedest to keep her fear hidden.

“We’ll talk in the bike room. It’s private back there”

“But of course,”

She followed Jet along what had once been polished wooden floors, but which had now begun to age gracefully. It was all sparsely furnished, with a few obvious scars where valuable fittings had been ripped out, then smoothed over with filler. The sound of fake gunfire emanated from what she guessed was the living room, the door ajar.

A glance through the gap between door an frame allowed her to see the television. Ford Sierra was lounged across the couch, wearing a greasy Cubs t-shirt and blue shorts.

“So, what do you think of my proposal for my entry project for Nekomini?”

“It’ll be good if you can finish it,” Ford said, with a sardonic snort. “Or even start it.”

“I swear I’ll finish this one,” he reassured her. And he meant it. Oh boy did he mean it. And he’d obviously meant it the hundred other times he’d said those words. Maico could tell the boy was one of those kind of people. An ideas person, but never able to follow through.

“Just change the name. Tactical Information Transfer Syncroniser, and Arm Slave System? Probably a little bit too subtle.”

“Just in here,” said Jet, nudging another door open with the back of her hand. The cyber rolled inside, followed uneasily by Maico, who paused in the doorway for one moment.

“But of course...” she just about managed to say. The music in the room next door was rising to a crescendo as the gunfight reached its climax.

Centerpiece to the room was the original Highway Star. Still with beercan heatshields on the grips. Still with the Bonneville-400 markings proudly displayed, and a TSAB-safe sticker from when it’d been imported into the US. The paint was still desert-worn, and some of the stickers were peeling. It was still in much the same condition it was on that day she’d first met Jet and Ford, who both seemed completely overwhelmed at being the centre of Fenspace attention for all of fifteen minutes.

Hold that picture of Jet in your mind, and then you’ll have no trouble dealing with her. Awkward. Uncomfortable. Slightly gawky smile on her face, a little like she was ashamed of herself. Ford was more animate, Ford seemed to enjoy it more.

And framed on the wall over the motorcycle was a paper copy of the article Maico’d written up, along with a number of other mundane magazines.

“You saved that?” the journalist said, a little surprised.

That slightly awkward smile returned, “Of course. It was our fifteen minutes of fame. And it was the coolest thing we ever did.”

There were shelves devoted to a pretty hefty figurine collection. The Panzer Kunst Gruppe were well represented among a few Gundams, a lot of power-armours and a whole collection of spacecraft. Maico picked up a few other BNF’s gathered among them, three of Jet herself, and more than a few Highway Star models.

There was a collection of Ford cars.

And another Caster Gun replica, without the ornamentation. Just bare polished metal, wtih Live Long and Prosper engraved onto the barrel.

“Yup that’s real,” Jet assured her, wearing an almost boastful smirk. Maico swore she was swelling up. “Ford and me... mostly Ford... put together three of them, and gave two to our friends. They all shoot. “ she laughed, “They’re also next to useless in a real fight.”

With the subtext being that once, just once, it’d had been an invaluable chekovs gun.

“I saw the one in Benjamin Rhode’s office,”

Jet gave her a surprised look, her eyebrows rising up. “Oh. You were talking to him?”

“But of course. I have to chase up all leads on the Knight Sabers. And they use an unnofficial BAT spacecraft,”

Jet winced, just a little bit. Maico saw her whole body twitch. She tried to cover it with a smile/

“Well, we’ll sit down and get started. If you’d like a cup of tea or anything?”

“Tea, what kinds?”

“Broadleaf, and Breakfast,”

“Broadleaf?” Maico stuttured, “ But that’s illegal,”

Jet smirked at her, a sly gleam in her eyes. “Only in a few places. One of the advantages of owning your own rock is that you get to set the laws.”

Maico was glaring at her, her lips forming into a sour pout.

“It helps me sleep when I want to,” Jet added an afterthought explanation. “And I like the taste.”

But it can generate a dependency, Maico reminded herself, and nobody likes the taste. It was something she discretely noted, hoping Jet wouldn’t spot her doing it.

“I’ll have some breakfast tea,” the reported spoke quietly. “With milk and one sugar if you have them, or a substitute,”

Jet left her sitting on a couch, alone in a room full of memorabilia. ”This isn’t a private place at all,” she told her headset, keeping her voice to a low whisper, “Not with the noise coming through the walls from the movie. She brought me in here to intimidate me, to distract me,”

Jet’s medals and awards were displayed in a glass cabinet, conspicuously lit. That only proved it in her mind. Maico reminded herself that she didn’t get where she was by allowing herself to be intimidated by a BNF’s bluster. A small firearms collection did well enough at doing that, along with Bounty’s paid in full. There were some big names in there.

Her foot started tapping on the floor. Jet sure was taking her time. Gunfire boomed next door, sub-woofers shaking the walls as a chorus of trumpets reached a crescendo. Muffled conversation reverberated around inside. Two men, then a boy and a woman snarking on something.

She thought she might’ve heard something clattering around in another room.

And still she was left alone.

Take a deep breath. Try to remain calm.

It’s just another psychological warfare tactic.

The lights went off outside as the sun fell below the horizon. Flourescent lights tink-tinked into life, humming above her head. The bike gave a creak. The frame of the house made a ghostly groan.

And the door exploded open.

Maico yelped. She nearly hit the ceiling. Her heart tried to burst straight out of her chest.

“Sorry. Hands full,” Jet said, in a mockery of an apology. She wasn’t sorry at all. She edged in through the door with two steaming mugs in her hands, one of which she offered to the reporter.

Maico cupped it in both hands, warm and soothing. Her body was shaking. The cup was solid milled steel with an insulating coating, and obviously designed for stronger hands, “Thank you,” she said, forcing her voice to remain even.

Jet sat down on an armchair opposite her. It creaked and complained as Jet crossed her legs, wheels on her feet whining as they spun up. The brake chirped and stopped it dead.

“I’m ready when you are,” the cyber said, before taking a gulp from her own mug.

An odour somewhere between garlic and fried ginger scratched at Maico’s nostrils. Broadleaf bacteria, dry-broiled, boiled, brewed and stewed. Then sweetened to taste.

Disgusting, thought Maico. She tried to put that to the back of her mind. Stomp it down. She adjusted her camera system, before calling up her notes to her headset. She had another sip from a mug of tea that was too hot and a little bitter, but just soothing when its warmth hit the pit of her belly.

“Alright Jet,” she said, taking a deep breath. “First of all, what is your relationship with Noah Scott?”

“Stellvia is an important customer of ours,” she stated. “Mr. Scott. We met in person at Bubblecon a few years back. We know who we each are, and we do business on friendly terms. We really have a few shared friends, and that’s about it,”

“I see. You do business on friendly enough terms, that a Halcyon node was installed here?”

Jet gave an almost rueful smile. “Frigga’s comm’s are old. The node was installed by mutual agreement. Partly because Stellvia is a regular customer, and partly because of all the space we have, we’ve been designated an emergency evacuation point for a number of nearby settlements, and our own comm’s failed under the simulated load of an evacuation.”

“But of course. Now, can you confirm for me. For the start of 2017, to the end of 2019, you served with the Roughriders,”

“I was a contractor,” she stated, her voice cool and flat. “With Ford. We were both honourably discharged when our contracts finished,”

“And what did you do for them?”

“Training mostly. I led some field missions, and indulged some of my hobbies on Fides.” A smile crept across her face as she finished.

Maico nodded gently. That part of her notes confirmed. “Did you train The Roughriders A-Team?”

“Yes, that was part of my contract with them. I trained them, and for a time led and supervised them in the field.”

Jet took another gulp from her mug. That smell made Maico’s nostril’s twitch. She felt her stomach twist just a little.

She tried not to show it. “And this is why they use Crisis-style technology, and Panzer Kunst tactics?”

“I stuck with what I knew.” the cyber gave an open-armed shrug. Dampers hissed. “Because I know it well,”

“But of course.” She took a sip from her own cup. “Do you give similar training here?”

“Yep. That was our initial business plan for supporting the school, that I’d train power armoured troops. It didn’t work out and Survival Shot was the result.... it kept the bailiffs from Baileys away.”

That smile was getting just a little cheeky.

“But you still do it?

“Oh Yeah. We actively bid for training contracts, and Survival Shot is now part of the bid. There’s also three fulltime martial arts students here. You’re welcome to sit in and watch our session later tomorrow.”

She made the offer with a saleswoman’s smile. That could be good footage to compare. “Would you say the A-team are typical of the training you provide here then?

“Yeah.” Jet took another drink.

Alright, time for the first real poke. Maico shielded her nose for a second in her own mug. Satisfied the smell would be gone, she placed her mug on her knee, bracing it with her arm.

“The Knight Sabers use similar tactics and Panzer Kunst techniques to the A-team. Where they trained here?”

Jet didn’t flinch. Her smiled deadened a little, and she kept looking straight down Maico’s camera.

“We don’t release that information publicly.” in an even tone “There’re plenty of people who’d prefer it isn’t known that they trained here. Customer privacy is important to us.”

“So they are customers?” Maico pushed, putting just a little more force into her voice.

Jet’s expression softened, “I can’t confirm or deny it. Either way.”

That’s all you’re going to get, Maico. Change subject. Link Jet Jaguar to Sylia Stingray. Take another sip. Adjust headset. Jet’s staring at me, waiting.

“Do you know Sylia Stingray, of Marsbase Sara?

“Yes.” Jet nodded, her voice a little milder “I sold that shell corporation to her, which she built up.”

Maico carried on. “Would you call Sylia Stingray a friend?

Jet drank another gulp. How much more of that stuff did she have? “No, we’re more acquaintances than friends really. I don’t know her that well”

Maico fixed her gaze, trying to stare right through her eyes. “And yet you know her well enough to ask her for some help in an auction house? When buying Frigga, she discouraged a Foglio spark from bidding against you?”

The cyber straightened up a little. “How’d you find out about that?”

Maico felk a smrik draw across her own lips, “I found the blog post. It was a bit.... colourful.”

Jet glanced away for a moment. Obviously, she knew it well enough to be just a little embarrassed. Or she was trying hard not to laugh out loud.

“Well. She was there to pick up some CNC machinery for her business. We met outside and I asked for her help, so she sat beside him and quietly discouraged him once bidding approached our budget.”

“Have you met Sylia Stingray since then?”

“I have, occasionally. When she appears at conventions.”

Now, time to drop the bombshell. Maico felt a giddy thrill shudder through her body.

“Did you know Sylia Stingray is Saber White?”

If Jet could’ve facevaulted straight out of her chair, Maico swore she would’ve. She’d been utterly blindsided by it.

She opened her mouth to speak, thought better of it for a moment, before finally getting her thoughts in order. “How’d you figure that out?”

“I had a friend pull a 3D model of her from video footage I took of my interview with her and compare it with Saber White’s hardsuit. They’re a dead match. Sylia Stingray is inside that suit.”

And she could feel herself beginning to boast about how she pulled one over on the cyber. Jet swallowed another mouthful.

“ ….Well, she’s playing according to her own fandom then.” she demurred, looking away again.

Maico pushed on. “Did you know she was an AI?

“I suspected as much, yeah.” Jet answered, a little too quickly.

“Did you ever train Sylia Stingray?”

“We don’t comment on who we have, or haven’t trained.” Her voice was flat as a stone wall.

Maico kept going. A little more pressure. She kept her voice as calm as she could manage. “I have video of her using the Hertza Haeon in a hardsuit. How could Saber White have learned that move?”

Jet’s demeanour began to cool. “There are other Kunstler out there, who moved on from the Gruppe to new things.”

“Yet, she shows signs of being trained by you. A source on record informs me that this is your style.” And know for the final kicker “And I know she can’t have copied you purely from video.”

Her arms folded across her chest, dampers whispering threats about the power they constrained. Her voice came out cool, and crystal clear.

“I trained a lot of people in the Engel Gruppe in the same way, some of whom moved on to other things. I can name four people who could’ve taught her that move. They could’ve picked up elements of my style, the same way I picked up elements of my own trainer’s style,”

“Did you tell her where she could go for this training?”

“No.” the cyber stated. A single concrete syllable “ And if I did, I would’ve sent her to Grunthal, not another Kunstler who has moved on.”

Maico was trying hard not to grin. She was trying hard not to think about how strong Jet actually was inside all her padding. She drank from her own mug before continuing. Time to give Jet a little bit of an out.

“I have evidence to suggest that Sylia Stingray is actually a remote puppet body, a secret identity. I can’t prove it for certain, but is it possible you might have trained her, without realising it was her that you trained? Have you ever trained anyone who used a remote puppet?“

She took a moment to think, cupping a soft chin in hard metal fingers.

“It would’ve been a hell of a job to keep her true identity secret for long enough to learn enough to be able to perform the Hertza Haeon right, but I won’t deny that whoever it was might’ve been able to pull it off”

“And, what effect would using a remote puppet like have on a Kunstler?”

There it was. Exactly what Ryan had told her about, a real glacier blue in her eyes. She was well aware there this was going.

“Lag mostly,” she answered, her voice calm and relaxed “It’d slow them down, but otherwise it’d be just a change of hardware and that’s something we can adapt to.”

Maico pushed on. “Would you be able to fight using a remote puppet?”

The cyber inhaled through her nostrils. Maico realised, that was the first time she’d actually heard Jet breath.

“Yes.” admitted Jet tentatively. Now a but, followed by a bunch of reasons why she couldn’t. “But in order to fight that well, I wouldn’t be able to do much more than sit around with my real body. I’d have to focus almost entirely on the interface. I’d also have to get pretty close in order to reduce the transmission lag, so I’d be stranded there for the whole battle,”

“I watched what you were doing earlier today,” said Maico. She felt herself beginning to try stare down the cyber, to try and melt the ice in her eyes.

“Yeah, that’s basically the limit of what I can do.” A thin smile spread across her lips “I was holding two conversations at once, and I still flubbed it once or twice.”

“Jet. Are you Sylia Stingray?”

She seemed to think for a long time.

“What makes you think that?” she said, keeping the tone of her voice even.

“I know it is someone who has at least Noah Scott, a Panzer Kunstler, and Benjamin Rhodes as aquaintances. I haven’t been able to link Sylia with either Benjamin, or Noah. She’s a complete ghost, nobody knows her at all but you. And I know you have links to both Noah and Ben. I know you would be capable of building the hardsuits.

Maico inhaled. Jet stared, patiently waiting.

“I know you could acquire some of the more advanced technology used by them. You’ve already trained another group in similar tactics I know Sylia is an AI, likely a puppet, so anyone could be behind her. And you’ve just admitted that you could fight through a puppet body. I think the conclusion is obvious.”

She allowed herself a little smug smile, before finishing off the remains in her mug. Jet would either have to admit it, or she would have to lie. And a lie could be discovered. And discovering the lie, would be a story in itself.

“Maico.” Jet began in a very quiet, soft voice. “Do you know why comic book superheroes use codenames?”

“Yes,” she said, a little taken aback by the sudden change in tack. “It’s so the villain won’t know who they are, and come after them at home.”

“That’s only half of it,” Jet said. She still seemed calm. Maico thought she heard her inhale, but it was really just the gas dampers as she recrossed her legs. “Villains don’t play nice. They don’t make things as easy as only going for the hero when he’s ready for them. They’ll go after the hero’s family, the hero’s friends, because that’s a far easier way to make a good hero suffer.”

“So, either you are Sylia Stingray, or you know who is?” Maico questioned, quietly, deliberately being a little ambiguous about the question.

Jet stared. "There're some secrets that absolutely have to be kept. Suffice it to say, I know enough about the Sabers to know that their identities have to be kept a secret.”

“The cover-up is always worse than the truth, Jet.” the reporter warned.

“There is no cover up, Maico Tange.” the cyber stated, her tone firming up. “I’ve done nothing wrong. And trust me, if I had, we wouldn’t be talking here right now,”

Maico felt herself wince. “Was that a threat?” She conjured up all her righteous fury behind that.

Jet seemed to start a little, before an embarrassed smile creeped across her face. “I really didn’t mean it like that. Big hitters like me, with a lot of physical power, we get watched a lot more than your average Fan. If the Patrol, or Great Justice of SHIELD or whatever thought something untoward was happening here, it would’ve been newsworthy long before you got wind of it.”

Maico sighed a little. “So, you do know, but won’t tell me.” It was hard to miss the undertow of anger in her voice. The answers were sitting right in front of her. And refused to come.

“They haven’t done anything that warrants them being exposed. The only reason to expose their identities right now would be to satisfy people’s curiousity, and that’s not good enough for me.” a subtle hint of anger simmered below the surface creeping into her voice as a hardening edge. “Exposing their identities will put innocent people at risk. The villains won’t go after the Knight Sabers, they’ll go after their families, their friends and acquaintances. ”

She waited a moment, just long enough for Maico to form the next sentence in her mind.

“If the Knight Sabers cross the line, then I’ll tell what I know.” Jet concluded.

“So where is the line then?” Maico asked her “Did they cross it when they first started attacking the UBA on their own initiative? If not then, when do they cross it? When they assassinate someone?”

She was demanding an answer. Some sign. Everything was right in front of her and it just wouldn’t budge. It sat there smugly drinking broadleaf tea. Jet’s eyes seemed to narrow just a little.

“If you’re still wondering whether they’ve crossed the line or not, they haven’t. You’ll know when they’ve gone too far.” Jet downed the last of her mug in one go.

“You know this is a story in itself,” Maico warned her, “Jet Jaguar knows who the Knight Sabers are, but refuses to speak. You know what’ll happen if I run with that? If I show the evidence I have,”

And that was a threat. You’d be better of telling the full story, Jet, rather than letting me run with a half-truth that may lead to people jump to conclusions you won’t be able to shake. A little bit of a dirty tactic, she had to admit to herself, but given that she was facing someone happy to use dirty tactics herself, it seemed fair.

“I don’t mind.” Jet responded, unfazed. She looked right down the camera. “i don’t mind people linking me to the Sabers,” her gaze switched to something on the wall behind Maico. “I can take that. It’s the Sabers themselves I’m trying to protect.”

And not from the Space Patrol.

“Well if that’s everything you have to say,” Maico offered her one last chance.

“It is,” Jet closed the door.

Maico took a long, deep breath, allowing a cold relief to flood her body,”Well, I’ll edit this and show you my rough draft for your approval sometime over the next week,”

Jet gave a nod, planting both of her feet on the floor. “Hopefully, you got my good side.”

Maico made it obvious she’d turned her camera’s off. “Well, thank you Jet,” she said with a cheery smile, “That’ll be everything I need,”

She did. It was all on her camera. Everything she needed.

Finished version. And Maico now has everything she needs to solve the Saber Case. She just needs to get home to Port Luna.... somewhere with better bandwidth than Frigga....
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--m(^0^)m-- Wot, no sig?