G-Pol Ch. 04

Natasha woke early. In fact it was almost two hours before she normally got up. She wasn't tired anymore though, so she climbed out of bed and pulled on a pair of lycra bike shorts and a sports bra and made her way down to the gym. To get started she spent several minutes on the variable treadmill. Once she was warmed up sufficiently, she eased herself down onto the padded part of the floor to stretch thoroughly. Doing this showed she had a few sore muscles and she guessed they were the result of her evening's activities. Dancing for that long would have an effect, but she wouldn't trade the minor stiffness that resulted for pure gold. Last night had been too good! Apparently though it had highlighted some muscles that needed a little more attention in her exercises.

She pushed her stretching exercises to her body's limits and a little beyond, making a kind of mini-workout of it. From there she preceded into a martial arts tension series concentrating on the parts that were sore from the night before plus all her usual targets. Then she moved into the forms and through them all to her highest level of completion. Then reversed the series until she was all the way back to the basics.

By the time she'd finished there was no more soreness anywhere and her mind was aglow from the endorphins released during exercise. She began a long cool down stretching series allowing her muscles to relax slowly and naturally. When she was finished she made her way back up to her lav and slipped into a hot bath where she soon drifted off to sleep again. The warmer pumps kicking on brought her awake with their gentle hum and the stirring of the water.

She sat a while longer before washing thoroughly and letting the water out. Next she moved into the shower to wash her hair, then extended the shaving bench from the shower wall, lathered her legs and shaved them clean, enjoying the feel of her smooth skin as she did. She finished by shaving her underarms and standing under the running water to rinse.

Now that it was a saner hour of the morning, she went down to the kitchen and set the unit to prepare her breakfast. While she waited she activated her computer and went into the G-Pol files to find out what she could about Karl. She was curious about what had really happened on Ceres and knew she had gotten a rather distorted version of the story from Dumerk. It wasn't good to take the word of someone who didn't like the subject in a situation like that. Everything said was likely to be heavily biased against them.

The file on his most recent exploits was remarkably complete and detailed. She made a note of the reporting officer's name as someone to respect. He obviously cared about his duties and responsibilities and took them very seriously. He also seemed to have quite a bit of respect for Karl's actions in the incident.

He'd been tracking two high level arms dealers who were responsible for at least a dozen murders between them and were suspected of several more. He'd located one of their weapons stashes and had staked it out in hopes of catching them there. While in position, he'd noticed a G-Pol team backed by a squad of the dreaded Ceresian Marines setting up a raid on the same location. What none of them knew, was that the suspects were inside and had been since before any of them arrived. What was worse was they knew about the raid, having been tipped off ahead of time by an informant. They'd watched the preparations on vid monitors from inside and knew the locations of all their opposition. All that is except Karl, who'd taken a position further away and was relying on his suit's sensory equipment to observe the goings on.

Noone was sure what the building had inside, but they suspected the usual military grade weapons, explosives and body armor such traders made their living by. None of them expected the infantry fighting vehicle that crashed through the doors in a rush. The model was an eight wheeled all terrain amphibious type that had been especially designed to traverse very steep and difficult terrain. It was also well armed with a twenty millimeter railgun along with a fifty millimeter automatic grenade launcher in its main turret and two independent laser weapons, one in each side.

One of the Marines was killed immediately as he was run down by the fifteen ton behemoth. One of the G-Pol officers was nearly killed next except Karl managed to fly down and snatch him from in front of the fast moving vehicle which crushed the car he'd been hiding behind.

The cities on Ceres are all underground because of the extreme cold on the surface. This protected the citizens from the snow, ice and sub-zero temperatures, but it also made situations like this one far more dangerous. Stray shots from projectile weapons could and did ricochet off the stone cavern walls and ceiling.

The armored car hurtled down the streets of the subterranean city while the madmen inside fired their military grade weapons at anyone they could see. Karl knew this would end badly if they weren't stopped immediately, so he gave chase, soaring low over the tops of buildings to avoid being seen until he could find a clear shot at the vehicle without endangering any civilians. As he did this he contacted the G-Pol office and the city's Ceresian marine command center to keep them up to date on the suspects' position and activities.

Soon he was joined by two Ceresian Marines also in flying power armor. When he saw he had some help he flew in directly above the vehicle where they couldn't fire on him and used one of his non-lethal weapons. It was a chemical restraint foam that hardened in less than a second to a material strong enough to hold a man in power armor or a full conversion cyborg immobile for several hours. He got as close as he could and shot it onto the side laser guns freezing them in place then did the same to the weapons on the turret, and the turret itself. The foam wasn't strong enough to keep the turret immobile, but it did block the sensors mostly blinding those inside and prevented the main weapons changing barrel elevation, dramatically limiting their arcs of fire. The two inside kept firing indiscriminately, obviously not caring what damage they did, only seeking to instill fear and incite chaos.

The vehicle struck a building as it entered an open square, the laser on that side setting the building alight. The square had been cleared of people thanks to Karl's constant monitoring of the situation. This gave the local police the time they needed to get everyone under cover. Now Karl and the Marines had a clear lane of fire. Karl fired first, sending four lightweight short range missiles designed for use by infantry with armor piercing warheads into one side of the vehicle. The Marines fired two each of the heavier faster full scale version into the other side. The vehicle was shredded, with pieces tumbling off in all directions including five of its eight wheels. What was left skidded into another building on the other side of the plaza and set it afire as well. The two perpetrators were killed. The investigation showed the power armored men had done everything as they should, and though six civilians were killed and twenty one injured, they were all caused by the fire from, or being run over by the vehicle and not the actions of the power armor pilots. In fact it was suggested that the restraint foam Karl had attacked the vehicle with had significantly reduced the damage. He'd been given the reward for the capture, but he'd given it all and donated some of his own money to help the owners of the buildings that had been damaged and the families of those who had been killed in that murderous rampage.

The story was nothing like that told her by Dumerk, and Natasha was disgusted with the man. An all out firefight in the midst of a city would've been devastating. Dozens ore even scores more civilians could've been killed or injured if that vehicle hadn't been blinded and had its fire limited as it had.

Looking further back into Karl's file, she found several instances of apparent vigilante justice, but in each case he'd been entirely in the right and on one occasion even saved a teenaged girl from being raped by a pair of mercenary thugs who he'd been forced to kill. Fact was, Karl usually brought his suspects in alive. And in fact, more often than most bounty hunters. Especially when they were wanted dead or alive and the reward amount the same.

He'd also done some work with G-Pol on a contract basis which technically made him a part-time mercenary. The officers he'd worked with on two separate cases gave him good marks for cooperation and professionalism. In both instances he'd served as additional muscle and a source of intelligence when he'd discovered they were pursuing the same individual. In the first case he'd approached the officer, and in the second he'd been approached. Both cases had been successfully resolved. In a side note, one of the officers had referred to his apparent fearlessness and had conjectured the man might have a mild death wish. Either that or he was seriously dedicated to his job.

Further in she found a much sadder story. Karl's original partner had been a young lady he grew up with in the CAC capital of Panama City. They'd joined the CAF together and served a full term in a Special Forces power armor reconnaissance Strike unit before getting out and starting their bounty hunting operation. They'd been quite successful, hunting down several of the worst South American crime lords and petty generals responsible for much of the bloodshed in that region. On one such operation though, the young lady had been seriously wounded. Without proper medical care and deep in the jungles, she died in his arms as he struggled to keep her alive. The details there were sketchy at best and she had to wonder if there was more. Not all report writers were as diligent as she would've liked. Dumerk for instance.

Afterward, he'd vanished from the scene for almost two years, apparently mourning his friend. Then he'd made his reappearance, capturing a high profile serial killer in the heart of Panama City. Shortly after that, he'd gone out into space to carry on his chosen profession, rarely returning to Earth except to bring in the occasional bounty.

She wondered even more about him now. This little investigation left her with more questions than she'd had to begin with. She thought it did in some ways explain his willingness to take such insane risks. He didn't seem unstable though, only uninhibited by fear. Maybe that was it? He wasn't afraid? Not even to die? Yes, definitely more questions than before.

Mulling over this in her mind, she decided to let it drop for now. She'd get her answers in time. Maybe he would tell her about these things himself. She decided to begin her work on her own case.

She began by accessing Ryans' notes and reports on his investigation. He was very clear in his notes on Mallory's movements. He seemed to be spending most of his time in a more remote part of the planet, but he'd apparently been recognized by someone in the community and they'd reported his presence to the authorities anonymously. That had probably been a wise move considering the man's history. Perhaps she thought, maybe she could start in the same area and see what she could find out. She might even find a few leads that could help her track him down.

It was then she noticed Bona listening in on her thoughts. "So what do you think partner?"

Bona thought for only a second. "I think it's a good idea. It's a good thing you went shopping when you found out where we were going. You're not going to walk around in uniform are you?"

The teasing tone in Bona's thoughts and the obvious reference to last night had Natasha smiling. "Not a chance! I'd stand out like a sore thumb. I didn't buy all that stuff just to leave it in my closet either. I figured while I was here I might as well work on my tan at least!"

Bona laughed at that. "Or at least get a start on one? Girl, you've gone gothic pale lately! If you didn't have that olive complexion you'd be sheet white right now."

She knew it was true. Her last assignment had been on a deep space station and she hadn't had any time at home. It had been early spring in the Urals and she didn't think she would have gotten much sun anyway, unless it got unseasonably warm. Her skin hadn't tasted the sun now in more than six months, and it was time it did. That decided and her research done for the moment, she put her dirty dishes in the sanitizer and went to the bridge deck. Actually it was more of a cockpit, but bridge deck sounded more impressive to her so that's what she called it.

She had to remove Demeitri from her pilot's chair and sat down. He huffed his disapproval at her and climbed into the copilot's chair next to her to watch what she did. She was glad he wasn't like a child wanting to try what the adults did! Bona took the gunner's seat behind Demeitri.

She activated the com and contacted the control center. "Station control, this is shuttle Czarina, G-Pol berth four, seeking departure clearance, destination sector two four planetside."

The control center responded immediately. "Shuttle Czarina, this is control, destination sector two four planetside, roger, departure clearance granted, berth number one seven sector two four will be available for your use until you release it or depart the planet, if you wish to move to another site or sector simply contact control and advise them of the change, enjoy your visit! Its nice warm and sunny there now."

Natasha smiled. She liked friendly controllers. "Roger control, acknowledged and thanks, I will!"

Checking her instruments, she saw both sets of airlock doors were sealed and gave the command to retract the airlock tunnel. When the tunnel was clear, she fired her port maneuvering thrusters to move her away from the station, then engaged her gravitic drive to take her down to the planet. She locked her system onto the navigation beacon signal and allowed it to guide her clear of the approach lanes for the station before taking control again and following the route fed to her nav computer by the station's control computer system. It was a very modern and efficient system which had a perfect operating record. It had been designed to handle heavy commercial traffic in massive commercial freight and passenger ports the like of which this world, it was hoped, would never se and was thus the best system to avoid accidents as long as pilots made use of it. Of course when they didn't at least follow the instructions, things could go terribly wrong. Fortunately though it hadn't yet happened.

She entered the atmosphere slowly, using the grav drive and watching the surface become more and more detailed as she descended. She came to within two thousand meters of the ocean's surface and headed for the nearby landmass. The deep blue water gradually lightened to a beautiful aquamarine interspersed with darker patches of reefs and lighter patches of sand as she approached the shoreline. Shoals of fish were large, numerous and easily visible from the air as was the evidence of predatory action.

Genetically augmented Earth dolphins had been introduced as settlers in the oceans. She wondered if some of what she was seeing in the shoals might be due to their activities. These dolphins were easily as intelligent as human beings and were similar to Bona and the other killhounds in communication capabilities. The main difference between them and the killhounds was the killhounds had been further genetically altered to make them dependent on their human bondmates for their emotional well being and the dolphins hadn't. In fact the dolphins didn't bond at all. The two operations had been performed on nearly opposite sides of the Earth and by separate groups of scientists for different reasons.

They were few in numbers here at the moment, but were prospering. There were about four hundred now in the seas of Aphrodite. There probably wouldn't be any more coming, but these would reproduce and in time would establish a viable and stable population.

Natasha didn't expect to see any from where she was and wasn't surprised when she didn't. She wondered if she might meet any while she was here. That would certainly be interesting. After her positive experiences with Bona, she was intensely curious about the only other known genetically altered intelligent life form.

As she passed over the beaches she was dazzled by the bright whiteness of the sands, so reminiscent of Earth's Caribbean Mediterranean and South Pacific seacoasts. Another thing that made her smile was the lack of any sign of development along the shores and the lack of people. Someone could go entirely nude on these beaches with little worry of being observed, if such a thing worried them. She had a fair variety of swimwear and had purchased more for this trip but she might have little need for it. The thought was exhilarating and liberating. She realized she was really looking forward to this, despite the fact she was here to work.

"Who says you have to work all day every day?" Bona asked with a mental chuckle, "This could be work and a vacation all rolled into one."

"That's the idea!" Natasha agreed happily, "I wish more of our assignments could be like this. Not all of them though or this would just seem normal. And, I wouldn't wish someone like Mallory on any world! Except maybe Timian of course." That had them both chuckling and even Demeitri got into the act bouncing up and down on his front paws and barking excitedly which only made them laugh harder.

The landing facility was slightly over twenty kilometers inland. flying overhead, Natasha was able to see there were thirty berths all told capable of handling ships up to the size of a large cargo shuttle or a small dropship. All but four were currently empty and the one set aside for her was illuminated on her forward display. All the inhabited berths were well separated to allow for maximum privacy for their occupants.

As she landed, a car pulled up nearby. Two people got out of it and from the looks of things were probably an official greeting party. She powered down her engines and went down to meet them. She slipped on a lightweight shirt over her tank top and stopping at one of the four weapons lockers she had on board, slipped a compact pistol in a concealed carry holster into the waistband at the small of her back. There was no sense in being careless. She was accompanied by both Bona and Demeitri.

When she lowered the boarding ramp and stepped out onto the plascrete landing pad to meet them, they were a few meters away and smiling in warm welcome. They were an extremely attractive couple and obviously not married or even well known to one another to her trained eye. The young man was a little shorter than she liked her men, with short dirty blonde hair and blue-green eyes. He was beautifully proportioned and well muscled, probably a model of some sort. The underwear sort she joked to herself. The young woman was blonde and blue eyed and of equal height to the young man and had a body that many women would kill or die to have. She too could've been or probably was, a lingerie model with her slim athletic physique, obvious in the negligible amount of clothing she wore. The smoky look she gave Natasha told her the girl had no inhibitions about sleeping with women either. She looked disappointed when Natasha didn't seem to return her interest, while the young man looked hopeful. It was all very flattering, but neither of them was what she wanted.

"Welcome to Aphrodite!" the young woman began smiling brightly, "I'm Kim and this is Donny! We're the activity coordinators for this area. You can call us anytime you like to get information, find an activity and even find an activity partner!"