Sometimes your subconscious won't let go of something, no matter how hard you try to wrench it free. It's a lot like one of those CS1 bloodsucker flies that dives at your eyes and ears until you either swat it or it bites you. Too much was already on my mind for me to want to worry about what the Shivers were up to, but my subconscious was persistent and gave me an ultimatum. Either I could figure out what was going on or I could enjoy the proverbial buzzing and biting all day. When I saw that the boys in green were moving more than just the two crates, I swatted the damn fly and tossed the crowbar.
As I slipped between crates to trail the Shivers, I wondered if it was paranoia or my instincts kicking in. The Shivers could be under orders from SLA to do this and might not be up to anything subversive, but it would be us, not them that would pay the penalty for any interference with our BPN. As far as I was concerned, my life was under a microscope and any slip could end more than just my career. There was no way that I was going to let that happen.
The forklifts whined as they ferried the containers away from the row Gael and I were in and up two rows over. It was an unnecessarily long route for a simple inspection but it had the advantage of completely avoiding the squad. A combination of ire and curiosity had me hooked and I followed them until they rolled into the fenced off area labeled "Holding Area 5". On the bright side, if I made a fool of myself, I might be able to get a few pointers on how to open the rest of the damn containers.
There was a squeal as the lifts nudged the containers across the floor and into line against a wall and the dockworkers stepped in as soon as they backed off. It took all of ten seconds for them to open the crates and I couldn't help but wonder how they did it. They were using the same tools we had and didn't seem to be doing anything different. It had to be some kind of magic that I'm not cleared to know about.
One of the boys in green slapped his helmet, snapping on the lamp, then vanished into a crate tall enough to stand in. After a few seconds, he came out carrying something wrapped in an oiled green tarp and walked into the open. Cradling it like it was about to either explode or bite his hands, I had to find out what it was and trotted quietly up to the fence. When the Shiver Sergeant lifted it out of his arms and pulled back the cloth, I think I said "hot damn" out loud. Fortunately, everyone inside the holding area thought I was invisible and didn't pay any attention.
It was a modified FEN Warmonger with an under slung grenade launcher, the most recognizable example of War World ordinance I could think of. It had seen some serious action and bore scars in the paint, cracks across the housing, and huge taped-up handgrips. I'd never seen one before in person and was so pleased with the find that I was nearly giddy. This meant the endless hours on this Yellow weren't a waste after all and we were close to getting back to paying jobs. Now I needed the team to back me up as we seized the cargo…
Glancing back, I saw that Gael was following me with a pissed off look. She was probably irritated that I had left her hanging (literally) on a crate and reminded me of the Waster as she came to give me a piece of her mind. I waved the hand signals that meant "cover me" and "hands-off mike" then pointed towards the holding area. Her face got serious and she nodded and doubled back. When she reappeared, Nix and Obie were on her heels and the wraith started assembling her rifle. I decided to wait until they were closer and turned my mike on, hooking it into my inside jacket pocket. I was so anxious that my hands were shaking with adrenaline.
With a quick sprint, Nix bounded to the top of one of the tall containers and took a prone position. Her jumping abilities are amazing and it's easy to see why she says she's one step up from the arctic. She sighted in (probably) on my head and keyed her mike to let me know she was locked in. When Obie and Gael were within twenty feet or so, I took a breath and unsnapped my holster.
"Game time," I said and walked through the gate and right into the middle of them.
I was within touching distance of the Sergeant before anyone saw me, but it was more due to distraction than me being the human shadow. He jerked in surprise when he saw me, but the one that had brought the Warmonger from the container took it far worse. He started visibly shaking and I knew he had to be the first Shiver I had spoken with earlier. He really needed to lay off the caffeine.
"Hello operative," the Sergeant said as he inverted the weapon and held it out to me, "You won't believe what we just found."
Behind me, I heard the Chagrin's heavy stomps and took a quick head count as everybody stopped moving. I counted about ten of the boys in green and as many dockworkers, but with the sniper in place and Obie at my back, our odds were pretty good. Gael fell back to the side to provide additional cover and I looked the group over for any hostile reactions, but everyone had frozen. They were definitely up to something and afraid that everything had hit the fan.
The Shivers were either under some "secret" orders by department like Cloak or part of a weapon smuggling ring. If they were working in SLA's interest, this was guaranteed to piss off someone higher up the food chain but I didn’t care. The fallout for failing to complete the BPN wouldn't help our careers much either, but if I was going to fail, it was going to be on my terms. Besides, I tend to be a little selfish where Shivers are concerned.
Now if the Shivers were moonlighting as smuggling ring, somebody in SLA knew about it and setup this BPN to indirectly nail them. SLA's departments love to misclassify and plot out assignments so that you have to take down a desired objective in order to get at a lower valued, specified target. It equals high risk for low pay stacked with enough penalty clauses that you get even less than they promised initially. I shook my head as I worked it out. I still have the scars from a Blue that led my squad into an ambush by the Happy Pappy Killjoy cognate. We were only supposed to tangle with pigs and damn near got our heads handed to us…
"Yeah I would. Is there ordinance in all of these?" I asked, motioning to the containers. The couple Shivers poking around them moved away to stand behind their sergeant, but didn't bring anything out. Everybody was staying far too tense to not be up to something and I stayed on guard. It was possible that someone with quick hands might be able to get a shot off, but he'd more likely be dead by sniper before he cleared his holster. I had a lot of faith in Nix and knew she wouldn't let me down.
"I'm not sure. This one is the first one we checked," he responded flatly.
I nodded and walked over to look inside the one the Warmonger had come from. Tapping the nearest Shiver on the helmet, I made him crane his neck so I could see by his lamp and keep both my hands free. The crate was packed with enough weapons to arm a militia company and I whistled. It would take a major soft company like Dark Night to bankroll a haul this size and that meant there'd some kind of failsafe in place.
"Nice!" I said as I smiled and patted the Shiver on the shoulder. As I stepped out of the container, I ran my hand across my hair. That was the signal for Nix to sight on my target and I stayed clear of her line of fire. We'd worked out about fifteen different hand signals and so far, they hadn't failed us. When they saw it, Obie tensed and Gail put her hand on her Flintlock, making the dockworkers and Shivers even more nervous. So much for being subtle about it…
"So sergeant, how did you happen to choose these crates out of the several thousands out there?"
"Like I said earlier operative, these are the ones were told to pull."
"By whom?"
"I'm sorry?" he asked and cocked his head like he didn't understand the language he was speaking in. Maybe I needed to speak louder?
"BY WHOM? Who gave you your orders?" I said and stepped into his personal space. He wasn't the least bit intimidated and kept his calm while the other Shiver started shaking so hard that I heard his armor rattling. I glanced at him and hoped he would pass out and stop distracting me.
"Station Analysis."
"Uh-huh," I said and tried to relax, "I want to see the manifest you're going by."
"Sorry operative, but that information is classified as per Station Analysis."
"That's the way you want this, fine with me." I kept my eyes on him and spoke loudly into my mike. "Gael, call for a Shiver team to come onsite and take possession of these four crates."
"We'll take care of that s-" he began and stepped forward, but I cut in and politely pushed him back.
"No you won't. We will because it's part of our BPN," I said as I took the Warmonger out of his hands. It was so heavy that I wondered how anyone could use one, but the powered armor probably helps. I sat it back inside the crate it came from and motioned Obie over. He lumbered in, sending the dock apes scattering and stopped in front of me.
"Nobody takes anything out of these crates without my say so, ok?" I asked.
"O-kay" he boomed and positioned himself in front of one of them.
The Shivers backed away and looked to their Sergeant for instructions and he seemed to be gathering himself. Behind me, I heard the low rumble of a growl from the Chagrin and knew he was as wired as I was.
"Look Operative, we've got our orders to confiscate the contents of these containers and-"
"-and my BPN says they belong to me," I cut in again. "If you have a problem with that, call your platoon commander and beg him or her to contact Customs so they can cancel our BPN. By the time you've waded through the paperwork, we should be finished with most of the rows out there and you can do anything you like. Until then, feel free to argue with the Chagrin."
"I don't like your attitude, operative," he said. "Are you the squad leader? I want to speak with someone in authority." For once, I heard emotion through the voice synthesizer on a helmet and it sounded both irritated and agitated.
"You'd like to talk to my squad leader?" I asked. I couldn't help but smile.
"Yes I would. Where is he?" he asked and straightened up. The rest of the Shivers, with the exception of the one with the shakes were trying to relax, but the dockworkers were still spooked and had grouped together out of the way. They reminded me of blue clad roaches dodging a boot.
"It's a she," I said, pulling my hands-off mike out and keying it.
"Nix, get Casper and tell her what we found. Then tell her that a Shiver sergeant wants to screw our BPN."
"Roger," she said and I waited. Turning back to the Shiver, I smiled and wondered how many pieces he was going to end up in.
"I hope your squad leader is more cooperative than you are," he said and I smiled.
"Don't get your hopes up."
Casper came into view with her signature "uber-bitch" attitude running at full tilt and stormed into the holding area. I waved her over then backed out of ground zero to stand beside the Chagrin. The rest of us watched and waited, with Nix back on station and Gael taking a position next to me to cover the workers. I truly hoped that they didn't try anything, because it would have been a slaughter in these close quarters. On the bright side, Casper was probably the first one who'd take a hit on our side.
If these were standard ops or employees, I might be able to nail them for everything from interference with our BPN to receipt of contraband, but Shivers were a little different. The almost always had a degree of immunity because you don't know who they take orders from or if they've got the authority to break the rules. I started to think about the possibilities as Casper walked up to the sergeant and took in a breath. It looked like I was about to make my "piss off the Shiver" quota for the day after all, especially after Casper weighed in.
The Waster tore him and every one else that didn't scurry for cover for the next twenty or so minutes as Obie, Gael, and I watched. I figured that if someone was going to take a shot, Casper's yelling and screaming would probably set them off. Meanwhile, the rest of the squad worked on the crates and everyone was live on mikes just in case something happened. By the looks of it, the charred-eyed tyrant had everything under control, with the volume getting so high that even Obie squinted and blinked. I'd hate to be on the other side of that, but then I usually am.
Gael nudged me and nodded towards the Shiver with the bad case of nerves. The poor guy was trembling and nearly wet himself when Casper pushed him. I bet the enemies of SLA are really afraid of that one.
"What's wrong with him? You'd think he'd never seen a Brainwaster on a tear before."
"I'm not sure, but he was too nervous when I talked to him earlier. I want a look at his ID and make sure he's legit." I knew there would be plenty of time later to sift through the leftover scraps and had no desire to interrupt the floorshow. I winced as Casper's voice hit a shrill note and noticed that Gael was still looking at me with a curious look.
"You really enjoyed letting Casper go on them, didn't you?"
I smiled and nodded without speaking as the fur continued to fly. This had to be only a part of the contraband and we would find the rest eventually, barring any sudden official interference on the part of the Shivers. Right now, they were on acting like they were on another team and I intended to make them pay for it. If they had only played straight with us, everything would have been much simpler and far more pleasant for everyone involved. The Shiver Sergeant look over at me with what was probably a glare, but Casper kept him busy and smacked his helmet back to her.
It's normal to expect a Shiver to give you a hard time, or at the worst hide behind the company line where everything is on a "need to know" basis and they say how "they'd be able to help you if you were only a few SCL points higher" but this was different. My gut told me they had to be on the take but it would be a while before I could prove it. In the meantime, I decided to stand back and enjoy Casper paying them back. I laughed when I realized that she's good at both burning bridges and tearing down walls.
Maybe she's got a purpose in the World of Progress after all.
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