Black Market Merchant

Special Officer Hawkins sat impatiently, while tapping a pen on his desk. The footage from Queens fight had been analyzed and sent off to be reviewed by the Commander. That was two days ago. Last time it took mere minutes for a reply.

"Caswell!" He called out impatiently. Moments later his lieutenant, Mark Caswell, came into the office. "Any updates from Headquarters?"

"No sir." Caswell replied standing in attention. "Things are nominal on the communication receivers."

"Guess it can't be helped." Hawkins replied with a sigh. "Do we still have eyes on the target?"

"Yes, we do." Caswell replied taking out his tabloid that was in his uniform’s chest pocket.

Tapping on a few icons, a list of live Drone footage appeared on its display. He selected the Top Priority video and it opened up to show footage from a Fly Drone 7. Everything he did was sent wirelessly to a TV on the wall of the office to be viewed. The Drone was currently perched outside of a large metal building.

Hawkins recognized it right away. "Is that the dam’s Powerhouse building?"

Caswell nodded. "Yes, it is. We have three Fly Drones monitoring the building from the outside." He quickly switched between the three drones showing the angles being covered. "From what we have gathered she hadn't done much to or in the building. Whenever she had left the vicinity, we track her via Blue Jay Drone."

"Very good then." Hawkins replied. "What of the rest of town? It really doesn't matter at the moment, but it never hurts to know of the situation of the area of operations."

Caswell cleared his throat and selected another icon of an Osprey Drone. Its footage showed it was circling far above the eastern portion of the town. There were several areas where smoke was rising from different locations. They started from the center north of town and they worked their way towards the river.

"What's going on with all those fires? Has the fight between the local gangs and the militia gotten worse?" Hawkins asked.

"It would appear so. There were some developments that were surprising to us, but their threat to us has not changed. The militia had acquired three Minion Class Mineral Mover Mechs from the Mech Creations Factory just north of the so called 'Base' of the ERM. The MMC3’s main design has not changed, and they are equipped no weaponry on them. So, in all essence a low threat." Caswell tapped on the tabloids screen and the feed zoomed in on a Mech that was stopped outside of the ERM base. It's black and yellow striped paint was very noticeable on camera. "As you see here this is one of the mechs."

Hawkins nodded, then asked. "Where did they get the power to run these machines?"

"We can safely assume that they found the battery's in the factories storage. They likely have no way to power them further as of now." Caswell replied promptly. "As for the fires, well, they are the results of the battles outcome. The gangsters had been met with a total defeat. The ERM are burning the bodies, that's what the smoke is from."

"So, the MCM3s were the deciding factor of that battle. Pity, I didn't get to see that disorganized mob, that call themselves gangsters, fight and loose." Hawkins replied with a chuckle.

"It is unfortunate that you were preoccupied. I felt that the situation was not worth interrupting your meeting." Caswell replied.

"You were right." Hawkins said waving a hand dismissively. "What about the other instance between the other two gangs?"

"That skirmish was far less dramatic." Caswell replied switching to another Osprey Drones footage. "The Skull were eventually beaten back, and the Mad Dogs regained control of the area. However, they lost a higher amount of manpower than we estimated. The Skull are much more skilled than we first thought. Yet from our analysis their threat level is also very low."

"No follow up attacks or new movements from either side?" Hawkins asked watching the replay footage.

"No sir. Each side just bolstered their defenses and broke out into another stalemate." Caswell replied putting the footage at four times the speed.

"So, everything in town has gone back to the dull lull from before." Hawkins replied with a huff and sat back heavily into his seat. "Something better happen soon to get this area more exciting soon. Otherwise, I might…"

Suddenly Corporal Gill knocked on the door and entered, interrupting Hawkins. "Sir, we have a new report from our long-range scout forces."

"Go ahead." Special Officer Hawkins replied, his attention was renewed herring this. The scouts rarely reported anything. Sometimes he thought they were just sleeping out there rather than doing any scouting for the military.

"The scouts have sighted a Twisted Hoard coming from the mountains range to the north. They report that the hoard has crossed over Interstate 70 and are continuing to travel southward. Though they have yet to go in a straight direction, so where they will end up is still unknown." Corporal Gill said finishing his report.

"Well done." Hawkins replied. "Tell the scouts to continue watching their movements. If they get close to here, we may need to either move out and evacuate or fight them off. I want them to also get a count on the actual size of this Hoard."

"Understood." Corporal Gill replied giving a salute and then left the room.

"What if they head towards the other towns beyond us? Should we prevent them from attacking the towns?" Caswell asked turn to look at the Special Officer.

"No." Hawkins replied shaking his head slowly. "The towns safety is not our objective. We only monitor this area. Besides, we don't have the resources to deal with such adversaries and I won't put our forces in danger to protect people not under the American Fascist Regime’s control."

"Understood sir." Caswell replied giving a salute. "If that is all, I shall be going now."

"You are dismissed." Hawkins said saluting back.

Caswell turned to leave. He was about to close the door when he suddenly stopped, turned around and came back in. "Sir, the Commander is calling!"

"Finally!" Hawkins shouted while quickly jumping out of his seat and headed out to the control room.

Caswell was leading the way and called down to the soldiers below. "Get the Commander on screen. All nonessential personnel are to leave now!"

The room quickly buzzed to life and several people left. Then the image of the old Commander appeared on screen. The old military man had his usual grumpy face, so it was hard to tell what the situation might entail.

"Special Officer Hawkins." The Commander boomed. "Excellent work on locating the target in question."

"Thank you, Sir!" Hawkins replied standing in ridged attention. The rest of the soldiers presents did likewise.

"For this next report I am going to give you will allow you and everyone in your control room an increase in special security clearance. The new task force that your base will now be tied into is known as: Operation Chess." The Commander announced. "There will be new assignments tied into joining Operation Chess and as such will be considered your topmost priority. Only by my authority or your new Commanding Officer can those orders be overruled."

The display of the Commander on screen suddenly shifted into two panels and a second middle aged man in similar black, yellow trimmed military dress appeared next to the Commander. "This is Lieutenant Colonel Ardith Laghari. He is the head of Operation Chess and in charge of all things related to the Kings and Queens Soldiers. You are now under his authority and influence. I will now be leaving him to explain what you all are to do next. Farewell." The Commander said giving a salute. Then his image disappeared leaving just the Lieutenant Colonel.

Hawkins quickly studied the appearance of Lieutenant Colonel Ardith Laghari. He was a tall man with dark hair and very tanned skin. On his chin was a very noticeable scar, yet it didn't hurt his good looks. This meant that this Lieutenant Colonel was not the type that was promoted from simply sitting behind a desk but had likely been in actual warfare. So far Operation Chess seemed like it was more important than he understood.

"Special Officer Daniel Hawkins." The Lieutenant Colonel said with great authority. "I have read up on your profile. You have a rather impressive number of missions completed with rather timely results. I hope you and your men can continue to do so with future assignments. These assignments are going to be much harder than anything you had come across before."

Hawkins tightened his form and spoke confidently. "Understood Sir. We will complete any task you give us. All for the pride of American Fascist Regime!"

Everyone else in the control room gave a simultaneous shout and clicked into ridged attention like their Special Officer. The Lieutenant Colonel surveyed the room carefully.

"Excellent. Now for your first bit of intelligence, be sure that this is only recorded on a 'quick delete' video. We can't let this information leak unnecessarily." Lieutenant Colonel Laghari said with a serious expression.

Hawkins turned to look at the Corporal and gave him a nod. The soldier nodded back and sat back into his seat and started typing away at the computer. Seconds later the Corporal turned to the Special Officer and gave a thumbs up.

"Everything is set." Hawkins replied looking up at the Lieutenant Colonel.

"Good. Now the woman you found and are currently tracking is indeed a Queen type cyborg soldier from the Cyborg Studies Program. She is Master Sargent Lisa Cunningham, Number 24 of the 33rd Cyborg Navy Seal Unit." Then in an even more serious expression he went on. "In terms of physical and tactical ability she is top notch. She is not to be underestimated. Additionally, we only have her reported statistics from before her cybernetic upgrades done by the Titanium Technology Corporation, or TTC. Those records were supposed to have been destroyed when the three dozen cyborgs of the Cyborg Studies Program revolted against our forces. However, this issue is still unclear."

Then the screen changed from the Lieutenant Colonel Laghari to a photo of another man. The other man was a thinly structured blond man with all his limbs replaced with unpainted cybernetic parts.

"This is your second target near your facility, First Lieutenant Zac Evans, Number 56 of the 32nd Navy Seals Cyborg Unit. You are to locate his location immediately and report it without engaging or alerting him. From there I will determine your next move." Lieutenant Colonel Laghari said sternly. "He was last seen in Moab City and his existence takes priority over Master Sargent Lisa Cunningham. Do not underestimate him either. More information will be provided once you and your core team members are in route to Moab City. I wish you luck."

The Screen went dark and Special Officer Hawkins let out a deep breath and smiled. "Finally, it seems we are not going to be bored again for quite some time!"