The Enforcer Days- Aj Siytangco "This is great, Jake." Louis Gretty admired the triangular device in his hand. It was white and had a single red buton in the middle. "And you say you made this from the discarded junk they hauled in from a crime scene?" "A dozen or so crime scenes, actually." Jake corrected. "Even though..." "We've tried it out. It's got a radius of about two miles or so, though the guys and I are working on boosting that." Jake crossed his arms and waited for Louis to finish with the communicator. Louis returned it, then turned away. "Something wrong, Louis?" Jake asked. "It's just... I mean now that we're actually off the ground..." "What are you saying?" "I'm saying Feral cut our funding." Gretty paused then breathed deeply. "It's true. This project of mine will last only until the end of this traning program." "That's only two weeks away." Jake realized. "But why did he do a thing like that?" "Mayor Manx allocated a portion of the budget to build a new golf course, and Feral was forced to cut out some things." "Meaning us." "Meaning us." Louis nodded. Hours later the whole unit was decked out in full Enforcer gear, lined up neatly outside the barracks primed and ready to take part in the War Games. Their CO, (or as some of them liked to call him, their "Mother Hen"), Seargent Benitez inspected them individually, then addressed his troops. "This is going to be an infantry-only exercise. No jets or tanks today." He narrowed his eyes. None of his troops gave any indication any feeling, just that hard, determined, stoic look they were supposed to have. "You're going to be on the offensive this time out. Your objective is to capture the enemy flag with as little effort as possible, and losing as few kats as possible. Sound easy?" "Yes, sir!" The unit chorused. "I can't hear you!" "YES SIR!" "That's better, troops! Now let's go and show 'em what we're capable of! Move out!" The venue for their exercise was an old abandoned botanical research facility located in the forest just a little bit further down Megaway 12 from the Enforcer base. It had long since been reclaimed by nature, but the two buildings nevertheless still stood, and could still take a few dozen Enforcers going thru it's cracked halls and dusty floors. The defending team had been inserted one hour earlier, and had since prepared ther defenses. The game was to begin as soon as Benitez's group was to make the first move. Chance and Jake knew that watchers were present just beyond the treeline maybe, or hiding in the thicker portions of the undergrowth. But they were there, to make sure that no one cheats like running off after getting a pellet full of paint in the leg. Chance, Jake and Ralph waited patiently but anxiously for Paul, Miranda and three others to return from recon. They were on a ridge not far from the larger of the two target structures, where their main force was. The rest were scattered around the east and western flank. Miranda was the first to make the return trip. "They have their forces scattered pretty evenly. Most of them are in and around the second building so we think the flag is in there somewhere. The guards are grouped by two's, and patrol so close together that they can see the pair ahead." "Sounds pretty tight." Jake said. "Yes, it is." Ralph agreed, rubbing his chin. "We could cause a diversion. But then, that would be to obvious a plan." "We could storm in." Said Chance, who had been given command for this mission. "I have a better idea..." Miranda said slowly, a hit of mischief in her voice. Minutes later, Ralph led a charge towards the main entrance. It was a small force, so it was fast moving. They scrambled to get inside the building but were met with heavy resistance, as was expected. Ralph waved his hand in a signal for his squad to take cover and they began to shoot it out. From just beyond the clearing where the lab stood, Chance observed the events before him with his Enforcer binoculars. He saw Ralph try to take out a sniper, then moved to other members of their unit. No one was out yet. He lowered his binoculars and glanced to his left at Jake. He nodded, and Jake got on the horn with another portion of their unit. "Miranda here." Jake heard over the tac net. "Go to it, Miranda." Jake instructed. With his binoculars he could follow the events unfolding as well. About two minutes later, many of the defending kats abandoned their post and hurriedly proceeded behind the building. "She did it." Chance commented, a smile forming on his face. The first squad, Ralph',s had supplied a "diversion", which then would imply that Miranda's force which circled behind was the main attacking force. Chance grinned at the clevernes of it all. With most of their forces attending to the so called "main force", he and Jake and some others could easily hook up with Ralphs and break in. But the thought on everyones mind was: Where the heck was Paul? Paul was busy at the moment. In fact one could say that he was tied up. Literaly. As were all of the cadets in the building. Right now as they heard the pelet firefight outside, Paul was trying very, very hard to control himself. "What's the matter with you?" A short but stocky kat in a ski-mask slapped him on the back. He and the other hostages had been slapped and hit repeatedly for a few minutes now. "I thought you were trained for this sort of stuff, eh?" "We gotta blow this place, boss." The rail-thin kat was looking out a window. He too, had a ski-mask. The whole gang had ski-masks. "Well who's idea was it to hole up here anyway!?" Another kat snarled at the one by the window. He picked up his blaster and waved it around carelessly, "I wanted to leave town but nooooooo.... you said 'there's more to Megakat city. We shoud hide out for a while then hit again.' Ha! You led us into a flammin' Enforcer training drill!" "You're not helping any! All you ever do is whine and complain. I don't see you doing any..." Had the kat by the window not been thrown out, he might have finished talking. Outside, Chance and Ralph noticed a shape fall from the third floor window and land in the tall trees. "Central, this is Furlong. Did you sight that, over." He flicked the tac net on. Seconds later central replied, "Affirmative. Cease exercise immediately, Furlong. Team two has been advised accordingly." With that Chance stood up and waved the others down. Out of the same window the kat fell out of came a rain of blaster fire, slowly eating away at their cover. "That's real!" Cried Ralph. Just then the Enforcer observers revealed themselves and began issuing orders. They wanted everyone out of the clearing immediately. Some herded the ecadets away while a few laid down cover fire of the genuine variety. They had no idea how many were inside so they decided to fall back and strategize. "What's the meaning of this, Seargent?" Feral demanded. Benitez stiffened his stance and was about to respond when Chance, Jake Ralph, Miranda and the rest came up next to them. "Is everyone accounted for?" "We're missing one, sir." He meant Paul, who hadn't returned from the initial recon sweep. Feral faced the kat in charge of the other group. They had nine missing, those positioned inside the building to defend their flag. Feral breathed a heavy sigh and hardened his jaw. "The Enforcers will handle this." He said to no one in particular, though he meant to tell the cadets to stay out of their way. He stormed off, Benitez in tow. Chance gathered his friends around. "We have to do something." He suggested. "Feral will have our heads." Jake contradicted, "Not to mention kick us off the Enforcers even befroe we actually get in." "But that's Paul in there!" Miranda clutched at Jake. Jake nodded, "Okay. I'm in." They looked at Ralph who stayed perfectly still. "Well?" Chance pressed, "Are you in or out." "I'm out." Ralph said flatly. Chance paused a moment then nodded. They all understood that he stood to loose the most by getting kicked off. That being decided, the trio set off. Ralph knew the others didn't blame his beause of his predicament, but had a nagging feeling that he had just betrayed them. "How many are inside?" Commander Feral paced back and forth, his brows knitting in thought and anger. Ten hostages and an undetermined number of adversaries, plus only a handfull of real Enforcers. What's more, he had dozens upon dozens of cadets to keep at bay. The wind picked up. "What the..." "See ya, Commander!" Chance screamed over the whirl of Commander Feral's helicopter. He had the stick in his hands and was taking off. Jake, Miranda and half a dozen others were all cramped in the back. They had taken the weapons stashed in the helicopter. Feral sprinted towards them. He reached them just as they lfted off. "Welcome aboard, Commander!" Jake greeted his superior. They could've flown in directly but there was the danger of getting shot out of th sky. He opted to turn, and circled until he came about on the side of the building without any windows. He came in thru there and landed the chopper on the roof. "We'll take this from the top down." Chance shut down the engine. "You'll do no such thing!" Feral spoke cammandingly, his presence exuding a feeling of inferiority and subordrination in the kat's in front of him. "This is against regulations! We have no idea what kind of force is inside this building, we need more information." "With all due respect, sir" Jake addressed Feral sarcastically, "Those are our friends in there, and following rgulations will just lessen their chances." "You don't think much of me, do you?" No one answered tht one. "Those kats in there are my responsibility. They are my charges." Feral was emphatic. "I've never lost a raw recruit, and I'm not about to begin today." "Commander" the helicopter's radio sparked to life. "Come in sir, we have the information you asked for." Feral slowly headed for the chopper to answer, eyeing the recruits icely. "Yes, Seargent." "Sir, We've identified the one who fell ou the window. He's alive but he isn't talking. He's part of the gang responsible for the recent spree of robberies. There about twenty in his group, all of which we think are inside, mostly on the third and fourth floor. We have also confirmed there are ten hostages, sir." "Armaments?" "Mostly small arms, sir. Hand-held blasters and possibly a few energy rifles. That's all commander. What are your orders?" Feral was about to reply when he caught the cadets begin to plant their grappling hooks. There was no stopping them now, the stupid hotshots. "Seargent!" He growled, "Move in! And look out for the nine cadets who hijacked my chopper." "Shall we take them in, sir?" "No. We can't afford in-fighting now. I'll handle them later." "Third and fourth floor, right?" Tailor seeked confirmation. He had his grappling hook securely anchored, and the other end of the rope wrapped around him. His muscles were tense and his breathing rapid. This was it, the real thing. Beside him Jake was eperiencing similar feelings. "Right." He confirmed. Jake suddenly felt like he was being baked in his uniform. He felt a drop of sweat pass his eyebrow. His heart seemed to be going mad, and he forced himself to calm down. "Ready?" Chance called out to all of them. When every one answered affirmatively, he led the drop. Chance , Jake, Tailor, Miranda descended. The building was six stories, so they went at it quickly until they were between the fifth and fourth floors. Then they stopped. Chance gave Tailor a thumbs-up. Tailor's heart seemed to have transfered to his head and began to beat overtime. He steadied his breathing and clutched at the rope more tightly. In a sudden fluid move he inverted himself and quickly wrapped his legs around the rope. Upsidedown now, he slowly inched his way towards to the fourth floor window. He didn't really enjoy this position but was of the opinion that he had a less chance of being discovered than if peeped in upright. The room was empty of any furniture whatsoever. It was too small to be a decent lab so it must've been someone's living quarters. No one was there. He gave his companions a thumbs-up of his own and righted himself. Soon they were inside, getting ready for a confrontation. "So far, so good..." Miranda whispered. "Yes." That voice was unmistakable. They turned and saw Commander Feral climb in. He had taken off his coat and now removed his gun from it's holster. "Now all of you follow me. If I can't stop you at least I can guide you." "But sir..." Jake was about to protest when Chance's radio crackeld. It was Lenny, one of the kats that had been left on the roof. "Chance." He said. "Brad, Linda, Eric and Francis are hanging outside now. They say The Paul and the rest are in the room to the left of you." "How many bad kats?" "About eight of the twenty. I suppose the rest are in the hall and on the third floor." "10-4, good buddy. Tell 'em to hang tight." Feral stormed past them and slightly opened to door. He spied three guards, Then shut the door. He looke at his cadets, his eyes resting on Miranda. "Arghhh..." Miranda fell to her knees, clutching her stomach. She looked at the guards, then collapsed to the floor by the open door. The three guards looked at each other. The first motioned for the other two to stand ready, then carefully approached Miranda. He knelt down to check on Miranda then looked up and into the room. He found himself on the business end of four blasters. The two other guards merely saw their comrade slowly enter the room and not come out. The scene replayed itself with the second guard. The third not knowing what to do, froze in place then trained his weapon on Miranda. He knew something was wrong, but couldn't figure out what to do. Then, almost inaudible, he heard giggles from the room. He called out the names of his friends and the laughter gained a bit of intensity. Slowly, he decided to examine Miranda. "Hi." Miranda rolled over bringing her blaster to bear on the last guard. The click of the four other blasters was enough to convincet the poor soul to surrender. Inside they had used the ropes the came down on to tie up th e three guards, all of which were unconscious. They positioned themselves strategically in front of the door. Feral was in the middle. To his right, was chance and to his left was Jake. Miranda told their fellow cadets hanging outside to be ready any second onw. With a loud thud Feral kicked the door open, screaming for everone to put down their weapons. Jake and Chance had their weapons trained on varius parts of the room to deter any fighting. The kat who threw his gangmate out earlier pivoted and fired on Feral. The Commander dove to avoid being hit and Chance and Jake rushed into the room to get some cover. The firefight was real now. Tailor and Miranda took up the positions Jake and Chance had left and also began firing. A shattering of glass announced the arrival of the other kats whowere hanging around outside. They quickly subdued the criminals directly before them, leaving only three left. One tried to make it to the hostages but Jake and Chance happened to him. The other gave up and yet the last rushed for the door. He was intercepted by Feral who knocked the kat's weaponn away. The kat swung wildly, desperate not to get caught. Feral sidesteped the punches and delivered two of his own to knock the criminal. The cadets clapped at their commander's performance. "Shut up." Feral snarled. "Get them loose." He pointed to the tied-up cadets and took the radio from Miranda. Miranda rushed to Paul and untied him. They hugged each other tightly, Paul still trembling. "Seargent Benitez has caught the rest of the gang." Feral declared. "I have to admit, you performed well for a bunch of young hotshots. But don't think your off the hook. I won't tolerate disobedience on my force. As of today, consider yourselves former Enforcer cadets." "Now hold on a minute, Commander," Chance hunched his back and approached Feral with clenched fists. "We did what your precious Enforcers couldn't..." Feral spun on his heels and faced Chance, undeterred by the hostile posture and attitude the cadets adopted. "That's enough out of you. My mind is made up." He turned again and left the room. Chance would have charged him had Jake, Miranda and Paul not restrained him. Outside, Feral saw his Enforcers busily handling the excited cadets and the captured crminals. He was not surprised but a bit irritated when he saw Mayor Manx come up to him, his deputy Mayor Mrs. Gail, in tow. "Hello there, Feral. I see we have have everything all sorted out." MAnx gretted. "Yes, Mrs. Gail. My Enforcers have handled it." "That's not what I heard." Mrs. Gail said in a tone that further agitated Feral. "What do you mean?" "I hear that a bunch of cadets were the ones who freed the hostages, yes?" Feral gritted his teeth and fought to control himself. He knew what was comming. "Yes. And I've thrown them off the force for disobedience." He didn't any more problems that may cause an even bigger budget cut. Manx was startled, "Oh, by all means, Feral, get them back. Cadets that can handle a crisis... imagine what real Enforcers could do... Why, the investors will swarm to Megakat city because of the high standard of law and order!" "But Mr. Mayor..." "I'll even reject the budget cut." Feral hated being in a position like he was in now. He wanted those hotshots off the force, but he needed the money to run the Enforcers effectively. He ventually gave in, and Chance, Jake and the rest were returned to cadet status.