Chief Cho watched as people came drifting in. Most of the active and reserve security staff were already there, and in fact he'd pulled in most of the raw recruits. There were a few from the outer ranches that hadn't come in yet, but there was another missing number that concerned him more.
"Anybody seen Celes?" he asked, looking about with a frown.
"I saw her asleep in her speeder earlier today," one of the staff said.
"Heh, she just about cleaned out the barbeque single handedly this evening," another noted. "Should have seen her eating like there's no tomorrow."
Cho frowned. Neither report sounded like Celes at all, at least not as he knew her in the last few years. It was just one more strange occurrence in the area that he wasn't liking to add up.
"Okay," he said, frowning. "We have five big-bore sniper rifles capable of damaging an ED-290. And we're short one of the people best qualified to use them."
"She's just a trainee, Chief," one of the regular staff noted with a bit of irritation. "A kid at that. And she isn't the best shot."
"She's good enough that she's an asset," Cho snapped. "If you see her and nothing catastrophic has happened, send her here so I can tear a piece out of her hide for ignoring a rally."
That said he stepped up in front of the gathered security personel, a small militia of four or five dozen men and women.
"Okay, this is a training exercise," he called out sticking to the story he'd given the mayor-CEO. "We have an ED-290 out loose in the area. Unfortunately, it has escaped the training bounds and is wandering too close to the settlement for comfort. We're out to take it down."
He continued to give out the plans of their search and attack on the ED-290 as other events were pushing on.
****
Meanwhile, another meeting was going on.
"These visitors in the firefly that landed," someone noted. "There's something to them that I don't like."
He paced a little bit before continuing.
"There's something about them that I can't put my finger on," he said finally.
The man paced a little more.
"I can't predict what I don't understand," he explained. "And that's bad for business."
"We need to find out everything we can about them," the lecture continued.
He stopped pacing, his back to his followers.
"Failing that, we need them gone," he finished.
****
Out near one of the furthest ranches, a pair of security staff came up to the house and knocked loudly calling out. Neither was in a place to see the hole gaping in the roof of the large metal building where something had ripped out the ventilation grates and slipped in.
"Hello! MacDermot, are you in there?" he asked. "There's a security rally we need you and your son for."
Inside the house, abandoned and strewn with debris, several pockets of leathery eggs sat waiting for the men outside to get close enough to trigger their opening.
Walking around the back of the ranch-house, one of the group stopped short as he stared out at the large field of cattle all tipped over and lying dead and mutilated across the field.
Holes gaping in their bodies the obvious cause of death.
He looked up and was mildly relieved to see that it was still daylight.
"Guys! We need to get out of here right now!" he shouted, running back around to the front of the building.
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(Posted Wed, 17 Feb 2010 21:33)
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