There is a lesbian....

Last season the female SWAT member came out; this season she's part of a threeple, but while she loves the woman she can't jell with the man....

Training For The Road - 3243

The next few days went by in a blur. Kathryn put in the requisite time at the range, while ensuring that her men were tested in power suits. PFC Rodriguez and Corporal Goodwin received the best scores and so received the honor of piloting the suits in combat. They would receive additional training in the weapon systems and how to modify their hand-to-hand skills to take advantage of the enhanced strength the suits offered. The remainder of her squad would be spending time on the range; with Lucia on an extended foraging mission it would be nice to have something to take out her frustrations on.

She also had to check out the new vehicle. The IFV had seen better days, and the tracks were decidedly worn, but the vehicle itself was solid; it should last the three or four days with no problem. The tactics of her squad would need to change as the vehicle would be the prime of all attacks, but that was easy enough to allow for in her playbook and the weapons would be, well, helpful.

She also looked at the three sites on a map. The total distance was a 105 miles, but with some basic foraging it should not be a major issue. They would need to carry plenty of fuel along with them, but that shouldn't be a major issue. The issue would be the ammunition, and they would need to have complete load outs for the power suits and vehicles. The requisition request for this was going to be murder! So she started filling out all of the forms. When that was completed she compared maps.

Since the Time Out, when Doctor Verte had decided she needed some time to think and had thus wreaked all sorts of havoc in order to get herself some alone time, there had been a severe uptick in metaphysical phenomena. That is, while there had been magic and even some well-known spellcasters, such the Crimson Band and Doctor Clothos, the supernatural denizens had kept to the shadows. Since the Time Out, however, magic was returning with a vengeance. The appearance of wizkids, teenagers with a direct connection to magic who used it to satisfy their own needs, were a direct sign of that.

The ley lines were the other.

All over the maps had appeared vast rivers of magical power, ranging from a few dozen meters to a few miles across flowing from one point to another. They were visible during the night and day, as the air itself glowed a gentle blue, but it was more obvious at night; because of that some of the soldiers referred to them as the “blue areas”. They had been able to map out some of the local ley lines, and she now compared them to maps of where they were planning to go. She smiled as she noted several intersection areas; she would be able to test out the ring.

At least there would be something interesting on the trip. When the mutates weren't trying to kill them. She hoped Lucia would return before she had to return to the field.

* * * * *

Blue. Yellow. Green. Purple. Whites. Red. There were only missing black and pink, but they were more legend than anything else. For such a grouping to be happening there must be something serious happening, and that never meant anything good. Everyone was in standard camos, but the berets told the tale of who was what. Her squad was the blue, or combat personnel. The engineering specialists wore mustard, but their clothes wore the stains of their profession. Special Forces wore their distinctive forest green, but their lousy shaves marked them in a group of clean-shaven soldiers. There were a couple command types in their purple berets, usually ambitious types trying to prove something. There were even some scientists in their white berets and lab coats.

But the red berets piqued her curiosity. The parapscychologists never left their section but were involved in the conversations about her load out; there was no way that was any sort of good news. She walked down into the room and into the weirdness.

Sergeant Tumlinson was the sole welcome green in the bunch. The scientists started to approach her as a group, but a scowl from Sergeant Tumlinson backed all but one down. The single scientist focused on her and handed her a manila folder. “Lieutenant Douglas, those are the specifications of the new equipment we have designed for your mission. It is mostly detection gear, designed to run without interference. There are some special new weapons, however.”

One of the engineers, a thin private, stepped up. “Yeh, the power suits' laser have been amped up a little but your shouldn't notice any added consumption issues. There are also some enhancements to the fields.”

The scientist scowled at the engineer. “We need the ley lines mapped a little more thoroughly, and we think we figured it out how to get some additional details. As noted, do not worry about it once you're in the field. It is also set to send back the information in bursts, so don't worry if you hear it activating. All of that information is in the briefing we just handed you.”

She handed the file to the sergeant. “Have fun.” She looked back the scientist. “Thanks. Hopefully we'll get the information you need.”

The two disappeared into the crowd. A parascyhologist stepped up to her. She almost recoiled from the smell of sage but stood her ground. The parapsychologist gave her a couple of jade shuriken. “We've noticed some interesting details about the wizkids and their interaction with the mutates. We believe that the two are linked somehow and that the mutates draw some sort of power from them. If you can hit them with one of these shuriken it may help to take them down.”

She inspected the shuriken. “Interesting. Any idea if they will penetrate the skin of the tougher mutates?”

He shrugged. “It would depend on the thickness of the skin, but as long as they are not bullet-proof, sure.”

“This trip just became a lot more interesting.” She pocketed the shuriken as the parapsychologist walked away from her. She had begun to suspect that there was a link, especially considering how they clumped together. She was now curious how important that link was. Too bad it was so hard to keep them as prisoners. Hopefully this information would help; they desperately needed to find new ways of dealing with them.

Sergeant Tumlinson nudged her. “Ma'am? These are some interesting specs. They may even help with the invisible ones.”

“Interesting. Can you link the detectors to your dogs?”

“I'll see about that.”

“Good.”

She let Sergeant Tumlinson retreat to study the specifications on his own. She decided to engage the officers in conversation. Just how bad could it go anyway?

* * * * *

She hit the punching bag full force. Of course the conversation with the officers went bad. They ended up being command-wannabes with no appreciation of tactics and their own thoughts on how to put down the mutates. She hit the bag again. The morons suggested gas attacks followed by grenade launchers, preferably white phosphorus. The bag began to serious swing.

She kicked the bag. Gas attacks had proven to just be a waste of ammunition, as well as creating problems. She side-kicked the bag. Not only were mutates in battle covered with a telekinetic shield but those capable of manipulating the gas itself used it as a weapon. She jab at the bag. And while she respected the power of Willie Pete too many mutates shrugged it off. She hit the bag with a combo. Too mutates were immune to heat damage and a lot of them had rugged skins capable of shedding the stuff like a duck did water.

She shifted her position and started swinging. Obviously the martinets had not read the battle reports. She hit the bag with an uppercut; it moved satisfyingly. If they had they would known that. She hit the bag with a three punch combination. She feared for any unit placed under the command.

She backed up half a pace. The shuriken should be interesting to see in battle. She hit the bag with a combination kick. She had noticed that there was some link between the wizkids and mutates. She kicked the bag straight in the center. They had all noticed it. Her next kick visibly moved the bag. And it definitely it was interesting how it always seemed to be one wizkid in a mix of mutates. She kicked it one more time. She would definitely be putting the shuriken to the test.

She grabbed her towel and wiped down. The next combat would definitely be interesting. If Sergeant Tumlinson could link the detectors to his cybernetic dogs that would definitely help against the invisible mutates and possibly even help against the snipers. She had also requested more flashbangs than normal just to see how the mutates would fare against their superior senses.

This trip would definitely be interesting.

The Edging Ring - Day 1 - 1721

And they day had started off so great, what with the sun shining and sky almost an actual blue. Lt. Kathryn Douglas barely dodged a red claw fro the mutate in front of her. She pressed her trigger, sending a rain of machine gun death into its armored body, killing it almost instantly. She took a moment to choose her next target, and settled on the mutate attacking Sergeant Phil Tomlinson, who had set his robot dogs after it even has he fired into its body.

A globe of flame came streaking towards her. She dropped to the street and it flew past her, exploding into a shower of sparks as it impacted on a deserted building. “Rodriguez! WIZKID!” She pointed at the gangly youth as Rodriguez swiveled the turret that direction. His bullets ricocheted harmlessly of the kid's blue shield, but the shield soon shattered and the kid fell to the ground, never to rise again.

A scream behind her made her turn just in time to see a purple claw cut Helmut in two. She tossed two grenades in that direction; two satisfying explosions later and a large chunk of the mutate was gone. It fell onto the street below. A quick search of the scene resulted in her finding the half-eaten bodies of Clemins and Sanches and the monster eating them; a barrage of fire from the remaining men utterly obliterated the remaining monster.

The encounter over the men scavenged what they could of the dead men's equipment before setting the corpses on fire. Lt. Kathryn Douglas fumed. The smell of the decaying corpses was beginning to penetrate her gas mask; she had hoped to have returned well before the filters had begun to wear out. That was before her squad had faced down the team of mutates led by their very own wizkid. Taking stock, they had barely managed to survive the encounter, but not without almost depleting their ammunition. They were forced to take the long way home, and that would add a good two hours to the trip.

The squad manged to avoid a couple of roving mutates, but they needed to get home before they ran into another team. If they could rush the last few blocks they would be in the clear, but the worst things tended to happen just before they were in the clear. The team slowed when they could see the warning pylons; the ten-foot poles lit the area around them but did little to reveal any mutates hiding in the alleys surrounding the entryway. No matter how well cleared they were the mutates would always return with just enough of their number to re-establish their haunts. It was finally decided to just let them be.

The area, now called The Gauntlet, was the final run. It usually a matter of bluffing their way through: They were usually only attacked by a single mutate and those were usually of the weaker sort. This meant that just the appearance of superior force was enough to keep them in their holes. However, a team of mutates working together would be emboldened enough to attack even a platoon coming back from the field. Without ammunition the odds of her team seeing dinner, well, they were depending on just dealing with one of the stupider demons.

Her fist went up and the squad froze where they were. She motioned for visors to be dropped and for bounding to start. She quickly looked over the remnants of her squad: They had lost three good men on the patrol. Relying on her experience with The Gauntlet she decided to go down the right side; the setting sun would throw the most light down those alleys and hopefully the wide-band optics in the visor would pick up any potential targets. The squad started moving quickly and efficiently; a soldier would move forward to the entrance of an alley, check it out, and signal things were clear. Another soldier would then move to the next alley and repeat the process.

Slowly but surely they made their way past the pylons; the mutates had decided to stay where they were. Lt. Douglas breathed a sigh of release when her squad was inside the door and in the decontamination room. Once allowed to exit the room she headed to the mess, her service tablet firmly in her cargo pocket. While she ate dinner she filled out the necessary paperwork, from the targets they had engaged to notes on places to send the scavenging teams. She filled out the necessary supply forms, with the usual requests for material she knew would never appear.

Every so often she would glance over at her squad, vicariously enjoying a joke being made about the targets they had eliminated, a far too euphemistic way of referring to the mutates they had vanquished. Soon she had only to deal with the paperwork that would be the last paperwork filed for Privates Bartholemew Clemins and Jorge Sanches and Sergeant Helmut Jorgensen. A small mercy was that she did not have to write the letters to their families; with the world outside ravaged there was no way to get those letter to families, assuming they had even survived.

She put her tablet away and tipped her drink to her squad; they toasted silently to the departed. She soon left for her person quarters where she would soon be enjoying a hot shower, one of the few creature comforts remaining. She would spend the rest of the nigh reading before finally falling asleep. Fortunately she could sleep in tomorrow, a minor mercy due all those who went on patrol.

* * * * *

She was the first of her squad to breakfast, and she would most likely be the only one. The rest of her men would likely sleep until noon and then join the others for light duty. There was another three days before patrol duty cycled back to her squad and she wanted to enjoy it as much as she could, which meant grabbing some time on the firing line and avoiding the patrol sims. She sighed as she realized why she hated being an officer: Her men were saved from having to deal with the debriefings and other meetings and at least they had hero status as regular patrollers. The leader of that patrol, however, was an outsider in office politics and that could make life difficult for an officer.

She eventually finished her breakfast and headed to the office of the general. The underground bunker had been refurbished from a subway depot; the basic renovations had only taken a week to do when they had moved in as groups of soldiers quickly gathered at the abandoned subway depot. General Hendricks had been on leave when the first attacks came and had happened on the depot while retreating; with the nearest base virtually destroyed he had decided the depot was easily defensible and large enough to make a headquarters out of. General Hendricks quickly got a ham operator to take up shop there and send out a repeating signal in order to rally the troops.

Within weeks they had been able to find generators and enough equipment on foraging trips back to the original base to almost have a semblance of order. Backed by goods from various stores they had been able to fortify the depot and create a formidable base. Fortunately, at least from the survivors' perspective, the attack had been to drive people away from the cities; this meant that the utilities and such were still working, although they were degrading quickly. Fort Subway had a limited duration and all of the jerry-rigged repairs in the world couldn't stop that.

She finally approached the General's office. Lieutenant Eric Tamden was serving as the secretary and was serving as well as he could consider the circumstances. “Good morning, Eric.”

Tamden looked up from his screen. “Hey, Kat. You're the second one in this morning. Sleeping okay?”

“About as well as I can considering.”

“I hear that. Condolences about your men. Some good news, however: We found another vehicle for your squad as well as two power suits. We'll have them ready for you when you go out.”

“Thanks. I'm sure we can put them to good use.”

“I know you can! Oh, and be prepared for some weirdness in the meeting. We found another treasure box, and there were some actual artifacts.”

“That is interesting.”

The door to the office opened. Captain Harris Eckleberg exited. He walked past the two lieutenants at full pace. Eric's eyes followed him as he left; Kathryn watched the watching. Eric's voice dropped to whisper: “Someone got some bad news. Go on in.”

She smiled as she walked in. The general seemed more ancient than usual, but a frost melted as he saw Kathryn. A mandatory salute given and returned, and a chair was pointed out. She sat, her hat on her lap. “Good morning, Lieutenant. Condolences on your losses, but always a pleasure to see one of our best patrol leaders.”

“Thank you, sir. And thanks for the additional material.”

“You're going to need it. We think we've determined the final three spots for consideration for the evacuation and we need you to check them out.”

“Sounds good. We'll do the reconnaissance as quickly as possible, sir.”

“I know you will.” He opened his top drawer and pulled out a small ring. He tossed it at her. “Catch.”

She grabbed at it, and caught it. She inspected it; it appeared to be a plain silver band, no setting, with some script on the inside.

“The two words are 'advocabit' and 'dimitte', or or 'summon' and 'dismiss'. The guys in red think it summons some sort of positive assistance. We need someone to test it.”

And there it was. She pondered for a moment, but it was mostly for the sake of making a point. “Fine. Any idea how it works?”

“Wear it and say the first word. Say the second if things get out of control. Just make sure that you're in one of the blue areas.”

She looked up him as she pocketed the ring. “Willdo, sir.”