Another moment passed.
"Damn-tit," said Machiko. "This is what we get for using a damned body as a radio. There's no way to carry it around with you."
"A relay system could have been concocted, but it would have been difficult to regulate. No, Machiko. Have confidence. You have chosen your allies well. They are good soldiers."
Machiko looked yearningly toward the settlement.
Its taller buildings were in its center, and they gleamed in the moonlight, the smaller outlying buildings huddled around them like children gathered around parents. The genetic factory was one of the farther buildings to the northwest, but it was to the west that the attack party was skulking; this was the portion of the fence that Daniels claimed could be most easily deactivated.
Then, as though in answer to her mental commands, the diversion began.
The bright flare of an incredibly incandescent explosion leaped up from the far side of the settlement, like a knife in the sky.
Moments later another separate explosion of radiance, slightly more amber and jagged, shot up-a rocket flare, without the rocket.
Yes!
Machiko called out, "Advance!" raising her hand at the same time: the agreed-upon semaphore.
They moved out.
"Oh, ye of little faith," said Attila
As though in agreement the thunderous sound of the initial explosion finally reached them. The second echoed soon after, even louder.
"Ah!" said Machiko. "That should get their attention. That should bring their forces to that side. Meanwhile, we go in through the side closer to the factory."
There were two Predators lying on top of the roof riding shotgun, and the added weight slowed the vehicle down somewhat. However, as fast as the Predators were, they still clearly struggled to keep up. They did not complain. The fighting frenzy was upon them, and they had plenty of strength and energy to draw upon.
Less than a kilometer separated the fence and the factory.
When they reached the perimeter, Machiko noticed a shimmer.
Her heart leaped into her throat.
What-were the force fences still up?
What had happened to Sanchez, goddammit?
However, as they got closer, she could see that a section of the fence was down, and two figures were gesturing at them.
Sanchez and Daniels, waving guns.
"Come on, come on!" Daniels yelled. "There's a damned good chance, diversion or no diversion, they've spotted you on sensors."
"I thought you took care of that," said Machiko.
"I did. You just never know."
The two opened the back door and hopped into the backseat while the car was still moving.
"Hey! I thought you two were going to stay out of this part. I thought that was the agreement."
"Hell with it," said Sanchez. "You go, we go."
"Yeah," said Daniels. "Anyway, I want to see what they've got in there before you and your weird aliens blow it all up."
Machiko had about one moment of consternation and concern, which instantly changed to appreciation and a land of hard, flinty, steely love. A comradely love born of brethren in arms.
"Okay, it's your butts. Off we go-"
"The Alien Mobile!" said Daniels.
Sanchez said nothing. He just got his gun out as Machiko hauled ass toward the factory.
"So there you are," said Daniels, leaning his brawny visage over the seat and regarding Attila's head, snuggly fitted between two boxes so that it wouldn't roll around. "I must say, it's been damned strange working with that headless body of yours, buddy."
"You think it's been strange for you? You're not the one who's counting on Machiko Noguchi for transportation. I am not the dependent sort."
"You've been a godsend, I'll tell you that. What else can this android body of yours do?"
"That's something that I am finding constantly surprising," answered the android head.
"Well, for the record, in contrast to these hunting behemoths I find myself surrounded by, you're Mr. Normal." Daniels looked around. "Hey! Where the hell'd they go?"
"They've put their invisibility devices on. If you look at them peripherally, you'll notice a blurring of their form as the light bends around them."
"Jeez. Yeah. You're right. These are some high-tech whizzes for such barbarian-brains."
"Who knows where they got it?" said Machiko, shrugging. "Maybe they stole it. Maybe they have scientists."
"Heads up," said Ned Sanchez. "Factory dead ahead-and it looks like, for all our efforts, they still have a welcoming party."
Livermore Evanston was expecting something like this.
Nonetheless, when it came, it came more spectacularly than he'd expected ....
And from inside the compound.
His instruments told him that.
He'd anticipated an attack sometime this evening, and so, after taking a long nap, enjoying a steam bath and a first-rate therapeutic message, he'd camped out here, in his state-of-the art war room.
Even though Blior was situated in the middle of nowhere, he'd always been aware of its military future, and so one of the first things he'd constructed, in the basement of his central fortress, was a personal bunker, linked to the topside world by the most sophisticated sensor and communication system possible. Here he was safe and snug from any kind of attack, shielded behind firm layers of permacrete, and steel. At his fingertips was a wealth of weapons.
Still, for all its shimmering completeness, Livermore Evanston hadn't expected to be using it this soon.
Nervously, he snacked on his own special blend of spiced, salted nuts for the energy and stamina he felt he was going to need, even though he'd packed in a full dinner that night, supplemented by vitamins and tonics, minus his usual doses of alcohol. Cigar fumes hung about him now as he stared out his screen, watching as the light of the explosions reached for the nighttime sky.
"Damn," he said. "They're breaking into the south perimeter."
"We're dispatching forces to deal with it, sir," said Zorski, via radio.
"Yes, of course. But watch out," said Evanston after the computer analysis floated up on the screen. "Those blasts came from within the fence."
"Saboteurs?"
"Got to be."
"Damn."
"Look," Evanston said, "there's no reason to leave the principal thing we're worried about unguarded. Just put out an exploratory force to see if there's really anything coming in. It can always be reinforced if necessary."
"Evanston. We've got people out here-civilians. Guests."
"Give them guns. Tell them it's a part of the show we're experimenting with-and just might get out of hand. If they're not security, just have them shoot at anything that looks like a monster or Machiko Noguchi from the window."
"Yes, sir," said Zorski. "But don't you think you're being a little too glib?"
"I wouldn't be glib, Zorski, if I didn't think that this wasn't something we could deal with."
"That's a fine thing to say when you're tucked in safe and tight where you are."
"Ah-do I detect a hint of insubordination? May I remind you, Zorski, that you're one of the architects of this great plan, and every bit as enmeshed as I?"
"Frankly, I wish I was enmeshed down there with you right now."
"Zorski, Zorski." He might have been saying "Tsk, tsk." "Rewards demand risks. This has never been a sure or safe enterprise. And yet its rewards will be astronomical."
Zorski sighed. "Right. No time to bicker."
"Time to fight. Time to solve problems. I'll be here, the voice of experience, monitoring, controlling the vital elements that need controlling. And believe you me, Zorski. If worst comes to worst, I'll be out there with a blaster pack strapped to my back."
"Yeah. Right. I'll believe that when I see it."
Communication ceased.
Evanston turned back to his equipment, glittering and shining competently.
He just wished he actually felt as confid
ent as he sounded.
Anyway, there were far more effective measures that could be taken than strapping a weapon on himself.
The thought made him smile.
He almost hoped it would come to those measures. The results could solve a great deal of testing.
Humming an aria to himself, his hands began to tap emphatically across controls.
* * *
Chapter 26
Lights.
They blazed on with unexpected brilliance.
It was as though a batch of stars had suddenly settled down upon the sides and top of the building that held the biolab factory and then blazed their light in shafts toward the approaching troops.
Machiko Noguchi had been in raiding parties before with the yautja, of course, but she'd never been in an actual planned military maneuver against an armed opponent.
She was running this one by the seat of her pants.
So she was surprised that the exactly correct thing sprang to her lips, even as fire began to rip through the newly brightened night.
She pointed. "Kill lights!"
The result was immediate, and shockingly effective.
The alien rifles went off almost as one, hurling plasma and laser beams with pinpoint accuracy. Most of the lights were eliminated. Crash of plasglass. Trickle-tinkle down the sloping sides of the factory.
"Okay, we're out of here," said Daniels.
"You know what to do," said Sanchez to Machiko.
"You bet."
The two mercenaries leaped from the car and began to fire at the gaggle of security forces.
A couple of them went down immediately.
The rest returned fire, but it was clear that they were not highly trained. They should have had some sort of cover-instead they were out in the open, behaving like total idiots.
Machiko wasn't really surprised at this. It was Attila who had pointed out that there hadn't been any military operations on Blior in decades, and many soldiers simply were not trained in the basics. It certainly wasn't just a matter of standing in the open, firing at the attacker.
Machiko didn't complain, though.
Certainly, she was also surprised at the Predators.
They behaved like a crack unit, working together seamlessly. Like a bunch of well-trained Trojans. These guys had a military background, no question. It wasn't just Hunting. Was it in their traditions, their training-or their genes?
Her job, however, was not to dawdle about and gawk.
As driver of the car, she had specific goals.
She watched as the intense fire of the attackers cut a swath through the defenders. The security forces wisely beat a retreat, leaving an opening just the right size for her.
She checked her safety harness, then grabbed Attila and stuffed him tightly between her legs.
"I suppose I should get a thrill out of this," said his muffled voice from between her thighs.
"Just get set for a different kind of thrill," she said.
She gunned the accelerator.
The skimmer skipped ahead with the last reserves of its power. Machiko kept low, and it was a good thing. Bullets splattered through the side windows, raining her with glass.
She kept on, though, aiming for her objective.
When she and Attila had run their reconnaissance, the first thing they'd done was to scope out the exterior of the building. From her memory of that survey, Machiko had calculated which of the doors into the main hall would be the weakest.
It was toward that door that she streaked now.
She guided the car as best she could, angling it just so-and then braced for the crash.
It came, just as expected, but with a fury and violence that could never be prepared for.
Upon impact the crashfoam grew, and just in time.
The windshield shattered, and the front of the skimmer crumpled.
So did the door ahead of her.
This portion of the factory had not been built to withstand assault and was not reinforced. The fourwheeler smashed through. One door was torn off its hinges. The other smashed down onto the ground beyond.
Braking was not necessary.
The skimmer smashed into a cement stanchion-and-girder arrangement a few yards in, bringing it to a halt.
"Damned good job if I say so myself," said Machiko.
She grabbed Attila's head by its hair in one hand, and with her gun in the other, kicked open the door and hopped out.
Next stop: those tanks, and their Hellish contents.
Livermore Evanston watched on his screen as Machiko Noguchi's car smashed through the door into the main portion of the biolab factory.
Livermore Evanston was not eating.
"More troops," he said. "Get me some more troops into this breach," he shouted.
"I'm working on it," said Zorski. Her voice seemed to have lost its composure.
Breaking into the factory was not difficult, and was expected.
However, the suddenness of the breakthrough was not expected.
There had been no time to maneuver more troops around.
Noguchi and this strange army were acting like kamikazes, not soldiers. They seemed to have absolutely no regard for their own lives, which was not something that Evanston had anticipated. It broke all the rules he knew of common sense, all he'd studied about war in school.
Livermore Evanston swiveled in his chair.
He examined his options.
"Surround the building with any available troops, Zorski. But don't go inside. I've got other options available."
Eyes canting up to take in the action as the hordes of invisible Predators swarmed through the opening that the skimmer had just bashed into the factory, Evanston bided his time above the proper controls. He could see the disturbances their devices made in the air, some imprints in the ground vaguely determining their numbers.
He bided his time until the alien warriors would be unable to escape.
And if, for some reason, they could
Well, the rest of his soldiers would be waiting out there for them.
No.
Things were not that bad at all!
Machiko watched as the horde moved in, cleanly and efficiently, weapons cocked and ready for action.
Bakuub stepped up to her.
"That's the entrance, down at the other end of the building," she said, pointing.
Bakuub got the gist of the message and gestured accordingly toward his companions.
They started advancing upon their objective.
"This is most satisfying," said Attila amid the sound and fury coming from outside.
"I don't know," said Machiko. "It's almost too easy."
"Nothing is easy in war. You take your victories where you find them."
"Did you warn them about possible traps?"
"They already anticipate such According to Bakuub their motto is something like `Take things as they come.' "
"Yes," said Machiko. "I know that all too well. Well, come on. We might as well get into the action."
She stuffed the head into the strap pocket that she'd prepared especially for him, cocked her gun, and then began to advance warily.
Attila's head swung on her side like some bizarre baby.
A voice called out from behind her. "Machiko."
She turned around.
It was Sanchez.
"Sanchez. What's the situation outside?"
"Glad you're okay."
"Oh, I used to wreck my cars all the time. I'm real good at it. Too bad I don't have insurance now, though."
"I don't think anyone's going to sue. Daniels is out there guarding the back, and a good thing. I'm going to have to join him soon. All the Hunters seem to feel the party's in here."
"Yeah. They tend to be like that."
"No complaint. They seem to know their stuff. Better than the security forces. They've made like pea soup and split."
"Now you get talkative!"
"It's the excitement."
&
nbsp; "Okay, they're probably just regrouping. I want you and Daniels to get in here and guard our backs. What about MacCraken and Marino?"
"On the lam after the fireworks."
"Fine. No reason to stick their heads in where they might get them blown off. They've done their jobs, even though a little late." She patted him on the butt. "Go on out there, hero. It's good to fight with you."
"Thanks." He skipped on out, calling for Daniels.
"How touching," said Attila.
"Give me a different time, a different place, peace, and a bed, and you'll see some touchy-feely "
"Please, don't subject me."
"Then be nice." She turned around to see what kind of progress the Predators were making.
They had slowed a good deal, cautiously making their way toward the entrance of the sealed-off lab that Machiko had pointed out.
Suddenly a booming voice blasted from ceiling speakers.
"Welcome, marauders," proclaimed the amplified tones of Livermore Evanston. "Welcome, Machiko Noguchi. Welcome to a lovely trap!"
* * *
Chapter 27
The yautja stopped. Raised their weapons as though to blast at the voice. They restrained themselves, however.
And then continued on their way.
"I would sincerely advise against that action!" suggested the voice imperiously.
The Predators ignored him, heading for the door.
"Noguchi! Warn them. They must stop, or they will be sorry!"
"I don't think that these folks have that particular word in their vocabulary, Evanston."
"You know, darling, you never even gave us the time to talk. I could have explained a great deal, and we could have had an even more mutually beneficial alliance."
"Gee, you know, that might have been a real possibility-if you hadn't blown up my partner and tried to kill me!"
"That wasn't me. That was my security system, which you should have known would be in place and programmed to take defensive measures." Evanston's voice reeked with self-righteousness.
"I don't think, you lying monster, we would have had much to talk about, anyway."
"You may have made too many assumptions about my program, Machiko. It is for the best interests of humanity! You want to stop us from achieving our destiny?"
Aliens vs Predator 2 - Hunter's Planet Page 19