by P. J. Lowry
Starr nodded and then proceeded to the backroom, still with her blaster raised and ready for anything to happen. She was usually very calm when working in the city but being shot at suddenly shook her up again. It wasn’t like she wasn’t used to it, she’s seen her fair share of firefights in other systems and on other planets. She just wasn’t ready for it here in the city, which startled her a little bit. That moment was over and Amanda was back in the game, in top form and ready for anything this time. She kicked the back door open and immediately strung into the alley way with a roll. When back up to her feet, she took a quick scan around. Nothing… the other two men had made their escape while their friend bought them time. She looked down at the illegal blaster she put in her holster and began to realize that things were going to get a lot worse before they got better. It was going to be a long day.
It didn’t take long for news of Sergeant Star’s firefight to spread around town like a wildfire. It had been almost twenty years since an exchange of blaster fire had taken place within the city. Citizens were used to hearing a single blast here and there as the law was being enforced but no one had heard return fire since the city’s defence systems were activated. The tech that was created by one of the city’s smarted scientists would deactivate any unauthorized blasters that were brought within the city limits. This made the job of officers and the patrol to protect the streets of the biggest city in the system much, much easier. After its complete success, other mega cities in the galaxy bought into the system and did the same to secure their cities. If someone managed to create tech that could bypass that system, it could spell big trouble for cities that use the system to protect their people. The news of a fire fight in Amanda’s part of town had caused a panic. People of importance, like the mayor, were calling Patrol HQ and asking what they knew about the firefight that went on downtown. People were asking questions in a panic and often led to assumptions that just weren’t true. Sergeant Star brought the man she arrested back to HQ personally. He was still out cold from the shot she hit him with. She also still had his blaster, eager to make sure it made it into the right hands. Amanda had lived in the city long enough to know that things the city deemed unpopular often disappeared when they were sent through the usual chain of custody and then denied as if they never existed. Star didn’t want that to happen with this blaster, despite the panic its mere existence was causing. She landed in the section of HQ that handled prisoners and she had two guards pick up the man from her craft and carry him away.
“Send him to interrogation one zero three,” Amanda ordered when they took him away.
“Right away, Sergeant,” one of them replied.
She was about to pull her speeder out when someone else approached her, “Sergeant Star?”
“Yes,” Amanda replied.
“Is it true?” the tech in the landing zone asked. “Was there a firefight downtown?”
“I’m afraid so,” Amanda answered, “But the perp only fired a few times before I stunned him. It wasn’t as bad as it’s being reported.”
Before the man could respond, Star took her speeder back up to the level where she previously parked before starting her shift. She could understand why people were talking; the blaster she was carrying was evidence that the city’s security might be compromised. Amanda was eager to make sure the science department of the Patrol got a chance to see it and why it was able to beat the system they all depended on. If they couldn’t find out why, the Rocket Patrol as well as the city’s security forces could be overrun and that would cause mass panic in the capital city. As she was landing her speeder in her usual spot, the com-panel on her left forearm started to beep. It was a message from Rogers:
Just heard about the blaster fight, are you all right?
Amanda sent a quick response to let him know that she’s all right and that the blaster fight wasn’t as bad as it’s going around. She could tell that the news of an illegal blaster was already causing a stir. Her fears were confirmed when Rogers sent her another message:
Top brass is freaking out. Watch your six.
Amanda agreed with the old man on that one; she had to watch what she did next. As she strolled through the lobby, she kept the illegal blaster holstered where her usual weapon was and she carried her own casually. She was about halfway through the lobby when someone stopped her from making it. Two guards stepped in front of her, blocking her route to the science wing.
“Commander Anders wishes to speak with you.”
“Tell him I’m busy,” Amanda replied, “I’ll be happy to make time with him after I speak to a few people about something very important.”
“This is more important,” The other guard replied, “Please come with us.”
They didn’t seem to notice she was carrying the illegal blaster so she went along with them, casually carrying her own blaster by her side as if it were a fashion accessory. When she was arrived to Commander Anders’ office, there were several high ranking members of the patrol in there. They had obviously heard about what happened to her and were waiting for her.
“Sergeant Star.” the commander out. “We need to speak to you about today’s rumoured event.”
“It’s not a rumour.” Star replied. “Someone fired at me when I was trying to break up a robbery; a few times as a matter of fact.”
“That not possible!” one of the other high ranking men in the room called out to her, “This city is secure from unauthorized blasters.”
“That doesn’t seem to be the case anymore, Sir.” Amanda retorted.
The Commanders didn’t seem impressed.
“All I see is a Sergeant who is trying to use this controversy to make a name for herself,” A lady at the back of the room suddenly commented. She could tell by her uniform she was from internal security, those who are in charge of the city’s anti-blaster grid.
Amanda replied by tossing the lady her own blaster and then pulled the illegal blaster she taken from the crook out earlier that day and pointed it at her. “Are you willing to bet your life on it?”
All the commanders in the room backed away a few feet. Anders was less than impressed as he stood up from behind his desk.
“Sergeant, what is that?” he quickly asked.
“This is the blaster that managed to bypass the grid.” Amanda replied. “I was in the process of taking it to our tech lab to determine how it managed to beat our system.”
“Sergeant Star!” the other Commander snapped at her. “If you do not bring these fictitious rumours to an end…”
Rather than listen to the rest of that threat, Amanda pointed the illegal blaster at the other corner of the room and fired. In the corner of the room was a small bureau that was used to display Commander Anders’ awards. The sound of the blaster was so loud, the windows shattered. As did Anders’ bureau as the shot turned the solid wood frame into tiny splinters. Suddenly everyone in the room was witness to something that was not a rumour. The blaster was still functioning, despite the fact that it was within city limits. There were even more advanced security systems within Patrol HQ, which also failed to disable the blaster. Sergeant Star then pointed the blaster back to the woman she passed her own blaster to.
“Do you require another demonstration?”
Commander Anders’ first instinct was to have Sergeant Star arrested for what she had just done, but it was a daunting task. She was not only one of their most skilled officers in hand to hand combat but she also possessed the only fully functional blaster in the building. He took a deep breath, stood up and then approached Star.
“What do you plan to do with that?” he asked.
“I’m going to take it to the tech lab, find out why it’s still working.” Amanda replied, “We need to find a way to shut these down before we’re overwhelmed with a new crime wave like we’ve never seen before in the city.”
As much as he hated her right now for what had just happened, she was right. They needed to study the blaster to make sure they could fix an
d update their security systems. “Take that to the lab, tell the geeks down there that this blaster is priority one. They don’t have anything more important than this.”
“Yes, Sir.” Amanda said as she turned and walked out of the Commander’s office with a smile on her face. She had not only blasted something in his office but she was able to get away with it. Amanda was still confident that she’d pay for it later but in the end Commander Anders was a good officer; the city and its people where his top priority and not some petty grudge with a cocky member of his patrol. She respected him for that and would do what she could to make sure neither of them would get caught with their pants down again when more of these blasters came into the city. Her worst fear was that a lot of them were already there. The soot out today was just a test to make sure they worked. If that was true, they were about to be knee deep in blaster fire fights which was something that a lot of recruits took for granted and slacked on as they assumed the defence grid would always be there.
Amanda had always wanted to work off world, travel with guys like Rogers so she practiced three times a week in the blaster halls. If she wanted to work off world where there were no defence grids to help her out, she would have to be the best shot in the galaxy. She worked very hard to be the best shooter in Rocket Patrol history. Over half the records in the city blasting zones belonged to her as her hard work had been paying off over the last several months. That didn’t change the fact that most of the officers in the patrol were not ready for that kind of fire fight and were horribly ill prepared. Any attempt to give them all a crash course would cause a panic and the people in the city would know there was something wrong. Most of them were going to learn through trial by fire, not a preferred method but a valuable teacher. Those who survive will walk away better patrollers, if any of them survived at all.
While she was strolling towards the lab, she spotted someone in the hallway and pulled him aside. He was a good officer, despite his lack of discipline concerning his waist line. He seemed more surprised than upset that Amanda wanted to speak with her, “Peter, I need your help.”
“Anything for you,” Peter said as he seemed genuinely willing to do just that just to please her.
She let the comment pass and proceeded to quickly tell him something. Then without any notice, she shoved Peter away from her, “Watch where you’re going next time, you clumsy oaf!”
Peter was about to say something back but stopped when he saw Amanda wink at him, indicating it was an act. “I’m terribly sorry. It won’t happen again.”
“Make sure it doesn’t,” Amanda snapped back, “And tuck in your shirt!”
After making that last abrupt statement, she walked away from Peter and carried on down the hall towards the lab where she wanted to drop off the blaster for inspection. She was about halfway to the lab and avoiding as many people as possible when something finally happened. Two of the guards that were present in Commander Anders’ office approached her as she tried to walk past them, blocking her way to the lab.
“Is there a problem?” She quickly asked.
“The blaster Sergeant Star,” The man said with his hand extended. “Hand it over to us immediately!”
“Or what?” Amanda asked, almost daring them to act.
Instead of answering her question, one of the two men attacked with the intent of taking the blaster from her by force. Star not only caught the man’s terrible hook but proceeded to strike the elbow of the offending arm as well as land two more body shots before using her left hand to drop the big man to the ground with a sharp uppercut. Before the other man could respond, Star immediately attacked him with a barrage of hard kicks, most of which he was able to block before taking a shot that caught him in the side of his knew which forced him to the ground. Once cut down to size, Amanda took her own blaster and pistol whipped the second man, sending him crashing to the floor with a loud thud. Rather than hang around, Amanda proceeded to continue walking towards the lab, eager to deliver the blaster for them to examine. It was clear that someone in the Patrol was too scared to even let the rumour of this blaster cause a panic, which was the wrong move. They needed to get a head of this and denying its existence was only going to set them up for embarrassment when the next blaster comes into town and then the next hundred after that. It was clear that someone didn’t want her to make it to the lab with the blaster. What confused Amanda the most was their motives. Did they just want to quell the panic, which didn’t make sense cause they can’t deny it if more blasters make it into the city. She had to conclude that there was someone on the inside trying to keep the blaster’s secret from being exposed. Someone who was a part of the new blasters being smuggled into the city for what Amanda had to assume was for something far more sinister. Like Rogers had told her earlier, she was going to have to keep watching her six. Someone was out to stop her. Star was less than twenty feet away from the lab when the lady who was in Anders’ office, escorted by several military officers, blocked her from accessing the doors. She took the blaster that was in her hand, and hid it behind her back.
“Can I help you with something?” Star asked her.
“The blaster, Sergeant Star,” The woman replied, “I want it.”
“You can’t have it.” Amanda said, boldly standing up to her.
“And why not?” the woman then asked.
Amanda smiled at them all, but not for the reason they thought. Behind them was Peter, already in the lab. He had taken the blaster from Amanda and delivered it to the lab while she was fighting in the hallways. To reveal this little fact to them all, she pulled out the blaster from behind her back to reveal it was Peter’s primary pistol, which then revealed to them all that the illegal blaster was no longer in her possession.
“Because it’s already in the tech lab.” she informed them.
The woman turned around to enter the lab, but it was too late. On her instructions, Peter had ordered the lab to lock down. Anders himself said that the blaster was their only priority so once it was in their possession the geeks locked all doors and immediately began to inspect the weapon.
“This isn’t over.” The woman called back to Amanda.
Amanda pulled out a pair of cuffs. “If you and your men don’t walk away, I’m personally going to toss you all into lock up for obstructing a patrol investigation. We clear on that?”
The officers behind the woman scattered and walked away. Their boss stood there in the middle of the hallway and stared at Sergeant Star for a moment before walking away. Amanda had won for now, but she had a feeling that wasn’t the last she was going to see of that person.
With the lab on lock down, Sergeant Star knew that her place was back out in the city, looking for the people who tried to blast her. Some of them were still at large and still carrying blasters that were not deactivated by the city barriers. Amanda could tell this had the potential to be a long day but refused to let it bring her down. This was a challenge to overcome, not an inconvenience to her and the patrol. This was exactly what she signed up for; to protect the people and have a life that was a lot more exciting than the one she was leading before signing up. She had her chance to be one of the lemmings. To stand on the sidelines and let someone else make the big decisions. It just wasn’t in her to be that kind of person. She wanted to do bigger and better things with her life and her ambition was as bright as the two suns in the sky. As she was approaching her speeder to get back out to the city, she was cut off by Commander Anders, who still looked as angry as he did when she fired a blaster in his office earlier.
“Give me one good reason why I shouldn’t have you arrested.” He said with a look that told her he was very seriously considering it.
“We still have at least three unmarked blasters out there that are unaffected by the barrier,” Amanda replied, “You need every person you can get out there looking for them.”
Anders pause for a moment but he knew she was right. She was also his best trooper so benching her now didn’t make
any sense. “All right but try work with me instead of against me. If this turns into a crisis, the only thing that’s going to keep us together is the chain of command. Understood?
“Yes Sir,” Amanda said, as she gave and salute. “I’ll try my best.”
“I suppose that’s better than nothing,” Anders admitted, “Last we heard the suspects who attacked you were spotted in the under markets. I suggest you go down there and have a look around. See if you can pick up the trail.”
“Excellent idea,” Amanda agreed, “I'll get right to it.”
“Dismissed.” Anders said through grit teeth.
Considering that Sergeant Star had obliterated a piece of furniture in Commander Ander’s office, she took the slap on the wrist she was just given and ran with it. She continued walking to her Patrol Pod and got ready to head back out into the city. She at least has a place to start, which was the market. She also had to consider that Anders might have used this situation to give her false intel so she wouldn’t cause any trouble for the rest of the day. She couldn’t think that ill of her Commander, so Amanda was determined to hit the market and if it turned out to be a false lead, she’s pick up a few items for dinner before heading home. She even considered picking something up for Peter for putting himself into harm’s way to deliver the illegal blaster to the lab. As pulled her pod closer to the hangar door, she could see out of the corner of her eye the woman that tried to take the blaster away from her. Amanda had no idea what division she came from but could tell that she was going to be a problem moving forward with her investigation. It was a bridge she was going to have to burn down when she got to it. She got back on her speeder, put on her helmet and finally got back out into the city, away from the politics and bullpuckey that stopped real officers like her from doing their job. She couldn’t blame people for wanting to climb the ladder and advance their career but it shouldn’t come at the expense of their job, which was their entire reason for being there. As long as they did their duty to the patrol and the people of the capital city, Amanda didn’t care whose asses they kissed during their downtime. She preferred to be out there on the field rather than behind a desk. Anders knew that and threatened to not suspend her but take her out of the field and make her do paper work for the next year. That would drive her literally insane so she did what she could to make sure he didn’t get too pissed at her. Star could have swore she crossed that line when she fired the illegal blaster in his office but even he knew this was a legitimate threat to every man, woman and child in the city. Even to a politician like Anders, the city and the safety of the people was just as important. He knew her place was out there where all the action was. Amanda was also no dummy and she was well aware why Anders approached her alone in the hanger bang. If she saves the day, he takes all the credit for not keeping her away from the chaos. If things go south, a rouge officer who fired a blaster in the office was the person who will be tossed under the bus. Star knew what Anders was up to but that was the least of her concern at the moment. As she sped towards the market to look into the lead her commander gave her, all Amanda wanted to do was crack this case and find out who built these blasters and what they wanted to do with them.