Blackwatch

[Ironwatsas]

Chapter 1:

Execution

***

*crunch, crunch, ruffle, snap*

The sound of sticks breaking, the sounds of a creature moving through the forest. On the coastal plains of one of the innumerable Islands on planet Kyushu. With no moon, the sky was lit only by the stars, the light reflecting from the Seiran dustcloud and planet Aso so many billions of Kilometers away. The Ocean could be heard close, the breeze through the coniferous trees which thrived at this high latitude.

The creature was on the hunt. Making it's way through the underbrush. Stopping to listen, query, decide, before moving onward. Down a bare, rocky ridge it was forced to go. Exposed. Nevertheless, it lay low in the grass to see that nothing could see it. Itself darker then the night sky. Other shapes could be seen below it, but these were other predators, other dark creatures. Waiting.

Rapelling down the sheer face of the cliff, it met with it's pack. Silently, they gathered and made their way toward their quarry. Lead by the beacon of smoke and light rising through the forest. Others were already prepared. Waiting only for the spearhead to slice it's way in.

They moved, for what would seem like an eternity, into their prey's den. The house was surrounded by their victim's kindred. All of them vigilant, but they could only be so wary... to them, this night was like any other. Hundreds of others had gone by without their encountering a single threat, so they were complacant, irrelevent to how ready they were...

Tonight would be diffrent.

The diffrence between these predators and their prey, and the animals they modeled their hunting styles after were but one. These were not deer preyed on by wolves, but humans preyed on by transhumans.

The Predators: The Planetary special forces of the Consortium Legion, armed with some of the best weapons money can buy, with training akin to military special forces, combined with something that no human could claim... true fearlessness. Not by extreme training or experiance, but by a level of Cybernetic conditioning which rendered them effectively numb to any emotion at all when in combat...

Their Prey: A local protection ring guarding a particularly unplesant member of the Kusari military internal affairs beaureau. One who had something the Consortium wanted very badly... unfortunately for him and his hired guardians.

The predators cared not for the name of what they were about to take. Names mattered little in this arena. All that mattered to them was their mission, which they were hard wired to complete... or die trying. They approached the manor, a walled home of Traditional Kusarian engineering. Atop the walls stood hired bodyguards armed with blaster pistols and small rifles and repeater weapons. Little compared to the military-grade weapons wielded by their counterparts, but dangerous nonetheless.

A shooting battle would not end well unless it was tightly controlled. When it began, and when it ended. The pack broke up, just out of view of their prey, still concieled by the forest trees and dense undergrowth surrounding the property. Sharpshooters armed with silenced rifles made their way around the property, taking cover on high points such as rock edifices and the terraced hills surrounding the house. Allowing them to dial in their targets easily. But the main assault squad waited... the night was clear, but not totally. They waited until the winds blew a whip of cloud from the sea over the home, obscuring the light from the stars. Then, they made their move.

The front gate of the home was well protected and in the glow of a floodlight. To the side however was a small dranage culvert, which created an opening in the wall, covered by a metal grate. The lead man of the team pulled out a roll of what appeared almost to be malliable clay, rolled into the shape of a cord. He wrapped the cord around the grade, and took the end of it, which revealed that the 'clay' was inlayed with a copper wire. Attached to it to a small object which emmitted an electrical current, and the 'clay' turned red hot, melting through the grate and creating an opening for the team to fit through. The man behind the pointman carefully lowered the grate to the ground as not to make a sound, and the team made their way into the compound...

The culvert lead into the garden of the property, consisting of an artifical pond and decorative plants. The culvert opening was hidden behind a growth of bamboo, specifically to hide the unsightly steel grate. The squad moved behind the bamboo, staying low to the ground. There was a few meter gap between the end of the bamboo wall, and the ajacent building. The squad halted to verify the coast was clear, one of their members drawing his rifle, which was equipped with a camera linked to a head's up display in his helmet.

The main building of the complex lay across the garden, which was itself illuminated by a series of paper lanterns and watched by a number of individuals. The Lanterns were decorative, lit by electric lights. The light string was plugged into a power outlet on the main building, clear across the garden. The point man of the squad lowered his rifle and drew one of his sidearms, an electromagnetic sleep-dart gun. With reflexes and a steady aim enhanced far beyond that of a 'normal' human, he took aim and fired a single dart into the power-plug, knocking the entire lantern display out. The near-silent weapon was not heard by the guards, who had little idea what was going on.

The pointman have a hand signal for the team to move. Without the lights, it was near impossible to see the men moving across the yard against the out-building, their footsteps muffled by the background noise of the artificial pond's waterfall feature. The six-man squad moved around the main house, into a side door, and armed their weapons. The time for stealth was just about over...

Swiftly, they moved tactically through the hallways into the house. Pausing at a corner, they looked and saw a man, presumably a janitor, sweeping the floors with a broom. Witness. One shot from a dartgun and the janitor was flat on the floor. The squad passed the juncture and broke in two. Proceeding down seperate corridors. The first squad moved around a corner, to where the home's living room was. Several men sat therein, sipping sake and laughing at each other's tales, a holovision showing a newsfeed in the background. The squad waited until the second group completed it's objective.

The second team moved through the hallways, slowly rounding a corner. However, they walked streight into a surprised Geisha. Before she could make any noise, the squadleader fired another dart from an underslung attachment on his rifle, knocking the woman unconcious. Passing her, they went into a stairwell and down into a basement. The squad switched their weapons from darts to bullets, as they went in...

A single man was sitting in a chair at the bottom of the stairs, and had no time to react as the squad stormed in. Their weapons were silenced, but nobody in the basement would not have noticed. Nevertheless, their reaction time was not enough. The man in the chair was struck by three rounds as the impact sent him tumbling backwards. Another man who was standing in the middle of the room was next, struck in the head and chest by the second squadmember.

A third man yelled as he drew his sidearm, leveling it on the squad. His reflexes weren't fast enough though, as a high-velicity metal spike flew into his chest, pinning him to the wall. The squad went through the basement, finding a forth man now cowering in a corner. One of the squadmembers pulled out a needle filled with the same sleep solution and jammed it into the man's neck, knocking him out. Now they could concentrate on their task at hand...

The open area of the basement had an ajacent corridor, which was lined with heavy doors along it. The squadleader pulled out a key from the now-dead guard, and walked to a metal fusebox at the end of the corridor. The key opened the box, which contained switches to open the doors. As the heavy doors squng open, their nature was revealed. An improvised series of jail cells, for the homeowner's 'personal' prisoners.

"Come, We are here to take you home..." The voice of the Consortium soldier, warped through a vocoder broke the silence.

Out of the open cells, their inhabitants began to come forth. All of them women, many were clearly Golden Chrysanthemums by the look of them. Most were dressed in tattered garmets, if anything at all, and were obviously terrified by the events unfolding.

"You are unharmed?" The Consortium soldier asked

One of the women, apparently a leader, replied. "Y... yes... we are fine... we will be okay... "

"Good." The soldier replied. "Stay behind me, we are awaiting extraction and word the area is secure."

"Right... b... but... who are... you?" The woman asked

"We are the Blackwatch."

***

Even the surpressed sounds of weapons fired in the basement was enough to alert the men in the Living room. Enough of a signal for the other element of the squad to move into action. Charging into the room, they opened up on the several men, one of whom managed to draw his pistol, striking one of the Consortium solders in the leg. This did not save him, as that same soldier replied in kind with a tactical shotgun, killing his assailant instantly.

Despite his injury, the Consortium soldier and his compatriats were unfazed. They felt no pain, nor dispair. As they pressed on through the hallways. A few guards met them along the way, guns drawn. But with no cover and no armor, they had little chance against the hail of bullets, buckshot, and crystalline shards which met them.

The sounds of the shootout alerted the Hogosha on the walls and outside... as well as the snipers which had them dialed in since the beginning. Alerted via wireless datalinks with the squads inside, they needed no orders to fire. In near unison, the snipers opened up on the men outside and around the property. One by one, bodies fell to the ground as the assault continued.

"Delta-Kappa-2, status update. Are the personel secured. I want a headcount." One of the snipers, now clear of targets in his firing solution, asked.

***

"Affirmative... checking..." The leader of squad 2 replied, checking the freed GC prisoners. "Were there any others present here?"

"S...sister Inoue... the man took her... just before you got here! Please... find her!" The woman replied.

The Consortium soldier nodded and spoke into his communicator. "Negative, we have one individual unaccounted for. Be on lookout."

***

Squad one rushed up a stairwell to the second floor of the building, where they were met be a guard armed with a sawn-off shotgun. However, the sqadleader was simply moving too quickly to allow the man time to aim and fire. He used his rifle as a meele weapon to push the barrel of the gun up, causing the man to fire it into the cieling. A kick to the groin sent the pointman's assailant reeling, and a single shot to the head from a rifle finished him.

With no other guards on this floor, there was but one target left. The squad made their way to a door at the end of the hallway. The pointman wasted no time in kicking it open, as the squad walked into the room. Immedietly, they were met by a man armed with a Wakizashi bearing down on them. The blade however, was met with cold steel itself... the pointman quickly drawing his Consortium-issue machete and using it to hold against the Samurai blade.

"Who are you!? What are you doing in my home!" The man yelled

"Irrelevent..." The squadleader replied in an extremely cold and emotionless tone.

Despite his opponant putting his entire weight onto the Sword, the gene-boosted Consortium soldier easily held him at bay with one hand. He brought the other around and grabbed the hilt of the Wakizashi, at the same time kicking and forcing the man to the floor, Driving the sword into the tatami mat next to him.

"What do y... you want!?" The man asked

The Consortium soldier placed the tip of the Machete next to the man's throught. "We want you."

"A... I... I am an officer in the Kusari Military! You WILL answer for this... I swear!"

"No." The Consortium soldier replied, sheathing his machete and picking up the Kusarian by his robe collar, he pulled out a tranquiliser needle and jammed it hard into the man's neck, before punching him across the side of the head, knocking him unconcious.

"Objective Bravo secured. Request EVAC flight deploy. We are ready." The Consortium officer stated.

"EVAC en-route. But where is the missing personel?"

At that, a soft whimpering/moaning noise came from behind a partition in the room. The Consortium soldiers entered to find a young woman, bound and gagged, laying on a bed. The expression in her eyes indicaded that she was more angry then scared, squirming and trying to get free.

"Personel located and accounted for." The soldier replied, walking over to the woman and removing the gag.

The woman was quick to respond. "...that bastard! Let me at him, I'll peel his damned skin off! Frakking perverted piece of s..." She was interrupted by the Consortium soldier as he removed her arm and leg ties.

"You are unharmed. Yes or No."

"I am unharmed, but I'll feel alot better when I gouge this pig's eyes out!" She replied

"Negative. Biotic is to be recovered and interrogated..."

"Biotic? Just who are you anyway!?"

"We are the Consortium Blackwatch.... We are Legion."

***

Within a matter of minuites, a dropship had arrived on station, touching down in the open cortyard in the center of the building complex. Outside, stood the survivors of the battle, under the guns of Consortium troops. The GC prisoners were first to board the transport, ushered into the forward compartment. The Kusari officer and his personal servants were placed in back, as were a few surviving bodyguards, all tied up and equipped with shock-restraints.

However, there were a number of guards who were injured and waiting to board.

"Hold's full, we can't fit anymore aboard." The soldier in charge of passenger handling yelled over the engines of the dropship.

"Understood..." The Consortium squadleader replied.

"Under... stood? What are you going to...?" One guard asked, before being interrupted by the Consortium guard.

"Trihage." He said cruelly

Before anyone could say anything, a series of rifle reports echoed through the property. The remaining guards fell to the ground, dead. Their assassins, uncaring toward what they had done, boarded the transport and took their places aboard. Closing the aft hatch, they gave the signal for the vehicle to depart. The Dropship gunned it's engines and lifted off, quickly accellerating away from the scene of the battle and out into space.

Behind it, another aircraft, a modified Consortium Scimitar fighter, waited for the dropship to clear the area. Making a sweeping pass over the property, it released a large, thermobaric bomb, before jetting off after the Dropship. The fuel-air explosion instantly leveled the compound and ignited many of the trees nearby, destroying all evidence of what had been done...

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All that begins must end.