The Dark Edge Chronicles - Hardwire

Q Branch

Mordecai was bent low over a strange collection of parts when Dee and Duffy pushed his apartment door aside and stepped inside. Retrieving her key from the lock, Dee closed the door behind her as Duffy shed his winter coat. Like the rest of him, it seemed to be more wrinkled and rumpled than not.

But, when he went to toss it onto the couch in the tiny living room, he found the space already occupied by several devices in various states of disassembly. In fact, the entire apartment seemed to be filled with the half built devices, as if Mordecai had begun each one of them but jumped to the next before it was completely finished.

Keeping her own coat on as she stepped into the kitchen where Mordecai was working, Dee frowned as she looked at the device the big man was almost feverishly laboring over.

"Just what the hell is that?" she asked softly with no little amount of curiosity.

Without looking up, Mordecai's fingers swiftly moved to fit several of the light gray parts together, each segment smoothly interlocking with its partner until, almost before Dee could react, he was holding it in his hands.

"It's a Shiva destroyer class machine pistol,"  he reported softly, his voice heavy with fatigue. "Designed and constructed by United Republic Munitions during the Second Psionic War of 2172 as a mechanical countermeasure against psionic opponents."

As Dee silently mouthed '2172' with eyes wide in astonishment, the big man in black continued listing the weapon's specs.

"Its gas-driven, laser-ignition system provides a firing rate of one to five slug bursts in tandem at a variable rate averaging twenty slugs a second on rapid fire mode." He paused to slide a massive, rectangular clip into the weapon's undercarriage, snikking it into place with gentle pressure. Immediately afterward Dee heard the weapon chamber a round by itself.

"The Shiva fires 10mm ceramic rounds in three modes: single round, multi-round auto-fire and fully auto rapid-fire mode. The modes can be selected via pressure switch just above the trigger guard or activated by voice command to the weapon's onboard A.I. And each clip holds 200 rounds." He spun the weapon around lightly in his hands, testifying to its light weight despite its rectangular bulk.

"Made from high compression ceramic for light weight and tensile strength approximately four times that of high tensile steel, the Shiva is perfect for both open field warfare and discreet interventions through tight security, undetectable by standard metal detection devices." He brought the stubby weapon up to his shoulder, sighting along the top of its barrel like a rifle.

"The Shiva also possesses a variable sighting system, operator-variable between standard optical laser sights, Infrared targeting and motion detection. All targeting systems are modular and easily replaceable in the field, in case of failure." He paused to let a long sigh whistle out between his teeth as he let the Shiva drop to his waist in a limp hold.

"And, best of all, it kicks the shit out of psyken shielding. I have my own experience on that one." At Dee's questioning look, he shook his head. "Don't ask. Here, check it out." As Dee caught the light-weight weapon expertly and began to slowly turn it over in her hands, her eyes examining every fitting and piece, he turned to yet another device that sat on the table beside the now completed micro-forge, which hummed softly as it worked.

"It should be adequate for what we need it to do, once we begin to move against the Brotherhood in earnest," he husked softly, rubbing tired eyes before he picked the half-made device in his hands to begin working on it.

Remembering Mordecai's admonition not to ask, Dee merely nodded her head in agreement as she continued to examine the strange weapon. If this Shiva, or whatever the big man had called it, could indeed do what he said it could, it would be more than just adequate. 'Damn!' she silently marveled as she turned the weapon over in her hands once again. Its ceramic parts fit so snugly together that she was hard pressed to see the joint at all. 'The vampires are gonna love this thing!'

"Speaking of which, we also bear good news," Duffy spoke up from the living room where he had been examining the piles of equipment and half-assembled devices that thoroughly surrounded him with keen interest. "We managed to convince Lash and his Qos Viran that they should not only help us hunt the moles in the PD, but to become the ghost strike team against the Brotherhood when we move against them at the conference!"

"Oh?" Mordecai's head snapped up in interest. "This would be the vampires that pulled yours and my butt out of the sling during Silvermane's attack."

"The very ones," Duffy confirmed with a nod.

"Excellent!" Mordecai smiled slightly. "Perhaps, properly equipped and trained, the vampires will be able to stop the assassins before they do their jobs! Finally, a break." Nodding, he turned to the micro-forge and readjusted some controls on its control assembly, the forge's soft hum becoming gradually more strident with the adjustments until it was quite loud.

That done, he returned his attention to the small mechanism he had been working on while Dee had examined the Shiva.

"But this name you used, the Qos Viran. I don't think I've ever heard that before. Do you have anything other than that? An origin, perhaps? A clan affiliation?" Mordecai asked without looking up.

Duffy frowned.

"No, actually. That was just the name Lash used to call his team. He said they belonged to the Qos Viran. But, if I were to go on basic observation, I'd say they were some sort of elite commando team. They certainly moved like trained soldiers of some kind, disciplined and tightly organized."

"I see," Mordecai said musingly. "Must be an arm of the M'tada that I wasn't aware of. An interesting note to add to my database."

"You do that," Dee said, putting the Shiva down onto the only clear space on the counter top, the place its various parts had just occupied. "Me and Duffy still have a couple ..."

Without warning the police band scanner that Dee had set up for Mordecai in the far corner of the kitchen counter, crackled to life. Then it was spewing a constant stream of information, including location and situation. While a frowning Mordecai didn't understand hardly a word of the coded information, both Dee and Duffy leaned forward intently, frowning as they unconsciously decoded the information stream.

Then, with the same abruptness that the signal had arrived, both detectives were leaning back, looks of alarm appearing on their faces.

"Damn!" Dee barked tightly.

"What's happened?" Mordecai demanded, looking first to a hard-looking Dee then to a grim-appearing Duffy.

"We've got ourselves another one of your battles," Dee reported tightly. "This time, our chopper is caught right in the middle!"

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