Chapter Five

Shido walked into Natalia’s office, there was a bounce in his stride that told her the fox had good news. He glanced around, taking in all the shelves of books that covered most of the small room. Most Kitsune took up a ‘creative’ hobby; it was actively encouraged by their superiors. Creative thinking was critical in being able to adapt their shape shifting to any situation. Natalia, for her part, loved to write as well as read. She loved thinking up stories about the people she and her team watched over, preferring to write by hand rather than typing on a data pad. A large blank book, bound in synth-leather rested on her desk with a dark purple pen settled on the cover as proof of her hobby.

“Got a hit on the target’s cred-chip. Looks like our lady was setting herself up with a rice bank. I got hits at a half dozen markets. All but one were for staples, the last transaction was at a shoe store.” There was a wry look on Shido’s face, “What is it with chicks and shoes anyway?”

“I have no idea.” Natalia frowned. “I could understand hitting the food places, that could be her getting ready to go to ground, but why shoes? What kind of shoes?”

Shido checked his notes. “Um… Sparklers, by Glitterflick.” he chuckled as he ran the shoe’s name through the data band on his wrist. “Four-inch platforms, with three-inch see-through heels and built programmable holo-flashers. It also laces up the leg with nano-ribbons guaranteed not to slip.” He smirked as he looked up at her “Hey Talia, I bet they would look great on you!”

Natalia rolled her eyes as she activated the comp-pad build into her desk. It lit up with an electric green screen. “Unless our nurse has decided to change professions, I’m betting she ditched her cred-chip. Proves she’s not a complete idiot.”

“Does that mean the chip’s a dead end?”

“No, we are still going to follow the money. Whoever has that chip may have seen the subject, and even if they didn’t ID theft is a serious crime, as is resource hording.” Natalia began typing into the comp-pad, noting her strategies and assignments so she could make her report later. “We are going to run this doubled up, muscle and subtle, put the scare into people so they turn the subject over. I want, Takada and Regin, from our Sirens team.” she thought for a bit, “Lucas, Saki, and Osamu from the strike squads, and I’ll put Robert on standby if we need a sniper. Shido you’re in for computers, unless you’d rather have Meredith take the field assignment?”

Shido sneered, “I’ll take it… Natalia-” he shifted slightly in his shoes, straitening his posture subtlety. Natalia’s eyes went serious and calm as her lieutenant spoke to her.

“Major. I would like to request specialist Anderson be transferred to another unit. Her work quality is inconsistent, unless a human or superior is directly watching her. I believe her prejudices against the Kitsune and Siren human-subtypes make her a possible danger to the unit. It is my strong recommendation that she either be demoted or moved to a unit where trust is not integral to the team’s survival in the field.”

“Your recommendation has been noted. I will file her papers for a transfer, since I agree with your assessment.” Natalia sat back in her chair. “Have Meredith run the vid on each of the transactions. I want to know who was using that cred-chip. She is to have a full report on my desk by o-eight-hundred tomorrow.”

“Yes sir.” Shido relaxed, “How is your new story coming?”

“Not bad, I decided that he is cheating on his wife.” Natalia stroked the leather of the bound book with one hand, savoring the textures against her tuned skin.

“That bastard! Whatever will Sarah do?” Shido asked.

“I haven’t decided yet.” Her pad beeped lightly at her. She leaned forward and accessed her profile. The blood drained from her face as she read the missive from Military Research and Development.

“Talia what’s wrong!”

The Kitsune woman swallowed, her eye’s haunted. “I’ve been selected to breed. I have one month to select a mate from the approved list.” Shido stepped towards her, but she shook her head. “Dismissed!” She barked.

“Tal-“

“I said ‘dismissed!’”

Stolen from Royal Road, this story should be reported if encountered on Amazon.

Shido walked, reluctantly, out of the room and she could hear the locks slide into place behind him.

Alone in her office Natalia fought her way through her panic attack. A few seconds later the lock on her door de-activated and pearl–skinned woman walked in, her ice pale eyes showing their worry. Without hesitation Noriko walked over to Natalia and scooped her up and held her close.

“It’s okay. We’re here. We won’t leave.” the woman murmured, her words in a voice like rich cream that whispered in both her ears and her mind. Natalia curled into the psychic and let her sweet mental voice sooth the terror that gripped her, and eased her into a healing, or at least calming sleep.

Natalia knew it was going to be a bad day, the file that Meredith had put together on the person using the cred-chip was crap, it was obvious that she had let the logistics computer do all the work. And the human woman had left her office crying after the Kitsune had balled her out, shouting that Natalia was a racist.

The Kitsune woman rubbed her temple as a stress headache started to worm its way behind her eyes. Shido had dropped his file, detailing the same incident, on her desk at seven, and was now doing research on the shopper.

I shouldn’t let the breeding order get to me; I knew it was coming[/i]. The Kitsune’s ability to tune, manipulating their bodies functions, and shape shift was measured in dan, ranging from first dan that could pretty much only manage something small like eye color, to ninth dan which could supposedly transform their entire body. Natalia was unaware of any ninth dan Kitsune actually existing; she was a seventh dan, and one of, if not the, most powerful tuners in the military. She was a field agent, which meant she spent a lot of time in the thick of trouble, InSec wanted to make sure that her superior Kitsune genetics were passed on. They wanted a ninth dan and believed that by selective breeding they would get one.

Get your head out of the ozone field. You have a mission, worry about having to breed later. [/i] Natalia stood and walked out of her office to her team’s common room, Shido and most of the others stood as she approached. All of them were wearing the uniforms of InSec regulars, rust for the Kitsune, light blue for Sirens, and gray for the Humans.

Natalia smiled her approval. Takada had redone his makeup and skin dyes, so his white skin was a soft tan, and his snowy hair was a soft blonde. The blonde worked well with his blue eyes, and to her opinion, looked sharp with the human uniform they both were wearing. Regin wore the traditional blue uniform of a siren, her long silver hair braided severely away from her face, and her skin un-colored by cosmetics.

Newly enlisted hated dealing with the Sirens, not because of their native psionic abilities, but because they all “looked alike” a fact that the blue-eyed albinos found hysterical.

It was a quick ride through the tubes from InSec central to the Undercity, people noticing the Sirens giving them a wide berth. They moved like one creature onto the Sydney platform and walked into the “out of order” women’s bathroom. Inside Saki, Osamu, and Lucas grinned over the bound forms of a petite woman, and her two goons.

Natalia stepped up to the woman, her voice cold and clinical. “Abigail Mulligan, you are charged with resource hording, ID theft, and abetting a terrorist.” She listened for a second as Regin telepathically forwarded additional information from the strike team. “You are also charged with the possession of illegal substances, street names Demon and Pixi dust. Plead your case.”

“Please, I meant no harm ma’am! I swear I didn’t!”

“Tell me where you got the green cred-chip.” Natalia looked over at Regin who nodded subtlety to let her leader know she was watching the criminal’s mind.

“I got it from a young man, he said he found it. I was going to turn it in but I…” She cringed as Natalia held one hand up.

“Please, if you are going to lie to me, at least do it well. Tell me about the man you got the chip from.”

“He’s a troublesome boy, always picking things up.”

“I have the image Major; the male is a Kitsune.” Regin said out loud in an irritated voice. The Siren had once told Natalia that lies felt like sandpaper on the brain and that they were very annoying.

“What is the Kitsune’s name?”

“Ren.” The woman said quickly

“Rei.” Corrected the psychic.

“Specialist Saki, please tune your nose, see if you can catch his sent.” Her eyes, currently a cold green, never left Mulligan’s face.

Saki’s face twisted up in concentration for a minute as she tuned her sense olfactory centers. Once done she moved around the small chamber, letting her nose investigate. A few moments later she shook her head. “Sorry Major, this room's soaked with to many scents, and most of them are a bit… overpowering.”

Natalia nodded, having kept her gaze on the sweating human woman. “How often does Rei tune?”

“A-all the time ma’am.”

“That appears to be true.” Regin commented. “This Rei looks like he’s at least a fourth dan and I would be more inclined to put him higher, possibly five or six judging from her memories.”

“What districts does Rei Work?”

“I-I don’t know, he gets around. He hangs out a lot in the Melbourne district, I know that!”

Natalia looked away from the woman to the two bruised and terrified goons. It was a deliberate pause to give the woman a chance to let her mind ramble about Rei, so that Regin could try to find some information that would help the team.

“She’s angry, she thinks that he set her up for this because she sold him a bad cred-chip and he got picked up by a Leo team.” The Siren said a few moments later.

“Then they may have a record on him. Lucas, please contact the local Leo administration gondola. Let them know we have a pickup for them. These two look like they will be able to help our frontier efforts quite effectively.” Takada ‘led’ Regin out of the building as Natalia pulled her sonic gun from a holster on her hip and fired it into Mulligan’s head, popping it like a melon.

“Lucas after you contact the Leos, please put a call in to public works. I want them to clean this mess up. They can also fix the bathroom while they’re at it.”