Lt. Jessica Storm sighed to herself softly, the tall redhead adjusting her uniform unconsciously as she strode down the hallways of police headquarters. It felt good being out of Lowtown, considering the months she had been stationed there, but she wouldn't have chosen this method of leaving. In the aftermath of the New Years bombing Lowtown had risen up, the downtrodden masses that lived and worked all their lives in the dark finally striking back. City facilities, stores, police, nothing had been safe from the rioters, and in the aftermath the city had been forced to rescue the surviving officers. 'Glad I wasn't one of the ones needing a rescue,' Jessie mused. During the chaos of that night she had called for help, and luckily had reached a surface police station. The officer on duty had advised them to hold up rather than engage the rioters, and while Jessie initially had argued she now understood that order had likely saved their lives. Jessie paused, checking the directions on the wall, 'Which is part of why I'm here.' Turning a corner she saw a door, labeled with the official sounding title to the unity, then underneath painted on, 'The Chasers.' The door swished aside softly, then Jessie blinked as stepped into the corridor while a women yelled out a warning, "Incoming!" What looked like a naked woman scampered down the hallway, breasts bouncing perkily as she chirped, "How can I serve you?" "What the hell?" Jessie blinked as she nimbly dodged the nude girl's attempt to grab her, then carefully clamped a arm around the android in a submission hold. "Ma'am?" the android blinked meekly. A lanky, light brown haired older woman hurried up, dressed not in a uniform but casual pants, a ragged old T-shirt and a battered police issue jacket. :"Thanks," she bent to help with the nude android, "out computer expert is trying to fix her." "Is she a logic burnout?" Jessie asked as they led the now submissive android into the section of police headquarters designated for the Chasers. "No." the other woman said sourly, "someone hacked her subroutines." Jessie nodded as they entered a computer center the likes of which she had never seen. A standard police computer core might involve two hard drives, several monitors and a basic interface jack, this, on the other hand, had at least four drives, a holographic core display, multiple peripherals and what almost looked like grey market hacking gear. "Wow," Jessie said weakly. "You found her, Kate," the much smaller redheaded woman trotted out from behind the computers, "thanks." "Kate?" Jessie echoed, looking at her in surprise. "Yeah," Kate said as she passed the now mostly docile android over to the lady, "Kate Williams, you wanna make something of it?" "Actually, I came out here to say thank you," Jessie admitted. "Huh?" Kate blinked. "Beth, Kate, I finished the filing," another brown haired woman said as she entered the room, her long brown hair and gentle eyes almost making her seem like a softer version of Kate. "Thanks Naru." Beth smile. "Jessie?" Naru stopped, looking at the officer in surprise. "Ah, hi Naru," Jessie fought back a blush. "You two know each other?" Kate raised an eyebrow, looking more than a bit amused by both their reactions. Naru smiled, eyes twinkling with amusement, "You could say that." "Anyway," Jessie shook herself, "I came down here to thank you for your help, Officer Williams." Kate looked skeptical, "Considering I'm pretty sure we've never met, I'm not sure how I could have helped you." Jessie smiled apologetically, "The radio connection was pretty bad, but you were the only officer I could reach during the bombings." Kate's eyes widened slightly, "The unit trapped in Lowtown." "Uh huh," Jessie nodded, pleased Kate had remembered. "I'm sure someone will explain it eventually," Beth murmured, both her and Naru listening to the conversation eagerly. "I was stationed in a Lowtown station when the riots hit," Jessie simplified, "thanks to some good advice from Kate, we made it out mostly unharmed." "Unlike most of the units who were down there," Naru noted quietly, looking at Jessie with some concern. "Do you want to help me get our little lost lamb back to the repair bay?" Beth asked Naru as she kept a firm grip on the still nude android, "I guess I'll have to try debugging her again." "Sure," Naru agreed, taking the other arm as they walked off. "Well," Kate said a bit gruffly, "you're welcome. You and your people were okay?" "We lost our chief in a sidewalk collapse while making it back to the station after the first blasts," Jessie said with regret, "other than that, we were all right." "Good," Kate nodded. "Son of a fricking..." a loud voice cursed as a door slammed shut, making both women react warily. "Julie?" Kate blinked as the dark haired woman stormed into the computer lab. "Gwen is passing me over for a full time position," Julie growled, brown eyes flashing, "how dare she..." "Officer," the new voice cut across the room like a whip crack. The Asian woman stood in the doorway, her very presence seeming to send out cold waves of force as she said, "I was trying to keep this between us, but if you want to discuss it publicly?" Julie stiffened a bit, "No, ma'am." "Good," Gwen purred, "you're relieved for the rest of today. Please let me know if you're interested in continuing as a computer tech as well." "Yes ma'am," a visibly deflated Julie said as she left. "That was uncomfortable," Kate calmly noted. She ran a hand through her short messy hair as she addressed Gwen, "I guess she heard about the opening before you could break it to her that she wasn't getting it?" "Of course," Gwen sighed. She looked over at Jessie, "And you are...?" Jessie stood straight as she said, "Lt. Jessica Storm, ma'am." "Lt. Storm," Gwen nodded. A smile tugged on her lips, "You're on my interview list for candidates, aren't you?" "Yes ma'am," Jessie acknowledged. "Well, since my interview with Julie took much less time than I thought," Gwen said briskly, "why don't we have your's now?" "Certainly, ma'am," Jessie agreed promptly. "It's Gwen," she said as she led her down as hall lined with office doors, "or if your must, Commander Musashi." "Of course," Jessie hesitated, "Gwen." "Better," Gwen agreed as she lead the other woman into her still open office. To be continued... Note: Jessica Storm made a cameo appearance in chapter forty one.
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