VECTOR ONE, BOOK ONE: SET-UP

CHAPTER SIX::

	"When will the work be completed?" Corve inquired of the
engineer.
	"Three days, maximum."
	"Tell me more about this holographic disguise system," 
Corve said, his eyes focused on the compact warship berthed behind
them.  It was nearly ready; all that remained was to thermocoat
the hull and then paint it per Corve's specifications.
	"Certainly.  The HX-75 consists of an array of holographic
projectors, each about the size of an eye, spread over the hull of
the craft.  Working together, they create a hologram that encompasses
the entire ship, allowing it to be disguised as any ship of equal or
slightly greater volume.  It's completely experimental; it's never
been tested on a ship before."
	"Is there any danger?" Corve wondered.  "This is only a
stealth system we're discussing, after all."
	"Well, the power required to create an illusion that large
is immense," the engineer admitted.  "If we tried to build it using
a standard contained-fusion system, the probability of an overload
would be well outside the safety margin.  This seemed like an
interesting way to test the technology while we continue to work on
the power problem, since we believe the test subjects will be able
to power the system themselves."

	"May I speak freely, sir?" Jhiro inquired as Corve made his
way to the testing arena on the opposite end of the lab, where Dr.
Raal was putting the finishing touches on his end of the project.
	"Of course," Corve replied, not looking back.
	"Is it wise to give these... whatever-they-are... a
microcruiser?  It draws an awful lot of attention."
	"That's why I did it."
	"But what if it's traced back to us?"
	"It won't be," Corve replied evenly.  Then he stopped and
turned to face his aide fully.  "Don't forget, Jhiro, we -are- the
police.  I can be certain we won't investigate ourselves.  And if
someone should start an independent investigation, well, there are
ways of dealing with that."
	"What about Rath?  You've put so much effort into this
project, I'm afraid you've forgotten about our other one."
	"I'll never forget Rath.  He'll get his.  This is just..."
He paused, and smiled.  "...a hobby."

[...need to elaborate on the costume design here; there is no
 description to speak of right now...]

	"I present you with XVS, the Experimental Vectored Subjects,"
Dr. Raal announced, looking rather pleased with himself.  "I hope
you will be satisfied with the results."
	Corve looked them over.  Physically they looked much like
any other group of V-slaves, blank-eyed and unmoving.  The difference
was that their uniforms were more colorful, their headgear and
weaponry more elaborate, than the average V-slave platoon.  "I like
the costumes.  Nice touch."
	"Thank you," Raal replied.  "I thought colorful uniforms
would enhance their visibility in the press.  You did say you wanted
visibility.  Here, let me demonstrate something very interesting."
He turned to the first human (Ron, though no one here was concerned
with what his name had been), whose face was entirely hidden by the
blue fabric which made up his uniform, and barked: "You!  ID and
status!"
	"I am XVS-1," Ron answered in flat, measured tones.  "I am
functioning at optimum levels."
	Corve arched an eyebrow.  "He talks?"
	"Not only that, he thinks!" Raal replied, excited.  "He can
devise strategies and tactics without outside input!"
	"He thinks?  Raal, that's the last thing I want," Corve
replied, alarmed.  "I want a personal tool, not some kind of ally
that could turn against me."
	"Don't worry, don't worry!" Raal assured him.  "Their minds
have been completely removed!  The brain was simply so undamaged by
the process that I decided to make use of its deductive capacity!"
	Corve wasn't entirely certain he liked this decision on
Raal's part, but admittedly he was curious to see how this particular
aspect would affect the group's performance.  "When do I get to see
them in action?"
	"Now.  I've arranged a demonstration."

	The five humans stood alone in the center of the training
arena, everyone else having retired to the observation booth.
Presently a doorway on one side of the arena grated open,
revealing five V-slaves.  In the booth, Raal keyed a microphone
and issued a single command: "Attack."
	The V-slaves rushed forward, and immediately the XVS were
in motion.  Ron became airborne, as skates emerged from Becky's
boots.  Steve drew the pistols in his equipment belt, while John and
Trevor took up ready stances.  The V-slaves spread out to take their
opponents one on one.
	"XVS-1, the one with the face completely covered, serves as
field leader," Raal explained as Ron darted around the arena,
evading the flying V-slave which was pursuing him.  "You may see him
directing other members through transmitters we've implanted in each
of them, which connect directy to the speech and audial centers of
the brain.  XVS-1's flying ability derives from a force-field around
his lower torso and legs which sucks in atmosphere and expels it,
much like the old jet-engines.
	"That actually takes very little power, so we designed him
to draw from his excess energy reserves and shoot it out his arms.
He's a living psi-cannon."  Presently, Ron spun to face his opponent,
leveling both arms, and a blast of white energy lanced out,
catching the V-slave in the midsection and disintegrating it
instantly.
	"The girl we made into a telekinetic," Raal continued as
Becky darted around the arena, evading a flame-throwing V-slave with
no trouble.  "We designed her boots with retractable frictionless
skates.  This allows her to move at incredible speeds.  She's cramped
in here, but in an open space, she can reach upwards of 400 klicks.
The telekinesis also provides her with a potent weapon.  Watch, I
believe she's about to use the shockwave."
	Becky crossed her arms in front of her, concentrating, and
a blast of energy screamed across the floor, catching the flamethrower
and smashing her up against the wall, a spray of blood indicating
the force of the impact.
	"I think this one is my favorite," Raal said of John, who
was demonstrating amazing gymnastic skill in evading a laser-firing
armored V-slave.  "He's our stealth unit.  We took the costume from
an image we found in his mind during scanning.  He had already
learned a fascinating talent for using the body as a weapon.  We
used the talent by incorporating muscle-enhancers into his body.
He can jump over most opponents, and balance on a strand of hair."
After failing utterly to hit his target, the V-slave attempted to
close to pointblank range to increase her odds of success.  John
promptly grabbed the slave's arm, pulled him forward and drove the
base of his elbow through through his chin, a maneuver which would
ordinarily result in a broken neck and immediate death.
	"We had to augment that slave's skeleton to channel the
lasers.  That won't kill him," Raal noted.  Indeed, the slave was
already getting back to his feet.  "I think XVS-3 will have to use
his sword.  It's powered by the energy not used by the
muscle-enhancers.  It'll cut through nearly anything."  Before the
slave could attack again, John unsheathed the glowing blade and
slashed downward, cleaving the slave's body entirely in half.
	"XVS-4 is our powerhouse, our heavy assault weapon," Raal
continued as Steve opened fire on the armored V-slave attacking him
with swarms of micromissiles.  Each shot from his pistol made contact
but it was obvious that it would take a lot of hits to knock down
this mobile arsenal.  "His entire body is laced with a force-mesh
similar to those that are used to reinforce the hulls of spaceships.
It makes him incredibly strong, as well as damn near invulnerable."
One of the volleys of micromissiles found their target, but Steve
walked out of the conflagration, physically unharmed but deprived
of his guns by the blast.  He attacked the armored slave with his
bare hands, tearing off the slave's weapons and trying to get a
stranglehold on it as it struggled to break free.
	"Of course, here's where XVS-4 is clearly superior to standard
V-slaves," Raal smiled as the V-slave's stored power ran out and
cellular breakdown occurred, the slave disintegrating instantly.
	"XVS-5 has a less exciting power, but it's no less useful,"
Raal said of Trevor, who was having trouble dealing with his
opponent, a fast-moving slave with blades on his wrists.  He almost
failed to dodge one particularly nasty slash, sustaining a tiny cut
on one cheek.  He kept firing beams from his hands, burning grooves
in the floor, but none were able to make contact.  "Hmm, he's having
trouble hitting the slave with those heat lasers.  He should try
something else."  As if on cue, Trevor aimed in another direction
and shot at the floor, but this time a sheet of ice covered the floor.
That accomplished, he began herding the slave toward the ice with his
heat lasers.  The slave promptly slipped on the ice and fell, and
Trevor froze him solid.  The frozen slave continued sliding across
the floor, toward Steve, who shattered him into a thousand tiny
fragments with a good swift kick.  "As you can see, XVS-5 can raise or
lower the temperature of anything he can hit with those beams... and
that's going to be pretty gross when it thaws."

	"I have to admit, Dr. Raal," Corve observed as the XVS stood
at attention once more, a bit scuffed but otherwise unharmed.  "I
am impressed."
	"Thank you," Raal beamed.  "I see these five beings as my
crowning achievement.  It's a shame there are only five of them.
What I could do with an unlimited supply of these 'humans'..."
	"I've seen enough.  I want them prepped for their first
mission, the details of which you'll be receiving shortly."
	"It shall be done," Raal nodded, turning to his secondaries.
"Lead them back to their chambers."
	As the technicians moved to escort the humans back to their
chambers, the girl seemed to hesitate, turning slightly toward one
of the scientists conversing with Dr. Raal.  The corner of one of
her blank eyes seemed to twitch ever so slightly.
	"Dr. Tuin, do you have the power figures for the Supercannon?"
	#one of the scientists made a very personal examination...#
	"Yes sir.  Everything looks--GGKK!" Tuin started to say,
but then the clipboard fell to the floor as the man's hands flew to
his throat.
	"DR. TUIN!" Raal shouted, rushing to his side as the
technicians crowded around him.  Hearing the commotion, Corve and
Jhiro turned to look as well.
	"He's choking!" one of the techs observed in alarm.
	"Choking on -what-??" Raal asked no one in particular as
the scientist's face turned entirely the wrong color.
	Then it dawned on him.
	"It's her!  It's XVS-2!!"
	Everyone in the room was shocked, but Raal didn't have time
for that.  Instantly he was in Becky's face, shouting with all the
force he could muster.  The whole time, Becky just stood silent,
unmoving; only those familiar with her powers could possibly have
known she was doing anything.  "Stop this at once!!  I order you!!
STOP--"
	At that moment there was a crunch of breaking bones,
blood gushed out of Tuin's mouth, and he collapsed to the floor,
dead.  Shocked silence permeated the room for a moment.
	"What the hell just happened?!" Corve demanded.
	Raal cursed inwardly, and if the bastard wasn't already
dead he would happily have killed him himself.  "Tuin, he... well,
he took some liberties with XVS-2 before she was Vectored.  The
memory... must have been stronger than we had estimated.  We didn't
manage to destroy it completely."
	"This better not happen again!" Corve growled.  "I want no
delays in deploying XVS, and I damn well don't want them
malfunctioning in the field!  Do you understand?!"
	"Nothing like this will happen again, sir!" Raal replied
quickly, trying to ignore the film of perspiration forming on his
forehead.  "Don't worry!"
	"I'm not going to worry about it, Raal," Corve replied with
icy calm.  "-You- are."
	With that, he and Jhiro walked off, leaving a rather scared
scientist behind.  Raal watched nervously as the XVS team was escorted
away without further incident.
	Their brains had -all- been practically undamaged by the
Vector Process.  Were there other memories buried within all of them
that had not been destroyed?  Had their minds actually been removed?
Or simply buried?
	He wiped his brow and began mentally planning additional tests
to run before the deployment, as well as additional contingency
measures should anything go wrong.  It would not do to be unprepared
for anything, not with material this sensitive.