Well, here's the first chapter of 'Female of the Species', which is a sequel to both 'Small Tragedies' and 'Assassin's Heart'. I actually have quite a bit of this done, but I'll be throwing it out there in small bites, depending on the reaction. So please, make a little time and toss me some feedback. Enjoy!

SGT Akiko Natomi was beginning to fully appreciate the capabilities of her new body. After a little over two months back on the job, and countless rogue boomer engagements, she finally felt that she was really getting the hang of things. Lately, in fact, she'd begun to truly enjoy her work, at least most of the time. It just felt damn good to be able to give back a little of what she'd received in the past, and she found herself almost looking forward to the next incident after each victory. For the moment, there was little else in her life, and she knew that each day, each fight, brought her one day closer to the end of her probationary period. And, she hoped, the beginning of the rest of her life. For the moment, though, reality was a more pressing concern than her daydreams.

Pulling herself from her momentary reverie, Natomi dodged a clumsy swing aimed at her head by the rogue security boomer she was engaging. Extending her energized wrist blades with an audible snap, she counter attacked, slashing it's torso and abdomen with two quick swipes. Orange pseudo-blood leaked out, running down it's armored carapace, but it was only a minor wound and the crazed cyberdroid was far from done. Regaining it's equilibrium, it sighted in on Natomi with an arm-mounted beam cannon and fired.

But for Natomi, super-conducting nerve fibers operating at digital speeds, it seemed to move in slow motion. By the time it had brought the weapon to bear, Natomi was already moving. She was airborne by the time it fired, and, somersaulting and twisting as she passed over it, she slammed her fist, blade still extended, into the top of it's head. This drove the humming, glittering blade through it's metallic skull, penetrating all the way to the base of it's neck. Still airborne, she twisted around, blade still embedded, and then completed her flip, ramming her other blade into the boomer's back as she landed.

The security model gave an inhuman, metallic howl and began to thrash violently. But Natomi wasn't done. With a yell, she jerked the impaled boomer up, off it's feet, and threw all 360 kilos of it over her head. She held it there for a moment, still thrashing, and then, retracting her blades and shifting her grip, she dropped to one knee and brought the boomer smashing down over the other. With her full cyber-strength behind the maneuver, the boomer's weakened structure stood little chance. It's metallic spine snapped on impact, and the already scored abdominal armor cracked like the carapace of a boiled crab, sending orange fluid and various unidentifiable bits of organic and metallic debris flying.

Rolling the very dead security model off her lap, Natomi looked up at the tactical commander and his line squad, who'd set up a perimeter around the scene. Grinning wolfishly, she dusted off her hands and said, "Guess that's it, boys. Ready to pack up and head in?"

Most of the line troopers just stared at her, shocked. While glad to see a potentially lethal situation wrapped up so handily, they found themselves disturbed on several levels. Even after two months of witnessing or at least hearing about similar performances, it was almost impossible to reconcile what they'd just seen with the rather unimposing young woman who stood in front of them. Granted, the one or two old-timers in the ranks could recall similar shows put on by the now infamous Billy Fanward. But at least he'd looked like an armored killing machine, not like just another cop on the beat.

In that respect, SGT Natomi struck perhaps an even deeper chord of disquiet in her fellow officers. She looked much as she had before her body had been mangled by a seventy-five meter fall precipitated by a near-miss from a boomer's mouth laser. Her long, raven hair and deep brown eyes were the same, but there was something different about her appearance overall. Something just a bit too perfect, her co-workers sometimes whispered. Something not quite human, they said. And, some of those old-timers thought, her methods, like Fanward's, were slowly becoming more flamboyant and violent as time went on.

SGT Ryan Patrick Hall, tactical commander, and one of those old-timers, just shook his auburn-maned head slowly, and said, "Christ, Natomi. You think you could've been just a little flashier with that last move? For a minute there, I thought I was inside one of those old video games, and a voice was gonna come out of nowhere saying, 'Finish him!' You getting cocky on us, or what?"

Natomi snorted and said, "Is it cocky to enjoy doing what you can do? I'm a little less than fond of boomers, all things considered, so I don't see any real reason to take it easy on them, do you?"

Hall sighed, and said, "Well, hell, of course not. That's a quick way to die on this job. But so is getting overconfident. See, I knew this guy, Alus, a few years back. Typical line trooper in those days, thought he was the hottest shit to hit the block since the Quake. He had a signature move too, liked to use a friggin' garotte against light-skinned models and what not. Thought it looked cool or some damn thing, I guess. But one day, big bad-ass Alus ran into the wrong boomer, a goddamn BU-E-35 waitress model of all things, and he got waxed. And if he hadn't of been such a cocky, arrogant son-of-a-bitch, he probably would've made it. Any of this sinking in for you, Natomi?"

'Kiko frowned, and said, "I get the point, Hall. But I don't think I was hanging my ass out in the breeze with that thing. Christ, you guys might've been able to take it down even without me. I just happened to be close enough to respond and save you the trouble."

Hall rolled his pale green eyes heavenward, and said, "Oh, yeah, God pity the poor helpless line troopies! I know, we can't even wipe our own asses without help, much less take on an armed boomer by ourselves. We're just about obsolete, right? Especially with super-cops like you around, huh?"

Natomi flushed scarlet, and, leveling a finger at Hall, yelled, "That's bullshit and you know it, Hall! That's not what I said! I was a damned line trooper for two years before this happened to me! Hell, I was even in your squad for a couple of months toward the end! So I damned well know you guys aren't helpless! I just want to do everything I can to make sure that nobody else has to die for no good reason! If I don't do that, then what the hell good am I! What happened to me would be completely meaningless, and that's something I just couldn't live with! Any of this sinking in for YOU, Hall!"

As the disagreement between Hall and Natomi had escalated, so had the line trooper's nervousness. All of them had turned inward, keeping a close eye on the situation and especially on Natomi. In fact, a number of the line troopers had, consciously or unconsciously, raised their weapons to a ready-port position, and seemed poised for trouble. In their minds, old-timers and newbies alike, the specter of Billy Fanward seemed all too near.

Sensing the tension in the atmosphere, both Hall and Natomi fell silent and just slowly looked around the circle of their fellow officers. Taking in their wary stance and expressions, not to mention the almost readied weapons, Natomi was nearly floored. She doubted it could have hurt any more if she'd been back-handed by a combat boomer. With a small gasp, she took a step back from Hall, and, eyes misting over, said in a voice hoarse with emotion, "So. That's how it is. I get a little loud, a little bit pissed off, justifiably so, no less, and all of a sudden I'm a menace? Is that what you all think? Well, I've got a news flash for all of you: I'm NOT goddamned BILLY FANWARD!"

And then, tears sliding down her cheeks, she stormed past Hall, heading toward the parking lot where his squad had staged.

"Hey!" He yelled. "Where the hell are you going, Natomi? You air-dropped in here, remember?"

She shrugged angrily, and, over her shoulder, called out, "So I'll call the damned aerodyne back! I can do that, you know."

Hall sighed and, shaking his head said, "Yeah, ok, then, Natomi. Do whatever the hell you want."

Surprisingly, she laughed at this, albeit bitterly, and said, "Ha! Do what I want, he says! Yeah, like that's going to happen any time soon."

Hall shook his head again and wondered just how the hell things had managed to get so far off track so quickly. 'Well,' he thought cynically, 'If this is anything to judge by, I guess I just proved I'm the ADP's 'guy most likely to screw up a wet dream'. Wish I could even say I was surprised.'

Naturally, things only got better from there.

Well, that's it for now, but once again, please review, and let me know how I'm doing. I'll give it a couple of days, and then try to send out the next little bit. Thanks!