Excerpt from Atarashi Feint [click link to head to Atarashi Feint’s Amazon page]
The spokeswoman had that high, cutting Asian voice that grated on the nerves even worse than those horrific, nasally, arrogant British affectations. You expected her to transform into a cutesy monster and shoot rainbow sprinkles out of her mouth as a special attack.
She even had on a gleaming, shimmering, glittering, puffy-sleeved, no-name top that was a dichotomy: it made people uncomfortable and ashamed, but excited at the same time. It also covered up more than it showed off, but you couldn’t help feeling like looking at it, you were going to have to confess to a priest later. And her belly button was visible, showing off a translucent star piercing. She looked, at most, fifteen years old. Actual age might be up to thirty-five.
“But what the Alphas have not been able to do is save every life. They have not been able to respond to catastrophic situations quickly and efficiently. Due to UN oversight and bases in the United States, far-off places have felt the sting of lost time.
“The Alphas program now has a strategic plan, to give us a dedicated Alphas team on each continent. Each Alphas team will have the same high quality infantry, tactical and reconnaissance support from trained military operatives hailing from all over the world.”
All around the facility, automatic translation software took care of the language issue. They heard the slightly robotic version in English in their Sony Instrans headsets, probably ten or twenty seconds behind what the spokeswoman was saying in her ridiculous voice.
“The Japanese government has been very gracious and accepting of the idea of a second Alphas team centered here in Asia. It is with great pleasure that we announce and unveil the Alphas Atarashi!”
The speaker waved a hand back, where a thick curtain parted to reveal the second Alphas team. Yin stood first, in the center, resplendent in the tactical black with the Chinese star pattern arrayed across the right shoulder in yellow. Behind him stood several other new faces. The two flanking Yin were women: one Hispanic woman and the other another Asian. The woman had the Mexican eagle on her uniform’s shoulder, and the Asian the Japanese rising sun.
Behind them all towered a huge metal monstrosity, bristling with guns and easily twelve feet tall. It was matte black, with a blue wheel on the one shoulder, a wheel with a hundred spokes.