[FIC] First Impressions (part 16)

[dd]

The remainder of their time aboard the TDD-1 seemed to go very quickly.

Kaname in particular looked sad to leave. Not because she would miss her friends, but because things didn’t seem all that different.

True, there was good news about Ayame. At least, there was no bad news yet. But, if anything, her father seemed convinced that Sgt. Sousuke Sagara was best suited to life in the military, and that Kaname Chidori was long overdue to rejoin her family overseas.

Tessa, Melissa, Kurz, and Cmdr. Mardukas came to see everyone off. Sousuke would be flying back to Tokyo too, if only until the issue with Kaname was resolved one way or the other.

“Here you go,” Tessa handed a bag to Ayame. “They’re for you and your sister. Those bath oils you liked.”

”Thank you,” Ayame said sadly. She had been the center of attention, and felt no desire to leave. The submarine was a miraculous place, and the people were very interesting.

“This too,” Melissa said, handing Kaname a bag. There was a wicked gleam in her eyes. “It’s the beer you and Ayame liked.” It didn’t matter that Ayame never took more than a sip. Mao had decided that Shunya deserved a little shaking up.

“Wh-Wh-What…” Shunya stiffened.

“Open this when you get home,” Kurz said, handing Kaname a wrapped gift. It looked and felt as if it were a book of some kind.

“What is that?” Sousuke asked. He figured that Kurz would give Kaname a gag gift of some sort.

“It’s my old copy of the Karma Sutra,” Kurz whispered in Sousuke’s ear. “I bought an edition with nicer pictures.”

“Huh?” Sousuke looked puzzled.

“An ancient Indian book about erotic practices.” Melissa tried not to smile. “It’s not just a book about f-cking. There are sixty four Arts, though. If you master them quickly, maybe Kaname won’t go.”

“Uhhh…” Sousuke began to sweat. He looked as white as a sheet.

“What is it, Sousuke?” Kaname looked down at the gift. She was beginning to wonder if she should toss the book out the door just before the helicopter was buttoned up.

“Maybe she should open it now,” Kurz said.

“Negative!” Sousuke shouted.

“Would it make for interesting reading on the flight back?” Shunya asked. “Perhaps it might make the time pass faster.”

Kurz just smiled.

After the farewells were all said, they began boarding the helicopter. By coincidence, it was the same one that had brought them to Da Danaan. Now riding at the surface, the great submarine had come to a slow cruise. The massive hangar doors began opening. But, before they finished, a loud claxon sounded and the doors reversed their direction.

“What’s going on?” Shunya asked.

“Will Captain Testarossa report to the bridge, immediately!” A voice came out of the large speakers spread throughout the hangar bay. “All hands report to your stations. We have incoming aircraft, threat level unknown.”

Tessa ran over to a communications board mounted on the bulkhead, almost falling twice along the way. “Cmdr. Mardukas, what is going on? We were just about to launch the helicopter.”

“My apologies, Captain. There is no time. We have three large airborne signatures on long range radar. But, our patrol aircraft in the general vicinity cannot make visual identification. The aircraft probably possess an ECS system.” There was something else inn the Commander’s voice.

“You have suspicions, Mr. Mardukas?” Tessa didn’t realize that Sousuke and the others were all clustered around her. They could here everything coming out of the com panel.

“They could be flying boats. Perhaps like the one you were kidnapped on. Or, they may be carrying Leviathan class Underwater Fighting Crafts. like we faced before.” Mardukas made reference to the unbelievably quick undersea vehicles used to attack Da Danaan during the Pacific Christmas mission.

“Is this some kind of trick?” Shunya asked. The timing was just too coincidental for his liking. He wouldn’t put it past these people to put on some show for Sousuke’s benefit.

Cmdr. Mardukas obviously heard the question through the link. “It may well be that someone does not want us to launch. But, I doubt it’s a helicopter they’re worried about.”

“Sgt. Sagara,” Tessa said, her voice suddenly businesslike. “I don’t want to take any chances. Get aboard Arbalest now. We’ll load you both into a missile.” She turned to Melissa. “Find Mr. Kalinin. Contact the Intelligence Division. See if or concerns have come to roost. If they have, I hope they have a target for us.” She spoke to Mardukas again. “I’ll bring my key to the bridge. We’ll need two of us, if we’re to get Dana to unlock the fissionables.”

“What…” Shunya watched as the submarine became a hornet’s nest of activity. It was in stark contrast to everything else he had seen there.

“Sousuke…” Kaname grabbed Sousuke’s arm. “Why….”

“There is no time, Kaname.” He gave her a quick hug “I… I love you….” With that, he ran towards the ARX-7.

“Kurz, show our guest to a suitable place.” Tessa hurried off.

“OK, let’s go.” Kurz was dead serious in his demeanor. Gone was the attention-seeking showman. He had struck his last runway pose for a while.

It looked like things were about to get very busy.


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“Sergeant, question. We are currently at high alert and diving deeper. Why are you strapping in. Will we have underwater mission activity?”

The A.I. queried Sousuke as soon as it was activated.

“Negative. This is unlikely. A downloadable bolus of mission data should be available. Access it now. Be quiet until you have analyzed every bit of it.” Sousuke watched from the cockpit, as Kaname walked past and then stopped. She stood staring at him, her hand held in Ayame’s. Pushing a button, he set the canopy to closing.

“Sergeant. The data is very interesting. It looks like…”

”QUIET! “ Sousuke’s shout silenced the A.I. effectively. “Nothing about the situation is interesting. If the suppositions are correct, the entire planet may be in danger. Do your job.”

This was not the mission for an overly garrulous mechanical intelligence, especially one which resembled an inquisitive child more than it did a computer system. Arbalest and its A.I. would need to perform to the tightest of tolerances this time out. There was absolutely no room for error. That included his performance as well.

“What a pair…” Sousuke mumbled under his breath. A machine that talked far too much, and a pilot who was quiet and reserved.

“Sergeant? Should I amplify your microphone feed?”

“Negative.” Sousuke frowned. “I told you to be quiet until you downloaded and assessed your data!” He quickly switched through various inputs, wanting to see if there was any Intelligence information for him to read through yet. There was none.

“The tram is engaged,” the A.I. noted unnecessarily. There was no other explanation for the current activity, as the ARX-7 was placed on a mobile palette, enabling it to be rolled over to the missile bay.

Sousuike didn’t acknowledge the observation.

“Training question. You did not reply. Are you angry because of my questions?”

“Anger is irrelevant,” Sousuke said. “You are expected to follow my orders to the letter. If I give you autonomous decision making exemption, that is the only exception. Do you understand?”

“Yes, Sergeant. I have finished the analysis. The information is sketchy at best. Humans appear to be fond of supposition and conjecture.”

“That is true. However, if the Intelligence Division waited until complete information was available, there would be no communication. The moment would be past, and the battle would be lost. All opportunity would then be forfeit. Think about that.” Sousuke was feeling an uncharacteristic amount of stress. While the entire Mithril team might be involved in some fashion or another, the weight of the world literally rested on his shoulders.

“You vital signs appear erratic, Sergeant. Should I signal for the medical team?”

“Negative. There is reason for my reaction. Access the central data stores. Reference Greek Mythology. Atlas.”

“Son of the Titan Iapetus and Clymene. Brother of Prometheus. Punished by Zeus and made to bear the weight of the heavens and earth on his back. In his epic Odyssey, Homer refers to this Atlas as ‘one who knows the depths of the whole sea, and keeps the tall pillars who hold heaven and earth asunder‘. I assume that is the one?” The A.I. asked. “You are not referring to King Atlas, a mythical King of Mauretania, in Libya. A wise philosopher, mathematician and astronomer, he supposedly made the first celestial globe. It was that Atlas that Gerardus Mercator was paying tribute to when he first used the name ‘Atlas’ to describe a book of maps”

“Correct. No one human is fit to hold the entire weight of the world on his shoulder.”

“That would be a physical impossibility, Sergeant. Given the…”

“It is a figure of speech. Look it up. This is a difficult task for me. There is a reason for my emotional and physical state. Now, tell me what you have understood from the available data you have downloaded.” Sousuke listened as the A.I. ran through the same information he had heard in the briefing a couple of days before, glad to see that it had also gone further and pulled in more extensive examples. He needed to learn whatever he could about offensive and defensive scalar systems, the threats they might present, and the most effective way to throw a monkey wrench into the system.

“Will these systems have the capacity to do us harm when the Lambda Driver is operational?”

“Unknown,” Sousuke answered. “It’s not like anyone has had time to experiment. At least not on our end. However, suffice it to say, if the system fails while we are in a scalar field, we will both cease to function.”

“You mean die, do you not, Sergeant?”

“Yes. But, there will be no one left to repair you like the last time. We would both cease to be. With no one to remember us, it would be as if we never existed at all.” Sousuke sighed. At least this made his problems with Kaname and Shunya seem insignificant.

“I would not like that. If everyone dies, there will be no one to remember Bunny Morita. Question. As the scalar field would detonate nuclear weapons or render them useless or inactive, I assume we will detonate the nuclear device when we are inside of the filed, if there is a barrier and not some blanketing spread?”

“Affirmative. Our goal is to destroy the device, if possible. Barring that, we are to disrupt its power supply until further attacks can finish the task. If we can bring down the shielding, subsequent nuclear detonations could wipe the area clean.” Sousuke didn’t want to think that far ahead yet.

“Question. If we detonate such a device underground, the Lambda Driver should protect us. However, the system can only operate so long. When it gives out, we would be trapped by fused rock and buried underneath massive quantities of earth. How would we make our escape?”

“We would not. You and I would never be found. In a real sense, we would have the weight of the earth on our shoulders.” Sousuke ran a hand through his hair.

“I will hope for otherwise.”

"Good."

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“What do we have, Mr. Mardukas?”

Tessa climbed up into the Captian’s chair. She began accessing information via a small screen on its arm.

“We managed to launch a drone prior to diving.” Cmdr. Mardukas said, talking about one of the small high speed unmanned aircraft resembling scaled down versions of the U.S. Air Force’s X-36 aircraft.

“And?” Tessa fought to control her breathing. She wished that she could be in shape like Kaname Chidori.

“There was never any visual. But, we managed to vector it in on one aircraft. There was a glancing impact. There is no way to apply ECS to a smoke trail.” He paused a moment. “Long range radar suggest that there is a second flight of three planes.”

“Your thoughts, Mr. Mardukas.” Tessa accepted the offer of a glass of water from Lt. Godart, De Danaan’s deck officer.

“If it’s Amalgam, they may have learned their lessons from last time. That may not be likely, as their craft were all sunk rather swiftly. However, they may simply be exerting great caution.” Cmdr. Mardukas refuse a glass of water. He was preparing to enter ‘the zone’. “If it is another group, they may simply want to make certain that we are sunk, or delayed for a sizeable length of time. This may very well be some kind of Cat-and-Mouse game…”

“I see,” Tessa said. “I have read your report of that prior engagement a number of times. As I told you before, it was a success of epic proportions.”

“Thank you, Captain.” Mardukas beamed, at least as much as his stern and stoic appearance allowed him to.

“Accordingly, I am giving you override power. Feel free to jump in at any time you see fit. This is not about pride, Commander. This is about a victory we cannot afford to cede tour enemy, and a matter of time we do not have.” She looked across the control room, meeting the eyes of her officers. “We must launch Arbalest. What happens to us is inconsequential. As such, as soon as we find a clean launch window, we fire. If that means taking fatal hits to this boat…”

“Understood, Captain.” Mardukas smiled. It was just the proper attitude for a Captain. He was pleased with Teletha Testarossa’s continual growth as a leader. Scowling, he wondered just how much of that might be due to her association with Sgt. Sagara.

The young man’s maturation process was proceeding well, too. That didn’t matter in the usual means. He would forgive Sagara anything, if only he would be successful on the upcoming mission. The chances were not great. The hope for his survival even less.

“Alright. Sonar, keep sharp. We are expecting company.” Tessa fought the urge to nibble on her fingernails.

“Aye, Captain” Sonar officer Dejileny said.”

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“I knew coming here was a bad idea.”

Shunya sat with his daughters in the mess room. The seating area and the kitchen were otherwise deserted.

“Kaname, do you think we’re going to sink. How would someone know where we are, to rescue us?” Ayame looked very worried. She had a firm grip on one edge of the table they sat at.

“Oh, don’t worry about that,” Kaname answered. “These people are very good. They are in danger all the time. “She wished that she felt as confident as she sounded. “This is the best submarine in the world. We’ll win.”

“Will we?” Shunya looked more angry than concerned. “If we were in Tokyo, there would be no risk for any of this!” He looked over at Ayame. “If you’ve gotten used to this kind of thing, that’s all the more indication that you need a change in your life.”

“Daddy,” Kaname frowned, her agitation beginning to push her anxiety aside. “Would you rather I hide under the table or run around screaming?” She twisted at her hair with her hands and then stopped. “It looks like Sousuke was needed right away. At the very least, it’s good he was onboard. This is about more than just us.”

Ayame stared at the door. Crew members were rushing this way and that, out in the hallway.

“Kaname, you and your sister are my world. That’s what matters to me. I don’t wish death or hardship on anyone; but, if someone is plotting some terrorist action in North Korea, Iran, Syria, or who knows where, it’s not our concern. We shouldn’t be involved!”

“You are involved.” Kurz walked in. He had a number of life vests, each of which had a GPS locator device and attached emergency beacon. “Put these on.” He began to help Ayame with hers.

“What, are getting those to make us feel better? I doubt they will do us much good, if we get attacked at any depth.” Shunya’s brief stint in the JSDF left him with more military knowledge than most United Nations personnel.

“No. They may end up keeping you alive until someone can locate you and fish you out. Right now, the Captain is busy trying to keep us in one piece while we find out just what’s going on.” Kurz moved on to help Kaname. “Our primary goal is to find the opportunity to launch Sousuke. We’ll probably do that near the surface. There are a number of small jettisonable escape buoys on De Danaan now. As civilians, you get first crack at them.”

“Shouldn’t your Captain be worried about the safety of her crew and ship? I can’t imagine how much this submarine cost to build. I can only surmise where the funding came from. There can’t be too many people capable of crewing her.” Shunya finished with his vest.

“Normally, yes.” Kurz replied. “I guess you don’t care much for Mithril, do you Mr. Chidori? We’re mercenaries, not some official army or navy. But, that’s why we can do what we do, without answering to nations or politicians with temporary agendas.” The lanky mercenary spoke sternly. “Terrorists were responsible for my parents’ deaths. My father had a saying. ‘All that is necessary for the triumph of evil is that good men do nothing’. Maybe you don’t think we’re good men.” The quote was from Edmund Burke, British statesman and philosopher from the 1700s.

“I didn’t say that. It’s just that….” Shunya was on the defensive.

“Or maybe it’s one particular good man you don’t care much for.” Kurz sit down at the table. There was nothing for him and the other SRT members to do at the moment, anyway. He looked over at Kaname. “Kaname felt the same way at first. Right, Angel?”

“Yes,” Kaname said. She wasn’t used to the serious side of Kurz Weber. Rightfully so!” She was not about to make it sound like she had been mistaken or anything.

“Y-Y-You’re talking about Sousuke…” Ayame looked pale. The submarine was in the midst of s sudden dice, with a slight roll to one side.

“The boy’s…” Shunya stopped himself. He was in the other man’s environment. As a politician, he knew that it would not serve him in any fashion to talk down about the soldier’s comrade. “Even you need to admit that he can be quite disruptive.”

“Yeh,” Kurz said, tapping the tabletop. “A lot of boys are at his age, right? Difference is, they do it for different reasons, right? Sousuke is always worried about someone else.”

“Yes,” Kaname wondered what Sousuke was doing. He was probably arguing with Arbalest or something. What was he needed for? What kind of danger would he be in?

“I understand that. I was…” Shunya decided not to mention his own youth, especially not with his daughters listening in. “The difference is…”

”He’s interested in your daughter,” Kurz put in. That was where the crux of the matter lay. “A terrible crime, since she’s such a great girl, right?” He managed one of his classic poses for Kaname. “Even worse, he had to be around her to keep her safe. The nerve of him, rescuing her from kidnapping time and again!” He tossed his hair. “Kids these days!”

“Now listen here…” Shunya was not about to be talked down to, no matter whose arena he was in. “I’m just worried about the safety of my daughter. What kind of father would I be if I wasn’t. He future is at stake. She doesn’t need some…”

“Daddy!” Kaname didn’t know what her father was about to say, but it couldn’t be good.

“Really?” Kurz asked, a steely look in his eyes. “Mithril couldn’t have gotten Kaname back from Amalgam. Sousuke did that on his own. Not just because he was doing some kind of job.” Sousuke was the closest friend that Kurz had. He would do his best to stand up for someone who rarely made it a point to speak up for himself.

“Why are you bothering, moron?” Melissa walked in. “Some people like easy answers. Sousuke gets into trouble. He’s not the easiest person to be around, if you like a peaceful life. Hell, all of Tokyo knows that, after that Arm Slave battle in the streets.”

Shunya just glowered at Melissa. To him, it was the two mercenaries who were guilty of what they charged him with. They only saw the boy who fought by their side.

“I’m bothering because our friend has hit butt strapped to a missile, and is about to get sent into battle alone with the fate of the entire world sitting on his lap.” Kurz frowned. “At times like this, a lot of other stuff just kind of seems petty, right?”

“Petty?” Shunya drew himself up. “I can appreciate someone risking their life to save others. But, I think we can do without the theatrics. I doubt that things could ever be as drastic as you make it seem.”

“Kurz. They don’t need to know…” Melissa shook her head.

“What?” Kaname stood up. “Don’t need to know what?”

“Screw it, Babe. At the very least, Kaname deserves to know.” He shrugged, trying to calm down some. “Besides, so what if they get worried? I’m worried? You’re worried. And, we should be.”

“Is this the part where you try to convince me that some madman is about to blow up the world?” Shunya asked sarcastically. “But, our young hero goes out and saves the day. Of course, we never see the madman… never see the fight… it might as well be a confabulation, right…”

Kurz stood up. “OK, Mister Know-it-All. Let’s have some fun. We won’t go to the bridge, because they’re busy there. But, how about I playback some parts of the briefing we had a few days ago. You can come with me to the briefing room. I’m sure I can find the file.”

“This is no f-cking time for grandstanding, asshole.” Melissa said. “That’s classified material. If…”

”If things go bad, what difference will it make?” Kurz asked.

“But…” Melissa sighed. “Shit!”

“Mr. Chidori is a professional, as Sousuke would put it. If we all survive, I’m certain he would be discrete.” Kurz waved his hand dramatically. “Who would believe a word if he told them?”

“If we survive… and I get my ass chewed off for this… you won’t survive…” Melissa promised. “Make it fast. There’s another briefing scheduled, and it will probably take place even if we’re under attack. Things are just too f-cking tight.”

“Hah!” Kurz had his old insolent swagger back. “I thought you liked things tight, Babe.”

After dodging a kick from Mao, Kurz led the Chidori’s to the briefing room. Ayame insisted on coming, rather than saying with Melissa. Searching through the data storage files, he found what he needed and played back the session with Lt. Vavilov.

Shunya was visibly shaken. He was not entirely unaware of the rumors about scalar weaponry. The use of volcanoes for thermal taps had raised some theoretical environmental issues that never came to fruit.

“The world needs, Sousuke.” Kurz wanted to make that point clear. There was no doubt whatsoever what would be at stake, if Intel's suspicions were shown to be fact.

“Sousuke needs me…” Kaname answered automatically.