A Story of the Star Blade Battalion "What am I supposed to do? Leave Japan, then what?"
Episode 1 (2180.04.29)
Author's Notes: In 1996 I picked up the Campaign Setting 'Starblade Battalion' for R. Talsorian's game system, Mekton during a Christmas visit home. When I got back to Japan I flipped through the book and I enjoyed it. It may have been, as some people said, R. Tal's attempt to copy Babylon 5 (don't quite think that was true), but I liked it. So I decided to make up a character, and wrote that character's background, and that is what you will find below.
I posted it, just for the heck of it, and found out people liked it, including some of the people who worked at R. Talsorian games. I took that as a good sign and continued to write it; eventually it was 41 episodes/chapters long. It was a very rough piece of work, and I always planned to rewrite it, clean up all the errors, and tighten up the story.
Opening Credits (For that Anime Series Feel)
Music: Life During Wartime (Talking Heads)
Open on the area around the Ranoxis system. We see the SAC Fleet Carrier Macedonia and several cruisers. Suddenly a group of ODF ships appear out of nowhere on the flank of the SAC fleet. They open up with their spinal rail guns, ripping into the SAC ships. During the battle the Macedonia is holed several times and explodes, a plasma fireball filling the screen. When the fireball fades the screen is filled with a shot of Earth.
While the back ground changes, each planet with a significant human population being shown, in the foreground we get a look at all the characters that play a major part in the story. First we get a close up of their faces, then the view zooms back so we can see their entire body before they are obscured by the next. It's all pretty fast.
Next we see a Midnight Sun Harbinger as it blasts its way into a city and begins to lay waste to everything around it.
A space battle between the ODF and the SAC, it is a chaotic scene, with ships and mecha flying all over the place, a large number of units being destroyed.
A shot of Emiko's face, she is looking wistful, many lights are reflected in her eyes. The camera pulls back, and then swings around so it is behind her. We see she is standing on a roof, looking out over the Tokyo geofront.
A well dressed man addresses a board room. He has a confident smile on his face as he speaks to a group of men and women. Through the window we see huge trees.
A woman with short brown hair, her left eye partially covered by the bangs, stands in the rain in a forest clearing. Several men stand around her. She has a rifle in one hand, a pistol in the other. One of the others moves and suddenly she is spinning, firing both weapons, hitting her opponents. They fall around her.
A very attractive woman with long blonde hair and green eyes sits in the pilot seat of a mecha. She is jerking the controls around, being thrown against the restraint straps, her hair flying around her in zero-G. The Mecha she is in fades in, a dark blue Manticore with silver trim. The Manticore spins, the huge gauss cannon tearing several SAC suits to pieces.
A handsome man with long black hair sits in a ships cockpit, hands flying across the controls, being thrown against the restraining straps of his seat. His ship fades in around him, a streamlined, leaf shaped ship that is moving in a way a ship that size has no right to do as it evades the attacks of mecha.
The Harbinger and a dark blue Manticore with silver trim are fighting in the middle of a city. They are punching at each other, each hit tearing armour from the other unit.
The woman with the short brown hair grabs Emiko, pushing her into cover before turning around, a rifle in each hand, firing rapidly at something off the screen.
Emiko working at a keyboard, the man from the boardroom, the Manticore pilot, the ship pilot and the woman with the short brown hair are looking over her shoulder at the data on the screen.
With the song reaching its end we have the characters flash across the screen again, ending with all of them standing together in a group shot.
Opening Credits End
Buildings rained down on her, smashing into the floor of the cavern, exploding into fragments of glass and steel that did not touch her.
It was all so strangely silent except for the wind that crooned in her ear as if it was trying to tell her something. It was all so beautiful, except for it was so terrible.
Then it was gone as her eyes fluttered open.
High above her were the buildings of a great city, anchored to the ceiling of the cavern, not falling and likely never to do so.
She held up her hand, almost as if she thought to touch them, but they were far, far beyond her reach.
The sound that had woken her became clear, now that her mind was no longer fogged with sleep. It was the chimes, announcing something had begun or ended. She looked up at the watch on her wrist. Lunch would have just ended and she had slept through it; as well as half her morning classes. That would explain why she was feeling a little hungry.
Sitting up she looked around her, at the enormous Geofront in which the reborn city of Tokyo had been built. The lights of the city blended together and faded off into forever in the distance and that suddenly made her feel a little lonely. Ridiculous considering the city's huge population; she was anything but alone.
Behind her she heard the creak of the door opening and talking.
"There you are," someone said. "I found her!"
In a moment several girls had come up on the roof to stand around her. Like her they wore a uniform, a grey, pleated skirt, with a white blouse and a red ribbon tied around their necks.
"Emi-chan," one said, standing directly over her. "Cutting class again? You're going to get in trouble." Her tone was cross, but she was smiling.
"I'm sorry Alice-chan," Emiko said, returning the young woman's smile.
Alice shook her head and then sat down on the roof, brushing her skirt smooth.
"How do you expect to pass your entrance exams if you keep this up?" she asked.
"I have no idea," Emiko was still smiling.
"They should extend the slacker law to students you know," Yuki said as she knelt down. Her tone was cross as well, but there was no smile from her to take the sting from the words. As far as she was concerned Emiko was a girl destined for trouble. "You probably will be turned out of the city soon enough."
"Yuki-chan you always say that," Emiko said, still smiling. "You said it in junior high; you say it more since we came to senior high."
"That's because it is true!" she said angrily.
"Yuki-chan," Alice warned, "don't say such foolish things."
Alice was the obvious leader of the girls, as much as such a group could have one, and Yuki did not say anything else.
"Ahhh, everyone, listen, listen," a girl named Keiko said.
Emiko watched as all the other girls got far off looks on their faces, as they listened to some sort of concert through the cybernetic dataweb. She could have pulled out her computer and listened as well, at least to the music, but she did not bother. Apparently true appreciation of mindsongs could only be achieved through a datalink.
The nanotech datalinks that all her friends had were something else that had generated distance between Emiko and them. She had refused to get the implant that the others had all happily received in the recent months, as they had turned 17 years old. Emiko had had been nearly hysterical about her refusal to accept the cybernetic interface. Her parents had, against their better judgment they said, acquiesced to her wishes.
It put her at a slight disadvantage, as all other adults had instant access to the dataweb and all the information within. Emiko had learned to depend more and more on her computer over the past several months.
Still, most everyone she knew thought her both strange, and in some odd way, crippled. Emiko did not mind though. She was happier without the implant, for the time being at least. She did not know what the future would bring.
The music must have ended because suddenly Alice's attention was focused on Emiko, a slight flush across her face. Alice continually felt bad whenever they excluded Emiko from something like that. Emiko only smiled at her to reassure her that there were no hurt feelings.
"Well, what did I miss?" Emiko asked good naturedly.
"Why should we tell you?" Yuki asked, actually sneering.
"I don't know," Emiko said after a moment.
"I swear..." Yuki shook her head.
"Yuki-chan," Alice warned, starting the other girl down, frowning. When Yuki turned away Alice looked to Emiko, smiling once more. "It was nothing. I'll lend you my note book for the classes you missed this morning."
"I love you," Emiko said with a laugh.
"Slacker," Yuki said softly, obviously upset.
"Why does Yuki-chan seem to hate you?" Alice asked Emiko as they waited for their train. The school day was over and both girls were going home.
"I don't know." Emiko shrugged her shoulders.
"Emi-chan," Alice warned.
"I don't really know. Almost since the first day we met she has been telling me that I am going to fail at everything."
"But you don't, which bothers her, but why is she so certain that you'll fail?"
Emiko smiled and simply shrugged her shoulders again.
Alice just laughed and then sighed. "Poor, poor Emiko."
"I know."
The two of them stood there in silence for a time, waiting for the train
Emiko was not an unattractive girl, but it was unlikely she would ever be called beautiful. Her nose was just a little too small and her chin a little too weak. She had her black hair cut short, the ends barely touching her shoulders. Her brown eyes were perhaps her best feature, large and expressive. She also seemed to have retained what people might call baby fat, which gave her features a slightly rounded appearance.
The overall effect tended towards a certain, immature appearance, that one might call cute, but it did not suit a young woman really.
Alice on the other hand was simply a beautiful young woman. She had long red hair and blue eyes and was probably the most popular girl in the school. It was funny that she and Emiko were friends as Emiko had never really gone out of her ways to become friends with her or anyone else. It had just sort of happened.
"Finally, here's our train," Alice said.
The two young women boarded, found some seats, and then talked about inconsequential things for the entire trip. The talk around them was anything but.
The battle of the Northern Rings was on most people's minds. The Colonists had attacked an SAC Battle Fleet, destroying it; if the stories were true.
People were angry, and scared, for the possibility of an interstellar war suddenly seemed very real.
To Emiko and her school friends such a thing was far off possibility, worth a little concern, but not too much. They had other things, like practice exams, to focus on and worry about. The new school year was not even a month old and already Emiko's friends felt they were being buried by the work. Emiko could never really bring herself to care enough about the school work to obsess about it.
"Well, I'll see you later," Alice said as she stood, for the train was slowing as it approached the next station, Alice's stop.
"Hai," Emiko said.
Then Alice was gone, heading out of the train car.
Emiko did not have to sit alone for long as her stop was next.
She got off the train and headed home.
Home in her case was a small, but comfortable, apartment in a small building building.
"I'm back," Emiko called out as she opened the apartment door.
"Welcome back," she heard her mother call from within the apartment.
Emiko slipped out of her shoes and stepped up, out of the genkan into the apartment proper. Kneeling down she arranged her shoes neatly then took a pair of slippers from the cabinet by the door.
"How was school today?" her mother asked as she came out of the kitchen, wiping her hands on a dish towel.
Emiko reached into her briefcase, pulled out a sheet of paper, and handed it to her mother. It was the practice test they had done that day.
Her mother took it and looked it over. "Emiko-chan," she said sharply. "This is terrible, look at this mark!"
"I know," Emiko said, drawing the 'o' of 'know' out, rolling her eyes. It was not too bad a mark really; she had placed in the top third of the class. However, she knew, the top third was not good enough for her mother, was not good enough for her to get into Sydney University. The same University her parents and older brother had attended.
"Don't take that tone," her mother snapped. "Don't you understand? You have to study hard if you want to accomplish anything."
"I'll try my best" Emiko said, standing up straighter. She wondered if she should salute her mother. It probably would not be a good idea Emiko decided. Her mother's sense of humour was a chancy thing.
"I swear!" Her mother shook her head. "What will your father say when he gets home?"
"Papa is coming home?"
"The day after tomorrow."
"Dirty Tricks is letting him come home at a time like this?"
"Don't call fleet intelligence Dirty Tricks," her mother told her, exasperation with anger creeping into her tone.
"Yes ma'am," Emiko said, knowing that she had better be careful. Her mother had almost slapped her once for not being respectful enough in her attitude towards the SAC (Stellar Armaments Command) as well as the related government. Emiko could still remember her mother's raised hand, and the way that she had trembled as she had held herself back from striking. Suddenly feeling guilty Emiko nodded and said. "I know. I'm sorry Mama."
Her mother shook her head then turned and went back into the kitchen. Emiko sighed and walked towards her bedroom. Education Mama and a Gaian fanatic; a bad combination really.
Emiko knew that part of her mother's problem was whenever she looked at Emiko her mother was seeing a failure, but not a failure on Emiko's part. It was her own failure. She had two children. What sort of Gaian had two children? When the world was in such a state even one child was too many, at least as far as the hardline Gaians thought.
Emiko had been an accident, something her parents had never bothered to hide from her. They both loved her, but, to her mother especially, she was a bit of an embarrassment. An embarrassment to Gaian beliefs that put the planet first.
Going to her small bedroom, Emiko tossed her school briefcase onto her bed then went to sit at the small desk.
Slacker.
She thought back on Yuki's word. Maybe she would be. Maybe she was.
Not that it was something to look forward to or aspire to. She would be thrown out of the city if the authorities decided she could not contribute to society. Outside, to survive or die as she would. Probably die. With the pollution and the predators-mostly on two legs-and the diseases and the lack of food and the, well, everything, what chance did she stand? For all that hanging over her, she still could not find it in herself to care all that much.
Her father was coming home. Well, it probably had nothing to do with a family visit. He would have business in the city, things to take care of, likely related to the coming war people spoke of. He would sleep and maybe eat at that apartment but would have little time for much else.
Giving up on those thoughts she reached back to grab her briefcase from the bed. From it she pulled out her computer. The computer was placed on her desk; she then opened her top desk drawer and began removing a collection of very illegal computer ware.
After she had put on a pair of AR glasses (thing, gold wire frames with round lenses) she slotted a booster into her computer, not so illegal in itself, but the hardwired programming in it was another story. Into the booster she slotted her anonymous box, a trace direct, two pulsers, a burner and decrypter.
It was a completely illegal set up, meant for little else but hacking and cyber terrorism. She often wondered what her mother might do if she were to find out what her daughter did while she should be studying.
It did not do to dwell on it.
She pressed the power switch and went to work.
The dataweb was an amazing piece of tech, almost anything one could want was on it. Almost. The most secure systems, and therefore the ones with the most interesting information in them, were most often completely disconnected from the web. To get into them either required going right to their physical locations and hooking in, or being clever, and not just a little lucky.
Emiko preferred the later approach.
The Science Council computer in Tokyo was of course not hooked up the web; most of the time. Once or twice a day a constantly changing gate would open, connecting the computer node in Tokyo to the rest of the web for necessary communication before it would close up again. Not much time to do anything, even if one could find where the gate was.
Emiko, through one of her mother's friends-having a Gaian fanatic for a mother was useful in some cases-had gotten hold of the logarithm used for the opening of the gates.
That was the biggest hurdle. After that it was just a matter of dropping a series of time delay viruses into the system, then showing up at the gate to collect any that hopped out. Like throwing a bottle into the ocean and then waiting for it to return with a message in it.
It took time, a lot of time, and the returns were often minor at best, but it was something.
She had been doing such illegal things for years now, but it had only been in the past year that she had actually been given a focus.
That focus was her brother's friend Takashi, a reporter who needed sources. That the friendship between her brother and Takashi would come to a spectacular end if what she was doing was found out was something that Emiko was always aware of; however she was more concerned about what would happen to her if she were found out.
Well, perhaps not concerned. If she were really concerned she would not being doing what she did. Aware was the better way to put it.
She checked her computer and the time running on it; the next gate was not going to open for almost two hours. She reached over to her briefcase and pulled out Alice's notebook. She might as well do something productive with her time before her mother called her for dinner.
Two hours later Emiko scooped up the datapack one of her viruses had brought out to her, sheathing it in a stealth membrane before the free floating antibodies could get at it. After copying the data onto her local system she gave it a quick look. She could not help but gasp. If she was reading the tags right she had just got her hands on something very important. The security markers were the highest she had ever seen.
Her computer beeped and new information flashed in her field of vision (projected their by the glasses): someone had just put a trace on her.
"Oh no," Emiko said, her hands moving in the air, interacting with virtual controls only she could see, trying to find out how much trouble she had. It was not a simple, automated response; some real person was after her. She hit them with one of the pulsers, high density, nonsense data, just to buy a moment of time. Counter trace software did not work too well on the dataweb; instead it was her system's hardware that did the job.
Or was supposed to.
The densely packed nonsense data would slow them and then a bit of energy to burn out a relay, that was usually enough to break a trace for a moment, making them lose sight of her; as it were. She followed it up with the trace redirect, to send the searcher off on wild goose chase. Combined with her anonymous box she felt pretty safe. She cut the connection and was completely gone from the dataweb.
Had they just picked her up by chance she wondered, or had someone been waiting for her? Not a pleasant thought. She had been traced before, but never that close. She wondered if she should have used the burner. It would have guaranteed a clean break, but it also would have made a huge mess of the Tokyo dataweb for several days. That would have really crossed the line over into cyber-terrorism.
No, she had gotten clear clean, Emiko told herself. No need to worry.
Convinced that everything was all right she turned her attention the datapack.
It took her a while to tease it apart, and even then she was not quite sure what she had. There were nine or ten files, compressed and encrypted.
Decompressing them was easy enough but after that nothing she had would cut the encryption. Very tight, she thought.
She pushed a chip into her computer and copied the datapack onto it. That done she took the chip and sneaked into her father's small office. The she settled herself behind his desk and turned on his computer.
It was a little sloppy of her father to leave all the information he did on his computer, but it was an understandable mistake. It would not have been a security hole to anyone else other than a snoopy daughter who had taken it into her mind to break laws.
And who could plan for that?
She pushed the chip with the datapack on it into the computer and began to work. He had keys there, not the exact keys she needed, but ones close enough for her to work with.
It took almost an hour to get the first file decrypted which was too much time to spend in her father's office. She did not even give the information a cursory read, but simply popped the chip out and turned the computer off. She would read through it later. She padded quietly out of the office, making sure there was no sign she had been there.
She had something to give Takashi tomorrow. Hopefully he could use it.
Ota Takashi was a journalist. He felt that it fit with his desire to uncover the truth. A desire he tended to follow mo matter who it might hurt.
He did not see what he was doing in any way treasonous. He did not want to oppose the USSA (United Solar States Alliance) but he often felt that the Gaians had a little too much power and were not being completely open with the citizens about what they were doing.
He respected the Gaians, considered himself to be a one, sort of, and his best friend was a Gaian Warden. He also thought that protecting all ecosystems from despoilment was a good idea. He just thought that the Gaians were too powerful with no real oversight.
He was doing something about it, following his conscience and trying to change things.
"Takashi-san, good morning," he heard someone call.
He turned to see Emiko running towards him. Makoto's little sister had become an odd ally, but she was good at what she did.
"Emi-chan, mornin'," he called out as he waved at her.
"Sorry I'm late," she said a little breathlessly, "I got something that might be interesting to you." She pushed a data chip into his hands. "Sorry I can't stay, got to get to school. Bye bye, take care," she said as she ran by him, heading towards the train station.
"Take care," he shouted after her and then looked over the disk. If she said it was interesting it was probably worth a look.
"Just what did they get?" Sam Colt asked his partner. Sam was new to the Tokyo scene, transferred in from New York, part of a growth program the Gaians were promoting.
"That is need to know," Ryu Abe told him.
Sam had tagged Ryu as a hard case the day he had met him. Still, he was good cop (probably more than just a cop if the rumours had any truth to them) and, for the most part, good to work with.
"So you don't know either."
Ryu nodded.
The two entered the busier than usual computer lab.
"Lots of new faces," Ryu told Sam.
Sam looked around. High up USSA types, lot of security.
"Glad you two got here," Reiko Oda said as she moved up close to Ryu. She was a young woman, short black hair, dressed conservatively in a suit with a knee length skirt.
"Got any good stuff?" Sam asked her, smiling at her
"Would a name be good?"
"Who?" Ryu asked, demanded actually.
Reiko looked as if she might refuse to say anything, but after a moment told them, "I pulled a partial registration number from the trace we got. I've been crunching at it for hours and finally cleaned it up enough to pull an ID. The computer is registered to a minor named Miya Emiko. I have an address as well as some basic information." She looked about, leaned closer to the two men and said. "I just found this out and you are the first two to learn about it."
Ryu frowned. "That was fast. Too damn easy really."
"Do you think so?" Reiko asked coyly. "Didn't it sound like I was working hard?"
"What are you hiding Oda-san," Sam asked her.
"We recently got some new equipment. All very hush hush, all very high end cutting edge. Beyond what the criminals will think us to have. The advantage is ours only while no one knows about it. That's why I am talking to you and not them." She looked towards the USSA officials. "They'll say something stupid, and probably to the press if I let them know. So you go and get your girl and tell everyone it was your brilliant police work, okay?"
"You got a deal. Where is she now?" Ryu asked.
"Yamadori High School. She is part of class 3C, in class by now."
"Let's go," Ryu told Sam.
"Yeah, yeah, you got it," Sam said as he followed. He had not known Ryu long, but he could tell that Ryu was focused on the case now, no time for niceties. Sam turned and winked at Reiko, mouthing, 'thank you' to her.
Sam looked up from the small computer on his lap. "Maybe we should handle this cooler," he said to Ryu. "This girl is no criminal. Don't know what she is; probably just doing it for bragging rights."
Ryu shook his head. "Lots of interest from the higher ups on this. Still don't know what it is about, but it's got to be more than some kid slicing for kicks and boasting."
"But look at her history." Sam tapped the computer screen. "She's squeaky clean, good parents, very good parents, good marks, she doesn't fit any profile. She probably just got unlucky and grabbed something she was never meant to see. The question is about what she got, not if she is a criminal."
"We don't know what she got. All we know at the moment is that the brass up top are making a lot of noise and worried. That much noise and I think Midnight Sun or some other terrorist group."
"Oh come on." Sam shook his head. "This girl is not a terrorist."
"Maybe. Maybe not. We still have to bring her in."
"But why like this? Why not meet her at her home tonight? With her mother and any legal representation the mother wants present? Talk this out calmly. We do this heavy and we are only going to scare the poor girl to death. Probably mess up her life a little. You don't live down the police coming in and dragging you off in the middle of the school day."
"If we wait she might bolt." Ryu's voice was tight.
"If she was going to bolt she wouldn't have gone to school. Really, give it some thought."
Ryu frowned as if there was a bad taste in his mouth and he said, "We'll do it this way," in a manner that brooked no argument.
Sam shrugged his shoulders, knowing that he was not going to get Ryu to change his mind. Not now. "Let's go and scare some children then."
Emiko scribbled in her notebook, drawing pictures, every now and then making notes. The class was so boring. How was she to stay awake in such a place? If only something exciting would happen.
The door to the classroom slid back, banging loudly, several students let out startled gasps.
Two men came in with the vice-principal.
One of the men was Japanese, a big man, with thinning hair and angry brown eyes.
The other was Caucasian, with short brown hair and blue eyes.
They talked to the vice-principal and he pointed towards Emiko. Both the men began towards her as the vice-principal ran up to the front of the classroom to start a hushed conversation with the teacher.
"Miya Emiko?" The Japanese man asked her.
"Hai," she said, feeling apprehensive.
"You are under arrest," he told her, producing handcuffs from within his jacket. In a moment he had Emiko on her feet and her hands locked behind her. The other man had retrieved her briefcase and was looking through her desk.
Around them the class erupted into noise and Alice called out, "Just what do you think you are doing?"
The teacher was calling for quiet.
The big man did not respond to questions, just grabbed Emiko by the elbow and began directing her out of the room. Emiko looked around into the shocked faces of her friends, classmates and teacher. The only one who did anything was Alice, who started forward, as if to confront the men, but she was grabbed by the vice-principal before she could get close.
In a moment Emiko was out of the classroom and being led down the hall. News had spread because she saw a lot of faces looking out of other classrooms. It was so embarrassing.
She was hardly aware of much after that, feeling more than a little overwhelmed.
By the time she started taking her surroundings in again she was in the back seat of a car, a car which was spiralling up one of the highways towards the cavern's roof structures.
"Why am I being arrested?" she finally asked.
"You are suspected of breaking into a secure computer and stealing protected data," the foreign one told her, looking over his shoulder. "You can wait until we reach the station before saying anything, legal counsel will be arranged."
Well, at least she knew why. How did they catch her though? No, that was something to worry about later. Now she had to figure out how she was going to get out of it.
"Shit," the Japanese one said.
"What," the foreign one asked as he turned around to look out the front window. Emiko shifted in her seat, trying to see what was happening. It looked as if some cars had collided up ahead, closing off the road. Already cars were beginning to slow and the police car was soon unable to go back or forward.
"Go up there and see what is happening," the Japanese one told his partner.
"Right, right, I'm going," the foreign one said as he got out of the car.
The Japanese man sat in the driver's seat, quietly cursing, pounding his fist against the steering wheel. Emiko was trying to decide if there was something she could say that would make everything alright.
Then something hit them from behind and she was tossed forward against the back of the driver's seat.
Swearing loudly the man in front of her pulled off his seat belt and got out of the car. Emiko shifted back and looked over her shoulder. The police officer, yelling, was approaching the car that had hit them. A young man had gotten out that car. He looked very apologetic.
Then the officer fell down. Emiko stared, wondering what was going on. She heard the door open and looked over, expecting the other officer but instead a woman was there.
"Come on." She grabbed Emiko's shoulder and dragged her from the car. Another woman was retrieving Emiko's briefcase from the front seat.
Emiko was pulled up the line of cars, past the wrecks. She saw the other police officer sprawled face down on the hood of a car.
Just beyond the crashed cars was a van into which she was pushed. A moment later they were heading off.
"Don't worry sweetie," the woman who had pulled her from the car told her as she took the cuffs off Emiko's wrists. "We're rescuing you."
"Who are you?
"Friends of a friend you might say."
"Did you kill..."
"No, just stunned. You start killing police officers and people start taking a dislike to you."
"Do you know what is happening? They just came to my school, I don't know why." Which was a lie, she knew why, she just did not know how they had found out.
"Can't help you there sweetie, we're just a rescue team."
"Who sent you?"
"Later sweetie, later."
Emiko was only surprised for a moment to find Takashi waiting for her. Thinking about it, it only made sense that he would have played a part in her rescue: Only to protect himself if nothing else.
"Takashi-san, what's happening?" she asked. "Police, came to my school, they arrested me." She paused. "My mother is going to kill me."
"Lots is happening." He put a hand on Emiko's head and gently ruffled her hair. "You alright?"
"Yes, but..."
"Later," he told her, turning to the people who had brought Emiko. "Thank you very much for all your help." He bowed to them.
"Don't mention it Takashi, and watch your back these next few days," one of the women replied as she got back into the van. She leanded out the window and waved before the van drove away.
"Who was that? Who were they?" Emiko asked.
Takashi returned his attention to Emiko and said, "Yakuza." He took her by the arm and directing her towards his car.
"Yakuza?"
"Who else do you think would be willing to break you free of the police?" He pulled out his keys and opened the trunk of his car. "Get in."
"What?"
"They'll be looking for you soon, now get in."
Emiko felt as if she was near tears. So much was happening and no one was telling her anything. She angrily hurled her briefcase into the trunk then got in with it.
"Everything will be all right," he told her. "Just relax." He closed the trunk on her.
Lying, curled up in the darkness, the enormity of what had happened hit her all at once. Emiko began to cry.
By the time the car had stopped and the trunk was open she was cried out, for the moment at least, and all that was left was anger.
Takashi found himself faced with an angry young woman who had grabbed his coat lapels and pulled his face close to hers before he could do anything.
"What is happening?" she demanded, stressing each word.
"That data you grabbed was hot, very very hot. Just that first file was probably enough to get us arrested, or killed."
Emiko knew she should not be surprised, but hearing Takashi say it out loud like that did surprise her, and she loosened her hold on him.
He pulled himself free from her grasp and stepped back. "What is on the rest, well, who knows, but it has some people scared. I got a tip about your arrest and arranged for you to be busted free. You didn't tell them anything did you?"
"I never got the chance," she said as she got out of the trunk.
"Good. Odds are they are going to slap some serious charges on you soon, serious enough to make sure you are captured and arrested or killed very fast."
"What do you mean?"
"I heard some chatter on my tap line. People are talking ecoterrorist, Midnight Sun, that sort of stuff."
She stared at him wide eyed for several seconds. "That's a lie!"
"Of course it's a lie," he replied, "but everyone will believe it because it is such a big lie. The police will be saying it."
Emiko slumped against the car. "What am I supposed to do?"
"Run," he said simply. "Run far and fast," he expanded. "We'll get you out of Tokyo, then Japan."
"Leave Tokyo?" Her eyes were wide. "Leave Japan?"
"You don't have another choice. They are going to close the city down soon; you have to be gone by then. This will calm down, eventually, and then we can figure out what to do."
"But my family..."
"Who is your family going to believe? Hell Emiko-chan, like you said, your mother is probably going to kill you."
"She probably is," Emiko said sadly.
"Hey, cheer up. I was just joking."
"I wasn't."
"Listen, I got someone who will get you outside, then someone else who will get you out of Japan. Everything is going to be fine. Trust me"
"What am I supposed to do? Leave Japan, then what?"
"I really don't know. I'm sorry. I wish you had never got involved in this."
"I got myself involved in it." She had, and as bad as she felt she did not want to see herself as a victim.
"Yeah, still..." he shrugged his shoulders, obviously unable to think of anything. "Here, take this," he pulled the chip that she had given him earlier from his pocket. "I made copies but you might be able to do something with this."
"It is not supposed to be like this." She took the chip from him.
"I know. But it is."
Emiko nodded.
"Don't worry. You'll be all right."
"Liar."
"Yeah, you're right." He winked at her
"Oh, thank you for making me feel better."
"I try."
"Oi, Takashi-san, you around here?" someone called.
"Here," Takashi shouted.
A moment later a man in a baggy, grey jump suit came out of the darkness.
"Ken-san, been a while, hasn't it," Takashi called to the man.
"Yeah, it has." He came close. "Is this the package?" he asked, looking at Emiko.
"Miya Emiko-chan," Takashi said, "this is Ken, no need for last names.
"I am pleased to meet you," Emiko said, bowing as she fell back onto ingrained habbits.
"Thanks, you too," he told her.
"Get her out of here Ken."
"I will Takashi. You're going to owe me though."
"We can settle up later. I got to go, they'll probably be checking up with anyone she knows soon enough. I have to set up a cover or two."
Ken nodded.
"Emiko-chan," he put a hand on her shoulder, "take care of yourself." After a moment Takashi removed his hand from her shoulder, turned and walked away.
"Good bye Takashi-san," she said to his back. "Thank you."
"Come on," Ken said to her, walking away.
Emiko turned and walked after him, behind her she heard Ken slam his car door and a moment later the car was speeding away. She was alone with a strange man now, leaving her home, probably forever. She felt a little like crying, but only sniffed and wiped at her nose.
"Where are we going?" she asked Ken as they walked.
"Outside, into the Old Cities."
"What?" Emiko stopped.
"We have to." He turned around to face her. "It is the only place they won't look for you, at least not right away. You'll be all right."
"But the Old Cities..."
"It is either face them or the police. You face the police you probably die and take a lot of others with you."
"That's not fair."
"It wasn't supped to be." He turned around and continued walking.
Emiko wondered if she just stopped if he would come back for her. He might, but she was not sure. And if he did not come back she would be dealing with the police. No choice left, she followed after him.
A short time later they came to a large garage like area. Ken unlocked a door, stepped aside so that Emiko could proceed him. There were about ten mecha parked within, all of them Masons, the old, reliable work horse mecha of earth space. Emiko stopped and stared up at the suits. There was no one else there but for her and Ken.
"Come on." Ken said as he walked past her.
Emiko followed and he led her up to a mecha that was painted black and gray, covered in sensor equipment, armed with a pair of autocannons.
"What do you do?"
"I'm a biologist. I'm monitoring the levels of pollution and contamination in the Old Cities."
Emiko nodded. "And you need a vehicle like that."
"Sometimes you need a bit of firepower, or just the intimidation factor that comes from carrying it. Come on, let's get you settled. Ever been in one of these before?"
"No."
"Well, you're in for a treat then," he told her, his tone suggesting anything but, however he smiled as he started up the boarding stairs.
The cockpit was more than large enough to hold both of them but he put her into the storage compartment.
"I'm really beginning to hate trunks," she said to Ken as he made sure she was settled.
"I'd get used to them," he said.
"Thanks," she said with a tone rich in sarcasm.
Ken winked at her and then closed the hatch, sealing her into the compartment. A small light came on, giving her enough light to shift the few supplies around and create something of a comfortable seat.
A short time later she felt a vibration run through the suit as it started up. The mecha's stride was slightly jarring, and she felt each step, and a slight lurch, as if the suit was just short of falling over. Then the suit stopped, and she felt it settle. When it started moving again a few second later it was as smooth as any car. She guesses that Ken had switched to the wheels in the huge suit's feet.
Alone, in the near darkness, she pulled her computer out of her briefcase and put the chip Takashi had returned into the reader slot. It was about time she read what had got her into so much trouble. She put her AR glasses on and went to work.
The first file was an occupation plan for the Pleiades' colonies. Reproductive licensing, ban on homesteading, death penalty for ecocrimes, and other things that seemed extreme. And that was just the first file. What might be on the rest Emiko wondered? At the moment she did not want to know.
She put her computer into sleep mode and returned it to her briefcase. Information was still displayed on the lenses of her glasses, information about the GIS co-ordinates, exterior temperatures, an overlay of a map showing her where she was. She watched the data, hugging her knees to herself as she wondered just what she was going to do.
The smooth ride became a jolting walk as the roads gave out. Emiko guessed they were in the Old Cities, on the surface, the safety of the geofront left behind. She had to guess because there was no passive information for her glasses to pick up on. She could have sought out her information, but that would have meant connecting her computer to the data web, which would have made it possible for someone to find her.
She had seen pictures of the old city, seen it from a great distance, even flown over it once: a line of urban blight, stretching from the outskirts of Tokyo to the Osaka Zenith. She had never been inside of that zone before.
The almost gentle jolting of the mecha's stride began to lull her to sleep. She was tired, exhausted really, and sleep came easily; until the gun fire started.
She was shaken awake by the suit's sudden lurching movement and that was when she heard the sound of weapons.
She did not know what was happening. She was trapped in the mecha, a helpless passenger with no way to control her destiny. She was terrified.
Then a suddenly as it began it was over and the mecha's movement smoothed out somewhat as it ran..
Sometime later it stopped. She waited in breathless silence until the hatch was open, letting in light and the smell of the Old City. The light she was grateful for, the smell almost made her sick.
"Here, take this," Ken said, handing her a breather. "The air's pretty clean here, it won't kill you, but it is unpleasant." The breather was fairly simple, a soft filter mask and nose plugs.
"What happened," Emiko asked after she had the breather on.
"Jumped by some crazies, it happens."
"It happens?"
"Occupational hazard. After I gave them a few blasts from the cannons they fell back. Here." He put a bag in front of her and opened it. "You got some basic survival stuff here and some not so basic. This," he removed a wireless data cartridge, "has a map loaded into it. Follow it. You are being met by a man named Match, he'll get you out. There is also a bio-scanner and a chem-sniffer hooked into it. This area is clear, as far as I know, but it never hurts to play it safe. Keep an eye on the readings."
Emiko took the cartridge and turned on the transmitter. A few second later her glasses detected the wireless feed. She blinked twice and overlays appeared around her, showing her a path to follow. In the corner of her vision environmental information was displayed: chemicals in the air, biological agents, radiation levels.
"This is a gyrojet pistol, ever fired one before?"
"No, never." She shook her head.
"It's easy. This is the safety, the magazine ejects like this and a new one is simply fitted in like this," he told her as he demonstrated. "Minimum range is 3 meters, anyone in closer than that it probably going to be bruised, but you won't kill them. Going to remember all that?"
"No."
"Hopefully you won't have to use it," he said, putting the weapon back in the bag. "It's on safe right now, remember that. Your glasses should be able to interface with it. watch the information it provides and you'll be okay? Now, if things go really bad these tablets will kill you in a few seconds." He held up a small, grey case, it rattled when he shook it.
"What!? Kill me?"
"If you get caught now and they make you talk there are a lot of people that could be hurt. And there are some," he paused, "people out in the ruins who you do not want to be taken alive by. None of those are close, as far as I know, but you never know."
Emiko stared at him, not knowing what to say. He wanted her to kill herself if she were to get caught. She stood there for several seconds, once more trying to make sense of the turn her life had taken.
He pressed the case into her hands. "Take care of yourself," Ken said, climbing back towards the cockpit.
"Wait! You can't just go."
"I don't have any choice. You'll be fine," he told her, probably lying, and sealed himself in the mecha's cockpit. She had to step back as it straightened and stood.
Emiko closed her eyes against the cloud of dust that the running mecha had raised. When it settled she was alone.
She stood there for a time, not sure what to do, then opened the bag he had given her, took the pistol out and put it into the waistband of her skirt. She put her briefcase in the bag then slung it over her shoulder.
She turned about, looking at the red line that her glasses made appear on the ground. It blinked with arrows indicating the direction she should travel. She started walking.
As time passed she found it harder and harder to simply follow the red line. She had never been in an Old City before, never been away from the safety Tokyo or some Zenith offered. She began to jump at shadows, even once pulling the pistol out and blowing up some old, rusted trash bins.
She had been alone for almost an hour when she heard a high pitched whistle.
Spinning about she tried to discover where it was coming from. Then there were more of the piercing whistles and she realized whatever was making it was all around her. She began to run, hoping she would get to the place she was supposed to be soon.
Twenty meters ahead of her several figures moved out from between the buildings. One of them let out a loud, high pitched whistle. Close behind her a whistle answered. She had slowed when she saw the figures but was running again, right at them. She had to get by them, get to safety. She had to. Her heart was thumping so loud she was sure everyone could hear it and she was more terrified than she had ever been in her life.
She pulled the pistol from her waistband and fired. Information was flashing across her lenses but she ignored it. Two rockets sped out, each of their motors firing up after they had travelled a few meters. They whistled loudly as they flashes across the intervening space. One exploded in the road, some distance ahead of her targets, another went high and blast a chink of concrete free of a building. She covered several more meters, pulling the trigger, before realizing there were no more rounds in the magazine. In the corner of her eye she saw the ammunition counter flashing '0'.
She was almost on them and did not know what to do. Then her body just reacted as one of the figures reached out to grab her. She sidestepped him and then slammed the pistol up and into his jaw. It was a move similar to one she had practiced thousands of times in kendo, but had never done well.
Emiko had been taking kendo since she was ten, more because such a thing was expected of a student rather than a desire on her part. For all that time studying she was not very good at it. Everything moved too fast for her in class so she was amazed at how slow the dirty man in front of her acted.
A woman kicked at her but Emiko twisted to the side, moving up along the outside of the woman's leg, and then slamming the pistol down on her knee with a cracking sound.
She was clear of them. They were all behind her, coming after her, but the way in front was clear. She ran, following the red line on the ground in front of her. She was breathing, panting loudly, she hurt, muscles aching and burning, in her mouth a sour taste, her guts churning with adrenaline.
For a time she thought she might make it. Then she heard the sound of gunfire and ricochets as bullets flew close by.
She was about the throw herself on the ground, hoping they might not kill her if she gave up, when a large figure stepped out in front of her.
Emiko tried to dodge around him but the person reacted faster than she. Her wrist was grabbed and she was pulled in close, his, she could tell he was male now, cape wrapped around her.
There was a hissing sound, then a number of minute roars followed soon after by explosions. She felt several things hit her back, like punches. Then it was over and everything was quiet.
"Miss Miya," the man holding her said in English. "I'm Match."
Emiko backed out of his grip, and he let her go. As the cape fell back into place she noticed several rents in the material. From the bullets?
He was a tall man, with long, fine blonde hair. What little skin she could see was almost as dark as hers and covered in tattoos. Slim build, but hard, she knew that from being pressed into his chest. He was almost handsome, in a rough sort of way.
His clothing was dark, loose pants a shirt and a jacket, covered by the cape which seemed to shift shades as she looked at it. He held a large gyrojet pistol in his hand.
"Are you all right kid?" he asked.
"The gun," she looked down at her pistol, "it wouldn't, it wouldn't, it was…" then she moved forward, burying her face in the man's chest, crying. She had been so scared.
She felt him take the weapon from her hands. "You fired all the rounds," he told her a moment later. "In the future know how many you have and count carefully."
Emiko stepped back to look up at him. She pulled the breather and her glasses off, ignoring the smell, and wiped at her eyes and nose. She could not believe he was lecturing her.
"Load this and then let's go," he handed her back the pistol then watched as she tried to put the fresh magazine in backwards. He placed his hands on her hands and reversed the magazine. Once it was properly loaded he set off, never looking back to see if Emiko followed.
She did though, not about to stay in the urban wastes on her own.
"Who were those people?" she asked after a time.
"Just a bunch of no ones trying to survive," he told her. "They would have robbed you, likely raped you, possibly killed you and just maybe have eaten you."
"You can't be serious." Emiko stopped and looked back he way they had come from.
"I am."
Emiko looked around her, wondering of there were more of those people out there, waiting to attack. If there were, they stayed hidden. She ran after Match, catching up to him.
An hour later, when Emiko was certain she was going to collapse, Match led her into a building. He moved some junk aside from the far wall, revealing a vault like door. It was protected by a standard key pad lock and a palm print scanner.
He opened it then let Emiko enter first.
It was a simple room, no furniture but a tall grey cylinder and a large shower stall recessed in the wall. To the right of the shower stall was another door.
"Put anything you want to keep in the decon box." He pointed at the grey cylinder. "Then get into the shower," he walked over to the cylinder and took of his cape, then tossed it into the cylinder. More of his possessions and clothing followed.
"Where can I..."
"Right here. Not much in the way of privacy." He smiled. "Sorry."
"I'll shower after you."
"You choice." He dropped his pants. "I wouldn't want to wait though. Who knows what was out there," he told her as he tossed his pants into the cylinder. That left him just standing in a pair of boxers, but not for long.
She looked at him, then turned away blushing. His words sank into her head and she slowly began to undo the buttons on her blouse.
He was already in the shower stall, standing under the spray of water and decontamination chemicals by the time Emiko slid into the stall with him.
There was enough room that they were not pressed together; in fact there was almost a meter of space between them. Emiko kept looking over her shoulder to see if he was looking at her. He never was and she realized that she was in fact staring at him. While grateful he was not leering at her she did feel a little insulted that he was not even trying to take a peak.
She looked at him again and suddenly realized all his tattoos were gone. His skin was also several shades lighter than it had been.
"Your skin, your tattoos?" she could not help asking.
He turned around to look at her, giving Emiko a better look at him than she had before, which caused her to blush and turn around to face the wall.
"A nano weave under the skin," he said. "I can fake the tattoos and skin colour that way."
"I see," she said, still staring at the wall.
Match left the shower before her, quickly drying off before dressing. By the time Emiko had turned off the shower he had already left the room through the other door.
She dried herself off then dressed quickly, gathering together her things from the decon box.
Once she was ready she went to the other door and opened it.
It was a small garage, almost fully occupied by a fan car. Match was seated in the driver's seat, obviously waiting for her.
"Come on," he said.
She circled around the car, threw her things into the back seat, and then climbed into the passenger seat.
"This is a sealed vehicle, so no worries about contamination," he told her as he pulled his door shut.
"What about being shot at?"
"We're very fast and we've got a bit of armour. Don't worry, I've done this before."
Emiko nodded and watched as he powered up the car. In front of them a garage door opened. He shot out under it while it was still going up then turned sharply and headed down the old street.
"What about the place back there?" she asked, a little curious.
"It's already locked up tight. In a few days some Ravagers will probably be in there to re-supply the place.
"You're a Ravager?"
"When I have to be. Seat belt on?"
Emiko put it on.
"This will get a little bumpy, but don't worry." He pushed the accelerator down. "We'll be in Osaka in an hour or two."
"And after that?"
"Probably get you on a plane to San Francisco as soon as we can. Once you're in San Fran, I don't know."
"Won't they be watching the Cosmodrome?"
"Yes and no. It will be a day or two before they decide that you got out of the city. Until then they won't be slowing things down too much at the Cosmodrome." He leaned back in his seat. "Trust me."
Emiko did, but then she did not really have much of a choice.
Sam rubbed at his temples. Between the stunner that he had been hit with and the yelling he and Ryu were getting from the Captain, he was on his way to quite the headache.
"What did you expect us to do?" Sam asked, getting a little tired of it all. "We didn't expect anyone would launch a rescue."
"You should have," the Captain yelled.
"To hell with this," Ryu said as he got to his feet. He turned around and walked out on the Captain. Sam got to his feet. "I think he means to say that we will get her back," Sam said.
"You better Colt. I don't care who he is, I'll have his badge and yours if you screw up."
"We'll do what we can," Sam said as he left the room, running after Ryu.
"They haven't closed the Cosmodrome or the Seaport," Ryu said, sounding disgusted.
"They think she is still in the city."
"Do you?"
"Who can say?"
"If she's not been found in six hours it is pretty certain that she got out of the city. I don't want to give her those six hours."
"You can't close the ports." He paused. "Can you?"
"I'm deciding on that right now."
Once more Sam wondered who Ryu really was.
Emiko came out of the shower, a towel around her body and another around wrapped around her head and hair.
Match had checked them into a hotel almost as soon as they had reached Osaka. He had told her to stay there then had gone out.
He had come back in while she was in the shower and was sitting on one of the room's two beds.
"I bought you some new clothes," he pointed to the other bed.
Emiko turned to look at the pile of clothing on the bed. "Thanks," she said, looking through the items he had brought.
"Look at this," Match said.
Emiko turned around just in time to take a very hard punch from Match that knocked her back onto the pile of clothes. She was certain her nose was broken.
"What are you doing?" He pulled her from the bed. "You'll bleed all over those clothes."
"Why dib'u do thad?" she asked, putting her hand to her nose, and then hissing at the pain.
"A little impromptu cosmetic surgery," he told her. "Don't worry, you'll be fine."
"Id hurds," she said.
"Here, let me take a look at it." He knelt down and gently brushed his fingers along her face. When he suddenly pressed down on her broken nose she flailed at him before fainting.
As unhappy as Emiko was she had to grudgingly admit that her appearance had changed. With her nose looking like it did, the wig of long, light brown hair she wore and a few other minor changes, the girl in the mirror was a bit of a stranger.
Match had given her something for the pain and something to hide the bruising and had promised her a real cosmetic surgeon in San Francisco to put everything right.
She looked at the passport he had given her. Yuki Smith.
She hated her new look, her new name, and everything that had happened since the police had come to her classroom.
But there was nothing that she could do about it now but go on.
"Ready?" Match called.
"Yeah," she called, grabbing her bag.
Closing Credits
Music: Stay by Lisa Loeb
Emiko is walking along a city street, probably just after sunset. There are people all around her, but they are all sort of fuzzy. It is hard to tell where the city might be, it could in fact be anywhere. This runs through the entire closing credits, with other scenes breaking the flow.
The well dressed man from the opening credits is sitting on the banks of a river. A computer is on his lap; beside him is a fishing pole, lying there, forgotten, and the line trailing in the water.
The woman with the short brown hair and the penchant for guns, sitting on a parked motorcycle. She is wearing dark sunglasses and drinking a canned beverage. Behind her is a small town.
The beautiful mecha pilot, standing on a maintenance platform, working on her suit. She is just wearing a T-shirt and shorts, her hair in a ponytail. She looks quite happy.
The ship's pilot, driving along a lake shore road in a red convertible. He is having no problem driving the twist road at speed and looks quite relaxed.
Ends with Emiko turning to face the camera and smiling as everything fades to black. Closing Credits End
Other Musical Themes Emiko Miya - And She Was, Talking Heads
Ryu - Missionary Man, Eurythmics
Takako Miya (Emiko's Mother) - Happy Homemaker, Melanie Doane
Sound Track for Emiko's hacking - Choking on the Truth, Bif Naked
