WARNING: this story contains memes and badly translated German quotes.
I do not own the rights to Infinite Stratos nor do I claim them in any way.
IS Academy, Japan
One week later
Ichika was woken up when he felt something tickling his nose. As he opened his eyes he could see Tatenashi swing a feather in his face.
Still sleepy he tried to push her away but the tickling in his nose was already too strong. He sneezed a few times and from this point on was completely awake.
"Tatenashi, cut it out." He angrily ranted at her.
Tatenashi just put up a childish expression on her face and smiled: "Where would be the fun in that? Besides if I would just let you continue to sleep you would have woken up by noon. I doubt Miss Orimura would be okay with that."
He got out of his bed and sighed: "You got a point there. Still, why did you have to wake me up this early?" He pointed out to the balcony into the black night.
Tatenashi began to chuckle: "Dense as ever. Take a look at the clock. It´s already 6 AM, you genius. Remember it´s winter."
Ichika gazed at the clock which proved her statement right. He slipped out of his covers and went into the bathroom to dress himself.
As he came back he noticed Tatenashi lying on her bed and looking out of the window. She seemed to haven´t noticed him because she flinched for a moment as he sat beside her. He just smiled at her which made her restore her resting position.
"What are you thinking about, hm?" He asked.
She blushed for a moment and then returned to longingly looking out of the window.
She remained like that for a second before looking at him and then said: "I was just thinking about the future. I don't think you´re gonna be a teacher here. You´re lacking talent for that. From your current attitude I don't think you´re going to have any occupation that has something to do with IS either. After all you were forced to attend the Academy weren´t you?"
He just smiled and then replied: "Don't you worry about me. I´m going to be okay. You should be more concerned about your own future." She returned to looking out of the window for several minutes before deciding to tease him a little bit more. "I´m tired."
And with that said, she laid her head into his lap. Ichicka blushed and asked with a trace of helplessness in his voice: "Could you please get off my lap? You have a pillow yourself."
She just replied laughingly:" Nope, would be too much effort moving from here to there."
They stayed like this for a while until Ichika began stroking her hair.
"Um, what are you doing?" She asked him with a trace of panic in her voice.
He stopped stroking her hair and replied chuckling: "Don't you wanna feel comfortable while lying in my lap or does it make you feel uncomfortable? In this case I´ll stop." She blushed and replied a little panicking:" No, no, no it´s okay, it´s okay. Just continue, please."
"And I thought it would be that easy to get rid of you." She turned around trying to look angry at him but the smile in his face soon made her smile herself. It went on like this for a time until Ichika had a look on the clock. "Class is about to begin. We should get going. Come on." She just gave him a sad look, which mad him smile even more. He carefully lifted her head of his lap and laid it on the bed. She just sighed and got up.
As they came into the classroom the sun had already risen a bit into the sky. He wasn´t bothered with that and proceeded by greeting his friends, Houki, Cecillia, Lingyin, Charlotte and Laura. They all engaged in a discussion about the recent terror attacks in Germany and if Phantom Task could be the one conducting these operations. I didn´t seem possible from Tatenashi´s point of view, because if it were like this the Sarashiki family´s informants would have told her.
The discussion was interrupted once Miss Orimura entered the classroom. "All right, everyone. Listen up." She shouted. It was silent immediately. "Due to the recent terror attacks the leadership of the Academy has decided to hire a private military corporation. The one we decided to hire is called "White Star". Does anyone know something about it?"
Laura raised her hand.
"Yes, Miss Bodewig?"
"The White Star was founded in 1937 and conducted minor security operations all over Eurasia during WW2 and the Cold War. The first time they came into the international focus was in 2022 after they helped exposing and dismantling an international terror-network. Said network also aided the rise of the Argentinian Dictator who was responsible for the Antarctica-Crisis. Since then they haven't grown much and their last involvement in a major conflict was in 2031 during the ISIS-Uprising. They always have up-to-date equipment and are known for having the best price-performance-ratio. At this point they have a member count of about two-hundred-fifty-thousand active duty personnel and about seven-hundred-fifty-thousand reservists. The name of their leader is yet unknown. What is also remarkable is that they were able to maintain a stable financial base after the introduction of the IS and the fall of private security corporations."
Chifuyu nodded and continued: "We have hired about one hundred mercenaries working for the "White Star". They have already arrived at the harbor and if you have any questions you can ask them."
She made a quick break and continued: "Because of that and the security arrangements we have to make; all lessons will be canceled today."
Indescribable cheers filled the air and the students immediately left either for their rooms or the harbor. Ichika decided to check out about those commanders.
On his way he noticed that only he and his friends as well as a few other students actually were on the way to the harbor, while the others went god-can-tell-where.
Although Chifuyu hadn´t revealed the exact location of the mercenary commanders it was pretty obvious where to find them. On the side of the island that directly faced the ocean, there was a military dock, in which every ship that transported military goods to the academy had to dock.
As they approached the military dock they could hear people singing. After further following the voices, they got to a pier on which a warship had been docked. In the pier stood a small group of people, clad in white uniforms with one of them facing the rest of the group.
Although their leader seemed to have noticed them he just continued until his squad was finished. When he was finished he waved his hand, signalizing them to come over.
When they stood in front of him, he bowed down to greet them, as it was tradition in Japan. "Greetings. I´m the commanding officer of company 1-1-1 of the "White Star" and commander of our forces in the region. You must be Ichika Orimura, it´s an honor to meet you."
He suddenly was interrupted by Tatenashi: "I´m more interested in the song you have just sung. Do you mind singing its first verse again?"
The leader smiled. "Looks like we have someone who´s interested in culture. Okay Boys once again." He turned to his men and they began to sing
Rossija — swjaschtschennaja nascha derschawa,
Rossija — ljubimaja nascha strana.
Mogutschaja wolja, welikaja slawa
Twojo dostojanje na wsje wremena!
As they finished he turned back to Tatenashi and asked: "Did you like it?" "You´d be surprised about how much I understood." "You're Russia´s representative so I think you understood pretty much everything. By the way, do you mind if we sing one last song, before everyone is ready?"
"Depends on what you want to sing."
"We´re always singing the national anthems of our company´s Lieutenants before conducting an operation. We have already sung the American Anthem, the Canadian one and the Russian one. The only one missing is the German one."
"Okay I think I can let you do that."
"Thank you." He turned back to his men. "Alright boys, German anthem. Give it all you got."
"STOP!" Someone shouted from the ship and a mercenary landed right in front of the commander.
The commander smiled and said:" Ah, Lieutenant. It´s good to see that you got up in time."
"Sorry. I bumbed my head before I went to bed yesterday. Honestly, it still feels like someone is hammering on my forehead. But I couldn´t miss my favorite anthem."
"And you´re willing to put your health on the line for something like that? Why do I get the feeling that will put us in danger one day?"
"You don´t. Now let´s sing that goddamn anthem and get to work."
The Lieutenant got into line and the began to sing
Deutschland, Deutschland über alles,
Über alles in der Welt,
Wenn es stets zu Schutz und Trutze
Brüderlich zusammenhält,
Von der Maas bis an die Memel,
Von der Etsch bis an den Belt –
Deutschland, Deutschland über alles,
Über alles in der Welt!
Deutsche Frauen, deutsche Treue,
Deutscher Wein und deutscher Sang
Sollen in der Welt behalten
Ihren alten schönen Klang,
Uns zu edler Tat begeistern
Unser ganzes Leben lang –
Deutsche Frauen, deutsche Treue,
Deutscher Wein und deutscher Sang!
Einigkeit und Recht und Freiheit
Für das deutsche Vaterland!
Danach lasst uns alle streben
Brüderlich mit Herz und Hand!
Einigkeit und Recht und Freiheit
Sind des Glückes Unterpfand –
Blüh' im Glanze dieses Glückes,
Blühe, deutsches Vaterland!
They all saluted as they were finished but Laura began to complain: "Where did you get those two verses from? The German anthem consists only of one verse. That's not the real German anthem."
The commander wanted to say something but the Lieutenant stepped forward." Let me handle her, Sir. I know how to deal with such girls."
The commander just looked at him for a moment and then said:" Alright, but don't mess it up like last time." They both laughed and the commander and the other men retreated to the ship.
Now the Lieutenant turned to Laura and chuckled.
"Did you ever take any history lessons in that super-soldier-program?" He asked spiteful.
Laura just glared at him. " What´s that supposed to mean?"
"So, you didn´t." He concluded. "Cause if you did you would have known that the German anthem originally consisted of these three verses but after WW2 was changed so that no one would get any thoughts of Nazis when hearing the anthem."
He grunted and continued his speech:" You´re a typical product of Germany. They only make what is needed at the moment and when it´s found useless it gets thrown into the bin. If I remember right you were "born" in 2024, a year after the Antarctica-Crisis. At this time everyone was afraid as hell and now look to where it got us. A bunch of soulless brats and their mindless leader that don´t know what to do in those times of peace."
He turned away to look at the massive warship, lying in the harbor and didn´t even bother paying attention to Laura, who began losing hold of herself.
"Excuse me?" She asked infuriated. "We are soldiers. It´s our job to protect and if necessary fight for our homeland and the ones we love. Now take a look at yourself. You are someone who´s fighting only for the money and runs when the situation becomes dire. We are honorable. We are holding our ground whether we´ll survive or not."
Without turning around, he replied:" With all due respect I can show when talking to you, the White Star has never broken a single contract in more than a hundred years of operations. Not a single one, while you Germans ran away as soon as the Russians took not even half your tanks during the Great Patriotic War. You are cowards."
Unbelievingly, Laura stared at him.
"That so-called Great Patriotic War was ages ago and it wasn´t even patriotic. The Russians only fought out of fear of Stalin and it would be absolutely foolish to try and compare these times to now."
At that, the Lieutenant turned back to Laura.
"You´re wrong." He said determined. "The only foolish thing is to believe you could become any less of a human than you are right now. You´re just a tool that´s used by the decadent elites of your country."
A moment later he added:" Just like the German soldiers back then."
In this moment all the anger she had suppressed returned and she tried to slap him.
However, he simply turned his back to her which made her hit his spinal column.
Laura stopped her assault due to the metallic sound that occurred when she hit his spinal column and the following pain in her hand.
She could just throw a confused gaze at the mercenary who was laughing like crazy.
Ichika had to do something. He jumped between the two and turned to the mercenary:" Please, for whatever reason you hate Laura and Germany, don let this escalate here."
He then turned to Laura and said:" Laura, there´s no reason to attack someone, just because he´s saying what he believes. You discriminated against England and China before, remember?"
They were both returning to their normal stances and mumbling an indistinct "guess you´re right". But the mercenary didn´t ran out of topics to discuss.
"Well, since I´m already here, couldn´t you give me a tour through the academy?"
Ichika turned to the others. "We don't have anything else to do, so I think it´ll be okay. What do you think, guys?"
Everyone except Laura agreed.
Their guest was very impressed by the facilities the Academy featured. Especially the bath was one of his favorite places. He even suggested coming here during his scarce free time.
When they came to the arena he and Laura suddenly gazed at each other. He asked her chuckling:" This looks like the perfect place to settle the score, don´t you agree?"
She stared at him in confusion. "You don't really want to do this."
"Of course I want to." He replied.
"Why?" She muttered "I would beat you in a matter of seconds and you have no way of properly defending yourself against my weapons, so if I didn´t want to kill you I would have to refrain from using two of my four main weapons."
"As far as I can remember, one of your four "weapons" is a second-grade military system. Means: It´s not designed to directly harm someone. And besides, why not? Sure, it won´t be easy for me, but unless we try we won´t know for sure. I can go easy on you if you want." He said with a playful voice.
"Sanity isn´t your strength, is it? I refuse. You are here to "protect" us and not to battle with every student you want."
"Did Laura Bodwewig just refuse a battle?" He teased her. "Your comrades told me what a great pilot you were and now this? I have to say, I feel a bit betrayed."
"How do you know the members of Schwarzer Hase? They are a super-secret military unit. A filthy mercenary like you has no possible way of contacting them."
"Maybe you´re right." He replied sarcastically. "Apart from being the largest private military corporation on this planet and having reservists in every country of the world, there´s nothing we can do if we want to contact someone. On top of that we were stationed in Germany a few months ago. All I can say is: Confrontation with the local law enforcement is on the daily schedule. And since we´re mercenaries, the law enforcement had to … be replaced with the military."
Ichika could just frown at them while they were arguing. Normally he wouldn´t take any side, but in this matter he clearly had to support Laura. It was just foolish to challenge an IS pilot without having a personal IS. But the mercenary Lieutenant looked pretty confident and his statement seemed to have reached Laura´s mind as she sighed and continued to speak:" You´re a persistent guy. I have seen no one quite as suicidal as you."
"I can assure you that my Lieutenant is at perfect mental health."
They turned around to the source of the voice and saw the mercenary commander standing there. Laura just insisted on what she had said before.
"You´re all mad. He just asked me to battle him with my IS."
"I know." The commander replied emotionless.
"And he said he would go "easy" on me."
"I know." Was the emotionless reply.
"That´s just insane!" She almost shouted.
"We don´t think so." The commander said and smiled. "Listen, we´re regularly conducting Holographic Fighting Exercise before going on a mission and since we were tasked on protecting an academic facility from IS attacks our holographic opponents this time were IS. Believe it or not, our Lieutenant was able to defeat an IS and two WIS before getting knocked out."
"WIS?" Ichika interrupted. The commander looked at him and explained:" WIS is our codename for the thousands of IS units that are not fitted with an IS core. The full designation is Wannabe-Infinite-Stratos while our designation for the IS fitted with cores is Real-Dangerous-Infinite-Stratos or RDIS for short."
"Who created those designations?" Ichika muttered.
"That I can answer too. It was him." The commander said and pointed at the Lieutenant who raised his hands in a defensive manner.
"I can explain this. It basically went like this: a few years ago me and my comrades made some free-time-anti-IS exercises while some commanding officers decided to watch us without our consent." He said while looking at the commander. "Anyway, during the battle I decided to … let out some bad words. Our officers liked it so much that they introduced it as our official designation to make it easier to distinguish from between Core-IS and No-Core-IS. Against our will of course." He defended himself.
"Let´s get back to the topic. I can clearly remember some silver-haired girl claiming that she can defeat one of our best." The commander said. "I´ve enough light into the dark. Lieutenant, I think you can handle the situation from this point on."
"Yes, Sir." The mercenary saluted while the commander left the scene. He turned back to Laura who was looking at him with a rather suspicious expression. "I know what you want to say and I think it is justified, but the commander is one of the most honest persons you´ll ever find on this planet."
"I doubt that. You are mercenaries. I´m sure you know what kind of reputation you have throughout the world. But if your commander says the truth I would be very interested in how you managed to defeat an IS."
"I´ll tell you if you defeat me." He just said. "I think tomorrow after the lessons is an appropriate time."
She nodded and said:" That sounds good, but you have to learn your lesson. I suggest that the loser has to call the winner by her military rank and has to obey every command she gives him."
"You make it sound like you have already won. Well, how do we say in Germany? Hochmut kommt vor dem Fall." He laughed and urged Ichika to continue with the tour.
For the rest of the tour both he and Laura acted relatively peacefully towards each other. Laura sometimes threw angry glances at him and he just looked back. It wasn´t possible to figure out if he was throwing angry glances too because of his combat helmet, but Ichika was sure it wouldn´t escalate any further.
Indeed, the day remained non-violent and the mercenary showed great interest in social interaction with the students of the Academy. However, at around 2PM an announcement was made:" The mercenary forces have now gathered on the pier and by order of the principal all students have to gather there as well in order to receive information from their commanding officer. End of announcement."
The mercenaries were already there, all looking in different directions, some at the students, some at the Academy and some where even whispering but it all came to an end when the Commander stepped up to the middle-terrace of the staircase and shouted:" Attention!"
Immediately all eyes were laid upon him and he continued speaking: "I´m sure you all know why we are here. If not, you´re screwed. But let´s move on to a more important topic. While I was waiting on that lazy pack of yours I was asked some important questions. First off: Where are the mercenaries going to live during their stay at IS Academy? I think now you all know why to bring your camping gear: You´re all going to be stationed in Arena 5, no exceptions. Second: For how long will we stay? The contract phases out in two months but can be extended if needed. Third: Is it allowed to enter the ships during our stay? Nope, and no matter how desperate you beg, we won´t give you a tour. Fourth and last: How will the mercenaries provide security upon the facility? Now that the facility features one-hundred security forces more it´ll be possible to set up night guards in extremely tight shifts. We also will conduct training raids on the facility at random occasions to prepare the students for real surprise attacks. But in case any IS attacks the Academy for real we won´t be able to much. But that´s actually why we are here. In case Phantom Task decides to attack the Academy, we will create some little diversions to buy the teachers and students some time, so they can regroup and counterattack the enemy. If any of you have questions, ask those ten douchebags standing in front of this mess. At ease!"
The mercenaries´ formation immediately began to collapse, most of them making their way to the arena to set up their temporary shelters, but some of them stayed to have a chat with their comrades, including the mercenary lieutenant. After talking to one of his nine squad members he gave him his backpack and turned to Ichika and his friends.
"Well, what do you think?"
"Is your commander always talking like that?"
The Lieutenant chuckled. "It´s an old habit I would say. Some of our men tend to be reminded of who´s in power. We´re a mercenary organization. Many of our recruits where street kids when we recruited them. Our commander was working with such kids in one of our training facilities before he was transferred to active duty. He´s not talking much about it, but from what I´ve heard he doesn´t have good memories about his time.
"Yeah, that seems to explain it. But I noticed something else."
"What´s the matter?"
"You´re much smaller than your comrades, does this have any particular reason? You don't even sound that much like an adult. How old are you anyway?"
The Lieutenant froze for a moment and then slowly said: "While it is a very simple answer it may raise more questions than answer them."
Ichika was confused. "How comes that?"
"I'm actually just seventeen years old."
Now Ichika was confused even more.
The Lieutenant noticed and raised his hands. "It´s not like I had a choice or something." He sounded suspiciously defensive.
"It's alright." Ichika said. "We're not condemning you or your organization. Please, just tell me the story."
"I don't like to talk about it." The Lieutenant replied in a somewhat low voice. "Maybe another time. All I can say is that it was only partially my decision; I was also forced by the circumstances."
"What circumstances?" Laura blurted out.
"That´s a story for another time." He said but Laura didn´t let off of him. Suddenly he pointed into the air and shouted:" What´s this?" Everyone turned into the direction he pointed at, but there was nothing to be seen. So, they turned back around.
"Stay here, you little..." Laura shouted as she could see the Lieutenant running off into the direction of Arena 6.
Ichika could just laugh while watching this whole scene and Tatenashi began teasing Laura:" Looks like you´ve got a new boyfriend Laura." Her angry look only made everyone laugh even harder.
