Four months after graduation
The small apartment was sparsely decorated. There were a few chairs, a table or two, and a motley assortment of accompanying furnishings. From a doorway down the hall, there was a creaking sound, with a rhythmic grunting. And while the reason for this may have been immediately obvious in another young man's apartment, this was not the case here.
Sosuke Sagara exhaled evenly, grunting softly as he pulled his chin over the bar that was attached to the wall. He continued doing chin-ups, counting silently in his head. There was no change to his pace, which was impressive considering that he was wearing a backpack with several large volumes inside. This added at least twenty pounds to his weight. Sweat dripped from his chin and nose, and still he continued to chin the bar.
Upon reaching 50, he dropped lightly to the floor, and removed the backpack. Glancing at the clock, he realized that he had better hurry, or he was going to be late to his orientation.
This is a pretty big campus, I thought, taking it all in as out guide led us around the university grounds. I'll have to look over the architectural layouts and make notes as to avenues of approach, fields of fire, likely escape routes--
"Mr Sagara, are you okay?"
The question broke through my thoughts, bringing me back to the present. Our guide had stopped, the rest of the group with her, and they were looking at me oddly. I nodded. "I'm fine, please continue."
She immediately launched into a diatribe about the history of whatever building we were standing next to. I listened with one ear, the other busy listening to my surroundings. Though I had learned to suppress the most overt manifestations of my training, I still remained on the alert when I wasn't in a place where I felt secure. There were few such places right now. A few safehouses, my small apartment. This was something that I felt that I would never really change. It was a habit that had saved my life on too many occasions.
The guide finished her scripted rehearsal and we began to move on. I stuck with the group, my eyes roving over the buildings, other students, staff, vehicles, pretty much everything. Another habit that I was unlikely to ever break.
Of course, I never really thought that I would be making tactical plans for a university.
***FOUR MONTHS PRIOR***
The meeting that had taken place on board the Tuatha De Danaan had been a surprise, to say the least. I had just been going over some security measures that I had been wanting to implement for Kaname's after graduation party. This had been going as such things usually went. I laid out my plans, she quickly became exasperated with me, and I got hit for my troubles. It was a cycle that I had grown accustomed to. Now....
I'll still lay out the plans, she just won't know about them.
Upon getting the call from the TDD-1, I quickly told Kaname that I would have to go. She had seemed unconcerned at the time. I had been far from it. With Kaname graduating from high school, there was no telling where she might go to for her higher education. Furthermore, MITHRIL might just pull me off this assignment. There had been no attacks on any of the Whispered for some time now, and as a result, they might see fit to put me to use elsewhere.
So, I made my way to the rendezvous point and boarded the helicopter sent from the submarine. The flight crew knew nothing of why they wanted me back. This was not unusual at all. They were simply the cab drivers, though in this case, the "cab" was a MH-67 Pave Mare. They were told to get to a specific location, pick up a specific person, and get that person back to the TDD-1. Anything beyond that was more than they needed, or wanted to know.
When we arrived back at the submarine and landed, I was met on the deck by Commander Mardukas. The second in command of MITHRIL's West Pacific Battle Group and I had an...interesting relationship to say the least. We were on a first name basis, which meant he called me Sergeant and I called him Sir.
Commander Mardukas led me down to the Captain's quarters. This was another oddity, as technically, and new orders should have come from Lieutenant Commander Kalinin, the SRT Commanding Officer. The fact that Captain Testarossa wanted to speak with me directly was a little worrisome.
If Commander Mardukas and I had an interesting relationship, Captain Testarossa and I had a very...awkward relationship.
She was my ultimate boss, above Mardukas and Kalinin. She should really never have to worry about what to do with a sergeant such as myself, in any case. But she had a little bit of a crush on me. I hadn't known about it at first, though eventually, Weber and Mao had pulled me aside and let me know discreetly. Since then, I had been careful to behave in a strictly professional manner towards her. This had done little to change things, but it kept me on Mardukas' good side, and that alone was worth it.
Entering her office, I glanced around. Everything was largely unchanged from the last few times I had been here. Her quarters bore few personal decorations. There were a few framed documents on the bulkheads, commendations for service and such. Her desk was cleared save a single folder in the center. I knew that folder well. It was my personnel record.
I noticed, rather uncomfortably, that it was thicker than those of other members of the SRT, and far more voluminous than regular members of MITHRIL. I had no doubt as to why. The Accounting department had contributed most of that material, due to my early tendencies to use explosives to make sure that there was nothing remotely dangerous to Kaname on the school grounds. My rampant destruction had required rather large amounts of cash to both repair the damage and to quiet school officials, and subsequently, MITHRIL Accounting had repeatedly demanded my head on a silver platter. Commander Mardukas would have been more than pleased to give them what they wanted, but the Captain and Lieutenant Commander Kalinin had persuaded him that I was worth the money spent.
"Sergeant, please be seated."
I took one of the two seats in front of her desk, noting that Commander Mardukas chose to remain standing behind the other. So this was something that he didn't agree with. Meaning that it might not be all that bad for me. "Sergeant," Captain Testarossa continued, "do you know why you've been brought here?"
I had an inkling, but I felt it better to play ignorant. "Is there a mission? Are my skills required?"
She smiled thinly at Mardukas, though her eyes remained on me. "In a matter of speaking."
She turned back to me before continuing. "Sergeant, you have been on assignment to protect Kaname Chidori for some time now. You have, overall, proven quite adept at this assignment, regardless of some of the more...colorful incidences that have occurred. And my superiors have decided that you should continue in this duty for the foreseeable future. Miss Chidori is still a valuable repository of Black Technology. Even though there have been no recent activities by terrorist groups against the Whispered, we cannot risk that information falling into enemy hands."
I remained silent. This was unexpected, to say the least. I had expected to be told that I was being reassigned.
"So I will remain with her?"
The Captain nodded. "Yes. Though your duties will change somewhat. For starters, your Arm Slave, Arbalest."
I suppressed a grimace. She only referred to it as "my" Arm Slave because the damn AI would accept no other pilot than myself in the cockpit. "What about it?"
"It's going to be stationed near you. MITHRIL Research Division has been working on a new flight module attachment for it that should allow you to take off without the need for the catapults here on the Danaan. Therefore, it will be easier for you to rendezvous with us should we need you and the ARX-7 for a mission. Also, you will be able to further bond with the A.I."
I carefully kept my expression neutral. I had no great like for "Al" as the A.I. preferred to be addressed. And I preferred to stay as far away from the machine as possible. However, I wanted to remain on my current assignment. Surely I could make time to visit the damned thing. "Of course, ma'am. Is there anything else?"
She nodded. "Yes. You are hereby promoted to Sergeant Major."
She said it in a regular tone of voice, and it took my brain a second to catch up with what my ears had heard. "Ma'am?"
She smirked, her first real expression towards me in this meeting. "I can always promote Sergeant Weber instead."
The look of horror on my face must have convinced her that I would protest that course of action. "No, I accept."
Yes, I would accept. I had been with MITHRIL for several years now, and had received almost as many commendations from missions as I had received ass-chewings for destruction of school property.
"Very well," the Captain continued. Her eyes hardened. "But understand this, Sergeant. Your lapses of judgment will not be tolerated this time. This time, you will need to exercise far better restraint in deciding which threats are real, and which are imagined. Do I make myself clear"
I swallowed. Hard. Though Teletha Testarossa might have a young appearance, and was occasionally clumsy, no one could mistake the tone of command that was in that steely glare and that hard voice. Her eyes were like flint chips. I nodded. "Yes, ma'am!"
"Good. You are dismissed."
I stood, throwing a glance at Commander Mardukas as I did so. His face held little expression, but one could just discern a glint of humor is his eyes. Glad you're here to see this, I thought. It might keep him off my case for a while.
As we returned to the deck, to the helicopter that would return me to my home, Commander Mardukas pulled me aside. "Sergeant Major, a word."
I stopped my quick pace and turned to face him. "Sergeant Major, I'm not going to tell you anything that the Captain has already made you aware of. However, I do have some advice for you."
Well, this is unexpected. "Sir?"
"Sagara...you can let your guard down, on occasion. You can sleep in a bed at night. You can act...you can act as if you aren't constantly at war."
The fact that he knew about my habit of sleeping under my bed was something of a surprise, but I'm sure that he had found out from Kalinin, who had found out from Mao, who knew me quite well. "Sir, I simply wish to remain alert, in case of danger."
He rested a hand on my shoulder. "Sag-- Sosuke, no one can remain constantly vigilant."
And it gets weirder and weirder. He continued. "Sosuke, did you ever stop to think how things might have turned out differently at the school, had you toned it back a little?"
I thought on that for a few moments. I did what I thought was necessary to ensure Kaname's safety. But sometimes....
"I think I understand sir."
With that, he squeezed my shoulder and departed, leaving my to board the chopper.
A fatherly Mardukas? I have to get more sleep. I boarded the chopper and signaled the pilot to take off. I wanted off the sub before Lieutenant Commander Kalinin burst out of a hatch and started screaming obscenities at me. My world had been turned upside down enough for one night.
***PRESENT***
My new orders had been a surprise, yes. For one, they had come with a promotion to Sergeant Major. This was welcome, more for the added prestige than for any raise in pay.
Money was one thing I most definitely did not worry about.
And for good reason. One, MITHRIL paid rather well. That is to say, they paid far better than any other military organization. This accomplished one thing that many other militaries had a problem with. People that had been with the organization for a couple of years tended to stick around. As a result, MITHRIL had some very, very good people. It was worth it to the organization to pay them what they merited.
In my particular case, I was also drawing several other types of pay. I drew Arm Slave pilot pay, because of my duties with Arbalest. I drew hazardous duty pay. I drew combat pay, special assignment pay, on-call pay, and a few other assorted bonuses. All this on top of my normal staff pay.
And I had always lived well, well below my means. In fact, I usually had no bills. This is because MITHRIL had paid for my quarters while attending Jindai High, they paid all the utilities, provided me with a cell phone and clothing and food. So for many years, I had simply let my pay accumulate in a bank account. As such, it had been a bit of a shock when I finally got around to checking on it shortly after I received my new orders. I had no idea that I had that much money.
So finances weren't a concern. And neither was equipment. Although I was, for all practical purposes, on "extended duty leave", I was still very much a member of the SRT. And as such, I had personal and organizational equipment to store. A goodly amount, in fact. So I would not be able to have the same kind of apartment that most college or university students had.
As it turned out, MITHRIL already had several safehouses in the area. Buildings that looked innocuous to the casual observer. Only the trained eye would see that the security of these buildings was more fit for a military installation or a gold depository. They were unobtrusive and very effective. The building I chose was within walking distance of the campus that Kaname was set to attend in the fall. So it would do nicely.
In fact, I was in the building now, looking around the rooms, trying to figure out where I would put everything. The weapons and tactical gear were already stowed away in the armory. That room was hidden, accessible through a short tunnel behind an expertly concealed bookcase. In one of the books was a disguised fingerprint and biometric scanner. It was hidden in the spine. I simply had to rest my finger against it, and the door would open, permitting me to enter. After the tunnel was another door, this one a solid slab of armor. It required a bit more than a fingerprint to unlock. This one was tied specifically to DNA. My DNA, and that of a select few others, could open this door. Behind it lay the armory proper. In here were heavy weapons. Grenades. Plastic explosive. Large-caliber automatic weapons.
Other than that, the rest of the building was really quite unremarkable. Of course, I had weaponry stashed here and there, weapons that I could get to in a moments notice, without having to go to the armory. And I carried at least a pistol and a knife on me at all times.
Almost unconsciously, I reached back and felt the grip of the Heckler & Koch P46 pistol. I had replaced my venerable Glock 19 with the P46 so that I would have a weapon to complement the MP-7 machine pistol. Both fired the same 4.6x30mm round. I had chosen to switch to this from the 9mm that my old Glock 19 and Steyr TMP used, as it had better ballistic characteristics and was more suitable against armored targets. The ammo was also only about half as heavy as the 9x19mm round, allowing me to carry more with me. And more ammo always makes me happy.
I sighed. I had to remind myself that an obsession with a steady supply of ammunition wasn't exactly something that blended in. I was determined to do a better job of assimilating with society than I had in the past. To an extent, my livelihood depended on it.
Putting such thoughts out of my head, I glanced around the room again. It was far more spacious than I could fill with my meager possessions. That would need to change. I was trying to become more...normal. And I was going to extend that concept to as many aspects of my life as I could. And living in an extremely bare building was not normal.
I pulled out my cell phone. There were a few people that I could call that would help me to furnish the place.