Resolution

I don't own Full Metal Panic or any of its characters.

Signs and symbols:

"Speech"

"Thoughts"

SOUNDS/YELLING

-Persian-

Scene change

Chapter 25: Interesting Meetings

Kaname was overjoyed when she finally spotted the signs of civilization. It was a tiny town in the middle of the desert. The only thing that kept it alive was the small river running through it. The sides of the river were pawed with green fields. The difference between the corps and the desert was significant. Like night and day. Kaname couldn't help but stare at the phenomenon. It was clear, that it took human hands to keep the land fertile.

The city itself was like a strange mix of greyish yellow houses, some of them with bright red tile roofs. There was some green mixed into this as a sign of the hard work of the inhabitants. The streets were narrow, and spiked with hundreds of curves.

Actually the girl was a bit wary of these streets, but it took her only one look at Sousuke to calm down. Sousuke noticed the way she suddenly leaned against him a bit more. He smiled and snuck an arm around her.

Rashid, who was a few steps in front of them to lead the way couldn't help, but smile. –You two really make a cute couple! If you want I can find someone to marry the two of you. You can barely keep your hands from each other,- the man laughed after saying this knowing well, that Sousuke was red like a fresh tomato.

Kaname felt it; her boyfriend was starting to get nervous. She had a very good idea; just what Rashid was telling Sousuke. Her expression was filled with mischief. "Don't tell me that he's mocking you because you didn't get me laid yet my love? You know that I'm more than willing!" she remarked pulling out her best vixen smile.

Now the boy was starting to loose it. He didn't know how, or matter of fact why, but his company was teasing the life out of him. –I see your girl has no problem with my idea.- teased the man. The red factor on the boy's face intensified.

"Don't worry Sousuke I don't bite!" continued Kaname. She could swear that she saw steam rising from Sousuke. The man in front of them could barely stay on his feet from laughing, after he looked back to see what's going on. The air was filled by Sousuke's incoherent mumbles. His words were as follows. "Cold showers; very cold showers; ice cold showers."

Same time aboard the attack submarine Tuatha De Danaan

The sound of a loud kiss echoed across the small bunkroom, this was followed by the sound of female giggles. The soft sound of bed-sheets rustling followed. Various articles of clothing spread across the place in a mad disarray, a military handgun carelessly sat on the ground next to a table, and two pairs of shoes were piled up next to the bed.

The room was filled by another giggle and some more rustling. Soon after those a long moan came. A surprised gasp followed as a panty sailed through the air and landed somewhere in the room. "Hey what are you doing?" asked the girl. There was no answer except for her moan and the mews that followed.

In the mess hall Melissa was busy working on her latest report. She hated this part. She always did. The dammed paperwork, it was the only thing she didn't like about her job. Well maybe except for being on the loosing side in a battle. There was something else. Something was nagging her. The feeling was familiar. She shook her head to clear away the bad thoughts, and continued typing, but the thoughts didn't go away. She hated that feeling.

"Do you really want us to continue?" asked a male voice in the bunk. "I don't think you want to loose your virginity on a submarine, no matter how homey it is."

The girl laughed. "You know, there aren't many girls who can say that they had their first time on a sub!" She brought her arms around his neck and pulled him down for a kiss.

Mardukas was on his usual patrol around the ship. He was strolling across the corridors of the sub like a medieval lord in his castle. Nobody dared to cross his path. All activity around him became standard. Nobody dared to make the slightest change from the required routine. Nobody wanted to end up on this man's bad side.

As he was moving along one of the corridors the old marine fox suddenly heard a very specific sound. Pretty similar to the one of a female moan. The sound came from Kurz's bunk. The man's face turned grim. Someone was in trouble. The rest of the crew was off the hook.

Kurz continued with his ministrations keeping Kyouko in the land of pleasures, she was slowly starting to loose control over her body. She couldn't believe it that he was only preparing her for what was to come. She was loving every second of it. They were so busy that neither noticed the officers repeated attempts to enter to room. Finally Mardukas turned to his trusty master key.

The naval officer entered and his suspicion was confirmed. He found Kyouko and Kurz in a very dubious situation. Though he was a bit relieved that he came in time, before things became more... err... more interesting. Despite this Kurz still broke his promise. He was everything but a gentleman. Consequences were to follow.

"Soldier! Just what do you think you're doing?" he yelled. His voice echoed across the entire length of the De Danaan. Many of the crew shuddered. The poor sap was in trouble.

While Mardukas couldn't have cared less about the crew's free time activity, there were certain things he didn't like at all. The girl in question was a civilian. The male part of the crew was well aware of the possible result of meddling with her.

The couple also screamed knowing well that they are in trouble. Kurz scrambled out of the bed trying to find his clothes, while Kyouko dove under the sheets with a bright red face.

The sounds of the incident also reached the bridge, where Tessa was busy with her shift. She sighed. She knew too well what was probably going on. "Please get someone to make them stop. Even our stealth system has limits. I don't want half the American submarine fleet shadowing us."

Melissa also spun into action. She knew well where to go. She was right. Mere ten minutes later she found the three in the torpedo room. The sharpshooter was halfway stuffed into one of the tubes. He was keeping himself afloat using his arms and feet, refusing to let go. His lack of decent clothing only added to the comic effect.

Mardukas was busy trying his best to launch he guy into the deep sea. His face stoic as ever. At the same time Kyouko was trying to keep him from doing it. She was lucky. She managed to quickly grab a bathrobe and was at least halfway decent. As for the crew of the room: The four men didn't dare to interfere. They didn't want to join Kurz.

For a second the woman stopped. She knew that Mardukas was quite a strict boss, but she never thought that he would go trough with his threat. Then again, she didn't want to join the guy in the launch-tube. The best thing she could do was to turn to the local boss: Tessa. She picked up the receiver and started to dial the bridge.

"What the hell is going on?" asked a desperate captain. "Make that racket stop, the Japanese navy has already locked onto us." Sorry captain but we are unable to locate Commander Mardukas." Answered one of the operators.

Tessa thought she's hearing things "We're in one of the best ships in the sea and we can't find our second in command!?"

"Ma'am! We've got a report from Major Mao. She said she found the Commander."

"Where?"

"The torpedo room!" yelled Melissa loud enough for Tessa to hear it even from the small receiver.

A huge groan came from the captain. She should have known it from the beginning. "Melissa! Try to keep Mardukas from throwing Major Kurz off the ship". She yelled while scrambling out of the bridge. "Someone take the command!" came her voice from the corridor.

The struggle continued. Mardukas managed to push the ever struggling Kurz deeper into the tube, but he refused to be launched into the sea, and was putting up a strong and very loud fight. Kyouko finally decided to change her tactics she grabbed one of the officer's feet, then yanked it from underneath him. Mardukas fell. Actually, he was so surprised by the sudden change of things that he landed on his chin. All this done on a steel plate floor, made sure that he'll be out of commission for a good minute.

This was the idea, in theory.

Mardukas did fall, he did land hard, but he wasn't phased by the harsh landing as planned. Kurz barely managed to get out of the tube before the officer recuperated. He immediately grabbed the sharpshooter's hand read to throw him back in. At this point Kyouko lost all of her inhibitions and threw herself at the Briton, or to put it better the Briton's hand. She bit down without any remorse and forced the officer to let go of Kurz.

The couple used its chance and ran for it. They made it to the door, but there their path was blocked by an angry looking Tessa. The couple would have normally simply run over the young captain, but the expression on her face was warning enough. She was pissed at both sides.

"As much as I agree with you Commander Mardukas, I think you overdid it though. I find it already harsh when you threaten somebody with that old gag. I never thought you would really go through with that threat. With all due respect! Are you out of your mind!?"

Once she was done with this she turned to the couple. "Now you two... No! Kurz! You know darn well how you would look in the eyes of Kyouko's parent's if they found this out!? I gave them my word that I'll keep Kyouko out of harm!"

Tessa was interrupted by Kyouko's nervous laugh. "Actually, I was the one who started it." She admitted with sheepish eyes and a beat red face. Before Tessa or anyone else in the room could come out of the shock caused by this declaration she felt a strong arm pulling her to a male body.

"No. It was my fault I should have resisted," Kurz corrected. "But tell me... Who can resist a girl like you? Or was it my incredible charm that made you yield."

Kyouko suddenly found the greyish ground very interesting. Despite all her antics she was still a shy little girl. Kurz smirked and opened his mouth for another remark, but Kyouko grabbed his hand and dragged him out of the room as quickly as possible, while trying to hide her embarrassed face.

Mardukas was ready to charge after the fleeing couple, but someone in the room grabbed the sleeve of his uniform to stop him. The culprit was Tessa. "Leave them! If I remember correctly this ship has a crew of five hundred. Of that five hundred, there are only sixteen women! Me included! We're better off this way around. It's better if she has a solid relationship with one of the guys instead all of them going after her. Don't you agree Commander Mardukas."

The old seaman nodded. "Don't worry captain. I wasn't planning to actually launch Major Weber. Five minutes in the tube would have been enough. He did break a promise and I did reach a deal with him, so it was only fair."

Tessa laughed at this. "I take it you like that the drawings he had of me in his locker are now replaced by drawing of Ms. Tokiwa."

The officers exchanged glances, they both laughed, as if having reached an agreement. A few seconds later, Mardukas regained his composure. "Captain!" he called out saluting.

"Commander!" she answered returning the gesture.

The two turned around and left the room. Leaving behind the crewmembers present. The sailors stared. They were officially freaked out. They quickly decided not to try anything while they were on duty. The voiceless communication between the two prime commanders of the ship was just too frightening.

The second Kaname saw the town that was her destination she became nervous. It was so different from the ones she got used through her life. All the houses were so strange. The looked old and worn down, the streets were narrow. So narrow that she was actually a bit nervous about entering them.

But the thing that she found most unnerving was the river running through the town. Both sides of it were covered by green crops, which ended after about fifty meters on both sides. The difference between the fertile lands and the desert was immediate. As if there was a streak of day in the night.

As they got closer she also noticed how crowded those streets were, she couldn't imagine how people could live like that. Although they seemed to have no problem with that. "Sousuke?" she asked some hesitation evident on her face.

"Don't worry. You'll get used to it no problem. Just be sure to be right behind me." Kaname nodded she knew there was no use being afraid. It's possible that she and Sousuke will be stuck in this place for a month.

She looked at the boy again. He smiled back at her. "You taught me how to live in Japan, and it looks like I'll be teaching you a bit how to live in Afghanistan."

"I guess I can live with that," she answered with a smile.

The streets weren't as bad as they looked from the mountains. They were crowded, but all the nasty smells she was awaiting were almost non-existent. Most people were clean, and their clothes also seemed to be well kept. The only strange thing was that there were very few women. All of them hidden under heavy veils. She smiled finally understanding what Sousuke said earlier, she might even be considered being underdressed in the eye of a local beholder.

Finally she saw as Sousuke came to stop before something that she would describe as an oversized iron gate. The entire thing was a huge metal plate leaving no chance for anyone to take a peek inside. "Why the hell would anyone live behind such a fence?" she asked.

"This is completely normal here. There are no real police here, so people take care to defend themselves," answered Sousuke.

"But how can that be?" asked the astonished girl.

"Simple nobody feels the need for a police force."

Kaname's yaw fell. "You're kidding me!" She stared at Sousuke trying to find something that would prove that he's lying. She almost fainted when she realized that he was serious. "Maybe we would have been better off with the Russians," she thought.

-By the way Sousuke I believe there are a few people who I want to introduce you to.- stated the man opening the oversized door.

-Really? Who are they?- asked Sousuke.

-Do you remember Aisha?- The boy nodded. –We're still together!- came the answer.

-I see you're way ahead of me!- came the answer.

Both men laughed.

Kaname growled. She hated to be left out of things.