Chapter LIII: Mise-en-scène

1100hrs, 18 December 2013, Yokota Air Base, Tokyo, Japan

"Let there be people among you, who invite to the best; and command that which is just and forbid that which is evil, and they shall be happy." Sura 3.104, Quran.


"What's our next move?" Amy asked, in a video conference with Dr. Kobayashi, Dr. Kawasaki, Nurse Kuroi, Luna, Artemis, and the rest of the SAILOR Team. The entire Medical facility was in shambles, with most of the equipment destroyed and ruined. It was lucky that the US military finally knew about them, and had allowed them to start conducing operations from Yokota Air Base, in Tokyo. They had set up in a disused hanger, used for fighter jets during the Korean War. Armed Security Forces units patrolled the outside, mainly to keep people out, but also to keep the SAILOR team in. The U.S military wasn't all that trusting at this point. Their living quarters hadn't been set up as well, and so cots had been set up as a temporary solution.

"I don't know what the hell is going on here in Japan," Luna replied. "The PM hasn't taken any stance on the assault on our facility, or the death of CEO Yamada, or anything for that matter. It seems like he's completely shut down." Repeated calls to the Ministry of Defence and the PM's office had come up with confused responses, ranging from "We'll get back to you," to "Who are you again?" And with Col. Iwasaki dead, the command of the unit actually fell to one of the SAILOR team; Serena.

There was a newscast going on in the background, describing the aftereffects of Operation TAKE HOLD. Japan had been mostly spared against the onslaught of terrorist attacks that had occurred in the world; some damage to US and JSDF military installations, a couple of government buildings burned, but overall, not too bad. If you could call a couple hundred people dead, and another could hundred wounded, "not bad". This was basically that natural gas explosion in May, turned up a couple of notches. The raid on the Nakanishi HQ and the shootout at the Medical facility however, was being kept quiet at the moment, mostly by the PM's office. Everyone knew now that Nakanishi was the enemy, so cordoning off their HQ was a prudent and laudable idea.

In some other news, some idiot in Saitama had been arrested by the police for carrying a Samurai katana around with him and entering an office building, demanding to see one of the bosses there. Turns out, he owned the damn place, and he was just in the wrong place at the wrong time. But from it seemed, he was a complete jerkass and his daughter, who was with him at the time didn't even intervene all that much because she was both mute and deaf, and her father hadn't even bothered to learn Japanese sign language. Yeah, what a douche.

Already, the news that the Nakanishi Group was behind all of this had serious repercussions in Japan. The stock market crashed, prompting the government to shut it down for now at least. The official reason was the terrorist attacks but that was circular logic; if Nakanishi was perpetrating the terrorist attacks, then shutting down the Nikkei was going to actually benefit them by playing into their hands since Nakanishi wanted to disrupt commerce. Either way, contracts were cut immediately with them, and arrest warrants for the company officers went out. Not that it mattered, since they were all overseas or dead. Seizure of Nakanishi assets also proved to be extremely difficult, or next to impossible due to the nature of the corporation; since they had contracts with major governments and banks, tracking down all the funds and resources that they had was difficult because all of those agencies used Nakanishi software and resources. In short, the world wanted to take Nakanishi down, but there was no easy way to do it since they had become so reliant on their technology and assistance.

"In the meantime, we need to find a course of action," Luna continued. She turned to Serena. "You're the commanding officer for this unit now."

That felt weird to Serena; she had never been called by her rank or bestowed the privileges of it. It was just a formality that Colonel Iwasaki had bestowed upon them. But now it carried real weight, and it was time to make some hard decisions concerning the recent events.

"Amy," she said after a second of thinking that over. "What do you think we should do?" The brains of the group should have at some idea of what they could do.

"It's a long shot…" she began.

"Then let's hear it then," Serena asserted. Any idea was better than nothing.

"We need to take out the leadership. Unlike most terrorist groups, Nakanishi needs to have a centralized leadership in order to function. With Nephrite out of the way, the North American arm of Nakanishi has completely got to shit. But as long as the leaders of the other regions of Nakanishi remain alive, they can retain control of not only their respective PMC detachments, but financial institutions, technology centers, underground bases…"

"Underground bases?" Serena asked, imaging a huge underground lair, with Beryl cackling behind a large wooden desk. Perhaps she would be stroking a white Persian cat as well.

"She means it in a metaphorical sense," Luna replied, trying to clear up Amy's explanation. "Nakanishi more than likely has safehouses and businesses disguised as other institutions, allowing for operations to continue."

"How are they operating even though they've pretty much pissed off the entire world?" Lita wondered.

"Some people are willing to do business, no matter what the moral implications might be," Artemis chipped in. "They can lay low, switch names, transfer funds to secret bank accounts…"

"Like our Swiss one," Raye pointed out.

"Yes, like our Swiss one. But more illegal."

Raye raised an eyebrow. "How illegal was ours then? Besides the Nazi money?"

Artemis scratched the back of his neck in embarrassment. "Well…in addition to holding Nazi money…there were some drug lords we stole from too. And maybe some of that money from the Madoff scandal as well."

Raye immediately wished she hadn't known that. From the video uplink, Amy rolled her eyes, having already gotten that information a long time ago; the Madoff money was new to her though, she would have to check on that next time.

Artemis, sensing a general mood of awkwardness in the room, changed the subject back onto the Nakanishi Group. "Anyway, the point is that they can still operate in the world despite all of these terrorist attacks, and perhaps that was what they wanted to prove. To show the world that they were a good investment, and despite the world going to shit, they could withstand externalities."

"Whatever they did, we put a stop to it," Serena grinned.

"We're not out of the woods yet," Amy pointed out. "Nakanishi still has that PMC, and a huge hold over technology the government uses. It'll take years to clean up the mess they left behind."

"Can you give anything else about leadership?" Kobayashi asked. He wasn't as up to date as the rest of the SAILOR team, having spent the last couple of days trying not to end up dead.

"Amy and Mina have already taken down Nephrite," Luna said, bringing up an image of him, along with a newspaper clipping that had a picture of his dead body in the SUV. "The other officers, Jadeite and Zoisite are still at large. Beryl and Kunzite are assumed to be at Socotra already, and that's out of the question until we get these two officers first."

"Why aren't they at Socotra?" Serena asked.

"We kind of put a big hole in their plans," Raye winked.

"Anyway," Luna said, continuing despite the interruption. "Zoisite and Kunzite are known to be lovers." She brought up pictures of them. Serena could see why they were in a relationship with each other; Zoisite was very effeminate looking, with beautiful, wavy hair and a fair skinned face. Kunzite was a bit gruffer looking, but it didn't take away from his physical beauty.

"Where are they right now?" Kobayashi asked.

"We tracked Zoisite somewhere in Italy," Luna said, bringing up some emails and GPS tracking software to illustrate where they had lost him. It read "Florence, Italy."

"How did you find them there though?" Serena asked.

"Dr. Kobayashi had some old contacts in Italy that informed him of this development. I'll put him on."

There was a couple seconds of scuffling about, then Dr. Kobayashi came into view.

"Doctor-person," Serena asked him, "What were you doing in Italy?"

"Let's just say that the government needed some help on a project similar to this. I got out before they started doing anything serious, but that's part of the reason the Japanese government picked me up for this program." Kobayashi adjusted his glasses as he talked, obviously bringing up memories of his past, happy or otherwise.

"Interesting…"

"Ahem," Artemis cleared his throat.

"Oh, sorry, continue," Serena apologized.

"Thanks to Amy and Mina however," Artemis continued from Luna's briefing, "Jadeite has been tracked down to their regional HQ in Bangalore."

"Oh joy," Mina griped.

"That 108th Defence Force is sieging the area, but they haven't been able to break through yet. Perhaps you could repay them for bailing your asses out last time?" He turned to Luna. "Can you set that up?"

"Will do. I'll make sure that they get there," Luna nodded. Amy was about to protest, but realized that there was a lot more at stake than her personal comfort. She just hoped that it wouldn't last too long. India was so weird sometimes.

"Don't we need to operate with the PM's permission though?" Dr. Kawasaki finally spoke up in the back, asking the obvious question.

"Weren't you listening earlier?" Kobayashi replied. "The PM is out of commission. We're on our own for now. We've got some help from the Americans, but they're tied up as well with all the attacks going on." Even several days later, some bases still had terrorists or insurgents holed up in housing areas or in tough to reach spots; at Baghram Air Base, it was beyond bad, with the Taliban practically overrunning the base and destroying everything they could get their hands on. A NATO task force had to basically obliterate the other half of the base that the Taliban hadn't destroyed in the fighting trying to root them out. They were still pulling bodies out of the rubble.

"Yes, the President assured me that we would have whatever help from the US Military. But like you said, they're tied up at the moment."

"Of course," Luna nodded. "I will attempt to get into contact, again, with someone higher up to tell the PM of this plan of action."

"What do we do then when it's all over, though?" Mina spoke up in the background, behind Amy.

"What do you mean?" Kobayashi asked.

"When this is all over. When we've killed Nakanishi, their officers, Beryl, all of it…what then?"

There was silence. No one had thought that far ahead.

"Don't you think we should focus on getting rid of Nakanishi first?" Kobayashi suggested, but they were already going down that very slippery slope.

"You know what, yeah," Serena added, looking at Dr. Kobayashi. "While I am willing to see this thing through, I will not spend the rest of my life killing."

"Same here," Lita piped up.

"Err…" Raye said, sheepishly.

"You can stay on Raye, if you want," Serena said. Raye just shook her head.

Serena heard Mina and Amy whispering on the other end, Amy's hand covering the microphone as they talked. After a moment, they came back into the conversation.

"Mina and I agree," Amy replied. "We are not willing to continue the operation of the SAILOR Team after this operation in Socotra is concluded. This team was set up to advance the agenda of the Nakanishi Group, and it would be fitting that we disband after we complete their destruction. We will go to the media after that operation, and tell them of the existence of this unit. Then we will return to our homes…and our parents." Amy spoke that last part extremely slowly. Her mother flashed before her eyes, then disappeared.

Kobayashi looked at Nurse Kuroi and Kawasaki. They both shrugged. There was nothing that they could do about the situation; if they wanted to disband, then it was up to them.

"What if the Japanese government doesn't let us?" Lita asked.

"We'll make them comply," Amy instantly replied. She was way ahead of the others in that regard. "I'll put together a packet detailing all of our of our operations and government officials involved in this operation. If the government refuses to cooperate with our demands, we release it to those government officials and get them to back down, or we'll implicate them in public view. If they still refuse, then more direct action will be required."

Serena raised an eyebrow at "direct action."

"But why shouldn't we go the media anyway?" Raye wondered.

Serena was taken aback by the question. Raye had finally said something worth considering for a change.

Mina, even though she was thousands of miles away, sensed Serena's hesitation and moved to answer Raye's piercing question.

"Raye, if we go the media now, it would completely undermine the government, in addition to compromising us. We would be also held accountable along with Nakanishi Group officials, members of the government and the JSDF, and we would hard pressed to take down the remnants of the Nakanishi Group."

"Why would we be implicated?" Raye persisted. Even Mina was getting concerned about Raye's uncharacteristic behavior.

"Look, there's enough information on those servers at Nakanishi HQ to put us away in jail, or at least make the rest of our lives very difficult," Amy butted in. "Going to the media would only create a huge public outcry, on top of the anger that is going to result from the Nakanishi attacks. We know that we didn't do anything wrong, but the rest of the world doesn't."

"So we're just to let them get away with it?!" Raye asked, her voice trembling with pent-up anger.

"They're not getting away with it," Mina pointed out. "The government is going to come under a huge amount of flak for its dealings with the Nakanishi Group, and like what we've said before, these people need to go down if we are to have any semblance of security in the world today." Mina's normally chipper mood was completely serious now, her eyes blazing into the screen. If Mina was this determined, then it was serious game time. "This way, it'll allow Japan to continue on a nation, and to save face, both domestically and internationally. Secondly, it'll give us a way out of the mess we've found ourselves in, get us back to our homes, and away from this way of life."

"But…" Serena added. "If the nations we attacked find out if it was us…then…"

"It could be very bad," Mina finished. That cast a long pall of silence over the group. Of course, Raye, Lita, Serena, Mina and Amy were not to blame for the creation of the unit, but angry nations (with special forces units) might take their vengeance out on the five of them, and perhaps even Japan itself if they were to be exposed. America would keep its silence, of course, having some vested interest in keeping the SAILOR team secret, but other nations would not be as discreet or forgiving. That was why they had to keep things under wraps until everything was cleaned up and lose ends tied off.

"So it's decided," Luna said to the entire group gathered, breaking the silence. "We go after the Nakanishi leadership, take down their base of operations in Socotra, Yemen. Then we disband and close down shop, go to the media, and go home."

"That's a good plan for me," Lita said.
"Can't wait to take these fuckers down," Raye replied, cracking her knuckles.

"Okay, we'll get planning then. We'll meet back in here in two hours to get everything set up. Luna out."

She terminated the link with Amy and Mina.

"Hey, I hate to bring this up now," Nurse Kuroi said in the back, "But we need to run some more medical checks on you guys."

The SAILOR scouts groaned when they heard that.


"Ow!" Lita winced as Nurse Kuroi poked her with a needle. Lita couldn't tell what it was, but whatever she had injected her with, it hurt like hell.

"Sorry."

"Kuroi-sensei, Is all of this really necessary?" she asked Kuroi, who was checking stuff off of on a piece of paper on a clipboard. The frigid air from outside occasionally blasted through the hanger, causing Lita to shiver in discomfort.

"Unfortunately, it is," Kuroi replied, checking a box off. "Since everything we had was destroyed at the medical facility, proper post-mission treatment is going to have to rudimentary like this. At least until we can get spare parts and the like."

"And since Nakanishi was supplying everything…"

"You guessed it. We can't get anything replaced until we find a contractor with the right clearance."

"Why doesn't the government do it themselves?" Lita asked, reaching for her long-sleeved shirt next to her to back on. Wearing that body armor all day hadn't been fun, and at least she had a spare change of clothes given to her on base. Unfortunately, the shirt screamed "BUSH-CHENEY 2000", but Lita didn't know that, being functionally illiterate in English and despite the training they had received.

"You haven't been in government all that long now, have you?" Kuroi smirked. She saw Lita quickly putting on the shirt, trying to avoid any questions about her prosthetic arm.

"How's the arm?" Kuroi said, stopping her from putting the shirt on.

"It's…fine," Lita hesitated, and in the medical community, hesitation meant something was up.

"Let me take a look at it," Kuroi firmly insisted.

Lita sighed, knowing that resistance would be futile. She held out her prosthetic arm to Kuroi, and she examined it.

"Did something happen with it yesterday?" she asked. There were scratches all over it.

"Yeah, I used it to destroy some communications equipment in the Nakanishi HQ."

"Anything else?"

"I hit a couple of people."

Kuroi chuckled at that.

"Let's take it off and see what's up." Slowly, she removed the arm from the stump, and placed it aside. Kuroi then removed the sleeve that helped to protect against friction and minor wear and tear on the remaining part of the arm.

Lita looked at the arm stump, and let out an audible groan. The stump was rubbed raw, and it was so red that it looked like a really bad case of sunburn. It wasn't that bad, but without their medical technology...

"Yeah…that's what I thought," Kuroi sighed. She reached inside a first aid kit and pulled out a small tube of healing solution. She applied it to the raw skin, and Lita shuddered as it made contact, the familiar cooling sensation removing all the pain and misery she had been put through since yesterday. The red skin turned back into its normal color, and Kuroi wiped up the white fluid that had been left behind.

"Well, if it's this bad with you, I don't know how well Serena is going to do then too," Kuroi said, placing the arm back onto her stump. "Just be careful, okay? Otherwise…"

"I know, I know," Lita said back.

Kuroi took off the latex gloves she had been wearing and tossed them into a nearby trashcan, taking another pair from a box nearby. "Thanks Lita."

Lita just nodded, and hopped off of the examination table.

"Next!"


Luna had finally gotten in contact with General Ishimura, who was the go-between for the PM and Col. Iwasaki. It seemed forever ago since he had visited the Medical Facility and spoke to Kobayashi about the future of SAILOR. Kobayashi would have also been there, if not for Serena's prosthetics acting up during her medical exam, much to everyone's distress. So it was just Luna, alone, against one of the more powerful men in Japan.

"General, sir," Luna said. Ishimura looked completely beat.

"I'm sorry about not being in contact with you all," he replied, wearily. "It's been so busy around here." He took a sip of coffee, the sustainer of militaries around the world. "I heard about the assault on both Yamada's house and your facility. I'm really sorry about that, but that dammed PMC has been giving us trouble ever since they got orders from that Beryl woman to wipe out your program." He looked at Luna for a second, then realized her CO wasn't there.

"Where's Colonel Iwasaki?"

"Sir, he was killed on the assault on the Medical Facility." She conveniently left out the part that his death was indirectly caused by a mutiny on her part.

"I see. Who is charge now?"

"General, Captain Tsukino is in charge of the unit."

He blinked at that statement. "Uh…"

"They do have the ranks of Captain," Luna pointed out.

"Right…of course." He had forgotten about that.

"Have you talked to the PM?" Luna asked.

"He's really busy, like all of us are," Ishimura responded. "But I can convey any request that you need directly to the PM." Luna gave him a look. "Really, I promise," was his reaction.

"What's your next move?" he asked. "I presume that's the reason why you're calling us."

"Yes," Luna said. "We just got out of a meeting, and we're going to come up with a rough sketch of what we're going to do."

"First, we are going to go after the Nakanishi leadership. I've gotten some intelligence about the whereabouts of two of the officers, and we're planning to go after them."

"What will that prove though?"

"Excuse me?"

"What will that prove?" the General asked again. "I mean, that's all well and good, but…"

"Sir, they caused this mess, and they need to be brought to justice for their actions."

Ishimura sighed. "That's a stretch, Lieutenant. However, I agree with you on that. The PM is going to be up to his eyeballs with bad PR, and bringing down what remains of the Nakanishi threat is going to be his top priority afterward."

"Good."

"What else do you have?"

"As you might know, they have a base of operation on the island of Socotra, Yemen. How large or what exactly is there remains unknown at the present, but I think we land the SAILOR team there so that they can deal with the threat that Beryl and Kunzite have there."

"Beryl and Kunzite are there?"

"Yes sir. Amy and Mina…er, two of the SAILOR team members interrogated the COO of Nakanishi America, and he gave them information about them being at the base at Socotra."

"Interesting. So we would have to go after them there, no matter what."

"Exactly."

Luna paused for a second, taking a sip from a water bottle nearby.

"General, there's one other thing," Luna said, after explaining the plan. "This unit is to disband after our operations have concluded. We will then reveal this unit to the public at large."

Ishimura was not expecting that one.

"But…"

"No 'buts', General," Luna interrupted. She was most definitely crossing into no man's land now; already she had one count of mutiny under her belt, but this might be the last straw. "This unit was illegally set up and funded, used to conduct illegal operations even under International Law, not to mention Japanese Law, and that's just the legal aspect of it. The moral implications of this unit are even worse. So we are disbanding."

"And if we don't let you?" Ishimura threatened, but it was mostly for show. He needed to see what type of cards they were playing.

"We will inform every military serviceman, MP and elected official involved in this operation of their standing in this illegal operation, the legal and social ramifications of their actions, and will ensure compliance from them. We will even go to the media, if it comes to that."

"So, blackmail."

"If you call it that."

"Fine," Ishimura conceded. "But if you go to the media now, you would be shooting yourself in the foot. They would hang you out to dry."

"Then we should find alternative means of working this out," Luna dryly said. "Like letting this unit disband and releasing the operatives back into the civilian world."

"I thought their parents thought they were dead," Ishimura pointed out.

"They'll be in for a shock." Luna's face betrayed no expression, but she knew that it would be a tearful reunion.

Ishimura sat back in his office chair, sighed and took another sip of coffee. Luna sensed some hesitation, but to just hit the point home she continued on with her reasoning.

"General, they'll come after you. At least this way, we can give you an honorable passing out."

Ishimura nodded. She was right; once the news hit the airwaves…or rather, the internet, they would be all over the JCS, even more so than now. More than likely, they would all tender their resignations, and along with the PM, be cast out from the political and civil scene forever. They were going to probably have to anyway, and giving the appearance of cleaning up their own messes would help soften the blow.

"I'll convey this to the PM," he said. "It seems like the best way to get ourselves out of this mess."

"It's your mess," Luna snapped. "Oh, and let the PM know that the Americans know about SAILOR; it would be in his best interest to talk to the President about that."

"Of course," Ishimura said, resigned. Here he was, basically taking orders from a wet-behind the ears lieutenant. Of course, what they had asked of her in the last six months had ensured that she would have access to such sensitive information to which they could be blackmailed. Nice one.

Luna glared at the General for a little bit, then terminated the video link.

Damn them. Damn them all.