A/N: Alright, this chapter was rather difficult to start, but once I got over the initial hurdle it was mostly smooth sailing. I hope you all enjoy.
Chapter 41
The remnants of STS-01 did not disembark the transport until it was securely underground on Urup. As the six girls stepped off the plane's ramp, they were greeted by a sight of fighters, their crews quietly scurrying around them and performing maintenance checks. It seemed as though the Organization's entire air wing was being prepared, and Kanzashi wondered briefly just what was on the horizon.
The thought was soon forgotten as they were quickly ushered out of the hangar and into a briefing room. A hologram of a woman in uniform shimmered into being at the front as they entered. Evidently they would be debriefed by an AI. They barely had enough time to find a seat before the AI spoke.
"Before anything else, I have been authorized to tell you that both your downed comrades are confirmed to have survived their ejection. One of my cohort personally located them and relayed the information back to us. However, we will not be making any further attempts at contacting them, nor will they attempt to contact us due to the risks inherent in such an act." The AI announced.
"When will the rescue operation take place?" Kanzashi asked immediately.
"Within the next few days. The exact date is currently unknown at the moment due to circumstances which I will explain shortly." The AI responded.
"With that said, in spite of your losses the mission was a success, allowing for operations to proceed without issue." It continued.
"I hardly would call exchanging two hostages for one a success." Laura said.
"On the contrary, we removed a hostage that the Russians had in their possession in exchange for two pilots downed and actively evading capture in an area where no search can be mounted for quite some time."
"Those downed pilots are Ichika and my sister." Kanzashi pointed out, her voice cold.
"And they will be rescued."
"When?" Charlotte demanded.
"If you allow me to explain, perhaps you will find out." Kanzashi gritted her teeth at the AI's reply, and evidently she wasn't the only one to be infuriated. Gladys' hologram flashed into being beside her. She was quickly joined by five others. A few moments of silent conversation followed, before the original AI disappeared and Moira took her place.
"I apologize on behalf of our fellow AI. She is relatively young, and is still unused to interacting with humans. I will be handling the debriefing from here on out." She explained.
"So when is the rescue?" Kanzashi asked.
"She was telling the truth when she said the exact date is uncertain." Moira replied.
"What does that mean?" Laura asked.
"From what she told me, the rescue will be a part of a much larger operation. Larger as in the Americans and Japanese will also be involved." Moira explained.
"To what extent?" Cecilia asked.
"The operation is a large scale attack aimed at eliminating the East Russian nuclear arsenal in its entirety. I will let that speak for itself." Moira replied. She paused for effect, allowing the news to sink in before continuing.
"As for when the operation will commence, it is uncertain. The Americans are currently conducting reconnaissance to locate mobile launchers and submarines based on information from our AIs in East Russian systems. The operation will commence once the Americans are satisfied." Moira explained.
"So what do we do until then?" Rin asked.
"I have been told that you are not to leave this base until both Ichika and Tatenashi are retrieved. A room has been set aside for us." Moira explained.
"Is there anything else?" Laura asked.
"Yes. Kanzashi, you have been asked to meet with Senior Operations Director Andrew Fukuyama for a private debriefing. Gladys has been given the relevant information to guide you... Oh, and I suppose we should expect a stern lecture on not bullying our fellow AI into expediting briefings." Moira replied, her hologram flashing out of existence a moment later.
"Shall we?" Gladys asked, her own hologram shrinking down to rest on her shoulder.
"I suppose there's no point in delaying it. I will see you all when I'm done." Kanzashi sighed, and left the room.
"Are you alright?" The Senior Operations Director's first question came as no surprise to Kanzashi.
"No. My sister and best friend are somewhere in the Russian wilderness, awaiting rescue that may not arrive in time. I myself have also just gotten out of an East Russian holding cell, after being abducted early this morning." She replied. It felt surprisingly good to say it to someone she knew had authority, although in hindsight she felt as though she could have kept her tone a bit more civil.
For his part Andrew merely nodded, seemingly unperturbed by her tone of voice.
"That is understandable. Now, I am sure you already know why I have called you here today. Do you believe yourself able to speak about your recent captivity?" He asked, and Kanzashi weighed her options. Saying yes would mean recounting her rather unpleasant experience, and saying no would probably lead to a surprise visit to a psychologist. Mind made up, she nodded.
"Yes."
"Then let us start with your abduction. Is there anything of note that either you or Gladys noticed either immediately before, or during the process?" Andrew asked.
"No. She just barged into my shower stall, pepper-sprayed my face, then choked me out. By the time I came to, I was already in her IS suit's grasp and watching IS Academy vanish into the distance." Kanzashi replied, her hand unconsciously rubbing at her throat.
"I see. I will schedule you for a medical check-up, either tonight or tomorrow morning." Andrew replied.
"Understood."
"Now, did anything of note happen during the flight?"
"Ichika and Tatenashi briefly attempted pursuit, and I... She pushed me out of the shield envelope to use me as a human shield... She... She then threatened to start crushing my limbs if they didn't break off pursuit. Almost did it too..." Kanzashi shivered unconsciously, remembering the freezing night air rushing against her skin as the cityscape flew by below her. Her hand twitched, as if remembering the sensation of a metal fist tightening around it, squeezing like a vice until-
"Sarashiki-san? Are you alright?" Andrew's concerned voice brought her back to reality.
"I... I'm fine." She replied shakily.
"Can you continue?" He asked.
"Yes." She swallowed.
"Good. Did anything else of note happen during the flight?"
"I... I tried to make a grab for my IS at one point. I... She dropped me for a moment in response, but-" The sudden feeling of weightlessness was vivid in her mind as she remembered falling towards the inky black ocean below.
"I see. Did nothing else happen?" Once again, the memory was interrupted.
"No, nothing... Nothing else happened during the flight." Kanzashi shook her head, both to drive her point home and dispel the unpleasant feeling.
"I see. You then landed at the IS base, correct?" Andrew asked.
"Yes. She... As soon as we landed, my IS was handed over to an officer, while I was taken to the holding cell. My kidnapper, she..." Kanzashi trailed off, remembering the Russian girl's rant. She had some idea, but... No, now was not the time. She collected her thoughts and then continued.
"She was Sasha Vadimova, and she apparently was a potential representative candidate who may have ended up piloting the Mysterious Lady. Thus she had a rather personal connection to my sister and probably volunteered for this job specifically to hurt her. She explained as much to me."
"Did she say anything else? Anything not related to you and your sister?" Andrew asked.
"She indicated that she took part in the execution of arrested members of the bureau that ran her training program. I am not sure what this could indicate, aside from good standing in the communist party. However, shortly afterwards she confirmed an affiliation with the State Security Committee when my... Interrogators entered." Kanzashi replied.
"Who were they... And if you feel unable to continue, feel free to let me know."
"No. They didn't do anything... Physical to me. However..." Kanzashi paused, wondering how best to explain her interrogation.
"There were three of them in total. First was a Major in the State Security Committee. Young, blonde, blue eyes..." Kanzashi trailed off, attempting to recount more of the man's features before Andrew raised his hand to stop her.
"Minami, can you attempt to identify him?" Andrew asked, evidently addressing an AI.
"One moment please." A female voice replied, and a few seconds later an image appeared.
"That's him." Kanzashi confirmed.
"Major Nikolai Sergeyevich Degtaryev. A rather powerful individual, all things considered. Participated in the initial purges, specifically aimed at bringing the local defense industry in line, before serving with some distinction as a political commissar in combat. Was recently recalled to Vladivostok, potentially to plan and execute this operation. Recent information indicates that he has also taken command of an IS black-ops unit, and the presence of two unknown TIS suits at the base with him supports this." Andrew summarized.
"He was accompanied by two IS pilots during the interrogation..." Kanzashi confirmed, then paused.
"They were..." She paused again, and Andrew nodded. A moment later, the Major's image was replaced with two other pictures, likely taken from security cameras, of the two IS pilots.
"That's them." Kanzashi confirmed.
"Ekaterina Tukachevna Alexandrova and Tatiana Antonovna Konstantinova. In the case of the latter, she appears to have graduated from IS Academy around two years ago, and went on to serve as an IS pilot in the Russian Air Force. Her service record is unremarkable up until roughly six months before the revolution, at which point she disappears. No further records of her have been found after this point until very recently. Ekaterina, on the other hand, has very little record at all. Some childhood photographs and academic records we have tentatively linked to her, as well as some medical records indicating a growth disorder, but again the paper trail disappears roughly four months prior to the revolution and remains dark until very recently." Andrew explained.
"Both of them were equipped with cybernetic enhancements of some sort when I met them. These... Things on their heads, they are attached directly to the skull." Kanzashi replied, pointing at the blurry images.
"I see... Do you have any idea of their function?" Andrew mused.
"Ekaterina? No. Tatiana, on the other hand..." Kanzashi paused.
"She... She had... She was able to see my thoughts, somehow... She could tell when I was telling the truth, when I was omitting something..." She trailed off.
"How?" Andrew asked.
"I don't know. She just looked at me, and even before I began speaking, she knew!" Kanzashi replied.
"I see... What did you tell them during interrogation?" Andrew asked.
"I... I told them about the September 1983 incident."
"Their reaction?"
"They seemed shocked, especially after Tatiana's lie detector confirmed it." Kanzashi said, a small smile coming to her face as she remembered their expressions. It wasn't much, but that knowledge, if it were to get out, could very well lead to their deaths depending on how far Phantom Task had infiltrated the DRR. She'd even been prepared to tell it to a Phantom Task interrogator in the event of her being handed over.
"Was there anything else?" Andrew asked.
"Yes. They came back a while later. They asked for details regarding the incident. They wanted specific information, dates, times, names, actions, all of which I told them based on my great-grandmother's records."
"Is there a reason you were so forthcoming?" Andrew asked.
"He... During the first interrogation, he told me that if I were not useful, I would be handed over to Phantom Task. I then told him something that would lead to his death were Phantom Task to find out that he knew it. The rest was me convincing him of the truth." Kanzashi replied.
"Did he mention anything else?"
"No. I think I spooked him though." Kanzashi replied.
"I see. Is there anything else you have to say?"
"When will my sister be rescued?" She asked. Andrew looked thoughtful for a moment before replying.
"You have already been made aware of the punitive operation being planned by the Japanese and Americans, correct?"
"When will it commence?" Kanzashi asked.
"The Americans want to conduct detailed reconnaissance to try and locate the positions of as many mobile launchers as possible. Their current plan is to utilize B-4 bombers to carry out a coordinated orbital kinetic strike, aimed at eliminating as many land-based launchers as possible. To do that, however, they need targeting information. We have supplied them the rough locations of every battery we could, but they want to confirm and determine more exact positions. The Japanese refuse to act until this reconnaissance is completed as well, since Japan is entirely within range of even shorter ranged delivery systems such as the SSC-8 Iskander-K, which is confirmed to be present in the DRR arsenal. Short ranged ballistic missiles on Sakhalin can strike almost anywhere in Hokkaido, with both conventional and potentially low-yield nuclear payloads. These short-ranged systems in particular are a problem due to their short flight times. The US has already stationed laser-armed B-4s on tracks to intercept ICBMs in midcourse phase heading towards the US, but they may not be able to do something similar for smaller weapon systems aimed at Japan. Therefore, unless we want to carry out the operation alone, we will need to wait until both the US and Japan are ready." Andrew explained.
"How long will that take?"
"Our estimates put it at a few days. Five at most, though that is unlikely." Kanzashi didn't respond.
"Is there anything else?" Andrew asked.
"Where did they go down?" Kanzashi asked.
"Around sixty five kilometers east of the base where you were held." Andrew explained, the holo-display changing as he spoke to show an increasingly familiar regional map. It zoomed in on Russia, until it came to rest on a roughly twenty kilometer square. On its eastern edge was what appeared to be a small village, a runway was visible to the north, and a river cut the square in two. Two red dots appeared between these landmarks.
"More specifically, in this area, near the village of Gatka and Sovetskaya Gavan airport."
"They're so close to an airport?" Kanzashi exclaimed.
"Normally this would be a problem. Fortunately for us, this was a commercial airport where counter-revolutionary forces in the region attempted to evacuate several days after the revolution. Some of them managed to make it out, but the vast majority were killed or captured in vicious fighting. Between bombings, sabotage by the defenders, and finally a human wave assault supported by artillery, the airport was practically destroyed. Considering a lack of commercial flights and the fact that they already had both the nearby Mongokhto and Sovetskaya Gavan airbases, the DRR has been content to let this airport stay inoperable. It is not a threat." At that, the camera then moved north.
"What is a threat, however, is Sovetskaya Gavan air base, approximately eighteen kilometers to the northeast, as well as Mongokhto Air Base, thirty seven kilometers to the north. The former is a fighter base, hosting a regiment of MiG-31 Foxhounds, while the latter is a base for the navy's strategic bombers, as well as a nuclear weapon storage facility. Both host small amounts of helicopters, which may be able to mount a search. We are doing everything possible to prevent or delay a search from being launched." Andrew said.
"I see." Kanzashi said, trying to keep her voice steady.
"Is there anything else?" Andrew asked. Kanzashi paused for a moment.
"No." She finally said.
"Then you are dismissed. Your medical appointment is scheduled for tomorrow morning." Andrew said.
"Understood."
"Then you may leave. Your AI will guide you to your room. Remember, this isn't over. We will get them back."
Kanzashi didn't respond as she left. Practically as soon as the door slid shut behind her she began to run, half-listening to Gladys' directions.
By the time she arrived at her assigned room, tears were running down her face.
"Kanzashi?" Charlotte exclaimed as the door slid open.
"What happened?" Laura asked as she ran in.
The room's interior was rather spartan, with little more than two quadruple bunk beds and a door leading to a bathroom. Kanzashi sat down on one of the lower beds, next to Charlotte.
"What's wrong?" Charlotte asked, immediately sliding closer and placing her hand on her knee.
"What am I supposed to do?" Kanzashi choked out after a few moments.
"My sister's gone, Ichika's gone, I might never see them again and I can't do anything!" She cried, leaning into Charlotte as Laura jumped down from the bed above.
"I barely even had a chance to know them, and now..."
"They're not gone yet." Houki said after a few moments.
"They're not gone yet..." The black-haired girl repeated, seemingly just as much for her own sake as for Kanzashi's.
"Houki's right. They're still alive, and a rescue is being planned."
"But it'll be days before anything happens! They could be-"
"We can't give up hope now. Both of them are still out there, and doing everything they can to get back to us. Have they ever let us down before?" Rin interrupted.
There was no response, and the room lapsed into an awkward silence.
Finally, Kanzashi spoke.
"I only just got to know my sister again..." She whispered.
"What do you mean?" Charlotte asked softly. Once again, Kanzashi was quiet for a while before responding.
"We... After..." The memories of that horrible day when everything changed were brought to the forefront of her mind, bringing fresh tears to her eyes.
"After our... Our family died, we were on our own." She felt Charlotte attempt to suppress a flinch at the mention of her family. The French girl promptly pulled her closer into a hug.
"Tatenashi... She changed after that. She would think of nothing but revenge, and it... It made things worse. It was almost as if my sister had died that day as well, replaced by someone else in her skin..." Kanzashi continued, halfheartedly returning Charlotte's embrace as Laura joined in.
"One day it all came to a head and we argued... We both said some things we regretted then. We barely spoke for a full year after that, and then she went off to IS Academy..." Kanzashi sighed.
"She told me that Chifuyu noticed her and was able to make her realize what was happening to her. I hardly recognized her when I saw her again." Kanzashi sighed, remembering her first weeks, which she had spent trying to avoid her sister as much as possible.
"If it weren't for Ichika, we might never have reconciled, and now..." Kanzashi sighed, slumping back.
"They're not gone yet." Laura repeated. To that, Kanzashi decided not to respond. Perhaps hoping was the better option.
The forest was eerily quiet around him as Ichika moved through it. His side hurt with every motion, courtesy of the tree he had slammed into on the way down, but the pain was secondary. He had to find Tatenashi. He would not be leaving without her.
Almost as soon as he was able to stand after landing, Ori had marked for him the rough direction in which Tatenashi had fallen.
"If she was walking to you at a similar pace, you should be in the same area." Ori reported.
"Alright. I'll keep my eyes peeled." Ichika replied.
Of course, the question now was what would happen once he found Tatenashi. They wouldn't be able to stay in the same area. If anything, they would have to move as far away as possible. Ori had assured him that it wouldn't affect rescue prospects, but even that meant little when he had no idea where to go.
More importantly, what would he eat? Or drink for that matter? His armor had a small supply of water in it, purified courtesy of the ISSpace transition, but it was unlikely to last more than a few days, and he had no idea when rescue would be arriving.
Food was another problem. He had no idea what plants were edible, and having Ori try to analyze every plant he came across was time-prohibitive. While he had the means to hunt for meat in the form of both his Organization-issue pistol and the gun Chifuyu had given him, there was a distinct lack of cookware and starting a fire would almost certainly give his position away. Of all the days to skip breakfast...
"Ichika?" The familiar voice caused his head to snap around, all thoughts of food suddenly forgotten.
"Tatenashi?" He was running as soon as he spotted her, and she was as well. They promptly collided with a loud 'CLUNK!' as their heavy armor proved unable to stop in time.
"You're alive!" Tatenashi exclaimed, tearing off her helmet and wrapping her arms around him. Her armor was covered in mud, which concealed the bright white and blue paint somewhat.
"Thank goodness... I was worried we would pass each other." Ichika replied, stepping back and removing his own helmet. The fresh air was a slight relief.
"What's the status of your IS?" He asked after a few moments.
"Probably the same as yours. Core destroyed, unable to self-repair or deploy until I get access to a power supply." Tatenashi replied, the smile fading from her face.
"Yeah, the Infinite Arsenal's gone for the time being." Ichika replied.
"So much for an easy way out." Tatenashi sighed.
"So now what? Ori, any suggestions?" Ichika asked.
"There's a river to the south, but the terrain might make it inaccessible... I think heading north would be the better option. I think there may be another river in that direction." Ori explained, her voice emanating from Ichika's helmet.
"How far?" Ichika asked.
"Around ten kilometers... I'd suggest travelling by night though. There's an open road and an airport in the way, and the tree cover isn't always as dense at it is here." Ori explained.
"Well, we can't just stay here until then. Who knows how long before search helicopters start flying overhead." Tatenashi said.
"There is another problem as well." Ori said.
"What is it?"
"Without an IS core, this armor has a limited power supply. Granted, the Mark IIB has twenty four hours as opposed to six, but we should still conserve it." Ori said.
"What does that mean for us?" Ichika asked.
"If we want to have a reserve of battery power available for emergencies, we'll have to turn them off. In its off state, it can recharge slowly from muscle power. My proposal is that we turn it off when in dense cover, then turn it back on when we have to cross areas that are more sparse. It'll slow us down a bit, but it would ensure that we have battery life to spare if we ever have to fight." Ori explained.
"I see..." Tatenashi sighed.
"Tuman, what do you think?" She asked.
"Ori is correct. The two of us will probably have to go dormant to conserve power as well." Her AI replied.
"Alright... In that case, go ahead." Ichika ordered. He immediately felt the difference when he put his helmet back on. Now, instead of making his movements effortless, his armor was now dead weight, resisting his every motion.
"Ugh, I'm regretting this already." Tatenashi sighed, putting her own helmet back on. The visor snapped open a moment later, allowing him to see normally.
"Going dormant now. Wake me if there's anything." Ori said.
"How?"
"Just say my name. It will wake me... Good night, I guess." The AI replied.
"Sleep well." Ichika replied, before turning to Tatenashi, his neck now fighting against his helmet's weight.
"Well then, shall we?" He asked. Northwest would probably be the best way to go, he decided, remembering the satellite images Ori had shown him. Hopefully, they would be able to skirt around the airport before proceeding north.
"Lead the way." She replied, turning to follow him.
Major Degtaryev allowed himself a faint smile of relief as he watched Tatiana's IS descend from out of the evening sky. Katya had returned a few minutes prior, and Sasha had gone down close enough to the base that a recovery team could be dispatched on foot.
"Comrade Major... I see I'm the last one back." Tatiana greeted as she dismounted her IS, flashing him a quick smile as she spoke. That was the limit of the affection they allowed themselves to display for each other in such a public setting.
"It is good to see you back nevertheless." Degtaryev replied.
"What do we do now?" Sasha asked from where she stood behind him, shifting impatiently on her feet. The girl was obviously eager to get back out to conduct a search for the downed enemy pilots.
Degtaryev was quiet for a few moments. On one hand, he now had the forces on hand to start searching the area where the two students had gone down. On the other, hand, it was getting late and none of his pilots possessed night vision equipment. Sasha because it had been deemed unnecessary, while Katya and Tatiana's IS suits needed to have their suits' helmets rebuilt to accommodate for their enhancements. However, just because they could not see, did not necessarily mean they were blind.
Tatiana was the obvious one. Not only could she gain a glimpse into the intentions and truthfulness of people, but he knew for a fact that she was also able to use her enhancements as sensors, allowing her to sense hidden people even through certain types of barriers such as drywall.
"Tatiana, can your enhancements assist in any nighttime search effort?" He asked.
She shook her head in response.
"No. While I can configure it to cover a wide area, I quickly start picking up large amounts of noise from nearby wildlife, to the point where I become unable to discriminate between the various signatures I'm picking up." She said.
"What about you, Katya? You said that they were wearing pilot armor, and they most likely still are. Do you believe you could detect it?" He asked, turning to the deceptively young-looking blonde.
"I..." Katya looked hesitant, before she walked over.
"I think I can, but there's... There's something I think you should know." She looked around before speaking again, her voice soft.
"Something is wrong. Not with my enhancements, but with everything else." She said.
"What do you mean?"
"I... I've started noticing something strange about the devices I've attempted to interface with today. Normally, I am able to simply access what I need, but today I've started noticing strange... Delays whenever I try to access computers on base. They're small, so small that I didn't even notice at first, but..." She paused.
"Once I realized something was off, I started to investigate further and... The system seemed to respond to my probes. It wasn't just some automatic security system, this was new. Areas I could access at will yesterday suddenly seemed to, for lack of a better word, decide what I would see and what I wouldn't. Some documents I saw seemed subtly changed from when I last accessed them..." Katya trailed off, her eyes widening.
"It was almost as if the system itself was... Alive."
Those words served to jog Degtaryev's memory, specifically regarding an incident in America that had taken place in the previous month. Dread began to creep into his mind as he realized that the same thing that had happened to the Edelberg company could very well be happening on a larger scale.
"Sasha, did you recognize any of the IS suits present in the attack?" He asked.
"All of them. They made up a clique of some of the best first-year pilots. I wasn't particularly surprised to see Tatenashi drag them into such a rescue operation."
"Who are they?" Sasha blinked at the urgency in his voice, then began listing the attackers off.
"Tatenashi Sarashiki, Moscow's Thick Fog, from Japan. Ichika Orimura, Infinite Arsenal, from Japan. Ling Yin Huang, ShenLong, from China. Laura Bodewig, Schwarzer Regen, from Germany. Charlotte Dunois, Custom Raphael Revive, from France. Cecilia Alcott, Blue Tears, United Kingdom, and Houki Shinonono-"
"Shinonono? As in Tabane Shinonono?" Degtaryev exclaimed.
"Y-Yes, she's her... Sister..." Comprehension suddenly dawned on both Katya and Sasha's faces.
"Bozhe moi..." Degtaryev breathed.
"Does... Does that mean-" Katya began before Degtaryev cut her off.
"Turn your enhancement off. Hard shutdown, and do not reactivate it unless you receive direct vocal orders from me in person. Not through a computer screen or a telephone, but in person. If you have any reason to suspect it has been compromised, you are authorized to destroy it."
"Y-Yes sir!"
"The same goes for you, Tatiana. As you all probably already know, we are most likely under attack by none other than Doctor Tabane herself. Treat all computers able to communicate with others as compromised, and assume that she will be hearing any and all electronic communications." Degtaryev explained.
"What do we do?" Tatiana asked.
"Tatiana, Sasha, I will be giving you written orders. You will be delivering them to Mongokhto and Sovetskaya Gavan air bases respectively. I want every helicopter and search plane they have in the air and looking for those downed pilots. They are to be captured alive at all costs. Killing them is not an option. Katya, you will stay with me. There is too much risk involved to send you out unmonitored at this time." Degtaryev ordered.
"We're taking hostages again?" Tatiana asked.
"It is the only way I can think of to prevent or stall any action by Tabane."
"I don't like this. I thought the revolution was above holding guns to little girls' heads." Tatiana muttered.
"I was against this idiotic course of action from the start, but orders were orders. Now, the survival of the DRR hangs in the balance and I will do everything in my power to see it continue. Do you understand?"
"Yes, comrade Major!" Tatiana saluted, and Degtaryev knew she felt his mental wince at the gesture.
"Good. Once you have confirmed that the orders are being followed at your respective air bases, the two of you are to join in the search. Daytime only, no sense wearing yourselves out by night. Avoid anything other than direct radio-" Degtaryev froze as another horrifying thought occurred to him.
"Belay that order. I will be sending out couriers by land to carry my orders out instead. Your IS suits' cores were designed by Tabane, and are to be considered compromised. Stow them and place them into secure storage at once." His order was met with three flashes of light as the pilots sprinted over to where their IS suits stood motionless and stowed them away.
"Is there anything else we can do?" Tatiana asked once Sasha had gathered the three IS suits up in her pocket and, at his prompting, began running towards a semi-intact storage building.
"At the moment?" Degtaryev asked, half to himself. He was quiet for a long moment, wondering if he should in fact say the words on his mind.
"Pray." He finally said. The significance of that word was not lost on any of them.
"What's that over there?" Tatenashi's voice caused Ichika to pause. His body welcomed the rest, his armor having made it feel as though he were wading through water.
Following her finger, he caught a glimpse of a structure through the trees. Immediately he pressed himself flat against the ground, Tatenashi doing the same a moment later.
"Looks like a building... Damn, looks like we came closer to the airport than I thought." Ichika muttered.
"That's an airport? It seems so quiet." Tatenashi said.
She was right. There was nothing to hear other than the sounds of the forest. No rumble of engines, no roar of jets, no ambiance at all to indicate that there was anyone in front of them. Nothing moved ahead of them, save for the trees.
"I don't like this." Ichika muttered.
"Should we investigate?" Tatenashi asked.
"No." Ichika replied.
"It looks deserted though. Use your hyper-sensor, there's nothing there... It looks destroyed, actually." Tatenashi said.
"All the more reason to avoid it. There's nothing there." Ichika said.
"It's shelter. If they haven't launched search planes already, they'll be likely doing so soon. We'll be hidden from the air if we can get inside, and we might find something useful. There could be food inside the terminal as well." Tatenashi said.
That caused Ichika's retort to die unspoken. Tatenashi had a point, and if there was food inside, then it would solve a lot of their problems.
Finally, he sighed and nodded.
"Alright. My armor's harder to spot, so I'll go in for a closer look. Don't move." He ordered.
"Roger."
With that, Ichika began to crawl forward, his armor's resistance suddenly proving to be a blessing in disguise by inhibiting his movements. Slowly, deliberately, he crawled forwards towards the treeline.
Tatenashi proved to be correct. The airport was deserted and in ruins. The charred hulks of shattered airplanes littered the ground, on and around the runway that stretched for several kilometers away from him. Craters were evenly spaced all the way down its length, rendering it unusable. At the far end, a pile of twisted metal denoted the presence of another destroyed aircraft, potentially having been destroyed as it was taking off. There had been a battle here, that much was clear.
The airport terminal was visible several hundred meters away. It looked new, far newer than the rest of the airport. It also had several holes plainly visible in its roof, and its glass facade lay in pieces on the tarmac. With his hyper-sensor, he could make out makeshift barricades within, as well as countless bullet holes dotting the walls. Still, the structure was standing, and would probably survive some careful exploration.
A parking lot was just barely visible in the distance. Burnt-out vehicles, most of them civilian, lay in and around it with little regard for parking spaces. There were other buildings nearby, although these were smaller, older, and reduced to burnt-out husks. The same could be said for the hangars near either end of the runway. A few remained as standing skeletons, while the rest were charred and collapsed.
Barricades and earthworks were visible throughout the open fields and concrete pads that made up the rest of the airport., some relatively intact and others broken by large craters. The ruined buildings cast long shadows over it all beneath the crimson sunset. There was no doubt about it, the area was dead.
Ichika waved to Tatenashi, and she began to crawl forward until she was beside him.
"Whoa..." She breathed.
"If there's anything left, it will be inside the terminal. Still feel like exploring?" He asked, half-hoping she would say no. Instead, she nodded.
"Let's go."
With that, the two of them stood, their armor powering back on. Suddenly, they were free to move unencumbered, and they sprinted out of the forest, across the open grass and onto the concrete runway. Weaving around a crater, they soon reached the terminal. Entry was as easy as hopping through the gap left by one of the shattered, multi-storey windows.
"What happened here?" Tatenashi murmured, looking around at the scene.
"Nothing good. Come on, let's see if we can find anything. This place is creeping me out." Ichika replied.
"Agreed."
With that, they proceeded further into the ruined building. Glass crunched softly beneath their armored feet as they walked, but aside from that the building was silent.
"Should we check the second floor? Nothing down here but glass and broken electronics." Tatenashi said.
"Yeah. Let's head that way, towards the departing gates." Ichika replied, turning towards a broken escalator.
They made their way up, and soon spotted the colorful signs of food vendors' stands some way down a nearby concourse.
"Over there." Ichika pointed.
"I see them." Tatenashi replied.
They were in luck. While bread and meat was either rotting away or picked off by scavenging animals, there looked to be plenty of sealed food available. Cheap junk food, candy, and pastries so artificial that the animals probably wouldn't touch them even if they weren't sealed in plastic, but food nonetheless. Finding a bag wasn't difficult, and soon he began to pack away as much of the food as possible, sorting through piles of ruptured bags to find the few that were still intact.
"There's bottled water over there." Tatenashi pointed. Ichika followed to see a shelf lined with water bottles. Many were punctured by shrapnel, but a few remained sealed, along with their precious contents.
"Take what you can carry." Ichika replied.
They made their way down the terminal, filling their bags as much as they could with looted provisions.
Eventually though the concourse ended, a bomb hit having cut it in half. What was on the other side had evidently caught fire and collapsed.
"We shouldn't get so close to the edge. It could collapse under us." Ichika warned.
Tatenashi did not respond, and he caught her staring out a nearby window. He followed her gaze, and soon spotted a mound of dirt. Grass had yet to grow over it completely, so it was obviously fresh.
Faded tread marks were visible in the dirt all around it, likely from a bulldozer. Ichika realized what it was a few moments later.
"How many people are buried under that?" Tatenashi murmured.
"I don't think either of us want to know."
They looked out at the mass grave for a minute, then Ichika turned away.
"Come on, we should get going." He said.
"Yeah."
The sun had almost set by now, and the terminal was growing increasingly dark.
"You sure you still want to stay here?" Ichika asked as they returned to the ground floor, bags in hand.
"What choice do we have? It'll keep us sheltered, and it's a landmark that'll make us easier to rescue." Tatenashi replied.
"It's also an obvious hiding place. They'll likely look here first." Ichika cautioned.
"You're right..." Tatenashi replied.
"I remember there being a hangar relatively close to the forest. Maybe we should head there instead." She said.
"Alright. We'll take a look, but if it's not good enough, we're leaving and taking our chances in the forest." Ichika replied.
"Got it."
With that, Ichika fell in behind Tatenashi as they headed deeper through the building, in the approximate direction of a nearby circle of hangars.
Suddenly, Tatenashi paused, letting out a gasp.
"Oh god..."
Ichika rounded the corner and took in the sight.
The white plaster wall was stained a reddish-brown, and was riddled by a line of bullet holes, most of them roughly at head height. Much like the mass grave outside, it did not take a genius to figure out what had happened here.
"Come on. I think I've seen enough of this place." Ichika said faintly.
"Agreed." Tatenashi said shakily.
Ahead of them, the setting sun had dipped below the treeline by the time they reached the hangar in question. The roof had collapsed on top of an airplane, which was largely intact, but the walls were still standing.
"We should see if we can get inside." Ichika motioned to the plane, which looked to be a large business jet. Luckily for them, the jet was tilted over and the overwing door was open. He pulled himself up on top of the wing, which creaked slightly under his weight, then helped Tatenashi up.
Then, the two of them walked inside the dark aircraft.
"I can't see anything. Ori, mind turning on night vision?" Ichika asked.
His helmet's visor promptly slid shut, and his HUD lit up, showing the plane's interior in an eerie green light. Looking around, the plane's interior was rather nice. There was a small kitchen near the front, along with a table and chairs. A long couch, as well as several reclining chairs took up the rest of the front half of the compartment. He then turned around only to freeze at the sight of a dark trail stained into the carpeted floor. It led into a second compartment, clearly a bedroom, and Ichika peeked inside to see a large dark stain on the floor, the same color as those on the wall of the terminal building. There was no body, but the evidence was unmistakable.
"Somebody must have tried to hide in here. Looks like he was found." Ichika said, moving back towards the front of the plane.
"What the hell happened here?" Tatenashi asked again, slumping into an empty recliner.
"I don't think I want to know." Ichika replied, allowing himself to rest on the couch.
The compartment was silent for a while before Tatenashi spoke up.
"We should probably eat."
"Yeah." Ichika replied, grabbing the bag he'd filled and opening it, before removing his helmet. The eerie green light was replaced by pitch black darkness. He fumbled around, feeling for plastic wrappers, only for Tatenashi to sit down beside him and hand him something.
"I can see, you can eat. We'll take turns." She said.
"Thank you." Ichika replied, blindly taking the offered snack. It turned out to be potato chips, and he quickly made his way through the packet Tatenashi offered him. Then, as agreed, he put his helmet back on while Tatenashi removed hers, and picked out something from his bag.
They ate in silence for a while, before Tatenashi gathered up all the empty wrappers and shoved them into her bag's empty front pocket.
"I can take first watch." Ichika said.
"I can..." Tatenashi yawned mid-sentence.
"Come on. You haven't rested at all since the kidnapping. You need it more than I do." Ichika pressed.
"Alright. Wake me when it's my turn." Tatenashi replied, reaching for a pillow before taking her helmet off.
"Good night." Ichika replied, settling in for a long and silent night.
"Ichika, wake up!" Tatenashi's shaking brought him out of his long sleep.
It was still dark inside the hangar, and he reached for his helmet only for Tatenashi to press it into his hands.
"What is it?" He asked.
"Helicopter rotors. They're getting closer." Tatenashi whispered.
"Shit. We need to get out of here." He jolted awake.
"My thoughts exactly." Tatenashi replied.
Ichika's response was to grab his bag and exit the plane, leaping down from the wing. Tatenashi landed right behind him.
"How long was I asleep?" Ichika asked.
"Four hours. My clock says it's around four AM." Tatenashi replied.
Ichika said nothing, instead drawing his gun. It snapped into shape in his hand, no longer in its storage configuration.
"How many rounds do you have for that?" Tatenashi asked.
"Two magazines, twenty rounds each. I have more pistol rounds on me, but loading those in will take time." Ichika replied.
"Damn. Not much." Tatenashi said.
The helicopter was getting louder now, and as he peeked out of the hangar he saw it in the distance.
"What do we do?" Tatenashi asked. Ichika looked around, and breathed a sigh of relief. The forest was close, and the hangar was between them and the approaching helicopter.
"On my mark, we run for the forest." He said.
"Roger."
"Let's go!"
With that, they sprinted towards the safety of the treeline, their armored feet clattering over the tarmac, then thumping against the grass before they finally entered the forest. They kept running for a few more moments before Ichika paused and looked back.
The helicopter was closer now, and was starting to pass over the runway. It slowed to a hover in front of the terminal, before its rear doors opened and soldiers began to exit, sliding to the ground on a provided cable. Several entered the terminal, while others began searching outside. Its cargo unloaded, the helicopter ascended and began circling above the airport, an underslung floodlight illuminating the area.
"Ichika, let's go!" Tatenashi urged, and he began to move once more.
Soon the airport was no longer visible through the treeline, and the two of them stopped to breathe a sigh of relief.
"Whew... We made it out." Tatenashi sighed.
"I never want to see that place again." Ichika said.
"A-" Tatenashi was cut off as another helicopter made its presence known ahead of them. The two of them dropped to the ground before crawling into some nearby bushes.
"Damn, did they find us?" Tatenashi exclaimed.
Ichika did not respond, instead listening for the helicopter. It came closer and closer, and he could see a floodlight illuminating the forest ahead of them, before suddenly coming to a hover.
"It's dropping troops..." Tatenashi whispered, as the glow of flashlights could be seen in the distance.
"Get ready, but don't shoot." Ichika replied, slowly drawing his weapon and taking aim.
The enemy soldiers were just a hundred meters away, standing in the middle of what Ichika recognized as a road. Once the last one dropped, the helicopter departed, flying overhead and briefly illuminating their hiding place before it moved on, seemingly oblivious.
Ichika heard Tatenashi let out a soft sigh of relief. His own was tempered somewhat by the Russian shouting up ahead, too distant to make out the words but close enough to be an imminent threat.
"How do we get past them?" Tatenashi whispered.
"If we do, we'll have to do it soon, before the sun goes up again." Ichika replied. There was enough foliage around them that they could close the distance to the road in relative safety, especially if the soldiers were using flashlights and lacked night vision equipment. However, once they reached the road, it would be a sprint across it, and the noise of power-armored boots against solid asphalt would give their position away immediately to anyone in earshot.
Suddenly, there was a shout from up ahead, and he saw the flashlight-holding figures come together. There was some rapid speech, before the group headed into the forest, towards them.
"Shit!" Ichika cursed, willing his body to be as still as humanly possible. Tatenashi did the same, and they both crouched together beneath the foliage that was their only protection.
"Move, now! We need to set up a cordon before they can escape from the airport!" He caught the words as the squad rushed past them, sprinting in the direction of the airport.
"Looks like they found out we were there... You were right. If we'd stayed in the terminal, they'd have gotten us." Tatenashi whispered once the soldiers passed.
"We got lucky. Now's our chance." Ichika replied.
"Right."
With that, the two of them slowly rose from their cover and, keeping low to the ground, began to move towards the now-dark road. Upon reaching it, they crawled across as fast as they could, knowing that loud noise could mean the soldiers' return, while the longer they stayed out in the open, the greater the chance a helicopter could spot them.
It felt like a small eternity before they reached the safety of the treeline once more. With the helicopters and soldiers behind them for the moment they broke into a sprint, desperate to put the search parties as far behind them as possible.
They continued their walk for quite some time, with no clear destination save for a desire to get as far away from where they knew the Russians were combing every inch of forest.
When the sound of helicopter rotors could no longer be heard, they finally sat down, leaning against a tree as the aftereffects of the night's adrenaline rush finally hit them. Hungry, thirsty and exhausted, they welcomed this chance to sit down and eat.
"Ichika..." Tatenashi said after a few minutes, broken only by the crunching of potato chips.
"Hm?" Ichika replied.
"They nearly got us back there." The blue-haired girl said, her voice soft.
"Yeah..." Ichika breathed. They had gotten lucky once, and he did not trust random chance to be so kind again.
For a moment neither of them spoke, before Tatenashi broke the silence.
"Listen, Ichika, there's..." She paused.
"What is it?" Ichika asked.
"I... I have something I need to tell you, and... And I don't know if I'll ever get the chance to tell you this again, or if you'll ever have the chance to hear it."
"What is it?" Ichika asked again.
"It's a long story... I guess now that I can tell it, I've got to find a place to start." Tatenashi replied as she gathered up her spent wrappers. No sense leaving behind a trail.
"We've got plenty of time." Ichika replied, doing the same before standing up.
They walked for a few minutes before Tatenashi continued.
"Ichika... What do you know about my family?" She finally asked.
"They were devoted to fighting Phantom Task, right?" Ichika replied.
"True... It's far from the full story though." Tatenashi said.
Ichika did not respond beyond looking over at her.
"You see, my great-grandmother... Well, there's no other way to put it. She was Phantom Task." She finally said.
"What happened to her?" Ichika asked.
"She defected, and probably saved the world by doing so. If... If it hadn't been for her choosing humanity over personal power and glory, the world would have ended in nuclear fire on September 26th, 1983." Tatenashi said.
"What... What do you mean?" Ichika asked, only half-realizing that he'd frozen mid-step.
"On that day, Phantom Task came within an inch of achieving its goal of razing the established nations of the world to the ground so that they could rule over the ashes. My great-grandmother was able to alert a man named Stanislav Petrov that Phantom Task sabotage was about to produce false alarms indicating an American mass nuclear launch. He was able to relay the warning to his superiors and a Soviet nuclear launch, which would have triggered an American response, was just narrowly avoided. The infiltrators that caused the malfunction were hunted down and killed, and Phantom Task was forced to lay low." Tatenashi explained.
"I see... So how did she get from Russia to Japan?" Ichika asked, his mind whirling with the knowledge of just how close the world had gotten to annihilation.
"The Cold War ended, the Soviet Union collapsed, and she left Russia with her husband. From there on out, she founded a half-family, half-mafia tasked with the singular purpose of stopping Phantom Task." Tatenashi sighed as she finished speaking.
"Looking back at it all now, we didn't do very much. Too small in scope, not enough resources or people... In the end, nothing my family did mattered." She said.
"They saved the world, and bought enough time for us to save it again. This time, hopefully for good." Ichika replied.
"I hope so..." Tatenashi said.
They walked on for a while, before a thought struck Ichika.
"You said that Phantom Task wanted to trigger a nuclear war, and we both know that there is some Phantom Task involvement in East Russia. Why didn't they arrange for the East Russians to launch after they gave their ultimatum?" He wondered aloud.
"That's a good question..." Tatenashi mused.
"Maybe they couldn't do it?" Ichika wondered.
"They definitely are able to organize a false flag operation, and depending on how trigger-happy the Russians are, it would have a good chance of working, although..." Tatenashi trailed off.
"Come to think of it, the East Russian nuclear arsenal is a lot smaller than that of the Soviet Union, and ballistic missiles are no longer the unstoppable superweapons they once were." She said.
"True. Lasers, orbital platforms, and proliferation of antiballistic missile systems means that even if they did launch, a huge chunk of their missiles probably wouldn't make it through. Certainly not enough to destroy a nation like Japan or the US. Definitely won't be enough to kick off a full-scale global war where nothing is left standing." Ichika replied.
"Damn... I was hoping you'd have a counterpoint." Tatenashi said.
"What do you mean?"
"Well, if I had reason to believe they could achieve their goal of global nuclear war via East Russia, then I'd have reason to believe that we might be in a position to preempt another attempt." Tatenashi said.
"But it doesn't look like it, does it?" Ichika asked.
"No, it doesn't and that is what has me worried. If they're not going to try and execute their plan via the East Russian nuclear arsenal despite having it so close at hand, then what are they planning to use?" Tatenashi asked.
To that, Ichika had no answer.
They walked in silence for a few more minutes before Ichika asked another question.
"What family was your great-grandmother from? Chifuyu told me that it was made up of old aristocracy, or at least people who claimed to be." He said.
Tatenashi chuckled at that.
"Orimura, actually." She said.
"Wait, really?" Ichika gasped.
"Yeah. She was from a branch family though, not the main one like you, so we're not particularly close... I guess that means I have to call you goshujin-sama from here on out!" Tatenashi giggled.
"Please don't..." Ichika sighed.
"Oh, and if you were wondering, she was also a test subject in some of the first hereditary enhancement experiments. That's where the hair and eyes come from." Tatenashi replied.
"I was wondering about that, actually. At first I thought you wore contacts and dyed your hair, but I never saw you do anything with it..." Ichika muttered, and Tatenashi giggled.
"Yeah, it's a convenient excuse."
"So, is there anything else you got out of it?"
"Nope. Just the hair and eyes, as far as I'm aware."
"Ah..." Ichika trailed off.
"So, what was her name?" He asked.
"Sarashiki Tatenashi... Or at least, that was the name she took on after her defection. It's the name the family knew her by." Tatenashi replied.
"That's quite the person to be named after." Ichika said.
"It's... It's tradition. Whenever a woman ascended to the position of family head, she would take on the name. I... I took it on when there was nobody else who could." Tatenashi's voice grew quiet.
"I'm sorry." Ichika said.
"It's alright..." Tatenashi sighed.
She was quiet for a few moments before removing her helmet and speaking again.
"But... It wasn't always my name, and at times I feel... I feel like it doesn't belong to me." Her voice was soft.
"Ichika... I haven't told this to anyone else. If... If I don't make it out alive, I want you to at least remember me by the name my mother gave me."
"What... What did she name you?" Ichika asked.
"Katana." She replied.
"Katana?" Ichika repeated.
"Yes. When it's just the two of us... Please use it. Even if I'm Tatenashi now, it... It would make me so happy to hear it." She whispered.
"Alright... Katana." Ichika said.
"Thank you." She smiled, and reached over to give him a quick hug.
Then she donned her helmet once more and nodded.
"Lead on, Ichika. I want to hear you say that name once more, once we're out of danger." She said.
"It's a promise." He replied, and with that the two of them continued on their walk through the Russian wilderness.
Hours passed, and the sun moved across the sky. On four separate occasions they had helicopters pass overhead, thankfully delivering their troops to an area far behind them. At one point, Ichika swore that as soon as he returned home, he would ensure that a thousand trees were planted as a gesture of thanks to the ones that had protected him and Tatenashi from the eyes of patrolling Russians.
It seemed as though the threat was well behind them, although they kept their eyes open for movement nonetheless.
The silence was broken by the sound of jet engines overhead, and Ichika looked up through the trees to see a pair of fighters fly overhead.
"What was that?" Tatenashi asked.
"Fighters. MiG-31s I think, probably flying out of the nearby airbase at Sovetskaya Gavan." Ichika replied.
"Can they find us?" She asked.
"Probably not, although... It might make rescue difficult." Ichika muttered.
"Well, not like there's much we can do about it. Not without our IS suits." Tatenashi sighed.
"Yeah. Might as well just keep on going." Ichika replied.
"Wait, did you see that?" Tatenashi asked.
"What-" His eyes caught a flash of movement in a nearby bush, and he turned just in time to see a rifle-toting man in a ghillie suit practically materialize out of it.
"Hands in the air and guns on the ground." The man growled in Russian.
Ichika, caught with his submachine gun half-raised, eyed the man's rifle with trepidation. It was easily big enough to go clean through his armor, especially at such close range.
"You have three seconds, or I shoot. Hands up, weapons down." The man repeated himself.
"Three... Two-" Ichika let go of his gun and raised his hands, his choice having been made for him. Tatenashi did the same.
"Step back. Three steps, no sudden movements." The man said, standing up out of the bush where he had been hiding.
Reluctantly, the two of them complied.
"Artyom, get over here." The man muttered into a radio, keeping his voice low.
A few moments later, another man, wearing an identical suit and holding a similar gun, came out of the bush.
"What the hell is this?" He asked, keeping his voice down.
"I don't know, but they found us. Now, mind helping me disarm them?" The first man replied.
"Right."
The first man kept his gun trained on them, while Artyom approached, picking their dropped guns off the ground, then moving over to remove Ichika's holstered pistol and every visible magazine on either of their persons.
"Helmets off." Artyom ordered once the weapons were collected. Two more men had arrived on the scene in that time, and with so many guns trained on them, they had no choice but to comply.
"What the-?" Artyom evidently couldn't suppress a shocked exclamation at the sight of their faces.
"Who are-" The first man began, only for another to cut him off.
"You. What's an IS thief like you doing here?" He demanded, walking up to Tatenashi. The girl in question raised an eyebrow at that question. The question itself was unexpected.
"I stole nothing." She said.
"Answer my question. What the hell is someone like you doing here?"
"You mean you don't already know? I'd imagine your superiors would have at least briefed you." Tatenashi replied.
The man replied by leveling a pistol at Ichika.
"I am in no mood for games. Answer my question, or I shoot. What the hell are you doing here?" He demanded.
"Saving my sister. The same sister you communists took hostage to try and extort me like the criminals that you are." Tatenashi replied, and Ichika felt a brief pang of fear at the insult. If the man had an itchy trigger finger...
In response, the man lowered his weapon.
"You two will come with us. Kolya, Vanya, you're on watch duty. Artyom, keep them covered while I make sense of this mess." He said.
"Yes!" The men chorused, keeping their voices low. Artyom took up position behind them, and with some prodding from his rifle, the four of them began to move.
Ichika took the moment to try and figure out what was going on. Tatenashi seemed to be struggling to hide her own confusion at the situation as well. Unless they had someone else hidden nearby with a radio, then they had yet to report their capture to headquarters. Come to think of it, they'd seemed surprised to see that they were IS Academy pilots. Wouldn't all DRR forces in the area already be aware of who they were tasked with finding?
Ichika's thoughts were interrupted as the man in front of them stopped. It took him a moment to realize that he had stopped beside what looked to be a vehicle of some sort, rather than a particularly mossy rock.
The man called out several random words, most likely a passphrase, and the rear of the vehicle opened.
"Zhenya? You're back early... And you've brought guests, it seems." The man said, noticing Ichika and Tatenashi.
"Danila, mind helping me make sense of this?" The now-named Zhenya, who seemed to be the leader of the group, asked, gesturing at Ichika and Tatenashi with his pistol.
Ichika had spent the past few moments studying the vehicle in an attempt to identify it. The sight of a plasma cannon, barely visible beneath concealing vegetation draped over it, confirmed it as a BMD-5 but it had two large cylinders attached to its sides that were clearly not standard. He was trying to determine their purpose when the gesture made him snap his attention back to the two conversing men.
"Looks like you found two kids in power armor. Are you going to feed them so they follow you home?" Danila asked.
"Not now. They're IS Academy students. No idea what they're doing here, but they're our problem now."
At those words, everything suddenly clicked for Ichika.
"Wait, are you not DRR?" He asked.
"Did they mistake you for a communist?" Danila laughed.
"More like Kolya mistook them for communists." Zhenya sighed.
"Well, we can't exactly let them go now, can we?" Danila said.
"My thoughts exactly." Zhenya said.
Was this really how their escape was going to end? Killed for being in the wrong place at the wrong time, and not even by the Russians hunting for them? An insane plan began to form in Ichika's head, and before either man could continue he spoke.
"Those are ballast tanks on the side of your vehicle, right? That means you came here by submarine." He blurted out, half-guessing.
"What of it-"
"Danila! Quiet!" Zhenya growled.
"It was a Medusa, wasn't it? The only Medusa the Russian Federation had. The DRR sunk it, you know. It was all over the news." Ichika continued, relief flooding him as his guess proved correct.
Zhenya's expression was unreadable beneath his suit, but Danila's brief expression of surprise confirmed his suspicion.
"That sub was also your way out, wasn't it? That thing doesn't have the range to make it back to your lines without recharging, I know that." Ichika spoke rapidly.
"Get to the point." Zhenya growled.
"We have the means to help you finish whatever mission you have and get out alive." Ichika finished.
For a few long moments nobody spoke, so Ichika pressed ahead.
"We can ensure that you all can return to Russia, mission complete, no strings attached."
"And I am willing to officially depart from my stated neutrality and align myself with your cause and country." Tatenashi added.
There was silence for a few more moments before Zhenya gave his response.
"I'm listening."
A/N: And that's a wrap! Quite a few things to comment on in this chapter, so let's get down to it.
Firstly, there was the initial debriefing scene. This was by far the hardest one to write, and I admit to taking a bit of a cop-out when I had the girls' AIs bully the one giving the briefing into submission. The issue was that I couldn't think of a satisfying conversation, that also conveyed the relevant information in a natural manner, and even what I ended up going with only ticked the latter two boxes in my mind.
Still, the main purpose of that scene was to lead into Kanzashi's private debriefing with Andrew, which served to both tell her side of the story and shed some light on the situation from a perspective that Ichika and Tatenashi would naturally lack access to. Finally, it revealed the larger operation I mentioned in the previous chapter, namely an international punitive operation.
This was immediately followed by a quick scene of Kanzashi and the rest of the STS-01 girls (still can't quite figure out a good name for the group that flows off the tongue), which among other things gives a bit of an insight into why the two girls were initially so at odds with one another.
Of course, once that was done we go over to Russia. First we had Ichika and Tatenashi reunite, and then the Degtaryev scene. He's turning out to be an interesting new character to write, although his role in the story will remain relatively minor unless/until a good moment comes along. For now though, he's just our PoV character for the East Russian side of things.
Once that was out of the way, it was time for a nice, relaxing hike through the woods with Ichika and Tatenashi. For those of you who want to plot their course in your favorite online map software, they initially went down somewhere around 48.89 degrees North, 140.07 degrees East, in the area encircled by the airport, Gatka and the river. After reuniting they headed northwest, with Ichika attempting to circle around the airport. He cut it too close, however, and they emerged at the western end of the runway. Note that in AO, this airport has received major renovations, with a large concourse/terminal near the runway and proper hangars instead of what look like concrete pads. Many of the trees in the vicinity were also cleared, leaving the area completely open. They then proceeded into the terminal, which I imagined to be located between the east and west concrete pad clusters, before heading to the western pad cluster where they spent the night. This airport scene was quite fun to write, since it was a bit of a departure from my normal work as I tried to really focus on the atmosphere there.
Upon being woken up, they ran for the forest before heading north and crossing a road (paved, compared to the dirt path that currently stands there) at around 48.93 degrees north, 140.02 degrees east. My reasoning for why they managed to so narrowly escape the Russian troops was that the troops ahead of them were just told that the troops at the airport had discovered recent signs of human activity there. Knowing that they couldn't cordon off the entire area by themselves, the soldiers at the road promptly moved in to help search the airport, passing Ichika and Tatenashi by in the process. I wanted to originally have Ichika overhear this, but then realized that at the distance I had him he wouldn't be able to make anything out without significant risk of being spotted. I tried to imply this nonetheless, but I'll admit that it wasn't particularly well conveyed which is why I'm mentioning it here.0
From there on out they headed north after slipping the attempted cordon and were eventually taken prisoner at around 49.01 N, 140.05 E. First, however, I want to touch briefly on the conversation they had. For the sake of clarity, I'm going to keep referring to Tatenashi as Tatenashi from here on out, and I tried to imply that in-universe with dialogue. Katana is Tatenashi's birth name canonically, by the way, and it will be used only in private. The jury's still out on Goshujin-sama though. There was also the in-universe revelation of the September 1983 Incident to Ichika. Since you all already knew this, I tried to make this reveal a bit more focused on the First Tatenashi and her specific actions, as well as on the origins of the Sarashiki family, rather than on the nuclear near-miss itself. Also, I would like to state that to the discerning and thinking reader, all the information needed to figure out what Coronation is and how it will be executed has been revealed as of the previous chapter. I will keep the real answer close to my chest though until it is time to start revealing it directly, and will neither confirm nor deny any guesses unless I feel like it.
Finally there was the scene where they were taken captive. Originally, this was meant to be THE way they got out, but after I began fleshing out the second Organization rescue attempt in my outline, I decided to tweak the scene a bit. I also toyed with the idea of perhaps replacing the Russian Federation Spetsnaz with some anti-revolution partisans who survived the airport massacre, but ultimately rejected it.
I hope you all like how this chapter has progressed, because it was quite fun writing it. I hope you're all enjoying the story thus far.