Soldier's Forge Chapter 15, a sakura wars fanfic

------------------

Soldier's Forge, Chapter 15:

Kanna watched the water intently, stalking her prey expertly. She was knee deep in the stream, and was catching fish by hand. Sensing movement next to her, she darted out at lightning speed and captured it easily.

Tossing it into a pile, she waded back up to shore and collected her catch. They had managed to escape from Kanzaki Industries and return safely, although the fates of those that helped them were unknown. She hoped that CEO Kanzaki and his crew managed to escape to safety. Although she would never tell Sumire, if something happened to him she would feel responsible.

She returned to the small house to find Orihime helping Maria clean clothes. Kohran had unloaded the equipment onto the front porch, which included power generators, racks of devices of which Kanna could not fathom their function, and lab equipment.

"I'll do lunch. Anyone want to guess what it is?" joked Kanna. The others grumbled slightly, with the exception of Kohran who was engrossed in picking apart the data she received.

Kanna shrugged and proceeded to skin and cook the fish. When lunch rolled around, everyone was eager for a break, including Kohran with a little convincing.

"Any progress Kohran?" asked Maria.

"Lots. You'd better take a look at this." Kohran tapped a few keys with her chopsticks and a screen lit up. "Here we have your standard logs, reports, and forms. I had to sift through this to find anything useful. These…are requisition forms for parts and supplies. They all have pickup addresses that belong to Tatsumaki warehouses and storage facilities, which basically confirms CEO Kanzaki's hypothesis."

"That's very good, Kohran, but I don't see how it helps," said Orihime.

"It doesn't do much by itself, but this piece caught me by surprise. There was one form that specified the pickup of cargo, classified unknown. The only indication of it was the name: Project Pariah. It's scheduled to be received and transported tonight."

"Where is it at, and where is it going?" asked Maria.

"The address locates it some distance from here, about a two hour drive. It's not matching anything in the database—it could be a warehouse, or a military base for all I know. As to where it's going—this is even more disturbing. The army has mobilized a sizable portion of its troops to a western bank. The Navy is also gathering at that location. It doesn't look good."

Maria paled. "The only reason that I can think of a large scale mobilization is if they were going to be transported, but that would mean it's for…"

"Right. Invasion." The word hovered around them for several seconds, each trying to fathom the meaning.

"Kohran…what are the most likely places they will land?" asked Maria with trepidation.

"The maps show projected troop deployment in the Phillapines, East Indies, Guam, and Manchuria."

"How long…do we have?" asked Kanna.

"Two days—maybe less."

"We have to stop them—at all costs," vowed Maria. "If we do not, the unprovoked aggression will lead to war, and atrocities will follow it. I—I've seen what happens in war."

"What can we do to stop them? We don't have our Koubu—we don't even have support," said Orihime.

"I don't care how! Do you really want mass killings of civilians? Torture? Rape? It's not an option!" yelled Maria. The others sat in stunned silence before Kanna spoke up.

"I'm sorry—you're right, we don't understand. And I hope we never have to. We'll do what we can. I only hope it's enough."

"I apologize for…for my words. It is a bitter memory. Kohran, what can we do?"

"According to orders, the military is to wait for the arrival of Pariah. If we can delay shipment on that, then Maria can try to contact Count Hanakoji. I think we have sufficient evidence to at least alert the international community as to what is happening."

"Alright. Everyone, gear up. We're moving out in thirty minutes. Gather all weapons and supplies. We don't have much time."

"What's the plan, squad leader?" asked Kanna.

"We'll find out when we get there. Until then, we have to be prepared for anything."

Kanna sighed while Kohran and Orihime went to load the van.

"Think we'll survive this one, old friend?"

"I hate that question. I've gotten far enough ignoring it," replied Maria.

"Yeah, I guess in our line of work we gotta do that." Kanna placed a hand on Maria's shoulder. "With a squad leader like you, we'll do fine."

"Thanks." Maria headed off to work on making ammunition for her revolver, while Kanna began packing her combat gear.

* * *

Sumire scrambled up the hill, trying to verify what she had heard.

"It's not possible—I won't believe it!" she repeated to herself. When she crested the hill, her heart sank and she fell to her knees. Before her were the ruins of Kanzaki Industries' main base.

Shards of debris lay everywhere, and although it was empty and deserted, she could hear the sounds of fighting, the explosions, and the gunfire in her mind. The power plants were gone, most of the buildings were collapsed, and ashes were strewn everywhere.

"Father…mother…" she said softly. Everything they had worked for seemed in shambles. Now, without family and friends, Sumire truly felt alone.

A soft breeze blew past her as she sat there staring, wondering what her future would be. A scraping sound from behind alerted her, but she made no movement. She did not care if it was the military—she had nothing to live for now.

"Did you…work here?" said Li.

Sumire made no movement, but sat with her knees up to her chest.

"Well, if you don't want to talk that's okay." The head tech gazed at the facilities he once worked at. "I never thought that Kanzaki Industries would fall. They did put up a hell of a fight, though."

Sumire looked up at the middle-aged man. He was dressed in a lab coat, but it was torn and showed signs of wear, as if from combat.

"I'm sorry. Let me introduce myself—I am Jiang Li, recently head technician for Kanzaki Industries, Research and Development division."

"What…what happened here?" asked Sumire softly.

"I guess you didn't work here, then. The army got tired of us refusing to support them after martial law was declared. They attacked."

"Why didn't you surrender?"

Li paced for a moment before resuming. "I guess they made it to safety, so it wouldn't hurt to tell you. Besides, you don't look like someone involved in the military. We were protecting people that needed to escape. You see, we've worked with them a long time, and they needed our help, because the army got to them too. I hope they're safe—they're the only ones that can maybe put a stop to this madness."

"Who was it you were helping?" questioned Sumire hopefully.

"Hmm…let's see if I can remember—there was a Maria Tachibana, someone named Soletta Orihime, a—"

"—Kanna Kirishina, Kohran Li, and Ichirou Oogami." Sumire stood excitedly. "Are they alright?"

"I didn't see anyone by that last one—but the others you mentioned were there. Do you know them or something?"

"Ensign…" she said softly. "Yes—yes I do. I've got to go see them. Take me to them."

"Hold it, hold it. I guess I didn't tell you, but we don't know where they went. All we knew was that we had to see them off safely and undetected."

"No! You have to tell me exactly what happened here, please!"

"Alright, why don't you come back with me? A bunch of us ex-Kanzaki employees are holed up in a small distribution building the army left behind. I can tell you on the story on the way back. And your name is?"

"Sumire—Sumire Kanzaki."

The tech gaped in shock for several moments before getting a hold of himself.

"You…you're Kanzaki's daughter? I'm sorry, madam—I did not recognize you." He bowed deeply.

"Don't worry about that right now. Let's just go—we don't have time to waste."

"Understood, Miss Kanzaki."

"By the way, are you related to a Kohran Li?"

"Haven't heard of her, but I have many relatives I haven't heard of in a long time. It might be possible."

Sumire nodded as she jumped into a truck. It was now time to find her friends and family, and to rebuild what had been wrongfully taken—time for the 'top star' to shine once again.

* * *

"Stop here, maybe we can find directions," said Maria. Orihime brought the vehicle to a halt at the edge of a small village. They had been driving for about an hour outside of town, following the directions Kohran gave them, but they needed more detail.

"Funny, there doesn't seem to be anyone around," commented Kohran as they drove through the center. Shops were left unattended, vehicles were dormant, and no sounds were to be heard other than the barking of a stray dog.

"Orihime, head over to that store over there. Maybe we can get some answers," ordered Maria. Orihime drove up the front and parked the van.

"Something's wrong—the scent in the air isn't right for a town like this," said Kanna as she exited.

"Is it locked?" wondered Orihime as she stood at the door. Kanna shrugged and tried the handle. Surprisingly, the door swung open to reveal a well-kept general store. The shelves were not tampered with, and even the register showed no sign of robbery. A half eaten plate of food lay on the table. It was as if everyone just vanished.

"Maybe they fled—but from what?" puzzled Kohran.

"We'll have to wait to find out, I suppose." Maria walked over to the counter and picked up a map. "Kohran, look at this. Is this where the place is?"

A small section of the map off the main road was circled.

"From the address, it would seem like it. There's only one way to find out."

Maria folded the map and pocketed it.

"Back onto the road then. Let's go."

Kanna and Orihime exited with hands full of snacks and other pilfered goods.

"We'll pay for it when we get back," said Kanna. Kohran rolled her eyes as they piled back into the van.

Following the map eventually took them to a small road barely visible from the highway. The trail led into a heavily wooded area and continued for a while before breaking out into a clearing.

"Orihime, slow down. Kanna, do you see that up ahead?" asked Maria.

"Yeah, looks like some kind of complex."

"Orihime, get us off the road. We'll approach from the wooded side so we can get a closer look. Move slowly."

Orihime complied, and soon they were sitting behind a hill overlooking the building. Maria peered through a pair of binoculars, surveying the scene.

"There's a small hangar next to the main complex—it looks like it houses a small garrison. The main building is over there, next to the communications tower. That perimeter fence is going to stop us from getting in, not to mention the patrols."

"Let me take a look, Maria," said Kohran. Maria handed her the pair of binoculars. "This place is some kind of lab—the power plant is of a high output class, usually used for priority research."

"How are we going to get in?" asked Orihime.

"Definitely not by posing as archeologists this time," replied Maria.

"Well I'll be! You should be so lucky to get creative talents like me with you. I'll come up with something better this time," said Orihime grinning.

"Why don't I monitor the communications traffic? The van has the equipment for that—maybe something will come up," added Kohran.

"I'll scout the woods around here. There might be another entrance we can use," contributed Kanna.

"Sounds good. I'll stay and keep watch here. Report to me anything out of place, and be careful. We don't want to be detected," said Maria. The team dispersed to work at their tasks while Maria knelt in the foliage.

After about forty minutes, Kohran slid beside Maria quickly.

"I think we have a chance. There's a shipment of clothing and other goods coming here by a truck. It's due to arrive in about thirty minutes. If we can get onto that—"

"—we can get in. That's good news. Did you get anything else about this place?"

"Nope—most of its transmissions are encrypted. There are a few low security messages passed back and forth occasionally, though. We're lucky we managed to snag this one."

"Call the others back. We'll drop back out of their sight and ambush the truck."

Maria and the others gathered in the van and drove back away from the base. After a comfortable distance, they stopped at the side of the road and made preparations.

"Why do I have to do this again?" wailed Orihime.

"Because, darling, your beauty is something that men cannot resist," snickered Kanna. Orihime stood at the side of the road looking helpless, not to mention scantily dressed. She shuddered at the memory of how they acquired the other vehicle—it was much of the same deal.

"I swear, this is all Ensign's fault some way or another. Since he's not around, the blame falls to you, squad leader," Orihime told Maria.

"We can both give him a good beating when we get back. I find him partially responsible for my brown hair—although I still haven't forgotten you, Kohran."

"Waah! That's not fair—I'll just have to come up with something to pin on Oogami. That'll make it right."

The exchange raised the spirits of the team as each let out soft chuckles. Soon, the sound of a large truck filled the distance. Orihime jumped out to the middle of the road and began waving her arms. As it neared, the driver pulled the truck to a stop.

"Thank goodness you stopped!" said Orihime gratefully. "My van broke down and I haven't been able to get it working. Could you maybe—help me out?" She batted her eyelashes provocatively.

"Um, no problem. You must have gotten on the wrong street—people usually don't go down this way," commented the driver as he jumped off the cab and began hiking towards the van.

"I can't tell you how grateful I am for your help. I've been out here for so long…and I don't have any way of repaying you," blubbered Orihime.

"Oh, don't worry about that," replied the driver as he appraised her from head to toe. He took a gulp and bent over to look at the engine.

"Hmm…I can't see anything wrong here. Could you—"

Kanna pounced on the man from the other side and subdued him quickly. She tied him and gagged him, then proceeded to remove his clothes. After dumping him in a ditch, she emerged wearing the jumpsuit of a truck driver.

"A little small, but it'll do," she said.

A bored checkpoint guard sat idle in his booth, quietly thumbing through a magazine. The roar of a large truck, followed by the squeal of brakes finally led him to get up. He made his way to the driver's side window and peered in.

"Name and designation," he asked in a monotonous tone, as if he had done this several times before.

"Takeheshi, cargo number 46574. We were scheduled to deliver these supplies today," she replied.

The guard looked inside with surprise.

"That's funny, what happened to Iori?"

"He was…um, sick today. I'm filling in for him temporarily," answered Kanna.

The checkpoint guard glanced at Kanna for a second, and then decided that it wasn't worth his time to investigate further. He walked back lazily to the booth and flipped a switch, which opened the fence gate. Plopping back down on his chair, he waved them through and returned to his magazine. Kanna breathed a sigh of relief and took the truck into the complex, following the path before her.

Pulling up to the loading docks, she jumped out to greet a supervisor on the scene.

"Get the stuff unloaded. You know the routine," he said simply before turning around and heading back inside. Kanna walked around the back, glanced around for witnesses, and then flung open the door.

"Coast is clear," she whispered. Out of several boxes and carts of laundry, Maria and the others emerged. Kanna led them inside where they ducked quickly into the first available closet.

"Well, we're inside," said Orihime. "A closet, that is. What now?"

"We need to find where they're keeping Project Pariah. Kohran, we need a layout of the installation."

"Don't look at me, I know just as much as you do. Find me a computer terminal and we'll talk."

"Kanna, you seem dressed for the occasion. Why don't you spend some time walking about? They won't stop you if you look like you've got something to do," said Maria.

"Gotcha."

Kanna slipped out of the closet and peered around the hallways. The complex seemed like most other office buildings, and was sparsely populated. As she roamed the halls, she passed by several employees, but they seemed preoccupied and most did not even acknowledge her. A few nodded as she passed. Kanna noted at the end of certain hallways were glass partitions with a keypad next to it—areas of high security. As she moved down the corridors, she tried each doorknob, peeking into the rooms if they were unlocked and apologizing if it was occupied, citing an error on her part. At last, she found an empty room with a kiosk in it.

Maria waited anxiously before she Kanna slipped back into the closet.

"There's a room here with a small computer. There also seems to be a part of the building that we won't be able to get to without proper authorization."

"Is it safe for us to go?" asked Maria.

"Not yet. It seems the uniform of the place matches some of the stuff in the truck. I'll go grab some."

Kanna exited the closet once again and returned back to the truck. Pulling open a box, she rummaged until she found three appropriately sized uniforms. On her way back, she ran into her supervisor.

"I thought break time was over a long time ago. Did you get the stuff moved?"

"Um…still working on it."

"Still not done? What's with you? And why are you carrying that?" asked the supervisor.

"Er…something was up with the shipment. It broke, and I need some help patching stuff up. Why don't I show you?" The supervisor shrugged in exasperation and then followed Kanna to the back of the loading docks.

"What's this? I thought you said the shipment broke?" he said in confusion as he rummaged inside the truck. Kanna stealthily crept behind him and struck him in the side of the head, knocking the supervisor unconscious. The supervisor slumped to the floor.

Quickly gagging and tying him up, Kanna shut the truck's cargo door and locked it. She marched back to the closet, jumpsuits in hand.

"What took you?" asked Maria.

"Ran into some old friends," replied Kanna as she handed each of them the uniforms. The three girls donned them quickly.

"Alright, follow me." Leading the way, Kanna and company walked purposefully to the room with the kiosk. No one seemed to question them, as if it were routine. Checking for visitors, they collected in the room and locked the door.

"Ok Kohran, do your thing," said Maria. Kohran nodded and jumped onto the terminal. She began typing rapidly.

"Here's a map of the place," she said as it popped onto the screen. Scrolling around, a small indicator lit up. "We're here. Where do we want to go?"

"Do a search for Project Pariah. We'll want to go there."

"Got it. It'll take a second." Entries on the screen scrolled by quickly while Kohran evaluated them. "Main lab, third floor, section 6B. That would be…here."

"That's beyond the security gate," commented Kanna.

"Can you bypass the gate?" questioned Maria.

"It looks to be relatively low security—common entry code. I guess because of the location they didn't expect intruders."

"Just what is this project we're looking for?" piped in Orihime.

"The information isn't accessible here—the security clearance on the terminal isn't high enough. We'll have to move deeper for that. We should go down this way, and take the stairs here—it looks to be the least populated."

Maria tapped Kohran on the shoulder. "Alright, let's go."

Creeping out into the hallway, the team walked nonchalantly to the security checkpoint Kohran pointed out. Glancing back and forth, Kohran pulled out an aerosol can from her small bag and sprayed the keypad. Fingerprints highlighted a four number sequence. Kohran frowned and pulled out the motion tracker, and set it to thermal imaging. Reading the device, she entered a sequence and breathed a sigh of relief when the led lit green.

"Whew—we're in," announced Kohran.

"It worked? Wow, that's a first, Kohran," jibed Kanna.

The hallway started to look more like it belonged to a lab rather than an office space. Signs on several doors indicated dangers upon entry, be it radiation or lasers. Refrigeration devices, emergency showers, and blast-proof cabinets lined the interior.

Reaching the end of the hallway, Kohran pushed open on a set of doors that led to stairs. Bounding up by twos, they traversed two floors and emerged in a hallway colored differently.

"It should be this way, around the corner," she said. Rounding the corner, they came upon a non-descript, gray door.

Giving the latch a try, Kanna was surprised when it clicked and the door swung open. Inside were the trappings of biological laboratories—petri dishes, flasks, fridges, and microscopes. Stepping inside, they were greeted by two scientists who looked occupied with their work.

One of them barely cast a glance at them before responding.

"I told them, cleaning isn't supposed to be done until tonight," he muttered. Maria prudently slid the door shut and locked it while Kanna approached him.

"Wait a minute, you aren't—"

Kanna knocked out the researcher quickly, while Kohran sprayed an anesthetic in the other one's face. Kanna then went to work securing the prisoners in the closet while Kohran tapped into their computer system.

"I'm surprised our luck held out this long," commented Orihime.

"We don't know what's in here, so don't touch anything," warned Kohran as she set about typing. She took her motion sensor, flipped it on, and tossed it to Orihime. "Use this to alert us to movement in the area."

Orihime nodded and sat on a stool, watching the readout carefully.

"Maria, I've got something on Pariah. The reports are here." Maria and the others crowded around Kohran as she pulled up the window and began reading the contents.

"Project Pariah, experimental weapons system for widespread elimination of undesirable agents. Abstract: Refinement of delivery systems and incubation medium has been tested to successfully allow widespread inoculation of subjects with a variety of airborne biological agents—my god…"

Kohran was shaking visibly, and her hand was clenched in anger.

"Damn it—damn it! It's a biological weapon!"

"I don't understand," said Orihime.

"What this means is they've developed a way to infect a large population with deadly diseases! The delivery system was always the problem, because the agents would be killed during the impact, but they found a way past it."

"What does this mean, Kohran? Why would they need this?" questioned Maria.

"No one needs something like this. There's only one purpose—to kill off a lot of people."

"That's—that's so cowardly!" commented Kanna.

"It kills anyone, right? Not just soldiers?" asked Orihime.

"Anyone. Women, children, and elderly included. It's a nondiscriminatory weapon."

"If the military wanted it delivered, then that means—" began Maria.

"They're going to deploy it—probably to depopulate the civilians first." Kohran shut her eyes and breathed slowly, trying to maintain some semblance of control. After a few moments, she continued to skim the report, scrolling rapidly.

"Tested—as in they captured 'subjects' from the nearby village to use. They're all dead, thankfully."

"We've got to destroy it—if we let the military get their hands on it…" said Maria.

"There's more it than that. We need to destroy everything—data, tests, and physical evidence. We can't let them do something like this again!"

"How are we going to do that? This place is has a garrison housed here—if we make a commotion, we'll be stopped cold," said Kanna.

"I need to get this data to Count Hanakoji. Is there a way I can do that from here?" added Maria.

"One moment," said Kohran. "Yes—the tower transmitter has international relays. I can collect the data for you to send to the Hana-Yashiki branch in America. I'll include all the evidence we've accumulated so far. As for this…place, I can set the power plant on an overload spiral, but I'll have to actually be there to get it started."

Kohran punched up some schematics on her screen. "The terminal to transmit is on the other side of the building, near the base of the tower. Once you get a transmission to the Count, we need to find the warhead and move it next to the power plant—if we don't, there's a chance that the explosion won't kill off all the agents."

"How long do we have until they transfer the warhead to the military?" asked Maria.

"They're due in about ten minutes."

"It's not enough time—we'll have to split up. Orihime, you're with me. We'll take care of the transmission. Kanna, you go with Kohran. Set the place to blow twenty minutes from now."

"How will we know if you've managed to get out?" asked Orihime.

"We'll be out of there as soon as we finish transmission. After this place is blown, meet by the van. Let's all make it back in one piece. Kohran," Maria said to her. "You need to blow the plant if you get the chance. Don't hesitate—millions of lives could be on the line."

"Maria…I—I understand."

Kohran set the computer to transfer data. When it finished, a data disk popped out of the drive.

"I put a macro on it. All you have to do is place it in the terminal's drive, and it'll automatically send a transmission to both Hana-Yashiki and Count Hanakoji. Orihime, keep the motion sensor; it'll come in handy."

"Good luck, you two. Kanna, keep her safe," said Maria.

"I expect to see you back soon, old friend," she replied.

Checking the motion sensor, Maria and Orihime slipped out the door and began a brisk walk down the hallway, leaving Kohran and Kanna in the room.

"Ok, where's the stuff?" asked Kanna.

"It's awaiting transport on the east side hangar, across from the main building."

"Well, what are we waiting for—let's go!"

"Yay. It's not like we're walking into certain death or anything," said Kohran sarcastically.