Jun walked into Hakase's office. He wasn't at his desk, so she went
into the lab through the door at the back of the office. Nambu was busy
looking at the latest results from his mantle research project. Since the
end of the war with Galactor, Hakase had gone back to research as much
as possible. He seemed happy with the results of the latest tests.
"Hakase," Jun paused as he looked up at her. "Hakase, I'm sorry to interrupt you. Remember you had asked about my research project?"
He nodded waiting for her to continue.
"Could I talk with you in private please? Something has come to my attention, and I need your help with it."
"Is it important? Or could it wait until later?"
"It is important Hakase. I have rounds later or I wouldn't be asking you now."
Nambu nodded and led Jun through the lab back into his office. He sat and waited for her to proceed.
Jun took some photographs and a flier from her briefcase and handed them to Nambu. They were surveillance photos of a large military airbase being built underground . Nambu's eyes widened at the implications of what he saw. He also studied the flier from a Huntworl airport.
"How did you get these?"
"They were mailed to me from Huntworl about two weeks after my web crawler program started going crazy."
"You made a web crawler program about Huntworl?" Hakase asked confused.
Jun looked away embarrassed.
"This will sound stupid. It sounds dumb even to me. Shortly after Red Impulse died I wrote a program looking for news articles about terrorist activities. I was looking for missions of the type that Red Impulse squad used to carry out." Jun paused looking nervous "I broke through some of the security files on Kentaro Washio and the Red Impulse squad. I created a profile of what their missions might look like in the media. I simply ran it then combing articles from all over."
Nambu interrupted.
"Why did you do this?" He seemed perplexed.
"I was foolishly hoping that we were all wrong. I know it was impossible. He had just defied the odds so many times. I hoped..." Jun left the rest unsaid. Hakase would only call her foolish.
"I forgot about it." She continued "It started turning up articles all over the place about Huntworl all the sudden."
Hakase nodded understanding.
"I foolishly hoped when Katse tricked us." He said softly "I didn't want to believe it either."
"Then what is all this Hakase? Why me of all people? I never knew Red Impulse well. I barely talked to him. He always went to you or Ken."
"Let me look and we'll see if we can't figure it out. Do you have anything else?"
Jun nodded affirmatively.
"Hakase, I received a card and photos in a sealed envelope. I saved the envelope. It had a Huntworl postmark. I'd like to try to see if I can lift any DNA from the envelope. The mailer might have sealed it. The odds are very low. But I'd like to try."
"Was there any message or anything else in the envelope?"
Jun shook her head no. "The message was a generic friendship card message. Nothing unusual at all."
"OK bring it here to the lab. We'll see what we can find."
She pulled out the envelope and card . She had already bagged them. "Hakase, I bagged them once I realized how important they were."
Hakase took the envelope intrigued. He loved nothing better than a puzzle to be solved.
"Let's go look then shall we."
Jun took several samples of the envelope along the glue line where the mailer would have sealed the envelope. Isolating and amplifying the DNA was almost instantaneous.
She ran the fragments through the profiler. Unbelievably there was actually something there to see. Luckily when sending the letter someone had sealed the envelope.
Hakase's pulled up a profile of both Kentaro's and Ken's DNA. If there was a match they would know in a few minutes. The computer ran both profiles looking for matching sequences. A few minutes later the computer beeped indicating the analysis was complete.
"Hakase!" Jun couldn't believe what she was seeing.
Nambu looked up from where he was working with the envelope. He had sprayed it with a resin to trap any clues the sender might have left behind.
He came over and looked at the results. The DNA profile was Kentaro's and definitely related to Ken. It matched perfectly. He stood their stunned for a minute.
"Hakase did you manage to get anything from the envelope?"
"Yes, there are a few skin flakes, hair and fingerprints to check." He ran tests against the profiles on the computer. Again they came back positive.
"Hakase this doesn't make sense. If this is Red Impulse, he would know how to send an envelope without leaving traces of himself everywhere."
"I agree. There are two possibilities. One: it's a trick though I can't explain why. Two: he wants to be found and is contacting you in the least visible way possible." Nambu walked away thinking to himself.
"We've been tricked before." Jun stated the obvious. "But with his own DNA and skin that would be hard to do."
Nambu nodded seeming to have reached a decision. He summoned Joe using the wrist communicators we all still wore.
"Joe, I need you in my office now."
"Hakase, is that really you?" Joe sounded surprised. It had been a long time since any of us had been summoned that way.
Jun waited knowing Nambu would not want to explain the mission twice. She had a feeling they were taking a trip to Huntworl.
Joe came charging into the office fifteen minutes later.
He looked at Jun curiously. Then he sat down next to her waiting for an explanation.
"It feels just like the old days." Joe said
"Just how much like the old days you have no idea." Jun thought wryly.
Nambu began briefing them.
"You and Jun will be going to Huntworl. You will be posing as husband and wife."
"What is this all about Hakase?" Joe asked. "Nothing good ever happened in Huntworl."
Nambu showed Joe the photos of the airbase that was being developed.
"Galactor?" Joe almost spit out as he looked at the photos.
"We don't know. We know Sosai is finally dead. What this might be we don't know. We have reason to believe it is a real threat. You and Jun are to find the base."
Nambu paused while Joe looked at the photos and digested the information before telling him the rest.
"You are also to help find the person we believe took the photos."
Joe looked at Nambu. There was something in his tone of voice that got his attention.
"You are to find Red Impulse if possible" he continued.
"What!?" Joe sputtered. "What are you talking about Hakase?"
Nambu continued. "We have reason to believe there is a possibility that Red Impulse is alive and hiding in Huntworl."
Joe shook his head in disbelief. Hakase wasn't one to believe such a thing on a whim.
"OK, then let's find rat bastard and bring him home."
The rat bastard came out automatically. It was Joe's name for Red Impulse. They all had adopted it over time.
Jun laughed. She hadn't heard "rat bastard" in a while. Joe almost made it sound like an endearment now.
"Joe! His name is not rat bastard! Do I make myself clear!?"
"Yes, Hakase." Joe mumbled sheepishly.
"Hakase, do we have permission to truss him up like a fowl if he gives us any trouble?" Joe asked innocently.
"I'll talk with you two tomorrow after I have made plans and gotten everything together." Nambu dismissed them.
Nambu looked up as they were leaving.
"Joe, if you think you can bring Red Impulse in here all trussed up, you have obviously forgotten a lesson or two he taught you in the past." Hakase stressed with a glimmer in his eyes.
Jun just laughed and added softly. "Now that is something I would pay to see."
Even Nambu laughed at that. "Get out of here both of you now." he exclaimed exasperated.
Before they left Jun had one question.
"Hakase, do we tell Ken?"
"No. not yet. Let's find out what is happening first."
"Hakase," Jun paused as he looked up at her. "Hakase, I'm sorry to interrupt you. Remember you had asked about my research project?"
He nodded waiting for her to continue.
"Could I talk with you in private please? Something has come to my attention, and I need your help with it."
"Is it important? Or could it wait until later?"
"It is important Hakase. I have rounds later or I wouldn't be asking you now."
Nambu nodded and led Jun through the lab back into his office. He sat and waited for her to proceed.
Jun took some photographs and a flier from her briefcase and handed them to Nambu. They were surveillance photos of a large military airbase being built underground . Nambu's eyes widened at the implications of what he saw. He also studied the flier from a Huntworl airport.
"How did you get these?"
"They were mailed to me from Huntworl about two weeks after my web crawler program started going crazy."
"You made a web crawler program about Huntworl?" Hakase asked confused.
Jun looked away embarrassed.
"This will sound stupid. It sounds dumb even to me. Shortly after Red Impulse died I wrote a program looking for news articles about terrorist activities. I was looking for missions of the type that Red Impulse squad used to carry out." Jun paused looking nervous "I broke through some of the security files on Kentaro Washio and the Red Impulse squad. I created a profile of what their missions might look like in the media. I simply ran it then combing articles from all over."
Nambu interrupted.
"Why did you do this?" He seemed perplexed.
"I was foolishly hoping that we were all wrong. I know it was impossible. He had just defied the odds so many times. I hoped..." Jun left the rest unsaid. Hakase would only call her foolish.
"I forgot about it." She continued "It started turning up articles all over the place about Huntworl all the sudden."
Hakase nodded understanding.
"I foolishly hoped when Katse tricked us." He said softly "I didn't want to believe it either."
"Then what is all this Hakase? Why me of all people? I never knew Red Impulse well. I barely talked to him. He always went to you or Ken."
"Let me look and we'll see if we can't figure it out. Do you have anything else?"
Jun nodded affirmatively.
"Hakase, I received a card and photos in a sealed envelope. I saved the envelope. It had a Huntworl postmark. I'd like to try to see if I can lift any DNA from the envelope. The mailer might have sealed it. The odds are very low. But I'd like to try."
"Was there any message or anything else in the envelope?"
Jun shook her head no. "The message was a generic friendship card message. Nothing unusual at all."
"OK bring it here to the lab. We'll see what we can find."
She pulled out the envelope and card . She had already bagged them. "Hakase, I bagged them once I realized how important they were."
Hakase took the envelope intrigued. He loved nothing better than a puzzle to be solved.
"Let's go look then shall we."
Jun took several samples of the envelope along the glue line where the mailer would have sealed the envelope. Isolating and amplifying the DNA was almost instantaneous.
She ran the fragments through the profiler. Unbelievably there was actually something there to see. Luckily when sending the letter someone had sealed the envelope.
Hakase's pulled up a profile of both Kentaro's and Ken's DNA. If there was a match they would know in a few minutes. The computer ran both profiles looking for matching sequences. A few minutes later the computer beeped indicating the analysis was complete.
"Hakase!" Jun couldn't believe what she was seeing.
Nambu looked up from where he was working with the envelope. He had sprayed it with a resin to trap any clues the sender might have left behind.
He came over and looked at the results. The DNA profile was Kentaro's and definitely related to Ken. It matched perfectly. He stood their stunned for a minute.
"Hakase did you manage to get anything from the envelope?"
"Yes, there are a few skin flakes, hair and fingerprints to check." He ran tests against the profiles on the computer. Again they came back positive.
"Hakase this doesn't make sense. If this is Red Impulse, he would know how to send an envelope without leaving traces of himself everywhere."
"I agree. There are two possibilities. One: it's a trick though I can't explain why. Two: he wants to be found and is contacting you in the least visible way possible." Nambu walked away thinking to himself.
"We've been tricked before." Jun stated the obvious. "But with his own DNA and skin that would be hard to do."
Nambu nodded seeming to have reached a decision. He summoned Joe using the wrist communicators we all still wore.
"Joe, I need you in my office now."
"Hakase, is that really you?" Joe sounded surprised. It had been a long time since any of us had been summoned that way.
Jun waited knowing Nambu would not want to explain the mission twice. She had a feeling they were taking a trip to Huntworl.
Joe came charging into the office fifteen minutes later.
He looked at Jun curiously. Then he sat down next to her waiting for an explanation.
"It feels just like the old days." Joe said
"Just how much like the old days you have no idea." Jun thought wryly.
Nambu began briefing them.
"You and Jun will be going to Huntworl. You will be posing as husband and wife."
"What is this all about Hakase?" Joe asked. "Nothing good ever happened in Huntworl."
Nambu showed Joe the photos of the airbase that was being developed.
"Galactor?" Joe almost spit out as he looked at the photos.
"We don't know. We know Sosai is finally dead. What this might be we don't know. We have reason to believe it is a real threat. You and Jun are to find the base."
Nambu paused while Joe looked at the photos and digested the information before telling him the rest.
"You are also to help find the person we believe took the photos."
Joe looked at Nambu. There was something in his tone of voice that got his attention.
"You are to find Red Impulse if possible" he continued.
"What!?" Joe sputtered. "What are you talking about Hakase?"
Nambu continued. "We have reason to believe there is a possibility that Red Impulse is alive and hiding in Huntworl."
Joe shook his head in disbelief. Hakase wasn't one to believe such a thing on a whim.
"OK, then let's find rat bastard and bring him home."
The rat bastard came out automatically. It was Joe's name for Red Impulse. They all had adopted it over time.
Jun laughed. She hadn't heard "rat bastard" in a while. Joe almost made it sound like an endearment now.
"Joe! His name is not rat bastard! Do I make myself clear!?"
"Yes, Hakase." Joe mumbled sheepishly.
"Hakase, do we have permission to truss him up like a fowl if he gives us any trouble?" Joe asked innocently.
"I'll talk with you two tomorrow after I have made plans and gotten everything together." Nambu dismissed them.
Nambu looked up as they were leaving.
"Joe, if you think you can bring Red Impulse in here all trussed up, you have obviously forgotten a lesson or two he taught you in the past." Hakase stressed with a glimmer in his eyes.
Jun just laughed and added softly. "Now that is something I would pay to see."
Even Nambu laughed at that. "Get out of here both of you now." he exclaimed exasperated.
Before they left Jun had one question.
"Hakase, do we tell Ken?"
"No. not yet. Let's find out what is happening first."