The Story of the Charm less Export Model pt.1.

"Wills you got the target in sight yet?" Detective Chief Inspector (or DCI) Harry Gallagher mumbled into his radio as he fumbled with
his Broadsheet paper and his on board TV monitor switch in his unmarked police car.

"No joy Guv" Detective Constable (or DC) George Williams said into his radio from his vantage point of the clearance area.

"Same here" said DC Kevin Gabben as he watched from an abandoned port-a-cab.

The three-man team watched the clearance area closely. The area was abandoned ever since the closure of one of London's major Dockyards.
Rusting labors sat around the edges, silent, doing neither the good they were designed for, nor the bad that people had turned them into.

The Thames flowed silently by in the Docklands area of London, upstream would be Greenwich borough and from there, central London. Above
the team stood Canary Warf, an achievement of financial prosperity over the struggles of the industrial classes over a decade ago. But
these former storage areas proved to be great places for Terrorist groups to hide their stolen labor among the decommissioned ones.

With a signed order from the Home Office and the Department of Transport, the Environment and the Regions (or the Ministry of the world
as it was nicknamed), Gallagher along with his men from the Transport Police Vehicle crime department had the power to confiscate and
destroy any labor they found suspect.

Gallagher shifted in his seat as he read the paper. News of a further cut in interest rates by the Bank of England, Vickers MG Rover group
forming further links with the Shinohara group and Mr. Blair to address EU delegates in Brussels over the issue of increased labor
crime in Northern Ireland and Mainland Britain.

Yawning, he was one of those restless types who find it hard to get comfortable, his short, messy brown hair clashed with his working suit
and brown overcoat. His weary, tired brown eyes scanned the paper as he waited.

"Guv, we've got something" Williams said as he watched.

As Gallagher looked up at the monitor, he heard the familiar piston powered 'thump' of two mechanised feet. Peering over his paper he
saw a not so familiar silhouette of a Shaft industries labor, about 600-700 meters away, looking right down at the him in his car.

"Right, he's found us, all units move in, call in the troop" Gallagher said quietly as if the labor up ahead might hear him "switch to
the new encrypted channels, I think our Irish friends have purchased a military labor"

Throwing the paper aside and starting the ignition, he noted that the Schaft had turned and had begun to cruise towards him. Shifting
into reverse, Gallagher put the foot down and screamed away backwards.

"Gabben!" Gallagher said into the radio "when will the troop arrive?"

"They are upright now and moving in as we speak Guv"

"Well get them to get in close ASAP" Gallagher said back loudly "I think this one might be armed"

"Yes Guv"

Gallagher broke into a sweat slightly as he watched the Labor inch closer and closer, swinging the car around to face the right way, he started to
test the labor in speed.

Well started, the slide it had taken made the car stall the engine. There was no time to re-start as the Schaft's shadow peered over
the car's sunroof.

Grabbing his paper, Gallagher dived out of the car, expecting a huge metal foot to slam onto the car's roof. Instead he heard a great
crash and a screech of metal against metal. As he looked up he noticed a Transport Police Gorilla (one of the two Patlabor models the UK Police
owned) bundling the Schaft onto the floor.

"Troop 1 and 2 keep it up, take out the legs, I'll get uniform to apprehend the suspects when it's over" Gallagher said as he got back
into the car and drove the short distance to police lines.

"Will do Guv" grunted one pilot as he handled his Gorilla.

"Guv" Williams said passing Gallagher a folder as soon as he got out of the car.

"Thanks Wills" Gallagher said, "you might want to arrange the arrest of the two RIRA suspects"

Williams nodded and paced away.

"And Williams" Gallagher said "tell uniform to get out of Riot Gear, it'll make no difference if they get squashed and we don't want
to cause panic do we now"

"Yes sir" nodded Williams.

Gallagher opened the folder, bearing the crests of the Home Office and the Ministry of Defence marked "Defence of the Realm against
Labour Crime"

He smiled and closed the folder again after just reading the cover sheet.

The 'scuffle' between the Schaft Model 19-transport labour and the two Gorillas was going pretty well for the Police as they wrestled
it to the ground, breaking the leg joints of the Schaft labour as the lead pilot signalled the all clear.

"Right arrest the bastards in there and get them out of here, I want forensics here on the double" growled Gallagher as he coughed,
rubbing his hair.

"Area cleared Guv" Gabben said as he ran up "don't forget, you've got the meeting with.."

"Yes, yes I know the Chief Superintendent of the Transport Police London section, and am I looking forward to it?"

"No Guv" grinned Gabben

"I'll meet you down the pub for a pint afterwards, just get these RIRA gits to Special Branch for their debrief"

"Sure Guv"

"I heard your operation was a success" the Chief Superintendent said as he read the memo given to him "and now Scotland Yard really want
to expand and create a London based Transport Police Patlabor Unit?"

"Seems so Sir" Gallagher nodded, closing the folder again "Blair gave it his blessing in private and in his speech"

The CS smiled "well you're lucky, the UK government investing several Billion into creating a Patlabor force for the Met and the Army"
he looked up "do you know who won the contract?"

Gallagher shook his head "I heard Kawasaki heavy industries was a close favourite with the Schaft Global and Hishii partnership not
far behind"

"It's Vickers MG Rover"

"What?" blinked Gallagher "but they've never even designed a Labour before let alone a specialized Patlabor"

"Well it helps when Shinohara's on your side and in line for a merger" The Chief Inspector chuckled "Also ShinoHara wants the new Rolls
Royce miniaturised Gas turbine power plant for its AP program"

"So what are we having then?" Gallagher asked "updated Gorillas?" he grinned.

The Chief Inspector passed Gallagher a photo, he blinked in surprise.

"Ingrams?" he said "but I thought there were only two made?"

"Well yes and no" the Chief Inspector said "I'll explain it further later but basically, Shinohara helped MG Rover with the construction
techniques and Vickers with the actual design process, hence why it looks similar to the AV-98, but there are major differences, the back
and the front are bulkier"

"That's the Gas Turbines right?"

"Wrong, the MGT power plants are still in development" the CS corrected "Instead Rolls Royce designed a special Diesel Electric design,
similar to the Paxman Valencia V-12's on the old Intercity 125's (High Speed train of the 1980's and 90's) it's balanced on the back
and extra armour had to be placed on the front to stop it from falling on its face" he then explained.

"why the engine change?"

"Simple" the CS said "our electric systems are incompatible and the army wanted the capability to use it anywhere that had petrol or
diesel so the MOD won that one and hence us coppers have to pollute when we apprehend now"

"Which explains the up gunned weapon"

"One high powered 120mm gun, as used on our Challenger II tanks"

Gallagher blinked "erm, I don't think we'd be able to use such a weapon in civilian areas sir, if you gave us the more suitable Shinohara inhouse
model that our Ingram counterparts use then I'd sleep better tonight"

The CS nodded with a smile "Well this is what I've been reading in the report, the Rover chaps up in the Longbridge plant still haven't
got the final model completed"

"So why are you telling me this now sir?" Gallagher asked, leaning back a bit.

"You and the rest of the department are being booked to Tokyo, Japan for the Labour International Trade Expo next week"

"And what are we meant to do there?" Gallagher said with a grin "I trust you'll have something for us to show"

The Chief Superintendent nodded "yes, one Fairfax mk.1 Patlabor"

"That's the name of it?"

"Yeah, Vickers MG Rover was put under pressure to make sure it bore some links with the past, so they named it like that"

"Exciting" Gallagher sighed.

Gallagher left the office in a sweat, this was going to be the Transport Police's big chance, and he turned with a grin round the corner
to see Williams and Gabben sitting down, drinking coffee.

"We were told to wait for you Harry" Will's said, standing "what's happened"

"We got a new Gorilla?" Gabben said with a sarcastic smile, his small form shaking as he stretched with fatigue of the previous op.

Gallagher simply kept up the grin as he held up the photo given to him by the CS.

The pair's eyes went wide.

"An Ingram?"

"Nope a Fairfax mk.1, the department's new baby"

The pair studied the photograph and nodded in agreement "pretty good for a first labour eh Guv?"

"We need to get ready as well, we're being shipped off to Japan for pressing the flesh duties, just make sure you have your warrant card
and badge ready for tomorrow"

"What for?"

"Shinohara have got a research and training model down at RAF Brize Norton, they were going to re-acquire the Airship hangers near Bedford
but the Hangers at Brize Norton could take the training pod...just from what I heard"

"And we're being trained?" Williams blinked.

"But we haven't piloted a Labor Since 1996!" Gabben protested "and you expect us to pick up operating an Ingram just like that?".

Gallagher shook his head "We're still the investigating officers, we just need a new mechanical crew and a Jockey to pilot the Fairfax"

Both Gabben and Williams sighed in relief.

"Well, meet up tomorrow, 9am at RAF Farnborugh. You'll be wanting to go to the QinetiQ research hangar" Gallagher said as he paced off.

The RAF Regiment guard checked the passes of the two policemen at the main gate "go to parking and transport area 3 and await your escort"

"Yes sir" nodded Williams as he drove in and parked outside the Guardhouse. And there standing against the wall, looking around with a frown
on his face was Gallagher.

"Guv!" Said Gabben from his window with a grin "you're early"

"Yeah, had to come down to greet our engineering staff and the design team behind the Fairfax"

"And why the face?"

"Because I'm cold and the base's heating shut down for repairs today that's why" grumped Gallagher "that and they've been finding problems with the new Rolls Royce Gas turbines"

"What are they faulty?" Williams asked.

"No they work quite well, managed to get 20 extra performance out of them" Gallagher said, trying his lighter then sighing in exasperation as he threw it away when it refused to light "the problem is that the engines are too heavy, if there isn't a counter weight on the front of the Fairfax, it'll simply fall on it's arse if hit"

"And this is going to be the frontline unit for the Army and Police?" Gabben said as he rubbed his head.

"I know, I know but they've asked BAe to come in and sort out the weight distributions" Gallagher muttered "and I know for a fact the government has gotta pay a bit extra, like last time"

Gallagher lit up a cigarette finally from an old mouldy box of matches he had in his coat. Looking up he nodded "here come area command and the Minister" he said as he saw the unmarked cars drive past the trio and onto the test hangar "probably looking to see this for themselves, the press are already here somewhere in the base"

"You think they would want the new Fairfax model?" Williams said as he lit up his cigarette.

Gallagher shook his head "If they had the chance, they'd listen to their accountants and choose the cheaper Schaft models but if the government wants to promote British industry and use it as a vote winner then let em'" He said, looking up as a man with a white mechanics overalls walked quickly up to them.

"They want you in the testing hanger please" the man said.

"You are?" Gallagher asked.

"Sergeant Daniel McVallaned or Macca for short" he smiled, holding out a hand "Head of the mechanical assistance team or the mechanics"

Gabben blinked in surprise at the McVallened "you're a mechanic?"

"Well yes but I like to keep smart, keeps the brass happy when possible and you can get by when you have the gloves on with clean overalls " Macca grinned as he turned.

"So how is the Fairfax shaping up then?" Gallagher asked.

"Okay but we have a couple of serious problems" Macca said rubbing his head with a tissue.

"Such as?"

"Rolls Royce, as they couldn't get the Gas turbines ready, fitted a couple of the new industrial deisel engines that Brush make instead."

"So what is the problem?"

"And, well the Paxman's weigh allot more than the Rolls Royce Ouse V-12's so we have a very serious weight problem now" Macca said.

"How serious?" Williams asked.

"You'll see in a minute" Macca said as he opened the door on the Hangar entrance for Gallagher and co to go through.

Williams grinned when he saw the Fairfax, standing in all its glory, head only inches away from the roof of the tall aircraft hangar. The bloated chest and back areas showing where the extra armour had gone to balance the Patlabor out. Around the grey, unmarked Fairfax was a massive ring of reinforced Kevlar airbeds, probably to make sure that if the Fairfax fell, no damage would come to it.

"Stabilisation test number 53 underway" A voice said over the tanoi.

"We'd better get to the control room here" Macca said. They entered the small side room. 3 Engineers, one Vickers MG Rover, one Shinohara
engineer and
one BAe engineer were sitting at the remote controls of the mk.1.

"I'm back mates" Macca said "say hello to the blokes who are gonna be in charge of our baby"

The three made various and vague waving actions as they focused on their work.

"Move it forward one step" said the MG Rover tech.

"Leg depression 20 degrees" said a Shinohara tech.

"Structure...stable" said the Vickers tech.

"Good, make foot movement faster by 40" the MG Rover tech replied.

The Shinohara tech nodded and increased the speed of the leg as it raised into the air.

"Damn it's still unstable!" the Shinohara tech said suddenly.

"Bugger it!" the MG Rover tech spat as the Fairfax first wobbled, then toppled backwards onto the safety bed.

"Why won't it work?" the Vickers tech said as he clicked his neck "we tried everything to get those weight distributions right"

Macca stepped forward "may I put something forward?" he asked as wire cables righted the fallen Fairfax back up to a standing position.

The MG Rover tech sighed "you keep asking this and the answer is no, you're still a trainee for the Police"

Gallagher coughed "let him put his idea forward"

The Engineers looked at Gallagher as he smiled then at Macca as he stepped forward.

"Well here's the problem" Macca pointed at the diagram "the Fairfax is standing upright, no Patlabor, even the Ingram can be perfectly stable
when totally upright"

"I don't really see how you can prove that" the Shinohara engineer said.

"Easy, after studying what modifications that the Tokyo Police SV2 Cheif Engineer Sakaki did to his Ingrams I could say that whenever they are
raised they are tilted forward by at least 5 degrees for improved stability"

The Shinohara Engineer scratched his head "So what do you suggest?"

Macca pointed to the Chest section of the Fairfax "There, you can move that forward by about 12 degrees, that should do the trick"

"What about the added forward movement?" the BAe Engineer asked.

"Increase the movement dampers on the legs by 35" Macca mused "that will stop any increased movement"

The three engineers blinked first at Macca then at each other.

"Okay we'll give it a try" the Shinohara said grudgingly.

Macca smiled "good" then turned back to Gallagher and the other two.

"I need a fag break" Gallagher said "want to join me Macca?"

Macca nodded, following the DCI outside as he lit another cigarette.

"So they said you're a trainee?" Gallagher asked.

"Um yes Guv, the MG Rover tech brought me along to watch" Macca sighed.

"Where are you training by the way?" Gallagher said as he took a puff.

"Hendon, Vehicle and Labour maintenance unit" Macca replied "why?"

Gallagher gave the young man a card "I'll give your training officer a call, get your stuff together when you get home"

Macca's eyes lit up "You mean? But aren't you taking a risk?"

Gallagher chuckled a bit as he heard a cheer whip up from inside "Well mate, you do your homework and your advice paid off perfectly"

"Guv!" Williams said with excitement as he rushed outside "it's walking perfectly!"

"Brilliant" said Gallagher sternly as he turned back to Macca "when you're ready give me a call and I'll arrange transport to the airport to
meet up with us"

"Yes Guv!" chimed Macca, virtually overjoyed.

"Oh yeah and Macca" Gallagher added.

"Yes?"

"Get rid of the suit, it doesn't go with your job"

Gallagher turned back to Williams "Well there goes our new Chief Engineer"

"What do we need now?" Williams said "the Fairfax is ready and it he's now on board.."

"A pilot, the Yard said that the Gorilla pilots were staying put"

"But we don't have any Ingram trained pilots around!" Williams said "with two days to go for the Trade show!"

"I phoned recruitment, it seems Transport Police's Chief Superintendent submitted several people to an exchange program last year" Gallagher said.

"And?" Gabben said as he walked out.

"We managed to get a hold of a trainee who had moved from Hendon's Fast Response Car training Unit to the Advanced Patlabor training programme at
Waseda in Tokyo" Gallagher said, reading mainly from a load of scribbled notes "His name is PC Tim Trenchard"

"So he is the only British Patlabor Pilot to have handled an Ingram?"

"Seems so, was showing great promise with the Gorilla trainers as his Instructor noted in his reports" he strained a bit "Jesus Christ, can't the bloody translators at Admin sort out these foreign papers?" Gallagher ranted quietly.

"Seems like Guv's forgotten how to read again" smiled Williams.

"Either that or his contacts have fallen out"

"Oh ha ha!" muttered Gallagher sarcastically "Ah, it says that he is completing his mainstream training at Waseda and will join us at Tokyo" he
looked around "all we need now is a controller and...wait where are Area Command?"

"No idea, they're not in the test hangar, maybe they're at the Officer's Mess or something?" Gabben offered.

Gallagher looked around before seeing a couple people with cameras run past up at the front of the hanger towards the doors.

"Heh, found the gits" Gallagher said as he walked off.

He turned the corner to see the Home Office Minister and the Metropolitan Police Commissioner about to hold a joint press conference. There were
a multitude of press and camera crews for the BBC, ITN and Sky News among the couple of International News Agencies.

"Ah!" smiled the Commissioner "Detective Chief Inspector Gallagher has come to join us"

"Who is the man again?" the Minister said.

"He is the head of Transport Police Constabulary's Vehicle crime department" the Commissioner Explained as he took Gallagher aside.

"Now Gallagher, I want to say that nothing has been confirmed about the Patlabors that you are getting"

"Pardon?" Gallagher blinked "but Chief Superintendent Si-"

"He's been corrected directly from the Home Office" the Commissioner corrected "the Treasury is pushing to opt for either upgraded Gorillas or a Schaft model"

Gallagher looked at the Home Office minister who was currently answering questions of Asylum "they want to scrap the Fairfax?"

"Shinohara has agreed to convert the design to an export model" the Commissioner sighed "I'm sorry Gallagher but I don't know what to do, New labor wants to go the cheap way to a National labor Crime strategy"

"Leave it with me sir" Gallagher smiled "just let me do the talking"

The Commissioner opened his mouth to say a warning but then closed it again to form a small smile.

"I didn't hear anything" the Commissioner grinned.

Gallagher turned and walked over with the Commissioner to join the Minister.

"Ah!" the Minister smiled "Well Commissioner are you ready for the conference?"

"Erm DCI Gallagher will be speaking, I think it would be appropriate because he is the head of this new unit" the Commissioner smiled back pleasantly.

"Oh, okay, ladies and gentlemen may I introduce Detective Chief Inspector Gallagher, he is heading the new Patlabor unit" said the Minister "Well first
question" he said turning to the reporters.

"Mr Haversly" asked a BBC reporter "can you tell us what Patlabor Mr Gallagher and his men will be in charge of?"

"Well at this time the details of such things are -" the Minister began then stopped abruptly as Gallagher stepped forward slightly.

"I can actually say that we have confirmed the specific type of Patlabor that will be used by Transport Police Constabulary" Gallagher said.

"I don't think she was speaking to y-" the Minister tried to hiss before an ITN Reporter shoved a microphone in between the two.

"Mr Gallagher can you tell us exactly who has won the lucrative Patlabor manufacture contract?" the reporter asked.

"I can, I can say that a partnership deal between Vickers Defence and MG Rover won the contract to build the UK's next generation Patlabor" Gallagher said with a grin, the Minister meanwhile was coughing and hacking really hard as though he was choking for a moment.

"And are you looking forward to working with the Vickers MG Rover partnership?"

"I am, I believe that the model they are developing in conjunction with Shinohara is a very capable and powerful machine and that I look
forward to using them"

The cameras swung to the Minister who was white at this moment, with no clue as to how to resurrect the situation.

"Mr Haversly what do you have to add to this?"

"I erm...err..ahh" the Minister stammered.

"Come on Minister" Gallagher muttered "I thought bullshitting was a requirement of you lot these days"

The Minister just glared as he turned and walked off to his car with his personal assistant and Special Branch protection officer.

"Well may I thank you all for coming today, the demonstration is now over" the Commissioner began, nodding with a wide grin at Gallagher.

Gallagher smiled and turned to walk back to Williams and Gabben. Now all he needed was a pilot, a controller and a driver.

"Begin" shouted the referee, turning to run out of the arena as the highly scratched and battered shells of the training Gorillas faced each other.

"Right" said Trenchard as he leaned his Gorilla forward a bit "gotta get this right"

"You better!" barked Instructor Sakuma "Especially after you upended the last one!"

"Yes sir!" replied Trenchard sharply, beginning to focus as he stepped the Gorilla back a bit, trying to entice his opponent closer and towards him. His
opponent tried to move in quickly to push Trenchard off balance but Trenchard was already turning.

He swung the bulk of the Gorilla round to the left roughly, nearly hitting the hard metal side of the cockpit as he managed (just) to step around
the opposing Gorilla.

"Excellent use of gravity and weight!" Sakuma grinned as he steadied himself "just keep on the pressure!"

"Sir!" nodded Trenchard as he used the leaning angle of the Gorilla to add that extra momentum as he pushed forward hard into the back of the
opposing Gorilla, using his weight to push it forward and down, effectively pinning the training labour.

"That's it, that's it!" Chuckled Sakuma with excitement as Trenchard strained to make sure he kept the pin in place.

"1...2...3!" counted Trenchard in his head before breathing a sigh of relief as the referee ran in and checked it all out. He waved a red flag signifying
the training exercise was over.

Trenchard rubbed his chin a bit as he placed his Metropolitan Police training cap back on along with the blue training jacket (signified by light blue
shoulder straps) as he walked out of the changing rooms. It had been one long year, 18 years old, having to learn Japanese at the deep end as well as
do nightly complex Labor construction and mechanical coursework (also in Japanese), at first the pressure was unbearable.

Now, after learning the language, he had managed to get on top of things, even managing to get basic training on the new AV-98 model. Soon training
would be over and he would return to Britain and hopefully onto one of the Transport Police's few Gorillas.

"Ah well, sod's law would say I'd get dumped with a Fast Response Unit car again" he thought out loud in his native, East End tongue.

"What was that Cadet Trenchard?" said an old, gruff voice sternly behind him, making him jump.

"Captain Takeda!" Trenchard said, whirling round and smartly saluting.

"Heh, still have to wean you out of that English Salute eh Cadet" Takeda, the head of training staff at Waseda chuckled.

"Sorry sir, I can't shake it" said Trenchard as he put his arm down "did you want to talk to me about something?"

"Ah yes, we got a fax from Transport Police at Scotland Yard, then a letter for you" Takeda said "they've already got a placement for you" Takeda muttered handing the young Cadet a letter with the Metropolitan Police's logo on it.

Trenchard looked at it, scratching his short, dark blonde hair, as he looked the envelope over.

"Well open it" smiled Takeda.

"Yes sir, sorry" mumbled Trenchard as he opened the letter and read it. He blinked in extreme surprise.

"How was it?"

"They want me to join Transport Police's new Patlabor Unit!" Trenchard said, hardly containing his sudden joy "I'm their first pilot!"

"Congratulations Cadet!" grinned Takeda "I'll arrange for your 2 day leave"

"Leave?" asked Trenchard.

"Yes, you're to head to Tokyo in two days time to join your outfit in time for the Labour Trade Expo"

"I better get ready!" mumbled Trenchard to himself "permission to be excused sir" he said, saluting again.

"Granted, get ready!" replied Takeda as he saluted back "you'll need allot of rest!"

"Yes sir!" grinned Trenchard "of course, thank you sir!"

Takeda just smiled and turned to walk off as Trenchard held the large letter, opening it further he saw about 20 different forms with a yellow stick it note.

"Fill these out, they all date back to since you left for training last year. DCI Gallagher"

Trenchard slapped his head softly. This was going to be a long 2 days.