Gallagher sat in his Office, he looked down at his watch. 10 o'clock in the morning, if they leave in an
Hour for Heathrow they should get loads of time in the Club World lounge he thought to himself with a
smile.
Williams opened the door and poked his head in "We're all ready to go Guv, Macca has arrived along with
all the documentation that MG Rover gave him"
Gallagher nodded "Okay, have a break, we've got an hour before the minibus arrives" he thought for a
moment "ah could you get me a tea, two sugars please"
Williams nodded and bowed out of the office. Gallagher yawned as he looked down at the pile of files
in front of him, all of it dedicated to the new Labor Policeing strategy and their objectives in going
to Japan.
Apart from showing off the new Fairfax, why else were they there? SV2 were of course the god like
authority of Labor policing but if that was the case why rush him in with a very understrength squad?
He sighed and read over the very vauge Home Office objectives for the strategy for this and next year.
Apart from a whole network of 25 Fairfax Patlabors positioned at key ports and industrial areas of Great
Britain, there really wasn't much else that warranted such trumpeting by the Prime Minister.
He shrugged and pulled out his Guardian and opened it. He was disturbed from his reading by the sudden
ringing of the phone. Looking at his with another sigh he picked it up.
"Transport Police, Vehicle Crime Unit, DCI Gallagher speaking" He said as he looked down at the headlines,
IRA deny reports that they have training overseas groups, Bank of England declare Inflation well within 2.47%
target and last British Troops le-.
"Ah hi" said a very oriental, yet incredibly fluent voice in English "This is Captain Goto of
Special Vehicles division 2"
Gallagher blinked "oh hi, you just caught me in time, we're leaving for the airport in about an hour"
"Good, good" Goto replied "may I ask you a couple of questions, I need a more clearer picture of your
history in the police for my...report"
"Well it's all in the Interpol file database Captain, I don't see why you need to talk to me" Gallagher
said, eyes narrowing a bit as he listened.
"I know, it's just that there are a couple of 'holes' during your stay with Special Branch in Northern
Ireland, nothing serious I just don't know what you did there" Goto explained.
Gallagher thought for a second. What was he up to?
"Oh" Gallagher chuckled "well it was really investigation work, compiling material for major operations"
he said "although I did take part in a couple of major operations" he added quietly.
"What kind of operations?"
"I would tell you but I can't tell a soul, Official Secrets Act you see" Gallagher explained.
"Oh okay" Goto said.
"Listen, do you have anything on your end about all of this?" Gallagher said.
"I was going to ask you the same question" Goto replied "a 3 man team isn't very big"
"It would've been a full squad if Area Command hadn't have vetoed my request for a
controller" Gallagher said with an exasperated sigh "Do you have any idea what's going on?"
"Nope" Goto said with a chuckle "but that's half the fun of being in the police isn't it?"
This took a couple of seconds to filter through into Gallagher before he chuckled down the
phone "Yeah, that's true, do you think it's got something to do with the end of the Interpol
mandate in Japan at the end of this week?"
"I think that has something to do with it, don't be suprised if you're met by one of your
guys at the airport" Goto joked.
"Yeah sod's law for you there" Gallagher chuckled back.
"Pardon?" Goto asked, puzzled.
"Oh nothing" Gallagher said quickly "so what else do you want to ask me? I've got time"
"I get straight to the point then shall I" Goto replied "I wanted to know the capability
of the dissident republican movements have in training foreign terrorist groups"
"Let me guess, like the World defense army?" Gallagher smiled on his end of the phone.
"Bingo" Goto yawned.
Gallagher thought for a moment then spoke "well the last time I was in Special branch in Ulster,
Omagh had just happened, I think more or less while they wern't making bombs themselves, they were
overseas in Palestine or Columbia training groups there in bomb making such as public rubbish bin bombs
or suitcase bombs like those used in the Birmingham pub bombings" he explained "I would hazard a guess
to say that they might be responsible for training the WDA as well".
"uh-huh" Goto said as he noted something down on paper, "tell me about the rubbish bin bombs you
mentioned?"
"Well the bomb has to be tailor made for the target bin, say like the one that went off in Oxford Street
in London years ago, that was designed to fit through the tight hole where the rubbish goes in" Gallagher
said, thinking off of the top of his head.
"And?"
"It works like this, one man stands watch for CCTV and coppers while the other eats a burger or something,
mingles the waste with the bomb and inserts it into the bin before walking off in the opposite direction
of the watchman" Gallagher added "very clever when you think about it"
Goto raised an eyebrow, this man knew his stuff (apparently).
"I have a good idea now in what I want you to do when you get here" Goto said, a small smile forming.
"Which is?" Gallagher asked, slightly confused.
Goto leaned back "well I get the feeling if we paly our cards right we can end up with a PR coup on our
hands"
"Come again?"
"Well look at it this way Gallagher" Goto said "LaborExpo is comming up, the Worlds most important
tradeshow, the Japanese government hosting it in conjunction with the Babylon Project Development corporation,
every major manufactuer and their mom is gonna be there"
"Yes" Gallagher said, still a bit confused.
"Now I'm reasoning that your guys and the Americans were running around here for the last month or
so in a bid to discourage any 'partisan action' so to speak" Goto continued "besides nobody wants this
to end in tears do they?" Goto added "especially you guys"
"That's true" Gallagher nodded.
"So I think a republican group is going to push along regardless and help the WDA to do a bomb,
this is where you come in"
"Me?" Gallagher blinked "why the bloody hell me!?"
"You're our official Anti-terroist mascot!" Goto grinned down the phone "you join with my people and
investigate what's happening, stop the bomb, making it high profile in the media as well"
"And SV2 along with the Vehicle Crime Unit get showered in glory" Gallagher added, finally catching on.
"Exactly!" Goto said, not really getting excited but his voice complementing Gallagher for finally
getting the point.
"This way SV2 benefits, the Vehicle Crime Unit benefits, both our governments are spared embarrasment,
Vickers MG Rover benefits, Shinohara benefits and of course the public benefits as a result" Goto
finnished.
"Well I have to hand it to you, you are quite a thinker. So what will you do while all this is going
on?" Gallagher chuckled.
"Erm.." Goto thought for a moment "think..maybe smoke?"
There was a loud cough as Shinobu heard that remark.
"What was that?"" Gallagher blinked.
"Oh just Captain Shinobu, just recovering from a sore throat" Goto grinned as he looked over at Shinobu
as she glared back at him "she shouts too much, very nasty" he added with a shallow grin as he ducked
from several crunched up balls of paper thrown at him by Shinobu.
Gallagher chuckled "Ah well I'll leave you two in peace, see you in 23 hours or so"
"Looking forward to it" Goto said "bye".
****
The Minibus to Heathrow was like most journeys in London these days.
Gridlocked.
Williams had spent most of the journey jotting notes on Patlabor management and thumbing through
official training manuals. Macca just had the earphones of an MP3 player stuck to his ears like
some weird alien had taken him over, he nodded slightly to the music as he read an edition of Loaded.
Gallagher though (having trying to but failing to get into reading his Guardian) just looked out
of the window, looking at the mess of cars and lorries stuck in the neverending jam to one of
London Heathrow's 5 terminals.
"You'd think they'd improve the roads now they're propsing a sixth terminal" Gallagher muttered
to himself as they finally hit the drop off point for their passenger terminal.
After getting everyone and the bags out, they headed for the check in desk.
"Good Morning Sir" beamed the British Airways woman.
"We're here for the 12:30 to Tokyo" Gallagher said, fumbling for his passport and the tickets and
nodding for the others to follow suit.
The BA woman looked down at her computer then looked back up "May I have the tickets please?"
Gallagher nodded and handed them over. The lady gave them all the once over before handing them
over intact.
"Sir you were electronically booked in about half an hour ago" the lady said with a smile "you were
also upgraded to our 'First' serivice on the plane"
"What?" Williams blinked.
"You sure?" Gallagher said suspiciously "did anyone leave a message?"
The lady looked at her screen "nope" she shook her head as she handed over the First class lounge
tickets, then pressed baggage tags onto the cases "hand these to the receptionist at the front door
and she'll let you in, have a nice flight" she said after sending the cases off into the abyss of
the baggage control system.
Gallagher just looked down at the tickets for a moment, then shrugged.
"Thanks" he smiled roughly as he and the rest of the group turned and walked off.
"Wow that's a turn for the books eh Guv?" Macca grinned as he looked at his ticket, treating it like
one of Willy Wonkas Golden tickets.
"I know" Williams added "but who the hell upgraded us Guv?"
"Don't know" Gallagher shrugged "but I have an idea though" he said with a smile "shall we give WH Smith
a miss and get our magazines from the lounge?"
****
They entered the lounge, Gallagher gave his ticket to the Receptionist who processed it on her computer.
"Sir" she said "I've been told someone has reserved drinks for you"
"Really?" blinked Gallagher.
"Yes, on the second floor in the main bar, I'll tell the Barman you're comming"
They climbed the stairs and entered the main bar. The windows faced onto the main runway, but were triple
glazed so that engine noise would not disturb the careful buisness meetings and relaxation taking place
here. The seats were in blue and had a kind of Union Flag pattern on it which definatly gave you an idea
which national carrier you were flying. The carpet was a darker blue while the actual bar was built like a
traditional Victorian establishment. Big, strong and polished oak only added to the sense of affluence as
a smartly dressed Barman pumped three pints of beer (real ale becoming highly fashionable with the
nuvou riche these days).
"You DCI Gallagher?" the Barman said in a discreet tone, but (as with the rest of the staff) with a smile.
"That's me" Gallagher said flipping open his wallet as if he was paying, but really he was showing his
warrant card to them.
"Ah brilliant" the barman said "that bloke there in the black suit has bought you the drinks, wants
you to meet him asap if possible sir" he added pointing to a man sitting with his back to the four,
looking out of the large buildings as a Concorde made it's graceful (if terribly loud) take off.
His hair was dark brown (although it was greying somewhat) and added to his almost aneamic white
skin colour.
"Okay, cheers for the pints by the way mate" Gallagher said as he looked to Williams and Macca "You
two may as well enjoy the hospitality"
The pair looked at each other and shrugged as Gallagher walked over to the table where the
gentleman was sitting and looked down at him.
The man looked up "ah Inspector" he smiled "how was the traffic?"
"Bloody awful" Gallagher said as he sat down "so you're the one who paid for us then?"
The man grinned and nodded "I did indeed Inspector allow me to introduce myself" he said as he
handed Gallagher his card.
"Sir Andrew Ramsgate, special adviser to the Foreign Secretary and Cheif in the Foreign and
Commonwealth Office" Gallagher read aloud "nice job".
"Well it is and it isn't, depends on whether it's election year or not eh?" Sir Andrew chuckled.
"So what do I owe the pleasure of a Civil Servant knocking on my proverbial door?" Gallagher asked,
leaning back.
Sir Andrew looked over at Williams and Macca "Hmmm, that's your team?"
"Yes, I would've picked a full one but Area Command said I could only take 2 along" Gallagher sighed.
"Ah" Sir Andrew said "thats what you get when you get the Home Office involved"
"Really now?" Gallagher said, eyebrows perking up "who else has been walking this path then?"
Sir Andrew thought for a second "well I first had a call from the Home Office wondering if I could
liase with my counterpart in Tokyo in a possible exchange program in Police forces" he said counting
on his fingers "then I had a rather paniky call from the MoD (*Ministry of Defence*) wanting me to
again get in touch with Tokyo chambers of industry over the Shinoara contract and whether the Police
models would delay the construction of their Army Labours"
Gallagher watched, very interested at all of this.
"Then Trade and Industry got in touch to find out what the hell was going on about the Home Office's
announcement to cancel the Vickers MG Rover Patlabor contract, then finally a call straight from Downing
Street that the Foreign Office was to take charge in the future deployments of Police and special branch
accross the world" Sir Andrew added.
"Hence why the Home Office is making it so difficult?" Gallagher asked.
Sir Andrew nodded "yes, it's been a very hectic week" he sipped some of his drink and took out a plastic
A4 holder "here is why you're really going to Japan"
Gallagher leaned in with interest.
"Over the last month, several Japanses heavy industry companies (Shinohara included) have been getting
warnings from the WDA and other unidentified groups to "Stay away" from the LaborExpo next week" Sir
Andrew began "Tokyo Metropolitan Police would like some expert help on this"
"But sadly the mandate for all our police over there ends today" Gallagher said with a wry smile.
"Indeed, so really you're going to be the only team out there" Sir Andrew said quietly "This is
the twist, this is going deeper and deeper than what we origionally thought, the materials and
methods that the WDA are using are far more complicated than the very simplistic time bombs that
they deployed a couple of years back" he said as he handed the A4 wallet over.
Gallagher took the twelve A4 sheets out and looked at them, 6 were photos of bomb explosions in a
variety of places, high streets, city centers and other civilian places. The other 6 were reports
of the scene. Gallager just looked the photos, turning them over several times.
"Well Inspector what do you make of it?" Sir Andrew said.
"Well from placements of the bombs in photos 2,4 and 5 I can say that they were placed in a
plastic bag next to rubbish bins after they could'nt fit them inside without causing too much
attention. No nails or packed shards of metal just pure Semtex" Gallager muttered "classic Provo
bomb" he said.
Sir Andrew blinked "so you're confirming our suspicions?"
Gallagher nodded "yep, although they are very amateur, they couldn't have been done without proper
instruction"
Sir Andrew sighed "well this is the new mission" he said as he took out a couple of files "two
convicted Republican terroists are belived to be in Japan right now, they came into the country using
fake British Passports"
He looked at the two files "hey I recognise these two" Gallagher smiled "Dougie O'Tool and Terry
Arnwell, both sent down for membership of IRA and conspiricy to cause explosions in 1999 for a sting
of attacks on London"
"Well you're objective is to stop them from disrupting the LaborExpo and if possible arrest them,
you have full juristiction to arrest them under British law" Sir Andrew said as he gathered his stuff
"now if you excuse me I need to get back to my office, I probabbly have a ton of work to get through
now, I'll leave the casework with you okay"
Gallagher shrugged as he finnished his pint "sure mate no problem"
And so Sir Andrew left. As soon as the Civil Servant left Williams and Macca walked over to Gallagher's
table and sat down.
"What was all that about?"
Gallagher just grinned widly with a deep chuckle as he rubbed his hands "We're back in it!"
he said with glee.
Macca looked at Williams with a very confused face.
Williams smiled "Guv's got another NI case, its the closest he can get to being in Northern Ireland
these days"
Gallagher looked behind him "Common you lads, finnish your drinks we have a plane to catch!" he
said as he strode off.
****
It was an hour later and Goto was still sitting in his chair looking out of the window.
The evening was quite chilly, autumn rolling in with the arctic winds comming from the north.
The barren conditions of the landfill area only making weather conditions worse.
He sighed as the wind batted the rickety windows "you'd think they would install some double
glazing in this place" he said out loud.
Shinobu nodded "it gets very annoying I can tell you" she replied looking down at her watch
"they should be heading for Tokyo now"
Goto nodded, saying nothing as he looked out of the window, something is happening.
This wasn't because of some strage preminition that his intuition had recived suddenly, but
because he could see headlights in the evening as it drew into nightime. Maybe it might be
some plucky game show man going to visit those unfortunate enough to spend evenings in the
middle of nowhere.
Then he yawned as the car got closer, maybe it was just HQ informing him of his duty again.
He rubbed his head and slipped on his sandles.
Shinobu herself looked outside, she shuffled some paper into a neat little pile. Her table
seemed to be littered with many neat little piles as she filled out several reports.
"Who do think that is?" she asked.
"No idea" Goto said "Anyone order a taxi?"
Shinobu gave Goto a wry smile "come on, come clean Goto you know who that is, I mean who else
has those kind of cars?"
"The car company?" Goto offered, quirking an eyebrow.
Shinobu rubbed the back of her head "no government ministries that's who!" she said in an
exasperated voice.
Goto looked out of the window, two people were getting out, they looked to be in suits and
long overcoats as the entered via the side entrance.
The pair waited at their desks as the sound of footsteps climbing stairs grew louder. Then
the pair came through the doorway. Shinobu stood immediatly, throwing an immediate glare at
Goto who was at best quite slow to rise to the new visitors.
"Ah you don't have to stand" said the first new visitor as he rubbed his hands to dispell the
cold from outside "allow me to introduce ourselves, I am Mizuki Ayhagami, secretary to the
Minister of the Interior and this is my minder Bhatou"
"Pleased to meet you Mizuki" Goto smiled "so is this visit meant for both of us or?"
Mizuki looked over at Shinobu who then looked at Goto. Mizuki looked back at both of them
before saying.
"Nah your colleague is okay" Mizuki smiled turning to Bhatou "B, take five okay?"
The tall, almost skin headed minder looked down and nodded before turning, almost hitting the
top of the doorframe before ducking.
Mizuki took a seat near the end of the room and got a couple of A4 packets out of his bag,
throwing one to Shinobu and the other to Goto.
"What's in these?" Shinobu asked.
"They're dossiers kindly provided by the British Embassy in Tokyo on two highly dangerous
terrorists" Mizuki said as he took out a packet of ciggarrettes. Shinobu's face nearly
went red with indignation as the Civil Servant sparked up in her office, this brought a grin
to Goto's face.
"I'm sorry I ran out of ciggarettes earlier you think you could give me one" Goto said,
trying his luck as he looked over at the quietly fuming Shinobu.
Mizuki shrugged "sure" he said before throwing his lighter and a cig over to Goto.
"So what exactly does this have to do with us then?" Shinobu asked after getting over the
initial shock.
"Well LaborExpo is going ahead despite repeated threats by the World Defense Army that they
would disrupt it and so we decided to use the foreign police in the city to help crack down
on them. But when the last Special Branch officer left Japanese soil these two came in via
Osaka" Mizuki explained, showing them two CCTV images of O'Tool and Arnwell.
"And so this is the real reason why the Transport police are comming to Tokyo?" Goto asked,
raising an eyebrow.
"Well no actually they were comming here for a training exercise but as soon as Japanese
immigration detected these two slip through the proverbial net, they were the only people
available that had any Anti-Terrorist experience with Northern Ireland groups"
Goto and Shinobu looked at each other for a second.
"The new British Patlabor has landed via an RAF Galaxy at an undisclosed Air Base near Tokyo"
Mizuki smiled "it should be here in about an hour, it's owners will be here by 9am tomorrow,
you're due to meet them at Haneda Airport when they land at 0830" Mizuki added "your mission
though is to stop any disruption to LaborExpo at any costs and arrest those two Irish
Terrorists"
Goto nodded and noted something down "Well we'll be happy to wait for the patlabor" he smiled.
Shinobu blinked "Is this just SV2's responsibiliy?" she asked.
Mizuki nodded "yes SV1 will be on standard duty as usual while SV2 will do this assignment"
Shinobu simply leaned back while Goto looked up "That wraps it up then?" he asked.
"Yes" nodded Mizuki as he got up, still swanning his ciggarette about "just remember
to pick up DCI Gallagher and co at Haneda you hear?" He smiled as he turned "Bhatou" he
called "we're leaving"
"Good Evening" Chimed Goto as he threw his cig out of the window. Then he leaned back,
a heavily relaxed smile crossing his lips.
"You little bastard!" Shinobu fumed as the car drove away and out of the grounds.
"What?" Goto blinked "I was only trying to get the man comfortable"
Shinobu just stood and turned to walk out "taking advantage of that just to further your
damn lung disease" she muttered as she walked out.
"Oh come on, I didn't mean it that way!" Goto said, still perfectly balanced on his chair
as she slammed the door.
****
Asuma shuddered as the door slammed above them, he sat on the couch watching TV with Kanuka and
Shinshi (who had his turn in reading the paper). Noa was somewhere else while Ota had pulled the
short straw and had taken the journey to the nearest supermarket to pick up some food and other
stuff.
"Hmm, Who Wants to Be a Millionaire is on tonight" Shinshi mumbled as Kanuka just sat there
contently watching the news.
"Well they arrive tommorow" Asuma said with a sigh as he looked up to the ceiling "wonder what all
that door slamming above was about?"
"Shinobu probabbly caught Goto smoking in the office again" Kanuka said with little interest.
"Then again so is Battle Royal" Shinshi mumbled.
"You sure?" blinked Kanuka.
Shinshi looked for a moment at the program description "no, it's wrestling"
Asuma did a fake shiver "I hate those programs!" he said with almost real disgust "you can tell
that they're faking it all the time"
Kanuka shrugged and looked behind her "where's Noa?"
Asuma looks at Kanuka "no idea".
"Hey Sailor Moon Super S is on tonight" Shinshi grinned, he then frowned when Asuma and Kanuka
stared at him for a moment "What?" he asked.
Noa stood on the stairs, watching one of Sakaki's men wave in the unmarked Labor transport truck.
A curious look grew on her face as the covers were pulled off of the truck, exposing the Patlabor,
blinking when she instantly recognised it.
"S..so this the Faifax then" she said to herself as the maintenance crew, already used to
working daily on the similar Ingram, slowly eased the Fairfax into the spare docking bay, connecting
up the electric and fuel links to the rear.
The Mk.1 Fairfax for all it's similarities with the AV-98 Ingram, was itself was quite a unique machine,
the existing, chest like appearance of the Ingram had been extended outwards in the area below the pilot
hatch, also the sides and the rear had been extended out ever so slightly to accomodate more fuel. The
head of the Fairfax was also slightly different, with an extra thick wire mesh embbedded galss screen
in front of the main camera to prevent foul play when engaged in combat. The legs were thicker and wider
apart to take the extra weight. Then there were exhausts, built into the frame at the back and covered
so that they could not be blocked, they made it look like a Freight truck gone wrong. The colour scheme
of the Fairfax though was the bit that had made Noa's head turn.
Instead of the grey and dark blue strip with the Tokyo Metropolitan Police's logo embedded on the front,
the UK transport police model had opted for a white base all over the body. Around the cockpit hatch was
a flouresant yellow and orange striped mix, in the front was the emblem of the Transport police, on top
of which sat the Crown. Below that on the widened body was "POLICE" written in a bold, blue coloured font.
Then finally she looked at the badge at the front. The new badge was a wide one on which read in bold
white letters on a retangular black background "Heavy Rover".
Noa looked at it one more time, looking down at the swarm of engineers looking it over, connecting the
new MG Rover Connecti-test equipment to the Patlabor to check to see if any systems were damaged during
transit.
Sakaki looked up as he stood at the back and saw Noa. He smiled.
"Look it's Alphonse's Cousin!" Sakaki shouted up to Noa, pointing to the Fairfax.
Noa smiled "what do you think of it?"
"Well the Cheif Engineer's leaned it forward quite heavily to sort out some imbalance problems but
apart from that, I'm pleasantly suprised with it" Sakaki replied.
"You think they'd let us test them out?" Noa winked.
Sakaki shook his head with a grin "heh not that easy kiddo, you have to wait for the pilot to arrive
and that's not for another 10 or 12 hours yet"
Noa sighed and walked back to the duty room "only 12 hours" she mumbled to herself.
****
It was a chilly morning for Trenchard and with Monday morning being one of the busiest times of day for
Haneda International Airport, his black, London Metropolitan Police uniform with chequered cap made him
look even more conspicuous, stupid looking even as amused Salarymen and other businesspeople rushed by
to catch their planes to where only God knew where.
It was interesting, the British Embassy had issued him a 7 day JR pass for the 2 days off he was getting
, he went west along to Okayama on the Bullet train (it was after all a Green Class pass), first to visit
all the Tenchi Muyo landmarks (that was his favourite show, now intricatly knowing most of the songs off
by heart, the Mihoshi Police Magic song especially). Then he went onto the island of Shikoku and spent
the rest of his two nights relaxing in one of the islands many shrines which doubled as homely Ryokans.
Finally he took a direct train firstly to Tokyo Central station, then to Haneda station and there he was,
looking down at his black trousers and shined shoes, waiting for three other Coppers he probabbly hasn't
even seen before.
"Ha ha! I told you he'd be in uniform!" shouted a deeply Scottish voice "you owe me a fiver!"
"Oh sod off Guv" Macca said, slightly chuckling himself as they saw Trenchard.
Trenchard turned and looked at the Scot "DCI Gallagher?"
Gallagher nodded with smile "aye, that's me, you're PC Trenchard right?"
Trenchard saluted smartly "yes sir, Police Constable Harry Trenchard report-"
"Look cut the 'Sir yes sir' GI Joe rubbish okay?" Gallagher said "I have a feeling that I'll be seeing more
of this"
Trenchard nodded "yeah sir" he said finally relaxing "it's all 'yes sir, no sir, three bags full sir' here"
Gallagher yawned deeply, the jetlag had caught up with him the moment he had stepped off of the plane "oh
bloody hell" he muttered "well we have to wait around for Captain Goto to pick us up now"
"Well welcome to Tokyo gentlemen" Trenchard said as he straightened his cap "Want to know anything to watch
out for?"
"Well it would help" Willams (who had slept most of the flight) nodded with a smile.
"Several things to look out for" Trenchard said as he stepped in close to the group "The grasp of English that
the Japanese have is confusing at most, don't be suprised if signs, posters or even shop names make you blink"
he explained as he beat his chest lightly to keep warm "secondly if you see someone with a tatoo, they're
normally organised crime, Yakuza whatever you call em' and lastly if you can't find somewhere that serves
British tea, find a McDonalds or something"
Gallagher just nodded and yawned again "what have you been told about handling the Yakuza?"
"Leave them alone" Trenchard said with a shrug "that's all the guff they've given me"
Gallagher nodded and took out one of those really small mini-bottles of Famous Grouse Whiskey before emptying
it all down his throat to the amazement of Trenchard.
"Sorry it was all they sold on the plane" Gallagher shrugged as he cringed for a moment "Right now out priority
is to track down the WDA and RIRA members who are planning those attacks, Trenchard did you read the breif Tokyo
Met sent you?"
Trenchard nodded "yeah sir, fully breifed"
Gallagher thought for a second "right as soon as we get to where we're being placed, Willams you take Trenchard
and get some space for a phoneline, long desk and a PC, preferably with a western keyboard, pull rank if you have
to, we need somewhere to conduct our business from"
"Got it Guv" Willams nodded.
"Macca, as soon as your feet hit the ground, you get on that Fairfax, test, re-test and re-re-test everything on
that, PC Trenchard here will need it if we're needed to support SV2 in any way" Gallagher concluded.
Macca nodded and buried his face back into the maintenance folder of the Fairfax.
"Now" Gallagher turned back to the road that ran along the arrivals exit "where the bloody hell is Goto?"
"Buggered if I know Guv" Willams brred as he shivered from the cold.
Hour for Heathrow they should get loads of time in the Club World lounge he thought to himself with a
smile.
Williams opened the door and poked his head in "We're all ready to go Guv, Macca has arrived along with
all the documentation that MG Rover gave him"
Gallagher nodded "Okay, have a break, we've got an hour before the minibus arrives" he thought for a
moment "ah could you get me a tea, two sugars please"
Williams nodded and bowed out of the office. Gallagher yawned as he looked down at the pile of files
in front of him, all of it dedicated to the new Labor Policeing strategy and their objectives in going
to Japan.
Apart from showing off the new Fairfax, why else were they there? SV2 were of course the god like
authority of Labor policing but if that was the case why rush him in with a very understrength squad?
He sighed and read over the very vauge Home Office objectives for the strategy for this and next year.
Apart from a whole network of 25 Fairfax Patlabors positioned at key ports and industrial areas of Great
Britain, there really wasn't much else that warranted such trumpeting by the Prime Minister.
He shrugged and pulled out his Guardian and opened it. He was disturbed from his reading by the sudden
ringing of the phone. Looking at his with another sigh he picked it up.
"Transport Police, Vehicle Crime Unit, DCI Gallagher speaking" He said as he looked down at the headlines,
IRA deny reports that they have training overseas groups, Bank of England declare Inflation well within 2.47%
target and last British Troops le-.
"Ah hi" said a very oriental, yet incredibly fluent voice in English "This is Captain Goto of
Special Vehicles division 2"
Gallagher blinked "oh hi, you just caught me in time, we're leaving for the airport in about an hour"
"Good, good" Goto replied "may I ask you a couple of questions, I need a more clearer picture of your
history in the police for my...report"
"Well it's all in the Interpol file database Captain, I don't see why you need to talk to me" Gallagher
said, eyes narrowing a bit as he listened.
"I know, it's just that there are a couple of 'holes' during your stay with Special Branch in Northern
Ireland, nothing serious I just don't know what you did there" Goto explained.
Gallagher thought for a second. What was he up to?
"Oh" Gallagher chuckled "well it was really investigation work, compiling material for major operations"
he said "although I did take part in a couple of major operations" he added quietly.
"What kind of operations?"
"I would tell you but I can't tell a soul, Official Secrets Act you see" Gallagher explained.
"Oh okay" Goto said.
"Listen, do you have anything on your end about all of this?" Gallagher said.
"I was going to ask you the same question" Goto replied "a 3 man team isn't very big"
"It would've been a full squad if Area Command hadn't have vetoed my request for a
controller" Gallagher said with an exasperated sigh "Do you have any idea what's going on?"
"Nope" Goto said with a chuckle "but that's half the fun of being in the police isn't it?"
This took a couple of seconds to filter through into Gallagher before he chuckled down the
phone "Yeah, that's true, do you think it's got something to do with the end of the Interpol
mandate in Japan at the end of this week?"
"I think that has something to do with it, don't be suprised if you're met by one of your
guys at the airport" Goto joked.
"Yeah sod's law for you there" Gallagher chuckled back.
"Pardon?" Goto asked, puzzled.
"Oh nothing" Gallagher said quickly "so what else do you want to ask me? I've got time"
"I get straight to the point then shall I" Goto replied "I wanted to know the capability
of the dissident republican movements have in training foreign terrorist groups"
"Let me guess, like the World defense army?" Gallagher smiled on his end of the phone.
"Bingo" Goto yawned.
Gallagher thought for a moment then spoke "well the last time I was in Special branch in Ulster,
Omagh had just happened, I think more or less while they wern't making bombs themselves, they were
overseas in Palestine or Columbia training groups there in bomb making such as public rubbish bin bombs
or suitcase bombs like those used in the Birmingham pub bombings" he explained "I would hazard a guess
to say that they might be responsible for training the WDA as well".
"uh-huh" Goto said as he noted something down on paper, "tell me about the rubbish bin bombs you
mentioned?"
"Well the bomb has to be tailor made for the target bin, say like the one that went off in Oxford Street
in London years ago, that was designed to fit through the tight hole where the rubbish goes in" Gallagher
said, thinking off of the top of his head.
"And?"
"It works like this, one man stands watch for CCTV and coppers while the other eats a burger or something,
mingles the waste with the bomb and inserts it into the bin before walking off in the opposite direction
of the watchman" Gallagher added "very clever when you think about it"
Goto raised an eyebrow, this man knew his stuff (apparently).
"I have a good idea now in what I want you to do when you get here" Goto said, a small smile forming.
"Which is?" Gallagher asked, slightly confused.
Goto leaned back "well I get the feeling if we paly our cards right we can end up with a PR coup on our
hands"
"Come again?"
"Well look at it this way Gallagher" Goto said "LaborExpo is comming up, the Worlds most important
tradeshow, the Japanese government hosting it in conjunction with the Babylon Project Development corporation,
every major manufactuer and their mom is gonna be there"
"Yes" Gallagher said, still a bit confused.
"Now I'm reasoning that your guys and the Americans were running around here for the last month or
so in a bid to discourage any 'partisan action' so to speak" Goto continued "besides nobody wants this
to end in tears do they?" Goto added "especially you guys"
"That's true" Gallagher nodded.
"So I think a republican group is going to push along regardless and help the WDA to do a bomb,
this is where you come in"
"Me?" Gallagher blinked "why the bloody hell me!?"
"You're our official Anti-terroist mascot!" Goto grinned down the phone "you join with my people and
investigate what's happening, stop the bomb, making it high profile in the media as well"
"And SV2 along with the Vehicle Crime Unit get showered in glory" Gallagher added, finally catching on.
"Exactly!" Goto said, not really getting excited but his voice complementing Gallagher for finally
getting the point.
"This way SV2 benefits, the Vehicle Crime Unit benefits, both our governments are spared embarrasment,
Vickers MG Rover benefits, Shinohara benefits and of course the public benefits as a result" Goto
finnished.
"Well I have to hand it to you, you are quite a thinker. So what will you do while all this is going
on?" Gallagher chuckled.
"Erm.." Goto thought for a moment "think..maybe smoke?"
There was a loud cough as Shinobu heard that remark.
"What was that?"" Gallagher blinked.
"Oh just Captain Shinobu, just recovering from a sore throat" Goto grinned as he looked over at Shinobu
as she glared back at him "she shouts too much, very nasty" he added with a shallow grin as he ducked
from several crunched up balls of paper thrown at him by Shinobu.
Gallagher chuckled "Ah well I'll leave you two in peace, see you in 23 hours or so"
"Looking forward to it" Goto said "bye".
****
The Minibus to Heathrow was like most journeys in London these days.
Gridlocked.
Williams had spent most of the journey jotting notes on Patlabor management and thumbing through
official training manuals. Macca just had the earphones of an MP3 player stuck to his ears like
some weird alien had taken him over, he nodded slightly to the music as he read an edition of Loaded.
Gallagher though (having trying to but failing to get into reading his Guardian) just looked out
of the window, looking at the mess of cars and lorries stuck in the neverending jam to one of
London Heathrow's 5 terminals.
"You'd think they'd improve the roads now they're propsing a sixth terminal" Gallagher muttered
to himself as they finally hit the drop off point for their passenger terminal.
After getting everyone and the bags out, they headed for the check in desk.
"Good Morning Sir" beamed the British Airways woman.
"We're here for the 12:30 to Tokyo" Gallagher said, fumbling for his passport and the tickets and
nodding for the others to follow suit.
The BA woman looked down at her computer then looked back up "May I have the tickets please?"
Gallagher nodded and handed them over. The lady gave them all the once over before handing them
over intact.
"Sir you were electronically booked in about half an hour ago" the lady said with a smile "you were
also upgraded to our 'First' serivice on the plane"
"What?" Williams blinked.
"You sure?" Gallagher said suspiciously "did anyone leave a message?"
The lady looked at her screen "nope" she shook her head as she handed over the First class lounge
tickets, then pressed baggage tags onto the cases "hand these to the receptionist at the front door
and she'll let you in, have a nice flight" she said after sending the cases off into the abyss of
the baggage control system.
Gallagher just looked down at the tickets for a moment, then shrugged.
"Thanks" he smiled roughly as he and the rest of the group turned and walked off.
"Wow that's a turn for the books eh Guv?" Macca grinned as he looked at his ticket, treating it like
one of Willy Wonkas Golden tickets.
"I know" Williams added "but who the hell upgraded us Guv?"
"Don't know" Gallagher shrugged "but I have an idea though" he said with a smile "shall we give WH Smith
a miss and get our magazines from the lounge?"
****
They entered the lounge, Gallagher gave his ticket to the Receptionist who processed it on her computer.
"Sir" she said "I've been told someone has reserved drinks for you"
"Really?" blinked Gallagher.
"Yes, on the second floor in the main bar, I'll tell the Barman you're comming"
They climbed the stairs and entered the main bar. The windows faced onto the main runway, but were triple
glazed so that engine noise would not disturb the careful buisness meetings and relaxation taking place
here. The seats were in blue and had a kind of Union Flag pattern on it which definatly gave you an idea
which national carrier you were flying. The carpet was a darker blue while the actual bar was built like a
traditional Victorian establishment. Big, strong and polished oak only added to the sense of affluence as
a smartly dressed Barman pumped three pints of beer (real ale becoming highly fashionable with the
nuvou riche these days).
"You DCI Gallagher?" the Barman said in a discreet tone, but (as with the rest of the staff) with a smile.
"That's me" Gallagher said flipping open his wallet as if he was paying, but really he was showing his
warrant card to them.
"Ah brilliant" the barman said "that bloke there in the black suit has bought you the drinks, wants
you to meet him asap if possible sir" he added pointing to a man sitting with his back to the four,
looking out of the large buildings as a Concorde made it's graceful (if terribly loud) take off.
His hair was dark brown (although it was greying somewhat) and added to his almost aneamic white
skin colour.
"Okay, cheers for the pints by the way mate" Gallagher said as he looked to Williams and Macca "You
two may as well enjoy the hospitality"
The pair looked at each other and shrugged as Gallagher walked over to the table where the
gentleman was sitting and looked down at him.
The man looked up "ah Inspector" he smiled "how was the traffic?"
"Bloody awful" Gallagher said as he sat down "so you're the one who paid for us then?"
The man grinned and nodded "I did indeed Inspector allow me to introduce myself" he said as he
handed Gallagher his card.
"Sir Andrew Ramsgate, special adviser to the Foreign Secretary and Cheif in the Foreign and
Commonwealth Office" Gallagher read aloud "nice job".
"Well it is and it isn't, depends on whether it's election year or not eh?" Sir Andrew chuckled.
"So what do I owe the pleasure of a Civil Servant knocking on my proverbial door?" Gallagher asked,
leaning back.
Sir Andrew looked over at Williams and Macca "Hmmm, that's your team?"
"Yes, I would've picked a full one but Area Command said I could only take 2 along" Gallagher sighed.
"Ah" Sir Andrew said "thats what you get when you get the Home Office involved"
"Really now?" Gallagher said, eyebrows perking up "who else has been walking this path then?"
Sir Andrew thought for a second "well I first had a call from the Home Office wondering if I could
liase with my counterpart in Tokyo in a possible exchange program in Police forces" he said counting
on his fingers "then I had a rather paniky call from the MoD (*Ministry of Defence*) wanting me to
again get in touch with Tokyo chambers of industry over the Shinoara contract and whether the Police
models would delay the construction of their Army Labours"
Gallagher watched, very interested at all of this.
"Then Trade and Industry got in touch to find out what the hell was going on about the Home Office's
announcement to cancel the Vickers MG Rover Patlabor contract, then finally a call straight from Downing
Street that the Foreign Office was to take charge in the future deployments of Police and special branch
accross the world" Sir Andrew added.
"Hence why the Home Office is making it so difficult?" Gallagher asked.
Sir Andrew nodded "yes, it's been a very hectic week" he sipped some of his drink and took out a plastic
A4 holder "here is why you're really going to Japan"
Gallagher leaned in with interest.
"Over the last month, several Japanses heavy industry companies (Shinohara included) have been getting
warnings from the WDA and other unidentified groups to "Stay away" from the LaborExpo next week" Sir
Andrew began "Tokyo Metropolitan Police would like some expert help on this"
"But sadly the mandate for all our police over there ends today" Gallagher said with a wry smile.
"Indeed, so really you're going to be the only team out there" Sir Andrew said quietly "This is
the twist, this is going deeper and deeper than what we origionally thought, the materials and
methods that the WDA are using are far more complicated than the very simplistic time bombs that
they deployed a couple of years back" he said as he handed the A4 wallet over.
Gallagher took the twelve A4 sheets out and looked at them, 6 were photos of bomb explosions in a
variety of places, high streets, city centers and other civilian places. The other 6 were reports
of the scene. Gallager just looked the photos, turning them over several times.
"Well Inspector what do you make of it?" Sir Andrew said.
"Well from placements of the bombs in photos 2,4 and 5 I can say that they were placed in a
plastic bag next to rubbish bins after they could'nt fit them inside without causing too much
attention. No nails or packed shards of metal just pure Semtex" Gallager muttered "classic Provo
bomb" he said.
Sir Andrew blinked "so you're confirming our suspicions?"
Gallagher nodded "yep, although they are very amateur, they couldn't have been done without proper
instruction"
Sir Andrew sighed "well this is the new mission" he said as he took out a couple of files "two
convicted Republican terroists are belived to be in Japan right now, they came into the country using
fake British Passports"
He looked at the two files "hey I recognise these two" Gallagher smiled "Dougie O'Tool and Terry
Arnwell, both sent down for membership of IRA and conspiricy to cause explosions in 1999 for a sting
of attacks on London"
"Well you're objective is to stop them from disrupting the LaborExpo and if possible arrest them,
you have full juristiction to arrest them under British law" Sir Andrew said as he gathered his stuff
"now if you excuse me I need to get back to my office, I probabbly have a ton of work to get through
now, I'll leave the casework with you okay"
Gallagher shrugged as he finnished his pint "sure mate no problem"
And so Sir Andrew left. As soon as the Civil Servant left Williams and Macca walked over to Gallagher's
table and sat down.
"What was all that about?"
Gallagher just grinned widly with a deep chuckle as he rubbed his hands "We're back in it!"
he said with glee.
Macca looked at Williams with a very confused face.
Williams smiled "Guv's got another NI case, its the closest he can get to being in Northern Ireland
these days"
Gallagher looked behind him "Common you lads, finnish your drinks we have a plane to catch!" he
said as he strode off.
****
It was an hour later and Goto was still sitting in his chair looking out of the window.
The evening was quite chilly, autumn rolling in with the arctic winds comming from the north.
The barren conditions of the landfill area only making weather conditions worse.
He sighed as the wind batted the rickety windows "you'd think they would install some double
glazing in this place" he said out loud.
Shinobu nodded "it gets very annoying I can tell you" she replied looking down at her watch
"they should be heading for Tokyo now"
Goto nodded, saying nothing as he looked out of the window, something is happening.
This wasn't because of some strage preminition that his intuition had recived suddenly, but
because he could see headlights in the evening as it drew into nightime. Maybe it might be
some plucky game show man going to visit those unfortunate enough to spend evenings in the
middle of nowhere.
Then he yawned as the car got closer, maybe it was just HQ informing him of his duty again.
He rubbed his head and slipped on his sandles.
Shinobu herself looked outside, she shuffled some paper into a neat little pile. Her table
seemed to be littered with many neat little piles as she filled out several reports.
"Who do think that is?" she asked.
"No idea" Goto said "Anyone order a taxi?"
Shinobu gave Goto a wry smile "come on, come clean Goto you know who that is, I mean who else
has those kind of cars?"
"The car company?" Goto offered, quirking an eyebrow.
Shinobu rubbed the back of her head "no government ministries that's who!" she said in an
exasperated voice.
Goto looked out of the window, two people were getting out, they looked to be in suits and
long overcoats as the entered via the side entrance.
The pair waited at their desks as the sound of footsteps climbing stairs grew louder. Then
the pair came through the doorway. Shinobu stood immediatly, throwing an immediate glare at
Goto who was at best quite slow to rise to the new visitors.
"Ah you don't have to stand" said the first new visitor as he rubbed his hands to dispell the
cold from outside "allow me to introduce ourselves, I am Mizuki Ayhagami, secretary to the
Minister of the Interior and this is my minder Bhatou"
"Pleased to meet you Mizuki" Goto smiled "so is this visit meant for both of us or?"
Mizuki looked over at Shinobu who then looked at Goto. Mizuki looked back at both of them
before saying.
"Nah your colleague is okay" Mizuki smiled turning to Bhatou "B, take five okay?"
The tall, almost skin headed minder looked down and nodded before turning, almost hitting the
top of the doorframe before ducking.
Mizuki took a seat near the end of the room and got a couple of A4 packets out of his bag,
throwing one to Shinobu and the other to Goto.
"What's in these?" Shinobu asked.
"They're dossiers kindly provided by the British Embassy in Tokyo on two highly dangerous
terrorists" Mizuki said as he took out a packet of ciggarrettes. Shinobu's face nearly
went red with indignation as the Civil Servant sparked up in her office, this brought a grin
to Goto's face.
"I'm sorry I ran out of ciggarettes earlier you think you could give me one" Goto said,
trying his luck as he looked over at the quietly fuming Shinobu.
Mizuki shrugged "sure" he said before throwing his lighter and a cig over to Goto.
"So what exactly does this have to do with us then?" Shinobu asked after getting over the
initial shock.
"Well LaborExpo is going ahead despite repeated threats by the World Defense Army that they
would disrupt it and so we decided to use the foreign police in the city to help crack down
on them. But when the last Special Branch officer left Japanese soil these two came in via
Osaka" Mizuki explained, showing them two CCTV images of O'Tool and Arnwell.
"And so this is the real reason why the Transport police are comming to Tokyo?" Goto asked,
raising an eyebrow.
"Well no actually they were comming here for a training exercise but as soon as Japanese
immigration detected these two slip through the proverbial net, they were the only people
available that had any Anti-Terrorist experience with Northern Ireland groups"
Goto and Shinobu looked at each other for a second.
"The new British Patlabor has landed via an RAF Galaxy at an undisclosed Air Base near Tokyo"
Mizuki smiled "it should be here in about an hour, it's owners will be here by 9am tomorrow,
you're due to meet them at Haneda Airport when they land at 0830" Mizuki added "your mission
though is to stop any disruption to LaborExpo at any costs and arrest those two Irish
Terrorists"
Goto nodded and noted something down "Well we'll be happy to wait for the patlabor" he smiled.
Shinobu blinked "Is this just SV2's responsibiliy?" she asked.
Mizuki nodded "yes SV1 will be on standard duty as usual while SV2 will do this assignment"
Shinobu simply leaned back while Goto looked up "That wraps it up then?" he asked.
"Yes" nodded Mizuki as he got up, still swanning his ciggarette about "just remember
to pick up DCI Gallagher and co at Haneda you hear?" He smiled as he turned "Bhatou" he
called "we're leaving"
"Good Evening" Chimed Goto as he threw his cig out of the window. Then he leaned back,
a heavily relaxed smile crossing his lips.
"You little bastard!" Shinobu fumed as the car drove away and out of the grounds.
"What?" Goto blinked "I was only trying to get the man comfortable"
Shinobu just stood and turned to walk out "taking advantage of that just to further your
damn lung disease" she muttered as she walked out.
"Oh come on, I didn't mean it that way!" Goto said, still perfectly balanced on his chair
as she slammed the door.
****
Asuma shuddered as the door slammed above them, he sat on the couch watching TV with Kanuka and
Shinshi (who had his turn in reading the paper). Noa was somewhere else while Ota had pulled the
short straw and had taken the journey to the nearest supermarket to pick up some food and other
stuff.
"Hmm, Who Wants to Be a Millionaire is on tonight" Shinshi mumbled as Kanuka just sat there
contently watching the news.
"Well they arrive tommorow" Asuma said with a sigh as he looked up to the ceiling "wonder what all
that door slamming above was about?"
"Shinobu probabbly caught Goto smoking in the office again" Kanuka said with little interest.
"Then again so is Battle Royal" Shinshi mumbled.
"You sure?" blinked Kanuka.
Shinshi looked for a moment at the program description "no, it's wrestling"
Asuma did a fake shiver "I hate those programs!" he said with almost real disgust "you can tell
that they're faking it all the time"
Kanuka shrugged and looked behind her "where's Noa?"
Asuma looks at Kanuka "no idea".
"Hey Sailor Moon Super S is on tonight" Shinshi grinned, he then frowned when Asuma and Kanuka
stared at him for a moment "What?" he asked.
Noa stood on the stairs, watching one of Sakaki's men wave in the unmarked Labor transport truck.
A curious look grew on her face as the covers were pulled off of the truck, exposing the Patlabor,
blinking when she instantly recognised it.
"S..so this the Faifax then" she said to herself as the maintenance crew, already used to
working daily on the similar Ingram, slowly eased the Fairfax into the spare docking bay, connecting
up the electric and fuel links to the rear.
The Mk.1 Fairfax for all it's similarities with the AV-98 Ingram, was itself was quite a unique machine,
the existing, chest like appearance of the Ingram had been extended outwards in the area below the pilot
hatch, also the sides and the rear had been extended out ever so slightly to accomodate more fuel. The
head of the Fairfax was also slightly different, with an extra thick wire mesh embbedded galss screen
in front of the main camera to prevent foul play when engaged in combat. The legs were thicker and wider
apart to take the extra weight. Then there were exhausts, built into the frame at the back and covered
so that they could not be blocked, they made it look like a Freight truck gone wrong. The colour scheme
of the Fairfax though was the bit that had made Noa's head turn.
Instead of the grey and dark blue strip with the Tokyo Metropolitan Police's logo embedded on the front,
the UK transport police model had opted for a white base all over the body. Around the cockpit hatch was
a flouresant yellow and orange striped mix, in the front was the emblem of the Transport police, on top
of which sat the Crown. Below that on the widened body was "POLICE" written in a bold, blue coloured font.
Then finally she looked at the badge at the front. The new badge was a wide one on which read in bold
white letters on a retangular black background "Heavy Rover".
Noa looked at it one more time, looking down at the swarm of engineers looking it over, connecting the
new MG Rover Connecti-test equipment to the Patlabor to check to see if any systems were damaged during
transit.
Sakaki looked up as he stood at the back and saw Noa. He smiled.
"Look it's Alphonse's Cousin!" Sakaki shouted up to Noa, pointing to the Fairfax.
Noa smiled "what do you think of it?"
"Well the Cheif Engineer's leaned it forward quite heavily to sort out some imbalance problems but
apart from that, I'm pleasantly suprised with it" Sakaki replied.
"You think they'd let us test them out?" Noa winked.
Sakaki shook his head with a grin "heh not that easy kiddo, you have to wait for the pilot to arrive
and that's not for another 10 or 12 hours yet"
Noa sighed and walked back to the duty room "only 12 hours" she mumbled to herself.
****
It was a chilly morning for Trenchard and with Monday morning being one of the busiest times of day for
Haneda International Airport, his black, London Metropolitan Police uniform with chequered cap made him
look even more conspicuous, stupid looking even as amused Salarymen and other businesspeople rushed by
to catch their planes to where only God knew where.
It was interesting, the British Embassy had issued him a 7 day JR pass for the 2 days off he was getting
, he went west along to Okayama on the Bullet train (it was after all a Green Class pass), first to visit
all the Tenchi Muyo landmarks (that was his favourite show, now intricatly knowing most of the songs off
by heart, the Mihoshi Police Magic song especially). Then he went onto the island of Shikoku and spent
the rest of his two nights relaxing in one of the islands many shrines which doubled as homely Ryokans.
Finally he took a direct train firstly to Tokyo Central station, then to Haneda station and there he was,
looking down at his black trousers and shined shoes, waiting for three other Coppers he probabbly hasn't
even seen before.
"Ha ha! I told you he'd be in uniform!" shouted a deeply Scottish voice "you owe me a fiver!"
"Oh sod off Guv" Macca said, slightly chuckling himself as they saw Trenchard.
Trenchard turned and looked at the Scot "DCI Gallagher?"
Gallagher nodded with smile "aye, that's me, you're PC Trenchard right?"
Trenchard saluted smartly "yes sir, Police Constable Harry Trenchard report-"
"Look cut the 'Sir yes sir' GI Joe rubbish okay?" Gallagher said "I have a feeling that I'll be seeing more
of this"
Trenchard nodded "yeah sir" he said finally relaxing "it's all 'yes sir, no sir, three bags full sir' here"
Gallagher yawned deeply, the jetlag had caught up with him the moment he had stepped off of the plane "oh
bloody hell" he muttered "well we have to wait around for Captain Goto to pick us up now"
"Well welcome to Tokyo gentlemen" Trenchard said as he straightened his cap "Want to know anything to watch
out for?"
"Well it would help" Willams (who had slept most of the flight) nodded with a smile.
"Several things to look out for" Trenchard said as he stepped in close to the group "The grasp of English that
the Japanese have is confusing at most, don't be suprised if signs, posters or even shop names make you blink"
he explained as he beat his chest lightly to keep warm "secondly if you see someone with a tatoo, they're
normally organised crime, Yakuza whatever you call em' and lastly if you can't find somewhere that serves
British tea, find a McDonalds or something"
Gallagher just nodded and yawned again "what have you been told about handling the Yakuza?"
"Leave them alone" Trenchard said with a shrug "that's all the guff they've given me"
Gallagher nodded and took out one of those really small mini-bottles of Famous Grouse Whiskey before emptying
it all down his throat to the amazement of Trenchard.
"Sorry it was all they sold on the plane" Gallagher shrugged as he cringed for a moment "Right now out priority
is to track down the WDA and RIRA members who are planning those attacks, Trenchard did you read the breif Tokyo
Met sent you?"
Trenchard nodded "yeah sir, fully breifed"
Gallagher thought for a second "right as soon as we get to where we're being placed, Willams you take Trenchard
and get some space for a phoneline, long desk and a PC, preferably with a western keyboard, pull rank if you have
to, we need somewhere to conduct our business from"
"Got it Guv" Willams nodded.
"Macca, as soon as your feet hit the ground, you get on that Fairfax, test, re-test and re-re-test everything on
that, PC Trenchard here will need it if we're needed to support SV2 in any way" Gallagher concluded.
Macca nodded and buried his face back into the maintenance folder of the Fairfax.
"Now" Gallagher turned back to the road that ran along the arrivals exit "where the bloody hell is Goto?"
"Buggered if I know Guv" Willams brred as he shivered from the cold.