J-Wave FM was blasting on the Police minivan stereo as Goto lazed in the back, smoking a precious
Silk Cut Ultra he had pawned off of one the British maintenance crew that had arrived with the Patlabor.
Asuma however wasn't so pleased with himself.
"Why the hell am I doing the driving!" he muttered "I had a report to type before the unit arrived!!"
"Shush I can't hear the music" Noa hissed as her head bounced up and down like a Nightclub Bouncer was
doing a violent number with her head and a brick wall, mumbling incoherently to the lyrics of "Definatly
Maybe" by Oasis.
"Maybe you should focus on the task in hand rather than making your hair untidy Officer Izumi" came Goto's
sleepy voice from the back "and turn it down, I can't get any rest back here"
Noa ruffled her hair back into it's usual shape "Actually now you mention it, I needed to do that
inspection of Alphonse" she muttered as she turned the stereo down to a more acceptable level.
"We're comming to Haneda arrivals now Sir" Asuma said as he turned the minibus down to the road that
went past the arrivals exit.
"Ey up Guv" Macca said as the Police Minibus drove down the road slowly "is this our ride?"
"No idea, Tim flag it down and ask them" Gallagher said as he carefully placed a filter into his
rollup.
Trenchard looked at the group (who were lazing around sitting on their cases) and sighed, he stepped out
into the road and put his hand up for the Minicab to stop.
"Who the hell is this!" Asuma said as he put the brakes on suddenly "and what's with the getup!?"
Noa just looked for a second "oh I know!" She smiled happily "it's Trenchard!"
Tim walked over to the Minicab and knocked on Asuma's window, Asuma wound it down "yes?" he asked in
English.
Trenchard smiled sheepishly and said (in fluent Japanese) "Hey, do you know any Police unit round here
that's due to pick up some VIP British foreigners?"
Asuma blinked, then cleared it through his head that anyone can learn a language, but that well!? Before
he could speak though, Goto had gotten up and was rubbing his teeth with a finger.
"Yeah, you're the transfer pilot arn't you?" Goto mumbled "I'm Captain Goto and these two go by the names
of Officers Noa Izumi and Asuma Shinohara"
Trenchard smiled and shook Asuma's hand "wow, so your dad's company helped make my Patlabor, that's cool!"
Asuma nodded "yep, I don't really like to talk about Dad's word though, gets boring, looking forward to
working with you"
"Sure, sure same here!" Trenchard nodded before spying Izumi "wow Noa is this really you!?" he grinned.
"Yeah! Remember me, I was the one who gave you all my old notes on Patlabor design for the classes!" Noa
beamed back.
"Oh yeah, thanks again for those, god only knows how I would've gotten through the early classes without
those!" Trenchard smiled, leaning over Asuma and shaking her hand firmly.
"Oi Trenchard!" came a voice behind him "Are they our lift or not!?"
"Hmm, well you kept them waiting long enough" Goto said opening the side door "right everyone, inside now,
we need to get you all breifed on life here!"
****
The drive to the landfill zone and after that SV2's base of operations was a initially a slow one, the
chokeing traffic filling most of Tokyo's motorways up to capacity (and beyond). When the small minibus
got into the wide exanse of the landfill zone though, things sped up.
"Bloody hell" Williams said as he looked out of the window "and they want to do this to parts of the
Thames eastury!"
"Looks busy" Trenchard mumbled as he saw the towering labors and construction cranes moving around on
the designated development areas, despite being in Japan for a year now he had only seen limited parts
of the Babylon project on TV.
"Do you speak any English?" Trenchard asked in his 2nd tounge nervously, leaning forward to Noa and Asuma.
"Some" Noa nodded "but not much really".
"I'm okay" nodded Asuma "Dad made me take it as part of my courses before I went into the Police"
"Excellent" smiled Trenchard.
"What's that in the box?" Noa asked. Trenchard had been holding a box while waiting for Gallagher and co at
the airport.
"Oh this?" Trenchard said as he opened the top "it's my Helmet"
Noa tried not to laugh as she saw the pokey tall helmet, looking more like an old Fireman's helmet it was
covered in black felt and had the London Metropolitan Police badge on the front and a silver crest on the top.
"What?" Trenchard asked defensibly "it's a tradition in the UK!"
"I..I know that" giggled Noa "just looks like one of those wacky party hats thats all" this sent Noa into
hysterics.
"You won't get a word out of her now" Asuma smiled as Noa rolled on her seat in laughter.
Meanwhile at the back Gallagher and Goto swaped notes.
"Rollup?" Gallagher offered as he dropped a filter into his mix of tobbaco paper and Golden Virginia tobabbco,
licking one side and rolling it up quickly.
"Sure" Goto nodded "So, you think you'll need help getting through Tokyo?"
"Well it's alot more ordered than London ever was" Gallagher replied "who could you reccomend, don't forget you
have your own Patlabor squad to man"
"There is that" Goto nodded as he smoked his roll up slowly "I know what to do though"
"Which is?" Gallagher asked "both me and my men need to get used to Tokyo before we do anything about the Expo
next week"
"I've got an idea" Goto said "I'll assign one of my people to Constable Trenchard and another to you and DC
Williams"
"That should work" Gallagher nodded "trouble how good is their english?"
Goto thought for a second "right, Officer Asuma goes with you and Williams and Officer Clancy goes with Constable
Trenchard"
"Clancy?" Gallagher blinked "wow, so Trenchard isn't the only one then?"
"Nah" Goto shook his head as he finnished his roll up and dropped it on the floor to stamp out "she got herself the
transfer" he mumbled as he stamped down lazily several times "you'll be okay though, the main patrol officers when
they see you they'll think you're being shown around the city"
Gallagher nodded "so what about the Yakusa then?"
Goto leaned back in a streach "what about the Yakusa?"
"Well do they have any known links with the WDA or RIRA?" Gallagher pressed.
Goto smiled slightly "Harry, the Yakusa are a way of life here, they gave up with drugs when the Russian Mafia ran
them out of the best routes to the US and Europe, they get much more from ripping off cars and sending them to the
Middle East to be re-clocked for entry into the European market" he explained "the last thing they want is to get
mixed up with the WDA witchhunt"
Gallagher nodded and sighed "that's good, do you have any files on known WDA members or sympathisers that I could
look at?"
"Well there are only one or two known ones who haven't been jailed yet" Goto said, thinking off of the top of his
head "I'll show you later"
Gallagher nodded and leaned back himself, the next second he had nodded off.
****
Sakaki was the first to step out of the hanger when the minibus door opened, Macca (who too had nodded off while
listening on his MP3 played), just happened to be leaning against the sliding door when it opened, head drooping out
of the minibus while he snored. Loudly.
"Come on you lazy git!" Gallagher said, batting Macca round the back of the head.
"Oh sorry Guv" Macca said as he was virtually pushed out of the minibus.
"So this is DS McVallaned then" Sakaki smiled as he looked down at the crumpled heap on the floor which passed as
the UK Cheif Engineer.
"Erm, yes sir" Macca said as he got up, dusting himself down "are you Cheif Engineer Sakaki?" he asked when he realised
just who he was talking to.
"Don't wear it out" he smiled as he held his hand out "looking forward to teaching you how to make the AV-98 Ingram and
Mk1 Fairfax work properly"
"Me..me too sir!" Macca said eagerly, his dream now come true as he shook Sakaki's hand excitedly.
"Hey Goto" Sakaki called over "We gotta start, I can't waste much time here"
"Sure" Goto said "go right ahead"
By then everyone else had clambered out of the Minibus, Gallagher fumbled for his tin of tobbaco and cig papers as they
entered the building.
"Ah!" Goto said quickly "I really wouldn't do that if I were you"
"Why?" Gallagher blinked as he slid the tin back into his coat pocket.
"DCI Gallager!" Shinobu said plesantly as she looked up from a folder she was reading.
"This is Captain Shinobu Nagumo, the Cheif round here" Goto smiled as he turned around, quickly fumbling his packet of
Ciggarettes into his front pocket.
"DCI Harry Gallagher, please to meet you Ma'aam" he replied, putting his hand out "I've heard you run a tight ship here
Captain"
Shinobu smiled slightly "I like to keep standards high here DCI Gallagher" she said as she very firmly shook his hand.
"Please just Gallagher" he shrugged as he returned the shake "personally it's all down to attitude, as long as you
approach the problem with the right mindset you get the same standards as those military style outfits that Scotland
Yard run" he said with a mock shiver.
Shinobu frowned for a second, having a quick nightmare of Goto being the Cheif of SV2 instead of her, she put her
smile back out on show "well surely different approaches for different places"
Gallagher scratched the back of his head "yeah I guess, so where do you want us?"
Shinobu looked to Goto "I thought that was Goto's department?"
"Goto?" Gallagher asked looking behind him.
Goto blinked in his bemused style and said "oops"
Meanwhile Asuma and Noa had led Trenchard through with Macca into the Hangar.
"So you did a stint in an Ingram at training?" Noa asked.
"Well it was for a week, basic orientation and understanding of the systems" Trenchard said nervously "why? I thought
I was going to get a Gorrilla or something?"
"Trust me, when you see what you're going to see, you'll think you have won the lottery!" Asuma grinned slightly.
Trenchard was led down the E-pen style set up with the two Ingrams that were parked up, going basic lookers by
Macca and Sakaki (with a very worried Ota complaining on the side about why his Ingram is being messed around by a
19 year old rookie from London).
"Heres your baby Harry" Asuma said as they turned round the corner of the last bay at the end.
Trenchard looked at the Fairfax and rubbed his eyes for a moment, he couldn't quite belive it "you sure?" he said
"nah this is a joke right, wheres the real jockey?"
"look" Noa beamed as she pointed to the Name on the side of the cockpit door "PC Trenchard, Sqd A, VCU"
"Bloody hell" was all Trenchard could say (whisper more like) before he stepped back excitedly "this is what I wanted to
pilot since I was 15!" he said, eyes wide with happiness "I'm gonna be the first!!!"
"Congratulations" came a voice behind the jumpy Trenchard. The three turned round to see a rather unemtional Kanuka stepping
down the steps leading from the ready room.
"Oh this is Sergeant Kanuka Clancy" Asuma said "Kanuka this is Constable Trenchard"
"Oh" Kanuka said, raising an eyebrow "I thought we were having a funeral" she commented when she saw how heavily the
black uniform of the British Policeman was.
"Well I would have the heavy woolen overcoat Ma'aam but they phased those out a couple of years ago" Trenchard chuckled
nervously (in english) as her stare hit him for a second.
"You're fresh out of the Academy I hear" Kanuka questioned.
"Ah yes Ma'aam" Trenchard nodded "though I have a year of experience in the borugh of Brixton in London as a foot patrol before I
applied for Patlabor training"
Kanuka nodded as Noa looked at Asuma with that "what is she up to?" look.
"Good, good" Kanuka said as she put out a hand, no smile showing, just a hand "look forward to working with you"
"Me too Ma'aam" Trenchard nodded slowly.
"Call me Kanuka" she said firmly "and look after your Patlabor, they don't grow on trees" with that she turned and walked back
upstairs.
"She does this often right?" Trenchard said, quite intimidated just by the stare.
Asuma blinked "no, she's never been this hostile, no idea what she meant by her last comment"
Noa stayed silent, however she was thinking.
****
After initial introductions, Trenchard was dragged away by Asuma and Williams to program the Fairfax, Goto directed
Gallagher to the pile of documents that he needed to read through before he could get onto tackling the problem at hand.
Macca and Sakaki though had more practical things at hand.
"Yeah so we just leaned it forward by an extra 12 degrees to get the stability right, the cameras were tilted upwards so
the jockey could see properly" Macca explained as they went over basic checks with the Fairfax after working over Ota's
Ingram (much to Ota's annoyance).
Sakaki nodded "we'll have to look at this another time" he said as he ticked off the list "can't stay like this, I'm sure
we'll get it balanced properly though"
Macca looked at the Fairfax and the Ingram sitting next to it "say, which one do you think would win in a head to head?"
Sakaki also took a long, hard look at both "I'd say weight wise, the Fairfax would be harder to move around so the Ingram"
Macca nodded "Yeah" then he grinned, fancing his chances he looked at Sakaki and said "you think we could get them in a one
to one?"
Sakaki looked at Macca, then at the Ingram, then back at Macca, then at the Fairfax before saying "Sounds like a good idea,
but will Goto approve"
Goto and Gallagher sat on the desk in the temporary office that Gallagher and Williams had commandeered as Sakaki and Macca
put the idea accross.
"We need to test out the Fairfax, test out the stability of the thing in a close combat situation" Macca started.
"So we had the idea of a one on one, no weapons or Controllers to guide the jockeys" Sakaki added.
"We need to get some operational time under the Fairfax's belt guv" Macca said.
Gallagher mused "I'll have to go with Macca on this one, the Fairfax did have some stabiliy problems in testing"
Goto said nothing, he looked out of the window as Asuma sat with Williams in the Command car , directing him on
how to aid Trenchard in programming his Fairfax. Noa was peering into the darkness of the Fairfax's cockpit, probabbly
helping Trenchard with programming his Fairfax. Kanuka however just sat in front of all this, arms crossed, looking up
at the Fairfax's cockpit.
"Okay" Goto muttered finally "put Clancy in the Ingram and put her against Trenchard"
"What I thought one of your people were going to do it?" Gallagher said "Trenchard is only a rookie and we've only
just arrived, Trenchard is about 5 hours behind sleep wise we haven't even set our watches 9 hours ahead!"
"That's the whole point, if we need to launch suddenly, I'll want him comming along so he needs the exerience" Goto
said as he walked out "if anyone needs me I'll be having a ciggarette"
Gallagher looked out the window himself and saw Trenchard clambering out of the Fairfax, laughing a bit with Williams
had joined him.
"God help him then" Gallagher said to himself.
After an hour of orientation with the Fairfax's systems and programming the vital information in, a breifing was called
in the classroom like breifing room, the white board covered with doodle that Goto and other had drawn over the weeks.
Gallagher was first into the room, followed by a Goto who held a peice of paper.
"What do you think is happening?" Trenchard asked quietly.
"Ah this normally happens when they want to do some practice" Noa sighed as she streatched out.
Trenchard looked at Goto who yawned before speaking.
"Err.." he said before reading the sheet "training exercise at 1200, close combat" he said firmly "opponents are Constable
Trenchard and Sergeant Clancy"
Trenchard nearly fell off of his seat, Noa and Asuma just blinked.
"Kanuka will be using Ota's Ingram while Trenchard shall use the new Fairfax" Goto finnished.
"Hehehe" Ota sniggered, almost cackled "this is going to be good"
"Yes" Goto said without emotion at Ota's cackling "anyway dismissed everyone, one hour till exercise begins"
Trenchard rubbed his head a bit as he looked accross the classroom, Kanuka was looking right back at him with one of those
"KO in round one" looks as she stood and walked out.
****
"Wow" Williams said "that really gave him a shock guv"
"I know" Gallagher nodded as he looked down at the young Constable check over his Patlabor "but he needs to learn somehow"
The Fairfax had been fuelled to the max before sealing and grounding the outside to prevent static bursts ignighting the
tanks. Trenchard then eased himself into the tight Cockpit, knowing he was sitting on a large amount of Red desiel.
"Have fun out there" Macca smiled as he closed the cockpit hatch.
"Oh ha bloody ha" said Trenchard as the door closed.
"What do you think of him?" Ota asked as he finnished checking over Kanuka's Ingram.
"Who?"
"The Brit you're facing, Trenchard?"
Kanuka looked at Ota "different" was her reply before she sat back and put on her headset.
"Ahh" chuckled the Sergeant "sounds too nervous to be a Patlabor pilot to me"
"Keep in mind that 'sounds like' and 'is like' are two totally seperate things" Kanuka said with determination.
Because of the clearance, both Patlabors had to be transported outside via truck. Only then could they be made upright. The
Fairfax was raised first, slowly climbing upwards due to it's added weight.
"Funny feeling" Trenchard muttered to himself.
"Right it's upright" Macca said as he looked at the display "Trenchard could you start the wind up procedure please"
"Sure" he said as he keyed in the access code then through the touchscreen technology began the start up procedure on the
two Deisel engines. A loud, cranky whine was heard as first one then the other started to move into motion, huge plumes of
black exhaust smoke were expelled from the covered exhaust pipes at the back as the engines exploded into life.
"Power up, movement ability at..100% ready to move" Trenchard said through the net.
"Copy that, you have clearance to move" Macca replied after getting the nod from Gallagher.
Trenchard took a deep breath and took a step forward, the engines' whine increasing as the Fairfax took it's first step
down onto the ground.
"Stability is...good" Macca smiled.
"Watch it" Sakaki said "remember the tilt forward is only a quick fix".
"I'm okay" Trenchard said as he went through the arm and leg motions to check that the movement dampners were okay, lose
them and he'd fall, hard "Fuel tanks A,B,C and D fully sealed and pumping"
"Good, now wait for the Ingram and the signal" Gallagher said into the Mic "from there all Net communication from us
will cease you'll be on your own in a situation where the command car has either been cut off from transmission of removed
from play. The Ingram in front of you is hostile, it was captured by a hostile force and will have to get through you to
get to it's objective"
Trenchard knew what the jargon meant, this was an exercise on what to do if the Command car had been destroyed, as sick
the thought of DC Williams diying in a fireball was, he kept his focus on the exercise ahead. He adjusted the brightness
and contrast of the main screen and moved the camera up an inch.
This was when his shadow was joined by a second, faster moving shadow. Kanuka had arrived.
Trenchard took a deep breath and took a step back, making room for himself away from the quicker and nimble Ingram.
"What is he doing?" Noa blinked "They haven't even started yet and he's stepping away!"
Kanuka for her part fixed her position for a flying start, though she was facing slightly away from Trenchard, he had a
small idea of what she was aiming to do. Kanuka eased into the seat and gripped the controls with the hi-grip gloves
that they used to keep their hands on the controls at critical moments.
"I'm ready" Kanuka said into the net.
"Ready" Trenchard said onto the net before turning off his connection.
Goto was smoking another Silk Cut when he got the nod from Sakaki, pressing the button on the hand held torch with a Green
light on to signal beginning of the exercise.
Almost immediatly, Kanuka sprang her Ingram forward onto the offensive, it's sleek, shined body lunging forward with
extraordinary speed as she flew forward towards Trenchard. Caught off guard, Trenchard managed to take another step back
before lunging forward himself. But unlike Kanuka, he threw the body forward and around in a circular motion, using the
heavy fuel load and the other added weight as a slingshot to get that extra speed to throw him past the clutches of Kanuka's
Ingram and behind.
Kanuka gritted her teeth as she saw the bright white Fairfax, just, so very just swing round and past her Ingram, she
brought it round very quickly, seeing that Trenchard had only just managed to keep the whole thing under control, facing
sideways away from Kanuka as he quickly set his position again.
Kanuka though was too fast, jumping in again, using her speed to her advantage, she slammed into the Fairfax just as it
had turned to face the new threat, grappling with it, trying to get her arms round the waist or get a grip to get it onto
the floor.
Trenchard though was in deep trouble, he rocked back as several tons of steel and other metal slammed into him, just inches
away from his face. Recovering, he tried to pry himself away from her attempts to get a hold, knowing that it might be already
too late he thought quickly, his solution was unorthordox to say the least.
Kanuka raised an eyebrow as the Fairfax fell backwards, then gasped as she realised, he was using his superior weight to drag
her down with him as he rolled backwards, using the momentum to throw the Ingram off of him.
Although that was the theorised plan anyway. Reality threw the plan in the bin and forced a new situation on them both.
Trenchard, although managing to get out of Kanuka's hold, he had failed to throw her off of him, only roll her Ingram off
to the sideof him. The air was filled with the screams of protesting engines and the whine of gears as they both got up as
quickly as they could.
"This is excellent!" Macca grinned, the specticle in front of him exceeding the wildest of all of his dreams.
"Impressive how Trenchard uses his Patlabor" Asuma said as he watched.
"He's too inexperienced though, he's yet to pull off an offensive move yet" Noa said quietly as she watched them both.
"Hah!" Ota spat "He was lucky to get out of that and you both know it"
The pair ignored him as Kanuka got up just before Trenchard, the Fairfax forced back to it's knees as Kanuka dived on top of it,
trying to force it down onto the floor for a pin, Kanuka couldn't get a good grip however and was forced off. Trenchard managing
to get up and get his bearings.
They squared off again, the whole fight taking it's toll on both combatants as Trenchard was the first to move forward this
time, the twin engines roaring as he put it all into this, thrusting forward, aiming to clip the Ingram slightly. Kanuka
started to slide round to dodge the blow and thats when he saw his opening, guessing which way she was going to dodge he altered
course ever so slightly, the two patlabors getting ever so close, then they touched, tipping the Ingram into a slight imbalance
and over onto it's back again.
Kanuka shook her head to get the cobwebs out of her head when the Ingram hit the deck, already starting to get up. Trenchard however
had miscalculated, the collision had acted like two billiard balls bouncing off of one another, sending him staggering off, the
instability showing as he turned it round to see that Kanuka had just gotten back up.
His inexperience showing, he lunged forward again, this time with straight forward punches and shoves that hit nothing but thin
air as Kanuka dodged and jumped back, then Trenchard punched downward, hitting the ground as he (just) missed Kanuka.
"There!" Noa said "he's finished"
"He's at Kanuka's mercy there" Goto said "well that's a new recruit for you"
Gallagher just watched as Kanuka quickly grabbed the Fairfax around the waist and with a heavy strain on the Ingram picked it
slightly off of the ground, falling forward as she dropped Trenchard onto the ground, effectivly pinning him down for the count.
"Sergeant Clancy is the winner of the exercise!" Macca said down the net once it had been reestablished.
Trenchard clambered out of the battered Fairfax once it had been self righted, rubbing his head. The last move had made him
hit his head on the spartan headrest and that had given him a headache. The fight though had gone as well as expected, it
wasn't the machine that had let him down it was his lack of experience.
"Tim!" Gallagher called as he jogged over "how was it in there?"
"Steady, the mini-airconditioning units eliminate any fumes that might get into the cockpit, overall very good guv"
"Good" Gallagher said as he looked away and shoved a cig into his mouth "look you were excellent out there"
Trenchard nodded, still rubbing his head.
"Just focus a little more" Gallagher winked "the key is not to know how powerful your opponent is or how much faster he is
than you, it's to know how to get around them and beat them, even if that model is better than yours"
"Yes guv" Trenchard said, quite enthusiastically to his suprise.
"Good now go have a sit down, I'll brief everyone later" Gallagher said as he walked off. As he did though, Kanuka came into
view, she too looked a bit worse for wear from the exercise as she looked directly at him, then she turned to walk towards him.
He froze, he found that he was so intimidated by her. Her body language, her eyes, everything suggested a willingness to show
people who is in charge.
"Tim" Kanuka said.
"ma'aam, I mean Kanuka" Trenchard said as he shook his head.
"Just wanted to say thanks" Kanuka said.
"What for?" Trenchard asked, quite nervous.
"For such a great match" Kanuka said, flashing a warm smile "I'll see you later for that breifing"
"Err...yes" Trenchard blinked as she walked off. The maintainence crews rushed to usher the two Patlabors onto their trailers,
like strange, metalic people injured from a car crash.
"Hey mate" Williams said as he walked up next to him.
"Hey" Trenchard smiled, then yawned hard, his eyes red with lack of sleep "I hope the Embassy call to tell us where we'll be sleeping
tonight, I'd kill for a nights rest!"
"Yeah don't bloody blame you either" Willams nodded "So how was the Fairfax"
"Despite it's closeness to the Ingram" Trenchard said "the added weight makes it handle like a pig stuck in superglue, it's turns like
the sodding QE2* for Christs sake!" (*QE2 = Queen Elizabeth 2nd, the oldest and most luxorius cruise liner on the traditional Atlantic
Route)
Williams chuckled "I've got it just as bad, I'm you're controller!"
"Well as long you can read a map quickly and a bit of technical prowess?" Trenchard said.
"Yeah, used to be in the TA* me" Williams winked. (TA = Territorial Army, or Army Reserve)
"You were?" Trenchard raised an eyebrow.
"Yeah, did a year in it, best navigator in the Battalion I was" Willams smiled proudly "could find out where we were with an outdated
map, a minature compass under candle light in under 10 seconds I could"
"Well that's a good start then" Trenchard grinned "hey who gets the pints in at the end of an emergency eh?"
"Well that's obvious" Willams smiled back as he started walking back to the main hangar buildings "that's you isn't it"
"Git why me!?" Trenchard laughed.
"you're uniform you have to buy the drinks!"
"Always pulling rank, even when off duty" said Trenchard.
"Yeah well when you get Sergeant then you can pull it on me" replied Williams with a chuckle.
Trenchard said nothing, simply yawned as the late Afternoon drew on.
Silk Cut Ultra he had pawned off of one the British maintenance crew that had arrived with the Patlabor.
Asuma however wasn't so pleased with himself.
"Why the hell am I doing the driving!" he muttered "I had a report to type before the unit arrived!!"
"Shush I can't hear the music" Noa hissed as her head bounced up and down like a Nightclub Bouncer was
doing a violent number with her head and a brick wall, mumbling incoherently to the lyrics of "Definatly
Maybe" by Oasis.
"Maybe you should focus on the task in hand rather than making your hair untidy Officer Izumi" came Goto's
sleepy voice from the back "and turn it down, I can't get any rest back here"
Noa ruffled her hair back into it's usual shape "Actually now you mention it, I needed to do that
inspection of Alphonse" she muttered as she turned the stereo down to a more acceptable level.
"We're comming to Haneda arrivals now Sir" Asuma said as he turned the minibus down to the road that
went past the arrivals exit.
"Ey up Guv" Macca said as the Police Minibus drove down the road slowly "is this our ride?"
"No idea, Tim flag it down and ask them" Gallagher said as he carefully placed a filter into his
rollup.
Trenchard looked at the group (who were lazing around sitting on their cases) and sighed, he stepped out
into the road and put his hand up for the Minicab to stop.
"Who the hell is this!" Asuma said as he put the brakes on suddenly "and what's with the getup!?"
Noa just looked for a second "oh I know!" She smiled happily "it's Trenchard!"
Tim walked over to the Minicab and knocked on Asuma's window, Asuma wound it down "yes?" he asked in
English.
Trenchard smiled sheepishly and said (in fluent Japanese) "Hey, do you know any Police unit round here
that's due to pick up some VIP British foreigners?"
Asuma blinked, then cleared it through his head that anyone can learn a language, but that well!? Before
he could speak though, Goto had gotten up and was rubbing his teeth with a finger.
"Yeah, you're the transfer pilot arn't you?" Goto mumbled "I'm Captain Goto and these two go by the names
of Officers Noa Izumi and Asuma Shinohara"
Trenchard smiled and shook Asuma's hand "wow, so your dad's company helped make my Patlabor, that's cool!"
Asuma nodded "yep, I don't really like to talk about Dad's word though, gets boring, looking forward to
working with you"
"Sure, sure same here!" Trenchard nodded before spying Izumi "wow Noa is this really you!?" he grinned.
"Yeah! Remember me, I was the one who gave you all my old notes on Patlabor design for the classes!" Noa
beamed back.
"Oh yeah, thanks again for those, god only knows how I would've gotten through the early classes without
those!" Trenchard smiled, leaning over Asuma and shaking her hand firmly.
"Oi Trenchard!" came a voice behind him "Are they our lift or not!?"
"Hmm, well you kept them waiting long enough" Goto said opening the side door "right everyone, inside now,
we need to get you all breifed on life here!"
****
The drive to the landfill zone and after that SV2's base of operations was a initially a slow one, the
chokeing traffic filling most of Tokyo's motorways up to capacity (and beyond). When the small minibus
got into the wide exanse of the landfill zone though, things sped up.
"Bloody hell" Williams said as he looked out of the window "and they want to do this to parts of the
Thames eastury!"
"Looks busy" Trenchard mumbled as he saw the towering labors and construction cranes moving around on
the designated development areas, despite being in Japan for a year now he had only seen limited parts
of the Babylon project on TV.
"Do you speak any English?" Trenchard asked in his 2nd tounge nervously, leaning forward to Noa and Asuma.
"Some" Noa nodded "but not much really".
"I'm okay" nodded Asuma "Dad made me take it as part of my courses before I went into the Police"
"Excellent" smiled Trenchard.
"What's that in the box?" Noa asked. Trenchard had been holding a box while waiting for Gallagher and co at
the airport.
"Oh this?" Trenchard said as he opened the top "it's my Helmet"
Noa tried not to laugh as she saw the pokey tall helmet, looking more like an old Fireman's helmet it was
covered in black felt and had the London Metropolitan Police badge on the front and a silver crest on the top.
"What?" Trenchard asked defensibly "it's a tradition in the UK!"
"I..I know that" giggled Noa "just looks like one of those wacky party hats thats all" this sent Noa into
hysterics.
"You won't get a word out of her now" Asuma smiled as Noa rolled on her seat in laughter.
Meanwhile at the back Gallagher and Goto swaped notes.
"Rollup?" Gallagher offered as he dropped a filter into his mix of tobbaco paper and Golden Virginia tobabbco,
licking one side and rolling it up quickly.
"Sure" Goto nodded "So, you think you'll need help getting through Tokyo?"
"Well it's alot more ordered than London ever was" Gallagher replied "who could you reccomend, don't forget you
have your own Patlabor squad to man"
"There is that" Goto nodded as he smoked his roll up slowly "I know what to do though"
"Which is?" Gallagher asked "both me and my men need to get used to Tokyo before we do anything about the Expo
next week"
"I've got an idea" Goto said "I'll assign one of my people to Constable Trenchard and another to you and DC
Williams"
"That should work" Gallagher nodded "trouble how good is their english?"
Goto thought for a second "right, Officer Asuma goes with you and Williams and Officer Clancy goes with Constable
Trenchard"
"Clancy?" Gallagher blinked "wow, so Trenchard isn't the only one then?"
"Nah" Goto shook his head as he finnished his roll up and dropped it on the floor to stamp out "she got herself the
transfer" he mumbled as he stamped down lazily several times "you'll be okay though, the main patrol officers when
they see you they'll think you're being shown around the city"
Gallagher nodded "so what about the Yakusa then?"
Goto leaned back in a streach "what about the Yakusa?"
"Well do they have any known links with the WDA or RIRA?" Gallagher pressed.
Goto smiled slightly "Harry, the Yakusa are a way of life here, they gave up with drugs when the Russian Mafia ran
them out of the best routes to the US and Europe, they get much more from ripping off cars and sending them to the
Middle East to be re-clocked for entry into the European market" he explained "the last thing they want is to get
mixed up with the WDA witchhunt"
Gallagher nodded and sighed "that's good, do you have any files on known WDA members or sympathisers that I could
look at?"
"Well there are only one or two known ones who haven't been jailed yet" Goto said, thinking off of the top of his
head "I'll show you later"
Gallagher nodded and leaned back himself, the next second he had nodded off.
****
Sakaki was the first to step out of the hanger when the minibus door opened, Macca (who too had nodded off while
listening on his MP3 played), just happened to be leaning against the sliding door when it opened, head drooping out
of the minibus while he snored. Loudly.
"Come on you lazy git!" Gallagher said, batting Macca round the back of the head.
"Oh sorry Guv" Macca said as he was virtually pushed out of the minibus.
"So this is DS McVallaned then" Sakaki smiled as he looked down at the crumpled heap on the floor which passed as
the UK Cheif Engineer.
"Erm, yes sir" Macca said as he got up, dusting himself down "are you Cheif Engineer Sakaki?" he asked when he realised
just who he was talking to.
"Don't wear it out" he smiled as he held his hand out "looking forward to teaching you how to make the AV-98 Ingram and
Mk1 Fairfax work properly"
"Me..me too sir!" Macca said eagerly, his dream now come true as he shook Sakaki's hand excitedly.
"Hey Goto" Sakaki called over "We gotta start, I can't waste much time here"
"Sure" Goto said "go right ahead"
By then everyone else had clambered out of the Minibus, Gallagher fumbled for his tin of tobbaco and cig papers as they
entered the building.
"Ah!" Goto said quickly "I really wouldn't do that if I were you"
"Why?" Gallagher blinked as he slid the tin back into his coat pocket.
"DCI Gallager!" Shinobu said plesantly as she looked up from a folder she was reading.
"This is Captain Shinobu Nagumo, the Cheif round here" Goto smiled as he turned around, quickly fumbling his packet of
Ciggarettes into his front pocket.
"DCI Harry Gallagher, please to meet you Ma'aam" he replied, putting his hand out "I've heard you run a tight ship here
Captain"
Shinobu smiled slightly "I like to keep standards high here DCI Gallagher" she said as she very firmly shook his hand.
"Please just Gallagher" he shrugged as he returned the shake "personally it's all down to attitude, as long as you
approach the problem with the right mindset you get the same standards as those military style outfits that Scotland
Yard run" he said with a mock shiver.
Shinobu frowned for a second, having a quick nightmare of Goto being the Cheif of SV2 instead of her, she put her
smile back out on show "well surely different approaches for different places"
Gallagher scratched the back of his head "yeah I guess, so where do you want us?"
Shinobu looked to Goto "I thought that was Goto's department?"
"Goto?" Gallagher asked looking behind him.
Goto blinked in his bemused style and said "oops"
Meanwhile Asuma and Noa had led Trenchard through with Macca into the Hangar.
"So you did a stint in an Ingram at training?" Noa asked.
"Well it was for a week, basic orientation and understanding of the systems" Trenchard said nervously "why? I thought
I was going to get a Gorrilla or something?"
"Trust me, when you see what you're going to see, you'll think you have won the lottery!" Asuma grinned slightly.
Trenchard was led down the E-pen style set up with the two Ingrams that were parked up, going basic lookers by
Macca and Sakaki (with a very worried Ota complaining on the side about why his Ingram is being messed around by a
19 year old rookie from London).
"Heres your baby Harry" Asuma said as they turned round the corner of the last bay at the end.
Trenchard looked at the Fairfax and rubbed his eyes for a moment, he couldn't quite belive it "you sure?" he said
"nah this is a joke right, wheres the real jockey?"
"look" Noa beamed as she pointed to the Name on the side of the cockpit door "PC Trenchard, Sqd A, VCU"
"Bloody hell" was all Trenchard could say (whisper more like) before he stepped back excitedly "this is what I wanted to
pilot since I was 15!" he said, eyes wide with happiness "I'm gonna be the first!!!"
"Congratulations" came a voice behind the jumpy Trenchard. The three turned round to see a rather unemtional Kanuka stepping
down the steps leading from the ready room.
"Oh this is Sergeant Kanuka Clancy" Asuma said "Kanuka this is Constable Trenchard"
"Oh" Kanuka said, raising an eyebrow "I thought we were having a funeral" she commented when she saw how heavily the
black uniform of the British Policeman was.
"Well I would have the heavy woolen overcoat Ma'aam but they phased those out a couple of years ago" Trenchard chuckled
nervously (in english) as her stare hit him for a second.
"You're fresh out of the Academy I hear" Kanuka questioned.
"Ah yes Ma'aam" Trenchard nodded "though I have a year of experience in the borugh of Brixton in London as a foot patrol before I
applied for Patlabor training"
Kanuka nodded as Noa looked at Asuma with that "what is she up to?" look.
"Good, good" Kanuka said as she put out a hand, no smile showing, just a hand "look forward to working with you"
"Me too Ma'aam" Trenchard nodded slowly.
"Call me Kanuka" she said firmly "and look after your Patlabor, they don't grow on trees" with that she turned and walked back
upstairs.
"She does this often right?" Trenchard said, quite intimidated just by the stare.
Asuma blinked "no, she's never been this hostile, no idea what she meant by her last comment"
Noa stayed silent, however she was thinking.
****
After initial introductions, Trenchard was dragged away by Asuma and Williams to program the Fairfax, Goto directed
Gallagher to the pile of documents that he needed to read through before he could get onto tackling the problem at hand.
Macca and Sakaki though had more practical things at hand.
"Yeah so we just leaned it forward by an extra 12 degrees to get the stability right, the cameras were tilted upwards so
the jockey could see properly" Macca explained as they went over basic checks with the Fairfax after working over Ota's
Ingram (much to Ota's annoyance).
Sakaki nodded "we'll have to look at this another time" he said as he ticked off the list "can't stay like this, I'm sure
we'll get it balanced properly though"
Macca looked at the Fairfax and the Ingram sitting next to it "say, which one do you think would win in a head to head?"
Sakaki also took a long, hard look at both "I'd say weight wise, the Fairfax would be harder to move around so the Ingram"
Macca nodded "Yeah" then he grinned, fancing his chances he looked at Sakaki and said "you think we could get them in a one
to one?"
Sakaki looked at Macca, then at the Ingram, then back at Macca, then at the Fairfax before saying "Sounds like a good idea,
but will Goto approve"
Goto and Gallagher sat on the desk in the temporary office that Gallagher and Williams had commandeered as Sakaki and Macca
put the idea accross.
"We need to test out the Fairfax, test out the stability of the thing in a close combat situation" Macca started.
"So we had the idea of a one on one, no weapons or Controllers to guide the jockeys" Sakaki added.
"We need to get some operational time under the Fairfax's belt guv" Macca said.
Gallagher mused "I'll have to go with Macca on this one, the Fairfax did have some stabiliy problems in testing"
Goto said nothing, he looked out of the window as Asuma sat with Williams in the Command car , directing him on
how to aid Trenchard in programming his Fairfax. Noa was peering into the darkness of the Fairfax's cockpit, probabbly
helping Trenchard with programming his Fairfax. Kanuka however just sat in front of all this, arms crossed, looking up
at the Fairfax's cockpit.
"Okay" Goto muttered finally "put Clancy in the Ingram and put her against Trenchard"
"What I thought one of your people were going to do it?" Gallagher said "Trenchard is only a rookie and we've only
just arrived, Trenchard is about 5 hours behind sleep wise we haven't even set our watches 9 hours ahead!"
"That's the whole point, if we need to launch suddenly, I'll want him comming along so he needs the exerience" Goto
said as he walked out "if anyone needs me I'll be having a ciggarette"
Gallagher looked out the window himself and saw Trenchard clambering out of the Fairfax, laughing a bit with Williams
had joined him.
"God help him then" Gallagher said to himself.
After an hour of orientation with the Fairfax's systems and programming the vital information in, a breifing was called
in the classroom like breifing room, the white board covered with doodle that Goto and other had drawn over the weeks.
Gallagher was first into the room, followed by a Goto who held a peice of paper.
"What do you think is happening?" Trenchard asked quietly.
"Ah this normally happens when they want to do some practice" Noa sighed as she streatched out.
Trenchard looked at Goto who yawned before speaking.
"Err.." he said before reading the sheet "training exercise at 1200, close combat" he said firmly "opponents are Constable
Trenchard and Sergeant Clancy"
Trenchard nearly fell off of his seat, Noa and Asuma just blinked.
"Kanuka will be using Ota's Ingram while Trenchard shall use the new Fairfax" Goto finnished.
"Hehehe" Ota sniggered, almost cackled "this is going to be good"
"Yes" Goto said without emotion at Ota's cackling "anyway dismissed everyone, one hour till exercise begins"
Trenchard rubbed his head a bit as he looked accross the classroom, Kanuka was looking right back at him with one of those
"KO in round one" looks as she stood and walked out.
****
"Wow" Williams said "that really gave him a shock guv"
"I know" Gallagher nodded as he looked down at the young Constable check over his Patlabor "but he needs to learn somehow"
The Fairfax had been fuelled to the max before sealing and grounding the outside to prevent static bursts ignighting the
tanks. Trenchard then eased himself into the tight Cockpit, knowing he was sitting on a large amount of Red desiel.
"Have fun out there" Macca smiled as he closed the cockpit hatch.
"Oh ha bloody ha" said Trenchard as the door closed.
"What do you think of him?" Ota asked as he finnished checking over Kanuka's Ingram.
"Who?"
"The Brit you're facing, Trenchard?"
Kanuka looked at Ota "different" was her reply before she sat back and put on her headset.
"Ahh" chuckled the Sergeant "sounds too nervous to be a Patlabor pilot to me"
"Keep in mind that 'sounds like' and 'is like' are two totally seperate things" Kanuka said with determination.
Because of the clearance, both Patlabors had to be transported outside via truck. Only then could they be made upright. The
Fairfax was raised first, slowly climbing upwards due to it's added weight.
"Funny feeling" Trenchard muttered to himself.
"Right it's upright" Macca said as he looked at the display "Trenchard could you start the wind up procedure please"
"Sure" he said as he keyed in the access code then through the touchscreen technology began the start up procedure on the
two Deisel engines. A loud, cranky whine was heard as first one then the other started to move into motion, huge plumes of
black exhaust smoke were expelled from the covered exhaust pipes at the back as the engines exploded into life.
"Power up, movement ability at..100% ready to move" Trenchard said through the net.
"Copy that, you have clearance to move" Macca replied after getting the nod from Gallagher.
Trenchard took a deep breath and took a step forward, the engines' whine increasing as the Fairfax took it's first step
down onto the ground.
"Stability is...good" Macca smiled.
"Watch it" Sakaki said "remember the tilt forward is only a quick fix".
"I'm okay" Trenchard said as he went through the arm and leg motions to check that the movement dampners were okay, lose
them and he'd fall, hard "Fuel tanks A,B,C and D fully sealed and pumping"
"Good, now wait for the Ingram and the signal" Gallagher said into the Mic "from there all Net communication from us
will cease you'll be on your own in a situation where the command car has either been cut off from transmission of removed
from play. The Ingram in front of you is hostile, it was captured by a hostile force and will have to get through you to
get to it's objective"
Trenchard knew what the jargon meant, this was an exercise on what to do if the Command car had been destroyed, as sick
the thought of DC Williams diying in a fireball was, he kept his focus on the exercise ahead. He adjusted the brightness
and contrast of the main screen and moved the camera up an inch.
This was when his shadow was joined by a second, faster moving shadow. Kanuka had arrived.
Trenchard took a deep breath and took a step back, making room for himself away from the quicker and nimble Ingram.
"What is he doing?" Noa blinked "They haven't even started yet and he's stepping away!"
Kanuka for her part fixed her position for a flying start, though she was facing slightly away from Trenchard, he had a
small idea of what she was aiming to do. Kanuka eased into the seat and gripped the controls with the hi-grip gloves
that they used to keep their hands on the controls at critical moments.
"I'm ready" Kanuka said into the net.
"Ready" Trenchard said onto the net before turning off his connection.
Goto was smoking another Silk Cut when he got the nod from Sakaki, pressing the button on the hand held torch with a Green
light on to signal beginning of the exercise.
Almost immediatly, Kanuka sprang her Ingram forward onto the offensive, it's sleek, shined body lunging forward with
extraordinary speed as she flew forward towards Trenchard. Caught off guard, Trenchard managed to take another step back
before lunging forward himself. But unlike Kanuka, he threw the body forward and around in a circular motion, using the
heavy fuel load and the other added weight as a slingshot to get that extra speed to throw him past the clutches of Kanuka's
Ingram and behind.
Kanuka gritted her teeth as she saw the bright white Fairfax, just, so very just swing round and past her Ingram, she
brought it round very quickly, seeing that Trenchard had only just managed to keep the whole thing under control, facing
sideways away from Kanuka as he quickly set his position again.
Kanuka though was too fast, jumping in again, using her speed to her advantage, she slammed into the Fairfax just as it
had turned to face the new threat, grappling with it, trying to get her arms round the waist or get a grip to get it onto
the floor.
Trenchard though was in deep trouble, he rocked back as several tons of steel and other metal slammed into him, just inches
away from his face. Recovering, he tried to pry himself away from her attempts to get a hold, knowing that it might be already
too late he thought quickly, his solution was unorthordox to say the least.
Kanuka raised an eyebrow as the Fairfax fell backwards, then gasped as she realised, he was using his superior weight to drag
her down with him as he rolled backwards, using the momentum to throw the Ingram off of him.
Although that was the theorised plan anyway. Reality threw the plan in the bin and forced a new situation on them both.
Trenchard, although managing to get out of Kanuka's hold, he had failed to throw her off of him, only roll her Ingram off
to the sideof him. The air was filled with the screams of protesting engines and the whine of gears as they both got up as
quickly as they could.
"This is excellent!" Macca grinned, the specticle in front of him exceeding the wildest of all of his dreams.
"Impressive how Trenchard uses his Patlabor" Asuma said as he watched.
"He's too inexperienced though, he's yet to pull off an offensive move yet" Noa said quietly as she watched them both.
"Hah!" Ota spat "He was lucky to get out of that and you both know it"
The pair ignored him as Kanuka got up just before Trenchard, the Fairfax forced back to it's knees as Kanuka dived on top of it,
trying to force it down onto the floor for a pin, Kanuka couldn't get a good grip however and was forced off. Trenchard managing
to get up and get his bearings.
They squared off again, the whole fight taking it's toll on both combatants as Trenchard was the first to move forward this
time, the twin engines roaring as he put it all into this, thrusting forward, aiming to clip the Ingram slightly. Kanuka
started to slide round to dodge the blow and thats when he saw his opening, guessing which way she was going to dodge he altered
course ever so slightly, the two patlabors getting ever so close, then they touched, tipping the Ingram into a slight imbalance
and over onto it's back again.
Kanuka shook her head to get the cobwebs out of her head when the Ingram hit the deck, already starting to get up. Trenchard however
had miscalculated, the collision had acted like two billiard balls bouncing off of one another, sending him staggering off, the
instability showing as he turned it round to see that Kanuka had just gotten back up.
His inexperience showing, he lunged forward again, this time with straight forward punches and shoves that hit nothing but thin
air as Kanuka dodged and jumped back, then Trenchard punched downward, hitting the ground as he (just) missed Kanuka.
"There!" Noa said "he's finished"
"He's at Kanuka's mercy there" Goto said "well that's a new recruit for you"
Gallagher just watched as Kanuka quickly grabbed the Fairfax around the waist and with a heavy strain on the Ingram picked it
slightly off of the ground, falling forward as she dropped Trenchard onto the ground, effectivly pinning him down for the count.
"Sergeant Clancy is the winner of the exercise!" Macca said down the net once it had been reestablished.
Trenchard clambered out of the battered Fairfax once it had been self righted, rubbing his head. The last move had made him
hit his head on the spartan headrest and that had given him a headache. The fight though had gone as well as expected, it
wasn't the machine that had let him down it was his lack of experience.
"Tim!" Gallagher called as he jogged over "how was it in there?"
"Steady, the mini-airconditioning units eliminate any fumes that might get into the cockpit, overall very good guv"
"Good" Gallagher said as he looked away and shoved a cig into his mouth "look you were excellent out there"
Trenchard nodded, still rubbing his head.
"Just focus a little more" Gallagher winked "the key is not to know how powerful your opponent is or how much faster he is
than you, it's to know how to get around them and beat them, even if that model is better than yours"
"Yes guv" Trenchard said, quite enthusiastically to his suprise.
"Good now go have a sit down, I'll brief everyone later" Gallagher said as he walked off. As he did though, Kanuka came into
view, she too looked a bit worse for wear from the exercise as she looked directly at him, then she turned to walk towards him.
He froze, he found that he was so intimidated by her. Her body language, her eyes, everything suggested a willingness to show
people who is in charge.
"Tim" Kanuka said.
"ma'aam, I mean Kanuka" Trenchard said as he shook his head.
"Just wanted to say thanks" Kanuka said.
"What for?" Trenchard asked, quite nervous.
"For such a great match" Kanuka said, flashing a warm smile "I'll see you later for that breifing"
"Err...yes" Trenchard blinked as she walked off. The maintainence crews rushed to usher the two Patlabors onto their trailers,
like strange, metalic people injured from a car crash.
"Hey mate" Williams said as he walked up next to him.
"Hey" Trenchard smiled, then yawned hard, his eyes red with lack of sleep "I hope the Embassy call to tell us where we'll be sleeping
tonight, I'd kill for a nights rest!"
"Yeah don't bloody blame you either" Willams nodded "So how was the Fairfax"
"Despite it's closeness to the Ingram" Trenchard said "the added weight makes it handle like a pig stuck in superglue, it's turns like
the sodding QE2* for Christs sake!" (*QE2 = Queen Elizabeth 2nd, the oldest and most luxorius cruise liner on the traditional Atlantic
Route)
Williams chuckled "I've got it just as bad, I'm you're controller!"
"Well as long you can read a map quickly and a bit of technical prowess?" Trenchard said.
"Yeah, used to be in the TA* me" Williams winked. (TA = Territorial Army, or Army Reserve)
"You were?" Trenchard raised an eyebrow.
"Yeah, did a year in it, best navigator in the Battalion I was" Willams smiled proudly "could find out where we were with an outdated
map, a minature compass under candle light in under 10 seconds I could"
"Well that's a good start then" Trenchard grinned "hey who gets the pints in at the end of an emergency eh?"
"Well that's obvious" Willams smiled back as he started walking back to the main hangar buildings "that's you isn't it"
"Git why me!?" Trenchard laughed.
"you're uniform you have to buy the drinks!"
"Always pulling rank, even when off duty" said Trenchard.
"Yeah well when you get Sergeant then you can pull it on me" replied Williams with a chuckle.
Trenchard said nothing, simply yawned as the late Afternoon drew on.