Patlabor: Personal Files
An Episodic Patlabor Fanfic by David A. Tatum
Disclaimer: Insert legal junk here...
Episode 06: The Life of Gomioka
January 5, 2000
The alarm went off at Gomioka's bedside when the clock read 2100 military
time. Yawning, he reached over and slammed down on it, turning it off.
Too tired to remember why he'd set it, he rolled over and went back to
sleep.
He felt a stinging sensation as his wife slapped him awake- hard. "Time to
get up and go back to work, dear," she said icily.
Gomioka blinked and sat up, staring at the back of his retreating wife as
she headed for the kitchen. 'Why'd she hit me so hard? Oh, yeah... she's
still mad about me inviting Clancy to the ceremony. When is she going to
realize I just think of that American woman as a friend?' His wife had
long suspected him of having an affair with Kanuka, but that was
preposterous. The only think between them was professional respect.
Sighing, he got out of bed and started to get dressed in his uniform. Each
unit from the SV2 had been given an extra shift off (the standby shift, in
most cases, though Unit Two had been given an extra active shift off as
well, for working through their off-duty shift- they had the 7th scheduled
off, and the third unit was supposed to cover one of their shifts on
standby) for the work done during the Millennium Crisis, and he had time to
sleep at home the previous night. Now he was starting to wonder if it had
been worth it to go home. He and his wife hadn't been on the best of terms
for a while now- though she did still support him publicly, at least.
Still, she had a jealous streak a mile wide, and the temper to back it up.
He moved into the dining room as he finished tying his tie, and sat down
for the meal. His wife served him and then sat down across from him.
"So, dear," she began with strained politeness- which was at least better
than the icy attitude she had displayed waking him up that evening. "How
is work going?"
"Oh, fine, Kinuko," Gomioka said to his wife absently, glancing at the
headlines on the evening edition of the paper and munching on the shrimp
tempura his wife had made for him. It was a little soggy, but he didn't
care- it was better than the usual food he had at the SV2's cafeteria.
"Hmm... so, are you having any problems adjusting to being a captain?"
Kinuko asked.
Gomioka shrugged. "Well, I have a lot more duties that are a lot less
interesting. I almost wish I hadn't accepted the promotion, but we do need
the money."
Kinuko frowned. "Is Kanuka still working with you guys?"
Gomioka caught the warning in her voice, and smiled slightly. This would
make her happy. "No, she's been temporarily placed in the street patrol,
prior to a job at the Academy in Fuji. She's staying in Japan for a while
to take care of her grandmother, who's very ill."
"Oh, how sad," she said with false sympathy. "But why didn't she get a job
with your new unit?"
"There weren't any openings, so she didn't have a choice."
"Oh, well. So, when do you have to leave for work?" she asked, much more
cheerily.
Gomioka looked at his watch. "Well, I have to be at work at midnight, and
it'll take me an hour and a half to get there, so I've got about an hour if
you want to do something," he said hopefully.
"Ah, well... do you want to watch television with me?"
Gomioka deflated slightly. "Sure, what's on?" As they settled down in
front of the television, he began to wonder about the woman he married.
When they'd first met, she was a passionate person who would spend any
moment they had together doing something romantic and exciting. Now, the
most romantic and exciting thing they ever did together was watch
television together, and that was only if she was pleased with him. If
they ever slept in the same bed again, or kissed, or even held each other
in front of the television, it might be worth all of the temper, all of the
jealousy, and all of the suspicion she had... but without even the
slightest hint that she still cared about him and not just about his money
and position, he didn't feel as if the marriage was working out. Oh, well-
at least she'd forgiven him for the moment.
He sat back and watched the twenty year old shogun drama that his wife
wanted to watch. He didn't have long before he had to be back on the job,
so he might as well relax while he could.
* * * * *
January 6, 2000
"Captain Gomioka, Third Unit, reporting for duty!"
Gotoh smiled as he stood up from his desk, and returned the salute. "Have
fun," he said, stepping out of the office.
Gomioka almost snarled at him. The third unit was guaranteed the graveyard
shift every night- which was also the most boring shift around. So far,
the only time they'd been called out was that huge incident caused by the
turning of the millennium. And, with Captain Nagumo off of standby duty,
he didn't even have anyone to talk to. Sighing, he settled into his seat,
and pulled out the classic illustrated novel he had brought with him- a
historic book he should have read years beforehand.
After ten minutes, he gave up on his reading. For some reason, the Tale of
Genji didn't really appeal to him. Oddly, it made him worry more about his
relationship with Kinuko- stories of adulterous wives and men who slept
with many women didn't help him to forget his marital difficulties.
Sighing, he stood up and started pacing around the room. He glanced at the
TV set that had been left in the room following the events on New Years,
but decided against watching it. Apparently, the only stations they could
get were SNN and NHK, and by now he'd be lucky to get anything other than
weather or sports.
A knock on the door preceded the entrance of Ohta Isao. "Captain Gomioka,
sir!" he bellowed.
"Yes?"
"Our rookies are bored, sir. I was wondering if I could entertain them
with some firearms drill, sir?" he asked hopefully.
Gomioka considered it for a moment. "It is awfully late at night," he
answered. "And Unit Two is sleeping in the dorms- it wouldn't exactly be
polite to wake them up."
"We could use the silencer, sir!"
Gomioka almost laughed. A labor gun with a silencer was only a little
quieter than a low-caliber handgun. Still, he had been rather bored, and
it had only been ten minutes since the second unit's shift had ended, so
probably no-one was asleep yet.... "Very well- if you can arrange a
demonstration that will be over within the next half hour- and that I can
see from this window- I'll allow it. But after that half hour, not ONE
MORE SHOT, got it!?"
"YES, SIR!" Ohta cried enthusiastically. "Thank you, sir!" With that, he
turned, and almost ran out the door.
Gomioka sighed. He really didn't want to feed Ohta's obsession, but it WAS
something to do...
* * * * *
It was two o'clock in the morning, and Gomioka was struggling to stay
awake. Ohta's target practice was certainly interesting- as good a shot as
he was, the man could be an excellent cop if he could just control himself
in situations where firearms weren't required. However, many had tried and
failed to do just that, so it didn't seem too probable he ever would learn
control.
Asuma Shinohara, surprisingly without the company of his girlfriend and
partner, Noa Izumi, showed up in the middle of the practice to complain
about the noise. Gomioka apologized profusely- not that he was surprised
that someone had shown up for him to need to apologize to. He felt a
little guilty for KNOWINGLY keeping people awake when they were as tired as
Shinohara looked, but he honestly thought no-one would have been asleep by
that point.
It had been over an hour since then, and the excitement that Ohta's
firearms drill had brought was long gone. There was nothing to do except
sit at the phone- he was caught up with his paperwork for the next month
and a half, it was too early in the fiscal year to worry about the budget,
he STILL couldn't bring himself to read any more of the Tale of Genji, and
not even the weather reports were over by that point. Both SNN and NHK
were off the air.
He sighed. All he needed was something to break the monotony....
The phone started ringing. Gomioka almost laughed- just when he asked for
it. Answering the call, he said, "Special Vehicles, Second Section.
Captain Gomioka speaking."
"Hello, sir," a dispatch officer replied. "We've got a call that could
require a labor. Could you send one to the Kurokawa shopping center in
Akasaka? We have a standoff apparently involving members of the Beach
House terrorist organization."
"Beach House?" Gomioka repeated. He'd heard of that organization, but
usually it was Gotoh's unit who dealt with them. He considered sending
Ohta, who had faced off against them before, but that thought lasted about
a half a second before he shook it off. After all, it was just a standoff-
Ohta was bad at standoffs, from what he'd heard. In fact, he was bad at
pretty much everything but shoot-outs. That meant sending the rookie team,
but there might not be any labor action after all, and besides, he'd go
with them. Normally, he'd go in with both labors, but one had to stay
behind in case another call came in. He COULD wake Shinobu up and ask her
to handle duties on standby, but this didn't sound that important. "I'll
be there shortly. Officer Ohta will remain behind to take calls."
"Ohta?" the operator said, choking on the name. "Very well- we'll only
make another call in an absolute emergency."
* * * * *
"Come out with your hands up! You cannot stand against the glorious force
of the Japanese Police! Surrender! You do not stand a chance! If you
give yourselves up peacefully, we will show mercy. Otherwise..." the
sergeant in charge droned on into the megaphone.
Gomioka sighed, relaxing into the seat of his car. This was almost as
boring as sitting around the office doing nothing, but it was also giving
him a headache from the noise. Briefly, he wished he'd brought Ohta with
him- it would probably have caused serious problems, but at least it would
have lead to something to do. Besides, it would have given him an excuse
to drum the trigger-happy labor pilot out of his unit.
Suddenly, a burst of static over his radio alerted him to an incoming
message. "Calling Captain Gomioka, this is dispatch."
"Dispatch, Gomioka here," he replied to the radio.
"We got a call in here for another incident- one where we know labors are
required. There is a drunk labor pilot on the rampage, and officer Ohta
went to investigate. He tried to page you, but apparently they are still
down from the Millennium Crisis."
"Will respond- where is the location of the call?"
"Babylon Project Experimental Facility Gamma. Beware- there are a number
of explosive chemicals on the site."
'Oh, god- and Ohta's on the way?' Gomioka thought, panicked.
* * * * *
Gomioka and the second labor team were about three blocks away from the
site when a giant explosion rocked the docks upon which the facility was
built.
"What the hell is going on!" someone cried over the radio.
"Hurry! Raise Iguchi's labor- prepare for search and rescue!" Gomioka
shouted into his microphone. "I think that was Ohta... and if it was, then
he's in serious trouble. Seiroku- take your command car and drive around
to the other side of the wrecked building and see if there are any
survivors on that side!"
"Yes sir," he cried, and his little command car sped off to circle around
the burning structure. The Type 97 that Kenji Iguchi was piloting rose on
its trailer and stepped out towards the building, when another explosion
sounded, sending shockwaves that knocked the labor to the ground and drove
Gomioka's car backwards.
"This is Gomioka calling dispatch," Unit Three's captain said into his
radio. "Send fire and rescue immediately. There is the possibility of
officers down." He bowed his head down. "We cannot handle it ourselves."
* * * * *
About ten minutes later, Seiroku reported in over the radio. "I saw
several unidentified men fleeing the scene, carrying some crates of
equipment or something. I would have investigated further, but thought it
more important to see if I could find any injured people around. Officer
Shinshi is here, with his labor transport, but he was unconscious when I
found him. He appears to be all right now, but the damage to the cab has
put the trailer out of commission. In addition, the command car is here
and serviceable, but Officer Akito Kenichi is injured badly- some of his
internal monitors shattered and sent glass into his face. He seems to be
mumbling something...."
In the background, Gomioka could here the injured man chanting, "I knew he
would get me killed one of these days... I knew he would get me killed one
of these days... I knew he would get me killed one of these days...."
"I read you. Ambulance and rescue crews are on the way. Keep searching-
maybe Ohta's labor was able to protect him from the brunt of the blast."
"Affirmitive, sir," Seiroku replied.
Gomioka threw down the transmiter in disgust. "One week as captain, and
already one possible death and one serious injury among my subordinates.
This job just keeps getting worse and worse!"
"Captain," Yoshi Tobe, the second labor's transport driver, said over the
radio. "The rescue team is here. Shall I tell them to begin searching for
officer Ohta?"
Gomioka picked up the radio transmitter again, calming down a little.
"Affirmative. Inform them we have an injured officer located on the other
side of the building, still sitting in his command car, I think. Also,
warn them that there is the possibility of additional explosions."
"Understood," Tobe acknowledged, and soon the firefighting labors worked
their way into the burning building and began to put out the fire.
"Calling Captain Gomioka, this is dispatch," the radio crackled again.
The Captain sighed. "Here."
"I have a Captain Nagumo on the line, asking if you require assistance."
"Nagumo?" Gomioka blinked. 'What is she doing up?' he wondered. Her unit
wasn't supposed to be on duty for another two hours.
"She said Officer Ohta informed her of the situation, and she ordered her
unit on standby."
Gomioka considered bringing her in for a little bit, but sighed. What
could she do at that point? "Inform her that we have at least one officer
down, and that one labor is effectively out of commission. I don't believe
we are able to respond to any more calls tonight, so if she could remain on
standby for the rest of the night, I would be very thankful."
"Affirmative," dispatch said, and the radio crackled into silence.
It returned to life a few seconds later when fire and rescue called in.
"Captain, this is Labor FR-1. We have found the remains of what looks to
be a Type 97 police labor. The cockpit looks intact, but I am unwilling to
inspect further until I can retrieve it from the building. It is very hot
in here, and if I were to open that cockpit we might roast the person
inside alive."
"It would serve him right," Gomioka muttered.
"Say again?" Labor FR-1's pilot requested.
"Uh... never mind. Just do whatever you can."
* * * * *
About an hour later, Captain Gomioka was out of his car and riding in the
ambulance with a recovering Ohta, who had just started to tell his story as
it pulled out. Officer Seiroku was placed in charge as Unit Three's
uninjured men waited for the arrival of the equipment which would take away
the wrecked vehicles.
Ohta had been lucky in that the cockpit had shielded him from the blast,
but power had been knocked out (which was not surprising, considering the
only surviving part of the labor was the cockpit).
"Well, sir, I waited for ten minutes for backup before following the
apparent DWI inside the main warehouse. There, I discovered that he was
not actually drunk- just faking it in order to cover the theft of a large
amount of equipment that had been loaded into the truck."
Gomioka blinked and nodded. "Interesting. Officer Seiroku thought he saw
some people carrying some equipment away, himself, but was too concerned
with the welfare of yourself and your labor crew to pursue them."
Ohta gingerly grinned. "He should have gone after them- it's not wise to
let criminals escape, especially possible cop-killers." His smile dropped
painfully as a nurse applied some salve to one of his burns. "Anyway, I
ordered the perpetrators to surrender, when they ran away, taking the truck
with them. During there escape, I recognized one of their members as
belonging to Beach House." That drew a startled gasp out of Gomioka, but
Ohta continued. "Thier construction labor faced off with me. I drew my
gun and attempted to fire, only to find my labor was not armed.
Apparently, someone forgot to reload the gun following my session of target
practice."
Gomioka nodded- that little bit of amnesia on the maintenance squad's part
was his suggestion, in order to keep him from shooting someone if they were
called in to support a search and rescue operation- which was about the
only thing Gomioka thought his unit would be doing during those winter
months, when criminal activity was down. He was SUPPOSED to be nearby in
case there came a situation where Ohta needed his gun, and the maintenance
squad was SUPPOSED to have reloaded it if Ohta was going into a potentially
dangerous situation alone. Apparently, niether one of those safeguards
worked.
"I will speak with the person responsible," he said, but wasn't too
concerned. The lack of a firearm probably postponed the explosion for a
short time- perhaps enough time for the rest of Unit Three to arrive and
perform the initial stages of search and rescue. All it meant was that
Ohta probably wasn't the cause of the explosion.
"I WANT WHOEVER IT WAS DRAWN AND QUARTERED!" Ohta nearly shouted, then
winced at the pain doing so caused. Continuing in a much softer voice, he
said, "Finding my gun inoperable, I dropped it and drew out my
electromagnetic baton. I succeeded in disabling the other labor with a
strike to the power center, but the electricity that soared through the
baton doing so fried my labor's control system. The pilot of that labor
leapt out and tossed a grenade. I was unable to do more than close the
hatch, and seconds later it blew."
"A grenade caused the blast, you say? Hmm... I wonder if the person who
used it realized this place was full of high explosives...."
Before Gomioka could pursue that line of thinking, the ambulance arrived at
the hospital and Ohta was wheeled out.
* * * * *
The wall clock read 7:45 a.m. by the time Gomioka had returned to SV2
headquarters. Sighing, he sat down in his chair, waved to Shinobu, and
started writing his report on the incident.
"Welcome back," she said, approaching him. "Rough night?" Concern was
etched in her voice.
"I can't remember a worse one in my whole career," was his reply. "I've
been captain for a WEEK, and two men are seriously injured, one labor is
completely destroyed, one labor TRANSPORT, which are generally thought of
as indestructable, is out of the action for at least three days...." He
just sighed and shook his head.
"And you had to call in search and rescue because you couldn't handle
things yourself," she finished for him. "Wondering whether or not you
deserve to wear that rank yet?"
He snorted. "Of course I am. And my conclusion is just as obvious- I
shouldn't be wearing it at all. I made several critical mistakes- for one
thing, I split up my team. That goes against some regulations, and it
CERTAINLY isn't a very bright thing to do. To make it worse, I went with
the team which didn't need as much supervision if things got dangerous,
simply because I was bored and didn't want to hang back when I could be
doing something. Finally, when the situation became critical, I had to
call in help because I couldn't deal with my own unit's problems."
Shinobu nodded. "All true. And also all very easy mistakes to make- I
made them myself when I was a rookie captain, and with just as disasterous
results. In fact, my mistakes were so bad most of my original team
transferred to different units. I was careless, and it nearly cost the
lives of three men. But I think I turned out okay- I just needed
experience."
Gomioka looked at her in awe. "You goofed up this badly?"
She nodded and smiled. "Worse. My goof-up came on live TV, in front of an
international audience. Yours came in the dead of night with no-one around
for miles." Her smile grew. "The trick is to learn from your mistakes,
and not repeat them."
"Thanks," was his all too meager reply.
"Anytime," she said, and returned to her desk. Gomioka watched her go.
Kinuko was always worried he was having an affair with Kanuka Clancy, but
that was just ridiculous. He thought she was a very accomplished person,
yes, but he didn't really find her attractive- and her personality left
something to be desired. He liked fiery women, but not THAT fiery.
No, it was foolish for his wife to worry about someone like that. Now, if
she were to worry about someone like Shinobu Nagumo, on the other hand....
-------------------------
Next Episode: The Lost Episode. Will not be reposted. A New episode, which
includes the important events from that part, is being considered, but as of
yet no definite plans exist to replace it. If you would like to try and write
such an episode, please contact me via e-mail. Thank you.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
desaix@sysnet.net
Sir Desaix, member # 116 of the Knights of the True Fiancee
anime fanfics available at
http://www.geocities.com/zednik.geo/fanfics.htm
An Episodic Patlabor Fanfic by David A. Tatum
Disclaimer: Insert legal junk here...
Episode 06: The Life of Gomioka
January 5, 2000
The alarm went off at Gomioka's bedside when the clock read 2100 military
time. Yawning, he reached over and slammed down on it, turning it off.
Too tired to remember why he'd set it, he rolled over and went back to
sleep.
He felt a stinging sensation as his wife slapped him awake- hard. "Time to
get up and go back to work, dear," she said icily.
Gomioka blinked and sat up, staring at the back of his retreating wife as
she headed for the kitchen. 'Why'd she hit me so hard? Oh, yeah... she's
still mad about me inviting Clancy to the ceremony. When is she going to
realize I just think of that American woman as a friend?' His wife had
long suspected him of having an affair with Kanuka, but that was
preposterous. The only think between them was professional respect.
Sighing, he got out of bed and started to get dressed in his uniform. Each
unit from the SV2 had been given an extra shift off (the standby shift, in
most cases, though Unit Two had been given an extra active shift off as
well, for working through their off-duty shift- they had the 7th scheduled
off, and the third unit was supposed to cover one of their shifts on
standby) for the work done during the Millennium Crisis, and he had time to
sleep at home the previous night. Now he was starting to wonder if it had
been worth it to go home. He and his wife hadn't been on the best of terms
for a while now- though she did still support him publicly, at least.
Still, she had a jealous streak a mile wide, and the temper to back it up.
He moved into the dining room as he finished tying his tie, and sat down
for the meal. His wife served him and then sat down across from him.
"So, dear," she began with strained politeness- which was at least better
than the icy attitude she had displayed waking him up that evening. "How
is work going?"
"Oh, fine, Kinuko," Gomioka said to his wife absently, glancing at the
headlines on the evening edition of the paper and munching on the shrimp
tempura his wife had made for him. It was a little soggy, but he didn't
care- it was better than the usual food he had at the SV2's cafeteria.
"Hmm... so, are you having any problems adjusting to being a captain?"
Kinuko asked.
Gomioka shrugged. "Well, I have a lot more duties that are a lot less
interesting. I almost wish I hadn't accepted the promotion, but we do need
the money."
Kinuko frowned. "Is Kanuka still working with you guys?"
Gomioka caught the warning in her voice, and smiled slightly. This would
make her happy. "No, she's been temporarily placed in the street patrol,
prior to a job at the Academy in Fuji. She's staying in Japan for a while
to take care of her grandmother, who's very ill."
"Oh, how sad," she said with false sympathy. "But why didn't she get a job
with your new unit?"
"There weren't any openings, so she didn't have a choice."
"Oh, well. So, when do you have to leave for work?" she asked, much more
cheerily.
Gomioka looked at his watch. "Well, I have to be at work at midnight, and
it'll take me an hour and a half to get there, so I've got about an hour if
you want to do something," he said hopefully.
"Ah, well... do you want to watch television with me?"
Gomioka deflated slightly. "Sure, what's on?" As they settled down in
front of the television, he began to wonder about the woman he married.
When they'd first met, she was a passionate person who would spend any
moment they had together doing something romantic and exciting. Now, the
most romantic and exciting thing they ever did together was watch
television together, and that was only if she was pleased with him. If
they ever slept in the same bed again, or kissed, or even held each other
in front of the television, it might be worth all of the temper, all of the
jealousy, and all of the suspicion she had... but without even the
slightest hint that she still cared about him and not just about his money
and position, he didn't feel as if the marriage was working out. Oh, well-
at least she'd forgiven him for the moment.
He sat back and watched the twenty year old shogun drama that his wife
wanted to watch. He didn't have long before he had to be back on the job,
so he might as well relax while he could.
* * * * *
January 6, 2000
"Captain Gomioka, Third Unit, reporting for duty!"
Gotoh smiled as he stood up from his desk, and returned the salute. "Have
fun," he said, stepping out of the office.
Gomioka almost snarled at him. The third unit was guaranteed the graveyard
shift every night- which was also the most boring shift around. So far,
the only time they'd been called out was that huge incident caused by the
turning of the millennium. And, with Captain Nagumo off of standby duty,
he didn't even have anyone to talk to. Sighing, he settled into his seat,
and pulled out the classic illustrated novel he had brought with him- a
historic book he should have read years beforehand.
After ten minutes, he gave up on his reading. For some reason, the Tale of
Genji didn't really appeal to him. Oddly, it made him worry more about his
relationship with Kinuko- stories of adulterous wives and men who slept
with many women didn't help him to forget his marital difficulties.
Sighing, he stood up and started pacing around the room. He glanced at the
TV set that had been left in the room following the events on New Years,
but decided against watching it. Apparently, the only stations they could
get were SNN and NHK, and by now he'd be lucky to get anything other than
weather or sports.
A knock on the door preceded the entrance of Ohta Isao. "Captain Gomioka,
sir!" he bellowed.
"Yes?"
"Our rookies are bored, sir. I was wondering if I could entertain them
with some firearms drill, sir?" he asked hopefully.
Gomioka considered it for a moment. "It is awfully late at night," he
answered. "And Unit Two is sleeping in the dorms- it wouldn't exactly be
polite to wake them up."
"We could use the silencer, sir!"
Gomioka almost laughed. A labor gun with a silencer was only a little
quieter than a low-caliber handgun. Still, he had been rather bored, and
it had only been ten minutes since the second unit's shift had ended, so
probably no-one was asleep yet.... "Very well- if you can arrange a
demonstration that will be over within the next half hour- and that I can
see from this window- I'll allow it. But after that half hour, not ONE
MORE SHOT, got it!?"
"YES, SIR!" Ohta cried enthusiastically. "Thank you, sir!" With that, he
turned, and almost ran out the door.
Gomioka sighed. He really didn't want to feed Ohta's obsession, but it WAS
something to do...
* * * * *
It was two o'clock in the morning, and Gomioka was struggling to stay
awake. Ohta's target practice was certainly interesting- as good a shot as
he was, the man could be an excellent cop if he could just control himself
in situations where firearms weren't required. However, many had tried and
failed to do just that, so it didn't seem too probable he ever would learn
control.
Asuma Shinohara, surprisingly without the company of his girlfriend and
partner, Noa Izumi, showed up in the middle of the practice to complain
about the noise. Gomioka apologized profusely- not that he was surprised
that someone had shown up for him to need to apologize to. He felt a
little guilty for KNOWINGLY keeping people awake when they were as tired as
Shinohara looked, but he honestly thought no-one would have been asleep by
that point.
It had been over an hour since then, and the excitement that Ohta's
firearms drill had brought was long gone. There was nothing to do except
sit at the phone- he was caught up with his paperwork for the next month
and a half, it was too early in the fiscal year to worry about the budget,
he STILL couldn't bring himself to read any more of the Tale of Genji, and
not even the weather reports were over by that point. Both SNN and NHK
were off the air.
He sighed. All he needed was something to break the monotony....
The phone started ringing. Gomioka almost laughed- just when he asked for
it. Answering the call, he said, "Special Vehicles, Second Section.
Captain Gomioka speaking."
"Hello, sir," a dispatch officer replied. "We've got a call that could
require a labor. Could you send one to the Kurokawa shopping center in
Akasaka? We have a standoff apparently involving members of the Beach
House terrorist organization."
"Beach House?" Gomioka repeated. He'd heard of that organization, but
usually it was Gotoh's unit who dealt with them. He considered sending
Ohta, who had faced off against them before, but that thought lasted about
a half a second before he shook it off. After all, it was just a standoff-
Ohta was bad at standoffs, from what he'd heard. In fact, he was bad at
pretty much everything but shoot-outs. That meant sending the rookie team,
but there might not be any labor action after all, and besides, he'd go
with them. Normally, he'd go in with both labors, but one had to stay
behind in case another call came in. He COULD wake Shinobu up and ask her
to handle duties on standby, but this didn't sound that important. "I'll
be there shortly. Officer Ohta will remain behind to take calls."
"Ohta?" the operator said, choking on the name. "Very well- we'll only
make another call in an absolute emergency."
* * * * *
"Come out with your hands up! You cannot stand against the glorious force
of the Japanese Police! Surrender! You do not stand a chance! If you
give yourselves up peacefully, we will show mercy. Otherwise..." the
sergeant in charge droned on into the megaphone.
Gomioka sighed, relaxing into the seat of his car. This was almost as
boring as sitting around the office doing nothing, but it was also giving
him a headache from the noise. Briefly, he wished he'd brought Ohta with
him- it would probably have caused serious problems, but at least it would
have lead to something to do. Besides, it would have given him an excuse
to drum the trigger-happy labor pilot out of his unit.
Suddenly, a burst of static over his radio alerted him to an incoming
message. "Calling Captain Gomioka, this is dispatch."
"Dispatch, Gomioka here," he replied to the radio.
"We got a call in here for another incident- one where we know labors are
required. There is a drunk labor pilot on the rampage, and officer Ohta
went to investigate. He tried to page you, but apparently they are still
down from the Millennium Crisis."
"Will respond- where is the location of the call?"
"Babylon Project Experimental Facility Gamma. Beware- there are a number
of explosive chemicals on the site."
'Oh, god- and Ohta's on the way?' Gomioka thought, panicked.
* * * * *
Gomioka and the second labor team were about three blocks away from the
site when a giant explosion rocked the docks upon which the facility was
built.
"What the hell is going on!" someone cried over the radio.
"Hurry! Raise Iguchi's labor- prepare for search and rescue!" Gomioka
shouted into his microphone. "I think that was Ohta... and if it was, then
he's in serious trouble. Seiroku- take your command car and drive around
to the other side of the wrecked building and see if there are any
survivors on that side!"
"Yes sir," he cried, and his little command car sped off to circle around
the burning structure. The Type 97 that Kenji Iguchi was piloting rose on
its trailer and stepped out towards the building, when another explosion
sounded, sending shockwaves that knocked the labor to the ground and drove
Gomioka's car backwards.
"This is Gomioka calling dispatch," Unit Three's captain said into his
radio. "Send fire and rescue immediately. There is the possibility of
officers down." He bowed his head down. "We cannot handle it ourselves."
* * * * *
About ten minutes later, Seiroku reported in over the radio. "I saw
several unidentified men fleeing the scene, carrying some crates of
equipment or something. I would have investigated further, but thought it
more important to see if I could find any injured people around. Officer
Shinshi is here, with his labor transport, but he was unconscious when I
found him. He appears to be all right now, but the damage to the cab has
put the trailer out of commission. In addition, the command car is here
and serviceable, but Officer Akito Kenichi is injured badly- some of his
internal monitors shattered and sent glass into his face. He seems to be
mumbling something...."
In the background, Gomioka could here the injured man chanting, "I knew he
would get me killed one of these days... I knew he would get me killed one
of these days... I knew he would get me killed one of these days...."
"I read you. Ambulance and rescue crews are on the way. Keep searching-
maybe Ohta's labor was able to protect him from the brunt of the blast."
"Affirmitive, sir," Seiroku replied.
Gomioka threw down the transmiter in disgust. "One week as captain, and
already one possible death and one serious injury among my subordinates.
This job just keeps getting worse and worse!"
"Captain," Yoshi Tobe, the second labor's transport driver, said over the
radio. "The rescue team is here. Shall I tell them to begin searching for
officer Ohta?"
Gomioka picked up the radio transmitter again, calming down a little.
"Affirmative. Inform them we have an injured officer located on the other
side of the building, still sitting in his command car, I think. Also,
warn them that there is the possibility of additional explosions."
"Understood," Tobe acknowledged, and soon the firefighting labors worked
their way into the burning building and began to put out the fire.
"Calling Captain Gomioka, this is dispatch," the radio crackled again.
The Captain sighed. "Here."
"I have a Captain Nagumo on the line, asking if you require assistance."
"Nagumo?" Gomioka blinked. 'What is she doing up?' he wondered. Her unit
wasn't supposed to be on duty for another two hours.
"She said Officer Ohta informed her of the situation, and she ordered her
unit on standby."
Gomioka considered bringing her in for a little bit, but sighed. What
could she do at that point? "Inform her that we have at least one officer
down, and that one labor is effectively out of commission. I don't believe
we are able to respond to any more calls tonight, so if she could remain on
standby for the rest of the night, I would be very thankful."
"Affirmative," dispatch said, and the radio crackled into silence.
It returned to life a few seconds later when fire and rescue called in.
"Captain, this is Labor FR-1. We have found the remains of what looks to
be a Type 97 police labor. The cockpit looks intact, but I am unwilling to
inspect further until I can retrieve it from the building. It is very hot
in here, and if I were to open that cockpit we might roast the person
inside alive."
"It would serve him right," Gomioka muttered.
"Say again?" Labor FR-1's pilot requested.
"Uh... never mind. Just do whatever you can."
* * * * *
About an hour later, Captain Gomioka was out of his car and riding in the
ambulance with a recovering Ohta, who had just started to tell his story as
it pulled out. Officer Seiroku was placed in charge as Unit Three's
uninjured men waited for the arrival of the equipment which would take away
the wrecked vehicles.
Ohta had been lucky in that the cockpit had shielded him from the blast,
but power had been knocked out (which was not surprising, considering the
only surviving part of the labor was the cockpit).
"Well, sir, I waited for ten minutes for backup before following the
apparent DWI inside the main warehouse. There, I discovered that he was
not actually drunk- just faking it in order to cover the theft of a large
amount of equipment that had been loaded into the truck."
Gomioka blinked and nodded. "Interesting. Officer Seiroku thought he saw
some people carrying some equipment away, himself, but was too concerned
with the welfare of yourself and your labor crew to pursue them."
Ohta gingerly grinned. "He should have gone after them- it's not wise to
let criminals escape, especially possible cop-killers." His smile dropped
painfully as a nurse applied some salve to one of his burns. "Anyway, I
ordered the perpetrators to surrender, when they ran away, taking the truck
with them. During there escape, I recognized one of their members as
belonging to Beach House." That drew a startled gasp out of Gomioka, but
Ohta continued. "Thier construction labor faced off with me. I drew my
gun and attempted to fire, only to find my labor was not armed.
Apparently, someone forgot to reload the gun following my session of target
practice."
Gomioka nodded- that little bit of amnesia on the maintenance squad's part
was his suggestion, in order to keep him from shooting someone if they were
called in to support a search and rescue operation- which was about the
only thing Gomioka thought his unit would be doing during those winter
months, when criminal activity was down. He was SUPPOSED to be nearby in
case there came a situation where Ohta needed his gun, and the maintenance
squad was SUPPOSED to have reloaded it if Ohta was going into a potentially
dangerous situation alone. Apparently, niether one of those safeguards
worked.
"I will speak with the person responsible," he said, but wasn't too
concerned. The lack of a firearm probably postponed the explosion for a
short time- perhaps enough time for the rest of Unit Three to arrive and
perform the initial stages of search and rescue. All it meant was that
Ohta probably wasn't the cause of the explosion.
"I WANT WHOEVER IT WAS DRAWN AND QUARTERED!" Ohta nearly shouted, then
winced at the pain doing so caused. Continuing in a much softer voice, he
said, "Finding my gun inoperable, I dropped it and drew out my
electromagnetic baton. I succeeded in disabling the other labor with a
strike to the power center, but the electricity that soared through the
baton doing so fried my labor's control system. The pilot of that labor
leapt out and tossed a grenade. I was unable to do more than close the
hatch, and seconds later it blew."
"A grenade caused the blast, you say? Hmm... I wonder if the person who
used it realized this place was full of high explosives...."
Before Gomioka could pursue that line of thinking, the ambulance arrived at
the hospital and Ohta was wheeled out.
* * * * *
The wall clock read 7:45 a.m. by the time Gomioka had returned to SV2
headquarters. Sighing, he sat down in his chair, waved to Shinobu, and
started writing his report on the incident.
"Welcome back," she said, approaching him. "Rough night?" Concern was
etched in her voice.
"I can't remember a worse one in my whole career," was his reply. "I've
been captain for a WEEK, and two men are seriously injured, one labor is
completely destroyed, one labor TRANSPORT, which are generally thought of
as indestructable, is out of the action for at least three days...." He
just sighed and shook his head.
"And you had to call in search and rescue because you couldn't handle
things yourself," she finished for him. "Wondering whether or not you
deserve to wear that rank yet?"
He snorted. "Of course I am. And my conclusion is just as obvious- I
shouldn't be wearing it at all. I made several critical mistakes- for one
thing, I split up my team. That goes against some regulations, and it
CERTAINLY isn't a very bright thing to do. To make it worse, I went with
the team which didn't need as much supervision if things got dangerous,
simply because I was bored and didn't want to hang back when I could be
doing something. Finally, when the situation became critical, I had to
call in help because I couldn't deal with my own unit's problems."
Shinobu nodded. "All true. And also all very easy mistakes to make- I
made them myself when I was a rookie captain, and with just as disasterous
results. In fact, my mistakes were so bad most of my original team
transferred to different units. I was careless, and it nearly cost the
lives of three men. But I think I turned out okay- I just needed
experience."
Gomioka looked at her in awe. "You goofed up this badly?"
She nodded and smiled. "Worse. My goof-up came on live TV, in front of an
international audience. Yours came in the dead of night with no-one around
for miles." Her smile grew. "The trick is to learn from your mistakes,
and not repeat them."
"Thanks," was his all too meager reply.
"Anytime," she said, and returned to her desk. Gomioka watched her go.
Kinuko was always worried he was having an affair with Kanuka Clancy, but
that was just ridiculous. He thought she was a very accomplished person,
yes, but he didn't really find her attractive- and her personality left
something to be desired. He liked fiery women, but not THAT fiery.
No, it was foolish for his wife to worry about someone like that. Now, if
she were to worry about someone like Shinobu Nagumo, on the other hand....
-------------------------
Next Episode: The Lost Episode. Will not be reposted. A New episode, which
includes the important events from that part, is being considered, but as of
yet no definite plans exist to replace it. If you would like to try and write
such an episode, please contact me via e-mail. Thank you.
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Sir Desaix, member # 116 of the Knights of the True Fiancee
anime fanfics available at
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