a/n: Many thanks to my reviewers for your comments and encouragement and to skychan for subjecting himself to the rough draft of this. )
Chapter 10.
Distances seem sharper when measured through your enemy's periscope.
---
Kaname stared at the comm unit in her hand. The weight of responsibility pressed the breath from her lungs and she was hard-put to continue breathing normally. Desperately, her mind fought for possibilities.
I'll tear it apart. I'll start with the A.I. interface and the navigational assembly. I'll have to re-wire part of the lambda-driver and... and... nothing. I already have one psi generation control chip in my possession. I'll need to detach it from my cell phone without damaging the... the... another blank space in her memory. Two plus two is... no idea. WHAT THE HELL WAS TESSA THINKING!?!
The three Urzu team members, sitting around the folding table, were only slightly less flabbergasted. Being reassigned to be used at the discretion of someone who had not been sane the last time their Captain had encountered her was not at all what they had anticipated. For a solid five minutes, no one spoke. Finally, Mao decided that as the ranking soldier in the room, she'd best say something.
"Well, it looks like we have our orders," she said, flashing Kaname what she hoped was a reassuring smile. "So, how do we go about finding your toy?"
"I don't know." Kaname's face went through several contortions of concentration. "Seriously. I should know, but I don't. My mind is blank. My memories aren't coming through for me. I don't know what she's counting on me to know. I can't dredge up the details. I just don't know!" She looked up at the Sergeant Major. "Or at least, I don't know enough to pull it off... Joel might."
Mao and Kurz exchanged a look, before Mao spoke up. "I'm afraid your friend Joel has been captured by the enemy."
Kaname stared at her for a long moment, her eyes showing disbelief followed by anguish and finally anger. "They have Joel?" Her voice was soft, dangerously soft if Sousuke remembered correctly. "Those murderers, those thieves who I wouldn't trust my psych notes with let alone this have the last person on earth who knows the kind of hell Yoshi and I have been going through for the past four months! They have the one man on the planet with the damn plans in his head?!?"
"I'm sorry. They took him when they got Saya." Mao shot a look to Sousuke, not sure of how stable Kaname was. The sergeant was having similar concerns.
"Of course they did. They took Joel. They stole Saya. They're trying to blow up the de Danaan, and turn me into an even bigger killer and now my own brain won't give me the information that I need and Tessa is going to blame me if any of her crew die..." her eyes were decidedly on the wild side. "They could destroy the earth with her if they figure it out. How many people would you say there are on the planet today? 6.2 billion? And if they surpass critical and x across all values shrinks to zero because I killed my lover and let our child be stolen by evil people while my own personal Mephistopheles ran rampant with my sanity..." she broke off in laughter. She looked at the three soldiers sitting around her, took in their baffled, concerned faces and laughed harder. "I'm having a nightmare, aren't I?"
"'Fraid not," said Kurz, reaching out to grab her shoulder comfortingly. "I can pinch you if you want proof." He grinned; cue Melissa.
"No pinching, Weber," but Mao could read the game from her space across the table, and refrained from her usual follow up punch. "Kaname, we don't really have time for nervous breakdowns. We're going to get your friend back, okay?" Kaname was still somewhere between laughing and crying, her head on the table, and her eyes obscured by her bangs. "Your memories will come back when those drugs wear off. How long does she have, Sousuke?"
"Approximately eleven hours, with some uncertainty based on metabolic rate and over-all hormonal levels," he said, checking his watch. "According to the Captain, your access to logic-based brain functions and technical memories should return at the same time." He wished he could somehow transfer serenity and comfort with his words, but that sort of communication had never been his forte. He settled for sounding competent and calm.
"So don't sweat that stuff just yet, okay?" Mao's voice was confident and brooked no opposition. Kaname nodded against the table. The Sergeant Major continued. "Let's start by listing assets. Currently, you have five M-9's, one ARX-7, three pilots, one carry compartment, one full set of A-S maintenance equipment--" she paused, and Weber picked up.
"Three monomolecular cutters, one 37mm sniper rifle, four Bofors guns, one flamethrower, and full ammunition/fuel for all of the above." He turned to Sousuke.
"The island is equiped with a generator as well as reserves of gasoline and propane. The hangar holds one fully fueled and flight-prepped Harrier jet." He went on to list a remarkable amount of military and computer equipment, finally producing a clipboard from among their packs, presumably to finish the recitation. "For personal equipment, we have five sets of scuba gear with two compressed air tanks apiece, food for roughly one month (assuming complete reliance on rations), 450 meters of rope in 150 meter lengths, one zodiac type inflatable boat with dual propellers, six personal flotation devices--"
"Not to mention knowing Sousuke, we've got enough sidearms, knives, grenades and explosives to take out the capital of Albania," chimed Kurz. At that, Kaname made the smallest of smiles, albeit a genuine one, and her companions relaxed slightly.
"Did you guys get anything from the lab or my apartment?" she asked.
"Aside from what Kyoko packed for you, I have only the mask which I retrieved from your hospital room." He fished it out of the lock box where he'd stowed it along with a number of semi-automatic pistols. Kaname took the odd contraption with an mixture of caution and relief. She pulled a small, plastic disc from one of the side panels, viewed the LED display beneath it and nodded.
"Well, things are looking up a bit," she said, replacing the disc with a bitter smile. "We have one K-2.0 remote access headset complete with twenty-seven hours remaining charge, one psi-generator simulation program, one soon-to-be-again expert in the field of co-location." She pulled her duffel bag to her, and spilled the contents on the table. Pushing the clothes aside, she hauled out the camera, cell-phone, and manila envelope. This last, she opened, reached inside and withdrew a sheet of assorted smiley-face stickers, closing the envelope and replacing it in the duffel before continuing. "More importantly, we have a full sheet of locator tags," she set the stickers in the middle of the table, "one destination library input device," she placed the camera atop the stickers, once again ignoring the post-it note taped to the side, "one cannibalizable psi field generation control chip, and knowledge of the only remaining hard copy of the destination library." She held up her cell-phone. "But first, I've got to make one phone call."
"It's unlikely that you'll be able to establish a line from this locatio--" but she'd already exited to the porch, leaving Sousuke gazing at the inside of the door.
Kurz gave a heavy sigh. "So this is what she's been like?"
Sousuke nodded, and Melissa leaned back in her chair to stare at the ceiling. "Damn. Do you think she'll be able to handle the Whispers coming back?" she asked. "Honestly."
"I am not sure, however I believe under the current circumstances, there are no other options than to let her try." Through the wall, they could hear her talking in light and happy tones to someone, although the words were indistinguishable. "She is considerably improved over her earlier condition. I believe that she has, at the very least come somewhat to terms with the death of her research partner."
"Really? I'm not so sure." Melissa held up the post-it note that had been taped to the camera and read: "' Kaname, I don't know if you're up to it, but I thought you should at least have pictures if you ever wanted them. The first half of the chip is Yoshi's funeral. The stuff on afterwards is just random from the past few days. Get well soon, XO -Kyoko' She hasn't looked at them, has she?"
"No," he admitted. He was about to reach for the camera when Kaname returned. She was smiling, but there were fresh tears on her lashes.
"Well, Kyoko's got the only hard copy of the destination library." She set the cell phone down on the table.
"How did you reach her from this location?" Sousuke was not a little concerned that the cell phone might somehow be traceable. Kaname looked at him for a moment as though he'd lost his mind, then shook her head.
"Yoshi made psi-generator chips for Joel's and my cell phones. They are too small to handle matter, but the things they can do with energy like microwaves and non-visible light are pretty amazing," she waved the phone in his face. "The good thing is that it's only a matter of power. If my memories come back, I can build an array, hook this chip up to the ARX-7's lambda driver and we'll be in business," her face fell. "Well, sort of." Her confident mask was slipping and Mao stepped in quickly.
"Okay, so this destination library – we'll need it in order to find Saya?"
Kaname nodded. "Someone just needs to pick it up from Kyoko for us. I'd go myself, but I think I'm going to be pretty busy re-wiring the Arbalest. Of course, if the enemy has Kyoko's cell-phone tapped, then I've just put a giant bullseye on her, but I did warn her to be careful." She sighed. "Realistically, it's just a picture from Joel's camera that I told her to keep for me. The original was destroyed when I blew up the lab. I doubt if the bad guys have even figured out what the destination library is, let alone why Kyoko would have it."
"You want me to fly the Harrier back to Tokyo to pick up the picture for you?" Kurz was quick to volunteer, if only to keep Melissa from doing so. He knew she wasn't up to flying again so soon, but he also knew she'd jump at the chance.
"Would you? Those people made a big mistake capturing Joel. As long as his back is in one piece, alive or dead, I can hunt them down." She began unscrewing the casing from her cell phone. "You see, for non-stationary targets, you have to be able to give Saya very precise visual cues. Most people can't imagine destinations accurately enough to get there, so Yoshi came up with the destination library. I'd visit a location, smack a sticker on it, make it unique somehow and take a picture. Saya would accept the picture as her reference point, and then the picture itself went onto this poster with the destination listed underneath." She pried the case completely off and set it aside. "Only Yoshi started getting really worried about Joel and I being kidnapped, so the three of us decided to put ourselves in the library."
"Your photographs?" Mao was intrigued at the thought that Mr. Vermeer could be a kind of Trojan horse for them.
"Nope. We got tattooed. It's the tattoos that are in the library." She smiled. "We're all targets for Saya. She can find us wherever in the world our tattoos go."
"Gee, Kaname, can we see yours?" Weber leered, and for that Mao did hit him. Kaname smirked, but focused on something inside her cell phone. Sousuke eyed her speculatively.
"Is it possible they may use the same logic to attempt to find you here?"
"Only if they reach Kyoko first," Kaname shuddered at the thought. Sousuke reached out and took her hand.
"We will protect your friends." He squeezed gently, and she smiled at him.
"And I will save Tessa's precious submarine."
---
"The attack was to the number one reactor. Somehow a charge was placed against the primary containment tank." Kalinin was explaining as they made their way to the bridge. Tessa could easily have slept another ten hours, but that was simply not a luxury she could afford.
"Containment?" Her mind was racing, wondering why no order to evacuate had been given.
"This enemy wants the ship. The charge was placed in such a way as to weaken the containment shield, without breaking it."
"Let me guess; engineering flooded the compartment with heavy water as a secondary containment measure, after battening the hatches." It was a contingency that had been considered in drills a time or two, but never taken all that seriously. After all, the type of sabotage necessary to pull this off would require a level of infiltration within engineering that was almost impossible. Tessa's feet squelched through the corridor. The speed of the transfer had obviously resulted in a leak or two. This wasn't too great a concern: better to have to deal with a little secondary flooding than an insufficiently contained core.
"Correct, Madame-Captain." Kalinin could see the anger smoldering in her eyes at the thought of what had been done to her ship. "The good news is that radiation levels beyond the chamber are well below threshold. The crew is safe."
"The bad news is that we are now under battery power, until such time as we can get to drydock." In the past few years, the young captain had refined her vocal range to the point where her focused wrath was quite enough to strip the paint off walls. She was using that tone now. "We're crippled, and we're going to have to resurface every six hours to re-charge the capacitors."
"You should be advised that there are two new contacts which will be coming within sonar range in the next hour." Sugar coating it would not be appreciated. It was lucky that the de Danaan's sensors remained the most advanced on the planet.
"Who?" Her eyes were hidden beneath her bangs, but her footsteps were quick and purposeful. Kalinin was hardly slowing his pace for her.
"H.M.S. Renegade and U.S.N Sea Tiger. From what we can pick up, the Sea Tiger is on border patrol, guarding the off-shore drilling rigs in this area. Renegade is on maneuvers, using some sort of new stealth engine. We barely heard them, and we believe it's unlikely that the Americans are aware of their presence." Tessa's pace never faltered, but something in the set of her shoulders changed.
"Sea Tiger's a good ship. We've played with them before." A hint of speculation colored the previous bitterness. The captain was clearly considering something.
"True. Madigan is still her captain. In addition, MITHRIL intelligence has no records of the Americans or the Brits negotiating with Venserre."
"That doesn't mean they aren't in on this deal. I get the feeling Venserre is trying to broaden their market share." The bitterness was back, but Kalinin could almost feel the strange preoccupation that occurred when the Captain accessed her less-well-known advisors.
They had reached the bridge. Mardukas was sitting in the captain's chair, poring over a large sheaf of papers. A large, plastic mug of coffee was perched on the arm-rest, in the process of being refilled by a thoughtful mate. When he saw the Captain, the XO stood, and Tessa resumed her normal position.
"I have the conn."
"Aye-aye, Ma'am." Mardukas retrieved his coffee mug and took a long sip.
"Mr. Kalinin has been briefing me on the events of the past three hours. Do you have anything to add?"
"I think I've found our guardian angel." He handed her the papers he'd been holding. It appeared to be a ship's registry and manifest.
"Maersk Titania? Is this a container ship?"
"She's one of the new megacontainer ships. She's currently on her way from Korea to Long Beach, fully loaded." There was something in the way he phrased it that made Tessa take a closer look at the manifest. If she was reading it right, the cargo was listed by container and tonnage. There were 3300 entries. Six pages in, she found the section Mardukas had highlighted. "You'll notice she's registered in the Netherlands--"
"And carrying twenty-seven tons of Vrees Mining research equipment, hidden among the rest of her cargo. Insurance value 2.6 million Euros." She looked up to meet his eyes, smiling. "Where is she now?"
Rather than answer, Mardukas pulled up a tactical display on the main viewscreen. The Renegade and the Sea Tiger were clearly marked a good thirteen kilometers west of them, slightly north of their current heading. People's Hidden Strength was emerging from the canyon to the east, only two kilometers behind. And there, one and a half kilometers south-west of the Renegade, was the Maersk Titania.
"Rear propeller array includes three screws. Either side clearance would only give you a two-and-a-half meter margin. She's moving at seventeen knots."
Tessa's eyes were half closed. Her voice was serene. "Hmm. It's fast, but possible. The error margins are acceptable." Returning to herself, she glanced up at her two officers, and smiled brightly. It was a strangely sinister expression. "Well, gentlemen, close to within a thousand meters of the Sea Tiger, and plot me a firing solution. I think it's time to pick a fight." She traced a line on her console, and her officers followed it on the main display. Kalinin nodded and Mardukas gave a grim smile. Orders were relayed, battlestations resumed.
"You realize there is a good possibility of starting a war with this strategy." Mardukas was needling her, but she knew he was enjoying that very thought.
"Oh, the Brits and the Americans will talk it to death before it comes to that. We just have to make sure that the Chinese aren't invited to this particular pissing contest." She watched his almost concealed surprise at her choice of language and smiled inwardly. Not waiting for him to determine a comeback, she stood, removing her jacket to drape it over the chair. "Commander Kalinin, please assign someone trustworthy to guard the inside of the chapel. Given the sabotage, we should assume that our enemy can reach me there if they put their minds to it." There was the tiniest of pauses as all three remembered the incident. "I'd rather not be interrupted," and she grabbed the Kevlar vest stowed beneath the chair.
---
In the darkness of near morning, the field surrounding the silent arm slaves was oddly peaceful. The three professional soldiers were busy at the hangar making final preparations for Kurz's trip to Tokyo, and Kaname has slipped away to try to collect her thoughts. This was easier said than done. She'd taken a more or less comfortable position, leaning against the Arbalest's left "foot". Moonlight glinted on the opposite side of the machine, casting her into shadow. Her knees were pulled up to her chest, arms folded across them, as her head rested on the giant machine. The end of her long, midnight braid traced a silken river across the metal. Her eyes were closed, her features peaceful, but inside, her mind was churning with doubts and uncertainties.
I'm not a soldier, I'm a college student! That's all I ever wanted to be. That's all I was ever supposed to be! It's completely unfair of Tessa to ask me to get her out of this. She's the one who wanted to be a submarine captain. She's Miss High-and-mighty-of-course-I-can-play-god. Does she have any idea how much danger she's asking me to put her people into? A shuddering breath escaped her as Kaname remembered her and Yoshi's early experiences with the psi fields. The sight of Yoshi dropping the field only to discover his leg still co-located with the work bench flashed to mind; the way they'd both stared in horror for the split second before the blood started pouring from the limb. She remembered the semi-truck and the sickening, euphoric feeling of integrity loss. Does Tessa realize the probability that one of the Urzu team will die trying to use this technology? Does she honestly think I can do that to Sousuke?
Of course, that was the heart of the problem. There was no doubt in Kaname's mind whose help she would have to have to recover Saya. He was the Arbalest's pilot after all. She stretched her legs out and allowed herself to slide until she was lying on the grass, staring up at the monstrous robot above her. From her unique perspective, it seemed a sort of uncaring colossus bestriding the ocean of her own concerns. Hard steel and deadly weapons gave no clue to the fragility of the humans who had to pilot them. She smirked to herself. Then again, "fragile" is not a word anyone would use to describe Sousuke. Hell, he's a lot stronger than I've been these past few days. A curious lightness fluttered in her heart as she remembered the strength of his arms around her the night before. She closed her eyes, enjoying the memory, only to watch in horror as the arms became blue, armor-clad in her mind's eye, and the one being held was a young scientist about to breath his last. 49.6 centimeters. What she wouldn't have given for just ten more.
...80effectiveradiusforthearx-7underbattleconditionsestimatedat14.2meters...
Her eyes slid shut as her head fell to the right. She didn't
notice the rough grass pressing into her cheek or the hardness of metal
against her forehead. Instead, she listened to the sighs of
calculation, to the murmurs of insight, to the seduction of the
Whispers. Her lips moved silently against the green stems, as an
unacknowledged tear of relief trickled to the ground.
