(Author's Note: Thanks for all the reviews to the prologue! I'm sorry it's been so long since I updated but I lost my password. As you can see I've reworked the account a little and am now under a different name and on a different email. However, I'm back. It's a short one I'm afraid but it's an update.

Update: This document has been edited from its original form, for the curious, I changed the spelling of Batou and Borma's name to accurately reflect the spelling in the SAC credits.)

"In short," Aramaki said curtly, "the operation was a failure." The chief of Section 9 stood behind his desk looking at his assembled team. It wasn't often he had to dress them down for a badly run mission and he certainly didn't enjoy it. Sat nearest him was Motoko Kusanagi wearing her Tan military issue uniform. Her body was tense and her expression attentive. The man sat across from her couldn't be more different. Batou's feet were settled on the low coffee table and his thick jacket sat open over civilian dress. He was watching the chief as well but with his artificial eyes it was impossible to read any expression.

Saito, Borma and Ishikawa filled out the other seats on the couches with one noticable absence. "Togusa?" The Major spoke quietly and her concern was evident.

The chief nodded to her. "Is recovering. As a member of Section 7 he is also under guard by their own people." Batou cocked his head at that. "Technically for the moment he is a member of Section 7," the chief clarified. He paused a moment, "still, if they are incapable of keeping one of their own intelligence analysts on a leash I don't want them responsible for one of mine."

"Agreed," Batou spoke, "so who gets the baby-sitting gig?"

"Borma," the Chief replied looking across to him, "you'll be assigned to watch Togusa. I don't want you to interfere with Section 7's operations unless you absolutely have to. They still don't know who he is or that Section 9 is involved."

Borma nodded his understanding. "Not a problem, Chief, they'll never know I was there."

"Good," Aramaki took a step back and touched a control on the desk, lighting the display behind it. "Still I didn't call you all in here for nostalgia and well wishing." The display showed the face of the American that Hamada had been meeting with. "This man is Michael Wilson, a member of their own foreign administration. Both names rate high on the census for popularity so our people are working under the presumption of an assumed name. That would also explain how little we know about him. As for what we do, Major?"

Kusanagi stood and straightened her uniform jacket with her usual graceful efficiency of movement even as she stepped around the desk to stand with Aramaki. "Thank you, Chief. Wilson is a foreign office liason to the military in the American Empire. The official record shows him as a former General in their own military." She smiled thinly. "Service history is naturally classified. Infact even Ishikawa was unable to find anything."

Eyes moved from the Major to Section 9's resident tech wizard then back. "No," the Major answered the question in everyone's eyes, "Ishikawa is not losing his touch. There was nothing to be found. That's why we're assuming it's a false identity."

"That figures." Batou crossed his arms and slouched deeper in the sofa. "So a man who doesn't exist meets with one of Section 7's people, everything goes to hell, we get Ghost Hacked and Togusa ends up in hospital."

"Another day at the office," Saito said with a grin.

Motoko cleared her throat with a gentle rap of her knuckles on the desk. "Everything went to hell. Yes. So we should be concentrating on this one." With the team suitably admonished she continued. "What we have managed to find are details of his movements recently. The general has been stationed in the former nation state of Zambia, supposedly with the American Empire's peace keeping force. Another smokescreen, I'm afraid, as there's no records of his activities there. We do have transit records from the Zambian authorities though. The General has been seen travelling in and out of the country." She shrugged slightly and the screen blanked. "That's all we know."

"What gets me," Ishikawa muttered, his face becoming mobile again from the near-trance like concentration he had a habit of slipping into, "is quite what was going on. If Hamada is defecting why did he trigger the investigation that tumbled his extraction? For that matter if he was going willingly what was with the flop-sweat?" He stirred in his seat, glancing at the team then to the Major. "If it wasn't voluntary, why was he there?"

"And why," the Chief interrupted, "was he carrying a diplomatic case and what was inside it?" Everyone seemed interested in that point. "Ishikawa, did we learn anything from the puppet the Major recovered at the scene?"

"Hmm?" He shook himself slightly having slipped off into thought again at the Chief's question. "Sorry. There wasn't a lot to learn, Chief. The puppet was just that. What I can tell you is that he wasn't responsible for the ghost hacks. Circumstancial evidence aside his sub-brain just didn't have the capacity to carry that many signals. He was a distraction."

Batou gripped his chin and made a quiet contemplative thought. "Sometimes ruling things out is just as useful I suppose. Now at least we know there's a hacker out there with the capability to take down a Section 9 agent."

"Perhaps more than one," Ishikawa corrected, "few people could have the capacity to take down that many well defended targets in that short a timespan."

"In short, we know that we don't know anywhere near enough." The Chief's voice was stern again. "Major, Batou, you will return to the warehouse and investigate directly. Perhaps you can find something to give us a lead." He turned to Saito. "Saito, you're going to go with Ishikawa. You'll both be looking into our puppet. I want to know who he was, where he came from. I want to know when and where he was hacked." Heads nodded. "Well then, you have your orders, next time we meet I want to have something more useful to talk about."