Disclaimer: Nope, still don't own it.
Chapter 2 – Damage Report
Before Sousuke even knew it, he had flipped through the Edo period, moved with determination through the Meiji restoration, skimmed over the Taisho period, and finally managed to gloss over the majority of the section on the Showa period...however if anyone had asked the Sergeant exactly what he had read he would have looked at them blankly and perhaps begun to sweat profusely, not having retained a single syllable. Moreover, he probably would be oblivious to the fact that he had moved more than a century away from the period that his test covered.
Not a single word had managed to travel from his eyes to his memory. Three words kept repeating there instead.
He diligently began flipping through the textbooks glossary, finger still following lines of text that had ended chapters before. Kurz in the meanwhile had been making his normal advances (with more than a few crude gestures) at his fellow SRT member and was in grave danger of having his nose broken. However, this was not a deviation from the normal. Melissa and Kurz were perhaps even a little less overt than normal. Sousuke, however, did not pause from his attempts at reading to see this.
His mind, however, was far from the causes of the battle of Sekigahara and its subsequent political implications, interesting though he might have found them at any other time.
Those three words seemed to block any new information from entering into his brain.
The words seemed to say he had betrayed that girl.
He wondered what Kaname would think…
Admitting defeat and perhaps believing that retreat was his only plausible recourse for the time being, he set the history textbook next to him and closed his eyes, placing his hand on his forehead. He reasoned that in this way he could re-coup his usual level of alertness. It had, unfortunately, been dulled by three nights spent on the mission with a minimum of sleep. It wouldn't do for him to return to his mission in Tokyo in poor condition.
He was never certain what he would find there when he returned.
Sousuke would later blame his lack of rest for his failure to notice the approach of Kurz. Moving from his seat next to Melissa, he slunk over and without warning slung his arm around his younger comrade. Perhaps jumping to the conclusion that he was being assaulted by a slightly more malignant enemy, (and only finding himself to be slightly wrong) he reflexively jerked to break the grip of his assailant. Realizing it was only Kurz, he satisfied himself by putting another seat between him and his comrade.
This, however, did not deter Kurz in the least.
He merely stood up, and clapped Sousuke on the back perhaps a tad too emphatically, saying, "at least I'm not the only one to have killed the target now."
Kurz had apparently thought that would make his young comrade feel better.
In fact, he had barely finished uttering the last syllable when Melissa's well-placed kick sent him sprawling into the plane's bulkhead.
The airplane rocked with the full force of his collision.
"What the f-ck are you people doing back there?" Came the pilot's angry voice from the front of the plane.
Melissa gave Kurz a thoroughly frightening glare and responded in a frighteningly cheery voice, "Sorry, Sergeant Weber had a little difficulty maintaining his balance."
She took of the place Kurz had coincidentally vacated beside Sousuke.
"Sousuke," she didn't make any gesture towards him, she just looked him straight in the eyes. "The mission was out of our control. You did not kill her like that dumbass over there did the pirate commander," she pointed to where Kurz had been knocked unconscious against the bulkhead.
"Besides," she continued, looking out the window now, "She's not dead yet."
Sousuke didn't respond to her and she didn't expect him to. He merely picked up his history book and began to read again.
He did not feel guilty about what he had done; he did not blame himself for it. The Arastols had acted contrary to every conceivable combat scenario. On the contrary, he had saved the girl from greater physical injury.
She at least had a chance to survive now. But her words kept repeating in his head.
They were like an accusation.
He closed his eyes and steeled himself mentally, pushing all thoughts of his mission away as best as he could. Turning back to the correct chapter, he began the section on the Edo Period for the third time. Kaname was expecting him to do well, and he needed to do well if he could be expected to graduate with her.
He just needed to get back to Tokyo.
…And do well on his test.
Perhaps he would then escape the halisen…
"Life in Tokugawa Japan was strictly hierarchical with a population divided among four distinct classes…"
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"We've been able to stem the bleeding as much as possible. The bullet went straight through her, ma'am."
Tessa nodded, her eyes straying over to the girl on the operating table. Her dossier stated that she was only a year older than she was.
"We are currently combating some minor internal bleeding and then we will commence with blood transfusion. Her situation for the next day or so is critical."
"And her odds of survival?" She went on observing the operation, absentmindedly twirling her braid around a finger.
"Captain," the medic spoke quietly, "I will not lie. It is difficult to assess the situation at the moment. If she emerges from the surgery successfully, she may survive. It depends on her will to live and in the case of most kidnapping victims in her condition, the strength of will necessary is not usually present."
Tessa thought about this for a moment, a deep frown on her face.
"Her condition?" This was Mardukas. He looked dispassionately at the young medical officer.
The technician looked at them and said in a voice that betrayed no emotions, "Yes, there are a number anomalies we have observed," she gestured to them to follow, "Please, come with me."
She led them to an adjacent room, filled with numerous pictures and x-rays of the girl.
She pointed to the first set and explained, "Due to the deep scarring on her wrists and ankles it is likely that she was restrained for extended periods of time. The scarring, however, is older, so this might have been in the past."
She then turned to the next set of pictures and continued.
"The area pictured is the underside of the arm at the elbow joint where veins are easily visible. Obviously there have been numerous injections, possibly of sedatives, performance altering drugs, or behavior modification drugs." She turned to Tessa, "She is suspected of being Whispered, correct?"
"Yes," she said simply, unable to say more.
"That increases the probability of BeMod drugs."
Tessa looked at the floor and said very quietly, "Has she been checked for more transmitters?"
The technician nodded, stating crisply, "We have removed one from her thigh. It was inoperable when she entered the Da Danaan, however. We also found this…"
In a clear vial was stored a small object. Upon further inspection Tessa could see that it was an iridescent blue earring in the shape of a teardrop.
Taking it gingerly in her hand, she examined it closely.
Briefly, her eyes widened and then took on a blank sheen. "Black technology," she confirmed.
"Mr. Mardukas?" she prompted after a fair span of time had been spent in observing the tiny object, "Can you have someone bring me a computer unit that is unconnected to the Da Danaan's A.I. or any other of the ship's networks?"
He looked vaguely uncertain for a moment, but did not question her. Simply stating, "Aye, ma'am" he fired an order off to a subordinate waiting directly outside of the small medical room.
She looked back at the haunting images of the girl on the operating table, still absorbing the information the doctor had relayed and piecing it together with what must have happened to the unfortunate girl.
There was a brief knock at the door.
"Second Lieutenant Melissa Mao, requesting entrance."
"Enter," she replied curtly, eyes still on the x-rays and photos. She turned around with a sigh, taking up her braid with her hand and once again twirling its end.
Mao saluted sharply, mostly for the benefit of Mardukas, being one to ignore what she considered to be rather silly formalities in front of Tessa.
"At ease, Second Lieutenant."
She became very much at ease. Mardukas made a small sound of distaste, but did not dare to do more in front of the Captain. Furthermore, he was well aware of the Second Lieutenant's propensity to commit violent acts.
"How did your mission go?" she asked quietly.
"In addition to the mission objective, Geist team has obtained several Arastol units and shipped them to Merida Island for research. There were two casualties in the ground troops and one member remains critical injured. Minimal damage to the M-9 units and the ARX-7 Arbalest. No lambda driver activity was noted on either side. These Venom units encountered appeared to either lack lambda driver units or pilots capable of using the units."
She finished the report with a smart salute. Tessa merely nodded. She would see a fully detailed report later. Other matters were on her mind.
"How did the girl come to be in this condition?"
Such an complicated question. The one Mao had been waiting for.
Melissa Mao did not sigh nor flinch. In her opinion there were worse conditions for the target to be in…the memory of the commander of the sea pirates came readily to mind…he could have been sent to heaven in a canister after Kurz had been through with him. This girl was comparatively whole.
Then she remembered the Arastols' behavior and one word came to mind.
….."bullshit"…
"The majority of the enemy casualties were caused by…." She didn't really know how to explain it and Mardukas was giving her a rather severe look, so she explained it as best as she could, "…friendly fire."
Tessa's eyes widened, but it was Mardukas that spoke first, "Please clarify that phrase, Second Lieutenant…their troops started killing each other?"
"Actually, it was more like the Arastols started killing their own troops."
There was a shocked silence that hung in the air between the three. The medical personnel, apparently forgotten in the midst of the report, made a small coughing sound and shuffled her papers noisily before heading out of the room.
Tessa, regaining her composure, finally managed to ask, "and how did this lead to the target's condition?"
"The Arastols shut down for a time and the target walked through them, seemingly trying to get to the Mithril troops. However, when she had advanced to the front ranks of the Arastols, one of the units attempted to execute her. Urzu 7's reaction saved her from more extensive injuries."
"Saved…?" quipped Mardukas credulously.
"The shot had been aimed at her head, Sir."
Mardukas gave a small nod that was his equivalent of an apology. Even his dislike of the young Sergeant couldn't argue with that.
Mao's eyes drifted to the x-rays and photos on the wall and caused her to think for the thousandth time that the Whispered were among the least fortunate people in the universe. Putting the thought aside, she continued.
"Urzu 7 then personally rescued the victim and rushed her to the medics. They have reported that they immediately removed the tracking chip from her arm. Urzu 7 has initially been debriefed by Lieutenant Commander Kalinin and will submit a full report upon his arrival in Tokyo. As of now he has returned to Angel to continue his mission there."
Tessa looked thoughtful for a moment. Slowly, she tilted her head upwards and said quietly to Melissa, "Thank you, Second Lieutenant."
Mao merely saluted and left. Her exit was soon followed by the arrival of the computer unit. The man who brought it mumbled something about it being borrowed from a crewmember.
Taking the earring out of its glass vial she pulled at the backing, still mulling over the details of Melissa's report.
As she further examined the earring Mardukas noted that her face had changed.
This was more than Captain Testarossa looking very serious. It looked as if someone else was guiding her hands.
She expertly turned the backing until there was an almost inaudible metallic click.
A small, very fine cord uncoiled from out of it. She plugged it into a slot in the computer usually designated for smaller appliances, like cameras or data chip readers.
The look faded from Tessa's face.
The background of the Japanese idol faded and the screen immediately went black. After a moment, a long list of names in red, grey, and white came up. A command stating "ACTIVE MODE SUSPENDED" scrolled at the top of the screen.
After a moment, "AUTHORIZATION CODE?" scrolled across the top.
Tessa scanned the list. At the top, mysteriously, was the girl's own name, "COLLEEN RILEY" in red. It was followed by several more names in red, a scattering of names in white, and a handful in grey. The bottom of the list was also a name she recognized, "NICHOLAS CARVER MB."
M.B….?
M.B….A small light bulb of recognition went off in her mind, "Mediterranean Branch." Carver was a Mithril operative killed three years ago. I don't remember the circumstances though…
What was that doing here?
What was this sort of authorization code?
As it turned out she didn't have the luxury of pondering such questions. A minute later the screen again went black followed by a popping and sizzling noise and the smell of burnt circuitry.
It appeared that it would be necessary to apologize personally to the computer's owner, as she doubted that it or any of its data would be restored to them.
Sighing, Tessa removed the cord. The earring itself was completely undamaged.
She frowned and placed it back within the vial and looked back towards the hospital wing. Tessa realized that it could very well be her on that operating table.
One of the reasons she had joined Mithril was to prevent this kind of thing from happening.
Sighing, she silently prayed that this Colleen Riley would be all right.
---------------
"Liar! Jerk! Idiot! Jerk! Moody Military otaku!"
To say Chidori Kaname was not pleased was a severe understatement.
If her classmates were not used to her muttering perhaps they would have thought their classroom representative had finally lost it completely.
In actuality, some people truly did think that, but none of them were willing to face the halisen to state it…or the possibility of Sagara eventually retaliating…
Those two were quite a dangerous pair together or apart.
Kyouko just laughed silently to herself, quickly snapping a picture of her friend's perturbed expression. Her best friend always acted like this when a test was coming and Sagara was nowhere to be found.
And, much to Kaname's dismay, fewer and fewer people were buying the excuse of her being nothing but an overly dedicated class representative.
She snapped another picture of Kaname staring at the pencil she had just broken in half with a look somewhere between dazed and irritated. Kyouko giggled again. Sagara was the only one who was able to cause that particular mix.
She caught Kaname glancing at the door. Once English ended Sagara would certainly find himself in extreme danger if he dared (she could picture Kaname saying that indignantly in her head) to be absent.
Kyouko clapped her hands together and looked up at the ceiling in mock-seriousness and quietly intoned, "Be safe, Sagara-kun."
---------------
Indeed, some unknown deity must have had their ear outside of classroom 2-4 at Jindai High School because (exactly coinciding with the "snap!" of yet another of Kaname's pencils) an out of breath Sousuke Sagara flung open the door interrupting Eri Kagurazaka's recitation of the sentence "The men walked their dog through the park on their way to their friend's apartment to eat macaroni and cheese while watching penguins."
Kagurazaka-sensei merely sighed and began massaging her temples with her right hand when she saw him in his rumpled uniform, hoping against hope that he had perhaps left his weapons at his home for the first time in his eventful high school career.
She took a deep breath.
"Sagara," she said rather wearily, "Sit down quietly with no explosions, gunfire, or other acts lacking in propriety or against this school's rules or this country's laws. In fact, I expect that for the rest of the day you should behave as a model student as if you are representing the entirety of Jindai High School."
As the speech progressed his fellow classmates noticed their friend grow more rigid and the sweat upon his forehead, already fairly visible due to his apparent dash to the school, increased considerably.
Some were tempted to clap in agreement. That was, however, a risky activity.
For a moment Sousuke wondered if he should thank Kagurazaka-sensei for the advice and mission objectives. He fought the urge to salute his teacher.
The image of a halisen flashed in his mind.
That immediately quelled the urge.
He instead opted to bow and apologize before walking to his desk and pulling his notebook out of his school bag.
After the hectic mission the classroom felt like a reprieve. He had to admit to himself that he was fairly exhausted, even for a Specialist. Chiding himself for not doing so immediately, he looked over the room scanning for possible security breaches that might have developed in his absence.
He could detect no threats.
Hearing a rather loud, "Humph!" he looked up to see Kaname tossing her hair. He had forgotten to greet her.
He corrected himself, there was still one hostile element left in the room.
Eri smiled and began to pass out the Japanese History exams.
He once again was forced to correct himself concerning the present situation within the classroom…
There were presently two hostile elements within the room and he was dangerously low on ammunition.
But after all, he was a Specialist.
However, perhaps not even a Specialist could remember the events of Edo period in incredibly specific detail after the experiences he had had over the course of the past few days.
Suddenly, it occurred to him that Chidori would be disappointed in his performance after all. She might, however, merely use it to illustrate the fact that he was quite horrible at Japanese History without her tutoring. Sousuke hoped it would be the latter.
He had missed her study session, too, he thought belatedly. Resigned to a withdrawal at best and utter, crushing defeat at worst, he began to try to recall his hazy studying from the past day and a half and attempt to answer the test questions.
Yes, he thought, glancing at the first question, Chidori will most certainly express her dissatisfaction with my results on this exam.
The image of the halisen did not fade from his mind this time.
---------------
"Miss Iron has left us."
The man delivering the news looked faintly nervous. He had a fine spraying of sweat across his brow.
The other man looked unconcerned, as if the matter were a gnat that was annoying him. He yawned.
"Left us?" he drawled.
"Captured or dead…most likely Mithril's doing."
He smiled at the mention of Mithril. She really hadn't changed at all. Still trying futilely to help them. After his moment of private reflection he continued.
"Mithril shot her?" There was almost amusement in his voice.
"No, the Operator apparently lost control of the Arastols. They shot her. Her tracking chips were damaged after this. We do not know her current whereabouts or status."
The other person who was sitting with him, Mr. Gold, nearly choked on his silk martini as the intelligence operative noted this.
He, however, took the news in stride. Perhaps this problem could be equated with a spider bothering him. It was a more significant threat than the gnat, but hardly a thing worth worrying about. A spider was only dangerous if it bit you.
"That Miss Iron was very clever." He replied off-handedly with an indulgent smile.
Mr. Gold shot him a look filled with barely concealed disbelief at his associate's nonchalant attitude. The girl had been a valuable asset.
"Yes, Miss Iron even tried to make our job easier. Let us hope she continues to do so."
He smiled and took the last sip of his vodka. He put the empty glass down and rose from his chair, curtly nodding to Mr. Gold.
Yes, spiders were dangerous if they bit you, but he knew perfectly well that it did not take much effort to crush a spider before that occurred. Just squeeze it between your fingertips and it pops.
It was such an easy, lazy gesture to make.
---------------
He decided it might be wise to wait for Kaname and personally explain the reasons for his absence after school. She had, however, gone to give a stack of papers to another teacher to distribute to her students.
The Japanese History exam had certainly not gone well.
He had not known anything about the development and implementation of Kokugaku, except that the kanji had meant "nation studies." However, he didn't suppose that he would be given high marks for merely giving the meaning of the kanji…
Additionally, much to his embarrassment, he was unable to fully answer the questions concerning the Satsuma Rebellion, or the accompanying painting entitled "Kirino Toshiaki's Wife." Nor was he able to explain the place of the samurai within the bureaucratic system of the Tokugawa Shogunate with his usual level of accurateness regarding matters of military history.
These were what Kaname would call "otaku" things…all things he probably would have known had he been able to attend her study session.
Indeed, he had known about the advances in weaponry during the period, due to the mass production of steel just prior to the Edo period's beginning, and the subsequent evolution of the Japanese sword and other varieties of weaponry due to it. Unfortunately, that had not been as important of a fact as he had anticipated it might be.
In fact, it hadn't even appeared on the exam.
Indeed, his lack of knowledge was compounded by his lack of sleep, and a sharp headache that had slowly infiltrated its way through his temples somewhere around the question concerning the influence of Neo-Confucianism on economics, politics, and military life. He had picked up on the implications of the doctrine in the Bushido code, but could not answer any other part of the question.
In fact, all he could remember due to the throbbing in his head was a passage he had read on the tessen, a fan made from iron that could be used to strike opponents that a samurai considered unworthy. This fact promptly conjured up images of Kaname…and even more pain.
This reminded him that he should tell her that there was a historical precedent for women using weapons. In fact, during the Edo period all Japanese women were required to be masters of the naginata by age 18 in order to defend their own homes in case of attack. He would bring this up as a good example to follow in the matter of her own protection.
The door to the classroom opened and closed, and in walked Kaname with a large, beaming smile on her face.
Had there been any snipers in the area, at that moment she would certainly have been made a target.
He had personally checked the area for snipers beforehand. It wasn't a problem.
But he had seen that smile before.
It was not a smile of greeting.
No, he had only seen that smile on the face of enemy interrogators. He promptly forgot to tell her his thoughts concerning the use of the naginata in the Edo period.
She collected her school bag at her desk and turned to him finally with great flourish, tossing her long hair.
"So Sousuke," impossibly, the smile grew larger, "How did you do on your Japanese History test?"
He could feel himself begin to sweat again, despite his best efforts at concealment.
He entered into the mentality of a trained soldier facing a vicious enemy interrogator, bent on mining his opponent for every useful article of information possible.
I must not divulge information. I must not divulge information. I must not divulge information.
The thought repeated over and over in his mind as he looked at the interrogator's smiling face.
But, his mind suddenly reminded him, it is only Chidori.
Yes, indeed, it was only Chidori before him asking a friendly, normal question.
He drew himself up tall and answered.
"Not well at all. In fact, were it a mission I would have certainly fai-"
Retribution was swift, the halisen connected with his head at the same time her kick connected with his gut.
"Wrong answer!" She shouted.
She then performed a textbook German suplex on him, sending the sergeant crashing onto the floor and three desks crashing on all sides of him.
"That was for whatever weird otaku thing you were thinking before you answered!"
Kaname stood over him with her hands on her hips, still keeping a secure grip on her halisen. The analogy of a hunter standing over its prey wasn't a far cry from reality.
He stood up slowly, "Chidori, that hurt."
"Good. If you don't wish to incur further injury you had better come to my apartment by five o'clock tomorrow night. You will then eat the sukiyaki you missed last night. That is your objective. You must not fail."
Kaname was proud of herself. She had managed to sound incredibly Sousuke-esque. Let that idiotic otaku just try to misunderstand her invitation!
"Chidori…?" He was confused. Kaname was in grave need of a manual so he could understand her requests and correlate them with her actions.
She turned back to him with a slightly gentler expression and smiled.
She didn't look like an interrogator anymore. That was certainly an improvement.
"Let's go," she said.
Even though the intensity of his headache had increased due to Kaname's overzealous greeting, he felt glad to be back here with her.
If she had glanced back at him at the moment perhaps she would have seen a ghost of a smile on his face at this thought.
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A/N: Thank you everyone that has read so far! I hope you are enjoying this so far, and if by chance you are not, tell me about that too…we'll see what I can do for you. Review, please!
The next chapter will have a bit of romance and some action as well, so stay tuned!
Text taken from http/ you're interested in the Edo period, the site will give you some basic information.
Again, thanks for reading!