The Black Whispered
Chapter 2 – Myths
Location: MITHRIL heavy transport Seaplane, somewhere above the north pacific ocean.
Time: 17:00 (+10 GMT)
Date: March 10th, 2006
While Sousuke didn't see the urgency of this, he still followed orders to the letter and got to Merdia Island as soon as possible. The radio report of Tuatha de Daanan's find was oddly suspicious. But some merit had come from this; at the same time the Tuatha de Daanan had located the strange anomaly of an iceberg; three Russian Alfa class submarines showed up and were lashing their active sonar out to warn off the Tuatha de Daanan from getting any closer to the iceberg. Apparently the soviet navy were more concerned about what was inside that thing as much as Theresa was when she'd first witnessed the data.
Since that phone call at lunchtime in Tokyo; all Sousuke heard was an A level alert had been called for a rescue mission 'on an iceberg' of all things. But in Sousuke push for answers he managed to get data that MITHRIL's intelligent department had gathered; the entire soviet navy in pacific was rushing towards the diesel submarine locked in the iceberg. But considering the fact the entire submarine was covered in twenty five metres solid ice; it couldn't have been a rescue mission. Something was inside that submarine that required the support of the entire soviet navy, or particularly its firepower.
"We shall begin?" Kalinin started the briefing in the room, "at about 14:00 local, the Tuatha de Daanan had detected an iceberg with what we now understand is a surrounding what we believe is a Second World War ear Soviet diesel Submarine"
"What could be of value inside a 50 year old diesel sub?" Kurz asked "apart from antique torpedos"
"While the intelligence department is uncertain and denying it; Captain Testarossa believes there are two Palladium cold nuclear fusion reactor plants" Kalinin let everyone in the team talk for a second, but no one spoke, he continued to explain "these reactor plants are about the same size of those found in the M-9 Gernsback, but the power output and presumed length of time these two reactors have been in operation would make it as efficient as the Palladium Reactor of the Tuatha de Daanan."
Everyone was still in a silent state of surprise. The Palladium cold nuclear fusion reactor was at the very forefront of technology, this reactor was more efficient then either American or soviet nuclear submarine reactors and was almost impossible to detect. Apart from the small ones of the M-9 and ARX-7; there were only two large ship sized Palladium reactor plants in existence, TDD-1 Tuatha de Daanan had the first one and another one was finished and ready to install on the soon to be launched TDD-2 Pillar of Autumn, which was destined to serve in the south Atlantic ocean where a vessel like Tuatha de Daanan was badly needed.
After the Pacific Christmas incident, MITHRIL's top brass finally decided to build four more of what were now the Tuatha de Daanan Class Attack/amphibious support submarines. Despite the objections of the intelligence department; one each would go to the other fleets replacing the outdated Excalibur Class Amphibious assault submarine, while the TDD-5 would come as reinforcement for the West Pacific Battle group, which was already stretched thin.
But according the statistics they had received from this iceberg, these reactors were already surpassing twice the life expectancy of the TDD Class Reactors and ten times the life span of a typical third generation Arm Slave.
"Captain Testarossa has made it clear that it's in the best interest that we recover the iceberg or the submarine itself" Kalinin continued to speak,
In the back of the seating compartment, Sousuke and Kurz were sitting down watching the screen. While Sousuke was no doubt paying full attention, Kurz seemed to be more interested in the contents of Sousuke's bag. Ever since Sousuke had his contract changed so he could go home to Tokyo, Kurz used this as an opportunity to get stuff that he couldn't get himself. Every time Sousuke was at Merdia Island or on the Tuatha de Daanan, Kurz would give Sousuke a 'shopping list' of things he wanted; it ranged for the latest fads in Japan to groceries and other foods you couldn't find anywhere on base.
Kurz gave him shopping money and constantly offered Sousuke is five of his best magazines from 'Kurz Webber's top secret porn collection'; Sousuke always blankly refused, but did his shopping anyway.
"At 20:00 tonight, Tuatha de Daanan's AV-8's will take off and perform anti-submarine warfare to distract the three submarines, when they do so, Tuatha de Daanan will get in close to the iceberg where URUZ one, two, six and seven will jump over to the iceberg and use their combat knifes to cut the ice around the submarine, be careful as to not to damage the submarine itself." Kalinin continued "When you have managed to separate the submarine for the ship, Tuatha de Daanan will open up it's AS steam catapult deck and we will store the submarine inside there; once we have captured the target object and run as far south as possible, any questions?"
"Will the submarine fit inside that area?" spoke Sousuke,
"The height of the catapult deck is to the doors is about ten metres; if we are right and it's a Second World War era submarine, it shouldn't have no problems, and if its higher then that, we can lay it on its side until we get back to Merdia Island"
"How come were using knifes? Why not just blast the ice away with our guns?"
"Because of the density of the ice, one hit would destroy the submarine as well"
"Dammit" Kurz replied, "so what are we suppose to do? Cutting through that ice would take at least an hour, maybe two, and that's with four knifes and a their chainsaws"
"Patience is the key, as well as planning" Kalinin replied "In order to get the submarine out as quick as possible; all four AS's need to cut with the long swords. At the moment, Mao's AS is the only one which uses a long sword. We had three more to use, which is why were using a cargo plane instead of the usually seaplanes"
Sousuke didn't really mind the swords, but even with the long swords, it would take ages to finish the job. Sousuke wanted to get this mission over with as quickly as possible; he did say that he would be back by the morning, already he had lost four hours despite the seaplane leaving the moment he arrived at Merida Island. Even in the recently acquired water based equal to its global trotter III heavy transport aircraft, it would take another hour to get to the Tuatha de Daanan.
"Captain Tessa has called the level A alert because she believes that this submarine and its contents are of the highest priority. Admiral Borha is supporting this despite the objections from Kalinin concluded "We will be arriving to the Tuatha de Daanan in another hour, prep yourself into Arm slave piloting gear, be ready to pilot once we land"
When the Major left the passenger cabin for the flight deck, the 10 men assembled there started to chat amongst themselves,
"Gee, the old mad doesn't ask much…" Kurz joked "just call on us and we'll pull rabbits out of hats!"
"The Major is right; if the captain believes this is important…" Sousuke paused for a second "…it's vital we finish this job and as quickly as possible"
Location: Tokyo Jindai Municipal High School, Tokyo
Time: 15:02 hrs
Date: March 10th, 2006
"Stand…Bow"
"Good afternoon Sensei!"
"Dismissed!" Kaname announced to the class,
Yet another day finished in high school Kaname thought, boring as it may seem but at least there weren't any troubles regarding integrations or some act of terrorism being detected by the School. Kaname thought good of this afternoon, whenever Sousuke wasn't in the country, she felt at ease as the on going threat of Sousuke didn't stress her to tears. Earlier, just after Sousuke left, Kaname had gone off for a few minutes to make a call. Without Sousuke's knowledge, Kaname knew the MITHRIL intelligence department operative protecting her; Wraith, whom after failing to protect her and exposed his failures, agreed in a lucrative blackmailing deal.
If Kaname felt suspicious of Sousuke's disappearances for now on, she could call this second contact and get a better idea on what he was doing. Returning only a few minutes later, Kaname was a little self pleased with herself and somewhat more cheerful in an evil and disturbed way.
"Hey kana-Chan, you still coming with us to go shopping?" Kyoko inquired,
"Yea, I'm pumped to go" Kaname put on a deceiving grin,
"Good, cause Kazama-kun and Mizuki-san are tagging along, if that alright with you"
"Yes, the more the merrier!" Kaname acting very cheerful, suspiciously more then you'd expect from considering her mood this morning
"Okay, okay, let's go"
The plan for today was to start hunting around for stuff for their class excursion to Kyoto in two months time. This had been announced to everyone's surprise a week earlier, and fortunately or unfortunately; Sousuke wasn't present at school when that announcement. Kaname was very worried about what Sousuke would say if she had told him about the trip; it was only in Kyoto after all, but Sousuke could point out a dozen valid security problems with just walking down a street in Tokyo.
The actually reality was the school faculty was very cautious of the going on School trips since the Pacific Christmas incident. The principle was very worried about having a third high jacking, and even more so was being more careful about the possibility that a student might be killed. Ever since the airplane hijacking last year; the principle had been trying to get a straight answer about trying for Okinawa again. Even after paying psychology fees for 200 students and 1 teacher in the wake of the event; parents and the school board felt very scared about sending them off on a plane or boat.
Their also was the Sousuke factor; to the school administration's view, Sousuke should be their answer to protecting the students. The principle was taught a slightly alerted history about Sousuke's past actions as a guerrilla solider in Afghanistan by non less then Andrei Kalinin, who on their paper's was Sousuke's guardian. The principle believed that Sousuke was powerless on both occasions, considering that on one account being absent on during pacific Christmas hijacking. But the principle was seriously considering, the chances that they would be hijacked a third time, and despite objections of the student council vice president, She was seriously considering giving Sousuke Sagara permission to extent his already existing job as school council security chief to a more adventurous role as to establishing and commanding the Jindai Municipal High School Students defence brigade.
"Ooo….that Sousuke…if he…if they…" Kaname mumbled behind her teeth, recalling in her mind something she randomly remembered,
"What's this about Sagara-kun?" Kyoko asked,
"During the meeting today, the president said that Sousuke's request to establish a security force to protect us on field trips was getting a second consideration" Kaname gripped her bag and started to bend it in half, "it makes me so angry that they are even considering such a stupid idea!"
"Now, now, lets just go and get something to eat" Kyoko pointing at the café just ahead,
"Sure, but first I've got to into here" Kaname pointed a pharmacy juts down the street
"Do you want me to come with you?"
"No, I only need some headache tablets" Kaname lied,
"Okay" Kyoko said, in her mind she though something was fishy about that; something was just not right about all of this. From judging Kaname's funny laughs today, then that line about Merdia Island, then how she disappeared for a few minutes just after school. As soon as Kaname left the scene; she turned to both Shinji and Mizuki whom heard that conversation turned to face Kyoko.
"I'm going to see what she is buying; something doesn't sound right about all of this" Kyoko swinging her camera and mobile phone into action. "Just like the plan I said at lunch time"
"Okay" Shinji replied
"Sure" Mizuki said slightly less enthusiastically
Shinji nodded and went inside the café with Mizuki apparently as if they were a good friends all of sudden. Whilst they ordered five milkshakes, Kyoko started to chase after Kaname into the pharmacy store she had just entered. This particular chemist was on a corner and fortunately provided a second entrance were Kyoko could sneak in. As Kyoko ran past the front entrance she easily spotted Kaname down the back end looking at something in particular. Kyoko entered the chemist and walked down another isle, ducking down as to not been seen. Kyoko settled herself when a close as she could get.
Kyoko turned her head and then quickly became suddenly interested in mouthwash when she spotted a pharmacy assistant approach Kaname. She was a middle aged woman, very plump but with a broad smile. Kyoko silently rang Shinji's phone but for some reason it wouldn't connect. In an emergency, she started the record function instead, and just in time to hear the whole conversation.
"May I help you young lady?"
"Yes, I'm looking for birth control tablets…" Kaname replied so openly
"Oh my god, she plans to…" Kyoko's mind yelled inside,
"Planning a wild night with a special someone?" the women replied a little oddly, if it were anyone else, they'd start lecturing Kaname about how irresponsible student of her age nowadays. Also, Kaname seemed a little surprised about the reply, like she wasn't expecting it,
"What are you talking about!" Kaname laughed flatly, "It's just in case I…"
"Well, these are some recommendations for such tablets" the women spoke, handing what was a few pieces of paper,
Don't ask why I added lines, just come to the counter, one of your friends just walked in
Kaname peaked for half a second with intense fury before acting normally, who bothered to follow her? Was it sheer luck that another student came into the store? Kyoto was wondering momentary about the possibility of Sousuke and Kaname…wait a second, how did that women know she was going to buy Birth Control tablets? She turned her lead up to look for Kaname, The women had lead Kaname back to the drugs prescription counter and started to pointing out their various, only then did Kaname seem interested in what she was talking about.
Kyoko slowly moved closer to the pharmacy acting like she was looking at baby stuff, then cold and flu remedies, then bandages with intense interest until she could hear the conversation
"…they didn't suspect a thing; Sousuke said it was a resort island"
"That's the official policy that the operations department tell all their soldiers, wherever their stationed, it's either a Resort island or where there relatives live" spoke a slight off tone voice to the women.
"Okay, now where did Sergeant Sousuke Sagara go this time, and what is going on"
"Captain Testarossa ; the Captain of the Tuatha de Daanan requested Admiral Borda; Commander and chief of the operations department admiral for a level A alert; that's usually reserved for a rescue mission for a whispered candidate or in the event that a MITHRIL base is attacked." The Pharmacy Lady was now apparent to only Kaname to be the agent from MITHRIL's intelligence department, Wraith. He continued to speak "What our department have heard is that they are being ordered to rescue an iceberg inside soviet territorial waters, but inside that ice is a presumed lost Second World War era Soviet diesel submarine…"
Kaname only nodded her head waiting unaware that Kyoko was leading down and clearly able to hear the conversation behind the counter. Kyoko who was still leading down didn't understand a bit of that the pharmacist assistant said, but it didn't take a genius to know they weren't taking about birth control.
"But why did they call Sosuske in, it's not like Tessa needs him on every mission"
Kyoko cocked her head up in suspicion, that name rang a bell, but what did she have to do with this? Wasn't Ms Testarossa studying in Australia?
"Because the Captain believes they need the ARX-7 Arbalest and its Lambda Driver. It would be essential in this scenario apparently got out of hand, though I don't see a reason for it. Their soviet submarines, not venoms"
Kyoko couldn't understand much of this conversation, maybe Shinji would later; Sousuke Sagara is a sergeant? MITHRIL? Captain Tessa? ARX-7 Arbalest and its Lambda Driver? What did this all have to do with Kaname? Right away, and from experience being with Shinji, it sounded like a terrorist plot.
"Anyway, for now, Sousuke couldn't send a PRT member in his place seeing they seemed to want everyone to steal this submarine, so do what Sousuke said and he'll be back by morning"
"But why; tomorrow's Saturday"
Before wraith could answer that question, a business man walked into the store and was approaching the chemist. The pharmacist lady quickly stopped talking about secret warfare to act like a normal assistant again.
"Here are your headaches tablets miss, that'll be 840 yen"
"That's highway robbery!" kaname replied "fine"
Kaname gave the woman 100 yen and still got the headache pills given to her.
"Thank you very much"
Kaname walked out of the store and walked back to the café. Behind her and still in the shop, Kyoko stopped the recording and ran out of the other entrance and around the back of the building down to the street where the café was. Kyoko made it and sat down only less then 30 seconds before kaname turned the corner and entered the shop
"I'm back" Kaname eying everyone, particularly Kyoko whom looked like she had been running,
"Hey, we bought your milkshake" Kyoko spoke just before she drank her own,
"Thank you" Kaname decided to not to worry about it now, asking them of spying would only blow her cover if they were involved. Besides if they did overhear it, what chance did the other two have in believing it?
Location: Flight operations Hanger Deck, Tuatha de Daanan, Somewhere in the pacfic
Time: 19:50 hrs
Date: March 20th, 2006
Only Less then five minutes after they arrived; Sousuke and Kurz were running as if they were fifty minutes late for school. They had already suited up for AS piloting in their now well recognised black Arm slave anti-shock armour. Down closest to the elevator ramp were Belfangan Grouseaux and Melissa Mao sitting beside their Arm slaves and waiting for their other half of the team to show up.
"You couldn't be any later!" Melissa yelled at Kurz,
"Sorry Sis, the plane ride was slow" Kurz joked, onto to receive a punch in the stomach.
"Enough with the jokes "Belfangan yelled "You three, in to your Arm slaves pronto"
It didn't matter how many missions they had been on so far, Belfangan was having a hard time adjusting to the humorous team he had been given command of. Sousuke jogged lightly to the ARX-7 and boarded his arm slave. Sousuke wasn't partially worried about this mission; the only concern was that the ARX-7 and the other M-9's participating would have a good level of difficulty getting onto a slippery iceberg and staying on long enough to free the frozen submarine.
But what was the purpose of all this? A Diesel submarine from 50 years ago was at the very back end of submarine technology today; compared to the Tuatha de Daanan, it didn't even deserve to be in a museum.
"Identify please" spoke an emotionless voice
"Sergeant Sousuke Sagara, identification B-3128"
"Sergeant Sagara confirmed" the A.I known as Al replied "Long time no see?"
"Shut up and get me the data on the iceberg" Sousuke had little love for his somewhat annoying Arm Slave operating system; ranging to weird remarks at mostly inappropriate times to using hard drive storage to store download music. Theresa had stated it in the past that this would be what Sousuke's alter ego may have sounded like; a thought that disturbed both Sousuke and a few others that knew about the Arm Slave and Sousuke.
"You seam tense Sergeant, would you like to have music played?"
"No, if you have downloaded any music, delete it!"
Before they could continue their strange argument, his radio link with the other AS's was activated.
"Uruz seven, are you alright?" Melissa spoke
"I'm fine, Uruz two, what is the concern?" Sousuke replied
"You seem a little anxious tonight, everything alright?" Melissia asked,
"Everything is working normally, health status is acceptable…"
Before Melissa could reply and/or yell at Sousuke; the communications were interrupted by Captain Testarossa speaking,
"This is the captain speaking" Theresa's voice carried though there speakers "In five minutes Uruz 1,2,6 and 7 will proceed to the elevator and proceed up to the flight deck, we are going to open up only the helicopter open access panel and not…I repeat we will not open the catapult deck yet. All units proceed onto the forward section of the Tuatha de Daanan and wait there"
A brief pause was given, but what it more or less sounded like was Theresa drinking water, she then continued, "We will come along side the iceberg and you will have one chance to jump from Tuatha de Daanan to the iceberg. After that, each of you is do remove as much ice as possible around the submarine and retrieve it. When you have recovered the submarine, Tuatha de Daanan will come head on with the iceberg and open up the catapult deck. You are then to move the submarine on its side if possible and proceed back to the hanger deck" A long pause came after that "All units confirm?"
"Understood Captain, Uruz one acknowledged" the overall team leader Belfangan Grouseaux replied.
"Understood, Uruz two acknowledged" Melissa Mao replied swiftly
"Understood, Uruz six confirming" Kurz Webber replied with a less then interested tone.
"Understood" Sousuke paused for a moment "Uruz 07 confirmed"
"Tuatha de Daanan out" Theresa spoke lastly,
Once the COM link to Arm Slaves was down, Theresa sighed, they were on the same ship but yet since the pacific Christmas. Theresa had a hard time looking at him or relaying simple order acknowledgments. Sousuke then waited, quietly as he reviewed the data on the iceberg and submarine. Inside his mind, he was also thinking about what Theresa had said that Christmas Eve, while over the pass few months it had lost significance, it still pushed him to ask deeper questions about what he was doing.
"Al'
"Yes Sergeant?"
"Can you get me a linkup, private two way channel, to the Captain's view screen computer in her chair?"
"Yes Sergeant, would you like to send an audio message?"
"No, please type and send what I say"
Meanwhile in the control room, Theresa was steadily waiting to make her approach on the iceberg, while reading over the data, the captain sighed thinking about the mission. For the Arm slaves, it would be a rather simple and yet difficult job. The side where submarine was closest to the outside of iceberg had no grip points or any grounding where they could stand while hacking away at the ice, they could go from the top and work there way down and the side had the flat ground was also the most distant point to the Submarine.
"Lieutenant Commander, order all Arm Slaves to commence operation" Theresa spoke
"Yes Madam" Kalinin replied, he then applied his headset and started the mission "Uruz 1 and 2, proceed to primary lift positions, Uruz 6 and 7, proceed to secondary lift positions"
"Uruz one confirm and complying"
Instantly two AS's nearest to the Deck lift stood up and marched to the elevator, Melissa stopped just short of the main lift well while Belfangan's black AS stood in the centre of the lift.
"Uruz 1, stand by we are lifting you now"
Just as Theresa was watching the tower camera looking down on the slowly rising Arm slave, a small window started flashing on the top menu bar.
"Huh?" Theresa silently spoke, opening it assuming it was some random data packet.
URUZ 7 TDDHQ: Tessa, you sound feeling ill? Are you alright?
Theresa was quietly surprised receiving a message. Realizing that Commander Mardukas hadn't notice it, she extended the laptop on her chair and started to reply. Meanwhile the rest of the Arm Slaves were being lifted up to the surface deck of the Tuatha de Daanan. Just as Sousuke was started to being lifted…
"Message incoming, text only" Al spoke
"Who is it from?" Sousuke asked
"Captain Testarossa"
"Read it to me"
"Yes sir" Al Replied "TDDHQ URUZ 7: I'm fine, just feeling a little worried about this submarine"
"Al, send reply, same process"
Sousuke started to make his way down to where the other three Arm slaves were positioned was on the smooth surface of Tuatha de Daanan's bow. The helicopter landing deck was closed and the submarine retained its sleek shape, with three Gernsbacks and the Arbalest surfing on its top.
"Iceberg sighted! Dead ahead!" Kurz imitated a famous crow's-nest watchman,
"Shut up Uruz two and focus on your jump" Melissa yelled into her microphone, deafening Sousuke and Belfangan at the same time.
Inside the control room, Tessa was counting slowly down as they approached the iceberg, the portside wing and the portside engine were her main concern, if the turned starboard, like the other famous ship, there was a good chance that the iceberg could compromise the hull plates along the engine room. She was also looking at her screen quietly, until she saw a silent flash on the menu, quietly she opened it
URUZ 7 TDDHQ: I'll do my best make it as quickly as possible Tessa…No it isn't…Shut up Al and Send the message
Quite confused about the last part, Tessa was at least glad that Sousuke was looking out for her, in some mild way. Renewed with conference she sent a final reply, and indication request to talk later on.
"Helm, once they jump, all engine to reverse and starboard 30 degrees" Tessa though quietly, if the ship which could reverse out at 10 knots, it would not be able to reverse out at all and the bow of her ship would suffer the full impact of the ice, they wouldn't be able to dive the ship and a high speed escape impossible. Tessa did not want to destroy the vessel she'd designed and had built fall into the hands of soviet navy.
"Tactic and Sonar Stations report" Theresa ordered
"Tuatha de Daanan ready and slowed to 10 knots. The Arm salves are ready to jump" the tactical officer spoke,
"All three submarines are currently running around, we've identified them as the Borisoglebsk, the Novgorod Veliky and the Voronezh " the sonar officer reported, "All AV-8's have reported the targets are scared, but we've jammed their radio frequency just in case"
"Good, but just in case, have harpoon missiles in all the vertical launch tubes and load torpedo tubes 1 through 8" Tessa responded " I don't want be caught with my pants down"
While if it was an experienced male captain that said that, it would've made more sense. But a 17 year old girl saying that even if it had the right intentions, it was completely wrong. Everyone in the control room started at Theresa with some degree of humour in their faces. Commander Mardukas sighed as he buried his forehead into his hand before relaying the order. Someone in the control room however had inadvertently switched the radio on again, but only to the four AS's that were maintaining their position onto of Tuatha de Daanan.
"I think we should screw up" Kurz spoke, with his perverted intentions advocating making Theresa do exactly so.
"Idiot, we are NOT going to screw up!" Melissa replied with disgust.
"Stop the chatter, the iceberg is up ahead" Belfangan interrupted the odd-couple's banter,
"Jumping in 10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1…"
At the moment of zero; all four of the Arm Slave jumped off their home base and flew high into the air, the suspension systems in the arm salves were consider to most rugged in the world. Next to the suspension system on a 747 or an A-380 passenger aircraft, the Arm slave suspension system was the one of the most vital parts and damage to one would mean almost instant defeat.
Flying up to the peak of their ascent, they all started to worry about the decent to the surface, at the very least; landing a quartet of seven ton machines would break the ice, or completely destroy an AS. With some luck, all of the AS's landed on the top with Kurz Webber being the only exception, landing on the side, and grabbing on to the wall of ice.
"See! I told you, focus on your jump!" Melissa yelled into the radio,
"I'm sorry, I'm sorry" he faked a whining voice,
We'll whatever get your knife out and start digging!" Belfangan spoke,
While the Arm Slaves were starting to make shaved ice out the iceberg, Theresa was holding her breath on the chances of success, they had managed to avoid the iceberg, but now to choose if they had to assist in the anti submarine warfare, or protect the iceberg from capture.
"If those AS get the submarine loose and where not around, they could be in a tight position"
Understanding that in normal submarine and under normal circumstances, considering how far into territorial water they were, the most logical choice was to go attack the submarines, but the Tuatha de Daanan was not a normal submarine, and therefore didn't follow the rules of engagement like Commander Mardukas had expected. If there wasn't three M-9's and the ARX-7, as well as the four lives being left behind; they would be steaming towards the fight, but tessa didn't want to risk it.
"For now circle around the iceberg, if we detect the enemy, we'll be able to hunt them down"
For the first Ten minutes, progress was slow, despite everyone working on a separate section that would all work together, it wasn't helping. Sousuke had already considered using the Lambda Driver; but that would work in this case, And Melissa and Belfangan damaged their swords chainsaw rotary.
"This is going to take forever, we've only been able to get 1/8 the way there and nowhere near removing all this ice" Melissa spoke,
"And I have bad news" Theresa spoke over the speakers "We've got several dozen ships inbound, one carrier, twelve cruisers, and at least two dozen attack submarines"
"Have we tried heating the ice?" Kurz asked, with a glimmer of an idea in his tone,
"Where are you going to find a source of extreme heat" Theresa asked, and then somehow getting a strange idea what Kurz was going to do
"We're in it!" Kurz said. In saying that, Kurz turned his Arm Slave around so the back coolant vents faced the iceberg,
"AI, do something to increase the temperature of the M-9 reactor plant"
"Yes sergeant" spoke the cool female voice Kurz had picked for his AI software. Immediately the M-9 reactor started to heat up as the coolant tubes were turned off. Quickly the heat of the arm Slave managed to reach a point where it was dangerous.
"Now AI, turn on coolant system, but after you vent all that heat, rear accesses only"
"Yes Sergeant" The AI again replied,
With an all might gush, the steam ejected itself from the upper and lower back and considerably more so from the leg connection joint. The ice instantly melted at the ultra hot air burned it into frozen water. In doing so, Kurz's Arm slave had lose its grip on the iceberg as the gripping melted and shattered, it suddenly fell forward and dived into the icy water, narrowing missing a huge chunk of ice that can came off their initial landing.
"Sergeant, are you alright?" Melissa yelled,
"I'm alright, just let me swim around and get back on the iceberg, how much ice came off?"
"About 1.5 metres" Melissa spoke "lot considering, and some off the ice has loosened up now"
"Sergeant" Belfangan spoke up "That is the most inappropriate, tasteless, and wreck-less thing I've seen you do…Everyone keep doing that!"
"Roger" everyone spoke,
For the next ten minutes, Sousuke, Melissa and Kurz all took turns overheating their reactors and expelling the unwanted heat and gases onto the iceberg, which already melted half of the ice around the submarine. While Commander Mardukas felt somewhat displeased with such a rude and inappropriate display of use of Arm Slaves, it surely got the job done. Theresa was going to quietly laughed her head off when she saw Kurz later,
"Another five meters of ice before we've got the submarine free" the tactical officer spoke,
"So how do we report this to our superiors?" Commander Mardukas asked,
"Proof of Global Warming" Theresa smiled to herself,
"This is Uruz one, the submarine is 95 free, requesting that you open up the deck so we can start moving this sucker" Belfangan spoke,
"Alright, Tactical division, order our AV-8's to fallback to meeting point Delta, Helm line us up with the iceberg and slowly approach it head on, stop us as close as you can to the iceberg. When you stop, open up the catapult deck" Theresa ordered,
"Aye Captain" the tactical and helm officer replied at the same time
The Tuatha de Daanan Surfaced again and started coming towards the now deformed iceberg. All the Arm slaves were now waiting for their submarine to come in close and retrieve their cargo. With some very careful approach work, the Tuatha de Daanan only lightly tapped the iceberg on the direct bow.
"That's going to ruin the paint job!" Commander Mardukas joked,
"Ok, Load it up and let's get out of here" the Captain spoke, "URUZ six and seven, move slowly your half first in,"
"Okay" Kurz replied, enthusiast after one of his idea's worked"
"Understood" Sousuke replied,
Quickly, and with somewhat great and careful movement, they slowly backed the old diesel submarine onto the length of the catapult deck. Once all four AS's and the Desiel submarine was laid on its side, they all quickly moved to the lift deck.
"All but the ARX-7 Arbalest have been lowered into the hanger deck, catapult deck has been closed, we are glad to report that we had 2cm to spare" Lieutenant Commander Kalinin spoke "AV-8's are halfway to the meeting point"
"Have URUZ seven in as quickly as possible, once inside, submerge to 400ft and go to 40 knots"
"Aye Captain"
Just as Sousuke was being lowered into the hanger deck, Al started speaking
"While I won't question the merit of Uruz six's quick thinking tactics, I will state that is the weirdest use of the Arm slave that I've encountered"
"Is that the reason why you decided to speak"
"That, and I have a message for you. Would you like me to read another love letter aloud?"
"For the last time, it's not a love letter, and no, please put the text up on the screen"
Sousuke gazed at his blurry green screen monitor to read the one line sentence
TDDHQ URUZ 7: Thank you.
Heya
Well that was a very quick chapter; anyway I hope I can update a lot sooner next time, this chapter having required more focus. This story has already gotten more hits on its first chapter then the latest chapter of Sakura's Last chance in time (while disappointed that my main fanfic is loosing popularity, I cannot complain)