The Black Whispered
Chapter 3 – Facts
Location: Tuatha de Daanan, North Pacific Ocean.
Time: 22:10 (+10 hrs GMT)
Date: March 10th, 2006
Sousuke had taken about an hour in debriefing, in which everyone had a good laugh about Kurz's successful plan. In the two hours after the end of the mission, the Tuatha de Daanan was in a constant state of alert; retrieving the AV-8's one at a time and staying a constant state of battle alert. Even if the Tuatha de Daanan went as 50 knots, the soviet ASW planes could just as easily catch up. The tension between the crew was still there, while the Arm slave and Fighter pilots had done their job, it was now up to the submarine crew to finish the job.
"Captain, we have exited the soviet territorial waters and the battle zone"
"Thank you, relay orders to the ship; go to secondary level of alert"
"Aye Captain"
Theresa slumped back into the chair; it had been a tough thirty minutes, the three submarines that had been pushed away from the iceberg, took no time in turning around and chasing the Tuatha de Daanan, apparently knowing that the iceberg had its buried treasure taken. Unfortunately the submarines couldn't keep up with the Tuatha de Daanan retaining its reputation as the fastest submarine in the water to date.
"Captain, your shift is over now, do you want me to take over command?" Commander Mardukas asked,
"Not quite yet" Theresa continued speaking "I want to be sure that we have no contacts following us"
"No contacts on scope Captain" the sonar officer replied,
"Okay, what is the hull pressure status?" Theresa asked the tactical officer
"Fine Captain, the doors are holding out the water on the catapult deck and we are shallow enough so the diesel submarine would not be crushed under water pressure" the tactical officer explained "if in the unlikely case we do loose a door"
"Very well"
"Captain, I understand your intent that you want to keep an eye on the matter, but you'll be in a lot worse shape if we were to experience trouble and you have not rested" Commander Mardukas spoke quietly "I will call you straight away if we encounter anything"
Theresa thought for a moment and then gazed down at her chair computer screen. Without realizing, she had forgotten about something she said to Sousuke on their private chat. Theresa smiled quietly to herself before speaking,
"Understood Commander, I think ill take my break now"
"Goodnight Captain" Commander Mardukas spoke and then announced "The XO will now take command"
"Aye Sir"
Theresa stood up from her chair, not realizing that she had been sitting in it for four hours straight, it felt a little hard to walk around when your body didn't feel like it, but Theresa managed to move out of the control room. Once she had left the earshot range of Commander Mardukas, she started a more brisk walk towards her quarters. Darting down a staircase and down a few halls; Theresa eventually came up to her room; and outside it as expected, was Sousuke, standing at full attention outside her quarters.
Even thought Sousuke was made apparent that Theresa wanted to be an exception when it came to military code; He still had to apply it when there was a high chance to be spotted by another crewmember. But apart from that, Theresa was still pleased to see her favorite sergeant. Theresa went through all the formal ordeals that she knew Sousuke was putting on just because they were outside her quarters. Theresa instructed him to enter her quarters as an order, and in doing so, ordered Sousuke to relax,
"Why didn't you just wait inside?" Theresa sat down on the couch; Sousuke however remained standing at ease,
"If another crewmember had spotted me enter other person's quarters, the consequences would have been disastrous. Also I believe that hiding in your quarters would scare you somewhat if you entered"
"I'm pretty sure I wouldn't mind it if you just sat on the couch and waited" Theresa giving a hint for Sousuke to sit down with her.
"Very well, ill try to do that" Sousuke replied,
Sousuke still felt somewhere that he shouldn't be so friendly with her superior officer; every nerve in his body said that. But this was Theresa were talking about, not Commander Mardukas or Lieutenant Grouseaux. Some ten years in the military told him to respect her in anyway. He had to try. Sousuke decided to go out on a limb and just sit down on the other couch opposite Theresa so he could still face her. Theresa looked up at him, and by telling the expression was having a hard time adjusting to the idea of treating her as a equally as he treated Kaname.
Before Theresa said anything as a support, Sousuke sat down on the other couch, slightly to her surprise; he did something a normal person would do.
"It's okay to sit down; I'm not treating you like a subordinate for the meantime" Theresa spoke, but it scared Sousuke slightly.
"Yes Capt…Tessa" Sousuke corrected himself halfway through the sentence. Theresa smiled slightly, while he was making an absolute fool of himself acting normal; she still had to admit he was trying. A few minutes passed in silence, inside both their minds, they were waiting for the other to say something,
"Tessa, what was it that you ordered me to see you about?" Sousuke broke the ice first.
During the mission; Theresa had sent him a short message complying him to stop sending messages to her and to meet her later on for a 'discussion about a decision'. Theresa too a quick breath to relax,
"Well, I wanted to get your thoughts about something I want to do?" Theresa spoke quietly, trying as much to be a fluent to Sousuke as she would if talking to Kurz or Melissa. Sousuke sat there as his brain translated it, having no idea what it meant. Once he had an idea what it meant, he stopped being so stiff and started acting serious.
"Okay, what is it you want me to help you with?" Sousuke spoke normally, pretending it was Kurz or Melissa he was talking to.
"I was thinking a few days ago…" Theresa was now shyer then Sousuke had been, but she continued to speak "That I want to take another holiday again"
"To the high school?" Sousuke immediately remembered the dilemma he had faced last time,
"Yes, but I don't want to be there for just two weeks" Theresa explained "I've considered staying there for about three months.
"I don't understand" Sousuke just knew he would have bitten the bullet on this one and accept it.
"You see, I'm still young and to admit it, I'm kind of jealous that you get to enjoy a slightly normal life" Theresa explained "While I have my duties on Tuatha de Daanan, you are in Tokyo doing normal things, I just want to see what its like to be a normal person a little more"
Sousuke's lack of knowledge in this area was what disadvantaged him the most; to him, he was there to guard Kaname, but that was it. He didn't have time to play around.
"I'm going to ask Admiral Borha if I can take leave from MITHRIL for that period of time, but I want to know if you think I should do it" Theresa asked,
"Tessa…As someone from a military background, I don't understand what your request is…" Sousuke continued "…But if I was your friend, I would say that you should do what you think is best for you. If you want to come to Tokyo and go that school, you'll have no objections from me, but you must remember that it'll become my responsibility to protect both you and Kaname"
Theresa felt a little better hearing that from Sousuke's mouth then from anywhere else. Sousuke himself was now screaming on the inside, thinking that Theresa's stare and prolonged silence meant that he had just insulted her. In actual fact, Theresa was surprised that he had said something so meaningful and not military based.
"I'll arrange a helicopter transport at 0400 hours, with luck and due speed, the helicopter will have you dropped off at school by the time school starts" Theresa replied coolly, "In that time, I suggest you get some sleep Sousuke"
"Yes Capt…Tessa" Sousuke feeling slightly confused about what to say after that. He got up and left for the door. Theresa did the same and proceeded to the door to see him off. But just as he left he stopped and spoke something
"Tessa?"
"Yes?" Theresa slightly confused turned around surprised.
"Goodnight" Sousuke spoke, before continuing out and closing the door. Theresa stood there for a full minute staring at the door, trying to figure out if that was her imagination or if Sousuke really told her 'goodnight'. Shortly after determining that he had indeed said it; Theresa twirled around until her body met with the floor.
Location: Kyoko's Apartment, Somewhere in Tokyo
Time: 20:15 hrs (+8 hrs GMT)
Date: March 20th, 2006
Since she got home that afternoon, everything seemed to be in lax. In the back of her mind was that weird conversation Kaname had with the pharmacist assistant. What made it weirder was that when she went back to the store later, the lady wasn't there anymore. Nothing seemed to add up today, Kaname's quick disappearance, the chemist, Merdia Island. Then there was the conversation itself; whatever they were talking about, it involved Sousuke and Theresa a lot.
Kyoko didn't know anything military; after all, not every high school girl was expected to go to war. But after two hijacking incidents, Kyoko was becoming more curious about her surroundings, more or less like Sousuke, but on a much reduced scale. Somehow, Kyoko was starting to understand why Sousuke saw everything as a threat; it seems that ever since Sousuke showed up, everything became a threat.
Kyoko crashed onto the sofa and turned over to face upright, wondering. All her high school life she had been the sidekick to Kaname, going on all there adventures, that is until Sousuke showed up; since then he tagged along on their adventures, to some very comic results. But what was so important that Kaname could tell her best friend? Kyoko retrieved her phone from the floor and looked for that recording.
Kyoko listened to it again, for the third time since she got home. Nothing in it made sense, what was MITHRIL? And what was this ARX-7 they keep talking about? Kyoko knew from experience what an M-9 was; it was the type of arm slave that rescued them during the first hijacking. But only Shinji seemed to be excited about it, claiming that…
"Shinji!"
Kyoko stopped playing the recording of the conversation. If anyone knew Arm slaves better, it was Shinji. He'd know a lot military terms then what Kyoko would ever know. Kyoko tapped in Shinji Kazama's number. After some time of ringing, Kyoko finally got a hold of Shinji.
"Hello?" spoke the familiar voice on the end
"Kazama-kun, its Kyoko"
"Wha?" wailed the other voice on the end,
"Shinji, be serious for second, I need to ask you something, you're the only person I know who would know about arm slaves"
"Sure thing, what do you need to know?" Shinji suddenly more confident, knowing this would be easy.
"Is there any Arm slave called an ARX-7 Arbalest?"
From Kyoko's end, firstly there was silence, then the sound of several books been dropped onto a desk, then finally the sound of page being flipped rapidly. Whatever it was, it sounded like Shinji had no idea what it was. Kyoko felt Shinji's confidence slowly slip away as the time bore on three minutes, and then there was silence. Shinji picked up the phone with a worried tone.
"Kyoko? You still there?" Shinji worried that she had hung up.
"Yea, I'm here, why? What's the matter?"
"Oh good…um" Shinji spoke very worried "how exactly do you know about the ARX-7?"
"I heard Kaname talk about it this afternoon, why?"
"Firstly, I'll be honest with you; I've never of the ARX-7 Arbalest before"
"Then why are you asking how I know about it?"
"Listen, I can't talk here, ill go to your place. This is serious stuff were talking about"
"Wait…Shinji what are you talking about?"
Before anything else happened, Shinji had hung up the phone and Kyoko had little choice but get ready for his arrival.
Location: Kyoko's Apartment, Somewhere in Tokyo
Time: 20:25 hrs (+8 hrs GMT)
Date: March 20th, 2006
It didn't take to long for Shinji to hop onto to his cycle and ride down to Kyoko's apartment, loaded with magazines and his laptop, as well as several models of Arm Slaves. What Shinji or Kyoko forgot to take into account was the weather, halfway to Kyoko's place and it started a light downpour. While everything was in waterproof containment, it made cycling fast up hills difficult. But just as Shinji arrived to Kyoko's apartment block, the rain started to pour down heavy.
"You didn't waste time getting here…why are you in your school uniform?" Kyoko spoke inspected a slightly drenched Shinji, both arms loaded with articles.
"Sorry, I had to go somewhere else after we went shopping. Quickly now, I have to show you this"
Kyoko prompted him first to dry off before stepping into her house. It was just lucky her parents were on vacation, or there would be a very unhelpful dilemma. Kyoko was often force by her parents to get a boyfriend, but Kyoko's childish look didn't really give her the leading edge when up against Kaname or even Theresa. Shinji just walking into the house would be a trap if they were home. Fortunately this meant that she had to have Shinji come into his room, they could discuss this in the living room.
"Okay, why did you have to come here to tell me something about the ARX-7?"
"If your saying you heard about it in normal conversation, then its going to rock the entire world of Arm Slaves as we know it" Shinji quickly pulled a magazine out of a bag and open it to were a page was bookmarked "The thing is, the ARX-7 is a myth, nobody knows about it, but there have been unconfirmed reports of an white AS similar to a M-9 being used to defeat that massive one that attacked in the Tokyo bay area seven months ago.
The event Shinji he was referring to was the A-21 terrorist insertion when they used a 32 meter high Arm slave to wreak havoc across a theme park and docks area. What Shinji know was that officials changed the official height of the machine, also considering that no one could find it later; MITHRIL were very quick picking it up and escaping with almost every part of the colossal Arm Slave.
"The official story was that the Japanese land army cleared up the wreckage in that time, but nobody believed it, but this picture here was taken of what a lot think is something called the ARX-7 Arbalest"
"But who though up the name?" Kyoko wondered,
"Some source, but it won't tell us a name, or how he got his hands on it. I think its stolen classified information…" Shinji put down the magazine. "There is a lot of mysteries about the ARX-7, from what I've heard it's only slightly better then M-9, but why would you keep such a thing classified?"
"There is also something else I want you to translate" Kyoko pulled her phone out "Remember when I couldn't ring you to hear into the conversation, well I made a recording instead"
"That's where you heard the ARX-7 thing right?"
"Yes"
"Well, ill transfer it to my laptop and make a few copies of it"
Shinji went through the quick process of transferring the document from mobile phone to his laptop, which to Kyoko's delight or disgust; boasted a very weird looking anime desktop background. Once down, Shinji did himself a favor by covering the background with his media player. For about ten minutes, both Shinji and Kyoko listened to a louder version of the conversation, at the same time; Shinji adjusted the controls on his computer so he could here the conversation more clearly.
At the end of the Conversation, Shinji was very serious about what he heard; he quickly made copies of it onto his USB-thumb drive pocket knife and several more copies on his computer in hidden locations. After that, he listened to some of the key parts again.
"You do not know how much I like you right now" Shinji spoke jokingly,
"Say what!" Kyoko not finding the joke in what he said. Before Kyoko could yell abuse at him; Kyoko got out his notepad and started writing this all down, carefully checking he had them all.
"MITRHIL…the ARX-7 Arbalest and its Lambda Driver…Captain Theresa Testarossa-san…Sergeant Sousuke Sagara-kun…Level A Alert…Tuatha de Daanan…Admiral Borda and Merdia Island" Shinji whispered as he wrote each one down
"What are you writing down?" Kyoko quickly forgetting about his remark,
"There all the keywords of that discussion" Shinji's tone deepened a bit, "everything Kaname and this nurse just said has been hot topic on Arm slave online forums and online rumors for well over a year"
"So you're saying this is a conspiracy?" Kyoko asked,
"A little beyond, a little less, disregard the sanity of what about to say but, everything fits into place"
Kyoko looked at the facts herself for a moment, from what Shinji said, a lot of these mysteries were starting to unfold, Shinji regained his laptop and started typing furiously on a word document.
"Think for a moment, for some time before Sousuke showed up, there was some weird organization that was suddenly stopping the guerilla movements in and around South East Asia and Africa. Every time this happened, the United Nations would suddenly say they were responsible"
"But weren't they?"
"That's what I thought, until the Plane hijacking incident" Shinji stopped typing "there are two things that we have to consider"
"Huh?" Kyoko spoke,
"The first major factor was the rescue team; they were clearly using M-9's as combat Arm Slaves. But at the time, the M-9 was supposable still in production test phases, not even the Americans had them. Add to the fact that the United Nations doesn't have Arm slaves or a Special Forces unit like that"
Kyoko was slightly starting to enjoy this side of Shinji, this style of part detective, part weapons expert. Kyoko started to not regret the idea of Shinji coming over all of a sudden, but why was that? Kyoko also wanted the answers and she was becoming increasingly more curious; all of Shinji's facts were starting to fit the puzzle.
"Do you want me to get some coffee?" Kyoko asked,
"Huh?" Shinji stopped and looked up to Kyoko who was looking more interested
"It looks like you and I are going to be researching this for a while tonight, I figure ill let you find out what you can tonight"
"But, won't that mean…" Shinji spoke softly,
"Yes it does" Kyoko changed her tome "which means ill kill you if even come into my room tonight!"
"Understood! I'd never in my life!"
"Ok, you're on the couch"
Shinji continued his work with renewed sprit, who would have though that all his nerdy and Military Okatu would actually let him sleep at girl's place for the night. Kyoko was suddenly wondering if this was such a good idea, all she wanted was an answer to a question, which was 'what is the ARX-7 Arbalest', but it seemed that even she had to agree that it spawned on so many more questions, many of which Shinji was answering, but he still needed to prove it.
"Kyoko?"
"You remember when Kaname went on that holiday several months ago?" Shinji asked from the living room "Do you remember if she took anything with that little camera of yours?"
"Yes" it then dawned on Kyoko that she'd never seen any of the pics of that trip to the 'southern islands'. "Why do you want to see them?"
"Remember earlier today when Kaname and Sousuke had that talk about Merdia Island? Well I've already proved it's not a resort island, so I want to see what I might be, if of course Kaname took any pics"
"Ok, ill get it from my room" Kyoko spoke. Putting down the coffee on the table, she quickly walked away and entered her room. Kyoko wasn't actually concern about Shinji being a peeping tom, it was the fact that her room boasted at very secret collection of chibi dolls and other ultra girly stuff. Kyoko looked around for her camera, Connection cable and a few CD's with dates written on them.
"Here you go; I got some extra pics on those there, but I don't know when I've last used this thing"
Shinji up-linked the camera and stated to scan the folder for files with the date in late august. There was over two thousand pictures on the camera; Shinji wonder how often Kyoko bothered to see those pictures. Finally, Shinji found twenty photos taken during the time period they were looking for.
"Here we go, 0001977.jpg to 0001997.jpg" Shinji copied them into a separated folder on his embarrassing desktop called 'The Shinji files'.
"Let's see them"
"Ok, but I'm guessing that Kaname took these else where, so don't be surprised"
Shinji clicked on all the pictures and played the slideshow. Both gazed on the monitor and suddenly were shocked to find out the real secret that Kaname, Sousuke and Theresa held all this time.
A/N another chapter down, I'm pretty sure that everyone who has seen the first series is going to email and ask me "When did Kaname take pictures on the Tuatha de Daanan / Merida Island?"
The main reason I think of this is that I'm pretty sure that Kaname took a picture of that hanger interior (off screen at least), I'm also assuming that everyone that knows Kaname in MITHRIL (Sousuke, Kurz, Melissa and Theresa, possibly others) posed with her in one shot, whilst in uniform. The rest could be party photographs Kurz may have taken (off screen)
Despite the debate insuring, for the sake of the story I'm going to just say that little camera has a few pictures that compromise the security of MITHRIL and that Kyoko just didn't notice this until now (As for her trigger-happy photographing doesn't really indicate she may look at them later)
Thank you,and please review.