The Black Whispered
Chapter 5 – Answers
Location: Conference room 1-C, Merdia Island MITHRIL base
Time: 16:30hrs (+10hrs GMT)
Date: March 10th, 2006
Theresa was considerably worried about the summons to Admiral Borha. Usually he would open and friendly about something important, but given the fact the message had been somewhat negative. The 17 year old captain of MITHRIL's flagship, the Tuatha de Daanan decided to stall herself, by pretending to see the cargo more important then the summons message. But Commander Mardukas insisted to go see him.
Theresa stopped at the door and straightened her jacket slightly before pausing for a moment. In her mind she was worried at what she could've done to annoy the admiral, was it because of the incident on the iceberg? No one could really tell, but it would've been enough for the Admiral to make her worry.
'Its alright, the admiral must be asking me about teaching the new captain for TDD-2' she thought to herself. Theresa knocked on the door quietly,
"Come in Commander" spoke a gruff voice, it didn't belong to the admiral however. Theresa opened the door and suddenly stowed her fear and prepped herself for the meeting.
"Captain Theresa Testarossa, reporting as ordered" Theresa spoke clearly to the commanders at the table. She looked at them, it wasn't link the mole link room where there was a round table. It was more like a board of inquiry then anything else. On the left was Admiral 'Uncle' Borha, then there was the general of the intelligence department, as well as a two other admirals and in the centre was Sir mollay himself,
"Sir Mollay! I wasn't aware of your arrival!" Theresa sharply saluted
"Captain, please sit down" ordered the intelligence chef spoke, breaking the good mood that spiked in Theresa's heart for a mere second.
"Yes sir" Theresa spoke in a monotone,it felt like facing a wall of daggers about to been thrown at her from where she was sitting.
"Shall we Begin?" Sir Molary spoke,
"We have read the report about your rescue mission you performed last night" Admiral Borha spoke, "and id like be the first to say 'good work'. MITHRIL recognizes its achieving officers and therefore we have come to you with an offer…"
"With all do respect, I wish to remain in the operations department" Theresa replied feeling much better now. Several times in the past Theresa had been offered a desk job in Sydney, or even a chief position in the science and research department. However Theresa had rejected the offers for better and safer work, she felt that she would feel much better in the role as captain of her own ship, the Tuatha de Daanan. It was her home; nowhere else did she feel as safe.
"We're well aware of your wish to remain in the operations department" the intelligence director grunted, "We are not talking about transferring you to the science and research department, we are giving you are more important role in the MITHRIL Submarine fleet"
"Between yourself and Commander Mardukas; you two are only experienced commanding officers to serve aboard the Tuatha de Daanan Class" Sir molray Continued in a much more positive tone "As your aware, the TDD-2 Pillar of Autumn is now in docks here three months ahead of schedule, what your not aware is that we have in fact; two more of this class are almost finished and having their engines fitted as we speak, TDD-3 and TDD-4 which haven't a name yet"
"When did we manage to increase production?" Theresa asked "when where building Tuatha de Daanan, it took over a year just build the main hull"
"Thanks to some new supporters and decreasing activity around the western Australian coast, we can now build two submarines in unison"
"Where do I come into this?"
"In many respects Tuatha de Daanan was a prototype vessel, her hull design, her abilities and her equipment were all experimental" one of the other admirals spoke, "the Tuatha de Daanan had suffered considerable damage from the hijacking incident, but it taught us that it should be considered in two major factors"
"Permission to speak freely Sirs" Theresa asked
"Granted…" sir Morlay spoke,
"I wasn't asked to come here to be questioned about my ability to command was I?" Theresa relayed with slight fury and standing "it's because of my tactics that were able to get the job done"
"Sit down commander!" the general almost yelled, "it's because of your 'tactics' that we have brought you here"
Theresa sat down and waited,
"We need you to help us teach the four new captains for the Tuatha de Daanan Class submarine, we believe that your skills are invaluable to be wasted on a small ship"
"Hang on, what do you mean 4 captains? There are only there ships without captains….." Theresa then suddenly felt the tone of her body drop like a bag of sand. Only then now did she realize their intention of her future "you intend to hand over my command to another officer? What about Commander Mardukas?"
"He is getting too old for being a first officer, he will also be in position for promotion, but I will determine to reassign him his own command on a training submarine if deemed needed" the 2nd unnamed admiral spoke, Theresa knew what the training sub looked like, it was a Trafalgar class submarine that sir Morlay had quietly help acquire for MITHRIL. After 24 months of Tuatha de Daanan, the training submarine would be an insult to his pride as a naval officer.
"These four people?"
"I picked them out" the intelligence chief spoke,
"Since when did the intelligence department pick out our submarine commanders?" Theresa spoke out,
"Since we had an ear in every naval command office in the western hemisphere; we are lacking in good officers nowadays, we need fresh blood, new minds, fresh ideas…"
"…another hijacking" Theresa spoke under her breath. The air was stale around her mouth, she was being demoted? She was again being trialed because she was younger. She was only 17, but she was the captain of the Tuatha de Daanan for two years, she designed the vessel when she was 12, it was her born objective to captain a submarine; why take her best skill to no use?
"To put it frankly, firstly, as of 16:45hrs today, you are Promoted to the rank of commodore Theresa Testarossa" admiral Borha spoke and broke the silence of the room eerie mood.
"Thank you sir" Theresa now knew what was happening,
"Your job will be to continue commanding the base of Medria Island, but you will be in charge of training the new captains on the operations of the ship. But you will not be personally commanding any ship owned by MITHRIL unless give permission by your superior"
In hindsight, Theresa could fail the applicants herself, but it wouldn't give her a command again. She had to face and accept it, she was no longer in charge of her…the vessel, MITHRIL was.
"Commodore, please remove you personnel belongs from the Tuatha de Daanan by 18:00hrs"
Theresa rose and saluted her superiors and left the meeting room before, she quietly composed herself until she was in front of her favorite venting machine near her base office. It was isolated from the rest of building ways and quite dark sometimes, but her favorite drinks were always stocked here, She couldn't contain her anger any further and slammed the machine with her fist. Tears started to drop from her eyes only to hit hard tiles; she couldn't contain herself any further now.
She wiped her eyes with a tissue in her blazer inside pocket and walked away quietly to her office; she had only one person to call now for some comfort, hopefully he'd answer.
Location: Kaname's apartment, Tokyo
Time: 13:22 hrs (+8hrs GMT)
Date: March 11th, 2006
Because of the nature of the topic, Kaname and Kyoko agreed the openly talking about their friend in a café was stupid. So Kaname decided to show some photographs she could show now that three of her friends were in on the secret. Sousuke had decided to go back to his apartment and inform headquarters of the recent complication and informed that he had destroyed the evidence, much to Shinji's dismay.
"Welcome to my humble home" Kaname smiled and the looked as Shinji with a frightening glare "one step towards my room and your history!"
"Understood" Shinji spoke calmly,
It kind of annoyed Kaname that Shinji had for whatever reason grown a spine since yesterday, usually he'd not enter Kaname's street without a good reason. And there was non to back him up for his past visit was when he came….and failed to steal some of Kaname's underwear. Kaname let Mizuki and Shinji find the couch while Kyoko came with her into the kitchen.
"So what do you really want to know about Sousuke?" Kaname asked as she put on the kettle.
"Everything you know" Kyoko replied,
"To be quite honest, Sousuke keeps a lot of his past and real life a secret to me, I'm usually learning new stuff everyday about his part-time job"
"I don't know if you call being an Arm Slave pilot a part time job; and a modified M-9 at that" Shinji spoke, "he must've only started school when we first met him"
"According to Tessa-san, that's actually true" Kaname replied,
"No wonder he sucks at classics" Mizuki laughed,
"Give him a break" Kaname walked out with a tea tray and enough cups for everyone and let everyone let themselves at her cheap biscuits. Once she sat done, she continued
"Sousuke-san is usually off fighting a enemy county every week, and I can't count how many people I've seen him shoot, and according to Kurz-kun, he is the best Arm Slave pilot in the western pacific fleet…" Kaname paused as she saw everyone look at her
"…and apparently an admirer" Kyoko giggled, then paused as kaname glared at her,
"Even if he is an Arm Slave pilot and a solider for an international counter terrorist organization, I don't care for gloomy war minded otaku's like HIM!"
"Nevermind, nevermind…" Kyoko spoke in defeat "speaking of which, where is our war minded otaku?"
"At his home, apparently he has to inform her that you found out…" Kaname was interrupted as the phone rang.
A quick two steps from the couch and she picked up the phone
"Hello..." Kaname spoke, "Tessa!...no, this is my number…..yea, I think Sousuke messed that up to….no he's at his home… no ill get him for you…hold please" Kaname put done the phone and walked out to her front door. Before she could run out and yell for Sousuke, he was at the front door with his laptop and a folder.
"SOUS…oh you're here, Tessa's on the phone, she wants to talk to you" Kaname said casually
Sousuke cocked his eyebrow in confusion. "The Captain rang you?"
"Yes, and she seemed kind of upset, go find out what is going on" Kaname ordered,
Sousuke proceeded as he was told and followed Kaname back to the phone where Kyoko, Mizuki and Shinji were sifting through prints of the photographs. Shinji was absolutely amazed my these; to discover that his close friend, whom up to now pretended to be a Arm Slave enthusiast, was more in fact an actual pilot of one, and not a conventional type 80 like his father unit had. An M-9, a 3rd generation Arm Slave, the cutting edge of weaponry in this field. Of course Sosuske had kept certain features about the ARX-7 a secret, like the even more then mysterious Lambda Drive.
"Hello Captain…I'm sorry, Tessa-san…slow down I can't understand you…"
"He calls his superior officer Tessa-san?" Kyoko grinned as Kaname sweated in embrassment.
"WHAT!" Sousuke yelled into the telephone, everyone suddenly decided to eavesdrop on his phone call. "…they removed you from your command? What about commander Mardukas?...the training submarine?...I see…TONIGHT!...of course not…he gave you permission?...I would be honored…please calm down…ill talk about it later…why not?...please read the report your about to receive, that'll explain everything…I will…ok, please cheer up…"
Kaname heard the last part clearly strike against her heart; Sousuke saying something like that to Tessa? Maybe all the explosions and gunfire from tagging along on some of Sousuke's missions was making Kaname slightly deaf. No, she heard it; Sousuke tried to cheer up his superior officer, an act nothing like the serious sergeant Kaname knew.
"…ok…ill talk to you later…bye" Sousuke finished the phone call and hung up the receiver. "Kaname, can you come to my place by 15:00hrs today, we need to convert it into an civilian apartment again"
"Huh?" Kyoko, Shinji and Mizuki turned around,
Kaname forgot that the trio on the couch didn't know that Sousuke and Theresa shared the same roof every time Theresa visited him. unless you knew about the reality of the 'special relationship' between Sergeant Sousuke Sagara and Captain…Commodore Theresa Testarossa; it looked like a very suspicious scenario. In reality however, Sousuke was more afraid of Theresa then the vice versa. It was perhaps of natural respect for her as a superior officer or the threatening order that Commander Mardukas gave to him once.
"Ok, ill explain this once and once only…" Kaname spoke in a almost monotone yell "Because Sousuke needs to protect his superior officer while she is in Japan. Theresa usually stays with Sousuke in his apartment…but I'm pretty sure that Sergeant Sousuke Sagara wouldn't lay a hand on his superior officer…EVER!" Kaname finally inhaled breath after exerting that explanation in one go.
"Ok…" Kyoko was the first to break the silence. "That makes a lot of sense now"
"Its 1:30 Sagara-kun, are you sure you can get home in time to clean up your apartment" Kyoko,
"Affirmitive, my apartment is on the 7th floor of the building 50 metres north of here"
"That's the building next door!" Mizuki looked intensively at Kaname.
"Hey, MITHRIL bought the place, not me!"
"Sagara-kun, do you want to head back now, I can answer some questions about your past I think" Kaname spoke,
"No so fast, we want to hear it from the horse's mouth! We'll help Sagara-kun as well"
"Sousuke?" Kaname strained her voice,
"It doesn't matter me, if I am able to get my apartment cleaned quicker with assistance, I will be able to get rid of their questions personnaly.
"Alright, Kaname you pack the tea and biscuits, we'll head over now" Kyoko spoke.
"Ok, ok; just be ready for the horror of cleaning Sousuke's apartment" Kaname sighed as she cleaned up the table.
Location: Commodore Theresa Testarossa's Office, Merdia Island
Time: 16:22 hrs (+10hrs GMT)
Date: March 11th, 2006
Theresa couldn't cry here, if she did; her pride would plummet to that of a child. In the blink of an eye, her world was turned inside out. Her command was removed from her, her commanders moved her to a desk job, at least now it was quite possible to go to Tokyo on weekends, but being in a field base meant that was unlikely still.
"Commander Mardukas to see you madam" the intercom rang,
"Ah, let him in a minute" Theresa spoke into the receiver. She grabbed another tissue from a box in her desk draw and quickly cleaned up her face. "Let him in"
The door opened to relieve a very frustrated commander Richard Mardukas. He was still dressed in commander field insignia, despite being demoted to the rank of Lt. Commander half an hour ago.
"In all my years severing in the Royal Navy and MITHRIL, this is an absolute insult!" he spoke aloud as he took a seat.
"If this is about your demotion, I've already promoted your to Commander using my authority"
"I'm not worried about my blooming rank, Captain"
"Its Commodore now, didn't you get the memo?"
"I don't care, your still a captain in my opinion" Richard spoke; quite true considering that Theresa's new uniform wouldn't arrived until Monday, "I just can't believe they removed us from the Tuatha de Daanan"
"I suppose all good things have to come to a end" Theresa sighed in a defeated tone, "2 years in charge of the Tuatha de Daanan; that's about right sum of time an American or Russian commander is allowed is given command of a attack submarine"
"Captain, get a hold of yourself" Richard yelled, "It isn't over, there has to be a way to get back your command"
"With respect" Theresa raised her voice "I've already asked the admiral before he left, he is refusing to change the decision, nor is any of the other chief commander. I have researched every rule in MITHRIL's regulations, there is NOTHING I can do without stealing a ship. Commander, please report to the Tuatha de Daanan's docking bay and oversee the unloading of the cargo before you commission with the ship has expired"
"What about you?" Commander Mardukas asked "where are you going?"
"I'm going to go visit Tokyo within the hour, I need some time alone to myself to think about this"
Commander Mardukas knew that this was actually interpreted as a visit to Sousuke's apartment; twice this happened, Zero times did he like it. However Sousuke was proved dependable enough for him to feel at ease about Theresa going for a visit. Given the turn of events in the last few hours, Theresa was already surpassing her breaking limit for stress. A weekend ashore wouldn't hurt her.
"I'm sure a weekend shore leave will help you clear your mind up" the Commander spoke "when you return, ill have another talk to you about this matter. In the meantime, tell the sergeant that he should treat you with more respect now of your new rank.
"Very well" Theresa spoke relieved slightly.
Once the door was shut, Theresa sighed a breath of relief. "Well now that 'dad' has approved, I should start making arrangements" she thought as she started making arrangements for her trip.
Location: Sousuke's apartment, Tokyo
Time: 14:22 hrs (+8hrs GMT)
Date: March 11th, 2006
"FN P-90, SIG 550, Steyr AUG, SIG P239, PSG-1…oh to be me right now…" Shinji spoke drooling over a box load of guns in the corner of the apartment. And not just the simple 9mm gun Sousuke had on him, he all the weapons to big to fit in a school bag found their place here.
"Yea, if I was you, I'd stop admiring Sousuke's collection and help us, you're going to end up with the end of one of those pointed at you" Kaname joked.
"Fine" Shinji replied dejected,
Sousuke confiscated the weapons from Shinji's arms and continued to hide them in the closet before locking it with a key.
"…so what happened then?" Kyoko asked while sorting through a box of table clothes and curtains.
"Well…I was 16 when they asked me if I wanted to join MITHRIL's SRT team, and that's when I first met Kurz and then 2nd Lieutenant Mao"
"What about Tessa-san?" Kyoko asked with interest "when did you two first meet?"
"When she was presented the ship at the commission ceremony, she initially inspected the SRT and PRT teams, I'm not sure what kind of impression I gave her, but it seems that it impressed her somewhat" Sousuke answered in a monotone voice "I believe it has something to do with the fact that myself and her are the same age"
"I see…" Kyoko felt bored with that reply, Kaname however knew some different versions of the story from Melissa and Kurz. Sousuke's version of events usually were devoid of things like feelings or non-senseless motions, to Sousuke, it was strictly business.
"What made Tessa-san suddenly want to visit you?" Kaname asked,
"Tessa was promoted to commodore" Sousuke explained,
"Isn't that a good thing?" Kaname asked "then why was she crying?"
"I suspect it means she can't command a submarine anymore" Shinni guessed,
Sousuke and Kaname both turned to Shinji, who quickly apologized. Kyoko and Mizuki also stopped their actions and waited for shinji to explain how he got the answer right.
"…how did you know that?" Sousuke asked,
"Guess?" Kaname sighed. Then she decided to try something and continued to ask "then explain to me why she would be removed from command?"
"Well, traditionally; Commodore is a rank higher then captain of a single ship, and lower of rear admiral. Usually the rank allows the command of a small fleet of vessels or command of a fleet base. I suspect that MITHRIL follows this same othodox"
Kyoko and Mizuki silently nodded as their geeky military otaku friend continued to talk. It was considered best to let Shinji continue talking until he had finished explaining. Kaname nodded; amazingly managing to get in most of what he said and made sense of it.
"So basically, it's not considered a good tradition keeping letting a fleet commander's control over a single vessel, this person usually stays at base and controls movements from the fleet base" Kaname replied
"To put simply yes, if Testarossa-san is the Western Pacific Fleet's CIC. Her role would be to remain at the fleet base, not go out on deployments on a single vessel, unless it's a scenario where she needs to be there in charge of fleet movements…"
"Ok Shinji, you can stop the otaku-ness now"
"But I don't understand" Sousuke thought aloud "Theresa has been the sole commander of Merdia Island for 2 years, why change her role now?"
"Well…we'll find out soon enough Kaname patted him on the back.
Location: Docking bay 2a
Time: 17:22 hrs (+10 hrs GMT)
Date: March 11th, 2006
"Whoa she's a beauty" Kurz whistled at the sight as the old diesel submarine was positioned in the storage pool in front of Tuatha de Daanan.
"Be quiet Idiot, we have to open her up" Mao slapped her subordinate over the back of his head.
"So? It's just a matter of opening up the hatch and saying hi to whatever is inside this"
Apart from some relative puncture damage on the starboard fuel tank. The submarine was in mint condition. The insignia on the tower easily identified her as a Russian Submarine; still adorned with World War Two era markings.
It wasnt a risky job. For the last 2 hours, the antique diesel submarine was slowly it inched up and over the side of the Tuatha de Daanan's portside and onto the ground cradle for the submarine, then it was moved forwards into a holding bay where a small submarine could be lifted out of water for repairs. Now it rested here in the water again where the cool water protected the reactors aboard from overheating.
Alongside the submarine and in a dingy, 4 SRT soldiers were about to board the submarine.
"Ok, URUZ 2, 6, 9, your up" Kalinin spoke from the dockside
"Do we really need guns? And oxygen tanks?" Kurz asked,
"The oxygen inside is stale and most likely toxic and the guns are there to provide us with a camera view and to help you 'unlock' any doors inside"
"Fine, fine"
Kurz, Yang and Melissa climbed up to the conning tower and into the bridge and waited for the personal clearance for Kalinin.
"Alright" Melissa put her masked on and took a deep breath.
"Alright" Kurz and yang spoke as they put their mask on.
Kurz got onto the deck plate and started to unbolt the hatch. It hadn't been closed like normal; it also had a plate of armor blotted on top as well. It started to quirk them of the possibility that whatever was in this thing wasn't meant to be opened. But none the less this was why the entire available SRT and PRT team was in the hanger ready for anything. But nothing could survive for almost 65 years in a submarine.
Eventually the armor plate had come off; much to the strain of Kurz who was exhausted with removing the bolts.
"They sure tightened this thing up" Kurz joked.
"Shut up Kurz" Melissa spoke as she managed to get the hatch lock moving.
"Aye dear sis"
When the hatch finally opened with a loud crack, yang started too decent into the heart of the old steel shark. With the exception of the loud thud that Corporal yang took with the final 5 steps of the ladder, the entire of docking bay 2 was silent.
"It safe, come on down!" Yang shouted from below,
The command room was a mess, considering all the movement the submarine faced. The floor was scraped with museum relic maps and general equipment from the darker parts of Soviet naval history.
"Look at this place" Kurz turned on his rifle's flashlight and looked around the control room. "Everything here is a collector's item"
"Yang, see if you can collect some of the maps and data, I think the science and research department will be interested in all this" Melissa ordered.
"Roger"
"Kurz, you head towards the engine room where I signal was found, ill head to the torpedo room for the other, keep the com clear unless you find something interesting"
"URUZ 2, what's going on in there?" Kalinin interrupted.
"Nothing sir, we've managed to secure the control room. URUZ 9 is cleaning up the control room for the SR teams"
Kurz walked down the extremely narrow passage way. Looking around in every door, as expected, not even a skeleton, it was like everyone abandoned ship in a hurry.
"Hello, anyone home?"
"Kurz, shut up and keep looking" Melissa yelled back over the com channel. She'd reached the end of the submarine, nothing but antique torpedoes.
"Whatever, its not like ill be able to find anything inters…"
"Kurz what's wrong?" No Reply came "URUZ 2? Respond"
"Yang! Melissa, get down here!" Kurz finally came back, but his voice sounded like he was panicking. Kurz never panicked in battle, so whatever he'd found, it was serious.
"I'm on my way" Melissia replied, she started rushing down the length of the ship; jumping through bulkhead doors and past the control room. Yang met up with her and both started running down with the guns at the ready.
In the crew bunks, all the bunks had been folded away and way lay in the middle were two massive Torpedo shaped objects in the middle. Melissa raised her FN P-90 level and ordered Yang to move into flanking position.
"Kurz!" Melissa yelled,
"I'm here" Kurz spoke from the floor "I just got zapped when I touched those things" he pointed at the tube in front of him. Each one was frosted over with ice and melting water.
Melissa looked over to the torpedoes, each were twice the size of a regular torpedo this ship carried. So whatever it was wasn't a weapon.
"Ma'am, look at this" Yang yelled from the engineering room. "I found the generators"
Melissa helped Kurz up and started walking down the passage, underneath her was a large power conduit and a cooling pipe.
"Here they are" Yang looked around, two simple cylinder cans, but the readings indicated this was definitely the reactor plant, exactly like Tuatha de Daanan's. It scared Melissa to think why Soviet Russia had a Palladium fusion reactor plants.
"Ok, we found the reactors" Kurz spoke, "but what in those torpedoes"
"Beats me" Yang said, "Coolant tanks?"
"Too big to be conventional or even nuclear torpedoes" Melissa spoke,
"…and touching them gives off an electrical shock" Kurz reminded everyone.
"Kurz give me your lighter" Melissa spoke.
"Oh, sure" Kurz looked in his chest pocket for a old metal lighter. "Here"
Melissa started to light near the surface of the tube and started to melt the ice. It was slow with a conventional flame, but it started to melt away.
"Here, this lighter is slightly hotter" Yang spoke, having come back from the engineering room. Melissa swapped the lighters for yang's new one. Like he said, it was way hotter, instead of a dull oil flame; it ejected a solid blue flame as hot as a gas flame. Quickly it started melting away the ice.
"Yang, take over, I need to radio Kalinin" Melissa spoke; But before she could speak to her commander, a whole side of the torpedoes ice suddenly slid off and crashed onto the floor. Instead of a complete steel tube, the upper side was glass.
"What was easy" Kurz spoke before pausing "Holy mother of…" Kurz spoke aloud,
"What is it Kurz?" Melissa spoke turned around, "What the…."
"URUZ what, what is it?" Kalinin finally broke silence of the three soldiers stare,
"Sir, you won't believe this until you see it" Melissa replied,
Inside steel coffin was a girl.
A/N: Hey everyone, I'm back. University has been keeping me on my heels, so this is a lucky shot to get this thing finally out.
I don't expect to make a new chapter within another month, or until at least late June. But please stayed tuned.
Anyway, for now, enjoy and thank you.