The Ether Conflict
Chapter 4: Countdown
Saturday
21st of May 2 Y.A.
Blackout central base
7:29 am
It was yet another beautiful, sunny day at the central base of Blackout. The birds were chirping and the rays of the sun hit the buildings that stood on the ground, entering through the windows to give much needed light at their interior.
On one building though, more specifically the Girls' Dormitory, was a certain room that the rays couldn't get into, as two big, dark blue curtains that stood behind a large window blocked their path. The inside of the room was pretty luxurious, though small, with expensive furniture decorating it. There was a small, knee high coffee table made of mahogany wood at the middle of the room and on top of it was a flower patterned tablecloth, decorated with a small candle at its center. At the end of the room, opposite of the large curtains, there was a small kitchen, complete with an oven, an electric cooktop and a fairly big fridge. A wardrobe was placed at the left of the large window, with a black uniform hanging outside of it, the name Nishizumi Miho written at the upper left with white letters. At the right of the large window and parallel to the wall was a single bed, where a girl no older than nineteen years old was sleeping soundly under the bed sheets.
Suddenly, a monotone sound feels the air, as the alarm clock starts ringing at exactly 7:30 am. At first, the girl makes no moves to close the alarm clock, but after a while, she starts fumbling the bedside table that's on her left with her right hand. Finding the origin of the monotone sound, the girl presses the top of it and the sound stops. Rising slowly, she rubs her eyes a few times, before getting out of bed. Stretching her arms and legs, she goes in front of the large curtains and moves them aside. Light seeps inside the relatively dark room, forcing the girl to shield her eyes, letting them adjust to the brightness, before lowering her right arm.
What a beautiful day, she thinks, gazing lazily outside, peering over the horizon where land and sky meets. Her mind starts drifting on the days before the Apocalypse, before all the earthquakes and chaos. Nostalgia filling her up, she starts reminiscing her days at the school carrier and how she would always think she was gonna be late for school. Her nostalgia soon turns to sadness as she realizes that these good old days, the days when she was just another innocent high school girl will never come back. And not just her, but her friends too. They all had to do some questionable things, they all had to spill blood and take lives...they all had to survive. Was the price they paid, the sacrifices they had to do, worth it? She felt as if this dilemma would haunt her for the rest of her life, eventually tearing her apart. But the only way is forward and lamenting for something that can't be changed isn't going to be helpful. As her mother used to say, the only way is to push forward, so she lightly hits her cheeks with her hands and after filling herself with determination, she nods mentally, Enough lazing around, time to get ready.
Grabbing her uniform that hangs outside of the wardrobe, she slowly walks towards the bathroom, her steps being muffled by the carpeted floor.
Entering the bathroom and closing the door, she hangs the uniform at a hanger that is behind the door and undressing, she enters the shower. After showering herself, Miho dried her body and her hair with a towel, before changing to her uniform.
Exiting the bathroom, she goes to the small kitchen and opens the fridge, retrieving a small bottle of cold water. Opening it, she slowly drinks its contents and once it is empty, she crushes it in her hands and throws it in a nearby bin. After that, she makes her way to the door, stopping in front of a wall mirror that hangs on the wall next to the door.
Maybe I should let my hair grow a little longer. Though I highly doubt it would suit me. Dismissing the thought of letting her hair grow longer, Miho exits her room and closes the door, before locking it. A square made of wood is bolted on the door that reads, Room 24.
Making sure it is properly locked, she makes her way to the cafeteria, that is located on the ground floor. As she walks down the hallway, women around her age pass by, with most of them saluting her. Due to her reputation, she is respected and feared by many in the base. Reaching an intersection, she spots to her right Saori limping towards her, carrying a sleeping Mako, closely accompanied by Hana.
"Good morning girls," Miho waves at them.
"Good morning Miho," Hana waves back at Miho with a smile.
"Mi-porin, could...you help...me?" Saori manages to say, before crashing to the ground with a still asleep Mako on her back.
As Miho lifts Mako from Saori's back, Hana helps Saori to stand up.
"Good morning Mako," Miho says, with Mako responding with some unintelligible groaning, earning some giggles from her friends. "That reminds me, where is Yukari?" Miho asks her friends, seeing that no one has yet tried to surprise hug her.
"She told us she was going to the Garage Depot to oversee the mantainance of the tank," Saori says.
"Then it seems that all the team has assembled. Let's go get breakfast," Miho says and everyone nods, Hana's eyes looking livelier than usual for some reason.
Opening the door to the cafeteria, every person shifts her gaze on the four members of the Anglerfish team and instantly the large space gets filled with whispering voices.
"Let the rumors begin," Saori sighs loudly. As the girls make their way towards the counter, where breakfast is served, whispers can be heard like,
"I heard they managed to capture a whole base of bandits themselves."
"No way, I heard that Miho even had time to interrogate their leader while under fire."
"Ahh, Hana is so elegant, I want to be like her!"
"I heard that Miho and Yukari are actually in a relationship."
"What, no way?!"
"OK, this is getting pretty ridiculous," Saori grumbles.
"I heard these girls are so vicious in battle, that this is the reason their squad was nicknamed 'The Black Wolves'," a girl whispered to her friend as Miho and the others passed by their table. Hearing this, Mako stops in front of the table to tell something to the girls, but because of her sleepy face and the way she faced them, she looked like she was about to murder someone. Seeing this, the girls instantly get out of their seats and start running for the exit, one of them actually crying.
"What's their problem?" Mako wonders aloud, before following the girls that they are already at the counter.
After getting breakfast and finding a table to sit, they start eating their share of it.
"I have to say, the rumors about us are getting worse by the day," Saori complains.
"Indeed. And our last mission only served to fuel these rumors even more," Hana added.
"They think we are vicious animals fueled by pure bloodlust," Mako says with a sleepy face.
Miho can only smile awkwardly at the last statement, trying to understand how the rumors went from they being mercenaries to mindless killing machines.
As they finish their breakfast, with Hana now eating her third bowl of rice, the door to the cafeteria opens to reveal two boys, along with a girl that has curly hair enter the large room.
"Good morning Miss Nishizumi!" Yukari says while approaching the table, sitting between Miho and Saori.
"Good morning Yukari", Miho greets her back, as the other girls also do.
"Good morning girls," Reiji says, bowing slightly, before sitting opposite of the girls at the table.
"Morning," Tyler says simply, sitting next to Reiji. Almost instantly, a small crowd of girls gathers around the table, with the girls asking Tyler various questions, ranging from things about him, to love confessions and to go on a date with them.
Everyone sweatdrops to what they are seeing, only Reiji, Saori and Mako having different reactions.
"Does this happen every time?" Hana curiously asks.
"Yes. Every time we come to see Odysseus or Annabelle, he always attracts the attention of the girls," Reiji sighs heavily, having seen it happening too many times to care anymore.
Meanwhile, Saori tries to get the girls off of Tyler's back, being met with a mild success, as the crowd of girls starts to get smaller.
"Are you here to see Odysseus?" Miho asks Reiji.
"Yes, she was actually released from the hospital yesterday at night. We were actually on our way to her room and bumped on Yukari by coincidence. If you'd like, you can come with us to see her," Reiji informs Miho.
"Thanks, that would be great!" Miho responds back at Reiji.
"A question, but why Saori seems like she is keeping Tyler from being approached by other girls?" Yukari wonders aloud.
"It's because she likes him," Mako groans, still feeling like she hasn't slept for days.
"Wh-What are you talking about Mako!?" Saori almost screams, her face becoming bright red.
"You have been talking about him the whole week," she drones,which causes Saori to quickly walk over Mako and start pulling her cheeks.
"I told you to not mention it to anyone," she yells, causing everyone to burst in laughter.
"I think we should get going," Reiji suggests and Miho nods back at him in agreement.
After finishing their breakfast and Saori finally managed to calm down, Miho and the rest followed Reiji and Tyler at Odysseus' room, which was on the second floor.
Standing in front of the door, Miho notices a square made of wood bolted on the door, not unlike the one on her own door, that reads, Room 45.
Knocking lightly, a voice is heard saying something in English, though it is far too quiet to be heard.
"Oh, hey girls, what are you doing here?" Annabelle asks in a surprised tone, having opened the door.
"Good morning Odysseus. We learned from Reiji and Tyler that Odysseus got released from the hospital, so we came to see how she is," Miho says with a smile.
"Then please, come in. I'll go prepare some tea. Odysseus, the girls came to see you, so get your ass out of the bed and come greet them!" Annabelle yells while making her way to the kitchen to prepare some tea.
"Yeah, yeah, I'm coming, so stop yelling," Odysseus says with a grumpy face, not to happy that she has to get out of bed.
As the girls enter the room, followed by the boys, Miho notices that the room is an exact replica of her own, the only differences being the lower quality furniture and that there is a double bed, instead of a single one.
"Hey girls, how have you been?" Odysseus asks, sitting next to the small coffee table. The girls do the same and sit around the coffee table, while the boys go to the kitchen to help Annabelle with the tea.
"We have been fine. How is your eye now?" Hana says.
"Just fine. They actually had to remove it, but they made a fake one for me," she responds, pointing at her left eye.
"Wow, it looks like a real one," Saori admits, amazed by how real it seems.
"At least now I can be a pirate!" she says while holding an imaginary sword. "But silly things aside, what did I miss the week I was in the hospital?"
"Lets wait for Annabelle and the boys, so they can hear too what we found," Miho says in a serious tone, to show the severity of the conversation.
After Annabelle serves the tea and takes a place around the coffee table, along with the boys, Miho clears her throat, before speaking.
"It seems that the 'bandits' were actually members of an organization named Ressurected Imperial Japanese Army or R.I.J.A. for short. Their goal is too unite Japan and bring it back to its former glory that it had during WW2, before the attack on Pearl Harbor. They have enough power and assets to accomplish it, but what's more concerning, is that they have some of the most powerful school ships under their control, along with their territories. They have also abducted some of the Senshadou members and are using them as hostages, to make sure the rest won't do anything against them."
"Wait, wait, the school ships have territories?" Odysseus asks, clearly confused on what is going on.
"Yes. Basically, the school ships have become factions that have their own lands. My guess is that this was the only way to survive and ward off any potential bandits. As you can imagine, Kuromorimine, Pravda and Saunders have the largest territories, followed by St. Gloriana and Anzio. And all of them are occupying big parts of the new lands,"
"That are full of resources," Annabelle finishes Miho's sentence. "That's why they captured the school ships. That and the Senshadou clubs. They'll probably use the hostages to force the poor girls into fighting for them."
"And it gets even worse. At Pravda, there was an internal power struggle," Miho says grimly.
"You mean there was a coup d'etat?" Odysseus says with both amazement and fear at the same time.
"Something like that. Basically, three girls that support R.I.J.A. and their plan, managed to somehow bypass both Nonna and Klara and take hostage Katyusha. They gave her to R.I.J.A., along with a bunch of tanks and some other things."
"And because they hold Katyusha's life at their fingertips, everyone must obey them," Reiji says.
"I just hope that Nonna and Klara will be fine," Hana said worriedly.
"You also said that they had taken hostages from other schools, do you know who these are?"
"Yes. From Pravda, Katyusha. From Kuromorimine...my sister, Maho. From Saunders Naomi. From Anzio, Anchovy and Carpacio. And lastly, from St. Gloriana, Assam and Orange Pekoe. By taking these people, they can manipulate the overall commanders of the school ships to do whatever R.I.J.A. wants."
"But this doesn't make sense, why would they want to take Maho and Anchovy as hostages? They are the overall commanders of their respective schools after all," Annabelle says.
"You know how Erika feels about Mako. She'll burn the entire school ship, if it means Maho stays alive and safe. Well, maybe not burn the school ship, but you get what I mean. As for Anchovy, the girls of Anzio are very loyal to her, so with her life on the line, no one will act rashly," Odysseus says at Annabelle.
"We have been hired by the JSDF to free the hostages, free the school ships and take down their main base."
"Do we even know where the hostages are?" Odysseus inquires.
"Yes, the JSDF has provided us with their location. We merely need to infiltrate these locations and free the hostages." Miho responds back at her.
"Great. Also...I'm not sure if I should ask this, but...you didn't mentioned your school ship, Ooarai." she says hesitantly.
"Our school ship...we found it beached on a shore. There were signs of fighting, along with tank wrecks and charred bodies," Miho says with a severe look.
"So...you mean that..." Tyler trails off, not finishing his sentence.
"No. If there was really a fight, they're going to be more bodies and wrecks from what we found," Mako says.
"Also, when we boarded our carrier, it was empty. Not a single soul was present," Hana says with a sad and at the same time happy tone, her last sentence causing Mako to shiver unconsciously.
"What if they left?" Annabelle suggests.
"We thought about it, but decided that Anzu would never do something so uncertain. She might be manipulative and like taking risks, but she only takes them when she can control them or there isn't any other choice," Saori answers back. "At least that's what Miho thinks."
" So that means that they were either captured or forced to escape," Tyler suggests and every member of the Anglerfish team nods in agreement.
"Well, we will find out sooner or later. Though I must say, there sure are many school ships that are still missing. Bomple, Maple, BC Freedom...what happened to them?" Odysseus asks rhetorically.
A sudden knocking is heard coming from the door. Annabelle gets up from where she is sitting and goes to open the door.
"Good morning, how could I help you?" she says in a polite tone, noticing a female guard of the Dormitory standing in front of the door.
"I was sent to inform Nishizumi Miho that she is needed at the Director's office immediately," she informs Annabelle.
"I'll inform her on your behalf," Annabelle says elegantly, snapping a professional salute. The guard returns the salute, before walking away to resume patrolling the hallways.
Closing the door, she walks back at the girls. "It seems the Director is looking for you Miho," Annabelle says with a serious voice.
"Eh? Is it something serious?" Miho asks in a surprised tone.
"Yes."
"But how they tracked her?" Saori asks.
"From the security cameras in the hallways," Odysseus says.
"They could have used the loud speakers," Mako says in a sleepy voice.
"Whatever the case, I have to go. If you'll excuse me then," Miho says, before standing up and making her way quickly to the door, exiting the room.
"Any idea what the Director, of all people would want with her?" Tyler asks. Every member of the Anglerfish team shake their heads, they too being confused and surprised at the Director's request.
Administrative building
Floor 4
Walking through the narrow hallway painted in a dull olive green, her footsteps echoing through it, Miho is trying to think what the Director would want with her. Surely she and the girls had an impressive record and reputation inside the base, but there were far more elite squads that surpassed them both in skill and fame.
Maybe it's something that has to do with the information we uncovered or the school ships themselves. Or even...my sister, she thought, dreading the last possibility. Quickly approaching two big, wooden doors that are guarded by two soldiers, she stops in front of them and salutes them. Returning the salute, they open the two wooden doors to reveal a luxurious office behind them. Entering the office, the soldiers close the doors.
Miho snaps her most professional salute at the man that sits behind a large mahogany office desk. He seems to be at least 50 years old, his brown eyes reading a document he holds with his left hand, while brushing his thick, gray mustache with his right hand. Noticing Miho, he waves down his hand, so she lowers her salute.
"At ease commander," he says in his deep voice and so Miho relaxes her stature a bit.
"I was informed you requested for me Director," Miho says.
"Indeed. You know about the situation in Pravda, correct?" he inquires.
"Yes, sir," Miho answers, never breaking eye contact with him.
"Miho, Katyusha will be executed in two days time by these wretches that overthrew Katyusha from the position of overall commander," a calm voice says, though traces of anger and wrath can be found mixed in.
Hearing this familiar voice, Miho widens her eyes in response and instantly looks on her right to find a lone girl gazing at her. She was a tall, elegant girl with long, straight black hair and a pair of light blue eyes. Her face seemed to betray no emotions whatsoever, yet Miho knew the hidden passion and admiration she had for Pravda's overall commander.
"Nonna!" Miho says loudly in a cheerful voice.
"Hello Miho. It has been two long years full of surprises it seems," Nonna responds back with her trademarked stoic expression and calm voice.
"Wait, what you told just now about Katyusha is true?" Miho asks with a dreadful voice.
"I'm afraid it is Miho. Two days ago, I received a letter from the JSDF that was addressed to Katyusha, telling her that a PMC known as Blackout had been hired to free the school ships from their current struggle. I also learned that same day of Katyusha's planned execution, which will be handled specifically by the three girls that overthrew her from her position."
"So,you came here to inform Blackout of this turn of events," Miho guesses.
"That would be true,"Nonna nods in agreement.
"The problem is, we only have one of the special forces squads available right now, so we would have to choose one of the two locations the hostages are being held. This would mean that the hostages on the non-attacked location run the risk of getting transported to another location or worse," the Director says.
"However, if you are to help with the infiltration then-" The two big, wooden doors swing open and a certain blonde idiot enters yelling, "We are in!" while the guards try unsuccessfully to pin her down on the ground.
Four girls walk inside the office, their eyes full of determination and conviction. Seeing the girls, Miho turns to face the Director, a smile forming on her face.
"I guess this goes for you as well?" the Director asks the four girls standing behind Miho.
"Although she is a pain in the butt sometimes..." Saori says first.
"...and a loud mouth..." Yukari adds.
"...and not very well-mannered..." Hana says.
"...and short," Mako says bluntly.
"She is our friend and we never abandon friends in need. So count us in!" Miho says with determination brimming in her eyes.
"Then the Anglerfish team and... I guess the Antelope team will be part of phase one of Operation Downfall. You will be debriefed about it tomorrow. You are dismissed," The Director says, with all the girls, except for Odysseus and Nonna, saluting him.
A small unnoticeable smile forms in Nonna's face, hope being once again within her reach.
A/N: Here is the rewritten chapter 4. Took less time time than expected. Anyway, as always, suggestions, questions, corrections, reviews or PMs are greatly appreciated. Also, English isn't my native tongue, so expect some grammatical errors here and there. If you found the story interesting and had a great time, favorite and follow. Have a nice day/night and until the next chapter, stay safe!