After the downing of the capital, a great many decisions would have to be made and actions taken. The simple (but definitely not easy) things, such as destroying a group of thugs and eliminating the standing government, have been done. They're now living in a country without a government. If you think that's easy, try asking some ordinary Iraqis how well things are going these days. For some of our characters, they may soon wish for the good ol' days. First, though, we need a report on the battlefield and some initial plans.
As with any of these stories, I own none of Samurai 7, so don't sue me.
The Lord of the Rice
The Battlefield
Katsuhirou dismounted his rapid turtle and peered over the edge of the cliff at the still smoldering remains of the former flying citadel. Even though the base of the cliffs was over 150m down, the twisted skeleton of the ship nearly reached the height of the ledge stood on. He shuddered. Even though they had succeeded in stopping the behemoth, it was at a high personal cost. Heihachi-dono, his friend the engineer, had died going down with the engine. He had even accidentally fatally shot Kyuuzou-dono by his own hands while he was trying to protect Kanbei-sensei. Kikuchiyo-dono had died after throwing himself in front of it to save the village, Kanna.
He remounted and rode across the bridge, scanning about to see what he could of the remains of the battle. Fortunately or not, it seemed there was little before he'd gotten out at least half a kilometer. After that, he noticed pieces of various destroyed mecha: some hacked to pieces, some melted to slag, and some seemingly destroyed from within. Massive swords, pieces of battle armor, and synthetic bodies had crashed into fields and forests at random. Just cleaning up the fields for planting next season was going to be a huge task.
He rode on. It wasn't much further to the massive engines from the old citadel, and, though he dreaded the thought, he sought to reclaim Heihachi-dono's body. It would do nothing to bring him back to life, but at least he hoped to give him a proper burial. That is, if he could even find and recover the body.
He later remembered arriving about 9 that morning. Even partially buried in a forest, it still towered 20m over his head. Fortunately, it had plowed in at an angle, pushing up a huge pile of dirt and trees, so access to the top wasn't difficult. With a little effort, he climbed over the edge, and found: no body. Slowly at first, but soon running, he went to where the body should have been. There was plenty of blood, a pile of sliced-up clothes, the katana, but no body. He was furious: who would come and haul off a body, a naked one at that? It just didn't make sense. If he ever found out who did it, though… For the moment, he just tied up all he could find, preparing to haul it off when he left.
Before he left, though, he scouted out the engine. He found a hatch and climbed down, careful to keep his katana ready. True, it had made a very hard landing, but who knows if a stray guard or two might be waiting to ambush him? Once inside, he managed to turn on the lights and look around. To him, the place was boring: row upon row of large fuel cells, whole rooms full of massive machinery, panels with hundreds of angry red lights flashing at random. He found one body, but, on the whole, the place looked in pretty good shape. He shrugged mentally: it was a battleship engine, after all. It appeared there was nothing more to see, so he left, taking Heihachi-dono's few remaining belongings with him.
Once back down, he tied the bundle on his mount and headed for the trail to the base of the cliffs. He wanted to see what he could learn about the main ship body before lunch if he could.
The ride was uneventful, at least if you weren't one of the trees Katsu obliterated on the way. In addition to his katana, he had liberated a 'small' side arm from one of the fallen mecha, and took some target practice along the way. Small for a mecha, though, was a weapon that should have been handled by two or three men. Even though purposefully made light for flying combat units, it still weighed 20kg---empty. The ammo weighed another .2kg apiece, and the permanently attached, chain-feeding ammo box that held 100 rounds was nearly full. Hence, target practice at trees, rocks, anything else that would take away a little of his frustration and lighten the load.
He approached the hulk. Smoke was still curling out of a various openings, but the biggest thing was the incredible, gagging stench. In fact, he couldn't get closer than 25m upwind before he was almost overcome. The verdict was simple: anyone inside was long since dead. The country had no government. True, he had little idea what that really meant, but it couldn't be good. He soon remounted and began a search for Ukyo-sama's body. He didn't plan on recovering it at the moment, but, even as a detested emperor, it still required respect.
Katsu rode to the base of the cliffs to start his search. Although it seemed like the area within which the body could have fallen would be small, the target was, too. He shook his head, feeling a little groggy. "I suppose I should've eaten more for breakfast," he mumbled to himself. Mercifully, he found what he was looking for after only a couple hours of searching, crumpled like an old bundle of rags not far from the base of the cliffs. He made up his mind: he'd dump the gun and take the body with him. As unappealing as that was, the prospect of leaving it there to be torn by animals or stolen by someone else was worse. He shook himself again. "This is pathetic. I feel even more tired than before. Stupid corpse, anyway. I can rest after I get back." He packed quickly, and was off.
Lounging at the entrance to Gisaku-san's house, Kanbei looked up from the work he had studiously appeared to be doing to see Katsuhirou-san ride up with the young emperor's body. Even just standing upright, he felt every aching muscle and minor injury. He was never going to do that again. He shook his head and refocused on the subject at hand; this was going to be interesting.
A tired Katsu walked the rapid turtle up, dismounted, and bowed slightly as he began to speak to his restored teacher and master. "Sensei. I did a brief check of the area between Kanna and the citadel engine. It appears there is relatively little wreckage, other than the citadel itself, for the first half kilometer. After that, it is abundant in both the fields and the forest. As I expected, most of the mecha are either chopped to pieces or melted to slag, but a few seemed to have exploded internally. The engine appeared to be in relatively good condition, but I have no real knowledge of such things. The hull of the citadel itself was unapproachable; I could not even get closer than 25m upwind because of the horrible fumes it was belching. I can only assume everyone inside is long since dead. I thought it wise to recover the body of the emperor as well."
"What about Heihachi-san?" Kanbei asked. "I thought you said he was on the engine when it went down."
"He was," Katsu answered, growing tense. He moved to retrieve a bundle from the rapid turtle. "All I could find was this: his clothes and his katana. The clothes are all sliced up, and there was blood all over. All I can think of is that someone stole his body, although I have no idea who would want the body of a naked samurai."
"No body?" Shichirougi, now by Kanbei as a crowd gathered, queried. "That's unusual. I wonder if there's more to the story. Did you say that some of the mecha seemed to have exploded internally?"
"Yes," Katsu replied. "I definitely couldn't find it. I didn't expect to see that a few of the mecha had just exploded, either. I mean, I didn't see anything like that while we were fighting."
"You said you couldn't even get close to the citadel hull because of fumes, didn't you?"
"Yes"
Shichirouji looked at Kanbei-san. "Do you think the emperor managed to set off a self-destruct? I can't think of any other reason you couldn't approach the hull, and it would explain the exploded mechs, too. If he did, it's a good thing the engine was already gone, or it probably would have taken all of us and Kanna with it."
"That's what I was thinking," Kanbei replied. "I think one of the secondary self-destruct functions was to release a deadly gas agent. In most cases, the engine will blow, and it will be irrelevant, but it is there just in case. Apparently, it was still functional yesterday. Katsuhirou-san, are you feeling ok?"
"Well, I am feeling a little tired since I tried to look at the ship…"
"Tired?!"
"I doubt it's anything. I didn't eat much…"
Kanbei cut him off with a glance and spun to Shichirouji. "Do you think it that cursed deadly relaxation poison?"
"It sure sounds like it. I would have thought the emperor would have removed it since the ship was full of civilians, but this shows how much he really cared about them. Even though Katsuhirou-san clearly didn't get a full dose, we aren't going to have much time. Many of those mechs from the capital were wielding zankanto swords. If I look, I surely can find one I'm able to fly."
"Go. Take the transport and as many men as you think you'll need, and get back here as soon as possible. I was hoping to have more time to discuss things before we went to meet with the Shikimoribito, but we'll just go with this. I'll have things arranged by the time you return."
Shichirouji scanned the now-gathered villagers. "Work squads B and D: meet me at the transport within 15 minutes. Bring your construction gear as we may have to pull the zankanto out of some wreckage."
The villagers looked a little stunned. "Uh…"
"Don't just stand there! Katsuhirou-san breathed some deadly poison gas from the capital, and we have to move quickly to have a chance to save him. Now, move!"
"Yes, samurai-sama!" the men now quickly answered, turning and running to get there equipment.
Shichirouji turned to Kanbei. "I'll be back as soon as I can, but I doubt it will be less than an hour, possibly a lot longer."
"I'll have things ready for your return," Kanbei answered. He turned back to Katsuhirou.
"I'm sorry. I hadn't remembered that the old battleships had poison gas as a secondary scuttling mechanism, and I wouldn't have thought they would still be active even if I had. Your report was very helpful. You did well to retrieve the emperor's body, too. As treacherous as he was, he was still the emperor, and his body will need to receive a proper burial."
"Thank you, sensei"
Kanbei then turned to Kirara. "Keep him awake. Do whatever you must, but keep him awake. If he falls asleep, he will die. As soon as Shichirouji-san returns, we'll take him to the Shikimoribito and hope they'll meet with us and have some of the antidote."
Kanbei then addressed Gisaku. "Gisaku-san, I was hoping we'd have more time to discuss this, but, with Katsuhirou-san's poisoning, it will have to be quick."
"I understand. Please continue."
"From my observations while fighting yesterday and from Katsuhirou-san's scouting today, it is clear that there will be much work to do before planting season next year. If I remember correctly, a Citadel class battle ship holds a compliment of 324 Crimson Spider class mechanical samurai when fully loaded. I have no reason to believe it was anything but fully loaded before yesterday's battle. They would have used a variety of weapons and armor packages. Because it seems clear that the emperor executed a self-destruct routine, it is safe to say all were destroyed.
The capital itself was destroyed. As you've probably personally noted, the main part of the hull rests in the gorge near the village. Even if we wished to, it is unlikely it would be safe to approach within a month. Because the entire government died there, I would think it will be left nearly untouched as a permanent memorial.
Heihachi-san was able to forcibly detach the main engine compartment from the rest of the capital. Because of this, it is relatively untouched. It contains dozens, possibly hundreds, of large fuel cells and other items of value.
As a result of all this, I suggest we contact the Shikimoribito as soon as possible to make arrangements for removal of unneeded fuel cells. Fuel cells can be very toxic, and we cannot handle them. It is likely that we can sell excess, damaged, and ruined fuel cells to them in exchange for help cleaning up the wreckage, a continual supply of fuel cells in the future, the establishment of a credit account, and a sizeable cash payment. I was hoping we could delay until we had a better picture of the situation, but Katsuhirou's condition requires immediate attention."
Gisaku pondered for a moment. "I see. Would a final arrangement have to be made immediately? I would think that preliminary arrangements could be made when you go now, and, after you have returned, more specific details could be worked out. Are you sure we should be dealing with the Shikimoribito on this?"
"They're the only ones with the ability to deal with the fuel cells. There will be huge quantities of other materials, though, and we very well want to deal with other parties on them. Because they've demonstrated themselves to be our allies and to prevent any unnecessary contamination, I do think they should be immediately contracted to collect the hazardous materials and do all fuel cell work," Kanbei replied.
"That would make sense," Gisaku answered. "What would we do with all the other materials and supplies?"
"As I said, we'd collect them first. I think the old engine compartment would make a very good storage location for the more sensitive, valuable and dangerous items. For example, there will be a large quantity of guns of various kinds. We will certainly keep some of them her for defense purposes, but many will not have an immediate use. It should be very possible to lock them up inside the engine," Kanbei replied.
"That should be good enough for now. Please go to them when you take Katsuhirou-san and make the initial arrangements. By the time they arrive, I can have men scout the area better so we can craft a detailed agreement," Gisaku answered.
Kanbei bowed slightly toward the aged leader. "Thank you for a quick decision. I will see to it as soon as possible."