I don't own anything.
Intelligence
-Chapter Ten: The Past
Asuka glared at the man sitting across from her. "Well?"
"Patience is a virtue, Sohryu," Reinhard stated.
"Not one of mine," Asuka shot back.
"We're waiting for Joseph," Reinhard explained.
"Who?"
"Joseph is a specialist," Reinhard explained. "I requested that he come here when we began investigating Ikari."
"What kind of specialist?" Asuka asked.
"He was Army Special Forces for a long time and then moved on to working for the government," Reinhard explain.
"Makes sense," Asuka replied. "Shinji was Spec Ops too."
"He was more than that."
"You said that before and never explain it," Asuka pointed out.
"You'll learn why." The door opened and a well-built man with steel gray hair stepped into the room.
"You want Italian? I was going to order from that place up the road." He stopped when he saw Asuka. "Or did you already eat?"
"Cute," Reinhard stated. "Miss Sohryu is demanding to know what we believe about her friend. Seeing as how she's currently working this city and living with him, I think we should probably explain it."
"You're the boss," Joseph replied. He grabbed a seat and dragged it over. "I have to warn you though. If we tell you, I guarantee that you'll never look at Ikari the same again. If you start acting skittish, he will become suspicious. That's why we didn't tell you."
"Fine," Asuka stated.
"You want Italian?" Joseph asked.
"Just spill it!" Asuka exploded.
"Easy," Joseph replied. "You'll pop a blood vessel. How much do you know about what Ikari did in the service?"
"He said he was a base medic in the First Airborne Brigade," Asuka stated. "After his wife was killed he was sent into combat and excelled at special operations."
"Do you know anything about the operations he was on?" Joseph asked.
"No," Asuka answered.
"You're friend was deployed as part of a sniper team," Joseph stated.
"With Sergeants Takahashi and Kamakura," Asuka stated.
"Yeah," Joseph continued. "He worked as rear security and medic for the team in the First Airborne. His team was deployed around the world."
"It's surprising," Asuka admitted. "I was shocked when I first found out, but it's not exactly horrifying like you made it out to be."
"Heh." Joseph's perpetual grin widened. "Tell me, what do you know about Black Ops?"
(:ii:)
"Are you sure we can trust this guy?" Takeo asked as he stared at the dossier he was reading. "He sounds like a loyal German citizen to me."
"He was," Shinji stated, "at least until his unit got fucked over big time."
"What makes you so sure we can trust him?" Takeo asked.
"I saved his life," Shinji stated. "I ran into him in Somalia. He was shot to shit and his guts were spilling out. I didn't really think he'd survive, but I stuck his insides back inside and carried him until we were picked up by a Japanese convoy."
"How far?"
"About eighty kilometers," Shinji stated. "He didn't weigh much. Most of his blood was gone. I had to give him a couple of transfusions. Good thing we're the same blood type."
"Sounds like a lot of trouble over a lost cause," Takeo commented. "Why'd you do it?"
"I don't really know," Shinji admitted. "I was out of it, running on auto pilot. Whatever the reason, he lived. We hooked up with a GSDF convoy that took us to an FOB where we were shipped to a UN hospital in South Korea. Somebody tried to sneak in and knife him, but in a hospital full of battle-tweaking spec ops guys, it didn't work so well. That was the last I saw of him."
"I see," Takeo replied. "There's a lesson in this."
"Oh?"
"If you see a chance to help someone, take it," Takeo stated. "You never know how they'll be able to repay you." Shinji had to laugh at that one. He stood and finished the beer in his hand. 'Always seem to be drinking when I come here,' he noted absently.
"We're going out."
"Where?" Takeo asked.
"Our backup has arrived," Shinji stated. "We're going to go meet them." Shinji hesitated. "What happened to following Sohryu?" Takeo looked rather embarrassed. He mumbled something. "What was that?"
"She lost me," Takeo repeated louder.
"She's a redhead. This is Japan. Explain."
"Schoolgirls have been dying their hair for years," Takeo replied defensively. "You aren't that old. Didn't you ever pay attention in school?"
"Yeah," Shinji replied, "to my teachers and the subjects."
"Well, that sounds boring."
(:ii:)
Shinji pushed the doors open and stepped into the bar. "Ikari!" Shinji nodded towards the man who was waving at him and quickly made his way over.
"They sent you, Fujita?" Naota Fujita glared at Shinji.
"What the hell is that supposed to mean?" the older man demanded.
"Thought you retired," Shinji stated as he sat. "Old enough for it."
"Ain't that the truth?" Naota asked. He gestured absently with his left arm. The short sleeve shirt showed off the gauze wrapped there.
"Getting slow in your old age?" Shinji teased.
"Wait till you're as old as me," Naota growled.
"I don't think that's possible." Naota scowled as glanced at Takeo.
"That your new guy?"
"Takeo Yoshikawa," Takeo supplied as he sat.
"This is Dan Kimura."
"Nice to meet you," Dan stated as he held out his hand.
"Same." Shinji shook the man's hand and looked around for a waitress. He was hungry.
"So, how about a SITREP?"
"Germans," Shinji stated, "a lot of big, scary Germans with big, scary German guns. A few days ago we brought down an E-warfare team and later had to take out a DA team sent to check it out."
"Was the DA team German?"
"Disavowed, of course," Shinji replied.
"Of course," Naota agreed. "Doesn't bode well that they have enough people running around here to support that kind of thing."
"Yeah," Shinji replied. "Is the geezer up for some skull bashing?"
"Point the way, boy," Naota shot back. Shinji glanced at Dan and Takeo out of the corners of his eyes.
"I guess that makes you two babies."
(:ii:)
"Do you know what a Black operator is?" Asuka stared at the man sitting across from her.
"I've never heard of a Black operator," she stated. "I mean, outside of movies and comics. I've heard of real-like Black operations, but never a black operator."
"Well, its pretty self explanatory," Joseph stated. "A Black operator, or just Black, carries out only Black operations. They are similar to spec ops people, but there is a major difference."
"What?" Asuka asked.
"Black are deniable," Joseph explained. "The Combat Swimmers are still in the Navy, the KSK is still in the Army, so on and so forth. Black have been discharged. Often they work for a private military company that was set up using government slush funds. That way the soldiers can't be connected to a government at all. It's a lot like how direct action teams are set up."
"So a black operator is the same as a DA man?" Asuka asked.
"No," Joseph stated flatly. "DA teams use subterfuge. They are assassins, saboteurs, and trainers. Black use warfare, but you'll never see them."
"This all started long ago," Reinhard began. "In America of course, they have a talent for this sort of thing. They discovered, through trial and error, that the way they fought wars without fighting was wrong."
"Wait a second, Buddha," Asuka cut in. "Fought without fighting? Any other Zen zingers?"
"Defeating your enemy without fighting yourself," Reinhard clarified. "You know about this; training guerillas, raising opposing armies, covertly donating weapons. Every country does it."
"So, they decided to fight without fighting. . .by fighting themselves?" Asuka asked.
"By George I think she's got it," Joseph chimed in. "Confusing, yes? Welcome to the world of black ops. You'd go crazy trying to understand everything, it happens often enough. Then I have to go track down another one whose gone rogue. God I'm sick of rogues."
"So the Americans made a team of disavowed soldiers to fight for them, because they could be trusted not to turn on America like some of their past allies?" Asuka asked.
"More like, less likely to turn on them," Reinhard corrected. "People do strange things when they figure out they can't be prosecuted. Some of the world's worst terrorists have been black operators that turned on their host country."
"Host country?" Asuka asked.
"Well, it's not just the Americans anymore," Reinhard explained. "Good ideas spread. Most countries have some form of black operations teams off fighting somewhere for them."
"What do you mean by warfare?" Asuka asked.
"Black typically operate in squad or platoon size," Reinhard explained. "They always have superior equipment and use it to gain ridiculous advantages against much larger conventional forces in hit and run tactics. They get in, cause ridiculous amounts of damage, and get out before the enemy can really react. Throughout their existence they have always maintained a shoot first and shoot more mindset, because if they didn't, they'd be killed."
"The amount of destruction Black teams can cause is disproportionate," Joseph added. "This is in large part because they don't have to care about collateral damage. Believe it or not, modern fighting forces show a lot of restraint."
"What if the building is a school or a hospital?" Asuka demanded.
"Shouldn't have had soldiers in there in the first place," Joseph stated. "You don't understand, they can do whatever they want. Blackmail, torture, destroy buildings protected by the Laws of Land Warfare, anything. Black are beautiful in their brutality."
"That's disgusting," Asuka stated. "They're state-sponsored terrorists."
"Pretty much," Reinhard agreed. "That's why no one knows about them."
"Is Germany involved in this?" Asuka demanded.
"Why do you think I'm an expert?" Joseph asked. He glanced at the wall, suddenly seeming to be miles away. "You have no idea what its like for a soldier to suddenly be allowed to be a real soldier. If the enemy hides among civilians, use a shoulder launched rocket. If the enemy decides to walk around with guns, but doesn't fire on you, you shoot them. Geneva, the Laws of Land Warfare, none of it matters. They are under no legal or moral limitations. Like you said, they're terrorists."
"You're telling me that all governments have a terrorist cell working for them?" Asuka demanded angrily.
"When you're as big as Germany, the UK, or America you'll always be fighting asymmetrical wars as the bigger group. The best way for the smaller groups to fight those wars is to resort to what could be considered terrorism and the best way to fight terrorism is with terrorists." Asuka leaned back in her seat, trying to understand this view of the world.
"It's hard to come to terms with," Reinhard commented. "You probably thought, or at least hopes, that spying and a few assassinations were worst we do. You didn't want to think that we'd have something like the Black."
"You think Shinji is one of them?" Asuka demanded. "You don't know him at all."
"Neither do you," Reinhard stated. "About three years ago there was a war in Somalia. Like most wars, it started small, the provisional government set up after the Second Impact was overthrown in a bloody coup. Atrocities and genocide reports came in so fast that the UN couldn't censor it. Under its own rules, it had to react. It went to America first, but the Americans were practicing isolationism towards foreign wars. Thus the UN had to appeal to its other members.
"Many famous operators; Black, Cover, and Special can trace their careers to that war. A lot of operators rose to where they are because of it and a lot of operators fell to where they are because of it. Ikari is the first and Walther is the latter."
"Ikari's team worked a lot in the war" Joseph cut in. "Throughout the war his team carried out reconnaissance and precision assassinations. They were sent to observe a small village that was believed to be harboring enemy combatants. Unfortunately, his team was found out. A mortar was dropped on their hide, killing his teammates. During the night Ikari snuck into the town, killing several inhabitants in close quarters combat, reportedly using a knife and a suppressed Colt .45. He stole a radio and called back to his base. He was told to act as he saw fit. He tried to sneak back out, but was caught. He engaged in a firefight that leveled half the town using captured RPG launchers and medium machineguns along with hit and run tactics. Once he was clear he called a UN artillery brigade, several German PzH-2000s, and demolished the entire town. I think the final casualty count was a few thousand dead and almost no wounded. There are reports that he went swept the town for survivors and executed them. Of course there wasn't a whole lot of evidence, what with the lack of witnesses."
"He wouldn't do that," Asuka stated.
"He did," Reinhard replied. "When it came to light that there were women and children in the village, there was a major outcry."
"Nobody wants to believe that women and children are just as capable of shooting at you as men are," Joseph stated quietly. "Never kill women and children, even if they're shooting at you. Everyone knows that women and children aren't a threat."
"Control yourself please," Reinhard stated. Joseph raised his hands in surrender and glared holes in the wall. "There was a war crime trial, but he was found not guilty. He was, after all, only acting as he saw fit. They decided that he had misinterpreted the orders and he was forced to retire. Japan couldn't have a man like that around. . .at least not officially."
"Black are the guys too bad to be accountable for and too good to get rid of," Joseph stated. Reinhard shot a glance at the man, but let his comment slide.
"It was at that time that we believe he was recruited into Japan's Black Operations team. He has the necessary mindset and even a preference for their tactics and operating style." Asuka wanted to argue, but all she could think about was Shinji and the look in his eyes when he had been telling her his story. He must have been thinking about that village, but there was no regret on his face. There was no regret, no pity, and no sorrow. Just a cold dark look; almost saying that he had done it and was not ashamed of it. His words ran through her head. 'I've done things my country isn't proud of, but they had to be done.' He'd done things his country wasn't proud of, not things that he wasn't proud of. It scared her and made her feel sick. How could anyone do what he had done and have no regrets about it? What kind of monster was he?
"We believe that the ISDF recruited him to help in their anti-intelligence sweep of the country," Joseph added. "Not only is he dangerous, he might be your enemy. He could be keeping track of you right now."
"I can't stay there."
"I'll arrange for your transfer back to the embassy," Reinhard replied. "I fully understand. He's out of your league."
"No!" Asuka exclaimed, trying to turn her fear to anger. "This is my city, Gehlen! I just can't stay near him. I don't think I'd be able to sleep."
"Smart girl," Joseph commented. "You'd be smarter going back to the embassy."
"This is my city," Asuka repeated. "I know its people. I know everything there is to know about what happens. You don't have a better qualified person than me!"
"What will you tell him?" Reinhard asked. "You can't raise his suspicion of you. I doubt he would have any trouble taking you down and getting information out of you."
"I'll think of something," Asuka replied. She stared at them. "Just how dangerous is he?"
"Well, Joseph began. "Black, no matter which country they're from, have what I call the small dog syndrome."
"Meaning," Asuka pressed.
"They overcompensate for their numbers with sheer aggression and firepower," Joseph stated. "Let's just say, you never want to set them down in anything save for a one hundred percent target rich environment."
"How dangerous?" Asuka repeated.
"More dangerous than you can imagine," Joseph said simply. "If you carry on long enough, he will catch you. It wouldn't surprise me if he knows exactly who and what you are."
"If he knew, then why hasn't he made a move?" Asuka asked, fearing the answer.
"Probably waiting for you to get a good sized spy ring," Joseph replied. "He'll kill the agents and torture you until he knows everything you know. You will tell him and he will know the truth if he doesn't already."
-End
(:ii:)
-Author's notes. Long one. Lots of talking and explaining. Had to happen eventually.