Commander Andrei Kalinin had no doubt that Sousuke Sagara was alive. He'd worked with the young man for years. He'd been on the spetsnaz team that found the boy in the wreckage of a crashed airliner in Russia thirteen years ago in an unofficial and unauthorized rescue operation in the Bering Straits.
He'd later met Sousuke again, as an enemy captive using the name Kashim, in Helmajistan, acting as the adoptive son of a renowned guerilla fighter. Apparently the orphan he'd rescued had been put into a KGB program for training child assassins
That reunion had led to Kalinin's desertion from the Soviet Army, in the middle of the second invasion of the middle east.
He was the one that had given Sousuke his spetsnaz training, on top of the KGB assassination school and the Islamic guerilla fighters' training in survival and guerilla warfare.
And then he'd recruited Sousuke into Mithril and away from the life as a roving soldier of fortune.
The boy hadn't quite grown up yet, he was still a bit too dependent on receiving and obeying orders, but he was developing a personality beyond just the war machine that Kalinin's home country and forged the boy into.
As cold as Kalinin behaved in front of his subordinates and others, he would still be damned if he was going to give up on Sagara without a fight.
He was similar to his commanding officer in that regard. Captain Testarossa would keep her cool in front of the troops, but she was just as determined to get back all three of the lost ones. She was an idealist of the most dangerous type, one that recognized the practical concerns that others would use as reasons not to attempt something, but found ways to work around them.
The problem was that knowing Sagara was alive and knowing where he was were two different things.
Until then a workable rescue operation was mostly theoretical, and they had very little time before they had to make it practical.
He was considering the problem when he noticed the butterfly fluttering into his tactical room in idle spirals towards him. He remembered Sergeant Major Mao's report on the message she'd received in Tokyo and, as the butterfly landed and unfolded into a message with coordinates and sit-rep, he was now witnessing it.
Assuming the information was accurate, he now had what he needed to make his theoretical plan practical.
He wasted no time in finding the bridge and Tessa, handing over the message to the white-haired teen prodigy.
"I'm authorizing the use of the Arbalest," Tessa said without hesitation. "Prepare for launch."
****
"The repairs to the Chodarl are complete, sir," a technician told Gauron. "It is ready to go at any time."
"Good," the man said as he spotted a man in a black suit approaching him. "Any word?"
"The wild fire has shifted North and West," the man reported indicating an electronic map showing the affected areas. "Driven by the wind and it has started to spread faster since the rain stopped. No sign yet of the targets."
"He's in this area," Gauron said, pointing to a spot due west of the base. "The quickest route to the sea and south of the fire. Send your men there. I'll be going out soon."
"What, in the Chodarl?" the intelligence agent demanded.
"Of course," Gauron said. "You know what we're dealing with."
****
Basil growled as he looked down towards the AS and soldier infested forests. He couldn't continue the fight in this shape. Bay had come out pretty much unscathed save for some shock damage from that blonde outsider's electrical attacks and even Thyme was more than a little battered and bruised.
Still, he wasn't done.
Not by a longshot.
He was destined to bring the Musk back to their days of glory.
****
"Do you ever get tired of being reckless?" Deimosu demanded loudly as he yelled down at Naiki's face. "Because of you, we got split up!"
"I stayed to help out that other guy!" Naiki snapped back. "Not like you who kept saying 'let's get out of here' every few minutes!"
"You were useless on the plane," Deimosu snapped. "You got yourself captured as soon as we landed. You almost got yourself killed! Because of that you got me captured and Eija is probably still too tired to fight or be of much use out there. And then you stayed behind!"
"Aren't you a martial artist too?!" Naiki demanded.
"This isn't a challenge!" Deimosu snapped. "This was a battle. You always do this. You always treat the real battles like some rival's match or challenge! And you either get yourself or one of us beat up in the process!"
Naiki started to answer but her brother snapped again.
"There's a difference between life and death battles and battles for pride," he shouted.
It looked like he was about to say more when he was interrupted, by the sudden appearance of their mother moving in to wrap her arms around his chest quietly and then pull his head down to kiss his forehead and moved on toward Naiki to hug her again as well.
Then she pulled back.
"We'll talk about mistakes later," Ranma said. "And we'll do it without fighting."
"'Kaasan," Naiki said. "What about Eija?"
"They've got some plan running," Ranma said. "We're not part of it."
****
"Helicopters," Sousuke said pointing and listening to the sound. "They'll be dropping troops and then moving to scout for us. But they haven't pinpointed us yet."
"I see them," Eija confirmed.
"Anything we can do?" Kaname asked.
"No," Sousuke said.
"Pray and hope," Eija said. "What's that?"
Sousuke looked up toward the flash the Satomi had noted and watched as it came into closer view as an AS that landed at their position with a resounding crash.
"Okay, they probably know where we are now," Kaname noted.
Sousuke said nothing just moved quickly for the AS that had dropped in on their position.
He was quickly in the cockpit.
"It's unmanned," he said. "It looks like the system has been activated."
"Voice Identification activated," the computer said. "State your name, rank and serial number."
"Sgt Sousuke Sagara, B-3128."
"Verification completed, Sergeant Sagara confirmed," the computer responded. "Please state command."
See other episodes by Thrythlind
(Posted Tue, 23 Jun 2009 00:54)
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