Epilogue
Virginia, the outskirts of the City of Portsmouth
Near two old graves, a third fresh one had appeared recently.
The inscription on the tombstone read:
Here lies Leonard Testarossa
Who wished for a just, righteous world
There was nothing in the grave, of course. His body was turned to dust by that nuclear explosion in the West Pacific.
He probably wouldn’t have wanted to be interred next to his mother, but she had to do it. She wanted them to talk, if they ever met in the other world. It was a bit lonely for him to be near her alone, and so she put the tombstone between their parent’s graves. That should be fine.
She didn’t know what would happen several decades later - she would probably be resting there, too, and the time would finally come for the entire family to be together. The reconciliation would probably be difficult, but... she could only believe that it would come.
“Isn’t this a good end?” murmured Tessa.
The tombstone was silent. Only the sound of wind and the chirping of birds disturbed the serene silence of that place.
She stood up, and returned to her companions. The three people left this place. One of them was Mardukas, his forehead now sporting a scar, that somehow seemed to make him less cold, but even more grim. The other was Admiral Jerome Borda, former
chief of operations of Mithril. It was unknown if he was alive or dead after the attack on the headquarters. He had been recovering from his injuries for over half a year. It looked like during all that time, the preparations for the reconstruction of the organization continued.
“Is it fine now?” said Borda.
His left eye was now covered by an eye patch, and he used a cane to walk.
“Yes, uncle. Sorry to make you come all the way here.”
Tessa and her crew had made an emergency landing on the ocean after running away from the nuclear explosion over Merida Island. There, they were picked up by the USS Pasadena. Needless to say, Captain Sailor was amazed to see both the cute maid and the “Duke” among the survivors, and even allowed (perhaps because of the utter shock) the tiger on board his submarine. The tiger was now in the Hawaii zoo.
They were treated very well aboard Captain Sailor’s vessel, but after docking in Hawaii, they had been taken into custody by the Navy intelligence. She had thought that severe questioning was about to begin, but admiral Borda came to pick her up just in time. She didn’t know what connections he had used, but the entire crew was freed. To her surprise, she heard that Seals and Courtney, previously charged with appropriation of military vehicles and AS, were also acquitted.
“A report just came in. The military decided to lower their level to DEFCON four. For the time being at least, I’m pretty sure the crisis is averted.”
“Really...”
“But I’ll remember those three hours after the explosion forever. It was a ballistic missile launch after all... and those five
minutes after we realized it was heading towards some unpopulated island were a goddamn nightmare.
The West was about to retaliate, and both Hunter and Lemon outdid themselves - they tried to spread the information that the nuclear base was under control as fast as possible between the intelligence agencies across the world. In the end, they had averted World War III. This world couldn’t be called peaceful, but it returned to its normal functioning. Both good and bad things would happen in any living society, after all.
“It was not unpopulated,” Mardukas corrected him.
“Yes... I’m sorry.”
“No, it’s all right.”
“So, what happened to that girl, Kaname Chidori?”
“...she left the hospital. She wanted to go back to Tokyo once again.”
After her escape from the island, Kaname Chidori slept for two weeks. No one knew the reason. Her fever had subsided, and her condition seemed close to normal, but it seemed like she didn’t want to wake up.
Tessa had tried to wake her up by using “resonance” once, but nothing happened. She thought that the girl was rejecting her attempts, but that didn’t seem right. In fact, she didn’t feel that “whispering” voice even once from the time of that battle on Merida. Sometimes, she thought she had echoes or déjà vu sensations, and would be quite cautious about it for a long time; but it seemed that they all would never hear that voice again. She hadn’t yet decided whether it was a good or bad thing.
After some time, for some unknown reason, Kaname had opened her eyes. At first, she was in a terrible state of confusion, but gradually understood the situation - and it was clear that she had returned to her normal self. Tessa was quite amazed to hear
what had happened inside the TAROS... but then came the most difficult part. Tessa, clenching her fists and trying to retain her composure, had informed her of what happened on Merida - that Merida Island was hit by a nuclear missile, and that there was no time to take refuge... and that Sousuke was left behind. Kaname listened silently until the very end, and only said “I’m sorry”. They hadn’t talked much after that. Tessa, calming down, only made a promise with her to meet again soon, and left that place.
“It must be hard...”
“Yes...”
Those were their last words to each other, and she didn’t know her real feelings yet. Tessa didn’t cry once. The next week, probably, or the one after, her sorrow would break through because of some trivial matter, and she would start blaming herself. This had repeated itself many times already.
The three people were returning to the car, walking on a path through the forest. It was still cold, but spring was just around the corner.
“What are you planning to do from now on?”
“Personally, I wanted to return to England for once. I have some money saved, it should last me for a while. I’ll play chess and read some old military books, as usual.”
“Well... it’s not like you have a ship to return to. Are you going to meet your wife?”
“My former wife, sir. I don’t plan to start over, but eating out together would be nice... I don’t know myself, to tell you the truth,” Mardukas shrugged.
“What about you, Teletha?”
“Who knows,” she smiled faintly.
She thought she might visit the bereaved families of the subordinates she had lost, or just go travelling. Nora was probably
feeling bitter about Sachs’ death, and she didn’t know if she would really meet her, but at least paying her respects should be enough. If it was about travelling, she would ask Melissa to join her... ah, but there’s Weber-san. She’d probably be interfering.
Like everybody else, she thought he had died a heroic death, but when she heard he had suddenly appeared on the battlefield in Afghanistan, she felt uncomfortable. Before the operation, she had been thinking about a lot of things... and afterwards, her first reaction to him was anger, only afterwards she felt relieved. Tessa wouldn’t tell him what an idiot he was, but she heard that he got enough from his other comrades. It seemed that he was expecting a hero’s welcome, and was now sulking.
“What about you, uncle? Planning to go on with rebuilding Mithril?”
“Don’t know. We were severely weakened by Amalgam, of course, but not completely destroyed. Also, there’s some intelligence that Amit had a hand in all of this. Don’t know if I should be hostile with him, or continue working together.”
“Really...”
“There’s the problem of financing, eh. Now that the Mallorys are gone, we can’t live like before. If we find financial backers... ” Borda glanced at Tessa “what do you say? Would you consider building a TDD-2?”
“No, thank you, I’ve had quite enough.”
“Hmm, it’s good to hear that.”
Of course, it was a joke. Seeing Tessa like this, without any interest in any kind of weaponry, Borda gave a relieved smile.
They went out of the forest and to a red Cherokee that was parked on the shoulder of the road. Noticing them, Michael Lemon climbed back into the driver’s seat. He had been fired from the French intelligence, and was now working under Borda.
“Sorry to keep you waiting, Lemon-san!”
“Not at all! You’re always welcome! If you asked, I’d find tea, or lunch, or dinner... er, well, food...”
Seeing the furious glances of Mardukas and Borda, he stopped, and cleared his throat:
“...ah, but, that aside - there’s news from Wraith! Please, have a look. You’ll be quite surprised.”
He held out a tablet PC. On it was displayed a top secret file from the American Navy. Even Borda with his connections couldn’t get access to such high-class recent intelligence reports so fast.
“Where’s this from?”
“She says she got it from the GRU.”
“Hmm, hmmmm...”
“It’s thanks for Afghanistan... though I’m sure they’re being sarcastic in their own way...”
Seeing Borda’s troubled face, Tessa took the tablet and started looking through the file. There were thirty infra-red pictures of Merida Island taken by a satellite with intervals of 90 minutes between them. The earth was scorched, the landscape was practically razed by the monstrous explosion. As the heat subdued, and the mushroom cloud cleared, she saw that the island had become nothing more than a lump of half-molten rock. She saw a straight piece of coastline, probably the remains of the underground base.
In the second file, she noticed that the radiation emission was not as high as expected - the MIRV warheads were designed to be relatively “clean”. After the first hour the radiation subdued considerably, and after fifteen hours was only one percent of the initial amount.
The third file was a video from a Navy helicopter sent to recon the place of impact twenty-four hours after the blast. It was filmed almost like a home video, sometimes showing the crew inside the helicopter in their NBC suits. The Geiger counter showed radiation levels well within tolerance limits, and landing did not seem unreasonable. The helicopter flew over the island, surveying impact craters, and they noticed what appeared to be a large pile of rubble, half-submerged in sea water. This was definitely the ruins of the base itself - somewhere close to the dry dock and corridor zero.
She gasped, seeing the following frames. There was a man-made object, a human-like figure painted in black and red, lying stretched out on the beach.
It was the Laevatein.
The machine had been badly damaged, but there was no mistaking its unique form. Upon discovering the machine, the crew of the helicopter started arguing fervently, somebody saying that it must be a visual mistake, and that it’s impossible. The camera was out of focus, as the surroundings of the machine seemed to be blurred for some reason - but that blur suddenly disappeared. It zoomed on the machine’s chest. The resolution wasn’t the best, and she couldn’t be sure, but she could see someone in a black AS pilot suit slowly climbing out of the cockpit and looking at the recon helicopter. The video file ended, and the screen went black.
Tessa didn’t know the details, but as the cockpit was destroyed, there was no way to active the Lambda Driver. It shouldn’t have been possible. Could they have attempted to link Al’s core unit directly into the system? This would not only have protected them from the initial explosion, but running the Lambda Driver intermittently later would have protected them from the radiation.
“It looks like they recovered both the pilot and the machine, and took them to the Okinawa base.”
He was alive.
The tablet almost fell from Tessa’s hands, and Lemon quickly took it away.
“He was then transferred from the Navy intelligence to the CIA. This was, of course, quite troublesome, but then Congressman Spear of the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence stepped it and snatched him away--...”
“Amit’s work, then... he knows that Spear too well,” remarked Borda.
“Is he... in confinement?” it took all of Tessa’s willpower to murmur these words.
She thought she wouldn’t cry this week, but she was mistaken. Life continued to surprise her.
“That seems to be the case. They seem to be planning to transfer him from Kadena base to California. I’m not sure if he’s now in any state to talk, but knowing them, they will begin cross-examination as soon as he recovers.”
“Have to save him...”
“And it looks like Mao and the others are on the spot.”
♦ ♦ ♦
Okinawa, Nakagami district, Chatan
“...damn, and I thought I was finished with guns and shooting... but I guess it can’t be helped. It’s partly my fault, isn’t it,” Mao was muttering.
She was sitting on the passenger’s seat, checking the magazines and scope for her SMG, then finally pulled on the bolt.
“If you had been a second faster, there wouldn’t be any problem now... all that because the reunion with a certain idiot moved you too much,” muttered Wraith, in the driver’s seat.
“Eh?! Now it’s my fault? You just said it was my fault, didn’t you?! I was barely recovered, but rushed to save you all, and this is what I get?” protested Kurz from the back seat. The inside of the car was quite crammed, and the muzzle of his rifle kept hitting the window and the ceiling.
“Recovery, eh... well, think about me then. I’ve still got stitches all over my belly, my spleen... everything’s still holding on god knows how. My ear’s not healed, so stop shouting!” groaned Clouseau who sat next to him.
He was covered in bandages, and was holding a carbine.
They, the A-team, had stopped their Humvee on the shoulder of national highway 58 that led to the US base in Okinawa, waiting for the deployment of B-team. Clouseau continued grumbling.
“Raiding an American base... we’re goddamn crazy. Same as terrorists. We could die here. I should’ve been lying on the hospital bed next to Wu.”
“It’ll be fine. I’ve been to this base before. I know the layout.”
“That’s not the problem here...”
“E-eh... I wish we had at least one AS...”
“Stop - it only makes this worse.”
A transmission was incoming from Yang.
“This is Bravo leader. We’re in position. We’ll start the distraction on time. Rest is up to you.”
“Alpha leader, roger that,” acknowledged Mao and cut the line.
In five minutes they would begin their assault.
They sat in what seemed like an endless silence. Kurz was getting bored and restless, and finally said:
“Right, but what do we do if he’s a cripple, or dying from radiation poisoning?”
“Oh shut up.”
“No, we should be prepared for that, right? I mean, it was a nuclear explosion!”
“Well if I had information like that, I would have showed it to you, wouldn’t I. The readings were quite positive,” intervened Wraith. “And when they found you under Yamsk 11, you were pretty bad yourself, Weber.”
“Gah... I really thought I was dead myself.”
“Spoiled brat,” muttered Mao humourlessly, “You weren’t really dying, so stop pretending. I’d feel relieved if the idiot was finally gone.”
“Ah, come on, nee-san. Should I tell them..?”
“What?”
“Well, when everyone was asleep on the plane back from Afghanistan, she came to me, crying, and her voice was soooo sweet--...”
“Die!! Just die!! Drop dead!! You’re the worst! You think it’s normal to tell them that?! Huh?!!”
“Eh... but what’s wrong...”
“Everything..! just... aah, forget it! I’m through with being civil, when this ends--...”
Suddenly, they heard an explosion on the territory of the base - far away, on the northwest side. Sirens immediately followed. There was still five minutes until the planned time, and besides, B-Team was on the other side. Something was happening inside the base.
“So... what now?” asked Wraith.
“Let’s wait a little. There don’t seem to be any gunshots, and it was pretty small-scale.”
“What about B-Team?”
“On standby until further orders.”
Then they saw a lone truck driving away from the scene of the explosion, to the east, then passing the base perimeter, and heading right towards them at full speed.
“Hey, wait a...”
The truck passed them at full speed, and as the light fell for an instant on the vehicle, they saw that in the driver’s seat was none other than Sousuke Sagara.
“Sousuke..?!”
Fifty meters on the truck screeched to a halt, then changed gear, reversed and stopped near them.
“What are you doing here?”
That familiar, sullen face, the same mouth with its edges always turned down.
Sousuke kept the engine running. For some reason, he wore the uniform of a Second Lieutenant of the USAF. It seemed like a lot happened before he finally escaped.
The four people, staring at him as if he was an apparition, hurriedly got out of the car.
“Well... we were here to get you out...”
“I see. Hm.”
Seeing Kurz, who was trying to get out of the back seat, Sousuke frowned.
“Oh. So you’re alive.”
“What, is that all you can say?!”
“You’re as spoiled as usual.”
“...and you’re awful...”
Chaos reigned in the base behind them, but it was only a matter of time before they were discovered.
“There’s no time. I’ve got some things to do, so I’ll be taking the car,” said Sousuke curtly, and started getting into the driver’s seat of the Humvee.
“W-...what?”
<Thank you. Please let the sergeant go,> said a synthetic voice from the truck’s dashboard.
“...Al?”
They saw that the AI’s core unit was in the rear of the truck, along with a power supply and some other machinery.
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