Chapter 2: This Holy Night is Rather Noisy
It was five minutes by bus from the JR Sakuragichou Station. The pier where the Pacific Chrysalis was moored was right next to a seaside park covered by couples in the twilight hours.
The Pacific Chrysalis was a gigantic cruise ship that was 272 meters in length and weighed over one hundred thousand tons. It was one of the biggest in the world. There were many boats commissioned for the Caribbean Sea that were even bigger than this one; but still, a passenger ship of this size was rare.
It was a snow-white boat with a streamlined funnel and repeated decks of guest rooms.
To be fair, Kaname had been on a gigantic ship before now- Mithril’s attack submarine, the Tuatha de Danaan- but the Pacific Chrysalis seemed to be even larger than that. It looked like an entire city floating on the surface of the ocean.
To Kaname, who only knew about battleships, the Pacific Chrysalis looked to be an extremely splendorous boat. Even its interior was far bigger than that of a submarine’s. Walking down the passageways or in the guestrooms of the boat gave the same impression as walking through a hotel on the land.
“What a luxurious ship...” Kaname mumbled under her breath as she put her hand luggage on top of the bed in her room.
Kyouko, who was staying in the same room as her, answered in an excited voice, “Isn’t it though!? What about the lobby we passed through when we got on the ship? It was so big and pretty that it took my breath away. We were even received by the Captain of the ship with an orchestra!”
Everyone from school was still getting on board the ship.
Many of the crew who greeted Kaname and the others at the top of the boarding ramp were foreigners. Kyouko and the teachers seemed to be moved by their kindness and courteous attitudes, but Kaname sensed an indescribable artificialness in it all.
The looks on several of the crewmembers’ faces seemed to recognize her as she waited in line, their expressions saying “So, this is the girl?” It was like they knew her- no, on the contrary, it was like they knew what her fate was going to be after this- that was the kind of look it was.
The faint expressions stiffened. They looked at each other with knowing looks, then their faces were bright and cheerful again like nothing had happened.
She felt foolish.
Since the incident with the last field trip was famous, and Kaname had been “the girl who was the last one rescued” out of all the students, it wasn’t strange that the crew would know about her school.
“Hey, Kaname.”
“Hm?”
“Let’s go to the upper deck before we take off. I bet we can see the big Ferris wheel in Minato Mirai from the observation deck.”
“Okay. But I’m hungry. Do you have any snacks?”
“No, sorry. While we were waiting, Shiori and the others ate them all. I think Mayu had some Pocky*1, wanna ask her?”
“Is that so? Well, she’s gained a little weight recently, so I should go confiscate it from her.”
“Ooh, that’s mean!” Kyouko said. Kaname laughed and left the room.
Many of the female students were wandering around in the brightly lit hallway, talking about this and that in noisy voices.
Ahh, just my luck...
There were also many ordinary guests getting on the ship, as well. Even though they had been severely cautioned not to cause a commotion, the students immediately did so, anyway. If Kaname started doing her duty as the class representative and tried remonstrating them, then-
“You’re kidding me!” a man yelled out.
It was in English. His throaty and overbearing voice drowned out the sounds of the girl students’ laughter.
A large Caucasian man wearing a suit was letting a troubled-looking crewmember have it without any reserve or consideration. Kaname thought he looked a little like Schwarzenegger in some comedy movie she had seen.
“Why do I have the same B-class room as a bunch of stupid little school girls!?”
“I’m very sorry, Sir, but all of the A-class rooms are already full-”
“Then how about you make new arrangements, you intercontinental ballistic idiot! How dare you treat a Commander in the United States Navy such as myself in this way! Are you trying to get on my bad side!? Don’t you guys have connections with the Air Force?!”
“S-sir, please-”
“Cut it out, Captain! This is embarrassing. Isn’t this why your wife left you just before the Japan trip!?”
A handsome young Asian man seeming to be one of his companions held onto the angry Schwarzenegger*2. He was also wearing a similar suit.
“What did you say, Takenaka!? Is an incompetent officer like you ungrateful that you were invited in Eliza’s place!?”
“You think that!? Who do you think it was that forced me here when I was enjoying my holiday in Waikiki!?”
“Hmph, what are you saying? That big-breasted Japanese woman you were messing around with was an STD waiting to happen. You should be thanking me!”
“How can you say such a thing!? ...dammit, why’d you have to go and spoil our last meeting, which I went to a lot of effort to-”
“Shut up! It serves you right!” the man called “Captain” spit out at him. “Even though your superior officer is suffering through the pain of a divorce, you just go around singing about your stupid little vacation! You should suffer, too! Go to hell!”
“That’s all you really wanted, wasn’t it!? Your real motive behind this! Damn it!”
The two men began to grapple with each other in front of the crewmember out in the corridor. Other members of the crew came running to help out, broke the two apart while trying to calm them down, then took them back into their room.
The door closed, and the corridor was quiet.
The students, who didn’t understand English, just stared blankly. On the other hand, Kaname, who had lived abroad, understood the conversation beginning to end, but “Seems all kinds of people are riding this thing, aren’t they...” was the only thing she mumbled, and hurried to her classmate’s room.
♦ ♦ ♦
December 24th, 18:55 (Japan Standard Time)
The Pacific Ocean, Off the Coast of the Miura Peninsula, The Pacific Chrysalis
Before long, the cruise ship departed, and making its way through the Uraga Channel, left Tokyo Bay.
The sun was already setting, but the enormous white ship quietly continued along its course under an entire sky full of stars.
The cold air felt good. The crashing waves sparkled, and many merchant ships and fishing boats passed by. In order to get a glimpse of the refreshing scenery, the students gathered on the quarterdeck for a good view, innocently having fun.
“Wow, it’s so pretty...” Kyouko said as she leaned against the railing and restlessly released the shutter on her digital camera. “What a waste, huh? It would have been nice if Sagara could have come, too.”
“Why are you bringing him up?” Kaname said in a sour voice. Kyouko smiled bitterly at this common response.
“Aaah, it’s always like this. But, where is he really?”
“What do you mean?”
“Where is Sagara? Couldn’t he have just said where he was going? He didn’t tell anyone.”
When Kyouko spoke seriously like this, Kaname was weak. However, when it came to her best friend Kyouko, Kaname couldn’t deal with her cruelly.
“Huh? But, well, umm...”
“Tell me. Come on, come on,” Kyouko said, her large eyes sparking from behind her dragonfly glasses. Kaname took a small sigh, resigned herself, then told her the bottom line.
“It’s not that I hate him. Just- there really isn’t anything.”
“Really?”
“Really. Honestly, there were a lot of times when I wasn’t so sure, but, really, that was it. I mean, you can tell just by looking, right? Even though today’s my birthday... he’s gone to another get-together instead.”
Sousuke had missed this trip just as he had announced. The day before, when his classmates were teasing him by saying “What? And you told us ‘Leave the security to me’”, he replied, “A situation came up and I can’t go” with a deadly serious face.
“In case there is a sea jacking, do not oppose the terrorists. If you stay calm, they will probably not harm you. Got it? Do exactly as they tell you.”
...he told them.
There was a strange hidden meaning behind those words, but from the corner Kaname just gave a look of indifference when she heard them. After all, they were still fighting.
“Normally he would have come. If he was serious, he would be here.”
“I see... well, that may be.”
“I feel bad for being so stubborn about it, but it’s obvious he doesn’t think that I’m very important.”
“I wonder... I think that it just might be your persecution complex, though.”
“It’s not that. It’s because he has another girl he likes.”
“Huh, really? Who? Do I know her?”
Suddenly Kyouko was very interested.
“Yeah. Remember the girl who was a short-term exchange student at the beginning of second semester-”
“Ah, Tessa, right?”
Actually, everyone in Jindai High knew about Tessa.
Because of the Perio Islands incident at the end of August, the Tuatha de Danaan had received some damage and was under repair for weeks. Using that time, Tessa took an extended vacation. And the place where she had chosen to take her holiday was Jindai High School in Tokyo.
It looked like Tessa wanted to try enjoying a normal high school student’s life. She and Mao crowded in on Sousuke place, joined the class of 2nd Year, Group 4 in Jindai High under the guise of a short-term study abroad student, stirred Kaname and others’ lives up for a full two weeks, then went home. Of course, she hid the fact that Tessa was really was a Captain in Mithril.
“She’s in Australia now, isn’t she? She still keeps in touch. Then that’s the party Sagara was talking about...”
Wraith’s information had confirmed it. He was just using a mission as an excuse. Kaname guessed that right about now on Merida Island, a grand party was starting- then sighed. A large group of troops were beginning to drink, sing, and just have a good time; Sousuke and Tessa were probably also getting friendly-
Before she knew it, Kaname had completely reverted back to her bad mood.
“Aaah, I don’t wanna talk about it anymore!” she yelled, looking up at the night sky.
“Oh, sorry.”
“No, it’s okay. Anyway, let’s forget about that idiot and have some fun! ...speaking of which, what time is it? I wonder how long it’ll be till dinner. I’m really starving.”
“Didn’t you get a snack?”
“She’d already ate ‘em all... hah hah.”
Just then, a voice came from behind her.
“Excuse me, Miss Kaname Chidori?”
He was one of the crew, a Caucasian male who looked to be over 40. He was meticulously dressed in a pure white uniform and regulation hat, with a very-well maintained beard. He stood straight and dignified, yet did not give the impression of being overbearing- he was rather like the crew of this wonderful boat, his figure combining both elegance and simplicity.
“Huh? Yes?”
“So it is you. No, even looking at you from a distance, I thought that’s got to be her... yes, last but by no means least. I am the Captain of the ship, Steven Harris. Pleased to make your acquaintance.”
A sailor who knows how to treat the ladies, she almost said.
Compared to this man, the senior officers on the de Danaan seemed very simple. He had almost no accent, and spoke fluent Japanese.
“The Captain?” both Kaname and Kyouko said at the same time. Thinking about it, he was the same person as she had seen in a picture in the brochure they had received before the trip. He also seemed to be in the crew that had welcomed them aboard the ship...
“Umm... it’s a pleasure to meet you, too. But how do you know me?” Kaname asked out of natural confusion.
“Last week, when I met with your teacher, she pointed you out from the pictures we received. See- the picture on your ID card.”
He pointed to the ID card pinned to her school uniform. The students had been given cards which had their names and head shots on them.
“During that hijacking incident, you were the heroine whom everyone was worried about until the very end. I’m quite interested in it.”
“Ah, I see...”
“You’re also a very lovely young lady. It makes me quite happy... oh, and of course your companion is very charming, as well.”
“Thank you. Ha ha ha ha...”
Kaname and Kyouko both smiled insincerely.
“By the way, how are you finding everything on this ship? Do you have any complaints?”
“No, it’s fantastic! It’s very comfortable, big, and it doesn’t rock back and forth at all!”
“That’s good to hear... if you have any problems or requests, please let the nearest person know at anytime. They will
take care of it right away. You are our very important guests, after all. Yes- extremely important guests.”
“...”
Kaname sensed some unnaturalness in these courteous words.
He had a coaxing voice- yes, a coaxing voice.
And his eyes had the look of someone with his prey completely in his hands, and was thinking “Now then, how shall I cook it?” Why was she getting that kind of impression?
“Kaname?”
“Hmm?”
“Is something on your mind?”
No. She was just thinking way too much. She was probably just nervous. After thinking better of it, Kaname returned a clumsy smile.
“No, not really. Thank you very much, Captain.”
“Well, take care. And enjoy your stay.”
Captain Harris then left.
“Whew...” Kaname and Kyouko both breathed a sigh of relief when they saw his figure walk off.
“Wow, that was stressful...”
“Yeah. But he was cool, wasn’t he? So strong-looking. But elegant, too. But he really doesn’t seem like a ‘Captain’ at all.”
“Not really. He’s very different from the Captain I know.”
“Hm?”
“Uh, no, I was just talking to myself.”
Just then, they heard a loud noise coming from far off.
When they looked, they could see that Captain Harris, who was going back inside the ship from the observation deck, had been run into by one of the girls in the cabin crew. She had fallen down and overturned a mop and bucket.
“I’m sorry, I’m so sorry...”
The cabin girl apologized desperately.
Her skirt was fluttering over her black tights, and she was wearing a white apron and hair band. Her ash blond hair was neatly braided, but they couldn’t see her face from where they were.
They also couldn’t hear their conversation because of the distance. It looked like Captain Harris was warning the demure cabin girl from his lively gestures. The girl just kept bowing to Harris over and over again. After that, she picked up the cleaning implements, then hurriedly ran off towards the bow of the ship- and fell down hard again.
“...”
“That’s a very clumsy maid...” Kyouko complained. Next to her, Kaname broke into a cold sweat as her suspicion grew.
It couldn’t be. No... but then again, why would she be on this ship...?
But that was all that they witnessed.
Because it had gotten cold, Kaname and Kyouko went back inside the ship to look around at the facilities.
They caught sight of a young bartender seducing a group of schoolgirls in the corridor in front of the bar lounge. He was a handsome man with blonde hair and blue eyes, his long hair pulled up into a bun, and wearing simple glasses.
They heard the smooth talking man say in fluent Japanese:
“-really, it’s true! I grew up in Edogawa in Tokyo. You know, there’s a great soba*3 place there, right? Just give me your telephone numbers. When I have some free time, I’ll give you a call-”
“Ehh, but, hee hee hee...”
“Hey, new guy! No flirting with the guests!”
“Ah... okay, okay”
After being chastised by the veteran crewmember, the playboy returned back to work. Looking at his retreating figure from behind, Kyouko mumbled, “I feel like I’ve seen that guy before somewhere...”
“I-I wonder. Isn’t it just your imagination? There are a lot of foreigners who look like him. Let’s go somewhere else,” Kaname said with the anxiety increasing in her voice.
They walked for a bit, stopping to look into the casino hall. Even though it hadn’t been long since they set sail, the regular passengers who were fond of gambling had already surrounded the roulette wheel.
The dealer was a pretty Asian woman.
She was somewhere in her twenties with short, black hair, and slender features. She was also wearing glasses.
“Now then, place your bets, place your bets! Don’t be so stingy, now- whaaat, this side isn’t set up at all. If you don’t hurry, I’ll have to call all bets off, you know-”
It was a more a world of play gambling than a roulette wheel, but most of the customers pushed their chips out in a business-like fashion with smiles on their faces.
“That person, too... I feel like I’ve met her before...”
“...l-let’s go.”
There was nothing else that Kaname could say.
What in the world was happening on this boat?
Kaname thought that after she parted with Kyouko, she might catch one of them and press them for some answers. No, she absolutely had to. However, after they had left the casino hallway, just as Kaname had resolved herself in her mind, Eri Kagurazaka yelled out to them.
“Hey, you two! Didn’t you hear the announcement?! It’s time for dinner! Jindai High School students are to gather in the great hall!”
When they looked around, all of the students and passengers who should have been here and there were gone.
“Oh, yes Ma’am...”
No helping it, questions will have to come later.
Kaname and Kyouko followed along after Eri and walked to the great hall where supper was being served.
♦ ♦ ♦
After he had finished greeting Kaname, Captain Harris had walked around the ship for a while, making sure there was nothing abnormal in any of the stations.
It’s only natural. It was his ship, after all. He always paid attention to safety.
If he allowed something to happen on his ship, there would be problems.
Really big problems.
Especially tonight, with such an important event drawing near.
“Captain,” the chief engineer said to Harris as he caught up with him in the passageway. The man was a Columbian who looked to be over forty years old, and had a black mustache.
“Señor, was that the Japanese girl?”
“Yes.”
“When do we take it out of the ‘vault’?”
“Sometime during the night. We’ll pick a time when the brats are asleep.”
“She’ll just obey without a fuss?”
“Of course. All of her school friends are our hostages, anyway.” The edges of Harris’s mouth curled up. “I was thinking that we’ll throw her friend with glasses into the ocean first. That’ll make it easy.”
“The water is freezing cold in December, isn’t it?”
“Their falling off the ship will be an unavoidable tragedy. The whereabouts of Kaname Chidori and her friend will be unknown on this Christmas Eve.”
“What about Mithril?”
“This ship has already set out. They won’t be able to reach us here. This will please Mr. Gold. The organization will reassess my worth.”
Soon it came time to attend the banquet and make his speech. He thought it was an annoying ritual, but it was part of the job.
Harris lightly tightened his necktie, then walked to the great hall.
The great hall where the Jindai High students had gathered was even bigger than their school gymnasium.
In this enormous space there was an array of large tables- and on top of each table was silver dinnerware as well as large portions of food.
It was the format for a buffet party. It seemed that the regular guests were eating in a different hall. Only waiters and those associated with Jindai High School were in here.
The aroma of herbs drifted around the meat dishes. There was pasta made with generous portions of fresh seafood. There was glistening brown turkey barbeque and roast beef. There was lobster cut right in half and cooked in flavorful, rich soup.
And everything was all-you-can-eat.
When it came to eating out, most of the students, who had only eaten hamburgers, beef bowls, ramen or stand-while-you-eat soba, were moved to tears so much that they were speechless.
“Not yet!!” the principal quickly stopped the drooling students as they started to jump on the food. Grabbing a hold of the mike mounted on the stage in the hall, she gained control over the students.
“The Captain of the ship hasn’t made his speech yet! Got it, everyone? You were told this before you got on board, but- as Jindai High students, be sure to conduct yourselves in a manner that won’t bring any embarrassment, okay!? There are regular guests on this ship, too. Also, everyone, please behave modestly so as not to cause any problems. In the first place, right in the middle of the hijacking incident, you guys were acting impudently on the plane, playing card games and fighting amongst yourselves and bothering the flight attendants terribly, all of which was written about in a weekly article afterwards! How come when it comes to the TPO and standards, you guys are-”
Principal Tsuboi continued her sermon for another three minutes.
“-That’s all. Do you understand!?”
The several hundred students replied “Yes Ma’am!” with strange enthusiasm. Their eyes sparkled, seemingly saying, “We get it already, now hurry and let us eat!”
“Very well. Now let’s listen to some words from the Captain of this ship, the Pacific Chrysalis - everyone, give him a big hand!”
The bearded Captain quickly made his way on stage. As if he were a rock star or something, the students applauded for him very loudly and blew whistles at him.
“Ladies and Gentlemen of Jindai High School. I’m sorry for making you wait. My name is Steven Harris,” Harris said in front of the mike. The students gave comments of admiration at his fluent Japanese.
“Welcome to the Pacific Chrysalis. I could not be more honored that you took us up on our invitation. I have heard about how dreadful your last field trip turned out-” he put in a clever cough, “but don’t worry. There are no terrorists riding on this ship.”
The students burst into laughter.
“That’s true!”
“Way to go, Captain!”
“There’s no way such a thing would happen again, is there!?”
After waiting for everyone to settle back down, Harris continued.
“Thank you very much. However, it is a serious matter. This ship that I run, as well as the smiling faces of our guests, are what I take pride in. A completely safe and pleasant trip. In order to assure those things, I, along with the crew, wholeheartedly... hmm?”
Just then-
A waiter wearing a black vest and butterfly tie blatantly climbed up on stage.
For some reason, the waiter’s head was completely covered by a black mask- he was wearing a balaclava, and in his hand he held a shotgun.
“Eh...?”
As the several hundred students watched closely, the man aimed the shotgun at the ceiling and fired once.
“!”
Harris, the principal and the students all froze at the same time.
“Nobody move!!” the man declared. There was a device on his throat, and his voice was deep and rough. It was tightly connected to the man’s serious-looking mouth, which peeked out from the hole in the balaclava.
“Jindai High second year students! Listen up! We are the treacherous, inhuman organization, ‘The Troubled Revolutionary Group’. This cruise ship, the Pacific Chrysalis, which is filled with imperialistic and exploiting societal members, is ours starting now.”
There was a long, long silence.
Then-
“Again!?” a majority of the students cried out at the same time.
At their critical and fed up voices, the masked man calmly replied, “I’m sorry, but yes. We will be commanding this ship from now on...”
The man looked up.
“Yes... our command...”
He looked down beyond the stage as if searching for help.
The bartender had gone up there unnoticed, rifle in hand, and whispered something to the man. There was some blonde hair sticking out from under the edge of his mask.
“Mm... I see. Anyway, we, the... umm- ‘Red Army Faction different from the one you know’, now have control of this ship.”
“Isn’t that different from the name he said before...?”
“This is a problem .”
“They don’t even seem to have confidence in themselves.”
"We are a treacherous, inhuman terrorist organization. We are taking over this ship starting now!" At the serious-faced masked man's words, the Jindai High School students yell out in a fed up voice, "Again?"
“...anyway, because we are a cruel and unusual terrorist organization, we will not even show mercy to women or children. Resistance means death! Unfortunately, these shotguns are loaded with rubber stun bullets, but they are enough to make someone opposing us cry and beg ‘please stop!’-”
“No, they’re real bullets!” the blonde masked man cut him off.
“Oh, that’s right. They are brutal slab bullets. It will kill the target in one shot. I am not lying,” he awkwardly corrected himself, then the terrorist pointed to the hall exits.
“Of course, you are forbidden to run away from here. Look!”
The students turned around, and in front of the many doors leading to the kitchen and corridors stood more masked terrorists carrying guns and blocking the way.
Most of them were men dressed like members of the cleaning staff or waiters, but for some reason, there was one small girl among them. She was the maid with ash-blonde hair, and was armed with a submachine gun. She was wearing a scarf around the bottom half of her face and a pair of Ray-Ban sunglasses.
“All of them are skilled men who have been forged in a terrorist training camp in Libya. Remember that you will have no chance of winning if you fight them unarmed.”
The terrorists blocking the doors all took one step forward in unison. The masked maid was late, and when she tried to follow suit-
She wasn’t used to wearing high heels, it seemed- she wobbled, then fell down in a very grand fashion.
“Captain...!?” the terrorist on the stage yelled without thinking. The masked maid picked herself up slowly, bravely but
weakly replied, “I’m okay”, then raised her submachine gun. There was an awkward silence.
The terrorist coughed, then continued.
“...anyway, that’s how it is. Now then, Captain Harris, you will come with us. As we are cruel and inhuman terrorists, we have several points to negotiate with you.”
He followed Harris’s blank look. Just then, Kaname Chidori was stomping up the stairs to the stage.
“Stop, woman. Otherwise I’ll shoot.”
The terrorist pointed his gun at Kaname.
She didn’t stop.
“I said stop.”
But she didn’t stop.
“You’ll recklessly throw your life away. If you don’t follow my order, your friends and teachers will be brutally-
“Guh!!”
Kaname’s right hand hit him straight in the gut, and the terrorist was thrown to the floor. The mike fell off below the stage, causing loud feedback over the intercom.
“Now listen up, Sousuke. What in the hell...”
Luckily or unluckily, the mike didn’t pick up her voice.
Kaname violently grabbed the terrorist up by the collar.
“Come on.”
“u... wait, Chidori. In these circumstances-”
“Whatever, just come on.”
“Listen to me.”
“I said ‘Come’, didn’t I!?”
Half dragging the terrorist, Kaname walked down off stage. For some reason, the other terrorists didn’t reproach her for doing so. Rather, they looked somewhat guilty. Because of that, when
Kaname gave an angry look at one of the terrorists guarding the exit, he quickly and quietly gave way.
After the door shut, it was silent for a while.
Then the Jindai High students hummed and whispered among each other.
“Ka-Kaname...”
“She was that brave against the terrorists...”
“What amazing courage.”
“Way to go, Miss Chidori!”
“No, wasn’t she just mad because she’s hungry?”
“But the way those two were acting, it feels like I’ve seen it somewhere before...”
While these conversations were flying around the room, another one of the terrorists went up on stage.
This time it was a tall woman. She was dressed as a casino dealer, and was wearing large sunglasses. She was also wearing a checked-vest with a bowtie and a tight, knee-length skirt. She was carrying a famous German-made submachine gun over her shoulder.
“Ha ha ha. We’re sorry about that. Eh, because of that reason, no one is to leave this area, okay? That girl looked a little feverish, so my friend is escorting her to the medical room.”
No matter how you looked at it, it looked like the terrorist was the one being escorted, but the woman was very clear about it.
“Well, since you guys have plenty of hostage experience, I’ll just go over the important points. Just find ways to kill time like you did before. You can go home tomorrow.”
There were whispers from some of the students saying, “I feel like I’ve heard that voice before...”
“Eh, let’s see... is there anything you guys want? I’ll listen.”
“Excuse me, but I’m kinda hungry,” one student yelled out quietly.
“Oh, that’s right. Sorry about that, you can eat now. Well, I’ll be back later.”
The students quickly sprang on the mountains of food. The terrorists took the pale-faced Captain with them and got down off the stage.
♦ ♦ ♦
December 24th, 19:30 (Japan Standard Time)
The Bridge of The Pacific Chrysalis
There were those people who had snuck in as some of the staff, as well as those who had landed on the boat after it set sail in a helicopter hidden by ECS- about 30 members of Mithril in all. They divided up into teams of three to four people each, mobilized, and speedily gained control of the inside of the ship.
The engine room, crew cabins, recreational facilities, communication facilities, air conditioning facilities, and all of the storehouses and food rooms... most of the passengers and crew had quietly followed their instructions when they saw guns pointed at them. The Mithril soldiers counted the number of “hostages” precisely, then reported the information in detail to their commander, Lieutenant Clouseau.
Right now Clouseau was on the bridge of the Pacific Chrysalis. Just a few minutes earlier, he and two PRT personnel (Primary Response Team) had broken in here. The navigation officer and helmsmen had surrendered easily when Clouseau and the others threatened them with their rifles (which were loaded with rubber bullets). He didn’t like pretending to threaten innocent
people with guns, but this was part of the job. There was no helping it.
“This is Uruz 8. Area D4 secured with 32 people. No casualties.”
“This is Uruz 5. Area A8 secured with 18 people, no casualties. No resistance.”
“This is Uruz 8. C1 is secured, no people, no casualties. We’re going to continue on to C3.”
No casualties, no casualties, no casualties...
The reports were given, and the PRT soldiers entered the information into the laptops they had brought with them. Most of the crew and passengers were already under their control.
“This is Uruz 9. D13 is secured with 3 people. No casualties. We encountered some resistance.”
When he heard Uruz 9- Corporal Yang’s report, Clouseau said over the radio, “This is Uruz 1 to Uruz 9. Explain what you mean by ‘resistance’.”
“I was hit by an old cleaning woman with a mop. Right now she’s lecturing us.”
“...”
When he listened, Clouseau could hear the remonstrative voice of a middle-aged woman on the other end of the receiver. She was saying things like, “You should be ashamed of yourselves” and “Get real jobs” and such.
Clouseau just closed his eyes as his temples twitched in annoyance.
“We’re terrorists. Don’t let people lecture you.”
“But she’s right. She’s saying that whatever our reasons, threatening people with violence is the lowest form of conduct. She told us to remember the faces of our family at home, Christmas when we were kids, and the hot, home-cooked meals...
and such. Everyone on my team got misty-eyed, saying things like, ‘Where did we go wrong?’ and such-”
“Don’t start crying about it, that’s just shameful.”
“I’m sorry, Lieutenant. But it’s sad, having to pretend to be terrorists on Christmas... isn’t today supposed to be a day where everyone is the world is happy? I miss my mom’s cheesecake.”
“Get over it and go secure the other areas. Quickly. Understood!?”
“Uruz 9, roger...”
“For the love of...” Clouseau muttered after he ended the communication. “Even with the circumstances as they are, I’ve never heard of this kind of operation before...”
Circumstances.
If not for the word, “Badame”, which Gauron left behind, they probably would have never suspected this giant cruise ship. Actually, even Mithril’s Intelligence Department came to that conclusion in a preliminary test.
But they were wrong.
There was a big secret hidden on this ship. Inviting the Jindai High School students here was a trap devised by either Amalgam or someone working for them. Their squad had taken these actions in order to foil their plans.
This was an almost completely independent operation. Even most of the staff in the Operations Headquarters didn’t know about the Tuatha de Danaan occupying this cruise boat. They gave each station in Headquarters different information so that they would be able to ascertain Amalgam’s movements and reveal who their insider was.
They still didn’t know the details about what was hidden on this ship.
That’s what they would be investigating from here.
On top of securing the safety of the students and Kaname Chidori, they were also doing a thorough investigation of the “suspicious sections”. They would counterattack using a method that they enemy wouldn’t expect- if they kept that goal in mind, then this operation was reasonable.
Of course, Clouseau still had his doubts about this plan proposed by Sousuke Sagara and Kurz Weber. He and the second in command of the de Danaan, Commander Mardukas, called this sea-jacking “ludicrous” and “haphazard”, and opposed it the entire time. In the end, however, Captain Testarossa and Lieutenant Commander Kalinin let them have their way with “passive approval”.
I’m also a Lieutenant. There are rumors of me being promoted to Captain. I guess I’m going to have to learn about the bureaucrats... he thought.
Naturally, they were always practicing this kind of terrorism suppression training. He was used to playing the bad guy, but-
“But Lieutenant. It’s kind of fun being the terrorists for a change. It’s perfect for relieving stress,” one of the PRT sergeants said in a lively voice as he pointed his submachine gun at the navigation officer.
Translator’s Notes:
1. Pocky is a type of Japanese candy (you don’t know that by now?!)
2. The term used here in Japanese is “Shuwa-chan”, which is a nickname for Schwarzenegger in Japanese.
3. Soba is Japanese buckwheat noodles.
4. This might be confusing to some readers, so to clear it up: if you are in charge of a ship, you are called “captain” no matter what actual rank you may hold (i.e.: Sailor holds the rank of “commander”, but is the “captain” of the Pasadena).
5. Ariake was where the Behemoth incident took place.
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