fmp dvmc ch01b [b-t], Light Novel, Full Metal Panic, 2. A Dancing Very Merry Christmas
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Full Metal Panic!
A Dancing Very Merry Christmas
Chapter One, Part B
September 26, 2004
*****
December 21st, 0351 Hours (Local Time)
West Pacific Ocean, Depth 250 Meters
Tuatha de Danaan, 1st Briefing Room
"In other words, well..."
It was the end of the debriefing after the pirate base operation. When it came to the part
where the Arbalest was hit by the missile, Melissa Mao evaded the explanation.
"In that moment, both a good thing and a bad thing... happened at the same time."
"Well, then, will you tell me the good thing first?" asked the leader of the SRT ground unit,
Belfangan Clouzot, as he listened to the sullen story. He was a tall, black man, around age 30, with
sharp eyebrows. He was wearing field clothes and a fearless expression.
Mao spoke.
"The Arbalest used the Lambda Driver and stopped the explosion from the anti-tank
missile. He also collected a lot of data."
"That's the most important thing, then. Even though it was accidental, good job, Sagara...
however, deal with attacks ahead of time from now on. It's an unnecessary risk."
Sousuke, dressed in field clothes and sitting in a chair, nodded silently.
"And? What's the bad thing?"
"The commander of the pirates who shot the missile was blown away by Kurz. He used the
12.7mm machine gun on the head, and- well," Mao looked down at the clipboard in her hands, "he
used 54 rounds, so there's nothing left."
"Ahh..."
He didn’t seem surprised since it had been a possibility- but even so, Clouzot closed his
eyes, his temples twitching.
"Wonderful. Well then, how do we interrogate the commander who was blown away into
nothing? Please tell me, Weber."
"Ha ha ha. That's impossible. We'll have to ask a psychic from Mount Osore
But
we'll need one who can speak Chinese," Kurz Weber, who was sitting in the seat next to Sousuke,
replied sarcastically with a dry laugh.
"I was just kidding, Sergeant..."
"I know, Lieutenant."
Clouzot and Kurz exchanged threatening glances, and from beside them Mao let out a small
sigh.
These two hadn’t gotten along at all, not since their terrible first meeting. These two had
been in several combat situations together, but it was a miracle that Kurz had not "accidentally"
shot Clouzot in the back.
"Umm, excuse me," Yan Joongkyu said reservedly, holding up his hand, "but I don't think
there was any other choice at that time. From the position of Kurz's M9, a taser would not have
been effective because the range just above him was thick with smoke. There was also no
guarantee that the enemy had not prepared a second shot, so quickly rendering the subject
powerless was the only alternative."
Yan was the one who did the follow-up in these situations.
"...anyone else have an opinion?" Clouzot said, looking around at the others in the room.
Although everyone, including Mao and Sousuke, was passive, they nodded their heads in
agreement. Clouzot finally accepted the judgment of his subordinates.
"Very well. In that case, it was unavoidable. I will report it to the Lieutenant Commander.
That pirate hideout probably has no connection with Amalgam. That means we've lost another
possibility. We're now at a total loss as to where the bases of their colleagues are or even the true
character of their organization."
"What about the results from the analyses of Venom and Behemoth?" Mao asked.
Mithril had recovered the wreckage of what could be called numerous "Amalgam-made"
enemy ASes from the battles so far. It had almost been six months since they recovered
"Behemoth". If the Department of Research and the Department of Intelligence would do some
serious analysis, they would be able to identify some of the companies that were connected with
manufacturing the parts.
"It seems the important parts are mostly 'Source Unknown'. The electrical components are
Western or Japanese-made and could be from anywhere."
"You're kidding me. They should be able to pinpoint factories that can make that degree of
specialty parts."
"If it's a Western factory, yes. They let us analyze their design habits, common features and
such- but when it comes to Venom, there’s a strong opinion that it's a prototype of a Soviet-made
next generation model AS."
"You mean the one called Shadow?"
The Zy-98 Shadow. The code name of the next powerhouse AS to replace the Rk-92 which
was currently in development by the Zeya Department of Planning.
The existence of this new-type AS had been made known to those with military connections
in the West only one month ago. Even Mithril did not have all the particulars, but it was said that
they had succeeded in creating perfect electrical propulsion due to a small-size, high-power
palladium reactor like that of the M9. Not only that, but it was said to actually surpass the
specifications of the M9, as well.
The Venom was said to be an adaptation of the Shadow.
"We still aren't out of the guessing stage, though. Speaking from the standpoint of the
structure of the machines, it looks like there's a connection between Zeya's new AS and the Venom
and our M9s and the Arbalest. Anyway, we'll pay attention to the keyword ‘Badham’ that Sagara
heard. But then again, Gauron may have misled us to screw with us."
"Lieutenant. There is no mistake that that word was some kind of hint," Sousuke said.
Clouzot's surmise could very well be correct, but for some reason, Sousuke couldn't believe that the
word Gauron told him in Hong Kong was just nonsense.
"I understand. Or it could be a trap... either way, the plan is to be on guard... but for now
our job isn't information analysis, it’s extermination of pests. From now on any mission where
there's the potential to gather information about the Venom-type AS, even if it's only a little bit,
will be carried out perfectly. Lieutenant Commander Kalinin is of the same opinion on this.
Remember that."
Everyone present each gave replies of "understood" or "yeah, yeah".
"Well then, you each have until seven o'clock tomorrow morning to file your reports. I will
need three people to guard the pirates- Weber, I'm recruiting you."
"Eeh!? Why do I have to-"
"That's an order. Take charge, choose some guards from the PRT personnel, and give them
directions. Got it? Everything is your responsibility. I don't want a repeat of the Perio Islands."
"...understood," Kurz answered in a more respectable voice when he thought of the death of
McAllen, Clouzot's predecessor.
"Then you're all dismissed. Good job today."
Everyone stood up and left the briefing room, talking about various topics.
"What is it?" Clouzot said to Mao, who had stayed behind.
"Why did you make Kurz do it? If it's guard duty, I could have done it."
"He needs some experience doing some officer duties. It'll make him learn some
responsibility."
"Ah, so that's it," Mao nodded in comprehension.
"That's not the only thing, though. I've talked with Lieutenant Commander Kalinin and
Captain Testarossa. You're a second lieutenant... now we need to promote someone to sergeant
major of the SRT unit. Those who we could promote are Sagara, Sandarapta, and Weber. But
since Sagara is too young, he's only part time. Sandrapta isn't suitable for command, and also-"
"And also?"
"According to that girl, Kaname Chidori, during the Perio Islands incident, when McAllen
turned to Guen for the last time, he told him 'Get Weber and the others'. The Lieutenant
Commander was gone and you were injured. So the name he gave him was Weber's. The Captain
was also watching over him, wasn't he?"
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