4.1 - Preparation Phase

EPISODE 4.1
“Preparation Phase – UNFINISHED GIG 2”
Hokkaido, Nukekubi Japan, 2039

. . .

Recollection Three. Six years. And within each passing second, the sea change approaches ever closer…

FUJISAWA:

「 I appreciate your determination, Major Kusanagi. But is this the right course of action? You said Remuda compromised your network. 」

Major Kusanagi Motoko directed a hardened stare towards the Sapporo police chief as he scratched at his scruffy neck over the re-secured, cyber lobby channel. In the material world, the Major’s body shifted in a tidal motion, shoulders rolling side to side. While cramped in the abdominal carriage of her Tachikoma spider tank, there was just enough room to wobble as a truck-sized, quadcopter drone lifted her thirty meters off the ground.

She easily held back the profanity-laced rant boiling in her mind. Minutes ago, Fujisawa was begging for a savior to his delicate political dilemma. But it seemed the Den Spirit cult leader spooked him into a paralysis befitting of a coward. She could drill into him, point out it was his people who Remuda compromised, not Section Nine. Instead Kusanagi maintained her cool, but she was past smiles and patience.

KUSANAGI:

「 Chief Fujisawa. I’m suspended over the Den Spirit facility by your drone airlifter. If Remuda was such a threat, he could hijack the controls and drop me into the Ishikari River. But he has not. 」

FUJISAWA:

「 He hacked us, Major… Do anything more, and we’ll face a political meltdown! A war in my Sapporo! 」

Kusanagi tsked at the police chief.

KUSANAGI:

「 You gave my team operational authority; we’re seeing this through. Commander Togusa is already moving to the front gate. 」

Chief Fujisawa stared at Kusanagi’s virtual avatar across the cyber lobby for two, long seconds. He searched her artificial, violet eyes for compromising emotion but the Major revealed nothing. The respectful, full-body cyborg from the frozen parking lot was gone, replaced by an unfeeling war machine with hardened pupils of plaster and glass.

An adversarial thought went unspoken, 'You've grown soft and placated, officer.'

Glaring away, the Sapporo police chief blinked twice as if chasing away brimming tears. He gave the Major one more glance of distaste, nodded, and closed the network connection. A green light acknowledgment from the Sapporo police command network arrived immediately after without further comment. Apparently, a veteran of the infamous Nemuro Landing couldn’t face political suicide head on. No matter, unlike Fujisawa, Kusanagi had nothing left to lose. In seven-hours-time, she would be out of a job anyway.

Sealing more network ports to the Sapporo police network for good measure, the Major ensured Chief Fujisawa and his command staff would be unable to reconnect without entirely redoing their authentication handshake. They could watch from their police equipment and SAT trooper cameras, but from here on out, this was a Section Nine operation.

KUSANAGI:

「 Listen up, all units. This is Kusanagi, we restored our C2 network. We are proceeding with the Den Spirit operation. The plan remains unchanged. I want this situation resolved in the hour. Warrant Team, move up. Assault Team, prepare encirclement. Overwatch, do we have network domination? 」

Dozens of green light acknowledgments winked online from the team leaders among Section Nine and the Sapporo Special Assault Team (SAT) members. Reiko of Team North aboard Section Nine’s circling tiltrotor plane flickered into place next to the Major in the cyber lobby.

REIKO:

「 We’ve seized the network DMZ and their geo-fence control is wiped out. We’ll have full network domination in about ten minutes. Internal networks will require more active recon, but don’t be surprised if you encounter shielded, or air-gaped network nodes inside. Full enemy strength is still uncertain. 」

Kusanagi nodded to the high-heeled subordinate and Reiko vanished as quick as she appeared. On the Major’s virtual battle map, she watched Togusa’s warrant team roll forward in a four truck convoy of MRAPs towards the front gate of the Akiya Power Solutions facility. They politely stopped before a shabby gatehouse and weathered security fence, shocking a blurry-eyed gate guard into alarm.

From Togusa’s eyes and ears, the Major watched him peek his armored side door and dish out his legendary police drama-quality dialogue.

“This is the Sapporo police department. We are here to serve a warrant for the arrest of Yuuka Remuda. Please have him and any occupants of Akiya Power Solutions transition to the front office, or the parking lot. Either location is acceptable, but this entire facility and occupants are now under police investigation. Any disturbance will be met with appropriate force.”

The gate guard blinked twice, gawking as he tried to formulate a response. The older man’s hands seem to fumble towards his duty belt, between an old 10mm SIG Sauer hand cannon and a hand radio set. It wasn’t really clear what he thought but quickly reconsidered—his hands fell slack at his sides.

“I—Uhm... I can call the main office and see if it’s alright for me to open the gate. Who… Should I just tell them the Sapporo police are here?”

“That would be most appreciative. While you’re at it, could you open the gate too?”

The gate guard looked between the gatehouse and Togusa’s lead MRAP where the mullet-haired man stared down from the high-set, bulletproof door. He brandished the butt stock of his geared-out, Seburo C26A bullpup rifle behind the reinforced window for good measure.

“I’m not sure I can without permission…”

“Would you like to see the warrant? I can have you arrested as well for interference with an official police operation.”

The gate guard mumbled something incoherent but rushed quickly back to the gatehouse. The security gate rose and the tire spikes receded. Togusa’s driver didn’t wait and the chief investigator had to adjust himself suddenly as his eager forces barreled forward into the Den Spirit parking lot. They carelessly rolling over sidewalks and parking barriers with little effort. Black tire marks followed them across the light concrete and dark pavement, with little grace and complete disregard.

“Major, go ahead and secure the perimeter. We have the front door.” Togusa reported over the re-encrypted radio link as background noise and the virtual map confirmed SAT troopers and Section Nine arresting officers pouring out the backs of their black, seamless assault trucks.

“Understood, we’re going as well. Two minutes, let me know when you have an initial head count. What did the gate guard say back there by the way? I didn’t hear his last remark.”

“He said, ‘I just work here’ before running off.”

“Good to know I suppose,” Kusanagi admit with some unintended mirth. “Stay safe, Togusa.”

“Roger that. And your team as well, Major.”

Switching telecom mediums, the Major pinged her assault team units.

KUSANAGI:

「 Warrant team is in place. Assault team, close the perimeter. Overwatch, distribute bot nets to pry open the inner ports. 」

Another stream of green acknowledgment lights flashed through Kusanagi’s cyber lobby. Squad leaders waved their fireteams forward, in unison and guided purpose. Mission: second phase, commence!

Sapporo SAT troopers, represented by blue figurines on the virtual map, materialized from the shadowy tree cover onto Akiya Power Solutions turf. Their ghostly forms flickered against the early morning mist, as soft wind raised loose sleet around their legs despite the fading blizzard above. Their insulated chameleon suits retained an off-white color but transitioned into impressionist patterns of dried leaves and branches matching the defrosted underbrush against the dim sun’s first light.

From the north, Borma’s group rose from the Ishikari riverbed—shivering as they did. Pazu took command of the east wood line, while on the west wood line, Ishikawa took charge. Remuda and his cult were fully encircled, cut off from the outside world. It would be moments or minutes before they realized not just physically, but digitally, as Section Nine’s bot net began to lock down networks with sanitized ransomware.

Above the advancing police forces, Kusanagi’s aerodyne force swept low over the treetops. Flying low to the ground disrupted their sound and radar signatures, reducing enemy reaction times. Conifer tips parted violently as spider tanks affixed to quadrotor lift drones by sturdy cabling roared into the open even with the benefit of automation-managed, noise-canceling turbines.

In most cases, the refined and quick, hybrid warfare dominance put on display by Kusanagi’s team could bring a swift surrender. The joint operation between Sapporo Police and Public Security included almost a hundred operatives and mixed support elements of armor and aircraft. It was a small army across the physical and digital planes. However, Kusanagi was not one to assume her adversaries would lie down without a fight. In some manner, she hoped they didn’t.

Remuda’s brief illusionary spectacle prior was impressive, but not improbable to most hackers with the right experience, imagination, and resources. Of more concern was his successful intrusion. Major Kusanagi gripped onto her Tachikoma tank’s control yokes in slighted frustration, the recent humiliation burning white-hot like an sucking, chest wound. Despite her best laid plans, even experience and talent in cyber defense could fall to the simplest, obvious trappings of hacker social engineering or the lucky, unpatched exploit.

Few could best the likes of the Major’s cyberwarfare skills, and yet, a simple cult leader managed to do so. Maybe describing Remuda as ‘just a cult leader’ was writing him off too quick. Nothing in his dossier or the sensitive personal knowledge of the Sapporo police chief revealed Remuda as a hacker extraordinaire, but certainly as a cautious and privy man.

Releasing her fingerless gloves from their death grips, Kusanagi let off a practiced exhale. Less like a human body, the action seemed to release her condensed rage and froze over her frustration. She never pulled the trigger on an unsanctioned target. Anger and rage were an innate part of the Major, but she was still a sanctioned, even well-mannered Japanese police officer. She made sure to reminder herself of these facts, and to never cross the line. Ishikari City wasn’t a free-fire warzone like in the Americas, and if Batou could set aside his demons from the fraught United Nations peacekeeping operations a decade earlier, so could she. But it was also an unspoken reality anyone who succeeded in hacking her didn’t live very long after.

One way or another, Remuda would belong to Kusanagi. A vanquished foe, revealed as a child flying too close to a burning sun. The cult leader didn’t know it yet, but he would soon burn for his hubris.

A crackle of neural communication protocols interrupted the Major’s internal concerns. Her eyes continued her intense watch of troopers clearing eight inches of unpacked snow 200 meters across, and the thumping of multiple quadrotors circling the facility’s giant concrete gourds. However, her mental attention turned to the imposingly large explosives specialist Borma with his red, unobscured Sleepless Eye implants—similar to Batou’s from service time in the JSDF Rangers.

BORMA:

「 Major, look at this. The Akiya Power Solutions group was shell dumping. 」

Borma’s video perspective superimposed itself over Kusanagi’s vision, hitching her breath as she made eye contact with a life-sized, and soulless humanoid machine skull. Not one. No, many more than one.

Borma’s extended index finger circled at the ground as a couple of his SAT troopers stumbled through the frozen mud, leaving deep footprints in their approach. Skulls. Many cyborg, or android skulls half-submerged in the frozen earth.

Kusanagi dismissed her first instinct of mass homicide and moved to her second assumption.

KUSANAGI:

「 Just illegal dumping of cyborg bodies? What a waste. You think his congregation are the former owners? 」

Borma prodded at the a resurfaced skull with the toe of his iron-tipped combat boot. Under the new pressure, the skull’s fragile surface popped at the seams to reveal rusted, empty internals. The loose parts bounced against other machine bodies in the cold dirt: a loose titanium sternum, and a lonely carbon-fiber femur. Hollow and pristine, with no hardened or soft organic paste.

BORMA:

「 No way to tell right now. Evidently, they’re empty. No cyber brains. But at a quick count, I think there’s twenty-three bodies in the riverbed. Do you want my team to investigate any? 」

Kusanagi shook her head.

KUSANAGI:

「 We’ll come back for them. Tag the area of concern and continue forward. 」

Kusanagi freed herself from Borma’s private communique and swapped to Section Nine’s resident sniper, Saito. His Tachikoma spider tank was the first to make touchdown upon the surface of Akiya’s massive cistern domes. Four SAT troopers jumped off his Tachikoma canopy as Saito’s small form slipped free from its abdominal driver cab.

KUSANAGI:

「 Saito. How much time do you need to assemble image curtains? 」

SAITO:

「 Hmm, its rare I’m on the other end unfurling these things. Ten minutes tops. 」

The Major chewed her lip, holding off a smart remark from the cyber lobby. Her internal response felt like an odd cliche from an American war film. She muttered to herself, “You have five minutes,” though Saito remained unaware.

Saito and the SAT troopers unfurled four, large sheets of interwoven plastic, expanding ever bigger from six creased layers into football field-length blankets rolled down the sides of the first concrete dome. Saito’s team secured the image curtains on quick-assembly steel stilts to prevent the sheets from shifting under the down wash from drone propellers above.

The Section Nine designated marksman glanced up from a final stilt towards the Major’s spider tank. Unveiling herself from its abdominal cabin, Kusanagi called down, “Are we ready?”

“Lower the regenerator for hook up and we’ll be invisible!” Saito yelled out in confirmation.

The large quadrotor drone lowered Kusanagi’s spider tank along with a large, green box from its undercarriage taking a few tense moments and unsettling shakes before finding solid concrete ground. A cyber incursion from Remuda did not come.

Saito and his troopers pulled cables from the imaging curtains and with some difficulty plugged them into the electrical ports. Even against the roaring wind atop the concrete dome, a sudden buzz of electrified energy thrummed into existence causing a pair of troopers to stiffen in discomfort. Seeking secondary confirmation, Kusanagi flagged Reiko over the secured cyber communications.

KUSANAGI:

「 How we looking? External feed and connection good? 」

REIKO:

「 Video feed and 360-refraction is stable. Dome roof entry point is out of sight. 」

Checking to verify, Kusanagi raised an open palm in her cyber lobby, superimposing a video feed from the tiltrotor overhead and from trooper bodycam below. The heavy image curtains unfurled successfully and no one could see the Tachikoma and Section Nine assault team on the roof.

KUSANAGI:

「 Reiko. Confirm one last time, this is an active micromachine basin? Which ones are used for public activity? 」

REIKO:

「 Hold one… Here we go, found this week’s event itinerary and floor plan in the edge server. Pushing it to you now. Reminder: you will lose contact with external support assets inside the facility. I’ve redirected Ishikawa’s squad on a path to set up wireless repeaters to maximize internal communications but it will take some time before its persistent. Until then, you will be on your own. 」

Kusanagi responded with an green acknowledgment light and quickly parsed through the uploaded documents. Nine micromachine basins, a majority remained in active operation as the aged infrastructure still supported the local municipal communities with clean, recycled water and efficient byproduct materials extraction. According to the schematics, seven were in use for industrial purposes. The Den Spirit cult converted two for more human-centric pursuits. Auditoriums especially, probably for sermon and conspiracy meetings.

The Major lowered herself back into her Tachikoma's control cushion and sealed the armored door. Saito and the other SAT troopers stepped aside as the spider tank lurched toward the loose concrete cap and steel grate at the dome's summit. Humming, and whooshing sounds quickened from the Tachikoma's left, grappling arm as a short hose of molten-aluminum fire sparked to life against a steel tube, a thermal lance.

Kusanagi and her tank Musashi began to work, cutting into the worn out concrete mold, turning it bright orange under intensive heat as it bubbled and cracked. Hiss-and-pops bubbled as water flash-vaporized free from the old concrete mix. The surface was slow to warp under the assault but it soon gave way, dribbling into small rivers of slag. As the rock turned to paste, the Major pinged the second breaching team.

KUSANAGI:

「 Batou. You on the other roof yet? 」

BATOU:

「 I'm there, Major. Our image curtains are up as well. 」

KUSANAGI:

「 Check the sewage schematics, our entry points match up with the initial plan of engagement. We'll converge at a tunnel: Checkpoint Foxtrot, and investigate Dome Three and then Dome Five. Expect resistance. 」

BATOU:

「 Of course, I’ll be careful! 」

The Major hummed in affirmation. Her deputy was a Rangers' special ops veteran. He knew the game, maybe better than even her. But caution never hurt either.

BATOU:

「 You should be careful too, Major. That’s your way of saying you care about me, right? 」

KUSANAGI:

「 No clue what you mean. 」

Kusanagi shook her head with slight mirth. How long has he been nesting that joke? One too many times and for one too many years. She did appreciate him, but it was more fun to avoid acknowledgment as part of their long game of cat and mouse. Instead, the Major pinged the whole C2 network, grabbing the attention of both the assault and warrant teams.

KUSANAGI:

「 Assault Team, phase two! Begin dome breach!」

Musashi's burning bar fizzled to a drip-and-stop as Kusanagi let her finger off the oxygen-fuel trigger. After she swapped the spider tank's weapon and dumped its fuel rods, she guided the Tachikoma’s 7.62mm NATO nose gun toward the warped concrete plug.

Thunderous crashes of ignition echoed from the spider tank's front arm, punching dinner plate-sized holes in the molten concrete. A series of booming gunfire answered back from Batou's dome, marking the second breach point. The red-hot concrete melted away soon enough, falling away from the grate and cap like foam.

The darkness retreated against morning light to reveal the active micromachine basin of mixed waters four stories below. Through the hole, the water surface churned with dark greens and browns while flashing orange and red lights faded underneath. While the dark water was not caused by mud, algae or human waste, the colored lights revealed long shadows of cloudy concentrate spinning in the slow vortex. Within the micromachine clouds, metallic spindles shifted and twitched as if alive, coupling and decoupling in programmed rhythm. Without knowledge of their industrial process, a bystander could be forgiven for thinking the basin housed a sea monster.

To put it another way, up close—the second or third iteration of the so-called Japanese Miracle looked more like an omen than a gift from the heavens.

KUSANAGI:

「Breach on Dome Eight complete. Assault Team One proceeding with entry point.」

BATOU:

「 Ten-Four. Breach on Dome Six complete. Entering the facility. 」

Kusanagi acknowledged Batou’s update with a green light before opening the external speakers on Musashi. “Saito, stay here and cover Togusa’s arrests as Overwatch. I’ll take point for the Assault Team, pass me your Tachikoma?”

“Sure thing Major. Good luck down there. You Sapporo boys as well.”

The eyepatch sniper unlocked the rear cab of the Tachikoma and pried his three-piece Seburo SR-50 Limited sniper rifle from the interior storage baskets.

“Man, its going to be cold up here...” Saito added which earned him a virtual slap of warmth over his head by Kusanagi via the cyber communications. “Hey!”

“You can feel warm later, Saito. Mission first!”

The Major’s Tachikoma shot out two strands of adhesive smart paste, sticking the spider tank to the concrete dome summit before dropping itself into the molten hole with little warning and a thump of compressed air.