Ranma 1/2 Fan Fiction ❯ Chained World: The Fall of the House of Kuno ❯ The Fog of War ( Chapter 30 )

This was originally published by me under the name Anduril at Anime Addventures, with the only changes being a few corrections in spelling, punctuation and the occasional word choice. If you like the beginning of my story but think I've gone off the rails, or have your own ideas for a great branch-off, or think I'm taking too long to update and want to continue the story yourself, come to Anime Addventures and join in the fun!

I claim no ownership rights to any of the works of Rumiko Takahashi.

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Team Leader Nakajima Kenjiro waited with hard-learned patience at the edge of the forest that ran along the cleared strip of land around the perimeter fence of a Kuno manufactory. That patience had been perhaps the hardest lesson the street samurai had learned in his years as a ronin, but it was the most important, and so he and the rest of his ad hoc team waited for the signal from the forward scouts that they'd cleared a way through the installation's physical security.

Between the scouts, the net runners, and traitors inside the manufactory, Kenjiro wasn't expecting much trouble getting in. As well, there was the nature of the target — he had helped raid many different types of businesses over the years, but this was the first time he'd ever been hired to destroy a clothing factory, even if the clothing in question was top-line. Still, it wasn't like it was a research facility or weapons production line, just how tough could the security be?

Over his ear bug, he heard the pattern of clicks signaling the all clear from the scouts and grinned as he clicked the code to move out. Finally! This wasn't going to be the most exciting mission he'd ever carried out, but maybe there'd be a little excitement along the way.

As Kenjiro rose to a crouch from the base of the tree he'd been using for cover and moved toward to the fence, he caught a hint of movement out of the corner of his eye. Whirling and raising his assault rifle, he froze, gaping at the brown-haired teenage girl in a green miniskirt stepping out of the treeline, a glowing ball of what looked like electricity sparking between her hands. As he shook himself free from his surprise and swung his rifle toward her, the lightning leapt toward him and his world went white even as he felt a wash of heat at his back and heard Miwako behind him screaming just before their ammunition ignited.

/oOo\

“But My Lord, we don't have any more men to send!” Takeuchi Kazuki objected. “The only men we could possibly spare are those tasked to the security of the Kuno estate!” The short, solid chief of security paused, suddenly thoughtful. “You know, that could work, for a few weeks at least. With the Imperial Army guarding some of our installations and shipping and Hibiki limiting his wide-ranging attacks to those facilities without heavy security” — and how Hibiki knew which those were, Takeuchi had no idea, and didn't think anyone else did, either — “and the ronin we've hired, the small army we're keeping here in Nerima to discourage outright assault might make the difference.” Grimacing, he added, “If we could count on our mysterious allies to pick up the slack in a predictable way we wouldn't need to do even that.”

Lord Kuno nodded, concealing his own grimace. Twice in the past week, teams of street samurai had been intercepted just short of their targets at the very beginning of their attacks on Kuno facilities and wiped out to the last man and woman.

Another time, the unknown allies had intercepted the ronin after they had completed their raid on one of the Kuno research facilities, the raiders again wiped out to the last man. That time, it turned out that the reason for the raid had been illegal research into a new designer drug, including testing on illegal slaves. Lord Kuno had called in the Tokubetsu Koto Keisatsu as soon as his investigators realized what they had on their hands, and now the Emperor's Hands were crawling all over the facility — some Kuno retainers were going to be crucified when the investigation was over, their families sold into permanent slavery, and Tatewaki was lucky that it had been brought to light this early in his reign or he might have been held responsible as well.

“Do you believe that we will be safe here without those security forces?” he asked.

Takeuchi hesitated, but finally nodded. “We should be,” he said. “Nothing short of heavy weapons is likely to get through the Family ninja and booby-traps on your estate, and there is Nerima's own population to consider — they are unlikely to take well to an invasion of their home. Besides, the very fact we've pulled all the heavy security out of Nerima will set our enemies aback.”

“Like Zhuge Liang, flinging open the gates of an empty city,” Lord Kuno said even as he chuckled at the thought of the intensely booby-trapped estate grounds, all the traps ready to be played like an orchestra from the central control room when they weren't set to their normal automated status. Apparently, there was at least one good thing about having a highly “eccentric” rich lord, and now he was glad that he hadn't had either the time or ready kobankin to tear the booby traps out and replace them with a more rational security system. “Very well,” he agreed, nodding. “Repost the Neriman security contingent to our more vulnerable facilities as soon as we carry out the raid on the slavers.”

“My Lord, unless we move the date up that raid is a week away, and repositioning the security will take time,” Takeuchi pointed out. “Even if we started shifting them right away, we are probably going to lose a few more facilities — to Hibiki if no one else. I understand your desire to crush these slavers, fully agree with it, but our first responsibility is to our own people.”

Lord Kuno gazed at his subordinate, reflecting again on his worries about the trustworthiness of the lording police force — if the security forces were moved out immediately, the raid would have to either be called off or handed off to Captain Kasai to take care of. There probably wasn't much of a security risk for the raids on the illegal brothels, those would have few armed guards and so could be handled with little enough forewarning to the police assigned to them that any corrupt officials wouldn't have time to warn their targets of what was coming. But the transshipment point was another matter — the sheer number of girls being held there would guarantee a higher number of guards, and so require a greater amount for preplanning. Still, as much as I don't like it, Takeuchi-kun is correct — our own people must come first. “Very well, Takeuchi-kun, reassign the Neriman security and move them to their new assignments as quickly as possible. I'll make arrangements with Captain Kasai for the raid on the slavers, and hope for the best.”

“Yes, My Lord,” Takeuchi acknowledged, rose and bowed, then quickly left. Lord Kuno watched his unofficial general leave, then with a sigh turned back to his desk's monitor to resume the ever-present paperwork. Just a few more hours, he thought to himself encouragingly, and then on to kenjutsu practice with the center of my life, dinner, and bed. I will have to remember to come up with a particularly fine reward for Pyo-kun for his suggestion.

/oOo\

“You are certain that the energy signatures match?” the Emperor asked his Hand.

The (usually) nondescript woman nodded an affirmative. “Yes, Your Majesty.” Then, frowning slightly, she added, “Actually, one of the signatures is new. But the others all match those picked up at the sites of battles between the Senshi and their otherworldly opponents, and the new one shares general characteristics with the others — I'd say we are looking at a new Senshi.”

The Emperor turned from his Hand to gaze down on the garden he found so comforting. “So, Meioh-san has chosen to side with a Family she hates, and that after doing her best to outbid Lord Kuno for Ranma's services.”

“I know that there is some sort of link between Meioh-san and the Senshi,” the Hand said cautiously. “There has to be, considering how many of the warriors and mages she's recruited have been seen fighting alongside the Senshi. But perhaps this time the Senshi are acting without her approval, maybe even without her knowledge?”

“Perhaps, but I doubt it,” the Emperor disagreed, turning back toward his subordinate. “We never were able to come up with a good reason for her massive bid at the auction, and now this, the first intervention of the Senshi in the Great Game, also touches on the Kuno Family. It cannot be a coincidence. Still,” he continued thoughtfully, “you are right that we shouldn't make assumptions. Set up a team to deal with this specifically and see what they can come up with.”

“Yes, Your Majesty,” the Hand said, then bowed deeply and quickly left, leaving the Emperor to the garden and his thoughts. Oddly enough, those thoughts weren't about the mysterious Meioh-san or her Senshi allies, but of the report he'd received just that day of another massive and now shattered screen at the Nerima Slave Center, this time with guards on the buildings across the street knocked out by unknown (because unseen) assailants first. Good for you, Tendo Nabiki, he thought fondly. You keep right on pruning away at the wild growth. We'll have this trimmed back into shape, yet.

/oOo\

Nabiki sighed with relief as she shut down the link between her computer and the Kuno Family mainframe. And you pull it off again ... I think, she thought as she leaned back in her seat. She still couldn't believe Kuno had been stupid enough to give her remote access to his home computer once, long enough for her to create a backdoor. And then, when she'd learned of the Elder Kuno's death, she'd moved fast enough to hook up and piggyback when Kuno was upgraded to a superuser of the Kuno Family systems. Still, no matter how well she hid her tracks, sooner or later the Kuno security was going to clue in to the fact that there were two Lord Kunos swanning around their network. But not yet, and no signs that they suspect a thing, so all should be good, no worries. Yeah, right, that's why you're drenched in sweat.

Standing and stretching before grabbing her bathing supplies, the middle Tendo headed for the furo. So, let's get cleaned up, then let everyone know the news. Akane will be disappointed that I can't give her any word on Ranma yet, damn it, but Ukyo ought to find the news that Kuno Security is pulling out interesting. I wonder what impact that is going to have on the raid coming up? Still, I think that will be the last time I access the Kuno systems until everything blows up — that little surprise I've set up won't do us any good if I can't access it.

As she stripped down and soaped up, she thought longingly of the reports she'd read of the latest innovation to appear in that hotbed of invention, the United States — neural interfaces hooked up directly to the optic nerve with instructions transmitted via subvocalization. Granted, that wasn't much of an improvement over her current capabilities, but it was just the beginning, what was almost certainly coming after was staggering — and bound to be expensive as hell. Hmmm, I wonder if the Children of Israel would be willing to pony up the cash when the time comes for the needed operations a few years down the line, if it means having a skilled hacker with the best equipment among their ranks?