The joint raid had been a success, but the tension remained. For Major Kazama, the mission
wouldn't be over until the ceremony was finished. He sat in the command center, listening to
Kyoko Fujibayashi's report.
"So, the Australian military is still withholding their final answer?"
"Precisely."
Captain Johnson was communicating with his superiors via a British military satellite to avoid
interception. Naturally, the Japanese were listening in anyway.
Kyoko's moniker, the 'Electron Sorceress,' was primarily a tribute to her skills as a hacker, but it
was deeply rooted in her magical specialty. She was a master of Convergence, Dispersion, and
Oscillation-type magic that interfered with electrical and radio signals.
She wasn't a "witch" who used electromagnetism as a blunt weapon; she was a specialist in
intercepting communications, whether wired or wireless. Even optical fiber signals eventually
converted back into electricity, which placed them firmly within her domain. She also possessed the rare ability to reconstruct data from magnetic or electronic media that had been overwritten or deleted.
"Sanada, what's the verdict?" Kazama asked.
"The Captain is asking for a decision on whether to abort or proceed with tomorrow's operation," Sanada replied.
There were communications Kyoko couldn't decrypt, but there were none she couldn't intercept. Johnson's encrypted burst had been caught perfectly by the Battalion's receivers. And what Kyoko couldn't crack, Sanada usually could. He was not just a genius of magic engineering, but a master of cryptography.
"Personally, I'd prefer it if they chose to proceed," Kazama remarked.
If Tatsuya or Yugen had been in the room, they would have likely countered that statement. However, as Yugen had noted when they parted at Naha Port, a cornered rat—or a cornered GAA defector—was liable to try something suicidal. Kazama agreed.
The enemy were deserters. Without active support from Australia, their failure was a mathematical certainty. Any damage they could cause now would be minimal, and it was better to catch them here and deport them officially than let them slip away into the international shadows.
Kyoko's terminal chirped. The decryption was trivial now that they had the key.
"The response from Australia is in."
"Give it to me."
"'Operation is a go for tomorrow. Coordinate with the GAA anti-peace faction to ensure success.'"
"I see. Yanagi, pass this to Chen Xiangshan. Work out the interception formation with him. I'll leave the details to you."
"Sir!" Yanagi saluted and left.
Of the three remaining, Sanada spoke first. "Australia is being remarkably bold. Do you think their operatives have access to a new weapon? Something other than 'Ozone Circle'—perhaps a different Strategic-Class magic?"
"Unlikely," Kazama said. "In fact, it's more likely they're expecting them to fail."
Sanada looked surprised, but Kazama continued. "If Australia had a new Strategic-Class magic, the UK would be the first to suppress it while simultaneously claiming a share of the glory. They'd have announced it with their own government-sanctioned mage by now. They're arrogant like that."
Kazama leaned back. "The probability of success for this sabotage is incredibly low, yet they aren't sending reinforcements. There might be a disconnect between the General Staff and the field, but if you want a mission to succeed, you provide adequate back-end support. They aren't doing that."
"...Then why push for it? Setting aside the GAA defectors, I don't see the benefit for the Australian military," Sanada argued. "It's a diplomatic disaster waiting to happen."
"It's possible the operatives are considered expendable," Kazama replied. "Or perhaps the mission is designed so that the fallout doesn't touch the brass. Or..."
"Or what, Major?"
"Or their true target isn't us or the GAA. In that case, the most likely targets are Tatsuya and Yugen."
Normally, sending operatives against a regular army was par for the course in the world of shadow intelligence. But this time, it was public knowledge that Tatsuya was representing the Yotsubas, and Yugen was there as the head of the Kagurazaka family and a proxy for the Mitsuyas.
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