Clinch River Gotei Briefing

Murasaki supposed she should be thankful that she was allowed to handle this particular matter, considering how secretive and controlling the Captain Commander tended to be about sensitive topics. Then again, she'd been the first one to even report the issue, and by the time she had, she'd already started the process of reconnaissance and planning out the expedition in question.

"Alright, thanks for coming, everyone."

Most might have thought that Murasaki's choices for this particular task force were unusual, especially considering she'd chosen none of her own squad's usual operators. However, she'd read enough reports to feel that she could trust those she'd asked to join this expedition. It wasn't as if they were going alone, of course. She would be ready to send backup at the first call if something went wrong, but she wasn't going to start thinking about that just yet. Instead, she simply looked to the shinigami that she'd called to meet in one of the closed off meeting rooms of the Gotei, and spoke confidently.

"I won't waste any of your time. There's something going on down in America, and even though that's not under our jurisdiction anymore, it's so weird that we don't really have much choice but to investigate. The last thing we need is something potentially dangerous in the wrong hands. Some weird energy that nobody in 3rd Division could even identify is going crazy down there, and there's already some mystery gang looking like they wanna make it theirs. Obviously, that's not good."

Pointing to a map she'd tacked up to the wall, she circled a fairly backwoods area of the United States, nothing seeming to be anywhere nearby.

"This is where you're headed. It's a river valley in the mountains, and considering it's winter, expect to be cold. Our recon says you're going to be spending pretty much all your time underground, so don't go in there expecting to do much aerial combat. I wish I had more info for you, but honestly...this is pretty much a total question mark."

Honesty was the best policy, and Murasaki wasn't going to be sending anyone into a potentially dangerous situation unless they fully understood the gravity of what they were getting themselves into.

"We don't know much of anything about this place, but I'll do anything I can to help you prepare. Any questions? I know you probably have a lot."

Being an approachable superior had its benefits. For example, when the lower seats and general members of her division learned that she saw herself as basically one of them and thus always had the best for every division member in mind, it inspired a comforting sense of loyalty. ‘You’ll be there for me, I’ll be there for you.’ It worked. Not with everyone, of course, but Hanako hat…methods of bringing them in line, too.
One downside was that Hanako was still surprised when someone asked for her personally, by name.

This had been one of those occasions. A briefing, held by Kagayaku no Murasaki. As far as Hanako knew, Murasaki was the Captain of the 7th Division.That was Earth Affiliation and if the Captain of that division was asking members of other divisions to a briefing…it spelled trouble in Hanako’s mind. So she made a few preparations before she left to head to the meeting, wondering who else she might be seeing there.

Hanako found herself standing in one of the closed off conference rooms the Gotei provided. There was a map on the back wall, showing some no (wo)man’s land in America. Hanako didn’t know much about the world of the living and didn’t care much about it, unless she had to go there on a mission. Nevertheless, she recognized the area wasn’t one of the few she had visited before.

When the briefing began she heard her feeling confirmed that this mission could mean trouble. Beginning with something that even R&D couldn’t identify, which usually never was a good sign, via a mystery gang trying to get their hands on it and ending with virtually no useful intel about the situation. And a blow that was especially uncomfortable for Hanako was the bit about most of the mission being underground. that could possibly severely limit her ability to use her Shikai. She would have to find a way to cope with that.

When the succinct briefing ended and it was time for questions, Hanako stepped forward.

“It sounds a bit as if you’re expecting this to escalate. Should I put the whole Fourth on alert, just to be on the safe side? The Vanguard Unit is already on standby and can move out on a moment’s notice.”

Although the world of the living wasn’t necessarily their responsibility, Hanako was offering the full support of the Combat Division if things should go south. She could say that Captain Kobayashi had wanted it so, but if she was honest…she had no idea. She wasn’t that good with people. She knew that she felt it was right. And if there was a possible danger, the proportions of which were totally unknown, Hanako was of the opinion to be better safe than sorry. Also, if it turned out she had been wrong, there would be no harm in keeping her troops on alert for a few days.

"Ah, that'd be perfect. I do totally think this'll probably escalate, yeah. Especially since, the way I see it, this isn't something anyone'll be able to ignore. I'd probably bet that you'll run into the Vandenreich, maybe Lux Orior too, and who knows, there might even be holdouts from Shadow Fall or whatever."

Murasaki was not especially pleased with how little reliable intel they had, but it wasn't as if she could blame anybody for that. After all, this had just popped out of nowhere.

"I'll have plenty of my own people on standby, too. The 7th is always down on Earth anyway, so if something goes wrong and you need help, we'll be able to get people to you ASAP."

As far as who she was keeping on standby, she wasn't sparing any expense. She had the best she could offer planned for this.

"Other than that... Like I said, it's kinda just a big question mark. I can't tell you much more than what I gave you there."

Hanako nodded while keeping her expression neutral. It got just better and better. Vandenreich, Lux Orior, Shadow Fall…then again, something like this was to be expected. If the Gotei could detect it, there was no reason to assume that others couldn’t. It looked like they needed to prepare for anything.

For a moment Hanako asked herself if it wouldn’t be better to arrive in force from the beginning, only to give the answer herself. Of course not. First, they had no idea what it really was. It could be nothing at all, something completely worthless. It would be pretty embarrassing to arrive with an army, only to find out it was some glitch on someone’s screen in R&D. And that would be one of the better outcomes. It could also be a trap, set by someone for whatever reasons. It wasn’t hard to imagine why sending too many people in would be a bad idea there. Also, there was the possibility that someone could misinterpret the Gotei arriving with more or less two whole Divisions and take it as an invitation to plunge all of creation into an all-out war. That would certainly be a special kind of bad day.

Suddenly Hanako realised that she really enjoyed the tension in her body, the racing of her thoughts, the focus on her job, that all came with the preparation for this mission. Not even the prospect of combat detracted from it, quite the contrary. Well, she was a Fighting Fourth after all.

“The 7th will not stand alone. My Division will be ready.” she said to Murasaki.

In her mind Hanako already began to decide which units would be moving out first, if she called, and which would be staying back until absolutely needed. If things were really expected to go so far south it would probably be prudent to leave at least one unit behind to join forces with the First, should the Soul Society itself come under attack. Hanako also decided that she would station the Vanguard at the Senkaimon to cut their response time down to a minimum. She would also have to send a request to the Healing Corps for cooperation.

As she had said to Murasaki before: Just to be safe.

She noticed that Amon reacted to the mentioning of the area they would be headed to. Did he maybe know the land? It would certainly be helpful to have someone with local knowledge along. She would have to ask him after the briefing was over.

Again towards Murasaki she asked: “When do we leave?”