Close Combat

Prologue

0453 Hours, 6 September, 2010

Pyongyang, North Korea

North Korean President Kim Jong Il watched with hooded eyes as the conference room filled with delegates from other nations around the globe. The men quickly took their seats, mindful of Jong Il's gaze, which was cold and regarded each man almost indifferently. Once everyone had taken their seats there was a moment of uncomfortable silence until the North Korean President calmly took his folded hands from his lap and laid them down onto the table.

Kim Jong Il had been in control of North Korea for nearly two decades, ever since his father Kim Il Sung died in 1994. While many had hoped that with the death of Sung, North Korea would take a step back from its massive investment into its military and try to stabilize its economy, those hopes were quickly dashed as Jong Il picked up his father's reigns and continued North Korea down the path of military proliferation.

Despite Jong Il's continued spending on the military, the country had yet to commit itself to any kind of military offensive in large mass. It had been reported but could not be confirmed that when China and Japan invaded Russia to capture the untapped lands of Siberia, Kim Jong Il sent in several Infantry Divisions to assist in the effort. Despite Russian forces capturing several Korean soldiers before the conflict was over it was still believed that North Korea had nothing to do with it.

Many countries that originally believed North Korea to be a threat to global peace were now convinced that the country did not have any ill intentions since it had not supported that conflict.

President Jong Il did not let such an event go to waste. He let the world slowly forget about the continued military expansion that his country was sacrificing it's own citizens to support, and even let in nuclear weapon's inspectors from the UN in to look at the enriched uranium plants that had been erected. When the weapon's inspectors handed back reports that said they found no sign of nuclear development it seemed to the world that maybe North Korea wasn't the sleeping dragon so many believed it to be.

This perception was, of course, wrong.

"Gentlemen, as you may or may not know, despite American and UN bartering, our nuclear weapons development program has continued, to the point where we now have 7 ready to fire ICBM's," President Jong Il said, his eyes watching the faces of the delegates closely for their reactions. A fleeting smile crossed his lips as his remarks brought about shocked looks on each man's face.

"I certainly didn't drag you all in here just to brag, I had an ulterior motive. One that, if we can all agree on, should see each of our countries break free of the tyrannical hold the Americans and the other barbarians have placed over this world. China fell only 8 years ago when they failed to take on the Americans and the Russians with all of their resources," Kim explained. "Yes, China had in its possession several nuclear missiles that were ready to be fired during the final stages of that conflict. However, due to the ineptitude of Zhisheng, the weapons weren't used, and instead fell into the hands of the Americans."

Jong Il waited as that bit of information was absorbed by the assembled men.

"America has tended to think of itself as its own little UN. It has the power to invade other nations when they feel like they are not adhering to their belief of what a nation should do, and also holds the power to demand that no other country has the strangle hold over nuclear supremacy that it holds."

"I personally find that belief to be misguided, and it is far past the point when America should be put in its place. I intend to do just that."

The President's eyes grew cold as he cast his gaze across the table.

"Only, I need some assistance in carrying out my plans. Despite the world taking its eyes off my country ever since China was defeated, that hasn't stopped America from continuing to keep its nose inside my business. I can hardly create as effective an offensive as I would like if America were to catch wind of what I was planning, or the missiles that have been developed. To that end I have decided that I must split up my nuclear cache, so that we may strike at America from different sources and fully cripple it, bringing the oh-so-proud nation to its knees."

Jong Il got up from his chair and walked slowly around the table, pausing again when he reached the opposite end. For the first time he smiled openly at the men and folded his arms across his chest.

"What I have proposed will not be an easy task to accomplish, it will require months of work before we can be ready to strike, but I believe that the end result will more than make up for the hardships that we will face. First though, we must all be in agreement over what this task will entail. Do I have everyone's word that they shall assist in this plan?" Kim questioned, his gaze once more running over the men.

There was only a slight hesitation before the assembled men all nodded their heads.

President Jong Il's expression remained neutral as he nodded his head.

"Than it's settled. We will begin carrying this out immediately."

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1759 Hours, 6 September 2010

Langley, Washington

Major General Phillip Sheridan Parker IV sat morosely at his desk as he starred at the clock on the wall.

'Goddamn, I could really use a sandwich right now,' he thought as he watched the second hand slowly make its endless trek around the circumference of the clock. 'Problem is, its an hour before I leave, and Toni will definitely know I ate, which will earn me another lecture on how I'm getting older and need to watch what I eat and when I eat.'

He sat still for another 30 seconds before finally giving up with a sigh and leaning back in his chair. What he really needed was some work to take his mind off food. You'd think the Director of the Central Intelligence Agency would have more things to occupy his mind other than getting a snack before supper.

The appointment to Director had come as quite a surprise to Parker, especially when it had been handed to him by the President of the United States. Nathan McCullen, a democrat, had won the 2008 election. Winnfield, the previous holder of the presidency had been reelected in the 2004 elections and his Vice President, Darren Evanishin hadn't done much to win the hearts of the voters, and it showed in the results of the 2008 election.

Parker liked McCullen personally, but he really found it hard to like him when he assigned Parker as Director for the CIA. Phil had been sent straight back to the Pentagon once he had handled the last bit of the war with China. He had found it very disheartening, as he expected to stay in command over the occupational force that was now inside China. In his honest opinion he thought he commanded well in Siberia, he had after all stopped a Chinese advance twice that outnumbered the forces under his control by more than 3 to 1.

There had been a fair bit of media attention on him when he came back to the States, every news outlet wanted to interview the officer that, in the words of the press following the defeat and surrender of the Chinese invasion force, orchestrated the downfall of an evil regime and carried it out with a command not seen since the days of World War II. Parker was of course, very uneasy about being compared to Generals like Eisenhower, or MacArthur, and quickly did whatever he could to dispel any belief the press had that he was in any way as great a leader as those men had been.

He praised the soldiers he served with immensely, especially the Japanese soldiers, two in particular. The names Ranma Saotome and Ryoga Hibiki appeared in newspapers and on televisions all across the world. A development that the two martial artists had promised would come out of Parker's ass the next time he stepped foot in Japan.

After spending a few years at the Pentagon doing, in Parker's words, diddly shit, he had been given a promotion to Major General, and assigned to Fort Meade as commanding General. Parker enjoyed the assignment, it put him back in command of soldiers, and for a while he was happy with the Army once more.

Then McCullen won the Presidential election, and he decided the Director of the CIA at that time was insufficient for what the job entailed, and asked for his resignation. With that done, McCullen set about looking for a new Director. The obvious choice was to give the job to the Deputy Director, but he had already seen the man and had written him off as just another CIA lackey.

It was during a dinner party at the White House when President McCullen was speaking with the Vice Chief of Staff for the US Military that McCullen thought of Parker. Talk had diverted to the first democratic election in mainland China. Parker had come up since he was the commanding officer that had first set up the structure in China once the war was over. McCullen had asked what Parker was up to at the time, and the Vice Chief had heard about Parker taking over command of Fort Meade and the President asked if it would be possible for him to meet with Parker the next day.

The Vice Chief had been kind enough to inform Parker that the President was going to offer him the position of Director of the CIA, so Parker had enough time to prepare an effective defense as to why he shouldn't be given the job. He was, in every sense of the word, inexperienced when it came to intelligence work. The fact that his father had worked in the CIA before his retirement was not something that should indicate he was capable of such a title.

He had been effectively knocked off his high horse when he met the President.

McCullen had welcomed Parker in, offered him coffee, and then told him, matter-of-factly, that he was now the Director of the CIA. There had been no room for argument, and the next day, Parker was packing his bags and moving back to Washington.

After a year at the job, Parker was still of the opinion that he was wholly inexperienced to run the CIA, but not many other people were. Parker had sent waves through the CIA. Despite his opinion that he was inexperienced, he had resolved himself to the fact that, inexperienced or not, he was a soldier, and he was given a job to do, so he had best carry it out to the fullest of his potential.

It became evident to those in the Washington community that Parker really had been the wisest choice. He was not only a highly intelligent individual who had proven himself in the past to be able to handle impossible tasks, but he also had a startlingly large number of connections with the international community that were all willing to provide him with intelligence that they weren't going to share with some CIA bureaucrat.

Overall, President McCullen was more than pleased with his decision.

Parker sighed again as he finally got to his feet. Since he was going to wind up grabbing a bite to eat anyways, he might as well do it at home where he wouldn't have to wait for Toni to lecture him. He informed his secretary to tell anyone that called that he'd gone home early, and then made his way out of the building, to the staff car that was waiting to drive him home.

He felt slightly uneasy about leaving early, but it had been a relatively quiet start to the week, and if something were going to happen, it wouldn't happen on a Monday.

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Author's Notes: Yes, I'm back. I couldn't stay away from this series, and I felt that taking one more stab at it couldn't really hurt, but I've been planning this new story out for a while, and I realized that it's going to be big. Big as in, take 'Balance of Power', 'Until the End' and add the two together and you have what I expect 'Close Combat' to be.

Well, nothing else other than to say, I hope that everyone that read the previous 2 stories finds this new addition to be as good as them.

Of course, for those that have clicked on this story unknowingly, and are scratching their heads wondering what the hell this is, than I must inform you that there are two previous stories before this one takes place that you're going to have to read before you understand exactly what this one is about.

Next chapter, we'll get to see what Ranma and Ryoga have been up to for the past 8 years, and yes, more will be explained about the plot. For those wondering who the delegates were that met with Kim Jong Il, well, that's got to remain a secret for a little bit longer. Please review everyone and let me know what you think. Is it a good idea to bring everybody back for a third installment, or have I gone insane to think that I can churn out another novel-length story, bigger than the other two combined?