Part IV - Day of Infamy
Morning
The sun shown bright and clear that morning as it
always did every morning in Hawaii. Trowa and Duo were on
the runway, out early to log some flight hours. Duo circled
around the harbor as Trowa went through pre-flight
procedures before joining him in the sky.
Nurse Peterson and Dr. Winner were checking up on the
sleepy patients as they made their early-morning rounds.
Judy restocked the cabinets with morphine and bandages,
while Quatre finished scribbling out some paperwork. Heero
argued with Commander Wilkens on the golf course; he
insisted that the Japanese fleet was coming. He held up
messages that he had recently decoded. Wilkens waved him off
like one would swat at a fly and returned to his golf game.
Wufei walked along the decks of USS Arizona. A few
sailors were up and about, mopping the decks. He carefully
walked around them, avoiding the newly slicked wood beneath
his feet.
Evelyn drove up to a view point overlooking Battleship
Row, the infirmary, and part of the air field. The branches
of trees nearby waved gently in a light breeze. She loaded
her camera with some film to take some shots of the
harbor before she left.
Attack
Plane engines roared overhead. Everyone looked up in
alarm and bewilderment at the Japanese planes that soared
overhead. The Zeros flew over Battleship Row, and the first
wave bombs were dropped on the helpless ships docked in
the harbor. A section of the USS Arizona exploded in a ball
of fire. Evelyn hid behind a cluster of trees and recorded
the plane's attacks. Sailors could be heard screaming in
pain and fear in their last moments, while the lucky ones
jumped overboard. She gasped in shock as more planes
appeared, bursting through the docile clouds; they began
bombing more ships at Battleship Row.
Above the air field, Duo spotted the planes from the
sky. He quickly landed and jumped into a plane loaded with
ammunition. "The Japs are attacking Trowa! Get your ass in a
plane and get in the sky!" Duo yelled. Trowa nodded and
scrabbled into a cockpit. Both startled pilots took off and
immediately began taking out Zeros that were dive-bombing
the airfield.
Heero and Wilkens heard explosions in the distance as a
black government car pulled up. "Commander Wilkens! We're
under attack! The Japs attacked us! The Japs attacked us!"
shouted the driver hysterically.
"I told you they were going to attack. All you had to
do was read the damned messages!" Heero yelled and jumped
into his jeep.
Sirens wailed and alerted the drowsy sailors." Man your
battle stations!" a voice yelled. "Man your battle stations!
Go! Go! Go!" Wufei ran to the top deck, slipping slightly
because it was still a little wet, and loaded his gun. He
quickly fired back at the bombers. Everyone around him
rushed to their stations. Some were panicking and jumping
ship. Others simple got down on their knees and prayed.
Dr. Quatre heard explosions nearby. He glanced out the
window and couldn't believe his eyes. All the ships were on
fire and most of what he could see was black smoke.
"Judy! Grab the emergency supplies. Get the patients
out! We're at war!" he shouted. Judy did as she was told and
dashed to the supply room.
During the attack
The USS Arizona began to sink. It tilted crazily and
many navy men were running blindly throughout the ship,
looking for a way out. Smoke obscured their view. Everyone
began to abandon their stations and jump ship. Wufei
knew that dying wouldn't help anything. He jumped overboard
and saw one of his fellow gunners bleeding profusely. Wufei
grabbed his arm and swam towards the beach. He thought of
nothing else but reaching the shore.
Heero drove to Battleship Row while dodging a couple of
bullets. He saw the injured sailors sprawled out on the
beach and quickly went to assist some of them into his car.
A Zero changed course and headed straight for them. Heero
climbed back into his car and hit the gas, speeding to the
hospital.
Trowa, Duo, and twelve other pilots managed to take off
and battle the Zeros. After taking out some near the field,
Duo and Trowa headed towards Battleship Row.
Battleship Row was covered with a thick, choking layer
of smoke. Planes flew in and out of the black cloud as
sailors below swam for their lives. The unfortunate crew
members stranded in the bottom of the ships desperately
tried to escape as the ships exploded or sank. The USS
Arizona tilted and began to capsize. Sailors jumped in to
the harbor and were shot at by the Zeros screaming overhead.
The USS Nevada sailed away from Battleship Row despite
its extensive damages, but it too began to sink and had to
beach itself before it was lost in the deeper waters of the
burning harbor.
An hour later, Duo and Trowa landed and helped the
injured people on the runway to the makeshift-hospitals that
were setup in basements and even office buildings. Bodies
lay bleeding in the sand and in the water as far as
the eye could see; the water was tinted red. Debris burned
all around the harbor. The ambulances that answered their
calls had exploded. Planes that hadn't left the hangars were
also ablaze.
After the attack, battleships in all of the bays burned
and began to sink. Two were capsizing. Sailors screamed for
help, but most hadn't a prayer. The dead floated on the
water. The sounds of ships capsizing were unearthly and
terrible to hear; the sounds of souls crying for aid and
pleading for forgiveness in their final moments blending
with the groaning of the dying ships' engines was nothing
short of horrific, a nightmare come to life.
Atop her view point, Evelyn finished recording the
attack. Stopping her camera, she looked at the destruction
laid out before her. Large, black clouds of smoke swallowed
the sky over Battleship Row. In the distance she could see
the ambulances and cars taking injured to hospitals. Evelyn
decided to lend a hand and drove her way to the base
hospital. She was quite worried about her friend, Judy.
After the Attack
Counts and estimates were taken. 2,400 people were
dead. Their bodies were laid in neat rows near the hospital.
More than 1,000 people were injured. Dr. Winner and Nurse
Peterson were low on supplies and couldn't help all the
hurt. Many died before they could be attended to. Eighteen
ships in the harbor were sunk or damaged. The USS Arizona,
the best in the Pacific Fleet, had tragically capsized. The
crew beneath it tried to contact the outside world, but it
was too late. Heero saw the USS Arizona for the last time
before the water in the harbor swallowed the ship and its
occupants down to their watery graves. Wufei watched as the
ship, his ship, sunk itself in the shallow harbor, and
cried, albeit briefly, for his comrades trapped inside.
He saw some people he knew from the USS Arizona floating in
the water. One of them was his captain.
The air field was being cleared of the injured and
dead. Wicked-looking shards of metal littered the runway
along with spent shells. Few planes in the hangars were left
intact.
Morning
The sun shown bright and clear that morning as it
always did every morning in Hawaii. Trowa and Duo were on
the runway, out early to log some flight hours. Duo circled
around the harbor as Trowa went through pre-flight
procedures before joining him in the sky.
Nurse Peterson and Dr. Winner were checking up on the
sleepy patients as they made their early-morning rounds.
Judy restocked the cabinets with morphine and bandages,
while Quatre finished scribbling out some paperwork. Heero
argued with Commander Wilkens on the golf course; he
insisted that the Japanese fleet was coming. He held up
messages that he had recently decoded. Wilkens waved him off
like one would swat at a fly and returned to his golf game.
Wufei walked along the decks of USS Arizona. A few
sailors were up and about, mopping the decks. He carefully
walked around them, avoiding the newly slicked wood beneath
his feet.
Evelyn drove up to a view point overlooking Battleship
Row, the infirmary, and part of the air field. The branches
of trees nearby waved gently in a light breeze. She loaded
her camera with some film to take some shots of the
harbor before she left.
Attack
Plane engines roared overhead. Everyone looked up in
alarm and bewilderment at the Japanese planes that soared
overhead. The Zeros flew over Battleship Row, and the first
wave bombs were dropped on the helpless ships docked in
the harbor. A section of the USS Arizona exploded in a ball
of fire. Evelyn hid behind a cluster of trees and recorded
the plane's attacks. Sailors could be heard screaming in
pain and fear in their last moments, while the lucky ones
jumped overboard. She gasped in shock as more planes
appeared, bursting through the docile clouds; they began
bombing more ships at Battleship Row.
Above the air field, Duo spotted the planes from the
sky. He quickly landed and jumped into a plane loaded with
ammunition. "The Japs are attacking Trowa! Get your ass in a
plane and get in the sky!" Duo yelled. Trowa nodded and
scrabbled into a cockpit. Both startled pilots took off and
immediately began taking out Zeros that were dive-bombing
the airfield.
Heero and Wilkens heard explosions in the distance as a
black government car pulled up. "Commander Wilkens! We're
under attack! The Japs attacked us! The Japs attacked us!"
shouted the driver hysterically.
"I told you they were going to attack. All you had to
do was read the damned messages!" Heero yelled and jumped
into his jeep.
Sirens wailed and alerted the drowsy sailors." Man your
battle stations!" a voice yelled. "Man your battle stations!
Go! Go! Go!" Wufei ran to the top deck, slipping slightly
because it was still a little wet, and loaded his gun. He
quickly fired back at the bombers. Everyone around him
rushed to their stations. Some were panicking and jumping
ship. Others simple got down on their knees and prayed.
Dr. Quatre heard explosions nearby. He glanced out the
window and couldn't believe his eyes. All the ships were on
fire and most of what he could see was black smoke.
"Judy! Grab the emergency supplies. Get the patients
out! We're at war!" he shouted. Judy did as she was told and
dashed to the supply room.
During the attack
The USS Arizona began to sink. It tilted crazily and
many navy men were running blindly throughout the ship,
looking for a way out. Smoke obscured their view. Everyone
began to abandon their stations and jump ship. Wufei
knew that dying wouldn't help anything. He jumped overboard
and saw one of his fellow gunners bleeding profusely. Wufei
grabbed his arm and swam towards the beach. He thought of
nothing else but reaching the shore.
Heero drove to Battleship Row while dodging a couple of
bullets. He saw the injured sailors sprawled out on the
beach and quickly went to assist some of them into his car.
A Zero changed course and headed straight for them. Heero
climbed back into his car and hit the gas, speeding to the
hospital.
Trowa, Duo, and twelve other pilots managed to take off
and battle the Zeros. After taking out some near the field,
Duo and Trowa headed towards Battleship Row.
Battleship Row was covered with a thick, choking layer
of smoke. Planes flew in and out of the black cloud as
sailors below swam for their lives. The unfortunate crew
members stranded in the bottom of the ships desperately
tried to escape as the ships exploded or sank. The USS
Arizona tilted and began to capsize. Sailors jumped in to
the harbor and were shot at by the Zeros screaming overhead.
The USS Nevada sailed away from Battleship Row despite
its extensive damages, but it too began to sink and had to
beach itself before it was lost in the deeper waters of the
burning harbor.
An hour later, Duo and Trowa landed and helped the
injured people on the runway to the makeshift-hospitals that
were setup in basements and even office buildings. Bodies
lay bleeding in the sand and in the water as far as
the eye could see; the water was tinted red. Debris burned
all around the harbor. The ambulances that answered their
calls had exploded. Planes that hadn't left the hangars were
also ablaze.
After the attack, battleships in all of the bays burned
and began to sink. Two were capsizing. Sailors screamed for
help, but most hadn't a prayer. The dead floated on the
water. The sounds of ships capsizing were unearthly and
terrible to hear; the sounds of souls crying for aid and
pleading for forgiveness in their final moments blending
with the groaning of the dying ships' engines was nothing
short of horrific, a nightmare come to life.
Atop her view point, Evelyn finished recording the
attack. Stopping her camera, she looked at the destruction
laid out before her. Large, black clouds of smoke swallowed
the sky over Battleship Row. In the distance she could see
the ambulances and cars taking injured to hospitals. Evelyn
decided to lend a hand and drove her way to the base
hospital. She was quite worried about her friend, Judy.
After the Attack
Counts and estimates were taken. 2,400 people were
dead. Their bodies were laid in neat rows near the hospital.
More than 1,000 people were injured. Dr. Winner and Nurse
Peterson were low on supplies and couldn't help all the
hurt. Many died before they could be attended to. Eighteen
ships in the harbor were sunk or damaged. The USS Arizona,
the best in the Pacific Fleet, had tragically capsized. The
crew beneath it tried to contact the outside world, but it
was too late. Heero saw the USS Arizona for the last time
before the water in the harbor swallowed the ship and its
occupants down to their watery graves. Wufei watched as the
ship, his ship, sunk itself in the shallow harbor, and
cried, albeit briefly, for his comrades trapped inside.
He saw some people he knew from the USS Arizona floating in
the water. One of them was his captain.
The air field was being cleared of the injured and
dead. Wicked-looking shards of metal littered the runway
along with spent shells. Few planes in the hangars were left
intact.