Semper Fi
Chapter 2
Fate
Top Secret
Central Intelligence Agency
Langley, Virginia
From: Director of Central Intelligence
Subject: The War in the Pacific (Presidential Memorandum #34)
To: The President of the United States. Room 001. 1600 Pennsylvania Drive, Washington D.C.
By Courier
In compliance with the Presidential Memorandum to the Director, Subject, "The War in the Pacific" dated 8 November 1996, the following information is furnished:
(1) (Reliability Scale Four) (From CIA Headquarters Langley, Virginia) Director of Central Intelligence whole-heartedly agrees with the proclamation put forth by Director of Operations. Chinese leaders should be eliminated before war can escalate to nuclear level.
(2) (Reliability Scale Five) (From CIA Beijing, China) The survivors of the wrecks Johnny Reb, Enterprise, and John Stennis, after being detained were taken south of Shanghai to an undisclosed location. Execution of POW's in immediate future is possible.
Howard O' Connor
Top Secret
===============
Lieutenant Phillip S. Parker IV was at the moment, very frightened. He was frightened because he was now faced with the prospect that the Chinese tank force had given up their prisoners to other Chinese divisions. If that would be the case, then Phillip would be forced to discontinue his search and rescue mission for the two Japanese civilians.
Parker had been amazed when headquarters had not given him any beef over trying to rescue the two 'soldiers' from the enemy.
"How much further until we end up in Shanghai?" Parker asked the radioman inside his tent.
"I would have to say that about two days Colonel," the radioman replied, looking at some charts.
"Shit," Phillip cursed. "Well, if we don't find them soon, then that means they have been dumped off to some infantry division and have been taken somewhere else."
"You mean were going to call off the search?" the radioman asked, surprised.
"What I mean is that I'm going to probably have to turn in my resignation after headquarters hears that I have moved so far into China that I'm about to enter Russia," Parker replied, irritated.
Parker stepped out of his tent and walked the five feet to his M1 Abrams tank. He climbed inside and started the engines. He climbed back out and walked over to his XO.
"We move out in five minutes," Parker told him and went back inside his tank.
All around the camp the sound of tank and halftrack engines starting up lit the air.
Parker put his helmet on and hit the switch that allowed him to talk to his other tankers. He flashed Ishii a thumbs-up.
"Alright boys, lets move out!"
===============
Ryoga gently prodded Ranma awake.
"I think were moving out," Ryoga whispered as Ranma sat up.
Ranma looked about and saw that the Chinese infantrymen were loading up into jeeps.
Two soldiers that were standing close to them walked over and roughly pulled Ranma to his feet. Then they picked Ryoga up. Ranma winced in sympathy as he heard Ryoga suck in a deep breath. His damaged ribs had rubbed against each other.
Ranma, supporting Ryoga, walked over to one of the jeeps and sat down in the back. He laid Ryoga down on the bottom of the jeep.
One soldier got into the back with them and another got in the front.
"Where do you think were going?" Ranma asked Ryoga. When Ryoga didn't reply he looked down and saw that Ryoga was asleep.
Ranma frowned and just watched as the other soldiers loaded up their stuff.
The soldier sitting in the front started the jeep and pulled out onto a standard road.
Ranma got down beside Ryoga, the wind was too cold for him to sit up top. He was surprised at how tired he felt, and soon drifted off to sleep.
===============
Ranma awoke with a start. He nearly slammed heads with the Chinese soldier in the back. He looked around and saw that they had driven to some kind of farm. There was a large barn house and the entire area seemed to be flooded with Chinese troops.
The soldier in the back motioned for him to get out. Ranma complied and stepped out of the jeep. The Chinese soldier, acting more tenderly than Ranma would have expected, lifted Ryoga from the back of the jeep and passed him off to Ranma. He then motioned for Ranma to follow him.
He led Ranma to the barn house and opened a small door located on the side and motioned for him to get inside.
Ranma did so, and was taken aback by the sight he saw.
Inside the barn was over a hundred men. Americans, soldiers, it seemed.
Ranma absentmindedly walked in and let his eyes wander over the men. He set Ryoga down on the ground and slowly sat down. A small part of his mind told him that these must be the soldiers that had survived the wrecks of the Johnny Reb, Enterprise, and John Stennis. They had at least a month worth growth of beard on their faces. They appeared malnourished and just starting to turn cadaverous.
The sailor Ranma sat next to slowly turned his head and looked at Ranma. He seemed a little surprised seeing him.
"Who the hell are you?" the sailor asked. His clothes were ripped and Ranma could just make out the name on his clothes. Frank something.
"I was captured week last," Ranma told Frank in poor English.
"Last week?" Frank asked him.
Ranma nodded. "I with Phillip Sheridan Parker." He pointed to the insignia of the 82nd Heavy Tank Battalion that was displayed on his chest.
The man's eyes lit up. He raised his voice.
"Hey, this guys from that Task Force!"
There was a moment of silence. Then all the soldiers crowded around Ranma and Ryoga.
"How's the war going?" one sailor asked.
"Has Taiwan fallen yet?"
Ranma shook his head. "The Chinese forces have been beaten in Taiwan."
There was a resounding cheer from the sailors. Ranma was astonished to see the change that came over the men. They cheered and slapped hands with each other, their faces a mask of pure nostalgia.
"So how did you get captured?" Frank asked.
Ranma looked at him for a moment and replied, in Japanese.
"The 82nd is now in China and we were attacking the enemy when my friend's tank was hit and I left mine to go get him."
Most of the sailors thought they had heard Ranma wrong. This guy was wearing the insignia of the 82nd Heavy Tank Battalion, part of the Task Force that had been raping the Chinese forces in Taiwan, and here he was speaking Japanese.
Frank nodded his head in understanding. He as well replied in Japanese.
"Than does that mean you are really American tank officers?"
Ranma shook his head. "No, we are good friends with the commander and we needed to get into China."
Frank nodded. He turned to the gathered men.
"These guys were captured while mounting operations in China," he told the assembled men. "There coming to take us home!"
There was another resounding cheer from the men.
Ranma decided that the moment was not right to tell them that he had heard nothing about any operations trying to rescue the POW's.
===============
The President of the United States opened the door to his National Security Advisor's office and stepped inside.
He smiled at his NSA and took a seat in front of the man's desk.
"Well, I just got out of a meeting with the chief's of staff," he told his NSA.
"Yes Mr. President, has anything been decided?"
"I gave the go-ahead for the plan to take out the Politburo," the President said, sadly.
The NSA didn't reply.
"Do you think I did the right thing?" the President asked suddenly.
The NSA took a moment to reply. "Mr. President, the decision to go to war is never an easy thing to do. But the Chinese did make that decision, and they invaded Taiwan. They then attacked with no provocation, an American aircraft carrier group and took most of the survivors as POW's. The Politburo has committed their country to a war that has all the indications of becoming a nuclear war and I would have to think that those men would not hesitate the least bit to launch a nuclear device at us. You will remember that their nuclear sub was in the first attack on the American ships."
The President looked at his NSA for a long moment.
"The plan calls for eight bomber aircraft to drop a bomb into the homes of each member of the Politburo at night. I told the generals to make sure that there is not another living sole in those buildings when the bombs are dropped."
"That was the right thing to do Mr. President," the NSA said. "I'm not sure how the American people will respond to this course of action, but it will make it easier to swallow if no civilians were hurt.
The President nodded once and got up and left.
===============
Colonel Parker nearly fell out of his seat when his M1 Abrams tank crashed over a fallen tree. He swore as he desperately tried to keep his tank on course.
Parker had unceremoniously dubbed the operation to retrieve the two Japanese civilians, Task Force Sushi. The small amount of humor in the otherwise saddening situation. He had decided to take five Piranha III, seven transport vehicles with the Task Force and one or two surveillance vehicles, not including his own M1 Abrams.
Parker slowed his tank and took a look at the terrain.
They had moved quickly during the night and were about seventy miles outside of Shanghai. Parker knew that if he couldn't find Ranma or Ryoga before they got within ten miles of Shanghai, they would have to turn back. Parker wouldn't allow himself to think about what he would say to their families, much less Akari and Akane.
"We've got movement up ahead," a voice came over the radio. Parker recognized the voice as Captain Hearst.
"What do you see Hearst?" Parker asked.
"I think it may be an infantry division sir," Hearst replied. "They don't appear to have seen us yet."
"Good, wait there where you until I catch up."
Parker found Hearst's Piranha III sitting, running idle, under some dense foliage. He stopped his tank and climbed out. He motioned for Hearst to do the same and waited until he climbed out of his tank.
"There just over that ridge sir," Hearst said, handing Parker a pair of 50 x 50 binoculars.
Parker placed the binoculars to his eyes. He trained them on the spot Hearst had mentioned. He saw three Chinese soldiers standing on top of the ridge, looking down at the valley below.
Parker quickly assessed the situation. They could easily hit the Chinese soldiers on the ridge from where they were, but that would mean alerting whatever other forces were with them, and that would cause a whole lot more fighting than Parker wanted to deal with.
He turned to Hearst. "Alright, you come with me and were going to try and get us a prisoner."
Captain Hearst raised his eyebrow but did not respond.
Parker got back inside his tank and quickly radioed the other soldiers. He explained what they were doing and told them that if he did not call back in fifty minutes that they were to search and locate a small Chinese platoon and try and get a prisoner.
He grabbed his M4 automatic rifle and hopped down from his tank. Captain Hearst had only a small Colt automatic pistol.
"Alright Captain, follow my lead," Parker told him.
===============
Snow had been collecting in the small valley for almost two months with the continuous snowfall that had been hitting the coast of China. The snow reached almost five feet in depth, making it near impossible to cross.
Unfortunately for Colonel Parker and Captain Hearst, this realization did not occur to them until they were shoulder deep in snow.
"I think when I get home I'm going to move to Florida," Parker said as he struggled through the snow, careful to keep his weapon above him.
"Actually, I was thinking of proposing the idea of sending snow blowers with troops that are going to be heading for snow covered areas." Captain Hearst said.
Parker chuckled a little.
Five minutes later they had finally reached the ridge where they had spotted the Chinese soldiers. Very carefully, Parker and Hearst climbed up the ridge. It was sloped and had not been covered in snow or ice.
They reached the top and quickly scanned the area. Seeing nothing, they moved out into the trees, following the tracks made by the Chinese soldiers.
There were only four sets of tracks in the snow, which meant that either the soldiers were point men, or that they were pathfinders. Parker hoped that they were pathfinders, because that would mean the main force would be to far back to hear any shots.
The trees were very thick, disallowing any sunlight to pass through them, which made following the tracks next to impossible.
Parker motioned for Hearst to stop, they spoke in whispers.
"I've lost all sign of their tracks," Hearst whispered.
"Do you think we should turn back then?" Parker asked.
Hearst shook his head. "Let's go a little further and see if we might pick up their tracks again."
Parker nodded and continued.
They had walked for another two minutes before they caught sight of the tracks again.
Just when Parker was about to call to Hearst, he heard voices up ahead. He took off at a sprint, traveling with the stealth born from many years as a Green Beret.
He went for about fifty meters before he ran right into another person.
Both men were startled, but Parker had been prepared for battle. As he fell backwards he trained the M4 at the man's chest and fired a quick burst.
As Parker hit the ground he heard some hushed voices and then the sound of a name being called. Parker realized that they were calling the soldier he had just killed.
He slowly got to his feet and crouched down low. The snow crunched under his feet and he heard the sound of someone approaching from behind. Parker spun and lost his footing.
It was Hearst; he looked at Parker strangely for a moment before crouching down.
"Looks like you found them," Hearst said.
Parker nodded. "Let's circle around and get rid of the others, I want to make sure we leave at least one man alive."
Hearst nodded and turned to his right, slowly moving around the Chinese soldier's positions.
Parker sprinted for cover behind a tree. He peeked his head around and saw three soldiers. They were all lying down low with their weapons held up ready for anyone that might try and rush in. Parker saw Hearst directly across from him; he made a silent gesture towards the man in the middle of the soldiers. Hearst nodded; they would not kill that man.
Parker brought his crosshairs over the soldier that was closest to him; he fired once, hitting the soldier in the head.
Hearst fired at almost the exact time, hitting the soldier closest to him.
The soldier in the middle turned to his right and saw Parker. He was frightened and was about to shoot. Before he could, two rounds slammed into his rifle, snapping it out of his hands.
The soldier spun to his left and saw Hearst, his gun just lowering back down, approaching.
The Chinese man visibly thought about running but decided against it, he jumped to his feet and charged at Parker. He attempted to tackle him, but Parker side-stepped him and tripped him as he ran by.
Parker jumped on the man before he had a chance to get up. He turned his head to Hearst.
"Get me some rope or something!" Parker ordered.
Hearst approached a length of twine in his hands. He quickly tied the Chinese soldier's wrists.
"Be silent!" Hearst snapped in Chinese as the man began to shout. The soldiers surprise over Hearst knowing Chinese stopped him from speaking.
"You speak Chinese Hearst?" Parker asked as he got off of the soldier. He reached down and hoisted the soldier to his feet.
"Yes sir," Hearst replied.
"Ask him if he knows about two Japanese American officers that were captured during the assault against Bulai."
Captain Hearst asked the soldier and received spit in his face.
Parker grabbed the Chinese soldier and rammed him roughly against a tree. He gripped the soldier's head and held it tightly between his massive hands.
"Answer his goddamned question!" Parker yelled at the man's face, spittle hitting him.
The Chinese soldier was white-faced. He stammered out a quick reply and looked back at Parker with fear in his eyes.
Hearst looked at Parker. "He says that there were two Asian American soldiers that they had taken to their division headquarters. After that this guy says he doesn't know what happened to them."
Parker nodded. "Ask him if he knows where they were left."
Hearst barked out the question.
The soldier looked like he wasn't going to respond. When Parker noticed this, he raised his fist threateningly.
After the Chinese soldier stammered out another reply Hearst translated. "The division's headquarters are just ten miles north of here. But he says that they may have moved our Japanese friends further north to a temporary farmhouse that has been set up as the headquarters for his platoon."
"We should check out this place just ten miles away first," Parker said. "If there not there, then we know where they are then."
Hearst nodded his head towards their prisoner. "What do we do with him?"
"I don't want to waste any more rounds today; we can hand him over to the reconnaissance people and let them take him back to our headquarters."
Hearst nodded and relieved Parker of his burden.
===============
Ranma lightly dabbed at Ryoga's burns with a dampened towel.
The day marked their seventh day as POW's. Ranma wasn't sure what would kill him first, the Chinese, or the cold. The American sailors had proven to be quite resourceful in keeping their hunger under control. Despite the incredibly small amount of ration's they received each day, the American sailors had succeeded in building up a large supply of food, and were also successful in keeping their food hidden from their captors.
Ryoga had been in and out of consciousness the whole time. Every time he woke up, Ranma would be instantly by his side and rendering whatever assistance he could. Ranma was becoming very exhausted from this, for it sometimes meant staying awake for more than twenty-four hours at a time to make sure Ryoga was going to make it through another night.
The sailor that had first talked to Ranma when they arrived announced that he had been aboard the Enterprise when the Chinese attacked. He had swam to the surface with twenty other men and was met by a Chinese carrier. They had been taken prisoner and held for almost two months before moving to the farmhouse.
He also told them his name. He was Frank West, a medic aboard the Enterprise.
Ranma did not tell Frank about the unusual circumstances that would occur if the water used to clean Ryoga's wounds happened to be cold.
On their eighth day as POW's, the inevitable happened.
The large doors to the barn house had been opened and the POW's had been led outside into the snow.
Over a hundred Chinese soldiers were waiting for them, guns held up, in case anyone thought of running. The POW's were lined up against the wall and two soldiers began counting them off.
Ranma was carrying Ryoga, he was unconscious again. The soldier counted him off and almost continued on before he noticed Ryoga. He counted Ryoga as the next man down the line and continued on.
Once all the men had been counted off, the two soldiers walked over to a man that they presumed was the commander of the infantrymen. The commander looked at the men on the wall and nodded his head, agreeing with whatever the two soldiers had told him.
The POW's were to be split in two. Ranma was standing dead center in the line. One of the Chinese began leading the first groups away when he noticed Ranma carrying Ryoga. He ran down the line and shouted at Ranma. Ranma didn't understand what he was saying.
The soldier tried to forcefully take Ryoga away from Ranma and earned a vicious kick to the head for his troubles.
There was an absolute stunned silence in the camp as the soldier hit the snow.
Three soldiers, their weapons drawn, charged at Ranma and held the guns at dead level with his chest. One soldier slowly walked over and removed Ryoga from Ranma's arms.
Ranma was about to attempt to knock the man down and take Ryoga back when he felt pressure on the back of his head. One of the soldier's had placed the muzzle of his rifle against Ranma's head.
The soldier with Ryoga walked over to where the other groups of POW's were and handed him off to one of the POW's.
"Where are they taking them?" Ranma asked the soldier in front of him. He didn't get his response.
He didn't need to.
The sound of many assault rifles firing sounded. Ranma spun around and saw that the Chinese soldiers had led the POW's around the barn and once they were out of view, began firing.
"What the fuck!?" Ranma shouted and began running in the direction the men had been led off to.
A nearby soldier attempted to get in Ranma's way. The soldier was just about to raise his gun when he felt his gun leave his hands and a fist firmly plant itself in his face.
Ranma checked to make sure the gun was loaded and chambered a round. He set the gun to full-auto and continued running. The Chinese soldiers behind him began firing at him but Ranma was already too far ahead. Ranma rounded the corner of the barn just when the screaming of the POW's stopped.
It took Ranma a moment to register the scene before him.
The bodies of the POW's were sprawled out on the snow before the barn wall. The snow was now a mix between white and red.
Ranma felt his mind lock. He didn't even think as he brought the assault rifle up to his shoulder and begin to fire.
He hit the closet two Chinese soldiers and trained the gun on the two soldiers that had begun firing at the POW's. He fired again and this time only one of the men fell.
Ranma could feel bullets begin to whiz by him and a small part of his mind registered the thought that he should move. But his body wasn't responding. It was as if he was on auto-pilot. He just kept picking targets and firing.
Once the soldiers before him were all hit, Ranma spun around and began to pick out targets before him.
Before he could get a shot off, he felt something strike his knee. His leg snapped out uncomfortably underneath him and he almost lost his balance. He fired off two more rounds before he was hit again.
Ranma hit the ground and everything went black.
===============
Author's Notes: Now, I want to take this moment to talk about the other story that has been released. The Sound of War was just an idea that I had been working on before I even began working on Balance of Power. Obviously I decided to not continue that story. I might write a story like that someday, involving the Ranma ½ cast in the World War II type of time frame, but not today.
Thanks to everyone that has been reading this far and a special thanks to everyone that has written a review.
Top Secret
Central Intelligence Agency
Langley, Virginia
From: Director of Central Intelligence
Subject: The War in the Pacific (Presidential Memorandum #34)
To: The President of the United States. Room 001. 1600 Pennsylvania Drive, Washington D.C.
By Courier
In compliance with the Presidential Memorandum to the Director, Subject, "The War in the Pacific" dated 8 November 1996, the following information is furnished:
(1) (Reliability Scale Four) (From CIA Headquarters Langley, Virginia) Director of Central Intelligence whole-heartedly agrees with the proclamation put forth by Director of Operations. Chinese leaders should be eliminated before war can escalate to nuclear level.
(2) (Reliability Scale Five) (From CIA Beijing, China) The survivors of the wrecks Johnny Reb, Enterprise, and John Stennis, after being detained were taken south of Shanghai to an undisclosed location. Execution of POW's in immediate future is possible.
Howard O' Connor
Top Secret
===============
Lieutenant Phillip S. Parker IV was at the moment, very frightened. He was frightened because he was now faced with the prospect that the Chinese tank force had given up their prisoners to other Chinese divisions. If that would be the case, then Phillip would be forced to discontinue his search and rescue mission for the two Japanese civilians.
Parker had been amazed when headquarters had not given him any beef over trying to rescue the two 'soldiers' from the enemy.
"How much further until we end up in Shanghai?" Parker asked the radioman inside his tent.
"I would have to say that about two days Colonel," the radioman replied, looking at some charts.
"Shit," Phillip cursed. "Well, if we don't find them soon, then that means they have been dumped off to some infantry division and have been taken somewhere else."
"You mean were going to call off the search?" the radioman asked, surprised.
"What I mean is that I'm going to probably have to turn in my resignation after headquarters hears that I have moved so far into China that I'm about to enter Russia," Parker replied, irritated.
Parker stepped out of his tent and walked the five feet to his M1 Abrams tank. He climbed inside and started the engines. He climbed back out and walked over to his XO.
"We move out in five minutes," Parker told him and went back inside his tank.
All around the camp the sound of tank and halftrack engines starting up lit the air.
Parker put his helmet on and hit the switch that allowed him to talk to his other tankers. He flashed Ishii a thumbs-up.
"Alright boys, lets move out!"
===============
Ryoga gently prodded Ranma awake.
"I think were moving out," Ryoga whispered as Ranma sat up.
Ranma looked about and saw that the Chinese infantrymen were loading up into jeeps.
Two soldiers that were standing close to them walked over and roughly pulled Ranma to his feet. Then they picked Ryoga up. Ranma winced in sympathy as he heard Ryoga suck in a deep breath. His damaged ribs had rubbed against each other.
Ranma, supporting Ryoga, walked over to one of the jeeps and sat down in the back. He laid Ryoga down on the bottom of the jeep.
One soldier got into the back with them and another got in the front.
"Where do you think were going?" Ranma asked Ryoga. When Ryoga didn't reply he looked down and saw that Ryoga was asleep.
Ranma frowned and just watched as the other soldiers loaded up their stuff.
The soldier sitting in the front started the jeep and pulled out onto a standard road.
Ranma got down beside Ryoga, the wind was too cold for him to sit up top. He was surprised at how tired he felt, and soon drifted off to sleep.
===============
Ranma awoke with a start. He nearly slammed heads with the Chinese soldier in the back. He looked around and saw that they had driven to some kind of farm. There was a large barn house and the entire area seemed to be flooded with Chinese troops.
The soldier in the back motioned for him to get out. Ranma complied and stepped out of the jeep. The Chinese soldier, acting more tenderly than Ranma would have expected, lifted Ryoga from the back of the jeep and passed him off to Ranma. He then motioned for Ranma to follow him.
He led Ranma to the barn house and opened a small door located on the side and motioned for him to get inside.
Ranma did so, and was taken aback by the sight he saw.
Inside the barn was over a hundred men. Americans, soldiers, it seemed.
Ranma absentmindedly walked in and let his eyes wander over the men. He set Ryoga down on the ground and slowly sat down. A small part of his mind told him that these must be the soldiers that had survived the wrecks of the Johnny Reb, Enterprise, and John Stennis. They had at least a month worth growth of beard on their faces. They appeared malnourished and just starting to turn cadaverous.
The sailor Ranma sat next to slowly turned his head and looked at Ranma. He seemed a little surprised seeing him.
"Who the hell are you?" the sailor asked. His clothes were ripped and Ranma could just make out the name on his clothes. Frank something.
"I was captured week last," Ranma told Frank in poor English.
"Last week?" Frank asked him.
Ranma nodded. "I with Phillip Sheridan Parker." He pointed to the insignia of the 82nd Heavy Tank Battalion that was displayed on his chest.
The man's eyes lit up. He raised his voice.
"Hey, this guys from that Task Force!"
There was a moment of silence. Then all the soldiers crowded around Ranma and Ryoga.
"How's the war going?" one sailor asked.
"Has Taiwan fallen yet?"
Ranma shook his head. "The Chinese forces have been beaten in Taiwan."
There was a resounding cheer from the sailors. Ranma was astonished to see the change that came over the men. They cheered and slapped hands with each other, their faces a mask of pure nostalgia.
"So how did you get captured?" Frank asked.
Ranma looked at him for a moment and replied, in Japanese.
"The 82nd is now in China and we were attacking the enemy when my friend's tank was hit and I left mine to go get him."
Most of the sailors thought they had heard Ranma wrong. This guy was wearing the insignia of the 82nd Heavy Tank Battalion, part of the Task Force that had been raping the Chinese forces in Taiwan, and here he was speaking Japanese.
Frank nodded his head in understanding. He as well replied in Japanese.
"Than does that mean you are really American tank officers?"
Ranma shook his head. "No, we are good friends with the commander and we needed to get into China."
Frank nodded. He turned to the gathered men.
"These guys were captured while mounting operations in China," he told the assembled men. "There coming to take us home!"
There was another resounding cheer from the men.
Ranma decided that the moment was not right to tell them that he had heard nothing about any operations trying to rescue the POW's.
===============
The President of the United States opened the door to his National Security Advisor's office and stepped inside.
He smiled at his NSA and took a seat in front of the man's desk.
"Well, I just got out of a meeting with the chief's of staff," he told his NSA.
"Yes Mr. President, has anything been decided?"
"I gave the go-ahead for the plan to take out the Politburo," the President said, sadly.
The NSA didn't reply.
"Do you think I did the right thing?" the President asked suddenly.
The NSA took a moment to reply. "Mr. President, the decision to go to war is never an easy thing to do. But the Chinese did make that decision, and they invaded Taiwan. They then attacked with no provocation, an American aircraft carrier group and took most of the survivors as POW's. The Politburo has committed their country to a war that has all the indications of becoming a nuclear war and I would have to think that those men would not hesitate the least bit to launch a nuclear device at us. You will remember that their nuclear sub was in the first attack on the American ships."
The President looked at his NSA for a long moment.
"The plan calls for eight bomber aircraft to drop a bomb into the homes of each member of the Politburo at night. I told the generals to make sure that there is not another living sole in those buildings when the bombs are dropped."
"That was the right thing to do Mr. President," the NSA said. "I'm not sure how the American people will respond to this course of action, but it will make it easier to swallow if no civilians were hurt.
The President nodded once and got up and left.
===============
Colonel Parker nearly fell out of his seat when his M1 Abrams tank crashed over a fallen tree. He swore as he desperately tried to keep his tank on course.
Parker had unceremoniously dubbed the operation to retrieve the two Japanese civilians, Task Force Sushi. The small amount of humor in the otherwise saddening situation. He had decided to take five Piranha III, seven transport vehicles with the Task Force and one or two surveillance vehicles, not including his own M1 Abrams.
Parker slowed his tank and took a look at the terrain.
They had moved quickly during the night and were about seventy miles outside of Shanghai. Parker knew that if he couldn't find Ranma or Ryoga before they got within ten miles of Shanghai, they would have to turn back. Parker wouldn't allow himself to think about what he would say to their families, much less Akari and Akane.
"We've got movement up ahead," a voice came over the radio. Parker recognized the voice as Captain Hearst.
"What do you see Hearst?" Parker asked.
"I think it may be an infantry division sir," Hearst replied. "They don't appear to have seen us yet."
"Good, wait there where you until I catch up."
Parker found Hearst's Piranha III sitting, running idle, under some dense foliage. He stopped his tank and climbed out. He motioned for Hearst to do the same and waited until he climbed out of his tank.
"There just over that ridge sir," Hearst said, handing Parker a pair of 50 x 50 binoculars.
Parker placed the binoculars to his eyes. He trained them on the spot Hearst had mentioned. He saw three Chinese soldiers standing on top of the ridge, looking down at the valley below.
Parker quickly assessed the situation. They could easily hit the Chinese soldiers on the ridge from where they were, but that would mean alerting whatever other forces were with them, and that would cause a whole lot more fighting than Parker wanted to deal with.
He turned to Hearst. "Alright, you come with me and were going to try and get us a prisoner."
Captain Hearst raised his eyebrow but did not respond.
Parker got back inside his tank and quickly radioed the other soldiers. He explained what they were doing and told them that if he did not call back in fifty minutes that they were to search and locate a small Chinese platoon and try and get a prisoner.
He grabbed his M4 automatic rifle and hopped down from his tank. Captain Hearst had only a small Colt automatic pistol.
"Alright Captain, follow my lead," Parker told him.
===============
Snow had been collecting in the small valley for almost two months with the continuous snowfall that had been hitting the coast of China. The snow reached almost five feet in depth, making it near impossible to cross.
Unfortunately for Colonel Parker and Captain Hearst, this realization did not occur to them until they were shoulder deep in snow.
"I think when I get home I'm going to move to Florida," Parker said as he struggled through the snow, careful to keep his weapon above him.
"Actually, I was thinking of proposing the idea of sending snow blowers with troops that are going to be heading for snow covered areas." Captain Hearst said.
Parker chuckled a little.
Five minutes later they had finally reached the ridge where they had spotted the Chinese soldiers. Very carefully, Parker and Hearst climbed up the ridge. It was sloped and had not been covered in snow or ice.
They reached the top and quickly scanned the area. Seeing nothing, they moved out into the trees, following the tracks made by the Chinese soldiers.
There were only four sets of tracks in the snow, which meant that either the soldiers were point men, or that they were pathfinders. Parker hoped that they were pathfinders, because that would mean the main force would be to far back to hear any shots.
The trees were very thick, disallowing any sunlight to pass through them, which made following the tracks next to impossible.
Parker motioned for Hearst to stop, they spoke in whispers.
"I've lost all sign of their tracks," Hearst whispered.
"Do you think we should turn back then?" Parker asked.
Hearst shook his head. "Let's go a little further and see if we might pick up their tracks again."
Parker nodded and continued.
They had walked for another two minutes before they caught sight of the tracks again.
Just when Parker was about to call to Hearst, he heard voices up ahead. He took off at a sprint, traveling with the stealth born from many years as a Green Beret.
He went for about fifty meters before he ran right into another person.
Both men were startled, but Parker had been prepared for battle. As he fell backwards he trained the M4 at the man's chest and fired a quick burst.
As Parker hit the ground he heard some hushed voices and then the sound of a name being called. Parker realized that they were calling the soldier he had just killed.
He slowly got to his feet and crouched down low. The snow crunched under his feet and he heard the sound of someone approaching from behind. Parker spun and lost his footing.
It was Hearst; he looked at Parker strangely for a moment before crouching down.
"Looks like you found them," Hearst said.
Parker nodded. "Let's circle around and get rid of the others, I want to make sure we leave at least one man alive."
Hearst nodded and turned to his right, slowly moving around the Chinese soldier's positions.
Parker sprinted for cover behind a tree. He peeked his head around and saw three soldiers. They were all lying down low with their weapons held up ready for anyone that might try and rush in. Parker saw Hearst directly across from him; he made a silent gesture towards the man in the middle of the soldiers. Hearst nodded; they would not kill that man.
Parker brought his crosshairs over the soldier that was closest to him; he fired once, hitting the soldier in the head.
Hearst fired at almost the exact time, hitting the soldier closest to him.
The soldier in the middle turned to his right and saw Parker. He was frightened and was about to shoot. Before he could, two rounds slammed into his rifle, snapping it out of his hands.
The soldier spun to his left and saw Hearst, his gun just lowering back down, approaching.
The Chinese man visibly thought about running but decided against it, he jumped to his feet and charged at Parker. He attempted to tackle him, but Parker side-stepped him and tripped him as he ran by.
Parker jumped on the man before he had a chance to get up. He turned his head to Hearst.
"Get me some rope or something!" Parker ordered.
Hearst approached a length of twine in his hands. He quickly tied the Chinese soldier's wrists.
"Be silent!" Hearst snapped in Chinese as the man began to shout. The soldiers surprise over Hearst knowing Chinese stopped him from speaking.
"You speak Chinese Hearst?" Parker asked as he got off of the soldier. He reached down and hoisted the soldier to his feet.
"Yes sir," Hearst replied.
"Ask him if he knows about two Japanese American officers that were captured during the assault against Bulai."
Captain Hearst asked the soldier and received spit in his face.
Parker grabbed the Chinese soldier and rammed him roughly against a tree. He gripped the soldier's head and held it tightly between his massive hands.
"Answer his goddamned question!" Parker yelled at the man's face, spittle hitting him.
The Chinese soldier was white-faced. He stammered out a quick reply and looked back at Parker with fear in his eyes.
Hearst looked at Parker. "He says that there were two Asian American soldiers that they had taken to their division headquarters. After that this guy says he doesn't know what happened to them."
Parker nodded. "Ask him if he knows where they were left."
Hearst barked out the question.
The soldier looked like he wasn't going to respond. When Parker noticed this, he raised his fist threateningly.
After the Chinese soldier stammered out another reply Hearst translated. "The division's headquarters are just ten miles north of here. But he says that they may have moved our Japanese friends further north to a temporary farmhouse that has been set up as the headquarters for his platoon."
"We should check out this place just ten miles away first," Parker said. "If there not there, then we know where they are then."
Hearst nodded his head towards their prisoner. "What do we do with him?"
"I don't want to waste any more rounds today; we can hand him over to the reconnaissance people and let them take him back to our headquarters."
Hearst nodded and relieved Parker of his burden.
===============
Ranma lightly dabbed at Ryoga's burns with a dampened towel.
The day marked their seventh day as POW's. Ranma wasn't sure what would kill him first, the Chinese, or the cold. The American sailors had proven to be quite resourceful in keeping their hunger under control. Despite the incredibly small amount of ration's they received each day, the American sailors had succeeded in building up a large supply of food, and were also successful in keeping their food hidden from their captors.
Ryoga had been in and out of consciousness the whole time. Every time he woke up, Ranma would be instantly by his side and rendering whatever assistance he could. Ranma was becoming very exhausted from this, for it sometimes meant staying awake for more than twenty-four hours at a time to make sure Ryoga was going to make it through another night.
The sailor that had first talked to Ranma when they arrived announced that he had been aboard the Enterprise when the Chinese attacked. He had swam to the surface with twenty other men and was met by a Chinese carrier. They had been taken prisoner and held for almost two months before moving to the farmhouse.
He also told them his name. He was Frank West, a medic aboard the Enterprise.
Ranma did not tell Frank about the unusual circumstances that would occur if the water used to clean Ryoga's wounds happened to be cold.
On their eighth day as POW's, the inevitable happened.
The large doors to the barn house had been opened and the POW's had been led outside into the snow.
Over a hundred Chinese soldiers were waiting for them, guns held up, in case anyone thought of running. The POW's were lined up against the wall and two soldiers began counting them off.
Ranma was carrying Ryoga, he was unconscious again. The soldier counted him off and almost continued on before he noticed Ryoga. He counted Ryoga as the next man down the line and continued on.
Once all the men had been counted off, the two soldiers walked over to a man that they presumed was the commander of the infantrymen. The commander looked at the men on the wall and nodded his head, agreeing with whatever the two soldiers had told him.
The POW's were to be split in two. Ranma was standing dead center in the line. One of the Chinese began leading the first groups away when he noticed Ranma carrying Ryoga. He ran down the line and shouted at Ranma. Ranma didn't understand what he was saying.
The soldier tried to forcefully take Ryoga away from Ranma and earned a vicious kick to the head for his troubles.
There was an absolute stunned silence in the camp as the soldier hit the snow.
Three soldiers, their weapons drawn, charged at Ranma and held the guns at dead level with his chest. One soldier slowly walked over and removed Ryoga from Ranma's arms.
Ranma was about to attempt to knock the man down and take Ryoga back when he felt pressure on the back of his head. One of the soldier's had placed the muzzle of his rifle against Ranma's head.
The soldier with Ryoga walked over to where the other groups of POW's were and handed him off to one of the POW's.
"Where are they taking them?" Ranma asked the soldier in front of him. He didn't get his response.
He didn't need to.
The sound of many assault rifles firing sounded. Ranma spun around and saw that the Chinese soldiers had led the POW's around the barn and once they were out of view, began firing.
"What the fuck!?" Ranma shouted and began running in the direction the men had been led off to.
A nearby soldier attempted to get in Ranma's way. The soldier was just about to raise his gun when he felt his gun leave his hands and a fist firmly plant itself in his face.
Ranma checked to make sure the gun was loaded and chambered a round. He set the gun to full-auto and continued running. The Chinese soldiers behind him began firing at him but Ranma was already too far ahead. Ranma rounded the corner of the barn just when the screaming of the POW's stopped.
It took Ranma a moment to register the scene before him.
The bodies of the POW's were sprawled out on the snow before the barn wall. The snow was now a mix between white and red.
Ranma felt his mind lock. He didn't even think as he brought the assault rifle up to his shoulder and begin to fire.
He hit the closet two Chinese soldiers and trained the gun on the two soldiers that had begun firing at the POW's. He fired again and this time only one of the men fell.
Ranma could feel bullets begin to whiz by him and a small part of his mind registered the thought that he should move. But his body wasn't responding. It was as if he was on auto-pilot. He just kept picking targets and firing.
Once the soldiers before him were all hit, Ranma spun around and began to pick out targets before him.
Before he could get a shot off, he felt something strike his knee. His leg snapped out uncomfortably underneath him and he almost lost his balance. He fired off two more rounds before he was hit again.
Ranma hit the ground and everything went black.
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Author's Notes: Now, I want to take this moment to talk about the other story that has been released. The Sound of War was just an idea that I had been working on before I even began working on Balance of Power. Obviously I decided to not continue that story. I might write a story like that someday, involving the Ranma ½ cast in the World War II type of time frame, but not today.
Thanks to everyone that has been reading this far and a special thanks to everyone that has written a review.