Until the End
Chapter 12
Home Again
"Mr. President?" one of Russian President Vladimir Andropov's aides asked calmly as the Russian President walked into his office, to find that it was filled with most of the political leaders of the rest of his country.
"Yes Andrey?" President Andropov asked the aide that addressed him.
"They're fifty miles into Siberia now," the aide informed the President softly.
"I see," President Andropov said quietly. "We weren't able to stop them after all."
"Sir," the general of the Russian military protested. "The Chinese and Japanese combined had nearly twenty times the amount of soldiers we had committed to the initial defense of the border. On the last count, we lost only three hundred and seventy five men, while the Asians lost six hundred."
"A small matter when you consider the fact that there's almost a billion more where that came from," the President muttered.
The general kept his temper in check and sat in a chair beside the President's desk. He cleared his throat.
"We did receive some great news from one of the commanders in the field," the general said.
"What?" the Russian President asked. He had been awake for nearly thirty-six hours and he was running low on manners.
"It seems that the commander that the Chinese gave the invasion command to was shot and killed in the battle."
The President's interest was peeked. "Really? How?"
It seems that the general believed that our forces were not as strong and they were and decided to lead his force after reports that our defenders were destroyed. What they did not know was that we had pulled back to reorganize, and when the invading force moved up the commanding general's jeep was shot at and destroyed by a Russian soldier that happened to be crossing the trail at the exact time when the jeep came down the road."
"Hmm, well maybe this will give the bastards something to think about," the President mused as he considered the implementations of the news he just received.
"Mr. President?" the President's media advisor spoke for the first time.
"Yes?" the President responded, still thinking about what the general told him.
"We have to consider the implementations that this news has, and in what way we should distribute it amongst out country."
"I think that we should keep this information close for now," the Russian general spoke up. "If we leak it now we may just make the Asians believe that we are not taking them seriously, and they may decide to move their entire force up for the next battle, and if my recent status reports are to be believed, we have used up a great amount of our resources from the original fight. We committed our most advanced tank battalion to that fight, and only one regiment escaped with all of its tanks still in working condition. We cannot allow ourselves to become overconfident; I have no reason to believe that our army will actually be able to stop these invaders before they reach Siberia."
"What!?" the President's media advisor shouted angrily. "How dare you speak in such a manner?"
The Russian general turned his head and leveled a glare at the press advisor. "Would you rather I speak as an optimist. We have gone almost ten years without any serious military ventures. We have not been able to pay our soldiers for the past few years, and because of this they are nowhere near in the right mind-set to defend this country. If you wish I will give you as much false information as you want, but I am not going to hold back my opinions about the true state of this country's military."
"In the past three years we have retired almost one third of our navy, well, at least one third of what was actually in working order. Since the end of the Cold War we have yet to produce any new lines of submarines. We have our Kilo class submarines and a few others, and these ships are only able to be put out to see because we give the crew and it's commanders a steadily supply of vodka." The general's fist slammed into the table. "We have absolutely nothing available to stop these invaders! Our troops were able to hold them back in this first battle, but the next fight will not be on even-ground. The Chinese and Japanese will have learned from this defeat and they will put forth all of their resources to smash us to oblivion when they meet our troops again."
The general got up from his seat and began pacing in the room, his earlier demeanor gone as he adopted one of anger and frustration.
"Did you know that two days ago an entire military base in Siberia was abandoned by the troops serving there because they feared what might happen if they are sent into battle? Our soldiers have no will to fight, and they will flee from our enemy when the first chance arises. The Russian people have had to endure countless tragedies in their time, and they are of the mind that Siberia is an inefficient piece of land that we should be rid of, especially if it means that we will avoid a war."
The general stopped pacing and looked at the press advisor, who was frozen in his seat with absolute shock. The general seemed to realize what he had just done and moved back to his seat, his face red and his breathing heavy from his outburst.
President Andropov, who had sat back and watched the general's rant leaned forward and regarded the general.
"Is it true what you said about that base deserting?" President Andropov asked quietly.
"Yes sir," the general replied. "I was just informed on my way over to this meeting. As we speak the soldiers in question are being looked for in the surrounding villages."
President Andropov leaned back in his chair and sighed.
"Leave them," he said softly.
"What!?" the general and the press advisor shouted at the same time.
"We have no use for men that are cowards, and I do not wish to have them inside our ranks."
The press advisor spluttered. "B-but we need to track them down and execute them for cowardice."
The President looked at the press advisor with an odd expression on his face.
"You may have forgotten that this is no longer a communist country, and I have absolutely no intention of installing fear as the means to control this country. If I do that, than the help from all of the democratic nations in this world would disappear faster than I could blink. To rule a country with fear is what our enemies our doing and I am going to do everything in my power to make sure Russia does not go back to the bad old days."
The press advisor looked doubtful but the Russian general seemed to approve of what the President was saying.
"Alright sir," the general said. "Consider the search for the AWOL soldiers put off for as long as our enemies are still inside our borders."
"Good," President Andropov said. "Now, let's move onto other issues."
===============
Second Lieutenant Ranma Saotome gazed ruefully at the infantry captain that was berating him and his platoon. The skinny man was going on and on about how Ranma and his platoon had let the force down, and that they were a disgrace to the service.
When Ranma and his platoon had finally returned to the main base, they were greeted with the news that their commanding general had been shot repeatedly and killed when the invasion force had moved up to try and finish off the Russian defenders. It was a sharp blow to the men, and it was even worse now that it had been decided to pass the blame onto the scouts that had been fighting the Russians.
It was absolutely ridiculous in retrospect, but it seemed that because Ranma and the other soldiers had been unable to finish off the Russians and had therefore allowed for their commander to be killed by a single Russian soldier.
A Japanese major approached Ranma and his platoon and he nodded absentmindedly when the troops saluted. The captain that had been berating Ranma's platoon saluted as well.
"That's enough for now captain, please move onto your other duties," the major said. The captain looked like he was going to protest but a slight glare from the major made him move off.
"Lieutenant Saotome," the major said. "A moment of your time please."
Ranma looked at the major for a moment before turning to his troops and nodding, a silent signal for them to move off.
"I'm sorry for that captain's behavior, it would seem that some of the officers are seeing fit to pass on the blame than to actually own up to their mistakes. I must tell you that you and troops did an exceptional job back there. I heard from a few of your troops about what you did. I was not obliged to believe them, but I just called back to the base in China and they informed me of your background."
Ranma looked at the major impassively, trying to think of where the major was going with his praise.
"I was wondering, could you just demonstrate to me what you did to incapacitate that Russian tank?" the major asked kindly, though Ranma interpreted it as an order.
Ranma nodded and looked for a tank. He spotted a Chinese Type 97 light tank and took off. He moved in a wide arch that quickly came to wrap upon the tank, allowing Ranma to move right up next to it. He pretended to pull the pin on the grenade he was holding and jumped, pretending to toss it into the open hatch on the tank. When his feet touched the ground, Ranma sprinted back to the major, who was watching with an open mouth.
"Is that what you wanted sir?" Ranma asked, his face not showing any signs of exertion, almost as if he had not just done the exercise.
The major turned to Ranma, his face was shocked. "T-that was amazing."
"Sir, may I ask if there is any significance in your asking me to demonstrate that?" Ranma asked.
The major's face changed and he took a more serious demeanor. "I am quite sure you are aware of the fact that many of our soldiers and officers were killed in our initial battle with the Russians, and some of our more senior ranking men are no longer around to administer their thoughts and ideas from what we should do now. As the military dictates, the rank of commanding officer falls to the next highest ranking officer, and that title has been passed down to a Colonel Urashima, a Japanese armor officer."
"I'm sure he will be able to make up some plans to move us back into the saddle sir," Ranma said, not allowing any emotion to show on his face.
"Yes," the major answered solemnly. "The only problem is that this Colonel Urashima has absolutely no battle experience, and was brought along on this front as an observer, not as a leader. It is of the general consensus among the other officers and myself that the colonel is going to need all the help we can get, as it may take a whole two weeks before another commanding officer is sent up here from either Japan or China."
"I see," Ranma said, though he did not.
"So far he has yet to make any concrete decisions, and we all know that the more time it takes us to gather ourselves, the more the Russians will be able to build their defense. So the other officers and I have decided that it might be best if we give the colonel a helpful push in the right direction, sort of like how a parent does with their child."
"Are you suggesting that I have a conversation with the colonel sir?" Ranma asked, a feeling of uneasiness spreading throughout his stomach.
The major smiled. "We don't want you so much as we want the front line soldiers to speak up. I'm thinking that if the colonel gets the idea that the regular grunts are ready and willing to get out there than he should get himself into the saddle and keep this invasion force moving."
Realization dawned on Ranma and the feeling of helplessness washed over him.
"I will get my men sir," Ranma said and saluted.
"That's a good man," the major said and walked off.
Ranma turned and began to trudge down the path towards the sleeping grounds.
There goes my last chance of getting out of this war, Ranma thought. I had hoped that with the CO dead, we would pull out, for at least a little while, and maybe give me some time to think things over.
Ranma found his platoon going as they were going through their supplies. The platoon's sergeant was distributing the ammo and MRE rations. He informed his sergeant of what the major had told him.
"I'm glad this means were not going to be held responsible for what happened to the general," the sergeant admitted. "But how are we supposed to prove to the colonel that were ready to go back into combat. From my perspective it looks like were going to need at least a day and a half more before we should even begin to think of continuing this assault."
"Yours not to reason why sergeant," Ranma said. "Yours but to listen and do what you're told by men higher on the food chain."
"Right you are sir," the sergeant responded.
"Before I go I need to ask you guys a favor," Ranma said to the whole platoon. "In the fight before I kind of fell in some snow and the paper and pens that I had with me got kind of ruined and I need some more. Is it possible for any of you to spare me some?"
A private immediately dashed towards his pack and dug out a large stack of paper, including a package of pens. He rushed back to Ranma and offered them to him.
"Here you are sir."
Ranma did his best not to laugh.
"Thank you private, but I won't need this much, I'm not planning on writing a novel," Ranma said. "But thank you nonetheless."
===============
The news of the Chinese general's death reached American ears even before it reached the Chinese Prime Minister's. The President's NSA (national security advisor) rushed into President Winnfield's office with the news.
"Well," the President said after receiving the news. "Looks like the Russian were able to give them more of a fight than I thought."
The National Security Advisor smiled. "Do I have permission to go on ahead and pass the news along the normal channels?"
"Go right ahead," the President said.
Once his advisor had left the room the President picked up his phone and dialed a number. He waited for someone on the other end to pick up.
"Yes, this is President Winnfield, and I would like to speak to General Sears," the President spoke when someone on the other end picked up.
A new voice came on the line.
*General Sears here, how may I help you Mr. President?*
"You're the head of the Special Warfare School right?" the President asked, though he knew it to be true.
*Yes sir.*
"Then I'm sure your aware of my directive to have all Green Beret A teams prepared to go out on a mission before the end of the month?*
*Yes sir.*
"I was wondering if you might be able to tell a General Parker that a new set of orders for his team will be sent out before the end of the week, one sending them overseas."
*I will pass the word along sir.*
"Thank you general, that will be all," the President said and hung up.
The President turned his head and was slightly startled to see his chief aide, Bobby Ford, standing in the doorway of his office.
"Do you need something Bob?" Winnfield asked.
Ford shrugged his shoulders and walked into the Oval Office, coming to a stop in front of the President's desk.
"Are you sure you should have done that George, I mean, you might have contacted a few generals over in the Pentagon before going straight to the man."
It was the President's turn to shrug. "I have heard enough from those tired old men over there, I want to hear what the status of the troops is by the man that is leading them himself."
Ford nodded his head. "Okay, that makes some sense." He took a seat. "But do you think we've thought this all the way through? Russia gave China and Japan something to think about in their first fight, but that fight is going to be the only Russian victory. If were so vain to believe that a bunch of A teams will be able to stop a full-scale invasion, then we're believing in a pipe dream."
The President sighed. "I know Bob, but if the military leaders of this country are to be believed, then we've spread ourselves too thin. I promised President Andropov that I would assist him when the Chinese and Japanese invaded, and I don't want to have to back out of that promise."
"I understand that George, but I'm wondering if your going to end up trading the lives of all those men just so you can keep your promise."
The President threw his hands up in frustration. "Well what would you have me do Bob? Go back on my promise with Andropov and allow the Chinese and Japanese to just take over Siberia. That goes against everything that I had hoped to build upon my administration. In one year I'm going to have to be making my appeal to the world to help stop Saddam Hussein, and how am I going to convince them that I saw this as a greater threat to the American interests than when China and Japan invaded and took over Siberia."
Ford shrugged his shoulders. "I don't think there is anything we can do. But let's not be so naïve that we would think that those Green Berets are going to really make a difference in this war."
The President shook his head. "Of course not, the real fight is going to be with the Russians, but were going to lighten their load by just a little."
Ford leaned back in his chair. "Well, let's just hope that this Parker fellow has got his men ready."
===============
"Akane!" Akari shouted as she walked back inside of the house. She shivered involuntarily as the blast of warm air hit her.
"What is it Akari?" Akane asked as she stepped out of the kitchen, drying her hands on her apron.
"Looks like it's a go for tonight," Akari said, holding up a black envelope.
It had taken nearly a week to get all the details worked out, but Ishii and the others had finally gotten to the point where their small group of rebels could conduct operations against the Japanese government. Akane and Akari had been deliberately left out of the first few operations, which consisted of sabotaging two flights that held Japanese soldiers that were supposed to leave for China. When the flight crews had gotten the planes ready for takeoff, they had been unable to get the plane started, which resulted in a four or five day delay for those soldiers. Planes and military vehicles were in low supply, considering that the bulk of all those things had been moved to China, where troops and equipment needed constant shuffling around.
After some rather intense conversations, Akane and Akari had finally convinced Ishii and Kimura to allow them to come along on the next operation, which was codenamed, Operation Morning Star. The operation consisted of five different sections; the first would be the infiltration of the Japanese Intelligence Agency, whose headquarters were located in downtown Tokyo. The reason for that target was because Kimura had explained that the agency had been receiving daily messages from the Prime Minister, some of which would contain information that could prove very damaging if they were ever released to the public.
While their small group would do everything they could to help stop the movement of soldiers into China and then Russia, they would also be trying to run an underground information center that would allow them to routinely give the people of Tokyo and surrounding areas the truth about what was in fact going on in the war in Siberia..
"Finally," Akane breathed. "I wasn't sure that we would actually be doing this."
"Well let's just hope that our role in this will not be some lame little assignment like being lookouts," Akari said.
"Don't worry," Akane said with a smile. "I made Kimura promise that we would be an integral part of this operation, whether Ishii liked it or not."
Akari smiled. "I guess we just have to wait until tonight then."
===============
Lieutenant Gogol cursed silently under his breath when he heard the sound of someone crashing through the brush in front of him. Thinking quickly, he dove behind a tree, just as the person emerged. Peeking around the tree, Gogol saw that it was a Japanese soldier, a lieutenant like him. The soldier was handsome, and he had a long pigtail, which Gogol found very odd.
The soldier continued on his way, and Gogol considered the merits of trying to take the soldier out. He would likely not get much information and when the others discovered he was missing, they would most likely send out patrols to search for the man, and that would result in Gogol and his platoon being discovered.
The Japanese lieutenant stopped, and quickly looked over his surroundings. He brushed some fallen snow off of a tree stump, and sat down on it, extracting some paper and a pen.
He's writing home, Gogol thought. Something that Gogol had yet to do, mostly because he had been so terrified of actually going into combat, and he had spent the entire flight over to Siberia in a drunken stupor. He wondered who the soldier was writing to.
Watching carefully, Gogol could see the soldier's face light up as he began to write. Gogol looked closer and could see that the soldier was about the same age as him. Making a quick decision, Gogol moved back and dashed into the woods silently, leaving the Japanese soldier.
Gogol returned to the rendezvous point and discovered his platoon waiting for him.
"Did you find anything useful?" the platoon's NCO asked.
"No, it would seem that they are just camping down for now," Gogol replied. "From what I could tell, their new commander has yet to make any substantial decisions, and is waiting for orders to come forth from his superiors."
"Cowards," the NCO spat.
"Consider this a blessing comrade," Lieutenant Gogol said. "Now that they are unsure of their superiority, we have been given the chance to increase our defense over the bases and cities in Siberia."
The NCO nodded at Gogol's words.
Gogol sat down on the snow covered ground and let a sigh of exasperation. He began to slowly rub at his sore muscles. Gogol decided that his men did not need to hear about his encounter with the Japanese soldier.
===============
Author's Notes: Oh wow, I'm starting to think that maybe the low review on the last chapter was because I updated at such an odd time. I guess I'll have to monitor the times I update and pick a moment where the story will stay the longest on the first page; I know most people don't even bother looking at the second page.
Sorry about the long delay between chapters, I've been a little busy. It would seem that my husband, Mr. Clark, will be getting two days leave, and he will be coming home, if only for a day. I've been preparing for that to occur.
France, Germany, China, and Russia. All of those countries are vehemently opposing any military action in Iraq. While I can understand why France and Germany would oppose, and I understand a little why China is, I can't understand Russia's position. The only possible solution that I have come up with is because they do not want to commit soldiers to any kind of attack on Iraq, for fear of reprisal from some of the terrorist fractions, which have spoken out and said that they will attack any country that joins the war in Iraq.
Russia has its own problems, like leftovers from the old Soviet Union, like the Chechen rebels and other terrorist organizations.
At this point I am in the mind set of someone that sees war with Iraq an unavoidable occurrence. This does not mean that I want a war with Iraq to occur, especially considering that my husband will most likely be the first to volunteer his services.
Oh yes, one last thing, I would like to thank all the people that went out and demonstrated for the pro-Bush demonstrations on the weekend, you don't know how much that means to people like me and those that are in the military.
P.S.: To the members of the feminist group who demonstrated outside of the White House. (I apologize to those that object to my language) You have just set feminist groups back about fifty years. Your idiotic demonstration with the name "Code Pink" was little more than an excuse to show your hatred towards the Bush administration. The outline thought that it was about caring for the women of Iraq, who you said will be the people to suffer most if a war occurs (you obviously have forgotten that soldiers will be fighting this war), was a nice message, except that I fail to see where trying to get inside the White House and using force against police officers and getting arrested like a common criminal sends a message that you care for the women of Iraq. "Code Stupidity" would have been a proper name for your demonstration.
"Mr. President?" one of Russian President Vladimir Andropov's aides asked calmly as the Russian President walked into his office, to find that it was filled with most of the political leaders of the rest of his country.
"Yes Andrey?" President Andropov asked the aide that addressed him.
"They're fifty miles into Siberia now," the aide informed the President softly.
"I see," President Andropov said quietly. "We weren't able to stop them after all."
"Sir," the general of the Russian military protested. "The Chinese and Japanese combined had nearly twenty times the amount of soldiers we had committed to the initial defense of the border. On the last count, we lost only three hundred and seventy five men, while the Asians lost six hundred."
"A small matter when you consider the fact that there's almost a billion more where that came from," the President muttered.
The general kept his temper in check and sat in a chair beside the President's desk. He cleared his throat.
"We did receive some great news from one of the commanders in the field," the general said.
"What?" the Russian President asked. He had been awake for nearly thirty-six hours and he was running low on manners.
"It seems that the commander that the Chinese gave the invasion command to was shot and killed in the battle."
The President's interest was peeked. "Really? How?"
It seems that the general believed that our forces were not as strong and they were and decided to lead his force after reports that our defenders were destroyed. What they did not know was that we had pulled back to reorganize, and when the invading force moved up the commanding general's jeep was shot at and destroyed by a Russian soldier that happened to be crossing the trail at the exact time when the jeep came down the road."
"Hmm, well maybe this will give the bastards something to think about," the President mused as he considered the implementations of the news he just received.
"Mr. President?" the President's media advisor spoke for the first time.
"Yes?" the President responded, still thinking about what the general told him.
"We have to consider the implementations that this news has, and in what way we should distribute it amongst out country."
"I think that we should keep this information close for now," the Russian general spoke up. "If we leak it now we may just make the Asians believe that we are not taking them seriously, and they may decide to move their entire force up for the next battle, and if my recent status reports are to be believed, we have used up a great amount of our resources from the original fight. We committed our most advanced tank battalion to that fight, and only one regiment escaped with all of its tanks still in working condition. We cannot allow ourselves to become overconfident; I have no reason to believe that our army will actually be able to stop these invaders before they reach Siberia."
"What!?" the President's media advisor shouted angrily. "How dare you speak in such a manner?"
The Russian general turned his head and leveled a glare at the press advisor. "Would you rather I speak as an optimist. We have gone almost ten years without any serious military ventures. We have not been able to pay our soldiers for the past few years, and because of this they are nowhere near in the right mind-set to defend this country. If you wish I will give you as much false information as you want, but I am not going to hold back my opinions about the true state of this country's military."
"In the past three years we have retired almost one third of our navy, well, at least one third of what was actually in working order. Since the end of the Cold War we have yet to produce any new lines of submarines. We have our Kilo class submarines and a few others, and these ships are only able to be put out to see because we give the crew and it's commanders a steadily supply of vodka." The general's fist slammed into the table. "We have absolutely nothing available to stop these invaders! Our troops were able to hold them back in this first battle, but the next fight will not be on even-ground. The Chinese and Japanese will have learned from this defeat and they will put forth all of their resources to smash us to oblivion when they meet our troops again."
The general got up from his seat and began pacing in the room, his earlier demeanor gone as he adopted one of anger and frustration.
"Did you know that two days ago an entire military base in Siberia was abandoned by the troops serving there because they feared what might happen if they are sent into battle? Our soldiers have no will to fight, and they will flee from our enemy when the first chance arises. The Russian people have had to endure countless tragedies in their time, and they are of the mind that Siberia is an inefficient piece of land that we should be rid of, especially if it means that we will avoid a war."
The general stopped pacing and looked at the press advisor, who was frozen in his seat with absolute shock. The general seemed to realize what he had just done and moved back to his seat, his face red and his breathing heavy from his outburst.
President Andropov, who had sat back and watched the general's rant leaned forward and regarded the general.
"Is it true what you said about that base deserting?" President Andropov asked quietly.
"Yes sir," the general replied. "I was just informed on my way over to this meeting. As we speak the soldiers in question are being looked for in the surrounding villages."
President Andropov leaned back in his chair and sighed.
"Leave them," he said softly.
"What!?" the general and the press advisor shouted at the same time.
"We have no use for men that are cowards, and I do not wish to have them inside our ranks."
The press advisor spluttered. "B-but we need to track them down and execute them for cowardice."
The President looked at the press advisor with an odd expression on his face.
"You may have forgotten that this is no longer a communist country, and I have absolutely no intention of installing fear as the means to control this country. If I do that, than the help from all of the democratic nations in this world would disappear faster than I could blink. To rule a country with fear is what our enemies our doing and I am going to do everything in my power to make sure Russia does not go back to the bad old days."
The press advisor looked doubtful but the Russian general seemed to approve of what the President was saying.
"Alright sir," the general said. "Consider the search for the AWOL soldiers put off for as long as our enemies are still inside our borders."
"Good," President Andropov said. "Now, let's move onto other issues."
===============
Second Lieutenant Ranma Saotome gazed ruefully at the infantry captain that was berating him and his platoon. The skinny man was going on and on about how Ranma and his platoon had let the force down, and that they were a disgrace to the service.
When Ranma and his platoon had finally returned to the main base, they were greeted with the news that their commanding general had been shot repeatedly and killed when the invasion force had moved up to try and finish off the Russian defenders. It was a sharp blow to the men, and it was even worse now that it had been decided to pass the blame onto the scouts that had been fighting the Russians.
It was absolutely ridiculous in retrospect, but it seemed that because Ranma and the other soldiers had been unable to finish off the Russians and had therefore allowed for their commander to be killed by a single Russian soldier.
A Japanese major approached Ranma and his platoon and he nodded absentmindedly when the troops saluted. The captain that had been berating Ranma's platoon saluted as well.
"That's enough for now captain, please move onto your other duties," the major said. The captain looked like he was going to protest but a slight glare from the major made him move off.
"Lieutenant Saotome," the major said. "A moment of your time please."
Ranma looked at the major for a moment before turning to his troops and nodding, a silent signal for them to move off.
"I'm sorry for that captain's behavior, it would seem that some of the officers are seeing fit to pass on the blame than to actually own up to their mistakes. I must tell you that you and troops did an exceptional job back there. I heard from a few of your troops about what you did. I was not obliged to believe them, but I just called back to the base in China and they informed me of your background."
Ranma looked at the major impassively, trying to think of where the major was going with his praise.
"I was wondering, could you just demonstrate to me what you did to incapacitate that Russian tank?" the major asked kindly, though Ranma interpreted it as an order.
Ranma nodded and looked for a tank. He spotted a Chinese Type 97 light tank and took off. He moved in a wide arch that quickly came to wrap upon the tank, allowing Ranma to move right up next to it. He pretended to pull the pin on the grenade he was holding and jumped, pretending to toss it into the open hatch on the tank. When his feet touched the ground, Ranma sprinted back to the major, who was watching with an open mouth.
"Is that what you wanted sir?" Ranma asked, his face not showing any signs of exertion, almost as if he had not just done the exercise.
The major turned to Ranma, his face was shocked. "T-that was amazing."
"Sir, may I ask if there is any significance in your asking me to demonstrate that?" Ranma asked.
The major's face changed and he took a more serious demeanor. "I am quite sure you are aware of the fact that many of our soldiers and officers were killed in our initial battle with the Russians, and some of our more senior ranking men are no longer around to administer their thoughts and ideas from what we should do now. As the military dictates, the rank of commanding officer falls to the next highest ranking officer, and that title has been passed down to a Colonel Urashima, a Japanese armor officer."
"I'm sure he will be able to make up some plans to move us back into the saddle sir," Ranma said, not allowing any emotion to show on his face.
"Yes," the major answered solemnly. "The only problem is that this Colonel Urashima has absolutely no battle experience, and was brought along on this front as an observer, not as a leader. It is of the general consensus among the other officers and myself that the colonel is going to need all the help we can get, as it may take a whole two weeks before another commanding officer is sent up here from either Japan or China."
"I see," Ranma said, though he did not.
"So far he has yet to make any concrete decisions, and we all know that the more time it takes us to gather ourselves, the more the Russians will be able to build their defense. So the other officers and I have decided that it might be best if we give the colonel a helpful push in the right direction, sort of like how a parent does with their child."
"Are you suggesting that I have a conversation with the colonel sir?" Ranma asked, a feeling of uneasiness spreading throughout his stomach.
The major smiled. "We don't want you so much as we want the front line soldiers to speak up. I'm thinking that if the colonel gets the idea that the regular grunts are ready and willing to get out there than he should get himself into the saddle and keep this invasion force moving."
Realization dawned on Ranma and the feeling of helplessness washed over him.
"I will get my men sir," Ranma said and saluted.
"That's a good man," the major said and walked off.
Ranma turned and began to trudge down the path towards the sleeping grounds.
There goes my last chance of getting out of this war, Ranma thought. I had hoped that with the CO dead, we would pull out, for at least a little while, and maybe give me some time to think things over.
Ranma found his platoon going as they were going through their supplies. The platoon's sergeant was distributing the ammo and MRE rations. He informed his sergeant of what the major had told him.
"I'm glad this means were not going to be held responsible for what happened to the general," the sergeant admitted. "But how are we supposed to prove to the colonel that were ready to go back into combat. From my perspective it looks like were going to need at least a day and a half more before we should even begin to think of continuing this assault."
"Yours not to reason why sergeant," Ranma said. "Yours but to listen and do what you're told by men higher on the food chain."
"Right you are sir," the sergeant responded.
"Before I go I need to ask you guys a favor," Ranma said to the whole platoon. "In the fight before I kind of fell in some snow and the paper and pens that I had with me got kind of ruined and I need some more. Is it possible for any of you to spare me some?"
A private immediately dashed towards his pack and dug out a large stack of paper, including a package of pens. He rushed back to Ranma and offered them to him.
"Here you are sir."
Ranma did his best not to laugh.
"Thank you private, but I won't need this much, I'm not planning on writing a novel," Ranma said. "But thank you nonetheless."
===============
The news of the Chinese general's death reached American ears even before it reached the Chinese Prime Minister's. The President's NSA (national security advisor) rushed into President Winnfield's office with the news.
"Well," the President said after receiving the news. "Looks like the Russian were able to give them more of a fight than I thought."
The National Security Advisor smiled. "Do I have permission to go on ahead and pass the news along the normal channels?"
"Go right ahead," the President said.
Once his advisor had left the room the President picked up his phone and dialed a number. He waited for someone on the other end to pick up.
"Yes, this is President Winnfield, and I would like to speak to General Sears," the President spoke when someone on the other end picked up.
A new voice came on the line.
*General Sears here, how may I help you Mr. President?*
"You're the head of the Special Warfare School right?" the President asked, though he knew it to be true.
*Yes sir.*
"Then I'm sure your aware of my directive to have all Green Beret A teams prepared to go out on a mission before the end of the month?*
*Yes sir.*
"I was wondering if you might be able to tell a General Parker that a new set of orders for his team will be sent out before the end of the week, one sending them overseas."
*I will pass the word along sir.*
"Thank you general, that will be all," the President said and hung up.
The President turned his head and was slightly startled to see his chief aide, Bobby Ford, standing in the doorway of his office.
"Do you need something Bob?" Winnfield asked.
Ford shrugged his shoulders and walked into the Oval Office, coming to a stop in front of the President's desk.
"Are you sure you should have done that George, I mean, you might have contacted a few generals over in the Pentagon before going straight to the man."
It was the President's turn to shrug. "I have heard enough from those tired old men over there, I want to hear what the status of the troops is by the man that is leading them himself."
Ford nodded his head. "Okay, that makes some sense." He took a seat. "But do you think we've thought this all the way through? Russia gave China and Japan something to think about in their first fight, but that fight is going to be the only Russian victory. If were so vain to believe that a bunch of A teams will be able to stop a full-scale invasion, then we're believing in a pipe dream."
The President sighed. "I know Bob, but if the military leaders of this country are to be believed, then we've spread ourselves too thin. I promised President Andropov that I would assist him when the Chinese and Japanese invaded, and I don't want to have to back out of that promise."
"I understand that George, but I'm wondering if your going to end up trading the lives of all those men just so you can keep your promise."
The President threw his hands up in frustration. "Well what would you have me do Bob? Go back on my promise with Andropov and allow the Chinese and Japanese to just take over Siberia. That goes against everything that I had hoped to build upon my administration. In one year I'm going to have to be making my appeal to the world to help stop Saddam Hussein, and how am I going to convince them that I saw this as a greater threat to the American interests than when China and Japan invaded and took over Siberia."
Ford shrugged his shoulders. "I don't think there is anything we can do. But let's not be so naïve that we would think that those Green Berets are going to really make a difference in this war."
The President shook his head. "Of course not, the real fight is going to be with the Russians, but were going to lighten their load by just a little."
Ford leaned back in his chair. "Well, let's just hope that this Parker fellow has got his men ready."
===============
"Akane!" Akari shouted as she walked back inside of the house. She shivered involuntarily as the blast of warm air hit her.
"What is it Akari?" Akane asked as she stepped out of the kitchen, drying her hands on her apron.
"Looks like it's a go for tonight," Akari said, holding up a black envelope.
It had taken nearly a week to get all the details worked out, but Ishii and the others had finally gotten to the point where their small group of rebels could conduct operations against the Japanese government. Akane and Akari had been deliberately left out of the first few operations, which consisted of sabotaging two flights that held Japanese soldiers that were supposed to leave for China. When the flight crews had gotten the planes ready for takeoff, they had been unable to get the plane started, which resulted in a four or five day delay for those soldiers. Planes and military vehicles were in low supply, considering that the bulk of all those things had been moved to China, where troops and equipment needed constant shuffling around.
After some rather intense conversations, Akane and Akari had finally convinced Ishii and Kimura to allow them to come along on the next operation, which was codenamed, Operation Morning Star. The operation consisted of five different sections; the first would be the infiltration of the Japanese Intelligence Agency, whose headquarters were located in downtown Tokyo. The reason for that target was because Kimura had explained that the agency had been receiving daily messages from the Prime Minister, some of which would contain information that could prove very damaging if they were ever released to the public.
While their small group would do everything they could to help stop the movement of soldiers into China and then Russia, they would also be trying to run an underground information center that would allow them to routinely give the people of Tokyo and surrounding areas the truth about what was in fact going on in the war in Siberia..
"Finally," Akane breathed. "I wasn't sure that we would actually be doing this."
"Well let's just hope that our role in this will not be some lame little assignment like being lookouts," Akari said.
"Don't worry," Akane said with a smile. "I made Kimura promise that we would be an integral part of this operation, whether Ishii liked it or not."
Akari smiled. "I guess we just have to wait until tonight then."
===============
Lieutenant Gogol cursed silently under his breath when he heard the sound of someone crashing through the brush in front of him. Thinking quickly, he dove behind a tree, just as the person emerged. Peeking around the tree, Gogol saw that it was a Japanese soldier, a lieutenant like him. The soldier was handsome, and he had a long pigtail, which Gogol found very odd.
The soldier continued on his way, and Gogol considered the merits of trying to take the soldier out. He would likely not get much information and when the others discovered he was missing, they would most likely send out patrols to search for the man, and that would result in Gogol and his platoon being discovered.
The Japanese lieutenant stopped, and quickly looked over his surroundings. He brushed some fallen snow off of a tree stump, and sat down on it, extracting some paper and a pen.
He's writing home, Gogol thought. Something that Gogol had yet to do, mostly because he had been so terrified of actually going into combat, and he had spent the entire flight over to Siberia in a drunken stupor. He wondered who the soldier was writing to.
Watching carefully, Gogol could see the soldier's face light up as he began to write. Gogol looked closer and could see that the soldier was about the same age as him. Making a quick decision, Gogol moved back and dashed into the woods silently, leaving the Japanese soldier.
Gogol returned to the rendezvous point and discovered his platoon waiting for him.
"Did you find anything useful?" the platoon's NCO asked.
"No, it would seem that they are just camping down for now," Gogol replied. "From what I could tell, their new commander has yet to make any substantial decisions, and is waiting for orders to come forth from his superiors."
"Cowards," the NCO spat.
"Consider this a blessing comrade," Lieutenant Gogol said. "Now that they are unsure of their superiority, we have been given the chance to increase our defense over the bases and cities in Siberia."
The NCO nodded at Gogol's words.
Gogol sat down on the snow covered ground and let a sigh of exasperation. He began to slowly rub at his sore muscles. Gogol decided that his men did not need to hear about his encounter with the Japanese soldier.
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Author's Notes: Oh wow, I'm starting to think that maybe the low review on the last chapter was because I updated at such an odd time. I guess I'll have to monitor the times I update and pick a moment where the story will stay the longest on the first page; I know most people don't even bother looking at the second page.
Sorry about the long delay between chapters, I've been a little busy. It would seem that my husband, Mr. Clark, will be getting two days leave, and he will be coming home, if only for a day. I've been preparing for that to occur.
France, Germany, China, and Russia. All of those countries are vehemently opposing any military action in Iraq. While I can understand why France and Germany would oppose, and I understand a little why China is, I can't understand Russia's position. The only possible solution that I have come up with is because they do not want to commit soldiers to any kind of attack on Iraq, for fear of reprisal from some of the terrorist fractions, which have spoken out and said that they will attack any country that joins the war in Iraq.
Russia has its own problems, like leftovers from the old Soviet Union, like the Chechen rebels and other terrorist organizations.
At this point I am in the mind set of someone that sees war with Iraq an unavoidable occurrence. This does not mean that I want a war with Iraq to occur, especially considering that my husband will most likely be the first to volunteer his services.
Oh yes, one last thing, I would like to thank all the people that went out and demonstrated for the pro-Bush demonstrations on the weekend, you don't know how much that means to people like me and those that are in the military.
P.S.: To the members of the feminist group who demonstrated outside of the White House. (I apologize to those that object to my language) You have just set feminist groups back about fifty years. Your idiotic demonstration with the name "Code Pink" was little more than an excuse to show your hatred towards the Bush administration. The outline thought that it was about caring for the women of Iraq, who you said will be the people to suffer most if a war occurs (you obviously have forgotten that soldiers will be fighting this war), was a nice message, except that I fail to see where trying to get inside the White House and using force against police officers and getting arrested like a common criminal sends a message that you care for the women of Iraq. "Code Stupidity" would have been a proper name for your demonstration.