Until the End
Chapter 14
The Psychological Aspects
Second Lieutenant Ranma Saotome, his thick tunic lying beside him, let out a groan of agony as he stretched his back. The sun had risen too its peak and the temperature was now a few degrees above Celsius. Perfect weather for a nice day.
Ranma finished his stretch and reached back down to his shovel and began finishing what seemed to be his hundredth grave.
The decision to dig an individual grave for each villager had come from Ranma himself, and he had also opted to be the one to dig each grave.
"No," Ranma said shaking his head. "I will not complain. This is my atonement for letting these people die. Just keep digging."
It had taken nearly seven hours to dig the one hundred and seven graves for the village, and the process of moving each body into the grave started. Ranma, refusing to take a rest, continued to help, and eventually, each grave was sealed. The bodies of the Japanese soldiers had been lined up by the head of the village, waiting to be picked up by the team that would eventually come looking for them. Ranma forced himself to not let his eyes fall on their bodies.
It was late in the afternoon when everything was finished, and it had taken its toll on all of the men, both physically and mentally. They retired near a fenced off area and began to finish of their last MRE rations. The small Russian girl had been sleeping during the entire ordeal, mostly from the exhaustion that had resulted from the emotional strain she had been put under. Ranma and the others came to the conclusion that she was about four years old. Ranma himself had also come to the conclusion that she was the spitting image of his young daughter. A conclusion that provided no real comfort.
Ranma returned to the hut that the girl had been sleeping in just as she was waking up. Ranma found himself frozen in place as the girl slowly rose from the cot she had been sleeping on. The girl slowly became aware of the fact that someone was watching her and turned to look at Ranma, her gaze fearful as well as curious.
He tried taking a reassuring step forward, but the girl shrank back in fear. Her eyes were focused near his waist. Ranma glanced down and saw that he had his rifle hung there. Cursing his own stupidity, Ranma removed the gun and set it down outside, and as an afterthought, he removed his web belt that contained his hand gun. Making sure his hands were in plain view, Ranma resumed his slow entry into the room.
The girl did not take her eyes off of him as he walked by the cot and took a seat on a crudely fashioned chair. Ranma tried to smile, and the girl offered him a weak smile in return.
Ranma's sharp ears detected the slight growl of the young girl's stomach and he correctly guessed that she had not eaten anything since the day before. Getting to his feet, Ranma walked over to the cot and took a seat. He removed a small package of ten-to-one rations and opened the package of slightly salted crackers. He handed it to the girl, and she accepted it, though keeping the distance between them to a maximum. Ranma sat, contented to hear her eat the crackers.
Once she was finished, the girl relaxed a little, though she was still quite wary of Ranma. Ranma turned around to look at her and smiled, this time naturally.
First things first, he thought to himself. I should probably learn her name.
"Ranma," he said, getting the girl's attention. He pointed to his name tag and repeated, "Ranma."
"Ranma," the girl said, with a Russian accent. She pointed at herself. "Natalie."
"Natalie," Ranma said and smiled, which triggered a smile from the girl. "Pleased to meet you," he said, holding his canteen of water out to her.
She accepted the water and took a deep drink. Just as she returned the canteen to Ranma, Sergeant Yoshida came into the hut, his face grim.
"The reaction force is here lieutenant."
"I'll be right out," Ranma said and got up. As a second thought, he held out his hand, offering it to Natalie. She took his offered hand and got up, off of the cot.
"Are you sure you should take her with you?" Sergeant Yoshida asked as Ranma walked out of the hut.
"Whether it is a good idea or not sergeant, I am not going to allow anything to happen to her. If the other soldiers have a problem with it, than they're going to have to take it up with me."
Sergeant Yoshida was wise enough to understand when his lieutenant had made up his mind. There was nothing short of physically removing the girl (and he was not so stupid to actually try) that would make Lieutenant Saotome leave the girl. He decided to sigh and follow his lieutenant, for fear that he may not understand the danger that he was facing.
Ranma himself was unsure as to why he felt such an affinity with the young Russian girl. A part of his mind was saying that it was because Natalie looked so much like his young daughter Kagome, but that just didn't seem like it could be the real reason.
Maybe I've finally gone off the deep end, Ranma thought to himself. The fact that this thought did not bring any kind of thoughts against it scared him enough to keep the subject from his mind.
Before he knew it, Lieutenant Saotome had come nearly face to face with the commander of the reaction force. Startled, Ranma released Natalie's hand and snapped a quick salute to the man.
"It's good to see you alive lieutenant," the major said. Ranma could just remember that this was the major that had talked him into talking with the new invasion commander. "Do you think you could give me a recap over the events that occurred here?"
Ranma snapped out of his revere and nodded his head. "Yes sir. We linked up with Captain Ninomiya's platoon around 0530 hours yesterday, and we were then led by Captain Ninomiya into this small town, in order to deliver the message that we were members of the invasion force that was going to liberate them from the oppressive Russian government. The citizens refused to tell us anything and from what I could gather, managed to piss Ninomiya off. Captain Ninomiya then sent my platoon to recon the village. Once we had moved off, we discovered this child," Ranma said, indicating Natalie.
"Shortly thereafter we heard several short bursts, which I presumed to be from a pistol, and then we heard some screaming and the great succession of assault rifle fire. I raced ahead of my team without thinking and I stumbled upon the scene of Ninomiya and his troops firing at the villagers as they tried to run away. As I was attempting to disarm Ninomiya and his men, a Russian patrol opened fire from the trees, killing Ninomiya and his men. Sergeant Yoshida and three other soldiers wiped out the Russian patrol with a Javelin."
The major closed his eyes softly and muttered a curse.
"How many villagers were killed?" the major asked Ranma.
"All of them sir, except this child," Ranma replied.
"Good god, what did you do with the bodies?"
"We buried them sir, along with our soldiers as well, I was unsure what kind of animals would be attracted to the corpses."
"Okay," the major nodded. "I am issuing orders here and I do not want to have to repeat myself. I am going to report what happened here, but I do not want any of your soldiers to say a word of it to anyone. We are going to burn this village down, because if it so happens that the enemy, either the Russians or the Americans, get wind of what happened here, then it will spell the end of this mission, and the end for Japan."
"Sir?" Ranma asked, confused.
"Goddamnit lieutenant! I gave you an order and I expect it to be obeyed!" the major said furiously.
"Understood sir," Ranma said softly, lightly placing his hand on Natalie's shoulder and lead her away.
===============
"Alright boys lets get this show on the road," Brigadier General Phillip Sheridan Parker IV shouted over the drone of the helicopter's motor. He smiled briefly as he got reaffirming grunts from the men in the helicopter. He stood up and peered out the side door of the helicopter. His smile faltered somewhat as he saw the approaching Russian base. Their were crews standing around waiting for the American helicopters, and General Parker felt a wave of euphoria wash over him. He was heading out to war once again, for the fourth time in his life he would be participating in the deadly game of war. In a way it was almost a relief to get back into this style of life, for he had felt a growing boredom with life in a peacetime army.
As the helicopters touched down and the crews disassembled, Phil was approached by a Russian soldier, and like him, he was a general. They exchanged salutes and smiled briefly at each other.
"It is relief to see men your," the Russian general said in bad English. "I regret that I have not the good English."
"That is alright," General Parker said in Russian. "If you so wish we can speak in Russian."
"Ah," the Russian general smiled. "That would be most accommodating."
Phillip was lead away from the unloading of the gear and into what Parker presumed was the office of the commanding officer. He was shown to a seat and the Russian general moved to a chair. On the table between the two chairs, was a very large map, which was a blown-up satellite photo of Siberia. There were markings on it, indicating where Russian defenses were set up, and where the invading Chinese and Japanese forces were, or at least thought to be.
The Russian general spread the map out a bit more and set clasps in place to ensure that the map did not shift.
"From the last satellite images we have acquired, it would seem that the Chinese and Japanese are at least fifty kilometers away from Aldan. We have reasonable information that states that their force is spread out about four kilometers wide. The city of Neryungri was passed over, but the Chinese set up a perimeter around the city, and I would doubt that they are letting many trucks inside. Despite our higher than anticipated defense in the initial bout with them, they are still managing to make about forty kilometers a day, which is impressive given the poor road conditions in southern Siberia."
"When is the next defense planned?" Parker asked as he scanned the map.
"Here," the Russian general said, pointing at a location about twenty kilometers south of Aldan.
"Hmm," Parker said. "Do you have any troops shadowing the scout forces?"
"Yes, in fact we have one soldier doing that that you may have heard of, a Lieutenant Gogol."
"The soldier that wiped out the commanding officer of the invading force?" Parker asked.
"Yes," the Russian general replied. "He has been shadowing them for almost a week now. We were hoping that you Americans could help relieve the stress that shadowing them causes. We are stretched thin as it is, and wherever you can help it would be appreciated."
"Well, let's start up the choppers and you can take me and some others out to the front lines. I would like to see just how well those Chinese and Japanese can fight."
Parker smiled as he saw the surprise on the general's face.
"You mean you are going out as well?"
"There isn't a rule saying that a general can't get his hands dirty is there?" Parker asked. "In fact I rather prefer it to actually sitting out."
"You Americans are insane," the general said, though a smile was on his face.
"You're damn right were crazy, and were also going to help you win this war."
===============
Author's Notes: I apologize for this short chapter and the length of time it's been since I updated. But I would hope you all can understand. I'm sure you all no doubt know that Coalition troops have entered Iraq and are now attempting to remove Saddam Hussein from power.
This has caused no end of worrying for me, and I was quite worried already. I finally decided to move into the temporary housing development provided for the dependants of officers. At least while I'm here I will be able to actually do something. Oh, and yes, if anyone is wondering, my husband, Mr. Clark, is fighting in the war. It would seem that he knew all along that he would be sent in, I do not want to disclose the exact name of the division or battalion he is in, but I will say that he has already been wounded in action. A rocket-propelled grenade missed its target when his division or battalion was moving into an unnamed Iraqi city, and my husband caught shrapnel all along his leg.
But this was only a minor wound, and from what I have last heard, he is back in the commander's seat. I am proud of him, but worried nonetheless.
I would like to ask those people that read this to send their prayers to the Coalition forces, and for the civilians in Iraq. I don't much care if you support this war or not, but the men and women of this country are fighting in a war, and they deserve support. Whether you want to believe it or not, they are doing something that most likely everyone that reads this can't fathom.
And finally, I do not know when I will write a new chapter, but when I do I promise it will have Akane, Akari, Ishii, and Kimura in it.
Second Lieutenant Ranma Saotome, his thick tunic lying beside him, let out a groan of agony as he stretched his back. The sun had risen too its peak and the temperature was now a few degrees above Celsius. Perfect weather for a nice day.
Ranma finished his stretch and reached back down to his shovel and began finishing what seemed to be his hundredth grave.
The decision to dig an individual grave for each villager had come from Ranma himself, and he had also opted to be the one to dig each grave.
"No," Ranma said shaking his head. "I will not complain. This is my atonement for letting these people die. Just keep digging."
It had taken nearly seven hours to dig the one hundred and seven graves for the village, and the process of moving each body into the grave started. Ranma, refusing to take a rest, continued to help, and eventually, each grave was sealed. The bodies of the Japanese soldiers had been lined up by the head of the village, waiting to be picked up by the team that would eventually come looking for them. Ranma forced himself to not let his eyes fall on their bodies.
It was late in the afternoon when everything was finished, and it had taken its toll on all of the men, both physically and mentally. They retired near a fenced off area and began to finish of their last MRE rations. The small Russian girl had been sleeping during the entire ordeal, mostly from the exhaustion that had resulted from the emotional strain she had been put under. Ranma and the others came to the conclusion that she was about four years old. Ranma himself had also come to the conclusion that she was the spitting image of his young daughter. A conclusion that provided no real comfort.
Ranma returned to the hut that the girl had been sleeping in just as she was waking up. Ranma found himself frozen in place as the girl slowly rose from the cot she had been sleeping on. The girl slowly became aware of the fact that someone was watching her and turned to look at Ranma, her gaze fearful as well as curious.
He tried taking a reassuring step forward, but the girl shrank back in fear. Her eyes were focused near his waist. Ranma glanced down and saw that he had his rifle hung there. Cursing his own stupidity, Ranma removed the gun and set it down outside, and as an afterthought, he removed his web belt that contained his hand gun. Making sure his hands were in plain view, Ranma resumed his slow entry into the room.
The girl did not take her eyes off of him as he walked by the cot and took a seat on a crudely fashioned chair. Ranma tried to smile, and the girl offered him a weak smile in return.
Ranma's sharp ears detected the slight growl of the young girl's stomach and he correctly guessed that she had not eaten anything since the day before. Getting to his feet, Ranma walked over to the cot and took a seat. He removed a small package of ten-to-one rations and opened the package of slightly salted crackers. He handed it to the girl, and she accepted it, though keeping the distance between them to a maximum. Ranma sat, contented to hear her eat the crackers.
Once she was finished, the girl relaxed a little, though she was still quite wary of Ranma. Ranma turned around to look at her and smiled, this time naturally.
First things first, he thought to himself. I should probably learn her name.
"Ranma," he said, getting the girl's attention. He pointed to his name tag and repeated, "Ranma."
"Ranma," the girl said, with a Russian accent. She pointed at herself. "Natalie."
"Natalie," Ranma said and smiled, which triggered a smile from the girl. "Pleased to meet you," he said, holding his canteen of water out to her.
She accepted the water and took a deep drink. Just as she returned the canteen to Ranma, Sergeant Yoshida came into the hut, his face grim.
"The reaction force is here lieutenant."
"I'll be right out," Ranma said and got up. As a second thought, he held out his hand, offering it to Natalie. She took his offered hand and got up, off of the cot.
"Are you sure you should take her with you?" Sergeant Yoshida asked as Ranma walked out of the hut.
"Whether it is a good idea or not sergeant, I am not going to allow anything to happen to her. If the other soldiers have a problem with it, than they're going to have to take it up with me."
Sergeant Yoshida was wise enough to understand when his lieutenant had made up his mind. There was nothing short of physically removing the girl (and he was not so stupid to actually try) that would make Lieutenant Saotome leave the girl. He decided to sigh and follow his lieutenant, for fear that he may not understand the danger that he was facing.
Ranma himself was unsure as to why he felt such an affinity with the young Russian girl. A part of his mind was saying that it was because Natalie looked so much like his young daughter Kagome, but that just didn't seem like it could be the real reason.
Maybe I've finally gone off the deep end, Ranma thought to himself. The fact that this thought did not bring any kind of thoughts against it scared him enough to keep the subject from his mind.
Before he knew it, Lieutenant Saotome had come nearly face to face with the commander of the reaction force. Startled, Ranma released Natalie's hand and snapped a quick salute to the man.
"It's good to see you alive lieutenant," the major said. Ranma could just remember that this was the major that had talked him into talking with the new invasion commander. "Do you think you could give me a recap over the events that occurred here?"
Ranma snapped out of his revere and nodded his head. "Yes sir. We linked up with Captain Ninomiya's platoon around 0530 hours yesterday, and we were then led by Captain Ninomiya into this small town, in order to deliver the message that we were members of the invasion force that was going to liberate them from the oppressive Russian government. The citizens refused to tell us anything and from what I could gather, managed to piss Ninomiya off. Captain Ninomiya then sent my platoon to recon the village. Once we had moved off, we discovered this child," Ranma said, indicating Natalie.
"Shortly thereafter we heard several short bursts, which I presumed to be from a pistol, and then we heard some screaming and the great succession of assault rifle fire. I raced ahead of my team without thinking and I stumbled upon the scene of Ninomiya and his troops firing at the villagers as they tried to run away. As I was attempting to disarm Ninomiya and his men, a Russian patrol opened fire from the trees, killing Ninomiya and his men. Sergeant Yoshida and three other soldiers wiped out the Russian patrol with a Javelin."
The major closed his eyes softly and muttered a curse.
"How many villagers were killed?" the major asked Ranma.
"All of them sir, except this child," Ranma replied.
"Good god, what did you do with the bodies?"
"We buried them sir, along with our soldiers as well, I was unsure what kind of animals would be attracted to the corpses."
"Okay," the major nodded. "I am issuing orders here and I do not want to have to repeat myself. I am going to report what happened here, but I do not want any of your soldiers to say a word of it to anyone. We are going to burn this village down, because if it so happens that the enemy, either the Russians or the Americans, get wind of what happened here, then it will spell the end of this mission, and the end for Japan."
"Sir?" Ranma asked, confused.
"Goddamnit lieutenant! I gave you an order and I expect it to be obeyed!" the major said furiously.
"Understood sir," Ranma said softly, lightly placing his hand on Natalie's shoulder and lead her away.
===============
"Alright boys lets get this show on the road," Brigadier General Phillip Sheridan Parker IV shouted over the drone of the helicopter's motor. He smiled briefly as he got reaffirming grunts from the men in the helicopter. He stood up and peered out the side door of the helicopter. His smile faltered somewhat as he saw the approaching Russian base. Their were crews standing around waiting for the American helicopters, and General Parker felt a wave of euphoria wash over him. He was heading out to war once again, for the fourth time in his life he would be participating in the deadly game of war. In a way it was almost a relief to get back into this style of life, for he had felt a growing boredom with life in a peacetime army.
As the helicopters touched down and the crews disassembled, Phil was approached by a Russian soldier, and like him, he was a general. They exchanged salutes and smiled briefly at each other.
"It is relief to see men your," the Russian general said in bad English. "I regret that I have not the good English."
"That is alright," General Parker said in Russian. "If you so wish we can speak in Russian."
"Ah," the Russian general smiled. "That would be most accommodating."
Phillip was lead away from the unloading of the gear and into what Parker presumed was the office of the commanding officer. He was shown to a seat and the Russian general moved to a chair. On the table between the two chairs, was a very large map, which was a blown-up satellite photo of Siberia. There were markings on it, indicating where Russian defenses were set up, and where the invading Chinese and Japanese forces were, or at least thought to be.
The Russian general spread the map out a bit more and set clasps in place to ensure that the map did not shift.
"From the last satellite images we have acquired, it would seem that the Chinese and Japanese are at least fifty kilometers away from Aldan. We have reasonable information that states that their force is spread out about four kilometers wide. The city of Neryungri was passed over, but the Chinese set up a perimeter around the city, and I would doubt that they are letting many trucks inside. Despite our higher than anticipated defense in the initial bout with them, they are still managing to make about forty kilometers a day, which is impressive given the poor road conditions in southern Siberia."
"When is the next defense planned?" Parker asked as he scanned the map.
"Here," the Russian general said, pointing at a location about twenty kilometers south of Aldan.
"Hmm," Parker said. "Do you have any troops shadowing the scout forces?"
"Yes, in fact we have one soldier doing that that you may have heard of, a Lieutenant Gogol."
"The soldier that wiped out the commanding officer of the invading force?" Parker asked.
"Yes," the Russian general replied. "He has been shadowing them for almost a week now. We were hoping that you Americans could help relieve the stress that shadowing them causes. We are stretched thin as it is, and wherever you can help it would be appreciated."
"Well, let's start up the choppers and you can take me and some others out to the front lines. I would like to see just how well those Chinese and Japanese can fight."
Parker smiled as he saw the surprise on the general's face.
"You mean you are going out as well?"
"There isn't a rule saying that a general can't get his hands dirty is there?" Parker asked. "In fact I rather prefer it to actually sitting out."
"You Americans are insane," the general said, though a smile was on his face.
"You're damn right were crazy, and were also going to help you win this war."
===============
Author's Notes: I apologize for this short chapter and the length of time it's been since I updated. But I would hope you all can understand. I'm sure you all no doubt know that Coalition troops have entered Iraq and are now attempting to remove Saddam Hussein from power.
This has caused no end of worrying for me, and I was quite worried already. I finally decided to move into the temporary housing development provided for the dependants of officers. At least while I'm here I will be able to actually do something. Oh, and yes, if anyone is wondering, my husband, Mr. Clark, is fighting in the war. It would seem that he knew all along that he would be sent in, I do not want to disclose the exact name of the division or battalion he is in, but I will say that he has already been wounded in action. A rocket-propelled grenade missed its target when his division or battalion was moving into an unnamed Iraqi city, and my husband caught shrapnel all along his leg.
But this was only a minor wound, and from what I have last heard, he is back in the commander's seat. I am proud of him, but worried nonetheless.
I would like to ask those people that read this to send their prayers to the Coalition forces, and for the civilians in Iraq. I don't much care if you support this war or not, but the men and women of this country are fighting in a war, and they deserve support. Whether you want to believe it or not, they are doing something that most likely everyone that reads this can't fathom.
And finally, I do not know when I will write a new chapter, but when I do I promise it will have Akane, Akari, Ishii, and Kimura in it.