Until the End
Chapter 23
Hell Hath no Fury.
Presidency is not something that many people can comprehend ascending to, even in their wildest dreams. That said, it came as a quite a surprise when people won the title as the most powerful man on Earth. There are few people on Earth that are equipped with the capabilities to run an entire country, let alone decide the fates of millions of people. Wars were something that most people wished to avoid, a thing that would be best to brush underneath the carpet where it will be forgotten. It took a great person to be able to dedicate themselves to commencing armed actions against another country.
Of course, there aren't a lot of people in the world that saw a war as a way to solve a conflict. In modern times, with technology flowing and countries tying up old hatred, war was seen as something no longer necessary. Certainly there was nothing wrong with this point of view, but as many politicians find out when they finally accede to their titles, the world is a bitter place, one where hatred is rampant and old conflicts have not died, only sundered over time, but ready to spring forth again in but a moment.
When George Winnfield first took office, he was convinced that he would be able to ride his presidency without any kind of conflicts. His administration had set a four year plan, which if it worked, leaked into another four year extension if he got reelected. Of course, not even a whole year into his presidency, Winnfield was faced with the one of the greatest problems to face a President in a long time. For the first time in more than half a century, attacks from foreign powers were conducted on American soil.
The response was almost immediate, and the enemy was under attack before the first week was up. The world seemed to be rallying around America, and everything was right within the presidency. But then, in only four months after their war against terrorism began, the President was faced with another, potentially more serious problem. China and Japan were looking to their north with greed in their eyes. Siberia was the largest untapped area for natural resources, and such a thing could easily send a country into the throws of economic prosperity.
Russia, of course, had not completely adjusted from the old Soviet regime, and was going to be ill-equipped to deal with such a large offensive by two foreign powers. The Russian President, unaware of what the Chinese and Japanese were planning, was immediately informed by President Winnfield of their plans. It was a grave blow to the Russian President, and he himself was well-aware of the inadequacies of the Russian military.
Appeals to Japan failed, and the Prime Minister threatened American troops with nuclear weapons if they failed to pull out of the country. Public relations between China and America had been next to nothing since the end of the second Pacific War four years ago. The war over Siberia seemed inevitable, and without America's help, Russia would be forced to stand aside and watch their potential savior be taken over by their enemies.
President Winnfield doubted the American people would want to have American attention diverted from their war in Afghanistan so that they could strike at two world powers to save a third one. Therefore, despite his declaration to the otherwise to President Andropov, American troops were not diverted to Russia. In the opening stages of the war, Russia put up a valiant fight, but it was inevitable, Siberia would fall.
However, two things worked out to Russia's favor. First, the commander of the Chinese and Japanese offensive was shot and killed in the opening days of war, causing major delays to the enemy's schedule. The second thing, the President was able to find some resources that could be immediately diverted to Russia. It wasn't much, but it would help.
The American Green Berets got to work almost immediately when they arrived, and the situation in Siberia no longer looked hopeless. In fact, it was beginning to seem that maybe the Chinese-Japanese forces could be pushed back.
"And now that we've succeeded, where do we go from here?" President Winnfield asked himself. "The Japanese and Chinese can fight each other to the death, and maybe they'll leave Siberia alone for now. But it's not that simple," the President told himself, "we now have a substantial number of Japanese soldiers under Russian and American control in Siberia. I have no intention of calling Andropov and asking him to send them back to Japan."
But what to do?" Winnfield continued in his head. The Japanese won't be able to stand up against China, even with their nuclear weapons, if indeed they actually have them. What the hell am I thinking? If China attacks Japan then Shizuko will use his missiles without a second thought. Can I let that happen? Is the risk of losing millions of citizens worth that of spending American soldiers to intervene? Yes, but that would just cause more death, at this point. What really needs to be done is to get rid of the leaders of the countries. Shizuko is a radical, and it shouldn't be that hard to rid the world of his presence, but Zhisheng is another matter. He's got China in the palm of his hand, and I doubt there's anyone in there that will be willing to stand up against him.
Zhisheng is the number one problem. If we can get rid of him than it might be possible to get a competent government into China, maybe I can go to the UN council and see if they're willing to put in an interim government if he's removed from power, like they're preparing to do for Afghanistan.
The President was interrupted from his thoughts when he noticed the side door of his office opening. There were two doors in the Oval Office, the main door, and a secret side door used by the Secretary of State. The secret door was the one that opened.
"Hello John," President Winnfield greeted his Secretary of State as he closed the door and walked into the small office.
"Good afternoon Mr. President," Secretary of State John Greigh said as he plopped down on the chair in front of the President's desk.
President Winnfield glared at Greigh for a moment. "I thought I told you to cut out the 'Mr. President' crap when were alone."
Greigh smiled. "You have my most humblest apologies, George."
"That's better," the President said. "So what's on your mind, not that I don't enjoy your company."
Greigh pulled out a large manila folder and passed it over to Winnfield. "I got that in last night. It's a report from General Parker, the Commander of American forces in Siberia."
The President scanned the first few documents. "They intercepted trucks carrying Japanese POW's? My god, this is one confusing war." He continued on down the document. "Two trucks were left alone. Well, at least that means the Chinese have something to hold over the heads of Japan. Unless they want their citizens to have a revolt, the Japanese will have to try and get them back."
"I agree," Greigh said. "Take a look at the end of his report, where Parker comments on the orders he found on some of the soldiers. It outlines just where the prisoners will be taken to in China. If you'll remember sir, there was a document sent over by the CIA about four months ago saying something about American POW's that survived the gunning down in China in the Second Pacific War. The report claimed that the prisoners were being held in the prison that the Japanese soldiers are headed to."
"Shit," the President cursed. "And here I thought it might be possible for those two assholes to duke out between them."
"No one ever said being the President was easy George," Greigh said with a smile.
"And I have you to thank for always pointing that out," the President said dryly. "So what do you think we should do about this?"
"Sir, I'm not really that skilled in military deployments." Greigh protested.
"I don't give a shit if you do or not, I want your opinion."
"Obviously we can't let the Chinese know that we know about this, so if we just happened to move some troops into Taiwan then it would look very suspicious. It would probably be best if we took troops out of Siberia and sent them into China."
"Air drop or have them try and sneak into the border?"
"An air drop would be the best but for such a distance, it would be pretty iffy, I mean, the Chinese would know that we're coming, and I'm sure they'd arrange for a welcoming committee. As for if the soldiers could pull it off, well, it would depend on what kind of soldiers Parker could throw together in time for the operation."
The President nodded his head. "Alright, I want you to relay a message to Parker. I want him to organize a team, preferably one that can be transported on at most three helicopters and be ready to go at any time in the immediate future."
"Yes Mr. President," Greigh said and got to his feet.
"Oh, and make sure to ask him to pick a good officer to lead the strike, we'll want this to be carried out expertly."
Greigh nodded and continued on his way, but he already knew who was going to lead the strike was. He was quite certain that the man General Parker was going to pick to lead the mission would be Brigadier General Phillip Sheridan Parker IV.
===============
"Sonofabitch," Ranma whispered softly as the building came into view. It seemed to loom in the surroundings. The urge to relieve himself came upon him suddenly.
Though Ranma knew little about Chinese geography, he could guess that they were not very far from Beijing, something that surprised him. He would have figured that they'd send them all packing to the Far East, where escape would have been pointless.
Yoshida nudged Ranma gently. "Hey, do you think it's going to be possible to escape from this place?"
Ranma shrugged. "I don't know, I won't be doing much aeronautical movements with this damned concussion, and I don't want to be a burden on you or any of the others. I don't want to leave anybody behind, not even if they're close to dead."
"How much longer do you think you'll be unable to move around?" Yoshida asked.
"The doc told me before these assholes arrived that I would be out for about a week or more, and even then I won't be back to one hundred percent but I don't think so, all I've trouble with right now is keeping my balance, if I can do that then I'll bust out of here without a second thought."
"Okay, just be sure to tell me when," Yoshida said with a smile. It was obvious that once inside they wouldn't be placed together. But during the three days that it took to arrive in China, Yoshida taught Ranma a little Morse code, and unless the guards were perceptive enough, they should be able to communicate, unless they were too far away from each other. There had been no time to think of another way to communicate.
===============
Whoever had built the prison had never taken the time to look into a copy of Cozy Homes. The entire facility was painted a dull gray, with pieces of the building looking as if the simple pressure of a snowflake would make them collapse in on itself. Of course, this wasn't the type of thing Ranma wished to see, as he would most definitely be inside the building in less than a few moments.
The soldiers that had by then escorted them from the camp inside Siberia all the way to just outside Beijing had taken off and left with the trucks. They had been turned over to the prison camp's guards, all of whom seemed a little to overbearing for Ranma's liking.
Internal heating was obviously something that could not be expended to a simple prison. The cold granite floors of the prison seemed to reverberate with everybody's moods, that is, except for the guards. It seemed almost a joyous occasion amongst the guards for the prison, as Ranma heard many of them announce that they were glad they were finally receiving some fresh meat. This did nothing to help Ranma remain stoic, as he gave Yoshida, who was just beside him, a smile and nod.
Unfortunately this did not escape the notice of the guard leading Ranma and he showed his displeasure by shoving him roughly to the side, slamming Ranma into a prison cell door. The doors were a heavy metal, with the only way to see inside a small viewing window. As Ranma attempted to gather his bearings, he glanced inside the small window.
"Oh shit," Ranma exclaimed softly. Inside the cell there was an American, looking like one of those third world country children you would see on the news. As far as Ranma knew, there was only one reason there would be an American sailor in this prison.
His thoughts were disrupted when he was pushed roughly again, but this time, instead of hitting a cell door, he went through the doorway and hit the hard concrete floor. The guard shouted something in Chinese, and all Ranma could understand was that he was inside a cell with another person.
Struggling, Ranma crawled over to the wall and pushed himself into a sitting position, and tried to keep his head from swimming. After a few moments, Ranma was able to steady his balance and tried to stand up. He did so slowly, for he didn't want to get dizzy.
"I wonder if they supply us with cold water." Ranma wondered to himself. It would be an easy way to escape once he was back to one hundred percent health. Just turn to his girl-form and when the guards came, distract the sonsofbitches and incapacitate them.
For the first time Ranma noticed that his cell was occupied. Observing from across the cell, he could see that the man was very thin, cadaverous almost. He had a thick head of black hair, which was very dirty. Wondering if it was another sailor, Ranma glanced at the man's uniform. He wasn't a sailor, and from the looks of the uniform, the guy was wearing a tanker's fatigues.
As realization dawned on him, Ranma felt his entire body stop moving. His heart must have missed a beat for Ranma fell down again, and hit the cell wall. Forgetting the pain, Ranma clambered over to the bed on which the man was laying on and, with shaky hands, slowly and gently combed through the man's thick hair. As his fingers slowly reached through the thick hair, Ranma felt fabric beneath his fingertips.
Withdrawing his hands, Ranma was aware that he had tears in his eyes. He got to his feet and moved around the bed with the disgusting mattress, as he moved he very gently, so as to not wake the man, moved the bed from the wall so he could reach the other side. Taking a few shaky breaths, Ranma knelt down so he could observe the man's face.
Tears fell freely from his eyes. After four years of wondering, of torturing himself with the guilt that he reaped upon himself, he had his answer.
Ryoga was alive.
===============
Author's Notes: There, I put this one out in a respectable time frame. Now, after drawing it out for almost two hundred fifty pages, Ranma is finally reunited with Ryoga. Of course, now he has to work on getting him out of there, along with all the others. And now that the President of the United States is aware of the problem with Japanese POW's in the same prison as Japanese POW's, he will act on it. The story is nearing its climax, and shortly thereafter it will reach its conclusion.
Chapter 23
Hell Hath no Fury.
Presidency is not something that many people can comprehend ascending to, even in their wildest dreams. That said, it came as a quite a surprise when people won the title as the most powerful man on Earth. There are few people on Earth that are equipped with the capabilities to run an entire country, let alone decide the fates of millions of people. Wars were something that most people wished to avoid, a thing that would be best to brush underneath the carpet where it will be forgotten. It took a great person to be able to dedicate themselves to commencing armed actions against another country.
Of course, there aren't a lot of people in the world that saw a war as a way to solve a conflict. In modern times, with technology flowing and countries tying up old hatred, war was seen as something no longer necessary. Certainly there was nothing wrong with this point of view, but as many politicians find out when they finally accede to their titles, the world is a bitter place, one where hatred is rampant and old conflicts have not died, only sundered over time, but ready to spring forth again in but a moment.
When George Winnfield first took office, he was convinced that he would be able to ride his presidency without any kind of conflicts. His administration had set a four year plan, which if it worked, leaked into another four year extension if he got reelected. Of course, not even a whole year into his presidency, Winnfield was faced with the one of the greatest problems to face a President in a long time. For the first time in more than half a century, attacks from foreign powers were conducted on American soil.
The response was almost immediate, and the enemy was under attack before the first week was up. The world seemed to be rallying around America, and everything was right within the presidency. But then, in only four months after their war against terrorism began, the President was faced with another, potentially more serious problem. China and Japan were looking to their north with greed in their eyes. Siberia was the largest untapped area for natural resources, and such a thing could easily send a country into the throws of economic prosperity.
Russia, of course, had not completely adjusted from the old Soviet regime, and was going to be ill-equipped to deal with such a large offensive by two foreign powers. The Russian President, unaware of what the Chinese and Japanese were planning, was immediately informed by President Winnfield of their plans. It was a grave blow to the Russian President, and he himself was well-aware of the inadequacies of the Russian military.
Appeals to Japan failed, and the Prime Minister threatened American troops with nuclear weapons if they failed to pull out of the country. Public relations between China and America had been next to nothing since the end of the second Pacific War four years ago. The war over Siberia seemed inevitable, and without America's help, Russia would be forced to stand aside and watch their potential savior be taken over by their enemies.
President Winnfield doubted the American people would want to have American attention diverted from their war in Afghanistan so that they could strike at two world powers to save a third one. Therefore, despite his declaration to the otherwise to President Andropov, American troops were not diverted to Russia. In the opening stages of the war, Russia put up a valiant fight, but it was inevitable, Siberia would fall.
However, two things worked out to Russia's favor. First, the commander of the Chinese and Japanese offensive was shot and killed in the opening days of war, causing major delays to the enemy's schedule. The second thing, the President was able to find some resources that could be immediately diverted to Russia. It wasn't much, but it would help.
The American Green Berets got to work almost immediately when they arrived, and the situation in Siberia no longer looked hopeless. In fact, it was beginning to seem that maybe the Chinese-Japanese forces could be pushed back.
"And now that we've succeeded, where do we go from here?" President Winnfield asked himself. "The Japanese and Chinese can fight each other to the death, and maybe they'll leave Siberia alone for now. But it's not that simple," the President told himself, "we now have a substantial number of Japanese soldiers under Russian and American control in Siberia. I have no intention of calling Andropov and asking him to send them back to Japan."
But what to do?" Winnfield continued in his head. The Japanese won't be able to stand up against China, even with their nuclear weapons, if indeed they actually have them. What the hell am I thinking? If China attacks Japan then Shizuko will use his missiles without a second thought. Can I let that happen? Is the risk of losing millions of citizens worth that of spending American soldiers to intervene? Yes, but that would just cause more death, at this point. What really needs to be done is to get rid of the leaders of the countries. Shizuko is a radical, and it shouldn't be that hard to rid the world of his presence, but Zhisheng is another matter. He's got China in the palm of his hand, and I doubt there's anyone in there that will be willing to stand up against him.
Zhisheng is the number one problem. If we can get rid of him than it might be possible to get a competent government into China, maybe I can go to the UN council and see if they're willing to put in an interim government if he's removed from power, like they're preparing to do for Afghanistan.
The President was interrupted from his thoughts when he noticed the side door of his office opening. There were two doors in the Oval Office, the main door, and a secret side door used by the Secretary of State. The secret door was the one that opened.
"Hello John," President Winnfield greeted his Secretary of State as he closed the door and walked into the small office.
"Good afternoon Mr. President," Secretary of State John Greigh said as he plopped down on the chair in front of the President's desk.
President Winnfield glared at Greigh for a moment. "I thought I told you to cut out the 'Mr. President' crap when were alone."
Greigh smiled. "You have my most humblest apologies, George."
"That's better," the President said. "So what's on your mind, not that I don't enjoy your company."
Greigh pulled out a large manila folder and passed it over to Winnfield. "I got that in last night. It's a report from General Parker, the Commander of American forces in Siberia."
The President scanned the first few documents. "They intercepted trucks carrying Japanese POW's? My god, this is one confusing war." He continued on down the document. "Two trucks were left alone. Well, at least that means the Chinese have something to hold over the heads of Japan. Unless they want their citizens to have a revolt, the Japanese will have to try and get them back."
"I agree," Greigh said. "Take a look at the end of his report, where Parker comments on the orders he found on some of the soldiers. It outlines just where the prisoners will be taken to in China. If you'll remember sir, there was a document sent over by the CIA about four months ago saying something about American POW's that survived the gunning down in China in the Second Pacific War. The report claimed that the prisoners were being held in the prison that the Japanese soldiers are headed to."
"Shit," the President cursed. "And here I thought it might be possible for those two assholes to duke out between them."
"No one ever said being the President was easy George," Greigh said with a smile.
"And I have you to thank for always pointing that out," the President said dryly. "So what do you think we should do about this?"
"Sir, I'm not really that skilled in military deployments." Greigh protested.
"I don't give a shit if you do or not, I want your opinion."
"Obviously we can't let the Chinese know that we know about this, so if we just happened to move some troops into Taiwan then it would look very suspicious. It would probably be best if we took troops out of Siberia and sent them into China."
"Air drop or have them try and sneak into the border?"
"An air drop would be the best but for such a distance, it would be pretty iffy, I mean, the Chinese would know that we're coming, and I'm sure they'd arrange for a welcoming committee. As for if the soldiers could pull it off, well, it would depend on what kind of soldiers Parker could throw together in time for the operation."
The President nodded his head. "Alright, I want you to relay a message to Parker. I want him to organize a team, preferably one that can be transported on at most three helicopters and be ready to go at any time in the immediate future."
"Yes Mr. President," Greigh said and got to his feet.
"Oh, and make sure to ask him to pick a good officer to lead the strike, we'll want this to be carried out expertly."
Greigh nodded and continued on his way, but he already knew who was going to lead the strike was. He was quite certain that the man General Parker was going to pick to lead the mission would be Brigadier General Phillip Sheridan Parker IV.
===============
"Sonofabitch," Ranma whispered softly as the building came into view. It seemed to loom in the surroundings. The urge to relieve himself came upon him suddenly.
Though Ranma knew little about Chinese geography, he could guess that they were not very far from Beijing, something that surprised him. He would have figured that they'd send them all packing to the Far East, where escape would have been pointless.
Yoshida nudged Ranma gently. "Hey, do you think it's going to be possible to escape from this place?"
Ranma shrugged. "I don't know, I won't be doing much aeronautical movements with this damned concussion, and I don't want to be a burden on you or any of the others. I don't want to leave anybody behind, not even if they're close to dead."
"How much longer do you think you'll be unable to move around?" Yoshida asked.
"The doc told me before these assholes arrived that I would be out for about a week or more, and even then I won't be back to one hundred percent but I don't think so, all I've trouble with right now is keeping my balance, if I can do that then I'll bust out of here without a second thought."
"Okay, just be sure to tell me when," Yoshida said with a smile. It was obvious that once inside they wouldn't be placed together. But during the three days that it took to arrive in China, Yoshida taught Ranma a little Morse code, and unless the guards were perceptive enough, they should be able to communicate, unless they were too far away from each other. There had been no time to think of another way to communicate.
===============
Whoever had built the prison had never taken the time to look into a copy of Cozy Homes. The entire facility was painted a dull gray, with pieces of the building looking as if the simple pressure of a snowflake would make them collapse in on itself. Of course, this wasn't the type of thing Ranma wished to see, as he would most definitely be inside the building in less than a few moments.
The soldiers that had by then escorted them from the camp inside Siberia all the way to just outside Beijing had taken off and left with the trucks. They had been turned over to the prison camp's guards, all of whom seemed a little to overbearing for Ranma's liking.
Internal heating was obviously something that could not be expended to a simple prison. The cold granite floors of the prison seemed to reverberate with everybody's moods, that is, except for the guards. It seemed almost a joyous occasion amongst the guards for the prison, as Ranma heard many of them announce that they were glad they were finally receiving some fresh meat. This did nothing to help Ranma remain stoic, as he gave Yoshida, who was just beside him, a smile and nod.
Unfortunately this did not escape the notice of the guard leading Ranma and he showed his displeasure by shoving him roughly to the side, slamming Ranma into a prison cell door. The doors were a heavy metal, with the only way to see inside a small viewing window. As Ranma attempted to gather his bearings, he glanced inside the small window.
"Oh shit," Ranma exclaimed softly. Inside the cell there was an American, looking like one of those third world country children you would see on the news. As far as Ranma knew, there was only one reason there would be an American sailor in this prison.
His thoughts were disrupted when he was pushed roughly again, but this time, instead of hitting a cell door, he went through the doorway and hit the hard concrete floor. The guard shouted something in Chinese, and all Ranma could understand was that he was inside a cell with another person.
Struggling, Ranma crawled over to the wall and pushed himself into a sitting position, and tried to keep his head from swimming. After a few moments, Ranma was able to steady his balance and tried to stand up. He did so slowly, for he didn't want to get dizzy.
"I wonder if they supply us with cold water." Ranma wondered to himself. It would be an easy way to escape once he was back to one hundred percent health. Just turn to his girl-form and when the guards came, distract the sonsofbitches and incapacitate them.
For the first time Ranma noticed that his cell was occupied. Observing from across the cell, he could see that the man was very thin, cadaverous almost. He had a thick head of black hair, which was very dirty. Wondering if it was another sailor, Ranma glanced at the man's uniform. He wasn't a sailor, and from the looks of the uniform, the guy was wearing a tanker's fatigues.
As realization dawned on him, Ranma felt his entire body stop moving. His heart must have missed a beat for Ranma fell down again, and hit the cell wall. Forgetting the pain, Ranma clambered over to the bed on which the man was laying on and, with shaky hands, slowly and gently combed through the man's thick hair. As his fingers slowly reached through the thick hair, Ranma felt fabric beneath his fingertips.
Withdrawing his hands, Ranma was aware that he had tears in his eyes. He got to his feet and moved around the bed with the disgusting mattress, as he moved he very gently, so as to not wake the man, moved the bed from the wall so he could reach the other side. Taking a few shaky breaths, Ranma knelt down so he could observe the man's face.
Tears fell freely from his eyes. After four years of wondering, of torturing himself with the guilt that he reaped upon himself, he had his answer.
Ryoga was alive.
===============
Author's Notes: There, I put this one out in a respectable time frame. Now, after drawing it out for almost two hundred fifty pages, Ranma is finally reunited with Ryoga. Of course, now he has to work on getting him out of there, along with all the others. And now that the President of the United States is aware of the problem with Japanese POW's in the same prison as Japanese POW's, he will act on it. The story is nearing its climax, and shortly thereafter it will reach its conclusion.