Until the End
Chapter 24
Political Fallout
Akari did a few light stretches, hoping that the movement would prove to Akane and Ishii that her ribs were healed. Of course it was painful at first, but after doing the movements for a little, the pain became dull and she could move around freely.
"There you see," Akari said. "I'm as fit as a horse."
Akane frowned a little and looked over at Ishii. "They have healed quite well over the past weeks, and I don't think she's done anything to aggravate the injury."
Ishii smiled. "I concur on all of that. But what I fail to see is why she seemed to be grimacing at the start of her little demonstration."
Akari looked flustered. "Um, well it's just that I haven't been able to move around too much so I was a little stiff and my muscles were tight at the start."
Her two 'medical examiners' smiled and gave each other a glance before Akane got to her feet and announced: "Alright then, I declare you a reasonably fit person that is ready to be put to work right away."
"Thank you both," Akari said. "And now that I am fit enough to get back on schedule, I was wondering if either of you have any plans in the works."
Both girls were now looking at Ishii, who was now looking at both of them with a look of intense seriousness.
"Alright, I've talked this over with Kimura and the other head members of our group, and it's been decided that we need to take a more direct route in our war against the government."
"That's great," Akane said. "We're finally going to do them some real damage."
"Actually Akane, were going to remove them from power," Ishii said simply.
"What?" Akari asked. "How can we do that?"
Ishii exited the room for a moment and returned with his laptop. He opened it up and found the document he was looking for.
"In a report sent out by the Minister of the Interior, it stated that right now, Japan had only 13,000 troops in the homeland. That figure includes Air Force and Navy. The last time I checked, that number is wholly inadequate to defend a piece of land as big as Japan. So, in a quick conference I had with Kimura and some police chiefs, it was decided that now would be the ideal time to remove Shizuko from power. China has turned their backs to us, and is declaring war. While they won't lash out right now, if Shizuko remains in power, we can expect a fight with China in the near future. Couple that fact with both Russia and America breathing down our necks waiting for China to fall before they decide to pay us a visit."
"I don't know anyone that was in Japan in the days when America dropped the Atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, but I do know that I don't want to be around if they decide to do the same thing again."
"They wouldn't do that," Akari said, her voice weak.
"Shizuko has threatened both America and Russia with nuclear strikes. He has gone against the regulations that America set half a decade ago, and he has had Japanese soldiers attack American Green Beret's in Siberia. If the American President thinks Shizuko is going to use those nukes, then I doubt he would hesitate to drop one on Tokyo, even if it's simply to remove one madman from this world."
Ishii looked between the two girls. "I don't know about you two, but I sure as hell don't want to have my life ended when it could be possible to save millions of lives. Shizuko needs to be brought down, and he needs to taken out for good."
"Do you mean kill him?" Akari questioned. "Will the Japanese public support such a decision?"
"I don't want Shizuko to be dead right away. First we will need to get him to admit that he was the one that ordered the assassination of the Emperor. Once he does that, there will be no one that would object to removing him from power. And with Shizuko out of the way, we will be able to quell the trouble brewing between America and Japan. And if it's needed then yes, we will put him before a court of his peers that will decide if he's guilty of crimes against humanity."
Akane and Akari didn't respond, they instead waited for Ishii to continue.
"Were only in the planning stages right now, and I would like you two to sit in on the next talks we have. The more you know the more likely it is that you can add something to the mission. Do you think you can handle that?"
Akari smiled. "I'm willing to do anything."
"Me too," Akane added.
===============
Despite the large amount of forces in Siberia, for the past two days there had been only two battles against the combined American-Russian forces and Chinese forces. The last battle of the day ended at 1645, which left a lot of time for the bulk of the troops to relax, if only for a little while.
Taking advantage of the lull in the action, General Parker took the time to commandeer a jeep and drive 60 miles to the west to visit Natalie, the girl that Ranma had given to him before the Battle of Alden, as it was now being referred to as. A temporary base had been set up and that was where all the wounded and dead had been sent. Calling in a couple of favors, Parker had gotten a Russian doctor to make sure someone took care of Natalie.
But Phil had to admit to himself that going to see Natalie was only an excuse to get away from the gritty scene that he met daily in Siberia. It wasn't hard to imagine what the great land mass had been like before this war. Every so often Parker would be able to inhale the sweet scent of pine and the smell of untarnished land, but those moments were fleeting, and in only so long he would be hit with the stench of dead human flesh. Burnt and scorched earth was everywhere, and it would only be a few minutes before someone found a charred body. Whether the soldier was still alive or not seemed of little consequence, the medical facilities were too far away, making treatment nearly impossible for those that needed surgery.
While Phil was not new to warfare, this was the first war he had ever participated in that had become so violent. Trained as an armor soldier, he had been spared some of the more gritty aspects that those in the infantry faced. Fighting in close quarters, seeing the faces of those whose lives you were ending. Seeing the anguish, the horror on their young faces as their bodies were torn up from gunfire was something that no man could face without feeling sick. Hand-to-hand fighting was something that Parker excelled at.
Of course, he wasn't a martial artist like Ranma, but Phil had the ability to kill men with his bare hands, on the battlefield, where the wrong move meant death. In the last big battle, around four days ago, Parker had stumbled onto a lost Chinese infantryman, and they literally collided. Phil had dropped his rifle, and the infantryman was in the process of getting to his feet, his rifle still in hand. Using all of his strength in his legs, Phil had kicked out and knocked the Chinese soldier back to his feet, and lunged at him.
It's easy to lose ones self in this world, Parker thought as he pulled the jeep to a stop while a Russian soldier came out of a post and saluted. He checked Parker's AGO card and saluted again, waving him through the checkpoint.
Maybe that was why soldiers are separated from the rest of society, Parker thought to himself. They were trained killing machines, and that philosophy just didn't fit in anywhere in normal functioning society.
Before he could continue on with his dark thoughts, General Parker was stopped by an MP and was forced to show his identification once again. Taking a glance around Parker noticed that he was acquiring a lot of attention from passersby. As he thought about it he concluded that it was because he was driving himself around. Generals traditionally had a driver, or at least an aide-to-camp.
Screw em', Parker thought happily. Driving was one of the few things that he was able to do by himself without having people buzzing around him, hoping to catch his attention to ask him for something or some other idiotic thing.
There was another reason that Parker had decided to get away from the battlefield. He had gotten a call from the National Security Advisor on his SAT-6 phone just the day before. It seemed that the Japanese POW's that were in those two trucks, the ones that he had allowed to escape unscathed from the assault the other day, were carted off to China to a POW camp near Beijing. Of course, this alone didn't really warrant his attention, but the National Security Advisor had added that the POW camp was the same that the CIA believed housed 17 American soldiers that were incarcerated just at the end of the Second Pacific War. The President didn't want the Japanese to try and remove their prisoners and in the process come into control of Americans, so he was ordering that a team composed of whatever soldiers he thought were capable to carry it off. When asked if he could use Russians, he was granted permission.
They had four days before the operation was scheduled to take place. With no air support, or anything in the way of knowing the compound, Parker and the other soldiers would be flying blind, all the way from Siberia to Beijing. The flight would be nearly four hours, and what Parker had been told was that it would be one way. Meaning, when the helicopters reached where they were supposed to be, they would set down and get out, and then destroy the helicopter. An incredibly risky mission, especially considering that they would be inside the enemy lines, and with no way of being extracted, at least for a couple of days.
The Navy was going to send a carrier group over into the Pacific near the China Sea and they would launch a few aircraft to come pick up the teams, but it wouldn't arrive for about a week from now, which meant they would be on their own for almost three days. It was going to be risky, especially if there was a garrison nearby the prison camp that had soldiers in it. Once they hit the prison, the soldiers were bound to hear the fighting and would come to investigate, which would most definitely result in the team being wiped out.
There were still a lot of things to be hammered out in the operation, but time was something to be yearned for, and the team had not even been selected yet.
As he pulled up outside the field hospital, Parker brooded over that thought.
"Four days, that doesn't seem like a very long time to plan a cross- country operation that could help turn the tide in the war," Parker said to himself. He killed the engine and got out of the jeep to go visit Natalie.
===============
There were just too many to count. The scars that adorned Ryoga's chest seemed endless. Some were faded, while others were just scabbing over.
Ranma was filled with a consuming rage as he tried his best to wash the blood and dirt from Ryoga's body. The torture that Ryoga must have had to go through was enough for Ranma to vow to kill each and every guard in the entire facility. If they got off on torturing these men for almost half a decade, then it was his duty to see that their lives were ended, one way or another.
Despite being in the prison for almost an entire day, Ryoga had yet to awaken, something that Ranma found very troubling. He had been giving Ryoga some water every few hours, but he didn't want to wake him up just to get him to have some food. Ranma was worried that doing so might injure him.
During the long period of time that he was in the prison, Ranma had had time to think about his situation. The pain in his skull was almost at a bearable level, and his sense of balance was all but restored. In a couple of days he would be able to bust out of his cell, and if he was successful, find the others and evacuate the prison. He would have to kill all of the guards, and it would most likely be with his bare hands. Only a few guards had firearms, and they were topside, near the gate.
Ryoga and the other prisoners who had been here for those long years would be far too weak to get out on their own, so they would need to be carried. There were thirty six Japanese soldiers, and seventeen prisoners, including Ryoga. That left nineteen soldiers to take out and at least seventy-five Chinese guards. The odds were against them, but it would be possible if they could acquire a form of transportation and then try and get into Russia, maybe they could find some Americans that would help them out.
"Christ," Ranma muttered bitterly, "after all I went through to get out of Siberia, I'm going to willingly go back in."
As he finished, Ryoga began to lightly stir. Ranma was instantly at his side, waiting to see if he would wake up. A guard had brought food about three hours ago, and he was betting that Ryoga was going to be hungry.
===============
As night fell over Siberia, General Parker drove himself back to Alden. The city was putting the soldiers up in hotels and residential housing. Parker had gotten into a hotel and was sharing a room with Lieutenant Gogol.
Most of the soldiers that were in the city were taking time off; most were probably getting a load on at the nearest bar. It would have been reasonable to think that Gregory would go as well, but when Phil opened the door to the hotel room, Gogol was sitting in an armchair with a vodka glass beside him. His rifle was on his lap, which was covered with a towel, and he was running bore cleaner through it. Most of the rifle was disassembled, and the towel covering his lap was stained dark from the separate parts.
"I thought you'd be out enjoying yourself," Parker said, it was more in the form of a question than a statement. He closed the door and shrugged out of his tunic. He laid his rifle on the table and walked into the small living room and fixed himself a light drink of scotch. He plopped down in a chair opposite of Gogol and looked at him expectantly.
"I want to go with you," Gogol said slowly, clearly.
"I beg your pardon?" Parker asked, confused.
"To rescue those soldiers in the prison camp, I want to go with you," he said again. "Put me in the team."
"How did you find out about that?" Parker asked, more surprised than angry that Gogol knew about it.
"I listened to you when you were having a talk with Colonel Handover," Gogol said unabashed. "You told him that you had been authorized to take both American and Russian personnel, and you know that I could make a difference on the team."
"Gregory," Parker started, but stopped suddenly and got up. He left the room and went into his bedroom. He came back with his wallet and threw it to Gogol. "Check behind my AGO card."
Gogol did so and pulled out a photograph. He nearly dropped the wallet when he looked at it.
The picture showed Phil in civilian clothes, with a broad smile on his face as he cheerfully had his arm wrapped around a young Japanese man's shoulders. The Japanese man was wearing what looked like Chinese silk clothes. Just noticeably over his shoulder was a pigtail.
"I know this man," Gogol said very quietly to himself. It hit him like a ton of bricks. Back at the start of the war, when he had been given the duty to shadow the invasion force. The Japanese boy, (he really looked like he was sixteen) had been sitting in the trees and was writing a letter. He hadn't shot him, and at the time he really couldn't understand why he didn't.
Gogol looked up at Parker.
Phil started before Gogol had a chance to talk. "You see that guy I'm with? He's one of my best friends and so are his wife and a few other of his friends. When this war was just starting he received one of those draftee notices and, because he's an honorable man, he entered into the military as a Japanese infantry officer. So far, I've met him three times on the battlefield. Once by accident, then I followed him to a Japanese camp, and the last time I saw him was at the Battle of Alden."
"I've seen him too," Gogol blurted.
Now it was Parker's turn to show surprise. "What? Where?"
"It was about three weeks into the war, and my platoon had been assigned to shadow a Japanese regiment, and when I was moving out of the area, this boy came through the trees and started to write something. Probably a letter or something, but he seemed to be quite upset while he was writing it."
Both soldiers stared at each other for a moment before breaking into somewhat hysterical laughter.
Parker was the first to regain control of himself.
"Alright you crazy bastard, if you want to come along to spring these guys then you get to be one of General Parker's Happy Volunteers. Your grand exalted member number two."
Gogol looked at the picture Parker had given him and then handed it back.
"I'm curious Phil, why did you show me that picture?"
"The guys name is Ranma Saotome. I have personally inspected every single Japanese soldier now in our custody and not a single one of them are him. I have observed the dead, and still I haven't found him. When you showed me that directorate stating that all remaining Japanese soldiers were being placed into prisoner-of-war camps, I knew exactly where I was going to find him. The camp were going to be hitting is now housing both American and Japanese POW's, and I intend to get them all out."
Gogol nodded, but didn't say anything.
Phil looked at the photograph in his hands one more time before shoving it back into his wallet.
===============
Author's Notes: There you go. The stage is set, and all the players are ready for their roles. The next few chapters will be long ones, and once they're out of the way, the story will start to wind down from there. I've had a great time writing this and I want to thank everyone that has read this and expressed their interest to me. You all have been a great inspiration and I thank you all.
Chapter 24
Political Fallout
Akari did a few light stretches, hoping that the movement would prove to Akane and Ishii that her ribs were healed. Of course it was painful at first, but after doing the movements for a little, the pain became dull and she could move around freely.
"There you see," Akari said. "I'm as fit as a horse."
Akane frowned a little and looked over at Ishii. "They have healed quite well over the past weeks, and I don't think she's done anything to aggravate the injury."
Ishii smiled. "I concur on all of that. But what I fail to see is why she seemed to be grimacing at the start of her little demonstration."
Akari looked flustered. "Um, well it's just that I haven't been able to move around too much so I was a little stiff and my muscles were tight at the start."
Her two 'medical examiners' smiled and gave each other a glance before Akane got to her feet and announced: "Alright then, I declare you a reasonably fit person that is ready to be put to work right away."
"Thank you both," Akari said. "And now that I am fit enough to get back on schedule, I was wondering if either of you have any plans in the works."
Both girls were now looking at Ishii, who was now looking at both of them with a look of intense seriousness.
"Alright, I've talked this over with Kimura and the other head members of our group, and it's been decided that we need to take a more direct route in our war against the government."
"That's great," Akane said. "We're finally going to do them some real damage."
"Actually Akane, were going to remove them from power," Ishii said simply.
"What?" Akari asked. "How can we do that?"
Ishii exited the room for a moment and returned with his laptop. He opened it up and found the document he was looking for.
"In a report sent out by the Minister of the Interior, it stated that right now, Japan had only 13,000 troops in the homeland. That figure includes Air Force and Navy. The last time I checked, that number is wholly inadequate to defend a piece of land as big as Japan. So, in a quick conference I had with Kimura and some police chiefs, it was decided that now would be the ideal time to remove Shizuko from power. China has turned their backs to us, and is declaring war. While they won't lash out right now, if Shizuko remains in power, we can expect a fight with China in the near future. Couple that fact with both Russia and America breathing down our necks waiting for China to fall before they decide to pay us a visit."
"I don't know anyone that was in Japan in the days when America dropped the Atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, but I do know that I don't want to be around if they decide to do the same thing again."
"They wouldn't do that," Akari said, her voice weak.
"Shizuko has threatened both America and Russia with nuclear strikes. He has gone against the regulations that America set half a decade ago, and he has had Japanese soldiers attack American Green Beret's in Siberia. If the American President thinks Shizuko is going to use those nukes, then I doubt he would hesitate to drop one on Tokyo, even if it's simply to remove one madman from this world."
Ishii looked between the two girls. "I don't know about you two, but I sure as hell don't want to have my life ended when it could be possible to save millions of lives. Shizuko needs to be brought down, and he needs to taken out for good."
"Do you mean kill him?" Akari questioned. "Will the Japanese public support such a decision?"
"I don't want Shizuko to be dead right away. First we will need to get him to admit that he was the one that ordered the assassination of the Emperor. Once he does that, there will be no one that would object to removing him from power. And with Shizuko out of the way, we will be able to quell the trouble brewing between America and Japan. And if it's needed then yes, we will put him before a court of his peers that will decide if he's guilty of crimes against humanity."
Akane and Akari didn't respond, they instead waited for Ishii to continue.
"Were only in the planning stages right now, and I would like you two to sit in on the next talks we have. The more you know the more likely it is that you can add something to the mission. Do you think you can handle that?"
Akari smiled. "I'm willing to do anything."
"Me too," Akane added.
===============
Despite the large amount of forces in Siberia, for the past two days there had been only two battles against the combined American-Russian forces and Chinese forces. The last battle of the day ended at 1645, which left a lot of time for the bulk of the troops to relax, if only for a little while.
Taking advantage of the lull in the action, General Parker took the time to commandeer a jeep and drive 60 miles to the west to visit Natalie, the girl that Ranma had given to him before the Battle of Alden, as it was now being referred to as. A temporary base had been set up and that was where all the wounded and dead had been sent. Calling in a couple of favors, Parker had gotten a Russian doctor to make sure someone took care of Natalie.
But Phil had to admit to himself that going to see Natalie was only an excuse to get away from the gritty scene that he met daily in Siberia. It wasn't hard to imagine what the great land mass had been like before this war. Every so often Parker would be able to inhale the sweet scent of pine and the smell of untarnished land, but those moments were fleeting, and in only so long he would be hit with the stench of dead human flesh. Burnt and scorched earth was everywhere, and it would only be a few minutes before someone found a charred body. Whether the soldier was still alive or not seemed of little consequence, the medical facilities were too far away, making treatment nearly impossible for those that needed surgery.
While Phil was not new to warfare, this was the first war he had ever participated in that had become so violent. Trained as an armor soldier, he had been spared some of the more gritty aspects that those in the infantry faced. Fighting in close quarters, seeing the faces of those whose lives you were ending. Seeing the anguish, the horror on their young faces as their bodies were torn up from gunfire was something that no man could face without feeling sick. Hand-to-hand fighting was something that Parker excelled at.
Of course, he wasn't a martial artist like Ranma, but Phil had the ability to kill men with his bare hands, on the battlefield, where the wrong move meant death. In the last big battle, around four days ago, Parker had stumbled onto a lost Chinese infantryman, and they literally collided. Phil had dropped his rifle, and the infantryman was in the process of getting to his feet, his rifle still in hand. Using all of his strength in his legs, Phil had kicked out and knocked the Chinese soldier back to his feet, and lunged at him.
It's easy to lose ones self in this world, Parker thought as he pulled the jeep to a stop while a Russian soldier came out of a post and saluted. He checked Parker's AGO card and saluted again, waving him through the checkpoint.
Maybe that was why soldiers are separated from the rest of society, Parker thought to himself. They were trained killing machines, and that philosophy just didn't fit in anywhere in normal functioning society.
Before he could continue on with his dark thoughts, General Parker was stopped by an MP and was forced to show his identification once again. Taking a glance around Parker noticed that he was acquiring a lot of attention from passersby. As he thought about it he concluded that it was because he was driving himself around. Generals traditionally had a driver, or at least an aide-to-camp.
Screw em', Parker thought happily. Driving was one of the few things that he was able to do by himself without having people buzzing around him, hoping to catch his attention to ask him for something or some other idiotic thing.
There was another reason that Parker had decided to get away from the battlefield. He had gotten a call from the National Security Advisor on his SAT-6 phone just the day before. It seemed that the Japanese POW's that were in those two trucks, the ones that he had allowed to escape unscathed from the assault the other day, were carted off to China to a POW camp near Beijing. Of course, this alone didn't really warrant his attention, but the National Security Advisor had added that the POW camp was the same that the CIA believed housed 17 American soldiers that were incarcerated just at the end of the Second Pacific War. The President didn't want the Japanese to try and remove their prisoners and in the process come into control of Americans, so he was ordering that a team composed of whatever soldiers he thought were capable to carry it off. When asked if he could use Russians, he was granted permission.
They had four days before the operation was scheduled to take place. With no air support, or anything in the way of knowing the compound, Parker and the other soldiers would be flying blind, all the way from Siberia to Beijing. The flight would be nearly four hours, and what Parker had been told was that it would be one way. Meaning, when the helicopters reached where they were supposed to be, they would set down and get out, and then destroy the helicopter. An incredibly risky mission, especially considering that they would be inside the enemy lines, and with no way of being extracted, at least for a couple of days.
The Navy was going to send a carrier group over into the Pacific near the China Sea and they would launch a few aircraft to come pick up the teams, but it wouldn't arrive for about a week from now, which meant they would be on their own for almost three days. It was going to be risky, especially if there was a garrison nearby the prison camp that had soldiers in it. Once they hit the prison, the soldiers were bound to hear the fighting and would come to investigate, which would most definitely result in the team being wiped out.
There were still a lot of things to be hammered out in the operation, but time was something to be yearned for, and the team had not even been selected yet.
As he pulled up outside the field hospital, Parker brooded over that thought.
"Four days, that doesn't seem like a very long time to plan a cross- country operation that could help turn the tide in the war," Parker said to himself. He killed the engine and got out of the jeep to go visit Natalie.
===============
There were just too many to count. The scars that adorned Ryoga's chest seemed endless. Some were faded, while others were just scabbing over.
Ranma was filled with a consuming rage as he tried his best to wash the blood and dirt from Ryoga's body. The torture that Ryoga must have had to go through was enough for Ranma to vow to kill each and every guard in the entire facility. If they got off on torturing these men for almost half a decade, then it was his duty to see that their lives were ended, one way or another.
Despite being in the prison for almost an entire day, Ryoga had yet to awaken, something that Ranma found very troubling. He had been giving Ryoga some water every few hours, but he didn't want to wake him up just to get him to have some food. Ranma was worried that doing so might injure him.
During the long period of time that he was in the prison, Ranma had had time to think about his situation. The pain in his skull was almost at a bearable level, and his sense of balance was all but restored. In a couple of days he would be able to bust out of his cell, and if he was successful, find the others and evacuate the prison. He would have to kill all of the guards, and it would most likely be with his bare hands. Only a few guards had firearms, and they were topside, near the gate.
Ryoga and the other prisoners who had been here for those long years would be far too weak to get out on their own, so they would need to be carried. There were thirty six Japanese soldiers, and seventeen prisoners, including Ryoga. That left nineteen soldiers to take out and at least seventy-five Chinese guards. The odds were against them, but it would be possible if they could acquire a form of transportation and then try and get into Russia, maybe they could find some Americans that would help them out.
"Christ," Ranma muttered bitterly, "after all I went through to get out of Siberia, I'm going to willingly go back in."
As he finished, Ryoga began to lightly stir. Ranma was instantly at his side, waiting to see if he would wake up. A guard had brought food about three hours ago, and he was betting that Ryoga was going to be hungry.
===============
As night fell over Siberia, General Parker drove himself back to Alden. The city was putting the soldiers up in hotels and residential housing. Parker had gotten into a hotel and was sharing a room with Lieutenant Gogol.
Most of the soldiers that were in the city were taking time off; most were probably getting a load on at the nearest bar. It would have been reasonable to think that Gregory would go as well, but when Phil opened the door to the hotel room, Gogol was sitting in an armchair with a vodka glass beside him. His rifle was on his lap, which was covered with a towel, and he was running bore cleaner through it. Most of the rifle was disassembled, and the towel covering his lap was stained dark from the separate parts.
"I thought you'd be out enjoying yourself," Parker said, it was more in the form of a question than a statement. He closed the door and shrugged out of his tunic. He laid his rifle on the table and walked into the small living room and fixed himself a light drink of scotch. He plopped down in a chair opposite of Gogol and looked at him expectantly.
"I want to go with you," Gogol said slowly, clearly.
"I beg your pardon?" Parker asked, confused.
"To rescue those soldiers in the prison camp, I want to go with you," he said again. "Put me in the team."
"How did you find out about that?" Parker asked, more surprised than angry that Gogol knew about it.
"I listened to you when you were having a talk with Colonel Handover," Gogol said unabashed. "You told him that you had been authorized to take both American and Russian personnel, and you know that I could make a difference on the team."
"Gregory," Parker started, but stopped suddenly and got up. He left the room and went into his bedroom. He came back with his wallet and threw it to Gogol. "Check behind my AGO card."
Gogol did so and pulled out a photograph. He nearly dropped the wallet when he looked at it.
The picture showed Phil in civilian clothes, with a broad smile on his face as he cheerfully had his arm wrapped around a young Japanese man's shoulders. The Japanese man was wearing what looked like Chinese silk clothes. Just noticeably over his shoulder was a pigtail.
"I know this man," Gogol said very quietly to himself. It hit him like a ton of bricks. Back at the start of the war, when he had been given the duty to shadow the invasion force. The Japanese boy, (he really looked like he was sixteen) had been sitting in the trees and was writing a letter. He hadn't shot him, and at the time he really couldn't understand why he didn't.
Gogol looked up at Parker.
Phil started before Gogol had a chance to talk. "You see that guy I'm with? He's one of my best friends and so are his wife and a few other of his friends. When this war was just starting he received one of those draftee notices and, because he's an honorable man, he entered into the military as a Japanese infantry officer. So far, I've met him three times on the battlefield. Once by accident, then I followed him to a Japanese camp, and the last time I saw him was at the Battle of Alden."
"I've seen him too," Gogol blurted.
Now it was Parker's turn to show surprise. "What? Where?"
"It was about three weeks into the war, and my platoon had been assigned to shadow a Japanese regiment, and when I was moving out of the area, this boy came through the trees and started to write something. Probably a letter or something, but he seemed to be quite upset while he was writing it."
Both soldiers stared at each other for a moment before breaking into somewhat hysterical laughter.
Parker was the first to regain control of himself.
"Alright you crazy bastard, if you want to come along to spring these guys then you get to be one of General Parker's Happy Volunteers. Your grand exalted member number two."
Gogol looked at the picture Parker had given him and then handed it back.
"I'm curious Phil, why did you show me that picture?"
"The guys name is Ranma Saotome. I have personally inspected every single Japanese soldier now in our custody and not a single one of them are him. I have observed the dead, and still I haven't found him. When you showed me that directorate stating that all remaining Japanese soldiers were being placed into prisoner-of-war camps, I knew exactly where I was going to find him. The camp were going to be hitting is now housing both American and Japanese POW's, and I intend to get them all out."
Gogol nodded, but didn't say anything.
Phil looked at the photograph in his hands one more time before shoving it back into his wallet.
===============
Author's Notes: There you go. The stage is set, and all the players are ready for their roles. The next few chapters will be long ones, and once they're out of the way, the story will start to wind down from there. I've had a great time writing this and I want to thank everyone that has read this and expressed their interest to me. You all have been a great inspiration and I thank you all.