The Siege
Chapter 13: Hitting the Wall
By JagdPanther
"What the hell was that about? There's no one standing there," remarked the Chief sarcastically after a few rounds impacted in the wall behind him. He was lying down, completely out of view from the enemy outside. "What a glorious waste of ammunition." Another couple rounds punctuated his sentence. "Great."
Natsumi propped herself up against some debris and cleaned the Type- 89 rifle she had been using for the past several hours. "Still keeps our heads down, Chief." She slid the cleaning rod in and out of the barrel. It was amazing to her how much junk could collect in the rifling after such a short time of use. Of course, she had been firing the weapon quite a lot. "I wonder how Arleigh is doing. The fire over that way seems to be dying down a bit."
The Chief took a sip from a canteen and shrugged his shoulders. "Seven guys against the rest of the terrorists and rogue SDF guys. Not good odds, that's for sure. But I've known Arleigh long enough to know that he's probably smelling like a rose about now. The guy just does not care about how desperate a situation is."
She finished cleaning the rifle and reassembled all the major parts. Now all she could do was sit and think. Sitting there, Natsumi massaged the small cut she had received to her shoulder earlier. It stung a little bit, but it wasn't debilitating. 'I just hope Arleigh is all right.' Looking around, she noticed that more ammo would be needed if an attack broke out soon. "I'm going down to the Marines' trucks to get more ammo. Better use the stuff from there. If an attack comes it'll be easier to get the boxes in the store rooms up here."
"Okay, I'll hold our spots for the time being." The Chief slid over to make room for Natsumi to pass by.
Natsumi headed down to the ground level and out the back door. She passed a group of Marines cleaning out their 81-mm mortar tube. The other mortar tubes were nearly vertical, a testament to how close in to the station they were firing. Continuing past the Americans, Natsumi came to a Marine truck and grabbed two boxes of lose 5.56mm ammunition and a box of clips each for the M4A1 and M-16A2 rifles that most of the Americans carried. 'Hmm, we seem to be running very low on ammo for as many police officers and soldiers we have here holding the lines.'
She didn't know that there was actually another ammo dump on the other side of the station. A small firefight earlier that she had written off as harassment fire had actually been the enemy attempting to shoot down a trio of Blackhawks that had swooped in, seemingly from nowhere, to drop loads of ammo that had been slung underneath their airframes. The runs had been made by 1st Btn/25th Avn. pilots flying completely blacked-out and escorted by Marine Cobras. When the terrorists and Japanese troops opened fire, they were cut down viciously by accurate rocket and chain-gun fire.
Shrugging her shoulders, she spun around and began back. She smiled at the Marines with the mortars as she passed them. All of the soldiers turned and smiled back.
"See, boys? That's what we're defending. Ooo-rah!" quipped a Marine Sergeant watching Natsumi retreat back into the station with the ammo. "Okay, back to work. I want these tubes finished in two minutes. Hustle up."
Back inside, officer Tsujimoto hefted the boxes to the hallway where the Chief and herself were stationed. She took to reloading several empty clips for her Type-89 rifle with the loose 5.56mm rounds that she had brought up from the Marine truck. Now she had seven extra magazines not including the one already in the rifle. After leaning against the wall for a few minutes, she realized that the lull in the fighting would make her die of boredom. 'Well, that's an interesting thing to think. I'd rather be getting shot at then sitting against a wall. I must be going crazy.'
"Tsujimoto."
Looking up, Natsumi replied. "Yes?"
"Go find Miyuki. If she isn't doing anything important, go around the building with her and find out what all the people from Traffic are doing. I want to know how my people are doing. I'd go myself but someone has to hold the position and you're fidgeting so much I doubt you'd be able to stay here any longer with nothing going on." The Chief grimaced after his last words.
Natsumi nodded. "Okay. Be back soon."
Colonel Nakatani poured over the tactical map in his command center near the Sumida. "If we're having as much trouble as we are with a mere seven Americans in a field, I can see why our forces can't take down this building. Lieutenant, have you contacted the terrorist commander yet with my request?"
Tanaka nodded. "Yes, Colonel. He agreed with your assessment and is preparing his units for action. They will be moving into position shortly for the attack."
"Good. We must leave that building itself intact or else we will lose what we're looking for, but that perimeter wall is only making things worse for us. Contact all units and have them rush the building as soon as the wall has been breached." Nakatani frowned as he circled several areas around the station with a grease pencil. "There will undoubtedly be an American counter-attack in the morning. Have our remaining tanks in the area set up defensive positions at these points. With any luck, by the time that attack comes we will have the piece of the plan and it will be transmitted."
"Then all we have to do is gather up all of our key personnel and quietly slip out of the Ward, sir?"
"Yes."
"Hopefully we will be able to make it to Commander Tonishi without being caught. But with the amount of people we intend to take, I don't see how it will go completely noticed, Colonel. We need a diversion."
Nakatani grimaced. "I hope you do not think that I had not thought about that already, Lieutenant. When the time comes, we will be ready and the Americans will take no notice of our escape. Of course, they will be thinking of little else besides their own terrible losses that they will be receiving."
At that time, Nakatani's S-3, or Operations Officer, walked in. "Sir, reports are filtering from the Bokuto Station battle that the machine guns you ordered to roof tops are being systematically eliminated by American sniper fire."
"Well then put them behind air conditioning units! Or stairwells! Are my troops incapable of learning anything from training? Don't leave your position, especially high value targets like anti-aircraft guns, in plain view!" The rogue Japanese Colonel slammed his fist on the table. "Do I have to go out there and do this myself? Well, do I?"
The S-3 did not answer.
"See that the troops in the field are informed as to why they are being shot at by American snipers. Tell them to set up the guns out of a line-of-sight from the top of the station."
"Yes, Colonel."
"Make it quick, Captain."
"Yes, Colonel."
"Or I'll have you out there manning the guns yourself."
"Yes, Colonel."
"On your way."
"Yes, Colonel."
Miyuki quietly cycled the bolt on the M-24 while scanning for another target. She had already eliminated an entire gun crew and she was working on a second crew. "Bingo. Another one. 500 meters, top left of the tallest building."
To Miyuki's left, one of the Delta's, Smith, responded. "I see him. He's alone. Could be a spotter."
"Whoever he is, he's going to be dead shortly." Miyuki lined up the shot and sighted in on man's chest. He was holding what appeared to be a Russian SVD sniper rifle, but he wasn't pointing it anywhere in particular. He could've been on the roof just for the scenery. Miyuki's 7.62mm shot tore through him two seconds later and dropped him like a brick onto the roof.
The female police officer rolled onto her back and reached for her canteen. Her forearm brushed the butt of the rifle and she recoiled a bit. 'Damn, that still hurts.' Grabbing the canteen she, Miyuki took a sip of water and wondered why it had been so quiet. Sure, there was a little bit of sporadic gunfire around the perimeter, but it had been this way for too long. 'They must be mounting something major.' Rolling back over, she nudged the American. "What time is it?"
Bringing his arm up to his face, Smith pulled back on his fatigue sleeve and checked his watch. "0220 Hours. Two-twenty in the A.M."
"I kind of figured it was morning, Sergeant."
He smiled and returned his eyes to the 20x spotting scope he had brought up from the Delta's supply-Hummer parked near the station's motor pool. "Why don't you go downstairs for a little while? I can't see any more targets up here and if I do, I think the rest of us up here can handle it."
"Fine. If you need another sniper, I should be down around the TOC." Miyuki crouched and dashed over to the stairwell and quickly descended. Just because they couldn't see any enemy snipers around the building didn't mean that there weren't any there. Presenting a target while up on the roof wasn't the wisest decision one could make at the moment.
At the Tactical Operations Center, Miyuki found that the Americans had boarded up the doorway. To allow entry, they also had blown down a portion of a rear wall, which now conveniently opened into an inside hallway. "Hello, Captain."
The Marine Corps company commander turned around at the sound of Miyuki's voice. "Ah, Officer Kobayakawa. How is the sniping going on up stairs? I hope you're doing well."
"Just fine, sir. But I did just want to point out in case you didn't receive the message from Sergeant Smith that the enemy is moving heavy guns onto the surrounding buildings to try and shoot down your helicopters."
"Yes, I am aware of that. I received the message. Thanks. Right now I can't do much about them unless you and the rest of the snipers get clear shots at them. I can't use mortars or air support on them because I cannot be sure if there are any civilians in those buildings, so my hands are tied. Unless there is a clear shot from a personal weapon, be a machine gun or rifle, I am not authorized to attack those buildings." Surai sighed and leaned against a table. "Oh, by the way, your friend, Officer Tsujimoto, was here a couple minutes ago. She said she was looking for you, as per your department commander's orders."
"Oh, really? Thank you, sir. Did she say where she was going?" Miyuki wondered why the chief had sent Natsumi for her.
Vincent Surai let out a small laugh. "Yes, I told her you were up on the roof sniping. You must have taken different routes." Smiling, he straightened up and walked over to where one of his radiomen was motioning that there was a radio call. "She only left right before you came in. You can probably catch her in the stairs."
"All right, thank you, Captain." Miyuki left the TOC. 'Wonderful. If I don't, she's going to see I'm not up there, and Smith will tell her I'm in the TOC, and we'll probably take different routes again, end up at the different places, get told to go back, miss each other... Damn.' She held her MP-5 sub-machine gun with her right hand with the shoulder stock resting against he upper arm. Since it was one of the few inside stairwells in the building that could not be seen at all from the outside, she stood erect as she walked slowly up. Above her in the stairwell, she heard footsteps. "Hey, Natsumi!"
"Miyuki? Is that you?" Natsumi peered over the edge of the railing, faintly making out her partner a few stories below her.
"Yeah. Come back down here." The black-haired officer supported herself against the wall as Natsumi descended the few flights. "Why does the Chief want me?"
Natsumi shook her head. "He wants us to check on everyone from Traffic and see how they're doing. He said he'd do it himself, except I was 'fidgeting' so much that he knew I needed something to do. I can't believe he said that." She made quotation marks with her fingers when she got to fidgeting. "Except he's right."
"Okay... Well, do we even know where anyone is?" Ken is on the second floor. Yoriko and Aoi are down in the cafeteria with the remaining civilians and some of the wounded. I think that..." They walked and talked, checking on each member of the Traffic Department that they could find. It was hard to hear that another officer, Hiro Yamata, had been killed earlier during the lull.
Ken was taking the death of Ichiro fine, for the moment, they found. He was continuing to focus on what had to be done, and that was to protect the station and the remaining occupants. "I'm fine, really. I'll think about it when the time comes. Besides, I've got a promise to keep. And if I don't pay attention now, I may never get to keep that promise." He sent his two female colleagues on their way and continued to hold the line with the other police officers and the Americans.
"These are people that I saw alive just hours ago, Natsumi." Miyuki was sitting in a chair on the first floor. The two had made their sweep of the building, accounting for every Traffic Department officer that they could find. Downstairs they had mentioned to some of the Administration officers and both Yoriko and Aoi that the troops up above could use water, as a lot of troops were running low, having not packed much. "Yamata... We hardly even knew him and he's already gone. So is Ichiro. I know Ken feels terrible about him dying."
Natsumi just stared at the floor, incessantly tapping the stock of her rifle. "And more will go before this is all over." She sighed. "Ugh! If only we knew what this was all about! No matter how much I think about it, I cannot figure out why they are doing this. So many times in the past, what," she looked at her watch. The face was cracked. ", 16 hours of my life I've stopped to try and figure this all out and each time I've come up with nothing. Even with everything Arleigh and that guy told us, it still doesn't make sense. Why use a force like this? They got a small group in here to kidnap us, why not do that to get whatever they need? So much simpler. Are they trying to prove a point or something?"
"I would guess. I can see terrorists doing that, but the involvement of an entire brigade of JSDF troops and equipment doesn't go along with that. There has to be something behind the 'plan' that has the JSDF in on this." Stretching her arms, Miyuki yawned and continued to think.
The two rose and returned to Natsumi and the Chief's position at the back of the station, still keeping down to avoid being shot at from the terrorist's positions across the road. "Yamata was killed, Chief." Miyuki broke the news to him.
"Damn." The Chief felt like melting into the floor. Two officers down. "How did it happen?"
"Apparently during the lull, he was cleaning his weapon and a terrorist took some random shots at the station. A bullet ricocheted off of a metal beam and struck him in the head. The medics said he was dead instantly. He didn't feel a thing." Natsumi gave the explanation.
The Chief rubbed his face, attempting to maintain his composure. "All right, thank you for the update. And I trust that that is the only bad news you have to bring about the rest of my officers?"
"Yes, sir. Everyone else seems to be fine and uninjured."
"Very well, Kobayakawa." He glanced down. "There is one thing else I'd like you two to do for me."
"Yes, sir?"
"Just make sure that you two make it out of this thing alive. I don't think I could bear to see either of you go down. You know, you two cause me more trouble than anyone else I have ever served with."
Miyuki and Natsumi both scowled at that part.
Frowning, he continued. "Hey, don't take that the wrong way."
"Oh, really, how could I, sir?" Miyuki said, narrowing her eyes
"I mean that because you do, I have a special attachment for the both of you. When this is all over and everything returns to normal, well, it wouldn't be normal without the two of you. You cause me trouble, but you two are some of the best officers I've ever met."
"Aw, thanks Chief." Natsumi beamed and winked at her commanding officer. "That's so sweet."
The Chief smiled, adding wryly, "Right now, though, I need you two to go down to the cafeteria and get me some food. I'm starving. I haven't eaten in forever." He laughed.
"Sure. Butter us up before sending us on the menial job." Miyuki shook her head and smirked. "Why us? You just said we cause you more trouble. Aren't you afraid we'll bring you back something terrible?"
"Hey, you're the only ones from Traffic around. I can't really send any other officers and certainly not an American down to get me something to eat." Shrugging, he added, "Besides, after today, not much could taste very bad. Stuff like this makes you put everything into perspective, even food you used to hate. Like peas for example. I'd settle for peas. And I hate peas." The Chief continued to laugh lightly as the two officers turned around and made their way to an inner hallway and down an enclosed stairwell.
"I say we test this theory out. Let's get him all the peas we can find." Natsumi snickered as they continued down the stairs.
Miyuki replied, "How are we going to cook them? They cut the gas lines, remember?" She thought a bit more, then added, "Well, actually, the microwaves might still work."
Colonel Nakatani turned to Lieutenant Tanaka. "The radio, Lieutenant." Taking the receiver from his aid's hand, the Japanese officer thumbed the talk-button on and spoke. "All JSDF forces, attack. Smash those walls. Kill anything that gets in your way. I want that building by dawn!"
The Colonel received acknowledgements from all of his battalion commanders and they did likewise with their company commanders, and the process repeated down to the squad level. Coordinating with the terrorist forces, the JSDF troops would now make their biggest attack so far on Bokuto Station. It would involve tanks, APCs, technicals, and waves of troops. Virtually everything that wasn't committed to either holding the bridges or attacking Delta Five-One's position was involved in the attack. They would storm the building and take the remaining set of plans, and then they would have the final piece of code to unlock all the plans. The terrorists would have what they want, and soon after Nakatani would have his revenge.
"This had better work." Nakatani sat down and waited for the first news to come back from the advancing units.
Kachou lit up a cigarette and returned the lighter to his pocket. 'Okay, so maybe I still wouldn't go for peas. I wonder what food is left down there?' He had only taken a few drags before an Army Private down the hall yelled that he saw a technical. That soldier made the mistake of standing up slightly to point the vehicle out. Instantly, an enemy sniper's round tore into his forehead, killing the soldier.
"Return fire!" yelled Army 2nd Lieutenant Steve Vrabel of the 25th Infantry Division. "Enemies, moving in from the two o'clock! More coming from the 11 o'clock! Take out their RPGs first!"
Kachou threw the cigarette up and out the window before grabbing his AK. He flicked off the safety and began searching for a target. He saw a group of machine guns firing from a third-story string of windows across the field and trees from the station. Popping off several single shots, Kachou wondered how many more attacks would come before the station was relieved by the Americans gearing up outside the ward. 'This building is going to crumble if it takes anymore RPGs,' he thought sarcastically.
An intense firefight erupted all around the station. The enemy had quietly slipped in close to the station, using buildings as cover, even destroying walls between buildings so they wouldn't have to expose themselves on the streets. Hundreds of assault rifles, machine guns, pistols, rockets, and grenade launchers began to chew away at the station and its defenders. The volume of fire coming back from the station, even with all the officers, Marines, and Army personnel, was no match for what they were receiving in the largest attack.
Down along the service road, Marine First Lieutenant Tray Phelps was barking orders as his mortar team while listening to aiming corrections coming in over the radio. "Tubes one and two, up 10, left 5! Tubes three and four, down 5, left 20! Tubes five and six, up 10, right 10!" He continued listening. "All hits good! Fire for effect! Ten salvos H-E! Tubes seven and eight, load illum' [illumination] rounds, charge four [highest level of propellant]!"
Coordinating with the Army mortar teams, Phelps tried to keep his mortars firing only in a specific zone and not overlapping into an Army zone, thus wasting fire that was better suited elsewhere along the line.
"Keep 'em going, keep 'em going!" The Marines cycled their mortars are fast as they could. The tubes were beginning to grow warmer and warmer. Soon the mortar tubes would be too hot to fire out of fear that the heat would cook off a round in the tube. More and more 81-mm rounds jumped out of the tubes and arced high before curving over and hurtling down at their targets.
Phelps continued bouncing in and out of the four groups of mortars he commanded, followed closely by his RTO [radio/telephone operator]. "Tubes five and six, redirect fire up 5, left 10!" Noticing that the tubes were running low on ammunition, he raced back and forth between the truck they had arrived on and the tubes, delivering three or four rounds at a time.
Even as the Marines continued to rain down as much fire as they possibly could on the enemy, they could not even slow down the attack. Even in conjunction with a renewed air attack from Air Force fighter- bombers, Army and Marine gunships, and Navy artillery, the mortars could not stop the attack. As Phelps listened for the new aiming corrections, he couldn't have known what was about to happen to him and the rest of the mortar platoon of Alfa Company.
About a kilometer from the station, Keiji Hatana sat in the driver's seat of a technical. His brother had recruited him into the Japanese Martyrs Brigade. He hadn't had any particular reason for joining. Keiji just had romanticized the thought of an outlaw group doing battle with an established evil, like the Americans, he had thought. Now he realized that there was nothing to romanticize about battle. He was actually about to do something that would most likely get him killed.
"Keiji, you have to do this. They will probably shoot at you, but you have to stay focused. The entire mission depends on you." His cell commander patted him on the shoulder. "Good luck, my friend."
"Yes, sir." And with that, Keiji stepped on the gas pedal and sped off. He had the headlights out and had taped over all the dashboard lights. Using the light coming from the firefight ahead and the illumination rounds being launched by the American mortar teams, he flew headlong towards the station. The entire bed of the truck was laden with explosives attached to a simple timed fuse. He had a minute to reach the station from the time the wheels started moving. With ten seconds left, he prepared to jump. Grabbing his rifle and making sure the wheel was as straight as possible, he dove from the open door of the technical. He hit the ground hard, but the extra few coats he had worn took a good portion of the blow. He had hardly felt much, because all he was listening for was the explosion. And then it went off.
The pickup plowed right through the wall of the station flipped to one side as it got hung up on the debris. After only a second, the fuse burned down to nothing and detonated the entire bed of explosives. The explosion completely obliterated the wall, sending chunks of concrete the size of Natsumi's Moto-compo at the station. Around the station, more explosive-laden technicals hit the wall, collapsing it. From all the buildings the enemy occupied, terrorists and JSDF personnel poured out and began rushing the station. The series of explosions had almost completely stopped fire from the station after men were thrown to the ground or hit by flying debris.
The debris from Keiji's technical had hit the Marine mortars hard. All the crew members from tubes one-through-four had been killed or knocked unconscious, since the technical had broken through the wall only about 25 meters from their position. First Lieutenant Tray Phelps slowly pushed himself off the ground. Next to him, his RTO rubbed his bloody forehead and face and moaned loudly. Phelps felt around for his rifle and picked it up. He couldn't hear anything, not even his RTO screaming in his ear that they he had been hit. The explosion had deafened him. But he was able to feel the rumble of the ground as the rushing waves of enemies came closer.
The entire wall that had once shielded his mortar team was gone. It had collapsed from the explosion. As Phelps looked up, he could see enemies running from the buildings and towards the station. He brought up his M4A1, flicked it over to full automatic and began firing. Anything that moved he knew was an enemy. Rounds from the enemy weapons began to pelt the debris he was leaning heavily against while he fired. The remaining members of his mortar platoon tried mightily to bring up their weapons and return fire, but they could not do much. Just before the Marines were completely overrun, Phelps grabbed the radio handset. "This is Alpha Four- Six, we're being overrun! They've breached the perimeter!" And that was the last thing Tray Phelps ever said as terrorist smashed him in the face with a rifle and then executed the Marine officer with a burst of shots to the heart.
QUESTIONS & COMMENTS: Bravo26Flashpointyahoo.com
Chapter 13: Hitting the Wall
By JagdPanther
"What the hell was that about? There's no one standing there," remarked the Chief sarcastically after a few rounds impacted in the wall behind him. He was lying down, completely out of view from the enemy outside. "What a glorious waste of ammunition." Another couple rounds punctuated his sentence. "Great."
Natsumi propped herself up against some debris and cleaned the Type- 89 rifle she had been using for the past several hours. "Still keeps our heads down, Chief." She slid the cleaning rod in and out of the barrel. It was amazing to her how much junk could collect in the rifling after such a short time of use. Of course, she had been firing the weapon quite a lot. "I wonder how Arleigh is doing. The fire over that way seems to be dying down a bit."
The Chief took a sip from a canteen and shrugged his shoulders. "Seven guys against the rest of the terrorists and rogue SDF guys. Not good odds, that's for sure. But I've known Arleigh long enough to know that he's probably smelling like a rose about now. The guy just does not care about how desperate a situation is."
She finished cleaning the rifle and reassembled all the major parts. Now all she could do was sit and think. Sitting there, Natsumi massaged the small cut she had received to her shoulder earlier. It stung a little bit, but it wasn't debilitating. 'I just hope Arleigh is all right.' Looking around, she noticed that more ammo would be needed if an attack broke out soon. "I'm going down to the Marines' trucks to get more ammo. Better use the stuff from there. If an attack comes it'll be easier to get the boxes in the store rooms up here."
"Okay, I'll hold our spots for the time being." The Chief slid over to make room for Natsumi to pass by.
Natsumi headed down to the ground level and out the back door. She passed a group of Marines cleaning out their 81-mm mortar tube. The other mortar tubes were nearly vertical, a testament to how close in to the station they were firing. Continuing past the Americans, Natsumi came to a Marine truck and grabbed two boxes of lose 5.56mm ammunition and a box of clips each for the M4A1 and M-16A2 rifles that most of the Americans carried. 'Hmm, we seem to be running very low on ammo for as many police officers and soldiers we have here holding the lines.'
She didn't know that there was actually another ammo dump on the other side of the station. A small firefight earlier that she had written off as harassment fire had actually been the enemy attempting to shoot down a trio of Blackhawks that had swooped in, seemingly from nowhere, to drop loads of ammo that had been slung underneath their airframes. The runs had been made by 1st Btn/25th Avn. pilots flying completely blacked-out and escorted by Marine Cobras. When the terrorists and Japanese troops opened fire, they were cut down viciously by accurate rocket and chain-gun fire.
Shrugging her shoulders, she spun around and began back. She smiled at the Marines with the mortars as she passed them. All of the soldiers turned and smiled back.
"See, boys? That's what we're defending. Ooo-rah!" quipped a Marine Sergeant watching Natsumi retreat back into the station with the ammo. "Okay, back to work. I want these tubes finished in two minutes. Hustle up."
Back inside, officer Tsujimoto hefted the boxes to the hallway where the Chief and herself were stationed. She took to reloading several empty clips for her Type-89 rifle with the loose 5.56mm rounds that she had brought up from the Marine truck. Now she had seven extra magazines not including the one already in the rifle. After leaning against the wall for a few minutes, she realized that the lull in the fighting would make her die of boredom. 'Well, that's an interesting thing to think. I'd rather be getting shot at then sitting against a wall. I must be going crazy.'
"Tsujimoto."
Looking up, Natsumi replied. "Yes?"
"Go find Miyuki. If she isn't doing anything important, go around the building with her and find out what all the people from Traffic are doing. I want to know how my people are doing. I'd go myself but someone has to hold the position and you're fidgeting so much I doubt you'd be able to stay here any longer with nothing going on." The Chief grimaced after his last words.
Natsumi nodded. "Okay. Be back soon."
Colonel Nakatani poured over the tactical map in his command center near the Sumida. "If we're having as much trouble as we are with a mere seven Americans in a field, I can see why our forces can't take down this building. Lieutenant, have you contacted the terrorist commander yet with my request?"
Tanaka nodded. "Yes, Colonel. He agreed with your assessment and is preparing his units for action. They will be moving into position shortly for the attack."
"Good. We must leave that building itself intact or else we will lose what we're looking for, but that perimeter wall is only making things worse for us. Contact all units and have them rush the building as soon as the wall has been breached." Nakatani frowned as he circled several areas around the station with a grease pencil. "There will undoubtedly be an American counter-attack in the morning. Have our remaining tanks in the area set up defensive positions at these points. With any luck, by the time that attack comes we will have the piece of the plan and it will be transmitted."
"Then all we have to do is gather up all of our key personnel and quietly slip out of the Ward, sir?"
"Yes."
"Hopefully we will be able to make it to Commander Tonishi without being caught. But with the amount of people we intend to take, I don't see how it will go completely noticed, Colonel. We need a diversion."
Nakatani grimaced. "I hope you do not think that I had not thought about that already, Lieutenant. When the time comes, we will be ready and the Americans will take no notice of our escape. Of course, they will be thinking of little else besides their own terrible losses that they will be receiving."
At that time, Nakatani's S-3, or Operations Officer, walked in. "Sir, reports are filtering from the Bokuto Station battle that the machine guns you ordered to roof tops are being systematically eliminated by American sniper fire."
"Well then put them behind air conditioning units! Or stairwells! Are my troops incapable of learning anything from training? Don't leave your position, especially high value targets like anti-aircraft guns, in plain view!" The rogue Japanese Colonel slammed his fist on the table. "Do I have to go out there and do this myself? Well, do I?"
The S-3 did not answer.
"See that the troops in the field are informed as to why they are being shot at by American snipers. Tell them to set up the guns out of a line-of-sight from the top of the station."
"Yes, Colonel."
"Make it quick, Captain."
"Yes, Colonel."
"Or I'll have you out there manning the guns yourself."
"Yes, Colonel."
"On your way."
"Yes, Colonel."
Miyuki quietly cycled the bolt on the M-24 while scanning for another target. She had already eliminated an entire gun crew and she was working on a second crew. "Bingo. Another one. 500 meters, top left of the tallest building."
To Miyuki's left, one of the Delta's, Smith, responded. "I see him. He's alone. Could be a spotter."
"Whoever he is, he's going to be dead shortly." Miyuki lined up the shot and sighted in on man's chest. He was holding what appeared to be a Russian SVD sniper rifle, but he wasn't pointing it anywhere in particular. He could've been on the roof just for the scenery. Miyuki's 7.62mm shot tore through him two seconds later and dropped him like a brick onto the roof.
The female police officer rolled onto her back and reached for her canteen. Her forearm brushed the butt of the rifle and she recoiled a bit. 'Damn, that still hurts.' Grabbing the canteen she, Miyuki took a sip of water and wondered why it had been so quiet. Sure, there was a little bit of sporadic gunfire around the perimeter, but it had been this way for too long. 'They must be mounting something major.' Rolling back over, she nudged the American. "What time is it?"
Bringing his arm up to his face, Smith pulled back on his fatigue sleeve and checked his watch. "0220 Hours. Two-twenty in the A.M."
"I kind of figured it was morning, Sergeant."
He smiled and returned his eyes to the 20x spotting scope he had brought up from the Delta's supply-Hummer parked near the station's motor pool. "Why don't you go downstairs for a little while? I can't see any more targets up here and if I do, I think the rest of us up here can handle it."
"Fine. If you need another sniper, I should be down around the TOC." Miyuki crouched and dashed over to the stairwell and quickly descended. Just because they couldn't see any enemy snipers around the building didn't mean that there weren't any there. Presenting a target while up on the roof wasn't the wisest decision one could make at the moment.
At the Tactical Operations Center, Miyuki found that the Americans had boarded up the doorway. To allow entry, they also had blown down a portion of a rear wall, which now conveniently opened into an inside hallway. "Hello, Captain."
The Marine Corps company commander turned around at the sound of Miyuki's voice. "Ah, Officer Kobayakawa. How is the sniping going on up stairs? I hope you're doing well."
"Just fine, sir. But I did just want to point out in case you didn't receive the message from Sergeant Smith that the enemy is moving heavy guns onto the surrounding buildings to try and shoot down your helicopters."
"Yes, I am aware of that. I received the message. Thanks. Right now I can't do much about them unless you and the rest of the snipers get clear shots at them. I can't use mortars or air support on them because I cannot be sure if there are any civilians in those buildings, so my hands are tied. Unless there is a clear shot from a personal weapon, be a machine gun or rifle, I am not authorized to attack those buildings." Surai sighed and leaned against a table. "Oh, by the way, your friend, Officer Tsujimoto, was here a couple minutes ago. She said she was looking for you, as per your department commander's orders."
"Oh, really? Thank you, sir. Did she say where she was going?" Miyuki wondered why the chief had sent Natsumi for her.
Vincent Surai let out a small laugh. "Yes, I told her you were up on the roof sniping. You must have taken different routes." Smiling, he straightened up and walked over to where one of his radiomen was motioning that there was a radio call. "She only left right before you came in. You can probably catch her in the stairs."
"All right, thank you, Captain." Miyuki left the TOC. 'Wonderful. If I don't, she's going to see I'm not up there, and Smith will tell her I'm in the TOC, and we'll probably take different routes again, end up at the different places, get told to go back, miss each other... Damn.' She held her MP-5 sub-machine gun with her right hand with the shoulder stock resting against he upper arm. Since it was one of the few inside stairwells in the building that could not be seen at all from the outside, she stood erect as she walked slowly up. Above her in the stairwell, she heard footsteps. "Hey, Natsumi!"
"Miyuki? Is that you?" Natsumi peered over the edge of the railing, faintly making out her partner a few stories below her.
"Yeah. Come back down here." The black-haired officer supported herself against the wall as Natsumi descended the few flights. "Why does the Chief want me?"
Natsumi shook her head. "He wants us to check on everyone from Traffic and see how they're doing. He said he'd do it himself, except I was 'fidgeting' so much that he knew I needed something to do. I can't believe he said that." She made quotation marks with her fingers when she got to fidgeting. "Except he's right."
"Okay... Well, do we even know where anyone is?" Ken is on the second floor. Yoriko and Aoi are down in the cafeteria with the remaining civilians and some of the wounded. I think that..." They walked and talked, checking on each member of the Traffic Department that they could find. It was hard to hear that another officer, Hiro Yamata, had been killed earlier during the lull.
Ken was taking the death of Ichiro fine, for the moment, they found. He was continuing to focus on what had to be done, and that was to protect the station and the remaining occupants. "I'm fine, really. I'll think about it when the time comes. Besides, I've got a promise to keep. And if I don't pay attention now, I may never get to keep that promise." He sent his two female colleagues on their way and continued to hold the line with the other police officers and the Americans.
"These are people that I saw alive just hours ago, Natsumi." Miyuki was sitting in a chair on the first floor. The two had made their sweep of the building, accounting for every Traffic Department officer that they could find. Downstairs they had mentioned to some of the Administration officers and both Yoriko and Aoi that the troops up above could use water, as a lot of troops were running low, having not packed much. "Yamata... We hardly even knew him and he's already gone. So is Ichiro. I know Ken feels terrible about him dying."
Natsumi just stared at the floor, incessantly tapping the stock of her rifle. "And more will go before this is all over." She sighed. "Ugh! If only we knew what this was all about! No matter how much I think about it, I cannot figure out why they are doing this. So many times in the past, what," she looked at her watch. The face was cracked. ", 16 hours of my life I've stopped to try and figure this all out and each time I've come up with nothing. Even with everything Arleigh and that guy told us, it still doesn't make sense. Why use a force like this? They got a small group in here to kidnap us, why not do that to get whatever they need? So much simpler. Are they trying to prove a point or something?"
"I would guess. I can see terrorists doing that, but the involvement of an entire brigade of JSDF troops and equipment doesn't go along with that. There has to be something behind the 'plan' that has the JSDF in on this." Stretching her arms, Miyuki yawned and continued to think.
The two rose and returned to Natsumi and the Chief's position at the back of the station, still keeping down to avoid being shot at from the terrorist's positions across the road. "Yamata was killed, Chief." Miyuki broke the news to him.
"Damn." The Chief felt like melting into the floor. Two officers down. "How did it happen?"
"Apparently during the lull, he was cleaning his weapon and a terrorist took some random shots at the station. A bullet ricocheted off of a metal beam and struck him in the head. The medics said he was dead instantly. He didn't feel a thing." Natsumi gave the explanation.
The Chief rubbed his face, attempting to maintain his composure. "All right, thank you for the update. And I trust that that is the only bad news you have to bring about the rest of my officers?"
"Yes, sir. Everyone else seems to be fine and uninjured."
"Very well, Kobayakawa." He glanced down. "There is one thing else I'd like you two to do for me."
"Yes, sir?"
"Just make sure that you two make it out of this thing alive. I don't think I could bear to see either of you go down. You know, you two cause me more trouble than anyone else I have ever served with."
Miyuki and Natsumi both scowled at that part.
Frowning, he continued. "Hey, don't take that the wrong way."
"Oh, really, how could I, sir?" Miyuki said, narrowing her eyes
"I mean that because you do, I have a special attachment for the both of you. When this is all over and everything returns to normal, well, it wouldn't be normal without the two of you. You cause me trouble, but you two are some of the best officers I've ever met."
"Aw, thanks Chief." Natsumi beamed and winked at her commanding officer. "That's so sweet."
The Chief smiled, adding wryly, "Right now, though, I need you two to go down to the cafeteria and get me some food. I'm starving. I haven't eaten in forever." He laughed.
"Sure. Butter us up before sending us on the menial job." Miyuki shook her head and smirked. "Why us? You just said we cause you more trouble. Aren't you afraid we'll bring you back something terrible?"
"Hey, you're the only ones from Traffic around. I can't really send any other officers and certainly not an American down to get me something to eat." Shrugging, he added, "Besides, after today, not much could taste very bad. Stuff like this makes you put everything into perspective, even food you used to hate. Like peas for example. I'd settle for peas. And I hate peas." The Chief continued to laugh lightly as the two officers turned around and made their way to an inner hallway and down an enclosed stairwell.
"I say we test this theory out. Let's get him all the peas we can find." Natsumi snickered as they continued down the stairs.
Miyuki replied, "How are we going to cook them? They cut the gas lines, remember?" She thought a bit more, then added, "Well, actually, the microwaves might still work."
Colonel Nakatani turned to Lieutenant Tanaka. "The radio, Lieutenant." Taking the receiver from his aid's hand, the Japanese officer thumbed the talk-button on and spoke. "All JSDF forces, attack. Smash those walls. Kill anything that gets in your way. I want that building by dawn!"
The Colonel received acknowledgements from all of his battalion commanders and they did likewise with their company commanders, and the process repeated down to the squad level. Coordinating with the terrorist forces, the JSDF troops would now make their biggest attack so far on Bokuto Station. It would involve tanks, APCs, technicals, and waves of troops. Virtually everything that wasn't committed to either holding the bridges or attacking Delta Five-One's position was involved in the attack. They would storm the building and take the remaining set of plans, and then they would have the final piece of code to unlock all the plans. The terrorists would have what they want, and soon after Nakatani would have his revenge.
"This had better work." Nakatani sat down and waited for the first news to come back from the advancing units.
Kachou lit up a cigarette and returned the lighter to his pocket. 'Okay, so maybe I still wouldn't go for peas. I wonder what food is left down there?' He had only taken a few drags before an Army Private down the hall yelled that he saw a technical. That soldier made the mistake of standing up slightly to point the vehicle out. Instantly, an enemy sniper's round tore into his forehead, killing the soldier.
"Return fire!" yelled Army 2nd Lieutenant Steve Vrabel of the 25th Infantry Division. "Enemies, moving in from the two o'clock! More coming from the 11 o'clock! Take out their RPGs first!"
Kachou threw the cigarette up and out the window before grabbing his AK. He flicked off the safety and began searching for a target. He saw a group of machine guns firing from a third-story string of windows across the field and trees from the station. Popping off several single shots, Kachou wondered how many more attacks would come before the station was relieved by the Americans gearing up outside the ward. 'This building is going to crumble if it takes anymore RPGs,' he thought sarcastically.
An intense firefight erupted all around the station. The enemy had quietly slipped in close to the station, using buildings as cover, even destroying walls between buildings so they wouldn't have to expose themselves on the streets. Hundreds of assault rifles, machine guns, pistols, rockets, and grenade launchers began to chew away at the station and its defenders. The volume of fire coming back from the station, even with all the officers, Marines, and Army personnel, was no match for what they were receiving in the largest attack.
Down along the service road, Marine First Lieutenant Tray Phelps was barking orders as his mortar team while listening to aiming corrections coming in over the radio. "Tubes one and two, up 10, left 5! Tubes three and four, down 5, left 20! Tubes five and six, up 10, right 10!" He continued listening. "All hits good! Fire for effect! Ten salvos H-E! Tubes seven and eight, load illum' [illumination] rounds, charge four [highest level of propellant]!"
Coordinating with the Army mortar teams, Phelps tried to keep his mortars firing only in a specific zone and not overlapping into an Army zone, thus wasting fire that was better suited elsewhere along the line.
"Keep 'em going, keep 'em going!" The Marines cycled their mortars are fast as they could. The tubes were beginning to grow warmer and warmer. Soon the mortar tubes would be too hot to fire out of fear that the heat would cook off a round in the tube. More and more 81-mm rounds jumped out of the tubes and arced high before curving over and hurtling down at their targets.
Phelps continued bouncing in and out of the four groups of mortars he commanded, followed closely by his RTO [radio/telephone operator]. "Tubes five and six, redirect fire up 5, left 10!" Noticing that the tubes were running low on ammunition, he raced back and forth between the truck they had arrived on and the tubes, delivering three or four rounds at a time.
Even as the Marines continued to rain down as much fire as they possibly could on the enemy, they could not even slow down the attack. Even in conjunction with a renewed air attack from Air Force fighter- bombers, Army and Marine gunships, and Navy artillery, the mortars could not stop the attack. As Phelps listened for the new aiming corrections, he couldn't have known what was about to happen to him and the rest of the mortar platoon of Alfa Company.
About a kilometer from the station, Keiji Hatana sat in the driver's seat of a technical. His brother had recruited him into the Japanese Martyrs Brigade. He hadn't had any particular reason for joining. Keiji just had romanticized the thought of an outlaw group doing battle with an established evil, like the Americans, he had thought. Now he realized that there was nothing to romanticize about battle. He was actually about to do something that would most likely get him killed.
"Keiji, you have to do this. They will probably shoot at you, but you have to stay focused. The entire mission depends on you." His cell commander patted him on the shoulder. "Good luck, my friend."
"Yes, sir." And with that, Keiji stepped on the gas pedal and sped off. He had the headlights out and had taped over all the dashboard lights. Using the light coming from the firefight ahead and the illumination rounds being launched by the American mortar teams, he flew headlong towards the station. The entire bed of the truck was laden with explosives attached to a simple timed fuse. He had a minute to reach the station from the time the wheels started moving. With ten seconds left, he prepared to jump. Grabbing his rifle and making sure the wheel was as straight as possible, he dove from the open door of the technical. He hit the ground hard, but the extra few coats he had worn took a good portion of the blow. He had hardly felt much, because all he was listening for was the explosion. And then it went off.
The pickup plowed right through the wall of the station flipped to one side as it got hung up on the debris. After only a second, the fuse burned down to nothing and detonated the entire bed of explosives. The explosion completely obliterated the wall, sending chunks of concrete the size of Natsumi's Moto-compo at the station. Around the station, more explosive-laden technicals hit the wall, collapsing it. From all the buildings the enemy occupied, terrorists and JSDF personnel poured out and began rushing the station. The series of explosions had almost completely stopped fire from the station after men were thrown to the ground or hit by flying debris.
The debris from Keiji's technical had hit the Marine mortars hard. All the crew members from tubes one-through-four had been killed or knocked unconscious, since the technical had broken through the wall only about 25 meters from their position. First Lieutenant Tray Phelps slowly pushed himself off the ground. Next to him, his RTO rubbed his bloody forehead and face and moaned loudly. Phelps felt around for his rifle and picked it up. He couldn't hear anything, not even his RTO screaming in his ear that they he had been hit. The explosion had deafened him. But he was able to feel the rumble of the ground as the rushing waves of enemies came closer.
The entire wall that had once shielded his mortar team was gone. It had collapsed from the explosion. As Phelps looked up, he could see enemies running from the buildings and towards the station. He brought up his M4A1, flicked it over to full automatic and began firing. Anything that moved he knew was an enemy. Rounds from the enemy weapons began to pelt the debris he was leaning heavily against while he fired. The remaining members of his mortar platoon tried mightily to bring up their weapons and return fire, but they could not do much. Just before the Marines were completely overrun, Phelps grabbed the radio handset. "This is Alpha Four- Six, we're being overrun! They've breached the perimeter!" And that was the last thing Tray Phelps ever said as terrorist smashed him in the face with a rifle and then executed the Marine officer with a burst of shots to the heart.
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