The First Contact War
Chapter 12 Battle For Jima
2622 May 5th, Earth Standard Calendar, Commander Luke Sparrow, aboard the Bengal class carrier Amestris over the Planet Ki, about to assault the separatist island stronghold.
Commander Luke Sparrow felt like he was in heaven rather than in the mess hall of the Bengal class carrier ship, OAGS Amestris. He was going see his action today, not stuck on a ship with nothing to do. He was attached to the 4th Marine Division that was supposed to go assault an island called Jima within two hours. The General said the mission, dubbed Operation Detachment was designed to provide the Navy with a base to launch strikes at nearby Separatist systems like Ryloth which had just fallen to the Separatists. He and all the others knew that the Sepi's were fanatical fighters. They proved this theory on the worlds of Christophsis, Mimban, the Droid listening station, and the Callas system. For now though he would enjoy the luxurious breakfast of bacon, eggs, toast, and cereal and think about the battle later. Throughout Luke's breakfast he could hear the thumps and blasts of the Navy's 20-hour non-stop orbital bombardment of the island. At exactly 8:40 AM the intercom blared to life.
"Attention, all soldiers to the launch bay, final loading in progress" In an almost robot manner, all the men stood up and walked to their quarters. Luke quickly did up his jacket, laced up his combat boots, put on his helmet, and sheathed his combat knife, the Kians (the native population) were renowned for their incredible skill in hand to hand combat, they were a species of humans whose emperor had aligned them with the Separatists. Luke had been trained in martial arts to counter this. He quietly joined the line waiting to enter the launch bay. As they entered, the NCO at the entrance handed each of them an AC-160 assault rifle as well as three magazines of ammo. Luke quickly unsheathed his knife and attached it to the barrel of his rifle. Another NCO handed him a few grenades, he already had his sidearm. Other men were being given AC-30 Sub-Machine guns, AC-4 machine guns. Luke then collected his exosuit from itslocker and began the process of activating it. Slowly he made his way to the orbital assault drop pods. Once ten men were in side, the pod launched itself away from the mothership. They passed by the OAGS New York, its big guns blazing as it unleashed another salvo with a deafening roar.
"They keep that up, there won't be an island left to walk on" remarked one private.
"That's just fine with me" chimed in another.
"Yeah, no way anyone's still alive on that joint" said a third.
"I wouldn't count on that if I was you" snapped the Sargent.
"Any of you new guys feel like throwing up. Word of advice, do it now" That advice resounded across the pod and sounds of vomiting were heard from a marine who probably wasn't used to the experience of falling through atmosphere yet, leaving a puddle of breakfast on the floor. The Sargent, who was near the door of the pod turned to face his men. "Men, this will be no milk-run. The Kians have fought hard for every piece of ground in this war, but Jima is different. This isn't like the mainland or the moon. This is Kian holy ground where once their god walked on allegedly, with roughly 18 000 Imperial troops on it. They will not go quietly gentlemen. So keep your heads down, don't waste ammo, and for God's sake watch for booby traps"
The pod suddenly shook as it broke through the atmosphere and then shook again as it took some enemy fire.
"Shit we're hit" the Sargent said as he entered commands for a trajectory change.
"Brace yourselves we're crash landing!" The pod hit the ground and would have thrown everyone around like ragdolls if not for the harness's keeping them from doing so. The pod came to a slow halt on the beach as the marines inside slowly got up.
"Crash landing is still a landing" He muttered as another marine used his exoskeleton to kick the door off. The ramp fell with a thud a few feet away, and the men charged out onto the sulphur beach.
Luke couldn't believe it; they were taking the beaches standing up. They had already secured positions behind a natural sea wall and a forward advance group was moving cautiously inland. The Kians might be all dead he thought hopefully.
Luke watched as the second line hopped over the sea wall and began to advance up the beach. Behind him, the "alligator" T-600 titan tank, which had been equipped with a flame thrower for bunker busting, rolled onto the black beach while a Warbird began to unload ammo and additional troops. Nearly 500 Marines had landed so far.
The advance force of Americans was about to reach the first line of Kian fortifications and had no idea they were even there. Suddenly Luke heard the chatter of over a dozen machine guns as the entire beach lit up with Kian fire. The first wave of men was almost entirely cut to pieces by the accurate fire. Their lasers tore into the Marines who dropped like flies, the sheer weight of fire nullifying the new Beskar armour. Suddenly the ground directly in front of Luke erupted into a cloud of ash and dirt. He scanned the cliffside and saw to his horror that the Kians had placed their tanks and artillery into well-fortified positions that were almost impregnable to anything but a direct hit. The Marines primary objective was to secure Mt. Suribachi, which dominated the entire island. The Kian spotters were directing their artillery fire from there.
"Men move up!" yelled the Sargent. On cue all the men scaled the sea wall and charged to where the survivors were taking cover from the constant shelling. Luke dived into a crater made by a Kian artillery round with about 8 other Marines in it. It was only 50 metres from one of the pillboxes.
"They've stopped shooting. I'll move up, Sparrow, you're in charge if I don't return" said the Sargent. He climbed out of the crater and ran for the position.
The Sarg made it about halfway before the fire renewed. The rounds tore through him and he staggered back and fell into the crater. Luke the look of horror on the man's face. Slowly he took the soldier's dog tag and put it in his pocket. He stayed in the crater for another half an hour before rumbling caught his attention.
"What is that?" asked another man.
"I have no idea" replied Luke. Suddenly a large shadow passed beside the men in the crater as an 'Alligator' T-600 tank rolled by.
"It's a friendly, it's a friendly, thank you Jesus" cheered one of the Marines. The tank fired ahead and continued on. The Kian fired abruptly stopped. Luke knew he had no time to waste; he crawled over to a marine armed with a flamethrower. "Name soldier?" he demanded.
"Private Clark Barnes reporting for duty, sir!" he answered.
"Barnes, get up there and burn out those bastards for us" Luke ordered.
"Right away, sir" Barnes replied and he hopped over the top. A shot whizzed right past the marine's left ear. Barnes hit the side of the bunker and thanked God that he was still alive. He then poked the flamethrower through the hole and fired. Luke had moved up with the rest of his men and could now hear a group of Kians talking below him. "This is for the Sarg you butchers" he said as he opened his pack, produced a grenade, pulled the pin, and lobbed it down the open air vent. The grenade detonated with a boom. Luke could barely see anything; the smoke from the burning bunkers had reduced visibility to what was in front of him. He could however, clearly see the Kian running with his friend on his back. He took aim with his Ac-160 and fired. The clip ejected out of the rifle.
"Damn" swore Mike. The Kian made it safely into the cave. I'll get that bugger later he told himself. He never knew how close that soldier would bring him to death.
2200 Hours, Jima
Luke tirelessly patrolled his tent area. It was around midnight and it had been raining nonstop since his shift started at 2200 Hours. His poncho kept his clothes dry but drops of rain dripped from the brim of his helmet. He almost lost his grip on his rifle due to its increased wetness. He was dead tired, after being pinned down on the beaches and taking heavy casualties they had broken out. A group of 760 Marines made a near-suicidal charge on the Kian positions and had taken heavy casualties. They punched through the Kian lines and completely isolated the garrison at Mt. Suribachi from the rest of the Kian forces on the island. Now Luke was straining his eyes in the dark to look for any signs of a what he would call A Kian suicide attack. That was a favourite Kian strategy; they would attack during the night and the Marines would be taken off guard and slaughtered. They had been specifically told to watch for enemy infiltrators but there had been none the entire evening. Another marine walked out of the dry tent and came up to Luke.
"I'm here to relieve you sir" he said.
"Have fun private" Luke told him before trudging slowly back to the tent. The lights were still on as Luke took off his poncho and helmet. He placed then in his personal trunk and leaned his rifle against it. He proceeded to collapse on his cot.
"Hey Commander, you up to join our game of Black Jack?" asked Barnes.
"Well I've just gotten off a 2 hour watch shift in the rain. I haven't slept since we were on the Amestris" he replied drowsily.
"Okay, suit yourself. Your loss when you wake up tomorrow and find that I won 50 bucks" he laughed.
"Sure, have fun with that" Luke said jokingly.
Clark turned his attention back to the game. "So I get down to the sickbay for my vaccination and there are these two nurses standing there…" Luke sighed and rolled his eyes. He just waited for sleeps wonderful embrace.
Day 2
Luke was woken up the next morning by Clark. As he stood up he heard rumbling as a column of tanks and infantry passed by on the road to the front.
"What's going on?" he asked drowsily.
"I have no idea, the colonel is going to brief us at the front," he replied and the two joined the rest of the division on their way to the front. The walk wasn't long but it was horrid, all the remnants of the gruesome battle the day before still littered the ground. Luke passed by a T-600, only the charred chassis remained. Bodies were scattered all across the sulfuric terrain, some burned and others shot to pieces. The stench of death hung over the men. Some began to puke as the grotesque horror show continued. They passed a Kian anti-tank position and found the gun with its cannon melted and useless. Soon Luke could hear the sounds of battle as the Marines and Kians fought small skirmishes. The troops were probing for a weak spot in the Kian defences. Luke and the rest of the men in his company entered the trench single file and walked briskly to their positions while the tanks moved into a wedge formation. The colonel was waiting in the trench for them and as they arrived the briefed them.
"Men, our job today is to wrest control of this hill from Kians control. We'll steam roll this hill till hell wouldn't have it" he said. "I expect all of you to do your duty." As he walked away over 100 Havoc Mobile artillery aircraft opened up on the first line of Kian defences. All that could be heard was the roar of the OAG artillery as the Marines began their advance. A Kian 75mm field gun fired point blank into the lead tank. It erupted into flames and flying shrapnel.
"Damn it all to hell!" swore Luke as the Kian gun obliterated the tank nicknamed Detroit Iron. He and Clark crawled towards a radioman who was taking cover behind a group of tall rocks.
"Hey you…" he called out and grasped the soldier's left sleeve. The man fell on his side and Luke saw a large gaping hole in the middle of his chest. Luke took the soldiers dog tags and picked up the radio.
"Sword six…" he began before noticing several scorch marks from laser fire in the device, rendering it practically useless. Barnes was firing controlled bursts from his AC-130 from behind the relative safety of the rocks.
"We need to silence that field gun and those bunkers so we can advance," said Barnes, stating the obvious.
Luke nodded in subtle agreement and began to formulate a plan. They needed to take this hill today so it could provide a base of fire for the naval guns and carrier-based air strikes. He remembered a map they had recovered from one of the Kian pillboxes on the beach. It had outlined the fact that Jima was virtually a honeycomb of tunnels, bunkers, and command posts. Maybe Mt. Suribachi is the same thought Luke.
"Barnes, be prepared to run," said Luke as he opened his pack and cooked a smoke grenade.
"Fire in the hole!" he yelled and tossed it at the fortification. As the smoke blanketed the area Barnes and Luke leapt out from behind the rocks and sprinted for the bunker. Shots whizzed past as Luke, Barnes and two other marines ran towards the bunker, using their boost to clear the last few metres. Luke stood right beside the bunker window. He pointed his AC-160 in and fired off his clip blindly. As the clip flew out, he inserted a new one and carefully peered into the bunker. To his surprise he found nothing there except and abandoned machine gun and empty ammo boxes. Luke, Barnes, and two other Marines silently hopped into the empty bunker.
"We need to silence that gun" Clark reiterated as the as the group proceeded up a flight of stairs that were carved into the cave floor. Their trek up came to an abrupt halt as the turned a corner and ran into a steel door. Luke walked up and banged his fist on it.
"Damn those Kians, they've barricaded themselves on the upper levels," he said, frustrated.
"Shouldn't we ask them to surrender sir?" asked one, extremely green recruit.
"The Kians never surrender. I'll ask them when I've blown them to hell. Get the C17 up here now!" he ordered.
"Ourah! Yes sir" answered one of the Marines who then left to fetch the charges.
Luke secured the satchel charges to the door and wired them to detonate in 15 seconds. All the Marines ran back down the stairs and braced themselves for the explosion. The door was blown off its hinges and crushed a Kian against the cave wall. Once the smoke cleared Luke and his squad silently moved down the hall. As the recruit turned the corner a shot rang out. Luke could see the laser hit the man in the neck where the armour didn't protect them. He instantly collapsed to the floor dead.
"Barnes, cut those bastards down to size!" ordered Luke, forcibly.
"We'll do sir!" he replied, enthusiastically and fired down the winding corridor. Two Kian soldiers were wasted by the OAG with the light machine gun.
"The Kians are running scared boys!" laughed Barnes as the Imperial regulars scurried down the tunnel.
Luke and his men cautiously moved down the hall wary for booby traps. As Luke rounded the corner he grinned with anticipation, he could see the field gun 3 rooms down. Each room including the one with the cannon itself was filled to the brim with ammo ranging from boxes of machine gun ammo to 75mm rounds to 5 full racks of 40 armed torpedoes. He silently placed 4 detpacks, one on the torpedoes, two on crates of artillery shells, and the last on a crate of 120mm shore gun rounds. He set each fuse to go off simultaneously after 2 minutes.
"We need to go, this place is going to get real ugly, real fast" he told the others. They stopped to pick up the dead body of the recruit and exited through the bunker window. They then took cover behind the tall rocks.
Luke felt the ground shake and heard a roar so loud that it sounded like the earth itself was splitting open. The explosions reached a fiery crescendo as the ammunition in the other rooms detonated and set off secondary explosions. Eventually, the explosions subsided and all that could be heard was the tired cheering of the surviving Marines. Luke relaxed beside Barnes. They still had three more defensive rings to go before they reached the summit but they had won an enormous victory.
Day 3
"Shit, not again" muttered Barnes to Luke. Luke shook his head in dismay. After their initial success the attack had bogged down and after three days of hard, costly fighting they only destroyed two of the four defensive lines. All of the men had been fighting for three days with little to no sleep and most were at the end of their ropes. Luke and Barnes dove from cover to cover, avoiding the Kians that seemed to be coming from every direction. As they neared the third line of bunkers, they came across a Marine sitting in one of the many craters beside a body.
"Marine, status?" requested Luke. The man did not answer them.
"Answer the god damn question soldier!" ordered Barnes and he grabbed the man's jacket. The marine turned to face them. Luke gasped, he was only about 18 years old and his eyes were filled with tears.
"This is all insane! You are all crazy!" he cried. "Leave me alone, I want it all to stop!" he yelled. Before Luke could react the boy drew out his sidearm and shot himself in the left temple. The blood pooled his head when he fell.
"Poor bastard," commented Clark. He pulled off the kid's dog tag and put it in a small bag with the rest of them. Luke and Clark moved towards a small, dry creek bed where a large group of about 40 marines were taking cover.
"Sir we found a weak spot" one of them said. "Seems the Kians ran out of concrete at this section, they only have sandbags and one machine gun here. From there you have a straight shot at the summit" he assessed.
"Excellent" exclaimed Luke. This is the breakthrough that we need to end this. "Does anyone have any rifle-grenades?" he asked.
"I do sir" came a response and a soldier crawled over to him. He held out one grenade with the special attachment. "That is my last one sir, make it count," he said.
Like nodded and he quickly attached the grenade to the barrel of his rifle. He aimed at the machine gun and pulled the trigger. The grenade sailed through the air and landed right on the Kian gun emplacement. The explosive detonated and blew the gun and its two users to pieces. Sandbags began raining down from the sky as the marines got up and charged through the gaping hole.
Luke and rest of the marines had made it to the summit and were now battling the defenders who were determined to thwart the Marines attempts at seizing the summit. Luke advanced slowly after nailing one Kian in the head with a round from his AC-160. He could see another regular attempting to shoot Clark in the back. Mike was a faster shooter and put him down before he could even move his finger.
"Thanks" said Clark as he turned to see his would be killer fall the ground.
"Sparrow look out!" yelled Clark and pointed behind Luke. He turned around just in time to see a shiny, curved metal object make contact with the left side of his chin. The Kian officer had drawn out his sword and slashed a deep wound in Luke's face from his lower chin to just below his nose. Luke staggered back and pulled the trigger. At point blank range, the plasma tore the officer's chest open and he fell to the ground as nothing more than a bloody mess. Luke soon felt a pain so intense he blacked out for a fraction of a second.
"Medic!" called out Clark as he rushed to Luke's side. He was starting to feel weak because of the blood loss but everything was strangely quiet. A Corpsman ran up and placed a bandage on Luke's lower face to stop the bleeding.
"Think that's it," said one marine.
"Clear!" came the voice of another. The sergeant stepped up onto a mass of twisted steel pipes.
"Where's old glory? Get her up here!" he ordered.
Another marine ran up to the pipes carrying a wooden pole and a neatly folded up OAG flag, the OAG flag consisted of a dark blue background with an image of Earth at the centre, surrounding Earth were stars, one for each planet. He quickly unfolded the flag and attached it to the pole. Finally, with the help of five other marines raised the flag atop the pile of rubble of Mount Suribachi. A Marine war artist snapped a picture of them doing this, it would become a defining and famous picture in the Galactic Civil War.
Day 5
Luke sat by himself inside the dirty trench. He stroked his hand over the rough scar that had been permanently engraved in the side of his face from the officer's blade. When he looked up he saw all the beautiful stars in the sky and wondered if he would ever see his hometown in England again or if he would die on this miserable, foul-smelling rock. The silence was periodically shattered by the spasmodic chatter of automatic weapons and the loud bangs of rifles.
"Hey, what are you doing? "asked Clark as he walked up and seated himself down to Luke's right.
"Not much, just wondering if I'll ever get back home to see England again," he sighed.
"Yeah, I know how you feel," said Clark.
"So," he said in a surprisingly cheerful and upbeat voice. "Is there a special woman waiting for you to get home, she'd like a medal laden hero like you," he said, mockingly.
"No, nothing like that, no," replied Luke, hurriedly.
Clark laughed heartily then became very quiet as if he were contemplating some deep thoughts.
"What about you?" asked Luke.
"What about me?" responded Clark.
"Do you have someone waiting for you?" Luke restated.
"Yeah I do," he replied. He then pulled a picture out of his pocket and proceeded to show it to Luke.
Luke couldn't see the picture clearly so he fumbled with a box of matches and finally lit one to have a look. The woman staring back at him was absolutely stunning. She had a nice full face, beautiful, sparkling eyes, and long blonde hair from what Mike could tell from the picture.
"Wow, it's been a long time since I've seen a face like that. She's real pretty Clark," he commented.
"Thanks, we're supposed to get married when I return. I get letters from her every day," he said as the pocketed the picture.
"Eyes up ladies," came a quiet but forceful whisper from the new company commander. All the soldiers looked up to see what the commander wanted.
"Now, we have new orders from God. They specifically instruct us to silently approach these defences while the Kians are asleep. Then we burn and blast those bastards off the face of the Earth itself. Do you understand me?" he bellowed quietly.
His question was met with nods and the occasional, silent "yes sir". Soon all the men were ready to storm the hill. This is crazy, we're all going to die thought Luke as the men scrambled up the trench wall and dashed up the hill. Amazingly not a single shot was fired and the troops entered the Kian lines completely undetected. Luke and Clark rounded a corner and saw a Kian soldier standing there with his back to them.
"I've got this one" whispered Luke. Clark nodded and moved back. Luke detached his bayonet and laid his rifle down. Silently and methodically he snuck up behind the soldier, wrapped his arm around the man's neck and finished him with the knife. He then cleaned off his bayonet on the dead man's pant leg, reattached the bayonet and moved on with Clark. Shortly they found another soldier completely unaware of their presence.
"This one's mine," said Clark. He moved up then broke into a run.
"Hey Kian!" he said. The soldier turned just in time for the butt end of Clark's rifle to connect with his jaw and shatter it with a sickening crunch. The regular slumped to the floor. As Clark and Luke reached another bend in the passage, they also heard talking. Luke stuck his head around the corner to see.
"It's a Kian command post. I count six, one officer, two radio operators, and three soldiers," he told Clark.
"Let's take them out" suggested Clark. Luke nodded and the two took up firing positions. Luke pulled the trigger and dropped a soldier instantly. Clark opened up seconds later and soon all the Kians were dead. As they walked into the room Luke immediately ran over to the wall. On it was a Kian flag, he quickly unpinned and folded it and placed it in his empty bag that once held spare field dressings.
"Hey Commander, we got a live one," called Clark. Luke walked over and saw Clark standing over the officer who was writhing in pain on the ground.
"Try to help him, we will spare his life" ordered Luke. As Clark turned around, Luke heard an ominous click. He turned around and saw the Kian soldier prime a grenade in his hand.
"Clark, look out!" he yelled as the officer banged the grenade on the side of his helmet to speed up the timer.
"Charge!" yelled the officer as Clark turned. The grenade went off in his hand, killing both the officer and Clark instantly.
Day 6 Kian POV
Fukuda bolted upright in his cot when he heard the gunfire coming from just down the hall. As he slowly and painfully got up he heard an explosion, he instantly knew what it was.
One of our men has died gloriously for the Emperor he thought to himself. Before he could decide what to do next he heard footsteps approaching him. He ducked to cover just as the figure came into view. Fukuda began to sweat profusely as the footsteps became louder and almost screamed when he was grabbed from behind and pulled violently upwards. Before he could scream, a hand covered his mouth.
"Don't scream, then they'll know we're here and I don't want to get in another firefight" Fukuda relaxed as Satou relinquished his grip and let him go.
"What happened?" asked Fukuda.
"Some morons who were supposed to be on watch instead took naps and the OAG snuck in", answered Satou in a disgusted manner.
"So, now what do we do now?" inquired Fukuda.
"We need to leave, get to the airfield and hold there until relieved", he replied.
"At least the exit tunnel is in the field hospital so we don't have to fight our way out" pointed out Fukuda.
"Before we go take your rifle, I've got lots of spare ammunition for it" Satou said and handed Fukuda some energy cells for his blaster. Fukuda picked up his blaster and loaded one of the fresh clips in and pushed the bolt back into place. Suddenly, a group of arines walked in on them and took aim.
Satou and Fukuda fired off two rounds then bolted down the hall. Fukuda reloaded and new round into the chamber of the rifle as he ran. His leg wound burned with such intense pain that Fukuda felt like collapsing but if he did he knew he was a goner.
Slippery little bastards thought Luke as he ran down the hall, flanked by three other marines, chasing the two Kians down. One was slower than the other; Luke realized that one of them had been injured and that his injury was limiting his movement. He quickly took aim with his rifle and fired and the limping Kian.
Fukuda felt another surge of pain as one of the marines bullets grazed the side of his shoulder, violently tearing away the flesh that covered his shoulder muscle. He staggered again as the new pain merged with his leg pain. His legs felt like dead weights and he fell to the floor, overcome with pain. He felt a sharp tug on his bloodstained left shoulder; he turned his head to see Satou pulling him along down the tunnel.
"Satou, leave me, go on," pleaded Fukuda.
"No, a good soldier never leaves a man behind," argued Satou as he dragged his cargo across the floor. Satou could see that the marines were catching up. Without warning, Fukuda was hoisted up onto Satou's shoulders so they could move faster.
"These Kians are smart as well as fast" commented one marine as the faster Kian lifted the other onto his shoulders and continued running. Luke was down to the second last round in his last clip, he needed to make this shot count. He carefully aimed at the Kian carrying the other one he pulled back the trigger and the shot exploded out of the barrel of the weapon.
Fukuda saw the lead marine fire his shot. A second later Fukuda heard a ripping and felt Satou slow down. Moments later, Fukuda fell to the cold, rocky floor. He turned his head to see Satou staring at him with a blank expression on his face and a steady stream of blood pouring out of his mouth. With a great effort Fukuda turned to face the four Marines and at the head was Satou's killer.
"Do any of you speak Ki?" asked Luke to the others.
"I do sir" piped up a young recruit.
"Talk to him" ordered Luke.
"Yes sir" replied the boy and gave Luke a salute. Slowly and cautiously, he approached the quaking Kian soldier.
Fukuda eyes were wide with fear as one of the Marines came near him. They're going to kill me he thought, fearfully.
"What is your name" asked the marine in perfect Ki.
Fukuda eyes widened, why weren't they trying to kill him.
"My name is Yoshi Fukuda" he told the soldier.
"Where are you from" the man asked him.
"Sapporo, and you?" he responded.
"My name is Jerry Flint, I'm from New Buffalo, Jericho V" he answered in a friendly manner.
The boy stood up and opened his pocket; he took out a small pack of cigarettes. Slowly, he handed one to Fukuda. Fukuda slowly took it as the soldier produced a lighter. The cigarette tasted much better than any of the ones he had had.
"What should we do sir" asked the boy to Luke.
"I think we should kill this Kian before he kills us" replied Luke and aimed his rifle at Fukuda. Fukuda tried to crawl away before Jerry got in the way.
"No, Commander let him go. He can't harm us now" pleaded Jerry.
"Fine let him go" agreed Luke and turned with the other marines and left.
"You're free to go" said Jerry to Fukuda.
Fukuda couldn't believe it, they were letting him go.
"Thank you, thank you" he said repeatedly to Jerry.
"That's all right. Wait here" he said as he turned and ran back. He soon returned with a pair of crutches form the field hospital. As Jerry left Fukuda hobbled down the tunnel.
Day 13
Luke sat in his tent shivering. Luke thought as he recollected that fateful day when they first set foot on the island. He looked around outside and realized that he did not recognize a single face. There was no one else here who had landed on the first day of the invasion. He opened his trunk and pulled out the now gleaming blade that the officer had used to slash Luke's face on the summit of Mt. Suribachi. He placed the sword down and unfolded the Kian flag that he had looted from the Kian command post on the Motoyama Plateau just moments before Clark died. He slowly put them away and silently closed the trunk.
Fukuda placed the cherry blossom under his helmet as his column advanced forward making virtually no sound at all. As they reached the rally point the other remaining regiments stood at attention and waited for their commanding officer. Shortly after General Kuribayashi marched to the head of the group and stood on a rock.
"Gentlemen, tonight we will go into battle one final time. We have lost the battle but we will make such an end so we will be remembered and honored by our ancestors and the Emperor himself," he told the men. He methodically drew out his katana and began to march forward. The entire 300-man force followed behind knowing that they were all that remained of the original garrison of 21,000. They could all see the OAG lines at the far end of the plain. Fukuda attached his bayonet to his rifle, pocketed an extra combat knife and loaded his last energy cell into the blaster rifle. They silently marched out of the bushes and crept ever closer to the sandbags and machine guns that comprised the OAG defensive line. Fukuda silently removed the picture from under his helmet and kissed it before placing it back under his helmet. He adrenaline began pumping through his veins as the word was given.
"Charge!"
Shit, thought Luke as he raced out of the tent and manned a AC-4 machine gun. He rotated the gun a full 180 degrees both ways while keeping a firm grasp on the trigger. The constant recoil constantly jabbed at his arm as he gunned down at least ten or fifteen Kian soldiers.
Fukuda pulled back the bolt as he dropped a fourth Marine. Another seemed to be coming closer to him and Fukuda fired again. The man dropped to the ground and began to crawl away. Fukuda walked over and turned the man over; it was Jerry, the American who had saved him in the tunnel. Fukuda could see the blood streaming from his mouth and decided to end his life with a quick thrust with the bayonet on the end of his blaster rifle. As he looked up at the soldier manning the machine gun he saw another familiar face. It was the marine who had killed Satou and had wanted to kill him. Fukuda's rage took over as he charged the position to kill the man named Sparrow.
Luke turned his head just in time to be hit in the face with the butt end of the Kian's rifle. He fell to the ground hard and grabbed his jaw in agony. The Kian aimed his rifle at him and prepared to fire, Luke closed his eyes but instead of the bang all that was heard was an ominous click.
Damn, I'm out, realized Fukuda as he pulled the trigger and the bolt slammed into the empty chamber of the rifle. No matter, I can still use it as a spear, he thought and he levelled the bayonet with Luke's midsection.
Luke watched as the Kian aimed his bayonet at him and charged. As he approached Luke reached out and grabbed the barrel of the rifle and sent Fukuda and the rifle tumbling to the ground in a sprawl. Fukuda regained his balance and picked up the rifle, this time Luke attacked and grabbed both ends of the rifle. Fukuda grabbed on as well and soon they were competing in a tug of war with the rifle. Luke was slowly forcing Fukuda downwards and unexpectedly let go of the rifle to deliver a hard right punch to Fukuda's face. Fukuda staggered back and drew out the knife that was concealed in his pocket. He charged again at Luke and forced him up against the side of a small wooden command hut. Luke gripped Fukuda's right hand which held the knife and sunk it into the wall of the hut. He followed up by landing another blow to Fukuda's face but this time Fukuda responded in earnest and landed two solid blows to Luke's face and one to his chest. He proceeded to pick Luke up and throw him over his shoulder. As Luke struggled to get up Fukuda pulled the knife out of the wood and walked over to him. He picked up Luke and pinned him against the side of the hut. Luke felt pain so intense that he felt like blacking out as Fukuda plunged the knife into him and began dragging it slowly through his body. Mustering the last of his strength Luke kneed Fukuda the ribs twice and after the second blow heard a loud crack. Fukuda instantly dropped the knife and clutched his ribs. Luke followed up by elbowing Fukuda in the neck which dropped him to the ground instantly. Luke picked up the knife and sat on Fukuda's chest to exact his revenge. Before he could to do anything though Fukuda violently counterattacked by head butting Luke twice before throwing him off. Shortly after the positions were reversed and Fukuda was looking to make his deadly second incision. He planted his arm over Luke's neck and began to choke him. Luke looked around desperately for a way to get free and noticed the corpse of a marine near them. Luke recognized it as Jerry's his eyes wide in horror. He also noticed Jerry's pistol lying on the ground within reach. He grasped his hand around the grip and silently aimed it at Fukuda's chest.
Fukuda saw Luke smile and wondered what he was smiling about when he heard a loud bang. He looked down and saw the pistol aimed at his stomach and the mark that the plasma had left. He slowly fell onto his back as Luke got up. Fukuda raised his hand and gestured to Luke to come over. He stayed put so Fukuda opened his pocket and pulled out his letter to Aika as well as a picture and a flower and gestured to Luke to take them. The remaining Kians had all either died or surrendered and the Marines were back in control of the plain.
"Does anyone speak Kianese?" he asked to the incoming formation.
One solider ran over and came to see Fukuda.
"What is your name?" he asked Fukuda.
"Yoshi Fukuda," he replied.
"Sir his name is Yoshi Fukuda" relayed the private. Luke instantly recognized the name; he was the soldier they had let go in the Motoyama Plateau caves.
"What do you want us to do?" asked the private.
"I want you to take this letter and give it to my love and tell her that I died gloriously for the Emperor and that I gave my life for her" he said.
After hearing what he said Luke took the letter, the flower and the picture and as he looked back at Fukuda he saluted. Fukuda managed a weak salute as well as a smile before he closed his eyes and falling unconscious.
Luke gazed at the dying Kian with the trinkets he now had in his hand. Sighing to himself he walked over to the Kian and placed an arm around the Kians shoulder.
"You gonna stand there or are you going to help me?" He asked to the marine who quickly ran over and began to help Luke carry the Kian to the Field Hospital.
Day 14
"Hold still dammit, I can't stitch up that knife wound with you squirming like that," said the corpsman as he tended to the wounds Luke received during his fight against Fukuda.
"You are damn lucky that you didn't get gangrene from this wound with all the dirt and sand fleas around here," remarked the medic as he finished the last stitch.
Luke got up and walked out of the hospital tent and back into the sweltering heat provided by the midday sun. He walked to the new barracks that had been constructed by the airfield after the old Kian one had been destroyed in the tank charge. Luke heard a loud rumble as the men of the hour arrived. The first flight of giant Super Warbirds touched down on the runway of their newest airbase that was only three-and-a-half-hour jump to Ryloth. Their fighter escorts circled as the VTOLS landed one after another. Luke walked into the barracks and took his trunk which was packed and ready to go. He hoisted it to the truck that was waiting outside and climbed in the back.
"Well it looks like we're finally leaving," commented one of the other marines. They were finally leaving Jima behind; they were loading aboard transports that were to take them back to the Amestris for some well-deserved R and R. Luke rested his head back and looked at the picture that Fukuda had given him, the young woman with him in the picture was a cute little thing and Fukuda's last words echoed in Luke's ears.
"I want you to take this letter and give it to my love and tell her that I died gloriously for the Emperor and that I gave my life for her" those words resounded in Luke's head and he told himself that he would find her and fulfil Fukuda's wish. But that wasn't going to be the case, Luke and the fellow marine had been able to get Fukuda to the field hospital in time to get him stableized and moved to an orbiting Hospital Ship. Fukuda was currently in a coma but would make a full recovery.
"What's that?" asked one of the marines and pointed at the letter.
"It's nothing," replied Luke as he pocketed the letter.
Five years later…
The autumn rain drenched the streets of Sapporo as a civilian speeder pulled up to a small house in a quiet residential neighbourhood. Commander Luke Sparrow stepped out from under the dry canopy and walked to the door of the house. His knuckles rapped on the door as the rain soaked his trench coat and his officer's cap. The door opened slowly and a young woman around twenty-three stepped out.
"Can I help you?" she asked politely.
"Yes I am Commander Luke Sparrow. I'm with the Orion Arm Marines and I fought on Jima five years ago," he informed her. Her eyes widened as he said the word Jima.
"Please come in. Fukuda we have a special guest!" she said and ushered him into the small house. He sat down on a small couch as the woman went into the other room. A small boy of around five ran into the room chasing a cat that was screeching at the top of its lungs. As the woman returned she spoke to her son in Kianese and he left the room. She offered Luke some tea and sat down opposite to him.
"Sparrow, what are you doing here?" Fukuda asked immediately but in a friendly manner.
"I came to visit you of course" Luke, Fukuda and Aiko, Fukuda's wife talked and swapped war stories until it was late. They also introduced their son to Luke who was a ball of energy and would not stop asking questions. But still, Luke and Fukuda both remembered the hell that was Jima.
Codex Update - Bengal Class Carrier
The design of the Bengal was authorized by the UEG prior to 2619, to fulfil the need for a heavy space carrier. The assignment to build the Bengals was won by Dunois Corporation Space yards. The pilot vessel of the Bengal-class, UEGS Bengal, entered service in 2619. The first operational Flight IIA Bengal, OAGS Amestris, was commissioned in 2621. Following the launch of the Amestris the Bengal design was modified once again, reducing the overall length to 690 meters and the mass by several tonnes. The OAGS Kipling, launched in 2622, reflected these changes. All of the Bengal classification had a designator of "CVS" for Fleet Strike Carrier. The Bengal-class was a fast, heavily armoured and surprisingly well armed carrier with eighteen launch tubes, two small side-mounted bays and a single forward bay for launch and recovery of spacecraft. Its air wing of 150 fighters was not as large as the later Orion-class, but was well stocked with combat Starfighters of all types, and its launch tubes allow it to sortie all its fighters in twelve minutes. The craft was also capable of flying without escorts, being an all-purpose vessel. This made them ideal for long-term deep space strikes against the Separatists. The Bengal-class carried a crew of 750.
Physical Description
Bengal-class ships were roughly seven hundred meters long. The main hull resembled a thin rectangle, with irregular towers jutting up and down from its the midsection. Flat, stubby delta wings grew from the rear of the ship, and two small pods extended from below the vessel. Fighters were launched and recovered from a runway structure atop the bow. This runway opened directly into the hanger bay.
Specifications - Bengal Class Carrier
Length: 700 meters
Mass: 80,000 tons
1 Quantum shield core
8x Dual Plasma Turrets
20x Dual Plasma Batteries
2x Shock Cannons
70 Point Defence Plasma Batteries
750 Crew
150 Starfighter
1,500 Marines