(Excerpt from AAR debriefing for Operation Reclamation, audio recorded testimony of Martin Walker, Captain, U.S. Army, 1st Special Forces Operational Detachment–Delta, timestamp: 12/20/2012, 0112 hours local time)
"Was it a mistake? I guess you should ask the poor bastards that invaded Ginza, they started it. You saw the the JSDF 'Ginza Incident' AAR, the invaders got their asses handed to them, courtesy of the Damned 33rd. An' judging by what we saw on the other side, the 33rd wasn't through with the ass-kickings.
Was it a mistake for us to go back through the Gate? Well, that's a better question. The Damned 33rd went in with over 1,500 men, including six infantry companies, two mechanized companies, and two air assault wings, and enough ammo and supplies to keep them goin' for at least a year. So there's no reason to think that anyone could have posed a threat to the 33rd, or even our team, based off our intel. But, once we got to the other side of the Gate, if we had known...
*Here Walker takes a drag from a proffered cigarette and chuckles*
"Heh, if we knew what was waitin' for us on the other side, I would've C4'd the Gate an' sealed it off myself..."
"...We got this..."
Sergeant Major Souichirou Kuwahara didn't respond to Walker's quip, his eyes instead focusing on the road. Finally the old NCO spoke again in accented English.
"I sincerely hope it will be uneventful."
He took his eyes off the road, looking directly at Captain Martin Walker.
"It has been 6 months since your Colonel Konrad led his men into this Gate. After the 33rd disappeared into the Gate many, myself included expected them to come back after a week, or maybe a few weeks, with the heads of some crowned idiots festooned on the hoods of their military HUMVEEs. Doesn't it bother you that we heard nothing for so long?"
Walker said nothing, but stared back into the darkness, trying to parse out the mission parameters. What Kuwahara said was true, many at the Pentagon were wondering what happened that called for the 6 month radio silence. The Damned 33rd was one of the most highly decorated battalions in the United States Army, winning countless victories in Iraq and Afghanistan. Based off all the HUMINT reports from the 'Ginza Incident' the enemy combatants were still using swords and spears, with no range weapons to speak of. There was rumors of dragons flying in and out of the Gate as well at the time of the assault, but those were unsubstantiated. With superior firepower and a battle-hardened battalion there should be no reason why the Damned 33rd couldn't mop the floor with any medieval army, regardless of its size.
Walker's thoughts were interrupted when his radio crackled to life, it was Adams again.
"Sir, I gotta formally protest. My JDSF counterparts here are now singing some stupid-ass anime shit, something about Mei-Com..."
The Delta Force captain turned to Kuwahara, who shrugged apologetically.
"Lt. Itami and Sgt. Kurata are what we call otaku, grown men who engage in hobbies better suited for school boys, including harem animes and manga with magical girls..."
Walker chuckled and keyed the mic on his radio.
"Adams, consider it part of the cultural exchange. Why not sing along?"
He heard his second-in-command laugh through the radio's static.
"Jackass! I don't even speak Japanese that well. An' for the record I like my women in 3D, not 2D..."
Then Sgt. Lugo interrupted them.
"Guys, as enlightening as this cultural exchange is, we're approaching light ahead."
Walker keyed his mic.
"Roger that. Everyone get on the clock and get ready..."
Sergeant Major Kuwahara said something in Japanese on his radio, and his team responded in kind. The lead Toyota LAV, callsign Kome 1, slowed down as a light grew in the distance. Walker felt the chill before he could see it, and checked his M4 to make sure there was a round in the chamber and set his weapon's safety off. As Kuwahara slowed the vehicle down, Walker could make out trees silhouetted in the light ahead. As the LAV ground to a stop, still idling, Walker keyed his radio again.
"Adams, Lugo, on me."
He turned to the sergeant major.
"Sergeant, have your men fall in behind us."
Kuwahara nodded, then Walker opened the door and stepped out. His boots crunched on pavement, intel from the Japanese government showed the road inside the Gate was paved, and they weren't sure if it was paved by the Gate's inhabitants or if this was a bleed-over from where it opened in Tokyo. Walker flicked on the rail-mounted light on his weapon and made his way to the front. A familiar figure stood at the lead LAV, wearing a baseball cap and carrying a TAR-21 bullpup. Sgt. Lugo saluted Walker.
"Sir, never thought I'd be so happy to see a Delta operator..."
Walker grinned as he noted the LAV's other two inhabitants disembark. One was Sergeant Kuribayashi, the diminutive JSDF soldier who was nicknamed 'High Speed' by the Delta Force operators for her overly enthusiastic demeanor and eagerness for combat, but Walker noticed the second JSDF soldier was another woman. This one was taller, with blue-black hair and light blue eyes. To be honest, she was very attractive and gave a the Delta Captain a friendly smile. Walker recalled that this was Third Recon's combat medic, Sergeant Mari Kurokawa. He was pulled out of his musings by his name being called.
"Captain Walker!"
He glanced over his shoulder and saw three more figures approach. One he recognized as Lt. Adams, the other two were JSDF, and based off radio chatter, the aforementioned otaku. Before Adams could speak one of the JSDF soldiers, an officer based off his rank insignia, ran up and saluted Walker.
"Captain Walker! Lt. Yōji Itami, a pleasure to work with you!"
The JSDF officer spoke in English, and Walker got a good look at him. Delta Team had not gotten formally introduced to Third Recon, but had been debriefed with individual files. Lt. Itami was dressed like his sergeant major in JSDF camo with flack armor and a Kevlar helmet in Woodland Camo. He sported a scraggly chin beard and seemed friendly enough. The Delta Captain returned his salute and smiled.
"Nice meeting you, Lieutenant. How was the ride over?"
The officer looked puzzled, and embarrassedly glanced over to Sergeant Major Kuwahara, speaking in Japanese. The older sergeant replied in Japanese as well, then turned his attention to Walker.
"Lieutenant Itami wishes to convey his apologies, but he is not very fluent in English and basically spoke the entirety of his vocabulary to you."
Walker nodded uncertainly. Since this was a joint operation it would have been better if everyone could communicate on a basic level. Still, it wasn't a big deal, since his RTO Lugo spoke Japanese. He gave the lieutenant a reassuring smile.
"No worries, I've just asked Kuwahara to have the men fall in while Delta establishes a perimeter around the Gate entrance."
He saw Kuwahara translate, and the young officer grinned enthusiastically. Walker then turned his attention back to his own squad, assembled at the front of the lead LAV. Lugo was in a discussion with Adams, who had already made it to the front truck, as the captain approached.
"Gentleman, what's the sit-rep?"
Sgt. Lugo looked up.
"Hey sir, what's up?"
Walker chuckled.
"Just another walk on the beach, Sergeant Lugo."
"Yeah, well for the record I prefer my walks on the beach to have more hot babes and less guns, sir."
Lt. Adams snorted.
"Shit, says the lucky motherfucker who got to spend his ride over with two hotties."
Sgt. Lugo removed his ballcap and ran a gloved hand through his close-cropped hair.
"Hey you know me, Mr. Equal Opportunity and all that, but as much as I love the idea of having pretty women in our squad, we're going into an unknown sitch…"
Captain Walker glanced back at the JSDF soldiers, who were gearing up and out of earshot. He heard Adams retort.
"Something on your mind, sergeant?"
Walker turned his attention back to his own squad.
"Let `im speak, Adams."
Lugo shook his head.
"Sir, these JSDF soldiers are just not prepared, hell when we were loading up back at Tokyo I had to show Lieutenant Nerd Guy over there proper trigger discipline."
Walker chuckled.
"Lemme guess, Itami didn't take it too well?"
The Delta sergeant shrugged.
"Well, that and 'Get your booger hook off the kill switch until you're ready to fire' doesn't translate very well into Japanese."
He glanced over to Adams, then back to his CO.
"Look, all I'm sayin' is that none of these Third Recon types have seen ANY combat."
"I thought Itami's file mentioned that he had been deployed to Iraq, an' that he was there when shit hit the fan in Ginza."
Adams spoke up.
"Yeah, I can throw the bullshit flag on that one. Itami and Sgt. Tomita, who by the way has a fetish for cat girls...don't ask me how I know that shit...were in fact in Baghdad, but spent most of their time on admin duty at the Japanese consulate in the Green Zone."
He shrugged.
"Tomita told me the most action they ever saw was when they were driving to and from the airport, from stray potshots on their armored convoy."
Adams paused.
"An' as for Itami's 'heroic action' at Ginza? His buddy Blue Falcon'ed him by admitting that Itami spent most of the time hiding behind a SWAT blockade. Never even fired his weapon."
Lugo snorted.
"Great."
Adams held up one of the JSDF assault rifles, a Howa Typle 64.
"An' more great news: this shit dates back to the 1960's, not exactly battle-tested either."
He pulled a small kit from the rifle's wooden furniture, and held up a small green bottle.
"An' the gun grease they got? Meant for hot climates. Their kit is barely above National Guard, their flack jackets don't even have trauma plates, if we run into some shit we're fucked."
Adams shook his head as he set down the rifle on the LAV's hood.
"Correction, sir..." Lugo interjected, "We're not fucked, they are."
He pointed to the short-statured female JSDF soldier.
"An' don't even get me started on High Speed Shino over there..."
Walker nodded.
"So, you finished?"
Both Adams and Lugo nodded.
"Good. I'm glad we cleared out that dirty laundry. So let me say this only once. This is our op, true, but this is also a joint operation to recover Japanese citizens who were taken hostage, so this is going to require some very delicate diplomacy on our part."
He glanced back at the JSDF soldiers, who were standing at the ready behind Sergeant Major Kuwahara.
"We're going to work together with Lt. Itami and the rest of Third Recon, an' I don't want to hear any more shit about otaku or High-Speed, is that clear?"
He saw both of his men standing there, clearly not 100% sold, so Walker continued.
"Look, we're Delta Force operators, not some Junior ROTC cadets larping with paintball, okay? This is a simple recon, we have our orders. We check out the lay of the land, investigate the radio signal, then fall back through the Gate and report back to Command. JSDF sends in the cavalry, we go home. Simple as that."
Lugo's face finally lit into a small grin.
"Yeah, you're right sir. I'm overthinkin' this shit. I mean, we've been through Kabul and worse. Probably have a nice idyllic countryside on the other side an' we'll find all the hostages safe and sound without firing a shot."
Adams laughed and punched Lugo's arm.
"Yeah, promises."
He nodded at Walker.
"Alright Martin, you got point. Let's get this over with. I hear Lt. Nerd and his hetero-Life Mate have a date with Rosie Palms this evening, don't wanna keep her waiting."
The Delta soldiers were still laughing as Kuwahara approached and saluted Walker.
"Sir, my men are ready."
Walker nodded.
"Roger that."
He looked over to his squad.
"Adams, you take point, I'll provide backup. Lugo, you got a lock on that transmission?"
His RTO checked his radio for a moment.
"Yes sir, about 800 meters ahead."
Walker smiled.
"Then we're 800 meters away from finding out who's more full of shit, you or HUMINT."
He heard Lugo chuckle again.
"Wow...if I wasn't a hardened killing machine, that mighta actually hurt."
The Delta Force team fell into a familiar formation, slowly making their way to the light where the Gate entrance was. It came up on them so quickly that Adams had to come to an abrupt stop and hold up a closed fist. Both Walker and Lugo paused. In front of them the Gate opened up like a hole in space, opening up to a clearing in the woods. A section of road, probably left over from Tokyo, abruptly ended three feet outside the Gate entrance. A signpost, comprising of an inverted red triangle with the Japanese Kanji 止まれ stood in front of them. The sky overhead was grey and overcast, with a dull light shining overhead. The clearing was about a football field wide and half as deep, the trees in some places were so thick that the light could barely shine through the canopy. And just beyond the road was about six inches of snow. Lugo looked unimpressed.
"Welp, so much for my tropical paradise fantasy. I was really hopin' for a sandy beach."
"That's enough, Sgt. Lugo. Alright, listen up, this place has been designated by Japanese High Command as hostile territory, but we're lookin' for signs of hostages and the Damned 33rd, so lets do this by the books, okay?"
His radio crackled as Lugo has pushed ahead through the snow.
"Roger Dodger."
It didn't take Walker or his team long to scout the clearing. The snow was fresh, and there were no signs of tracks or any sign of life.
"Sir, I still think we're poking a dead horse here."
Walker looked up to see Adams approach from his left. Lugo was further up, still checking the transmission signal.
"Thoughts, Adams?"
Lt. Adams shuddered, and it wasn't just the cold.
"Sir, I think we should mark this shit on TAC and report back. Neither us nor our JSDF charges are equipped to handled cold weather ops."
Walker nodded and keyed his radio.
"Lugo, any sign of that radio transmission?"
"Negative, it's getting stronger and should be another 600 meters to the east-northeast."
Walker nodded.
"Roger that, fall back, we need to debrief our JSDF compadres."
Back at the entrance Walker was greeted by Sergeant Major Kuwahara, flanked by Lt. Itami, Sgt. Tomita, the two female soldiers and four other JSDF riflemen. He noticed that Sgt. Kuribayashi and Sgt. Kurokawa were wearing olive-green parkas. The Delta captain nodded to the older JSDF sergeant.
"Sergeant Kuwahara, my men are recommending we mark this spot on TAC and fall back. These cold weather conditions are unpredictable, not sure if the LAV's can handle the dense forest vegetation."
Sergeant Major Kuwahara nodded sagely.
"For what it's worth Command did issue us cold-weather gear, but I understand."
He shuddered.
"This place gives me the creeps, and I would feel better if I had a regiment of U.S. Marines behind me. I will let Lt. Itami know."
The old sergeant turned to address the young JSDF officer, and what started out as a conversation in Japanese soon turned into a rather heated exchange, with Sgt. Kuribayashi jumping in and also speaking rapidly. Walker watched in fascination as he heard Lugo sidle up to him.
"Lemme guess, Itami wants to push on."
He heard Lugo chuckle.
"Yeah, doesn't take a cunning linguist to that out. Kuwahara's tryin' to talk sense into his boot loot, and High Speed wants to charge in with guns a' blazin'."
Finally, Sergeant Major Kuwahara turned back to Walker.
"Sir, I apologize, but Lt. Itami is being most obstinate about this. He insists that we should push on and look for the Japanese hostages."
Walker nodded as the sergeant continued.
"I have reminded him that this recon is your operation, and you have final say. I think you may have to...pull rank...as you Americans say, on him to make him see reason."
The Delta Force captain glanced back at Adams, who shook his head slightly. Finally he glanced over to Lugo, who spoke up.
"Sir, I think you're right, but at the same time, if there's hostages out there, or the Damned 33rd in need of help, I think we should at least investigate. But I'll go with whatever you want, sir."
Walker mulled over his choices for five minutes, then finally spoke.
"Sergeant Kuwahara, you will inform Lt. Itami that I understand where he's coming from, but I'm not willing to risk the lives of his soldiers on a wild-goose chase."
Itami must have understood what Walker was saying because he spoke up in rapid Japanese, but Walker held up a forestalling hand.
"But, I am willing to take my own squad on recon to complete our mission, which is to investigate the source of that radio transmission. It's less than 600 yards to the northeast of here. If you will have your men establish a defensive perimeter around the Gate entrance, then Delta Squad will investigate the source. If we're not back in 2 hours, fall back and bring in the calvary."
Kuwahara nodded, then turned to speak to Itami. After a brief exchange, he turned back to Walker.
"Lt. Itami is in accord, however he politely requests that he accompany you on your reconnaissance."
The Delta Captain looked incredulously at Itami, then he heard Kuwahara continue.
"I will secure the entrance, sir, and Itami will be under strict orders to follow your commands."
Walker glanced back at his two men, then sighed.
"Alright, let's go. We're burning up daylight here."
He turned to debrief Lugo and Adams of the change of plans, but unbeknownst to him or any of the other soldiers, they were not alone in that forest.
(AN: DunDUNDUUUUNNN! Well, I hate to do this to my readers, but I had to cut this chapter off somewhere, and this seemed like a good place to put the cliffhanger. I hope to get another chapter up soonish, depending on the response and interest. I can't emphasize this enough, but this is going to have some plot twists and turns in it like the Video Game. Until next time!)