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Cuttlefish -> RE: Small Ship, Big War (9/27/2007 3:24:39 AM)
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April 10, 1943
Location: Rabaul
Course: Docked
Attached to: TF 8
Mission: Bombardment
System Damage: 2
Float Damage: 0
Fires: 0
Fuel: 475
Orders: Attack enemy positions in and around Gili Gili
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“Ah, Lieutenant Miharu! Would you join me for a drink?” Hibiki’s executive officer stops and peers into the bar he is passing, looking for whoever has just hailed him. There is no glass in the windows, just large wooden coverings that are swung up during business hours to provide an awning. In the dimness inside he sees Chief Engineer Sakati, seated at the bar and waving an arm to attract his attention.
The lieutenant enters. He and Sakati are not close friends, but they respect one another and Miharu is happy enough to join him for a drink. He takes a stool next to the engineer and orders a beer.
“I’ve been sampling the bars in town,” explains Sakati. “A strictly scientific survey, I assure you.” Lieutenant Miharu smiles. Sakati’s capacity for spirits is legendary aboard ship. The engineer’s diction is still crisp and his movements precise, but Miharu is willing to bet that Sakati’s survey has been thorough.
“And your conclusions, Chief Engineer?” he asks.
“The north end of town has bigger places with fancier furnishings,” he says, “but the beer and sake are colder and the prices better at the south end of town.” He pauses. “More variety would be good, though. It seems we are a long ways from the nearest liquor distributor.” He turns to the bartender.
“Do you have anything else?” he asks. “Whiskey, scotch, brandy, anything different?” The proprietor, a native, looks puzzled.
“No understand,” he says. Sakati sighs.
“Try English,” says Miharu. “The Australians were here for quite a while.” Chief Engineer Sakati is the only other man aboard ship other than Miharu who has studied abroad. He spent two years at the University of Glasgow and speaks English well, though with a mixed Scots/Japanese accent that sometimes befuddles Miharu’s ears. Sakati’s eyes light up and he repeats his suggestion in English. The proprietor’s face lightens with comprehension, but then he looks downcast and shakes his head.
“All gone now,” he says in English. “Except for…let me see…” he rummages around under the bar and produces an ancient looking bottle of green fluid. No label is visible. Sakati looks intrigued.
“What is it?” he asks. The proprietor peers at it for a moment, then shrugs.
“It’s green,” he finally says.
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It takes several sailors to help manhandle the unconscious engineer out of the boat and aboard Hibiki. Captain Ishii strolls up as they carry Sakati off to his cabin.
“What happened?” he asks Lieutenant Miharu. The lieutenant just shakes his head in puzzlement.
“It was green,” he says.
“Ah,” says Captain Ishii. “I should have known.”
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