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Cuttlefish -> RE: Small Ship, Big War (10/17/2007 9:34:03 PM)
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May 19, 1943
Location: Truk
Course: Disbanded in port
Attached to: None
Mission: None
System Damage: 3
Float Damage: 0
Fires: 0
Fuel: 475
Orders: Await further orders
---
Half a dozen of the crew are discussing the “Malay boot,” the torture device featured in the movie they saw the previous day. For many it is an article of faith that since it appeared in a Hollywood movie it has to be real. Others are not so sure.
“Of course it is real!” says Seaman Yoshitake. “We saw it!”
“But I have never heard of such a thing,” says Oizuma stubbornly.
“You have not heard of many things,” says Yoshitake, “that doesn’t mean they don’t exist!”
“What do you think, Riku?” asks someone. Riku has been sitting off to one side, listening but not participating. Of the sailors in the crowded bunk area only Shiro suspects that Riku’s distraction since they saw the movie has something to do with a woman far away in Okinawa.
“I have no idea,” says Riku. “But I know who would. Chief Shun was sailing those waters before most of us were born.”
“Ha!” says Yoshitake. “Go ask Shun. That’s a laugh.”
“You are afraid?” says Oizuma.
“Absolutely terrified,” agrees Yoshitake comfortably. “What, you are trying to say that you aren’t?” Oizuma shifts a little.
“Well,” he says, “no, I’m not. It’s just a question, I don’t see how he…”
“Fine,” interrupts Yoshitake. “You ask him. Come, we will follow and hear what he says.” The others second this. Oizuma begins to have second thoughts, but too late. He cannot back out now and save face. With a heavy feeling in the pit of his stomach he makes his way up to the deck, with the other five sailors trailing behind.
Shun is located forward, next to the 5” turret. The stocky Chief turns as they approach and waits for them without speaking. As the others hang back Oizuma slowly walks forward and comes to attention.
Shun looks him over, then his glance shifts past him to the other five sailors. Then he looks back at Oizuma, who is sweating slightly.
“This is going to be good, I can tell,” he growls. “Well, Oizuma? What is it? Speak up!”
“Many apologies for the interruption, Chief,” stammers Oizuma. “We were wondering…that it, I was wondering…well, you saw the movie yesterday, yes?” Shun nods. “We wondered about the Malay boot. Is it real, Chief?”
Shun grunts and leans back against the turret, crossing his arms.
“Oh yes,” he says. “Such devices exist. The Malay pirates didn’t use them, though. Their methods were usually…more direct.”
“More direct, Chief?” asks Oizuma. Shun nods.
“They were a savage bunch,” he says. “They still are, though their power isn’t what it was back in the old days. Give the Dutch and British credit for that, anyway.”
“What things did they do?” asks Oizuma, encouraged by the fact that Shun seems willing to talk. Shun grins, not a pleasant sight.
“You little girls sure you want to hear about that?” he says. There is a chorus of affirmation from the men. Shun knows a wealth of fascinating tales, though he can rarely be persuaded to tell them.
“All right,” says Shun, settling back. “There was a ship I heard about once,” he says. “Just after the last war, this was. French ship, out of Saigon. Supposed to have money on board. French officers, mixed crew, and half a dozen French soldiers. Pirates took her in the night, out in the Gulf of Siam. Swarmed the ship with small boats, the way they like to. They cut down the soldiers and brought all the crew up on deck.
“They separated the officers and started to question them. They put a couple of guards with rifles on the crew, but didn’t bother with them much. Crew was a mongrel lot and the pirates figured pretty rightly that they wouldn’t be willing to risk their skins for their officers.”
No one in his audience moves. The hatch in the turret is open, and all sounds of activity from within have ceased. Shun’s eyes acquire a faraway look as he continues speaking.
“They asked the officers where the money was,” he continues, “but they only answer they got was that no one knew anything about any money. So they grabbed a bosun – Malheur, his name was – and made him kneel on the deck in front of the others. Poor bastard begged for his life and they chopped his head off right in mid word. It took three blows, actually, it’s hard to get a man’s head off with just one.
“They took the second mate next, made him kneel in the blood. Same thing. Axe makes a nasty sound biting into a man’s neck. There were smears of blood leading to the rail as they dragged the bodies overboard, but they left the heads lying there in the blood. The blood looked black in the lamplight, like tar.
“Then they went for the first mate, made him kneel too. Asked him where the money was. This man, he had some steel in him. Told the pirates they had the wrong ship and spat in the leader’s eye. Then he looked straight ahead and told them to get it over with.” Shun stops talking for a moment, but his eyes still have that faraway look.
“What happened next, Chief?,” asks Riku quietly after a pause. Shun looks up, almost startled.
“Hm? Well, like I said they weren’t expecting any trouble from the crew,” he says. “There was one kid, though, with maybe more ideals than sense, who figured that the mate had shown too many guts to be killed like that. So he took a guard’s gun away from him and killed him with it, then shot the man with the axe.
“The pirates panicked and turned on the crew, and that set everyone on them. The crew suddenly had a stake in the fight, you see. Kill or be killed. It got pretty bloody for a minute or two there, but we took…they took the ship back. At least that’s what I heard.” Shun returns to the present with an almost audible snap. “Any other foolish questions, or may I return to my duties now?”
“Chief,” says Yoshitake, “what happened to that crewman?”
“Him?” says Shun. “They gave him a nice bonus. He used it to get back home and try and make something out of himself.” He gives the sailors a steely glance. “And now…”
“Yes. Chief, thank you,” says Oizuma. He steps back and then inclines from the waist in a respectful bow. The other sailors present follow suit. They then turn and make their way back below decks without saying anything further. Shun watches them go, for once too startled to make a biting comment.
---
Up on the bridge Captain Ishii and Lieutenant Sugiyura step quietly away from the rail and back inside.
“That was quite a tale,” says Sugiyura. Captain Ishii just grunts. He seems slightly distracted. “I wonder if there really was any money?”
“Oh yes, there was,” says Ishii, looking up. “It turns out only the soldiers knew about it, or where it was. But it was eventually found.” Sugiyura stops and looks at him.
“Sir?” he says. “How do you…?” But Captain Ishii just shakes his head and smiles a little. He leaves the bridge and goes below, leaving Sugiyura to wonder about things on his own.
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