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Cuttlefish -> RE: Small Ship, Big War (10/27/2007 9:23:08 PM)
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June 14, 1943
Location: Rabaul
Course: Docked
Attached to: TF 36
Mission: Surface Combat
System Damage: 1
Float Damage: 0
Fires: 0
Fuel: 475
Orders: Await further orders
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The Gulf of Siam, 1919, aboard the French steamer Hier:
Young Hagumu Ishii stands in the front rank of the ship’s crew being held at bay by the Malay pirates. Not far away the ship’s first officer kneels defiantly in a pool of blood, hands bound behind him, as one of the pirates lifts his axe for the first stroke. Behind them other pirates hold guns on the remaining officers. The faces of the officers look stricken and ghostly in the light of the lanterns.
Ishii does not think about it. He just knows that it is an intolerably unjust that a man who has shown the courage the first officer has should have his head hacked off as if he were a beast in a slaughterhouse. His instinct makes the decision to act before his intellect can overrule it.
The guard only a few steps from him has his head turned, watching and grinning as he waits for the axe to fall. Ishii steps forward and wrenches the heavy Lebel rifle out of his grip. He rams the barrel of the rifle into the guard’s stomach and pulls the trigger.
The sudden noise shocks everyone into immobility for a second. Ishii works the bolt, raises the rifle, and shoots the man with the axe through the head. The axe clatters to the deck as the pirate crumples.
Ishii sees sixteen armed pirates turn to face him. His intellect, a bit on the tardy side, informs him that he has acted rashly and is now in deep trouble. He fumbles with the rifle as he drops to one knee and tries to work the bolt again.
The French officer reacts more quickly than anybody. He rolls onto his back, the blood soaking into his white shirt, and kicks out at the axe. It slides towards the crew, leaving a bloody streak across the deck, and comes to rest at the feet of only other Japanese crewman on board. This is Shun, a member of the black gang. Shun stoops and grasps the axe as the pirates fire their first ragged volley into the crew. Several are hit. The man just behind Ishii screams and falls.
Shun stands, holding the bloody axe. “At them!” he roars in the polyglot French that is the lingua franca among the crew. “For your lives!” He springs up to where the leader of the pirates is holding a Mauser C96 machine pistol. The pirate tries to turn and bring the gun to bear on him but Shun moves with astonishing speed. His axe takes off the pirate’s right arm below the elbow, and then the back swing lays open the man’s throat.
The crew are a mixed lot. Besides the two Japanese there are Chinese, Malayans, a pair of Punjabis, and an Australian, among others. These men recognize that they must now kill or be killed and surge forward. Several fall, but the rest close with the pirates.
Ishii has gotten a grip on the rifle again and begins to fire steadily, picking off another pair of the pirates. Shun leaps onward, leaving someone else to pick up the Mauser, and wields the axe with great strokes. His terrible grin and bloody, upraised axe spreads terror among the pirates facing him. The ship’s cook, a Gurkha, appears from somewhere wielding a kukri. With a ululating cry he hurls himself into the fray, spreading more fear and death.
The pirates are a tough bunch. There is little of violence that they have not seen, but they cannot stand against this. Panic spreads among them, and with that the crew’s victory is assured. Six of the crew are killed and several more injured, but in the end the last four pirates fling themselves over the side and swim for it.
Ishii stands holding the rifle and looks over the blood-washed deck, which is a macabre sight in the light of the slowly swaying lanterns. Now that the battle is over reaction sets in and his hands begin to tremble. Shun appears in front of him. The stocky, powerful man’s shirt is splashed with blood. The two young men look at each other for a moment.
They have spoken together on the journey, if only because it is good to hear another voice from home. Their very different backgrounds have prevented a close friendship from forming, however. But now Shun grins and claps him on the shoulder.
“So, maybe there is something to this samurai ancestor business after all!” he says. “You showed more guts than sense, but damn, that was well done!” He looks positively cheerful. Ishii stares at him for a long moment, his eyes still wide, then carefully sets down the rifle. He is able to make it to the rail before he starts to vomit.
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Rabaul, 1943:
Chief Petty Officer Shun does not drink much. He likes to drink, but he is a man of iron discipline who knows that sometimes if he has too much to drink bad things happen. A cup of sake every now and then helps him think, however, and right now he is sitting in the corner of a gloomy bar in Rabaul sipping at the sake and thinking. There are a few other sailors in the quiet place, but none from Hibiki.
Captain Ishii steps into the bar. As his eyes adjust to the dimness he spots Shun and walks over to him. He takes off his cap and sets it on the table and sits down. The waiter, always quick to spot an officer, promptly brings him a cup of sake.
Shun is not surprised to see the captain. The two men have known each other for a long time. Ishii sips his sake and the two men sit in silence for a while.
“Tell me, Captain,” Shun says at last is his low, growling voice, “what do you think of Seaman Ariga?” Captain Ishii leans back in his chair and considers Shun for a moment.
“Speaking professionally, his evaluations are excellent,” says Ishii at last. “Lieutenant Kataoka cannot say enough good things about him. He is talented, works very hard, and always willing to help a shipmate.” He pauses and thinks for a moment. “If you had asked me eighteen months ago I would have said he was lazy and a bit of a shirker. But people change. The pressure of the war breaks some people, and it makes men out of others.
“And speaking otherwise?” asks Shun.
“Since you tried to kill him,” Ishii begins, and Shun winces slightly, “he has shown great courage and iron will in trying to become a better person. What he is trying to do, it is not easy. Many would fail. But I would say that today he is a good man, maybe even a promising one.” Shun gazes down at the table.
“You know why I dislike him,” he says. Ishii nods. “But I have taken pride in acting professionally towards him since…well, since…”
“Yes,” says Ishii. Shun sighs and continues.
“Yet I recently put him in a position where someone else would punish him,” says Shun. “If it were anyone else I would not have done it, or I would have done something to make sure my actions did not come back on him.” Captain Ishii nods. He does not know the whole story, but Miharu and Kataoka have recently spoken and Ishii knows something of what has gone on.
“And what will you do about that, Chief?” asks Captain Ishii. Both men know that this is not a matter of regulations. It is about honor, a deeper and more serious matter altogether.
“I have to make it right,” says Shun. Captain Ishii says nothing. Shun raises his head and looks at him.
“My daughter likes him,” he says, and there is stress in his voice.
“For what it is worth,” Ishii says, “I think Minori would have liked him a great deal,” Shun stirs. He never speaks of his dead wife, and Ishii seldom mentions her. After a moment Shun nods slowly.
“Perhaps,” he says. After this the two men do not speak for a while. They sit and sip their sake, each thinking his own thoughts. Overhead a fan slowly twirls, doing little to stir the humid tropical air.
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