ORIGINAL: Cuttlefish
April 7, 1943
Location: Rabaul
Course: Docked
Attached to: TF 8
Mission: Bombardment
System Damage: 2
Float Damage: 0
Fires: 0
Fuel: 403
Orders: Attack enemy positions in and around Gili Gili
---
Ensign Handa turns and looks down at the glittering blue waters of Simpson Bay far below. It is an impressive sight. He and Ensign Izu have followed an old trail up into the jungle, and are now several miles from Rabaul. The occasional views through the jungle foliage have made the heat and humidity of the hike worth it, in Handa’s opinion. And Izu has found his own treasures.
“Look!” he says softly to Handa. “A red-chinned lorikeet!” Handa follows Izu’s pointing finger and sees a bright green parrot with a scarlet throat perched on the low branch of a huge old tree not far from the trail. Izu raises his binoculars and examines the bird for a moment.
“How can you know what kind of bird that is?” asks Handa dubiously. Izu lowers the binoculars and pulls a battered old copy of Okijima’s “Birds of the Pacific” out of his back pocket. He flips to the section on parrots.
“There!” he says excitedly, pointing to an illustration. Handa peers over his shoulder at the book. It does look like the bird in the tree, he has to admit. Izu leaves the trail for a closer look, moving slowly so as not to startle the bird. Handa follows. Izu has gone perhaps a dozen steps and entered the shadows under the trees when his progress is halted by Handa’s sudden grip on his shoulder. Startled, he looks behind him and sees that Handa has a finger to his lips. Above this gesture the other ensign’s eyes are wary. He points forward, and Izu looks and sees what Handa has already seen: a uniformed leg and boot projecting from behind the trunk of the great tree. The boot is not of Japanese make.
Very slowly Handa lifts the flap of his holster and pulls out the Type 14 Nambu pistol he has brought along in case of snakes. He slips past Izu and begins to circle around to get a look at the other side of the tree, pistol at the ready. Izu watches him tensely.
Handa reaches a position where he can peer around the trunk, and Izu sees him him lower the pistol. He hurries over to join the other man.
Huddled at the base of the tree is a skeleton clad in an Australian Army uniform. The uniform is spotted with mold and creepers have already begun twining across it. There is a neat hole in the front of the silent figure’s jacket, surrounded by a blotch of old dark stain. Near at hand are the rusting remains of a rifle.
The two ensigns gaze down silently for a moment. Here some member of Lark Force, wounded and desperate during the headlong retreat from Rabaul fifteen months ago, came to the end of his strength.
“Poor guy,” mutters Handa. Izu nods. They look for a moment more, then return to the trail and begin heading back down towards Rabaul. Behind them the lorikeet takes wing and flies away, leaving the soldier’s remains once again to the silent, devouring embrace of the jungle.
you outdid yourself with this one
best damn post in the thread
[&o]
