Until one of them tries to rise up as he passes. Taiki recognizes Noboro, who is having a hard time trying to prop himself up. It takes a moment for Taiki’s worry-befuddled brain to realize why; his brother’s right arm is missing at the elbow.
Oh noooo!! Not Noboro! Why, those dirty Yankee rats -- oh, wait, that's me.[&:]
And Hibiki is untouched, as usual. But now she's going to swap punches with Iowa-class battlewagons.
Civil war? What does that mean? Is there any foreign war? Isn't every war fought between men, between brothers?
Cue Charging Fort Wagnerfrom your Glory soundtracks on your CD player, gentlemen.
That's a great soundtrack, one of my favorites. "March to Mortality" from Gettysburg fits too; I often listen to both soundtracks, among others, while writing this.
ORIGINAL: painrus
Having just read 152 pages of this forum... all I can say is BRAVO!!! Thank God I didn't start reading 2 years ago like some of your loyal fans... the suspense would have driven me more insane...
From a literary standpoint, I really like your character development techniques as well as the use of subtle hints and themes... Drive On!!!
Welcome to the forums and welcome aboard! Thanks for the kind words. I'm afraid you may still have to chew on a few fingernails, though - this thing ain't nearly over yet.
Location: Tsingtao
Course: North
Attached to: TF 21
Mission: Surface combat
System Damage: 0
Float Damage: 0
Fires: 0
Fuel: 439
Orders: Engage the enemy; failing contact, attempt to escape
---
“Anything, Takahashi?” comes Captain Ishii’s voice, inquiring for the fifth time. Taiki restrains his impatience. He is more eager than most right now to come to grips with the enemy.
“Nothing, sir,” he says into the speaking tube with commendable professional detachment. He returns to gazing at the small rectangular radar screen, which continues to show that nothing at all is out there.
The scene is repeated throughout the Japanese flotilla, a task force consisting of four heavy cruisers, three light cruisers, and fourteen destroyers. Yesterday the enemy fleet was poised a mere 70 miles west of Inch’on. Tonight they have gone.
The Americans have foxed them. They have anticipated the attack and sidestepped, and in the morning their scout planes will locate them in Tsingtao. Rear Admiral Yamamoto realizes this but gives the only order he can; break off the search and proceed across the Yellow Sea. The next move belongs to the Americans.
---
Salvation comes to the Japanese from an unlikely source. The mechanism that turns certain doom into the most unlikely Japanese victory of the war can only be described as improbable. But war is a complex endeavor. God, as Napoleon observed, may be on the side of the big battalions, but Chance sometimes seems to be pulling just as many strings.
The Ki-30 and Ki-32 light bombers, known respectively to the Allies as Ann and Mary, were obsolete even as the war began. With their fixed landing gear and low top speed they proved easy prey for any enemy fighter and were quickly relegated to sitting out the war in China, doing reconnaissance and training work and scouting for the occasional submarine. Now, however, their pilots are asked to make the ultimate sacrifice for the Emperor. Before dawn some fifty of them, unescorted, take off from airfields around Tsingtao on a one-way journey. They find the enemy fleet a mere sixty miles south of their location on the previous day.
No one on the Japanese side ever learns what goes wrong for the Americans that morning. All they know is that the bombers encounter only a few of the deadly Hellcats. These are enough to splash over half of the bombers but the remainder lumber placidly through the flak and home in on their targets. Both Lexington and Saratoga are hit multiple times and turned into infernos. Even mighty Iowa, hit four times, has to battle serious fires.
The crews of the two carriers fight for their ships with skill and valor and against the odds succeed in saving them. But both ships are out of the war. The American task force is forced to retire.
---
Aboard Hibiki the news is greeted with joy and disbelief. Offerings pile up around Benzaiten’s box. The python accepts them all with sleepy indifference – a few rats found their way aboard ship at Inch’on and she has dined well.
Rear Admiral Yamamoto does not propose to sit around Tsingtao waiting for more carriers to come seeking revenge. He orders his task force to immediately move further up the Yellow Sea, all the way to Tientsin. While the enemy carriers are still fighting for their lives the Japanese ships slip away, vanishing for the moment from their enemy’s seeking gaze.
Orders: Engage the enemy; failing contact, attempt to escape
Having not even read the entry yet, you have to laugh at the pragmatism or simply sack the TF commander for issuing such uninspiring orders. With orders like that, you know you're screwed.
-F-
"It is obvious that you have greatly over-estimated my regard for your opinion." - Me
Having just read 152 pages of this forum... all I can say is BRAVO!!! Thank God I didn't start reading 2 years ago like some of your loyal fans... the suspense would have driven me more insane...
From a literary standpoint, I really like your character development techniques as well as the use of subtle hints and themes... Drive On!!!
This is so well put together... CF i trust you have a nice sized word doc. with all this put in one spot? Really what can i hurt, add a little odds and ends, and send it to publisher or a movie studio... [:)]
Tientsin’s port sits on Bohai Gulf, the body of water at the north end of the Yellow Sea. While it is old news to Hibiki’s seasoned China hands the younger crewmen are fascinated to see that the waters of the gulf really are tinted a muddy ochre color. The more inquisitive learn that this is because of the heavy load of yellowish silt carried by the Hwang Ho, which empties into the sea nearby.
The twenty-one Japanese warships reached here without incident but that does not mean their crews are happy. Among other things they learn that the enemy has declared the airfield at Amami Oshima secure. The Japanese know from bitter experience how quickly the Americans can repair an airfield and put it into operation. Aircraft based there could make escape from the Yellow Sea all but impossible. Further, this could free the enemy carrier forces in the area for other action.
Hibiki and the Japanese ships are safe for the moment, but their refuge could easily become a trap.
“It is obvious we cannot stay here,” Admiral Kamenosuke Yamamoto tells his assembled ship captains. “I have asked for and been granted permission to break out. We will leave as soon as all ships have refueled. We will proceed down the Yellow Sea, pass through the Korea Strait by night, and make for Ominato.”
He pauses for a moment, surveying the faces of the captains under his command. Apparently satisfied with what he sees, he continues.
“We will go with all practical speed. We will not stop for ships that are damaged. We will not stop for ships that suffer engine trouble. Fall behind and you will be left behind. We have few forces that can still threaten the enemy and I cannot jeopardize this one for the sake of a single ship. Is that understood?”
Apparently it is. Yamamoto looks down for a moment before raising his head and speaking again.
“I know it may seem as though we wasted our time here, that we came here to hide and ended up being trapped,” he says. “That is not the case. We came here to attack the enemy threatening the Ryukyus. That the enemy gave us no chance to do so is no cause for shame. There will be other chances to strike back. Now, our job is to return to Japan to carry on the fight. We will do so. Dismissed.”
Location: 50 miles southwest of Port Arthur
Course: South
Attached to: TF 21
Mission: Surface combat
System Damage: 0
Float Damage: 0
Fires: 0
Fuel: 446
Orders: Proceed to Ominato
---
Grey sky, grey ships, grey sea. Two long columns of warships slice through the water, heading from the dubious safety of Tientsin for distant Ominato. Ominato’s safety is perhaps no less dubious, but it is far from the current fighting and the enemy has as yet shown no interest in northern Japan.
On this cloudy day a color photograph of the scene would differ little from one done in black and white, save for a few splashes of color here and there. The Japanese look skyward and bless the overcast. If it holds they might have a chance to break through the Korea Strait and somehow continue the fight.
Location: 110 miles southwest of Inch'on
Course: South
Attached to: TF 21
Mission: Surface combat
System Damage: 0
Float Damage: 0
Fires: 0
Fuel: 410
Orders: Proceed to Ominato
---
Captain Ishii stands on the bridge, lifts his binoculars, and scans the sea and sky ahead. He is acutely aware that enemy carriers were in these same waters just a few days ago and that more could appear at any time. Almost as bad would be a sighting by an enemy submarine or scout plane.
Hibiki and many of the other ships have radar and every ship bristles with lookouts. Still Ishii draws some comfort in taking an occasional look for himself. I shouldn’t do it too often, though, he thinks to himself as he lowers the binoculars again. It might give the crew the impression that I’m nervous. He is, of course, but he knows full well that if he projects an image of calm that image will transmit itself throughout the ship and by some strange alchemy become reality.
Lieutenant Kuwaki, who currently has the bridge, checks the ship’s speed and position relative to the rest of the task force, then comes over to stand beside him. “All ships are maintaining speed, sir,” he reports. “No one is in danger of being left behind so far.” Captain Ishii glances at him. Kuwaki is a good man to have around at a time like this. He lacks dash and imagination but is solid and calmly competent.
“Very good,” says Ishii. “I will be in my cabin. Inform me if anything changes.”
“Yes sir,” says Kuwaki. Ishii will try to get some paperwork done. The captain despises paperwork, but at least it will keep him from pacing and if the crew sees that the captain is in his cabin working on reports surely there can be little need to worry.
And, unlike enemy carriers, paperwork never goes away.
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