The Admiral did not want to kick a wounded puppy. “Apology received. Next time, just keep me more up-to-date if there are delays.”
“Yes sir,” replied the officer, clearly relieved to have been spared humiliation in front of his men.
“Carry on,” responded the Admiral, more loudly so this time his fellow soldiers would hear. Then he walked out of the room and got back to other tasks at hand.
Planes, Trains, and Taxicabs
As Flight 7975 was following their taxi-way directions to the airport terminal, the men of the second battalion of the Japanese Special Forces Group (SFGp) prepared their body armor and weapons for what was certain to be a quick and ferocious engagement once they docked at the terminal. The Company Commander, Katsu Saito, gathered the four platoon leaders together at the front of the plane, and then waved to get everyone’s attention. The men immediately went silent.
“Ok everyone, let’s review the plan one last time. Platoon One, you will head to the cargo deck of the aircraft and begin offloading all the weapons, equipment and munitions. Several vans will be waiting for us, so just load everything directly into the vans. Then you are to proceed directly to our designated safe houses and secure everything there.”
“Yes Sir,” replied Platoon One in unison.
“The rest of the company will break into several assault groups. Squad Two, you are going to head down the tarmac and begin throwing grenades into the engines of every plane that is currently docked at one of the terminals. Cause as much havoc and chaos as you can, then make a break for the Arrivals Deck and jump into the vans that will be waiting to take you to our safe houses.”
“Yes Sir,” came the refrain.
“Squad Three — I want you to move swiftly through the airport terminals and then find your way towards the parking garages. Shoot any security personnel that get in your way; however, your goal is not to kill as many people as possible. Your goal is to get out of the airport as quickly as is feasible. You are going to split into four-man teams and head towards a new set of drop cars several miles away from the airport. Change your uniforms right away so that you can blend into the population, and then prepare for your sabotage operations against the American infrastructure. When you are finished, you will hopefully have destroyed or disrupted all of the major bridges, overpasses, railroads and distribution centers within a several hundred-mile radius of Chicago.”
“Yes, Sir,” came the reply.
“By distracting the American response on the tarmac with the grenades, and also in the terminal, we should ensure that those offloading our supplies are able to move all of our equipment with relatively little interference. If we have enough weaponry and fighters that make it through unharmed, our success today will mean triumph for many months to come.”
By the time the aircraft finally docked, the room was filled with adrenaline and anticipation. As the door was being unlocked, the men inside the aircraft began to line up, ready to rush through the open doorway. Timing was going to be everything; they needed to bust out of the airport quickly and not get bogged down by security. The Americans had beefed up their defenses at the major airports when the war started, and there were more than enough police and security personnel at O’Hare to stop his group if they did not move quickly.
The first several men pushed their way through the exit, throwing the stunned ticketing agent to the ground. She screamed at the sight of men carrying guns, until one of the men punched her in the face to silence her.
As Sergeant Hiro quickly moved off the gangway, he emerged to find a waiting area full of stunned and surprised Americans waiting for the plane to de-board. He did as he was instructed and spoke loudly and clearly in English, saying, “This is a terrorism drill. Everyone remain calm, and get down on the floor.” At first, the people were stunned, but as additional members of the group emerged from the gangway, people began to comply. The DHS patches on their body armor seemed to be giving them the authority that they needed in that moment to avoid a massive shootout.
Other people who had not heard his instructions saw men with guns and began to scream. Most people instinctively dropped to the ground with their hands up or over their heads just hoping they were not going to die. The team moved quickly through the international section of the airport without encountering any resistance. Then, as they walked around the corner, two Chicago police officers loaded with full body armor and assault rifles saw them. The officers must have heard some of the screams.
Upon seeing the officers, two JDF soldiers immediately opened fire, hitting one of them several times in the chest and knocking him to the ground. They missed the second one entirely, and he quickly took cover. The police officer who had been hit was lucky that he was wearing body armor; the rounds didn’t pierce through, and he was able to quickly recover enough from the force of impact to raise his own rifle and take aim at the JDF soldiers. His bullet found its way to one of the Japanese fighter’s shoulders, wounding him enough that he would not be able to fire a gun. However, one of his compatriots quickly took aim at the officer’s head, taking him out of the battle.
The second police officer started shooting at the JDF team. Several Japanese soldiers began to lay down suppressive fire against the police officer’s position, allowing several other soldiers to advance closer to him. Then they switched roles, and the group that was closer to the officer began to blanket his position with bullets while the other men moved forward. Finally, they were practically on top of the police officer, and they succeeded in killing him.
During this short and violent engagement with the two police officers, nearly a dozen more TSA and Chicago police officers had converged on the position. Suddenly, they opened fire on the JDF men. Sergeant Hiro knew they needed to move so he yelled at his men, “Blanket the field with bullets!”
Then he lobbed several hand grenades in the direction of the TSA guards and police officers. Once the grenades exploded, he immediately ordered his squad, “Advance forward!”
They quickly overwhelmed the stunned guards and officers, killing them before moving forward to the security checkpoint.
At this point, bystanders were running every which way screaming in terror and just trying not to get hit. One of the TSA screeners had hit the security alarm near their station, sending out a loud emergency alert telling everyone in the airport to immediately get down on the floor; it also announced to security the last known location of the assailants. Soon, additional TSA guards and police officers were running towards the scene.
Captain Inada yelled at his men, “You need to continue to move quickly! Follow sergeant Hiro’s squad forward. We need to secure the checkpoint as fast as possible and then move to the parking garage!”
As the rest of his company moved through the checkpoint, TSA guards and police officers began to arrive from all areas of the airport; they quickly opened fire. Several of his soldiers were hit; some were killed outright while others were wounded but still able to continue fighting. They were starting to get bogged down…they needed to keep moving.
“Sergeant Hiro, have your men start throwing more grenades and lay some smoke grenades down as well!” Captain Inada yelled as he ducked behind a counter. Several rounds slammed into the wall where his head had been just moments before.
The entire squad began throwing grenades in every direction, along with several smoke grenades and a few flash bangs. Within seconds, his squad sprinted through the checkpoint with Captain Inada and the rest of the company moving quickly behind them. A few minutes later, they were at the edge of the terminal, racing quickly to the parking garage. Once they had arrived, they saw the waiting vans and began to jump into them, speeding off towards their escape.