“The more things change, the more they stay the same,” said Fukada. “But we can settle the score with them now, sir. We were out there alone when we faced Kirov the first time, and with just those eight Type 12 missiles. Oh, the Japanese threw in with us with a small task force and some aircraft, but they were more a nuisance than a help. Now we’ve a real task force here—real fighting power. We can settle this.”
“Settle it? You mean Kirov?”
“Of course, sir. You aren’t going to just let the Russians have their way here, are you? This is our house, and they are just Inaorigoto, a thief in the night. But this one turns violent when he is uncovered. We must be very cautious. This Russian Captain means business. He’s gunning for Japanese ships. In fact, he just made a surprise attack on Truk—put a missile on the Musashi, and blasted the light carrier Zuiho and an oiler for good measure. They must be stopped.”
It was coming at Admiral Kita too fast. He needed time to think this through, but these men had already faced this impossible dilemma, and jumped right in to this insanity as if they were born to it. This Executive Officer was more than eager to get on with their private little war, impossible as all this was.
“Have you also engaged the American Navy here?”
“Only in a defensive situation,” said Harada. “We’ve taken out a few of their planes—all we could do after that scrap with the Russians. Yamamoto was using us as a forward picket, and we got mixed up in a carrier duel in the New Hebrides.”
“You intervened? Which battle?”
“This action was not recorded in our history. As we tried to tell you earlier, events have already changed. Some things have held true. Japan did attack the Americans at Pearl Harbor on December 7th. Then the Empire struck south in much the same way as the history we know. We’ve taken Malaya, Singapore, Java, the Dutch East Indies and Burma. Rabaul is active as the forward base for the Solomons, but there was no battle of Midway last May. Yamamoto opted for Operation FS, the attack through the French New Hebrides towards Fiji and Samoa in an attempt to isolate Australia. There have been a lot of carrier duels over that, and the campaign is still bitterly contested.”
“I see… What were you doing here at Eniwetok?”
“We were ordered home to Yokohama. Admiral Yamamoto did not give us many details, other than to tell us we were to meet with Admiral Nagano.”
“Osami Nagano? Fleet Admiral for the entire Imperial Navy? I cannot believe I’m hearing all of this.”
“That will pass,” said Fukada. “And the sooner you realize what has happened, and accept it, the better all of us will be. Admiral, we are here. That’s as certain as that island out there. The only question now is what to do about it? I know your first thought will be that we must all find our way home, but we have not found any means of doing that. We’ve been marooned here since the 1st of March, 1942. That’s been over nine long months, and we’re in this pretty deep now. We’re committed, and we’ve pledged our loyalty and service to Japan, and to Admiral Yamamoto. I hope you will see that is the only course open to you. What would the alternative be? Could you join the Americans here now, knowing what they are going to do to our homeland? Could you do nothing, and watch them destroy Japan, allow the fire-bombing of Tokyo, the destruction of Hiroshima and Nagasaki? Will you stand by and let that damn Russian ship out there continue to hound and hunt the Imperial Japanese Navy—kill our ships and sailors?”
“That will be all, Lieutenant Commander,” said Harada. He could see and hear the hard sell in Fukada again.
Admiral Kita looked from one to the other. “Tell me I will awaken in my cabin aboard Kaga and all this will go away.” He looked harried and weary, a little greyer than they last saw him.
“I’ve wished that many times myself in the last nine months,” said Harada. “The Lieutenant Commander here comes on pretty strong, but in the end, those are the questions you will have to decide. We’ve made our choice, though your presence here certainly reopens all those questions for us as well. Yes, we’ve thrown in with Yamamoto, but you are now our real senior officer, and we belong here, with this task force. Fukada was correct in saying that we now have real power here—decisive power. Now you must decide what to do with that.”
“You are suggesting I begin active operations here against the Americans? This is madness!”
“Yes sir, it’s completely insane, but that is what you will have to decide. We must weigh in here, on one side or another, or else we find an island somewhere and try to sit this war out. In that case, I ask you to consider what the Russians will be doing here.”
“The Russians….”
“They had no difficulty in knowing what they should do,” said Fukada. “The attack that sank Hiryu, and that raid on Truk are just the beginning. If we bow out of this, sir, that ship can do irreparable harm to our navy here. It’s January of 1943. The Americans are finally back on their feet and beginning to go on the offensive. The first of the Essex class carriers have joined their fleet. The war is out there, sir, and the Russians mean to influence its course in any way they can. They are clearly an enemy of Japan.”
“Have you both considered the consequences of all this? Every breath we take here is a theft from history. We don’t belong here!”
“No sir,” said Fukada, “we do not, but neither do the Russians. Yet we are here, and they are here. Now what are we going to do about that? You’ve got two of our most modern carriers out there, and those F-35’s you just received from the Americans make this task force invincible.”
“How ironic,” said Kita. “If I were to fight now on the side of Japan, the Americans will have handed us the rope in 2021 that we use to hang them here in 1943. But power is a two edged sword, Lieutenant Commander. Have you considered that we might also have the power to force Japan to end this war—to negotiate?”
“We considered that,” said Harada. “But face it, Admiral, do you really think Tojo will listen to such a suggestion? And what will we do when he refuses our suggestion—attack our own navy to force the issue? I suppose Mister Fukada is correct in one thing, we would be seen as traitors if we ever chose that. Considering the Russian intervention here is already underway, I came to the decision that, at the very least, I had to defend the Imperial Fleet from Kirov. We tried our best, our missiles are wearing thin, but that was what we chose, and I don’t see that I would have done any different if I had it to do over.”
“Yes…” said Kita, a distant look in his eye. “Tojo, the Army, all that intrigue around Hirohito. And by 1943, it’s a little late to be having second thoughts about the war. I’m sure Yamamoto has them, and Nagano as well. After all, Nagano opposed the Pearl Harbor Operation. He reluctantly agreed to the Strike South Plan, but urged it be done without attacking the United States, until that was shown to be impossible. Yamamoto threatened to resign if he could not attack the American fleet at Hawaii. It was all ours the first six months, then we reaped the whirlwind.”