Turning Point (Kirov Series Book 22)

by John Schettler

  “Because it is the truth,” said Harada flatly. “Yes, we could have lied to you tonight, and perhaps you would have believed that lie, at least for a while, until you had tested that story to the extreme and found it to be a falsehood.”

  “So instead you concoct an utter fantasy?”

  “No sir, instead I simply related the fact of the matter. What I have told you is as real and true as the deck of this ship, built with materials, I might add, that do not even exist today. I could show you our computers, machines that process and analyze the signals received from our radars. We use them in that capacity, and for many other tasks, and they have not even been invented. Yet, they are here. I can place your hand on one, show you how it operates, and you will be unable to dismiss it as a fantasy, I assure you, any more than you can dismiss what we showed you this night. Reality bites, Admiral. It leaves its teeth marks in you, no matter whether you believe in it, or not. The men who died on those planes got the worst of it tonight, and that was a difficult thing for me to do—a difficult thing for me to order my men to do.”

  “To strike down our enemies is every man’s duty and honor,” said Ugaki.

  “Well sir, here is another thing you may find difficult to believe. In our day, the Americans were not our enemies, but our stalwart allies. In fact, the radars and missile systems used on this ship were first developed by the United States in the late 20th Century, and that technology was then shared with the Japanese Navy. So it was more than ironic that I just used American designed missiles from a future neither of you could ever see or comprehend, to kill American made bombers in a past that I still struggle to believe. We all do. Each day we awake and cannot believe what is before our eyes. Each night we sleep and think to dream this all away, but when we open our eyes, there sits the battleship Yamato, a ship that cannot exist, at least as far as we are concerned. It sailed these waters for the last time on April 7, 1945.”

  “What are you saying?” Ugaki stood up, his eyes flashing with anger.

  “I am saying Yamato was sunk by the American naval air force on that date. It was struck by no less than nineteen torpedoes, off the coast of Okinawa as our nation fought a last terrible battle for our survival before the end came, and with a terror that neither of you can imagine. In telling you this you will have the answer to the riddle you just posed, Admiral Yamamoto. Why tell a man the impossible when he might have swallowed the improbable? Because to tell you the truth, and to have you accept it as fact, then we have yet one more weapon at our disposal here—information. The war you are fighting now is our history. It is all written up in books sitting down in the ship’s library. You can go there with me if you wish and read them. Perhaps even see photographs of yourselves that have yet to be taken. Would that convince you? Would such a shock finally force you to accept what I have told you is the truth? And it may also shock you even more now to know that I can tell you the day and hour that each of you are fated to die.”

  Chapter 29

  The things they were hearing now sat scornfully upon the mountain of outrage these men have piled before us, thought Admiral Ugaki. How dare they say such things, speak of the death of the flagship of the fleet, speak of our own demise like this? If Yamamoto were not here, I would surely take this man’s head. I would strike a man five times in the face with my fist for simply failing to salute properly, yet look at the latitude Yamamoto extends these men! To kill them here and now would, of course, be unpardonable, so I must defer to the Fleet Commander’s wishes and hide behind a thin veil of manners. Yet I will be quite the ugly bride, and both these men will certainly know it. Does Yamamoto believe any of this nonsense? Why does he even treat with these men any further? We should simply order them to go slit their bellies and then commandeer this vessel, begin an investigation as to how, when, and where it was really designed and built, and find out who is behind it. Doesn’t the Admiral see that?

  “Now you begin to try even my patience,” said Yamamoto, much to Ugaki’s relief. “It is never polite to speak of another man’s death, that is unless you are prepared to take his life.”

  Harada bowed deeply. “I mean no disrespect, but it was necessary to convey to you the degree to which the knowledge we possess can be useful. Had I come to you with the story you suggested a moment ago, saying this ship was a secret project within our own government, then you could never truly believe any of what I must now tell you. I had grave doubts about revealing what I will say next, and again, I beg your forbearance. Try to hear what I say in light of the great undertaking you personally set in motion when you insisted that Japan should attack the Americans at Pearl Harbor. I know you had your own reservations concerning this war. I know that you believed our fighting spirit—seishin—would push the blood in our veins as we strove for a victory that might be beyond our grasp. Many others had such reservations, men like Admiral Hara, who came to Admiral Ugaki’s cabin aboard Nagato after the senior officers of the fleet were addressed at Hiroshima Bay. I was not there to hear that speech, because I was not yet born to this world.”

  “How can you know this?” said the stern faced Ugaki. “That was a private meeting, which now leads me to accept my suspicion that you are all operatives of the Kempeitai!”

  “No sir, as artful and intrusive as they may be, not one man among them would know anything about what I will now reveal here. Hara expressed his doubts about waging total war. He asked if we might not simply strike south to seize the resources of Indonesia, while avoiding action in the Philippines against the Americans, but you told him it was too late to change the plans, that every diplomatic option had run its course, that we now had no choice except this war with the United States. A week after that conversation you began writing Senso Roku, the Seaweed of War, your personal diary.”

  “What? Then you are a spy, as I have long suspected. How else could you know this?” He looked at Yamamoto now, his eyes wide. “You see? The Kempeitai are everywhere, and this fantastic story spun out here is simply a distraction. Now they begin to reveal who they truly are.”

  “Sir, with all respect, we are not members of the Kempeitai. I also know that you both had entertained the same reservations expressed by Hara, and wonder whether this war will turn out to be a victory cup or a bitter dose for the future empire.” In saying that last bit, the Captain was making a direct quote from Ugaki’s own diary, and he cast a wary glance at him as he did so.

  “I know this because I have read your war diary, Admiral Ugaki, and not because we are agents spying on your personal affairs. No. Your diary was published and widely circulated after the war. It is history. A copy of everything you will one day come to write in it now resides in our ship’s library. I will not speak further of this, firstly out of respect for your privacy, and secondly because we have seen that things are different here now. That volcano, for example, was never supposed to erupt. There never was a Russian ship dueling with our navy in the north. Siberia never invaded Kamchatka, largely because we never had troops there, and they already owned all that territory. Hiryu was not sunk after Pearl Harbor as you say here, nor was Mutsu and the cruiser Chikuma damaged as you spoke of earlier. So from what we can see, the history is different, and it may not re-write itself as we know it. Therefore, your account of it may differ considerably if you continue to set your thoughts down in that diary, particularly if you allow us to make yet one more proposal.”

  “Another proposal?” Yamamoto forced a smile, deeply disturbed now by what this man was saying. How could he have known about something as private as Ugaki’s personal diary. How could he have the effrontery to ever mention it openly like this if he did have knowledge of it. And now this claim that it was all published history neatly dovetails into their other impossible story, the grand theater in which they beckon me to take a part.

  “What proposal?” he said, wanting to hear these men out before he finally decided their fate.

  Ugaki was barely managing to contain his rage, but he forced himself to sit d
own again, and reached for the saké himself, in spite of Yamamoto’s disapproving glance. It was the one chink in the otherwise unassailable fortress Ugaki stood watch on, his aspect always stern and expressionless, never revealing his emotion or inner thoughts. That he had shown such anger and frustration here was evidence that he was most upset with these events, and Yamamoto knew there would certainly be repercussions.

  “Sir, we know of your own views concerning this war, and our prospects for victory. America has been struck a heavy blow, and they will rise now with great rage to prosecute this war. You yourself know this, and even though our present navy is now second to no other fleet in this world, that will not always be the case. The industrial might of the United States, and the vast resources they have at their disposal, will soon make any real victory in this war impossible for Japan. If we do fight on, it will be to our utter destruction and shame. This is what we now hope to avoid, for like Admiral Ugaki’s diary, we know the entire history of this war, every battle, every decision and its outcome, every mistake and failure, every brilliant thrust. It is all history, and a fate that we sincerely hope we can avoid now. This is why, after finding ourselves here, we come to you so boldly, speaking like drunken fools, yet with the hope that you will still hear us and realize the potential we have before us. With this ship, you can re-write that history in a way that might save our nation.”

  “You have intimated twice now that the outcome of this war leads to our destruction,” said Yamamoto. “It is as if it is all finished and resolved. Humoring you for the moment, tell us what you claim to know.”

  “Everything sir, at least as it once happened. We know that you hold to the notion of kensho, the daring and artful blow that can knock down your enemy with one strike. It was this thinking that led you to believe the attack on Pearl Harbor would smash the American Fleet before it could intervene in any effective way to oppose the Strike South plan. In this you were correct, and you will now please forgive me if I claim to be putting thoughts into your head, but we came to understand that your desire for this one great and final blow will now lead you to plan an operation, in just a few months, that will seek a decisive battle with what remains of the American fleet. In that battle, Japan will suffer a catastrophic defeat.”

  “I see…” said Yamamoto. “And just where will I fight this battle?”

  “Sir, in the history we know, it was fought over Midway, Operation MI. You will send the Kido Butai east again, hoping to find and destroy the American carriers, but in that battle we lose the cream of our fleet carriers, Hiryu, Soryu, Kaga and Akagi. Yet you tell me Hiryu is already sunk, so as I have said, the history we know is already different.”

  Yamamoto inclined his head, seeing Ugaki take yet another sip of saké, but saying nothing about it. “And after this battle?”

  Harada now looked to his First Officer, who had prepared for this possible meeting by reviewing the history. “A long defensive grind,” said Fukada. “Our ability to conduct offensive operations is severely limited. The Americans, however, quickly replace any losses. In fact, at this moment they have twelve more fleet carriers building in their shipyards, and they will just be the leading edge of the storm that will soon come for us. They will deploy twenty-six in what will be called their new Essex class fleet carrier series, nine more in their smaller Independence class light carriers series, and these will all be added to the ships they presently have. Beyond this, they will build more battleships, cruisers, and destroyers and submarines in droves. They will use this force to put thousands of naval aircraft into the skies over this ocean, and they will eventually destroy the Japanese navy as an effective fighting force. We will see them take back one island outpost after another, bypassing those they do not deem suitable for their real war winning strategy.”

  “And what is that?”

  “Strategic bombing, sir. The Americans will develop a new long range bomber, the B-29. Once they take back the Marianas, they will develop a cowardly strategy of unrestricted bombing of Japanese cities—fire bombing. Tokyo will be literally burned to the ground, along with many other cities, and then late in the war, they will develop a terrible new weapon that will enable them to incinerate an entire city with only one single bomber. That may sound as unbelievable as everything else we have said, but I can show you documents from our library concerning this, photographs of the actual bombing taken by American planes, and images of what happened on the ground when this weapon was used against us.”

  “In effect,” said Harada, “our nation was devastated, humbled, and forced to surrender to avoid the certainty of complete destruction. After that, Japan itself was occupied by the United States military, presided over by a military governor—one General Douglas MacArthur.”

  “A new constitution was imposed on us,” said Fukada. “We were forbidden to design or deploy military forces possessing offensive weapons, which is one reason why this ship, Takami, has fleet defense as its primary role.”

  “Eventually the Americans become our friends and allies,” said Harada, “opposing other enemies that arise in our time.”

  “What enemies?” asked Yamamoto.

  “China, and its ally Russia.”

  “China?”

  “Yes sir, the war there is already a quagmire for the Japanese army, where most of our ground forces are deployed. And it was very bitter, with atrocities that the Chinese will never quite really forget or forgive. In our day, China’s military is very formidable, and they are the new Rising Sun in the Pacific, with a navy that is much bigger than Japan’s. This ship was built to try and address that balance, and as war seemed imminent, we were on heightened alert. Yet now we find ourselves in the midst of a war we could never have imagined ourselves fighting. Now we find ourselves at war with history itself. If my supposition is correct, and the Russian ship plaguing you in the north appeared here as our ship did, then someone else is at war with the history here as well—Vladimir Karpov, a man from our time, and not of this world. He has already put Hiryu at the bottom of the sea, and if not stopped, what else might he change?”

  Yamamoto nodded his head. “What then do you propose?”

  Harada hesitated briefly, looking over at Fukada, then spoke. “Make peace, sir. End the war now while Japan is at the apex of its imperial expansion. Find a way to come to terms with the United States.”

  “Then you came here seeking this meeting, with this ship and its wonder weapons, in the hope of persuading me to negotiate terms with the United States?”

  “Yes sir, you are the only one with the prestige and authority who might do so, or so we believed, knowing the history. In a letter to Ryoichi Sasakawa, the financier and business man with whom you are acquainted, you yourself wrote that: ‘To make victory certain, we would have to march into Washington and dictate the terms of peace in the White House.’ Well sir, I do not think we can ever march to Washington, but we might be invited there by the Americans, and, if we do not attempt to dictate terms, but generously negotiate in good faith, we might have peace instead of the destruction of our homeland.”

  “And do you think the Americans will seriously consider such a proposal?”

  “Perhaps not, but if such a course were pursued as fervently as we now plan our war, there might be at least the hope of holding on to the victories we have already won, and yet obtaining peace instead of destruction.”

  “Not likely,” said Ugaki now, finishing his third small toasting glass of saké. “Realizing this is all nothing more than a fool’s discourse, I will nonetheless join in, the saké tempering my anger, which is fortunate for the two of you at the moment. I do not believe the Americans will ever permit us to retain the territories we have already occupied, nor will the British. They will demand the return of Hong Kong and Malaya, and also demand that we withdraw our troops from Burma, Indonesia, and every other place we have taken in this brilliant offensive. As for the Americans, this General MacArthur you spoke of as our future military governor would never per
mit us to retain the Philippines, and they will want back Guam, Wake Island, and all the rest. You claim to have read my mind, Captain. Yet now I say the same thing to you that I said to Hara, it is too late. The water is already under the bridge, as the Americans might say. We could never relinquish these conquered territories without lasting shame, and so now if we must fight the Americans to retain our honor, so be it.”

  “MacArthur will not be a problem,” said Fukada darkly. “We can see to that.”

  “What are you saying?” asked Yamamoto.

  “The history we know records that he will attempt to escape from the Philippines. He will come here, to this very island of Mindanao, and in a matter of a few days time. The Americans will send B-17 bombers to the one airfield they still retain here, Del Monte on the north coast. If you act quickly, occupy that field and interdict the sea lanes leading to it, MacArthur can be eliminated before he ever gets a chance to become our lord and master. And with Takami at our disposal, we can make certain he is either killed or made our prisoner.”

  Now even Harada looked at his First Officer with surprise evident on his face. “Lieutenant Commander,” he said quietly. “We have not discussed this.”

  “No sir,” said Fukada, “we have not. I only discovered it in my research a few hours ago after we engaged those B-17s. But now, knowing what I have just said, we cannot allow this opportunity to escape us. Can we? If we do so, then we would be the fools these Admirals already take us to be. Let us show them otherwise.”