What I meant when I had said that the Russians created the stab-in-the-back myth instead of the Germans was that in this timeline it would have been the Russian Imperial Army and the conservative forces in Russia that would have been the ones that created the stab-in-the-back myth instead of the German Imperial Army and the German conservative forces.
A Second Sunrise: Taiwan of 2020 Sent Back to 1911
- Thread starter ChrisProvidence
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- Original Modern Post-1900
ChrisProvidence
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In a way, it's kind of a mix between the two.
Yeah, it's the Russian army and conservatives pushing it, but it's also them covering their own asses.
That, and being pissed at the Tsar for the lack of pre-planning.
Which was then pushed by two officers who are known in our timeline for being massive anti Semites.
Yeah, it's the Russian army and conservatives pushing it, but it's also them covering their own asses.
That, and being pissed at the Tsar for the lack of pre-planning.
Which was then pushed by two officers who are known in our timeline for being massive anti Semites.
I had previously given a basic explanation on some of these factors.
What Exactly is Happening in Japan? A Thread (On Twitter)
ChrisProvidence
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OSINT/HISTINT East Asia
@OSINTEastAsia
Okay, info is scarce, but I'll try to do a quick summary of just what on Earth is going on in Japan (THREAD):
1/? Riots. Lots of riots in major cities. Turns out getting your army slaughtered in Manchuria is bad for public support.
2/? Overextension. The IJA seems overextended. They only have a certain number of regular troops, and thousands of them got slaughtered in Manchuria, so they started conscription.
3/? Draft Riots. While the population was initially supportive, news of the rapid defeats quickly soured public support. Not to mention that conscription is seldom popular.
4/? Imprisoning the Mayor. Due to his anti-militaristic statements, Mayor Ozaki Yukio was imprisoned by the Katsura administration. While some disagreed with him, they still opposed this. Ozaki is a rallying figure for anti-war ppl.
5/? Retreat From Korea. Due to the overextension and the riots in Korea and Japan, the IJA had to choose between the two. Aerial footage says they chose Japan.
6/? Defections. After the police were unable to crush the riots, Katsura sent in the IJA. However, some soldiers defected, according to journalists in Tokyo.
7/? Kempeitai. The "Japanese Gestapo" are around right now, and odds are they were in Korea. They might be headed to Japan to ensure no further defections.
8/? Popular Sentiment. If HISTINT is anything to go by, people already thought Katsura was a corrupt warmongerer. Now even more do. Also the Japanese public loathed the Kempeitai.
9/? Morale. While the Kempeitai can limit defections, the morale of the average IJA soldier is probably crap after retreating and taking losses. Might not want to shoot their own people.
10/? Emperor MIA. Emperor Meiji died in 1912. So far, the Emperor has been quiet. No news has been published about him. Illness? Whatever it is, he has been quiet.
11/? Katsura? Since the Emperor has not requested Katsura resign, he is still in charge. It seems he has not sent envoys to negotiate so far.
12/? Kuyedao. Kuyedao (Sakhalin in RUS or Karafuto in JPN) has been fully occupied after the IJA retreated and the Russians gave up their half.
13/? Korea. Despite the riots and calls for independence, Japan has effectively pulled out of Korea, and the NRA is moving to reinforce partisans.
14/END What now? IDK, but it seems Katsura will try to hold onto power with the IJA. And then what? Korea will be free and Manchuria will be Chinese. GL getting those back.
@OSINTEastAsia
Okay, info is scarce, but I'll try to do a quick summary of just what on Earth is going on in Japan (THREAD):
1/? Riots. Lots of riots in major cities. Turns out getting your army slaughtered in Manchuria is bad for public support.
2/? Overextension. The IJA seems overextended. They only have a certain number of regular troops, and thousands of them got slaughtered in Manchuria, so they started conscription.
3/? Draft Riots. While the population was initially supportive, news of the rapid defeats quickly soured public support. Not to mention that conscription is seldom popular.
4/? Imprisoning the Mayor. Due to his anti-militaristic statements, Mayor Ozaki Yukio was imprisoned by the Katsura administration. While some disagreed with him, they still opposed this. Ozaki is a rallying figure for anti-war ppl.
5/? Retreat From Korea. Due to the overextension and the riots in Korea and Japan, the IJA had to choose between the two. Aerial footage says they chose Japan.
6/? Defections. After the police were unable to crush the riots, Katsura sent in the IJA. However, some soldiers defected, according to journalists in Tokyo.
7/? Kempeitai. The "Japanese Gestapo" are around right now, and odds are they were in Korea. They might be headed to Japan to ensure no further defections.
8/? Popular Sentiment. If HISTINT is anything to go by, people already thought Katsura was a corrupt warmongerer. Now even more do. Also the Japanese public loathed the Kempeitai.
9/? Morale. While the Kempeitai can limit defections, the morale of the average IJA soldier is probably crap after retreating and taking losses. Might not want to shoot their own people.
10/? Emperor MIA. Emperor Meiji died in 1912. So far, the Emperor has been quiet. No news has been published about him. Illness? Whatever it is, he has been quiet.
11/? Katsura? Since the Emperor has not requested Katsura resign, he is still in charge. It seems he has not sent envoys to negotiate so far.
12/? Kuyedao. Kuyedao (Sakhalin in RUS or Karafuto in JPN) has been fully occupied after the IJA retreated and the Russians gave up their half.
13/? Korea. Despite the riots and calls for independence, Japan has effectively pulled out of Korea, and the NRA is moving to reinforce partisans.
14/END What now? IDK, but it seems Katsura will try to hold onto power with the IJA. And then what? Korea will be free and Manchuria will be Chinese. GL getting those back.
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I believe Jilin is a province in Manchuria, not the Chinese name for Sakhalin. The Chinese name for Sakhalin would be 庫頁島. (Kùyèdǎo)
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- Location
- ' New Eden
Screams in OPSEC
That's bound to generate leaks. Also an undisciplined force that is liable to break if it comes under attack.
ChrisProvidence
Time Traveling Unequal Treaty Destroyer
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Good point.
Looks like China gets to join the "Did Not Think This Through" Club.
Looks like China gets to join the "Did Not Think This Through" Club.
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If Meiji is dead his son, Taisho will be on the throne. Unfortunately, while Taisho did have a love of the west and its culture and seemed to take his role as Emperor seriously, he had a debilitating medical condition that kept him aloof from ruling and constantly sickly. Though he stopped attending public events in 1919, he's at his best right now I believe meaning though he may be unable to execute his duties at the moment. Though Taisho's meningitis might be able to be treated to an extent which might further improve his capabilities and extend his life span by an unknown amount plus endear good will between Taiwan and Japan.
ChrisProvidence
Time Traveling Unequal Treaty Destroyer
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The good news is that Meiji isn't dead.
The bad news is that he's practically at death's door at this point.
The worse news (if you're Katsura Taro) is that he's finally decided to put his foot down in the next chapter.
Odds are this is going to be something that the military Intelligence Bureau's HISTINT is going to keep an eye on.
Especially when they want to patch things up once the war is over.
Chapter 33: Responsibilities
ChrisProvidence
Time Traveling Unequal Treaty Destroyer
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- He/Him
Assembly of the Nobility, Irkutsk, Irkutsk Governorate, Russian Empire, 11 November 1911
Song Jiaoren looked at the document. Written in both Chinese and Russian and signed by both delegations, it would finally put an end to this pointless war. Now, it wouldn't bring back the hundreds of Chinese soldiers and tens of thousands, if not hundreds of thousands, of Russian soldiers who had died in the process, but it would stem the bleeding, at least.
Now, he was no general, but he would say that the conflict was a resounding success. What else could he call it when China had gotten everything they wanted for a fraction of the casualties? They got Aigun, Haishenwai, Kuyedao, and the Russian railways as reparations, while the Russians for their part had to surrender their extraterritoriality rights.
And what did this cost them? Food, fuel, and about half the population of those areas? Granted, that last one was a bit of a drawback, as they had offered citizenship and equal protection under the law to any who stayed. Then again, the Russians over there still remembered what happened in Aigun, and they didn't seem like they wanted to remain in case the Chinese changed their mind.
Of course, the Islanders had also pointed out the silver lining of it all, as there was always the risk that the remaining Russians could form a "Fifth Column'' in Aigun, Haishenwai, and Kuyedao. Song, for his part, didn't agree with the assessment, pointing out that it was, in his words, "Quite literally what the Russians did to our own people."
Still, about half the population stayed around, and these were largely the non-Russian population, which meant that these three areas now had a sizable Ukrainian population, of all things, coupled with the Ainu on Kuyedao, as well as Koreans and the Chinese who'd stuck around.
Those, from what he remembered, were his biggest headache. After all, they were the survivors of the "Aigun Massacre," as Sun had called it, robbers who had such a grudge against the Russians that they allied with the Japanese against Russia. To his (and Sun's… and in all likelihood, Huang's as well) relief, they either had the sense or the practicality to side with the NRA against the Japanese and Russians in exchange for pardons if they laid down their arms when this was over.
Which, now that Song thought about it, was likely one of the reasons so many Russians had decided to leave. Even if the NRA wasn't going to seek revenge, the thought of living alongside the people who have been trying to rob you for a decade didn't sound too good to the vast majority of the Russians there.
The rest of the locals, however, seemed at least content to stay, so long as the Chinese maintained their part of the deal and left them alone outside of laws and taxation. Which, if Song was being honest, was all well and good in his book, and Nanjing seemed to agree.
And now? Now there wasn't much left to do.
Pictures? They had all posed for one, with Russians on one side and Chinese on the other. One of the Islanders even had the foresight to bring a portable device that had developed and printed the picture in seconds, so that he could hand the Russians a colored photograph.
Receptions? There wasn't much to do when most of the Russians couldn't speak Chinese and most of the Chinese couldn't speak Russian. Besides some free food, there wasn't much else for him to do, and that was assuming the Russians were even in a talking mood.
The shouts outside the building were evidence of its absence today.
So all that was left was to travel outside, enter their helicopters, and fly back to Urga. Which, as far as Song was concerned, was well enough for him. The city was anything but happy once the news of the terms had come out, and he wanted to get out of here as soon as possible.
Unfortunately, that meant going outside and walking to the helicopters. Sure, the Russians had the decency to keep the crowd at bay, but he could hear bits and pieces of what they were chanting. Slogans that amounted to, "Not One Inch! Not One Kopek!" "We WIll Fight!" and even, "The Tsar Has Failed Again!" once the terms had gotten out.
Of course, that was only half of the protesters, because there was another group of angry Russians shouting things like, "No to War!" "No to Bloodshed!" and "No War but People's War!" That last one, one of the Islander aides had told him, was a socialist slogan.
Of course, that latter group was nowhere to be seen today. Whether they had been chased away, arrested, or simply didn't show up was none of his business.
Between the crowd below him and the treaty on the helicopter with him, he knew what was more important, even if Sun and the Provisional Government signing it was just a formality.
And the Russians? They didn't have much of a choice, did they? At least hundreds of thousands won't starve or freeze this winter.
He could still see the crowd, even as the helicopter picked up altitude and flew away. If he was being honest, he could have sworn that he could still hear the echoes of their chants over the sound of the rotors.
I don't think they will care, though.
Seoul, Provisional Republic of Korea, 18 November 1911
The phrase "We will be welcomed like liberators" was a meme at this point, one that Le had heard countless times while he was serving in Iraq. Good old Donald "May-He-And-Kissinger-Burn-In-Hell" Rumsfeld had said that when he was a kid. Or was it Cheney?
Honestly, he didn't really care which one it was.
But it was actually true in this case. Ever since the Japanese had pulled out and Vladivostok surrendered, the First Volunteer "Lincolnites" Battalion had moved into Korea virtually unopposed at worst.
By the time they'd reached Pyongyang and linked up with the Korean commandos, they were welcomed with fanfare, free food, and other forms of hospitality that he, Diamond, and Cohen had to drag their men away from.
From what Captain Madden had told him, this was even easier than the '03 invasion of Iraq. Or at least compared to the stories from Captain Madden's father, anyways. Apparently Madden's old man was part of the initial push into Baghdad all those years ago… ahead… whatever.
All that was left was bringing the commandos and their recruits to Seoul, where they were, once again, welcomed as heroes by the locals and the rest of the commandos. Not that he was complaining, of course. It beat fighting the Japanese, any day.
Now, all that was left was to help garrison the city while the rest of the column spread out on the way to Busan. Apparently the Japanese weren't done pulling out there, if the flying Apaches were anything to go by.
Still, downtime was downtime, and some of the commandos had gotten ahold of the Japanese stash of sake, which was thankfully not poisoned as one final "Screw You" to the locals like some of the wells were. Which left the Lincolnites with the wonderful task of making sure the men didn't do anything stupid.
Or to be more precise, Diamond and Cohen would be doing that while Le was off-duty in the HQ. It was a decent enough place, once they got the generators in. Even had tea and coffee airdropped from the ROCS Huang Xing, too.
But at these hours, there weren't that many in here besides an officer drinking tea all by his lonesome.
"You speak English?" Le asked him. "Can't speak Korean."
"Yes," the officer told him. His accent sounded familiar, almost like some people he knew back in Irvine. "Name's Park."
"Le Van Ninh, but most just call me 'Le Ninh' or 'Le.' Mind if I join you?"
"Go ahead. You're with the Americans, right?"
"Yup. First Battalion, but most just call us the 'Lincolnites' now."
"Thanks for the ride." Park said in an all-too-familiar tone. "Beats walking."
"Yeah it does. Okay, I'm not going to beat around the bush. How are you holding up?"
"You want my honest answer?" Le nodded. "I feel like shit. Fighting, I'm fine with it, but the shit I've seen once we started taking on recruits? Went wrong."
"How bad we talking?" Le didn't want to intrude, but he'd seen this plenty of times before. Kids green as grass would join the YPG without any experience, only to have it hit them in the face once they fought their first battle. And Park looked about as young as most of them; "Blood and guts?"
"Executions."
"Shit."
"Yeah," Park breathed. "We took on recruits and hit an armory. Armed them with the rifles we captured and started picking off the IJA. All the while, the cities start rioting, now that the bulk of the garrison went north."
Le just nodded, keeping his mouth shut as the Korean soldier spoke.
"But then the Japanese start retreating. We let them leave, but once that battleship left the horizon? We moved in, going after anyone and everyone who was even suspected of collaborating. Fuck, if we didn't show up, there's a good chance you would've been welcomed with lynched bodies instead of cheering crowds."
"Lynch mobs? Really?"
"Not literally, but basically yes." Park took another sip of his tea. "Eventually, my men and I managed to get control of things, since we were the only ones with guns in the city. Tensions were high, but we managed to get ahold of things. Well, except for one thing."
"The collaborators."
"Yeah. My men are well-disciplined, and the recruits are fast learners. But we couldn't fight off an entire city. Odds are, the recruits would have mutinied if we let the collaborators go."So, I did the next best thing I could do at the time."
"Okay… Define 'Next Best Thing…'"
"Trials. We were the closest thing we had to a government at the time, so we decided to set up tribunals. Kempeitai burned a lot of evidence, so we used what we had, plus witness testimony to determine who was guilty and who was innocent."
"How many were innocent?"
"Most of them, Le. I have no love for the Japanese, but Chen and Li reminded us in training that most of the people who collaborated did things like bureaucracy or running sanitation. The things people need to keep things running."
"Yeah, that makes sense. Wait, who's Chen?"
"Colonel Chen. Commander of the 66th Marines. We trained with him before the war."
Oh, that crazy bastard.
"Okay… What happened to those guys?"
"At worst? We just tossed the worst offenders in jail. The rest of them are under our protective custody right now."
"To keep them from getting lynched?" Park nodded. "And the rest of them?"
"The ones who worked for the IJA and the Kempeitai?" It was Le's turn to nod. "Death for all the ones we could prove were guilty. Jail for the rest. The IJA and Kempeitai burned most of the evidence, so we had to do our own investigations and factor in all the testimony."
"Without triggering a lynch mob, right?" Park nodded again. "Damn. So, it worked out alright, right?"
Park shook his head.
"What happened?"
"We shot all the ones we could prove worked for the Kempeitai and IJA, but there's a good chance a lot of them got away with it because the IJA burned the evidence, and we might have shot somebody who was innocent because there was enough testimony against them."
"And even then," Park continued, "We had to publicly execute them by firing squad because there was almost another riot."
"I see…" Le needed a moment to think to himself. "Well, you did what you had to do, given the circumstances. I know how you feel."
"No offense," Park told the Vietnamese-American, "But what do you know about these kinds of things?"
"You remember Rojava, back before we all got sent back in time?"
"I think so. Syria, right?"
"Yeah. I fought with the Kurds for a few years. Great guys, but they were pretty crappily-armed, all things considered. Plenty of US air support, though."
Park just nodded.
"So my unit was moving into Raqqa once the city was taken. Still had to secure the place and clear out any stragglers. So we come across this guy. Old jihadist, probably in his fifties. Guy's wounded."
Park nodded again at the story. Only this time, his eyes were focused on Le instead of his drink.
"So my guys are worn-out and tired. Shit, we barely had any medical supplies left after the battle, and the medics were busy." Le left out the parts where he had to treat his own guys. Park had enough on his plate as it is. "And for all we know, this guy was going to pull out a grenade and take us with him. So, you know what we do?"
"What?"
"I pick up my AK, aim, and shoot him in the head. Wait a few seconds, and it turns out he didn't have any explosives on him."
"But you didn't know. And you didn't have the resources to do anything else, did you?"
"Not really," Le said with a quiet chuckle. To be honest, it came out more as a quiet laugh. "You get where I'm going with this, right?"
"You want my honest opinion, Le?" The volunteer nodded to him. "I don't."
"You did the best you could with what you had. That's all you could do. That make sense?"
"I think so. I don't know if I believe it, yet."
"It takes time, Park." Still, he could see the young commando was looking down again. "Look, you seem like a good kid. I don't want to see you kicking yourself for the rest of your life."
"I get it." From the sound of him, Park seemed to be honest enough. "Not much I can do, anyways."
"Yeah," Le told him with a tired smile. "If I've learned anything in these last few months, it's that nothing good ever happens if you keep dwelling on the past. Got it?"
"Makes sense," Park told him. He continued to stare at his drink, but at least he had a tired smile. "That an order?"
"Sure, why not? Why, you outrank me, or something?"
"I'm a Captain and you're a Sergeant."
"Good advice doesn't care about rank," Le said with a wry grin on his face. "Besides, we're not in the same military anymore."
"Fair enough," Park relented, then he finished the rest of his tea. "Thanks, Le."
Office of the Prime Minister, Tokyo, Empire of Japan, 21 November 1911
General Helmuth von Moltke once wrote that "No plan of operations extends with any certainty beyond the first encounter with the main enemy forces."
Katsura Taro knew that all too well. After all, he had read von Moltke's essay himself in the original German.
Yet here he was, holding all that his plans had accomplished in his hands. A simple letter from the Emperor.
Looking back on it, the plan was the best the generals could come up with on such short notice. What else could they do when they were overstretched in Korea and the Home Islands.
And so the order was given. Japanese troops, civilians, and what collaborators they could all fled to the coasts, with the garrison holding the line. All the while, they Koreans seemed more than content to wait in the mountains for them to leave.
But it was clear that they needed these men, more than anything else, and that was before Ozaki was released from prison.
The Mayor of Tokyo had been a thorn in his side ever since the war had started, yet now he was openly appealing to the soldiers to lay down their arms or join their former comrades in protecting the rioters.
But that? That wasn't what enraged him the most. No, that was the part where IJA units actually agreed with him and defected.
He couldn't believe it. And in all likelihood, he figured that Ozaki couldn't either.
Yet they kept defecting. Dozens, if not hundreds, by the day, until the Korean Garrison arrived.
That, he thought, would have been enough to staunch the bleeding and stabilize the front. At the bare minimum, the Kempeitai would surely be able to prevent any further defections.
It wasn't as if they could shoot down those damned planes dropping leaflets on the cities.
To their credit, the Kempeitai had done their job. Fewer and fewer IJA soldiers were defecting by the day.
Instead, they were deserting their posts and going home.
Truth be told, he knew that this was a possibility. Even before the riots the Japanese soldiers in Choson had particularly poor morale once news from the front had traveled south. And that was before they had to retreat from Choson with their tails between their legs.
And unlike Korea, these men actually had somewhere to go that wasn't teeming with Korean rebels in the mountains. Of course, the Kempeitai had tried to crush these revolts. Squads of Kempeitai soldiers traveled through the countryside and the cities and rounded up any deserters.
And then promptly had them dragged back to their units and publicly executed for desertion. It was a brutal method that certainly got the point across that desertion would mean a painful death at their hands.
It was a message that, while brutal, the common soldier was able to comprehend. If they wanted to desert their posts, they would have to go through the Kempeitai.
And to their credit, the Kempeitai had managed to get the point across. Units would no longer desert in the night and return to their homes.
Instead they murdered the Kempeitai soldiers, then deserted.
As much as he hated it, it did make a lot of sense. After defeats, bombings, riots, and being forced to fire upon their own people, it was only a matter of time until they hit their breaking point.
Truth be told, these were quite possibly the worst men he could have tasked with combating the riots, but did he have a choice? There weren't enough men on the Home Islands. Had he kept them in Korea, he ran the risk of even more of the IJA on the Home Islands defecting.
Truth be told, he almost envied them. At least they could walk away. A quick glance at the sword on his office wall was all he needed to know that he didn't have that luxury.
Instead, he could only hold two letters in his hand.
The first was a letter to Mayor Ozaki Yukio, requesting a truce while Katsura's administration negotiated terms with the Chinese and Koreans.
On it, he appealed to the mayor's desire for peace, and how despite their differences, they both didn't want Japan to fall into a civil war.
Along with several lines of begrudging respect for Ozaki's steadfast adherence to his personal beliefs. With emphasis on how a truce was in accord with Ozaki's beliefs, of course.
Much as Katsura utterly despised the very thought of the man, he could at least respect Ozaki's convictions.
The second was a letter from the Emperor himself, with all the pomp and formalities that came with it.
On it was a simple message:
End this madness at home and abroad.
Only then can you fall on your sword.
Song Jiaoren looked at the document. Written in both Chinese and Russian and signed by both delegations, it would finally put an end to this pointless war. Now, it wouldn't bring back the hundreds of Chinese soldiers and tens of thousands, if not hundreds of thousands, of Russian soldiers who had died in the process, but it would stem the bleeding, at least.
Now, he was no general, but he would say that the conflict was a resounding success. What else could he call it when China had gotten everything they wanted for a fraction of the casualties? They got Aigun, Haishenwai, Kuyedao, and the Russian railways as reparations, while the Russians for their part had to surrender their extraterritoriality rights.
And what did this cost them? Food, fuel, and about half the population of those areas? Granted, that last one was a bit of a drawback, as they had offered citizenship and equal protection under the law to any who stayed. Then again, the Russians over there still remembered what happened in Aigun, and they didn't seem like they wanted to remain in case the Chinese changed their mind.
Of course, the Islanders had also pointed out the silver lining of it all, as there was always the risk that the remaining Russians could form a "Fifth Column'' in Aigun, Haishenwai, and Kuyedao. Song, for his part, didn't agree with the assessment, pointing out that it was, in his words, "Quite literally what the Russians did to our own people."
Still, about half the population stayed around, and these were largely the non-Russian population, which meant that these three areas now had a sizable Ukrainian population, of all things, coupled with the Ainu on Kuyedao, as well as Koreans and the Chinese who'd stuck around.
Those, from what he remembered, were his biggest headache. After all, they were the survivors of the "Aigun Massacre," as Sun had called it, robbers who had such a grudge against the Russians that they allied with the Japanese against Russia. To his (and Sun's… and in all likelihood, Huang's as well) relief, they either had the sense or the practicality to side with the NRA against the Japanese and Russians in exchange for pardons if they laid down their arms when this was over.
Which, now that Song thought about it, was likely one of the reasons so many Russians had decided to leave. Even if the NRA wasn't going to seek revenge, the thought of living alongside the people who have been trying to rob you for a decade didn't sound too good to the vast majority of the Russians there.
The rest of the locals, however, seemed at least content to stay, so long as the Chinese maintained their part of the deal and left them alone outside of laws and taxation. Which, if Song was being honest, was all well and good in his book, and Nanjing seemed to agree.
And now? Now there wasn't much left to do.
Pictures? They had all posed for one, with Russians on one side and Chinese on the other. One of the Islanders even had the foresight to bring a portable device that had developed and printed the picture in seconds, so that he could hand the Russians a colored photograph.
Receptions? There wasn't much to do when most of the Russians couldn't speak Chinese and most of the Chinese couldn't speak Russian. Besides some free food, there wasn't much else for him to do, and that was assuming the Russians were even in a talking mood.
The shouts outside the building were evidence of its absence today.
So all that was left was to travel outside, enter their helicopters, and fly back to Urga. Which, as far as Song was concerned, was well enough for him. The city was anything but happy once the news of the terms had come out, and he wanted to get out of here as soon as possible.
Unfortunately, that meant going outside and walking to the helicopters. Sure, the Russians had the decency to keep the crowd at bay, but he could hear bits and pieces of what they were chanting. Slogans that amounted to, "Not One Inch! Not One Kopek!" "We WIll Fight!" and even, "The Tsar Has Failed Again!" once the terms had gotten out.
Of course, that was only half of the protesters, because there was another group of angry Russians shouting things like, "No to War!" "No to Bloodshed!" and "No War but People's War!" That last one, one of the Islander aides had told him, was a socialist slogan.
Of course, that latter group was nowhere to be seen today. Whether they had been chased away, arrested, or simply didn't show up was none of his business.
Between the crowd below him and the treaty on the helicopter with him, he knew what was more important, even if Sun and the Provisional Government signing it was just a formality.
And the Russians? They didn't have much of a choice, did they? At least hundreds of thousands won't starve or freeze this winter.
He could still see the crowd, even as the helicopter picked up altitude and flew away. If he was being honest, he could have sworn that he could still hear the echoes of their chants over the sound of the rotors.
I don't think they will care, though.
Seoul, Provisional Republic of Korea, 18 November 1911
The phrase "We will be welcomed like liberators" was a meme at this point, one that Le had heard countless times while he was serving in Iraq. Good old Donald "May-He-And-Kissinger-Burn-In-Hell" Rumsfeld had said that when he was a kid. Or was it Cheney?
Honestly, he didn't really care which one it was.
But it was actually true in this case. Ever since the Japanese had pulled out and Vladivostok surrendered, the First Volunteer "Lincolnites" Battalion had moved into Korea virtually unopposed at worst.
By the time they'd reached Pyongyang and linked up with the Korean commandos, they were welcomed with fanfare, free food, and other forms of hospitality that he, Diamond, and Cohen had to drag their men away from.
From what Captain Madden had told him, this was even easier than the '03 invasion of Iraq. Or at least compared to the stories from Captain Madden's father, anyways. Apparently Madden's old man was part of the initial push into Baghdad all those years ago… ahead… whatever.
All that was left was bringing the commandos and their recruits to Seoul, where they were, once again, welcomed as heroes by the locals and the rest of the commandos. Not that he was complaining, of course. It beat fighting the Japanese, any day.
Now, all that was left was to help garrison the city while the rest of the column spread out on the way to Busan. Apparently the Japanese weren't done pulling out there, if the flying Apaches were anything to go by.
Still, downtime was downtime, and some of the commandos had gotten ahold of the Japanese stash of sake, which was thankfully not poisoned as one final "Screw You" to the locals like some of the wells were. Which left the Lincolnites with the wonderful task of making sure the men didn't do anything stupid.
Or to be more precise, Diamond and Cohen would be doing that while Le was off-duty in the HQ. It was a decent enough place, once they got the generators in. Even had tea and coffee airdropped from the ROCS Huang Xing, too.
But at these hours, there weren't that many in here besides an officer drinking tea all by his lonesome.
"You speak English?" Le asked him. "Can't speak Korean."
"Yes," the officer told him. His accent sounded familiar, almost like some people he knew back in Irvine. "Name's Park."
"Le Van Ninh, but most just call me 'Le Ninh' or 'Le.' Mind if I join you?"
"Go ahead. You're with the Americans, right?"
"Yup. First Battalion, but most just call us the 'Lincolnites' now."
"Thanks for the ride." Park said in an all-too-familiar tone. "Beats walking."
"Yeah it does. Okay, I'm not going to beat around the bush. How are you holding up?"
"You want my honest answer?" Le nodded. "I feel like shit. Fighting, I'm fine with it, but the shit I've seen once we started taking on recruits? Went wrong."
"How bad we talking?" Le didn't want to intrude, but he'd seen this plenty of times before. Kids green as grass would join the YPG without any experience, only to have it hit them in the face once they fought their first battle. And Park looked about as young as most of them; "Blood and guts?"
"Executions."
"Shit."
"Yeah," Park breathed. "We took on recruits and hit an armory. Armed them with the rifles we captured and started picking off the IJA. All the while, the cities start rioting, now that the bulk of the garrison went north."
Le just nodded, keeping his mouth shut as the Korean soldier spoke.
"But then the Japanese start retreating. We let them leave, but once that battleship left the horizon? We moved in, going after anyone and everyone who was even suspected of collaborating. Fuck, if we didn't show up, there's a good chance you would've been welcomed with lynched bodies instead of cheering crowds."
"Lynch mobs? Really?"
"Not literally, but basically yes." Park took another sip of his tea. "Eventually, my men and I managed to get control of things, since we were the only ones with guns in the city. Tensions were high, but we managed to get ahold of things. Well, except for one thing."
"The collaborators."
"Yeah. My men are well-disciplined, and the recruits are fast learners. But we couldn't fight off an entire city. Odds are, the recruits would have mutinied if we let the collaborators go."So, I did the next best thing I could do at the time."
"Okay… Define 'Next Best Thing…'"
"Trials. We were the closest thing we had to a government at the time, so we decided to set up tribunals. Kempeitai burned a lot of evidence, so we used what we had, plus witness testimony to determine who was guilty and who was innocent."
"How many were innocent?"
"Most of them, Le. I have no love for the Japanese, but Chen and Li reminded us in training that most of the people who collaborated did things like bureaucracy or running sanitation. The things people need to keep things running."
"Yeah, that makes sense. Wait, who's Chen?"
"Colonel Chen. Commander of the 66th Marines. We trained with him before the war."
Oh, that crazy bastard.
"Okay… What happened to those guys?"
"At worst? We just tossed the worst offenders in jail. The rest of them are under our protective custody right now."
"To keep them from getting lynched?" Park nodded. "And the rest of them?"
"The ones who worked for the IJA and the Kempeitai?" It was Le's turn to nod. "Death for all the ones we could prove were guilty. Jail for the rest. The IJA and Kempeitai burned most of the evidence, so we had to do our own investigations and factor in all the testimony."
"Without triggering a lynch mob, right?" Park nodded again. "Damn. So, it worked out alright, right?"
Park shook his head.
"What happened?"
"We shot all the ones we could prove worked for the Kempeitai and IJA, but there's a good chance a lot of them got away with it because the IJA burned the evidence, and we might have shot somebody who was innocent because there was enough testimony against them."
"And even then," Park continued, "We had to publicly execute them by firing squad because there was almost another riot."
"I see…" Le needed a moment to think to himself. "Well, you did what you had to do, given the circumstances. I know how you feel."
"No offense," Park told the Vietnamese-American, "But what do you know about these kinds of things?"
"You remember Rojava, back before we all got sent back in time?"
"I think so. Syria, right?"
"Yeah. I fought with the Kurds for a few years. Great guys, but they were pretty crappily-armed, all things considered. Plenty of US air support, though."
Park just nodded.
"So my unit was moving into Raqqa once the city was taken. Still had to secure the place and clear out any stragglers. So we come across this guy. Old jihadist, probably in his fifties. Guy's wounded."
Park nodded again at the story. Only this time, his eyes were focused on Le instead of his drink.
"So my guys are worn-out and tired. Shit, we barely had any medical supplies left after the battle, and the medics were busy." Le left out the parts where he had to treat his own guys. Park had enough on his plate as it is. "And for all we know, this guy was going to pull out a grenade and take us with him. So, you know what we do?"
"What?"
"I pick up my AK, aim, and shoot him in the head. Wait a few seconds, and it turns out he didn't have any explosives on him."
"But you didn't know. And you didn't have the resources to do anything else, did you?"
"Not really," Le said with a quiet chuckle. To be honest, it came out more as a quiet laugh. "You get where I'm going with this, right?"
"You want my honest opinion, Le?" The volunteer nodded to him. "I don't."
"You did the best you could with what you had. That's all you could do. That make sense?"
"I think so. I don't know if I believe it, yet."
"It takes time, Park." Still, he could see the young commando was looking down again. "Look, you seem like a good kid. I don't want to see you kicking yourself for the rest of your life."
"I get it." From the sound of him, Park seemed to be honest enough. "Not much I can do, anyways."
"Yeah," Le told him with a tired smile. "If I've learned anything in these last few months, it's that nothing good ever happens if you keep dwelling on the past. Got it?"
"Makes sense," Park told him. He continued to stare at his drink, but at least he had a tired smile. "That an order?"
"Sure, why not? Why, you outrank me, or something?"
"I'm a Captain and you're a Sergeant."
"Good advice doesn't care about rank," Le said with a wry grin on his face. "Besides, we're not in the same military anymore."
"Fair enough," Park relented, then he finished the rest of his tea. "Thanks, Le."
Office of the Prime Minister, Tokyo, Empire of Japan, 21 November 1911
General Helmuth von Moltke once wrote that "No plan of operations extends with any certainty beyond the first encounter with the main enemy forces."
Katsura Taro knew that all too well. After all, he had read von Moltke's essay himself in the original German.
Yet here he was, holding all that his plans had accomplished in his hands. A simple letter from the Emperor.
Looking back on it, the plan was the best the generals could come up with on such short notice. What else could they do when they were overstretched in Korea and the Home Islands.
And so the order was given. Japanese troops, civilians, and what collaborators they could all fled to the coasts, with the garrison holding the line. All the while, they Koreans seemed more than content to wait in the mountains for them to leave.
But it was clear that they needed these men, more than anything else, and that was before Ozaki was released from prison.
The Mayor of Tokyo had been a thorn in his side ever since the war had started, yet now he was openly appealing to the soldiers to lay down their arms or join their former comrades in protecting the rioters.
But that? That wasn't what enraged him the most. No, that was the part where IJA units actually agreed with him and defected.
He couldn't believe it. And in all likelihood, he figured that Ozaki couldn't either.
Yet they kept defecting. Dozens, if not hundreds, by the day, until the Korean Garrison arrived.
That, he thought, would have been enough to staunch the bleeding and stabilize the front. At the bare minimum, the Kempeitai would surely be able to prevent any further defections.
It wasn't as if they could shoot down those damned planes dropping leaflets on the cities.
To their credit, the Kempeitai had done their job. Fewer and fewer IJA soldiers were defecting by the day.
Instead, they were deserting their posts and going home.
Truth be told, he knew that this was a possibility. Even before the riots the Japanese soldiers in Choson had particularly poor morale once news from the front had traveled south. And that was before they had to retreat from Choson with their tails between their legs.
And unlike Korea, these men actually had somewhere to go that wasn't teeming with Korean rebels in the mountains. Of course, the Kempeitai had tried to crush these revolts. Squads of Kempeitai soldiers traveled through the countryside and the cities and rounded up any deserters.
And then promptly had them dragged back to their units and publicly executed for desertion. It was a brutal method that certainly got the point across that desertion would mean a painful death at their hands.
It was a message that, while brutal, the common soldier was able to comprehend. If they wanted to desert their posts, they would have to go through the Kempeitai.
And to their credit, the Kempeitai had managed to get the point across. Units would no longer desert in the night and return to their homes.
Instead they murdered the Kempeitai soldiers, then deserted.
As much as he hated it, it did make a lot of sense. After defeats, bombings, riots, and being forced to fire upon their own people, it was only a matter of time until they hit their breaking point.
Truth be told, these were quite possibly the worst men he could have tasked with combating the riots, but did he have a choice? There weren't enough men on the Home Islands. Had he kept them in Korea, he ran the risk of even more of the IJA on the Home Islands defecting.
Truth be told, he almost envied them. At least they could walk away. A quick glance at the sword on his office wall was all he needed to know that he didn't have that luxury.
Instead, he could only hold two letters in his hand.
The first was a letter to Mayor Ozaki Yukio, requesting a truce while Katsura's administration negotiated terms with the Chinese and Koreans.
On it, he appealed to the mayor's desire for peace, and how despite their differences, they both didn't want Japan to fall into a civil war.
Along with several lines of begrudging respect for Ozaki's steadfast adherence to his personal beliefs. With emphasis on how a truce was in accord with Ozaki's beliefs, of course.
Much as Katsura utterly despised the very thought of the man, he could at least respect Ozaki's convictions.
The second was a letter from the Emperor himself, with all the pomp and formalities that came with it.
On it was a simple message:
End this madness at home and abroad.
Only then can you fall on your sword.
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ChrisProvidence
Time Traveling Unequal Treaty Destroyer
- Pronouns
- He/Him
Status of the Big 6 + 4 in Mid-November 1911:
RUS: "Fuck you, Tsar Nikolai! If you're dumb enough to blame General Brusilov for your own incompetence, you're a big enough schmuck to come to General Diterikh's Moscow Mutiny!"
FRA: *Happy Socialist sounds as China defeats three Empires*
UK: "Okay, Churchill, your job is to ensure that the Royal Navy doesn't get annihilated by whatever the Chinese have." "You want me to WHAT?!"
GER: "We're going to have to re-negotiate these treaties, aren't we?"
A-H: "We locked the doors when we fled the concessions, right?"
ITA: "Probably."
JPN: "You'll have to kill us Kempeitai agents if you want to desert!" "Okay."
USA: *Re-evaluating Pacific policy*
OTT: "You know, 'Sick Man of Eurasia' has a nice ring to it, Russia."
CHN: "Okay, good. Korea didn't dissolve into complete anarchy."
RUS: "Fuck you, Tsar Nikolai! If you're dumb enough to blame General Brusilov for your own incompetence, you're a big enough schmuck to come to General Diterikh's Moscow Mutiny!"
FRA: *Happy Socialist sounds as China defeats three Empires*
UK: "Okay, Churchill, your job is to ensure that the Royal Navy doesn't get annihilated by whatever the Chinese have." "You want me to WHAT?!"
GER: "We're going to have to re-negotiate these treaties, aren't we?"
A-H: "We locked the doors when we fled the concessions, right?"
ITA: "Probably."
JPN: "You'll have to kill us Kempeitai agents if you want to desert!" "Okay."
USA: *Re-evaluating Pacific policy*
OTT: "You know, 'Sick Man of Eurasia' has a nice ring to it, Russia."
CHN: "Okay, good. Korea didn't dissolve into complete anarchy."
Always a Bigger Fish
ChrisProvidence
Time Traveling Unequal Treaty Destroyer
- Pronouns
- He/Him
Office of the First Lord of the Admiralty, London, United Kingdom
This task was impossible.
How else could Churchill describe it, when the Prime Minister had asked him to analyze this "Republic of China Navy" and advise him accordingly?
The first step was asking the Japanese for what information they had on the battle, but the one thing that they did know about the Chinese Navy was that they didn't know much about it.
Instead, they told him what they did know, for what good that was. Apparently, the Chinese Navy was from the future, having come with Taiwan when it was sent back into the past.
To this day, part of Churchill still couldn't believe it, but the diplomats had returned with eyewitness testimony that the bulk of the Imperial Japanese Navy was nowhere to be found.
Regardless, he turned to the notes he had received from the translator. If the Japanese were to be believed, then the Chinese attacked with several fast-moving flying projectiles that subsequently crashed into their ships and detonated.
Now, that hardly sounded like any weapon Churchill had heard of. At most, it sounded like a sort of rocket, like the Chinese used in the past. Of course, these were never capable of sinking a fully-metal warship, but it seemed that the futuristic technology was capable of doing so.
Presumably with high-precision as well, if they were able to target the Japanese ships from beyond visual range.
Additionally, several Japanese sailors had reported seeing these rockets (for lack of a better term) flying towards their ships.
Could this be an airborne weapon? While weaponized flight was still in its infancy, Churchill would not be surprised if the Chinese of the future had managed to stick a rocket onto their own aircraft and fire it at their enemies.
This, of course, left him in a predicament. How could the Royal Navy hope to combat this futuristic fleet if the latter could engage them from beyond visual range and seemed to have weaponized flight?
Truth be told, he did not have an answer. One proposal would be to develop aircraft of their own and attack their ships from range, but that assumed that the Chinese didn't also have a weapon that could shoot down aircraft.
As for how such aircraft would be utilized in the middle of the ocean, he had some idea.
Perhaps a floating airstrip would be viable, in the sense that aircraft could take off, refuel, and land on these floating airstrips?
This, of course, was largely theoretical. Building so much as a prototype would require months of engineering, assuming it was even approved.
But it was a necessary thought exercise as First Lord of the Admiralty.
Of course, he would rather not fight such an unknown and technologically-advanced enemy in the first place, but he had been tasked with planning for that scenario, just in case.
Yet here he was, thinking that the best course of action would be to echo Socrates and admit that he didn't know.
Well, technically, he could give at least one answer if he was asked for advice on how to engage such a technologically-advanced fleet as the Chinese Navy.
"Don't."
This task was impossible.
How else could Churchill describe it, when the Prime Minister had asked him to analyze this "Republic of China Navy" and advise him accordingly?
The first step was asking the Japanese for what information they had on the battle, but the one thing that they did know about the Chinese Navy was that they didn't know much about it.
Instead, they told him what they did know, for what good that was. Apparently, the Chinese Navy was from the future, having come with Taiwan when it was sent back into the past.
To this day, part of Churchill still couldn't believe it, but the diplomats had returned with eyewitness testimony that the bulk of the Imperial Japanese Navy was nowhere to be found.
Regardless, he turned to the notes he had received from the translator. If the Japanese were to be believed, then the Chinese attacked with several fast-moving flying projectiles that subsequently crashed into their ships and detonated.
Now, that hardly sounded like any weapon Churchill had heard of. At most, it sounded like a sort of rocket, like the Chinese used in the past. Of course, these were never capable of sinking a fully-metal warship, but it seemed that the futuristic technology was capable of doing so.
Presumably with high-precision as well, if they were able to target the Japanese ships from beyond visual range.
Additionally, several Japanese sailors had reported seeing these rockets (for lack of a better term) flying towards their ships.
Could this be an airborne weapon? While weaponized flight was still in its infancy, Churchill would not be surprised if the Chinese of the future had managed to stick a rocket onto their own aircraft and fire it at their enemies.
This, of course, left him in a predicament. How could the Royal Navy hope to combat this futuristic fleet if the latter could engage them from beyond visual range and seemed to have weaponized flight?
Truth be told, he did not have an answer. One proposal would be to develop aircraft of their own and attack their ships from range, but that assumed that the Chinese didn't also have a weapon that could shoot down aircraft.
As for how such aircraft would be utilized in the middle of the ocean, he had some idea.
Perhaps a floating airstrip would be viable, in the sense that aircraft could take off, refuel, and land on these floating airstrips?
This, of course, was largely theoretical. Building so much as a prototype would require months of engineering, assuming it was even approved.
But it was a necessary thought exercise as First Lord of the Admiralty.
Of course, he would rather not fight such an unknown and technologically-advanced enemy in the first place, but he had been tasked with planning for that scenario, just in case.
Yet here he was, thinking that the best course of action would be to echo Socrates and admit that he didn't know.
Well, technically, he could give at least one answer if he was asked for advice on how to engage such a technologically-advanced fleet as the Chinese Navy.
"Don't."
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ChrisProvidence
Time Traveling Unequal Treaty Destroyer
- Pronouns
- He/Him
This one was a fun chapter to write, because I got to think about how an Early 20th Century strategist would react to, well, everything.
Basically, how would they try to counter a modern navy that can sink entire fleets without a scratch in a few hours?
And if I'm being honest, I don't know.
It's not like these guys are dumb. Not by any means.
It's just that there isn't any way I can think of when an anti-ship missile has, at worst, eight times the range as the main guns on HMS Dreadnaught.
I guess they could try submarines, but they don't know what sonar is yet, and Taiwan does.
So right now, these downtime powers are basically in the "Throw everything at the wall and see what sticks" phase.
So... Churchill immediately understands , believes and Trusts mysterious history books from the future (to the point that they would change long-term National Strategic Goals) , but for some reason can't wrap his head around weapons from the future as well? (The War of the Worlds was written in 1898 by H. G. Wells, Sci-fi is not that unknown around that time , The Time Machine was written even earlier in 1895)
ChrisProvidence
Time Traveling Unequal Treaty Destroyer
- Pronouns
- He/Him
That came out wrong. Meant to write testimony instead of evidence.
But for the most part, that part of him not believing it was less about fiction and more about the sheer "What the Hell" reaction going on in the back of his head.
So he gets that they have weapons from the future, but he doesn't know how those weapons work, which makes countering them even harder.
ChrisProvidence
Time Traveling Unequal Treaty Destroyer
- Pronouns
- He/Him
Maybe, but I don't think the Admiralty is going to like the idea of sending in ships until the Chinese run out of ammo.
And that assumes the Chinese aren't eventually building more of these missiles.
- Pronouns
- He/Him/His
Yeah, even if they tried to send in their less valuable ships first, they would still lose a lot, and I can't imagine that even the most callous among the Admiralty would find sending probably thousands if not tens of thousands of sailors to near-certain death particularly palatable, to say nothing of the losses of ships.
Not entirely sure about Taiwan making new AShMs within such a short timeframe, particularly if they're, like, Harpoons or Tomahawks, which would be USA-built I presume… though as to how short of a timeframe that would be, does depend on other factors. Are they imported American designs, or ones that they have designed and built from scratch?
Not entirely sure about Taiwan making new AShMs within such a short timeframe, particularly if they're, like, Harpoons or Tomahawks, which would be USA-built I presume… though as to how short of a timeframe that would be, does depend on other factors. Are they imported American designs, or ones that they have designed and built from scratch?
ChrisProvidence
Time Traveling Unequal Treaty Destroyer
- Pronouns
- He/Him
Domestic designs. The Hsiung Feng series, which I figure production would be restarting pretty quickly, due to military industry having top priority.
Oddly enough, the Royal Navy could very well have more ships than the Chinese have missiles.
It's just that it would involve knowingly sending tens of thousands to their deaths on the off chance the Chinese ran out of missiles.
ChrisProvidence
Time Traveling Unequal Treaty Destroyer
- Pronouns
- He/Him
Yup.
But for China, I'm kind of thinking about which flag the RoC would use.
I'm thinking the Blue Sky with a White Sun since the KMT was more-influential in this timeline, since Sun didn't like the five color flag.
So that flag as a whole, instead of only the canton.
Thing is the Chinese don't need those missiles for the current fleets of the world powers. Dumb drop 500 and 1000 lb. bombs will kill those ships just as easily from altitudes that current AA doesn't even exist to engage. Hell their Heli's with dumb fire rocket pods could kill off most of the smaller ships from beyond current AA range.
- Pronouns
- He/Him/His
Yeah, that was the thought that I had. I don't think that most of the Admiralty would be particularly keen on going that route, though, nor their counterparts in the other major powers of the time.
If nothing else, the thought of losing all those ships would give them pause.
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Chapter 34: New Beginnings
ChrisProvidence
Time Traveling Unequal Treaty Destroyer
- Pronouns
- He/Him
Nanjing, Republic of China, 7 December 1911
All things considered, Shannon knew this wasn't the first pick for a place to hold a surrender. But it wasn't as if they had any other options.
Tokyo was wracked with riots, Korea was still getting things together, and Taipei was off limits because of "symbolism," or at least that was what Shannon had told her.
"We want it to be a symbol of our combined victory. Not just Taip- er, Taiwan's victory, but a victory for all Chinese."
It made enough sense, as far as she was concerned, but she was just going with it at this point. From the makeshift helicopter carriers to the rapid advance, to taking on three empires and winning, she just decided to go with it. And that was before the whole time travel thing.
Yeah, she still didn't understand that, but there wasn't much point worrying about it.
Not today, anyways. Especially at the ceremony.
It had been an interesting affair. Plenty of officers and politicians were here to watch, and she still managed to end up with Agent Fong.
Not that she was complaining, of course. Even if she was half-sure Michael was trying to set them up.
"So, you ask her yet?" Shannon almost jumped when he said that, and turned around to see the man himself. "Also, hi."
"Give me time," she told him, much calmer than she'd thought she'd sound. "I'll ask her at the reception, alright?"
"You better, Shan. And try not to drink her under the table, this time."
"She's getting better, and that was one time, Mike. Plus, she was fine until we found the vodka, remember?"
"Yeah. Turns out I can make a pretty good cocktail, right?"
"Vodka mixed with lemon juice and tea does not count as a cocktail, Mike," she told her friend. Which, if she was being honest, was a little unfair. There wasn't any lemon-flavored vodka or iced tea for them in the middle of Vladivostok. "Honestly? I'm just happy to have warm meals and heat again, even if it's all temp stuff."
"Tell me about it." Shannon could've sworn he shivered at the thought. "There's only so many ways I can cook Spam and rice until it gets boring."
"I'll take your word for it. So, how long is this going to take?"
"What, you worried they're going to run out of alcohol?" To which Shannon simply flipped him off and smiled. "It should take an hour and a half, tops. Not like Katsura is in any position to argue, anyways."
"Yeah. You ever see the riots?"
"Only the declassified stuff. Worse than Korea, right?"
"Yup. Couldn't see much in the darkness, but it looked like the IJA was fighting itself down there."
"Yeah, that would be worse- Oh hey, they're starting the ceremony."
True to his words, the ceremony had only taken an hour and a half. Honestly, the introductions and the speeches took up most of the time. And while Marty may have been interested in that kind of stuff, Shannon did her best to at least look like she was paying attention.
Yes, it was important, historical, and an honor to be here at the ceremony. But right now, she would rather be In the hangar, or better yet up in the sky, than here.
Still, it went by quick enough. After the speech from Sun, the two delegations sat at the table. Sun was on one side while Katsura was on the other.
Katsura was the first to sign his part, then Sun signed for the Chinese Provisional Government and Huang for the military. Followed afterwards by President Tsai and a few members of the Korean delegation.
It was almost comical with how many people walked up and signed for their side. By the end of it, there had to be about a dozen different Chinese and Korean signatures on the parchment.
Yet it all seemed so… rehearsed, now that Shannon talked about it. From the speeches to the ceremony to the flyover of F-CK-1s at the end.
It was all real, of course, just… surreal as well.
"It was all rehearsed," Rachel told her a few hours later at the reception. "Everyone had their part to play in this historic moment. Even Katsura."
"He agreed to the terms beforehand, right?" Rachel nodded, and poured herself another drink. "Alright. Hey, can I ask you something?"
"Yes, that cargo you saw was thermobaric bombs."
"Huh?" Oh, right, at the airport. "No, something else. Two things."
"Are they classified?" Shannon shook her head. "Then go ahead."
"Is it weird that I thought it was, I dunno, boring?"
"No. Speeches are speeches, even if they are for historic events, Shannon."
"Yeah…"
"Li would probably disagree though," the agent said with a tired laugh. "Well, if he wasn't talking off Chen's ear right now."
"Better him than us," Shannon sighed, and poured herself another drink. "Everyone has their hobby. Mike's a mechanic, Marty's a historian, I paint, and you… I don't know what you do for fun."
"…Video games."
"Huh. Cool."
"So, was that the second thing you wanted to ask me?"
"No."
Ishigaki Island, Taiwan, Republic of China, 11 December 1911
"Applique armor," Michael said as he pointed to the various highlighted areas on the diagram. Even as he walked, he kept a firm grip on the sketch so it didn't "And side skirts… And a new engine."
"…Wow." Either his friend was impressed by the blueprint, or Marty had no idea what the hell he was talking about. "You thought this through, didn't you?"
"Yeah. Turns out being the brigade's mechanic has its perks. So, think you could get this to the right people?"
"I could run it by Huang and Sun at the next briefing," Marty told him. "No promises, though, Mike. Factories are going to be busy enough trying to build new M60s in the first place."
"Yeah, I know, I know. So, how about the bridgelayers?"
"R&D should be producing them by 1912. Not like we'll have much use for the M48 hulls, right?"
"That's good."
"Army gets first dibs."
"Dammit."
"Yeah, some things never change, Mike. Got some good news, though."
"They're building actual ambhibious ships for us in Kaohsiung, so I don't have to ram a ferry into a beach?"
"…Actually, yes. Okay, we're basically copying an American designs, but it turns out somebody up the chain read your message and they agreed with it."
"Huang?"
"Him and Sun. Turns out your usual method of getting equipment actually worked."
"Getting stuff the Army can't use because our reservist system accidentally turned everyone into infantry?"
"Well, it's not like the Army needs amphibious ships," Marty chuckled. "Congrats on the promotion, by the way."
"I'm not a general yet, Marty," Mike said sheepishly. It still felt weird to be called that. "Expanding the Marines'll take a few years, y'know."
"Yeah. So, how are you liking your new place?"
"It looks nice in the pictures," Michael told him. Then again, he hadn't actually seen his new house in person. "Even if it is a prefab."
"Prefab or not, at least you'll have running water and electricity."
"Fair enough." And now that he could actually see the place, the promise of those two things sounded even better. "Oh hey, is that Aki- wait, is that my hoodie?"
"Huh?" Marty looked over at the front door to see Aki walking towards them. "Oh, yeah, that is your hoodie, Mike."
"Thought so," Mike said as he hugged her on the spot. "Hey, Aki."
"Hey, Michael," she greeted in much-improved Chinese. "Before you ask, it gets cold, and the shipments haven't arrived"
"Maybe. So, anything interesting happen while I was gone?"
"Boredom, mostly," she yawned. "I work for one of the universities as a remote translator, now, so that's sort of fun."
"Oh, that's nice. Sounds like a job that the universities would have."
"It… doesn't pay well."
"Yup, that sounds like a job that the universities would have." From the blank look on her face, Aki didn't really get the joke. "So, looks like you finished all the books I gave you?"
"Oh, I ran out of those a few months ago. It's kind of how I ended up getting that job with the university."
"There really isn't that much to do here, is there?"
"Nope. Not many fun things, at least, ever since you left."
"That boring, huh?"
"Michael, everyone on this island is either old, a child, or married with children to take care of. They're good people, just not that interesting to talk to."
"So," Marty chimed in. "Are you just going to keep hugging each other, or are you going to invite me inside?"
"I guess?" Michael looked at Aki, and she just shrugged. Wasn't like she lived there, and there was probably room, if the pictures were anything to go by. "Did they forget to book you a room in town?"
"No," Marty laughed, before bringing all their bags into the small home. "I just haven't seen actual plumbing and heating for months, and I'm not passing it up."
Ozaki Residence, Tokyo, Empire of Japan, 21 December 1911
Never in his life had Ozaki Yukio been happier to wake up in his own home.
Now, the soldiers standing guard were a bit much, but tensions were still high at the moment. While the riots had largely dispersed and things had gotten back to normal, there were still those upset about the outcome of the Armistice.
Besides, the soldiers seemed like decent enough men. Suzuki Taichi's sheer height was enough to scare away any would-be assassins from even thinking of laying a finger on him.
Or worse, laying a finger on Ozaki's wife or their daughters.
But all things considered, he couldn't help but feel positive, despite all that had happened.
His heart still dropped at all those who had died. From the soldiers sent to die in Manchuria and Korea to the protesters who died on the Home Islands, their deaths put a damper on things.
All this bloodshed to bring us back to 1903...
He could even say the same of men like the Kempeitai, or Katsura himself. Now, Ozaki didn't have hold either of them in high regard, but their deaths seemed like more senseless losses of life. Katsura, most of all.
He'd heard the news a few nights ago, right after the Katsura had returned from the ceremony in Nanjing. The next morning, the man was found dead in his house. There was no chance of foul play when everyone could tell that the former Prime Minister killed himself.
And why? To regain honor? Shame? Both? I don't think I'll ever know, but at least he took responsibility for his actions. Let it never be said that he didn't.
Truth be told, the war had turned Japan upside-down. Once a nation that had rioted because the people were upset at their rewards for winning against the Russians, many of those same people rioted in frustration for their defeat against the Chinese.
Of course, it was much more complicated than that. There were those who rioted in protest of the war, those who rioted against being conscripted for the war, and those who rioted against the failures of the war.
Ozaki had talked with all three types of men when he was freed from Sugamo Prison. Each had their own motivations, yet they all could at least agree that Katsura's militarism was responsible for humiliation that Japan would now endure.
If he was being completely honest, he wouldn't be surprised if they blamed Katsura more than they did the Chinese.
Still, these last few months had led to a shift in Japan, and it wasn't just Katsura's fall. No, Katsura's failures had turned so many Japanese away from militarism in such a short time.
But what they would turn towards, however, was still up in the air. Revanchism? Peace? Socialism? Reformism?
Honestly, he didn't know, but whatever it was, it was why Ozaki himself was dressed in all his finery for this meeting.
"So," he said, standing before his wife and daughter, "How do I look?"
"You look like you are about to meet the Emperor, dear," his wife told him, before turning towards their daughter. "Isn't that right?"
For her part, their little girl simply smiled back at her parents.
"Then that is a good thing," said the re-instated Mayor of Tokyo. "First impressions are always important."
All things considered, Shannon knew this wasn't the first pick for a place to hold a surrender. But it wasn't as if they had any other options.
Tokyo was wracked with riots, Korea was still getting things together, and Taipei was off limits because of "symbolism," or at least that was what Shannon had told her.
"We want it to be a symbol of our combined victory. Not just Taip- er, Taiwan's victory, but a victory for all Chinese."
It made enough sense, as far as she was concerned, but she was just going with it at this point. From the makeshift helicopter carriers to the rapid advance, to taking on three empires and winning, she just decided to go with it. And that was before the whole time travel thing.
Yeah, she still didn't understand that, but there wasn't much point worrying about it.
Not today, anyways. Especially at the ceremony.
It had been an interesting affair. Plenty of officers and politicians were here to watch, and she still managed to end up with Agent Fong.
Not that she was complaining, of course. Even if she was half-sure Michael was trying to set them up.
"So, you ask her yet?" Shannon almost jumped when he said that, and turned around to see the man himself. "Also, hi."
"Give me time," she told him, much calmer than she'd thought she'd sound. "I'll ask her at the reception, alright?"
"You better, Shan. And try not to drink her under the table, this time."
"She's getting better, and that was one time, Mike. Plus, she was fine until we found the vodka, remember?"
"Yeah. Turns out I can make a pretty good cocktail, right?"
"Vodka mixed with lemon juice and tea does not count as a cocktail, Mike," she told her friend. Which, if she was being honest, was a little unfair. There wasn't any lemon-flavored vodka or iced tea for them in the middle of Vladivostok. "Honestly? I'm just happy to have warm meals and heat again, even if it's all temp stuff."
"Tell me about it." Shannon could've sworn he shivered at the thought. "There's only so many ways I can cook Spam and rice until it gets boring."
"I'll take your word for it. So, how long is this going to take?"
"What, you worried they're going to run out of alcohol?" To which Shannon simply flipped him off and smiled. "It should take an hour and a half, tops. Not like Katsura is in any position to argue, anyways."
"Yeah. You ever see the riots?"
"Only the declassified stuff. Worse than Korea, right?"
"Yup. Couldn't see much in the darkness, but it looked like the IJA was fighting itself down there."
"Yeah, that would be worse- Oh hey, they're starting the ceremony."
True to his words, the ceremony had only taken an hour and a half. Honestly, the introductions and the speeches took up most of the time. And while Marty may have been interested in that kind of stuff, Shannon did her best to at least look like she was paying attention.
Yes, it was important, historical, and an honor to be here at the ceremony. But right now, she would rather be In the hangar, or better yet up in the sky, than here.
Still, it went by quick enough. After the speech from Sun, the two delegations sat at the table. Sun was on one side while Katsura was on the other.
Katsura was the first to sign his part, then Sun signed for the Chinese Provisional Government and Huang for the military. Followed afterwards by President Tsai and a few members of the Korean delegation.
It was almost comical with how many people walked up and signed for their side. By the end of it, there had to be about a dozen different Chinese and Korean signatures on the parchment.
Yet it all seemed so… rehearsed, now that Shannon talked about it. From the speeches to the ceremony to the flyover of F-CK-1s at the end.
It was all real, of course, just… surreal as well.
"It was all rehearsed," Rachel told her a few hours later at the reception. "Everyone had their part to play in this historic moment. Even Katsura."
"He agreed to the terms beforehand, right?" Rachel nodded, and poured herself another drink. "Alright. Hey, can I ask you something?"
"Yes, that cargo you saw was thermobaric bombs."
"Huh?" Oh, right, at the airport. "No, something else. Two things."
"Are they classified?" Shannon shook her head. "Then go ahead."
"Is it weird that I thought it was, I dunno, boring?"
"No. Speeches are speeches, even if they are for historic events, Shannon."
"Yeah…"
"Li would probably disagree though," the agent said with a tired laugh. "Well, if he wasn't talking off Chen's ear right now."
"Better him than us," Shannon sighed, and poured herself another drink. "Everyone has their hobby. Mike's a mechanic, Marty's a historian, I paint, and you… I don't know what you do for fun."
"…Video games."
"Huh. Cool."
"So, was that the second thing you wanted to ask me?"
"No."
Ishigaki Island, Taiwan, Republic of China, 11 December 1911
"Applique armor," Michael said as he pointed to the various highlighted areas on the diagram. Even as he walked, he kept a firm grip on the sketch so it didn't "And side skirts… And a new engine."
"…Wow." Either his friend was impressed by the blueprint, or Marty had no idea what the hell he was talking about. "You thought this through, didn't you?"
"Yeah. Turns out being the brigade's mechanic has its perks. So, think you could get this to the right people?"
"I could run it by Huang and Sun at the next briefing," Marty told him. "No promises, though, Mike. Factories are going to be busy enough trying to build new M60s in the first place."
"Yeah, I know, I know. So, how about the bridgelayers?"
"R&D should be producing them by 1912. Not like we'll have much use for the M48 hulls, right?"
"That's good."
"Army gets first dibs."
"Dammit."
"Yeah, some things never change, Mike. Got some good news, though."
"They're building actual ambhibious ships for us in Kaohsiung, so I don't have to ram a ferry into a beach?"
"…Actually, yes. Okay, we're basically copying an American designs, but it turns out somebody up the chain read your message and they agreed with it."
"Huang?"
"Him and Sun. Turns out your usual method of getting equipment actually worked."
"Getting stuff the Army can't use because our reservist system accidentally turned everyone into infantry?"
"Well, it's not like the Army needs amphibious ships," Marty chuckled. "Congrats on the promotion, by the way."
"I'm not a general yet, Marty," Mike said sheepishly. It still felt weird to be called that. "Expanding the Marines'll take a few years, y'know."
"Yeah. So, how are you liking your new place?"
"It looks nice in the pictures," Michael told him. Then again, he hadn't actually seen his new house in person. "Even if it is a prefab."
"Prefab or not, at least you'll have running water and electricity."
"Fair enough." And now that he could actually see the place, the promise of those two things sounded even better. "Oh hey, is that Aki- wait, is that my hoodie?"
"Huh?" Marty looked over at the front door to see Aki walking towards them. "Oh, yeah, that is your hoodie, Mike."
"Thought so," Mike said as he hugged her on the spot. "Hey, Aki."
"Hey, Michael," she greeted in much-improved Chinese. "Before you ask, it gets cold, and the shipments haven't arrived"
"Maybe. So, anything interesting happen while I was gone?"
"Boredom, mostly," she yawned. "I work for one of the universities as a remote translator, now, so that's sort of fun."
"Oh, that's nice. Sounds like a job that the universities would have."
"It… doesn't pay well."
"Yup, that sounds like a job that the universities would have." From the blank look on her face, Aki didn't really get the joke. "So, looks like you finished all the books I gave you?"
"Oh, I ran out of those a few months ago. It's kind of how I ended up getting that job with the university."
"There really isn't that much to do here, is there?"
"Nope. Not many fun things, at least, ever since you left."
"That boring, huh?"
"Michael, everyone on this island is either old, a child, or married with children to take care of. They're good people, just not that interesting to talk to."
"So," Marty chimed in. "Are you just going to keep hugging each other, or are you going to invite me inside?"
"I guess?" Michael looked at Aki, and she just shrugged. Wasn't like she lived there, and there was probably room, if the pictures were anything to go by. "Did they forget to book you a room in town?"
"No," Marty laughed, before bringing all their bags into the small home. "I just haven't seen actual plumbing and heating for months, and I'm not passing it up."
Ozaki Residence, Tokyo, Empire of Japan, 21 December 1911
Never in his life had Ozaki Yukio been happier to wake up in his own home.
Now, the soldiers standing guard were a bit much, but tensions were still high at the moment. While the riots had largely dispersed and things had gotten back to normal, there were still those upset about the outcome of the Armistice.
Besides, the soldiers seemed like decent enough men. Suzuki Taichi's sheer height was enough to scare away any would-be assassins from even thinking of laying a finger on him.
Or worse, laying a finger on Ozaki's wife or their daughters.
But all things considered, he couldn't help but feel positive, despite all that had happened.
His heart still dropped at all those who had died. From the soldiers sent to die in Manchuria and Korea to the protesters who died on the Home Islands, their deaths put a damper on things.
All this bloodshed to bring us back to 1903...
He could even say the same of men like the Kempeitai, or Katsura himself. Now, Ozaki didn't have hold either of them in high regard, but their deaths seemed like more senseless losses of life. Katsura, most of all.
He'd heard the news a few nights ago, right after the Katsura had returned from the ceremony in Nanjing. The next morning, the man was found dead in his house. There was no chance of foul play when everyone could tell that the former Prime Minister killed himself.
And why? To regain honor? Shame? Both? I don't think I'll ever know, but at least he took responsibility for his actions. Let it never be said that he didn't.
Truth be told, the war had turned Japan upside-down. Once a nation that had rioted because the people were upset at their rewards for winning against the Russians, many of those same people rioted in frustration for their defeat against the Chinese.
Of course, it was much more complicated than that. There were those who rioted in protest of the war, those who rioted against being conscripted for the war, and those who rioted against the failures of the war.
Ozaki had talked with all three types of men when he was freed from Sugamo Prison. Each had their own motivations, yet they all could at least agree that Katsura's militarism was responsible for humiliation that Japan would now endure.
If he was being completely honest, he wouldn't be surprised if they blamed Katsura more than they did the Chinese.
Still, these last few months had led to a shift in Japan, and it wasn't just Katsura's fall. No, Katsura's failures had turned so many Japanese away from militarism in such a short time.
But what they would turn towards, however, was still up in the air. Revanchism? Peace? Socialism? Reformism?
Honestly, he didn't know, but whatever it was, it was why Ozaki himself was dressed in all his finery for this meeting.
"So," he said, standing before his wife and daughter, "How do I look?"
"You look like you are about to meet the Emperor, dear," his wife told him, before turning towards their daughter. "Isn't that right?"
For her part, their little girl simply smiled back at her parents.
"Then that is a good thing," said the re-instated Mayor of Tokyo. "First impressions are always important."
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How Did You Get Hired? More Importantly, How Do You Get Paid?
ChrisProvidence
Time Traveling Unequal Treaty Destroyer
- Pronouns
- He/Him
"So," Michael asked her over breakfast. "How did you get a job working for a university?"
"I can speak Chinese, Japanese, Yaeyama, and Okinawan?"
"No, I get that. But how'd you end up there, anyways?"
"Job application portal. There was a listing for translation work, and it was remote. So I applied to it."
"Yeah, I get that part too, but you don't exactly have credentials, Aki."
"Oh. Well, they had a few interviews online, plus a few tests I needed to do to confirm that I could speak Japanese, Yaeyama, and Okinawan fluently. They weren't too hard."
"Because you're already fluent, right?"
"Yes. I guess that comes with traveling as a child, right?"
"Probably. So, what, did they mail you papers saying that you could speak Japanese, Okinawan, and Yaeyama?"
"More or less. It took a while, though."
"Yeah, that's been a thing. Everyone's been playing catch-up ever since we got sent back. Then the war happened, so Taipei didn't have the time or manpower to hand out credentials to... what's the term? 'Uneducated?' No offense, of course."
"None taken." From the look of relief on his face, he was happy to know he didn't accidentally insult her. "I don't really have much of a formal education. I guess I had tutors, but they didn't exactly hand me a diploma."
"Yeah, that's going to be a problem, isn't it?"
"You would think that, but no."
"Really? I mean, we have, what, four hundred million new citizens to process, give IDs to, and find out how qualified they are. That's going to be a pain."
"Not exactly," she told him, before pulling out her tablet. "Most jobs require the right education or the right experience, now."
"Huh. That makes a lot of sense, Aki. It's not like most people have a formal education in China... or the papers to prove that they have one."
"No?" She gave him a weird look. "Plenty of mainlanders still have their papers... or whatever passes for it. For example, civil servants and bureaucrats still have their records from their exams."
"But if you don't, and you can prove that you have the right experience or skills, they'll take you on."
"Exactly."
"You know, that makes a lot of sense. Beats re-training all these people again."
"It would be a waste of Time," she agreed. Much as this New China excited her, she didn't like the idea of going to school just to re-learn what she already knew. "Of course, there are some drawbacks. Applicants who don't have papers seem to be less-likely to get a job than ones with papers."
"Yeah... It makes sense, though. You know, for processing times and all that."
"Sure, but it does put the non-credentialed at a disadvantage, Michael. Somebody who is just as qualified for a job as another person could lose because they didn't have the same opportunities."
"Fair enough. I don't have an easy answer to that one, Aki."
"I think Taipei and Nanjing are working on a form of 'Equivalency Tests' to compensate. I heard the program was a bit rushed, but the concept seems sound enough. You take a test to show that you have the equivalent of a certain level of education."
"Seems simple enough. Like a GED, right?"
"A what?" She had never heard of that term before.
"Oh, right," he apologized. "You don't have those here. A GED is a series of tests in America - the America of my time, anyways, that people take. If they pass them, they get a certificate that shows that they basically have a high school- er, secondary school level education.
"Then yes, it would be like that. It might, what was the term you have for it?"
"Level the playing field?"
"Exactly. It should level the playing field for those without papers."
"Here's hoping," Michael told her, before pouring himself another cup of water. "Want some?"
"I'm good, thanks."
"So, did you ever have any trouble with that?"
"With what?"
"Competing with people who have degrees and credentials."
"Not really?" She took a second to think about it. "No. Not many people on Taiwan speak Yaeyama or Okinawan. Or Japanese."
"Besides musicians and anime fans. Well, them and Marty."
"He's busy being a spy, Michael. Also, I don't think he can speak Okinawan."
"Probably not. So, the pay really isn't that great?"
"Honestly, Michael? I don't know for sure. For Ishigaki? Definitely, but it's not as if there are a lot of things for me to buy outside of books."
"So a lot of it's just sitting in a bank account?" Akira shook her head. "Then how exactly are they paying you, Aki? Checks?"
"No? How would I even cash that?" Michael just shrugged. "The university just mails me an envelope full of money every single month."
"They what."
"I can speak Chinese, Japanese, Yaeyama, and Okinawan?"
"No, I get that. But how'd you end up there, anyways?"
"Job application portal. There was a listing for translation work, and it was remote. So I applied to it."
"Yeah, I get that part too, but you don't exactly have credentials, Aki."
"Oh. Well, they had a few interviews online, plus a few tests I needed to do to confirm that I could speak Japanese, Yaeyama, and Okinawan fluently. They weren't too hard."
"Because you're already fluent, right?"
"Yes. I guess that comes with traveling as a child, right?"
"Probably. So, what, did they mail you papers saying that you could speak Japanese, Okinawan, and Yaeyama?"
"More or less. It took a while, though."
"Yeah, that's been a thing. Everyone's been playing catch-up ever since we got sent back. Then the war happened, so Taipei didn't have the time or manpower to hand out credentials to... what's the term? 'Uneducated?' No offense, of course."
"None taken." From the look of relief on his face, he was happy to know he didn't accidentally insult her. "I don't really have much of a formal education. I guess I had tutors, but they didn't exactly hand me a diploma."
"Yeah, that's going to be a problem, isn't it?"
"You would think that, but no."
"Really? I mean, we have, what, four hundred million new citizens to process, give IDs to, and find out how qualified they are. That's going to be a pain."
"Not exactly," she told him, before pulling out her tablet. "Most jobs require the right education or the right experience, now."
"Huh. That makes a lot of sense, Aki. It's not like most people have a formal education in China... or the papers to prove that they have one."
"No?" She gave him a weird look. "Plenty of mainlanders still have their papers... or whatever passes for it. For example, civil servants and bureaucrats still have their records from their exams."
"But if you don't, and you can prove that you have the right experience or skills, they'll take you on."
"Exactly."
"You know, that makes a lot of sense. Beats re-training all these people again."
"It would be a waste of Time," she agreed. Much as this New China excited her, she didn't like the idea of going to school just to re-learn what she already knew. "Of course, there are some drawbacks. Applicants who don't have papers seem to be less-likely to get a job than ones with papers."
"Yeah... It makes sense, though. You know, for processing times and all that."
"Sure, but it does put the non-credentialed at a disadvantage, Michael. Somebody who is just as qualified for a job as another person could lose because they didn't have the same opportunities."
"Fair enough. I don't have an easy answer to that one, Aki."
"I think Taipei and Nanjing are working on a form of 'Equivalency Tests' to compensate. I heard the program was a bit rushed, but the concept seems sound enough. You take a test to show that you have the equivalent of a certain level of education."
"Seems simple enough. Like a GED, right?"
"A what?" She had never heard of that term before.
"Oh, right," he apologized. "You don't have those here. A GED is a series of tests in America - the America of my time, anyways, that people take. If they pass them, they get a certificate that shows that they basically have a high school- er, secondary school level education.
"Then yes, it would be like that. It might, what was the term you have for it?"
"Level the playing field?"
"Exactly. It should level the playing field for those without papers."
"Here's hoping," Michael told her, before pouring himself another cup of water. "Want some?"
"I'm good, thanks."
"So, did you ever have any trouble with that?"
"With what?"
"Competing with people who have degrees and credentials."
"Not really?" She took a second to think about it. "No. Not many people on Taiwan speak Yaeyama or Okinawan. Or Japanese."
"Besides musicians and anime fans. Well, them and Marty."
"He's busy being a spy, Michael. Also, I don't think he can speak Okinawan."
"Probably not. So, the pay really isn't that great?"
"Honestly, Michael? I don't know for sure. For Ishigaki? Definitely, but it's not as if there are a lot of things for me to buy outside of books."
"So a lot of it's just sitting in a bank account?" Akira shook her head. "Then how exactly are they paying you, Aki? Checks?"
"No? How would I even cash that?" Michael just shrugged. "The university just mails me an envelope full of money every single month."
"They what."