Jurassic War

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Akinari Tanaka clutched his rifle tightly as he marched prisoners along a dirt road that parted the small atoll. A superior private, his collar was adorned with red patches and three gold stars. Four privates assisted him, carrying their rifles at port arms, boxing in the prisoners. The guards were called Hetai on the Japanese mainland, the Emperor’s foot soldiers.

Neither of the two naked men that dawdled along the muddy lane presented signs of a threat. They were simple people, local natives, and not prisoners of war.

Tanaka questioned to himself the reason for their capture, but he did not voice his concern. He took orders and was promoted faster than others due to his loyalty during recent combat service in Manchuria. When the Jun-i (warrant officer) had instructed Tanaka to assemble the armed guard and lead the prisoners from the makeshift stockade to the hill beyond the old Government House, Tanaka felt that three soldiers would be suitable. The Jun-i demanded otherwise; he wanted more soldiers on the working party. He commanded the garrison, and, as a warrant officer, served as its highest-ranking soldier.

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