20:48:25 Zulu April 21, 2080 - Shinsaibashi Area, Osaka, Japan
�Why do you do this to me? If you do this, I�m gonna have to kick your ass.� It was evident WO5 Michael �Kricket� Reed was not a happy man.
�You know, you always say that but, strangely enough, my ass remains un-kicked.� Smiled 2nd Lieutenant Aaron �ROK� Walters.
Aaron Walters heads up 1st Special Panzer Troop�s second platoon and WO Reed is his right hand man and best friend. Although to watch the two together you would think at any moment Lt. Walters is about to be beaten to a pulp by WO Reed. Few could understand how the 6�4� 280-pound African-American Reed and the younger and smaller Korean-American Walters became friends. However, the two have been inseparable since they were assigned together over six months ago. They have also been in more trouble since they were exiled than any of the other soldiers in 1st Troop.
According to WO Reed, it�s simply guilt by association. He has reported to Steven on more than one occasion that for him most of the problems originate with Aaron and he simply �helps bail him out.� Conversely, Aaron doesn�t know how all the trouble starts and typically says WO Reed is blowing things out of proportion. Tonight was shaping up to be another one of their problem-laden evenings.
�Look, Kricket. All I�m going to do is go over there and talk to her. That�s all.� Aaron held up his hands in his typical �What could go wrong� fashion.
�The last time you �talked to a girl�, we wound up in one of Osaka�s finest holding cells for an entire night and Steven had to come bail us out. We were cleaning machine parts for a week after that. Also did your finely-tuned Aaron-sense happen to detect the three guys she�s with?� Although he knew it was pointless to argue with him, Reed had to at least try.
�My Aaron-sense did pick that up. It also noted that she is evidently unhappy with her current situation and has looked in my direction on more than one occasion. Therefore I feel it is my job, no�my sacred duty, to help this young damsel in distress. And if all goes well, I�ll be in a love hotel in just under 30 minutes. So please, relax and do what you do best. Watch my six.� It was practically the same speech as last time.
Reed could only shake his head. �Alright. But keep this in mind, little man.� Reed placed a large hand on his Lieutenant�s shoulder. �I have a wife and son waiting for me back home. If you do anything that could in any way extend my stay here, I will hurt you in ways that no one�s even imagined yet.� The smile on his face was not one on friendship but similar to the grin of a shark right before it attacks. And Michael hated sharks.
��No extended stay� and �pain no one�s imagined�. Got it. Just kick back and drink up. They�re on me tonight.� Aaron was already moving towards his night�s objective.
�You�re damn right they are.� Reed turned his stool back towards the bar and sighed looking into his drink.
The Gods must have it in for me. He thought.
WO5 Michael Reed had a sixth sense when it came to trouble. It had served him well during his time in the mobile artillery and had been a point of distinction for him when he transitioned to Vertical Tanks. Many people weren�t sure a big man such as himself would acclimate to the cramped confines of a VT cockpit, but for Michael it was like a second home. Even more people were surprised to learn a big, mean SOB such as him would have such an advanced knowledge of the inner workings and functionality of the huge machines. It wasn�t easy for him to graduate VT school, but his wife and been there with him to help him study and was a constant supply of support for him. His boisterous and outgoing nature also made him a lot of friends which in turn gained him even more support. And his efforts redoubled shortly after the birth of his son. VTs were a new and exciting field for the military. With them Michael saw an opportunity to rise faster in the service and provide a good life for his newborn son.
After graduating VT school, he was assigned to the 15th VT Division. Unfortunately his uncanny sixth sense failed him in recognizing that his CO was a closet racist. During their first tour of duty in Eastern Europe, Michael was regularly assigned guard duty and other menial tasks despite his outstanding marks from training. It wasn�t until the brief German-Italian Conflict that Michael distinguished himself by single-handedly fending off two platoons of Italian VTs while on guard duty. This of course didn�t sit well with his CO and soon Michael found himself seeing cockpit time less and less. Michael was watching the career he dreamed of slowly slip through hands. It was only after confronting his CO did he understand the situation. After a brief but heated exchange Michael was on his way out to grab some transfer papers when he heard the CO mutter some racial slur under his breath about Mike�s son.
There are three things that matter the most to Michael Reed: family, friends, and food. Those that know him know that he is fiercely loyal to these things. For anyone to threaten or insult any of those things was an unforgivable sin as far as he was concerned. At that moment Michael lost what little composure he had left. The months of frustration and now this insult added to the injuries and were just too much. Before his Lt. Col. Knew what was happening, Michael had him by the throat and was holding him almost a foot above the ground�with only one arm. 2 Minutes and 4 MPs later, Michael found himself in the stockade and realized that his career was about to come crashing down.
During his court-martial Michael noticed three people who didn�t seem to belong in the courtroom. Two of them were officers of the PRAFC and the third, despite obviously being non-Asian, was wearing U.S. BDUs with both U.S. and PRAFC insignia. Shortly before the colonel presiding over his court-martial began to speak, Michael could have sworn he saw both the colonel and U.S./PRAFC officer nod at each other.
�Warrant Officer Reed. Based on both your outstanding record up until this incident as well as the testimony of several of your fellow VT pilots, I�ve come to the conclusion that the Army shouldn�t lose an officer such as you and give you a second chance. However, we cannot simply ignore the fact that you lost your temper and assaulted your commanding officer. Rather than simply throwing you into a military prison or discharging you, it is the decision of this court-martial to assign you to the Allied Military Exchange Program for a period of no less than eighteen months. The officers you see behind you are from the PRAFC, including Lt. Steven Wisdom, formerly of the 13th VT Battalion. You will be under their command for the duration of this assignment. Upon completion you will be rotated back into service here with a clean slate. That is all.�
Michael and the other stood to be dismissed. Before the Colonel left he had one last thing to say to Michael.
�Also Warrant Officer Reed, based on your testimony and the testimony of your fellow pilots, we will be taking care of your former commander very soon. Good luck, son.�
�Thank you, sir.� Despite his new situation and the fact he would be away from his family for eighteen months, Michael couldn�t help but think � The Gods must have smiled on me.
Michael was snapped back to the present by a commotion starting just across the bar�exactly where Aaron was.
�Won�t he ever learn?� Michael sighed as he left his drink and began to make his way over to cover his platoon commander�s six�again.
Aaron Walters was the only West Point graduate in the 1st Special Panzer Troop. In fact, he was one of the very few West Point graduates to have ever been exiled at all. The son of an American father and Korean mother, Aaron was blessed with intelligence, athletic ability and natural leadership skills. Both his father and older brother were in the Army so it only made sense that Aaron would follow in their footsteps. After graduating at the top of his high school class, Aaron received an appointment to West Point. During his freshman at West Point, Aaron as well as many other cadets gathered around the television as the first Vertical Tanks were introduced to the world. For Aaron it was love at first sight. One of his hobbies was video games and these giant machines were like something right out of the games he enjoyed playing.
For the next 3 and a half years Aaron Walters distinguished himself as one of the most outstanding cadets in recent West Point history. He excelled in every field and was on his way to being top of his class. However it is said that for every Superman there is a Kryptonite. In Aaron�s case his kryptonite just happened to be women. In a classroom or on the training grounds Aaron was calm, cool, and in control. But when faced with an attractive woman, Aaron seemed to go from a leader of soldiers to the foreman of a construction crew. Aaron had dealt with this particular weakness thus far by practicing sheer avoidance. But during his West Point graduation dance, he was faced with one obstacle he could not avoid: Kimberly Montgomery, the 20 year-old and only daughter of one General William Montgomery�the Commander and Headmaster of West Point.
He didn�t realize she was interested in him until she approached him and asked him for a dance. I didn�t help matters for him that she was completely gorgeous. The night went on innocently enough with dancing and a few drinks until Aaron could no longer tolerate his policy of avoidance. He deserved at least one night of freedom. With a few whispered words, the two disappeared from the dance�only to be picked up two hours later by local police in a rather compromising position in the general�s car. For those that knew Aaron, this almost seemed like an omen.
Despite the incident (which would follow him throughout his career), Aaron was still allowed to graduate and to attend VT school. This time his love of VTs kept him on the straight and narrow. He graduated in the top of his class and was assigned to lead a platoon for the 21st VT Battalion. During his first two years with the 21st, Aaron had distinguished himself as an amazing VT pilot and had seen action during the end of the Great Oil War as well as the German-Italian Conflict. Unfortunately the end of the German-Italian Conflict also brought about the end of Aaron�s career as he knew it.
During the celebration in Baden-W�rttemberg for the end of the Conflict, Aaron met the lovely Helga�and her twin sister Heidi. Despite his strength of will up until that point an opportunity like this rarely presents itself and he would have been foolish to pass it up. After a few large steins of beer he asked the girls where they wanted to go. Upon finding out he was a VT pilot, they asked if they could see one of them up close. Although Aaron knew that allowing foreign civilians anywhere near an American VT was a serious offense, the only though going through his mind was: TWINS!!! A few hours later Aaron and the twins were discovered by the MPs in the cockpit of Aaron�s Decider. To this day many VT pilots still ask how Aaron was able to accomplish this �feat� in the small confines of a VT cockpit. To this day, Aaron has still not answered that question.
The next day Aaron stood at attention in his commander�s office and was wincing as words like �court-martial� and �dishonorable discharge� kept popping up during the stream of obscenities being thrown at him. A few minutes into it, his CO received a phone call. Aaron continued to stand at attention for another minutes and only picked up pieces of the conversation. But he got the impression from the looks his colonel shot him the conversation may have been about him. The colonel hung up the phone and took a moment to compose himself.
�Do you believe in miracles, Walters?� His colonel locked eyes with him.
�I think so, sir.� Aaron said.
�Well today you are going to witness one. I just got off the phone with General Johansen. He recently got a phone call from a Lt. Steven Wisdom who happens to be serving in the Exchange program with the PRAFC. I�m not sure how Lt. Wisdom got wind of your situation, but he�s requested you be entered into the program and shipped over to Japan to serve with him and the PRAFC. Of course, I would prefer drumming your stupid ass out of my Army, but the General thinks that a court-martial and this stunt you pulled more of a PR disaster than anything else. So the General has decided to grant Lt. Wisdom�s request and make you go away. Pack your bags, Walters. You�re out of here tomorrow. And just to make sure you don�t screw this up, you�re confined to quarters tonight. Good luck�you�ll need it. Dismissed.�
Aaron smiled as he left the office and headed for his quarters. After all, he had always wanted to see Asia�and the beautiful women that resided there.
Michael approached the scene where it appeared the three Japanese men were obviously upset this American had decided he could simply walk off with one of their friends simply because he was a soldier. Although Michael�s Japanese was still rusty, he definitely heard a recognized a few choice phrases regarding Aaron�s mother thrown into their dialogue. Aaron wasn�t helping matters by returning the compliments back to them along with mentioning that he had already had relations with all of their mothers already and was looking to meet someone younger. From bad to worse, Michael thought.
As Michael took up his position behind Aaron, one of the men said something over his shoulder to someone sitting on a sofa facing away from all of them. Aaron suddenly stopped talking and even Michael�s eyes widened as one of the largest Japanese men they had ever seen got up from the sofa and stood behind the three smaller men. He stood at least 6�3� and weighed somewhere close to 450 pounds. He barely managed to fit into the three-piece suit he wore.
�Let me guess. Sumo, right?� Aaron asked without taking his eyes off the monster in front of him. All three smaller men nodded in unison.
�This could be difficult, but doable. Just keep the other three off my back for awhile.� Michael whispered into Aaron�s ear. Aaron simply smiled and nodded. Michael had grown up with three brothers, all of whom were bigger than he was. He knew he could take him, sumo or not.
Michael moved next to Aaron�s left side and took a loose posture as he waited for them to make their move. Aaron began to slowly tense up. Then suddenly the four Japanese men smiled, nodded to them, and turned to return to their tables. As Aaron and Michael began to look at each other they were both tapped on their shoulders. They turned to find 6 MPs standing behind them.
Aaron began to scratch his head, �Don�t you guys normally show up when it�s over?�