Operation Pacifica: There All The Honor Lies
by Admiral J-Rock, TRES Corps


"There is no instance of a country having benefited from prolonged warfare."
  -- Sun Tzu, _The Art Of War_


SICKBAY, DOBERMAN AIRCRAFT CARRIER _DTT FREEDOM_
SIXTY MILES NORTHEAST OF LAST KNOWN POSITION OF PACIFICA ISLAND
DAY FOURTEEN OF OPERATION PACIFICA


# John Williams "I Could Have Done More" _"Schindler's List" soundtrack_


        Sickbay had been turned into a massive triage unit for the most
  serious cases from the POW/MIA Jihaddi rescued from Charn'El's Tower. It
  looked like a scene from Bergen-Belsen, Auschwitz, Treblinka, Sobibor,
  Dachau, or any other Nazi death camp when the Allies came to liberate it.
  And all those horrors had been visited upon them over the course of two
  months, whereas the Nazis had taken at least twice that amount of time.
  'Never again,' J-Rock thought as he stalked the hallways toward Exam Room
  3.  'We have to make sure where our people are after these big ops. _This_
  must never happen again!'
 

 The thought that anybody who would stoop to this level of depravity must be
  wiped out also crossed J-R's mind. It had become a moral imperative in his
  frame of mind, and that was not just because he was a Maenad now.   What he
  saw in the dungeons of Pacifica would have disgusted him four years ago,
  before he had even heard of the Jihad, Lyran sorcerors, or the Maenads of
  the Holy Albino. And he would have arrived at the same conclusion back
  then.


 Outside Exam Room 3, he paused for a minute, taking a few deep breaths.
  "Good God," he muttered, "I'm beginning to depress myself. Then again, who
  could keep smiling if he'd seen what I saw?"


 Nononono, stop that right now. You're doing it again.


 J-Rock continued with, "A duck walks into a bar, goes across the room, walks
  up one wall, across the ceiling, and back down the other wall before
  walking right out the door. Guy at the bar sees the whole thing. He turns
  to the bartender, says 'Do you believe that?'


 "Bartender says, 'Yeah. Friggin' duck never says good-night.'" It was
  something he did whenever undue depression was looming. He didn't get this
  joke anyway, but it was the first one that he could think of, and reciting
  all of "Australian Table Wines" seemed out of place. His foul mood
  lightened somewhat, he parted the curtain and stepped inside.


# Pink Floyd "Coming Back To Life" _The Division Bell_


 "Oh, look, it's the hero of the day," Ed said from the table as J-R wandered
  in. Siona could only manage a little nod from a gurney wheeled alongside.


 "I wasn't the only hero, but I'll take that," J-R replied as the attending
  medic turned toward him. "Other than some moderate malnutrition, they're
  fine," he said. "Shouldn't be any permanent damage." J-R suspected that the
  psychological scars would be deeper and harder to heal than the physical
  wounds.


 "You should've seen them when I got there," J-R noted. "If I may have some
  time with them alone?"


 "Sure thing, sir," the medic replied, excusing himself.


 "Now that we're safe," Siona said, "thanks for getting us outta there."


 "I'm surprised you remembered that, Si," J-R responded.


 "Me? Forget a debt of gratitude? Never!"


 J-Rock and Ed shared a small smile over that remark, recalling that the High
  Prophet (pbuh) used to say things like that.


 "Anyway," Ed inquired, "what brings you here?"


 "I came by to see how you were doing," J-R said. "And maybe bring you back
  into the fold. Recent events seem to indicate the Lyrans don't know the
  meaning of the word 'retired.'"


 "Riiight," Ed said. "I'm not going back. Don't get me wrong, I love Barney
  as much as you do, but I'm going back to the day job, where it's quiet."


 "Nobody's saying you had to dive right back in. You can go back to your job
  if you want. I'm just asking you think my little proposal over for a while,
  and work out whatever you need to work out. If you'd like to come back,
  we'd love to have you. If not, then I understand completely. I don't expect
  anyone who was held on that frigging island to come out unscathed.  What
  they did would mess anyone up for some time.


 "Besides, it's not like we'd be able to get any fighting done right off.
  Both the Lizards and Lyrans have bled us white over the past six months.
  All we can really do is rebuild, retrain. And when we get back on our feet,
  we set into them with renewed resolve."
 

 "You're right," Siona said. "I think it's time we forgot the war for a
  while. Head home, lick our wounds. And prove the Lyrans wrong like the
  Dragoons did Takashi Kurita. I'll be back, all I need is time, that's all."


 "Hope to fight alongside you soon," J-R said, holding Siona in a warm
  embrace, just to show her that she wasn't alone. She felt a little stiff as
  he released her to shake Ed's hand. "Yeah," she whispered.


 "See you around," J-R said to Ed. "Lemme know if you want back in, 'k?"


 "Sure thing. Be seeing you," Ed said as J-R left. The mental road back for
  them would be rough indeed. But the way back for the Corps would be rougher
  still, as rebuilding from Operation Phoenix was set back even further.


 Damn that island to hell.


COMMANDER AIR GROUP'S QUARTERS, TEN MINUTES LATER


 "Come in," J-Rock said over the sound of R.E.M.'s "Country Feedback".
  Sheridan walked in, resplendent in his red and brass battle armor. "Got a
  minute?" he asked.


 "Sure," J-R said, turning off the CD player. "What's on your mind?"


 "I came to make you an offer. You saw how well the Chosen of Khorne
  performed in the city?"


 "I did. They're fine troops, if a little bloodthirsty."


 "I'm trying to build the Chosen into a first-class JAO, but in order to do
  that, I need some veterans at the helm."


 "And that's where I come in."


 "Right. I've already got CP, Samhain, and DS, just to name a few.  The
  Chosen has ten companies, and over half have no command structure."


 "So if I take you up on this offer, I'd have company command?"


 "Exactly."


 J-Rock cupped his chin in his hands, lost in thought. At length, he said,
  "Why not?"


 "Great! We'll have to check you out on the weapons and get you fitted for
  armor, but the other parts of basic can be skipped over. Welcome aboard,
  Captain."


 "When is this check-out supposed to take place?"


 "Whenever. I doubt we'll be able to field a fighting force for another two
  months anyway."


 "Then again, it wasn't like we were expecting the Spongin survivors of
  Phoenix to be on that... island." The ship's intercom sprang to life,
  saying, "Admiral J-Rock, report to the flight deck. We've got incoming
  aircraft."


 J-Rock stood up. "You're welcome to come with if you want."


 "Ok." And with that, the two Jihaddi left the stateroom at a brisk trot.


TWO MINUTES AFTER THAT...


 "What's the word?" J-R asked as he came up to the flight deck, with Sheridan
  following close behind.


 Fred Tolkan said, "We picked up two inbounds coming in from the upper
  atmosphere. The guy who radioed us says he knows you." Just then, the
  reddish-purple craft closing in folded its rear down so that it resembled a
  pair of legs with adidas-stripes on its chromed feet. Meanwhile, a second
  plane with twin tails and no visible engine intakes or nozzles settled over
  the helicopter pad. A tailgun turret peeked out from behind the elevators
  as it turned to face the bow of the _Freedom_. J-Rock recognized the type:
  it was a Jagatai spacefighter variant, with two mass drivers replacing the
  mini-missile pod under the nose.


 "Relax, it's just Bob," he said with a smile.


 Both the Jagatai and the _Easy Money_ touched down at the same time,
  canopies opening at nearly the same time. "Nice to see you're still in one
  piece, J-Rock," Bob said as he doffed his helmet and clambered out of the
  cockpit.


 "Not exactly," J-R countered. "And by the way, hi."


 Meanwhile, the Jagatai pilot had taken her helmet off, letting a cascade of
  auburn hair spill past her shoulders. It almost obscured a sky-blue
  headband tied around her head. Tucking her helmet under her arm, she slid
  her diminutive 5'1" frame down the ladder wheeled up to the cockpit and
  walked around the long way to the gunner's entry hatch, pausing to wave
  cheerfully toward J-Rock.


 "I see you brought Riko with you," J-R said, returning the wave.


 "You know how I hate to travel alone," Bob said. "So, where's the Spongins?"


 "Already taken care of."


 "All right, where's the island?"


 "About sixty miles that way," J-Rock said, pointing a finger to the
  southwest before pointing down. "And about one and a half kilometers that
  way."


 "Son of a BISCUIT! I always keep showing up late to these Ops!"


 J-Rock chuckled as Sheridan said, "Well, you should get here a little
  earlier next time."


 "I hope you're not gonna ask me to give you a lift back to the _Spirit_."


 "Wouldn't dream of it. I need a little rest after all this."


 "I hate to break the news to you, but you're not gonna get it. And let me
  tell you why. I am tired of trying to skipper a super dimensional fortress.
  Especially when there's hardly anything going on. So I'll let you handle it
  for a while."


 "Bob, about that lift to the _Spirit_..." J-Rock began as Noriko began to
  walk towards the two.


 "I ain't gonna do that either. Just because you outrank me doesn't mean I'm
  a chauffeur at your beck and call. As far as I'm concerned, you can fly
  yourself up there." Noriko thrust a spacesuit and flight helmet into J-R's
  hands as she said, "That's why he brought me along. Besides, I don't mind
  sitting in the turret."


 "But--" J-R started to say before Bob cut him off. "No buts. This 'showing
  of the flag' has gone on too long without the man who thought it up."


 "You had this all worked out in advance, didn't you?"


 "On my end, yes. Noriko just wanted to come along."


 Noriko just smiled her infectious smile and deadpanned, "Besides, the look
  on your face was priceless."


 J-Rock shrugged into the spacesuit, saying "I guess duty calls. Have a nice
  trip back, Sheridan."


 "You too," Sheridan said.


 "Permission to leave the ship?" J-Rock asked Tolkan.


 "Granted. Oh, since you'll ask, here's your luggage." A yeoman handed J-R's
  bags to Noriko. She took the lightest-looking items, and walked toward the
  Jagatai, saying "Hurry up back there, J!"


 At length, both _Easy Money_ and Jagatai took off into the early morning
  sky, headed for the sea of stars.


# Maiko Hashimoto "Never The End" _Bubblegum Crisis Complete Vocal
  Collection, vol. 2_


THE END