CHILDREN OF TIME (2025 Edition) by Michel Poulin - HTML preview

CHAPTER 6 – ASHIGARU

 

13:41 (Kyoto Time)

Thursday, October 6, 1583 ‘A’

Southern Shimabara Peninsula, Hizen Province

Island of Kyushu, Japan

Ujiro, like the other nine ashigaru14 and the ashigaru ko gashira15 of his patrol, froze for a moment at the sound of a not so distant shot. They were halfway on the narrow coastal road leading from Arima to Kuchi, on the southernmost point of the Shimabara Peninsula, an area where bandits were known to roam around. The banditry problem had actually grown worst in the last year since the army of Ryuzoji Takanobu had invaded the fief of

 

14 Ashigaru: low level foot soldier in Japanese feudal armies 15 Ashigaru ko gashira: Lieutenant of ashigaru, who normally commanded up to 30 ashigaru soldiers

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their daimyo16, Arima Harunobu, and taken his main castle of Shimabara. Now, Arima Harunobu stood weakened and squeezed into the southernmost part of his previous domain, with bandits and renegade soldiers profiting from his temporary weakness. Since no enemy soldiers had been reported this far South, that pistol shot must have come from a bandit. Saburo, the ashigaru ko gashira, drew his sword and pointed it down the road to Kuchi, where the shot had come from.

“Follow me and be ready for combat!”

His ten men followed him at a moderate run single file on the narrow dirt road, which was bordered on both sides by a thick forest. The six spearmen of the squad were in the lead, with the four harquebusiers, including Ujiro, last. As they ran, they started progressively hearing the noise of a fight which was getting closer to them. A second shot could then be heard, making Saburo and his squad accelerate their pace. After turning a bend in the road, the squad came within sight of the fight: a band of maybe twenty bandits had ambushed a small group of travelers leading six loaded mules and was trying to finish their victims in order to take off with the mules and their loads. Out of the three men in the group of travelers, two were obviously dead, pierced by numerous arrows, while the third one was wounded and sat against a large tree while holding on to the bridles of the mules. A young woman, apparently the sole intact person of her group, was now swinging wildly a sword, trying to keep the bandits away from her wounded companion and from the mules. Saburo and his men couldn’t help slow down from the surprise on looking at this. For one thing, the three male travelers were obviously foreigners, probably Portuguese, while the young woman was Japanese. Furthermore, three bandits lay dead or dying around the woman, while two more bandits lay down some distance away besides their bows. Held at bay by the furious resistance of the woman, the remaining bandits seemed undecided about how to get at the precious mules. Ujiro felt contempt at these bandits: they were obviously cowards with no real military skills. Saburo then shouted at the top of his lungs.

“CHAARGE!”

Ujiro and the nine other ashigaru, brandishing either a spear or a sword, followed their leader and ran at the bandits while screaming war cries. The bandits, taken completely by surprise, stared for a moment with horror at the charging ashigaru, then broke and ran. They didn’t have time to run far, however, before the ashigaru fell on them at a full

16 Daimyo: Japanese feudal lord in control of a castle, district or province in medieval Japan

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run, slashing or stabbing them down without mercy. Only four of the bandits managed to escape in the woods, leaving the patrol in control of the scene of the battle. The ashigaru took the time to finish off the wounded bandits before turning their attention to the travelers. Saburo then saw from his garment that the wounded foreigner holding on to the mules was a priest. The Japanese woman was already kneeling besides him and talking to him in a foreign language while examining the arrow stuck in his upper chest. She actually seemed to know what she was doing, so Saburo checked the two other foreigners. As he had expected, they were dead but each had an empty pistol by their side: they at least had the time to defend themselves. When he got back on his feet, he saw that young Ujiro had taken the bridles of the mules from the wounded priest, letting the young woman free to care for the foreigner. Saburo thought that his master was not going to like the fact that a foreign priest had been attacked and wounded on his lands: Arima Harunobu had converted to the Christian faith four years ago and counted heavily on foreign merchants to provide him firearms which could help him resist the armies of Ryuzoji Takanobu.

“Hey, girl! What were you doing with the three Gaijins?”

She looked at him briefly, letting him see in detail her beautiful face framed by long black hair.

“I am their interpreter. I have been traveling with them since Nagasaki. My name is Junmi.”

“Junmi…” Repeated the young Ujiro, who had eyes only for the girl. “Pure beauty… A fitting name indeed.”

The young woman smiled briefly to Ujiro, who was himself a very handsome young man, then resumed her care of the priest. Saburo, who had seen plenty of battle wounds before, grimaced: the arrow had lodged itself near the heart, making taking it out very tricky. The priest was also bleeding heavily. Junmi was actually trying to stop the bleeding by pressing pieces of cloth around the point where the arrow was sticking out. Seeing a bedroll attached on top of one of the mules, Saburo pointed it to two of his men.

“Daigoro, Heiji, take the wool blanket of that bedroll and improvise a stretcher with it and two spears.”

The two ashigaru obeyed quickly and the priest was soon carefully laid on an improvised stretcher and then lifted by four men, while the bodies of the two dead Portuguese were thrown on top of two mules. Saburo examined briefly the two pistols which had belonged to the dead foreigners and whistled in admiration: they were beautiful pieces of

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a design he had never seen before. He put the two pistols in his belt, then picked up the sword used with such efficiency by the girl: it had a long, narrow blade and a basket hilt to protect the hand. The blade was smeared with blood. Saburo eyed the girl, who was standing next to the wounded priest and holding in place the bandages over his wound.

“You seem to be good with a sword…for a girl.”

Junmi bowed her head briefly to acknowledge his compliment.

“My father was an ashigaru and showed me how to defend myself, ashigaru ko gashira. I do not want to press you but Father Pietro needs medical attention urgently.” Saburo nodded in understanding and ordered his men to move out.

“Back to Hara Castle, men! Ryobe, Kansuke, Jigoro and Hyozo, you throw the bodies of the bandits in the forest, off the road. Let the beasts take care of their bodies. Also, pick up their weapons if they are worth it. Ujiro, you keep holding the mules.”

“Hay!” replied respectfully the young man. The other ashigaru didn’t protest about not taking the heads of the bandits as battle trophies: such low level criminals did not make worthy trophies. The captured swords and other weapons, on the other hand, would be much more valuable as booty.

The small caravan had to move at a fairly slow pace because of the priest’s wound, so it took a good two hours for them along the winding dirt road to cover the six kilometers to Hara Castle, which was presently the main home of Lord Arima Harunobu and his family. Alerted by the watchmen of the castle, Lord Harunobu was on hand in the inner courtyard when the patrol finally walked in through the main gate. The Portuguese priest staying in Hara, Father Luis Frois, was also in the courtyard and shouted in Portuguese in a horrified tone before running to the wounded priest being carried in. As Frois said a few encouraging words to his colleague, who was being transported towards the office of the castle’s physician, Saburo walked to Lord Harunobu and bowed deeply in front of him.

“My Lord, we encountered a group of about twenty bandits attacking three Gaijins and one local girl halfway between Arima and Kuchi. Two of the Gaijins were already dead and the priest we just brought was wounded. The girl was defending him and their mules when we intervened. Only four bandits escaped alive into the woods.” Harunobu raised an eyebrow and looked at Junmi as Saburo finished his report.

“She defended the priest? Was she armed?”

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“She was swinging a sword taken from one of the dead Gaijin when we arrived, My Lord, and there were three dead bandits around her. She told us that her father, who was an ashigaru, taught her how to fight. This is the sword she had in her hand.” Harunobu took the long sword offered by Saburo and examined it for a few seconds before swinging it around in the air to try its balance.

“The blade is quite light but I doubt that it could measure up with a good katana. Are those pistols at your belt from the Gaijins?”

“Yes, My Lord. The Gaijins apparently had time to use them before being killed.” Harunobu took one of the two pistols, planting the long sword he still had in hand in the dirt so that he could use both hands to handle the pistol. The design of the weapon intrigued him at once.

“This is no ordinary pistol. In fact, I never saw such a mechanism before. Where is the match?”

“The girl told us that she was an interpreter for the Gaijins. Maybe they told her about these pistols during their trip with her, My Lord.”

Harunobu immediately stared at the young woman, who was waiting respectfully besides the ashigaru of the patrol. She was truly beautiful, with a most shapely body and long silky black hair. Her rough dress and sandals were those of a peasant or a low level merchant. She also wore a bundle across her back, held by a leather strap. What struck the most Harunobu, though, was her extremely fit body and her height: she was as tall as the tallest ashigaru of the patrol, making her a good half head taller than most Japanese women.

“You, girl, come here!”

She ran lightly to him, then kneeled and bowed down in front of him, drawing an approving grunt from Harunobu: at least she knew her proper place and had manners.

“What is your name, girl?”

“Junmi, My Lord.” answered the girl without raising her head.

“Alright, Junmi, get up and tell me what you know about the Gaijins.” Harunobu felt curiosity rise in him as he was able to look at her from up close. While she dressed and apparently acted like a low class girl, there was a look of sharp intelligence in her eyes and her posture denoted self-assurance, while she answered him in precise sentences, as if she would be one of his high level retainers delivering a report.

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“The two dead Portuguese were arms merchants who were on their way to your castle to sell you the weapons carried on their mules, My Lord. They came off a big ship which arrived in Nagasaki from the West two weeks ago. They took me as their interpreter in Nagasaki so that they could travel to your domain. A small boat landed us in Kuchi yesterday, where we spent the night.”

Harunobu showed her the pistol handed to him by Saburo.

“Did they tell you something about this type of pistol?”

“Yes, My Lord! In fact they were very proud of this weapon and of the other ones they had, bragging to me that these were the latest designs of pistols in their own country. They call this kind of weapon a wheel lock pistol.”

“A wheel lock? Did they tell you more about this?”

“They did, My Lord. They even demonstrated to me how to load and fire it.”

“Then show me!”

“Yes, My Lord!” she replied, bowing again. She then went to one of the dead Portuguese, still on top of one of the mules, and undid his belt, which carried an ammunition pouch and a powder flask, apart from a sword’s scabbard and a dagger. Watched very carefully by Harunobu and by the ashigaru, she loaded the pistol in a few seconds. While most of the steps were the same as the ones used with normal pistols, there was no slow burning wick to lit. Instead, Junmi turned a few times a large ball attached to the base of the handle, then cocked a sort of lever on top of the pistol. She looked next at Harunobu.

“Should I fire it, My Lord?”

Harunobu smiled and pointed at a large wooden pole planted in the ground maybe twenty paces away. The pole was used for sword practice and was covered with cuts.

“Shoot that pole…if you can touch it, girl.”

The ashigaru soldiers present smiled as well then, seeing that their master was making fun of the girl. Only young Ujiro secretly hoped that Junmi would hit the pole. With normal matchlock pistols, hitting at such a distance would take a good shooter indeed. To everyone’s amazement, Junmi hit the pole dead center, showing the assurance of a well-trained soldier. Ujiro nearly clapped his hands but restrained himself in time as Harunobu stared with disbelief at the woman now bowing to him.

“My father taught me what he knew about weapons and fighting, My Lord, since he was not able to have a son. He however died four years ago from a disease, along with the rest of my family.”

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Harunobu was thoughtful for a moment, eyeing that most unusual girl with interest. Apart from her uncommon skills, she had a truly beautiful body. There was however something he needed to know. Pulling the gaijin sword out of the dirt, he then threw it at Junmi.

“Catch!”

At the same time he speedily drew his own katana sword and slashed at the woman. If she had lied and had not been trained properly in handling weapons, her reactions, or lack of them, would show it. To everyone’s surprise, including Harunobu’s, the young woman caught deftly the sword thrown to her and was in time to block his katana’s blade with the Gaijin sword. Harunobu then had a cruel smile as he held his blade against hers.

“Let’s see how good you are, girl.”

Swinging his katana in a series of vertical and horizontal slashes, Harunobu went in full attack mode, ready to stop his blade if the girl left herself open to an attack. Using a form of sword fighting he had never seen before, Junmi managed to not only block his swings but also to force him back with lunges of her own. Then, she abruptly put one knee down on the ground and bowed her head while laying down her sword.

“I wish to serve you, My Lord, not to fight you.”

Harunobu’s answer was to push a wild war scream and to swing down his blade at her exposed neck. He however stopped his sword a mere three centimeters from her neck, then withdrew and sheeted back his katana, a satisfied look on his face: the girl had not moved or even flinched as he had swung down his blade.

“Get up, Junmi!”

Her face impassive, she did so and stood in front of him, waiting. The ashigaru and the castle servants present in and around the inner courtyard also stood quietly, realizing that their daimyo was about to say something important. Harunobu finally broke in a smile as he eyed Junmi.

“Young Junmi, your father taught you well. He must have been a good ashigaru indeed. I certainly need the services of every trained fighter available right now, so your wish will be fulfilled: I take you in my service as a castle’s guard assigned to the women’s quarters. Do you own weapons and armor?”

“No, My Lord.” she replied in an embarrassed tone. “I lost my father’s equipment when a boat I was in capsized and sank two years ago. I was never able to afford new weapons since then.”

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Harunobu looked at the Portuguese belt she had buckled around her waist before loading and shooting the wheel lock pistol. It supported a dagger, a sword scabbard, an ammunition pouch and a powder flask, plus a water pouch and a belt purse.

“Then, consider the weapons and equipment you are wearing now yours, including the sword and the pair of pistols. You earned them by protecting the Portuguese.”

“Thank you for your generosity, My Lord.” replied Junmi while bowing low to him. Saburo handed her the two wheel lock pistols and patted her shoulder as Harunobu went to inspect the loads on the six mules which had belonged to the Portuguese.

“Well done, Junmi! You will have to tell me about your father later on. What style of sword fighting did you use with our lord?”

“The Portuguese call it ‘fencing’. It is supposedly highly developed in their country. My father learned it while in Nagasaki, along with the Gaijin’s language, and passed his knowledge to me.”

“Yes, Nagasaki.” said Saburo in a non-committal tone. That port was one of the rare legal ports of entry for foreign ships which wished to visit Japan, with Chinese ships calling at the port along with Portuguese ships. Nagasaki was probably as cosmopolite a place as you could find now in Japan and thus was looked upon with suspicion by most Japanese, especially since the rights to that port had been ceded to the Portuguese Jesuit priests three years ago by Harunobu’s uncle, Omura Sumitada. Junmi, after putting the pistols in her belt and sheeting back the Portuguese sword, was then taken in charge by the retainer in charge of the castle’s guard force, who took her away towards the women’s quarters. Saburo went to join his master near the mules as ashigaru soldiers were unloading the bundles off the mules and opening them on the ground. His eyes, like those of Harunobu, opened wide when they saw that the bundles contained both muskets and pistols, along with their accessories and the tools to maintain them. All the weapons were of the wheel lock type just demonstrated by young Junmi. Harunobu nodded with satisfaction after counting a total of 48 muskets and 34 pistols now laid on the ground in front of him.

“These weapons will be a most welcome addition to our arsenal, especially since they don’t need a lit wick to be fired and can be used even when caught by surprise with one’s wicks extinguished. I will talk with Father Frois about proper compensation for these weapons to the families of those two dead merchants. In the meantime, have these weapons carefully wrapped back and brought to our arsenal room.”

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“Yes, My Lord! What about the weapons taken on the dead bandits?”

“Your patrol killed these bandits: you divide the spoils among the men of your patrol.” said Harunobu matter-of-factly before walking away towards the central tower of the castle, leaving a content Saburo to execute his orders.

Once the new firearms had been taken to the main arsenal of the castle, Saburo enlisted the help of young Ujiro to bring the weapons taken from the bandits to the barrack occupied by their ashigaru unit. The men who had formed the morning patrol gathered quickly in a circle when Saburo called them up: loot was one of the very few

ways for them to earn something more than their meager pay of one third of a koku17 a year on top of food and lodging. The men kept quiet as Saburo lined up the weapons and the few pieces of armor on the floor of the barrack: they knew Saburo to be a fair and honest commander. Besides, calling openly in doubt his fairness would only get them trouble. There were anyway enough items for everyone in the patrol to have at least two each. Saburo was starting to split the loot in eleven roughly equal parts when Ujiro objected.

“Wait! What about Junmi’s part? She did kill three of the bandits after all.”

“Are you joking?” replied Daigoro, the next oldest veteran in the unit after Saburo and a big man of rough manners. “You want us to share our loot with a girl? Besides, she already got the weapons from the dead Gaijin.”

“Maybe, but she still killed three bandits by herself.” Insisted Ujiro. “She is entitled to a share of this.”

“You young pup! You are smitten with her, aren’t you? You want to gain her favors by getting her something.”

“That’s not true!” protested the young ashigaru, who was actually sixteen years old, while reddening. Saburo, who was listening with interest to the argument, then raised a hand to call for silence.

“Ujiro is right, however weird this sharing of loot with a girl may sound. Our lord gave her the dead Portuguese’s weapons for helping safeguard the shipment of weapons. The loot from the bandits is a separate matter. Do you realize that, if she had

17 Koku: One koku equaled 180 liters of dry rice, the amount deemed sufficient to feed a man for a year. Values in medieval Japan were given in koku and salaries were often paid with rice, which could in turn be bartered for other goods or staples.

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not held those bandits at bay, those thieves would have run away with everything, and we would now have nothing?”

The men of the patrol, including the big Daigoro, grudgingly acknowledged the truth in his words and let Saburo split the loot, which consisted of a collection of swords, knives,

bows, spears, naginatas18 and three sets of inexpensive tatami do folding armor, plus some silver and copper coins. The men showed little interest in the tatami do armor, as their own okegawa do cuirass armor was much superior. Saburo thus selected a set of tatami do armor that was not damaged and put it aside, along with a nagemaki, a shorter variant of the naginata, and a

wakizashi short sword. He also

added to that a few of the silver and copper coins. The rest was then divided up among the members of the patrol. That was still enough for each of them to gain the equivalent of maybe thirty or so silver coins, a nice sum for an ashigaru. As the satisfied soldiers returned to their respective mats, Saburo took his own portion of the loot and that meant for Junmi and went to the separate room which he shared with three other ashigaru ko gashira. Dropping his portion in his assigned corner, he then left the barrack with the loot meant for Junmi and went to the central dungeon of the castle, entering it by a secondary entrance reserved for the servants and the lower classes of warriors. He however had to stop at the entrance to the women’s quarters, which was guarded by two ashigaru with strict orders not to let any man but the daimyo himself enter. Expecting that, Saburo, stopped a passing servant that was coming out of the door with a big bundle of dirty clothes in her arms.

“Hey, girl, could you fetch the new girl who arrived this afternoon and tell her to come see me here?”

“The one that was loaded down with weapons? She is taking a bath right now in the female servants’ laundry and bath annex. I am going there right now, so I will be able to get her to the door for you.”

“Thank you!” said Saburo before following the young servant.

The annex was in a low building separate from the high central dungeon, besides one of the wells of the castle. The annex was in turn segregated from the other buildings by a brick wall but the gate in that wall was not guarded, as the traffic of

18 Naginata: Pole arm consisting of a curved sword blade on a stout wooden shaft.

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incoming and outgoing servants was constant. Saburo still had to stop at the door of the annex itself and wait while the young servant went inside to pass his message. She was back a couple of minutes later, cracking open the door just enough to speak with him.

“She promised to make it quick. In fact, she was out of the bath and drying herself when I came to her.”

“Good! Uh, could you tell me if she had any battle scars visible on her body? I am just curious about her being really trained for battle.”

His question seemed to amuse the young servant, who smiled and answered in a low voice.

“I didn’t see any scars but I can tell you that she has a strong and well-shaped body and appears to be well fed. I’m sorry but I have to go do my laundry now.” The servant then closed the door, leaving Saburo to wait again. Junmi however came out within minutes, bowing to him respectfully. She now wore the blue and red baggy trousers and long-sleeved shirt which were regulation wear for the ashigaru of Lord Arima Harunobu. She also had her weapons and belt on. Saburo inspected her with satisfaction.

“I see that you have been already provided with new clothes more fitting for your duties.”

“The retainer in charge of the guards of the main dungeon saw to it that I was properly fitted, so as not to detract on the household of our lord, ashigaru ko gashira. I was already assigned a guard shift for tonight at the entrance to the noble women’s quarters.”

“Excellent! Then, you may need those things.”

Junmi took the tatami do armor, the weapons and the money handed by Saburo, looking with surprise at them.

“Didn’t these come from the dead bandits?”

“They did! This is your share of the loot. You may thank young Ujiro for this, as he protested that you were entitled to a part of it when we started splitting the loot.” Junmi gave him a warm smile that made her beautiful face look even prettier. She then bowed low to him.

“Thank you for your fairness, ashigaru ko gashira. Please tell Ujiro that I will not forget this.”

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“You will be able to thank him at supper time, Junmi: you may be a woman but, as an ashigaru in the employ of our lord, you will eat with the other ashigaru in the main mess hall. I will see you there.”

Saburo then left her to return to his duties, feeling quite good now: a woman ashigaru may be a rare anomaly but it was liable to make the atmosphere in the mess hall more agreeable.

17:06 (Kyoto Time)

Time Patrol scout ship BRITANNIA

30,000 meters above Hara Castle

“So, any comments or questions concerning the latest developments in the mission?” asked Nancy Laplante while looking around the small table of the scout ship’s crew lounge. Apart from Carolyn Anderson, who was presently in the pilot’s seat on the bridge of the ship, and one sensors specialist manning the ground surveillance sensors and probes from a station in the cargo bay, the full mission crew of twelve field agents and specialists was present in the lounge. Behind her, on a wall of the lounge, was a giant viewing screen showing the view from the micro-probe following Jenny Kawena ‘B’ everywhere. Prince Len ‘B’, who was the designated mission historian, raised a hand.

“As a guard in the employ of Daimyo Arima Harunobu, Jenny would now be expected to kill if ordered so by an ashigaru officer or any other superior, or if she is forced to defend the daimyo’s family and household against any invader or intruder. What if she then kills someone who was not meant historically to be killed? That point is even more delicate than usual since few people in Japan at this time have family names, making the tracing of their family tree nearly impossible. Maybe a descendant from one of the bandits killed by her was destined to become someone important.” Nancy thought about that in silence for a moment. That point had bothered her for hours now and, as the head of mission, it was up to her to take decisions which could possibly change History, even if it was only in very minor ways. Unfortunately, when traveling through time, historical interference was simply impossible to completely avoid, something she could thank the Chaos Theory for. That well-established theory simply said that any interaction in any situation always ended up influencing that situation in some way, even if one did nothing more than observe that situation. That influence could translate into something as benign as an object being dropped to the left instead of

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to the right of a person, or as catastrophic as an historical event being affected so drastically as to split the timeline or rewrite history in a major way. Nancy’s own actions after finding herself marooned in 1940 England without knowing how she had ended there had been enough to split the timeline and create timeline ‘B’, from which most of the people around the lounge’s table were from. Nancy was thus very much aware of the seriousness of the present dilemma.

“I have reviewed that event over and over, Len, and I am fairly convinced that the death of those bandits will not change history. For one, they were of a very low social class, in a time period and country where rising up in social class was very difficult and infrequent. Also, as road bandits, their life expectancy was going to be short anyway, especially in the turbulent times of the Japan of the late 16th Century. Jenny had no choice but to defend herself at that time and was in fact lucky not to have been killed or seriously wounded then. Disappearing was also not an option for her, as there were way too many witnesses present. Granted, some future Japanese families may have a slightly modified DNA because of this but history has proved itself to be somewhat flexible in that respect. While not killing anyone would be the ideal end goal here, it will simply be impossible to guarantee, unless we are ready to lose Jenny any time something happens. We already nearly lost her twice today and that is plenty enough for me.”

Heads nodded around the table at those words. Jenny Kawena was a sweet and very popular young woman who was well liked by everybody who knew her. She was also on her first solo mission in the past, which had resulted in the beefing up of the mission team compared to other missions done by veteran field agents. Nancy, as the Time Patrol senior field agent, made a point of heading all solo missions in the past which involved a rookie field agent, while Miri Goshenk ‘B’, as the Time Patrol senior psychologist, was present on the mission team in order to assess at all times the mental and emotional balance of Jenny Kawena as she faced a number of stressful situations. Lori Kano, who was editing and putting together the audio-visual recordings taken during the mission in order to produce a historical documentary to be released to the public in the future, spoke next, looking at Len.

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“What are the chances that this castle will be attacked, something that could force Jenny to kill again? There is after all an enemy army not far from Hara, roaming the countryside.”

“True!” replied Len while looking back at the beautiful ex-news anchorwoman. “However, the historical records show no recorded attack or siege against Hara Castle, at least not in this decade. Granted, the records we have are very incomplete, which is one of the main reasons we are conducting this mission in the first place. Thus, I cannot vouch that spies or assassins, or even advance parties from the army of Ryuzoji Takanobu, will not show up in or around Hara Castle while Jenny is there. I guess that we will have to play that aspect as it goes.”

“Should we widen our sensor coverage around Jenny in order to be able to warn her in advance of any impending danger?” asked Princess Xinia, a young beauty from the now defunct Imperium ‘B’ and a sister of Len and who acted as a sensors specialist for the mission. Nancy nodded after a second of reflection.

“That certainly can’t hurt and could in fact give us time to give Jenny an alternate course of action in case trouble is coming. Let’s deploy four Class ‘B’ probes around Hara Castle and put them on automatic overwatch mode. Also, we will deploy two extra micro-probes around Jenny in order to warn her of approaching intruders. All this will however mean a lot more work in monitoring all that extra visual data.”

“Hell, if it means that Jenny will be safer, then I will help monitor the probes.” replied at once Jeffrey Norton, the young and extremely handsome assault specialist who was part of the two-man ground backup team and was also an intimate friend of Jenny. Nancy smiled at his eagerness, which was however easy to understand.

“I’m sure that Jenny will appreciate that, Jeffrey. Alright, we will tighten surveillance around her as of now. It will give us at the same time an even better coverage for Lori to choose from to produce our documentary. If there are no other questions or comments, we will now resume our respective individual routines: we are after all here for quite a few more weeks.”

16:28 (Kyoto Time)

Friday, October 7, 1583 ‘A’

Hara Castle, Southern Shimabara Peninsula

Hizen Province, Kyushu Island

Japan

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There were only a few persons present for the burial of Father Pietro in the cemetery lot outside the castle. Apart from Father Luis Frois, who was officiating with the help of a choir boy, Junmi and the four servants who had dug the grave were in attendance. That didn’t surprise Frois, even if it saddened him to see so little respect paid to his dead religious brother: death was so common these days in the region, with enemy patrols and raiding parties roaming the countryside constantly. Beside the hole now containing the body of Father Pietro were the graves of the two Portuguese arms merchants, who had been buried last evening. Concluding the burial service with a last prayer, Frois then signaled to the servants to start filling the grave with dirt. He observed in silence, along with young Junmi, as the men worked. A wooden cross with Father Pietro’s name and dates of birth and death engraved on it was finally planted on the grave. As the small party broke up, Frois went to Junmi to speak to her. While thankful for her attendance, he secretly disapproved of a woman bearing arms and dressing like a man, which reminded him too much of a certain famous French maiden girl who had been burned at the stake for her unnatural ways. From the whispered comments he had heard around the castle since yesterday evening, many others also found a female ashigaru a most bizarre idea to accept. However, with the precarious military situation of Lord Arima Harunobu, few complained about having an extra body to help guard the castle, as long as she was not sent into the field with male ashigaru soldiers and samurai warriors. Frois couldn’t help glance at the Portuguese sword belt she wore, which made her look even more incongruous. He then spoke to her in Portuguese, knowing that she spoke that language well, while his Japanese was still somewhat hesitant.

“I meant to ask you, my child: are you a good Christian?” She gave him a somber look at that.

“I am a Christian, Father, but I suppose that I could not be called a devout one. I am sorry that I could not protect Father Pietro better. He was truly a good man.” Frois nodded at that: the girl sounded sincere enough. As for not being devout, that was about the story of half of the converts in this country, starting with Lord Harunobu.

“You did very well, my child. God will be thankful to you for protecting one of his servants. Do you have plans to marry soon, as a good woman should?”

“I now serve Lord Harunobu, Father. He will decide when I marry and with whom.”

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On that most Japanese answer, Junmi then walked away, leaving Frois to shake his head: Japan was such a strange country, where the concept of duty seemingly overrode everything else.

14:18 (Kyoto Time)

Sunday, November 6, 1583 ‘A’

Hara Castle

Ujiro had managed to end up facing Junmi for this daily afternoon weapons practice in the inner courtyard. By now, with slow, patient and discreet courting, he felt that the time where he would ask for her hand was getting close. Junmi herself seemed to appreciate his company and had smiled happily when Saburo had put Ujiro in front of her for the wooden sword practice. However, that did not mean that she was going easy on Ujiro now. Like many other ashigaru, Ujiro had learned quickly enough that she was surprisingly good with most types of weapons, something that had arisen the interest and curiosity of many of the samurai warriors of the castle. What she lacked in brute strength she compensated for with speed and skill. Ujiro was being pummeled back by her rain of baton swings when the shouted alarm from a lookout froze them all.

“ENEMY CAVALRY ON THE ROAD!”

The samurai in charge of the weapons practice immediately reacted to that, shouting at the ashigaru present in the courtyard.

“EVERYBODY TO THEIR POSTS! LOCK THE INNER GATES!” Junmi patted quickly Ujiro’s shoulder as she was about to run inside the central tower, where she was assigned a post.

“See you later, Ujiro!”

Ujiro then had to run himself to his post, which was on top of the East side ramparts of the old castle. With less than 2,000 samurai and ashigaru to garrison his last fortress, Lord Harunobu was completely outmatched in terms of military forces compared to the large armies of Ryuzoji Takanobu, better known as ‘The Bear of Hizen’. Sooner or later, Takanobu would come to evict his weak rival from Hara Castle as well. Maybe this was the time for that after all, thought Ujiro as he climbed the steep stairs to the ramparts. When he arrived at his assigned station on top of the wall, he saw a large column of cavalry, with maybe a thousand or more mounted samurai in it, which was passing on the coastal road 500 meters away, heading South. Their banners and colors were

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definitely those of the Ryuzoji. Ujiro then heard the loud calls from the horagai shell trumpets of the castle, giving the alarm to the surrounding villages. Soon, more shell trumpet calls answered those of the castle from a distance, passing the warning to other villages. At least, the ashigaru and the few samurai stationed in the villages of the region would be ready to defend themselves and were not going to be taken by surprise. Ujiro then saw Lord Harunobu on the balcony of his apartments, surrounded by his top retainers and apparently giving orders while watching the enemy column. A few minutes later, Harunobu’s top retainer ran out of the central tower and shouted orders around him.

“ALL THE WARRIORS EXCEPT FOR THE MEN OF THE COMPANIES OF THE ASHIGARU KASHIRA KANBE AND HYOZU WILL ASSEMBLE IN THE COURTYARD! WE ARE MAKING A SORTIE!”

His company being part of the force ordered out, Ujiro ran down the steps of the ramparts with his comrades and lined up in good order with his unit. Amongst a flurry of orders from the various officers and samurai retainers, he and the other ashigaru quickly collected extra ammunition and arrows, along with rations of rice. Less than an hour later, a strong column of 200 mounted samurai and 1,600 ashigaru which included Ujiro left the castle under the encouragements of the 250 ashigaru and samurai staying in the castle. The servants and the wives of the samurai also joined in to cheer the departing troops, making Ujiro’s excitement grow even more intense as he marched out, ready for battle. His only regret was that Junmi could not be allowed outside of the central tower in order to wish him luck.

The general in charge of the column first sent a few samurai scouts on fast horses ahead, so that they could follow the enemy and report back its position. He then made his force march South down the coastal road, pursuing the enemy column. When they arrived in the small coastal town of Arima one hour later, it was to find that the small local garrison had already been massacred, with only a small group of women armed with naginatas still barricaded in the local rice granary. The enemy cavalry was already gone, apparently heading towards Kushi, about ten kilometers down the coastal road. That presented Harunobu’s general with a tactical dilemma, since his own force was much less mobile than the enemy column. Either he kept his force united, in which case he was probably going to be outrun by the enemy, or he could surge ahead with his mounted samurai and leave his ashigaru to follow as fast as they could. The general

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decided on the second solution and galloped away with his 200 samurai, while the ashigaru officers shouted orders for their men to quicken the pace. Heavily loaded with their armor, weapons and supplies, the foot soldiers lengthened their pace and endured in silence the exhausting march that followed. Darkness fell by the time they reached Kushi. One mounted scout was waiting for them there, with orders for the ashigaru force to establish a blocking position across the coastal road just West of the port and wait there for either the enemy to show up or for the friendly cavalry to join them. As Ujiro took position with his comrades and started building a hasty barricade, he was able to see that the town had been mostly spared, except for the fact that the local garrison of the port had been massacred, like in Arima. The quick advance of the Harunobu column had however prevented the enemy from taking off with the reserves of rice stored in Kushi. Drenched with sweat and shivering in the rapidly cooling night, the tired Ujiro stood behind the new barricade and waited anxiously for the enemy cavalry to come out of the darkness, resolved to prove to all his valor if battle was joined.

02:40 (Kyoto Time)

Monday, November 7, 1583 ‘A’

Hara Castle

Silence was nearly total inside the central tower of the castle, save for the snoring of sleeping people and the occasional cracking of the wooden floors when someone got up to go down to the latrines of the castle. Junmi had been standing guard with a male ashigaru for over three hours now in front of the reinforced wood and iron door of the noble women’s quarters, on the second floor of the pagoda tower. The implanted radio inside her right ear then came to life with a short message from Jeffrey Norton.

“Jenny, heads up! Don’t react yet but we are presently tracking a total of seven intruders quietly climbing the walls of the west side of the castle. Nancy has been called in and will give you precise instructions soon.”

“Understood, Jeffrey.” replied mentally Jenny, her implanted radio picking up her brainwaves and transmitting them silently. Two minutes later, Nancy’s voice came on the radio.

“Jenny, you are not to react to these intruders unless they come at you or if another guard shouts the alarm. If you have to react, kill only if necessary to defend

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yourself or preserve your cover. I now assess those intruders as being probably ninja assassins or saboteurs.”

“Got that, Nancy!” replied mentally Jenny, now nervous. She glanced at Joshiro, the male guard: the ashigaru was half asleep and not exactly qualified as being alert. She elbowed him gently, keeping her voice low in order not to wake up the occupants of the female quarters.

“Hey, Joshiro, don’t go to sleep on me!”

The man jerked up, looked around in confusion, then smile weakly at her.

“What I would like is to go to sleep with you, Junmi.”

“Of course you would!” replied Jenny in a sarcastic tone. “Just keep your eyes open for the moment, unless you want a samurai to find you asleep at your post.” That motivated Joshiro into waking up: the punishment for such an offense was at a minimum a good flogging and could go all the way to death.

Another ten minutes passed before the next radio message came in from Nancy.

“Jenny, the intruders split up into two groups. Three of them are heading slowly towards the well supplying the central tower, while the four others are presently climbing through an open window on your floor. None of the guards have apparently seen them yet. That cavalry column earlier yesterday was probably meant to draw out most of the garrison in order to facilitate the infiltration of these ninjas. Stand your post and defend yourself but don’t run after them unless ordered to by an officer.”

“I copy that, Nancy.” replied mentally Jenny before looking at both ends of the hallway, she and Joshiro were standing in. The staircase leading up to the quarters of the senior samurai officers and of the daimyo was nearby. Anyone wanting to go upstairs would have to go by her. She however doubted that the incoming ninjas were after the daimyo: if so, they would have climbed directly to his window, two floors up. They were probably here to assassinate the daimyo’s family, in order to plant fear and doubt in the castle. She discreetly made sure that her two pistols would not get stuck in her belt if she drew them quickly, then flexed her legs slowly, getting ready for action. She was holding firmly her nagemaki pole arm as she scanned again both ends of the hallway, which was poorly lit by three torches. Her heart skipped a beat when she saw a dark shape crouched behind the corner to her left, only partially visible because of its cover. Joshiro was between her and the intruder and had not seen him. The ashigaru was in fact not even looking around, being still fighting sleep. Looking only from the

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corner of her eyes and appearing relaxed despite being as tense as a steel bar, Jenny then saw two more shapes suddenly step out from behind the corner. The three intruders then strung bows, pointing arrows at her and Joshiro.

“JOSHIRO, WATCH OUT TO YOUR LEFT!”

Totally taken by surprise, the ashigaru turned halfway around, facing the left end of the hallway while starting to point his naginata. At the same time, Jenny was crouching down, letting her nagemaki drop to the floor while she pulled out both of her wheel lock pistols and cocked their hammers. The unfortunate Joshiro got hit by all three incoming arrows, one of which was apparently meant for Jenny, judging from its trajectory. The ashigaru fell down to his knees with a groan of pain as the three intruders charged down the hallway with short swords drawn. Normally, if armed with the standard matchlock pistol found today in Japan, Jenny would never have the time now to light the wicks and fire, something the ninjas had probably counted on. Jenny caught them at a full run, firing first the pistol in her left hand, which was her weak hand, then her right hand pistol, with the shots ringing loudly inside the building. Both of the heavy lead balls struck home, stopping dead in their tracks the two first ninjas. The third one kept running towards Jenny, his sword high. Now out of time to pick up her nagemaki or even to draw her own sword, Jenny blocked the blade swishing down at her head with her crossed pistols. She then kicked hard her opponent in the testicles, making him groan in pain while he collapsed to his knees. Not giving the man any time to further react, she pistol-whipped him hard across the side of his head. The ninja fell heavily to the floor, unconscious, as Jenny shouted out at the top of her lungs.

“NINJA INTRUDERS! ALARM! INTRUDERS IN THE CASTLE!” As Nancy had told her, she then stayed at her post, picking up her nagemaki after putting her two pistols back in her belt. She briefly saw a dark shape peep for a second from behind the far corner of the hallway but didn’t go after that ninja, instead going to check on Joshiro. Her unfortunate comrade was however dead. She was getting up after examining the ashigaru when four samurai, one of them in full armor, came down at a run from the upper floors. The one in armor looked quickly at the bodies littering the hallway, then looked at Jenny.

“Did you see any other intruder?”

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“I saw another one peep from past the far corner of the hallway a moment ago,

Kashira19.” answered quickly but respectfully Jenny, prompting the samurai to rush down the hallway with the three other samurai. Jenny then got a radio message from Nancy.

“Well done, Jenny. You however have one more thing to do to play your role to the hilt.”

“What would that be?” asked mentally Jenny, not seeing what Nancy could be talking about. Nancy’s answer nearly froze her blood.

“Take the heads of the enemies you killed. You will be expected to do that and it will make you more credible in the eyes of the men around you.”

“Uh, I understand. Jenny, out.” replied Jenny, turning a bit green. Going to the two ninjas she had shot, she stood over one of them and raised her nagemaki. She hesitated briefly, then brought it down with all her strength, severing the man’s head cleanly. Feeling sick, she nonetheless was able to repeat the process on the second ninja, then took the two heads by their hair and walked back to her post. She had just stopped in front of the door she was tasked to guard when a samurai in full armor and leading six ashigaru came up the staircase at a run.

“What happened here?” he growled in a rough tone while eyeing the bodies, then the two heads still held by Jenny. The field agent explained quickly what happened, pointing last at the ninja she had knocked out.

“This one is only unconscious: I hit him on the side of the head, Kashira.”

“Excellent! We will be able to interrogate him later. You four, make sure that this intruder is fully disarmed, then tie him up tight and bring him downstairs in the basement cells.”

The samurai then gave a pleased look at Jenny, smiling to her.

“Well done, woman! Your warnings allowed us to catch and kill three more intruders who were trying to poison our main well. Is your companion dead?”

“Unfortunately yes, Kashira. His name was Joshiro.”

The samurai grunted, then pointed Joshiro’s body to his two remaining ashigaru.

“Bring his body outside for burial and inform the ashigaru kashira and the priest.” As Joshiro’s body was being picked up and the unconscious ninja was being summarily stripped naked to make sure that no weapons were left hidden on him, someone opened the door of the noble women’s quarters from the inside. The samurai growled on seeing

19 Kashira: Samurai officer in charge of an ashigaru unit.

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that three young boys and a little girl were now looking wide-eyed at the scene and at the heads held by Jenny.

“Get back inside and keep that door closed, children!”

The samurai then looked back at Jenny.

“I will send a replacement for your comrade. Remind me of your name, woman.”

“Junmi, Kashira.” she answered while bowing low to him. She then had to bow even lower, imitated by the samurai, as Lord Harunobu himself came down the stairs, accompanied by four bodyguards in full armor. The samurai gave a quick report to the daimyo, who then nodded gravely.

“So, yesterday’s enemy raiding party was probably meant to empty the castle in order to facilitate the job of those intruders. Have the garrison sweep thoroughly the whole castle. Make sure that there are no more intruders. Also have the ramparts fully manned.”

“Yes, My Lord!” replied the samurai, who then ran downstairs. The daimyo then nodded once to Junmi and also headed downstairs with his bodyguards.

Four minutes later, a work party of six ashigaru and four female servants armed with buckets showed up. As soon as the ashigaru had picked up the decapitated bodies of the two dead ninjas, the servants sponged up the blood splattering the floor and walls and washed them thoroughly. They were still working when a lone ashigaru in full battle attire showed up and presented himself to Junmi.

“My name is Akira. I was sent to replace your dead comrade.”

“And I’m Junmi. Let’s hope that the rest of the night will be quieter.” The young man looked down with envy at the two severed heads lined up against the wall near her feet.

“It was certainly a good night for you, Junmi.”

“I simply did my duty.” replied Jenny, drawing a nod of approval from Akira. For the first time since her arrival in Hara Castle, Jenny felt that she was finally getting some genuine respect.

16:02 (Kyoto Time)

Hara Castle

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Ujiro was tired, dirty and disappointed as he entered the castle with the rest of his column: they had not been able to catch up with the enemy at all and his harquebus was still clean, not having shot once. The enemy cavalry had played with them around the countryside until a messenger from Lord Harunobu had brought orders to return to the castle. He was however happy to see Junmi, waving to him from a corner of the courtyard. Ujiro’s eyes then bulged out when he noticed the two human heads attached to her nagemaki.

“How did she do that?” he exclaimed, prompting the other ashigaru around him in looking in the direction of Junmi. They also stared open-mouthed at the heads, with Saburo speaking in an admiring tone.

“Well, we certainly picked a rare gem a month ago. We will have to listen to her story tonight.”

They then fell silent again as their samurai officers lined them in parade order prior to dismissing them back to their barracks. Once dismissed, Ujiro and the rest of his squad ran to Junmi, who greeted them with a proud smile.

“I killed two ninjas and captured a third one last night, after seven of them infiltrated the castle.”

“Did any of them escape?” Asked Saburo.

“One.” replied Junmi. “They tried to get into the noble women’s quarters and also to poison the main water well. In recognition for my work, I am now allowed to stand guard on the ramparts and go in the field with you.”

“But that’s fantastic!” exclaimed Ujiro, truly happy: she would now be able to accompany him everywhere. “You will have to tell us in detail at supper time about your fight.”

“I will be happy to, Ujiro.” she said in a tone that made the teenager warm up despite the cold wind. A blood-curling scream came out at that moment from deep inside the central tower, making their heads snap around. Ujiro saw a fleeting look of grief on Junmi’s face.

“They are still interrogating the ninja I captured. It can be a bit unnerving at times.”

“He is getting what his kind deserves.” pronounced Saburo firmly. “They attack from behind at night and are not worthy of being called warriors. Do not feel pity for him, Junmi.”

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Another horrible scream made Junmi wince. She then pointed at the two heads attached to her nagemaki, looking a bit embarrassed.

“Uh, now that I have those two, what am I supposed to do with them? I never took heads before.”

Her question, along with her expression, made the men around her broke out in laughter.

18:11 (Kyoto Time)

Time Patrol scoutship BRITANNIA

30,000 meters above Hara Castle

“I kind of feel guilty at eating all this meat while Jenny is stuck eating boiled rice day in and day out.” said sheepishly Jeffrey Norton while looking at his steak. Xinia, sitting across the crew lounge’s table, smiled at his remark.

“Jenny is eating as well as the other ashigaru in the castle. In fact, she is better fed than most of the peasants in the Japan of today.”

“That’s easy for us to say while we are sitting here and barfing on all that modern food stored by the ton in our ship’s cold room.” replied Jeffrey, glancing at the giant young woman from the royal family of the Imperium ‘B’. “I can’t wait until Jenny is back with us.”

“She is with us, as we are with her, Jeffrey.” cut in Nancy Laplante, also eating her supper at the table. “We will be with her until she can exit the scene discreetly in about five weeks.”

“What if she gets killed in the meantime?” said the young man, sharpening his tone a bit. “Is researching daily life in a Japanese castle worth risking her life like this? A probe could observe that without risks.”

Nancy put down her fork, now looking very serious.

“Jeffrey, we all love Jenny very much and want her to come out of this mission safely. However, this time period is very poorly documented and only human interaction will make some things come out, like motivations, morale and personal thoughts. We all joined the Time Patrol voluntarily while knowing the risks that the job entailed. Jenny is a responsible and mature girl who is proud of her work. Pulling her out now would be deeply insulting to her, believe me. Besides, this will not be her last such mission, by a long shot. Do you think that Jenny is not hurting for you when you are on a mission? We will pull her out when her job will be finished, or when her presence will threaten the

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integrity of history. Our job in the meantime is to make sure that she gets all the support that can be allowed.”

Jeffrey lowered his head and sighed.

“I suppose that you are right, Nancy. I’m sorry: I just can’t help worrying about her.”

“I can understand that perfectly, Jeffrey.” said Nancy softly while patting his hand. “If that can help you feel better, consider that she is due soon to disappear for five minutes of relative local time and to take a well-deserved two weeks of vacation in 3389, like the rest of us. You will be able to cuddle her then all you want.” Jeffrey couldn’t help look dreamily at the opposite wall at those words.

“Two weeks with Jenny… I just can’t wait for that.”

07:16 (Kyoto Time)

Tuesday, November 8, 1583 ‘A’

Hara Castle

Jenny was awakened gently to find a female servant kneeling besides her, an apologetic look on her face.

“I am sorry to wake you up like this so soon after the end of your night shift but Saburo, the ashigaru ko gashira, gave orders to wake you up so that you would join up with his squad. He said that you have to get ready to be away from the castle for a while.”

“I’ll be ready in a few minutes.” Answered groggily Jenny, starting to get up from her straw mat and pulling off her blanket. Like the female servants sleeping in the dormitory of the female quarters section of the central tower, Jenny slept nearly naked, wearing only a loin cloth. Putting on first the baggy blue pants provided to her by the daimyo’s retainer, she next put on a simple, white sleeveless shirt as an undergarment, then her regulation red and white shirt. She tied her trousers under the knees and at the ankles, then put on a pair of socks and straw sandals before slipping on her tatami do folding armor and fastening it. The conical iron jingasa helmet that was standard to the ashigaru soldier and which she had finally been equipped with yesterday was on next. She put on her Portuguese leather sword belt, with its scabbards and pouches, then slung her personal equipment pouch before slipping both of her pistols in her belt and grabbing her nagemaki pole arm. Thus equipped, she hurried outside, where she found

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Saburo and his mixed squad of thirty harquebusiers and archers in the process of assembling with other ashigaru squads and a few samurai in the inner courtyard. Seeing her come out of the central tower, Saburo waved at her to join him, which she did at a run, stopping at attention in front of him.

“Reporting as ordered, ashigaru ko gashira!”

Saburo nodded, glancing at her to inspect quickly her equipment.

“Welcome to my squad, Junmi. Our company is going to march to Kushi, where we will take up temporary garrison to replace the soldiers killed there two days ago. Hyozu’s company is going to garrison Arima. Right now, we are about to collect our filled provision bags and our supplies. We will leave in one hour.”

“What position am I going to fill in your squad, ko gashira? I am neither a harquebusier nor a bowman.”

“You will carry an arrow supply quiver. You will be under my yumi ko gashira20, Toramon.”

Jenny secretly felt relief at that: while heavy enough, the supply quiver, loaded with one hundred spare arrows, was still less heavy than a bullet supply box. Bowing briefly to Saburo, she then went to Toramon, a young man in his mid-twenties who was still older than most of his archers. His ten archers supplemented the firepower of the two squads of ten harquebusiers each, also under the command of Saburo. Toramon was a decent enough person and had shown some tolerance at the idea of a female ashigaru once she had demonstrated her fighting skills. He thus greeted her without visible dislike or mistrust and sent her straight to the armory, where Jenny was given an open-top wooden box filled with arrows. Using the primitive and uncomfortable shoulder straps fixed to the box, she shouldered her load and walked out of the armory, rejoining Toramon’s squad. She and the men then formed a line, to then been each given a tubular cloth bag containing twelve days’ worth of rice rations, each ration being separated from the other rations by a knot in the bag. The rice itself was already half-cooked and could be eaten without further preparation. It was bland food but it was at least filling.

Once fully supplied and equipped, Saburo had his total mixed squad of 36 ashigaru form up in marching column with the other four squads of Kanbe’s company.

20 Yumi ko gashira: ashigaru in charge of an archer squad, itself part of a mixed ashigaru squad commanded by the ashigaru ko gashira.

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The ashigaru kashira then reviewed and inspected his soldiers one by one. He stayed expressionless and silent when he inspected Jenny but she could nearly feel his doubts about her. The fact that the daimyo himself had made her an ashigaru however prevented Kanbe from openly voicing his opinion about her. He did sneer at her Portuguese sword, though.

“A Gaijin’s blade! It will probably snap at the first blow from a katana. You better rely on your wakizashi, soldier.”

Jenny let that pass and grunted in acknowledgement, even though she knew for a fact that Japanese katana swords, while excellent blades, could not compete in metal quality with her sword, which was made of Toledo steel. The secret of Toledo steel had been lost by the time of the 20th Century, except of course to the Time Patrol, which had been able to find it back in time. That steel had probably been the best ever made prior to the high-technology alloys of the end of the 20th Century and had justly been famous in medieval Europe. Kanbe went on with his inspection, then reported to the samurai kashira who commanded the column. Soon, that samurai got up on his horse and, bowing to Lord Harunobu, who was watching from his balcony, signaled his force of nearly 400 ashigaru and fifteen mounted samurai to march out. Jenny couldn’t help feel a shiver of emotion when her column was cheered on by the servants and families living in the castle and by the soldiers and samurai staying behind.

The weather was fairly cold but dry and the march went on well at first for Jenny. One of the two companies of the column, along with eight samurai, fell out once in the town of Arima, three kilometers down the coastal road, leaving Kanbe’s company and the rest of the samurai led by the samurai kashira to continue on towards the port town of Kushi, about eight kilometers further down the road. Jenny could understand Lord Harunobu’s wish to replenish the garrisons of those two towns: they represented important sources of revenues and of supplies to be safeguarded from the enemy. He was however sending way too few soldiers in her opinion to be able to really secure the two localities and their surrounding villages, while keeping many troops idle in his overcrowded castle in Hara. Unless he soon found some new allies, Harunobu was in real danger of losing what was left of his domain at the hand of the ‘Bear of Hizen’. Jenny knew however from historical hindsight that such allies would eventually come to Harunobu’s help. She was still thinking about the local strategic situation when her unit arrived in sight of Kushi and of its small fishing port by late morning. By now the narrow

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and stiff shoulder straps of her supply quiver were starting to eat into her skin, making the march less than a comfortable one for her despite her high level of physical fitness. The welcome they got inside Kushi was rather muted, something Jenny could easily understand: most of the households of the small fishing town had recently lost their men folk, killed while defending the locality against the samurai of Ryuzoji Takanobu. While better equipped and trained, the new force was only slightly bigger than the previous garrison. The samurai kashira in charge of Jenny’s column was apparently no fool and understood the situation well, so he did not berate the civilians for their lukewarm welcome. Instead, he passed on a series of orders, distributing his small force around the town and arranging for accommodations for his soldiers in the various houses and buildings. Saburo’s mixed squad, including Jenny, drew the west end of the town, facing the road to Kazusa, the next town along the coastal road. Their accommodation, chosen by Saburo, turned out to be an old barn, now empty since the enemy raiders had taken off with the few cows and donkeys which had been there before. Jenny sighed with relief when she was allowed to take off her heavy supply quiver and to sit on the thick pile of hay inside the barn. Her time to rest was short, though: Saburo soon called up his ashigaru around him just outside of the barn, on the narrow dirt road passing through Kushi. He looked around at his foot soldiers, stopping maybe for a fraction of a second to glance at Jenny, then spoke quietly.

“We could be here for many days, maybe weeks or even months. Furthermore, the enemy could show up here at any time, without warning. We will thus have to be vigilant and be ready for anything. The orders from the kashira are to work at strengthening the local defenses of this place. We will thus start building a low palisade around the town after we have lunch. The kashira has asked the local women to cook some fish for us, so at least we won’t have to use our rice rations. Afterwards, everybody will work on the palisade except for four archers who will keep watch on this part of the town. We will work with our armor on and with our swords at our belts. Until the food arrives, you are free to rest a bit but stay in or near the barn. I want the four archers on watch now, though.”

The ashigaru, including Jenny, grinned at the news that they would eat something else than rice for a change. Being able to rest was also good news. Having had a very short night’s sleep, Jenny returned at once to the pile of hay and took off most of her kit, keeping only her tatami do armor on before going to sleep.

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She was awakened half an hour later by a smiling Ujiro bent over her.

“Junmi, lunch is served. You better get your portion before the others eat all the fish.”

“Hell, I’m coming!” she replied, waking up fully at those words. She however quickly donned her sword belt and took her pistols before going with her wooden bowl to the corner of the barn where two local women were serving fish from an iron cooking pot. Saburo, standing near the women, observed her put her weapons on with secret satisfaction. She was up to now proving to be a very well disciplined ashigaru and showed a lot of initiative without any need to be prompted. She had also show in the past month that she had a very sharp mind and had also surprised him when he had seen her read and write as well as a scribe could while helping Father Luis Frois translate a letter from Japanese to Portuguese. Some would have accused her of possibly being an enemy ninja in disguise if not for the fact that she had killed two ninjas and foiled what could have been a very damaging night attack on Hara Castle. Saburo would never dare say so openly but she was in many respects making some of the samurai in the employ of Lord Harunobu look like thick-headed peasants. He was looking forward to see her in a real battle, as he was starting to suspect that she still had

surprises for him. Her father must have been a ronin21 samurai instead of a simple ashigaru. The two local women, one of which had gray hair, looked understandably surprised to see a woman being part of the troop. As she was being served a goodly portion of fish stew, Jenny bent down and whispered to the old woman.

“Could you tell me where the women of the town go to bathe and also where they go relieve themselves away from men’s eyes?”

The old woman smiled at that and also whispered to answer her.

“There is a bathing establishment for women and girls at the crossroads of the main road and of the street leading to the quays. A copper coin is the normal admission price and the establishment is run by women only. The bath house for men is across the street from it. As for latrines, there is a stand-alone outhouse maybe fifty paces from here down towards the shore.”

“Thank you!”

Returning to the pile of hay with her steaming bowl, Jenny sat beside Ujiro and gave him a big smile.

21 Ronin: Samurai with no master who wanders around the country.

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“So, how is the fish?”

“Damn good!” replied the teenager, his mouth half full. “I think that we will like this place.”

Jenny nodded at that and then started wolfing down her fish stew, which was effectively very tasty, with herbs and salt in it along with big chunks of various types of fish and even a few shellfish.

Twenty minutes later, Saburo ordered his ashigaru to work, with one group going into the nearby forest to cut down trees while another group started digging a long trench that would be used to plant the wooden poles of the palisade. Jenny, being the only one of the squad with a polearm, ended up going with the wood-cutting party, chopping off the branches of the cut trees with her nagemaki before the trunks could be brought to the trench being dug. One of the samurai of the column was on hand to observe the work and direct the fortification work. While not a military genius in Jenny’s mind, he at least had enough common sense to use the outer buildings along the perimeter of the town to anchor solidly the palisade being built. The squad ended up working until nightfall, helped by a few old local men press-ganged by the samurai kashira. When the samurai supervising the work called a halt to it for the night, Jenny and the other ashigaru were tired, dirty and drenched with sweat. While she, like the other ashigaru, could live with that, she still asked Toramon for permission to go use the town’s bath house before going on guard duty. The yumi ko gashira’s face lit up when she told him about the two bath houses in town.

“Great idea, Junmi! I certainly could use a bath right now. Let me ask Saburo.” Being also anxious to wash, Saburo quickly gave his consent, with the provision that the ashigaru would split in three successive groups to go bathe. Being the only woman of the unit, Jenny got to be on the first group heading for the baths. As Ujiro was about to enter the men’s bath house with his harquebus squad, he gave a longing look at Jenny, who was heading into the women’s bath house: he would have given a lot to admire her naked body and even more to touch it. The truth was that he had never touched a girl yet, which made his longing only more painful. Jenny saw his expression and gave him a warm smile before entering the women’s bath house. The establishment turned out to be small and crowded, with one area where one could first wash the worst off, using pans full of lukewarm water, before going to the separate room where a deep wooden bath tub filled with hot water sat. Eight women and five young girls were already

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crowding the bath when Jenny stepped in the hot water with delight, watched by the curious women. A preteen girl was the first to start the avalanche of questions that hit her.

“Are there many ashigaru girls in the daimyo’s army, strong one?” Jenny smiled to the girl, a pretty but very thin child. The town’s people were not exactly prosperous and she suspected that the food she had enjoyed came at the cost of further rationing for the locals.

“I am the only one, and please call me Junmi.”

“How did you end up an ashigaru, Junmi?” asked an older woman. Jenny thought over her answer carefully before replying to that.

“It was an accident in a way, even if it was something I wanted to do for a long time. My father, who died a few years ago, was an ashigaru and trained me in the art of weapons when he was unable to have a son, so that someone could protect our family when he would be gone or became too old. While I was acting as interpreter and guide for a group of Portuguese going to Hara Castle, bandits attacked us and I was forced to defend myself. An ashigaru patrol came in at a run then and saw me fight. When the daimyo heard about that, he took me in his employ as an ashigaru.”

“Ah, yes, I remember you and the three Gaijins coming off a small boat here a month ago.” said another woman. “You came from Nagasaki, right?”

“That’s right. I spent many years in Nagasaki. That’s where I learned Portuguese, along with many other things from the visiting sailors.”

“Please, tell us about those things!” urged the preteen girl. The other users of the bath tub, while more discreet about their curiosity, nonetheless listened with intense interest as Jenny described things that typical Portuguese sailors an merchants could have told to a young local woman. The geographical descriptions of Europe and the everyday life in Portugal attracted particularly intense interest, along with more questions. Jenny however had to cut the discussion short, to the disappointment of the preteen girl, whose name was Tama, as she could not take too long for her bath. Smiling apologetically, she started stepping out of the bath tub in order to dry herself.

“I am sorry if I leave you now but I have to go back to my duties. However, I promise to be back often, with more stories for you, little Tama.”

“Wait!” said quickly one of the women. “We run a laundry service here. If you want, you can leave your dirty uniform and have it washed and dried overnight.”

“You could do that?” said Jenny, pleased. “That would be great!”

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“It is the least that we could do for the ones defending us.” replied the woman, her voice somber. Jenny saw sadness appear on many of the women’s faces then and she nodded gravely.

“And we will defend you to the death if need be. You have my word on that.” She then hurried out of the bathroom, taking in passing a towel from an old attendant to dry herself. Within ten minutes she was fully dressed and equipped, with a clean uniform on. She gave her dirty uniform to the old attendant, along with an extra copper coin, and was promised to get it back clean by noon tomorrow. Ujiro came out of the men’s bath house only moments after she walked out in the street. The teenager looked positively content as he walked to her.

“It feels so good to be clean again! Being full of good fish stew also is nice.”

“Agreed! Let’s go back together to the barn: the others will certainly be anxious to go wash as well.”

“True!”

The walk to the barn didn’t take long, as the town was a small one indeed, with maybe less than 2,000 inhabitants. Saburo sent two more ashigaru to go wash as soon as Jenny and Ujiro came back, then put the two of them on watch duty together to guard the point where the main road entered the town’s west end. That suited young Ujiro just fine, as it gave him the perfect excuse to be with Junmi. They were silent at first, mindful of their guard duty. As midnight approached and most of the ashigaru were asleep, Ujiro grew confident enough to start speaking quietly in a low voice to Jenny.

“Junmi, what do you intend to do once this war is over?”

“Continue to serve our daimyo, if he lets me.”

“How about marrying and starting a family?”

Jenny looked at him in the dark, smiling.

“Maybe. What about you, Ujiro?”

“I will probably return to the fields of my father to work them. I would like very much then to be able to marry a strong and beautiful girl.” It didn’t take a genius to figure out who such a girl could be for Ujiro. Jenny found him nice enough but she didn’t want to be cruel by giving him false hopes.

“Ujiro, we shouldn’t make plans that we may not be able to realize. However, we certainly can be friends…good friends.”

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“Just that would make me happy, Junmi.” said Ujiro truthfully, still hopeful. Jenny smiled to herself, then concentrated back on watching and listening for any possible enemy nearby.

11:03 (Kyoto Time)

Thursday, November 17, 1583 ‘A’

West end of Kushi, Southern Shimabara Peninsula

After nine days in Kushi, the small force from Hara Castle had fallen into a well-rehearsed routine and had done as much as one could to reinforce the defenses of the town. Some of the ashigaru, with the consent of the samurai kashira, had even started to help the local women and old men do some fishing, as the death of most of the men of military age eleven days ago was starting to impact severely on the local economy. That in turn was bound to affect negatively the future revenues and cut the supplies available to Lord Harunobu, who could hardly afford such cuts. The samurai kashira had thus acted with the view to prevent a severe drop in the shipment of fish supplies to Hara Castle. Since the cold weather had put a stop to agriculture production, those fish supplies were now more vital than ever, since coastal fishing could go on mostly year round. The war had not stopped because of the cold, though, as enemy raiding parties and patrols kept showing up around the countryside. As recently as last night, a village less than two kilometers away had been raided, with its winter reserves of rice and grains taken away by the enemy. That had in turn created a small movement of refugees from that village to Kushi, since the villagers had now nothing left to eat. Those refugees had then been put into use, helping the few fishermen left in the port, which had in turn allowed some of the ashigaru to return to their military duties.

Having awakened a short while earlier after resting from her latest night shift, Jenny was receiving instructions with a few other ashigaru from Saburo about their incoming day tasks when a guard shouted in alarm.

“SIR, I CAN HEAR A CAVALRY TROOP APPROACHING FROM THE WEST!” Running to the palisade, Saburo listened carefully for a moment, then snapped his head around and shouted as well.

“GRAB YOUR WEAPONS! MAN THE PALISADE!”

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Jenny, who had run to get her supply quiver as soon as she had heard the guard’s warning, was already running out of the barn, ready for combat, as the other ashigaru ran to get their harquebus or bows. She soon was standing behind the west end road gate, made of two thin logs held horizontally above the ground and across the road. She was now solidly holding her nagemaki, pointed out, and had her supply quiver on her back and within reach of the archer who had been standing guard at the road gate. Toramon soon joined her there, hurrying his remaining archers into forming a line across the road. Saburo was in the meantime forming up his two squads of harquebusiers on either side of his archers squad after having sent a runner to warn the samurai kashira of the incoming cavalry. Jenny stiffened and steeled herself when the incoming

cavalrymen finally became visible as they turned the bend of the road a mere 200 meters away, emerging from the forest: there were hundreds of them, all heavily armored and clearly displaying the standards of the Ryuzoji. The enemy samurai then charged the gate at a gallop while screaming their war cries. It took everything for Jenny not to flee in panic at the sight of nearly 600 mounted samurai charging her troop of less than forty ashigaru: if not for the palisade, the enemy would certainly have swept away the ashigaru and herself in mere seconds. Since she was flanked on both sides by the ten archers of her squad, she extended forward her nagemaki while resting its shaft on top of the upper horizontal log of the gate and holding solidly to it. At the same time, she put one knee down on the ground, both to make her spare arrows more easily accessible to Toramon, who was standing behind her, and to show that she meant to hold her position at all cost. Toramon understood her move and patted her shoulder in encouragement before shouting orders at his archers.

“ON MY ORDER, ONE VOLLEY AT THE HORSES FROM A HUNDRED PACES, THEN HOLD FIRE!”

Toramon then looked anxiously at the harquebusiers, who were frantically getting their weapons ready. It they could not light their wicks quickly enough; they would then be

powerless to slow down the enemy charge. To his relief, the two teppo ko gashira22 managed to light all of their men’s fuses in time. The enemy cavalry then came to within a hundred meters of the gate, still charging furiously with lances pointed horizontally.

“ARCHERS, FIRE!”

 

22 Teppo ko gashira: Leader of an ashigaru harquebus squad.

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Fired at their maximum effective range, ten arrows then flew out with swishing noises. Six of the horses at the front of the charging column were hit and fell, projecting their riders violently to the ground and blocking the path of the following cavalrymen. Some confusion was caused in the enemy ranks but the few hundred samurai behind the fallen horses then flowed around them and kept charging at the gate. When their first ranks arrived to within fifty meters of the road gate, Saburo shouted at the top of his lungs.

“HARQUEBUSIERS, FIRE!”

The twenty harquebusiers, facing nervously the incoming cavalrymen, then fired in unison from their optimum range. The twenty heavy lead balls easily pierced the armors of the enemy mounted samurai, unhorsing over a dozen of them all at once and throwing more confusion in their ranks. Toramon then shouted more orders as the harquebusiers frantically started reloading their matchlock weapons.

“ARCHERS, FIRE AT WILL! COVER THE HARQUEBUSIERS!” The archers, who had been ready for that, let fly at once with another volley of arrows in the mass of enemy cavalry, then kept shooting as quickly as they could, concentrating their fire on the enemy samurai who were approaching the harquebusiers standing behind the palisade. That was when the palisade really proved its worth. The Japanese horses of the time were much smaller than modern horses, weighing only half as much, and simply could not jump over the one and a half meter-high palisade while carrying an armored rider. The enemy samurai riding towards the harquebusiers lined on each side of the road gate had to stop and vault around before turning towards the gate, which represented the weak point of the ashigaru defenses. Jenny thus suddenly found herself and the archers flanking her the center of attraction for hundreds of incoming enemy warriors. More terrified than she ever had been before, she nonetheless emptied both of her pistols, dropping two cavalrymen, one of which wore a richly decorated armor. Quickly slipping back in her belt her two empty pistols, she then grabbed back her nagemaki in time to parry down the point of a lance trusted at her and in turn jabbed in the throat the unhorsed samurai running at her. Her next move was a vertical chopping swing with her nagemaki that cut off the tips of two lances which were about to impale two of her comrade archers. She repeated her vertical swing on the other side, saving more of her comrades and giving them the chance to shoot down their closest opponents from nearly point blank range.

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Now packed solid in front of the gate with no space to maneuver and having to walk over a steadily thickening carpet of dead and dying men and horses, the enemy simply could not advance fast enough before being shot in quick succession by Toramon’s archers. That was when Saburo’s harquebusiers delivered their second volley in the flanks of that mass and from very short range. More screams of pain were heard through the thick white smoke which enveloped the scene of the battle. One enemy horseman then suddenly emerged from the smoke in front of Jenny and made his mount jump over the road barrier. Jenny barely had time to react to him, sticking her nagemaki’s long curved blade deep in the man’s right armpit as he flew by her and making him scream horribly. He fell off his horse behind the line of archers but Jenny’s pole arm was ripped from her hands in the process.

“SHIT!” She shouted in frustration before drawing quickly both her Portuguese long sword and her wakizashi short sword. She needed them both at once as two samurai yelling war cries ran out of the smoke towards her. Facing what they considered lowly adversaries unworthy of them, the two Ryuzoji samurai didn’t expect to find a swords expert in front of them, especially a female one. Jenny was however a lot more than a simple woman; thanks to the 10,000 years of past life experiences she could draw on. While mostly serving as a scout ship crewmember, Jenny was still a qualified Time Patrol field agent with extensive and advanced training in the handling of practically all types of weapons known in history. She had also been a warrior many times during her past incarnations, like nearly all of the field agents of the Time Patrol, and knew how to kill. Lunging fencing style under the raised katana of one of the samurai, she jabbed him under the jaw, making her blade penetrate all the way to the brain and killing the man instantly. Then, blocking the sword of the second enemy samurai with her wakizashi while she extracted her long sword, she bunted the man in the face with the top of her conical iron helmet. Surprised and stunned for a second, the samurai then got her long sword through his throat. Jenny next stepped back a bit and returned to her original position in front of Toramon, so that he could grab arrows from her supply quiver. Those arrows were in fact sorely needed now; the archers having shot their own quivers nearly empty.

By now Jenny could hear in her back the samurai kashira of her unit shouting orders as he approached at a run with his samurai and the unit’s spearmen. They were barely in time to stop a fresh surge forward of enemy samurai from finally overwhelming

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the thinned ranks of the ashigaru holding the western palisade. Disgusted by such ferocious resistance and apparently temporarily leaderless, the mass of surviving Ryuzoji cavalrymen retreated out of range after weathering a third harquebus volley from close range which fell a further fourteen of them. Hardly able to believe that she was still both alive and unhurt, Jenny planted both of her swords in the ground in front of her and started reloading frantically her two pistols one after the other. She and her comrades then eyed with disbelief the dozens of enemy corpses now littering the ground in front of them. The enemy had apparently lost close to a hundred samurai, most of them now packed in front of the road gate. The cost to Saburo’s small unit had however been heavy, with six harquebusiers and five archers either dead or seriously wounded. To Jenny’s relief, she saw that Ujiro was still standing, reloading quickly his harquebus while protected by a few spearmen. The samurai kashira also eyed the carnage with incredulity before nodding to Saburo.

“Your men have fought valiantly, ashigaru ko gashira. Lord Harunobu will hear of this.”

Saburo, along with his surviving soldiers, straightened up his back with pride: there could be no greater praise than being commended to your lord. The samurai kashira then got closer to Saburo, nearly whispering in his ear.

“How did the woman perform?”

“She truly fought like ten men, Kashira. I saw her kill by herself at least six enemy samurai, including the enemy commander. She also fought with her swords with incredible skill and protected constantly her comrade archers while they were shooting.” Having problems believing this, the kashira eyed Jenny as she left briefly the line of archers after reloading her pistols in order to recuperate her nagemaki. He nodded with approval when she also chopped the head off of the samurai killed by her nagemaki, then grabbed it and brought it back to the road barrier. He next looked at the mass of enemy cavalry 300 yards away. They seemed to be debating what to do now. The enemy unit suddenly started to split in two, with maybe 200 mounted samurai charging the road gate again with wild screams while the rest galloped to the left, towards the shore. The kashira understood at once what the enemy was trying to do now.

“THEY ARE GOING TO GO AROUND THE PALISADE AND TAKE US IN THE FLANK! TEN SPEARMEN WILL STAY HERE WITH THE ASHIGARU KO GASHIRA SABURO. THE REST, FOLLOW ME!”

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With seven samurai and fifty spearmen at his back, he then rushed down the nearest side street leading towards the sea, intent on blocking the way before they could be completely outflanked by the enemy cavalry.

Despite the cold air, Jenny started sweating profusely as she stared at the approaching mass of cavalrymen: it was going to take a true miracle for her and her comrades to come out of this alive. The other ashigaru seemed to understand that as well but grimly stood at their post, except for one spearman who lost control of himself and ran away in panic after throwing down his long spear. Saburo swore violently at the man, then looked at Jenny, whose supply quiver was now empty.

“Junmi, take off your empty supply quiver and take that spear, quickly!” Jenny was too happy to take off the empty but still heavy and uncomfortable wooden pack and to drop it in front of the road gate. She then ran and grabbed the five-meter-long spear, or yari, before returning to her original position in the center of the line of archers, her two swords planted in the ground within arm’s reach. On second thought, she sheeted back her swords before the enemy could fall on her: if a quick retreat was called, she would need those swords on her. As in the first charge, Toramon had his surviving archers fire one volley to slow down the enemy, followed by one volley from the harquebusiers. The surviving enemy horsemen then fell on the line of spears. The shock was of an incredible violence, with men and horses being skewered by the long spears and either dropping down or cartwheeling. Most of the Japanese spearmen were thrown back a few paces by the violence of the impact. Jenny, who was holding her spear like a European pikeman, with the base of her spear stuck in the dirt and kneeling with her right leg and foot on the base of the spear to anchor it, was the only one to keep steady. The samurai she skewered was stopped literally dead in his tracks and unhorsed, with his mount jumping over the road barrier and trampling the archer to the right of Jenny. As the four remaining archers fired arrows as quickly as they could under the protection of the spearmen, the enemy cavalrymen then did something they should have done during their first charge: they took out their primitive matchlock pistols and fired them from a distance of six meters in a massive volley. The archers and the spearmen blocking the road were their main targets and suffered heavily, with all but one archer and three spearmen not hit. Jenny’s luck ran out at that moment, with one lead ball piercing her lower left leg and breaking the bone and with another lead ball penetrating her torso armor and ricocheting over her right ribs. With the main obstacle

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to their advance falling apart, the enemy cavalrymen screamed in unison and rushed through the shattered line, trampling, skewering, stabbing or slashing the surviving ashigaru. Saburo’s harquebusiers, who were still in the process of reloading their guns, were instantly overwhelmed and cut to pieces, including Ujiro, who died with a spear through his throat. In the wild confusion and melee, nobody saw Jenny’s body disappear in a brief flash of light that was mostly obscured by the thick white smoke from gunpowder and the dust from the horses. A few ashigaru who then tried to flee in panic were quickly overtaken and killed. The triumphant Ryuzoji horsemen then regrouped and galloped down the street leading to the shore, charging the samurai and spearmen of the Arima in the back while the latter were already fighting with the 300 cavalrymen that went around the palisade. The Arima men were also quickly massacred there despite fighting like demons. The samurai kashira was the last to fall, skewered by no less than five spears. One Ryuzoji samurai then dismounted and chopped off his head before grabbing it and showing it to his comrade while shouting triumphantly.

“THE TOWN IS OURS! LONG LIVE LORD TAKANOBU!” The surviving 400 Ryuzoji cavalrymen, out of an original total of 600, shouted in unison.

“LONG LIVE LORD TAKANOBU!”

11:24 (Kyoto Time)

Time Patrol scout ship BRITANNIA

Jenny, transported through space-time to the cargo bay of the scout ship via a coded remote control radio command to her implanted time distorter, fell from a meter down on a thick mat meant to cushion her fall on arrival. Nancy and Jeffrey, deadly worried, immediately ran to the moaning, writhing young woman splattering blood on the mat. Nancy swore when she saw that Jenny had also been stabbed in the stomach by a passing cavalryman.

“Damn! Jeffrey, help me quickly take off her armor!”

They did so in a few seconds, trying to ignore Jenny’s cries of pain. Nancy then bent over her young agent and started glowing from the inside. Jeffrey, who knew that he could do no more to help Nancy, stood back with the rest of the mission team and watched as Jenny was healed by Nancy. The latter finally got up and helped Jenny to her feet, then hugged tenderly the shaking, crying young woman.

“It’s over now, my poor Jenny. You did all that you could down there.”

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“Ujiro, he must be dead by now.” said Jenny through her tears and sobs. Nancy nodded her head grimly.

“We saw him die with the other ashigaru. I’m truly sorry, Jenny.” Nancy then hugged her again tightly as the young Hawaiian-Japanese cried her loss.

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