The Serpent's Isles

[LordWorthing]

The Serpent's Isles (Part I)

Go-cho Totani Tayo, walked along the rough cut stone pathway on her way to the Green Lagoon's defensive batteries to collect the morning reports, the balmy early morning sea breeze caused her long black hair to stream out with the wind from under her service cap. The sun was just making it's way lazily up over the horizon the same way it seemed to every day since she'd been posted here. The Serpent's Isles were not much to look at really, being an irregular clump of palm forest and jungle covered mountainous volcanic islands and atolls coiled around two deep water lagoons and an equally deep water bay hedged by jagged coral reefs and sandy beaches. The name of the place came from it's overall shape, which from the air suggested the look of an open mouthed serpent half coiled back upon itself.

The isles, had been inhabited on and off over the centuries, Totani knew from that from both her history books and first hand knowledge. The signs were to be found all over the islands, the place had been visited by the Ainu, Polynesians, Chinese and Lemurians of ancient times and all of them had settled here. Although none it seemed had stayed in possession or prospered for long if they did. Totani's dark brown eyes surveyed the distant horizon, out across the foaming waters capping the reefs, the sun glintered off the endless waves of the Pacific. These islands were a lonely spot amidst the endless water, the islands of the Japanese Empire themselves were barely visible even on a clear day from the mountain tops. The Serpent's Isles stood like a lonely sentry out beyond a fortress gate. A sentinel was what the islands were: taken by force from the Wako, the dreaded pirates of Asian waters during the first Oda Shogunate, and then held against them thereafter.

The Nests of the Red Serpent, the pirate folk of the Lemurian snake-men had tried to retake the isles to use as a permanent privateering and slaving base during the Toyatomi Shogunate and they had succeeded for a time before imperial forces under the Tokugawa Shogunate had won the isles back and purged the vile Nests. Totani felt herself shuddering despite the heat of the day, there were still spots on these isles that spoke of that old carnage; areas of sprawling ruins, fire blacked, broken stone and crumbling wooden timbers, creeping vines and jungle undergrowth wrapped around and through rusting weapons and armour. Sometimes decaying bones were visible, a half hidden skulls of inhuman origin leered from the vegetation or watched mournfully with darkened eyeless sockets. These places, mercifully few now, were shunned by both the Japanese soldiers and sailors of the garrison and the small communities of Japanese and European fishermen, whalers and petty merchants and their families that resided both seasonally and semi-permanently in the isles.

These days the place was a quiet outpost of the Empire used sometimes as a victualing, watering and coaling station by ships making a passage to the distant Midway islands and still more distant Hawaiian and North American shores. The islands yielded fresh water, tropical fruit and vegetables in some abundance and there was enough wild game and fishing to top off any visiting ship's onboard supplies. Certainly they served the Imperial Army garrison;'s needs sufficiently, that a military supply ship only needed to show up once or twice every few months.

The Soryu Battery, a roughly circular pillar of living volcanic rock and coral some eighty feet high loomed on the horizon. It stood just inside and to one side of the entrance of the smaller of the two atoll lagoons, called by the locals the Green Lagoon. Its name referred to both it's relative shallowness and the resultant colour of it's waters, the place made a suitable protected anchorage for seagoing junks, larger sailing sampans and European seagoing sailing craft of moderate size. The larger windjammers, clippers and steamships typically used either the Blue Lagoon or Fang Bay, both of which had deeper and wider entrances and greater depths within their confines. The Hiryu Battery stood on the other side of the lagoon entrance and between them, they effectively covered both the lagoon's mouth and it's relatively spacious interior. Hiryu was built upon a roughly triangular ledge of rock nearly forty feet high surrounded by coral reefs at it's base. Almost an island in itself, it was reached by a long causeway that traced along the top of the atoll that encircled the lagoon and a short bridge.

Totani saw a tall Lemurian and a heavily bearded Ainu stride down an adjoining path that emerged from the hillsides to her left, she picked up her pace to meet them.


Note: (1) Go-chu is the Imperial Japanese Army rank of roughly equivalent to a full corporal or junior sergeant. Historically the non-commissioned and lower ranks of the IJA were in a state of flux at various time from the 1880s to the 1940s. (2) Japanese names in this story are given under the traditional Japanese style/convention: that is family name first, followed by personal name.

[LordWorthing]

The Serpent's Isles (Part II)

Both the Imperial Army's and Imperial Navy's steady withdrawal from the Isles bothered Totani, as it did everyone connected with both the garrison and the residents. According to many of the local villagers, a fortress division made up of army infantry, samurai and various fortress, regimental and battalion artillery units had occupied the islands since at least the end of the Tokugawa Shogunate. The Navy had during much the same period, place a third class naval station at Fang Bay with a flotilla of gunboats to patrol the local waters.

Since 1881, various units forming the permanent garrison had been pulled out or reassigned temporally never to return, causing the garrison to steadily dwindle. In 1885 the Navy had pulled out all but one of the gunboats and reduced the naval station to the barest minimum. Only a handful of steam launches and their crews remained to perform routine patrol amidst the isles or check the papers and cargo manifests of visiting vessels. Only a few scattered artillery companies and one field battalion of mixed regular infantry and samurai companies remained in place, under a major of the artillery Oda Mitsuru, to hold all the isles in the Emperor's name. The beginning of 1889 was not shaping up to be a good year for the garrison, as still more cuts to the establishment were rumoured to be contemplated by the Imperial Government.

Totani shook off these grim thoughts, as the heavily bearded, burly Ainu waved an arm towards her in cheery greeting. Akagi Tomi, was like her a Go-cho in the infantry branch of the Imperial Garrison, born and raised like herself in the Hokkaido Prefecture of Japan and as he admitted to her on one occasion, good for nothing but the army, fishing and drinking. Totani liked him for his rough good sense, good humour and his candor. His Ainu name she did not know nor did he confide it to anyone outside his own family or extended clan. Like many Ainu and Lemurians he had taken a Japanese name to accommodate the dictates of the Imperial Government, and learned to read and speak the Japanese language, and patiently observed Japanese customs that were not his own, although he remained just as intractably fluent in his native dialect and still faithfully followed many of his people's ancient customs. Joto-hei Sasaki Sata, was a Lemurian, and as different in looks and background as Totani and Akagi were to each other despite both coming from the same part of Japan.

First of all, Sasaki, was not human, she was a Lemurian Draconian one of the two non-human species the other being the Lemurian Snake-Folk, to inhabit the islands of Lemuria and Mu within the Japanese Empire. Standing easily six feet tall, she fairly towered over both sturdy Ainu and slender Japanese alike. Her features suggested both the reptilian and the human strangely mixed together, in her case rather alluringly. She had a pleasing oval face, full lipped with a delicate chin, high cheekbones and deep, lustrous almondine eyes. Sasaki's eyes were by contrast to any human eyes however cool and alien, being slitted like a cat's and a glittering topez in colour, her skin was a rich jewel tone green set off by her neck length jet black hair.


Note: (1) Joto-hei, IJA rank for a lance-corporal in the 1880s or superior private by the 1930s. (2) A 3rd class naval station, was a naval post or anchorage that could refuel and resupply naval vessels in most particulars but was only capably of very limited repairs or engineering services. Such a base generally wasn't capable of constructing major warships, although building small craft like steam or motor launches, gunboats or gunvessels might just be within it's means.

[LordWorthing]

The Serpent's Isles (Part III)

Akagi spoke first, when the pair met up with Totani on the pathway.

"Morning Tayo, just finishing your rounds of the posts today?"

"Just the Hiryu and Soryu Batteries, left, thankfully." Totani responded feelingly. Her courier duties took up much of her mornings and a good part of her afternoons each day, collecting the daily reports from each of the batteries and the many fortified infantry  or observation outposts that doted the two lagoons and the three islands that made up the head of the Serpent Isles" Fang Rock, Maw Island and Neck Island. She was fortunate that she didn't have to cover the other islands that made up the body and tail of the "snake" or she would be at her duties all day. Both Akagi and Sasaki as it happened had that particular responsiblility, and both had obviously just come back from the other island and landed on one of the numerous jetties to make their way back to Fang Bay and drop off those reports at the garrison headquarters.

"We will go with you, Tayo. Tedious duties pass more quickly with friends." Sasaki said in her soft, sibilant voice. Akagi, gave the Ainu equivalent of a nob of agreement, then lightly clasped Totoni's shoulder in a friendly grip. "Let's be about it then, when we get back to Fang Bay, lunch is on me."

 Totani walked with her comrades towards batteries with a more cheerful step. Her day suddenly feeling just a bit brighter then it had started.

Sho-sa Oda Mitsuru was as a rule a patient, thoroughly professional and humane man, well liked and respected by both his peers and subordinates alike while being esteemed by his superiors. A rare combination in any military establishment, his troops generally dubbed him Snow White or Old Snowy on account of his long white beard and moustache and his superb almost glacial clam and composure in any and all circumstances. He had been the Imperial Army his entire adult life, having served in the ranks before becoming an officer, although as a member of the samurai-caste in general and the powerful Oda clan in particular he was almost entitled to an officer commission by way of birth rate. He had chosen early on however to dedicate himself to mastering the highly technical artillery branch of the Service and had thought the best way to do that was from the bottom up.

That customary calm was in abeyance this afternoon, and that was because he had just gone through his morning correspondence from Headquarters in Tokyo, which explained his exceptionally foul mood to his military garrison and civilian staff. The Imperial Army Headquarters, had informed him that his samurai assault company was due to be rotated out within the next month, and a replacement infantry unit would not forthcoming. The captain of the gunboat Chiyodogata, the single warship the Imperial Navy, had not yet pulled out the isles, had advised him this morning that the Imperial Navy Headquarters was contemplating doing just that in a few weeks. It had been the capper to a perfect day, as far as Oda was concerned.

Oda, tossed his reading glasses upon the heap of letters, reports and sundry paperwork that covered his desk, and rose to walk to window of his office that faced Fang Bay. The Governor's Mansion, looked out from a hill overlooking the waters of the harbor. Being the military and civilian governor of the Serpent's Isles, had been Oda's job since his predecessor Sho-sho Sawato Hirotsu had died from over drinking in the spring of 1888. Oda was beginning to understand why after holding the job for the last ten months.


Note: (1) Sho-sa, was the IJA rank equivalent of Major. (2) Sho-sho, was the IJA rank equivalent of Major-General.