Pacific War of 2017 (TG for Invite)

[The Union of British North America]

Georgetown University Hospital, Union Capital Territory, Union of British North America

"How is he, doctor?" asked Bushell, who standing outside the private room of Prince Hans-Wilhelm. Guards were covering every entrance of this floor of the ward, and the entire wing was evacuated; only HRH and North American and German security forces were allowed, along with minimal medical staff. The staff were somewhat unnerved at the German guards, with all of the yelling and shouting in German, and an elderly man nearly had a heart attack when he saw them, being wheeled out of the ward by an orderly. "I thought we won World War 2." he muttered to himself as he was wheeled to an exit, going right past Bushell.

"He's stable, just fainted from the shock of the news. His family killed in such a manner, it's horrible. He's awake now, but withdrawn. Lt. Colonel Haden is tending to him now. I'll have someone bring in some food, he's pale and needs to regain his strength." said the doctor. "Thank you. I'm sorry for all of this pressure and quick change. Once the Prince is back on his feet, we'll get out of here and you can have the other half of your hospital back." The doctor thanked the RNAMP colonel again.

Before he even put his hand on the door knob, Bushell got a call. He answered. "Yes sir...What? Really? Uh, ok. I'll come right down." He excused himself in front of the two sentries guarding the Prince's room and headed to an elevator to go to the basement. After exiting, he saw a small convoy of three SUVs, and several RNAMP plainclothes officers, all wearing dark suits and sunglasses. "Your Excellency, I am surprised you managed to get here without alerting the press." said Bushell. "My chief of staff is very adept at making media diversions. How is he?" asked the Governor-General of North America, David Ryan, stepping out of the middle SUV. "He's conscious, and about to snack on something. He has also taken the deaths of his family in the worst way, so I would go easy on him." "Then we'll meet with him in a few minutes."

After about 10 minutes, the Governor-General exited the elevator that took him up to the Prince's floor. Several orderlies were shocked again at the sight of Her Majesty's personal representative in North America. Several said "sir" or "Your Excellency". When the GG approached the door of the Prince's room, the two German guards hastily saluted him, a proper greeting for a foreign leader, and the representative of the Queen. "May I enter His Royal Highness's room? I believe we need to accredit him properly as the new Ambassador of the German Empire to Her Majesty's Dominion of British North America." said Ryan.

Two hours earlier, in transit to Salt Lake City, Military Administration Zone of Disraeli

That diversion was the naming of Senator Steven Armstrong of Hanover as the Deputy to the Governor General and Minister for the Provinces. Senator Viggo Hach, now the former Minister for the Provinces and now only a Senator, was speaking very angrily to Hyacinth Amagi on the phone. "Are you watching the news? That divisive SOB got my job, and I got sacked for stupid reasons. 'Appeal to the youth and to the people, I lack charisma', he's still second to Ryan in terms of public polls, and our party is just too spineless in the Senate. He's only getting good ratings because of the military operations in the Occupied Provinces. His "end the threat next door" campaign is going to rile up tensions even more. Damn this New Independence movement!" said Hach in his latest fit of anger.

"Yoko was also surprised that they made him a heartbeat away from the Governor-Generalship. But the GGNA can move ministers around and fire them personally." replied Hyacinth. "I wonder if they got Ryan in a snare of some kind. This kind of politics can only be done if there is blackmail involved. Damn, he's going to be coordinating with the provincial governments now, and I don't think Ryan can fire him unless something bad is going to be revealed. The Governor-Generalship is the most undemocratic position in our political system; deals have to be made so that the Crown can appoint someone palatable for most people. Ryan will have to resign if there is dirt on him--another corrupt politician produced from our "backroom" government. New Independence will gain more in the polls as the alternative to our 'ancient and backward system'.

"He won't become GG. Parliament and the Queen have good sense about that. I got to go, I'm in Salt Lake, visiting some local schools first. I was driven here when I got of the plane at Denver. I'll speak with you again at the joint house caucus later. Goodbye, Viggo." said Amagi. "All right. The local IJRG academy. Driver, can you take me there? Charlie, I want you to touch base with the local civilian administration on food and water, the necessities, for my report. Things got jumbled with scheduling, so we'll have to split up to cover ground. The sergeant here will be my assistant for the time being, but I will always miss your diligence and your presence." The sergeant quietly nodded yes. "Yes, of course, but please be safe. Who knows what those cadets might do. They are indoctrinated from day one once they get accepted into IJRG academy. They might try to hold you hostage if they do decide to do anything." said Charlie. "Well, if they do that, then they will simply be arrested, charged with kidnapping a government official, and sent to prison. Perhaps military prison given their training and knowledge."

They arrived at the academy. "Could you tell my husband that I am willing to make that dinner on Friday, when ever you get a chance? It's our 5th anniversary." asked Hyacinth. "Of course, you should spend some time in a place that is serene and relaxing, like that Italian place in Georgetown." replied Charlie "A great pick. Thank you. See you later, Charlie."

Meanwhile, Jun Ichida observed the car approach the academy. He heard that there was some one from Parliament making visits to these places for legislative inquiry. Perhaps this is her. He was hiding in an abandoned shop, using his high powered binoculars to observe those coming and going to the academy.

His target, Makabe Seijyurou, did enter the academy. Now, Jun was preparing the fly drone to observe inside the Academy. He got the feeling something strange was going on in there. The laptop said the drone was ready. He got on it and piloted the drone remotely to a cracked window in an old section of the academy; it was built around the time of the signing Treaty of San Francisco, the peace agreement that made the UBNA lose all of its provinces west of the Rockies, as well as the treaty that the Western Allies signed handing over all of their colonial possessions to Imperial Japan. The damn "liberators of Asia" committed various atrocities when occupying the Western Provinces, doing reprisals against civilians for resistance attacks and forcing imperial propaganda down the throats of everyone. He was born in Los Angeles, to Japanese North Americans. They were secretly working for some of the more nonviolent resistance groups against JPS rule. He and his family barely managed to escape to the rump portion of Phoenix Province when he was 10 years old, in the early 2000s. Now he was back to see the JPS get their asses kicked out permanently from the UBNA. "Let's see what you are doing in there." he said to himself as he piloted the fly drone to a ceiling fan, waiting for someone to walk by.

Solomon Islands jungle

After walking a couple miles, Yuuya found a stream to collect drinking water in his canteen. He took a long sip. "So crystal clear, and good too. It must not have gotten polluted yet." He looked up at the sky. He could hear artillery fire and the roars of machine guns in the distance. North American Marines against the IJA and the IJN Special Landing units. In the sky he saw the faint smoke trail of his target. He wanted to get that son of a bitch for shooting him down, and to stick it against the JPS. The CON was now on a level playing field against the JPS. But he then got a strange feeling that this war would be a long one. After resting for a minute, he got up and continued on his way. He heard and explosion, and it was close. "Maybe the pilot survived, and destroyed his mecha? Standard operating procedure, but now I know where you are now, you slippery bugger." He went in the direction that he turned his when he heard the explosion. 30 seconds later, he heard rifle fire really close. Some rounds hit a tree trunk near him. He took cover, poking his head out to scan, only to dodge incoming fire.

He donned his special goggles that looked like sunglasses, but were a tactical visor that provided night vision as well as thermal imaging for short periods of time. He poked his head out again. They were relatively useless in the jungle, with everything alive and giving off heat, but he did make out a silhouette running west to some boulders. He took aim and fired. The bullets made his target duck for cover. "Looks like we'll have to do CQB." As an Army man and a Gear runner, he was trained to fight as infantry as a last resort for combat. He took out his bayonet and put it on his AM MRS-5 rifle. He went prone and crawled to some overgrown plants. He then crouched behind a tree. He was 50 meters away from his target. But he then suddenly heard fast pats on the ground--the sound of running. He turned and was raising his rifle in his new direction, but the target shot first. He got grazed in his right thigh and upper right arm. He dropped his rifle and collapsed to the ground, yelling in pain. His target secured his weapons and looked down at him. Yuuya made out the form of a female of the person wearing this suit and helmet. He looked at her, still holding his wounds. "Well, what are you gonna do? Just stand there? You think you are intimidating? I am not afraid of you. Go ahead and do it." said Yuuya through clenched teeth.

Area 13

"Of course, of course." Ironside/The Psycho said to his handler. He already managed to get some access codes for some of the lower security level rooms from reading the mind of Tsukuyomi. Could come handy in a pinch. He needed to buy time long enough to get an audience with the Emperor, to win their trust. A little deception to save many in the future. When walking with Tsukuyomi, he casually met two Russian looking women. He picked up something special about them. They had a different color of aura than those who lack ESP abilities. Interesting. Perhaps they are used as spies? If so, they would be an indispensable asset. So, it is true that the USSR sent some of their Espers to the superpowers, except for Germany obviously. Perhaps from the same experimental unit that he was from. His handler mentioned Voss.

"Another defector, and a German? That is interesting. Erich Voss, you said? I am looking forward to meeting with him then." Will Codec be able to get through this expansive bunker? Perhaps. He wasn't worried about interception by the JPS, it was the most advanced form of communication in the world. Specially hidden satellites helped make globe-spanning connections, and without a trace. Though, he would have to be careful about how long he uses it. Timed right, he could make it look like random background noise if the JPS did detect signal but they could not de-crypt it.

Ironside entered his new quarters, and met his roommate. Tsukuyomi introduced him to Voss. "A pleasure. Captain Derek Ironside, North American Army."

[Japan and Pacific States]

Two hours earlier, in transit to Salt Lake City, Military Administration Zone of Disraeli

That diversion was the naming of Senator Steven Armstrong of Hanover as the Deputy to the Governor General and Minister for the Provinces. Senator Viggo Hach, now the former Minister for the Provinces and now only a Senator, was speaking very angrily to Hyacinth Amagi on the phone. "Are you watching the news? That divisive SOB got my job, and I got sacked for stupid reasons. 'Appeal to the youth and to the people, I lack charisma', he's still second to Ryan in terms of public polls, and our party is just too spineless in the Senate. He's only getting good ratings because of the military operations in the Occupied Provinces. His "end the threat next door" campaign is going to rile up tensions even more. Damn this New Independence movement!" said Hach in his latest fit of anger.

"Yoko was also surprised that they made him a heartbeat away from the Governor-Generalship. But the GGNA can move ministers around and fire them personally." replied Hyacinth. "I wonder if they got Ryan in a snare of some kind. This kind of politics can only be done if there is blackmail involved. Damn, he's going to be coordinating with the provincial governments now, and I don't think Ryan can fire him unless something bad is going to be revealed. The Governor-Generalship is the most undemocratic position in our political system; deals have to be made so that the Crown can appoint someone palatable for most people. Ryan will have to resign if there is dirt on him--another corrupt politician produced from our "backroom" government. New Independence will gain more in the polls as the alternative to our 'ancient and backward system'.

"He won't become GG. Parliament and the Queen have good sense about that. I got to go, I'm in Salt Lake, visiting some local schools first. I was driven here when I got of the plane at Denver. I'll speak with you again at the joint house caucus later. Goodbye, Viggo." said Amagi. "All right. The local IJRG academy. Driver, can you take me there? Charlie, I want you to touch base with the local civilian administration on food and water, the necessities, for my report. Things got jumbled with scheduling, so we'll have to split up to cover ground. The sergeant here will be my assistant for the time being, but I will always miss your diligence and your presence." The sergeant quietly nodded yes. "Yes, of course, but please be safe. Who knows what those cadets might do. They are indoctrinated from day one once they get accepted into IJRG academy. They might try to hold you hostage if they do decide to do anything." said Charlie. "Well, if they do that, then they will simply be arrested, charged with kidnapping a government official, and sent to prison. Perhaps military prison given their training and knowledge."

They arrived at the academy. "Could you tell my husband that I am willing to make that dinner on Friday, when ever you get a chance? It's our 5th anniversary." asked Hyacinth. "Of course, you should spend some time in a place that is serene and relaxing, like that Italian place in Georgetown." replied Charlie "A great pick. Thank you. See you later, Charlie."

Meanwhile, Jun Ichida observed the car approach the academy. He heard that there was some one from Parliament making visits to these places for legislative inquiry. Perhaps this is her. He was hiding in an abandoned shop, using his high powered binoculars to observe those coming and going to the academy.

His target, Makabe Seijyurou, did enter the academy. Now, Jun was preparing the fly drone to observe inside the Academy. He got the feeling something strange was going on in there. The laptop said the drone was ready. He got on it and piloted the drone remotely to a cracked window in an old section of the academy; it was built around the time of the signing Treaty of San Francisco, the peace agreement that made the UBNA lose all of its provinces west of the Rockies, as well as the treaty that the Western Allies signed handing over all of their colonial possessions to Imperial Japan. The damn "liberators of Asia" committed various atrocities when occupying the Western Provinces, doing reprisals against civilians for resistance attacks and forcing imperial propaganda down the throats of everyone. He was born in Los Angeles, to Japanese North Americans. They were secretly working for some of the more nonviolent resistance groups against JPS rule. He and his family barely managed to escape to the rump portion of Phoenix Province when he was 10 years old, in the early 2000s. Now he was back to see the JPS get their asses kicked out permanently from the UBNA. "Let's see what you are doing in there." he said to himself as he piloted the fly drone to a ceiling fan, waiting for someone to walk by.

Solomon Islands jungle

After walking a couple miles, Yuuya found a stream to collect drinking water in his canteen. He took a long sip. "So crystal clear, and good too. It must not have gotten polluted yet." He looked up at the sky. He could hear artillery fire and the roars of machine guns in the distance. North American Marines against the IJA and the IJN Special Landing units. In the sky he saw the faint smoke trail of his target. He wanted to get that son of a bitch for shooting him down, and to stick it against the JPS. The CON was now on a level playing field against the JPS. But he then got a strange feeling that this war would be a long one. After resting for a minute, he got up and continued on his way. He heard and explosion, and it was close. "Maybe the pilot survived, and destroyed his mecha? Standard operating procedure, but now I know where you are now, you slippery bugger." He went in the direction that he turned his when he heard the explosion. 30 seconds later, he heard rifle fire really close. Some rounds hit a tree trunk near him. He took cover, poking his head out to scan, only to dodge incoming fire.

He donned his special goggles that looked like sunglasses, but were a tactical visor that provided night vision as well as thermal imaging for short periods of time. He poked his head out again. They were relatively useless in the jungle, with everything alive and giving off heat, but he did make out a silhouette running west to some boulders. He took aim and fired. The bullets made his target duck for cover. "Looks like we'll have to do CQB." As an Army man and a Gear runner, he was trained to fight as infantry as a last resort for combat. He took out his bayonet and put it on his AM MRS-5 rifle. He went prone and crawled to some overgrown plants. He then crouched behind a tree. He was 50 meters away from his target. But he then suddenly heard fast pats on the ground--the sound of running. He turned and was raising his rifle in his new direction, but the target shot first. He got grazed in his right thigh and upper right arm. He dropped his rifle and collapsed to the ground, yelling in pain. His target secured his weapons and looked down at him. Yuuya made out the form of a female of the person wearing this suit and helmet. He looked at her, still holding his wounds. "Well, what are you gonna do? Just stand there? You think you are intimidating? I am not afraid of you. Go ahead and do it." said Yuuya through clenched teeth.

Area 13

"Of course, of course." Ironside/The Psycho said to his handler. He already managed to get some access codes for some of the lower security level rooms from reading the mind of Tsukuyomi. Could come handy in a pinch. He needed to buy time long enough to get an audience with the Emperor, to win their trust. A little deception to save many in the future. When walking with Tsukuyomi, he casually met two Russian looking women. He picked up something special about them. They had a different color of aura than those who lack ESP abilities. Interesting. Perhaps they are used as spies? If so, they would be an indispensable asset. So, it is true that the USSR sent some of their Espers to the superpowers, except for Germany obviously. Perhaps from the same experimental unit that he was from. His handler mentioned Voss.

"Another defector, and a German? That is interesting. Erich Voss, you said? I am looking forward to meeting with him then." Will Codec be able to get through this expansive bunker? Perhaps. He wasn't worried about interception by the JPS, it was the most advanced form of communication in the world. Specially hidden satellites helped make globe-spanning connections, and without a trace. Though, he would have to be careful about how long he uses it. Timed right, he could make it look like random background noise if the JPS did detect signal but they could not de-crypt it.

Ironside entered his new quarters, and met his roommate. Tsukuyomi introduced him to Voss. "A pleasure. Captain Derek Ironside, North American Army."

Solomon Islands jungle

Yui walked out from behind her tree with her rifle held at the ready, walking forward she'd kick the rifle out of Yuuya's hands putting her right foot down on his back while she leaned down and took his pistol from him tossing it fart out of reach. "Killing those who are unable to defend themselves adequately isn't honourable. It's weak." Yui said, her voice somewhat distorted by the helmet causing her voice to sound somewhat mechanical and static-y, she pulled Yuuya up to his feet and pressed her rifle's barrel into his back. "Get moving, yankee. Nearest Japanese position is a few miles walk, and I have no time to waste." Yui said pushing Yuuya forward in the direction she intended to go, which was west. To the IJA position she mentioned before.

Salt Lake City, Military Administration Zone of Disraeli

Makabe Seijyurou walked down a hall with his four friends, all wore the standard garb of the Cadets of their IJRG school, a black uniform with visibly darker trim, Seijyurou wore golden collar tabs while those following him wore silver collar tabs, walking to the older, lesser used part of the school, Seijyurou entered an old history class room with his friends, the last one entering shut the door while everyone got situated at a table. "How much longer do you think it'll be until the Imperial Army finally comes and reclaims this area, Cadet Lieutenant?" Yashiro, a Cadet Sergeant and Seijyurou's long time friend asked, looking to Seijyurou of whom sat at the head of the table. "I'm unsure, but I know it should hopefully be soon. The Yankees are at their limit, and with the new weapon our forces wield in Vietnam, it's likely there's another. Or we should hope there is. If such a weapon were to be deployed here, as well as in Vietnam we could put an end to this war on our terms.... But we must discuss how to help the Army when they do return, I'm open to suggestions." A Cadet Junior Sergeant at the other end of the table on the right side leaned forward with his hands clasped together. "Why not help right now? ....Our passive resistance can only go so far and..." Seijyurou held his right hand up and the Cadet Junior Sergeant stopped mid sentence.

"Out of the question. ....We have neither the materials nor the skill for such a fight. We were in the middle of training when these westerners came in and infested our homes like cockroaches.... I will not be responsible for anyone blowing themselves up or getting themselves killed out of stupidity. We must wait for the Army before considering any such action.... Now if that's everything, this meeting is dismissed if no one has any other ideas... But one last thing, gather a list of collaborators, there's no doubt there are some, and when the army does return they will have to be punished for their disloyalty to the Shogun, and their dishonour as Japanese for assisting the enemy in anyway. Giving them food, a place to rest, anything. Those count as collaboration. Such people are scum, they will not be missed.... Now, this meeting is fully dismissed."

The Cadets down the table stood up and bowed their heads to Seijyurou before leaving the room, leaving Seijyurou there. "... It's getting hard to control those idiots... Damned Tozamas..." Seijyurou stood up and went to a cabinet in the room taking out a tea making set of which was stored there and began making a pot of tea to the best of his ability before returning to his seat sitting down at it.

Area 13

"Yes, he is a rare case. ...From what I know he showed up, turning himself in to the Kempetai in Tokyo in the first days of the war.... Anyway that is all." Tsukuyomi escorted Ironside to his quarters to allow himself to introduce himself to Voss, standing outside of it as she was ordered to, waiting to escort either Voss or Ironside to wherever they would wish to go.... All while this was happening, on the surface the Shogun herself was arriving at the facility, security was quickly increased, off duty personnel were put back on duty and The Emperor himself, along with his and Meiya's daughter, Yuuhi went up to meet Meiya. "Mom!" Yuuhi yelled out running to Meiya jumping up, Meiya caught her daughter in her arms smiling down to her. "How's my little girl?" Yuuhi shook her head and smiled hugging Meiya's neck while Emperor Takano joined Meiya walking with her into the facility while Tsukuyomi Maya and Sagiri followed behind.

Making their way down to the deeper levels of the facility, Meiya had already dropped Yuuhi off at her quarters to be watched by Sagiri while Meiya, Takano, and Maya continued, to the medical bay where Director Yuuko had finished her surgery, the tube of which usually contained a brain and glowed bright blue was very much the same except the tube's glow had diminished, almost ceasing to glow altogether. The brain itself of which was usually contained in the tube was now missing, a body of a young girl, appearing to be around 17 or 18 laid in a bed next to the tube, Kasumi begun rolling the tube and it's pedestal out of the room on a cargo lift, passing Meiya, Takano and Maya.

"Director Yuuko, I didn't expect this stage of your project to be already in motion." Meiya said while she approached both Yuuko and the body looking down on the body she noticed there was stitches under the hairline of the body. "Anything yet?" Meiya asked looking to Yuuko of whom smiled, motioning to the life support machines. "Brainwaves as far I can tell are normal... Nothing else really needs to be accounted for since this is a synthetic body... Other than breathing I suppose, and blood.... In any case everything is normal, so we should expect activity in the next hour or so."

Yuuko said confidently crossing her arms with a smile on her face. "Your proudest achievement I'd suppose yes?" Meiya said gently placing her hand on the body's forehead. "This creature has given us much useful information, I'm glad you were able to complete the transplant successfully." Meiya removed her hand and the body's eyes opened slowly, she started to look around to both Yuuko and Meiya, before attempting to sit up which she did with the help of Yuuko. "Hmm, my. I'm glad you've awoken." Meiya said with a smile to the creature. "I... Feel strange..." It would reply looking up to Yuuko and Meiya, Takano and Maya stood back a ways keeping away from the creature. "That's to be expected. ...Your new body is likely not like your old one, and given you've been out of it for.... I believe you told Kasumi, over a thousand years? I think?"

Kasumi returned shortly after removing the tube and it's pedestal from the room walking up to the side of the bed with Yuuko smiling to the creature of whom smiled back at Kasumi. "Thank you for assisting us in our efforts of uniting Asia..." Meiya said bowing her head to the creature of whom looked to Meiya. "Ah, Kasumi has told you of the weapons that I had told her of then?" The creature asked to which Yuuko chuckled. "Yes, and they've been very effective thus far... The Tactical Surface Fighters, the EML-99X, soon we'll be doing live tests with the XG-70d and the G-bomb." Yuuko said to which the creature nodded it's head. "Be careful with the G-bomb, it could effect the world in ways you cannot imagine." Meiya smiled and held her hand up to her chest bowing her head again. "I assure you, I will not allow the use of the G-bomb except when it's absolutely necessary. You should rest now, you will have plenty of time in the future to get used to your new body.... Maya will be here to guard you while you sleep." Meiya turned and motioned for her Vassal Retainer, Tsukuyomi Maya to step forward of which she did, bowing her head. "As the Shogun has ordered, I am at your command."

"Now, I must be leaving, there are matters that need attending to. I thank you again for your assistance." Meiya turned once more and bowed her head to the creature of whom nodded it's head and smiled before she left the room with Takano. "Meiya... I'm not sure I'm comfortable with that... Thing.." Takano said looking back to what would become known as Unit 00. "Takano, do not worry, I assure you, this has been done with the greatest care, that being in there has contributed much to our technological advancement as a nation. We owe it more than just a body... In any case, it doesn't matter. The war has escalated and I fear the Germans will us more... Harsh means against us. For which we should be prepared... And we should be prepared for a guest to join us temporarily..." Meiya said before she walked away from Takano of whom nodded his head and would return to his quarters while Meiya left to the lower levels, entering a large room, she would walk in and see the XG-70d, folding her hands behind her back she smiled looking up at it, in her eyes it was a thing of beauty, and power. A weapon that could win the war for Japan.

Back on Mainland Japan, in Kyoto.

Admiral Genda was in the final stages of the move to Area 13, it was likely of course that Germany would strike the capital and other cities of importance to Japan so everything involving the military and to a degree the actual government of Japan, not including the prime minister or the diet of which held no actual power beyond the small, minute public matters would remain in Japan. A knock would be heard at the door to Genda's office, sighing he'd stand up gathering everything that was left he could carry, which was mostly papers, into a briefcase he'd walk to the door and open in to see Rei and Shizuka Nishimura with Admiral Nagumo in tow, shackled and beaten. "We shall be continuing the execution, please inform the Shogun we shall join her and the rest of the command after it is carried out." Genda looked to his old friend and sighed. "I'm sorry Nagumo, there's nothing to be done, it was authorised by the Shogun herself... But atleast you are being allowed to restore your honour." Nagumo, about to speak was backhanded by Shizuka. "You don't get to speak, filth. You've dishonoured the IJN, the Shogun, and Japan. You've drug the British and their commonwealth into our affairs!" Rei then sighed and nodded her head pushing Nagumo forward to get him walking.

Genda nodded his head and left his office shutting the door and locking it behind himself, continuing on his way to Area 13... Meanwhile, Rei and Shizuka pushed Nagumo forward, to a set of double doors leading out to the front steps of the Imperial Japanese Military General Headquarters. Rei unlocked Nagumo's shackles and tossed them off to the side, opening the doors a large group of reporters were present infront of a stage that was quickly set up, on the stage was a small pedestal with a knife and a white cloth on it. Nagumo finally understood what Genda meant by him being allowed to "restore his honour". A fate he was resigned to. He walked forward with his head held high and the Nishimura twins right behind him, walking up on stage he'd fall to his knees before the pedestal while Rei unsheathed her Katana and her sister poured water on it. Before proceeding Shizuka would speak. "This is as I'm sure everyone knows, former Admiral, Nagumo of the IJN. The one responsible for the UBNA's trespass and intervention in our affairs for the deaths of the Germans on the IJN Shoukaku. For his dishonour against the IJN, against the Shogun, and against Japan itself. He is to reclaim his honour! And my sister, Fleet Admiral, Rei Nishimura will assist him with this! By order of the Shogun, Mitsurugi Meiya, former Admiral Nagumo, you are hereby sentenced to public suicide!" Shizuka stepped aside so the cameras would have a clear view of it.

Admiral Nagumo took the small knife in his hands, wrapping the white cloth around the base of the blade and the handle, quickly he'd plunge it into his stomach, cutting it open while Rei quickly delivered the final blow cutting Nagumo's head off, flicking the blood off her Katana before sheathing it. The ceremony way over, Nagumo was dead. A fate he was likely to receive anyway if given over to the UN.

[New Decius]

Area 13

Voss donned his uniform jacket, he would probably have to change that sooner or later so people could feel more comfortable around him. He made sure the tablet with all the Abwehr and KTI files he stole was safely secure in the secret pocket before turning to his new acquaintance. “Captain Ironside is it? General Erich Voss, formerly of the Abwehr, though I suppose my defection nullifies the rank. My reasonings being I had my disagreements in Germany with certain parties.” He said no more, unsure if he could trust this man. In his position at present he could hardly afford to be trusting, what with what was sure to be half the Abwehr and KSK out for his head. Especially if they ever found out he had stolen the cache of aforementioned files. After delving through it he had found a couple of items which caused genuine strategic concern to him. He hoped he would be able to speak to the Director about them.

He turned and bowed politely to Tsukuyomi with respect. “I was wondering if I could perhaps speak with the Director. I have fresh intelligence on upcoming German frontline weapons that may be concerning.” What concerned him most be that KTI and several other companies were about to field a whole generation of new weapons using Helium-3 as a base including several proposals for a drone War Frame and a new infantry shielding system. “I do believe it is urgent enough as to affect the larger war. Some of these weapons may be strong enough to push the European lines as far North as the Chinese border, if deployed soon and no counters prepared.”

KaizerTech International HQ, Frankfurt
Grand Duchy of Hesse, German Empire
European Community

KaizerTech International had, since the early 1960’s, been the forefront of Germany’s technological advancement both military and domestic. More than half of Germany’s most successful and renowned companies were connected to and, by extent, controlled by KTI. These included such famous firms as BMW, Rheinmetall, the Horten Group, etc. The company had shares in dozens of foreign corporations as well in both Europa and the Commonwealth as well as many of the world’s neutral nations. Its annual profits were in the trillions and with a war on those profits were sure to increase. KTI’s defense contractors catered not only to Germany and its European allies but also several Commonwealth nations. The success of the company had been so great as to propel its owners, the Kaizer family, into the ranks of the aristocracy. The family had been granted the title of Count and even had sway in most of the provincial parliaments in the German Empire’s constituent states.

What KTI specifically had a license to design and build for the German military were War Frames. Though the German military’s science division had designed all the War Frame models of Generations 1-6, KTI had manufactured them and then acquired the license to design them from 7th Generation onwards. KaizerTech also was one of the leading forces behind Germany’s drone warfare program. This was however a weapon of a different kind.

Right now, Albert Gottfried von Kaizer, CEO of KTI and Head of the House of Kaizer, was showing several members of the German General’s Staff through the design lab in the company headquarters in Frankfurt intent on one piece of weaponry in particular. As scientists bustled around them, the twenty-eight year old CEO and noble coached his guests along through the trip. They were all Colonel’s and Major’s serving on the General’s Staff, the bigshots were in Berlin, still in a bunker until such a time the terror threat passed. “Gentlemen, I think you will find yourselves most impressed, as will the members of the General’s Staff, by the achievement we have for you here today. This will truly revolutionize warfare. Even more than War Frames, TSF’s, or Gears have done so. We have come through to the next generation of automated warfare.” Finally they arrived at their destination.

Before them was a large testing area where a large mech unit was in place. It seemed to be a War Frame but was starkly different in appearance. War Frame’s tended to have an almost knightly aspect to their physical appearance, whereas this mech was certainly humanoid in appearance, but entirely smoothed out all over, no face, not even a viewport. It was also strikingly larger than most War Frame’s, had to be at least twenty meters in height and who knows how many tons in weight. Strapped to its back over its right shoulder was a large block with, what appeared to be, a cannon barrel extending from it. Kaizer delved right into explaining his creation.

“What you are seeing now gentlemen is the evolution of drone warfare and mechanized warfare joined as one. I give you the first ever totally pilotless drone War Frame, the Panzermann Mk.8. Equipped with a newly developed AI control we’re calling the Druid System, this machine can react with almost the reaction time of a human honed to their best, 1.2 seconds is the best recorded so far in testing. The Druid System is designed to adapt to its scenario as the battlefield evolves and can behave as a real soldier would, minus human instincts such as fear and the like. However, what truly makes this new system remarkable is its predictive engine, capable of running a million calculations in the blink of an eye to formulate a counter-strategy to every possible enemy attack. While human pilots inside War Frames constantly have to act on instinct or with little time for hard thought as to what an enemy may do, this machine will already know what the enemy may do before the enemy does.”

“This mech was designed to kill Japanese TSF’s, either from afar or up-close and personal. It carries an 88mm recoilless railgun penetrator, could damn near punch through almost anything with that gun. Also, we have developed a special blade to be used by these new mechs, a new titanium, steel alloy mix that can cleave through armor like butter. The Japanese want to play samurai in their TSF’s against us, these will show them what a Knight can bring to the fight. We equipped it with the same reactive armor plating that we’re using for both the new Panther 1A3 MBT’s and the Panzer Festung’s. Its mobility can be either via its legs as it can walk, or through the landspinners which deploy from the back of its legs.”

All of this was more than impressing the officers from the General’s Staff, but then, Colonel Adrien Strauss, the leader of the group, brought up a very important question. “Your Grace, Herr Kaizer, what of in the event of destruction or possible capture, this is certainly not technology we want the enemy getting their hands on. Drone technology and automated warfare are an area where we have a great lead over the Japanese, His Majesty does not want that lead gone. The key element to our integrated drone soldier program is it lessens our casualties over all while the enemy still bleeds his flesh and blood.”

“Colonel, I am no idiot. Marvelous though the Mk.8 is, there will certainly come a time where it is overwhelmed or incapacitated. There is a self-destruct failsafe in every drone, designed to activate once the unit is no longer combat able. A napalm based charge designed to destroy all the inner mechanics of the drone and essentially leave its inside a corpse of melted metal slag.”

Strauss posed another question. “For such a stupendous weapon, His Majesty will surely desire a test on the frontlines, how many do you have combat-ready for deployment?”

“At this present moment I have three combat ready Mk.8’s that can be deployed within the next forty-eight hours. I’m assuming you mean to send them to the front in Indochina or perhaps to participate in the upcoming assault on Singapore?” Not even the officers were shocked of his knowledge there; rumors had been flying around since the counteroffensive in Indochina first began as to where the amphibious blow would fall. The Abwehr made sure those rumors kept swirling with different targets, Manilla, Singapore, Hong Kong, Macau, Okinawa, etc. The better to confuse Japanese agents. Kaizer, with his connections, would have been able to find out the true target with ease.

“It will be up to the General’s Staff to decide that. Now you mentioned having something else to show us, something you said could immediately be distributed to the soldiers at the front.” Kaizer nodded and directed them over to another testing area where a man was standing in front of a line of men with assault rifles. “Are we to watch a man be shot?” Kaizer hushed him and then nodded to an aide who started the demonstration.

The solitary man on the left pressed a button on the palm of his right hand glove and suddenly his gauntlet projected a wall of blue energy that looked about 2 feet wide and four feet tall. The men with the rifles started firing but every shot disintegrated on contact with the energy wall. After a minute the demonstration was over and Kaizer turned to see his audience’s reaction. “At last gentlemen, a working energy shield for the infantry. Activated by pressing a button on the new issue combat gloves, can be maintained for up to seven minutes at a time and takes only fifteen minutes to recharge. Can be used to protect against all manner of anti-personnel weaponry from assault rifles and shotguns to machine guns and sniper rifles. If you hold this in front of an exposed body part, the damn thing will even protect against grenade shrapnel. Disintegrates the bullets on contact. Best of all is that like the rest of the 12th generation gear about to go into service, the gauntlet projector will not activate if someone other than the designated user attempts to activate and attempting to do so will automatically activate the failsafe self destruct. All our latest combat gear is being geared towards recognizing a soldiers finger prints, vein patterns, retina scans, all to ensure that soldiers can better utilize their equipment and also to make sure the enemy has a harder time trying to reverse engineer it.”

Strauss could not help himself. “How is it powered? Is it the same technology as is being used in the energy rifle program?” Kaizer nodded and then brought up the designs for both the shield gauntlet and the most promising energy rifle design on a computer. “Indeed, a single Helium-3 battery recharged by a chemical reaction in a connected power distributor. Fortunately even a minuscule amount of Helium-3 can produce large quantities of energy, a single gram of it could keep Berlin powered for half a year. So we can do a lot with a little, as Helium-3 is not extremely abundant on Earth itself, far more on the moon and in the gas giants of our Solar System. However, some of the largest deposit’s of terrestrial Helium-3 lie in the deep Crust mines in Algeria and Morocco, which we control. A single one of these batteries can keep going for a solid week even with extended use, unless say a soldier is plopped into the Battle of Stalingrad in which case I’d give it three days.” He stood back.

“At present there are 3,500 of these new Gryphon shield projectors built and ready to be deployed to the front line troops. I can have the shipment on its way to wherever it needs to go with but a directive from the OHL where they need them.”

That order came following a single phone call back to the OHL after which Strauss gave Kaizer instructions where the Mk.8’s and the Gryphons were to be sent.

Oh yes it was time for Germany to truly start fighting back. And this was only the beginning.

Unknown Location, Project Alpha Base

Hans stood in the back of the conference room by the door watching the wall-monitor like everyone else in the room, which included Geitzler and seven other top scientists and the three KSK garrison commanders. On said monitor was a map tracking the path of the three stealth aircraft carrying the Ghoul drop pods to their targets. A daylight raid was going to be tricky, especially since the Japanese might have started preparing for strategic bombing of their cities already. But it was also possible that given no European nation had yet launched bombing attacks on civilian cities in Japanese territory the Japanese might ignore the threat or think it a bluff. That the Count of Bornholm was merely grandstanding in his speech. Hans didn’t believe he was grandstanding, he knew what a killers eyes looked like and the Count had them. Though in the Count’s war he sent men to the bottom of the ocean from the shadows, what he was promising was men whose business was to deliver fire and death from above would visit Japanese cities.

Geitzler nodded approvingly at the map. “Trackers are still active, the weapons haven’t chewed into their skin and torn it out clearly. First drop should be in Beijing, then Seoul, and finally Kyoto. Given the response basis of military personnel, Kyoto will be terminated first, followed by Beijing, and lastly Seoul. First drop in five minutes this should be interesting.” To which Hans thought ’No this will be a massacre.’

Geitzler smirked villainously as he saw the notification the first drop pod had detached over Beijing. “Now let us see how you handle my monsters...”

Forbidden City, Beijing
Japanese-Controlled China

Even in wartime where surprise was to be expected, no one in Beijing was expecting a large metal container to just fall from the sky right outside the Forbidden City. Several people were killed beneath the drop pod on its impact, and a number of others were deafened by the sound of the impact. A couple of Beijing police officers rushed over and began to try and keep the crowd away from the pod and called for backup, while two Kempetai officers nearby approached the pod, weapons drawn and about to try and open it. Then the doors slid open, and then some fast and sharp cut across both men’s throats. They fell to the ground bleeding profusely as their hearts pumped their very life from them. Half the crowd screamed, the rest stared in stunned silence while the police officers drew their weapons though some of them were visibly shaking at the knees. The slash marks on the two officers were not so much cuts as they were that their whole throat was torn out in one go. What creature could do that?

At that moment, something truly horrible stepped out of the dark confines of the pod and into the light. It was terrifying, at least two meters in height and covered in fur on most of its body with a stub of a tail in the back. The hands were claws, dripping with blood, and the teeth were fangs. But the face seemed almost human save for the fangs and pointed ears. Then the beast let out a horrible half-roar half-screech and rushed towards one of the police officers. Before the man knew what was happening, his stomach was cut open and he was falling to the ground. Then the screaming really started as the creature started to attack everything in sight, be they official or civilian, Chinese or Japanese, child or adult. One of the police officers fired his gun at the beast and the bullet went through its hand, to the excitement of the officer, only for morbid fear to soon rush in as the wound began to slowly put itself back together. In seconds the Ghoul had his neck in its teeth and pulled before flinging his head off into the crowd.

The Ghoul started to attack anything in sight with a predatory, feral ferocity. Many were trying to get the gates to the Forbidden City open to flee inside but the gates had been closed to keep the Ghoul out and people fled into the streets where the monster pursued them. How long would it take Japanese military forces to arrive to deal with the creature, as it clearly could take anything the police dished out.

Project Alpha

Geitzler wore a great big smirk as he watched the chaos unfold on international television in Beijing and Seoul. In Beijing the beast had landed outside the Forbidden City, in Seoul the Ghoul landed on a main street during rush hour. Then he heard about where the Kyoto Ghoul had landed and he practically died of excitement. “So our weapon in Kyoto had landed just outside the Imperial Palace? This is glorious! Revenge for our fallen Crown Prince and all the soldiers slain in this conflict. Today, the Shogun dies!”

[Japan and Pacific States]

Area 13

Voss donned his uniform jacket, he would probably have to change that sooner or later so people could feel more comfortable around him. He made sure the tablet with all the Abwehr and KTI files he stole was safely secure in the secret pocket before turning to his new acquaintance. “Captain Ironside is it? General Erich Voss, formerly of the Abwehr, though I suppose my defection nullifies the rank. My reasonings being I had my disagreements in Germany with certain parties.” He said no more, unsure if he could trust this man. In his position at present he could hardly afford to be trusting, what with what was sure to be half the Abwehr and KSK out for his head. Especially if they ever found out he had stolen the cache of aforementioned files. After delving through it he had found a couple of items which caused genuine strategic concern to him. He hoped he would be able to speak to the Director about them.

He turned and bowed politely to Tsukuyomi with respect. “I was wondering if I could perhaps speak with the Director. I have fresh intelligence on upcoming German frontline weapons that may be concerning.” What concerned him most be that KTI and several other companies were about to field a whole generation of new weapons using Helium-3 as a base including several proposals for a drone War Frame and a new infantry shielding system. “I do believe it is urgent enough as to affect the larger war. Some of these weapons may be strong enough to push the European lines as far North as the Chinese border, if deployed soon and no counters prepared.”

KaizerTech International HQ, Frankfurt
Grand Duchy of Hesse, German Empire
European Community

KaizerTech International had, since the early 1960’s, been the forefront of Germany’s technological advancement both military and domestic. More than half of Germany’s most successful and renowned companies were connected to and, by extent, controlled by KTI. These included such famous firms as BMW, Rheinmetall, the Horten Group, etc. The company had shares in dozens of foreign corporations as well in both Europa and the Commonwealth as well as many of the world’s neutral nations. Its annual profits were in the trillions and with a war on those profits were sure to increase. KTI’s defense contractors catered not only to Germany and its European allies but also several Commonwealth nations. The success of the company had been so great as to propel its owners, the Kaizer family, into the ranks of the aristocracy. The family had been granted the title of Count and even had sway in most of the provincial parliaments in the German Empire’s constituent states.

What KTI specifically had a license to design and build for the German military were War Frames. Though the German military’s science division had designed all the War Frame models of Generations 1-6, KTI had manufactured them and then acquired the license to design them from 7th Generation onwards. KaizerTech also was one of the leading forces behind Germany’s drone warfare program. This was however a weapon of a different kind.

Right now, Albert Gottfried von Kaizer, CEO of KTI and Head of the House of Kaizer, was showing several members of the German General’s Staff through the design lab in the company headquarters in Frankfurt intent on one piece of weaponry in particular. As scientists bustled around them, the twenty-eight year old CEO and noble coached his guests along through the trip. They were all Colonel’s and Major’s serving on the General’s Staff, the bigshots were in Berlin, still in a bunker until such a time the terror threat passed. “Gentlemen, I think you will find yourselves most impressed, as will the members of the General’s Staff, by the achievement we have for you here today. This will truly revolutionize warfare. Even more than War Frames, TSF’s, or Gears have done so. We have come through to the next generation of automated warfare.” Finally they arrived at their destination.

Before them was a large testing area where a large mech unit was in place. It seemed to be a War Frame but was starkly different in appearance. War Frame’s tended to have an almost knightly aspect to their physical appearance, whereas this mech was certainly humanoid in appearance, but entirely smoothed out all over, no face, not even a viewport. It was also strikingly larger than most War Frame’s, had to be at least twenty meters in height and who knows how many tons in weight. Strapped to its back over its right shoulder was a large block with, what appeared to be, a cannon barrel extending from it. Kaizer delved right into explaining his creation.

“What you are seeing now gentlemen is the evolution of drone warfare and mechanized warfare joined as one. I give you the first ever totally pilotless drone War Frame, the Panzermann Mk.8. Equipped with a newly developed AI control we’re calling the Druid System, this machine can react with almost the reaction time of a human honed to their best, 1.2 seconds is the best recorded so far in testing. The Druid System is designed to adapt to its scenario as the battlefield evolves and can behave as a real soldier would, minus human instincts such as fear and the like. However, what truly makes this new system remarkable is its predictive engine, capable of running a million calculations in the blink of an eye to formulate a counter-strategy to every possible enemy attack. While human pilots inside War Frames constantly have to act on instinct or with little time for hard thought as to what an enemy may do, this machine will already know what the enemy may do before the enemy does.”

“This mech was designed to kill Japanese TSF’s, either from afar or up-close and personal. It carries an 88mm recoilless railgun penetrator, could damn near punch through almost anything with that gun. Also, we have developed a special blade to be used by these new mechs, a new titanium, steel alloy mix that can cleave through armor like butter. The Japanese want to play samurai in their TSF’s against us, these will show them what a Knight can bring to the fight. We equipped it with the same reactive armor plating that we’re using for both the new Panther 1A3 MBT’s and the Panzer Festung’s. Its mobility can be either via its legs as it can walk, or through the landspinners which deploy from the back of its legs.”

All of this was more than impressing the officers from the General’s Staff, but then, Colonel Adrien Strauss, the leader of the group, brought up a very important question. “Your Grace, Herr Kaizer, what of in the event of destruction or possible capture, this is certainly not technology we want the enemy getting their hands on. Drone technology and automated warfare are an area where we have a great lead over the Japanese, His Majesty does not want that lead gone. The key element to our integrated drone soldier program is it lessens our casualties over all while the enemy still bleeds his flesh and blood.”

“Colonel, I am no idiot. Marvelous though the Mk.8 is, there will certainly come a time where it is overwhelmed or incapacitated. There is a self-destruct failsafe in every drone, designed to activate once the unit is no longer combat able. A napalm based charge designed to destroy all the inner mechanics of the drone and essentially leave its inside a corpse of melted metal slag.”

Strauss posed another question. “For such a stupendous weapon, His Majesty will surely desire a test on the frontlines, how many do you have combat-ready for deployment?”

“At this present moment I have three combat ready Mk.8’s that can be deployed within the next forty-eight hours. I’m assuming you mean to send them to the front in Indochina or perhaps to participate in the upcoming assault on Singapore?” Not even the officers were shocked of his knowledge there; rumors had been flying around since the counteroffensive in Indochina first began as to where the amphibious blow would fall. The Abwehr made sure those rumors kept swirling with different targets, Manilla, Singapore, Hong Kong, Macau, Okinawa, etc. The better to confuse Japanese agents. Kaizer, with his connections, would have been able to find out the true target with ease.

“It will be up to the General’s Staff to decide that. Now you mentioned having something else to show us, something you said could immediately be distributed to the soldiers at the front.” Kaizer nodded and directed them over to another testing area where a man was standing in front of a line of men with assault rifles. “Are we to watch a man be shot?” Kaizer hushed him and then nodded to an aide who started the demonstration.

The solitary man on the left pressed a button on the palm of his right hand glove and suddenly his gauntlet projected a wall of blue energy that looked about 2 feet wide and four feet tall. The men with the rifles started firing but every shot disintegrated on contact with the energy wall. After a minute the demonstration was over and Kaizer turned to see his audience’s reaction. “At last gentlemen, a working energy shield for the infantry. Activated by pressing a button on the new issue combat gloves, can be maintained for up to seven minutes at a time and takes only fifteen minutes to recharge. Can be used to protect against all manner of anti-personnel weaponry from assault rifles and shotguns to machine guns and sniper rifles. If you hold this in front of an exposed body part, the damn thing will even protect against grenade shrapnel. Disintegrates the bullets on contact. Best of all is that like the rest of the 12th generation gear about to go into service, the gauntlet projector will not activate if someone other than the designated user attempts to activate and attempting to do so will automatically activate the failsafe self destruct. All our latest combat gear is being geared towards recognizing a soldiers finger prints, vein patterns, retina scans, all to ensure that soldiers can better utilize their equipment and also to make sure the enemy has a harder time trying to reverse engineer it.”

Strauss could not help himself. “How is it powered? Is it the same technology as is being used in the energy rifle program?” Kaizer nodded and then brought up the designs for both the shield gauntlet and the most promising energy rifle design on a computer. “Indeed, a single Helium-3 battery recharged by a chemical reaction in a connected power distributor. Fortunately even a minuscule amount of Helium-3 can produce large quantities of energy, a single gram of it could keep Berlin powered for half a year. So we can do a lot with a little, as Helium-3 is not extremely abundant on Earth itself, far more on the moon and in the gas giants of our Solar System. However, some of the largest deposit’s of terrestrial Helium-3 lie in the deep Crust mines in Algeria and Morocco, which we control. A single one of these batteries can keep going for a solid week even with extended use, unless say a soldier is plopped into the Battle of Stalingrad in which case I’d give it three days.” He stood back.

“At present there are 3,500 of these new Gryphon shield projectors built and ready to be deployed to the front line troops. I can have the shipment on its way to wherever it needs to go with but a directive from the OHL where they need them.”

That order came following a single phone call back to the OHL after which Strauss gave Kaizer instructions where the Mk.8’s and the Gryphons were to be sent.

Oh yes it was time for Germany to truly start fighting back. And this was only the beginning.

Unknown Location, Project Alpha Base

Hans stood in the back of the conference room by the door watching the wall-monitor like everyone else in the room, which included Geitzler and seven other top scientists and the three KSK garrison commanders. On said monitor was a map tracking the path of the three stealth aircraft carrying the Ghoul drop pods to their targets. A daylight raid was going to be tricky, especially since the Japanese might have started preparing for strategic bombing of their cities already. But it was also possible that given no European nation had yet launched bombing attacks on civilian cities in Japanese territory the Japanese might ignore the threat or think it a bluff. That the Count of Bornholm was merely grandstanding in his speech. Hans didn’t believe he was grandstanding, he knew what a killers eyes looked like and the Count had them. Though in the Count’s war he sent men to the bottom of the ocean from the shadows, what he was promising was men whose business was to deliver fire and death from above would visit Japanese cities.

Geitzler nodded approvingly at the map. “Trackers are still active, the weapons haven’t chewed into their skin and torn it out clearly. First drop should be in Beijing, then Seoul, and finally Kyoto. Given the response basis of military personnel, Kyoto will be terminated first, followed by Beijing, and lastly Seoul. First drop in five minutes this should be interesting.” To which Hans thought ’No this will be a massacre.’

Geitzler smirked villainously as he saw the notification the first drop pod had detached over Beijing. “Now let us see how you handle my monsters...”

Forbidden City, Beijing
Japanese-Controlled China

Even in wartime where surprise was to be expected, no one in Beijing was expecting a large metal container to just fall from the sky right outside the Forbidden City. Several people were killed beneath the drop pod on its impact, and a number of others were deafened by the sound of the impact. A couple of Beijing police officers rushed over and began to try and keep the crowd away from the pod and called for backup, while two Kempetai officers nearby approached the pod, weapons drawn and about to try and open it. Then the doors slid open, and then some fast and sharp cut across both men’s throats. They fell to the ground bleeding profusely as their hearts pumped their very life from them. Half the crowd screamed, the rest stared in stunned silence while the police officers drew their weapons though some of them were visibly shaking at the knees. The slash marks on the two officers were not so much cuts as they were that their whole throat was torn out in one go. What creature could do that?

At that moment, something truly horrible stepped out of the dark confines of the pod and into the light. It was terrifying, at least two meters in height and covered in fur on most of its body with a stub of a tail in the back. The hands were claws, dripping with blood, and the teeth were fangs. But the face seemed almost human save for the fangs and pointed ears. Then the beast let out a horrible half-roar half-screech and rushed towards one of the police officers. Before the man knew what was happening, his stomach was cut open and he was falling to the ground. Then the screaming really started as the creature started to attack everything in sight, be they official or civilian, Chinese or Japanese, child or adult. One of the police officers fired his gun at the beast and the bullet went through its hand, to the excitement of the officer, only for morbid fear to soon rush in as the wound began to slowly put itself back together. In seconds the Ghoul had his neck in its teeth and pulled before flinging his head off into the crowd.

The Ghoul started to attack anything in sight with a predatory, feral ferocity. Many were trying to get the gates to the Forbidden City open to flee inside but the gates had been closed to keep the Ghoul out and people fled into the streets where the monster pursued them. How long would it take Japanese military forces to arrive to deal with the creature, as it clearly could take anything the police dished out.

Project Alpha

Geitzler wore a great big smirk as he watched the chaos unfold on international television in Beijing and Seoul. In Beijing the beast had landed outside the Forbidden City, in Seoul the Ghoul landed on a main street during rush hour. Then he heard about where the Kyoto Ghoul had landed and he practically died of excitement. “So our weapon in Kyoto had landed just outside the Imperial Palace? This is glorious! Revenge for our fallen Crown Prince and all the soldiers slain in this conflict. Today, the Shogun dies!”

Area 13

Mana bowed her head smiling. "Yes sir, I'll have Tozama Minagi escort you to the Director, I'm afraid my duties are to keep an eye on sir Ironside." Mana pushed the hair on the right side of her hair back and tapped down on a button on a Bluetooth headset kept hidden by her hair. "Tozama Minagi, report to me on level 19, you are to escort our German defector to Director Yuuko." Tapping the button again real quick, a Tozama came running down the hallway after leaving a staircase, a Type 91 rifle slung over her shoulder. Quickly stopping just as she got to Mana she saluted her. "Tozama Minagi, reporting." Mana saluted back and motioned for Voss to follow Minagi. "I believe last I heard she was in the medical bay preforming surgery. ...She is likely finished by now so you should.." Mana stopped and quickly snapped to attention saluting a figure coming down the hallway. It was the Shogun, Mitsurugi Meiya. "Your Majesty! I'm glad you made it here!" Mana bowed her head to Meiya of whom was smiling. "Ah, Tsukuyomi. It's a pleasure to see you once more, your sister has been doing well protecting my daughter and my husband. Thank you."

Meiya smiled then turned her attention to Voss and Ironside. "It's a pleasure to see you as well sir Voss, thank you for whatever assistance you've already given to Director Yuuko I hope this war will come to an end soon, then perhaps we won't have to go ahead with Alternative V.. But sadly I feel that we may have to anyway.." Meiya then fully turned her attention to Ironside. "And you... I don't know who you are, I'd suppose you're a defector though, otherwise you wouldn't be here.... We will have to get acquainted at another time, I'm off to see my daughter and husband." Meiya then continued on her way walking down the hallway while she passed Minagi of whom bowed her head to Meiya, continuing to do so until she was further down the hall, then she'd escort Voss to Yuuko of whom was still in the medical bay with unit 00 and Maya.

Kyoto, the Imperial Palace, Mainland Japan

Saori Takeko, Oda Yukino, and Yui Kusumoto were all chosen for one purpose. To be body doubles of the Imperial Royal Family, they were trained for years on it, except for Yui, she just simply looked a lot like Yuuhi and was to be her body double, these three individuals were pressed into service to give their lives for the ones they were chosen to be body doubles for. Saori was to a convincing Meiya, Oda was a convincing Takano, and Yui... Well she was about as normal as a child chosen to give their live for another would be. Their duty would be fulfilled... A bit earlier than they could've expected.

A pod dropped out of the sky from above the Imperial Palace, right in the garden closest to the Palace itself. The guards of whom were nearby quickly responded, running to the site, they were quickly killed and the ghoul made it's way into the palace trashing the building, up unto it found Saori, Oda, and Yui then the room was almost quite literally covered with blood, body parts strewn about, of all three body doubles. Their screams were heard throughout the palace while it was happening of which attracted the attention of every guard on site, more so than the pod dropping itself did, when the guards got to the room they were appalled by what they found, the creature was still tearing bits and pieces out of Meiya's body double when the guards emptied their magazines into it, this seemed to slow the creature down quite well, then they went to work finishing it off with their Katanas, and bayonets stabbing it over and over until it died, by the time it was all over, the guards of whom weren't clued into the three bodies being fakes were mostly silent, some, a very few were even crying.

An hour later Regent Kyoko Takatsukasa arrived, she was in on bodies being fakes but still the sight was almost enough to cause her to throw up. And she still had a role to play, earlier the very same sort of creatures were found in Bejing and Seoul, they had come from drop pods of which at the moment, the one in Bejing was being torn apart and found to have come from Germany. She knew she would be expected to say something, well, her or one of the other regents anyway.... She had quickly called for a conference in which every major Japanese and international news outlet was allowed to take part in.

It would take a couple hours for all those invited to show up, those who did show up found heightened security, and a large number of ambulances as well as body bags by said ambulances upon arrival. The press were all herded to the crash site of the pod in which it was visible but still the Regent remained far enough away that if there were possibly explosives found on it she wouldn't be in any immediate danger. Stepping up to a podium Kyoko had tears rolling down her cheeks. Obviously the news wasn't good.

"Good morning.... I believe all those here know my name, but if you don't. I am Regent Kyoko Takatsukasa, Foreign Minister of the Empire of Japanese Pacific States, and Regent of the Fifth Regency House of Takatsukasa... Earlier this morning, three pods dropped into Bejing, Kyoto, and Seoul... As many know from news likely covered there has been a number of casualties from the attacks by the pods occupants.... From early examinations, the IJA has determined the pods have come from Germany. ...The pod shown behind me, as many know already from the scenery, has landed in the garden of the Imperial Palace, here in Kyoto." Kyoko stopped and took a tissue out of her pocket drying her eyes. "The creature of which occupied this pod, has managed to break through the security here and has murdered, our beloved Shogun, and the Imperial Family... As it is... My family, the Regency house of Takatsukasa, was next in line for the Shogunate's throne... I now by law assume the title of acting Shogun and declare a three day mourning period for those of whom's line of work does not have any effect on the war effort... And that for this action, we shall repay one hundred fold, for the deaths of the Shogun, the Emperor... And Princess Yuuhi. Legally as the acting head of the Armed forces, no more German prisoners shall be taken, they shall be executed on the spot and we shall hit back at the enemy as they have hit us the enemy has made it abundantly clear here today that they dream of a world in which we no longer exist. We will wipe them from the earth and fight until not even ravens are left to scavenge from the dead! They will know the price for this act!... That is all."

Kyoko then left the podium for her private limo and left the area quickly getting to a helicopter and transported to Area 13, her part has been played now everything was to fall in place

[New Decius]

Georgetown University Hospital

The two guards let Governor General Ryan enter the room in which Prince Hans-Wilhelm was secreted, hopefully away from any prying media eyes. Though no doubt there would be talk of soldiers in the hospital despite whatever promises staff and patients made, but the diplomatic security team could only hope no news sources in Europe got hold of the news of the Prince’s collapse. Germany wielded power great and strict but the press was not exactly suppressed and the government could caution them to not run a story for a while if national security were to be affected but could not act against them in any way. Ever since the Fall of the Nazi’s in 1947, the monarchy, and the brief federal republic before it, had tried to avoid assuming dictator level powers so as to give the people good reason not to want to toss them out.

Inside the Prince was sitting up drinking a glass of water while reading through a file sent over from the Imperial Chancellor’s office in Berlin. His expression was grim and only worsened as he read on through the file, though when Colonel Haden informed him the Governor General had arrived he put down the tablet and put on a smile. “Your Excellency, a pleasure to meet you. Well technically meet you again. During one of the Queen’s state visits to Germany several years ago you and I met briefly, I’m not sure if you remember. My father was still on the throne so there would have been four others ahead of me along with various government officials.” Haden tapped him on the shoulder and the Prince realized he was rambling. “Oh right, to the matter at hand. I’m terribly sorry for all the trouble I’ve caused, I know that the circumstances have upset the staff here at the hospital and been most unfortunate for the patients whom had to be moved. Security can sometimes be an overzealous thing.”

Haden scoffed at that. “Your Royal Highness, with all due respect, there is still a credible threat against the House of Germania, all of its major members which includes yourself. No step is too great to ensure your security or that of your other family members. We’re even sending a team to secure your eldest brother Rudolph in Switzerland even though he technically forfeited all rights to the nobility when he abdicated in total twelve days into his reign as Kaiser.”

The Prince shook his head to clear it and then looked at Ryan with a rather somber expression on his features. “I am afraid we will have to skip the ceremony of my ambassadorial appointment given that Chancellor Büchliger has just sent me some information which you are to be informed of immediately. It is a statement regarding the status of Europe as regards the recent fall of the Communist Bloc. I can tell you I am not happy to deliver this statement.” He cleared his throat and then began.

“The European Community will recognize the Commonwealth occupation of Great Britain and the surrender of the government and military of the SRGB to Commonwealth authorities. Regarding future status of Great Britain and future nationhood, should a British monarchy be reinstated, the European Community requests that a referendum regarding rulership occur as to whether the exiled House of Windsor under Elizabeth II be reinstated or that the House of Hannover, the House of Queen Victoria, now under Prince Ernst August II be placed upon the British throne. The European Community will accept the outcome of the referendum no matter the result but requests it be held in the sense of fairness and peaceful cooperation. European embassies in the former SRGB, in London, which received damage from Communist or Commonwealth forces during the capture of London, request fair compensation for damages suffered. The European Community also requests that the SRGB’s ban on aristocracy be formally ended so that British aristocrats currently in exile in Europe who lost property or finances to seizure by the Communist government may return home.”

“In regards to France, the European Community demands the return of any French Commune government and military officials who escaped to Britain before the occupation of France by Italo-German forces was complete. Any French soldiers are also to be returned for reenlistment in the newly established Royal Army of France. The European Community demands that the Commonwealth recognize the birth of the Kingdom of France under King Jéan-Christophe, the Prince Napoléon, and also Italo-German partitions of said. The Spanish Republic and Union of Portugal are formally disbanded and again any officials of said former Communist nations in Commonwealth custody are requested to be turned over to European authorities. The newly born Kingdom of Spain under King Felipe VI of Bourbon, requests that Gibraltar, occupied by a Commonwealth task force since 1954, be returned to the Kingdom of Spain at the earliest moment. The territory of the Union of Portugal is hereby gifted to the Kingdom of Spain as of earliest convenience.”

At last the message was finished and the Prince looked back up at Governor General Ryan awaiting his response. “I am sorry about this Your Excellency, but the recent terror threat in Europe and the...loss of the German heir to the throne have accelerated a desire to see Western Europe secured. I am assuming the key snag point in it all will be Gibraltar am I correct?”

Area 13

Upon arriving in the medical bay, Voss was about to excuse his interruption when he noticed what appeared to be a young girl of about eighteen years old conversing with Director Yuuko. He heard some of the conversation including the young girl mentioning not having consciousness for over a thousand years and nearly fainted at the thought. Voss thought for a minute perhaps that Director Yuuko was playing a joke on whoever had happened to enter the room next but both her and the girl appeared completely serious in the statement. He would save his questions for later, for he had a fountain of them. He cleared his throat and bowed to the Director.

“I do apologize for the intrusion Director, I meant to discuss a matter of some urgency with you in regards to certain German weapons about to be deployed or already in the process of deploying. The technological aspect to several is quite concerning. I did not know you were currently engaged.” Then his curiosity bit through the veil. “Though I apologize for prying but did your companion just mention not having conscious thought for a thousand years? I must say that the surprises here never stop do they.” He managed to compose himself again and seemed slightly embarrassed for letting said composure crack even slightly. Thirty years in the Abwehr did that to a person. “I would also like to ask, if you have acquired the corpses of the creatures dropped in Kyoto, Seoul, and Beijing, if I might assist in examining them. I know a great deal about Germany’s genetic warfare efforts, though to my knowledge most of the projects were low budget and meant to simply enhance a soldiers stamina or strength, not create...monsters.”

Now most of his thoughts turned to those creatures but he shut them out as quickly as they came and awaited Director Yuuko’s response.

[Japan and Pacific States]

Area 13

Upon arriving in the medical bay, Voss was about to excuse his interruption when he noticed what appeared to be a young girl of about eighteen years old conversing with Director Yuuko. He heard some of the conversation including the young girl mentioning not having consciousness for over a thousand years and nearly fainted at the thought. Voss thought for a minute perhaps that Director Yuuko was playing a joke on whoever had happened to enter the room next but both her and the girl appeared completely serious in the statement. He would save his questions for later, for he had a fountain of them. He cleared his throat and bowed to the Director.

“I do apologize for the intrusion Director, I meant to discuss a matter of some urgency with you in regards to certain German weapons about to be deployed or already in the process of deploying. The technological aspect to several is quite concerning. I did not know you were currently engaged.” Then his curiosity bit through the veil. “Though I apologize for prying but did your companion just mention not having conscious thought for a thousand years? I must say that the surprises here never stop do they.” He managed to compose himself again and seemed slightly embarrassed for letting said composure crack even slightly. Thirty years in the Abwehr did that to a person. “I would also like to ask, if you have acquired the corpses of the creatures dropped in Kyoto, Seoul, and Beijing, if I might assist in examining them. I know a great deal about Germany’s genetic warfare efforts, though to my knowledge most of the projects were low budget and meant to simply enhance a soldiers stamina or strength, not create...monsters.”

Now most of his thoughts turned to those creatures but he shut them out as quickly as they came and awaited Director Yuuko’s response.

Area 13

The Unit 00 eyes were fixated on Voss, she was obviously curious of him, she felt his presence even just outside of the room. Though Yuuko herself was still very much heavily excited with her most recent accomplishment. "Well, not in that case, Unit 00..... And I apologize but given the name you've given me I hope you'll understand when I say it'll save us time if we don't even try to pronounce it." Yuuko said looking to Unit 00 of whom looked back at her nodding her head. "...Yes.. That's fine." Yuuko smiled then looked to Voss. "But you're mostly right, it has been probably over a thousand years or so.... But she's been conscious and thinking the whole time, the only thing she hasn't done is been able to move on her own with a body... Anyway I'll make introductions later.... As for your questions on those abominations that attacked us on our home soil, I have seen to them being brought here as quickly as is possible, though they won't be in one piece, the Army and the IJRG practically to my understanding had to riddle the damn things with holes, cut their heads off, their arms, legs, and stab it in the heart before they were confidant they were dead so looking over the monstrosities will be a bit messy. Though now that you're here and you see the latest accomplishment of Japanese.... Combined with knowledge from our guest, medical science. Organic, extremely human like bodies, right down to the cells, capable of being used by those without bodies.... Namely a certain being we owe all our advancement as a society to of whom has been stuck in a jar for the last.... Over two or three thousand or so years? ....Probably?"

[The Union of British North America]

Georgetown, UCT, UBNA
Georgetown University Hospital

"Ah, right to business, I see." remarked GG Ryan. Despite collapsing earlier from the terrible news, he is now able to conduct high-level negotiations. Especially now, with things heating up. "Can we have the room for a minute?" he asked everyone, North American or German, whom all complied quickly. A few seconds pass, and it is just the Jerry Prince and the Yankee Governor-General.

"I am glad your government is recognizing the return of democratic government to the island of Great Britain, and that the Commonwealth's occupation of the island is legal. We both know it was an open secret that the communist governments of France and Britain were secretly in league with certain JPS elements. I can assure you, we will recognize the restoration of the French monarchy and democratic government after seven decades of communism. We will of course handle any payment of damages to those European embassies severely harmed in the fighting. We will also hold a formal referendum on restoration, though I don't doubt the outcome. And the aristos ban will be lifted, if the monarchy is restored though our system of peerage and honors are just things to add to retirement packages of former politicians and bureaucrats, so it would not be terribly controversial. Our political intelligence before the invasion found a good majority supports a restoration, a return to accountable and constitutional government. And in general, a return to the ancient mystic and traditions of Britain's monarchy.

As to whether it should be the House of Windsor or the House of Hanover, this is an affair of the Commonwealth. And everyone in Great Britain remembers George VI and his daughter. Even though communists there encouraged a revolution because of a faltering Commonwealth, with the JPS invasion of North America, there was significant debate as to how to treat His Majesty and the Royal Family if they were captured by the revolutionaries. They all supported exile, not execution, not regicide. But, the Royal Family fled before the communists made their decision.

But, you understand, despite the lineage of House of Hanover, even that lineage is the namesake of this capital, we would be very upset of putting a foreign house in this country, even by democratic vote. We already have a royal house with roots here, a stronger claim than electoral winnings. The starving, half-brainwashed people of Great Britain know who was King of England at the time of the 1945 revolution. They would not want a German king on the throne.

We will recognize the restoration of the Kingdom of France and the new Kingdom of Spain in union with Portugal, as you laid out. However, Gibraltar is out of the question. For obvious reasons, it is a CON naval base. I know it is too close to home, but I propose a deal. In exchange for recognizing the restoration of the House of Windsor as the royal house of the soon-to-be Kingdom of Great Britain and CON control over Gibraltar, Greenland and any French and Dutch territories in the Caribbean that were occupied by the UBNA in 1945 will be released back to France and the Netherlands. I'm close to Europe, you're close to the Americas. What do you think, Your Highness?

Solomon Islands

After about an hour of walking, Yuuya and his captor finally got to the only IJA base left on the island, where JPS soldiers were all running around to coordinate the collapsing defense of island. Yuuya's captor led him to a secluded part of the camp, so that he would not be beaten or killed by IJA troops, at least not now. He was alone, injured, and deep behind enemy lines as a POW. But he was also one of the first CON TSF pilots, and he thought they would interrogate him for info on the CON TSF program.

He fell onto one leg after a bout of sharp pain at the wound at this hip. "Dammit." he muttered. His captor helped him to a camp chair. She set her rifle down at a table near by, and then she removed her helmet, revealing her long brown hair with a white ribbon on the side, and violet eyes. Yuuya, gathering his strength, removed his tactical goggles that obscured the top half of his face, revealing his brown eyes. He was awestruck by her features, she looked so beautiful yet so serious. Those eyes saw war and military training. He then remembered his training, training if he was captured by the enemy. "Well, let's get this over with. Bridges, Yuuya. Major, North American Army. Born May 4, 1992. Service Number: 01928-19912-YB. I have the same level of information as you on those military vehicles you encountered two hours ago." He was technically telling the truth as what he was piloting was just like a TSF from the Japanese Pacific States. He would have the same information as this downed TSF pilot right in front of him about how a TSF operates. And it would not be hard to get the gist of how the CON got the blueprints to make them. Hell, they weren't that difficult to build. But the JPS had a monopoly on them, and someone gave the CON plans on how to build them.

He finished what he was saying, seeing those steely violet eyes trying to pierce right into him. He just stared right back at her. It could anger her, but he was telling the truth.

[Federation of South and Central America]

Caracas, Venezuela. Federation of the Americas

President Alejandro Jose Pinochet sat in his office, his hands clasped together while he watched the news on a flat screen television hung directly opposite of his desk with Marshal of the Armed Forces of the FA and Minister of Defense, Ignacio Contreras. "God, what a shit show the Americans, Germans, and those Japanese started..." Alejandro noted while he watched a translated broadcast of the apparent Japanese minister of foreign affairs declaring herself the new "Shogun" of the Japanese Empire and her new policy towards the Germans. "Agreed, Presidente." Marshal and Defense Minister said while he watched the news. ".... We could use this to our advantage though." The Defense Minister noted while he turned off the TV pulling up his own personal tablet with a plan he and others in the Armed Forces had been working on. "How so? I don't see how we could use "that" to our advantage." Alejandro crossed his arms looking to Marshal/Defense Minister Contreras while he set his tablet down in front of President Pinochet of whom picked it up, it was a plan of attacking both the Panama Canal and the Malvinas or as other had called them, the Falkland Islands. "Contreras... Are you out of your mind?" Pinochet asked looking up to Contreras of whom shook his head.

"Not at all, sir. The Germans and British have enjoyed use of land rightfully belonging to us for too long. ...And with their war against the Japanese it'll be easy to take it back, we've built up a substantially large naval fleet, army, and air force drawn from all our territories under our control in Central and South America. They wouldn't set against us for fear of us allying with the Japanese, a two front war for them would be catastrophic, it doesn't matter if the Germans have the whole of Europe backing them, that house of cards I feel will come tumbling down soon enough, as for the British, they're tied up fighting against the Japanese, as are the Germans. And besides the only real threat will come from the Germans, the British, they're weak. It's time for us to restore the Panama canal back to our control, and if they have a problem with it then they would do well to remember we're just right next door in Mexico and Cuba." Marshal Contreras said while President Pinochet looked through the plans, starting to get a true understanding of the plans. It looked solid enough, and he was right. The UBNA fighting a two front war against the Federation would be disastrous for them. As it would be for the Germans.

"Alright Contreras, you have my approval, but first we will go through diplomatic channels, if the Germans and British refuse our claims on the Malvinas and Panama then you may go ahead with your plans." Pinochet said handing the tablet back to Contreras of whom took it and saluted the President. "Thank you Presidente, I assure you we will not fail. They will give us Panama and the Malvinas or they will fall by the wayside." With that Contreras turned on his heels and made his way for the door quickly leaving before Pinochet could have a moment to change his mind. "Dios Mio...." Pinochet said turning the television back on watching the news for further updates before he got started on his diplomatic messages to the German's Kaiser and the UBNA's General-Governor.

Direct Diplomatic Message From the President of the Federation of the Americas, President Alejandro Jose Pinochet
Mensaje Diplomático Directo del Presidente de la Federación de las Américas, Presidente Alejandro Jose Pinochet

---

From: President Alejandro Jose Pinochet of the Federation of the Americas
To: Governor-General Ryan of the Union of British North America

---

Buenas tardes, Governor-General. I have no doubt by now you know who this message is from, which is why I will not beat around the bush as you British Americans say. By right of true ownership I demand the release of the Panama Canal from control of the UBNA to the Federation of the Americas. It is sentiment here in the FA that your country and commonwealth have enjoyed ownership of land rightfully belonging to the Federation for too long. And so again as stated previously I demand the release of land rightfully belonging to the Federation of the Americas. Anything less will be considered unsatisfactory to my government and in turn the Federation as a whole and we will have no choice but to reclaim what is ours by right. We realize this canal is of major importance in your war against the Japanese, while we regret we must push for this now, it has been a long standing objective of this government and the one before it to restore land rightfully belonging to the Federation as a whole.
Signed, President of the Federation of the Americas. President Alejandro Jose Pinochet.
Firmado, Presidente de la Federación de las Américas, Alejandro José Pinochet.

Direct Diplomatic Message From the President of the Federation of the Americas, President Alejandro Jose Pinochet
Mensaje Diplomático Directo del Presidente de la Federación de las Américas, Presidente Alejandro Jose Pinochet

---

From: President Alejandro Jose Pinochet of the Federation of the Americas
To: Kaiser of the German Empire.

---

Buenas tardes, your Majesty. Allow me to start off by sending my condolences for your family's loss in the unfortunate accident of the malfunctioning of your defense systems. I sent my prayers as a servent of the Roman Catholic Church.... But I also regret I must say this message is not fully to send my condolences. As it is well known, it has been a long standing objective of this government and the one before it to restore ownership of land rightfully belonging to the Federation of the Americas back to it's rightful place. The occupation and control over the Islas Malvinas has as recently become unacceptable to many in this government, myself included, as well as the people of the Federation, most notably those in the former Argentina territory of the Federation. Therefore we demand the turning over of the Malvinas to the Federation, while we realize the Malvinas are key to your own naval operations in the Pacific just as the Panama Canal is to the UBNA we have no choice at this time but to demand their turning over to us. Anything less will be considered to this government, unacceptable. And we will have to take certain... Measures to complete the goals of this government in a way we and the people find satisfactory.
Signed, President of the Federation of the Americas. President Alejandro Jose Pinochet.
Firmado, Presidente de la Federación de las Américas, Alejandro José Pinochet.

[Japan and Pacific States]

Area 13

"Gentlemen and your majesty..." Yuuko said bowing her head while standing in front of a large object covered with a sheet. "I have asked you all here to unveil the newest weapon to our arsenal. The Germans believe that with our satellites down, we're weak and that we can no longer strike against them. But today, we shall prove them wrong, with some modifications to the original design, I have created a new weapon, one which will strike fear into the hearts of our enemies.... Cryska, Kasumi! Dears would you uncover the weapon?" Both Cryska and Kasumi nodded their heads and began pulling the sheet off the mysterious object off of it to show a new sort of "modernised" Ohka man guided rocket. "Yuuko... Might I ask why you've created this... ...Modern I suppose Ohka?" Meiya asked while she and the multiple other regents in the room began looking it over noting all it's new features. "It's a new super weapon for us to use in lieu of our satellites. With them being knocked out in the early stages of the war, we can no longer rely on the power of Kinetic weapons... But we can use the next best thing, a man guided kinetic, high explosive missile. I've designed it so four can be carried under an HSST, so far we've produced fifteen, and they are at the ready for wherever you decide it to be used your majesty." Yuuko said holding her hands behind her back a smile on her face while Meiya finished looking over the man guided missile.

"Interesting... How much damage would one Ohka do if we were to... Oh say... Set one against the German's high command and factory districts of vital worth to their war effort?" Meiya asked standing up straight from looking inside the cockpit of the Ohka, instead now her sight focused on Yuuko. "From projections and simulations we've concluded the area of effect would be... Smaller than that of Kinetic weapons but we can hit them with pin point accuracy now severely limiting collateral damage." Meiya looked impressed, as per usual when it came to Yuuko's brilliance, she had the brains and know how to make such weapons as she had said and Meiya was confidant Yuuko would once again be right. "Then it's settled, you shall set four Ohkas against Germany, more specifically, Stuttgart, the Rheinland's factories, as well as against the German's high command building in Berlin. We shall wipe these scum from the earth and force a peace... But we must have the Kaiser alive to do it, so he may know failure and that it is us who will deliver it to him." Meiya said before turning around, heading for the exit where she saw Unit 00 standing at the doorway, passing her the Unit bowed it's head, it's likely in Meiya's eyes the Unit 00 had something to do with this... But she didn't care, it continued to be a valuable asset to the survival of the Shogunate. And that's all that mattered to Meiya.

[New Decius]

Solomon Islands, SMS Graf Richthofen

Though Commonwealth and Japanese forces were well-into their pitched battle surrounding the Solomon Islands, the Kaiserliche Marine was itching to join the fight, given that most of Japan’s surviving surface fleet was engaged in this area of the Pacific and attacking here would weaken Japanese fleet strength when European forces moved on Indonesia. Two of the German Imperial Navy’s carrier battlegroups were steaming towards the Solomon Island’s as part of the combined offensive that SEAOC had launched to hit the Japanese in the Pacific, Malaysia, and the Philippines, about to get caught in the battle between the Imperial Japanese Navy and the Royal North American Navy. This would not just be the Battle for the Solomon Islands, but the Battle of the Three Navies. Though no treaty yet existed regarding European-Commonwealth cooperation against Japan, the commanders of the battlegroups were hoping that so long as they did not fire on the North American’s that both forces would crush the Japanese between them. A significant amount of amphibious forces, formerly the garrisons of German holdings in the Caroline Island’s was accompanying the combined fleet and later on several battalions of paratroops would conduct an airlanding on some of the islands.

On the flight deck of the supercarrier, SMS Graf Richthofen, Leutnant Ludwig von Richthofen, the 17th Baron von Richthofen, and great great-grandson of the Red Baron and son of Manfred II the famed ‘Angel of Death’, looked out towards the horizon knowing their target lay somewhere in the distance. The young flying officer, being only 29, was an ace in his own right though his kills currently numbered at only 74, just under the original Red Baron’s but nowhere near his father’s daunting 396. Manfred von Richthofen II had served in the Luftwaffe from age 17 until 43 then he joined the General’s Staff, followed by a career in the European Unionist Party. During the Succession Crisis in 2013, he was declared Acting Chancellor and was subsequently killed when Princess Ilsa’s fascist loonies bombed the Emergency Committee, though after order was restored he was given a state funeral even grander than the one they gave Ludendorff.

Ludwig had earned most of his kills fighting in the Middle East and Africa but had recently tacked up twenty in Indochina and another seven so far in the Pacific. He remarked on this to his friend Leutnant Rudel who flew a CAS fighter-bomber while Ludwig flew air superiority fighters. “You know the Japanese put so much effort into perfecting their TSF pilot corps that their main aircraft pilot corps leaves a lot to be desired in an opponent. The Luftwaffe has no flying mechs so we train exclusively for fighting other aircraft, well not you Rudi, you and your lot train to put a payload on a silver pfennig.” Rudel snorted as they waited for their orders to take off and attack. “Ludwig your the first person I’ve met who wishes the enemy were more of a challenge.”

Their chat was interrupted when klaxons began to blare signaling takeoff time was imminent. They both rushed to their respective planes, an Me-237 (Ludwig) and a Ju-405 (Rudel) and prepared for takeoff.

Moments later the lead fighter wings raced off the decks of the carriers in the battlegroups followed by the fighter-bomber wings headed for the Santa Cruz Islands. In total the German fleet had six fleet carriers, two supercarriers, 26 destroyers, and 14 submarines, to bring to the fight.

Imperial German Embassy in Caracas, South America

It took no time for Berlin to send a reply on from the Office of the Chancellor to the South American President to be transmitted via the embassy in Caracas.

Missive from the Office of the Imperial Chancellor of the German Empire and the President of the European Community, His Excellency Chancellor Heinrich Buckliger

---

Schreiben aus dem Amt des Reichskanzlers des Deutschen Kaiserreiches und des Präsidenten der Europäischen Gemeinschaft, Seine Exzellenz Kanzler Heinrich Buckliger

President Pinochet,
As the Chancellor of the German Empire and current President of the European Community, I declare that your claims to the Falkland Inseln are not only false but will be defied by military force if necessary. How dare you presume to lay claim to German soil won by rite of conquest, having beaten it out of the Socialist Republic of Great Britain along with all other British South Atlantic territories. Do you believe we will abandon our most important naval base in the South Atlantic without a fight, if so sir you are surely mistaken. You believe that just because there is German fleet action in the Pacific that we cannot fight in the Atlantic as well? Germany dominates Europe and controls either directly or indirectly a third of the globe, we have not yet begun to flex our strength. But you have lit a firestorm in the military and the Kaiserliche Marine will mobilize its Atlantic forces as will the Marina Reale (Kingdom of Italy), the Kungliga Flottan (Kingdom of Sweden), and the Marine Royale (Kingdom of France). Europa stands united and strong and will not crumble to the demands of a second-world nation however vast it may be. Your nation presumes to be a superpower and make demands of not one but two true superpowers, do not forget your place in the world. His Imperial and Royal Majesty did not receive your message for the loss of his family has left him in a state of mourning and so the German government will respond; you may try to take the Falklands if you wish but it is your folly if you do so. Europa can bash the Federation with ease.

Heinrich Buckliger, Chancellor of Germany

Georgetown University

After hearing the counter offer the Prince had to consider it briefly before nodding. “Yes that is acceptable, I can get Berlin to accept such terms but there is also the matter of an expected European-Commonwealth Cooperation Agreement which you discussed with Minister Keller. Wherein European and Commonwealth forces combatting Japanese forces in a close area to one another agree to render equal aid unto one another.” He pulled the tablet back out and detailed a certain engagement. “The particular concern is the Pacific where the military naval traffic is heavy and accidental clashes may start occurring.”

[The Union of British North America]

Georgetown University Hospital

"A formal agreement to aid one another, that is what His Imperial Majesty desires? As Governor-General, I can freely engage in foreign policy without much oversight from Parliament, except for treaties and diplomatic appointments. But this what they call an executive agreement, more dependent on politics than on international law? Is that what His Imperial Majesty would want?" asked the Governor-General. "I can promise that we won't fire on you, without an agreement, because we have a common foe. We both know the Shogunate is just buying time. The outrage of regicide against the King of Italy and killing His Holiness, along with the deaths within the German royal family, the Shogun will have to explain herself to not only us but to also the rest of the world. Plus for these JPS-supported terrorist attacks in my country. But for East Asia's future, Her Majesty's North American Government desires a united East Asia that is democratic and egalitarian among those nations, not the current Japanese hegemony. I take it His Imperial Majesty's Government desires self-determination of those nations of East Asia, with, if you will permit me to blunt, a few puppets like in China or Japan?

David Ryan continued: "Her Majesty's North American Government is still not open to total cooperation against the Japanese Pacific States, though we won't have aggression against you or your European allies. Intelligence sharing, yes, since you helped us with the Sons of Liberty attacks. But we still need to hash out East Asia's future, and I think material support is..." one of the GG's aides walked in with a piece of paper. "Yes, Jeremy? Can't this wait?" he asked his aide. "No, Your Excellency. Your Royal Highness, I'm glad you're well." Jeremy said first to Ryan and then the German prince. Jeremy walked up to Ryan and handed him the note. Ryan read the note. "Your Royal Highness, permit me to ask you this potentially rude question. Why has His Imperial Majesty's Government ordered an assassination of the Imperial House of Japan? The Shogun, The Emperor, and the Crown Princess are all reported dead, killed by a...monster from Germany. I understand the desire for revenge, but this is the point of no return for this conflict, unless you think the JPS did a false flag operation?" asked Ryan. "Also, are you aware that the Federation wants the Falklands from you, and the Panama and Guatamala Canals from me? Perhaps we can work out a deal here." finished Ryan. "We'll add a little more...sharing with our non-aggression deal if you can make the Fed back down. Say, a strategic bombing of JPS positions in northern Vietnam? Or did you have something else in mind? Like an air raid in China?"

Union Ministry of Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs
Victoria, UCT
20 minutes before David Ryan arrived at Georgetown University Hospital

Octavia Peel, shocked at the two pieces of news she just heard. Acting Shogun Takatsukasa has promised to kill any and all German prisoners of war from now until the end of the war, for the deaths of the Imperial House of Japan. The late Emperor Takano, the late Shogun and Empress Consort Mitsurugi Meiya, and the late Crown Princess Yuuhi. Now dead.

And now a missive from the Embassy of the Federation of the Americas, she shuddered at that last part. "The Americas." Those fascists want to conquer all of North America. Her Majesty's Union of Provinces in North America, and probably they will attack the JPS too in order to get the West Coast and Alaska. They want the Panama and Guatamala Canals, the only means of access of the UBNA to get to the Pacific. He chose a wonderful time, that damn Pinochet. SIGIND (Signals Intelligence Department) also intercepted the message to the German Foreign Office as well. The Federation wants the Falkland Islands from Imperial Germany, a war victory achieved after the Falklands War so that Germany can keep an eye on the growing power of the Federation, in addition to weakening the SRGB for the Commonwealth. "And not even German troops and armor so close to Argentina could deter the Fed from going to war." she said to herself in a resigned manner. There was an informal...understanding between the UBNA and Europe that the Fed needs to be contained. Now the Fed is trying to burst out.

She finished writing the note to send Governor-General Ryan, with the news from the latest CIND report in Japan, along with the gist of the Federation's demands to North America. She had one of her assistants get the mess to the GG, who was is now at Georgetown University Hospital with the recovering German prince.

"Ma'am, here is the latest from SIGIND's boys, the German Chancellor's response to the Federation." said an aide from the Foreign Ministry-SIGIND Joint Operations Office. "Oh bloody Christ, I don't want to read it. I haven't even spoken with Deputy GG Armstrong yet." replied Peel. "He's in the building, just got out of his meeting with the provincial public safety ministers." yelled her secretary from the next room. Peel forgot to close the door to her secretary's office because she was so distraught by the news when she came into her office. She also forgot that all of the provincial ministers of public safety where in Victoria for coming up with a coordinated contingency plan for future SOL attacks. Armstrong is Deputy Governor-General and Minister for the Provinces. "He's coming up right now." her secretary finished.

Senator Steven Armstrong walked in, smiling and smoking a cigar. He was a large man, with glasses and short brown hair, and in his early forties. Played university rugby at the University of Cranmer, and later joined the Royal North American Navy, forever blocking him from a professional rugby career. He was also chair of the Independence Party, the anti-monarchist, pro-republic, populist and nationalist party. Somehow he became Deputy Governor-General and Minster for the Provinces. "My dear Octavia, nice to see you again. I was missing you. Those provincial ministers from the sticks and ivory towers were all so boring, I dozed off a couple times during the meeting. Now we get to discuss real business. What in the bloody hell is going on in the world? I know about the Shogun and her hubby and kid. Now we'll have an easier time beating them, those who fight for Perfidious Nippon. But what is going on down south, with the damn Fed? They want the Canals? Our lifeline to the bloody Pacific? They have access to that bloody ocean already. If they control those canals, world trade will be unbalanced. Our liberation efforts will be blocked. North America will suffer, and so will Europe. I say no to this tinpot dictator. He thinks he is strong, but he's got nothing. He could attack our Caribbean Provinces, like Jamaica, Belize, or BNA Lesser Antilles, but the Navy and Marines will flatten Caracas within the hour he attacks." said Armstrong, finishing his nationalistic tirade.

Peel did think he had some sense. Those canals were important, and Federation aggression is always barking up at North America every few years. President Pinochet is a very angry and hateful individual. He hates the UBNA, and Imperial Germany, the informal North Atlantic Consensus. Those Canals are a major goal for him. "Then, if he knows we can knock out Caracas, and even hit several major cities on the South American Atlantic coast, then he should be at least willing to negotiate. Perhaps go from Commonwealth jurisdiction over the Canals to Commonwealth-Federation joint jurisdiction. Classic deterrence and rationality in foreign policy." said Peel. "Perhaps, though we should see his government's response. Damn him and his godless republicanism." said Armstrong. "I thought you were in favor of making North America a republic, Senator." asked Peel, confused. "I want a God-fearing republic, not a godless one down there, not like that Federation. Their military dictatorship, their aggression. North America will stand on its own two feet in the world, and no JPS and no Fed is going to stop us. We have the right to span from sea to sea in North America. From the Rio Grande to the Arctic Archipelago. From Trinidad and Tobago to Banksia. We will be great again." finished Armstrong.

Peel thought he was on the campaign trail still, rousing voters with his New Independence views, of a North America rising from just surviving but thriving in the world again. "I'll get their ambassador here ASAP then, for negotiations." said Peel.

[Japan and Pacific States]

Kyoto, Mainland Japan, The Empire of Japanese Pacific States

Retired Lieutenant Colonel Saito Takako sat in a somewhat slightly off light dressing room preparing herself for her own part in a larger scheme of things, an effort to turn the war against Germany and hopefully force the UBNA out of the war, it wasn't any sort of military action, but a propaganda war, earlier before her broadcast it was announced that over national and international TV, copies of the security tapes of the Imperial Palace were leaked by an unknown source, tapes of which showed what happened with the Shogun and the Imperial family. It was suspected by Regent Takatsukasa that possibly this would force the UBNA to pull out of the war as it's public mainly effected it's government's decision making and so she would allow it to go through with no problems what so ever. Not an attempt would be made to prevent the tapes from being shown. Saito herself saw the tapes and she simply couldn't believe it. To see everything for herself, it was almost too much for her.

Looking down to her hands she noticed they were shaking, holding her right hand with her left seemed to atleast slow it but it didn't stop it. She almost was just about to come to tears, the Shogun was above all else the most important, the one pillar in Japanese life everyone in the empire had looked to for strength, to see her ripped apart by the beast of which was set upon her and the Imperial family was... It was unthinkable. "Five minutes to Broadcast, Miss Takako." A stagehand said on the other side of Saito's dressing room door. "I'll be out in a moment!" Saito said looking into her mirror making sure her make up with right before standing up and walking to the door, opening it she left the room shutting the door behind herself going to the newsroom, the time had come for her to do her part as the face of the Japanese State Media she would have to do her best to keep herself together for the broadcast.

Going to the news desk she sat down and waited for the "On air" sign to turn on, when it finally did she was about to see if she could keep herself together even in this time. "Brothers and sisters throughout the Empire, our Chinese and Vietnamese allies and brothers and sisters fighting the good fight against the German demons, friends, and family under the yoke of occupation in our North American territories, I am Saito Takako, as announced by my colleagues in the broadcast at 5 in the morning have said, we have acquired a tape of which we have confirmed to be authentic, as have multiple other news outlets across the Empire and outside of it. This tape... This tape does in fact shed more light on the murder of the pillar of our society, the Shogun, and our Imperial Family... We have been authorised by our producers to show this tape and will do so in a moment or two, I should warn, this tape... As I have seen it myself is not for the faint of heart, so if you are faint of heart and if there are children nearby I ask that you look away and have the children leave the room.." Saito heard her producer in the control room tell her they were about to put the tape on screen. "And now. Here is the tape of which shows the murder of our beloved Shogun and her family at the hands of a monstrosity of the German Empire!" Saito looked to the control room and gave the nod for the tape to be played.

Within the moment the usual feed to the newsroom was cut and replaced with a full colour recording with audio of the room the Shogun, Emperor and Princess Yuuhi's body doubles had remained in, with the body double in the middle of what looked to be her helping Yuuhi with school work at a table while the Emperor's body double sat on the other side of Yuuhi's body double doing the same where he could, the Shogun's body double wore the Shogun's usual attire that wasn't her IJRG uniform. The tape would continue for a couple minutes as such until it seemed there was a disturbance which caused Meiya's body double to kook past Yuuhi and the Emperor to a door off screen then back down at Yuuhi, the disturbance also seemed to catch the attention of Yuuhi's body double and Takano's body double because they all looked in the same direction. Meiya's body double could be seen getting up from the table grabbing a Katana on a nearby table holding it almost at the ready up unto the moment a canvas screen door as was usually seen in Japanese homes flew into view hitting Meiya's body double and a unsightly creature burst into the room, Takano's body double quickly sprung into action grabbing a chair and hitting the creature, this seemed to only anger it as it grabbed Takano's body double and threw him against the wall Yuuhi's body double could be seen almost as if she was screaming and about to run before the creature rushed over, grabbed her and threw her against a table.

Meiya's body double got back up moments later with the Katana still in her hands running towards the creature and slicing it in the back with the Katana, this as well only seemed to aggravate it more as it grabbed Meiya's body double's arm and ripped it off taking the arm and beating Meiya's body double with it while Takano grabbed a knife off the table and jumped onto the back of the creature stabbing it in the back shoulder multiple times, this time the creature turning it's attention to Takano's body double pulled the body double off it's back and ripped him in half from the waist down. Yuuhi's body double could be seen trying to get away during this and the creature grabbed Yuuhi's body double flinging her against a corner in the room just where the camera of which was recording this all was knocking it off it's post though still keeping it operation Yuuhi's body double still tried to crawl away before the creature came to her and ripped her head off in full view of the camera, Meiya's body double sprung back into action however meekly with the Katana in her one hand she had and she tried to slice the creature again until it turned and punched it clean through Meiya's body double's chest, her heart came through the other side in partial view of the camera, impaled on the creature's long fingernails/claws.

Afterwards when the creature started further eviscerating the bodies of the body doubles Meiya's body double's head was flung back in the direction of the camera hitting the floor it rolled into view her purple/blue-ish hair now tainted with crimson red blotches here and there while beyond it Imperial Japanese Royal Guards could be seen entering the room and fighting the monster stabbing it over and over as well as shooting it for several minutes before the creature was finally put down and the expressions that could be seen on some of the guards were of course ones of despair, sadness amongst other things, some could even be seen crying before Kyoko showed up covering her mouth with tears rolling down her cheeks before the feed was finally cut and transitioned back to Saito of whom herself had tears rolling down her cheeks blowing her nose with a tissue then covering her face, burying her face into her hands. Such things could be heard by others off camera to the side.

Saito realizing the feed was back on her quickly collected herself wiping her tears and blowing into another tissue. "I... I apologise... That was.. That was hard for all of us here and myself included to watch that... I... I'll turn things now over to our weatherman uhm... I'm so sorry.." Then the cameras transitioned over to the station's weatherman and the broadcast continued about as.... Normally. As it could.

Solomon Islands

After about an hour of walking, Yuuya and his captor finally got to the only IJA base left on the island, where JPS soldiers were all running around to coordinate the collapsing defense of island. Yuuya's captor led him to a secluded part of the camp, so that he would not be beaten or killed by IJA troops, at least not now. He was alone, injured, and deep behind enemy lines as a POW. But he was also one of the first CON TSF pilots, and he thought they would interrogate him for info on the CON TSF program.

He fell onto one leg after a bout of sharp pain at the wound at this hip. "Dammit." he muttered. His captor helped him to a camp chair. She set her rifle down at a table near by, and then she removed her helmet, revealing her long brown hair with a white ribbon on the side, and violet eyes. Yuuya, gathering his strength, removed his tactical goggles that obscured the top half of his face, revealing his brown eyes. He was awestruck by her features, she looked so beautiful yet so serious. Those eyes saw war and military training. He then remembered his training, training if he was captured by the enemy. "Well, let's get this over with. Bridges, Yuuya. Major, North American Army. Born May 4, 1992. Service Number: 01928-19912-YB. I have the same level of information as you on those military vehicles you encountered two hours ago." He was technically telling the truth as what he was piloting was just like a TSF from the Japanese Pacific States. He would have the same information as this downed TSF pilot right in front of him about how a TSF operates. And it would not be hard to get the gist of how the CON got the blueprints to make them. Hell, they weren't that difficult to build. But the JPS had a monopoly on them, and someone gave the CON plans on how to build them.

He finished what he was saying, seeing those steely violet eyes trying to pierce right into him. He just stared right back at her. It could anger her, but he was telling the truth.

Solomon Islands

"I already have what I need to know on you... Major. There is one feature of fortified suits of which your own development teams hadn't left out, we are able to link with the other to learn everything we can in close proximity, though yours can only transmit, not receive. As expected of you North Americans. Your suits contain all the information one such as I would need. Even your own small biography.... You were born in the South of North America. ...And yet you look Asian.... Possibly Japanese. Such an upbringing in a hateful place especially hateful towards people such as us.... But that is all the information I could find of use other than blood type, the year you were born, and apparently non-classified medical records. ....For you to be Asian and working with the enemy of an empire of which only seeks to unite Asia against the Germans... And now will be unified against the British.... You are a disgrace to us all." Yui said outright, plainly, with some anger in her voice. "You will join the others in a POW camp in Manchuria and will not see your... "Homeland" until they surrender to us. Be prepared to never see it again." Yui said before turning Yuuya over to two other IJRG members, Tozamas from their uniforms.

Area 13, Surface Landing Strip

Yuuko stood just aside a hanger door taking a long drag from a cigarette, a smile on her face while a HSST, an orbital transportation vehicle, an Experimental one at that rolled out onto the runway to the furthest edge of the landing strip, opposite of it was a long ramp of which the vehicle would use to gain speed and propel itself into lower orbit above the planet, the HSST was to fulfill a mission, one sanctioned by the Shogunate. Targets had been chosen to be the new areas hit by Japan's newest experimental weapons. Modernised Ohka Suicide Rockets, inside Yuuko could see from the cockpits hanging off, men in specially developed suits saluting her while they passed, their vehicles attached to the outside of the HSST via reinforced clamps of which retreated into the stomach of the HSST before the doors below the Ohkas shut on them, sealing them inside until they were to be deployed.

Standing beside Yuuko, Kasumi stood bundled up in every piece of winter clothing she owned. Yuuko smiled and patted Kasumi's head. "After this we shall have secured our place in this world. And then we can return home." Yuuko took her hand from Kasumi's head dropping her cigarette and crushing it under her high heel. "Come, we mustn't stay out for any longer otherwise we'll get sick." Yuuko said turning around and walking back inside of the hanger followed by Kasumi while the hanger doors shut and the HSST could be heard taking off, within the hour it would reach low orbit above the planet. And it's targets, Berlin, the Military headquarters of the German Empire and the European Community would be struck and completely turned to rubble. Afterwards cities of vital importance to the German Empire's war efforts for manufacturing would be destroyed and lastly... The German Super Carrier of which was reported to be working with the UBNA's fleet in the Solomon Islands would be the last target. Though Japan hadn't any Kinetic weapons anymore it would show it's enemies it would still hit it wherever it wanted to and whenever it wanted to.

[The Union of British North America]

Victoria, UCT, UBNA
Ministry of Defense
Basement Level,
Offices of the Joint Intelligence Service, Strategic Influence Bureau

Kenneth Goulding was honestly shocked to the video that was presented by JPS state media. He was piggybacking on the few remaining JPS commercial satellites, as well as the one discovered that disguised as orbital debris from their several rocket launches over the decades. His "Strategic Influence Bureau" sounded like something that was a joint MOD-Foreign Office operation, it was actually a very secretive organization he founded with of course help from the Independence Party's "New Independence" faction. It is the deep state of North America, the behind-the-scenes organizer and coordinator of military and intelligence operatives in the UBNA, the Commonwealth, and the rest of the world. Several CIND, SIGIND, HIND, and Military Intelligence operatives and resources are under Goulding's control. The loss of the Commonwealth military satellite arcs have hindered ELINT to almost 0 capability, as well as Goulding's capability, with the few remaining satellites just now used for intelligence gathering allowed for just a couple minutes. They are disguised as space debris, just like how the JPS or the Germans would do.

He managed to get a feed from the early morning television program. Very gruesome, and in line of what Imperial Germany was capable of. CIND, working with Military Intelligence, have heard rumors of such...biological weapons, and now there is even more confirmation, including reports from CIND operatives in Beijing. And judging by the amount of time and effort it took to slay the beast, it was a game changer. Psychological warfare, force multiplier, heavy assault capability. Just put some armor on that monstrosity and have several deployed on the battlefield, it would slay tens of soldiers within a minute.

He also had skepticism of those who were the "Imperial Family". Even though the actions and behaviors of the Shogun were quite accurate, and the very little intelligence has been acquired on the Emperor and the Crown Princess is not enough to make a conclusion, the whole thing stunk of a set-up. A clear sign that the JPS was getting desperate. Why not go all in? Buy some time with making the conflict go from the occasional border dispute to the holiest of holy wars. Germany did so, and it was quite convincing, because the few remaining CIND operatives in Europe picked up something from the underground fascist and ultra-right grapevine that there was hacking of the German MANTIS weapons by shadowy fascist figures, and convenient blaming on the JPS. The German deep state had its hands clean. The culprits were not the usual deep state operatives that have come up recently in rumors, who Goulding was working with right now to get rid of the current spineless administration. Germany beat JPS to the punch on this one. While the "deaths" of the Imperial Family would definitely galvanize the peoples of the JPS to fight Germany, and call into question North America's involvement in the war domestically and abroad, Germany can and did claim the moral high ground here. The JPS declared war first, and widely publicized it to make it look fanatical. The deaths of the German sailors in the Shokaku Incident made the Imperial Japanese military look like a bunch of psychos with no respect for international law. Terrorist attacks across the North American East Coast and the European Community got everyone on edge. Next, with the deaths of thousands of people, including several members of the German Royal-Imperial House, and the Kaiser of the Krauts now going full holy crusader has painted the JPS in a very bad way. The JPS may have bought time with this false flag in the Kyoto Imperial Palace, but Germany and the UBNA will defeat the JPS. And Goulding has the perfect plan to turn the propaganda tables against the JPS.

He rolled his chair to another computer that was displaying the read-outs of CIND's intelligence reports as part of Operation Lullaby, the North American counter-insurgency plan to JPS military holdouts and resistance of any kind. He scrolled through several reports, and brought up one that has caught his eye. A CIND agent has been observing a Makabe Seijyurou, an IJRG cadet in Salt Lake. He was studying there until the NA war declaration and invasion of the Occupied Province of Disraeli. Now, from lobbying by a Hyacinth Amagi, MP for Queens, the shut down IJRG Academy was reopened for those cadets. Things have been sketchy over there for awhile, particularly in the old part of the academy. Did those cadets seriously think we would not be monitoring them? Of course, an old place like that would require drones to get in there and bugs planted to get intelligence. Those cadets, probably led by Makabe, get a B for trying to cover up their recent efforts, because those bloody field operatives could not find out exactly what is going on. Opening up the academy was a political decision by that useful idiot Amagi and of course overt monitoring would have led to revolution by the cadets. Discreet observation was the only option as it tried to use the cadets' mentality and false idea of superior military training to make them lower their guard. The cadets tipped us off with a plan they are cooking up right now, but it is unknown what they are trying to do. Amagi is making an arrival today to meet with the cadets so she can make a proper report on military administration's practice and policies. Maybe, she can be useful. Maybe, Makabe can be useful.

Just as Goulding was getting mentally involved with the files, Bragg entered the room. He looked around at all of the computer monitors. "You certainly are kept abreast of everything." he said. "Quite right. I need any and all information to make the right decisions. Are they dead?" Goulding said. "Yep. Asgill and his JPS lover are both dead by being trapped in an unfortunate, accidental fire." Bragg responded. "Good work. Next, I want your team to find two people. One Makabe Seijyurou, and one Kido Takeshi. The first one should be easy, it's just a cadet and it's part of Lullaby. The other one will be difficult but we'll get him in a trap. He's known for his secretive entrances and exits. We got right back on his trail by accident because we were monitoring Asgill's office. We know he likes to travel across the continent. I'll send you the files on both of them, and the layout for the trap. Number 2 is quite the pragmatic individual I discovered from our communiques. You'll be surprised too. Thank you for your work. I'll throw in extra for the labor because of Kido." said Goulding. "Right, of course sir." said Bragg, who turned and left the room. "Time to contact my...medical friends and see if they can do some work in about a couple days." Goulding said to himself.

Solomon Islands, JPS forward operating base

Yep, she was definitely not going to be nice to him, and not her white-clad lackeys either. "I guess this is interrogation time now? May I have something to eat, only to throw up in interrogation? That would add to the pain that would be inflicted." he said, somewhat sarcastically. He tried to get under their skin so they would attack or torture him, possibly even kill him in the process. He had a feeling that his last leave to North America was the last time he would see it, and two hours ago was the last time he saw of his team. Nagase, Snow, and Manandal. He didn't care that much about what she said, and now he just wanted to end it.

He reflected on what she said just as she was leaving. So what if he's Japanese and part of the North American military? Compared to the JPS, the Commonwealth shows itself as a multinational alliance that treats all member-nations as equals, not the Japanese hegemony over East Asia and calling it Pan-Asianism. The UBNA even juxtaposes itself to the JPS as the exposure of hypocrisy on the part of the JPS. Sure, the Southeastern Provinces are where any overt racists live, like those damn Sons of Liberty. They're just as fascistic as the JPS. Rumors abound of experiments done by a Unit 731, plus suppression of rumors and facts of atrocities committed during the Second Sino-Japanese War as well as World War 2. The JPS claims to unite and defend Asia, but used the same imperialist ideas and practices they said they were fighting against. And this TSF pilot thinks that he is a disgrace?

"I'm a disgrace? You work for an imperialist. You work for a hypocritical system. You contribute to the domination Asia like an 18th century imperialist. The Commonwealth and the UBNA ended those practices, and moved towards to the democratic ideal. Those bloody Germans kept up imperialism, with their bloody Kaiser trying to recreate the 19th century all over again. Yes, the Southeastern Provinces are hateful, they're a known hotbed of racist activity. What were you trying to say about where I was born? That I was mistreated? You're bloody right. I knew that, I knew I was different and that they did not like me. They associated me with Pearl Harbor, with the JPS occupation of the Western Provinces. And with the rumors from the Western Provinces of brutal suppression, it made it even harder for me. You're the bloody hypocrite, not me. You're the disgrace, not me. You disgraced the idea of a unified and egalitarian Asia standing up for itself against western domination, and showing a positive example to the world. Now we have imperialist wars all over again. The JPS and Germany keep it going, and brutal suppression of North American rebels always makes Victoria want to take action in the Western Provinces."

He stared angrily at all of them, but especially her. Her snobbery, her presumptuousness. It was disgusting towards him. He hated these people standing in front of him. He hated that they won the war in the Pacific, and that the JPS created the hatred aimed at him. He wished that the JPS never existed. He kept staring at them, with anger in his eyes at their hypocrisy.

[Japan and Pacific States]

Victoria, UCT, UBNA
Ministry of Defense
Basement Level,
Offices of the Joint Intelligence Service, Strategic Influence Bureau

Kenneth Goulding was honestly shocked to the video that was presented by JPS state media. He was piggybacking on the few remaining JPS commercial satellites, as well as the one discovered that disguised as orbital debris from their several rocket launches over the decades. His "Strategic Influence Bureau" sounded like something that was a joint MOD-Foreign Office operation, it was actually a very secretive organization he founded with of course help from the Independence Party's "New Independence" faction. It is the deep state of North America, the behind-the-scenes organizer and coordinator of military and intelligence operatives in the UBNA, the Commonwealth, and the rest of the world. Several CIND, SIGIND, HIND, and Military Intelligence operatives and resources are under Goulding's control. The loss of the Commonwealth military satellite arcs have hindered ELINT to almost 0 capability, as well as Goulding's capability, with the few remaining satellites just now used for intelligence gathering allowed for just a couple minutes. They are disguised as space debris, just like how the JPS or the Germans would do.

He managed to get a feed from the early morning television program. Very gruesome, and in line of what Imperial Germany was capable of. CIND, working with Military Intelligence, have heard rumors of such...biological weapons, and now there is even more confirmation, including reports from CIND operatives in Beijing. And judging by the amount of time and effort it took to slay the beast, it was a game changer. Psychological warfare, force multiplier, heavy assault capability. Just put some armor on that monstrosity and have several deployed on the battlefield, it would slay tens of soldiers within a minute.

He also had skepticism of those who were the "Imperial Family". Even though the actions and behaviors of the Shogun were quite accurate, and the very little intelligence has been acquired on the Emperor and the Crown Princess is not enough to make a conclusion, the whole thing stunk of a set-up. A clear sign that the JPS was getting desperate. Why not go all in? Buy some time with making the conflict go from the occasional border dispute to the holiest of holy wars. Germany did so, and it was quite convincing, because the few remaining CIND operatives in Europe picked up something from the underground fascist and ultra-right grapevine that there was hacking of the German MANTIS weapons by shadowy fascist figures, and convenient blaming on the JPS. The German deep state had its hands clean. The culprits were not the usual deep state operatives that have come up recently in rumors, who Goulding was working with right now to get rid of the current spineless administration. Germany beat JPS to the punch on this one. While the "deaths" of the Imperial Family would definitely galvanize the peoples of the JPS to fight Germany, and call into question North America's involvement in the war domestically and abroad, Germany can and did claim the moral high ground here. The JPS declared war first, and widely publicized it to make it look fanatical. The deaths of the German sailors in the Shokaku Incident made the Imperial Japanese military look like a bunch of psychos with no respect for international law. Terrorist attacks across the North American East Coast and the European Community got everyone on edge. Next, with the deaths of thousands of people, including several members of the German Royal-Imperial House, and the Kaiser of the Krauts now going full holy crusader has painted the JPS in a very bad way. The JPS may have bought time with this false flag in the Kyoto Imperial Palace, but Germany and the UBNA will defeat the JPS. And Goulding has the perfect plan to turn the propaganda tables against the JPS.

He rolled his chair to another computer that was displaying the read-outs of CIND's intelligence reports as part of Operation Lullaby, the North American counter-insurgency plan to JPS military holdouts and resistance of any kind. He scrolled through several reports, and brought up one that has caught his eye. A CIND agent has been observing a Makabe Seijyurou, an IJRG cadet in Salt Lake. He was studying there until the NA war declaration and invasion of the Occupied Province of Disraeli. Now, from lobbying by a Hyacinth Amagi, MP for Queens, the shut down IJRG Academy was reopened for those cadets. Things have been sketchy over there for awhile, particularly in the old part of the academy. Did those cadets seriously think we would not be monitoring them? Of course, an old place like that would require drones to get in there and bugs planted to get intelligence. Those cadets, probably led by Makabe, get a B for trying to cover up their recent efforts, because those bloody field operatives could not find out exactly what is going on. Opening up the academy was a political decision by that useful idiot Amagi and of course overt monitoring would have led to revolution by the cadets. Discreet observation was the only option as it tried to use the cadets' mentality and false idea of superior military training to make them lower their guard. The cadets tipped us off with a plan they are cooking up right now, but it is unknown what they are trying to do. Amagi is making an arrival today to meet with the cadets so she can make a proper report on military administration's practice and policies. Maybe, she can be useful. Maybe, Makabe can be useful.

Just as Goulding was getting mentally involved with the files, Bragg entered the room. He looked around at all of the computer monitors. "You certainly are kept abreast of everything." he said. "Quite right. I need any and all information to make the right decisions. Are they dead?" Goulding said. "Yep. Asgill and his JPS lover are both dead by being trapped in an unfortunate, accidental fire." Bragg responded. "Good work. Next, I want your team to find two people. One Makabe Seijyurou, and one Kido Takeshi. The first one should be easy, it's just a cadet and it's part of Lullaby. The other one will be difficult but we'll get him in a trap. He's known for his secretive entrances and exits. We got right back on his trail by accident because we were monitoring Asgill's office. We know he likes to travel across the continent. I'll send you the files on both of them, and the layout for the trap. Number 2 is quite the pragmatic individual I discovered from our communiques. You'll be surprised too. Thank you for your work. I'll throw in extra for the labor because of Kido." said Goulding. "Right, of course sir." said Bragg, who turned and left the room. "Time to contact my...medical friends and see if they can do some work in about a couple days." Goulding said to himself.

Solomon Islands, JPS forward operating base

Yep, she was definitely not going to be nice to him, and not her white-clad lackeys either. "I guess this is interrogation time now? May I have something to eat, only to throw up in interrogation? That would add to the pain that would be inflicted." he said, somewhat sarcastically. He tried to get under their skin so they would attack or torture him, possibly even kill him in the process. He had a feeling that his last leave to North America was the last time he would see it, and two hours ago was the last time he saw of his team. Nagase, Snow, and Manandal. He didn't care that much about what she said, and now he just wanted to end it.

He reflected on what she said just as she was leaving. So what if he's Japanese and part of the North American military? Compared to the JPS, the Commonwealth shows itself as a multinational alliance that treats all member-nations as equals, not the Japanese hegemony over East Asia and calling it Pan-Asianism. The UBNA even juxtaposes itself to the JPS as the exposure of hypocrisy on the part of the JPS. Sure, the Southeastern Provinces are where any overt racists live, like those damn Sons of Liberty. They're just as fascistic as the JPS. Rumors abound of experiments done by a Unit 731, plus suppression of rumors and facts of atrocities committed during the Second Sino-Japanese War as well as World War 2. The JPS claims to unite and defend Asia, but used the same imperialist ideas and practices they said they were fighting against. And this TSF pilot thinks that he is a disgrace?

"I'm a disgrace? You work for an imperialist. You work for a hypocritical system. You contribute to the domination Asia like an 18th century imperialist. The Commonwealth and the UBNA ended those practices, and moved towards to the democratic ideal. Those bloody Germans kept up imperialism, with their bloody Kaiser trying to recreate the 19th century all over again. Yes, the Southeastern Provinces are hateful, they're a known hotbed of racist activity. What were you trying to say about where I was born? That I was mistreated? You're bloody right. I knew that, I knew I was different and that they did not like me. They associated me with Pearl Harbor, with the JPS occupation of the Western Provinces. And with the rumors from the Western Provinces of brutal suppression, it made it even harder for me. You're the bloody hypocrite, not me. You're the disgrace, not me. You disgraced the idea of a unified and egalitarian Asia standing up for itself against western domination, and showing a positive example to the world. Now we have imperialist wars all over again. The JPS and Germany keep it going, and brutal suppression of North American rebels always makes Victoria want to take action in the Western Provinces."

He stared angrily at all of them, but especially her. Her snobbery, her presumptuousness. It was disgusting towards him. He hated these people standing in front of him. He hated that they won the war in the Pacific, and that the JPS created the hatred aimed at him. He wished that the JPS never existed. He kept staring at them, with anger in his eyes at their hypocrisy.

Madeline, Japanese Occupied California

Corporal Yosuke Ogami stood firewatch outside of his' platoon's encampment just five miles from the frontline between Japanese forces and the UBNA, walking around his encampment he kept his eyes eastward towards the frontlines watching around the encampment he walked back and forth with his Type 64 slung over his shoulder with a bayonet affixed adjusting the sling every now and again while he walked and watched he didn't expect anything to come of the night/morning. He didn't realise he'd be so wrong. On his 12th pass around his encampment he heard a few twigs break in the near forest, quickly unslinging his rifle he shouldered it in almost record time taking the safety off. "Show yourself! Now!" Yosuke's yelling awoke a nearby comrade of whom started waking up the rest of the platoon gathering their Type 64s, 89s, 91s, and 00s all aiming them at one place only to see a scarred and burned Caucasian male emerge from the forest looking almost completely disorientated.

Almost immediately shouts could be heard telling the male to get down of which he did falling face first on the ground... But mainly due in part to him losing consciousness. Yosuke was the first to check on the mysterious man turning him over and checking his pockets for an ID of any sort, quickly bringing it before Sergeant Major Kuwahara of whom was the leader of the platoon while two other soldiers picked the man up by his arms and legs carrying him to a cot in one of the tents where he was laid up and covered with a OD green wool blanket, no one had expected the situation to turn out as it did... Mainly because the man looked much like a civilian with a suit and tie. Kuwahara entered the tent after the two soldiers of whom brought him in left, turning on his flashlight he looked through the man's wallet and pulled a couple IDs. One military and one Civilian. "Major General Anthony Asgill... Royal North American Mounted Police, Special Branch Division 9.. What are you doing out here... Mountie..?" Kuwahara asked himself before he decided this was way out of his league. Within the hour Kuwahara ordered the encampment to be taken down and their new prisoner to be given priority, relocating him back to Seattle via a Red Cross Aid convoy heading back to Seattle.

After the long journey to Seattle, Major General Asgill was relocated to one of the very few operating Imperial Japanese Army hospitals in the city by order of Colonel Sayoko, along with this two guards were posted outside of the General's room, with four being placed inside at the four corners of the room while Colonel Sayoko herself sat in a chair at the front of General Asgill's bed with a clip board in her hands writing a full report with a small table next to her with a stack of papers while she waited for the General to regain consciousness.

Salt Lake City, Military Administration Zone of Disraeli, UBNA

Makabe Seijyurou sat in a room in the older part of his academy's building, the building was recently opened up once again though the usual curriculum was.... Less than standard of that of other IJRG training academies. Weapons training was essentially done away with and replaced with... Civilian curriculum. This of course was... Less than ideal for most there but Seijyurou kept everyone quiet to the best of his ability. But there was so much a Vassal Retainer in training such as him could do in an "official" capacity. Though soon he wouldn't have to worry too much, his handler, Takeshi Kido had handed him off to another spy, this time one from the Kempetai, Hiroyuki Yoshida. Everything was set to make a switch of the century, Hyacinth Amagi, a MP from the UBNA had attracted the attention of the Shogunate, for reasons beyond his own comprehension and they were to kidnap Amagi then replace her with one of Meiya's body doubles of whom had been retrained to act to a T like Amagi. If the UBNA were to find out it would be too late regardless, Amagi would likely be back in Japanese territory if they did figure it out.

Seijyurou sat rather content, his plan so far was going to as expected, Amagi was coming down the hall, he had arranged for her to have tea with the head of the academy's student body... Of which just happened to be him. He had already prepared tea, sneaking a quick acting knock out drug of which lasted a fairly long time, at least long enough for Amagi to be most of the way to Area 13 before she would wake up. Amagi would proceed to enter the room closing the door behind her while Seijyurou quickly arose from his spot snapping to attention and bowing his head. "I thank you for joining me, tea is already ready." Seijyurou said before standing up straight and motioning for Amagi to sit at the spot across from him, behind her was a hidden door in the wall where when the drug kicked in she'd be taken and replaced with the body double.

"I thank you for inviting me... Cadet Lieutenant." Amagi didn't feel right addressing a young man of whom was supposed to be in high school with such a rank. To her the whole situation was... Less than preferable, she'd be quick with the event if it could be called that sitting on the otherside of the table, Seijyurou soon followed through on his part sitting down taking his own tea cup into his hands before holding it up. "A toast.... To the long continuation of the Shogunate, and the Japanese Empire..... And future liberation and restoration of our rightful territory." The last part Seijyurou said under his breath but he meant it. Amagi herself felt uncomfortable with that so she didn't say anything instead opting to simply drink her tea and get it out of the way, while she took her second sip she started to feel rather... Sleepy, before long before she could consider yelling for help the last thing she would see is Seijyurou smirking and giving a salute while she fell to the floor and Hiroyuki Yoshida as well as Meiya's body double, reconditioned began making the switch, Hiroyuki carried the body out through the passage and out a rear entrance in an instrument case of which he put a padlock on and got to a white unmarked van. While the body double did her part and drained the rest of the tea in a nearby sink, leaving the room. Seijyurou had done his part and done it well... Soon he'd begin.... More open rebellion with the weapons that would be given to him and other students of the academy for their part in the kidnapping of the MP.

HSST No.07, Lower Earth Orbit Over Europe.

Noriyuke Tagami sat in his Ohka taking a few deep breaths while he waited... And waited for the green light to drop from the HSST and guide his Ohka to the German's High Command building in Berlin, already two others had dropped, he and another were just waiting for their targets. Finally the greenlight for Noriyuke came. Releasing his docking clamps while the door under his Ohka on the HSST opened allowing him and his Ohka to pass through unhindered began dropping, the onboard computer began self corrections while he entered the atmosphere taking the coriolis effect into account while the Ohka began it's reentry at high speed, it's stealth coating was working so far otherwise he would've been shot down already by the German's MANTIS network. Noriyuke could see his target coming into sight, it was as if he was piloting a laser guided bomb... Which was partial truth, the Ohka's computer used GPS information to self correct itself for a proper flight path almost like a sort of auto pilot.

Noriyuke could see his target getting closer and closer, within the moment he shielded his eyes and the Ohka slammed into the top of the building, the reinforced warhead crashing through the top surface floors of the building and burrowing into the basement before detonating and destroying the building, turning it into nothing but rubble causing the collapse of the lower floors under the weight of the entire building and the subsequent below surface floors collapsing. Noriyuke had done his job as did the others on the HSST, the rockets would hit their targets, Munich, Stuttgart, Berlin, and lastly the SMS Graf Richtofen. Two of the targets were chosen for their high value to the German Empire and it's industrial capabilities, the third was chosen to weaken the German high command while Japan and it's allies prepared for another push against the Germans, to liberate Vietnam from the German Empire, the SMS Graf Richtofen was chosen to simply shock or scare Japan's enemies into backing down.

An Hour Later at Area 13...

Regent Ikaruga Takatsugu entered the war room where Meiya and the other four regents of the Japanese Empire, recently joined by "Shogun" Kyoko Takatsukasa, Takatsugu entered the room with a piece of paper in his hands and a smile on his face. "Gentlemen and ladies.... Our Ohkas have been confirmed to have hit their targets. Germany's industrial might shall suffer as well as it's military high command. We now expect total capitulation of German forces in Vietnam in two days.... Congratulations you majesty... You will throw the Germans out of Asia." Takatsugu said bowing his head to Meiya of whom sat with a smile on her face. "Good. Good. Now we must focus on the UBNA.... Surely with the display of our Ohkas they will wish to end hostilities. Quickly." Meiya said clasping her hands together. "Ah... Your majesty that reminds me, we've had two reports come in. Major General Anthony Asgill was captured by our forces in North America, as soon as he's conscious he will be transported here.... And we've also captured your... Person of Interest." Meiya sat back in her chair the smile not disappearing from her face. "Good. Good. See to the security of both. They must get here in one piece. As quickly as is possible."

Solomon Islands IJA/IJN/IJRG encampment

"You're a blood traitor. All of Asia has aligned itself with the Shogunate.... All of Asia that isn't a UBNA or German puppet anyway. And you dare to blame us for these wars? For years the Germans have very visibly antagonised us into going to war and now your government like the spineless cowards they are hide under the Germans' umbrella of protection! ....Our suppression of the rebels in the Pacific States is none of your own concern. That is how this war has started, your country's government has stuck it's nose where it is not wanted and now it is about to be cut off for it's insolence." Yui said removing her Katana and placing it on the table by her Type 91. "You North Americans... Seeing yourselves as the "super heroes" of the world. You've read too many comic books, traitor. You're no hero. Your government isn't acting "heroic" in it's defiance of us, supporting the German war effort. The Germans would see Asia, North America and whatever other state that would oppose them, burn. What do you think will happen if your country wins this war hmm? The German's Kaiser and your Governor General are just going to be best friends and "liberate" Asia from us "oppressive" Japanese? You're more of a fool than I thought you were, Yuuya Bridges."

[New Decius]

Nendo, Japanese Solomon Islands
Battle of the Solomon Islands

In order to gain a foothold in the Solomon Islands, specifically the Santa Cruz Islands sub-chain, Imperial German forces were assaulting Nendo Island, the largest in the chain. Intel said there was a sizable Japanese presence on the island along with a TSF base, all of which needed to be removed before any other operation could move forward in the region. And in order to prep the way for marine landings, the Kaiserliche Marine was laying down a bombardment so heavy it would make what the Allies hit Normandy with seem like a firecracker by comparison. The destroyers and cruisers were pounding the whole of the island with everything they had while fighter-bombers unloaded on the Japanese defenders from above. All the while, landing craft got closer and closer to the shore filled to the brim with German troops. Even with the bombardment they were catching heavy machine gun and artillery fire, as was to be expected, the Japanese wouldn’t roll over easily.

Within the hour the troops had a foothold on the beachhead, not even the SMS Graf Richthofen being sunk could deter them as they dug in to fortify the landing site for the incoming reinforcements. Then they witnessed a horrifying site that did indeed shatter the morale of some; at least a dozen or more TSF’s in flight headed straight fore the beaches and the troops encamped there. The hundred or so men rushed to the hastily dug trenches and foxholes as the enemy mechs made landfall and opened fire on them, blasting their positions to pieces. It seemed the assault force might be thrown back into the sea...

Then there was a tremendous cannon report and one of the TSF’s was shrouded in smoke and the firing stopped on both sides. When the smoke cleared it revealed the TSF had a massive hole in its torso, one could see right through it to the jungle beyond, and the mech fell to the ground in a heap. Eyes turned to the shoreline where three black humanoid mechs had appeared, marked with the Iron Cross and with size to match the Japanese machines. One of them had a long recoilless penetrator cannon extending from a shoulder-mounted emplacement that was smoking from recent use. Before the marines or the TSF’s could react it fired again and took out another TSF. Then the battle between mechs had started.

Marines forgotten, the group of TSF’s opened fire on the three mechs which moved with incredible speed and coordination to close the distance as shells from enemy autocannons either rebounded or bounced off all together. One of them closed to close quarters with a TSF and, in an almost human-like move, rammed a fist straight into its torso and ripped up tearing out the head in the process. Another extended a blade of black metal from one of its wrists and sliced an enemy mech clean in half at the waist. Within fifteen minutes the battle was over and the Japanese forces had been either destroyed or forces to flee into the jungle, now pursued by the rejuvenated marine troops as armored vehicles and more infantry began unloading on the shoreline.

Oh yes it was time for Germany, to fuck back.

(OOC: That last phrase is vulgar yes but I felt it fit well)

Emergency Bunker, Beneath the Stadtschlosse
Berlin, Kingdom of Prussia
7 Miles Underground

The doors to the emergency bunker beneath the German central government building opened to reveal a cadre of several military officers from various service branches in dusty, rubble covered uniforms, while awaiting them were the Kaiser, other officers, and various members of the German government. The Kaiser raised an eyebrow at the lead officer, a member of the Kaiserliche Marine, noting their appearance. “I take it you didn’t emerge from the attack on the OHL completely unscathed then Klüge.” Großadmiral Wolfgang Klüge grunted as a response to his sovereign as he and his surviving colleagues on the General’s Staff took their seats at the table. “We were fortunate enough to be in the sub-levels at the time but some of our colleagues were above-ground and so did perish with a great many other good officers and soldiers. Casualties are estimated at fifty three percent of all personnel in the building. And what of the strikes in other parts of the Empire?”

Chancellor Büchliger replied to that one. “We got off better there but not necessarily good, in total nine war plants demolished but given the tens of thousands of such factories between the Low Countries and Russia, that isn’t the problem.” The Chancellor turned to the Kaiser at this point with an imploring look. “The problem will be with the citizenry. While Japan strikes us in our homeland, however insignificant it may be, we leave their’s untouched. Oh yes we launch air raids and drone strikes in China and the Philippines but we have yet to bomb the Home Island’s once! Your Majesty! The people want blood to sate their lust for vengeance! Japan has killed millions of our citizens and it is high time we struck back with a fury! A fury I say! Our people, and the people of Europe want to see Kyoto burn for what the Japanese have done! And I-“

“Your right.” Büchliger went silent, he could speak all he damn pleased before or after the Kaiser but no one interrupted the sovereign. It just wasn’t done. “It is indeed high time that we paid the Japanese back in blood, and we will do it continuously. I am sick to my soul sitting back watching our people fear to leave their homes or even be above ground for that matter while the Japanese sit comfortably in their houses, drinking tea and wondering what’s on daytime television. That stops now.” He turned to Klüge. “I want the General’s Staff to draw up plans for an indefinite bombing campaign against the Home Island’s set to begin as soon as possible, draw on as many strategic bombers as you need, if you need fifteen thousand then take fifteen thousand. Draw on every ordinance you can dream up, explosive, incendiary, chemical, you have my blessing to use it. The Japanese people will know what its like to be afraid, to not trust the safety of their homes. They will know fear and we will use it to break them.”

Then he turned to Generalleutnant, Karl Dornberger, the Commander of the Imperial Rocket Corps. “The Rocket Corps will participate in this operation, launching warheads off all trappings save nuclear, put as many modules in orbit as you feasibly can. But for now I want you to black out the Home Island’s, utilizing all EMP modules in orbit right now. I don’t mean a couple cities. I want EMP’s deployed across Honshu, Kyushu, Shikoku, and Hokkaido to black out all four islands. This is to be followed up with what I want to be described by press as an orbital bombardment of thermobaric and chemical warheads on these now defenseless cities. If the British thought the Blitz bad, wait till they see what the Japanese are about to catch.”

The Kaiser stood up and so too did everyone else. “I shall address the nation and the world from the Volkshalle shortly, you have your orders.”

Georgetown University

Prince Hans-Wilhelm merely shrugged at the news of the Shogun’s death. “The bitch got what was coming to her in the end. If not whatever creature our boys in the white coats cooked up, then surely the devil in Hell would have shredded her in such a fashion. You heard my uncle’s speech, every weapon shall be used. Every asset deployed. This is total war Your Excellency. There is no holding back anymore.”

“We are fighting for our freedom sir. And to quote a bit of literature ‘Some say freedom is free, but I disagree, I say freedom is won through the barrel of a gun’.”

[The Union of British North America]

Georgetown University Hospital, Victoria

David Ryan gave out some nervous laughter, partially agreeing that the Shogun's death was somewhat of a relief, yet afraid of what Imperial Germany could dish out and now the intensity of the war that will forever increase. He never really liked the Shogun, and he dreaded speaking with her at that trade conference 5 years ago in San Francisco, the Asia-Pacific Economic Dialogue. He was just a year into his Governor-Generalship, and was greeted by silent and somewhat stern-looking North American crowds living under occupation since 1945, in addition to JPS citizens also having crowds to see their Shogun. Given that the Shogun was the effective leader of the Japanese Pacific States, and in charge of all foreign and defense affairs, it was customary for her to meet her North American counterpart. He imagined she did not want to be seen with him, and he felt the same way. Now, she was dead, by a demon spawned by black magic in German biolabs. He wondered if Germany would do a false-flag against North American leadership, or on the North American monarchy. He had a momentary waking nightmare of a werewolf devouring him, his family, his cabinet, Her Majesty and the Royal Family, and the entire defense force of the capital shooting and bayoneting the beast to death.

"Yes, she had it coming. Like Hitler did during the Valkyrie coup. Sooner or later, tyrants get their comeuppance." he responded finally. A military aide-de-camp walked into the room. "Your Excellency, I have a report from our forces in the Solomon Islands. They report the Imperial German Navy and Marines have entered the fighting, attacking at Nendo against JPS forces. They lost one of their heavy capital ships, the supercarrier Graf Richtofen, but are still pursuing the operation. We even have unconfirmed reports of giant...robots at the beaches taking out JPS TSFs...Oh, I'm sorry, Your Royal Highness, I didn't see you." The aide-de-camp gave a neck-bow like he would for the GG or Her Majesty the Queen. "Ah, more fine German engineering and innovation." said Ryan. "Well, eventually Germany will have to show all of her military wonder weapons. It's total war after all. And if Imperial Germany hands the JPS their asses to them, then Her Majesty's North American Government may reconsider its current stance on cooperation with Germany."

JPS Forward Operations Base, Solomon Islands

"'Blood traitor'? You sound like one of those from the Sons of Liberty or any generic racist from the Southeastern Provinces, always harassing my family, my mother, for choosing to love a 'Jap'. I have no control over where I am born or who I am born too, God dammit. And you say Asia is aligned with the Shogunate, but it's by force and brainwashing. What about Nanking, or all the other rumors of atrocities that don't die down in the rest of the world? All that is swept under the rug because of the JPS's influence at the UN. Sure, you can say you elevated the peoples of Asia and their status in the world, but on so much blood and suffering. It's all suppressed, because it would ruin your empire's image and foundations. You kicked out old empires and set up a new one. You're delusional that you are a savior of Asia. You and your white-clad lackeys." He gestured towards to people in white, which Yuuya remembered from his training, are "Tozamas", and at a lower rank compared to this girl with violet eyes and a white-ribbon. He gathered that she was higher ranking, from her behavior while speaking.

His stomach rumbled loudly, and he was certain that they heard his stomach. He remembered the last time he ate: 8 hours ago. He skipped lunch because the fortified suits, as well as the experimental nano machines, were able to control any feelings of hunger, and helped him have the energy and concentration to operate on the battlefield for long periods of time. His stomach rumbled loudly again.

IJA Hospital, Northern Seattle, JPS-Occupied Oregon Province

"Wha...Where...Where am I? Haruko, Haruko where are you...?" he mumbled as he started to wake up. He became more lucid after a minute. "Bloody hell. Had to crawl to my car, drive all the way to Upper California from Oregon Province, and there isn't a bloody hospital for over two hundred miles and this bloody war makes things dangerous on the road. I crashed, and I...I stumbled through forest, hoping to find someone, who can help me...uh..." He finally snapped to his senses. "Where on God's bloody green earth am I? And who the hell are you?" He looked over at a woman in a military uniform. She looked Japanese, which meant he was still in JPS territory, and now captured by the enemy. "Oh. Never mind, then. May I have a glass of water? I'm quite parched." He asked the woman sitting right next to his bed.

Salt Lake City, Military Administration Zone of Disraeli, near the IJRG Academy

Charlie rode up in the car that was driving up to collect Amagi from her fact-finding mission at the cadet academy. The car pulled up to the front entrance, and Amagi was standing outside. Charlie got out and opened the door for her. "How was the interview? Enough for your report to the House? I finished up my end, and now we just need to compile our findings for your formal presentation to the House." Amagi quietly entered the car. Charlie closed her door, and got in the back seat to be next her. "Right, dealing with those cadets must have been a challenge and you don't want to talk about it. Anyway, we are heading straight home now. Your husband got the message, and is going to pick that Italian place for Friday." Charlie said. The car drove away, and Charlie began going over the outline of the report with Amagi. After a few minutes, the entire area of the school was quiet. A white van quietly drove away from the scene, but CIND undercover agent Jun Ishida paid no mind to it. It was the regular delivery truck to the school, which came at this time at this day, for the last three weeks.

Jun Ishida, observing from across the street with his remote controlled drone, was upset that he lost the feed for a good 30 seconds. The fly drone just bugged out for that long. He picked up bits and pieces of the conversation between Makabe and Amagi, but things just cut out for 30 seconds. He knew he didn't get detected because it was a mechanical problem, not jamming. But never mind that now. Amagi was out the area. He needed to capture Makabe. The teams were in position. "Have the dwarf Gekko go in and take out the primary targets, then the fireteams will go in and secure them." he ordered to the CIND teams waiting to enter the academy. The school's surveillance system was turned off, per the Military Administration's orders, so the teams would have no problem getting in, and won't alert anyone inside.

Jun gave the green light. The two teams moved in, silent as they can be. They first opened up some air ventilation shafts to allow the dwarf Gekko in. They scurried quietly to the room where Makabe was in. After a minute they popped out the vents, and latched onto his back, and stunned him with their built-in stun gun. Another man met a Gekko in a similar way. The two teams burst through the doors on both sides of the room. "Clear! Clear! Room clear!" yelled three men sweeping every nook and cranny of the place. "Both targets secured." said Bragg into his radio. "Good. Have everyone extract the primary targets." ordered Jun. "Copy. My team, will cover our six." replied Bragg.

"Wow, that Bragg fellow is very efficient at what he does." said Jun to himself. A new team leader assigned to CIND's Special Activities Office, and very recently. But he has done work like this before. "Mission complete." said Jun as he finished up packing his equipment. Now, he has to blend in with the local population. Wait for any serious rumors of uprising.

[First Philippine Empire]

Biak na Bato ,Philippines
A a plan is being made ro start a revolution against japan...
"MY FELLOW COUNTRY MEN!" shouts a man standing on a rock "WE HAVE HAD ENOUGH OF THE JAPANESE AND WE WANT FREEDOM AND IF WE WANT FREEDOM WE HAVE TO FIGHT FOR IT!"after his speeech the men grab their rifles, spears and bolo knives and plan their raid.

[New Decius]

Georgetown University

The Prince got another alert on the tablet and then smiled warmly up at the Governor-General. “I would invite you to watch my brother’s speech at the Europahalle in Brussels before a crowd of over five hundred thousand. He is making the speech for the international press as well.

Europahalle, Brussels
Kingdom of Belgium, German Empire
European Community

The Europahalle was an exact copy of the Volkshalle only three times the size and built more for grandeur and ceremony than actual legislative business. It was a place from where the President of the European Community or the various European monarch’s could address the continent. And now the structure was packed as well as the streets outside with Europeans of all nationalities and ethnicities; Germans, Dutch, Belgian’s, French, Italian’s, Hungarian’s etc. hundreds of thousands. European flags ringed the top of the dome and the EC banner graced the inside of the hall across its ceiling. Seven Anti-Air Batteries had been moved into position along with numerous detection units and added security protocols, no attack was getting through.

The announcer finally revealed the roster of persons to speak. “Announcing the speakers here before all Europa! His Imperial and Royal Majesty, Erwin Ludwig II, Emperor of Germany, to be followed by His Royal Majesty, Jéan-Christophe de Napoléon I, King of France, and His Excellency, Heinrich Büchliger, German Chancellor and European President.”

The Kaiser was the first and he walked on to thunderous applause which he himself silenced with a fee gestures of his hands and then began his speech. “Many of you will have seen the footage the Japanese released regarding the murder of the Shogun and the Imperial Family of Japan, and are wondering to yourselves ‘Could this be true’ or ‘Is Germany creating monsters’. Well the answer to that question is that is indeed true, and it was I who sanctioned and ordered the death’s of the murderers that were the Japanese Imperial Family whom are personally responsible for all the tens of millions dead in this war across the globe. I have a personal stake in the game for, as you all know, I have just buried my infant son and my younger sister who were killed in the MANTIS incident. Well I have repaid murder with murder but frankly I will sleep more soundly at night knowing the Shogun, her inept husband, and her brat are all dad, no matter how inhumane the job was.” This got a round of shocked stares and gasps from the crowd before the Kaiser hushed them once again.

“And to answer the second question, Germany is indeed creating monsters, for we are at an age where war has become so vicious that it cannot be fought by men alone. So we have created monsters to do it, but let it be known these creatures were the failures of our genetic warfare program and there are many true super soldiers ready for the fight! And when they appear on the battlefield, the Japanese will get up out of their foxholes and run for their mothers like the cowards they are!” That got more thunderous applause. “And we have other weapons such as our new War Frames which are now being deployed to fight in the Solomon Island’s and are technological marvels. Three of these mechs can destroy a dozen Japanese TSF’s and I have footage to prove it. Observe the monitor’s around the hall, for you are about to see the Japanese get their ass handed to them!” And so footage shot at different angles by the Imperial Marines currently fighting on Nendo from their helmet cameras played. It showed indeed a dozen TSF’s being torn apart by three War Frames. The applause and cheering was even louder. When the Kaiser regained control of the crowd he seemed cautionary though. “However, now is not the time to be complacent and let our guard down! The last time we got too cocky the Japanese murdered ten million of our brothers and sisters and laid three great cities to waste. We will fight this war to the bitter end for this is total war and can not end with diplomacy but...with victory!”

“I have another announcement! I am lifting the ban on strategic bombing of Japanese civilian locations that had been imposed on the Luftwaffe. One can only travel the high road for so long! We will show them a blitz so powerful that what London experienced will seem like the buzzing of a mosquito! They will know what it is like to be afraid! This I swear! Every weapon shall be used, even those both vile and inhumane! Europe Expects Every Man Do His Duty to his nation and home! We have eradicated Communism in Europe...now let us destroy Asian fascism! Through the bravery and fortitude of our soldiers on the battlefield, and through our strength of will at home, we will triumph! Europa will triumph over the Japanese beast!”

“This is a total war, a war set to shake the very foundations of hell itself, though I’m sure the Shogun can feel that shaking as the devil himself puts her through the paces down there. Yes many millions more will die but in their sacrifice we shall have peace unlike any before, we shall have a peace which will truly never end! For all our enemies will have been laid dead at our feet and never again will Europa be threatened! We fight for freedom and if anyone should believe freedom to be free I will loudly object, for freedom is won and it is done so through the blood of someone’s son! This war will reveal new weapons that can destroy cities in the blink of an eye, wipe out an army in an hour, even alter the laws of physics! To put it more eloquently, Japan will suffer a winter of discontent and pain! The Japanese have no hope of victory, throwing us back a little in Indochina will do nothing but waste precious lives and material on their part, for we have more men, more machines, more factories, more food! We will win this war! We shall be the victors!”

Area between Japanese Occupied Hanoi and European Lines

Wolfgang Storch crawled carefully through the dirt towards the Krammer Hotel in outer Hanoi, or what remained of its ruins where he was to meet his Japanese contact. Going to meet his contact, he simply went by the name Aleta and did not reveal her real identity, was always a risky business; with machine guns and mortars on both sides constantly probing the no mans land between the European lines and Japanese Hanoi, he could get killed by either side in the middle of the night with a simple mistake on his part. The Japanese had laid out a specific path through the mines for him to follow and he had long since figured out one through his own sides minefields. Artillery continued to be heard even in the dark of night, the German and Italian forces had not let up the bombardment for longer than half an hour since the siege began and they were bringing in heavier pieces of artillery every day. Thankfully none was falling near Wolfgang.

The Japanese had turned him shortly before the Invasion of Indochina and he was happy to accept, living on a Major’s pay or take the more than bountiful offer the Japanese put forward. Not to mention full field commission in the IJA if he should be uncovered by German authorities, and should Germany get as far as Kyushu, a one way ticket to South America for his escape. He had been feeding them information since, sometimes small, sometimes massive, for instance he had managed to get across the pincer maneuver planned in Operation Hamlet shortly after it began allowing the Japanese to intervene and prevent Hanoi from being encircled.

He scrambled over the dirt into what was left of the hotel lobby and was about to breath a sigh of relief when a gun cocked and pressed into the back of his head. He gulped gave the passcode. “I am the phoenix.” If it was his contact Aleta then she would respond ‘I rise in flames’, if not then he was likely done for...

[Japan and Pacific States]

Georgetown University Hospital, Victoria

David Ryan gave out some nervous laughter, partially agreeing that the Shogun's death was somewhat of a relief, yet afraid of what Imperial Germany could dish out and now the intensity of the war that will forever increase. He never really liked the Shogun, and he dreaded speaking with her at that trade conference 5 years ago in San Francisco, the Asia-Pacific Economic Dialogue. He was just a year into his Governor-Generalship, and was greeted by silent and somewhat stern-looking North American crowds living under occupation since 1945, in addition to JPS citizens also having crowds to see their Shogun. Given that the Shogun was the effective leader of the Japanese Pacific States, and in charge of all foreign and defense affairs, it was customary for her to meet her North American counterpart. He imagined she did not want to be seen with him, and he felt the same way. Now, she was dead, by a demon spawned by black magic in German biolabs. He wondered if Germany would do a false-flag against North American leadership, or on the North American monarchy. He had a momentary waking nightmare of a werewolf devouring him, his family, his cabinet, Her Majesty and the Royal Family, and the entire defense force of the capital shooting and bayoneting the beast to death.

"Yes, she had it coming. Like Hitler did during the Valkyrie coup. Sooner or later, tyrants get their comeuppance." he responded finally. A military aide-de-camp walked into the room. "Your Excellency, I have a report from our forces in the Solomon Islands. They report the Imperial German Navy and Marines have entered the fighting, attacking at Nendo against JPS forces. They lost one of their heavy capital ships, the supercarrier Graf Richtofen, but are still pursuing the operation. We even have unconfirmed reports of giant...robots at the beaches taking out JPS TSFs...Oh, I'm sorry, Your Royal Highness, I didn't see you." The aide-de-camp gave a neck-bow like he would for the GG or Her Majesty the Queen. "Ah, more fine German engineering and innovation." said Ryan. "Well, eventually Germany will have to show all of her military wonder weapons. It's total war after all. And if Imperial Germany hands the JPS their asses to them, then Her Majesty's North American Government may reconsider its current stance on cooperation with Germany."

JPS Forward Operations Base, Solomon Islands

"'Blood traitor'? You sound like one of those from the Sons of Liberty or any generic racist from the Southeastern Provinces, always harassing my family, my mother, for choosing to love a 'Jap'. I have no control over where I am born or who I am born too, God dammit. And you say Asia is aligned with the Shogunate, but it's by force and brainwashing. What about Nanking, or all the other rumors of atrocities that don't die down in the rest of the world? All that is swept under the rug because of the JPS's influence at the UN. Sure, you can say you elevated the peoples of Asia and their status in the world, but on so much blood and suffering. It's all suppressed, because it would ruin your empire's image and foundations. You kicked out old empires and set up a new one. You're delusional that you are a savior of Asia. You and your white-clad lackeys." He gestured towards to people in white, which Yuuya remembered from his training, are "Tozamas", and at a lower rank compared to this girl with violet eyes and a white-ribbon. He gathered that she was higher ranking, from her behavior while speaking.

His stomach rumbled loudly, and he was certain that they heard his stomach. He remembered the last time he ate: 8 hours ago. He skipped lunch because the fortified suits, as well as the experimental nano machines, were able to control any feelings of hunger, and helped him have the energy and concentration to operate on the battlefield for long periods of time. His stomach rumbled loudly again.

IJA Hospital, Northern Seattle, JPS-Occupied Oregon Province

"Wha...Where...Where am I? Haruko, Haruko where are you...?" he mumbled as he started to wake up. He became more lucid after a minute. "Bloody hell. Had to crawl to my car, drive all the way to Upper California from Oregon Province, and there isn't a bloody hospital for over two hundred miles and this bloody war makes things dangerous on the road. I crashed, and I...I stumbled through forest, hoping to find someone, who can help me...uh..." He finally snapped to his senses. "Where on God's bloody green earth am I? And who the hell are you?" He looked over at a woman in a military uniform. She looked Japanese, which meant he was still in JPS territory, and now captured by the enemy. "Oh. Never mind, then. May I have a glass of water? I'm quite parched." He asked the woman sitting right next to his bed.

Salt Lake City, Military Administration Zone of Disraeli, near the IJRG Academy

Charlie rode up in the car that was driving up to collect Amagi from her fact-finding mission at the cadet academy. The car pulled up to the front entrance, and Amagi was standing outside. Charlie got out and opened the door for her. "How was the interview? Enough for your report to the House? I finished up my end, and now we just need to compile our findings for your formal presentation to the House." Amagi quietly entered the car. Charlie closed her door, and got in the back seat to be next her. "Right, dealing with those cadets must have been a challenge and you don't want to talk about it. Anyway, we are heading straight home now. Your husband got the message, and is going to pick that Italian place for Friday." Charlie said. The car drove away, and Charlie began going over the outline of the report with Amagi. After a few minutes, the entire area of the school was quiet. A white van quietly drove away from the scene, but CIND undercover agent Jun Ishida paid no mind to it. It was the regular delivery truck to the school, which came at this time at this day, for the last three weeks.

Jun Ishida, observing from across the street with his remote controlled drone, was upset that he lost the feed for a good 30 seconds. The fly drone just bugged out for that long. He picked up bits and pieces of the conversation between Makabe and Amagi, but things just cut out for 30 seconds. He knew he didn't get detected because it was a mechanical problem, not jamming. But never mind that now. Amagi was out the area. He needed to capture Makabe. The teams were in position. "Have the dwarf Gekko go in and take out the primary targets, then the fireteams will go in and secure them." he ordered to the CIND teams waiting to enter the academy. The school's surveillance system was turned off, per the Military Administration's orders, so the teams would have no problem getting in, and won't alert anyone inside.

Jun gave the green light. The two teams moved in, silent as they can be. They first opened up some air ventilation shafts to allow the dwarf Gekko in. They scurried quietly to the room where Makabe was in. After a minute they popped out the vents, and latched onto his back, and stunned him with their built-in stun gun. Another man met a Gekko in a similar way. The two teams burst through the doors on both sides of the room. "Clear! Clear! Room clear!" yelled three men sweeping every nook and cranny of the place. "Both targets secured." said Bragg into his radio. "Good. Have everyone extract the primary targets." ordered Jun. "Copy. My team, will cover our six." replied Bragg.

"Wow, that Bragg fellow is very efficient at what he does." said Jun to himself. A new team leader assigned to CIND's Special Activities Office, and very recently. But he has done work like this before. "Mission complete." said Jun as he finished up packing his equipment. Now, he has to blend in with the local population. Wait for any serious rumors of uprising.

Solomon Islands

"Your mother was wise to be with a... "Jap" as you call us. And as those ignorant fools on the otherside of the lines call us. We have built a grand empire, yes it was with blood but are the British, or even the Germans not the same? Over one hundred years ago... To be specific 117 years ago the Kaiser of the German Empire sent his own force over to China to murder all civilians and enemy fighters alike... So that they may earn the title of "hun", so that they'd "never again look cross-eyed at a German". Before that. You british started a war against Boers and locked them up in what could be comparable to concentration camps.... Do not dare speak to me about our hypocrisy when you dare to ignore your own. All empires have blood on their hands, some have more yes but that doesn't excuse the fact that even if we were to take an estimate of the amount of blood shed for each nation, there would be more for some and less for others but there was blood shed nonetheless. ....We did not take the Philippines from the Filipinos we took it from the British, of whom themselves took it from the Spanish. We did not take Vietnam in the second world war from the Vietnamese but from the French, and let us not forget... Malaysia. We didn't take it from the Malaysians, we took it from the British. Just as we had taken Australia from the British." Yui took a step forward and motioned for her Tozamas to back off putting her hands on the back of Yuuya's chair looking into his eyes. "Everything we have done.... We have done by your and the French's... Shining example." Yui stood up and backed away looking to one Tozama speaking in Japanese. "Get him some food. And get the doctor in here to examine him." The Tozama quickly bowed her head and left the room leaving Yui, Yuuya and one other Tozama.

"Our fight, is and should be with the Germans but yet here you are wasting our time and resources. Resources of which could be put to fighting against the goddamn Germans.." Yui said while she reproached the table on the otherside of the tent. The Tozama came rushing back into the room running to Yui whispering in her ear, whatever it was, it obviously wasn't good... Yui turned to the Tozama and spoke in Japanese. "You better not be lying... Don't you even dare joke about such a thing." The Tozama just simply bowed her head, turned and left the tent once again Yui's face was visibly drained of colour the news was... Highly troubling to her.

IJA Hospital, Northern Seattle, JPS-Occupied Oregon Province

Colonel Sayoko looked up from her paperwork and sighed. "Good, you are awake.... I am Colonel Komaki Sayoko, the overall commander of all IJA forces in North America, you are Major General Anthony Asgill... Royal North American Mounted Police, Special Branch Division 9.. Are you not?" Sayoko nodded to the guard to the right of Asgill of whom slung his Type 64 over his shoulder and poured water into a cup from a pitcher on the right bedside table before handing it to Asgill and returning to his post. "I have questions for you... But you had mentioned Vassal Retainer Haruko of the Imperial Royal Guard as you were regaining consciousness. May I ask why?" Sayoko adjusted her glassed before taking the paper of which was on her clip board off, the paper was a requisition form, the IJA loved their paperwork... Replacing the paper with a plain white sort of note paper Sayoko waited for General Asgill to reply.

Area between Japanese Occupied Hanoi and European Lines

"I rise in flames." Aleta replied grabbing Wolfgang's shoulder turning him around to show her as well as two Imperial Royal Guard Vassal Retainers. "I apologise for the added company. But with the death of the Shogun nothing could be done about it..... So what information would you happen to have this time Herr Storch?" Aleta put her Type 14 Nambu back in her holster under her coat before crossing her arms hoping the information was good and that she didn't waste her time on what she viewed as just another worthless European. "If it's good enough you'll possibly earn yourself the aforementioned reward for our deal."

Area 13, Far Eastern Japanese Controlled Siberia

A music case was rolled into a dark room by three Vassal Retainers of whom quickly broke the lock off the case and left the room. The lid immediately opened to show a very disheveled and somewhat frantic Hyacinth Amagi of whom immediately tried to make for the door banging on it demanding and yelling to be let out. "Let me out of here! I don't know what you want just let me out!" She yelled while banging on the door as hard as she could. "You should reserve your strength.... And be thankful you aren't stuck as a prisoner of war." A voice had called out from the darkness of the room, Amagi turned around and looked around in the darkness, her eyes not yet actually adjusted to it. "Who's there."

Meiya smiled and with her white gloved right hand turned the knob on a lamp on the table in the room of which illuminated it quite well, her uniform was able to be seen anyway as well as the lower half of her face. "The dead still walk the earth.... And you I suspect are not of this earth are you? ....You are of an earth but not this one, are you?" Meiya said clasping her hands together. "Sit down, let us have a chat."

[New Decius]

Area between Japanese Occupied Hanoi and European Lines

Storch stood up and brushed off the dirt from his uniform, even a spy had to look respectable at times. And this was certainly one of those times. Before he began though, he heard a distinct whistle in the air and, acting on instinct, moved to push Aleta to the ground. “Hit the dirt!” He said it just in time and got them both down on the ground just as the first round of shells struck just outside the hotel, shaking what remained of the building. The bombardment was not just of the hotel but the whole of the city outskirts which was not necessarily good, shellfire could still kill them even if it wasn’t necessarily looking for them. The two Retainers had the wisdom to take cover as well for the duration of the bombardment. A chunk of ceiling from the first floor came loose and landed mere feet away from where Wolfgang and Aleta were sheltering. Shortly after that the bombardment let up and Wolfgang tentatively got up.

He reached down and helped Aleta to her feet, looking slightly sheepish from his actions. “I do apologize for pushing you to the ground there but I acted on instinct. I could hear the whistle from an M-200 Marksman Kinetic Howitzer any place on the Earth with how long I’ve served in the German military. Anyway on to my information.”

“Firstly, by month’s end an additional 250,000 troops coming from Austria and recently reestablished France and Iberia will have arrived, bringing total European force strength up to just shy of a million. Three months time will see the Bulgarian, Hungarian, and Romanian contribution forces arrive bolstering the troops to a million and a half. And with this will come a new offensive.” He produced documents from inside his uniform jacket and handed them to Aleta. It was mostly general memorandums for deployment locations and targets in the offensive. “The Italian’s and Swedes will mass in the North for an offensive into the mountainous South in Yunnan in Southern China. Given their mountaineering expertise the offensive might actually make some headway. German forces will launch an armored and mechanized offensive to cut between the Chinese border and Hanoi, not with the goal of taking the city but of cutting the roads and rails to its North thus making it harder to bring supplies in. However they have one folly. Even with all the appropriate air and armored support applied here aimed to overwhelm your forces, there is one key mistake in this plan.” He paused for the suspense to build. “Whereas Japanese forces North of Hanoi will be opposed by close to fifty divisions, more than double your current forces if I’m correct, only three divisions will be defending the lines on the coast. If Japan were to time an offensive of its own right, you could break through on the coast, maybe reach as far as Da Nang. It would be an interesting prospect, however it would also come with a risk, lengthening your lines to such a degree means new troops from China have to be moved in quickly to hold the line or else German rear echelon forces will cut off your advance forces and slowly trap your forces as they did to the British at Dunkirk.”

“My second piece of news regards a more confusing development. All the recent supply requisitions have been for winter gear, and not your standard stuff but the heavy gear they have for the Russian-based units. And what’s more, several elite armored divisions have been rebased from Northern Russia to Indochina. But I can’t figure out why, even winter in Indochina is extremely mild compared to anywhere else.” He produced further documents to provide proof that such supply transfers had indeed taken place of late and indeed seemed perplexed by them. “Though when I mean elite, I mean what I say. You may have heard of the Volga Uprising two years ago in Russia, where 170,000 former members of the Red Army rose up in Hindenburgstadt (OOC: Formerly Stalingrad, IRL Volgograd today) and took the city repulsing a few attacks by nearby forces. They brought in the 55th Panzer Division, just the one division of 16,000 troops, to face roughly ten times their number and they had the Reds in full rout within a day and surrendered in two while only suffering 1,300 casualties and inflicting 76,000. Commander of these four divisions is a legend herself, you might have heard of her, General Hera von Eisendorf, calls herself Sigrun.” That name should mean something.

The name should mean something because almost every military in the world was likely to have a file on General von Eisendorf, largely because she was the only woman to have achieved the rank of General in the German military and one of the few to have earned it through rite of combat. Only thirty and already having seen action in Russia for almost half her life given she grew up in one of the constantly besieged German border settlements near the Ural’s, General Hera von Eisendorf was a master of winter and armored tactics, a pupil of Generalfeldmarschall Rommel himself but with none of the charm or mercy. She made a name for herself during said uprising two years ago when she purged no less than seventeen Russian villages, against the orders of Berlin and at great protest from the international community, as a reprisal. The Japanese might be more familiar with her not least because of her outspokenness to press about desires to carve a knife through the rest of Russia and straight to Japan’s Siberian holdings.

“I can tell you the cold-hearted bitch, pardon my language, is not at the front yet but she will be soon. You need to warn your partisan friends to be careful about what they try and pull off behind European lines for now. I know that sounds like I’m advising against what will help Europe lose the war, but trust me, the less excuse you give the beast to lash out, the more innocent people will live. She won’t care about catching the guilty partisans, she’ll just execute random villages as a reprisal no matter what her colleagues try and do to stop her. I know in the long run her reprisals would turn more to the cause of Asia than from it, but I’d rather not have dead civilians on my mind, more so than they already are.” The next part he muttered just barely audible enough for Aleta to hear. “War is hell multiplied by a hundred.”

Area 13, Japanese Far Eastern Siberia

Voss was stirred from a fitful slumber when his tablet began beeping in an alarmingly familiar manner. He had programmed it with different signals for different transmissions. The one going now meant his bug in the German satellite network had picked up and gleamed a look at a data stream from an untraceable location. He had been hunting such locations ever since his son told him about that soldier with white hair who cut down three dozen men in minutes with his own hands. Trying to find the place where his family’s true murderers were. So far most of what he had intercepted was vague and only made up bits and pieces of the puzzle; Alpha, Gamma, Beta, and other vague phrases. He had not yet chosen to share this information with his new colleagues, as it remained a personal quest for him, to find who was responsible for making his family disappear.

What he had caught now was a bit more substantial and detailed, and horrified him the further he read. According to this information, a new satellite was going up soon called a CCS or Climate Control Satellite. At first he thought it was a military storm tracker to pick up storms in the Atlantic and Pacific before naval forces ran headlong into them. Then he read on and was terrified. A machine that can bend the laws of nature and physics, that can generate a winter climate by releasing ionized spheres into the atmosphere and essentially bombard an area with blizzards and ice storms at will. This was no storm tracker or rescue satellite, this was a weapon. One that weaponized the most basic danger humans lived under on Earth, the weather. Germany was ready to weaponize weather.

Before when he last brought information to Director Yuuko, his biggest concern, and one she seemed to share with him, were Helium-3 powered energy weapons and advanced drone technology Japan could not yet match, now that all seemed small change compared to this. This satellite could turn Indochina from a tropical jungle into a Siberian tundra, or alter conditions to freeze parts of the Pacific. Then he thought of something more terrifying, even if more compact. If Germany had the technology ready and underway for such a weaponization via satellite, how close were they to utilizing such technology on the battlefield in the way battlefield EMP’s were being developed. Drop one bomb on Tokyo, Beijing, Hanoi and freeze them and everyone in them solid. Or instead of a flamethrower, some form of cold gun that could freeze a target, perhaps even deadlier than a spurt of fire. You could put out flames inflicted by a flamethrower in a firefight, but you couldn’t thaw a comrade out under fire. Hell, if such an infantry weapon was effective enough, it might even freeze an entire TSF or War Frame.

He had to get this to the Director, this was a major game changer. Forget G-Bombs and Nuclear Weapons, weapons of man-made destruction. Mother Nature had been weaponized.

Nendo, Santa Cruz Island’s
Japanese Solomon Island’s

Major Karl Glücke watched with pride and no small amount of satisfaction as his men led the last group of Japanese soldiers from the barracks they had been holding out in, the Japanese commander among this group. It had not taken long for the Imperial German Marines to take the island after the majority of the Japanese TSF’s were destroyed by the War Frames on the beaches. The rest had fallen to anti-armor artillery, Panzerfausts, and aircraft attack. The force of 560 surviving marines now had the main Japanese airbase on the island firmly under control, with its fuel dumps intact to boot which would be a welcome relief to some of the carrier pilots who had come aboard the Graf Richthofen which now lay at the bottom of the Pacific.

However now there were about 70 or so Japanese prisoners to content with and nowhere to put them. The lead officer, a colonel if Glücke was reading his rank badge correctly, approached and rattled off his name, rank, and pay number. But Karl took no notice of any of it for he was filled with a rage he hadn’t known he could feel before. These Japanese soldiers had probably sat back and sipped sake while they watched their government unleash merciless murders against the citizens of Europa and now expected to be treated fairly as enemy combatants who have surrendered. Like hell they would!

Catching the enemy officer mid-speech, Karl nailed him with a right hook to the face, sending him tumbling to the dirt. Screaming, spitting spittle at his fallen enemy, Karl unloaded on him. “You damn bastards sit back and laugh while your country murders our people! Murders our wives and children! Europa’s children! Again and again we play by the rule of law and refrain from retaliation! No longer!” Then he turned to the senior NCO, a man by the name of Albert Dorner, with a sadistic smirk on his face. “Dorner, let the men let off a little steam with our prisoners. Have at em boys!”

What followed was a solid half-hour of the marines beating, bashing, and bruising the Japanese soldiers in a most heinous fashion. The older Japanese, to their credit, maintained a semblance of composure throughout the ordeal, refusing to give in, while the younger ones whose first battle had likely been this one just past, squealed and cried for their mothers, their gods, anything to come save them. Finally Major Glücke, after soundly beating the Japanese colonel near to death, gave another order. “Execute all enemy combatants men. I don’t see any prisoners, I see corpses! Line em up in the barracks and give to em with bullet or bayonet, pick your preference.” He himself drew his Walther P-93 sidearm and shot the colonel twice in the head and once in the heart.

The battered Japanese soldiers were herded into a barracks like cattle and then, wave by wave, were executed by the German marines.

Karl thought to himself as he looked down at the beaches from the heights on which the airstrip stood, troopships unloading more troops onto the island. ’The Kaiser said this was total war. We were told to utilize every weapon and we will. The Japanese want to ignore the rules, so can we.’

[The Union of British North America]

JPS forward operating base, Solomon Islands

Major Yuuya Bridges, currently a POW behind enemy lines, quietly accepted the meal given to him by one of the Tozamas, part of the minor nobility of the Imperial Japanese Royal Guard, the all-aristos security force that props up the Shogunate and the Regency Council.

Yuuya is a Japanese North American, son of a North American woman and an unknown Japanese father, whom he later found out has abandoned his mother, led to his mother's family to almost reject him as a part of the family. He was hated by those living in the Southeastern Provinces, the stomping grounds of the racist and separatist terror group, the Sons of Liberty. He was born there, and did not have many friends in childhood. When he got to high school, things were better, but he still felt left out. He started disliking his Japanese heritage, and adopted his mother's surname. At age 18, right after high school, he enlisted in the North American Army, and his high excellence in training and in tests got him bumped up to Officer Cadet and to the Royal North American Army Armored Corps Gears Division. He piloted the Metal Gear REX Mk. III, the latest iteration of the REX series and rated for anti-TSF combat.

He was selected later for a top secret training and research program, just shortly after he became an Army Captain. When he got to Australia for the program, he found out why it was top secret: it was testing the first North American Tactical Surface Fighters. The weapon to counter the Japanese Pacific States by using their own weapon against them. So far, it has mixed results, but it leans towards being effective. He was promoted to Major before the first mission of the TSF-32 Black Widow, the UBNA's first ever TSF. Now, he was one of the test pilots captured by the enemy. Perhaps he'll live longer than other POWs, given that he is an enemy TSF pilot and the enemy would want to know more about it. Or they are fairly confident enough to have enough info so as he can be killed so as to deprive their enemy of a capable pilot. And judging by what the girl with the white ribbon in her hair said about him being a traitor, he might get more than just death, more likely right before it.

Yuuya, looking at the current world situation in his head, was reminded of a book written after WW2 by a British author that he read in high school. It was a dystopian novel, and about three superpowers all engaged in both cold war and hot war, with no real clear idea of was really the enemy or the ally. The country of the main character pursued nefarious policies to achieve total control over the population: radical transformation of the widely-spoken language, a highly indoctrinated middle social stratum that kept the wheels turning of the system, a lower class steeped in mass distraction, and a personal figure everyone could view as the savior and leader of the nation, as well as a villain figure to vent all hatred against. While the UBNA and the Commonwealth were not like that nation, and German-dominated European Community also not like it either (even though the Kaiser presents himself like Big Brother, just like the Shogun), the JPS were actually quite like that, and controlled more territory than its allegory in the book. However, the book suggested the idea of a world where three superpowers would fight perpetual wars, and there was no real victory nor real defeat, just territories changing hands and lots of dead. While the book also suggested the wars were just conjured up to keep up the system of total control, wars in this world would actually happen and there would be actual casualties. Yuuya wondered if that would be the case. The Commonwealth and the European Community against the Japanese Pacific States, surely the JPS would be defeated sooner or later. And then a Cold War between the Old World and the New World would ensue, and even the Commonwealth would struggle against Germany with its technological proclivities.

He took a bite of his meal, a stew that looked vaguely familiar he had as a child. A coincidence perhaps, given that stews usually look the same, he thought to himself. Very delicious and very familiar. "This stew, it's good, and it tastes like I had at home. Is this a Japanese recipe?" he asked. He also saw a worried look on the girl with the white ribbon in her hair. "What's wrong?"

Seattle, IJA Hospital, JPS-Occupied Oregon Province

"A colonel in charge of all forces? Did you lose your top leadership early on?" he asked. Colonel Sayoko said that she was in fact the Supreme Commander of IJA Forces in North America. He took a sip of water given to him by the IJA guard. He wanted to ask more about how the IJA was holding up here, though usually the North American media was accurate despite the recently created Public Information Commission that handled the "integrity of reports from the front", and so he did not pursue it. He was reluctant to share such information, but his unconscious mutterings and presence here in the Occupied Provinces really limited his options to deflect any questions or even lie. He decided to give the full account, hoping that will straighten out things as well as acquire help to avenge Haruko and stop Bragg and his employers. Or that they will say he is lying and he'll be either beaten savagely by the IJA guards outside the hospital or sent to Unit 731. The JPS really don't like foreign spies. "Saints alive, I must tell you what happened. With Vassal Retainer Kashiwagi." He began with the secret communications between her and him in Victoria about two days before the incident at the Spokane Shinto Temple. Next, he explained that he drove across the continent to the JPS-UBNA border at Washington Province, and found it was largely empty. He also found that the road to Spokane in Oregon Province was also devoid of any North American or IJA troops. He then explained he met with Kashiwagi, and received documents exonerating the JPS in the recent terrorist attacks on the Eastern Seaboard. Finally, a rogue team of CIND operatives came into the temple, shot both Haruko and him, killing her and injuring him, and left him to die in a fire that was set upon the temple. "I am telling you this because I have no where else to turn. My team thinks I am dead, and those nefarious agents working for whomever the hell orchestrated this would be sure to kill me if I did return to Victoria. I'm telling you all of this because of that old adage, the enemy of my enemy is my...uneasy ally, so to speak." He took another sip of water. "Do you believe me, Colonel?"

Area 13, JPS-Occupied Siberia

Hyacinth Amagi sat down at the table where the Shogun was sitting. Meeting the Devil herself, Amagi thought. She quite literally had no other places to go to right now. No one would permit her to leave. And the Devil kidnaps people and takes them the deepest recesses of Hell, too. "Pardon me for sounding rude, but are you intoxicated or have been consuming certain illicit substances? You have kidnapped me, lured me to that cadet academy and drugged me and took me to wherever the hell this is. And that I am from another world? What in God's name are you talking about? Is this what the Shogun speaks with her top advisers? The multiverse? Is the JPS run by a bunch of addicts and drunks that..." she stopped her tirade against the Shogun only to beset by a large headache. She fell out of her chair, holding up her body with her left arm and put her right hand up to her forehead. She screamed loudly. "Sister....sister...I love you sister..." she said. The Shogun stared at Amagi. Amagi then changed her voice and stood up, facing Meiya. "Sister, we have school soon, why are you not wearing your uniform? We're going to be late." she said in Japanese. She walked up close to Meiya, putting her hands on the table but looking reassuring. "Sister, I'm going with mom and dad, and you'll be staying here at home. We'll be gone for a little while. Don't worry, I'll bring you a present." She walked away towards a wall, and then screamed again, a scream indicating on the verge of death. She collapsed again, unconscious. She woke up a few seconds later. "Where...what happened?" said Amagi in her normal voice again, though somewhat slurred.

[Japan and Pacific States]

JPS forward operating base, Solomon Islands

Major Yuuya Bridges, currently a POW behind enemy lines, quietly accepted the meal given to him by one of the Tozamas, part of the minor nobility of the Imperial Japanese Royal Guard, the all-aristos security force that props up the Shogunate and the Regency Council.

Yuuya is a Japanese North American, son of a North American woman and an unknown Japanese father, whom he later found out has abandoned his mother, led to his mother's family to almost reject him as a part of the family. He was hated by those living in the Southeastern Provinces, the stomping grounds of the racist and separatist terror group, the Sons of Liberty. He was born there, and did not have many friends in childhood. When he got to high school, things were better, but he still felt left out. He started disliking his Japanese heritage, and adopted his mother's surname. At age 18, right after high school, he enlisted in the North American Army, and his high excellence in training and in tests got him bumped up to Officer Cadet and to the Royal North American Army Armored Corps Gears Division. He piloted the Metal Gear REX Mk. III, the latest iteration of the REX series and rated for anti-TSF combat.

He was selected later for a top secret training and research program, just shortly after he became an Army Captain. When he got to Australia for the program, he found out why it was top secret: it was testing the first North American Tactical Surface Fighters. The weapon to counter the Japanese Pacific States by using their own weapon against them. So far, it has mixed results, but it leans towards being effective. He was promoted to Major before the first mission of the TSF-32 Black Widow, the UBNA's first ever TSF. Now, he was one of the test pilots captured by the enemy. Perhaps he'll live longer than other POWs, given that he is an enemy TSF pilot and the enemy would want to know more about it. Or they are fairly confident enough to have enough info so as he can be killed so as to deprive their enemy of a capable pilot. And judging by what the girl with the white ribbon in her hair said about him being a traitor, he might get more than just death, more likely right before it.

Yuuya, looking at the current world situation in his head, was reminded of a book written after WW2 by a British author that he read in high school. It was a dystopian novel, and about three superpowers all engaged in both cold war and hot war, with no real clear idea of was really the enemy or the ally. The country of the main character pursued nefarious policies to achieve total control over the population: radical transformation of the widely-spoken language, a highly indoctrinated middle social stratum that kept the wheels turning of the system, a lower class steeped in mass distraction, and a personal figure everyone could view as the savior and leader of the nation, as well as a villain figure to vent all hatred against. While the UBNA and the Commonwealth were not like that nation, and German-dominated European Community also not like it either (even though the Kaiser presents himself like Big Brother, just like the Shogun), the JPS were actually quite like that, and controlled more territory than its allegory in the book. However, the book suggested the idea of a world where three superpowers would fight perpetual wars, and there was no real victory nor real defeat, just territories changing hands and lots of dead. While the book also suggested the wars were just conjured up to keep up the system of total control, wars in this world would actually happen and there would be actual casualties. Yuuya wondered if that would be the case. The Commonwealth and the European Community against the Japanese Pacific States, surely the JPS would be defeated sooner or later. And then a Cold War between the Old World and the New World would ensue, and even the Commonwealth would struggle against Germany with its technological proclivities.

He took a bite of his meal, a stew that looked vaguely familiar he had as a child. A coincidence perhaps, given that stews usually look the same, he thought to himself. Very delicious and very familiar. "This stew, it's good, and it tastes like I had at home. Is this a Japanese recipe?" he asked. He also saw a worried look on the girl with the white ribbon in her hair. "What's wrong?"

Seattle, IJA Hospital, JPS-Occupied Oregon Province

"A colonel in charge of all forces? Did you lose your top leadership early on?" he asked. Colonel Sayoko said that she was in fact the Supreme Commander of IJA Forces in North America. He took a sip of water given to him by the IJA guard. He wanted to ask more about how the IJA was holding up here, though usually the North American media was accurate despite the recently created Public Information Commission that handled the "integrity of reports from the front", and so he did not pursue it. He was reluctant to share such information, but his unconscious mutterings and presence here in the Occupied Provinces really limited his options to deflect any questions or even lie. He decided to give the full account, hoping that will straighten out things as well as acquire help to avenge Haruko and stop Bragg and his employers. Or that they will say he is lying and he'll be either beaten savagely by the IJA guards outside the hospital or sent to Unit 731. The JPS really don't like foreign spies. "Saints alive, I must tell you what happened. With Vassal Retainer Kashiwagi." He began with the secret communications between her and him in Victoria about two days before the incident at the Spokane Shinto Temple. Next, he explained that he drove across the continent to the JPS-UBNA border at Washington Province, and found it was largely empty. He also found that the road to Spokane in Oregon Province was also devoid of any North American or IJA troops. He then explained he met with Kashiwagi, and received documents exonerating the JPS in the recent terrorist attacks on the Eastern Seaboard. Finally, a rogue team of CIND operatives came into the temple, shot both Haruko and him, killing her and injuring him, and left him to die in a fire that was set upon the temple. "I am telling you this because I have no where else to turn. My team thinks I am dead, and those nefarious agents working for whomever the hell orchestrated this would be sure to kill me if I did return to Victoria. I'm telling you all of this because of that old adage, the enemy of my enemy is my...uneasy ally, so to speak." He took another sip of water. "Do you believe me, Colonel?"

Area 13, JPS-Occupied Siberia

Hyacinth Amagi sat down at the table where the Shogun was sitting. Meeting the Devil herself, Amagi thought. She quite literally had no other places to go to right now. No one would permit her to leave. And the Devil kidnaps people and takes them the deepest recesses of Hell, too. "Pardon me for sounding rude, but are you intoxicated or have been consuming certain illicit substances? You have kidnapped me, lured me to that cadet academy and drugged me and took me to wherever the hell this is. And that I am from another world? What in God's name are you talking about? Is this what the Shogun speaks with her top advisers? The multiverse? Is the JPS run by a bunch of addicts and drunks that..." she stopped her tirade against the Shogun only to beset by a large headache. She fell out of her chair, holding up her body with her left arm and put her right hand up to her forehead. She screamed loudly. "Sister....sister...I love you sister..." she said. The Shogun stared at Amagi. Amagi then changed her voice and stood up, facing Meiya. "Sister, we have school soon, why are you not wearing your uniform? We're going to be late." she said in Japanese. She walked up close to Meiya, putting her hands on the table but looking reassuring. "Sister, I'm going with mom and dad, and you'll be staying here at home. We'll be gone for a little while. Don't worry, I'll bring you a present." She walked away towards a wall, and then screamed again, a scream indicating on the verge of death. She collapsed again, unconscious. She woke up a few seconds later. "Where...what happened?" said Amagi in her normal voice again, though somewhat slurred.

Area 13

Meiya herself was rather... Stunned to say the least.. Hearing Amagi go on for a moment or two about a sister her mother and father, as if she was speaking to her own actual sister, standing up Meiya backhanded Amagi. "Do not speak to me as if we are of blood relation! I do not have a sister, and do not speak of my mother and father as if they were your own! My father would never waste his time with North American whores, nor would he allow a child between himself and one!" Meiya was very visibly angry, it could even be heard on her voice. "You do not know what has happened? You just screamed, acted as if you were about to have a seizure and then spoke to me as if we were blood, and then you did the very same thing, and you have the courage to tell me you do not know what has happened?!" Meiya said in Japanese before she realised what she had said then switched to English, repeating herself. "You, are a strange creature. And we will be talking more since my curiosity has been raised. You spoke of "being gone for a little while", afterwards, you spoke of "going with mom and dad and of me staying home." then you said "We'll be gone for a little while. Don't worry, I'll bring your a present." I find, this strange, since the way you had spoke implied we were of the same blood. But I have no sister...." Meiya held her chin while she thought then it one thought came to mind.

"....You have heard of the theory of universes existing beyond this one, co-existing in different ways such as with alternate outcomes of events in time? It's a theory I am aware of, and have been told it's possible one could possibly will themselves or something or other into a different universe through meditation or possibly great deals of stress being inflicted upon themselves." Meiya said while she thought. "But that does not explain why we look alike... Minus the hair."

Seattle, IJA hospital

"No, I was appointed commander of all IJA forces in North America, long before this war, I was just meant to keep General Kitagou Ayaka on a leash.... And now thanks to you north americans, my job has gotten very difficult.. That's why I'm stuck with this paperwork. Confirmation of death reports for after the war, mostly prisoners thanks to her. Wouldn't be if you all just minded your own fields or whatever the saying in America is." Colonel Sayoko said while she filled out the pad with the information that was given by Asgill. "...I see. So Vassal Retainer Kashiwagi is dead then. ... And since her efforts of trying to attain peace have failed, and the acts committed by this... Agents of the UBNA I'd guess there's no chance of ending the war then." Colonel Sayoko sighed and put down the clipboard while she adjusted her glasses. "I guess we'll have to burn everything down before we leave, make it twice as hard on the occupation forces on your side of the lines... Eitherway your capture has been reported to the regency council and as soon as is possible you'll be taken from here, I don't know where but the IJRG is taking the matter into their own hands, eitherway I wouldn't worry if I were you. If the regency council is going through this much trouble to keep you secured and alive then it means you're important."

A ruckus started to become audible down the hall and Colonel Sayoko got up letting out a sigh. "And here comes the devil herself." Sayoko said while she moved her table with the papers on it off to the side as well as her chair standing up and waiting for the door to open, swinging open, General Kitagou Ayaka came in with her hand on the hilt of her sword while the guards of the room held their rifles at the ready. "General Kitagou, to what do I owe this... "Pleasure"." Colonel Sayoko asked while she held her hands behind her back, a hold out small callibre revolver sliding down her right sleeve and into her hand, this would've been visible to Asgill. "I'm here to take the general and execute him, you will not stand in my way with your damned prisoner of war protection policies!" The General took a step forward and immediately the guards in the room raised their rifles, shouldering them while aiming at the General. "Unfortunately I cannot allow that, the IJRG is on their way to take the General to another location, as his presence is requested by the regency council. Stand. Down." Ayaka gritted her teeth and sheathed her Katana while she adjusted the black cape on her shoulders as well as her black visor cap. "Of course.... But you know as well as I, the shogun was your only protection, Colonel, she's gone and you better watch your back." Ayaka said before turning and leaving the room, one of the guards shut the door behind her and Colonel Sayoko let out a deep breath. "Damn that psychopath..." Sayoko said to herself before turning to Asgill. "And that was the devil I referred to earlier."

Solomon Islands, Imperial Japanese Army/Imperial Royal Guard Operating Base

"It is an old Japanese recipe, as well as a specialty of my own family." Yui said while she read the report over twice and crumpled it up tossing it off to the side. "Shogun Mitsurugi Meiya.... Is dead. Killed by the Germans... And to make matters worse, the Germans are attacking the Solomon Islands. And they're not taking prisoners." Yui said while she put her Katana back on her fortified suit and a medic came into the tent with a large kit on his back. "I apologise for being late, I was tending to a man who lost his leg." Yui nodded her head and leaned on the table with her Type 91 still on it. "I can only hope he died, not to sound rude but it seems death awaits us all.... Anyway check on the prisoner. I shall be outside." Yui said taking her Type 91, slinging it over her shoulder and walking outside. The medic could only nod his head and sigh. "I apologise if she's been... Well at this time it's understandable." The medic walked over to the table Yui was using earlier and began unloading his kit. "With the Shogun dead everyone doesn't know whether to fall on their own bayonets, blow themselves up or simply shoot themselves." He said rather indifferently while he got set up. "One of those things I was dealing with earlier before I came in, guy dropped the grenade on accident and blew his leg off... Anyway I'll need to administer a quick blood test, standard procedure in the IJA, to see if there's any compatible donators encase should something happen, is this alright with you?"

[Austria-Bohemia-Hungary]

The Imperial and Royal Ministry for Foreign Affairs
Of the Kingdoms and Lands in Reichsrath Represented, the Lands of the Holy Hungarian Crown of Saint Stephen and the Lands of the Bohemian Crown of Saint Wenceslaus

---

To: Her Excellency Kurokawa Yui, Imperial Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary for the Great Empire of Japan to the Imperial and Royal Monarchy
From: The Imperial and Royal Ministry for Foreign Affairs
Encryption Level: Ultra V

---

Your Excellency

The Imperial and Royal Minister for Foreign Affairs presents her compliments to Her Excellency Kurokawa Yui, Imperial Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary representing the Great Empire of Japan in the Imperial and Royal Monarchy, and has the honour of extending the heartfelt welcomes of this Ministry to Your Excellency on the occasion of Your arrival to Vienna.
The Imperial and Royal Monarchy understands that Your Empire is currently embroiled in a multifront total war against two other state entities. The Imperial and Royal Monarchy, in the hopes of resolving this costly conflict to the benefit of all wishes to engage in discussions with Your Excellency regarding clandestine support to recreate a tactical and strategic power balance, so to force Your opponents to the negotiating table. For this purpose, as this is a matter of utmost secrecy, the Imperial and Royal Minister for Foreign Affairs wishes to summon Your Excellency to the Imperial and Royal Residence for an audience with Her Imperial and Royal Apostolic Majesty, the Imperial and Royal Ministry for Foreign Affairs, and the Hofkriegsrath. A diplomatic courier in the Ministry's service will be arriving at Your embassy to brief Your Excellency on further details such as time, transportation and security arrangements courtesy of the Imperial and Royal Security Service.

In the name of
Ihre Kaiserliche und Königlich Apostolische Majestät, Maria Melanie I.; Von Gottes Gnaden, heiliger römischer Kaiserin, zu allen Zeiten Mehrer des Reiches, Kaiserin von Österreich, Apostolicher Königin von Ungarn, Königin von Böhmen; Königin von Lombardei und Venedig; von Dalmatien, Kroatien, Slawonien, Galizien, Lodomerien und Illyrien; Königin von Jerusalem; Erzherzogin von Österreich; Großherzogin von Toskana und Krakau; Herzogin von Lothringen, von Salzburg, Steyer, Kärnten, Krain und der Bukowina; Großfürstin von Siebenbürgen, Markgräfin von Mähren; Herzogin von Ober- und Niederschlesien, von Modena, Parma, Piacenza und Guastalla, von Auschwitz und Zator, von Teschen, Friaul, Ragusa und Zara; Gefürsteter Gräfin von Habsburg und Tirol, von Kyburg, Görz und Gradisca; Fürstin von Trient und Brixen; Markgräfin von Ober- und Niederlausitz und in Istrien; Gräfin von Hohenems, Feldkirch, Bregenz, Sonnenberg; Herrin von Triest, von Cattaro und auf der Windischen Mark; Großwojwodin der Wojwodschaft Serbien.

I have the honour to remain
The Imperial and Royal Minister for Foreign Affairs and the Privy House-, Court-, and State-Chancellor for Foreign Affairs
Her Serene Highness Alexandra Ignatia Prinzessin von Hardegg

---

Wien, Imperial Capitol Region

IRAAS Wiener Neustadt was a medium sized air base located a fair bit south of Vienna. It was built for two purposes only, to host Imperial and Royal Air Transport Group Kaiser and its assorted helicopters and state transports, and to provide an Air Arm presence around the Imperial Capitol. On this particular dawn there was only one activity on the air base beyond the usual Typhoons on standby alert: One single Merlin HC.3 of the Kaiser Group's helicopter detachment waiting on the sunlit ramp, fuelled, and with engines warming up for an eventual liftoff.
Today's tasking was to ferry the Imperial Ambassador of Japan to Schönbrunn Palace, the summer residence of the Habsburg House, which was usually closed for maintenance during the winter months while the Empress resided in Hofburg. However today a special exemption to the usual procedures was made with the aim to place the audience in an enviroment where the special security arrangements involved could be made without arousing too much attention.

And so in the middle of the night, the Imperial-Royal Landwehr District Vienna locked Hofburg and Schönbrunn down under the pretext of an counterterrorist exercise, and with the assistance of the Guards Corps conveyed the Empress, the President of the Court War Council and the Minister for Foreign Affairs to Schönbrunn. As morning came, Landstraße district was packed with Army and Landwehr personnel in their olive drab battle dress uniforms, the skies above filling with patrolling helicopters bearing the red-white-green roundels of the armed forces. It was in this environment that our Merlin HC.3 from IRAAS Wiener Neustadt descended upon the gardens of Palais Schwarzenberg and the Japanese embassy.

[The Union of British North America]

Solomon Islands, JPS Forward Operating Base.

"Uhh, sure, that's fine I guess. I haven't done it many times though; the last time I did it was a volunteer thing back in the Provinces." said Yuuya, in somewhat broken Japanese. That meal...the taste distracted him for a moment. A family recipe? Her recipe was almost exactly like it if not like it, of his mother's recipe. He had the same taste of that stew before when he was a child, up to the point his mother became ill and later died. "And...and the Shogun is dead? By Jerry's hand? I still though peace was possible and escalation could have been avoided. And now Jerry is here, just 10 miles or so away? Damn. And the Germans say that the JPS was behind the MANTIS hacking and attacks, leading to the deaths of some members of the German royal family. Indeed, this war has went up a notch." Holy war, for both the JPS and Imperial Germany. What would North America do next?

Yuuya's crash site, Solomon Islands

"Yep, this rusted slag heap is the remains of Major Bridges' TSF, Lieutenant Nagase." said Royal North American Marine Special Boat Service operative Lieutenant Morton Green, into his mic. RNAAF Lieutenant Kei Nagase was in contact with the NASBS team looking for the Major. "From what we observed, his damaged TSF was falling but not at a very deadly speed. And if it is a rusted slagheap, that means he did material denial for the enemy. A special biochemical mechanism to "eat" metal, Lieutenant." replied Nagase. "Then he is still alive. He must have gone somewhere afterwards, and definitely not towards where our forward op base is." said Green. "He is...a competitive spirit, what I learned about him as serving as his number 2 in the Squadron; he must have gone looking for that downed enemy TSF, that golden one." said Nagase. "Then we'll head to that other crash site. I'll have my two fire teams do a fan search from his crash site to the enemy crash site. We'll gather some more intel on the way, for sure, ma'am." said Green. "Thank you, Lieutenant Green." said Nagase.

"Fuller, take the northeast, 100 meters from from me. Wainwright, the same with the southeast." Green said to his men with his commanding voice. "Yes, sir." said Sergeant Fuller, Green's senior NCO. "Right, El-Tee." said Wainwright, commander of one of his fireteams. The 9-man squad of from the CRNAM, the Corps of Royal North American Marines, and from the Corps' Special Boat Service, the Navy-Marine special forces unit, began their search of the immediate jungle.

Area 13, JPS Far East Territory

Amagi fell on her back when the Shogun slapped her. After hearing her tirade about how her father wouldn't have any North American mistresses or flings, she managed to get on her feet. She fixed her hair. "Assaulting a member of the federal government is a felony, as well as with the kidnapping. I hope you have a damn good solicitor, because the Crown is going to..." she fell to her knees, and the huge headache began again. She began crying. "Make this migraine stop. It's terrible, the worst I've ever had..." she looked up at the Shogun. "Why are you staring at me? Gawking at me? I deserve more respect than that, I'm a Member of Parl...your sister" she said from one accented Japanese, what she usually has when she speaks, to a different accent, what she had earlier as Meiya's "sister". "Why would you hit your older sister? That's not nice, Meiya. We're family, and we do not hit each other. Yes, we can get angry at each other, but that doesn't mean..." Amagi screamed again. "Make the headache stop..."

Undisclosed location, UBNA

"Yes, these subjects will do nicely, but you need one more to really seal the fate of the JPS." said a mysterious figure, staring into a room with a one-way window. "Yes, they have the right characteristics for the procedure. Healthy, no signs of terrible brain damage, and they won't be too difficult to control. They are already trained lapdogs of their Shogun, like the military, security services, or even the local police. They won't question these orders, in fact, subliminal messaging along with some vague instructions will be killing two birds with one stone. The JPS's leader is unhinged, and willing to kill foreign leaders. And her death will make it look like a last will and testament kind of thing, to really make the masses hate her." said another mysterious figure.

"Then let us proceed." said Goulding finishing his conversation with the two mysterious figures.

IJA Hospital, Seattle, JPS-occupied Oregon Province

"Ah, she even looks like a devil. Cape, sword, and her physical appearance. I know her somewhat. The brutal "counter-insurgency" operations of a few years ago in the Occupied Provinces. She's General Ayaka. You have no idea how much of the North American military and intelligence establishment wanted her dead, all of those years ago; a lot of North Americans wanted to go in there and kick out the JPS because of her--the face of JPS tyranny. A huge PR nightmare for you and your predecessor. And if you did shoot her, you would be probably doing your colleagues a huge favor too." Asgill said, as he got out of the bed. "I feel a lot better now. Please thank the doctors and nurses for me. And thank you for putting your life on the line for me. I know you are doing it on orders from above, but that is a sign of a good soldier, Colonel. And General Ayaka's behavior is something you would not see from any North American general officer, though I guess it is to be expected from living in a military dictatorship." He went behind an opaque screen that allowed for a degree of privacy so that he can get into his somewhat dirty service uniform. He removed any identifying marks on his uniform, such as any crowns and emblems of the RNAMP. He was now wearing just a suit with a few more pockets than normal, and definitely a uniform of a RNAMP commissioned officer.

After changing, he walked up to Colonel Sayoko. "Now, I imagine we'd be leaving once you finish burning all sensitive documents and destroy certain roads and bridges to slow down the NAF approaching the city. I've a favor to ask of you, and it is out of patriotism; my...defection, is necessary though I am still serving my country in spirit. I imagine you have a few NAF service members as POWs, and no doubt North American civilians here are under heavy suspicion. I thank you for keeping them safe even though they are now prisoners in their own homes. My favor is this: can you ensure the safety of the POWs, and not let them be killed horribly by the devil we know?"

[New Decius]

Kaiserliche Raketenkorps Hauptquartier, Heeresversuchsanstalt Peenemünde
Peenemünde, Province of Pomerania
Kingdom of Prussia, German Empire

’So this will be it. A rain of fire and fury.’ Generalmajor Karl Dornberger watched on the holographic display in the war room at Peenemünde, as the last few modules moved into their pre-calculated firing position in orbit. Just as the Kaiser had ordered, Dornberger had assembled as large a force of missile modules as he could for this operation, as many as could be launched or repositioned without endangering the lives of the pilots more so than usual or setting them on collision course with civilian satellites. Right now twenty-four modules were positioned, or about to be positioned, in orbit with a firing solution on the Japanese Home Island’s. Each carrying a mixed arsenal of EMP warheads and heavy yield Thermobaric warheads, these satellites were to be the opening phase of the Japan Blitz, utilizing EMP’s to shut down major Japanese cities and then the Thermobaric warheads to set fire to them. Major targets included Kyoto, Tokyo, Hiroshima, Nagasaki, Yokohama, Osaka, Sendai, Kagoshima, Fukuoka, and a host of others totaling at seventeen cities, though the EMP’s were meant to be indiscriminate and shut down entire cities and everything with a spark in them, the Thermobaric weapons had a different purpose today. They were meant to hit highly populated, dense areas of the Japanese cities, maximize civilian casualties and given their yield, each warhead would set fire to almost two city blocks just on impact. Trying to fight those fires with no electricity to power fire stations and no way of getting a fire engine started would be difficult to say the least.

However, while the space forces would deal the initial blow, the EMP imposed blackout was also to the advantage of the Luftwaffe for the opening phase of the Japan Blitz. Once the missile modules had done their job and hit their targets, the Luftwaffe had twenty-five strategic bombers waiting for takeoff from bases in Indochina to hit five targets with a quick but heavy bombing run. Those targets being Kyoto, Tokyo, Osaka, Yokohama, and Kagoshima. Any and all radar, or anti-air defenses in the targeted cities would have been nullified by the EMP’s so the best hope for defense would be non-electrically powered anti-air artillery like flak guns which often did not have the range to reach high altitude bombers. Providing that all went according to plan, the pilots would be able to make their runs and then return to their bases in Indochina.

’And to think this is just the opening act. The curtain rising upon a performance so grand and terrible as to shake the foundations of hell itself.’ Dornberger was himself skeptical of not only this strategy but all the events of this war and what lead up to it. He had not forgotten how the Kaiser had ordered him to stand down when ODINSEYE had picked up the Japanese satellites targeting European cities, which was effectively treason on both his part and the Kaiser’s. The military space force’s very existence and doctrine meant that Dornberger should have disobeyed the order and launched a preemptive nuclear strike on Japan before their satellites could fire on those cities. If he had done so though, the war might look a lot different right now, meaning by now Germany and Japan might have blasted each other to pieces with their own respective WMD’s. However, the Kaiser had given him a direct order, and even seemed pleased by the news, as if he had had forewarning Japan would launch kinetic attacks on Germany and the European Community. If that were true, it would mean the Kaiser allowed for the death of seven million in the kinetic attacks, the murder of much of Italy’s government including her King and the destruction of the Vatican with said, and the surprise attack on German troops in Indochina. That would make Kaiser Erwin the greatest criminal in German history, having sacrificed millions of civilians and soldiers, his subjects, in order to make the base of a symbol for European vengeance.

As to the Japan Blitz overall, he had his doubts as to how much could actually be put towards it. With infrastructure as it is in Indochina as well as the requirements for basing strategic bombers at any airbase, the Luftwaffe would only be able to maintain up to maybe sixty to a hundred of the bombers in Indochina and all of them would have to be high speed stealth bombers at that. The Imperial Rocket Corps could not bombard Japan with EMP’s on a daily or weekly basis thus keeping the Japanese defenses in the Home Island’s constantly knocked out. There would be no opportunity for the slow, hours-long bombings like the British had been subjected to during the Second World War, merely quick attacks by small groups of stealth bombers at intervals of probably eight or twelve hours between them. The Luftwaffe had close to ten thousand strategic bombers stationed across the German Empire, mostly at bases in Europe but the majority were late-Cold War era or early Post-Cold War era and had shifted largely from strategic role to tactical. The force of supersonic aircraft among said bomber force was approximately two thousand but launching a supersonic bomber attack from bases in Europe at the Home Islands was idiotic in most scenarios given that it would mean travel over Japanese China, unoccupied Russia, and Japanese Russia, giving the Japanese ample time to take a shot at bringing down the planes.

An aide approached Dornberger and saluted. “Generalmajor, all upper stage modules in position and ready to fire. With your order we can have missiles away in three minutes.” Dornberger nodded but was still hesitant to begin this campaign of fiery retribution against the Japanese. However should he hesitate any further it would be him in front of a firing squad. “Fire.”

He watched on the holographic display as dozens of missiles leapt away from the satellites headed for Earth, for Japan. Within moments reports were coming in that the EMP’s were effective and had essentially blacked out the Home Island’s.

Krammer Hotel, Hanoi

Just as Storch and Aleta were about to part ways, he having given the information to her on a data pad, he suddenly grasped his head on both sides. “AAAGGHHH!” He fell to the ground and began to convulse violently, gasping out names and places at rapid fire rate. Aleta and the Retainers tried to hold him down steady so he wouldn’t snap his neck while he convulsed but he still babbled and his eyes rolled up into his head. Then it all stopped and he sat up suddenly alarmed.

“Where is Holliston!? Last thing I remember I chased that SS bastard into the portal and then I blanked! You have to warn whatever government you have on this world! The Nazi’s are coming!”