Tyranny of Steel

Hans awoke at the crack of dawn, along with the rest of his unit. He had officially been in active service for two weeks now, and he had to admit he was not the slightest bit thrilled with his career choice. Though military service was mandatory for all men in the German Empire, he was beginning to feel that he should have just enlisted instead. That way, he only had to complete four years of service.

While the environment in the Aerial Warfare Academy had been strict, it was still located in the boy's backyard, where his father was able to get him out of trouble. Because of this, Hans was given a lot of leeway during his years at university. This was no longer the case. 

It turned out that in the Luftwaffe, being a prince had no advantages. He was expected to behave like all other soldiers, and if he acted out, he was thoroughly disciplined. Perhaps his status as the eldest son of the Kaiser, and a renowned gifted child, increased his burden rather than lessened it, as his commanding officers expected more out of him than he did his other pilots. 

After taking a shower and getting dressed, Hans regrouped with his unit on the flight deck. Where forty-two different planes sat ready for takeoff. There were thirty Ju 87 Stuka torpedo bombers, and twelve Ta 152 fighter-interceptors. As the most skilled pilot during flight school, Hans was naturally selected as one of the twelve fighter pilots.

Hans stood on the deck and struggled to prevent himself from yawning as the commanding officer stood before them, explaining the details of their daily operation. The commander was none other than Hans' former flight instructor, and much like Ghost, he was an avid fan of the boy's mother. 

In fact, it was impossible to find a man within his unit who did not have a thing for one of the boy's many mothers. Usually, these men would argue in their spare time about whether Linde or Adela were the most beautiful woman in the world. However, Caveman's life ambition was to marry the Princess Henrietta.

Hans could only scoff as he heard the Captain getting into a dispute with his fellow pilots regarding this subject, knowing full well that his aunt was, in fact, her brother's most beloved concubine.  Of course, the official story was that Henrietta was a pure maiden, incapable of having kids after receiving a bullet to the womb on that fateful night. However, as a member of the Imperial Family, Hans knew that Henrietta had given her brother three children, and that there were more to come. 

These were the thoughts on Hans' mind as he listened to Colonel Ernst Meier's speech about their daily operations, which was, in fact, yet another day of pointless patrols around the Malacca strait. The Carrier strike group had departed a week ago today, and during this time the planes were constantly launched.

Though all they did during this time was patrol the fleet's immediate vicinity, something radar was more than capable of doing on its own. The reality was that these operations were meant to do one thing: get the pilots experienced with taking off and landing on the carrier's massive deck. However, as the long and rather boring speech came to an end, something shocking was announced by the Colonel.

"As the CSG (Carrier Strike Group) approaches the island of Borneo, it will be the duty of our fighter pilots to fly just outside restricted airspace and conduct aerial reconnaissance on the nearby conflict. Though we are not allowed to fly over Borneo itself, we are more than able to fly around it. Alright, that's about it, gentlemen, prepare to takeoff!"

All of a sudden, Hans was rather excited. Instead of just doing some basic patrols, he would actually be skirting just below the limits of their restrictions, at least according to the agreement between the Kaiser and the Japanese Empress. As Hans had never seen a battlefield before, he was a bit anxious. Despite this, he found his courage as he jumped into his ta-152 fighter interceptor before being catapulted off the deck. 

It was not long before Hans and the other eleven fighters approached the island of Borneo. Almost immediately, they could make out explosions in the air, which were undoubtedly the result of the flak guns down below. 

As the Luftwaffe pilots further approached the island, they were able to make out a few dozen mosquito bombers which were being picked off left and right by the Majapahit anti-aircraft installments. Though some bombs made their way onto their targets, it would appear that with each passing second, more and more bombers were being blown out of the sky. 

Hans had begun taking photographs of the battle below when his unit began to veer off from the island. They had reached the edges of restrictive airspace, and communicated over comms that they would have to circle the island. However, Hans did not hear this and continued to fly over the island of Borneo by himself. 

It was only after several minutes had passed, and Hans began to realize that he was perhaps too far inland and that he had violated the treaty made between his father and Itami. He immediately began to climb in the sky, to reach a high enough altitude that the flak guns could not reach him, while turning out to the left and towards the Philippines. 

While he was climbing, Hans noticed a Japanese bomber with a damaged airframe and a smoking engine trying desperately to escape the battlefield. The bomber was entirely isolated from the rest of its allies, and was an easy kill. 

Knowing that there was no possible way for anyone to witness his actions, Hans began to dive on the target, which climbed further and further out of the conflict, and towards the sea. As he approached the side of the aircraft, it became abundantly apparent to the Japanese crew that they were being tailed by a fighter, which at first they thought was their own.

That is, until the two planes were side by side, and the Japanese airmen noticed not only was this fighter painted in camouflage, but it also had a large balkenkreuz plastered on the rear of its fuselage. 

The Japanese crew was mortified to see a German fighter tailing them, and Hans could see in their eyes the dread which had overtaken them. He slowed his plane down a bit to line up his optical sight with the tail of the aircraft, and only when he was about to pull the trigger and gain his first kill did another flak shell fire up from the ground below which detonated just far enough away from the damaged bomber to not completely destroy the aircraft.

However, shrapnel struck one of the crew members and he fell back into the airframe, holding a bloodied gut. In reaction to this, Hans bit his lip as he struggled to decide what he should do in this situation. Ultimately, after thinking it through, the boy flew up towards the cockpit of the Japanese bomber, where motioned to the rival pilot with his hands that he was not a threat. 

Because Hans was flying a German aircraft, the Majapahit AA crews knew not to fire upon him, and had instead assumed that he was protecting a captured bomber. It was only after the two planes were safely escorted out of the kill zone that Hans give a short salute to the rival pilot, who was quick to return the gesture, before swiftly departing back towards the formation where his comrades continued to take photos of the battlefield from afar. 

Despite violating several Luftwaffe regulations, nobody in the German Military would learn of the boy's actions on this day. Thus, Hans wore a rather satisfied smile on his face as he flew back to his unit while replaying the scene that had just taken place in his mind.

In the heat of the moment, Hans had rationalized to himself that since the German Empire was not officially at war with Japan just yet, that by shooting down the rival pilots he would be committing an act of murder, and had thus chosen instead to escort them out of the kill zone and towards safety. 

Unknowingly, Hans' actions on this day would have a tremendous effect on the Japanese Air Force as a whole, who would later hear of this story from the surviving crew and think that perhaps they had been lied to by high command regarding the alleged bloodthirsty and vicious nature of the German people.

This would ultimately result in an unspoken pact between Luftwaffe and Imperial Japanese pilots, who, when the time for war between their two nations came, would both refuse to shoot down those pilots and their crews who had ejected from aircraft. 

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