Tyranny of Steel

Since the battle of the Marshall Islands, Itami had been keeping her navy within the sea of Japan as a protective measure. Japan only had four battleships left, and a handful of cruisers. The rest of what remained of the Imperial Japanese were small flotillas of destroyers and submarines, which did their best to protect the Japanese transport convoys. 

However, Berengar was determined to eliminate what was left of Japan's naval forces, and thus after a few weeks of his pilots getting intimately familiar with their new aircraft, the Kaiser tasked the pilots of the 6th Carrier Air Wing to conduct an all out attack on the Japanese Navy which was currently patrolling in the sea of Japan. 

Currently, the sixth carrier strike group was roughly halfway between Taiwan and the Bohai Sea. Their official objective was to enter the region and provide air support to the Joseon-German coalition force. However, in reality, they had a much more secret mission. 

Hans was awoken within the dead of night by his fellow pilots, who were already dressed in their flight gear. Haywire had a particularly sinister grin on his face as he tossed the boy's uniform onto his half awake face, before yelling at him.

"Hans, get the fuck up! We've got a mission to complete!"

With that said, the Crimson Prince dragged himself out of bed before adorning himself in his flight uniform. Once that was completed, he joined the rest of the pilots on the deck of the SMS Osterreich. Where he saw the wing commander suited up and was ready for battle. Naturally, the man had prepared a speech for his unit of highly trained pilots.

"Gentlemen, today we will be conducting a covert operation in the Sea of Japan. As we speak, the Third Fleet of the Imperial Japanese Navy is patrolling the region. Needless to say that this fleet is our enemy's last remaining naval force of any significance. Thus, our objective is to take flight with our new aircraft and strike them from a distance with our v-1 cruise missiles. 

As for our fighter pilots, your objective is to safeguard the bombers in case we come across any threats. You have your orders, so get ready to take flight. Captain Hans, since your skills as a pilot are so renowned, you will be the first to launch." 

It was times like this that Hans suspected that his Wing Commander, and former flight trainer was deeply envious of his achievements thus far. However, he had no plan to complain, and thus saluted the man before doing as instructed. 

Once inside the cockpit, Hans ignited his engine, while aligning his aircraft with the steam powered catapult which launched him into the air, where he began to pilot his fighter to the coordinates he had been given. Immediately after, another plane was launched, and then another, until all forty-two aircraft were airborne and headed to the Sea of Japan. 

The journey did not take too terribly long. While traveling at roughly 1223 kph, it took roughly half an hour from their launch point to reach their destination. The wing of fighters and bombers was a long way from any naval support that they may receive, however they were also at a high altitude while in the middle of the night.

While the German jets were equipped with extensive radar capabilities, the Japanese Ki-106s were utterly lacking such technology. The only thing they had to worry about was the possibility that a Japanese radar station would pick them up. 

Unfortunately for them, there was one located on the island of Tsushima, which quickly located the German radar signatures as a foreign adversary when they began to approach the Jeju Strait. After which, the Japanese launched a series of fighters to intercept them.

However, the Japanese fighter planes could only travel at roughly after the speed of the German jets, and thus, they had no chance of reaching the German position before they launched their attack.  With each passing second, the German carrier wing approached their target at a rapid speed. It was only a matter of time before the Third Fleet of the Imperial Japanese Navy was sunk. 

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Itami was awoken in the middle of the night by one of her aides. There was an anxious look on the woman's face as she rather hurriedly explained the details of what the Japanese Generals had to say. As a devout member of the Cult of the War Goddess, the aide used the honorific that was only reserved for deities in Japan when speaking to Itami. 

"Kami-sama, I am sorry to wake you at such an ungodly hour. However, you should know that our radar station at Tsushima has picked up multiple signatures of what appear to be German aircraft..."

Itami glared at her aide, furious that she had been woken up over such a trivial matter. She was quick to scold the woman for her foolishness.

"So? Dispatch our fighters to intercept them! Do you really need to wake me up over such a petty matter?"

However, the anxious look on the aide's face only worsened as she bit her lip, struggling to give voice to the concerns of the Generals who had dispatched her to awaken the young empress.

"Kami-sama, you should know, the German aircraft were travelling at such high speeds that our fighters were not capable of intercepting them before they approach their target, which appears to be the Third Fleet!"

What Itami just heard was simply ludicrous. There was no feasible way the Germans could accomplish such a thing. Unless... Suddenly Itami had a gut wrenching feeling in her innards. She quickly jumped out of bed and threw her coat around her nightgown, where she immediately proceeded to the war room of her palace without saying a single word. 

Once inside, the Generals all looked to Itami with looks of concern on their faces. They did not know how the Germans had achieved such high speeds with their aircraft, but it was deeply concerning.  Before these men could even question their orders from their Empress, she had barked commands at them. 

"Get Admiral Izumi Hiramori on the line this instant, and warn him that the Germans are fast approaching. I don't know how they managed to achieve it, but we can not underestimate their sudden attack. Quickly, or I will have your heads!"

Admiral Izumi Hiramori was a staunch fanatic of the Cult of the War Goddess. He would listen to anything Itami commanded and fulfil her orders without hesitation, no matter how absurd it was. Itami knew that the fleet could not possibly outrun the possibility of German Jet fighters and Bombers, and thus she had given her naval forces the order to be prepared for an immediate attack, hoping that the flak guns onboard the vessel would be more than enough to stop the Germans in whatever dastardly plot they had conceived. 

At the same time, Itami stared at a screen which displayed the radar signatures of her Third Fleet, which located somewhere in the Jeju Strait. However, in the next moment, Itami's worst fears were realized as one of the ship's radar signatures immediately disappeared from the map, followed by another, and another, until the entire fleet had vanished. 

Itami could not explain how such a thing had happened so quickly, nor could she realize that the German bombers had attacked from a distance of two hundred and forty kilometers, with their cruise missiles and in doing so utterly decimated the Japanese fleet. 

Thirty cruise missiles had been launched, their targets locked onto the Japanese ships with radar, their explosive payloads more than enough to destroy a battleship, let alone cruisers or destroyers. In the blink of an eye, before anyone could even react, the Third Fleet of the Imperial Japanese Navy had been sunk. 

Neither Itami nor her Generals wanted to believe that their last fleet was gone. Still, the evidence was damning. Despite this, there were multiple attempts to contact the sunken fleet. However, all that remained on the line was static. Causing Itami to sink back into her seat in a deep depression.

Her entire Navy was gone, aside from a few submarines and destroyers which were protecting her transport ships. She no longer had the ability to fight the Germans on the sea. Nor did she have the ability to contend with them in the air, as most of her air force had been destroyed as well. 

This was the final nail in the coffin. Itami had lost all hope of even bringing the Germans to the negotiating table. All she could do now was mount one last defense of the Japanese mainland. Her next course of action was abundantly clear. She must evacuate all of her troops from the Korean peninsula before the Germans could disrupt her. At the very least, she would spare what remained of her army a brutal death in a foreign land. 

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