Tyranny of Steel

Colonel Andreas Ritter von Jaeger sat within a truck as it rode through the border outpost that the reformed Joseon Army had established. The Korean soldiers they passed by wore brown uniforms based on a design that looked like it would exist in the great war of Berengar's past life. Matching puttees wrapped around their ankles, preventing dirt and grime from entering into their short boots. All the while, brown Adrian pattern helmets protected their skulls.

These men were equipped with G25 Bolt action rifles, and a few of them wielded the portable variant of the MG-25. Compared to the equipment of the Imperial Japanese Army, they were practically a generation behind in terms of military hardware. 

Despite this, Itami knew that the losses she would suffer if she were to make a second push into the region would be too great for her troops to endure. Thus, for the time being, she maintained the armistice that had been declared between the Joseon Kingdom in the North and the Japanese Empire in the South.

There was a single motive for the Jagdkommandos to be here, at the border outpost. That was to infiltrate deep into enemy territory, and extract a group of Joseon Agents who possessed vital information about the Japanese Empire. 

The soldiers of the Joseon Army saluted the German Jagdkommandos as they passed by an artillery position which housed the new 10cm K 17 field guns which were used to intimidate the Japanese soldiers on the other side of the border. 

Eventually, the truck carrying the German Jagdkommandos ascended to the peak of the mountain where a small plateau existed. This would be the location where they would deploy from. Sitting on the edge of the mountainside was a military glider, that German scientists had developed for use among special operations embedded in the eastern theatre. 

Knowing that they could not reveal the existence of turboprop aircraft to the Japanese, the German Scientists had developed gliders at the request of the Jagdkommandos, who were now airborne qualified, and thus,w preferred to deploy from the skies. 

This glider was resembled the DFS 230 used by the German Military in the second world war of Berengar's past life. By the time Andreas and his team arrived at the location, it was already cabled up to a bungee, which would be used to launch it into the air from the edge of the cliff. All they had to do was enter the glider, and begin their journey deep behind enemy lines. 

The engineers who had set up this launch were soldiers from the German Army Corps of Engineers, and they had been dispatched to the Joseon Border to help aid in the construction of proper defenses that would work against the Japanese. They had been instructed to oversee the launch of this operation. These engineers saluted the Jagdkommandos who piled into the back of the aircraft. There were ten of them in total, and Andreas would be the pilot. 

Once everyone was inside, Andreas give the order to launch, and in a matter of seconds they were slingshotted over the cliff, where the glider took flight towards the outskirts of Seoul. They had specifically planned this operation in the dead of night, so that the enemy would not see their glider flying in the air. Because of that, the aircraft soared through the skies without the Japanese Army being any the wiser. 

As the special operators approached their destination, Andreas called out to them to ensure that they were ready for the mission that was about to take place.

"Alright, you boys know our objective. We will land roughly two clicks out from Seoul, where we will scuttle the glider, before heading into the city. Our maps are marked with the location of the safe house. We get in, get out, and exfiltrate these sorry sons of bitches back to the North. Any fucking questions?"

The nine other soldiers were unanimous in their response. Which caused Andreas to smirk.

"No, sir!"

The glider was designed with a parachute break, allowing it to descend at an angle of 80 degrees. Because of this, it was capable of landing precisely on its target. Thus, after careful piloting, the aircraft landed almost exactly at its destination. After doing so, the soldiers quickly embarked, where they proceeded to secure the area.

Once they were sure that they were alone, the Jagdkommandos dismantled the aircraft as silently as possible, to ensure that it could not be reverse engineered by the Japanese, before marching off into the night. By the time the Japanese found the glider, it would be a pile of rubble. 

The squad of Jagdkommandos covertly made their way into the outskirts of the city, where they made use of the cover of night and foliage to silently infiltrate the city of Seoul without incident. Though there were soldiers of the Imperial Japanese Army on patrol, they were blissfully unaware that the german special operators had entered the city. 

Andreas gazed through his scope and silently observed the equipment that a squad Imperial Japanese soldiers were issued. Their uniforms were updated to those that were in use by the IJA during the Second World War of Itami's past life, and the rifles in their hands were easily identified as semi-automatic by the experienced Jagdkommandos.

Upon seeing this, Andreas silently communicated over the wire, back to the German Radio Operators about the weapons in use by the Japanese Soldiers.

"This is Falcon, over... We have landed in the eagle's nest. I repeat, we have landed in the eagle's nest, over..."

The radio had static for several minutes, before the response came over.

"Roger that. What seems to be the problem, falcon? over..."

Andreas sighed heavily before reporting the latest find.

"These japs have got better hardware than we initially thought. It seems their elite troops have guns on par with ours. Report this to Imperial Intelligence immediately, over..."

Static once more was present on the comms before the voice finally responded.

"Roger that. Imperial Intelligence has been alerted, over..."

Andreas did not hesitate to cease communication as he sent one last message.

"Roger that, over and out..."

With this said, he quickly reaffirmed his orders to the soldiers beneath his command, who had a look of hesitation in their eyes as they saw the equipment the enemy was wielding.

"This changes nothing. We get to the safe house and extract the targets to a safe location. Shoot if you have to, but silence will be the key to victory."

After saying this Andreas took point, and stealthily entered the city limits, where the Jagdkommandos continued to sneak past the enemy forces. While the Jagdkommandos were on the move, so were the Kempeitai, who were fiercely searching for the rats who kept alluding them over these past few months.

Ultimately, in their desperation, they had decided to go door to door in the middle of the night to search for the traitors. Thus, it was a race against time to see who would arrive first. In the end, the Jagdkommandos were just a bit quicker, as they arrived at the door to the safe house, and knocked in a special way. That allowed those inside to know that they were friendly. 

The door narrowly opened to the reveal the face of a young Joseon woman who gazed upon the German soldiers with a glint of hope in her eyes. Though these men had painted their faces in camouflaged, she could tell by their weapons and uniforms that they did not work for the Japanese. Andreas was quick to clarify this, as he spoke in code to verify each other's identities. 

"What is the Color of night?"

The Agent immediately knew what Andreas was asking, and quickly responded with the corresponding phrase which identified her as an agent in league with Imperial Intelligence. She spoke in the German tongue, which she and her comrades were trained in prior to deployment. 

"Sanguine, my brother!"

Berengar created these codes as a means of identifying friendly agents in the field. He straight up ripped them off from an old video game franchise in his past life, where one must utter such a phrase in order to gain entry to the sanctuary of a certain faction. 

Unless Itami had played this specific video game, which was released in the mid-2000s, and remembered it word for word, neither she nor her agents would ever be able to break this code. Berengar was counting on the fact that his rival had not. After all, the successor to this game was far more popular than the one he had used for the basis of his code.  With the code exchanged, Andreas quickly began to issue his orders to the agent.

"Gather everyone and bring them out here. Bring whatever evidence you have collected with you. It is our job to safely escort you back to the Joseon Kingdom. Anything that can't be carried with you must be burned. We don't have much time, so hurry."

With this, said. The Joseon Agents and the German Jagdkommandos now had to march on a perilous journey back north. Hoping that the Kempeitai did not catch up to them. For if they did, it was unlikely that they would survive.