In the Shadow of the Rising Sun

[Evangeline Anovilis]

The first snow was already falling, as Hatsutori Tarō drove along the narrow street in his white Honda Civic. Dim light shone through the branches of snow-covered trees and one could catch glimpses at the clouded sky. It was a cold sunday and not really many people used the peripherical road that ran along the countryside near Minamimaki, Nagano. Hatsutori would surely have stayed at home too, if it was not a special occasion that called him here.

 

As he approached the end of the road, he suddenly took a turn to the left and drove along an even less frequented path in the woods, until he arrived at a gate with the inscription "Federal Forces Special Communications Research Institute" (Renpōgun Tokubetsu Tsūshin Kenkyūjo). A soldier at the entrance checked Hatsutori's papers, then saluted and made way for the car. Beyond the gate, a large larger complex of maybe half a dozen buildings, in an arrangement of five smaller buildings constructed around one larger main building awaited. A few tents were errected in the backyard and multiple poles, antennas and a ggod few cables gave the whole facility indeed the appearance of an institute related to some sort of communications.

 

Having parked his car in front of the institute's main building, Hatsutori was suddenly approached, as a woman from the inside seemingly had noticed his arrival. Wearing her uniform, she seemed young for an officer, but as they had graduated the academy in the same class, it came at no surprise. After a short, but amical greeting, the two would go inside. Despite the coat he wore over his suit, the cold outside was unpleasant.

 

Inside the main building, other officers transitted busily between the multiple offices that took up the front-side, while in the back, a few classrooms for officer training and a couple of laboratories had been accommodated. As the two walked through the hallway, Hatsutori couldn't help but ask. "So, Miwako, why did I get called?" He scratched his light moustache as he spoke, glimpsing into some of the offices. "You were called here because headquarters wants you to help in the training of the officers. After all, this facility is also part of what you recommended." He made a bit of a surprised face. "Did they really approve it in full? Or just some sham?" "No no, they went along with it in full. Your essay has convinced headquarters, it seems. Now however they want you to assist in this."

 

Hatsutori thought for a moment. He couldn't believe they really had gone along with his recommendation. Just a year ago, he had written an essay on the usefullness and necessity of sophisticated intelligence, but never had he expected that his program would be approved in full." Asahina Miwako glanced at her colleague, noticing his surprise, altough Hatsutori was by far no easy man to read. "Our country is young and small. Yet full of ambitions. I think they realised that this could be one asset that may be handy in the future." This time, he really showed his surprise. "We did study for years together. I take a certain pride in the fact that I can read you." Miwako smiled mischieviously.

 

OOC: Closed and Classified of course.

 

Edit: Re-tagged for Nippon.

Edited January 20, 2014 by Evangeline Anovilis

[Evangeline Anovilis]

OOC: In case it was not clear, the whole thread is closed and classified.

 

IC:

 

While it sounded rather interesting on paper, work in Totsū, as the Special Communications Research Institute was called, was not always some thrilling special duty that could just as well be ripped from some James Bond novel. Since he joined, Hatsutori's main duty had been to hold courses for aspiring officers of the Totsū, a rather uneventful job. But it was in one of these days, that Hatsutori would find Asahina waiting in his room.

 

Wearing a plain black skirt and white blouse, long black hair stuck up, she looked more like an average office lady than an intelligence officer. "Finally you've arrived." Hatsutori wondered for a moment. "Miwako? Anything you need of me?" After gesturing to him to close the door, Asahina nodded. "Less me than the headquarters. I'm just to get your participation and to deliver the necessary information." Hatsutori sighed and sat down on his chair, opening one of the drawers of his desk to store the texts of his last lesson. Asahina took a seat opposite to him. "Headquarters wants you to help out in the field. Seems that they need rather experienced people this time." Hatsutori sighed. "What for? I guess it's related to the most recent activities in South America..." Asahina nodded again. "Indirectly, yes. Mostly, our mission in South America is taken care of. If it escalates, then maybe further operations will be required, but headquarters expects the situation to be under control. However we need to be ever vigilant and headquarters wants you to directly assist operations of the Takeuchi Agency." "In the North? Are they concerned about backlash?" "Not so much about backlash, as about the regional stability of the Rim. The collapse of states two years ago still has its aftereffects and who knows who may not take advantage of the situation..." Hatsutori first stayed silent. The concerns Asahina had pointed out were nothing new. Still, the name Takeuchi almost gave him goosebumps. Asahina seemed to sense the uneasiness, as she suddenly broke the silence. "Work under Major Takeuchi is maybe a bit demanding, but one can't complain. You seemed to look for more active assignments and come on... we can stick through this together." With the last sentence, Asahinas voice had gained a mischieveous tone, most likely an attempt to tease Hatsutori, who simply sighed. "Actually, I think that is what I fear the most in this. But ok, I will go." Asahina looked surprised, as Hatsutori stood up and went out on the floor. "Hey Tarō, what does that now mean?" "Nothing, nevermind..." In a mostly feigned moment of shock, Asahina clapped her hands together. "Don't say... you and the major already got a history?"

[Evangeline Anovilis]

"Papers? This area is not open for the public.", the guard shouted, as he approached the two new arrivals in the North, packed in their thick coats. Hatsutori already wanted to answer, when Asahina merely gestured him to stay back and leave it to her. "We are part of the Fusō kikan. We were sent here to assist major Takeuchi. Here are our papers." The guard shouldered his rifle and looked over the identification documents. "Hmm, everything seems in order, please proceed." After handing back their papers to Asahina, the guard walked back to his post. The two officers walked past him and stood at the entrance square of the large complex that had gradually been built by the Fuso Company. A considerable number of smocking stacks, oil silos, manufacturing halls, warehouses and of course also the number of people showed quite clearly the money that Japanese investors had put into Prince Rupert port. Inmidst the complex however, also was a restricted area, the very heart of the local branch of the Fuso Company, as well as the factory plants and design bureaus for weaponry. It was not publicly disclosed what went on within this area, officially due to security reasons, but also because it housed the Fuso Agency, the Fusō kikan.

 

Slowly, the two wandered around the facility. Between the various buildings, snow had piled up high and the sky was mostly grey, filled with clouds. "What a fitting place for her." Hatsutori mumbled. Asahina turned around, looking a bit surprised. "You mean me?" "Oh, no Miwako. Someone else." He smiled a bit uneasily, when suddenly someone interjected. "He meant me, I suppose." As they stood before the entrance of the main office of the Fuso Company, suddenly a woman had appeared behind them, clothed in an almost pure white coat and looking at Hatsutori a bit irritated. "It is a rather nice place indeed. Apart from a few minor issues..." Asahina bowed respectfully. "Major Takeuchi. I hope you are well. I brought Hatsutori-san with me, I guess you know each other?" The woman walked past them and opened the door. "Indeed, we do. But well, come on in."

 

Edit: Fixed a wrong construction.

Edited January 12, 2014 by Evangeline Anovilis

[Evangeline Anovilis]

Classified

 

After receiving Karpinski's letter, Akubana giggled for a moment, before sending a highly encrypted note to Minamimaki, passing on the request, along with her personal report on the situation from her perspective in Warsaw. Overall, the Poles had seemed confident, but that alone would not win a conflict, a view many at home shared. However, they had dispatched her for that reason, to make sure Poland was supported as well as it possibly could be, given the diplomatic situation. Up until now, Akubana had been mostly bored, being a naval attaché to a country without navy, however now, at least there was something she could do. Not much, but something. It filled her with joy.

 

Once her message was received in Minamikami, it would be encrypted and forwarded to the head of the Totsū, who, consulting with the Fleet Intelligence Bureau and their superior, the Fleet Ministry, started to devise a method of supplying the Polish war effort. The result would be Naval Intelligence Directive Nr. 14, a secret document for distribution among high ranked Japanese intelligence officers, who would each start set into motion their respective little cogs, to add up into the secret industrial power of the Japanese military intelligence network.

 

Mold designs would be sent to Fuso Industries and the various Naval Arsenals, which would start clandestine production of the spare parts, officially destined for the Nihon Kaigun. Similarly, the other requested items would be produced by the consortium of military-owned arms industry and even reliable private business, such as Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, Kawasaki Heavy Industries and Japan Steel Works would be given contracts for the procurement of missile shells and artillery grenades.

 

The finished wares would be loaded on a number of container ships. Departing from Tokyo, Niigata and Hakodate, these ships would be operated by Karafuto Koreans and Koreans that settled in Japan during Tianxia's direct rule. Equipped with forged papers, identifying them as Tianxia citizens of Korean descent, working for a Totsū front organisation called Soma Trans-Asia Joint-Stock Company (소마트랜스아시아주식회사), these agents would ship their cargo to Busan, transfer it to container ships registered with the front organisation, flying the Tianxia merchant ensign and deliver the wares to other continental ports.

 

Using two routes, one via Busan-Vladivostok/Ehestadt-Charbarovsk-Komsomolsk and the Transsiberian railway and another via Busan-Singapore-Gwadar-Quetta-Kabul-Samarkant-Urganch-Atyrau-Astrakhan-Volgograd, the Koreans would deliver their cargo west, claiming the protection of being the Emperor's subjects, protected by the Tianxian Commonwealth... which technically, was not really a lie. Once they reached Poland, they would contact the Polish Armed Forces and hand over the various wares.

 

Already during the operation, but also once finished, this network would send normal consumer goods and non-problematic commodities, manufactured in the Commonwealth along the routes, to give more credibility to their front organisation. The incurred expenses would be hidden mostly by shifting the financial burden to Minami-Kechua, which would just get the money back via "reconstruction aid".

[Justinian the Mighty]

Under the circumstances access to Russia’s main transportation networks were highly regulated. Now that Russia was at war with the Pure Lands Russian transport authorities were warned not to allow the trans-Siberian railway to become clogged by needless traffic. In the process of this task they happened to come upon a shipment of weapons from the Far East.

All at once red flags flew up. Tianxia had not reported that a shipment of weapons would be moving through Russia, nor had there been any offer of war aid to Russia. Authorities quickly scrambled to investigate the incident. The merchants were arrested and transported to an SRV detainment facility under Lubyanka Square where they would be interrogated. Meanwhile a sample portion of the weapons would be transported to a research facility in Omsk where they would be disassembled and put under close scrutiny.

[Triyun]

Dispatch from the Bureau of Political and Military Affairs, Imperial Foreign Office:

 

To Whom it May Concern:

 

We apologize with he tardy notification.  We indeed confirm this group is properly licensed within the Empire.  Further we request all goods be allowed to transit.  If we need to switch out delivery crews please let us know as soon as possible.  Its important that speedy deliveries be kept on schedule.    Please send us a bill for additional expenses for this incident.

 

Regards:

 

Chen Fu,  Deputy Under Secretary for Political-Military Affairs, Foreign Office.

 

Encrypted Dispatch to Poland:

CC:  Russian Foreign Office

 

Dear Sirs,

 

Please remember in keeping to terms all our aggregate treaty obligations to send proper letter to Russia.  Also as said before, weapons sold through Imperial Avenues are to remain in use principally on fronts where Polish forces are engaging those with whom we have no obligations.

 

Regards.

[Justinian the Mighty]

The Koreans were separated and put into several interrogation rooms by agents of the SRV. Cold steel tables and chairs were placed strategically in front of a two-way mirror, with just the light from one hanging lamp to illuminate the small concrete room. The agents didn't wear uniforms that identified them as intelligence agents. Instead they wore standard Russian army combat dress with black ski masks and the distinct smell of smoke permeated their clothing.

The investigation was halted before it could gain any traction by an order from the Minister of Defense. The captives were to be deported to Tianxia and left unharmed. Likewise the confiscated equipment would be loaded back on trains where they would remain quarantined until a new crew could arrive.

Edited January 20, 2014 by Justinian the Mighty

[TheShammySocialist]

Upon receiving the letter from the Tianxian Imperial Foreign Office, President Sikorski himself would handle the response, with hand written letters, one hand-delivered to the Tianxian Embassy in Poland to the military attaché by courier with escorts. The other was dispatched by another escorted courier directly to the Russian Foreign Ministry, along with a few bottles of rare pepper vodka produced in Poland as a gift.

 

[b]Chen Fu,[/b]

 

The oversight of these transfers of armaments were unfortunately undertaken by Defense Ministry officials who were clearly not as versed in the proper conduct of our treaty obligations. An internal investigation is underway to determine whether these officials were derelict in the conduct of their duties. I apologize personally for their conduct, and once again thank you and your office for smoothing this issue over.

 

You have our assurances that these weapons will not be used to specifically target those who have obligations with your state, we are dispatching this letter with one to Russia to apologize for this lack of professionalism. We will see that this never happens again.

 

With greatest regards,

 

[I]Lech[/I]

 

[b]To: The Russian Foreign Ministry[/b]

 

[b]To Whom it May Concern[/b]

 

I personally apologize for the lack of notice that was given to your office in the transfer of weapons from Tianxia to the Fourth Republic of Poland. The arrangement of this delivery was undertaken by officials who were clearly not as versed in treaty mechanics nor diplomatic affairs, and are being investigated. I personally accept the fault for this matter, and seek to assure the Great Empire of Russia that this incident will never happen again, I hope that this will not effect our future bilateral relations and seek to assure you that our mutual interests and relations are close to my heart.

 

We look forward to continue cooperation with your great nation, and hope that you accept the gift that has been dispatched with our courier and this letter as a token gift of appreciation to your government. Furthermore, please dispatch any bills associated with the transfer of cargo from Tianxia to Poland to my office, and I will personally see that they are paid in full in as little time as possible.

 

Thank you for your understanding and the show of brotherhood Russia has shown Poland, in this, our time of national definition.

 

Highest of regards,

 

[I]Lech Sikorski[/I]