Epilogue: Open the Curtains
With the storm subsiding, aircraft were now allowed to take off, but that was only applied to military aircraft because with the loss of all forms of communication outside of Japan, the military was put on high alert as fears of this being a possible Chinese or Russian* cyberattack kept growing.
Yet, their radars located at the Islands of Horomushiro (2nd northernmost islands of the Kurils) and Sakhalin showed something strange, in Horomushiro, land was detected to its west, not to its North, while Sakhalin lost all contact with the Russian Mainland to its west, which was verified with the loss of any visual contact with the Russian mainland which at their closest point was only of 7km.
Not only that to the South, but radar stations at Formosa also detected new signs of land in places where there was none before and lack of land where there was before.
Due to all of those concerning signs the armed forces high command had requested permission from the prime minister to conduct a full 360º reconnaissance around the Home isles and Formosa, with prioritization of the reconnaissance on the detected areas of land...
And now with the permission granted and the storm receding, the strategic reconnaissance assets of the air force were beginning preparations to sortie for the upcoming investigation.
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25 September 2021(?) 0027
Empire of Japan, Horomushiro/Paramushiro Air Base*
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Inside one of the many corridors of the base two people wearing a suit very similar to the one used by astronauts, were walking down the corridor as they talked.
"*Yawns* Fuck, do we really to wake this early to do this recon mission?"
"Apparently yes, the high command appears to be very desperate to know what we will find in this recon"
"Man, First the Chinese doing suspicious moves, then that weird and huge storm, followed by that earthquake and then a tsunami, and now this!? For fuck sake, I should have become a flight attendant"
"Yeah, but you aren't and I'm now stuck with a complaining ass that you are"
"Oho! Do you wanna fight?"
"Please, you never won against me in a fight, Haru"
"... ... ... Damnit, you're right. But watch out because next time, I'm definitely going to kick your ass, Hayate"
Haru tried to come up with a counterargument, but the fact was that he always lost whenever he tried to fight against Hayate, so instead, he just gave up on the idea of fighting Hayate again for now. They continued walking for some more meters until they arrived at the reinforced hangar.
"Hm? Oh! Right on time, you two. The lady here just finished her checkup, so you two can already get in her. Just watch out there, the rain is still heavy and the wind sometimes gets stronger"
The one who greeted them was the engineer Kei, one of the many responsible for maintaining the aircraft on the base.
"Thanks as always, Kei. Now let's get this girl on the air!"
"Yeah, finally getting back into the air sure feels good"
The two climbed the ladders put on the side of the cockpit and entered the aircraft, a C3W7 "Rei", a strategic reconnaissance aircraft so similar to the U-2 "Dragon Lady", that many claims it to be an open statement of Japan's industrial espionage on the US, but the veracity of the claims is still unconfirmed. Haru entered as the pilot, while Hayate was the navigation officer.
"Alright, let's do one last round of checks before you two take flight..."
Kei and the two searched and checked for any signs of malfunction and defect, and after that with no signs of problems found, the ladders were removed, the hangar was cleared of obstructions, and the cockpit was closed.
"Alright, good luck to you two. Control Tower, the aircraft preparations are ready"
"Understood. Spring, Sudden, move and standby at the runway"
"Aye-aye, I still hate that callsign though"
"Copy that"
The hangar doors started to open allowing for the cold and rainy wind to enter the hangar, as the aircraft slowly moved to the runway and waited for orders.
"Spring, your callsign will be Owl 1. Verify and read back"
"This is Owl 1, we're ready for takeoff"
"Sudden, your callsign will be Owl 2. Verify and read back"
"This is Owl 2, we're ready for takeoff"
"Due to unknown circumstances, GPS guidance will be unavailable during the mission. Owl 1, Owl 2, cleared for takeoff"
With clearance given, the C3W7 began increasing its speed as its twin jet engines pushed the airframe forward, with the help of a strong headwind, the aircraft gained enough lift to leave the ground and start flying in a west-Northwest direction.
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25 September 2021(?) 0046
20,000+m above unknown location
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Haru and Hayate were flying in one direction for almost 14 minutes now, the rain clouds were starting to dissipate, something that would help in their reconnaissance mission. After three more minutes, the clouds had dissipated enough allowing for a mostly clear night sky to appear and allowing the cameras in the C3W7 to show what was below it.
"Hey, we have been flying in a straight line to around West-Northwest, right?"
"Yeah, and we already covered around 300 kilometers already"
"Okay, so... Why the fuck am I seeing land, at this place, where just yesterday was fucking seawater!?"
"..."
"Why aren't you saying anything!?"
"What do you want me to say? Magic? Sorcery? Your hot mama?"
"Fuck! I shouldn't have asked you that"
"Anyways, the higher-ups will either make the same question as you, or they'll have a better answer"
"And what would that answer be?"
"Your hot sister"
"Fuck!"
As Haru and Hayate argued with each other, the aircraft maintained a steady course, and just a few minutes later, the crew would make another finding.
"... Hey, are you also seeing light on the ground coming from the horizon?"
"Yes, I am seeing that, and by the looks of it, that city is mostly electrified to have all those lights on at night"
"Should we fly over it?"
"Let me radio the base. Owl 2 to Base, we found what we believe to be a city with the existence of electric light. Requesting permission to fly over it for better assessment. Over"
"... Base to Owl 2, permission granted, if you find other similar urban environments, you are allowed to fly over. Over"
"Copy that. We got the green light to fly over above anything that looks like a city"
"Naissu"
With the permission to fly over the city, the jet black aircraft flew high above the city with the dark night sky hiding it from view, and its high altitude leaving it out of any possible radar detection range. As the aircraft flew over the city, the cameras recorded and took photos of the city, as they passed over the city, they changed their course this time, instead of flying in a straight line, they began loosely following the coast, allowing them to find three more urbanized areas of varying sizes.
They continued following the coastline that went north to northwest, after not finding more urbanized areas, the aircraft swung east, finding nothing of interest, and then later south-southeast as they followed a river downstream.
At the river estuary, they found a coastal town, in the same manner as they did before, they loosely followed the eastern coast this time heading south, which allowed them to find another town, they continued following the coast south until Hayate noticed they were close to approaching their initial path with the inertial guidance equipment.
"We're about to approach our initial path"
"Really? Then maybe we can RTB"
"Maybe we can, maybe we can not. Owl 2 to Base, we are closing in on our initial path, requesting permission to RTB"
"... Base to Owl 2. Your flight time has been considered sufficient for the mission, you are allowed to RTB. Over"
"Owl 2 to Base. Copy that. Over. We can RTB"
"Hell yeah! I can finally go back to sleep!"
"We still have debriefing"
"Jesus fuck, do you really like breaking my mood that much?"
"Yes, in the same way as I like fucking your hot sister and mom"
"You suck man... ... ... You what!?"
The two returned to their base as Haru screamed slurs at Hayate the remaining trip back. After doing a safe landing, they went to debrief their mission while Intelligence officers acquired the recordings and photos they took during the mission.
Meanwhile, at the same time, that reconnaissance mission was taking place, many other reconnaissance missions were also taking place at the same time.
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25 September 2021(?) 0106
20,000+m above unknown location
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"... Copy that. Over"
"What happened?"
"Apparently the high command is now passing a new directive for the missions, to fly over any urbanized areas that we find"
"Oh well, we already found land some minutes ago, but nothing too urbanized so far aside from a fishing village, and a few farming villages"
"Yeah... Hm? Well, I think we found our city, can you see those lights coming from the horizon?"
"Yup, let's try to get some interesting photos to boast to the others"
The two crewmates slightly turned to head straight above the city that was coming into view, undetected their C3W7 flew above the unknown city, which to their surprise shared a similar construction design to their own home nation, but to their biggest surprise was at the city's port.
At the port, important naval military infrastructure facilities were located, such as drydocks and shipyards, and on two such drydocks, two massive ships could be seen. One had a flat deck and appeared to be undergoing some kind of modernization, while the other possessed four massive twin turrets as it appeared to be undergoing repairs.
"Hehe boi. It appears we hit jackpot, baby"
"Oh yeah. We're definitely going to boast this to the others another day"
The cameras recorded and took photos of the port's facilities, and warships located in it, but even then, the two capital ships at the drydocks still stood out like sore thumbs.
"The flat one is definitely an aircraft carrier and it appears to be receiving an angled deck, the other one is a battleship, size somewhat similar to the Mikasa and its guns... I think they're either 48 or 51 centimeters in size"
"*Whistle* That's some big ass guns there, but I prefer the carrier any day of the week"
The pilot was slightly impressed by the battleship gun size that his navigator speculated to be around, but not enough to leave a lasting impression.
"Yeah, anyway, I'm going to report this to the base"
"Suit yourself, I think I'm going to turn more to the north"
"Okay. Bat 2 to Base, do you copy?"
"This is Base, Bat 2. What do you need?"
"We are flying over a city right now, and we discovered the existence of an aircraft carrier undergoing modernization and a Battleship armed with 51 centimeter main guns undergoing repairs, alongside escort ships such as destroyers and cruisers of various sizes moored at the docks"
"... Acknowledged. Bat 2, keep your eyes on the ground and report any other findings you and Bat 1 make"
"Copy that. I think the high command will panic"
"You think? I'm sure they'll panic"
The two continued with their meaningless talks as they flew in their new direction of East-Northeast, in that new path they found another island, many times bigger than the one they found the warships, the cities that they found on that island were similar in design to the first city, which thus gave the cities a vibe of old Japan to the pilots.
Once they reach the tip of the island in the northeast, the aircraft swung west, as they were ordered to return to base after taking as much information that they could from the islands.
Land would also be found west of Formosa, as night slowly turned into dawn, and the high command of the Japanese forces tried to assess their new military situation and put together the disparate information obtained by their reconnaissance aircraft. Meanwhile, the civilian government moved around the clock to prevent an even worse economic, political and national crisis from happening with the current crises they were already facing.
For as a chessboard of interests was about to begin
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Unknown Location, 0100
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"Hey, chief! Come take a look at this"
"What is it?"
"Look, this is the image being transmitted right now, and this..."
The person who called the chief began searching the piles of photos on his desk for a certain photo he had in there
"Found it... here take a look"
The officer passed his superior a photo of the same place is shown on the monitor
"... Wait?"
The chief alternated his sight from the photo to the monitor with a confused face
"There's... A new piece of land at a place that was empty just a few days ago, and that place has enough development to have electricity?"
"Looks like it"
"Well... For now, keep an eye on that place, but due to the distance between here and there, and other pressing matters... We will put it on low priority for now"
"Okay, chief"
"Good"
The chief turned away from the officer and walked away
"Alright... Why the fuck I still don't have the photos I asked for, damnit!"
"Sorry! Here are the photos"
"Finally goddamnit!"
The chief looked at the photos he had requested some time ago, he analyzed them with attention and caution to not miss anything
"This is bad... Alright, everyone, I'll contact the higher-ups, you all better not slack off while I'm away"
"Yes, chief!"
Everyone saluted as they responded to the chief, seeing that he left the intelligence room
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* since Horomushiro and Paramushiro are both correct ways to call the island the base is located, I decided to leave both names there as the base would probably be called the one or the other depending on the person